August 1, 2016

Buenas Dias ‏

So how has it been in the land of the people of Oregon, South Carolina, Rhode Island, nueve Mexico, Utah and anywhere else I happen to have forgotten? Good? Well I hope it has been good. As for us it has been one of a busy week, but also slow at times as such it proved tedious in parts.

This whole week has been very hot and humid. Which is fine the only problem is that I am my fathers son which means that while I get a rather attractive tan rather than just a solid burn like dad does, I do happen to sweat quite profusely. But that is just a minor inconvenience. Tracted we did and we found quite a myriad of different people.

With having a greenie it proves interesting with door contacts in Spanish. For example we knocked on a door where a nice man answered. Elder Hernandez began only to be interrupted where the man explained he didn't believe anything he was saying. To which Elder Hernandez responded in Spanish "Si oh perfecto, es exactemente como asi" which is roughly "oh yes perfect, it is exactly like that". From that point the man began to bash on us so I interrupted and talked with him for a while till it was obvious he was not interested. After we left, Elder Hernandez asked me what happened (he had the impression he was super interested, which he wasn't) and I explained. But a lot of fun experiences like that happen, which reminds me of my good old days of being trained as well.

One of the cool experiences we had was finding a young women who has about 8 kids all together, like a village. But she was super nice and we talked about the church only to find out her family in Chicago are members and that she had gone to church several times but her husband had been against her going. But we have schedule to swing back to her house this week.

We now have set up service at the ymca every Tuesday and Fridays, which is great because that will keep us busy.

But other than that not much else has been happening of super significance.

This week we will have interviews with the mission president which will be fun.

But that is all on the eastern front. Now I end this letter with my love to you all.

July 25, 2016

Padres, amigos, o otros personas ‏

Well week one with the new greenie, verde, or kid seeing that I have almost 3 years on him. Boy I am getting old. But this was a fantastic week with all sorts of fun tracting, visiting members, and hunting down less actives.

But I will start with how we began Tuesday when I met my current companion and also my last companion. We left early in the morning around 7 just to get to our meetings on time. When we got there we had several meetings getting us ready for our new trainees and then we met, for the very first time. We had some lunch later and then went to visit some people, and then that was the day. So now here is some background on Elder Hernandez.

He was born in Guatemala but grew up in several different places till finally settling down in Alaska where he grew up the vast majority of his life. And he is as of right now trying to learn Spanish. So far doing not too bad for his first week but we got a lot to work on.

We have been working pretty hard this week. The tracting has been pretty rough with how hot it is and the heat which makes it nasty. But on the positive we met a ton of people and had decent success.

Over the weekend to our big surprise we had a awesome branch activity with food salsa tortillas and drinks so ya it was awesome. Then we had church where we both gave our testimonies and several of the members came up to me afterward to thank me very much and explained how much they enjoyed it which was very nice.

Then we had dinner last night with the Fierros who are one of my favorite families in the entire branch they are awesome where we laughed, and help make the meal. Though to be fare I distracted the kids and Elder Hernandez helped more with making the bread. But either way it was awesome.

That was the week, it was fun and busy and I am excited for what comes next.

July 5, 2016

FELIZ DIA DE LIBERTAD POR LOS ESTADO UNIDOS (because I dont know what to call the 4th of july in spanish, is it just the Cuatro de julio o algo no se) ‏

Well this is going to be quick we have a early appointment today and so I am writing as swiftly as possible. Though with my writing capabilities that is not saying much.

So this week we had a few exciting things happening. The first might be the funniest so I gonna kick off with a service we did on Tuesday.

