Good Times!

This week, was honestly a really good week! Nothing too crazy happened! 

Last Monday we went to downtown Reno and went to this little back entrance of a restaurant and ate this super good meal. It's called the "Awful-awful". Apparently it won Food wars or something? IT is a half pound patty, on top of a pound of Fries.. The fries are what kills ya! We went down with 4 other Elders! oh my gosh it was too much food for me. But super good! 

But this week was good for us. Our investigator Chris Hammond is back on track for baptism. He will be baptized august 19. The only things to overcome is smoking and coffee. But he is super committed and understands the why behind the commandments. His goal is baptism for the remission of his sins. He will do anything to achieve that. It is huge to see how his life his changing!! This week, he committed to give up cigarettes and coffee-both of which are going to be very hard for him. This is one thing I am very grateful to have learned, specifically from the mission i am serving in. in this mission, we call the idea "the vision to Baptize." It starts with understanding the fact that no one can receive a remission of their sins without proper authority. That is our message in this gospel. 

Christ died for your sins-this is the truth, but another Eternal truth is that God has always st up a way to access that Sacrifice. It has always been this way. In te olden times, the High Priest was the only one who could offer up sacrifices to God. People had to go to him in order to reach God. In Christ's own time, the sacrifice became one of a broken heart and a contrite Spirit. A man named John the Baptist was given authority to Baptize. Then, Christ's own apostles held that Priesthood and continued to Baptize and teach. after those men died, that authority was lost completely.

Years passed and no one could access Christ and His saving sacrifice. That's the key! This is why we leave our home for 2 years. Either we hold Christ's authority-restored to Joseph Smith in 1829-or we do not. I have found that we do. I know I and my father and my brother do. You can find out for yourself. See, that's the beautiful part. We don't just walk in to people's homes and tell them this amazing message and tell them to repent or perish, we tell everyone to find out for themselves. I have found out for myself. There is no other possible answer that could explain the things I have seen. Now, that's the vision to Baptize. If everything I have just shared is true-and it is- then cigarettes, coffee, tea- you name it. It is all worth leaving behind. Those are the requirements for Baptism, and if we are not Baptized by proper authority, Christ cannot save us. 

There it is. Chris is willing to give up every substance he has come to love in his life for the oppourtunity to come to know Christ. What are you willing to give up? Here's the practical application of what I have talked about this morning; See, sometimes, we as members of the church will read something like this and think "well duh, that's why I got Baptized" and we call it good, but there is more to this, as well. For example: if what I have shared this morning is true, You should quit your job if it required working on Sundays, and you need to spend more time with your family. If what I shared today is true, you need to share this gospel more than you do, or your fiends will not be forgiven of their sins until they find the way on their own. if what I shared today is true, then nothing else matters. You could loose all your friends, your home and family. You could even be cast into prison and it would not matter, because if this is true, you can access Christ's sacrifice again and again, and you will be saved.

This is what Chris has found, and he is willing to give up an entire lifetime of choices. What will you give up today? tomorrow? this week? Find out for yourself if this is true, then follow through. Nothing else matters.

Also I went on exchanges twice in Susanville, California! Too many exchanges this transfer That brings the total up to 6! That is a lot.. I feel like I've spent more time out of area than in it. But I'm glad to be done with it all. no more exchanges this transfer! Just missionary work. Just more things for the Vision to Baptize! 

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

Elder Miner 

Outside the restuant

Us walking down the alley

Us with frogs

Fun Week!

This week was a lot of fun! We found 3 more investigators through formers. That was really sweet to see! We had an "open house" in one of our wards on Sunday as well. That means that it was a completely explanatory service where the sacrament was explained before hand. The talks were really short and taught the message of the restoration. The musical number was "Oh how lovely was the morning". It was supposed to be the "investigator" Sunday. It seemed to work super well too! The gospel principles class was on the Plan of Salvation. The gospel Doctrine class was on Missionary work, and we got to go in and inspire them! It was a pretty cool Sunday. Lots and lots of non-members were there as well!

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Gailey, and Elder Clark. I was with Elder Gailey out in Quincy. He is doing good out there! I have complete confidence that he will get that area running smoothly. His past three areas have really prepared him for this one. He also isn't distracted by the trees! If you tell him to do something, he will do it.

Fire and Miracles

CRAZY THINGS HAPPENED THIS WEEK! Here's a brief rundown!1 Zone Conference 2 Exchanges with Elder Werner3 HUGE FIRE IN OUR AREA4 Chis Hammond has a baptismal date!


So this week was a ton of fun and some really good things happened! 
We had zone conference this week! Usually one of the assistants conducts the meeting, but President Chesnut asked me to do it instead this week. I was so terrified of doing that! Our zone conference was with the Sparks zone which is the second largest zone in the mission. So a lot of people that I know and love. And for some reason that terrified me. Which was not good. Fortunately the second training of the conference was about how Faith and Fear cannot exist together. That really helped me get over my nerves! Our training that we gave about effective planning seemed to go well! We told them essentially that "when you aren't there, Satan is. So make sure your plans keep him away!"
I got to go on exchanges with Elder Werner out here in his area. We served around each other in Spring Creek. He is a super good elder and he goes home next transfer. But he isn't showing signs of cracking! 


