Bye Bye Millersburg. Hello Johnstown! From November 6, 2017

Boy oh boy do I got a surprise for you.

I'm being transferred!!! I'm getting transferred to Johnstown! I'm

going to be in my first district. Which means I'll be able to go on

exchanges in somerset!!!!!! Haha I'm so. Flipping. STOKED!!!!!! Can't

wait!!!

Haha this past week I had been praying that I could get transferred to

somerset for my last run. I forgot transfers were this week and I saw

the transfer boards and I screamed. I absolutely went hysterical!

Can't wait to go on exchanges in somerset and see my people!

Haha I'm also very excited to be in Johnstown!

Man. Looking back at this area and the progress that's happened is

crazy. When I first got here (sorry Butikofer❤️) there was absolutely

nothing. No investigators or anything really. Elder Butikofer and I

worked our little booties off! Elder Butikofer and I labored with all

of our might. We would always talk about how hard we were working and

say how we have never been so physically, mentally, spiritually, and

emotionally exhausted. I can't describe how tiring it was! Haha but we

worked. And now we are starting to see the fruit of our labors. We had

a baptism last week. We have 2 baptisms coming up in 2 weeks. We have

been picking up awesome investigators. Members coming back to church.

So much goodness coming forth now! It's crazy!

So it's bittersweet to be leaving. Leaving all of this hard work and

fruit in the hands of others and not being here when it happens. But I

need a new scenery haha.

This week was pretty full of nothing. Lots of doctor appointments

because elder dey has been sick. But he's ok now.

So overall message of this email is that hard work pays off. And WE

CAN BAPTIZE ANYWHERE!!!!

More goodness!!! from October 30, 2017

Good things!
Yesterday Charlotte got baptized. It was so good! One of our
investigators, mike, was there and felt the spirit for sure. We talked
to him afterwords and he said he is super excited now to be baptized.
We handpicked 25 chapters from the Book of Mormon we want him to read
in two weeks so he can be baptized on nov 18. So sweet! So we will
have a double baptism on that date.
Mike went to the temple with the branch on Friday. We saw him Friday
night and asked how it was. He was speechless. He couldn't form words
to describe his experience. Even though he couldn't go into the
temple, just walked around it, he felt the spirit for sure. It was
perfect because it lead perfectly into us talking about how our bodies
are temples and we need to live the word of wisdom. So we committed
him to live it and he accepted. So things are going great here.
This week was pretty crazy getting things worked out for charlottes
baptism. Because we didn't even know for sure if she was going to be
baptized until like Tuesday night at like 9:30 pm. She was interviewed
and then president Bednar called us and talked about it and said she
could get baptized. While he was on the phone with us giving us a run
down he finished and said, "elders..... GREAT JOB!....... you have
done marvelous work" and then something along the lines that we
changed charlottes life. When he told us great job and stuff I felt so
much weight taken off my shoulders and I just felt soooo good! It felt
so good to hear president tell us that. It was indescribable how good
it felt. So we were setting up her baptism and such. We had to clean
the font which took a long time because this branch hasn't had a
baptism in years. But now they do. And they will continue to get them
as we are obedient and work hard! Got a couple more lined up so it
isn't stopping!!
So yeah, this week was us scrambling around getting ready for
Charlottes baptism.
During the baptism a video we were trying to play wasn't working, so
while trying to fix it I looked at sister kaiser(who sings
wonderfully), we make eye contact, and she nods her head, and I'm
like, "alright everyone we are actually going to hear sis kaiser
sing!!" Then she sang a song on the spot, man! She came in clutch!!!
She is the best!!! Haha it was so funny though. We both were thinking
the exact same thing! Haha.
Good things are happening. The field is white!


Perfect timing to catch some pics of the sunset over the Susquehanna river.
Also a bomb cheeseburger I made MYSELF!!

So much goodness!!!! from October 23, 2017

This week was bonkers!

First off we had 4 investigators, which 3 of them have a baptismal
date, and 3 members, who usually don't attend, come to church this
week! It was sooo sweet! It was so exciting and felt so good!

