Letter

This week was awesome! We saw a lot of growth in our investigators and we contacted a ton of people. The bad news is one of our investigators on date had to push her date back, but two of her sons are now preparing to be baptized with her! They are all preparing to be baptized on December 15! That is Reina and her sons, also, her oldest son at home, Henry, is a less active member. He set a goal for himself to read the Book of Mormon all the way through before the end of the year, when we stopped by on Friday night he had been reading almost 20 pages every day! 

Michelle is so excited to be baptized on December 5, she has been baptized twice before into different churches but it never felt right to her, she knows it will feel right this time. We have another investigator, named Jeri, she is catching a lot of flak from her family for reading and studying the Book of Mormon. When we left our lesson on Wednesday she said she wouldn't be available to meet again until after thanksgiving. The next morning we got a text from her asking if we could meet 2-3 times a week! We were going to do that until her father had a medical emergency and she had to travel to California with him.  She asked us to pray for her to "not succumb to her family's negativity towards her studies". 

We see a lot of little miracles, many times there are so many in one day that I don't have time to write them all in my journal before 10:30. I love my mission so much and I'm training myself to truly open my eyes to gods hand actively affecting the people around me and myself. 

-Elder Andrew Deppe

Letter

We had some pretty cool experiences this week. The highlight was on Wednesday we went to teach a lady named Michelle the plan of salvation. It was amazing seeing her eyes light up as she started to understand God's plan for her, and her potential. She had prayed about being baptized before we came over. She had felt the spirit tell her that baptism is the path that Heavenly Father wants for her. Michelle has a Lot of challenges in her life, and she already has such a powerful faith in Christ and what he's done for us that she stays joyful through them. She is so happy whenever we come over and she tells absolutely everyone she talks to about us! She already talks about the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as "my church"!  She came to church this week and loved it! I'm so excited for her!

Another really cool experience was elder Marcus B. Nash of the seventy came to zone conference on Saturday to speak to us. It was so spiritual and amazing. He spoke a lot about being bold missionaries, and how faith in Christ brings power to our work. On the night before the zone conference we had a 4 other missionaries stay at our apartment and I can say with confidence that never before have I been so grateful for the companion I've been blessed with. I know God loves all of his children and that he knows everyone personally and knows your name. He sees us all for what we could be and not for what we are, and he rejoices as we come closer to that potential he sees in us. Love you all!

-Elder Andrew Deppe

Letter

This was an amazing week! A LOT has happened. We did a lot of finding, knocking doors and just talking to everyone.  I absolute love it, even though people can be rude sometimes. This week our mission president was guided by the spirit to have us use a specific video in our finding efforts. It is Thomas S Monson's testimony of Christ, it is so spiritually powerful, I LOVE it. Anyhow I was a little hesitant to use it at first, but we had a guy ask us to, "come back tomorrow". Which is normally code for, " I don't want to talk to you, and I bet you're too lazy to come back." Obviously we went back the next day and he was genuinely surprised we actually came back. He started to ask us to leave and I went for the long shot and asked him if he had literally one minute to spare (it's a pretty short video). It really hit him. When I asked him what thoughts came to mind as we watched it he spoke for about 4 minutes without stopping. He invited us inside and we left him with a Book of Mormon that he said he'd read, and we exchanged contact information. The spirit is so strong and when it's there it is easy to teach, because I'm not the one teaching at that point. 

This week we got to go and teach a lady named Michelle. She has some trouble grasping the concepts of the gospel, as well as hearing what we say. We've had some communication issues in the past, so we decided to talk really loud and to focus on the amazing gift of the Holy Ghost, and the blessings it brings to our lives. She loved it and really wants it and recognizes that we can obtain that gift after baptism. She is so sweet and she wants to do what God wants her to do in every facet of her life. She asked us," will God give me that good feeling if I get baptized." I know she will and she said she'd pray and ask God about baptism. It was an amazing lesson because of the spirit that was there. 

This week we had exchanges and I made my first trip to the urgent care as a missionary. Elder Johnson came to my area while elder Poston went to his. Elder Johnson had some kind of infection in his thumb that was creating a lot of swelling and pressure and therefore pain. We called the senior missionary over health and she told us to go to the an urgent care. I was kind of bummed because I had a lot of stuff I wanted to do in my area, but the second I thought that i got the feeling that something was going to happen while we were there that was gods will. That feeling (which was the spirit) was right. After we got there (we had to bike for about 20 minutes out of my area to get to the urgent care) I sat in the waiting room while the other elder did paperwork. I sat down next to a lady and had a really long conversation with her, she was a less active member who hadn't been to church in 17 years. I made a friend, and I don't know if that is going to make her want to get back to church, but it helped her feel gods love for her to have a friend to talk to. And that is just as much gods will as someone reading the Book of Mormon. Anyhow after that cool experience I got to go and watch a doctor cut into my temporary companions thumb, which was pretty interesting.  

