Week 65. Thanksgiving week

 Wassup. Not sure what else to say besides, now is the time to start decorating for Christmas and here are the highlights from the week:

Robbie - we taught the Gospel of Christ and she's super ready for Baptism. Was thinking Dec 2 but wants people to be there out of state and driving about to get difficult. So we offered zoom and now she's thinking about it. So something might happen this weekend, not sure yet but please pray for something good to happen. 

Wednesday - had breakfast at Mr. T's with the Mergens. It was a good big breakfast with the most concentrated orange juice. I think I maxed my vitamin C for the week.

Then we visited the Maguires, a part-member family. They are super awesome and love the church. The part-member status might change soon. After that they invited us to this pie get together at the church, which turned out to be volleyball. So of course I represented for Utah and kicked some trash 

Thanksgiving - dinner was at 2 there was so much. We sang Christmas songs afterwards and I chose, I'll be home for Christmas. It was a fun day

Omar - we saw him Friday night. He had been on date but got ghosted and finally got back. He had a cool story on how he met missionaries and started his journey. Read 3 Nephi 11 with him and it was so good. Hopefully he can make it to his next date. 

Saturday Finding - we walked around downtown Mt Vernon for a bit, that was fun. Then tried revisiting a few old referrals and set up 3 return lessons which was awesome 

Cooks - just an awesome family with a cool house and great cooking skills. 

Sunday - ward council got canceled without us knowing, so we were at the church super early. I started teaching myself Joy to the World and it's not that bad. 

Then both me and Harkness gave talks on service. It was pretty good. And then had a good night of missionary work and ZLC. It was super awesome. 

P day - went fishing. It was fun. Scenery was awesome 

Spiritual Thought - start the Christmas Season right. Read Luke 2 and think about one way you want to share the light of Christ this December. I wish you all a happy first week of December and hope you all make it merry!

Love ya! Pics

Week 64. Leaving Blaine for Lit Mt

 So I kept forgetting to write this sorry. Here's what happened:

Temple Trip - another one! I love going to the temple. It was Eddie's first time and it was so good. He was able to perform baptisms for the dead and use the priesthood which was so awesome. Afterwards we went to Deseret Book, love that store, and I watched him get excited about buying his own scripture case and temple recommend holder. It was great. 

The Goodbyes - First was Amy, it was so cool to see how far she has come since I've been in Blaine. Second was Buckners and Tatum, crazy but fun family. Third was Kevin, I have high hopes for him. He's been close a lot of times, but then gets in his own way. But as I said bye he was super committed to trying to be consistent in turning to God. He's a cool guy. Fourth, is Dynel. Our short stop turned into an hour talk. She's so fun and I'm going to miss those porch chats. She made me a going away gift. Fifth was the Cunninghams, they are a great family. Sixth was Alana and Tasha, they made brownies and bought me peanut M&Ms for my birthday. They're awesome. 

But the best end to my last day in Blaine was trying to Perm Elder Harmons hair. It didn't turn out too good, but it was hilarious. 

Transfer Day - crazy time. I'm now with Elder Harkness in Mt Vernon. We were MTC Comps and now we are back together again. I'm also in the area right next to an old Companion, Elder Hansen. It's pretty awesome. 

Rest of the week - has just been a blur. Trying to get to know everyone, new district, awesome area, fun p day, and apparently I'm giving a talk next week so lots happening. Sad but excited for the change. 

Spiritual Thought - well because it's Thanksgiving that this is going out, I'll put a plug in for gratitude. My Dad always told me that attitude changes everything and that only I could choose how I felt. Granted he usually told me as I was angry so listening was a bit hard. Lol. But we are asked to give thanks because it changes our attitudes to be better. When we are grateful it's hard to be mad, sad, despairing, ect.. instead we feel peace, joy, love and happiness. He wants us to thank Him because He knows how gratitude can change someone. 

Tonight try a gratitude prayer, be sincere, and afterwards think about how you feel and I promise that peace will be one of them. 

Love y'all here's the pics

Week 63. Birthday week

 Hey. This week was pretty great and we got a transfer text this Saturday. Turns out this is my last whole week in Blaine. Definitely going to miss it. Check FB or my next email to see where I am at next. Love y'all, here were the highlights:

Institute - was really good. We've been studying the stories of Jesus and that day we talked about the time Jesus was judged by Antipus and Pilate. We talked about His attitude through it and how He allowed it. Then we ended off with a Christian video called Who is Barabbas. If you haven't seen it I'd recommend it 

Exchanges - so I accidently planned it on my birthday and spent the day in another area. Had a cool dinner and the Spanish Elders got roped into eating with us too which was funny. 

