Gage's countdown

Sunday, June 1, 2014

May 19th email "The Heat Is Here"

Well this week was hot. It's May and it was over 100. 
On the hottest day this week Elder Dorff and I decided to go bike Iron Point Rd. which is the steepest main road in our area. You could also consider it the "Humungadunga" which you would only understand if you watched Pokemon as a child. I have never sweat so much in my life. When we were at the bottom we were stopped at a red light and some guy in a Camero pulled up right next to us. I had him roll down his window and asked him what his car said the temperature was outside. 101 degrees. That was fun. :)

This week was full of lots of hills, heat, biking, and tracting. Lots of tracting. We are trying to work so hard so we can find someone to baptize. At the end of the day we would come home, take a cold shower, and fall asleep so fast. I am really understanding the word "Work" in "Missionary Work." We saw some really cool things happen though. We were able to have a lesson with Rowena which was awesome. The member we brought was so good at making her feel loved, and now they are already really good friends. We had a really powerful lesson on the restoration and she is willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon because she really wants to know if this is true. She is afraid that her husband will find out that she is meeting with us though. We can only meet her on Fridays between 4 and 6 because those are the only times of the week she is home and her husband isnt. So that could bring complication in the future. We will see. Please continute to pray for Rowena that she will recognize the truth and feel of the spirit as we teach and as she reads.

On Friday we were up early and out on our way to Zone Conference. There were great messages and lessons and trainings on how to be better more Christ-like teachers. They really emphasized the importance of teaching the Short and Powerful lessons that are 15-30 minute lessons instead of the 45-90 minute lessons. Our zone sang a hymn for everyone and I was the one playing the Piano. Yay for Piano skills. I learned many great things throughout the conference and was able to see a lot of my good fellow missionary friends i have served with in the past which is one of my favorite parts of Zone Conference.

This week our zone decided to do a zone fast from Sunday to Sunday for greater success in our areas. Each companionship took a day to fast. Our day was Saturday, and what a day it was. We started by tracting. I have never had so many people tell me i was wasting my time. I was ready to slap someone. But i kept my christlike composure and continued with my day. We had an appointment with a guy, but he didnt answer the door. By then i was ready to just go home and eat a sandwich or something. But we stuck to our work and knocked on more doors. As we were headed back home for dinner we decided to knock one last door. As we were walking up to the door, a guy came out to have a smoke. We started talking to him and told him that we can help him come closer to Christ. He almost teared up and told us that is exactly what he needed. We set up an appointment for the next day and we knew that God put us in his path and answered our prayers and fasts.

Saturday and Sunday was stake conference. We went to the Saturday night session because it was all about missionary work. It was great. Then on Sunday they held an 8:30 meeting for all the New Members or people that are looking into the church. They had a Cello player and a guitar player play "Nearer My God to Thee" it was very good and invited the spirit. They then had some of the recent converts talk about their conversion stories and allowed a couple people to stand up and bear their testimonies. To see someone who was just baptized 4-5 weeks ago stand up and bear witness that Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true really filled my heart with a stronger love for this work. We then went into the Sunday session of stake conference. It was a little long but there were great talks and opportunities to feel the Spirit and the youth sang the old EFY Medley to end. I love that song. brings me chills every time.

Thats about all the excitement of the week. Except we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Janae this week. It made me miss the days when I went every Tuesday with Tyson and all our buddies. Good times. Also, my last companion Elder Kahne is going home tomorrow because of complications. Pray for him. 

I know that God answers prayers, I know that we can come to a knowledge of things through the holy ghost and i know that Jesus is the Christ and through his atonement all man kind may be saved! This Work Is amazing. 

Thank you for all your love and support.


-Elder Gage Black

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