Week 32, November 21, 2016

Hello Everyone!!! This week has been pretty awesome! 

This week we were super busy! We had conference monday and then we had 2 baptisms to attend on saturday and with all of our normal meetings like correlation we didn't have a ton of time to do normal proselyting things like tracting and stuff. 

Thursday we were on exchanges. I was in my District Leaders area with him. He is Elder Stevens and he is awesome! We spent a lot of time doing service for some older people we were asked to help move. Wednesday E. Denny and I went for about a half hour to help with the heavy things but we found out they needed a lot more than two people and a lot more than 1/2 an hour. So we came back on exchanges with 4 elders and 2 sisters. They were so grateful, it was awesome. They moved into my area so we get to go back and ask them to come to church!

Friday was our Weekly Planning day so we spent most of the day planning until about 6. Then we went with a member to go to a lesson with an investigator Jodi. She flaked on us but the member told us he had enough time to stay out with us the rest of the night. So we decided to go visit some former investigators we had written down earlier that day. The very first one we visited we found out had moved but the guy we had talked to let us in. We were able to teach the whole Restoration Lesson and then we invited him to be baptized on Dec 17! It was way awesome!

I also made Deer Steak for us for lunch! It was also awesome! Here is me in my new apron, Thank you Sarah Olson! (my well beloved aunt)

Saturday we watched two baptisms and then went to a YSA activity about Family History, it was a super good day! 

DO YOUR FAMILY HISTORY!!!

Well that's all, Love you!!!

Elder Strong

I'm not a District Leader right now, at first I was kinda sad but it has been super nice to have some more time to take care of my own things. We had to leave fast this morning so I didn't have time to take pictures of the apartment or my socks yet, but the socks are super awesome! I am super happy with them! I'll get you those pictures next week.

Elder Denny has been out 17 months. Here is a picture. He is from a place called Low Mountain Arizona near Flagstaff (ish) He is from the Indian Reservation. He is a convert of about 2 years, only his little brother is an active member of the church. He didn't find out his parents were members until he was baptized. He is 100% Navajo.

That's cool that you got to go to Saint George, that's always a fun trip.

Maybe a KFC would be good. I have been wanting to go there but I don't want to make E. Denny pay for it so maybe I could use it to pay for both of us. Plus there is almost always a Subway in most areas.

Week 31, November 15, 2016

Hey Everyone!

So this week has been crazy and awesome at the same time! 

It is awesome here in Pendleton! There is no sales tax so everything is super cheap and it is illegal to pump your own gas so someone else has to do it for you. Which means every time we fill our tank we get to talk to someone about the Gospel! They probably hate it but it is pretty fun for us (and possibly illegal but we'll see).

Yesterday we had zone conference and were visited by Elder Zeballos (za-bye-yos), it was an awesome conference! I got to see a lot of my old companions like Elders Snelgrove, Gwilliam, and Tobey. It was awesome! 

Covering a YSA area is nice because we get to chill with a ton of returned missionaries who really want to help us find people to teach and they are really good at giving us their friends to teach. Plus we have all of Pendleton in our area which means we can shop and eat anywhere we want. It's awesome!

I forgot to take pictures of the apartment but it is super super small haha! It is known throughout the mission as the Broom Closet! We live in a members home above their garage they converted into an apartment. It is a one bedroom one bath apartment. We eat, study and sleep in one room and our bathroom is also our closet. It's a pretty big change from the dome! But it is awesome! I'll send pictures next week!

Sorry it is a short one! Love you!

Elder Strong

November 7, 2016 - Week 30

Hi-lo Everyone!

So first off, I am totally getting transferred! Whooo! 6 transfers, 6 different Companions, 5 different areas. I am going to be transferred to Pendleton Oregon, in the Mckay Creek Ward (pronounsed Mc-eye) and Pendleton YSA Ward. So I will be back in the same zone I just left, but I will only see most of the zone only like 2 that transfer. My companion is Elder Denny! He was in the same Zone as me when I was getting trained, we have always been really good friends whenever we see each other. Its gonna be awesome!

It is pretty sad that I have been spending only six weeks with my companions and in that area lately but I know it is for a purpose and to help me grow and become a stronger missionary. I have a testimony of the Revelation we can directly receive from our Heavenly Father and I know a lot of Revelation is involved in Transfer planning. 

