I glory in plainness

Oh boy! This week was very bitter sweet. Transfer calls happened and I'm leaving Orange Park after 6 months. My new area is Interlachen which is right next to palatka so it's gonna be some familiar territory. I also know my new companion Elder Bishop really well so that's good! I'm definitely going to miss Orange Park a lot but it's also been a while so it's very bitter sweet. In excited for the new opportunity and experiences ahead! 

This week though was very good! We had 2 of our baptismal dates drop but we didn't let that discourage us! We found some great people who have definitely been prepared! Sadly I won't be able to teach then and help them progress but I'm excited to hear how everything goes with them. Our only baptismal date now is Toni and we had a fantastic lesson with her this week! We brought sister Watchman and she is such a great member missionary! Jer and Toni became best friends right away and she even gave her a ride to and from church and took her to relief society! Toni loved church and said she hasn't felt a spirit like she felt here at any of the other church she has gone to. She really loved it and is excited to come back!

We also had a ward chili cook off this week and we were the judges so that was really fun trying a bunch of different types of chili. They were all super good but one of them blew me away! Its was super good! It had some sliced sausage in it and some kick to it and oh man it was tasty!

That's pretty much everything that happened this week! I love you all and hope everyone has a great week! Keep on keepin on!

Hey everyone! This week has been an amazing week! Sorry I didn't write last week! Last week we set a baptismal date with a couple named Toni and Austin for May 18th! We are very excited for them! They are still in the process of moving over here so we haven't been able to se them in about a week but we will definitely see them this week.

This last week we went on exchanges with the Assistants to the Mission President and it was really good! It was just for a few hours but we saw a ton of miracles when we went out! Just on our bike ride to a complex 2 miles away we talked to a ton of people! There are never that many people to talk to when we bike down there but there were a ton that day and most of them were interested! One of them we even committed to be baptized but not on a specific date yet! It was a great miracle filled day!

We also had interviews with our mission president this week which were really good! It was my second to last interview with President Lee sadly. Next transfer is his last transfer. He's definitely going to be missed.

Easter was amazing as well! It was probably the most spiritual Easter of my entire life. There were some amazing talks given in church about the Atonement of course and some very touching stories and experiences shared. Then Sunday school was all about the atonement as well and was very spiritual. The whole day was very spiritual and very focused on and centered around our Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. There was a quote that was in my head a good part of the day. It's by Tad R. Callister who is a former member of the Quorum of the Seventy and was the Sunday school General President. It's from his book called The Infinite Atonement and it really makes me think and really ponder Christ's sacrifice for us and how truly unfathomable it is. 

He says “What weight is thrown on the scales of pain when calculating the hurt of innumerable patients in countless hospitals? Now, add to that the loneliness of the elderly who are forgotten in the rest homes of society, desperately yearning for a card, a visit, a call—just some recognition from the outside world. Keep on adding the hurt of hungry children, the suffering caused by famine, drought, and pestilence. Pile on the heartache of parents who tearfully plead on a daily basis for a wayward son or daughter to come back home. Factor in the trauma of every divorce and the tragedy of every abortion. Add the remorse that comes with each child lost in the dawn of life, each spouse taken in the prime of marriage. Compound that with the misery of overflowing prisons, bulging halfway houses and institutions for the mentally disadvantaged. Multiply all this by century after century of history, and creation after creation without end. Such is but an awful glimpse of the Savior’s load. Who can bear such a burden or scale such a mountain as this? No one, absolutely no one, save Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of us all”

Jesus Christ is there for us even in the most lonely of times and whe  we feel most forgotten. He has felt it all from the smallest of pain the most excruciating. He is there to comfort us when we are alone and weak and build us up so we can move passed out trials and hardships and become the sons and daughters of God that we are destined to become. I'm always reminded of a scripture whenever I think if the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. John 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I love you all so much and am grateful for all of the love and support from you all! Keep on keepin on!

Fluffy Cats!

Hello! This week had its ups and downs. Jeane has had a few problems arise this week. Her main problem right now is she is getting kicked out of her apartment because she is late on her payments because her daughter kept stealing money from her and she came to the church for money and we told her the church can't help with that stuff so she got a bit offended...so we are hoping she gets through it all and finds a way to pay it all off. Please pray for her!

We had a fantastic week for finding new people this week though! We received a referral for a family of five from the timaquana Elders so we are excited about that. So far we have not been able to have too much contact with them because they are a bit busy but we are very focused on meeting with them this week. We also found some other wonderful people this week and had a great last minute miracle Sunday night! We found a young couple in this apartment complex and taught them the Restoration. The spirit was very strong and she was getting a bit emotional during it so we know they were definitely feeling the spirit. We asked them what it would mean to them to have Christ's original church on the Earth again and they said it would mean a lot to them a would really help them in their lives. They are super excited to have us come back this week and teach them more!

I love you all and hope you all enjoyed General Conference I don't know which one was my favorite but as always Elder Holland and Elder Bednar stood out to me! President Nelson gave a very good one in priesthood session too! Conference is too good! Love y'all! 

BANG!

Oh boy! This week has been great! Mainly with Elder Stevens and I working out in the mornings! We've been going super hard! We get up and take some pre-workout then we go to the gym and get huge! Its been fun and this morning we did it with the other elders. They came over in the morning and we had a good gym time. I also tried this energy drink called bang thats why my title is that. Its super good but I aint a fan of energy drinks so probably my last time trying it.

This week though we found a lot of new people to teach so hopefully we can be able to get some of them in church and on date for baptism this week! I'm super excited for general conference as well! Our mission made some flyers so we've been handing them out to people and a lot of people are very interested in watching! General Conference is always exciting especially with President Nelson because hes always got something up his sleeve! Im excited to see what new thing there is this year!

We had some great lessons this week with Terry. He's still searching for an answer but he's been really happy and upbeat every time we come over so something's going well. He finally got his tooth out too so that's good! We also had a few lessons with Jeane this week and we will habe to push her baptismal date back a few weeks because she wasn't able to come to church for some reason. She also has a smoking habit that she is trying to stop so hopefully she can. She didn't come to church but still fasted with us so we are hoping that will help her. She still has a strong desire to get baptized but now she knows it's not going to be as easy as she thought. The adversary is always doing his best to make sure great things like baptism don't happen. She knows that and is doing her best to prepare herself. Please pray for her and Terry!

That's pretty much all that happened this week! Have a great week everybody! Love you!