Hey,

I heard that Phil Sorensen was going on a mission to Indiana, I talked to Brandon Barlow the other day about it. I'm sure I will be going to both of their talks. I'm glad he decided to go. He is the first one from his family, He has a lot of potential to break the cycle there. I have been told about the fires too. It's pretty crazy. Remember how I wanted to do that before I left? I am thinking about fighting fires next summer, they pay you pretty darn well, So we'll have to see. I don't know how we can be so dry for years and years and then last year rain like no ones business and then going back to being even more dry. It is pretty dry here too for Ohio at least. It's not too hot or Humid though. 

 On Friday there was a Tornado in our area, Out by the border though so there wasn't anything bad where we lived, Just bad storms and lost power for a little bit. But that was when we had a mission tour for the Vellinga's so we totally missed it. On the way home there were six semi trucks flipped over due to the wind so we had to flip around over the median and take back roads. Trees were totally ripped out and snapped and what not, It was pretty crazy and there wasn't even a tornado in that area. Just the recurring winds. I was kind of hoping to be able to see one of those crazy storms, but nope, Definitely not.  

The new president got here on Thursday and the Sorensens left early Friday Morning. President Vallinga's personality is way different from sorensen. It will be good for the missionaries here.We can't do anything on the Fourth, we have our zone leader meeting in Cleveland and so that's what we would do. It would totally suck to do anything that day anyways because no one is going to be home or want to listen to any missionary. I'm glad we have a meeting instead of having to work, It's going to take up our whole day. 

I think when I get home I'm going to need to go see the Eye Doctor, So if you can set up an appointment for me that would be awesome. I don't know if it's because I bought cheaper solution or what but I'm still pretty sure that I will need to go see him, also probably a Dentist for a cleaning and a routine check-up. You know, catch up on  all of the things that I didn't do for the last two years. 

Also, Is it set up with the stake pres to get released? I don't know how that works... I've never done it before

Anyways see you in a week

Hey Mom, I just talked to President Sorensen and he said that I am going to be able to go home on July 12th. Guess I am able to get there early.

there is an extra missionary coming out so there will be a three-some, so that allows me to be able to go early so I can get things done

Hey mom,

First off, No. I haven't been even talking to president Sorensen about going home. Last time I brought it up was in our interview in April, he brought it up every time after that. He asked me at mission tour if I still planned on asking President Vellinga and I said yes. I thought that was that. Saturday he called out of the blue and said that he was just informed by the missionary department from church headquarters that there is an extra missionary coming out this next transfer so there will be a triple-up and so that enables me to go home without closing an area or anything like that. Hence me coming home on July 12th. Ps. I don't want to speak on the 15th. Make it the 22nd. President and Sister Sorensen speak on the 15th and I would like to go up there and listen to them and see a bunch of the people from the mission. If that's at all possible. Also, If you can ask if they would Like me to speak upon a certain thing from my mission that would be great. I really don't like not having a topic assigned. It makes everything a lot harder. That would be awesome if you can do that for me. I'm sure that they had already thought of some speakers for that day as well. so the 22nd seems like a much better day. ;)

People thought I got in trouble this close to the end. The ignorance of some people. I'm glad I don't have to burden myself with judging others. You should have just said that I was coming home that day and not necessarily that I was coming early at all.

Did you ever get that money from the City? do you still plan on getting so far and then paying someone to get it done? BMW M roadster? I'm not sure if I know what that looks like. I'm sure I will be fine driving that around. seeing that is for me right? :/

I'm totally glad that Matthew is playing football this year. Does he know what all of the positions are? haha oh well, He can learn. Will you let Jerry know that I am going to be back sooner so I can start helping out then and did you ever find out if it is going to pay anything?  

I don't think I need you to do anything... Just so you know I plan on selling my GPS and my bike if at all possible. 

OH yeah. If you can Look up Kolton Perkins (from Kanab) and dani and Winston wilkinson on fb for me that would be cool and if you could invite them to the homecoming if they could come. that would be greatly appreciated! 

The rest of my mission is fairly planned out starting this upcoming friday with the mission tour for the new pres. Then we have a meeting on Sunday with the Stake pres... Out of our area mon-wed on exchange and then a meeting on the fourth in cleveland and then it will be less than a week. I'm sure it will go pretty quickly.

I don't get trunky. You know me. I'm wayyy to serious!

Love ya

Hey Mom,

This week went by really fast! For that I'm thankful. We still don't have really anything to do. One of the guys we have been working with I guess plead Guilty to Child Molestation and some other things along those lines, He was ex-d and we would go see him on occasion. Another one of the guys we have been working with who is trying to get to the temple recently got a job working at a manufacturing plant and is working a lot and so we haven't been able to see him. I'm glad he was able to get a job though, he has been out of work for a few years I guess. 

