Week 38

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This week has been kinda tough.  I was sick from Thursday to Monday,
I'm feeling a better now, I had a blessing today to make sure it
doesn't get any worse.  I had aching pain all over my body pretty
much, fever, and bad stuffy nose 24/7.  Something else that stressed
me out was that last night I lost my iPad and had no idea where it
was.  I thought it might be at a apartment office we were at but it
wasn't going to open till 9 the next morning.  So we went there this
morning and it was there in the crack of the couch.  I'm so blessed, I
prayed long and hard that it would be there and I can get it back with
no problems.  Fun stuff but things are looking up from here.

Something awesome that happened this week was we had a baptism for
Kenadie.  She is a 9 year old girl who was so ready to be baptized and
excited.  Even though I had a high fever the whole baptism I still
felt the spirit.

We have been able to continue helping Francisco work towards baptism.
He's doing great!  Hasn't missed a Sunday at church in the last 3
sundays.

Transfers today! I'm staying and my new companion is Elder Michaelis.  He's been out
for 3 months.  So I will be polishing him.  He just got finished being
trained.

Things are good, miss you guys.

Had a awesome baptism for Kenadie. She was so excited! 

Week 37

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This last week was really good, we were able to help a lot of people
even when we didn't have a car due to it being in the shop. We made
the best of it by walking everywhere. We did end up getting a loner
car on Saturday so that was a blessing. I saw some miracles this week
and they were awesome. There is a recent convert that had a really bad
week and was questioning if she was on the right path. We send a daily
scripture every morning to lots of different people and she received
the scripture and that her gave her comfort and prompted her to invite
us over to help uplift her. The scripture was Moroni 7:33. We were
able to come over that night and share the Prince of Peace video and
after watching that video it really hit me how much peace Jesus Christ
really brings us! When we we left their home I know she felt
spiritually uplifted and comforted. I know the scriptures we send out
truly help other people's lives and it brings miracles.

Other miracles we saw were just small but will grow over time. We
knocked on a part Members door on a Sunday morning right before Christ
church because we felt prompted to try them and the husband answered
the door and he is not a member but has been married to a member for
30+ years. He said we could come back Saturday and we did and he told
us right off the bat that he has been struggling for quite a while and
has really been thinking about looking into the Mormon faith and then
we showed up. That really increased my testimony of the spirit. He
also said growing up he was really focused on work and money and
didn't have time for religion and would usually say to never come back
to the missionaries. We shared a message about Doctrine of Christ and
how true it is to bring us peace and happiness and said he is willing
to work with us step by step and see where it leads him and his 14
year old son!

Francisco came to church again yesterday and he is really enjoying all
the things about the Gospel.  He has been reading out of the Book of
Mormon almost everyday and has enjoyed it.  He has prayed to know if
it's true and the Book of Mormon and found his answer!  He is awesome,
we have been able to meet with him 2 or 3 times a week.  He also has
been watching Mormon movies like meet the mormons and really enjoyed
it.  Next he said he will watch the Joesph Smith movie. He's doing
great, we are just trying to find people to fellowship him so he can
gain connections with people.

Tommy Bell has been doing good as well but he always is out of town on
weekends due to racing so I don't know how to get him to come to
church?!  His baptismal date is on the 20th of May and might need to
move it if he isn't able to come to church 3 times before his baptism.
He has been really learning a lot though and is trying to find time
for everything, he is a good guy.

Skylar we are meeting with tomorrow and that will go well hopefully!
We didn't meet last week due to her parents not supporting her on her
decision to take the lessons but now she has decided to meet at the
church.

Lots of miracles and blessings this week.  I'm so grateful for the
success our wards are having!  The success just makes me want to be
the best I can so things can continue to grow up.

Easter was great and had a good meal with a member in the ward.  We
had French dip sandwiches which was an interesting thing to have on
Easter but still good!  I loved all the talks yesterday about the
Atonement and it really brought me peace and comfort.  It really is
important to use the infinite Atonement in our daily lives because it
is there for us to bring happiness and peace to our life.  So if you
are not using it daily, set a goal to do so.  I love my Savior and I
know he rose and we will too.

Love you all!  Hope you all had a great Easter! 🐣

Hiked the mountain and had a BBQ for Elder Alison's last P-Day

Las Vegas Dodgers!

Francisco came to church for the second time in a row and learned a lot.  He's golden! Baptismal set for May 13th, so day after my B-day!

Week 36

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This has been great, we had quite a bit of progression coming from our
investigators.  A girl named Skylar loved Conference so much and
that's what made her want to become a member because her questions
were answered!  She had questions about the plan of Salvation and
there were a few talks about the plan of Salvation in the conference
she watched.  She went to the conference center with her boyfriend
that is a return missionary from Argentina.  She was not so sure about
why she was meeting with us but now she is all in and said she is
reading from the Book of Mormon everyday!  The only problem is that
her parents don't support her which is hard for her.  She is 24 I
believe so she can chose for herself but we don't want to tear there
family apart.  We will most likely set her with a baptismal date this
next lesson we have with her.

