The best week ever and one year down

July 25, 2016

1 Year Down!

Yes, the title is correct. Although I'm sure it feels like I have been
absent for just a few short weeks, I have in fact been a missionary for
a year. Does it feel like a year? Feels like seven. Am I excited for
another one? I'd be happy with 12 more.

This past week has been especially great. Probably the best week of my
mission so far. Here is the play by play:

Monday- We had a great Preparation day. A member of the ward had made
his own miniature golf course out of supplies from home depot. He came
over Monday morning and set it up going in and out of rooms in the
church. It was a blast! Then later that night we had a great lesson
with a recent convert we had not seen in a while. At the end of the
lesson he pulled a freshly picked blackberry cobbler out of the oven
that i cannot describe in telestial words.

Wednesday- We had a zone temple trip which was sooo good! The temple
was beautiful as always (still my favorite temple), the zone is just
full of awesome missionaries, and I received inspiration I’ve been
waiting on since about the first letter I've written home. Great day.
But to give you an idea of the traffic, our carpool left Astoria at
8:00 am and got back at 9:00 pm. (We took an hour for dinner in
Scappoose)

Thursday- We had a really great zone meeting. A set of sisters trained
on working with the youth and it really hit home. The gospel is here
to fulfill our needs. I cannot think of a needier group of people than
teenagers. Of course the gospel is going to appeal to them! The most
powerful converts I have seen on my mission have been Priest and
Laurel age youth

Friday- Kevin and Kaara got married!!! They looked so dang happy it
was awesome. Literally in two days the relief society stepped in and
found decorations and tons of flowers and refreshments and turned it
into an actual wedding. Elder Winn and i were the witnesses, which was
cool, and probably 90% of the people there were not members. Probably
the funniest part about it was our bishop who was officiating. He was
sooo nervous. He kept calling Kaara the wrong name and forgot the ring
ceremony until like 30 minutes later.

Saturday- We had interviews with President McAteer. We were his first
zone he had ever held interviews with so he was pretty nervous but
great. He mostly just asked me questions about myself and then we
talked for a little about faith being 95% action.

Sunday- We had ward conference so the Stake Presidency was there and
we had a really spiritual sacrament meeting. The Stake President
talked about how most of our spiritual learning actually comes during
the week when we are taught by the Holy Ghost in different situations.
Church is mostly for the ordinance of the sacrament.

Then Sunday night a former Assistant who served in Astoria came back
from Australia to visit and he split with us so I spent 3 hours
visiting former investigators and finding with him. He is one of those
guys that you can tell genuinely cares about everyone he talks to, it
really made people open up in a way I had not seen before. Then at the
end of our split, he gave us like 50 formers to stop by and visit ha.

So that was the week. Definitely the best week I can remember. The
church is true. There is nothing better. Christ lives and His
countenance falls upon His true followers, in the name of Jesus Christ
amen.