Boston Temple is awesome

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Massive Hornets Nest at the Rogers

Rogers Daughter Neveah

At a Farm with the Rogers

Neveah Rogers

Peach Orchard

Boston Temple

Boston Temple

Boston Temple

Boston Temple

At the Boston Temple

Week 44               August 12th-18th
 
     Monday was a pretty slow day, to save miles we stayed home pretty much all day up until dinner. I was able to call home and talk to my family, and I talked to my older sister Tiffanie and it was pretty fun! For dinner and the night we were at the Roger's. We did so to save miles for the next day.
     Tuesday we had to be in Foxboro area to meet with the Sisters for Elder Kilpack to do a baptismal interview. It was pretty cool to see the Sisters getting a baptism for their area! On the way back we passed Gillett Stadium, for those who don't know that's where the New England Patriots play for home games. We stopped at home to get changed and head out to Weston to meet up with Elder Wilde. We started to work on the brakes for the trailer. The fuse worked but the power wasn’t getting to the back plug. We had to go check with the auto place to see what to do.  Before we did that, Elder Wilde took us out to eat at Five Guys. It was fun to get to know him even more. After Lunch we checked Firestone but we then had to check the dealership. While at the Dealership we were told our Vehicle Coordinator has to call and set up an appointment. We then went to the office for him to call and for us to set up a time. We set it up for Saturday morning. We came home for a little and cleaned out the truck to get ready for the weekend. I was able to call and talk to my nephew Rhett to wish him a Happy 4th Birthday. I also found out my brother Tyler and his family are moving to Texas. We had a later dinner with the Roger's and after we ended up watching a little bit of the meteor shower that was happening. We only saw a few shooting stars, but we then had to come home for the night.
     Wednesday morning was a later start for me, but still got up and ready for the day on time.  Did some personal studies and got ready for our lesson with Sister Flynn. We met her at the Framingham Library they have some study rooms we could use. Today we talked a little bit about Patriarchal Blessings.  We are encouraging to get hers! About an hour after our lesson, we got a message from her saying she has an appointment to talk to the bishop about Patriarchal Blessings.  That right there is the first step, it was cool to see her desire to get her Blessing. We then left to the office to pick up a couple of packages, one for Elder Kilpack and another one for a Sister in the District. While on the way home we did a few stop byes but not a lot of luck. Pretty soon we left to meet up for dinner with the Buchmans at Pho Dakao. They had their less active son there as well. It was super cool to talk to him and see how we can help him out. During dinner we shared a message on the Priesthood responsibility. Their son Josh has not been to church in about 4 years. We gave him a simple invitation to be at church this Sunday. He said he has been thinking about returning, and just needed more rest. I had the feeling to promise him that if he made it to at least Sacrament he would have the energy he needed to get through work later that day. After dinner we left to the Buchman’s home to give Brother Buchman a blessing of health and comfort. I was the voice and I always feel the power and love God has for each and every time I help in a blessing. It is such a wonderful feeling! After the blessings we talked a little bit about how we can help Josh return to Church. After dinner we went to get Elder Kilpacks glasses that he left at the Roger's. On the way home we stopped by a reservoir to take picture of the sunset.
     Thursday was a really small move, it was taking a mattress to the Boston Portuguese Elders. We didn’t do that until about 11-noon time. That morning before we left, I wrote in my journal some thoughts I had running through my head. Along with organizing my desk a little bit. We then picked up the mattress from the storage unit and made our trip. We ended up adding about 30 min because the roads here are absolutely horrible.  I miss the Grid system in Utah so much, Haha.  While on the way home we stopped by Panda Express for lunch then came back home. We ended up having an earlier dinner with the Masond Family because the parents had to be somewhere later on. It was pretty fun talking to them. We helped them bring a rowing machine down stairs. I tried it for only 2 minutes and oh boy, am I out of shape. I was so exhausted and weak from just 2 minutes! While downstairs we saw his man cave. He has a nice punching bag, along with a pool table, dart board and his nice gun safe. I wasn’t feeling to hot after that work out so we ended up coming home and reached out to the friends we are teaching. We also planned out District Council for the next day. I just opened up my “Preach my Gospel” to a random page and it ended up being chapter 4 "personal revelation".
