Wonderful week in the work of the ministry

We had a wonderful week in the Work of the Ministry. For starters I broke my record for # of new investigators in one week! Ten new people to work with. And we are really exited about five of them.

Starting on Tuesday we went out to go tract a bit. We knocked three doors on a street that we had already partially knocked out a week before and we were let in by a family of First Nation people. I guess I cant use their names but we'll just call them the Littleman family. The husband has passed away last year and the wife moved out of Big Horn reserve to come live in Rocky and seek a better life. They have rejected the Native traditions because they failed to heal the father and they have all become Christians. Perfect. We taught the first lesson which was well received. When we started it was just the mom and her son, but midway through the 2 Nieces came in and began to participate in the lesson as well. We explained that some of the early traditions of the native people were Christian and we have a record of them. They were very exited about the Book of Mormon. So we asked them if they would all kneel down and offer a prayer to know if this was the truth. They obliged and I started. Afterwards, each of the members of the house prayed individually to know if the Book was true and thanked God for preserving the record and it was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had teaching the first lesson. We'll be going back this week with a member and It's gonna be awesome! 

Other great news is, we taught a Filipino, who we'll just call. He is a very nice guy who came from Manila about 7 months ago. He was taught by missionaries there and so us teaching him was kind of nostalgic for him. We taught him at one of the members homes and it was really cool. We were able to really focus on him and his needs and it went wonderfully. The gift of tongues is real. at the end of the lesson we asked him that if he found the things to be true, would he be baptized. He said yes. So we knelt and prayed there to ask God if the things were true. He wasn't totally comfortable with it at first, So I said a prayer and then let him pray. He prayed. He got an answer right there. I asked him if he would take it as a sign from God and be baptized on the 26th of March. He said yes! So we will be working with him towards that date. I'm not sure he'll be totally ready, but we have a date to work towards which is awesome.

We've been really blessed this week and all the prayers that this area would blossom are being fulfilled finally. It's taken a lot of patience and hard work and I've had to accept that perhaps I won't baptize anyone while I'm here. But I've accepted that, and the Lord has revealed to me that my work in this place has not been in vain. And finally come the multitude of blessings. We have thrusted in our sickle's and behold the number of our sheaves! My prayer is now that these sheaves may be "gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted."  Alma 26:5

Pray for us and for those we teach! We are looking at another good week, with many appointments set up in advance. The members are fully backing us and we expect that the member missionary effort will move forward as well as the work increases. I hope you all have a great week and remember how much the Lord loves you and wants to bless you. 

With love, 

Elder Higginson

Broken Glass and Church in Nordegg

Hello family! We had an eventful week in the work of the ministry. Lets just get started with what happened Friday night.

It was a lovely Saturday Morning. the sun was out, the sky was blue, the temperature was mild and we were ready to go. I got into the car, but after having closed the door I heard Glass shattering. I looked behind me to see a gaping jagged hole in the back window of our car! Not ok! so we talked with the Manager and called the Police and the Vehicle Coordinator and then we took it down to the GM to get a quote for the back window. They're shipping it in so for the next few days it will be a bit drafty in the Equinox. We cleaned all the glass out of the back seat at the church and some members offered for us to come over and use some of there tape to patch the back. So we did that and it's holding. It flaps in the wind a bit when we get going and it's annoying but it's holding. Also we have to be careful when we close doors because the pressure change makes the makeshift thing want to blow off. I'll send a picture separate. We aren't sure if we were targeted or not but this sort of thing is known to happen around here. The Vehicle Coordinator told us to call it in as a hate crime hahaha.

So we have 1 hour a week to go on mormon.org and familiarize ourselves with the site and do additional study. I found a page about missionaries who served between 1830 - 1930. A lot of information was available for a lot of people and I happened across a William Thomas Higginson Born November 1st, 1835. It says he left Idaho to serve in the Norther States Mission and that he was set apart by Heber J. Grant. I found also two of his sons who served, a Charles Albert Higginson and Robert Henderson Higginson. I'm assuming this was the W.T. of Higginson Family fame haha? I can't say I remember too much about him except for that he was short in stature and bemoaned the fact that his wives would gang up on him when there was an argument haha. Any cool stories anyone else knows?? send them to me next week. 

