Waking up

Well. The Dream Team is coming to a close. We got the transfer information on Saturday and Elder Slik will be going off to the Green Valley stake to be with Elder Pauni. He is getting double transferred in. We were both pretty bummed when we found out. 

It's been an amazing 18 weeks with Elder Slik. I am so grateful that I've been able to serve with him and learn from him for so long. Except for 6 weeks, he's been my leader since February. I've learned so much from his example and his dedication and maturity. I could rant about how awesome Elder Slik is all day. I love him. He has had an eternal influence on my life. I owe much of my missionary success to his guidance and leadership. 

All the matching ties! How many matches can you spot?

But! A new era has begun!

My new companion will be ELDER drumrolllllllllllllllllllllll

JORDAN KENDALL SMITH!

The Elder Smith from Warm Springs :). He's getting transferred up here tomorrow to be with me in Bonanza View and Frenchmen Hills! I was sooo excited and happy. It was a bittersweet moment to find that I wouldn't be with Elder Slik but I would be with Elder Smith.

I love Elder Smith. We grew to be really close in WS and I look up to him a lot. He's funny, clever, kind and a well rounded missionary. I'm very excited for the miracles that await us.

So that was a balm of Gilead definitely. 

My emotions are all over the place. Happy and Sad. But I'm excited. Well, excited and scared. The last four and a half months have flown by. It seems like just yesterday that I was companions with Elder Ledezma in the holy land of desert bloom....

We had 12 lessons cancel this week and most of our investigators dropped us. It's been interesting.

MONDAY! We started an exchange with the assistants. I've really come to love assistant exchanges. They are always very clear about what I can do better and they are helpful as well. I get to watch and learn from their examples, ask questions and receive their counsel. They aren't perfect, but they are good at what they do. This time I was with Elder Fuller again (he's from Michigan) but in their ward. It's the first time I've been to one of my leader’s areas since I went on an exchange with Elder Slik in Los Feliz. Ages ago. So it was nice to see how another person's area operates and what things I can apply into my own mission and my areas. But anyway. Their area is quite the opposite of ours. Demo/econom/geographically. It is a much more upscale area and it is in the middle of the desert and it is a lot of old people and young couples. It is just like way different. But because of New Years Eve we started the exchange right at 6pm. So we had some time to work that night. We taught a lesson to this young family. It was very interesting. One of the girls was wanting to get baptized but she was really struggling with her faith. She had been praying and fasting that her mom would quit doing drugs but her addictions just keep getting worse and worse. It was interesting to talk to her and try to help her to stay strong and positive. While out here I've really been exposed to so many hard family situations like that. I just feel like no young teenager should have to pray that her mother stops doing drugs. This young girl is a freshman in high school and is practically raising her two younger brothers. Then later we met with a family where the husband and the son got baptized but the mother was waiting because she didn't feel worthy; another interesting life. The family was so cool. You could tell that they all loved each other a lot which was the most important. I really loved being able to teach families. It's hard to find them.

TUESDAY! It was a great day. Elder Fuller is so good at talking with everyone. He is a finding missionary. That's what he lives to do, find interested  people and new investigators. He plans his whole day around that as soon as he leaves the apartment he is on the lookout for anyone that he can bless. I was so impressed. And if any missionary 'labors in the spirit' it is Elder Fuller. He prays with such intensity. He just wants to invite others to Christ and he begs the Lord to place people in his path to be invited. I loved being with him. I want to be more like him. It was interesting. We get denied in Central a lot and people are rude to us but we dealt with a lot of mean, mean people. Who actively tried to bring us down. That hasn’t happened in a while. Some people on the street mocked us and stuff like that. But one guy invited us in and sat us down on his couch and gave us water and talked to us about our missions. Then he just started saying horrible things to destroy our faith. He served a mission long ago but is now an atheist and he tried to convince us that God doesn't exist and that the church is ruining people's lives. It was a trap. He was so nice and inviting at first and then he just got hostile. His phrase was, "That's your opinion. I used to believe that too." Every time we spoke he said that to us. It was pretty messed up. But good things happened too! We talked to a ton of people. We taught a lesson to a part member family. The mom was so, so happy to have the missionaries in her home. You could just tell that she wanted us to stay there with her family and teach them everything. It was nice to feel so wanted. We had a good day. I look up to Elder Fuller a lot. But when the day was done, I was happy to be with Elder Slik again. That night we talked a lot and both of us reflected on the past year. I set some goals and wrote down a few of the lessons I've learned since 2012. It was incredible to think about who I was a year ago and who I am now.