This week was good. We met a couple people that seemed pretty
promising. One lady was so excited after talking to us she told us to
come back the next day and she thanked us for stopping her. That was
sweet. Met this dad that said we could come back. Hopefully things
will go well there. We stopped by this lady we have talked to before,
she knows a member in my old companions (elder Butikofer) area. So we
showed her the prince of peace video and she liked it. She started
crying and told us she hasn't felt gods love or anything before and
always feels like she gets cold shoulders from churches. So we
promised our message would help and then we set an appointment for
Saturday. It's cool cause she told us in the beginning, "I wish you
guys were located down here." And we were like, ".... we are!!!!" Haha
it was great.

We texted a girl from last week that we met and we have been texting a
lot. She can't meet because she is a nurse person for someone and
literally works like 24/7 and lives with the guy she takes care of.
But she is so cool. She said she read every summary of each chapter in
the Book of Mormon and then read the chapter if it sounded super
interesting. So things are cool with her!

Friday as we were planning for our week elder dey and I had a super
strong impression we needed to move someone's baptismal date up. The
feeling felt super urgent. It was crazy because her previous date was
for nov 4. And that's already pretty soon. But we felt like we had to
do it. And so we looked at the next weekend and on Friday the branch
was going to the temple so that was out, Saturday was the branches
trunk or treat party. So we were figuring out what day and time. We
also had to figure how we were going to teach her everything we need
to teach her before her baptism cause we have to teach her a lot. And
it's one week away. So we set to have her baptism on the 29th. And we
made lesson plans and figured it out how we can cram it all in before
then and we pretty much have to go over every single day this week to
make it possible. But it's going to happen. As long as she passes her
interview all will be well!! So that was pretty crazy! That's never
happened to me before. The prompting was so strong and I knew we had
to.

Anyways. Our other 2 people with baptismal dates are doing awesome!
They are so solid!
So things are going so good here in Millersburg!
Anyways that's my week in a wrap.
Oh yea, Sunday elder dey and I gave talks. I gave a talk about faith
using the story of David and Goliath. I finished it literally like an
hour before I gave it. Anyways mom or anyone else that wants to read
it I can send it to you if you tell me.
Love you all! Miss you all!
Breakfast at the bopps!!!

Momentum - from October 16, 2017

This week was absolutely nuts.
Went on 2 exchanges. Elder Brooks and then elder Olsen. Elder Olsen is
a stud missionary. We killed it together!!!
Haha funny story. We went and got subway. As we were in subway elder
Olsen went first and got his sandwich. The lady at that was checking
him out started flirting with him so hard. While that's going on I was
sitting there waiting for someone to put condiments on my sandwhich. I
sat there for a good 4 minutes while elder Olsen gave her a Book of
Mormon and she googlaly eyed Olsen. A different worker came over and
out some people on hold to help me. She says I'm sorry that she isn't
helping. Haha I laughed. I got to check out and pay for my sandwhich.
That girl that flirted with elder Olsen says 2 things to me. 1. What
was your sandwich. 2. The cost of it. So we went back to the car and
we laughed pretty hard about it. When we parked and started eating
elder Olsen says, "she put god bless you on my sandwich!!" I was
like.. what. I don't even think she wrote on mine. So I looked and she
wrote nothing. Not even what my sandwiches were. Then Olsen again says
"she wrote it again on my other sandwich!!!" I checked my other
sandwich and there was nothing. I was like dude! She didn't even write
what my sandwich was. Not one drop of ink on that thing. Hahahahaha we
laughed about it pretty hard. That was super funny. Anyways.
We set 3 people with a date and got 10 new investigators.
We received a media referal and he said he has met with the
missionaries before and we set him with a date.
2 weeks ago a former investigator came to church and her grandma bore
her testimony and told us that she wants to be baptized.
We met someone who's fiancé has read the Book of Mormon and believes
if it. Crazy story with that person. I have felt like we should knock
that door before. We did and no answer. On exchanges another elder
wanted to knock on that door with me. We did and no answer. And again
on another exchange an elder wanted to knock it and we did, and she
answered!!! She was way cool! Hopefully something will get set with
her. But yea it's just been an awesome week!!!
Miracles upon miracles upon miracles.
Miss you all and love you!
Miss my family so much! My friends too.

