Week of Chirstmas

Hey everybody!

Thanks for the christmas cards and packages! I really appreciate it.

Chirstmas was a pretty good day. We had 2 dinners and a lunch on christmas and each one had tamales. We had a ton of tamales that day. I LOVE TAMALES!

Even though Christmas was in the middle of the week, we still had a pretty good number of lessons and new investigators. We found a family of Jehovah's witnesses and we had a good discussion with them. We found a couple other investigators as well and we are hoping that they will progress soon. My companion and I have been looking for new investigators for a little while because the ones that we have right now just aren't progressing very well.

We talked to some pretty interesting people this week. Someone we met is really into the native american signs and nature things. He had some interesting explanations of things but at the same time he would listen to what we had to say. It was a pretty good week for finding interesting people.

Hope you all have a great week and a happy new year!

Elder Young

Transfer week

Hey everybody!

Thanks for the packages and letters! I really appreciate the support.

This week was pretty good but a little slow because of transfers. The weather was pretty crazy the day before transfers. There was a pretty dense fog that set in. We called it the Zombie Apocalypse Fog. Then the next day it was a little icy because the moisture froze on the ground but everything went just fine. My new companion is getting settled in. He is pretty quiet but still a pretty funny guy.

So the language is coming along well as well. The gift of tongues is very real. I couldnt imagine learning a new language without the help of God.

Sorry everyone this is going to be a short letter.

Just want to say one last thing. Remember the reason for the season. Christ's birth, life and Atonement were some of the greatest things to happen on this earth. This christmas season is a perfect time to recommit ourselves to think of the Savior each day. As we remember the covenants that we have made then we can keep the Christmas spirit with us for the whole year rather than just for a couple of weeks.

Thank you all for the letters and support and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

Elder Young

Transfer Calls and Branch Christmas Party

Hello everybody!!

Thank you everyone that wrote this week. I really appreciate it.

So we got transfer calls last night. I will be staying Elder Smith will be going up north a little farther. My new companion's name is Elder Bergquist. He started his mission when I went to Hermiston, he was there as well. Our zone is getting a little more shaken up this transfer but thats alright.

This week we also had our Christmas zone conference which was really fun. We listened to some musical numbers and some talks from President and sister ware and the Assistants. We also got to watch Monsters University as a mission. It was a pretty funny movie and it was good to relax a little bit.

So to the spiritual side of this week. We didn't teach a lot of investigators this week but we did have some success working with some of the Less-actives. A couple of them came to the branch activity as well as church on sunday. Also a former investigator showed up to church with 4 of her children. We were shocked and amazed and they stayed for the whole time. Hopefully we will be able to start teaching them again.

The branch christmas activity went pretty well. We invited an investigator a couple hours before it started and she showed up with a couple of her kids (different family). We also had another investigator there that moved from the sister's area to our area and he has a baptismal date. He has a couple problems so hopefully he will make the date.

I just want to say how grateful I am for the Atonement of Christ. It encompasses so much that it is difficult to comprehend but I know that because of his sacrifice that we will all be able to return to live with our heavenly father together as a family, we just have to accept his help. We can't rely on our own strength but rather the strength of the Savior. Something that has been going around in my mind for a while is in the Book of Mormon, it talk a lot about remembering the captivity of our fathers. Something interesting that hit me was that it was talking about more than just physical captivity but spiritual as well. I love to think about Christ breaking us out of spiritual captivity in the ways that Alma and his people were freed, how Moroni freed the prisoners and countless other ways found in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we are removed from situations and other times we are given weapons and tools to fight sin and temptation in our lives. The Atonement is one of the greatest things available to us to be relieved of the burdens and weight of sin. I love my Savior and so grateful for what he has done for each one of us.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

Praying for miracles

Hello everybody!

I hope you all have had a great week and have been seeing miracles.

This week was slow but fast at the same time. Time on the mission is really weird sometimes and this week was a prime example of that.

I did a couple of baptismal interviews for the sisters this week. It's amazing to see people that have been prepared to receive the gospel and they definitely were prepared for this time. Their baptism went well on saturday. Later on saturday afternoon a couple families from the branch went to the temple and were sealed. The branch is growing and things are happening here which is a miracle.

So we have been praying for new investigators and to have someone that is on-date and come to find out on sunday a miracle happened for us. One of the on-dates that the sisters had moved to our area and he came to church. He seems pretty solid so that was a prayer answered for sure. We also found a couple other investigators and hopefully they will start progressing. It just goes to show that praying with faith brings miracles.

It going to be a bit of a short letter this week. I don't have a lot to write about. I hope you all have a great week and see the miracles in your life.

Elder Young

Thanksgiving in Moses Lake!

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good. Thanksgiving was really good for eating but for teaching it was pretty hard. None of our investigators wanted to talk with us and no one was really even home for most of the day. We ate lunch with a big family from the branch which pretty much consists of the whole branch and a lot of the less-actives that live in our area. It was fun to visit with a few of them but they were watching football and didn't really want to talk too much about the church. We also ate with another family for dinner a few hours later so we weren't too stuffed.

We did have a miracle lesson this week though. One of our investigators used to never want to talk about baptism and would kind of get defensive about it whenever it would get brought up when we were talking or reading in the scriptures. The last lesson we had was all about baptism and confirmation and instead of using analogies, we just taught simply and powerfully and we invited her to be baptized the 26th of december and she said she wanted to pray about it and see a baptism before she made a decision. Funny thing was that another set of missionaries was having a baptism a couple days later. Long story short, she went to the baptism and then to church for the whole time. Hopefully tonight she will accept the commitment to be baptized.

The work is still going good here in Moses Lake. We don't have very many close to baptism in our companionship but our district has 5 people on date for baptism and we have to do 2 interviews tomorrow which is awesome! Miracles are still happening with investigators and less-actives.

Hey everybody! Missionaries love mail! Just so you know. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

Moses Lake

Hello everybody!

Hope you have all had a great week and have stayed warm! Its getting cold here in Washington as it gets dark at 4:00 pm and is just getting darker each day.

So this week was pretty good since we had the Branch Thanksgiving dinner. There were a ton of people there from active members to less actives to investigators to other people that members brought. There were some pretty funny games that they put on during the dinner that made everyone laugh.

