Week 10-Rock Springs, WY

It sounds really exciting all thats going on! I'm happy Jesikah was able to have a good 16th bday party! I was playing the piano at an old couple's house and they wanted me to play what they called a "really popular song". I had never heard it in my life! It was a really old blues song with really weird timing. So I wasn't able to play it! To answer your questions... I get enough to eat! I've gained about 20 pounds or so. I get 4 course dinners every night and every meal if I desired. 

Anyways my week! My district leader Elder Page wanted me to go out to Manilla and Mckennon with his companion. So I spent the majority of the week there. They are two microscopic towns that are very LDS based. Everyone knows about the church and is either active or inactive. Very few nonmember families. Most non members are kids whose parents are inactive. I would send you pictures but I left my camera in Elder Page's car. Manilla has about 200 or so population count. Mckennon has even less. It is remarkably beautiful out there. I really can't describe it in words and the pictures don't do it justice. Since it took so many miles to get out there we walked pretty much the entire time we were there. It was a relief getting away from Elder Clark and being able to be exactly obedient. We did have some pretty cool experiences. We ran into a guy who said he's felt lost ever since he left the church. So we hopefully gave him a little motivation. We actually ran into quite a few families like that. We visited all the house's Elder Page gave us the first day, so we weren't sure what we were gonna do for the other days. We were walking to some houses and a guy asked if we wanted lunch. They took us to the senior center there and we had lunch with all of them. We helped them do dishes afterwards. We ended up getting a bunch of referrals and different older couple took us around to some people afterwards and introduced us to some potential investigators. The Lord always has stuff for us to do. I really feel like every encounter was meant to happen. I feel like there aren't really any coincidences as a missionary. We didn't really have a plan with who we were going to stay with before hand. So, we had to completely have faith that the Lord will provide a place for us to stay; which he did. 

We had an awesome lesson with Vicki and Evan this past week. We taught them the plan of salvation. We give them a passage to read and they read the entire book. For example, Vicki has now read the BoM three times, Our Search for Happiness, Gospel Principles twice, and the Joseph Fielding Smith Manual. We just gave her Jesus the Christ haha. I know that they know it's true. Its only a matter of time now. I can only say the highlights. We are expecting about 6-7 baptisms this transfer. I really feel like we don't deserve the success we've received. Thank you for the prayers. Some days I can feel them. I love you all very much!

-Elder Bass

Later Notes: Manilla in the summer is absolutely beautiful.

August 13,2014 in my missionary journal i vented quite a bit about Elder Clark and disobedience.

It was good for me to go to Manilla and be independent. We walked around and talked to people.

We stayed with a LA guy. We slept on his couch and shared the shower. He was very kind. He seemed to have a difficult life.

Wisdom from Journal:"Being a missionary is hard and out of my comfort zone. That means its good for me."

To be more specific about the lesson, We read the account of Christs baptism in Mathew. I said,"after we have answered many questions of yours, we have a question for you. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?"