It's Getting Cold

Yesterday I saw snow on the Mtns and knew Utah winter was here. Then this morning it snowed at our house. Let the cold begin.

Work in Layton is going well. We have two baptisms scheduled for this upcoming weekend. And 4 more to follow in the weeks after. Now we need to focus on finding more people to teach so we can have a continual line of prepared people brought to Christ instead of having nobody to teach for weeks like we had before.

We had an amazing lesson this week. There is a family, the Bylillies, that have been taught in the past. The parents are members, but don't go to church. The wife has 2 daughters who haven't been baptized, and don't go to church. After some persistent work, we started teaching them a few weeks ago.

The main hurdle was the mom. She's been, for lack of a better word, grumpy toward the church and missionaries in general. We have a lesson every Wednesday. This week we taught the Plan of Salvation, which is something they've been taught at least once, probably a few times by missionaries. The actual lesson was good. Nothing at all special. We answered a few questions, taught about where we came from, why we are on this earth, and what happens after we die, which is what this lesson covers.

After the lesson, Bro. Peterson, the neighbor, bore his testimony of how the knowledge of this plan has helped his life. After he did this, Elder Miller and I followed suit. Just after the 3 testimonies, as I was about to wrap it up and end the lesson, the mother burst into tears. She then bore her testimony about prayer, the Plan of Salvation, and said "I know the church is true". It was amazing. The spirit hit us all like a semi truck.

It completely changed my attitude of having lessons over at their house. They still haven't gone to church in a loong time. But there is progress, however slow, steps are being made that she, her children, and everyone she comes in contact with will be blessed with. I love being a missionary because I get so much out of talking to people. I get to hear people's heartfelt sincere testimonies and that just strengthens my own.

Great Week

I just ate lunch at the new In-N-Out burger in Centerville. It was tasty.

This week has been great. I'm serving with Elder Miller. He's from Minnesota, and a stud. I've got another hard worker, and the work is continuing to expand. Right now we have 6 people who have dates to get baptized. It's hard to imagine this is the same area I served in a month ago when not a single thing was going on.

We met a way sweet guy at church this Sunday. He's mentally handicapped. He saw my name was Pearson, and I was from Texas. So he asked me for a pear. I told him I didn't have one. So he said if I didn't give him one next time he saw me he was gonna cut off my leg with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Then he told that to the Bishop. It was pretty funny... so now I have got to get some pears. He told Elder Miller he doesn't drink. haha.

This week's been great. I wish I could say I'm teaching Miller a lot, but that would be a lie. He's a stud. I'm learning a lot from him though. Keep me posted in yalls lives. And don't forget to pray.

Another Transfer, Another Companion

Tomorrow is transfers, and I will be getting a new comp. Elder Johnson will be going to Farmington, not far away at all, and will be serving with a sweet missionary. I don't know who I'm serving with yet. I'll be training, and they always make that a big thing.

So, I'll find out who I am training tomorrow when we meet the greenies. Should be fun. Every transfer seems to go by faster and faster. It's hard to think that after this transfer will be my final Thanksgiving and Christmas. Things are going great in the area. I'm really glad to be staying in Layton, because there has been a lot of great work going on and it's gonna be great to see it all play out.

Elder Nichols, who lives very close to me in East Texas, will be my DL. This is the most excited I've been for an upcoming transfer. It'll be SWEET. I just hope my son, my trainee, is cool. Everyone pray i get someone from the South.

Transfer Nine Comes To An End

Next week I will know if I'm getting transferred or not. It's always exciting and a bit nerve-racking to find out who and where you will spend your next 6 weeks with. The good thing is to know that wherever and whoever I do serve with it is the Lord's will. So we'll see.

This week has been great. We are continuing to have success in finding and teaching. The time has flown by this last week, which is good. Because it means we are working hard and have a lot to do.

General Conference was this weekend. General Conference is a time when we get to hear of the inspired men and women that lead the church at this time. From the prophets and apostles of this time. There are 3, 2-hour long sessions on Saturday, and 2 more sessions on Sunday. Elder Johnson and I watched the Saturday morning session at home in the Jensons' (the people we live with) home theater. It was pretty neat to be able to watch that. We watched the afternoon session with a cool family in the area. And we got to go down to the Conference Center (in Salt Lake City) to watch the Priesthood session in the evening. It was amazing!

I think the coolest part was when Elder Russell M. Nelson, one of the Apostles, gave a talk on missionary work. And told all the full-time missionaries to stand up. In the midst of 22,000 other people in the center, I was able to stand up with all the other missionaries.

Elder Pearson in front of the Salt Lake Temple - Oct 2010

We also returned to the conference center for the Sunday morning session. And watched the Sunday afternoon session in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a weekend packed with long days, amazing talks, and the spirit. It was definitely an amazing experience to have, and I realized that this was my 3rd conference to watch as a missionary. Which means I will also be going to the next conference in 6 months. And it will be my last one as a missionary :/ kinda a downer. But just means I need to make every minute of what I have left count.



Elder Johnson and Elder Pearson at Temple Square



If You Judge People You Have No Time To Love Them

This week has been a complete turn-around from last week. Last week we had a grand total of 0 lessons. We had 7 lessons cancel in just a 2 day period last week. This week was much better. We taught 6 lessons, picked up 4 new people we're teaching, and now have 4 people who have goals to get baptized in October, rather than the 1 person we had last week. It's been a true blessing from the Lord. He has put prepared people in Elder Johnson and my path. I know we will continue to find people now, and work with the members to teach those that want to learn more about Christ.

We had Zone Conference this week. We got to hear from Elder Robbins, who is in the 1st Quorum of the 70. We also had a special meeting we got to go to where we met Bryan Davis, who is a direct descendant of Joseph Smith. He told us of his conversion. He didn't grow up in the church. He and his mother found out about it through their lives and eventually joined the church that was restored through their ancestor. It was cool to see him, he looks a lot like Joseph.

Things are going well in Kaysville. I'm continuing to gain weight. I checked a few days ago and am now almost to 170. haha. I'm not really fat yet, so I hope I'm just getting taller and not wider? There's too much food here. Anyway, keep in touch