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"Hot August Nights" Car Show...just imagine this
times like 1000 all over Sparks and Reno! |
August 10, 2015
Hey guys!!
How's it going?? Everyone ready for school almost? School here
just started today! How is Cross Country treating Nathan and MJ? Major props to
them because I could NEVER do XC...!! Is it still humid as heck back there??
Because it is still dry as ever here!
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| Almonds for DAYSS!! |
On the calendar that you sent to me at the beginning of the
year, for the month of August is a bunch of pictures from our Europe trip, and
that was such a fun trip!! I totally forgot that I had fallen asleep in the
middle of whatever little city that was, but if that wasn't evidence that I was
tired, I don't know what was! And then it was one year ago today I gave my
farewell address in sacrament meeting and we had a big luncheon
afterwards...time flies, huh?!
Mom, thanks for the almonds!! We were in the office when the
mail arrived, and the almonds came in this huge box, and so I was trying to
figure out what on earth it was. I was not at all expecting 6 cans of almonds
haha!! But they are a fun treat. Except
my companion that morning had told me that he was not going to snack at all
from then on, and in the little note that came with the almonds Mom said,
"Happy Snacking!" So that kinda ruined his goal of no snacking, it
was pretty funny.
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| With my Virginia Bro...Elder Han! |
I know I say this every week, but...another great week here in
Sparks!! Because it really was. We had the chance to go on exchanges with the
Zone Leaders here in the Sparks zone on Wednesday, so that meant I got to go
and spend a day in Sun Valley again!!! It was English speaking, but it was fun
to go back and work on my old stomping grounds...and it's different in the
summer!! But still
the same old Sun Valley! I had the chance to stop by a few
of the old people I worked with, including Juan and Laura! They are doing well.
Laura is rock solid, she is awesome. Their son Adrian just turned 8 years old,
and I think Juan feels lots of pressure to baptize him, but when I was there on
Wednesday he told me that he wanted me to baptize him, because I baptized Juan
and Laura. Personally I would LOVE to
see Juan baptize Adrian, so we will see.
But I spent the day with ELDER HAN!!!! Virginia bros, wahooo!!! It was a
ton of fun to spend the day with him, he is a great missionary and a ton of fun
to be around. We had a great day together.
This past week our area has been flooded with old antique cars,
because it’s been "Hot August Nights" which is like this HUGE deal
where people drive in from all over the country with their antique car and
drive it around town. They had an official "Cruise Route" where they
blocked off traffic for this never-ending parade of antique cars and they could
drive through Sparks...right through our area down Victorian Avenue!! So all
week there have been cool antique cars driving around Sparks, and then in the
evenings the
cruise route was blocked off and people were every where!! We didn't spend much time at all checking out
the cars, but in the evenings they had awesome events like Drag Races and such,
so I definitely want to come back some day during Hot August Nights and
actually get the chance to check it out!! I uploaded a few pictures of some of
the cars, but these cars were actually really cool...all different shapes and
sizes and ages! The only requirement of driving your car down the cruise route
was that it was at least
25 years old, so 99% of the cars were really well kept
up and fancy, but then every now and then you would see a car drive by that was
just super old, and had not been kept up like the rest of them haha!
On Saturday, we started planning for the next transfer...which
is one week from tomorrow! And this is going to be a CRAZY transfer. We got 17
new missionaries last transfer, and we have 22 coming this transfer, so we will
have lots of missionaries being trained!
It’s good but also hard, because that means we need to find 22 more
trainers!! So we have been thinking a
lot about who could train, because that’s the first thing we look at when we
start planning. We also have to open up 6 new areas, because we have a net gain
of 12 missionaries this transfer. So that means we have to find new housing for
all of them and get that all set up. We
worked on it for about 4-5 hours on Saturday, but we didn't get very
far! So we have our work cut out for us this week. It has been crazy the number
of phone calls and requests we have gotten regarding where missionaries want to
be transferred to, or if they don't want to be transferred...and each time
Elder Freeman and I just sing them our new favorite hymn..."I'll go
where you want me to go"...haha!!!
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| At the temple with Teresa and the Beutlers |
Teresa is doing well. She has not completely stopped smoking,
but it’s like one cigarette every-other day now. We have finally found a place
for her to move in to, and we are hoping that she will be able to move here in
the next few days. The current situation isn’t great. But she has been spending lots of time around
missionaries – between us and the Beutlers. The Beutlers are like the mission
cooks, and so for MLC on Friday they cooked lunch for us, and they had Teresa
come and help them. She loved it, and she loves being around the church, we
just have to get her to quit smoking! We took her to the temple, and she is
really excited to go in, and so we are hoping that the temple will help
motivate her to stop smoking. Please keep her in your prayers as well.
In my personal study of the Book of Mormon, I have finished
Mosiah and have moved onto Alma, but I have grown to truly love the book of
Mosiah, it is such a great book!! So many great stories and lessons to be
learned from that book. I especially love King Benjamin and the great address
he gives to his people. One of my favorite scriptures from his discourse is
Mosiah 3:7…
"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body,
hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto
death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish
for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."
I love this scripture because it teaches us that the atoning
sacrifice of our Savior does not just cover our sins, it covers much more. It
covers every weakness, pain, hardship, and trial that we go
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| Reno Temple at night |
through. What a
marvelous gift! Most of the people we are surrounded by do not understand that.
Most people kinda understand that because of Jesus Christ, our sins can be
forgiven. But they don't understand that it is much, much more than that. I am
so incredibly grateful for the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I know that
as we go to church and partake of the Sacrament, we can truly access the power
that it offers to us, both the atoning power and the enabling power.
Well that's all for this week! I uploaded quite a few pictures,
hope you enjoy! I love and miss you all!!
Love,
Elder
Todd
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With Elder Ash at MLC
(Mission Leadership Conference) |
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| With Elder Kidman and Wheeler in Reno |
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| A member's boat and truck!! (Dad...are you taking notes??) |
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| Goofin' off with Elder NIEVES!!!! |
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| Elder Cox |
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| Freeman and I with Teresa at the temple |
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| Freeman and I with Elder Buetler |
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With the Beutlers at the temple
(The awesome couple who serve
in the ward with us.) |
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| Doing yard work service with the awesome young men in our ward |
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