Wrapping up & digging in

From Ethan

Hey Mum!  

 

So if we need to we can make this a shorter letter so we can get me registered for everything.  That's kinda on my top priority right now haha. 

 

Anyways, this week was full of its own interesting challenges.  Its proven to be kinda hard to find a vision and a sense of purpose in this ward.  With so little time and so much to do, its tough to make it as personal as I want to.  But we're working hard nonetheless.  Apparently the rumor has spread like wildfire throughout the ward that the two new Elders in the Ward are short timers.  But we're trying to dispel the rumors that we're trunky haha.  Me and Elder A are both committed to working till the last possible minute, but its kinda tough when you're under the kind of bind that we are.  We've talked about it a lot.  Elder A has a really strong testimony of the inspiration of our leaders and that there is always a purpose in what we are asked to do out here.  I agree.  But I also am of the opinion that we don't always have to know the deep meaning in every little thing that happens to us as missionaries.  I just want to work as hard as we know how, make ourselves as open to revelation as possible, and try to be the best possible tools in the Lord's hand's that we can make ourselves, and the rest will fall in place.  We actually had a lot of small miracles this week too.  Those definitely add up.  So it has been a good week.  

 

Monday was my last zone P-day.  I'm glad I'm done with those.  The ZL's never put any effort into it, so we always just end up playing basketball and volleyball at the church.  But me and a couple other missionaries got together and played some approved card games.  So that was fun.  

Ate with the older R family that evening, and then Elder A went in early that night because he was feeling really crummy.  All this new exercise sometimes shocks your immune system.  

 

Tuesday was a good day.  Service in the morning, finding in the afternoon, Steak for dinner at the R family's place, and then we had a couple of really awesome lessons.  The first was to Sister C, who had been inactive for a long time until a few years ago, and her non-member husband.  He was super antagonistic towards the church at first, but now he loves what it does for his wife.  We talked about the importance of the temple.  She's really close to getting there.  Then we went to the M and taught them a follow up lesson on prayer.  Great lesson.  

 

Wednesday is usually our busy day, but not this week.  we visited a lot of less actives that morning, and we actually found out some new info on a couple of them that the ward hadn't known.  Then we went to district meeting, and I gave my last training.  It was on the relationship between Faith, Grace, and Works, and how to apply that in our missionary work.  So many secular Christians don't understand how they work together.  That has been a topic of my study for my entire mission almost.  And I feel like it was definitely one of my better trainings.  It was a satisfying conclusion lecture to what has been a really tough course of study.  And I got a bunch of compliments on it.  

One of the other things that we have been doing recently is just going out, walking around, and talking to whoever we see.  No plans, just preaching.  Its been kinda cool and we have found a bunch of new potentials that way.  I feel like my mission has been a lot of potential finding for other missionaries, and then whenever we turn someone into an investigator, they were usually found by someone else!  Oh well.  We're all on the same team I guess.  

The M family bought us panda express that night, which was cool since I haven't actually had anything other than cheap Chinese in a while haha.  I'll have to take you guys to a dollar scoop when we come through here again.  

Then our lesson with Susan cancelled.  If she hasn't read the BOM the next time we're probably going to drop her.  Then we taught a lesson about the temple to the B Family.  They are soooo solid.  Wish I could have taught them before they were baptized.

 

Thursday we street contacted in the morning again, and ran into a couple of less actives.  That was kinda cool.  Some really interesting timing there for some of them.  

Went to the T family's place for lunch and they gave us a hair cut.  Last one of the mission!  My style has changed a tad since I've been home haha.  

went to arc in the early afternoon, and then we tried a bunch of LAs in the later afternoon.  Ate dinner with the awesome W family who fed us ribs, and then we taught a lesson on the Priesthood to the S family.  Brother S was ordained a priest but he's never done anything that comes with it.  He's really shy so it will take some convincing before he'll agree to bless the sacrament.  Then we got stood up by the J family, and drove around with Brother S visiting unknowns.  Got a few doors slammed in our face haha.

 

Friday was Halloween.  It was okay, but doing weekly planning in the evening while handing out candy was kind of a bummer.  But we got a lot of service done that day with a few non members, and we taught a lesson in an assisted living home with Brother V and his friend who also lives there.  She's a LA that just moved into the home.  Super friendly, but kinda hard to stay on task haha.  I didn't carve a pumpkin this year :(  No time or resources.

 

Saturday's highlights include teaching the Native American B family, who unexpectedly fed us lunch, and seeing the G family that night.  They hadn't had the missionaries over for dinner for a long time because some past missionaries were dumb.  But they like us and they had us over, so that is a total plus to the ward trust category.  We later found out that they were having some struggles with one of their teenage daughters, so our being there apparently has helped with that.  That was pretty sweet I thought. 

 

Then Sunday was booked solid almost.  Meetings in the morning, sacrament visits before church, church (where we both bore our final fast sunday testimony), Dinnery with the S family, and then Lesson one with the H family for their 7 year old son Nick.  He's getting baptized in December so they want him to have a thorough understanding before that.  They are such an awesome family.  Brother H took us home and talked our ears off about his mission for a solid 45 minutes.  And then our day was done!  Just like that.

 

Anyways, I gotta go, some members are picking us up to take us to lunch.  Love you guys!

Have the mission office get ahold of me of there is anything else we need to do for registration!

 

Love 

Elder Efan      

 From Parker

Hello Everyone! The pictures from Lexi's party were awesome! Lexi is getting so big! And I love how all the kids are climbing all over dad, not much changes!  That is so freaking awesome, with the baptism that Emily got to speak at the baptism!  Good job all of you for being member missionaries! And from all the move pictures it seems like I will be home by the time it is all finished haha! Elder Anderson! Thats so crazy he is coming back to finish out his mission! I was wondering about him because when Elder Buhler friend requested me, I saw pictures with Elder Anderson in them!  Yeah I am staying in Ahwatukee area and staying the same ward with Elder C.  It looks like I will be here for at least six months! Pretty crazy!  I love it here except it is pretty dang hard to find people that are interested.  Some other Elders are like "look at it this way, since all you know is that zone, when you get to a zone that has a lot more going on it will be like Christmas all the time" haha so I am hoping it is something like that!

Lets see this week and transfer flew by.  

Monday: Not much happened we did our normal routine.  Elder C and I decided to go to Macdonalds to see how much I had on my gift card and I bought some stuff, swiped the card and it said approved so I like yelled yes! Turns out that I had only 30 cents and it approved me for that... and I didnt have any money left on my card, soo I had to use the Amex ahaha. After p-day was over we went and visited a few families.  We visited the P who are awesome! He is super pumped about missionary work and was like "really if you guys need anything let me know"  he then proceeded to give us another 10 bucks haha.  It is tough to visit members because on mondays it's family home evening and we dont like to interrupt  that.  

