July 29, 2014 ;-)

Dear Humans,

More Lakeview facts! Yup we've got a car. We drive four hours every
week to get to and from district meeting in Klamath but I enjoy the
drive. We do have the Area Book Planner app on our iPads so all the
info is synced in when we get transferred. The sisters left some nice
notes and a TON OF JUNK! Sorry to certain Sisters Shumway and Walker,
but sisters can be way grosser than elders. |(￣3￣)| Did I already
complain about that? We spent most of today cleaning. It's beautiful
now though.

We went to the Medford temple!! I flipped out when I realized we were
in White City on the way there. I could even see my apartment! At the
temple I saw Bro. And Sis. Marks from Brookings and Bro. Brown from
White City working there, and Sis. Rushton had driven up the
missionaries from Brookings so I got to see her too. It was great. I
love to see the temple!

Missionary work is going great. One of our awesome investigator
couples had a random big concern about Joseph Smith being a Mason, she
had looked into temple stuff online and saw a resemblance to masonry,
and she actual used to be a mason and had terrible experiences with
them. So she was all upset, we sent a text saying we didn't know all
the answers, we knew the church was true through the Holy Ghost and
such, (this was going through texting) and we went over to talk to
them. When we got there she told us that she had already come to a
conclusion through prayer that she didn't need to worry about the
mason stuff, but she was still concerned about the temple. She was
afraid of the unknown, of covenants she may not be able to keep, she
wanted information, we told her we would get back to her because I
wanted to ponder over how much we could share before I said something
stupid and we had to head down to Klamath to stay the night with the
zone leaders. But Elder Porter made a really strong point that
everyone needs to rely on faith at some point. So we left, but as we
were driving down she texted us and said, (paraphrased) "We've decided
to rely on faith and on our testimonies of the restored gospel. There
is no need for you to answer my questions." I just felt so
overwhelmed. The Spirit truly does change and soften people's hearts.

We've been finding new people to teach, whether it's just finally
meeting people the sisters were teaching, or new people, so life is
good!

Love,
Elder Georgia

July 21, 2014 Bum ba, ba badabadadaaaa!! Bum badada, badumba! Ba baaaa badumba, ba bumbadadaaaa, baaaa da!!!

You are correct that this town is very cowboy, there are most definitely a lot of cows, but you're talking about the wrong missionary! Let me tell you a little about my new companion:

Elder Porter is from Heber Arizona which is not too far from Snowflake. His family owns like a 4000 acre ranch with 4000 cows. Elder Porter is into bull riding and steer wrestling. He got like four scholarships for football. He is also quite an accomplished welder. So he landed in the perfect spot!

He fits in perfectly here! He's also an awesome missionary, he knows
his scriptures, he's pretty confident, and yet I am amazed yet again
how big a shift it is from regular life to mission life. Everything is
completely different! From eating dinner to talking on the phone,
everything is done a special way on the mission so everything needs to
be explained. It's quite the task but I love it. Pictures will follow.

LAKEVIEW IS GORGEOUS. The drive from Eugene to Klamath Falls was
incredible, we stayed he night with the zone leaders (one of them came
out the transfer after me into my district so we were in training
together and I haven't seen him much since so it's awesome to be in
his zone), then the drive from Klamath to Lakeview was even more
gorgeous. We got to see the transformation from green forest to
rolling farmland to desert and you know what it reminded me of?
HYRULE!!!! I could have sworn I was driving through Hyrule Field. Then
Lakeview reminds me of Kakariko Village, especially because there's
all these awesome creepy abandoned houses that look exactly like the
ones in the village. That last section was pretty much entirely for
Luke. Pictures will follow.

On Saturday we got two baptisms. Annabelle who's 8 and Cheyenne who's
12. We met them the day before to discuss the final plans so we could
make the programs, and they were just so excited to be baptized. So
ready. Their parents are returning members. The baptism went
beautifully! The girl's grandpa baptized them and their uncle did the
confirmation. Their parents gave the talks in baptism and the Holy
Ghost, and they did such a good job. The Spirit was awesome. Pictures
will follow.

