October 27th

Hey family, 

So the reason I'm emailing you now instead of tomorrow is because it's transfer week, and they do transfers on Tuesday so they do P-day on Monday. I'm not getting transferred so that's good, I don't have to get a new address and a new companion and stuff! This week was pretty good. We got to meet with both Kimball and Rebecca. Also a couple other investigators and less actives. For Rebecca we taught her about prayer and invited her to come to church! She said no because she feels like she doesn't have to come to a building to be close to God and to feel the spirit... It was another super duper long lesson and basically the whole time was just testifying about church and explaining why it was important to come to church and to partake of the sacrament and stuff like that, but she just wouldn't budge. We told her to pray about it and ask with a sincere heart and real intent, and she said if she gets a solid answer that she needs to come to church she would! The hard part is that in order for an investigator to be baptized they have to come to church at least 2 times. So that means that Rebecca needs to come to church this week and next week in order for her to be baptized by the 15th of November... That's going to be tough, but hey we're going to stay obedient and work

hard on her and hopefully it goes well! With Kimball we taught him a lesson about the Book of Mormon and a little rundown of it and we read with him Moroni's promise, and he said he would read it and pray about it and he really wants to be part of the church! He actually came to church with us this week which was awesome! but of course the lesson in Gospel Principles class this week was on the law of chastity... Hahaha so he said he had a couple questions about it and we are meeting with him tonight to answer those questions which should be...fun... haha. Anyways my first transfer is over already! Time really does go a lot faster when you give all you have to the work! I'm glad that I get to spend my next transfer here in Cherry Hills and hopefully me and Elder Harral can get a couple baptisms and continue to build this area up! I really am loving the work out here! It's just amazing to be always so close to Heavenly Father and to be teaching people about what I know without a doubt to be true! We also had a "Bible Bash" this week. We were walking up a street and a guy in an Acura pulled over and said "What's the message today boys?!" and me and Elder Harral go "Jesus Christ!!" hahaha so then he starts telling us what he has studied about the Mormon church and how he is catholic and how the Apostasy never happened and how we preach false things, and he was just going into all of this deep stuff. He was a bum. But we just bore down in pure testimony and basically told him that, why have a big blooming testimony of all of this deep stuff when you don't even have a testimony of the basics, like faith and repentance and stuff. And he was just stumped haha. We kept bearing testimony and he was starting to get frustrated so he just said something about the apostasy again and just drove off. It was awesome!! There is a quote by elder Holland that says "We don't always bash, but when we do we always win" hahaha! The whole time the guy was talking to us I was just smiling and thinking "Whatever this guy says to me, no matter what he says about our church, that is not going to change anything that I believe and know to be true!" I'm so grateful for the testimony that I have of the Gospel and I'm so grateful to know that it is true and that Heavenly Father is real and he loves each and every single one of us! It's so awesome to know that our church is ran by revelation straight from Him, and not by man! I love this Gospel and I love all of you guys! I miss you guys a ton and I hope you are doing awesome! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

October 21, 2014

Hi Family,

It was sad to open up my emails and hear about great grandpa. He was an amazing man and I looked up to him ever since I was little. He was always so happy and nice, he had the best sense of humor and I'm going to miss him so much. It's so comforting to have the knowledge that he is in a better place and that we will see him again. I'm praying for you guys and for Grandma Deb. He definitely got the best of his life, almost 90 years old, that is awesome. He was a great man that we should all look up to as an example. I'm glad that I got to see him in Glasgow one more time and I can't wait till I get to see him again. Thank you guys for the Halloween package, this "spooky cool boy" was very happy to receive it haha! It made me laugh, and it's always good to get packages and letters from the fam! This week was awesome! We got to teach both of our new investigators Kimball and Rebecca, and guess what? We set baptism dates with both of them!! We taught Kimball the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and we taught it really well and the Spirit was there SO strong and at the end we asked if he would be baptized on November 15 and he said he totally would!! He said these last couple weeks have been heck for him and this was what he needed!! So if everything goes well we are going to baptize him on Nov 15th! With Rebecca we taught her the Restoration and it took us 2 hours haha!! She had so many questions and she didn't really understand the priesthood authority that you need to baptize, also we had a member of our ward with us and she just rambled on and on about her conversion story haha so it took forever!! But we had to ask her about 8 times if she would set Nov 15th as a goal to work for to be baptized, and on the 8th time she got up and started crying and ran back to her room! We just waited there and let the Spirit work on her, when she came back we asked her calmly one more time, and she smiled and said yes! We were so happy and it was so spiritual and awesome! So yeah we got 2 baptism dates now! All of our obedience and diligence has definitely paid off! This area hasn't seen a baptism in 6 years, so me and Elder Harral and our district are pumped! I am excited to teach them again and to continue to teach them until they enter the waters of baptism! Things are definitely looking a lot better here in the Cherry Hills area and I can't wait for more! I know the Gospel is true and I know that everyone no matter what their circumstance, needs it in their life! It is a guidance and a comfort and a strength in times of need. There is no way I would be where I am without it and I can't wait to share it with everyone! I love you all and I hope you're staying safe and doing good things!

