Transfer Week ....

Hi everyone!

Here's what happened in the OPM (Oregon Portland Mission) this week!

Monday: 

We had dinner and a lesson with the McDonalds and their friend Duane which went well.  Duane is less active but loves the church. We then had FHE (Family Home Evening) with the Chiniquy Family and they have two younger girls that are 7 and 4. We had a lesson with them and they loved it! At the end, we had them write down a characteristic they wanted to work on throughout the week and the youngest girl said that she was going to take hers to school and show all her friends haha. 

Tuesday:

We had our last District meeting:( this district was so awesome, we have three departing missionaries from our district so there are going to be so many changes. After our District meeting, we had a lesson with our new investigator, Jonas and he is doing super awesome and wants to keep learning and to keep praying. Later that evening we went and played basketball with Gilbert again. We were having a lesson with him after and it didn't go so well. Long story short he got mad because he felt like we weren't listening to him and he kicked us out. It was quite upsetting, but he called us the next morning and apologized and then he called us Thursday morning apologizing again and said he would take us out to lunch. So we're glad everything is good there.

Wednesday:

We met a new investigator, Jeannine!  Before we even mentioned Joseph Smith, she said that she already know that Joseph Smith is a prophet because if he wasn't then he wouldn't have affected so many lives (which is so true!). So hopefully she will continue to meet with us. We had a lesson with Bro Roberts and Rowan and we drew the plan of salvation. They voted that mine was the best drawing which is funny because my drawing skills are terrible! After that we had a lesson with the Stecklers again, and this is the family and friend that have the two girls that go to BYU. They are actually both converts! They told us their conversion stories and they were so awesome to hear! I love hearing those stories. Love that family!

Thursday:

We got that call from Gilbert and we went and helped him do some service and he took us to lunch. We were able to get on good terms with him again and he said that he loved us and that we are his brothers! He wants to always keep in touch with us no matter what, so it was awesome to hear that he doesn't hate us! Later that day we went and saw Gayle and we watched the video "Finding Faith in Christ" with her. Go watch it! It's an amazing video about Christ. We had dinner with a guy in the Stake that goes by Brian da Hawaiian. He took us and some other missionaries to an Asian restaurant and he ordered like 3 appetizers and then our meals. I've never felt so full before. He said that if there is an empty spot on your plate then something is wrong!!

Friday:

We did service for Sister Kerezman again and helped her move some stuff. We had a couple of lessons and our last lesson we had was with our new investigators,

Pat and Paulita! They are twin sisters that live together and they were sooooo excited for us to teach them. They are so enthusiastic about learning and it is the best! They love reading the Book of Mormon. Friday at 9pm we started exchanges! I went to the Milwaukie area with Elder Udy and it was so fun. He is leaving to go home this Tuesday!

Selfie with Elder Udy before he goes home on Tuesday!

Saturday:

While I was in Milwaukie we had to take the car to Jiffy Lube and so that wasn't too fun but we were able to go and contact people later in the day and we met some interesting folks. I love going on exchanges because you get to see how different missionaries work and do things. Saturday night we ended exchanges and Elder Parker and I went to our Ward party. It was so fun! Tons of people came and we had three investigators come! Carissa came and she loved it, so that was awesome. I love the people in this ward! I gave the blessing or prayer on the food in front of everyone and I'm so used to giving prayers in meetings and gatherings now haha. I've said more prayers in the last two months than probably my entire life!

Sunday:

On Sunday, nothing too exciting happened. We had church and there were a lot of people that came! We had dinner at the Tops and they gave us chocolate cream pie so that was tasty. We then met with the Tupou Family. They are this super awesome Tongan family and they love the missionaries. Part of their family is less active, but they are super cool and love the Church.

Have a good week!!!

Elder Hill

Tyler's highlights, hints and shout outs this week!

* Shout out to my man Quentin Davis on getting his mission call to Kobe, Japan! 

* Shout out to Austin Golding on getting married!

* Shout out to Sister Alexa James on making it to Japan! So exciting!

* Transfer calls were on Saturday and Elder Parker and I are both staying. AND, we are losing our car for the entire transfer. We don't even get it part time. LAME.
*Watch the video "Finding Faith in Christ" on lds.org

Throwback picture at the MTC with Elder Holmes (serving in the Arizona Tempe Mission), Sister Alexa James and Sister Riley Tyler!  Sister Tyler lives in Gilbert, Arizona about 15 min. from Tyler in Chandler! 

Elders at their last District Meeting!