Dear Family 5,200 kilometers away,
It's transfer week...again. But luckily I will be staying in Montague and so will Elder Shambrook. He will be my first companion that stays with me for longer than a transfer.
On Thursday we attended a fireside about things you could do to survive without electrical power. The lady that was doing the presentation was Dian Thomas, who is supposed to be somewhat famous in this category. It was really cool some of the ideas that she had, some which I may use later in life.
This week has been kind of hard, more for one of our investigators than us, who had a stroke. They were in the hospital for a couple of days, and we didn't get to teach this week but we visited quite a bit. They probably won't fully recover and are weak, bad/slurred speech, etc. We will continue to teach and help them with their goal toward baptism, even if they forgot our names...
Because Conference here doesn't start until one o'clock, Elder Shambrook and I had the opportunity to attend another churches service on Sunday. Since we are in the Hillcrest United churches choir, we thought that we would go there. The experience was pretty good, but different. I think this may have been my first time attending a different church. It was cool to see how other faiths celebrate the Sabbath, but I was kind of confused. All the prayers we had to say and hymns we sang, it was hard to follow along and know when to do what when, but this nice lady that we sat by helped us out. I guess that because we weren't regulars that we didn't know how to do anything, but I could see the same thing happen to visitors in our church as well. At the end of the service we asked where we could get one of their hymn books, and they just gave a couple to us. I don't know if any of you have been to a different service but it was a whole new experience for me.
That General Conference tho, definitely the highlight of my week. I have received so much personal revelation, not only how to better myself but things I need to do to help the area of Montague. My favorite, most inspired talk was by Jeffrey R. Holland, that touched me. I hope that all of you have had some witness of truth as you have enjoyed the many wonderful topics this past weekend.
Though this mission may seem hard, and baptisms don't happen often, I know that that is not what matters, though that is our goal, but that I am here to serve the Lord and to teach people the gospel, regardless of who accepts it or not. Though some days seem empty, it is the people that make all the difference. Invite a friend, invite a loved one, make a difference.
I love you all so much!
Stay Gold Ponyboy
Love, Elder Ray
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| Welcome to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference, where everyone stayed home to watch it... |
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| Four way chess is so much more difficult than you would think. |
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| This is my baby velociraptor cut... okay you caught me, a three year old did it. |