The Perfect Companionship

 Monday was seriously so so fun. We met up in Lansing to ball out with a lot of missionaries. The APs showed up too so you already know I ran Elder Tueller in some ball. We were there from 9am to 5pm. My body ached the next morning, but it was one of the best pdays ever. 

TRANSFER day. I picked up Elder Nelson on Tuesday and man he is amazing. He is a lot like me, short, a king, athletic, and a baller! Him and I get along so well. He unpacked his stuff and we hit the store in Charlotte. Elder Nelson transferred with an instapot so we decided to cook a meatloaf in the instapot. It was delicious. It definitely hit the spot. When 5 o'clock hit we started grinding. We did some stop bys, but most importantly we did some door knocking. We had a ton of miracles happen. We found four new friends to teach and it was just absurd. We knocked into a family who wants to learn more and they have two children. They are so golden. Elder Nelson and I were caught off guard when they invited us in. After we boldly testified and they felt the spirit they knew they had to take the invitation we extended to heart. God has richly blessed Elder Nelson on day 1 together. 

This week has been so so good already. I am currently typing this up on Thursday night. Three days in the transfer with Elder Nelson and we have found 10 new friends to teach! God has blessed us with the diligence and boldness to proclaim the gospel. I love love love Elder Nelson. Everything in our lives seems to be the same. It's so crazy how much we click, how much we are united, and how much we love to work. This will be one of my best transfers of my mission. Elder Nelson is from Lindon, Utah. He is the oldest kid in his family, loves to go boating at Lake Powell, play soccer, and skateboard. He is also the same age as me, just one month apart, but he is only 6 months out on the mission. We are both learning so much from each other.

Saturday was the day we got to be in the presence of Elder Soares! It was insane that our whole mission had the privilege to gather together. The night before we had 8 elders in our apartment. It was a love hate relationship because it's fun being with elders, but man are they dirty. Elder Jorgensen was one of the elders that stayed overnight. It was so good getting to catch up and chat. We helped each other be better missionaries. I love him. ALSO, literally insane. Elder Ferguson who flew out to the mission with me was taking out his contacts in my bathroom. I saw the solution he was putting in his contacts and I'm like yo is that mine? He's like no that's mine. I'm like NO WAY. Elder Ferguson looked at me and said,"Do you have an eye condition?" I'm like yeah. Then he said,"KERATOKONUS?" I was like NO WAY, we were so hype. Such a rare disease. It was insane that we both had it and we are both wearing scleral lenses for it. 

It was pretty cool to be able to shake Elder Soares' hand. Elder Soares mainly focused on our missionary purpose and what that looks like for us. Such a cool experience. When Elder Nelson and I left back to our area we grinded! We had three lessons and then went door knocking for three hours. It was so rewarding. It was 81 degrees out and the sun was blaring. Let's go! We felt the spirit so much as we just grinded God's work. AMAZING. God is real. 

This week Elder Nelson and I have been eating out haha. On Friday we had to travel to Grand Rapids to attend a baptism due to Elder Nelson confirming two of the kids in the baptism. Grand Rapids has literally everything! We got some crumbl and you already know I had to go go five guys! Cajun Fries are so good!

Sunday was when Elder Soares presided over a special stake conference in Lansing. It was broadcasted to every ward/branch in the MLM. It was a very cool experience to hear him speak. I know he is an apostle called of God. I know we have living apostles today. It just makes sense!

This week has been one of the best ones in my mission. Elder Nelson and I find so much joy in the work. We are so happy, the spirit literally beams off our countenance on the doorstep. So many people are talking to us and want to learn more. This week was the most friends I found in one 7 day period in my wholemission! 12 new friends to teach, no way. I love God!