So this week was also pretty good for teaching people as we had some pretty interesting experiences. This week as we were trying to visit some investigators. We knocked on this apartment to talk to an investigator and no one answers but their neighbor comes out to smoke and starts talking about the Holy Spirit or something along those lines and then he calls to us and wanted to talk with us. We talked outside with him for about an hour about a wide range of things and then set up another time to come back for the next day. We were a little hesitant to go back because he had talked so much and we were only able to say a few words in that whole hour but we went to the follow up visit anyway. He told us how he had been arguing with his wife and then said that the holy spirit would do something and then walked out of his house and then saw us standing next door. As we talked and listened to him, we found out that he is a member and has had a really rough life. I know the gospel will bless his life as he returns to church and lives the covenants that he has made. Something interesting that happened during that visit was that his daughter was sitting on his lap for about half of the visit and ended up falling asleep. Just before we left he told us that she has a hard time sleeping but we were leaving she was out. I know that was because the spirit was able to relax her and she was able to rest. The spirit works in interesting ways in all of our lives.

I hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving and eat lots of turkey and stuffing!

Elder Young

Elder Kent Richards

Hello everybody!

Hope you all had a great week!

Sorry about not emailing yesterday, our p-day got switched to today because we were visited by Elder Richards from the 70. It was an awesome time to be able to talk with him and get some training about what we need to do better as missionaries. He talked a lot about having true faith and that means that we act on that faith. He also taught us a lot about teaching truth simply instead of using analogies to teach a  principle. That hit all of us pretty hard because we all do it and we don't realize that it distracts them instead of helping them.

So last night when we got back into moses lake, we decided to put it to the test. We visited a couple of less actives and instead of just asking how their reading went, we listened and taught simply and they understood a lot better and also opened up to us as well. I know that instruction from Elder Richards was exactly what I needed to become a more effective missionary.

The work is going well here in the Moses Lake 9th branch. There are a few people ondate in our district which is awesome because we set a goal of 10 baptisms as a Zone for December. We have been working a lot with the less actives in the Branch to help them get reactivated again. We have been finding a couple of new investigators each week which also helps keep us busy. Hopefully as we apply the principles that we learned from Elder Richards that they will progress towards baptism.

I just want to say again that I know the church is true. Miracles happen everyday and thats because this is the Lords work and he is directing. It is just our decision to work with his will or against. I can testify that if we seek his will and ask his help to know what to do, he will guide us where we need to go, and what we need to say. I know the Book of Mormon is true and because its true we have a prophet on the Earth and he leads and guides us today. If we do the things that he asks of us then we won't go wrong

Have another great one everyone!

Elder Young

Moses Lake

Hey everybody

This week was pretty good. It took a long time to get from hermiston to moses lake on transfer day. We left at 12 and then had a meeting in kennewick for an hour and then went to yakima for about an hour and then quince and then to mose lake and each time we had to move our bags from trailer to trailer. It was pretty fun getting to know more missionaries. So on the way from quince to moses lake our zone leaders got a phone call from the assistants telling them who the new district leaders were and I got chosen. Our district is our companionship and 2 sets of sister missionaries. I'm a sistrict leader or relief society president, however you want to call it. We all attend the same branch as well.

Church was really interesting. It was about half english and half spanish which was really weird but it was nice not having to translate. The branch president is really excited about the work and is really supportive of the members doing member missionary work. It will be really awesome to be able to work with them some more.

Today was the first day that we have really seen any sun since I got here and we have spent most of the time inside. We went to a gymnastics gym and played around there for a couple of hours which was really fun but now I'm really sore and will be even more tomorrow. We live in an apartment with another set of Elders so we have to do our laundry at a laundromat which just brings back memories of living in Lawrence in the tiny apartments.

I like my area so far. I'm still unsure of which way is north so that makes it hard for me to know where anything is. There is a lot of work to do here, we just need to find it. We have a few investigators and hopefully we will be able to find more and the ward will find some as well. I'm sure I will have more to say as we go through this week.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

Transfer calls and miracles

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week and have seen many miracles.

This week we got transfer calls. I'm going to moses lake 9th spanish and my companion will be Elder Smith. I don't know a whole lot about the area but I'm excited. Elder Doman will be training a new missionary too which is pretty cool. He will do a good job, he's just a little nervous but that's understandable.

This week was really good we taught a bunch of lessons and found a couple of new investigators. We knocked on a door this week and we ended up having about an hour lesson on the doorstep with a couple of guys that don't really go to any church but still have a really good knowledge of the bible. Hopefully we can help them truly accept the gospel in their lives so they can feel the blessings of it. Also someone that we are teaching that we had a really good lesson with last night is named Lupe. We taught her the restoration and watch the video as well. When we introduced the Book of Mormon to her, she asked if we had a copy for her and when we said that it was her's, she got all excited. She also told us about when she first came to America, she had a teacher that is from the Church that really helped to learn english. The power of someone's example is amazing and should never be underestimated. It's amazing to see the Lord preparing people to receive the gospel and to be a part of it.

Something on a less spiritual note. We have had a little mouse running around our house for the last couple of weeks so last monday we set up a trap to get rid of it. We filled up a bucket of water and made a ramp and a shakey bridge as the trigger. When we got back from playing basketball on p-day,  we had a drowned mouse in the bucket. We were super surprised that it worked and we haven't had a problem since.

Hope you have a great week again and go out and look for opportunities to share the gospel.

Elder Young

Elder Ballard, Elder Maynes and Elder Risenmay

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the letters and the emails again. They are always appreciated.

This week was awesome! We had a couple of slow days but that's ok, it happens every now and then. We had some miracles happen again as we were visiting with a part-member family this week. They opened up to us about some struggles they have been going through and then they committed to come to church and they actually did. We had one of his member co-workers come to church with him to fellowship him.

Now the big highlight for the week was on saturday when Elder Ballard, Elder Maynes and Elder Risenmay came and talked to all of the missionaries in the Washington Kennewick Mission. They talked a lot about working hard and setting goals to help push us. It was really cool to shake their hands and to listen to the things they felt inspired to tell us. Afterwards we took a big group photo and then headed to another stake center to have lunch. It was a lot of fun to see a bunch of old companions again and other people from my MTC district.

I just want to say how grateful I am for the gospel. It gives so much direction and comfort to know where the straight and narrow path is and to know that Christ always has his hand extended when we fall off. The Atonement and repentance are wonderful things that allow us to fix things from the past and gives us strength and determination to do whats right despite difficult times. The Book of Mormon is true, there is no doubt in my mind that it is true and because I know its true then we have the true church and a prophet is leading and guiding it today.

I hope that you all have a great week and go out and talk to someone you could share the gospel with!

Elder Young

Miracles

Hello everyone!

I hope that everyone has had as good a week as I had. Thank you for the letters and support. I'm always grateful to hear how things are going.

