November 10, 2014 Week 70

Hey ya'll!

 Sounds like you had a great week!  That is awesome that Joel was able to experience a championship game!  

I still have my hoof so they don't need to worry about that! It is hard though having an effective workout with such limited time! (hoof = tricep muscle)

What is up comoco being a woman what the heck?! I saw a kid playing clash of clans the other day, it made me laugh! (Comoco=woman in Fin Clan of Clash of Clans, Doug and I met her and her husband for dinner last week when we were in Las Vegas. )

The work is going great here! 

You asked how many less active we have found in the Wichita Falls ward... well a ton! We don't have an exact number! 

But less active story for the week. 

So we have every single person who is on the ward roster punched into the gps, this is super helpful when we have some free time.  No matter where we are in our area we are close to at least 3 or 4 less actives.  We have not gone 'tracting' once this transfer.  

But back to the story, we were driving around last night and it was 8:45... and everyone who has served a mission knows that 8:45 can be a rough time, just because it is 15 minutes before we can go in.  

But Elder Barrett was inspired to see one of the less actives that we haven't visited.  

So we go over to this persons house and they dont answer--hijole. 

As we were walking to the car the door opened! 

We then ran up to the door and were able to meet this man and set up an appointment for next week.  

We didn't think much about it.  

But that night we were talking to the other missionaries in our district and they told us that that night a member told them to visit the less active man we just saw!! it was crazy! 

We talked and the time that we decided to go see them was the same time they were talking to the member! 

I don't know why 2 people felt like this person needed a visit. But I am sure we will find out this week! 

I guess he used be a member of the bishopric and hasn't been to church for 5+ years! It should be a fun one!! LA work is the best! 

WE are having a baptism this week for Monica McCawly so keep her in your prayers! 

I am now 2 for 2 in getting pulled over and getting away clean!  We were driving down the street and all of the sudden it happened blue and red everywhere! 

We pulled into a street and waited...as usual.  Well the officer got out of his car and phoned in for back up... I guess a Chevy Cruz with no tint and a picture of Jesus looked pretty suspicious! Ha he even pulled out his flashlight and was looking into our car (we did have those giant pixie stixs in the back, maybe he thought it was cocaine...).  But it ended up we didn't have our lights on! 

I guess before we were making a phone call and the call was a little lengthy so I turned off the lights and then forgot to turn them on...

But I have gotten away from the Oklahoma and THE GReat Texas police... but not the Sandy police. I guess that shows who has charity haha no, it probably helps being dressed as a missionary (they just look at us and think "well they are already going to hell, might as well give um a break') ahh good times! 

I studied in 2 nephi 26:22"...yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever." 

This is a great parallel to the power of the adversary and how he works. I have seen this in my life as the adversary has tried to place this little 'flaxen cords' in front of me.  I have seen how those small cords, which initially could be broken easy, turn into powerful cords capable of bearing much tension.

So lets break them strands before they turn into rope!

LOVE YA 

ELDER FINlinSON

November 3, 2014 Week 69

November!

Wow, October is gone!  

The weather here finally caught up! 

Thanks for the Halloween package!... the scone mix exploded and smelt kinda bad but that's ok, the rest of the stuff was great!  

It is awesome to hear the everyone is playing some November football that is always a good sign! Go kill those hawks this week!  

It is great that y'all live in a neighborhood that is safe enough to have trick or treating! Most of the people we have visited this past week didn't let their kids go! I guess there was one neighborhood that did it just because they are huge houses--so people drove to it and went trick or treating!... It is going to be interesting how much longer trick or treating stays around!

This week was great though we got some good work done! I like the time change but I hate it at the same time! Missionary work is hard in the dark!  I guess Texans dont really like the change either.  We had a gun pulled on us last night doing some less active hunting! fun fun its alright he was drunk;)  But we have been having a good time!  