So our branch president told us about a man by the name of Doctor Will Miller who was moving his office out of his Baptist church to another across the river at the college who could use some help with moving. I volunteered us right away and called and talked with him over the phone and through text to get it set up. I also enlisted a couple of our fellow elders to help with moving some of the furniture. Here is the kicker. Dr. Miller is a world renown speaker, and comedian who use to do stand up comedy with a bunch of nobodies like Jerry Seinfeld, Brian Regan, Robin Williams, and a slew people like that who he keeps on a regular correspondence. So we were dealing and helping out with a kind of a big deal guy if you know what I mean. But we get there and the first thing he does is walk up to I and start hugging me and joking with me and telling me stories like I was some long lost friend. Truly a humble, kind, and gracious man. And boy he is funny, he left the comedy job several years ago but he still has a few jabs that will get ya. So we helped take stuff down and moved it to his house where we met his wife who is one of the sweetest ladies you could meet in Lafayette. We took a half hour break of just talking and eating donuts before we went to his sisters house to drop off a couch and afterward he took us out to lunch to this very good country style restaurant. Truly the best compliment I can give and one he rightfully deserves is a good man full of faith in our Savior. He was also very kind to give us a book called "Refrigerator Rights" which I have read a chunk and it is a rather good analysis on the new social behavior of the world and socialization.

Truly a blessed opportunity to meet a wonderful child of God. And get this before we had even done the service he had gone before his congregation and his Facebook to thank the LDS missionaries for their generosity in helping him. Truly a humble and cool guy.

But on to the next business which happened Wednesday where I had to travel again to do another baptismal interview (my goodness it seems half the time I do interviews) to this lovely lady. I wont mention her by name and I did ask if I could share this story with my family. So during her preparations to be baptized she needed to quit smoking so she and the sisters decided to fast, and she received a blessing to strengthen her. Part of her blessing included that her choice to follow the savior would bring blessings to her family. Well that night she had a dream with her father laying in a bed (her father had passed away years ago) and a room full of people she could not recognize. She came to the side of her fathers bed and her father asked her to help him. That was it. She woke up the next morning and called the sister missionaries to tell them her experience. Several weeks before this she had learned about baptisms for the dead and had a funny feeling about it. And then with her dream she understood immediately and she said that was her answer that she was on the right path. Her and I had a special moment when we talked about those other people in her dream the ones she didn't recognize but didn't feel bad feelings about. I told her that while I don't know for a certainty I felt impressed that those were her family, her ancestors, those on the other side who have been waiting for her to choose the gospel of Jesus Christ so that she could do the work for them and her father. A very spiritual moment where we finished the interview with her crying and the sister missionaries wondering what was going on and ya just a great moment.

This Monday with the 4th of July we had the great privilege of going to a town called Walton with the sisters of Logansport and a family that I had taught a little during my brief stint in Logansport. It was surprisingly well done, afterwards we traveled around the various booths and stuff they had set up ate some popcorn and got some funnel bread some good stuff. After that we traveled with the Sisters to a members house where we ate some rocking chili. If you remember from previous emails Sister Sheppard, her son Ryan, and boyfriend Stoney the southern redneck. It was awesome they are some of my favorite people in Indiana, especially Stoney we hit it off so much. But after that we headed back to Lafayette and went to bed with fireworks going off, and ya a pretty nice 4th of July.

And that is the week. Full of fun, spiritual and nice times.

I hope you have all had a wonderful week and a excellent 4th of July. And you all better of blown something up since I cant.

June 27, 2016

Estamos Aqui ‏

Well many fun and exciting things happened this week and it kept us fairly busy.

We had the opportunity to visit with a less active this week specifically this week who was fairly surprise to see us. After talking with him for several minutes he explained that he was moving to Ohio and didn't know how to find the church there. So we took his computer and search for the nearest Spanish congregation in relation to his house and were very happy to see one that is only 5 minutes away from his house. So that was very cool, and since I had his address I am going to send a email with some of his info to the local elders so we wont lose them.

So that was pretty cool.

