Homeless and you gave me room

This week was incredibly busy. The mission forgot we were a walking area apparently and they got rid of the sisters in the buffalo ward and gave us their area and moved us to their apartment... but they thought we were going to move ourselves. And second of all the sisters took the keys to the apartment all the way to Rochester so we had to wait until those got back. They cut the lease with Bishop like I think I said earlier and I'm really glad that it was with our bishop because we technically didn't have a place to live for three days. Bishop let us stay of course. It was really warm though so if we did need to sleep outside we probably would have lived. It was so warm all the snow melted and it was like 40 degrees.

Since we now have two areas merged we had appointments all day everyday so we got stuck moving our apartment one night. We were cleaning our old apartment until 11 and then we were moving into the sisters old apartment until 12:15. We then had zone conference the next day.

We were able to have a return lesson with a woman named Jonita that is now not in our area because Elder Bouck was gone to pick up his new companion. She had started reading the book of Mormon and didn't understand it so we read it with her. We asked her about a date for baptism and I brought up two dates. January 21st and Jan 28th. She paused and asked how I came up with those two dates. Her son had apparently told her that it would be awesome if she got baptized on his birthday, which was the 28th. Her uncle's birthday was also on the 21st. She asked if she could pray about it and we said that would be an awesome option. 

We had dinner today with the derosiers and that's about it. I hope everyone had a wonderful uplifting Christmas. Always look for the little things you can do. Exaltation is just a bunch of little right choices built up for an eternity.

My new address is 48 Raintree Island Apt #8 Tonawanda, NY 14150

Serenity in Saliency

Greetings

It's the end of the transfer here in the New York Rochester Mission. Elder Harvey and I are staying together but a lot of things are changing here in buffalo. The sisters are leaving Kenmore and we are moving into their apartment. Our area is going to be huge now and we still use public transport but we have a car to get to the metro station. We still have no idea when we are moving or what is going on but it's going to be good. 

I am always pretty tired after we get home from the day but this week was something else. We found ourselves in one of the worst parts of our areas at 9 at night in 15 degree quiet snowfall one night about two hours away from home...

Another night there was a huge lightning blizzard that went over all of Buffalo and we happened to be walking around at the bottom of our area that evening. So we were in the rim of where the snow hits the hardest because of the lake. 

We had exchanges this weekend too and I got to go with Elder Hershey for one last time. He is going down to cattaraugus branch now.

The woman, Angel, was able to come to church finally. We walked with her to church from the train and I sat with her in sacrament. After church she literally asked us to baptize her so she is on date for baptism in January now. :(

Anaklet also finally made it to church on time. My companion taught him on exchanges and he is still so stalwart with his questions.

The Cotto family is still sick.

This area is completely different then when I first got put in here. The area book was pretty trashed when Elder Vizcaino and I first started. This is big area for walking, and it has more people in it then my two past areas combined. As we have worked and striven to be obedient to all The commands given to us from The Spirit of God we have been led to the people that God wanted to teach. The best way to forget yourself is to never remember yourself in the first place.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Our Christmas tree is still in the box because no way I'm doing extra work.

Snow - the lubricant for schedules

The world has shifted enough for winter to begin here in buffalo. Along with the snow has come a change in planning. Our plans for each day are much for flexible because we never know when things will change. Traffic becomes slightly more erratic. So the people we schedule more frequently fall through. Several times people have said they aren't interested but they will let us in their home to get warm.

We were fed this Sunday by someone we met when we knocked on their door. Her name was Charlotte and her husband's name is Phillip. They have three kids and they were a really normal family which is weird here in new York. She had some questions about our faith and what we do as missionaries and then she invited us over for dinner that Sunday. They weren't interested in a message but we went. They are going on a trip out west this summer so they wanted to know any places they should visit in Utah. They were already planning on visiting zions, the grand canyon, Bryce, and Moab. I wish we could have shared the gospel with them then but it didn't feel right just then. I know they'll find their way.

The boy Anaklet came to a ward Christmas party last second. We showed up at his house for a lesson but invited him to the party instead. He came without questions. We later found out he thought he was going to have to stay over night for church and he was completely ready to do so with a little apprehension. It made me chuckle. He is so trusting it surprises me every time. He came to church the next day late again and without a coat even though he had to take the train. He walked a mile in 30 degree weather to get to church with only a jacket... 

