PMF Central

Hello family!

Man, I know I say this every week, but this week went by so fast. It feels like we didn't have to do everything! But still, some really awesome things happened.

It's kind of been part-member family central this week. We were able to meet with quite a few part-member families in the branch, which has been super great! One that I mentioned last week is Itzy. We were able to start teaching her this week and she came to church yesterday! It's pretty funny though, because she's still this typical, anti-social teenager. But she's still coming to church! And the other PMF that we're really excited for is Daniel. I also mentioned him last week. We were able to have an amazing first lesson with him last week. It was really cool to see the Spirit work with him and help him understand. And he even accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of September! So we're SUPER excited for him.

We received word from our Zone Leaders that we're going to have another set of missionaries in the branch next transfer. So we're going to have to split the areas. So it looks like we're going to lose like 80% of our investigators. So it's going to be like starting all over. Except for Daniel! We'll still get to teach him!

A huge focus in the mission right now is using the members more often in our missionary work. And we've already been seeing some amazing miracles through using the members. It's really the only way to reach the highest potential in this work is if we all work together! So we're really excited for all of the amazing things that are going to happen for this area.

We also had a Zone Conference last week and pretty much the whole thing was about charity. And how this work, and all the service we render means nothing if we don't have charity for one another. We watched the Mormon Message, "Lift". It's my favorite one ever. It's soooo good. If any of you haven't watched it yet, go watch it! It explains so perfectly the value of service. And how really it's the only way to truly heal ourselves. Love it!

Love you all! I know this work is the Lord's! And that this is truly His church. It continues to bring me so much happiness in my life and I'm so happy to be able to bring this message to others.

Have a great day!

Elder Scott

One Whole Year Just Happened

Hello one and all!

This week has really flown by! It feels like we just had preparation day! But hey, what else is new?

Well some pretty awesome things happened this week. huge answers to our prayers which we're very grateful for.

One of them is with this girl named Itzy. She is the daughter of the of the recent converts here in the branch. When I first got here, we tried to start teaching her, but without success... Just, typical, teenage girl, who wants nothing to do with religion, you know? But randomly, she showed up to church last Sunday! And then, she went to branch camping trip this last weekend with her family! Then to top it off she came to church again yesterday. So, it's a pretty big miracle the change that has taken place in her, considering how she was when I first got here. We were unable to teach her and her family last week at all, but this week we have a set appointment with them! So we're really excited to start teaching her.

Another awesome thing that happened with a part member family this last week is with this guy named Daniel. His wife and all his in-law's are all members of the church--except for him! We had another branch activity last Saturday. It was like a BBQ/pool party thing. And Daniel and his family were there! We've heard from other members that he's the type of guy that doesn't like to be pressured from anyone about the church, and wants to go at his own pace. But we decided to just go for it! We had a really amazing conversation about the church and what he wants for his family. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said we could come by this week and teach. We're very happy about this. Keep him in your prayers! 

It seems like all of Washington is on fire right now! Well, except for Kennewick. But we still get the smoke from it though! A lot of the northern part of the state is going crazy with wild fires right now. And a lot of the smoke is blowing down here. So the skies right now look pretty gross...

And this week is my year mark! It's pretty insane to think. Looking back at when I first left up until now--an entire year happened in between! And I feel that this next coming year is going to go by even quicker. That's why I really want to do everything I can to not waste a second of this time that I have to serve. I just love being a missionary. And despite all of the hard times and sorrows we experience, it's definitely all worth it in the end. Because we learn to rely on Christ and His Atonement to cleanse us and enable us.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

Love you all!

Elder Scott

Elder Laffiteau and I at the temple!

I Met Marshall

 

Hello again to everyone!

Well, the weeks are flying by as usual. August is more than half way over! Which is pretty hard to believe.

We had a pretty awesome week this week. Lost of really amazing things happened. So far in this area we've been having a super hard time finding new investigators, so we've been doing TONS of finding. But this week, we were actually able to have a lot more success in our finding efforts. We were able to find some really amazing investigators that we're really excited for!

We also had a really amazing sacrament meeting. The Branch President here, President Hancock, is an incredible man. He has such a deep love for the people here. And he brought up in branch council that he wants everyone to sit only in the middle pews. Because most people like sitting on the sides! And so that's what we did last Sunday. You could just feel the love that everyone had for each other--like one big happy family! The Branch is still on the verge of becoming a ward. That's kind of the goal that the branch council is working towards right now. 

