Another Transfer...But, I'm Staying!

We got transfer calls. My companion is leaving and is going to serve as an AP (Assistant to the President). I'm super excited for him. I knew he was becoming AP by the first two weeks I was with him. He is a super amazing guy. I'm going to miss him a lot. I learned so much from him.

I'm staying zone leader for my last transfer with a new companion. I'm super excited to remain a zone leader. You learn so much.

I'm super excited for this last transfer. Don't worry, I'm not getting trunky. I miss home a lot, but I'm not close to being trunky. I've changed so much this last transfer. It is amazing.

This week has been awesome. We were able to find a new investigator, help investigators progress, and set a baptismal date. We're planning on having 3-5 baptisms this transfer, which I'm excited for.

Exchanges, Instructing, Baptizing,...Busy!

We went on two different exchanges.

• During our first exchange, my companion stayed in our area with a new missionary. I went with the District leader, to another area. We tracted, taught lessons, etc. It was good to learn from him. While we were driving, we got a call from my companion stating they were involved in an accident. Long story short, nothing was damaged. 
• During our second exchange, we drove all the way to mission headquarters to go with the assistants. We met them at the stake center with the sisters serving in our area. The sisters were going to exchange with the "Sister Assistants" (Exactly like Sister Training Leaders, but just have exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders). I went one of the assistants and taught a lot of people. My companion went with the other assistant.

We have been asked to instruct in "Train the Trainer" (pretty much a zone conference with just trainers there), so I prepared an instruction of my own, and my companion prepared one, then we combined them together.

We had two baptismal services this week! At the first baptism, I saw a sister who was baptized in one of my former areas over a year ago. She was there with her significant other. My companion and I talked a lot with her. I also saw a sister of one of my high school friends, since their family has now moved from my hometown to Arkansas. I figured I would most likely see at least one member of their family at the baptism because the Sister Assistants cover their ward. I talked with her for a time. It was great! The second baptism was wonderful as well.





On Sunday, we attended church, then went to dinner.. The dinner was super good. We ate baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, steak, cookies, all of these were supersized. It was delicious. However, we ate a little more than we should of. It was good, though :D.

My new area is a city with lots of traffic. We have a large vehicle, used to carry boxes, missionaries, etc. to and from exchanges with the assistants, or other places. Being a zone leader means you are always busy. The few precious moments we aren't busy, we spend tracting or OTMing, which we have only done about an hour of this past week. It's super fun!

Old Testament Insights...

I have a reading recommendation. You should read the Bible, or the Doctrine and Covenants...or the Pearl of Great Price. All are great books. If you have not read them all the way through. I recommend doing so, especially the Old Testament..

The Old Testament is the most neglected book of scripture, but it is probably one of the most marvelous. It was given by God to us to bring about his work and his glory. It benefits us today. It's Christ-Centered. It reveals many things about his mission here on earth (both in the first and in the second coming...see especially the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so on.). The Old Testament does have a lot missing from it, but if you think about it, it is still super intact despite all it's been through. We still get the account of Adam and Eve, we still see the Abrahamic covenant in there, we even see many prophecies of Joseph Smith and the restoration (see, Isaiah 29, Joel 2:28-32, Malachi, Deuteronomy 30, etc.). In fact, the fulness of the gospel can be found within the Old Testament. It may be very symbolic and very hard to understand, but as you study this, you will find many great things in there. For example, I found a great scripture about temple work in Isaiah 22:20-25.

Transfers went smoothly, My new companion and I left a little later than the other missionaries because we had a couple of things to do at the transfer point. We were extremely busy. We have senior missionaries that worked with us a lot these past four days. We helped them with a baptism.

As Zone Leaders, we also organized exchanges with missionaries in our zone. The Assistants also texted us and told us we're exchanging with them, so we're going to be traveling to the mission headquarters this coming week. We also had to collect indicators from our zone.

