Winnemucca Week 8 (Mission Week 29)

Hey guys!

Another week gone by. Already 2 weeks into this transfer. Speed of time is picking up. As for this week it was pretty good. Elder Burton and I are working and studying hard and it's paying off. We had some good contacts and we are getting along well. Heres the weekly recap

Monday

Normal Pday things. A couple of elders in the zone like to play basketball so we played a lot of it. I was actually pretty tired by the end of the day because of it haha 

Tuesday

We had district council in the morning and then had a district lunch at Subway. Someone paid for all of our sandwiches which was so nice. We went and helped out the Jones family driving fence posts. We also visited with the Lewis family who used to be 7th Day adventists and got some insight on how to best teach Voni. The rest of the day was spent trying to find people to teach.

Wednesday

We went and did service for Voni (new person we are trying to teach). We contacted Robert and he isnt doing too well because he has some health issues and is having surgery. Say a prayer for him We are going to help him with some service in the future. We also went to utual and played volleyball with the youth which was really fun.

Thursday

We went over to the Southwicks for a while and helped them with some service and they also fed us lunch. My phone has been messing up so a lot of the day was spent trying to fix it. We had dinner with the Kenison family which was very fun. Sister Kenison is from Thailand so she made some awesome authentic Thai food. We also played a missionary card game that they had with them.

Friday

We helped the Woodcooks paint their deck. They did not pick the best time of the year to do this because leaves were falling all over the place and we had to have a leaf blower going at all times. We had a picnic outside after which was fun. We conducted our weekly planning session. The rest of the day was contacting people

Saturday

One of my favorite days of the mission so far!! The youth had a Mini MTC day long aactivity that we participated in and I thouroughly enjoyed it. We did a missionary Q&A, taught how to approach a door, and helped out the rest of the day. The Spirit there was strong. Another thing that happened this day was that it SNOWED. It has gotten cold. Im glad I had just bought a jacket the week before. We also played basketball with some youth in the evening

Sunday

Regular day at church and then we studied in preparation for our lesson with Jim. That lesson went very well.

Lesson Reviews

Jim Loveless

Based on our last lesson, we felt that our goal for this one was to get him to understand how the Bible and the Book of Mormon go hand in hand. We talked about the timeline of the Book of Mormon, prophecies of the Book of Mormon in the Bible, and answered any other of his questions. Our lesson took a turn for the best. It went of course and we started talking about the Saviors atonement and how God loves us so much that he would send the Savior down for just one of his children. He then asked a tougher question. All he said was Why? Why does God loves us and he was asking sincerely not trying to stump us. I asked him if he has his own kids and he said yes. He said that he loved them more than anything and theres nothing he wouldnt do for them. I responded with "Why would it be any different between us and our Heavenly Father." He was silent for a moment trying to think of an answer but couldnt because its not different. He was speechless. It clicked to him. He then said that no other missionary has been able to do what Elder Burton and I just did in that lesson. He said we closed the bridge between him and getting baptized and we answered all of his questions perfectly. Its lessons like these that make missionary work worth all the trouble. We helped Jim feel of Gods love and that is the most important thing.

Well thats about it from this week. This upcoming week should be pretty fun because of Halloween and Zone Conference. I look forward to hearing from yall next week! I love yall so much!!

Elder Proctor

Pic 1 and Video: Hot Dog truck 

Pic 2: 

Winnemucca Week 7 (Mission Week 28)

 Hey everyone! Another transfer down. I am on my 5th transfer now. Crazy! I'm still doing good here in Winnemucca. I said farewell to Elder Larsen and now I am training Elder Burton. We are doing very well. He is motivating me to be a better missionary and we have seen more success in our work this first couple of days because we are following the missionary schedule better. There are blessings in obey the mission standards! 

Here's my weekly recap!

Monday

We did regularly pday things. There's a disc golf course here that is not good at all so it made me miss disc golf at home because of how bad it is here haha. I also decorated our apartment for Halloween!!

