Sushi in Oregon

March 18th 2013

Hey Mom,

I hope you got my email about the change in policy for emailing people. I am so glad that we can email everyone now! that makes it a lot easier to communicate with recent converts as well as members from previous areas. So let everyone know!

Things have been going pretty good here in Brookings. We have been doing a lot of tracting. That seems to be pretty much all we do. We haven't had very many people that will set a specific return appointment but we do have a lot of people that told us we can just drop by some other time.

So we had our Zone conference in Eugene this last Wednesday. It was really good but the traveling there and back was insane! We left Tuesday night at about 6:30 to pick up Elder and Sister Montgomery and take them to a member in Coos Bay to spend the night. Then we went to the zone leaders to stay there. We got up the next day at 5 to continue to Eugene. The drive there and back was forever long! Not just because of the time it took but also because Elder Davis had to teach the senior couple how to use their new mission touch phone. They don't even know how to use a computer or regular cell phone so it was a very slow process to try and teach them. But we had about 8 total driving hours to teach them.

This week we had some pretty intense lessons with people. Our ward mission leader and his wife invited some of their neighbors to hear the missionary lessons but all they really did was try and tell us why we were wrong. So it was pretty interesting. But they told us that we were adorable. I don't  think that members and missionaries get it but people are always watching you. We run in to people that say "Oh I knew a guy that was Mormon and he..." and goes on to say something that they did that wasn't right. I understand that it is a perfect religion made of imperfect people however it is sad to see that someone won't even begin to listen to us because of stupid missionaries or members in the past that weren't living what they were teaching. This lady was the same way. She didn't want to listen to us because she watched the way missionaries acted in a restaurant to try and get people to pay for their meals. So she thought we were the same way. And the way members of the church treated her in the past. (However she did say some things that were definitely not right when she talked about organization aspects of the church) but still. I think we need to follow the scripture that says: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1Timothy 4:12)

Anyways other then that things have been pretty good. Sunday we had 4 really intense discussions with people through tracting. A less active, a Lutheran pastor, a Jehovah's Witness and  someone that goes to the Nazarene church. The Nazarene lady was a pretty neat person who said that we could come by again.

Well that is pretty much all the exciting things that has happened lately. One other thing because I am going to send a picture with it. Members took us out to Sushi for lunch the other day and it was crazy good!

Brookings Coast and Travel

March 11, 2013

Hey Mom,

Thanks for the email. Things are going pretty good here we haven't had very many lessons since we have been here but we are trying to get more. We did teach a guy named Robert that we tracted in to who when we came back for our 2nd appointment he was already on chapter 11 of 1 Nephi. So we have a lot of faith in him. Last Sunday we tracted in to a couple who invited us in and saturday we had our 2nd lesson. They are both very friendly but Donna was the one that discusses religion more. She asked about how we believed that Chirst visited the Americas and how she has Native American roots that tell similar stories. So we read 3 Nephi chaper 11 with her. Right after reading she asked us to give her a month to read and digest the Book of Mormon. But the lesson went pretty good and we told her we would swing by once a week or so. Those are our main investigators right now. We also taught a young guy named Jamie who is in the Coast Guard. We tracted in to him and set up a return appointment. We were able to teach him and his roomate the Restoration which went well however he will be out of town for about a month. So basically we need to find more people that can meet with us sooner.

So this last week we had zone training meeting up in North Bend and had to travel an hour of our trip in a tiny truck (I will include pictures) and the meeting plus travel took up pretty much all day. Tomorrow we have to go to North Bend, stay the night and continue to Eugene for a meeting wednesday morning. After the meeting we have to drive all the way back to Brookings so we will loose another day. Hopefully we will be able to get some missionary work done! It takes sooooo long to travel anywhere. But I guess its worth being in Brookings. Anyway, there isn't much else to report on. Love ya

March 4th, 2013

Hey mom!
So first off I better answer your questions:
Brookings is awesome! I love it here. When we got here no one knew we were coming. I went up to Eugene to go to the trainers conference on Tuesday and there were 35 trainers, the most this mission has had in one group. So we got to Eugene, had our conference stayed the night at the assistants and went on a run with president, got ready, then continued our trainers conference till the new missionaries got here. My new companion is Elder Davis from Sandy. He is a pretty cool guy and is already an awesome missionary. So Wednesday night we loaded up our fusion and stayed the night in North Bend. Then the next day we continued to Brookings. We got in to town at about 2:15. Our apartment wasn't really set up at all except our beds so we took a few minutes to bring our stuff in and set up some lights.
After we went tracting so we could start to build our teaching pool. On the 3rd door the guy let us in which was awesome! We taught him a majority of the restoration and set up a time to come back. So pretty much this area is just ready for miracles. We got back to our apartment, called the Bishop to set up a time so we could meet him and he had no idea Brookings was getting missionaries. So we surprised him with our phone call. He gave us the phone number for our ward mission leader so we gave him a call to let him know we were here. He invited us over immediately for dinner and we were able to get to know him a little bit more. He and his wife just finished their mission in Germany and it turns out that they know Chase Carlson.
After we met them we went shopping for some things then went to the church to have our meeting with Bishop. We walked in the door shook hands with Bishop and then the Relief Society president shook our hands and asked if we were just there for the day or if we were their missionaries. We told her that we were the Brookings missionaries so she grabbed us and brought us into the gym where the Relief Society was having some sort of activity. We walked in and they started clapping and cheering and were asking if we were their Elders of if we were just there on and off. We told them that we were theirs and they started going crazy! One lady said that the last time they had Elders was in 1988. But someone else said it was about 15-20 years ago. So they were crazy excited to see us.
On Friday we had our district meeting up in Bandon which is an hour and a half away. We have to drive up to Port Orford to get a ride with the Montgomerys and ride the rest of the way. The only downside is they have one of those tiny trucks that has the fold down chairs that face each other so we were crammed. President Young came to our district meeting which was great because he pretty much taught all of it. But anyways its really weird having all sisters and a senior couple. They are all good missionaries. In Coquille we have Sister Washburn and Sister Durthy who have both been out for only 5 weeks. Then in Bandon we have Sister Williams and her trainee, Elder and Sister Montgomery who were just transferred here and us. So our entire district is new. But anyways after district meeting president took us out to the beach to dedicate the area and then to lunch. When we got home we went tracting and when we came home we found some members outside writing us a note. They said that if we needed anything to give them a call and they would help us out. They asked us what we had then went to the store, bought us a ton of stuff then took us out to dinner. Then they set up a dinner for us Saturday. So we ward is taking great care of us. Sunday was awesome because people were giving us referrals and all of testimony meeting was around missionary work. We went tracting and got let in again and while we were tracting we were given crab and smoked salmon so things are going great! But I gotta go because we only have an hour. Our address is 606 Easy St unit i Brookings 97415 but I gotta go love ya!