LONG TIME NO WRITE!

Hey all! Its been about 3 months since I've updated the blog so here we go. I'm still in Jackson with my good friend Elder Olsen from Manti, Utah. We have managed to be partners in crime by roaming the streets acting ridiculous and calling others unto Christ. We have had so many adventures!! As many have seen from Facebook, we baptized John Warf and Nick Noppe. They have already been to the temple and have recieved callings in their ward. Its amazing. They are both 27 and working on getting their ex's approval to allow their kids to enter the waters of baptism. 

I also Baptized Scott. He's a great guy who was an under water welder in the great lakes and his career ended because he got a case of MS. His story is inspiring and it was an honor to see him turn away from an apostate non-denominational faith to Jesus Christs church. 

Elder Olsen was home schooled most of his life so we are breaking some ice together and I would say its going well. 

Ive gained 20 pounds in jackson thanks to old Polish members feeding us Kielbasa every other night. There are a lot of polish people in Jackson for some reason thanks to WWII. 

Ive finished all of the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price sense Ive emailed last and Ive aquired so much knolwedge about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration of the Church. 

My favorite part of the Scriptures would have to be the book of Abraham where he discussed how God collected the intelligence of the universe and formed them into our spiritual DNA. I know that we are beloved spirit sons and daughters of God and that everyone on Earth chose to come and follow Gods plan. No matter how evil people may be. They have a spot in the celestial kingdom thanks to the grace of Jesus Christ. Good stuff. 

We have another Baptism on Febuary 8th. We are teaching 2 excommunicated women with children who are repenting with the Bishop and are progressing through our lessons. They both asked me to Baptize them and Im so excited. 

For our finding techniques we are shoveling snow and offering people hot chocolate. Very effective. There are over 450 less active members in my area an we are bringing them back one by one. Its amazing. 

Im learning amd growing every day. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and if anyone says otherwise then they are ether denying the holy ghost, not keeping the commandments of God, or have not bothered reading the book of Mormon. 

I love this work Ive been called too. Its not always easy but Im committed. 

Ive officially decided that Im out here to Baptize and preach repentence. My missipn president has mentioned the possibility of being a zone leader and Im real hesitent to that because its a bunch of extra administrative work that Im not interested in. I came out here to preach one by one. Not council missionaries. 

Anyway, I hope you all are doing great back home and not freezing your tails off like me. God Bless.

Elder Connolly.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Hey All!!!

    I hope life is amazing for yall. My week was rather not great. My companion and I had some problems and were over due for a solid comp inventory. 

Luckily as of Saturday... we now see eye to eye pertaining to the task that we have been given. The attribute of Pride is very toxic in relationships and there is no room for it in the Lords work or really in life. Elder Filler and I have some repenting to do and we shall bounce back. 

Other then our terrible rough patch... Our friend Evan was Baptized this week!!! He's 12 and Elder Filler and I were so privileged to see the Holy Ghost reactivate his Mother and give Evan the desire to be Baptized. He's was an absolute STUD and teaching him was easy. His father flew all the way out from Utah to baptize him and seeing a Father-Son relationship grow in the process was also very nice. 

Im also learning to work smarter... not harder. To say the least I've been very lazy when it comes to the administrative work. I've done it throughout my mission and have used my Area Book but I've done it really to just check the boxes instead of utilizing my tools with careful detail. More effort put into this aspect of the Lords work will help me improve my organization skills. 

We also found some VERY solid investigators this week and have much hope for the future with those we teach. Elder Filler is still a great young missionary and I'm super duper proud of him. We could be much more humble though. Just a constant effort to repent in the future!!!!(:

Love,

Elder Connolly 

Sinks and Snakes

Hello All!

       This week was pretty slow. Not many of those we came into contact with were really prepared to learn the Gospel but what can ya do? 

Elder Filler and I put our Friend John on date to be baptized on the 28th and he seems dang excited. We also did some good service by tearing apart old cabinets out of a kitchen and installed new cabinets and a new sink as well as a garbage disposal in our good friend Debbie's house. Im shocked she let us do this for her but she did. It was not the wisest use of our time because our rule book says no more then 2 hours of service a day when the project took about 11 hours and we weren't home till 10. Nevertheless, I'm still proud that I pretty much did most of the plumbing in her Kitchen and installed the Cabinets with eas. How convenient that my two old jobs saved me in this one. 

