Monday August 27, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. How's the smoke now?

1. The smoke has gone down, and it is raining today so we are all good now.

2. What's your schedule like for the last couple of days in the mission?

2. Well Elder Robb drops me off at 10:15 tomorrow morning for a departing interview and then I’ll go to the temple with President Thompson and others and we will have dinner, a departing devotional and then spend the night somewhere near the mission home and fly out the next morning.

3. What are you most excited about for coming home?

3. That’s a hard one. Probably to see family and friends again. But there are a lot of things I’m excited for!

4. What part of your mission will you miss the most?

4. All of it! But mostly the experiences of witnessing God’s hand in the lives of others and seeing people change their lives and becoming changed through the gospel. (Sorry that’s the most basic missionary answer but it’s true.)

So honestly, I don’t really want to write anything. But it has been a wild ride hasn’t it?  I will miss every second of being out here on a mission. I feel like I have grown and changed so much and seen so many great things happen. I will never forget the things I’ve learned. I hope you know I’ve changed. I’m still the same person of course…like I’m still Colten. But I have become a different person. Hopefully better. So don’t expect the same Colten you once knew! I am super excited to see you and "give you a dang hug!" Love ya and I will see you soon! 

Monday August 20, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. Can you tell us about the bike trail/ride you went on last week?

1. The Hiawatha is the famous bike trail in North Idaho. It is about 13 miles long and used to be a railroad so it’s very gradual downhill the whole way. It is very gorgeous and has the super cool tunnel that is 1 1/2 miles long so you need a pretty good light. It has like 10 tunnels and 7 tall trestles so it’s pretty cool. It’s something everyone up here should do at least once…or 7 seven times. 

2. What does this last full week of being in the mission look like? Meetings/normal week?

2. Mostly just a normal week! But Thursday we get to go to the temple and also do baptisms with some recent converts. That will be a blast. Besides that we are just busy with lessons and working 

3. Please update us on your investigators!

3.Ok

This week has been good. Besides the smoke! Apparently, Spokane is now the worst city in the country for air quality. It is super bad! Like we aren’t allowed to walk to appointments even.

But anyway…the Blake family is hitting some bumps in the road, so we had to slow things down a lot for them. They are still really solid they just have a lot of life changes that they have to make which is super hard for them. 

Caleb is moving to California this Wednesday and so we are giving him a present tomorrow for his birthday. We got him a quad with his name engraved on it! He will love it. He is planning to get baptized this winter! 

That’s pretty much it! It should be a great busy week and it will probably go way too fast! But I love ya and good luck to my sisters at school this week!

Talk to ya next week!(in person!) haha Love ya!

-Elder St. John

These are all pictures we've received from members who have helped take care of our Elder in the last couple of weeks. We are so thankful for the great people of Spokane for taking such great care of Elder St. John!

Monday August 13, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

Monday August 13, 2018

Hey mom! So I’ll try my best to send a good email but we are going on the Hiawatha bike trail today so we will be super busy! I'll send pics when I can.

1. We're basically on fire here. Are there any fires near where you are?

1. Kind of. Not too many but it's been a little smoky.

2. How many times did you eat with members this week?

2. Pretty much every day but one.

3. Do you ever hear from fellow missionaries about any of your old areas and how any of your newly baptized people are doing?

3. Sometimes I do. But it's hard to stay connected when you’re a missionary. 

4. How was your big zone conference last week?

4. Great!

5. Update us on your family of 5 on date for baptism and also the younger guy waiting til December.

5. I'll have to update you next week. But the Hiawatha was a blast!

Monday August 6, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. Can you give us an update about your 18-year-old that wants to be baptized? Any progress with his parents?

1. Yeah I’ll update down below.

2. What about the lady in the hospital?

2. Same

3. Now that you’re headed to the finish line what things about Washington will you miss?

3. Haha well! I will miss a lot of things. There is this great pacific northwest culture up here that I have grown to love. But I will miss the trees! I know there are trees in Utah but it’s not quite the same. 

