Quincy Week 21 (Mission Week 60)

Hello people! 

Another week gone. Times a flyin. This past week was great. Here's how it went.

Monday

We had a district activity in Quincy playing disc golf so that was fun. We got lunch at Morning Thunder afterwards and then played some board games. That evening we were invited to watch a talent show that one of the primary kids were in. She invited us personally so of course we had to make an appearance haha. Well it started at 6:30 at the Quincy Elementary School so we drive over there and there is no one at the school. We were sure it was today at 6:30 so we were pretty confused. We then drive to the McAllisters house because they posted a flyer on the telephone pole outside there house and it said it was today at 6:30 and at the Alder campus. Turns out theres 2 campuses to the Elementary school that we didnt know about. We find out where the talent show really is and we get there 15 minutes late and I'm thinking we will be fine because the SFA Charter talent show lasted over an hour usually. We rush in there and kid you not right as we sit down some 10 year old kid announces over the microphone "That concludes our talent show!!!"  The comedic timing on that was impeccable. Elder Salinas and I looked at each other and couldn't believe it haha. It was a 20 minutes talent show but I guess that's what you get when you're in a smaller town haha.

Tuesday

We had district council which was really good. Our district leader, Elder Larson, gives very good trainings. Definitely the best I've experienced on the mission. Afterwards we got lunch and then headed back to Greenville for service. After service we had dinner in Greenville and then headed back to Quincy for the YSA activity. I made a jeopardy game and some other games that we played. Another thing we did was find the secret library underneath the stage which I've heard some ward members talk about. That was fun to find haha.

Wednesday

We helped the Dolezals clean up their yard in the morning and then we proselyted a ton during the afternoon. Usually each week as you talk to people you make plans for the following week naturally but since we didn't do much the last 2 weeks because of the situation I talked about in prior emails we didn't have much already planned. That means a lot of tracting haha. That evening we had the disc golf community round and I did well. I had an insanely good drive on Hole 6 that somehow wiggled around the trees and landed right under the basket. I'll send a pic. I scored -5 and took the 5 tag (if you don't understand what that means it means at the moment I'm the 5th best player in the Quincy area who comes to Wednesday night club rounds haha) It's been really cool to see everyone warming up to us on Wednesday nights and they are beginning to ask questions about missionary life which could potentially lead to us teaching. 

Thursday

We helped Bill chop and stack wood during the morning and then after lunch we had a great lesson with Sidney. We met her at a park and the weather has been stormy and we barley escaped the storm that came right after the lesson. It started pouring about 10 minutes after the lesson. We conducted our weekly planning session and then we had basketball in the evening. Megans family (YSA who plays basketball at FRC) was in town and her dad came to hoop which was fun. We had about 15 people there.

Friday

A random lady called us on Wednesday and asked for our help so we went over to help her move a wood pile in the morning. It's awesome when random people call and we get to meet new people through service. After service we cleaned up and then attended the FRC graduation. Megan graduated so we were there to support her plus there was some other people that we knew that were there! She's heading back to Utah which lowkey kinda sucks because she's the only YSA that comes to everything (besides Bekah haha) but we're happy that she finished her time at FRC. We sat by Bekah and her mom and we scheduled a dinner with them on Wednesday! Being at the FRC graduation that day was cool because Nacogdoches graduation was the same day so even though I wasnt at that I still was at some random colleges graduation in California thinking about all my friends at home graduating haha. After the graduation we went to Sister Christensons house and she surprised us with a gift card to GroceryOutlet which we really needed to that was awesome. The rest of the day consisted of walking and street contacting. We also stopped by the AirBnB Megans family was staying at and gave her a graduation gift and read some of the Book of Mormon with them!

Saturday

We did some work in Greenville but nothing really happened. Progress in Greenville is at a standstill unfortunately. There's nowhere to walk because the fire burned everything down and the only people left there are ones who dont really care to make there life better. At least the ones I've met. We also proselyted around Quincy before dinner and then we had dinner with the Jensens (Megan's family). That was awesome that they fed us even though they are on vacation. They're a great family! Afterwards we went to the church for volleyball night.

Sunday

We attended Quincy Ward this week and as always it was enjoyable. During the afternoon we did alot more walking and street contacting around Quincy. We had dinner with the Herbert's and we had a lesson after dinner with his wife Sherry Ann. During the evening we did even more proselyting. The sun doesn't go down until 8 or after now which is great because we can walk and people will still be outside even at 8:30 now!