The Holy Ghost - from October 9, 2017

So I'll tell for my weekly an experience I had a while ago that I keep

getting reminded of.

A while ago we were contacting some people we were about to see

someone but as we got to their house we realized that the reason we

thought we should see her was invalid. So we started to drive away and

I felt this constraining feeling that we should go see her. And I

really didn't want to go back, I just wanted to keep going. But I just

felt so strongly that we needed to go back so I stopped the car and

asked elder Butikofer if we should go back. He said yea. So we went

back and knocked on her door. She came to the door and we offered

service and she said no but thank and kind of said bye.

A week later she told us we were angels.  She told us about how she

was having a horrible day because the passing of her husband and she

was yelling and crying and asking why he left, that he said he'd

always be with her to help her, and where is her help and so on. Then

she heard a knock at the door and it was us. She closed the door

quickly because it again made her emotional because it was an answer

to her prayer. She has toLd that story many times. I finally told her

our side of the story recently and when we did she just broke down in

tears again and thanked us and thanked us and couldn't talk.

Follow the spirit!

Good week. Nothing new really to tell.

Love you all and miss you all.

21 - from October 2, 2017

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! Can't wait to go buy thousands

of bottles of rum. Then I can be capt jack sparrow. Haha JUST KIDDING!

Man. What a week. Months are turning into weeks. Weeks are turning into days.

I don't even remember what happened this week.

Got my new companion. He is a visa waiter. Which means his visa to go

to India didn't come yet so they just threw him to some mission. So he

is waiting to go to India. That's pretty cool. I knew I would be

getting him before president said so. As we were all eating lunch

together, the trainers and trainees, the trainer and his trainee just

kind of sorted out and that's who our trainee was going to be. It was

like they just gravitated to us.

Elder Dey is his name.

Conference was awesome. We had 3 investigators attend it. Mike stayed

at the church all Sunday and watched both sessions. That was sweet. He

is prepared I hope.

Then Neil came. It was funny because Neil always just get hung up

about the Book of Mormon and the evidences and stuff. And while he was

there a 70 gave the talk about the Book of Mormon and threw down about

how it's ridiculous that anyone would try to say it's not true. Haha

afterward I told Neil that talk was for him. He laughed and said "yea,

but where are the gold plates?" Haha so dumb, I've answered that so

many times!!! Which is this:

God does not reveal super sacred things to everyone while they are

here on earth. There are some people that were ordained and called

before they came here to see and experience such sacred things. For

example the risen, resurrected Christ. How many people saw him?? How

many people saw the risen Christ shortly after His resurrection? About

12, plus or minus. Now with something that is about Jesus Christ,

which the Book of Mormon is, it will mirror, reflect, and compare to

His life here. Therefore there were chosen ordained people, 12 of them

in fact, who have seen and handled the golden plates just as they who

have seen the risen Christ. And if you cannot believe in the Book of

Mormon because you have not seen the original plates, well then you

can't believe in the resurrected Christ because you have never seen

Him either.

I always am amazed at how reflective and comparable this church is, or

life within this church is, with the church of Jesus Christ, or the

life of Jesus Christ.

Why does the church receive persecutions? Who do people fall away from

the church? Why are there so many rumors about the church or that we

worship Satan or are a cult? Why do people always try to question us

and test us? Etc.

Jesus Christ and His church were persecuted! Jesus' followers fell

away because He would "ask for too much." The scribes and pharisees

would always make things up about Jesus such as that he was beelzebub

even when He casted away evil spirits.  The elders and scribes always

questioned Jesus and tried to make Him fumble on His words. Etc.

This truly is the church of Jesus Christ in the latter days. And

because it is we must be prepared and expect such persecutions because

Satan has always tried to tear righteousness apart and always will.

I loved Elder Anderson's talk. That made me defiantly get chocked up.

I'm pretty sure a lot of his talk was just on the spot, you could

tell. It is amazing to see Gods hand. Elder hales passed away

inbetween conferences and President Nelson was inspired to go to the

hospital immediately after the morning session and skip lunch to go

see elder hales. Then to come back and report the news. And then to

have elder Anderson give that final talk and include part of Elder

Hales talk he prepared which talked about preparing to meet God. How

beautiful. I can feel the spirit whenever I think about it. That was

absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad God is so dang good at what He does.

