This week flew by! Post from 10/17/16

Man, this week flew by. Infact this transfer has flown by. This
Saturday transfer boards come out.
    Man. This week we went and did a cool service. We literally go do
art and talk to people there. The art helps the foundation make money.
It's called. Bloom. It's fun. I made a sweet glass thing though of a
sunset over a beach.
      OH!!! WE HAVE AN APOSTLE COMING TO THE MISSION!!!!
It's going to be an all mission conference with an apostle, presidency
of the seventy, and area seventy.  I'm so excited. If the apostle lets
us go shake his hand I'm going to ask him if I can hug him.. haha.
That would be cool.
      We called everyone in our records that we possible could. We
found a bit of people to teach by doing so. So I'm excited.
    We had Zone Training this week and the zone leaders explained
that president finally has made a standard of excellence! That is
going to help this mission so much. Help the missionaries who need a
little more motivation live up to their full potential.
      So I think one of the reasons I came to Erie is because there
are medical schools here. When I heard about Erie I heard that the med
students were super negative about becoming a doctor. I have heard
nothing but good things about becoming a doctor. I think one of the
reasons for me coming here is to have a confirmation that it's for me.
I also have thought a lot about how if I serve my mission faithfully
and completely, working hard every single day, not slacking, then I
will receive help in my life, career, or schooling. I know that when
you put in effort to help others that you will receive the same help.
So if I am out here doing my absolute best then I will receive the
best help in the future.
      Funny story: today we were in Walmart shopping. I was carrying
like 7 Powerades, a gallon of milk, and packs of soup. Elder Walker
was going to get the cart and I dropped a Powerade. Elder Walker
started to pick up the Powerade with one of the workers and.....
because the Powerade was like a block in a Jenga game..... the milk
fell out of my hands and exploded when it hit the floor. Milk got all
over my pants and the floor and it was so embarrassing. Haha needless
to say I did not go back to grab another milk and I exited the store
on the other side! Haha. Man, super embarrassing.
      My district laughs at literally everything I say and do... they
have been recording videos of me when I don't know it and when I do
know it. They've been taking pictures and then putting little quotes
of what I said next to the picture. I told them I'm just not talking
anymore so they can't have any of that anymore. Haha gosh. They are
like children.
    I have received a couple packages this week and they have
absolutely made my days!!! Thank you guys!

Yeeeee. - Post from 10/10/16

So I have been pondering D&C 4 a lot lately.

1 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
I love that it says a marvelous work. It is so much work. A lot of
work. Exhausting. Waking up early and going to bed late. Constantly
talking to people. Always being tired. Doing service. Going out of
your comfort zone all the time. Walking everywhere. Being stressed.
Missing family and friends. Constantly studying for you and your
investigator. Helping care for your companion. Leaving an area that
you grew to love that became a new family.  Trying to get to know a
new area and turn the place around. Trying to talk to people all day
and getting yelled at all day and not having success. Having every
single one of your lessons cancelled. Having people back out of
commitments or baptism. Being depressed or crying and all these
difficult emotions to deal with. Forgetting yourself. And now other
responsibilities as a district leader. It's work. But it is a
marvelous work.

It is marvelous. I've had days when I just wanted to give up but then
at the end of the day there is a miracle. Seeing people finally gain a
testimony. Seeing people finally see the light and the blessings of
the gospel. Finding answers to prayers. Seeing those you teach desire
for their family to learn too. Getting to love the people we are
around. Gaining a strong, unbreakable testimony yourself. Seeing
people change. Having amazing spirit filled lessons when we are all
crying. Growing closer to Christ. Witnessing miracles happen every
month, weekly, even DAILY. Being promted to exactly where you need to
be. Saying things in a lesson that you didn't even recognize you said
but ended up being something that the Holy Ghost whispered into your
ear, and something that helped in the lesson more than you can
imagine. It is marvelous. I could go on.
But it is a marvelous work. And it is true. This work isn't just a
religion. It's the Lords Kingdom. We are the Lords army. We train
people how to fight basically. We help them fight Satan. And beat him.
It's amazing, the trust the Lord has for us young adults to be
representatives of Him and His kingdom. I promise that this truly is a
work that Christ the Lord is leading. He is at the head of this
church, this gospel, this army, and always will be. This is not a
religion. This is a kingdom. I, too, promise we are heirs of royalty.
It's true. It's all simply, wonderfully, brilliantly,  beautifully,
and perfectly true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Things are going good. Had a great week. Our district had 51 lessons
this week!!!!! I don't think they've ever had this many before. And
our area specifically got 15 lessons. I don't think that has happened
either from what I can find in our area books. Have someone with a
baptismal date and other great things are picking up and happening
here. Love you all!!!
Write me!!!:)
1&2&3. Me and my boys watching a video of 2 kittens. Glued to the video.
4. Up by New York.
5. We biked for days. Look at that road. 🚲