Lesson Reviews

Sidney

We had a fantastic lesson with Sidney reading 1 Nephi 15. It lead us to discussed what the true church would consist of. We talked about the literal scattering and gathering of Israel and how we know that its is happening right now. We discussed temples and what we do inside and why they are so important to the Restoration of the Gospel. We taught what saving ordinances are and talked about each one. She had great questions and the whole lesson was centered around how our Church shows each principle of what Christs "True Vine" church would consist of.

Sherry Ann

We read 2 Nephi 4 and discussed putting our trust in the Lord. We discussed how we can show our trust by keeping the commandments. We talked about prayer, studying the scriptures, and being baptized and confirmed are all ways we can show our trust. We testified that if we do this then blessings will be given unto us.

A big announcement was made in the mission this past week as well. Our days are gonna be switching up big time. Transfers will take place on Fridays instead of Wednesdays, weekly planning will be on Monday and our pdays are Thursdays starting the week of transfers (which means June 19). President Dunn also departs and President Saxton takes over the first week of July so its gonna be alot of change in a short period of time. It's gonna take some getting used to but that's OK. 

Also a big congrats to everyone who graduated this past Friday. It's crazy that I graduated 2 years ago already and am on the second summer of the mission. As always thanks for all the prayers and thoughts coming my way!! I love yall!

Have a great week

Elder Proctor

Quincy Week 20 (Mission Week 59)

Hey guys!!

Well the craziness and not normal missionary routine continued this week..... I knew being in a trio was gonna be different but boy this is not because of just being in a trio but who I'm in the trio with haha. We recieved many more calls from President Dunn this past week (once again he didn't need to talk to me at all) and because of this we were always on edge and the plans for the day could change within a moment. I'll let you know how the week went now and you'll understand why it was eventful but not in a good way.

Monday

We did normal pday things and went disc golfing and we got lunch with Bekah at Morning Thunder. One thing that we did that isn't a usual pday thing is explore the site of a quadruple homicide. If you look up the Keddie Cabin Murders you will find out that it is one of the most puzzling and prolific cold cases in US law enforcement. There have been dozens of documentaries, crime shows, and books written about it. It happened in 1981 and it's still unsolved. Yall should definitely look it up and form your own opinion on what happened because we sure have haha. I found this out and immediately started geeking out about it so we had to go explore the site because it was here about 10 minutes from Quincy. During the evening we had a lesson with Ryan and then balled with Nate and his friends.

Tuesday

We had district council and spent a majority of the day in Susanville. We did some work in Greenville and had dinner with the Cook family. Not too much happened today

Wednesday

We helped the Dolezals put with yard work in the morning. President Dunn called a couple of times while we were there concerning the reason why we were were in Reno last Friday. He talked to Elder Richardson and his stake president called as well. We were kinda on edge the rest of the day expecting calls. Despite this we still managed to get some work done. We street contacted a while and stopped by a couple of the people we are teaching. During the evening we went to the disc golf night at Pioneer Park. It was the 3 of us missionaries with one other guy on a scorecard so hopefully we didn't overwhelm him with our "holiness" lol. Jk but it was fun to talk to him the whole time we were playing.

Thursday

It was a SUPER wierd and crazy day. The whole week has had us on edge because we didn't know whether Elder Richardson would be going home or not and it definetly affected our work. We finally recieved the news while we were weekly planning though. President called and asked to speak to Elder Richardson. He went into a room and 5 minutes later he tossed the phone on the couch and then went back into the room pretty upset. Elder Salinas and I looked at each other and both knew right away that President told him he was being sent home. 10 minutes later he came out and confirmed our thoughts and then we talked for about an hour about everything. We still didn't know when he was leaving (Friday or Saturday) so that was annoying but we knew that he was going home. We went to basketball that night and had a good turnout with 20 people. Unfortunately we will probably lose some people because the college here got out for summer so they will be going home but oh well. That night at around 9:30pm we got the news that we were to drop off Elder Richardson at the mission office in Reno at 11am tomorrow morning.