The Cotto family is struggling with sickness right now so we haven't met with them. Gabriella will have to wait for baptism a little bit longer.

The quiet Glow

The relationship of light and dark and the symbolism of it has always intrigued me. 

Light represents many things. Knowledge, truth, joy, spirit, good, among other things. 

Dark however represents an absence of things. Take the "baseness" of the lamanites for example. Baseness is the lacking of higher morals or values. They were known as a dark and loathsome people. They didn't possess something dark, or they didn't have something negative. They just lacked something that we call light. Dark can represent evil, or bad, but it's simply a lack of something. It's kind of like binary with 1's and 0's.

There would be no change in our lives without the dance of light and dark. 

What would the starlight be without the dark of the night sky.

In this sense dark is not always bad. There is only the growth or loss of light. So the only evil is the loss of light or the retrocession of our light.

The only difference between good and evil is the presence of an anchor or a foundation. Hope. Without it light will decrease. It's only a small change from no hope, to know hope.

In comparison to God we are but a glow. If you feel you don't have the strength to increase your light, hold on to your glow. Remember even the smallest stars can lead a sailor home.

Just a short poem I wrote in the MTC.

The Glow

Sometimes we're in the spotlight
Or maybe in the dark
But no matter what we're placed in
We should always be the spark

Don't worry about the cracks
in your glass or in your wall
Just show them your foundation
And what makes you stand tall

He knows that you can do it
I know He loves you so
No matter where he puts you
Never hide your glow

That's about as much light the world as you're getting from me.

Anaklet, the kid from Tanzania came to church. He didn't come on the train so we thought he wasn't going to come so we walked to church and during sacrament meeting he walked in. He set his alarm for pm haha. It would be pretty easy just to stay home since he was already late but he showed up anyways. He just turned 18 a week or two ago. He wanted to go up and share his testimony by the end of the meeting. The downtown Elders gave him the Christmas tree we brought to church for them.

We had a lesson with a woman named Angel and the sisters in Clarence. She has two kids and is in her 30's so she is going to start going to our church instead of meeting with the Buff YSA. She is super prepared but she got sick from some Thai food on Saturday night. We are actually going to give her a blessing today.

How do I show my enemies I love them

It's now okay to talk about Christmas. The day after thanksgiving my companion and I went out and handed out Christmas cards all day haha. East buffalo is going well. 

We are teaching in a few families homes which is a nice change of pace from teaching one person at a time.

We met a woman named Marquita and her son Keith one day and they let us right into their home to share our message. They were a little under the weather for a while but we stopped by a few days ago and just as before they let us right in and she gathered all of her children around like we have been coming over for months. We met all her sons starting with Keith (14) Kejuan (10) Kayshawn (8), and her daughter Annyla (5) (sounds like annihila in annihilation) we taught them the Gospel and they said they would all be baptized if they come to know the restoration was true. We are meeting with them again this Friday.

Anaklet the Tanzanian boy met with us again. He has very broken English but teaching him is so fun. He asks the deepest questions and he literally said he wants to become just like us and be a missionary haha. He is 17. He really wanted to know how he can love his enemies and show them that he loves them. I can't wait to see how he learns and progresses.

I hope everyone finds more warmth in their lives this winter season.

The arborary world

The world is what we grow it to be. We have all been born into the vineyard where ever we started. Maybe you feel like the tree that you are watching over has had all the branches cut off and new ones grafted on. No matter what shape the tree is in right now, or how many times we are told to move to a different part of the garden and watch another tree, we always have a choice to help or to hurt the tree. 

Sometimes in our lives we see people going around swinging axes without a thought into other people's trees and maybe even their own tree. But as we tend to the branches that we have been given we can always bring about good fruit.

Sometimes we are the trees and sometimes we are the servants. Have faith in the Lord of the garden. He is not lead by ways that will lead to nothing.

