A New Direction

Wednesday, 24th of June

This week Sam found out the good news that his sister is expecting a baby! He was so excited and happy. He said when he comes home there will be a 1 year old that he has never met before! He made a joke that runs in the family - he wanted to know if it was a boy or girl so he knows if he will be an aunt or an uncle!

This week has been a great week for Sam, Sean and Amy had their baptismal interviews, all went well and Amy wants him to confirm her. He has never done a confirmation before so he is a little bit nervous.

Another investigator Linda is doing well, she is coming out to church every week and her husband comes quite often too. The only problem they are having is that they can rarely meet with them during the week, they either don't have time or they aren't at home.

Elder Blanco and Sam have got a new investigator called Latonia, she lost her 17 year old son 2 years ago, and it's coming up to his birthday so she's having a hard time. They taught her the plan of salvation which seemed to comfort her, and they had another appointment set up, but she wasn't at home. They have taught 11 lessons this week, 4 investigators and 3 less actives attended sacrament meeting. So far they have taught 51 lessons, it looks like they might be able to beat the number of lessons taught last transfer. This week the mission presidents switch. They will have a 'meet the president meeting' on Friday, then their first interviews with the new president next week.

Elder Harper and Sam had a disagreement about tracting, Elder Harper said it was 'the bread and butter of missionary work', but Sam said it wasn't an effective use of time and that they could focus their efforts elsewhere. There was a special missionary broadcast and they were telling the missionaries that they are going to start using computers now instead of tracting, they will use Facebook and other websites to spread the gospel. Instead of going out to knock on doors, they will use stake centres and use the computers. The whole broadcast was pretty much saying that they shouldn't spend time knocking on doors as times have changed. Everyone uses computers, smart phones and ipads, so missionary work has to change as well. Sam doesn't know exactly how its going to work, but its an exciting change ahead which he is looking forward to.

A couple of nights ago, the missionaries made pancakes. Sam added two types of syrup and a ton of condensed milk to pour over the top of the pancakes. He said it was really nice but felt sick immediately after eating them. 

Sam has realised he needs to take more photos as he saw someone doing sky writing in a plane but he didnt have his camera on him so he missed the opportunity! A photo he did take at home was his a challenge photo, he managed to fit 21 grapes in his mouth!