• We had a wonderful week with our investigators.  We picked up three new ones and we tried different style of lesson with each of them.  One we had like a testimony meeting cause the wife was less active, I'm glad we read D&C 88:77-78,122 recently.  It really works.  We were blessed to see 2 of our less-actives go to church.  I am going to change my study habits, I am going to have a little pocket size notebook around me, and if I receive teachings from the Holy Ghost I'm going to write it down, read about it, ponder it, then ask if there is more to learn.  Hopefully I wont fall on my face doing this the first couple of time I try it.
• The trip downtown is a perfect experience, gives you a little boost after a short month and gets you excited to keep serving. When you came around to me and told me to think of some goals for my mission I put some thought into it. So far I have came up with about four, but I'm sure I'll change the a little as I learn more. So far they are...
1. Be 100% obiendent
2. Be an example/leader for other Elders
3. Love my companion and help make this experience the best for them
4. Leave my area better than it was
• This week was very exciting and we had people come to church! FINALLY!!  President we finally found some people who are ready! The 1%!    It is a family of 6 that came to church, except the father because he works. At least 5 of the family came. After working hard the area is blossoming again!! I knew there was no such thing as a dead area! I am so happy for my past area as well ! I had the opportunity to go back 3 different times for baptisms!  I love missionary work !
• Great week as usual!!!! I've noticed something funny about my goals. The goals that I pray hardest and place the highest priority on are always the goals that we achieve. My last companion was always praying over lessons and I was always praying over finding. Now i guess I need to learn to pray over them both. Ha ha. The week was great. We had amazing teaching moments with people.
• For example, we talk about numbers all the time, and a lot of us have forgotten WHY we have numbers. If we have our heart in the numbers and not in the souls, we will NEVER progress. Its all about where our heart is. I was reflecting on that, and reflecting on the companions that I have had, and I learned something very important from each of them. From my current companion, I learned that I should focus on the people not on numbers, that has effected me forever.
• Last Saturday we had a baptism!!!!! Luis is 16 years old. He got confirmed yesterday and he is really happy. His family came to support him and we started teaching his close friend as well. He is alos getting baptized next month. It is amazing to see this guy being baptized and his friend is seeing the spirit and wanting to do thing that is making him happy. Even though his mom said that her son is changing. At the baptism, James(who got baptized last month/the miracle baptism) gave a talk and shared testimony for Luis. He encouraged him to prepare for mission together. It is amazing to see recent convert supporting newer convert. they are both so special. I am so greatful the gospel. James changed alot but Luis changed alot too. This gangster boy started reading the Book of Mormon and he takes notes. He doesn't go to school but he is getting ready to go back to school again. He used to dress up like gangster but now he wears white shirt to church looking great. I know that all those people are going to be the future missionaries, priesthood holders and building zion. I love them and love the gospel.
• I have been grateful for my companion’s drive this week to remain focused on the goal at hand. My studies have been greatly improved by focus, and especially by meaningful prayer. I am studying the PMG lessons again, and adding more scriptures to my study to help amplify my teaching.
• We found such a golden investigator on Sunday! He was a media referral. Man, those media referrals are golden! Whenever I hear one from the phone I get so excited because I know we just found somone new! I haven't had one not workout yet! He has grown up in the church but because his parents were not active he was never baptized. In the past year he has started going to church on his own and wants us to teach him! I am so excited to get back into that house.
• The work is good.  We're getting some member firesides going in the north stake.  The stake president  is very missionary minded, and things should be going well.  He's been showing the Finding Through members' sections in the preach my gospel dvds at each ward's ward conference.  Things will be picking up in that stake soon.
• We had an awesome experience yesterday in which I realized that missionaries are nothing when it comes to teaching! We were teaching one of our new investigators and we were just crashing and burning it seemed like. I remember praying over and over and just pleading with the Lord to just let the holy ghost take over! Our prayer was definitely answered! The spirit took over and we were able to extend her commitments in which she happily accepted. That experience just showed me that it doesn't matter what you know and how long you have been or anything like that, but its the spirit that has to direct the lessons. We have been role-playing alot in companionship study and it has been great practice to try and speak from the heart and let the spirit guide.