We met a family from Tanzania that let us right in. We taught the 17 year old son named Anaklet and his older brother Ragabo. They don't speak much English but luckily we had some spare Swahili pamphlets that we gave them on Wednesday when we went back Anaklet is sooo cool. People from Africa are always super happy and smiley. Hopefully he is able to come to church this Sunday. We ordered several more books of Mormon in Swahili for him and his family but for now he got the app and is reading it. He read the first line of 1 Nefi 1 and told us he likes the book already :-O

I shared a poem in a talk in church so I figured I would share it with all you

GROWTH BEFORE CONSTRUCTION

What would a seed mean to you

If you had never seen a tree
What if you knew
That a small little rock
Could sprout into so much green

Many people carry bricks of sin
Looking to build a house
But home is something
that you find within
Not something you drag about

Along my way
I've picked up bricks
And carried them on my back
Thinking that I
would build a house
And thus gain what I have lacked

I did not know
I had the answer
It was just hidden within
A home doesn't come
From all the weight
Of doubt, of sorrow and sin

I've learned that home takes time
To not only plant but grow
We have to care
And nurture our seeds
Before you can reap you must sow

Then you can build your own cabin
With the bonds your seeds have made
And lay down the logs
Of the faith you have grown
On the foundation that your bricks have made

I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving

The Bluffs of Buffalo

I got my new companion Elder Harvey. We are having a good time in east buffalo. He is a pretty quiet guy. I am trying to sift the wheat of our area book. We have had to drop quite a few people, but we have found several really sincere people. Our new district leader is Elder Hershey. 4 out of the 6 missionaries of our district came out together. Sister Anderson and I. 

We were knocking doors in one of the nicer areas in our area and we had a guy come out and say he wanted us back next week on Thursday and gave us a time. He said his wife just recently died. His name is Zell. We will see how that goes.

On Friday the high was 27 degrees or something... We walked around a lot and got anti-ed twice by Muslim guys. In the evening we went back to the apartment to get coats because my skin was turning purple haha. We went walking to the edge of our area to find a potential. While we were walking there I knocked on a door with the intention of asking them where a address was. Before I could say anything a woman answered and said it was cold out and told us to come in. She offered us hot chocolate and we shared the message of the restoration. The spirit was really strong and we described how we can know this is true. She said that she has never just invited anyone into her home but we had a "warmth about us". Maybe that's why I haven't died from the cold yet. Lol

Her name is Lari (pronounced laurie). She works at the school and coaches track so she is pretty busy but she said we could come back. The potential that we went to go see didn't exist. I know that we were sent over there to find Lari.

I gave a talk in sacrament on visions and revelations and compared it to rock climbing. Prophets are the lead climbers and visions are the anchors that God has given us to use as we climb. 

I hope everyone is well and let me know if I can do anything for you.

 Here is a stupid picture of us about to go biking in the dark freezing night. [He forgot to attach a picture]

Alterations

Transfers are tomorrow morning. Elder Vizcaino is going home to Chihuahua and I will be with Elder Harvey in east buffalo. It's been a good transfer. We haven't been finding any new people for the past few weeks but we are looking. 

The downtown Elders sent us all their Spanish speaking people so we went and talked to all of them and taught one of them. Since I am not getting a Spanish speaker we will have to send them back to downtown because they are in their area. 

We got fed every night this whole week because Elder V was leaving so we got to know a few families a little better. We met with the Cotto family Sunday night and set a date that their daughter Gabriella can be baptized. We will have to teach her all the lessons before December 16th. They have 4 little girls and a son. They are always fighting for my attention the second we walk in the door. Last night I was stuck coloring in coloring books and getting stickers all over my shirt while Elder V talked with brother and sister Cotto... It's going to be a good experience helping them come to know their God more.

I'm pretty terrible at emailing in a way that I can actually help any of you guys get a glimpse into how my days go, or what my thoughts about it all are. To be concise, I hope for a better world. I see so much sadness and hurt all around all the time and nothing's going to change unless we change. That is what I'm here to teach and I will never hesitate to ask someone to change. I love everyone and I hope we all have the meekness to follow where the Spirit takes us.

Life's swinging hard but I'm swinging harder

Happy Halloween 

So our p day got moved off of Monday and onto Halloween. And our hours to work were moved from 6-9 to earlier in the day so we can stay in our apartment for the evening. 

