Letter From Colin   Sept. 19th

Dear y'all,

         This week we had our first zone conference with the new mission president, during which, the Mission President's Wife, Sister Weed, gave a training on how everyone should stop saying stuff like, "How are you guys doing," and instead say, "How are y'all doing?" I think it may have been the first training given in a missionary zone conference on the proper use/promotion of "y'all.”

         Earlier this week I wanted to go visit a less-active family further down in our area. Elder Garcia didn't want to. After we taught that family, Elder Garcia wanted to knock every door in the whole area. I didn't want to, but over the course of the next few days we found 10 new people that we are now teaching, so it worked out to be a good compromise. We would not have been down there if I didn't follow the prompting to go see the one less-active family, and we would not have found all the new people to teach if we didn’t knock every door down there. This week we found new people to teach in just about every way I can think of.  First, from doing service, we found 4 new investigators; Second, from working with less-active members, we found  2 new investigators; Third, from working with part-member/less-active families, we found 2 new investigators; Fourth, from talking to people who were standing outside or on the porch, we found 4 new investigators; And Fifth, from knocking on doors, we found 2 new investigators. From this I think you can see that doing service, working with less-active members, and talking to people who are already outside are the most effective ways to find people to teach. Well, at least that's what I think.

         During the zone conference I was talking to the Mission President, and I was telling him about our neighbors, the Deavers, to whom we take the Sacrament on Sundays, and how Brother Deaver is a WWII veteran who got two purple hearts from the Battle of the Bulge. Then President Weed asked me if they were related to a Deaver that he knew from back at home in Las Vegas.  President Weed knows the Deaver in Las Vegas because they were both Stake Presidents and worked together quite a lot over the years. On Sunday I asked the Deavers about it and it turns out the Deaver President Weed knows is the nephew of the Deavers we know. Not only that, but he used to live across the street from us! It goes to show that no matter where you may go--it seems like you always meet someone you know somehow.

         One of the people we taught this week was having his third lesson and we asked if he had read any of the Book of Mormon yet. He told us that he had, but that he stopped at Chapter 3 because it was, "kinda dry." All I could say was, "What?! You should keep reading. You just got to the part where it all starts to get really exciting!"  (And if you don't know what happens in Chapter 3 and 4 of 1st Nephi in the Book of Mormon--then you should go back and read it!) If anyone thinks those chapters are "dry," then go back and read it again. Personally I think the Book of Mormon is super interesting right from the get-go, I mean Lehi sees God, prophesies against the people, and people try to kill him--all within the first three pages, but maybe people have a different opinion about what's interesting. Well, until next week, I hope Y'all have a blessed week!

--Elder White