This week I have been having a harder time finding things to study but I starting reading Ensigns, It was really cool. Some of my Favorites were the Special Ensigns they put out for the apostles that recently passed away and some of the articles for the new ones being put in. It is awesome to learn about the things that happened in there life along the way to becoming apostles and some of the standards and goals they had long before becoming apostles. It was a really fun thing to study. Something I am working on is my ability to recognize revelation and to always give thanks when I receive it, I know that it has been promised to every single one of us that we can receive revelation if we are worthy.

Other than that I don't have a whole ton to talk about. My mind is all frazzled trying to think of all the things I got to do to get ready for transfers.

Plus I am going to miss the crap out of my flannel bed-sheets and queen sized bed :(

Love You!

Elder Strong

Our Pumpkin after Lighting Duritos because we don't have any Candles

Elder Gwilliam Fist bumping a Praying mantis that crawled all they way up his pants up to his face.

Some missionaries are teaching a family and this guy is always like this, they call him Grandpa

November 1, 2016 - Week 29

Hey everyone!

This week was way cool! Monday night we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders, I went to their area with Elder Lauti! It was way cool except we had a zone service project that morning and then I did my District Council right after so after all that plus dinner we only had like 2 or 3 hours to go out and to proselyte together. But those couple hours were pretty great! We just knocked doors mostly but we had some really good experiences. We always pick something for us to focus on during the exchange so I picked bearing Testimony of how the Book of Mormon has effected your life. But as is tradition for most exchanges, we forget about the focus and don't do it. But at the very last door we picked for the night I realized we weren't doing it and I resolved that I would do it. So I looked for some way to bring up the Book of Mormon...and noticed he was wearing a Foo Fighters shirt... So after he said he wasn't interested I said "your just trying to relax and listen to the Foo Fighters right?" He laughed and said yes giving me a chance to say something like "yeah, I used to be like that to but I decided it wasn't good enough. So i started reading the Bible and Book of Mormon and found new purpose in my life." Some how this gave him a reason to step outside, shut the door, and have an actual conversation with us. (he also locked himself out we found out later) The conversation was really cool but in the end he still wasn't very interested in having us come back, such is the ways of missionary life, but now he liked us more and he knows we actually care about people and if he ever did have a desire to learn more he would be more comfortable with us. It was cool. 

Because of Halloween we had to come back to the apartment at 6 and we also had a District Council in the morning so we didn't to go out to proselyte for very long but the time we had was pretty efficient minus the fact it took us 1 hr and 15 minutes to walk to the area we were tracting. There was a guy walking to the mailboxes that waved at us and made the classic "its too early to be trick-or-treating" joke. He was a nice guy but not interested. He checked the mail but he didn't have anything so he walked back to his house but right after we knocked a door we turned around and saw the mail man deliver the mail. So we walked back to his house to tell him that the mail was here and had a really good conversation. Again, they weren't interested but would now be more open to future missionaries. So we move onward and continue to Sow Seeds! You can't harvest what was never planted so I am happy whether I am reaping or sowing fro the future missionaries.

My District Council was really cool. In case you don't know, when you are a District Leader you are in charge of making District Councils for the District. Each transfer we always have 3, so I have to organize 3 District Councils. This time I invited President and Sister Anderson to come to it. He was once the Mission President in Sweden and they were both just released from the Temple Presidency. They were so awesome to have there! It was a fun council!

Nothing else really happened this week except that:

• our fridge is overflowing with Cake and Pie from my birthday and some dinners that were delivered to the house
• The Danes (who we live with) gave us Flannel bead sheets to sleep in and they are so disgustingly comfortable it is ridiculous! So hard to get out of bed now!
• Our Bike is still broken even though we should have gotten the part by now. When the member went to pick it up they had forgotten to order it
• We were walking past the Bethel church and saw what there Youth Program was teaching them...I'll send a picture of the Car they were beating

Love You all!!!

Elder Strong

This Osprey landed in the tree in front of house and ate a fish it caught. Our Members love birds and had a spoting scope out so I took pictures for them (they were out of town)

"Judge Ekstrom, problem Solver"

October 25, 2016 - Week 28

​Hello Everyone!

We had a super fantastic week this week!

So one of the bikes broke this week, shifter just straight up exploded, crazy stuff. But that wasn't that big of a deal since we haven't been riding that much because of my neck anyway but we have had the opportunity to get to know some great members who have been helping us get it fixed.

