The Week Before Christmas

Starting out this week on Tuesday we had trade offs and we had a member call us and he asked us to change a flat tire on his car.  We showed up and started tinkering around trying to get the tire out of the trunk and when we got the cover off the trunk the spare tire was literally inside a solid block of ice.  We tried a couple of things and then we called the member and said we would love to help, but there isn't a whole lot we can do.  Apparently they got it fixed because he was driving it at church.

On Wednesday Don drove down from West branch and took me and Elder Eccles out to lunch.  It was a lot of fun to catch up with him and reminisce about the good old days in West Branch.  He also got me a really cool mug that had all the different names for Christ written all over it.

On Thursday we did service at a soup kitchen where we handed stuff out to people.  It was a lot of fun and apparently the missionaries use to go over once a week, but I just found out about it so we will start going their more often

On Friday we made the long drive down to Lansing where we had the trainers follow up meeting.  That lasted most of the day.  It was a ton of fun though because we were able to catch up with a bunch of my mission buddies and it was like a mini zone conference.

Sunday we had an awesome day.  We went to church and after church we had two appointments.  One of those was with a fellow by the name of Dennis.  Dennis is an awesome guy this was the second time we have met with him and we talked with him about prophets and the plan of salvation.  When we showed up he had read up to 1 Nephi 12 which was awesome.  The second appointment we had was with Tom and Sandy.  They are a member referral we have been trying to get in contact with for probably two months now and we were able to sit down and share the plan of salvation.  Sandy kept asking us how do we get to the celestial kingdom so we left her 2 Nephi 31 which talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ and said we would come by in a couple days and talk more about it!  after Tom and Sandy we had call ins which took about an hour then we had a member invite us out to do some caroling we did that for about an hour.  Following that we had a quick dinner and we visited a part member family we have been having a hard time getting in the door.  We were able to share the Christ Child and the spirit was super strong and they loved it!  Phillip and Angela were both crying by the end!  After that we were about out of time for the day!

Pictures
-working at the soup kitchen
-caroling
-freezing on trade offs the feel like temp was -1
-lunch with don
-A frozen tire

I Forgot How Many Weeks!

This week we started out with Zone conference in Lansing.  We mostly just learned about the new handbook and how to become better disciples of Jesus Christ.  I also learned how long I had been on my mission because our Christmas presents were Michigan Lansing Mission notebooks.  I was still taking notes in mine from last year. 

On Wednesday we were out knocking and we set a record.  We knocked 4 doors and 3 of those 4 accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and accepted for us to come back.  Then later that night we found 3 more people knocking.  In total we got 6 return appointments in one day!

Last night we were out knocking again and Ed answered the door and he said hey do you wanna check out our church?  We agreed and he showed us around the Presbyterian church which was built in the 1800's.  It was super cool he even let me take some pictures!  We left him a Book of Mormon and he gave us some stained glass bookmarks who knows maybe someday he will read it and decide their is something to it.

pictures
-In the church
-Out in the cold
-Zone conference(in front of the ESPN poster!)

Christmas is coming!

This week we were able to teach our friend Kathy again!  She is doing super well and now we have her on a cycle where we meet every Saturday.  When we visited her this last Saturday she had read the account in 1 Nephi 11 when Nephi gives the interpretation of the tree of life.  We were able to answer her questions about the symbolism and we were even able to show her the Book of Mormon video about the tree of life.  She loved it and said she wanted to see more of them!  Unfortunately, though she lived in the Sisters area so we had to pass her off to the sisters.

On Tuesday we went out and did visits with the bishopric.  We were able to sit down and talk with 2 different people the first one was Philip.  We were able to talk to him for a while and build a relationship.  He eventually said that we could come back!  The best part about Phillip is his wife isn't a member.  We are hoping to reactivate Phillip and we are hoping she will eventually follow.  I also got to sit down and talk with Bob again!!!!!!!   If you remember I taught Bob a couple of lessons up in West Branch about a year ago.  He was just as talkative this time as he was last time.  I have never met somebody who can talk quite like he can! 

On Wednesday the Bay City sisters texted us and asked if we wanted to help out with a hot chocolate stand in downtown Bay City.  Of course, we said absolutely!  Not many people were out walking around, so me and Elder Eccles went and we talked to a couple of fishermen.  We offered them hot chocolate, but unfortunately, none of them were interested in hot chocolate.  We were able to strike up a conversation with one of them and we eventually talked him into accepting a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Besides that we talked to one or two other people, enjoyed some hot cocoa, and closed up shop.

pictures
-Hot cocoa stand
-We have a nuclear fallout shelter in Bay City we are safe!
-The drawbridge at night.

