Hilliard Ohio #10

Hey Family,

So this week was a good one and the weather was really nice and wasn't to hot. Good to hear that you are all safe where ever you are. This week was nice also because we had our car and it allowed us to do a lot more as well as a way to get out of the heat. We have been trying to meet with people through the week but have had little luck with the new people that we talk to. We however are able to meet with Jeffrey and a member referral Ben. Kind of a slow week but was nice was the lessons we did have were with members. Also that Ben came to church that was a really big thing for us.

So this week has been full of a lot of service to the ward members and Just Serve opportunities. It was a lot of fun to get dirty pulling tons of weeds and lifting heavy things as well as assembling shelves. It's nice to be able to help in some kind of way when ever we can and those opportunities have become more frequent. So Elder Kimball and I are very happy.

Now to the lesson we had this week. Starting with Ben Hoop who was referred to us by President Smith of our mission Presidency. He is also the stake president that worked with the committees to get a temple here in Ohio. Very nice man but is intimidating because of all his achievements. He is also a professor at Ohio State over the department of Agriculture. Anyway we had a lesson at his house and taught Ben who is a very nice and open to learning and said that he would be baptized. Sad thing is we learned at church that he live in the other Ward boundaries and we will have to refer him over to the sisters in our district.

Also had two lessons with Jeffrey one with Brother Robinson and one with Brother Hsu (sue). Both were really good lesson and Jeffrey is making very slow progress but for him I guess it's very fast. He is over coming some big things in his life that have held him down for several years so all though it's slow he is moving in the right direction. Jeffrey connected with Brother Hsu the most which is good because Jeffrey needs a friend. Brother Robinson was very helpful though in helping Jeffrey open up a little more with us. As well as after the lesson we got to know Jeffrey's son a little better. We played a street version of Pickle Ball and it was a lot of fun and Brother Robinson was really good.  

That was our week really and it was fun to do some different things. It is also always fun and rewarding to serve others in anyway we can. Hope you all have a great week and that you stay safe. Keep me in the loop so that I'm not completely lost on events. Keep up all the good work that I know your doing.

Love,

Elder Young

Hilliard Ohio #9

Hey Dad,

I'm glad that you and Emma are doing good back home while mom is off running around with family. I also glad that you have found a new hobby with antiquing cast iron. I have been in Sidney Ohio and there is just a lot of old stuff in Ohio in general. Hope you have fun with the new calling a ward clerk over membership. You and the rest of the family are having so many different changes its crazy.

This week has been good and very wet as it has finally decided to rain, no down poor cats and dogs and maybe even elephants. We were out side when it started to rain and a lightning bolt touched down a little less than a 1/4 of a mile from us. It was loud and just cool to witness natures power. However even after getting soaked in a matter of seconds we still went out and tracted and got a few potentials. 

This week we also had a zone conference and had a really good training by President Daines and his wife. I really enjoyed this one as we went over effective teaching styles as well as over coming fear and developing faith. President Daines has changed so much over the time I have been here. He has gone from strict to a very fun teacher but is still strict and quick to correct those things that are wrong. Anyway I love it here and I love President Daines and his wife. Oh funny story time. So after the zone conference we needed a ride back to our apartment because our car was in the shop, and no one could give us one. So President Daines gave Sister Daines permission to give us a ride back to our apartment. It was weird to be in a car with someone of the opposite gender with no third male. So it's funny and weird for missionaries you are probably thinking that is a weird story.

Now as for our investigators we have only been able to meet with Jeffrey Johnson and we had some good lessons. He is very open with us and that is good because he just tells us what his concerns are with out us trying to figure it out. His concerns are hard though so we have been putting a lot of thought into how best to help him. We hope that we can soon meet with the others. Janet Donnell had a heart attack last week, well she had been suffering from a heart attack for a month before she went in to get checked out. So she has been taking it easy and we understand and are trying to see if we can help in anyway.

Anyways it has been a good week and I hope that you are all safe and continue to be safe. I love you all very much and hope you have a great week.

Elder Young

This bee landed on Elder Welker while we were at Zone Conference 

This is my latest attempt at what has been dubbed a Tongan sandwich

Hilliard Ohio #8

Hello Dad and Emma,

Well this week has been a lot of fun and it sounds like yours has been also. I have been getting a lot of packages full of goodies and I loved them all. Elder Kimball got a package as well so I didn't feel bad. Training is going great and my bouncing boy is growing so fast. Anyway I am happy to hear from you and to learn of your recent activities.