This last Wednesday we had a lot of meetings and interviews I needed to do. We first traveled to Lebanon where I interviewed two people for baptism. One was a young man who is in the army reserves, very nice guy and very well prepared. The other was a wife to a active member who was actually fairly nervous about the interview. But she is also someone who was very well prepared and a delight to talk to. They both passed so fear not. After all these interviews we traveled back and had a meeting with President Cramer and his councilors about some of the less actives and prospective elders. So a busy day.

With the two people I interviewed being baptized on Saturday I decided to bump our district meeting to Saturday so that as a whole the district could stay and watch their baptisms. D meet went very well, I made it more of a get to know each other and then finished with a couple goals and a spiritual thought. Then we went to get lunch (Wendy's) and came back to help set up the baptism. The baptisms went very well and everyone felt the spirit so strongly. After all this fun stuff it was late so we went home swung by a couple people and then finished with dinner that night. I was tired after all that and had a wonderful nights sleep.

Sunday was also very nice nothing super crazy we had church, and had dinner with our branch president which was fun. And then the day ended. I collected all the numbers for the district and called the Zone leaders made fun of them for a couple minutes gave them the numbers and finished the night with a piece a cake that was given to us by the members.

So all in all a good week.

But that is the news of the week, as always I love you guys and miss you and hope all is going great. I love you guys.

June 20, 2016

feliz dia de padres ‏

So we had a final fare thee well to our beloved President Cleveland and Sister Cleveland. It was labeled as a zone conference but in reality it was the fare well. It was a day of mixed emotions as we said goodbye. He gave a wonderful talk about honor and "returning home with honor." Very emotional very spiritual just a very nice day. It happened on tuesday, and we finished with some snacks and then went home.

But yep the end of a era has begun and a whole new one begins with President Carlson. Both exciting and interesting times till we see what happens.

This week was good with some of the lessons and meetings we had. We had the opportunity to meet a less active whose husband is not a member (his name is Russolfo) and had a chance to talk with him and get a feel for where he is at. Its interesting with him since he comes to church almost every Sunday so we will see.

We tried to get into contact with a handful of less actives but this week we didn't have as much success. Though we did have one minor success with getting in contact with a single sister through a surprising medium, Walmart. We went there to pick up something or other (I don't remember) and we bump into this sister where at first I was like hmmm she looks very familiar but then like oh I know you. It was pretty funny and we worked out times when we could come and visit so that was awesome.

We also tried to visit with a recent convert by the name of Miguel to help him prepare his talk but unfortunately he was busy with work. So instead I talked with him from the phone during a lunch break to go over some things and found he honestly really didn't need any help hahahaha. He has been a member for about 4 months and he was better prepared than most of the members who have years as a member. So Sunday came and we got to listen to his talk which was fantastic (talks were all about Sundays dads). I wont lie I started to miss my old man, like on mothers day for mom, I had a moment of missing dad. Meh ya know he is a pretty cool guy so its natural for anyone to miss him, though he did sucker punch me almost everyday of my life and will undoubtedly continue to do so.

But Sunday ended with a lovely fathers day lunch activity where we had quite a lovely spread.

And I have just remembered something very big that happened as well. We got a call from one of our member who specifically asked to talk with me to tell me her father had just passed away. So we talked for a few minutes and then I worked out that we would go to her house to water the plants and take care of them while they go to Mexico for the funeral. So please keep the Carlos's in your prayers.

But and as a final thought I wish to express my gratitude to our heavenly father. He has the ability to care for all the world and yet the willingness to focus on the individual. This is accomplished through many ways but one of the keys is through our earthly fathers. So I wish to give a shout out to the old man Gary (that's weird his name is dad) for all that he has done for his daughters and his random son in the mix. But on that note another shout out to mom for putting up with all us crazy people.

June 16, 2016

Hola ‏

Well some interesting things some less than interesting things happened this week. Some highs and some lows but meh that's life.

