This was quite a long week but there were some solid parts to it. We worked hard all week and in the beginning it seemed like a lot of our plans fell through, but luckily we had some cool blessings from being in the right place at the right time. 

So for the highlights of the week--Definitely starts with being able to skype home yesterday. It was really weird but super great.  Now i have two of the four skype calls from my mission complete so that's cool. It was super awesome to talk to everyone though.  It uplifts all of us and we can focus hard core on the work!

So other than that, which was an obvious highlight, we also had some pretty awesome experiences teaching and finding.  On Wednesday we had our completely solid day completely fall apart so we just decided to go out and contact/OYM/tract and try to find some solid people. Literally almost every person we talked to became a new investigator or watched the Light the World video and said we could come back.  So that was pretty crazy!  haha  We were super pumped!  We even flagged down a couple cars that were driving by and talked to them about the Book of Mormon.  They gave us all their info and asked us to come by.  haha  It was so wild!  

Thursday we went out and contacted a referral who just wanted a Bible.  But we definitely weren't about to just give her a Bible and leave so when we got there we started teaching the Restoration and by the end of the lesson we put her on date for February 11th. It was a straight crazy lesson and she was in tears.  It was awesome!  Another cool thing about it was that we brought one of the young men with us who isn't sure about going on a mission and he was able to be part  of this really awesome lesson!  I swear, like half my mission is just helping all the young men in my wards to think about going on a mission.  I understand why they aren't into it, with school, sports and girls around because that was my mindset when I was at home too, but it's awesome to see them thinking about going.  

Thursday night we had a lesson with Brandon.  He's a junior in highschool and he's super sick! (that means really awsome)  He let us know in the lesson that he's received an answer to his prayers and is ready to set a date for baptism.  So we set him up for February 4th.  It was so awesome to hear that and awesome to see him progress.  

So we didn't do much for Christmas or Christmas Eve but we did have a zone testimony meeting Saturday night and it was actually really solid.  It was probably the highlight of my mission.  I feel like our zone is becoming more unified and now we just need to start being super diligent in getting out and working and things will be awesome.  

Lastly, one of the happiest moments on my mission, is Elder Clark sent us a text telling us that the Seeley family, who we found and taught last transfer, has been put on date for January 28th.  That was so awesome to hear and it makes me so happy that i was able to be a part of helping them.  

Other than all that, I'm just going hard in everything and things are good!  I love and miss everyone and i greatly appreciate all that was sent to me for Christmas.  Have a great week and I love you all
Stay Solid

Zone Conference

Elder Johnson

Elder Hallam

Elder Hatch

View from apartment window

Zone breakfast & Christmas movie

This week has been a wild week!

Whitewashing into this area has been crazy!  Elder Hatch and I both got here on Monday so neither one of us had any idea how to get around town, who our investigators were or who any members were.  lol  But despite all that, I think this week was the hardest I've worked my entire mission!

Monday we were out as long as we could be trying to contact as many of investigators as possible after P day.  And let me tell you, the mornings and evenings have been seriously cold this week!  It's been straight painful being outside knocking doors, contacting, and getting lost constantly.  And on top of trying to figure ourselves out the entire week, we had to keep track of the whole zone and figure out all of their stuff for their areas and transfers.

Being a Zone Leader is definitely what I expected....It's not my favorite thing.  We have several missionaries in the zone that we have to check on since they aren't super focused and we are supposed to correct people if they aren't being obedient.  I don't really enjoy that at all especially because I feel like I've been the one who has been pretty relaxed with rules, not only throughout the beginning of my mission, but like my entire life.  So it's one of those things that I don't enjoy at all. Luckily, since I've been corrected many times in my life when I was being stupid, I think usually we are pretty good at still being homies with the other missionaries even when making sure we are all following the rules.

Elder Hatch is definitely, by far, the hardest working companion I've had yet. It has been a great week and we literally haven't taken a full lunch the entire week because we are going hard in teaching lessons and finding people.  Our area is doing well already.  We invited a few people to be baptized this week and we have three on date.  We have quite a few progressing and had some super cool lessons.  

I would say the highlights of the week were, number 1-We found a family of 12 and they are all new investigators, so that was crazy.  All the kids except 4 were over 8 and they were super into it. It was awesome!  They're from LA too!  Number 2 is probably this kid from the YSA ward. He is a straight G and referred several people over to us and we should be teaching them this week.  And I can't think of a number three so I guess that's it.  haha

Make sure to have a great week this week.  I love and miss you all
Stay Solid

homemade Christmas sweaters

This week felt like a crazy week.

