WOW What a week!

Hello,

This week was really good for us, we talked to more people than we did last week and we found a couple of really good investigators that have a lot of potential. We are super excited to work with them and help them come closer to Christ. Last night we were stopped by to see if we could talk with them for a few minutes and we ended up listening to stories of events that happened in their life that has prepared them to receive the gospel. We didn't have to say much but what was said was exactly what they needed and we could feel the trust that they have towards us now. The Lord is preparing people in a number of different ways, we just have to be sensitive to the spirit to know how to help.

This week we also did some service as part of Make a difference day. It was mostly helping people that had their homes burnt or their property burnt and helping them with the things that would take too long for them to do on their own. My companion and I helped dig out wooden fence posts that were left in the ground and then we put in new ones so they could rebuild their riding arena. It was pretty neat to see the community get together to help others. There were about 200 people there as part of the relief effort.

Thanks for all that you do and hope you have a great week!

--Elder Young--

Miracles come after lots of training

Hey everybody!

This week was pretty good for us. We had a couple of training meetings and then we also had interviews with our mission president. It really helped us to focus on the basics and talking with everyone. After all of our training meetings we were able to find 2 new investigators and they seem like they have really good potential because they actually do what they commit themselves to do. In the mission that is a rarity and a huge blessing. We hope to see great things come from them in these coming weeks as we continue to work with them towards the commitment of baptism. 

At our interviews president talked a lot about our desire and how that affects our work. It made me realize that we can't just say that we have a desire to do the work but we actually have to do it and do it with everything that we have. It made me think about how it would be the same for the celetial kingdom. We can't just say that we have been good but we actually have to do it and do it with full purpose of heart. I love the examples in the scriptures because of the missionaries in the scriptures do everything with such energy and zeal that its a great example for us to do our very best each and every day.

Sorry the letters are getting shorter. I'm kind of getting burnt out on writing letters. Its still hard to believe that I'm coming up on my last transfer. October is almost over already which is insane! Hope you have a great week!

--Elder Young--

New Greenie in Brewster with many adventures

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty hectic with transfers and all that but we are starting to get settled in. Elder Turley is the name of my new companion. He is from Mesa Arizona and is an only child but a super hard worker. He just wants to be a great missionary and that is an awesome attitude to have in the mission.

This week was pretty slow for teaching but we have been doing a lot more finding to try and find the people that are really looking for the gospel. We have started to see some progress in a couple of our investigators and we are hoping that over the next couple of weeks that we will be able to see them come closer to baptism. We were able to find a couple of good potentials the last couple of days and we are hoping that they become great investigators for us this week. On sunday we had the confirmation for Junior and it went really well. His cousin did a really good job following the spirit as he gave the blessing. Our branch president commented afterwards that it didn't sound like him speaking but you could really tell that the spirit was telling him what Junior needed to hear at that time.

Having a new missionary with me reminds me when I started my mission. I remember asking my trainer lots of questions all the time and thats the same thing that my greenie does. I don't mind the questions because I know he just wants to do well and not be too surprised by things. As we have been doing role-plays together I realized just how much I learned from doing them with my trainer. It really helped me to understand and to practice what needed to be said to help the investigators. It's even helping me now to remember to use simple and clear wording so the spirit can testify even better to the hearts of the people.

This last transfer brought a lot of changes to the zone and its crazy to see missionaries that I've served around in the past and then a whole bunch of missionaries that I have never met before. Change is a good thing because it brings opportunities to learn and grow. The other companionship in our area got a new person as well and he is definitely different than we are used to but he is a great missionary and the combination of the two elders is a pretty funny combination but they are good for each other.

Hope you all have a great week and that you see many miracles from the hand of the Lord.

--Elder Young--

A long but fast week.. how does that work?

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good. The week was slow but at the same time it went really fast. I'm not sure how that is really possible but it happened.

 We got transfer calls sunday morning before the first session but we had gotten a call from President the night before. I will be training a new missionary and Elder Fraser is going to Kennewick to serve with one of my former companions that will be finishing his mission after this transfer. It's crazy how time just keeps flying by. The last 6 months have gone by so fast that I can hardly believe that general conference has already come and gone. 

Teaching for us was little slower this week but we were still able to have some good lessons with investigators that seem to have really good potential. Something that I'm really beginning to realize is how much is available at our fingertips both as members and missionaries, not only material wise but spiritually as well. It is such a blessing to have a prophet and apostles on the earth today that receive revelation for the church as a whole and the scriptures to help us receive personal revelation. I'm so grateful for a Father in heaven that loves us and wants us to be happy but is still willing to allow us to be tried and tested so that we can learn and grow for ourselves

Hope you all have a great week!

