Final weeks in Yerington

Mon Feb 6 2017

We started P-Day off by going and emailing which was good. We then went and cleaned out and washed our car. We then drove up to Fallon. We met at the church and carpooled over to a dairy. We got to do a hay maze and that was pretty intense. We then toured the dairy where we milked cows and saw baby cows born that day. We then went and played some games at the church. We drove back and showered and tried to visit some people.

Tue Feb 7 2017

We had District Meeting of course and that was pretty good. It was on studies again. After the meeting we went over to Fernley to start our exchange. I am with Elder Smith and Elder Soto up here in Fernley. We stopped by this less active guys house to drop off a map and share a spiritual thought. We had a lesson with a less active member about the power and importance of faith. We then taught Rick the end of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been a good day!

Thu Feb 9 2017

Today has been really good. Elder Gurr was regular sick, but he pushed through and we had a good day. We went to the Greenhouse and had a good time helping out there. We have been listening to some Hank Smith talks and that has been great. For one, they are funny, and two, they are motivational. I think we have had some real bonding listening to those talks. We listened to one last night before bed and we listened to half of one this morning. We finished it up at lunch. We then had Weekly Planning which was good. We are getting faster. We again had a really good companionship inventory. We talked about what Elder Gurr is stressing about now and it’s about me leaving and him taking over the area. This was good in my mind, it’s a problem focused on the now and one I could really relate to. I felt prompted to not tell him what I thought but to roleplay it and have the spirit work on him. I pretended to be a person with a lot of questions about the plan of salvation and I showed him how to apply the concepts into his mission. It was really good and I felt really close to him again. We then went out and took a survey in preperation for a mission tour in April.

Sat Feb 11 2017

Today was pretty interesting. I woke up at 6 this morning to get ready so that I could still have my full hour of study. After study and planning and whatnot we headed up to Fallon for interviews. President said that I will be transferred, so now it’s official. We then came back and had a really good lesson with the Jackson family. We read “A Witness of God” by Elder Anderson. Brother Jackson really liked it. We then did lunch and comp study and then headed out. We walked the town and set up a couple of appointments so that was good. We then went and saw the Freemans and set an appointment for… the night after transfers. I told them I was leaving and Karen promised cinnamon bread so I’m 5 pumped for that. We then went to the Christensens for dinner and it was Hawaiian haystacks and I think I haven’t had those since I left to come here so that was pretty cool. We were able to help Brother Christensen bless one of his children and that was really cool, he was really grateful.

Sun Feb 12 2017

Meetings were good, church was good. I especially liked one of the talks about tolerance and having love for all of God’s children. I also really liked the third hour about having a good attitude, it really important that we are always positive.

Mon Feb 13 2017

Today has been real good! We had a great P-Day where we got a lot of good things done. We started the day with studies, of course and that was good. We then went over to the church and emailed, which, guess what, that was good too! We then came back and went ham with the cleaning of our apartment. Our pipes have been clogged for like 3 weeks and I think we got it unclogged today! So mission accomplished on that! We then did haircuts and I think that Elder Gurr is my best mission barber and I think I am getting better at doing the back of his head for him. So that was good because +3 style points. We then napped which was definitely good. I then wrote a letter to Sister Buker and Elder Gurr played with his puzzle. I’m glad he likes puzzles. We then sent the letter and he sent some of his Christmas stuff home. We bought McDonald's and ate that at the apartment and had a Bible Video movie marathon! That was really cool! We then headed out and saw the Bryants and this was probably the last in mission time that I will see them. That was pretty sad, but I know they are going to do great progressing in the Gospel! We then walked and tried to set some stuff up but no one was home. We then went and did the BoMI with the Christensen family and that was good! They were pretty excited to do it! I can see now how the BoMI and how active member lessons can increase member trust! Now we are here. Oh! And super cool miracle! Gale Jacobson texted us back! We have an appointment with her tomorrow! We are super excited for that!

Tue Feb 14 2017

Happy Valentine’s Day! Or in other words, happy half birthday eve! Jk. It’s been a super awesome day. We had District Meeting and that was good. The topic of it was still studies, this time with a focus on answering people's questions. The Fernley Elders also made like over 100 cookies and so we ate those with lunch and that was cool. We then came back and went to teach Gale! It was kind of a stressful lesson because we brought Brother Rowley and he talked the whole time and we didn’t get to teach. He also went way too deep so that was no bueno.. We then went to Jim Button and that lesson was quite miraculous. He had a realization that he needed to repent. That was pretty cool to see and we testified that he could repent, and that all things are possible through Christ’s Atonement. We then went to dinner with the Hunt’s and had fondue and it was super good. We then did the BoMI with the Jackson’s and that was pretty good. We then went to Silver Springs to start exchanges so now I am here with Elder Bentti. It will be another good day tomorrow as it has been today!

Wed Feb 15 2017

Today has been pretty good! We had studies and a big breakfast, we always do some intense breakfast on exchanges. We then went to the Greenhouse and did some service there. It was pretty good. We then came back and did lunch and then we did Companionship study and Language study. We then went out to Smith valley and tried to see everyone. We only saw the Smith family, and they were good. We followed up on the Book of Mormon with Brother Smith and he is still reading it so that is awesome! We left from there and we were going to try a family far to the south when we got a call from Sister Tate in the ward. She said that Brother Adams, a older sick man that lives with her needed a blessing. During studies I had read about Alma and Amulek IMMEDIATELY going and healing Zeezrom when he asked for it. We decided to do that and immediately go. We got there and I felt like I should do the anointing so I did. Elder Bentti then gave the blessing and he felt like Brother Adam's life was up. He was scared to say he would die but he worded it in a way that the blessing would make sense if he lived or died. It was a very spiritual experience. It is amazing how important that when we get a prompting that we immediately go and do as the Lord commands us, through the Holy Ghost!

Fri Feb 17 2017

Today has been kind of weird. We started off with a good morning, my personal schedule allotted me a lot of extra time and that was cool. Brother Rowley called during studies to ask to change coordination to 1. So we went and worked at the Greenhouse and today we got rid of useless, broken, and drawn in books. They had one book, for example called how to use a small computer from the 80’s and the “small computer” was almost as big as my desk. We then came back to the house to have lunch. After that, we went over to the church and made our copies and by then we should have had coordination but Brother Rowley was half an hour late. The meeting itself was good, nice and fast. We then came back to do companionship study and 12 weeks. After we had planned to go to Susan but we decided to call first. She talked for about and hour and during that the Cirones, who we had dinner with today, called three times. After Susan hung up we called them and rushed over for dinner, which was good. We then came back. Our lessons for the night had cancelled and Elder Gurr is starting to stress again so we walked around town, trying to set up appointments, but no one was there. We then came back and did language study.

