Week 47

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

So I'm not feeling so great today or the past three days.  I'm feeling
a little better today but I was sick from Thursday night to now.  I
have had a fever, cough, throwing up, sore throat, it sucks!  But I'm
hoping to feel better soon.

We had a good week prior to me getting sick.  We had a few good
lessons with Ruby and Monique.  We have a lot of potential for things
to happen next week.  We have had a couple of solid referrals we will
teach next week and a lesson set up with a couple of potentials.
Sorry for another short letter but it was a rough weekend.

Week 46

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week was pretty typical nothing to big stood out accept we got a
new car.  We found a guy to teach from street contacting and he is
pretty awesome, he works with a lot of members and wanted to know more
about the church and a coworker gave him a Book of Mormon.  That's
about the biggest thing that happened this week.  Being district
leader is alright, I had my first district meeting and went alright,
at least I think so.

Sorry to be short but ran out of time sorry!

Love you guys!

Week 45

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week has been great!  Lots of miracles and blessings!

We were able to teach Ruby a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation.
It was kind of a surprise lesson because she said she could meet that
day and then her mom called towards the end of the night and asked if
we could come over to teach Ruby so of course we said yes and it went
well.

We also had another lesson with someone we found earlier this week.
Her name is Monique and the moms name is Amy.  So we had a return
appointment for Friday and we went with a priest (17 year old).  Then
when we got there we rang and knocked and no answer then we decide to
plan what we should do next.  After about a few minutes of being at
the porch planning on what to do next and then we hear the door open
and they said we can come in!  Had a great lesson and left great
commitments, can't wait to meet with them again!

Being a district leader has been alright,  I haven't had a district
meeting yet, that will be tomorrow.

Sorry for the short email but I'm a little tired.

I just wanted to share about what I learned a talk I read!  It's a
great lesson to learn!  The talk is called In the Strength of the Lord
by Elder Bednar.  Something I love that it talks about is enabling the
power of the Atonement.  A scripture that goes along with that is Alma
31:31 which says, "31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt
thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I
may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions
which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people."  I
really like how it shows that we should pray for strength and patience
when we have trials, don't just pray for them to magically disappear.
I love the Atonement and how many ways it can apply to our lives.

Miss ya and love ya!

Week 44

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week has been pretty good, first off we had transfer calls.  So I
found out me and Elder Michaelis are staying together and I am now the
district leader 😐 (mixed feelings about it) which means I will be
looking after my district and helping them out and going on exchanges
with them.  Also I will be teaching the district every Tuesday each
week for about an hour and a half (District Meeting).  It should be
interesting how everything goes with that?

Everything else in week was good, we heard good news about Francisco!
Our recent convert that got deported is finally in Mexico and he was
sent to Mexico City then somehow got to Cancun Mexico.  We were able
to contact his bishop of the Ward he is in and Francisco ended up
going to church and the bishop is helping him out to have somewhere to
live and help him find work. I'm just glad he is in a safe place and
has a ward that can help him!😁

This last week was a little slower but good, we were able to meet with
Ruby once and that went well,  she definitely has a reading level not
high enough to read the Book of Mormon so she is just reading the Book
of Mormon stories.  She is possibly going to girls camp so that's
pretty cool!  We were also able to find two solid potentials from
tracting who we set up lessons with them to come back.  One of them
wasn't home on Monday night when she said she would be but we will
continue to try her.  Also we street contacted into someone at the
park and she was telling us she has been wanting to go back to church
and getting closer to God but didn't know which church to go to.  So
we got her phone number and address so we could stop by!  Hopefully
these potentials follow through and let us stop by.🤞🏼

We had another good contact with a less active lady who hasn't been to
church since she was 16 and she said she has never had missionaries or
Ward members stop by and she said she would love for us to come teach
her family on Monday so we stopped by and taught the restoration and
they have a daughter who is 12 almost 13 that was very interested in
learning about god because she was never raised in any church
whatsoever.  We got a return appointment and I'm excited for that
opportunity to help there family see the blessing of the gospel like I
have in my life.  Looking forward to meeting them again!

The rest of the week was just a lot of finding and less active lessons
that have been going great. Great overall week and I'm excited to
continue building up Gods kingdom in my vineyard (areas)!

Mosiah 3:19
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall
of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

The Atonement is here to make bad men good men and good men better
men.  I have definitely seen how the Atonement does change people for
the better and bless your life eternally.  I love my Savior Jesus
Christ and what he's done for me and for all the others around me.  I
know he died for us and came again and we will do the same.  Also the
Atonement is necessary for us to not just know about it but apply it
to our lives so use it daily.  It will bless your life and bless
others around you because of your example.

