April 14, 2014

So this email is going to be kinda confusing but it all talks about the last week.

The Blue is in response to dad's email and the red is the rest of the mass email. 

Sorry but this was easier and less time consuming.

Thank you so much for your email this week. Especially for the last paragraph. That is definitely what I needed to hear. It has been really really hard to be working in back to back areas that don't have a lot of work us yet. We are constantly getting hounded by our zone leaders because my companion is the district leader and we are having a hard time finding people to teach and our numbers have been really poor these last few weeks. Our problem right now is that we set up many appointments and they have all been falling through lately and our zone leaders feel like we are either not working or not being obedient. It has been really hard to have to deal with them and worrying about the area at the same time. Obviously what we are currently doing is not working and I am not sure what else to do and the zone leaders are not giving us any advice other than referring us to the finding section in PMG. Yeah that is my current struggle right now is trying to deal with the leadership while helping the area to progress at the same time. I have really been working hard on my patience. I have learned on my mission that I struggle a lot with patience and humility and it is something I am striving to be better at but it is really really hard sometimes. I am and hoping and praying for a better week. 

P.S. - Oh yeah Dad, Bro. Geddy told me that you need to put your cell phone number on the church directory so he could have texted you the picture of Jake, Geoff, and Justin Nordin.

So I was a scrub this week and forgot to bring my memory card reader for my camera. This week was pretty awesome because I was able to see Jake Carstens, Geoff Geddy, and Justin Nordin. So now for the awesome story of how I was able to accomplish this. Lol Well it all started with mom talking to me last week about how Jake was getting married this week in the IF Temple. She didn't know what time but she was able to find out what day he was getting married and unfortunately without a time I didn't think I was going to be able to see them. Well we were on exchanges on Friday and Elder Badoni (my former companion) were together while Elder Tovar (the district leader) was on exchanges with Elder Crow. Well I was with Elder Badoni in his area on Friday and we had a lesson planned at the Temple Visitors Center. Unfortunately the lesson fell through but while we sitting there waiting for him to show up we found out that they have a list of all of the weddings and times. So I asked if they new what time Jake was getting married and they found it and I was able to surprise him while they were outside taking pictures. We were not able to go to the sealing or stay for very long but it was really fun and cool to see them. So that was the highlight of my week but other than that it has been a really hard week (for more info on why it was so hard read the blue). Well I have to go now but I love y'all very much and I will definitely have pictures next week of Jake, Geoff, Justin and I together. Have a great week and I will talk to y'all next week.

April 7, 2014

Well this week has been really great! We had a few miracles happen this week. Currently the mission has a goal of every companionship baptizing in the month of April and this area has a really really small teaching pool. So for fast Sunday we have been praying for a miracle that we would find someone to be able to baptize this month and on Wednesday we got a referral from our Zone Leaders for a lady that would be moving into our area from Shelly, Idaho. She has already been taught all of the missionary lessons and apparently she is super excited. She is what missionaries call a "golden investigator" or someone that was prepare by ministering angels before the missionaries ever started talking to her. This has been a really great experience to be a part of and it has really strengthened my testimony on the power of fasting and prayer. We also received a couple other referrals but we have been unable to reach them yet so they are our other blessings from the fasting but we are still trying to get in contact with them. And I don't know if y'all have heard but we got a little bit of snow last week and on Sunday we got about a foot and I have pictures below with me in the snow. One of these days I will be more prompt and send a better email. I better go do some shopping. Have a great day and I love y'all tons!!!

P.S. - During general conference I learned that I am supposed to be asking y'all about what you have be studying recently in Preach My Gospel. So what have y'all been studying lately??

March 31, 2014

Well hello hello how have y'all been?? So I now have a little bit more information for y'all about my new area. I am currently serving in the Idaho Falls West Stake and have 4 wards that I cover: Grandview, Mountain View, Temple View, and West Hill Wards. Unfortunately I was unable to get the pictures but I have a video of it that is apparently too big to attach in this email so I will try from my gmail email but if that doesn't work I'm not sure how else to get the video to y'all. So every week the elders and sister get together for a zone activity and there a 2 gyms in a church building in the area. So we get to choose which sports we want to play and one is usually basketball, which I personally suck at, and the other is usually something called gatorball, which is kinda like indoor soccer and handball mixed together, and that is the one that I usually play. So last week when I said I was going to play soccer I was really going to go play gatorball. It is really fun and I have thought about introducing the game to the missionaries back home. I am usually one of the better players but that is because I have little history playing soccer. ;) Well I am sorry this email is so short but I have to go do some shopping before we go play some gatorball. I love y'all very much and will have more for y'all next week.–-

March 24th, 2014

Well I couldn't dodge the bullet twice. Unfortunately I am getting transferred to the other side of Idaho Falls :( I am super happy to be staying in Idaho Falls though. It has been really fun to get to know this town and the people in it more and more. Especially since I used to come here like every weekend and only knew the major streets. Now I have really gotten to know half of IF and now I get to go and learn more about the other half. My new companion is going to be Elder Tovar and he actually came from the Ogden mission with me. I didn't know him too well other than that. I feel like it is going to be a good transfer but I am going to miss Elder Hernandez a lot. We had a lot of fun together and it has been a great 3 months. We did burn our shirts this last week but unfortunately the Elder that took the pictures has not been able to give them to me yet. So next week for sure I will have pictures for y'all. Sorry for being a scrub. The area is doing good the members are starting to work with us more and more and we have be seeing quite a few miracles in our area. For example, since Elder Hernandez has been here we have been trying to teach a couple of families but they were not ready for missionaries yet. For the past few weeks these families have been coming to church on their own. Which is awesome but they still are not ready for missionaries so we are currently working through the members and the primary to help these families. One day the missionaries in this area are going to be blessed with a couple baptisms but it will take some time and as long as they are patience and show true charity for this area they will continue to see the same miracles that we have been able to see. Well I better go to some shopping. Then I will be getting ready to go dominate at some indoor soccer :) I love y'all very much and hope y'all have a great week!!

March 17th, 2014

Hello Hello family and outside world. How have y'all been? Well I don't have much to report like every other week but I will try to use mom's email and questions to inform y'all how I am doing. Well since it is St. Patricks Day I had to get a green dry erase marker and draw on my hands because out of all the many ties I have now none of them have green in them. Lol well life is going great here with Elder Hernandez we are continuing to work really well together and are getting along really well. I am still struggling with the journal writing because y'all know me better than everyone and know how much I hate to write. I am currently at Exodus 2 and have been really learning a lot about how the old testament has a ton of hidden treasures in it. One for example is how every single prophet that has called and will be called is a prime example of Jesus Christ and someone we can see and model ourselves after. A lot of people can quickly see the similarities between Heavenly Father = Abraham and Jesus Christ = Isaac but in my book I learned that if we look towards all the prophets that way we will be able to see Christ shining through all prophets. My contacts are doing great and I am pretty used to them now except when it is a really windy day they will dry up and feel really uncomfortable. Overall though I love them and they feel really nice most of the time. Tonight we are planning on going to a members house for dinner and to burn our shirt (me) and tie (hernandez) so next week I should have pictures for y'all for sure. Well I have to go run some errands and play some gatorball (it's like soccer and handball mixed together). I love y'all very much!!! Have a great week!! :)