Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Monday October 30, 2017 North Spokane, WA

Hello!
1. Do you have any great pictures to send us, of your area, your living space, you and your companion?
1.Ummm I don’t know. I’ll check.

2. Do you have to be in early on Halloween?
2. Kinda. We’re not allowed to go contact random people or tract. But we can still do set appointments.

3. Does the ward your serving in have any Fall/Halloween party?
3. Yes, we had it this week on Thursday. It was fun. Someone made super good kettle corn and gave it out to people. It was good. 

4. Have you enjoyed any nice Fall weather where you're at?
4. Ehhh it’s ok. Mostly it’s just cold which is lame but that’s ok.

5. We heard that there's supposed to be some changes in the technology that missionaries use. What sort of phone do you have now? Have you heard of any changes for your mission?
5. Yes! I was going to update you. And prep you. Our mission in December is scheduled to get smart phones. Pretty crazy! Right now we have dumb slide phones that are super bad and don’t work very well. The smart phone thing sounds pretty set that we will actually get them. We will have to buy them ourselves and it has to be an android, one of the Samsung ones. I wanted you guys to know so maybe you can save money or whatever. But yeah there are some big changes that will come with that. I will let you know more when I hear about it.

Well this week was pretty uneventful besides our Thursday party. But we have been working with our investigator Tammy a lot and helping her quit smoking. It will be quite a challenge for her but I know she can do it!

This past week we have been working hard to find new people and we have some that seem promising so hopefully we can get in with them and teach them. I don’t know if I told you but we found a family that is from Afghanistan and we went over to teach the father one morning for the first time. It was very interesting. I learned a lot about the Muslim faith and even though he wasn’t interested in the end I was still happy we got to learn from him. Boy am I glad we have the gospel in our lives.

This next week we will be going to mlc (mission leadership council) on Halloween! So I will be in a long meeting then. Hopefully it goes good. But that’s about it for the week. I sure love you all! 

-Elder St. John

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Monday October 23, 2017 North Spokane, WA

Hey hey!

1. Tell us about your zone conference...particularly the part where you were all dressed in a white plastic cover from head to toe! We saw pictures on facebook.
1. Zone conference was good. I’ll give a run down below.

2. Approximately how much do you ride your bike in this area?
2. At least 2-3 times a week. So much more than before.

3. How long do Elders usually serve as zone leader?
3. Well depends on when they’re called. In our mission, they usually serve until they go home or sometimes they get a transfer or two off before they leave. Just depends.

4. Did you know Dad's birthday was last week? And that River's is tomorrow (Monday)?
4. I did. I hope they have a good one!

5. Did you get your pants ever that I sent? Did they fit?
5. Yes I did! And they fit! Thanks so much!

Well it’s good to hear from ya this week. This week we went on exchanges with the ap's and then did a lot of prep work for zone conference. That went good. For zone conference, we started by having interviews with our president. That was really good. While interviews were going on we had to inspect the cars. So I got to wear the white suit of spiritual/dirt protection. It was great. Then we had a training for several hours by President Dymock and then we trained for a long time as well. Then we had a meeting with the whole stake’s ward councils where the stake president trained on how to further the work in the stake. In total, we spent about 13 hours at the church. Crazy long time! I was really tired.

Then Saturday was good. We did a zone service project at a community garden and that was fun. I’ll send some pics. Last p-day we went on a hike and then this p-day we are getting pumpkins so we can carve them. It should be great!

But that’s about it for the week here. We have been working hard and hopefully we will have some new people to work with this next week. Well I love ya and will talk to ya later!


-Elder St. John







Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Monday October 16, 2017 North Spokane, WA

Hello Hello!

1. Can you send us some pictures of your apartment? Maybe like the street you live on so we can have a clue.
1.I will try to take some this week. 

2. How long has your companion been out?
2. One transfer longer than me. So like 6 weeks more.

3. Do you have different responsibilities in this ward than your last? If so, what are they.
3. Nope. Just always a missionary. Nothing special.

4. How much "real music" do you hear these days? Like when shopping or stopping to eat? I want to know how much of the Imagine Dragons album you've accidentally heard?
4. NONE! It kinda drives me crazy sometimes. But I just get over it. So I have heard literally none of the new album. So lame. 

This week we had a good week with not too many distractions to our missionary work. We were able to teach a lot of the investigators we have and one came to church! Tammy…the one on date for baptism in Nov. or Dec. So this area/ward is very different than what I’m used to. We have a lot of really solid members that are great leaders and they keep the ward functioning very well. There are more members than I’m used to and a lot of support in the missionary work.

Something I’ve noticed is that when a ward is ready to receive a new member and they take good care of them then God will trust them with more and more people to work with. A lot of times the missionaries are out working hard in every area and the difference is the people in the ward. If they will take care of them or not. It’s kinda interesting to see.

