Relate, to form relationships

 I must say, this transfer is flying by!! It is already week 3 and I am trying to solidify a consistent schedule so everything is going pretty good all in all! We may have to be quarantined for the next week or so depending on the results of another Elder soooo... we'll see what happens. We got sent a bunk bed because we asked for one 2 weeks ago and we decided we didn't want it and the Asistants wouldn't take it back so we simply made a double decker couch hahaha (pictures below). Don't worry we were 84.6% safe. 

Our investigators are awesome!! We had some pretty amazing experiences finding new people and hearing some of the stories of our progressing Investigators. Somehow we continue to find new people so I am still working on an organizational tactic so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!! We are attempting to intermix Spanish and English areas so that we can find more Spanish speakers in English areas so hopefully things work out and we can continue to find!! I also got invited to a wedding for the investigator family that I had on date for baptism in my last transfer this week!!! Super excited to go!

We also had zone conference this week!! The assistants told us to all prepare a 5 minute talk and they would randomly select a few to share. I was not one of the few chosen but our talks were supposed to be centered around how we can teach more like Christ. The saying I used in my talk and this email is Relate To Form Relationships. Jesus talked in parables a lot which allowed the people to relate to what he was saying. If we as missionaries to do our best to relate to the circumstances of those we are teaching, they will be more receptive to the message we are sharing. This can also apply outside of the missionary life. If we can all do a little more to understand the perspectives of others and Relate To Form Relationships, then I promise we will find success in our conversations!

PICTURES!!

Unfortunately there are only a few but here are the promised couch pics haha

Information precedes inspiration

 Week 1 post-transfers!!! The area I am in is super awesome!! I am in Magna serving in a mix of two stakes kind of. It is just 1 Spanish ward that covers the area of about 2 stakes. Basically there are 172 families that we cover between 5 of us. The other 3 Elders have most of the members. I realized I need to take more interesting photos so I've got a few below of the kind of stuff you find in Magna haha. Also I got hooked on Mate so also pics of that below haha. 

Our list of investigators is pretty nice but the more you have, the more you have to keep track of. Our goal for this next week is to touch base with all of the investigators that are progressing and try to match them up with members and set up an organizational schedule so that we can maintain contact. May be a bit complicated but with faith, nothing is impossible :)) I'm so excited to just get to work here and see what happens!! We had some interesting run in's with this super creepy masked dude and thinking that we got robbed (which we didn't, someone just left the back door open). So pretty eventful week!

As we seek for inspiration and attempt to teach using it, we often forget an important principle. Without information on the thing you are attempting to recieve inspiration for, it's really hard to revieve said inspiration. I was talking with my parents last night for Come Follow Me and my dad said "Information Precedes Inspiration". It drives home the point that if we can do all we can to learn the information, it will be much easier to recieve the inspiration necessary to move forward. I have learned that with my many progressing investigators that if I can do everything I can to learn the information and organize it, it will be much easier to recieve inspiration on how to execute it. 

PICTURES

1. I got hooked on Mate and got Super hungry at 8:30pm

2-3. Interesting cars in magna🤷‍♂️

 WEEK 6!!! So I am on my final week of my 2nd transfer and it has gone by SUPER FAST!! This week has actually been a super good week so prepare yourself haha. First off I have found a secret love for running... and have taken it upon myself to train every other morning running. I've already knocked some PR'S and am super excited to keep getting faster (literally NEVER thought I would say those words...) Also I appologize to all those that I told that a runners high is impossible and not a thing haha. 

Anywho... we still can't recieve food prepared by members HOWEVER... we can we reviece commercial food bought by members :) So on Tuesday and Wednesday, we had our lunch AND dinner for free and it was pretty solid food!! Then we had the same family who bought us one of the meals give us a huge box of chips for our apartment sooo... pretty successful week. "But wait... there's more" I am 89% sure my companion is going to an English area next transfer which is sad because he is SUPER effective in this area. As a matter of fact... *cue drumroll* WE HAVE 3 PEOPLE ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!!!!! This is the family I think I mentioned a few weeks ago and we are also having to assist in getting them married because they don't speak English! It's been a cool learning experience. They are set for next month which is well after transfers so we will see what happens with me and my new comp (assuming I stay). 

In this time there are very many things happening around us that allow for the opportunity to be Reactive. Being reactive is important because sometimes you don't have time to prepare in the moment. What if you didn't have to prepare "in the moment". If we can strive to be Proactive, we can anticipate and control part of the situation before a problem arrises. For the current missionary work, it is very hard to find people by sitting around and waiting for someone to call you because... they won't. They barely answer when WE call THEM haha. I believe that the more proactive we can be, the more prepared we will end up when the unexpected comes around. 

PICTURES!!! (There are not very many, sorry)

1. I've been working to time my mile and I did it today!!

2/3. We DEEP CLEANED the house because we had inspectors coming so we made all of our beds the same way and wrote scriptures haha.