Baptisms in B-town

Greetings!!!

Well this week has been great! We had a baptism, we caught someone pulling a gun on someone else on video, and I just low-key found out all of the transfer doctrine for our whole mission before transfers. Two Words: WACK

Well yeah this week has been crazy. We've been running around trying to get everything set up for Kara's Baptism and also trying to get investigators to attend the baptism as well! It was a super stressful week and we felt like it felt like we didn't have half the time we needed to get everything done. But the Lord definitely helped us out big time. 

Man we had a lot of funny events happen this week though. First we saw two ghetto guys almost get in a shoot out. Captured on video by the way. #NightCrawler

One other thing that happened this week was we went on exchanges with the Hamilton elders. Elder McCain and Elder Zinn. So Hamilton is interesting place. It's very anti and all the people "Know everything" About the Mormons already. Safe to say we met some delightful people that day :) We also had a water bottle filled with urine thrown at us! LOL. It was a fun day in good ole Illinois :)

Okay the most important thing that happened this week was that we had another great BAPTISM!! It was tight stuff. Kara did amazing. We also had two awesome investigators there as well! It was a great moment! I got to confirm her the next day and it was another great experience! 

But yeah it's been a good week. I love the work here in B-town. I also just found out my new comp is the one and only...Elder Eckes Anitok Jr. aka one of my bestfriends in the mish. I'm excitied to serve with my crazy Hawaiian brotha. But I'll miss my freakishly tall Gundy for sure :(

Me and my soon to be comp (the short brown one)

Mission Madness

Happy March Madness everyone! 

First things first, I just wanted everyone to be aware that I'm currently leading the Iowa Des Moines Mission MLC bracket with 590 pts and was perfect through the first round ;) #PRIDEFULL 

Haha on to the actual important stuff this week. 

Holy cow this week was dope! We had a great week and got a ton of work done!

The coolest thing that happened this week was that our home girl Kara passed her Baptismal interview!! She's finna get baptized this coming Saturday! I'm pumped!  Kara is so prepared, it's awesome to see how much she's grown in the past 6 weeks. She's super humble and just willing to accept all that Heavenly Father has in store for her. It's honestly been a learning experience for me teaching Kara and learning how to be more willing to submit my will to our Heavenly Father's like she does. 

But yeah she came to Church yesterday for the 4th time and her kids came again this week. She's all ready to go and invited her mom and all her kids to be there. So it'll be a great moment. She's got an awesome fellowshipper as well which we're pumped about. The Ward's really coming together, they haven't had a baptism for awhile so they are way excited. We are beginning to work with her 4 kids as well so we should be helping them to get baptized in the near future. Stoked for that as well. 

A lot of other good things happened this week as well. Found some new people to teach, we've been working with another cool family getting them ready to progress and keep commitments. We've also been working with our cool member referral Jamaylah. She's tight and should be getting baptized next month. Things are on the upswing here in the city of Burlington. The whole Nauvoo zone actually is doing amazing. I'm super proud of all the members in the zone we get to lead and help. They are all straight studs. 

Well that's all I have for this week. Please everyone remember #PRAYFORKARA she's awesome but everyone could use prayers the week before their baptism :)

Love y'all! 

Happy Birthday Kerrbear!!!!

Yo

This week was pretty sick not goona lie. These last couple weeks have probably been the busiest of my entire mission, probably my life actually. But it's been a straight up blast!  The work in the Nauvoo zone is soo sick all the time! There are a ton of prepared people and the ward is great at fellow-shipping the people we bring to Church!

So this week was packed with fun, hard work, and some straight up blessings from the Big Man.

-So this week we were super busy all week. We were in Illinois until about 10:00 pm helping move some missionaries and interviewing their investigator for baptism. When as we're driving home we realized that there was literally no other cars on the road and there was this sign with flashing lights on it that said there was a tornado warning! So we drive through this crazy storm and we get back to Burlington and are running to the apartment and just getting wrecked in the face by hail haha. But turns out a Tornado touched down outside Burlington and almost hit the Hospital but luckily it didn't!!

-This week we had a lot of exchanges, we drove Keokuk for D-meeting, then we drove back up to B-Town for our D-Meeting. Then we had exchanges with Elder Zinn and Elder McCain (Yes McCain my former comp is in my zone now so I get to exchange with him now I'm pumped!) But I was with Elder Zinn and we taught some tight lessons that got us some new investigators that are looking solid!

-We also had Exchanges with the AP's which was tight! I was so pumped to be back in Des Moines that place is heaven. SO MANY AFRICANS! I felt like I was coming home lol. I've decided that I enjoy teaching Africans the most because, I'm not good with teaching white people, I'm not cool enough to teach the Ghetto Black people, but the Africans just accept me for the awkward white boy that I am. But anyways exchanges with the APs was tight. I got to go with Elder Jakubczek that kid is a stud! Afterwards one of the Senior Missionaries took us out to lunch at HuHott which was a tender mercy I love that place and ate like 5 plates. 

