Josh's Journey

 Tuesday we had a lesson with a member of the stake presidency and he has the same last name of one of the ward mission leaders I had in Farmington. I asked if he was related and it ended up that it was his brother which was awesome. In the evening we had a lesson with a member family. We had called the mom about one of their neighbors and after she asked us if we could give a lesson on repentance and forgiveness for her kids. We decided that we would use a magic trick to teach it. We accidently set a post-it note on fire. Elder Hunter and I immediately tried to blow it out but we had our masks on. We were laughing so hard about trying to blow out fire with our masks on that we couldn't get enough air in our lungs to try to blow again. Eventually we got enough air and blew. This caused embers from the post-it note to fly across the room. Fortunately nothing caught on fire and the parents thought it was the funniest thing ever. The dad tried to spin it and say when we repent we can ...

Notice: Anyone who wants to update what email I send this to just respond (just to me) and let me know what email to change to. Monday we got the news I was getting transferred so we got Fiiz and delivered it to all the district to say goodbye. Tuesday we had transfers! I got transferred to south Bountiful. My new companion is Elder H who I was his district leader 2 months ago and is super fun to be with. He is from Buffalo NY and went to West Point for a couple years before serving his mission. Most of Tuesday was caught up finishing packing and moving.  Wednesday morning we got a call in the morning and someone asked for some help and helped move some stuff around for him. At the end he got a call from a friend and while chatting with him he mentioned that we where there and asked if he wanted us to pray for him. The guy said no but I thought it was so cool that he did that and it wasn't a big deal at all. He asked for a blessing and I did the anointing of oi...

  Once again I am fine. 'Twas merely a flesh wound.   Tuesday morning we had District Council. We talked about the power of testimony and how it brings the Holy Ghost to witness of truth. We watched a video found here  https://mediasrv.lds.org/media-services/ML/size/764295703001/640/480/1452828  which talks about that is and one of my favorite videos. Afterwards we had some cheesecake and celebrated Sister K's birthday which was last week. After that we went to Tonyburger and grabbed lunch together. After we got home we went and visited someone we are teaching who is in a care center and talked to him through the screen of his window. While we were there, his wife showed up and was so happy to see us there and she talked about some of the problems they have been having with his healing process and other things that have happened that were hard. It was super cool because  we got there around 45 minutes later than planned to visit him and because  we showed...

 Yes I am still alive and doing fine. Don't get an aneurism from the title.   On Tuesday we had District Council which was a party. We practiced teaching simply and turned into a competition between senior and junior companions. While these were going on, President Call and Sister Call walked in and were very confused on what was going on. After I explained what we were doing, he seemed to like it which was good. President Call liking something is always a good sign. Wednesday we had exchanges and went to the mission office to swap what bike Elder R is borrowing from the mission. On the way back, we stopped by Krispy Kreme and got some doughnuts for the district since it was one of the sister's birthday. When we showed up to give them to her and sing she wasn't there which was awkward so we left the doughnuts at their apartment. At night after 9 I had everyone in the district hop on a video chat and we sang happy birthday. It was pretty funny to watch everyo...

 Sunday the 21st was my 18 month mark of my mission. That is pretty crazy to think that I have been out that long and that I only have 6 months left. Time really does fly when you're having fun. Tuesday we had district council which was a blast. To help everyone better understand the importance of inviting we played a game. 2 companionships went back and forth eating beanboozled (the jelly beans that are either good or bad and you can't tell) and measured how many good and bad they had. The whole time I was trying to convince them to stop. They ended up eating all of them without giving up. We talked about how we don't know if the jelly bean is good or bad without trying it and how that is like how we don't know if people want to learn how to come closer to Christ without asking. It was a lot of fun to see them get good ones and be super relieved and bad ones and gag when they tasted them. We also had a lesson with a missionary who is leaving very soon and talked abou...

 Happy Valentines day! I hope everyone is doing great! Remember that God loves you! Tuesday we went and walked another dog. We also had a lesson with H and K. We had planned to have one of their neighbors who they knew well join in on the lesson. 10 minutes before the lesson they texted and said they had been exposed to covid and so we had scramble and figure out what to do. We just ended up having her join over zoom which was pretty good. Fortunately the delay wasn't too bad. Wednesday we went and visited someone we are hoping to teach at a care center. The way that we had to do it was they opened the window and we stood outside and talked with our masks on through the screen to him. He is doing well but still recovering from an injury. In the evening we had a meeting with the young men in one of our wards which was a lot of fun. We talked about Christlike Attributes. We talked about how Judgement will be not as much based on our actions as much as the results of our actions o...

 Tuesday we had a couple of appointments with people that people that we didn't know were members. It was pretty funny and we were able to have good conversations with them. We also wrote a note introducing ourselves and leaving our number on a paper and left it and some oreos on a door of someone we hope to start teaching. We had a lesson with H and K and talked about the Priesthood and the Sacrament.   Wednesday we were able to go on a dog walk (I failed to take pictures since we ran out of time and had to rush back). On the way back we were running to work him (the dog) out. As we were running, he went on one side of the railing and I went on the other and he got clotheslined by the leash. He was okay but we were laughing and were like why did you go that way. Afterwards we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Thursday we had Zone Conference which was really good. We had a really good conversation about different ways of receiving light and revelation from God. During ...

Tuesday we had tranfers! I am staying with Elder C in Centerville for another 6 weeks! I am super excited!!! Tuesday we ended up driving people around as they needed to move and pick up new companions and such. We had a bunch of meetings with people about using our map and getting their help which was super good and I think answered a lot of their questions. Wednesday we did a lot of driving as well. We took some Elders to the new missionary orientation at the mission office and then afterwards went to a sushi buffet and basked in the deliciousness. We also got some and took it to the rest of our district which they were super happy about. Thursday we were able to be outside a bunch. In the afternoon we went on a walk with one of our ward mission leaders which was super good to get to know him more and go visit some places. We also went and visited some places with one of the youth in one of our wards. He looked like he was 17 or 18 but he was 15. He was super outgoing and we had a...

 Tuesday before District Council we got together and had a pancake breakfast with the district which was a good time. During district council we talked about how to be better teachers and skills than we can work on and improve. When we finished and said the closing prayer, the sisters pulled out their silly string that we had given them a couple weeks ago and sprayed us. One of the cans didn't work right so instead of string it shot out the fluid everywhere (see pictures below). We ended up having to go to the dry cleaners for our suits. Before that we also took funeral pictures [ i.e. end of mission pictures ] for Sister L who is going home tomorrow. In the evening we had an appointment with H and K. We had to push back the baptism for them since they haven't been able to go to church and they weren't super happy about that. Wednesday we called lots of people before walking someone's dog during the afternoon. During the walk, the dog slipped out of it's harness a...