Sat Feb 18 2017

So today has been pretty interesting. A good interesting for sure. We started off with all the good ol’ morning stuff. We had a lesson with Eric Soto set for 3 today where we would be reading 1 Nephi 11 and 12. In my second copy of the Book of Mormon, my leather one, I was in 1 Nephi 3 so after I did reading in my other copy and some stuff in Preach My Gospel I went ham reading my leather copy. I was adding all the tabs but still reading fast, I thought. I only got through 1 Nephi 8 but that was still good. I definitely “feasted” on the words of Christ. We then left to go see Susan, but she wasn’t home. We then went to try Janna who was eating breakfast or something. So we went to try the Thompsons. They are definitely warming up to us! We left feeling good and smelling like cigarettes.. :P Then we headed up to see the Nish family who is going down to Texas next week. We shared part of Lehi’s dream and talked about holding fast to the rod. We got out of there “behind schedule” so we went to go do lunch and all of the rest of our studies. Oh, and also Eric Soto cancelled again. By the time we finished studies we had time to change, grab some handouts and go to Schurz for their missionary open house. The branch over there is like 5 cute. We got there and no one really showed up for the first hour. President and Sister Chesnut showed up about a half hour late, they got super lost. We stood at the door, waiting for people to come and then we decided that we could check out the other rooms to see what they had set up. When we were in the primary room, President came in and said basically that I was leaving and asked us if we were both prepared for that. He then pulled me out and called me to be District Leader…. Gulp. I don’t think that has sunk in yet all the way, but it will. Probably when I am giving my first district training… Yep. That was cool though, I am excited to have another way to learn and grow and to serve my fellow missionaries. After that, it seemed like no one was showing up so we did the talks portion of the program anyways. They called us up to speak and thank goodness I studied 1 Nephi 8 this morning. I used that and talked about how converts will be rooted in the Gospel when they have a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. It was good and I can tell that my talking in front of everyone skills are developing, even though I still sweat buckets. President and Sister Chesnut spoke as well and that was super good. After the talks an investigator family showed up! We introduced ourselves to them and that was super cool! After that, people started leaving and we stayed and talked to the members for a bit and now we are back here! This next transfer will be one of growth!

Sun Feb 19 2017

So today has been pretty good. I was trying to keep my leaving on the DL (down low), but that didn’t work out too well… In PEC this morning Brother Rowley announced it, and then he did again in Gospel principles, and then Brother Boxley announced it in Elder’s Quorum. So yeah, so much for slipping away without anyone seeing me. Classes and sacrament meeting were good. What stood out was just saying goodbye to everyone. I said goodbye to Brother Rowley and that was way sadder than I expected. We did the BoMI with the Boxleys after church and we talked about how I am leaving and they said they would miss me. Brother Boxley said the closing prayer and got super teary when he prayed for us. We all got pretty teary. Boy am I going to miss it here. After church we did lunch and companion study which was pretty good. I taught Elder Gurr how to teach the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation together and that was pretty cool. We then went out to Susan’s who wasn’t there but we dropped off a large print copy of the Book of Mormon. We then came back and walked around, trying to set up appointments. We do that a lot, it helps Elder Gurr not stress and he sure was today, enough to where he was starting to get sick. So yeah, today was mitigation… At least I think that is the right word. We had a good dinner with the Christensen family, the parents of Brother Christensen. We talked about the scriptures which was 5 cool. We then went up north to try peeps, no one was there, so we came back and did 12 weeks and Language study. Language study was regular, but 12 weeks was good. We did the self assessment and reviewed all of Chapter 1 in Preach My Gospel. I thought it was pretty good, all really just to assure Elder Gurr that he is a successful missionary. Now he is done with training and that’s pretty cray cray. Now we await transfer calls >.< *butterflies* Ohh! And one miracle was that Jim Button came to church and we had given him Pero and now he has given up coffee! That was so cool to see! He says he is getting more Pero and throwing out his coffee! What a miracle!

I just got called to Gardnerville! It will be pretty interesting to go and serve there! My new companion is Elder Jones, he came out with Elder Gurr so it will be cool to see what these next transfers hold!

Stress and Refiner's Fires, Better, & Getting Better!

Jan 16 - Jan 22- Another great week, though filled with plenty of stress and refiner's fires. Here are a few of the highlights-

Tue Jan 17 2017

Today….Was intense to say the least. We started the day with a little personal study which was good and I studied about church tours to refresh my memory on that. We then had to leave at like 8:40 and that was weird. We had to go to District Meeting early because of the new schedule changes. We were getting ready to start talking about the changes when President walks in. That equals intensity intensifying. We then talked about the changes and they are pretty intense to say the least. From the time we get up to 10 o’clock it is up to us what we do to prepare ourselves for the day. Like, if we want to take a long time to take a breakfast or take a long study. So yeah, they want all of us outside at 10 AM every day. I guess its going to help with missionaries who have depression and stress and stuff. After that, we had District Meeting and it was really good! President came to that too and we talked about casual and exact obedience and it was a really good check for me to make sure I was doing all I could to be obedient. We came back and had a church tour with Jim Button and Brother Rogers and that was good. Brother Rogers basically took lead and that was good because I think it helped their friendship grow more.

Oh yeah, also, when we got back to the apartment a drunk lady waved us down and was saying that she needed Jesus. We were like “Is there something we can do to help you?” And she was like, “If you don’t get on your knees and pray you are Satan’s people” Also, because we smiled we were satanic… So yeah, then she got down and said the Lord’s Prayer. Then the cops got her.

Wed Jan 18 2017

Today has been pretty awesome! We started out the day with the new schedule and that was 5 weird. We did a little bit of exercise and then got ready and chilled for a bit. It was super weird because we did all of that and it was only like 8 and then we made a big breakfast. Still really weird. Then we planned after that. Weird. Then we had personal study at 9. Weird. Then we left and all that. It was so weird because I felt terrible doing all of that and it was a battle of what I have always known and what I now know. It was weird. It really is cool. Yeah, it will get some getting used to but it is what the Lord wants. Elder Gurr and I went over to Mason Valley Residency to give Elizabeth Wellman a blessing. She was in a ton of pain because she fell and broke a leg at age 92. We gave her the blessing and she was so thankful.

Thu Jan 19 2017

8:38 AM

I just had a really cool experience that I wanted to put in. My oil vial popped yesterday and spilled out all my consecrated oil. Today, I decided one of the things I could do “to bring to pass much righteousness” with my time this morning would be to consecrate more oil. I am not the best at consecrating oil because I have only done it twice before. Today I did the prayer but I jumbled through it a bit. I closed the prayer and I was wondering if Heavenly Father had accepted it. As I stood there pondering I felt the spirit wash over me, testifying that that was acceptable. It was a wonderful experience because now I understand more what the scriptures mean when they say the Holy Spirit of promise. It was a wonderful feeling and it really brought that knowing that what I had done was acceptable.

