Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Monday April 24, 2017 Millwood, WA

Hey! Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

Where do you do your laundry now?
We do our laundry at a member’s house. They do it for us. They’re awesome!

Do you have any plans for your birthday...I know you can't have many plans, but did you get yourself a cake or anything?
Umm kinda... you got the text from Sis. Christensen so that’s pretty much the plan.

I've been wondering, what do you Elders do for service there in Millwood?
Just random stuff. We don’t do too much service. 

Thanks for the update. I did get the package thanks sooooo much!!!! Those things are awesome! You guys are the best!

So this week was actually really good! We had a great lesson with our investigator Mary. She is so solid. We had a great lesson and we put her on date! She is set to be baptized on the 20th of May! That’s really exciting especially because the work has been pretty slow here for a while so that’s one of the highlights for my week!

So the next thing is that we were having dinner at the Christensen’s and we shared a lesson and we asked if they would invite somebody for us to teach in their home and they decided that they would trust us with their deaf sister! So now I have to really brush up on my ASL because they want us to teach a lesson in sign language! So that’s crazy! They’re putting a lot of trust in us. By the way, Elder McKnight knows ASL too. He learned it when he was growing up so he’s pretty fluent. But that’s the most exciting things for this week and also my birthday! So over all it’s been a really good couple of days!

Well I’ll send some pics and try to do better at that...we'll see. But thanks again. Love you all! Talk to ya later!
-Elder St. John

 Check out this nice house!
 With his birthday gear!
 

We got another text from the Christensen's on Sunday night. They're the same family that fed Colten & his other companion a couple of weeks ago. They fed these two on Sunday night and found out Colten's birthday is this week. They're having them back to eat dinner on Wednesday night to celebrate Colten's birthday. They asked for the recipe of Colten's favorite chocolate cake and also wanted to know what his favorite meal is. Lucky, lucky boy, he's gonna eat salmon this week! People are very nice.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Monday April 17, 2017 Millwood, WA

Hi

1. Most importantly...how's the new companion? Tell us about him.
1. His name is Elder McKnight! He’s from Gainesville, Florida! So that’s new. He’s awesome and is a really hard worker so we should get a lot done.

2. The secretary at Brooke's kids' school has a daughter that recently returned from your mission and knew you when you served in Kamiah. Something about a broken syrup bottle?
2. Yeah her name is Sister Lott! She’s awesome!

3. Did you get our package? Are you happy I didn't forget an Easter tie this year?
3. Yes I did! Thank you soooo much. It was awesome. (I still don’t really like peeps but thanks anyway!)

4. How was your Easter? Did you get to eat at someone's house? Anything good?
4. Easter was awesome! We ate at the Hyde’s. Ham and stuff.

5. Do you need more pro active?
5. Not at the moment. Maybe in a couple weeks.

6. Where do you do your grocery shopping now that you're in a city?
6. Walmart!

7. Dad's wondering if you miss have protein powder?
7. I don’t because I have some! The one we used to get. The cookies and cream. Tyler sent it to me a while ago.

8. Your birthday is coming up - any requests?
8. Hmmm I don’t really know. I had some ideas and then I forgot. A good soccer ball? Maybe?

9. Are you ever going to send me another picture? It's been a long time.
9. I’ll think about it. ;)

So, this week was good. A little crazy with transfers and stuff but it was really good. We worked hard and found a couple of new people we might be able to teach. I’ll keep you updated. We have been working really hard to get people to teach and that has taken up most of our time. Things are looking up around here with the Easter time and better weather (hopefully) we will start getting the work going.

That’s really all that’s going on here. Our investigator Shelby had his wife and kids walk out on him the other day. So, that makes it hard on him. I hope he sees that he needs a change in his life. This gospel changes people more than anything I’ve ever seen. It’s really cool to see the light of Christ enter into people and start making them more than they ever thought they could be.

