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!