One cool thing that happened this week was that we tracted into an Afghanistan family who had never heard of Jesus Christ before and that was super cool. They have only been in America for 7 months. We will try to teach them as best we can. I’ve never taught anyone like that before so it should be interesting.

The elders we share a care with are pretty great. I haven’t served around a lot of missionaries like this before and its good. Just different. I miss Idaho but I’ll go back one day.

This week we will be prepping for zone conference. We have to do a lot of stuff for that now that I’m a zl. So it’s a lot of work. We have exchanges with the ap's Tuesday too, so a full week ahead of us. Well I love you!

-Elder St. John










Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Monday October 9, 2017 North Spokane, WA

Hey mom! 

1. It looks like you were at a Leadership conference this week. Tell us about that. Like something you learned.
1. It’s called mission leadership council - just where we get trained and get to help decide things for the mission. It’s cool. We learned a lot about how to work with our wards.

2. Do you ride your bike in this area a lot?
2. Yes. When we need to.

3. You said you share a car - so how exactly does that work?
3. We get it Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Then we switch off. So we get it half the week basically.

4. Do the members feed you in this area? 
4. Yeah, a little bit. More than my last area but not too much.

5. What was the best thing you ate this week?
5. Ummm 5 Guys? Maybe.

6. Where is your new companion from?
6. Centerville, Utah.

Well update this week…We had a baptism! His name is Dale. He’s the old guy I mentioned last week. It went super well and smoothly. I heard and got pictures of Mia in my last area getting baptized so that is some good news for the week.

There really isn’t too much to update on. We got a new investigator named Tammy and she is on date for the 2nd of December so that is exciting. Besides that, we’ve just been working hard to teach people and find people. It’s been good so far.

It sounds like there was a lot of death this last week and that’s pretty sad. That stuff can be hard to go through. I just know how much peace can be brought through the plan of salvation. That’s why God gave us the knowledge, so it can bring us peace. Isn’t it cool though with all the bad stuff happening that we can still go to a baptism! it just goes to show that the work of the Lord will not be stopped no matter what.

I hope you all have a good week. Love ya!

-Elder St. John 

 Dale's baptism
Mia's baptism in St. Marie's
 Mission Leadership Council 10-3-17


Monday, October 2, 2017

Monday October 2, 2017 North Spokane, WA

Hey hey…

1. Did you survive your transfer?
1. barely

2. How's the new companion?
2. He’s good. A hard worker and obedient.

3. Tell us a little about your area.
3. Well its super small. And full of houses. Suburbia but it’s a nice place and the people are nice so far. It feels like a Utah ward with just more nonmembers in the area.

4. Did you watch all of Conference? Where did you watch it?
4. Yes in the stake center.

5. It looks from you pictures last week that you did the baptism of Eric. That's cool! And were you guys driving a tractor, or just pretending?
5. Yup! And just pretending. Haha it’s for sure against the rules to drive it.

Well this week was crazy. We swept in and have been trying to get the area and the zone figured out so it’s been a lot of work and a lot of phone calls. I was sad to leave Idaho but this place will be fine. I’ll just pray to go back one day.

There really isn’t too much to update on. We are in North Spokane and have a ward with like 500 members. Not all are active but there sure is a lot. It’s different being a zone leader. I feel like I have a lot of different work to do here. But I look forward to working with more people and making more friends.

General Conference was a blast and just what I needed to get through the week.

When we first got here we found out there was a guy who is 88 and blind and mostly deaf that is getting baptized on the 7th. So we have been working that out and trying to get stuff figured out but that will go good. We see missionaries a lot more now that we are super close to them. We share a car and it’s just really different than where I was before. But things will get worked out.

Thanks for your updates! Love you –
Elder St. John 


Sunday, October 1, 2017

Monday September 25, 2017 St. Maries, ID

Hello!

1. What are your plans for general conference? Will you get to watch all of it?
1. Well I don’t know yet. And probably yes.

2. When are your next transfers? Are you hoping to stay again?
2. Well I’m getting transferred...They’re sending me to Spokane. They’re also calling me to be a zone leader so I guess I’ll be busy.

3. What's your weather been like this past week?
3. Cold. And wet.

4. And the big one...Did Eric get baptized?
4. Yes! It went awesome. I’ll send some pics. 

Well, so we got transfers and I’m going to Shadel Park Spokane and I’ll be a zone leader over the North Spokane zone. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. But it will be another adventure. I hope things go well. My new companion will be Elder Jones. I hear good things about him so I’m excited to be with a good missionary. This will be my first companion that has been out longer than me since my trainer. So it will be exciting!

Not too much to update you on. We had Eric’s baptism and that went super well. It was so cool to see the transformation he has made. With being transferred I’ll miss Mia's baptism which will be sad but I know Elder Jackson will take good care of her.

Well I hope I get the packages soon so I don’t lose them. Talk to ya later! Love ya bye!

-Elder St. John