What? I'm done?

Well, there goes two years. My mission is over. I'm almost all packed up and ready to take off tomorrow morning to the mission office. Time flies so quickly. The mission in North Carolina has been one of the best experiences of my life. I've been able to meet so many awesome people and I wouldn't trade it for anything. This week was great. I had my last zone conference and bore my departing testimony and I am proud to say, I was able to get through the whole thing without crying, I am actually pretty surprised. This week I've pretty much been out of it, but I am excited for the future. Love y'all!

My Last Bike Week

16 October

Yup, this last week was my last bike week. Which honestly, I'm not really going to miss. I mean, I like riding bikes and all, but when it is your only form of transportation and the roads are not exactly the safest, you kind of get sick of it. So yeah, I am freaking out a little. I'm having a harder time sleeping at night because my mind just keeps racing about how my time is running out. It's pretty scary. This week was pretty hot, especially for October, I should have known since it was my last bike week. Things are good in Waxhaw, there was a big festival over the weekend and since we are in downtown Waxhaw, our yard was filled with cars and we could hear everything from our house. Pretty fun. So missionary work wise, things ain't so hot, all of our investigators are falling off and we are having a hard time finding new people to teach, but things will work out eventually. Well, love y'all, talk to ya from NC for the last time next week!

What's up?

9 October

So this week was okay. Tuesday was pretty crazy though. We got called in to the mission office to fix our Tiwi machine in our car, so we drove all the way to the mission office. It took a while to fix, but we got to hang out with the mission office couples, and they are great. Afterwards we went to lunch with a couple Elders in the Reedy Creek Ward, I got to see Elder Haycock again! We then had to go to Firestone because our car guy said we needed to so we thought it would be an hour thing then we would get the car back and go home. But they wanted to keep it overnight so we were stranded in Weddington. It took three hours for us to find a ride and we went straight to dinner, then to meetings at the church that night. So we basically got nothing done that day. Oh well. We went on exchanges on Friday, I went up to Sharon with Elder Berryhill. It was good. Um, well, that's about it. The week was good, everything's about the same, livin the dream. Love ya!

General Conference Week!

Man General Conference was great! Other than that this week was sort of okay. I went on exchanges on Wednesday with Elder Rives in Sharon. It was good. 

I loved the talks in General Conference. We watched the Saturday morning session at a member's house and they served us brunch right beforehand. It was really good. The next session we watched at the church and then we went to the priesthood session that night. The next morning we were able to watch conference in our house by streaming it from our tablets. Then we went to a member's house for the afternoon session. It took forever. We had a couple investigators over at their house to watch it with us. He had so many random questions that we had to pause General Conference and address the questions. They had to leave at 7:00 and by the time 7:00 came around, we hadn't even listened to half of the session, so we had to watch the rest of it after they left. We didn't get out of there until 8:30. But it was good. I'll have to review the sessions, especially the last one. But I liked Elder Nelson's talk. He mentioned his granddaughter, Olivia, who went to school with me! Kind of funny. Anyways, sorry I don't have any pictures for this week. I'll try harder to find some time to take photos😕. Love y'all!

Bike Week

Yeah, this week kind of stunk. We biked all over the place and had no dinners. It kind of stunk. Tuesday we did exchanges and I got to be with Elder Johnsen in Waxhaw and it was fun. But that was about it for the week. We had district meeting on Wednesday, and that went well, and then we had interviews with President on Friday, and afterwards we were stranded at the stake center for a couple hours until we were able to get some other missionaries to give us a ride home. Well, that's about it for the week. Today marks one month left of my mission, so crazy. Hopefully my last four weeks will be better than this one 😑 Love y'all

The Last Transfer

So this week I started my last transfer. I'm tripping out a little bit. But it will be a good transfer. 

On Tuesday we dropped off Elder Lewis and picked up Elder Fife. I'll miss Lewis, but Elder Fife is a good guy. He is from Sandy, Utah and went to one of my rival high schools, Jordan, and we are different in a lot of ways. He's a die hard Ute fan, I'm a die hard BYU fan. He's a huge soccer fan, I'm a huge football fan. He likes Coke and Pepsi, I'm more of a Dr. Pepper guy, among some other things, but we get along. He's been out for about 13 months, so he's pretty experienced. We weren't able to have many teaching opportunities this week, but from what I've seen, he knows his stuff and he'll totally be able to take over the area after this transfer. 

This week we had some interesting contact attempts. We went to go contact a Bible referral we got and we drove all the way out into the boonies. We got to the address and couldn't find a driveway leading up to the house. The house was literally surrounded by soybean crops and had a tree growing through the front porch. So we wasted a lot of miles going there, but oh well. We also went to another house to contact a less active. We walked up to the door and there were spider webs EVERYWHERE. Usually spiders don't really freak me out too much, and I wasn't totally creeped out. But when you are standing on a porch, literally surrounded by spider webs and gigantic palm sized spiders, you get a little antsy. I wish I had taken pictures cause some of those spiders were nuts! But Elder Fife wanted to leave as soon as possible😊, which I understand. 

This week I also was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting on the Book of Mormon, so I was chill with that. It's a pretty easy subject to talk on. I enjoyed preparing for the talk, and I think it went pretty well. 

So yeah, that's the week, Irma's gone, and we just got a little bit of rain and wind but nothing crazy. So yeah, love y'all!

Irma is Coming

Elders Huff & Lewis

So this week everybody was freaking out about the hurricane that was going to directly hit us, supposedly it's a huge one too. Luckily it moved out west so it won't directly hit us, so we'll be fine, but I have to admit, I almost wished it more directly hit us, that would have been exciting. We still will be seeing some effects of the storm though. Right now it is still super dark outside, the clouds are super thick and we'll be getting a lot of rain and wind, but nothing crazy. 

Oh, so transfers. We got calls this morning and it turns out Elder Lewis is going to be going to Gibsonville NC, right outside of Greensboro. 😢 Being with Elder Lewis was a lot of fun, he's a stud and I'll miss him. I'm getting a guy named Elder Fife. We'll see. 

This week was great, we found a couple new investigators and both of them are from Africa! You know they are great if they are from Africa, literally the best people to teach. 

This week a guy in this ward left on his mission to Guatemala. He had been hanging out with us a lot. He helped us out with rides and stuff a lot. Anyways, seeing him go just reminded me of how nervous I was going into the MTC almost two years ago. It is so hard to believe that my time here on my mission is coming to a close. I've got one transfer left and I'm determined to make it a great transfer and go out with a bang. I'm actually about as nervous about going home as I was coming out here. Yikes, time flies when you are having fun. Love y'all! Have a great week!

