Washoe Valley/Foothill Week 18 (Mission Week 21)

 Hey everyone!!

I hope everyone is doing well! The end of the transfer is here so we got transfer news. I've been in the Washoe Valley area for 3 transfers and there will not be a 4th. I'm being transfered :( I'm heading to Winnemucca 2nd Ward in Winnemucca, NV and I will be finishing out my new companion, Elder Larsens, training. It's a bittersweet thing that I have yet to experience until now. I love the Washoe Valley ward and Foothill so much and I will miss them dearly but now I move on to a new area and develop relationships there. It's the first time on my mission that I've felt a sense of grief leaving people that aren't people from home (ex family and friends). It has opened my mind to the fact that the mission is not forever and that you have to make the best out of it while you're here.

I'll go ahead and give yall a weekly recap!!

Monday

PDay and nothing really important happened this day. We did have a fun ward FHE with the Washoe Valley ward! I love the youth in the ward. They remind me of the youth in Nac which is another reason why it's hard to leave them

Tuesday

We had district council and then a really awesome spirit prompting story happened. If you would like the whole story, reply back to me and I will send you the whole story from my online journal entry. It was really cool!!

Wednesday

We did service for Richard and did some proselyting and trying to contact people who has had previous contact with the missionaries. We also went to mutual and helped the young men learn how to teach the 1st discussion. 

Thursday

I played pickleball with the nonmembers for the last time. It was very fun. We held our long planning session a d we played basketball with youth and non members. I'm going to miss that but I'll try to organize it in Winnemucca! We also had a lesson with Char Ross!

Friday

Alot of proselyting and trying to contact people this day. I had the prompting to visit an inactive member so we did and she was so happy we came by and we set up some service with her! Listen to the Spirit guys!!! We also had a lesson with Diego Montoya. After the day was over we drove to North Reno to start exchanges with the Zone Leaders.

Saturday

I went with Elder Kunz and we worked downtown most of the day. We had good lessons with people as well and had some success while proselyting. While we we walking, two random guys shouted out from their bikes if we had a Book of Mormon on us because they have been wanted to get one. We said of course we do and we gave then one and talked to them for a bit. It was a good day.

Sunday

We had church and a linger longer with the Foothill ward. We also went out with the ward mission leader, Brother Smith, to hit some contacts. We recieved transfers news that night as well so I was excited/nervous for that.

Lessons

Char Ross

We read Alma 42: 11-26 and talked about Jesus Christ's Atonement and how justice was conquered by mercy. She shared an experience about how she knew God has a plan for her. We talked about how we need to act for mercy to help us, and she asked how do we know when we are forgiven when we repent. We responding by saying its a personal matter, and sometimes we need help, but the main focus should be on acting in God's will and a desire to change.

Diego

We went into how the Book of Mormon is true both on a spiritual basis, but also on a logical basis as well. We went into the Priesthood and how we hold the power of God. We explained blessings and oil, and he asked for a blessing. We gave him a blessing of peace and comfort. We then talked about how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. The discussion then transitioned to Jesus Christ and how the signs of his birth and death were given to all. We read 3 Nephi 8:20-23 for proof of it.

I've already grown so much as a missionary in the Washoe Valley and Foothill areas but I'm excited to continue my growth in Winnemucca. I can carry on the things that I've established here and try to bring them to my new area. I know that the Lord needs me in Winnemucca 2nd Ward and I'm going to try my best just as I have here. On to new things and people!! I'll also be hitting my 6 month mark this transfer!

I love you all

Elder Proctor

Washoe Valley/Foothill Week 17 (Mission Week 20)

 Hey guys!!

This past week was pretty nice! I think I'm gonna try out a new way to do emails. I'm just going to write each day and say anything important that happened that day and if we had a lesson, I will put the lesson review after the recap of the week. So here it goes.

Tuesday

We had district council and interviews. We practically did no missionary work this day because it consisted of driving and meetings. I enjoyed my interview with President Dunn though! The funny thing is that we were kept completely out of the loop on where to go and what time. Apparently our interview was at 3pm at the Sparks stake center (an entirely different zone of the mission). What we knew and were told was that it was at 4pm at the mission office. This made us drive all over the place and many calls to President Dunn were made because we didn't know what we were doing haha

Wednesday

Nothing really exciting this day. Just service and proselyting. 