Thanksgiving

Last Monday we went out to teach our friend April and at first she said she wasn't interested anymore.  We managed to get her to open up and we were able to answer some of her questions.  She got "anti-ed" by her family and her neighbor, but after we talked to her for a little bit and answered her questions she allowed us to come back.  She was really the only person we were able to teach this week, but it was really exciting that she let us come back. 

On Thursday we went out on our bikes and we rode about 10 minutes away to a town called Essexville.  We tried out a new door approach where we ask people what the birth of Jesus Christ has done for them.  We were able to hand out 2 Books of Mormon in one hour and on top of that we got two return appointments!  On our way back home it started dumping snow.  By the time we got home we looked like snow men.

On Sunday church was cancelled and the problem is when church is cancelled it's usually snowy and very cold.  So we decided to go share the Christ Child video with some members.  We ended up having three members in a row answer and let us in.  Its amazing the spirit you can feel during that video. 

For Thanksgiving we went to the Martinez'. I literally thought I was going to die after one plate of food.  After we ate we went around and visited a bunch of members.  For dinner we went to the Jaimes' and nobody was really hungry so we all had a piece of pie for dinner and called it good.

Craziness!

On Wednesday we started our day out on Central Michigan University proselyting.  It was a ton of fun.  College kids are so much fun to talk to and they will very rarely get after you.  CMU also has a Book of Mormon that is a third print meaning the 3rd batch of Books of Mormon they printed.  We took a look at it it was really cool.  The layout was completely different but the text was still the exact same!  It took a picture of the story of Ammon and King Lamoni if you would like to compare.

On Thursday we drove down to Lansing and we sat through a couple of training meetings and then we finally got to meet our new companions!  I am training Elder Eccles.  He is from Highland, Utah and he is a stud!  After we had some more training we went out on MSU campus and proselyted.  We managed to hand out two copies of the Book of Mormon and get two different people's phone numbers.  After that, we made the long trek back to Bay City and the GPS took us a super wacky route through the country, but we made it home and we taught Marcel.  The lesson went super well.  We were even able to invite his wife to join in on the lesson.

Pictures
-Elder Eccles and I
-The super old Book of Mormon
-Me and a member in Mt Pleasant

Transfer Calls

On Monday we drove to Bad Axe [MI] in a crazy snowstorm.  When we got to Bad Axe they had a foot and a half of snow because of lake effect.  It was the worst snowstorm I have ever driven in.  It took 2 and a half hours to make an hour-long drive.  I was so wasted by the time I got there.  We went to Bad Axe because we needed to do a baptismal interview and trade-offs.  The baptism ended up happening and I went with Elder Jeffery.  Fun fact about Bad Axe, they don't have a baptismal font so they do [baptisms] in a swimming pool in the winter and in the great lakes during the summer.

On Thursday night we got a call from president Brennan and I am training this transfer and Elder Daines is headed to Cheboygan which is way up north.  Because I'm training I am in Mt Pleasant waiting for my trainee to get here from the MTC.

pictures
-Lots of snow
-Me with a sword
-Me and Elder Daines

Bay City week 2!

When we were at church on Sunday we saw someone we didn't recognize so we went up and introduced ourselves.  His name was Steve.  He is living with a member and the member invited him to church so he decided to come!  After talking with him he agreed for us to come over and answer some questions.  I didn't think we would be able to share the restoration, but we were able to.  It was a super spiritual lesson and he seemed to really enjoy it.  Enough so that he said we could come back!  He's a super cool guy he was telling us about this giant RC helicopter he built and flew it was really exciting to hear about. 

We had 3 trade offs and zone conference all in one week.  Long story short I was super tired by the end of the week.  We had an awesome Zone conference we learned about the new handbook that is coming out.  President Brennan gave a great analogy between tithing and taxes and how with tithing we round up while with taxes we find out the least amount we have to pay.  The moral of the story is the new hand book is like tithing.  It should make us want to do more because we want to serve the Lord. 