Tuesday:  We had district meeting and it was kindof like a fast and testimony meeting because we all got to help teach, bare testimony and train.  It was pretty awesome! Then we got a call to help someone move who we didnt even know and had no idea how much stuff would be there haha.  Brother P was able to help with his truck and we showed up and there was like nothing to move. Plus it was way on the other side of the other Elder's area and then we brought it back to the way other side of our area haha.  Like I said the Painters are awesome!  We then went on exhcanges and I went with Elder w to his area.  It went well we visited a few people from the ward and potentials and then after dinner we had a lesson with one of their investigators who was going to be baptized that upcoming weekend! She was super golden.  Married to a less active that is now coming back to church.  We taught laws and Ordinances.    

Wednesday:  We finished up exchanges, Elder W and I went to the Guadeloupe part of his area which is really sketchy but that is where all these cool shops are so I will have to go back there some time!  Plus that is where I got my new facebook picture haha.  Since he now covers part of my old area we visited some people that I remembered and had two lessones with less actives that I had become pretty good friends with.  We then had a lesson with the Delaughters and taught the Plan of Salvation.  It always ends up them just talking about all these crazy doctrines that probably have some kindof truth to them but are way way out there.  haha We stayed for dinner to so it lasted even longer with all the doctrinal stuff haha.  We then met with our only ward missionary since we have no ward mission leader or missionaries really.  We kindof filled her in on everything.  We then visited some members of the tempe 10th part of our ward which has really young people and really really old people.  Not much in between

Thursday:  We went and did service for another lady in our ward and helped clean up her yard that was getting pretty crazy.  It is tought to fill those morning ours so service is a great way to get to know members, get them to trust you, and to just help someone! We found a new investigator who really isnt an investigator he just likes to talk about religion and knows like every religion to the tee... except ours olddly enough.  We met with him but he is pretty much athiest so it is tough.  We then went by a few potentials and set up a few return appointments.  We then got called to help set up for the ward Halloween party.  So we helped with that and then got to be the judges for the chili cook off.  So needless to say since this is our second time doing it, my tough is tired of chili haha.  It is funny because it looked exactly like our ward back home.  No matter where you go, you get the same Halloween party in an church gym with the same kindof things happening.  Felt like home!  That took up most the night because we were asked to help clean up as well.

Friday:It was Halloween!!   There was not much to do this day because people where either gone, or preparing for the evening and didnt have time.   We had weekly planning.  Its funny because that week you sometimes are planning for an area that you might not even be in anymore haha.  We visited some people and asked for referrals with not much luck.  Then we had to be in at 6 because president Toone doesnt want anything bad happening to his missionaries that day.  So it was kindof a day off!  Except we didnt have much to do except twidle our thums haha.  We did find the board game Risk in our closet and got approve from the Zl's to play it, so that pretty much took up our night haha

Saturday:  it is already November!  This week was a rough week.  A lot of interruptions and a lot of people gone and a lot of people cancelled.  Kindof disheartening.  We then had a lesson that was set an investigator we were excited about cancelled on us.  So hopefully can meet with her soon.  Most of our day was compiled of studies and more service.    The mission has a new program called just serve.  Where community things can sign up for missionaries to come and serve.  We are allowed 10 hours a week to help with that.  So hopefully that starts rolling fast.  Being a tester mission is cool!  We had stake conference and then just street contacted because it got out late

Sunday;  Was the regualar stake conference.  They tried this new thing where 97 stakes in Arizona had a broadcast from Salt Lake.  We got to hear from President Uchtdorf and Elder Christoferson! It was like a mini general conference!  Really cool! We then has a lesson with our temple open house referral.  We invited him to be baptized but his less active girlfriend said no for him.  They are living together and she knew exactly what that meant.  He is still really interested so we will continue to work with them! We visited people in the amazing 60 degree weather! or something like that.  I was actually really cold for the first time in what has seemed like forever.....  We went in early to send in stats because of transfer calls.  Waited and it took a long time to find out that I am staying haha.  

That was my week!v Tough week.  This next transfer hopefully will be a good one! Bishop Wright has a goal of 10 baptisms for the ward this year! We are at 9! So I really want to help be a part of that and hit the goal they set!

Love you all! And thanks for the emails!

Elder Hemsley

Great Week from Elder Hemsley #2!

Man this transfer is flying by!  I am already in week 4!  Looks you are finally getting out of the tiny
hut which you called home for almost a year.  It looks like you are literally gutting the new house to. 
You will have to send me pictures of the finished product! I cant believe Ethan will be home soon!
Its gotta be getting close? Is it his last transfer?  That is going to be weird calling in Christmas and
he being sitting at home and I am the one on the other line haha.  This week was pretty stressful
but awesome.  Training is going good.  Elder C is a very emotionless person,  the very
unenthusiastic type.  But he is a great missionary so that is really all that matters. He does love to
disagree with me in pretty much anything, and to pick apart everything I say.  It doesn't have to be
about missionary work either haha.  Probably  just a way of him trying to have an opinion since he
is older but I have been out longer.  But we get along fine, and we get alone as a house really well.

Monday: Monday after we emailed then went shopping.  We have to bike with all our groceries
home now becasue the zone leaders cant pick us up and neither companionship in our house
 have a car.  So that was interesting.  Then after that we got permission from the AP's to go to
Arizona Mills mall since Elder C and Elder S needed new suits.  It was crazy because everyone
 just stairs at us the whole time.  Plus after being a missionary the mall seems so worldly, fine
apparel, shiny lights, crowded halls.  Kindof funny.  I am pretty sure I have actually been to that
mall before.  I think Dad Emily and I went to it when we were flying home from provo when Ethan
was at BYU, small world right?  I did however manage to buy to sweet ties haha.

Tuesday: We had zone meeting so the zone leaders and sister training leaders trained us instead
of the district leaders.  Our zone has be destroyed with emergency transfers, and people going
home for medical reasons.  So our zone so small.  In the past they are usually like 25 people
now ours like like 8... haha We then had a few lessons with some new investigators which was
pretty awesome.  Still kindof bummed how we lost a bunch of people because of the ward changes.
 We then had the T family boys baptismal interview so Elder S did that.  They both did great so they
would be baptized that upcoming Saturday.  Then we mapped out the new area we have which is
going to take some time since we are on bikes and it got a lot bigger.

