So this week was a super crazy week we got back from the cities on Monday and then a member took us to a pizza buffet, Pizza Ranch. I had just sat down to eat and one of the assistants is calling us. So I answer it thinking he is just asking us to ask one of our recent converts to speak at a fireside, but I was wrong. He told me I was getting transferred to Farmington and I was leaving Wednesday morning. I was shocked. He said a bunch of other stuff at the end of the call, but I have no idea what he said because my mind was elsewhere frantically thinking of what I had to get done. Who I needed to see and how fast I needed to pack. So Monday night I went and saw the Lattu family who I love so much and got a picture and said goodbye. It was a sad goodbye, but I know it is for a good reason so it is all good.
Then Tuesday was full of just a bunch of packing and seeing Harry and Brother Gray and some other who I got pics with. I was then up till 11:30 finishing packing by my self because my companion went to bed already. It was a long night, but a good one. Then Wednesday I met my new companion Elder Freestone from Morgan, Utah. He has been out one transfer longer than I have. We get along good we got back to our super nice apartment(it is awesome it is super nice!) and we get a call from our District Leader asking if we could exchange. So for my first day I wasn't even in my area. I was with Elder Taylor in his area, but me and Elder Taylor hit it off really well. It was a great exchange. It was a good time.
Then Thursday I was finally in my area! It was a good day not much happened. Friday we did alot of tracting we do alot of tracting in this area, but we saw a yard sell and I got a popcorn air popper for $2.50. What a steal! It works great too. It was a good night that night I met some cool families in the Ward so that was nice! Then Saturday oh Saturday I have never done that much tracting in one day my whole mission and we did a ton of walking to save miles and I was breaking in new shoes so man that was a little painful, but it is all good. It was a fun day I am glad I am OK with tracting now or this would not be the most fun area. We met with this guy named Brother Stanich who has some mental problems. He was baptized like 3 years ago. He was super funny. He said something in the lesson that touched me. I was able to relate to an experience he had in the Temple and he said, "See that is why you are here you have already made a big difference." That was really good to hear because it was hard being transferred that fast from an area I love with all my heart, but I realized I am here for a reason and I will do the Lord's will no matter what it is!
Sunday was a good day. First time in the Ward at church so of course I introduced my self like a million times, but it was good. It is a good ward and that night you will never guess what we did more of ......... tracting!! Ya, but it was raining and I thought I would be fine without an umbrella. Dumb choice on my part I was pretty soaked by the end of the night I have some pictures you can tell I am pretty wet, but I realized how much I love missionary work because I was knocking on doors in the rain and I was having fun and not getting discouraged. That was a testimony builder for me. I love being on a mission and am excited for my new adventures in this new area of Farmington it will be a great time! Well that is all this week. till next week
love seth
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| The Lattus |
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| Brother Gray |
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| Harry |
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| The Gilmers |
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| Tracting sans Umbrella |
So this week was an OK week we had a lot of stuff come through, but also a lot of fall throughs. It was good on Tuesday we had District Meeting and it was a really good one we came up with a lot of plans on what we can do in our Wards to help get the work started. In our Wards we are doing stuff with the youth it will be a lot of fun and I think it will get everyone going. I think that the key to getting a ward excited about missionary work is first getting the youth excited and the adults will realize how easy and fun it can be and follow. That is the idea at least we will see how that all turns out hopefully really well!
Tuesday after 5 o'clock was super good we had dinner at the Stake President's house and it was awesome they are a super awesome family! I love going over there because they are just really good people and super good member missionaries so that was great. Then that night we had a lesson with some recent converts the Gilmers and I love teaching them they are super awesome they are just so smart! It is super fun to go over there we have them twice a week so that is great!
Wednesday was ok we had service and man was it a slow day that day only like 25 people came through and usually we average at least 40 to 50 people every Wednesday, but it was fun never the less and we got to see Harry and I love seeing Harry He is probably my favorite person in this area. I just love teaching him and visiting with him! That night we also got to see another one of my favs Brother Gray he is just hilarious! During his lesson I set my bag down on his freezer and then it fell into his recycling bin and then I picked it up that detail will become important later in the email! It was a great night super fun.
Then Thursday we had exchanges and I stayed in my area with Elder Smith my district leader and it was good we had a good full night of appointments so that was great! and we saw some pit bull puppies and they are some cute puppies! Friday as usual was a lot of planning we didn't leave the apartment till 4:15 but it was a good day after that we didn't have a dinner but the place where we do service was having a volunteer appreciation dinner and we went to that and it was super good there was live music and prizes I didn't win any prizes, but it was still super fun and the food was super good me an my comp were probably the only people there under the age of 50, but hey it was still fun!
