Hello family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This week we received news that my companion is getting a leadership position. So even though he gets the call from Pres. Johnson he can't tell me until we get transfer boards sent out to us on Saturday night. I didn't want to be that companion that bugs him for the rest of the day about the call because that's just straight annoying!!!! So I'm actually going to start at the end of the week 'cause we were pretty sure he was getting transferred so it will tell you what we did this week!! He's going to be a Zone leader in Altoona. He's pretty excited- he's been a zone leader before and he enjoys it. We don't view leadership as a sense of accomplishment or that person is a successful missionary or an obedient missionary or someone better than anyone else. The reason people have leadership positions is so they can learn and grow as well as strengthen, help and serve others. You can learn and grow and serve in so many different capacities. So where you are is where God needs you to be. I'm going to be leading out the area here in Lewisberry. My new companion will be my youngest companion I have had on my mission thus far. I have 6 companions already home!!!!! How crazy is that!?!?!? I don't know the name of my companion because on the transfer boards it's cut off! hahaha!!!!!!! So I'll update you more about him next week!!!!!!
I had the opportunity this week to go on exchanges and I was able to go with Elder Wilson and it was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exchanges are always sooo much fun!!!! So what we did was one of my favorites! We got to do service!!!!! We started off helping D pull weeds. He is an older gentleman and he had some stories and was making us laugh!!! You just can't be working without having fun- it's just not worth it. At first we were just pulling the weeds and complaining about the heat and humidity and not really talking too much to him. Then I was like "No, you know what? I'm going to engage in conversation and talk to this guy." We started talking about his life and ours and had some good conversation. Then we started joking around with each other and before you knew it time started flying by! We were having a blast!!!!!! He was telling us some hilarious stories (we heard a lot of funny stories this week).
We met a blind sister in the Camp Hill Ward who spells your name out in Braille and sticks it on your name badge. It looks sweet- I'll send a picture of that!!! Her name is Sister L. She's a very sweet, loving woman who absolutely adores missionaries!!!! We had a really amazing experience one night that helped me to better see the effect we can have on people. We were doing some street contacting and talked to many different people. Everyone we talked to (besides one gentleman) accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and that was a HUGE thing! Out here in Pennsylvania not too many people really are willing to take the things we offer to them. Not many people take the time to stop and listen or even talk to you for just a minute. So for them to take it and ask questions like "What is this book?" "Where is your church?" "What do you believe?" was a miracle in and of itself. I wanted to hug them and say, "Thanks for asking sincere questions!" So that night was a miracle! We made an effort to talk with EVERYONE!
The last people we met had a huge impact on me. So these 2 guys are sitting down and we start talking to them. One of the guys is a talker and just starts going off about all sorts of things. Soon we bring around to the topic of religion. They got so excited! They jumped up and gave us a high five and were shouting and whopping! They then told us their story: they were brothers and came from Russia many years ago. However they could only speak Russian when they moved to America. They didn't have a religion and their parents didn't believe in religion so they hadn't learned anything growing up. Years went by and they began to search for religion. They hoped that religion could help them be better people and help them learn to provide for themselves better (they grew up without much food and in very low income areas). They said just surviving was a challenge day by day. They wanted a better life than what they had experienced so they decided to discover it for themselves. They joined many different religions and learned different things but they said it never felt right. At some point, they said they were introduced to this thing called Christianity all based around a guy named Jesus Christ. They didn't know who he was. They learn more about HIm and they told us they have seen Christ help them in their lives. They are now able to make ends meets and all what the good they have seen in their life is because of this person called Jesus. They told us that they have learned that Jesus taught good principles and morals that we should strive to live by if we want to be good people. Their story was very inspiring to me! Those brothers were so excited to talk about Jesus; I was trying to match their excitement!!! So I'll need to work on that! They had crazy Russian names that we couldn't pronounce so they told us to call them "Sam" and "Jim."
The last people we met had a huge impact on me. So these 2 guys are sitting down and we start talking to them. One of the guys is a talker and just starts going off about all sorts of things. Soon we bring around to the topic of religion. They got so excited! They jumped up and gave us a high five and were shouting and whopping! They then told us their story: they were brothers and came from Russia many years ago. However they could only speak Russian when they moved to America. They didn't have a religion and their parents didn't believe in religion so they hadn't learned anything growing up. Years went by and they began to search for religion. They hoped that religion could help them be better people and help them learn to provide for themselves better (they grew up without much food and in very low income areas). They said just surviving was a challenge day by day. They wanted a better life than what they had experienced so they decided to discover it for themselves. They joined many different religions and learned different things but they said it never felt right. At some point, they said they were introduced to this thing called Christianity all based around a guy named Jesus Christ. They didn't know who he was. They learn more about HIm and they told us they have seen Christ help them in their lives. They are now able to make ends meets and all what the good they have seen in their life is because of this person called Jesus. They told us that they have learned that Jesus taught good principles and morals that we should strive to live by if we want to be good people. Their story was very inspiring to me! Those brothers were so excited to talk about Jesus; I was trying to match their excitement!!! So I'll need to work on that! They had crazy Russian names that we couldn't pronounce so they told us to call them "Sam" and "Jim."
During the street contacting we handed out 4 book of Mormons in 1 hour- that's unheard of!!!!!! I was shocked!!!!!!!! My goal was to pass out 1 Book of Mormon. After that exchange I had a different attitude. I decided was going to work on talking with even more people. I want to be a light to Pennsylvania- showing them there is a better way to live by coming to know of Jesus Christ! So we've been looking to talk to more people and really put ourselves out there more!!!!!! It's been working really well! Something I've done my whole mission is wave and smile to everyone no matter if their in a car, on the street or on a building. This world is so full of negativity and I want to help bring positivity and help brighten someone's day.
We had District meeting this week. We all went out to get frozen yogurt afterwards. It was fun hanging out with everyone and talking about the good things happening in our District. The highlight of the week was when we got to see SD and his family. It was such a treat! Going over there with Elder Cuthbert one last time was pretty sad because we've been through a lot with the D family. We absolutely love them sooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!! We had such a great lesson with them.
I love you guys. Hope you have a great week. Take care. Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
Elder Cahoon the Baboon
Elder Cahoon the Baboon
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