Baptism date set for April 25th

We have had a pretty good week here. We had a good lesson with a
investigator some Spanish elders found. They have been teaching her
and we finally had a pass off lesson. She is super solid and has a
baptism date set for April 25th. We were also able to talk to one of
our other investigators who has his baptism date set for April 11th
and that is good to go.

Those are the most exciting things that have happened. We did have a
little 18 month mark celebration with some other elders. One of them
was elder Wilson my former companion in Belmont ridge, and Elder
Karbach who I served with in Centreville. We played some games as
well as some racquetball. I never realized how much I like racquetball
until I played that night.

This week I have tried to take it easy because my head still hurt from
last p day. Hard to do as a missionary. Today we went to great falls.
We got some super sweet pictures that I will send. Glad to know hat
everything is going good at home. I do think about it more and more
lately. I know that I have less than 6 months and it is starting to
set in. Considering that the sisters that came out with me go home in
10 days so that makes it even worse.

I will be getting a new area and a new companion on the 9th. At least
there is about a 95% chance of that happening. You have asked me a
couple times when my release date is. I believe that I will fly in on
the 18th. That should be the Friday I come home. They did make this
transfer a long transfer so It could be a week after as well. I'm not
for sure on that.

That's all for this week. Love you guys!

Trying to not be discouraged

Hello everyone.

We have had a very slow week here. We weren't able to meet with any of
our investigators so that was a major bummer. Something else that was
quite disappointing was we had one of our investigators who had a
baptismal date set for this upcoming Saturday not show up to church so
we had to cancel that. She is 10 and her little sister is 8 so they
were both going to be baptized this weekend. We have been trying to
meet with them for the past month but we haven't been able to.

We were in our apartment Saturday night around 7 and I decided we
needed to knock on their door. So we got on the bikes and rode the 3
miles to their house. We were able to talk to the girls but not the
mom. Every time we go over she won't come talk to us face to face she
tells her girls what to say. They told us that we can talk tomorrow
(Sunday) because they were going to come to church. We didn't bring up
anything about the baptism, but the older girl Angie looked at us and
said that its almost the 21st. We told her that's why we wanted to
come and talk to them. We could tell that she was heart broken. We
just said talk to your mom about it and we will see what we can do.

Their mom has been less active for a while. Both of the parents were
members, but they had their dad pass away back in November. The only
thing holding them back is the mom. She wanted to have them baptized,
so we aren't sure what the hold up is now.

Another real downer that happened is that we were in ward council
Sunday morning talking about it. Bishop said that he was in contact
with her a lot this week and on Saturday he got a text from her saying
she was really frustrated because the elders knocked on her door with
out telling her first. So first of all my heart just sank. But he also
said that she told him she would be coming. We were at least excited
that they would be coming. Then 3rd hour hits.

We get out of gospel principles and went over to bishop and he told us
she didn't come. That was the deciding factor between the 21st or not.
The high priest group leader came over and I guess I was looking
pretty down because he put his arm around me and said we are still
doing good things and not to get discouraged. I'm a little
disappointed with the whole situation, but what do you do.

Now less depressing things. On Friday we traveled to centreville and
picked up our new iPads. They are nice....I guess. 32 gigabytes and
increased power. I get to use it for school and other stuff so that
will be good. We have a couple appointments tonight that are going to
be really good.

I'm definitely excited to hit 18 months, but it will be super weird to
send home the sisters that came out with me. Just another step towards
the end. Time really does fly by. Sometimes more than others. It's
also weird to go to activities and your on the older side of things.
Well that's the report. We just got done playing football and ultimate
frisbee. I may have got a mild concussion. A term field isn't as soft
as you might think. I guess we will see.

Thanks for all you do. I know that's not a real detailed email but
that's all that happened.

Love you guys!

Good lessons with our investigators

This week has been pretty good.

