Birthday Email

Another great week, down and it's so crazy to think that transfers are next week, and that I have been here for 5 whole weeks!!! 

Monday: Pretty regular day, nothing too special besides Elder Cosentino was recovered well enough so that we could get out of the apartment and go to the church to email and so that was good.

Tuesday: We were stuck inside again because Elder Cosentino was still a little bit sore so we couldn't go out and fully proselyte, but we did a lot of messaging and called a lot of our friends and members to set up visits. I did end up going to knock on a few doors with Elder MaCurdy so it was nice to get out!

Wednesday: We had an awesome mission zoom about principles and how we should be able to make our own policies based on the principle that we are given. Then we stayed inside some more so that Elder Cosentino could heal, then by 7:00 he was feeling good enough to go to Institute but he didn't have his tiwi card so we didn't think we were able to go. Then a MIRACLE happened. A member that lives in our apartment was walking his dog and asked how our day was and where we were headed. We explained our situation and he took us there to see Jorge! Miracles happen!!

Thursday: We were able to get out and do some real missionary work, and we lost the number of a cool, less active member that we want to start meeting with so we went to get it from him again and we caught him just before he was driving away. Another little but cool MIRACLE!!

Friday: District council day and it was really good! I learned a lot so that I am going to be able to apply to my missionary work! Then we went and stopped by Brother Morrow, and shared a really cool message that he loved and needed to hear!

Saturday: Regular day, had a member dinner with a really cool family with a non member husband, he loves the missionaries and has a strong testimony he just won't get baptized. Other than that it was a pretty regular day.

Sunday: Not a whole lot was happening on Sunday, we just went to both of our sacrament meetings. Then we found out that there was a baptism, we invited Jorge to it and he went! Unfortunately it was outside the zone so we didn't go but he loved it so hopefully that will help him make the decision to be baptized! 

Pics: 

1. Cool street 

2. New kendama for my birthday :) 

3. Nice quote in Star Wars book 

4. Sign by a door we knocked on 

My Comp almost Died

Monday: Preparation day was pretty good. We spent the morning at the church, so we could email family and friends, then we went to the mall! We definitely went at the wrong time though lol. School has already started so a lot of the stores were closed because all the teenagers that would shop were in school. But it was a fun day!

Tuesday: Not a whole lot went on, on Tuesday. We did some park contacting which was fun, then we went and stopped by someone that is super cool in the YSA and set up a lesson with him! Then I got popcorn at our ward correlation which was nice. 

Wednesday: Exchange day!! I went with Elder Wilber our district leader and he is awesome! We had a meeting with Jorge's family (someone in the YSA that I'm teaching, but his fam is in their area) They are so awesome and hopefully they will be baptized soon!!

Thursday: By now you're all probably wondering how I haven't told you how my comp almost died yet. Well, all week he'd been having stomach pain and on Wednesday it was so bad that after I left for exchanges he stayed in our apartment with the other Elder. Then on Thursday it was really bad, so I went to zone conference while another Elder stayed with my comp. Then President asked how he was doing we said not good. President thought it could be appendicitis, so he left zone conference took Elder Cosentino to the hospital. It turned out to be appendicitis my comp had surgery while zone conference continued. Turns out if we would've waited until Friday his appendix would've burst and that is pretty dangerous. He's fine now just recovering. So that's how he almost died. 

Friday: went on another exchange with Elder Chang did some dot knocking in both our areas and that was basically the whole day. But I love Elder Chang he is awesome!!!

Saturday: Went with Elder Wilber for half the day, and Elder MaCurdy for the other half. Found some cool people that there gonna start teaching and met with an inactive member in my area that is going to start coming back! 

Sunday: I was inside all day with Elder Cosentino while he still recovers. We zoomed Sacrament and it was a great day! 