Jan 23 - Jan 29

Mon Jan 23 2017

So today has been really good. It’s the first time that we have done the new extended P-Day and that was pretty good. I think it will be even better when I get to a bigger city again. Then, we stayed in for a bit and then went thrift shopping and I found a tie and some sick flags so it was chill. We emailed and then came back and napped for an hour or so. We then went to dinner with the Iveys. Brother Ivey is the Stake Patriarch and dinner over there is always really good. I especially like dinner there because they are just so missionary minded so conversations are always on point. We committed them to do the Book of Mormon initiative and they were pretty pumped to start that! We then went and tried some people over in Mason and no one was there except the Thompson family. They let us in and we were just trying to set up a dinner or something. We ended up talking to them for quite a while, and it was really neat because we got to talk to Brother Thompson. He never comes out, he usually stays in the back room. This time and he came out and actually talked to us about his work which was really cool. He watches the acid ponds here and is de-aciding them. That was cool to find out.

Wed Jan 25 2017

Today has been pretty good. We had exchanges and we also had a worldwide missionary broadcast and that was super cool. We saw most of what they talked about coming like the new schedule that we are already using. That was pretty cool. We had a good day down in Silver Springs, and a couple of good lessons. I decided today that I would rather live in Sun Valley than Silver Springs, it’s pretty ghetto. Anyways, the whole day was kind of weird because it felt like I was a junior companion in a new area and I haven’t felt like that in a while. It was also super weird to try to be switching off with a trio again. It was still a super good day, Elder Smith, Soto, and I all bonded really well and Elder Smith planned more of the 2k18 summer trip. It was pretty good and now I am down in Yerington again!

Thu Jan 26 2017

Today has been really good! We went over to the Greenhouse and went ham sorting the books and they are looking better and better. It was funny because there was a ton of JW’s (Jehovah's Witness's) there. It was cool because we were all doing what we could to help and serve as the Master served.

Fri Jan 27 2017

That lady that came up to Elder Bentti and I last week and said that we are going to hell knocked on our door today. She needed help activating her phone and she was really nice now that she wasn’t drunk! That was a cool little miracle!

Sat Jan 28 2017

Today has been awesome! We got to go see Susan, first thing in the morning and she was really happy to see us. We stacked her firewood for 3 hours and got a nice big pile. We had a pretty cool experience. We were going to do a lesson with her but then I realized that it would be super awkward and forced, so we decided to invite her to church, because that felt better, more right. She was super excited when we invited her! We got a ride all set up and everything and she is coming tomorrow! I set a goal on Thursday that I would exercise portion control and so since then, everyone gives us tons of treats! -_- I don’t know if I am happy or sad…..

Sun Jan 29 2017

Today has been sooo good! We had church and studies in the morning. Susan came to church! So did Sister Bryant! Also, we had 8 investigators at church! That was sooo cool! It was sooo great to see them all there!

Jan 30 - Feb 5

Mon Jan 30 2017

So today has really been good! We had an interesting P-day to say the least… We had planned to leave to Fallon at 10 to go to racquetball and we were like 5 pumped for that. We went over to the church to email and I forgot all my pictures and stuff and was like 5 bummed about that. We got a call from the Zone Leaders saying we were banned from doing racquetball… forever…. We call Sister Cliften and Nathan Johnson to let them know and they were super bummed too. We decided we would hike Wilson Canyon at 11. We show up and Sister Cliften still is super bummed and doesn’t want to even do the hike. Nathan said he knew about some arch down at the bottom of the valley that we could try. We all decided to do that instead. We drove like 10 miles south past the last home in the valley. We eventually found the arch. It wasn’t that bad of a hike, super short, super steep. We got up there and took pics which was sweet but Elder Gurr and I hiked to the summit. Tough is the word for that part. It was steep and snowy and wet, and I had running shoes on. Not the best for snow. Anyway, I also haven’t used a lot of hiking muscles, I usually use my preaching muscles. We get up there and it was cool for a lot of reasons. One, it was just so peaceful up there, there is something special about feeling the spirit at the top of a mountain. The snow made it so silent, talk about truly being out of the world. It was also really cool because we could see both Smith and Mason valleys… at the same time. That was cool, and it was fun sliding down as well. When we got to the bottom, we hiked along a riverbed and saw a frozen waterfall. All this hiking in frozen/snowy/muddy terrain reminded me of home and that was pretty funny.

Wed Feb 1 2017

Today has been pretty good. We are currently on exchanges. Elder Bentti is down here with me and it is pretty sweet. Also, I got my bag and it is pretty sweet. It is super big so more room for more stuffs! We had a pretty good lesson with Jim Button. We talked a lot about prayer and he liked that a lot. He still is pretty non committal about coming to church still. He was very happy to see us. We then went to see the Funks and we got to see Sister Funk. She gave us a cake and we talked about a trial they are going through with one of their workers. We talked about fasting and prayer and that was good. That’s about it besides I saw a porcupine.

Thu Feb 2 2017

Today has been pretty good! We had the end of our exchanges and that was pretty good. Elder Bentti has a point, a 24 hour exchange in Yerington is kind of useless. We don’t get that much done because of all the travel we have to do so that’s weird. We were doing our morning stuff and all and for studies Elder Bentti decided to rearrange/clean Elder Gurr’s desk. We then had to go and drive up to Fernley to end exchanges. I felt all depressed on the ride home and I don’t know why and it was pretty weird. We then weekly planned and got that done. We had another really good companionship inventory just about helping Elder Gurr cope and that was great. I felt really close to him after that. We then went to the Bryant’s house for dinner and a lesson. Brother Ehly’s car was there and I was pretty confused and then it clicked that Brother Ehly was their new home teacher! We were pretty excited about that. We had french toast for dinner and it was awesome. After that, Brother Ehly got to know them better and by then it was time to leave. We went over to the church to print out copies of the weekly planning for this week and then we came back here to do language study. Today has been awesome!

Fri Feb 3 2017

Today has been pretty good. We had to basically get up and go to Zone Conference. When we got there our zone was there, but the Carson City zone wasn’t there yet and that was kind of weird. They showed up kind of late. The conference itself was good (see notes). It was cool to see Elder Franco and Elder Abbott and talk with them. We went over and saw Gail Jacobson, she was a referral from Brother Bohner. She has been feeling like she should investigate the church for 5 years now and now she is starting. She literally said to us “I’m interested”. That does not happen. That was so cool! We then went and tried knocking on a couple less actives door’s and no one was home. We then went  to the Cliftens and picked up some dessert and then we went to the church to have a little dinner. Then we came home and did our studies. It has been a great day!

