June 27, 2016~ Another week of doing good!

Hey guys!

So this week went by really quick and it was a pretty good one. We were able to get in contact with a couple less actives and have some good lessons with them. One less active had us over for lunch and her husband is not a member but he has no interest in changing. He's about 80 and he's been around the church most of his life, he knows all of the doctrine, he loves all of the things the church does, and the people, but he has not interest in switching at this point in his life. 

We had dinner with the Mashburn’s and had a lesson and that went well. He's working towards getting the priesthood soon. We did a bunch of tracting this week and we didn't find anyone too promising. Kinda a boring week there but we also were able to do some service.

We did some landscaping for a guy named Mike and he's the same guy we've been doing service for for a couple weeks and his house looks like a brand new house now. He asked for a way to donate to our church so we brought him a tithing slip and explained what everything on there was and and where the money goes to and he thought that was really cool so hopefully he remembers what we did for him and it will lead to something in the future.

We also did service for a lady named Susanne who we tracted into. She is kind of a hoarder so her back yard is a mess! So that was some interesting service. First off I dug two holes for her dead cats in the back yard by the garage. The worst part was the cats died in December so yeah... Pretty gross! Then we got talking about religion and gave her a Book of Mormon, and Elder Marks talked to her for 1 1/2 hours while I tried to start tackling the back yard. I went in with the weed whacker, some pruners, and a garbage can and in an hour and a half I cleared about a 10 by 10 square. But that square looks really good! It's more of a service for the neighborhood and her neighbors because she doesn't really care how it looks. So we will be going back for a couple weeks to do the rest.

We went to Nathaniel Brunard’s mission call opening and he was called to some place in Africa. I don't know how to spell it but I think it's Namibia Botswana mission? He's going to be a great missionary as well as Ben Bagley who gave his "farewell" talk this Sunday and he did a great job! We also had another missionary return from his mission here in the ward and he spoke as well. Two of the youth were ordained to elders this week including Ben, and it was also a couple of the families in the ward last week so it was kinda crazy!

Then, last night we had dinner with the Welker’s who are a cool young family in the ward. That's pretty much it. Have a great week!

Love you!

P.S.

We found a Buffett that has tons of seafood! This is just some of the different kinds they have. I ate the octopus on the left side but it wasn't that good!

Staying in West Seneca

Hey guys!

It sounds like you guys had a fun time in Alaska and Seattle!

This week was a pretty hot on here in New York for a couple of the days. But the missionary work goes on regardless. We are kinda like Mailmen. Rain or shine. So for p-day we had all of the youth come to the church and we played some basketball, and this game that's kinda a mixbetween, dodgeball and lightning. So it's a free for all but only one ball and you can only take two steps. And if you get out you sit down but if the person that got you out gets out your back in so its pretty fun especially with all of the youth!

Then that night we had service for Katy doing some  landscaping which isn't my favorite but I've had a little experience at it so we do it a lot! We went over a couple other nights to help to and we had some lessons too so that was good and she ending up coming to church yesterday! So the service payed off! Also she bought Elder Fielding and I some ice cream so bonus!

Elder Fielding and I went on exchanges on Tuesday and that was a lot of fun! I really like having elder peters and fielding in the ward and the district. We have a lot of fun! And for some reason we just click with the ward really well. We did some service at Burchfield Park spreading 6 truckloads of wood chips on the playgrounds. Then we went to another guy to do more landscaping and he had a Book of Mormon and said he is going to read it and he also wanted to make a donation to the church for what we've done so that's really cool! We had a lot of lessons with less-actives this week and they were all pretty receptive and open to us coming by again. We found some more people to add to the ward list who referred themselves through Mormon.org so that is always really cool to see the people come out of the cracks and back into the church. Also a couple new families moved into the ward.

We did the usual tracting and trying to find new people and we met two cool guys this week. One took a Book of Mormon and is interested in meeting with us again and just wants to talk about religion and life.

