New Investigators :) in Shoreview with Elder Burt

Hello Family and Friends,

This week has been really good. Our area is really picking up and I love it! Shoreview is amazing! Our investigator Amanda was taught twice this week. Once about the Fall and another time we taught about Law of Chastity/Sabbath Day Worship.  Amanda is really solid and is planning on getting baptized on the 29th. So pumped for her! She is so welcomed and loved by the ward, it is just great. We are teaching this week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and she coming to ward game night Friday and being interviewed for baptism Saturday,  how sweet is that? I love it!

We found a good amount of new investigators this week, the best one we found his name is Julio Perez. He is very solid and comprehends everything he has been taught. Our second lesson with him he told us " I just couldn't put the Book of Mormon down, I just wanted to know what happens next! " he liked the Plan of Salvation and said he had never heard of a lot of it before but wondered questions about it, because he has never really been taught about it!

We biked a lot this week and found a good amount of new people to teach just none are progressing quite yet. Should be soon though! I got 1 more full week as a missionary and I am gonna go all out! Have a great week!

1) Lake Shore Sign I found
2) last p day we rode our bikes to US Bank Stadium from our apartment.
3) riding an old mans tricycle

Sleep Talking My Talk in Shoreview with Elder Burt

Hello Family and Friends,

        This week was a good one. We had exchanges with our zone leaders, I went with Elder Hedin and that was really fun! Elder Hedin played basketball at Lone Peak. It was really fun to be with him for the day, we biked around in the afternoon and we contacted this African man named Henry and he said when we taught him about the Book of Mormon" I want to read this from beginning to end, I love the word of God." Imagine that in a African accent. We set up and appointment with him for Saturday afternoon and we went to meet him at the bike trail we contacted him at and he wasn't there and we called him and I could not understand anything he was saying so we ended up not meeting with him again. We are going to text him so we understand what he is saying, he has the thickest accent. So hopefully he will respond to our texts! 

        Yesterday we gave out talks in church about the Book of Mormon and we had a youth speaker, Elder Burt and I giving talks. I was the closing speaker and both of our talks went really well! It was really awesome to be able to get a little more love/trust from the ward. Haha the night before the talk Elder Burt told me that I was giving my talk in my sleep and teaching about the Book of Mormon. Hahah I thought that was funny! Sunday during the evening, a man contacted us on the street and his name was Buzz he said " Hey you guys are mormon right? What makes you different from the rest of the christians?" So we taught him the restoration and it was sweet! He does not live in our area but hopefully he will read the Book of Mormon! We also contacted another man who was on a tricycle and he was super nice, he is 86 and his name is Charlie and we talked to him for about an hour and set up a time to come back this Wednesday.


        Earlier in the week we went tracting and we knocked into a Muslim man from Africa as well. He invited us in and we taught him a little bit  about the Book of Mormon and we set up a return appointment for tonight! We are pretty excited! He is a solid guy and hopefully we can have a great discussion about Jesus Christ and see how interested this man really is. I love the miracles we saw this week! It really is amazing being out talking to people and sharing the great news of the gospel with them!
        
My testimony of the Book of Mormon increased this week as I prepared my talk! It is true scripture and I feel very blessed to have the knowledge that I do! Jesus Christ is the savior and I am so grateful for the sacrifices he has made, as well as the better person I can become because of him! Thank you for your emails! I appreciate them!

Photos from the week
1) 4th of July Softball Game
2) a pig we found outside a fast food place

President Barney in Shoreview with Elder Burt

Hello Family and Friends,

        This week was good! We taught Amanda Redlund our baptismal date set twice this past week. We taught about the Holy Ghost for one lesson and we taught the word of wisdom for the other lesson. Both went well! She is planning on being baptized on the 29th of July. So we are all pretty excited for her!

        This past week we have been biking all over our area, talking to people on the streets, knocking a couple of doors and doing our best to find people who are prepared to hear the gospel message. We are working hard and have found a couple of people who have potential of being awesome investigators but we will see what happens.

