Monday, August 28, 2017
Hey everyone!
This has been a crazy week! Since I found out I was getting transferred we went around to a few people so I could say goodbye to them. I love the people that I met in Lakeland. I definitely made some good friendships there. I'm gonna miss it there, but I'm also looking forward to serving here in Palm Harbor. I left Wednesday morning and we headed to the mission office in Tampa so I could meet my new companion and get our car and everything. My companion is Elder Kennelly. He served in Gibsonia which is right above Lakeland when I was there so we know each other pretty good already. He's awesome, we have a good companionship already. When we got to Palm Harbor we found our apartment and got everything in. Since we are opening another area here we are starting completely fresh with no investigators or anything. There used to be sisters in the apartment we are in a while ago. There wasn't hardly any food when we got here and we are both broke so we had to survive off of the freezer burnt food that was left here. Luckily we were able to buy some food today haha. We have been visiting a lot of the members and getting to know them. We really want
to build trust with them and work with them. This is a great ward, they are very missionary minded. There's also a lot of young families and youth. So that's good. We will be taking the young men out with us quite often. They actually want to come out with us, which is pretty cool.
We have been doing some tracting too this week and we had a cool experience. We were knocking doors at an apartment complex and we met a family who was taught before by the missionaries. They were super
excited to see us, especially the mom. They don't know why the Sisters stopped coming, but they wanted to continue the lessons. So we will be going by Friday to teach them! Miracles happen when you have the
faith.
We were planning on going to the beach today, but it started to rain and it hasn't stopped so we will probably just go next week. We are still trying to get to know the area. We actually live outside the area about 3 miles. And the church is 16 miles away. So that's gonna be tough, but we will make it work. I'm really looking forward to this transfer. I have a good feeling about it. So it's been fun and exciting, also a little overwhelming but we're pushing along. I hope you're all doing great. Pray for the people in Texas, they need it. I
love you all and hope you have a great week!
Pics- Two Gar fish that we caught last week.
Our recent convert Amel from India!
My last night in Lakeland at Gelati Joe's
Us with the Gomez kids, they are a member family in Lakeland
This has been a crazy week! Since I found out I was getting transferred we went around to a few people so I could say goodbye to them. I love the people that I met in Lakeland. I definitely made some good friendships there. I'm gonna miss it there, but I'm also looking forward to serving here in Palm Harbor. I left Wednesday morning and we headed to the mission office in Tampa so I could meet my new companion and get our car and everything. My companion is Elder Kennelly. He served in Gibsonia which is right above Lakeland when I was there so we know each other pretty good already. He's awesome, we have a good companionship already. When we got to Palm Harbor we found our apartment and got everything in. Since we are opening another area here we are starting completely fresh with no investigators or anything. There used to be sisters in the apartment we are in a while ago. There wasn't hardly any food when we got here and we are both broke so we had to survive off of the freezer burnt food that was left here. Luckily we were able to buy some food today haha. We have been visiting a lot of the members and getting to know them. We really want
to build trust with them and work with them. This is a great ward, they are very missionary minded. There's also a lot of young families and youth. So that's good. We will be taking the young men out with us quite often. They actually want to come out with us, which is pretty cool.
We have been doing some tracting too this week and we had a cool experience. We were knocking doors at an apartment complex and we met a family who was taught before by the missionaries. They were super
excited to see us, especially the mom. They don't know why the Sisters stopped coming, but they wanted to continue the lessons. So we will be going by Friday to teach them! Miracles happen when you have the
faith.
We were planning on going to the beach today, but it started to rain and it hasn't stopped so we will probably just go next week. We are still trying to get to know the area. We actually live outside the area about 3 miles. And the church is 16 miles away. So that's gonna be tough, but we will make it work. I'm really looking forward to this transfer. I have a good feeling about it. So it's been fun and exciting, also a little overwhelming but we're pushing along. I hope you're all doing great. Pray for the people in Texas, they need it. I
love you all and hope you have a great week!
Pics- Two Gar fish that we caught last week.
Our recent convert Amel from India!
My last night in Lakeland at Gelati Joe's
Us with the Gomez kids, they are a member family in Lakeland
Monday, August 21, 2017
August 21, 2017 (Transfer Week)
Hey everyone!
So first things first, it's transfer week and guess what? I'm
getting transferred! I'm going to Palm Harbor, it's right on the gulf.
I'm going to be with Elder Kenelly. He has been out about a year. Also
Palm Harbor has been a closed area for a while now, so we are
reopening it. We will start out fresh! It's going to be exciting. I'm
a little sad to be leaving Lakeland. I've been here for a long time
and I've made some good friendships here. It will be good to have some
change though.
Other than that we have had a pretty good week. We have been
able to find a couple people that I know were prepared to receive us.
We also had another death in the ward, Brother Smith. He was the
oldest guy in the ward. He was bishop of this ward in the 70's. So
he's been here for a while. Like most of e members here. Had the
funeral on Saturday. A lot of his family came in for it. It was a good
service.