Besides that I am still waiting for the Bay City area Book on my phone.  On trade offs we literally knocked for 8 hours straight because we had nothing else to do.  For those of you who don't know the area book is were we keep track of all of our records for the people we are teaching.  Without it it makes being a missionary really hard.

pictures
-Elder Pearson and I
-Elder Hekking and I
-Elder Davis and I
-Snow in November

Emergency Transfer, Bay City, and Elder Ballard!

I am out of Holt believe it or not.  Tuesday evening we were at a member's having dinner and my phone rang.  Usually I don't look at my phone when we're at an appointment, but for some reason I did and it was President Brennan.  I stepped aside and answered it and long story short he said "I need you in Bay city tomorrow do you think you can be ready?"  I got this call at 6:30 and I needed to be at the institute in Lansing at 8 A.M. the next day.  I said goodbye to a couple of members packed my stuff then we drove to the institute and we drove up to Bay City.  My new companion is Elder Daines.  He is from New York so he's not your typical Utah boy!  Bay city is really cool.  We are 10 minutes from Lake Huron.  We drive over a draw bridge every day.  Bay city is also one of the most successful areas in the mission and I'm really excited for that! 

On Saturday we trekked the 2 hour drive down to Ann Arbor to hear Elder Ballard speak.  It was a super fun car ride.  Elder Anderson Carpooled down with us so me and him were able to reminisce about the good old days in Holt.  Elder Ballard didn't announce anything new or exciting he just gave us a training on missionary work.  He told us it is vitally important to build relationships with the ward council members and to talk to everyone.  The best part about it all was that we got to shake his hand!  I definitely felt the spirit as I shook his hand it was a very powerful experience that I will never forget! 

Last p-day after we emailed we went bowling with Zac for Elder Richey's birthday!  It was a lot of fun.  Zac showed us how to spin the ball so you could say I'm a semi professional bowler now!  After bowling we had dinner at the Fareroes.  he is the same one who always takes us out disk golfing.

I would tell you who are teaching here in Bay City, but I still haven't met any of them.  so I'll let you know next week.

pictures
-Fall leaves
-Right before the Emergency transfer
-The Saginaw river
-Elder Daines and me

Lots of Rain!

This week We had some good stuff happen.  We picked up this really cool guy by the name of C.J.  We found him one night walking into our apartment complex and I asked about his shirt and we got to talking and pretty quick he asked what we did.  So we explained and pretty quick we had a return appointment!  When we met with him he had a bunch of questions about the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph smith!  We were able to answer his questions and the spirit was supper strong! We are going back to meet with him tomorrow! 

Last Monday we went to Tremmel's and he wasn't home and he lives way in the heck out their so we did some good old country knocking.  Long story short, we found this massive bull frog sitting in the middle of the road!  It was kinda fun to country knock again.  It's probably been like 8 months since I've done that.  Far from effective but every once in a while its kinda fun to try out. 

Lots of Rain!

We found this really cool guy Robert out in the country of Mason.  We stopped by and he let us right in and we were able to share the restoration with him!  He was also telling us about how he worked with the Blue Angel's in the Navy I tried to get him to talk more about it, but I don't think he could because he was not budging.  Anyway he said he was willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

We helped some members unload a trailer on Saturday and it was kind of painful watching city folk try to back a trailer.  I was about ready to say, "hop out I can do it", but they finally figured it out. The member had a really cool barn that was full on pioneer status.  The guy they bought it from was born there and had lived his entire life there.  The member also had a bunch of non-member family there and we were able to make some friends and hopefully in the future we can have a teaching opportunity.
 
We taught the Sandovals or should I say Bishop Jones and Elder Tilley taught them.  We taught them the ten commandments and they really enjoyed it.  They said they would come to church if the father was able to get home from work on time and if not this week for sure next week.  I'm really excited for the Sandovals.  I think they have a lot of potential and more importantly it seems like all of our lessons are spirit filled.

On Tuesday we had trade offs and our district leader only gave us 3 days heads up and we already had a bunch of appointments planned so we ended up spending most of the trade off in our area.  We had a dinner appointment planned as well with Bob and Julie.  They invited us over to have a hot dog roast on the fire pit we put together.  It was a ton of fun.  I don't think I've roasted a Hot Dog in over a year.  They also invited a bunch of friends over and we were able to meet a bunch of new people in a community that we usually wouldn't be able to get into.

Pictures
-Disk Golfing
-A cool sign
-The inside of a cool barn
-Fall Leaves