ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN

"Do not go where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path, and blaze a trail."     anonymous

1. Caught a fish at Adam-ondi-Ahman!!

2. Wednesday culture night!! And Book of Mormon read

3. Crazy sunrise 

4. Nice morning workouts

5. Held this guy's chicken!! Actually super soft

Next week will be longer!

 

LEAP OF FAITH

"Get your tools ready: God will find the work"

                                                  

What a crazy week.  It went by super fast and was super busy.  Here are some highlights from this week.

Went fishing with the zone and going this p-day as well. We're going to Adam-ondi-Ahman to fish which will be super cool.  Last Tuesday we got 2 people on Date for baptism.  A 14 year old named Jace and a 21 year old named Jenna. Both super excited and can't wait to get baptized. Jace already posted on his Facebook telling everyone when he's getting baptized and how excited he is, so that's pretty dope! Jenna has been talking with missionaries for a while but never wanted to make that leap of faith she finally came to the conclusion that the BoM was true after praying about it and so she was ready for baptism.  That was super cool to see how much she changed since I've been out here. That same night we went down to the Zone Leaders and had a big sleepover.  We had a camp fire in the driveway and had a bunch of Mountain Dew.  The next morning we played basketball for 2 hours which was lit. Finally got to play actual basketball.  We could only play one on one because our mission is kinda weird like that... but it was better than nothing. Then on Thursday we had volleyball night like always which was super super fun.  Tons of non-memebers showed up and all the tongans which was a party. Friday was awesome we had an amazing lesson with Nancy and she committed to going yo church and praying every night. Then we went to Devin and Amy's and taught them about the restoration. All the kids loved having us over and Amy was almost in tears after hearing the first vision. I'm hoping they come to church next Sunday.  They're such a great family and have been through so much.  The way home was amazing because the stars were so bright and we rolled the windows down and cranked the music. Saturday was rough. We stayed inside till like 4:00 who knows why... Facebook is a drag sometimes. But we had a great dinner and had a fire lesson after. The sunset was so beautiful so it made up for the long day.  Church was so great felt the spirit so strongly. NANCY went to church.  She was feeling the spirit so strongly. Dinner was  amazing with the coolest members. They invited us to a turkey bowl and to go sledding when it snows.  He said he sits on his porch and kills dear with his bow just sitting there. 

Pics:

1: Camp fire

2: Long drives

3: My favorite Tongan kid

4 Morning run!! 

5. Blue shirt Friday

6-7. Sunset pics!! 

 

LOVE HEARING OUR MESSAGE

"HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT IF YOU

HAVE DONE A LITTLE THING WELL, YOU 

CAN DO A BIGGER THING WELL, TOO."

1. Front yard of a members house, right after a dinner. The dinner was worth the 40 minute drive.

2. Doing service at Donna's again!!

3. Went and hangout with the tongans!! Had some amazing food and this kid was following me around the whole night!! I still don't know how to say his name...

4. Rewarded ourselves after a long morning of meeting and went to China one!!

5. Taco Bell!! (On Robyn) we were in desperate need of taco bell after 3 hours of driving. But after taco bell we found the best family that has 3 kids and they all love when we come over. The kids always get super excited and the parents love hearing our messages. They've been through so much and we're hoping we can make there family happier and hopefully get them baptized!!

6. Beautiful view while driving!!

7. Members new dog June!!

 

 

Baptism

FIRST BAPTISM

 "Pray as if everything depended on God, and then work as if everything depended on you."

First Baptism on the mission for me. My comp baptized them and confirmed them because they didn't know me till the night before their baptism. But it was still such a cool experience to see Meranda and Johnathan receive the blessings that come from baptism.

The next highlight was Donna. Donna had us over to do some service and was the nicest lady.  She isn't a member but her husband was, but he passed away about a year ago. She told us we looked like angels and that her husband was with us.  She then said a prayer with us and said next time we come over we won't be serving,  we'll be teaching her.

We also had a crazy teaching this week. We went over to Larry's because he had a date for baptism this Saturday, but we had to push it back a couple week. Larry is about 80 years old and has shingles all down his right arm so he always gives the left handshake. But when we got there to give the lesson he was putting the dog in the cage before letting us in, and he tripped and fell and hit his head on the door.  He started bleeding a ton and we hurried inside, helped him stand up and got him all bandaged up. He fell three times last week but is really hoping he doesn't have to go back to a nursing home because he hated it so much and loves living in his own house.  We gave him a priesthood blessing and he was so happy and thankful.  That was my first priesthood blessing that I've given which was really cool to feel the spirit so strongly. We'll go over a bunch this week and ask how he's doing and hopefully get him back on track for baptism. 

Pics:

1. Donna

2. Chinese buffet

3. Service for Brother Smith 

4. Pre-Baptism

5. Baptism 

 

LITTLE TOWN CALL TRENTON 

"Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% what we 

decide to do about it."  Thomas Edison

What a crazy last two weeks. My last week in the CCM was good but I was totally ready to get out of there! I'm now in Missouri and have my trainer and my first area.  My comp is such a cool guy and helps me out with everything. I'm in an English assignment right now which I'm grateful for and I'm in the boonies.  We're about 2 hours away from Kansas city in a little town called Trenton. When I first started driving out here I was very nervous about being out in the middle of no where, but the ward is soooo cool.  The first night here we went and played volleyball for about an hour and a half.  There's so many Tongans out here who know how to party and eat some food. They've been so nice to me and I've already made so many friends.  All the teenagers made handshakes with me the 3rd day of being here. We've been so busy these last 4 days of being put here. Especially with conference and tons of ward activities. Conference was such a great opportunity to invite people who weren't members to come eat food and watch our prophet speak.  We've had dinner every night from members and it's been so good. We drove about 30 minutes to go to this dinner out in the middle of nowhere with the Smiths they were the nicest people ever and had the best enchiladas.  I've been in a couple lessons already and they have gone over really well. We have another lesson tomorrow with a nonmember who I gave my first Book of Mormon too.  Can't wait to see how he's doing and how we can help him with finding true happiness.  We have 2 baptisms on Saturday that I can't wait to see.  Another really cool thing I did the first day was going and seeing Liberty jail.  It was super cool to see what they did and hear about all the cool facts about Joseph Smith and his faith in Jesus Christ. As we went out to my area we passed Adam-ondi-Ahman, and my comp said we can go fishing there he said only the missionaries are able to fish there, so it's a super nice fishing area.

1: The nice Missouri sunset!!

2: My trainer and I with the shades on

3: saying goodbye to the CCM

4. First time being with my trainer!!

5: The family tree