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26 March 2019

Thank you

20 March 2019

Sister Jones,

Thank you for your very thoughtful email. I so appreciate it. Elder Jones is a remarkable missionary and really has done everything that has been asked of him (which is a lot) with optimism and faith. I could not be more proud of any missionary for how they have served. There has been no missionary that has trained more missionaries in this mission then your son. That to me is the biggest reflection of what kind of disciple of Jesus Christ he is. We are excited that you will get to see him soon and to feel the powerful spirit he carries with him.  We love him and know he has a very bright future. Thanks again for taking the time to share such kind words and for raising such a wonderful young man and sending him on a mission.

With much thanks,

President Evans

18 March 2019

See you soon!

Wanderers in a strange land

We had exchanges with the Pittsford/Fairport Elders this week. I got to go with Elder Lawton in their area. We video-chatted a recent convert and her daughter. They are going to fly out to watch general conference.

Elder Griffiths and I after our exchange went out to find in the city. The first person we talked to was a man that was pretty distraught. We helped him find where he was going and got his information. He is struggling with depression  and is looking for something to hold onto. We called him that night and he read the pamphlet we gave him and left it at the office he was going to so other people could read it. We were able to stop by on Friday and visit with him and give him a book of Mormon. He then came to church. He shared a thought in Elders quorum that was so sharp. He already has baptism in mind and, thanks to fast and testimony meeting, he already knows most of the word of wisdom. Looking forward to teaching him.

Elder Blosch got back to be with us on Wednesday night, which was his birthday. We bought little Caesars, root beer, and ice cream for his birthday.

The busiest week of my mission

Starting with the zone conference on Tuesday we finalized our training and enjoyed the conference. The Wednesday conference was all the way in buffalo so we had to wake up early to drive there and a snow storm hit on the way and it didn't let up until the next day. On Thursday the conference was awesome as well. It was good to see Elder Clinger and Elder Blackham the two missionaries that i trained in the mission. Friday we had a mission leadership council so we had to do a training for that as well and then we had an exchange with Niagara Falls.

I was over in the falls with Elder Brown whom I haven't served around at all. We gave an awesome church tour to a girl they are teaching. She is from Poland. When we got back from exchanges Elder Blosch one of my companions was gone. Apparently President had him go fill in for an Elder who had to get his appendix removed. 

Then the next day it was stake conference which was fire. We had a French speaker from Africa that we are teaching come to conference. A recent convert from our ward spoke on conversion as well as a missionary that just returned from France two weeks ago in our ward. Our mission President got to bear his testimony. It was a great conference.

Elder Blosch should be back by Thursday and we will have another exchange this week with the Pittsford/Fairport elders.

That's it for me.

Godspeed

And great was the fall thereof

So much change has come about since I got on my mission. Finally at the end they have pulled back some of the restrictions for missionaries and we can now have a lot more communication with family back home which is a great change. I think it will help missionaries not feel as distant. 

This week has been pretty crazy. We had to pick up the new elders which their flight was cancelled on Tuesday so they flew in on Wednesday and we got to give them some inspiration at the mission home. We then had dinner with them and President Evans and got back to work. 

The work is super busy here. The Lord definitely has trust in this area. We have a lot of people placed in our path that are looking for more. My companions are sooo awesome. Elder Blosch and Elder Griffiths are great missionaries and I'm learning a ton from them. Elder Griffiths has a lot of passion for the work and Elder Blosch has incredible faith. It will be a good transfer.

Dinner!