For the past month we have been having Family Home Evenings with Sister Allen (She is a single mother of five ages 8 and younger! The youngest was born 2 weeks ago! Then 1 week ago her son broke his leg and is now rolling around in a wheelchair!) but anyways I had the opportunity to baptize/confirm 8 year old Juliana.  It was kinda weird doing it for an active family especially since the 'dad' (who is a RM, and was active a few week ago) was there.  But it was a great experience!  And another testament for me to always be loyal to your family and those you truly love!

Yesterday we had dinner at the Bishop's house! This ward is blessed with a great bishop who really cares for the people here! But during dinner their dogs escaped! Well this wouldn't be a problem if they lived in the city... but they live in the sticks! So we were all looking for them for about 30 minutes and gave up... Bishop said  that they would probably come back and luckily they did!  But it was kinda fun running around in the sticks--and cactus...I got to see the beauty of Texas (which is sparse)

Well that is about it for today! There is just too much to talk about i cant even think:)

BUENO, BUENO

LOVE YA 

ELDER FINLINSON

October 27, 2014 Week 68

"OBEY FOR RAIN"

HAPPY 49 PADRE!! 

Wow what a week! 

The trio has been made again! We got a text from President Sunday morning saying that Elder Rodriguez will be arriving in Wichita Falls around 2! It was awesome! I was able to meet Brother Lee.  But it is going to be nice to have the trio again.  It is really nice not having to worry about the 3rd male rule!  I really hope that President keeps us together at least until Christmas! 

This area has really been progressing a lot!  I was able to punch in all of the members in our area in the GPS! It took forever but it is worth it! Instead of tracting in our free time we are doing less active work (which honestly is about 4X more effective!... we have found a ton of part member families just this week!) One LA (less active) miracle we had this week was crazy! So Elder Barrett and I knocked on this less active door, no one answered. About 20 minutes later we got a call from the less active... He asked us if we had been by we told him yes.  He then shared how the night before he and his wife decided to go and watch Meet the Mormon's and felt like he needs to get back to church! We then set up an appointment for the following week to meet with him.  Well the next night we received  a call from him and he shared how he needed a blessing.  Luckily we had no set plans for the night and we were able to go and visit him.  He shared how ever since he talked to us the day before he felt lost and no focus.  He pretty much waited last minute to ask us,  But we were privileged to give him a blessing.  After we could see that he knew what he needed to do!  It is always nice to see that you were the instrument in bringing someone closer to Christ.  Most of the time it doesn't happen that way! 

So our message that we have been sharing with members this week has been awesome because it relates really well to Wichita falls!  Just to give you some background-- Everywhere in Wichita falls there are signs reading 'pray for rain'... which I think is great! BUT prayer is an act of faith. How do we increase our faith?- True to the Faith says, "We can strengthen our faith by keeping the commandments. Like all blessings from God, faith is obtained and increased through individual obedience and righteous action. If we desire to enrich our faith to the highest possible degree, we must keep the covenants we have made." ...well this is a problem when most of Wichita falls view commandments as suggestions! what is a prayer without faith? 

This made me think and led me to Leviticus 26

3 ¶If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

This is one 'if then' statement this place doesn't know... this is one 'if then' statement this world doesn't know! 

But I found it very ironic that the 1st blessing talked about is RAIN! haha It has been great sharing with everyone! 

Every member that we have shared that with has loved it! 

One family we shared it with( the 1st counselor in the bishopric) loved it so much they made there 14 year old daughter share it for mutual that night! haha it is great! So if you hear on the news an OBEY FOR RAIN campaign in Texas…THAT'S US!!! We shared it with Bishop yesterday for a dinner message and he loved it! haha...

The work is hastening here in Texas and you better believe it! Wichita Falls Ward will soon be Wichita Falls 1st and Wichita Falls 2nd!... yesterday our ward had 21 less actives at church and 5 investigators! Watch out Satan we be comin'!

LOVE YA 

ELDER FINLINSON

#obeyforrain

#wichitawork

#floodinthefalls

October 20, 2014 Week 67

Wow what a week!! 