Elders Huff & Fife

Eh Weeks

4 September – Eh week x2

So yeah, this week wasn't much better than last. We were able to get in contact with some former investigators that are pretty cool but I'm not how fast they'll progress, if at all. It was bike week too, so we didn't get around as much as we wanted. We also had a lot of drama. One of our investigators was going to get married to a less active in the ward so he could get baptized, but the day of the wedding, he came home and found her drunk and he wasn't happy. They got in a fight and she broke his nose and bit him. So he was fed up and he packed his stuff and left to his mom's house in Gastonia. So it kind of put a wrench in the whole baptism thing. He still wants to get baptized but he's not ready yet. We'll see what we can do. That's pretty much the week, pretty bleh. Hopefully this week will be better. Love y'all!

28 August – Eh week

This week was alright, but it was a little rough. It seemed like nobody was home this week. Probably because it was the last week before school so people were doing their last minute vacationing. This was our last week with the car so we lost it today😓. Oh well.

We had zone conference this week on Thursday. It was really good. It had a big emphasis on the Book of Mormon, so I think I'll try and read the Book of Mormon one more time all the way through on my mission. After the conference we did exchanges and Elder Rives came to Waxhaw with me. He's a cool guy, he sort of likes to bend the rules, but oh well, what can you do other than trying to be a good example. 

We had a bunch of pizza this week and I almost never want to have pizza again, I'm getting a little sick of it. I literally had it six times this week for meals! I mean, don't get me wrong, if I was going to have one specific food for the rest of my life, pizza would be up there. And I guess I have no room to complain because I'm not even paying for it. 

Ray is doing well. We are working with him and he's almost set to be baptized but he has a few complications that might make it hard. He is going to get married this Saturday, so that will help him out. We'll see what's happening and keep y'all updated. Other than that, I can't really think of anything else that happened this week. Talk to y'all next week! Love ya!

Baptisms, baptisms, and baptisms!

This week was crazy. So on Wednesday I went to go interview Edward's brother for baptism, then on Thursday I attended his baptism, which was great. I got to see Edward and the Fowler family from the Mountain Island Ward. 

Then on Friday I interviewed the Sharon Sister's investigator for baptism. She is a 9 year old girl and she was ready. 

Then on Saturday I went back to Harrisburg and I got to see Galiano get baptized! It was so great, he and his family were super happy. It was great. 

We went on exchanges this week. Elder Berryhill came down to Waxhaw with me. It was a good exchange. 

This week was a little rough. It seemed like nobody was home and we hard a hard time getting in contact with anybody. We were in a neighborhood yesterday and a lady seemed to be stalking us but we kind of paid it no mind and kept going. A few minutes later she drove up again with a cop right behind her. She rolled down her window, pointed at me, and said, "Suspect one," then pointed to Lewis, "Suspect two." Anyways, so we had to have a nice friendly conversation with the cop while the lady was glaring at us. The cop told us we were fine and the lady flipped out. She wanted him to arrest us and she was literally screaming at the cop as we rode away. Anyway, we met some super nice people later that day so it made up for it. 

The eclipse was pretty cool today. It wasn't a complete eclipse where we were, but it got really close and it got pretty dark. It was cool. 

Anyways, that was the week. It was a little rough for us, but things worked out. Love y'all!

Third Bike Week in a Row!

Elders Lewis & Huff in Waxhaw

So yeah, my last week in Harrisburg was a bike week, and the first two weeks in Waxhaw I've been on bikes, I am so ready to get the car. There has just been a lot of complications with the cars in the missions so we got a little jipped. We get the car today so I am pumped. I've learned this week that Waxhaw has a lot of hills, big ones too. It's been a good week. 

I went on two exchanges this week. Since I'm a district leader now, I get to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and elders in my district. So Wednesday after district meeting I went with Elder Morgan to the Pineville area. It was a good day. I had never really met him before so it was a good way to get to know him. He's a good guy. Then the next day we switched up and I went with Elder Rives and Elder Berryhill in the Sharon Ward. It was fun to be back in Charlotte again, and honestly, I kind of miss it. Waxhaw is great, but we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It is a pretty wealthy area too, so the houses are all far apart which makes it hard to knock doors. But the town is great. It is a really happening little town. There are a couple pretty good little diners in downtown Waxhaw, and I've been to a couple and they are really good. 

Yesterday the youth did a really great activity. It's called prepare the way. So basically, the youth got a bunch of surveys with questions about the church on them and went out and knocked doors. The people would take the surveys, which basically asks them if they want to learn what we have to teach, and then the youth gives their information to us! Yesterday we got 21 referrals! Which is nuts! We are going to be working hard this next week trying to contact them all, I'm excited. Well, I'll make sure to tell y'all how great car week is next week! Love y'all!

The Haw

7 August

So I got moved out of Harrisburg last week. Sorry for the poopy email last week. I was saying goodbye to a lot of missionaries. This week was eventful...obviously. 

So Tuesday morning I got up, finished packing, then a member came to pick us up. I had to go to Salisbury and my companion had to go to Hilliard which are in opposite directions, so we dropped off Elder Ashton at another member's house then Brother Dunn took me to Salisbury and dropped me off. There I met my new companion Elder Lewis and a member of the ward, Sister Hargus, took us home. She apparently is in charge of the missionary mom's Facebook page so she knows like, all the missionaries. And she's like a missionary mom to all of them. We had to stop by the Hilliard building anyway to pick up a loaner bike for me because my bike is still in the shop. I got to see a bunch of missionaries that were going home like Elder Hulet and Elder Richins. So that was good. 

We them drove down to Waxhaw. It's a lot different than my other areas. First of all, we live in a house! It's the first time in a long time that I have my own closet and bathroom, pretty sweet. It's in the middle of downtown Waxhaw, it's a quaint little town and it's quite the lively town. It's about the size that Newton was, but it's a lot more happening and a lot more wealthy. Since I've been here I've seen a Maclaren, a Maserati, and a Lamborghini. Kind of crazy. We live right next to the train tracks and since we lived right next to the train tracks in Harrisburg I'm pretty used to it. 

It was a humid week this week. It wasn't too hot, but all the sweat would make you think differently. The members here are pretty nice...and pretty $$$$$. We went out a lot this week with a couple priests, this ward has a HUGE youth program, there are like 80 youth, it's crazy. So we have a lot of priests who are willing to come out with us. We were with one in a neighborhood and we were knocking on some doors and we had some pretty rude people but we didn't really think about it much, but I guess they called the cops. So before you know it we have a cop following us, then pulling us over as we were walking. You could tell he knew we weren't soliciting, but he told us to leave, so that was fun. It reminds me of the Summerfield days. 

Well, anyways, I'm in a district with the Sharon Sisters, Sharon Elders, and the Providence Sisters. It's a good district so it'll be fun. We are hanging out with the Sharon Elders. One of the Elders went to Brighton High School. That makes four missionaries in this mission that went there, pretty funny. Things are good here, I'm still figuring out the area, and there seems to be a lot of good things going on here. I'll let you know more about the work next week! Love y'all!

Elders Ashton & Huff

So many to catch up with . . .

