First week of school DOWN!

I've got a 4th grader, a freshman, a sophomore, and two seniors. One at Old Mill Elementary, two at Stansbury High School, and two at Utah Valley University.

And Erik is on hiatus from school for another 18 months as he gains an education in other ways.

It was a miserable first week. Actually the first day was the worst and it got better as the week progressed.

*School should NEVER start on a Monday.
*Back to School night should never be on the first day of school.
*Short day is much better half way through the week instead of at the end of the week.

These three factors made for a very, Very, VERY long week. And I've decided I don't care for the first two weeks of school. There is no routine or schedule as you are constantly teaching and reteaching and reinforcing procedures and behavior.

But enough of that. We finished our summer off with a short trip to Bryce, one of my favorite National Parks.

Nate had other things, so it was just Alex, Ash, me, and Tyler.

The scenery is just stunning. We live in such a beautiful and diverse state.

Ash started tennis and had a few matches the week before school began.

Nate had a birthday and celebrated by playing tennis all day at a tournament. It was the only thing he wanted.

Alex and his cousin Ian set up a lemonade stand where they made some money thanks to our very kind neighborhood.

Nate ran his first cross country meet of the season as a varsity runner. He wasn't too happy about his performance, but when you're getting over being sick, I think he didn't do too badly.

We made it to the Horsley Orthodontics summer swim party (taking some friends with us)

and to the USU Aggie Alumni night drive in movie/barbecue.

Such a cute photo of those two!!

The capstone of our summer was a trip to Logan to see family. Unfortunately, our quick game night resulted in us being stuck on the freeway coming home. 

Willard was kind enough to entertain us with a firework show.


Another week of school and then a three-day weekend.

Hottest Week Yet

Today is exactly 11 months for me. It's honestly been some of the best months ever lately. I look forward to an even better 13 months to come. This week was good. We had some fun activities, some good lessons, and zone conference. I had to do laundry twice this week though, because it seems I'm always having to change and put on dry clothes. Take me back to March! I can't handle too much more heat and rain.

Monday was interesting. We finished p-day as usual and went to dinner. During dinner it started dumping rain, and it never seemed to stop. When we finished we got ready to leave and found out that the road out of the neighborhood was flooded. There was no way of leaving. So we ended up staying until 8:30 when the water was finally low enough for us to drive our van out. I attached a pic of the flooded road.

Tuesday was also a fun day. We got to go into Orlando for zone conference. I love zone conference because you get to see all your friends from past transfers. It's a good time. We found out that we are going to be able to go hear Brad Wilcox speak to us in September. Yay!

I also woke up that morning to a surprise. We were heading out to zone conference and when we walked out the door we saw a note. It said my name on it, which was strange. It also had a package attached to it. Turns out it was from my uncle Matt who has come through on his way to Miami. He had left me a note and some amazing beef jerky. You're awesome Matt!

Later on in the week, on Friday, we had a missionary game night. We and the Merritt Island missionaries invited all our investigators and some inactive members to a board game night. We had a great turnout and had a blast together. I learned how to play Scattergories and another really strategic but simple game called Tsuro I think. They were really fun. 

Other than that we spent most of our week knocking on people's doors. That's actually something I have come to enjoy. It feels great to be able to find something about a person that they need or are searching for and be able to share truths with them that have been restored to help them through their trials. 

We had a cool experience with one guy this week. He was going through a tough time and had some hard challenges thrown at him. I was able to share Helaman 5:12 with him right there and show him how if he makes Jesus his rock, those trials won't be able to drag him down. He actually started to cry and he told us how much he needed it. The spirit and the Book of Mormon together work miracles. 

I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. Something so good and something that blesses so many people's lives can only be from God. "No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so." The Book of Mormon is the tool used to gather Israel. I invite you all to read it and share it. It's as simple as that. 

Well I've almost survived the summer here. Hopefully this week will be cooler. We should be pretty busy this week. We are preparing Howard for his baptism in 2 weeks. We also are going to see if we can help some of our long-time investigators progress. Anyway, though, I love hearing from each of you. If any of you have had some cool experiences or just want to say hi, shoot me an email:) Have a great week!

One of the coolest members ever here is from Philly. He has been telling us for weeks how amazing his Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches are. We got to try them yesterday, and he was not lying. That was one of the best dinners ever.