     While on the way to District Council we got a call from Elder Wilde, he asked us if our sim was working because he got some notifications about it. We just did some swapping from phone to phone (Mine to Elder Kilpacks and back. We then had our District Council. It was pretty awesome, I felt the power of the spirit pretty strong. For the Role play we prayed about a friend and thought of a talk or a scripture to share with a friend or even a less active member, along with a goal and plan for them. While at District Council we also talked about our plans for District P-day this upcoming Monday. We then came home for lunch and we got another call from Elder Wilde letting us know one of our phones needed to update a missionary app that keeps our phones missionary approved. We didn’t have anything planned for dinner so I made us some Chicken Alfredo and it was pretty good. After dinner we did a couple of member stop byes then came home for the night.
     Saturday was honestly an amazing day for me. Not only was it my 10 month mark, today we went to the Temple! First thing we did was drop off our truck at the dealership to get fixed.  While there a member picked us up. We went with Sister Waterfall her daughter Katie and a newer member Sister Flynn, this is her very first time to even see the Temple, and she was going to do some Baptisms for the Dead. We were able to join her, and I was so excited to go to the Temple again! I was able to do 5 family names and helped out Sister Flynn with a couple of her family names. I did a name by Jozef Rezec and he is from Czech, that is so cool to me! After we got out we went with Sister Waterfall to lunch at Chick-fil-a. We were expecting the truck to take all day but it was finished by the time we finished lunch! So for us it was perfect timing. When we made it home, we stopped by a referral of a lady who lives a couple floors above us. We gave her a Book of Mormon and introduced ourselves, we hope to meet with her next week. We had a small message on what the Book of Mormon is. After that we did some studies and planning. We then went to the Rogers for dinner. While there we saw a couple of big wasp nests and a huge spider! Scary stuff. We then had a good lesson with the Rogers.
     Sunday, we left a little later than expected and we sat down at church just as it was about to start. While in announcements Brother Francis Kemugue now has the Aaronic priesthood and is a priest! Next step is for him help with Sacrament and then the Temple for Baptisms! I really liked the first talk it was on “The power and authority the prophets have to help guide Christ’s Church in the Latter Days”. After Sacrament Meeting we reminded the youth and their parents about tonight's activity for a missionary workshop fireside. We then sat in on Sunday School. We read from Roman's, about inheriting the kingdom of Heaven. We all are heirs to the throne but it is up to us to accept it. As we remain faithful and do the best we can to come closer to Christ we then can and will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. After Church we went with the Rogers family to a peach and berry farm. They had an event going on. It was at the boarder of our area so it was good to go out in public to try and talk to people. We did talk to a couple members from our boarding area. It was a fun event but not a lot of good pickings when we went. Later we got dropped back off at the church for us to get our truck.  We came home and did a little studying then left to dinner with the Bishops family. We had a pretty fun time there. And helping build our trust as missionaries with the Bishop. Ever since I have been here we have made some big steps! We shared a message on the sacrament and repentance. As we sin we become dirty and as we ask for repentance and partake of sacrament we can be forgiven. (Watch the video for the example). They were all blown away, and it helped think better understand why we take sacrament but spiritually take it every day. After our dinner and message with Bishop we made our way to our Missionary event In Franklin. There were 8 of us missionaries along with a lot of youth from each of our wards. We helped them better understand and how to bare your testimony when asked questions. Instead of replying with "I'm a Mormon" or "it’s because of my religion". We did get into groups of 4-6 and did role plays! Through these role plays we helped them understand how they can better answer questions when they are asked about what we believe. The second half was out guest speaker Brother Haight. He gave a great talk on how simply it truly is to share the Gospel and to prepare yourself spiritually to help strengthen your own testimony. To end the night we dropped off a bed frame we picked up for the Rogers and came home for the night.
     