I went to the airport! It was weird to go to that place! I had some memories of my first day in OK!! 

I thought " this is where it starts and this is where it ends!" 

But I was able to pick up Elder Barrett and it was great to see him again! 

We have had an awesome time just in these few days! 

We are going to tear it up here in the WICHITA FALLS!!

We taught about 5 lessons so far to investigators in the 6 or 7 hours we have had to go out, we have had meetings, stake conference, driving places, etc. 

We taught a lady this week, and her less active husband she is investigating, and we taught her about word of wisdom and tithing and it went well, and we asked her for a ride to stake conference an hour a way and they said yes, I guess the night before she had 3 hours of sleep and she tried to think of every excuse not to go on Sunday but she knew she was taking us so she kept her promise and took us.  The speakers there really touched her and she felt the spirit in their words.  She said after Stake Conference a lot of her concerns were gone.  So I think she is close she just has to give up coffee which she said she has given up for lent a few times, even though she doesn't follow that religion she did it any way....

This week our go to verses are in Alma 37:6-7  

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

We have been sharing this with the members.  I think many times we try to bring to pass great things not realizing it is by the small things that we can get to those great things.  It is like trying to score a touchdown without having any plays!  I think that the Doctrine of Christ runs right along with verse 7, it is so simple, but impossible to deny!

Sorry for the short letter! But I still love ya'll

ELDER FINLINSON

October 13, 2014 Week 66

Bueno Bueno

Wow what a week!!! 

So I will just get straight to the crazy news! 

So on Saturday we were having our comp study and President called and said that he was on his way to Wichita Falls to drop off Elder Rodriguez's stuff! 

1. clean the apartment 

2. what is happening!!!!? 

So we cleaned the apartment super quick and President came and gave us some early transfer doctrine! 

Both Elder Karr and Elder Palmer are leaving and in their place Elder BARRETT and Elder RODRIGUEZ, they are going to be my new comps! haha... if you remember Elder Barret was my mtc comp! and Elder Rodriguez is an awesome elder! The crazy thing is that on my first day of the mission field Elder Rodriguez took Elder Barrett and I tracting for the first time! WE joked about being companions together!...well it must have been a prophecy!!!  It is going to be Elder Barrett and me for the first 2 weeks.  Then Elder Rodriguez is going to come... he has to get his visa figured out!

IT is going to be pretty crazy! we have a huge area (more then half of Wichita Falls!) I am still trying to figure out how to get around!  But I guess we will just have to find new people to teach if we can't find the old ones! Thats alright this area could use a deep clean!

This past week was great!  The weather finally took a dip and we are enjoying some fall weather! This past week I had the opportunity to give 2 baptismal interviews! They were very different! One was a 9 year old  and the other was a 70 year old! ha They were both interesting... some highlights-- the 9 year old remembering what the law of Chastity was... haha and then the 70 year old was a black Vietnam vet! He wanted to share all of his stories and I really would have wanted to hear all of them if it wasn't 8:45 at night! It is awesome to hear the conversion of others no matter what the age is!! SO share your story! 

Sorry for the short letter! It will be longer next week!! 

LOVE YA

ELDER FINLINSON

October 6, 2014 Week 65

"great, now my hand smells like weed"‏

 Wow what a week! Way to go my Utes! yes! Everyone here was sad because BYU lost to Utah State! But of course they wouldn't say anything about the Utes beating UCLA! There isn't one University of Utah fan in my district or ward! Oh well I am used to it! Ehh it is nice to hear that this will be my last football season that I have to endure through! We tracted around yesterday and Everyone was watching football! Saturday night we went to Texas road house (in texas) and everyone was watching football!!!  

That is awesome that Eli and Joel are both playing good! I knew that that would happen for Eli!  There is always someone who gets hurt in the middle of the season.

Wichita Falls had their high school rivalry game on friday... everyone was dressed up and ready to play.