Eddie - on Thursday we met with Eddie and had a good scripture study with him. We could tell something else was up and so we asked and talked about the afterlife since he just had a close aunt pass away. It's so cool to see his faith, trust, and love for the Gospel. 

Rileys - they are a great family, they called and asked my mom for my favorite meal and then made it. It was awesome. They gave me a tie. It's cool

RS Activity - Friday night the relief society had an activity. We tried inviting some people, but not that many people showed up, members included. It started with a soup potluck and I had 8 different bowls of soup. It was good. Then I just had a fun making some crafts. I tried doing multiple at once and finished none of them. Oops 

Kevin - met with him for the first time in a few weeks thanks to Covid, but he was doing better and so we talked about his struggles recognizing the spirit and talked about seeing miracles. Which he also had trouble with. But after discussing it for a bit, we committed him to be consistent with drawing closer to Christ because then can you start seeing the blessings and then I asked him to keep a journal to write down his questions and prayers and think about the day and see if they were answered. 

He really liked that. I sure hope it helps him. 

Dukes - another awesome family. I've probably talked about them before but got to give a last hurrah since I'm getting transferred. Their son came home early from his mission. He's pretty awesome and his younger brother Carter is hilarious. I keep forgetting that he's actually younger than Bridger, which is odd. But I also love that family. 

Deaf Kevin - met with him on Sunday and it was such a joy. We showed him a video on baptism and then went over the interview questions and he is now on date for Jan 1 2023!

Smith's - went over Sunday night to say bye, got to eat more delicious food, play some ping pong, and shared a cool spiritual thought I'm about to share with you. 

Spiritual thought - so while taking the sacrament I had this thought: when Jesus fed the 5000+ He broke bread in the same way we do for the sacrament and then He gave to everyone there. After they had all eaten, the remaining bread was gathered and numbered in baskets, when it had originally came from five loaves. And so I thought about the Atonement of Christ, aka the Bread of Life, and how it covers everyone. Even if you haven't eaten of it yet, there was surplus, enough to feed many more, even as much as would come unto Him. When we apply that story into our own lives we can be one of two people: the audience or the disciples. The audience partook willingly and listened to Christ and were blessed. The Disciples were the ones handing out the bread, following the will of the Lord, which is God's will. Being part of the audience is easy, but the real blessings and joy comes as we do the will of the Lord and share the truth that we have. Or at least that's what I got out of it. Hopefully you can find something too. 

Love y'all! Thanks for the birthday wishes. Here are the pics 

- a tree someone had us chop half off

- awesome people 

-meme for being old now

Week 62. Temple and Music Fireside

 Heyo!!! Hope y'all have had a great week. And will make our country great again by voting tomorrow. Jk, I don't have to worry about that. Here are my weekly highlights:

Wednesday night - so we were knocking a lot and had some good conversations with people, it was great. Then we were right next to Bishop's house so we went and stole his son and he came door knocking with us, it was a blast and he loved it. 

Then we went back, had dinner, and stayed for the YM activity which was building a hovercraft. That's when I realized that I now count as adult supervision, that scares me. 

Temple Trip - on Thursday I got to go to the temple with Amy and do baptisms for the dead. It was 2 hrs there and 3 hrs back. And I was squished in the back of a Ferrari. It was worth it. Such a great time. 

MLC - Friday I went to MLC for the first time. It's a leadership meeting and they decided to include DLs this time, so I went. It was super awesome and I got to tie swap with the Mission President. 

Carter's Testimony - on Sunday I got the Bishop's son to share his testimony and it was actually fire. Look in the spiritual thought for it. He ended it by pointing a finger gun at us and making that clicking noise. That kid is so funny

Sunday School - went with the youth and learned a ton about the first 6 chapters of Daniel. It was so good. 

Smith's - went over for Dinner and they are such a stellar family. Best food, best teachers, and amazing spirituality. They are awesome.

Music Fireside - so we rushed from their house to the music fireside and had a really cool hour of performances and testimonies. Not sure how many non-members were there but it was great. Got a pic of all the performers and speakers. 

Spiritual Thought - so Carter got up and shared this story of a door we knocked on. The dude opened it, saw us, said he wasn't the one, and closed it without us saying a word. He then talked about "How do you know you're not the one" and how if he had listened his thought might've changed. 

I thought that was such a cool idea. We might be having some negative thoughts about ourselves or be questioning your worth, but if you listened to God you would know how much He cares and how everything He does is for us. 

I hope you all can feel your infinite worth and know how much you are the One. The One Jesus died for, the One God loves , and the One reading this email right now. 

I love you! You are the One, don't forget it

The chalkboard shows how bad I lost at pickleball today