We also tight Tommy Bell again and we went back to teaching the
Restoration and it really helped him understand the importance of why
this is the fullness of the gospel and how important the Book of
Mormon is.  He asked us what Gospel means be when we say the
Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We went over Faith,
Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end.  He just leaned back in his chair and smiled big,
he was feeling the spirit as we bared the truth.  Really awesome
lesson!  After the lesson, he said I'm going to read from the Book of
Mormon every day for 30 mins which is a great goal.  I'm looking
forward in seeing him again Wednesday, I wish we could meet more often
but he's always busy.  Next lesson we will ask if we can come over
twice a week to help him prepare for baptism.  I'm excited!

Also had a lesson with Kenadie and she's 9 and she is getting baptized
the 22nd of April so it's coming up soon.  Just have he baptismal
interview left.

I also texted a girl I taught in my last area and we set her with a
date for baptism but then she moved to Louisiana and that was sad.
But texted her today to see how she is and she got baptized about two
weeks ago so that was really good news!  That made my day today!

Also taught our new investigator Francisco and he is a golden
investigator.  He came to church Sunday for all 3 hours so that was
awesome.  Everything is going great with him.  We will most likely set
him with a date next lesson for early May.  I'm so pumped for this
next coming month.  We have a lot of potential baptisms so it should
be great!  Only 2 weeks left of this transfer but I will most likely
stay and get another companion since Elder Alison is going home.

Great week and hope everyone else a good week as well.  Always
remember to follow the Prophets teaching because they are direction
from God.  The most important to do is to study our scriptures daily
and have a strong relationship with our Heavenly Father by praying
daily.  I've seen a huge change in my life doing that and it will help
you so much with even the most complicated problems.  I love my Savior
and I know that he lives and has risen and will again.

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Week 35

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This week has been great, I have been able to teach quite a few and find a few as well.  First off we found three new investigators and two were found tracting and the other was found street contacting.  We tracted into a girl named Skylar last week and we had a lesson with her this week.  She has a boyfriend that just came back from his mission and she has read the Book of Mormon before.  Her concern is why do I need to change my faith when I'm perfectly happy in the one I'm in.  So we taught the restoration and she knew a lot of the stuff we were teaching already but understands it a lot better.  What's awesome is is that she went to general Conference with her boyfriend at the conference center on Saturday morning and there were two talks on the plan of Salvation and a lot of the questions she had were about that so that was great.  The other two we found are good as well,  a guy named Francisco who just moved from Wisconsin about a year ago and doesn't know too much about mormons but wants too.  He also loves service and our church has a lot of service opportunities.  And lastly a lady who is not as solid but was interested in what we believe and said we can come back after we taught her more about the restoration and the Book of Mormon.  Good week of finding!  It's always nice when your hard work finally pays off.  

Not only did we find new people, we also set three people with baptismal dates!  One of them is a 9 year old and she is so excited to be baptized and is basically ready.  Then we have Faith Cooper who is very weak and sick a lot so we set it farther down the road.  She is also very shy and not willing to have people that she doesn't know to come over so that can be frustrating, especially when we volunteer to help clean out her garage and her house and we get a group of people ready to come over and she said never mind I'm okay now.  The only reason she canceled was because there was too many people willing to help and she only wants 2 or 3 at her house at a time.  Oh well, we tried, we also we are trying to get her to come to church and she doesn't have a car but doesn't want to accept a ride from anyone because she is shy with new people.  So she likes to walk but it has to be nice weather.  We will try are best with her.  Next we have Tommy Bell who we reset with a date and he's solid and is willing for us to teach him.  He's just busy a lot so we meet with him only once a week and it doesn't feel like enough.  He's always working on getting ready for the races he goes too.  He works on the drift car and the razors a lot.  We will stay on him to make sure he continues to read the Book of Mormon and prays because he won't know for himself unless he does that.

General Conference was definitely one of the highlights of my week.  I really enjoyed hearing all the talks and thinking that wow, these are all the answers to our investigators questions. It was really good.  I especially liked Joaquin E. Costa and then later found out he is coming to visit our mission in June so I'm excited for that!  I also really like Elder Ballard's talk about goals and how they always be centered on Heavenly Fathers plan.  Also talked about a goal is a plan or destination which I liked.  Overall really good Conference!  Hope we all can remember what was said and that we take what Prophet Thomas S. Monson spoke about and apply to our lives.  Just the simple things like study your scriptures, going to church and praying often will solve the most complicated problems and will keep you strong.  Also make sure you have a strong foundation and testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.  Study Christ's life and that will help you grow more faith in him and knowledge in him.  Keep up with the your daily prayers and scripture study and you will never regret it.  You will feel so close to our Savior and there is no better feeling than that. 