My Birthday was super great, a few weeks ago we had a dinner with some less active members and asked them to feed us on my birthday! We had an amazing dinner! at first we felt bad because we could tell that it cost a bit of money but then he showed us his Decati (nice nice motorcycle) so then we felt better. Then some members surprised me with a birthday cake! awesome!

We are now keeping track of "Proselyting hours" in the mission and it was surprising to see how far away we were to reaching the missions expectations. This week we improved a ton because we didn't get hurt or sick but there is still a lot of room for improvements and we are excited to make them!

My favorite current investigators Zack and Karissa are moving this week, i'm pretty sad. But we have one more lesson set up this week that is going to be awesome! I am way excited! They will have a lot of fun in Pasco, they will have some really awesome missionaries there!

Not much else to say but it was an awesome week! Love you all!

Steak was Birthday dinner

Elder Gwilliams Blister keeps opening

some Dome interior (where we live)

and some other stuff

Elder Strong

October 17, 2016 - Week 27

Hello Friends and Family!

So this week was kinda different. 

So with the Car back in possession we were able to get to parts of our area we haven't been in because it is too far to walk there. We were able to contact a lot of referrals and potential investigators and after having some really good conversations and setting some return appointments we got a call...from the Assistants...telling us they were giving our car to some other Elders...We just cant get a break! Now we have been given bikes at least, but everyday we leave the house there is a hill that takes 30 mins to walk up and would take 15-20 to bike up except that we cant bike straight up hill that long. And all of our area is up hill so the bikes are only kinda helpful for going down hill our for the vary rare flat areas we have, but oh well, we'll survive.

We haven't had much experience on the bikes yet because I got hurt and sick on the same day. I got this weird Flu/cold thing where I had a really intense fever and was super congested but I couldn't sleep because I hurt my neck. My neck hurt soo bad that I would wake up every 30-60 minutes and then couldn't fall back asleep for a while. So we were told I had to get it looked at and all they could say is that I hurt my neck (probably all the up hill) and it was inflamed and not healing yet. So they gave me some sweet muscle relaxants to put my out at night and I have to take 9 ibuprofen every day to get rid of the inflammation. So pray I don't get an ulcer : ) 

I am doing a lot better now though, but we were stuck in the apartment for 3 days so that kinda sucked.

I am not sure I talked about it last week but we have been doing this crazy service project where we have been going to this guys house and digging out his basement, we did that again this week but this time I couldn't help. This time we got the guy to commit to church this sunday so it has all been worth it!

Not a ton else this week but it was still a good one after all the sickness and junk was over!

Love ya!

Here is us trying to be happy even though we are now helmet missionaries, Elder Gwilliams twinkie box, and how foggy it was one morning since we live on the river.

Elder Strong

October 10, 2016 - Week 26

Hey Everyone!

So had a pretty good week for the most part but there were some pretty sad parts also.

Started off the week with exchanges with Elder Yates back in the Riverview ward. It was way fun and I got to see a lot of people again, I also got to show Elder Yates his area since he hasn't been proselyting in 5 weeks. Elder White and Elder Gwilliam stayed in our area and were in the apartment all day except when they went to the Doctor to get the news on Elder Whites MRI's. Later that night they had a retired Member come read the scans with us and showed us what was wrong with Elder White (and an MRI of his butt, pretty cool) he has something called a  sarynx (something like that) which means there is a sac of unnecessary fluid in his spinal cord that they can't remove without leaving permanent nerve damage so he basically needs to learn how to live with it. And because he needed physical therapy and a few more MRI's they sent him home. It was all pretty sad.

Tuesday we did this super crazy service project where we ended up "digging out" someones basement. Which meant we were in a pre-established home filling 5 gallon buckets with rock and dirt and hauling them back upstairs and duping it into a pile. IT WRECKED US. We couldn't do anything else the rest of the day, it was way too intense. And we have to go back this Saturday to help do some more. Don't get me wrong, it was still pretty fun but holy poop was it hard.

Had another lesson with Zack and Karissa, turns out they'll be moving to Pasco by the end of the month but we're going to keep working them over so that when they get there we can send in the new set of missionaries to get them baptized. They are so awesome!

Saturday we got a call in the morning telling us that a Zone Leader was sick and they needed one of us to go with his companion and attend a temple Endowment with him because he was escorting someone. So I got to go! It was so much fun! It was a really cool experience. 

Well that is basically it for this week but still lots more to come this week!

Love you all!

The Young Men and Young Women in the Ward made us the cake...it was pretty good though!

Elder Strong