Wednesday:  Was a less productive day proselyting because we all got to gather as a mission and watch

Meet the Mormons! I loved it! If you havent gotten a chance to go see it, go.  It was incredible.  The church
 has gotten so much better at producing movies and media.  So yeah we are kindof hipster because we
saw the movies before the public soo yeah.. jk  Then we had a few meetings where president Toone
 addressed us.  He always says he has a quick thought but the thoughts end up taking a long time
haha but I love listening to him speak.  I would sit there listening all day if I could.  We visited the
oldest part of our area where some of the older families live.  I think we surprised them because
missionaries dont go there to often.  Families came up to us at church thanking us because the
older members were talking all about it and were so happy that we stopped by.  We did however
have to do a lot of biking because of visiting them.  It was worth it though. 

Thursday:  Was alright of a day.  Not much happened becasue we didnt have a lot of luck visiting
 people. I pretty much had to plan the Toledo's entire baptism because our ward mission leader is
released and was out of town.  The entire ward was at a ward camp out and the T family weren't
answering on who they wanted to do what for the baptism.  We didnt have anyone to print and
 make the programs and we were afraid since the ward camp out was Thursday to Friday, and
Friday to Saturday that nobody would show for the baptism.  So I was a little stressed out that day. 
We had a lesson with a new nice lady and her daughter and our member was sick but still decided
to come.  So he proceeded to cough, sneeze, lay there, fall asleep, and play with the families pet
bunny while we tried to teach them.  Note to self never take that member to any more lessons haha.  

Friday:  We had weekly planning and to be honest it is tough to plan for stuff when we have pretty
much baptized our teaching pool (which is a good thing to) and we lost most of the people we stop
 by.  It was good though because I was able to find someone to print out the program and we got
all the information from the T family, we let all the auxiliary people know.  Elder C always focuses
on the pointless things.  I am like we have a freaking baptism tomorrow and you want to just sit there
 and put in our daily things that we dont even need to put in the area book app... But something I am
going to work on is I kindof realized I try to do everything myself to much even when I was the junior
companion.  So I need to start getting him to be more involved because he is the one being trained,
and even if he is unwilling to.  

Saturday: We had the baptism!!! It turned out great! They asked me to perform the baptism so that
was my first time baptizing someone! It was an amazing experience.  I was super nervous but once
I got into the water, all the nerves just went away and both baptisms went smoothly minus one of the
boys legs coming up the first time haha!  The baptism was a success.  There was a great turnout to. 
I have realized the people that come to the baptisms are the members that I have gotten the closest to. 
They dont even know who is being baptized sometimes, they just come to support me since I have
been in the ward for a while and each of my companions havent.  This feels like the ward I have been
 going to my whole life.  It is crazy! It will be sad when I get transferred.  After the baptism we hit the
bikes and visited people from the new ward.  We stopped by this one members home.  Randomly like
 we were like, lets go by this guy.  We skipped tons of people just to go to this person.  He lives alone
went inactive for a little while and deals with depression and other emotional problems.  He was really
nice at first but started to question who sent us to his home, and we were like umm nobody... (in actuality
it was the spirit but nobody from the ward did).  He broke down in to tears saying he was afflicted but
never said what.  So we gave him a blessing and a hug and he was really grateful. 

Sunday:  Was the first official day with the ward being twice as big.  So we shook so many new hands
 just trying to get to know everyone.  It was packed too.  Then we had the Toledo boys confirmation
which they asked me to do also since I am the one who has taught them since they moved here.  We
 have established pretty good fellowship but the mom really wanted me to do both the baptism and the
confirmation.  The first was I was pretty nervous but after I started speaking most of the nerves went
away.  I dont even remember what I said really but people kept coming up to me saying it was
wonderful.  So I got to do my first baptism and confirmation this weekend! How cool is that. 
I didnt get any pictures at the baptism so I will try to get Sister T to send some to you guys or
post them on facebook!  We then had ward councel which is always a blast in this ward.  Bishop
said they had a goal of 10 baptism this year and since I have been here there has been 6 so I think
we are close if not already reached that goal!

That was my week!  It was pretty awesome with Meet the Mormons, then the baptism, the blessings,
and then meeting the new ward! It was an exhausting week.  Now I am stressing because we need to
find new people to teach! haha  Other than that how has you guy's week been?  I will try to send some
pictures soon, I just always run out of time haha! Love you all!  

Love 

Elder Hemsley #2

Six Weeks and Counting Down! - Then He is Home

"Hello Elder Hemsley, this is Sister Hollingsworth in the mission office.  What airport would you like to fly into next transfer?"

UMMMMMMMM WHOA. 

Thats how my week started this week.  All of the sudden my days were numbered haha.  Although I suppose they've been numbered for you guys for the whole time.  But it was a real eye opener for me.  I didn't know how to answer that question haha.  Deer in headlights for sure.

Anyways, Hello everyone!  Hope life is swell back in the ATL.  Its been cool to see all of the pictures of the new house!  Can't wait to come home and help out with everything.  That looks like a super sweet deck in one of the pictures.  Can wait to get some serious grilling going on that one.  

Life here in the G V ward has rather interesting this week.  The biggest source of craziness was that we ended up totaling at over 140 miles OVER what were were supposed to on the car last month haha.  So by the end of the week we were told that we had to park it for a few days and bike.  That whole thing just totally makes me laugh just cause of how ridiculous it was, but I''l tell you more about it a little farther down.

We also found a bunch of new investigators this week, which was sick.  Since we dropped everyone, we've had a lot more time to tract, which Elder A hates haha.  But I keep reminding him that we ALWAYS find somebody when we tract here in A.  Getting them to actually keep commitments... is a different story. 

So Monday was a super rainy P-day.  It Stormed and hailed for sooo long.  And plus the church was closed cause the carpets were being cleaned, so what does that leave us to do?  Play football in the rain!  haha.  Recently the Elders in the zone have been going through a football phase instead of basketball, so I broke down and started playing with em.  It's been fun!  Caught a touchdown and got a bunch of sweet blocks.  It may seem silly, but its kinda a big deal for me haha.  

Didn't have a dinner that night so we went to the F's.  She is pretty much the mission mom and will always have extra food for the Elders.  We needed it too, cause we were broke haha.

Did a lot of finding that night.  Eliminated a few potentials from our books. and found some more people to take their place.  Parker must be having a completely different experience, cause everything that we do is on paper.  Its kinda frustrating. 

Tuesday was a neat day because we got to go help the ward clean the new building and get it ready for the open house in a few weeks.  We showed up and there wasn't a ton to do at first, but we hung out with Brother C and found a few things that we were needed for.  Its a nice building, but very different from the one that we are in right now.  The basketball court is perpendicular to the chapel if that makes any sense.  Kinda cool!

Had DLC's that day which was less than productive.  There aren't a whole lot of people who are really behind this new Zone vision that they're pushing.  As Elder R put it: "Its like telling a three year old to paint a picture of a flower.  No matter what the kid hands to you when they're done, you're gonna tell them 'Oh what a pretty flower! Good Job."  I thought that was an apt comparison haha.  I initiated a referral finding contest in the district this week to try and help people "One Up" their new investigators.  