Friday

We headed out early to be in Reno at 11am. We dropped of Elder Richardson and said bye. He was flying home soon after. I won't go into detail but this is for all those who are serving a mission now or planning on serving but PLEASE obey the mission standards. I know we aren't perfect and even I can think of many things that I could be more obedient on but never cross the line too far to where it gets you sent home. Whatever it is youre thinking about doing please don't do it. It's not worth it. Anyways after the trio died it was back to Elder Salinas and I. Officially our 3rd transfer together as a companionship haha. We spent some time in Reno doing some things that we can't in Quincy (aka as Walmart and oil change haha) and we even got our food paid for at Canes!!!! That night we went to Bekahs church's movie night. They showed a movie called "The Jesus Revolution" and it was pretty good. Bekah was happy to see us there and I recognized some of the congregation there. We met her parents and we talked about getting a dinner set up with all of them!!

Saturday

I was glad that Elder Richardson left on Friday and not today because it was full of activities. We had the ward cleaning day at 10am and then a ward BBQ and game day. There wasnt a good turnout to the game day like usual so it was legit Megan, Bekah, and us two and Brother Smailes still cleaning by the end of it. One strange thing that happened was that I noticed some random guy outside talking to Brother Stokes and Hedrick so I went out to talk to him. Boy did he have some stuff to say. He pretty much vented his problems and how God needs to explain himself on how he's been treated etc and was crying by the end of it. He was definitely on something and I believe he is homeless. By the end it was Elder Salinas and I and Bekah talking with him. He gave us each hugs and he kissed my neck and I've never been so scared in my life. Immediately after he kissed my neck it started burning and felt wierd and I thought it was the end of Elder Proctor. Thought I was gonna have to be taken to the hospital across the road because he poked me with something. Turns out it was just his beard that aggravated my skin haha. Phew. We did some contacting during the afternoon and then had the YSA BBQ at the Tanners place that was supposed to be last week (that we still had at the McAllisters without without knowing lol). We had to leave midway through though to head to the church for volleyball night. Right when we got to the church the whole gym ran outta there and hid from us. That's the effect I have on people. Wow. Haha it was just a joke luckily.

Sunday

We had our church meetings and potluck which is always fun. Bekah came for the potluck!! After church we had a lesson with Robin who we did service for back when the snow storms hit. It went well. After that we went over to the McAllisters and had a youth lesson with Chavis. We then helped Sister Martinezs niece move some furniture to her apartment. We had a great dinner with Sister Christenson and her husband Bill. Turns out Bill and I have the dame love for plane watching through the app FlightRadar24!!! Weird and unexpected way to connect with someone but cool!!! During the evening we watched the YSA devotional by Elder Oaks with Bekah and Brayden McAllister. We invited all the YSA but only them two were available. The devotional was absolutely fire and I encourage everyone to watch it. After the devotional we were at the church for a while longer answering some of Bekahs questions about the church and some of our beliefs. 

Lesson Reviews

Ryan

We read from 2 Nephi 4: 16-35 and talked about putting our trust in God. We explained how baptism is a sign that we are putting are trust in God forever.

Robin

We had a good discussion with Robin about her questions that she asked us. We talked about the role of women in the organizations in the church. We discussed how faith is the primary aspect to everything amd it's why we are put here on missions. We talked about what missions are all about as well. We discussed the Book of Mormon and explained where it came from and how it relates to the Bible and why we believe it to be the Word of God. We set up a return appointment with her for next Saturday.

Chavis (Youth Lesson)

We had a great discussion about the Plan of Salvation! Chavis has some good questions and also some related to how missionaries teach the lessons which is a good sign. Future missionary right there. We dove into the topic of Ressurection a bit deeper than expected but when you are with members it's hard not to. All in all Chavis has a good understanding on the Plan of Salvation and how the Atonement of Jesus Christ is at the center of it.

Once again like last week we didn't have too many lessons because of all the stuff going on with President. Luckily it's all settled out now and I'm hoping that we can get right back into routine and start having great weeks filled with lessons like the past! One really cool thing I'd like to mention is that we have an activity that we can invite people to pretty much every night! Tuesday nights are YSA activities, Wednesday nights is community disc golf, Thursday night is basketball, Friday nights will soon to be Greenville basketball (working with members in Greenville to get this going) and Saturday nights is volleyball night!! So even if we don't teach a lot of people the amount of seeds we are planting with our good examples and light that shines from us is through the roof!!

That's it from this week. I love yall!!!

Have a great week

Elder Proctor

Pics

At the murder site (house has been demolished but we did go inside the house of the suspected killer )

The mission office has the wall of baptisms and it was my first time seeing Gary and Maddy up there!

