February 13, 2017

This week we didn't have much time to be in our own area because of meetings and exchanges but we were still able to get some good things done.

Tuesday we had the mission leadership conference and it was really good.  We drove up to Eugene to pick up the Roseburg zone leaders to ride with us so it was a good time.  We were 10 minutes late though and President Russell called me up the moment we walked in to have me talk about how we've been able to do well and the goals we were able to hit.  Its weird talking to missionaries who have been out much longer than me but its whatever. The conference was good though and i learned a lot.  

Wednesday we did an exchange with the Riverside Elders and they're real homies so it was a good time.  

Friday, Elder Hatch and I taught zone training meeting from what we were taught on Tuesday and it went pretty well.  Teaching people is becoming easier and more natural so thats a good thing.  

Sunday we had a good lesson with one of the friends of a recent convert.  He's super awesome and we put him on date.  So we have 6 people who should hopefully be getting baptized soon so we'll see if they stick to it.  After church we had a rough lesson that just straight killed me.  We are teaching a less active family that consists of the parents, their son and daughter, and the daughters two children.  The daughter, A, lost her husband a few years back in an accident and was left to raise her kids alone.  The whole family is really depressed and angry about the situation, understandably.  They said they have prayed for years about it and feel that God has abandoned them.  Elder Hatch and I studied a lot to know what to teach them but it just felt like nothing we said to them was really working.  They were really upset so it was difficult for me.  I hope they took in some of what we told them though.  They'll be on my mind a lot this week until we meet with them again.  They are just a super nice family and I hope we can help them to be more happy. 

Other than that I'm just trying to keep up and not be as tired all the time.  lol  Hopefully all of you are doing well and I love you guys. Thanks to everyone that emails me!
Stay solid

Yo everyone! Hope you all had a good week.  This week was pretty good for me.  We were busy the entire week.  

Monday night we got a call from our mission president and he challenged Elder Hatch and I to hit 35 lessons in a single week at some point during this transfer.  Just so you know, it can be a serious challenge to hit 20 lessons and I've only done that a couple times.  So we decided that this week would be a good week to go all out and try it.  So Monday night we prayed and asked to have the opportunities to hit our goal and the week went super well!!  We went extremely hard and never rested.  We were busy all day every day and hit 37 lessons last night so now President Russell wants us to speak at the leadership conference for the mission tomorrow!  haha  So that'll be interesting.  

Other than that, we've still been working out a lot.  We added running to our workout routine which has been good.  

That's about all for this week.  We didn't put in much time for just fun stuff, which is probably good. Love you all and I'll catch ya next week!
Stay Solid

 

 

This week has been pretty good.  It was the last week of the transfer and, like I thought, Elder Hatch and I are staying here in Grants Pass.  Most of the zone is changing though and it looks like we're getting some pretty cool missionaries.  Elder Falatea (my trainer) will now be in my zone. hahahaha  It'll be funny being my trainers zone leader but it's super cool because we are bros!

So this week went too crazy--We found several new gators this week and we had quite a few people come to church so the missionary work is going well!

Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast which changed our schedule and how we do numbers.  We now have 2 more hours for P day, which is awesome and we only report on 4 numbers for the mission instead of 9.  Now we just keep track of how many new, how many on date, how many at church, and how many baptized per week.  So its just a little different

Elder Hatch and I are keeping up with our workouts. It's still really difficult not to get fatter though since we have a car and we're not highly motivated to walk when its freezing outside! lol I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life right now.  I'm around 165ish.

The most noteworthy thing we probably did this week was not take a dinner appointment Tuesday so we could visit the local Pentecostal church and see what goes down there.  It was very interesting! But the people were super nice and I got to learn a little about a different religion I had never learned about before.

Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well.
Love sawyer
stay solid

So another week down and it was a pretty good one in spite of all the lesson cancellations! haha  For most of this week we have been going to our backup plans because so many people have cancelled on us but some good things have come from it.  This would've been the last week of this transfer but we have a seven week transfer this time because of Christmas so this upcoming week will be the last of the transfer.  However, Elder Hatch and I already know we will be staying here together another transfer, mostly because this zone is getting all new people so we're going to have to help them out. 

Elder Hatch and I have decided that we really need to figure out a new way to find people to teach, especially for the YSA (young single adult) ward we're also over.  So we started going to the community basketball courts and throwing it down on some kids. haha  We always keep a ball in our car and we just ask if we can play a game with them and then we humble them really quick! (Elder Hatch is really good)  Then we usually talk to them about our missions and it has led into some full on Restoration lessons and we've gotten several new investigators from it. haha  It's super fun and we've found some real homies! One of them is Rance, who's an 18 year old kid from Florida.  He's really cool!  So we will be teaching him again this week and a couple of other kids too.  

We went up to one house this week and there were a couple guys sitting on the porch.  So we go into a full Resto lesson but right straight in the spiritual part of the lesson, they pull out a bong, light it up, and take a nice hit off of it! hahaha  That's like the third time that's happened to me out here.  It's hard to stay serious when they do that in the middle of a lesson so we have to focus on not laughing.  