He gives joy to my soul!!!!

I just have such passion when I say that I know this is Gods work.

This is Gods church. There is no other explanation for this church.

The fact that it has not faltered and diminished after such

persecutions. The fact that it has not faltered and diminished with

all the tricks of Satan to the world. The fact that is has not

faltered and diminished with 18-25 year old kids running around as

representatives of this church- that us missionaries haven't burnt

everything to the ground. Absolutely everything points to it and fires

my conviction with a flame hotter, bigger, and stronger than the one

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into, which killed the

servants who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego into the fire

because they got even close to its great heat. My conviction of this

work is like the chocolate and spaghetti and ketchup stains on all of

my shirts- THEY WONT GO AWAY! In the name of 

Jesus Christ amen.

Best week in a long time. 3 stories and the GA visit - from September 18, 2017

Man last night elder Butikofer and I were talking about how we feel
like this last week was actually successful and how it feels so good!

So we were walking down the street and I asked this guy on his porch
if I could give him a card and he said no. He said he wasn't a
"believer." So I had no clue what to say and so I said, "... oh.....
why?" Haha. He didn't really give a specific answer. And again I
didn't know what to say so I just said, "we'll have you ever heard of
the Book of Mormon?" Then explained that if he read it and prayed
about it God would tell him it's true therefore he would know God
exists and that Jesus is the Christ. He said he would read it and said
we could come back. So he went from saying no to a card and saying he
wasn't a believer to taking a Book of Mormon and saying we could come
back.

Then we also talked and shared a Book of Mormon with this other guy.
We grabbed the car and left that town. As we were driving out we saw
him reading the Book of Mormon already. We texted him and he said he
read the witnesses and all of the entire index. Haha so sweet. He
loved it.

Then we went to see Danelle, our 13 year old investigator. She comes
out and 2 other girls follow her and they say, "what are we doing?"
And Danelle said, "were having a God lesson!" Haha so we taught all
three of them. 1 of them didn't know who Jesus Christ was or why he
was important or anything. She didn't really know anything about God.
It was sad. So we taught them about the Godhead and then the
Atonement. They were all super into it. We taught them how to pray
because they said they didn't know how to. As we taught them they were
so into it. They kept yelling at each other to shut up haha and stuff
because they were "learning cool things." Danelle said something about
them not being here again for a lesson, and one of them said, "you
don't know that!" Implying that she might. Then 1 of the girls said a
prayer and Danelle prayed too! Which was cool cause she is always
scared to pray.
But it's crazy that there are people who don't know anything about
Jesus Christ. We have to find them and help them.

Elder Brent h. Nielsen visited the mission. He is so cool. He is the
missionary Director over the entire church. He was awesome. He talked
about the atonement and how there are two parts to it- the redeeming
power and also the enabling power. That was so cool. I asked him what
his greatest experience was on his mission, he then told a story about
a guy he taught that turned out to be a stake president after
struggling with accepting the gospel. Then at a mission he, elder
Nielsen, visited which was his old one, he met a missionary with a
name that sounded familiar. It was the son of that stake president. He
said it was just super cool to be able to see the fruit of his
teaching and that it produced a missionary and is now a rolling stone.
He cried as he told us that. It was cool. He was so cool!!!!!! I love
him! Then he told us about some technologies the church is coming out
with for missionaries, so insane. We are going to be getting iPhones
and we will begin to teach people online and just a bunch of other
crazy awesome things the church is coming out with for missionaries.
It's so sweet.

Things are really starting to come together in this area. The high
counselor of missionary work is working with us and the branch now,
the branch president and us had a talk last night and it was so good,
we got him and his wife excited about missionary work, and things are
slowly but surely moving forward!! It's looking good. We made goals
this week that are very accomplishable and that will help move the
work in this area. Man just things are looking so up right now
compared to the past like... 2-3 months. Haha. So things are going.

The work of the Lord is real. This is His work and nothing can stop

it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.