Week # 109 Letter & Pictures

Hello everybody,

Another week down and this puts us half way through the transfer. Ugh.
But it was fun with some adventures in there this past week. So here's
how it went:

9-4-17
"Winna winna, chicken dinna!" Preparation day! And it was more of a
boring day for the most part. We didn't have the Spanish missionaries
with us during the preparation day part as they have their preparation
day tomorrow. So just English elders but there was still 6 of us so we
had some fun. We just talked mostly though. We did go eat dinner at
the Bennetts though for dinner, the new bishop, and that was fun.
Learned a lot about him and their family. He was the elders quorum
president before. Then we went to the church and prepared for bible
study and elder Cahan and James taught it tonight finishing up
Christ's ministry with His crucifixion, death and resurrection. Next
week I teach starting off with the acts of the apostles first few
chapters. Cleaned up and headed home.
9-5-17
"Yeah, there's a few things you've missed while doing time as a
cap-sicle" We had to accomplish the things we needed to today as
yesterday was Labor Day and Costco was closed. So we went to Costco
and got food to last us a while and shipped off a package. Ate lunch
and had companionship study in the afternoon and made calls until
dinner. After dinner we went to Kris' and ended up helping him now the
lawn before the storm tomorrow and they also had their house flooded
today from their toilet. So we also were on the backend of the clean
up. Then we went to the church to message Kevin as he had more
questions about recommends and how they work.
9-6-17
"Ah, I oughta punch you in the nose, hopscotch." Meeting day! We had
the district leader training meeting after studies and elder Cahan
gave a workshop on working with members and I gave my testimony on the
importance of district leaders. I was a district leader for a bit but
I have also been a district leader's companion for 6 transfers. So I
have not been in a district leader pool for 3 transfers of my mission.
Then after that meeting, we had district meeting with the district.
Nothing too exciting but it was good. Finally ate lunch at 3 in the
afternoon at 5 Brothers Chicken and Waffles which was really good. Ate
it at the church and I put together my pictures for the departing
missionaries slideshow. It took a while to go through all my 1500
pictures to find my 7 best ones. That was difficult. And then we had a
surprise meeting by the zone leaders calling us over video call and
asked for some help in preparing a workshop they are giving at the
Mission Leadership Council meeting on Friday. It is on using
technology as leaders so I had a few ideas to implement and then Elder
James had a few as well. But what took so long was trying to help them
put a video into one of their PowerPoint slides. So that took up until
dinner. Then we went to see Kris more in our usual setting, not
service setting. And headed home after that.
9-7-17
"We are not going to attack, right, now!" It was more on the normal
side of days with weekly planning today and I also worked on My Plan
in the afternoon. Had companionship study and dinner. But then it gets
fun. So we first started off prime time going to see a referral that
wanted a Book of Mormon and a bible so we stop by and drop that off.
They weren't interested to hear our message sadly but it was in the
same area that Kris lived in so we stopped by and we get a call right
after walking in from another set of elders that their car broke down.
We tried to make a diagnosis over the phone asking about battery and
whatnot and turns out, they ran out of gas. Luckily Kris let us borrow
a gas can and went to a gas station, filled it up and gave them 2
gallons of gas to drive to a gas station and finish it off. That took
up most our night so we ended up having to go drop the can off and
head home.
9-8-17
"Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out." Well we woke up
to a fun email this morning on emergency preparedness from the mission
telling everyone to stock up supplies for an emergency so we started
off the day getting supplies at Costco. Then went to the church and
did somethings on the computer to organize the area. Did companionship
study and went to visit the rest of the Referrals. Dropped off a card
at one as it was a business and she wasn't there. Dropped off the
Bible at the other and ate nearby so we didn't have to go all the way
home to eat and back. So we ate at Wendy's and visited Corrin who was
dealing with house issues when we got there. Then saw a less active up
the street Bishop wanted us to visit. Then Kris called stressed out
over the family situation with his fiancé. So we talked about it with
him and headed home.
9-9-17
"S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!" Its Saturday. And it's too cold for my
liking. It's in the low 70s as a high and this morning when we walked
outside was low 60s and we got back tonight to low 60s. Too cold. But
we walked out into the freezing weather to go to correlation that took
an hour and a half as we cover what has happened for the past month
basically. I can't remember when the last one was but at least 5 weeks
ago. Then had lunch and tried visiting DeQuan but no one was home so
we went to the church and I prepared for bible study and had
companionship study. Then had dinner and went to teach Dan. He is
planning to attend church on Sept 24 as he is busy these next 2
sundays. Progress! And then we taught Cynthia the first parts of the
restoration as we are keeping it basic. Not too much background in
religion so we have to start small. Then headed home!
9-10-17
"She did it! She's the criminal! Arrest her, not me! I didn't do
nothing... oh, sugar rush." Today was a nice day as Kevin got the
priesthood and a temple recommend! But that's not the crazy part that
happened when we got to church. So we got to church and talked for a
few minutes with Kevin 10 min before church started when we got a call
from the sisters saying they got in an accident and the other people
were screaming at them so they needed help. By the time we got there,
the police were there doing their reports and handling the crazy
people. There are no more mission cars available so we had to tape up
the front end with duct tape to drive but it still works! We missed
sacrament meeting though so when we got back when it was gospel
principles. The rest of church was good. Then we ate dinner after
church and went to Kris' for Elder James birthday party which his
birthday is today. Fun party and then did look ups the rest of the
night.