This last Tuesday we had the Transfer meeting. But before we left for that a pair of sisters asked if I could give them a blessing which we had to do early because we had the meeting so it was looking like the beginning of a long day. But it was good and we left on our merry way to Indianapolis where I had a district leader meeting where they just discussed our new responsibilities of work. Then we had the transfer meeting where we got a emotional farewell from President Cleveland since this was his very last transfer meetings. We are going to have one final farewell with him later this week and so I will let ya know how that is. But after the meeting we hooked up with our friend Elder Baird since he was going home, we grabbed lunch and then hung out till it was time for him to go. After all that we went to visit a guy by the name of Uncle Buck who is a crippled veteran non member guy who the missionaries found. He is pretty cool and fun to talk too. After that we made the long journey back to Lafayette and then got some dinner and went out to try to visit some people.

Boy we were tired after all that fun stuff.

So we discovered a couple things with less actives and part member families. So the elders quorum president mother is a fairly active member but her husband is not a member. His name is Rudolfo and as far as we know he has never been taught by the missionaries. So we are going to see what we can do and work with him. He comes to church almost every time with his wife so there could be something.

We also have a family who originally left the church because they were offended over a stupid thing but now may be the time where we can get in with them and try to figure out how to help them so we are very excited for that.

We got a referral from one of our members of a lovely lady by the name of Maria who has talked with missionaries before but never had anything super solid. We are going to start working with her starting tomorrow.

This last Sunday was really a good sacrament meeting. President Cramer gave a wonderfully funny and spiritual talk. It was really good.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

June 6, 2016

Hola VOY TENER 6 SEMAMAS MAS AQUI EN LAFAYETTE ‏

Well lets start off with some good news I have another six weeks in Lafayette with elder ryan. We got the calls Saturday and we were both fairly sure we would both be kick out but then we thought about it more and it made sense for us to stay one more time. So we are both very excited to have one more to go.

And that is not all. I am now a district leader. I started laughing when President told me that and then it sort of died after I realized he was serious. Elder Ryan and me had a pretty good laugh about it. So now I am in charge of helping people in Lebanon (sisters) and Crawfordsville elders.

But that is still not all we recieved more news about how we will finish the last 12 weeks of our missions. By training new Spanish missionaries! While I would of like to have avoided it, it has unfortunately happened that I will train funny enough a replacement for me. Some what excited somewhat nervous and confident, not a bad way to go out. Now Pres Cleveland made it sound like I might train here which would be a long time for anyone to be in an area which also means I would finish up here in Lafayette which isn't a terrible option its just a long time. But that could change.

Sooooo knowledge of how I am finishing my mission and where I might finish, training a greenie, and going into leadership. Lots of fun stuff.

This week has been pretty good, been staying busy.

One of the major highlights was when this Sunday we saw a former investigator by the name of Daniel come to church. It was great to talk with him and reconnect. and now we are working with him to have a time to visit.

We also had a ton of less actives show up which was great to go talk to them and visit.

We had the great privilege to also go in search for a hospital that I couldn't remember where it was exactly to give a blessing to the daughter of one of the members (gall bladder problems if I translated correctly). But it was very special often we go months without the opportunity and so its always special to have that chance.

Unexpectedly we got called on to teach elders quorum cause the elders quorum president just kind of disappeared hahahaha, so we had that great honor. We focused on the restoration and what it meant or why it was significant in there lifes. It got very spiritual and I think it went very well.

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2016/06/our-father-our-mentor?cid=HP_WE_1-6-2016_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL1-A_&lang=eng

May 31, 2016

Lo siento pero tengo casi veinte minutos mandar esta email ‏

Well what a busy week lots of service again and this week we actually manage to find a couple good potentials out in the lovely world of Lafayette.

Some highlights. We had to go Logansport to give a blessing to a sister who wanted one due to a surgery she was going to have. She asked me specifically cause I got close to the family and ya. It was good she cried, but told her not to worry that it would all be fine. She had the surgery Thursday and is now recovering.

