May 6th, 2019

Man I realized all my email titles are so boring lol so I'll try and make it seem happier. This week was really awesome! 

We had a good amount of meetings so that took up a big chunk of the week. But they were all good and it was fun seeing everyone. We had Zone Conference on Thursday with 2 other Zones. There were so many people there. We had the new Spanish zone, and 2 English Zones there. There are a ton of newer missionaries in the zone which is so awesome to see. It makes me remember when I was fresh in the mission field. Good times. But the brand new missionaries are so awesome! They were pretty timid with their Spanish but did amazing. One thing I've really learned out here and recently is that if you want someone to improve on something, always compliment them. It gives them that confidence to keep trying and keep moving forward. We had a little lesson type thing with the Spanish Zone and I got to lead it out, I loveeeee speaking Spanish haha. Plus there is a native speaker in the Zone so we told him to correct us if we got stuff wrong. While we were in the big meeting with everyone I had a banana, I had brought it for breakfast but never ate it. So I started drawing on it, as one does in a long meeting, and I figured I might as well give it to President Mutombo. He got suck a kick out of it hahaha. The next day he said that he had put it on his desk. So that's gonna be my new thing, every time I see him I'll bring him a new fruit with a face drawn on it. It'll be legit. So every Zone Conference the missionarie leaving at the end of the transfer share their testimonies. Elder Stackhouse shared his and it's so crazy he is going home soon. Last year I was his companion and he hit his year mark. It is CRAZY how time flies. Then on Friday we had MLC which is just a leadership meeting. Boy that was a long meeting. But I brought in an orange with a face on it and President Mutombo was laughing. I got to see Elder Harker there too which was so awesome. It has been like 7 months since I had seen him. We talked about our time together in York and both are still so confused as to how we understood anyone in that town with their Spanish. The Lord definitely spotted us on that one. 

Oh this week it rained a TON. Like 4 days of just pouring on us. I was actually so hyped to go walk in the rain and talk to people on their porches and stuff. But we were soaked Haha. This one guy basically chastised Elder Lewis for not sharing his umbrella. We were both looking at each other like "what is this guy even saying?" Haha the umbrella was way too small and I had a jacket. One of the days we were walking around and Elder Lewid days we need to knock this one door since there was a Corolla outside. We knocked and taught this couple om their porch for like 20 minutes. It was so awesome. The lady was telling us how she was confused about religion and didnt know what she believed anymore. It was crazy cool to see how prepared people are put in our path. There are so many people out there who need the light of the gospel to help them find their way. 

One day during  the week we were walking and stopped to talk to this lady doing her yardwork. She had come to the front to throw something in the trash and if we would have been 20 seconds later we would have totally missed her. But over the course of the next 45 minutes she tells us all about her daughter who passed away and her story. It was crazy how she just opened up and told us all about her daughter. She brought a picture out to show us what she looked like, and it was so sad to see how much she missed her daughter. Its is insane how many people around us have totally gone through super hard trials. I totally wish I would have just talked to more people before my mission, just to be there for them and be a shoulder for them. I just love these people on the east coast. I dont even know hardly any of them but the ones I have been able to know and talk to I just love them like brothers and sisters. That's something I love about being out here. We talk to so many people and there are so many stories that I wouldn't be able to type them all out. 

Elder Lewis and I work great together. He's super awesome and we have a great time. We got to help Josemar have his baptismal interview last week so he can be baptized this Thursday. Its gonna be so exciting for him. The work here in Hagerstown is hastening and the Lord has some big expectations for us here. The next weeks will be trying but so rewarding. "If it's worth it then it won't be  easy. And if it's easy then it won't be worth it." 

I love and miss you guys. Here's some random pics from this week :) 

Have an amazing week!