So it was the last week of this transfer and it really has been an awesome transfer!  In the beginning I felt like I wasn't able to focus really well and I was having a hard time but throughout the transfer I have been able to figure things out I think.  

Elder Clark and I did really well these past 5 weeks I think.  We found four families and this area is teaching more lessons than it has in a while so that's a good feeling. 

I did find out Friday though that I am leaving to go to Grants Pass.  I was not thrilled whatsoever with that.  lol  I'm going to the Murphy Creek Ward/Grants Pass YSA with Elder Hatch.  We are whitewashing in as the new zone leaders. (whitewashing means both Sawyer and Elder Hatch are new to the area)  So it'll be interesting whitewashing in AND being a new ZL.  The cool thing is that Elder Hatch was my ZL when I was at 3 months in Bandon and he is super tight!  He works really hard and I think it will be a good transfer for me.  Hopefully Christmas will be good even though neither of us will know anyone.  haha

I wasn't super excited to hear that transfer info though because Elder Clark and i have gotten this area going really well now and it seems like every time the area I'm in starts improving I get booted out.  It's all good though because Grants Pass is only 30 minutes from Medford and I will be able to come back for the baptisms that are going to happen.  

But anyway, for things that happened this week, there are a couple of cool things.  First, we had ZTM this week so that went well.  It was my last one that I can actually sit back and relax in since now I will have to teach them.  LOL  

Also Henry who was baptized a few weeks ago got the priesthood on Sunday and that was super awesome.  He's going to the temple in a week or two as well!  

Other than that, Elder Clark got his new bike and we've enjoyed riding bikes now.  We enjoyed it so much that we've both crashed and are all tore up!  I got  a nice cut on my knee and got my pants all bloody and Elder Clark got road rash on his hands and arms.  lol  Good times!

And the last part of our week consisted of packing everything up again and saying goodbye to all the awesome people in this area.  Both of which sucked!

Well that's all i got this week.  Miss you all and I love you guys
Stay Solid

This week was pretty dope!  We actually got a lot done and had a good time.  

So we've been focusing on finding people to teach since we  just had a couple of baptisms.  So this week we found 9 new investigators which was pretty awesome and most of them we have already gone back to teach this week and they are super solid!  We found another family--a mom, dad and 4 kids and we're going back for lesson three this week which is super awesome!!  

We have found so many people in the last couple weeks that are super solid! I'm sure that this area is going to have much success in the next few transfers. I'm seriously praying that I will stay here but we'll see..

So this week I also taught district meeting again and it went really well I think.  We focused on using the Book of Mormon to answer people's questions and resolve their concerns.  It was actually really crazy! It felt like we were back in the MTC with most of the class tearing up in the middle of the lesson and  role plays.  It was a good reminder of my MTC days.  

We also had the ward Christmas party which was pretty good.  Nothing too crazy but it gave us a chance to relax for a bit. 

I forgot to put this in my email last week but Elder Clark and I were called to give a lady, that was in the hospital, a blessing early in the week.  We arrived at the hospital and realized that clearly she wasn't going to make it but I gave her the blessing and it was one of the most spiritual moments of my mission.  I didn't know her but I knew that she wouldn't make and it was awful to get the feeling to give a blessing that she wouldn't make it but i knew that's what I was prompted to do.  

Other than that, Elder Clark and I have just been focusing on working hard. I think we've been doing well.  Working all day is the only way I can keep my mind busy to not think about other things so it's all good.  Anyway, have a great week everyone and go hard in everything you do!
Stay Solid

Elder Clark, Elder Luke and Elder Hallam

So another week down and it was a pretty good one!  

Thanksgiving was great and we actually got to relax a bit.  Thursday morning we went on an exchange because Elder Clark didn't want to play football in the morning and Elder Luke did.   So i went with Elder Luke to the Turkey Bowl.  It was super fun.  It was supposed to be flag football, but it was more like half flag half tackle.  haha

We had dinner that afternoon with Bishop Ebert and his family and it was really good!  We played some games with them and hung out there most of the day.  

Other than that, we've been teaching a few people and it's going pretty well.  Last week when we were tracting we found Kristen, Gary and their kids.  We went back Saturday to teach them another lesson.  It was an awesome lesson on the Restoration and they are super solid!  It'll be awesome to teach them all the lessons. 

We also had interviews with President which went pretty well.  He seems happy with me so that's always good.