On our exchange our comps called us about a raging wildfire in the middle of our area....They were trapped in the cold springs Valley because it blocked the free way... So we got to hurry up and see if we could do anything from the stead valley. It was on the mountain between these two valleys. We couldn't really do anything to help. miraculously no one got hurt and no houses got burned down. But it was super close! It was about 2 miles from our house. now the mountain is black... It got super smokey and ash started to fall from the sky. It was really odd and I think it gave us an idea of the second coming. The Sun changed colors and we couldn't see much around us because of the smoke

And Chris Hammond now has a baptismal date! August 5! He has come to church 3 weeks in a row now, and reads the Book of Mormon every single day!! So cool to see him take steps in his life toward a better world. We taught him the restoration on Monday in a very similar way to how we taught Natalie. He used to worship pagan gods..... but now he knows the truth, and is pushing forward! 


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


Elder Miner 

A miracle from our exchange:We got to teach a non-member who had attended girls camp with her friend. Her name is Natalie. The whole day leading up to this, Elder Werner and I had been talking about the Vision to Baptize and what that meant. We were super pumped to go and teach this girl the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole time we just focused on the fact that you cannot be saved unless you follow the Gospel. Focusing even more heavily on the fact that our sins make us unclean, and baptism is the only way to fix that problem. We said the word baptism, or baptize over a dozen times in about a 25 minute lesson. When we recited the First vision to her, her face lit up and she said "That's so cool!" She actually understood it. That was the crazy part! We testified of restored priesthood power and committed her to be baptized. She was so excited to say yes! her friend couldn't believe that she said yes. When we gave Natalie her own copy of the Book of Mormon she just about freaked out because she was so excited to find out if this is all true. She wants it to be true. She has been wanting to be baptized for a long time now. All we had to do was extend the invitation. The vision is real, and is coming alive in the Holy High Deserts. 

Reno North Zone

Elder Miner and Elder Jensen

Great Week!

So some cool things happened this week! We saw some HUGE miracles! The biggest one probably was the McBrides. They are former investigators. We decided to stop by them this week. We went by on Wednesday, and caught the oldest son Matt. He was happy to see and told us that everyone would be home at about 8. So we went by at 8 and met the Dad: Pat. We talked with him. Got to know him. Found out that he almost died and was pretty miraculously saved. And also helped him to change a fuel injector in a truck. Matt got home and we talked a little and we got a return appointment for the next night. So the next night we went by and were able to teach the whole family. Mom, Dad, and two teenagers. It was a simple restoration. But they understood. They made the connection that after the Apostles died that there was no more priesthood upon the earth. They understand why we need a restoration! They have committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is true. So we will find out this week how that went.

We are seeing miracles in our area. tomorrow we are meeting with a man named Chris. His friend brought him to church last week, and this week he came by himself! He wants to be baptized, but he has some things to overcome first.

Reno!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been super great! I really love my new area and my new companion! Elder Jensen is a super good missionary, and I feel like because of that, I have learned more about how to apply my purpose in the past week, than I have in the past 17 months. Probably not a good thing, but I am slowly getting it. On top of the revelation I figured out last transfer about "having an eye single to the glory of God", I am learning how to practically apply that. I am learning how to be as bold as we possibly can, without being overbearing. I am growing to love the people here so quickly, and also learning what I still need to work on. Talking to people in the streets is definitely something that I can improve on. And Elder Jensen, is crazy good at that! Like he is super good! He can talk to anyone! So I am taking lots of notes. 


In this area, with us covering both the Cold Springs ward, and the Silver Lake ward, We have our work cut out for us. We have a lot to do in a short amount of time. Because of how far away Cold Springs is, we can only make it out there a few times a week. But those few times have been really good so far! We have spent a lot of the week trying to organize the area, and rebuild the traveling area books. We also now have maps of the area. So if any of you want to know where we are, think north. Really really north! Like, there is nothing in the mission more north than our area. We hit the California boarder and then go straight up all the way to Oregon... They call this area the North Valleys. Because it is a bunch of Valleys in the north. But it is still Reno..kinda...sorta?
Elder Jensen and I think along the same lines, so we have been getting along pretty well. And our ideas really click with the other person as well. In teaching situations we work pretty well together. We follow the guidelines of "Preach My Gospel", and do things the way we are supposed to do. He is by far my boldest companion, which is something I really need. I need to learn how to be better at that. Might be a little late, but better late than never. I would even probably say that Elder Jensen is the best missionary in the mission. I have served around some of the best our mission has to offer. I was even trained by two of them, but Elder Jensen takes the cake I think. And to top that, back home we were pretty similar people. Like really really similar! Which has been cool to FINALLY have a companion like that. I think it is helping us to get along. Because of that, we pretty much accept what the other person says right away. But I have to say, he is my FIRST companion to do things the way that "Preach My Gospel" Says to do things. I can't tell you how much that means to me. And for him Obedience is paramount. Which is super important considering Obedience is the first law of everything! 


The Zone so far seems to be doing well. We got to train Elder Clark in the Summit Ridge ward on how to be a district leader. I am so excited for him! He has seen the difference between obedience and disobedience on his mission. He knows what each feels like, and knows which one is better. He will be a huge asset to his district, the zone, and the mission. I am excited to see how his first training will go. I remember my first training I ever gave. It did not go very well at all... But you live and you learn. 
I am so excited to be here and to serve in Reno! We are going to see some huge miracles these next few transfers!!

I love all y'all and each y'all! 

Elder Miner 

Perfect Sign

Elder Jensen and Elder Miner

New Area