I decided to go to church for the first time on my mission

 Wednesday August 12th: Today was a good day! We woke up and went to Walmart and then we hung around the apartment for awhile and talked to family and sent some emails! Later on we went down to Murfreesboro and it started raining again and we took off before we got drenched and went to the pavillion and played card games and told riddles while it poured rain for an hour or two! Then we played pickle ball and spike ball untill we had to go. We came home and talked to family again just a bit before p-day was over! Afterwards we went and got dinner from a member and she was very nice and she told us something incredible... CHURCH WLL BE THIS SUNDAY!! Then we had a lesson with a guy named Jason who might possibly be interested even though he continuously said he wasn't he kept asking questions and wants to have another lesson sometime so we'll see what happens with that! Then we had coordination meeting and that wrapped up the day! 

Thur: Woke up and had our zone conference today, sadly it was over zoom, but it was very very good regardless. I took a bunch of notes but two things we talked about that I really enjoyed, companions and the atonement. We talked about praying specifically for your companions in companion prayer, and the blessings that it can bring. They also mentioned how it is up to you when it comes to the experience you want to have with each companion, obviously some will be harder than others, but if you do everything in your power to make it good and they dont return that, then that is on them and you can look back knowing that you did eveything you could! For the atonement we talked about why we remember our sins/trials and why they dont just disappear from our memory when we repent. The reason for that is becuase if we remember the sin we won't do them again, and we can remember why it was wrong. This goes along the same principle of the fall of Adam, if we never knew that sadness we wouldn't know joy either. They also mentioned that if you are being diligent in your work, stop worrying if your sins have been forgiven!! Those were just a couple things that stood out to me! The rest of the day we didn't do much but contact so that's all for today! 

Fri: Today flew by! We had weekly planning in the morning and that went well, we were all able to talk about some struggles we have been having and gave each other some counsel and it was good! Afterwards we just did a lot of finding, but we had a lot of good conversation and played some chess while we did it so the day just disappeared! I did have a really bad phone contact though. I was off my game.  I stuttered a bunch and then what I was saying was just all over the place... needless to say she was not interested in a call back so that was the only bad part of the day. Other than that though today was good! 

Sat: Today flew by again! We dropped Elder Iverson off for an exchange with the other Elders in our district and then we came home and did our morning routine. We called a ton of people inviting them to church tomorrow and we had a few who were super excited and a couple others who were still skeptical/not interested. Then we had a good comp study and during our breaks Elder Klingler lit me up in chess like 6 times and that was stupid lol After our dinner we called the member who was on dinner for the next night and she told us to come pick up some money so we could just go out, so we drove and picked it up. We then decieded to  knock on the doors of a couple people who were formally taught on the way home with no luck. We got home and grinded out some calls and Facebook work and then when the end of the day came Elder Iverson got home and that was it! 

Sun: Today was a good one! We started off the day with a good comp study and then did some finding! For lunch I gotta talk to my grandparents, and one of my best friends who came to visit as well!! So that was super sweet! Then we did a lot more finding during the afternoon, BUT THEN WE HAD CHURCH! Not going to lie, I kind of set my expectations a little high just because I havent been in awhile and forgot the fact that it would only be 30 mins and like 15% of the members, HOWEVER it was SO good to be in church again and sing hymns and hear a talk and most importantly partake of the sacrament. I had such a good time! Then we came home and did more finding until our mission wide devotional and the senior missionaries took charge of that and they did an awesome job bearing their testimonies of the 2 greatest commandments, and Elder and Sister Ellis gave their farewell testimonies and that was sad. Elder Ellis gave a great story from his mission and it's too long to type here but if you want to hear about it, email me! 

Mon: Today was a pretty sweet day! We had a good district council this morning and then we went to the huge burrito place behind our apartment again as a district and some of the missionaries tried to finish the whole burrito in one sitting and it did not do them well haha it was great! Then after we went back to the church to help the sisters film an ad. We came home made contacts and had two lessons. The first one we were getting to know her and things were going well then she just hung up she texted us later and said her phone died, but right after we tried calling her back and she butt answered us and was walking around so I dont really know how true that was.;).. the second one I called to share a scripture and it turned into a plan of salvation lesson and I didn't want to take all the time so during the middle I said "I actually work in a companionship could one of my companions answer that for you?" Then she got real mad that I didn't inform her earlier she was on speaker and she  just completely lost interest... such a bummer! Later the zone leaders came and picked us up and Elder Iverson and I are on exchanges with them now and it's been great so far! Tomorrow should be a good day! 

Tues: Today was a super good day! We played pickleball with the zone leaders for our exercise in the morning and then we had a good morning of finding and then went to Wendy's for lunch. We came back did a lot more finding and a comp study then went to a member in their wards house for dinner and she was a super sweet lady, and just a little interesting. For example she sang us 3 songs and we sung silent night together at our little picnic table in August hahaha. We came home and did some more finding to finish off the night. It sounds like a lot of finding but Elder Oilar and I were able to talk the entire day about music, life, missionary work, etc. which was so sweet. During our exchange review he gave me some amazing advice not only for the mission but in life, and its personal stuff, but relating to the topic. I want to ask one question, look around you, who are some of the people you think of when you think of happiness? Why is it that they are so happy? My invitation to all of you is to make any changes you need to in your life to feel that same happiness you see radiate off others, the key to happiness is sacrafice

I"ve been told a lot how much I look like my dad and I think I do but my Uncle Chris found this pic of my papa around my age and I decided to recreate the picture. Wow! We look quite a bit alike too. It is a good thing my papa is a good looking guy;)