Elder and Sister Elkington

September 27, 2015

We continue to go through the Heritage Park Branch membership list – knocking on doors where the list indicates members live.  When no one answers the door we leave a note on one of our cards expressing sorrow at missing them and saying we will call again.  After several tries, it is easy to convince yourself that the member in question is avoiding you; but, then someone answers the door and they are very happy to see you!  Just because no one answers a knock on the door does not mean they are avoiding you!

We go with the young elders when they teach a nine year old boy on the Shivwits Reservation.  He along with siblings and cousins (7 to 9 of them) are being raised by their grandmother. The elders have completed the prescribed lessons and are now reading from the Book of Mormon with him.  Sister Elkington has ingratiated herself to these children by taking cookies each time. When the elders tell Ethan they are going to read he gets his copy of the Book of Mormon and the other children run and get their copies.  They are so anxious to read the scriptures.  Ethan holds his book very close to his eyes – it is obvious he is near sighted.  (We are going to see if we can get his eyes checked through the school.)  Ethan’s seven year old sister sat by Sister Elkington and said, “I can’t read.  Will you help me?’  We take turns reading – each person reads one verse, and then the next one reads a verse and so on.  Nine year old Katelyn sat on the other side of Sister Elkington and said, “Will you take me to Church?  I have a Sunday dress, but, I don’t have any Sunday shoes.” Sister Elkington assured her she could just wear her sandals.  Then other children said they wanted to go to Church.  Five of them indicated they wanted to attend Church.

We had a busy morning meeting with the Stake Presidency in a 7:00 AM missionary coordination meeting.  Then we met with the Heritage Park Branch Council at 11:30.  We left that meeting early and went to the reservation to get the children for Church.  They naturally received a cookie to eat on the way to Church.  They were very well mannered and respectful. (They also got another cookie on the way home from Church).  They said they want to continue

Elder and Sister Elkington

September 27, 2015

We continue to go through the Heritage Park Branch membership list – knocking on doors where the list indicates members live.  When no one answers the door we leave a note on one of our cards expressing sorrow at missing them and saying we will call again.  After several tries, it is easy to convince yourself that the member in question is avoiding you; but, then someone answers the door and they are very happy to see you!  Just because no one answers a knock on the door does not mean they are avoiding you!

We go with the young elders when they teach a nine year old boy on the Shivwits Reservation.  He along with siblings and cousins (7 to 9 of them) are being raised by their grandmother. The elders have completed the prescribed lessons and are now reading from the Book of Mormon with him.  Sister Elkington has ingratiated herself to these children by taking cookies each time. When the elders tell Ethan they are going to read he gets his copy of the Book of Mormon and the other children run and get their copies.  They are so anxious to read the scriptures.  Ethan holds his book very close to his eyes – it is obvious he is near sighted.  (We are going to see if we can get his eyes checked through the school.)  Ethan’s seven year old sister sat by Sister Elkington and said, “I can’t read.  Will you help me?’  We take turns reading – each person reads one verse, and then the next one reads a verse and so on.  Nine year old Katelyn sat on the other side of Sister Elkington and said, “Will you take me to Church?  I have a Sunday dress, but, I don’t have any Sunday shoes.” Sister Elkington assured her she could just wear her sandals.  Then other children said they wanted to go to Church.  Five of them indicated they wanted to attend Church.

We had a busy morning meeting with the Stake Presidency in a 7:00 AM missionary coordination meeting.  Then we met with the Heritage Park Branch Council at 11:30.  We left that meeting early and went to the reservation to get the children for Church.  They naturally received a cookie to eat on the way to Church.  They were very well mannered and respectful. (They also got another cookie on the way home from Church).  They said they want to continue attending Church.

We could describe several similarly fulfilling experiences we have had this week.  We love these people we are serving and we love our mission.  The young missionaries are very good teachers and they are a joy to work with!

Week ending 9/20/15

Elder & Sister Elkington

We have been calling on Native Americans and have knocked on a lot of doors where no one answered our knock.  But we have had some marvelous visits with a number of people we now regard as friends.  We love working with the Native American people.  They are very open and sincere.

We went with Elders Duncan & Isakson to teach two children on the Shivwits Reservation on Wednesday.  We also went with them to teach a girl in Ivins named Kiza.  In both instances, The Elders did a marvelous job teaching and related very well to those being taught.  We gained valuable insights into how to teach effectively.  We also learned to love those being taught.  They are so responsive to the spirit.  They really look forward to when we come because Sister Elkington normally brings cookies or cupcakes.  They know us well enough they are now specifying which kind of cookies they want.

We continue to meet with an investigator named Jennifer who enjoys our visits, but does not follow through with commitments.  It may be because her husband is not interested – even though he is apparently a member of the Church.

This evening we taught two people we have come to love.  They have two young sons and obviously love them very much.  We taught them The Plan of Salvation.  They were very receptive.  The mother, Mary, said she really identified with the concepts/doctrines that were taught.  She said it awakened many memories of what she had learned as a child on the reservation.  She knows nothing of the Bible, but she is a very spiritual person. The father, Bruce, asked what time the Church meetings start.  He also expressed interest in attending the Heritage Park Branch Family Home Evening at Anasazi Valley on Monday.

ELDER AND SISTER ELKINGTON

13 September 2015

We have been calling on less-active members in the Heritage Park Branch.  We have gone to many doors where no one answers – either they are not home or do not wish to speak with us. But several have invited us in and we know why we are there.  We feel God’s love for His Native American children.  There have been a couple of families where we have seen Our Father in Heaven has prepared the family for our coming.  One sister said representatives of several different churches have called on her to recruit her to their church.  She said she could not understand why there were so many different churches when there was only one Jesus.  We pointed out to her that she faced the same dilemma that Joseph Smith did.  We gave them a lesson on the restoration and challenged them to read the Book of Mormon and attend Church meetings.  They said they would.  Her husband recently completed the LDS Family Services 12-Step Program.  We asked if he would rather have us teach from the 12-Step Program or teach the Gospel.  To our delight, he asked that we teach the Gospel.  They asked that we return next Sunday to teach them.

Another family has a young girl turning nine in October who has not been baptized.  We asked if she would like to be taught the Gospel so she could be baptized.  Her mother said that decision was the girl’s to make.  The young girl was anxiously nodding her head up and down.  We told her to discuss it with her mother and we would return for her answer.  She is already saying her prayers and encouraging her family to pray.  We expect to get her setup with the Elders to be taught.

Many of the children are being raised by their grandmothers because the parents are not part of their lives. Some of these grandmothers are not of good health and do not have much strength, but they willingly give what they have to their grandchildren.  There are so many who give so much!

Friday we attended a three hour zone meeting.  The training was geared to the young missionaries.  But we learned much that will help us in our work. 

We had a great Area Stake conference today.  It was televised to all the stakes in the Utah South Area.  There were several exceptional speakers.  But I especially liked Elder Ballard. He asked that we respect others in or out of our faith.  He asked leaders to respect those within the Church who ask questions.  He said many members who are faithful members still have questions about Church history or practices.  He asked that we,  (including leaders) not condemn people for asking questions, but to work with them to try to obtain answers to their questions.