Monday March 27, 2017 Millwood, WA

Hey to answer your questions…

1.For our ward newsletter they always ask us to put something in from our missionary. Do you have anything spiritual you'd like me to put in? Sometimes I have a hard time piecing together a little message from you seeing as you're a man of few words:)

1. Ummm I don’t know. I’ll think about it. It’s hard for me to write stuff like that when I have a lot of people to email and I don’t think about it all week until the very last moment before I email. I guess I’m just busy. But I’ll work on it.

2. Do you have a great umbrella?

2. Yeah I have a really good one. That we got at Ross or something.

3. How are your shoes holding up in all the rain?

3. Really good. The brown one’s don’t really like water but I’m in a car so it’s not that bad. 

Well this week the weather has been pretty lame. Rain, rain a little sun and then rain. This next week doesn't look too much better. So, funny thing we have a "back yard" kinda. There are squirrels that run back and forth so I decided to give them some peanuts. So now I have some squirrel friends haha.

Also on a good note we found some new investigators! That’s exciting! His name is Shebly and her name is Ulicia or something weird like that. But they are pretty cool and very humbled and ready for the gospel. It will be a very long and slow road for them but a very rewarding one as well.

So there’s this guy in a different ward who is at the same church building as our ward but he reminds me of dad. Haha. He wears a leather jacket and is about the same height, has glasses and carries the same computer thing that dad does. Made me laugh.

Well the work is starting to make a turn here. We’ve been working a lot on member trust because there is a lot of support to the missionaries but not a lot of work or action so we have been working on that. This week was good and not too much happened, just normal missionary craziness.

Pay attention to conference this week. It’s a pretty special time for us and we should really focus on the words of the prophets. Even though they might not make sense at the moment they will always show what the Lord wants for us. I have seen that all throughout time prophets have warned us of things to come and even though the people were righteous at the time they didn’t pay any attention to that and that’s where they lost their way. So listen to the prophets! They won’t lead you astray! Well I love you and miss you!

-Elder St. John 

Monday March 20, 2017 Millwood, WA

Hey!
1. Was your week any more successful than last week?
1. Yes a little bit. The work is still slow but it should be getting better. I have faith!

2. We got a message from Bro Orton saying he got word that you had dinner at one of Kellie Orton's husband's relative’s homes. David and Tiffany Hyde. That's cool. Small world.

2. Haha yeah that was funny!

3. Have you heard anything about Gonzaga's basketball success?

3. Yes a little. I’ve heard they’re doing good.

4. Have you heard anything about the new Nintendo game system? It's called the Switch. And Imagine Dragons has a new really good song out and it's on the Nintendo commercial. Makes me think of you every time it's on!

4. Yeah I’ve actually held it! Haha don’t worry I didn’t play it. The Hyde’s had one so they showed it to me.

5. Do you have your bike with you? If so you should send us a picture of it! 

5. Yes, I’ll take one this week.

Hey so thanks for the update! This week has been good. The weather warmed up just enough that we could go out and street contact to find some people to teach. We have enjoyed the weather warming up but it rains a lot here. Like way more than Utah. It’s weird.

We talked to a lot of people and had some good conversations. The coolest one was that we found a Russian lady who is old. We started talking to her and she knows like no English at all. Like zero. She was just rambling off to us in Russian and we were just smiling and nodding. So we called Elder Markov who is from Russia and asked him to talk to her and now they’re going to teach her! So that’s exciting.

So we also found out that one of our potentials Ricky lives in a crazy person place so we probably won’t teach him. Bummer.

We have really been focusing on the members and trying to get them to help us in missionary work. But the people here are very different than my last area so it’s been a struggle. Well that’s mostly been my week. I got a haircut today. Missing Brooke’s haircuts a lot! Well love ya!

-Elder St. John

Monday March 13, 2017 Millwood, WA

1. Did you get my letter as well as your shoes?
1. I got the shoes! Not the letter yet though.

2. What is your normal day like there? How is it different than in Kamiah?

2. It’s about the same as in Kamiah, just a lot faster paced and we don’t teach as many lessons. So, it’s more knocking on doors and stuff like that.

3. I think we saw you had a zone conference this week. How was it? How far do you have to travel to get there now?

3. Yup! It was really good! We get to hear from President at those so that’s always good. We only have to travel like 15 minutes so its way nice!

4. Are you closer to real stores (Walmart, any fast food) now?

4. Yes we shop at Walmart and yeah there are restaurants but I don’t like to eat at them very much.

5. Do you think you'll have the opportunity to play some soccer? I'm guessing maybe because you had me send your shoes. 

5. Yes I do. And I’ve been wanting better shoes for gym floors so that will help thanks!

So, this week was really slow the first couple of days and we were really struggling to work hard and find people to teach. But then we had zone conference and zone training and it really uplifted both of us and the work started to be better! Maybe it was just our attitude but it really helped us a lot to have that spiritual upliftment.

We had a really good weekend and found some new potential gators this Friday. I’m way excited to follow up with them and see if we can teach them! One of them is named Ricky and he’s black. I’ll keep you updated on that. Well that’s about it this week. I’ll send some pics! Love you all and have a good week!

-Elder St. John

Some pictures of our apartment

 

 And a car that's not ours.