Not a whole lot has happened this week. I'm sure I'll have a
whole lot more to write next week. Thanks everybody for all you do and
your support. I love you all!!
So first things first, it's transfer week and guess what? I'm
getting transferred! I'm going to Palm Harbor, it's right on the gulf.
I'm going to be with Elder Kenelly. He has been out about a year. Also
Palm Harbor has been a closed area for a while now, so we are
reopening it. We will start out fresh! It's going to be exciting. I'm
a little sad to be leaving Lakeland. I've been here for a long time
and I've made some good friendships here. It will be good to have some
change though.
Other than that we have had a pretty good week. We have been
able to find a couple people that I know were prepared to receive us.
We also had another death in the ward, Brother Smith. He was the
oldest guy in the ward. He was bishop of this ward in the 70's. So
he's been here for a while. Like most of e members here. Had the
funeral on Saturday. A lot of his family came in for it. It was a good
service.
Not a whole lot has happened this week. I'm sure I'll have a
whole lot more to write next week. Thanks everybody for all you do and
your support. I love you all!!
Monday, August 14, 2017
August 14, 2017 "It's been a long time coming"
August 14, 2017
Hey everyone!
It's been a good week! Where do I begin? I'll start with Monday. We went fishing with a member in our apartment complex actually and we caught a big ol' grass carp! It was probably close to 7 pounds or so.
So that was fun. I'll send a picture. Tuesday we had district meeting, it went pretty good! I'm getting the hang of things as time goes on. We have a pretty small district, there's only 6 of us. And one Sister just went home for medical reasons so tomorrow's district meeting will be just 4 of us. It'll be interesting haha. We taught Latorsha and her kids on Wednesday, it went super good! She told us she has had some bad experiences in the past with churches and she really just wants a good church home where she can feel loved. She also said she is confused by all the different interpretations of the Bible. We shared the restoration with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She said it all made sense! So that was pretty cool. We will be seeing her again this week.
We went on an exchange this week with the Gibsonia Elders. I brought Elder Ryan down here to Lakeland with me and Elder Pruszynski went to Gibsonia with Elder Criddle. It was a really good exchange. We
taught Jessie and we actually finished all the lessons with her, she just needs an interview now and we need to figure out a day she won't be out of town so she can get baptized. She is still super open and excited about it. She's great. Friday morning we did service for a less active member, the same one we did service for a couple weeks ago. We painted her front porch, stained some boards, and fixed up her little plant enclosure she has. She really appreciated it and she came
to church again! Service works people, go out and do it! On Saturday we were able to go to Valrico for the Uprichard's baptism! Tiffany, Tony and James got baptized. Elizabeth didn't, not sure why, she is a teenager and likes to do her own thing. Hopefully she will join her family soon. It was so awesome though to finally see
them get baptized. It's been a year since we first met them. My old companion Elder Drumright was able to come too and help with the baptizing. I baptized James, Elder Drumright baptized Tiffany, and Brother Eve's from Valrico baptized Tony. I was so happy to see them get baptized. There was a ton of people there. The most I've ever seen at a baptism. So they had a lot of support. It was a great day. It's just been a great week in general. I'm so thankful to be a missionary and to have the experiences I have had. I hope you all have a great
week! Stay cool ;) love y'all.
It's been a good week! Where do I begin? I'll start with Monday. We went fishing with a member in our apartment complex actually and we caught a big ol' grass carp! It was probably close to 7 pounds or so.
So that was fun. I'll send a picture. Tuesday we had district meeting, it went pretty good! I'm getting the hang of things as time goes on. We have a pretty small district, there's only 6 of us. And one Sister just went home for medical reasons so tomorrow's district meeting will be just 4 of us. It'll be interesting haha. We taught Latorsha and her kids on Wednesday, it went super good! She told us she has had some bad experiences in the past with churches and she really just wants a good church home where she can feel loved. She also said she is confused by all the different interpretations of the Bible. We shared the restoration with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She said it all made sense! So that was pretty cool. We will be seeing her again this week.
We went on an exchange this week with the Gibsonia Elders. I brought Elder Ryan down here to Lakeland with me and Elder Pruszynski went to Gibsonia with Elder Criddle. It was a really good exchange. We
taught Jessie and we actually finished all the lessons with her, she just needs an interview now and we need to figure out a day she won't be out of town so she can get baptized. She is still super open and excited about it. She's great. Friday morning we did service for a less active member, the same one we did service for a couple weeks ago. We painted her front porch, stained some boards, and fixed up her little plant enclosure she has. She really appreciated it and she came
to church again! Service works people, go out and do it! On Saturday we were able to go to Valrico for the Uprichard's baptism! Tiffany, Tony and James got baptized. Elizabeth didn't, not sure why, she is a teenager and likes to do her own thing. Hopefully she will join her family soon. It was so awesome though to finally see
them get baptized. It's been a year since we first met them. My old companion Elder Drumright was able to come too and help with the baptizing. I baptized James, Elder Drumright baptized Tiffany, and Brother Eve's from Valrico baptized Tony. I was so happy to see them get baptized. There was a ton of people there. The most I've ever seen at a baptism. So they had a lot of support. It was a great day. It's just been a great week in general. I'm so thankful to be a missionary and to have the experiences I have had. I hope you all have a great
week! Stay cool ;) love y'all.