                   Mathew 28:17

     "17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted"

      After Christ’s resurrection, a few did doubt that it was truly Him. That testifed to me that it is okay to doubt at times. I am human and I am trying my best each and every day. I can and I have doubted my Faith before, but I cannot deny the Love that Heavenly Father and Christ has for me personally. That same love is given to each and everyone of us and it will never change even when we Doubt. I love that I have a Father in Heaven that I can and will return to one day in Heaven! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

WEEK 43 August 5-11,2019

A cool pond

Washing the Truck

Elder Kilpack & Elder Knowlden

Pictures inside the Harvard College Library

Outside the Harvard College Library 

Olivia Maclean

Curtis Maclean

Slurpees from 7-11 with Elder Kilpack

Visit at the Harvard College Library

Wooden Treasure from the Rogers

Week 43    Aug 5-11th
     We were still at the Roger's house sitting and we stayed there for most of the day because Elder Kilpack still wasn't feeling to well. We ended up canceling our dinner appointment with the Waltch family, they have a newborn baby and we didn't want anyone else to get sick. For dinner we went out to McDonald's. After that we just relaxed and sent uplifting messages to our friends we are teaching.
     We almost didn’t go on our move because Elder Kilpack still wasn’t the best, I ended up being the driver today. I didn't like driving in Boston, luckily we didn't have the trailer. We first stopped by the Waltham Elders to get them a table, then we then left to Cambridge. While there we got them an A.C unit for their apartment. Elder Kilpack and I then went out to lunch at Panda Express (best place in the mission). We then came home and rested because Elder Kilpack still isn't to well, we later went to CVS so he could get some TUMS. For dinner the Waterfalls (SP?) dropped some food for us.
     Today was Zone Conference so Elder Kilpack and I took the Portuguese Elders and the Spanish Elders there. Oh boy were we cramped in the truck, but we all did have seatbelts! This wasn't my favorite Zone Conference, but it was a good reminder for how to best help our friends. Elder Kilpack and I gave a short discussion on the Doctrine of Faith and Works. We had to push dinner to an hour later because we came back home during rush hour traffic. We ate at Terra Brazil with the Buchman’s. After dinner we went to go talk to our Bishop to ask him about a less active member, because we reached out to her. She moved to Florida recently and we wanted to know more so we could better get her the help she needs in her new area.
     Thursday we had interviews with President so our move got delayed by around 2 hours. Luckily we were the first two to be interviewed. Today I was told to get ready to leave, so I officially know I'll be leaving this area. Other than that, interviews went really well. We came home to change then made our way to pick up the trailer. After we stopped by the Rasmussen’s home to pick up a queen mattress. We dropped it off at the Orlandinis place, they even made us some lunch, rice and beans! We then made our way to an apartment in Waltham. We removed everything from inside and we turned in the keys. While there we got a referral, and we called her to make an appointment, she said she would get back to us because she just moved into our area. We then went to dinner at Chipotle then came to Weston to drop off the trailer.  We stopped by a couple new friends on the way home. Earlier today President challenged us to find 1 person this week because we haven't found a new friend in a few weeks. Our focus has been more on our current friends and establishing a better relationship with the members. It seems to be past missionaries broke the trust they had. We ended up teaching two just today! It was also a move day, so we kept really busy.
     Friday, today was District Council so we drove to Franklin. We had a good lesson by the Franklin Sisters on better helping our friends through Christ like attributes. We gave the role play on “teaching to meet needs”. We did this by asking simple questions about a friends beliefs. From the questions we asked we thought back to what they already agreed on, then went from there. On the way back we stopped by BK for lunch, while there I had a pretty cool experience. There were three deaf gentlemen eating together.  Elder Kilpack is an ASL Missionary so he taught me the signs to introduce myself, we then signed all together. Though they weren't interested it was cool to introduce myself in ASL! We then stopped by the Rovers to help them with a few things around the house then made our way to dinner with the Panike family. The oldest son is also named Braiden but it's spelled wrong (at least to me). He has a desire to serve a mission so it was cool to talk to him. After we did a few more stop byes with some potential friends and a referral. We were able to contact 2 of them and  we had a short lesson on scriptures with one. We ended up deciding to send her to the Portuguese Elders, they will be better at helping her. The second lady is Lori, she is super cool and has a strong desire to learn and know what is for her. We had a good lesson on prayer, and talked a little about the Book of Mormon and Church History. She said she will read the introduction instead of watching her show that night. That was honestly so cool to hear, she truly wants to know for herself! That's another two people we started to teach!
     Saturday, we started out by cleaning out the trailer because we didn’t have time last Thursday. We met the Rasmussen’s at the storage unit to empty it all out. After that we did some service with Brother Nick Paganella. I mowed the lawn and edged while Elder Kilpack trimmed with tall bushes around his yard. For dinner we ate at the Billeters home. It was just the dad and the older son who goes to the Cambridge YSA. We had pizza, and honestly it was pretty good! We had a good time with them. We then came home to save miles, so we did some calls and sent messages to friends.
     Sunday, this morning we met at Church early to have a Ward Missionary Correlation. We mainly discussed the needs of our recent converts, and we hope for sister Flynn to go to the temple soon with a smaller group, because this will be her very first time. We also hope for Brother Francis Kemugeu to get the Aaronic Priesthood. We briefly went over our current friends being taught then hope to follow up later in the week. We had to end because Church was about to start. There were a couple of good talks on service awareness, and faith in Christ.  While in the second hour we stopped by all classes to talk about a youth missionary event next week. Not too much happened later on the day but we did a few stop byes with members to help them and the family out to understand coming closer to Christ.
   