Parting Ways

 Monday was our district pday. Yeah I know! We left the house. We did our groceries early in the morning and then dipped out to Jackson. It was about a 50 minute drive to Jackson which is where the ZLs serve. We got there around 9, we wrote our emails, texted on messenger, and played some basketball. I straight schooled Elder Tueller in ball. If you are reading this Tueller, get rest. We then had a BBQ outside in the pit we had in the parking lot of the church. I formed and seasoned the patties so you already know they were yummy. Our last activity we did was bowling for two hours. Elder Tueller taught me how to spin a bowling ball. So yeah I am filthy. Headed back to our area at 6pm. 

Tuesday was a grind. Door knocking most of the day. Small miracle. Background: we received two referrals from elders in Grand Rapids about a month ago for a couple named Cody and Faith. After calling and talking over the phone they decided they didn't have time to meet since they were about to go homeless. Cody and Faith had to spend the time working. We didn't know where they lived since all we had was a phone number. As we were door knocking an apartment complex we FOUND THEM! Taught them the full restoration and they want to learn more. God just handed them to us. God is so good!

Tuesday night we found out some news about transfers. Elder Tueller is heading to East Lansing to become our new assistant to the President. He would #Striver! His companion Elder Spencer is trioing with us until transfers. After the district council on Wednesday, both of us drove out to the mission office to drop off Elder Tueller. Before we parted ways, Elder Tueller and I did a tie swap! I have a picture added to the photo album. 

Wednesday we had a virtual zone conference for an hour. It was more just a preparation meeting for Elder Soares coming to our mission next Saturday. Wednesday night rolls around and we get another call from the APs. We were then told that Elder Millward is getting picked up that night by the office elders and he is becoming our new housing coordinator in East Lansing. So insane how two nights prior we thought we were just going to be chilling until transfers together. Elder Millward and I parted ways Wednesday night. 

This has been just so fun. I absolutely love being with Elder Spencer. We are covering Jackson and Charlotte. Jackson has the biggest areabook in the whole mission. There are about 600 names in that areabook so we have been grinding in their area finding God's elect. Elder Spencer and I get along so well, we laugh so much together, and we put our heads down and work! It's such a great combination. It's the ending I needed for this transfer. I am literally so happy! Couldn't be more stoked for this next transfer. SO HYPE!

Funny inside joke I need to add to this email. No one will understand how much I laughed at this joke. I literally cried. So there is a documentary about our church from the History Channel produced. It isn't true and has a lot of false teachings about our church. One part in the video says,"So the thing about Moronee [Moroni] is that he actually never claimed he was from heaven, but he is actually from the Starcluster Euphrates." This sentence from the video had me in tears for hours. It was a had to be there moment, but I have to write this down so I can look back on it in the future. 

Serving in Jackson has literally been so fun! One of the afternoons we just went downtown and took as many pictures as all the murals they have. You will see how many they have from the amount of photos I sent in this week. Here is a good example on what Jackson is like. We go knock on a door, this middle aged lady comes to the door screaming at us to get off her porch or else she will let her dogs out. Side note about the dogs were that they were both golden doodles HAHA. She then proceeds to flip us off and curse at us. After we walk to the next house over we bump into a man named Kai. Kai is so elect. He is around 18 years old and after we stated our purpose he was like,"yeah… I am actually so interested in learning." It seemed fake how much this dude wanted to learn. We handed him a copy of The Book of Mormon with a Restoration pamphlet and set up a time to come back. Jackson is sick! God is so good. 

On Saturday we got transfer calls. I am so amped. I am staying in Charlotte to district lead again. I am receiving a new companion and his name is Elder Garrett Nelson. This is going to be the hypest transfer of my mission. SO EXCITED. I will tell you more about him when I get him tomorrow for transfer day. 

My week was so good! I had a taste of what it was like to be a ZL. I got to see what call ins with the DLs were like, call ins with the APs, and even the MLC huddle on Sunday past 9. I didn't even know much work they had to do lol I absolutely loved my time with Elder Spencer. We get along so well, we laugh so much and we work hard. We are also both the same height so let's go! He taught me guitar on Sunday night so Dallan better watch out. 

