Josh's Journey

Monday night they had a BBQ across the street and a the police came and did a presentation and gave tours of some of their vehicles. They also would cuff you if you wanted.   Tuesday we crashed a youth activity and the young women were doing a salon so we joined in an get masks and had my toenails painted.    Wednesday we rearranged our bedroom a little to give more space for our beds which ended up working out well. In the evening we had an ice cream social with one of the wards we cover and we got to chat with the and met a lot of people. They also had a ton of left over ice cream so we now have a stash of ice cream at the church whenever we want it.   Thursday we went to this homemade ice cream place in downtown bountiful which as really good ice cream. In the evening we were on a walk to visit people and it started thunder storming which I enjoyed since we haven't had any rain in a couple months and I love thunderstorms.   Friday we had District Coun...

 I'm staying in southern bountiful for my last transfer (6 weeks) with Elder S! I was hoping to stay so I was glad to see that.   Short email this week 🤷 ‍ ♂️ but here some highlights. Tuesday: went on a couple walks with members and got some delicious shaved ice. We also got to chat with someone thinking about serving a mission about mission life.   Wednesday: we went to a youth activity and they were playing kickball but the based were slip and slides into inflated pools which was a great time (no we didn't go on the slip and slides and ruin our clothes).   Thursday: had an awesome district council where we all shared our testimonies and the spirit was super strong. I also got an answer to a question I'd been praying about for around a month or so during Elder K's testimony (funnily enough it had nothing to done with what he actually said but he brought the spirit which then gave me my answer). Afterwards we had Elder K's "funeral" since he is ...

Hello! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! We are in the middle of a heat wave and dry spell so we didn't have many fireworks for safety reasons. I am so blessed to live in a country and enjoy the freedoms we all have here. I am particularly grateful for the freedom of religion that paved the way for the Restoration of Christ's church on the earth. God's fingerprints are all over the founding and protection of this nation. Truly In God We Trust.   Tuesday we had meeting with half the mission to meet President and Sister Johnson. We got to know them and their kids. When we got back we went to a youth activity and played pickleball and capture the flag with the youth.   Wednesday morning we had interviews with President Johnson so he could get to know us better (more on the interview later). After that we helped 2 families move before beginning to close our missionary apartment and opening up a new one which lead to an exhausting day.   Thursday we had Di...

  Tuesday nothing too crazy happened. We went to a young men's activity and played chair soccer which a lot of fun.   Thursday we had District Council which was good. We talked about repentance and how we can apply it better to us and teach it to people.    Friday most of the day we spent at a mission wide conference since it is the last one before our Mission President goes home and we get a new one. The whole thing was super awesome as President Call went through and talked about some of highlights of some of their favorite trainings they have given. We ended up talking a lot about Christ's Atonement and change. I will miss President and Sister Call. They were excellent examples of diligence through pain and power in teaching and in the priesthood to me. They also showed incredible love towards each other (which I hope to emulate to my future wife) and towards us. President Call taught me so much about how the Priesthood works and how God runs His kingdom here ...

  Tuesday we set up service with the young men in one of our wards and we went and had that. We ended up tearing out grass and some bushes. I may or may not have broken a sprinkler head (which means I have broken at least 3 of them that I can remember on my mission).   Wednesday we ended up doing a bunch of service. We helped two people move (in 100° heat which was not super enjoyable. After that we went on walks with two different members which was a good time.   Thursday we had district council. Our District Leader was sick so Elder K lead that. We talked about working with stake and ward leadership and we were able to have some good brainstorming and discussion. We also had a great lesson with J (who we talked to at church last week) and her friend from P. We had our lesson all planned out and when we started my companion and I both experience what the scriptures call "a stupor of thought". We felt like we needed to change what we talked about and ended up talking ...

 Highlights of the Week: - we helped put up some drywall which was interesting. I know how to do that now. - spoke in church which went amazing. Definitely the best talk I have ever given even though I ended up having to skip a 3rd of it due to time constraints. - did lots of walking around in 100 degree weather - looked at chalk festival submissions which were super cool - had a mission devotional with President Dallin H Oaks of the First Presidency. He shook all of our hands which was super cool that he would take the time to do that. He also taught a lot of amazing lessons to us. One was that our generation is a "me" generation that is full of entitlement but also that because we were serving a mission we had separated ourselves from that. Another was about the importance of the sacrament in the repentance process. The while time he was there I felt a strong peace that was the spirit testifying of what he said to be true. Quote of the Week: "you can bear y...

 Tuesday we had transfers and Elder H got transferred out. I stayed and my new companion is Elder S who is from North Pole, Alaska. Transfers took forever so we didn't end up getting people moved until about 3:30. After dinner we had a walk with a member of our stake presidency and we met some of his neighbors and chatted with them. Later we went with our landlord to someone we hope to start teaching soon and their sprinkler system was not working so we (and by we it was mostly our landlord) fixed it. Wednesday we tried to give the car to the missionaries who were assigned to it but they didn't have their tiwi card yet (allows them to drive missionary vehicles) so we took them to take the test to get one before taking them home. We later went on a walk and met a couple where the wife has cancer and we talked to them and asked them if they needed anything. We had a good visit with them and they were super nice.  Thursday we walked outside to actually take the car to the oth...

 Today is crazy with transfers so short email this week. Happy memorial day! Thank you to all those who have served, are serving, and will serve to allow us the freedoms we have today! The highlight of the week was definitely Thursday so that's what you get. It started off with District Council and interviews with President Call. One thing I brought to him were things that I am struggling with. As we talked more, he helped me realize that I am doing much better than I think I am and to keep trying. That was super nice to hear and realize. After District Council, we had a lesson with someone we are teaching that went super well. We read an account from the scriptures about Elijah hearing the Lord in a still small voice and talked to him about receiving answers to prayers. It was amazing since my companion and I were on the exact same page the whole time. More than once he said the exact words that I was about to say that I was thinking. During the lesson, Maas360 (the softwar...

  For the past couple months, my companion and I have been playing basketball in the mornings. A couple weeks ago I sent a picture of the hoops taken off one of our buildings, we started going to the other one near us (because Utah be like that) and we showed up and they were refinishing the floor and our third building is about to get work done on it as well. Result: our mornings previously full of exercise have been boring as of late. Tuesday we decided to switch around our schedule. Since the afternoons have been super hot and nobody is outside we decided to go on our walks in the morning before it gets hot and in the evening when the sun starts setting and things cool down. On one of our walks we met this guy who does wood working and he showed us his shop and some of the stuff he has made which was really cool. He does it was a side business but has had a hard time because of the pandemic. Wednesday we had a really good meeting with our stake presidency and high counc...

  Tuesday nothing too crazy. We were supposed to have our weekly meeting with a member of the Stake Presidency but we forgot that he was out of the country and told us that he couldn't make it. We got an email later reminding us that afterwards and we were like that explains a lot. Wednesday we had service doing yardwork with a group of young women. After we had a meeting with our high councilor over missionary work and talked about how we could get ward councils more involved along with some other things. We also went on a walk to a creek in our area near a park and there were lots of people there trying to avoid the heat. Thursday we had District Council and talked about teaching in the saviors way and looked at the recording of Jesus and the woman at the well and talked about the things He says and how He taught her. After we went to fiiz since we figured after would be better than before and then having the drive thru being super long again and being super late. In the even...