                         James 2:20

     "20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

     Faith truly is an action word. As we have a desire to grow closer to Christ, we cannot just say we have faith in Him. We have to take that step. It can simply start by more prayer in your life. Prayer is powerful, and can truly be a conversation with God. Another action is scripture study, as I have studied I learn and grow new things every day. One more thing you can do is go to church. As we are surrounded by others of the same faith they will be there to help you grow. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 41  July 30th 2019
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      This email will consist of 2 weeks of the mission.  It has been pretty crazy and pretty busy this past couple weeks. Let’s start with Monday July 22nd. On this day not much really happened it was our Preparation day, so was nice to relax. We ended up going to the Mission Office to pick up my new phone.  For dinner we ate McDonald's. After dinner we did a few stop byes, then came home for the night.
      Tuesday 23rd, was a long move day. We helped a set of Sister Missionaries in Boston clean out their old apartment. We did all the work because they had appointments. After a few hours of cleaning and filling up the trailer we made our way to Revere Massachusetts. While we were there we parked in the furthest area because there was no other parking. It wasn't too fun carrying furniture across the parking lot. Luckily we have some help with this part of the move. The Elders had a leave to for their appointment, so we had to carry the rest and it wasn't too fun with the big furniture. After we finished with that we went a Panda Express, we wanted Panda Express so bad we went 20 minutes out of our way to get it and it was totally worth it. It was a long day and we came back to Weston Chapel to drop off the trailer. We would unpack it tomorrow.
     One of the 1st things we did in the morning was to unload the trailer. Elder and Sister Rasmussen met us there. They were so grateful for us to help them out today, so they bought us Chick-fil-A for lunch, it was so kind of them. After we finished with that, we made our way to help out Brother Paganella.  He had some yard work needing help with. We trimmed bushes around his yard and it was pretty fun. On one of the poles in his yard we can do the flagpole exercise that takes some serious AB workout.  After service with Brother Paganella, we came home to change and meet Francis to help him prepare for his baptism this Saturday. We had a good lesson and he is excited for baptism. He ended up taking us to Whole Foods for dinner, it was so kind of him. We then came home to prepare for a blitz with our Zone Leaders. We met up with them at our apartment a little after 9:00 p.m. We were all pretty tired when they got there so I went to bed to prepare for tomorrow.
     Today was a pretty big move. We were helping the Auburn YSA Elders move out their old apartment. We were told by the Rasmussen's have this would be a big move, and boy were they right! We are glad to have the Zone Leaders to help us out.  In total there are 6 of us and it still took 14 hours. We took a little break for lunch, and of course we ate at Panda Express. We're glad there was an elevator to help us out, there a few pretty big items. I honestly didn't think we could fit everything, but we did! We had to leave by 4 o'clock to be our dinner appointment/lesson with the Roger family. Our message was from preach my gospel, it mentions that preach my gospel is for all members not just missionaries.  We invited them to read chapter 4 approach my gospel "Recognizing the spirit". We then came home with the trailer to have an exchange inventory with the Zone Leaders. I learned a lot from both of them, about what they've learned from me. Elder Toronto invited me to ponder and think of my goals I wanna have before my mission is over. Elder Kunzler really likes how personable and my desire to share message is. He said I am very optimistic and have a lot of hope, which is good for missionary and to be human. I never really thought of myself that way to have all the hope, but I am very optimistic! With the little time we had left elder Killpack and I dropped off the trailer at Weston chapel. We would have to empty it the next day.
      Today, we had DLC with the Zone Leaders and other District Leaders. We talked about some stuff in the mission that we are trying to improve on, most of it was just a reminder. After we drove down to the Franklin Chapel to be at District Council. Today's lesson was on charity, not only in ourselves but in the friends we are teaching. Charity is a Christ like attribute, and we should all strive to have it. We had a quick lunch when we got back home. We then had to go unload the trailer, it took longer than expected.  Afterwards we spent the rest of the night with the Rogers.
     Saturday the first thing we did was an 8:30am lesson at Callahan State Park with Andie. We had a really fun time on a small hike that took about 45ish minutes to finish the trail. There are so many beautiful sights and things to see here. While on the walk we talked to Andie about her and the concerns she continues to have. Unfortunately she looks up stuff off the internet and isn't true doctrine from the church. When we do answer her questions she doesn't fully except them to be true. After our lesson with her, we ate breakfast at the Rogers home. They were saying goodbye to their foreign exchange students because they left later that night. After breakfast we came home got ready for the baptism for Francis. Both of us still had to prepare talks. I give the 1st talk on Baptism and Elder Killpack give a talk on the Holy Ghost. The Baptism was so wonderful to see and we are so happy for him! It was a smaller baptism but even Kyle came to see it. This is the1st baptism in the Church he has seen. He thought it was interesting and different but he liked it. After the Baptism we went to Men's Warehouse because I have a $50 certificate I needed to use. I ended up getting two ties, each one to better blend with my two new suites. To end the night we went to Burger King for some food because we didn’t eat dinner and we were hungry.
     Sunday was great. Francis was officially confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Both Elder Kilpack and I stood in and participated in the confirmation. Brother Buchman was the voice of the blessing. We also helped pass sacrament to help out the Deacons. In Sacrament Meeting there was a really good talk on Faith, one about the power, The power of the Book of Mormon. To end we heard Jacob Hansen, he is a recently returned missionary who served in Colorado. He talked about three of the lessons he learned while serving. In Elders Quorum we talked about how God is in the details of our life. After church we had a really good lesson with Sister Flynn on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then came home for studies and I ended up taking a nap, I must have been pretty tired. Later on it came time to go to dinner with the Cope family. While there they had the Macananti Family and Sister Charline Jesus. It was a pretty fun surprise to see them all there. It was also really fun to get to know them all better. When it came time for our message, we talked about how we can better prepare for Sacrament and how it can be more meaningful to you personally. I shared what I have done personally, as I have switched a few words in my mind in the Sacrament Prayer from plural to singular nouns it has been so much more meaningful to me. Dinner was a little later so to end the night we came home to pack and we came to the Roger's home to house sit, they are all on vacation. We are also helping take care of their animals. I was happy to be able to help them out along with Elder Kilpack, but he isn't as big of a to fan of the animals as I am.
   
     The sacrament blessing how
          I read them in my heart

                       Bread

     O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to I the soul of who will partake of it, that I may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I am willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given me; that I may always have his Spirit to be with me. Amen

                         Water

     O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to the soul of I who will drink of it, that I may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for me; that I may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I do always remember him, that I may have his Spirit to be with me. Amen.

