#58 -

My Sunday was good! we help pass the sacrament each week, so i enjoy that. Every time they say the sacrament prayer i think of dad telling us to slooooow down! they run through it so fast we don't have time to enjoy it! Will Ketchum, a young man in the ward, is leaving for his mission next week so he gave his homecoming talk! we have been finding for hours and hours each day and we are finding a lot of people who invite us back.... but they dont answer for their return appt so we end up tracking even more haha. no one has stuck in our teaching pool so far but we will find someone soon!!! Members aren't really involved yet. Each unit i have served in there are always a few families that stick out and we 'click' with, but we haven't found those members yet... We probably have about 110 active members come to church a week. Ya franklin is a suburb of indy. we woke up this morning to a rain storm! we have nice mornings and nights but it is humid during the day ha.

Im happy you enjoyed your woman's conference! we try to do all the exchanges in the first 3 or 4 weeks so we can turn in the exchange reports early enough so it can help with transfers. we didnt have any this week but we usually do one or two a week. we had zone meetingon friday! we set a goal to hit 100 new investigators as a zone in the last two weeks of the transfer! President carlson is a great president!! he played division 2 college football!!! he is big into keeping everyone accountable to the lord. He has a lot of trust and faith in his missionaries. 

what is it like going to different ward councils? what do you notice in each of them? pros, cons? how do they use their missionaries? and what types of things do the missionaries talk about in ward council?

Pictures from the mission Facebook page...

Back row 4th front the Right.. There is the handsome Elder Coon!

 My favorite photo bomber looking into the mirror!

 There he is standing on the curb! Can you believe the beauty of Indiana! I don't think we in Arizona can understand this kind of "green"

 There he is again in the background working with his companion. 

Top right corner.

Another picture of Elder Coon in the background!

#57 - Cats, Dogs and Mosquitoes

Holy cow we have been so busy!! 2 exchanges and a meeting on Thursday. We do a lot of tracting and personal contacting. haha this next week we will be working much more going out with members and visiting perspective elders. 

While we were weekly planning at the end of this week we noticed the name Colin in our planner and we couldn't remember who he was. So we called him and set up a church tour for that day! While he was walk in the church we remembered that we had met him a few weeks back while walking in the park! He is a sophomore at the college. The tour and lesson went perfect! The spirit was strong and he could feel it. He was eating up every word about what we had to share. I am so excited to see his faith grow as he learns with us! We will be meeting with him this week and putting him on date for baptism (thats the goal;)! What a miracle!

We had a "Why I Believe" fireside last night with recent converts and investigators from our stake. I enjoyed all of it! Each person who spoke stayed focused and bore a powerful and simple testimony. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

We do service at a food bank every week and at 12 oclock we have a prayer circle. It is neat to see how other people pray!

In the meeting we had with president we talked about... everything! The main idea was personal accountability as missionaries. We need to spend our time doing the BEST things we can, not just the good or better. President is seriously beginning to CRACK down, no more "wasting time" as he puts it:)))) 

If we want to see the promised blessings from the Lord as we serve we MUST be obedient to his laws and principles. We can’t expect those blessings without being obedient and diligent. There will always be some ups and downs in this work, but His promises are sure if we will only be obedient to his commandments. It reminds me of the "Grace Triangle," Grace= Faith+ Obedience+ Diligence. Remember His words, “if you love me, keep my commandments.” I ask you, how much do I love the Lord? If you want to increase your love for the Lord, improve your scripture study!

D&C 58:30-32 

D&C 82:10

D&C 131:20-21

D&C 18: 15-16

My scripture of the week is one of my all time favorites... 2 Corinthians 5:9. We labor diligently to do that which is good, whether others are watching or not, for the Lord. 

Fun Facts:

1. We were at the church 11 hours yesterday.... my brain was pretty much mush afterwards....

2. I ordered a German name tag because we teach a German exchange student!

3. SHOUT OUT TO MY DAD FOR CATCHING SOME SICK AIR ON THE RAZOR

crazy story!!!! last week we did an unannounced visit at 9pm to a set of elders (we will be doing that more) and caught them sleeping and found a pg-13 movie on their tv.... ha!! dang we threw down, then president called them on the phone that day rebuked them..... i felt bad but they needed it. President told them to go home if they wont be obedient, that the Lord or him doesn't want them out here if they wont keep the rules. One of the elders called us up the next day and thanked us for it. it opened his eyes of why he was on a mission. now he has changed his attitude and working hard! the other elder.... not so much. he is still way mad hahah. but we aren't on a mission to 'be cool' we are here to be disciples! we have a zone meeting thisFriday and we are giving a training called, "Can you feel so now?" It is from Alma 5. It is going to be a sweet motivational training hah. I cant wait :) Acts 5: 41-42

#56 - Much luv from India... I mean Indiana

This week we have worked super hard trying to find new investigators! These hoosiers keep us on our toes thats for sure! Last night we went out looking for a former investigator who was in our area book. After talking with her we decided to knock down her street and meet her neighbors. We had a huge miracle! 5 different people let us in their home to teach them! Needless to say we will be working much more in that neighborhood!

