Talmage Mission

Good Morning! I have survived my first week working with people my own age, it's intense! There's a lot on my shoulders, but I'm grateful for the change of pace. For reference, it's easy for me to adapt to a family Stake, because I grew up in one. The structure is what I'm used to. However, in the YSA Stake, I have to fit in and bring the Spirit to people with crazy lifestyles and much more adaptable perspectives. Not to mention everything else I do as a missionary! We found a few new friends to teach, and some wonderful friends who came to church for the first time yesterday! We will continue to work with them as we move forward. Also, we have a baptism on Saturday, his name is Sean. Stay tuned for the photo! The day after transfers the departing missionaries left for home, but they had to spend the night somewhere. As I live in St. George now, some slept over with Elder Koyle and I! The best part of this opportunity was that Elder Bailey (after finishing two separ...

Good Morning! It's been six weeks since I collected my new missionary, Elder Dearing. Six weeks of learning from him rather than actually teaching him. And it's been six weeks since the last transfer! God knew I was getting too comfortable in Salina so He decided I needed to be elsewhere. So that's what happened! I will be serving in the St. George YSA 1st Stake with Elder Koyle, my first companion in the mission field! He will help me learn how to handle the college students as my knowledge is very slim. It's an exciting opportunity, and I'm eager to catch up with my old companion again!  I have put a lot of thought into what I need to improve as a missionary, and God answers prayers. During an exchange with Elder Jorgensen, he mentioned how important it was to teach by the Spirit, and how thin a line it was between entertainment, and spiritual enlightenment. With this new perspective I've taken added measures to improve my teaching by the Spirit, teach doctrin...

Good Morning!  This has been a very busy week. Elder Dearing and I have been on top of everything; referrals, people on-date, contacts we need to make, consistent lessons, and assisting in our friends' progression. I've learned a lot from Elder Dearing, but I try to learn from every companion I get. I'm grateful God gives me people who help me to grow. We had interviews this past week, I enjoyed talking personally with President Staples. The more I interact with him, the more I see his sincerity and devotion to the gospel. It's certainly motivating.  We've been knocking on a series of apartments in our area, which has turned into a fairly productive activity. We have begun teaching one individual there, and met a few other interesting people. I feel my door approaches have improved, and I'm grateful for this chance to share that wisdom with my companion. With this skill we are realizing the opportunities that exist in those apartments. We'll see what they tu...

Good Morning!  Not many of our friends came to church this week, we didn't find as many new friends as we'd hoped, and we had to bump back one of the baptismal dates for a friend of ours. However, Finn and Estella were both baptized and confirmed this past weekend! I had the privilege of baptizing both of them, and Finn asked me to do his confirmation. It was a wonderful experience, I've loved working with these two special children of God for almost their entire teaching time. It just goes to show how long I've been in Salina; two and a half months now! That's insane, I can't believe I'm still here and yet I'm not ready to leave at the same time. Good thing I'm sticking around!  One final thing about Finn and Estella. Both are so amazing, I've come to love them as my own siblings, it was an honor to help them be baptized and begin their journey on the covenant path. I've pondered a lot on how much my love has grown for the people in Salina, ...

Good Morning! We went to St. George for our trainer / new missionary check-up meeting! That was enjoyable, it was good to see the temple again and attend the St. George Visitors' Center. St. George is a great place, except for the traffic. It reminds me of Tyler traffic sometimes! It's been a crazy amazing week, I'll just hit the highlights as I don't have much time. This Preparation Day was rough because we were required to help move out another set of Elders into a different apartment, things were crazy and it took about 4 hours of our day. Hence the late email. Exchanges have been changed from 12 hours back to 24 hours. It's a little bit of a change, but as a result I got to enjoy a full day in Gunnison! Overall it's a great place, I found lots of cool places and some interesting scenery. There's also a not volcano that is a volcano, I guess. It's kind of funny. And we put someone on date and held a pick-up lesson! Elder Andros is a pretty cool Elder,...