During transfers, everybody, including me, was surprised I was called to be a Zone Leader. One of my previous companions, when he heard that I was going to be a Zone Leader, exclaimed "That's my boy!" It was pretty funny.

We have a baptism scheduled for this week. The investigator getting baptized is super cool.

Have a great week! Read the Bible! It'll do wonders.

Transfers Bring a New Responsibility!

Transfer calls came. My companion is staying, and I'm going. It will probably my last area. I really don't want to leave my current area. It's been an amazing area. I'm going to miss it a lot, though I probably will come here again. since I'm going to be in the same zone and I will be serving as a Zone Leader. I'm replacing the Zone Leader who gave the training in the recent Zone Training mentioned last week. My new companion is a cool guy.

Transfer calls were certainly a surprise. I didn't even think I was ever leaving. I had asked the Mission President to stay here for the rest of my mission during last transfers. I thought it would happen and I would either be District leader again, or Trainer for my last two transfers. But, as Isaiah says, that the Lord's thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and his ways than my ways.

We had a guessing game for who would leave and stay. My companion guessed us all right. I was 100% wrong. 'Twas fun. Anyway, this week was awesome. We had two investigators come to church. One was not one of our investigators, but someone from Pennsylvania. She got baptized on Saturday in Pennsylvania :D. The other one came and stayed for a little bit, but had to leave for an emergency. He wants to meet with us on Friday...so I will already be gone to my new area. :p. I'm a little bummed.

The Month of June...The First Week...

FIRST WEEK!  We had zone conference!!!!! It was super cool. We got our cars inspected by a guy who was over all the mission cars in the world. He toured the mission, updating our TiWis (a black box in our car that tells us when we're speeding, turning too fast, etc....keeps us safe. A lot of missionaries don't like it, but I don't care about it. Doesn't talk to me much. Every once in a while it tells me to check my speed, but that's it :j), He also inspected our cars.



Zone Conference was absolutely wonderful. Our mission president's wife talked about the temple, because we're going to the temple this week as a mission. I will get to attend the Oklahoma City Temple. I'm super excited. The elders from a nearby area are riding with us, and I get to be the driver. It's gonna be super crazy. Our mission president's wife also showed a video on Sacrifice because we sacrificed a lot to go on the mission because we don't have an available temple in our mission, so we cannot go all the time. It was cool.

After the zone conference, we drove back to our area to have dinner with an amazing member.

The next day, the traveling assistants had an exchange with us. In our mission, we have two sets of assistants. One has their own area near the mission office. They work very closely with our mission president, and they have a model area that they exchange with different zone leaders in. The other set, which exchanged with us on Saturday, are the traveling assistants. They also work with our mission president, but they don't have an area of their own. They travel around the mission and conduct exchanges with many missionaries. Every 24 hours, they are with a different set of missionaries. They live out of a car. It's super crazy. Anyway, my companion and I split up and went on exchanges with them. I went with one of the "traveling assistants" to a nearby town. We conducted a lesson with an individual, then we tracted. We were able to hand out 5 Books of Mormon (or is it Book of Mormons?) to people. It was awesome. We had dinner at a pizza place with the branch clerk and his family. The chicken alfredo pizza was delicious.

Then the traveling assistants stayed for church. We also had a baptism of an 8-year-old, so we had to fill up a ton of buckets to fill the font....jk, the font fills up on it's own. It looks like a hot tub. The baptism was successful, as baptisms 95% of the time are. We then got in our service clothes, and helped the branch mission leader put a dock in someone's pond.

We had very wonderful lessons with our investigators. Our area is super cool!

As I was reading the Bible, I found a cool Psalm. 65:5-7 :D

News from the Mission!

There's one set of missionaries for every ward...except combined areas, and Springfield YSA....they have two sets.

This past week we had a ward chili cook off. My companion got first place with his mother's recipe, A ward member got second, and the Young Men got third. It was a fun time. At the end of it, we helped clean up, I was talking with a visitor who knows how to play the piano real well...we showed off our skills with each other. It was fun. We even "improv"-ed for each other...don't know how to spell improv as in improv show, or whatever, so...yeah.

