Week 70...16 Months & General Conference

October 6, 2014

Looks like you’ve had an adventuresome week.  Golf, cross country, conference, and more, it looks like you’re keeping busy.  My week was pretty awesome for the fact it was general conference…three conferences down and one more to go.  That is a bummer about the BYU game and Taysom Hill.  My comment about them being notorious for blowing it came true, oh well I guess that is life for Cougar fans.   That’s awesome to hear about Kyle getting his mission call.  It will be good for him and he’ll be a great missionary.  I’m excited for him. 

1. How was your week?  What were the highs/lows?  This week has been a pretty good week.  We finally are starting to get the hang of things.  We’re figuring out who people are and where things are so that definitely makes things nice.  We are teaching investigators and that aspect is going well.  My biggest high was Friday night.  We were coming home from trying to visit someone and we got on the bus to go back home.  A guy got on and I just started talking to him.  I asked him if he was just getting home from school or what…basically just trying to start a conversation.  I guess he was just coming home from the bar and school.  He is studying some science thing that has to do with bees.  I thought it was rather interesting.  We got talking some more and I found out he is from New Mexico.  I asked if he had ever talked with missionaries before and he said “yeah, I have aunts that are Mormon”.  I found out he lives in the same apartment building as we do.  When we were getting off the bus he said “come and teach me and tell me more” so we proceeded to do just that.  The lesson went good.  It would make an epic homecoming story if he gets baptized.  We will see where it goes.  We left him with a BOM and we are going to go see if he has read any of it yet.  Unfortunately, he will have to be taught by the University branch sisters because he is a student and will go to the branch where all the students go.   A low was yesterday in between sessions of conference.  All of our plans fell through but that was really the only low.  I guess the weather has not been super fantastic, but oh well that is fall weather in PA for you. 
2. How are things with you and Elder R?  I'm assuming he's still with you, are you getting along well?  We are getting along great.  There are a few times when things are hard just because he is new and still trying to get the hang of things and I can't always help him with things.  I just keep telling him it will come with time and practice.  I’m just trying to be a good example and keep hoping that I am not doing a bad job.  Really it is going well and he is just hoping he gets his Visa by Halloween because if he doesn't he will have to resign papers because they only last 30 days.  Hopefully he gets it soon. 
3. Did you find your bus pass?  No, so I just bought a replacement because I did not want to keep paying $1.75 every time I got on the bus.  How's the bus getting around? Is it working pretty well?  Yes, we are finally starting to get the hang of it.  The biggest problem is just trying to make sure we are at the stop at the right time and then having to wait for the next bus if we have to change buses to get somewhere else. 
4. Do you use the bikes much?  No, we have not.  We have to find the other helmet. We are going to ask the neighbor where the helmets are.  Did you get your lights for the bikes?  Yes 
5. What areas besides part of campus does your ward include?  What are the boundaries to your area?  We cover north of campus and south of campus and a few other places around State College.  If you log into your LDS account online and click on maps and then search State College 2nd ward and it should bring up the boundaries. 
6. What did you do for general conference?  Where did you watch Saturday, Priesthood & Sunday? We watched it all at the church because no one invited us over. 
7. What did you like most about general conference and what talks touched you the most?  General conference was awesome.  I thought it was cool how they had some of the speakers speak in their native language (even though the voice over was sometimes hard to follow).  I really enjoyed Elder Holland talking about charity and seeking opportunities to serve the poor.  We really need to love everyone and seek divine guidance on being able to do compassionate things for others.  I was touched by Elder Robbin’s talk about Which Way Do You Face?  Trying to please others before pleasing God is against the first commandment.  It’s our duty to make sure we are facing the right direction and that we continue on the path that returns to our Heavenly Father.  Of course, I liked Elder Bednar’s talk on proclaiming the everlasting gospel.  It made me reflect on the whole reason of why I am on my mission.  I loved the story he related about his sons and the band aids and how I have used those band aids and the Atonement to fix my own mistakes and how I want to be able to share that with others.  He said, “devoted disciples have and always will be valiant missionaries”. I also like President Eyring’s talk on personal revelation.  They were all great and I’m excited to get the Ensign ordered and be able to read them all over again and download them to my flash drive and listen to them again. 