I'm hoping i get to stay here in 3rd ward this upcoming transfer since we've found many investigators and several are progressing really well.  But i will probably get kicked out since I want to stay.  lol Either way, I'm looking forward to the Christmas season
Stay Solid 

This week has been interesting! Definitely a difficult week but several great things happened too.

Henry was baptized and it was awesome to see!  There were a bunch of people from the ward that came to support him as well as his mom, who's not a member.....yet!  He was super happy and it was good to see the difference from the first week we started teaching him to now.  

We also had specialized training this week which was good.  It was a pretty long meeting on several different topics, the main one being Faith to find and baptize converts by President Russell.  It was good because I often find myself knocking on doors and expecting to get yelled at or rejected.  haha  So Elder Clark and I have been working on that.  Just Saturday night after the baptism, our plans fell through so we decided to go tract a specific street.  We walked to the street and stopped to pray and decide what we would introduce.  We decided we would use the  Book of Mormon and the Family Proclamation.  It was crazy because we found two families who are interested and want us to come back.  So we found several new investigators and it was good to see the effects of being diligent.  

Sunday, Henry was confirmed and that was awesome too!

For some reason I've been having a hard time keeping my mind here in the mission and not back at home.  That doesn't really make things easy.  haha  But I'm going to focus on being focused since that seems to be my biggest problem right now.  

Anyway, a couple random things--Elder Clark and I started a new workout program that's decent and I really noticed how working out everyday makes our day better.  So if anyone reads this I encourage you to workout everyday.  It'll help you get through the day. 

As for my studies, I've been studying the Gospels and 3rd Nephi together.  I encourage everyone to do that if they haven't.  It's cool to see how they go together.  Other than that, my only words of advice are "change the game, don't let the game change you!"  Not super sure what that means but it sounds good. 

I love all of you and appreciate the support
Stay Solid

This week was pretty dope!

So this was the first week with Elder Clark and it was super awesome.  He's from New Mexico but he's cooler than the average person you would imagine from New Mexico--JK  He's pretty good at piano and guitar which is cool because it's sweet being able to learn more piano every time we can.  So we'll see how that turns out.

Anyway, I'm still DL but our districts got changed up so now i have different sisters and the ZL's are with us.  It was a good district meeting Friday about less actives so that was good.

We did a lot of contacting this week which has been successful at some points and very frustrating and not successful at others.  Henry got his baptismal interview and is set to go for this Saturday.  It's exciting and its going to be so awesome to see that happen!  We are teaching a really cool guy named Randy and hopefully we will be able to invite him to be baptized this upcoming week also.

The highlight of the week was Tuesday when we both got our bikes good to go.  (Elder Clark hadn't even taken his out of the box yet) So we ride our bikes Tuesday and everything is great.  Then Wednesday night we see one of our investigators and leave our bikes against his front door.......Not a good idea!  Elder Clark's bike got stolen and now we have to do this entire transfer on foot again :)  So we decided to keep track of how much we walked this week from Wednesday to Saturday and it was just under 50 miles. lol  so that was fun

I've learned a couple things this week:
1  Lock your bike up!
2. Music is like the best entertainment for missionaries
3. This week while we were doing service, I was getting frustrated.  We serve food to a lot of homeless people.  We wash their dishes and clean up after them.  I was annoyed thinking why do we have to do this?  I had a bad attitude thinking we shouldn't have to do all the work for them.  But then i realized that there's really no reason to feel that way because i have been fortunate and given all i need to get by.  I am able to take care of myself and i should help others no matter what their choices are. So i have learned to have a better attitude in helping those less fortunate than me.

Anyway, good luck trying to trump my week
Love You
Stay Solid

Sawyer's District

Working on the Pig Farm again

Having dinner with Old family friends

This week went by oddly fast. This was the last week of the transfer so there has been a bit of packing and saying goodbyes for elder Baxter. We found out Saturday that I'm staying here as district leader again and I'm getting another missionary who has been out 3 months named elder Clark. I've already met him because he came out at the same time elder Nelson did so I'm pretty happy because he seems pretty cool. The craziest thing about this entire transfer is that the 8th ward elders who live like 5 minutes away from us are going to be elder Falatea (my trainer) elder Nelson (who I trained)! It's so sick! I'm going to be able to see them all the time which is awesome! So this transfer could be great.

I'm also really excited because this transfer is Thanksgiving, which means turkey bowl! And also Henry will be baptized! This last transfer was good because I was able to meet all the investigators and figure out who to focus on and how we could best help this area so this next transfer we are going to go hard in the work and get'er done. It's only a five week transfer because of Christmas but it will be good.