Thursday we had zone conference in Medford with four different zones--so almost half the mission!  Its always good to see friends and former comps and it was one of the best meetings i have been to since i've been out!  For some reason President Russell called Elder Hatch and I up last week and asked us to teach at the conference.  so that was a first for me, teaching half the mission.  I feel like it went well.  We taught about retention of recent converts and how that is also our responsibility.

On Wednesday, some members took us out to dinner to this Mexican restaurant, which has a 6 pound burrito challenge.  Elder Hatch has been training and he put it down pretty easily--all 6 pounds!  He's the first missionary to do that so it was pretty tight!

So D, the lady we have been teaching that was on probation, found out the other day that she actually gets off probation in March so she and her daughter are now both on date for March.  They will both be baptized without a doubt.  It will be awesome!!

I think those are the most exciting parts of my week.  We've been working hard and we've been working out!  Things are good.  Hopefully soon I'll be dunking on some of these other missionaries.  It'll be awesome!  I hope all y'all are doing well and I love you guys.  Keep going hard.
Love Sawyer
stay solid

 

Yo fam, things are going well here!  Another hard week in the life of a missionary.  There was actually some crazy stuff that happened this week--some good, some bad.  

So to break it down, first we got 9 new investigators again this week so that was good and we really went hard in the finding since we felt like we could do better in that.  What sucks is we are literally the only area in our zone doing somewhat decent. Sadly, it seems like some of the missionaries dont want to do anything so we're just trying to get everyone pumped!!

Another thing is that Elder Hatch and I just started this new Jump program we do every morning along with running routes and some other stuff for our workouts.  That gets us pumped for the day.  I've been really lucky having companions who, for the most part, like to work out or will at least go sit in the car so i can.  haha

Our investigator D, has to wait to be baptized until October because of probation but her daughter is now on date for March 4th so that's awesome.  We will probably have to move back a couple of baptisms we had scheduled but Monica and Marti should be good to go!  We have quite a few people we are working with so these upcoming transfers will be good.  I feel like i will probably end up staying here in Grants Pass but we will see.  

Well i guess thats it.  Hope you all had a good week
love you
stay solid

New Haircut

P Day action

Snyder catching the action

This week was another cold one!  It snowed the first half of the week and then the past couple of days its been raining so the weather has not been fun.  

Tuesday we had MLC, which is leadership counsel, in Eugene.  It takes like 7 hours so that was pretty much our whole day.  It was really good and really pumped me up for the rest of the week.  We also had to teach zone training on Friday so we learned about that while we were there Tuesday.  That's one good thing about being a zone leader verses a district leader--you only have to teach once a month instead of once a week.  haha  Well, and you get a car!  But I'm slightly scared because I got my driver's card taken away for a while and Elder Hatch has gotten several violations this week so if he gets any more we're going to be the first walking zone leaders in the mission.  lol  That would suck!

So we've been teaching our On Dates and they are all doing well.  However, one lady, D, the most solid of our investigators, is not able to get baptized because she is on probation.  It's a real bummer and she was super disheartened, but she should be able to in October, so we're all waiting for that day!

Elder Hatch and I also drove to the outer parts of our area which is pretty far.  Our area goes all the way down to California and we almost made it to the border but we ran out of time so we headed back.  We did find several new people though.  Four new peeps to teach this week so it should be good!  

The members here are the bomb though. they have been the best member missionaries I have seen yet on my mission!  It has been awesome!!

Our area has been doing pretty well.  The main thing we've been working on is helping out the zone because not everyone seems to be super pumped.  It seems like we try our best to help these other companionships through example and many other ways but it just isn't improving as well as it could. Hopefully we can find something to do so everyone will get motivated and start going hard in the work.

This transfer has been quite different than any of my others and it has been a learning process.  
Love You
Stay Solid

January  2

This week was a pretty decent week.  A couple cool things happened. 

First off, we were out with a priest from our ward named Jacob.  We had 6 lessons lined up for the day and he is our solid go to ward member who always helps us.  However, every single lesson cancelled and it was straight disappointing, but Jacob wasn't having it!  He called up his friend he plays football with and asked him if he wanted to come hang out with him and the missionaries.  Long story short, we talked about football with them for about an hour and then got into a solid Restoration lesson where his friend Oryan said he felt he was prepared to change his life to become better and accepted the invitation to be baptized on February 18th!!  It was seriously so crazy!  They are both our homies so it should be fun!

We also put another lady, Marti, on date and it was a solid lesson too.  We now have 8 people who could possibly be getting baptized!  We did an exchange with one of the district leaders also and it was a good time.  

On the other hand, New Years was straight depressing.  Holidays on the mission are the worst because you literally have to sit in your apartment by yourself and do nothing, so that was rough.  

But Sunday and today it has snowed a few inches so we're gonna see if we can head up to some hills and get some good sledding going.  Other than all that, we have one week down and 51 more to go this year.  Hopefully I can live it up, even here on my mission, this year!!
Love you
Stay Solid