Preachin' In The Skreets

Hey guys, I'll try to make this one short. This week we had a funny experience literally preaching on a street, we got some girl scout cookies, and found some new people to teach.

I'll start with the important stuff. We had a cool miracle where we were out in the middle of nowhere driving to a member's house and we saw a sign by a house that said Girl Scout Cookies. We had to stop and get a bunch. We stopped and walked up, but before we got to the door, a guy answered and told us to turn around and leave. We said we just wanted the cookies, and he let us come in. Turns out he was an inactive member of the church. They turned out to be super nice. We ended up getting orders from the a few people in the zone and we bought over 10 boxes of cookies.

On Saturday I was with Elder Grant in downtown Sanford. We were going to do the baptismal interview for Natasha. We parked the car and got out and there as a guy with a mic and speakers set up on a cement pad next to the road. He told us to come over and he started asking if we were preachers, and we explained what we do. He asked if we could preach for a little bit right there and we said we can. There were about 10 people sitting down on the other side of the street watching us. I offered the opening prayer and then Elder Grant got up and preached from John 3 about baptism. He did great and the people enjoyed it. He was about to open up the Book of Mormon and read from Mosiah 18 which also speaks about the covenant of baptism, and then invite all those that wanted to be baptized to meet with us, but then Natasha came out and told us to come in and do the interview because we were late. We were kind of bummed. We wanted to see what the audience's reaction would be to us inviting them to be baptized and us reading the Book of Mormon, but oh well. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

We have a couple new people to teach that are pretty solid. We had a lesson with a guy with no religious background whose girlfriend was a member of the church. It was very unique for me because almost everyone here in Florida knows something about God and Jesus Christ. We will see how things go with him.

This week we will have exchanges and then a baptism on Saturday. It should be a good week. Talk to you all next week. 

Book stats for 2019

This week has been a HARD week as my mind tries to grapple with so many horrifically, sad tragedies. In my little home away from home, my work home, there was a quadruple homicide, something you never imagine will ever happen to small town America.

Yellow ribbons all the way down the road on my way to my school

My friend is grappling with a second suicide in her family realm. And today a basketball icon, Kobe Bryant, died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter. He was only 41. So many lives gone this week. Too many young lives.

And my mind just keeps regurgitating the WHY?

This week we also had an assembly where Meg Johnson came to speak. She is a quadriplegic from an accident when she was 17. She was so positive and upbeat despite the limited use of her hands and no use of her legs. The message she gave these students was that though her trial was more visible than others, it didn't make it any harder than trials we all face. And just because her body was broken, it didn't make her worth any less. She still had a lot to contribute to the world.

What a great message. Life is hard and we all have hard days, weeks, months, even years. BUT it doesn't last forever. Those come to an end eventually and life has its wonderfully good days and weeks and years too.

So on a slightly different tangent, when many people turn to food, alcohol, or television (screens) to escape the inescapable, my escape comes in the form of books. I read to learn and also read to escape to a new life, new scenery, and once in awhile I come up for air and wonder where I am. I love those kind of books that suck you in but only when I have the time for it. Usually, my favorite books are the ones with short chapters that I can digest a little at time without having to devour the whole thing at once.

2019 was a good year for reading. My Goodreads stats say I read 37 books but if you don't count the picture books I included to remember them, I averaged almost 2 a month. That's pretty good for me.

*The Wild Card (a PD book)
*The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
*Indestructible: Leveraging Your Broken Heart to Become a Force of Love & Change in the World
*Educated
*Long Way Down
*I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
*The Chocolate Touch
*Crossing to Safety
*Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child
*Elijah of Buxton (good one to listen to)
*Return to Red Castle
*Where the Crawdad's Sing
*Fish in a Tree
*The Wishing Spell
*Firefly Lane
*Insights from a Prophet’s Life: Russell M. Nelson
*David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
*Gooney Bird Greene
*Matilda
*The Case Against Sugar
*The Boxcar Children
*Lion
*Sold on a Monday
*The Giver of Stars

I also subscribe to various podcasts that I listen to on my walks and runs. Here's a list of my subscriptions:

*Book of Mormon (I listen to this on my morning walk around the block)
*Cold (this was an excellent one-time-through podcast to listen to)
*The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast (same as Cold; not a continuous podcast)
*The Cult of Pedagogy (school related)
*Don't Miss This Study (great help for teaching my Sunday School class)
*BYU-Idaho Devotionals
*BYU Speeches
*Maxwell Institute Podcast
*All In (FAVORITE)
*Teach 4 the Heart (school related)
*Better Than Happy (FAVORITE)
*The Build Math Minds Podcast (school related)
*Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers (school related)

New Mission Record for Being With a Companion

So this week has been crazy. We found some amazing people, had some good lessons, and also had exchanges. By far the craziest though is that Elder DeMoux and I are both staying. This will be our fourth transfer together, which is completely unheard of. It hasn't happened in our mission in at least a few years, I didn't think that doing four with a companion was even a possibility. You are either with a companion for one or two transfers, and very rarely three. Four is just crazy, but I guess we are doing good work because President said he didn't think he should split us up when we are having this much success. Four transfers is tough with any companion, so we will see how this goes haha.