So this week we have meet with a few of our investigators and had some good lessons. Jeffrey Johnson, Janet Donnell, and JD are who we are able to meet with the most and we are excited for them. Jeffrey is going to be hard because he has been meeting with missionaries for a really long time. Janet Donnell is just wanting to learn about her neighbors religion so she can live next to them and not offend. However she is willing to let us come do yard work so we are really excited because no one else will. JD is an interesting one and I don't know where he is at, so we will continue to meet. That is who we are currently working with.

So interesting things that happened this week is that we had a surprise training on technology safety. What was really different was a sister who was married before the mission shared a very personal story about how she got a divorce. It was a sad story and really changed everyones out looks on why using technology for the right reasons is so vital. Its crazy to hear about how things are missed used and abused even by missionaries, a very select few but still enough to be saddened. 

I guess the only other interesting thing this week was that I got a lot of early presents and I am so grateful for them and my family that sent them. I love you all so much and hope that you have a great rest of your week. Hope that you continue to be safe and that Jackie has an easy labor?? If that makes any sense. Again I love you all so much!

P.S Dad didn't you go through this cast Iron phase this same time last year?
Elder Young

Finished candy puzzle that we sent him for his birthday

Lego birthday present :) (that I'm sure was really difficult for him to put together ;) )

Hilliard Ohio #7

Hello family,

Sounds like you all have had good weeks over in the distant land of the west coast. This week for me has been fun and full of excitement as I awaited the coming of my new companion that I would be training. So this Thursday I went to transfers and dropped off Elder Belnap and went to a meeting were I received Elder Kimball as my new son.

So far we are doing good and are getting a long and he is ever so eager to go out and work and has to drag this old mission fart around with him. Elder Kimball is from Hawaii well he was born and raised there most of his life but he went to the MTC from Rexburg Idaho where is dad Teaches Accounting at BYU. He is only 18 and came fresh from High School, so I am also doing a lot teaching on how to take care of ones self. He is a good cleaner though, his mom taught him how to clean just not how to cook.

This week has been good as we have met a few new people who have shown interesting meet with us. One of the people we met while looking for someone else and he was really fun to talk to and teach. We also met a guy named Jeffery Johnson who is a former investigator and he was excited that we came to meet him. So we have high hopes for these people that we can continue to meet with them.

Anyways all is good over here in Ohio and I am still in the same place which is a good thing because I like the people here. Hope that you are all safe and doing well and that there is no more sickness. I love you all very much.

Elder Young

Hilliard Ohio #6

Hello Family,

This has been one hot week full of a lot of fun things. Glad to hear that all is well back home and that you are all healthy. I have been good as well but I have been drenched in my sweat. I have become a profuse sweater and it is really grossing me out because its mainly on my face and back. Anyway enough about bodily functions.

So this week we have not been able to meet with JD or that family that I told you about. We have meet a bunch of new people though like Cameron Young and and his Girlfriend, and Lexi. We were also able to meet with a less actives son who wants to be baptized and his name is Ashton. So we have a lot of people the thing is getting lesson with them again. Ashton is hard because his mom keeps rescheduling on us every time we set up a lesson. People are just so flaky in this area its ridiculous, but that doesn't stop us from teaching and having a good time.

Speaking of good times we had a couple of fun things happen this week that haven't happened to me in a long time. First off I was pumping up my bike tire and I was at like 60 psi which is its minimum psi and it blew up. Sounded like a gun shot and I was surprised but I didn't jump at all. Then one of our neighbors came out and thought we had knocked on there door. It was funny. Secondly we were out tracting and we knocked on this door and someone in side yelled POLICE. It was funny to hear that again. Then this nice guy came out and talked to us briefly. Then later we were walking past his house back to our bikes and he came out and gave us water. Very nice guy.

Also I have learned that I will be training again! I got a call on Monday from President Daines that he wants me to train again. Their are like 20 missionaries coming out so this transfer a fourth of the mission will be trained and will be training. So I'm excited because Elder Anderson the one I trained is also training as well as the other missionary that Elder Simkins trained before he went home. So the Elder Simkins lineage is growing in the Great Ohio Columbus Mission, well as my own. Just more fun times on the mission.