Sat Feb 4 2017

Today has been pretty good. We had coordination in the morning and we gave a typed copy of our weekly planning to Brother Rowley and he kind of fan-girled about that. That was funny. He also signed up to feed us again today. We then went up to the Landa’s house for a quick lunch and the Book of Mormon Initiative. That was really awesome, they were the first family that had someone in mind and it was really cool to see the drive that came from that. We then left and went to Smith Valley. There, we ended up seeing the Funks and Brother Schofield. We saw him first, he was making a couple of doors outside and we talked for a bit. We haven’t been able to see them in about 2 months so it was good to invite him to church. He says he feels so sad he wants to cry in there and that he feels really lonely. It was good in a way to find that out so hopefully we can help him come back now. We saw the Funks and set up an appointment with them. We then went over to pizza with the Rowleys and that was good. It is hard to portion control with pizza.

Recovering (Jan 16, 2017)

Journal

Mon Jan 9 2017

We finished up P-Day and I realized that I should of taken a nap… Luckily I made it down to Smith Valley. We had a great dinner with the Funks with venison meat in the spaghetti. The Funks were so awesome! Sister Funk had a lot of great questions about if she would have a calling and what we do in temple. It was great because it led right into our lesson with them! She said something that was awesome, she said that she wanted to know what happens in the temple “Because that’s my next goal right?” Right Sister Funk, we were so excited to hear that! We had a wonderful conversation about the temple and they understood and accepted it all really well!

We found this cool flag while serving at the Greenhouse (the thrift store).  We later found it was a shower curtain... It smelled like soap!

Tue Jan 10 2017

At about 6p, we headed over to the Bryant’s house for dinner and a lesson. We got there and in their own words “The house was trashed” So we ended up going to a sports restaurant. It was pretty good and it was fun to catch up because we really haven’t seen them in about a month so we got to ask about their Christmas and New Years. They have been doing good! They wanted to just do the lesson there so we ended up teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ right there. They really really liked it! We set them with the 11th of February as their baptismal date. They were all pretty nervous but we reassured them they would be ready. We gave Isaiah a Book of Mormon and committed him and Aubrey to read it. Sister Bryant had some questions about what she was reading and they all committed to come to church! We are so excited for them to continue to learn and grow!

Wed Jan 11 2017

We did our lesson with Bruce but Sister Cliften was sick so we couldn’t have it there so we did it at the church. I would say that lesson was our miracle today. I focused on really listening to him and I think that helped a lot. We had a great discussion about the prophets and dispensations and we really focused on checking for understanding. Because we did that I think he really understood. I would rather teach half a point a lesson and have them understand it than teach them a full lesson. After the lesson with Bruce Elder Gurr’s headache had increased so we came back so he could rest. I finished the book of Mark so that was pretty cool. Then we went to dinner with the Youngs and they told some cool stories that they had heard about the temple. Then we came back because our two appointments cancelled and Elder Gurr still feels like crap. I’m sooo hoping he feels better tomorrow!

Thu Jan 12 2017

I’ve decided that I hate being cooped up inside. Elder Gurr is feeling like crap again and so I just sit here, reading. I wish we could be out, even if it dropped a couple of inches of snow. Actually, that makes it easier to meet new people by offering service. Anyways, I’m just bored and I feel terrible that Elder Gurr feels terrible. I want him to get better, but I just don’t know what to do. :(

Fri Jan 13 2017

Today has been a lot better! Elder Gurr was feeling better and he pushed himself so we actually stayed out and proselyted most of the day! We did our morning studies and 12 weeks and he seemed as sick as usual but more determined. After that we had lunch and weekly planning, led by him, and he did a great job! One of the things that stuck out from planning was when we were planning the lesson to have with Jim Button. Neither of us really knew what we needed to teach him to help him come to church, we knew he was uncomfortable, but we didn’t know what to teach to help him. I decided that we needed to pray. When we had said the prayer we looked up and we both felt like we needed to do a church tour. It was a strange thought for me because I have always used church tours to help people to come to church for the first time, but we decided to follow the prompting. After planning, we decided to go and visit Jim and invite him to church and to do a church tour with us on Tuesday. At first, he seemed pretty hesitant but then he seemed to get pretty excited about it and that was really cool to see! After that, it seemed like Elder Gurr had hit his limit so we came back to the house and he rested for another 50 minutes of so. We then went to dinner at the Thompson families house. They are a nice Part-Member family that are really nice to us. They had dinner all made and told us we were in a second home there, that was pretty cool. We got to know them better and to understand where they are coming from.

Sat Jan 14 2017

Today was 7 awesome… Out of 5. We had our regular studies and that was pretty good, we did a pretty fun street contacting role play. After Companion and Personal studies we left and tried to visit some potentials around our house and then we came back for a lunch and Elder Gurr rest break. Then we drove up to Reno for the mission wide conference with Elder Christofferson. #MissionHistory. Literally this was the first time in the history of our mission where the whole mission has been in one place. East Side came to the West Side and this is literally the first time that that has happened. It was really cool to see friends from all over that I haven’t seen in half a year. So that in of itself was awesome. The best part of course was the meeting itself. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. We were told to arrive at 1:30, a half-hour before the actual meeting started and so we sung hymns as a mission and that was so cool, the spirit was so strong. Then, Elder Christofferson walks in and the spirit felt even stronger. We all kept standing as we sung the last verse of I know my Redeemer Lives and that was so amazing. We then had the Chestnuts bear their testimonies and that was amazing. After that, Elder Larkin bore powerful testimony of the power of being on God’s side and that was amazing. Elder Pearson then spoke about giving our all on our missions and in doing that we can prove to ourselves what our true capacity is. That was so awesome. After that, Elder Christofferson spoke. He didn’t really have a topic, he answered our questions. It was really amazing, a lot of the questions centered around how do we become as spiritual, or as consecrated, or have faith like him, and what he does to grow it. It was pretty cool because all the things he does to spiritually grow are the simple things the scriptures tell us to do, same as we should be doing. It really was a wonderful thing because what he said was directed directly at us and he was such an example of following the spirit, you could tell that that was what he was doing the whole time. I felt so inspired to always make sure everything I did was devoting myself to the Lord. It was such an awesome experience.