31 July – Last week in Harrisburg

So yeah, I'm leaving Harrisburg. It's been a great 4 1/2 months. This is a great area and great ward. I'm going to miss a bunch of people here and I'm gonna miss all the great missionary work. So to Waxhaw I go! I am really having a hard time focusing right now, I'm a little creeped out with how much time I have left and this will probably be my last move in the mission. I'll make sure to have a better email next week! Love ya!

24 July – So, I’m a little old

So..... I just realized that I don't have much time left. Today we went to a trampoline park for district activity, the same trampoline park I went to at the beginning of my mission...about 21 months ago... I also got something in the mail this week. In this mission when you have about three months left you get the Sprint letter, it basically is a piece of paper you sign saying you give it your all your last three months. I haven't opened my letter yet. Anyways, this week had its good parts and its stinky parts. Let's just get the bad parts out of the way. So we finally got in contact with Galliano's dad to get permission for him to get baptized...and his dad said no😭😭😭😭 We are all pretty sad about it. But we found a big family this week so we are excited to start working with them. We had zone conference this week all the way up in High Point. We couldn't find a ride so we stayed the night at the Reedy Creek Elders' apartment and then in the morning got up and drove to High Point. It was a really good meeting. There are a lot of missionaries going home this transfer so a lot of missionaries gave departing testimonies. Then we had to drive back, we got stuck in traffic, we dropped the elders off then went home. By the time we got home it was about time to call it for the day. It took way too long. I don't know who made the decision to do the conference all the way up in High Point. So transfers are coming up again, so crazy. So by next week I'll know what's going to be happening! So crazy. Well. Hopefully y'all have a great week and stay classy!

17 July – Yo yo yo

So this week was good. We had district meeting again this week and it went pretty well. Afterwards we went on exchanges. I stayed in Harrisburg with Elder Brown. It was good. Man, I am drawing a blank on what even happened this week. We taught a couple good lessons. We saw Karrington again, Elder Brown and I did. It was a pretty good discussion. We didn't get to teach very much but we talked for a while about what she expects out of us and what we expect out of her, it was good. I think she will progress but it will be a very slow progress. We saw Niva again this week, and had a good talk with her. We also met with Joshua again this week. We brought the same member we brought last week, and we had a ridiculously long discussion with him. It got pretty heated and our member just got up and left the house after a certain point. It was pretty bad. We were able to get things calmed  down and finished on a good note, and the member took us to Taco Bell afterwards. Well, we had a pretty good week, sorry this email is pretty bogus, but I am drawing a blank, so sorry. I'll have a good email next week. Love ya!

10 July – Elder Tumblerina

So Saturday night I took a little tumble, it didn't feel very good. I was riding my bike and I was about to pull into our apartment complex but some dude pulled out right in front of me, so I had to take some evasive action. I missed the car, but I didn't miss the pavement, I crashed pretty hard. Luckily I didn't hit my head, but I destroyed my pants and my elbows. I was bleeding pretty bad, but things are okay now. I am still missing a chunk out of my right elbow, but hopefully that heals up pretty quick-like. Other than that, the week was still...eh...okay. It started out pretty good. We found a few new people to try to teach and then Tuesday night it was the Fourth of July. Elder Brown had MLC the next day so we stayed the night at their apartment so we could take Elder Haycock for the day. The next day we were in a tri companionship so that was pretty fun. We had fun. Thursday we had interviews with President and district meeting. Everything went well. We were the last to get interviewed so we were there forever. Well, yesterday was pretty good. We had a few people at church, but things didn't go well with James this week. He kind of told us off this week. He still wants to meet with us, but not progress, kind of a bummer. Oh well, anything can happen. We get the car back this week, so I'm excited. Well, hopefully y'all have a great week!

3 July – Hello there

This week was pretty good. We are now in a tri share now, which means we get the car for two weeks and bikes for only one week. I have been in a car share the last six months so I'm glad we get the car a little more as we head into summer. We get one week with a Chevy Cruze then one with a 2017 Chevy Malibu. It's definitely not a car I would want to own, but it is pretty nice. I feel like I'm driving a robot. I never have to get the key out of my pocket, I can lock and unlock it just by pushing buttons on the car handles and it has a really nice display and backup camera. It also has a feature that you could use that keeps you in between the traffic lines without you even touching the wheel. Pretty crazy, and anyway, enough about the car. The first half of the week wasn't super great just kind of a regular week. I went on exchange with Elder Haycock in Harrisburg, that was pretty fun. He messed up his ankle playing basketball a little over a week ago so he was walking around on crutches so I had to help gimpy out all day, it was fun. So a couple weeks ago we had dinner with a family in the ward, and the husband and boy were talking about how they have to eat healthy all the time. I mentioned that I had Lucky Charms for breakfast and the dad looked at me with big eyes and said, "I haven't had those in forever!" So this week he came out with us on teams and we prepared an extra large bag of Lucky Charms for him. We had a pretty good laugh over that one. Saturday we had a super long talk with this dude. He was a pretty nice guy, but he was bashing us hard core. We were there for an hour and a half trying to answer some of the weirdest questions he would ask. We are going to see him this next Saturday so pray for us😅. We met an awesome new investigator last night. Her name is Karrington, and she is great. We had kind of run out of people to see and we still had an hour left before we had to get in. So we called her, she said she was sick, but if we didn't mind risking getting sick. So we went right over and taught an awesome lesson. It went really well. She's an MMA fighter and a criminal investigator! Pretty awesome. We get to meet the coolest people out here on our missions, it's great. Well, we had a pretty good week, hopefully we'll have a great next week! Love y'all!

26 June – The week of complications

So yeah, this week, things got a little complicated this week with all of our investigators. So James moved out of our area, two streets out of our area...pretty stinky. We talked to bishop about it and he wants us to move him over to Reedy Creek and hand him over to the other elders. Then we went to tell James and he got mad and he said he doesn't want to move wards and if he was coming to church, he was going to come with us, so now we have a power struggle going on and we don't know what to do. We also have a boy that moved in with returning member family and wants to get baptized but we first have to get permission from his dad in Haiti, so that might take a while, just stuff like that all week long. We are still busy, just things are complicated. The highlight of the week was we were invited by a less active member to a family party with her. It was pretty crazy. We were the only white people there. It was great. Other than that, I can't really remember what happened this week. Things are going well, we just keep working hard and hope for good things to come. Love y'all!

SWEATY Week

So this week, it started to get warm, seeing that this next Wednesday is the first day of summer I guess it's kind of fitting. I don't think I'll ever get used to how humid it can get here. Almost every evening this last week huge storm clouds would roll in and it would start raining. Tuesday was the worst. It poured! 

So, I got my new tablet this week, I picked it up, had to get a new case and now it is mine. Kind of crazy. I have to admit, I do not like this one nearly as much as my IPad, but at least I still have one, and for that I am grateful. Bike week was this week, and we biked a bunch. I felt like biking a bunch this week so we did. Elder Ashton didn't like it, but we did it anyways, we biked across a lot of our area. That's why we were so sweaty this week. This week was transfer calls week. We got the news Saturday night...we are both staying! Our whole district is pretty much staying, which is great cuz we have a great district. But uhh, I gotta go sorry. Love y'all!

