A baptism and some service!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

This week was a good week! On Saturday we had a baptism for a kid we are teaching named Landon! He is a great kid! It's been amazing to see his testimony increase just in the past 2 or 3 weeks. He has a firm belief in Jesus Christ and God, and it was a wonderful spiritual experience for everyone as he was getting baptized. The spirit filled the room, and it was made witness that what Landon was doing was pleasing to God.

This week we also did some fun service. We did a food thing for Salvation Army one day. During that I lifted a huge bag of potatoes, and it started dripping moldy potato juice everywhere. It was nasty, and I smelled like potatoes for the rest of the day! We also helped work at a covid vaccination clinic. We helped hand out forms and direct them where to go. At the end, they said they had some extra vaccinations, and so we got our first round of vaccinations. Pretty sweet!

Love you all! Looking forward to general conference this weekend. Hope you get a chance to watch it.

Pictures:

1. Landon on his Baptism day!

2. Salvation army service

3. Our apartment after an intense workout (some of us are also wearing the shirts we got at the vaccination clinic)

4. Thought this was the most useless sign I've ever seen.

S5 E2: Spidey and Sewage

 (Elder Cummings)

你們好! 希望大家都好

So we wake up, get beefy, and go help someone move. Then we drive 30 minutes to the middle of the woods to help someone with their plumbing. We've never done any plumbing. Next thing I know I'm army crawling through feces and mud underneath their house in a t shirt and shorts trying to cinch some hot water pipes. I almost lost my breakfast but I did gain their respect.

Later that day we run over to the mall in our area to go see someone we're teaching doing his day job as Spiderman. I'd tell you his name but I don't want y'all to know his secret identity...

I was studying a sermon by President Monson titled, "Your Personal Influence". In it he says, "There is one responsibility that no one can evade, that is the effect of one's personal influence". We are all responsible for the example we set for others. Be aware of your influence, be aware of how you affect other people's lives, for better and for worse. I think of Paul's counsel "be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."(1 Tim 4:12) and then the Savior's commandment, "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt 5:16). Do things in a way that invites others to come unto Christ and you will find that you are closer to Him than you've ever been.

Elder Cummings

Pics!

-some spidey selfie

-pic of me washed up after sewer swimming,we forgot to take a picture before I cleaned up outside

-Louisana boys being Louisiana boys

Baptism!

 (Elder Petersen)

Hello Everyone!

So this week has been great, just this last Saturday we had a baptism! Her name is Khloe, she is an 11 year old girl who loves gravity falls. It was an amazing experience to be able to help teach her and to watch as she learned about Jesus Christ. We were able to teach her and watch as the light of Jesus Christ started to shine not only within her eyes but in the eyes of her mom as well who is a returning member. This last week also hosted the opportunity to be able to watch the lamb of God production that just came out in theaters, that movie was amazing to see. Later that week Utah lowered the eligible age to be able to receive the Covid vaccine to 16 and above. So we were able after we heard the news to schedule an appointment to get the first of two of our Covid shots that Friday. I was fine after I received the shot, but Elder Quiton my companion the next day was practically comatose because of being hit by not only the shot but also because allergy season arrived. Other than those not much else happened this week. Have a great week y'all!

Sincerely,

Elder Petersen

Bible Studies!

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey, everyone!

This week has been amazing!! We had two bible studies with Reba, and Shae, her twin sister, joined.  Rebas kids also joined and we taught them how Jesus loves children. Reba's son, Hunter, although he was a bit shy, seemed very into it. We asked him how it made him feel to know that Jesus loves him, and he said it made him feel happy. Reba and Shae said it made them feel important and cared for. I told them that they can keep having this feeling when they pray and ask God to help them feel this feeling. After the lesson, we got a voice message from Reba, and it was Hunter asking if we could do this more often, saying it was fun! So that's pretty exciting!!

Weve also been doing lots of garden work service and that's been great!

On Friday during the mission devotional they announced that we as missionaries will be able to get the vaccine soon, so that's exciting!

Okay, so one thing weve been struggling with in this area is scheduling lessons with members. Why? Well, most of the members won't text us back, and that's what makes it difficult. I guess I'm saying this because I just want to let all of you who are super on top of it with getting back to the missionaries, that the missionaries seriously appreciate you SO much!!

Alright, love all of you!

Sister Alyssa Putnam

S5 E1: Down here in Alec

 (Elder Cummings)

Good morning y'all!