Sun Jan 15 2017

Today was pretty good! Elder Gurr made it thought the whole day! We had a wonderful sacrament meeting, the sacrament, of course, was great, and the talks were great. Brother Darrington spoke about potatoes and how we are all potatoes. True story. All potatoes have differences and different talents that are all needed in the gospel. We went up to the Nish’s and saw them and they were so happy to see us again. When we left we asked if there was anything we could do for them and they said “Come back!” That was touching, knowing that we are wanted back, it is always nice to know. We also saw Brother Rusk and same thing with him, he was happy to see us and expressed that and told us to come back. We then had dinner with the Cliftens and that was great, they were having a slight argument, so they were extra sassy today. That was pretty funny. After that, we came back and had studies and planned and updated records and all that jazz. So yeah! This week has been pretty good and the next will be even better!

Senators & Seals, Funks Baptized!, & Floodito

Senators & Seals-  Dec 19-25 2016

  

Mon Dec 19 2016                 

So I just got this AlphaSmart in the mail (An Alpha Smart is a word processor- think one step above a typewriter, but below a computer. It's the most techy gadget he is currently allowed.). I just finished emailing and we get back and there is a package on the doorstep. I check it out and it is for me...From someone in South Carolina… so I open it, half expecting drugs or a bomb or something and it is the AlphaSmart I asked Mom for for Christmas.. Oops. I decided this year that whatever was wrapped I would save till Christmas day, this is not wrapped so I will start journaling and what not on here. Lol

0.0 I have just done the scariest thing of my life. We are currently cleaning up the apartment and Elder Gurr knows how to cut hair so we did that too. He gave me a pretty sweet haircut, I look kind of like a Marine now! #sweetness! After mine was done and I showered and got ready again, he called me back to do part of the back of his head that he couldn’t see. It was so scary, it wouldn’t be too bad if it were my own head, but doing it to someone else is another story… Now I had to do it again 0.o… It was just as bad this time around…

So we had a super bomb time in Wilson Canyon. We hiked up the first bend and found this super pretty little mini canyon. In the bottom we found this dry riverbed so we started to follow that and we found this unstable rock thing and Elder Gurr was like, we should climb that. There were all sorts of weeds/plants on the way up that were all spiky and the rock face itself was super precarious. We got ⅔ of the way up and we decided to go back down and that was an adventure in of itself, sliding down on our butts. Then we continued down the dry riverbed where we got to Walker River and that was cool, all frozen over and what not. After that, we went back to the car to change and we did that and headed over to the Heller’s house for dinner. That was real good, surprisingly we had the most authentic tacos that I have had in Yerington. We went and saw JC Ward after that and he is doing really well considering that the first time we met him he didn’t have sufficient food for the week. He might be getting some checks soon that will give him a monthly income and that is so good to hear. Now we just need to get him to church! Now the reason this entry is titled Senators and Seals is because in the course of JC Ward telling us some stories, we found out that he had been a Seal and of course, Dean Heller is the senior senator for Nevada.

Tues Dec 20 2016

We are about to start exchanges with Elder Bentti and Elder Soto. I am going with Elder Bentti back down to Yerington. It’s going to be a bomb time. We had District Meetings over in Fallon and that was pretty sweet. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it is our job to help people gain that testimony of it. It was the best one that I have had in a long while in my opinion. Yep, this’ll be a good exchange!

4:35 PM

Yeah… So that exchange lasted for about 10 minutes and then we had to turn around and head back to Fernley. Something went down with one of the elders in the District so Elder Bentti had to take him to the mission office. We had to drive the other two Elders in Fernley to an appointment there and then we rushed back. It has been kind of crazy but we are planning on meeting in Silver Springs tonight to re-start exchanges. Hopefully everything turns out for the best!

Finally Exchanges- We were able to start exchanges and planning. It was a long planning session. We have a really good day ahead of us. We have the Funks and Bruce and Jim Button for lessons tomorrow. As for what we did today, we got back to our area and headed down to Mason for a lesson with the Hunters. They let us in and we were getting ready to read 3 Nephi 11 with them when Brother Hunter got a call from work that they needed him right then. We had to leave then, of course. I have been studying Preach My Gospel chapter 11 a lot recently and so I decided to use what I had learned and right there boldly ask them to come to church. I explained that it would be a special Christmas service in that it is only an hour long. They seemed to really consider coming and that was so exciting to see! We then went up and tried Jim Button but it was already 5:30 and he goes to bed around 6. We are going to try again, of course, and he is always home. We then went to dinner with the Merrill family and that was good, they are a super nice/chill family.

Wed Dec 21 2016

Crrraaazzy Day- So today has been crazy long. Honestly, it has been pretty fun with all the stuff we have had to do. First off, the crazy morning started with Elder Bentti realizing three things: that he had high blood sugar, that his pump had leaked, and that he had no more insulin and that it was all in Fernley. We both showered and got ready and then we drove back up to Fernley to get his Diabetes stuff. When we walked in the look on Elder Soto and Elder Gurr’s was priceless. We grabbed the stuff and then just walked out. Then we got about 15 minutes down the road and realized again that we left the backup stuff there so we turned around and drove back again. We finally got back at 10:30ish and we did our personal and companionship studies. That was all good and then we had some lunch over at Subway™ “Eat Fresh” and that was good except for the fact that everyone was super weirded out by us, but that’s ok. High Schoolers are always weirded out by us because we are “Jesus People” and the workers just seemed angry. We then went over to see Bruce Sanders. We had talked with Cindy Cliften yesterday about meeting with Bruce over at the church but she called and said she had never heard back from Barbara, Bruce’s caretaker/daughter. We went over to Bruce’s house to walk him over to Cindy’s house, but he was all angry with us because he deemed our sweaters useless in the cold. He invited us inside his house for the lesson and that was actually pretty neat, His Son-in-law is a less active so it was good just to be in their home. We read 1 Nephi 10 with him and he liked it a lot. It was an odd day for him because with his Alzheimer's he usually has good and bad days, but today seemed like both. He started out telling stories and what not but when we started reading he seemed really coherent and everything. We committed him to read chapter 11 before church and he seemed pretty gung ho about that. From Bruce’s house we went to Jim Button who we had originally planned on seeing yesterday. He was there and we talked about Jesus the Christ, the book he is going to read next, now that he has read the Standard Works. We were able to talk a bit about church attendance and prayer and how that has blessed his life and how it can continue to do so. It is so amazing to see the change that people make and how they have grown. Jim really has grown so so much since I first met him. After Jim, we got in the car and I asked Elder Bentti what was up because during the lesson he was either angry or upset or sleepy. He said yes, he was super sleepy so we went home and I did language study while he napped. Honestly, it was one of the most fun/productive language studies I have had in awhile. I started to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Spanish and then I realized that probably wasn’t the best idea for the sore throat that I have been developing all week. I read from the Liahona and got some good notes out of that. Then, thinking back to the conversation that Elder Bentti and I had about about different good uses there were for the AlphaSmart he said that sometimes he would just write a talk for his personal study. I decided that was a great idea for my language study. I quickly looked up how to do the different accent marks and away I went, writing a Spanish talk about the Peace of Christ. After language study, we went out to Smith Valley and saw the Smiths. They are doing really good! Both have been reading the Book of Mormon! It was so cool to see what progress they have made in the last month! We then went to the most intense appointment ever. We got to the Funks and had fried tacos which were delicious, of course. They committed very easily and quickly to come to church, wherever they are at, read and pray daily. Sister Funk has still been thinking about baptism a lot and it turns out that they are going down to Las Vegas on the 31st of this year and she wants to get baptized then.. It will be a fun day figuring that out tomorrow. It really has been a good day and I am super tired but we are going to have a super awesome day tomorrow!