Study Ch 34 in Alma and it will help you see the importance in following Christ.  It's a really good chapter!

Love you all!

Week 34

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This week has been pretty good, today we went to Olive Garden and that
was good and we had enough to go there but then a member came up to us
and paid. 🙂 We were very thankful for that, very nice lady.  Then the
rest of P-day, we just hung around and played some pool at a apartment
office building.  We don't like going to the church anymore because
the zone is always doing zombies and mafia games in the gym and it's
pretty weird and not very fun.  Wish I could go mountain biking but my
companion hates to bike, oh well.

Besides p-day, our week has been good.  We have set a lot of
appointment  for next week, so it's looking good for next week.  We
set two people with baptismal dates, Faith Cooper (late 30's) and
Kenadie Boyer (9 year old).  Faith Cooper is really struggling with
mold in her house and has a brain problem where she needs surgery.
There is liquid building up in her brain and that needs to be fixed,
she also has a disease where she can't breath fully so she can't clean
her house very easily so we will help her on a Saturday.  Lots of
appointments were canceled and next week should be awesome because a
lot is filled with lessons on our schedule.

Sorry for late email, the wifi wasn't working at the church we were at.

Week 33

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

This week has been great, the highlight was definitely the Edwards
baptism!  I was able to baptize the little girl named Logan!  She's 8
years old and everything went great.  They were all confirmed on
Sunday and Harley Edwards (the husband) was ordained to a Priest!
I'm so proud of the Edwards family for doing all the things they did!
They followed the teachings of Christ and followed Him was baptized.
They also have a lot of friends in the ward already and everything is
doing good in their lives right now.  Ashley (the wife) hasn't had a
job for 6 or 7 months and has been looking forever and she got a job
the day before her baptism!  I truly know that was God is looking
after the Edwards family and blessed them to give her a job.

Other than the baptism and confirmation things were also good.  We
were having issues having the lessons we had scheduled fall through
but we were able to find 4 new potential investigators in our ward
that is struggling so that's good news. All the people we found was
through tracting and that's a first we ever had success tracting.  We
literally spent a total of 30 mins knocking on people's door in one
area and almost every door opened which is unheard of. We also got
into a ladies house who was very nice, she goes to a baptist church
and she is happy with her faith.  We helped her answer some questions
she had about are faith and opened her eyes that we had very similar
beliefs.  She had a problem with prophets though and added rules from
the the Ten Commandments.  We tracted into her and she invited us in
for cookies.  Very nice lady.

Good week overall, we continue to try our best to press forward and
not backward.  I challenge everyone to look at their day and ask how
you could have been better and you will slowly progress to be the
person you can be!  As a missionary are goal is always to be better
and be more Christlike.  I know as you take this challenge you will
see change on your life and you will be blessed even more than you are
now.

Baptism. Dad, Harley. Mom, Ashley. Son, Preston (10). Daughter, Logan (8).

Week 32

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Alison

First off transfers are today and I am staying but Elder How is going
to Red Rock Stake in Towncenter Ward.  His new companion is interesting
and his new Ward is the richest area in the mission.  So my new
companion I will meet later today, his name is Elder Alison.  He is
from the Philippines and he has one transfer left so hope he isn't too
trunky, I'll keep him focused and working.

This week has been great, the biggest news this week was that Brother
Edwards gave us the news of who's baptizing everyone in his family.
He texted us saying he wants Elder Tongenoa (Elder How's last
companion) to baptize his wife, Brother Edwards wants to baptize
Preston (10 year old son) and wants me to baptize Logan (8 year old
daughter).  That was a big surprise for me!  It's interesting he
doesn't want to baptize his whole family but it's cool he wants to
involve more people.

Really good week, we were trying our hardest to build the potential
investigators in the Lone Mountain Ward because it's dead prepared to
Cheyenne Ridge Ward.

I do have to get going I'll let you how this next goes, I'm excited!

With Elder Alison

Week 31

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder How

Hello!
My week has been pretty good,  we had a lot of success this week.  We
found 2 new families to teach but everything good that is happening is
only happening in the Cheyenne Ridge Ward and the Lone Mountain Ward
has nothing happening.😞 The Lone Mountain Ward is a ton of gated
neighborhoods and huge houses.  Hope more happens in that ward this
week.

