Rhode Island & Tennis Hall of Fame Museum

Navy Base for Family Home Evening

Cooking pineapple

The Evans & Kings

Tennis Museum Lawn Courts

Tennis Hall of Fame Museum

The Mendes Family

Tennis Museum

Elder Johnson and Elder Knowlden

Stained Glass at the Tennis Museum

Tennis Musuem

Tennis Hall of Fame Musuem

Week  71  Feb 24th 2020
    Monday was pretty fun! My parents are in Oregon so I didn’t call them in the morning because of the time difference. After we got ready we made our way over to Walmart to do our weekly shopping then on the way home we picked up our laundry from Brother Stabley’s. When we got home I was then able to call and talk to the family, it was pretty fun! After that we made our way to downtown Newport to go look at the "International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum", we had free passes so we had to go. It was lots of fun but a lot of reading. The outside part was cool because we saw all the original grass courts they played on. As we were leaving we saw a store called "Gingys" and Elder Johnson got a picture with it. We then went to the Chapel for a little bit then made our way to the Evans. The Kings were there too, and we played some board/card games for a couple of hours. Afterwards we hit the Chapel for another little bit until P-day was over. We then came home for dinner and after wards we met with Lloyd. We did come follow me teaching with him, and we also brought him his food order from the bishops store house. All in all it was a fun and busy day!
     Tuesday morning after we woke up and got ready we made a call to the front office. They called us yesterday and our blinds had come in for our apt! So we set up a time for them to be installed. After the call we made our way to service at the Salvation Army. The truck already came earlier that day so we didn’t have much to do. We put a lot of cheese into a fridge and put the extra boxes of meat into a back up fridge. That's basically the extent of what we did. During lunch we had a great conversation with a couple of other volunteers on the subject of religion and who has the truth. We hope to start to teach one of them soon! After service we came home and started to have our studies for the day. I listened to the Old Testament and wrote address for an address book. Our dinner appointment had to reschedule so we didn’t end up going to Bristol. On the bright side it helped save our miles. We wanted to go tracting but it was raining all day, so we will do that another time. We then went to the library and did some things on the computer. I edited my friends list with unfriending people I don’t really know and reached out again to people who I've talked to from Facebook finding. We then came home had our dinner then made our way to the Chapel for Book of Mormon Class. When we got there Brother Gallagher showed us a picture of him when he was bald and had no beard, it was crazy! He does not look the same at all. The Class went really well and it was pretty full! After the class we had a lesson with Mike about Temples and he really liked it. We watched the Rome Italy Temple and turns out he will be going to Rome in a couple of years!
     Wednesday morning after we woke up we made our way to the Chapel to work out. And while we were there Brother Daily called us and brought is a pie. When we got back home I took a shower and we got ready for the day. After the shower. We started studies and I read over one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon, the story of Ammon. He showed so much “Christ Like Love” and all he wanted to do was to serve! He is definitely one of my role models. After personal studies we then had companion studies. We had some lunch to fuel us for the day. After lunch we made our way to visit a referral, sadly she wasn’t there. We tried later that night and even texted her. We got a call from her and it ended up being her mom, and she threatened to sue us for harassment! It was crazy, we apologized and explained that we got her info from a "Self Referral" ( she went online and put her info in). We are not sure if she did or someone else did to mess with her or even us. Long story short we will no longer be reaching out to her at all. We then hit the Newport Library and returned our free Tennis Hall of Fame passes. We then parked at the Chapel and "put pride aside" and we tracted for a couple of hours. We literally got nowhere, it seems like no one was even home. We did tract into someone a member knew but he wasn’t interested. He is from where my past companion-Elder Leite is from! After tracting we made our way to see James. With him we introduced him to Come Follow Me for the year. We then watched a Book of Mormon video with him and answered a few questions he had. Afterwards we made our way to the Mendes Family for dinner. We had a Brazilian type of stroganoff that is not stroganoff. It was pretty good though! After dinner we shared the video of "Expressions of Love". After dinner we made our way to the Newport Library, that's when we got the call... to see Brother Mottrom and we then had a great lesson with him! He talked about his favorite passage being the story of the Prodigals Son, Such a great story!
     Thursday morning came quick but it was super easy to get up today from the blinds. Before we got them we had curtains that just covered the windows so it was super dark in the mornings. After we both got ready for the day we made our to way to the Elders apt then they drove to the Warwick Chapel for interviews. When we got there the Chapel was being deep cleaned so a lot of the doors were open so it was pretty cold. We had to use a different room than what president usually uses. The Narragansett Elders went first then us. He said after this transfer because we've been together for three, we will no longer be together (we knew that already). I love president to death and he is a funny guy but sometimes it is a little hard because of the language barrier (he’s from Brazil). After our interviews we got a call from the Zone Leaders and they mainly talked to Elder Johnson (District Leader) about an area who needs extra help in his District.  After the call we went with the Elders to Wendy's for lunch. It was funny the cashier basically sees us weekly so she knows our names. Her coworker messed with her and told her to stop flirting. It threw us off but it was pretty funny. After lunch we got back to the apt then drove home. After we changed we did some contacting up until we left to dinner at the Chidesters. Three of the Gallagher kids were there because the parents are in the hospital for baby seven. We had burgers and hotdogs. For dessert we had brown sugar glazed pineapple! I even got to cut 2 of the pineapples myself, and yeah I still got it! (I did that at work back home). It was pretty hectic there but still lots of fun.  After we did a couple of things then made our way to our Chapel for a lesson with Dante. So we weren't planning on meeting today because he’s in the middle of moving but he reached out to us to meet today! When we had our lesson he said the opening prayer and he talked about how he is thankful to prepare for baptism!!! It was so cool to hear that, you have no idea! We reset a date with him and then talked about Temples for our lesson, he really liked that. Afterwards we hit Taco Bell to report a few things and I got some desserts I ended up getting a free drink, I don’t know why. We then came home for the night.
