So I wanted to write something since this is the last day of my mission.  I don't think I've relayed my feelings about the past two years very well.  I am so extremely grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve for two years here in Oregon.  I can't describe the feelings of gratitude I have for the experiences I was given here to improve myself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  

Deciding to come on a mission was hard for me and even after I had made the decision I quickly realized I was not prepared.  I realized how distant I was from God.  I realized how self centered I was and I could quickly see that my focus back home was on the wrong things.  It honestly feels like a miracle that I made it on a mission.  

As I went into the MTC I was able to learn more about the gospel than I had in the many years before and I'm so grateful I took it seriously.  Getting into the mission field here in Oregon was a hard change for me. All the rules we had and the lifestyle change was super difficult.  One of the first things I learned though was that the mission president (President Russell at the time) was truly inspired in making transfers.  Elder Falatea helped me so much and I was able to get through a hard first stage of adjusting.  Throughout my time serving after that I was blessed continually with seeing people get baptized, having wonderful companions that helped me to become better, learning from my studies, and making great friends.  

There are two experiences that really stand out from the recent months of my mission that have really impacted me.  The first was an opportunity I took to sincerely pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith after finishing reading the Book of Mormon.  I really wanted to have an assurance that those things are right and I did all that I knew to do to gain an answer.  I felt like I hadn't gotten any answer to my prayers after a week or two.  But then we had General Conference and I was able to feel an answer more clearly than anything I had felt before.  I learned again that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a disciple of Jesus Christ.  I also learned a lot about the power of prayer and the importance of having faith in always receiving answers and guidance.  

The second experience was a difficult time during my mission where I felt I had failed in what I was supposed to do in the area I had been serving.  I was transferred and I was frustrated I didn't do as well as I felt I should have.  I felt like I could've done more and helped our investigators more.  The months following that I was reminded of a couple things.  First, it isn't about me or what I want or expect to happen.  I am here to do my best where I am assigned.  Second, through the atonement I can move forward from any failures or shortcomings.  That was something I had not been focusing on as much as I should have before.

I am beyond grateful for the people I have met while I've been here on my mission.  I have made great friends that I have served with and I have made great friends through teaching.  I definitely feel I have been blessed by others more than I could have possibly blessed those around me.  I'm so glad I was given this opportunity and there were those who were willing to help me become better.

Just wanted to write something short on how blessed I have been these past two years.  I am so grateful and I know that the gospel is what brings joy!

Stay Solid
Sawyer

 

This week was actually really good. We started off the week with a really good Pday at the U of O fields playing football and soccer.  It was actually sunny for once and it made me realize that once I get home I'm going to get so burnt because of how white I have gotten here.  lol  

Tuesday we had zone conference and there were some good segments on helping our investigators progress.  We also got smartphones which is pretty convenient.  

Thursday we spent A LOT of time tracting and finding some new people to teach and it was pretty successful.  Hopefully we will be able to continue meeting with the people we have found.  We have been teaching Holly and her kids still, even though they are temporarily in Eugene, and they are still doing really well. We are waiting for them to find a permanent place so they can be baptized because they are so ready.  We are also teaching a part member family from Kenya and they seem super solid.  
 Sunday we had some good church meetings and then that night we went to a music program at the church which was really good.  

That's some of this weeks highlights.  I've thought a lot about my mission as it's been coming to an end soon and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've been given here in Oregon.  It might be difficult to tell from my short emails but I've seen huge blessings, I've seen other people change their lives, I've seen answers to prayers and experienced them, I've learned from my mistakes and I'm grateful I've been able to better myself.  I will send one more email next week and then I'll see you all soon!  Much love!
Stay Solid
Sawyer 

 

This week seemed long.  Time is really dragging.  But it was kind of fun because I was with Elder Hale for the whole weekend on some long exchanges.  He's a homie and it was fun to hang with him.  We got to go up to the far parts of our area for the first time since I've been here and it was beautiful.  We set up some lessons with people which was good!  Our investigators are doing well and we have a lot of lessons scheduled.  I don't think we'll have a baptism before I leave though which is alright.  I'm sure they will get baptized soon after.  

Most of the days are just super long and grey so I seriously hope when I get home it's nice and sunny and warm.  Other than that we are just keeping on and doing constant finding and teaching.  Oh and I also can't wait for the time change because we will have more daylight to do work!  Anyway this week we have interviews so we'll see if I make it through my last one before my departing interview.  

 

February 26, 2018

This week went by pretty quickly. Things here in Springfield 1st Ward are going pretty steady and we have a good group that we are teaching.  It's kind of fun because our ward is pretty excited because they haven't seen any new faces at church in a long time, so all these people we're bringing are getting great fellowship.  

Holly and her two sons are doing great!  They have a really good chance of getting baptized this month and if not on the date they have set, I'm sure it will be soon after.  We also have Cindy who's been coming to church and some others that are doing well.  It's cool to see these people become better and learning every day.  