Hung out in the sketchy C Ave. area of our ward and did some contacting around there.  Thats when I got the above mentioned phone call.  That was a super weird feeling haha.  Then we found this lady named Elizabeth who at first seemed interested, but then slowly helped us understand that not only was she not interested, she was NUTS hahaha.  It was hilarious.  We were at her door for like 45 minutes listening to her rant.  She started talking about how our church is the "richest church in America" whatever that's supposed to mean, and then pretty soon she had drifted off in to ranting about everything from bad doctors at the CU medical campus, to Obama.  I love stuff like that.  They're just stories to tell haha.  

Ate dinner with Sister Y at Outback Steakhouse.  That was a treat.  She is a single older lady who loves to eat haha.  So that was fun.  Then we went to our appointment with J and taught him the first lesson.  He's a cool guy, but man if he gets going he wont shut up.  He's attended every church from Catholic to JW to Scientology, but he has never found what he has really been looking for.  Thats where we come in!  Great lesson, but you gotta fight to get words in. 

When we had our correlation meeting with Brother M.  He's been having some adverse reactions to his stomach surgery, so he's been out of commission for a while.  Which doesn't really help considering we were uninvited to ward council last week.  Nothing we did, just a change in emphasis in the stake.  We need that ward interaction :P

Wednesday was cool.  Went to work out in the morning with the other Elders, and then we did studies at the church.  Then we were there till District meeting where I unveiled a new tool for everyone to start using.  I made copies of an old "My Personal Vision" chart that Toombs gave us a while ago, and challenged them to have their own vision that they can recite to themselves.  Just like the one we have from Preach My Gospel.  It was cool.  Then Sister B gave a training on the Plan of Salvation.  

After lunch we had a lesson with a new investigator named Theresa.  Taught her lesson one and it went super well.  One big thing we run into with people is the idea of moral relativism, and that everyone can "walk after the desires of their own heart" and "do what is right in their own eyes" like the Book of Mormon says.  She was like that.  But still pretty solid,  

Did some more finding and then came across a lady who had a great grandmother who was LDS.  So she invited us back!  Then we ate dinner with the B Family.  

That evening we taught Jeremy , a native American dude who's been going through a lot of hard times.  Potentially going to get a divorce.  Thats always tough.  We gave him a blessing and then he taught us some Kung Fu moves on his big wooden Wing Chung dummy haha.

Thursday Was dominated by us having to go down to Firestone and get an oil change, where we struck up a conversation with this old Black dude named Dave.  I'm so glad I grew up in Atlanta sometimes haha.  Helped me learn how to speak Jive a little bit haha.  Plus he loved jazz and such.  Invited him to the open house and everything.  

Tracted after lunch and found a Hispanic lady named Ingard who we taught the first lesson to right then and there,  She was super cool and had been eyeballing the new church building every time she drove by.  Its in a great location.  She's Catholic but doesn't like the whole Saints thing.  Can't blame her haha.  Idolatry never was happiness :P

Ate dinner with the C's that evening.  We had to sit our on the porch for like 30 minutes cause brother C was running late.  Cool family.  

We had an appointment with a guy named Brother C that night, but he bailed.  Not to surprised about that one.  Dude looked like a cave man.  

Then we had an awesome experience with the Sisters that evening.  They are teaching a guy named Cletus, who has proven to be a little too gangster for them.  So what do they do?  Give him to US!  It was such a funny hand-off lesson.  It was like trying to teach Snoop Dog.  It was the best.  Somehow I earned the nickname "the General" right off the bat.  We were all trying not to bust a stitch while he was talking,  He was a little out of it haha.

We're totally going to go back. 

Friday was boring.  Service in the morning, lunch at Churches Chicken, and then we planned for a lot of the afternoon.  Then we got a call the the Zone Leaders wanted to come "talk" with us.  I was a little nervous to see what that was all about, but I had a hunch it was about the Mileage thing.  When they finally got there, they basically treated us like two year olds and gave us a lecture on how "there are consequences for our actions."  Then Elder  insinuated that we had used it for non-missionary purposes which was bogus.  So the result?  The car got parked for a couple of days.  Don't get me wrong, I totally get that we could have done better with miles, and I don't even mind getting the car parked to make up for the mileage.  But they went about it in such a condescending, holier than thou way.  They basically told us that we needed to repent.  All it would have taken was a simple "Hey so we talked to the office and we need to park your car for a few days to make up for the mileage that you blew."  I would have been fine with that.  But instead they took the opportunity to try and "chasten" us.  

Ate dinner with the N family and all of their extended Polynesian family.  Some of them requested that I play guitar for them since they had seen me play at Rosetta's.  So I played them a version of Nephi's courage off of the Poly-Trunky CD.  Its a CD some Polynesian missionary made of a bunch of songs that he wrote, arranged and recorded while on his mission.  I've gotten pretty good at singing and playing simultaneously since I've been out.  

Visited the very awkward P family that night, and then we went home like 20 or 30 minutes early cause Church's chicken wasn't sitting well with us.  Then the zone leaders showed up to take our keys.  I was cool with it until they started asking why we had come in so early.  I told them why, but we got a bit of a lecture about staying out until nine.  I thought that was kinda funny since they had showed up at our place at 8:40 instead of nine like they had said they would.  Basically what that meant was that they didn't have anything to do in their area, so they came to our place early.  And then they lecture us about the same thing.  It was a tad frustrating.  Not that I'm diminishing the importance of staying out until nine, but still.  

Conference weekend was pretty cool, but relatively uneventful for proselyting.  We watched the first two sessions at the Wilkes family's home, Watched Priesthood at the church, and then watched the Sunday Sessions at the M's place.  Some overarching themes that I picked up on were Self-reliance, agency, and the importance of prophets.  Christoferson has become my new favorite to watch and listen to.  The dude is a stud.  Bednar's was my other favorite, and I also remember Elder Cook's being really good too.  

Aside from conference, we ate lunch with Sister C on Saturday, got stood up for a few investigator appointments, and ate dinner with the A family on Sunday.  Then we finished off the week by visiting the W family, a really young couple with a 13 month old.  They were really cool too.  Made me start to think of how close that could be for me... yikes.  

Anyways, I would still chalk this one up to one of the better weeks that we have had this transfer.  Hopefully this one will be even better.  

Love you!

Elder Efan   

Missionary Work is HARD

From Parker:

Greetings as a senior companion and all the stresses that go with that!  Yeah Elder O, since he was leaving, gave me a ton of random but usuful stuff like rain coats, supplies, notes, ties, etc.  It was pretty cool. So I good on supplies.