        As I have been doing this, the Sacrament has been so much more powerful to me. I know that Jesus did die for each and everyone of us. I also know that if he had to be crucified to just save one soul that couldn't return to live with God again, and it was me, HE WOULD still choose to be crucified. This is why I enjoy the sacrament. I am imperfect and I fall a lot, but because of the atonement and the sacrament I can become closer to perfect every day, I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
   

Week 40 July 23,2019

 Week 40  July 23-2019


       The start of the week went pretty well Monday morning We relaxed until we had our appointment with Brother Kim, he is our personal Barber in this area. While there it took about an hour for all 3 of us plus a couple others  that came In for haircuts. We also Went to the storage unit to pick up a scale for us. While gassing up the truck, elder Killpack had to go inside to get the receipt. She asked if he was even old enough to drive, we thought It was hilarious. We came home to give Elder Foutz time to pack.  For dinner we had time with a Blake Pierce family, it was pretty good.  On the way home we stopped by sister Jesus the check up on her, she was in the hospital and we got worried. We ended up helping her and giving her a blessing. She loves  receiving Blessings, she finds peace with them.

     Right as we woke up we Left to Boston. We missed yesterday's appointment at 6:30 a.m. so We couldn't miss this one. Luckily it was later on in the day. The appointment went pretty quick, but we had to wait around an hour for the medicine at the pharmacy. We decided since we are so close to go get Panda Express, and we are so happy we did. Elder Foutz's  Eyes were dilated, so he  Couldn't do too much. We are able to come home and start to finish packing. Before we got home we went to visit Brother Paganella, And helping with some service. All we really did was bring a couple bags of rocks from his car trunk and brought it to the backyard. We also cleaned up his garden. We were then able to come home. We then got ready for dinner with the Buchmans, at Olive Garden. It was our last woo rah with us all. After dinner we had to hurry and get our laundry done, luckily the Roger's let us use their laundry room! When we came home we had an eviction notice on our door and we had to wait till the next day to talk to Elder Rasmussen to help get it fixed.

     Wednesday, the day of transfers! Our last goodbye to Elder Foutz. The first thing we did was go to the Rogers because Elder Foutz forgot his bag there. Right after we made our way to see Sister Buchman, she had made some snacks for us and wanted Elder Foutz to try them before he left. We then went to lunch at Chick-fill-a, along with around 30 other missionaries. It is the hotspot on transfer days! We then had to make our way to the Weston Chapel, we hung out with other missionaries and transferred over Elder Foutz items to his new car. While there we had a meeting with President Mavromatis, he welcomed all the new missionaries and said his goodbyes to the ones leaving. He also talked about getting information about the new converts with in the past year. He wants to know how they have progressed in the church and if they are getting the fellowship they need. After we came home to re arrange the apt now that it is back to only two of us. We then left to see the Roger's for dinner and finish up our laundry.

     Nothing to much happened Thursday, Elder Kilpack wasn't feeling to well so stayed home for a while, Sister Roger's needed some help so we were able to give over and help out for a little bit. She had been gone for a few weeks and wanted to catch up. Later on we had an appointment with Francis for his interview questions! The Zone leaders came up to do the interview, while waiting for them we talked to a lady named Lori, she was outside doing some work. We talked for a little bit and she seems interested in learning more, we were able to get her contact information as well! While in the interview something came up so we had to call president to finish up. We couldn't do it right then so we would come back tomorrow.

     Friday after we got ready we left to the storage unit to pick  up a mattress for the Franklin sisters. We then made our way to District Council. We ended up being a little late. We talked about how we can better help our friends in our areas. The main training and roleplay was on leaving invitations/commitments and why we do it. We also promised blessings to help them know why we leave them. We came home and got ready for out second half of the interview with Francis when we got there we played a game of phone tag but had to have some reach out to him on another time. We then started to fill out the rest of the form. He ended up taking us out to dinner for helping him out so much. We then came home for the night. 

     Saturday we went to the park pretty early to visit Andie. We met her at around 8:30 am. While there she said the opening prayer! This is the first time she has prayed in front of us missionaries! It was a big step for her. We had a good lesson about her and how we can better help her learn and grow. After we came home. Later on we came to see brother Mason and have our missionary coordination meeting. We discussed our friends and how we can get help from the ward. We also discussed how the ward can help for the upcoming baptism for Francis.  After we finished dinner got pushed to later so we helped brother Mason trim some bushes around his house. I also rode his electric long board, oh boy is it fun! After we finished with the help he needed we made  way to the Roger's for the night. 

