Monday, April 25, 2011

Hallelujah!‏

This week has had some really good days. We had a Zone P-day on Monday, we played some basketball and stuff plus we went Lazer Tagging. Which was not as good as Lazer Assault in Provo but it did have a pirate ship. I fell down the stairs in the ship and hurt my rump. But it's OK because later that night Bro. Briggs took Elder Haines and I out to Red Lobster. That was a happy treat.
Tuesday we went to Lima's District meeting. After District meeting I took Elder Conlin to Findlay for an Exchange. He was doing a pretty good job working with me. He's from the same place as a Elder Dial in my mtc district and knew him pretty well. I was impressed with him.
Wednesday was the best day we've had in Findlay so far. I went to Findlay's District meeting and while we were leaving we found out that a 3:30 appointment with a potential new investigator was canceled. But the member that we were working with said for us to be at the church at around 6:30 to meet Charlie. Then we left the meeting so we could exchange back and then pick up AP Smith who would be going on a triple up exchange with us. The day went pretty normal until our appointment with Charlie. It was a super good lesson all around. Charlie committed to Baptism on the 28th of May. He has already read to B.O.M., Prayed about it, received his answer, and he's been to Kirtland with the member family that referred him. This has all happened since that one lesson on Wednesday and he was at church yesterday. He pretty much giving Tyler Bennett a run for his money on being golden.
We also found a few less-actives recently that might come back to church with our help and one of the less-active families did make it church which was awesome. Last night we were also able to give one of our investigators Kenneth Powell a blessing because of some recent health difficulty's. It's been a pretty good week and despite the difficulty coming into this area with not to many people to teach the Lord has been mindful so far.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion

Monday, April 18, 2011

Click_Clack.‏

Well this week got quite a bit better than the previous couple. Our finding efforts are still underway and we are hoping to set a Bap. Date with Kenneth Powell this week. We'll have to see how that goes when it comes around. We had a zone meeting this week and I think that went pretty well. Hopefully the missionaries in the zone felt so as well.
This area seems to have a never-ending amount of service and I'm hoping it pays off as peoples hearts are softened.
Had an exchange with Elder Warner in Lima the other day. It was pretty good, Elder Warner is a good missionary and he is honestly trying to help the people in his area. He served with Elder Cardenaz in Defiance right after I served with him.
We were able to get inside the house of a less-active named Sis. Piddock there were quite a few non-members that could possibly be interested in the gospel. The missionaries in the past have worked them a little bit. But apparently most of her children chose to be offended a few years ago and it has been difficult ever since. But she was funny. She told a pretty dang good conversion story and didn't stop talking for probably over a half-hour.
Lets see... something cool that happened this week is we were able to ride in a members truck and the truck was pretty much the most comfortable truck I've ever been in. Plus when you back the car the rear view mirror has a small screen in it so you could see the people behind you. It was awesome.
Well I don't really have anything else to say. Love you to bits.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion

Monday, April 11, 2011

Uno Mas.

Had a good week. Oh and I don't think I told everyone that I'm also in the same apartment as another set of Elders. They are pretty awesome Elder McMananamon and Elder Scovil (who came out with Elder Dowley). I really like being around other missionaries after like 8 months of being in area's that are pretty far away from other missionaries. It was difficult for Elder Haines and I to find people to teach this week. Although, but at the very end of day Sunday night we were stopping by formers and we came across a guy named Kenneth Powell. He was a Bible referral for a few years ago. He was meeting with the missionaries for a little while it sounds like but he just couldn't seem to receive an answer to weather the Book of Mormon is true or not. So we were able to pick him up as an investigator which is awesome because we just haven't been able to find people to teach the couple weeks I've been here. But there was a referral we received and we have been having trouble contacting her. Plus another referral yesterday that seems pretty solid from a return missionary. Hopefully the new investigator and potential's keep us busy. So that would be 3 people to start teaching, which would be really awesome to get this area back up and running.
It was super awesome to see the baptism of "A"(dawan) yesterday as well. She's an awesome lady that the walking Elders that live with us have been teaching. She feeds us a lot when we go over there for something or other. She owns a Thai food place. She is from Thailand too and is pretty hard to understand sorta but also really simple and funny. But anyways she got baptized yesterday and it was really awesome.
The ward I'm in now had 24 convert baptism's last year. Bishop Jones is super missionary oriented. Went to Germany on his mission as well where he met his wife.
The other investigators we teach have been difficult to get in contact with and one of them is going on a vacation for a little while (I haven't even met her yet. She sounds good just busy and stressed).
Elder Haines and his last companion Elder Dransfield helped a Part-Member family get baptized last transfer and I flipping love them. Aaron and Mandi Vermilion. They have 4 daughters that are all really cute and they make me giggle and laugh a lot. But they are pretty much amazing.
Well it's pretty awesome to have passed my year mark. A year from today should be my very last day in the mission and then a year from tomorrow
"I'll be back."~The Governator
(*)<~Elder Lance Sumsion

Monday, April 4, 2011

Current address

Elder Lance Sumsion
2001 A Sterling Ct.
Findlay, OH 45840

Find-a-lay-hee-who!‏

It has been an exciting transfer so far. Monday and Tuesday Elder Dowley and I were able to get some pretty good lessons in and I was assuming and then found out that I was being transferred so we said some goodbyes. Mainly to Jordyn Dickey who became just a really great friend. I feel that the Ashtabula area is quite a bit better than when I got there with the help we offered to the Fay family and also with the baptism of Tyler Bennett who is just a wonderful young man. I was super grateful that I was able to see him pass the sacrament before I left. There was more I wish I could've done there but all in all I did my duty.
Well...Tuesday night Pres. Sorenson called and I was released as a District Leader which wasn't to much of a surprise because that happens a lot when you get transfered. Although the cool thing is that he called me to be a Zone Leader. So that was pretty neat and made me excited for this upcoming transfer.
After I was all finished packing Elder Dowley who had recently gotten his driving privleges which made him the happiest missionary in the world. He drove us over to Perry Area where I picked up Elder Barlow who was also being transfered. Then Elder Dowley and I parted ways. He's a good missionary and he'll go far in the mission over time. Then we went to Kirtland for transfer meeting. When we got there I found out I would be serving in Findlay, Ohio with Elder Haines from Orem. He goes home in August. He's the first companion I've had that I actually met before. Partially because he was my Zone Leader when I was in Ashland. So he's pretty experienced and has been awesome to serve with so far.
After the meeting we drove to Perrysburg and then from there to Findlay which took about two hours. When we got to Findlay we found out that we would be driving to St. Mary's that night. It was a pretty cool experience to drive from the far northeast corner (Ashtabula) of the mission to the southwest corner (St. Mary's (also known as outer darkness sometimes because it is so far away)) of the mission. It was quite a treat actually to see so much of the mission in one day since I've never been to the western side of it. Well...I'm excited to see what new experiences Heavenly Father has in store for Elder Haines and I. It has been awesome so far especially with the amazing General Conference we just had.
Well I love you all.
(*)<~Elder Sumsion