Kevin is amazing as always and is planning to go to the temple this
Saturday now that he has everything. We won't be able to go with him
due to my departing temple trip this same month but he isn't waiting
around any longer to figure out a different solution. He's going. Dan
is doing good. Busy on the weekends with other obligations but is
committed to coming to church in a few weeks. So hoping to get a
member over there for a lesson before that member will give him a
ride. Just so they can meet and plan when to pick up. Cynthia, Kris'
fiancé, we've started teaching a little. She hasn't shown much
interest in religion before and is only curious about us because she
wants to know what we talk about when she comes to church with Kris.
So it is slow and covering the basics of religion right now as she has
no background in any religion.

That's our people. Hope everyone has a great week, I'll see you in the
next one. ✌🏻



This is my usual nightly routine of studying. 


Car crash! Both sisters are fine and the other car is a truck so took hardly any damage. 

Week #108 Letter & Pictures

Amazing, this week was amazing. Usually the week before a baptism
sucks and is terrible cause Lucifer is the devil that way but not this
one. It was so smooth and couldn't have gone better. Sure Kevin had
temptations, he told me about a few, but he didn't give them heed. And
Saturday night after the baptism he went to say goodbye to a friend
that's moving to Hawaii. Like NY young adults, there was alcohol and
drugs there but he said he didn't feel tempted anymore so thats a
great sign! He even drove lots of people home they were so drunk. Haha

So here's how it went as a whole:

8-28-17
"What a wonderful smell you've discovered, princess." Preparation day!
And we are back to the normal routine for these days. Laundry and
emails in the morning and went to get Chinese food for lunch/dinner.
This is because they give me enough I don't finish it during lunch and
save the rest for dinner. Played soccer, apples to apples, talked, and
then got ready for the night. Kevin came right at 6 and we talked
about some questions he had about family history and finished teaching
him the lessons so he will be ready to focus on the interview now.
Then we had bible study where elders Cahan and James taught and both
did really well. Then cleaned it up and headed home for the night.
8-29-17
"Snakes...why'd it have to be snakes?" Today was a good day. We went
to a lesson in the morni hut the person wasn't home so we drove all
the way back home because it was like a 30 min drive and we don't have
their number. So we went home and ate lunch. Then had district meeting
and then starting planning out Kevin's Baptism and asking people to
prepare talks. Then we went to Kris' and gave him a blessing. Ate
dinner and met with Kevin to go over the baptismal interview
questions. He answered them all perfectly. Then we messaged some
investigators and did look ups the rest the night.
8-30-17
"I know more about casino security than anyone, I invented it!" Happy
23 month anniversary! Only 1 to go! Thats insane. So we had a meeting
day, well this is actually a meeting week. We had a zone
leader/district leader video conference call after our studies. We
talked about the zone group chat that started yesterday to what we can
improve it with. It also got started late so it took an hour. Ate
lunch and did companionship study. Went to Costco to get pizzas for
our next meeting which was a Bible study planning meeting to what we
want to do for the next phase of classes. We decided to do the acts of
the apostles after Christ and came up with a lesson schedule and
assigned who is teaching. I start it off not this Monday but the one
after it. But that's all I have to teach. Then we went to the Snows
for dinner and went to see Corrin afterwards. Talked about what
happened Sunday as she didn't come to church and then we went to the
church to get the Bible class flier to send to the zone leaders to
then send to the assistants to announce at mega zone conference
Friday. That ended our night!
8-31-17
"When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bay.
Oh, I wanna be there in my city, oh-oh-o." Amazing day as Kevin had
his interview! But we'll get to that in a sec. probably literally with
how fast you readers skip over the boring parts and get to the good
parts, but we had a lesson with DeQuan scheduled this morning but he
didn't answer. So we called and got no answer. Instead we got our car
washed in preparation for Mega Zone Conference tomorrow. We then gave
a blessing to a missionary who asked for one and ate lunch. Went back
to the church and worked on Kevin's baptismal program which took a
while as all the missionaries needed a computer today apparently.
Everyone had something to do so we had to wait our turn. We got one
and spent about an hour getting it set but not finished. Then I worked
on My Plan. That took forever compared to the other 2 I've done. It
was on continuing discipleship so I had to write my plan for every
part of continuing discipleship such as prayer, scriptures, church,
temple, etc. Too much. Then we visited a member that Kevin wanted to
speak at his baptism and he accepted to assignment. Ate dinner and
went to the church for the interview and Kevin passed! Got the paper
work filled out and filled up the car wish gas. Did the car reports
and talked about the upcoming zone initiative with the zone leaders
giving us a preview and sneak peek to what it is and I'm excited for
the month of September. It's gonna be great.
9-1-17
"Summer has come and past, the innocence has never last. Wake me up
when September ends." Today was a sad day for me. We had mega Zone
Conference today and it was my last one. But it was a great mega Zone.
We first started off the day with getting smoothies with elders James
and Mansfield. Then drove to plainview and had the Conference. It was
great throughout the day and learned a few things. Then for the last
part the departing missionaries give their departing testimonies.
There was 4 of us, 2 sisters and then elder Ramos and I. Then we said
our goodbyes which was weird as I just said see many of you at
transfers for the last time or in the mission home for the other 3
going home with me. Headed to our church building and finished up the
baptismal program for Kevin's Baptism. Then went to dinner with Kris
and Cynthia. We also talked about church for Cynthia so she knows
better what is going on at church. That ended our night.
9-2-17
"Sing with me, sing for the year, sing for the laughter, sing for the
tears." Today was amazing. It's just been a great week leading up to
this baptism as a matter of fact. So today we got up and did studies,
went to the church and cleaned the font and set up the chairs and
tables. Printed off the program and then helped the other missionaries
with some of their needs to. Then we went home and ate lunch and had
companionship study. Called and made sure everyone was good to come to
the baptism and grabbed a quick bite at Wendy's for dinner and went to
the church. Filled the font half way with hot water so it could sit
for a bit and cool off and in the mean time, we helped the
missionaries write scriptures on cards for a jeopardy game that the
seminary students are playing. They had a dinner night an hour before
our baptism. Then Kevin showed up and talked through the program and
changed. The program went perfect and the baptism was awesome. Kevin
said it was faster in the water part than he was expecting. We changed
and he said he felt different for sure. And he had talked a lot about
temples and family history so he is super excited to get on that this
week. Finished the program, had desserts and cleaned up to set up
chairs for church tomorrow. Great day!
9-3-17
"Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast, I would catch
it." Kevin got confirmed today but that wasn't the shocking part. So
we did the usual morning and went to church and I confirmed Kevin as I
was asked to. Then the bishopric got released and brother Bennett was
called to be the new bishop with the same counselors. Wasn't expecting
that. Then helped Corrin all day as she has had a rough morning trying
to figure out a family situation. Then got the baptismal form signed
after church and ate dinner. Elder Cahan hasn't been feeling too well
past few days and fell asleep so I let him sleep and slept till 7.
Then made calls and he showered so we stayed in tonight. But he's
feeling better now. I think he just needed sleep.