Elder Filler and I also had the opportunity to teach a church member's neighbor this week. His name was Dan. He loved the message of the restoration and came to church! He loved to keep reptiles as pets so here is a picture of me at the bottom with his ball python on my head. 

Only 3 of our investigators came to church this week but thats okay. Hopefully we will see a better result next week. At least some of Gods children are progressing. It gets lonely out here but seeing peoples testimonies grow makes being here in Michigan worth it. 

Elder Filler and I were given a month supply of Mountain Dew by a member and unfortunately I dont have a picture of our stash but I cant stand that type of soda so we will probably end up giving some of it away to our investigators. 

Our friend Devonte that we were teaching was really sad and depressed because his baby mama wont let him see his kid so we went over and listened to some Bruce McConkie talks while doing card tricks. He looked me dead in the eye on one of the tricks and said, "My jacks finna come get you" then he flicked his jacks at my face. It was really random but funny. 

We have a baptism next week so thats exciting. Ill send a picture next monday. The work is going well out here in Saginaw and the challenge is to avoid being too comfortable and to maintain a constant effort to find new people. God is really good and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Alma chapters 40 till the end are so much fun to read. Amalikiah is a snake and Moroni is such a cool guy. Just a great read with many great examples of how the Lord can help you succeed in any circumstance so long as your diligent and keep the commandments. 

I love you all and have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Connolly

ps. Im probably going to get my driving privileges taken away thanks to my companion unbuckling my seat belt while the car is in motion. We have a detector that goes off and sends the information to Salt Lake so that stinks but what can ya do? Ill keep on smiling haha.

Good News

Hey All!

  I hope everyone had a splendid 7 days. I sure did. I was able to have a couple cool experiences. 

Elder Filler and I got invited by our Muslim neighbors from Saudi Arabia to come over for dinner the other night and we sat in a traditional manner and had a Mediterranean feast. It was pretty cool and we made some good friends. They all admitted that our views made much more sense then other sects of Christianity. 

We found a new family to teach as well and I love teaching families. Watching eyebrows raise when we bring up the beauty of the Plan of Salvation is just priceless and seeing teenagers show interest is priceless. Being on a mission is really hard and lonely at times but it's okay because it forces me to seek companionship from the Lord. 

The transfer ended and GOOD NEWS. Elder Filler and I are staying together in Saginaw for another transfer. This will be a straight 18 weeks spent here. Crazy! It's still summer which is great. The thought of winter scares me but I'll survive. 

Our Friend Evan who is 11 is getting Baptized on the 7th of September so we are hoping and praying all goes well there. I try my best to be a good, obedient missionary. I know great things will come.

Love,

  Elder Connolly

A Mother's Prayer

Hello all!

    Another week here in paradise. Ill cut to the chase and start out my update with some ways I've watched the Lord bless Elder Filler and I in his work. 

We were scrambling to find some new people to teach. Many of those we are teaching have learned most of the lessons and are ether praying for a baptismal date or preparing for they're personal goals so we wanted to fill in additional gaps to find less and teach more. 

Our area that we have to cover here in Saginaw is very very large and we are limited to only travel on bikes. 

Well... on Tuesday morning we were praying and seeking revelation on what we should do in order to fulfill our purpose. We looked at our area map and just decided to roll the dice and bike a whole 20 miles to a small township called Birch Run. 

We saw from some ancient teaching records that there were a couple of people who have requested free Bibles and book of Mormons way back in 2015. It was an absolute haul and half way through our trip.. Elder Filler and I caught ourselves in a dramatic thunder storm. We had already committed and felt prompted so we did not turn back. 

When we reached our destination we ate our lunch composed of turkey, celery, a split 2 liter of pop and hit up the saved addresses. 

Turns out we were the answer of a wonderful young mother's prayer as she was struggling to work and support 3 adolescent children. She remembered meeting with missionaries in the past and she has been wanting to meet with us for 3 weeks after her husband committed suicide. 