4. Have you started the coming home program they have the missionaries do now? I can’t remember what it’s called.

4. Yes it’s called My Plan. Some of it seems kinda silly because I’ve had a plan for a long time but there is a lot of it that is very helpful. Gets me thinking about the future. 

So this week was pretty crazy! God has given us some serious blessings this week. This is going to be hard to update you on, but I’ll try my best.

First off. The 18-year-old had a long talk with his parents and they want him to really make sure that he wants to join the church. Which is kinda ridiculous because he has asked like every question ever. He knows more than any other person I’ve taught. But he has decided to try to respect his parents and also be a part our church so he is waiting until December to get baptized so that’s good and also frustrating.

Second. We went over to give a blessing to Trina who is the lady who was in the hospital. So we went over Monday night and her whole family was there. Tommy who is 18 and engaged to his girlfriend Mara were also there. Along with her son Rylin, daughter Taylor and son Preston. We gave Trina a blessing and then after a long talk and a lot of teaching we gave Tommy a blessing too.

Backtrack about a month ago…we got haircuts and the girl who cut Elder Robb’s hair was talking to him about God and she wanted to learn more and gave us her number on the back of the receipt. Well a couple days later we realized we had lost the number! We were super bummed and then we show up at Trina’s and guess who is there? Mara, the girl who cut Elder Robb’s hair! She just happens to be engaged to Tommy, Trina’s son! What the heck!

Ok, then we give Trina a blessing. We get talking with Tommy and he has had a rough past year and really needed some God in his life. But, right at first, he was very opposed to missionaries and God and he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. But, after a blessing to Trina he was curious and we convinced him to let us give him a blessing! I’ll tell you what, there was a lot more that went into this that is just too hard for me to explain but it was a very spiritual experience and at the end of the night we were planning on meeting with the whole family on Wednesday. After meeting on Wednesday, we now have a family of 5 people on date for baptism and they came to church on Sunday! Overall that’s probably confusing but we have been so blessed to find this family and they are so ready for the gospel! 

That’s about all for this week. It was pretty crazy though! Tomorrow we have zone conference with about a 3rd of the mission so it will be huge! I’m super excited but also sad because it will be my last zone conference! 

I don’t know if you remember them but Elder King and Elder Bennett (from my mtc group) fly home today so that’s a little weird. 

Love ya!

-Elder St. John

MLC

 Elder Jackson, Elder Bennett, Elder St. John, Elder King

Monday July 30, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. Is it hot where you are?

1. Kinda. Not too crazy. It’s mostly been in the high 80's low 90's, but this week it’s supposed to climb into the 100's a little bit.

2. Do you ride your bikes anywhere in this area?

2. Yeah, we ride our bikes pretty often actually.

3. Are you still riding buses?

3. No that was just that one area. We don’t ride them here at all.

4. Do you have any pictures of just yourself you'd like to share in the ward newsletter?

4. Maybe I’ll see.

So this week was pretty insane!! It was crazy busy working with the people we were given. I’ll do my best to tell the stories from this week but it probably won’t be that cool to you.

First off, we have been stressed about our friend Caleb who is 18 and just graduated. He wanted to be baptized on the 11 of august but his parents are a part of a church called Real Life (don’t get me started on what that church does). He has been scared to tell them that he was going to get baptized until this last week and they didn’t like the idea of him committing to something like that. So, they said they want him to wait a full year, which in my book is pretty ridiculous! He really wants to get baptized so I’m not sure what will happen but prayers for him and his parent’s hearts to be softened would be needed! 

Second, we have been teaching this lady named Trina and her life is totally falling apart and she really needs the gospel. She hurt her wrist and didn’t know what was wrong with it for about a week. After several doctors’ appointments and meds and a whole lot of stress they finally found that she had an infection in her arm! Her wrist was crazy swollen too. She had to get surgery right away and while she was out after her surgery her son and ex-husband showed up and the son and ex-husband got in a fight and the son punched his dad in the face and broke his jaw! The son got put in jail and the dad went in for a jaw surgery to get it fixed right away. (didn’t even have to drive to the hospital since that’s where the fight took place!) So, that has been really crazy for her. She is recovering now and has been very humbled as you can tell. She wants to be baptized sometime in September, so we will be working with her. She is an amazing lady and would be an amazing member and has some spunk that this ward needs.