Quincy Week 19 (Mission Week 58)

Happy late Mothers day everyone!! I hope all the mothers (and future mothers I guess) had a great day. 

This past week was quite eventful but not in the way you might think. It was probably the weirdest and most non routine week of the mission so far. Barely any normal missionary work was done due to multiple trips to Reno and many calls from President Dunn. We got like 11 calls from him in 2 days (I think I've gotten 3-4 calls from him for me in the past year so it was alot) but he didn't call me specifically in anything so thats good. Dont worry I didn't do anything haha. You'll understand more if you read my weekly recap. Especially Friday and Saturday. Here it is!

Monday

Had a good last pday of the transfer. Nothing really special happened

Tuesday

We helped Bill chop wood and that was pretty fun. I like to chop wood. He took us out to lunch afterwars which was nice. He was excited to hear that both Elder Salinas and I were staying. After that we spent much of the afternoon cleaning and prepping the apartment for a trio. We rearranged the rooms and made sure it was all good for Elder Richardson to join us in Quincy. That night we had a YSA FHE activity at the Dolezals house playing board games. That was really fun. It was Elder Salinas and I, Nate, Drew (Nates friend), Megan, Sabrina, and Bekah that were there. It was a good time. Really happy it wasn't my last night in Quincy haha

Wednesday

It was transfer day. Luckily Elder Salinas and I didn't have to pack anything but we still got to go to Reno because we needed to get Richardson so we pretty much got a vacation to Reno haha. We picked up the box springs for the 3rd bed at 12:30 and saw a bunch of our friends at transfers and then we had 6 hours to kill in Reno as we waited. Usually they plan ahead for things like this to make it where you do work temporarily in another area but since Elder Turley (housing coordinator) wanted us there at 12:30 it wasn't the original plan. After transfers we went out and got all you can eat sushi at Kitzmos. After that we checked out the disc golf store (best selection of discs I've ever seen) and I got Elder Salinas a disc and I got 2. A duplicate of the disc that I got my hole in one with and then an MVP Tesla. I got some new shoes since mine were giving out after a year of work and then we just hung out until 7. We picked up Elder Richardson and then headed back to Quincy.

Thursday

It was Elder Richardsons first day in Quincy and my first day being in a trio. The dynamic is definitely different but it's manageable. We had service in the morning with Darrel and Jennifer in Meadow Valley. They fed us lunch afterwards which was great. We then headed home and we conducted our weekly planning session. We had a couple of people the we went to talk to and then we went to dinner with the Stokes. After dinner we went to basketball. I had bought 2 new nets in Reno for the hoops at the church so I put those on. I made the mistake of cutting some excess of the net which unbeknownst to me made the entire net fall apart  oh well. I'll just get another one to replace it haha. They also cleaned the carpet which made one half of the court really wet so we couldn't even play full court even though we had enough people to. An elder in our zone is making the "Reno North Starting 5" hype video for our Sparks vs. Reno North that we want so desperately to happen so Megan recorded me playing so I could send in some highlights to be in the video haha. Hopefully they will send through email. Reno North will win that game.

Friday

It was a VERY wierd day. So we had an entire day planned but first thing in the morning President calls like 5 times until we pick up and he says that he wants to meet with us at 4pm in Reno. This is definitely something you don't wanna hear as a missionary. Instantly I start thinking of everything I could be better at and think that I'm about to get chastised haha. I was like "oh crap we got home at 9:50 last night I'm going home" . Luckily this wasn't the case. I wasn't involved at all in what President had us to come for. We helped Bill cut more wood and load it up in the morning and he fed us lunch afterwards. We then drive down to Reno for the meeting. President needed to get some information and it took 3.5 hours to get everything sorted out. We got there at 4pm and didn't leave until 7:30pm. The whole time I did nothing but sit around while President talked to certain people. He had a meeting with Elder Salinas about a unrelated topic as before and told him that he was going to be Emergency transfered (ET) to Fallon because someone had to go home. This got me. When they came out of the room and told me I was speechless. I was so excited to be with Salinas for a 3rd transfer and 2 days into the transfer he was told he was gone. Our trio would've lasted a whole 1 day haha. Eventually we left and by coincidence the Walmers were in Reno and Elder Salinas wanted to say bye so it worked out and we had dinner with them at Chickfila! We made the trek back to Quincy after getting out entire transfer thrown upside down and even though it was 9:30pm when we got back we stopped by a couple of members so Salinas could say bye. Salinas then packed during the night because we were to be in Reno AGAIN at 11am Saturday morning.

