02/08/2016

Dear Family,

This week was actually pretty normal. Elder Stevens and I are still chugging away. We had another stake correlation meeting on Tuesday. It was President Waite's last one. We will be getting a new stake presidency on Sunday. It was a good meeting though. and the missionary work in this stake is going really well.

We had a MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Thursday. We have one every month. I am probably going to be released as a zone leader next transfer so that was probably my last one. There are so many missionaries in leadership going home in July so some of us will have to be released. We will see though. This one was different because it was with President Ferrin. It was still good, though. He is a lot different than President Taylor. It took some adjusting, but I like President Ferrin a lot. After the meeting we all visited the Taylor's at their home. That was really cool. President looks a lot better than the last time I saw him! I would be shocked if he wasn't back by the beginning of March. Thanks for fasting on Sunday. I know it will help him out. 

As far as investigators go, we have had some success. We found a Spanish guy named Luis. Elder Stevens told me he is the most golden of all the ones he has ever met with. I was just fighting to stay awake in that lesson, but I'm glad it went well. It has been somewhat difficult to find him again, but he has a lot of potential. Have I mentioned Joe? We put him on-date for February 27th so that was awesome. He committed to come to church and then didn't show up. We asked his fellow-shipper where he was and she told us that he just went to another church today, but that he would come next week. It was a typical head in your hands moment, but hopefully he comes along. Beca turned up really sick this week so we weren't able to meet with her. Funny how that works. Some members took her a bunch of food so that was ice. Yes, the Kaup family is the family we gave a blessing to, and they are a super nice family. They are all nonmemnbers. 

It sounds like basketball season is in full swing. Hopefully those teams continue to have success. Astoria high school basketball is a pretty big deal. They are ranked number two in the state of Oregon now. The high school parking lot is always packed when there are games when we drive by. High school sports really do teach a lot of valuable life lessons. I have applied a lot of them on my mission.

One thing Elder Brase said this week was that faith without works is dead. Works without faith is just as dead. I have definitely fallen into that rut sometimes. I just do things out of routine and habit without the necessary faith behind it. It is so important to know the WHY  behind why we do what we do. Otherwise, it won't work for our benefit.

Will you let Grandma Reiley know that I got her letter and to tell her thank you very much? Thanks so much for the email. I love you all so much and I hope everybody has a great week.

Love: Jaxon