We taught her the plan of salvation as she balled her eyes out as well as the word of wisdom. She committed to stop drinking, asked us to be baptized and was at church this Sunday. She wants to enter the Temple as soon as possible. TALK ABOUT A BREAK. It was an absolute privilege to see her hopefulness after so much heart ache and pain. 

We then proceeded to teach three other men who were prior investigators years ago and we were fortunate to set up return appointments. 

The fullness of the Gospel enables families to be together forever and keeps people on the covenant path. Elder Filler and I have had an absolute blast together and Im anxious to see how things will go down as this transfer comes to a close. My PDay will also be next Tuesday. 

Love everyone a lot. Great things to come!

Elder Connolly 

This Week was Bad Axe!

Hey all!

Another crazy, eventful, adventure here in Northern Michigan. On Tuesday Elder Filler and I found ourselves in a really sketch trailer park in a place called Bridgeport due to a Book of Mormon request sent to salt lake. Someone called the cops on us because some of the residents thought we were FBI members taking pictures of they're vehicles when we were just looking at our Area Book map to figure out where our investigator lived. Cops get super annoyed when they get a complaint about missionaries because little do people know that it's our First Amendment right to assemble and share a message. So long as we dont loiter. 

We taught our usual friends and managed to have some members of the church invite them over for some really nice dinner appointments. I'm hoping that fellow shipping will help hasten the conversion of others. We all need to serve and show kindness to our brethren and sisters. 

Elder Filler and I went to a place called Bad Axe, Michigan to help the missionaries serve there. It is in the thumb part of the Mit-looking state. There was nothing but corn fields as far as the eye can see and it was fun. I found a guy that owned a huge chicken farm that was propped up by KFC and he though the Restoration of the Church was Super interesting so he wants the the missionaries in that area to come back. I love teaching people!! Its such a blessing to talk to people who are interested with the fullness of the gospel! 

I got to see Lake Huron after that and it was beautiful. It was my first time seeing some coast.

The next morning we drove 2 hours back to Saginaw and went to work. The 2 Elders in Bad Axe were extremely disobedient to the mission rules which was rather disappointing and I lectured them but there was nothing I could do really. They are wasting the Lords time and not progressing and it was pretty sad to see. I hope ill never become like that ever. 

We had three of the people we are teaching come to church which was a blessing as always. I hope to see some better attendance. Sorry for a short email. The mission President is coming to visit Saginaw and we have to be very tidy/ clean/ ready to go and show him the work we've been doing. Im super excited to see him. Im thriving and pushing myself and growing more and more every day.

Yours truly,

Elder Connolly       

My Tires

Hey all! 

Another fantastic week here in the Michigan Lansing Mission. Elder Filler and I saw TONS of blessings this week as we had 6 random people in Saginaw send requests to Salt Lake City to have the local missionaries come to they're house and teach. We met a guy named Brian Grimm who read the entire Book of Mormon as well as all of Doctrine and Covenants and started asking us about Exhaultation and the origins of Diefication. He got out of jail several weeks ago, works at a Barbershop and is currently fighting to get costudy over his 2 year old daughter. He was practically handed to us on a silver platter and his Baptism is right around the corner. 

Jimmy amd Buella took Elder Filler and I to a county fair right on our mission border by flint which was sketchy because we cant leave our area but luckily it was just with in our area. It was so much fun and We roped steers in our church clothes, ate rotissery chickens, and also picked up a new person to teach who

 was a rancher. 

We had 4 investigators come to church this week which was simply wonderful. Elder Filler and I have some of the best key indicators in the entire mission and so we are fasting and praying that Debbie, Jimmy, Buella, and Brian make church consistently so I can certainly baptize them before the end of the transfer. They will make wonderful, active, long term disciples of Jesus Christ(: Debbie made me a Peanut Butter Pie and brought it to me after Church. She challenged me to finish the whole thing and I did partake. It was sick but it makes a grandma happy to see her missionaries stuff them selves. Her grandson Mason (3y/o) threw a hot wheels car at a guy who was yelling about some hospital trip over the Mic during his testimony from where we were sitting and it may have been one of the funniest/ embarrassing things I've seen at church. 

