Week #46

Hey Mis!

How's the ward doing? Any new missionaries? Do you go out teaching with them much? I wish I did that more back home. Even if I did an hour a week, it would've been awesome. This has been the most tiring week of my mission, but super fun at the same time! There was so much going on this week, and a lot of traveling! On Tuesday we drove to Dolan Springs where transfers were taking place, and I dropped off Elder Peterson. He wasn't my favorite companion, but it has been fun to see him grow and change for the better. After I dropped him off, I spent the rest of the day with Elder Ryder, who is serving in Golden Valley, near Kingman. He was training too, so we were companions for the day. He has a really cool area, a lot of good members, and a lot of people who were interested in the gospel! We were driving down the road on Tuesday, and he said that they had been struggling to find more people to teach, and he asked me for advice. I half-jokingly told him that sometimes when we're driving and we see someone walking alongside the road, we'll pullover and talk to them. He thought it was interesting, and that he had never tried it before. We drove for another 10-15 minutes, and we saw a guy walking down the street. So, Elder Ryder looked at me and asked, "How do you do it?". And before I could answer, he pulled to the side near the guy and rolled down MY window. I was shocked he just pulled over like that, but I street contacted the guy anyways. It ended up being really cool. It turns out he lives right around the corner from Elder Ryder's house, and that he used to talk to missionaries, and he wanted to know more. So, we got his information, gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him to read the intro, and set up a time to come by. He thanked us, and we parted ways. As we drove for a few minutes, there was an awkward silence in the car. Then, Elder Ryder said, "I can't believe that worked!!!" It was pretty funny. That night, we planned for the next day, and we had some time left over. So, we watched a couple of the Book of Mormon cartoons. My favorite was the Tree of Life cartoon. It was kinda cheesy, but funny haha. Nephi got punched in the face as he tried to help someone stay by the tree. I don't remember that being in the scriptures!!! 

On Wednesday, we drove into Vegas, and we went to pick up our new missionaries. Elder Ryder and I were both super excited, but nervous at the same time. We waited for about a half our in the chapel, and the. The greenies arrived. We saw the list of new missionaries, and there were 12 elders and 8 sisters. 2 of the elders were from Utah. As you know about my opinion of Utahans, I was realllllllly hoping I didn't get either of the guys from Utah. Elder Ryder was hoping the same thing. So the meeting started, and President started to announce the people. Elder Ryder got called before me. He got Elder Smith, out of Logan, UT. Then, my name got called. President announced that my trainee would be Elder Rigby. Elder Rigby was out of OREM, UTAH. Of all the missionaries, Ryder and I got both the Utahans. As we talked with them throughout the day, they turned out to be really cool guys. Elder Rigby played football when he was in high school and wrestled. He just graduated this year, so it's a little weird training someone who graduated 2 years behind me. It made me feel super old 💀💀After we picked up our greenies, we decided to stay in Vegas to save miles. So, me, Rigby, Ryder, and Smith all worked with Elder Leakehe and Aitchison's area that night, which just so happened to be my old area!! They gave us a list of people to visit, and on our list was one of my recent converts, Rob Dietz! So, we got to visit him, and it was super cool. We surprised him, he wasn't expecting me to be in the area haha. We sat down and talked with him, and he's doing really well. It's cool to see how much the gospel can change people's lives. Afterwards, we stayed the night in Leakehe's and Aitchison's apartment.

Thursday was the new missionary meeting. It was a long meeting, but it was really cool. Prez talked about how "trainers have the most direct influence on the work", and so it freaked me out a little bit haha. It was cool cuz I got to see some people I served near in Green Valley, like Elder Dodge and Sister Kohler, because they were both training too. After the meeting we drove back home. Ryder dropped us off in Dolan Springs where our car was, and then we drove home. On the way home, we stopped at a Walmart in Kingman to pick up some bedding for Rigby. When we came back out from Walmart, we had trouble finding our car. Finally, I recognized the license plate, and walked over to the car. We didn't recognize it at first, because Rigby's bike was no longer on the back, and neither was the bike rack... Before we started traveling, we put Rigby's bike on the rack at the end of our Corolla, and locked his bike to the rack itself. Well, I guess someone really needed a bike, so they took the whole entire rack too. It sorta sucked, but looking back now it's pretty funny. 

Friday was our first full day in the area. We had district council, and then afterwards we got to see the Leivas family who we started teaching. There are two sisters and a brother that we're teaching, and they're doing well. Then on Saturday, we had a zone leadership meeting in Kingman, so we got to drive two hours up for a one hour meeting, and then two hours back -_- We got to visit some people that day, and then that night we pros balled against some people in the ghetto part of Parker. It was funny because they smack talked the whole time, but me and Rigby beat them. So, we taught them the Plan of Salvation, and we gave them all pamphlets, and we're supposed to see them Tuesday night. It was pretty funny haha, although now I'm nursing a bunch of blisters on my feet. Dress shoes aren't meant to play basketball in... who knew?