So I baptized Kevin and confirmed him as well in sacrament meeting.
They didn't have a mic so they said to speak loud. Hopefully I spoke
loud enough. There's so much I could talk about with him and how
prepared he was. And he has talked about the temple and family history
so much that he is so excited to start going to the temple. Hopefully
he gets the priesthood and temple recommend this Sunday so he can
start going!  Dan and Dequan are still the same as we have not met
with them this week. Tried to for both but Dan cancelled and DeQuan
wasn't there.

Enjoy your Labor Day everyone!

Week # 107 Letter & Pictures

It's a me, Mario!

So we had an interesting week of craziness with transfers and new
missionaries. We have a bigger district than last transfer and we have
8 elders. That's the most I've had in a district. But here's how the
week went:

8-21-17
"It's the final countdown! We're leaving together!" Preparation day!
And today was so long. Didn't do the usual. We got up at 5:30 and went
to the beach near our house to see the sunrise and walked around the
area a bit to find a better view. Took an hour and a half. And then we
waited around our apartment until laundry was open in our apartment
complex, which is 8. Got our laundry done and emailed. Had transfer
calls and elder Cahan and I are staying together for my last one. Then
we went to the church and played sports all day. Soccer and
basketball. Also, Elder Rammell bought these soldering goggles to view
the solar eclipse today and so we used them and we could sort of see
the solar eclipse through them. But I used my good camera and the
goggles as a filter and it came out much better with it zoomed in. Ate
at Wendy's for dinner and elder Hansen and I prepared for bible study
as we taught it tonight. Got it all set up and got ready ourselves.
Then waited for everyone to show up and got started. I learned a lot
from it actually when I taught. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, we
talked with those that came and hung out with Kris till his ride got
there. But his ride forgot about him and didn't end up getting there
till 10:30 at night. We didn't want to leave him there stranded just
in case something happened so we got home really late. We went from
5:30 in the morning to 11 at night. It was a long day.
8-22-17
"We've come a long way, from where we began. Oh I'll tell you all
about it when I see you again!" Transfer day but these kind of
transfers are my favorite when neither my companion or I are leaving.
Makes the day fun as we can talk and not worry about where we are
going or who our next companion is. So we did our morning usual and
had lunch. Went off to the leadership meeting but this time it was
held at Woodside chapel because of construction going on outside of
the Rego chapel. It was weird thinking the next time I go to a
transfer exchange, I won't be going back to an area. But leadership
meeting was good and very insightful. Also realized that was my last
leadership meeting. Then we headed home and ate dinner in our area. We
went to the church for a few minutes and then it turned into helping
the members clean the church for a little bit. At least we didn't do
all of it this week. Went out to do a few look ups and headed home.
8-23-17
"Sugar, yes please. Won't you come and put it down on me. I'm right
here, cause I need, a little light, a little symphony." Today was
interesting. We did the usual morning stuff and we weren't able to get
a hold of a companionship that got blinded in yesterday so we tried
stopping by but they were out and turned out they were at the church.
So we were able to have district meeting and meet everyone. I realized
that half the district is still under 6 months in the mission. And we