From what I took away.....  to all members that bare they're testimonies... keep it SHORT AND SWEET. It is not story time or lesson time. We are not apostles. Share what you know to be true with passion and conviction in the name of Jesus Christ. It shouldn't take more then a couple minutes. Let's be reminded that the first presidency announced this at the last general conference. Investigators in0 D the church need to see people boldly testify of the savior and that is it. Don't risk teaching false doctrine. That is my rant for the week haha. It was just a some what disappointing experience to see those with tons of potential fall asleep while members share stories over the microphone that don't immediately relate to Joseph Smith being a prophet or Jesus Christ's infinite atonement. 

In my personal studies I finished the whole Book of Alma in the book of Mormon this week as well as the Book of Acts in the new Testiment. I felt prompted and wrote an excerpt on Pentecost because people need to stop misinterpreting biblical occurrences such as speaking in tongues. There are plenty of scriptures that gave context to the historic miracle, in the old testament as well as in doctrine and covenants we see that the origin came from a celebration of fruitful crops leading to the Apostles being filled with the spirit and speaking in "cloves of tounges" as said in Acts 2. In Asia, Northern Africa, the Mid East, Mid Europe all of the true disciples of Christ were able to have the spirit of God enable then to acquire the knowledge of fluently speaking in other languages to enhance the understanding of Jesus Christ to all men. The apostles DID NOT speak in jibberish. There are several religions that embrace these false apostate practices such as Baptists or Pentecostals. When ever Elder Filler and I have these people Anti us... We do not argue, but calmly point out they're errors and share the restored gospel from the beginning. We picked up a family of 6 Pentecostals this week who are enthralled by the Restoration and thanks to our kind, bluntness, we see fruits. 

Elder Filler and I are dumb and crashed into each others bikes in the middle of a highway this week and we almost died. Luckily that didn't happen but my front tire fell off a bridge and into a river while elder Fillers gear shift broke. We had to carry our bikes 3 miles to the nearest repair shop which TOOK SO MUCH TIME and got them fixed and had our mission President pay for it. It will be something to laugh about in the future. To sum things up, the work is great, people are becoming converted, I love my companion, and I'm retaining so much of the fullness of the gospel. Don't be afraid to cry repentance to others so long as you keep the commandments. 

Read the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel!!

Your favorite missionary,

Elder Connolly

Ps Elder Filler and i have each other haircuts this week. I think we did alright lol.

Collecting Eggs and Walking Like a Zombie

Hey all!

    This week was arguably the best week of my mission so far! I was short for time last pday because one of the members in the ward had a severe stroke and needed some help collecting eggs from his chickens so we biked 25 miles down to his ranch to help out. It was a quick act of service before prime proscelyting time. 

Elder Filler and I managed to put 14 people on date for baptism, found 10 new people, had 5 investigators come to church, and got my first baptism!!!! His name is Devon Vestal. He was referred to us from some sister missionaries up north. We taught him the 5 basic lessons in just 2 weeks and had the privilege of setting up the service!! Devon chose the Bishop to baptize him which is great. It's key to have new converts acquainted well with existing members. He is a great guy and works at a brazilian steak house so hopefully he might hook us up with some good deals haha. 

We also have Toryons baptism all set up for this upcoming Saturday. It will be quite a day as the other set of Elders in the area of Saginaw will have an additional 2 baptisms with us so 3 in 1 day will be very special. 

The members are respecting us and willing to work with us. The Lords work is hastening. 

I had an ankle sprain from playing street basketball this week with some investigators we were teaching. There is a picture at the bottom of my ankle and it's gross. I've been walking around like a zombie and it's absolutely hilarious. I nearly fell into the baptismal font while being a witness on Friday night. Luckily I can still angle my ankle outward to some what successfully ride a bike so that's a relief. Sitting around the apartment waiting to heal is the last thing I want to do. 

