Dayton Week 2 (Mission Week 65)

Happy late Independence Day everyone!!! I hope yall had a great time celebrating. I know I did. What a privilege it is to live in the country where the Gospel was Restored. God Bless America!! Here's how my week went. 

Thursday

It was my first pday in Dayton. We gathered with some of the elders in our zone and played basketball at the stake center. That was fun. The mom of a kid we are teaching wanted us to get a couch for her so we did. We really aren't supposed to use our vehicle's for that but they had already confirmed to help before I got here so we did it. That was pretty annoying. Escpecially because it was a pday and she ordering us around. We drove back to Dayton and dropped off the couch. In the evening we went over to the Allison's and talked with them. They aren't really progressing but they love us stopping by.

Friday

In the morning we did a lot of walking contacting member dots and grey dots. That took took the whole morning. A very annoying thing that happened was that the mom that we got the couch for texted us saying that she didn't want the couch anymore and told us to take it back. She didn't ask but told us. I was pretty annoyed. Especially because when we came to drop off the couch last night she had the same truck that we do and she claimed to not have a truck ..... we got that all settled out because we helped her move some things and then we took the couch back to Carson later that night. Never doing that again. The whole day was spent walking and contacting people. After dinner we had a stake basketball game. That was fun. It's 90% non members but it's the church that runs it so it's a really good thing for us to do. My shot was off and I didn't make a single 3. I did still score 16 points though but I was quite disappointed in my shooting haha. A cool thing was that a guy that came to Quincy basketball night was there. That was a surprise.

Saturday

We helped the Bebouts with some yard work in the morning and then had lunch with them. After that we went back to the apartment complex because Robert (the maintenance guy) wanted to do a cookout for us and the kids in the apartment complex. That took FOREVER. Don't ask me why it took 3 hours for 12 hotdogs to be ready to eat haha. Anyways it's a good thing that we didnt have any confirmed appointments that day. We had dinner with the Fowlers and then did a youth lesson with their daughter after. That night we had basketball night with the youth. None of their friends showed up but it will pick up after a while. They were going pretty crazy because of my skills haha. They said that I lost pigmentation in my skin because they thought only black guys were as good as I am  they were cracking me up

Sunday

We had church in the morning and we were expecting 5 people to be there but only 1 showed up which was Krista. We are happy that she came though. She's a 9 year old and she's developed some friendships in the ward which is good. Church was fun and then we went back to the apartment to do our studies. After that we headed up to Virginia City to do some contacting up there and for dinner. We spent the evening contacting people and then headed to the Bebouts because they wanted to teach me a card game!

Monday

We recieved a referal in the morning but it turned out to be a DO NOT CONTACT person in area book. It's Brother Kennedys neighbor and he has a lot to say about this person. Because if this we went and chatted with Brother Kennedy. We were there for a while and I was struggling to stay awake as he told us stories from his life. After that we conducted out weekly planning session. We went to dinner and then played basketball with some of the youth and their friends. We were supposed to go on a walk with the Allison's but they never got back to us. 

Tuesday (4th of July!!!! )

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!! I have decided that the 4th of July is in my top 3 of holidays. I get so hyped for the 4th. It was pretty much pday 2.0. President Saxton told us to just be out in the community as much as possible and go to parades, social gatherings, and show the world who you are. First off in the morning we had district council. We did that and then we headed back to Dayton to get ready for the rest of the day. So I heard last year while I was in Washoe Valley that Virginia City is the place to be for the 4th of July so I was pretty hyped to test that statement. It did not disappoint. Virginia City is a torusit town that consist of one street and a population of around 900. Doesn't sound too appealing. But there were a couple thousand people that were there and the whole town was booming. The six elders all went up there for the afternoon but we left to go back to Dayton for dinner with the Harkers. The Harkers had invited us to go with them to Virginia City for the evening festivities and fireworks a couple days prior so we were even more excited for that. So after dinner we rode with the Harkers back up to Virginia City (which is about 15 minutes up the mountain). There were even more people there than in the afternoon. It was SOOO fun. Plus there's were a lot of members that came up to and we all set up a place to watch the fireworks together. A funny thing that happened was that we were walking with the youth, kids, and a couple of adults from the ward to an ice cream shop that they work at and while we were walking we got stopped by a couple of drunk girls and they started hitting on us pretty much  they were probably 24-28 years old and there were asking all sorts of questions about the church and stereotypes they have heard. As time went on there were more girls that showed up so it was Elder Horner and I and 8 girls in the middle of the street. Plus because there are soooo many people walking everyone could see the two guys in ties talking with these 8 girls haha. They were saying all sorts of stuff and they tried giving us hugs but we gave an awkward handshake when they went in for the hug haha. Anyways after that we just vibed in front of the ice cream shop with everyone watching everything going on and listening to the band that was playing. It was so fun. President Saxton gave us permission that if we were with members we could stay out as long as the fireworks were going on so we got to stay for the whole time!! It was so much fun. Definitely a 4th of July to remember.

Wednesday

In the morning we did some walking and contacting in this one neighborhood. After that we had a lesson with Phillip. During the afternoon we had alot of finding time so that what we did. We had a lesson that fell through with Uriah so we did some more contacting. We had a fun night because we went to the youth activity and they had a barbecue and played water balloon volleyball and capture the flag. That was really fun.

Lesson Reviews

Shawn

He cancelled service for this morning but we chatted about praying and reading the Book of Mormon. He still has the question on why he needs the Book of Mormon if it's like another Bible. We've taught this so many times. We explained the importance of it and why we need it. He said he will keep praying and reading.

Phillip

Great lesson! We talked about all the steps for baptism and what he will need to do to be baptized. We had an awesome discussion about agency and why he wants to be baptized. He said that the other times he has been baptized he didnt feel like he chose to do it but this time he is doing it for himself. We brought Blake with us and he shared his testimony about the Book of Mormon. Phil wants to be baptized in the next monthish to give him time to heal. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and will send him the talk for elders quorum so he can participate this Sunday.

I hit my 15 month mark of the mission this past week as well. I remember last 4th of July I was hyped to hit my 3 month mark and we had the multi zone barbecue with President Dunn. That was a year ago now and its so surreal. I vividly remember telling myself last 4th of July, "Dang in one year I'll be at my 15 month mark. That's a long time from now. I wonder what I will be doing at that time." Welp here we are haha. He's to the last 9 months of the mission. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts coming my way.

I love yall! Have a great week!

Elder Proctor