Transfer 5, Week 3: A Birthday Party

Hey Everyone,
       How are you all doing? I am pretty good. This week hasn't been super crazy, but that is okay, Haha. Not a whole lot happened.
        We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, that was fun. I got to go to Great Falls with Elder Allen. Just like old times at the MTC. It was pretty fun. We had a pretty full and busy day, doing service, a lesson, and some store contacting. Funny thing about the store contacting, over half of the peole we talked to live in Fairfield. So there was a pretty cool connection there.
        On Wednesday, we delayed District council to help with the food bank/truck that drops off at 10 am every other Wednesday. We didn't get started with our meeting untill around 2 pm because of it. It was fun, but very different time wise from what we were expecting. 
       Thursday, we made an ice cream lemonade cake, thanks mom, for Friday. It smelt very good, and it was hard not to eat it early. We also had inspections, and had a good time out in Augusta. 
      Friday was the big day. December 14th. Wow. I am 20 now. I feel so OLD. All we did was open the presents that I was sent, and weekly planned, because we weren't able to get it done on Friday. 
      Saturday, the only highlight was helping Br. Phinney with a light the world project for the neighborhood. 
      Sunday was pretty sweet. We had the oppurtiunity to go to the "Keeping Christ in Christmas" concert at the Sunriver Church building. The concert was supposed to take 1 hour, but it ended up taking a lot closer to 2.5 hours. It was great though to see all of the talents in the community and we got to hear a sweet gospel choir. It was a great night. 
       A quick update on John, because I'm sure you are all wondering about him. We are on hold as far as the baptism. President has to do some paperwork, and so the baptism is delayed until we get the approval. I hope we hear the news soon.
       Ok, Spiritual thought. You probably all know where I'm going with this, It's week 3 of Light the world. This week's theme is light your family. Try to view the video on lds.org, and see if you can come up with some ideas to light your family this week. 
       Thank you for all the support and all of the birthday wishes this past week. I appreciate it, and I can't wait for this upcoming week. 

All my Love,
Elder Sherwood

Pictures ... I only have pictures from the birthday packages, sorry, and 1 picture of our nice decorated tree.

Transfer 5, Week 2: Building Blocks

Hey Everyone,
     How are you all doing? I could be better, but all is okay. There is always still fun and exciting times ahead. Well, let's jump right into it.
     So, I am getting a really late start on this email, so it will have to be a quick one. Anway This week has been ok. Not the greatest, but definitely busy, with interviews, and stake Conference, and a few other fun activities. 
     Tuesday is where we start the highlights. On Tuesday, we were kind of in a rut. Nothing good was happening, so we decided to stop by the church, to quickly brainstorm a couple ideas. On our approach, we spotted a good looking Christmas tree in the Church Dumpster. It was in great condition except for 1 spot where there is a paint spot on it. But put that one to the wall, and it looks great. It is prelit, and is awesome. We put it up, and now just need to get some really cheap tinsel and ornaments. 
     We have been working heavily with John over the last week. He has made the decision to come closer to Christ. We had great lessons with him throughout the week, and he had his baptismal interview with President Larsen on Sunday. We are so excited for this upcoming week, since his date is the 15th (this upcoming Saturday).
     We had the Sunriver Christmas Party this week. We met with a new family who moved into the ward, they aren't members, but we feel that there is some potential there. I can't wait to find out more there. 
     Friday was kind of exciting. We were given the opportunity to go to Great Falls and participate in the Christmas stroll. Basically they shut down central, and everyone gets to go to booths and have a good time. We didn't have a booth, but we got to walk around, handing out pass along cards to a lot of people.
     Saturday was interviews and stake Conference. To save on miles, because of the Christmas stroll, we stayed at the zone leader's place overnight. Our assigned time was at 11 am, but as usual, president was way behind. Neither of us got in until around 1:30pm, so we ended up staying for Stake Conference. We spent the whole day in Great Falls. 
     Sunday was good. We finished stake Conference, and then waited for president to arrive in Fairfield for John's interview. 
     That pretty much sums up my week. Not a whole lot else to talk about. This week is week 2 of "Light The World". I would encourage everyone to go and watch the week 2 video, and think about how you can focus on lighting your community this week. 
     Thanks everyone. I look forward to hearing from you again. 

Love,
Elder Sherwood

Pictures:

Decorating Christmas sugar cookies at the Rushton's house.

Transfer 5, Week 1: Transfers and Souvenirs

Hey Everyone,
     How is Everyone doing? Are we excited for Christmas? Well, this week has been really slow. I don't know when it will all end. But hopefully soon... 
     So, like I said, this week didn't have a lot happen, but there were several exciting things. so, let us get right into it...
     First of all, we had our first lesson with Jon. He is a referral that we got from the Helena Elders, and he has some potential, so we are excited to continue to work with him. We had a good lesson with him on Monday night, but he wasn't able to get to church, or make it to the chapel tour we had set up :(
     So the souvenir, So I can't remember whether or not I talked about this last time, But last week when Elder Lunt and I were working with Br. Contway, he gave us both a 20 lb block of Bronze (wrth about $60). Well, I had decided to turn mine into a souvenir, instead of exchanging it for money. I'll add a picture of the finished product.
     John, our other investigator is doing well, preparing himself for the 15th. We have started to plan out what he wants for the service, and got the interview set up. Other than that it has been just reviewing the lessons, to make sure he feels ready.
     The rest of the week seemed to just drag on and on. No matter what we did, there was always something that would fall through. It was really frustrating. 
     Friday included the trainer call, and some service with the food bank. That was pretty good. Nothing new to report here. Sadly Friday was probably the most productive day of the weekend. UGH!! I hate these weeks.
     Saturday, the pattern repeated, even though it was the "Light the world" kick off. We had stuff lined up to serve, but then it all fell through because the weather turned bad, and everyone canceled. We tried and tried, but nothing worked. 
     Sunday was a nice highlight. We had the Christmas devotional on Sunday for those of you who weren't able to view it. It was really good, and lightened the mood of the week. Afterwards, we helped move a new family into the ward. That was a lot of fun.
     Well, that is about it. Sorry for the short email. We are hopeful to see better. For a spirtual thought this month, it seems easy. I don't have them downloaded yet, but I encourage everyone to watch the "Light the world" week 1 video, and think about how this week we can all follow the example of Christ and Light the world in this Christmas season.
I am excited to hear how things are going, but until then, I'll see you later.

Love,
Elder Sherwood

Pictures ...

The finished souvenir