The visit wit President was different, we had a meeting that went over by like an hour but I had to leave thirty minutes early to go to the chiropractor. I was able to talk to him and sister Sorensen. That was different as well. All they did was referenced me going home in a few weeks. President suspects Vallinga to Send me early and so they were mentioning coming to my homecoming and listening to me speak as well. That would be cool. It was just weird to have them talk pretty much only home when we were able to talk one on one. It was a good conversation. 

Oh yeah, If you knew what really went on in some of the places I've been that haven't been on the news you would definitely be "un-nerved" 

Our area has been quite struggling. Probably more so than I have had in a long time. I think It might be worse than when I was in Warren, I mean there is just nothing to do here. What blows my mind is that the Sisters in the other area are doing really well and that the members are really helping them out. They must just have a lot of the more engaged members... It's frustrating. I knew that when they would get here this ward would pretty much worship them and they have so far.  I don't know what it is that has gotten them so excited about the sisters, I mean that's all they would ask us about before they got here was when are the sisters coming? It's not like they had bad or disobedient missionaries here before or anything. I mean if that were the case I would understand because that was how it was like when We shotgunned Wadsworth and took the sisters out of there. Oh well. You do what you can. 

I'm sure I will run into Dudley somewhere. He should just come to my homecoming. haha I can't go hang out in his office like I did back in the day. I swear sometimes I was in there more than I was in my classes. Totally crazy. 

It's finally started to rain a little bit here. That's nice. It makes it more Humid but that's okay I guess. haha. 

Oh yeah, There is a missionary out here who wants to buy my GPS... i'm thinking of selling it to him and then I need to start thinking about my bike. I don't know if dad wants it home or what. I don't think it's worth it. It's like two hundred to ship it home and we have better bikes at home as well So maybe I will just sell it here too. I don't know... 

Anyways, I'm Holding out til the end

Love ya

Hey there,

I'm not exactly sure what I should be talking about today. Haha. This week was just your typical week as a missionary, Nothing really going on still. We had one, hopeful looking for Baptism but she ended up dropping us, So we are down to one investigator that we can only see once a week and is pretty hard to get a hold of. We haven't been able to really get less-active work going just yet. A lot of the work that the ward has given us for The less-actives is mainly in the other area so we are still struggling a bit in those regards but we are trying to really work with the members so we can get some referrals and what not. Somewhat draining trying to motivate people to do things that  they have never done before or what they don't want to do. Hopefully things start to pick up somewhat. 

We can definitely go on a church history tour next year. I don't know if you really want to drive to these places though, It might be better just to fly out and then drive to each site. It's cool though. Pretty neat if you ask me. Hopefully by then they will have the Joseph Smith home all ready to go, but I doubt it. Those sorts of things take time.

That's cool that Ammon is having a good experience in being able to help Mike come unto Christ. I always look back to when I was in high-school and all of the kids that I could have talked to about church and other activities as well. I think a lot of times we forget that there are non-members in Utah and we just kind of forget about it but it's the best place to be able to talk to people about the Gospel because the odds are, most of these peoples friends are members so it's perfect fellowship and the best way to be able to get those who are not part of the truth in. You don't want to miss out on those opportunities. I've been thinking about things that I can do when I get back to be able to help those who are struggling or those who aren't of the Faith to become part of it. We'll see what takes place I guess.

 President Sorensens Mission tour is this week and he is coming to our area on Friday. Well, actually it's combined with the Toledo Zone so it's going to be up in Perrysburg. It will be interesting to have him leave and then a new one come in. I'm curious how it will go. While we are up there I am probably going to go try and see the Chiropractor who worked on me while I was up there and then if there is time I got permission a couple of weeks ago to go see the Childs because I guess they got upset over not being able to feed the missionaries every week. I talked to the Elders there and they said they are fine with it now and only missed that one Sunday. But I may just drop in and see them anyways. We'll have to see what happens. 

I don't know if anything else is going on that is exciting here... I don't think there is haha. I think that's all....

Love ya 

Heya,

 

This week went well. We had a couple of really cool meetings that I enjoyed a lot. I got to enjoy the company of a few other older missionaries as well. Wednesday night we left lima and spent the night in Findlay and then in the Morning we drove up to kirtland with our district leaders and had a Leadership training meeting in the Joseph smith Jr. home right next to the kirtland temple. President told us that it was most likely the first priesthood meeting held in there since 1838 when Joseph still lived there. The church has recently acquired it and is now doing studies and research to restore it back to when The smith family lived there. I'm excited to see how it turns out. For the afternoon session we went out into a metropark in willoughby and had the rest of the meeting in a grove of trees next to a bank on the chagrin river close to where sidney rigdon and oliver cowdry were preaching and baptized thirty people in the same day. It was very very cool. I Will have to send pictures next week. We then stayed the night in the mission home and in the morning went and played with all of the other zone-leaders, assistants and training sisters (like the ap's of kirtland) for more than we normally get to for our morning work out. after that we went back to eat breakfast and president was like, lets go for a bike ride, so we did. haha we went to another metro park and then at the end of the ride we went somewhere in the woods to enjoy the environment and to think about our testimonies and what not. it was cool.