The last thing I'm going to talk about is the lady who decided this week to get baptized on the 28th. She is amazing. She hasn't been progressing or doing any of the commitments we have left with her for a while. She has been going through some really tough trials lately. But while we were at her house this week we were talking to her and something amazing happened. Elder Poston is no doubt writing back about this same experience but I'm going to talk about something he won't. Elder Poston has been meeting with this lady, Reina, since before I got there. He started meeting with her just as these trials were beginning. Reina is a very tough lady, she has 4 sons and I have never seen her cry. But she could barely speak through the tears as she spoke about how much it has meant to her to have "the boys" (us) meet with her, and how through everything elder Poston has always been there for her since the very beginning, even when her own sons weren't. She decided to follow this light and be baptized. To show her sons, through example, how important God is, and should be in their lives. Elder Poston is an amazing missionary. He doesn't give himself enough credit, but he has changed lives because of his love for people, and will continue to do so throughout his mission. I've been ridiculously spoiled. I have an amazing area, great weather, an apartment with two showers, and then my companion is a childhood friend I've known most of my life. I've loved all the lessons I've learned so far and I look forward to all the lessons I will continue to learn. God loves you all and everyone has infinite potential in his eyes. Love You All!

-Elder Andrew Deppe

Letter

This week was awesome! We taught some awesome investigators and I'm excited to see them progress more. One thing I've definitely seen a LOT this week is how much people notice their member friends and how good they are. Almost everyone we run into knows a member. The only bad stories about Mormons that I've heard so far were from someone who heard a story from a friend of their cousin's dog!

We have some amazing members in our area. Everyone in a 1 mile radius of their homes know exactly where all of the Mormons live. We left our bikes in a neighborhood overnight and a random lady (who the member didn't know) called this sister because she wanted to make sure we were ok. Never forget that EVERYONE notices you, keep being good examples!

Our mission president had some really awesome specialized training on Saturday. We watched a video about Christ and his last week in Jerusalem. Afterwards our president said something that hit me like a brick wall. He said while in tears: "they crucified my friend". The spirit hit me so hard. He loves me and he loves all of you!

So I forgot to mention transfers last week. Nothing really changed for me. I'm still stuck with the worst companion in the whole mission... JUST KIDDING! Elder Poston is AMAZING, I'm learning so much from him and he's so good at just talking to people and being friends with them. But anyways I'm here in Medford 8th Ward for at least another 5 weeks and I love it here! I hope I'm here over the winter because it's a lot more mild here than Eugene.

Anyhow I need to go, but I love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Andrew Deppe

Letter

Hey guys! This week was pretty cool. The weather was awesome! We finally got rain! I love it! We got to do quite a bit of service this week. We helped an elderly brother in our Ward fix his gutters and mow his lawn and we helped a sister dig clay out of her garden. She is the best gardener I've ever met!

We got to talk to a lot of people this week. I met some of the nicest as well as some of the rudest (if that's even a word) people. I've also had some pretty cool little experiences this week.  First of all I have been craving pizza like crazy. I know it's kind of dumb but I was like WAY craving it. This week we got pizza 3 times. It is really tiny and stupid and not a big deal but it really showed me how much God cares about me that he answered my pizza craving. (I didn't realize how dumb that would sound until I wrote it.)

Before I left on my mission I really wanted to get called to a third world Country so I could just serve people. Where it's out in the open and I know what to do to help them. And I was thinking about it the other day,  "why would God send me here?"  I know there are people here that I need to teach,  I KNOW that with all my heart, but I was still wondering a little.

As I was thinking about this suddenly the answer hit me. God didn't send me to another Country because that's not what he needed to prepare me for. I'm not going to be living in Africa for the rest of my life. I'm going to be living in America. And he needs me to learn how to show his love to his children that are here. Not there. Needless to say I have a LOT left to learn, but now I know why, and that impression has given me an even bigger drive to learn.

I Love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Andrew Deppe

Letter

We had some interesting experiences this week. We met lots of cool people and had our bikes die. We bike and walk a lot so we can talk to everyone.  We have lots of people honk at us or yell, some because they don't like us and others because they really don't like us. We kinda just smile and wave back at everyone. 