Thu Dec 22 2016

Funk Figure Fact- So we were able to start to figure out the whole situation with the Funks. We called President and he said that they could get baptized down in Las Vegas and that is pretty exciting. We also had to text Brother Funk about setting up another lesson for today or tomorrow. We are going over there at 8 tomorrow to teach them a ton. We planned out the rest of the doctrine we need to teach them into three lessons during weekly planning and that was good. It just so happens that what we are going to teach them tomorrow is the biggest chunk that doesn’t go together as well as the other two lessons do, but it’ll be all right. I think they understand that we have a lot to teach in a little bit of time. We did some Weekly Planning in the morning and that was ok. It is definitely necessary of course.

We went out to lunch at El Superior and of course that was delicious. We went over to the Greenhouse and sorted a bunch of stuff. After the Greenhouse, we went over to see Doyle and he is still doing pretty good! We read 3 Nephi 13 and 14 to him and he loves that a lot. It is so great to see how the Book of Mormon can bless people's lives! We went after that to the Nish family’s house to share a thought. I forget if I have talked about them before. He was the oldest active crop duster in the U.S.A. a couple of years ago and now he has heart surgery and all that jazz. We shared Alma 32:41-43 and talked about how it can bless their lives and make them rooted in Christ. They really want the sacrament taken to them and that is a super good sign! Brother Nish gave the closing prayer and that was really cool. He got really choked up as he prayed for our well being and safe and that was super touching. The Spirit was so strong in there and he even got up to say goodbye which he has never done in the past. After leaving there we went to the Bake’s house for a lovely dinner of spaghetti. Eating spaghetti has been kind of weird with Elder Abbot and with Elder Gurr. They both don’t like spaghetti, Elder Gurr likes it more but Elder Abbott would get straight depressed when we had it. It is just weird to me because I love it and I want to be happy when my companion is and sad when he is too. After dinner we came back and did more Weekly Planning and Language Study. It has been a good day!

Fri Dec 23 2016

Funky Funk Lesson- So today was awesome! We had lunch with the Chell family and they took us out to this cheap, super good Mexican restaurant in town. It was really cool to get to know them because they are the only member couple in town that is even close to our age. We had so much food that they sent us home with enough leftovers to have the leftovers for a decently sized dinner! We ate the rest tonight. We did get to have good lesson with the Funks though. We had planned to teach all the commandments to get them super ready for baptism, but they had different questions about Baptism for the Dead and the Holy Ghost so we spent a lot of time talking about that. We talked a lot about following the Prophet and that actually got pretty emotional. I brought up the example of how President Monson announced the Missionary age change and how that had blessed my life. Elder Gurr brought up how he decided to go out at age 19. Josieray asked me how I decided to come out and I told them about my conversion story and that was so close to having me in tears. We followed up on the Word of Wisdom and Sister Funk had had a cup of coffee that morning and that freaked me out a ton. I was freaked out because usually you have to have abstained from the things in the Word of Wisdom for two weeks before baptism. We texted President and told him and luckily he said to go forward with is. So it was a great lesson and we are going back to finish the Commandments on Monday and I am super pumped for that! Also, Sister Funk gave us fancy chocolates and I am thoroughly enjoying those!

Christmas 2K16

The Holiday Entry

So yesterday was pretty crazy. We had a lesson with Eric Soto who is our only Spanish investigator. I was super pumped to teach him because Elder Gurr hasn’t taught in Spanish in the field yet. He was pretty nervous, but it turned out that he wasn’t there and that was pretty disappointing. After that, we went down south of town. Why we did that is because ever since I was with Elder Abbott our goal was to visit every person on the ward list and to have a note by each name. It was a goal that led us to the Funk family so I have high hopes that we will continue to see success with that. We had covered about every part of our area with that method but for some reason we had never visited the people who live south of town. We decided to do that yesterday. We only had success with one family and when I say success I mean we were able to put down the note that they had moved. But I still think it was time well spent because we were doing what we felt prompted to do and if we only were following a prompting and showing the Lord we will follow those when we receive them I think it was time well spent. After that, we went up to dinner at the Hunt’s house. Dinner itself was good, we got to do Christmas Crackers which included a fancy crown that we wore while eating dinner. Afterwards we were able to play some games with them and that was good. The Hunts were one of those families that we saw at church, but didn’t really talk too much but we got to talk with them and get to know them better and that was good. They read the Christmas story as one of their traditions and that was really fun to participate in. After that, we were heading back to the apartment to write in our journals and then go to sleep when we got a call from Elder Bentti saying that he needed his insulin now and that his last bottle was with us from when he grabbed it from Fernley to use while he was here. We ran that up to them and then came back and got gas and by then it was past ten and we just came back and fell asleep. We woke up today and opened Christmas presents and that was fun. I think year by year I appreciate the thought behind the gift more and more and that has really made Christmas more focused on Christ for me. We went to church and that was really special. There was a really special spirit there, like there just was no sort of bad feeling in the church, it was so cool. We went to the Darringtons to Facetime home. I really hadn’t been nervous at all to Facetime, that is, until we were at their house. I couldn’t eat or anything and now I’m not sure why I even was nervous. After some technical difficulties they got me set up and away went my nerves. It almost felt normal to see my family and that was a blessing. It was really cool to be able to talk to them, of course, to see how they have all grown. It helped me see more of how I have grown too, just in how I felt and my reactions to what was going on. Just like I hoped I am changing the areas that need changing and keeping the good parts. Of course, I still have a lot of rough edges that need smoothing, but I think they are coming along. Afterwards we just hung out with the Darringtons and that was cool. One of their sons from Idaho had gotten a drone and it was really cool. After that we had dinner with the Johnson family and that was really good. They gave us a stocking and that was awesome. They were really awesome about following up with people that we have talked about in the past. After that, we came up to Fernley. We had a Devotional where we watched the nativity Bible Videos and then shared our testimonies. Now we are spending the night and we get to email here and shop and go to Fallon for a Zone Activity! Next week is going to be awesome!