This week has been really good. Full of Miracles! So a couple of saturday's ago we got a call from someone asking if we would be able to come over. At first I was really confused because I thought that I didn't know the person or where they lived. We had an idea of where it was because he told us the street and the number for his trailer. The thing was that there are 2 trailer parks on that street and we went to the wrong one at first. We ended up calling him again and then we figured out which one it was. It turns out he was someone we had talked to before and he wanted to start changing his life around since his marriage is going through a rough patch. We had felt impressed to give him a blessing because he had been sick for the last few days and then we left. We came back that saturday again and he was all better and excited to listen. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we got to the picture of Christ being baptized, he said he wanted to do that. Long story short, we put him on date and then he also came to church with 3 out of 4 of his kids. Also yesterday we had a little extra time to knock a few doors and the second house that we went to, told us that their son had been wanting to go to our church, they just didn't know anyone so they wouldn't go. She told us that they would come to church on sunday and we are really hoping and praying that they do. The Lord is hastening his work and it's amazing to be a part of it!

 Right now our mission is doing a "40 day fast" to sanctify ourselves to be more in-tune with the spirit. So what we did is we started it off with a normal fast and at the end of that we write down things that come to mind that may be distractions or things we would like to work on and then you pray for the strength to work on those things in the morning and report it to heavenly father at night. I feel like it will benefit the mission and myself a lot as we turn over all of our "weapons of rebellion" and allow the savior to hasten the work. Sometimes there are things we don't realize that keep the spirit from being really strong with us and it takes some effort to get rid of them.

We are trying to work with the members more. We have been meeting with more than just the people in the Hermiston ward to find more referrals. We actually had a dinner with a few people at a members house. There was a couple part member families there and we actually got a return appointment with one of them. She is an old investigator but when she sat down to eat, she asked why we hadn't been by. I guess that showed she still wants to learn some more which will be good.

I just want to say to all those that are on the fence about serving a mission. It will be the best thing you ever do. You will learn so much about everything, about yourself, how to work with others, sometimes a new language and so much more. And best of all you get to help others have the same happiness and joy that you get from living the gospel. You will not regret serving a mission. Also to those that may not be able to serve right now, help the missionaries in anyway you can. When they ask you to think of someone and that name comes to your head, just say it. There is a reason that name popped in you mind.

Go out and share the gospel in anyway you can and you will be blessed.

Elder Young

Very fast week

Hello Everybody!

Thanks for the letters and emails for those that sent some. I would love to hear from the rest of you as well.

This week was pretty good. We are starting to stop tracting now. We felt that it was super important that we start working with the members more despite the challenges. We actually saw miracles happen. We were able to exceed a lot of our goals and had some really good lessons. We also met with a few members of other wards to get them thinking about people they can share they gospel with that speak spanish. Hopefully in time we will have more work than we can handle.

So this past week I have been studying about the articles of faith since Elder Perry talked about them and it has been really cool to see the scriptures behind our beliefs and then at the same time feel the spirit confirming the truthfulness of it. It has helped this week as people bring up concerns and it ends up what I had been studying about that morning or the day before. I'm only about halfway done with the 3rd one but I still love studying them. As I have been studying the Atonement, it has given me a deeper appreciation for the Savior. I know that he suffered for more than just our sins but for our afflictions, sicknesses, pains, sorrows, everything so that he would know exactly how we feel and how to best help us overcome them. The Atonement more than just a passive thing, it allows us to overcome trials and tribulations and overcome the natural man.

This week went by so fast that it feels like it was yesterday that I was writing a letter. Something interesting that we ran into this week was as we were knocking on a couple of doors trying some potential investigators, we came across a very less active spanish member. At first he wasn't very warm to us but after a few questions we couldn't get him to stop talking. He had left the church because he got offended (don't ever throw away your salvation because someone made a silly comment) and then he told us that he baptizes himself every time he takes a shower or a bath (not sure how that works). We were super confused by that and how someone could fall so far away. It's like what our mission president has told us. Don't open the door a crack for satan because he will fill it and open it wide.

Remember everyone that the Lord takes care your family when you take care of someone else's. Try to share the gospel with everyone you come in contact with and you will be blessed for it. Oh and help the missionaries serving in your ward. They will really appreciate it!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Hello everybody!

Thank you for the letters and emails this week. I really appreciate being able to see how things are going on outside of the mission.

This week was kind of slow but we still worked hard. They are really suggesting that we work with members more to move the work forward faster. We kind of have a unique situation here since we only have 2 or 3 active spanish members and almost no leadership. We have talked with a few members (english and spanish) to see what we can do to help the group get reactivated and have a more concerted effort with the stake. Our group covers all of Hermiston and Umatilla so we need help from the other wards to find the hispanics in other parts of the city. We have a plan to get started and hopefully we will see some results as we put it into action.

Conference was amazing this weekend! We watched most of the sessions at the church but we did watch one at an investigators house. He said he felt like it answered some questions and that he needed to study the scriptures more (saturday afternoon session). I was impressed at how much they talked specifically about member missionary work. Right now I'm wishing I would have helped the missionaries out more at home because now I know what it feels like to be out here. The nature of missionary work is changing. The members have to get more involved and we have to help them get more involved. I also loved how they would take simple things like a couple of the 10 commandments and go deeper with it and apply it to the work. We are living in scary times but we have the hope of the gospel to lead and guide us.

The language is coming along still. It gets easier to learn, speak, listen and read every day. The gift of tongues is real. There is no way that I could have learned a new language this fast on my own. The Lord blesses his missionaries everyday.

I just want to say that I love being a missionary. It's true that there are hard times and people have their agency to accept or reject the message of the gospel but I still love them anyway. I have definitely learned that there are good things in everyone and the gospel can bring it out of them. I know that the people in the church are not perfect but that doesn't mean that the gospel isn't. We can't allow ourselves to choose to reject the Savior because of the silly mistakes of others. I have seen too many people throw away the blessings of regular church attendance because of an offense. I know this is the true church. God's kingdom is on the Earth again and we are a part of it. We (each one of us) should be on the front lines trying to build it up where we stand. Its like what Elder Uchtdorf has said "Lift where you stand."

I hope that you all have a great week and that you see the Lord's hand in your life.

Elder Young

A great week and a new companion

Hello everybody!

I hope that you have had a great week and everything went well.