Pics: 

1. Elder Wilber and I on our way to the less active member's house

2. Cool sunset 

3. Exchange photo 

4. Brother Morrow's cool stuff 

5. Birthday package that I'm going to open on my birthday. 

Idk what to call this Email lol

Monday: Preparation day was a pretty laze day for us. I went to the church and emailed family and friends, then played basketball with Elder Wolfgramm and Elder Starky. We just played 21 but it was way fun to get playing again!!! Then I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time and it was actually pretty entertaining. 

Tuesday: Went to try and stop by a couple of people that have been taught before but didn't have any luck, then later that night we had dinner with a non-member named Mary and her daughter Gerri. They are awesome and hopefully they'll let us come over more so that we can start teaching them!!! 

Wednesday: So we were supposed to go on exchanges with Elder Wilder and MaCurdy but Elder Cosentino wasn't feeling to good so we didn't end up going with them. But Elder Chang wanted me to get out of the house a little bit so we went on a mini exchange and I went with Elder Thomas. I learned a cool new idea that we're gonna try with some people we're teaching 

Thursday: We had interviews and it was really good, President Carter is awesome!! Then we had an awesome lesson with Jorge and he is progressing really well!! After that we went and knocked on some doors and a lot of the people are super nice and respect what we are doing they just don't want to learn more because they have their own religion already. 

Friday: Really busy day where in the morning we bounced from district council to a new missionary class, then a follow up meeting about the same things that we talked about the first day that I got here. Then we had a lesson with our friend Brennon who is super cool and very biblically knowledgeable, so its fun to study with him and hear his points of views. 

Saturday: Walk day!!! Walk day is the 2nd Saturday of every month. Where we just drive to our area and then walk around so that we don't put as many miles on the cars. It was really hot but, while we were walking we had an impression to knock on this door that hadn't been knocked in a while, turns out the person had moved but the one that just moved in is open to us meeting with her!!! Then when we were walking around later that night we ran into these really cool guys who were working on a car. They were fun to talk to and respected what we're doing but are very active in a Roman Catholic church. 

Sunday was awesome, Jorge came to church which is amazing!! I had to speak in the YSA ward so hopefully people learned something from that.

Overall a pretty solid week! Love you all and feel free to send me an email!! 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!  

1. Cool pic of my ring 

2. Puzzle we did 

3. Big 5 dollar bill I found

4. Cool sky 

Just Another Week in the Mission

 Monday: Preparation day was so much fun and it was my first in the field which I was excited about. We started by going to the church and sending some emails. Then we went bowling with our district and it was a blast. I won the first game and we weren't able to finish the second because of time. Then we went back to the church and talked with our families and emailed some more. And talking to my family was awesome to hear what they are doing back home. Then we just hungout at church for a while before going shopping, which for it being my first time figuring out what to eat for the week I think I did a pretty good job. 

Tuesday: When we woke up Elder Cosentino wasn't feeling so good, but we got a call from some elders in the zone and they wanted help with service so we went and Elder Cosentino took it easy but after an hour needed to go home and rest. While he rested I read some good conference talks. Then I went on exchanges with Elder Chang(zone leader) and we went to his area's ward BBQ which was nice. And it was nice to get it out of the house!!! And I got my first package while being out which has a lot of cool stuff about fear, and how to get rid of it!!!! 

Wednesday: We had exchanges today and I went with Elder MaCurdy. He us a super good missionary and has been out for a while now. We went and did member visits and just got to know each other really well! Then we had a really good Book of Mormon study with a non member and it was an awesome time! I learned a lot from him and look forward to serving around him for the next little bit!!!

Thursday: Did our weekly plan and set some good goals that will push us and help us to be better missionaries. We also came up with some ideas to make finding fun so I can't wait to try those out. We did some service, and it was a really nice day! Had one lesson with Jorge and he asked some good questions at the end that we are answering next week!!!

Friday: We had a district council and that was way fun! Learned a lot about how to give commitments and how to respond when people keep them or break them. It was a pretty normal day until we street contacted, and we came across some kids our age who were drinking who wanted to talk to us. I was skeptical at first but we had a good conversation and me and Elder Cosentino got to answer some of their questions. Then when we got home we did a puzzle! 

