August 30 E-Mail

I'm sad that my pooch is going to be dying pretty soon.  But as long as she doesn't suffer then ok.  I have a little different taste about Schnauzer's after this week.  Let's just say they aren't all as nice as I thought they were.  Yes, one tried attacking me.  It was interesting.  It was pretty old and reminded me a lot of Lacy.  But then I met a really nice one yesterday.  I'm sure after Annie goes that you will go buy a new one mom.  I know you say you won't.  But I have heard that many times before.  It's been a pretty good week.  We definately were blessed with a miracle.  The other day we were going to an appointment in some apartments.  Well we were behind this guy that was driving a little crazy.  Yes, it appeared he was drunk.  Well he turned into the apartment complex and just kept on turning.  It was sort of all in slow motion.  Well he pretty much did a front flip off about a 10 foot rock wall, and the car landed upside down.   Well the miracle part is that it was on the door step of the apartment that we were going to.  It was pretty crazy.  The guy crawled right out and was running around showing everyone that he had just left the hospital and he still had those electro pad things on him.  He didn't smell like alcohol at all, but he for sure was doped up on something.  We were the only ones that saw it so we had to stick around and talk to the cops.  So if you get anything in the mail or anything questioning it, it's because I gave them the home address.  That was the miracle of the week.  Thank you for the package.  It has been very good.  I already ate all of the cookie crisp.  And I'm working on the muddy buddies.  That spanish family that I was going to have to teach all my own bailed on us.  So I didn't have to teach them.  But we did a lot of tracting that day to spanish homes.  I definately had the help of the Lord.  I didn't understand everything that was being said but I understood enough.  I was glad to be in this mission when I received Dad's letter and he was talking about that mission that is having a famine and they only get like half a cup of rice a day.  Wow, I would die.  And yes Dad, I know Kyle Farr.  I didn't know that's where he was going though so that's pretty cool.  Sounds like things are going good.  That's good you sold the trailblazer!  That was about it for this week.  It was a short week since p-day was on Tuesday, which speaking of, p-day will be on next Tuesday because of the Holiday weekend.  We have had a hard time finding people at home being the last week of the summer here.  So we are excited for things to calm down a little bit after the Holiday weekend.  Things are going pretty good as far as teaching goes.  We tracted into a less active member and we met his girlfriend who is a none member.  Her name is Jessica and she really has a strong desire to learn more.  Her boyfriend is 20 and hasn't been to church in a couple of years.  It was really cool though because as we were teaching, we would ask him questions about Joseph Smith and everything and he would teach the principle.  She really wants to come to church too, her boyfriend works every Sunday though and she had already made plans for yesterday.  We weren't able to teach Ryan at all this past week, but we have an appointment with him tonight.  So keep praying for him and for Jessica too!!  Last night we also found a really cool big black guy named Courtney.  So pray for him.  He was way nice and has a young family.  I guess he plays arena football for a team around here.  We have found quite a few good people to teach considering we came in here with nothing.  So some good things are going to happen in the next few weeks hopefully.  I know this church is true and I'm so grateful I get to be out here sharing it with everyone.  Whether they have never heard of the church, or if they just haven't gone for a few years.  This gospel truly does bring so many blessings into so many lives.  I'm so grateful and blessed that I was raised in a home where I learned the principles and teaching I needed to learn to get me to where I am today.  Thank you!  I love you all, have a good week!!!!!