Well Arizona isnt maybe as hard as Denver, but the area I am in, President Toone told me is the hardest place on the mission.  We stuggle even with two extremely awesome companions, to get 10 teaching opportunities to investigators a week.  We teach a lot of less actives as well though.  But as you will hear in my week, some miracles happen even in my very wealthy area.  I guess it is like Ethan being in Arura Colorado.  My guess is they are similar.  and you definitely receive a witness after the trial of your faith

So here is my week.

Monday: We got transfer calls and that was pretty exciting that I got called to be a trainer! I suspect Elder Oblad had a lot to do with it telling president I was ready.  Elder O went home, I really miss him.  I have been blessed with two awesome companions.  Our personalities matched.  Both were extremely obedient to. After emailing we played basketball and chilled at the church for a little bit.  Then did laundry, and cleaned.  We then were in a tri-companionship.  We visited a few people in my area but we spent most of our time in there area.  We had a few lessons.  Kindof tough to cover both areas with no car and just on bikes. 

Tuesday:  Same thing I was with Elder WIlliam's.  We went to another district leaders district meeting and it was kindof boring.  Like I said my companions were both stud teachers to.  We received a referral from this less active guy who later to be found out is freaking crazy.  Once he got our number he keeps asking if he can come over and play chess.  He texts us the Lord's Prayer everynight.  He is very odd.  And his referral didnt turn out either haha.  But we spent most of the day again in there area

Wednesday:  Was on last day as a tri-comp.  Good riddance, 3 people is a crowd and people already get freaked out when 2 people knock on their door.  Three people is like "nope i'm not answering the door go away" haha.  So the members in my ward think I have been out for a little under a year becasue Bishop W didnt want them to find out I was a greenie.  Well he accidently blew my cover when talking in sacrament meeting so now everyone knows, and now they found out I am training somehow and so the members who I LOVE, mess with me saying don't blow it haha.  

Thursday: We had transfers. They changed the way they did it and how we found out our companion.  His name is Elder C.  So here is where the mircale happened.  We got home, started biking and there was this lady walking on the street.  I stopped and said hello.  I asked if there was anything we could do for her and she said no thanks.  we biked off but I had this really strong impression to go give her a card and ask to stop by.  We went back I gave her a card, asked if we could come share a message and she was like yeah in 20 minutes.  So we rushed to find a member to come with us.  Found one.  Went over to her house and there was another gentleman there.  We started teaching both of them and it turns out his uncle is a bishop, his mom is now a member and he wasnt interested but recently had a few things in his life happen one being a friend passing away and he wants to change his life and go back to his roots.  So he wants to be baptized! So him and his girlfriend are on date for November 1st!!! Isnt that crazy we would have never met them If I hadnt had the impression to go back!

Friday: We had weekly planning.  Elder C is a good missionary he just doesnt seem to do anything unless you ask him to.  And then I feel like he kindof gets annoyed a little bit, but he is just to quite to say anything.  In training hour he thinks he already knows everything, and kindof ignores what I am saying.  He was first half trained by zone leaders as well.  But we are getting along better and better.  Just gotta be friendly and obey the rules with exactness.  Speaking of which,  One of our new roommates is our new district leader and he is a complete dud.  He practically promotes disobedience.  He doesnt break the large rules obviously but he just doesnt follow them very well.  Like being up at 6:30 or things like that.  If Elder O saw that he would have a cow!  So I sustain him as my district leader I just think he is kindof a bad influence on some of the other missionaries. He is super cool guy but it is going to be a long transfer 

Saturday:we met with that guy who is now going to be baptized.  He is so solid and cant wait.  The only problem is he is living with his girlfriend who also wants to be baptized so we will have to get that all squared away.  We had an okay day finding people but not much luck.  We got stuck most of the day inside because a giant storm hit and it poured rain like the entire day.  So that really destroyed our plans.  

Sunday: It was crazy! The normal meetings happened Elder C introduced himself to the ward and stuff.  The guy who is going to be baptized came and loved it.  It was the primary program which you know is my favorite sunday ever.  Then after church the stake preisdent called a special meeting.  They are disolving one of the wards in the stake and the K ward is gaining half of those members but is also looking a lot of people to.  it stinks becasue guess who live over in the new ward's boundaries.... The guy we just put on date to be baptized, so guess who doesnt get to teach him anymore....us.... So we literally had this mircale and we now lose him.  But as long as he continues to progress and be baptized, Its alright.  becasue of this we arent exactly sure what ward we are going to be in... we are waiting for President Toone to tell us what he plans to do.  

That was my week training is fun becasue we get to go over the basics again and again which is really what every missionary should focus on.  Elder C is loosening up and it should be alright.  But with all this going on it had made my life a while lot more stressful ahaha

Btw what is Emily's email! I would love to hear from her  more.  How is she doing with school and everything?  That is awesome about you all getting rid of the rental finally ahaha it will be cool to come back and see the new house pretty much finished I would assume.  Tell Mutti and grandpa I love their emails and Sorry I dont have more time to write them back.  Well I gotta go

#I will go and I will do

Love you all!!

Elder Parker Hemsley

From Ethan:

Hey Mum!

All I can say is that I'm glad I have a little bit of time to rest today.  It has been a super up and down week and frankly I'm a little exhausted.  I'm starting to feel like I may not finish my mission here in this ward.  I've been getting the vibe that I may get transferred for my last six weeks.  The worst part is that I kinda hope that happens.  I love this ward and just the people in general here, but its starting to become a real drag.  The work has slowed down heavily, and its just been super difficult for me to keep being the one man companionship here.  Elder A. would be a great guy to be friends with back home, but as a companion goes, hes pretty apathetic to whether we are obedient or not.  I have to force things sometimes, which I hate, but they don't happen otherwise.  All I want is someone to share the load haha :P

On the plus side though, all of these experiences that I've had with good and bad companions have really showed me what I need to look for in a wife haha.  That sounds so weird to say, but its been popping into my head a lot recently. 

Anyways, this week finally did what I've been feeling was going to happen.  We officially have dropped all of our investigators, and are starting from the ground up.  Some of these people have been taught for so long, that it finally came down to either progression or drop.  It was kind of a bummer, but I know the Lord can easily provide new people to teach if we work for em. 

Monday was an okay P-day.  Borrowed the F's guitar and chilled at the church watching cheesy movies we found in the library.  Thankfully there are a few missionaries here who would rather do that thank play basketball.  Then we all went and got slurpees.  

We exchanged that evening, and Elder B came with me to my area.  We have both an Elder and a Sister B here in our district haha.  Elder B is way cool.  Totally gonna be a great missionary.  He's only been out for like 4 weeks.  But we had an eventful exchange for sure.  Ate dinner with the D's and their adorable Pugs, and then we went to visit a LA named Brother W.  He's from Sudan.  Nice guy, but he recently went through a divorce in which he lost his kids, which had affected his activity.  Poor guy. 

