You ARE the Father

Wednesday July 8th: Today was a good day! Woke up sent all my emails out and then went to Walmart with Elder Wilson. We came back and changed then we drove to the Zone leaders place and we went to Burger King and then met up with a lot of more missionaries at the Sisters apartment's complex and played pickle ball, spikeball, volleyball and had I had a great time but it was hot as all get out haha! Then we came home and called a less active member and she told us all these things about why she was inactive but she still has a testimony etc. Nothing really important but long story short we set up a lesson at the church with her this Sunday! We had good a ward coordination meeting and then it was off to bed. 

Thur: Today we had our district call then did comp study. Elder Iverson and I talked for a really long time sharing insights about a lot of things mainly about whether or not we have done our job together as companions. I told him how I really looked up to him a lot because we started our missions pretty similar and he has overcome the things I'm still kinda struggling with. He told me he has seen a big difference in me and continues to every day, and that is something he admires about me. He told me that he can see that I truly want to work hard and be a good missionary and that was really cool because I definitely do and so it was good to hear that. After that we went to a lesson at Starbucks with Cheali and it says in her history that her parents showed her a ton of anti before she was supposed to be baptized and we saw that forsure. We kinda just went in to the lesson with a plan to answer all her questions and it led into the plan of salvation. Then she asked about exhaltation which is something anti people love to argue about but she really is just genuine but sadly has all these questions now because of what she has been told. She then talked about the mark the lamanites recieved in 2 Nephi and we had to explain the curse was that they were separated from God, not the skin color. Then she asked about dispensations and long story short she said we answered all her questions and she agreed to read 3 Nephi 11 and after that a couple verses a day! Then we had a lesson with Sister Ruggles and her dad at the church and we talked about Alma 23 and 24 and how sometimes in life we have to lay down our "weapons of war" and trust in God. Then we read Alma 7 and focused on how Jesus Christ knows us all personally and he suffered for us to save us and to help us. There was a lot of really cool things said and it was super spiritual. Her dad gave her a priesthood blessing at the end that Elder Iverson and I were able to be apart of and it was awesome! We came home and contacted the rest of the night, nothing too special haha, but definitely a good day with the lessons especially in person. 

Fri: Started out the day with our district call and played fortunately/unfortunately where someone starts a story with once upon a time then it goes back and forth between fortunately then unfortunately to see just how good and how bad the situation can get and that was fun! We did a lot of Facebook contacting until lunch. Then after lunch we did our weekly planning and then we went to the church so Elder Iverson could do a baptismal interview for a girl who is being baptized tomorrow! We talked to Brother Torgersen a bit when he brought us dinner. Then we did cold calls and called into another person who was just blown away we called when we did and he said it was perfect timing, really cool to see miracles happen for people. 

Sat: Today was a longer day haha. We did a lot of contacting on Facebook in morning then after lunch we watched a talk by Elder Christensen about the Holy Ghost and it was like a missionary devotional talk and so he did like a mock district council with some of the missionaries from Utah and it was pretty good. Something that really stood out to me is that the Holy Ghost can speak to us in many ways, it is important we study the names and roles of the Holy Ghost so we can better sense when we are receiving things from him. We also have the ability to accept or reject God's gift of the Holy Ghost, it is our job to live worthily to be able to have the opportunity to accept Him and give Him the best ability to speak to us and influence us. Later on we dropped off a Book Of Mormon to Evan and we thought it was just a drop off but it turned into a lesson and we talked a lot about questions he has and it all stemmed off of why was there a need for another prophet. We introduced the Book of Mormon to him read the introduction and he talked a lot more but long story short he said he will definitely read it and pray about it which is really all we can ask for and just like I talked about above now it is Evan's job to let the Spirit tell him it's true or just disregard it, we will see what happens. The rest of the day was just a lot more contacting nothing really too special, Elder Iverson and I talked a lot about stories and stuff in high school though during it, so that was fun haha

Sun: Had a good comp study in the morning then made contacts. We had a lesson with Mary and taught the plan of Salvation and it went really well. She had no questions and she said she prayed about it last time and did a Bible study and found many things talking about the celestial kingdom and that's where she wants to go. We introduced the Book of Mormon and she said she would like one!! Sadly once again she doesn't live in our area so we will have to pass her off to some other missionaries in our zone later on :(( after that we had 2 of our lessons fall through so in turn we made a lot of contacts which is always a blast :)) but after we had lesson with Sister Robbins, Sister Sutherland, and Sister Dunaway. We went over the come follow me for this week and I would go more into depth but yall should already know all about it!! If not get on it! After that we had Sacrament with David, we all watched the Faith Crisis video and set some goals together. We finished off with a mission wide devotional and something that stood out to me was an acronym some Sisters made. LOVE, Learn, Obedience, Valiant, Endure. Which was good but I threw my own spin on it and wrote down learning, obedience, valiantly, eternally. It's essentially the same thing but I like the sound of mine more haha. I reckon that wraps up this fine sabbath day

Mon: Today was good we went to district council and had a good time there. We went to the same building an another district in our zone so we got to hang out with them for a little afterward which was sweet. We came home and Elder and Sister Judd were here and they informed us that our apartment will in fact have four missionaries here next transfer but they didnt know any names... regardless we spend the next hour and half/ two hours moving and rearranging and holy fetch is it packed in here now... I was spoiled before now it's gonna be like having to squeeze around a person everywhere you go! Hopefully if I stay here they will at least be cool and we can all hangout during our breaks and such. We had an awesome lesson with Sister Ruggles on the come follow me for last week because the lesson was originally supposed to happen yesterday. Then we went out to dinner with David and he really spoiled us considering one of us could leave in a couple days and we went to a steak house and it was greaaat lemme tell ya! We came home and made a bunch more contacts and then we had a zone call and they stole my game idea!! I hopped on a little late and there they were playing fortunately/unfortunately hahaha jk I wasnt actually upset it was kinda cool to be honest that everyone liked the idea! After that the day was finished!

Tues: Well I did not sleep very good last night... we did Facebook contacting in the morning. I gave a spiritual thought in the district call and talked about Christ's atonement, read Luke 22:41-46 and Luke 23:33-46 and think about what his atonement means to you!! Later we went to the foodbank and did some service and I had a great time serving with some of the zone! While we were there Elder Iverson and I got a call from President... we are both training!!! And both staying I can't believe I am going to be a father! I always told myself as long as I'm not in high school it will be okay! So glad I made it!! ;)) nothing really else special to report on today! We will be finding out/picking up the new missionaries Thursday so that will be a topic for next week! Hope yall are all well and if you read this far email me and tell me and I would love to talk to you!!