 

 

Sounds like a lot of stuff is going on for you guys stilll. soon enough I will be able to join in the fun! haha.

 

President is going to be going on a mission tour next week. It's going to be weird to make the transistion. It will be interesting to see how the mission changes and how all of that goes.

I know this is really short. There isn't really too much going on. I wish you could have been at those places with us the last couple of days. We'll have to come back and re-visit them one day. It was such a powerful time and a great and wonderful experience I will never forget. Love ya guys.

 

I will try to be a bit longer next time!

Hey Mom,

 

Things are coming close. President Sorensen at transfer meeting made a comment about this being his last transfer meeting and that they only have five weeks left before they leave. He hasn't really made any comments like that before. I think it's really starting to come to him that it's coming to a close. That also means that its coming to a close for me as well, it's crazy to think about that there really isn't that much time left at all. It will be a little hard when Vallinga gets here because I will only have a few weeks left and I don't know how much will be changing and I probably won't really have a desire to change too much when there isn't that much time left. But who knows.

That's sweet that Jerry is going to be keeping me a spot to help coach. I will have to get back into the football mentality ha. it will be three years by the time I start again. That will be nice though, I need a good excuse to work out. It should be nice too because I don't think it will take up that much time, just a few hours every day just going to football practice. Sounds pretty legit to me! haha.

Oh yeah, I just went to the dentist as well, we have one in the ward. I went because I thought that I had some cavities, Turns out that my gums have just receded and so part of the root is showing on my teeth. I have to rub some sensodine type of toothpaste on my teeth at night to build up some protection there and then start brushing and flossing a lot softer so the gums don't get torn up any more. Kind of a bummer. I was told at my last dentist visit before my mission that I had a gum infection because I didn't floss at all and now I guess I went a little bit over-board and tore up some of my gums. dang. It's kind of annoying but I will have to get better at it now. that's for sure. I need to have some good teeth if I'm going to be an Orthodontist. Can't be having some messed up teeth in the profession!

 

So what's going to be on the Menu when I get home if you are having steaks and a bunch of ribs when I'm gone? Suprisingly there are very few mormon women out here who can cook really well. you'd think it would run in the Religion or something! haha there is this one member here who cooks with alcohol all of the time! it's so good! she made us this Vodka pasta a couple weeks ago and then some Marlo Chicken that was some of the best food that I have had on my entire mission. I'm sure my Palate will just be blown when I get back to the Promise land and start eating some of that divine food! Hopefully I won't get my fat back.... I was noticing the other day how small my legs have gotten and that I actually need a belt now because my waist on my pants are all too big. I remember when my Jeans that I brought with me were stylish-y tight, now they are just loose jeans haha. it's crazy. So I have been trying to bulk back up and using the dumbells that we have in almost all of the free time we get.

 

The new companion is new. He's cool. He's only been out a year on his mission and for the last nine months he has either been training or greenie breaking so he hasn't had anyone who takes control and does things differently than him so right now it seems like he is having a harder time adjusting that he had planned on. I like him though. He's quite different than all of my companions I have had by far! He is a lot like Dom Bills. Big into Musical theater and that kind of thing... so He's always doing some weird dance-ish thing and singing. Not to athletic and just about everything he is interested in I am not and have no clue about so I can't have much of a conversation with him. haha There has been a decent amount of silence because of that. Not because he is a quiet guy, but because our interests are so far different it gets somewhat hard to hold a conversation and I think he is trying to learn his role as a Zone-Leader as well. It's alright though. I'm sure it will go well and it seems that we are getting along so far. I have no beefs or see any forthcoming either. We don't have the whole ward anymore. It lasted just under a week. the sisters are moving in later this afternoon so they will have part of it. but because of that we had to take some of the east side which was ghetto and give them more of the west, so the boundaries are really quite strange if you ask me, but it works out that way I guess. We don't have any investigators. There are like two families that we try with but their commitments and priorities are else where so we can't set up appointments and when we do they usually aren't there. There is a huge amount of Less-active work here and the Bishop is getting the entire ward pumped for missionary work. The Bishop, Ward Mission leader and I spoke this last sunday on the Gathering of Israel and then the Bishop straight up told the ward that He has recieved revelation and guidance from the Lord that this ward intends to grow and that they need to be doing a lot better on inviting their friends to learn of the Gospel. With this up-coming fast sunday we are going to be starting a 40-day fast to be able to reach the ward goal of 2 baptisms a month (one per companioniship) and then a specific reason for themselves on inviting someone to learn of the gospel and Ideally meet with us.