I've had an ambition to preach a sermon out in the mountain town of Nordegg for a while now. From what my last companion heard, the cozy little chapel up there was non-denominational and we could arrange to preach a sermon if we played our cards right. Well I called the main preacher and he wasn't too keen on me coming up and doing that. I'll keep working on him though. The ward mission leader says if I could get in, he'd arrange for a dozen members or so to come out and attend. We have investigators in the Near by Indian reserve who we want to get to church and it would be cool to have other people as well. Sounds crazy but I'd be sure pleased if we could work anything out.

Our investigator who has Cancer made good on her promise and made it out to church this last Sunday! And to our astonishment she lasted the whole 3 hours! she was afeared previously that she would only have the stamina for an hour. She really seemed to enjoy herself and we enjoyed having her there. Many of the ward members reached out to make her feel welcome and it was a good experience.

We got in with a former investigator Sunday night. Valentines day so naturally he was drunk. He's a scholarly sort of person, though he doesn't look it. He kind of wanted to bash, but he is really fun to talk to haha. He's read a lot of the Bible and Apocrapha and the whole Book of Mormon, which he struggles with intellectually. He gave me a nice little copy of the KJV bible, words of Jesus in Red. "the Mormons have given me like 5 copies of the Book of Mormon so I figured it was time I gave something back." It's a nice little copy actually.

Well, I hope you all have a grand week! So sorry to hear that Justice Scalia passed away. He will be missed. oh yea, also we talked to some members about taking us to Jasper in the next few weeks. Should be great! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

 

 

Church in Nordegg

 

 

Abide With Me

Greetings from Canada!

Well, I really have no time to email to day for some reason, so this will be really short.

I am super exited to have a niece and I'm glad that everything worked out ok! What a great thing and I'm exited to meet Grace when I return. All is well!

I'd just like to share a little experience I had this week. 

We found a man last week who was interested in hearing the gospel. He lived in a different part of town, but he gave us his address so we stopped by. He wasn't home but his brother was and he was also interested in sitting down with us. It's not very often it seems up here, that we actually find multiple people in the same house who are interested in the gospel so we were pleasantly surprised. But when we returned last night, we ran into their mother, who evidently practices witch craft. She was very rude and kept yelling at us to leave. I was fuming mad about it afterwards and was really mad at the crazy wench. I don't particularly like it when people stand in front of the agency of others who might accept the gospel. But I decided to say a little prayer and thanked God for the great blessings in my life and asked God to prepare a way for us to make contact with the man we had first talked to. After I prayed I felt peace and then was prompted to drive to the other side of town, towards the house where we first met the man who was initially interested in learning about the church. We drove by and saw him sitting on the porch so we came up and talked to him again and introduced him to the Book of Mormon. He accepted the copy and said he would read. 

I know that God answers prayers and if we are doing what we are suppose to be doing, God will prepare means for us to have good success. 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

Preaching to the Lamanites

This week went alright. Nothing major but we stayed busy.

Yesterday we made an effort to go preach the gospel to the Lamanites. I wish I could get my hands on some of the techniques used to teach the Indians from people like Parley P. Pratt or Peter Whitmer or something. But it can't be that hard right?? We went out to the the Big Horn Indian reserve yesterday after having set up appointments and it was a good show. Just about got eaten by dogs though. Good time for sure. 

There is a guy in our area who we've been trying to get in touch with for a while and we finally did. He's about 30 and had contact with the missionaries about 2 years ago. He has read all the bible and the apocrypha and is quite knowledgeable. He was chill but he kind of wanted to argue and bash. But most of the conversation was good. He didn't have a totally religious belief until he started reading the bible as a teenager. he prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and told us it happened. Said he spoke in tongues for like 10 minutes. Now occasionally he goes and lays hands on the sick (people with canes and walkers and stuff) and heals them. Not the first guy I've run into who does that kind of stuff. Not really sure what to think of it, but bless his heart for his intent I suppose. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon if we would read the epistle to the Hebrews. 

We taught a couple of our long time investigators in a members home this week. It's a mother and her daughter. The lesson went really well and the members helped out so much. We read through most of Alma 5 together and focused on Repentance. The investigators were so much more involved than usual and really opened up. I have a testimony that working with members is the best way to do missionary work. And when we can have these investigators in the spirit filled homes of the members, the quality of the lessons improve. He that teacheth and he that receiveth  understand one another and both are edified and rejoice together.

The change in the ward back home sound good! Smaller ward, a few new faces and I'm sure a lot of people that will be missed. But they'll all still be close! I'm about halfway done with training now. Time flies. I'll work my hardest in what looks like my final 6 weeks in this area! You all have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Elder Higginson

 

 We found this out on the Indian Reserve. I thought it was funny. Enjoy!