Christmas updates

Most recent update:

Well it was a pleasure skyping with y'all! the LAST skype call. oh mwa goodness I can't believe it haha.

Well I will be down for watching Unbroken. I read most of the book and I was hooked on it. Incredible story. The rest of my Christmas was pretty good. We played some card games with the Cannons. If I do move down to Provo, they said they would hook me up with free tickets to the BYU basketball games =D The Cannon daughter lives down there and works in the sport department. yay for hook-ups! But we shall see. 

My companion and I both received the nastiest candy called the Idahoan Spud. It's like this chocolate marshmallow thing with coconut. It's pretty gross and it taste like paper. And we both received 5 dollars. woop woop. That means I can survive this week!

It's been snowing like crazy over here. I have put duck tape into my church shoes because I have holes at the heals. So, the duck tape is working pretty well.

Well, the next year is quickly approaching. I've been writing down goals for the new year as I prepare for my final interview with President Brinkerhoff. I'm pretty excited about them. The mission has taught me a lot about the importance of setting goals...and then reaching them! Goals force us to be extra-milers...and it forces us to increase our faith. So if y'all haven't already...start making some goals! Physical, mental, spiritual, social, etc. It's fun to see progression.

This week should be full of teaching, testifying, and finding more people to come unto Christ. Being a missionary is the best. And the cool thing is...ya don't have to have a name tag to do it! We've been taking out this return missionary and he's showing us all of his friends haha. We had an appointment with one of them already this week and it went really well. 

Oh, and i still can't stop laughing about all those Grinch quotes, man that movie is hilarious.

"What's Christmas really about?"

"VENGEANCE!!"

Chou Chou for now!

-Elder Petitt

P.S. I WANT that Meowy Christmas shirt!!!

THANK YOU for the package!! that was awesome. I like my new tie and my companion was pleasantly surprised with his little stocking. and by the way...I devoured the Peppermint Bark square thingis. oh mwa goodness it was so gooood. But don't worry, My companion and I have been working out at 6 am so we are still good to go haha. 

This week was our Christmas Zone Conference. It was super good. I'm learning stuff that I wish I knew from day one on my mission. But alas, that's what life is all about. You learn, grow, make mistakes, and keep going. We focused a lot on the He is the Gift video and how to use that more in our mission. Our new scripture recitation for the next 3 months is John 3:16&17. 

The other day we went out teaching with Brother McGlaughlin. BTW, his son served with Kyle in Portugal...and I'm living in his dad's office basement haha. It's crazy how connections happen like that. But anyways, he was telling us about some tough times he is having with his children. One of his daughters, who was sealed in the temple and made temple covenants, is now professing to be an Atheist. That must be tough. So we talked for a long time and we shared our experiences on how it's our job to teach and correct...but we can't force them. AGENCY. GAH. I hate it sometimes haha. But it was awesome because he said, " Elders, You guys are angels in this dark and twisted world. You will never know how many people you will bless because of your service. Keep work'n hard boys."

Yeah, it was an awesome pick-me up. I feel like this past week I've been tempted to just stop trying because I'm not seeing the results I want, but Brother McGlaughlin spiritually slapped me. So I'm good now.

This week was full of Ward Christmas parties as well...which means that I was able to stuff my self with FOOD! I love being a poor college student haha, food is a precious thing. I'm pretty spoiled to be fed my members just about everyday. I'm going to miss that...but I will not miss the brownies and ice cream that we get fed every night...Please remember Parents...if you are going to feed the missionaries DON'T have desert. Please just have fruit or something like...like...granola and yogurt haha.

We are working with the Scott family still. Taking the whole family to the temple was awesome. They really enjoyed it and we hope that the mother can be baptized as the family is getting reactivated. The whole family came to church the past 2 weeks! We are pretty stoked about that. 

Well...next week I will be skyping y'all! My last skype call =( We will get the details of when next monday. We probably do it at around noon or so. 

Peace & Blessings

Elder Petitt

Thanksgiving update!

My companion and I look HUGE compared to the other sisters lol. That's what happens when you drink your milk everyday! Like what I did last year, we helped out at the Methodist church prepare a Thanksgiving meal for those in need. It was fun serving the people.

