Week Ninety One

NO LETTER THIS WEEK.

(waited patiently all day.... ;)  )

Some loons out on the lake.

Elder Hatt pondering.

Week Ninety

I'm not sure what's going on right now out in Maine, but there's a reason Stephen King is able to write such good horror books. So late Saturday night we came out of a lesson after 9pm, and we had walked there. It was a good lesson with a less active man, and we talked about General Conference. Anyways as we were walking home, it was dark, and like always it was very quiet. As we were passing this old wrecked building, out of nowhere this man emerged from the darkness in a old creepy bunny costume holding the head in his hands, and told us he was calling the cops. It was so random and partially terrifying that I started laughing! You already know we invited him to learn though. Then last night we were in a lesson about 45 minutes from the chapel, and this guy told us he was going to go to the priesthood session of conference, but decided not to because someone told him there were too many deer on the road. He used the words "over 70 stupid deer" we didn't believe him, but then on the way home, it was wild. There were deer almost ramming into our car. It's like they were possessed or something! They kept appearing in the fog!

This week was really busy though. We had a stake coordination meeting in Topsham and got to meet with the Stake President and President Blair, and we talked business! I'll miss President when he leaves in the beginning of July. We had zone conference on Friday, and we got to meet as be called himself "The most hated man in the missionary workforce" it was the man behind the tiwis. That's the box they put inside missionary cars that track everything your car does, and yells at you for not complying to the law. It's usually not a problem but out in the hills and woods of Maine it's rough trying to follow the speed limit. So basically you have to ride your brakes all the time or your driving privileges are taken away. They put the rest of the new tiwis in our cars, and gave us a sermon on being safe.

We had some real good lessons this week, and unfortunately we found out Saphiras fathers records for his priesthood had been lost. So we now have to work on having him get his priesthood back so he can baptize his daughter. That shouldn't take too long though.

Things are going well here in Winthrop, and in the zone. Lots of good times and funny stories from this week. Hope you all have a good one! 

Week Eighty Nine

To start off this week we had the joy of getting to drive 4 hours into Manchester New Hampshire. We stopped by the Portland Headlight on the way down though, and got to see its beauty in person. We drove through Portland and through Cape Elizabeth to get there, and I got to see a different side of New England I had not yet seen. So that was really cool. I'll definitely miss all the lighthouses out here. They will forever remind me of my mission, and all the amazing things that have happened out here.

At MLC this time we had a big talk about finding. It seems like every 4 transfers or so the mission will have to emphasize finding because new missionaries come, and they have to be taught. I got to get up and give a presentation about teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for a reference President Blair gave me handbook 2. I talked a little bit about how our example is one of the greatest ways we teach, and then I asked a few missionaries to share an experience of a missionary who changed their mission without words. It was powerful. I definitely walked away from that training wanting to set a great example not only for my fellow missionaries, but for the people we teach.

Following the meeting we had to haul back up to Maine to get back to our area for a Book of Mormon study class we had been preparing for. We are having some members teach it. We made it with just 15 minutes until it finished. I'm glad we made it though, because we were able to talk with a man who showed up,and he invited us back to his own home. The Spirit rebuked me because I was doubting the effectiveness of the class in such a rural area where people don't go out much. He was the only nonmember that came, so at least the 1st class was a success!

Later in the week I went on exchanges with Elder Anderson and we balled out of control trying to find people. We got rekt a couple times, but despite the cuss words, alcohol thrown at us, and people on disability telling us we need to get real jobs, we were able to find one person. He was sitting in his car. He accepted the Book of Mormon we offered him, and a return appointment tomorrow. We had a great time together despite all of the sad things that happened. Then to top it all off, we were able to interview Sophera and she passed her baptismal interview. So she will be getting baptized the day before Easter. It was a blessing we were able to find her. 

General Conference was a good experience. Repentance is a good thing. Have a good week everybody.

The Portland Headlight

For some reason I looked like I was going bald in the pic when I was looking out. I had Elder Ricks check and I'm not, I think it's because it was super windy. Whew.

Me and the boy Elder Anderson.