This week was pretty different.  On Thursday we were able to watch Meet the Mormons! President received a screening copy and we were able to see it! It was weird sitting down and watching  a movie! It was a good film...though it made me a little trunky with the football and skiing scenes! Ehh and not just any skiing... Little Cottonwood Canyon skiing!! hijole! But i think that it was a great way to explain a little about what those weird mormons actually believe!

We were also able to do a good amount of service this week! The first opportunity we had was with this German less active--she is crazy her name is Silka.  She lives in Iowa park which is about a 15 mile drive from our place.  She needed help cutting down sunflowers... lets just call them sun trees! Well she didn't have any tools to cut them down except a weed whacker, a shovel and a weird hoe thing! Well a weed whacker doesn't do much when the stems are as thick as a half dollar and we broke the hoe thing 10 minutes in!  So we had a shovel... well we ended up going and asking one of here neighbors if they had anything.  He let us use his push weed whacker... nope didn't do anything! So we got a machete from him and some clippers and went to town!...then we got eaten alive by chiggers!

So you might be wondering why the subject is "great, now my hand smells like weed" haha well we tracted into a guy yesterday who was 'sky high' haha he of course was really interested to visit with us, but didn't have time...but we shook his hand and after that Elder Karr said "great, now my hand smells like weed"! it was great! luckily that was the last house we knocked so no one had any ideas! 

Of course general conference was great! some quotes that I liked!

"A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder"--Thomas S Monson

I think this was my favorite because it related really well with missionary work! 

A missionary without(or who doest know his) purpose is like a ship without a rudder! 

"as we seek heavenly help our rudder shall not be jammed!"--Thomas S Monson

Well I hope y'all received some great revelation at conference!

ELDER FINLINSON

 Elder Karr

 Mike member we visit that had a Stroke

September 29, 2014 Week 64

Uhhh man I am really jealous of the weather y'all are having right now!  It seems like it should be in the 70's in the morning but then we go outside and it is 90!  I am trunky for some Fall weather! It is coming but not fast enough! We call this number on the phone 'tell me' and that is how we get the weather! Well this week I just had to see what the weather was like back in the Ole Sandy... 60's and 70's...lucky! I also saw that it was raining almost every day! Share the love!

We had a sweet lesson this week! It was with Bro Craig(he has been investigating the church for a long time, but hasn't been progressing!--imagine a 60 year old white Indian Thor) We had a church tour with him and it was crazy! This was actually my first church tour of the mission that has worked! It started pretty normal. we took him around the whole church and ended with the chapel...  before we went into the chapel we told him of the sacred nature of the chapel and what goes on in there!  Right when we went into the chapel it was a game changer! The spirit just whacked us all in the face! We went into the front and sat on the front benches.  This is when it gets crazy... we asked him if he had thought about being baptized.  He told us he thinks about it every day! We asked him if he was ready...there was  a very long pause and he told us about how he needs to do some things before he will be ready to be baptized.  He talked about how he can't forgive himself for some things that he had done in the past! 

Brother Craig was feeling true Godly sorrow! It came to the point where we all felt that we were just distracting him and hindering him from feeling the spirit.  We told him that we would leave him in the chapel to ponder and pray! That was the first time in my mission that the spirit told me to leave an investigator in a middle of a lesson! It was crazy! so we left him in the chapel and went to the foyer... those were probably the longest 5 minutes of my life! HE came out, he talked a little bit and we left with a prayer!  I don't know what he felt, but I do know that he felt the spirit!  Church tours are the best! We don't have to invite the spirit into a church.  It is already there! BOOOM  

1 hour latter...

We were bashing with a recent convert who said that he isn't coming back to church!...RETENTION!!! ehhhhh it is so annoying! i guess that is what happens when people get baptized for the wrong reasons!  We were talking to him at golden corral for 2 hours... at least we were at golden corral haha. some people have the weirdest beliefs! The trinity, faith without works and the rapture! it is all crap... the great apostasy is testified to me everyday serving here in the south!

WELLL have to run have a great week!

love ya

--ELDER FINLINSON