Wednesday, June 28, 2017

June 26, 2017

Well this week was a good week. We saw a lot of cool miracles with
teaching people. We had a lot of logistical things to take care of too
because we have a lot of work to do before a specific meeting we have
with the stake pres. For work when I'm older I could never sit behind
a desk and just type on a computer. I would lose my mind. So when we
finished I was grateful to get back out haha. We started the week with
a meeting with the Lowell Spinners baseball team. It was pretty cool
going into their office and chatting. They are at our mercy too haha I
had no idea how bad baseball parks want things like "MormonNight" to
happen. And the 2 days that are our tentative dates to do it on are
August 11 and 28. Hopefully we can do the 11th if you know
what I mean. It was fun though! Hopefully we can get the ball rolling.

We met with our investigator J-- the other day and it was one of
the best lessons I had been in. It's cool because he graduated just a
year ago so he's pretty close to our age and he's really mature which
is nice so meeting with him was cool. He asked us a lot of questions
about what we do and he was blown away when he found out our ages haha
we invited him to be baptized and he was like "oh yeah definitely like
when I come to know this is true definitely" the only obstacle is work
schedule for church and meeting with us so he is working it out where
he will have Sundays off. Hes a champ.

I went on exchange with one of the assistants E Nelson and it was a
blast. I went on exchange with him when we both were brand new and it
was so funny because we had no idea what we were doing. So going this
time and working together was so funny to see how different we both
are now. He's one of my best mission friends so it was a good time.

Things are good, we are finding a lot of new people now we are just
working on getting them to church and setting dates. It's been quite
the transition here haha but I feel like I'm starting to get the hang
of it a little now. I forget a lot of names though haha

Sorry I know I could be a lot better at emailing. I'm working on it
haha even though it's been almost 2 years still working on it LOL love
you guys! Btw happy birthday dad!

Thursday, June 22, 2017

June 19, 2017

That's awesome about trek! It's good to hear the new ward fam is
treating you guys well! Also, hope Dad had a good Father's Day! Did he
get my letter?

Alright well this week was another one for the books. We got our new
companions and I'm with Elder Thorpe and he's a solid kid. He hasn't
been out for very long and is a brand new ZL so it's been fun to help
him out and to work with him. He served in Wolfeboro and Bedford,too,
so it's been fun to talk about the people there.

We had a good week though, we had an awesome zone conference with
Elder Snow from the 70, he came and gave us trainings. He interviewed
me after and wow he's a cool guy. After that we had a lot of time to
find. We had a really cool experience with a family that we found from
Iraq and we went in and taught them and the parents could speak
English better than they could hear and understand it, so the daughter
translated for us as we taught and it was UNREAL. We showed the Prince
of Peace video in the lesson and she translated it, and she got more
and more passionate as the video went on and it was so powerful. And
the family accepted it so well. One of the cooler experiences I've had
on my mission.

Sorry, once again I don't have a ton of time but hopefully you won't kill
me mom. Love you guys! Have a good week!


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

June 12, 2017

Hey guys!

Crazy week. We have been working hard on trying to get everything
ready for the merge tomorrow and I'm just excited to get it rolling.
We've had a crazy amount of meetings with both mission's leadership and
also had a meeting with President Holland. Jeffrey's son. He is a
profound man like his dad. Definitely intimidating but way cool guy. I
went to a Boston Leadership meeting and it was really good, but I
realized how grateful I am to be serving in the Manchester mission.
I'm just really grateful for President Blair and Sister Blair and all
that they do and the way they do things. It's been a crazy couple
weeks but I have really learned a lot here.

I've been working on this idea since I've been here in Nashua and the
ball is finally starting to roll. So a lot of baseball parks have
"Mormon Night" where the baseball game is kind of themed that way and
they give a lot of tickets to the members and a famous Mormon will
throw out the first pitch and there are some other things too. I think
the Red Sox do it, I know the Dodgers do it, etc. So the Lowell
Spinners are in our zone, and we got their phone number and set up a
meeting to schedule a Mormon night at the baseball team's stadium in
July or August! It will most likely be a family night activity for the
stake and we will try to get our investigators and less actives to
come and have a good experience at the game especially being
surrounded by so many members and it being church-themed. And a good
thing to help member trust, too, hopefully. Our meeting is in about a
week and a half and it will hopefully go well. They seemed excited to
have us come to theme a game of theirs. We are coming up with other
ideas too but I guess we will see first with how the meeting goes.

Ok I really don't have a ton of time which is why I've been really
vague I'm sorry I'm just running out of time but I love you guys and
am excited to update you next week on our investigators! We found a
really cool girl that was fellowshipped by a member and she wants to
learn and to be a part of the church because she is realizing the
truth behind her studies of the Book of Mormon. Really excited to try
to set something up this week with her and the member. To be
continued! Sorry again, I'll be better! Love you guys!