Later that day we attended a ward barbecue where we met an
investigator couple named the Christleys who told us they wanted to
meet with us to discuss their baptism that they would like to take
place on August 9th but they're open to change that. They have a
challenge I shall not disclose, but please pray for them that all will
go according to plan and they can be baptized on their chosen date. We
met with them again tonight and taught them a lesson and the Spirit
was so powerful.

I'm emailing in the evening because we spent pretty much our whole
p-day doing service for another investigator! It was great.

Our apartment is so adorable. Pictures will follow.

In case you're wondering about the title of this email, have Lucha
chuuchy sing it for you to the main tune of the herein contained
videogame reference.

We get to go to the temple this week wooooooooot! Not the water
temple, the Medford temple!

I loves y'all! People here talk very properly....

Elder Georgia

July 14, 2014 One Short Day Has Come To A Close

Transfers! I'm going to Lakeview! Double transferring in, kicking out
the sisters, and training. So I'm in Eugene, waiting around with some
other elders. Tomorrow we'll begin training and such and Wednesday
we'll pick up our brand new missionaries. Pray for my trainee!

Make sure you look up Lakeview, it is literally in the middle of
nowhere. They told me it's the farthest area from the mission home and
we're about two hours away from any other missionaries. I hear that
the ward (or branch) is amazing though. I'm super excited! It's going
to be way different but way good. I'm also excited to train again,
it's my favorite thing to do cuz it helps me be the best missionary I
can be.

I hope to give you the news of Cindy and Mitch's baptisms as I receive it!

Saying goodbyes yesterday was sad, but I'm grateful for Facebook!

Love you all tons! Give the kittles kisses from me!

Elder Georgia

July 7, 2014 On A Golden Summertime

Dearly Beloved,

I have a confession to make. It takes a lot out of me to write emails.
Not as much as writing letters, but nevertheless it is still most
exhausting. And this week we woke up at 6, left our apt. at 6:30, and
went and hiked Spencer's Butte with the zone! It was pretty increyable
and gorgioso, so I'll have to send pictures eventually. Near the top
we obeyed the Savior's command to "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) by befriending a
squirrel named Gworge. He said it was pronounced George. Seriously
though I'll have to send you the video. He was just this wild squirrel
that would let us come up and tickle his belly. It was so awesome. The
view from the top of the Butte was pretty gorgeous. It was strange to
look down on the great and spacious city of Eugene (by which I mean no
disrespect to The Emerald City) as a little tiny scattering of
neighborhoods.

We then came and cooked and ate the sacrificial waffles and bacon and
had a "share the best thing you learned from your mission so far" and
I told the ｍｉｓｓｉｏｎａｒｉｅｓ that I learned that nothing makes me happy if
I'm not loving and serving other people.

We taught Walt and Cindy on Thursday at the Stake Center. We taught
them what we in our mission call a "font to table" lesson where we
start in front of the baptismal font where we taught them about the
baptismal covenant and the gift of the Holy Ghost then committed her
to be baptized on August 23rd and she accepted!! Then we went to the
chapel and sat in front of the sacrament table and talked about
enduring to the end and remaking our baptismal covenants each week
through the sacrament. It was wondrous. We planned to do the same
thing with Mitch last night but he rescheduled for tonight then he
just a minute ago as I was typing rescheduled for tomorrow. He's a
busy guy.

Mom I know's how to use apostrophe's ok? I love's you'.

You had a fun independent day it appears! For the 4th we helped
someone move for most of the day then we went to a members
neighborhood barbecue then went to our apt. at 7 for weekly planning.
When the members asked if we could do fireworks we just told them that
missionaries are highly flammable.


Love is truly the tradition!

Is a quote from our mission theme song which I'll be excited to sing
for you if I ever decide to come home.

Elder Georgia

June 30, 2014 Dear People

I'm writing you now as I wait to meet my new mission president,
President Russell. A little nervous, but excited for newness and
change.