In other news, The Scott family came to church. It was a miracle. The father wants to get the priesthood and the mom is considering baptism, but she is super shy about it.
We taught the 5th Sunday lesson in 14th ward. We talked about the Standard of Excellence in the mission. We shared the cool new initiative the church is doing with the He is the Gift video. If ya haven't seen it yet...well then go see it right now!  http://www.mormon.org/Christmas

We have some cool pass along cards to go with the initiative. What an awesome time to be a missionary. It makes contacting people way easier. We got a lot of compliments after church for our lesson, so I guess it went well =D

Well, It's December. A brand new month. I'm excited to what lies ahead. We have our Christmas Zone Conference coming up! It will be my last Zone Conference =( 

Well hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving filled with food and naps. Keep the faith!

///

​Another week of craziness!

Well 14th ward continues to treat us well. I'm glad that crazy family pressed charges on us and made us switch wards because it really was a blessing in disguise. The leadership here is great and we actually have weekly correlation with our Ward Mission Leader! whoohoo!

We found a new couple they've we've been teaching a lot lately. It's been quite the miracle. Their names are Allen and Gurshan. They've been asking us some great, and actually very deep questions. We found them by just knocking on doors. 

Allen is a hard worker. He's had an incredibly difficult past. He grew up with no parents. dropped out of high school, got into drugs, ect. But he changes his life around, got his G.E.D. and went to college. He has a great job and is providing well for his family. 

We've taught them the first three lessons so far...and now it's time for the commandments: Word of Wisdom!! That's gonna be a tough one for them. We'll see how that goes.

The other day we had our Assistant to the President come out with us. He's the man. Learned a lot from him. We actually had an incredible day! We found two new investigators. woot woot.

We are also teaching another family that the Bishop of the 10th ward referred us too. I just need to say, I've seen so much progress with our 10th ward bishop. He's become so missionary minded. This particular part-member family wanted financial help from the church, but then the Bishop told them, "We can help, but you need to listen to what these two missionaries have to say." SO yeah, it was a great teaching appointment and we're going to be visiting them again tonight.

Transfer calls are this WEDNESDAY!!! GAHHHH, it's going to be my last transfer!!! I have so many mixed emotions. I want to stay, but at the same time all I want to do is serve with Elder Pridmore haha.

Well time is short because they are only allowing us to email for one hour. So gotta run. 

 

2 fer 1 deal in letters

Yo what it do my home slices!?

So, one of our Hispanic investigators fed us cow head tacos...let me just tell you...it was the worst taco I have ever eaten. never. again. 

Well...i get to stay in Blackfoot for another transfer! woot woot! I'm pretty happy I'm staying. Blackfoot is glorious. I will continue serving with Elder Cook. yay.

SO! We found a new lady. Her name is Pam. Super down to earth. She's in her 40s and she has read almost all of the Book of Mormon! She says she knows it's good...but she is waiting for a huge "KABOOM" spiritual manifestation that these things are true. So, we gonna be talking about recognizing the Holy Ghost with her tonight...and hopefully set a baptismal date!

So, the Dan family...yerp, they dropped us. They were being prepared for October 18th...but the mom went psycho, accused our bishop of doing things that he didn't even do, and now is pressing charges against him lol. Yeah, this got all the way up to Salt Lake, so our mission president called us and told us we probably shouldn't have anymore contact with them...so that was pretty sad. We hope and pray that the lessons we taught her and her son might sink in and one day it might click...but for now she is on her own.

But y'know, I'm pretty used to this kind of devastation. By now we would have had 4 baptisms in the Riverton ward...but they moved, all of a sudden got into some anti-Mormon material, or just freaked out like the Dans! But honestly since I'm so used to it now, I just pick my head back up and get to work. Literally, we are at a spiritual war. You gotta believe that Satan works just as hard as the servants of the Lord do. But as always, amongst the devastation you need to recognized God's hand in our day to day lives. That's what the mission does for ya. It helps you recognize them, even though they might be small. Why is it that every time we set a baptism date terrible things seem to happen? Because the moment we set a baptism date, the battle is on. It will come...whether before or after...it will come.

