Welcome Home Elder Cluster

Goodbye MIM (Last Email)

Monday- We had an awesome P- day! One of the best that I've had in a long time. So the bishop of the Parkville ward, Bishop Laudie, owns a gymnastics gym so we went down there with eight missionaries during the open gym time. It was great! We messed around on ridiculous trampolines, played some sports, and had the most intense game of tag you could ever imagine. The day went on, and by the time we got home at night I wasn't feeling very good at all. It came out of nowhere and hit me like a train. Long story short I ended up puking a lot and going to bed.

Tuesday- The next morning we both work up and felt horrible. I don’t know if I have ever felt sicker in my life. Going so hard at P day probably didn't help too much either. Elder Robinson was feeling pretty bad too so we must have caught something somewhere. We both slept for a good 18 hours that day. We got up to keep our dinner appointment (I hope we didn't get them sick) and then had our final lesson with Danetra. The spirit was super strong as usual. She was feeling nervous, but still ready to go. Considering we didn't get out of bed until like five o'clock I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to sleep at all that night, but by the time ten o'clock rolled around I was out like a light.

Wednesday- So about a week ago we found a new investigator named Mike. We went back for the return appointment and he had completely forgotten about it so he rescheduled for today. He said it would work better for him just to meet at our church or something, so we set up a church tour! I was so excited! I had planned church tours in the past with other investigators but none of them had ever really gone through. We had such a spiritual lesson with him. We were about to open up our exchanges with Elder Walker and Elder Call so they were both there to help us teach too. The lesson went so great. It’s amazing to just watch the spirit work. This truly is God’s work and his glory, and if we just let him help us he will change people's life through us. After the lesson I started my final exchange with my good old district leader and old companion Elder Walker. We had a great night together. He sure has grown a lot since the time I was serving with him this time last year.

Thursday- We went up to the church with Danetra and Elder Walker to take care of her baptismal interview. Before anyone is baptized they have to be interviewed by a missionary who wasn't involved in their teaching. It’s usually the district leader in the area. I think giving baptismal interviews was one of my favorite parts about being a district leader. It’s like you get to swing in and put the cherry on top. It all went really well, and afterwards we helped Danetra find a baptismal jumpsuit and showed her how the baptism would be performed.

Friday- We froze our butts off today! It was so ridiculously cold! It was horrible! In the morning we biked a few miles to the thrift store where we do service every week. By the time we got there I couldn't feel my face (not good for helping me get over being sick.) When we got back home we decided it was far too cold to bike so we made it a day of walking and boy did we walk!! You know, it really wasn't that bad either. I kind of enjoy walking. It was cold but we were all bundled up so it wasn't too bad. We had dinner at the Hoyal’s house. Brother Hoyal is the best Chiropractor on the planet. He's adjusted us a couple times just at his house, and it feels like heaven! He is a magic man! After a long day of walking it felt fantastic to be adjusted.

Saturday- Danetra's Baptism was Amazing! It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. She was really nervous and antsy leading up to the moment that she was baptized, but as soon as she came out of the water you could tell she was a new person. The spirit was so strong through the entire service. I had the chance to give the talk on the Holy Ghost after the baptism. It went really well, but I almost feel we could have learned more from the Holy Ghost by just sitting there in silence because He was definitely there. Her kids were all there and they really liked it. On the drive home we asked her youngest son Gage if he wanted to get baptized soon too and he said YES! To top it all off our new investigator Mike was even there! Everything was perfect!

Sunday- My last sacrament meeting as a missionary was fantastic. I was a little nervous at first because Danetra was late! I was getting pretty uncomfortable by the time it was ten passed and she still hadn't showed up. We got a lot of snow that day though so just about everyone was running late. She was confirmed by the bishop. It was all really powerful. Something else that was really cool was Jeremy Guthrie brought two nonmembers to church with him. They were two Muslim students from Turkey. They were like eighteen and nineteen and on some sort of school program through their church. They were almost like too little missionaries themselves!.. but not really. All the same it was great, and they really liked church. Afterwards we went the Horrock's for lunch. They wanted to have us over for dinner before transfers but our calendar was all filled up so they just had us over for lunch instead. They are such a great family. I'm so very grateful for all that they've done for us over the months. After dinner we visited the Halls. I've really loved working with that family too!