So for this past week, we were able to have a few pretty good lessons. Had my first lesson with a great family. They are super awesome. They are a young couple who are a less active and part member so I think it will be awesome to focus on them! 

Also we have continued to have lessons with Henry even though we have finished all the lessons twice haha but it is so awesome because he sends us texts almost daily talking about how excited he is to get baptized. So that will be so awesome to see this next week! 

Also taylie was baptized on Saturday in Utah! So that was cool, it was elder baxters first baptism so it was good to be with him during that. It's definitely not as exciting when it's in Utah but it's whatever haha. I will send pictures with her probably next week because they aren't home yet. 

Other than that the only other thing we did this week  was attend a conference with half the southern half of the mission on Thursday and it was pretty much like 5 hours of getting chastened real good haha. Like it's crazy, missionaries are usually like 18-20 year old kids and as soon as you become a missionary no one even sees you as that anymore, they all of a sudden think you're very responsible and a perfect person. Let me tell you, it's not true lol. Well anyway that's all for this week I think.

Stay Solid

 He said he didn't take any pictures this week so he just took a picture off the wall at the church and took a picture with it???

Pig Farming

Happy Halloween!!

This week was pretty whatever!  There wasn't anything super exciting, but luckily there wasn't anything really bad either.

Henry got his second baptismal interview and his baptism was moved to November 19th, but its all good.  He'll just be more ready once that date gets here!  He's still super excited even though the date's been pushed back.

Taylie had her baptismal interview yesterday and she'll be getting baptized this Saturday.  Sadly it'll be in Utah where her family is so we won't even be able to see it!! LOL  But it's all good, she's super awesome and I can't wait to see her go to the temple.

We did a good bit of service this week including one service project at a pig farm owned by one of the members.  We moved pigs from one pen to another and MAN! some of those pigs weighed more than me so it was a good workout!

Its the last week of this transfer so I taught my last district meeting since next week is a zone meeting.

That's about it for this week.  Hope everyone had a good week and I miss everyone.  Have fun tonight and send some picture of y'all partying
Stay Solid

Pig Farm Service

So this week was freakin long and asinine. But you know, doing the lords work can't be that asinine so it was alright. 

This week was a lot of walking around contacting and having lessons. We finished all of the lessons with Henry and he will be having his interview to be baptized soon. He might get baptized on the 29th if the interview happens so that's exciting. 

Also Taylie, the 13 year old that we have been teaching, will be baptized next week so we are getting ready for that. Other than that, we got dropped by our other on date out of no where so that was rough but we are going to continue to talk to her and see if we can resolve it.

In other news, I'm getting closer to being able to dunk (basketball) so that's exciting and also I'm pretty sure I'm losing weight because of how much we walk :( 

We also got an announcement that starting next transfer very few elders will be getting cars anymore lol so that should be fun considering it rains like every day!

Also we had Book of Mormon week this week where the whole mission focused on reading a single book out of the Book of Mormon and giving out an open Book of Mormon everyday. I read Ether and Moroni and it was really good for me. I think choosing a specific book out of the Book of Mormon is a really good way to get new things out of the Book of Mormon. Anyway, that's about it. Have a great week and I appreciate the support.

Stay Solid! 

So this week was a super long week.  Pretty much a summary of this entire week was we walked like 25 miles and it was raining the entire time!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was just all contacting, tracting and lessons falling through, so that was super tiring and frustrating at the beginning of the week.  But we got through it like always and it was a good set up for the weekend.

On Friday I taught district meeting and president decided to come so that was slightly stressful but he seemed super happy about it so that was cool.  He has been super happy with what we have been able to do here in Medford third ward in the past few weeks.  We have two solid baptisms coming in the next two weeks and we are teaching a lot more people so we are all pretty stoked.

Saturday was super awesome!  we went to the Medford temple in the morning and did a session and then just had a Pday from then until the conference we had that night.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and it was super awesome.  We got to sit up front since they reserved seats for missionaries who brought investigators.  Henry was our gator that came and it's so awesome because we put him on date on Tuesday for the 29th of this month and Elder Christofferson talked to Elder  Baxter and I and then he talked to Henry and it was just super cool to have him have that experience.  

Then on Sunday we had conference and heard from Elder Randall K Bennett and that was really awesome too.  This upcoming week we have lessons with Henry every other day and we will be setting up the baptismal interview.  We will also be meeting with Taylie and setting a baptismal interview also for her.  We are working with a bunch of our other investigators and things are going well.  
Stay Solid

Medford Temple

Sawyer said he won

What the?  He never did this at home!