Our week here was really good. We taught quite few lessons and we had 1 investigator at church. We have been teaching him for a little while but with a space in between because he some surgeries going on. We had an awesome lesson with him this week about the some of the commandments. We were talking about prophets and we were showing him a picture of President Monson and then we talked about how if he knew that Joesph Smith was a prophet, that meant his successors were prophets also. We he saw Joseph Smith's picture he kind of got excited asked if he was the one that was visited by God and Jesus Christ. He is our top progressing investigator right now. He has to do dialysis 3 times a week because of the surgeries earlier in the year and he has tubes in his chest that can't be submerged for a couple of months.

I really enjoy my new companion Elder Doman. We have a lot of the same goals and personality traits. We both feel that this companionship is inspired because we had pretty much instant unity. He came from an english area in wenachee so he had 6 weeks to learn spanish and then 6 weeks to forget it but he is learning really quickly. Tonight we are going to eat with a less active member and she said she is going to make some hot salsa to help him learn even faster. I took him to someone that always really hard to understand just to give him something to check his progress off of. The funny thing is that person is still hard for me to understand but it has gotten better. Elder Doman is from Utah and just graduated High School in June. Also we have the same birthday, just a year apart.

I'm super excited for General Conference this weekend! I love being able to listen and read the words of the prophet and apostles. I hope that you are getting prepared to listen this weekend! They have been inspired to speak about things that are important for us today and we are ready to listen with the spirit, then we will be taught so much more by the spirit.

Speaking of apostles, we are going to be having one of the apostles here on oct 26! We are super excited for it! We haven't been told who it is going to be but thats ok because they are all great men of god.

The weather here has been pretty rainy and cool. Still nothing like the Kansas storms. The days are getting shorter and shorter. It starts getting pretty dark around 7:45 and then people don't want to meet because they think its late. Hopefully as the harvest winds down we get busier.

I hope that you all see miracles this week and that missionary opportunities present themselves.

Elder Young

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Transfers and a miracle week

Hello everybody!

Thank you for the letters this week, I always appreciate it. I hope that you have had just as good a week as I had.

This week has been pretty good and we also got our transfer calls on saturday. I'm staying and Elder Hall is going towards Othello. We are really sure exactly where its at, they just said the wards and zone that he will be in. I will be getting Elder Doman as a companion. He just came in the mission 6 weeks ago so I'm a step-dad now and will be finishing his training. He also went to the Mexico MTC so that is pretty cool. It will be fun to help train a missionary.

We definitely saw some miracles this week. We haven't been finding very many new investigators this month but then the last 3 days we found 4. They were mostly people that had been potential investigators for a while but it had been difficult to find a time to meet with them again. Also there were 6 investigators at church. It seemed like they just kept coming and coming. We were super surprised that there were that many there. We were also able to teach 21 lessons which it has been hard just to get 15 or 16.

Translating was pretty rough yesterday. It was a new couple to the ward and they had most of their talks written out or quoting from articles but the thing that made it really hard was that they spoke really fast. I felt bad for the few people that had to listen. Hopefully they were able to get something out of it. That was a real test of our translating skills.

I hope you all have a great week and I hope that you are able to see the little miracles in your life.

Elder Young

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Hello Everybody!

Its hard to believe that 8 months have already gone by!

So last week I forgot to mention a miracle that happened. An old investigator came to church last week and was talking to the bishop after sacrament meeting. Come to find out her long time live in boyfriend moved back to Mexico so she can now get baptized. The bishop challenged her to have the lessons in her less-active daughters house to maybe try to get them reactivated too. We were talking with her yesterday and she really understands the importance of living correctly now and receiving the ordinances of salvation. I am hoping that she will continue strong and be a strength for the spanish group.

This week was a little long as people were still busy harvesting and didn't have the time or energy to meet with us but we didn't have some good lessons. We are pretty much teaching the whole Delafuente family or someone they are related to. There are 4 daughters with their spouses or boyfriends that aren't members and we are either trying to reactivate them and/or teach them the missionary lessons. Hopefully we will be able to see some progress soon as they continue to read in the Book of Mormon.

Last night we had a pretty crazy storm. We had just finished dinner and then the power went out. We finished up with a spiritual thought and then left. As we were leaving, the wind was picking up and throwing tons of dust and dirt in the air (the soil is really sandy here) and we could hardly see as we were driving. Branches and twigs kept blowing across the road as we drove to our next appointment. Just as we got in the house, it started down pouring and then it rained for a little while longer but not too bad after that. It reminded me of Kansas storms but not nearly as long.

Something that I have learned here is that serving in a calling is just like a mission. We serve because the Lord has asked us to and try to magnify the calling we are given because we love the Lord. Our success isn't based on numbers or stats but rather on our commitment to serve our Savior in the calling he has given us. The Lord has his reasons for the callings he gives to us and promises us strength to be able to complete the tasks he has given us, we just have to do it his way.

I want you all to know that I know the church is true because I know the Book of Mormon is true. There is a prophet on the earth today and I know he has the authority to receive guidance and revelation for the world. I know we can receive revelation for ourselves also, we just have to be willing to act on the things that we learn.

I hope you all have a great week and always be looking for the Lord's hand in everything and you will see many more miracles.

Elder Young

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A slow week but full of miracles

Hello everybody!

I hope that everything is going well at home and that you have had opportunities to share the gospel with your friends and family. Sorry I haven't been very good about writing hand-written letters but I will work on it.

This week was a little slower than normal because lots of harvests have been going and some more are starting this week. That makes it so pretty much no one is home during the day and really tired at night but we are still teaching a few that want to meet with us despite the late hour.

Someone that we started teaching this week wants to meet with us at 8:30 because his family owns a popular Mexican restaurant and they don't close until 8:00pm everyday. He is always really attentive and tries to apply what we are teaching. We left a Book of Mormon the last time and he said he would read the introduction. Something that really impressed me was that we had an appointment for Thursday night but it was his wife's birthday so he called the member who referred us to him to tell us he wouldn't be able to make it and he wanted to reschedule. Normally people just forget about the appointments we have with them and then give us an excuse. I feel like he has a lot of potential and he wants his family to start listening also.

On saturday we were pretty much running the whole day. We started off with a church tour for someone, then we went to a wedding (in a different church and very interesting preacher), then we went and met someone that some members used to teach english to, then an appointment canceled but we found someone and had a lesson, then a lesson with a couple that when they started reading the Bible they noticed some things that weren't right with their church and then the last lesson of the day was a doozy. We were just trying a couple back that we had tracted into and we started getting hammered with questions that didn't really make sense and really had no constructive purpose. Every time we would answer a question in a way that he didn't already think of then he would get kind of quiet and go to another question. He had a very weird perception of prophets that made the apostacy even more real. I'm so grateful for the restoration and the truths we have because of it. I know that God has called prophets from the beginning of time to lead and guide his children in the way that he wants it done. There are great blessing from listening to his chosen servants.