The Horrock Family

... It’s sad to think that it’s all about to end. I have lots and lots of mixed emotions right now. It’s been quite the ride for the past two years with all the ups and downs along the way. I have learned and grown so much in the past 730 days. It’s been a lot of hard work but in retrospect the only times it was really hard is when I tried to do it my own way. My favorite verses in the bible are Mathew 11:28-30 where Christ asks all those who labor and are heavy laden to take his yoke upon them and he will give them rest. He says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Christ has promised that when we take his work upon our shoulders it will be light, the only way that that works though is if you let him help you. I've come to know that when Christ is there to help you, no burden is too heavy, no task is too daunting, no storm too long. We are truly the children of God and he is pleading with us to let him help. I have seen him mold and heal so many souls. I know that this is Christ's church. I know he leads it through priesthood power. I have been so blessed over the last two years and I will never be the same because of the things that I've learned, done, and seen. Thank you so much for following me week by week across my mission. If any of want to hear from me one last time please please please come to my homecoming talk this coming Sunday at 9am. It will be at 300 Gramercy Ave, Ogden UT. I love you all and I will see you this weekend. God speed.

Love, Elder Cluster

Last Full Week!

Hey Everyone!! Thanks for tuning in! This is my last full week as a missionary! This past week has been a good one! I'll tell you all about it! Actually you'll be getting the abridged version. It's been a great week but well I only have two p-days left, and I can tell you all about my mission soon enough either way.

So there were two really great highlights of the week. The first one has been working with Danetra! She is doing really well! We met with her a good three times this week. One of the times we went over for dinner and made her fajitas! Elder Robinson is a good cook! It was an awesome way to get to know her kids. Afterwards her three kids went to the youth activity and they loved it. She's doing fantastic. We have one more meeting with her and then the baptismal interview and then she'll be good to go for this Saturday. The other great thing that happened this week is we had an amazing lesson with Brother and Sister Guthrie. We taught Israel and his family. (Do you remember me bringing them up in the past?) We went over the restoration with them and the spirit was so strong in the room. The Avalos family is so prepared! All they need to do is make it out to church and they'll be good to go. The Guthrie's are the perfect fellowship for them too. What else was fantastic this week? Barbecue! Barbecue was awesome. The Morenos, a family that we are working with, work at a fancy barbecue restaurant. They gave us a big discount so it was only like five bucks each and it was fantastic! We had Ward counsel. That was really good. Pray for Danetra! Her baptism with be Saturday at 1:00pm. Love you all! Thanks for reading!

Elder Cluster

Happy New Year from Zion

Hey everyone! I don't have too much but if you read this email all of your wildest dreams will come true!

 Monday- there was a bunch of kids at the stake center because everyone was off of school. They were playing dodge ball so we just joined in.

Tuesday - We had a great appointment with a part- member family. We were on team ups with our Ward mission leader!

Wednesday- District meeting was good! We had a member from our Ward show up to it! He was coming for institute but it turns out that it was canceled so he just joined in with us. After that I went on exchanges with Elder Walkers son Elder Call. That was so great! He is an awesome missionary! We did a lot of snow tracting and walking because we ran out of miles.

Thursday- We did missionary work!

Friday- Happy New Year's Eve! We had dinner with the McCarters and then they came with us to an appointment with Danetra. We talked about the priesthood, it went great!

Saturday- We went to the Liberty Jail with Danetra, her son, and sister McCarter. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. Afterwards I was talking to Danetra about what she felt and , and she said that now she knows for sure that Joseph smith was a prophet. It was a wonderful day for all of us.

Sunday- Last fast Sunday of the mission. We had dinner with the Guthrie's! They are great missionaries! Jeremy Guthrie gave me a signed baseball card of himself!

Thanks for reading! Love you! Email me!