Carlton=Good Squad (July 22-28)

Monday, we got together with the Elders in Brainerd, and we had a fun day together. We went to a place called Rafferty's, a pizza place. It was really good but much to overpriced. Everyone up here said it was the best pizza they ever had, so we had to try it once. After the Pizza place we went over to the Johnson's and we burned Elder Coombs white shirt (he hit a year mark) and then we went and played with all there animals. They have four dogs, a ton of kittens, and about five horses. After a little of that, we went on a little "hike" and walked trails where an old mining town used to be. 

Tuesday, we went out to the Reservation and found some potentials.  We will be visiting next week to follow up with them. I am excited for the work over at the reservation, it could prove to be very successful. The only problem is that it is 30 minutes away from the Aitkin branch building, which always makes it that much harder to get people to church. We had dinner that night with some members who live in that general area, and we had a great lesson with them about grace and works. We helped them see how they have been helping us too, and hyped them up to keep doing good.

Wednesday, we had an amazing lesson with a lady named Tammy about the plan of salvation. She had some anti stuff, and so she had some questions for us, but we ended up just teaching the plan of salvation so that things would make sense in context. She said she knew that the anti was not true anyways, and that the plan of salvation makes perfect sense. (Of course any plan made by a perfect all knowing being would be perfect right?) We were there for a couple hours and we will be back next week. We had burgers from a member for dinner, and we had a really good lesson for their kids. We had a correlation meeting with our branch mission leader too, which went well, and boy does he have some work for us to do. We headed out of his place and went straight to Carlton so we could exchange the next day.

Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Carlton Elders. Since we had to come up for Interviews we decided to Blitz their area and stay the night. It was really good I was with Elder Stafford and we were able to see a couple of people and teach them. Turns out Elder Stafford's dad served in the Billings, Montana mission! Unfortunately he has no idea the areas that he served but still pretty cool.

On Friday, we had interviews and a Zone Council. All the training's given were really good, and we had a great time together. Please pray about Aitkin that we can find success in the area, I truly love this branch and want them to see success through their own efforts. There are a lot of great people they just need a little punch, but I know once it becomes natural for then to spread the gospel it can be a great area. All it takes is an invite. That night we had a dinner with this great family that fed us, let us teach and then followed up with a referral and a commitment for us to keep them accountable. Now that's a perfect member missionary. And honestly feeding us is just an extra thing. All I really want is people to want to spread the gospel and allow us to follow up. Trying to drag people into missionary work doesn't really work out.

Saturday, we were able to talk to Grandma Piecek and she had ice cream with us. She is truly a world class grandma. Then we were able to talk with a couple of the members and they told a little more about some of the inactives that live here, and who we can help. I have seen nothing but love from the people here in the branch.

Sunday, we taught an old nonmember couple, and we started to talk about their church and what they believe. They ended up admitting that they think how all these changes of doctrine in their church are man made changes not God's changes. Unfortunately, right before we could really dig deep into their questions their grand kid showed up, so we will have to try again next week. So close! Sunday the Elders from Carlton came over to spend the night, so we can spend Preparation day together.

The Grand Adventures of Two Wack Kiddos (July 14-21)

Sunday, we did a lot of stop by's at inactive members houses, but unfortunately there was no success getting in to teach a lesson. We had dinner with the branch President and taught his family about the gospel of Jesus Christ. After our dinner we headed over to Carlton (an hour and half away) and stayed there over night with the Elders there. On Monday we had a Zone Preparation day, because we needed to all be in Duluth anyways due to Zone Conference, so we all came a day early and had a good time together. We played basketball, Frisbee, and some board games. We got pizza for dinner that night, because one of the Sisters, parents decided to order some for us! 

Tuesday was zone Conference, and our mission President and our whole zone got together. There was some really good training's about repentance and how we can teach it better! After our zone Conference most of us headed over to the light house and took some photos at lake superior. We didn't end up getting back to Aitkin until 8 that night and so we unpacked and showered. It was in the high nineties with high humidity. Ugh, humidity is the worst.

