September 19, 2016 – Ya me llene

This week was a pretty good week. We've been fed so much this week that I feel like I've gained some serious weight. Every day we've been fed so much for dinner that most mornings I didn't even want to eat breakfast, but then Elder Anderson and I would make pancakes and get stuffed in the morning. So the food has been great recently. I honestly love Mexican food so much. 

This week we had Zone Conference on Thursday and it went

"Sick old Camaro we found last P-Day"

super well. The whole focus was the idea of making sure that the people we teach become converted to the Gospel. It was centered around a missionary broadcast that was done back in January while I was in the MTC. The title of that broadcast is "Teach Repentance, and Baptize Converts." So in order to baptize people who are truly converted we have to make sure that they are making changes in their lives. The way we are able to see this is if our investigators keep commitments because they want to, not because they feel obligated or the missionaries are cool. During Zone Conference we also talked about maintaining a positive attitude and how to find better. It was a super good conference as it always is with President Lewis. Oh while I was there I picked up a super comfy robe. I'll make sure to get a pic in it for next week. 

We did service at a senior center and this lady told me a pretty funny joke that I thought you'd all enjoy. She said, "Do you know why seagulls fly over the sea?" "Because if they flew over the bay they'd be called bagels." Kinda goofy but I figured you would enjoy the goofy humor

So this week we've been teaching this girl named Gabby. She's a senior in high school and recently had her brother pass away, so we've talked with her about the plan of salvation and she really seems to be enjoying it. She was born catholic but doesn't know a whole lot about the Gospel. So, when we taught her about how we can all be resurrected and live with our families again, she really liked that. Our plans for this week are to get her whole family involved, so hopefully that goes well.

Elder Anderson and Elder Miles

On Wednesday this week we went and mowed a member’s lawn who overworks himself too much. His health is good, but the doctor doesn't want him doing too much and he already works like 12-14 hour days. So we went over to help out and of course we got a little carried away with the pictures, but hey it's not too often we get to wear jeans, so we had to take advantage of it. 

Oh random experience - we were walking down the road one day and we found this 20 sided die (as in dice) and Elder Anderson goes if this lands on an 8 we're talking to the guy in that truck up there. The truck was off our path a little and we were already pushing being late, but I was like sure why not. And well it landed on 8! So we went and talked to him and it was this Mexican guy who recently moved to Yakima because his kids are here with his ex-wife, and he wanted to be closer to them. So we talked for a little and he said that we were welcome to come by his house. So we'll see what happens. 

Yesterday I was thinking a lot about the branch and the

Local apples

progress it has made since I've been here. The branch hasn't seen any baptisms in a while, but since I got to the branch there have been like 2 less active families that have been strengthened a ton, and an inactive family that has come back to church. Plus Daniel and Lucia have been super solid, and the Contreras family has stayed super faithful (they were baptized a month before I got here). I was thinking about this and the spirit struck me pretty hard, and I felt this huge reconfirming feeling of the truthfulness of our message. 

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Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission