A Week of Miracles

Well to best summarize this week, it has been a week of miracles. I made sure to recognize miracles on a daily basis this week, and as a result, Heavenly Father blessed us with an abundance of miracles. We were able to talk to people wherever we went and most of them even had conversations with us! Furthermore, we found some new investigators. (For those of you who are unaware, investigators are people that we meet that are willing to sit down and chat with us about what we believe. They have not been baptized as members of our church, so in other words they are investigating the church.) I could go on for hours about all the miracles I have seen, but instead I am going to answer some of the questions that Eric (my brother-in-law) asked.

My mission president is named President Preston and is the most loving man I have ever met. He is constantly smiling and has a giant heart. It's funny because as I have talked with Sister Davis about the last mission president, President Preston seems a lot more laid back. However, since he has only been in the field 10 weeks it is unclear how much with continue to change or what is set in stone. Some of what I am learning is left from the last mission president, but it may change with some time. As I was thinking about it, the way he runs the mission is a lot like the way I was raised. My parents never really believed in punishments, but rather they loved me. From that love, I didn't want to disappoint them or do something that would make them sad because I knew the happiness my love and obedience brought. President Preston seems exactly the same way. He will love you no matter what, but if you ever saw him not smiling, I know it would be absolutely devastating.

As for the rules, we are not allowed to listen to EFY music. We are only allowed to listen to music produced by the church. However, to be honest it doesn't really bother me. I don't even pick the music because I just don't care that much. Surprisingly enough, it is kind of nice to live by mission rules and not have to worry about the latest movie or how I am missing out on the latest fashion trends. In some sense, mission life is fairly straightforward and easy to live.

My daily schedule mostly consists of teaching lessons and street contacting. We also spend a fair amount of time traveling on buses, so we will talk to people there as well. As for tracting, we don't do a whole lot of it. We maybe will tract a few streets a week just depending on how much time we have. I forget if I explained tracting yet or not, but it is when we knock on people's doors and see if they are interested in the message we are sharing. When you write it out, it sounds kind of crazy, yet it is pretty fun. It is easier to gauge how interested or friendly someone is by the way the hold the door open or start closing it on you. I enjoy tracting just like the rest of missionary work.

Now for the people we are teaching, we will go in order we met them:

Danny. He is in his early 20s and his girlfriend, Emma, is a member of the church. As a result, she suggested that he started meeting with the missionaries. He comes from a rough background, but he has given it all up to live a better life. He recognizes the happiness and joy that comes from the gospel. You can tell that he is grateful for the changes he has made and feels better about his life. He is getting baptized on Friday night, so that is exciting!

Daniel (aka Brother Andrew). He is in his early 30s and has the cutest daughter named Ellie. The sisters met him outside his house I believe sometime before I got to the area. He works some type of construction, but is going to night school to become a teacher. Daniel fits right into the ward and many people don't realize that he hasn't been baptized yet. He will hopefully get baptized soon, but he currently is struggling with the Word of Wisdom. He doesn't quite understand what is bad about having a cup of coffee or drink of alcohol every now and then. Besides that he is strong. He reads from the scriptures on a daily basis and is very inquisitive. He is always wanting to learn more, which is great. Although there is a balance between teaching and answering questions. I think these teaching situations are preparing me to be a math teacher in more than one way.

Brian. We met him just walking in town one day. He told us how he recently had a near death experience. He accidentally cut his ear off and a neighbor found him. He was rushed to the hospital and ended up being alright. However, if his neighbor hadn't found him, Brian wouldn't be here today. Brian knows that someone (God) was watching over him. As a result of this experience, he gave up drinking alcohol. He is ready for some change in his life, so now is a perfect time for him to receive the gospel.

That is about all I have time for now, but I will be sure to write more about the people I know next week. Let me know if anyone else has any questions.

Thanks again for the love and support! Much love.



And now for some photos:

Have fun finding me in this one. It's kind of like where's Waldo.


This photo is from the church history tour. It is of me just being kind of silly and fake knocking at a door. Mostly I just liked this photo, so I passed it along.


The baptism photo is from last week. Walter is Hayley's boyfriend, who was baptized earlier this year, and he baptized her. Hayley is the one who got baptized, and I think I told you about her briefly another time. Then Dylan is her little boy. He is adorable! And he has a ton of energy at the same time. He is well behaved, and Hayley is a great mother to him. Then you have Sister Davis and myself.


Another photo is of Sister Davis and myself during the church history tour. I just thought I would show the world who my companion is and the person I have been spending the last 3 weeks with. She is a bundle of fun! And has a ton of energy. She loves the gospel and shows it daily as she talks to people.

Hope you enjoy seeing my smiling face again!