     Sunday we had a pretty good day! We had both Francis and Kyle there along with the whole Roger's family! Big steps for them all. The first talk was really good! Sister Phillips talked about the “Parable of the Talents.” As we all have GOD given talents we should always look to have them grow and to use them to help others! The second talk was on the power of the Book of Mormon. In Sunday school we talked about missionary miracles. Ways we have seen missionary work through a miracle. Miracles come in many sizes. After church we had our first lesson with sister Flynn. Kyle joined its as well! Sister Cope also helped out because she knows sister Flynn pretty Well. We came home to eat and do studies along with district call ins up until we had to leave for dinner with Bishop Crichton and his family. When we got there the Paice family joined us. We had a real fun time socializing at the dinner table along with getting to know each other more.  The message we shared was on "come and see" a new program put out by the church to help members feel more comfortable with inviting others to be apart of a wide range of church activities. We then made our way to our appointment with a referral we got. When we got there turns out she wasn't feeling to well and had to cancel again. While in the area of Beaver Park we did some contact attempts with a few people we teach and hope to start teaching, sadly we didn't have to much luck. It got pretty late so we came home for the night.

                        Isaiah 40:8

     "8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever"

     The word of God and the love of Christ will never die. As we watch the nature around us we can see that it is slowly dying. It was not meant to last for ever. Christ's love will always be there. The Word of God will always stand true! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

