Beautiful Loveland, CO Week 14!

Lots and lots of cool stuff this week. It is fun to be a missionary!!

I had an AWESOME experience on Tuesday this week. I found out two days before that I would be in a trio for about a day until we would get our new companion. Our mission president now has the new missionaries come on Tuesday and spend the day with him before he introduces them to their trainers the next day. So on Tuesday I was with Elder Torres and Elder Winter in the evening. I met them not much sooner than we went to dinner and shared a lesson. WOW. That was one of the best lessons I have ever been a part of. We taught in unity together the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a husband&wife with their 2 friends (both widows) that are members. I felt the Spirit so strong testifying in the truth of the Gospel message. It was amazing. Working together to teach a message was amazing. I still can't believe how powerful it was to me when we had never practiced what we were going to say! *sigh. Being a missionary with other experienced missionaries is awesome!

Then the next day I met my companion!

Transfers Again!!!

Hi Everyone!

It is amazing how quickly transfers come and go out here. Tomorrow marks 6 months since I reported to the training center! It is pretty crazy!

And... I'm staying in Loveland in the Bison Ridge Ward for another transfer. Elder Clark is transferring to another ward in Loveland. However, this time I REALLY don't know who my companion will be. I believe today is his last day at the MTC. There are about 12 Elder missionaries who are coming to the mission and one of them will be my companion. It'll be interesting. One of the two new missionaries in my District this transfer only would eat meat and bread for dinner. The only things he would buy at the store are coco puffs, microwavable mac & cheese, and pop tarts. He said he has never eaten a piece of fruit in his life and doesn't like/eat vegetables. I don't know how he made it to 22 years of age and isn't dead of malnutrition! I know that new missionaries are a little crazy and on fire when they come from the MTC (that's what I was like). I am excited and hopeful for this transfer with the opportunity to train.

Transfer 4 Pictures

Some of the best pictures of my 4th Transfer (Bison Ridge Ward in the Loveland, CO Stake)

Myself with my companion Elder Clark after a dinner appointment at the Brandts.

Week 12 in Loveland, CO

Hi Everyone!

I'm going to start with a fun & humbling story first before I share a more personal one. :) "Life is better at the Houghton Lake House."

This week we moved! And I am extremely humbled by the amazing accommodations we have right now. After asking 15+ couples in the ward if they could house the missionaries, nothing was working. Everyone was answering, "we would like to, but..." with whatever excuse they had. Ultimately someone had to step up. Bishop Houghton just finished building his second house on a lake about 3 weeks ago. Because he is a surgeon he can't live very far from where he is on call so his second house is still in our ward boundaries. No one has lived in this brand new house yet and he had us move in!! Moreover, his wife was out of town last week and he was going out of town too. We moved in to his house while neither of them were even there! It was such an incredible example to me of being consecrated. His wife wasn't even phased that we were living in this house she had spent the last couple years designing - a house that isn't even furnished yet. I can hardly believe they are letting us live there/here. I was expecting all these rules that we need to be terrified of messing anything up, yet she asked us this morning to let her know what else we need in the house to be effective! 

 

Week 11 in Loveland, CO

Hi Everyone!!

On Tuesday, the dad of one of our investigators was in the hospital and not doing very well. We had met him once on Father's Day when we dropped by Bonnie and Gabe's house and Bonnie's parents were there. Bonnie is in her mid 50s. We have been over a bunch and prayed and shared the Gospel with their family. Bonnie asked us if we could visit him in the hospital and give him a blessing that evening. Fortunately we were able to rearrange our schedule a bit and get there. He hadn't been able to eat for nearly 2 days and had all these wires attached to his heart. I had given a blessing in a hospital a few weeks ago and felt like I could improve and be a lot more humble, so after praying in my heart to God to give me the inspiration and guidance and Spirit to give a blessing, we proceeded. I could really feel the Spirit this time leading me to thoughts/feelings that I never would have thought of on my own. It was powerful.