The Week of Service

This week we did a lot of service, probably a little too much. On Tuesday we went on exchange with the zone leaders. Elder Bingham joined me in Harrisburg. It was good to go on exchange with him one more time. We had great exchanges in Mtn Island and Huntersville, so it was cool to have one last exchange before he goes home this transfer. We helped a brother in the ward build a shed in his backyard. This time we helped put up the roof frames, I got to sit on the beams and hammer the nails in place, it was pretty fun. 

Wednesday we did service at Habitat for Humanity and Thursday we helped a lady in the ward plant some more flowers in her garden and dig some holes. 

Saturday morning we went with one of the senior couples to help do some garden work at a homeless shelter place. There were people from a different ward in the south stake there...and guess what!?! Edward was there!! I was really bummed because when I lost my IPad his number was on it so I lost it, but tender mercies! He was there and I was able to talk to him for a while. Anyway, that was fun. Other than service we had zone conference on Friday and that one was really good. I was in a musical number that turned out pretty good. We saw James a couple times this week. He's still working on his housing situation and he sent his kids off to Wilmington with their mom for a little bit while he gets everything in order. He came to church again this Sunday and it was great to see him there. 

We weren't able to find that many new people this week, but things were pretty good. Hopefully this week will be even better! Love y'all!

The week of bleh 😫

So yeah, this past week was pretty dreadful. Things just went wrong all week long. Last Monday I wasn't able to write emails because I was busy filing a police report on my stolen IPad at Wal-Mart. It stinks a lot. Even though I filed the report nothing has come up, and I don't think I'm gonna get my IPad back...ever. The person who stole it is going to be really disappointed when he finds out the only websites he can get on are mormon.org, lds.org, and Facebook, and that's if he/she can even get past my lock screen. A senior couple filed a stolen IPad report and the church will completely wipe the IPad remotely so the thief won't be able to see any confidential information. I'm just bummed out because of all of the stuff I lost from it. What's good though is that I still have most of the important things from it. When I was with Elder Bollschweiler I was prompted to buy a wireless storage USB, and I put all my pictures, music, and study material on it, and thank goodness I did. And because I logged in on gospel library I still have all of my markings, tags, and notes in the app. I am so grateful for the technology that the Lord has blessed us with. You might be wondering what I am emailing on, I currently am in possession of a loaner Samsung tablet. I'll have this one until I purchase my new one💲💲💲💲. 

So yeah, that was my last P-day, a fitting start for a pretty stinky week. We just got shut down in everything this week. I got sick on Wednesday or Thursday (I can't remember which one, I'm trying to forget this week😂), so that basically ruined the day. On Tuesday we had to go renew our bus passes so we went to Uptown and on the way the bus had delay after delay after delay. We got our passes, then headed back, got caught in a torrential downpour, hid at a gas station until it lightened up, then went to dinner. I must have eaten too much cuz when I took off my belt that night, it broke. A piece in the buckle snapped off, and it made me sad because I love that belt. I also lost my keys this week too, I guess I left them in the mailbox on accident so the USB that had all my stuff on it was gone too. I also lost my clip nametag that I have had since the beginning of my mission. Man, this week was hard. But I made it through, and I guess Heavenly Father decided to bless me...a lot by the end of the week. 

I found my nametag in the washing machine miraculously, I super glued the broken piece of the belt and it actually worked a lot better than I thought it would, my belt is back in commission, some guy left a note and told us he had found my keys and had kept them just to keep them safe, I was able to retrieve them later in the day. And I guess some members heard about my tablet situation and how I would have to pay $351 to get a new tablet and I was pretty bummed about it, because last night we got a knock on the door. We answered it and there was just a note in the door for Elder Huff. I thought it was a little strange but I opened it and almost fell to the floor. Someone in the ward anonymously and graciously gave me $300 to help replace my tablet. I was extremely touched. I was up all last night trying to think of who it could be but I reached no definite conclusion. Sometimes as a missionary you feel a little disconnected from other non-missionary people around you and you kind of feel like lone wolves, but God will never leave us alone, he will place all around us people that really care for us and will aid you so much in your journey in life. I can't even express how grateful I am to that amazing member who has known me for just over 2 months, and yet decided to help me in such a huge way. People; THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! And such big acts of charity and the innumerable blessings the Lord rains down on me just strengthens my faith. 

Yesterday was also great because we were able to to see James, April, and the kids (Javon, Steffon, Jaison, Samajay, and Aubrielle) come to church! Such a huge miracle! The kids had a blast in Primary and James and April loved it too. They say they would be back for sure so we are pretty excited for them. They are great. 

I slept walked for the first time in a long time this week. Kind of freaked Elder Ashton out a little. It took him a little while to realize that I was sleep walking. When he realized, he took a video and it's pretty funny. 

Anyway, that's about the week. It pretty much was rotten until Sunday, then it went amazing! God is good! Love y'all! Talk to ya next week!

So yeah, I have to write this quick email from my companion's tablet...because mine was stolen. It's what happens when you take your eye off of it for a few minutes at Walmart. I filled out a police report and hopefully we'll get it back, but today's been one heck of a day, sorry, I won't be able to write my typical email to everybody, but just tell everyone I love them, and hopefully I'll email next week...hopefully. Love ya

Getting Hot, Hot, Hot (plus the last two weeks' letters)

So this week it started getting pretty warm, nature has pleasantly reminded me of what sweat really is again. We've been on bikes this week so things were pretty sweaty.

This week was pretty good. We did a lot of bussing, biking, walking, and sitting waiting for busses, or trying to run after busses that came a little too early, and so on and so forth. I don't know what was up with this week but, we just didn't seem to have any time. It seemed to just slip out of our fingers. We were able to see James a few times this week and he is doing great. We had two lessons with him this week and set his girlfriend and daughter on BD for July 29th, we're pretty excited for them. James and his daughter, Samajay, came to church yesterday too! They really liked it, especially Samajay (James was falling asleep throughout the whole thing, he had a rough night). He told me that when I get transferred he's going move to where I get transferred to. I really like the guy and hope he is able to sort out his life and be baptized, I'll be so excited for him. 

We had exchanges this week and I went on exchange with Elder Haycock. He came to Harrisburg with me, we had a pretty good time. 

Elder Ashton found his favorite member group. We went to dinner this week with a family and he and the father of the family talked the whole time about RPG games and how the ward has a group of guys that get together and play them on certain nights. I'll have to make sure to really keep track of him on those nights, make sure he doesn't just disappear😂. 

So yeah, things are going well here in Harrisburg, I'm still alive, nice and sweaty, but alive. 

So...we have to find someone to help us today by taking us out shopping, the missionaries that share the car with us managed to get the car towed, so.....today's going to be an adventure. We might just have to take the bus to go shopping, we'll see. 

