This week was a good one.  We've had to do a lot of stuff for the zone and certain companionships so we really didn't have much time to focus on our own area.  But I will list some of the highlights of this week!

Number one is that this was the first week of school which is super exciting if you're in the YSA ward.  So everyone is back now and school started Wednesday.  Tuesday we planned a lot and organized the booth we were going to set up at the school fair they have on the first day of school.  

Wednesday was an exciting day where we had a booth on campus from about 11-5 and it went really well.  We bought a canvas board and wrote the question "WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?" in the center really big. We bought a bunch of sharpies too and  we would ask everyone to come write their answer to the question.  Of course they all did because they like giving their opinion.  haha  After they signed the canvas we had a survey there with a few questions and a place to leave contact info.  So we were able to get over 100 contacts that we split between the three companionships!  It was a super good time and really successful!

Second was that we had interviews with President Orton Thursday.  It was such a process to set up the interview schedule and all the stuff for President this time but the interviews themselves were really good for our zone.  My interview was pretty much about everyone in the zone and not myself.  haha  We have 20 missionaries in this zone and it can be so hard to stay on top of everyone and for some reason this transfer has been quite the time of trials for everyone.  But it was a good thing.  

Friday we had a good district meeting where we talked a lot about our areas and then we focused on Faith and God's Will. It was a really good meeting.  

On Saturday we were able to go to Newport with the other YSA Elders for a baptism.  President and Sister Orton were there as well.  It was just a good time to go out and see the Newport Elders and the Waldport Sisters and see how they're doing.  

Then mostly because of the conversation I had with President, we had an extra meeting with just our zone so that we could refocus on the important stuff.  We talked about the blessings we have and why we should be grateful.  It went well i thought.

Other than all that, hopefully we will have a little more time to focus on our own area this week.  It can be a lot of fun with all the students so hopefully it'll be good.  
Love  you
Stay Solid

This week has been quite the week! We had some good activities at the beginning of the week doing game night for FHE and playing sand volleyball for sports night. It's always a good time to be able to spend some time with the investigators and members to do something fun. 

We were able to have some great lessons this week with both of our investigators with baptismal dates as well as others that we are teaching. Every week we play basketball with one of our investigators, Jacob and this week we found out there is a ball group that plays every Thursday at the stake center so we went and played with all of them. We found out it's not just members that play but non members too so it's a lot of fun and a really good way we can talk to these guys!

Friday through Sunday was the more exciting part of the week so I'll give you a play by play of that! Friday we had new missionary training and district meeting which went well, not anything out of the ordinary. We talked about finding new people to teach and talking to everyone so when elder Henley and I went to go find people on campus that afternoon we didn't let anyone cross our face without trying to share our message. We talked to this girl and walked with her to the back of the football stadium where she was going to go in to work. We were able to share a good amount with her and in the middle of us teaching her, Zach Nyborg whose the Athletic Director for the football team and a member in our ward walks by. When we were done talking to her he asked us if we wanted to go on a tour of the stadium and there was no way we were going to turn that down. So we got to see everything, from the locker room to the coaches offices and equipment room. It was pretty dang cool! He's an awesome dude and always tells us if we need anything to let him know.

Then also friday our investigators Jacob and Anissa texted us and asked us if we could go to the OSU football game Saturday night with them. So I figured we might as well ask president Orton if we could go. So I called president Friday night and plead my case and for some crazy reason he totally wanted us to go! We were amazed and so excited! I thought about how awesome going to the game was going to be and for some reason I just felt like I should give my ticket to the new missionary we share our ward with because he was seeming pretty down recently.

 

Saturday morning we played soccer and after that I told Elder Clem he could have my ticket which was straight sad for me but I just couldn't go and feel great about it. I figured elder Henley and Clem could go with our investigators since they still knew both of them.

Saturday afternoon the Chinese sisters had a baptism and earlier that week their investigator Chelsea asked me to baptize her. So I was able to do that and it was really an awesome thing! It went super well and right after she was baptized she bore her testimony and it was so beautiful. It was one of those moments where you are just reassured of the truth that you already know. It was a blessing to help in that.

That night we went to dinner with elder Clem and Knell before they were going to go to the game and at dinner elder Henley said he didn't want to go and I could go. I think he just wanted me to go more than he wanted to go so it was so nice of him.

Elder Clem and I were able to go to the OSU NCAA football game on Saturday night and it was so sick! They lost but we had some great seats, got to hang out with our investigators more and had a great time.

Sunday I gave a talk in church on prayer. I prepared a lot for it and had way more to say than I had time for but I felt it went pretty well.  That night we had the YSA devotional by Elder Bednar.

 

This week had some highlights and a lot of blessings. It's good to be in Corvallis.

Stay solid🇺🇸

This week was a change from the past because last Monday was transfers.  Elder Henley and I are staying here as zone leaders but we now share our YSA ward with another set of Elders and another set of Chinese sisters.  It's so much fun sharing the ward with these new Elders because they are straight homies.  We've already had some good times around campus talking to people and whatnot!  The first OSU home game was Saturday so we were able to talk to a lot of people around there! A lot of drunk girls talking to us and being really weird. haha

We've had some really cool lessons.  One, for example, was with Desty who now has a goal for baptism and then right after the lesson she came with us to a different baptismal service out in Newport!! It was really cool!  We also have Sam who is getting baptized the 16th so that should be super awesome!

Sunday was fast Sunday and also my birthday.  It was a pretty good day.  The bishop's wife made me a cake and the whole ward sang to me at break the fast.  