Due to it being Easter we thought we would do something special. Elder Spencer wanted to pray for an hour focusing it on gratitude. I took the challenge. I ended my prayer around 45 minutes long, but Elder Spencer stayed strong and hit the hour mark. I love Jesus Christ! I know he lives and we have the privilege to partake of his restored gospel. Happy Easter everyone! I love you. Reach out to me, I will be a little busy today, but I will find time for you!

God Is So Good

 Monday was down to a tea. I was calling someone throughout the whole preparation day. It definitely gets me through the day and most especially through the week. I love you all. Next week will be district p-day so I won't talk to any of you as much. I am excited to get out of the house besides just leaving for groceries. 

Tuesday flew by! Nothing crazy happened. We were teaching and knocking doors all day long. It was just so much fun. The longer I have been on my mission, the more I just desire to do missionary work. Like I used to love going on long drives to get to a place since it's like just a chill period. I hate it now, I want to be knocking! I want to be preaching and testifying! What has changed this transfer for me is door knocking. I talk to everyone, it makes me so happy. I don't care if they are 100 yards away, I always get them with,"AYE CAN I ASK YOU A QUICK QUESTION?" I then do my Patrick Mahomes little jog over to them. Most of them are never interested, but I'm just planting the fatest mustard seed. As much as I love success, getting rejected doesn't bother me. It just makes me happier when I find someone interested.  I am just so much more bold as a missionary. I'm finally starting to know how important this message is. I am beginning to match the message as I represent Jesus Christ. 

Wednesday was nuts. It started off with me finding out that my sink flooded the bathroom. The pipes underneath were leaking when I used the sink so anything I had under was toast lol. We then departed to the district council in Holt. It was the best district council I led on my mission thus far. I hosted a jeopardy and everyone was so involved. We learned, laughed, and felt the spirit together. Inside joke from this district council that no one will understand is that I proposed to a girl named "Sandy," hahaha. After that, the whole day we were knocking on doors. It was so exhausting, but it felt so good! We were doing The Lord's work. As you all know, The Lord consecrated our efforts and we found new people to teach. As He should! 

Nothing crazy went down on Thursday. I am starting to taste what it is like to be a missionary in the old days going door to door. We knocked on doors ALL day! It was so rewarding. There was only not one soul interested that day, but I felt the spirit literally pulsating through me as I was going door to door. I try all I can to have the biggest smile on my face when I knock on every door. When I came home that day, my face literally cramped up due to smiling so much that day! There could've been so many things I could've complained about, but no. God is so good! 

I have to write about some stories from door knocking this week. It was the very first door that answered on Friday. It was this Jamaican lady with a dog. She let's the dog out and it begins jumping on us. As we continued talking to her, the dog just started taking a leak on Elder Millwards legs. We didn't notice until the dog was done peeing. It was all over his legs HAHA and we just started door knocking for the day. Ain't no way we are driving all the way back home. All you hear from Elder Millward is," STUPID dog." 

The next story is pretty crazy. Backstory, so every Tuesday and Thursday we do service at a place called Helping Hands. People from all over the community help out at this food pantry. This includes Ron and his wife Nancy, these of two of my favorite people we serve with. They are amazing. So it begins with us driving out 35 minutes to an appointment in Vermontville. This is one of the biggest cities of Amish people in Michigan. The appointment cancels so we start knocking on doors. We randomly knock into RON AND NANCY! They let us in and chatted for a little. It just made my day better, the odds that we knocked on their door were close to none. God works in crazy ways. 

We found 6 new friends to teach this week, mainly door knocking. God is so good! I am excited for today, it is our district pday! Yeah I know. We are going to leave the apartment today. We are driving down to Jackson which is where the ZLs are and we are chilling with our district there. Let's go! I love you all so so much. Please reach out to me. I love you! #FindTime4Me 

Then There Was Satan

 My Mondays are lowkey down to a routine and I love it kind of. It stinks that I don't leave and I think I lowkey get depressed from it, BUT I have a nice schedule to video chat you all. All things work out am I right?!