Saturday

ANOTHER day that threw us for a loop. So once again early in the morning President calls us again and asked to talked with Elder Salinas. Keep in mind he is already completely packed, has already said bye to members, and we are gonna be leaving to Reno to send him off soon. He talks with him for a couple of minutes and what happened was President basically changed his mind and Elder Salinas wasn't leaving. Within 12 hours it went from Salinas being here, to him leaving to Fallon to train, then back to staying here. There was alot of mixed emotions. We were just sick of not being able to able to do regularly work and everything switching so we thought President would call back an hour later and say nevermind that nevermind your leaving Salinas. Luckily that didn't happen but I felt bad for Elder Salinas because he had already packed everything and pretty much accepted the fact that he was leaving and it changed within a second. I'm glad he's staying though and the trio lives on. Because we didn't have to go to Reno we were able to make the disc golf doubles round with the community club. Brother Dolezal was very surprised to see Salinad since he had just said bye 9 hours earlier last last night haha. Later that afternoon we met up with Megan at the church and gave her a blessing. She had been in the hospital because something was wrong with her arm so we got to bless her up. After that we went over to Carlos's place and said bye because he is moving back to Peurto Rico. Now we have no ward mission leader lol. That evening we had a YSA BBQ at the McAllisters house. It was originally going to be at the Tanners but they decided to postpone it because they only recieved confirmation from us and Megan that we would go but we when we told them they were many other that would come that didn't confirm they still decided to not have it. It's rare that all the YSA and even Bekah would be there so we had to do something. So we pretty much had the Tanners BBQ at the McAllisters house without them knowing . Don't tell them haha. It was really fun and we shared a spiritual message near the end about finding our missions in life.

Sunday

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!! We went to Quincy church meetings and they were awesome as always. The McAllisters son gave his homecoming talk and everything else was centered around mothers. Apparently Brother Walmer makes pies on Mother Day for everyone so that was awesome. We had lunch with the Thackerays and then we had a youth lesson with Chavis. We had dinner with the Walmers and Bekah and Megan were there too. The Walmers daughter, Sabrina, is a YSA as well. It was a fun dinner and we did Come Follow Me with everyone after. We were going to leave but then it kinds transitioned outside and we were there for MUCH longer. Brother Walmer, Bekah, and I talked on the porch for like an hour (maybe more) about so many things. All in all we now have a dinner appointment with Bekah and her mom haha. Really excited for that because her mom is a very well known basketball coach and I'm gonna pick her brain about coaching and careers in sports. As well as the Gospel don't worry haha

Lesson Reviews

Chavis (Youth Lesson)

It was our first youth lesson with him. His family sat in on the lesson as well. We discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and and how it blesses our lives. He understands the doctrine well and is able to answer our questions!

Bekah (not a lesson but an awesome conversation so just thought I'd include it because it did take up most of Sunday night haha)

We talked with her outside the Walmers house for quite a while. We mainly talked about how living a God centered life blesses us and sometimes it means leaving others behind. We talked about our future careers and how Heavenly Father will help us decide if we have faith. We talked about baptism being the first step and we have temples where we further our relationship with God. Bekah said that she wants us to meet her mom and pick her brain about sports and coaching so we are going to have a dinner with them next week!

Thats it from this week. Not many lessons again this week because of how crazy the week was but I'm hoping to get back into normal missionary routine soon and start preaching the Gospel again haha. Thanks for all the prayers coming my way and I love yall!!!

Have a great week!

Elder Proctor

Quincy Week 18 (Mission Week 57)

Hey guys!!

Here's another late email haha. Better late than never though right. We got transfers news  I'm staying for a 4th transfer in Quincy and Greenville!!!!! Neither Elder Salinas or I are leaving and we are actually getting another guy, Elder Richardson, and we will be in a trio!!! I'm not quite sure how I feel about being in a trio yet so if any yall have any advice or experience with it please let me know. I'm gong into is with a positive outlook]] and looking forward to it. Here's how my week went.

Monday

We had a district activity playing disc golf and then playing games at the Dolezals. We had a lesson with Mike in the evening that went pretty well.