As I mentioned last week, I got transferred over to Alexandria, Louisiana. Kown by it's native inhabitants as Alec (prounounced "Ellick"). A couple of the districts in my zone are the following: Many (pronouced manny), Opelousas (pronounced Opp-uh-loo-sus), Lecompte (pronounced Lecount) and my personal favorite, Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-uh-dish). What's crazy is this isn't just southern accents getting in the way, it is straight up how these places are pronounced. Gotta love it.

This week was great though. Brother Yost, an old Louisiana native was picking us up to head to a lesson. Per usual, he started rambling on about fishing and good places to catch some bass when BAM all of a sudden we hammered a goose that flew a lot too low over the road. The best part was that after Brother Yost exclaiming "what in the SAM HILL!" the goose just got up amd flew away like nothing happened. We were going 45 and nailed that thing! Unphased, Brother Yost keeps on driving and mentions how he hates it when that happens and went on about how dense geese are and how he'd shoot them 4 or 5 times while hunting and they'd just keep flying away. Next thing I know we're talking about how he mounted a 9 lbs bass he caught 5 years ago that sits on the wall of his living room to this day. Gotta love the south, and I'm not even in Mississipi yet.

We finally get to the lesson and it turns out amazing. Turns out Brother Yost knows the wife of the guy we're teaching named Mark. On top of that both him and Mark used to be in bands when they were younger. Absolutely epic. We taught the Restoration and Brother Yost gave a powerful, sincere testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was seriously like Brother Yost and Mark were the only people in the room. He turned to Mark and looked him straight in the eyes and talked about his journey of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said as sure as he was talking to him he was sure what he was saying is true. He testified that Mark's life will never be the same when he opens and starts pondering the message of that book. And then, Brother Yost gave Mark the commitment to give at least 5 minutes of his time a day to the God that gave His Only Begotten Son to us. It was amazing. I hope we will all find time for the Lord who has already given everything to us. If you really want to, you will find time.

Elder Cummings

-some pigs 🐖

My bike is like a retarded donkey

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for!

We had a fairly rough week, but the Lord's hand has still been in it. Our friend Joseph was all prepared to get baptized Saturday, and then the morning of, his dad cancelled it and said he wasn't ready. Then another person we had on date for baptism backed out of her baptism for this coming Saturday. It was really sad, and took us by surprise. Those combined with a few other things made this one of the harder weeks of my mission. However, we still saw great things!

Saturday night, as we were biking down a street, a man waved us down and wanted to talk to us. His name is Justin, and he is tattooed from head to toe. He said he wanted to come closer to God. We set up to visit with him Sunday evening. When we got there, he just broke down balling talking about how hard his life has been, and his regrets. He and his girlfriend asked for blessings. We obliged, and as we gave those blessings that evening, the spirit filled the room, and Justin and Megan found peace. They calmed down, and we taught them a little about God, and read some of the Book of Mormon with them. The Lord made us instruments in His hands to bless them. It was a really cool experience!

I'd like to testify today, that no matter what challenges, struggles, and setbacks we face the Lord is always aware of us. He loves us, and gives us tender mercies as a sign that he is there to help us and support us no matter what we go through.

Pictures:

1-2. We got bikes! Let's go! My legs and butt are very sore, but we are saving so much time. The title comes from Elder Clove talking about his bike, and he's right! The brakes don't work, and the gears are all messed up. But it works.

I almost left the WEM

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!!

So a lot has happened this week! On Monday we went to Ostrums.   A cute little gift shop in our district, and then a farmer's market that was soooo fun!! And we also went to target!!

Tuesday we had exchanges and I went with Hermana Hludinzki and we went into the Spanish area, but unfortunately didn’t teach any Spanish lessons. We taught an English lesson to a guy from Algeria.  He introduced us to his family, and his wife and kids are so cute, and they all have names that I grew up around in Saudi.

Wednesday was district council and we've had a ton of yard work service and it was awesome!! Busy week, super exhausting!!

Yesterday I made mashed potatoes, and pasta, and set the stove on fire within the same hour so that was great.

Also someone gave us a helium balloon so I'll include a video if us putting it to good use.

Covid restrictions have lifted enough so that we can have district pdays now!!

Ok now for the explanation on the subject line of the email. So the Washington Everett Mission is commonly referred to as the WEM. The Seattle Washington mission is absorbing the Bothell stake, where I'm serving.  Usually when this happens the missionaries stay with the stake and go to the other mission. Well,  president begged to keep us, and they granted his wish so we didnt end up leaving the WEM, and we are getting transferred in 2 weeks. So, we almost left the WEM but we didnt.8

Sister Alyssa Putnam