Third, we are teaching a 9-year-old girl named Alora and she is super awesome. They are in a part member family and are super nice. 

Well that’s my update for the week. It sure has been a crazy one. But its good and it keeps me busy. Well I hope you have a great week and do some fun stuff as summer starts to wind down. Love ya!

-Elder St. John

Monday July 23, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

Monday July 23, 2018

1. Are you hanging tough through your last transfer? Working hard, not losing interest?

1. Oh yeah. I’m doing just fine. Don’t worry.

2. Have most of the Elders you came out with gone home now?

2. Not yet. The earliest they leave is in like 2 weeks. There’s a couple that go in the middle of August and then me and the couple Elders with me. I think there will only be 4 of us that fly into Salt Lake. Elder Jackson is one of them.

3. We have our ward newsletter for August coming out next week. They always like me to send in a picture and a little synopsis about how you're doing. With this being your last message is there anything in particular you'd like me to include? Words of wisdom? And a picture of yourself?

3. I’ll try and type something down below.

So this week was crazy and fun and just a great missionary week. We had transfers on Thursday and then we spent the whole day rearranging our apartment and getting things figured out so that we could just have Elder Robb and I live in it. So, we have a bunch of extra shelves and tables and stuff because our apartment got changed from a 4 man to a 2 man. We have a lot of extra room now. So that was exciting and then the rest of the week we worked and Sunday night we saw a miracle…

We have this lady we are teaching that has been super hard to meet with. We called her and she said she could meet that night at 8 which was in a half an hour. So we called our good member friends who are our fellowship for her and they dropped everything and came to a lesson on the spot. They are awesome. We had a super good lesson and we put her on date for baptism! So things in this area are starting to look up. It has taken a lot of patience to find people who are ready but God puts them in our path on His timing not ours.

As for a little message… I want everyone to know that our God is a God of miracles. He has always worked through his imperfect children to change our lives and the lives of those around us. Moroni 7:35-37 states:

35And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I 

have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the 

last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased? 

36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the 

power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth 

shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

The day of miracles has not ceased! I have seen miracle after miracle in my life and I know that our Father in Heaven’s hand is always stretched out to guide us and help us. He won’t ever leave us alone. He just waits until we are ready to let Him in. It is through the power of his Son’s Atonement that we can be cleansed and return to live with him we just have to trust Him. We have to have enough faith to act. To be able to make changes in our live that bring our will in line with his. Then we can be ready to make covenants with him. Binding promises that hold us close and give us the strength and power to overcome the struggles of this life. If we live that way we will be healed of our sins and become better than we can even imagine. It brings me great joy to live the Gospel I don’t know what my life would be like without it. 

Love ya!

-Elder St. John

Monday July 16, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

Hi Mom -

This week was good. We worked hard and found a couple new people to teach. 

We got transfers today and Elder Robb and I are staying here in this area. But they are sweeping out the other Elders in our zone with sisters. They are also combining our zone with another zone so I will be in a district with 3 sets of sisters and just Elder Robb and me. So...looks like I will be running a relief society. Haha

So I enter my last 6 weeks. First off it doesn't feel real yet. And second off I'm super excited for what lies ahead.

-Elder St. John

Monday July 9, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. How were your meetings with the new mission president?

1. They were great! He is awesome! Super youthful and excited about the work. 

2. It looks like he has kids that are young - did you get to hear from them?

2. Yes, he has a 16 year old a 13, 11, 7 year old with him.

3. What was the best thing you ate this week?

3. Probably some grilled chicken or something. Nothing too exciting. I think I had pizza like 3 times this week.

4. What was your favorite thing you studied recently?

4. So lately I've been studying the Book of Mormon and looking for examples of faith and prayer and it's pretty cool!

5. Did you do anything for the 4th of July?

5. We met our new president and that was pretty much it. 

So this week was good. We had mlc on Tuesday and the mission president tour thing on Wednesday. So that made this week feel a little short. 

