Hello Everyone! It's been a fun winter filled week! Lots of cold and lots of snow! Well, not too much but definitely more snow than I have seen from last year. Our week has actually been pretty miracle-filled, as well! We had a street contact two Saturday's ago, where we had brief contact with a man.  He told us to stop by last Monday and when we did, he and his wife were super solid! It was such a spirit filled lesson and they were excited to learn more. We are hoping that they make it to church this week, as well.

Most everyone has been busy with Christmas quickly approaching, so getting in with everyone has been tricky. Thankfully, the members have been pitching and helping us, but they are also doing this really neat Christmas gift for us! For the 12 days leading to Christmas, they did a twist on the song about it and they are feeding us every day with something different! This is probably one of my favorite gifts that I have received from a member. I hope you have felt the Spirit of Christ this season and have felt the joy that comes from serving others, as He served them. Thank you so much for your love and support! I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

P.S. Since Christmas falls on our preparation day this year, I don't know if I will be able to email next week. So, just in case I can't, don't be too surprised if you don't hear from me next Monday.

Sorry the pictures are few this week!

Our ward mission leader, Brother Bartles, had a huge cookie party at his house

and I was able to take a couple of pictures!

Spread Love This Christmas Season!

Hello Everyone! It's been a snowy week here in Maryland! It's finally starting to feel like Christmas now that weather feels like it. It was also transfers this past week! So, my companionship with Elder Worsham came to an end. I'm sure going to miss him, but it was blast serving with him! My new companion is Elder Haynie. He is from Branson, Missouri and has been serving for about 18 months now. It's been fun so far and he's picking up the area pretty fast!

Our investigators are doing well! With the holiday season, it's tricky getting back in with a lot of them, but Karen is still doing really well.  She is still reading through the Book of Mormon for the second time and is excited for baptism! We just have to wait until her and her fiancé are married.

It's been a crazy week with a lot of changes happening with our Zone. But, one thing through it all that has helped me this week, is the one thing that never changes. That is the love that our Father in Heaven has for each and every one of us. I know that no matter what we have done, big or small, nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love. It was that love that motivated Him to send His Only Begotten Son to take upon Himself the infirmities and iniquities of the world. I know that the true peace we have in this life comes from Jesus Christ and I'm grateful for this season that reminds us so much of Him. I hope we can all spread that love this Christmas Season! I hope you have a great week!

My District!

Final pictures with Elder Worsham!

Elder Haynie and I are freaking out about the snow!

Feel The Spirit Of Christ This Christmas Season

Hello Everyone! With the Light the World initiative starting, I hope you have taken the time to reach out to those who are need, just as the Savior did when He was here. This week flew by super quick! Some of the cool highlights of the week are:  We had a Missionary Leadership Council on Friday and we were able to discuss the needs that we saw in the mission. It was cool to hear from President Christiansen and his assistants on faith, diligence, and patience. As we work on these attributes, we will become more effective servants in the Lord's hand.

Karen is doing great this week! She actually finished the Book of Mormon and she loved it! It has even inspired her to read through the Bible! It's been super cool to see the love that she has for the Gospel.  Once she is married to her fiancé, her baptism will be soon after! So, we'll have to see if I’m still here for that or not!

A really funny experience that we had this week was when the Savage Mill sister missionaries sent us a text saying that they needed help filling up the baptismal font with water. Since the baptism was in an hour and it wasn't full, we ended up running back and forth from the janitor's closet filling up garbage cans full of water trying to fill up the font! It was exhausting! But, the baptism went well!

I hope that you will feel the Spirit of Christ this Christmas Season, as you are able to help lift the burdens of others! I hope you have a good week!

I went on exchanges with Elder Fisher this week!

It was so cool to be with an old companion, once again!

In the van driving up with some missionaries to the Missionary Leadership Council

Zone Picture!

Me and Elder Worsham!

Sister Christiansen took pictures of us while at the Missionary Leadership Council. 

This was the table I was sitting at for lunch.

Group Pictures!

This is all of the Zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the mission!

When We Serve How Christ Served...

Hello Everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! It's always so cool to see how the holidays really bring everyone together. It's also really cool to think that the missionaries will be starting the Light the World initiative! It's such a great way to talk with people and to also help those that are around us. I know that when we serve how Christ served, we will see the blessings of heaven more evident in our own lives.