 

I talked to Stetson. Sounds like he is doing Fairly well but his family is struggling a bit. It's been hard for them. I had a good talk though and He knows that there is divine design behind all of it and has been able to feel of our Heavenly Fathers hand More than ever in his life. It really makes me happy to see these guys that I grew up with who I never would have wanted to go on a mission find so much success and change so much. It's really cool. Such a blessing for me to see the Atonement in action.

The mission is so young now, I am the Oldest out of all of the Leaders in the mission. I have been out longer than all of them and there are only two that have been in leadership longer than I have. So it's strange. It's a maturity level that I'm not use to... as in they are not where I have been living for the last 6-7 months. We have a leadership training meeting on Thursday and a Zone-Leader council on Friday. These meetings are generally good, but sometimes can be basic as well because everyone has only been out a year or less. The council portion of our meeting is a little frustrating too because it goes in circles and often times there is no new conclusion made. It's interesting, I mean I understand how it works, The Lord gives a commandment and we struggle because we don't follow it. So, we have these "council" meetings where we talk about different things just to get back to the point of hey, Just do what we have been counseled to do! it's not working because you aren't doing what you are suppose to do. There is sometimes new revelation but oftentimes it's just that we aren't doing what we have been commanded to of the Lord. When we do it his way, it will always work. Go figure right? He created everything. ha.

 

This week should be a fast paced one for me.

 

Love ya.

Hey Fam.

This week was a fairly good one. I got a call from President on Monday concerning going home. He had just made a comment about what you had written at the bottom of those papers they sent you. So we discussed that and we came to the same conclusion we did last time that we will just have to wait and see what Vallinga has to say and what he wants to do. He told me that they were going to go ahead and book the flight just in case I do stay so they don't have to scramble to try and get me a ticket and that way avoid the problem and possibility of me not getting one at the time that I need to. He said it would be a lot easier to just book it and then if things change to move it earlier than not have one at all. So we will still have to wait until the start of July. Either way though I will be fine with it. I'm not worried about it at all. He also told me that from where he stands right now I will go home a zone-leader here in Lima. I'm fine with that too. I enjoy the privileges. haha  

Then, on Thursday we got another call from Sister Smith, who is the housing coordinator for the Mission telling us that we needed to help her with getting sisters an apartment here in Lima. I mean we had heard about sisters coming down here but we didn't know when and so when we heard this we were a little surprised. After that we called President to figure things out, so we had to re-draw the area boundaries so the sisters didn't cover the roughest part of town, THEN last night when the Assistants called us with transfer information we were told that they were still taking the two elders out but that the sisters aren't coming down yet (I don't know why, they could totally do it tomorrow). Because of that I will have the whole ward to myself for a little while, Hopefully it's like two to three weeks, that would be cool. We would have a lot more to do. I'm pretty sure who my new companion is, there is a missionary in our zone that got called to be a Zone-Leader and is getting "in-zoned". So, unless they told me incorrectly I should be getting a pretty cool companion who can sing, So I'll make sure to have him sing for members and in Sacrament so they will like us more and give us some referrals. ;)

I didn't know that Stetsons mom passed away. He is on the other side of the Mission right now so I don't ever see him,  I may see him tomorrow but if not I will just have to give him a call. That's sad. I'm sure he will do okay. I don't see him going home, but at the same time I can. That's a tough choice to make.

 I would definitely love to help out with one of the football teams. You were sure right about that. If they pay me that would be sweet, I don't expect it to be too much though. If they don't I'm sure I would help out on occasion, that would give me a good reason to work out more. I will have to see what happens there. Help me Normalize pretty quickly though that's for sure. 

With one of the areas closing down temporarily, we are now the same size as one of the districts in the Cleveland zone, Normally we are only a companionship larger than them. We are basically a glorified zone, but with the size and amount of missionaries we have it's  really easy. I don't really have to worry about too much like the bigger zones do. We have a couple of missionaries who were pretty disappointed when they found out that they were staying here, but it will be good for them. One of them is a Pride bomb and needs to get over himself so where he is now (which he hates) will be really good for him and the other one just has a difficult companion who will help him learn and understand more of his purpose so he can go and do what is best for him. Tomorrow will be a long day though. We have to leave around 7, Possibly a bit earlier to be able to make it to transfers on time and then we won't get home til around 7pm. It's about a four hour drive out to Kirtland. I am making Elder Judd drive out there and so I may only have to drive back. We'll have to see. But it it a really really LONG drive!

Hmmm... well.  I can't think of much else to talk about. I think that's it for now :P 

Peace out. Have a good week and I love ya!