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| With the Gils - One of my favorite couples! We've had a lot of funny experiences with them. |
November 30,
2015
Hello
everyone!!
Happy
Thanksgiving!! I would first off like to let everyone know how grateful I am
for everything that I am blessed with. As I sit back and think about it, I
truly am so blessed.
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| With Elder Krey |
First off, I
am blessed with a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and blesses me daily with
everything I have. I am thankful for a Savior, the Son of God, who loves each
of us so much that he sacrificed his life and suffered for all of us, so that
we can be happy and return to live with our Father. I am grateful for an earthly
father, who has been my coach, teacher, friend, mentor, and example, and who has
shown me how to be a worthy priesthood holder and how to raise a family in the
gospel. He also works hard to support our family and help out those around him.
I am grateful for a wonderful mother who supports and encourages me in all that
I do, and has been someone I can talk to whenever I need a friend! I would not
be on a mission if it were not for her...(especially considering she did like
95% of my mission shopping!!). I am grateful for 5 AWESOME siblings who send me
letters and pray for me regularly, and who make me laugh all the time. I am
grateful for the knowledge that I have that I can live with my family forever,
because my parents were sealed in a Holy Temple of God by someone who had the priesthood.
I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve as a full-time
representative of my Savior Jesus Christ for these two short years, and to
invite everyone I see to come closer to Christ. I love being a missionary. I am
grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I
know that it blesses lives, and I am so grateful for that. I am grateful for
the principle of obedience. When we are obedient, it provides us a great
foundation for our faith, and it allows us to have confidence in all that we
do. I am grateful for that. I could go on all day about things that I am
grateful for, but those are some of the biggest blessings in my life.
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| The Beutler's dinner at the church |
I had an
AWESOME day on Thursday. We woke up and did our usual morning routine, with our
studies and everything, and then after our studies the whole Sparks zone got
together and played football...and it was a total blast. Anyone who knows me
knows that I LOVE playing football, and so it was way fun. It was freezing
outside, and it was actually snowing the whole time, but it made it even more
fun. Then we got cleaned up and went to help the Beutlers put on their
Thanksgiving dinner for many of the local members and investigators who didn't
have a place to go.
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| With the Jorgensen Family on Thanksgiving |
Then we zipped up to the Jorgensens, an awesome family in
our ward and had a delicious dinner with them. It was nice because President
Chesnut instructed us that it was not a real proselyting day, and he wanted us
to spend time and build relationships with members, so we were able to spend a
little more time than usual with them, which was way fun.
After we had
dinner with them, we went up to the Chesnut's home (the mission home – it’s
beautiful), which is over on the other side of Reno and hung out with President
and Sister Chesnut. They had their
oldest son in town and his children, so we spent time with them. It was an
experience that most missionaries would kill for, to just spend an evening with
the President at his home. We found out that we are NOT getting iPads when
President Robbins comes in January, but that President Robbins has asked to
have a special meeting with Elder Ash and I and the President to discuss the
needs and concerns of the mission....so basically I will get to sit in an
office with a general authority for an hour or so!! We are super excited for
that.
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| It was raining mud! |
The first
part of the week was extremely fun, too! We had a great conference in Elko on
Monday, and then spent the evening with the Zone Leaders out there on a mini
exchange, Elders Kidman and Johnson.
After the exchange, we attended a district meeting out there Tuesday
morning, and then drove home afterwards. It was crazy…as we were driving
through Winnemucca, it started raining mud! So the windshield wipers didn't
help anything, thankfully we had just refilled our wiper fluid. But we had lots
of fun out there for a few days, and I really love long road trips, they are
tons of fun!!
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| Exchanges with Elder Palmer in SUN VALLEY!! |
We went on
FOUR exchanges this past week, so Elder Ash and I have barely had the chance to
work together, but it has been lots of fun. We went on a mini-exchange with the
Elko ZL’s Monday night, and I spent a few hours with Elder Johnson, who is one
of my closest friends. Then, Elder Freeman came back to the Prater ward for the
day on Wednesday, which was fun…it felt like the last three transfers! I spent Friday with Elder Palmer in SUN
VALLEY!! I got to go back for a day and serve in English. It brought back lots
of memories, because it was exactly a year ago that we were there.
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| Exchanges with my man, Elder Krey |
After
our exchange on Friday, Elder Ash and I got back together and drove to Fernley,
where we started another exchange, with the Fallon ZL’s – Krey and Wheeler! I got to spend another day with the one
and only...Elder Krey! I love Elder Krey so much; we have a ton of fun
together. He is hands down the funniest missionary in this mission, he has me
laughing all day long...and the best part about it, is that he is also a great
missionary! I have never met another missionary who has so much desire to share
the Gospel with others. I really want to serve with him again as companions
before our missions are over.
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| With Elder Freeman....who got me started on the Rubik's Cube |
It’s funny that
the family is now into Rubik’s cubes...because I got into them on my mission!
Elder Freeman taught me how to solve one and so I too am a Rubik’s cube
fanatic! Although I am sure that everyone back at home is way faster than I am
at solving them.
In about 3 hours,
Elder Snow arrives. President and Sister
Chesnut are going to pick him up, and we are all going to head down to Carson
City for a tri-zone meeting. Tomorrow we have another meeting here in Sparks
with three more zones. Then on Wednesday, we will not be attending, but there
will be an East-side meeting with the three East-side zones attending. I am
super excited to spend time with a general authority and learn from him...he is
also the Church Historian so I am sure he knows and has lots of cool stories to
tell.
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| Road-trippin' with Elder Ash |
Well that’s
about all the time that I have today, but next week we will be back on a
regular schedule and I will have a real P-day next Monday! So no more crazy
emailing schedules. But the Book of
Mormon tells us that we should, "live in thanksgiving daily, for the
many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." I know that
as we do so, we can recognize all that we truly have been blessed
with and we forget about the things that we don't have. This allows us to be
happier and more grateful for all that we have. I am so grateful for all of you
and all of your love, support, and prayers, I couldn't do it without all of
you. I love being a missionary and I cherish every moment that I have.
I hope you
all have a great week. I love you!
Love,
Elder Todd
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| Me and Elder Ash |
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| More pics from Thanksgiving |
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| Filling up the truck with Elder Krey |
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