Luckily we've had the car from Friday to Monday so we haven't had to walk all week because it's been snowing for the last little while.  It has gotten pretty dang cold and at one point, it snowed, hailed and rained all in less than 3 minutes.  hahahaha

Elder Johnson and I are making our way though and he's doing a good job for having to stick with me through my last transfer.  We've gotten a lot of work done though and we're keeping busy.  The Oak Ridge Elders have also been up and stayed with us and they always make things fun!  Hopefully this week we will be blessed with seeing the sun but we won't count on it.  Hope everyone is doing well!  And I'll see everyone in a month!
Stay Solid
Sawyer

This week was a really fun week!  I'll go through the highlights:

1.  We found some really cool and promising investigators that hopefully we will be meeting with in the next few days.

2.  Cindy is still doing really well and we've been having several lessons with her and she really enjoys church!  She came to church this Sunday and she seems to already have some friends in Relief Society.

3.  We had an exchange with some of the other elders in my district and it went really well.  We were able to find some new people and have a good time while they stayed up here with us.

4.  We had interviews with President Orton which was pretty average.

5.  We have had some really good correlation meetings with our ward.  Our ward mission leader and assistant ward mission leader are super awesome and help us out a lot.  We've also had some really good dinners with some awesome families in our ward!

6.  By far the best part of the week was that the Book of Mormon play came to Eugene Tuesday-Sunday. There were thousands of people who came to see it.  So we got to go to the theater and hand out Books of Mormon to everyone when they left so they could read the real thing after seeing the play (which isn't very accurate lol)  So Elder Johnson and I got to go several times and it was a lot of fun.  We passed out a little over 3000 Books of Mormon this week!!  It was kind of funny because people would want us to sign their Book of Mormon and a lot of them would take pictures with us.  There were definitely a good amount of people who were not fond of us at all but there were a lot who were open to it and thought it was awesome!

7.  Another cool thing happened to us on the bus.  We take the bus around since we don't have a car so its always interesting.  This week i got on the bus and somebody called my name.  I looked back and saw a girl I had taught in Eugene almost 2 years ago.  Jade was a girl the Elder Falatea and I taught.  She was going to baptized but after we left it ended up not working out for some reason.  I got to catch up with her and get her information.  She lives right outside of our area so I took one of the Elders that are in that area to the lesson with her so she could get set up with them.  She has totally started following a bunch of the commandments in the past year and she wants to be and is ready to be baptized.  We were able to set up a date for her and she was really excited!

I think those were all the cool parts of this week.  It was a good one and hopefully this next week will be even better!
Stay Solid

This week has been another one full of finding and teaching people.  So throughout the week we've been able to find a lot of new people to meet with.  We have spent a good amount of time tracting and contacting new people.  We've also had quite a few good lessons.  Cindy is one of our investigators we found on Elder Johnson's first day and she is doing really well!  She's been coming to church the past couple of weeks and is fitting in the ward really well!  She also came to church yesterday and she will most likely be baptized in the next month or so!  This ward hasn't had a convert baptism in several years and so most of the ward members are stoked that we have several people coming to church and we are going to have some new members soon.  It's good to have a ward that is excited for the work that we have been doing!

Friday I taught district meeting and that was focused on commitments and the people we are teaching.  

We also got some bus passes so we've been using that to get around which is good but it can also be really interesting when Elder Johnson and I accidentally take the wrong bus.  LOL  

My studies have been good.  I'm in the New Testament mainly.  I'm getting through D&C also and the Book of Mormon.  I really like reading the New Testament though because it's a look at the primitive church that Christ set up and it's interesting to see that and see the church now today.

I do want to say that I'm grateful for President Monson and all that he did to serve.  What an amazing man who not only was a prophet of God but one of the most kind, loving and selfless examples that today's world has been given.  President Nelson is amazing as well and I'm stoked to see him as the leader and guide for us her on earth.
Stay Solid
love sawyer

Hey! This weekend has turned out to be super good actually! 

So transfers happened on Tuesday (which feels like a year ago) and I got Elder Johnson who's been out like 3 months.  He's super funny actually and it's been really fun with him this past week.  I think this transfer is going to go really well.  

So Tuesday I spent the day with Elder Anderson (who was my previous companion in Corvallis) while i waited for Elder Johnson to get here.  

Wednesday and Thursday Elder Johnson and I just did as much work as we could.  Luckily, we found Cindy on Wednesday.  We sat down and taught her a full lesson and she said she already believes the Book of Mormon is true and knows that she needs to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized.  So it was a great lesson!  We set a date for her to be baptized and she said she would do all she needed to prepare.

Friday I taught District Meeting which went well.  My district seems like it could do alright if we work hard.  

Saturday was the best day of the week by far.  Elder Anderson and I got to go back to Corvallis to see Sydney get baptized!  She was a girl we found on OSU campus and taught for several weeks before we got transferred.  It was so crazy to see how far she has come since then.  Even though it was sad we couldn't have been there through the whole process, I'm glad that we were able to be part of her baptism.  It was so cool to see her and the other YSA members up there!

Sunday was good as well because Cindy came to church and really enjoyed it!  She said she feels like she's at home here which is great to hear.  The area I'm in now seems to be getting better and it's great to see the results of the work we did in Corvallis.  I've also been grateful I've been able to have some really good studies lately.  I've been able to get through a lot of the New Testament and learn a lot.  It's crazy to me that its 2018 already but it's been a good start to the new year!
Love y'all
Stay Solid