Sunday came around, and we attended ward council for the first time. It seems like the members didn't like the missionaries in the past, because I had never been to ward council in Parker. Elder William H. Stoddard of the Seventy came to visit, which was super cool. He attended ward council, so I got to talk with him a bit. He's super funny!! He spoke in sacrament, which was really cool too. Then, Sunday night, we went to visit a lady named Myra. She was just on our list of potential investigators, but we felt like we should stop by. It just so happened that she was sitting on her front porch. We talked with her, and she said that she talked to the missionaries one, and they set up a return appointment, but they didn't show -_- But, we sat down and talked with her, and taught her the Restoration on the spot. She felt the Spirit hardcore, so we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted!! She prefers Spanish, so we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon, and we're seeing her again this week. Holy miracles!!!

That was my week. Sorry the email was long, but it was jam packed with stuff. Have a great week!

Love you Mis!

Trev

Trevor and his trainee, Elder Rigby (Sent 8/1/16)

Week #45

Hey Mis!

Sounds like good week with all the birthdays. Mom's bday was tough for me, but a PMF in my last area got baptized that day, which was cool. I saved that picture of Asia as her contact on my iPad hahaha. So we had an eventful week. To start off, we went on splits four times with members! It was super cool, and we got a lot of work done! The members are getting more excited for the work here in Parker. We found a really cool teenager named Isaac. He's a super cool kid! He wasn't super into God when we talked with him at first, but when we taught the Restoration, it peaked his interest! He really liked the Plan of Salvation too, he asked a ton of questions about "judgement day" hahaha. He's a really cool kid! On one of our splits, I went with a kid named Landen, who's getting ready to submit his papers. He's a really cool kid! He lost his dad to cancer a few months ago, so I had a really good talk with him about mom's situation and still trying to leave on a mission. The lesson we went to, Landen testified really well, and the investigator felt the Spirit super strong!! We also had four people come to church this week! The Diaz family came, except for the mom. They're doing super well, hopefully they can get baptized soon! Another lady named Theresa randomly showed up to church. She came with a friend, and we talked with her. She looooooves church, and so we're going to start teaching her!! A part member family in my last area also got baptized on Saturday. Saturday was rough cuz of mom's birthday, but the baptism made me feel better! I got to FaceTime in which was cool. It was a great week this week!

We also received transfer doctrines. Elder Peterson is going to North Las Vegas, with a missionary who's a pretty good guy. I'm staying in Parker. I'm still a district leader 🔫, but now as if I wasn't stressing before...... I'M TRAINING. It's going to be a crazy transfer. I'm excited but nervous too. I'm still figuring out how to be a DL, and now I'm training haha. It should be interesting. I'm going to have to go back into Vegas again to pick up my greenie, so it should be an eventful week. That was my week! How's the ward doing? How's the office? What are you doing for fun in NY? Have you seen Whitney or Marshall or Joanna or anyone lately? It was Marshall's bday last week. I hope you're doing well!

Love you Mis!

Trev

Leakehe and my replacement lol. (Elder Excell - he's a cool guy) Sent 7/25/16

Week #44

Hey Mis!

Sounds like a fun but long week! That's cool that Tyler was down there. Are you guys doing anything for Asia's bday? We had an interesting week. We had a great lesson with Randi, one of our investigators, on Saturday. She hasn't come to church lately, so we had to be a little bold and tough with her when inviting her to church. She committed to go. So on Sunday morning, a member volunteered to give her a ride. We went with the member to go pick her up, and we knocked on her door to find her in her PJs. She said she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go. This had been the third or fourth week she had said that. So, we dropped her on the spot. It's frustrating that she isn't progressing, but even more frustrating when it's up to her, and she chooses not to. She texted us later and told us to come back, but we didn't. Sometimes, the best help we can give is to let people go. It's tough, but sometimes it's necessary. 

On the bright side, we had some pretty sweet miracles too! I got to do an exchange with Elder Demetropoulos this week in my district. He's from Hawaii, and he's been out for about seven months. It's funny cuz he's a body builder, but he skips leg day hahaha. He's pretty big on top, but he's got skinny legs. A lot of people tease him about it, but he's a really awesome guy. They had some cool people that they were teaching, their area is doing really well. We got to give a blessing on exchanges, and I was really impressed with him because he's sort of a goof, but he buckled down really well and gave a great blessing. It was pretty neat. For our area, we're still in the process of rebuilding. We dropped a lot of people this week, but at the same time, we found new people too! We've been teaching a guy named Daniel Holt, and he's doing really well. He wasn't really big into religion or God, but he's been getting really into the Book of Mormon! After his lesson, we left his house, and a guy was walking towards his door. As we were passing by him, we stopped to talk with him. His name was Jacob, and he was a really good dude. He's Daniel's brother, and he just got off of his shift at work. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and he was really interested by it! So we're teaching him when we go visit Daniel again tomorrow. We also reconnected with the Diaz family. They had been out of town for a while, but they just got back in town. We read the Book of Mormon with them since they had been struggling to read. We read with them Lehi's dream, and they loved it! They're a lot of fun. 

That was pretty much my week. Peterson and I are struggling right now honestly. He's sort of checked out cuz he thinks he's getting transferred next week. It's been an interesting transfer. I've learned a lot though, definitely helped with patience and humility. How's the ward doing? I heard there's a new bishop. How are the missionaries? Anything happen in the ward's mission efforts? Have a great week!

Love ya Mis!

Trev