JANUARY 1st 2014! We were going to see Gloria in the morning but she cancelled. We helped some other missionaries with their bikes. We had lunch with Severina which was nice. We had a neat experience there. As we pulled up we saw a man outside the house talking to Severina's son in law. We got the distinct impression that he was a prepared soul. We said to each other that we were going to invite him to take the lessons. We walk up to the guy and start talking and the first thing he tells us is that he is preparing to be baptized! We were both taken back. He was stopping by just then to invite their family to the service. His name was Tony and he was an awesome guy. He was so happy to see Elder Slik and me. He talked to us for the whole lunch about us and our missions and everything. I love that fire of new converts and investigators who are progressing to a baptismal date. It's contagious. He was referred by his boss at work. His boss has been inviting him for six years to investigate. Each time he said that he wasn't ready. Until; this last time when he was! After that we walked around trying to find new people because our other lessons fell through.  We sent a lot of referrals to the Spanish sisters. We played basketball with some kids and then they invited us to come back and pray with their family. We went back that night and prayed with them and the Spirit was really strong. They were asking us questions and then they fed us Mexican food (even though we had just eaten) and invited us to come back the next day. We had to give the referral to the sisters but we talked them up a lot. It was a cool experience to touch the life of a whole family. There were like eight people there.

THURSDAY! We had MLC which was awesome. It was exactly what I needed. I received answers to my prayers and have a better idea of what I need to do to find more success here. We drove up with the Sunrise Zone leaders. It's interesting. I don't have a lot of zone leader friends. It’s very cliquey at MLC. There are like groups of missionaries that hang out together. It’s hard to explain. But basically its’ like the clique high school lunch room experience that I never had, very distinct groups and you know if you're not a part. But it’s okay because Elder Slik and I are tight and then we are close with the Sunrise ZLs too. It’s funny. I’ll be able to better explain it in two years. After we taught a lesson to a member’s boyfriend. It was an interesting lesson, all about the Plan of Salvation. Then we taught a random dude in the street. He kept telling us that God is love and that because he has love he is like God. It was interesting and we tried to set up a return appointment but he wanted us to teach him and pray with him right then. Then we got a flat tire. Our luck ran quite short hahaha And we had to do a baptismal interview in my old area. So we walked. The other missionaries couldn’t give us a ride for whatever reason. So we walked like two miles in the cold. I'm spoiled okay??? But it was a good one. The woman was very prepared and I was grateful for the opportunity to feel her spirit and talk with her about her conversion. I left her with an interesting promise. That if she read the Book of Mormon every day with her family they would get baptized and her sons would serve missions. I pray that she reads with them. 

FRIDAY! We spent a lot of time planning for our ZTM. We visited a ton of people trying our hardest to find new people but no one was home. We stopped in to see Melissa and the Egans were already there. So we taught a lesson with them which went really well. I like the Egans a lot. It's tough sharing a small, small ward, but they're awesome. We talked to an interesting man in the afternoon. We were walking through an apartment complex and this giant fat creature ran at me. It looked like an ROUS but white and spotted. It made the same sounds and had the same uneven gait. Ugly. And it’s coming towards me and I'm all petrified (Buttercup status) because I have no idea what is happening and then this really tall one armed black man walks out from behind a wall and starts yelling at the dog monster creature. It stopped and then ran away. I thanked the guy and noticed that he didn’t have an arm, nor a shoulder, from his neck down it was just straight. On his other hip he had this enormous (like comically big) matte black revolver. We started talking to him and he has a really gruff voice. We talk a little bit about the hard times and then he asks us where our church was and how he could pay his tithes. I was so surprised. Call me a Pharisee. I deserve it. But that was cool. A gentle rebuke of judging a book by its cover. We took out a priest named Spencer who is super cool. He is so prepared, like so solid and mature and well versed in the scriptures. We took out Brother Martinez who is awesome as well. So many members that I look up to so much. We met some new people.