Anyways I hope that you all have a great rest of your week and that you all stay safe. Always be reading your scriptures daily there is a great strength that comes from that and prayer. Love you all and I will see you all soon.

Hilliard Ohio #5

Hello Family,

This has been a good week full of good old riding a bike full time and tracting a bunch of houses. For you it sounds like you did a lot more or at least had a lot more going on. I however am glad that I do not have a bunch of men on my roof pulling off shingles and replacing them. Instead I was out under the burning sun getting a nice tan and getting eaten alive by bugs. 

We had some good lessons with people at there doors again and hope that we will get a second lesson with someone soon. As for that family we don't know what is going on with them. When ever we stop by to talk to them they are either not home or don't answer the door. We will continue to try though. Coolest lesson we had was yesterday, we met a guy named JD. He came out and had questions and talked with us for a little while. He also the only person who gave us a return appointment this week. So I am happy that one person actually talked to us.

This week was however very hard because we met a lot of people that had to make the effort to come and make fun of us. This one guy was funny but it was still hard. He drove up to us in his car and told us that we should go and bug other people. He also asked what a bunch of kids were going to teach him that he didn't already know. Then I just kind of tuned out and just smiled. I however remember him telling us that we were weird for believing in a heavenly daddy. He then asked if we still believe in Santa Claus. It was a really weird interaction were this man was trying to make himself sound better than us but insulted himself in the process.

Life is good and I am glad to hear that you are all doing good back home. Tomorrow I will be at my 20 month mark and will only have 4 months left. It's crazy how things go by so fast. I love you all and want you to know I am working hard and will see you soon.

Elder Young

So this morning we had a zone activity and I played volleyball with the sisters and a few of the Elders. Well I tried to at least, several of the sisters really knew what they were doing. Then we played blindfolded softball. That was weird and sadly not many liked it. So we played normal softball with whiffle balls. It was fun and I ended up slamming into this one elder trying to get back to base while he was running to get me out. It was funny because it didn't hurt at all and everyone freaked out. Probably because I just laid there after it happened and didn't move. It was all really fun. 

Hilliard Ohio #4

Hello Family,

This week has been a lot of fun and full of a lot of good old tracting and hoping to get some lessons in with people. We where lucky to get a few and that always lifts your spirits and makes it worth it to be here. The weather has started to cool off a little or maybe I am just getting use to it. Either way this was a good week and I had a lot of fun over here in the Hayden Run Ward.

So this week like I said we have been doing a lot of tracting and that has been fun because it always gives me the opportunity to get to know my companions better. It also gives you the chance to meet a lot of people that are around you. We were able to teach a few more people than the last few weeks I have been here. They were all on door steps but that is always the first step. I hope that we can meet with them again because they all wouldn't give times we could come back, which is hard. I'm just happy that the work is slowly speeding up.

One fun thing that happened this week was that we had interviews with the Mission President. I always enjoy my brief visits with him and the little bits of advise that he gives even though half the time we talk about my companions more than me. I prefer it that way though. One fun thing also happen at interviews, some of the sisters in my district showed up with corn rows in there hair. I had to try so hard not to laugh to there faces but it was so funny. I also felt bad for them because I just knew a grill session was going to happen with President Daines. If you just read the missionary handbook you will always do good as a missionary but if you don't you feel it.

One other funny thing happened this week as Elder Belnap and I went and did service at a Lutheran food bank type thing. What we did was we would take people around the facility and we would help them get a certain amount of food for there family. It is a lot of fun and we get to wear service cloths so its awesome. So we were helping one last person and this guy comes in and he has this twig in his mouth. It was a good size twig, it was at least a fourth of an inch in diameter just sticking straight in front of his mouth. He was just chewing on this twig like nothing was wrong and like it was perfectly normal to chew on a stick. Anyway we kept our selves under control but once we got in the car we were just dying from laughter.

It was a good week and it sounds like you also had a good week together going to the beach. I hope that you continue to be safe and that all of you stay healthy. Tell Tyler to stop getting sick like that its not good for you. I love you all and hope that you all have opportunities to share little gospel messages with those around you. 

Elder Young

This is Sherman and he is a Pitt bull, brown Lab mix and he is the best dog ever. Built like a tank!