I also got bit by a dog this week. I figured at some point on my mission it would happen I just didn’t know when.

This week, like any week, definitely had its ups and downs. I’ll start with the downs. On Wednesday, my companion and I were running in the morning and I slipped on some ice and sprained my ankle pretty bad and so that definitely wasn’t fun. It wasn’t terrible but for about a day and a half  I couldn’t really put too much pressure on it and so we couldn’t go out and contact and were stuck inside a lot. Not fun. But luckily another missionary gave me his ankle brace to borrow and so starting Thursday night we were able to get out and work again which was really nice. I also got bit by a dog this week. I figured at some point on my mission it would happen I just didn’t know when. Well on Saturday we were walking to go help someone unload a U-Haul truck and this dog came out of nowhere and bit my on the back of my knee and then it ran off. Luckily it wasn’t too bad but still it wasn’t really ideal. But it was still a great week. We got a new investigator, Christopher, who is a really cool guy and I’m excited to keep meeting and working with him. He has struggled a lot with addictions in the past and is working on overcoming them. We had a really good first lesson with him and talked a lot about how Christ can help us overcome our weaknesses and is willing to forgive us of our sins. There is a scripture I love that says, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” I really love this scripture. Our weaknesses can become our strengths if we humble ourselves and turn to Christ for help. And that’s exactly what Christopher wants to do and hopefully we will be able to help him a little bit. I can definitely testify that this scripture is true. I have truly come to love my Savior and to rely on him so much over the past 18 months. I’m definitely not perfect and still have struggles and fall short but each day I get closer and closer to being the man I know my Heavenly Father wants me to be. I hope y'all have another great week!

I know the Lord is aware of us and puts people in our path to help us and for us to help them. We just have to be ready and willing to act.

Well we had a really awesome week this week. The work in the area is really starting to pick up and the Lord is truly blessing us with so many awesome people who are prepared to be taught and who want to strengthen their relationship with Christ. We have two more investigators who are going to get baptized in February! Their names are Logan and Bowen and they are two awesome kids. One is 10 and the other is 9 but they both love to read their scriptures. Ever since they started meeting with missionaries they read their scriptures every night before bed and it’s awesome to hear them talk about how much they love the scriptures especially from such a young age. We had two very similar miracles happen this week as well. So there were two different nights where we were walking around knocking doors trying to find people to teach and nobody was answering and it was pretty frustrating. It was cold and kinda miserable but we were determined to find someone. The first time, the very last door we knocked was a family we had tried before, the Wares. They let us in and we talked for a while and before we left we shared a scripture about how Christ can help us overcome trials and it led to a 30 minute conversation about Christ and about trials we have in life and it was such an awesome experience. A couple nights later, it was snowing like crazy and I had slipped and fell on ice twice and my pants were soaked and it was miserable. But again we knew there was someone who needed to talk to us and so we kept knocking and knocking. Finally the last door we knocked on answered and let us in again. Funny enough they, the Kelsey’s, are next door neighbors to the Wares. And so we had a really good 45 minute conversation with their family and set up an appointment to come back. It was a pretty awesome way to end the night. I know the Lord is aware of us and puts people in our path to help us and for us to help them. We just have to be ready and willing to act. I hope everyone has a great week! 

I feel so blessed for all the amazing people I have gotten to try and help a little and make a difference in their life. Although it isn’t me, it is Jesus Christ. Without Him, I am nothing and with Him I can do all things and I know that’s true.

We had a really productive week this week. Whenever you whitewash an area (when both missionaries in an area get transferred out and replaced by two new ones) it is a little hard to stay busy because neither of you know anyone in an area so we have been trying to stay busy and to go meet and talk to as many people as we can. We still haven’t necessarily seen a ton of results from our efforts but I know that the Lord is blessing us and the area. We had another great lesson with Tony this week and we talked with him again about where he is at in his relationship with God. He told us last week that he knows he wants to get baptized but he just doesn’t know when and so we had a good heart to heart with him and the Spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson he told us he wants to get baptized and so it looks as if he will be getting baptized sometime in February so we are really excited for him! Another cool thing we get to do in this area is we get to teach a class called mission prep every Sunday night to high schoolers who are planning on going on a mission. The past two Sundays have been awesome getting to teach them and answer questions they have regarding a mission. And it was really cool to hear myself share some experiences I have had that led to me making the decision to go on a mission and some experiences I’ve had over the past 18 months that have made all the sacrifices I’ve made worth it. I feel so blessed for all the amazing people I have gotten to try and help a little and make a difference in their life. Although it isn’t me, it is Jesus Christ. Without Him, I am nothing and with Him I can do all things and I know that’s true. I’m excited for another week ahead of me!

So I got transferred to Kearns back in West Valley.

Sorry I didn’t send an email last week. It was such a busy day. I had to go say goodbye to a lot of people and the rest of the time was spent packing. So I got transferred to Kearns back in West Valley. I was hoping to stay on the other side of the mountain in Tooele for another few transfers but I know this is where the Lord needs me right now. I got a brand new companion straight from the MTC. His name is Elder O’Neal and he is from Georgia. I like him a lot, he is super funny, and SUPER southern. Unfortunately he was sick when he got here from the MTC and so we couldn’t go out and work as much as usual so that kind of sucked. We did have some cool experiences this week though. No one is ever home during the middle of the afternoon and so we went out and contacted and were really hoping for people to be home and every door we knocked on someone opened. It was pretty cool. That seriously never happens. And we got about 4 or 5 lessons out of it so that was really cool! All of those lessons are for this week so there weren’t too many lessons to share this week but we did have one with a guy named Tony. Tony is a really great guy who has had a pretty crazy life. Him and his wife, Cookie (yes that’s her name), have three kids and once they had their first he decided he wanted something different in his life and so he started searching for God. He has been meeting with missionaries for a while. So we met with him this week and we talked a lot about faith. He told us he wants to learn more before he moves forward with faith and so we talked about how the Lord doesn’t really work like that. What’s so cool about God is He tells or shows us enough to take the first step, but we have to take the second step relying on our faith. I know that if we do that, we will be blessed. It can be hard but it is worth it. I know my Savior lives and that He loves me and He loves you. I know it without a doubt. Hope everyone has a good week!