Transfers!

Sister Eberhardt (the mission president's wife) always posts pictures on their mission Facebook page of transfers and other events. Here are some that she posted today:

Alex and his new companion. The tag is too blurry to read his name.

Alex standing on the left with the gray suit. I think he just got assigned his new companion.

Alex is 4 rows back in the center. He is sitting between two of his previous companions: Elder Thompson and Elder Baldry

Alex about 3 rows back on the left center.

All the outgoing missionaries. Elder Smith (Alex's companion) is on the bottom far right. He doesn't look very happy.

Week 68--Evanston, WY

This week was very busy for us! It was Elder Smith's last week. We went down to Salt Lake quite a few times and made lots of travels throughout the zone. We didn't have very much time at all to work and do stuff in our area. 

We did manage to meet a guy named Frank though. He is quite the Renaissance-man. He was a 26-year-old millionaire. A company sued him because his name was very similar to theirs and they won and he was bankrupt at 28. He then worked for the Warner Bros as a professional music artist in a band. He got over with that and he decided to go to medical school and he went to one in Mexico. After a year of being there, it shutdown because of all of the drug cartels. In some of the commotion his brother was shot and killed. He met a girl and they moved to Evanston because she wanted to. He built a fitness center called Dinofit and he is just a personal trainer for quite a few athletes. Colton Koefed who is the #1 calf roper in essentially the world introduced us to him because Frank is his personal trainer. He said he'd read the entire Book of Mormon before he met with us next. So I pray that that will turn out well. He seems sincere so I believe God will give him an answer.

Eric was supposed to get baptized this weekend but he has had a really hard time quitting dip. We will keep working with him though and he said he fully believes all of our doctrine. I will be getting a new companion, but I will miss Elder Smith.

Love you guys! Hope everyone has a great week.

Week 67--Evanston, WY

This week was a good one. We taught seminary this week. We taught from 8am to 3pm Friday and also Monday for the same amount of time. At the beginning of the lesson we told them that God would tell them someone to write down to share the gospel with. We then collected the referrals at the end of class. We haven't gone through all the students yet, but we have received around a 100 or so. This will keep us busy for awhile. Elder Smith has 1 week left. He cries in most lessons. 

Sergio was baptized this week. There were a few high schoolers who did pretty much everything. They invited him and we taught him. They read the Book of Mormon with him. Within the first 20 minutes of us talking to him he said he agreed to baptism. He was very prepared.

I just found out that a boy I was teaching in my last area got baptized!! That was pretty cool. 
Love you.

Sergio's Baptism

Ice cream in Farson

Week 66--Evanston, WY

Things are good this week. We hit the standard of excellence which is kind of crazy high. The zones numbers were super high. We did feel like people weren't receiving as much fulfillment in their work. So, we decided to fast as to what we could do. There seemed to be a negative tone. We fasted yesterday and got some answers and we are going to start trying to build faith more. Faith without works is dead and likewise works without faith is dead.

Hillary was baptized this weekend. It was a very emotionally charged experience. Scott (the mayor's son) in his youth went super wayward and committed some grievous sins and he has always been like that. Its been a long process teaching them including the entire time that I've been in Evanston. Scott was finally worthy to baptize his wife, Hillary, and she was so ready. She has received a recognizable testimony and it was very obvious to tell the power that the ordinance had to her. Anyways, the mayor spoke and he started by saying how happy he was for a daughter-in-law and how proud he was of a son. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. I was so happy for them and for their family and so grateful to God to be a part of this experience.

I have good relationships with all my companions except my first companion won't email me back! I'll see him when I go home though. I've loved all my companions. I've been blessed with amazing ones. They all have been really easy to get along with and they all have been really good for me. I'm not sure which one is my favorite; they have all been awesome. It might be Elder Baldry since I spent so much time with him!

Love you all! Thanks for being a part of my life!

Hillary's baptism

Week 65--Evanston, WY

Hey!

It's been a great week. We have had a lot of success and teaching; we are both happy and satisfied with the way things are going! Although it is the end of Elder Smith's mission, he is working very well and using all the knowledge that he has gained on his mission to help our investigators.

We have been teaching a couple name Scott and Hillary. Scott is the mayor's son and Hillary is his fiancé. They were married this week and it was an amazing wedding. Elder Smith cried at the ceremony. Hillary will be getting baptized this weekend. She is very sweet and she is very prepared. I will give you some pictures of the wedding.

I also had a very cool experience last night. We have been trying to meet with this guy named Josh Blackburn. We talked to him a while ago and he seemed very disinterested and very noncommittal. We helped him move into his new house which is close to where we are staying. We broke down a lot of barriers when we moved him and we just spent a while talking to them. We came by last night and talked for a little bit in the beginning. We then shared the restoration. I was very hesitant to share it at first because Josh is a very rough character. He drinks and smokes and has a very rough appearance. He swears multiple times each sentence and is honestly kind of a scary person. We went ahead and taught it anyway. He turned out to receive things really well. He believed everything that we said; his heart was broken and his spirit was contrite. Halfway through the lesson, he started to cry. He said that he felt a remorse for all the things that he's done wrong. He said he has done many horrible things wrong. We told him that he can be cleansed through baptism. He committed to be baptized October 3. The spirit was very strong and there were many hearts touched. It was a testament to me that you never really know if someone's heart is open or if it is closed. If it will be touched by the things that you will say or if it won't. You obviously try to make the environment the best but in the end,  it's up to the spirit to do it's job! I love God and I am very excited to participate in his work. It has brought me great joy and I've had spiritual experiences that I will treasure forever. I know God is real and Jesus Christ lives. His atonement is all encompassing and he has power not only to forgive sin but to heal, to strengthen, and to lift! How wonderful is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Elder Bass