Reno North!

Well, I don't even know what to say. i'm kinda sad about how things are right now. But I stand all amazed at the wisdom and the knowledge of God. In humility as we pondered what has happened, we have accepted this as God's will. It makes sense. And we think that Miracles will come in abundance. The members aren't too happy about it, nor are they excited for what is coming. We are going to smooth it out as much as we possibly can. We spent the morning at our ward mission leaders home in the 4th ward essentially consoling him and trying to cheer him, his family, and our investigator up. We know and accept that this is for the best and that God's hand is in this. Once the hammer came down we were really in shock. But after the initial shock, we have both accepted this! But can I just say, I really really really don't like packing. Like packing stinks. Trying to make everything fit is the worst!! But I am so excited for what will come!!! 

I love Fallon. The people here are soooooo good and so cool! They are some of the nicest folk i've ever met. There are definitely people I will be coming back here to visit. Within the next two transfers, there are 4 potential baptisms that could happen within these wards. Two of them will require some effort. Another will happen regardless. And the fourth shouldn't be that hard to encourage. The Elders will see a lot of miracles as they come into this area. Fallon will always have a special place in my heart. 

So if ya haven't figured it out yet, I'm being transfered. And not just me, but Elder Ramirez too! We are being DT'd out. Elder Thomas and Elder Judd will be taking our spots. Yes, that Elder Judd! I am really excited to see what will come!! I am going to RENO!!!! Reno North zone. My next companion is Elder Jensen from California. I am so excited to continue to serve in whatever way the Lord asks me to.

The Lord is preparing this area. Miracles will happen here for these two new Elders 

I love all y'all and each y'all

Elder Miner 

New address:

#9G 7350 Silver Lake Rd.

Reno, Nv 89506

Happy Fathers Day

It is starting to get really warm out here! 

But this week was super cool! We were able to go on splits with three members from each ward this week! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We were able to go out and try to visit less-actives! It was super sweet!! We saw some really good experiences, and the members were able to report on those in Priesthood, and that has inspired the rest of the ward to give us more trust. We really got a glowing review and the member was really excited, and we had two members ask to go on splits with us! While visiting a part-member family with a member on splits, we met the non-member husband first. His name is Gary. He opened the door, saw two white shirts and said "what are you selling?". So happily, I said "SALVATION". He said "Not interested" And started to shut the door! So I quickly asked for his wife and he went and got her. Now this situation is really funny, because from their front door, you can see the church.... It is about 30 feet away....... So she appologized for not going. We told her how we weren't here to specifically get her back to church, but to come and practice teaching with her. She lit up and said "I would really love that!". We got to talk about setting it up, and it was really neat. We had just about finished talking and I asked if we could help in anyway, she said she could ask her husband. So she got him to come on out and we talked with him for about 20 minutes. We ended up getting a short synopsis of his life, offered help multiple times, and invited him to participate in our lessons. Once we explained the practicing, he really opened up to us about his religious beliefs. It was super cool! He agreed to take part in the lessons as well!! 

So we are seeing things move forward here. Beyond the splits, we were able to meet with so many less-actives on top of that. We are getting more and more appointments every week. It's kinda strange though, every appointment with investigators canceled this week? And they all ended up being either sick, or out of town for church? So really odd with that. But Fallon is a good place. People are still worried about it flooding here. We were able to go to a dairy today and feed some cows! I really love this place and I love this gospel. 

We got to give the message of the Restoration at another missionaries baptism, and it was so cool to be able to testify of the truth it. That we have a living prophet. That God loves us today just as much as he loved the people 2000 years ago. That The Savior has helped us to overcome the grave and sin. In that environment, just after a baptism was performed, the spirit was so strong. I love this work with all my heart. 

Happy Fathers Day!

I love all y'all and each y'all!

Elder Miner 

Fun Service

Good Week!

How's it going? This week was a lot of fun! We were able to see some good things happen this week! It was a lot of fun! We had a really good lesson with our investigator named Kevin! He is  good guy. He is a married to an active member and is really trying to find out if this is the truth and if he needs to join the church. So this week at the lesson with him, his wife wasn't there, so it was just us and him. It ended up being a really good thing, because he was a lot more open with us We were teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we were talking about how it is a restoration. He was confused because he has heard about all those things before. He thinks he has faith. He feels like he has repented. He thinks he was baptized and he thinks he feels the Holy Ghost. So we explained that the things were still lost. And that the impact of those specific things was lost. I started talking about how the modes of baptism was lost. And then Elder Ramirez talked about how baptism for the dead was lost too, even though it talks about it in the Bible. A few minutes later he asked about that. He wanted to see where it was at. And so we opened to it. Gave him a solid IRA and then he was stunned. He was shocked. And then a comment something like "and the kingdoms of glory are mentioned on the next page". We got him. He said that it was undeniable. They had the proof about it. it was crazy! He was stuck on it for about 20 minutes. He thought it was seriously the coolest thing ever. "you guys make so many bold claims, and here is some proof! No one else does this. And it's right here." We were able to help him that much of the Restoration was the changing the wrong interpretation to the correct one. The right way to baptize. The right way to go to church. The right way to help with the salvation of the dead. He actually understand the Restoration now. And he is beginning to see why it was needed! It was a super great lesson! The most sidetracked Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson ever, but possibly the most inspired as well. When we were talking about Enduring to the End with him, he hit it on the head when we asked him what it was. And then we talked about church attendance and why it was important. He said "LDS people are the most active and committed to church. It isn't just Sunday, it's every day of the week! I think that is really cool. I grew up Catholic and it was like 'go to church twice and year and that's it' And now you're telling me that I have a plan and a role for me! This is crazy" And by Crazy, he meant cool. He is a good man and we are excited to see where this man goes. 

