Monday, February 26, 2018

For the Last Six Weeks...


Hello Everybody! This week has been crazy, over here in Maryland! It's been a lot warmer than it has been as of late, but what's really crazy is that I’m being transferred to my last area in the mission! For the last 6 weeks, I will be in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania! It's pretty crazy! It feels like I've been over in that area a lot, but I'm grateful for the opportunity that I will have to visit Carlisle, my very first area, for a day. I'm very excited to see all of my recent converts!

Things have been going really well with our investigators. The Columbia 2 Sisters had a baptism last Saturday and we had our investigator, Alexander, come! He loved it and we committed him to pray about a date to be baptized.  As he was watching the baptism, he felt that he needed to be baptized on March 10th, which is super exciting! Dolphin is still doing really well. He has some struggles that he is working to overcome, so we are moving the date when he will be baptized, but he still loves the church and really wants to be baptized soon! 

Elder Haynie and I have been talking a lot lately about these successes that we have seen with both Dolphin and Alex.  We did not find them through our own efforts. We challenged our whole zone to study the importance of remembering that this is the Lord’s work! It's His work "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".  All that He requires of us, is to keep His commandments and exercise faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that we are not alone in this great work and that there is more help than we realize. I love my Savior and I am grateful for this opportunity to get to know Him better. I hope all is going well for everyone! Thank you again for your love and support!

Every morning we have three kittens that come to our porch and they play around. 
It's been really fun to see all of them!

Preparation Day!
We had a big lunch today!


We did a really fun missionary relay race!





Monday, February 19, 2018

I'm Doing Pretty Good!


Hello Everyone!  I'm doing pretty good this week! It's been pretty snowy over here! Which is crazy, because we had one day where it was 65 degrees and then 2 days later it snowed 2 inches! All of these temperature changes have given me a cold.
This has been a pretty busy week for our investigators. A lot of them have had different issues come up, such as changing work schedules or illness, which has made it tricky to get in with them.  Alex is doing really well, though! He has been reading and praying on his own and has also decided to pray about a date to be baptized! He even made it to a youth night that our church held, and he loved it! So, it's been great to see him! Dolphin has had a really busy week, so we haven't met with him. However, he was able to make it to church on Sunday and he even brought his wife, Joy! It was so cool to see all of the members reach out to them. We are planning on seeing Dolphin tonight, as well, so it should be good!
I don’t have time to write more, I’ll try to do better next week. Hope you have a great week! 
Old Ellicott City, which is in our area.  It's pretty cool!


This is our backyard! It looked really cool!

We went to Panda Express.  Found a funny fortune! 

Monday, February 12, 2018

The Lord Puts People Into Our Path


Hello Everybody! It’s been a rainy week over here in Maryland, but a pretty great week for our investigators! We had a really awesome lesson with Dolphin and both his mom and his wife were able to sit in with us for the lesson. It was fantastic! We brought a member of the Relief Society with us to help introduce them to her, for when they came to church on Sunday. Dolphin stayed for all 3 hours this Sunday and he really enjoyed it. If you remember Alex, the 15-year-old we met last week, we had a lesson with him and his mom and dad sat in on the lesson, as well. It was great because it was well received, and Alex was super excited to learn more. The Lord has definitely had a hand in our area! It really helped, since this week I was also pretty sick for a day and wasn't able to go out and visit people.
I know that the Lord puts people in our path who need what we have to share.  I also know that when we reach out, even in small ways, it can make a huge difference in the lives of others. I hope you have a great week!

Sorry, there are not a whole lot of pictures this week. 
I will see if I can take more this upcoming week.

This is me, sick with Elder Haynie.



Monday, February 5, 2018

He is Truly in the Details of Our Lives!


Hello Everyone! The temperature is still up and down over here in Maryland, but everything is going great with our investigators! It's been a crazy week with Zone Conference and the Missionary Leadership Council, but we were still able to have meaningful visits with our investigators. Dolphin is fantastic! He's doing so good! He loves the church and everything about it! It's so neat to see the changes that have come into his life as he has lived the Gospel. It was also neat that his mom even sat in our last lesson! It's been great!
We have been trying to get in and set up more appointments with the rest of our investigators.  One of the cooler miracles this week was from a 15-year-old kid, Alexander. The missionaries talked to him over the phone and he was able to get a Book of Mormon.  When we met him, he had already read through 1 Nephi! He came to church yesterday and he loved it! He remarked that he is thinking about joining the church. It's been awesome! One of my favorite parts about the mission, has been the ability to truly see the hand of the Lord more clearly in my every day life. He is truly in the details of our lives and wants to help us every step of the way!
As some of you may have noticed this past week, the leadership of our mission has received Smartphones and we are able to use Facebook! As exciting as it is to see me on Facebook, please remember that I can only communicate with others from home on Monday. Also, if you would like to contact me, I would prefer that you please do it through my email. This is a great tool that the Lord has put in our hands and I would like to use it in the way the Lord needs me to right now. That being said, if you do want to see how I’m doing, my current Facebook account that I'm using as a missionary, will be the one with me wearing my missionary badge. Thank you for all the love and support, as we go through this new change! I hope you have a great week!
Pictures of everyone with phones!







Car ride back from MLC

Last picture taken with my camera, before it broke!