Well we are losing some really good people in the zone...some of my good buds are leaving which makes me sad...but life is all about change...and change will always happen on the mission field. I'm pretty excited for another transferrr.

Oh, my companion slammed his finger in the door right before a lesson...so he's in pain and his finger is going to fall off. yay!

see ya until next weeeeek

***

Well how about that conference!? Man, that was some good stuff. There were a ton of bold talks. Loved it. There were so many that were good, and it's pretty hard to choose just one favorite. I really enjoyed the Saturday afternoon session. The back to back throw down session of Elder Oaks and Anderson was refreshing, to say the least. 

All the missionaries were able to see the movie Meet the Mormons before it came out =D It's very well done. It does a good job showing diverse families and how their faith impacts their day to day decisions. So go see it when it comes out and bring yo non member peeps!

Well there is just so much going on right now I can't even tell you 1/10 of everything that is happening! Right now, the mission is taking seriously the challenge that one of Lord's Apostles gave to this mission to raise our vision of baptizing more. It's been an exciting time. It's up to us missionaries to share that vision with the members of the wards we cover...so we have some talks lined up for us, annnnd a fireside that's being planned! woohoo for firesides! 

A lot of the companion ships are doing so much better. We had one companionship that told us on day 3 that they hated Blackfoot and the zone...they told us that we didn't care about anybody except the numbers haha. We showed them a reference in Preach My Gospel where is says that as we focus on key indicators we will find, teach, baptize, and confirm more children of our Heavenly Father...which is our whole purpose as missionaries. It was crazy! It was like teaching a lesson, but we were teaching another companionship and we asked questions, identified concerns, shared scriptures and personal experiences, and then invited them to live the Standard of Excellence. As they've done so they have seen miracles in their areas, just as we have. 

Overall things are going good. I'm excited for another week to work hard. I really needed this Preparation Day to relax and get refocused. I got my '4 Month Ahead Departure Letter. GAHH!!! Time is running out! lol, I can't believe that. I'm not sure if I'm going to end my mission in Blackfoot or if I'm getting transferred...we get transfer calls this weeks! Gah! I would like to stay in Blackfoot. It's been my favorite area on my mission thus far.

So, there's this part called the Y Motel in our area...it's like the most ghetto and weird place in Blackfoot. I try to avoid that place as much as possible because it smells and that's where the most drug busts are. Anyways, we came across a part-member family named the Williams. Their 7 year old son has had a lot questions about the church and God, so the parents invited us in! Their house was actually clean and it smelled like pumpkin-spice =D We taught them the Restoration and the Plan of salvation. That dad, who is a non member, seemed really interested and even asked if we had some extra pamphlets so he could study. that was a neat experience, so we are going to have a tour of the church with the family this Tuesday! I can't wait for that. Teaching a family is like...awesome. Sometimes it can be pretty tough to do. 

In other crazy news, one of the district leaders here is doing so much better here.He's had a lot of problems in the past but he's stepping up his game. He gave up football to go on a mission...so he's pretty much HUGE and jacked...but the worst part is...he's a sharp looking dude so all the sister missionaries go crazy over him...but he brings it upon himself because he has a major flirtation problem he's working on hahaha. We've had a few chats with him about that and we are trying to help him over come his spiritual gift of flirtation. yay.

We were invited to do a fireside with the Young Men in the South Stake. We were accompanied by President Hoygberg, the 1st counselor in the mission presidency. It was awesome! We got to share our missionary experiences and why we chose to serve a mission. It's crazy to think that I used to be a young little guppy like them...but now I'm all grown up and saving China (tell me if ya know dat reference!)

Welp, here comes another week! Stay tuned until next time.

Elder Petitt

Llamas and such . . .

Just wanted to tell you hi, that I love you guys, and that I'm alive and doing well. 

As you can see...I'm having a great time over here with this strange beast. It was quite the event.

We found another family to teach and invited them to be baptized! Their names are Nicki Matthews and Charles Matthews. 

They are super humble and we had a great first discussion. 

The 10th ward is doing way better. They used to not be missionary minded at all, but the more we've been working there, 

the more they've been ready to help us. There's definitely a different spirit about that ward. 

A mission of miracles

Someone sent me this video...i think he's saying hi...and that he only has 4 months left!!! crazy!!!