This fall is so disappointing because the trees turned so slow that there are trees that are barren and trees that are still green and all the in between. But now Its dropping in temperature.. real quick. I believe it snowed in buffalo today.(I was in Rochester because my companion was at the temple)

This week we went with the downtown Elders for a day. I was with Elder Samhammer who is from cedar city/Enoch area of Utah. I was with him for a day during the beginning of my mission in the GVB which is the YSA for Rochester and Palmyra. The first thing we did all day was knock a few door before a appointment and the first door we knocked on was a man that came out and sat with us and we spoke for a hour. After getting to know him a little it was quite clear he was ready for the message of the restoration. He was a talker but he seemed to get a lot out of it but in the end he didn't really understand the importance of what we shared. He is open to them coming over again though. His name was Al.

We visited several people in the hospital this week. (Our area has three or four hospitals) we gave a blessing to a man from the Lockport ward named Mike. We also visited a recent convert from a different ward in our stake in a mental health ward. While we were waiting to see her some crazy lady was talking to us until she found out we were Mormon. She proceeded to yell at us to go away and yell at people not to talk to us. The reasoning that insane people give for the things they think is really interesting to hear. 

We were then told that the recent convert didn't want to see us. We later found out from her missionaries that she says no one told her people tried to visit...

We also tried to find a less active in the veteran hospital but he wasn't there anymore. We met a nice Jehovah's witness while we were there though.

We are meeting with a less active named Edwardo who only speaks Spanish. His girlfriend Marianella speaks English and Spanish though. She believes that the church is true and we are trying to help her progress towards baptism. (Lets hope I get a Spanish speaking companion) we met with them twice this week. Edward fed us Cuban food on Saturday which was amazing. He is a really chill guy. Elder Vizcaino helped him translate for his lawyer earlier In the transfer.

They both came to the Halloween party that the ward had on Friday evening.

That same Friday evening, before the ward activity, we got invited to a spaghetti dinner thing at some Catholic church by a former investigator that we had never met. But we were planning on trying to contact her this week so it was cool. It was really weird and no one talked to us except a man named Tommy. The lady who invited us, Dorothy, was In the kitchen the whole time. We were then late to the ward party.

This Saturday we got up and did service at 6:30am for a member in his backyard. We dug some holes for ivy plants and then cleared some grass and that was it. It was great weather.

We went to ward correlation at the ward mission leaders new home. The Krebs are our ward mission leaders and they remind me a lot of my cousin Josh and his wife.

When we left their house it was raining. It proceeded to rain all day. All our appointments fell through and so we had a good time in the 50 degree rain. We got screamed at by some homeless guys after I was going to buy them some food but the owners wouldn't let me because the two guys have been doing this for weeks and harassing their customers and things. I tried to talk to the guys but the younger one started screaming profanity at me so I just walked away and he followed me and yelled at me for a few minutes while I waited for a bus. I could tell they were faking it from the start but I wanted to see how far they would take it.

Other then that I found a used 9mm pistol shell on the side of the road on Baylie ave.

The Bishops wife made me a cake which was really nice of her.

This Monday it was about 40 degrees all day and incredibly windy. We helped a elderly lady clean up her house and after we got out of her house it was pouring and still super windy. We walked for about 25 minutes to Wendy's where we took our dinner hour we were soaked all the way through after a few minutes. We waited for a bus for half an hour to take us up to the sisters area so we could steal their car for Elder Vizcaino's temple trip today.

That was my week.

a snapshot of Elder Samhammer and Vizcaino during our ward correlation

a random Wendy's picture because he was saying we don't have any pictures

Edwardo and Marianella

my cake

The slow fall

I'm still doing fine here in Buffalo. It's still short sleeve weather here. I wish I could go running in the cold dry Utah fall. Elder Vizcaino and I had several families that all said they were coming to church and were solid about it but none of them showed up... The downtown Elders baptism fell through as well.

This week was pretty much walking through the trash neighborhoods in the daek talking with drunk people and getting second hand high. We found a few people but most of them already fell through.