Thursday

We play pickleball with some nonmembers every Thursday morning which is always fun. Planting seeds is a good way of missionary work. Thursday is our planning day so that consist of a long planning session where we plan our upcoming week. We play basketball every Thursday night with a lot of our investigators and youth which is really fun. It has grown a lot since I have got here and we are always using it as a finding tool.

Friday

We were walking around an apartment complex when we stumbled upon a group of 7th graders playing basketball. We joined in and that was fun playing with them. They were asking us questions on what we believe in and a couple of them had had contact with missionaries in the past which was nice. They were a good group of kids. We were going to hand them all Book of Mormons because they all wanted one but we had left ours at home 😔 mission fail right there. We told them we would come back Saturday and give them all BoMs. We also got to go to one of our investigators (Joey) football game. He goes to Damonte Ranch High School so it was fun being there and supporting him. We actually got to talk to some people at the game about missionary work so that was nice too.

Saturday

While we were playing basketball on Friday with the kids a guy named Michael interrupted our game and told us to pick on someone our own size. Apparently he is a very good chess player and some missionaries in the past had played with him and he challenged Elder McGuire to a match. So Saturday afternoon we went and played chess with him. Apparently he played with one of the best chess players ever (Bobby Fischer). He's not interested in the Church though unfortunately but at least we were nice to him. We also went back to the basketball court and gave out a Book of Mormon to one of the 7th graders (Breighdon) who we played with. 

Sunday

We had 5 people attend church this week!! Susan and Leif, Deb, Maya, and Verlene. We missed Logan, Joey, and Diego but we were very glad to see Deb because she said she wouldn't be able to make it but ending up coming!! Major progress with her. We are going to have a lesson with her this upcoming week! We also had a lesson with James Sunday night that went well.

James Lesson Review

We first followed up on the prior invitation to pray about the Book of Mormon, but he didn't. We then read 2 Nephi 31 and talked for a bit about it. We explained what baptism is and what it means. We also talked about the Holy Ghost. We talked about how Christ set the example in his life and how we can be like him by repenting and being baptized. We then talked about the Word of Wisdom and how God knows what is best for us, both temporally and spiritually. We invited him to pray about the Book of Mormon and the church and whether or not this is what God wants for him. We also invited him to church and he said that he wouldn't promise but would think very strongly about it. He asked very good questions and he has a lot of potential.

I'm doing my best out here and truly appreciate all the thoughts and prayers coming my way. If yall could please pray for my companion and I to find people to teach in the Foothill ward that would be awesome. We walked the area and try to talk to everyone we see but the work in Foothill Ward is pretty lackluster at the moment unlike Washoe Valley Ward. 

I love all of you so much! Have a great week.

Elder Proctor

Pic 1: I'm cooking now !!!! Crockpots are great

Washoe Valley/Foothill Week 16 (Mission Week 19)

 Hey guys!

Very very sorry for not sending an email yesterday so this one is gonna be very short haha

Biggest thing that happened this week is that 8 people attended church on Sunday!!!! We had 7 investigators in one ward! The Lord definitely blessed us with that and it gave me some great motivation to keep working. 

We had some great lessons with Deb and Leif. We had 2 lessons with Leif that went well and we taught him the Restoration and The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a Book of Mormon read with Deb that reemphasized importance of her getting baptized. Elder McGuire and I are teaching up a storm over here in Washoe Valley haha

I also got to attend the temple twice this week. I did an endowment session on Thursday and then I got the opportunity to go do baptisms for the dead with Elder Mokuahi (we were on exchanges Friday) and a person he helped baptized. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed doing baptisms. It was a great motivator for me to keep doing the work out here so that I can see the people in white twice!!! Once for themselves but more importantly in the temple!

Sorry for the late and short email! I love you guys so so much! Have a great week!

Washoe Valley/Foothill Week 15 (Mission Week 18)

 Hey everyone

This week was pretty good. I got a new suit because my other ones don't fit anymore. Weightloss has been going great! We have been trying to grow our teaching pool because the pool we have now isn't cutting it. Because of this, we have been doing a lot of walking and street contacting. That is just part of the work though. You have to prune some people so you can find the elect.