On Saturday, we went to a baptism that was three hours away. Sad fact is, that's about how far my closest area is ;(...oh, well. It was a really fun day. We had Hardee's for dinner. On Sunday, we had dinner at the home of one of the families in the ward...It was so funny. I love that family so much.

Our district meeting was awesome. On set of elders didn't show, and neither did the Zone leaders...a third of our district was gone! It was a great meeting, none the less. It marvels me how big our district is. Our district is about as big as one of the zones in our mission.

This and That!

My mission is the last mission to get iPads, I think. My trainer heard that they were getting iPads at the beginning of his mission...well, he's home from his mission now. So, It's been over two years.

We had a mission conference on Monday, December 21.

We had a baptism a couple of Saturdays ago. It was an awesome baptism. I don't have a picture yet, but my companion will email the picture to me sometime. It was really fun. I played the piano for it :D.

We had a zone conference in Springfield. I was able to see some former companions, and a bunch of my other friends in the mission.

I'm totally excited! We have a few solid potentials. :D. The branch president and his family are amazing. We went a-carolin' around the neighborhood, and we gave away a ton of ham to members in the branch.

Amazing Exchange, Baptism and Confirmation!

We've experienced quite a bit lately, including snow, ice, and an amazing exchange.

Last month I went on exchange. We didn't have any appointments set, so we OTMed/tracted all day...not the most effective, but we went into a Kids Resale store. The only person in there was a lady. Music was playing in the background. I recognized the music to be "In the Dark of the Night" in Anastasia, so I told the lady that I knew this song was from Anastasia. She was so excited that I knew what it was because not a lot of people did. We talked about Anastasia for a bit, then about families, then about the church. I completely forgot to take a Book of Mormon with me when I came in, but we were able to give her a #BecauseHeLives card.

Well, 5 days after that happened, I asked another elder about the lady at the store and he told me they had closed. I was not happy about that. I've remembered to take a Book of Mormon with me since that incident.

Two weeks later we got a call from a ward member about a new referral. We met with her a week after that. We set a baptismal date two days later, and we arranged for a baptismal interview. Our district leader, asked us to exchange with him to save miles for the baptismal interview. My companion stayed with one another elder in this area while I went with the district leader to another city.

We were discussing our plans for the day, and I asked if we could check out this place where we found the lady. The district leader told me if we had time we would. So, we went to the first appointment. We then went to meet a member at a restaurant. I looked out my window as we passed the Kids Resale store on the way, and I told the district leader this was the place where I met the lady. Well, the member texted us, saying she was going to be late, and we found the opportunity to check out the "Kids" place. I went with a Book of Mormon this time. We walked in, and the same lady looked up to see who it was and said, "It's the Anastasia guy!"

Quick conversation starter! Anyway, we talked with her for a couple minutes, handed the Book of Mormon, and left. We both felt the Spirit in there....It was a wonderful day!

We baptized our new referral that Saturday. Her nonmember family showed up. I showed a couple of Mormon Messages after the baptism while the my companion and our newly baptized member were changing back into their dress clothes.

Then, my favorite part happened. On Sunday, the ward mission president confirmed our newly baptized member. It was a beautiful experience to stand in the circle and do that...I love confirmations so much. It's always the best feeling during confirmations.

An Investigator + Some Lessons = A Baptism!

We had a lesson with one of our investigators about the law of chastity at the church. We then went to a ward member's home and had another lesson about the laws of tithing, the fast, and the Word of Wisdom.

Our investigator has applied to Brigham Young University (BYU) and she is really absorbing the gospel.  She has read from 1 Nephi to 3 Nephi in three days. She is amazing.  Her baptism is on Saturday. I am so excited!

*My parents received this text from one of the members today:  "We wanted to thank you for raising such a wonderful son. The last few weeks he and his companion have taught our friend. Today was her baptism! We hope you enjoy these pictures."