Tuesday was a CRAZY day.  In a good way for the most part.  We got up and started biking to the Stake center cause we were pretty short on miles.  It took us way longer than I thought it would, and man it almost killed me.  I guess its been a while since I have biked that vigorously.  But a lame thing happened on the way.  I got a flat!  Luckily there was a tire shop nearby that filled me up and gave me enough of a boost to get to the church.  But by the time we were done with DLC's it was flat again.  So the ZL's gave us a ride back.  I fell bad every time they have to do something like that :P  Plus is was super awkward to be so sweaty in the meeting haha.  

Ate lunch and then we debated on whether we wanted to spend the miles to go down to service like we planned.  We ended up deciding to skip it and start working.  We had a potential named Jenelle that we wanted to try, so we went over and they let us in!  They had a lot of people over at their house, but the first one they introduced us to was a dude named Stephen from Ghana.  He was their PASTOR haha.  The dude was a trip.  He motioned for us to sit down and he started teaching a lesson from the scriptures.  He was a pretty nice guy, as was everyone else in the home.  But as he continued, it became apparent that his whole sermon was starting to underhandedly poke at a lot of the things that we believed.  Lots of dumb sectarian dogmas were starting to seep in.  Me and Elder B could totally sense it, but no one else in the home could.  Probably the gift of discernment on our part.  But we just sat there and listened for easily and hour.  Some of the way through, Jenelle noticed that we had been silent the whole time, and asked if we had anything to say.  Stephen shushed her and told her that we could speak when he was done.  That was a little odd.  Then She interrupted again and asked if we had the time to be there that long or if we had other appointments.  Stephen shushed her again and told her "they have time for this."  It was really rude haha.  So we just let him finish and then finally he allowed us to speak for a bit.  I could tell that Elder B was about ready to go into bash mode, which only makes situations like this worse, so I asked if I could bear my testimony.  What then followed was a testimony that I REALLY hope was recorded in heaven.  It was the best, most powerful testimony I have ever borne.  Everyone there could feel it.  I basically got up onto a soap box haha.  I went through the whole first lesson in a 3-5 minute testimony.  Finally the preacher started trying to interrupt, which no one else liked.  But he intervened with the typical sectarian rejections to modern revelation.  I swear they all use the same ones.  You get tired of hearing em after a while.  But then he told me that Joseph Smith was in hell and I would be too if i didn't renounce my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  "I will NEVER renounce my testimony of the Book of Mormon" came the response, and then we walked away.  The coolest thing though was that when we were walking to our car, Jenelle came outside and just thanked us profusely for coming, gave us some water, and asked if she could still get a hold of us with the number we gave her.  She still wanted to talk and still had questions.  That was amazing to me haha.

Ate dinner and then we taught a short lesson to Jose, one of our newest investigators.  It was a good short lesson, but he talks a ton.  Some people don't know how to not talk.  

Finally we taught the first lesson to the S's.  It went really well, although Sister S didn't really give a response to the baptismal invite.  Hopefully she will as the lessons go on.  

Then we had correlation meeting to finish off the night. 

Wednesday morning we went to the church at like 6 so some of the Elders could play basketball for exercise.  I wasn't really too thrilled about it, but everyone else had fun, which was good.  We actually caught a bit of Seminary while we were there haha.  It blows my mind how much more involved their class is.  Ours was just show up, and stay awake.  

Had district meeting, which went well.  I had all of the Greenie's give the bulk of the program haha.  We called it the Greenie Fire District meeting.  I thought it went well.  

Ate lunch, and spent a lot of time trying some potentials.  A few successes but nothing major.  Then we went to our appointment with Ernestine.  I knew this one was the make or break lesson with her.  But when we got there she was on her way out.  Basically she was just about to flake on us.  We talked for a little bit.  Apparently she was ready to take a break for a while.  She talked me up a ton and talked about how much faith I have and how much spirit I posses, and how that really influenced her to strive for a better relationship with God.  But the reason she was done was because something I said in the last lesson offended her apparently.  She was never able to pinpoint what exactly it was, but she told me that she felt like I got angry at her for having questions and that it made her feel "unworthy" or something.  Both Sister F and Elder A thought that was bogus btw.  But the fact of the matter was that we had attempted to teach her for the last three lessons, but they had all been dominated by her inability to stop talking, and her venting all of her personal problems at us.  When we had tried to teach, she usually interrupted and spouted off so many questions that we weren't able to get the lesson back on track.  So in the last lesson, I was bold with her and told her that we were there to help her understand the gospel line upon line.  Questions like "well, doesn't the bible say something about how we shouldn't celebrate holidays like christmas?"  would be answered further down the road.  But apparently that offended her and led her to want to take a break.  But she kept referring to it as something that I DID, which was still heartbreaking for me.  I cried after that visit.  I know she has felt the spirit.  I just hope she can recognize it somewhere further down the road.  

Taught a quick stop by lesson with the Juett family, and then we ate dinner with the Bishop and his family.  Great family with great kids.  We got a text afterwards that said we were really good missionaries, and that we should keep up the good work.  So that was a comfort. 

Thursday was nuts as well.  The night before, we realized that we were plum out of miles for the month.  That was a huge source of stress.  So that morning we went to Wal Mart and bought a new tube for our bikes and a new pump for me.  Sorry I've been spending so much on the card recently.  Its been a tough month.  

Went down to the church, and waited until it was our turn for interviews with President.  Interview days are always crazy.  I enjoyed my interview with President M, and he talked about how we could potentially get more miles for our huge are.  But in the end I kinda felt like he had just breezed right through mine.  I didn't get to talk about a lot of what i needed some guidance with.  Its just nice to have someone to talk to period.  

visited Darwin and Carmen that day just to check up on them.  They're doing good.  Carmen still wants to go back to church but she's not gonna go without Darwin's approval.  Its sad.  But it was good to see em again.  

Ate dinner with the S family.  They made us some really good Tongan food.  Then their son Feleti came with us to go see Jose again, but he bailed.  The rest of the night didn't produce very much success either.

Friday was a crazy day too.  We got rangled into helping a move that was going on in the Zone leaders area.  .  But we were there way longer than we wanted to be.  She didnt have a ton packed.  

We correlated with the Sisters for a little bit that day, and then we planned.  It wasn't super productive.  No one answers their phone, and if they do its really difficult to get someone to commit to an appointment.  Such is the life :P

Saturday we went on exchanges with B ward, so I got to go over there and experience their area.  We also went on a biltz in the Strasbourg ward.  It is super country all the way out there.  Tons of tiny towns.  But it was cool. we found some people for them to teach.  

