So this week was a pretty good week. On Monday we played some card games with the other Elders and then we had a dinner so we went to that. After that we were on bikes and man that was hard. We called a Brother in the Ward who is recovering from a bike wreck, a bad one, to see if we could stop by and he said yes so we proceeded to bike there, but my companion neglected to tell me how far of a bike this really was. The first part was easy all down hill from the church and then flat through downtown, but then we started moving out of town and it was just hill after hill after hill and this was only my 2nd day of biking in a while so I was dying man it was rough! We biked pretty far. It was a good visit with the member. He is a good guy and then the bike home in the dark we took a different way back. We were biking on dirt roads that is how far out we were. The bike back wasn't too bad the way we went. That time we only had the one big hill that we live on top of, but then we get to the door and my comp didn't have the keys so we call the other elders and take their car keys and go to the church and look for the keys. It turns out they are locked in the library which we don't have another key for so we can't get into our apartment that night. So we have to crash on the floor of the other elders apt. We did so and then in the morning had to wait for the apartment manager to get in to unlock our door so we could get in. So that finally happened at about 9:30 so we got in. We got ready for the day and headed out after lunch and biked around and went tracting and tried to see a bunch of people then we went to eat dinner and we decided to walk to the church for institute that night. We go because we cover the YSA of the area and it was a walk, man. The church is on top of a big hill too and man there were ladies and old men passing me as we were walking up that hill. Dang I was sweating bad! It was a little humid that day and it was close to 90 so it was hot, but we made it and had a great institute lesson and thankfully got a ride home!
On Wednesday we were doing an exchange with the other elders in our district who live about 50 miles away so we left in the morning and met halfway for lunch and we exchanged. I went to the other area with Elder Harlow who used to be in the East Tucson Stake he is now in the Rincon Stake, but ya they are Spanish Elders so I was Spanish speaking for the day. Man it was weird because we met a Less Active in their ward and they talked in Spanish while I just smiled and nodded my head and caught words every now and again like food and lettuce and hamburger all the important stuff! ;), but ya it was a good exchange. I did a lot of smiling and nodding my head so that was fun! but it was good. I met someone who is the son of my 1st ward mission leader in Andover so that was cool!
The next day was a fantastic day. We had district meeting and I did a training on having faith in our areas that we can find people. It was good and after that the Zone Leaders blitzed our area so two sets were working in our area so that was cool it was a good day. We taught 4 lesson that day and had some really good contacts while walking around. We taught someone while just walking around downtown so that was a first for me it is amazing what can happen when you just open your mouth and talk to everyone that you see. I am finally getting good at talking to people and starting up conversations, but it was a great day!
The next morning we went and played basketball for exercise that was fun. Then it was weekly planning day so we did a ton of planning and stuff. Lots of paper work had to get done, but it was good. We did a decent amount of biking that night I did better than I had all the other days! So that was good. Saturday in the morning we always play soccer at like 11 with investigators and less actives so we did that and it was fun! I played alot better then I did the first time! While we were playing the Church building phone rang and it was a YSA who just moved into the ward who needed a ride to church and stuff so it was a good thing we were there when we were. After that we ate lunch and then I realized that we didn't have that YSA's number that called us. So we went and found his house and got his number and got him a ride to church. Then we went to an investigators house because he wanted to give us a plate of food. He was having a party and man it was good food. So good! Then we had what they call a cottage meeting which this time was just games at a park, but man the attendance was low only the missionaries, the ward missionaries, and one family were there. It was a little sad so we will try and improve that next time! It was a good night. We went and saw a less active who is blind he was a cool dude!
Sunday was good we didn't have anyone to church again. Still working on that. One of our investigators was getting picked up and then just didn't wake up so that was no good! Ya it was a good day at church. Lots of good lessons and talks it was good. After church we got invited to a members house for lunch. So we got the car and went to that. It was good. They area a good family. Then the other elders needed the car because their dinner was a ways a way so we gave it to them. Then it started to pour so we couldn't go out on our bikes so we did some stuff inside and then when it stopped we went and had a good lesson with a older active lady it was a rally good lesson. She lives in the nicest senior apartments ever. Ya it was a pretty good week this week. Lots of biking up hill my legs don't like hills yet, but hopefully soon it will become easier.