We had some pretty good lessons with our investigators. Our
investigator Jon cam to church yesterday with his less active
girlfriend. We were really glad that they can. We have been trying to
get them there for a while now. We also taught Ryan. He is one of the
9 year old's that we are teaching. We were able to teach the last
lesson that we formally have to teach. The plan was to have his
baptism on April 11th but we will see how that goes.

Other than that not much has happened. We live pretty routine lives so
there is only so much that can change week to week. This upcoming
Friday we are switching ipads. I guess there much better than the ones
that we have currently. We have a bunch of meetings this week.

Today we are going to go over near my old area and play some football
with that zone. It's finally starting to warm up a bit so we can start
to do outside things. Our original plan was that we were going to go
to D.C. but then things just didn't quite work out so we are going to
try for next week.

I was thinking about this not to long ago, but I only have 6 months
left. It's pretty weird to think back about the time I have been out
here. I can't decide if I will have 1 or 2 more areas. I will more
than likely know at the end of this transfer depending on what
happens.

Sorry that this letter isn't that great. I'll try to write more next week!

Love you guys!

Mini Exchanges with the Spanish Elders

Hello!

We have had a good week here. I guess that every week is Good as a
missionary. It hasn't been the most productive of weeks, but some are
better than others.

On Tuesday we were trying to meet some more of the members in the
ward. We knocked on a door and the husband wasn't home so we couldn't
go in. We decided just to make use of it while we were there so we
knocked their next door neighbors house. We were able to talk a little
bit and she said that we could come back. It seems like finding in
this area is really difficult, so we were glad to see something come
from that.

Wednesday we had dinner with part member family. We originally planned
on dinner at 5:30 but we didn't end up eating till about 6:15 because
the members husband had to work a little late. We then walked to our
next appointment. It wasn't really a set appointment, more along the
lines of they said that's when we can come over so we reserved that
space for us. We weren't able to teach them since the husband was
traveling for work.

Thursday we had a meeting with a less active member set up at 8. We
ended up doing a mini exchange with the Spanish elders so Elder Rogers
and Elder Gosain taught them and Elder Benson and I went to another
less actives house. Both people we were able to get into so that was
good. The less active that they went to was a part member as well. The
dad went on a mission but went less active shortly after. He married a
non member and when they were there the son came in and was really
interested so they were able to teach the restoration.

Friday we were sick for most of the day. We just moved some more
little stuff from our apartment to our new one. Saturday we were also
sick so those days weren't anything special.

Sunday we had church. We were one of the few wards that didn't get
cancelled because of freezing rain. We did some weekly planning after
we got home. We had dinner with the Hopkins family. They are super
sweet.

We started a car share this week so we didn't have he car all week. It
honestly felt pretty good to walk and not have to worry about a car.
Lucky for us today is the day we get it back. We moved into our new
apartment this week so that's what we were doing during the days this
last week. We have mostly everything moved over. Just a bunch of
little stuff now. I guess that's how it goes with every move though.
All of the big stuff is easy, them come the little that there seems to
be an endless supply.

Today we are going to go play basketball some where. Seems like we
haven't done that in a while so that's our plan.

We are still working with a good handful of people. We have 1 lesson
tonight, and 3 lessons on Wednesday set up so this is going to be a
good week. We are going to try to find some more this week. That has
been our biggest struggle.

That makes me really sad to hear about lizzy. She was a good dog and
will be remembered. I hope that grandma recovers fast. Glad to hear
that you guys are recovering from all of the sickness that has been
over there. Hopefully everything continues to get better. Glad to know
the business is going good. I was thinking maybe I'll be able to help
out when I get home. I guess we will see.

Thanks for your support! Love you guys!

Shoveling Snow!

Sorry it's so late with the email. We have had a full day here. We went to the Pentagon this morning. It was pretty cool. We got to see a bunch of cool military related things. It was really humbling to see some of the memorials. We were in one of the halls and they had a painting depicting some sort of humanitarian efforts, and on the box it had the churches name. That was cool to see. In one of the special memorial rooms I found someone named William Laing. Probably related somewhere. 