Last night we ate at an investigators house because it was their sons (he is 4 now) birthday. We had poblano mole. They are from puebla mexico and thats a traditional dish there. Its pretty much chicken with a sauce and then rice and beans. It was way good. Then they gave us some cake and jello. The jello we ate was like 5 different colors but it was pretty good. I don't know if I will be able to eat Tex-Mex anymore after eating authentic mexican food for so long.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Young

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Short letter

Hello everybody!

Thank you for the letters and the emails. I appreciate the support and hearing how you all are doing. I'm sorry that I don't write back as much but just know that I really appreciate it.

This week was pretty good although harvests are in full force and people are way tired when they get home. It's nice when they still let us in even though are tired and probably just want to go to bed.

The language is coming along day by day. Its fun when people answer the door speaking a little english saying they don't speak any and then we just switch to spanish. 

Sorry this weeks is so short.

Thanks everyone and I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Young

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Slow beginning but Ended with MIracles

Hello Everybody!!

I hope you all have had a great week and thank you for the letters, I really appreciate it.

This week was pretty good but it started off pretty slow during the day time. Our nights have been pretty busy though. The last couple of days we have been teaching 4-5 lessons each day which is really good since harvest is starting. Hopefully this week we will continue seeing miracles like that.

A miracle that happened on Saturday was that we finally got to talk to a family we have been trying to meet for 2 months. They have only lived in the US for about a year and they had grown up catholic. In mexico they had a business so they didnt have much time for studying the bible but when they got here, some more time was available for religion. She started to notice that what the bible said and the catholic church taught were not matching up and she stopped going. They had super good questions and it seems like they really want to learn about the gospel. We are going back over next saturday to teach them again. Unfortunately thats the only day we can catch the whole family. We are super excited to keep teaching them.

The language is coming along nicely. Gospel terms come to me in spanish before english now. It gets easier to learn new words and to pronounce them. I still struggle sometimes because I want to say something one way but I have to say a different way because I forgot the right words. With time everything gets better.

Sacrament meeting yesterday was really good. A youth that just got baptized a few weeks ago passed the sacrament for the first time. Then the bishopric talked about missionary work in the ward. They were definitely trying to light a fire under the members to start opening their mouths and finding people for us to teach. The bishop also extended some goals for the ward that are pretty bold. The ward baptismal goal for the year was 8 and we have 7 right now but he wants to double the goal to 16 for the year. Then he also challenged the ward to prepare 200 names for the temple and have it done by the end of the year. The last challenge was to read the book of mormon by the end of the year. I was really impressed with how bold those goals are and hopefully the ward will jump on board with it. Also our ward missionary leader asked him to introduce a calendar for the members to sign up to be available to go to lessons with us. Hopefully we will start seeing some more progress from this.

I just want to say that the Lords work is going forth and its amazing to be a part of it. I know that many blessings come from serving a mission and at the same time there are great blessings from helping the missionaries around you. I challenge all of you to look for opportunities to share the gospel with your friends and family. It will bless their lives as well as your own.

I know this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be the Prophet of the Restoration and that his successors are called of God as well. I know this because I know the Book of Mormon is true.

I hope that you all have a great week and always pray for missionary experiences and ways that you can find people for the missionaries to teach.

Elder Young

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Transfer Week!

Hello everybody!

Thanks everyone for the emails and letters.

This week was really good and it was transfer week. Our trio got split up, so we are back to 2 again. There are Hermanas in Umatilla now which is a bit different but its really good. My companion also got made the District leader, which just means that he helps the Spanish missionaries here to achieve their goals and gives them training.

On friday we had a really good day of teaching. We were busy pretty much from when we left the house until about 8:00 unfortunately the last hour was a bit of a bust. The next couple of days were rough though. We did do a role-play for general stake priesthood meeting to help out the ward mission leader and ward missionaries know what  good correlation meeting looks like. Hopefully it was able to give them some direction.

It's exciting to be a missionary but the time goes by soo fast! This week and month just seemed to fly by! The month is already half over and it feels like it just started. I suggest to anyone that is on the fence about going on a mission, GO. It will be the best thing you ever do. You learn so much in such a little time about everything. You learn how to work with others, to listen and study and most importantly how to recognize the spirit. It is an amazing opportunity to serve and focus on the Savior for 2 years.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Transfer calls and County Fair

Hello everybody!

Thank you everyone that sent me letters and emails. I appreciate it, its nice to hear how others are doing.

This week was kind of slow because of the county fair. Everyone was gone on Saturday because it was the last day and the weekend. We also got transfer calls on Saturday night. Elder Hall and I are staying here in Hermiston while Elder Hammond is getting sent to Boardman. We will also be getting Hermanas in Umatilla. It will be fun to have more sister missionaries in the zone.

Spanish has been really fun to learn. It gets easier every week but there are always challenges that come up. Sometimes there are people that talk differently than I am used to or they talk faster or quieter. Everyday is a learning opportunity.

I just want to share that I know the church is true and that Joesph Smith was a true prophet. He was called of God to restore the true church. The evidence of this restoration is the Book of Mormon. By reading and praying about it, we come to find out for ourselves that God's work has not ceased on the earth and continues to reveal his gospel to prophets today.

Thank you for your support and prayers and have a great week.

Elder Young

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County Parade

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good but a little slow. We are still covering a really large area but its fun to get to know more people. This weekend we will be getting transfer calls so it will go back to normal next week sometime.

This weekend Hermiston had its County Parade and we got to be in it! We walked with a 55 Chevy Coup which was pretty cool. There about 7 of us missionaries and we passed out about 30lbs of candy and a bunch of pass along cards. It was crazy how many people were there! Of course it was almost the whole county that went to it. Someone was telling us that there was about 200 floats. Also it was a pretty long parade but I'm not sure how long it was. The rest of the night was just about impossible to find anyone at home because they were still trying to get home themselves since traffic was crazy.

The week was pretty good but it had some slow moments. This next week will be hard to find people because the County Fair will be starting. Hopefully it won't hurt us too bad for work.

I just want to say the watermelons here are awesome! Its harvest time and our fridge is pretty full of watermelon and we get it just about everywhere but that doesn't matter because they taste so good! Something interesting we tried last night at an investigators house was Agua de Coco. Pretty much it was coconut juice with pieces of pulp too. We were so full trying to eat a plate of watermelon and a big cup of Agua de Coco.