8. How's your weather been?  Looks like the last few days have been rather cold.  It was good at the beginning of the week and then it turned cold and windy over the weekend, it even rained a bit.  It’s cold enough to bust out the sweaters. 
9. What retail/food chains are in your area that you can go to?  There is a Five Guys, Noodles and Company and Coldstone.  Those are a few that I am looking forward to having around. 
10. Tell me about the ward members you've met?  Well they are all awesome!  Like I told you before, some of them are young enough to be your children.  Some are only like 3 or 4 years older than me.  That tells you how young the ward is.  They are all college students from either Provo or Rexburg here to get their masters or PhD.  So that is pretty much everybody in the ward.  There are a few older people but not many.
11. What people/members have you really connected with/like?  I haven’t really been around long enough yet to get connected with many of them yet. We had dinner with the H family  last night and they are pretty cool.  They are having their first baby in a month.  They are having a little boy.  We had a good time with them, they are really funny.  He is getting his masters in health care administration.  We determined that she is only 3 years older than me.  Also the WML and his wife are pretty cool.  They are also expecting in about a month.  So they are 2 families that we have met and enjoyed being with.
12. How are the dinner appointments coming along?  Well we have been fed dinner every day since we’ve been here, so I would say dinner appointments are going pretty good.  I don’t think it can get any better than that J  
13. How's the teaching going?  Tell us about your investigators.  Teaching is going pretty well.  We have a Chinese lady we are teaching named  W.  She is a scholar exchange from China.  She basically has no belief in God. We have given her a BOM and she said she would read it.  We have another investigator named  B.  Boy, is he ever interesting.  We had our first lesson with him on Tuesday.  He is really interested in family history and that is the reason he is investigating.  The sisters gave him a date for this Saturday but he has not really been taught anything so that is going to be pushed back.  Wow, he is a talker too.  We ask him questions and his answers don’t have anything to do with the question.  We’ve basically got his life story down. 
14. Have you had any recent mission interviews/zone conferences or training?  What's coming up?  Well last week we had interviews and they were pretty good.  President Johnson told me I am doing a great job in the task that he has given me. He said that I had everything thrown at me…doubling in, training, a brand new ward that was split and a Visa waiter, so everything possible.  He told me he knew I would continue to do great and reminded me that Elder R is a great companion.  This week on Thursday we get to watch Meet the Mormons and we are having a zone training also. 
15. Anything exciting to do in State College for Pday (especially since you have so many missionaries in your district)?  Well we have the church close by again so we can always go there and we can wander around campus. There are quite a few things to do.  Today we found out there is a Jamba Juice on campus so we are going to use some of the gift cards that Aunt Merri sent me and I’m definitely excited for that. 
16. Did you get the package that I sent or at least get a notice about a package?  Yes, I got a notice and I am going to pick it up after I’m done emailing.  I am not really sure what happened with that and why it wasn’t left/delivered because Aunt Merri sent a package and they just left it even though we were not home.  So I have no clue why he didn’t leave your package. 
17. What's the best way to get a package to you?  Just send it because I will get it no matter what.  The mail guy changes all the time and one of them is sort of new so he is still trying to figure things out.  Hopefully, he’ll just leave the packages on the doorstep.  If  I have to get them from the post office so be it. 
18. Do you need anything?  No, I think I am set.
19. Can we pray for anything specifically?  Just pray for the investigators that we’re teaching, that they feel the spirit and power of our message.

Well there are my adventures for the week.  Things are starting to pick up and we are figuring things out so all should go well from here out. 

Love,

Elder Muir