We met the most interesting man I have ever met in my entire life. His name is Marshall. We were out knocking on some doors and this guy in a truck pulls over on the side of the road, right in front of the house that we were at. He runs over and hands us two pamphlets. And says, "Oh! I don't think I've met you two yet! I'm Marshall. And I'm the biggest Anti-Mormon you'll ever meet." And I had actually heard about this guy from other missionaries before this happened. It was so interesting talking to him. Because he was actually a really nice guy! Super friendly and really funny! But man, he REALLY hates the church. He has his own church that he runs and rallies together a few people twice a year to go protest general conference. We didn't feel any need to say anything to him at all. Because no matter what we said, it wouldn't have effected him. And vis versa, nothing that he said had an effect on us. This guy is pretty well known amongst missionaries, haha so now I can say that I've met him! But really when we're faced with that kind of opposition, I find that my testimony grows even more. Because this truly is Christ's church, so why wouldn't it face opposition!    

The temple was super great today! I just love going to the temple! I really wish that we could go more often. But it really makes the times that we do go more special. I know that this gospel is true and that it has changed my life in so many ways. I'm so grateful for it in my life.

Thanks for everything that you all do for me and for this gospel! I appreciate all of your prayers, I love you all so much!

Elder Scott

Oh ouch!

Una idioma universal

Hello Family!

Another crazy week! But always super good.

So we had a pretty interesting preparation day last week. We had to drive with the Zone Leaders and so our car was parked at their house (the Zone Leaders also live with members) and when we were out running our errands and stuff they got a call from the members they live with telling them that they backed into our car. Fun stuff. So we pretty much had to go back and get it all figured out and fill out a bunch of paper work. And that took up our entire preparation day! So that was kind of a bummer, but it's all good! It's all getting taken care of. 

We did lots and lots and lots and lots of tracting this week. Mucho caminando!  We really focusing on finding new investigators right now so we did lots of that this last week! Pretty tiring but it makes you feel really good too. It feels good to just go out and work your hardest every single day.

We were able to have a really good lesson with Bernice this last week. She's having a lot of trouble with receiving an answer about the Book of Mormon. We taught her about the fast. It seemed to help her out a lot. That we are able to fast to receive that spiritual strength that we need to receive the answers that we are looking for. We've been pretty worried about Bernice these last few days, because she's definitely our most solid investigator. But having this lesson with her really brightened our hope and strengthened our faith in her. And also, we noticed "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" that we gave her framed, hanging proudly on her wall. She's so great! Keep her in your prayers!

We also had stake conference this last weekend. So amazing! Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the First Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke. Before the conference, my perception of all general authorities were that they were all these super high-energy, fireballs who call to repentance with fire and brimstone! But Elder Johnson helped me see otherwise. Although he did speak with great power and authority and had such a strong testimony, he was so calm as well. I admire him so much. He helped me answer many of my questions and strengthen my testimony. And the special meeting he spoke at for the Spanish Branch was amazing. He talked a lot about how even though you can't communicate effectively with the other wards, you can still communicate through the universal language--which is love. It's a language that everyone can understand and everyone responds to when we are truly serving others out of love and charity. In the general session he talked about the power of the Book of Mormon. He said so many incredible things that helped  me tremendously with my testimony. He shared many experiences of its power to change lives by bringing others to Christ.

I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true. And that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It's truly changed my life by it's teachings and I've seen it change many others' lives.

Thank you all for everything that you do!

Love you!

Elder Scott

p.s. Oh, and next week is our temple trip so I won't be emailing until Tuesday

The People He Places in our Path

Hello Family!

This has been a pretty interesting week. It kinda feels like not much really happened.

We had a pretty rough time this week having lessons. It seemed like none of our investigators were home and everyone we met didn't really want to talk to us! So that was pretty rough this week. But our main progressing investigator Bernice is still doing really well. We were able to commit her to live the word of wisdom this last week! We're still working with her with the whole marriage thing... So she's coming along.

There are these huge fairgrounds right down the street from where we live. And this last weekend there was this huge, crazy music festival. Crazy music and loud, obnoxious crowds aren't very fun when you're trying to sleep--thankfully it's all over now! 

We're having stake conference this weekend. We're all pretty excited for it. Elder Johnson from the First Quorum of the Seventy is speaking. And apparently he's a fireball! He was also born in Mexico, so Spanish is his first language and he's doing a session just for the Spanish Branch all about missionary work, which is super exciting. We're really hoping that it will get all members here even more excited about missionary work!

Pretty interesting experience tracting this last week. Three different people in a row that we met were expressively opposed to the church. With all three people we had respectful, good conversations, but all three had very strong anti-mormon feelings. The odds of running into three in a row, all of them having absolutely no affiliation with each other, but they all tried to tear us and our beliefs down. It's very interesting sometimes to think about the people that God places in our path and the reasoning behind it. At times it's difficult not yield to those temptations of being discouraged, but I have definitely come to know on my mission that every single thing that we face in this life is for our good. Every trial, hardship and heartache that we experience is meant to build us up, make us stronger and mold us into the people that we need to be.

Thanks for all of your love, prayers and support!

Love you all!

Elder Scott