Semi-Long Week

Hey everybody!

Hope you all had a great week. I haven't really heard from many of you but I hope everything is going well.

This week was a bit of a longer week. We had zone meeting and interviews back to back this week. We sort of got rebuked at interviews because our work was not matching the goals we were setting. He also told us that we were taking over the role of the wards in the less-active work. Definitely felt rebuked during that time but then again everyone else did as well. It was really good to get some direction about what our purpose really is and what the purpose of the members is.

So we did a lot more tracting this week and ran in to some pretty interesting people. We met a few Ukranians that didn't really speak english very well so that was pretty fun trying to talk with them.
For some reason whenever someone is struggling to speak in english, I revert to spanish, even if they don't speak spanish. It doesn't make much sense but its pretty funny.

So some of the training that we had was about taking the time to ask inspired questions. Later on this week we tried that with an investigator that has been a little hard headed and her less-active husband. We had planned to talk about obedience but one of the first questions I asked was about the sacrament and we went from their and the lesson went pretty good. We have been taught about asking inspired questions before but after time you tend to forget some of the past trainings. I feel like it will help a lot to teach and rely on the spirit more.

Hope you all have a great week and you see tons of miracles! and please write me, I would love to hear how you all are doing!

Elder Young

Week of New Years

Hey everybody! Thanks for the letters and emails! I really appreciate it. Sorry I'm really horrible about writing back.

The work was a little slow this week. We had to go home early on New Year's eve but it was alright. The 4 of us played Risk until it was time to go to bed which was pretty fun.

We found a few new investigators this week. It has been a little difficult to be able to talk with them again but hopefully we will have some success this week in teaching them. Our zone has been setting some focuses and goals to find more investigators to support the mission's goals. Its been a lot of fun because as we get new investigators, we send in their names to the zone leaders and then they update the zone. It makes it seem more like a team effort instead of each companionship being on its own.

So we have been having some success with some of the less-active families that we have been working with. One family has come the last 3 weeks and they keep bringing more people from their family with them. Another family we have been working with has a goal to come to church each sunday this whole year. The mom even got up in fast and testimony meeting and told the branch that if she is not there that she wants them to remind her about her goal. I hope the branch keeps them accountable to their goals. It's been awesome to see the families back in the church.

Something pretty cool that happened this week as we were reading with a less-active was that she figured out was revelation was. We were reading in Helaman 6 which is pretty much just talking about the Gadianton Robbers but as we were reading and explaining what was going on, she told us it sounded a lot like the gangs of today. The look on her face was amazing as she realized that she had just learned something by the spirit. Something also that she liked was that she could listen to the scriptures on her phone. The next day she told us that she had done her morning prayers and listened to the scriptures and that she felt really good. On Sunday she told us she had been reading/listening to the scriptures the whole week. The spirit definitely works in amazing ways to help the people learn and grow.

Hope you all have a great week and that you see many miracles in your lives.

Elder Young

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