Cans, Cans, and More Cans! -October 24th, 2016

We meet again! Another Monday, another week of serving the Lord and the people of 'Bama.

I'm going to start by being honest and saying that I'm exhausted right now. This past week just drained me for some reason! 

We had transfers on Tuesday that we had to take some elders to and do some other random stuff to go along with everyone moving around. Everything went smoothly and we're excited for the upcoming 6 weeks. 

Ever since I've been in Prattville, we've been volunteering at an Interfaith Food Bank. I love this place and this last week we went twice to try to get some stuff done. We're working on dating and sorting around 7,000 pounds of cans! The people that work at this Food Bank are amazing. They're all so kind and loving and it's an amazing environment to be in. It's amazing when people from all different kinds of religious backgrounds can come together and work to help the less fortunate in the community. I have such a massive testimony of service and all the good it can do and I'm very grateful for all the opportunities we're given to serve as missionaries! 

As far as our investigators go, things are going well! We have a handful that are progressing very well. We're working with quite a few part member families which has brought some amazing blessings. I honestly wish I would have known the things that I know now at the beginning of my mission. I could have done so much more for the wards if I had known other forms of missionary work than just tracting. I guess that's why missions are two years though, so that we can learn and figure everything out and along the way forget about ourselves and come closer to Christ in so many ways! Missions are pretty cool. 

Not much else happened this week so that's all I've really got to report on! 

I love y'all and will talk to you more next Monday! 

Sometimes No Change is a Good Thing! -October 17th, 2016

Hey everyone! 

To start, we had transfer calls this past Saturday and got the news that Elder Opare and I will be staying together in Prattville for another transfer! Which means that I'll be Opare's last companion. We're both really excited and personally I'm very grateful for a break from all the moving and changes that have happened recently! It was getting pretty overwhelming so I'm very happy to be able to stay in Prattville and continue to build the relationships with the people in this area. 

This week we were also able to go on a couple exchanges with the elders in our zone and we all had a great time together. I got to spend time with Elder Stuart again (previous companion) and also Elder Lewis who is from Jamaica! This zone was amazing this transfer and we're really looking forward to getting to know the new missionaries that are being transferred here this week. 

We also had quite a few meetings this week so the week actually felt pretty long BUT they were good meetings and I'm grateful for all the things I was able to learn.

I wanted to share something that I found with y'all from my studies this week. I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants, section 84. I read verse 88 and it really stood out to me. I'm pretty sure I've read it before but it really popped out at me this time. 

It reads: "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

When you first read it, you would assume that it's referring to missionaries and it is. I think that it also refers to members who reach out and make missionary efforts. It's also a promise! Saying that the Lord and His angels will be with us as we do his work. It's a pretty amazing thing, that the Lord will not leave us without support, especially as we turn our arrows outward and focus on helping His children return to Him. This stood out to me because in the last days, things are going to get crazy... they already are. I think it's going to become increasingly harder for us to have the courage to share the gospel in a world that is in such darkness. I promise that as we remember this promise we will receive strength and courage as we valiantly follow Christ teachings and by doing so, share the gospel with His children. 

That's really all I've got to report on for this week! I hope y'all have another great week and I look forward to talking to you next Monday, love you!

PS I'll also attach a picture from Zone Conference with Elde Dyches. It's of the best zone in this mission; The Montgomery North Zone! 

Elder and Sister Dyches! -October 11th, 2016

Well, happy Monday everyone! I think it's Columbus day also so there's that too haha 

Wow, what a week! From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs all in one week.... 

Started off the week by being as sick as a dog for a day and a half... I'll spare all of your stomachs by leaving out the details but it was not a nice experience.

Luckily though, I was able to recover and get back to mostly normal by our special MLC on Wednesday in Birmingham! Elder and Sister Dyches are amazing and I'm very grateful for the chance that I had to spend quite a bit of time with them throughout the week. Everything they taught us was definitely inspired and powerful. I look forward to seeing how their visit helps our mission grow into a more powerful vessel for the Lord! 

Then on Friday, Elder Opare and I went back to Birmingham for a meeting with the southern half of the mission. Elder and Sister Dyches provided everyone with additional training along with President and Sister Sainsbury and it was a fantastic meeting. They focused a lot on becoming "master" teachers and also proper planning. Both of which are immensely important. 

One of my favorite parts of the meeting was actually from the testimony of a departing missionary. His name is Elder Wilson and he's an elder that I've been close to since the beginning of my mission and one that I've looked up to a lot as well. He spoke about being a "Worshipper" instead of a "Performer". I thought this was so interesting! He expounded and said that a performer is someone who puts on a show for those around him/her and a worshipper is someone who does things out of love and their knowledge of the Savior's love for them. We need to always make sure that we are trying to be Christlike for our own benefit and for our Savior, and not for those around us who may be watching. I loved this thought and hope that we can all apply it to our lives. 

Anyways, that's all I've got for this week! 

I'll talk to y'all next Monday, love you! 

Spiritual Reboot? Check! -October 3rd, 2016

Hey guys! 

What an amazing weekend. Conference is such a massive blessing! I'm so grateful for the inspired and revelatory messages that were shared. My testimony was definitely reaffirmed that we are in good hands. What a blessing it is to be able to have a Prophet of God, who receives direct revelation from on high, leading us in these crazy times. 

We were blessed to be able to spend every session in someone's home including two sessions with a few of our different investigators. It was an amazing experience to be able to see the spirit touch their hearts and help them learn more about His gospel.

We actually got stuck in a lesson on Saturday night and ended up just staying at our investigators home and watching the Priesthood session with them. The amazing thing was that President Monson spoke about the importance of the Word of Wisdom during that session and that's actually the main thing that our investigator is struggling with! It was so amazing to be able to have President Monson bare testimony of the importance of our personal health when that was exactly what our investigator needed to hear. Especially since we weren't originally going to stay there for the session but ended up having to. Definitely an Emmaus experience if you ask me. 

Personally though, one of my favorite talks was by Elder Uceda of the Seventy. I loved his story and message that seemed to combine the importance and power of both prayer and following personal promptings from the Spirit. Very powerful talk. 

Anyways, the rest of our week was good as well but to be quite honest I don't remember much of it... Everything was kind of dwarfed by conference haha! 

This week we have a member of the Seventy coming to our mission so we're all looking forward to that. We have a couple special meetings with him up in Birmingham so it's going to be a pretty busy week! 

I hope that all of you loved conference and were able to receive answers to questions and guidance in your lives. I also hope that we're all able to remember the messages taught and continuously try to apply them into our lives. 

I love y'all and I'll talk to you soon! 

pics- 

First is another episode of Alabama Automobiles. This one was spotted a few weeks ago in the parking lot of our local target... haha what a beaut! 

Second, Elder Opare caught me "smoldering" and I thought that y'all would find it entertaining since you haven't seen it for so long.. enjoy;)