Shalom Y'all

So my new companion is Elder Payne and he has only been out 6 weeks
longer than I have. He was the VP at Corner Canyon. He's pretty cool
and we get along really well so this should be a good transfer.

If anyone has ever wondered what it's like to knock on doors during
thanksgiving I'll save you some time and tell you it sucks. But we got
to eat thanksgiving dinner with two families so that was fun. These
last couple of days Elder Payne and I have had a ton of success
tracting. We've had people who invite us in right off the bat which
never happens.

Yesterday we met this guy who looked like a Kevin Hart but a lot
meaner, but he was actually super cool and we taught him and he said
he would be baptized! It was crazy because this guy is swearing left
and right but the spirit was definitely still there. We are going back
next Saturday to teach him and he said he would come to church next
week.

Elder McDonald got transferred to Louisa which is way out in the
boonies, they barley have enough people for a branch, but he's from a
pretty small town so he's probably used to it.

I've started reading the sacrament hymn after we sing it while they
pass the sacrament and it makes the sacrament a lot more spiritual.
The sacrament hymns actually have a ton of good stuff in them that you
never think about when you read them.

We helped this investigator rake her backyard and we ended up with a
huge pile of leaves, I'll attach some pictures of it. I hope everyone
had a super awesome thanksgiving!!!


Pics:
1. Say no to thanksgiving leftovers 💪🏼
2. Leaf shenanigans
3. Leaf shenanigans pt. 2
4. Mormon Mafia

Happy Thanksgiving y'all

Well, transfer calls came in and Elder McDonald was voted off the
island, but I get to stay in Belmont another transfer!! I'm super
pumped, I'll be here until 2017 🙏🏻

Since transfers are tomorrow this has been a crazy day so I'm not
gonna write much, we find out where Elder McDonald is going tomorrow
and I'll get my new companion. I'm gonna miss him, he's been pretty
cool.

We taught a lesson to this family and after we were done their
daughter wanted to play this game called bean boozled, I don't
recommend it. I'll attach a video or two of us trying them out, it was
the worst.

I honestly can't believe I'm done training, it does not feel like I've
been out that long, but I'm excited for a new companion and to start
off a new transfer!! I hope everyone has an awesome thanksgiving, we
have at least 5 members that have invited us over so I should probably
start fasting now until thanksgiving haha

Peace, Love, Be Still

Photos:
1. Elder Critchfield plays bean boozled
2. Elder McDonald plays bean boozled
3. Matching Peru ties
4. Matching safari ties from Goodwill
5. Da Boyz
6. Da Boyz pt. 2

Make Virginia Great Again

Apparently things are going pretty crazy now that Trump was elected president. As a missionary its always funny to hear the stuff people will tell you cause you never know if its true. 

We had a 2 hour lesson with this lady named Jamele this week, it was crazy!! She is a non-practicing Confirmed Episcopalian, a pseudo-practicing Buddhist, and a full practice spiritualist/mystic, which is pretty much magic haha. The problem we run into with teaching her is that she is SUPER smart, and she analyzes every word you say, so you can get into hot water real quick. She is pretty funny and really nice though. She also explained to us why Trump is the anti-christ, who knew?

Okay so for the crazy story of the week I'm just going to type it up in a little dialogue but first I need to give some background info. So we have this list of all the members, but there are a lot of less active/ in-active people. So we go around and visit them and we see if they want home teachers or would be interested in coming back to the church. Most of the time the people we visit have either moved or they don't want any contact from the church. However, very few people actually want their records removed because it is a BIG DEAL. It's pretty much getting excommunicated, the bishop has to talk to them and make sure they know what it means to have your records removed and then he has to get their signature and send it to Salt Lake. So, late last night we saw this guy on our map so we went to go visit him. The following events are based on a true story, profanity that was heavily present has been filtered out for the convenience of the reader. 

*missionaries knock on door

*old grumpy looking dude answers the door

Old dude: "What do you guys want, are you cops?"

*missionaries laugh

Missionaries: "No sir, we are missionaries, we saw that you were a member of our church"

Old dude: "Get out of here, I don't believe in God and I don't go to church, I just got out of jail for killing a man, quit coming over here!!"

Missionaries: "Sir would you like your records removed then?"

*old dude grunts and nods his head, obviously upset

Missionaries: "okay well our bishop will need to come here to get your signature and talk to you about it"

Old dude: "DON'T YOU SEND NOBODY OVER HERE, NEXT PERSON THAT COMES HERE IS LEAVING IN A BODY BAG!!"

*Old dude slams the door

After he slammed the door all I could think about was, "yes!! A funny story for my email!"

Transfer calls are this Saturday so if you are planning on sending any letters or packages hold off until next week, because I don't know if I will be staying in Chester or moving to a new area.

I'll close out with a scripture that literally describes everyone in Virginia in one verse #Baptists

"And because my words shall hiss forth--many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible" -2 Nephi 29:3

Pictures

1. The heritage tie that has been passed down from trainer to trainee

2. Classic Virginia

Family History Hype

This week I have been super interested in family history. Its crazy how much you can find, I was looking at some of my great great great grandparents and I found people like Jean Baptiste the "Great Salt Lake City Grave Robber" he wasn't really the best guy and got exiled to Fremont Island but it was super cool to read about him. I also found Peregrine Sessions, he was a body guard for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, He was also one of the early 70. Once I started going really far back I found Maxcey Ewell, who was apparently super good friends with Thomas Jefferson, I read a couple of letters they wrote back and forth to each other. 

Needless to say, family history is awesome!! I thought a lot yesterday on why its important and church leaders keep telling us to do it. One reason I came up with is that we have to be bound on earth before we can be bound in heaven. The scriptures say "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" So it makes sense that if we want to be with all of our family for eternity we should probably figure out who they are first, right? I'm super grateful that so much of my work is done but I know I'll still have a ton to do when I get home.

This week has been pretty solid because we got a Book of Mormon referral!! These are super rare and they almost always turn out to be someone who is really interested. Her name is Ashley and her husband is a member but he went inactive shortly after high school. We taught them the restoration and when we had her read Moroni's challenge she told us she got chills. They are super cool so hopefully we can get them coming to church.

Last night we pulled up to this house and as soon as Elder McDonald opened the door and got out of the car this pitbull jumped in the car and onto my lap!! At first I thought he was for sure just gonna rip my face off but he turned out to be pretty nice. We left that house cause no one was there and drove down the road a little bit and once we pulled in to the next house and got out guess who was there, the same dog! He had followed us in our car from the previous house haha. We decided to name him Brutus and he came and knocked on a couple of doors with us. I'll attach a video or two so you guys can see him.

I think one of the hardest things for me as a missionary is not relying on the bible. Because I always end up trying to prove everything with the bible but it never works, logic doesn't have the same power as the spirit. So I will leave you guys with an awesome quote from Brigham Young.

"I had only traveled a short time to testify to the people, before I learned this one fact, that you might prove doctrine from the Bible till doomsday, and it would merely convince a people, but would not convert them. You might read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and prove every iota that you advance, and that alone would have no converting influence upon the people. Nothing short of a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost would bring light and knowledge to them--bring them in their hearts to repentance. Nothing short of that would ever do. You have frequently heard me say that I would rather hear an Elder, either here or in the world, speak only five words accompanied by the power of God, and they would do more good than to hear long sermons without the Spirit. That is true, and we know it" -Brigham Young

Pictures

1. Brutus

2. More Brutus

3. Elder McDonald getting a little shut eye before sacrament

4. Fall is finally here

5. Former NBA players house, we totally knocked on it, no one answered though