December 26, 2022 Merry Christmas everyone, I hope that all is well. This week was a lot of fun, we did service at a food pantry and cleaned up the community gardens and then we had Zone Conference. Always amazing We talked a lot about flooding the world with the Book of Mormon and giving very personal experiences with it. No more broad "oh I felt the spirit" stuff. We need to be bold, promise from the scriptures, and teach doctrine not opinion. We then finished with talking about asking to receive the strength to push through our trials instead of asking to remove the trials. Which I never thought about, super cool. Christmas is always fun but as a missionary the holidays are rough, not because you are away from friends and family but because nobody wants to meet with you but you still have to be diligent. So... our response to this was making 200+ cookies and delivering them to almost everyone in our records. So for the past 2 days we visited so many people, drove for hour...

December 12, 2022 Week has been wild, I can say that much. Monday was a lot of packing and the next day I headed off to Eugene. The car ride was very long, very pretty, and now I am here! From day one I knew we were gonna be going full steam ahead. We have contacted so many people, put 2 people on date, got 9 return appointments, and the members have been feeding us very well. There are so many people to visit here it is almost too much to handle. Luckily my companions know this area pretty well, they have both been here more than once throughout their time serving missions. As zone leader we have to lead a couple meetings and stuff, sadly I got put in charge of one, and I definitely got some stage fright and fumbled. Oh whale, it happens. I am struggling to get to know everyone, but it will come with time. Hopefully I can memorize their names at least and kinda get to know how each of the companions are doing. Something I learned this week is that exact obedience will br...

 December 12, 2022 This week was awesome! For starters, we put Yoanni, one of our investigators from Venezuela, on date! The original day was for the 14th. He's awesome, for our last lesson on the plan of salvation he was teaching half of it, and it was super great, he is definitely ready. On top of that we had a baptism on Sunday. Went well I got to baptize, sadly I dropped her haha. Yesterday I was also able to give the Holy Ghost to her, felt funny being told the words by the Branch President though like a kid in primary saying prayers. Also, Yesterday I got the news that I will be moving to Santa Clara, and I will be a Zone leader! Staying Spanish which is awesome and even better I'm getting back with my trainer so it's going to be wild. So excited, a little stressed with the new responsibilities, and very excited to see how this area does while I'm gone and hearing from my companions how the people are progressing. Lot happened this week busy day today packing and ...

 December 1, 2022 Dang been forever since I got an email out. Quick rewind... 2-3 weeks ago (cant remember anymore) we put 2 people on date, had a baptism that was super hectic. We tried filling the font, it was too slow. So me being the genius that I am ran back and forth across the whole church filling up huge tubs of hot water to dump into the font. Got filled up just in time, like as they were opening the doors haha. We also had a dual wedding where we got to see some friends, and we got 2 people married so they can be more prepared to get baptized and stuff.  Seen a lot of miracles recently with being able to meet with old friends (by that I mean people I met a few months ago), get some new ones, and Spanish is on FIRE! I got asked by the APs a few days ago during mission president interviews if I would ever be willing to teach the mission Spanish. I think I'll end up doing that next transfer. Furthermore, there are quite a few elders who say I'm one of the best (kin...

 October 31, 2022 Weeks been wild with a lot of odd surprises. On Tuesday we got one of our investigators to drop smoking but in turn we can't have sugar until Tuesday. I. AM. DYING!!! Never realized how much food has sugar in it so we had to modify to no sweets. Either way, I lost a couple pounds this week but our investigator is going strong. So proud of him. Branch president called yesterday to tell us he put another person on date for baptism so that's insane, that means 3 for this transfer alone! Lastly, I'm Pregnant Again! I will be training 2 companions at the same time this transfer. I'm excited to meet the new kid and stuff but definitely nervous to be leading in both Spanish, teaching, and planning again. Also our apartment is a little small so we are going to be cramped. On a sadder note, this week we've had quite a few deaths which have been devastating for members and investigators. I am so happy to know that families can be eternal through temple marri...

 October 24, 2022 Been an absolutely wild 2 weeks, so much has happened but I'll just throw in the highlights MARATHON I got to run in a marathon, it was so much fun. I ended up getting 4th place... Sadly it was only the last 200 meters of the race haha. All the missionaries in Central Point and Medford Zones (about 40-50 of us) got to serve the runners and direct them through this Boston qualifier. So much fun, we got a ton of free food, got to show off my running skills, and we had a breath holding tournament in a giant ice bucket. Guess who won, I'll give you a minute to think... me obviously, who else is that cool. Fruit Ninja and Pear Trees I got to do what every young boy loves and swing around a big stick. With said stick I got to do the only thing better which is hit trees and rotting pears with it. Felt like a ninja, got to reconnect with some of the Elders, and got to chuck rotten pears at people. Very fun. Be a missionary. Jesus is getting Baptized? Met this awesome ...

October 10, 2022 Dang I'm failing in the pictures department but not a whole lot has happened the past 2 weeks. I'm just rocking and rolling around. We had zone conference but we just got a big talk about staying clean and orderly so today we scrubbed the apartment down. We've been teaching quite a few people but sadly most of them canceled on us, so I've done a lot of study this week. I've finally made it to the story of Aaron and King Lamoni which is my favorite story in the Book of Mormon, it's just about how we can help others come unto Christ through our example. So I'm working on my patience as I learn how to do this mission thing and grind out Spanish. All in the Lord's time, but that doesn't mean I can't work for it. We've started a weekly volleyball event and so far we've drawn in 2 non members so that's progress haha. But I'm getting better at the game, turns out I can jump and my ability to return the ball with "mi...