The Liggans were a family we found. Lisa, the mother, was one of our potentials. She was a bible referral from a while ago but she was in the "contacted" section so we figured she already got it. We stopped in and the daughter let us right in which was interesting. We were standing in the door frame and we hear, "who is it?"and the daughter replied, "I don't know". So they yelled for us to walk all the way in haha. They had no idea who we were so we explained and they told us they never got the bible so we quickly corrected that. They are Pentecostal so they are very upbeat and happy. We taught them the restoration and gave them books of Mormon. 

Clarence, the husband, has a Mormon tabernacle choir tape that he loves. He said he wanted to come to church so we gave him the info. (He didn't come).

While all that was going on their older daughter started cooking oil on the stovetop and left the house... like drove off. Halfway through our lesson their kitchen was on fire and there was smoke drifting all over the ceiling. We caught the grease fire and stopped it. 

I talked to someone who likes music besides just rap for the first time in New York and we talked for a while and I've actually seen his favorite band live which was cool.

That was my week.

Hollow words

Sorry I haven't been talking much. I don't like hollow words so I don't say anything more then what I feel. I hope everyone has been well. Buffalo is a great place. My companion is from Chihuahua mexico from a Mormon colony down there. Him and I are having a good time here in Buffalo.

So this week we had a seventy come to our mission and speak to us. It was Elder Bennett. He talked for 4 hours straight without stopping. It was a super awesome time and he was basically calling us all to repent and become better. Most everyone in this mission is pretty obedient so it's not like we were being called out but they see so much potential in this mission.

Elder Bennett knows every single mission President that is serving right now and he said that he would want his grandchildren serving in this mission because President Evans. Elder Uchtdorf said the same thing about his grandson that is going on a mission soon. I agree with them. President Evans is extraordinary person. He is pretty young for a mission President.

The day before Elder Bennett spoke to us Elder Hershey and I were on splits in my area in east buffalo. We had a pretty good day. We stopped for dinner and a member from Utah came and talked to us. His name is Shawn Owens and he served in Chile when they had that huge earthquake. He is working as a sales man up here and he gave us a list of 20 people to go contact. So this Friday Elder Vizcaìno and i went contacting several of them. We taught one and got return appointments with a couple others. We found a few other people as well. We got a call from a member down in Springville asking us if we could go help him serve his friend who is one of our investigators. We were planning on contacting him this week so of course we were down to go. 

We got picked up early Saturday morning to go roof Jared Branigans house. We ended up roofing from 9am to 9:30pm. Talking with the other Elders we found out we aren't supposed to be on people's roofs.... or using nail guns... oops. We finished scrapping off the old roof, laying down some water and ice lining up the whole roof, and shingling it all. Jared asked me if we had met before because I seemed "familiar". He seemed familiar to me too but I always find people familiar so I didn't think anything about it. He is a really awesome guy. He wants to learn more and he wants his family to learn more too but he was disappointed with the other missionaries which is sad. We are going to start teaching him now.

We are having a follow up zone conference on the meeting with Elder Bennett this week. Things are moving in the Rochester mission.

our first day in buffalo a few weeks ago

My Address is 709 Longmeadow Rd Buffalo New York 14226

riding to Palmyra to be chastised

some guy who anti-ed us in the ghetto so we took a picture with him lol

Elder Bennett's meeting

Quiescence

Sorry I don't really feel like writing about my life much. I'm in east buffalo now. The ward is pretty awesome. My area is in the ghetto of buffalo. We don't have a car here so we ride the buses and trains. Elder Vizcaino and I are both new to the area so we are just learning the area. This is Elder V's last transfer. We went to Niagara falls last p day and I have a few pictures but that's about it.

I hope everyone has a good week 

Severance

I'm being transferred tomorrow up to east buffalo. The cattaraugus branch has been a really great place to be with a lot of potential. Almost all of the people we are working with right now are people that I have found. I'm going to miss Becky who is working on getting her divorce papers through so she can be baptized.

This week was busy. We were all over the place meeting with a number of people. The branch canceled splits and Ryan, the branch mission leader, had basketball night. We had 20 people there who weren't members. Ryan and I were on a team and we dominated most of it. My companion and I were the smallest ones there because it was all big natives that came. We had fun. 

