WEEK SEVEN

Hey guys

This week was a little crazy because we had New Missionary Training and Zone Conference. Tuesday night we were in Le Sueur, which we don't get to go very often, as well as Le Center because they are so far away and we don't get a lot of work there anyway. We taught one person that was pretty interested and wanted us to come back. Elder Moore has taught her before and didn't know if she was even going to want to talk to us, but she shared some personal things with us and we even invited her to be baptized, but she didn't commit to a date. Brother Brimhall and Mitch came to Le Sueur and went out with us. We were only able to visit a couple people including a less active person, only because of school. He doesn't know when he is coming back to church though and he is way cool so I hope it is soon. After we were done talking to Brother Snow, that less active, we had a call from the Fairmont Elders asking us where we were. Apparently they were staying at our apartment that night so they could ride up with us to New Missionary Training the next day on Wednesday. So we got back late and then met Elder Miller and Edwards again.

Wednesday we got up and we had to be in Bloomington by 8:45, but we were a little late which didn't really matter. I had to drive which was kind of scary because I'm used to this little town. When we got inside I was able to see Elder Huntley again which was awesome. Elder Rossell, Sister Rosier and Sister Benson was there too and I was able to talk to them too. It gets kind of lonely out in New Prague because we never get to see any other missionaries. They call it the sticks out here, but I still think these are big cities, New Prague has around 7,000 people. New Missionary Training was really awesome and I learned a lot about the mission. We were able to have lunch there and talk to everyone for a little bit and then we all left. I actually went back to Faribault ( pronounced Fair-bo) with Elder Aroaz, who came out the same time as me and Elder Moore stayed in New Prague with Elder Bono, who is my district leader. I took the Faribault Elders car and had to drive through Bloomington and take some other Elders home then drive to Faribault. Elder Aroaz and I went to an investigator named Amber and had dinner with some members. Amber had actually had a baptismal date set, but then she started smoking again. She is trying her hardest not to smoke and is taking pills for it and we recommitted her to baptism again on the 1st of October. We shared a message with her and we decided to show her the Mormon Message "The Savior Wants to Forgive". I had wanted to show this to a Little Fawn earlier and I asked Elder Aroaz if he wanted to and he agreed. We showed her the video and she and the member there were crying and it was way cool how it had helped them. That night we tried to stop by some other people but no one was really home. We did talk to Sister Espinal, but since the Faribault Elders are Spanish speaking all she spoke was Spanish so I just stood there and nodded. It was kind of awkward, but I have been trying to learn Spanish too because there are some Spanish people in New Prague.

The next day on Thursday we had a Zone Conference, which was actually in Faribault so that was nice that I didn't have to drive for a half hour that morning. The church is right next to their apartment building so they walk like 30 seconds. The ZL's came to the apartment to grab the key to the church and then we finished getting ready and went over there. All the trainings were really good and President and Sister Forbes were there, my mission President, and they gave good trainings as well. The Conference was actually two zones because in the Lakeville stake it's so big we have to have two zones. So I was able to meet new people which I really like to do, especially new missionaries. I was able to get a few pictures with people like my awesome Zone Leaders and then we went back to the Faribault apartment and had dinner and then went out on splits and we tried to go teach more people. Zone Conference took so long that we didn't really have time to go do what we were going to that day so we stayed in Faribault that night and then came back the next morning. Elder Moore has been having a lot of trouble sleeping so he hasn't been getting up on time which has been kind of hard. So he took a nap for a little while when we got back to New Prague the we went out to proselyte.

On Saturday there was a parade in New Prague and then there was a bunch of other activities after that. It's called Donžínky days and there was a big parade that was kind of cool. We had to go to work at the food shelf though and I was pretty bummed because I kind of wanted to go. When we got to Montgomery though there was no workers at the food shelf. They were all at the parade and we actually ran into some of them at the parade. We decided to just go to the parade because everyone was going to be there and it would be hard to proselyte anyway because no one would be home. So we walked down the street until we found some members to sit by for the parade, we sat by the Segers. While we were walking I noticed that everyone would look at us and then look down at our name tags which I thought was kind of funny. During the parade there were a bunch of different churches that were in it and while the New Day church came by they gave us a card for a recipe for salsa then we looked on the back and it was talking about their church. There was three bullet points that it had. Kicked back, relaxed, casual atmosphere. A live band playing great music. And relevant and practical messages from the Bible and I thought it was kind of funny how they put God last in what they think is so special about their church. Then the baptist church came by and Elder Moore said he was kind of scared because I guess they have given missionaries trouble before. We aren't allowed to go around and proselyte in big gatherings like that so we walked around and hoped someone would ask us about us and the church but no one did. While we were talking to Sister Seger a guy came up to us and he slipped money into Elder Moore's hand while he shook it. His name is Brother Dopp and he is from the Faribault ward and he knew Sister Seger so that was really cool. On the way back to the car we walked past a softball game going on for Dožínky days and I'm pretty sure everyone there was drinking cause I could smell it everywhere. This guy came up to us with two beers and was asking us what we were selling and after we told him we weren't selling anything he didn't believe us. So Saturday was just kind of a weird day.
 

Elder Moore has had a super bad cracked iPad most of his mission because he dropped it and can't afford to fix it. Well he sat on it on accident and the lcd went out so he can't use his iPad and he doesn't know what to do because he could barely afford his mission.

On Sunday I actually gave a talk on how we could better keep the commandments. So mom you weren't alone I was speaking with you, kind of. It was really cool and I felt so much better prepared with what I know now compared with what I knew before my mission. And it was cool I actually was able to introduce myself because they never let me do it earlier and after sacrament Brother Lewis came up to me and was like I didn't know you were from McCammon then he asked if I went to Marsh Valley or Century. He told me how he is from Malad so he knows the area and said he misses it there and said he was going to have to have us over for dinner so we could talk about it. Mollie wasn't at church again today which was kind of hard since we have to push the baptism date back a week. She has to be to church 3 times before she can be baptized. She had a good reason though. The kids she babysits had head lice so she was busy with that and she said she wants to come this week and I know she does. She asked Sister Seger for a ride and Sister Seger said she is not leaving Belle Plain without Mollie. We haven't had any other investigators come to church either and it's really hard for people to commit to do anything.

Today we have only like half a p-day and we still get to do laundry and shop and stuff but we are going to go out to Le Sueur and proselyte later because we are going to go have a district p-day with the Faribault Elders and go bowling or something like that then Wednesday we are having a district meeting. Anyways time has been flying by and it seems like yesterday it was just September 1st and it's the 19th, and happy birthday future Elder McQuivey! I think once I get done with my first transfer and training it will fly by even faster. I love you guys and I hope life is good back in the best place ever, Idaho.

Elder Bullock

   Elder Edwards and I, he was in my zone in the MTC

       Elder Moore and I

My Zone Leaders, Elder Peterson  and Iand Elder Magleby,

 The parade