Tuesday was insane. Jeffery. YOOO. So we met with Jeffery to talk about 2 Nephi 31 (the chapter about why Christ was baptized) and he loved it so much. He said that he wanted to be baptized and wanted to wait awhile to learn more about the Book of Mormon and our church. I looked at him and turned to Mosiah 18:8-10. I told him if he has a desire, he can be baptized not knowing everything. We invited him to read Mosiah 18 and then ask God when he wanted to be baptized. Exactly 10 minutes after we left his hotel room, we got a phone call from him. We answer and he says,"I got my answer, can I be baptized as soon as possible??" I was like, how does Saturday work? He was like alright, that's the plan. I then wanted to know how he came to this realization that he wanted to be baptized. He told us,"I would be a fool if I didn't follow Christ in being baptized." AHHHHH KINGGGG. Right after we hung up, we dialed Prez and told him what just went down. I was literally tweaking at this point. On the phone with President Heap, I'm like,"PREZ, LETS GOOOOOO." Literally screaming at the top of my lungs. President Heap matched our energy. Such an amazing moment. We met Jeffery on the 17th of March. TALK ABOUT ELECT. 

The day after I wrote the above portion, then there was Satan. Jeffery ghosted us for a full day. We were so worried. No worries, we are back on track, but he didn't get baptized this weekend. Everything was going well until Satan started working…SMH dawg. God's timing though. I am not too worried. 

I have to talk about the new edition to our district. Elder and Sister Sullivan from New Mexico came to Jackson to join our district! We also received another senior couple on top of them that we haven't met yet. Our district has 12 missionaries. It's huge! So crazy how I district lead over these people. I am not qualified to do this haha. God uses the weak and simple ;)). 

I got my Easter package from mom! The new shirts and pants are SO FIRE! Light Brown pants are such a move. I forgot what it was like wearing khakis. They go with everything. Thank you Mom and Dad (I guess budday too) for sending me that package. It was sent from heaven. 

Friday night was fun. We stopped by a YSAs home to give her a blessing since her family aren't members. I walk in her home and her 12 year old step brother named Wyatt looks at me and asks,"what sport do you play?" I responded with the usual,"I grew up playing soccer, but my favorite sport is basketball." Hes like,"you wanna run it?" I'm like BET. We gave the blessing and then I played this kid in a game to 11 on his slanted driveway. It was still pretty cold, it was about 35 degrees outside. This kid was literally Weston. He talked like him, thought like him, and definitely acted like him. He knew so much about sports, like as much as Weston. It was so fun to be around someone that was so similar to Weston. He trash talked so much, he literally trashed talked the same way Weston does. It made me laugh so hard. I miss playing basketball with Weston. After I beat him to 11, he's like 1 more. Then we play another and he beats me. He is like I guess we have to play another. I come out on top finally sweating in my new clothes I got in the mail that day haha. Missionary work amiright? I got a photo with Wyatt. Super awesome kid. He loves the missionaries, but his parents are not about it right now. 

Conference you know hits different on the mish! The first session on Saturday we got it approved to gather as a District. We all drove to the Holt building to meet up. I bought Hungry Howies and everyone brought snacks. We pulled all the couches and comfy chairs from around the church to make it comfy while we watched. We pulled out the nice projector they had at the building and broadcasted that. The second session we watched at the Charlotte branch building. Nothing too exciting there. We then listened to the Women's session when we were at our apartment. No judging, as Elder Renlund said,"It isn't just for young women," in his talk Saturday evening. The Sunday sessions we just watched them at the church building with like four members. It made me miss watching it on the comfy couch with nice warm blankets and mom's cinnamon rolls. 

I love you all so much. Please reach out, I need some support. God knows and loves you perfectly! #FindTime4Me