Love you guys

Week 43

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week has been a little depressing due to to some news I heard
about Francisco on Tuesday. We were trying to contact him and he never
text back.  So then we stop by and Ruby was home and she told us she
had some news about Francisco, she said he was in jail and waiting to
get deported and that's all she knew and we left thinking how this
could happen?  Then we later find out he was at the immigration office
with his papers almost finished and while he was there they put him
into custody and was going back to Mexico on Friday.  What's weird is
is that he has been here since he was 12 and hasn't been back to
Mexico since.  He also has no family down there so it's a good thing
there will be a bishop he can call for some help.  I pray for him
everyday and hope that he is doing okay and he can come back legally
this time.  His wife said it should take 8 to 12 months just to see if
it's a possibility for him to come back.  Sad but I'm over it now, I'm
just staying positive.

Anyway, my week has been pretty good besides that.  We were able to
teach Francisco's daughter Ruby and she loves the gospel.  Ruby does
have a learning disability so it should be interesting if she will
understand what she reads out of the Book of Mormon.  We gave her the
Book of Mormon stories as well to compare so she won't be totally lost
what is happening.  After that lesson we set her with a date of June
24th to be baptized.

We have two other people we are teaching set with dates but both of
them didn't come to church and one is still smoking like crazy and
hasn't read much out of the Book of Mormon so we will probably drop
his date.  And the other one is set for July 1st and she really wants
to get baptized but she hasn't come to church for a long time but she
has been reading her scriptures and praying daily. Her name is Ariana
and she is also living with a less active member who has a kid
together and they're not married so that's the biggest concern.
Ariana said she will get married next month but we will see.

What I've learned this week is that God has a path for everyone and we
just have to stay on the path so we can receive all the blessings our
Heavenly Fathers has in store with us. So use this time on Earth to
prepare to return to him.

Next week is transfers so we will see what happens, I have been in
this area for 4 months now I'm probably staying but who knows?  There
are 20 missionaries coming in so maybe me or my companion is training.
We will see.

Week 42

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week has been pretty good!  We had success finding more people to teach.

We have two new people looking into the church and one is Francisco's
daughter named Ruby.  Ruby came to church yesterday and had a great
time there.  She is 18 and loves young women's so hopefully she'll be
able to make friends.  Also we have only taught her once, we mostly
just prepared her for what is going to happen on Sunday and Tuesday we
will teach the Restoration. And the other is a 10 year old kids name
Dimitri Mendez and he is awesome.  He asks really good questions and
he goes to a Christian school so he has a background knowledge of
Christianity.  His dad is a convert to the church but is inactive but
while we were there he was helping him find scriptures in the Book of
Mormon he still remembers and loves so that was cool.  So hopefully we
can reactivate the family and have the son learn more and prepare him
to be baptized.

We also have a guy named JP who is about 20 years old and he has a
baptismal date.  He is all for getting baptized but he isn't seeing
how big of a commitment it is and he smokes a lot.  He said can I just
stop smoking for a couple weeks, get baptized and then start smoking
again right?  And we told him how we promise God we are willing to
follow him and leave our bad habits behind and he agreed and said he
will quit.  So we will see how that goes, he also said he was going to
be at church yesterday but he didn't show up.  He is an interesting
guy, every time we pass by his house he is in his garage with his
friends smoking weed and playing his guitar.  We will see if he will
progress.

We also set a lady named Ariana with a date to get baptized and she
need to get married and read from the Book of Mormon for that to
happen.  She has been investigating for a while now, a little over a
year and she is up and down and right now she is up so we will meet
with her once a week to prepare her by extending commitments to keep.

I'm also proud of Francisco for all that he knows and believes and how
he is now teaching his daughter.  It's really cool to see someone you
taught teach their kid because he bares his testimony to her without
even knowing it.  It's really cool

It's been a really good week and I'm excited to see how next week will go.

I just want to share to you guys that today is the day we prepare to
meet God, don't wait to change.  Now is the time.
Alma 34:33
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many
witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate
the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life,
which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not
improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness
wherein there can be no labor performed.

I love that Jesus Christ made it possible for all of Gods children to
make it back to him.  It's only possible through the Atonement of
Christ.  Cherish that we have that opportunity to repent.  It's
definitely a blessing!

Love you guys!

Week 41

AREA: Lone Mountain   
COMPANION: Elder Michaelis 

This week has been awesome!  So many great things happened that I
don't have a whole lot of time to explain!  We had Francisco's baptism
and confirmation!  Also my birthday and Mother's Day which means I got
to skype my awesome family!  Really good week, we also had Zone
Conference and learned a lot about having a good attitude about
everything.  Also applying the Doctrine of Christ even more!  We also
got tiwi's which are a little box on the windshield that hooks up to
the car and tracks all you do while driving.  If the light turns red
you are either speeding, no seat belt, fast acceleration, quick
stopping, and lastly going over bumps to fast.  So it should be fun,
it's not to bad.  Anyway I wish I had more time but we had a lot
happening today!

Love you guys and miss you all!  I'll have a better email next week!

I first got some donuts then went a
24 hour Mexican restaurant called Roberto's and got a breakfast
burrito which was really good and filling.

Little party the ward mission leader's family threw