SATURDAY! So to this point so many things had fallen through. But we were excited because we had like five appointments set up for Saturday. We started our ZTM which went really well. We talked about effective planning and preparing our investigators to have spiritual experiences at church. Then after we got out of the meeting everyone had cancelled their appointments. Sigh. That was tough. But it was okay because we got to talk to a lot of cool people that we wouldn't have been able to if we'd have been inside. We got the transfer doctrine and delivered it to the other missionaries. We visited some members. I love the members here. I wish I could just instantly adopt so many of the great qualities of the members here. I'd get translated in no time!

SUNDAY! It was a powerful Sunday in both wards. Elder Slik bore his testimony and so many members bore theirs after his thanking the both of us for all the work we've done. It feels like we're both leaving! It's odd. But it was sweet to hear and feel the love from so many great people. Our appointments on Sunday fell through too. So we ended the transfer with no one at church and no one with a baptismal date. It'll be ground zero for when Elder Smith gets here. But it'll be good. I'm excited to build up this area with him. We burned a shirt and pants with the Iverson’s. That was weird for so many reasons: one, because it was a shirt and pants (the symbols of 12 and 18 months) and because Elder Slik is leaving.

Some shirts and pants we burned at the Iverson's to remember our year and 18 month mark which we hit together.

I love that family and so many others so, so much. I'm grateful for people loving me and bringing me into their families. Then we visited the Banks. Then we had a great lesson with Suzie. She's so, so cool. We talked about the Sabbath day. We might have to pass her to the YSA [Young Single Adult] ward though so she can make more friends and be better fellowshipped. It's hard to get close because she a single girl, our age. Sister missionaries might have a better time helping her.

That's the spark notes of the week. It's been good, the grind, but good. I love life. 

Things will be very different without Elder Slik being here. I've grown to feel like we are a package deal. I hope the members will accept the dream team 2.0!!!!!! I know they will. Things can only go up from here.

I'm excited to tell you all about the new miracles of this coming week! 

I love you all so much.

Sam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Happy New Year all!

Can you believe that the year is coming to a close? It's insane how fast the time flies. Well it was a good week. I can't process that I talked to you all this week. This email is going to be short. Sorry!

One quick thing before; one of the reasons I like teaching so much is because of how much I learn in preparation for and in the presentation of lessons. I always feel like I take more out of appointments than my investigators do. 

MONDAY! It was a good day. We talked to an interesting man. He told us that the true Israelites were blacks and he had a lot of scriptures to back it up which was interesting too. We hear a lot of different religious view points out here and a lot of them contradict and most are backed up by the bible. It's interesting. It's almost universally accepted as God's word but very widely disputed as to what it actually said. We thank thee o God for a prophet. After that we went to the Mag's to teach Robert and we read 2 Nephi 2 with him and talked about agency and the Plan of Salvation. Robert is a really cool guy. He is set to be baptized on the 18th of January. We are going to do all we can to help him get there. The Magdaluyos are so supportive. I want to be more like them when I grow up. Robert knows that the Church is true. We just need to teach him the remaining lessons and help him to fully integrate into the ward.

