Monday, March 30, 2015

Peoria Week 84 *March 30, 2015

Hey hey hey! 


Many of you have heard about the new website called Just Serve. It's basically a site that you can upload service opportunities on for people to come help with. We had the opportunity to go to one of these events put out by the Feed My Starving Children organization held in the Community of Grace Lutheran Church. They put on a once a year food packing event to help the children all over the world that do not have the means to obtain food through their own country. The gymnasium had been converted into a fully functioning FDA approved packing site and there were plenty of volunteers and more then enough work to go around. There were tons of different jobs to perform and all of them were fun. They had music blasting, people dancing and everyone was really getting into it. We had a total of 12 missionaries participate for three hours each so in total we were able to work for 36 hours. In the three hours that we were there as a group we packed 33,000 meals and the whole 24hr event packed over 171,175 meals. At the end of the whole thing we prayed as a group over the food to make sure it had a Devine guiding hand to help it arrive at its proper destination which really added a heartwarming spirit to the event. One of the missionaries volunteered to say the prayer which was super neat. The atmosphere was one of unity, love and service for those that couldn't do it themselves. We all left that event knowing we had really done something right and felt good about it all day!

We have been doing our best to find some new investigators and to get to know the ward the best that we can and the lord is starting to bless us for it. We received a text from some other missionaries with a referral for someone who wants to come back to the church. We were hoping he was not a member but we love to teach everyone so it wasn't a big deal. His name is Zach and he recently moved into our area after some major obstacles in his life. We went over and had a lesson that went really well. As we were about to leave,  Zach's older brother and best friend, David, walked in. David started asking us all sorts of questions about the church and we ended up teaching the whole restoration. He isn't a member but wants to find the right church! God really does bless you when you do the best you can and follow though with opportunities. We invited all three to come to the YSA ward because there was two missionary homecoming talked which are always powerful. Unfortunately they had some last minute things come up which is a bummer. The homecomings were still good and we were able to meet a bunch of people, both members and not, that came to church just for those talks. 

There is a new Easter video that the church has just recently put out titled "He Lives" and it is so good. Last Easters video got me all pumped about Christ and what he did for me but this one really lays it down nice and smooth and really gets the point across. If you have the time and the means I highly recommend you checking it out. Just go to helives.mormon.org It will be worth it! We have been sharing this with everyone and it has been very powerful. We had the chance to take a part member family, the Randells, to the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant last Wednesday night. I have never been to a church pageant before but this one was really good. There are over 500 cast members and they went over the life of Christ in good detail. The music was beautiful and the cast did a great job. I was really impressed and luckily so was the family we went with. I hope this was a turning point in their progression towards the gospel and becoming a fully active family in the church. We didn't get home until pretty late at night and I realized that I have become a real Nancy when it comes to being tired. I could barely stay awake to hold a conversation and I looked over to see elder Johnston passed out next to me but the two members in the front seat were still yapping away and having s good ol time haha. It was priceless. 

Thank you all for everything that you have and continue to do for me. It really means a lot. I hope you all have a great Easter and remember the Savior Jesus Christ. Love you. Talk to you next week

Elder Cole Safford 

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