Week 3

 howdy howdy howdy. This week was dope. so many cool experiences,  I want to share one that was especially rad:

         OK so there I am, doing my nightly prayer. I'm worried, afraid that I'll lose my Spanish if I don't get to practice it . Anyways so I praying for opportunity, and I'm also praying to know where I should look to find people. I got this very distinct impression, a picture in my head, of this house that we had passed when we were driving by earlier. I was like "aight guess I'm goin there then" and so fast forward a day and a half.  We are passing it again and I'm like "yo comp we gotta check this house out" and his eyes kinda widen and he's like "Elder, that was a super dope person who was interested, but we had to drop her because she only speaks Spanish" and at this point I'm FREAKING OUT bc the spirit is real and we knocked on the door and I taught her the restoration and my Spanish was so-so but the gift of tongues came in clutch and yah. We're gonna go back this week, her name is Raquel, I'll keep ya'll posted. 

            Something that was super funny this week was the water heater at our church has passed into the spirit world, and so we filled up the font for a baptism the sisters had, and it was absolutely freezing. Naturally me and the two elders I was with, (Elder Forese was with us on exchanges,) start boiling up like 6 pots of water in the kitchen and during the whole beginning of the program we were just in the background bailing cold water out of the font and warm water in😂 it literally did nothing though and the water was so cold, thankfully Erika still got fully immersed but her teeth were chattering haha. 

            anyways I love ya'll. Russel M. Nelson is a prophet of god and the Book of Mormon was prepared for us so that we could have a fulness of the gospel, it's the coolest thing. if ya'll don't believe the book of Mormon was inspired, read and pray about it cause its dope. 

Cool River

3-4 boiling water pfft

Heating up water for the baptismal font

exchanges with Elder Forese

Awesome family that fed us dinner

Week 2 in the field!

howdy wowwww two weeks already this is insane. this last week was good, definitely a bit of a grind but good. we've been doing a lot of cold calling, a lot of Facebook, and a lot of tracting haha. we have a few lessons each week, trying to find some more solid contacts. we have one person on date still, this Lil baller named McCall, I think I've already talked ab him a bit so I won't linger on him. our main problem is that he's been sick lately and we haven't been able to teach him. my comp is a straight legend, it took a bit to get used to his mannerisms but we chillin now. we had a member dinner last night which was fun but there are some WEIRD folks out here haha. to get to their house we had to go down this super sketchy dirt road, definitely would not have been able to get there without 4 wheel drive. we get to this house literally in the middle of nowhere in this forest and it's super overgrown and super old haha. the family was super nice, it just felt a tad like the main characters mom in the waterboy, but there were three of them😅 oh yah! while cold calling yesterday I was able to teach the restoration In Spanish! I was totally caught off-gaurd and am already a bit out of practice, but was able to (very clumsily,) stumble through a quick message ab the restoration and she agreed to call again! def need to hit the textbooks a tad more haha. anyways gospel is real! the book of Mormon testifies of that and Joseph Smith was a prophet! love yall!

 

It's hard to tell but this was about a 3in. spider ughksufksvnk

 

Me and my companion Elder Kriemeyer

just a dope sign

my little friend i was able to give a church tour to

 

Incredible sunset

got to be taste testers :)

1st week en el campo

heyoooo first week in El campooo!! it's actually been so rad. my trainers name is elder Kriemeyer, he's been such a huge help/blessing for me already. the area I ended up in is Clarksville, Tennessee. the ward is literally so good, the members are pretty strong. I was able to put someone on date this last week, his name is McCall and he's this Lil 13-year-old baller who's mom my comp baptized last transfer. my district is 6 members strong, we call it a sistrict bc it's us and then 2 sister companionships. I'm not about to say there is more drama then I think a normal district would have, but there's definitely more drama than a normal district would have pffffft. jk. kinda. the district is actually pretty amazing, I love working with them. working in the Bible belt is interesting, everyone loves Jesus here haha. the problem is getting people to understand why we need priesthood authority and the bom. aghh so many people are like I have the Bible why would I need that book and I'm like bc if this is true then Joseph Smith was a prophet and also it contains truth the Bible has lost, and then they'll be like yah I get that but why do I NEED it. it's been fun haha. anyways, the book of Mormon truly is the foundation of our religion and I've never known just how fundamental that is until now. we are so blessed to have the opportunity to read and learn from it. luv yall (:

Weeks 5-6

Alrighty here we go! Sorry I haven't been crazy consistent with emailing, honestly a lot of my days sorta blend together and didn't have a ton to write about last week. Anyway! I don't think I wrote about this already, but I got a reassignment to Nashville, Tennessee!!! Soooooo good to finally have gotten confirmation of where I was going, I was getting a tad nervous being only a week and a half out and not knowing where I was headed hehe. I don't know why I got the reassignment so late, my theory is that they were debating on whether or not they could get missionaries going to Chile their Visas on time or not, so hopefully we're able to spread the work out soon (: Just a theory tho, don't quote me on that haha. Anyways, I am super stoked to be headed to Music city, just kinda bracing myself because it's known as "the belt buckle of the bible belt," you already know I'm about to get absolutely rag ripped by southern baptists or something that have the bible memorized cover to cover hahaha. Don't get me wrong, though, totally stoked for the opportunity to serve there, there's actually an Hermana in my district that also got reassigned there. It's kinda crazy that I'm already done with the CCM, these 6 weeks really just blew by at MACH 1. I definitely have soooo much to work on with my spanish, but at least I'll have a few extra weeks of speaking english and practicing spanish in Nashville. I know that if I'm in a situation that relies on my spanish, the Holy Ghost will help clear my mind and remember enough to get my message across, I've definitely already felt that influence. Seriously though, the online MTC has been a HUGE blessing for me, ima miss talking with my district for sure. Last week a few of the elders and I drove up to Elder Moore's place and we spent the night. That was a pretty cool experience, we played some football and drove his ranger around the mountains. We slept outside which is always refreshing and had some bomb pancakes. Shout out to elder Cornell and Mrs. Moore for those. Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 4: 16-35. Specifically love how when Nephi is feeling depressed, he focuses on how he has been blessed and then commits to be a better person by letting Christ into his life more. When we get self critical, we can do the same. All Christ is really asking us to do is repent and then try harder. We all make mistakes and have shortcomings, but there is no use in wishing you could change the past or that you were a different person. Instead, work towards who you want to become, and let the healing, strengthening power of the atonement help you there. Anyways, this was a lengthy one so if you've made it this far, good job:) I won't be so tedious in the future haha.

Obligatory nametag picture with my district

Week 4 August 21,2021

 Heyo officially finished my fourth week, so I'm like 4% through already but who's counting. It was a really good week, definitely feel like I can feel the spirit more than the last few weeks, I'm understanding more Spanish so I can focus more on the doctrinal side of things. That isn't to say I'm good at spanish yet, It's so difficult and slow to express myself correctly but definitely understanding more. I practiced giving a message with Hermana Patricia over zoom, and it was actually so cool because I could see how far I came. I was able to understand her, (only asking her to repeat a few times haha,) and able to give a good message with Elder Fletcher. Definitely felt el don de lenguas coming into effect there. 

Speaking of elder Fletcher, I am realizing I never said too much ab him in my last email. He's my companion, he lives in Eagle, ID. He is pretty shy and doesn't talk too much, but he likes mountain biking and is generally a cool guy. Anyways, not a crazy amount happened this week, just the Spanish memorization grind. Something I've definitely realized thus far in my MTC experience is that our point of view is a powerful thing. I absolutely love the home MTC. It allows me to do the things I love with the people I love and still prepare to serve the lord. I am as amped as can be to get out in the field and bring people to the knowledge and light that has brought me so much joy, peace, and hope in my life. I know i'll probably get out there and it will be like BAM humbling but definitely never been so excited for a humbling in my life. 

I've been asked a fair bit for advice on starting a mish in tha home, and while I'm definitely not the most qualified person for this I will say there have been three major sources that have helped me.

1) the fourth missionary- a talk I read. don't actually know who it's by I just looked it up lol

2) Alma 26- banger chapter.

3) Feed my sheep by elder holland- this one was the biggest pivot in my point of view to me. Listening to this talk literally changed the course of my mission.

Meeting Elder Fletcher 

class antics

Jeppson family reunion in McCall, Id that I was able to attend

pickleball with my mom on a break at Patriot park. S/O to Papa Lunt on the plaque

Chance Mackay's farewell