Hey family!
Well I will try to update you what happen the past two weeks. Sorry if I am all over the place, or if I don't make some things really clear, because I usually have my planner where I take notes through out the week so I don't forget since I have a terrible memory.
Well last week I was on exchanges with Elder Blakeman (who is going home tomorrow since he is finished) and we taught a lesson to Juan and it was an awesome lesson, the spirit was really strong there. Then on Sunday last week we had a member come out with us whose name is Brandon Martin. This guy is so cool, he is 20 if i remember correctly, and after he is done with his semester at college he is going to turn in his mission papers. He loves to come out with us and we love to have him, but we feel really bad for him because we usually end up tracting or trying LA's that never answer the door. But Brandon has such a great spirit about him that he always learns something new when he comes out with us and he is always teaching me even though he doesn't know it, so he will be a fantastic missionary! Later that night we had a lesson with Juan at the Ita's house (awesome family -they are Samoan and Sister Ita is actually related to Elder Hill talk about crazy!) But the testimonies Brother and Sister Ita gave were so awesome, it built up my testimony just hearing them, it was great. Well that's all I can really remember from last week sorry.
Well we got new training from our Zone Leaders about Church Tours (This new training is inspired from the Washington Tacoma mission. Before they did church tours, their mission was getting only about 200 baptisms a year but when they put the church tours into practice, they got 500 baptisms, and continued in the years after to get that number, so now our mission is doing it.) But the point of the church tours is to get investigators or potentials to go to a dedicated building, show them what we do at church on Sundays so the can become comfortable with it and also to meet a member of the congregation which will invite them to sit with them at church and also provide transportation if needed. We then end the tour at the baptismal font, where we teach the first lesson with them facing the baptismal font, and then we can give them a soft baptismal commitment. On Wednesday and I was really excited to try out the Church Tour and later that night we practiced doing the tour with Brandon Martin who is now one of our "minute men" (which means that he is someone who we can call at anytime when we come across someone who is interested in doing the tour). Then the next day on Thursday, we did the tour with a member and one of our investigators Rolanda. The spirit was so strong as we went through the foyer and then the chapel, talking about the sacrament. Then we took her to the baptismal font and had their chair's facing the baptismal font and we talked about what happens when she will be baptized. We then we did the first lesson on The Restoration and we gave her a baptismal date for March 26th. Rolanda loved the Church tour and you could definitely could tell a difference by having a lesson at the chapel rather than at the investigator's house. We had immediate success with the new church tours and can't wait to use them more often.
Then during the week we did tracting of course, but one interesting person answered the door and we talked for a little bit and he says that all the prophets in the bible are black and that Jesus isn't the Savior of the world but some man that was born in Oklahoma named (and I don't know how to spell this but i will take a shot at it) Yaway Been Yaway so I was like "whaaaaaaaa?" But pretty interesting fella.
Then this week we also had lessons with Juan along with awesome members named Laura and Tiana. We always have a fun and of course good lesson when we have Juan, Laura, and Tiana they are the bomb! (A little shout out to my homies because they read the blog) Oh also this week I saw a Chuckie Cheese mascot doing the Jerk! And I was like "Elder Hill we gotta stop I want to do the Jerk with him!" But of course Elder Hill said "no" but, oh well. I bet people would have wondered why a missionary is Jerkin with a Chuckie Cheese mascot, that would have been quite a sight!
Then on Saturday night we got transfer calls and Elder Hill is getting transferred down the street to the Wheatstone ward which is in the Cypress Stake and I am staying here in Bear Creek where my new companion is going to be Elder Simpson, who is also from Idaho. So after this transfer I would have been in the Bear Creek ward for 8 1/2 months which is 6 transfers. I am worried that I might get stuck here for another couple of months and end up being in Bear Creek for a 1 year, which is half of my mission! That would be crazy! Well that is all I got for ya! Hope all is well with y'all peace!