Tuesday

In the morning we all just hung out while we awaited for transfers and getting the last things ready. I drove to Reno in the afternoon and stayed the night there with the Reno Zone leaders and two other missionaries who drove me down here because I was picking up Elder Burton. 

Wednesday

We woke up at went to a church building for training meetings. We met our trainees. We had a big lunch and then I saw alot of my missionary friends at transfers and introduced them to Elder Burton. We drove back to Winnemucca and immediately went to dinner. After the dinner we read 1 Nephi 3 and 4 with Stacy and Tracy and talked about what we learned.

Thursday

We finished helping the Southwicks build a fence. They fed us lunch and we chatted for a bit. We had a weekly planning session where we plan the upcoming week. We also had a missionary correlation meeting with Brother Westmoreland. We got to play basketball in the evening. Elder Burton plays basketball too so I'm really happy with that!!

Friday (MY BIRTHDAY!!!)

It was my birthday on Friday. I'm 20 years old now. I don't like it.. I just want to be a youth forever haha. It was a good day though. We helped paint a house with the Spanish elders. I accidentally knocked paint all over the deck which wasn't the best. I guess that's what happens when you let amateur missionaries paint haha. We had a good contact with Mario who we had never met before. We introduced Elder Burton to Bishop Hobson and his wife fed us cake when she found out it was my birthday! We had dinner right after and they prepared a birthday cake as well!! It was a good birthday for it being on the mission

Saturday

We did some street contacting and trying to get ahold of less active members. We were able to find a lady named Voni. We also had the most frustrating lesson with a couple named the Gays. We had the adult session of Stake Conference in the evening which was awesome. Elder Clark G Gilbert was attending and spoke. He spoke at the 2021 General Conference and gave a very good talk. I invite you guys to listen to it. He is a very good speaker.

Sunday

We had Stake Conference and listened to Elder Gilbert speak again which was just as good as Saturday. Nothing too crazy in the afternoon but I had the best lesson of the mission so far with Jim Loveless.

Lesson Reviews

Jim Loveless

Very powerful lesson. We were able to get Jim to feel the Spirit. We testified of the Saviors Atonement and shared Alma 7:11-13 to help him know that the Savior has felt his pains. We taught the Plan of Salvation and asked him what he believed in and then testified of what we know to be true. We shared Alma 7:17 and testified that the Spirit was in the room and was testifying truth to him. He doesn't understand why the Bible says that no other book should be written but we have the Book of Mormon. He also doesn't believe in Joseph Smith but he wants to understand. We were very honest with him and he said that no missionary had ever opened up to him and was able to do what I did and he appreciated it and he's open to understanding. We invited to pray to know if the things which we had said were true and we are going to go back on Friday night. He also is coming to Church next Sunday. I felt like Ammon teaching Kong Lamoni and my trainee was astonished at how well I taught. I told him to not get used to it because I had never taught like that before haha. 

Voni

She is a 7th Day Adventist and we got into a good conversation as we were helping her son sweep the driveway. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and told each other what our beliefs are. It's funny because she is trying to convert as while we are trying to do the same haha. We are strong though. We won't yield to the temptation  We are going to help them clean up there yard a discuss more

Gays

Oh my gosh. This had to be the most frustrating thing I've ever done. They are extremely anti vaccine/covid. It is the only thing that they can talk about. I had a frustrating contact before with them but because Elder Burton and I are a little more bold and it was so contentious for no reason. They are adament that President Nelson(the literal Prophet on Earth) needs to apologize to them directly for encouraging people to get the vaccine because he knew better. They have such hard hearts for that and it pains me to see it. They were progressing before covid but now are so against President Nelson and there is nothing we can do at the moment. We left and had to say a prayer because of how frustrated we were haha

Well I'm hoping this week is just a successful as last week. It's holiday season so the time is gonna go even faster. Its started to get colder so I'm about to be pulling out the sweaters I'm looking forward to telling you guys what progress we make in the next week. I love you guys!!!