So the two new families we taught this week was the Frizell family and
the Vasquez family.  The Frizell family are cool, none of them are
members and the they have 3 kids.  One has a mental disability the
other two are smart and ready to learn.  The family goes to a big
Christian church and the reason they wanted us to come over was for us
to do Bible study with them and they said they are happy where they
are in their church.  But towards the end of the lesson the wife
started to open up and cried,  she was worried about what path God
wants her to go down and how she can be a better person.  We shared
the Restoration and she definitely felt the spirit and they were
willing to read the Book of Mormon and  pray to know if it's true.  It
was amazing to see the difference between the beginning from the end
of the lesson.  We made sure as we were teaching we were focused on
the Doctrine of Christ (Faith in Christ and His Atonement, Repentance,
Baptism, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Endure to the End.).
As we focused on that it's a totally changes how the lesson goes,  it
applies to them instead of just giving them a history lesson.  We made
sure we applied it to their lives and I know they really felt that
spirit we had in the room.  I love teaching the Restored Gospel of
Jesus Christ!😁

The Vasquez family is also awesome, the dad is a convert but fell away
pretty quickly a while ago, we taught the Restoration and the wife
doesn't speak the best English so we have to repeat a lot what we say
which is fine.  They want the English missionaries to come over
because of their kids.  As we taught the Restoration, I could just see
how it was slowly making sense to the mom and the more she understood
what we taught the more scared she was getting because all of her
family is Catholic and they wouldn't want her to be Mormon.  She was
still willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know and meet
with us this week.  The kids aren't the most interested in listening
but maybe after we teach the wife? They have 3 kids as well all in
baptism age I believe.

Something else that happened this week that was awesome was teaching a
guy named Tommy Bell (referral we received last week and already has a
baptismal date), he is pretty much a 21 year old version of me haha.
He is from Wisconsin and loves cars, snowboarding, motorcycles, and
off road racing.  He works for a Big Motorsports company called
Sorenson's Motorsports.  He works on dirt bikes, razors, atv's,
razors, go carts, cars, ect.  The best part was is that we taught him
at work because he's there all day and that's the only way we can
contact him.  He works at the Sorenson's house and the Sorenson's are
actually members so that's how he came in contact with the
missionaries.  You can probably guess that I was freaking out the
whole time he was giving me a tour of the place,  they have
everything, they probably have 100+ Motorsports stuff on their
property.  Pretty awesome guy, he is really enjoying the missionaries
coming over to teach him because he said it makes him feel at peace
with the Lord.  The only problem is that he works or is at a race in
Arizona every Sunday, so church is going to be hard for him to go to.
It will be a challenge but I'm excited to continue teaching him!

Edwards family is still doing okay, their baptismal date is still the
18th of March and Brother Edwards is trying to get the Aaronic
Priesthood so he can baptize his family.  They did smoke again about 4
or 5 days ago but they said they are strong again and won't do it
again.  The dad has to be two weeks clean to receive the Priesthood is
what bishop wants him to do.  Hope he makes it!  Awesome family!

Great week!  Other than my companion was a little bit trunky haha, his
girlfriend just got home from her mission from Brazil and he was
freaking out a little bit but is doing good now.  Elder How's mom sent
him a email talking about when he's getting married and she asked his
girlfriend and she said Early November and he gets home from his
mission mid October.  Haha!  That was a surprise to see that so he was
struggling.  He's good now and he is a really good companion, I love
the guy(Elder)!

I learned a lot this week!  The biggest thing is to follow spiritual
promptings.  The reason we had a lesson with the Vasquez was because
we had a prompting to go see them right after church and we did and
had a great lesson with them.  Also one day this week,  we had nothing
to do and it was 8:30pm and we said a prayer and I said let's go see
Gary!  Gary is a guy that didn't show too much interest but for some
reason thought we should go see him.  So we did and as we pull up and
pulls into his garage after a few minutes so that was awesome!  We
talked to him mostly about mountain biking but still a good
conversation with him and said we can come back and got his phone
number.  Good week, mostly cause we made sure we followed the
prompting of the spirit and it really works!  I love the power of the
Holy Ghost!  Always be worthy to have it in your life all the time.
It's a huge blessing in my life and everything God does is through the
spirit.

Great week and love you so much!

Went mountain biking for P-Day again

Week 30

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder How

Sorry I have a lesson in 45 mins with a part member family so it's
going to be a short one today.

This week has been awesome,  we were able to teach the Edwards again.
We taught them law of Chasity and made it fun for the kids to learn
about it.  I have a video of us at their house doing a memory game
skit but haven't received it yet so you will see it most likely next
week.  We followed up on their smoking addiction and they are clean,
they haven't smoked for about a week and a half now!  Awesome fun and
solid family who truly want to change their life around!  We also
received a referral from another set of missionaries and the
investigator already has a baptismal date so that's exciting!  Looking
forward to teaching him!  Had a great week, I hope I didn't forget
anything important to say!  Miss you guys!

Elder Smith

Went mountain biking for P-Day. Got a bit scratched up.