My goodness where do I even begin!?

It's been a week of devastation and blessings...good thing is that when we usually have miracles I forget about all the terrible things that happen lol.

Well let's start with the bad news! woo! You remember Carlos Gonzales?? Yeah, he was being prepared to be baptized and confirmed this upcoming weekend...nope! He moved to Salt Lake City without telling us. Awesome. Oh, you remember Kaylen Long, that legit Jehova's Witness that was preparing for baptism? Yeah, she moved to American Falls. Completely devastating. That happened in the same day on Tuesday. I seem to have bad luck with all my baptismal dates moving away. Maria Lopez was preparing for baptism as well...but she went to Mexico lol

So on Wednesday we had a mission wide goal for every companionship to set a new baptismal date! Everyone. in the mission. no pressure. So! We had a few appointments throughout the day where we were SURE to set a date! But they all declined. We seriously worked so hard, talking with every single person, but alas, no success. It was 8:00 at night and we were the last companionship in the Zone to set a date. The last people we thought to invite was the Hiatt Family! now...the dad is a less active, mom super anti-mormon, and none of the kids are baptized. Plus...they specifically told us not to come over on Wednesdays...and it was a Wednesday. Not to mention, the mom got offended like 7 years ago so she's like super anti missionaries/mormons. 

We were parked outside of their house...we knew this was our last chance to set a baptismal date and all odds were against us. So...my companion and I said a prayer...probably the most heartfelt prayer I've ever offered...we just prayed that their hearts would be softened. 

Then we knocked on their door...

"Come on in Elders!" ...like what? The dad totally invited us in, the whole family was there...while my companion used their bathroom I just started talking to them and we were having a good time...the spirit was helping me tell the funniest jokes because the whole family was laughing. Those jokes were beyond my power haha when my companion got out of the bathroom he just gave me the most surprised look, obviously surprised that the family was actually smiling and laughing. Yeah, even the MOM was opening up to us. 

We shared a message...the most important message in the world in fact: THE RESTORATION. They were all in tune and listening. We got to the climax where my companion invited them all to be baptized on October 11th...The dad stared at us...blinked a couple of times...then said, "Well that would be great! I would love all my kids to be baptized on that day. That's my birthday!"

0_o OH MWA GOSH! So the Hiatt family is preparing for baptism. My companion and I just jumped for joy and we were so ecstatic! gah...when we have worthy goals and if they are inspired...Our Heavenly Father will honor our wishes and grant us success. But we have to work diligently and you have to show our Heavenly Father that you really want it.

That's just like...a tiny bit of how the week went. I could write a lot more but i simply don't have the time to do so. 

Blackfoot is awesome. You are awesome. Be awesome today. 

Elder Petitt 

GQ & Zone Conference

​

Awwww snap! It's my man, Elder Pridmore!! hahaha it's so nuts to see him! I got to see him at Zone Conference =) We ate sandwiches together. It was legit. He's having a good time =)

But yeah, Zone Conference was super good =) We talked a lot about teaching skills, asking inspired questions and what not. Elder Cook and I gave our training and we think we did an okay job because no one fell asleep lol. 

SO. This week was a crazy week. The first half of it was so terrible haha. In 4 days we only taught 6 lessons...investigators were dropping us...appointments were falling through....Warren refused to listen to the discussions because his girlfriend told him that he can't listen to us anymore. Yeah, it was devastating and we were like...super depressed. So, Elder Cook and I got on our knees and prayed that we could teach 14 lessons in the next 3 days so we could get 20 lessons a week and accomplish our goals. Next day we went to work! We found new investigators, found a lady named Lori who is now preparing for baptism in October, we reached 20 lessons, and to top it off...RENEA WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED. holy snap. 

let me tell you about Renea

Renea has been around mormons and missionaries preeetty much her whole life. She had some pretty bad experiences with missionaries in the past so she stopped listening to them for 15 years. Elder Ponce and Meza (The missionaries before me) found her and started teaching her again. She relaxed a lot and enjoyed hearing us...but there was no commitment. So...ever since I've been back here we've been teaching her like once a week...BUT it all changed just the other night. Her countenance was different and she had a whole list of questions for us...one of them being, "What does it really take to get baptized?" She believes the Book of Mormon to be true, but she is having a tough time with Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God. She had a whole host of other questions, but...we told her before we can answer Allllll her other little questions...she has to pray and find out of Joseph Smith really was a prophet. It was powerful. The spirit was there. And she committed to pray. wow. We're stoked!