Oh ya I almost forgot we went to a members house on Thursday night and he has this thing called cherry sauce and it is like the hottest thing ever. Like a little bit over double as hot as a habenero pepper. It is just alot of cherry boiled down and it was so hot and we only got a little dab of it. I have a pic of how much we got, but holy cow it was unbelievable it was crazy hot and it just kept getting hotter and hotter every second it was crazy, but it was worth the experience.
well that is all till next week
love elder howe
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| Corn! |
Well this past week has been a good week. On Monday we went to a members house that the missionaries usually go to and we had a barbecue and ate food and hung out. Then after that we went to the Saucers house who's son got baptized this Saturday. I said good bye to them. We made Andrew a starburst candy lay it looks pretty cool. I got a picture with him so you will see it in the picture, but that was good. It was his birthday so we had cake and ice cram with them so that was good. Then the rest of the night I was packing. We went back to the house and I rounded up all my stuff and packed most of it up. It was a good day though.
On Tuesday in the morning we went to help the Spanish Elders help someone move, but we got there and they said they actually couldn't move in until 5 that evening. We left and we went to the apartment and there were like 7 of us and I packed while one elder made the travel plans for transfer meeting. Ya I finished packing then so that was good to have that done with! Then we went and ate lunch at Panda and that was pretty good. After that we went to help some Elders out at this weekly service they do at a church/salvation army place. We put together some backpacks of supplies for kids for school. They have a clothing center thing and they had a bunch of ties in so they let us take some ties. I got 2 ties I will send a picture of them they are pretty sweet ties! After that we went and did more service. We were in a trio with another missionary because his companion died(finish his mission) so he was waiting to get his new one. We went and mowed our investigator's, Mr. Freeman, lawn and did some other stuff for him and that was good. I said goodbye to him and then we went to dinner with a young family in the ward and it was good they are a cool family. After that we went to a member's house so I could say goodbye to them. their name is the Holmberg. Only the dad and two sons we home, but it was all good. They are a cool family I got close to so I got a picture with them and said goodbye. Then we went to clean our car out so that I could actually fit my luggage in the car so that was good. I loaded up all my stuff and we went to one last appt which was Brother Stanitch. We went on a walk with him and that was good for him and I got my pictures with him so that was good. I will miss him he is a great and a funny guy, but that ends my last day in Farmington. I grew to love that Ward and area I love the people there I will miss it.
So Wednesday we went to transfer meeting in the morning which are always fun because you get to see other missionaries you haven't seen for a while so that was good. My new companion is Elder Wilkinson. He is from Provo. I got all my stuff switched over to my new car and then we took off. It was a good 1+ hour drive to my new area. This is the farthest I have been from the cities my whole mission so ya it is little weird, but it is all good. I have heard great things about this area. So this area is gaining a whole new set of elders so we got the checks and went and got their apartment squared away and then we went to get the car fixed because it had a recall and we set up service for the next day. We went to eat dinner and we had to wait for the other set of elders to come in so we did that and then got them their keys and stuff and then we went to the church. I met some of the members and we were printing off some more maps of the area and that was my first day in the area so that was cool.
Thursday in the morning we went and did service at a place called Habit for Humanity which is a place that builds homes for people, but they really didn't have much for us to do so we just ended up cleaning the store from top to bottom so that was cool i guess. We are trying to find a different place to do service a more productive service. Then after that we ate lunch and I had a bunch of calls to do to other teams so we did that and some stop bys. Then we ate dinner and after dinner we got an appt with someone who referred themselves online and had a really good lesson with him and picked him up as an investigator so that is sweet. It was good. Then we went to the church to meet with the other teams in the Ward there are 3 of us so we were talking about the boundaries of
everyone's areas so that was good.
Friday in the morning we went to help out with a kids eagle project he was making a pollinator garden so we were transplanting a bunch of plants and spreading seed and it was good. I also got to meet some more members so that was good too! Then we ate lunch and we started weekly planning and the assistants were bringing some furniture for the other elders apartment and they got here so we helped them move it all the way up to there apartment on the 6th floor. One of the assistants served here for 7 1/2 months so he helped us set the boundaries between the 2 sets of elders so that was really good and now that is all set so it is good. Then they all went to dinner and we stayed and ate dinner at our apartment. Then did some stop bys and one of then APs came with us for an hour to one of our appts so that was cool. He gave us some good advice on this area. It was a good Friday!