Week 42 August 5,2019

Helping with yard work

Our District

Brother Paganella's Yard

Francis Baptism

Nice Car

Testing my Strength

Week 42

     Well last week was pretty cool with Francis getting baptized and becoming a member! This week was pretty good as well. Monday we pretty much stayed at the Rogers all day, we had to save miles and they let us use their laundry room. For dinner we spent it with the Loyedd family. After Elder Kilpack helped out with an electrical problem. Before the Mission Elder Kilpack became a journeyman electrician for work. After dinner we came home and did some planning.
     Tuesday-Thursday we had a few moves so we stayed pretty busy.  Today is Tuesday and after we picked up the trailer and some items from the storage unit, we made our way to Waltham. When we got there, we had help from the Waltham and Weston Elders, along with the Rasmussens and the Orlandinis. We took down one apt (there were two) then put the extra furniture in the other apartment. The items we did end up putting in the trailer, we took to Quincy Massachusetts. The Weston Elders had to leave so the Waltham Spanish Elders hopped in the truck and helped us down in Quincy. They were much needed. We did a lot of moving and setting up once we finished they ended up making all for of us some food, It was pretty good. We then dropped off the Elders back at their apt then we dropped off the trailer. We then made our way to dinner with the Maclean family. It was pretty fun we had burgers with pineapple on top. I was doing some magic tricks and one of the boys got frustrated and hit me in the ... luckily it wasn’t too hard. I guess I learned my lesson of doing magic tricks, haha.
     Wednesday was a longer move day. We made our way to Cambridge YSA again after we had some studies. While there we picked up a few items from them that was from the old apt. After, we all decided to go out to lunch at Panda Express.  Later we decided to meet up with a pretty famous member in the mission. His name is Keith Moon, he sends a lot of individual messages daily to missionaries who struggle. I was so lucky to be able to meet him. With him working at Harvard he took us around a little bit. We were able to go into the library; it is the largest college library in the world! It's about 2 million books there, About 7 floors! He was able to take us into the stacks to see all of the shelves for them. I could not believe how many books there were. At the library is one of the original printed Bibles from Gutenburg! I thought it was pretty cool. After we got our tour we cleaned out the old apt and turned in the keys because today was the last day. We then made our way home and we hit 3 hours of traffic heading home from Boston! Luckily we didn’t have the trailer so we went straight to dinner with the Buchmans at Pho Dakao.
     Thursday, our last move for the week. Luckily we didn’t need the trailer this time but we needed to pick up a few items in the storage unit. We picked up the parts for a bunkbed. We went through the heart of Boston. While we arrived at our place of arrival it was just the two of us. The Sisters we were there to help left the door unlocked for us. We first had to move some stuff around to make room for the bunkbed. It honestly surprises me how dirty Sisters apartments are. After we set up the bunkbed we locked the door and made our way to lunch. We once again chose Panda Express! As a moving elder we get $10 to eat while on moves, it helps out so much! After our lunch we made our way to Revere to drop off some nuts and washers. The Elders were not there so we zip tied them together and tossed it onto the balcony. We once again hit pretty bad traffic. Luckily our dinner appointment was at 8pm with the Paice family, it was later because Brother Paice was still in Boston up until 8. It worked out in the end because we hit bad traffic as well! We planned on sharing a message on "come and see" but I had a strong prompting to do the sacrament message. After we finished Sister Paice said they have been talking about how to better get ready for Sacrament the whole past week. I knew right then, it was needed to be shared. I am so happy I acted on the prompting of the spirit. We then came to the Roger's home (we are still house sitting and animal watching), and when we arrived Elder Kilpack burned a shirt of his because he hit his 1 year mark for the mission!
