Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July!

This week was a good one once again. We didn't do much finding this week just because we had a lot of other things going on but we were still able to hand out two Book of Mormon and meet a couple new people who said we could come back sometime and teach them, so hopefully they are actually home at the times they said we could come back.

I also went on exchanges with Elder Fielding in Orchard Park and that was a lot of fun. The rest of the week was mostly doing service. There was a family moving out of the ward for a job on Texas so we went and helped them move all of their stuff to a storage unit and that was really good to just spend some time in regular clothes, and with the members. We did that for several hours on two days. We also did some service for a lady named Suzanne who was the hoarder lady so I cleaned up another corner of her lawn and we taught her a lesson afterwards and she really liked it. She was really appreciative of our service and she said she would read the Book of Mormon.

We also taught a lesson to Robert at the church and he really liked it and he ended up coming to church this Sunday and it was a really good fast and testimony meeting and he enjoyed it and he even asked "how would I join this parish?" So hopefully he continues to progress.

We had a lost sheep meeting to try and locate all of the members on the roster with some of the leaders in the ward and were able to find a couple so that was great. We helped teach young women's on Sunday so that was a lot of fun! Then after church we went to the Alessi's for dinner for the last time :( It's ok though because they are a family that I will stay in touch with for sure! 

Then that night the hunters had a really big fireworks show at there house with most of the ward, and a lot of their neighbors. It was a really big show with some really big fireworks and there was only two close calls so that was a lot of fun!

Then this morning we had a Fourth of July breakfast at the Collets with most of the ward again. I love this ward sooo much!! The people here are just so awesome and I'm going to be sad to leave them in a couple weeks but I'm going to try and stay in touch with all of them and I'll have to come and visit. If there was any place in New York I would live it would definitely be Orchard Park. It's such a good ward!

Have a good week! 

Love you!

 Elder Peters and I cooking up Fourth of July Breakfast at the Collette's

 Elder Daugs, Elder Peters, Elder Marks,  Elder Fielding

 Final dinner at the Alessi's 

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! :)

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!