have a 10 missionary district. Then there's me that goes home this
transfer. So I actually gave the workshop for district meeting on
letter and spirit of the law. Then I did my first week of the My Plan
course. Interesting. And Elder Cahan was hungry so he got pizza at a
shop and took it home to eat while I ate at home. Then we were going
to go to the beach for our ward's weekly beach night but not many
people showed up so they said we didn't need to. So we saw Kris but
Cynthia wasn't there. She was at work. Finished the night with look
ups and knocking.
8-24-17
"Out of curiosity, which casinos did you geniuses pick to rob?
"Uh, the Belagio, Mirage, and the MGM Grand."
"... Those are Terry Benadict's places. What do you have against Terry
Benedict?"
Average day today. We had the fun morning of doing the same stuff and
went to the church for weekly planning and also set our transfer
goals. Then went knocking for a bit and did a look up near by. Picked
up medicine for Elder Cahan and ate dinner. Went to see Corrin first
and then Kris wanted us to stop by real fast. Finished the night with
knocking. Very basic day.
8-25-17
"Is this going to hurt?"
"If you are doing it right, it should be pretty excruciating."
Thanks dad for the quote! Today was another basic day. We had to go
get a box from the post office so I can start sending stuff home. I
picked that up right after we had lunch. Went to the church and made
calls and did some messaging to investigators for a bit. Then we went
knocking again but found no one again. Afternoons are always hard, and
it is still summer for these people. Ate dinner and went to do some
look ups/knocking for a bit until they get mad at us and then went to
the church and tried more calls later at night. Better time. Then
headed home.
8-26-17
"I want you to play dirty but don't get caught. Alright, bring it in.
Break someone's clavicle on 3 ready? 1, 2, 3, break someone's
clavicle!" Great day today. Great day. We had a usual morning, blah.
And then we went to a lesson way out in Mastic but it got cancelled as
they forgot about it. So drove home for lunch and went to visit a
referral. Turns out the address is their work, so we tried calling but
no answer. Tried to ship off my package but all the post offices
closed super early on saturdays so I couldn't. Went to see Kris for a
BBQ but we had a miscommunication and ended up staying for an hour
with no BBQ until 8 tonight. Too late for us so had to leave and get
dinner at Taco Bell. Then we did a mini exchange with the Spanish
elders so elders Cahan and James could start working on bible study. I
went with Elder Mansfield to knock for an hour and tried to go to
their lesson nearby but it got cancelled. So headed back and exchanged
back and we headed home. But then the best part is Kevin started
messaging and he wants to get baptized in a week from today, on
Saturday next week. We are super excited and started planning it
tonight with him.
8-27-17
"He'll kill ya, and then he'll go to work on ya!" Today was a nice
day. We had a good day at church and everything was neat to learn and
useful for Kevin I thought. Then after church we met with Kevin and a
member of the bishopric and went over a few things and taught a few
more which Kevin already knew. He's done his research. He so awesome.
And then we ate dinner and messaged Glen who is now living in river
head and he was telling us how he went to the LDS church there. Met
the missionaries there so he will probably start working more over
there. Went to a lesson near our home but the person wasn't home and
then it may have been a half hour later so we knocked but still no one
came home. So went to the church to sync areabook and finish putting
in lesson plans for the week.

