16 Miles And What Do We Get? Another Year Older and NOT Deeper in Debt

Great Hike - First One I Have Been to in the Area

Hia Hia, It's's been longer than most people prefer, but being a missionary have I have an excuse.

We had a scary moment trying to get on base on Tuesday. We normally go on base every Tuesday to do some service at a thrift store called Airman's Attic. When we are there we take every chance we get to talk the the airmen that come. 

Anyways when we got our day pass from the first Check-in station, our print outs usually say that our visit will last from 10:00-1:00 because that is usually the time frame of our visit, but they goofed and put the end of our visit at 10:00. So when we drive up to the gate, they check our IDs and our passes and saw the inconsistent time thy asked us when we had gotten the passes, and we said 5 minutes ago. To make this story short, for the sake of of space. The guy who checked us in knew us, but his boss was right behind him so he had to pull us aside and check in with the Check-in station, and we sat there for 10 minutes before we got the all clear from them. My companion was super intimidated because the guards today were a little bit more armed than they usually are, not to mention they had twice as many people today, so it was just a little nerve-wracking for us to be stopped and pulled aside.

Caught a Frog

We had exchanges the other day, and I went to Spokane. This particular day was not a normal one, because both companionships of the Spokane 2nd ward's were out of commission (on a count of bowel movements so bad they had to both take turns and breaks from the restroom) so I went on another exchange with the only other Elder there who was still well, Elder Woodhead. He and I had major success on our previous exchange, so we were fired up and ready to start Tracting.

The first house we knocked on was a less active member that was incredibly friendly with us and even invited us to dinner in the future. She told us that she always loved talking with missionaries in the past but they stopped coming over 20 years ago. Score! We then found some other people who loved to share the gospel, but the majority of what they used was just the Bible. So we had to tell them what the Book of Mormon was as well and why we need it. After, he told us that we should have a "discussion" sometime and that we could come back another time. Score!

Finally, after a long day of knocking on doors and talking to people, we decided to visit some potentials that lived on a far away street, and for the sake of miles we walked there. Once in the area, we saw some people sitting on their porch smoking, so we went to talk to them. After some pleasant words on the sidewalk, we used the excuse of not being able to hear them that well to move in close. Upon further pleasantries we found that this house was for women who were recovering drug addicts. The lady who was the head of the house told us of how she was baptized into the church when she was younger, but she didn't do much else and then fell away from the Church. Right when we were about to ask if we could visit sometime and share a message that could provide a spiritual recovery, this lady asked us if we could come over! This house hosted 7 lady's, and apparently they all just decided together that they wanted to be closer to Christ! How awesome is that!

Huge Storm - Couldn't See the Road

So we don't have that much miles for this month left, and in our effort to save them, we decided to bike 16 miles yesterday. We had an appointment with a guy, but he was too busy and our next appointment was dinner at a members house over 9 miles away, so we biked there. During this our joyride over, I was able to listen to some awesome talks by Brad Wilcox. (He is a great speaker 10/10)

 One of the things he mentioned in his talk was about the special witness we have as a church especially when compared to other churches, We are not limited to just one witness of Jesus Christ, we have a Prophet, Apostles, the seventy and the Book of Mormon, all of these testify of the same thing... That we have a loving Heavenly Father, who sacrificed his own son so that we could be perfected and live with our Father in Heaven again. It's important that we listen to all of God's servants 

D&c 1:38 

"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

Sorry I couldn't send you pictures last week, I needed wi-fi but I had none. 

So I will send oven more pictures! MUA HA HA HA HA 

Pretty Lake on Our Hike

When Your Shoes Fall Off Your Feet

Took a Break From Out 15 Mile Bike Trip

It's that time of the week again, where I share the latest of missionary news.

This features Elder Willis, and a returning guest star, Elder Ruth.

The beginning of this week did not start off well for me, I had bought a pair of shoes from a thrift store where we frequently do service. They were only $5 for an old pair of military dress shoes, so when I brought them home and polished them they looked shiny and brand new.

After an hour of tracting, my companion asked me where the heel of my shoe went. Apparently the pair of shoes I got were so old, the rubber on the bottom was so old that the material was rotting off as I walked. It was so bad that by the end of the day I had no rubber on the bottom of my shoes at all. I don't mind all that much though. They were cheap and I might try again a the thrift store soon.

The Hike Went a Little off the Rails

Two families moved in around the same time, and gave us all very short notice. My companion and I were able to get 8

missionaries to come help out with both moves, but no members were able to help us out.

Our first move in was the smaller one. It  was an older lady downsizing her home to a small trailer. She had received lessons from sister missionaries in the past, but those sisters have not given us the information on this lady yet. We can teach her, but we don't know what she has already been taught..... It's a work in progress. 

Our second move was a small part member less active family. (its a mouthful, I know) They are fun to talk with and the mother of the family is a skilled taylor, and she offered to hem up our pants and alter our suit coats which is pretty cool. The daughter of the family is 12 and hasn't been baptized yet, apparently some missionaries in the past told her she didn't need to be baptized, as you can see we have our work cut out for us. 

