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