Love Elder Summerhays

October 14, 2014

Hi family,

It sounds like you all had an awesome week. That's cool that you guys saw Meet the Mormons! We aren't allowed to see it but rumor has it that this zone conference on Thursday we are all watching it, so hopefully that is true! You guys have no idea how much help and support you all give me in your emails! Mom and Dad you guys are the best parents ever and I can't thank you enough for all that you do for me, and for all of the inspiration and advice you guys give me in your emails! Liv, Ann, Sam, and Char you guys are awesome and I look forward to hearing from you guys each p-day! I love all of you guys so much! This week was a lot better than last week! We taught a lot more lessons and we found 3 new investigators! Me and Elder Harral are giving our all to the work and it's starting to finally pay off! Our new investigators are Kimball, Rebecca, and Scott. Kimball is 20, Rebecca is around 65 and 70, and Scott is probably in his mid 20's. I wrote about Kimball in the letter I am sending today so you'll hear about him. We met Rebecca while we were OYMing, we were actually on our way to an appointment with a less active member who lives in the same apartment complex as Rebecca, and we saw her out on her front porch and started talking to her. After we talked with her for a little while, we gave her a card with our number on it and a plan of salvation pamphlet, and went upstairs to our appointment. After we were done with the lesson we went back down the stairs and Rebecca said "Hey can we talk about this pamphlet for a little bit!" so we went in and taught her the whole plan of salvation lesson, and at the end we invited her to be baptized, and she said she didn't really have a full understanding of everything yet, so we set a return appointment and we are going to go back and teach her the Restoration so we'll see what happens, but I think she has potential! So things are getting better here in Albuquerque, and we are starting to have a lot more success! I know that putting our trust in the Lord in every circumstance, whether it's big or small, He will help us through any challenge or trial that we have! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such a blessing and a guidance in our lives and I don't know what I would do without it! Everyone in the world needs it and that's what I'm here for, I love you all and I hope you are all doing good! Keep doing what's right!

Love Elder Summerhays

(Pres and his companion Elder Harral and Pres mowing someone's lawn:)

                           

October 7th

Hey Family,

Good to hear that the Utes beat UCLA! That's a W!! Sounds like the family is doing really well! I'm glad to hear that Mom's back is doing good, and It's way awesome to hear your guys' testimonies every week! Dad thanks for the inspiration about facing Heavenly Father! The natural man is an enemy to God, but when we are able to put off the natural man and yield to the Spirit, then we become one with Heavenly Father and with the Spirit and there is nothing that can bring us down, and no trial that we can't face! This week has been alright! Again a week of lots of cancellations but we did our best to stay busy! We only taught about 6 or 7 lessons, but they went well! Me and Elder Harral have been working on finding new people to teach so that we can get some more investigators that want to hear our message, and that have been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive it! We have been praying that we will find new people and we have set some new goals this week to help us get new investigators! 

Conference was awesome! By far the hardest thing that happened this week was not going to the priesthood session with Dad like I always have. I missed that so much. It was awesome to hear all of your favorite talks, and I agree that all of the ones that everyone said were awesome! My favorites were Elder Bednar's, and Elder Christoffersons! I also liked Elder Uchtdorf's in the priesthood session, he always comes through! Elder Bednar's talk was to all of the non-members of the church. He talked about how we are not forcing them to join our church, and we are not forcing them to change all of the beliefs that they already have, we are just inviting them to "Come and see" He made a great analogy and tied it in to how as missionaries, all we are doing is sharing what has brought us the most happiness and peace in our lives, and that is so true! I wish that all of the non-members of the church could have heard that talk! Elder Christofferson talked about how now and days people get their own beliefs and people only believe the things that they think are right or things that they want to believe. He went on to say that that doesn't change reality. If you don't believe in the law of gravity or only believe in some parts of it, that is not going to stop you from falling if you jump off a cliff! 

The reality is that the Gospel is true, and it is the only true and living church on the earth today! No matter what you believe or want to believe, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. That hit me really hard and strengthened my testimony so much! I know without a doubt that this Gospel is true and no matter what anyone says to me or does to me I will not deny it! Heavenly Father is real and is present in all of our lives, and I know no matter what trial or hardship or anything that we face, if we humble ourselves before Him and put all of our faith in him, then he will make our weaknesses become our strengths! I love you all and I hope you are doing awesome!

Love Elder Summerhays