I found myself out in a orchard in the pitch black next to a graveyard picking apples in the fog this week. I was with a member and my companion was back in the church. The member took a light from one of the grave stones and used that to pick apples. Once in a lifetime experience I'm sure.

We helped a couple move in and we were the only ones that showed up. I ended up having to haul in half the furniture because people like taking breaks for some reason. Their names are the Dupins. They are a funny couple.

This Sunday the Campbell's fed us "dinner" at 2. They had spaghetti for us and I've never used a napkin tucked into my shirt and I'm not about to start. They thought I would for sure get stuff on my white shirt ha. Fortunately I did not inherit that trait from my father.

My new companion will be Elder Vizcaìno who is from Mexico. He is a sick guy so it's going to be good.

my tablets background haha

finding out in the country

Maria's pizza which is the best pizza in the south town's of buffalo

philo (becky's)

the district

The garden of Eden

The world is getting dark. 

This weekend we had a branch picnic and service activity. We cleaned up the graveyard at our church building, And picked apples in the churches orchard. We only picked 5 trees and we filled up a pick up truck. We weren't planning on staying long because we wanted to go find people to teach but we got volunteered to help take the apples to a walk in fridge that someone has and then take a grill to someone's house and various other tools. Mike Sternisha was the guy we were helping and he is one of my favorites. Elder McCune and I went golfing with him once. 

This Sunday Nick Harris came to church. We didn't even know he was back in town. He said he really liked it and was wondering when is the soonest we are going to visit him. I hope he starts reading the book of Mormon. 

We also helped Mary Mazer move stuff down from her upstairs to outside. She is a super sweet old lady. She is always joking. Not to long ago she was full of energy but she has been fighting cancer for a while and it's just recently starting to get to her.

We had interviews with President in our apartment this week. Even though we are the farthest from the mission home. President Evans is probably one of the best mission presidents. He is pretty young and him and I always have good conversations. 

We went up to Eden for my third time since I've been here. It was crazy. People were nice, doorbells worked, and porches were clean. A southern Baptist even accepted a book of Mormon. We found a girl named Luna that seemed really interested.

We met with Caily Armburster twice this week. She is in fifth grade now. Her and her mother, Brittany, were just recently baptized. Their house is always chaos. Brittany is planning on moving down to Tennessee which I'm so excited for her. She needs to get a job for a while so she can move down there. She already has a job offer lined up once she gets down there and it's the best job that she will have had. Her son Shane is 4 but he looks like he is 2 because his kidneys are destroyed. He is always a blast to be around.

I still don't ever take pictures.... sorry

That's becky's dog Filo. He comes to church every week haha

His heart is like 4 or 5 times to big so he chokes if he runs because his heart cuts off his air it is so big.

Oops I will attach the picture next week's p day sorry

Calming chaos

I have been fine. It's been raining a lot. We had a storm Monday night that wrecked a bunch of powerlines so we didn't have power for the day. We helped someone move into their house tuesday because we saw a moving truck out front. Thus started the week of service.

That Tuesday we went and delivered some cookies to a recent convert who wasn't able to make it to church because she didn't have the address. I felt bad so i made her cookies. She moved here from Detroit after getting baptized. She has had a really rough life and she has had a huge change of heart and a complete change of nature. She came here to help her sister who is having some health issues. Nick Harris is Anna's nephew. She wants to leave them again. It is a terrible environment to be in if you were once addicted to all sorts of things. She thought she could help her sister but she is just dragging Anna down. So we are visiting her tonight and seeing how we can help.

We had a lot of little things that we did for people this week. On Wednesday we went all the way out to the edge of our area out in the edge of forevermore. We walked a lot and we ended up finding some guy who needed help with some things since he just crushed a vertebra in his back. We planned to come back on Saturday. When we went back we ended up teaching him two of the lessons and then painting in his basement garage for his fourwheelers. He built his cabin/house himself when he was 20 and he has been adding to it and modifying it since then. He is now almost 50. His name is Randy.