Did a Little Exploring

We were able to get one of the people we are teaching to church yesterday. It's an awesome story. One of the members in our is area is a good friend with her neighbor, and they recently found out that are related by law so now they are good friends. This lady (her name is Virginia) was baptized when she was younger, but as we have been teaching her we found that she felt this baptism didn't even count because she is so young at the time. Teaching her is so fun. She is always so excited to talk to us, and we always have good fellowship to be with us when we do teach her. We are unsure when, but we will totally ask her to be baptized soon.

Our stake recently had a Girl's Camp, (guess who it's for) and a bunch of the younger girls we are teaching went. We have heard that they all enjoyed it immensely, and a few of them even bore their testimonies on what we have taught them (I'm so proud) things are coming along nicely. 

My Companion Took Some Gnarly Pictures

Yesterday, we went to a BBQ at an older members home, and we were all chatting and enjoying each other's company when the members cat same over with a baby bunny in its mouth, and of course all the girls at the BBQ were freaking out "GET THAT CAT AND THAT BUNNY" They grab the cat and take the bunny put of its mouth. "Is it dead?" they ask, and we were like "we'll make sure it is" but they wanted to take care of it and send it back to its home. Later that day we went back over to pick up some left over food they wanted to give us. Then we saw a bunny in her yard. So we decided to release the little bunny and see if it would go running back to the bigger one, and it did. And they lived happily ever after (as far as we know).

I just had to tell you that story or you would ask questions about one of the pictures I'm going to send.

Mormon 7:8-10

8 Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record shall come from the Gentiles unto you.

Found Some Good Places to Take Pictures

   9 For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.

Caught a Crawdad

   10 And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen.

Thank you for reading this far, I love taking time to write and tell you about how my week goes, because it's always awesome. Thanks for your letters and your support I appreciate it.

Working Hard So We Can Hardly Work

Before Shot

We have been great. I don't know what it is but we keep getting tons of referrals. For instance, there was a missionary at the hospital, (for reasons) and one of the people he sat next to was was chatty, and now we have Jasmine, our person with interest.

Jasmine had a rough childhood, and has gone through too much surgery for a person her age. She has a very powerful testimony of Jesus Christ, and she knows that she has a Father in Heaven. So now it is up to us to teach her all about what we have come to know about Heavenly Father's plan for us.  Apparently we goofed. 

I know it sounds crazy but missionaries get up at 6:30 every morning, and that is weak sauce compared to the time I used to wake up to go to work (4:00 AM), anyways we texted her around 8:00 asking when we could visit her again, thinking that everyone gets up with us, then we got a stern "No" in answer to meeting later that day. She told us that she does not want to talk to us before 10:00am. So we texted her later that day after 10:00 and she still hasn't answered us. If I were not on my mission I would say that she was being rude, but for missionaries it's Tuesday. (Literally it was last Tuesday and she still won't respond to us.) Pray for us and her.

But enough of of that, some cool things have been happening. 

Zone Conference

Recently for quite some time we have been trying to contact a family we are teaching, and we finally caught them yesterday. Turns out that they just have been super busy with the 4th and work, not to mention that they keep getting new phone numbers which doesn't help. It's funny, when we finally got to talk to them again they told us they were just thinking of calling us to see when we could come over next. 

I just found out that the email I sent last week didn't send, and I didn't save the draft either which sucks, I put a lot of work into that email.

This Little Guy Ticked Me Off

Well, I got a tick last week.

For service we decided to walk along a well traveled road. There was plenty of trash to pick up, and many times we would walk out a little bit into the tall grass to pick up a can for something. I am pretty sure that I got this tick from there. I hadn't noticed the tick until I was getting ready for bed. I was scratching an itch

 I had on my side, then I felt something odd. It felt like I had some hair that had been stuck together with glue or gum on my side. I didn't think much of it at the time (even though I don't grow hair there) and I just pulled it off. Then I thought it felt funny, so I grabbed a light and shined it to bring a little light to the situation. What I saw shocked me, a female dog tick. 

Look at This Little Kitty

Now as a bona-fide eagle scout, I knew how to properly get a tick off, so I immediately checked to see if I did it right, and by some miracle I did it right and I got no infection from it.  That was a blessing!

After Shot

We recently met with awesome referrals, this one being Lecrecia. We have had only one lesson so far, with her and our Relief Society President. Our lesson went so well, we planed on sharing the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we went a little off rails and taught a bunch of different topics as we went. She was receiving all we taught so well, we hope we can see her more frequently, but she has a busy schedule, so maybe it will be a little more difficult.

Pouring Cement

Lots of Cement

As the title might say, we have working hard to get members to do missionary work. Like we tell all recent converts you know enough to be a successful missionary, because you know the most basic truths of the Gospel and that's all It takes, not to mention that you have the Holy Ghost on your side. He "brings all things to remembrance". The point is that if members are taking time to get to know their neighbor or their coworkers, they might receive a chance to teach about God's plan for us or what we do in the church. It's that easy. I challenge you, dear reader, to try and find an opportunity to share the Gospel with any who would listen. You don't need to stand on a soap box and use a loud speaker. You can just be an example. And when people ask you why you seem to be more happy or any other such questions, that will be your chance. 

