Marble Cliff #4

Hey Dad,

Sorry to hear that the weather is also undesirable there as well, it makes work outside terrible. The weather has gotten better or I am just slowly getting use to it. We have been doing a lot of finding this week and it has paid off a little which is always great for us and staying busy. Sadly  though Dj said that he liked us coming over but that they were comfortable where they are. Big let down but we have found others that are ready.

This week we have been meeting with this guy name Gary and he is awesome. He is by far the nicest and most genuine person I have met so far. He is meeting with us because of how nice Elder Cox was to him when they met. We have since taught the first lesson and read the first couple chapters of the Book of Mormon with him. We hope that he comes to church this Sunday and feels the spirt. Its kind of fun having the temple next to our meeting house because people just have tons of questions.

Also on Sunday after Sacrament I noticed a guy that I have never seen before, so I walked over and introduced myself. Turns out he was invited to come to church by some members of another ward and he just walked into our sacrament service. His name is Ali Kamara and he is from Sierra Leone and he is muslim. He wants to learn about our church and he said that he will come to church every Sunday and bring friends when he can. We cant wait to teach him.

There have been many people that have either came up to us or we have met that are very open to meeting with us. All the hard work is paying off or in other words the lord is moving the work forward and I have been blessed to see it happen. I have made it this far and I still make rookie mistakes. Despite all my short comings and those of all the missionaries, the church grows faster and faster. What a weird thought that a global church would put so much trust in young adults to spread the Gospel. Just shows even more the hand of the lord.

I thank you for your offer on the Alfalfa and ginger but I do good if I get small doses of milk through the day. I just cant eat bowls of ice cream or a bowl of cereal with out paying the consequences. My other allergies are doing fine though. I'm not that allergic to Ohio as Oregon which is great for me at the moment. I just feel older when I talk to missionaries and I say that I have hay fever, can't eat milk, and when I walk a lot I feel my left hip click. I have a growing list of medical conditions. At least I have my list and not somebody else's list. Oh well life continues, no point in crying about. I complain a lot how do you live with me?

I hope that you have a good Father's Day and that you and Rocky get along since everyone is gone. I love you and think of you everyday. Your sacrifices for my benefit have not gone unnoticed. Love you tons.

Ps I ate frog legs the other day and their not bad.

Elder Young

Marble Cliff 2 #3

Hello Family,

Wow so many questions and so much good news about what is happening with ya"ll back home. My missionary card has an incorrect date on it because my mission has been extended a week. I wont get home till the first of December instead of the 23 of November like my card says. I did get dads comment on the bee pollen, and they don't sell it here or have farmers markets that I know of. Some members have bee hives and they may give me some.  I think there was one more. Oh and for the lactose problems its gotten so bad that if I eat a bowl of cereal in the morning it upsets my stomach. I feel the best when I don't have milk and it makes me sad because the members love to give us ice cream here. I know the root beer float was really big but I was the only one hurting after.

Anyway I hope that answers your questions. The weather over here has been nasty as well. It is in the 80's with 90 percent humidity and I and my companions are dying when ever we go out side. We have been doing a lot of finding and are getting a few lessons here and there but we don't have any solid investigators. A lot of open people that love to talk about religion and that makes it fun and hard because they are, "Happy were there at". There is no growth in the comfort zone people! Oh well, we are working hard and inviting and Elder Cook told us that if we invite we are successful missionaries.

Actually we found this guy named Dj who is really cool because we set up a lesson and gave him our phone number, and he did something no one ever does. He called us and told us the time we set up didn't work and set up Another time to meet. Then he was home when we came by for the lesson. It was a good lesson too. I wish everyone was like that. Oh I almost forgot his mom was there and she was reading before we left, they are golden. Im so happy.

But ya that is my life right now and I love it so much. I can't wait to see you in these next few months. Time is flying so fast and I still don't know how to be a missionary. Oh and transfers is next week so who knows I could be somewhere else soon. Love you all so much. Keep on feeding the missionaries because Im not.

Elder Young

Marble Cliff 2 #2

Hello Family,

Life has been good over here and it has also been boiling hot with the humidity in this nasty state. Other than that I have had a great time working hard and trying to meet all the people that live in this area. I am glad to hear that you have had nice weather and that you are all doing good. 

Elder Cox said that his parents names are Wayne and Linda and his grandparents are Merril and Dorris. Elder Welker says that he works by first name so he doesn't know if he knows them, but if they went to Shelly High school he probably did. My companions are awesome and I like the change in location and feel since this is a city. Yesterday we tried our hands at street contacting in the city but there weren't that many people out walking. There is also a a lot of crime and I thing something really serious like a murder happened because there was five police cars and a taped of section. We cover a lot of really low income areas(Ghetto). Its all good.

Oh I forgot to tell you that the church building that my ward meets in is next to the temple. We also got one of our investigators, Art, to have a church tour. We hope that we can get him to church sometime. Oh and this Sunday I gave a talk on the subject honor thy father and thy mother. They asked me to give a talk on Thursday night and I didn't get to write it until Saturday, but it came out ok for only having about two hours to write it. We are also are getting more meals and our shy members are starting to talk to us more. This is the weirdest ward I have served in yet, because they don't talk.

