December 7, 2015

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good as usual. Last p-day we went to Letchworth before it starts to get cold and we can actually enjoy it. I think I got all of the pictures to you last week mom.

Tuesday, we were able to meet with Randy and he is doing really good. He is reading from the Book of Mormon and he said he believes it to be true. He sees how helps us with everything. He thinks a lot about the end times and all of the things are going on in the world and he sees how the Book of Mormon is meant to help us prepare for those situations. The only problem is, he lost his drivers license but he applied to get it back so hopefully that works out.

Wednesday, we saw Brian and read the Book of Mormon with him. Then that night we had dinner at the Moons. Thursday I was on exchanges with elder Holmberg. I stayed in Geneseo because we live in the same apartment but just switched companions. It was way fun! I think Elder Holmberg might be my best friend on the mission so far, so I am glad I get to be at least in the same apartment. So, we went to the food pantry in the morning, then we had district meeting, and then that night we went to a club meeting on campus for ASL and we were able to talk to lots of people there!  ASL- American Sign Language and Elder Holmberg knows it. He's an ASL missionary and I've picked up a lot of it too. So we will be going to that every week now. I’m not to good at it yet but I can have conversations in it and if I don't know the sign I can at least spell it out for now. It's cool because all throughout the day we have conversations in sign language.

Then, late that night we had a lesson with a girl named Marissa (who neither of us had met before) at Wegman’s at the cafe and it went really well!

Friday, we met with Randy again. Saturday we were able to meet with on of our investigators named Rick. He is super awesome and unlike the others who don't have cars or licenses to get to church, he has a 350 z, a BMW, and a brand new Cadillac Escalade. He owns a liquor store but doesn't drink but he's planning on selling it. He is very well off and open which generally don't tend to go together. Also he’s planting a vineyard so that's pretty cool. Yesterday we had ward council, good church meetings, and a meeting with bishop after. With the new stake president we are working with the bishop and a lot is going to change hopefully for the good. We will see! I really like this ward and the members. I would mind staying here for the rest of my mission. The gospel doctrine class is my favorite because one of the biggest talk radio hosts here in New York is a member of the ward and he's a really good teacher! Everyone you talk to the only two Mormons they know are Mitt Romney and Bob Lonsberry. But it's a good way how he does his missionary work by setting an example and talking about his beliefs on air.

Then last night we went to the senior center again in Mt. Morris.

Hope you guys had a good week!

Love you!

Wearing Elder Liefson's glasses 

cuz' it makes me look smart !

Some members we are working with. 

November 30, 2015

Hey guys!

So for this week starting on Monday we went up to the stake center and played basketball and stuff with like 24 elders so that was a lot of fun. During the week we were able to meet with a couple of our investigators but most of them said they were to busy because of Thanksgiving. We met with Bryan who lives in Piffard and he had been reading from the Book of Mormon and is continuing to do so. He has a pretty crazy past and done a lot of stuff so it might take a while for him to progress. We were able to meet with a less active member named Barbie a couple of times this week and the only problem is she has no car and when people stop to give her rides she isn't home so we'll have to figure out some way to get her to church. 

We have been looking for more service opportunities in the area so we have been calling all of the churches, going to the town and village buildings, senior centers, etc.. And we still haven't found any yet. So hopefully some of them call back today. We were able to go and do service at the library moving book and stuff in the basement getting ready for a book sale. I think we will be trying to go and help there once a week so hopefully that works out. 

Thursday was thanksgiving and we went to the Moons in Avon and they had over 20 people there so it was kind of crowded but it was fun and it was really good food! We kind of just walked around for the rest of thanksgiving because the whole town was empty because all of the students were gone for the weekend. 

Sunday we had all of the usual meetings then that night we went to the senior center and made necklaces again in Mt. Morris.

Hope you guys had a good Thanksgiving as well! 

Love you!

Pictures from P-day adventures!

 Picture of them driving on Google Maps!

 Tim Hortons!  Yum!  ( He wants a gift card to Tim Hortons for Christmas)

November 23, 2015 ~ Geneseo

Hey guys!

So my first week in Geneseo was great! I'm liking the area so far and

being in a four person apartment is really fun! Its the only four person apartment in the whole mission so we are pretty lucky!

So, Monday we went to Greece and played some basketball and then I spend the rest of the night trying to pack all of my stuff I had accumulated over the last nine months.

Tuesday was transfer meeting and we got back to Geneseo at about 4. It's only about half an hour from Rochester, so not too far. So, everyday we walk from our apartment down to the campus and walk around there because that's really the only place people are. President wants us to go to the college for an hour a day but we can't really do any proselytizing so we just have to sit there and wait for people to come and talk to us. For the most part it doesn't really work that well but yesterday three girls came up and talked with us for a while and one of them had a friend on a mission in Brazil. So that was pretty cool.

Geneseo has a lot more hills than the rest of New York so it's nice to have a little change. We met some pretty interesting people this week too. There is one guy named Ryan and we went over to meet him for the first time and he was super high, so what was going to be a quick visit turned into him talking about random stuff for three and a half hours so it was a really interesting meeting. We also had a good lesson with a guy who has been investigating for three years but he can't come to church because of the usual reason...no car.

We had dinner at a couple of the members’ houses and so far I really like the ward members so far. On Thursday, some members had a pie night so as you imagine that was great!  Then Sunday we went to church and met more of the members. Then that night we went to a senior center in Mt. Morris with the other elders and we helped make necklaces with them then Elder Holmburg and I sang songs while the security guard played his ukulele. Then we had an hour-long discussion on the differences between our religions but it was good. 

Elder Holmburg knows sign language so I'm learning a lot of that and we were signing to each other on campus and these girls came up to us and started so sign but I didn't know enough to understand everything but we were able to talk just because she saw us signing.

And that was my week! 

Love you!

 ( College Campus)