Week 57 & 58

 Hola everyone! 

So being that Elder Bowles didn't make his flight to Argentina, and now that we have our new greenie, Elder Smith, we are now in a quad! And before Elder Bowles leaves, we wanted to make the most of this superpower that we now possess - the power of the split. We can now break off into two and two to teach double the lessons and get double the responsibilities done! 

Here are some highlights of the past two weeks:

> We had the opportunity to teach a bunch of seminary classes at the nearby high school about missionary work, and it was super fun to be reminded how awful of a seminary student I used to be 😅

> We found the Masedo family, a massive family of 15 people in one household, and we're now teaching them! 

   > We are also teaching English to all the billion kids in the Masedo family. These kids are a bunch of clowns, and absolutely die laughing every time we make a joke or do something funny. and I have never been more giddy in my whole life than in these classes. Just pure joy! 😁

> We had plans to get at least 15 people to church on Sunday, and everything was going according to plan, until we found out the day before that it was... Stake Conference, which was at a different time and through zoom and in English and was two hours long 😑😑😑 Let's just say we didn't have 15 people at church that day. 

> We were invited to the Fitness Merit Badge  activity, which became a lot more exciting when one of the scouts absolutely  h u r l e d  three times in a row 🤧 But that wasn't as exciting as when Elder Bowles flexed on all the boys by doin 25 pull-ups like it was nothin'

> We also had a Zone Conference where the theme was on the Holy Ghost, and relying on it in every aspect of the work. We have made it a focus in our companionship to follow every spiritual prompting that we get to better follow the will of God 🙌

> Went to Olive Garden for the first time in a couple years, and we all pounded the unlimited soups, salads, and breadsticks 🥖

> I broke two personal records in my mission by achieving 45 lessons in a week and getting 8 people to church! 💪

But all good things must come to an end, cause after spending an extra two weeks here in Utah, Elder Bowles ended up making it to Argentina... again! Although we can't split anymore, I know that he's in a better place now.... but actually not really cause Utah is lowkey where it's at 🔥😂

(Weeks consisting of 2/23/21 - 3/1/21 and 3/2/21 - 3/8/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1) The QUAD SQUAD (left->right: Elder Bowles, me, Elder Brume, Elder Smith) 

2-3) Dropping off Elder Bowles at the airport 😢😢😢 good luck In Argentina 😭😭😭

4) The last recorded picture of the quad squad

5) 6-layer cake 😉🎂

6-8) Our neighborhood cat, Mishu

9) This member that we did some service for had a fish pond, and Elder Smith just decided to snatch one out cause he was hungry or something idk

10) At the same service project, there was this super old dog that looked like a stinkin' lion 🦁

11) Stonebridge District babyy

12) We stopped by the Jordan River Temple on the way back from Elder Bowles COVID test

Week 55 & 56

Hola holaaa! We had transfers! You already know the drill. 

Things that didn't change:

- Elder Bowles is still my companion! That is.... until he leaves back to his original assignment in Argentina on March 19th!!

- I'm still covering the Rancho Vista ward

- I'm still a Zone Leader 💪

Things that changed:

- Once again (again again again again again again), I'm in another trio! Joining the Zone Leader trio is the one, the only, Elder Brume! He's from Idaho, and was originally serving in Colombia for about 9 months before getting reassigned here to Utah. 

- In addition to covering the Rancho Vista Spanish ward, for the first time in my whole mission, I will also be covering two English wards! It was nice being in a congregation that could actually sing 😅

- I moved to a different apartment, and I finally have roommates again - Elders Ward and Batty! 

- The West Valley Zone got dissolved and is now the Hunter Zone, which is a fully Spanish zone now! 

- We got a greenie?!?! 

Yea, so these first weeks of this transfer have been some of the most busy and stressful weeks of my life! Elder Brume didn't come into the area until the third day of the transfer, cause he was in quarantine, and that was a complete surprise to us! We spent the week driving all over the place to get Elder Bowles' paperwork and immunizations finished for him to be able to get shipped off to Argentina. And on the way back from getting his COVID test, we got a call that just after we drop Elder Bowles off at the airport, we would be picking our new greenie from the airport just a couple hours later! And to make this week even crazier... Elder Bowles' COVID test results didn't come back in time, so he couldn't get on the plane! 

If you do the math, you'll notice that with the stay of Elder Bowles and the arrival of our new greenie, Elder Smith, we now are in a QUAAAD! More on that in the next email 😉

The weather has also been whack! I thought Utah was supposed to be snowy, but every time it does snow (which has been rare), it's gone by noon 😔 These past weeks have been hitting highs in the 60s, but I guess I can't complain, cause I've hardly needed to wear a coat 😁

Even with all the craziness, I'm still super excited for this transfer cause we are gonna get a lotta work done with the power of the quad! 