Wednesday we were back in our area again, thank goodness. We had dinner that night with our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Simons. He used to house the Elders in Brainerd, and we helped him move out when I was serving in Brainerd. He gave us great big hugs, and fed us a nice dinner. He then sat us down and gave us a big long list of less actives that, we  can track down while we are here. That man is a beast and truly has a love for the gospel. He has the fire of the spirit with him, and is always thinking of others first.

Thursday we talked with Ray again. He was taught years ago, and told us that, if he ever wants to worship or be religious, he would be a member of the church. He knows what we talk about is truth, he just doesn't know why he should be religious yet. He used to play chess with the previous missionaries, and so he brought a chessboard again to play against us. It's perfect because we can teach him the gospel, and it distracts him from the game, so we can win! Unfortunately he still won against us both. He used to be a chess competitor at a national scale, but it's been years and years, (seriously a long time). He has questions, he just doesn't realize it yet. 

Friday, we had a really good lesson with Darlene! We had a member there and we talked and talked for a

while there. But as soon as my companion started to teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the room was silent except for his voice. The spirit filled the room, and testified to all of us individually that what he taught was truth. She wants us to come again, and she knows there is something more to our message then another church. We were able to have dinner with a member family that night, and it went really well. They like us a lot, and committed to host a Family home evening once a month. That is great, because we are trying to start that habit here for many of the members.

Saturday was our pioneer day potluck! We were able to take some of the leftovers home too! On Sunday we were able to go over to Crosby and we tracted for a few hours and found one person who may be interested. But it was about the same as any other time, most people just don't know what they are missing. We went and stopped by a member, and she was very nice to us and let us right in. Thank goodness too, because the bugs that she has is insane. Like not exaggerating, there were like 20 bugs flying around me biting me, and I had lots of bug spray on. Ridiculous, I wanted to scream. But I didn't,  and we ended up having a great lesson inside her house safe from all of the evil Mosquitoes.

New companion Elder Gardner

Most of the zone at lake Superior

Aitkin (July 8-15)

On Monday, We cleaned up our apartment.  It is Transfers this week and we want it to be very clean for the next missionaries here in Brainerd. We were able to have Family Home Evening with a lot of our current people we are teaching. We all shared our testimonies on when and how we found the church to be true. We wanted to show that it takes a leap of faith and diligence on our part many times before we are able to be fully converted. The spirit was really strong and it was definitely a message they all needed to hear. The recent convert that was there, I could tell was definitely touched by the spirit.  She seemed to feel at ease that she was not the only one who may have doubts or questions, but still converted.

Tuesday, we were able to do lots of service! We helped out at the food shelf, and then we taught one of the self referrals we got. She is going to move, and is happy to because she knows that she needs to surround herself with some better people who will help her. She will hopefully be coming to church next week too! 

Wednesday we ended up having a nonmember help us with moving some stuff for a recent concert in the area. We were talking with him before we went over and when we mentioned that we needed to go, he offered to help us! It was pretty sweet to see him come and help us strangers. 

We were able to have a last hurrah with some members in the Brainerd ward and we went to a Chinese buffet place! After that we drove down to Princeton (closer to the cities) and we stayed the night there so we could arrive the next day on time.

Thursday was transfers, and I met my new companion Elder Gardner, who came out with me. We stayed in the cities, because we needed to drive up on Friday with a trailer and it would be 7 hours of driving. I got to spend time with my mission dad Elder Harris again, because we were with the AP's for the day. 

Friday, we drove all day, because we had to pack up the Ashland area apartment and bring all their stuff over to the Aitkin apartment. It doesn't help that Ashland is 4 hours away from the cities, and then 3 hours away from Aitkin. We drove for a long long while that day. The Gadd's who were the senior couple, who helped us, took us out to lunch and dinner which was great, and it made things very easy for us. 