This program is made possible by viewers like you...... Thank you

Pictures are my favorite, because a good picture is worth a thousand words. 

Happy Freedom! (*bald eagle screech)

How are all my favorite fellow Americans!

Me and a Cat

I have been working hard in the Lord's Vineyard for this past 6 months and it's been a blast 🧨

Sorry about the extreme enthusiasm but it's Freedom Day! *bald eagle screech. 

And I have not been able to talk to anyone outside of the mission since a week and a half ago, because it's the 4th of July today, so our mission president moved our personal day to freedom day! *bald eagle screech.

Me Going About My Father's Business

I don't know if you all know this but missionaries can't use handle or blast off any fireworks or explosives of any kind, and on this particular holiday, because of freedom! *bald eagle screech. There will be drunk people, among other things outside during the night. So us missionaries have to stay inside to avoid the crazy, so no watching the fireworks for us.

On to business, we have received over 10 referrals for promising people in our area! (For those who don't know, a referral is when someone gives us a text or an email about a person who wants to learn more about the church and would like to meet with missionaries).

Just two of them are Nathan and Kirsten! They are so humble and ready to learn about our church, They said that right when they both decided together that they needed to go back to church. A pair of missionaries knocked on their door. (These missionaries were in the Spanish branch of Spokane, and they were looking for somebody else) I, in my whole mission so far, have never met anybody so young and ready to learn more about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ than this young couple has. We have tried to get a lesson with them but they are super busy with work and watching kids so they have little time for us unfortunately, but that will change soon hopefully.

A Guy the Sisters are Teaching

Last week we went to go meet one of the new referrals we had received, and ran into Nelson, the referral's brother, just a real cool dude from Hawaii and always ready for a fight. (Not that he tried to fight us). He was super cool to talk with and said that his sister would love to meet with us. It was just yesterday we finally met with Nelson's sister, Clarise. She was real cautious about talking with us at first, because apparently most other missionaries and or pastors have tried to (figuratively) shove a Bible down her throat, but she told us that we were pleasant to talk with and she could tell we were the real deal, that we knew what we were talking about. (It's so nice to see all the study sessions have paid off.)

This Guy is from England,
Friend of a Missionary Serving here

Anyways, after talking to Clarise, we biked by anotber family we teach a bunch. We did not originally plan to talk with them, but they were outside talking with a guest and waved us over. This guest is a cool dude named Dylan. He was visiting from Moses Lake for the Freedom Day! *eagle screech. Dylan is an old friend of one of daughters of the family we taught, and we did not think much of him when we first met him, but we met him again today.... And we now have a promising referral for the Moses Lake missionaries! It's funny.  We were waiting for a family we scheduled a visit with to come home, and Lo! and behold! he walks by and sees us and comes over to talk. He is a cool kid, who has a real interest in being baptized and going to church, but he does not know where he should go to church, both his mom and dad work on Sundays, and they told him that he could go to any church he wanted if he would either walk or get a ride there. Once we hear that we say, "there are a couple of cool dudes like us in Moses Lake, who are also missionaries. Would you like them to visit you and talk about Jesus Christ with you? We could even arrange a ride to our church if you were interested." Bam! like an explosion on Freedom day! *eagle screech. We had a referral for another pair of missionaries.

Wacky Picture with One of the Families We Ate With

Because our personal day was extended to Freedom Day! *eagle screech, we were unable to buy much needed groceries for the past few days, so my companion and I have been scraping by the gracious hands of members in our ward. Much like the people of Israel, when they were lead out of Egypt by Moses, they had to dwell in a desert for 40 years, (we did not suffer for that long but you will get the point). The lord knew that the people would not have any means of a good food source in the wilderness, so he made a way for them to survive. 

Exodus 16:4 ¶ Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.

My Companion with a 'Scape Goat'

My companion and I were not save in such a manner, but we now have a full list of members ready invite us to their homes for dinner every Saturday for the month, those are good numbers for our area. The Lord knew we would have a difficult time for these few days, so through members he has given us extra food and even more promised in the future.

I know that the Lord lives and that He loves me, but not just me, all of his children, that means me, my family, all those who live in the world today, all those who lived in the world in the past and all those who have yet to live in this beautiful world He has given us. And I know that because He loves us, He takes care of us, and gives us ways to make it back to Him, and it is up to us to take the opportunities He has given us and make the most of them. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Puppy - Testing Out His Chompers

Thank you for getting this far in my email. It's a long one, so long that I will send a separate email of just pictures, just to show you all just how much I care to tell you how awesome it has been so for to be on a mission! *spiritual eagle screech!

New Puppy
at one of the Families We are Teaching

P. S 

I made a video on repentance and posted it in my Facebook, so don't forget to look at that.... And don't forget to send me my Oscar. 

Bye!