Labor Day

So the libraries were closed yesterday so we weren't able to get to some computers. But with it being Labor Day, the stake had a big party down in Clearwater. It was a lot of fun. The whole zone was there. I played volleyball most of the day. Then we played a bit of tennis. Which I am not very good at. Then we played a little softball. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of people there.

So, last week we baptized Scott and he was going to be confirmed this week at church. We called a few people to be able to get him a ride. But couldn't find anyone that could. When we finally found someone to get him, they went to pick him up and he said the he had something to do and couldn't come to church. So we're not sure what's up with that. But we are going to go visit him and talk to him.

Other then that, our week was pretty slow. But things are going to be picking up pretty soon. Hopefully

Baptism

Things are going pretty well here. We had a baptism yesterday. His name is Scott Abshire. The missionaries in this area have been teaching him for about a month. I've been able to teach him about 4 times. But he was baptized yesterday. It was cool. This ward is great. There were a lot of people there to support him. It was cool.

We are also teaching his girlfriend Lynn. She isn't progressing quite as well as he did. She is understanding everything we teach. But she has a hard time coming to church. She did come yesterday though. So we are going to continue to teach her.

This past Thursday was zone conference in Tampa. There were quite a few people that I didn't know. I guess that's what happens when I spend 8 months in the same zone. But it was fun.

About a year ago, Elder Glauser, my zone leader while I was in Riverview for a while, had a Ute tie that he dubbed the FTM Ute tie. And decided that he was going to pass it on to a Utah fan in the mission and have them do the same when they go home. He went home in May and I wasn't sure what he did with the tie. I found out on Thursday that he gave it to Elder Barlow, a Spanish missionary that I shared that little house with in Apollo Beach. And he was supposed to pass it down that day because he went home on Friday. So now, I am excited to say, that I am now the proud owner of the FTM Ute tie! It's pretty awesome. And I will have it for the next 8 months of my mission until I go home and pass it down to someone else. Just thought I'd share my exciting news! I am going to try to get a copy of the passing of the tie soon. Then I will put it up.

Transfers

Sorry I didn't update last week. It was transfers and I spent a lot of the time last p-day packing and wasn't able to email. And then I didn't get here in my new area until late Tuesday and still wasn't able to get to a computer. Oh well.

Anyways. Like I said, I got transfered. I am now in the Hudson B area. It used to be the New Port Richey ward, but they combined the 2 not too long ago. So there are 4 Elders in our ward. But it's fun. Apparently there are a lot of people that are being taught. They have had a baptism almost week for a while. It's pretty awesome. And the ward likes us a lot. But I'm liking it here so far. My companion is Elder Garner from Midvale, Utah. He has been out just over 13 months. He got out here 2 transfers after me. But we are getting along really well so far. I am back in the St. Pete stake as well. Which is pretty cool. The stake president came to our sacrament meeting yesterday. He is my favorite stake president that I have had out here so far. He's way cool.

I forgot to mention something. Last week when we got our transfer calls, my move wasn't originally to come to Hudson. I was supposed to go back to Gulfport with Elder Grant. I was really excited to be going back to my greenie area and also to serve with Grant. But then, about an hour after I got the first call, I get another one. This time they say that there has been a change. Grant is now going to be training and I am going to Hudson B. At first I was a bit bummed, but then I got over it pretty quick. But I am enjoying my time here so far.

Once again in Florida...

So things are going alright for me. Last week was a slow week. All of our appointments fell through. So what was a bummer. And things were almost better this week then last week. We had some really good potentials. But once again, they didn't work out how we had hoped.

One was a member refferral. We went over to the kids house and tried to talk to him, but then he just told us that the girl must've been mistaken. It was really wierd. Then we were informed by the girl that gave us the refferral that he and his girlfriend that was a member, had had a fight or something and wasn't in the best mood. So we are going to wait until things cool down I guess.

Then the Spanish sisters gave us a refferral that they were going to be teaching, but then she said that she would rather go to the english ward. So we got a ride for her to come to church yesterday. Then the member's show up and said that they couldn't find the house. The sisters went over there while we were at church and talked to her. We set up a lesson for Wednesday. And we are going to follow up with her some time tomorrow. Hopefully things will work out here and we'll be able to continue to teach her.

