Sprinting to the End

We had a super great week. We were able to do a lot of teaching again which was great. I love teaching! We also saw a lot of miracles with finding by our own efforts and finding through members.  

One crazy thing that was happening this week was with this new Pokemon Go app. I've never seen so many people going this crazy over an app. It's actually been working out pretty well for us because people are outside on their phones trying to catch Pokemon! So there's always lots of people outside that we get to talk to. So that's been good. And also another funny thing, apparently there is a "poke stop" type thing right in front of the church building. So there's always people going up to the church to collect items and other stuff. So last Friday we did our weekly planning at the church and waited for people to pass by to get Pokemon! Unfortunately no one came though... Maybe next week! 

One of the miracles that we saw this week was with Mikey. He's a new investigator who we found and he's so great. He's 17 years-old. His family isn't very religious but he was telling us that he feels that he needs to get into a religion to help him get on track for living a happy life. And he's right! He's so willing to learn. He read in 3 Nephi 11 and thought that it was awesome! Saturday night we stopped by his house with one of the Priests to get them acquainted and so Mikey could get some fellowshipping. He wasn't able to go to church yesterday. So the entire Priests quorum went by his house to visit him. We're really excited for him and his progression. The ward is doing an amazing job with him.

Another great thing that happened with the youth this last week was at girls camp! There were three non-members there. So it's been exciting to work with the members on the follow up. We talked with the Bishop a lot about how we can invite them to take the missionary lessons. So we're really working towards starting to teach them this week. Go girls camp!   

It seems like the ward is just booming with missionary work. With the upcoming luau and getting the ward involved with our investigators, members are telling us all the time of missionary experiences they're having. I love this ward!

We had interviews with President White this week. Like I've mentioned, he's very different from President Ware, but he is so great. After the opening prayer of the interview he looked at me right in the eye and he said, "Elder, you're going home soon. Are you sprinting to the end?" I said that I am and he said to me "Do it." He's a very intense man. He gave me a lot of courage that day to keep going and work my very hardest til the end. 

Here's my scripture for the week: Article of Faith 12

"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

I love you all! I hope you have an awesome week!

Elder Scott 

A&F 11

Another week just flew by. But it was a really great week we were able to keep really busy and we did a lot teaching which was really great. We had more lessons this week than any other week since I've been in this area.

Things have been going really well with our new investigator, Kirk. Almost too well. we had a lesson with him last week and we had his next door neighbor, who is a member, come with us. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a very powerful lesson. It was so nice teaching someone from ground zero. He doesn't really know anything about religion so he doesn't have to unlearn things. He was asking a lot of amazing questions too which made him even more easy to teach! So being able to teach him has really lifted my spirits a lot and has helped me to experience a lot of joy.    

The ward is putting on a luau on the 6th of August. I'm so excited for it! It's such a great missionary opportunity. So we're going crazy with inviting members to invite their nonmember friends. I've seen so many great things come from these kinds of activities on my mission. Because it's such an easy way for members to share the gospel. Because who wouldn't want to come to a free luau? And the ward is getting really excited about it too. This ward is so great. Some of the best members I've ever met. It's been such pleasure to serve with these people. 

 

We had zone conferences with President and Sister White this last week. It was really fun. They just had a slideshow about themselves and their family. Three of their kids were there. The White's are so awesome. It was a pretty chillaxed zone conference. And it was my very last one on my mission. So I gave my departing testimony. It was really weird doing that. Because throughout my whole mission I've seen other missionaries give their departing testimonies and I always thought how far away it was. But now it's here!  

I love being on a mission. I'm doing everything I can to soak it all up. These last several weeks have been very rewarding and very joyful and I'm looking forward to these next few weeks to come. 

Here's my scripture to ponderize this week: Article of Faith 11

"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

I hope that all of you have a great week. I love you all! 

Elder Scott 

Some candid shots of Elder Scott

Ian's new mission president, President White, is from Mapleton.  His daughter went to school with Heidi. She was at a meeting with Ian a few nights ago and snapped these pics of Ian.  I was so happy to get them.   You do not often get to see your missionary in such a way.