It has been a lot of fun serving here so far.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Getting used to the Trio

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good and the first full week of the tri-panionship. Its been fun getting to know my new companion and at the same time learning how to teach with 3 people. It definitely makes you learn and grow really quickly.

We had some miracles happen this week. We put 3 people on date for August. We are excited for them and are praying that they will be able to receive a solid answer by that time.

Funny story about the 3rd lady. We were teaching the restoration and the wife had to run outside for a bit so we kept teaching the husband. When we got to the first vision, he started telling the story. He then told us that he was baptized in 1982, was active for 10 years and then hasnt been to church since. We were floored! We had no idea that he was a member and we had talked with him a few times before that. After a few minutes his wife came back and we finished teaching the Restoration and then extended a baptismal invite and she accepted. We are praying she will start coming to church and receive an answer about the book of mormon.

Sacrament meeting was interesting this past sunday. The young men talked about their experience at scout camp and high adventure. It was extremely difficult to translate for it though. You don't use "tent" or "raft" or other words like that when you are teaching the missionary lessons. We just kept looking at each other as people were telling the story and then we would try to translate it the best we could. Hopefully with time it will get better.

Thank you for the prayers and the letters. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Young

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What a week!

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that wrote me this week, I really appreciate it. I love to hear how things are going in your lives.

This week was pretty fun and interesting and full of Heavenly Fathers blessings. We gained a companion this week as someone was transferred to Othello and called to speak an Indian dialect. It was a bit of a scramble as we moved him to our place with  such short notice but everything went pretty smoothly.(Blessing)

It was pretty warm this week but we still had a good amount of lessons that we taught. (Blessing) We definitely saw the Lords hand in our week as things fell into place and we were able to accomplish some of our goals as well as being protected. This past saturday we were knocking some doors on a little apartment complex and just about when we were finished with it. A little boy looks through a window and then tries to open it to talk to us. A few moments later the door opens and a pit-bull comes out with the boy trying to hold it back. Pretty soon he can't keep a hold of it and lets go. (He is screaming at the dog the whole time). Elder Hall was trying to keep it from jumping on him and got a couple teeth marks on his hand (blessed it didnt chomp down) Then it started coming after Elder Hammond and I. It never got us (another blessing) The kid tried grabbing the leash but couldnt and I kept yelling at it to sit down or go back inside then the kid said he wouldnt do it unless he had a treat so I told him to go get some. While he ran inside I managed to grab the leash and get the dog to call down a little bit. I was holding it like I was holding a snake (I didn't want to get bit) Luckily it was a choke collar so the dog got pretty tired and decided it would be best to back inside. I could definitely see Gods hand in protecting us because we could have been seriously hurt.

On sunday I had the opportunity to translate for sacrament meeting. I now understand what its like translate and it is really hard. Hopefully with more practice it will get better and better so the people listening can feel the spirit during the meeting.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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New Changes!

Hello everybody!

I hope you all had a great week!

We got a few new changes with the new mission president and the new changes that came from Salt Lake. At first I was a little confused about them but after thinking about it for a little bit, it made sense. For example, they asked us to wear our tags on the right side(besides the pocket tags). When you shake someones hand, it easier to see the tag. They are also going to let us wear lighter colored clothes. There are a ton of pictures on the church website which is pretty cool.

This week was pretty good. We went to the temple today so thats why I'm a day late. We had a good week of teaching and finding. We had 4 people at church and that was because members got involved and brought them there. The work just goes so much better when the members get involved in missionary work.

Sorry its a short one this week. I don't have a lot to say this week. Send me a letter or something. I would love to hear from you!

Have a great week!

Elder Young

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4th of July and the Rest of the Week

Hello everybody!

Things are going great here in the Washington Kennewick Mission!

We got to meet our new mission president and his wife. They are inspired people and I'm excited to learn from them and the great spirit they have.

So for the 4th it was really hard to find anyone at home or willing to let us in because they were enjoying their holiday but it was still a decent day. We had to be home by 7 and then do our weekly planning. We got finished early so we played some pool out in the garage. I got beat pretty bad each game but it was still pretty fun. We also watched the fireworks from the front lawn. The city lights them off from the Butte so it was pretty easy to see them. It was kind of like watch a chinese movie where what you see doesn't match up with the sound.

Something pretty cool that I learned this week was during sunday school. We looked at Matthew 5:48 and 3 Nephi 12:48. These scriptures are talking about being perfect but there is a difference that is pretty neat but I'm not going to spoil it. You will have to look up it and figure it out.

The weather was horrible at the beginning of this week. It was about 107 on tuesday and then it dropped into the 90s for the rest of the week so it was pretty good.

The time is going by so fast and faster by the day. It's hard to believe I have been in Hermiston for 3 weeks and on my mission for 6 months. I guess time flys when you are have fun.

I want you all to know that I know the church is true and it is only through Jesus Christ that we are able to return to live with God again and with our families forever. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Jesus Christ restored his true church through him. I know President Monson is a prophet today and he leads and guides the church according to the revelation he receives from God and Jesus Christ. I know the Atonement is a powerful thing and covers much more than we can really comprehend right now. I am so grateful to my Savior for the sacrifice he made for me and for each one of us. I know these things because the spirit has testified them to me.

Have a great week!

Elder Young

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Hot weather here in Hermiston

Hello everybody!

Things are going great here in Hermiston although we had a little bit of a slow week. We had a baptism that went really well. The spirit was really strong and the person being baptized felt it before she even got in the water. We went over how the baptism was going to go and she asked if she could a few moments alone to say a prayer before we took pictures and then afterwards she said she felt a peace before she even got the water. It's awesome to see someone recognize when the spirit touches their lives.

This week was nice and cool until wednesday or thursday and then the temperature skyrocketed! It went from 70s to 100s in a day but I guess thats what we get for being in the desert but that wont stop us from working hard.

I had to speak in church yesterday. It went pretty well. It was probably the longest time I've ever spoken before. It was in english too so it was kind of strange because that was the first real english talk ive given since I've been on my mission.

Thanks for reading and hope you all have a great week

Elder Young

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Settling into Hermiston

Hello everybody!

This week has been pretty good! For some reason transfer weeks always seem super long but then afterwards it goes by like lightning.

Hermiston has been pretty fun so far. We have met some really interesting people and taught some good lessons. I like my new companion and the members that we stay with. Its nice working in a city that has more than just one main street. We work in a group that is pretty small and has a couple sets of elders and a senior couple working in it. Yesterday we had just about as many missionaries as members in sacrament meeting but it was still really good. I guess that just means there is more work for us to do in bringing people into the church and getting people reactivated.