Elder Proctor

Pic 1: HALLOWEEN!!! 

Pic 2: A signed Kobe Bryant ball at Scheels

Pic 3: Elders stay in the basement of this place

Winnemucca Week 6 (Mission Week 27)

Hey guys!

Another week gone. As well as another transfer. This last transfer was very fun. I loved the Elders and my companion. All good things must come to an end though. Half of the zone is being transfered, including my companion. As for me, I am staying here in Winnemucca and training a brand new missionary, Elder Burton! I'm excited for the things that come with showing a new elder the ropes of the mission. Although I just finished up Elder Larsens training, I have not started training a guy straight from the MTC before. Wish me luck and say some prayers so that I can be the best trainer that I can be for my new guy!

Sad news about the baptism we were supposed to have on Saturday. Jaxon was not ready for baptism due to him not understanding why he can't drink coffee and not being willing to stop. It's sad that he has grown up in a home that that is OK so he thinks it's OK because his mom is baptized (isn't active) and drinks coffee. We had some other concerns concerning his family dynamic and reason to be baptized so it's better to postpone than to jump the gun and baptize a 10 year old who isn't ready. As it says in 2 Nephi 31, it would've been better to not have been baptized if you deny your baptismal convenants. We are going to continue to work with him though and hope in the near future that he fully understands the covenants we make at baptism and can be baptized.

This week was pretty good. Here's how it went.

Monday

Did typical p day things. We met with the Unrein family and we are going to start teaching their 10 year old son, Layne! 

Tuesday

We had the last district council of the transfer. I did a training on having meaningful personal studies. The rest of the day was spent driving around a remote part of our area and contacting non-native members. We didn't have to much luck. We tried to contact 14 people and only got ahold of 3. Oh well. Thats part of being a missionary. We also reviewed the baptismal questions with Cade and Jaxon that night.

Wednesday

We helped a guy move in the morning. in the afternoon, we did some street contacting while knocking inactive members. We had little success again but it was fun walking. We played dodgeball with the youth. Jaxon had his baptismal interview that night (which he did not pass )

Thursday

We continued to help Brother Southwick build a fence. We were there for quite a while because he fed us lunch as well. I love this guy. He's an innocent wise old man that you could never not like. We had our weekly planning session and played basketball. 

Friday

All the Elders in Winnemucca went with us to help paint a members house. We had a lesson with Robert but that fell through. Luckily we found a new guy named Brenton that we hope we can start teaching. We read Joseph's Smiths Testimony and 1 and 2 Nephi with the recent converts, Tracy and Stacy. We also were able to talk with a guy named Jim Loveless that had had contact with missionaries before. He is a judge and we just talked to him about our hobbies,w here we are from, and missions in general.

Saturday

We attended Cades baptism. It was hard not seeing Jaxon be baptized with him but it was the right choice. His mom made a touching video that we watched after he was baptized. We helped the Lewis build a horse stable. We were going to attend another baptism in Battle Mountain but by the time we drove halfway there we found out it wasn't on Saturday. We turned around and went back to Winnemucca. Hope we don't ever do that again haha

Sunday

We did what we always do on Sunday. Went to ward council and church meetings. Then we did all of our studies in the afternoon. We had a fun dinner with the Ostler family. We recieved the call from President around 4pm that I would be training so we knew before everyone else our transfer news. That night we gathered at the church to read all of our transfer  news together.

Unfortunately I don't have any lessons the report on  I'm hoping that changes but all I can do is try my best and the fruits of my labors will be revealed.

I love all of you so much and once again please pray for me as I head into training Elder Burton. I'll let you guys know he is next week! This week is gonna be pretty busy but not with missionary work because of all the travel. Also my birthday is this week. It's on Friday!! I can't believe I'll be 20. I dont want to be 20. I want to stay a youth forever lol. This will be my first birthday on the mission. I know it'll be different but I'll make it as fun as possible haha

Love yall

Elder Proctor

Pics 1 and 2: The Winnemucca Zone 

Pic 2 and 3: General Conference setup!