Love y'all, hope you have a great week!

15 May – Transfer week

So I sent off Elder Bollschweiler this week. I got Elder Ashton. He's an interesting dude, he's really smart, and has gained almost as much weight as I did in his mission, I'm not alone! He comes from Utah and has basically taken over the area. He kind of reminds me of the guy in the Best Two Years, the new Elder. He is a really good guy. It seems like this week was really long. 

Well, the Skype call was great, the week upcoming will be great love y'all!

8 May – So not much time

So sorry, but this email will be short. We are having one last zone activity and saying goodbye to people. So we got transfer news. Elder Bollschweiler is leaving to go to Mt. Airy. I'll miss the kid. I am getting Elder Ashton. Elder Christensen is leaving too, I'll miss him too, I probably won't see him before he goes home. This week was good, we biked a lot and I wiped Elder Bollschweiler out. We biked hard. I also went on exchanges with Elder Christensen for the last time. It was pretty fun. We didn't take any pictures though. We did go to lunch with John Yang from Newton-Conover. I used to work with him. He's a cool guy. We went and got PHO. 

Anyways, I'll let you know more next week. Love Y'all!

Yo Yo Yo

Hey y'all, how are all y'all? I'm doing just fine here in the great state of NC, this week it started to get warmer and a lot more humid. Elder Bollschweiler is having a fun time with it😀. 

Things this week were alright. We did service at Habitat for Humanity Restore. We usually do it weekly. 

We had zone conference on Friday, and that was fun. It was a good meeting. After the meeting we went on exchanges. 

Elder Haycock came with me to Harrisburg and we went to the ward chili cook off. It was really good. Elder Bollschweiler was not happy that he missed it, and verbalized it very strongly to all of the members we have seen since. It was a silent auction too, which was cool because the members at our table got some cool desserts that they shared with us. We had a fun, but short exchange, the next day at about noon we exchanged back and ate at Taco Bell. 

We had a pretty fun day today, we had a zone activity where we split into two different teams and went on a scavenger hunt in Uptown. It was fun. I'll send some pictures.

Scavenger Hunt Group

It it pouring right now, Elder Bollschweiler and I got soaked just from taking the groceries inside from the car. We'll see what we are able to do tonight in the rain, we just started bike week! Yay! Woah, lightning just struck pretty close, my ears are now ringing from the thunder. I'm gonna send this before the power goes out, I don't have much more to talk about anyways.

Love Y'all! Have a great week!

A week that flew by

Man, this week went by real quickly, I can barely remember it. Tuesday was kind of rough at first. We biked around all day. I remember saying that I've never had problems with my bike, but Tuesday changed that. I put my bike on the bus bike rack and after the bus ride, I took it off and the back tire was completely flat -- no air whatsoever. I guess the tube had just worn out so I'm gonna have to get a new one. When I got the flat we were right next to Walmart, so we went inside to find a tube, but I guess my bike is a little special because it has hybrid tires. It has tubes the size of a mountain bike, but instead of the standard valve it has a presta valve, so Walmart does not have that sort of tube. So I had to borrow Elder Christensen's bike for the rest of the week. 

That night was good though. Our WML came out with us that night and we visited James McRae and his kids. He is a great guy and his kids are really funny and smart. We had a great lesson with him and we also saw him on Thursday and read some of the Book of Mormon with him. Both were great lessons, so we're pretty excited about him. 

Wednesday we went to district meeting and I gave a training on the Book of John. President had us read the whole book of John before Easter, and so I was asked to go over some of the highlights for me. I really like John because it feels a lot more personal than the other three gospels and he really emphasizes God's love for us and how we can show our love to him. 

So other than riding around on my borrowed bike, I also rode around with a borrowed helmet. Last week I had the helmet on my bike, on the car rack, and when we parked and got out of the car, the helmet was gone. So right now I am using Elder Everrett's, because he's not using it anymore. A couple weeks ago he decided to go  home 🙁. I guess his anxiety got to him too much or something like that, kind of a bummer. 

That takes us into Friday. Friday was pretty hot and was going pretty slow. Elder Bollschweiler was complaining about how hot it was and I just think about the summer that is yet to come and I hope he does okay. That night we went to a rodeo! That's right, a rodeo. I guess the Zone Leaders had signed us up to do some service at the local rodeo. Our job was to direct cars. It was crazy. I had not idea that there would be so many people in NC coming to a rodeo. Friday night was packed then we did it again Saturday night, and the people there had  made some extra room for more parking and we still had to stuff the place full. It was two crazy nights of running around and directing cars. It was pretty fun. 

Elder B and Elder Huff after some rainy biking

Saturday night it started raining and it has not stopped since. Luckily we had a member come out with us yesterday so we didn't have to bike in it and today we get the car! Yes! It's not supposed to stop raining until tomorrow morning. So we'll probably be in the church all day long playing basketball, that's usually what we do anyways. 

Well, that's about the week. It was pretty good, and crazy as always. Hopefully y'all have a great week! Love ya!

What a Week!

This week was pretty good. We weren't super successful missionary work-wise, but weeks like that happen, we just gotta get the rebound and do well this next week. This week as pretty fun. Actually, I can't remember much except for the exchange I had with one of my old buddies, Elder Christensen. He and I used to go on exchange all the time when I was in Concord, and we went on one this week. I went over to the Reedy Creek area on Friday. Friday morning we had a zone service project where we helped some people set up a parking lot for a rodeo. It was pretty fun, but there wasn't enough work for all of us to be working real hard, but it turned out well. After that we exchanged. We had one of the young men from the Reedy ward come out with us all day long. He was a good sport, we biked him all over the place and he was on a pretty dumpy bike and he didn't issue a word of complaint. Biking as a missionary is something to get used to. We go hard to get places on time, and we were surprised how well he kept up. We had Subway sandwiches together then that night we biked through the McDonald's drive through, that's right, we went through the drive through on our bikes, it was pretty funny and definitely a first. We got some shakes, took a selfie with the drive through people, and gave them a card.

Then we biked home. After Hunter left, Elder Christensen and I stayed up for a long time talking, a really long time. We had a lot to talk about since it had been a whole year and some change since we went on exchange, a lot has happened since then. We stayed up too late, then the AP's picked us up really early and we went and played basketball against the Charlotte South elders. We were so beat. Between us staying up late, and getting up so early, we got about 2 hours of sleep. But luckily, I was able to get through the next day without any problems and I was still able to work hard. 

The next morning we were knocking some doors in an apartment complex and we were walking up a set of stairs and we saw three tiny little kittens, they were so cute and just all alone. We got a couple good pictures with them. We had district meeting on Wednesday and that was pretty good, except for the fact that I was dying. I don't know why, but Tuesday night I got really sick and was throwing up all night. So Wednesday I was drained. It was a rough day, but I felt better the next day. Well, that was about the week! Love y'all!