Tuesday

We had our last district council of the transfer and then had another district lunch at Bings. We had some stuff planned to do in Greenville but Elder Salinas wasn't feeling well so we headed straight home and let him rest. In the evening we had a YSA activity playing disc golf. It was pretty fun. It was us two elders, Nate, Megan, and Bekah that came. After the round we talked for a bit and then shared a scripture. I've kinda gotten a glimpse of what the YSA ward elders in Reno experience because it legit feels like you're hanging out with friends because they are all your age and then you remember you're a missionary haha. 

Wednesday

Most of Wednesday was spent preparing for Maddys baptism with making the programs. The programs turned out good despite me spelling "presentation" wrong but other than that they were perfect haha. During the afternoon we had service with Jacob for a little bit. In the evening we went to the disc golf event at Pioneer Park and talked to people there and played a bit of disc golf. I scored actually really well out of all people there with a -7!!! I got 3rd place out of 21. My best round yet. People actually clapped for me this time unlike the last time we participated. Now I'm known through the disc golf community here which is awesome for missionary relations within the community!

Thursday

We spent most of this day preparing for Maddys baptism as well. This time we had to clean the font because it was really dirty. There was even a dead lizard in there lol. Carlos helped us out with it as well. After we cleaned the font we set up chairs and stuff for Maddys baptism. Due to my perfectionism it took a while for that as well because it had to look good haha. We held our weekly planning session after and then had basketball that evening. It was fun and it might have been my last time playing so as people were leaving they were thanking me for everything and it's been a pleasure playing with me. Thankfully I've ended up staying so it'll be fun to see everyone's reaction to me staying for a 4th transfer

Friday

We spent the morning finishing up the programs for Maddys baptism and then after lunch we made a bunch of contacts inviting people to the baptism. We actually made contact with all of our friends so that was surprising haha. The evening was spent baking cookies and a cake for Maddys baptism. We were supposed to have a meeting with Maddy but it didnt happen because she was spending the night with a friend.

Saturday

Maddys baptism day!!!! Pretty much the entire day was focused on Maddys baptism. We got to the church 2 and a half hours early to fill the font and do some fine tuning to the set up. Even with starting to fill the font at 1:30 and the baptism being at 4 the font wasn't completely filled. It was really warm water which was awesome but it was a bit low. We had a great turnout for the baptism. I think around 35-40 people came to support Maddy. Bekah even came which was awesome. I was the one that got to baptize Maddy and that was great. It was my first time baptizing someone for themselves so it was pretty special for me too. Maddy is such a special kid and I'm super proud of her and the example she has set for her friends and family. After the baptism we had a dinner to celebrate and then we had volleyball night. A lot of people came to volleyball which was awesome. It was so fun. It had me thinking that there was no way that I was staying for a 4th transfer because of how much fun I had haha

Sunday

Maddy got confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and recieved the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting. It was great. We also had a great testimony meeting that was centered on baptism and the blessings of being a member. Sister Sandlin went up there and said that she is so grateful for not just full time missionaries in general but specifically for the ones that are in our ward and how enthusiastic we are about the Gospel and for being so welcoming to everyone. It made me cry haha. It's nice to be appreciated. Alot of people actually came up to me and thanked me for being who I am and and how happy they are that we are serving in Quincy. My top mission goal was to impact every ward that I serve in and I got a lot of closure that I have accomplished that goal here in Quincy. Me staying here for a 4th transfer is just added blessings. Later on in the day we decided to go to Greenville which we usually don't do and it was such a good idea that came from the Spirit. We had 2 awesome messages with the whole Meyers family and the Cook family. There again I recieved closure on what I have been able to accomplish here and I'm so glad we went to Greenville to do that.

Lesson Reviews

Mike

We read 2 Nephi 32 with him and discussed the Holy Ghost and prayer. We got on the topic of going "All in" and we discussed Mike's current progress. He said himself that he needs to be better and stop saying he will do things but actually do them. We haven't seen him at church and he said this is what he is talking about and he committed to coming to church and Maddys baptism. (He didn't come to Maddys baptism or church )

That was the only lesson of the week due to us being focused on getting the baptism ready and Elder Salinas not feeling his best during the week.

Well that's it for this week. I'm super excited to be staying here for one more transfer. There's no way I stay another way come June 24 so I'll be treating it as my last haha. It is also President Dunns last transfer as mission president so that'll be a BIG change next transfer. Thanks for all the prayers coming my way and I love yall!!

