Week 73 & 74

Holaaaaaaa buenos diaaaas!!

We had transfers, and here's the rundown...

Things that didn't change:

- I'm still serving in the Parkway Spanish ward

- I'm still living at the same house

- I'm still the District Leader in the Decker Lake District

Things that changed:

- Elder Schneider transferred to another area, so I got a new companion, Elder Daniel!! He and I are literally the same person. With that being said, he's super funny and cool and talented and awesome just the best and... aight I'll stop flattering myself. He's from Oregon, and in high school he also was in marching band and jazz band and concert band on the trumpet 🎺

Now, to make sense of the title of this email, I had a goal to get through my whole mission without once throwing up 🤮... but a big lesson I've learned on my mission is that God has His own plans for me. I'll spare the details, but it involved a rude awakening on Sunday at around 3am, and then at 6:30am, and then at 11am 🤧😫. It then hit Elder Daniel pretty hard just a few hours later.

What was strange was that I had no idea what made us sick. We then called some of our amigos to see if they went to church (cause we sure didn't), and apparently this "vomit wave" had hit several other people in the ward too... COVID-20?!

Our English Class hasn't been doin' so hot recently, so we decided to pull out all the stops for our Saturday class, and we were expecting at least 25 people to show up. Although only 10 people showed, it was an awesome class, and de hecho 10 people is actually a record for the district! 

I love you all! Happy almost 4th of July 🇺🇲🥳🎆

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1-2) Elder Daniel and I found some cool chairs on the side of the road 

3-5) English class fiestas!

6) Visited Decker Lake

7) Dog in hat

8) I'm BLUE DABBA DEE DABBA DIE

9) Elder gosh darn Hanson got 5 strikes in a row in bowling 😳

Week 72

Ladies and gentlemen, varones y mujeres. 

It finally happened. The moment you have all been waiting for. It only took 72 gosh darn weeks, but I finally had my first baptism!!! Her name is Enoes Carrera, and I was teaching her in my previous area, Rancho Vista. After I left to my new area, she was put on date, and when asked who she wanted to baptize her, she picked me! It was cool to see her and the ward again, and an absolute honor to baptize her. The baptismal ordinance was one of the first things that I had memorized in Spanish, and I was finally able to say it for realzies this time 😊👐

Being that we are going to get a new mission president in July, we are going to make a music video for our current mission president and his wife, the McBeths. This past week I had the coolest opportunity to record the piano part in a legit recording studio that was inside a member's house! It was so much fun, and I definitely know what I want now in my future house. I ended up meeting the homeowner, Brother Romney, and I later found out that he wrote the primary song, Scripture Power 😮 What an absolute legend! 

It was also my companion's, Elder Schneider, birthday on Thursday and we celebrated by going to Buffalo Wild Wings 🍗 We were having a good time, but then it became an even greater time when mijo, Elder Smith, took on the 🔥BLAZIN' CHALLENGE🔥 where he had to eat 10 suuuuuuper spicy wings in under 5 minutes. He not only pounded all those wings with a minute to spare, but he took it like a champ. My favorite part was when the waiters were all hyping him up, but he was like "But I gotta say a prayer first." and he made everyone wait for the next 10 seconds while he prayed. Gosh I love Elder Smith ❤️

We ended up having to stop teaching José cause we called him and he was a bit drunk and he called our church a lie and a bunch of good stuff like that. But that's all okay because we put someone else on date for baptism this week! Her name is Keili, and she's 9 years old, and she told us that she reeeeally wants to get baptized as soon as possible so we set her date for June 26th so her parents can make the necessary arrangements, so I should be having another baptism pretty soon! 

I hope this week was just as awesome for all of you as it was for me! I love you! 

Elder Terry

Fotos:

1-3) Enoes' baptism!

4) Brother Romney's recording studio (ft. the man himself, Brother Romney) 

5) The Decker Lake District at Buffalo Wild Wings

6) West Valley Zone BBQ at our mission president's home

7) Got a surprise visit from my mission mom, Hermana Mozo, who hooked us up with some Chick-fil-A 

Week 71

 Wasssuuuuuuuuuuup everyone! 

So an update on the people that we're teaching... *scratches head*... well our most "progressing" amigo who was on date for baptism, José, responded with "El diablo dice que no" when we asked if he could go to church. That phrase means "the devil says no", and I'm also choosing to take out the profanity that he included. So it's been rough. 

However, I did like 7492947482 exchanges with all the Elders in my district, and we lowkey popped off. I hit a record in my mission for the most new people found in a week, with a solid diez 🔟 new amigos!! We found that the new strategy is to just walk around this one trailer park in our area from 8-9pm (when it's cooler out and more people are outside), and just talk to... well everyone! So this area is definitely picking up and I hope I get to stay next transfer to reap some fruits 🍎🍌🍇

I just wanted to add in here that during my mission, I have gotten some weeeird calls with some requests that are way out of our ability and control. Just this week someone needed a lawyer to help get their son out of jail. And guess who they thought would be the most qualified people to ask for a lawyer... two 20 year old jóvenes with absolutely no experience in the matter. I blame President Nelson's talk entitled, "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!" 😂😂

And on the spiritual side, I've learned a lot of patience this transfer so far, especially with the difficulties of an area that seems to be low in potential. It has been the biggest relief to finally see some growth in the area, and I know that the Lord will continue to bless us with more success as long as we give it our all. 

Keep pushing. All trials are temporary. You got this. I love you. 

Elder Terry

Fotos:

1) Utah never fails to have such interesting weather. This photo was taken at 9pm, but the giant storm cloud lit up the whole sky

2-4) Had an awesome call with my awesome family. I love them so much! 

5) Elder Schneider and a chiba

6) Found a gosh darn sparkling water that expires in gosh darn 300 years 😲