Last P-day after I wrote home, We went to a trampoline park in Pittsburgh!!! There were about 15-20 missionaries there, and it was soooo fun!!! Even though it seems like everybody and their dog can do a backflip.... arrgghh okay new years resolution.. Learn how to backflip. #impressive #conversationstarter #newfindingidea #success ;)
Also, the Hyitas came to church for the third time in a row!!! They stayed for all three hours and they really enjoyed themselves. Elder Martin sat with them for Sacrament, (I was speaking so I couldn't sit with them) we went with them to Gospel Principles class, and we sat with Brother Hyita for Elders quorum! It was Awesome!!! The Hyitas are the young Less Active family that told bishop they wanted to come back to church and receive callings and all that jazz. They are such a cool family. They also invited us to dinner on Saturday and it was sooo good... He Grilled steaks.... not impressed yet? It was 3 degrees outside when he was grilling them.... Oh yah, he definitely loves us :) haha we also played Gestures with them after dinner, I am absolutely terrible at it, but it was still way fun.... mostly cuz we won :)
Also this last week I had to prepare a District meeting on Thursday instead of Wednesday because President Johnson was coming down to Interview us.... You could say I was pretty nervous to have him there. ;) I thought that Sister Johnson would be coming as well because the last time he did interviews, she sat in on the meeting and took notes.. So I thought to myself "I bet she would love to be included in the meeting instead of just sitting there..." So I planned on using her to help me teach for most of the meeting.... well she wasn't there.... So I just changed all of my plans and winged it!!! hahaha So I taught a few things in the meeting, One thing I taught was a simple illustration that shows how people should be taught so that they will most likely change. I learned this illustration from a man in our ward whose job it is to go around to different companies and train them on how to be more productive. They all LOVED it!! I wish I had a picture so I could show you what it is, but even then it would take me a while to explain... so just trust me when I say, It was awesome ;) haha Another thing I did was basically one of the most nerve wracking things ever but both my sister and my mother encouraged me to do this.. so I did. I sang to them... No piano, no music, nothing but my voice and a room full of confused missionaries. There was a time in the MTC that my companion Elder Smith and I were really nervous to teach this lesson to one of our fake investigators. We had no idea what to teach him and we were encouraged to listen to what the spirit told us to teach him. So we had to bring the spirit stronger so we could feel it better. So we went into a room, closed the door, and I sang him my favorite hymn as he just sat there listening to the spirit. The spirit was strong, he understood what we needed to teach, and the lesson went great!! So with my district I did the same thing. I had them pull out a piece of paper, and just sit and listen to what the spirit told them to do differently this year. I prefaced this by telling them that we all have something specific the lord wants us to do differently this year, whether it's doing more of something, or stopping doing something else, or whatever. I encouraged them to listen to the spirit and write down what it told them to do. Then I sang Hymn 335 Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy. My favorite hymn. They sat, and sat, and eventually started writing. I didn't ask
them to share what the spirit told them to do. But I encouraged them to strive to do whatever it is they were told to do. Then I bore testimony of the spirit and the power it has in our own conversion, and in the conversion of others. I felt the spirit strong, and I hope they did too. I got a lot of compliments for this one, and I hope that means they learned something, but either way, I'm just glad my Mother and my Sister encouraged me to look for opportunities to sing to people. We all have gifts that we were meant to share, It doesn't matter if someone is better at that gift than you, what matters is what we do with it.In church I was asked to speak on the Atonement. Probably the most flexible topic I can think of. You can take the Atonement in so many different directions. At first it was hard to pin down where I wanted to go with this talk, but then I had an Idea that I needed to change the way we looked at the Atonement. In true Braden DeFreese style, I had to use some sort of food in my talk, so I compared the Atonement to a big Chocolate cake.... yep... a cake. haha I was saying basically that for me, a chocolate cake isn't doing anyone any good just sitting in the refrigerator instead of in my mouth!! Just like how the atonement isn't doing anyone any good if we don't use it! haha They got a kick out of it... not sure if the bishop did.... oh well. I went on to explain how to use the atonement, pointing out that we need to commit to living the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to fully repent, then pointing out that in order to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to use the Atonement regularly. They go hand in hand. Then I went to 2 Nephi 2:25 I believe that's the scripture that says men are that they might have joy. So then I said, If we are supposed to have joy in this life, but we are also supposed to be using the atonement regularly, then that must mean that the Repentance process is not supposed to be a sad or a scary thing. But in fact it is the single greatest thing we can do to bring happiness in this life. When we repent we are simply put, aligning our will with God's will, and letting Jesus Christ pay for our past mistakes. How great a blessing it is that we know how to do that! So I encouraged them to make the Atonement a more prominent part of their lives, and to look at it as an opportunity to grow, both closer to your Heavenly Father, and the rest of the Godhead, but as a person in general as well.
Other than that I'm not sure what to inform you on. We haven't taught a lot of people this week, but it's definitely not for lack of trying. We have been searching as best we can, just haven't found them yet. But that's okay, we'll just try to make a difference wherever we go, and trust that the lord is preparing people for us to teach, and that when they're ready for us, we'll find them. :)
I hope these e-mails are slightly more informative than my previous e-mails! haha I'm trying to do better with these so that you know what's going on with me... So now you should definitely write me and tell me what's going on with you!! hahaha I love the Gospel, and I love being a missionary, even on the hard days. Thanks for everyone's Prayers and support! I love you and I miss ya!
-Elder DeFreese 1. This is a picture of us at the Trampoline Park last week :)
2. I found a sweet Jacket at a second hand store that I think you'll really like. It's a Levis Jacket that was originally over 180$ but I got it for like 30 bucks!!! I also got the tie in the picture :)
3. Emergency Shower? (Do you think this belongs on Batman's Utility belt?)
4. Sweet Gigantic icicles!
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