I'll start with the amazing people we found. We ran into a lady named Ashley who was a member for a few years then got her records removed for almost no reason a few years back. She still has a testimony and loves the church and wants to come back. She will probably get rebaptized really soon. The cool thing is that we are also teaching her boyfriend. We went over for a lesson with her and it turned out to be mostly for him. She was also really helpful in the lesson and knows her stuff. They're super solid.

We finished all the lessons with Natasha this week. She is all ready for her January 25th baptism, all we need is to do the interview. She came to church and loved it again, so she really has no issues. It's been smooth sailing helping her. She's really prepared.

We also finally had a lesson with a part member family that we've been trying to meet with since I got here. They both come to church every week, the mom is active but the dad isn't a member. He has some questions about a few points of doctrine that we'll be able to answer this week. He seems really sincere and knows he needs to find if this church is true or not. We are excited for them.

The most fun part of my week was exchanges with Seminola, the Spanish Elders. We had a blast, plus I got to practice my Spanish with some people. It was funny. I sound like I'm 100 percent gringo. I know a good amount of vocabulary but have no idea how to actually use it in conversation, but it was fun regardless.

Well, that's all folks! Make sure to look at the picture of me holding a snake. It was the coolest thing ever. Snakes are crazy. 

Survived My Blackout Year

Can you guys believe it is 2020? That's nuts, when I got to the mission it was September 2018, and now it's 2020. 2019 was my "blackout year" meaning I was on my mission the entire year, but I survived and now I'm in my final stretch I guess. Anyway, we stayed busy this week. We had a lot of lessons with investigators and our recent concerts, but no real breakthroughs. They are all doing well though. We also had exchanges this week and I ate a chicken heart.

The one lesson that stands out was with John Hunter. He is the really solid guy that wants to be baptized, but won't commit to a day. This week we found out part of his reason why. He hasn't made it to church and wants to come before committing to a date, which makes sense, but the problem is he is always gone on Sundays. He should be able to come this next Sunday though. We are shooting for March for his baptism, which will give him plenty of time to make it to church a few times.

Other than that, Mark is still doing good after his baptism, the Smith family, whose kids Cameron and Aidric got baptized a month ago, is starting to come to church every week and live the gospel in their home, and Natasha is still preparing for her January 25th baptism. So overall things are going very well.

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Romney, one of my zone leaders, this week. We had a fun day, and we only got sidetracked talking about random stuff a few times. We also drove by the EA building where they make Madden and NBA Live, so I got a picture in front of the sign.

Also, we have been teaching a really cool guy named Kevin Wood. He is a recent convert that just moved from Sorrento and we have been teaching him the recent convert lessons. What's interesting is he is an artist for DC/WB. He does collectible paintings for a lot of their movies. You should look him up. He is currently working on some Star Wars paintings and a painting for a new Batman VS Superman movie that is coming up. He also has plans to paint some Book of Mormon characters for the church. He is super fun to talk to.

The last interesting thing from this week was that I tried chicken hearts. We stopped by a Brazilian member's house and they had just made them for dinner. They gave us some and they were actually super good. They were like really chewy pieces of chicken, but they had great flavor.

I think that's it for my week. Happy new year! I'll talk to you all next week. 

A new year, a new decade

2020 was that year that was so far away. So out there in the distance. And now here it is. As a kid I was 100% certain the second coming would be here by now. But here we are . . . alive and thriving.

Christmas has come and gone. My favorite part of Christmas is the slide show we watch on Christmas Eve of the past year and then 10 years past. It is a gentle reminder of how quickly life moves. Alex really helped me put this one together and was a tremendous motivator to get it done.

I also loved Ashlyn's reaction to her becoming an aunt. Priceless. She has been hounding them so much that now I'm not sure what she'll bug them about. 

We rung in the New Year and then I promptly headed to my bed. New Year's Eve can be so painful if I don't get a nap. But between dentist appointments and a late afternoon movie that just wasn't in the works this year.

And tomorrow we're headed back to school. I'm kind of excited. I've missed my students and can't wait to hear about their break.

This was such a good break. I read books, set up a new laptop (that's a tedious process), completed miscellaneous errands I finally had time for, ate too much, caught up with family and friends, and ran A LOT. I've recently discovered a love of running early in the morning when the air bites my nose and stings my toes and there isn't a soul around. It is the most peaceful time of day. I covered 5 miles yesterday, didn't pass a single car or person, and was home before most people were out of bed.

Looking ahead to this upcoming year, I see so many good things in the horizon. I can now say that Erik comes home this year. Nate wants to leave July or early August. A little piece of heaven will make his way to a new home in June. Kiersten will graduate with her bachelor's in psychology. Nate completes his high school career. My parents will be home from their mission. And these are just all things visually apparent on my calendar. It doesn't even take into account all the unseen, beautiful things that are waiting for us.

My one and only goal is to finish the stack of books on my nightstand without adding any new ones. I am in the middle of so many that just need completing. A second quasi goal is to take and pass the Praxis PLT test. It's not a goal I necessarily want but one that must get done.


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What's happening in the yard?
DEER! That's what's happening. When we first moved in, we were a little perplexed that the deer just didn't seem to come around. And now they do. And we really wish they'd go back home. Because they are not very kind to our trees. Grrrr! Tyler calls them rats with hooves.