The other guy was really awesome! He said "I felt the spirit when you guys were walking down the street" and he was saying all of the right things. For example he said he doesn't like it when churches have crosses he said "Jesus isn't dead anymore... Take him down" he also believe there is only one church and that's the church of Jesus Christ... Which so happens to be our church! He thinks there's a lot of corruption in all of the different churches so hopefully we can help him see we have the truth!

Other than that everything was normal.

Oh, and I am staying another transfer.  I am finishing my mission in West Seneca with Elder Marks. 

Have a good week! 

Love you!

I had to buy it! :)

Letter From President Francis~ Coming Home July 16th!!

June 13, 2016

Hey guys!

So for this week we did a lot more of the usual stuff like tracting, trying to visit potentials, etc... We went to the Mashburn’s and set up a family mission plan with them mostly just setting goals with them to develop good habits in the church like scripture study, prayer, family history, etc... We have been talking a lot about pageant with people just telling them about it and how it connects to the Book of Mormon and people are a little more open to that since they've usually heard about it before and heard that it's a really good show. So I hope that at least one of the people we've talked to about it actually makes it out to see it. All of the members in the ward are also inviting all of their friends, neighbors, etc... Even the primary kids are handing out a bunch of pass along cards for it.

We had Visit with the Garbaz’s who is the family who texted you a picture a couple weeks ago mom. They are really nice and a super awesome family but they are mostly just friends with the missionaries, not interested in joining the church but they might go to pageant so that would be cool! We don't really have lessons but we just answer a lot of questions about the church, so hopefully some seeds are planted. We also had some good visits this week with some active families like the Robison’s and he Alessi's. We went and did some service for the Alessi's and had dinner with them as well and they are really great! I was able to just talk about the future and get some more good advice and council from brother Alessi. I just like talking with people and seeing all they've done to find success and happiness in their lives.

We also did a bunch of other service at a nature park here in West Seneca, mostly cutting down perennials and they have about 10000 of them so we only got part way done with all four missionaries. We also cleaned up a couple abandoned houses and one of them had a ton of stuff! Weed up to your waist, and old pool and deck that had to be taken out, etc... And I also changed the spark plugs in the Mashburn’s car for them so that was fun!

The ward had a baptism this Saturday. Just one of the primary kids but there was a few non-members there so that was good and they seemed to really enjoy it. Then Sunday we had all of our usual meetings. Ward correlation at 7:15, then ward council, sacrament and we had a choir performance this week, and scheduling stuff with members for this next week. Then we went to the Robison’s for dinner again to finish the Sunday.

So overall a pretty good week!

Love you!

Found this tracting this week. 

June 6, 2016 ~ Five more weeks!

Hey guys!

This week was a good week! I don't really remember all that happened but I remember it being good. We did a bunch of he usual missionary stuff, lots of tracting, trying to contact less actives and see if we can come by and share a message, etc..

We had zone meeting this week and we talked about finishing off president Francis's mission off strong and trying to meet some goals before he leaves. I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Peters and that was a lot of fun! We get along really well and we work together good. Everything just seemed to go naturally and it was just easy to do missionary work with him. For some reason I'm always in the same district with the missionaries I'm friends with and whom I work well with but not companions very often. We had a good exchange though and we were able to go start new member lessons with the Mashburn’s home teachers and we were also able to find a less active in Lackawanna who did want anything to do with the church before but now she wants us to come over and teach her kids and she might go to pageant next month! She was previously unknown to the ward but now she's in the records.

We were able to do a little bit of service this week but not too much. We have also been going to the active members and teaching them and then kneeling in prayer with them to help them have missionary opportunities and its seems to be working pretty well!

This Sunday, we had a really good fast and testimony meeting because there are 5 families moving out so it was kind of sad because it is their last fast and testimony meeting in this ward but more people usually move in here in the summer. They also reorganized the bishopric because one of the councilors is moving so now it's Bishop Schaff, Brother Shmidt, and Brother Allred. Then brother Bagley got released and put as the seminary teacher for next year since brother Hughlett is moving too. So lots of changes.

But it was a really good week. Have a good one!

Love you!