Everything has been going pretty well with our investigators. It was a little tricky trying to get in with them, due to the holiday season.  While I was with an assistant to the president for the day, Elder Worsham was able to see Karen and she is progressing awesomely! She is loving the Book of Mormon and has a great desire to be baptized! It's so cool! We're hoping with the holiday season cooling off and with Christmas on the horizon, we will be able to reach more people and hopefully get in with more of the investigators that we are working with. Thank you everyone for your love and support.  I hope you enjoy this upcoming Christmas season! Make it a great week!

This is the Eberle Family! 

They had us over for Thanksgiving!  It was a lot of fun!

Think About The Things You Are Grateful For!

This week was a fun week! First off, the biggest change that happened was on Wednesday when Elder Apgood was emergency transferred to Baltimore City. A missionary was sick and needed to go home, so they moved Elder Apgood from our companionship, over there. Elder Worsham and I were super sad. 

We had a lot of really cool experiences with our investigators and have still been finding more people! Karen Carr is doing really well and has read like more than half of the Book of Mormon, since we met her! She had a lot of really good questions, as well! It's been awesome seeing her progress in the Gospel!!! We also taught this really cool guy from Ghana yesterday. His name is Sinjoh and he had a lot of questions about religion that we were able to answer. The cool part is that as we answered his questions, he was visibly more and more excited! It was so cool! Probably the weirdest part of the week was that a family invited us over to dinner yesterday and the wife is from Russia! So, we had a cultural meal! It was called Pelmeni.  It was different, but pretty good!

It's been amazing to see the Lord's hand in our area. He truly leads us to those who are prepared to receive the gospel message! I hope you can take the time this week to think about the things that you are grateful for. I know that I'm grateful for a family who has sacrificed for me to come out here and to serve the Lord. I hope you have a good turkey week!!!

A cool lake that I saw while I was on exchanges.

When we found out that Elder Apgood was leaving!

Pictures of my apartment.

*Mom Note: I told Elder Ainsworth that he needed to clean his apartment!

He wrote back and said they had cleaned it, it was just messy since Elder Apgood was packing. 

I can't seem to get rid of that mom instinct to tell him to pick up after himself. LOL!

The "bro" picture that my mom requested. 

Last Floor On The Last Door

Hello Everyone! This week has been a super cold week! With the humidity and wind chill, it definitely feels like winter over here!

This whole week has just flown by, but here are some highlights of the week.  We had Zone Conference! We didn't meet up with another Zone for this one, so it was just our Zone with the Mission President and his assistants. There was a big emphasis on the sacrament and why it's so important to be partaking of this ordinance every week, as well as getting our investigators to church.

We had a super cool miracle this week, as well! So, a few days ago, we were trying to visit a former investigator that other missionaries had taught awhile back. We had their apartment building address, but not their apartment number.  We started knocking on every door to try and find this person and ended up getting to the last floor on the last door. (Nobody answered any of the doors, by the way). Right as we were about to knock on the final door, we heard someone coming up the steps and it turned out to be them! It was so cool to see how the Lord was able to put us in this person's path. The crazy part about it is that they moved a few months earlier and were there just visiting a friend! I know that even though everything may not work out how we want it too, it works out in the Lord’s way. I hope you are staying warm and have a good week!

A service project we ended up doing in the middle of the week.

A member had a fire truck that they wanted us to put together

for her son's birthday.  It was a beast and took forever to finish!  But, it was fun!

The missionaries serving in the Ellicott City Ward!

"You Are True Men Of God!"

Hello Everyone! This week was a crazy week! Being a Zone Leader now, I have a lot more meetings that I have to go too. One them is a Missionary Leadership Council. This is a meeting where all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders get together with our Mission President and his wife to go over concerns and needs for the mission. It was awesome! I loved it! It's so neat see all the care that goes into running the mission! I also saw an old companion, as well.

This week was another miracle filled week! We got a referral from the missionaries serving in Baltimore City for this guy, John Moore. We stopped by to see him this week and he was super interested! He loved the lesson and even said, "You are true men of God!" It was so cool! It's been really neat to see all of the prepared people that are being put in our path. I have really been able to see the love that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father have for us. We may fall short, but His loving arm is always outstretched towards us, ready for when we make even the slightest change towards Him. I know the power of real repentance and the difference it makes in the lives of those that use it. I hope you have a great week!

Our Halloween Party!

The treats we had!

Me with Elder Harvey!

All of us as a group!