I love seeing the joy the knowledge of Jesus Christ can bring to someone.

This week flew by. Unfortunately we had a lot of lessons and appointments cancel but that’s all good! It’s part of it. Khoen did get baptized this week and it was awesome. I have loved getting to teach Khoen and to get to know him the last couple of months and he has definitely come pretty far. Elder O’Neal also got to come back for the baptism so it was really good to see him again. It’s always cool to see old companions and to catch back up. But the spirit was super strong at Khoen’s baptism and he was so happy when he came up out of the water. I love seeing the joy the knowledge of Jesus Christ can bring to someone. It’s easily the most fulfilling part of a mission. The other day, a memory came up on Facebook which was exactly the two year mark from when I opened my mission call. That was a pretty surreal moment. Thinking back to how daunting going away from home for two years seemed but it has totally been worth it. It’s a pretty weird feeling to be getting closer and closer to finishing. I have learned so much and have grown so much as well. I’m so thankful for all the experiences I’ve been blessed to have these past 21 months. It is so hard to put into words all I have learned and how I’ve changed but I love who God is shaping me to be. Definitely have a long way to go but that’s okay. I’ve always been really hard on myself but I know God loves us and he doesn’t expect anything more of us than our best. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He just wants us to try. Coming to terms with that has been hard but it has definitely helped me to be happier. I hope everyone has a good week!

In order for there to be no limits we must have no excuses. That’s something I desperately want to get better at.

This past week was a very good week for Elder Shermer and I. We are getting more used to teaching with each other and working together so our lessons are going better and better each day. This week we had a pretty special opportunity to go to the Jordan River Temple Open House (a Mormon Temple out here close to where I am serving). The temple needed some remodeling done and so because of that it needs to be rededicated. Whenever a Temple is finished being remodeled or being built they have an open house so anyone and everyone can come in and walk through it before it gets dedicated. It’s really cool. So we went twice this week with a couple different people we are teaching to walk through and look at all the rooms and the paintings and it was just a neat experience. Temples are buildings where people of my faith go to get closer to God and to seek for guidance. We also go there to learn more about our purpose here on earth and about our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love temples and I am so grateful for them. We also had Zone Conference this week and it was probably my favorite one I have had for my mission. I learned a lot. I only have two zone conferences left until i come home which is just so crazy to think about. Something cool that I learned this week that I wanted to share was something that I realized while studying about Easter. I feel that most of the time whenever something goes wrong or we do something we shouldn’t the first thing we do is come up with an excuse as to why it wasn’t our fault. It’s natural and I am very, very guilty of that. But I realized that the grace and love of Jesus Christ has no limits. Christ can heal us from any emotional or physical pain, He can forgive any sin, big or small. But in order for us to be able to access that limitless love we have to humble ourselves and get rid of all excuses. In order for there to be no limits we must have no excuses. That’s something I desperately want to get better at. Thanks for all your prayers!

There is never room for hate but there is always room for love.

Colton ran into this friend who was visiting from Brazil at General Conference! Elder Gonzaga served his mission here in Indiana and come to our home many times.

This week was my last Easter and General Conference as a missionary. Pretty crazy to think about how long I’ve been on my mission. It was a pretty special weekend. Elder Shermer and I had tickets to two sessions of conference on Saturday. I always love getting to go to Conference and feel the special spirit there. On Saturday morning I got to stand and sustain President Nelson as the new prophet of our church which was a pretty amazing experience. I have never felt anything as powerful as that in my whole life. It was pretty overwhelming. Probably the biggest theme from the speakers from conference that I noticed was love. They talked a lot about love and how important it is that we love those around us. The world seems to get crazier and crazier and if you don’t pay attention to anything except the news you would think that there is no hope for anything good in this world. But I can testify that the love of Christ is still very much alive in the world and that there is more good than bad. There is never room for hate but there is always room for love. Even when people were showing hate towards Jesus Christ, He responded with love. We need to respond to the hate and the evil in this world with love. Love will always defeat hate. Good will always defeat evil. And Jesus Christ will always win. I don’t think any message could be more appropriate this Easter season than that. Until next week!

With it being Easter this week I just want to invite you to think about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for you and maybe think about something you could sacrifice for Him.

Well it’s the end of another transfer. We got transfer calls on Saturday and found out that I will be staying in Kearns another transfer. Elder O’Neal is getting transferred to Taylorsville so I’m getting a new companion, Elder Shermer. I’ve served around him before so I know him a little bit and he has been on his mission for almost as long as me. I’m excited to stay here another transfer and to continue working with some of the people we are teaching right now. We had some pretty awesome lessons this week. We were able to go to Temple Square three times this week which was awesome. We taught a lot of lessons about how important families are and I’m so thankful for the family I have and being raised knowing what I know. I’m so thankful for my parents and all they do and have done for me. I’m so thankful for my sisters and they joy they bring into my life. My family definitely isn’t perfect but I’m so thankful for them and I know I would be lost without them. And I’m so thankful for Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for all of us so we can be with our families after this life. With it being Easter this week I just want to invite you to think about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for you and maybe think about something you could sacrifice for Him. That’s something that I’ll be thinking about this weekend. I love my Savior and I’m so thankful for the greatest gift we could have, the ability to be forgiven of our sins. I’m excited for this next transfer, only 3 more left and 4 months left! I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

I’m so thankful for all the people in my life who have been good role models and have had positive impacts on my life.