This week we taught Walt and Cindy and it was fantastic! We taught the
first half of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so through Christ we can be
cleansed from sin, faith, and repentance. We showed two sequential
bible videos, to this end was I born, and my kingdom is not of this
world, that I highly recommend. At the end Cindy was crying and she
said she just felt so light inside and so loved. :D sometimes a smile
is all you can use to explain how you feel about something.

Go Adr! Honorary sister missionary!

Next up in Your Weekly Missionary Email: Meeting President and Sister Russell!

So we met the Russells! It was a super spiritual meeting. You could
definitely see how the mantle of leadership had passed to President
Russell. He had the same... Aura? As President Young, but he's way
different. He speaks gently and simply, and he reminds me a little bit
of Elder Scott. His wife is like a spiritual bomb, she's very
businesslike and energetic. The coolest thing I learned was when
President Russell put three things on the board and asked us to order
them in what our level of focus should be. It was investigators,
companion, and self. I thought, oh we should focus mainly on our
investigators, then our companion and we should forget about
ourselves. But he said we need to focus on ourselves first, that we
need to develop spiritually before we can help others. That made
sense, but on pondering it a little I realized that yes, we need to
come first. But our motivation for self improvement needs to be from
our love for our investigators and our companion!

Oh mom I forgot to tell you, my allotment card isn't working so I've
been using my home card for everything for the past three weeks or so.
They said they would send me a new one but I haven't got it yet.

I love you all! The circle of our love extends beyond the reach of
time! Beyond the span of days and years it goes forever! If you know
what I'm quoting send me a shoutout! (Cuidado: this is a scam to get
you to email Elder Georgia)

Love,
Elder Georgia

June 23, 2014 Oh, some stuff...

Dearest family!

I love you. This week was great! I did stuff.

Just kidding, we had our last zone conference with President and
Sister Young this week. Emotions ran high. They had us make a
scrapbook page for them with pictures of ourselves and I'm just going
to send you what I wrote:

President & Sister Young,

Thank you for changing my life. Serving a mission has been a terrible
and wonderful struggle, but strength has always come from knowing
right from the start that you loved me and believed in me, more than I
believed in myself. It wasn't difficult for me to leave my home and
travel to this strange new world of Oregon, not at first. I remember
my first impression of Oregon was just to be overwhelmed by the
emerald greenness of it all. Then how wonderful to be welcomed by
piercing blue eyes that looked through me and seemed to know me
instantly inside and out, and by the warmth of a thousand mothers
combined into one being.

Oh I quickly began to learn that mission life contained it's fair
share of struggles and disappointments. I was surprised to learn that
missionaries aren't perfect, the members aren't perfect, and helping
our investigators along the path to perfection is no easy process! I
learned that life could fluctuate as quickly and easily as the Oregon
rains: sunny one minute followed by torrential downpours the next, or
gray drizzles which could last for weeks only to suddenly burst into
dazzling rainbows. I have learned to love these Oregonians, to love
the wonderful missionaries in our mission, and to love serving
alongside them to help the good people here to overcome life's trials
through the gospel.

Most importantly I've come to love serving my Heavenly King. That in
His service I've been blessed to be nearer to Him than I've ever been.
I know He loves me, because I am His son. He loves all of us so much
He sent His Only Begotten Son to suffer and to die that we might live
with Him eternally. I know His church is here again in glorious form
and order, that truth once again rains down from Heaven, and that We
are His angelic ranks sent forth to proclaim redemption to the world.
Thank you so much for your service to all your missionaries and to our
Heavenly Father.
I don't want you to go! It's so much easier to leave than it is to be
left. But I will keep in touch on all the big stuff! I love both of
you so much.

Go OEM!

>From your:

Forever Youngster,

Elder Quinn Jerome Georgia

At the end we bore our testimonies and I just sobbed through mine.
I've become so emotional on my mission........ But now I'm resigned to
them leaving and it will be a fun new experience with President
Russell! He'll be here on Saturday.