 

Me and Elder Beal

TEXAS

Hello Family!

Another week come and gone. We had a really great one. Lots of miracles! This is turning out to be a very cool summer (knock on wood). It was raining a bunch this week and it only got up to the 80's. We still had the rest of the summer to go, but so far it's been great!  

 

Transfers went really well. Elder Beal is my new companion! He's from Gainsville, Texas and a personality to match. We served in the same district when I was in Kennewick. And we've been having a blast. Usually when you get a new companion, there's usually a few days of awkward adjustment. But not with Elder Beal and I! It was just like meeting back up with an old friend. 

We were able to find new people to teach this week! It strengthened my testimony a lot that there are people in our area who are being prepared to receive the gospel. One of them is named Leonard. He's 90-something and lives all by himself. But still as sharp as a tack. His wife who has passed away was a member of the church and all of their kids are members. We found him in our area book and we felt good about going to see him. He has had his trachea taken out so he speaks with one of those electronic voice boxes. He's a really cool guy. He wants to be baptized but he doesn't know how all of that would work with his voice box being submerged underwater. So we invited him to read in the Book of Mormon and pray about it. It's going to be a lot of fun to continue teaching him. 

Another guy we found is named Kirk. He met him walking up to his house a couple of days ago and he told us to come by another day--so we did. And when we showed up again he let us right in and we started teaching him! He's a single dad in his 40's living on his own, not very religious but wants to learn more about God. He had a lot of great questions about the Book of Mormon and the life of Jesus Christ. I'm so excited to teach him again! It's so awesome teaching people who are sincere in their search for truth and who are humble in wanting to learn more. And Kirk is definitely that way! 

We went back to Connell! Elder Beal just came from that area and he did a baptismal interview for an investigator when he was there and asked for him to be at the baptismal service. So I got to go back to Connell too! It was so great to see the members from my past area. And what was really great, was that Martha Garcia was there too! My recent convert from Connell! It was so good to see her again. She was telling me all about how she's going to the temple to do baptisms every week and she loves it. And now her daughter is meeting with the missionaries too. It made me so happy to know that she's still going strong. That's what the mission is all about, seeing the gospel work in others' lives. 

Here's my scripture for this week: Article of Faith 10 

"We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory."

I hope that all of you have a great week! I love you all! 

Elder Scott 

Ware to White

Hello Everyone!

Well, President and Sister Ware are dead! In mission terms that is... And President and Sister White are here and they are great! We had a meeting last week with them and they're so awesome. President White is a former cop and he was also an insurance fraud investigator. They're from Mapleton and their youngest daughter even went to Maple Mountain. He's VERY different from President Ware, but in a lot of good ways. They are exactly what this mission needs right now. It's pretty sad that I'm not going to serve around them for much longer though. 

We got our transfer calls last night. And I am staying! Elder Malcolm is getting transferred though. But he's not going far just going from West Richland to Richland. So that's pretty exciting. I also know the missionary who is coming in. It's Elder Beal. We served around each other in Kennewick and we had a blast together. So I'm really looking forward to serving with him.  

4th of July was pretty fun. We were invited over to this huge steak dinner with this part member family. So that was really great! It's always a struggle to talk to people on big holidays because most people are either out of town or they're not interested at all in talking to missionaries because they have other things going on. But we were still able to meet some good people and share the gospel!  

We finally had a lesson with Megan again. We had a very powerful lesson on eternal marriage and families. We read through The Family: A Proclamation to the World and had an amazing discussion about what she wants for her family and how the gospel can help her to achieve those goals. So she's coming along great. She's still struggling with quiting smoking. But she has a very strong desire to quit.    

I can't believe that this is my last transfer. I'm really glad that I'm staying in this area. This is going to be a great place to end my mission. Despite it being very small, the members here are great and very supportive and I'm very optimistic about this next transfer. I love this gospel so much because it's all about new beginnings and clean slates. 

Here's my scripture for this week: Articles of Faith: 8&9

"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."

I love you all! I hope all of you had a great 4th of July! 

Elder Scott