Well today is the annual Blackfoot, Idaho State Fair. Lots of food, people, fun stuff...so we are going as a zone to have a good time! woohoo! It's already getting cooler here. It's about that time to put those sweaters on. I can't believe it. I have about 4 1/2 months left as a full time missionary...only one more zone conference. GAH! Gotta keep working hard though. The shorter amount of time you have, the harder you should work. woot woot. 

Stay Classy

Elder Petitt 

Battle Axes!

​Get your battle axes ready because this is gonna be a good one!

First off, Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the First Quorum of the Seventy is a g. I learned so much from him. What a cool experience! We had a mini mission leadership council with him with just five zones from the mission, and my companion and I were lucky enough to go. We were talking about goals, accountability, our vision...it was very instructive. Ever since I've been on my mission I've learned so much about the importance of goal setting and being accountable to that goal...don't make excuses! If it's inspired, all that's left is up to our works and faith. It has actually made me consider studying business...along with graphic design and what not. Anyways, it was time for Elder Godoy to stand up and instruct us...and before he started to speak he began to cry. He talked about his mission experience and how much it meant to him...every blessing he has received is because of his mission. He was a convert to the church and he talked about when those missionaries met him, it changed his life forever. He told us that when he entered the room that he could just feel the difference...but as us missionaries we don't even recognize the changes in us! It was emphasized the importance of being patient when blessings are delayed...Heavenly Father might be reserving those blessings for a future time when you will most need it. 

So my companion and I were asked to give a training on overcoming addictions in zone conference. We've been learning a lot about it and what we can do to overcome them. We talked to the head leaders of the Addiction Recovery program in town. We are going this Tuesday to observe the process. It's a very spiritual experience and anybody who reads that booklet of the 12 step process (whether you have an addiction or not), you WILL come closer to Christ. The main two things that I've learned is that when people have addictions they feel that 1) God doesn't love them and 2) that there's no way they can overcome it...but as we know the opposite is true. It's up to us to teach them that doctrine...unless they understand that then they can't progress.  

This past Sunday we had quite a few of our investigators come to church! The Dan family came! woohoo! It scared us at first because church began at 9:30...we waited, and waited, and then the sacrament hymns started to play...but then they showed up with their family! That was exciting.

We met this guy named Warren who is the most humble and golden guy ever. He reminds me so much of Michael Wright when he was taking the discussions...he was just soaking everything in. We found him outside and we just started talking to him. We talked about the restoration, the great apostasy, the book of mormon...then we invited him to be baptized on a specific date and he agreed to learn more. He's from Atlanta Georgia and he has never talked with mormons before...lol but when you move to Idaho you are BOUND to run in to some mormon missionaries =) buuuuuut we found out he actually lives in another set of missionaries area so they have a golden investigator to work with now! haha. We seriously find so many investigators for the other missionaries...that's what happens when you are involved with tracking down those Spanish speaking fellows =D

OH MWA GOSH. we found a HUGE Hobo Spider in our apartment. Holy snap it scared the living day lights out of us. Hobo Spiders are deadly. It's one of those lovely creatures that inject you with poison and it eats your flesh away. yah, that was on my dirty clothes basket so my companion and I set a sticky trap right under it so when we sprayed the hobo spider with some Windex spray...it fell right into the trap! gah! we are so smart.

Anyways, this is becoming a novel. Thank you for your prayers because I feel them. Things are going great. peace and blessings yall.

Stand up for what you believe in!

Another crazy, hectic, but fulfilling week. 

Seriously. 

We are being blown out of the water with blessings. It's unreal. There are people coming out of the wood works being prepared. We were walking down the street in the rain when some guy sitting on his porch greeted us with a nice, "Hello Elders! Good to see ya!" My companion and I decided to go over and chat with him, and he told us we wants to get baptized. That doesn't happen everyday haha. He's been going through some hard times, and he told us that he needs the church in his life. His name is Byron and he's in his 50s. Super good guy.