We just finished my 99th week. We are now in my 100th week. Welcome to
triple digits. And it's gonna be good with Kevin's baptism! He already
asked me to baptize him so I'm super excited! Maybe my last one, but
hopefully not. I still got time to find another. And this is similar
to my last baptism with James. Kevin went to Utah and decided he wants
to be part of this religion while there, same with James. Kevin wants
to be baptized in a week, James notified me 6 days before. They are
both awesome! We meet Kevin again tonight at 6 to finish the lessons
and then tomorrow afternoon we meet to go over the interview
questions. DeQuan is having some troubles with organized religion as a
whole. He is the one that believes if you are spiritual, you're good.
So we've been working with him to help him understand but so far
nothing is making a whole lot of difference, and he feels he got an
answer that the Book of Mormon is not true. Haven't been able to see
him since so it's hard to tell if he did everything he could and
explain real intent. So that's hard but hopefully he doesn't get to
the point of dropping us or discontinuing meeting. Haven't found
anyone new but we're working on it!

See you all next week, ✌🏻

EJH
🔥🔛




image4.JPG


Device audit in district meeting nowadays. And we are missionaries with that much tech. 

Week #106 Letter & Pictures

Well, I'm not ready for this. The last transfer. So we're not talking about it.

This week was a pretty great week overall. The weekend was full of
craziness it seemed like and the weeks was busy. It was really nice to
be busy and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something but then
again, it flew by. So here's how it went as a whole:

8-14-17
"If I got locked away and we lost it all today, tell me honestly,
would you still love me the same?" Preparation day and it is the
usual. Did our shopping and laundry in the morning and had lunch at
home. Then went to the church and played soccer mostly today and some
basketball. Emailed throughout and went to see Kris before bible study
but he had a rough day and isn't doing to well so we decided to stay
and help him out tonight. We talked with him for a while and stayed
the entire night until we had to head home. He was very grateful we
stayed.
8-15-17
"We used to build a rocket ship and fly it far away. Used dream of
outer space then they say, 'wake up, you need to make money', yeah"
Today was pretty good. We had district meeting after lunch and it was
our last one of the transfer which is always sad. Then we went
directly to a lesson with DeQuan and it was an hour and a half going
through all his questions he had about the plan of salvation. We then
got to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and ended. Then we had
companionship study at the church and dinner after. Went to see Corrin
and was able to follow up from Sunday. Then we did look ups the rest
of the night.
8-16-17
"Anyway you want it, thats the way you need it. Any way you want it!"
I was tired today because it was hot. But we also did deep clean in
the morning after studies and then went to this place that was
supposed to have unlimited wings for a certain price but turns out
they didn't do that deal anymore. And we were with the other elders so
we decided to go to Applebee's instead for lunch. Then did
companionship study at the church and went to do look ups during the
day that we needed to do. Had dinner at the Snows and went to visit a
referral but they weren't home. So we stopped by Kris' since he was
down the road but he wasn't there so we talked to everyone else in the
house. Went to see a member for our usual Wednesday night visit and
she was home this week. That ended our night.
8-17-17
"Oh, but when I look back now. The summer seemed to last forever. And
if I had the choice, yeah, I would wanna be there. Oh, those were the
best days of my life." Pretty good day today. Usual morning routine
and lunch and then we made beignets with lunch. I got the mix for my
birthday and just made it for the first time today. Super good. And
then we went to the church for weekly planning and calls until I had
to pack for exchanges and went to Alive After Five. We were there the
entire time tonight and tonight was the last one for the summer. An
hour into it, we started exchanges with elders Rammell and Hansen and
I'm with Elder Rammell. We manned the stand for the first half an hour
and went street contacting the rest. Helped a lady take down her stuff
at the end and she gave us free soda. Also gave her a Book of Mormon.
As a district, we gave out like 15 Book of Mormons tonight. Then we
grabbed my stuff from the car and headed to their apartment.
8-18-17
"Cause baby now we've got bad blood. Now we've got problems. And we
can't solve them. You made a really deep cut." Exchanges were fun. We
did the studies and planning in the morning and then went to see their
investigator getting baptized this Sunday, JoAnne. We brought Arthur
along, the recent convert, and it was a good lesson. Just doing the
last minute questions and baptismal covenant teaching. Then dropped
off Arthur and had lunch. Went to the church to make calls and help
clean out their area book. Went to look a few of them up that didn't
have numbers and that ended our exchange. Elder Cahan and I had dinner
and he went to give the interview to JoAnne at the church. Then
finished off the night by going to see Kris.
8-19-17
"Drink your prune juice grandma!" It was a pretty good day today. We
had the usual morning and went to teach DeQuann in the morning. That
was good but he has so many questions it takes forever. Then went to
get our car back, the Subaru. So changed cars and Jay came along with
the senior couple for the ride so I got to see him today. That was
fun:) The we were going to eat at Wendy's for lunch but then the stake
president called and asked for us to help with a blessing so we drove
back to the church and helped with that. He heard my stomach in the
blessing and so he took us out to lunch at a deli he knows so that was
super nice. Then we had companionship study at the church and went to
a lesson but got cancelled. So we did look ups until dinner with a
member family and the stake president came to that dinner with us too
so it was a fun day with him:) Had to leave to go straight to a lesson
with Dan which we finished the plan of salvation with him and he's
been reading the Book of Mormon so that was good! Then went and saw
Corinne to talk about coming to church tomorrow and finished the night
by helping brother Elliott clean the church and set up the chairs for
tomorrow. It was a long day but a fun one.
8-20-17
"That man is playing Galaga. Didn't think we would notice, but we did"
Today was a busy day. We were doing studies when the Spanish elders
needed to go on exchanges for elder James to get some rest. Not
feeling well so I went with Elder Rogers for the 3rd hour of church in
the Spanish branch. Then went and exchanged back and we went to our
church. Kris and Corrin came today! Then after church, elders Rammell
and Hansen had a baptism and DeQuan came to that. Then headed home
after a long day at church to eat dinner and went to see Kris. Felt
bad because his fiancé also came but didn't know what was going on so
we didn't explain that very well to her. So we will be working more
with her. Then went to the church to make calls to end the night.