DEC 26 2016 - Jan 1 2017

Mon DEC 26 2016

Funks are ready- So today was awesome. We woke up up in Fernley and had a close to regular p-day. We went and emailed after studies and that was a struggle. The emailing itself was fine but the figuring out how to get journal entries off of here was hard. I didn’t even have time to send home pictures because the computers were acting up and I was pretty sad about that. We returned to Yerington after that and had a little dinner in our apartment. Afterwards we went out to Smith Valley to have the last pre-baptism lesson with the Funks. The lesson turned out well! vWe taught Chastity and Tithing and the law of the land and reviewed the baptismal interview questions. They accepted to live everything. It was kind of funny, during chastity Josieray was kind of freaked out and during tithing Sister Funk seemed a bit freaked out. It turned out just fine, we answered their questions and after that they were fine with it all. Ever since they started reading the Book of Mormon daily they have had no problems accepting any commitment we gave them, they even stopped drinking coffee last week so they were excited to receive the Pero we bought for them. They are so ready and they were really prepared to answer the baptismal interview questions! Afterwards we got talking and Brother and Sister Funk thanked us for coming into their lives when we did and if I hadn’t shed all my tears face timing yesterday I would have shed them there. The Spirit was just so strong and I felt their love and appreciation for what we had done. Sister Funk said that the day we showed up they were going through some rough times as a family and that the day we showed up was THE very day that we were needed and when she was ready to accept. It was great to feel and know that I was able to be an instrument in the Lord’s hand and be in the right place and the right time to bless their lives and bring them closer to their Father in Heaven. It has been a great day!

Tue DEC 27 2016

Today has been a good day. We had District Meeting and that was great, we talked about working with our companions in unity and how that can help us. It was pretty good because it touched on some spots I had questions about. When we got home, we had planned to go to the Greenhouse for a bit but they were closed so we just came home and changed and then headed over to Jim Button’s house. We had planned to share some Bible vids with him but I felt prompted to tell him about the Teachings of the Prophets books. He was pretty excited to hear about them. We came back after the lesson and gave him all our extras, six of the books in all and he was so excited to read those! It was another one of those moments in which I felt like I was doing my job! We left and headed to dinner with the Landas. When we got out of the car I noticed that a part of my key chain was missing. After freaking out inside for a bit, I said a little prayer and had an immense feeling of peace during dinner. After dinner, we pulled back up to the house and the first thing I see is my key chain, unharmed on the road. That was a great little blessing for me. We headed back and made some calls to our investigators, just to let them know that they are loved and then we had our language study. It was good, as usual and I can really tell that Elder Gurr’s Spanish is improving, even if he can’t see it yet. We then had daily planning and Elder Gurr did great. He knew what to do and followed the planning guidelines really well. I can see more and more as I stretch him he will come closer and closer to his great potential. It has been a great day and I am excited to see what is in store tomorrow!

Wed DEC 28 2016

It turns out that last night there were a bunch of magnitude 5 earthquakes going on and that was pretty crazy. Pretty crazy that we slept through them. We headed over to teach Bruce Sanders and that was good. It was one of his good days where he was more there. We read 1 Nephi 11 with him and he was pretty confused by what it was talking about. We were able to review the material with him and then he understood it a lot better. We walked over to Doyle Snyder’s house after that and that was pretty good. He let us in and we were able to read with him again. He seems to really enjoy it when we read with him. He is pretty worried about walking to church in the cold but he doesn’t want a ride. I think what we will do different this week is if the thermometer says it is below freezing then we will set up a ride for him. We then waked around a bit more and saw Roger Banta. He is still doing good and it looks like there will be some service opportunities with him in the future. After that, we headed to the church for the Funk’s baptismal interview. It was so exciting to see them take this last step towards the first step. We are so excited for them!

Thu DEC 29 2016

Today has been good. We had good studies in the morning. I really want to get better at studies. I really like that I have been able to get more and more out of the chapters that I read! I just don’t like that I am only able to get through like one chapter of the Book of Mormon, one page of Preach My Gospel, and that’s it. Again, I really liked how much I got out of it. I like the quality, but I want a higher quantity too.

Fri DEC 30 2016

We had a pretty good day despite setbacks.We went over and tried the Nez family and they weren’t there either. We decided to walk around and try to visit people so we did that for about an hour and that was pretty good. No one was out and that was lum. We did have the chance to talk a lot with each other and that is always good. I really like bonding with my companion. We decided that we had better call Susan after that and that took about an hour. It is good to talk to her and just listen because no one listens to her and it helps her feel loved. She expressed her thanks for us and that was really nice. We went over to Mason Valley Residency to see some of the old members. We were able to see Norma Schultz, a really nice older lady who we got to know. She was so happy that we had stopped by!

Sat DEC 31 2016

Today has been pretty good as well but we had no time to be out. We had coordination and that was pretty good. Brother Rowley was pretty excited that the Funks are getting baptized today, as are we. He pointed out that our last two weeks progress records basically had the same names on it. That isn’t all bad to me because the people we have seen in the last two weeks needed to be visited, but he was right in a way. We don’t have enough flow in our area, we need to be more focused on finding, and that was a good gentle reminder that I need to get back in those good habits of always focusing on finding. After that, we walked around and tried to talk to people, but being a holiday, no one was in Yerington. After that, we got to go to this Basque place with the Cliftens a little way outside of town. It was so good and I couldn’t even finish my main course there was so much food. That was good and then we came back to Weekly Plan. We had to be inside today early to plan and stay out of trouble or something. The planning itself was fine, it was a lot faster than usual which was a nice surprise. We took a long time on our companionship inventory. I love companionship inventory because I always feel so close to my companion afterwards. The spirit is always there when we are willing to communicate how we really feel. Good day as usual!

Sun Jan 1 2017

Today was good as well. We had no meetings in the morning so for the first time in a long while we got to actually have personal study on a Sunday. That was pretty sweet. I finished Preach My Gospel again and that was pretty awesome. I am excited to read it again and to go ham with taking notes and getting a ton out of it. We had really good services. We had awesome speakers and for me personally the sacrament was extra special. I just tried to focus on the Savior’s Sacrifice and how I can improve now. It was a pretty great experience for me. Like I said the speakers were great, it was the Allreds and they talked about how to listen to the spirit and how to be receptive to it. Sister Allred used the example of the Wise Men and how they had to be so receptive to do what they did. Brother Allred likened it to Ham Radio and the signals the radios receive. It was really great to hear two very different but great and simple perspectives on how to listen to the spirit. Elder Gurr’s Spanish scriptures are the new ones that they just printed this summer and of course mine are older. There are a lot of words that got changed to better show the meaning of a section so sometimes we have a lot of differing words. There was a ton tonight and it was kind of funny to us because we kept thinking the other was reading wrong. Another Great day!