The rains came tumbling down

Back home, in the great state if Utah, when it rains, it's an all day thing and it is usually is fairly heavy. Here when it rains it will only last around an hour, but man does it come down. I think it's because I'm right on the coast, so it is always a major downpour when it rains. I put a video in the Google drive of us driving in the rain so you can get a glimpse of it. Our windshield wipers weren't going fast enough, so we had to pull over for a bit. We were lucky enough this week to always be indoors at least when the storms hit, so we didn't get drenched (at least not by the rain, but biking in super humid 90 degree heat does tend to get you a little wet.)

Anyway, enough about the weather. All of our investigators are doing about the same. KK came to church and is trying to get baptized, we'll see what happens. Howard is still on track for the 31st. Suzie should get herself a baptismal date this week. 

A few interesting things did happen this week, though. The Tyndall family from Minneola, one of my last areas, came down and took us to lunch. That was really fun. They are one of my favorite families and they were always super nice to me. It was great to see them and spend some time with them. 

We also had a little bit of car problems from all the rain. Basically, most of the screws from the guard on the bottom of our van fell off, so a few screws were holding it on while it dragged on the ground and it folding under the car. Kind of hard to explain, but there's a picture attached. That shouldn't have happened, we didn't hit anything, and the van was under warranty, so we went to the dealership to have them fix it. They just took it off, but wouldn't fix it because they said something hit it and made it come loose, so the warranty no longer covered it. It must have been the water we were driving through. So now we have to go through the hassle of getting an estimate on a new one, getting our insurance to cover it, and then actually getting it fixed. I'm not a fan of dealing with car issues. 

 

New Transfer, New District, Same Area

This week was the start of my 8th transfer. Time just goes faster and faster it seems. Our entire district is different this transfer. Half the zone went home last Tuesday, so there are a bunch of new people here. Other than that though it's basically the same. I'm still with Elder "Lil' Storm" Tempest and I'm still in Rockledge.

This week was pretty fun. We did a lot of service and had some good lessons. The only bad thing about the week was that none of our investigators came to church, but we'll get them next week. 

One of our investigators named Micah moved up to Titusville, about 30 minutes north of here, this week. He will just be up there temporarily, so we'll get to teach him again in about a month. All the people he got to help him move fell through, so he called us on Saturday and asked for our help. We were planning on knocking doors all day, but we decided to help him instead. It was great. We got to really bond with him for a couple hours. He is such a cool guy. I'm gonna miss him while he's gone. 

We also had a couple lessons with Howard, an 18 year old kid living with our investigator KK. KK is still kind of stuck, but Howard has nothing holding him back from being baptized. We helped him understand what baptism is and how it can help him. He really wants to be baptized to be able to get a clean slate and move on to a better future, so we set a baptismal date for August 31 with him. He just really needs to come to church, but other than that he's golden.

We also had a lesson with Suzie again this week. We have now taught her the 3 main lessons. She also wants to be baptized, she just wanted to come to a service before setting a date. So she also really needs to come to church this week. She's super golden though. 

I'll finish with a scripture. This is one of my favorites, especially to use when we talk to people on their doorstep. Ether 12:4 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." I love the hope that comes from the gospel, and I know that this hope and faith can be our anchor to keep us firm with all the craziness that comes with life. I hope you all have a good week. - Clearly Elder Leary

The moving van didn't have a middle seat. That was a long drive for me. 

Took this from our church parking lot. 

Where am I going?

Hello from Florida. This week was a tough week in all honesty. I had a really bad cold all week and still kind of do, although it's mostly better. I also got something stuck in my eye on Tuesday that really bothered me for 3 days and made it tough to sleep, plus I twisted my ankle last Monday. It's been a rough week physically. The rest of the week was fantastic though.

On Saturday we got transfer calls, so I was stressing all week about where I was going to go. I've been in Rockledge for 3 transfers, which is quite a while. On Saturday the Zone Leaders called to give us our news, they told me I was leaving Rockledge and going to Lake Placid again. Turns out they were joking though, I'm actually staying another here! I'm super hyped. 

I guess this is what they do with missionaries going home. Lay them to rest.