In my personal study this week I made a crazy cool connection. In Doctrine and Covenants it talks about "having an eye single to the glory of God" Well what is God's glory? It is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" So when we are told to have an eye single to God's glory, it means we must have "an eye single to [bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of Man." Making this connection this week really changed me I am a different person now versus last Tuesday. 

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Hiatt this week. I was with him in his area. It was cool because I have served with him in two  zones prior to now. But I was never able to get to know him very well. So we had a ton of fun doing that on this exchange. He is a really good teacher, and our teaching styles really blended together well. We had a super cool lesson with some less-actives. We were going to visit the parents, but they weren't home. The teenage kids said that they would be back soon. So sat down, and the 17 year old son said that his 15 year old sister "needed Jesus". So we talked with her and we were kinda like, what the (slang term) is going on? So we didn't take it seriously. But then we did. She was asking why do bad things happen to people. She doesn't believe in God because of this. So we did end up taking it seriously and I used the analogy about trees that Sister Chesnut shared at zone conference. About only the ones that take the wind and have a tough life make it in the end. And in my head I was thinking "we should watch refiner's fire" Then Elder Hiatt asked her, "do you know what a refiner's fire is?" we watched the video and then talked some more. Then the older brother came and she left and we helped him to overcome his concerns. It was so cool! We were able to build upon what he already believed about how drugs are bad to explain why God gives us "rules". It was so powerful! And then their two friends talked to us one by one. We explained why God doesn't want us to drink beer. Because he wants us to feel that he loves us and also feel the spirit. It worked for the friend. And then we talked to the last one about going to church. I had actually met him before at a recent converts house on our area, and he lives in our area and we invited him to come to church. So we will see! After that we left, because it was 9 and no parents. We got out of there and we were both just kinda like "woah". Super Chaotic because the person we were teaching and the topic we were teaching kept changing, but the spirit was there and it was really amazing! The spirit smoothed out the Chaos. 

I love this mission! It's the best!!

I love all y'all and each y'all

Elder Miner 

Fallon Zone

Zone Conference

This past week has been great! We have seen a lot of good things! We had ZONE CONFERENCE!! It was super weird to be there with all the different missionaries. I had 5 companions there! Elders Lyman, Latham, Anderson, Rivers, and Ramirez. It was super neat to have all of them there and to talk to them. I really enjoyed the training's we got at zone conference A lot of "how to do things". I love it. I fear that in the church we focus on the doctrine too much, and then we saw "go and do" But we don't teach how to do it. Like studying the scriptures. We are always told to do it, but we, for the most part, aren't taught how to do it. I love this new approach to giving training's. It resonates well with my soul to explain how to do things. I have fully made this a part of the training's which I give weekly. These "step by step" "how to's" have made a big difference in our missions. 

But zone conference was super cool to be able to talk to old companions and hear updates on their missions and also on old areas and people I care about. Elder Latham is covering part of my first area where we served together, and we were able to talk about how those people are doing! Elder Rivers and I talked about ELY! People are dead, dying and doing great out there!!! It was so cool to be able to see everyone!!!! 

So a funny story that happened recently: We have this investigator named Jessie. His step dad is a member. His step dad speaks spanish, so Elder Ramirez talks to him, and I talk to Jessie. So him and I were talking about why he doesn't come to church, and he said that when he came last he got made fun of because of his scriptures. So he wanted to know which ones we use. So I asked to see his. And he pulls a Jehovah's Witness bible... So I told him he could have the Book of Mormon I was using and that we would get him a new bible. And then he said he was going to tear apart the JW bible, so I told him to not tear apart scripture and said we would take it, so now we have a JW bible? He is doing much better now! we got him a bible too!

Yesterday at church a woman from Tonga bore her testimony and was talked about sand crabs. She said that when you put one sand crab into a box, it will try and try to find a way to escape and usually will. But when you put two or three in the box, they latch onto each other and don't try to escape. She was using this for our lives. When we are alone then our lives aren't the best and we try to escape. But when we have our families we stick together and take care of each other and we don't let people fall through the cracks. 

I was able to go on exchanges with 1st ward and I was with Elder Ruiz. I love Elder Ruiz!! He is super cool and awesome! I have loved going on exchanges with him these three transfers! He is a good Elder and he knows what he is doing. Their area is really seeing a lot of success! And it is because of the hard work they are putting in! 

I love Fallon and the people here. They are good people and they take care of themselves and each other. 

I love all y'all and each y'all!

Elder Miner 

Josh and a friend

The District

Elder Rivers!!!!

Elder Latham

The old Ely gang

Elder Ruiz and Chandler after service