2/22/2016

Dear Family,

Thank you for the great emails! I love reading them.

We are still working with Joe. He didn't make it to church,but he still wants to meet with us. We are meeting with them tonight. Deloris and Amanda came to church. It was great to see them walk in. Deloris is a member and Amanda is not. We met with them after church and committed Amanda to take the lessons and she accepted. Next week she will probably have a baptismal date so that is exciting.

We still don't have a bishop as of now. The former bishop is doing double-duty. I'm hoping we will get one next week, but I'm not sure. We actually met with Bishop during the week. It was kind of weird. A member was talking to us about this RM that apostatized and was threatening to press charges if anybody visited him. We told him that we didn't know anything about him and he immediately set up an appointment with the bishop. Ha! It was the first time I have been interviewed by the bishop on my mission. Then Bishop proceeded to give us our exit interviews. Then I got another one from our ward mission leader when we went on splits. I am about getting sick of those! haha. 

So I have been thinking about prayer a lot this week. I go through these phases sometimes where I think about prayer and then I think about other things and then it fades away and then I get reminded of it again. I think because we pray so often as missionaries that it can become mundane really easily. I realized that most of our investigators don't pray on a regular basis so we are trying to help them with that. So many times I have talked to less-actives and they say they still believe in God and they pray all the time. Then we ask them to pray at the end of our lesson and they won't do it. That is usually a pretty good indicator. So I am trying to have more sincere prayers for this week. 

Bummer about the boys basketball. I bet everybody is just sick. How will the team look for next year? I'm also glad to hear the girls did so well. They should also be looking really good for next year. I am excited to hear about the baseball season. 

I emailed today about work. I should be able to work, even though it will only be for like a month or so. As of right now, I'm still thinking Utah State. You are probably right about going in the fall. It will be important to get right into it, even though it will be an adjustment. Keep me updated on classes, enrollment, etc. Idaho Falls should be fine to fly into, but if not, what would the backup be? If have found that it is fine to talk about going home and even important to start making a plan, as long as it is not distracting from the work, which of course it is not. I am still as focused and determined as ever. So thanks for the feedback. 

Thanks so much for the email! President Taylor will be back by the end of this week so thank you for fasting for him. I love serving here in Astoria! I love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Love: Jaxon