On October 16th, Benjamin Maxwell, left his home and family for two years to serve a mission in San Jose, California.

As a missionary: He will teach of Jesus Christ and His gospel. He will have doors slammed in his face and be yelled at. He will meet people from all walks of life. He will stretch himself. He will learn about himself. He will learn of his Heavenly Father's love for him and for all His children. He will learn to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. He will serve the people of San Jose. And he will LOVE more than he though possible.

Monday, June 9, 2014

It must be one of those mom missionary things...

So, details on the new companions! I am in a trio now! My companions names are Elder Domingo... I have talked about him before. I  pretty sure that I have even sent pictures of him before. He is deaf and the only way to communicate with him is through sign language. It really helps me learn ASL because it becomes that full immersion as if I was sent to a country where nobody knows English. He is a super cool guy he is from the Phillipines and he has been out six weeks longer than I have. I love him to death and we get to joke around a lot together but at the same time we keep it very professional.

My other companion is Elder Gardner, he is from north Ogden, Utah and has been on his mission just over six weeks. He is the youngest of 14 brothers and sisters and is a very hard worker. He has red hair and he is always getting sick in some way. 

It is a lot of fun having two companions and it's even more fun being in the ASL program. I am amazed at the spirit that can be felt here with this small branch of maybe 20 members on a good day. It's an awesome place and some awesome people. The area I am in now covers the entire mission the Oakland mission and a little bit of the San Francisco mission. I have basically gone from having an area that I serve in to having no area boundaries. It's pretty cool. Sometimes we drive for a really long time to see one person but it's worth it. I love it. We get to go up to Oakland a lot and we got to go to the ASL endowment session on Saturday. It was amazing. It was really cool because the entire session was in ASL and then we got to be there for a deaf and blind ladies endowment and her and her husband were going to get sealed right after. What an amazing experience! The ASL interpretation was only on the really old video so I got to see that one too. It was interesting to say the least! But still amazing!

   I got my new tags this week. They now have a line of authority right under my name and it says American Sign Language underneath. They are awesome!
 
   I still get to work with the Central Park ward which is awesome because we have two baptism dates and they are both super solid! When I got to go ASL they combined the ASL missionaries and the Central Park missionaries so it's basically like I lost my companion and joined another companionship. It's a lot of fun and we all have a good time. It's a great group!
 
   I talked with Elder Le Beau last night and he was telling me how his mom was super happy that she got in contact with you. I don't really understand that, it must be one of those mom missionary things that don't really make since to anyone else!
 
   Coolest thing that happened this week, besides everything else that I already talked about, was one of our lessons with our investigator.  We were teaching him the Plan of Salvation and when we started the lesson he had no idea what the lesson was going to be about. We took him through it step by step and he loved every second of it. You could just look at him and see all those missing pieces fall into place for him. Throughout the lesson he had some questions but they were never questions trying to prove it wrong they were questions asking us how did you find this out? Where did this word come from. He truly wanted to know how we came to know all of these answers that he had been looking for. At the end of the lesson after we had invited him to pray to find out if it was true and read the Book of Mormon and he said he would do all of that. He then said something that I will never forget... "So that's why it's called the Plan of Salvation", he understood at that moment that this is the only way back to Heavenly Father and that it is something he really wants to do. He is awesome and I have learned so much from being able to teach him. I love this gospel and the joy that I see it brings into my life. I love seeing the change that it is bringing into others lives. I am so happy that I get to be out here doing the lords work. This right here is why I came on my mission, so that I could see the joy of others and have that bring joy to me. The church is true! I love all of you and wish you all the best. 

Love, Elder Maxwell

No comments:

Post a Comment