• I hope you are having a wonderful day! I loved having you and Sister Laney come to "our home." I am very thankful for the family that we live with, they are so nice to us and I feel like they are my family. This week was really great. I told my companion that our last week together had to be the best so we set high goals and worked super hard. We tought 46 lessons and the Baptisms fell through because the Bishop in that ward for some reason keeps changing the date we give our investigators, there is lack of communication between us but we  will let him do what he thinks it's best.
• This week was wonderful! We started teaching this one family. They have not been to church in a very long time and have one unbaptized son. I learned a really good lesson when we started teaching them though. I started trying to break the ice by talking about the things they enjoyed, and it worked a little. But it was still a little awkward and they were still a little quiet, but when we had a prayer and began teaching, the whole family opened up a ton. The spirit was really strong and I know that it was the spirit that caused the family to be more open. I really want to get that whole family active again so they can be sealed in the temple they live 1 minute away from. Also, we should be picking up the 4 new investigators this week that we thought we could last week, which is why we set our goals so high. Things are going really good. Take care!
• Yesterday the Stake President asked me if I would speak at his stake conference. That is my last Sunday in the mission. It will be neat to leave the mission addressing an entire stake. The President asked me so speak about the most important things I would want the members to know. I'm excited for this opportunity. I know that these last 6 weeks will be some of the most important weeks of my mission. I am going to work as hard as I can to finish in the right way.
• This week was great with a baptism of a great boy named Jonathan! I have a greater testimony that if we are doing what we are suppose to be doing that the investigators will find US!! Because that is exactly what happened with Jonathan. We were walking down the road and decided to take a different path than we had planned on taking..  Later we hear footsteps coming up behind us and it was Jonathan! He had been taught in Murray , but moved about 2 months ago. He said he had been looking for missionaries to walk down the road so he could continue the lessons! We had been praying for a golden investigator!   Our recent converts are doing great because they are still ACTIVE which is wonderful of course. We have other great investigators we are working with !
• Take the good, leave the bad. Just like Elder Bednar said "Discernment is seeing good in others and helping them to see it too" okay so not an exact quote but something to that effect.
• This past week, I have focused a lot on faith and have come to understand that in order to have any kind of success with the people, I first have to believe that they will accept, that they will be baptized and that they will get sealed in the temple. I must SEE that in my mind and then act in a way that is in accordance with it, speaking with the langauge of faith and being a challenging and testifying type of missionary. I also have worked very hard at talking to everyone. It is hard for me, but when I think about the joy of the message that I have and that the worst that someone can say is "NO, IM not interested," I have been able to open my mouth. I am just so thankful for this opportunity that I have to share the gospel with others and see it grow within me as well.
• Im working in do what this last meeting you said, and as preach my gospel says one of the more important things in teaching is listening, Im grateful for your talk this wednesday because It just came in this exact moment that I needed the most.
• I have been studying ch. 10 from PMG. It's been really  helpful for me to improve in my teaching skills. I'm studying a lot to learn how to discover the people's needs, so  i can teach them more effective. Being in a proselyting area is a challenge to me,  but i know as i effort to work hard and to do what the Lord wants me to do i will receive His help in everything i do.
• "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
• My companion is teaching me a lot about taking care of the small things that would stop companionship's from finding or being obedient. Such as making sure they are in proselyting clothes while they study and making sure they are getting up at 6:30 and and not 7:20 or something like that. I am excited to help missionaries with the small and simple things. We have great district leaders that are showing great potential at the moment and we are really going to stress with them leading by example! For the district leaders to lead by example and for us as zone leaders as well, to lead by example. For me I think there is no better way to lead than by example, and doing it with your zone. I don't want to have people follow me if I am not doing what I tell them! That doesn't make sense. We have a great zone and I am excited to work with the missionaries in our zone! It is going to be an awesome transfer!
• This week i read the Divine companionship . It was excellent . I felt the holy ghost teach me several thing i need to start improving on with my teaching. For one, i am going to pray more for the spirit of discernment. that is so important . I want to "astonish" my investigators i want them to feel the spirit so strongly that they feel and know that the Lord is speaking to them through us. I want to live in a way so i can be close to the spirit at all times in all places .