So yesterday was pretty much terrible. I was super sick but gratefully I was able to attend church and not be too bad throughout the whole thing. So yeah...it was pretty lame. Feel quite a bit better now though.
Lets see...on Tuesday we exchanged with Warren and I went with Elder Hollingsworth. Exchanges always seemed to be burned in your mind forever even though you only spend a day with the other Elder. But the craziest thing that happened with me and him was that while I was driving their car. I saw some guy standing in the middle of the road and I said "What is that guy doing?" Then I hit a pothole and a rock. Which caused a hole in one of their tires making it so it needed to be replaced. That was the most crazy thing that happened during that exchange.
Transfers are next week. Honestly I don't know what is going to happen other than p-day will be on Tuesday. Hopefully I don't get transferred but it might happen.
The Crubaugh's seem to be coming along well. They couldn't make it to church yesterday because they were in Indiana. But that's OK because I wasn't totally all there at church yesterday anyway.
Friday, I locked us out of the house and the car at the same time but luckily we had the phone so we could get a hold of the landowner who has the spare key.
Christmas was pretty cool. Sleeping in was awesome. Talking with you guys was awesome. Going to the Molleks and the Dickeys was awesome. All in all it was a good day.
Anyway love you all and I'm feeling tons better than I was yesterday.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
I guess I had mission conference this week.
Man! The tabernacle burned up! Sadness! Oh well...was it an electrical fire? I remember from choir that the electricity in that building was terrible.
Well this week has been awesome I just forgot it was. I had mission conference on Tuesday of last week and it was super epic. Pretty much we were able to partake of the sacrament in the Kirtland Temple and it was on a Tuesday. We were able to hear from a couple Stake Presidents in the area. I'm pretty sure the Stake Presidents from Cleveland and Kirtland. Plus a guy named Karl Anderson (Kirtland Patriarch) he's also the church's go to guy on anything Kirtland. Then Sis. Sorenson as well as President. I definitely felt a very welcome outpouring of love from the leadership. It was a really super great experience and I think it'll happen again next year.
We were blessed with 4 new investigators this week which was super wonderful because our teaching pool when I came in basically fell out from underneath us. First of all we've been teaching the Crubaugh's (I think that's how its spelled). They were a referral and seem pretty solid. They are looking for a new church. Then a nice lady named Maddie or Matti I'm not quite sure. We were talking to here last night and I'm pretty sure she said she was a Nun for like 7 years. The coolest thing though is that she said we were kinda different than most church people. Although she'll be harder to meet with she's not totally committed to weekly lessons. But she said she'll read the Book of Mormon because I'm pretty sure we helped her realize that everything we talk about resides on the truthfulness of that book. Lastly we're teaching a Part-Member girl named Kayla Browning. (I'm not sure if she's related to Brock but I doubt it). Mostly we kind of need some sort of strong member foundation for her because she seems to be the only person in her family serious about the church a bit and she's in 7th grade.
I'm not quite sure when I'll be making phone calls. I'll probably make contact around 8-12 Utah time. Not totally sure depending on how that day goes. Because me and my comp. have to share and we've got a lunch and a dinner planned at members house. Our dinner is at the Dickeys and I don't know if I already mentioned this but they've got 16 children and about 7 or so live at home. It's pretty much awesome.
Oh on Saturday we pretty much did an all day service and we helped a member move a bunch of stuff and like 27 washers and dryers. It was intense but we had a good time.
Well I don't really have anything else to say.
Congrats to Amanda for finishing her Chinese mini-mission!
Love you all.
(*)<~Elder Lance Sumsion
Well this week has been awesome I just forgot it was. I had mission conference on Tuesday of last week and it was super epic. Pretty much we were able to partake of the sacrament in the Kirtland Temple and it was on a Tuesday. We were able to hear from a couple Stake Presidents in the area. I'm pretty sure the Stake Presidents from Cleveland and Kirtland. Plus a guy named Karl Anderson (Kirtland Patriarch) he's also the church's go to guy on anything Kirtland. Then Sis. Sorenson as well as President. I definitely felt a very welcome outpouring of love from the leadership. It was a really super great experience and I think it'll happen again next year.
