Week 89

Thanks for all the emails and the pictures. Carter looks awesome in those sweet clothes. This past week has been great. We had president interviews on Tuesday and that was good, it just took all the way to dinner so was a lot of sitting. We had a lot of miracles on Tuesday, we got a text from a member and said that her friend wanted a Book of Mormon and that she wanted us to meet her after our dinner to meet her at this lady's house and give her it. We talked with the lady for a while and about the Book of Mormon and then later that night we got a text that the member forwarded and it said..." I read the introduction and the testimony's in the front and I have an overwhelming feeling that this is the path for me to take and for my family". That was one of the best texts I've ever got. We are going to start teaching her at the members next week so excited to teach her. We also found five other new investigators on Tuesday so was such a good day. On Wednesday we found two other new investigators and they are really interested so we are finding so many prepared people right now. We are struggling to go back and see all the people that we are meeting so things are good. On Thursday we went up to the mountains and taught the two girls that are going to be baptized, we moved the date to April 27th because the person that will baptize them can only do it that weekend so that's a little disappointing because I'll be gone but at least they are getting baptized. General Conference was great this past weekend, I really enjoyed Elder Christopherson's talk which was the last one of the conference. Oh, we got transfer calls on Saturday night and I'm staying here in Poterville with Elder Keys and we are getting another Elder also so we are going to be in a trio for two weeks. The new companion is Elder Melanson and he came in with me and we shared a room in the MTC so I'm super excited for that because he's one of my favorite elders. We also are getting a car so that was exciting to hear. Well, tomorrow is my departing day and I'm leaving at 7:00 for the mission home and doing all the departing missionary stuff and having dinner there and then my farewell is tomorrow night so that will be good to see everyone that I've met. Wednesday is transfer day and I'll be waiting in Fresno for Elder Melanson and then we are taking the new car down to Poterville. That's about it for this week, can't believe it's two weeks now until I see you guys. 

I love you guys so much, only two more email days left, still not real but I think tomorrow might make it a little more real. Love ya guys! 

Week 88

This has been a great past week for missionary work in our area. We were able to set five new baptismal dates and two of them are rock solid for the weekend after General Conference. We also found four new investigators and had three of them at church so we are starting to see some really good success. So we had an emergency zone conference yesterday so we just went to church just for the sacrament and then went to the meeting. The mission has been doing extremely poor the past three months and there were some changes made in the mission. We were so focused on finding new investigators that we forgot that the reason we were finding was to baptize them. Last year at this time we were baptizing 90-100 a month and now its 30-40 so now we are refocusing on baptisms. It's crazy how a change in focus can alter the mission so much. It was a great meeting but we had to cancel our Easter dinners so that was a little disappointing but we got back into town at like 8:15 and a member saved some for us so it all worked out. Thanks for the package of goodies, that was probably the last package that I'll get from you guys! It's all gone now though, I love those chocolate eggs! The rest of the week was good, the weather is heating up and it's fun to be outside and talking to everyone, I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with another one of these summers. So tomorrow we have President Interviews and then the Bishop is coming out with us for the night to see the two girls getting baptized next weekend. I'm just super excited for General Conference this weekend, it's like Christmas when it comes around. I think that's about it for this week, next week I have my departing stuff and also my farewell which should be a good experience. It hasn't even set in yet that I only have a couple weeks left, I remember two years ago I never thought this day would come, I thought I would be here forever but now here we are two years later, crazy! Thanks for all the letters and can't wait to see you guys in about three weeks! Love you tons. 

Release Date

We got Sams flight details and he will be coming home on April 25th!

Week 87

So we went up to sequoia national park this morning and we had a good time up there, I'm just super tired now that were back down the mountain. We had a good past week with finding new people to teach and we were finally able to get some investigators to church! The drought is over! We had 5 investigators at church which was a relief of going two weeks without anyone at church. At church on Sunday, a girl came up to me and asked if she could be baptized so that was amazing, no one has ever asked if they could be baptized, we normally have to invite them so we will be having a baptism next week or so. So I'm glad you got my invite, did you love it? My farewell is in two weeks and I still haven't heard about my flight so I might call tomorrow if I don't hear. I had an exchange with another elder this past week and was a lot of fun, we were able to find some new people to teach so was a good exchange. I can't think of too much more, sorry my letters are getting shorter, the weeks just blend in together now and I will see you in less than a month! It's scary now that it's less than a month til I'm home. I didn't know that Luke was in Vegas, that's cool that Laura met up with him and had a good time with him. I got an email saying that I have to send in the return missionary thing so I will do that and then fax it in this week. Well it's really hard to concentrate with all the elders and sisters here, just can't focus right now. Well I had some questions but I will write them down and ask you next week. I love you guys and miss you. Thanks for all of your love and support, you guys are the best! 

