The Work Continues!

Hello!!

 

So this week has been pretty great.  We had to drop a lot of people who were investigators but we are working hard to pick up formers and also have received a few nice referrals!  The ward has been feeding us almost everyday, which is unheard of in this area usually, and we are becoming great friends with all of them!  Even the old people who are like 30+ and are suppose to be in family wards ;) ha-ha.  So the ward is doing well for the most part, they just need to give us their friends to teach.  One member who is just here for the summer has brought Breelaun, a new investigator, to church twice and will this week as well.  We have taught him two lessons and he is the BEST!  We go into DC to teach him at his gym which he is tied down with because he just opened it up!  The guy is great though.  He is a trainer and he is doing this cycle workout that is low impact and I love it.  He invited us to go for free since we are his new friends and we got to do a workout early this morning while the Washington Post came by and did a photo shoot and while one of the writers for the Post did the workout with us.  It was cool.  I got interviewed too!  I am pretty sure we are not really suppose to as missionaries but I didn't see any harm.  Plus I had to talk up Breelaun!  So look for me in the Washington Post Newspaper soon :) 

 

Anyway, so the work is going well.  Tough, because of the 18-30 singles age limit, but good.  We are having another great transfer and expect miracles to come our way.  Elder Kuddes and I have even been doing a lot of biking around and near campus just talking to people and trying to meet singles.  Ha-ha, that sounds kinda funny from a missionary point of view.  But its what we have to do!  Oh, and funny story: Elder Kuddes and I were in a full day rain shower on our bikes just getting soaked trying to go find former investigators and as we were riding a truck hit this big puddle of water and it was seriously a 5-6ft wave of water that engulfed Elder Kuddes!  I was laughing so hard!  It was even in slow motion to me.  I knew it was going to happen as soon as the truck was coming toward us.  We he was covered in dirt/water.  Good times as a missionary.  Besides getting soaked it has been HOT!  I walk outside and I am like already drenched.  But lotion isn't required which is nice. 

 

Oh, and Mom and Dad.  The Haulocust Museum is the best.  Seriously the most interesting and humbling place I have been.  It might be my favorite museum.  Elder Little and I went through the whole thing together learning about the Nazi's rise to power and how Hitler took over and stuff.  I scares me for our own countries outcome.  Especailly looking at history and how things like this continue to happen.  Even in the Book of Mormon we see the same things with the people becoming wicked.  Wow... crazy stuff.  But on a happier note I am almost done with the Book of Mormon :)  I took the 60 day challenge and will be done around the end of the month!  Yay! 

 

So thats about all!  Everything is going great and I love missionary work! :)  I am so happy to be a part of God's army!  Love you lots and hope all is well!

 

Love,

 

Sean

Staying at the University of Maryland!

Hey Mom!

So yes, we have been having quite the weather. It rains a lot then it gets super hot and humid.  These white shirts I feel will not be so white in two years from now!  Ha-ha.  But thanks for the new one!  I really was happy to have a replacement after I had the pen explosion in the other!  Stupid crap pens!  Oh well.  

Wow.  Sounds like a busy June this year!  But busy is a good thing. And the weather sounds intense there.  It was about 96 degrees a week ago one day.  It was crazy hot and also humid so it felt like... infinity degrees! Ha-ha but I also never need lotion since the air provides that for me.  Its great!  I will probably wither away when I get back to that desert air. 

So this week we would have had some baptisms coming up but they all kind of fell off the map.  Bummer for the area. But we just picked up a new investigator who is amazing!  He was brought to church by a member two weeks ago and came this last Sunday to church again!  He accepted to take the missionary discussions and he even called us and asked if he could be a member and be baptized!!  Holy Miracles, right?  I am so excited!  We meet with him in DC tomorrow!  So that is the good news here!  

Also, today was transfers and Elder Kuddes and I get to stay together!!! YAY!  We are both very happy.  We had an awesome last transfer and he hopes to have an even better one to finish out the mission.  I can't believe he dies after this transfer and in 6 weeks I get to kill him :) Yay me!  (Once again... not literally.  Here in DC we "kill" our missionaries instead of just sending them home.  That would be boring!)  Oh and Elder Stoor, one of the missionaries in our district, left and his old companion Elder Loveless and is training now!  Also a sister in our district is training as well!  So, I am no longer the youngin' around here.  It feels good to be young, but not the baby :)  

Also today was the last transfers with the Matsumoris. It was weird.  Sad because they were leaving but also very wonderful because we all were happy for them having served a great mission here.  We all sang our mission song and then sang a third verse the APs gave us.  The M's were in tears and so were most of us! (Not me because Big Girls Don't Cry ;) )  Ha-ha so we had a great transfer meeting!  And we even gave the M's hugs!  So it was a good goodbye.   I am excited to see who and how the new President will be.  He gets here the first of July I think.

Well, all is going great out here!  I love you all and hope everything and everyone is doing well! 

Love,

Sean

P.S. I loved the package!  Thanks again!  I got the stationary too!  Love the colors this time!  Tell GM thanks for the stamps too!  I love protein so I vote for that in my packages :)  I am going on a no sugar diet!!  Got to stay fit! 

Tell Brian his beard and hair look legit and that I hope he does great at camp and football camp too!

Night of Music and Inspiration

Hello my family and friends!

This week has been a blur!  I feel like I was just writing my e-mail last week.  Today we were able to go to the Temple for our trip we take every 6 weeks, the week right before transfers!  This transfer went by crazy fast too.  But the Temple trip was really great.  I love going to the Temple and plan on going ALL THE TIME when I get back to school in Rexburg.  I feel silly almost for wasting all the opportunities I had to go and chose not to.  But I guess that is one of the many things the mission has changed in me. We also went to the Temple Visitors Center on Sunday for the "Night of Music and Inspiration".  It was really fun!  We had a power outage because of a big storm so the big theater didn't work.  So last minute we had to pull a piano out of a back room and set up a bunch of chairs and put them out for everyone right in the middle of the Visitor's Center!  It was hectic but fun.  The scary thing was that we had so many people packed in and no microphones.  So we were pretty much told to BELT our songs.  It went well and Elder Peterson, my MTC buddy, and I sang "A Child's Prayer."  Everyone complemented us so I guess we did okay.  Ha-ha.  I don't know why I have had so many opportunities to sing so far on my mission.  I feel like Grandma is praying for me to sing a lot ;)  And I never refuse to sing because in D&C it says something about losing our talents that the Lord gives us so... I don't want to lose my voice! 

Anyway, we have had a little bit of bad luck with our many investigators on date who have either stopped meeting with us or just fell off the face of the earth.  So Satan is working hard on them.  So I guess I am just going to have to work harder to beat him!  We received a couple new referrals and also a new investigator who is really solid, so we should hopefully be getting a lot more people towards coming to church and more baptisms as well!  Besides that not too much has happened.  The singles ward is a little tougher in the summer when people go home from school or are just out of town a lot.  However, the work goes on and the ward is surprisingly feeding us quite a bit!!  So that is a big plus.  I guess they like us or something :)

Well... that's about it for the week.  I have to get going anyway.  Thanks everyone for the support through e-mails, letters, packages, and especially the prayers.  I love you all. 

Love,

Sean

P.S.  I love the package you sent it was awesome!