4 March 2013

it seemed like everyone and their brother wanted us to do work for them this week. we helped someone lay astro-turf in their back yard (real grass doesnt grow here), he put up a fence while being attacked by bees (3 of us got stung before we quit), we dug up an old water pipe (that was fun because there was a fountain of cold water when we found it), we cleared out a storage unit (that was a good time. i picked up a big dresser that us above my head and the top drawer slid out and EXPLODED on the floor. the lad thought she was going to be able to glue it back together. i dont think so lol. whoops ), and we helped randy move again (ive helped him move 4 times now). Good times! i enjoy doing work for people, but itd be more fun if we had lots of people to teach. it seems like the work has stagnated the past couple of weeks. we had a couple baptisms and then the rest of the people were are teaching have either been sick, out of town, or just avoiding us. but thats how it rolls sometimes.

we met a nice young family this week. they havent been to church in a long time but have a little daughter and one on the way and want to start coming back so that they can raise their kids in the church. we are going to start teaching them, we're looking forward to that.

i think it hit 80 degrees this past week. that means it'll hit 100 in about a month. pretty awesome

that was pretty much our week. nicole is still not smoking,l but dragging her feet about making any other changes in her life.

a lady said something interesting in church on sunday. she said "if you save your family, you save yourself". ive been thinking about that, wondering what i can do to "save my family" now. not sure yet. i guess ive just got to make myself the best i can be right now, and later that will help my family.

i hope everything is going great at home! be safe. and happy :)

love y'all,
elder donovan

25 February 2013

well, i made it through transfers again unscathed. elder bloomfield will continue to work together in our two wards out here in Pahrump. im very glad about that :)

nicole also made it through the week unscathed! shes made it two whole weeks without smoking. good good stuff!

work wise, the week was kinda slow. not sure why, just seems to work out that everyone is too busy all in the same week. that and i was kinda sick for a few days. but we did have a really great first lesson with a very nice lady. josh was baptized about 9 months ago and his mom recently started reading the Book of Mormon and she had a few questions. josh has been being a great missionary to his mom and we had a great lesson teaching her about where the book of mormon came from and why its so important. later, after the lesson, josh told us she really enjoyed the lesson and "cant wait" for our next one.

other big news this week: the announced who our new mission president will be starting in july. his name is Michael Ahlander from Orem Utah. he'll only be my mission president for one transfer, but its still kind of exciting to find out who will be coming.

not much else to report out here. life is good. God is great.

love,
elder donovan:)

18 February 2013

tuesday, wednesday, and thursday were full of meetings. nothing too exciting. although thursday's meeting was pretty fun. it was with all the trainers and their new missionaries. they took all the new missionaries into one room, all the trainers into another and he talked about all the problems were having with our companions lol. i didnt have anything to add to the discussion but it was funny to listen to everyone complain. lots of whiners. elder bloomfield said it was the same thing in his meeting lol. im just glad ive got a good companion in an area where we are busy.

friday we had a great baptism for travis! Travis is the man. hes a junior in high school and is super excited about the gospel. recently hes been asking about serving a mission :) i sure hope he keeps at it. hes being a great example to his family.

saturday was full of digging holes and moving people and knocking on doors. it felt good to get back out knocking after a few days full of only meetings and studying.

OH YEAH! and nicole has gone a week without smoking!!!! she was so excited to tell us. when she saw us at church she gave us a big hug and then did a little dance haha. we told her to keep it up!!!!!!!

so between travis and nicole i had a great week. people are getting better and coming closer to Christ and thats what its all about :)

i hope y'all had as good of a week as i did :)

love,
elder donovan

11 February 2013

im really tired. i wasnt even this tired when i was riding a bike. i think a year and a half of no naps is catching up to me.

this week was pretty slow (well i guess its only been half a week since i talked to you last) big things this week though. meeting tues, wed, thurs. wed/thurs are in vegas, and then friday we have a baptism! so that basically means we're scheduled full all week and we havent even started the week yet. its nice to have things to do to keep us busy.

