🎵I'm back, back, back from the dead tonight!!!🎵

Ok, these past few P-days have been crazy packed so here's a blitzed email to prove I'm still alive! The work is beginning to finally pick up again after two weeks of slowness but this week is busy so hooray!!!

Last week was occupied with attempts to catch a certain furry creature we dubbed "Elder Mickey." Yeah, we had a rat, but we got him though!!! 

We finally had a friend come to church for the first time in a while. Welles was able to come to Stake Conference this week and I was so happy to see him. He said that he really enjoyed it.

We started meeting with a man named Sean Romney, he's a member who reached out to us asking for us to come study scripture with him. He hasn't come to church in a while but I've met him before! He came to the ward Trunk or Treat way back in my second transfer and he's finally following up and meeting missionaries again! I'm satisfied in knowing that I was able to get something started so long ago rolling, we're now meeting with him every Friday.

We had Bishop's storehouse which was a ton of fun and all the missionaries were singing Disney songs as we were filling the orders, we had to pass the time somehow. 

We went to the Mpingas the other night as a district and that was really good, they had pork ribs, beans, and rice.

Will is coming to church frequently now so I find comfort in knowing that I was able to help him return to following our savior more fully!

Last P-day we played chair soccer which was a ton of fun and the one game lasted for over an hour and a half, in the end Elder Baker won but I got third though which was fun. 

Elder Tuvell and I have been playing some Dungeons & Dragons in our free time Which has been a ton of fun. (That's what all the random assorted dice and coins are.)
Hopefully I'll be able to get a weekly in next week but God be with you until I write again. 

Hehe, now I have three sets of grandparents.😏

Ok, to be completely honest nothing happened two weeks ago and this last week was rough and nothing happened either. I was very stressed out recently but I'm doing better now.

The Davies left for home today and they are going to be missed greatly. They've lived here in the Portland ward for over a year and now they're heading back home to Utah. I am so thankful for all they have done for me in my 5 months here with them. I never knew it was possible to have three sets of grandparents but now I've gained another Grandma and Grandpa.

Our new district is absolutely HUGE!!! At last district council we had 17 missionaries sitting in the same room! We had a piñata and we destroyed it which was a ton of fun. We also had burritos which were very tasty. 

I decided I want to listen to every General Conference talk in the Gospel Library app. So I traveled back in time 1971 and began my journey. I find it so awesome that the very first recorded General Conference Talk is titled "Out of the Darkness". It's given by Joseph Fielding Smith and it pretty much summarizes all the core doctrines and truths of our church. It doesn't cover everything but it lays down a very broad foundation with very clear and simple language. It's crazy to see that our prophets now days are still preaching and teaching the same true doctrines as they did 52 years ago!

I would like to add my voice to all who have joined the Prophets and Apostles in saying, "I know that this church is true." We the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints contain the truths and doctrines taught by Jesus Christ. Now more than ever is the time to strengthen ourselves spiritually. I would like to invite all to read their scriptures and wax strong in their faith. God is with us and miracles have not ceased in this world, in fact they are around us in countless ways. I so testify with love and hope, in the name of Jesus Christ, our savior, Amen.

I Broke Myself Yet Again

Yeah, haha I sprained my wrist yesterday and so this weekly is going to be shorter because it is taking me ages to type up anything. Elder Taylor threw a soccer ball and I hit it with my hand which overextended the tendons there and now my right wrist and hand are swollen. So learn from me and don’t go around punching flying objects.

Transfer News! I’m staying in Portland for a fourth transfer and Elder Tuvell and I will be companions again! Although we still need to pack up because we are switching apartments with the English Elders because they're a trio now and are going to need the extra space.

Not a ton happened this week because Elder Tuvell got really sick and went a full 24 hours without sleep and also went a day and a half without any food. We were kind of just grounded for most of the week.

The only real main event of the week was one day Brother Bassford asked us if we would like to come help his friend from Colorado move in. So Elder Tuvell and I got to build a very nice looking cabinet!

but yeah that’s my week! I hope you all have an amazing week! I’ll talk to you all in 6 days! Au revoir!