Week 86

So this week has been great, we had a great zone conference and learned a lot of stuff. We have been doing the harvesting blessing and it invites the spirit so strongly and is a great feeling to bless their lives even if they are not interested in hearing the gospel. The one problem that we have been facing is that we are not getting many progressing investigators with it, we are doing a lot of the blessings but then we go back and they aren't interested or won't open the door so that has been discouraging but hopefully that will turn around this week. So at zone conference, we got the news that the church has changed the email policy and now missionaries can email anyone instead of just family and that we have 1 and a half hours to email so that was a big change, I'm glad that this rule just got changed because that would of been too distracting for me so that was a big change. Things are going well, time is just flying by and the weeks are like days. I got a bunch of stuff for departing missionaries in the mail last week so I've got to start doing all that stuff. We've been getting a lot of anti stuff recently which is weird, and the Jehovah's Witnesses have been flooding the city with their invitations to their celebration so I think that is making it more difficult on us. We have found a bunch of new people this week and a few less actives that were working on reactivating so we are defiantly busy. So this week we have district meeting and then going on an exchange so should be a pretty fun week.

Week 85

This past week has been great. We have found some really prepared people, on Monday night we knocked on some doors and we were welcomed in to leave a blessing on their home and the spirit was very strong. We then asked the 16 year old boy "if Jesus Christ were in this room right now, what one question would you ask him?" He then said he would ask where we came from, and we were a little stunned because it's as if he read Preach my Gospel or something. We then taught the Plan of Salvation and committed him to baptism for the 30th of this month. He had such great questions during the whole lesson and he said that it has cleared up a lot of things he was wondering about his whole life. We had so many great experiences this week, we gave over ten harvesting blessings and it is such a powerful tool, it is probably the most spiritual thing that has ever happened in their homes. We have been finding a lot of people through this, actually all of our investigators are from doing this as much as we can every day. Soon enough we will be so busy that we will be booked for every hour of the day. We are really seeing a lot of miracles in our area right now. A couple funny things happened this week, we were biking down a busy street and we went by an auto shop and I saw a Maserati so I told him to look and while he was looking back he nailed a telephone pole bad, it was so funny, was laughing for like 30 minutes. We also went to dinner that same day and while we were eating, Elder Keys stands up and runs to the bathroom and then we hear him puking for the next 10 minutes so that was interesting trying to eat while we could hear him puking. Also went on exchange with Elder Frost ( he is from the heaps ward) and that was so much fun. This upcoming week we have zone conference on Friday and then doing more exchanges this week. 

 

Thanks for all the emails! It was great to hear from everyone. I didn't realize that I was coming home during the ward conference, I feel bad that Pres. Halsey won't be able to speak, I could do 10-15 minutes so that he could have time to speak also. I like the idea of being able to do the report and do it with the ward council so I can still do that. That's fantastic about the youth temple trip, there are so many youth now, wasn't like that a couple years ago, sounds like we have a really good ward. Thanks for everything! I love you and miss you.

Week 84

So this has been a great past week. We have been able to go out and work every day and we have found a lot of new people to teach as we do three hours of knocking doors and talking to people in the streets. We have made ourselves quite busy the past couple days and we have found a lot of people that really need the gospel and are going through a really hard time. Elder Keys is my new companion and he is from Washington state and he is a really good missionary. He has been out about a year now and we've gotten along really well so I'm glad this is going to be a really good transfer. We are serving in a really ghetto area so most people are humble and willing to talk with us, we have been offering to have prayers with people and leave a blessing on their homes and it has been a really effective finding tool and a good way to bless people's lives. It softens people's hearts, there are many people who don't want to talk to us at first because they don't want to switch religions or not interested in our message but then we offer to have a prayer with them and they are receptive to that. We had a couple of investigators at church this past Sunday, I keep comparing everything to when I was in Exeter and we were getting 10 or so investigators to church and here we get less than half of that so I need to stop doing that because I feel disappointed every week. I can't think of anything else too exciting from this past week, we've just been doing a lot of finding. We are doing sports today, haven't played anything for a while so I feel out of shape.