We do have some people with a lot of potential though. We have Leif that we believe will be baptized soon. We also found this guy named Logan which was a member referral.

This week we had Zone Conference in Carson City which was fun. It was a nice motivator to keep doing my best and strive to be the best missionary I can be. An emphasis during Zone Conference was having meaningful personal studies which I have been lacking. This past week has been much better. I've been reading the Book of Mormon a ton and my testimony of it has grown as well as my love for it. After Zone Conference we did a family night with the Dawson family (recently baptized family). We played games and shared a spiritual message. It was nice to go over there and continue their family's love for the Gospel.

We did a mission prep activity on Wednesday for the deacons which was fun. We played Scripture Chase that Brother Hisel used to have us play in Sunday School way back when we were tiny youth. Knowing where to find scriptures and principles is very important. You don't even need to have it memorized but just know where to turn to. This helps so much as a missionary and as a member.

Logan (member referral)

The members (Schulz) were having a missionary farewell for their son at a park and Logan noticed the Swedish flags and walked up and asked what was going on. The member explained and gave an overview and Logan was interested. He went over to the members house for tacos and they had a long discussion about Joseph Smith and where the church came from. Logan really liked it and stated that he has the same questions as Joseph. He has a lot of potential! We had a great first lesson with him yesterday at the Bishops house and the Schulz family was there too. He asked some good questions and we taught him the 1st discussion. After the lesson we had dinner with both families and Logan which was awesome. The food was amazing. We had all sorts of delectable meats and some Brazilian cuisine. It was honestly the best dinner of the mission because I had fasted all day so I was able to eat a ton

Other than that lesson we did all contacting and walking. I'm ok with that though! It's apart of the work. 

I love all of you so much and am upset that I'm missing Garrett's wedding but I know that that sacrifice is blessing both my family and me. I am just carrying on the tradition of a Proctor kid being on a mission when a sibling gets married haha

Be safe and I pray for yalls safety each day!! I love you all!!

Elder Proctor

Washoe Valley/Foothill Week 14 (Mission Week 17)

 Hey yall! Sorry for the day late email haha

This week I will hit my 4 month mark!! So crazy. I will be 1/3 of the way through my first year. Time passes so much differently on the mission. It has gone by very fast but slow at the same time. Before I know it I will be at my year mark!

This past week has been good. We have had some good contacts and lessons.

James

We met him on the side of the road a couple months back and just recently started teaching him. He works for a non profit organization in Carson City so we have focused on blessings of service. We read Mosiah Chapter 2 with him and it went very well. Elder McGuire is good at asking questions that got him thinking and involved. The Spirit was definitely present. After we finished reading, we asked him how he felt. He said he felt peace. We let him know that that was the Spirit. We will go back hopefully later this week.

Iliana

This was a spirit lead contact for sure! We didn't really know who this was or when we put in in our schedule so we just went and checked it out. After three knocks, we were walking away but she answered the door. She invited us in and continued to relay to us that she has been having a very rough time and life is going terrible. She is going through a very rough time and doesn't know what to do. We shared Alma 7:12 with her and testified that Christ knows how to succor her feelings and to lean on him because only He knows what she is going through. That helped her. She also asked for a priesthood blessing and we gave her one. She goes to the temple each week and attends South Meadows ward to partake of the sacrament because thats the only thing she knows that will help at the moment. We applauded her for that. It was so cool because we had no idea how she got put in our schedule but she needed a visit badly.

We got to go play disc golf with the youth for mutual on Tuesday night! It was so fun. I had already played the course a couple of times before so I was already used to it and got to show off my skills haha. The deacons were freaking out about how far I can throw. We found a secret tunnel (through the mountains secret secret secret tunnel yeahhh, Avatar reference right there lol) while playing and I decided to through my disc down it because I had glow tape on it. It was very cool. Hopefully the video will upload haha. We walked down it and I threw it nearly on the way down. The youth here has reminded me of the youth back at home which has been a tender mercy for me.

Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts coming my way. I appreciate them all so much and a prayer of mine doesn't go by without me asking for yall to blessed and protected while I am serving. I love yall so much! Have a great week!!

Elder Proctor