On Saturday, we had a great first day in Aitkin. We were able to help out Grandma Piecek with her yard, and Elder Gardner got to meet her. She fed us lunch as usual and it was really good! We brought the leftovers home and ate them later. After Grandma Piecek, we planned our week, and then we also tracted for a while. To end the day off we ended up teaching a guy named Ray for a an hour and taught the first two lessons.

Anyways love y'all and talk to you next week.

4th of July (July 3-8)

On Wednesday I ended up exchanging with Elder Layton in Princeton, and we were able to have a good time shooting off potato cannons at some redneck members house. Thing is though all the members here are redneck. And they are proud of it! It's always a hoot and a holler being around em.

On the 4th of July we had lots of fun! In the morning we split some wood, and stacked it for a member in Princeton, and then they fed us a light lunch. After that we went over to the church and balled up and called our families. Then we went over to the Bishop's house where he hosted a big ole party, with a slip and slide and a bouncy fighting ring. There is two wobbly platforms and each person gets a giant noodle ram thingies. It was pretty funny to try to knock the other person down!

Friday we went over to Alexandria and we exchanged with them. We first started off the day with some service at a food shelf, which was great! Then Elder Birrell and I went out to an area 30 minutes away and he talked to a bunch of Spanish people. I didn't know a single word, except Hola. Lol. It was good for him because he usually rely's on others to carry the conversation, so it kind of threw him in and forced him to really concentrate on what they say.

On Saturday we spent the whole day, up driving through the Wadena area, we were able to visit with 8 different families while we were up there and they were all pleasantly surprised to see us. It's nice sometimes to visit the areas that don't have missionaries all the time. They are able to see how valuable missionaries are. Sunday we we able to have both Lunch and dinner with members, and we were able to weekly plan. It was good to have a head start on some of the plans and things to do later in the week.

My private park

Fireworks

Staples (Wadena area).

Elder Layton fighting in the ring with me.

The Sticks (June 24-July 1)

Monday we were able to see Richard and Beate A again. We helped them for a couple hours and then they feed us and we played a game with them, since it was our Pday. We played a really fun dive game, and I won the first time, and then came in dead last the second time. I truly will miss them so so much, and I hope that they keep inviting the missionaries in!

Tuesday, we went out to Crosby! We went over to a ladies house to see if she was still interested, and she just invited us in and we played UNO! She has been taught in the past so it wasn't that weird for her, but it was a little shocking for us! I thought it was a very effective thing as missionary, because it got them to trust us. When I bear powerful testimony on a life changing gospel, they will see it coming from the mouth of a friend, rather than a stranger. That's the reason member-missionary work is more effective! You gotta bro up with peeps!

Wednesday, we visited a referral, that we got and she has a really solid! She is so earnestly seeking truth, and she lives in town too! It is so good because now I feel I can get some of the female members involved in joint teaching with us! I feel one of our most important jobs as a missionary is to get the members out teaching! That way , we can help them achieve their goals as a member, but take care of the small details... members are much more qualified to teach anyways, because they have more life experience, and they are known as normal people! We stand out because of our calling, but you stand out because your true testimony!

Thursday, we had interviews with the mission President! I will be reopening Aitkin starting July 11th!!! I'm so excited! After we had that exciting news and our interviews, we went back to Brainerd, and had a lesson with Eric again. It went well. He told us he wants to be a member some day, and that he could see that being the case in a few months. After our lesson, we helped some members of the ward move out. They almost weren't able to leave when they wanted because their moving truck wasn't at the dealership. They had to go rent one from some other place, but the lord provided a way for them.

On Friday we went over to the Fuller's place because the 10 year old daughter wants to be baptized. We have been teaching the lessons to them. She is kinda confused, because she has been coming to church for the majority of her life, but it's still required that we teach the lessons before her baptism. Saturday we ended up going out to Aitkin to help a member out on his dad's property. It hasn't been touched in a long long time so we just went in to cut down the trees, and clean up the yard. He was so grateful for all the help! We were then able to have dinner with a part member family, and there were a few friends that were invited too! 