I've had so much fun this week doing nothing but calling others to come into Christ with members of the Saginaw ward. Elder Filler my new companion is willing to work his tail off with me and wants tons of baptisms. We get along so well and have a great time. We were harassed no more then 4 Baptist ministers this week for teaching they're congregation about the restored church. I've come to know that Baptists are insane. My honest opinion. One of the members of the Saginaw county Baptist church attempted to "properly explain" Pentecost to us and spoke in absolute jibberish, claiming he was speaking in tongues and calling us fake prophets and Jim Jones worshipers. This type of stuff happens daily and luckily I have a handy dandy voice recorder to record it all for memories(: Its just a blast. 

I hope everyone is doing amazing and enjoying the warm dry summer. It's 90 with 100 percent humidity here. Not complaining of course because that sounds way better then the polar vortex. 

Your favorite missionary,

Elder Connolly

Trainee to Trainer

HELLO all. 

It's been a super eventful week. So many people being taught. I'm still here in Saginaw and I'm training a new missionary Elder Filler. He's a rockstar. He's from Texas and we are working super hard. We have a Baptism on Friday so I'm very excited for that. 

Not a lot of time to email unfortunately but here are some high light pictures from last transfer with Elder Pfau. All of these people have fed us, learned most of the lessons and some on date for baptism. Elder Pfau was awesome and I miss him but I'm happy he gets to see his family.

I'm sorry this isn't a long email. Things are crazy. I miss everyone and hope things are great. Next week will be a much better update. 

From,

Elder Connolly

Knock, Knock - Wrong Address

Hey all,

   Another super busy week here in Saginaw. I'm gonna start off this email by talking about 3 new friends Elder Pfau and I made this week whose names are Lexi, David, and kayla. They are Lutheran college students at Saginaw Valley State and they live in our same apartment complex. They approached us last Tuesday in the evening right as we were getting ready to retire and they asked about our mission and then shared that they were all from Utah and were familiar with us. 

David was an apologetic and wanted us to stop by so we could just share more with every one. We were hesitant about it at first but we scheduled a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gave them a pamphlet. They read and annotated the entire pamphlet when we came back and absolutely loved it. We them taught the Restoration in a very persuasive manner with plenty of Eziekiel/Amos/Peter/John/Revelations to add more credibility. 

I nearly have all of Joseph Smith's account memorized as well and can speak it with conviction so the lesson was one of more powerful ones I've been apart of. At the end all 3 started panicking and were acting very afraid because they felt the truthfulness of the message and they had no idea what they're parents or Lutheran Fellowshippers would think. I'm excited to finally see my efforts in studying the scriptures pay off and be able to see the those feel the holy ghost so powerfully like I did just 3 years ago. A powerful emotion experience. 

   We have been teaching our other friend Debbie for the past couple of weeks and she's not on Baptismal date yet but I feel obligated to talk about her because she's an absolute saint. She's a 67 year old grandma who lives on the East side of Saginaw which is known to be a cesspool of crime and homicide. She's responsible for her grandson Mason who was born addicted to heroin and he's just 3. All of her neighbors take advantage of her every day in one way or another as she will feed anyone at any time, would let anyone borrow tools, yard supplies, trailers, or anything at a moments notice. She also has a broken shoulder and if it wasn't for Elder Pfau and I she would have zero help with any type of labour around her house. She reminds me of my Memere and has taught me so much about love and charity. She loves our message and we are patiently waiting for her to use her agency to come to church. Shes thinking about being baptized and we are being extremely careful to not be to pushy because she doesn't deserve that but what she does deserve is the True Church and Christs Gospel. She is simply amazing and I admire her. 

    On the down side we were planning on being groomsmen this week for Aranda and Quays wedding so they could follow the law of chastity and become legally married. Well... the night before the wedding there was some severe domestic abuse and we may never see them again. Really sad because we love them and had the entire wedding set up perfectly but ohhhh welllllll. I'm not going into to much detail about it because it was just rough all the way around.

      On Sunday our friend Toryon who is being Baptized on the 13th was at church for the second week in a row and he has been taught all the lessons. We have his Baptismal interview next Thursday and its SO EXCITING. Hes an absolute stud and I'm privileged to teach him. We also had Tisha & Maddie Nixon at church along with they're 3 young grandchildren at church and that WAS AWESOME. They are getting baptized on the 27th and they loved church so much. Sacrament meetings and primary classes are just the best. The kids fit in perfectly during second hour. Tisha and Maddie loved the youth speaker and the Stake president gave an excellent talk and the spirit was very strong. 

