White Wash Train in Shoreview with Elder Burt

Hello Everyone,

        This week was transfers. I got transferred out of Bloomington! It was hard, because I loved being in Bloomington and being so involved with all of the missionaries. It was hard to leave! I found out that I was
white washing training in Shoreview which is in the St Paul Zone. I was super excited to find that out because my entire mission I have wanted to train and I have wanted to white wash and I got them both my last transfer!

        So Wednesday I got all my stuff packed put it in the car and then I just waited for my new companion to land in Minnesota. I went to the mission home and they introduced us to our companions. I am training Elder Burt from Sandy UT. He is a good missionary and we have gotten to know each other pretty well these last couple of days. Our first night together we had a meeting with our ward mission leader to get to know him and a couple of other people in the ward. As we were leaving the church heading to our car in the parking lot a man pulls up as we were about to leave and he gets out of the car and says " my brother died 3 hours ago and I felt like i should come here to talk to someone " Elder Burt gave him a hug and we were able to teach him part of the plan of salvation. We prayed with him and right after that he told us that he feels so much better and he feels warm in his heart. It was amazing! Elder Burt was in shock, he was like " Do things like that happen every day?" Hahah! No, but what an experience!

        We have done service for some members. We taught a baptismal date set in a members home. We have like 2 solid investigators right now, so we have a lot of good work to do ahead of us! We have been working with
the bishop and other ward members to get to know people. Sunday we were asked to teach Gospel Principles. We taught chapter 18 faith in Jesus Christ. The lesson was actually really good! Everyone seemed to like it and i enjoyed teaching it! Everyone in the ward was kinda freaking out because they got white washed, but most members were pretty excited to have us in the ward! I am pumped!

We have some good work to do! More updates next week!

1) Playing ball on Tuesday with the Crystal elders. We taught these guys about the Book of Mormon!
2) in order the missionaries who served in Bloomington
3) Elder Burt and I

Elder Johnston/MLC/Miracles in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Family and Friends,

 This was an eventful week. A week ago today we went to the twins game for Memorial Day. It was a 1:00 game in the afternoon and they played the Astros and the twins lost. High scoring game though which was fun to watch. We had Elder Johnston with us from Sunday night to Wednesday morning. So on Tuesday we exchanged with the Sauk Rapids Elders (Elder Lowell and Elder Nelson). I took Elder Lowell to Bloomington and Elder Last went to Sauk Rapids with Elder Nelson. Sauk Rapids is right next to St Cloud and so it took awhile to get back to Bloomington. But for Elder Johnston's last night in the field we had a lesson with a man named Bill Cannon and we taught about the Atonement and it was very powerful lesson. From 8:30 - 9:00 we went tracting right next to the mission home. We weren't able to find someone until about 8:55. We knocked on a door and a younger guy answered named Robert and he told us that he works at the University of Minnesota, him and his wife just moved into the house 6 months ago and Elder Johnston was able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and he said we could come back in a week.  It was a cool miracle for Elder Johnston's last Book of Mormon he handed out as a missionary.

   We had asked President and Sister Forbes if we could sleep at the mission home because it was his last night and they said yes. So we got to hang out with President Forbes a little bit before we went to sleep.
   
Wednesday morning we took Elder Johnston to the airport to drop him off. That was tough. It's hard to see a best friend go! But what was cool is I felt a desire to finish my mission strong and to be the best I could be until the end!

   Thursday we had MLC. Elder Last and I led a discussion on how to motivate missionaries. Which went fairly well! We had some of the Zone Leaders lead a discussion on some of the concerns they had. It was President Forbes last MLC and so it was definitely a good one! 

   Friday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Jeremy Potter. He met us at the chapel and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. We read 2 Nephi 31 and taught from that! He really understood the doctrine very well. We invited him to be baptized and he said " I am not going to say yes, but I am definitely not going to
say no because I could see myself being baptized into the church. Jeremy is a really Christlike person and is definitely someone prepared to accept the gospel. In the afternoon we went on exchanges with the Karen Speaking Elders in North St Paul. I went with Elder Williams and we had a lesson with a man and it was so cool, i did not understand what was going on really but I could feel the spirit. It was really awesome.

   Saturday we did service at Feed My Starving Children in downtown St Paul. That was really fun. We had missionaries from lots of zones going!

   Sunday in the evening we contacted this lady sitting outside her apartment building and she was so nice. When we gave her the Book of Mormon she took it as a big deal and said she would read it that night! Her boss is mormon and she is so excited to tell him she met some missionaries and is now reading the Book of Mormon. We could just picture her in a white baptismal suit about to be baptized. This lady is prepared!
   
It was a great week! I can't believe it is June right now. The weather here is starting to get very humid and hot which is way better than the cold! I love you all! Have a great week!

1) Elder Johnston's Last lesson
2) In the mission home with President!