Saturday in the morning we had coordination and breakfast with the ward mission leader and the ward missionaries that was good we got a lot of stuff done. After that every week they play soccer with less actives and investigators so we did that till 1 and then went and helped a member who was demoing their kitchen. So that was fun we helped him out for a bit. Then we ate lunch and I had to make more calls to some other teams and a less active called us and said they wanted us to help them put down their hard wood floor. So we went to do that. We got lost on the way, but found it eventually and we went to work. We helped him put down all the liner for the bedroom and his closet. And then we had to take off we helped as much as we could. Then we drove back into town and we stopped by a lot of people and tired to get people to church, but ya that ended our day that was pretty much full of service which is all good. Service is good.
Sunday we went to PEC in the morning and and then all of church was good. During Gospel Principles a lady who has just been returning to activity walked in and said my granddaughter wants to know how to become a member of the church. So that was cool she wants to be baptized so the sisters are going to start teaching her it was a cool miracle. Then we had a really good Priesthood lesson on parenthood so that was good and then we went home and ate lunch. Oh ya i forgot to mention that we share a car with the other elders in our area so we have a half bike area so we will be biking every other week so that started Sunday. We called and got an appt with a less active lady and we biked there and it was a good contact she was super nice and agreed to meet with us once a week so that will be good. Then we had a dinner so we started biking there and we were going to get there to early so we decided to bike to a potential investigator, but by the time we got there we had to turn around and go to the dinner so that was fun. We just miscalculated time, but we go to our dinner and it was with a recent convert family and it was really good. The dad who is a life long member is working towards the Melchizedek Priesthood so that is cool. We work with them once a week. Then we biked to a another less active guy and we taught him. He showed us this video he made which is just the Book of Mormon being narrated with some weird pictures rolling in the back it was a little strange, but he is a nice guy. The we biked home. So we live at the top of a big hill man that hill killed me last night. It was rough and it was starting to rain so that was fun, but ya I made it. It is going to be a nice week of biking I am sure. It will get easier as the week goes on, but ya today is my first pday here and the first time I will have to pay for laundry my whole mission so that is different. Well it was a good week this week. The area has a lot of potential so i am just trying my best to get it to its fullest potential. Well that is all for this week till next week.
Love
Elder Howe
Sent from my iPad
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| Andrew Saucer |
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| The Hamburgs |
So this week was a good week. On Monday we went to a member's house because the elders in our district wanted to play baseball. We went to the member's house with a bunch of missionaries then we went to the park and it was alright. We just hit some balls around and stuff, but then we had the other Elders blitz our area. So I was with an elder in the north part of our area and we had a dinner. Then we went to try and see some people and we got in with a potential investigator and got to teach him finally. So that was super awesome it was a rally good lesson. Then we all spent the night where we are staying with the zone leaders. That was fun.
The next day we had district meeting and it went well. Afterwards we went to a really good pizza buffet called Pizza Ranch and man it is so good, but yet so bad at the same time. The manger there knows missionaries because we go there all the time so ya him knowing us is probably not the best thing, but hey it is all good. Then we took a district picture there. Then we went on an exchange with the zone leaders and I stayed in Farmington and we went to mow someone's lawn and man it was a more humid day. I was sweating super hard, but we got it all done and we weed whacked his yard and then we got to teach him after so that wad really good. Then we went to dinner and it was fun. The family was looking up what the common first names where in the year we were born and they were guessing our names. Mom and dad you did a good job my name was not common at all. I was 103 so that was exciting I guess. I found out that the member's sister is the drummer in the neon trees band so that is cool. Then we had an interview and we went to see Brother Stanitch and we took a walk with him. We talked about the Melchizedek Priesthood because he just got approved to get it so that is awesome. He invited someone in this apartment building to meet with us so that was cool. It was a good day.
Then Wednesday was a slow day we went and did some studies at the library and then we tried to see a bunch of people and no one was home. Then we went and tracted a street and we talked to the guy at the first house for like 45 mins just talking about his life. He makes smokers out of huge tanks he gets from places. They are pretty cool looking. We didn't get to teach much, but we did have a really good contact with him and so that was good. It was super cool his name was Mike Mork. Then that night someone was bringing us dinner and they dropped it off and it was 3 whole racks of ribs for just the two of us...... It was crazy. So much food. I mean we are both big, but man they really think we eat a ton. It is all good. It was a really good dinner. That evening we went to see a less active family where we are teaching the daughter and we had a really good lesson about Jesus Christ and the atonement and it was a really good lesson. Before she would say she didn't care about any thing related to church, but this time when we explained it she said, "well that is kinda cool" so that was progress.