So Kevin has been in Guatemala this past week and I've chatted with
him everyday for like 20 min each day. He's doing good there and even
went to church! Been reading a lot and had lots of adventures. Then
DeQuan didn't want to come to church and the baptism so he decided to
come to the baptism only which was good. He really enjoyed it and said
how different it was. Next week he said he'll make it to church. Kris
and Cynthia came to sacrament meeting which is a start! Next is to
Sunday school. Corrin is doing good. She's been going through a rough
patch these past few weeks so we're trying to figure out how to best
help her as missionaries. That's most our pool for now. Hopefully in
this next transfer Kevin and DeQuan will get baptized! That would be
amazing to see right before I go home.

Hope everyone has a great week. See you in the next one, ✌🏻

EJH
🔥🔛



Ps: I'm staying in south Shore my last one.

Week #105 Letter & Pictures

When you realize how much time you have left, the more you realize how
much you love this work.

What's up guys, another week down...sadly. This week was amazing with
2 exchanges we went on and had interviews with President Reynolds.
What an amazing experience that was. We talked about what I wanted to
accomplish in the next few weeks before I return home and I had no
idea what to say. So I just said I wanted to go home with no regrets.
He had some inspirational thongs to help me see the purpose of the
next few weeks and to see the purpose of returning home. I am forever
grateful to be able to serve with him.

And here's how the week went as a whole:

