Monday, June 2, 2014

"I'll take definitions for 1,000 Alex!"

So the definition is- "Moving from Buffalo Grove, where the houses are mansions and the people have more money than they know what to do with, to Logan Square, right in the middle of the city in a bike area where two locks are required to keep all of your bike safe and you can go for three to four hours at a time without seeing anyone else who looks anything like me, that would be fair skinned, ginger, pale, Caucasian, or plain and simple white."   (Not to be racist or anything)

........ What is, Culture Shock?

Close, but we were looking for the best experience in the world. That was the correct answer.

Hey all!

This week was transfers y'all! I got shipped out straight to the city!  And let me tell you, culture shock is also a correct definition of what just happened to me. But even more importantly I love it here!  The area is great, the people are wonderful, the ward is humble, it's all just great.

There is so much I could tell, but I do better with questions, so I have one story for today, and then the assignment falls to you to send me questions about my new area, the work, or really anything you want
to know, and I will try and include it in my next email.

This Saturday we were on the way home from a baptism and decided to stop by an old PNI (Potential New Investigator) to see if we could teach them. You know, no time wasted, right? So we come up to the building and realize we don't know what buzzer is his, so we decided to just start trying and asking for Josh, seeing what we could find out. After a few buzzers that weren't him and didn't know who he was, someone walks up behind us and says, "Hey are you looking for Josh?  Because that's me." We had walked past him on the way to the building and he had been standing there listening to us for the past five minutes! Well we asked if he would be interested in hearing a message from us about Christ, and he said what every missionary loves to hear.  "Sure, you can share it right now. Go right ahead." So, we did. We taught him he first lesson, (The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and he listened and loved everything we were teaching him. We got to the end of the lesson and challenged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he accepted, and we set up a return appointment for the next week. As we were finishing up we asked if we could end with a word of prayer and he said yes, so we asked if he would say it and he did! Not only was this amazing because it was our first time meeting him and we were standing on the sidewalk in front of his apartment building, but the prayer itself was amazing. This is the point of all of this email. When he was praying, he poured out his heart to God, and he said something that struck my soul. I can honestly say that.

"....and dear Lord, thank you for letting us live through another day."

Are we as grateful for the blessings that we have as this young man was for the simple fact of being alive through another day? I challenge you to try and find more things to be that grateful for.

I love you all, and so does our Father in Heaven.

And some pictures just for fun!

-Elder Logan Gifford

1) is the best place I have found that says Logan Square, so here we have Logan Sqaure, Squared. Boo-yah.



2) here's my new ride,




3) and here is a shot of my new companion and I helmet shopping, I think we found the right ones, don't you?


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