Beachhouse!

Well hello there again from the sunny, hot, humid, kind of nasty feeling, Florida!!!

This week was kind of a slow one. We had all of our lessons fall through that were scheduled with our investigators. But we are still trying and not letting it get us down. We try to make sure we always keep a good outlook on things and have fun even when things are hard. I really think that that is a good thing to learn.

This past Tuesday, the ward mission leader from the Citrus Ridge ward, Brother Staber, came down and took us out to eat. That is the area that Elder Arbuckle just came from. He took us to a place called The Beachhouse. It was probably the best eating experiences I've had. It was right on the beach. And we went at around 7:30 or so, just in time for the sunset. It was amazing. It was a bit pricey, but the food was amazing and the atmosphere was definitley worth it. The DJ, John Dewey, was awesome. He came and talked us for a while and mentioned how he had taking the lessons a few times. We tried to get him to do it again, but he was good with not. So we just talked. It was great.

This is John Dewey. He was pretty awesome!

And here is us and Brother Staber.

And that was our adventures for the week. Hope you all enjoyed! Let me know what's going on with y'all!

No A.C.!

So, things are going fairly well out here. This week we had pretty much all of our lessons fall through. But, that's missionary work. We were able to give a blessing to Debbie though. She was beat up last Friday by someone. And if I were to some how find this guy, I think I would beat him with a bat. I don't know why anyone would want to do something like that. She is such a nice lady. I guess that's why I won't ever find him. But she wasn't doing very well. So we went over a gave her a blessing. She felt a lot beter afterwards. Then we talked with her for a good 30-40 minutes after. It was good.



We weren't able to teach Terry at all this week. Weren't able to get a hold of her. But we are going to continue to try as time goes on.



This Sunday was an interesting one. Last Thursday, someone stole 4 of 6 air conditioners from the church. So we had a 25 minute sacrament meeting and that was it. And it was quite a warm one too. Especially in a suit. But we survived.



Then today, we were all at the church playing volleyball and 2 different news stations came to do a story on it. It's too bad that we don't know a whole lot about what happened. Well, our zone leaders do, but they didn't want to be on the news. So they gave the maintenance guys phone number. But it was interesting.

Here are some pretty Florida sunset photos. Enjoy!

Wow. It's been a while since I've updated. Sorry. I'll try to do better.

Well, this week is transfer week. We found out on Saturday what is going on. Every companionship in the zone in changing. With me, I am staying here in Bradenton and Elder Knudson is going to be a Zone Leader in Tampa. I am getting Edler Arbuckle. I have met him a few times at Zone Conferences and such. He seems like a pretty cool kid. I'm pretty excited. There are three people in our zone that are training. So that means three new people. Should be interesting. But fun.

This past week were able to get a hold of a lady that we at one point thought might be dead. We haven't been able to talk to at all this whole transfer and she has cancer, so we weren't sure. But we finally saw her and she has an awesome testimony of the church and wants to be baptized. She came to church yesterday. But she went to the Palmetto ward cause she has a friend there that took her. We are going to be teaching her and hopefully she will be baptized next week. I'm way excited.

We taught a few lessons to Terry. She has a strong testiony of the Book of Mormon. The only problem we have now is she won't come to church. She has missed the past few weeks. We talked to her on Saturday and said she was coming and then we can't get a hold of her Sunday morning. But we are going to keep trying.

Things with Amanda and her daughter are still kind of there. We haven't been able to see them in a while. But we are planning on trying to this week.

The first video you see here is of my companion, Elder Knudson, being his alter-ego, Xander, a huge computer nerd, playing with a light saber trying to block darts being shot at him from a nerf machine gun. It is quite entertaining. At least we think so.

This next video is of Elder Knudson dressed up as Optimus Prime. Really, we just found a bunch of cardboard boxes and taped them to him and a member had the helmet. It was rather fun.

Hope you enjoyed!