      As for me which I put at the end because I really try not to think about myself a lot anymore... have been doing well. I've been listening to Trueman G. Madsen's talks on Joseph Smith's life and I'm really growing so much admiration for that Man. He is a Prophet and super honest. Dont let anyone tell you different. I'm getting a lot better at memorizing directions quickly in new places and that's a nice skill to have as we bike up to 15 miles daily. For weekly planning on Friday Elder Pfau ams I did it at Golden Corral and I realized that I have been missing out on something beautiful. It is a huge, nice buffet in the Township area and it has all of my favorite foods made fresh. I think I set a record for eating the more BBQ chicken and steamed Broccoli ever and it was totally worth it. It helped me be at peace with the fact that we had to drop over 7 people we were teaching because they were not keeping the commitments we extended to them. More time to find new people which is always fun. A tactic I use while I door knock that breaks the ice every single time and is super effective is when I pretend as if the person whom we are talking to is a person who we are already teaching and when they say wrong adress I apologize and immidiantly start discussing Jesus Christs ministry and the book of mormon. We can pick up to 20 new people to teach in just a day and our awkward creativity helps us see blessings. Finding people and first impressions have become so easy and casual. You just have to conquer the Awkward and stay optimistic(: 

Life is a beautiful blur for me and I hope everyone is well back at home. Tons of work to do and it's just great.

Elder Connolly

Good Things to Come

Hello all. 

   This week our focus was on making sure the people we are teaching continue progressing by obeying the Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chastity. It's a thing of beauty to see Gods children humble themselves by repenting and following the commandments that he has given us. Quitting cigarettes has been a challenge for 6 out of the 9 people we have on date for baptism but day by day I'm seeing people leave behind old habits and take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ. 

We had 4 people visiting with us at church on sunday and seeing these people who I love sing hymns and nod they're head while learning eternal principles has changed my perspective on many things. 

We were invited to 4 BBQs this week by our friends Toryon, quay, Jimmy, and Marcus. They are the best investigators ever. 

I've been reading in the Book of Revelations often lately and the records of Paul. I figured I'd write a persuasive essay on the great apastosty of the true Christian Church. Apologetics and Protistants are wrong and no one should ever let poorly constructed false doctrine take away from your testimony on modern day prophets and revelation. 

The weather out here is beautiful and the work is hard but fun. I love riding bikes around all the time. Driving a car everywhere is boring. 

Not a lot to say this week. The fruits of my labour will pay off. 

We have 3 on baptismal date for July 13th still so we will see how it goes down. My testimony is growing every day as well as my ability to stay organized and motivated to work effectively. 

Good things to come.

Elder Connolly.

Real People with Real Problems

Tuesday- 

Today was an incredible day. Elder Pfau and I had 6 lessons planned with Juan(21), Quay and Arranda(a young couple ages 25), Marcus(27)  Heyward(70), Liz(60), and Tisha, a mother of 4. Every lesson except for Heyward ended with a commitment to come to Church!! 

The lessons went incredibly well and Elder Pfau and I saw so many Blessings!!!! We taught Quay and Arranda the Law of Chastity and they literally proposed to each other right on the spot and it was incredible. They are also on date for baptism July 21st. It's so nice to know these younger people so well and I've been able to share personal experiences with them while teaching and testifying of the Attonement of Jesus Christ and things are getting so real. 

We also found a ride for all of them to be at church which is a blessing. These are real people with real problems and needs and seeing these individuals feel the spirit and become overwhelmed with the desire to repent is a gift that has no price. 

We also picked up our new friend Debbi. She is a single grandmother who is watching over 3 of her grandchildren that were once crack babies. She is THE sweetest soul I've met in my whole life and we taught her the plan of salvation and she is bringing all of her grandkids to church with her on sunday. She has a truck and is amazing. Shes been looking for an answer to her prayers and she said we were there for her. 