A Week in the Life of Harrisburg

Charlotte Central 'Ranch' (Zone)

So this week was pretty good. I actually rode a bike for the first time in three months, and now I remember why I liked buses a whole lot better than riding bikes. You know, when you bike across your area to get to an appointment, and you arrive, and you're all tired and sweaty, then you go up and knock on the door...and wait...knock again...wait some more...call them...no answer...then you are so happy, because you wasted your time and energy biking to an appointment that fell through, bummer. Oh well, I keep telling Elder Bollschweiler, "its all in the life of a missionary." I mean, sure stuff like that bugs me, but I've come to learn you just gotta roll with the punches and be happy about getting slugged in the gut a couple times, it'll only strengthen your abs, right? 

Anyways, looking back on the week, it was actually kind of a rough week, but it ended well, so I guess that's what really matters. Last Sunday our car kind of had a fit, so we had to take it to Firestone on Monday, and the Firestone guy told us it was a leaking water pump, and we had to get that fixed at the dealer. So Monday we had to show up at the dealership without an appointment, turn in our car, then wait until they could squeeze it into the schedule and fix it. It took about two and a half hours of us sitting in the waiting room before the car was fixed, so that took a big chunk out of the day. Oh well, we had some extra time to study I guess. We then had to turn around and give the fixed car to the other Elders, and bike the rest of the day, and week. It's pretty hard to bike here in this area, right outside of our apartment complex is a pretty big highway. We still bike on it occasionally when we need to, but we try and avoid it. 

Wednesday was kind of crazy. That was the day we biked to the missed appointment, and while we were biking home, it started raining, really hard. By the time we got home we were soaked, chilled, and muddy. Then that night we walked to the church in the rain, but luckily we didn't get as wet. We had a lesson at the church with a guy named Kelly and then played some basketball with the young men while we were waiting for the Bishop cuz we had a meeting with him that night. The meeting went well, our ward mission leader and bishop are both extremely on top of things, but they are also pretty critical, especially the bishop. So we have to make sure to remember everything he wants us to do, I've got to start writing things down. 

Thursday was super windy and muddy because of all the rain the previous day. We biked down the highway to go do service at Habitat for Humanity. It's a fun place to do service. Friday we had zone meeting and president showed up, it was a pretty good meeting. Saturday stunk. I woke up in the morning, was feeling fine, then got up ate breakfast, then I threw it back up. I felt sick all day long so we just had to stay in the apartment all day long. Those are the worst days on the mission. 

Sunday was good though. Bishop asked me to give a talk and so that's what I spent my sick day doing, I was preparing it. I gave the talk and I think I did pretty well. Since it was the first time I attended sacrament meeting in Harrisburg it was a good opportunity to introduce myself. I got a lot of complements on the talk afterwards and I even had a lady ask for a copy of my talk...strange. We also helped teach Young Men during third hour and that went really well as well. After church we biked around all day, and didn't have much luck. We are right next to the UNCC campus, so we have a lot of good college kids sticking their heads out the window and yelling at us. Yesterday while we were biking, some guy stuck his head out the window and screamed, "God does not exist!" I just chuckled and kept biking because obviously, God does exist. I just feel sorry for people who don't believe that. Last night we found some guy from Africa and his wife. They seem pretty interested and I look forward to teaching them. They were the last thing we did last night and was able to make our new investigator goal, which makes me happy. 

Well, that's the week. It was kind of rough but it ended well! Love y'all!

The week of DOOOMM!! (part 57,839)

(from 3 April)

It is so hard to believe that just a week ago I was emailing from my last ward, Mountain

Island. It's been a long week, not a bad week, just a long week. Monday we finished out the day by having dinner with the Handys, then I went home and finalized packing. The next morning we got up and got ready to leave.

I gave Elder Toone all the keys and passes and stuff, then the Boones came and picked us up and drove us to Salisbury, where we transferred. A recent convert from the Harrisburg ward picked me up, we loaded everything in his car, then drove to my new area. Harrisburg is pretty close to my last ward. I live right off of a street that we lived right next to in my last area and I've noticed a lot of the same roads. This area is a weird shape, it's really long side to side, but north to south it's real short. I can tell this ward has had a hard time with past missionaries. They aren't nearly as friendly or bubbly towards missionaries as any of my other wards. Then again, that could just be the people that I've had dinner with this week, idk. 

Anyways, we have a pretty nice apartment that is known as the mission hub. We have two senior couples and a set of sisters in the complex. We are really close to the senior missionaries. It's kind of fun. We don't have any sisters in the ward, but the YSA sisters are in our complex so that's why it's called the  mission hub. 

The work is pretty good, we were able to find two new investigators this week, so we're excited about that. This week I biked for the first time in three months. In Mountain Island we just bussed everywhere. I'm proud to say I still got it! I've got got a mountain bike and I'm still faster than my new companion, Elder Bollschweiler (yeah I know, it's a mouthful). He just got finished training, so he's real new. It's kind of funny to see some of his reactions to things and it reminds me of what I used to be like when I first came out. I am so much different now, I feel like a changed person. Being the first time having a companion this young it's kind of different. Our form of conversation is different. With all the other missionaries I've served around we've been out similarish amounts of time so we would talk all about the mission and the other Elders and Sisters and we have inside jokes, but  Elder Bollschweiler doesn't quite get those yet. 

But General Conference tho!!! So good! I have ever never appreciated general conference like I have here on my mission. We were able to watch it at the church for the first four sessions then watch the last one at a member's home, our ward mission leader. I do have to say, the people in this ward might not be the most friendly, but our ward mission leader is great! He is one of the best ward mission leaders I've had on my mission. 

We had a good lunch between sessions on Saturday. We were at the church and a member family was there too. Right after the session, they invited us to go get pizza with them. So a big group of missionaries went with them and they paid for three HUGE pizzas. I mean, these pizzas were ginormous. Each slice in the pizza was bigger than a Costco size slice. There were 12 of us and we couldn't finish three pizzas and I stuffed myself. Anyways, I found out that they were in the University City ward. Bummer. They are cool. 

Well, we had our first district meeting on Friday, we have an interesting district. We have the district leader, who is companions with the Zone Leaders right now, we have the APs in our district, as well as the Sister Training leaders, then there's Elder Bollschweiler and I. Every missionary in that district has been out over a year except Elder Bollschweiler. Hmm, so it's an interesting dynamic. 

Well, this week was good, hopefully next week will be great. Love Y'all!

Aaaaaahhhhhhh! Transfers!!!!!

Elders Toone and Huff

So yes, we got transfer calls Sunday morning...and yes, I am getting transfered😭 NOOOOOOOO! It makes me so sad! So tomorrow at 10:00 I am leaving for my new area, the Harrisburg ward. The Harrisburg ward is just on the other side of Charlotte, in fact, it actually borders the Mountain Island ward, so I'm not going too far away. I've heard good things about Harrisburg, so I'm pretty excited about the area. The companion I'm getting on the other hand...he just got finished training, and he's a little Loco. I'm sure it will turn out fine though. I am usually able to get a lot going with mostly everybody. His name is Elder Bollschweiler. Kind of a mouthful. I am getting replaced by Elder Barton, so that's kind of cool. 

