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.