General Conference - Post from 10/3/2016

First and probably only thing I want to talk about is General
Conference. Wow. This year conference was just so brilliant. Every
single talk was amazing.
I received so much revelation. The answers I got to my questions, that
I took into conference with, were so clear. General Conference is a
huge opportunity to have a revelatory experience.
Elder MUERS spoke at conference. If you don't remember, about a month
and a half ago he came to our mission. I got to talk to him personally
a little bit and get a picture with him, elder Perkins and elder
Montgomery. (I will share the picture again).
During the conference I had the question "how can I find new people to
teach?" The answer was so clear. It seemed like every single talks
spoke about the plan of salvation, or how they mentioned it more often
as the plan of happiness. I know the answer to my question was to
introduce the plan of happiness to people on the streets that I pass.
Usually when we approach people we often speak about the restoration
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But as the speakers all mentioned,
almost everyone wonders where we came from, why we are here, and where
we go after we die. The plan of salvation can bring so much peace into
many people's lives. It can bring comfort to those who have lost a
loved one. It can bring comfort to those who feel they have no purpose
in life or wonder what their purpose is. It can bring joy, happiness,
and peace to ones soul who wonders these questions or, in reality, any
question. The plan of salvation has the answer!
During conference they also talked a lot about missionary work, joy,
the Book of Mormon, repentance, attitude and gratitude or being Christ
like, growing closer to Christ, and the plan of salvation.
Multiple talks were about repentance. Multiple talks were about
attitude or becoming a more charitable person. Multiple talks were
about the Book of Mormon.
It seemed with each talk I thought to myself, "oh this is my favorite
talk." Each one was so amazing. As time kept going the talks got
better and better it seemed or rather the spirit grew stronger and
stronger as we became more spiritually inline with a knowledge of Gods
will for us.
My two favorite talks however were the talks given by Elder Rasband
and Elder Nattress. They were beautiful talks, and I could feel the
power of sincerity from it. And I could apply them so well to mine.
Elder Rasband talked about how Satan tries to make you forget
spiritual confirmations or wonder if it truly is a spiritual
confirmation. When Elder Muers spoke to our mission about us feeling
inadequate to be representatives of Jesus Christ, he mentioned that
even he, elder muers struggles himself, and even apostles, elder
Rasband recently has been feeling inadequate to represent the Lord. I
feel like a lot of Elder Rasbands talk was linked to this trial of
his. With this knowledge relisten to his talk. It is powerful.
Elder Nattress spoke of when he was young and was being rebellious to
his mother. That itself applies to me so much. Boy did I rebel in my
teenager years (I can now say that now that I am no longer a
teenager). When he spoke about when he told his mother that he wasn't
going to listen to her, I had a flood of so many, too many, memories
come into my mind of when I rebelled knowing what was right. I thought
of how I had treated my parents in the past and how worried they must
have been, how sleepless, and stressed they must have been over me. I
got a little emotional. He then spoke about how there is no rebellion
that cannot be forgiven. When he said this light filled my soul. That
is comforting. Repentance is such a blessing. It isn't something you
should shy away from because it is only going to make you more Christ
like and free you from iniquity. The atonement is amazing and it is
infinite and limitless.

Oh, how grateful I am for my savior Jesus Christ. Oh, how grateful I
am for a mother and father who have taught me, were diligent, and
patient with me. I am so grateful that I can change the wrongs in my
life and receive joy, love, and happiness that I truly don't deserve.
Even though we truly don't deserve it, we don't, we still are loved,
are giving the opportunity to be made free from sin, and return to our
loving Heavenly Father.
        I testify that I am a witness that Jesus Christ truly did
come down to earth to take away the sins of the world. Not to just
help us be forgiven but to take the sins from us, so that we have the
ability to change ourselves and make ourselves better. I promise that
I would not be the person I am today without the atoning sacrifice
that Jesus Christ made. I would still be in my sinful ways. I would
not have been caught by the grace of the atonement. I am so grateful.
No matter what we do we can still change. No age, no sin, and no
rebellion can hold you back from the grace and mercy, the atonement,
of Christ. Only your own desire can hold you back. I am so grateful
for friends that were examples who reached out to me, just as Christ
would- no- did. I know that my dear friends were a great help for
Christ and my parents in helping me turn around. I know that if I had
not had the parents I had, who were patient, diligent, and loving, I
would not be who I am. Without Christ and his atonement I COULD NOT
CHANGE. I know you can, too. I am a witness, and I testify YOU these
things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Exhaustion.....

Being a missionary is so emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausting.

Friday was supposed to be an amazing day. We had 5 scheduled lessons. 5. I was pumped when I woke up. Then the first lesson cancelled. Then the second, then third, fourth, and fifth. So the whole day we were just basically walking around doing some finding to stay productive and busy. It was so frustrating though. About an hour before each lesson they all cancelled.


So many people throughout the week had told us that they were going to be attending church. We had like 10 people, about, that said they were going to come to church. We were excited, then one investigator showed up. So upsetting. But maybe it was good only one showed up so we could really focus on him and introduce him to stuff and be by his side. The investigator that did show up introduced himself as "I'm nick, and I have been here once before and I'm thinking about being baptized." So it was awesome. During the week while we were finding when our lessons got cancelled we found a couple people that want to meet.

So like the intro to this email, it is exhausting in every way. It is such a roller coaster every single day. Good things and bad things happen daily. Although it seems like there is more bad than good at times I'm sure Heavenly Father has got a plan and something in store we can't see.