Me filling up on a snow covered car on April 8th, it's 20 degrees outside. #livinlikelarry

MLC

Week Eighty Eight

I was able to make it 20 months into my mission without getting food poisoned by these crazy New Englanders. But that all changed earlier this week when I had my very favorite meal in the world - Spaghetti. (sarcasm, I hate spaghetti).   So Wednesday I started feeling sick, and had to rest a little bit between lessons, but I made it to the end of the night and crashed the second I got in. I woke up on Thursday morning and I literally felt like I was going to die.  I was so sick! It was the first time I threw up in over 10 years. I couldn't even drink Gatorade. I laid in bed trying to survive and get some rest. As I was laying there I randomly was thinking about how nice a good Dew would be. So around 1 I exerted all my strength and I rolled out of bed, put on my shirt and tie, and we went and got a Dew. I forced myself to go to the church and start weekly planning while I tried drinking some Dew. Well after I had 1 sip of the dew my body started recovering. That Mountain Dew saved my life.

Besides that we've still just been out here grinding. This area is just very grindy. There are no sidewalks or really anywhere for people to walk, so street contacting is non existant. Really all forms of finding are obsolete except for tracting. We had  a little miracle doing just that earlier this week. So a few hours after I had drank the mountain dew I was able to do a little bit of walking. So we went working after we weekly planned. We prayed to find 2 new people to teach. And only like 6 houses in we found 2 new people to teach. It was great! The lord hit us with those extra blessings for working even though we had every excuse to go back and rest!

Things are going great with Saphira and she is still looking good for baptism later this month. Patrick is struggling with the concept of the word of wisdom. He's so confused on how green tea is apart of it. Like very confused. I guess every doctor and scientists rave about green tea and it's amazing properties. He told us to Google it. So that's one hold up. He did tell us he would try for at least 2 weeks and see how it would go. So #prayforpatrick

This Saturday I got to hit the streets of Lewiston again for an Easter booth and I got to take some new missionaries with me! So I stuck some Sisters on the booth to run it, and I took these guys out for the time of their lives. Thankfully Heavenly Father let us run into some interested people. So we were able to walk away with some motivated missionaries! By the time we got back to the booth they were yelling at people across the street to talk with, and I was so proud of them.

Well everyone my biggest takeaway this week was probably that Mountain Dew has more healing properties than green tea! Anyways hope y'all have a good week, and never ever have to get as sick as I did for those 3 days. Byeeeeeee!

Looks like fall outside.

This is a dam that splits up Lewiston and Auburn.

Week Eighty Seven

This week was one of the better weeks that I've had since being here in Winthrop. Also transfers happened, and we were the only Zone Leader companionship that nothing changed. I think my fate may have just been sealed.

 Anyways, the highlights of this week were definitely when we were on exchanges. We had exchanges with the Lewiston Elders, and the Oxford Elders. On the exchanges with the Lewiston Elders they needed some help with Swahili because they found a family that spoke Swahili! So you already know I went and threw some jambos and hibaris to that family. They were freaking out that I knew a little bit of Swahili. Then I was able to video chat in Abela into the lesson, and she taught them all about baptism, and the spirit was so strong! Her testimony is so strong! It was so amazing to see her and the kids again. She is a Saint. She videod into the lesson while she had the sisters from Revere at her home for dinner, and she had the Elders there the night before! Then she offered to drive up a few hours for a lesson with them. What a woman😂😂  The rest of the exchange we were just going off finding. I was enjoying being back in the city. I miss it. 😂☺️🙂😑☹️😢😭

Annnnnd the exchange with Oxford was awesome. I stayed with Elder Hatt here in Winthrop. We took the dirt roads by storm, and tried to find some people to teach. The rain was coming down, and Elder Hatt didn't bring a rain coat so he was drenched and soaked with water. The highlight of this exchange was knocking on a car window, because there was literally no one else to talk to. It was an old man that was really kind. He invited us to his home on the side of the mountain. I'll send some pictures from his view!

I'm excited for what's to come this next transfer, and to see what else the Lord is preparing us for. It's been so much fun to be a tool in his hands. I like to think I'm a multi tool the Lord can use on his projects. And sometimes if it doesn't work he will just use me as like a hammer to drive the point to get the job done! I think we should all strive to be like multi tools. Then the Lord can use us in many situations. Anyways have a good week everyone! 

Red or Dead District

 This is the view from the guy's house who we knocked on his car window.