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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