Afterwards we came back to Sterling then went to Ashburn and played some basketball. I am sore from that. Haven't played in quite some time. 

We have had an interesting week to say the least. On Thursday we had our transfer meeting. I met Elder Johnson's family. It was hard to send home another. I guess that I was supposed to learn something from doing that. So I got Elder Rogers. He came out with me. Some interesting things have happened with my companion situation. I have never had a companion younger than me in age, or somebody younger in the mission. I have had 3 that came out with me, but none younger. 

The new assistant is someone that came out with me. That's interesting to say the least. I am still in Sterling. We are moving apartments soon so I will get you the new address. Don't feel bad for not sending anything. If anything I need to send stuff home. When the spring hits I am going to send home most of my warm clothing. Start downsizing my stuff. 

Elder Rogers is from Santaquin. He is the oldest in his family. He is an awesome guy, I think that we are going to get along really well. 

On Saturday we got 10 inches of snow. We got the text saying not to drive, so we started to shovel but it was coming down just as fast as we could clear it so we spent most of the day inside. We were in contact with our bishop Saturday and also Sunday morning and he told us that church was canceled. We decided to go shovel snow at about 8. We were able to help out a few people in the ward. One of the members we did was less active, and her husband isn't a member. They have a 3 car garage so it took us about 2 hours. They ended up giving us 50 bucks each. We tried to refuse but they kept persisting and eventually we gave in. I hate taking money from people, especially since it was on a Sunday. Is that considered working on the sabbath? 

That was our week in a nutshell. Again sorry this is late. Really busy. I hope lizzy hangs on till I get home. That will be sad is she doesn't. I guess it will be sad regardless. I'm alright on money now. We get a new allotment soon. 

Love you!

Holy Snot It's Cold!!

Good Morning!

Holy snot, first of all i have to say that it has been so cold over
the past couple days. Yesterday was really bad. It was a grand total
of 10 degrees when we left our apartment to go to ward council, with
the wind blowing about 20 miles an hour. The wind didn't stop at all.
After church we tried to check on some people and invite them to a
fireside tonight and i didn't think to put on my hat or scarf and we

were only out in it for about 10 minutes, but by the time i got back
into our car...my whole body hurt from the cold. Its not just cold,
but the humidity and the wind just intensified it.

So now to some of the weeks endeavors. Sending home 2 comps in a row
is difficult. Accompanying them to the departing activities makes it
worse. So on Wednesday they had their departing temple trip so we left
our apartment at about 7 after we had some other missionaries show up
to go to the mission. The only reason we went with them is because I
had an appointment at 12 to get a hitch put onto our car. So we get
there, and we were waiting for people to show up to open the office. I
call the uhaul place and they told me they had no record of our
appointment, and the hitch guy wasn't working that day either. We were
20 miles away from our area with nothing to do for about 6 hours, and
I was with a random other missionary. I had talked to a few other
missionaries about going to lunch. Elder Karbach, and Elder Wilson.
One former companion, and another a really good friend. We ended up
spending the day with them. We went to lunch at a buffet. I'm pretty
sure buffets cringe when they see us walk in because they know we
could probably eat them out of business.

We spent 2 hours eating. It wasn't to bad of a price so that was good.
When we were eating they were telling me about about a place they
found with a bunch of graffiti and they showed some pictures. I was
really interested so we went and walked around it for a little bit.
Took some sweet pictures. I wanted to make a post about one but I
couldn't think of anything. Eventually I thought of something and it
turned out really good. I'm pretty proud of it. We then had to trek
back to Burke to pick them up. Then Elder Ames told us they didn't
have a ride back to Leesburg where they lived so we had to drive all
the way out there, then finally made it home at 5:30. I drove a total
of 130 miles that day. Which isn't that bad except for the fact that
it was all stop and go, not to mention Virginia traffic.

