I'm Leaving!

Hello Everybody! It was a very slow week, because we ran out of miles to use our car.  The good news is that we were able to go to the temple this week! I love the spirit and peace that I feel there! It was totally needed!

We have transfers this week and I will be leaving! I really love the people here, though the work was difficult, this branch totally welcomed me in. I will miss them. Almost all of them expressed how they didn't want Elder Harvey and I to leave (Elder Harvey is also leaving and he is now a District Leader, too!)

I will be going to Ephrata, Pennsylvania. It's actually one of the areas that my trainer, Elder Gray, served in, so it will be fun! Another cool thing is my new companion, Elder Kershaw, was trained by Elder Nielsen recently.  He is my first companion that has been out less than 6 months. I hope you are having a cool week. Thank you again, for all your love and support!

Temple Photos!!!

The Wilhelm's.  Our branch president and his wife.

It was a blast to be at Café Rio.  Hit just a little too close to home,

but I love the pork tostadas!

(Mom Note: Here are the missing pictures from last week's blog post!)

Linger Longer at the church.

My District

Collecting eggs at the farm.

It Was Definitely A Tender Mercy!

Hello Everyone! This week has been a slower week, but we had some good days! On Monday, we had a linger longer at the branch building.  Chris, our recent convert, brought her sister and her family to it! It was really cool to see them! We also had exchanges this past week. I led out the area here and was with another Elder. We were street contacting and knocking doors all day.  Finally, towards the end of the day, we were walking up a driveway and a lady pulled into it. It turns out that she was going to go dog sitting, but was interested in hearing our message.  So, we taught her and we are planning on seeing her again tomorrow. It was definitely a tender mercy!

We also saw Melony and Lucille! They have been super busy, with Lucille needing more medical attention, but Melony is still very interested. Other than that, it has been fairly slow.  We are running out of miles to use for the month, but I'm super excited to go to the temple this week! I hope you have a good week!

(Mom Note:  Elder Ainsworth sent a few pictures by email, but when I went to look at them, I wasn't able to access them.  By the time I realized it, Elder Ainsworth had already gone for the day. Bummer! :( But, I will add them to next week's blog post.)

It's Been A Really Slow Week!

Hello Everyone! I hope you had a good week! We have had some really hot days up here, but not as hot as it sounds like back in Utah!  This summer hasn’t been as bad as last summer, so I’m very happy about that. 

Things haven't been going too well with our investigators, with one exception.  We had two investigators drop us last week and we have pretty much fallen out of contact with a lot of them. Our recent convert however, was able to get her sister to church this Sunday, which makes her the first non-member to come to church for over a year! We have been slowly gaining trust with her, so it has been good. We are hoping to start teaching her soon.  Other than that, it's been a really slow week. I hope you have a good week!

Me and Elder Harvey messing around.

I got a goat to stand next to me!

The Lord Has Truly Been Blessing Our Efforts

Hello Everybody! Things have been going really well in our area! We had exchanges last week with the Zone Leaders in our area. It was a ton of fun. They are definitely my favorite Zone Leaders so far. While I was in Chambersburg, Elder Harvey was in McConnellsburg and while they were out and about, they found another investigator! Woohoo! I was able to meet her and teach her on Saturday, as well. Her name is Adena (I have no clue how to spell it) and she is an older lady who is Methodist. She is interested in studying the Book of Mormon, so hopefully it all works out!

Melony and Lucille have had lots of medical problems this week, with Lucille needing to be in the hospital multiple times. We weren't able to meet with them, but we are hoping that the issues are resolved, so we can meet with them. They are still super cool! While we were out tracting this week, Elder Harvey and I took our map of the area and stuck it in our car, so that we could better find places to go. We went to the far right corner of our area and while we were tracking in a small town, we ran into Nathan! He is 17 and was interested in our message. We are hoping to see him again this week and hopefully teach his family! Lots of really cool things are happening here! 

I forgot to write last week about how I gave my first baptismal interview to the son of a returning less active mom. It was a cool experience and it reminded me a lot about Tabitha and Nadia. I sure hope they keep to the Gospel! The previous week we saw Melony again and taught her the Plan of Salvation! She took a lot of comfort from it and even offered the closing prayer! She hadn't prayed publicly for a long time! The spirit was strong as she prayed for her family and she was even overcome with emotion. As hard as it has been to stay productive, the Lord has truly been blessing our efforts.

One of my favorite quotes that I have heard recently is from Joseph Smith, "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." I have truly felt the refiners fire here on the mission. The Lord truly prepares us in ways that seem hard to us, but are ultimately needed in His plan. I promise you that if you live the gospel and strive to truly know our Savior that He will not forsake you. I have a testimony of this and have felt the power of His redeeming love more fully in my life than ever before. This Church is true, there is no earthly evidence, no knowledge from man that can disprove this church and the rock that it is built upon. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, that Joseph Smith is His prophet, called forth in these Latter Days to restore His church. God speaks today and has not forgotten His people. I hope you have a great week!!!

Out and about

A super funny Star Wars picture I found in the Zone Leader's apartment!

Chopping down weeds with a machete! Pretty fun!

A Really Slow Week...

Hey Everyone!  Crazy to think that another week has flown by! It's been pretty warm up here. Not as terrible as last year yet, so I'm super grateful for that.  I have given two District meetings now! Both of which were really cool! The spirit was there and there was a lot of revelation received. The District is also super funny, so it's going pretty good. My knee has been doing better since I have been exercising it, so that's been good. This week was a really slow week with not too much happening. We ran out of miles with our car and got stuck in McConnellsburg for the week. Oh man. It was super hard trying to stay productive. For the 4th of July, we are planning on going to a recent converts family and being with them for some of the day, other than that not too much is really happening. Sorry that the email isn't very long this week. I just don't really know what to write about.  I hope you have a great week!

It's not much this week!  Nothing too crazy was happening!

Just some more farm pictures.