      Today was Friday so that means District Council. We had the lesson and role play today. Our lesson was simply on “what is our own personal purpose as a missionary and what do we hope to accomplish”. It was actually pretty cool! Our role play was on asking questions to find concern then testifying.  We've had a focus on teaching, where you agree, start there. After that the Franklin Sisters and us went to Subway for lunch. While there we talked about how we can better help them in the area.  Elder Kilpack is the District Leader and he wants to do what he can to support all of us. We came home for studies then had to head to dinner. We met up with Francis at Whole Foods for dinner and a lesson. After we picked up our food we left to his apt. With him being a new member we are starting to re-teach all the lessons.  We started with the 10 commandments along with the Word of Wisdom, and the Power in Prayer.
     Saturday morning we left to help out the Macananti family. They were moving and had a big moving truck there. Luckily when we got there a lot if members of the Elders Quorum were already there to help out! We got a lot of work done there, and all the help was needed. They ended up leaving the next morning! While we were there they had a garage (they live on a farm) and we went in to look around. While inside we saw a Ford Model B car and it is so cool looking! We later found out it was the neighbors. We talked to the neighbor and it is a push start, oh man I would love to see it in action. While there we talked to Bishop and asked how we can better help out. We talked about a couple less active members and sent us the shepherding list for the ward. It seems to be getting better, the relationship between us missionaries and the Bishop. We then helped out and we took stuff to the dump with Brother Macananti. Perks of having the truck! We came home because I had a headache and I took a tap that was much needed.  Even when I woke up I still had a slight headache. After I woke up we took the truck to the wash and got it cleaned out. While at the same time Elder Kilpack had a head cold and wasn’t feeling to well. We had to go back to the Macananti family to pick up Elder Kilpacks toolbox, we didn’t want to have be on the moving truck and never see it again. Luckily they hadn't packed it!
     I didn’t get much sleep, but after we got ready we made our way to church. It was fast Sunday, so it was also testimony meeting. Once again we had the opportunity to help pass the Sacrament.  It's always so fun to help out. There were many good testimonies and even Francis bore his testimony again, three months in a row! For Sunday School we went around visiting the youth classes.  We had fun and it was for sure interesting to see how different classes bring different spiritual lessons! Right after church we had a lesson with Sister Flynn on tithes and offerings. We also touched a little bit on the Priesthood. Next time we are going to talk about Patriarchal Blessings and hopefully help her prepare to get her own! We then came home because Elder Kilpack still wasn’t feeling to well. We did some studies and I even took another nap. Later on it came time for dinner so we made our way to the Hansen family. We had a good time there, and we even met their older daughter who just graduated from BYU. After dinner we met up with Brother Sofoul and Brother Mason. From there we did some splits. I went with Brother Mason in the Hopkinton and Ashland area. I rode in his Dodge Charger, and it was pretty nice. While on splits we were visiting less active members but not everyone was there. Sadly the ones we did talk to didn’t want anything to do with the church anymore, all we can do is pray for them and have faith they will return once again.

                      Alma 32:10

      "10 Behold I say unto you, do ye suppose that ye cannot worship God save it be in your synagogues only?"

      Worshiping God is an every day, every hour, every minute thing. We should do what we can to show our love that we have for him.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross we can return to live with him again, I can not wait for this day. Until then I am doing what I can to help others know of this love. I will continue to worship God everywhere I go. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen