Hey mom!  So I get like no time to email today... sorry. One of the Computers that we use is like broken... So we kind of have to split the time between us, so this will be short, sorry. I am so glad you had a fabulous Thanksgiving! We had Thanksgiving at the Walkers home, and at a random persons home that is not a member. It was a referral we knocked on, and their kids who I guess were members invited us in. :) So that was cool! And the GPS will be SO NICE! Thanks for sending it to me. Sadly, our car was taken away though... The other Elders in our area complained that the ward members weren't liking giving them rides to church anymore because they live an hour away from the church building so the MP decided to give them our car. My asthma kills me on the bike in this cold weather too. And its a pretty big area. We have the whole ward to ourselves. It's really hard on bikes, but it will be okay. I will need you to send me a raincoat sometime soon though, a thin one. I got soaked in the rain the other day and it was so cold!

As for Christmas present ideas, I'm not sure? Letters are always fantastic! And pictures, I love getting pictures! :) Things with my comp are pretty good. We got along well but he just has no faith in himself or the area and really struggles. He has talked to President and he has to meet with a counselor. But I still love him and we work hard!

Love you! :D

So we had the coolest experience ever this week! We had what's called a mission tour where someone from the 12 or the seventies comes and tours the mission and has a meeting/training for like 8 hours. We had the privelage of Elder Randall K. Bennett of the quorum of the seventy come to our mission and WOW, it was such an amazing experience! He is so powerful. He spoke during conference. He gave the talk "Your next step" which was great! The coolest thing happened though! I was asking him a question about one of our investigators, Tim Gehrke, who has been investigating the church for about a year or so and we can't get him to take his next big step (he's scared) and when I asked the question Elder Randall K. Bennett had me come up in front of the whole southern half of the mission, (233 missionaries I think?), and he had me roleplay a lesson with him, with me as the investigator, Tim, and him as the missionary. HOLY CRAP!!! It was the most amazing thing ever, so powerful. He pretty much gave a commitment/drop lesson to get him to start progressing and he was SOOO bold and loving! I cannot even explain how much Tim (Me) and the whole audience felt the love of Elder Bennett. It was the most amazing experience and so revelatory. I wish I could go back again. 

So one of the cool things about our mission is its the most obedient mission in the world. I'm definitely blessed to be a part of it. And while he was speaking he said, "As a representative of Jesus Christ, he now is wanting me to let you know there is no greater group of missionaries in the world." That was cool! He also said, not to say there aren't other amazing missionaries, just this is the best group. Still insanely cool haha!!!! I will never forget that day. I hope I can be like him someday. :)

Anyways, I think that's about it this week. Love you all!

Well, I got transferred to Kettering Ohio. (4495 Boulder Ridge Drive, Apt. #302, Beaver Creek, Ohio 45440) It's super nice here too and I love it! And my companion is fantastic! His name is Elder Klingonsmith and he is from Rexburg, Idaho. He just got done being trained so he has been out 3 months. So he is pretty new to the mission as well but that doesn't stop him from  being an awesome missionary! We get along pretty well, for the most part. Occasionally we will disagree on a couple things but we get things solved pretty quick. Coolest thing though! HE DOES BALLROOM!!! He was on a competition team! So sick! But yeah, he's pretty awesome.

So one of our investigators, who was on date, Colton, had some crazy experience/revelation type thingy. Haha! He is a super smart guy. Artist and a total hippy but had a desire to get baptized. Then he had some crazy experience where he pretty much "Saw a light spectrum" which he thought was God. He was "Rebirthed/Baptized by God" in his hot tub. He sat on the ground to meditate and "his bum was on fire and the ground was sucking him to the ground trying to make him part of the ground." He was on the ground convulsing and wanted to run outside and hug us while he was naked cuz he was made so pure....... He was either on some serious hallucinogenic drugs or was totally doing something and got possessed by an evil spirit. He was ranting about this experience he had all night for like 30 minutes. It was odd... And we don't think he will be an investigator long. So yeah. Hahahaha! That was a fun experience. Also we parked in someones driveway for a minute while we talked to the neighbor and we turned around and the neighbors were outside and a cop car was pulled up looking inside the "mysterious car." Hahaha! So we walked over and got everything all figured out. 