We also had the chance to talk with a man by the name of Alberto who works at the ymca (where President Cramer works) we got to talk with him and while we will have to wait to find out if he is super interested but we have his number and address so we shall see.

This previous Sunday we had the wonderful opportunity to teach the third hour at church with President Cramer concerning la obra misional or the mission work that members could do. One of the biggest things we emphasize was that mission work is accomplished by the small and simple things. These things can be as simple as talking to them, inviting them for dinner, helping with service or simply being a friend. We focused on those concepts due to the misconception that in order to do mission work it has to be something big like sharing the plan of salvation or explaining the atonement. In truth the work can be much simpler and easier and at times more impactful at times. President Cramer shared some stories and ended the class with the invitation to have the members discuss together what they could do to have more of those missionary opportunities.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/media/session_0_talk_6/3810258133001?cid=HP_TU_24-5-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

But alas I must depart, I hope you guys continue to have a fantastic week.

May 25, 2016

Hola amigos y familia y tortugas y otras personas ‏

Hey everybody how has it been going. Its been pretty good here. We have been staying busy searching and hunting for those who are ready for the gospel.

But one of the big things we had this week was a zone conference. It came to us quickly this last Tuesday. We had President Cleveland there and we learned a lot. One of the big things that was emphasized was referrals, and invitations to church. The last few months the mission as a whole has drooped a little with numbers investigators at church. It was a long day of meetings, it was really good but it was long lasted till about 4 O'clock and then afterwards we had to stick around to get some temple interviews. Its pretty fun to say that I got coach Clevelands signature now. While I was waiting I got to talk with Sister Cleveland a little bit and that was fun and even got to talk with President Cleveland a little bit more as well and ya a pretty good day. Afterwards we had dinner with the family Cervantes which was fun and tasty. Fried chicken, tortillas, pinto beans, and home made salsa, and some rice.

We had plans to do some service for a sister in the branch but unfortunately there was a change in plans as she had to go down to Mexico to visit her ailing father (he is almost done) but she got to visit him and it was very emotional. If you could keep the Carlos's in your prayers that would be very much appreciated. 

Fear not though we still had a chance to go and do some service this time at a farm like house. I mean the house is located in the middle of no where, and we had a fun time though there was a ton to do. From picking up branches and logs, to digging up plants, and moving tons of bricks. But at the end we feasted on the delicious food of pizza and root beer. The service all together lasted about 4 to 5 hours so it was a good chunk of the day but it was fun to do something different and a bit dirty.

This Sunday we had a excellent sacrament meeting, sadly no investigators at church but it was excellent from the talks and the classes. 

Overall a good week. We taught a fair amount of people and have a potentially solid investigator who lives in a town about 20 minutes away whose name is Miguel. I will report more on that later when we get our next lesson in with him.

May 16, 2016

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-06-0070-mothers-and-daughters?CID=HP_MO_9-5-2016_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyI-2_&lang=eng

Dear people,

How are ya?

This week we stayed busy with working with one of our investigators whose name is Pedro. He is from Mexico and is energetic and almost always excited. We are trying to arrange him to have someone come and pick him up for church.

We also had the great chance to visit the Ramirez family. They are a active family though the father tense to have trouble with staying active. We have talked with him about receiving the priesthood. But they are awesome and are just going through some rough times so please keep them in your prayers.

This week we had the great opportunity to go Logansport to go visit some less actives there that I had gotten to know. So we first met with the Watt's who are a older couple, then we went to visit the crazy rednecks Sister Shepard and Stoney (he is hilarious) and then we had some dinner with the Dools a single sister who has three kids. Overall a good trip and we were able to help the other sister missionaries who are working there make some connections with people.