We had an awesome miracle last night. So we tried this person that we have had a lot of trouble getting in with and miraculously we got in and taught their family. It was amazing. It doesn't sound like too much of a miracle when I say it like that, but if you were in my shoes you would understand how great it was. 

I have seen so many miracles every day it's crazy. I know the Lord leads his work. I have been changed by the things that have happened here.

-Elder St. John

Monday July 2, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. How was saying goodbye to Pres & Sis Dymock?

1. It was kinda sad. But you know how I am with goodbyes. They don't bother me that bad. 

2. What is your first impression of the new mission Pres.?

2. I couldn't tell ya, I haven’t met him yet.

3. When are the next transfers?

3. July 19th is when my last transfer starts.

4. Are you pretty sure you'll just stay where you are til the end?

4. I'm pretty sure I will but you never know. 

5. What was the highlight of your week?

5. Hmmm👇

Well I'll tell you what. So emergency transfers happened right. The elder that got to our apartment is Elder Kritter and he got there on Tuesday. We had exchanges with the assistants on Tuesday and then on Wednesday Elder Kritter was just meandering his way out to work and BANG his knee just exploded!!! Dislocated (it's called a supulation) but they took him to the er and found out he has a tumor in his knee that's twice the size of his knee cap. Don't worry it is benign so he might not even get it removed. So I know I'm weird, but I find it super fascinating and so that was the highlight of my week. 

Besides that, my week was fine. The work is a little slow but not bad. Our area is tiny so it's pretty repetitive. 

This week we have mlc tomorrow so I will meet the new president there. And then we have a mission tour where President Thompson will go to the whole mission and meet everyone. So it will be busy and a lot of work but it will be good. Well I love you and I’m glad to see Logan home and doing well. Say hi for me! 

- Elder St. John

Bikes in the apartment

 We flipped an Elders desk. It was pretty funny!

 Spokane

Monday June 25, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. Tell us about "The Villages" that you live in? How big is your apartment, what color is it, is your bed comfy etc.(We googled his address & it showed he lived in a big apartment complex called the Villages – turns out he doesn’t live there)
1. What the heck do you mean by villages? It's just a normal apartment nothing to special. Everything there is just mediocre just like every other missionary apartment.

2. Do you have any furniture in your apartment besides the used desk you found and your beds?

2. Well we have a table our desks and dressers some shelves. 

3. Have you talked to any of the other tenants of your apartment complex?

3. A couple of them. Most are kind of sick of talking to missionaries. 

4. Do you go to the nearby Fred Meyers to buy your groceries and other necessities?

4. Nope we just go to Wal-Mart.

5. Have you gone to the Five Guys near you? and if Yes, how was it? If no, Why not?

5. We have not. Mostly because of time and money. 

Well so crazy story this week. One of the elders in my apartment just got et'ed today! (Emergency transferred) along with some other elders in the mission so that was fun. Other than that, we had a great week we found 4 new investigators! And we are working hard.

Yesterday we had stake coordination meeting. I don't know if I told you what that is. But we meet with the stake president the mission president and the high counselor over missionary work. So it's a sweet meeting.  But that was on Sunday and it went forever long! Like almost 2 hrs., which is pretty long. 

So I get to see President Dymock as President Dymock for the last time on Tuesday for a temple recommend interview. I will miss him a lot. He has taught me so much. He flies out on Saturday. And President Thompson gets here that day as well. It should bring good change to the mission, but we will miss him a lot. 

Well thanks for the good email. Logan gets home this week which might be the second most weird thing ever. But I guess that time had to come. I also got the allergy pills today so thank you very much! Love ya!

-Elder St. John

Pday in Coeur d'lane

Monday June 18, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. When does your current mission president leave to go home?

1. He leaves not this Saturday but the next. 

2. Do you have a big meeting to meet the new one or does that just happen at zone conferences?

2. So we have zone conference this Tuesday and then we will have a mission tour next week to meet the new mission president. 