8-7-17
"I am Iron Man. You think you're the only super hero out there?"
Preparation day! We had a fairly boring one today too as the Spanish
missionaries didn't have their full preparation day today due to
temple trip Wednesday. But we did laundry and got Chinese food for
lunch. Then we played some basketball with the other elders and Jay
gave us haircuts. Then we ran home and cleaned up and back to the
church again to play a board game with the English elders. Lasted all
the way until the end of preparation day and got ready for bible study
setting everything up. Had bible study but we left early to go see
Kris and his fiancé who is in the hospital. Went and saw them for a
few minutes and headed home.
8-8-17
"Wake up, wake up. Daddy's home." Today was pretty good overall. I
still feel a little sick where it is an energy drainer so I have
little energy and a minor sniffle with a sore throat. Nothing to keep
me in bed but annoying. But we had to switch out our car from a 2017
Subaru Legacy to a 2013 Toyota Carolla. Then we had the district
leader training meeting which was fun. Went on forever. And then we
had companionship study and went home to pack for exchanges. Then we
exchanged with the English elders, Rammell and Hansen and I'm with
Elder Hansen! He is in training right now, just got here 5 weeks ago.
So we ate dinner and went knocking for a while. Found a lady that was
interested and then we went to look up a couple less actives. No
success with that and then headed back to their apartment.
8-9-17
"How fast can we buy this building?" Exchanges were fun. We had the
morning of studies and went to Panera Bread for lunch before daily
contacting their investigators. Went knocking for a bit and taught a
woman about the Book of Mormon and got a return appointment for 2
weeks from now as she is going out of town this weekend. She was
pretty enthusiastic about the Book of Mormon though. Finished knocking
and went to the church to do 12 week training as he is in training.
Then did an exchange review and exchanged back. Elder Cahan and I then
went to the Snow's for dinner and they were doing a mock camp out in
the backyard with their kids so we got to roast hot dogs over a fire.
Tried to go visit the member we usually visit Wednesday's but she
wasn't home so we went and visited Kris. That ended our night.
8-10-17
"Phil? Um, his name's 'Agent." Today was a pretty amazing day. To
start off though, not so much. We got to the church for district
meeting early in the morning to find the other members of the district
walking around the church building outside looking for a stolen purse
that might have been dumped. I was confused and then they told the
story of how the sister's car was broken into last night while they
were at the church, in the church parking lot. One of their purses was
stolen and so they were looking to see if it got dumped in the woods
near the church. Nothing so we went in and had district meeting and
immediately afterwards, we had interviews with President Reynolds. And
this was the highlight of the week for sure as it was the most
spiritual interview I've had. Very inspiring and informative as I
learned a lot too. Then we taught Kevin one last time before he
leaves. Turned out he leaves this week end, unlike my original thought
where he left last Monday. He just is crazy busy this week so we met
briefly and had lunch at Wendy's afterwards. Went back to the church
and weekly planned until we went to dinner with a recent convert in
the ward named Arthur. Older guy but super nice. Went to visit another
member, the one we tried last night but wasn't home, and she was home
this time. Finally, we ended the night by going to look up a potential
in area book but they apparently don't know where the guy is that we
were looking for and doesn't know when he will be back.
8-11-17
"No hard feelings. You got a mean swing." Fun day today. We had the
usual morning and went to the church to do companionship study and
then we exchanged with the Spanish elders, Elders Rogers and James and
this time I'm with Elder James. We then did a companionship study in
their pool and language study until dinner. Took a while as we talked
a lot about studies and then we went on a lot of tangents for over an
hour. So we ate at Taco Bell real quick and went contacting near the
beach. Talked to a lot of people and ran into a member family visiting
from Maryland. Then taught a less active that was amazing. All in
Spanish but it was translated mostly for me and I contributed. Then we
went to the church to pick up a few things and ended up helping give a
blessing to a missionary and heading home.
8-12-17
"I designed this suit to come off, ow!" It was a fun day of service.
We got up and went directly to the park where we were going to help
run a soccer tournament that a recent convert here signed the Spanish
elders up for and I just happened to be on exchanges that day. So we
helped set up all morning and then helped fill water jugs during the
matches. It was a mix of guys and girls teams for the tournament and
elders Cahan and Rogers came around 1 to help out with serving lunch.
Continued helping throughout the afternoon and then we exchanged back
and we went home to clean up and have dinner. Went to teach a part
member couple which went really well and then went to visit a new
investigator we haven't seen in a few weeks but found out he is in
West Virginia. So he's not home. Then we did some daily contact at the
church and set up the chairs for church tomorrow. Headed home after
that.
8-13-17
"Aww, you're gonna break your old man's heart." Sunday and it was
packed. Once we left for church after lunch, we didn't come home until
at 9. We had church and Corrin came today! Kevin is on a plane to
Guatemala. Then after church we took sacrament to 2 different homes.
And some members invited us over for a BBQ and they were all the
college aged kids here for the summer doing internships and summer
jobs and they are leaving this week. So they invited us over and most
were married but all return missionaries within the last 2-3 years.
Some were out on missions when I started. And they are going to BYU
some of them and others to Idaho so it was my age group. I realized
that half way through that this is the group I'm hanging out with in a
year from now. Or sooner. Then after dinner we went to see Kris and
headed home. Dinner started late and went a while so we got to Kris'
late and they had cake for us there. Couldn't say no.

So Kevin is off to Guatemala and he said that he took a shirt and tie
to attend a Spanish congregation down there! He found I he is going to
a different village half way through which that second village has a
chapel. Doing good though, he's read up to Alma 13 as of yesterday but
he started in Alma 1. He said he wanted to read that one first because
it is referenced so much in his other books he reads. Then Kris is
doing good but his fiancé is still battling sickness a little so he
takes care of her a lot. Corrin came to church yesterday with her
family and even brought her niece that got baptized in Utah a while
ago. So that was cool to see. And nothing much else for people. I
wasn't in my pool a whole lot this week but I heard Dan is doing good
and reading and DeQuan is out of town until tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great week, I'll see you in the next one, ✌🏻

EJH
🔥🔛