August 24 E-Mail

It's been a good week. We have met a lot of good people and are slowly building our teaching pool. To answer some of your questions, our area is really small. We are in the middle of two very large areas. But ours does have a lot of doors to knock on that haven't been knocked on for a long time. The area is probably like a mile by 3 or 4 miles. But we go all over it all day. We do a lot of biking and walking. But that's good. We keep the same schedule with eating with members. Four nights a week. We got here and they were being fed just about every night. But that is a mission rule so we had to change it. The girl who makes the dinner calendar was much happier with us. We have all kinds of places to go eat and shop around here too. Basically anything you can imagine. That's crazy that Brady's farewell is on Sunday. I remember when he got his call thinking that was forever away. I met the kid that is from Lehi that Brady knows. He was at that conference we had yesterday with Elder Christensen from the 70. It was a very good conference on how to feel the spirit. I really only had one interesting story from this week. We were knocking some apartments and we knocked the one on the second floor. Well no one answered so we started up for the third floor. Well I heard the door opening below so I jumped down there. Well it was this older sort of large man. In fact he was quite large. I asked him if he had spoken with missionaries from our church before. Angrily he replied with a yes. I asked him what he remembered. All he said was that he told the last guys that if they ever came back again he was going to "punch them out." Then he nicely asked me if I would like to be "punched out." And he was using quite the language. I almost started to laugh at him. But I was very polite and continued on. It made my companion quite mad. I don't think he had been in a situation like that ever before. But at least the guy didn't punch me. I felt pretty good about that. We have had a lot of people this week argue with us that we believe in the wrong Jesus Christ. And that Jesus Christ was not the spiritual brother of satan. So it has been interesting. At times its hard not to argue back. But all you can do in the situation is bear testimony and continue on. English work is much different than spanish. Every spanish person lets you in. Only the ones who are interested in english let you in. So it's harder to get in a door, but the door you do get in, the people are usually ready. And this past week a guy let us in who really is ready. His name is Ryan. (Pray for him that he will receive an answer to his prayers to know that this church is true) Well he is from Georgia and grew up as a southern baptist. He has been going to the baptist church here, but says that it's not really a baptist church. So he had a whole list of great questions for us. We answered them and he seemed to understand it all. The only thing was he didn't want to accept the Book of Mormon as the word of god. So we read the introduction with him where it says we invite everyone to read the book of mormon and to pray about it. So after that he was pretty quiet and just said wow. I guess I can't say anything about it until I do what it says there. We were really excited about this because he really is showing the desire to learn more. We have an appointment with him next Monday. We are also teaching a hispanic couple named Nelson and Mariella. They both have the desire to learn more too. The only problem there is that we have an appointment with them on Friday. Well Friday we will be doing exchanges and I will be here with an english elder. Therefore I have to speak all the Spanish. So hopefully I don't scare them away! Please pray for me on that one. Sounds like everyone is having a good time and staying busy. Mom the er sounds like quite the time. I was happy to get a business card from Lee's Mongolian with a little note from "Lee." That's pretty funny dad got light headed when you were giving Meesha her shot. I'm running low on time but I want you all to know that I love you! Thank you for all you have done for me. Keep going to church and you will be so blessed! It's sad to see the less-actives that tell you it all started out by missing one Sunday. So don't miss unless you absolutely have to!!!! Also continue to read and to pray everyday. Those are the three essential things. And I can promise as you do so you will notice a difference in your lives!!!!!!!!! I love you all so much. Thanks!!!

August 16 E-Mail

Sorry I am so behind in posting this!


So my new area is small! It's a lot different than Warden. It's small, but sure has a lot of people in it. There are a ton of apartment complexes. We have a car for a few days of the week and other than that we bike. And the whole area is on a very big hill. So I am getting my workout. And it has been hot lately. This is pretty gross, but on my pants there is salt build up underneath my belt from the sweat!!! The house we live in is a way good place to be. It's an older ladies home and her second cousin lives with her and he is a way cool guy. He has had a really hard life and wasn't activated into the church until about a year ago. He was in a way bad environment and thought he was going to die. Well the spirit prompted him to call his second cousin. Well she went and picked him up and here he is today. The lady keeps a book of all the missionaries that have stayed at her house. It was pretty weird, I was looking through it the other day and there was a picture of Ben Hilton. I guess he lived in the same place when he was here. So all the paper work in this area hasn't been updated since about March. So we didn't really even come in with anyone to teach or anything. The area has just been dead. So we have spent a lot of time tracting. And I mean a lot. But we have met a lot of good people. My new companion is from Pima Arizona. He's really good. He goes home at the end of this transfer. We had one guy this week come out and talk to us and ask us where the church was. So we talked to him for awhile and he said wow I really needed this in my life right now. So we are going to keep working with him. Then last night we had a few minutes left and couldn't decide where to knock. So we decided our next door neighbor. Well they went to the church a few times about a year ago, and are interested in learning more. So we are going back tonight. Other than that not a whole lot has happened and I don't have much time to e-mail because we are at the library. My message for this week is to listen carefully for promptings of the spirit. If it wasn't for the spirit, the guy we live with wouldn't be here today. Often times you will think you are prompted to do stupid stuff. But just do it without hesitation! I know the spirit will guide us to where we need to go. We just need to listen to it. I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 9, 2010 E-Mail