So fun fact about Hispanics they don't celebrate mothers day on the day we normally do but rather on the 2nd Saturday of the month so we had a awesome fiesta this Saturday with hamburgers, salsas, soups, but most important thing of all a ton of carne asada. Though it was excellent mom still has the edge when it comes to the carne asada, I think it has to do with how mom marinades it. But after all the food the kids and some of the adults cantando canciones y cosas asi. But we also had the chance to talk with this very nice young lady, has two young boys and is a friend to one of the members. She has known very little about the church but we had the chance to give her a book of Mormon and talk with her about it.

So overall a pretty good week.

I hope things are continuing to go great.

May 9, 2016

Well the highlight of this week was mothers day but I will get to that in a second.

This week we found a mix amount of success we have been staying busy though which is the key.

Saturday we had a massive service opportunity. So the Spanish branch put on a big auction of pies, and other sweets for the stake to help raise money for girls scout camp. So they had a meal prepared and it was a lot of food and then they had some dances and music and then the lovely auction. We had the job of setting up tables, bringing food, and then serving the people. It was pretty fun and we had a lot of success probably around 300 people from all over the stake showed up perhaps even more.

Either way it was really successful and fun and it was a great activity for the branch to do.

Well lets get onto Sunday shall we. Sacrament meeting was rather excellent we had the opportunity to hear from one of the young women who gave a excellent talk and then we had Sister Cramer give a testimony overall it was a excellent sacrament. Then we had a our classes which proved just as good. And discussed a few more activities and stuff. After which we went home for some lunch and then afterwards tried to visit a few people and then went to dinner with our branch president. We ate hamburgers and sausage and all sorts of good stuff. After which we proceeded to facetime.

This was a weird one as the next time I will be talking with the family will be at home. But 5 and a half months await me before that so I try not to think to much about it. To say it was enjoyable is putting it mildly. It was great to see the parents, grandparents and all the sisters. To say I love and miss you all is a understatement.

May 2, 2016

HELLO we are partying and working hard here in Lafayette. When we first got into the area I checked our miles we are allotted for our car and found that the return trip alone to get back to our apartment made us go over are monthly allotment. Keep in mind that we dont get more miles till the end of the month. So I had to call our Zone leaders and explain what had happened and ya got it all sorted out. But that being said it forced us to walk everywhere which is difficult because the areas we tract or knock doors mostly are within 5 to 8 miles away.

Buttttttttt thats part of the work so its all good, its been cold and wet here. That does add a different pace to everything which is fun to do. 

Week one with Elder Ryan in Lafayette and we are already pumped for the next 5 weeks of working here in Lafayette. Sometime I feel like that just because people are friends it does not mean they will work well together. However luckily enough I and elder ryan I feel are being and will continue to be a great team, we are both very excited.

Lafayette has changed greatly, as I was trained here I did not believe I would ever get a chance to return to this area. However I have seen a few things that are perhaps reasons why I am meant to be here.

A recent convert by the name of Franklin while progressing to the temple has been having trouble attending church for the full three hours. He says that it is because he has work and other things to do, however unfortunate for him is that I taught Franklin and prepared him for baptism and I know what his schedule is really like and his quirks he gets into. We have already begun to start working with him on that requirement and continuing to progress to the temple.

The other involves a family who before I left were very active in the church and while dealing with some problems were making strides to overcome their challenges. Well I learned that they are slipping into inactivity. The good news is is that I got to know this great family very closely before I left, including some of their issues they are going through.

So in short I have seen evidences suggesting why I might be back, and I look forward to finding more of what the Lord has prepared I and Elder Ryan to do and accomplish during our time here.

That has been what has been going on for the week. Lots of exciting things are coming along.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/his-grace/finding-your-purpose-in-life-does-faith-matter?cid=HP_FR_29-4-2016_dMC_fMLIB_xLIDyI-1_

April 25, 2016

Well what a uneventful week until now. We stayed busy but we have had several problems with getting our investigators back on tract and just trying to keep things together.

About two weeks ago I had the opportunity to get a interview with our mission president (Cleveland) where he told me a few things about the future of my mission and one of those things was that I would leave Columbus. Well that was a given due to six months of service in Columbus. But then this last Saturday the most unexpected thing happened, the thing that was least likely to happen in terms of area and companions.

