Feb. 28, 2012

elder ortiz and i have been working really hard and honestly he is my favorite companion on my mission and has become one of my best friends. we get along really well. things have been going really good for us out here. and transfer calls are today and we are staying together so we are pretty happy about that.. we had a baptism this week and it went really well. our investigator austin got baptized so that was really awesome. but funny thing happened. in our building, the baptismal font room is pretty small, so we usually start the baptismal service in the relief society room and then we move to the baptismal font room for the actual baptismal ordianance. anyways when we got to the building there was just this dead guy in a casket in the relief society room. which was a little wierd and it kind of freaked out elder ortiz. even though he is from one of the most dangerous places in the united states...camden, new jersey. Anyways, the work is going really good out here. we are going to have another baptism out here this saturyday and then 2 the next saturday. so we are really excited for the baptisms!!
 

Feb. 21, 2012

things have been going really good the past couple of days. i am really enjoying serving out here in star valley wyoming. honestly i thought that i would hate it becuase i have mostly been in city areas my whole mission but honestly i really like it out here becuase everybody is just way chill out here and i have a good compaion. but honestly if i didn't have elder ortiz i think i would be killing myself right now. becuase companions make a big difference in the area. but anyways. this week we had a baptism so it was really good. it was this girl named Adriana. We honestly really didn't teach her at all. i think i mentioned her to you before about how the only reason why she wasn't baptized was becuase her parents wouldn't let her get baptized until she was 18. but we also have another baptism happening this next weekend which is also awesome! and then we have 1 for the 3rd of march and then we have 2 baptisms on the 10th of march and then another one for the 17th. so if everything goes as planned will have baptized 5 weeks in row which will be awesome!

Feb. 14, 2012

but this week has been really good for us in the sense of missionary work here in star valley. This week we weren't really able to pick up 6 new investigators like we had hoped for but we did pick up 3 and we are going to be able to pick up 1 more this week. but we are also going to have a baptism on this weekened which is going to be pretty exciting. it was pretty much just a free baptism for us. we haven't even taught this girl, but she had been taught by missionaries before us for several years and the only reason why she wasn't baptized was becuase her parents wouldn't let her be baptized btu she has finally turned 18 and has just decided to to it anyways and i guess her parents are still pretty cool with it, which is really good.

but this week i almost got sent out of star valley. but anyways it is called emergency transfer, and it wasn't my fault!! haha but what happens in the mission is that you usually have a possibility of being transferred every 6 weeks. but sometimes missionaries (like me at one point) need to go home or either they can't get along with their compaion and they can't stand each other anymore, but anyway there were 2 companionships in the mission that weren't getting along and rather than just switching them around they decided to involve us, so the AP's called me up and said that i was going to be transferred. and so i said ok. and then i thought about it a little bit and i thought this is not right becuase i have only been here for 4 weeks and have been having really good success with Elder Ortiz and the member out here really like us and all sorts of good stuff. so i called President Olson and told him everthing that was on my mind and about how i shouldn't be transferred and he said, well those sound like pretty good reasons to me not to be transferred. let me get back with you. and so an hour later i found out that i wasn't going to be transferred. but anyways. i am really liking here even though it is cold. but everyone is super nice to us and we are having good success. 

Feb. 7, 2012

it is kind of ridiculous how expensive things are down here.the people out here are really kind and they just give us food out here. so i am really liking it out here. but recently it has been really cold out here. i think this is the coldest weather that i have been in in my life. when we go to work out in the mornings the coldest temperature that we have seen has been -6 degrees.... but the work hasn't been as cold as the weather has been though which is really good. we have been teaching this kid named austin since we have been here and so far the lessons are going really well and we have a baptismal date for him set on the 25th and as far as things are going he might be able to have his baptism pushed up to the 18th. but we will see how things are going.anyways we got some maps of this place and we are not so lost out here and we were finally able to go to visit some people that needed to be visited so if things go the way like they are planned we will be picking up 6 new investigators this week. so we are really excited about that. but anyways that was pretty much for this week. we have been keeping pretty busy out here and it is really good. i am really enjoying serving with my Puerto Rican companion and i will try to stay warm.

Jan. 31, 2012

this week has been pretty good. we are starting not to get lost out here too much, becuase they really don't have N, E, S, W addresses out here and it is just random roads and stuff like that and most of the hosues out here don't even have addresses, which makes it even tougher sometimes. but when people give us directions to go to their home, they just tell us to turn on certain roads. but things have been getting better. we were able to get some maps of the area to find out where we were going, so that those have been helping out a little bit. but as far as the work goes, it is going pretty good. we started teaching this kid named austin who is 13. but his dad is not a member and his mom is a member who is recently coming back to church and so we taught him the first lesson and we committed him for baptism on the 25th of february. so we are excited for that. but anyways other than that the people are super nice out here and honestly i really like serving out here.