Have a great week!

Elder Proctor

 

Quincy Week 17 (Mission Week 56)

 What's up everyone?!

This week went by fast and its already May. It's crazy to think that this is my 2nd month of May on the mission. It's still kinda surreal to think that 1 year ago I was in my first weeks in the field. Times a flyin. Here's how my week went. 

Monday

The BEST Pday of the mission!!! OK maybe not the best but certainly something happened that made it remarkable. We were up in Susanville for a district activity and there is a disc golf course there that I wanted to try so Elder Salinas and I played a round there. We get there and I get an ace on my FIRST throw of the round!!!! My first ever HOLE IN ONE!!! LETS GOOOO. It was a pretty impressive ace as well because you couldn't see the basket and it's was an uphill 265ft shot to the left and I made it in the wind!!! I'll send some pictures. The course was actually pretty challenging because most of the holes were blind shots so you really couldn't see the basket of the Teepad but I still managed to score a -3!! I celebrated so much that my voice went out haha

Tuesday

We had district council and the Zone leaders were there. After DC we went to Bings which is a sushi restaurant. Some of the elders had never been to a sushi/Japanese cuisine place so they had no clue what to get haha. It was really good but I wish there was an all you can eat option like in Reno because I wanted to try more rolls haha. After district council we did some work in Greenville. We had a lesson with Lorraine and attempted to talk to Brenda but she is ghosting us again. Oh well. We had dinner with Sister Myers on the front porch and then headed back to Quincy. We were supposed to have a lesson with Maddy but they weren't available so we went out and walked. We had a lesson with Mike but that one fell through as well because he said that he forgot and we rescheduled. Something cool was that we needed something from the store and were headed to Safeway but midway through the drive I turn around because I wanted to go to Sav-Mor instead. We get to Sav-Mor and right when we step out the car and guy comes up to us and asks where our church is. We then talk for about 10 minutes about the church and how he can turn his life around. We gave Josh a pamphlet and he said he will try to come to church and bring his family. Cool miracle right there. We wouldn't have been there if we had went to Safeway.

Wednesday

My throat was hurting pretty bad because of how much I celebrated my ace on Monday. I think I developed laryngitis from it haha. Because of this we rested until 3pm because we had a good night planned and then went and helped someone move. After the move we had a lesson with Maddy reviewing the baptismal interview questions. She is such a special kid. We then went two houses over and had a lesson with Ryan. We were supposed to have a lesson with Becca and Taylor but it wasn't a good time when we went over and we rescheduled.

Thursday

Biggest thing from this day was Maddys baptismal interview!!! She walked in kinda nervous but we assured her that she knew what she needed to and if she didn't know an answer then to just testify of Christ. It seemed to work because she passed and will be baptized on the 6th!!!! We were all super happy. After her interview we had basketball. We had a good turnout with 15 people!

Friday

I was on exchanges in Susanville with our district leader. To be honest we didn't really do all that much because it wasn't planned out the best and the timing was wierd but oh well. We literally traveled an hour and a half there, talked to 2 people, then traveled back and that was it. Kinda a waste of time. Elder Salinas and I got back with each other around 5:30 and we got some work done in our area. We helped the same people as on Tuesday finish moving and then we went over to Mike's. Elder Salinas and Turley went over that morning and he said to come back at night for a lesson but boy he wasn't ready for a lesson. He was outside trying to get a truck onto a trailer that he was gonna haul to Reno. So instead of having a lesson I helped him accomplish this goal haha. It was super sketchy and ghetto but we managed to get it up on the trailer. There were times where the wheel was halfway of the trailer but Mike insisted to keep going haha. I'll send some pics and videos and they are pretty funny.