We were blessed with 4 new investigators this week which was super wonderful because our teaching pool when I came in basically fell out from underneath us. First of all we've been teaching the Crubaugh's (I think that's how its spelled). They were a referral and seem pretty solid. They are looking for a new church. Then a nice lady named Maddie or Matti I'm not quite sure. We were talking to here last night and I'm pretty sure she said she was a Nun for like 7 years. The coolest thing though is that she said we were kinda different than most church people. Although she'll be harder to meet with she's not totally committed to weekly lessons. But she said she'll read the Book of Mormon because I'm pretty sure we helped her realize that everything we talk about resides on the truthfulness of that book. Lastly we're teaching a Part-Member girl named Kayla Browning. (I'm not sure if she's related to Brock but I doubt it). Mostly we kind of need some sort of strong member foundation for her because she seems to be the only person in her family serious about the church a bit and she's in 7th grade.
I'm not quite sure when I'll be making phone calls. I'll probably make contact around 8-12 Utah time. Not totally sure depending on how that day goes. Because me and my comp. have to share and we've got a lunch and a dinner planned at members house. Our dinner is at the Dickeys and I don't know if I already mentioned this but they've got 16 children and about 7 or so live at home. It's pretty much awesome.
Oh on Saturday we pretty much did an all day service and we helped a member move a bunch of stuff and like 27 washers and dryers. It was intense but we had a good time.
Well I don't really have anything else to say.
Congrats to Amanda for finishing her Chinese mini-mission!
Love you all.
(*)<~Elder Lance Sumsion
Monday, December 13, 2010
Don't drink the water!
Had a not too bad week out here in Ashtabula. A couple of the days have been pretty snow filled but not really too bad. We got a lot of rain yesterday and most of the snow went away. If I go a little further down the state though there is tons and tons of snow. Met a wonderful member on Tuesday named George Johnson. He has his trials but he's in his seventy's and he's about as fit as a teenager and he does a lot of windsurfing and cool things like that. Wednesday was cool because we had a big meeting with our Zone. The mission is gonna be changing again but its all good. Met a nice retired Catholic Priest named Father King. He took us out to lunch. He's very humble and a wonderful person. At that lunch I had a pretty good sandwich that was like a grilled cheese with turkey and baked apples inside. It wasn't to bad of a sandwich. Sadly we're kinda needing to re-do our teaching pool which is a little lame but won't be to bad. We got dropped by an investigator yesterday and our other ones aren't really doing anything. But we've got some potentials that seem good. Erin came to church here again yesterday and is doing well, apparently in a week or so she's gonna be like right next to Palmyra which I thought was really cool. Tomorrow we get to have mission conference and sing in the Kirtland Temple (they slightly want us to re-enact some of the dedication) kinda cool. I'm pretty excited for that.
Anyway, if those pictures I sent could get shown around that would be cool.
Love You all.
This is kind of some food for thought. I was reading this this morning during personal study. They come from an old Seventy Elder F. Enzio Bushe. There is more of the talk on lds.org but this is the best part. But it's called Hitting the Mark if you wanna look it up.
Staying Close
There are only two elements that separate us from the Holy Spirit: first, our lack of desire to repent, and second, our lack of desire to forgive. Here is a list to help you stay close to the Spirit:
* Embrace each day, no matter how it looks, with an enthusiastic welcome.
* Steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward your Savior and your Heavenly Father. This will help you overcome fatigue, despair, and physical sickness.
* Choose to accept the challenges that must be part of life. They can draw you closer to Heavenly Father and make you stronger.
* Feed your own spirit. It needs constant nourishment.
* Sacrifice your selfishness. Meekness prepares you to receive the Spirit.
* Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope.
* Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane.
* Realize that Heavenly Father knows you are not perfect. He will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.
* Understand that your Father in Heaven knows better than you what you need. Listen, and follow the suggestions he makes, even the uncomfortable ones. Over time everything will fall into place.
* Fear the consequences of sin. Flee the very appearance of evil.
* Look into the eyes of those who are hard to love, long enough to see them as children of God.
* Forgive and you will be free again.
* Avoid pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. On the road toward salvation let questions arise, but never doubts.
* Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet.
* Serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.
* Be grateful for every opportunity to serve.
* Realize when you are asked to sacrifice that Heavenly Father wants to give you something better.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion
Anyway, if those pictures I sent could get shown around that would be cool.
Love You all.
This is kind of some food for thought. I was reading this this morning during personal study. They come from an old Seventy Elder F. Enzio Bushe. There is more of the talk on lds.org but this is the best part. But it's called Hitting the Mark if you wanna look it up.