TUESDAY! Oh man. Good day, but it was hard. In the morning we had a great District meeting about the power of the Spirit. Then we did a mail run from the mission office up to north town and all over. We had a really hard lesson with Stephanie. So Sunday night we confirmed everything with the baptism with her and got that all set up. She was excited and ready. She told us how she knew that more blessings would be coming her way. So Tuesday we are teaching her the law of tithing and she commits to pay it. But then she asks us about the Law of Chastity. She told us how she'd been thinking of having her 'old man' (the father of her children) move back in and she asked if that would be a sin. So we teach her the law of chastity and we watch her face just drop. All that excitement and energy just drained out of her. She did not want to live it. We talked about it with her but she just kept saying, "I’m going to have to decide." We invited her to pray about things and she said that she would but you could just feel that from that moment on she was closed. It was hard to compare her happiness Sunday night with her attitude right then. So we said that we'd come by tomorrow to see how she was feeling about everything. It broke my heart; that was the hard part, the rest was good. We went to the Marx' house for Christmas Eve dinner and that was a blast. I love that family so much. Well I love everyone, but it's way easier to love the people that love you a lot back. I know I know, even the publicans do that. But still! We watched an interesting music video there; it was of that song "Did you know?" about Mary. The video that went with it was clips from the bible TV show that came out earlier this year and I think it was by cee-lo green. I imagine it was really popular when it came out but,,, we're not really on the cutting edge. Then we went to the Mag's house for dinner with them as well. I could rant about these favorite families almost as much as I do about how awesome Elder Slik is. A lot. Then we went to eat with the Lawter family and we had a big Mexican Noche Buena party. The food was sooo good. And we spoke in Spanish which was fun too. I was so impressed about how many people gave us gifts. Floored actually. Lots of families gave us gifts. And pretty much everyone gave us candy. I don't need any more candy for like the rest of my life. People like us and we can't figure out why. 

CHRISTMAS! We got up real, real early to play soccer with the zone. That was fun. We were playing before the sun was even up. I'll remember that for forever; singing and playing and having a good time with friends. It was so cold too, like 40 degrees. I know, I know, it's colder in Michigan or Utah or almost anywhere else, but I thought it was cold. After sports we went to the Iverson's house and we opened some presents and had breakfast and skyped.

Christmas morning at the Iverson's in the PJs they gave them.

It's a weird sensation. I almost feel like I haven't been gone very long especially after talking to you all. But anyway. By this point we were not hungry. We were still full from the dinners the night before! But we ate at the Iversons, and it was real, real good and then we went to a members house for lunch and we tried our hardest to eat the food. He even said, "Hey elder, you're not eating your chicken very fast, do you not like it?" something like that. That day the scripture was fulfilled "that there [was] not ... room enough to receive it." We were like totally up to capacity. We went by Stephanie’s afterwards and dropped off a gift to her but she did not want to talk. She told us that she was depressed. We tried talking to her about things of the spiritual nature and she even said something like "Come on guys! You've got to give me a break!" Oh another knife to my heart. She was so excited, and so happy just days before and then her whole countenance changed. It hurt me to see her so, so sad. But we went to see Toni and Severina and that made it all okay. Toni expressed her love to us and she told us how happy she was. She explained the peace and joy she'd received from joining the church. She talked about how she feels loved and wanted. I sit and think about where she was when we started and where she is now? It's incredible. She's a completely different person. She recognizes that too which makes it that much better. Severina did the same. We are so blessed to be able to devote two full years to blessing our brothers and sisters. Coming to know and love them. Then we went to the Banks family; another awesome family that we love so much. UPDATE! Rigdon's dental papers are signed and so it's the home stretch to getting them in now! He just needs a physical and then to send them off :)) (my double chin). Then we went to see some of our other favorite families.

THURSDAY! We had a good district meeting and then we .... surprise, surprise. I don't even remember too much. I didn't write it in my journal. :(. But what I do remember was a few visits and our lesson with Stephanie. ... We went by and one of the first things that she said to us was, "I think I'm going to stay Baptist." That was the killer. That was soooo hard to hear. She was so, so sad when she said that to us. We tried our best to understand what happened and why. She told us that she's always wanted to stay Baptist. But as bad as that lesson was for Stephanie, it was there that Andre really understood what the Restoration was. He realized the boldness of the claim that we make and we directed him to the Book of Mormon as the evidence of the claim. It was a lesson of mixed emotions. I love when people commit to read the BoM but I don't like when people tell us that they are going to "stay Baptist." But we set up a time to come back Saturday. Stephanie said that she will still keep coming to church and meeting with us but she's not going to get baptized. We'll have to see how things pan out with them. 