Had a few appointments that really let me see how great of a missionary Elder R is.  He goes home in three weeks and he's been a zone leader, but man it was cool to just learn from each other seeing as how we both had a ton of experience.  Lots of great conversations.

Sunday was a tad lame.  Tevin bailed on our appointment, Ward council announced that it was no longer required for us to come to the meetings, and they also announced that our Correlations meeting would now just be us, Lucky and our non-existant ward missionaries.  So say good bye to our good relationship with the Ward!  

Church was good even though no one showed.  Sat in on a super cool Q and A between the Bishop and the youth.  Wish our Bishops had done that. 
Visited the R with Brother H after church and then ate dinner with the L family after that.  

Finally we ended with a visit to the N family.  Taught them Part of lesson four and had a good time answering their questions.

Up and down haha.  What else can I say.  

I'm gonna try and upload some pictures real quick so I'm gonna cut this one off.

Love you!

Elder Efan

Parker's 12 week training complete!

Hello Outside world! I am currently in a tri-companionship because Elder Oblad is officially at the mission office and goes home tomorrow!  So for now I am with Elder Williams, and Elder Williams so now everyone until transfers is going to ask why my name isnt Elder Williams haha.  Sorry mom, no I did not get hurt on the bike, it wasnt a bad crash just funny because of the situation!  

We got transfer calls today! I am staying in K Ward, which is great! I love it here, the problem is there isnt much opportunity to teach around here.  Nobody is really interested so our teaching pool is slowly shrinking.  And yes Elder O called it, I am going to be training this next transfer.  I got the call from president this morning saying I will be second half training!!! Which is great because I get to train a new missionary but he isnt completely new so he will already be up to speed on a lot of things! So this is going to be a tough transfer!  I find out who he is on Thursday!!!!!

Monday: We got to go Golfing with Bishop W and President H!  Those two men are freaking awesome.  We only had time to play nine holes and it was blazing hot out but it was great.  I didnt play to well I shot like a 47.  But i was using rental clubs, and havent played in a while.  I did manage to have the low score which was funny. haha We then had a Zone activity where we played basketball and other small games.  We then went and had the F Boys baptismal interview! They passed and everything went well! 

Tueday: It was Elder Os last District meeting, he was super emotional because by that next tuesday he would be home.  We had a few other meetings, and we had to get permission to run to the store like 3 different times because Elder O needed to get certain things before he leaves.  Taking over the area again is going to be tough just because of the lack of a ward mission leader and people are really friendly just dont want anything to do with the gospel especially.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the LDS community is pretty big in Arizona, not so much around Ahwatukee but people know about it.  We then met with a less active family who was struggling and we managed to get into their home and share a message, hopefully it helped because they said they really dont want anything to do with the church anymore.

Wednesday: We had a few new member move in's to stop by most werent home or they didnt have time to meet.  We did get to eat lunch with one of them and they literally fed us until i felt like buttons were popping off my shirt.  I need to up my workout in the morning or else im going to weigh or at least feel like I weigh 1000 pounds haha.  We got new break pads for Elder Os bike so he can sell it.  Having a companion going home is hard or at least my was it took us as well as the Zone leaders (they had to drive us) out of all our areas a lot.  We got a few names from members to go by so we stopped by and set up times to go by again.  We then had a few lessons later in the evening.  We taught one youth by playing around the world basketball trivia.

Thursday:  Since it was my last week of training we had to watch all the district videos again because that is the last part of the 12 week training program.  So even though I watched them like 498923 times we watched them.  I get to watch them again since I am training.  We then hit the streets.  We met this homeless guy who was super hungry so Elder O and I bought him MacDonalds.  We got a gift card from bishop to eat there and so we used it on this guy.  We talked with him for a little bit, turns out he was still a little drunk and he chooses to be homeless... oh well ahah.  We had a final lesson with the F Boys so they were all set to be baptized!  We met with a couple of less actives later in the day.  Biking really slows things down sometimes, and we always seem to be late because of it haha and it is still extremely hot and humid (because of the storms that missed us but brought the humidity) 

Friday: I Was pretty sweet, I got paired with another companion while elder o got to go to the temple for the last time as a missionary ( so dumb that I didn't get to go! haha).  Then during weekly president called an emergency mission meeting. So the whole mission gathered later that day.  He had a few announcements.  Apparently some missionaries had been sent home for being idiots, so he wanted to talk about obedience, and how proud he is of us but knows we can do better.  He also announced the Elder D. Todd Christopherson would be meeting with just our mission tomorrow!

Saturday: Bright and early we were at one of the church buildings as a mission.  Elder Christopherson of the twelve apostles was there. As well as Elder Corbridge of the seventy, and Bishop Davis of the Presiding Bishopric!!!!! We then all got to shake there hands.  I told his where I was from and my name and could barely get the words out haha.  They each spoke pretty much blew our minds.  Elder Christopherson had a Q/A so we got to ask him questions.  He talked a lot about rebellion and threw down not on our mission but missions in general.  So freaking cool.  Then we had the Fs baptism! So seeing a general authority to having a baptism!  It went well.  There were so many little kids there it was kindof hard at times to focus but they got dunked.  These boys were long lasting investigators so many missionaries had tried to get them to church. I thank all the other Elders and Sister who helped prepare them so that we could seal the deal.  

Sunday:  Was a normal sunday Elder O got to speak since he was going home.  We then had this random guy in gospel doctrine who was crazy! He interupted every five seconds and talked about economics, his opinions.  We kept having to say, well lets get back to the lesson haha. After church we cleaned up our area book to make sure if I wasnt staying that the missionaries after us wouldnt be lost on what to do.  We then went to a mission presidents devotional where we get to take investigators and less actives.  It was great President toone as well as other new converts spoke. He talked about the restoration and the need to find out for yourself and have your own testimony. Every time president Toone speaks it bring the whole audience to tears.  A 7 foot giant with the biggest spirit!  

That was my week in a nutshell!  I hope everything is going well back home! I am finally done being trained and now I have to train.  It is going to be interesting.  Just have to work hard to find more people to teach!  

Love, Parker

Monday was okay.  It was Zone P-day, and they ZL's didn't really put a whole lot of effort into this one.  We played capture the flag in on of the nearby parks, but it was pretty boring.  Then I just kinda chilled with a group of missionaries who didn't really wanna play football afterwards.  It was kinda awkward.    

The H family gave us dinner to go that night.  There are so many members of our ward who COULD feed the Elders, but only a few who do.  So that leaves us to eat with a small group of the same members every week.  The Sister's calender always seems to be full though.

Got flaked on by what we thought was a really cool potential investigator that evening, but we did finally get back in with the S's.  We're gonna start teaching them the missionary lessons to get em back to activity again.  Sister S would make a great member of the church.  And that doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility either.     