Winnemucca Week 5 (Mission Week 26)

Hey everyone! 

Well I've made it to my 6 month mark. So long but also so little time. I'm 1/4 of the way through the mission. Time really does feel slow in the moment but goes quick in retrospect. Soon I'll be at my year mark then I'll be back home. I guess I have to make the most of my time here while I can!

This week was awesome! General Conference was amazing. I have a newfound love for Conference. I am hoping to maintain this love I have for it through the rest of my life. I was listening to Conference talks the whole past 2 weeks preparing and hyping myself up for it. It went by way too fast. Before I knew it, it was over. President Nelson truly is a Prophet of God. I loved Elder Hollands talk. When he said something along the lines of Jesus Christs arms were spread wide open for you and then nailed there, signifying that he will never close them; that gave me goosebumps. It was powerful. I can testify that spiritually preparing for Conference and prioritizing it will make it more enjoyable and more fulfilling. How did you guys like Conference??

Here's the weekly recap

Monday

Pday and we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with a less active member with the Elders quorum president and his wife in the evening

Tuesday

We had district council. We had a couple of good contacts and we had a lesson with Jaxon and Cade.

Wednesday

I went on exchanges with Elder Webb (he is from Longview TX and we went to the same youth activities. He even showed me a video of a youth dance in February and I and all the Nac youth are in the video. Crazy right.). We had a great day. We did service for a member and she fed us lunch. We went over to Stacy and Tracy and went over the Introduction of the Book of Mormon with them as well as the testimonies. They had some questions that we were able to answer. Then the rest of the day consisted of walking and trying to find people to teach.

Thursday

We walked and talked to some people in the morning and then did our weekly planning session. After that, we had dinner and then went and played basketball!

Friday

We had service in the morning. We also did some walking and talking to some people that one of the members referred us to go and contact. Referrals are great! We had a great contact to end of the day with Crystal.

Saturday

General Conference!!! All 6 of the missionaries in Winnemucca went to the Connells house and we watched all three sessions of conference there. We made breakfast together before it started and we all brought food to share. It was fun. After conference ended, we knocked one door that was referred to us a d he was looking at us through his window, ran out to his car, and bolted out of the driveway. Oh well haha

Sunday

General Conference again!! We watched the morning session with the Southwicks and they fed us breakfast. We watched the afternoon session with the Hedges and they fed us dinner. We did some contacting after Conference ended as well

Lesson Reviews

Jaxon and Cade

We read from the Book of Mormon stories book about baptism and the sacrament. We also did a recap of all 5 lessons because they are being baptized this weekend.

Crystal

We met Crystal knocking on a less active members house but they had moved and she was the new homeowner. She said they were eating dinner but we could come back another time. We came back a few days later and she wasn't home but her daughter and grandma were. We talked to them for a bit and gave them a Restoration pamphlet. We went back 2 more times and Crystal was not there or no one answered. Finally on Friday night, we got a hold of her. She answered the door and we asked if they had read the pamphlet yet and she said no and that they were not interested. We responded with our testimonies and how the Gospel had blessed our lives and that when they are ready to let us know. She asked what church we were from again and we responded. Her demeanor changed when she found out we were Mormon because her best friend is Mormon. We gave an overview on why we don't go by Mormons anymore and she thought that was cool. I then gave a 1 minutes Restoration lesson and she listened the whole time. We gave her our number and when we got back to the apartment she actually called us!!! What initially started out with her not being interested turned into her calling us to we can get ahold of her. This goes to show that you should not back down when people initially aren't interested. Don't just say "oh ok" and walk away. Be firm in your belief and let them know that they have no idea what they are saying no too and it might change their mind.

This next week is the last week of the transfer. Transfers keep picking up speed. I will know if Elder Larsen and I are both staying or if I'll be getting a new companion by my next email! Thanks for all the prayers and I pray for people at home daily!

I Love you all

Elder Proctor