It's a quiet area and we do a lot of walking so my shoes are pretty much shot but I'm glad I'm here. The trees are starting to change colors and there are some pink/peach colored trees which are pretty. I hope everyone is enjoying nature for the calm and the chaos.

A demon we found in our apartment on Monday night. It was like a centiped and a cricket.

Country down south by Cattaraugus Village

the mansion that the elders used to live in

The walking life

I'm still doing fine. My heart is beating and my lungs are pumping and my brain is computing and storing information. I'm ready to actually be living with a bed and a closet and more then one room to live in. 

They are done painting in our apartment so that's a start. We still don't know when we will be moving so we are just living out of our suitcases. We don't spend much time in our apartment though so it's alright. We have been doing many hours of walking and finding people. 

We got a referral out in forestville this week so we went out to the middle of nowhere of our area which is the middle of nowhere. It was a really good time. The guys name is Vincent and he asked for a book of Mormon. When we got there he wasn't expecting us but he seemed really thankful. He said to come back tomorrow and that he is trying to change some things in his life. He got sick and so we haven't been able to see him because he has the flu but hopefully this week.

I baked cookies today for a few people and they turned out pretty good. We will probably end up bringing them around to a few people. I wish I could bake more but we are always busy. I end up cooking a lot since not very many people feed us here. We got fed "dinner" yesterday at 2:30 by this old couple. The Campbells are so awesome. Monty Campbell is from Kentucky and his wife Corline is from here. She is native but not from the Seneca tribe. They feed you a lot of food. I have stretched my stomach quite a bit but my companion couldn't even finish his food and they kept trying to get him to eat more. 

I hope everyone is doing well 

Let me know if I can do anything for any of you

\,,/

Country finding is pretty dope

Gotta love the oven mitts that mission apartments have

In response to my picture and email that we were out taking a Sunday walk:

Hey I always go on Sunday walks... for miles and miles.... and I knock doors on the way.

Predator and pray

I am still being hunted by the demons in our apartment I know it. I haven't seen any but I found a few eggs which is ridiculous because they are so tiny. Our landlord is having our apartment treated again and he is also having it all repainted for when we get moved to a new place so elder Kervin and I are living out of our suitcases but that's not new to me seeing as I haven't really slept in the same spot for over a month. 

Gowanda is doing fine. They got rid of our Nissan frontier and they got us a Nissan rouge. So we don't have a truck anymore. The rouge drives better though.

We are doing a lot of walking around out here in the country. Elder Kervin and I found this abandoned car accident off in the forest on this dead end road.

When you stare at a ceiling fan long enough it looks like it starts going backwards.... that's life right now.

Burying weapons of war

My new companion is from Florida. His name is Elder Kervin. We have been doing a lot of finding. My whole mission is praying at  7am every morning for our mission goals we set for finding people. The buffalo stake is also praying with us at 7am for missionary opportunities. It's super cool to see how things are changing. We have had a few very odd experiences. One time someone even called us and left a message on our phone asking to learn more about the church.... that never happens. I called back and he was so genuinely thankful that I called back. Hopefully we meet him.

The guitar from last time was from a investigator named Darrell. I can't remember if I told you about him. He is a older guy who comes to church every week late. He is a rough guy. He has had a very riotous life. Anyways we went back to give him back the guitar that he made McCune borrow and we got talking as always. He is a really awesome dude and has had a huge change of heart. He always sits in a recliner because his legs are messed up from a 46 foot fall he took while working construction. By his recliner he has all sorts of weapons one of which is a large spikeball mace. The spikes on it are about 4 inches. He told us about a time when his son got that stuck in some guys head. The man lived. In fact it didn't even have any lasting effects but still... He has a bunch of flails and blades. He used to like fighting all the time. He would go out with a buddy of his and go to bars and fight anyone. They would ride motorcycles so they never really got caught except one time when they got into a fight with about 100 guys hahahaha he said he got out of all 100 assault charges by telling the judge, "two guys can't jump 100 guys. It was self defense." This guy is a legend. But anyways he has changed now. He was talking about getting rid of all his weapons because he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore. He is essentially joining the people of Ammon. 

I hope everyone is well

I did take a picture of a abandoned house we found up in the woods with a chopping block on the patio thing. But that's it.