That's some Burger!

Have the pleasure of taking your son and his comp to Fuddruckers.  He is healthy, looks good, upbeat, and and anxiously engaged in the good cause.  He says he misses your Parmesan Chicken.  Thanks for rearing an honorable young man.  Best regards, Chuck and Ellen Lundberg, Belmont Ridge Ward

I love when I open my e-mail up in the middle of the week, and I get a little surprise picture of our boy! He looks Healthy and very Happy. I am so grateful for wonderful Members of the Church who take good care of our Missionary and make sure that he is well fed!

10 Lessons this week!

So this week has been another crazy one! We found a new investigator
named ryan who is a super solid guy. He is 18 and is headed off to
college soon. He came to church with us yesterday and said that he
really liked the classes and that he was able to ask questions, and
get answers. He really liked how humble our church buildings are
compared to those in Catholicism. We are going to get him in touch
with missionaries in Charlottesville where he is going to college and
keep in contact on Facebook.

We had one of our investigators who has a baptismal date not show up
so we are going to have to push that back. When you move it once then
its easier to move it again, and we don't want that. Hopefully we can
see what happened and resolve any concerns he has.

We taught a total of 10 lessons this last week. That is really good
compared to all of my other areas. So i remember when i was in the
Ashburn ward that i used to talk to the elders serving here and they
didn't have anything going on. Its amazing how an area can turn
around. Hopefully it continues on that trend. Its exciting to actually
see some success.

So today in my 11 month mark!!! I have 13 left, and Spencer hits his
13. So crazy to think that it has been over a year since i have seen
Spencer, and almost a year since i have seen the rest of you. Crazy
how fast the time has gone, and i think that it will only get faster.
As you guys have said, I feel like i was just barely writing
yesterday.

Today we are probably going to go play basketball. Its been a while
since i have so it will be fun. Good stress reliever. Our last p day
we rode our bikes to Herndon. Thats about 10 miles down one of the
bike paths. We went and had lunch with some other elders and just hung
out with them for the day. I need some communication with other
missionaries. In all my areas i have either had roomates, or other
elders living in the same complex. Not here, just us.

Makes me a little crazy. Especially when i am frustrated at my comp i
cant talk to anyone else. But i guess that i am working to overcome
that. I think i just have to not let the little things get to me. Just
keep working, and push through it!

Im glad you guys had fun at the reunion. I bet it was a little
different that a bunch of the older cousins weren't there. Hopefully
they still had fun without us.

I love you guys so much! Ill let you know if i need anything!!

Love your son,

Elder Blake Laing

What a great week!!

Hi Everyone, 

 We were able to go to the Temple with one of our  investigators. So we stayed in the visitors center the entire time, while the youth of the ward went and did baptisms. So I did have my recommend, just couldn't leave our investigator.

 

I wish that I had more pictures to send, but I haven't taken a whole lot lately. And yes my companion is a small dude. He is from bountiful. We don't always get along, but that's something that we are working on.

 

We actually have had a very busy, and successful week. Well...success compared to the normal in the mission. So we had a total of 8 lessons this week. A lot of those are on the same days. A total of 5 new investigators. The mission average is about 2 per companionship, so we were able to go above and beyond. AND.....WE PUT 2 OF THOSE INVESTIGATORS ON DATE TO BE BAPTISED!!!!  One of august 30th, and one on September 6th. So We are really excited for those. Its pretty interesting though, most of the investigators we have, are youth. I guess that's a good thing though.

 

We also had a total of 7 non members come to church. Miraculous because the average is less than one. Very interesting week. We also had a bunch of referrals from members so that was good. Hopefully we can do something with those as well. We actually got a call last night at 11:40 from our mission president. So when we looked at the phone this morning we saw that.

 

We called him back and he just wanted to congratulate us on a stellar week. Which we were grateful for. Hopefully this week will also be a good one.

 

I love you! happy anniversary!! I will try to send some pictures!

 

Love your son!

The Nationals Game!!

Blake was able to go to the Nationals Game in Washington DC with his entire mission. Here are a bunch of pictures that he sent home. He said it was so much fun, and one of the highlights of his mission.