3. Who are the Elders you share an apartment with and how long have they been out?

3. Elders Brinkerhoff and Williams. 1 year and the other 9 months. So basically, I'm ancient. 

4. How are the two wards that you're serving in different from each other?

4. One has a ton of youth and the other doesn't and that's pretty much it. 

So this week was good. To start, last p-day my companion just happened to dislocate his pointer finger playing a dodgeball sort of game. That was pretty fun because he trusted me to put it back in place for him. That was pretty cool.  

Well we are just doing the normal work here as usual. I don’t really have much to write about like normal. Pretty much cuz there aren’t things to say. I guess one thing is that we have been doing service for this guy in his yard and he is super picky. But it’s kinda fun because its service.

There is a lot of member support here. I feel like I’m in a Utah ward. It’s pretty great. The members take super good care of us and we get dinners like every night. One family gave us 2 lbs of shrimp to take home because we had been craving shrimp! There are a lot of wealthy families here. It’s different. But a good different. This week should be good. We have a sports youth activity on Saturday so I might get to play some sport of some sort.

So funny story… the other Elders called us saying there was a free desk on the side of the road and they needed us to come pick it up for them. So, we spent like 20 minutes trying to fit this desk into our Corolla which was going to be impossible! At the best time a member decides to roll up in a truck and offers to take it to our apartment. So now we have an extra desk in our apartment just sitting in the hallway. So that’s fun.

We had stake conference this weekend which is always fun. I feel like I’ve been to like 6 or 7 stake conferences on my mission. I don’t know if that’s normal or not but it was good. This week they talked a lot about the sacrament and how to honor it and prepare for it. They also said some bold statements of how to treat other people it was a good time. 

Well that’s all I got. I don’t really know what you are expecting me to say each week when I have been doing literally the same thing for like 90 weeks. But I love you guys! Hope you have a good week!

-Elder St. John

 My companion's finger

All the stuff we got from Panda Express today

Monday June 11, 2018 Spokane Valley, WA

1. How did your transfer go?

1. Great!

2. I guess that means you left before your scheduled baptism? How did that go?

2. The date got moved so it hasn’t happened yet.

3. What's your new address?

3. 15719 E. 4th Ave. Apartment 15 Spokane valley. 

4. Do you live in an apartment/house? With another companionship?

4. Apartment with another companionship.

Well this week has been good. I got transferred to the valley, Sullivan and Ridge Crest wards, with Elder Robb who was trained by Elder Jackson in St. Maries. It’s a blast! He is super cool, from Logan and does cool stuff. It’s going to be a blast.

This week there is not too much to say, and I really don’t have much to write about so I’m just adding fluff to this email so you don’t get bored. 

The valley is nice. It’s got a lot of members who are super cool and fun. Elder Robb is a hard worker and we are teaching quite a few people. If you remember my companion Elder Horman he was trained in this area 2 full years ago. It’s an interesting place to be. I’m excited to work hard here and finish strong. 

Well love ya!

-Elder St. John

Monday June 4, 2018 Spokane, WA

1. How warm has it been there?

1. 70s and 80s. 

2. How is your person you have on date doing this week? Can you tell us about her? Single/married, old/young, crazy/sane? Where does she live?

2. She is doing good. She's an older lady and she is getting baptized this weekend. She is pretty awesome!

3. Sounds like you were pretty sure you'd be staying in this area this transfer. Have you heard officially?

3. You may read below for more information on this topic.

4. I google earthed where you live. It looks like a nice, little older area. Are you guys in a house? I didn't see any apartment buildings around.

4. Yeah we live in a duplex thingy. It's a decent area. 

So we got our transfer emails this morning. And I'm leaving! I had my suspicions that I would be outta here but you just never know until it happens. I'm going to the valley to 2 wards Sullivan and Ridgecrest. I'll be with an Elder Robb, which is who Elder Jackson trained right after he was companions with me in St. Maries. So it should be good. I guess I did what the Lord needed me to do here. 

-Elder St. John