The world wide broadcast yesterday was amazing! I'm so excited to be apart of the changes that are coming. I know that as the members get excited about sharing the gospel, the work will progress so much faster. The missionaries can't do everything and expect great success. The members have to be working too to find those that have been prepared to receive the gospel. I challenge each of you to make a list of people you could share the gospel with and then think of ways to better your friendship with them and invite them to a church related activity or into your home. I know that as you do this, people will be placed in your path that need to hear the gospel. Always be thinking of ways to share the gospel and things will happen.

Hope everyone has a great week and that you have missionary experiences.

Elder Young

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Transfer CALLS!!

Hello everybody!

Thank you to everyone that sent me letters this week. I really appreciate it.

This week was a pretty good and I had a lot of fun teaching and finding and teaching some more. We were finally able to meet with this girl and her family. She has been going to church for a while (she started coming in january) but it has been hard to find a time to meet with her. This past friday we finally got that chance. We came into their house and the whole family was sitting there waiting for us. The dad did most of the talking but he seemed a little more comfortable with us by the end which was good. Most of his beliefs agree with the teachings of the church but with time and listening he will be able to resolve his concerns and the gospel will bring that family a lot of peace and unity.

We got our transfer calls this past saturday. I'm getting transferred to Hermiston Oregon. I'm excited to see a new area and meet new people but at the same time I'm sad to leave this area and all the great people. I will be covering just a spanish group which will be kinda nice as far as paperwork goes. I will tell you more about the area next week after I have gotten there.

On sunday my companion and I spoke in sacrament meeting for the spanish branch. It went better than my last talk here. I outlined the plan of salvation and then my companion spoke about the atonement because it is such a crucial part of it. My spanish is getting better and hopefully in Hermiston, it will get even better.

Hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Young

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It's been a good week

Hello everybody!

I don't have a lot of time so I will make this one pretty short.

We had a pretty good week. We were able to find 6 new investigators although one was pretty difficult at committing to read the book of mormon. She kepting trying to test our knowledge of the bible and stuff like that. She is a really interesting person and hopefully she will be able to feel the spirit that the Book of Mormon brings.

Something really awkward that happened this week was we were teaching this family about the plan of salvation and we were almost down when their 2 year old daughter came out screaming and her hand was covered in blood. My companion and I didn't really know what to do. They left really quickly to take her to the clinic. Later on last week we saw them for a few minutes and their daughter was fine. She didn't even need stitches which was good. Hopefully we will be able to teach them some more this week.

Hope you all have a great one!

Elder Young

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Tracting...Tracting...More tracting

Hello everyone!

Hope everything is going well at home!

This week my companion and I have been doing a lot of tracting as appointments have fallen through. I'm not sure how many miles we walk but I'm pretty sure Connell and Basin City will be tracted out before the end of this transfer. We were able to find a couple potentials and hopefully this week they will become investigators.

So there was a lady that we talked to in the trailer park this past week. I'm not sure what religion she was but she definitely had some interesting views about things. She invited us in at a later day and she started telling us that it wasn't right for someone to marry another person that already had a kid. My companion and I just kind of sat there and let her talk. He tried to get her to understand that we don't know what kind of situations other people have. I'm really grateful to have been raised in the gospel and to have a firm base in the gospel standards. It gives us so much direction and meaning to this life.

We had a couple of spanish dinners this week and they made fresh tortillas at both of them! It is definitely carne asada season here. When we walk through the trailer park, we can just smell all the grills going and can hear the mexican music playing.

These pictures are a couple weeks old but I thought they might be cool to share. The Columbia Basin is a beautiful place.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Transfer Week!

Hello Everybody!

So this week I lost mi papi (my trainer). He went up to sunnyside and I got a giant companion. He is 6' 7" and I look like a midget next to him. He is super funny and has been out on his mission for 19 months. He is a hard worker and I really appreciate that.

Something kinda funny that we found out this week. On my birthday last week,  we found a new investigator and she was pretty pregnant at the time. We set a return appointment for tuesday but werent able to make it because we needed to say goodbye to a few more people. My new companion and I go over to visit her on thursday and found out that she went in to the hospital later that night and had her baby. She is a pretty cool lady and we are hoping that we can start teaching her husband soon too.

The next day we were tracting through the trailer park again (in the area book its call the BTP or Big Trailer Park) and came across a Pentecostal lady. She talked to us for like 20 minutes without letting us talk. She was pretty interesting and maybe a little crazy. Pero asi es la vida. (but thats life).

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Birthday and Transfer Calls

Hello Everybody!

This week was pretty good but a little and it was my birthday. Thank you everyone that wished me happy birthday, I really appreciate that. 

This week we have mainly focused on finding but we are finding that tracting isn't all that effective but this week we were able to find someone for the branch. Hopefully she will begin progressing and really grasp onto the gospel.

On Saturday we got our transfer calls. My companion is going to Sunnyside and I am staying here with another Elder thats been out for longer. I've never met him before so it will be fun to work with him. This transfer is only 4 weeks long because of the mission splitting and then then transfer after that is 2 months long so it evens out anyways.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Slow but Good Week

Hello everybody!

This week seemed to go really slow but it ended up being a good week anyway.

Since we just baptized our top 2 investigators, this week was more focused on finding new people to teach. However, tracting in this area is not very effective. One day that we were tracting, two different houses had hairy shirtless men that answered the door. The first was skinny and friendly but he was busy and not very interested. The second however was the funniest. We knocked on the door and few moments later he answers. He was a very large, very hairy man and he said "I'm sick! I'm going back to bed!" and shut the door. It was rather funny to us and we just walked away.

Since we have been spending a good deal amount of time walking around, I have gotten a lovely missionary tan. That consists of a tan face and arms. A line in the middle my neck because of my collared shirt and a lovely watch tan. There have been a couple of days where we walk from 5-10 miles. It has been warm (80-90) but there is no humidity and for that I am very grateful.

This week was missionary week in the seminary class. We were asked if we could teach for a day and just answer questions about being a missionary. It was fun to tell stories about some of my experiences and kind of reflect on the time that I have spent as a missionary. It's an amazing experience to be able to share the gospel with others and be a servant of the Lord.

Thanks for all the letters and birthday wishes this week. Hope you all have a  great week. This picture is just outside of basin city.

Elder Young

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The work is progressing

Hello everybody!

This week was pretty good. We had a baptism and 2 confirmations which was awesome.

