Week 74

It was awesome to talk to all of you yesterday and hear all of your voices. I totally forgot about Carter and it hasn't really sunken in that I have nephew so that will be cool to finally meet him. This past week was great with getting new investigators and setting dates for baptism. I forgot to mention that Tina, the girl I was teaching that moved back to LA is getting baptized on the 12th of January and she is easily the most solid person I've ever taught on my mission so I'm really happy for her and she is planning on going to BYU-I so she will do well there. We also have two more baptisms next week that are solid too so the work is really good right now. Christmas was fun and we got treated well by the ward but nothing beats Christmas at home, next Christmas I will be able to join in on the fun. Sounds like it was a good Christmas on your side of things though. This upcoming week were just going to do the regular finding and teaching so should be a good week.  Well that is pretty much it for this week, it was great talking to you yesterday and look forward to your emails next week. Love you and miss you all.

Week 73

Thanks for the emails, sounds like everything is going well for home and by now I think everyone is in Baltimore and hopefully in the Christmas spirit. This has been a great past week, we have five people with a baptismal date and they are all super solid, we have one on the 29th so that is the perfect birthday present. The new investigators are coming out of the woodworks and members have so many people for us to teach and they are all super prepared. We also went to Temple on Tuesday and it was great. My new companion is Elder Wilson and he is from Provo, Utah and he is a lot different than my previous companion but I have realized that my happiness depends not on what my companion does but whether I want to be happy or not and it really makes me look inward before I look outward. We have seen so many miracles recently and I feel so blessed to be in this area right now and I'm glad that I'm here for Christmas. I Tomorrow is our Christmas Zone Conference so that's where we will get most of our packages. The Christmas Zone Conference is always the best one so I'm excited about that. So last Wednesday, we had a wedding for two of our investigators and it was crazy because we find out the day before and then we had to put the whole wedding together that night but it all worked out and the ward helped out so much. We even were able to get a member who does wedding cakes to make a cake that night so that was awesome because it turned out so well. So I'm excited to talk to all of you on Christmas, so I will call you on Christmas Day and I have 40 minutes to talk just to let you know. On Monday we get our one movie and we are going to watch Brave, I've heard mixed reviews so we will see if its any good. That's great that Kirk got the Priesthood, that makes me so happy, I hope that he enjoys school up at Idaho. Well I better be going and sorry for the couple day delay of writing but better late than never. I am loving missionary life so much right now, I am finding so much joy despite how hard things are and the challenges. I love you so much and miss you all.

Week 72

So it has been a great past week. We taught Tina three times this past week before she left for L.A. on Saturday and in our last lesson we watched Prophet of the Restoration and she said that she has never felt the spirit so strong in her life so we our glad that we watched that with her. She is getting baptized so that's super exciting, just wish it was here. We had ten investigators at church which is the most for over two years in this area so that was really amazing, the ward members really took notice as they kept saying how many investigators were at church and this month alone we should have twenty different people at church which I've never had before so I'm really excited about the work right now. We got transfer calls and I'm staying in Exeter again which I wanted as I want to finish here but Elder Leavitt is leaving and my new companion is Elder Wilson who is from Provo, UT so two straight Utah companions. He is new in the mission. The work is going really well and we are finding prepared people. This week we have transfers on Wednesday and next week I'll let you know about my companion. For the Christmas call I have 40 minutes, just so you know and that will be on Christmas Day but we can figure out the details later. We are also going to the temple next Tuesday so that will be when I email next week just so your not expecting anything on Monday. We are also going bowling today as it is $10 for unlimited bowling so should be awesome!

So I got my first Christmas package of the year from Becky your sister and it was sent from California so I'm guessing that she's in the area. I opened the package and it's in wrapping paper so I put it under the Christmas tree. Tell her thanks and I'll send a email to her also if I have time. That's great that everyone is coming into town for Christmas again this year, I'm looking forward to talking to all of you. Crazy how Christmas is only in two weeks! That's cool that Doug confirmed Kirk, I'm so excited for Kirk and I know that by him going to BYU Idaho he will get that much stronger and learn so much more about the gospel. Well that is all I have for this week but I love you all and look forward to talking to you in two weeks!

Week 71

Thanks for all the emails, I am so happy that Kirk got baptized. Tell him that I love him and am excited and proud of him. So this past week was great. Played basketball on Tuesday night and didn't get hurt so that was a success. We taught Christina four times in the past week and last night she said she wants to be baptized and now she is just trying to figure out a date that everyone in her family can be there. Had a really spiritual experience and I would say it but I wrote it in my journal so will save it to share later.. Christina is defiantly one of those people that was prepared to receive the gospel as we have only known her a week and she is ready to be baptized and is super solid, she is actually planning on going to BYU-Idaho with her cousin, it feels good to baptize these people that you know are going to be in a good spiritual place and stick with the gospel and not leaving the church because some people I see getting baptized, stick with it a couple months but if they have the fellowship they stick with it. We had an excellent day at church yesterday as we had five investigators there and a couple new ones for the first time. We are doing really well on getting people to church right now but I'm scared of what is going to be said in sacrament meeting and yesterday was no different. We had a lady get up and she lives by herself and has no kids and never been married and she started talking about how her pets have strengthened her testimony and went on for 10 minutes about pets so that was interesting, normally it would just be funny but with investigators there you are worrying about what they think about it. I went on exchange on Saturday and it was the first exchange in a couple months so it felt weird to be with a different companion. This week we are meeting with Christina to finish the lessons and hopefully getting the rest of them with a solid baptismal date. This week is transfer calls and I'm hoping that I stay here in Exeter with Elder Leavitt another transfer but I think that he's leaving and I will stay so good that I'm staying. I am really hoping that I will stay here for the rest of my mission as I really am doing well here and love the members. Well that's about it for this week.

I'm excited for the new pool table, I miss playing pool and ping pong but will have people to play when I get home as Don and Dad will be there.  Well I better get going but I love you all so very much and thankful for all your love and prayers and support. I am so happy right now, this is easily the best part of my mission so far, just happy all the time. Love you all so much.