I am also glad to hear about the changes that are happening with you and I hope you have fun playing Kickball with the ward. There are some fun benefits to getting to know the members were you live. Met the coolest member here yesterday and his name is Brother Yearsly. He has an awesome gun collection that made my jaw drop and I saw a gun that someday I may get. Anyway I wish you the best in your new goal dad and i know there will only be benefits. Now as for the Astro I cant wait to see what you do to it because I just think that is the funniest, cool idea I have heard in a while.

I hope that you all have a great week and that you have a good time again at the ward activity. Love you all a lot.

Elder Young

 Elder Young and his long hair :)

 Elder Young and a giant root beer float at the Yearslys

Half the mission that was trained by Elder Zaballos :)

Pictures

 Elder Young and the Suber Family in Washington Court house.

 Elder Cox from Manti Utah and Elder Welker from Shelly Idaho. In new area Marble Cliff 2

 Elder Welker

Elder Daines in  a funny meme some Elder made :)

Marble Cliff 2 #1

Hello Family,

So this week as you can probably imagine was a very crazy week for me on the mission with Elder Porter going home. So on Monday we got the news that Elder Porter would be going home the next day in the morning and that I would be leaving to a new area that night. So I to pack very quickly and get ready to drive us to the mission home, so I managed to pack my stuff in 30 minutes which a new record for me. I left some stuff I'm realizing as the week has gone on but I packed in 30 minutes so Im still impressed. 

Anyway we got to the mission home at 9 Monday night and weighed Elder Porters bags and I waited for my new companions to show up. I am in a trio again with an Elder Cox from Manti Utah, and a Elder Welker from Shelly Idaho. I like them a lot and we are working hard. I was told Monday by President that he was sending me on another mission and that was to keep an eye on my companions and the district as a whole. So I have become the fix it missionary now, Ya. I lucked out though because they are already obedient so no real work to be done.

So this week we have just been walking around our area trying to talk to people and to get in contact with our investigators. Oh by the way my area is Called Marble Cliff 2 which is in Columbus on the north end. We cover down town Columbus which has a lot of cool little stores. Its weird to be back in the big city after being in the small town communities, but it is all coming back to me. I am really excited to just be out working again and to not be sitting in the apartment doing nothing.

Now as for traditions in the mission we just burn stuff at the 6, 12, 18, and 24 month marks of our mission. The mission President is trying to stop it though. I have only burned a tie though and I found it in the Reynoldsburg apartment so it wasn't even my tie. Also my stuff is doing really well my buttons on my shirts are getting weak but I haven't had to sew one on. My shoes are doing really great the only thing that is bad about them is the are not as waterproof anymore. I try to take very good care of my stuff so that I don't have to do a lot of maintenance.

One thing that I forgot to tell you about this week was we had Elder Zeballos of the seventy come and train us which was really cool. He talked about the importance of the Holly Ghost in missionary work and how we as missionaries can only bring the spirit unto the hearts of those we teach. That they have to bring the spirit into there hearts, and that we help the recognize the spirit so that they can let it in. Also we met a crazy lady while out knocking on doors and the conversation went like this:

Lady: Are you Jehovah Witnesses? 

Elder Cox: Uh no were LDS

Lady: Thats good, Hail satan.

Elder Cox: Uh, We go around talking to people about Jesus...

Lady: No thanks we worship the dark lord, Satan, in this house.

It was really weird and really funny at the same time, at least she was nice about not being interested though.

All is good here though and I am working hard in the new area with my new companions who are really good Elders. I hope that you all have a good week and that you continue strong and I will see you in 6 months. Oh could you send me some bee pollen for my allergies.

Washington Court House #7

Hello Family,

It sounds like you had a very interesting week full of ups and downs like life always is in our lives. I hope that things continue to go up and get better as you work hard and turn your lives to Christ for all things. Wish the Canales family my best as they go through this difficult time in there life with the passing of Brother Canales. I also hope that the weather stays nice for you and the dad doesn't have to work to hard.

This week was very interesting and full of ups and downs for me as well. Tuesday morning we went to the Greenfield area for the day with the other Elders so that we could get out of the apartment. It was a good day and I had a lot of fun doing missionary work again. The next morning Elder Porter went with President Borsini and got a MRI on his Ankle in Chillicothe. It turns out that he has contusions to the bones in his ankle as well as a slight tare in on of his ligaments. Today we should know what they plan to do with him.

We then on Thursday went to Huber Heights Ohio for a zone conference and got trained by President Daines and I had a lot of fun. We learned about the importance of always personalizing everything we do with our investigators to them so that we can help them progress. We also worked on how to work with members when we take them to lessons and other things of that nature. It was of course all review but that is always important because repetition is how we learn and grow.

That was my week and though we spent sometime in the apartment we had enough events out of it that I'm happy. Hope that you continue to have a great week and that you stay safe. Love Ya'll     

Elder Young

Not my first time eating sushi on the mission. Elder Porter and President Borsini kept bugging me to try it so I ruined the good taste in my mouth to humor them. Borsini was happy that I did it dispite my reaction.

Washington Court House #6

Hello Family,

Sounds like a great Mother's Day and like a great little family reunion. I don't know what else to tell you other than that I love you and that I do read your emails. You will probably never know who much you emails mean to me. Elder Porter is only seeing the chiropractor, but our mission doctor says that he should be able to walk on it and be fine. Last time he walked on it though he was in a great deal more of pain. So yep lots of weirdness. Anyway love you a lot!

Elder Young