Monday June 26, 2017 St. Maries, ID

1. It looks like you maybe had a zone conference or something's this week. Tell us about that.

1. Yes, we did. It was good. We learned a lot about the pre earth life and the need for the fall of Adam and Eve. Everything tied back to our purpose as missionaries. Pres. Dymock was the seminary institute director at usu, so he is crazy smart and loves to blow our mind with the things he teaches. It’s always good to hear from him. He makes us think really hard.

2. How far do you have to travel to go to meetings like that?

2. We drive about an hour to an hour and a half.

3. Did you do service at the thrift shop this week?

3. We tried but they didn’t have anything for us to do.

4. How was your temple trip last week? How far are you from the temple?

4. It was great. It took a big chunk of our day out but it was worth it.

Well this update won’t be too long. We had our temple day on Tuesday and zone conference on Thursday and then a ward bbq on Saturday. Then we went back up to Coeur d’Alene on Sunday to practice for a missionary musical fireside thing that we will be doing. It will be pretty good. It just takes a lot of time to get up there and also a lot of miles we could use for missionary work. But it will be good. They’re having Claire Ryann Crosby come to perform for us (if you don’t know who that is it’s the little girl that sings the Gethsemane song on YouTube.) It’s turned into a big deal I guess.

This week should be more full of work because we don’t have a bunch of meetings to go to. Like I said, we learned a lot at zone conference and it was a really good spiritual experience. We learned the need for the atonement as well. It’s too hard to explain all that we learned because there’s just way too much to even try to explain, but it was good.

I’ve learned something while I’ve been out here. It’s something that God has been trying to get me to learn since day one and that is that the Gospel is for everyone. And I mean everyone! The rich and the poor. The parents and the kids. The druggies and the doctors. It is for everyone. We cannot judge by looks or personality. They are all God’s children and we have a right and a duty to give them the most important thing, the Gospel. It would be selfish and prideful to not share what we have so freely been given. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that when I talk to the homeless people on the street or when I knock on the door of a really wealthy person. But this Gospel is for everyone and I have gained a testimony of that while I’ve been here on a mission.

Well I hope you have a good week and that you’re having fun! Love ya!

-Elder St. John 

Tuesday June 20, 2017 St. Maries, ID

Hey! First, thanks for the little package! 

1. Please explain your pictures from last week. You know, with the deer???

1. So we were tracting and we had just knocked a door and nobody answered so we were walking down the street to the next house and we looked up and this deer was just walking around coming right towards us. We stopped and it just came right up to us and started rubbing up against us and stuff. It was so weird. It turns out that it was raised by these people that lived at the house that we were going to next. It was super funny! It was like a pet. 

2. What was the best thing that happened this week?

2. The best thing that happened was that we taught a lot of lessons this week to a couple of new people. That was way cool. From that we found 3 new investigators this week!

3. What was the funniest thing that happened this week?

3. Well I don’t know. Funny stuff just happens to us all the time but I’ve gotten so used to it that I don’t even recognize it anymore. We talked to a guy from North Carolina and he was super southern. Thick accent and way Baptist. But it was super funny cuz he would yell everything he said. Weird stuff like that happens almost every day. 

4. What was the best thing you cooked for yourself this week?

4. We made these way good chicken burritos. 

5. When are your next transfers?

5. We get the calls not this Sunday but the next one. Transfer day is on the 4th of July. 

Update on this week. We did a lot of missionary work. I know big surprise. But we have been working in an area called Alder Creek and a place called the Benewah. We found 3 new investigators this week. One family is German and they are immigrants and they live out in the middle of nowhere. So they have kept a very heavy accent. They are super interested and ready to learn. They’re a little weird but they have definitely been prepared by the Lord!

Another investigator we found lives in Harrison and her name is Paulette. She is an older lady and is super nice so we will be working with her too.

If you’re wondering why I’m emailing today, it’s because they switched the rules with temple trips. We have to go on our pday and so our temple day was today so they moved our pday to today. Sorry to make you scared.