Monday March 6, 2017 Millwood, WA

1. Where exactly do you live? Apartment, with members, etc. What's your address?
1. Well I live in an apartment and on a street called Liberty. 
8925 E. Liberty
Millwood, WA 99212

2. Who's your new companion and where's he from?

2. My new comp is named Elder Holmgren and he is from Lehi, Utah.

3. Do you get along with the new companion?

3. Yeah he’s super nice and a really hard worker.

4. How was church in a new place?

4. It was good. The Gospel is still true here too.

5. How does it seem the work is most different than Kamiah?

5. Well it’s city so everything is a lot closer so we can get more done. But people reject us more too…so yeah.

6. Bikes or car?

6. Car mostly.

Well my new area is good. It’s going to be a huge adjustment but it will be really good for me here. It’s right in the city but we have a lot of suburbs and a little bit of upper class stuff too. So, it’s all good. The members are great, but the work is a little slow right now. So, we have mostly been working on finding people and going through the members. So, wish me luck.

The disappointing thing is that the view is not that great. It’s not as pretty as Kamiah. So that’s lame. Besides that, the work will start to pick up. There is a lot of less active work here too. So yeah. I will update you more on that next week when I get more adjusted.

We drive a lot but not nearly as much as my last area. Elder Holmgren is also gluten free so I will be on an interesting diet for a while. But I’m used to it because of Thomas. So not a big deal. That’s mostly it. I’ll send some pictures hopefully.

Well thanks…love ya bye!

-Elder St. John

 Me with the awesome Stitch pen from Briggs!

 With Elder Holmgren.

 Sign with a disobedient car. Humorous.

 Funny bumper sticker.

Blurry picture of me with a bird on my shoulder. At our ward mission leaders house.

Elder St. John & Elder Holmgren at the Christensen's home. (Thanks for the picture Christensen's!)

Monday February 27, 2017 Kamiah, ID

Well hi there…question & answers…

 

1. Do you get to see some of your recent converts at church?

1. Yeah I see them all when they come.

 

2. Do your wards have people assigned to help the new converts along after their baptisms?

2. Yes kind of. We have ward missionaries that help with that.

 

3. Any transfer news?

3. Yes

 

Well the time has finally come.... I’m getting transferred! I’ll be headed to Spokane tomorrow to go to my new area. I’ll be serving in the Mount Spokane Stake in the West Valley Ward! I will update you on what it looks like and my new comp next week after I meet him. So today I will be packing my things and heading out tomorrow. I will miss Kamiah dearly and the people as well. I’ve really learned a lot here and had a great time but I think it’s time to change things up a little bit. This new area will be very different than my area right now. It has a lot more city than I’ve had before so wish me luck. So maybe this next area won’t feel like I’m banished. Maybe I’ll see missionaries more than once a week. Who knows if ill like it or not.

 

Well this week has been pretty normal. I can see the area being prepared for the new missionary coming in so that makes me excited for the work that will take place here. We did one interesting thing this week. We went up to a town called Nez Perse. It was like 15 miles away and there isn’t much there but it was a cool drive. It felt like a ghost town there was nobody outside. But I found a store with our name on it so it was worth it!

 

Well I’ll update you more next week on what’s new and stuff. But that’s about it! Well love you!

 

-Elder St. John

  The Masons...Dad Glen, Mom Sherri, daughter Sherri, son Michael.

Monday February 20, 2017 Kamiah, ID

Hello

We got your package this week. I'll wash your socks and keep them safe. Here's a few questions...
1. Tell us about the necklace and bracelet you sent home?

1. So those are presents from the Mason’s and I didn’t want to keep track of them here so I just threw them in the box.

2. We also noticed the little newspaper clipping you sent. Obviously you helped someone on a bridge. I'm guessing you help people often. Can you tell us about any of those times?

2. Yeah so that was funny. It was snowy and rainy and we helped a lady out of the slush. Umm I guess the most recent is that we helped our investigators Kaleb and Kayla move out of their camper and to a different camper on somebody else’s property.

3. Do you keep a journal or a weekly planner? Do you bring that along when you email us - maybe you could share some stuff about any lessons you taught this week, people you met, etc.

3. Yes I write in my journal and yes I have a weekly planner. I’ll think about it. Are my emails getting shorter? Haha.

Well this week was good. We had a baptism for a lady named Nan Anderson this Wednesday and that was awesome. She is the coolest lady ever! She had been taught everything by the missionaries like 2 years ago and then again a year ago. So she was very ready for baptism. She lives completely off the grid. No water. No electricity. Just her and her dogs and rabbits. She was a rabbit breeder for a long time. She used to have 500 of them. Her husband was a member and she promised him when he died that she would get baptized into our church. She finally kept her promise! So getting her to be baptized was crazy hard. It seemed like all the forces of hell were waging war against us poor missionaries to stop her from getting there. But we were persistent and it paid off. She is much happier now.

It’s crazy to thing about all the things that go on in peoples lives to prepare them for us. I’ve seen that over and over again. A scripture I like that can be applied to that is Alma 16:16. Look it up and then ask yourself if God is still preparing people today and then tell yourself yes! Well I hope this email was better than last time’s. Well I love you. Good luck with all the stuff you do!

-Elder St. John

 

 

Monday February 13, 2017 Kamiah, ID

Hahahaha. Flash is back...I think that’s funny.

1. When do you clean your apartment?

1. On pdays.

2. Do you have things like a vacuum & broom?

2. Yeah.

3. Does anyone check on the cleanliness of your living space?

3. Yes, our ward mission leader.

4. When you go to your zone meetings do you have to get your truck checked? We saw some pictures of an older couple on your mission Facebook page that were helping with the upkeep of vehicles at zone conferences.

4. Yes every month.
(Are you worried I’m being messy?)

Things are going well here. Nothing very exciting happened this week. So nothing really new to report on. This month we’re studying baptism and it’s been really cool to look into how much symbolism is in it. It really goes to show that even the simple things of our religion can have a huge significance on our lives.

Hey I wanted to warn you. Those key fobs that go to your car are way pricy to replace so don’t ever ever! lose them! 

Well love ya. Talk to ya later bye!

-Elder St. John