Monday, August 7, 2017
August 7, 2017 Bike Week
Hey everyone!
Like my subject line says this week was a bike week. There are
some pro's and con's of being on bikes. We get to talk to a lot more
people when we are bikes, but we are also always drenched. Either by
the rain or sweat haha. It's been a great week though. We have been
able to find some really cool people! One of them we met yesterday,
her name is Latorsha. She lives in a random apartment building in the
middle of nowhere. We were trying to decide where we should go finding
so we said a prayer and that building popped into both of our minds.
We have seen it before, but never have been there. So we went and
started knocking. There were only 8 doors here. Latorsha's was the 5th
door. When she answered the door she looked pretty surprised. We
explained who we were and what we were doing and she said she had seen
us earlier that day and had a strong promoting she needed to talk to
us, but she didn't know how she would do it. So when we showed up at
her door she was so shocked! It was a huge miracle! We are going back
tomorrow to teach her and her kids.
We also had interviews with President Cooper this week. I always
like having interviews. We only get 10 minutes, but he always ends up
going over time haha. He really enjoys having one on one time with
each of the missionaries. So that was great. Jessie has been out of
town this whole week so we haven't been able to see her. We have been
in contact though, she is doing great. If she has to keep going out of
town we might just do the last couple lessons with her over skype.
We'll see, we should see her this week. OH! Before I forget. The
Uprichard's are getting baptized on Saturday!! They are a family I
taught when I was back in Valrico and I got super close to them. They
asked me to baptize their son James, he's 11. I'm so excited! And the
cool thing is it's going to be on August 12th which is exactly a year
from our first lesson with them. Pretty cool.
Other than that it's been a normal week. We got rained on 2
times this week while biking, that's about average. We have been doing
a ton of finding and using the Book of Mormon a lot more while we
find. I'm loving it out here. I'm so grateful for all of the
experiences I have had on my mission and how much my testimony has
grown. I know this church is true, there's no doubt about it. I'm so
grateful that I get to share this message with everyone. After all
that Christ has done for me it's the least I can do. Thank you all for
your support and prayers. It definitely helps! Have a great week
everyone! Love y'all!!
Pics-today at the church playing basketball and eating pizza!
one of our "good" meals of the week haha
July 31, 2017
Hey everyone!
This week has been good. I'm gonna try to remember everything that
happened. On Tuesday we had zone conference in Brandon. It was a great
meeting. We got there at 8:30 for car inspections and the meeting
started at 9:30 and ended at about 4. We talked a lot about using the
Book of Mormon in all aspects of our missionary work. I really liked
it and took a lot away from it. It was good to see some Elders that
just got transferred too. On Thursday we went on an exchange with our
zone leaders. I went to Winterhaven with Elder Krebs who was my MTC
companion! It was a good day and it was fun to be with him again. We
had a good exchange. On Friday morning we did service for a less
active member of our ward Sister Ener. She hasn't been to church in a
while, but she is really nice. We stained her back porch that she just
built. The great part is she came to church on Sunday! I love seeing
miracles like that happen. We also gave a recent convert of ours a
haircut this week. Well Elder Pruszynski did anyways. It was fun haha,
he looks good!
That's pretty much all that's happened this week. My emails seem
to be getting shorter and shorter. Oh well, I've got lots of pictures
this week. Love you all! Have a great week.
This week has been good. I'm gonna try to remember everything that
happened. On Tuesday we had zone conference in Brandon. It was a great
meeting. We got there at 8:30 for car inspections and the meeting
started at 9:30 and ended at about 4. We talked a lot about using the
Book of Mormon in all aspects of our missionary work. I really liked
it and took a lot away from it. It was good to see some Elders that
just got transferred too. On Thursday we went on an exchange with our
zone leaders. I went to Winterhaven with Elder Krebs who was my MTC
companion! It was a good day and it was fun to be with him again. We
had a good exchange. On Friday morning we did service for a less
active member of our ward Sister Ener. She hasn't been to church in a
while, but she is really nice. We stained her back porch that she just
built. The great part is she came to church on Sunday! I love seeing
miracles like that happen. We also gave a recent convert of ours a
haircut this week. Well Elder Pruszynski did anyways. It was fun haha,
he looks good!
That's pretty much all that's happened this week. My emails seem
to be getting shorter and shorter. Oh well, I've got lots of pictures
this week. Love you all! Have a great week.
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