Saturday was the Community Family Night. We had four hundred name tags
and they were all taken! Some people never got name tags. We had 35
pots of chili and they were SO GOOD. The line for the food came in the
back door then wrapped halfway around the building, went through the
gym where the food was, and out the other side. We didn't eat until
everyone else had eaten and when we got there most of the chili's were
pretty depleted and the cornbread was basically all gone. It was
great. There was a dunk tank, volleyball, basketball, pie eating,
square dancing, tug of war, chili contest, and zany zoo! <- an exotic
petting zoo with a boa constrictor, a tree porcupine, a lemur, a
cockateil, a giant tortoise, a big gerbil deer mouse guinea pig thing,
and a bunch of other snakes and turtles and stuff. It was pretty
amazing. There was a pretty good turnout from the other churches, but
it was hard to tell how many. Everyone had a lot of fun. We also had a
drunk homeless couple show up asking for food and then dance the rest
of the night away! It was great.

We taught Mitch the rest of the Plan of Salvation and we taught the
whole thing to Cindy and they both were great! We thought Mitch wasn't
coming to church because Tyus was supposedly going to their cabin near
Bend over the weekend, but the whole family were there, Mitch
included!

And last night we had some plans but they didn't really happen, it was
the night of the desserts cuz at dinner we had brownies and ice cream,
then we stopped by another member's later to use their bathroom and
they fed us s'mores (and Elder Carroll had a piece of chocolate pie),
then we were biking back when Cindy and her boyfriend Walt saw us and
invited us in for spice cake! Good thing I gain no fat. But anyways it
was a great week!

I did get my package! Thanks so much for the cookies and everything! I
have to admit I'm fairly worried about the 5 billion active cultures
you expect me to eat.....

Love y'all!

Elder Georgia

June 16, 2014 ?

This week randomly decided to become colder and wetter again, but we
avoided being rained on mostly which was nice. We weren't able to
teach Mitch, but we're going to play volleyball with him today!

We did however teach a new investigator! Cindy was taught the first
lesson by missionaries a few years ago but then dropped off. She is
the girlfriend of a member named Walt who hadn't been to church in a
long time. He got hit by a car on his motorcycle but got away with a
broken leg and some back pain which is much better than it could have
been. So his home teacher invited us to come with him to give Walt a
blessing. The next Sunday Walt and Cindy came to church! The week
after that Walt had to go back to working on Sundays but last Monday
after dinner Elder Carroll felt impressed to stop by, so we did and we
talked to them for a while, then we asked if Cindy would like to take
the lessons again and she said yes! So we taught them on Thursday with
Pops, their home teacher. We taught the Restoration and it went well.
It had been cloudy all day, but when we got to the story of Joseph
Smith I started to recite the First Vision and the sun broke
brilliantly through the clouds. Elder Carroll and I sat with our backs
to the window and the light shone straight into Cindy's face, she was
the only one really in the radiance. We both wondered if we should
shut the curtains, but It didn't seem to bother her, she just kept
direct eye contact with us. It was a cool moment. The light stayed
until we about finished the discussion and were getting ready to
leave.

It was a good week.

Random Eugene factoid! Eugene is the #2 city in the US for bike theft!
The first being New York City. There are actually whole gangs devoted
entirely to stealing bikes and reselling them. That's why we always
lock up!

That's all I have for today! Love you,

Elder Georgia

June 9, 2014 Idunnowhattotitlethisemailivebeenrunningoutofideasforalonglonglongtime.

It's cool you sent me FHE ideas cuz we're planning as a zone to send
around FHE signups and teach their friends! So we needed ideas shanks!

My June is fabulous. We taught Mitch last week! We taught him the
first half of the plan of salvation using tons of scriptures. I think
it went over his head a bit?