Saturday

Supposedly there was a church cleanup in Greenville so we left early in the morning to travel up there for it but when we got there there wasn't anyone there. We called one of the branch Councilors and he said his whole family (the myers) went ahead and went up there early and did it. So we pretty much wasted the miles and didn't even need to come. Bummer. We left the church and since we were in Greenville we did some work. We tried to contact Brenda but no answer. We talked with Brittany for a few minutes and her kids had me eat a dandelion. Dont recommend this they aren't good. We then walked a bit and then headed back to Quincy. I guess Bill has gotten over the whole situation we went through with him because he asked for our help with service. Larry still wont talk to us but at least Bill does now. We had a lesson with Sidney and had a chat with Chad. What's funny is that Chad saw us walking and he asked if we had a couple of minutes but we were heading to an appointment so we said we'd come back at 5. We did and he had friends over and he was still drunk as he always is but we shared a message and Cbad loved it haha. We had dinner with Carlos and then we went to volleyball. It was super fun this time because there was only 6 of us there so we played volleyball for a bit and then just hung out at the church. The ones that were there really like me and they were pretty upset when I said I might be getting my transferred so they emailed President Dunn asking to keep me here  I hope I get to stay but if I do get transferred it might be because President got an email from some high school girls lol. Hopefully he will understand that it's not a problem haha because multiple members have wanted to contact him because they like me here

Sunday

We had a great day at church. Maddys whole family was there and midway through the second hour Becca, one of the people that come to volleyball, showed up!!! She's the volleyball coach at the high school and we have joked around on Saturdays about missionary work and the rules we follow etc. plus we have invited them all to church. But because of the great time we had just talking and hanging out last night she felt comfortable enough with us to come to church. She is actually pretty well known throughout the community so the members were saying hi to her and fellowshipping! She is even gonna come to the YSA activity on Tuesday. After church we had a good conversation with Becca in the parking lot. We had lunch with Bishop and then we had a lesson with Ryan. We spent the evening in Meadow Valley where we contacted people, scheduled service, and ate apple crisps and shared a message with the Grandalls.

Lesson Reviews

Lorraine

We discussed what we had previously talked about and then read 1 Nephi 17. She had a couple of questions while we read such as how did Nephi receive the commandment, how do I know if the commandment I am hearing is of God or the Devil, and what is the relationship between the Book of Mormon and Native Americans. We were able to answer these questions. We testified that through our faith and obedience then we will be able to fulfill the Lord's commandments. We also discussed how we need to be like Nephi and not a hindrance to others progression like Laman and Lemuel.

Josh

He saw us walking into Sav-Mor and stopped us and asked where our church is. He said that he likes our daily habits and wants to become a better person. He also wants to help his family come closer to God. He said that he interested in coming to church! We gave him our number and also invited him to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet and we can talk about it when he comes to church!

Maddy

We went over the baptismal interview questions and the associated principles behind the questions. We asked if she feels like she is ready for baptism and she said yes!!!

Ryan

He first had a question about the Priesthood so we explained what it is and who can hold it and how it relates to baptism. We then went into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had good questions throughout the lesson. He also recognizes that the Adversary tries to put doubts in his mind as he tries to be better and he asked for some suggestions on how to overcome that. We invited him to come to Maddys baptism as well as church. We left a Restoration pamphlet with him to read for our next lesson Sunday afternoon.

Sidney

She had done her homework with reading 1 Nephi 7 so we started with 1 Nephi 8 and discussed the Tree of Life Vision and its associated symbols. We also read 1 Nephi 11 and went into how the deeper meaning of the Tree of Life is Gods love for us manifested through Jesus Christ. She said that she will read the chapters that we skipped and then next time we will read 1 Nephi 12, 13, and 14.

Becca

We talked with Becca after church (which she came without us expecting her too) for a little bit and discussed what the 5th Sunday lesson was about and cleared up some things about prophets and President Nelson. We discussed how living Christs teachings and the scriptures bless our lives and help us out of hard times. We talked about surrounding ourselves with good. It was really cool to see her come to church and be open to seeing/hearing what it's like. She will be coming to our YSA disc golf activity on Tuesday!!

Ryan Pt. 2

We had a great Restoration lesson with Ryan. He was as involved as he usually is and asked questions. We focused on the Great Apostasy and the need for a Restoration. We also focused on how only by reading the Book of Mormon can we gain the testimony of the truthfulness of the Restoration. He said that he feels the peace and co.fort when he reads/talks to us but he doesn't know if that is the Holy Ghist yet. We affirmed to him that he IS feeling the Holy Ghost and after he is baptized he will have that at his side. We invited him to pray to know the truthfulness of what we taught as well as come to Maddys baptism on Saturday!

That's it for this past week! This week we have Maddys baptism on Saturday so most of the week will be geared towards preparing for that. Super excited for Saturday!! Thanks for all the prayers coming my way. I love yall!!!

Have a great week

Elder Proctor