-A crazy Miracle happened this week as well. Gundy and I made a comp goal to pray for a Media Referral to come to us so we could teach someone super solid. So we prayed that night and the next day we got a call from a member in RENO NEVADA referring his daughter who wants us to baptize her!!! Literally we were jumping up and down we were so pumped. God is so good. She came to Church this week and is on Date to be baptized on April 15th

-OK this was TIGHT so last week we got a call from President Badger saying that the one and only Russell M. Nelson was coming to Nauvoo for a fireside and he called President and asked him to invite us to his Fireside! So we got to listen to the President of the Quorum of the Twelve speak for 2 hours!!! It was sick, the spirit was so strong when he walked in, you could just feel the love he has for everyone it was dope. 

So this week was pretty freaking tight one of the best on my mish. I love Nauvoo and the City of Burlington. It's the best. 

Okay saved the best for last though!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONE AND ONLY KERRY MILLIGAN AKA THE BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! I LOVE YOU MOM! 

If you see her please give her a giant bear hug for me!

I love you guys! 

Exchanges with our Tight APs Elder Jakubczek and Elder Orgil

Driving, Driving, Driving

What's uppp loved ones?

This week was really good, Burlington is full of insane people and lots of crazy things happen everyday. But it's a party, I love the Nauvoo Zone all the missionaries are straight homies so it's great to be a part of all the action down here on the Mississippi. But this week was awesome like I said, the whole zone worked hard and saw a lot of blessings for it. 

Here's some Highlights of this past week:

-First and foremost, our investigator Kara came to Church again this week! This time she brought 3 of her awesome kids as well! They are all excited to work towards being baptized on March 25th! The kids are all awesome and loved Church as well, the Ward did a great job of bringing them in and fellowshipping them! With those 4 people on date in our area, the zone has a total of 9. That's the most this zone has had in a longgg time. So we are pumped. 

-We had interviews with President and Sister Badger this past Wednesday it was awesome. Interviews are always kind of a stressful day trying to get the whole zone through the process in a timely manner. But it was awesome to be able to talk top them one on one. They took Elder Gundersen and I out to lunch afterwards and it was great to talk to them just us four and get to know them better.

-I think one of my favorite things about being the Zone Leaders in Nauvoo is the fact that we are responsible for like 8 Senior Couple Missionaries. They are literally so funny, like the other day one of them called me asking me to help them figure out their Microwave..Old people lol. Just kidding though they are tight, and so wise and spiritual! I love it. 

-We were at dinner with a member who's an EMT. He was telling us about the crazy things that have happened in Burlington this week. My two favorites were aq crazy guy with an Ak-47 was running through a neighborhood shooting at house randomly. Also there was a shootout between two gangs in the middle of Downton. "You can take the people out of Chicago, but you can't take the Chicago out of the people"- Every White person in Burlington's favorite one liner to tell us. 

-So this week we will be spending a LOT of time in the car. Today we drove 30 Minutes to Nauvoo through Illinois so we wouldn't have to take the toll bridge. Then we will drive an hour to Macomb Illinois for a baptismal interview after P-day. Then we will drive an hour and a half back to B-town. Then Wednesday we will drive an hour to Keokuk for a D-meeting. Then an hour back to Burlington for another D-meeting. Then On Thursday we will be driving 3.5 Hours to Des Moines for exchanges with the AP's. Then 3.5 hours back. Gundy and I are goona know each other real well after this week lol. 

-On Saturday Elder Gundersen and I wrecked two ghetto guys from Chicago at ball. And when I say we I mean, I sat back and shot some three's while Gundy beat them two on one down low lol. #WhiteBoyPower

-Last cool thing about this week. I got to go inside a temple! For the first time in like 16 Months lol! I got to help clean the temple it was awesome. Then the Lady took us up to inside the tower and we could see like the whole Mississippi river with a thunderstorm going on it was tight! 

But yeah that's pretty much been our week here. Hopefully we don't die of boredom in the car this week. Love you all! 

Okay Idk if I mentioned this at all with all the crazy stuff. But two weeks ago after MLC I was reunited with my brother at the Iowa City Mall. I've never been so happy to see someone. 

Two Words: Satan

Greetings family and friends..

This week was way good. Honestly one of the craziest weeks of my mission. We also spent like 8 hours in the car. But it still turned out to be a really awesome week. If I wasn't so tired right now I'd write a long email and explain all the funny/crazy things that have happened this week. But yeah I feel like a walking zombie so I'm just going to make a list of all the stuff that happened this week. We took some good pics and videos this week so they'll tell the story this week. 