Somehow we are already to the last week of another transfer. I can’t believe how fast time seems to be going by. Already halfway through the month of March as well. The weather has been absolutely crazy this last week. Monday and Tuesday it was beautiful and about 65 degrees and then on Wednesday it got cold and rained all day and then while Elder O’Neal were out knocking doors it started to hail really bad and so we decided to try and get inside but we were almost a 20 minute walk away from the closest church building and even farther from our apartment so we got soaked. And then it snowed on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Utah weather is pretty crazy. But it was a great week. We had some really awesome lessons. The one that stood out the most was with a boy named Khoen. He is 9 years old and really wants to get baptized and at first his parents were really friendly but didn’t really want us to teach them. But this past Friday at the end of the lesson his mom asked us to stick behind and she started asking us a ton of questions about what she had been reading in her scriptures. It was so cool. We had no idea that she had started reading her scriptures but it was a really cool experience. There have been countless experiences that I’ve had on my mission where my actions have influenced other people and I haven’t really realized it. Serving my mission has definitely taught me how important it is to be kind to people and to not be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. It makes a big difference in your life as well as in others around you. We never really realize how much impact we can have on other people. I’m so thankful for all the people in my life who have been good role models and have had positive impacts on my life. Again it just testifies to me that God knows us and is aware of us and our needs at all times. Hope everyone has another great week!

He then invited me to pray and ask if God was really there and if He loved me and so I did. The answer came so strong and so powerfully and that moment really changed my life.

This week went by so fast. It seemed like I blinked and it was over but it was again a pretty good week. We had some really good lessons this week but nothing from our lessons really stood out to me to share this week. However, Elder O’Neal and I were asked to speak in church this past Sunday and I wanted to share part of what I spoke on. So I was asked to speak about the importance of teaching the truths of eternity. Kind of a weird thing to speak on but the more I thought about it the more I just kept coming back to a few main things that we believe in and I want to share two of them. The first is that God is real and He loves us and the second is that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and He suffered and died for us. I know without a doubt that both of those statements are true. As I was reflecting on these statements it made me think of the moment where I came to know that God loved me. It was the summer right before we moved up to Goshen and I was really struggling with a lot of things at the time. I was really weak. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to take on everything I was going through at the time by myself and I needed help. I went to EFY in Texas that summer and my counselor came up to me while I was trying to read the scriptures and we started talking and I opened up to him a little about some of the things I was going through at the time. He asked me if I knew if God loved me and I said I don’t know. He then invited me to pray and ask if God was really there and if He loved me and so I did. The answer came so strong and so powerfully and that moment really changed my life. Knowing that God is there and cares about me and is apart of my life makes me want to be better and helps me to have hope for the future. I know God lives and that He loves us. I know he is a part of our everyday lives. So if you haven’t prayed and asked God if he loves you, I wanna invite you to do that. And even if you have sometimes it is nice to have some reassurance. Hope y’all have a great week! Thanks for your prayers!

I have such a strong testimony about God being a part of our every day lives.

This week was another really successful week. We had some really cool lessons and met some really cool people this past week. I always struggle to find just one cool experience to share because there are so many. The one I wanted to share this week was from contacting a guy named Craig. One of our bishops asked us to stop by and visit a guy named Craig and we weren’t exactly sure why or what he wanted us to talk with him about. So on Saturday night we were trying to figure out who we should go by and see and we remembered Craig and so we thought we should stop by. I have such a strong testimony about God being a part of our every day lives. He knows us and He knows what we need, when we need it. It had turned out that Craig’s dad had just passed away a few days earlier from a stroke. We had actually met Craig a few weeks ago when we went around shoveling driveways and we helped him and he told us his dad had just had a stroke. So apparently the next day his dad passed away. So Craig was obviously struggling and we were able to come into his home and share a message with him about trials. I got to share one of my favorite scriptures from Romans 5:3-5 which I think I’ve shared before. In the verses it talks about how going through trials will help us to have more hope in our life and I love that and know that that is true. I know that God knew that Craig needed someone to talk to that night and he needed to hear how God has a plan and everything will work out in the end. God is aware of each and every single one of us. In other exciting news, we got to go to the temple today which is always amazing. I really felt the spirit so strongly there today. Afterwards we went and just walked around temple square and went and watched some videos and took a couple of tours. It was Elder O’Neal’s first time there so it was pretty cool. I always love going to temple square. I hope everyone has a good week. Thanks for all of your prayers!