So yeah, anyways, life is crazy, and the mission is especially crazy. We had interviews with President earlier this week and I got the impression that he was going to move me, so I've sort of been packing all week long and making banana bread with all my extra bananas. Throughout the week, I was able to make 20 loaves and yesterday I went and delivered them all. I made the loaves in the mornings and in the nights and delivered them all to members yesterday. 

Yesterday was a pretty sad day. We went to church and everyone figured out I was leaving, as well as Sister Warner and they had us bear our testimonies and pretty much said how great we are and how grateful they are for our service and how we are part of the ward family always. It's gonna be real hard to leave here. I actually feel a part of the ward. 

Anyways, the rest of Sunday we went and visited members, gave them banana bread, and said goodbye. I said goodbye to Michael this morning, and I'm gonna finish packing today. I'll miss this area a lot, but at least my next area is still in Charlotte. Well, I'll let y'all know how my new area is going next week! Love ya!

Handys

Duncans

Kleins

Woah!

So this week Elder Toone and I worked our little butts off. We were running around all week on the busses and trying to contact the referrals we have and shorten the endless lists of referrals we have in our area book. It's crazy, it seems like as soon as we knock a couple off the list, we get a text telling us we have a new referral! It sure keeps us busy. In fact, we were walking away from a lesson we had with a referral, happy that we were able to finally get in contact with them, when our phone buzzed and lo and behold, another referral. Sheesh. I've never had so many referrals in my whole life! Anyway, this week was such a blur. Tuesday we did service again, but Thursday we weren't able to because we thought our apartment was going to be inspected by Elder Zeballos, a Seventy visiting the mission. But it turns out things didn't go as planned and he wasn't able to come, which is kind of a bummer because Elder Toone and I had that place pretty clean. It's nice though to still have it pretty clean by the end of the week, so that's a plus. Anyway, the Boones ended up inspecting our apartment and they liked it. They were kind of weirded out by all the frozen bananas I had in the freezer, but when I told them I use it to make banana bread they said, "Oh cool, make sure to make us some." I gotta get cracking on that banana bread, if I get transferred next week (which I really really really hope does not happen, so it probably will) the new Elder here will be a little weirded out. 

Anyways, on Friday we had a multizone conference with Elder Zeballos. It was really good. He talked a lot about how it isn't enough to know the gospel information, or feel good about it, we have to do something about it. His wife talked a lot about how we need to be happy, or at least act like we are happy all the time, because people are watching and they wonder why we are so happy and want to be happy themselves. 

We had lunch as a big group afterwards and I found a spot right next to Elder Zeballos. It was cool talking to him. The sisters at the table did most of the talking but it still was cool to have lunch with him. Afterwards, the Huntersville Elders couldn't find a ride, so they took ours and we just bussed home. Sunday we had stake conference and Elder Zeballos spake again. I really like him. He's pretty funny, yet understands the doctrine so well. 

Well that's about the week. Excuse me, I have to go beat Elder Toone at basketball...again😏. 

Love Y'all!

The Week of Semi-Greatness

Well, this week was awesome, and kind of stunk a little at the same time. The week started out kind of slow, Monday was fun though, ish. As a zone we went to a park and played some games and right at the beginning I did something to my back. I don't know what, but it hurt a lot. It took me a while to even be able to walk again. But I got a little better and got to participate. It has hurt the whole week but it has continually got better, I'm guessing it was a pinched nerve.

Tuesday we did service and had fun with that, then Wednesday we went to zone meeting. We had a good zone meeting and afterwards, Elder Brown, one of the Zone Leaders came on exchange with me in Mtn. Island. He's a cool guy, we had a good time. We taught Michael and figured out his wife has been holding him back. She's super strong Catholic, so she's not super happy about us meeting with Michael. I bore a pretty powerful testimony and afterwards she told me I would be a good Catholic priest. Hmm, nope, I probably would not especially because I don't believe in their beliefs.

Thursday we exchanged back, had lunch, then did service again. We tried to contact a few referrals this week but it didn't turn out very well. 

Friday we got up and just did the usual then went out and worked pretty hard. Though we didn't see a lot of people, we had some fun. We walked a long way to try and see a referral, but the referral didn't even live there, oh well. We had dinner with the Duncans that night and afterwards Brother Duncan came out with us and we contacted a couple referrals that we hadn't been able to contact for a long while, so that was great. 

Saturday was great! We had an exclusive e missionary meeting with Elder Cook! We all got to shake his hand and we got a picture with him. When I get it I'll show it to y'all. It was really good. I also got to see all the missionaries from the whole mission, so I got to see Elder Murray! So great! We had some visiting seventies that gave talks and Sister Cook gave a great talk and led us in a song, which was pretty fun. Afterwards, the missionaries that have served in Summerfield recently (other than Elder Murray) went to Olive Garden and met the Shepherds there! It was cool to see them again.

Sunday was great too. Elder Toone and I got up, got ready then went outside. Guess what? It had snowed! So crazy! Friday was about 70 degrees but it ended up snowing on Sunday, crazy. We got on the bus and headed to the Bojangles Coliseum. There we had seven stakes attending. Elder Cook addressed us all as well as some other general authorities and their wives. It was great. I also got to see a lot of people from my old areas so that was fun. A senior couple then gave us a ride home, and we got out and went to the Fowlers and I got to see Edward again! They had taken him to the conference then had him over afterwards. It was great to see him again. He's doing well. He has a calling as a primary teacher now, so that's good to hear. He's got a good outlook on everything as usual. He's a stud. Afterwards we visited a less active then had dinner and visited some more people to end the night. 

Today was fun. We went to Red Robin as a district then went to the church and played card games.

Elder Toone and I played 1-on-1 and I barely won, 100-98. We have a lot of fun. 

Anyway, this week was awesome, I got to meet an apostle and hear his words. He has an outstanding testimony and it was cool to see he was a pretty normal, funny guy. Well love y'all! Hope your weeks go well!

Bojangles Coliseum

Olive Garden Lunch

Interesting Week

So...this week was pretty rough. We had some fun this week, but it was pretty rough. It was a little chillier this week, but not too bad. 

We had a bunch of appointments and we were super excited for it, we were pretty excited for Johnny. We had an appointment with Johnny on Tuesday, but he called and cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday. We did service on Tuesday then our dinner couldn't give us a ride so we had to bus and walk to dinner and that took forever, and then he couldn't give us a ride home so we bussed home and that took the rest of the night. 

Wednesday was lame, we had district meeting which was good. I gave a training which went well, but the rest of the day we weren't able to get anything done. 