Saturday: It started off a little slow, then we went on facebook and I started a conversation with a guy named Juiceman Juwan, and he is super cool, and has given me really cool ideas on how to be better at kendama, and hopefully we can start talking about the gospel soon!! Then we walked around at 3pm and it was so hot, and not worth it cause we didn't see anyone. Then we had a member visit, and she is so cool, but her husband is a non member but loves the missionaries. 

Sunday: I enjoyed all the testimonies from both the YSA ward, and the family ward. Then we got a call from a guy who used to serve here who was thinking about a lady he used to teach and thought that we should stop by, we did and she had been missing the missionaries and we are going back tomorrow to do some service and meet with her again!!!  

Pics:

1. Bowling on Preparation day I won!!

2. Puzzle we did

3. Package from home, FEAR NOT!!

4. Weird guy I drew

5. Lemon Park

6. Pretty sky

Simi California

Tuesday- Woke up at the mission home after a great night's rest and was ready to go and meet my Trainer!!! We had a meeting about missionary work, then lunch and then I met my trainer. His name is Elder Consentino. He's been out 7 months and I can't wait to get to know him a little bit better and get to work!!! Once I met him we headed to Simi California! We are over a YSA and a family ward, so that'll be fun. After I got settled in we went shopping and then went street contacting here. It is a really big thing here so I definitely have to get used to walking around and talking to strangers/non members that are in the area. Then we met the ward mission leader and he is awesome. He was converted about 12 years ago and loves the missionaries.  

Wednesday: For our workout we went and played Quad ball, which is a mix between soccer basketball football and chair soccer! We played it with the district and it was way fun! We went street contacting and it was a pretty good time. Then I had my first lesson with a guy named Aaron who is super cool, but enjoys getting distracted on different things. I made my own dinner for the first time in a long while and it was delicious. It was a great day!!!!

Thursday: Had a nice ab workout in the morning, which I regretted later because my stomach was killing me the rest of the day lol. Then we went and studied and it was pretty great. Then we had a lesson with a guy named Brennon who is a genius. He knows so much about all religions and just wants to find the true one. Which he came to the right people to find. We had a Book of Mormon read with him and he had a lot of questions which was nice. We made our monthly/weekly goals, let's hope that we can achieve them!!!!

Friday: We had district council this day and it was so much fun. We just get together with our district and talk about goals and our most progressing people, and see if the Elders have any ideas on how to help them make better progress. They had some great ideas that are going to help me and Elder Cosentino a lot. Then we had a visit with Brother Marrow and shared a message with him then he had some cool replicas of some Star Wars stuff. Then we read the Book of Mormon with our friend Jorge which was way nice and he is so ready to get baptized!!!! Then we had a delicious dinner with the Browns, he smoked some tri-tip and it was amazing. 

Saturday: Went to a cool park for comp study and they had disc golf so me and Elder Cosentino will have to make our way over there at some point and play. Then we had another Book of Mormon read with a guy named Oscar who is so cool, we just need to offer him some lessons. Then we went street contacting, and dot knockin and had no luck... Nobody was out walking and the doors that we knocked on either nobody was home, or they told us no thanks without opening the door. But we all have our bad days so it's alright. We played B-ball with the YSA which was a blast though!!

Sunday: It is the first time that I have seen a sacrament with no bishopric members, which was kind of cool, but unfortunate cause I didn't get to meet them... The talks were good but I loved how the 5th Sunday lesson was about missionary work. Hopefully everyone thinking about going decides to because I have already grown, learned, and done so many awesome things!!!

Sorry for the long email, it was quite the week! Hope all yours were amazing and that this next week is even better 

Love you all!!!!

Pics:

1.study area

2 3 4.Star wars 

5 me and my comp

6. My mission pres and wife

7. First bottle flip ever