We dont get to see the weather report very often and I gets very challenging trying to guess what we will get each day. Im used to Arizona where everyday is sunny and hot! On Thursday we went out in the morning and it was hot and sunny but by 3 pm it was pouring!! haha we had a good run back to the car!

We had a good exchange with the spanish missionaries this week. I took Elder Gerdez to Franklin. He has only been out 2 weeks and is learning spanish very quickly! 

God bless and have a good week!​

#55 - The best two years!!!

 The awesome Ogilvies!

 Exchanges with Elder Thompson

It has been a great week! We have been working hard and seeing many miracles as we follow the spirit. Franklin is a great area and I am excited to work hard. My new companion is Elder Morgan. He was born in New York but lived his teenage years in Provo. 

This Friday we are starting a ward volleyball night! We are super excited for it! We also have been going on a lot of exchanges! I am really excited to go on the exchanges! It seems every time we go on one we find super solid people to teach!! Last week I went down to Columbus and went with Elder Thompson. We found a guy named Michael, who will be coming to church this next week! We also found a man named Gary who loves the Book of Mormon and wants his family to take the lessons! Miracles happen! 

Our teaching pool is about the size of a pond right now, but you know what that means.... Its time to hit the pavement!

Each area I find more and more weights to add to my collection :) Here in Franklin I was blessed to find a bench in one of the sisters sheds!! We have about 300lbs all together and a bench hahaha. And Elder Morgan and I are starting this workout program in the mornings called "Air Alert III." apparently it will increase your vertical by 5 inches haha. We shall see!

Fun Facts:

We went to Goodwill and I found a suit that fits! I will send a pic of it sometime haha!

When you teach a drunk guy dont expect him to remember much.

People here love their hoosier geese 

My new address!!

2909 Traditions Ct.

Franklin, IN 46131

elder morgan is wonderful! one of my best comps. he has been a zl for 2 transfers now. this is his 3rd area. he works hard and we teach great together! his dad is a professor at byu! he was raised in new york but lived in utah for highschool. he has been out one transfer longer than me. 

franklin is great! the ward needs some encouraging, i am focusing on building member trust! members need to feel comfortable and friends. we are starting a volleyball night every week starting friday night! we are excited for it! when i got here they had one solid gator but they had to give her over to the sisters. we pretty much started from ground 0. we have a few progressing now and hopefully one on date in a few days!! i am excited to see miracles here! i am really praying to find a family to teach and baptize. I feel we can do it :)

Being a zl has been soooo busy. it is finally starting to slow down a bit. the first 2 weeks of transfers are always super busy for us. we are running around getting supplies, setting goals, doing exchanges, and all these other things. we have 16 companionships in our zone!! that is huge!! if you can mom id rather you not tell the whole world im a zl. just keep it on the down low. out here i see missionary moms tell us, "oh my son is a district leader," or zl, or ap... of course they are proud of their kid but id rather keep it quieter.  

oh, i love the Ogilvies! do you know how there is fantasy football where you can draft a team for yourself? ya well if there was a fantasy ward i would definitely have there family in mine!

love ya! i got 56 emails today so i might not get to send a huge email out today.

transfers are always a blast to see old comps and friends! i was talking with elder clark and this saturday we have set a goal to both do 2000 pushups in a day!! that is a bunch, but if we break it up into 4 sets of 500 we could do it! my first mlc (mission leadership council) is on the 15th of this month. i was the only one newly called as zl this transfer. were you ever a zl?

wow that is amazing!! my comp and i just read that little trivia. i knew he did their temple work and everything but the story always has amazed me! im excited for your trip to the lake and utah!! send me plenty of vids!!!!

it has been funny to see presidents perspective changes. he came out thinking every missionary was a saint, which are good intentions, but i can tell he has had his eyes opened to some things ha. he is doing wonderful and id say really helping the mish straighten out! i talked to him on the phone a few days ago and we discussed what the options are. 

love you!