Our mission president has given us a new directive. It really isn't
new but he's put a lot more emphasis on it. We're out to find
families. We had a ZTM all about that and it's really shifted my
thoughts about missionary work. It's. It that we won't accept single
people into the church, but it's so much simpler and more powerful for
a whole family to enter the waters of baptism at the same time, to
strengthen and support each other as they begin their journey to the
temple and eternal life as a family. It's cool because after that
we've seen a bunch of prospective teaching families on the horizon,
don't know what it will take for them to investigate, but they're
definitely there. We went family finding the day after and the second
door we knocked on was a shortish man with a ball cap and eyebrow
piercings (everyone in Oregon has tattoos or piercings somewhere, I
can no longer remember if it's the same in ol' Virginny) who waved us
in while talking on the phone. He identified himself as Jared and said
he worked for a bunch of Mormons and really respected them. He has a
lot of undefined notions about God, we gave him a Plan of Salvation
pamphlet and he said we could drop by whenever. So that was cool.

Mom I have a task for you to complete! Will you email me when you
complete it? There's a lady in the 1st ward who we had dinner with who
homeschools her kids and she was asking me about different programs I
liked for different subjects and I said she should just talk to you so
would you message her on Facebook for me and give her some advice?
She's in my friends list. Her name is Jenni (I think it's spelled like
that) Cragun.

LOVE is all you need. The Beatles or something?

Elder Georgia

June 2, 2014 Good Week

Allo Fam!

Earlier this week we were asked to give a blessing by a less active
couple to their son who was in the hospital for appendicitis, he was
going in to surgery at 2:00 but we had a meeting with some other
missionaries to plan out our community family night and it went over.
Then we got to the hospital and parked in a lot, then went looking for
the emergency entrance but we walked the wrong way around the whole
building almost back to where we started to get to the entrance and
right as we got there the sisters (who are the ones teaching the
family) walked out and said he had just gone into surgery. We got a
call a few days later that he was doing worse so he wanted us to come
again to give him a blessing so Elder Hanssen went there on splits and
had a good experience with him. A while later we got another call that
he had gone into respiratory arrest and his mom just happened to find
him not breathing and they got a bunch of doctors on him. He literally
died and was able to be brought back. It's interesting because when
Elder Hanssen gave him the blessing he really wanted Hanssen to say he
would be miraculously healed and made all better, but Hanssen wasn't
prompted to say that, he just blessed him that the doctors would be
able to find out what was wrong. And that's exactly what happened. We
went to see him again on Sunday and he was awake and sitting up, he
told his story so funnily he had us and the sisters and the bishopric
member all cracking up. He's an ex marine who broke his leg then ran
for a mile, but he said the pain from his appendix bursting was the
worst thing he had ever felt. He told us that he had been away from
the church for a long while but he still had a testimony and planned
on coming back when he was in town. But he spends ten months out of
the year mining in Lakeview for sunstones, Oregon's state gemstone!

That was a good story. Long but good.

We taught Mitch this week! It was great! He read the chapter we left
him twice but said he hadn't felt the same thing he felt during our
lesson. We explained more about revelation and that we couldn't tell
him exactly HOW he would get an answer, just that he would. He's so
great, we love him.

Jordan Henderson got baptized on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the
most fantasticest ever. Bro. Henderson performed the baptism, he had
gotten the priesthood the Sunday before. He had one practice baptism
then he dunked her again without saying the prayer but the third time
WAS the charm. Elder Carroll and I sang "When I Am Baptized" without
practicing once beforehand but it worked out. Bro. Henderson came into
the chapel a while after Jordan, and the guy conducting was like,
"It's the first time a woman beat a man getting dressed" and everyone
laughed, but i was right behind Bro. Henderson and I heard him say
very softly, "I had to take a moment." It meant so much to him. We
confirmed Jordan the same night and us elders got to stand in on the
circle. It was great. And Jordan just looked so happy. I didn't get a
picture with them cuz we were late! But I'll get one before I leave
here.

So today is transfers! And Carroll and I are staying yaaaay! But we're
kicking Hanssen back to first ward and it will be so great to just
focus on sixth ward.

That's All Folks!

Love you.

Elder Georgia

May 26, 2014 Yay for Stuff!

Hi lovelies!