Tuesday we went over to Joe C's place and smacked him upside the head with the Spirit, but he still won't come to church until the new building opens :P  Thats been everyone's excuse recently.  But the good thing about that was we finally got the open house and dedication date!  It happens on October 25 and 26.  Hopefully I'm here for that, cause that's gonna be a super awesome event to use for missionary work.  

Had DLC's that day, and they unrolled the new zone vision for all of us to talk about.  I thought it was a good plan, but it seemed really difficult to execute.  Plus its difficult to push things like that with some of the Elders in my district.  We'll see how it goes.  

Did some service at a place called Brent's Place that day.  Its just like Ronald McDonald house, only specifically for cancer patients.  It was cool.  We picked a bunch of produce from the community garden.  

Did a bunch of finding that day, and we tried to visit this one former investigator guy named David, but his apartment was so ghetto that we couldn't even open the gate to knock on his door.  

Ate dinner by ourselves, and then we went on a team up with Brother M to go see a potential investigator named Jose.  Elder A found him while we were on exchanges.  But he didn't remember where he was!  So we drove around a bunch and couldn't find him.  We later found out that he was right around the corner from where we were :P So we went with Bro M to the church and correlated a little bit with him before our meeting that evening.

Wednesday was long, but kinda up and down.  We had the temple that morning, which was great.  The Buckley Elders found a lady named Sister W to drive us all down, and she took us to country buffett afterwards haha.  So that was pretty cool.  Its neat to learn some of the symbolism that goes into everything in the temple.  I'm totally just going to LIVE at Deseret book when i get home haha.  Lots of reading that I want to do.  

We had an appointment with a LA named Bryan that day.  He doesn't live in the Ward, he's just staying in a hotel while he's working on a jobsite out here.  But we ran into him at a gas station earlier that week, and he asked if we could come to the hotel and teach him about what he needed to do to prepare himself to baptize his daughter when he gets back.  It was good lesson.  He's a great guy who joined the church about 2 years ago.

While we were there we got a call from the Sisters that J called them and told them he was going to kill himself.  So we went all the way down to his place, and it turns out that he was just hammered.  We talked to him and he just expressed a lot of drunken sorrow for the loss of his son earlier this year.  I felt so bad for him.  He still wants us to teach him, but I don't know how much we can do for him if he's like that when we come over.  Plus he has a ton of sketchy people who live around him and don't help a whole ton.  Trailer parks... 

Visited Ernestine with Sister F.  She's almost on the chopping block honestly.  For that whole lesson she did nothing but talk about how angry she was at God and other people in her life.  Plus she is torn between us and the JW's, which makes it really difficult to get through to her sometimes.  Their Method of teaching is very "this scripture proves we're right" and I think she wants us to do more of that.  Which we wont.  its just becoming more and more hard to get through to her.  But at the end she said that the reason she is still interested in learning is because of my "amazing faith" and how "she see's the savior in my countenance."  That was crazy to hear someone else say.  It felt good to hear that, but it made me worry that the whole reason she is investigating is because she likes ME and not the message.  We'll see what happens.  This week may be the make or break week with her.  

Ate dinner with the T family, and then we went to Bro H's place to team up and go over to Tim P's place.  But Tim cancelled on the way there, and Brother H had forgotten all about it.  But he still came with us to visit the S family.  Crazy family.  They're "Juggalos" as they say it.  Apparently there is a band out there called the Insane Clown Posse who has this ridiculous cult following and the fans are called Juggalos.  Super vulgar, super angry at the world, and they use the ICP as an escape from their own reality.  Its kinda scary to be honest.  But Brother H was perfect for them.  Funny and very friendly with everyone.  

Zone Meeting took up a lot of Thursday.  The ZL's had me conduct the meeting.  It was a super inspirational meeting.  Lots of awesome messages that were sorely needed to get me through the week.  The Spirit really is like a battery charger.  I think its why they have these meeting so often.  We did this one break off role play where one of us played Peter, and one of us played Christ during the last few verses of John 21.  It was super powerful.  We listened to Holland's talk "The First and Great Commandment" and then we put into our own word what Christ was saying to Peter there.  I guess you have to be there.  But the talk is great.  I would recommend it.  

Did a ton of finding that day, and then had dinner with the F family.  I still love that last name haha.  But none of our appointments ended up panning out that evening :/  But we did get to meet President F's LA brother.  Dude looks like a freaking Rastafarian haha.

Friday was difficult.  Did a lot of finding in the morning, and then we planned for a good amount of the day.  Its nice to have a companion who is so supportive of the things that I think we ought to do, but Elder A is totally a follower.  Not a whole lot of input from his perspective.  At least we don't hate each other.  

Ate dinner with the M's and then went the rest of the night without having a single person open the door :P

Saturday was also pretty difficult.  We had like 7 set appointments that day and we finished having only taught one lesson.  Everyone bailed.  Everyone.  We even had a team up planned with Brother B that night, but the appointment flaked, so we drove around to plan B, C, and D haha.  Great guy who gets how difficult missionary work is sometimes.  

The crowning lowpoint of the week was when we were on our way to go visit the really cool potential investigator named Dave and his family.  As we were walking up to their Apartment building.  They come out of the laundry room and head to their door.  We waved from afar off and he sort of waved back.  Then they went inside.  When we knocked on the door 20 seconds later, no answer.  Lame as Freak.  

But we did get to teach a lesson to Anthony, the F's new adopted son.  He is LA so he needs some refreshers on the Gospel.  That went well, and we had another guitar-hymn singalong afterwards.  The crazy thing was that afterwards they asked if i could play something with just me.  Before I knew it, I was singing Lost Cause by Beck.  And I nailed it.  I've never been able to sing and play at the same time, except until recently.  It blew me away at how i could finally do something that I hadn't been able to do for the longest time.  It was a great feeling.  

Sunday was probably one of the better days in the week.  We found as new investigator that morning named Tevin.  Super cool young guy who really liked the Book of Mormon when he heard it.  So we're gonna start teaching him.  May have a few problems with the word of wisdom though.  He had a brand new Hookah sitting in the corner haha.  At least he wasn't like this one chick that we found who was hot-boxing in her tiny apartment with her 2 year old there.  Eghhhh....

Church was okay.  I get really tired of how disruptive some of the Kids are around here.  But none of our investigators came :(  

Visited Javier again afterwards.  It was a quick visit but he was in tears over how much he wants to quit drinking.  I hope we can help him.  There is another member his age who went through the same thing, so we may try and bring him next time.  

Ate dinner with the crazy J family, and then we taught a lesson to the N family after.  SO MANY KIDS in this ward.  Makes me look forward to the bachelor life haha.

Anyways, that was my week.  

Love you guys!  

Elder Efan