Thursday was going to be good, but we did service and afterward Johnny cancelled. We then got prank called. The man on the other side of the phone said his name was John, and he had been meeting with missionaries in South Carolina, then lost contact with them. He and his family wanted to be baptized and wanted to meet with us that night. We decided we would meet at Buffalo Wild Wings. It did sound too good to be true, but what were we supposed to do, just say no? So we sat at B-dubs for a while and the guy kept calling us and assuring us that he was coming and then he told us he was inside, which obviously wasn't true, so we had to walk home after and that was basically our night. 

Friday we went on exchanges and I went to Huntersville with Elder Guadagnin. We had some fun and then exchanged back on Saturday. We went to go see Johnny again...and again...he wasn't there. Argh. We called him though and he said he wanted to come to church. So we lined up a ride for him and of course the next day he cancelled. So that was kind of stinky. But we were able to go and see him last night with the bishop and things went well. We'll see what happens with him. 

I'm excited though for this week. We have a lot of cool meetings and on Saturday we have a meeting with Elder Cook! I'm stoked! I'll let you know what happens next week! 

Love y'all! 

Another Week of February Summer

I don't know what's wrong with this state, and why it refuses to get cold this year, but I'm pretty chill with it, I don't mind not ever having to put on a coat. Yesterday it got pretty "chilly" the high was only in about the 60's, so frigid, I could barely stand it, but hey, I'm alive and today is already in the 60's, and tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be in the upper 70's, so it'll all be good. It's hard to accept the fact that February is almost over, time is going way too quickly. Sorry my emails have been pretty lame these past couple weeks, time just goes by so quickly and I forget everything that happens in the week too. I've got an earlier start today, so hopefully today's email will be a little better. 

This week was pretty good. Last P-Day we played volleyball and I went a little hard and ended up with big bruises on my elbows that stayed there the rest of the week. We might play volleyball again this week, I'll have to learn how to land better. Tuesday we got up and we're having personal study when someone knocked on the door. It turns out it was the maintenance guy coming to fix a crack in our shower. It was about 8:30, so we had to get dressed, and get ready real quick, and we weren't even allowed in the bathroom, then we had to go. We hadn't even planned for the day so we did that on the run. It was a crazy day. We were able to do service and take a priest to a lesson with one of our investigators, Johnny Hunt. He's a cool guy, and the lesson was short but it went well. We had dinner with the priest's family that night. That night we went to stay the night at the Huntersville apartment because we weren't allowed to be in our apartment that night cuz of the fumes or whatever they had going for fixing the shower. Whatever. We played Risk with the elders that night and I demolished😏, then I slept on the floor. I was pretty sore the next morning. We got ready then went to district meeting and afterwards went home and had lunch. We then visited this old lady in the Ward who loves missionaries, she kind of reminds me of a white Mama Odie from Princess and the Frog. Thursday kind of stunk. We got up and bussed down to go see Michael, but when we nearly got there, he called and cancelled, so we got stuck in Uptown for two hours before we went to service, so we just walked around and talked to people, then walked to service. Afterwards we went home and ate dinner, then bussed back to Uptown to go see a recent convert, but the connecting bus we were gonna take never showed up so we just had to turn around and go back home for the night. 

Friday we ran around all over the place and visited with Michael. We had a good little lesson with him then went and ate at the Kleins, some of my favorite people! 

Saturday was pretty good. Michael wanted us to come back and see him so we did and we had a great lesson with him. We saw Johnny Hunt that night too and he committed to come to church. We were able to find him a ride and the next day he came! He loved it too! We'll see if he comes again, he's a good guy.

Warm Summer Week

So, I keep thinking it's May or June because the temperatures around here are super warm. I haven't worn a coat in weeks. 

This week was pretty slow work wise. We got a part member family list from our Ward mission leader a couple weeks ago and we've been going through that trying to find people. Most of the people we went to go see this week had already moved. This Ward has endless lists of members. So we've been helping out gathering information about them and letting the Ward know. Thankfully the Boone's (the new senior couple in the Ward) will help us out a lot with that. 

Michael has been gone in New York all week and we weren't able to see any of our other investigators, so it was kind of a bummer. Oh well, this week we already have a lot of appointments set up and we're pretty excited about them. We'll have to see what happens. 

We used the bus a lot this week and spent a lot of time talking to crazy people. Fun fun. The other night we were walking down a dark and rather ghetto street and some guy yelled at us, "Hey, y'all are Mormons right?" We answered in the affirmative and he turned to the guy he was next to and said, "see, I told ya." He then turned to us and said, "don't worry about it, he was just wondering why nobody is messing with ya and I told him it was because God was protecting them." So we're safe, according to a guy on the street. 

Well, sorry for the short email again. It's getting harder and harder for me to concentrate on emailing now. Hopefully next week's will be better. Love y'all!

The Looonnggggg Week

I don't know why but this week has seemed like an eternity. I still have a hard time believing transfers was less than a week ago. Yep, so I'm super glad I get to stay in this area until at least the end of March, I really like this area. 

This week things were so so, not too bad, not wonderful, just another week in the mission. We were able to see Michael again Tuesday morning. He's reading and praying, but he explained to us that he's old and he takes a while. He's alluding to the fact that he's getting closer and closer to believing the Mormon teachings. He's progressing slowly, but at least he's progressing, unlike all of our other investigators. We just can't seem to get anyone to church. It's kind of sad. Oh well. 

Tuesday we did service as well, then we had dinner with the Duncan family and then took their son Noah out with us to see the Juarez family. 

Thursday was a pretty good day. We started out pretty early and went and contacted two referrals in the morning and one of them became a new investigator, so we're pretty pumped about that. He had to cancel his appointment later in the week, but he seems like a cool guy. We then went to the apartment complex right next to ours and helped a new senior couple move into the Ward! Their names are the Boones and so far, they are great. They basically told us they are only there to help the missionaries and members in the Mountain Island Ward out. So we are probably going to ask them for a lot of rides, considering they live so close😏. During the transfer, our zone got a car taken from it, so now we are in a car share instead of a trip share, so that's a big bummer, so we have the car one week less in a month. I wasn't too happy about that but oh well. After we helped the senior couple move in Elder Boone and a mission office Elder took us out to Buffalo Wild Wings. So good😋. Then we did service again and afterwards had dinner at the Corbetts'. Sister Corbett's parents were there and they made authentic Vietnamese dishes for us. We had these things called clam casinos...so good. It basically was a clam shell, with the clam meat in it, with the clam juice, as well as bacon. You had to put the clam shell up to your mouth and suck the stuff out. It was pretty good. Elder Toone didn't like them so much but I ate a bunch. We also had Vietnamese pancakes, which was kind of like a soft taco filled with onions, shrimp, and some other meats, that was pretty good too. Afterwards we went with Brother Corbett to go see Brandon. He was not in a very good mood so we had our lesson on charity, and I think he lightened up a little. He said he would come to church on Sunday but he didn't end up making it, sad day. 

We had district meeting on Friday, church on Sunday, and that's about a rap. Hopefully we have a great week this week as well as y'all! Love ya!