Fourth Floor, Fourth Door

Well my new companion is Elder Davis, he's from Spanish Fork. We were
actually in the same district in the MTC so it's cool that we're
companions now. This week has been a lot of tracting as usual but we
actually found some super solid people. Unfortunately we have to knock
an entire street of people who aren't interested until we get to the
last house, THEN it's a person who's interested, hence the title.

The first lady we found this week is Laura. She was sitting on her
lawn with her son and we walked up and were able to start a
conversation. We taught her a short restoration and when we told her
about the first vision you could tell she was feeling the spirit super
strong. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said we could
come back later next week!

The day after we found Laura we found John P. He was out by his car
when we walked up and immediately started asking us what believe about
certain things. He explained he'd done a lot of things he wasn't proud
of and was trying hard to turn his life around. We explained a lot
about the Atonement and the heal power it offers and he seemed very
interested. We have a lesson with him tomorrow so that should be good.

We are also meeting with John A. not to be confused with John P. John
A. used to work for the CIA so he speaks Russian and some other random
languages. He's really interested in Mormons and what they believe, he
even asked us to give him a church tour so we will be doing that later
in the week.

As I've been reading in the Book of Mormon recently I've been
wondering a lot about what Nephi had that Laman and Lemuel lacked. All
three of them had similar experiences but they chose different paths.
So in my studies this week I came up with 3 main attributes Nephi had
that Laman and Lemuel lacked. They are Faith, Patience, and Diligence.

When Nephi was commanded to go and get the plates he had FAITH. He
believed in the promise of the Lord that he and and his brothers would
be able to obtain them. Laman and Lemuel on the other hand lacked that
faith. Even after an angel appeared to them and told it was possible
they murmured and complained.

Next up is PATIENCE. Nephi knew how to wait on the Lords timing. He
and his family spent 8 years wandering in the wilderness, thats a long
time!! Yet he never complained or doubted that the Lord would deliver
them. He simply endured patiently until the right time. Laman and
Lemuel on the other hand were never patient. Instead of waiting
patiently through those eight years they constantly murmured and
wanted to go back to Jerusalem.

Last of all is DILIGENCE. Nephi knew how to work hard and keep trying.
It took him 3 tries to obtain the plates, and while I'm sure he got
disappointed after failing twice, he never gave up and eventually was
able to obtain them. When Nephi's bow broke his entire family, even
his father, began to murmur. However, Nephi went straight to work and
built himself a new bow. When asked to build a boat he doesn't
complain or tell the Lord he's never built a boat before. He simply
asks where he can find ore to build tools.

So yeah, those are the three attributes I came up with. There are
obviously a ton more but those are the three I decided to focus on
this week.

I am absolutely loving my time here in Staunton and I know that this
is where God wants me right now. I appreciate everyone's love and
support and I hope you guys stay safe while you're enjoying summer!!
Love ya!



Pics
1. Last Picture with Elder Tanner
2. A short tour of Churchville, a little town in our area
3. A sign we totally ignored
4. We should've listened

Transfers!

Hey y'all! So transfer calls came on Saturday and Elder Tanner is
headed out. I'm kinda bummed, we thought we would stay together one
more, but I'm also stoked I get stay here in Staunton! As always I'm
absolutely in love with this place so another transfer here is a dream
come true.

This week was full of ups and downs. Remember all of those new
Investigators we found? Yeah we dropped all of them haha, BUT we've
found a couple more that have some promise so no worries. I'll give
you the run down on a few of them.

First up is James, he had been taught a long time ago and we called
him on a whim (AKA the spirit) on Saturday to see if he wanted to meet
again and he said "Sure! Why don't you come over tomorrow?". So
yesterday we had a GREAT lesson with him. He is from Kenya and has
only been in the US for 5 years. We were able to share the message of
the restoration with him and it went really well. He doesn't believe
he needs to be baptized again right now but he's willing to read and
keep commitments. At the end of the lesson we had him download the
Gospel Library app on his phone so he could read the Book of Mormon in
Swahili and he was super excited! We have a member from West Africa in
the Ward so we will probably bring him to the next lesson. Pray it
goes well.

