World Wide Missionary Training

Dear Family and Friends

Another week gone here in Sulphur, Louisiana! It was a good one! Me
and Elder Fatas first week together was awesome!

Tuesday we went and I introduced him to some members and they all
loved him, which is a good thing! Then we went to Caples and went to
play basketball with a lot of investigators! It was really fun! It is
a great way to find people to teach. Tuesday was a good day!

Wednesday we woke up and drove to the worldwide missionary broadcast!
It was a wonderful broadcast and we received great council on how to
become better missionaries! One of the biggest things I took from it
was Elder Bednar when he said, "You can bring it UNTO the heart of
your investigators, but ONLY the Holy Ghost can bring it INTO the
heart". That really stood out to me. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost
and how we need to stay worthy in order to have it and use it with our
investigators. After the broadcast we went and a taught a member
lesson to a recent convert. It was a really spiritual lesson. We
taught the plan of salvation. Then we went to Brother Kandiks and ate
dinner with him. It was a great day.

Thursday we went and visited an investigator named Charles! We found
him a couple days before and he said to come back and it was one of
the few times where you try back and they are actually interested
haha. We taught him the restoration and asked him to read the Book of
Mormon and pray about it. He said he would and when we went back on
Saturday he had done it! I was so happy! We are teaching him on
Wednesday so hopefully that goes well. He is starting to open up more
and more. Then we went and stayed the night at the Lake Charles elders
apartment because we had to wake up early to drive to zone meeting. I
have to drive everywhere because my comp doesn't have a license so
that sucks.

Friday we went to zone meeting which was awesome and we learned some
great things. Then we came back to lake Charles to drop the elders
back off. Me and Elder Fata felt like we needed to go to stay in lake
Charles for some reason, we hopped on our bikes and starting riding
down a random road in lake Charles. We were going to knock some doors
for the sisters and we saw this woman sitting on a bucket but thought
nothing of it, we started knocking and both kept getting the
impression to go talk to her. We did and she started yelling at us and
saying how she is homeless and is going to jail because it's better
then being homeless and she doesn't know where God was in this. She
blasted us for about 10 minutes and most missionaries would have left
but we stayed and just listened. After she was done yelling we started
to speak to her and I told her that God sent us to her and she started
crying. She said being homeless is terrible and she hates how she lost
everything and life sucks for her. We opened her up and she confessed
to us what she was going through, then we asked if we could pray with
her, elder Fata said a wonderful prayer and she was very comforted and
the spirit was so strong. We changed her life and she came to church
on Sunday!! It was not a coincidence that we picked that street and
was led to there on Friday. She is awesome and we love her already.
The Lord is always preparing people to receive you and for you to have
those experiences. It was an amazing experience. Then we went home and
that was Friday.

Saturday we woke up did studies then drove up to west lake and played
football on the field with about 20 people. It was really fun and we
met some really cool people! Then we went and knocked doors and for
dinner we went to the Sweenys and had pizza. We had a awesome
conversation with him about the gospel. They are an awesome family.

Sunday Bethany came to church! She is the one in the story. It was
awesome to see her there! She really felt the spirit. It was awesome.
After church we went with bro Caple and most of the ward to a family
in the ward, the Crippens. It was a lot of fun and there was some
really good food! Then we went to a Pentecostal church with one of our
investigators! It was interesting. Their music was cool but it was
more like a party form of worship. The preacher got really into it. I
thought it was interesting. This week was crazy!

Thanks for all the support and the emails! I love you all and hope you
have an amazing week!
Elder Sirrine

Transfer #2

Dear Family and Friends

New Comp Elder Fata

Good Bye Elder Scherry

Feasting on the Word

Hey everyone, transfers was crazy yesterday and my new companion is
Elder Fata. He is a big Samoan from California! I am very excited for
this transfer and we get along great! But anyway... My last week with
elder Scherry was good, but not much to write about....

Tuesday we went and taught someone named Maria. She is 24 and loves
what we have to share. Her husband is a little scared to make a change
but, we are praying and hoping they decide that they can do it. We
also went and had a awesome dinner with the Morris', they are my
favorite.

On Wednesday nothing really major happened.

Thursday we went and knocked doors with brother Caple and found a
couple of potentials that will hopefully turn out! Then we ate at the
Caples and taught them a discussion.

Friday and Saturday was full of getting Elder Scherry all packed up
and visiting less actives and teaching members. It was a crazy week
and it was hard to get some things done because Elder Scherry was just
ready to go home.

Sunday was good! We went to church which is awesome! And we also went
to a baptism that the sisters in our district had! It was awesome!
Keith, Shawna, and Michael were baptized and the spirit was so strong.
I was able to to confirm all of them with the Holy Ghost which was
awesome, and a amazing blessing for me. I am grateful they chose me to
do it. Then we went around and elder Scherry said bye to people and we
talked with them.