FRIDAY! We had a lesson with Norma first thing in the morning. It was crazy. She fed us Mexican food and we talked about death and her brother's passing and Sister Jewitt came with us and shared her experiences. Norma is grieving so much. We try, but it's almost like she's too sad to learn the things we are trying to teach her. She's scared and feels lonely. She said that we are her only friends. She's pushed everyone away and she often tells us that she tries to be happy for her children, but not for herself anymore. It's a humbling experience every time to meet with her. I don't have much life experience to share with her, I don't know what to say to a woman who has lost her brother so recently. But the Lord does. He knows and loves all of his children. Plus, when women cry, it freaks me out and I don't know what to do. Awk. We coordinated with the Bishop and with the Egans and Brother Odulio, which was good. Bishop Waite always tells us how much he loves us which makes a big difference. Even when you know you are loved, hearing someone tell you, is nice.

SATURDAY! We went to the temple. That was such a good experience. We missed our session so we went to do initiatories, but they were full so they sent us up to do sealings. Those were incredible. I'd never been in one before and it was very, very powerful. The sealer was Elder Ballard's cousin and in between families he taught us a lot of doctrine. Like almost randomly. He just started asking us questions and teaching us stuff that I’d never even heard about before. Then after a while he decided that we should go do initatories. So he sent us down and told us to tell them that Brother Ballard sent us. It worked and we did those. Then we did a session. Having done all three at once makes everything make more sense in the grand scheme of the ordinances we do in the temple. God promises us a lot of blessings. The temple is a place of worship. We learn about God's plan for us as his children. So that was good. We went out with another prospective missionary and we had a good time with him. Saturday night we had a lesson with Stephanie. We mostly talked with Andre. He read Alma 40 and really, really understood what it was saying. He had some great questions and some good insights. I am always so, so impressed with him. He is leagues ahead of most people we come in contact with. He really understands spiritual things. And he learns them quickly too.

SUNDAY! No investigators came to church in BV. Robert came to church in FH. We had a really good lesson with Suzie at the Kuhn's with Chelsea. We get to work with some cool people. Suzie is one of them: a great, great girl. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and about prayer. She is really seeking to feel God's love and presence in her life. Honorable. But her life is so busy it's hard for her to find time to read and pray which is how we feel and speak with God. We also got back in contact with Randy, which was good. 

Overall. It was an amazing week. We got to spend a lot of time with our dream team families. I love being a missionary. Life is good and things are going forward. 

I'm happy :)

I love you all so much!
Sam

Merry Christmas!

As someone said yesterday, Christmas without Christ would just be a miss.

I said that last week was like the best week ever, this week I think was even better.

So much happens in a week it's hard to process it all. I'm just always so happy. It's hard not to smile all the time. I could just rant all day about how good life is. 

It's an interesting experience to be able to look back upon where I was this time last year and see how far I've come. It's crazy to think about, how much I've learned and developed. Not to mention look at the lives of people we've worked with. For some, there has been a complete 180. They have left behind their past life, along with addictions, guilt and pain behind. 

I'm going to highlight Stephanie. She's awesome. I think about the first time we met Stephanie. A great woman but you could tell, that in her own words, she was "going through it." She was sad and quiet. Now I love going there because it fills me with so much happiness. Even in all the trials which continue to mount for that family, they are happy and full of faith. We go in and sit down and it is all smiles and praising the Lord and his goodness. I have really grown a lot in my testimony of the blessings of the simple things: reading and prayers. It has changed her life. She tells us all the time how much peace she feels. It brings me peace as well. To see her smile and laugh and just truly enjoy life: there is nothing greater. No greater blessings. It's interesting. As I write about this I really am trying to compare other times when I've been happier and they are quite few. I've made a difference in someone’s life, in their faith, and I’ve helped them to be happier. What could be better than that? But anyway, we go to her house and I am left feeling spiritually uplifted by just rubbing shoulders with someone with so much faith. :) It's hard to explain. I know the Book of Mormon can provide peace, happiness, answers and safety for the soul http://bcove.me/wy27ezhf . All we have to do is read it. 