Sunday, we were able to go to Aitkin for church (yes it was the third time in one week lol.) We were going up there because President Hicken (1st counselor in the Mission Presidency) spoke on that Sunday. He was there to hype up the branch about missionary work. How they, as a branch, can become a ward if they the members put in the work to bring others to Christ. They also taught the youth and gave them ideas on how to invite in normal and natural ways. They had each of them make a commitment to invite a friend in some way to come closer to Christ. Then they had us missionaries keep track of it so that they actually do it. The branch has suggested many great ideas, I just need to make sure they do it!

On Monday we went all the way up to Pine River again, because someone we are teaching lives all the way up there. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get there so, we spent the whole day there. We visited a lot of the people that live in the middle of nowhere. We went to this one less actives house and he's got all sorts of animals there. He showed us his pigs, bunnies, and Alpaca's. Later on that day we also found a sign that says Ask Jesus, so we made sure to get a photo next to it... overall it was a blast to go to the sticks and find some wack people!

Me and a cow

Found another Ox  in Crosby Library

At the Ranch

Pigs

Alpaca's

A farm out in Pine River

Cross dimensional high fives

St. 🅱️loud (June 17-24)

Tuesday was great, because we got to see three of my favorite people. We saw Richard and Bay A, and they are doing really good right now. We went over to help them tile again, but we weren't able to because some of the stuff was to wet. Instead we went outside, and talked for two straight hours, uninterrupted, about the gospel. It's truly incredible to see: when we first met them they had little to no interest, but as we have brought things up casually in conversation they are starting to have more questions. We talked about the different roles of the godhead. Richard said that one of the reasons he strayed away from the Lutheran's is that they put only an emphasis on Jesus Christ, and forget entirely our Heavenly Father. It kind of destroys the whole purpose of the atonement if we disregard God. 

After we talked for a long time we had dinner with them, and they said they want us to come over for a board game night! Isn't non-member fellow shipping great! On Wednesday, we started teaching someone really solid. His name is Brady. He is one of the boyfriends of one of the members here, and he is 16. We had dinner with him, and taught the restoration with him. Well apparently that night he taught his dad the restoration when he got home! I was glad to hear that, because it meant he was really listening. We will be teaching him again in a week and a half, because he lives an hour and 15 minutes away.

Friday was a blast! We had zone Conference and that was a lot of fun! After our training's we had a zone temple trip, and we all rode inside the vanimal! The van holds a lot of people so it was really just a big ole party inside it. After the temple trip we spent the rest of the night with a missionary that goes home in a few weeks. We ended up spending the night there because we wouldn't have time to drive somewhere else to sleep.

Saturday we drove all the way up to Brainerd right after we woke up. We got up there around 10 and showered, and got out at about 10:45 and drove to a members house. They were moving that day and we told them we would help them out, but we had a lesson at 1:30, so we came in the morning and ended up packing more than half there stuff away in that short amount of time. We then had a lesson with a member who has had a lot of grief and turmoil in her life. It was actually pretty crazy, because she met with someone the day before that has had a lot of the same experiences as her. She actually stuck around for the whole time when we taught the gospel to them. The spirit was really strong too. We were able to teach so much to the both of them, and gave the one a priesthood blessing! Apparently after we left the members stayed until 5 at night (like 5 hours total) and taught her and the nonmember for that long!

On Sunday, we had a potluck after our ward Conference, and there were so many people there! As soon as you mention free food, everyone flocks to the church building, I guess. We were able to talk to a Jehovah's Witness too, which was interesting. We won't be going back because, although we had a very long pleasant conversation, he has no interest in changing his views. There are certainly some interesting things they believe. Cool stuff to know I suppose. Monday, was a very short day because we just spent most the day helping Richard and his wife Beate-A. They are always so happy to see us, and they fed us and we played a game with them. When they found out that one of us was likely leaving the area in a few weeks, they got really really sad.