Elder pfau and I have a blast playing curb ball with our investigators. It's a game where one person tries to hit the edge of the opposite curb across the street and if you hit a curb as a car drives by you automatically win. Not many can afford a basketball hoop so that's the next best thing. It's so much fun and today was just a crazy awesome blessing. 

Liz our investigator also made us peanut butter fudge. JUST FOR US.. my gratitude geos beyond my words.

Wednesday-Friday:

 These days were packed full of lessons and working with members in the church to give rides to the many people we have coming to church this sunday. We also are currently helping our friend Toryen quit cigarettes. Hes really committed to try because he really wants to be baptized and hes doing so well. It's an honor to help him with this habits. The body is your soul's house and its known from modern day revelation that we must take care of ourselves and watch what we ingest. It is a commandment from the lord. 

We also put our friend Marcus on Date for baptism and hes so excited. Hes so humble and his story is very inspiring. Just a few years ago he was accepted to play basketball at University of Michigan and played side by side with Draymon Green on the warriors. He got caught up in some rough gang cross fire while walking home from practice one day and he was shot in the back... losing all feeling in his legs. Hes now a motivational speaker at the local university here in Saginaw and he absolutely loves to hear about the gospel. So blessed to help him strengthen his faith in jesus christ. 

We also met up with Debbie and she made us cookies and we taught her the plan of salvation. She loved it so much and her and her 3 year old grandson will be at church sunday. 

We also taught our friend Tisha the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we recited Joseph Smith's account of him receiving an answer to restore Jesus Christs true church. She said she couldn't ever deny this ground breaking revelation and she said the doctrine taught in the book of mormon was true and wants to be baptized this July as well. So excited. 

We got our car taken away because there are more sister missionaries then Elders now and sisters have first priority so we only have bikes to ride around and its tons of fun. We have these massive U locks so no one can steal them in the Ghetto. I'm gaining weight because of anxiety, stress, and to much food but I'm optimistic I'll get blessed for blessing others.

Saturday-Sunday: 

To sum things up we had 9 people committed to come to church on sunday and 4 showed up. Even though it was less them half of what we were hoping for ... it is still a blessing. Jesus Christ would leave 99 sheep behind to save 1 so with an eternal perspective of things, its all worth it. 

Elder pfau and I have been working our butts off to teach everyone and we see blessings every day. I hope every one had a happy fathers day. 

Good things to come!

 I'm happy to help others grow they're faith in Jesus Christ. I hope and pray every day that these fine sons and daughters of God will commit to follow the supreme example of Jesus Christ by getting baptized in the name of God under the proper authority.

Miss every one and thanks for the support,

Elder Connolly

Here is a picture with me and my dear friend savage. We played some basketball and the deal was if I beat him I get to teach him about the restoration of the church and get a picture. .. I won so here we go. The next picture is of a dude riding his bike around in the ghetto with his pet pitbull on a chain. It was pretty cool so I snagged a picture.

BLESSINGS!

Hey all! I'm going to start typing up daily accounts so every one can get a more in depth understanding in how my days go and can hear a little more about my awesome spiritual experiences and growth!!! 

Tuesday- After preparation day an old man named Joseph recited and yelled a bunch of scriptures at us looking to bash over the bible and bragged about his religious education. We kindly shared scriptures that referred to an apostasy, baptism, and the proper authority of God and before there was to much contention we just left. 

Then we hung out with our new homies Q and Savage down on the west side. They were chillin and Elder Pfau and I played some basketball with them and they let us sit down to teach the restoration of christs church!!! They thought joseph smith was cool guy and they loved the idea of prophets and Jesus christs ministry and how our church is his perfect set up. Q just bought a nice purple suit and said he was down to come to church with us sunday.. BLESSINGS! At 9 some one got shot right up Demorth street and we said goodbye and retired to our apartment.

Wednesday- Today was my first full day of missionary work in Saginaw. I had a super spiritual study period in the morning. Each morning I do some meditation and a prayer where I completely clear my mind and ask sincere questions about what I should ponder and retain while a study then pause so I could maybe listen to some spiritual promptings. I then just dive into the scriptures. 