MONDAY! We had a great FHE with Chelsea and her mom at the Mag's house. It was a real good experience of talking and laughing and reading together. They really stand out to me as doing what the prophet has asked us to do in regards to missionary work. They live the best life they can and do their best to follow the Savior and then they invite others to be a part of and feel the goodness of their life.  I think the world of so many families, and they are one of them. Brother Mag served his mission in Puerto Rico. He was a good missionary. He has so many cool stories to share. He and really his whole family seem like fireballs to me. Just love to do what's right and will get it done. But anyway. Chelsea is dating their son Kaden who is serving a mission in Argentina. She got baptized 16 months ago. Her mom is a non-member, great, great woman. Just not ready to commit right now to changing her life. But we had a good, spirit filled time reading Alma 32 and discussing. She shared some powerful experiences, about feeling the Spirit in the past. It strengthened my testimony that God loves all of his children. Period. Robert was supposed to come but he was still sick so he couldn't make it. Chelsea is really cool. She wasn't religious or spiritual before taking the missionary lessons, but now she is on point. She'd make a great missionary.

TUESDAY! It was a crazy day. We started it out by contacting a referral. We talked with him for a bit and he told us how his family was afraid of us. We get that more often than you'd think. I don't really know why though. But he said that he'd set something up and we could come over sometime for dinner and a lesson. We get that more often than you'd think too! Members are always asking to feed us but non-members ask us frequently. I mean I'm not complaining. People like feeding us, and we like to eat! So it works out (which we need to do more hahaha). We took a while to plan for a training we had to give in zone conference Thursday. Then we went to some families to deliver Christmas cards. It made a big difference. Sometimes the littlest things make people so happy. Like going to Severina's and eating her Filipino food and singing her some songs. She loved it.  She recorded us (and I wish she wouldn't have. We sounded soooo bad.) Then we visited a few members. We had a crazy experience. So Patrick, the guy that came to church the last 2 weeks. He's awesome. Nice guy. We went by in the afternoon to talk to him and his girlfriend came out. Oh man. She was dark, not physical, but she had a weird vibe about her from the moment we saw her. The first thing she said was, "Well look at these three handsome young men." Boom from then on out things just got worse. We asked for Patrick and she told us that he was inside and then described in vivid detail the bad things he was doing right then. It was messed up. Then she tried to get in each of our heads. When we asked for Patrick’s phone number or a better time to come back to talk to him she told us that he was going to get kicked out of the apartment that night and he would probably OD and die that night. Then she was telling us a bunch of other crazy stuff and we just left. It was messed up, just sad, and dark, and messed up. We see first hand how many people and family's lives are ruined by the influence of substances. It's depressing. Then we went to go contact a referral. On Monday we got a call from one of the sisters in the other ward about someone she had used “the willing and brief invitation” on and they had said “yes.” She was sooo excited to have done her part in the work of salvation and she set up a lesson for Tuesday. So we went and talked with this young man named Matt. He lived alone and worked a lot. You could tell that he really wanted people to talk to. He told us about his life and his cards and his guitars and everything. It turns out that he was a member. So we got him hooked up with the singles ward. Then we ate dinner with the clan. That was an interesting experience. They live a crazy lifestyle. We then taught Stephanie and Andre the word of wisdom. It was awesome. We started teaching it and Andre was interested and sat down. We gave him a pamphlet and he opened it up and the first thing he says is "Dang, Joseph Smith was a handsome dude." It was pretty funny. The Spirit was very strong as we talked about the blessings they could receive. Both of them committed to stop right then. We took their coffee and tea and poured it out. They were both happy too, which was the best part. Andre has grown so much in his faith. He mentioned that in the lesson. Little by little he is getting happier and happier as he opens up more and more to God :). Then after that we had a good visit with Bishop Waite. He's a great man. He got a little emotional talking to us. It made me happy to see how much he loves Elder Slik and me. Oh, I haven’t ranted about how awesome Elder Slik is this letter. He's the best! I couldn't have gotten to where I am today if it wasn't for his good example and guidance. But anyway. 