So I like Facebook a lot, our Facebook rules are extremely limited now
we can only get one once a week for like 15 minutes, but I like to get
the good news. I got a message sent to a bunch of elders on Facebook
from a girl named Mariahn who was down in Brookings. She was taught by
the other elders but we got to know her and teach her too. She said
this:

Thank you guys for teaching me and helping through my lessons I was
baptized April 26 ( a week after my birthday) but I wasn't able to get
a picture till just now. I've had so much experiences in the last
month that I'm overwhelmed by the hold ghost haha I've gone on splits
with the sisters, given a few talk (once in sacrament meeting with the
sisters), graduated seminary, and I am now the young women's secretary
and so many more things I also got my patriarchal   blessing yesterday
and now I feel on fire to read scriptures and be awesome haha thank
you for everything elders!

She sent a picture of her baptism too. It made my week.

The other nice Facebook thing was the Lawtons, who I definitely told
you about, finally came to church and Bro. Lawton made a nice post
about it. They didn't go the whole time I was in Brookings.

So we weren't able to meet with Mitch this week, he was too busy
winning state track records with his fellowshipper. In fact we didn't
meet with a lot of people, but it was good. We're probably losing
Elder Hanssen soon which will actually be good, it's so much harder to
plan for two separate areas, and we have too much fun together.

But! If you buy five cumplaintos! We did meet one very exciting person
this week! The 2nd ward elders met a lady on a bike trail who had read
some of the Book of Mormon and was excited to read and learn more, so
they set up an appointment with her, but she lives in our area so they
told us to just go over instead, so we showed up on Saturday and she
had completely forgotten we were coming but she said to come back
Tuesday at 7 when her husband and kids would be home and she would
feed us dinner! Our minds were blown. We accepted. Pray it goes well!

Tell Lindy to check her email!!! I'm not sure if it went through!

I love you more than a thousand burning suns!

VI.

How do I know these things of the man called Christ? I did not live at
a time to hear His voice or see His face, but I feel His goodness in
all the world around me, and He speaks to me in the words of His
servants who have lived and died for Him throughout the history of the
earth.

I know there is light in this world.  The earth and nature herself are
unspeakably beautiful and glorious.  Light itself in its radiance and
illumination tells of the power and glory of its source.  In the eyes
and souls of my fellow men and women I see a light which tells me of
the power of human love, the glory of intelligence, and the inherent
divinity in all of us.

Just as when a ray of light suddenly illuminates your surroundings,
you know it has a source, I know there is a source to this light in my
life.  I read the words of Christ, telling me that He is this source,
and I know them to be true.

"��Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life." John 8:12

Elder Quinn Georgia

May 6, 2014 Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Hi peoples!

This week was pretty great. We had the nicest weather, such a good
break from rain. On the 29th I waited till the evening to open my
package, we got to spend about two hours cleaning off the Hendersons
roof which was the perfect thing to do on my birthday because I LOVE
the Hendersons and I got to wear shorts.  then our ward mission
leader had us over that night and they made this awesome dessert, kind
of like a Dutch baby with creamy filling and chocolate and caramel
sauce on top. Then when we got back I opened my wonderful package,
thankshomuch! I love new garments. And everything else was perfect. I
made the cake and it's beeootifull!!!! And way good, I love the lime.

On Wednesday we were visiting some Less Actives, and we had just
invited a family to dodgeball and were heading out when a guy on a
bike yelled at us from across the street and biked towards us. He was
obviously homeless. He had this bag of Halloween bat and pumpkin
shaped pretzels that he said someone had given him but he couldn't eat
because he, "got no teeth", and they, "would cut the (spiritual death)
out of his gums". So he gave them to us. They expired in February so
we're just going to enshrine them on top of the fridge for forever.

We got to help our downstairs neighbors move, they're really awesome
siblings: Jim and Debra, African-American, 40'sish, and super nice.
They just moved to another apartment in our complex cuz their apt. got
flooded. It was interesting though because our apartment checkers, the
Johnstons, said they had talked to Jim and Debra before and were
fellowshipping them. So it was good.

Loves,
Elder Georgia

p.s. I wrote this yesterday then I didn't send it.......

III.