Elder Tempest and I have a couple baptisms cooking for this transfer, so I'm really glad I can stay here for them. One of those is Suzie. We found her because she was going to our family history center and one of the members there told us to come meet her. Turns out she is amazing and wants to join the church. We had two lessons with her this week, we taught the restoration and the plan of salvation. We had members come to both the lessons also, which is super helpful. We invited her to our dinner appointment yesterday and that went great as well. She has nothing but good to say about our members and our church. She even said she wanted to join the church, we asked her about baptism and she said she would need to come to one of our services first, which is understandable. She couldn't make it yesterday, but she will next week and then we will set a date for her. Sorry for the long paragraph, but we are just super blessed to be able to teach her. She is amazing. 

We are still teaching the other people I've talked about in the past. Most of them, like KK and Jen, just need to quit smoking. But they're doing well. The Califano kids are also doing great after their baptism. We led a short discussion with the primary kids yesterday about missionary work, and Jacob Califano answered like 5 questions. We were super happy to see him opening up and participating in church. Also, Alyssa Califano got a temple reccomend and went to the temple. So they are doing great. Anyway, just thought I'd give a little update on some people I've spoken about in the past.

I'm finally getting feeling better after being sick all week, so I think this will be a good week. We shall see what lies in store for us. You never know what the week will hold, but there's a good chance it will include a lot of heat.

This Week Drained Me

This was one of the most tiring weeks of the mission so far. I had 2 exchanges this week and a sleepover. I learned a whole lot and had a whole lot of fun at the same time.

The first exchange of the week was with Elder Pennock. He is about ready to go home and is the best missionary in the mission. We found 10 new people to teach in 1 day. That's a lot. I don't know how it happened, Elder Pennock is just super good at following the spirit and saying the right things. A few of the people we found could be pretty solid, we will see this week.

I also had an exchange with Elder Chatwin. He is also going home in a week. We were able to find 4 people. We knocked doors for literally 8 hours and it about killed me. I learned so much from both my exchanges, though. I'm really going to miss both of them.

The last fun thing from the week was we got to have a sleepover with Viera and Merritt Island last night. We had a really good time and were able to really bond as a group. We took a super funny video. It's in the google drive folder if you want to take a peek. Overall it was a good week. I just need a fat nap though. 

Faith bandaids

Our backpacking trip was so much fun.

But little did KJ (that's our little nickname for the two of them at our house) know what was just around the corner for them. They were all ready a little down and out about a bad car purchase, but when Jason landed (no pun intended) in the hospital

for three days from a nasty fall off a truss he was working on,

they began to wonder why bad things happen to two kids just trying to get a little ahead in life.

The Lord was looking out for him that day. He didn't land on his head, neck, or back. Any of those could have killed him or paralyzed him. He didn't land on feet which may have resulted in a broken leg or two. He didn't land on his right side where he had a pocket full of nails that could have done some damage.

Instead, he landed on his left side with his elbow taking the brunt of the concrete floor he came in contact with. For some reason, I just don't think his elbow is supposed to look like that.


This is what is looked like after surgery.

And today he was informed that he didn't need surgery to fix a break in his wrist nor did they need to cast his elbow from all the metal holding it together. Those two bits of news were a couple of tender mercies.

All this happened the week I was watching four extra kids, one in a wheelchair. I packed them up and we went to visit where Kiersten showed the kids the rock that was extracted from Jason's knee.

Not only is he out of work, but he also didn't have insurance. Watching these two struggle with this latest setback has just tugged at my mother's heartstrings as I've cried and hurt right along with them. When they were little, I could wipe away the tears, put a bandaid on the owie, give them a big kiss, and send them back out to play. The older they get, the bigger the owies. And I'm afraid I just don't have a big enough bandaid to fix this one.

But I know who does.

One morning as I was traversing seven miles through Lake Point, the question came to me, "Do my kids have enough faith to maneuver through whatever hard things will come their way? Do my kids have enough faith?" They are to the point that they can no longer rely on my faith.

And it scared me a little. Do my kids know Who has all power to fix the toughest of situations when no earthly person can. Do they know Who to turn to when their nights become even darker. Do they know Who will help them conquer those towering walls of doubt and discouragement and fear.

Faith in Jesus Christ.

That is the bandaid that will help heal these adult owies.

Christ is the master healer, the fixer of all hurts, the instiller of hope, the greatest miracle worker. Trusting that he will make things right when the world says otherwise brings the greatest peace to one's life.

I know.

I've been there.

I've experienced some of those adult owies and they can be painful.

I am eternally grateful to my Savior who is there to pick me and put me back together, metaphorically, and in the case of Jason, even literally.