Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Better Than We Found It!!
Another great week here in Deltona! Transfers happen this Tuesday but Elder Murphy and I are staying together. They are taking the one companionship of sisters we have out of this area and replacing it with elders though, so now it is an elders only area! We are actually ward sharing with the sisters now so they have an apartment and we have a separate house. Now that it will only be elders here they may consolidate us all into one house, we will have to wait and see!
We had plenty of exciting opportunities to find and teach this week. We once again struggled helping our friends get to church but this time our friend Francisco walked in just in time to partake of the sacrament, otherwise we would have had no one there. We are going to shift our focus this week to working with the ward more. The Deltona ward has alot of amazing members. When they come and introduce themselves to the people we are teaching, or volunteer to join us with lessons, the work goes so much better. So many people don't realize that they are welcome and wanted at church. When the invite comes from us missionaries, no matter how sincere it is, it still may seem like we are still just "doing our job". So when the invite comes from another member of the community, it seems far more genuine! So I would challenge all of you to talk with the missionaries this week and see if they have a lesson you could sit in on. Your testimony has the ability to work miracles if you share it!
Keep in touch,
Elder Killian
Pic #1 - a portable air filter since ours was apparently super nasty. The temporary one is nice, but way loud
Pic #2 - Elder Murphy and myself on our way to go grocery shopping this P-day, we went to Publix
Pic #3 - this is one way we teach the plan of salvation or the plan of "love"
Elder Killian's Weekly Letter
The work is going SUPER well here in Deltona! This week we were really blessed as we went about finding people who were interested in deepening their faith in God, we do need to work on inviting people to church however as sadly, no one we invited showed up.
We had one really cool encounter where we had a lesson planned with a nice gentleman, only he didn't answer the door. We decided to go and introduce ourselves to a lady who lived nearby who had requested a missionary visit literally MONTHS ago. We knocked and she answered her door and we had an amazing conversation about her recent attempts to have God in her and her family's lives once again. She frequently works out of town and we were incredibly lucky to have had the chance to get to talk to her as she was leaving for Louisiana the next day! We got her number though and are coordinating a visit.
It is amazing how God always has a plan, we don't need to worry about if we are succeeding or failing, only if we are trying. Past that point He will always take care of the rest! The transfer ends next week as well. I am thinking I will stay with Elder Murphy here in Deltona since he is only half way through his training. I love Deltona though and want to be here as long as I can.
Thanks everyone!!
Elder Desmond Killian
Pic #1 - ice cream with the district, it is apparently a super well known spot just called Deltona Ice Cream
Pic #2 - walking around Lake Ashby, I like the alligator and snake sign almost as much as the no alcohol one
Pic #3 - another Pic at lake Ashby, we didn't see any crocs but we looked
Strait and Narrow
Our friend Daniel got baptized!! It was an amazing experience! We did have to work around a couple obstacles with social distancing and only 10 people max at the baptism, but there was some tender mercies that happened that made everything work out right at the last minute. His brother came along to support him and the next day atchurch everyone was asking him "when is your baptism" or just directly telling him they wanted to be there when he was baptized! They are both really cool guys and we are going to keep meeting with them regularly!
Our mission also produces monthly devotionals over Facebook and their most recent one premiered yesterday at 7. It was easily my favorite so far. We were encouraged to watch it with one of the friends we are teaching and for awhile it seemed like all the ones we invited weren't going to show, but at the last minute our friend Angel showed up. He is about to graduate high school but he has been on a chapel tour with us, attended Daniel's baptism, and now also watched a devotional with us. So we are meeting with him and his family! He said they are all interested in being baptized!
Of course, I also need to address the England situation. Basically any day now I could recieve word that my visa in approved and within days be shipped out. At this point, Elder Murphy and I have really given Deltona a jumpstart so it would be hard to go, I wouldn't mind another couple weeks here but whatever is meant meant happen will happen!
Best regards!!
Elder Killian
Pic #1 - Elder Murphy and I right after the baptism, we celebrated with some toast
Pic #2 - us watching the Facebook devotional on a members laptop, it was great, you should watch it too on the disciples of Jesus Christ in Central Florida page
Pic #3 - I didn't take enough pics this week so enjoy this one one me when I was only a week out in the field
Lizards are like Mice
Hey everyone, this week we saw some miracles, did some service, and ate way more food than we should have.