Well, I'm getting moved.  I was just really starting to love it here, but I guess that's the way it goes.  I'm going to East Wenatchee and will be covering a spanish branch and an english ward.  It will be really good because there were sisters there before.  So we are sweeping into the area.  It will be good to get a fresh start.  I don't know my new companion yet.  I meet him tomorrow when I head over there.  He is in Moses Lake right now.  That's about all I know.  And I think he goes home after this transfer.  So I'm sad that I'm leaving, but I'm sort of excited too.  I guess it's quite a bit bigger than where I am now.  It's right on the West side of the mission boundaries.  That's crazy that Spencer Packer is home already.  Time is flying by.  This last transfer went by so fast.  Not a whole lot happened this week.  I gave my talk in the english ward thankfully.  It wasn't to bad.  I changed it a little bit from the copy I sent you.  I think it ended up being like 20 minutes so that was good.  We have some investigators who have there grandson over at there house right now.  I think he's 10 years old.  Well he is catholic but we were talking to him the other day and he was asking the difference between mormons and catholics.  So we started to talk about the godhead.  After all he said was wow, I think I'm going to become a mormon.  It was pretty cool.  He goes home in Idaho though in like a week.  So that's the bad part.  So hopefully the missionaries will find him there.  Last night we had a pretty crazy lesson.  It was really short, but in the end we asked the lady who she wanted to pray.  She asked if she could say it and we said of course.  So she offered the prayer.  Well she was confused and didn't say amen.  Well we didn't know if she was done or if she was just thinking.  So we sat there for a few minutes with our arms folded and our eyes closed still.  The spirit was so strong.  Then we realized she was done and we lifted our heads and she was crying.  It was so cool to see that.  We also had a priest from the ward with us who is going through some rough times so it was really good for him to see that too.  He loved it.  Today I don't have a whole bunch of time because I need to pack all of my stuff.  And our bishop here was pretty sad to know that I was leaving so we are going to his house for lunch today.  I think he started crying last night when I told him.  He's a pretty emotional guy though.  So yeah this last week not a whole lot happened.  I spent one day with an Elder who only speaks english over here.  We only talked to one spanish lady though I think.  Then I had to go over to Othello for a day too.  So my companion and I really didn't get to work to much togehter.  That makes it really hard to teach people when only I, or only him taught them.  But things are going good and I'm excited for the change.  I love you all so much.  When I was doing my talk yesterday I realized how important it is for us as members of the church to lead by example.  So stay strong and set the example for those around you who aren't members.  They will realize you have something that they want!  This is the true church and I'm so grateful to have it in my life.  Thank you so much for all you have done for me.  Have a good week.  If you write letters just send them to the mission office. 

820 South Pines Road Ste 101

Spokane Valley, WA 99206

Thank you so much.  Sorry it's so short, we just have a lot to do today.  I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 2, 2010 E-Mail

Computers are way screwed up today so I have like no time. We are at the library and they are all timed. So it will be short and sweet. We had a way cool miracle this week. Other than that it has been way slow. But we decided to go see an in-active who hasn't been visited for a long time. Last time they visited her she through out a bunch of anti questions. So that's what we were expecting. Well we got there and she just started crying. It was in spanish so I was way confused at first. But she had been praying all day to know what church was true. She asked God if it was the church that she was baptized into. She said in her prayer that if it was true and if he would send her the brothers from the church that very day that she would start going to church again. Well sure enough, we showed up that day. And she was at church yesterday. So that was pretty cool. Elizabeth was confirmed yesterday too so that was way awesome. The work in the fields has really picked up the last week or so, so people are really hard to find at home. And if they're home they are sleeping. So it's been rough. But still really good. Thank you so much for the package. I was so glad to get it. I was pretty ticked when I locked up that Ipod though. So I'm glad you were able to get the number. I figured it would still be listed. I never took stuff off even after it was sold. The guy that called you is so cool. He is in active. His step daughter has been coming a lot though, and that night she asked if we would start teaching her the lessons. So we were really excited about that. They are an awesome family. Everytime we go over there we end up eating something. They really take care of us. He owns the local mechanic/tire shop. So we get a long pretty good. I hope the reunion was fun. That's crazy you're a den leader now mom. I didn't quite expect that one. I tried whiping off my camera lense but it was still fuzzy today on some pictures I printed. So I dunno what the deal is. And about my toenail, I did my own little surgery on it last week and cut it all up. So it looks a lot better now. If I ever get to Spokane I will have that guy look at it. But for now I think I got it in control. I don't have a whole lot more to write or time. We e-mail our president every week too and I still need to do that. I have my talk all prepared and everything for next week. I'm not excited but it's prepared. I need dad to send me some good starter jokes. I love you guys so much and thanks for everything. Keep praying. After this week I definately know that God answer's prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a good week. I love you!!!