First off my new area is Lafayette which should sound familiar because that is where I first began my mission in Indiana. So I am returning to my first home. There is some very awesome reasons why this is great. Firstly I know the area, secondly I know the members, and thirdly it is a fun area to be in. Now lets move onto something a little more amazing.

I will be serving with Elder Ryan. Elder Ryan was my companion in the MTC and has been one of my closest friends in the mission. Since we first came out to Indiana we have tried to convince President to let us work together and so it has come to be.

To say to the least I am excited, and more enthusiastic about this transfer than any other.

It also means I will have the chance to visit some of my converts, and perhaps even visit some of the less actives in Logansport as that is also in our area.

So many amazing things are happening. And I apologize for how short this email will be but I have to take care of a few more things before I leave.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-04-1000-lifes-drama?category=mormon-messages-2016&lang=eng&cid=HP_TU_19-4-2016_dPFD_fMRMN_xLIDyL2-3_

The Hardins

April 18, 2016

Wow what a week. We had several appointments fall through but we had plenty of service.

Tuesday we mowed lawns for about 2 to 3 hours and that was difficult but fun. It was nice just to do grunt work.

Thursday we helped with junking. Thats where we cleaned up scraps of metal and stuff so that it can get recycled. We have a older member couple who do it all the time and we go regularly to help, that one is very fun and its nice to do something different.

Friday we helped move boxes, and other miscellaneous items around.

Saturday we helped build a fire pit, and then celebrated with about 3 birthday parties that day.

So in terms of service we were very busy, unfortunately in terms of teaching that has been on a bit of a downer. Most of our solid appointments fell through.

But that happens and it just means got to keep working on. However my time in Columbus is done. 6 months or so of working here and it is coming to an end. So I leave not this tuesday but the next and this saturday I will learn where exactly I will go.

To say to the least I am sad to leave Columbus but at the same time am content to move on. However that also means I have to get the area ready for the two new spanish elders who will be coming in to work here. Ugh lots to do and never enough time to do it.

So I have been studying Elder Stevenson talk concerning Where Are the Keys and Authority of the Priesthood?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/where-are-the-keys-and-authority-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng

I hope that as we continue into the future we can continue to study the words of the prophets and leaders and apply there teachings

More Pictures April 11, 2016

Some Military Pictures April 11, 2016

April 11, 2016

Entounces tuvimos una semana ocupado pero tambien difficiles.

Well the week was busy but we found ourselfs occupied with a lot of different activities such as service.

One of the service opportunities involved was mowing lawns for a older hoosier couple members who have been under the weather. Their names are Todd and Laurette. Their story is very special as they have been members only for about a year and a half. Todd was online one day and happen to chance upon a video from the church which led to website where it kept bringing a pop up for if you want a bible. Well he clicked it and the missionaries were on there way. They had been searching for the church for years and had been praying for.

As of late we have had the opportunity to knock various streets and talk  with a number of people but have not had quite as much success as we have had before.

I suppose its best to say its been a long week, lots of work but nothing of much report to say.

As for our main investigators:

David and Angela have been going through a lot of sickness and health issues and have been canceling our appointments which is frustring and worrisome if their desire is no longer there.

Kathy has been going through some personal problems and we have not been able to meet with her very recently but are going to try to get back into contact this week.

As for Ann she only meets with us when she is with David and Angela so we have to work with them to get that through.

But we all are doing great. Surviving and persevering. As of right now I will probably be leaving columbus but that wont be for another 2 or so weeks so I will report back on when I have more news on that.

But I have been studying the recent conference talks. Specifically Elder Wadells talk which I have enjoyed more now that I have had to study.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/a-pattern-for-peace?lang=eng

Well I love you guys and miss you so much. Everything is going well and I hope your all enjoying life.