So we went tracting again this week. Unfortunately no one was very receptive, At all. We knocked a whole street and got the door slammed in our faces almost every time. I'm starting to learn that the best way to find the elect is through the members. Hopefully we will find some more investigators this week because we just baptized our 2 top investigators. I still love the experiences that I have gained as a missionary.

The weather is starting to get warmer here, 70s and 80s but its not humid and I am super grateful for that. The orchards are turning really green now and it looks really pretty for being a desert. I'll try to take a few more pictures this week so you can see what it looks like.

I love being a missionary! The gospel is an amazing thing, especially how it changes lives. Its really apparent when someone isn't living the way they should because the gospel brings a light into peoples eyes that isn't there normally. I love the things I have learned and experienced and wouldn't trade them for the world. If any of you are on the fence about serving a mission, go. It will be the best thing you ever do.

Have a great week everybody! Oh! I love getting mail just so you all know so please send some if you feel so inclined.

Elder Young

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What a week!

Hello everybody!

We had a pretty eventful week here in Connell and Basin City.

We have had lots of lessons, a car wreck and then to end the week we had a baptism.

So the car wreck wasn't our fault. We were in a parking lot and came to a T, we looked both ways and then started to go. A lady with her truck pulled into the parking and was on the right side of the road. As we started to turn, she cut onto our side and hit us. Since it was on private property, the police couldnt do anything about it. I didn't get good pictures of it on my camera but my companion got some that really proved it was her fault.

Yesterday we had a baptism in Basin City. It was awesome to be able to see someone change their life and become baptized. It has been so much fun to work with that family and it will be amazing to go to the temple with them in a year.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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Another Great Week in the WKM

Thank you to all that wrote me this week. It was nice to hear how things are going back home.

This week was really good. We taught a bunch of lessons and found a few new investigators. The next couple of weekends we have baptisms planned of some really awesome investigators. The work is going forward and its exciting to see the changes is brings in peoples lives.

My language abilities got a nice test yesterday in the spanish branch. My companion and I were asked to speak about how to share the gospel. Of course I was shaking while I was reading but it was still understandable. I'm hoping it will be another little while before I have to speak in sacrament meeting again but its a small branch and the rotation is rather short because of it. Its getting easier to understand and to speak but I still make lots of mistakes.

So funny story for this week. We went over to a non-member lady's house to do some service. My companion and I think she is a bit of a hoarder and this is why; we were cleaning up her garage because she is older and isnt very strong. She has a 3 port garage and 2 of the ports are taken by cars. The last one was stacked floor to ceiling of furniture and boxes of random STUFF. Towards the end (6 hours later) we were putting some of the stuff back so she could pull her cars back in and there were a couple of EMPTY boxes that could be thrown away but she said "thats a good box, i want to keep it." She is a really nice lady and she is lonely but it was kind of ridiculous. Hopefully she will be more willing to listen to the message of the gospel because of the service.

Hope you all have a great week and remember that when life knocks you down, don't let it win. Get up and keep going. You are sons and daughters of God and you potential is more than you know.

Elder Young

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Slow but good week

Hello everybody!

Thank you to all those that sent me a letter this week. It was really good to know how everybody is doing. It sounds like it was a really good week.

Elder Webb and I had a bit of a slow week because most of our investigators are back working the fields and they work super long/strange hours so it is really hard to get a hold of them. We are still working hard though and were able to find one super awesome investigator. We met with him 4 times this week and he has already read through the beginning of 2nd Nephi. Elder and I were floored when he told us where he was because we weren't expecting him to read so much. What is even more awesome is that he said he gets a calming feeling as he reads it. He is an awesome guy and we are super excited for him as he continues to progress in the gospel.

Yesterday as we were driving to basin city we saw a huge fire just a little ways off of the road so we went and took a couple pictures. There were whole trees in there from what we could see. it was pretty cool.

My camera has a cool panoramic feature and this is one of them.

 This is how flat most of the is area is but it is perfect for farmland. This is a field of alfalfa.

Hope you all enjoy your week

Elder Young

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General Conference!! + a Great week

Hello everybody!

This week was a pretty good week especially since it ended with conference! I loved hearing the prophet and the other general authorities speak. They such powerful testimonies and its just a strong motivator to be the best person I can be. One of my favorite quotes from Elder Hollands talk was "Fan the flame of your faith." Sometimes the world will try to smother your flame but you can't let it because without your faith what do you have?

My language is coming along. Sometimes its hard for me to express my thoughts but it is getting easier to understand others.

This week is transfers and we got transfer calls last night but my companion and I are still in the Connell/Basin City area. We are happy to be staying here because the mission is about to split in July and wherever you are is where you stay and neither of us want to go to Vancouver because there isn't as much spanish there. Its crazy that 6 weeks have gone by already! It seems just like yesterday that I was walking off the plane in a strange land. I love serving here and the people are amazing.

Hope you all enjoyed conference and have a great week!

Elder Young

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Super good Week

Hi everybody!

I don't have a whole lot of time today but I just wanted to write a quick note about this past week.

This week was awesome! We found 11 new investigators which is really good for this area and since all the Hispanics are working all the time. Also we taught a ton of lessons. And to top off the week we had a baptism on saturday! It was a bit stressful because he showed up near the time that was supposed to start but it was understandable. He works with lambs and its the time of the year that they have their babies. I was fortunate enough to be the one to baptize him. It was a really neat experience to be able to baptize someone I taught and to have seen his growth.

Its really funny sometimes when Mexicans try to pronounce my name (ones that dont speak english) because I guess they dont have that kind of "y" sound so I just tell them to call me Elder Joven because it means the same thing in spanish. That was one of the funny experiences I had this week.

I love this area! And I love being a missionary! Its an amazing experience to be able to watch people be blessed by the gospel. An amazing scripture is 2 Ne 31. Its all about the doctrine of christ. Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for the letters this week. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

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A Slow But a Good Week

Hello Everybody!!

This week was a bit slow because we had so many people cancel on us but we still had some success and it was still fun. 

We had to talk in one of the English wards that we cover about missionary work. They only asked me to bare my testimony about it but I still don't like talking in front of a lot of people. We were able to get a few referrals from talking with the members yesterday. That area is really hard to find new investigators without the members because everyone is so spread out.

We have a baptism coming up this weekend in the Spanish Branch which we are super excited for. He is an awesome guy and is super ready to be baptized. 

A funny experience that we had this week was we visited a family just to set up an appointment for the next week and right as we were about to leave, the grandma asked if we were going to have a lesson. I thought that is was funny and awesome that they wanted to read out of the scriptures with us. It just goes to show you that there is real power in the scriptures and to never take them for granted.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Young

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.