remember to be excited about the blessings we have! randy called the class to repentance this past week (randy is the man!)
the lesson was not very exciting, so randy raised his hand and said "i think something is wrong with me" of course the teacher asked what he meant, randy went on "when i was baptized i FELT CLEAN! when i was confirmed, i FELT the Holy Spirit going into my body. This is real stuff! but i feel like im the only one that is excited about it!" lets try to remember how great God is, and then lets act like it! life is good. God is watching out for us. how could we truly get any better off than having Jesus Christ as an Older Brother and God as our Heavenly Father?

i love you all, hopefully you have a wonderful week :) im going make sure that i do :)

-elder donovan

6 February 2013

not sure what happened this week. we've been super busy, running all over town, talking to lots of people but when i sit down to write you about what we did i cant think of it. on temple weeks, when i dont get to email until wednesday i lose track of what i have already written you about.

we helped randy move again. hopefully for the last time (this is the 3rd time i have moved him). luckily he stayed close so we'll still be able to see him often.

monday we had a really great day of teaching! we finally were able to have a lesson with Vicki (she has been in and out of the hospital) and the lesson went super well. she was excited to hear what we had to teach. she excited to come to church this week and excited to keep learning more! the real challenge will be getting her boyfriend excited too.

yesterday we went down to vegas for a meeting with the zone. its about an hour drive there and back, so that was most of our day. by the time we got back home all we had time to do was eat dinner and study (they put a big emphasis on making sure we get our full study time in, especially when one of the missionaries is new).

today we road-tripped over to the temple (1:30-1:45 min drive) and had a great time. i learned a lot and it is always good to see some other missionaries other than us Pahrumpians.

next week we are going down to vegas twice for a couple meetings and hopefully (crossing my fingers) we will be having a baptism!

the rest of this week is full of teaching appointments and doing service for people.

pahrump is the place everyone wants to be assigned to work, and its becoming better and better :)

Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!

love,
elder donovan :)

28 January 2013

good week this week!

first it started by meeting my new compadre, elder bloomfield. hes tongan and is even bigger than my last companion. and much louder. hes from sandy, utah. but was born in new Zealand. hes a cool kid. im just going to try not to make him mad so i dont get smashed.

so my week was spent shoing elder bloomfield around the area, and making sure randy made it through the week alive. he was literally sick in bed from last sunday until this past friday. our week consisted of bringing him dinner and coke about twice a day, making sure he was still alive, and not smoking. all he did all week was lay in bed and watch movies about the book of mormom. BUT HE MADE IT. he had his baptism on saturday. there was a good turn out. he invited a couple friends, there were 12 missionaries, and a bunch of people ward. after elder tews pulled him out of the water randy looked up in the air and said "you lose satan!" AWESOME! hes the man. and hes so happy. on sunday i was able to confirm him and hes doing well!

the other excitement his week was supplied by 4 days of rain. and so we've been driving in the mud all week. and now our car and our shoes and our house and our pants are all covered in mud. its fun

im going to do my best to spend the rest of my mission out here :) we'll see though. every time i start having fun i get moved lol. life is good though! we are teaching people. and finding new people. and the wards are taking car of us. and the weather is great!

love all of you. be good. stay safe and healthy!

-elder donovan :)

21 January 2013

so we did end up moving. and we might end up moving again soon. so the easiest thing would be to go back to sending mail to the Allen lane address.

the new place is big, but its dirty. so a lot of the last week was spent making it live-able. its getting there. still lots of dust. and a few mice remain uncaught. but we'll get em!

transfers are tonight and im getting a new compadre. today is his first day in the mission, so i know nothing about him. theres still only going to be 4 of us out here in pahrump. but thats alright, we're still having fun, and the work continues to  move along :)

randy is doing great! if all goes as planned he will be baptized on saturday and we're hoping for a big turn out. satan is working hard on him though. he went to the hospital yesterday. the cops came to visit him earlier in the week (hes alright, and did not break the law) and he's staying strong. he keeps saying "satan is a punk!" haha, i think randy's gonna make it though. so far hes doing great!

next week i'll tell you all about my new companion. im hoping he's cool! even if hes not, it'll still be a great week if we get a baptism.

i hope everyone is doing well back home! dont forget to pray.

love,
elder donovan