I was reading on obtaining christ like attributes in the book preach my gospel and in Mattew chapter 4... Jesus invites his soon to be disciples to "Follow him" to be "Fishers of men" in verse 19 the men left their nets immediately and submitted to the will of the lord. That net represents the world and leaving worldly things behind is such a hard thing to do... but so possible and worth it. I wrote alot more about it but I dont want this email to be to to length. 

I then listened to a byu devotional that talked about the awful habit of self comparison and it spoke volumes. We each have our own race to run and to improve we must focus on our selves and encourage others even if they just seem better then you. Be happy!!! 

We then met new friends named Tatiana and Patricia who we taught the plan of salvation right on the spot and they loved it. We got return appointments. 

I get really down on myself sometimes because I feel so scattered in my thoughts and my memory seems so short-term sometimes but I know that so long as I keep trying I can be strengthened by the lord and hopefully just keep learning his will and my full potential "line upon line... precept upon precept...... for they shall learn my wisdom" as said by God in 2 Nephi 28:30. 

Elder Pfau is so optimistic and is so helpful to me and we are learning so much together

Thursday-Sunday: Alright so I slacked a little bit recording these days but all together we have found 15 new people to teach this week and had 5 people attended church with us on sunday and 3 are committed to be baptized in late July!! 

Elder Pfau and I had so much fun finding people to teach in the Ghetto and in the nicer Township. We have a new tactic where we carry around a Huge white board with the Plan of Salvation written down on it and attract as much attention as possible and when we find some one willing to talk and hang out, we can give them a 15 minute rundown on where we came from, why we are here and where we are going and if they are still interested and free and in no hurry we read the introduction and first chapter of the book of mormon. Super effective. 

Every one in the ghetto knows us super well and people are calling us over all the time to come play some basketball and teach. ITS AWESOME. People in the nicer neighborhoods are also showing more and more interest as we have become so smooth and effective at telling the story of the restoration as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ by emphasizing that FAITH WITH OUT WORKS IS DEAD!! As said in Mattew 7:21-29... dont just say you love God and christ... that's not enough... show i and keep his commandmentsand repent. 

Each day we come home dead tired from teaching and calling and riding bikes around and recording lessons but we have so many appointments each day that we continue to call and set more up from 9 to 10:30. If you are a good missionary then the work never stops I've learned. Life is awesome. 

Donovan my boy that I taught back in Meridian is getting baptized week after next and I'm going back to south Lansing to be apart of it soon!!! 

At church on Sunday there was about 150 active members in the congregation and tons of families. It was super sweet. I got to bare my testimony and I think and hope all the members like me. They actually want to help with missionary work and its wierd because I'm not used to it but amazing. The Saginaw ward is almost as cool as Loomis 1st ward... almost. Hah. 

I'm so happy to be serving and to have the opportunity to work miracles in my life and in others. I feel so privilaged to be building the kingdom of God and even though it gets tough sometimes and there have been many dissapointments along the way, it's all worth it. Thanks to having a better example... I can really lose my self in the work of the lord and I hope from here on I will be much less dependent on others to help me work hard and the leader in me will come out to be independent and always focused helping people strengthen faith in jesus christ, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost and endure till the end. 

In my personal studies of the Gospel I've been closely analyzing Jesus Christ's parable of the Talents in Matthew 25: 14-30 by annotating the passage and writing an essay on it. I study the book of mormon all the time and ive read it cover to cover almost twice sense ive been out here but lately I've been really trying to understand Christs teachings because they are kind of confusing at times. I am often reminded of the Law of consecration and how we are to not only give our life and all materials to our creator but to constantly keep the covenants we have made with him by magnifying our priesthoodand obeying  his laws given.... at all times. I have not been remotely close to constantly maintaining those extremely high standards and many of those that I teach feel they cant put their focus, efforts, and talents into the savior at all times as well but i testify we can thanks to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to not only know of Gods laws but to become of them... as said by Dallin H Oaks of the first presidency. 

I miss every one back at home and thanks for all the gifts, emails, prayers and support. I'm becoming a better person and a more effective missionary day my day...even though I have a life time of improvements to make. I'm so blessed.

Love,

Elder Connolly

Sorry for no good pictures this week... I've never been so busy before while being out hereand we simply missed good opportunities. I'll do better and be better.