Saturday was OK we did some walking and tried to seem some people, but everybody fell through and then we moved our dinner to 4:30 so we could make it to a baptism because they live 30 mins from the church, but then went at 4 to help him out with something and didn't end up starting dinner till 530 so that was not the best but I love going over there and helping them out because they feed us once a week and just help out a lot, but that night we were suppose to see the Lattu family our converts, but they have a aunt who lives with them who was drunk when we showed up and the kids ran down the driveway crying and said come back another time and I have been there plenty of times when the aunt is drunk, but this time was bad I wanted to help them out someway so bad I have so much love for that family and it kills me to see some of the things that they have to endure the dad, brother Lattu, is having a hard time right now and that didn't help, but I think we helped out a bit Sunday night with our lesson, but I have just grown so close to that family and I decided I will write everyone of my converts once a month when I leave this area just to keep in contact with them. I don't want to loose the contact there at all so I will do my best.
Back to the bag in the recycling bin story. So Thursday I was looking for my camera to take a picture and I couldn't find it and then I was like oh it fell out at brother grays I called him and he couldn't find it. We went by Sunday and I couldn't find it. Then I had a thought to check the big recycling bin outside so we did. It wasn't in there and then he says oh ya I threw some recycling in the trash can one time. So I am digging through the trash can and at the bottom I found my camera in it's case I was so happy it was a miracle because that camera has all my pics from my mission so far so I am glad that I found it! Today we are going to the zoo again so that should be fun it is warmer hopefully some more animals are out this time well that is all.
till next week love
seth
So this past week was pretty good we saw my comp off Monday night he got picked up at 8 by a member and taken to Bloomington so I was on a trio for a day and man on Tuesday we were both out of miles, but we spent part of the day cleaning up my car because it was getting taken up and we were getting a new one. So we had to clean it all out and then we walked and man it was a long walk. Probably like 7 miles there. It was so long and basicly just for one appt bc we thought we would have a ride to another appt, but they cancelled so we walked all the way back to our apartment so most of Tuesday was spent walking and man it was like 15 to 20 miles total of walking. It was super tiring, but it was a fun day. We talked to a decent amount of people it was good.
Then Wednesday we went up to Bloomington for transfers and I got my new comp Elder Long he is from Alberta Canada he is cool. It should be a good transfer! but we also got a new car we had one of the oldest cars in the mission and we got a new 2015 chevy cruze so that is nice. It is a nice car it has a usb port so now I can listen to all my music and that is nice it is just great! the rest of Wednesday was nice it got up to 81 degrees it was crazy I was actually starting to get hot! We were walking around a park and I was sweating, but it got pretty stormy that night it rained a decent amount, but it is better than snow so that is good!
Then on Thursday it was nice not quite as warm, but nice. It was super windy that is for sure we got a new investigator on Wednesday so that was good. It was a weird day after that, but it was a good one! Then Friday we went and helped a member move some stuff. Then he bought us lunch and that was cool. Then we did all of our planning and we did some tracting which I used to hate, but it is just something I do now so that is good, but we had a good dinner with some members.
Then Saturday conference is great on a mission because it is like a 3 day weekend with p day right after it. It is pretty nice that is not the only reason I like conference, but it is a good reason why I do like it! Conference was super good I got a lot out of it we watched all the sessions at the church except the last one which we watched at a member's house who was feeding us and they gave us Easter baskets so that was cool! I attached some pics of them they are super nice I love going to their place it is always lots of fun! I love it! Sunday night we saw the member of our ward who lives in our apartment building and she is so nice she dose so much for us she feeds us once a week and dose all our sewing she is great she is super nice she just helps people out no matter what. It is really cool to see!
Today we got hiarcuts and that was fun as it always is. It should be a great week! First of a new transfer sadly probably my last one in Andover, but it is all good I knew I would be transferred anyways, but I will miss this place I won't ever forget it though that is for sure. Well that is all this week. Till next week.
love seth
This past week was a pretty good week it started off super slow, but picked up. Monday was the same as always. On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I stayed in Andover with Elder Halverson who has been my Zone Leader since day one and he goes home tomorrow so it was a fun exchange he bought me ice cream because it was my birthday so that was cool. We had a good time he has taught me a lot and helped me out a lot since I have been out he helped me realize that I had changed since I had come out so he is awesome! It was a great day and then on Wednesday we did exchanges with the Anoka elders and I went to Anoka and that was ok. They had money from their bishop to go to dinner so we went to this super good Italian place called Divannis and it was super good. Then all their plans fell through for the night so we ended calling a bunch of people and talking to a member at the church to set stuff up, but it was a good day. I helped the Anoka Elder rearrange their room because they were sleeping foot to foot and it was just super awkward because you would always touch feet in the middle of the night so we changed that up and that was fun!!