Floodito! Jan 2 - Jan 8

Mon Jan 2 2017

Today has been pretty good. Proselyting wise, it was pretty short. We had P-Day of course, and that was pretty good. I found a cool sweater at a thrift store and it actually is quite classy. I think it is a bit to un-conservative for the mission because it is not just one color. Idk. Anyways, we emailed and that was pretty good. I thought that having this would make it so i had a lot more time but I really have less than what I did have. That is ok because the quality increases. I just need to figure out something to do while the Neo is typing the whole thing up. After P-Day, we went down to Mason to confirm with the Hunters for our lesson tomorrow. After that we booked it over to the Rowley’s for dinner and that was pretty good. We had spaghetti and pumpkin pie, both things that I think are pretty good but Elder Gurr can’t handle. I felt bad for him because he struggled a bit. Anyways, after that we went out and tried to visit some families east of town. Elder Gurr’s stomach was killing him. We weren’t able to see anyone except Brother Carlgren, who is not even interested in talking to us. We were able to just be friendly and I think he appreciated that. After that we came back and Spanished and that was good too. We both learned a bunch of new words from reading the Book of Mormon. Then we planned. Short, slow, but rewarding day.

Tue Jan 3 2017

Today we had no lessons again and that was pretty sad. We did had something set up with Jim Button and the Hunters but Jim wasn’t back from Silver Springs yet and the Hunters were too tired. They did say that they would give us a call to set up for Sunday, because weekends are better for them. I am pretty hopeful that they will actually call us! District Meeting was awesome too. It was about being the fourth missionary, which basically means the missionary that gives his all to the work and puts the Lord’s will first. I knew that and it was an awesome reminder from my leaders and from the spirit. Something that came to mind was how important it is to have charity for my companion. I need to be making sure his needs are met before my own and it was great to put that into priority in my head. Other than that, we had dinner with the Hibbards at Round Table and that was good, it’s hard to not love a pizza buffet as a 19 year old. We also had some time where we fixed up our records and that was good to prepare the records as of the Lord were to look at them Himself. It has been a very slow day but I feel like I have grown closer to my companion. Elder Gurr has had a terrible headache for the past couple of days and today I focused more on not only being concerned for him but showing it and showing him that I care, In that sense this day has been really good!

Wed Jan 4 2017

Today has been pretty weird. We did our morning stuff like studies and what not. Then we had to go over and get our oil changes but we did get to talk to a couple of Spanish guys and a Less-Active member. That was pretty cool. It was nice to speak Spanish with a native, especially because they were super nice. After that we came back and had lunch. Btw Elder Gurr’s symptoms have persisted and now he has a terrible migraine. He realized when he woke up and his head hurt when he was exposed to light. He’s not a vampire, just a man with a migraine. Anyways, he toughed it out for our lesson with Bruce, which was great by the way. It really was to get him back on track, not only reading with him, but working with him towards the goal of baptism. It was a really good lesson really, we just talked about why he has been coming to church so faithfully for a year. I don’t know if he was all the way there for the whole thing but in the end I think he saw how important baptism really is. He even said himself that it was the gateway, and that was pretty cool. After that, it seemed like Elder Gurr was getting worse so I had him call the Mission Nurse and she said that he should rest up.

Thu Jan 5 2017

This week is slow…. We were inside for studies of course, and then at around ten we got a text from the Zone Leaders saying that President wants us inside until further notice. You see, not only had it rained yesterday, it froze last night and also snowed another 3 inches or so. Yeah. So we weekly planned and ate lunch and we were actually able to finish that up. At around 3 we were still inside doing our to-do list when we got the text that we can leave. After about a half hour of intense ice scraping to our car to make sure it is safe, we headed over to Jim Button’s house and he wasn’t there today. We then went over to Doyle’s, who also wasn’t there. We tried some of the older ladies that lived around there to see if they needed some shoveling done or something. One of them got all concerned because she was worried that she thought she was less active, which she is. She informed us that she was active and seemed a bit freaked out that we stopped by. By that time about an hour had passed and we were beginning to feel pretty unsafe when we got another text saying we should probably head in, and for sure we needed to be in by 6. We had dinner at 6 so we texted dinner to see what they wanted to do. They said to come right then so we did. We had a good stew with the Rempps and that was fun. They told a bunch of stories from their missions together and gave us nutella. That was pretty awesome. After that, we came back and did as much as we still could, do our studies and plan tomorrow like it will be fine. After that we made some planners. Now we are keeping fingers crossed about tomorrow and going to bed! Wish us luck!

Fri Jan 6 2017

Sooo nothing happened today. We didn’t leave the apartment. Elder Gurr has been really sick and so we were inside all day. I did my best to be productive, studying for a couple of hours and cleaning the apartment. We had to cancel dinner so they brought us soup. Sooo yeah, we called some people but other than that, we haven’t really done much. I did get to finish up the Counseling with our Council book and start the Teachings of the Presidents: Gordon B Hinckley and that was pretty awesome. Sooo yeah, I’m 5 hoping Elder Gurr is feeling better tomorrow.

Sat Jan 7 2017

Yet another day inside… Elder Gurr was doing better, we actually did personal and companion studies together! That was awesome after a day of not having it. He decided to give it a go in the morning so we went out and tried to visit Eric Sweeney. By then it was lunch time and he was pooped. He got it together for coordination and after that had to come back and rest. He felt good enough to go to dinner with the Christensens and that was good, except the food hurt his stomach. So we came back and I did my language study and then I cleaned for a bit. I did get to read more of the President Hinckley book and that was really good. I like reading from that because I remember when President Hinckley said some of the things in the book and that is really cool to me. Of course, I may still be stuck inside but we continue to see miracles! Today I decided one productive activity I could do would be to send texts to the numbers in our phone that we didn’t know. From that we got two for sure wrong numbers, one lady who had moved but is willing to meet with the missionaries, and one who said he would come to church tomorrow! ¡Qué Milagro! Also he was Spanish so that’s why I said what a miracle in Spanish. So not much was done proselyting wise, but I am hopeful for the future, especially because Elder Gurr said his goal for tomorrow is to go the whole day! I am pretty excited for that!

Sun Jan 8 2017

Sooo Elder Gurr is getting better.. Slowly but surely. He made it through church and dinner but other than that we were at home so he could rest. I think it is amazing that although we aren’t outside all the time because Elder Gurr needs to rest, we still see miracles daily. Today in Ward Council we announced the Book of Mormon initiative and that was well received. We started today with the Rowleys and they were really excited to start! I’m excited that that went so well and I am excited to see the progress of the work of the whole mission as members take this step!
Also, it flooded in the valley. That was intense.

Don't drink the water in Yerington or eat the icicles!