Sunday night we had a fireside called "why I believe." It was awesome. Missionaries from multiple zones/stakes came up here to Erie. So about 50 missionaries and President and Sister Johnson gave little talks about why they believe. Then a recent convert shared his testimony too. All of us missionaries sang three awesome songs. The spirit was in abundance while we sang. Our investigator nick went to it and he said he felt something special, like he was "at home."

I've learned from being here that being bold is good as long as you follow the spirit. I asked someone this week why they stopped coming to church and why they haven't come back. Just straight up asked it like that. And she told us and know we know how to help here! It was awesome. She has a testimony but just got offended or stressed or whatever. But we know how to help her now. Anyways. That's the week in a wrap.  It's starting to get a little chilly the past couple day

s.

Transfers - and I am going to..... Oh No.... 9/12/16 Post

So I am leaving somerset. So sad. I just loved the people here. Going to miss teaching them and I'm going to miss the members. I will
defiantly have somerset members as a priority to visit. It is really emotional. Somehow I have been able to not cry saying goodbye so that is good haha. I'll miss em.
However, I am going to...... Erie! Erie second Ward. And I'm also going to be a district leader there. The district will have 4 companionships so it's one of the bigger districts in the mission. So I am going from Junior companion to senior companion and district
leader while going to a new area. I don't know what the Lord is thinking having me do this but he will pick up my slack.



One of our investigators with a baptismal date is having a bunch of
doubts. He was asking all these questions to me and I would answer
them and he would then just keep going. So I wrote down his questions.
Went home and studied them and found a BUNCH of scriptures. I was
going to throw with the scriptures. But I thought about it and that
wouldn't be so,etching that would help him progress and gain a
testimony. Only by reading the BOM praying and living the gospel can
we gain a testimony. No matter how constructed or detailed or whatever
your argument is, the only thing that will help someone gain a
testimony is by helping them live the gospel. So, read the BOM, pray,
go to church, and live the gospel, because that is the only way we can
gain, keep, and strengthen our testimonies.
Not a whole lot happened this week except saying goodbyes.  This
branch will never know how much they have helped me and impacted me.
And that's the story with everyone. You never know how much you are
going to impact someone. So just do your best and emulate Christ.

Broken Ankles for Days! - Post from 9/5/16

Unbelievable. So ridiculous. On Wednesday, 2 weeks exactly after
spraining my ankle, we were out tracking walking in grass. There was a
whole I didn't see and.... Snap. There goes my ankle again. I was like
"oh no..." (Which now the whole district makes fun of me for saying oh
no the way I did haha because elder neighting told everyone.) and I
was like we need to go back haha. So we walked back and then elder
neighting started talking to these people on the street. So we taught
them a lesson for 20 mins or so and my ankle swelled up so much in
those 20 minutes of not moving. So I walked so slow. It took us like
an hour to walk back to the apartment which is usually a 20 min walk.
Haha.  I don't think you can tell in the photo but my ankle is a weird
yellow green color. So that happened .....again. So I called sister
Johnson and told her this time and she said to not really do anything
for a while. So lately we have been just chill in in the apartment.


Other than that this week was good. We had a good lesson with the
Allgoods. They are awesome.
We gave sister Boden (the lady that tells us she likes me a lot more
than Montgomery) a blessing. When we asked her who wanted to give the
anointing and sealing she spwanted me to do them both. Haha so I just
did the sealing part. she texted us and said "THANKS FOR THE BLESSING
GUYS! IT WORKED!" Haha. She's funny.

But this week was hard and good. Hard because sometimes it's just
hard. But good because people are starting to understand and gain a
testimony. Yesterday after church we had a lesson with someone. It was
probably the best lesson I've had on my mission. Let me explain. We
planned to teach about church. But we didn't we talked about temples
and faith. So the spirit was directing every single word we said it
was awesome. He said he believes temple are the house of the lord. He
went to the open house in phili. He said you can just tell its sacred
there. It was an amazing lesson. He said he is going to set a date for
his baptism. In his prayer he said "I know this is your church. I know
it's true." Before he had been struggling and had a lot of doubts. But
now after some trials he's faced with his parents he had broke down
the wall and is truly starting to feel instead of think! It's awesome!
There are no words to describe how awesome the lesson was. It's funny
how these people don't even know how much of an impact they have on
you and your mission. They will probably never know how much they
changed you by their conversion.
But yea. I love it. It's awesome to see people change.

I love it. Agh. No words to describe.
Oh I shared my testimony about missions. And I compared it to a
basketball shot. And said that "MJ said you miss 100% of the shots you
don't take. So take the shot of going on a mission." And I explained
how when you shoot in bball sometimes you just know it's going in.
Like steph curry, sometimes he shoots and while the ball is in the air
he'll turn around because he knows it's going in. Then it goes in. And
that because the shot looks right and feels right, and the mission
defiantly feels right so it's a good thing. Then Sharon, who we've
been teaching about missionary work went up and shared her testimony
about missionary work! Yes!!!! Awesome!
Anyways love you guys. Hope gypsy is doing good.

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