We have a huge chuck of the Indian Reservation in our area...it's called Fort Hall. It's a whole different world over there. Everyone lives in trailers, it's tax free...but man it's depressing and it's dangerous. Even the trees over there look scarier. We had a get a proselyting permit to preach the gospel from the tribal members. Pretty interesting. Anyways...A family somehow got in contact with one of our bishops and expressed the desire to come to church. They came, then we had a lesson with them and extended a baptismal date..which they accepted! They have a pretty crazy story. It's just the mom and her two boys. The Dan family is their name. The mom has had two ugly divorces. In both situations the husband would beat her and her kids. They were also thieves and cheaters. It was sickening to hear some of the things that her husband(s) would do to her. She finally got out of those situations and she wants her kids to know what it's really like have a happy family. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers that. 

As I told you before we were working with the lady named Maria Lopez who was preparing for baptism...yeah, she left to Mexico.        

....Man, if people would just LIVE the gospel...so many people wouldn't be in the situations they're in. Trust me, there are some sketchy parts here in Blackfoot, and they could use a little gospel in their lives.

This weekend should be exciting. We have Elder Carlos A. Godoy from the Seventy is visiting our mission...so can't wait for that!

Have a fabulous week and stand up for what you believe in. 

Catching up!

From a sister in Blackfoot:  "We had some elders for lunch and we got to meet your son. Thank you so much for sharing him with us here in Idaho!"

Well good update from home! What a crazy story about Elder Randy Phillips! GO him for recognizing that! Man...we get anti mormon trash thrown at us from time to time. I was in walmart the other day and this dude came up to us and starting telling us about some dna test that said the nephites actually came from asia and not from jerusalem...proving that joseph smith was a fraud. Haha he gave us a card with his number so we could talk to him more about discovering the "truth." We left him our card with the invitation to read and pray about the book of mormon. most people who go anti are usually not doing the basics such as reading and praying...so don't forget to do that!!! Helaman 5:12!

We spoke in sacrament meeting on sunday. Our topic was prophets! I focused on Thomas S Monson's last general conference talk about Love. We received many compliments...so i think we did a good job keeping everyone awake haha.

It rained like crazy this week!! Our basement study room got flooded so right now it's in the process of being dried...it brings back wonderful memories of our basement back home...every rain storm there was a flood lol. We were actually outside proselyting when it started to rain. We knocked on a door and this lady named Maria Lopez let us in because i think she felt sorry for us. We got dried off and taught her the restoration. She accepted a baptismal date for September!! but yeah, the whole city of blackfoot was flooded, it was awesome. 

Carlos is doing great. We taught him the word of wisdom and tithing. He accepted to live both of those commandments. He continues to progress =)

This week has been soooo hectic, but so rewarding. I feel like I'm a more useful instrument in the Lord's hands. My spanish is so much better, and I just know what i'm doing. i'm looking forward to the upcoming months ahead with the knowledge that i have gained.

Well, that's awesome that there are lots of baptisms happening in the ward. That makes me so excited! Keep up the great work. 

***

O! Mark is in Ammon right now, my first area. I won't get to see him too much but I knew I would pass by him on transfer day. The transfer bus came and all these missionaries got out...but I still didn't see Mark...I was pretty worried! I looked all around and eventually I saw him still in the bus sleeping with his head against the seat lol. I just started to laugh and then he woke up and we had a lovely reunion hahaha. Ahhh! It was sooo cool to see him! he is still not used to the missionary schedule. Long hard days of work, wake up at 6:30 and going to be at 10:30...lol, I'm still tired all the time but you get used to it. 

This week was another test of our faith. Kaylen was preparing to be baptized on August 9th, but we heard from her fellowshippers that she will be out of town for the rest of the month...and she didn't even tell us! man...i was so depressed that day. It seems like the adversary does everything he can to prevent God's children to be baptized...but that means we have to keep searching and looking for those that are ready. The Lord blessed us with another man that was being prepared. Carlos Gonzalez. We taught him at the bishop's house and we had a powerful lesson about the Plan of Salvation and the role of the Savior. We extended a baptismal date for September 13th, and he accepted. He has had such a rough past, but it's just so cool to see him go to church and see him feel the spirit. 