 

So I would send pictures, but I just found out this computer in my new area doesn't have a spot to put an SD card in, so I'll need to buy a chord to plug in or a converter.

 

It's a pretty decent sized area. Our ward is pretty big too. Well, compared to my last 2 areas. We have about 240 active members. 90% of them are either Doctors or in the Air Force or both. Like literally. Haha! There is an air force base super close. It's a super nice area as well. There are some massive houses! It's crazy! Anyways, love you all!

New comp Elder Klingonsmith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey everybody! So....... We got our information for transfers and well, I'm leaving.... and Elder Searle is training!!! Elder Searle was such an amazing companion. He will do so great! I am so excited for him. :) Not sure where I am going though, guess we will have to see, but I'm excited! I'm also super sad to leave though. We had a lot of miracles happening in Elwood. Especially this week. I was hoping to stay 1 more transfer. We currently have 6 people on date for baptism and soon to be more, which is AWESOME! The people we currently have on date are Jeff Marlow, Riley Fanning, Bo Hoffman, Angie, Dj, and Skylar Funderburk. And we were going to put the rest of the family on date in the next few lessons. It is good though and I know that Elder Searle will get them all there, and that God wants me somewhere else and has another purpose for me. So I can't wait to find what my purpose is and make it happen or learn what I need to learn and whatever it may be. I'm excited to go. But it also does mean I probably won't respond to most people today cuz I have to hurry emailing time because I've got a lot to do before I leave. But I'll try my best to get back to everybody next week for sure! Love you all! :D

Also! Thank you all very much for all the birthday wishes and packages! They were much appreciated. :D

This week was fun though! We were able to take like 20 minutes after doing some service and have some fun in one of our investigators little go carts in his back yard haha! It was a lot of fun. :) But we had some awesome stuff this week though, we got tons of members out with us, had 7 investigators at church, got 8 on date for baptism (2 dropped though) but the others were looking pretty good. Our investigator back in Milford though, Scott Van De Grift, the one with MS who his wife was baptized.. Yeah, he is baptized now!!!!! It's sooo cool! :D

This week was pretty cool! One of the highlights of the week was that we had zone conference which is an 8 hour training with usually 1 or 2 stakes (1-3 zones per stake). It's led by President and Sister Porter and sometimes Assistants to President or Stake Presidents and they are so spiritual! Sister Porter got a really powerful discussion going with our whole stake on the Sabbath and WOW, the Sabbath is so awesome!!! I really never thought of keeping the Sabbath as very important or very special. I really wish I had. People seriously, its fantastic! The point was brought up that if we live till we are like 80 we have the opportunity to take the sacrament like 2860 times or something similar to that. Which if you are really looking for how you can change in the next week to better prepare yourself for next Sacrament that is 2860 opportunities for the Lord to shape you and tell you what you need to change or work on. BOOM! That's pretty sick, huh? So seriously, think of how important the Sabbath is, what kind of message are you trying to send to your Heavenly Father when you do things?

 

Then something cool! When we have zone conferences they check all the cars and see who keeps them the cleanest and most up to date on fluids and tires etc... for maintenance and the top 3 usually get some kind of a reward. And our car (shared with another set) got 1st place this time! WOOT WOOT! Which means we get put into a raffle out of like 20 or 30 other missionaries for a brand new 2016 Toyota Corolla which would be sweet. :) We currently have a 2011 Corolla.

 

Then our Branch had an awesome Trunk or Treat. SO MANY of our investigators came, it was so sweet. Also one of our new investigators Angie Funderburk and her family came, but Angie does a youth group for kids who have had hard lives and lots of them came. Soo cool! And we get to go share a message with the whole youth group today at 5, cant wait! :D

 

Hope you all have a great week. Love you all!