        Saturday we had a meeting at the Edgerton Building with our new Mission President, President Barney and his wife Sister Barney. Wow that was weird that it wasn't the forbes. But only weird for a couple of minutes and then we heard them talk and share a little bit about themselves, share their love for all the missionaries, and share their testimonies. It was truly amazing! This great couple has been called of God to run this mission at this time for very specific reasons. I am very excited to get to know them a little bit.

        Other than that I can't really remember what happened this past week, all the days blend in my mind and its kinda hard to remember. Today for the 4th of July we are having a big softball game with a bunch of missionaries. Each zone is a team and we are playing each other. We are the St Paul Zone and we got a lot of athletes so this should be fun! I love it! I hope you all have a great 4th of July and a wonderful week.

Here are some pictures
1) Amanda, Cameron, and I at a bonfire after a lesson
2)Elder Burt and I

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!

Back to Duluth in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Everyone,

  We had a good week this week. We went to Duluth this week which was cool to go back and see my last area. I went with Elder Huntley and Elder Black the Duluth Elders. Elder Last went with Elder Miller and Elder Ellsworth the Superior elders. It was a good day, we were able to teach some good lessons. I didn't get to see a lot of the people that I love in Duluth. But it was still good to be back in a place where I made many memories.

   On Friday when we got home from Duluth we went and exchanges with the New Brighton Elders. That afternoon we did we did a mission wide finding hour. We a car fast where no missionaries could use there cars but could only use their bikes or be on feet just out finding. It was awesome! I was biking around with Elder Hodgson and we tracted and talked to some cool people, it was a good thing to do for the mission! That evening we were biking and these people in their late 20's were sitting around a fire and one of them stands up and waves us down. He invites us to their back yard, gets us water, gives us a bunch of food, and was seriously some of the nicest people i have met on my mission. They asked questions about studying the scriptures and all these super sweet questions and they told us to come back anytime. I was super excited about this miracle that we saw!

Elder Johnston goes home this Wednesday and I get to be his companion the last couple of days, I can't believe that he is done with his mission! I am going miss him.

1.Duluth Elders
2. Elder Hodgson and I
3. The people who waved us down to come join them around the fire.
(Sam and Cyrus)

President Russell M. Nelson in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Everyone,

        This was one amazing week. We had President Russell M Nelson of the quorum of the twelve apostles visit our mission. So a lot of this week we were helping President Forbes prepare for the conference. So much
went into the conference it was honestly so cool! As President Nelson arrived to the building we had everyone in the Cultural Hall for a mission picture with President Nelson. So when he walked in he came into the gym and we snapped a quick picture, President Nelson walked out and went to the entrance into the chapel and he shook everyone's hand as we walked in. Elder Craig C Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy was also there. He is also a powerhouse! We were instructed for two hours by these two special witnesses of the Savior. President Nelson talked about what we learn from the Book of Mormon and posed the question "What would you do without the Book of Mormon in missionary work?" We talked about all of the things we learn and things that are clarified and it helped strengthen my testimony of Book of Mormon. His testimony was powerful and pure, just being in his presence was a blessing. He truly is an amazing man! 92 years old and walking like a champ.

        He held a YSA fireside that evening and we were able to also go to that because we had a member go with us. He is a very Christlike man! What an example! I seriously love him and will never forget this week.

        Sunday we had Mission President's Fireside that I conducted. We had all the missionaries in the Twin Cities bring their investigators and recent converts speak and tell their conversion story. It is a great event! We had two people from the Young Single Adults ward speak. It was great to hear their stories. It strengthens my testimony.

        I got to go on exchanges with Elder Peterson who I served with over a year ago in the Lake Marion ward. We were in St Paul and we had a good day. We went joint teaching with a awesome priest. We called a member from the Lake Marion ward who loved us both a lot. He accepted to come and take us out to breakfast. We went to a place called Mickey's diner that has been open 24/7 since 1930. How cool is that? It was a great
time being back with an old companion catching up on old times.


1. The Priest From St Paul
2. Elder Peterson and I
3. Brother Stanich at Mickey's Diner
4. The Entire Mission With President Nelson(See if you can find me)