That night we went on exchanges with our district leader. I went with
his companion Elder Wickham. He is new this transfer so he still has
that greenie Fire and very gung-ho about everything. A little
overwhelming at times but still a good kid.

Thursday we went on exchanges with our zone leaders. I went with Elder
Gemar who has been out about 20 months. He is from Saratoga springs
but has lived all over Utah and salt lake county. We checked on a few
people...no success. Then he had a Skype lesson that he taught. That
night they had the Mission leadership conference call. So I listened
into that. Sometimes it bugs me all the new stuff that they try and
all of the new rules. But that's okay. Endurance is key. Missions are
meant to be enjoyed, but sometimes it's all I can do to endure.

We picked up another missionary on Friday since he was on an exchange
and they are currently in a tri-companionship. We went to lunch at SAMs
club then re exchanged.

Saturday was a very interesting day. We had Elder Johnson's departing
interview. We again had to drive all the way to Burke. After his
appointment we had set up to have the hitch installed that day. We
drove there and dropped off the car. We were hungry and wanted some
lunch. Elder Johnson had served near that area so he said there was a
McDonald's not to far. We ended up walking 4 miles there, then 4 miles
back. My feet hurt so bad. He didn't think it was that far, but that's
ok because we had a good time. Eventually made it back again at about
5.

I think this has been one of my longest letters. I am excited to get a
new companion. Elder Johnson has been my longest comp. We have been
together for 13 weeks. I only have 5 transfers left so it seems like
things are starting to come to a close, but I still have a while.
That's crazy that Spencer's time got cut by a month. I know that won't
happen to me. Are they more excited or bummed that it won't be 24
months? I think I would have mixed emotions.

Well I hope you enjoyed this novel. I probably won't ever wrote that
long of an email ever again. I don't know we will see. Hope everybody
is doing good.

Love you!

Teaching Teaching and Teaching

We had a good week here. Business as usual with some unexpected surprises!

On Tuesday we had a lesson with the Vannie family. I don't think that i have told you guys about them yet. They are a family who the parents were both members, but less active. The week before i got to this area he passed away from ecoli. They have 2 daughters who are 8 and 9 so its been really rough for them over the last 3 months. We have been teaching the daughters because the mom contacted the bishop of our ward and wanted to get them baptized and to start coming back to church. 

We had exchanges this week so i had Elder Bateman with me and we were able to teach them the restoration. This was actually the 3rd lesson that we taught but we decided to go out of order just to suit their needs. We were able to set up a date for them to be baptized for March 21st. We are excited for that and that will be a little bit before i leave. 

On Wednesday night we taught the Ammerman family. We were teaching them when i first got here, but they were not showing any signs of progression so we decided to drop them, and then last Sunday they showed up out of no where to the other ward. ( I might have already told you guys that )  We got to talk to the mom more than ever before and she said that she i willing to let her son be baptized if he wants to. He has shown desire in the past to do so, so that is promising.

We are still teaching Jon and Mandy. I might have told you about them, but i don't remember. She has been less active for about 20 years, and he is a non member. We have a lesson set up for tonight and Johnson is going to teach it with a priest. He showed some concern that if we are right then all of his family has been wrong, so the plan is to teach about family history and temple work. 

The reason that i am not going is that we have a pass off lesson with the Spanish elders so i will be going with them. We have never met this lady, but from what they have said she is really promising. We are excited to have someone else promising to work with.

I have been feeling better thankfully. Still hacking up stuff from my chest, but that's good i guess. We tried doing whats called an apple juice cleanse. For 1 1/2 days all we did was drink apple juice and nothing else. It was miserable so we didn't finish. Today we are going to go play some basketball in Centreville. 

My companion goes home in 10 days. He is the third I'm sending home. I did it last transfer too, so they are making me think about going home. We have to go to Burke on Wednesday for his departing temple trip and i have an appointment to get a hitch put on our car for a bike rack, and i am going to go to lunch with some of my buddies. 

I love you!