Thanks dad for sharing those things. That's so awesome. You definitely have a gift of balance in your life. That's something that I've been learning to do better is delegate and balance everything in the day to day affairs of missionary work. It can be brutal at times, but managing your time is key. That's so cool that you regularly talk with the missionaries and the ward mission leaders. I just ask that because my companion and I are trying to get new ideas to excite the members and the bishop about missionary work in one of the wards that we cover. We had a correlation with the Stake President (he is a beast btw), and he was telling us some things to do to increase member involvement with missionary work. He is all about missionary work =D

So all in all, it's been a roller coaster week. My new companion is suuuuper shy and soft spoken. I'm trying not to dominate everything and let him take the lead on finding and teaching haha. Yeah...he's just a super quite guy, it drives me nuts sometimes, but he's a good kid. His dad is a mission president in Chile. His Spanish is pretty good too which is awesome. Btw...my spanish has gotten so much better. for some reason it's just clicked the past couple of transfers. woo hoo!

Anyways...have a fantastic weekend!

***

Well this Wednesday is transfers. My companion, Elder Meza, will be going home as he finishes up his 2 years of dedicated service. I'm sad to see him go. He's one of the hardest working missionary I've ever met.

I will be with some other missionaries until Elder Cook comes in this Wednesday. Yes, THE Elder Cook will be my new companion haha. Elder Pridmore won't be coming to Blackfoot =( But I will be able to see him on transfer day =D Can't wait for that! We will get some pics fo sho. 

Kaylen is doing great. She came to church again and she continues to prepare for Aug 9th to be baptized. Her friends continue to fellowship her. We taught her the word of wisdom and she is willing to live by it, even though she LOVES coffee haha. We found another part member family and the dad wants us to come over and teach their sons so they stay out of trouble =) We will be looking forward to that. 

The Spanish fiesta that we had was awesome! Carlos Martinez provided us with his legit spanish techno music lol. We had a lot of investigators come, one of them is a family which we are teaching regularly now. They are called the Nieto family! The mom and kids are so sweet, but the the dad is hard core catholic and doesn't like missionaries =( well...looks like we are gonna have to change that. 

I'm excited for the new transfer. There's a lot of good missionaries coming into Blackfoot, and after 6 weeks of learning the area i will be taking the lead and showing Elder Cook the ropes.

The other day we were in a ward council and I learned a LOT about the bishop's responsibilities. This particular bishop was taking WAY too much time dealing with welfare issues by himself to the point that we was getting burned out...the stake president had to give him council on how to delegate that responsibility. 

I know some of the main responsibilities of bishops are missionary work and the youth...but of course there's a lot more like welfare and whatnot. So dad, how do you effectively delegate all the different responsibilities along with making missionary work a focus in ward council? I'm just curious to see you do it.

Being surrounded by members it's pretty cool to see how the church works.

Much love and thank you for the updates =D

'Merica!

 

Yaaay! July 4th! woohoo. It was super fun. Sounds like you guys had a good time too. I miss the good o Lebanon fireworks. We had breakfast with one of our bishops in Riverton ward who hooked us up with some tasty pancakes and scrambled eggs. We went out to this place called Jensen's grove where there's this huuuge sand beach across the lake. We played volleyball in the sand with a bunch of the other missionaries here in Blackfoot. We also played soccer and one of our investigators hung out with us too! Later that night a member invited us to eat at this super tasty restaurant right off Jensen's grove where we ate and watched the fireworks. Twas a good day!

This week was filled with more hard work. tracting. and tracting. finding. and more finding. We've had a really hard time getting referrals, so we've been hitting the pavement! We finally found 3 new investigators from tracting in Idaho! We took them all on a church tour. Their names are Monce, Fransisco, and Emmanuel. They are all super down to earth and are interested in learning more.