     Friday, once again it was pretty easy to wake up, and it has helped me to get ready on time! After we were both ready, we drove once again to Narragansett. Today we drove for District Council. Surprisingly we were there first and we even started on time. I had the training on "Working with members" with a focus on unity. I've had a lot of missionaries say I am really good at connecting with members. It helps that I was a server and I am a social person in general. After the training I had two of the members of the District tell me I did a really good job! We then went out to lunch, at Wendy's (it's cheap). It was pretty fun. After lunch we dropped the Elders off at the apt then came home. We changed then went to the Library to reach out to a few people and update area notes. After a little bit, the Library was closing so we came home for dinner, I made bratwursts. After dinner we made our way to the Navy Base for FHE. Tonight they had a pizza party, so the beginning was pretty loud but we had lots of fun. We once again played "7 wonders" with "Allen and Schroder" along with a couple of members from Narragansett.  It was honestly a really fun game this time around! We got talking and "Schroder" played football with Jimmy Garoppolo (San Francisco 49ers QB). So that was pretty cool to hear! After FHE we hit dollar tree for a couple things them came home for the night.
     Saturday morning was a rough one for both of us. After we got up and ready we had studies. I continued to read in Alma about King Lamonis father. After studies we had lunch then we made our way to Barnes and Nobel for weekly planning.  It went really well, and afterwards I bought a Sudoku book. I didn’t realize until later it was an advanced puzzle one, lucky I know how to do it. After we went to the Library and I updated area notes and sent it out to the members of Ward Council. We then came home for dinner. Afterwards we hit Noel and Luara’s and so much happened. We went in and we talked a lot about families, and working to support each other. Luara expresses a great desire to be baptized. I followed the promptings of the spirit and asked her if this was what she truly wants, would she be willing to give up Coffee. That is a huge thing for them. We didn’t know what was going to happen. She was taken back from it but to our surprise she said she will work on it, she said "It will be a challenge but I like a challenge ". We then talked more about the Word of Wisdom. It will be hard for sure but with the Lord on our side she can and will over come this to be baptized!
     Sunday, morning after we got ready we made our way to the Chapel for Missionary Coordination meeting with Brother Raposa and Brother Jones. It went really well and we covered a lot! After the meeting we were able to give Brother Raposa a blessing of healing and comfort because he has surgery this coming week. We then greeted membership until Sacrament started. We had three good talks all by the Chidester Family. They were all focused on Joseph Smith and the Restoration, it's to help prepare us for the coming General Conference this coming April. In Elders Quorum today we talked about helping each other build our testimonies in the Book of Mormon. After Church we had a short meeting with Brother Daily and missionary work!  We then came home for a quick lunch then made our way to Brother Stableys house for board games. Brother Daily was also there, and we played Terra forming Mars, it’s actually a really fun game! We then went to dinner with the Hancocks and we had some delicious Shepard’s Pie, they are always a hoot to go over to see. They have so many animals (mainly reptiles) so I love it! After dinner we came home and dropped off the laundry then made our way over to see the Raposas. When we got there they were eating dinner, they got a late start but we just talked and waited for them to finish. It was fun to get to know them a little more. After they finished we were able to share a message with them on "Expressions of Love" they all really liked it, even the mom who isn’t a member! After the message we then looked at how to videos for dance moves and then attempted to do them. To say the least I CAN NOT DANCE! I'll just stick to wrestling, that's what works for me! We then came home for the night, but we had a pretty fun day!

     This next part will be a longer read than normal, so I hope you enjoy!
               
                  Daniel 3:15-18

     "15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
     16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
     17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
     18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

     I love the faith that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego display in these verses! After the King Nebuchadnezzar tells them they need to worship his ideals or he will cast them into a furnace of fire (that was seven times hotter then any other). They tell him, they will not do so, because of that King Nebuchadnezzar tells them and says "who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands". They had much faith to say that he will deliver us out of thine hands. Okay now here is where I truly want to touch on, is there next response.
     "But If Not" we still will not worship the gods or idols the king has made for others to worship. This is so powerful and such a test of faith. At times our faith will be tested by those around us by trying to prove that we are correct and doing the right thing. Let is continue to have faith in God, and his Son Jesus Christ that they are there for us. But if not, if they don’t help us through a trial or two let us not lose our faith in them. They have given us agency and free choice to learn and grow for our self in this life.
     I love that so much as we are in a for ever growing world and wickedness let us not give into temptation and worship those other "gods" around us have faith in God and his Son at all times, but if not you will learn of all the blessings that you ha e missed out on. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.