January 23, 2017

Hey everyone!

Well Vermont is different from Manchester, that's for sure. Definitely
a bit of a transition but it's been a good week! I like Vermont a lot,
it's so pretty up here but man it's pretty cold haha.  My new companion
is Elder Alarid and he's from California. He is a convert to the
church, he was baptized when he was 18 and has a really amazing story
so it has definitely strengthened my testimony being with him.

We were able to find some good success this week, we found a family of
4 this week that is really cool and have even visited the Joseph Smith
memorial (perk of Vermont) so we taught them the restoration and why
we have a memorial for him in the first place, etc. It was really
cool! We found another guy named E-- and he is 19 and a total stud.
We found him on Thursday and taught him a couple lessons and he came
to church too. He is really chill and is a good guy. He already lived
the word of wisdom, has been looking for a church, and said he would
be baptized when he came to know it's true. It's been fun teaching
him, we will be seeing him on Wednesday again.

Vermont is very liberal and also NOT afraid to share their opinions.
We got yelled at quite a few times this week as we walked the streets
and it felt like Manchester a little, but these people here have
stronger intentions than just a few words hahaha it's made for a very
exciting week! I remember before my mission asking Nick Emery about
talking to people and rejection and he said "you just grow a shell"
and I was like-- ok? And it's so true-- haha it makes me sad to see
people that don't want to know more about God, but it doesn't effect
my day at all.  Now it just makes for a story in my journal or back
home.  And Heavenly Father blesses us for sure, I think that's why we
grow shells for rejection so I'm grateful for that.

We have a meeting in Manchester tomorrow so we are driving down
tonight and I'm excited about going back to my old area it will be
cool to see it again even though it's only been a week.

Have a good week! Sorry for the short email. And glad the move went
well by the way!! Love you!