New address:

1677 Eden Park Dr. #5
Hamilton, OH
45013

New companion:

Elder Glad

We dont have any transfer info yet. And we never know ahead of time where we are going really. All we know is if we are leaving and if its an assignment like zone leader or trainer.

This past week was wonderful! Kelsie is continuing to progress. She came to church this sunday for the 4th time now and again loved it! We had a great church experience this last time. There were 3 AMAZING talks about loving one another, forgiveness, and covenants we make as members when we join the church. Then we had a fun gospel principles class discussing the "fall" of Adam and Eve.

If you look on the Ohio Cincinnatti mission page their may be a few pictures posted with us in them. We had our social media split this past saturday and had a great time!

This past week Aaron Harberson was baptised by Elder Rickey and Confirmed by me. It was really such a great experience seeing a young man choose to join the church. He also expressed how he is wanting to serve a mission if he can which he will do such a great job. Confirming was quite a nerve wracking experience haha, knowing that everybody is watching you but was comforted by knowing that if you just listen to the holy ghost everything will work out perfectly as always.

Last night was a cool experience, we got to go see Sister Pettit who is a sweet older lady we are going to the temple with on the 13th of August which I am physced for. Always an amazing experience at the temple. Anyways, she hurt her back and has been having sharp pains for the past 3 days I think she said and asked for a blessing. As we gave her the blessing it was a neat blessing. After the blessing she looked at us and said "wow, what a blessing! I could feel it working through my body the whole time and feel so much better" with a tear in her eyes. Then said "now how about a missionary side hug?" haha! The priesthood is so unreal and I am so privileged an honored to be able to hold it and to be able to perform miracles in the Lords name. I do not know what I would do without the Gospel in my life.

This was a great week and I am excited to see what next week brings. We are both being transferred but don't know where yet. :)

This week was a good week. We had interviews with President Welch. I swear that man has the eye contact of a God or something. It's like he looks right into your soul and knows every thought and feeling you have. It's kind of awesome! :D He is very short and concise with what he says. He thinks about what he is going to say and does it with power. It's real neat. :) I am excited to keep working under him. And Sister Welch is such a sweetheart! I love her. :P She also was a state gymnast in college. How about that? Pretty awesome!

We went on exchanges last week and had a good time and fun experiences. I went down to Auburn with Elder Keetch. He is great! Kelsie is not getting baptised on the 30th anymore. She does not yet feel ready to make that commitment but still wants to push for it. She is still making good progress, but wants to be more consistant with things and change her lifestyle more so she doesn't fall into old ways. But Aaron is getting baptised this Saturday so that is exciting. President and Sister Welch will be attending as well!

Brad Barnes is still doing great. I am super proud of him. He is really setting his priorities right (serve the Lord aka, teach with missionaries, then go take a nap) haha. He is coming along well. 

Mark has been struggling a lot, but is starting to get back up. His wife is super super anti. It is insane! And he got fired this last week but he is still pushing along.

The mission has been amazing. I love every moment of it. Even the hard times. It is all so very rewarding to be able to see not only the change in others lives but my life as well. I have matured a lot not only as a person but spiritually and mentally as a son of God. I understand much more about and love the Gospel. I am always searching to know more. I have gained a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Restored Gospel and how it blesses us in every aspect of life. I also know that the Doctrine of Christ is real. That as we learn new doctrines, principles, actions and apply it into our lives, as we constantly seek for change and guidance that we as a person change. Our Character becomes more like the Character that God needs us to be in order to be with him again and most importantly, to allow him to use us in his work. I testify that Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world, that he is the only means of Salvation and Exaltation, and that he loves and cares for each and every person. I love this Gospel.

It sounds like things are going well at home. That's always good to hear.

Things are going great out here! No I didn't get invited to Leadership council. It's usually only Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders that go, occasionally someone else is invited but not often, and it's a new mission president so that could be totally different too. We are working with a lot of people that are making changes and are really growing their testimonies though. It's quite neat! Kelsie is still doing great. She is coming to a members home this evening for a bonfire/family home evening, and the members are inviting their non-member friends so that will be awesome! The members are Maureen and Jerry Ball. They rock! So much fun :) Elder Rickey and I are still doing great together. We work well together and have pretty good communication in a loving way. Probably the best in any companionship yet. It's wonderful. :) Oh, Elder Rickey and I also sang in Sacrament this week and it went pretty well. They seemed to enjoy it. :) We sang hymn 197 to the tune of If You Could High to Kolob. And then I gave a talk on loving and treating one another as Christ would.

I apologize. Our pday was moved till today by the way. ;) SURPRISE! ;)  Did Justin do anything funny while he was drugged up? Did it hurt him very much or was he pretty okay like me?  That is real cool that he is a priest now and that he got to stand in a circle! That is real neat. :) What does he think so far? Is he nervous to bless the bread and water?

I am super happy that Jamie had a great time at Oakcrest and especially that her testimony grew! My temple recommend and Testimony are two things I hold very sacred and special to me. Nothing can replace them.

I'm glad the letter made it to Jamie. I thought the skunk foot would be kind of funny haha! I almost cut off a possum tail to send it but those are disgusting!!! They are all over the place here.  We have rabbits, racoons, possums, and squirrels everywhere here. They are just like birds almost. :D  I'm glad the Family home evening went well. That is super fun. They are so great!

Everything is going super well. The area is doing awesome! The Branch struggles with some things but we are working on it. I am giving a talk on Sunday and hopefully their hearts with change and they will repent and become more Christ like! That's the goal. :) And Kelsie is doing AMAZING! She is so elect. She decided she is not going to finish her sleeve tattoo! :D And she is working towards getting married this month.  Then we are also working with Aaron who is going to be baptised on the 23rd of July, so pretty soon! He is awesome as well. :)

Let's see...what else? We got our new mission president, President Welch! He is amazing! I love that man already and am so thrilled I have the opportunity to serve with and learn from him for a whole year. He and his wife are so loving and have such powerful testimonies. We have interviews next week so that will be real good. I think that's it for the week?

This week was great! We received a lot of opposition the first half of the week but Saturday and Sunday were great! :D Having our mini missionary was a blast. He was so much fun to have around and was hilarious! But the coolest thing was to see how much his testimony grew by the end of the experience! The gospel really changes people and it's exciting to see.

Anyways, hope you have a great week, love you! :D