- So this week we had MLC for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. We had to wake up way early and drive an hour and a half to Iowa city and we were in a meeting for 9:30 till about 5:00 I thought I was going to die. But it was a really good meeting, President's trainings are always straight fire so I always leave super pumped. 

-So after MLC we have like two days to get ready for ZTM and prepare to give President's training and the AP's training to our zone. So we were trying to get on our emails to get the papers for it and for some reason I didn't get the email from the AP's. So we tried to log in on Elder Gundersen's account and he couldn't even log into his email! So we called HQ and they told us his account got deactivated (he just hit 18 months) so apparently HQ thought he was a sister and closed his missionary email hahahaha. It was pretty funny. But we got everything figured out eventually.

-So while all of this is going on I was on exchanges with my former companion Elder McCain who is now in my zone again. It was fun to do work with him again, he's a stud missionary!

- Next we drove 1 hour to Macomb Illinois to do exchanges with one of the DL's out there. We got there and they live in an attick of a super creepy house that's like 120 years old. They pretty much just told us about how there house is haunted so it was a fun night there lol..

-So then we woke up and drove another hour to Nauvoo from Macomb. So we get to the stake center and I'm conducting the meeting and everything and we go to give the first training and Gundy can't find it anywhere so we thought we lost it. So the week was just falling apart on us haha. But we ended up finding it while the STL's were training ( cause no one really pays attention to the sister's training any ways ;) ) but yeah it was a blessing.

-We also had our investigator Kara come to church on Sunday! It was the first time Burlington has had some at Church in a while so we were pumped!! She's looking good to be baptized next month.

We also particpiated in giving a baby blessing for a Less active's child. Her BF was there and we taught him and made him a new investigator as well and he is looking pretty solid as well. 

So that's about it. I'll send some pics and a video tour of bustling Nauvoo lol.

Love you guys

Greetings from Nauvoo

Hello Friends and Family!

So big news guys, transfers were this week! So I am no longer in Ankeny, I'm now in the great city of Burlington, Iowa! I'm so pumped because Burlington is the closest Area to Nauvoo so we'll be spending a lot of time here and I'm actually emailing from the family history center right next to the Nauvoo temple! 

But yeah B-Town is pretty tight, pretty ghetto which I'm pumped about as well. Most of the people that live here are "Chicago Refugees" that came over here and brought the hood with them haha. But it's awesome here. Cool old city right on the Mississippi river. 

My new companion is Elder Gundersen! He's a homie, it's a blast serving with him. He's from Bear Lake, Idaho and he's like 6'9! He's goona play ball in college in  Wyoming. He's way cool!

We've been in the car a lot together the past few days going to the different district meetings and meeting all the cool people we'll get to lead and work with in our zone. But yeah we're the "Nauvoo Zone" so there's goona be lots of opportunities to see some church history sites and hopefully I'll get to go to the Temple for the first time in about 17 months...haha yikes. 

But yeah not a ton more to report. I'm so excited for the next chapter here in Burlington. Hopefully I'll have some people to write about next week. 

I'll send some pics as well!

Love you guys! 

Saying goodbye to the Zoeduahs:

Tracy, Margret and Mufasa lol:

Last P Day in Ankeny:

Madi, Our awesome investigator who WILL be baptized someday!:

Nauvoo Temple:

Elder Gundersen and I, featuring the Nauvoo Temple!:

Heck Week

Yoooooo!

What's up everybody? 

This week has been really good here in Ankeny. We have been meeting with all the awesome people we met last week and setting baptismal dates with them. Everyone we've been working with have been progressing super well. We're still trying to get them to Church but so far they've all been reading and praying so that's progress.

Also exciting news is that we should be having another awesome baptism this coming Saturday! Tracy and Margaret are doing amazing. They are both reading and learning more and more and have been coming to church consistently. They have been taught everything and are ready to be baptized this weekend. We are still working with their mother Hawa. But she has been harder to meet with so it's going to take a little longer to get her where she needs to be. We're hoping she'll follow her daughters example though! 

Other than that we've been working hard to find more people to teach. Every day is an adventure in Ankney/ Des Moines there's so many interesting and diverse people around here. I never thought I could go from teaching corn farmers to African refugees in less than a 30 Minute drive through our area. 

Okay once again gotta say thanks to every one that emailed me after I got off for my birthday! You guys are awesome! I love ya'll. I got pretty spoiled on my birthday we got a cake from the Sisters in the zone, a member family and our african investigators made me cup cakes! Birthdays in the Mission are the best, I've never felt more fulfilled than spending fun times like that with people that are trying to find their way back to God! 

I love you guys!

Have a good week! Pray for Tracy and Margaret!

My birthday cake(s):

Sisters in our Zone made a cake for my Birthday 

Our African Investigators/Member Family bought me some nice cupcakes as well haha

The Johnson Family we stopped by and played games with them and taught their cousins (Margret and Tracy) for My "Birthday Party"