Thursday we had a great lesson with this less active who is coming back to activity who has a nonmember husband who has started coming to church it is crazy she is from Taiwan and she was baptized at 15 and was the only one baptized in her family and then the next week she brought a friend and she got baptized it is cool to see how one person changing their life can affect so many others as well!
Friday we went to bike somewhere and then my comps bike broke so we ended up walking again we did a lot of walking so that was ok I am used to it now, but man my shoes are already getting worn out, but I am hoping to make them last one year. On Friday night we went to this musical oratorio called Lamb of God which if you haven't heard you should look it up because it is great, but we went with some recent converts and their mom and it was amazing it was super powerful it is all about Christ's life from about the point in the bible when he raises Lazerus from the dead it is amazing to see live but also just a recording is good as well!
On Saturday I got a little frustrated because we had an exchange planned with the Anoka elders which in the first place aren't good for Saturdays anyways because of church the next day and then it got called off, but they came over for lunch anyways and then called it back on. So I went to Anoka again but with the newer guy who has only been out 6 weeks and with not good plans and he didn't know where to go. It was kind of frustrating, but I survived. I was a little frustrated, but I made the most of it we did a lot of tracting and we had a super good lesson with this less active in their Ward so that was cool!
Then Sunday was great for the most part we had one of our investigators from a part member family show up so that was great and an unbaptized kid from a less active family that is trying to come back so it was great. It was a great sacrament meeting and 2nd hour. Then during 3rd hour we went from quorum to quorum in the young mens and then to young womens and talked about the new Easter video and gave them all a pass along card to hand out that had the link to the video on it and committed them to hand it out so that was cool. It was lots of fun the youth of this Ward are cool and are willing to do missionary work if you show them ways to do it so that is great. They are much better then I was when I was a youth so that is good! The rest of the day kinda all fell through but it was ok and then it was a nerve racking night waiting to see if president would call about transfers and he didn't so that was good and we looked at the transfer sheet today and I am staying in Andover for another transfer so it will be 9 months here at the end of this one. That is a long time. Close to half my mission which is crazy to think. It doesn't happen often to missionaries in their first areas but I love it here and am super happy to stay one more transfer so that is great! Well that is all till next week.
love
seth
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| The District |
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| A night picture |
So this past week was pretty good we had Zone P-day on Monday and we played some board games and then we went bowling so that was fun! It seems everytime I bowl I bowl a strike the first time and then I suck the whole rest of the game, but it was still fun! Tuesday we had a zone training with President Forbes and it wa really good! The church is coming out with an new Easter video called "Because He Lives" and we got to watch it. It is super good and we have pass along cards for it and it will be fantastic! It is a super great video and pass along cards that can be used even after Easter it is great! We got a lot of good training and it was great. President Forbes is a great teacher and a great mission president! Also we found out that we get iPads in May!
We went on exchanges and I went to Anoka again with the same guy as last week and it was OK they didn't have the best plans set up so it was a little frustrating but we worked it out so that is good. The worst part was they didn't have a dinner so we ate McDonalds. It was fun overall. Exchanges are fun.
Wednesday was a good day we did service at the Food Shelf and it was great as always. It just still boggles my mind sometimes how some people can still be so ungrateful when they get free food. It is hard to see people like that who can't humble themselves, but then you get other people who are super grateful and that is awesome to see! On Thursday we drove 30 mins out to the edge of our area for an appt and she wasn't there so we drove just to have lunch with our joint teacher. It was cool that happens a lot so I am used to it now!
On Friday after we did weekly planning we walked somewhere and man my feet were killing me we walked probably 4 miles total, but it was good. That night we talked about families with one of the recent converts in the Ward and it was a good lesson! On Saturday we did a lot of walking and man it was tiring but it is better than going over on miles so that is good! We taught this Muslim lady who is from Togo Africa it was a good lesson she said she would read the Book of Mormon I got a really good feeling about her it was awesome! I just love being in Andover so much the people here are great I am happy I will most likely get to stay one more transfer because my comp got his Visa.
Sunday it was a good Sacrament meeting because we got to sing my favorite hymn I Believe in Christ so that was good I love that song! Then we taught sharing time in Primary we got asked to teach it right after sacrament meeting. i think we did ok. I was kinda just asking lots of questions and did an object lesson, but we ended early I didn't realize that we did, but man I didn't realize how hard it is to keep all those kids focused and quiet! Man it is quite the task that is for sure! but it was super fun! I love being a missionary and I love it here so much I am so grateful for all the time I have been able to spend in Andover! Oh ya and on Thursday night after our lesson with our family who just got baptized we jumped on the trampoline with them and I got some sweet pics of it! Well till next week.
love seth