There’s not much to update on besides that. It sounds like you are having a lot of fun there and a lot of work prepping for the wedding. Good luck and know that I am very happy that I don’t have to be there for it. Well I love you all. Talk to ya next week!

-Elder St. John 

Monday June 12, 2017 St. Maries, ID

1. How long has your companion been out?
1. A little over 6 months. He came out with Elder Chamberlain who I trained.

2. Do you get fed by members in this area every day, or no?

2. Not very much like 2 times a week maybe.

3. How was your bike ride last week?

3. It was way fun! 26 miles and some really pretty views.

So this week has been great! We had a baptism for the 14-year-old girl Isabella. It was really great to see her start her life off with a good choice like that. We have been working really hard and have been seeing miracles. We have quite a few investigators in that area just waiting for a sure answer. We will keep praying for them, bringing the Spirit in to bless their life and help them recognize the answers that they are getting.

One thing that I learned this week was about fasting. Yesterday we decided to fast for our investigators. We fasted morning til night, 3 meals, 24 hours. It was hard because we did a lot of walking. We went out and visited people and talked with people from 4 until 9pm. It was a long hard day and we were getting nothing. People were nice but "not interested". We kept going even though we both felt like giving up but then we just decided that we could do it.

We were both starving and tired and then the very last door at 8:15 we knocked and it was the house of a very well-known person in the community and everybody knows them in the town of St. Maries. They talked to us for a long time! We found some great service opportunities and ended up being able to talk about the Gospel finding that they were very open and willing to learn. We gave them a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets and committed them to read. It was just a testament of how God will bless us if we stay diligent. It also helped me gain a huge testimony of fasting and how God recognizes our sacrifices for Him and will bless us accordingly. 

PS: I need some hair stuff this week please. Also some allergy pills would be nice too. Thanks!

-Elder St. John  

Monday June 5, 2017 St. Maries, ID

Monday June 5, 2017

Hi!

 

1. What was the most fun thing you did this week?

1.The most fun thing we did this week was probably tracting out a small town in one day. That was pretty fun. Also, we went to the Idaho Falls temple re dedication on Sunday. All fun things.

 

2. What was your most spiritual experience you had this week?

2. Well this week we went to a little town called Harrison to do some service and then we ate lunch and we just decided to get some ice cream from the ice cream shop. There was this 16 year old kid working there so we struck up a conversation with him and ended up talking to him for like an hour and half. Ends up that his dad is the pastor of the town’s Baptist church and he was really nice and open to us. Not super willing to change yet but we have a good start. It was just cool to see that the Spirit will guide you to those who are being prepared even when you don’t recognize that the Spirit is talking to you. Also, the knowledge that the gospel is for anyone helped because it didn’t turn us away when he said that his dad was a preacher. 

 

3. Tell us about at least one person you're teaching.

3. So one person that is progressing is Audrey. She’s in her 30's and has two little boys and is a single mom. She is sooo close to baptism I can tell. Her hang up is that she is just waiting to have a spiritual confirmation that it’s true. But really she just need to open her eyes to the answers that are already right in front of her. 

 

Well my week was good. The weather has been up and down. Rainy and 50's to sunny and 80's but I can’t wait for it to be nice and warm consistently. Nothing too new. Just working hard. The work was a little slow over Memorial Day weekend but it’s started to pick back up.

 

We tracted out the little town of Caulder in one day. We found one or two potential investigators but nothing major. We are trying to do more work on the outer edges of our area because the town of St. Maries has been hit like 3 million times. So we've been trying to work some other little places first. It’s been going good. We have had people tell us that they have never seen missionaries in their town until us so it’s been an adventure.

 

My ward mission leader here is amazing. His name is Brother Bryce and he’s a temple sealer as well (he’s kinda like Grandpa Mark). I love him! He takes good care of us.

 

We have a fun thing planned today. We’re doing this sweet bike ride that takes us over a bridge over the lake so it should be really cool. Well love ya! Talk to ya next week!

 

-Elder St.John