June 22, 2015
Howdy everyone!!!
So first things first, I just want
to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day!!! I am so grateful to have the best Dad in
the world, who has given me the perfect example of how to be a great father, as
well as be a worthy priesthood holder. I have so many fun memories with him,
and I don't know who I would be without him!! (and also give a shout-out to all
of the other fathers out there, you guys are the best!)
Here's a video I sent to my dad for Father's Day:
Here's a video I sent to my dad for Father's Day:
How is the summer life for everyone? It
is always an exciting time of year…not having to go to school! And friends are graduating and people are
going on missions, it seems like the summer is always full of exciting-ness,
and maybe even too much exciting-ness haha!! (Right mom?!?) But what are your plans for the summer?
Obviously scout camps, and girls camps, but any EFY’s or any vacations?? And
what are you guys doing for Youth Conference?? The local ward here just had
their youth conference up at Lake Tahoe, and it sounded like a blast! And then
this morning they left for High Adventure…they are going to the Grand Canyon to
do some hiking and other fun things, and it reminded me of how much fun all of
those trips were. I know that a lot of work goes into each one, not to mention
money, but they were all worth it!!
Life in Sparks is just as busy and hot as usual. I don't have to
worry about going to scout camp or youth conference or anything like that, but
we are just swamped with work! Each day we are almost completely booked with
appointments, and even though a lot of them fall through, we still have lots to
do with our back-up plans.
This upcoming week is going to be especially busy because we are
planning for the next transfer, even though it is two weeks away. That’s
because this is President Hermansen's LAST WEEK!!! I can't believe it, and
neither can he. We have a brief meeting with him every P-day, and today he just
kept saying "This is so weird!" He has officially said good-bye to
all the missionaries...except for the 4 of us! So that is fun. President Chesnut
arrives next Tuesday around noon. This
week we won't be doing very much proselyting, because each day after our morning
studies, we will be at the office with President from 10am – 5pm planning for
the next transfer. We are doing it a week earlier than usual because he wants
to have it done before President Chesnut arrives. But that means that after our
dinner appointment, we will only have from 6-9pm each night to go out and work.
This week we already have our evenings
booked almost full of people to see. It should be a fun week, however, because
planning is fun with President, and we really get to know him better. I will
take pictures and send them next week of us planning, and maybe even the
transfer board! We have 22 missionaries going home, and 17 coming in so it’s
almost an even trade-off. The past few transfers we have sent 20+ home and only
received 5-10 new missionaries, so we have closed a lot of areas. However, for
August we are already scheduled to receive 10 more than we have leaving, so we
will be re-opening some areas next transfer.
But like I mentioned earlier, the work is going great. We are
going to have 2 baptisms this Saturday! Larry, who is a young black dude, and
Jesse, who is a 12-year old boy. Both are awesome.
Happy Father's Day, Dad!! This is a picture of me and my dad (aka Coach!) after winning the CLBL Basketball Rec League championship my senior year. |
We also found another family of 5 that lives right by the
church, and they seem solid, too. They are scheduled to be married August 22,
so we scheduled a baptism for the week after with them, and they agreed! And we
just started teaching them this past week, so that was exciting. One cool
experience we had while teaching them is that we were teaching them about the
restoration of the gospel, and their kids were like running all over the place,
and causing all sorts of chaos. It was quite hard to focus, but it didn’t seem
to bother the Dad that much, so we didn't say anything. Not to mention they had
cartoons playing on their huge TV. Nevertheless, we started teaching and just
plowed through it. We got to the part about the First Vision, and the kids
seemed to get even louder right as I was about to start. I paused to let the
kids settle down, and they did a little, but as soon as I started talking about
Joseph Smith's experience in the Sacred Grove, and said his famous quote,
"I saw a pillar of light..." the kids went silent immediately. It was
amazing. It was so cool to see just how Moroni tells us in Moroni Chapter 10 of
the Book of Mormon, that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. The Holy Ghost
testified of truth when I said those words to the kids, who went silent. My
scripture of the week is Moroni 10:5 "And by the power of the Holy
Ghost ye may Know the truth of all things." I know that is true.
I know that for anyone out there who has questions about any aspect of the
gospel can come to know that they are true through the Holy Ghost.
I am so grateful for the chance that I have to study the
scriptures and Preach My Gospel for an hour every day!!! PMG is truly an inspired book, and I recommend
that everyone read it, especially before going on a mission. I am convinced
that if every member read and studied PMG thoroughly, we would see many more
convert baptisms. This is because the members would catch the spirit of
missionary work, and would see the importance of sharing the gospel with
others. And not only would they see the importance of it, but they would know
HOW to share it as well!! So if you haven’t had the chance to read it all the
way through, its never too late to start!
Well that's all the news for this week, I didn't take any
pictures this past week, so I will make up for it this upcoming week!!! (Thanks
to Isaac Zurita who took a few pics for me!) But I love you all and appreciate
your support and prayers!!
Love,
Elder
Todd
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