Next up is Jerome. We were out tracting and we knocked on his house
right as he pulled up in his car, which actually happens all the time
and it's super awkward but you just embrace it. He got out of the car
and at first seemed pretty uninterested. However, once we introduced
ourselves as Mormon Missionaries and asked if he'd like to hear a
message he said something along the lines of "I'll tell you a story. I
was in Texas a few years back and my car broke down, a Mormon guy
stopped and took me to an auto shop to get the parts then brought me
back to my car. He wouldn't accept a dime for it either, so I'll
listen to any religion a man like that associates with". It was
awesome!! So we were able to teach him a little bit of the Restoration
and we are coming back tonight to teach him more.

Those are the only people who have real potential right now the rest
are kind of iffy. In other news Cheyla is doing incredible as always,
she is in 3 Nephi right now and is in love with the Book of Mormon.
Last time we met with her she told us she was sad that it was almost
over, we assured her that it was just as good of a read the second
time around though. It's been super cool to see how much she has
progressed since we started meeting with her in April.ww

This weekend there was A TON of rain and we got caught tracting in a
super bad storm, I got soaked. So, we took advantage of the fact that
I was already completely wet and took some funny videos during dinner
which I will include. It was probably one of the most entertaining
days of my mission so far.

I'm loving my time here as a missionary and while tracting for 7+
hours a day may not seem like a fun job, I can assure you that the
people you meet make it more than worth it. And don't worry we don't
tract that long every day....just most of them. Our investigator pool
is starting to fill up though so we should be able to cut down on the
finding activities and devote more time to teaching.

I love you guys and I hope everyone had a killer Fathers Day!!

Me Again!

Hey! Its me again haha, I know you guys just heard from me like 4 days

ago but its P-Day again somehow. This week was pretty good, we had

Stake Conference over the weekend and two members of the 70 came since

the Stake Presidency was being reorganized, so that was cool.

The two members of the 70 were Elder Clay and Elder Curtis, they were

both super awesome. One thing that Elder Clay talked about was taking

our questions and putting them in a box. We shouldn't forget about the

questions once we put them in the box, but we shouldn't let them

become our main focus. Over time we will be able to answer our

questions, and they won't distract us from the blessings the gospel

brings. Elder Clay said one of his questions as a convert to the

church was who he should be sealed to since his parents divorced when

he was in the first grade and both of them remarried happily.

We are still working hard on passing out 100 copies of the Book of

Mormon, we aren't even close but we're not giving up yet.  We went

tracting for a solid 4 hours yesterday after church and we weren't

able to teach a single lesson which was a bummer, but we did have a

cool experience. So we are out knocking doors and I swear it is SO

HOT! By hour 2 we were dripping with sweat, the whole back of my shirt

was soaked haha. So finally I looked at Elder Tanner and said "thats

it, I'm saying a prayer to get us some water". So I said a prayer that

someone would let us in a give us water and not even 3 houses later

this guy opens up and says "Hey! Come on in, its hot outside, want

some water?". #MIRACLE I was so happy haha. I drank at least a gallon

of water and we talked with him for a bit. He needed up being pretty

cool but he wasn't interested, he gave us his number when we left and

said "if you call me and want to talk religion I'll hang up on you,

but if you ever need any help or a place to rest let me know".

Most of the new Investigators we found last week haven't really panned

out but we are working with this Grandma and her Granddaughter. They

seem promising but we've had to reschedule a couple times so we will

see. I'll keep y'all updated on their progress!

Transfer calls are this Saturday so if you plan on sending anything

hold off until next week and I'll let y'all know if I'm staying. I'm

loving it here so I hope I stay but I'll go wherever the Lord needs

me!! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!