My companion and I went to 10th ward (name of the ward =) and we bore our testimonies. I actually talked about my friend Mark and how he decided to go on a mission. I also talked about how we can all make a difference in many people's lives. You might not realize it but people watch you and you have an affect on others for good or bad. Then later that day we passed around a sign up sheet for the members to go out with the missionaries for ONE HOUR and for ONE DAY out of the week in priesthood...and no one signed up! lol, This is going to be harder than I thought. Elder Meza and I've been thinking about how we can help the members in their missionary work...We've started to go to each dinner appointment and teach them the doctrine in the preach my gospel lessons...then we've invited them to read the Follow-up talk by M. Russell Ballard. There's good stuff in there! There's a lot of ways to excite members to do missionary work...and one of them is to teach them legit preach my gospel lessons!

Our companion and I fasted to find our baptism for July. I get more nervous and more nervous because we are already in JULY! Elder Meza and I are trying to figure out what we are doing wrong! lol, the appointment with that one potential baptism date I was telling you about fell through and they're actually in Pocatello. gah! After being in distress and kind of lacking in patience, I was about to give up on my part. As we were walking we saw this young man named Teagen mowing his lawn. We talked to him, laughed, asked if he's listened to the missionaries and said yes. We talked about the message of the restoration, he's actually been to church multiple times, and we set a baptismal date for the 31st of July. Talk about a miracle. 

 Love you lots and I shall see you next week!

'MERICA!

***

Another week in paradise.

Things have been pretty fast paced here. The whole city of Blackfoot is its own zone...so we have a lot more contact with the missionaries here. It's pretty awesome. Inviting people to be baptized daily, accountability, goals...that has all taken on a new meaning for me. Elder Meza has been teaching me a lot. He's only got about 5 weeks left, so he's working his butt off. I want to end my mission that way. There can't be any plateau moments on the mission! Constant diligence!

We've been working SO hard to find our baptism in July. Seriously. Any spare moment we have we are trying to find new investigators. Finally after a solid week of exact obedience and working our tails off...We think we found the person! We were eating this super tasty tender chicken (Aw mwa gosh...like it was soooo good) at the Bishop's house. The Bishop's friend has a son coming into town this weekend who almost got baptized but was kidnapped by a gang. Yeah, super long story. Long story short, this son was adopted and used to have a really rough past, being involved with gangs and whatnot, but he switched his life around. He used to live in Mexico, but he was adopted by a super legit LDS family living here in Blackfoot, Idaho. We will be having a lesson with him and his family this weekend because he still wants to get baptized! We're super excited.

The Spanish branch is having another fiesta! And my man Carlos Martinez (AKA DJ RUDO) is going to provide some wholesome entertainment with his musical skillz. The branch wanted me to make some hand-outs again =D They turned out just nicely =) I'll have to send a picture of it next week because I don't have it with me right now.

Thanks for the cool insights. I really like that quote from David O. McKay. And that's too bad to hear about his son. It's interesting serving a mission here where it's dominated by mormons. There's a lot of awesome members...and then those who are just completely anti and hate mormons. We get the best of both worlds here. It really just comes back down to the basics like what you said...bearing testimony, legit scripture study, ect. 

Well I will end with this quote by M. Russell Ballard...he's become one of my favorite apostles. He's the one that spear headed preach my gospel. heeeere ya go! 

I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principle of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.

Back in Blackfoot!!!!!

(this was actually in St Anthony)

Back in Blackfoot

Well life is just fantastic. I couldn't be more tired! My companion, Elder Meza, is from Arizona...and I think he's from the same mission that our cousin is in right now. Elder Meza only has about a month left...and he's determined not to get trunky! Trunky is a missionary term, meaning that a missionary starts thinking about home, girls, ect, and loses focus. He's focused.  lol, he's working so incredibly hard right now, which is good for me. I'm learning quite a bit from this man. He's a convert to the church, and most of his family is less active. His testimony is rock-solid. 

I serve in the Spanish branch here, as well as two English wards. It's fun to see all the Spanish members I've grown to love...especially Carlos Martinez! The most legit member missionary/ DJ evar! grah!

These English wards have had some struggles in the past with missionary work and the missionary mind set...the Stake President told us that we need to strengthen the members and the missionary work here. Sooooo we have lots a work to do...which means we will be doing a lot of finding on our own and a lot of strengthening with the members! We've been finding new investigators this week and inviting everyone to be baptized! Right now we are really trying hard to find our baptism for July.