Thursday, June 8, 2017

June 5, 2017

Hey!!

This week was once again interesting. To sum it up I saw a dead guy, I
felt a dented head plate on a drunk guy, and I had a burrito that
tasted just like cafe rio❤️

Nashua is an interesting place, but I really like it a lot! It's so fun
to find people here because it reminds me so much of Manchester, you
just never know what you're going to find.

I went on exchange with a missionary from my mission which was cool
because I felt like I was with someone that understands missionary
work the same way I do haha. It's been very interesting being with the
Boston missionaries but it's been good. It was cool though, and we
found some really cool people! It was too bad because they all
committed to come to church and none of them did. Nothing to update
with them just yet, but there will be soon. For lunch we went to this
Mexican place and it was crazy because it was like the first time I
had real Mexican food on my mission❤️❤️❤️❤️ and it actually had
flavor❤️❤️❤️ I love New England but their food could use some spice.
Also on exchange we were walking the street and saw 2 cop cars. All
of a sudden they opened the door of the apartment that they were
parked in front of, and they were carrying a dead guy to this
van.....so we panicked and did the classic missionary thing and asked
if there was anything we could do to help. Pretty embarrassing moment.
They said "no", if you couldn't guess.

I met Aunt Miriam's sister and wow they look so similar haha-it was
funny to run into her. Miriam's parents were in town this week too! We
ran into them at 5 guys today also. It is weird seeing people that
know me. I'm so used to being unknown to everyone so when I see people
I have met or that I know, I get really awkward and I hate it haha but
whatever.

Gary S.  got baptized this last weekend and it went so well.
He's such a cool guy. He bore his testimony at the end of the baptism,
and it honestly was one of the best testimonies I've heard. Good week
for sure.

I like the challenge to read the Book of Mormon by then! I'll follow
up with you when I get back and see how it went! Love you guys!

Friday, June 2, 2017

May 29, 2017

Hey everyone!

This week has been soooo crazy, really full of miracles and a bunch of
new things learned. The Boston missionaries definitely have a
different mission culture and way of doing things, so it's been really
interesting to see and learn how I can improve. My companion Elder
Woodward is a really good missionary--it's been really fun! With our
area book and transferring it over and trying to learn the area and
stuff....it's really hard. But I'll get there.

We found a lot of success this week going around Nashua and just
talking with people on the streets. We had some really cool lessons on
the streets! We found a guy named M-- and his girlfriend who have met
with the missionaries before and knew who we were, so he let us teach
him on the spot and it was really cool! We gave him a Book of Mormon
at the end of teaching the restoration and he was like, "I'm really
searching, guys, like I won't let anyone's opinion get in the way
because I know that I need to know for myself" it was really cool to
hear--he seemed really excited to find out if it's true. And like 5
minutes after the lesson we were walking and came across a couple and
talked with them.  The lady was faking a phone call and kind of
dodging haha but she heard us talking to her boyfriend and just
put her phone down and came and listened. She was like "wow ok this is
awesome!" And we taught the restoration and they thought it was really
interesting. I feel like we had a lot of contacts this week where
people were really hesitant but they felt the spirit of the message
and it softened their hearts. You could like see it on their face--it
was really neat to see.

One of the coolest contacts we had was this lady named A--. She was
coming back from the bus stop with her daughter and we asked some
simple questions about her religious background and she said lately
she has been reading the Bible and felt like it had helped her a lot.
So we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her it would add to her
blessings as she came to know this is true, and set up an appointment
for a couple days later. So 2 days later we go back and she had read
half of the Book of Mormon and was really sincere in letting us know
how grateful she was for stopping her and giving her this book. We are
seeing her again tomorrow! She is so cool.

We are teaching this guy that will get baptized this upcoming weekend
and he's so cool. Brother S--. Everytime we go over there to talk to him 

he's so sincere and soaks up the
gospel and loves to bear his testimony about how he came to know it's
true. He is like a crazy successful and smart guy too, he is married
to a returning less active member and he is so cool to teach. This
area is a really great place! I'm really excited to serve here. I'm
excited for the craziness of this merge to finally stop and go back to
my mission haha rather than being in the Boston mission (no offense)
but it's just bizarre. I'm like cut off from my world aka my mission.
Like I don't have a ton of contact with them ha but it's been a good
experience for me.

Love you guys! This gospel is really powerful, I felt it this morning
really hit me because I was able to go to the Boston temple and do a
session and I was able to reflect on what the gospel has done for me
and the miracles we were blessed to see this week.

Have a good week!