Coming home! - 10/15/15

Elder Christian Lehr came home on October 15, 2015. He arrived with Elder Erickson and Elder Morrell.  They took FOREVER to come to the baggage claim area. But that was because they escorted Elder Richardson to the other terminal to make his connecting flight.  Seeing them come down the escalator together was worth the wait.  What awesome missionaries they have become.  They have made a difference in many of the lives of those they came in contact with in Louisiana and, for Elder Lehr, Sierra Leone as well.  It has been an amazing 2 years and 2 weeks.  Welcome home, Elder Lehr!  We love you!

Elder Lehr, Elder Morrell and Elder Erickson

Tightest hug Mom has ever received from Elder Lehr

Proud Dad

Finally have our missionary back home with the family

Josh, Nicole, Noelle and Elder Lehr - so happy he is back!

 

Last week! - 10/13/15

Dad happened to run into Elder Crandall and Elder Barrick at the Los Angeles Temple. They both served in Sierra Leone with Elder Lehr.  Awesome missionaries!!!  What a treat!

Dang this week was pretty dang good. 

JJ Battles: So I was able to get a hold of JJ (my distant cousin) and we met up on Thursday at Lasyones for lunch and that was so cool. He is awesome. It was such a treat to see a family member up here. He said that Father Tom Melton and some other family are coming to Natchitoches in December to see the City of Lights for Christmas. It would be so cool if we could go to and meet up with them! 

Sister Munson: So she is an elderly woman in the ward who passed away this past week so we went to her funeral. I have seen a lot of death on my mission but that only strengthens my testimony of the plan of salvation. I LOVE the plan of salvation. Just the hope and peace that it brings. I simply wish all would have that same understanding. I know she is at peace now with her Father in Heaven.

I really love my mission it has been challenging but I love it so much and am going to miss it. It really has changed me for the better. I am still the same goofy man that I was when I left but this time with a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know He lives. God answers prayers. He loves you. 

I'm excited to come home and continue this journey :)

Love Elder Lehr

2 year mark, Sweater weather, and Conference - 10/5/15

Dang that is crazy I hit my 2 year mark yesterday. 

So this week hasn't been way too crazy. We have tried to see everyone, tried to talk to everyone we see but not much has happened yet. but Yet! That's the key word 

Bob: He actually watched general conference! That was real cool. I really can see his faith slowly increasing. 

Craziest Referral ever: So I get a call from Sis Leone saying that I got a referral from my mom! So I have a distant cousin named JJ who is here in Natchitoches studying at NSU. I was able to get his phone number from Pres Deford so I'll definitely contact him this week and take him out to lunch or something. Literally that was the craziest thing. 

Conference was great I love conference as a missionary it's like a Holiday. I really enjoyed Elder Bednar's and also the one seventy who talked about the atonement and how he dug a very muddy hole. Yeah that one. Dang it is crazy that I go home next week. I am real excited. 

Well this week I'm gonna continue working hard and I'm gonna contact my long lost cousin. Dang I love yall

Elder Lehr

2 weeks - 9/28/15

Dang it's been a pretty good week. But it's also had it's downs. 

Good News: We are working with Sister Lish's son. He was baptized like 26 years ago but knows basically nothing about the church but he really has a desire to learn and find out if it is true. He is so awesome I just love him. He's been reading and just has such great questions. 

Bad News: We have tried and tried and tried and just can't get a hold of Nick and Demonte. And as for one of our other investigators, we went to go see her and we saw her pull up with a JW in a truck and the JW told us to come talk to her so we did and she said that our investigator has decided to study with the JW's and that if she wants to study more with us she will let us know but for now she doesn't. And our investigator was there the whole time and wouldn't make eye contact with us so ugh that's such a bummer. That actually got us kinda down for about 30 minutes.

Funny moment at Church: So I'm like "ok I'm safe. I won't have to give a talk at all in Natchitoches since next Sunday is General Conference and the one after is Fast Sunday and then I'm home." So on Sunday Pres Deford was there and the high councilor never showed up. So I'm getting ready to sit back and relax a little after passing the sacrament when the bishop calls me on the spot to come up and bear my testimony. haha I was fine with it but it definitely caught me off guard. 

So right now we are kinda in a rut since most of our teaching pool has vanished so we are really looking for ideas to find more people in little ol Natchitoches. I mean I'm not gonna have another baptism on my mission but I wanna leave Elder Allen with something behind, ya know. 

Well we are ready to hit this next week hard. 16 days left and I am not gonna check out!

Love yall!

Elder Lehr

dang good week - 9/21/15

Dang! Wow this week has been busy! Lots of meetings and stuff. But the time we did spend proselyting was real productive.

Cool Miracle: I just wanna say thank you for all of your prayers. So Olivia called us and said that she knows God has answered our prayers. She now has a new place to stay and is at peace of mind and is super happy. A lot more receptive to the gospel now. So their family is now on track and progressing. 

Investigators: So Bob has been reading his Book of Mormon some more so that's real good. And also Nick and Demonte have been as well. They just need to come to church! But they are doing well. I can see their faith increasing. 

Members: I just wanna say a shout out to the members here. They are so willing to have us in their home and to work with us. It's great. The hard part for us is getting a solid return appointment with an investigator haha but the members are helping us out a lot. 

Hymns: Dang I love hymns. They are the best way to invite the spirit. I now sing them in the shower and listen to them all the time. I think my new favorite one is He Sent His Son. Dang now that is a good hymn.

Wow I can't believe I'm going home so soon. I talk about it a lot and joke about it but it really does not seem real. But I am excited.

Love yall 

Elder Lehr

P.S. Dang I did not hear that about Sierra Leone that is soo sad! (severe flooding). When will they get a break. Josh has a class with Elder Gosch! That's sooo cool he was such a solid missionary.  And Many is doing well now. They have been having soo many miracles happen recently. They just got a full family that came to church and wants to be baptized. And they are relatives to the Johnston family there so it's really, really cool. Dang love ya mom!!!

Dang - 09/14/15

Dang this has been a pretty dang busy week. 

Exchanges: We went on exchanges and I was with Elder Dobie again in Many. It was fun. Basically just tried to help give some tips on how to use time in Many effectively. Dang I forgot though how tough it was in Many to do that haha but we had fun. 

ZTM: We got to go to Alexandria and see all of the other missionaries. It was awesome. The instructions were pretty good. Basically talking about what Elder Allen and I were talking about the other day (becoming consecrated). 

Cottage Meeting: We held a cottage meeting last night at Pres. Deford's place and we prepared a nice play and everything. We invited like 30 people to come and literally no one came. It was a big disappointment. But we still had tons of fun doing it.

Dying wish: So our ward mission leader Bro Allen always gives the missionaries who end their mission here a dying wish. So since he is a super good cook he is now giving me cooking lessons for my dying wish. So I'm real excited to try all of this out!

Investigators: We still haven't gotten a hold of Olivia. The young men who are investigators are both doing well. Though they didn't come to church. And Bob the old vietnam vet is actually starting to progress a bit! He is keeping his commitment to read the Book of Mormon! So that's probably the best news as far as investigators go. 

Dang love yall so much!

Elder Lehr