Crazy thing of the week is I was stung by a bee for the third time in the past month and every time has been while we are driving and it flies in the window!  Sad thing is that now that there are three sets of missionaries we only have one dinner appointment this week! :(  Super Fun!

Anyway, this week I'm giving a talk in church and it should be just another good week!

Stay Solid
Love you

This week has been pretty cool.  We've been able to do some cool things.

So last Monday we had zone conference and it was with our zone and the Eugene zone down in the Eugene Stake Center. It was a really good zone conference on becoming better teachers.  Elder Henley and I taught a 20 minute segment on resolving our investigators concerns.  It went super well actually.  I felt like we taught really well together and we did an object lesson with it which went really well and a lot of people really liked it.  So we were super glad that went smoothly!

Tuesday the whole zone was able to go to Newport.  We had a good time on the beach and hanging out together.  It's always good to be back at the beach when we can.  So that was a great start to the week.  

Thursday we had another great day and we were able to go back to Newport to do a baptismal interview for the Newport elders' investigator.  I did the interview and she is super solid and so ready to be baptized.  After the interview we couldn't get a hold of the Newport elders to give them back the paperwork because they were in a lesson so we decided to drive up the road a bit to the lighthouse and see the sunset.  It turned out that you had to pay to get to the lighthouse if you were in a car so we parked and jogged a mile to see the lighthouse and sunset before the park closed.  haha It was way sick though and then after we gave them back the paperwork we headed home.

Throughout the week though we were able to have a lot of great lessons! We were able to teach Jacob and Anissa again which was great and we were also able to have some really good lessons with some of our newer investigators.  Definitely a good week for working with those that we've been teaching or have found lately.  We were also able to have four people at church this week which is great.  It was overall a good week and great to be able to have some good lessons!

Stay Solid

This week went well for the most part.  We had some good times and some good lessons.

Tuesday we had leadership council again which went well.  Not the most exciting meeting but it's helpful in trying to see ways to become a better leader.  That night we got back and had a lesson and played some basketball with Jacob and Anisa which was fun!  They are super cool and its great to see them understand more and become more willing to change.  

Wednesday we had an exchange the whole day with the 1st ward Elders.  I went with Elder Packer, who just came out 3 weeks ago. Their area is really lacking so we went to their area instead. I really wanted to do some good hard work to show him some success and how he can be bold in talking to people but have fun in doing the work.  We had a good long day and found some new people to teach.  So if nothing else, it was a good experience for me.  Throughout the week we found several more new people.  We were also able to teach some of our other investigators and some of the new investigators we found on campus!

On Friday we had interviews with President Orton which went well.  He's a super nice dude and he's pretty soft spoken but its good. I had a good interview but i'm kind of concerned about what's going to happen this transfer.  I have a feeling I'm leaving. haha

On Friday and Saturday we had another exchange with the 2nd ward elders and that went pretty well too.  At church we were able to have 4 of our investigators there so that was pretty dope!  It's such a struggle to get young people to meet with you let alone get them to come to three hours of church. We have done a lot of talking to people on campus though and a lot of tracting in some of the other areas.

Oh, and for the miracle of the week....while on the exchange on Friday we had dinner with the Chinese sisters and they made us cookies.  I always try to make sure I know what kind they are so I know they don't have peanuts but they said they were chocolate chip.  So I ate a good piece of one but after I ate it I could totally tell there was probably peanut butter in it.  lol  So I just kind of waited to see if I was going to die or not ( I never carry my epipen) and I definitely didn't feel good but I didn't start dying.  So for the entire night, from dinner on, my stomach started hurting worse and worse and it was awful.  So after talking to people on campus the rest of the night in great pain, I went straight to bed when I got home.  The miracle is that I didn't die because usually I just stop breathing and whatnot.  But hey, I was still able to breathe and it worked out....because I'm a missionary :)

Some Random things:
1.  I've been a ZL for 9 months now
2.  The Chinese sisters said if I go to China I could be a model  lol
3.  A lot of people think Avery is cute (I have our family pic on my desk)
4.  People are going nuts about a solar eclipse that's going through here at the end of August
5.  I'm going to grow my hair out again when I get home
6.  I can play quite a few more songs on the piano now
7.  I email probably half as many people now than I did at the beginning of my mission
8.  I would never live in Oregon after my mission

Stay Solid
Love You

This week there were some good ups and downs.  

Monday after P-day, we went to FHE with one of our investigators which was pretty cool.  We went hiking and it was a pretty cool short hike.  

On Tuesday and Wednesday we taught some good lessons and we did service like we usually do.  

Thursday was a super good day though.  We started it off with a new investigator lesson with a kid named Alex who we found a couple weeks ago.  He is so freakin prepared its crazy.  We taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and how this is the fulness of the gospel and he told us that he had always felt like he was not on the right path completely at the other churches he had attended. He said he felt the spirit as we taught and feels that the Restoration is true.  We set him up with a baptism goal of September 9th.  It was such a sick lesson!!  

We also had lessons with Hailee and Michaela on Thursday and both of those lessons went really well!  The Chinese Sisters found a girl named McKenzie also and we had a hand off lesson and she seems super open so that was a really good lesson also.  

We also welcomed the two brand new missionaries into our zone.  They got here on Thursday so that was cool.  

On Saturday we met with Jacob and Anissa which went alright.  They have definitely felt that the Book of Mormon is true but we will have to see if they are willing to do what it takes to follow it.  

Over all, things are alright.  The area is looking better and better each week.  We had a good extra meeting with our zone after district meeting to set some transfer goals and hopefully motivate everyone for the upcoming weeks.  Hopefully that will work because most of the other areas are not looking so hot.

Love You
Stay Solid