--Elder Young--

Super Crazy Week!

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a great week and that you have seen many miracles!

This week was super crazy for us with lots of driving. We went to the temple in tri-cities which was about a 7 hour drive round-trip but it was well worth it. Thursday we did our weekly planning because we found out that we were going to go see the new movie that the church came out with called "Meet the Mormons." We had to drive to Selah to go see it which is about a 3 hour drive from our house. It was super good to see that. It is a really good movie and you should go see it when it comes out in theaters. It should be coming out in quite a few theaters on the 10th of October. It is a really good inspirational video for members and a good clarifying movie for those that aren't members. It's well worth going to go see and to bring a friend along as well. Also those long drives all started early in the morning as well. Each of those days we had to wake up at about 4:30 in the morning in order to leave on time but its amazing how much the spirit helps us to overcome trials in our lives, even being tired.

Despite all the driving that we did, we still saw some pretty great miracles! One of our investigators that has been investigating the church for about 5 months got permission from his mom and he was baptized on Sunday. That was a miracle that we have been praying for for a while and we are very grateful to have been a part of his teaching. Also we didn't really notice much of a difference in getting a hold of our investigators so that we were still able to get some work done. Although the plans that we had set didn't always go through, we were able to find more people that the Lord needed us to visit at that time. The Lord is hastening his work and its a privilege that he asks all of us to be a part of it.

Sorry that I don't have much more to say this week. Hope that you have a great one and that you all enjoy conference! It's going to be great to receive revelation and instruction straight from the prophet and apostles.

Hope you all have a great week and that you check our general conference to see the prophet and apostles speak!

--Elder Young--

Temple pday this week

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all having a great week. I haven't heard from a lot of you in a little while. Hope to hear from you soon!

This week was pretty good. We got some really good training from our mission president and his assistants about how the Lord wants his culture to be among the missionaries and then afterwards about weekly planning. Instead of just doing some superficial planning like we have been doing, preach my gospel teaches about planning with more detail the whole week and then the daily planning is focused more on what you are going to teach the next day. It took about 7 hours to do it but it has really helped us to stay focused on the investigators throughout the whole day. I know it will help me throughout the rest of my life to be a better planner. It's kind of funny because a few months ago I had prayed to have better planning skills and then we got this training. I know the Lord answers prayers in his own timing and in his own way.

The Lord has also blessed us with someone pretty awesome to teach now. She is an older lady that was a single mom for most of her kids life. We found her while she was watering her flowers and we were walking by trying to talk with everyone that we saw. We asked her if we could come back another day and talk with her and about a week went by before we had another chance to talk with her again. Long story short we have taught a few times, she has been to the english classes 2 times and is coming again today. She has read a little bit from the Book of Mormon and when she prayed last night she asked about knowing if its true. It is a huge blessing to find someone that is willing to act and that listens very well. We hope to see many miracles to come from teaching her.

This morning during my study I decided to do an activity from preach my gospel about writing down the specific blessings promised in the scriptures for the commandments. It really helped me realize that a lot of blessings come just because of our obedience to the commandments and then even more blessings come when those actions become a part of us.

I hope you all have a great week and that you see many blessings from putting the commandments to the test in your life. 

--Elder Young--

Time just keeps flying by!

Hey everybody!

This week went by super fast! We didn't have a ton of lessons but Elder Fraser and I set out to go find some new people to teach so we would park the car at the church and walk for most of the day. It's helped us to talk with everyone and to get to know the area better as well. The Lord did bless us with a couple of new investigators, a high schooler and an elderly lady. We hope that we will have success with them as we teach them the gospel and invite them to act on the knowledge that they receive.

This past weekend was very full of surprises. The companionship of sisters that are in Chelan texted me and asked if I would be able to do a baptismal interview before Sunday (its Thursday at that time) for someone they were teaching. It turned out to be the investigator whose husband was being difficult in letting her be baptized. Long story short, he gave her permission so I did the interview on Saturday. I also needed to do an exchange with the elders that are there so started the exchange the night before. The exchange went well and we changed back Saturday night and when I see my companion again he tells me that our branch president asked if I would speak on Sunday because everyone had cancelled on him. Crazy thing was that he wanted us to speak on doing the small things to strengthen our families and in turn strengthen the branch. Sound familiar? After I finished he got up and said that 4 other wards in the stake are focusing on the same thing and it was something that came from the stake presidency either. The Lord is definitely revealing to all of us in this area that its important that we do the little thing so that we can progress and do His will.

Hope you all have a great week and that you see many many miracles!

--Elder Young--