Double the weekly

Ok, so I missed the last weekly but nothing really happened that week so we’re ok haha. I’m not really sure when these events are but here's some stuff that happened sometime within the past two weeks.

A lot of water came running into our apartment from upstairs, turns out there's a hole or something in our roof and so it went through all three floors of our duplex. (Needless to say we are getting to know our landlord very well.) The maintenance people came and put 4 fans and a moisture collector in our apartment and quarantined off a section of the apartment. 

We had dinner with the Mpinga’s and it was a ton of fun. They’re a very kind family in our ward who speak Portuguese, French, and almost all of them can speak English. They can make very good food though so we were very thankful for them letting us over.

We also went to the Mpingas again this week and had a very fun cook off between the Elders and the Sisters who teamed up with two of the Mpinga girls. I bet you can guess how that went down…yeah…sister’s are faster and more practiced cooks. The Elders’ food didn’t turn out horribly but the quality difference was there.

We had district P-day last week which was a ton of fun. We rented and igloo and ate lunch in there and then we also went candlestick bowling. It’s a type of bowling that’s pretty common over here on the East Coast. It’s the same concept but the bowling balls are much smaller with no holes and the pins are skinnier and the symetrical on top and bottom. The only rules difference is that you get three bowls instead of the regular two. It was crazy though because the machine doesn’t clean it up inbetween bowls so the knocked down pins lay down and if you hit them right they can take down a ton of other pins. 

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders so I went up to Topsham with Elder Henderson. Then we immediately after had interviews with President and Sister Hayden. Unfortunately we didn’t factor in rush hour for our return from exchanges so we ended up arriving really late but President and Sister Hayden understood. The day after we had Exchanges with the District Leaders so I ran Portland French with Elder Satteson. We helped a family move in, and had a very good lesson with Lee.

This last Thursday was Zone Conference which was very helpful because it talked about how to address problems within a relationship.

We found a new friend named Danyiah who is extremely nice and has an amazing personality. He was making bible jokes with Elder Tuvell and I and it was really funny. He speaks a ton of different languages and it’s really cool.

Will finally came back to church again which was really awesome to see. Another piece of good news is that Chancel and Mary had their baby!!! The ward is very excited for them and everyone has been congratulating them.

Thank you to everyone for all your love and support! I’m having a great time out here and I’m learning so much! I hope you all have an amazing week! Talk to you later!

Baby Showers are different then I imagined

Hey everyone! This week was quick but had a bunch of really fun events. I’m really enjoying this transfer and all the fun I’m having with my fellow missionaries.

On Thursday Elder Tuvell and I teamed up with Brother Andrew Bassford and Brother Joe Kubetz to go to Portland High School and help build parts of the set for the school play. They’re doing Frankenstein’s Bride and they had a spinning book case that Elder Tuvell and I were working on. Then needed a stove on one side which we made the body of and then we also made shelves. It was a ton of fun working with my hands again.

At some point in the week I started practicing piano again. With any luck maybe I’ll be able to play again by the time I’m back home. 

On Friday and most of Saturday we had exchanges with the Portland English Elders so Elder Taylor and I got to be companions again.

On Saturday Chancel invited us to his wife Mary’s baby shower…turns out that’s for relief society haha. We ended up shoveling snow around the church building. Then at 1 we cleaned the Church building for Stake Conference.

Yesterday after the stake conference our ward had a linger longer which was a ton of fun.

That’s it for this week hope you all are having an amazing week! I’ll catch you all next time!

Oh, I forgot to mention two things! Our toaster was smoking so to prevent the fire alarm from going off I opened the three layers of window and put a fan on it to blow the air out!  The other thing was that I woke up one morning and thought to myself why does the carpet feel wet under my feet, turned light's on and boom! Because of the winter storm we had water pouring in from the upstairs apartment. After coordinating with the Landlord (Chuck) and his wife (Rachel) we found out that the roof of our duplex was leaking and water was pouring through all three layers of our building. Upstairs apartment, downstairs, apartment, and basement.