My new companion is Elder Richey.  He is from Mapleton, Utah right nearby Salem! This is his 4th transfer out and he actually just came down from West Branch, my old stomping grounds.  He was also trained by Elder Eckersell [former companion of Sean] shortly after we were together. 

Yesterday, after I picked him up we went to our bishop's for dinner then we had a couple of lessons. We met with Tommy and his dad again.  We met with them on Thursday of last week and we had an incredible lesson on the Plan of Salvation.  The spirit was so strong.  Tommy's dad said some very profound things.  He asked us where we go while we are awaiting the Resurrection after we die and we were able to share the spirit world with him.  By the end of the lesson, Tommy and his Dad were tearing up because the spirit was so strong in the room!  We assigned them 2 Nephi 31 to read.  Yesterday we followed up with them and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was just as strong.  We were able to answer their questions about the Godhead and Tommy's dad said: "yeah that makes more sense that they are three separate beings and not one!"  They both agreed that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it explains things much more simply.  We were able to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it explains the Atonement of Jesus Christ more plainly than any other book! 

I know this might sound crazy but it's true, we stopped by Rob's last night and we asked him how his reading had been going.  He held up his Book of Mormon and his bookmark was halfway through the Book of Mormon.  Come to find out he had read all the way to 3rd Nephi in 2 days. Most of the time we can barely get someone to read a verse, much less half of the Book of Mormon!


We stopped by Bob and Julie on Sunday night so Elder Larsen could say goodbye.  We got chatting for a little bit and Bob was telling us about these toy drones he bought and how he was having a hard time learning to fly them. I jumped on that so he broke them out and I showed him how to fly them!  It was a fun way to use my hobbies to help in the work of the Lord!  Or more like to help an old man out!

I almost forgot to mention this but Denise had a member give her a ride back to Holt for church on Sunday.  The members in Holt are rock stars!

pictures
-Me and Elder Larsen
-Bob showing us his train set
-Denise made it back to Holt for sacrament meeting
- Elder Larsen and I at members home
-Elder Larsen and I
-Me and some friends!

Flint!

Well, this week Denise said she is moving to Flint.  It was unfortunate, but it makes it so she can be baptized.  It was the most bittersweet goodbye I have ever had in my life saying goodbye to her.  Elder Pancheri, Elder Anderson and I found her about 4 months ago when we were stopping by a less active and she has continued to surprise us with how prepared she has been! 

We had Zone conference on Tuesday and we learned all about the Godhead.  We also learned a lot about commitments and being led by the spirit to do them.  I always enjoy Zone conference because it is just a spiritual boost to get you through the rest of the transfer.  And not only that but you get to learn lots about the gospel while you're at it! 

We met this really cool buy by the name of Rob this week and he has been letting us come over every night since we met him.  He even read from the Book of Mormon without us even asking.  It was awesome!

pictures
- Elder Larsen and me at Zone conferance

Splits with the Mission President

On Wednesday we had two lessons, one with Denise and one with Tremmel.  Last Monday we put Tremmel on date for Aug 24th!  They were both on date and both were pretty important so Elder Larsen and our mission president went to Denise's lesson.  While Bishop Jones and I went to Tremmel.  We taught the Word of wisdom to Tremmel in preparation for his baptismal date of Aug 24.  I think he will make it, but it will be tough for him but tough isn't anything new for him.

Bishop Jones ended up having Gabe and me ride back to Holt with Landon.  It was a lot of fun just being able to talk to people my age about mission stories and learning about what it's like growing up outside of Utah.  It was awesome finally getting to see Landon open up about the church and going on a mission.  After we had our lesson on Monday he has been super gung ho about going on a mission!

We had trade-offs on Tuesday and it was a tone of fun.  I was with Elder Finnoe and we stopped by someone we were teaching out of the blue by the name of John.  John is a member of a church that used to believe in the Book of Mormon.  After we talked for a little bit he told us it kind of bothered him that they don't read from the Book of Mormon.  We ended up reading with him 2 Nephi 29 and he agreed with it.  If you haven't read 2 Nephi 29 then you should because its a good Chapter.  :)   Later on that day we were outdoors knocking from 8-9 and it started dumping so we just camped out under someone's porch because we had nowhere else to go.  The good thing was the rain blew over 10 minutes later.

Pictures
-Me and Elder Eckersell my long lost companion
-caught in the rain

Dead Car Battery?

On Saturday morning we went out to our car ready to drive down to Mason and when we went to start our car, nothing.  We called around but couldn't get any one to jump us and we had an appointment in 40 minutes.  We looked on Google maps how long it would take to ride there and google said 30 minutes.  We hopped on our bikes with only 20 minutes until our appointment and we made it on time somehow.  We ended up riding 20 miles that day! 

After we rode to Mason we met with Zac and he is doing pretty good.  At church, we had Denise and Zac both at church.  Denise loved it and she had a member show her around everywhere.  She said she really enjoyed it!  The Sandoval family said they would come this upcoming week!  If that happens we will have 7 people at church! 

We had trade-offs this week and they were a ton of fun!  We did traditional trade-offs because we had so many appointments in our area we couldn't cover both.  I was with Elder Neerings and we had a ton of fun!

pictures
-Me and Elder Neerings
-Disk golfing with a member
-Me and Elder Larsen
-Some farm equipment of Jason's

Service at Bob's

This will be a pretty short email, but we found a family of five to teach this week.  The only problem is they don't know English. We have been taking our Bishop over who knows Spanish and he has been teaching them.  It was really cool when they were learning about The Restoration.  I didn't have a clue what they were talking about, but I could feel the spirit and I knew they were sharing the restoration.  It was a major testimony builder for me that the church is true!

We taught Denise the word of wisdom this week and she accepted it and said she would quit so woohoo!  Zac we are still meeting with and we are planning on putting him on a baptismal date for the beginning of October some time.  We are planning on teaching Trammel tonight and we will talk about temples and family history.  We are hoping in the future to put him on date for some time in August. 

Besides that, we did service for one of our friends he needed help digging a hole so we hopped in there in with our white shirts and ties and got it done!  He did forget to mention that we had to go down about 2 feet so that made things interesting, but it was good exercise for the day!