Now I am with Elder Fata and we are ready to get a lot of work done! I
appreciate all the emails and everything from everyone! I love you all
and hope all of you have a amazing week!

Love you all!
Elder Sirrine

Three Months Done and Down in the Books!!

Dear Family and Friends

I have now been a missionary for 3 months. It is a pretty crazy feeling. It feels like I just barely got out here, which is true, but also I feel like I have been out here for forever.... It is interesting. 

Anyway... This week was crazy because Elder Scherry got all of his going home things and flight plans and things so it has been crazy. 

Monday we went to the Gulf again, which was fun. Then we went over to a less actives for dinner and that was monday.

Gulf of Mexico

Tuesday we got the call that in this ward the missionaries are going to teach every single member the discussions again. We got really stressed when we got that call. We have to teach 2 members every day in order to reach the goal, it has been very stressful. And because we have been doing so much of that, we havent got to proselyte as much. We had dinner at the Caples and then went and played basketball with investigators which was really fun. 

Wednesday we went to and did service, we helped a member move for most of the day, t was awesome because she really needed help. We also went to an investigators house named Danyelle Braxton. She is an awesome women and we taught her lesson 1 and 2 and commited her to be baptized on the 30th of this month! She has stopped smoking and really wants to be baptized. When I offered the invitation to her to be baptized she broke down in tears and started thanking our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for sending us to her. The spirit was so strong! 

Thursday we went finding for most of the day! we found a lot of potentials and taught some first lessons but, not anything big to report. 

Friday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It was awesome and Elder Strong showed us some investigators that were close to being baptized when he was here and now they are investigating again! that was awesome. We also went and taught the stake president the first lesson and that was really powerful and spiritual. Teaching the members is amazing. 

Elder Gary with Elder Sirrine on Exchanges

Saturday we went finding and did more service for a soup kitchen. It was a great experience. We also went and saw Danyelle and taught her the 3rd lesson and she still really wants to be baptized! 

Sunday we went around and visited less actives and potential investigators. That was really awesome and some of those less actives were at church as well! It was awesome! 

The spirit is amazing and I am loving the mission! I appreciate all the personal emails, packages and letters! yall are the best! I hope everyone has an amazing week! Until next week!

Love you all! 

Elder Sirrine

Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends

Sulphur District

Cool Sulphur District

Happy new year to everyone!! I hope everyone had an awesome New Years
and made some good goals for this year.

Monday was a relaxed day. We went to the church and played basketball
and then went and ate at Popeyes, then just chilled at our apartment.
It was pretty nice to relax for a bit. Then at night, Elder Garry and I (an elder in my district), came to my area in Sulphur with me and we went on exchanges.

Tuesday Elder Garry and I went and knocked doors all day. We didn't
know where to go knock so we prayed in comp study and I pointed to a
random tiny street and said, "there". Elder Garry gave me a weird look
and said, " alright, whatever you say". We went knocking there and we
found some amazing people. We found a member name Ivelynn, who is
awesome. She has not been to church in 16 years because her ex husband
wouldn't let her. Once she opened the door and saw we were missionaries, she broke down crying. The spirit was so strong and she said " thank goodness you have finally come". It was incredible. She is re-married now to a man named Nick who is not a member. They have 3
kids who are all not members. Nick is really interested in our church
and Ivelynn really wants to come back to church so they are coming to
church next week which is awesome! Then after we knocked doors all
day, we went to the church and played basketball with the ward. It was
an awesome day.

Wednesday we went back to Ivelynn and Nick and taught them the
Restoration and the Plan of salvation. They loved it and Nick asked a
lot of questions which was awesome. We also went to Brother Thatchers
for dinner and it was steaks! It was so good!

Thursday we went and taught a Spanish investigator with Brother
Thatcher. I tried to teach in Spanish but brother thatcher had to
translate most of it haha. It was very spiritual though and we taught
her the restoration and she wants us to come back this week! I am
excited for that. Her name is Iris. Then we went to Brother Morris'
house for dinner and we had to be in by 6, because it was New Year's
Eve. It was a really boring night. But, it is good we were in by then
because people get crazy drunk down here for New Years and do crazy
things.

Friday we did a lot of contacting and also visited Ivelynn and Nick
and helped them do some yard work. That was an awesome experience. Not
much else happened that day.

Saturday we went and did service for a member in the ward and then
went and Played football with the ward! It was a lot of fun!

Sunday, church was awesome and Iris was at church! It was awesome and
I was so happy to see her there! Then after church, Bishop Clifford
invited a lot of people to his house and asked us to teach the
restoration to a lot of these non members. The spirit was so strong
and I was a little nervous because it was in front of about 30
people. But it turned out to be awesome.

This week was an awesome week! I can't wait to see what 2016 has in
store for me and all of you! I love you all and appreciate all you do
for me! Until next week. Happy new year!!

Love all of you!
Elder Sirrine