The other night we were asked if we could go and be in the building when the relief society were doing their activity because they always want to have priesthood holders in the building for safety reasons. As we were sitting in the foyer messaging people we want to teach over Facebook, the relief society president came in asking if either of us spoke Spanish. Well, my trainee was learning French in preparation for France and I had a solid 1 semester of high-school Spanish under my belt so we said "no". She told us one of the relief society sisters had brought her husband along who only speaks Spanish and he was just sitting in a corner waiting for his wife. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Elder Murphy and I decided to give it a shot and one hour later and we had made a new friend named Santiago!
Even though he only spoke about ten words total in English, and we only spoke maybe a dozen ones in Spanish, we learned all about his Jobe as a teacher and then a lawyer, his life in the Dominican Republic, and also his past times coming to church! It isn't generally how people say they experienced the gift of tongues but I know it was important we talked to him that day. We are also going back to teach him (this time with a member to translate)!
Sincerely,
Elder Killian
Pic #1 - made 19,880 calories worth of cookies to deliver to people
Pic #2 - we wanted to eat healthy so we started by eating the two pies in our fridge in a single sitting
Pic #3 - all the Deltona missionaries doing our new finding activity, drive through prayer
Friday, July 30, 2021
Go big or go to England
To all you veteran missionaries out there, this may seem obvious, but going up and just talking with people has been incredibly effective for us! Elder Murphy and I have been going out of our way to talk with every person we can, sometimes to the point where we will see someone walking and will drive ahead a little bit, park, and start walking back towards them. It almost always leads to an amazing conservation centered on Jesus Christ.
I was with Elder Tucker all day Saturday because we did exchanges and we were planning on helping our ward mission leader cut this member's grass but then he messaged us and asked if we could do his real quick beforehand so we helped him. When we got to ladies house after we got into like a pilot formation with our three push mowers, it either looked really cool or really silly but it was effective.
I may have mentioned this in the past but the house we live in is MASSIVE. So massive in fact, that the local woodland creatures have decided to join us in it. We currently have had two lizards slip in that we still can't find and just this morning there was a big frog splayed out on the wall in front of our room. We saw the lizards slip in, the frog though? No idea. Needless to say we are washing all of our dishes before we use them even if they look clean.
Last thing, I mailed off all of my visa paperwork and will get my visa sometime in the next month or two and then get shipped off. It is embarrassing to say, but Florida has changed me. I can't stand the cold anymore, England is going to a be a culture shock and a climate one too now.
Thanks for reading,
Elder Killian
Pic #1 - mowing a ladies lawn with Brother Gardner, our ward mission leader. the grass was waist high I kid you not, Florida lawns are crazy here. We had three mowers going and it still took an hour and a half
Pic #2 - switching back after exchanges with Elder chadburn and Elder tucker
Pic #3 - just woke up and caught this frog this morning, he almost hopped into my face a couple times
Training 101
My old comp finished his mission and flew home to Germany this week and it was crazy busy getting him to that point. Between packing, lessons, and making it to a training meeting the morning of transfers, we were going on less sleep than we should have. I met the missionary I am training though and things have been going great!!
We started off strong by going and knocking on some doors. It wasn't exactly tracting because they were all people who had previously been contacted by missionaries, but for some of them it had been a LONG time! We had some really amazing convos and got more work done here than had been for awhile. In fact, the very first person we visited we were going to knock on the door but the garage was open and they were hanging out talking in it so we started a conversation with them and they invited us in to come sit down so we had a chance to have a nice impromptu teaching opportunity right off the bat the first day Elder Murphy got it!
In other news we had some cool experience just while out walking, in one case we ran into a group of kids out for a walk, one of them had some really good questions for us and the others were nice but not as interested. Having the chance to just get out and walk around also opened the door for MAD blessings!! I don't know if it is the white shirt and tie or the black name tag, but no matter what we start the conversation talking about, we always end up talking about Christ or the gospel and that is the really amazing thing, the gospel is literally everywhere and tied into everything we do, whether we realize it or not!! The work is going forward here now more than ever and I am doing great!!
Thanks for the support!!
Elder Killian
Pic #1 - Pic i snapped on my phone after church, it could be a stock photo I swear
Pic #2 - Elder Freeman and I saying our goodbyes before he went home to Germany
Pic #3 - My new greenie, one hardworking guy
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