(Weeks consisting of 2/9/21 - 2/15/21 and 2/16/21 - 2/22/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1) First known sighting of the most legendary trio

2) This is what we like to call a five-layer cake 😉

3) With the addition of Elder Smith (the one in the light-blue sweater) to the companionship, it's a lot more cozy with six people on the couch 

4) One of the sweetest office missionaries, Sister Given, hooked us up with the most delicious peanut butter pie 🥜

5) And one of Elder Brume's past bishops hooked us up with some pizza 🍕

6) Elder Bowles goin' bowling! 🎳

7-8) This is literally the most it has snowed this entire winter, and it's March! We took the morning to shovel our neighbors' driveways... and eat snow off our car

9) SEAN UNO teeth brushing session

10) The Elders that were previously in our apartment left it veryyyyy... colorful 😒

Week 53 & 54

 Weee'rree haaaalfwaay theeeeeeree.......

That's right! On January 29th 2020, I stepped foot into the MTC, and thus my first year in the mission has been complete! And boyyy has this past year as a missionary been wild; it's been a long year, yet has just flown by! 

So Elder Bowles' birthday was on January 28th, and when I found out a few weeks ago that his birthday would be this transfer, I knew I had to do something for him. After cleaning out our apartment, I came across four bags of birthday balloons... how convenient! So during the course of the transfer, I would blow up a couple of balloons and toss them behind our couch every time Elder Bowles went to the bathroom. The morning of his birthday, while he was in the bathroom, I took the 100-some balloons out and piled them outside his door. When he came out, he was like "Whaaaaaaaaaaa" and I was like "Yeeeeeeaaaaaaa"....... and then we had a bunch of balloons all over the floor for the next week. 

So one of the people we're teaching, Luz, is sooo awesome! Normally our lessons go pretty long cause she tells us a bunch of stories about trails she's faced and miracles she's seen. We had extended a baptismal invitation, and although she doesn't see how ready she is, she declined cause she wants to know everything before getting baptized. We feel that there might be deeper reasons, so we're going to have to investigate a little more 🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️

So I've had to reflect a bunch on my mission to see what I've done and what I've accomplished. Even with all the craziness and changes this past year, I have seen a lot of spiritual growth in myself. I have seen how unpleasant of a person I used to be and still can be sometimes, and I have grown a testimony of change. I'm grateful for repentance and for Jesus Christ who has given all of us the opportunity to change and be forgiven of our mistakes. 

If any of you have been keeping track, I have already had a total of thirteen companions so far on my mission! And I've learned so much from each of them about how to be a better missionary, but really a better person overall, and I've seen myself change a bunch! I'm thankful for them and really everyone I've served around for shaping me to who I am today. I still got a lot more to change and a lot more to grow, which is why I'm excited for another year of all this! 

I love you all! Qué tengamos otro año tan especial como éste! 

(Weeks consisting of 1/26/21 - 2/1/21 and 2/2/21 - 2/8/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1-2) Chillin' in the B-day balloons

3) Played some Top Golf on p-day with the district, and man it feels good to get some thiccc contact with a driver

4) The B-day boy, Elder Bowles, and the jello and cake that a person that we're teaching, Luz, gave us 🎂

5) 1 year in the mission gang

6) Got some Chick-fil-A to celebrate my year mark

7) Made some homemade corn dogs with the boys for Elder Bowles B-day

8) Flannel gang

9) We helped pass out these boxes of leftover mint cookies from Christmas to some of the less actives in the ward!

10) One of the greenies in our district randomly sent me this cursed image of a hot dog... you're welcome

11) One of the Peruvian members in our ward bought some food from a Peruvian restaurant, and if the food in Perú is just fried chicken and fries, I think I'll just have to live in Perú forever

Week 51 & 52

Waddup! 

These past two weeks have been awesome! We have literally been so back to back with studies and lessons and we're just dead by the end of the day. We counseled with our district about the challenges we've all been facing, and all we had to report is that there was too much to do in our area and not enough time to do it. Qué desafío! 

Miracle time! We were teaching English classes to a woman named Luz. From the get-go, she got very frustrated at basically everything, and her son, Oscar, was straight roasting her in the background. At the beginning of our third class with her, she mentioned that her father and her husband had passed away three months ago, and we told her that we had a message that could explain exactly where they could both be. And she was like, "Uhhh can we skip the class and talk about that instead?" and we were like, "Uhhh... yea!" 

And we haven't had an English class with her since 😁

We are also teaching this stud in the ward, Justin, who just turned 8 and his parents wanted us to teach him to prepare him for baptism! So I'll kinda be getting a baptism pretty soon! 

Also, even though I've been here in Utah for almost an entire year, I have yet to go to the Salt Lake City Temple once... until today!! It was awesome to see the construction, and I'm excited for all the earthquakes that will come in about three years when the construction is complete 😉

(Weeks consisting of 1/12/21 - 1/18/21 and 1/19/21 - 1/25/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1-3) The Salt Lake City Temple under construction

4) So we froze our toes off working at a food bank, and the people running the service insisted that we take some food back home with us! So we got a trunk-full of food, which we ended up giving a majority of it to our zone

5-9) We've been making some tight food this transfer, my favorite being the 5-star $89.99 Lünchabeaul dish that we made

10) It finally snowed! Yay!! We have to scrape ice off the car now! Noooo!! 

11) You'll have to take my word for it, but I dropped this expo marker, and it landed vertically. Miracles still happen people

12) Posin' in the snow

13) Really cool building by the temple

14) Guess who has the most handsome freezer in the whole mission?