WEDNESDAY!  Oh man. Bomb day. We started the day with a lesson with Susana and Chelsea (the one who we talked about earlier.) They are both 19 and went to the same high school so it was awesome. They turned out to be a great match. They really connected and the lesson was very powerful. Susana told us about her experiences reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. She said that he felt warm and had goose bumps and she was crying while she prayed. She recognized that that was a different feeling than she had ever had before in her life and she knew it was God's spirit answering her prayer. And then Chelsea had a very similar experience and they were able to bond really well over that. The youth. They are the best. She told us that if all of what she has been learning and feeling is from God then the Catholic Church is not right and she'll keep going just to support and be with her parents. It was so cool to see this new light and fire starting within Susana and for Chelsea to be there to share her own similar conversion story. It was like straight out of an Ensign article. We invited Susana to be baptized and she said yes. :) Then we visited some of the elderly people in the ward. A few were less active and while talking with them Elder Slik and I both felt that if they would just be fellowshipped a little more they would come back to church. I want to always be a proactive member in the work of salvation when I get home from my mission in two years. I wasn't the best home teacher before but I don't ever want to miss a month again in my whole life. I've seen the difference it makes. Plus the prophet asked us to step it up. Anyway. Then we taught Gloria and Kimberly. Man, Kimberly is really special. She's super smart. She asks lots of questions and you can tell that she is listening and really trying to understand. I was impressed about how much that she retained. It was cool. She thought a lot harder about spiritual things than I did when I was 13. Then we ate dinner with a cool family. We got to help decorate their tree, which was nice. I felt like part of their family. Then we went to the chapel to help set up for the zone conference for a little bit before we had a lesson with Stephanie. It was good. She is a great example of relying upon the Lord through trials. Then we visited a family that is trying to return to activity. They made us food and talked with us. They were so grateful that we came over that they literally sang to us. Then we sang a song with them. I wish I would have took singing lessons and stayed with the piano. 

THURSDAY! We got up early and went to set up for a five zone conference. It was really, really good. I learned a lot and it was good to see so many missionaries that I knew, and weird to see so many that I didn't.

Christmas Central Zone Conference

Elder Slik and I trained on the “Blessing Contact” and we talked about faith and prayer a lot. It was pretty good. I think that we did a very good job, a lot of other missionaries told us we did too. It's nice to do your best work and then have it recognized. I really like training. I get really scared because when you look out and see like 40 other missionaries it's intimidating but exciting all at the same time. It's funny to think about me in May when I was scared to train eight missionaries and then last week we trained 80 over two groups. We saw Gloria with Brother Martinez. Man the Martinez family so, so cool. We took Bro M and his daughter came and Taylor. She is very quiet but she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon unprompted which was really cool. And she said a great prayer. I'm always so impressed with the young people here. Then we went up the hill to eat dinner with a part member family in our other ward. It was a great dinner and lesson. Then we went to the Jones' family, a recent convert family. We had a good visit with them. Again, us just showing up and thinking about them really made them happy. Sometimes I forget that. We can make people so, so happy just by showing up and letting them know that we are thinking about them.