"To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Luke 1:79

The call to come unto Christ resonates with my heart and soul.
Everything I have come to know about Christ is beautiful to me. The
story of His birth, of His life, of His death, and His resurrection,
as it is found in the Bible, along with the added truths we know of
Him from modern revelation, of his premortal existence, His advent in
the Spirit World, and His work He continued as a resurrected glorified
being from His ascension to these last days.

Yet sometimes I have wondered, did He really live? Does He now truly
live? Was Christ really who He said He was? How can I learn to fully
put my trust in Him?

The heavens bear record of all things, and their cycles are analogous
to life. I lived with God. His full presence and glory was like the
light of the sun. So warm it burns and so radiant it's too bright to
look at. Life is like the twilight sinking into night. We must leave
the warmth of God's presence and find our way in the dark. Become
subject to the fall, and become separated from God. However, as
twilight turns to night, one by one His stars come out. We come to
know His truths line upon line, one at a time, until our lives once
dark, are filled with the glorious patterns of His plan that we can
use to navigate our way back home.

The most important truth we can come to know, is that Jesus Christ
truly died for us to lead us back to our Heavenly Father.

April 28, 2014 Birthdays!

HAPPY BIRHTDAY MOOOOOM!

How was YOUR day? Was it fantasticubulous?

On Saturday I got a lovely large package in the mail that said, "Do
not open until April 29th." Oh man! I thought, that's so far away!
Then Elder Carroll looked over my shoulder and said, "Wait, your
birthday is this week and you didn't even tell me???"

I had completely forgotten about my birthday.

This also reminds me that a few weeks ago I was at the church helping
out with mutual when Sister Foutz came up to me and said, "So if your
birthday was on April 29th what would you want?" I was immediately
overcome with suspicion and bewilderment. How did she find out? Why
did she find out? Was this a setup? While I was frozen, unable to
think of what to say, she said she didn't know what to get for her son
on his mission. My suspicion was turned to shock at the outrageous
coincidence that could let that exact situation come about. When I
explained that, why, my birthday was on April 29th! Sister Foutz and
the other members in the vicinity were likewise surprised and tickled
pink. It was quite goofy.

Oh will someone make sure to say HALLOOOO! To Abby the Nelson? She
Facebook messaged me but I'm not allowed to respond.

Where is Mallory Seely? I thought she was in New York, but all these
emails say she's in Jamaica.....

I'm so excited for Aysha and her papers!

This week we tracked this one street and everyone was these nice old
people who had Mormon friends or family and saw us on our bikes all
the time, but who weren't interested thank you kindly. Yeah we had
pretty much the same conversation with everyone. There were two people
though who told us to come back, one wanted to argue with us more, the
other was Frank. He told us he was an atheist and his wife was an
optimistic agnostic whose great great great something grandma married
Joseph Smith! (supposedly) But we had a cool conversation with him and
he told us we could come back any time. We think he might have some
potential. 

I love you.

Here's the second part of my talk!

II.

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more
and more unto the perfect day.

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they
stumble." Proverbs 4:18-19

I was born of goodly parents and raised in a sacred home. I was taught
from my youth the plan of happiness. I learned I am a child of God,
and He has sent me here. I learned that Jesus loved me so He died for
me. I learned that I should say His name when I prayed, and not say it
when I didn't mean it.

In Sunday-school I was taught about Christ and the restoration and
organization of His church on earth. In Seminary I learned more about
the scriptures, the deepness of the doctrines of the word of God.  I
read the words of the ancients as if spoken from the dust, they spoke
of Him.  Of power and glory, of meekness and peace.

Although this brief act of life is all I know, all I can remember, I
believe that I am an eternal soul, born from the love of God. I
believe I was present when the foundations of life and the plan were
laid with Father as the architect and Jesus Christ as the builder. I
believe I was with Him in the beginning. I heard His council in the
heavenly realms. I loved Him and wanted to follow His example of
obedience to the Father. I wanted to be like Him.

I watched as He came to earth trailing glory, was born as man, faced
the trials and temptations of mortality and yet, lived a perfect life.
I watched Him be despised and rejected of men, suffer for all our sins
and afflictions, and die.

He died for us.