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