Week 41 & 42

 Buenas tardes! 

So we had some cool experiences these past two weeks in our journey to put 15 people on date for baptism. 

The first one was Sebastián. We went to a member's house to share a message, and joining them was their 12-year old nephew, Sebastián. He would be living with his aunt, uncle, and cousins for the next year due to some family matters, and we were informed that he never had the chance to be baptized. We were given the green light to start teaching him the missionary discussions, and after our very first lesson, he accepted the invitation to be baptized on November 21!! And although that was a huge miracle, we ended up finding out that we need permission first from his parents in Mexico, and after a bunch of coordinating, we're not sure if we are going to be able to stick with that day. But he's for sure gonna get baptized soon 😉

The second one was Carlos. Just later that day that we taught Sebastián, we finally had an in-person lesson with Wilson and Yenny (the couple that we've been teaching English classes to for the last two months), and we find out that they have a roommate, Carlos 😮 He joins the lesson, kinda tunes out a little bit during the English class portion, but when we started sharing a spiritual message, he was eating... it... up! He asked some really good questions and we had some really good answers, and at the end, we asked him if he would like to be a member of the church - and he said "Realmenteee... Sí!" or "Reallyyy... Yea!". We put him on date for December 13th, and we moved back Wilson and Yenny's date to that day too cause they need a bit more time to prepare for baptism. 

On Sunday morning, we get a call from our mission president saying that he's outside of our basement and he would like to talk to Elder Bartolo 😨😱 After his chat with President, Elder Bartolo tells us that he's leaving us and he has to be packed up by today... because he just got called to be an Assistant to the President 🎉🎊!! I already know he's gonna kill it because he is such a hard-working, supportive, and obedient missionary. And imma miss him a bunch, and not just because his absence made me the senior companion and Zone Leader 1, and now I am stressinggg out biiigg time cause I don't know what I'm doing. 😓

And that all happened in Week 41! Week 42 was basically just Elder Carrier and I carrying our butts alone and surviving the week... And we did! Also we made pizza, so enjoy the pics! 

(Weeks consisting of 11/3/20 - 11/9/20 and 11/10/20 - 11/16/20) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

(Sorry for only having pictures of the one night where we made pizza. I gotta start taking more pics) 

1) How Italians hold their pizza

2) Elder Carrier gracefully tossing the pizza

3) Before aaaand... 

4) After

Week 40

 Hey! What's poppin'? 

This past week was a blast! For starters, we now have a seminary initiative in the mission to get in contact with the local high schools and middle schools (apparently seminary starts in middle school here... Utah, amirite?) and see if we can join some classes and teach the youths 👴 It was so weird to be back in seminary, and not to my surprise, the kids were just as dead tired as I was in seminary. Those were the good ol' days 😅

One morning near the beginning of the transfer, Elder Bartolo walks out of the bathroom, and says "I have received some shower revelation". He then proceeds to grab a piece of paper, writes a big ol' "15" on it, and slaps on the wall. He apparently was thinking in the shower about a goal for the transfer for the amount of people that we would put on date for baptism, and 15 was his answer. Since then, we've so many miracles of God putting people in our path, and we already have 3 people on date!! Now we just need 12 more... 😕🤤

This past Saturday was 🎃 Halloween 🎃 and most of my morning was spent carving a pumpkin that Elder Carrier's parents had sent to us. I carved the most spookiest thing I could think of - The First Visión 😱 Also, because most gathering in the mission are restricted, we got together on a Zoom call as a mission, and watched ❤️ Coco ❤️. So Halloween was pretty lit 👌🏼

Also the bishop in our ward has two dogs that we walk once a week, which is a blast cause they love stopping every 0.7461428 seconds to sniff something. They also just had a bunch of puppies, and I gotta punch a wall after seeing them to gain some inch of masculinity back. 

Life is good here, and I miss all of you as well back at home!

(Week consisting of 10/27/20 - 11/2/20) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1 y 2) My pumpkin carving of the First Vision

3) Super cute lil' pupper 😍 but the only thing cuter than the puppy is the guapo holding it 😘

4) The "15" poster in all of its glory

5) Big shoutout to my aunt Sherrilynne and the Dangl family for hooking me up with some spooky decorations 

6) At the beginning of the transfer, I predicted that it would snow before November, and while we were in quarantine, it ❄️ snowed ❄️. Here is an epic, high-quality photo of the snow 😉😂

Week 38 & 39

 Hola! 

Once again, Utah has spiked in the number of Corona cases, and this time, it has been hitting the mission hard. Many missionaries are being tested, and about half of them are testing positive. We now can't have district councils in person for the first time in 7 months, and any inter-household activities are restricted as well. Soooo we basically can't get together in person with anyone in the mission 🙃

And theeeen... I woke up Tuesday morning, and my throat was feeling fuuuunny 👀, and it was one of those sore throats where it was super painful to eat, drink, and swallow. I tried to tough it out, but we had a Zone Conference that Thursday, and the meeting coincidentally started with our mission president's wife going down a list of Corona Virus symptoms, one of them being a sore throat 😕 

During a break, we told her that I had a sore throat, and without a moment's hesitation, she sent us home, told me to take the COVID test, and self-isolate until we got the results (video of me getting tested and having my brains scooped out down below). 

Being stuck inside a basement for 5 days is not the most fun experience. Elder Carrier and Elder Bartolo started showing symptoms as well, and we just knew that we had COVID even before the results came in, which didn't come in until Monday. And to our surprise... I actually tested negative. And that was a huge blessing cause I don't know how much longer I could've lasted not going outside. 

*MIRACLE TIME*

So I meant to mention this last week, but before this transfer, we were teaching English classes to this really cool couple, Wilson and Yenny, who were eating up everything we were teaching, including the gospel messages at the end of each class. We were covering the Springhill ward, and ended up finding out that they lived in a different area, the Copper Hills 5th ward. We were super sad to have to pass them off to other missionaries, and we said that we'd do it at the end of the transfer. 

Just before the transfer, I got a transfer call from the Assistants saying that I'd be moving to a new area, and take a wiiiild guess where I'd be going... yuuup the Copper Hills 5th ward!! So I'd still be able to keep teaching Wilson and Yenny, and the 2nd day of the transfer, we put them on date for baptism!!! So I know that I'm in this area for a reason, and I'm excited to see what keeps coming of it. 

(Weeks consisting of 10/13/20 - 10/19/20 and 10/20/20 - 10/26/20) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1 y 2) Us losing our minds self-isolating in our basement

3) The last photo evidence seen of Elders Bartolo, Terry, and Carrier outside before being stuck in a basement for 5 days

4) A chapel with a nice sky

5) Nice sunset

6) Video of me getting my COVID test 😷