Our area has lots of hills and they suck to ride up but they are SO much fun to go down! The only problem is that if your tires aren't inflated enough then the bumps between sections of sidewalk can cause your rim to "bite" your tube and make your tire instantly flat. A long walk home solidified that lesson. 

I love tracting! We meet so many interesting people! I found someone who is legitimately nocturnal like as in a way of life not because of their job. Needless to say he wasn't too thrilled that I knocked his door in the middle of the day. I love showing kindness to people who are rude to us, just ask elder Poston.  I've perfected the art of saying with a big smile "have a great day" just as the door is slamming shut. He laughs every time. 

So we've been teaching this guy, Wally, for a couple of weeks and he invited us over to dinner. While we were there we found out that my dad went to high school with their daughter in law! And she lives in our area! So that's pretty darn cool.

Funniest/coolest story this week was Elder Poston and I decided to go tract up on "The Hill" which is a pretty big deal because of how many miles we put on our car to get up there. We tracted for hours and really didn't have a lot of success. Finally we crossed a major road and started tracting there before dinner. As we were about to head to dinner we knocked on a house and no one answered, so we walked away. In the middle of talking to the person who answered the door at the next house someone came out and started yelling "HELLO!", trying to find who had knocked on his door. Elder Poston then yelled back that we would be back in a minute or two. The lady we were talking to wasn't too interested in talking with missionaries, but we are going to send some relief society sisters to fellowship her due to the fact that she is actually an inactive member. 

We then walked back and the previous house, Jerry was a little drunk, and told us so haha. He told us that he's looking for truth and where he needs to be.  We didn't have a lot of time because we had dinner, but we set up a return appointment, and he seemed really excited! After dinner it was late (7:45 but people get angry if we knock on their doors after 8). I was ready to head home and do some new missionary training, but elder Poston said we should knock a couple of houses down. So as we were walking down this street with SUPER nice homes we were drawn to the closest house that had lights on. I'm super scared walking up to it (I was scared they'd get mad because of how late it was) and praying like crazy that God would help this person be happy to see us. 

A boy around 17 answered the door and he was in nice clothes (at first we thought he was a butler or something). It turned out that he had gone to a (Mormon) baptism today for the little sister of his friend.  He explained to us how simple and beautiful the baptism was. We talked to him and he is TOTALLY prepared to hear the gospel! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd love to read it, we got his number and everything and set up a return appointment!

We knocked on the next house and had a member answer the door. It turned out that we weren't even in our assigned area! God is awesome. Elder Poston and I were joking around that the reason we were put together as two green missionaries is because that's the only way we'd make the mistake of not being in our area on accident and that boy needed us that night specifically. God works so many little miracles in everyone's lives and I'd challenge everyone to take a minute every day to recognize them. You'll be blessed for it and you'll be better able to recognize God's love for you. I love you all, but God loves you more! We all have infinite potential in his eyes! 

P.S. Have mom edit this so it actually makes sense haha 

Note from the editor: Hopefully an edit by his Dad will suffice!  :)

P.S.S. Below is a picture from our zone training meeting:

Letter

This week was pretty awesome!  On Tuesday we went to the Church pear farm to do some service (picking up sticks from a field... literally picking up twigs haha).  It was perfectly timed so we were able to pick ripe pears that were left over from the harvest. Fresh off the vine Asian pears are the BOMB.

We also were able to go to the temple this past Tuesday. That was amazing except for it went long and we missed our dinner appointment as well as a teaching appointment :/.

We did a lot of knocking doors this week. So lots of cool conversations and some people who didn't want to talk to us :).  The coolest thing that happened this week was we were looking for a former investigator that a missionary who used to be in this area told us to talk to. We decided to walk and as we were walking down the street we started a conversation with a guy named Martin (marteen) who was reading a comic book on his porch.  He has talked to missionaries before and is excited to talk to us again. We gave him our number and said we'd be back, but he has a very full schedule.

After that we were walking down the street and remembered another lady who had told us to come back when her husband was home (we thought she wanted that because he'd be more mean) but we found him outside fixing a vacuum. His name is Brother Fidow, he is from Samoa, and was baptized there while enjoying the youth programs.  He had later gone inactive after joining the military, but he seemed excited to possibly get his children involved in the youth program.

The funny  part of this whole story is that we never located the house that we were originally trying to find (but we are going to try again later). God has a plan.  Prayer works.  God and Christ love all of the children of God. By trying to be more like them, we can help people realize their true potential. The church is true. Missions teach you a LOT, and I love you all!