New Investigators!

We have two new investigators who are going to get baptized within the month of November...99% positive! One was a member referral who almost knows the church is true. The other is someone who comes to church often, knows the church is true, but hasn't been baptized...yet.

Baptisms at the Temple!

My companion and I went to the Oklahoma City Temple with the youth.  I was able to baptize some of the young men for their ancestors, which was amazing.

We then went to Cici's Pizza for dinner, where we conversed with the youth.

It was a long trip to Oklahoma, and an even longer one coming back. Our driver took a wrong turn and had to take a more roundabout trip to our apartment. We went through Missouri to come back to our area.

Mission Life is Awesome!

My companion is superb. He is very obedient and tries to do the best he can. It's really awesome.

Our investigators are doing great. Two of them want to come to church. We met with another when we were biking to a member's home. Another individual was baptized and confirmed. This whole stake is progressing. We've had a baptism in this stake every week for the past three weeks. It is so cool.

The mission is so awesome! I love it! We had an exchange with the zone leaders, and it was awesome.  I love this area.  I think it is going to have a temple soon....there are a ton of members of the church here. Most of them are from BYU and BYU-Idaho.

The Beginning of the End...of the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission!

This week has been absolutely spectacular!

I am no longer going to be in the Only True Mission (effective July 1st). Before I get into the details of this, let me start at the beginning (or rather, a little closer to the beginning.

Our outgoing mission president has set some mission-wide goals for his last ten weeks. We are on week 4 right now. The goals are as follows:

Week 1: Two new invitations for Baptism including a "Map to Baptism" in each area (180 new Baptism dates in the mission. The record is 300 in a week).

Week 2: Use the "My Family" booklet at least 3 times every day (1,890 uses in the mission this week)

Week 3: One Active Member Lesson/day + 2 referrals/day (630 AML and 1,260 referrals)

Week 4: Three new investigators this week. (270 new investigators. Record: 300)

Week 5: 100% Member Present Lessons + Two new Baptismal Dates (180 dates set)

Week 6: Five OTMs daily. Finding Hour: 4pm-6pm (3150 OTMs for the week)

Week 7: Standard of Excellence in EVERY AREA (20 lessons, with 12 of them member present, 4 RCLAs, 4 Others; 2 baptismal dates; and 2 new investigators)

Week 8: Three Investigators at church (270 new investigators at church....it would break the record.)

Week 9: Two New Baptismal dates for the week.

Week 10: Double the Standard of Excellence in your area.

We are working A LOT to try to prepare for these next 6 weeks. It is intense! It has been very fun, too.Our ward is doing very well.

Our outgoing mission president is going to end his mission very strong, and with enough momentum to help our incoming mission president with the mission.  BUT not only that, our outgoing mission president is going to end the OTM mightier than it has ever been, and the Only True Mission is going to begin Almighty's Best Mission with a fantastic start.

I am so glad to be able to end the mission strong, and I am going to begin this new mission even stronger. The Arkansas Bentonville Mission is going to be a new beginning for each of the 200 missionaries here. It is going to be magnificent.  I am so excited to be a part of this. So excited.

My companion and I are trying to work together to become more united to end this mission, and it is going to be so cool. I cannot wait for the Arkansas Bentonville Mission to begin.  To add to my excitement, I saw my first fireflies in the mission yesterday!!!!! It was so amazing :D.

I am so excited for this whole thing.

Transfers...Final Happenings in "Old" Area

Both my companion and I are being transferred.  We are being replaced by sisters.  My companion and I don't have the car yet, so we're freaking out because the sisters NEED a car since they don't have bikes. So, it is going to be pretty stressful because we're doing a TON to prepare for the sisters.

I'm going to miss our area/branch and the people here. We've been taking pictures with the members and investigators.

Our "golden" investigator, along with his girlfriend, are progressing in the gospel.  They have a baptismal date and are going to get married before the end of the month. It is going to be absolutely amazing. I wish I could be there. They're so awesome.