FRIDAY! We had a good morning Friday. It was unique. We set out to visit a few members and see how we could help them but instead, member after member gave us food or presents. It was crazy; cheese ball, pictures of Christ, fudge and more. Sister Gammon made us lunch and that made me happy. We stopped by to talk about her daughter coming to teach a family with us and she said something to the effect of "No! You can't give them cookies, I have to make them lunch first. Then they can have some." Her love for us has really made an impact on me. She reminds me a lot of you mom, which makes me happy. She's stake YWP and everything. She's almost as cool as you, but not quite. Then we visited some other people. It was a good afternoon. No lessons but a lot of time to grow closer to the members in our area. Then we saw Stephanie again with the Bishop. Andre really likes the Bishop. They connected over football and I think that Andre can see he is a person to respect. Then that night we had a lesson with Susana and her parents. She had asked her Dad for permission to be baptized and he wanted to meet with us to understand what was going on. We had a great visit with them. He said that he would allow her to make her own decision and we all were so grateful for that. Susana bore her testimony to us and told us how grateful she was and it was so powerful. She said that for the first time she really felt God in her life. It was funny too, we ended the lesson with a prayer and she said "well the way we pray... I mean they pray." It was just a little thing but you could tell that she had already adopted 'our' way of prayer as her own. It was cool. She's really, really special, young and smart and seeking for God. I'm so glad that we've been blessed with the opportunity to work with her. I am humbled daily by such amazing people in and out of the church. The road to becoming Christ-like is long, but joyous. 

SATURDAY! I was on exchanges with Elder May (from Mexico) here and we had a good day. We didn't have any lessons set up, but we talked to a lot of people. One guy, Chris talked to us on the street and gave us a blessing. It was pretty funny, he just said, "Grab my hand." Elder May went to grab it but then he said, "The other hand," and then Elder May switched hands and then he said, "My other hand." It was like straight out of Napoleon Dynamite. But then the guy prayed for us. He was nice. He talked to us about suicide for a long time. It was whack. Life is really hard for a lot of people. Later in the night we had a really cool experience. I felt like we needed to be somewhere and so we were walking around the place and figured it was to go visit this one former investigator so we walked towards her house and then I felt like that wasn’t the right way, so we walked a way and as we did two cops ran up and started knocking on the same door that we were about to not 30 seconds before! So we walked back onto the street and a car pulls up behind us just then and the door opens and a man yells, "Hey! Are you going to visit my sister?" and then he told us that we should because she was waiting for us. Then he told us where they lived. So we went and they invited us in and offered us food. We sat down and were talking and shared a little bit and I said something like we'd love to leave a blessing on your home and then come by another night and share a message of how your family can come closer together. And she said, “You could just teach us now, if you wanted.” It was cray. Things like that don't happen too often. So we shared the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with them. Turns out she was a former investigator six years ago but never got baptized because she moved. She had forgotten pretty much everything though. It was really cool to have an experience like that. Then we talked to two really cool guys on the street and they asked us why there were so many religions. We taught about the great apostasy and it answered a lot of one guy's questions. It was cold, but cool to be able to talk with two guys that were super, super smart and interested in what we had to say. One of them had even read some of the Book of Mormon so he was curious about what we believed. I dunno. They were like two intellectuals and we kinda interrupted their convo but they let us be a part of it.

SUNDAY! Stephanie, Andre, Susana, and Pete. All came to church. Except for Stephanie it was all their first time! And then Chelsea's mom came to FH [Frenchman Hills ward]! It was an awesome day. Everyone had a really good experience as well. It makes me so happy when people come to church bc it s a big step. It takes a lot to put three hours especially early in the morning into something that you've never done before. It's a sacrifice. Then we visited the Tachouets and gave them the Sacrament and taught them the Restoration. Rigdon helped out and did a great job. We have good experiences with them each week. Then we saw Stephanie and set things up for her baptism this Saturday!!! She's so excited and just so happy. Both she and Andre lovvved church and the Spirit in their home was so, soo strong, just all smiles and not a word of complaint. Stephanie feels really peaceful every time she thinks about it and Andre said that he's proud of her for making the decision. You can feel that he'll be making the same one soon. Then we visited other families. I love both our wards so much and the amazing people we get to serve alongside. I've learned so much from the great examples of all the wonderful people. That's all.

I love life.

I love the Lord

I love you all so much

Sam