24 September 2012

ive got almost no time to type this email and i just jammed my finger playing bball, so it might be kinda short. SORRY!

everyone is settled into their new places, and i think the work is going to start rolling. everybody seems excited about their new situations/companions/areas, so that is very good!

we still have no one to teach, that makes it really hard to stay motivated, but i think the wards are starting to figure out that we have no one, so hopefully they'll start helping us.

pray for my Grandpa Hatch please. he needs it!

i think thats all, cause my finger hurts, and im running out of time. write me a letter if you want to hear more :P

love,
elder donovan

17 September 2012

we spent the beginning half of  the week causing trouble and the end of it repenting and now im really tired. here's what went down:

transfer week. we were in the office and the AP who is going home accidentally let slip who the new AP was. so basically i knew who the new AP was before he knew it was him. you can fill in the blanks, but our day at the office ended with everyone knowing that we knew the new AP and everyone laughing and yelling at us. you know how sometimes you are getting in trouble, but the person who is getting you in trouble thinks whatever you did was funny? thats what happened lol

so fast forward a couple of days. all the nice ladies in the office are convinced we are trouble makers (probably b/c we are), but we finaly build up the courage to show our faces in the office. when we show up everyone is in a fit trying to figure out how they are going to move 18 missionaries and their stuff and furnature into 9 new apartments before monday (this is friday) we of course volunteer our services (this was the easiest way to get back in their graces)(being on these people's good sides is important because these are the people who handle our mail, all our car stuff, all our apartment bills, basically all the good things we have go through these people in the office)

so we start moving furniture into these new apartments. little did we know it was going to be two full days of moving furniture. it was ridiculous. by the end of saturday i was tempted to sleep in the car because i was too tired to walk back up to my apartment. and i got sunburned. and on sunday i was sick, still kinda am, i think basically because my immune system went into survival mode and forgot to fight all the little germs. but all the moving is done and we are the office ladies favorite elders :)

i got tired just typing all of that. whew

both elder weaver and i are staying. lots of movement in the zone though. we went from 12 missionaries to 16, we're excited about that. we are hoping more missionaries brings more success and more fun. and they are cool elders coming in so we're happy. let the turkey bowl practice commence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i miss home. being sick does that.

hope everyone is well!

love,

elder donovan

10 September 2012

pretty sure neither elder weaver nor i are getting transferred. but thats what i said 6 weeks ago lol. we are looking forward to changes in the zone. we think that we'll add another companionship to the zone, so that'll be cool. not only will we get new elders, but we'll have more elders! hopefully it'll help. we've requested that only athletic elders get transferred into our zone because we want the best turkey bowl team we can get :)

this past week went really really fast. im not sure why, i think maybe because elder weaver and i are working better together and we have a few more things going on.

i think the weather is finally cooling down. *knock on wood* today has a high of less than 95 i think!

remember joe and valentina from about 3 months ago? i saw their new baby yesterday! her name is Zoey (not Donovan like i requested ): she is 8 weeks old, and super cute. it was good to see them!

this coming week, nothing really exciting is happening, except for transfers, but we've got lots of things going on in the next few months to keep us excited :) general conference, lots of ward parties, a mission halloween party,  thanksgiving, christmas, new years. should be great :)

quote i heard recently: "dont be sorry that the rose has thorns, be thankful that the thorns have a rose"

simple concept, but a good way to live i think.

love,
elder donovan :)

4 September 2012

not much time today, so i'll have to make it quick.

things are going well here! elder weaver and i taught more lessons last week than we have ever while we've been working together. so that was really good. most of the people we are teaching are not very solid. they dont seem like they are very excited about what we are teaching :( but its better than teaching no one. we are hoping things are on their way up and that the ward members will see that we are working hard.

so i just got an email from someone who stayed in Reno. im officially thankful im still in vegas, even if it is still 105. this email was a list of rules the new mission president has made. one of the rules was they can only have pday activities once a month. that would be awful if you had a lame companion! there are some weeks i live for pday activities lol. so im glad im still in vegas with president black :)

hopefully all is well with everyone within earshot! i heard the Buckeyes looked good so im glad about that

be good, remember who you are and what you stand for :)

love,
elder donovan

30 August 2012

dumb computers wouldnt work yesterday so here i am today :) guess i should be thankful we have computers huh?

so yesterday was a much needed break! holy cow. when we have temple days and we dont get p-day until wednesday, it makes the week before really really long! both elder weaver and i were completely done with dealing with all the junk people in the zone are doing (and not doing). it really is quite  tiring babysitting 10 people in their early twenties. but tuesday night we went out and taught with President black and then yesterday morning we were able to spend some time at the temple and now i am spiritually recharged! physically, me and e weaver are going to start working out for Turkey Bowl :) this year no hamstring is going to bring me down! we are determined to win. even if we are the only ones in the zone that know how to play ball, we will throw the ball back and forth.

on a similar note, the samoans love football and love talking about it. which is great! the rest of vegas are not big football fans.

its been a long month figuring out what i am doing with this new assignment in this new area. the work in our two wards is still pretty slow. but we are doing what we can. as far as the zone goes, we are waiting for transfers in two weeks to see what new blood we get.  we are hoping its good blood. (obviously :P)

we taught a lesson to an 82 year old lady named Ardella. shes a fire cracker. we ended up bold saucing her a lot more than i normally would have an old lady. (president black was there and hes all about being bold). but we did it with love, and expressed to her how good the gospel is! we will go back and see her soon. hopefully she has been thinking about what we taught. i just dont know how much we can make her want to change, even if it is for the better. i dont know how much i will want to change once i hit 82. but thats what we do, invite people to change.

other than ardella we are just teaching people that have recently been baptized or people who have stopped coming to church.

im still chugging along in the new testament. soon i'll be reading about Christ's last week before He was crucified. im really looking forward to being able to study that in detail. it'll probably take me awhile to get through, but thats okay :)

i've been praying to get better everyday. hopefully its working.

i read a quote this week, idk who said it:

"a man who tries to do something and fails is infinitely better than a man who tries to do nothing and succeeds"

im trying not to try to do nothing :)

love all of you! a miss all of you!
talk to you next tuesday :) have a great Labor Day! dont labor too hard :)

love,
elder donovan :)