Thursday something crazy happened. We went to see our investigator Judy. Her husband was outside and we haven't met him yet and we wanted Judy to introduce us to him. So we were pulling in the driveway and waiting for Judy to come out and then his grandson ran inside and we saw Judy's husband fall. He is a sick 70 year old man so we hit the gas and got out and tried to help him. He was bleeding pretty bad from his elbow and knee. Then against his will Judy called the paramedics. The cops showed up and tried to help him then the paramedics came. Everyone was really wondering why we were there. They were kind of looking at us weird, but we helped him up and they got him to go to the hospital. It was crazy I got blood on my hand trying to lift him up, but it was a good impression of us that Al got so that was good. Then we saw a less active who is cool we watched a conference talk with him. It was good then we saw our investigator Cully and a priest came with us. It was a good lesson with him. We talked about how he could help his parents understand why he wants to join the Church. It was a good lesson. Then we had dinner a new young family in the ward and it was good. Then we had a referral from some elder in another area and we went to look for the house, but couldn't find it. It is like it didn't exist. We looked for an hour, but couldn't find it. It was frustrating so we will have to figure that out with them sometime soon.
Then on Friday we went to lunch with some elders at Old Country Buffet. Two buffets in one week man I don't know what we were thinking, but we had coupons so we couldn't pass it up. Then we had our planning session and a really good dinner with a part member family who has warmed up quite a bit to us.
On Saturday we had to finish planning so we did that and then the elders in our district have someone who is getting baptized on Friday this week so I had to go down there to do her baptismal interview. We get to the new apartment where the elders stay and they get a call from the girls mom. She is like deathly allergic to citrus and she ate some so she had to go to the ER. We went to the ER and a member of their branch came and picked up the kids. Then we went to the church. I did the baptismal interview with was weird to do but it went well. It was my first one so hopefully I did it right! Then we went to eat lunch and the mom she wanted a blessing so we went to the ER and after we were all finished washing our hands she asks if her daughter could have one so we then went to the church a gave her a blessing then her 3 year old daughter wanted one too so we gave her one and then the other member that was there wanted one as well so that was cool. After all that we left and we ahead a Ward party at 4 it was a corn feed so we went straight there. It was OK we ate some good polish sausages and some really good corn and bacon wrapped Asparagus. We played basketball for a little bit. It was fun. After that we went to weed a less active's garden and we did that and it went well. When we finished it we went to see brother Stanitch and he is hilarious. It was a good time over there. We talked about some stuff and made sure his alarm was set so he could get up for church in the morning so that was good.
So Sunday it was a really powerful testimony meeting even though only 5 people bore their testimonies. It was still a really good and powerful. Then we had some good 2nd and 3rd hour classes. After church we had to make this candy lay for someone who gets baptized this week we made it out of starbursts it looks sweet! I will take a pic and send it hopefully today, if I can. Then we went and met with a priest in our ward and he thought us about what he has been reading because of transfers he added us on Facebook and man it motivated me to lose weight. I didn't realize how much I have gained till I saw my profile picture on Facebook. It was good then we had dinner with a family the Allens who we are close with and it was really good. We had taco salad it was good. Then we went to a less active and part member. It was a miracle because we usually can't go in but some guy they knew came over so we were able to come in and we didn't teach, but we got super good fellowship in. Their boy taught himself how to play the guitar and he was playing for us and he is good. He also plays the keyboard and the trumpet and baritone he is way musically talented. It was good we are going to play soccer with him sometime time during the week now and a bunch of other non members so that should be fun. We left there and usually president tells you if you are getting transferred on Sunday night and so I was nervous all night, but he didn't call. The zone leaders knew what was happening and they told me what was going down. I am getting transferred to Mankato and my comp will be an elder who has been there for less then a transfer so it should be fun! That is cool I have heard a lot about it and it sounds like a fun place to serve I am excited to have some new adventures and challenges but I will miss Farmington I have grown to love the people here. It is a good area. I will miss it, but I go where the Lord wants me to go and I know there is a reason I am going to Mankato with the companion I am with. I got spiritual confirmation of that last night so it will be fine and we are going to be a half bike area so that should help me lose weight so that is good. Being a missionary is great another transfer has come and gone and another is about to begin good things are coming! The church is true!
Love
Elder Howe
Sent from my iPad