We had a really good Easter today in our ward. It was really good because it was actually sunny! We had a great program with lots of good singers! West Valley has a lot of talented people. I love the tie you sent. It’s interesting. I’ve never seen one like it before! I’m disappointed that there was no egg hunt at our house this year. So, my little sisters need to step up their game. I do miss holidays with the family. But I don’t miss the pictures. Sorry mom.

Well love ya!

-Elder St. John 
 

 
A nice lady in Walmart stopped these Elders, took a picture of them and texted it to their moms. Bless her heart.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Monday April 10, 2017 Millwood, WA

Hey! Well this week has been good.

1. You mentioned poor health last week. Were you sick, or your companion, or both?
1. Yeah mostly me being sick with just weird muscle aches and stuff but I’m better now.

2. You also mentioned having to modify your p-day last week because of the big NCAA game. Gonzaga lost as I'm sure you know. How did your town react?
2. People were disappointed but nothing really that bad. They just moved on with their lives.

3. Have you been using the Easter video and cards in your work this month?
3. Yes a ton! They’re great for getting into people’s houses and sharing Christ with them.

4. Do you attend just one ward in your area now? What are your duties there?
4. Yup just one. What do you mean by duties? We just do missionary work.

Well this week was better. The weather has been the same. It snowed this morning. Super lame. It sounds like you had a good time in San Diego like always. I do miss it.

This week we had some referrals come up to us from some other missionaries and we followed up with them and it seems like at least one of them is interested so hopefully we can get the ball rolling here.

It was transfer calls last night and I found out that Elder Holmgren is leaving. He is going to Kamiah!!!! Crazy he’s going to my old area and I’m way excited for him. My next comp will come tomorrow so that’s exciting. I hope he’s a good missionary so that we can get the work going in this area. His name is Elder McNight I think. I’ll find out tomorrow.

Well that’s all that’s new. Nothing crazy. Our mission for zone training studied D&C 88 and we went really deep into stuff. I’ve never learned so much about the gospel ever! I’m really happy for all the knowledge I’m gaining out here - it’s amazing. Read the scriptures, they answer all the questions we have. Well love ya and talk to ya later!

(also I could use some more hair stuff soon please)

-Elder St. John

We received this picture from a family who fed Elder St. John and Elder Holmgren on Sunday this week. We're thankful for any texts we receive like this because Elder St. John is pretty much the worst at sending pictures.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Monday April 3, 2017 Millwood, WA

Well hello.

1. How was your Conference watching experience in this new area?
1. It was really good. I think Conference is easier to listen to on a mission and the speakers always seem to touch you in a different way.

2. Where did you watch conference?
2. We watched it at the church building.

3. What was your favorite talk?
3. My favorite talk was probably Pres. Eyring’s in the Priesthood session. It was really cool.

4. Gonzaga won their game on Saturday and they play North Carolilna for the championship Monday night. Is your town going crazy?
4. It’s going mildly crazy...we have to switch our p day schedule a little because people are really into it. 

So this week was a little rough lots of rain and rain and rain and poor health. But the work moves on. Not too much to update on. I loved General Conference. It really brightened up my week. We got to watch it in the church building which I am thankful for. It gives us a good environment to focus in. I learned a lot and I look forward to being able to study the talks some more when they come out.

So kinda a cool story. First we have the Marshallese elders in our district (if you don’t know what that is look up the marshal islands) but Elder Chen is the only one right now because his companion got et'd (emergency transferred) the other week. So he’s one man running it right now. So he comes with us in a trio every once in a while. On Sunday we went to go do a baptism interview for one of his investigators. Obviously I don’t know Marshallese but that’s ok. We got a translator so help out. But it was really cool. They have a very different culture. We had the interview between sessions of conference so we were there and conference was starting so we just watched it there. It was cool.

Well have fun in San Diego! How long are you there for? Don’t get sunburnt as bad as I usually do! Love ya! Have fun.

-Elder St. John