Staying Close
There are only two elements that separate us from the Holy Spirit: first, our lack of desire to repent, and second, our lack of desire to forgive. Here is a list to help you stay close to the Spirit:
* Embrace each day, no matter how it looks, with an enthusiastic welcome.
* Steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward your Savior and your Heavenly Father. This will help you overcome fatigue, despair, and physical sickness.
* Choose to accept the challenges that must be part of life. They can draw you closer to Heavenly Father and make you stronger.
* Feed your own spirit. It needs constant nourishment.
* Sacrifice your selfishness. Meekness prepares you to receive the Spirit.
* Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope.
* Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane.
* Realize that Heavenly Father knows you are not perfect. He will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.
* Understand that your Father in Heaven knows better than you what you need. Listen, and follow the suggestions he makes, even the uncomfortable ones. Over time everything will fall into place.
* Fear the consequences of sin. Flee the very appearance of evil.
* Look into the eyes of those who are hard to love, long enough to see them as children of God.
* Forgive and you will be free again.
* Avoid pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. On the road toward salvation let questions arise, but never doubts.
* Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet.
* Serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.
* Be grateful for every opportunity to serve.
* Realize when you are asked to sacrifice that Heavenly Father wants to give you something better.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion
Monday, December 6, 2010
oh i forgot.
Erin is doing well by the way we were able to get her to church yesterday and she came and watched the Christmas devotional with us at the Rossiters who have been super helpful.
"The other day...I met a bear."
My first week in Ashtabula has been pretty good. I'm enjoying driving the truck because the area desperately needs with all the driving we end up doing which is kinda obnoxious. but oh well. Nothing really superb has been going on ummm... a lot of people that we talk to when we ask them when can we stop by again say yes but after the holidays which is slightly unhelpful.
Speaking of one of those people but it was kind of a weird experience. Elder Helton and I were just stopping by some potentials in Jefferson, Ohio which is right underneath Ashtabula. The potentials failed but while we were leaving the housing complex we saw an old lady sitting in her car trying to back out back on the road. But when she saw us she waved us down and then for like the next two minutes tried very frantically to role down her window. Eventually me and Elder Helton started giggling because it was taking so long. She turned her car off and then on and then off and then back on trying to get the window down. Eventually she gave up and opened her door. She told us that she was lost and couldn't find her way back home. She was worried that the cops were going to the throw her in jail because she's not allowed to drive at night. We told her they wouldn't throw her in jail over that but we have a GPS so we would help her find her way home. When we did she invited us in and just jabbered about how lost she was for a little while longer but eventually we got her talking about herself found out her name is Regina Kaiser and was from Germany during the war also catholic. That was cool. But then we had to go and that's about it. We're going to stop by her again later. It was a random but pretty interesting talking to her.
The snow isn't too bad here yet but there is quite a bit of it now. The members say it gets a lot worse. I'm kinda excited to see what worse is.
Lets see we also started teaching this guy named Shirrad who is kinda skeptical but I have some faith in him. He's a nice guy.
Anyway I don't have anything else. Love you all. Ttyl.
Speaking of one of those people but it was kind of a weird experience. Elder Helton and I were just stopping by some potentials in Jefferson, Ohio which is right underneath Ashtabula. The potentials failed but while we were leaving the housing complex we saw an old lady sitting in her car trying to back out back on the road. But when she saw us she waved us down and then for like the next two minutes tried very frantically to role down her window. Eventually me and Elder Helton started giggling because it was taking so long. She turned her car off and then on and then off and then back on trying to get the window down. Eventually she gave up and opened her door. She told us that she was lost and couldn't find her way back home. She was worried that the cops were going to the throw her in jail because she's not allowed to drive at night. We told her they wouldn't throw her in jail over that but we have a GPS so we would help her find her way home. When we did she invited us in and just jabbered about how lost she was for a little while longer but eventually we got her talking about herself found out her name is Regina Kaiser and was from Germany during the war also catholic. That was cool. But then we had to go and that's about it. We're going to stop by her again later. It was a random but pretty interesting talking to her.
The snow isn't too bad here yet but there is quite a bit of it now. The members say it gets a lot worse. I'm kinda excited to see what worse is.
Lets see we also started teaching this guy named Shirrad who is kinda skeptical but I have some faith in him. He's a nice guy.
Anyway I don't have anything else. Love you all. Ttyl.
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