December 29, 2015

Hey Family!

 It was awesome to be able to talk to you guys on Christmas! It seems like everyone is doing great, and everyone had a sweet Christmas! I love you guys so much and I miss all of you! The Star Wars marathon sounds like a good time! 

 This week was pretty sweet! Our Christmas was awesome and yes we did end up eating 4 dinners that night! I’m definitely going to miss Christmas on the mission. It’s so awesome! So remember how I said it doesn’t snow here? Well the night after Christmas it just started pummeling snow! We were driving and it was like driving in Utah when it snows, like fishtailing and stuff! People in New Mexico have no idea what to do when it snows haha, like people are going 10 mph in a 40 and we saw one guy make a left turn on a light that had been red for like 15 seconds! Like the rules just don’t apply on the road when it snows haha, but it was fun! So then the next day, which was Sunday, we woke up and there was like 8 inches on the ground, I know that’s like nothing for UT but for NM that’s like almost record breaking, and so we got a text from one of the ward members that said church was cancelled because of the weather! So we were like what do we do? So we called President Miller and asked him what we should do, and he said if we feel safe enough to drive we can go out and work or shovel people’s driveways but if not just stay in and study and weekly plan for the next week. So we went out and shoveled peoples driveways in the morning for a couple hours, and then after that we came back and weekly planned and studied for a little bit! But it was super weird because that hardly ever happens, and especially not for just 8 inches of snow. It was good to get some snow though, I was hoping it would snow on Christmas but the day after works too! It kinda stinks that church was cancelled though because we had a lot of investigators that were going to come to church that day, oh well. 

 We did find a sweet new investigator this week though! So we were knocking doors the day after Christmas, and we knocked on this one door and a YSA girl answered and she was like “Come on in guys!” So we did and when we walked in there was another lady that we assumed was her mom, and we saw a painting of Jesus with all the little children, and it was a mormon one that you see all over in the Church. So they invited us to sit down and we were talking with them and we asked this girl (Morgan) if she was a member and she said no but her mom is. Then her mom spoke up from the kitchen and said “I’ll be in ther in a sec.” So we kept talking with Morgan and asking about like her religious background and kinda her life, and she said that she teaches childrens Sunday school at a baptist school down in Texas and she is visiting for a little bit. She said that she doesn’t like some of the things about her church and she is looking for another one haha! So we kept talking to her and told her about the BOM and a little bit about what we believe, and then at the end we asked if we could come back and teach her more about the BOM and our church before she goes back to Texas, and she said that she would love that! So we are going to start teaching her and her mom said that she wants her to be baptized as well so that’s awesome and will help a ton! We’re pumped!

 That was pretty much my week though! We taught a couple lessons with our other investigators. But I hope all is well with you guys! I love you all a ton! The church is true! Talk to you guys later!

 Love Elder Summerhays

December 22, 2015

Dear Family,

That's sweet that the Utes won! We were getting updates of the game from one of the members and I was getting worried when they started choking at the end, but hey they pulled through for the victory! I am pumped to FaceTime you guys on Friday! It sounds like the white elephant and the nativity went well!

Anyways, this week was pretty good! We had a ton of appointments cancel on us but it happens. We were able to meet with Robert and Rosemary, and we read out of the Book of Mormon with them. They said they would absolutely be at church this week and they never ended up showing haha, but we are going to meet with them this week and throw down on them for not being there haha! We also had an investigator that moved away so we won’t be teaching him anymore, but we have a lot of potentials that we are hoping to turn into new investigators soon.

 We also are helping a lady with a mouse infestation that she has in her garage. Mom is going to love this one, her garage is filled with boxes and bags and just things all over the place, and she has bags of bird seed that she uses to feed the birds in her yard, but some of the bags have split open and spilled everywhere so there is bird seed all over the floor. So basically it’s like paradise for mice because they have a ton of places to hide and they have a ton of food. We have been going over there to set traps for her and we have caught like five mice already, but every time we open the garage we see one or two more scurry in, so it’s basically a lost cause… but tomorrow we are going in there to clean the bird seed up and move some of the boxes and take some mice to the woodshed. It’ll be a good time. 

 We also met with our new Stake President this week. His name is President Allman and he is sweet! We talked about our vision for the stake and what his vision is, and he talked about how he gets super frustrated when missionaries don’t go out and work. There have been a couple missionaries in our zone that haven’t been working as hard as they should and they kinda ruined one of the areas, but they got transferred this transfer so there are some new ones there now. But we talked about all the potential that Rio Rancho has and how we can help the missionaries see it. Something I have realized on my mission is that you can’t just be an object, you have to be an agent. I was taught that multiple times before my mission but I didn’t fully grasp it until my mission. Nothing in life is going to happen if you are just waiting for it to happen, if you want something to happen you just gotta do it! There are a lot of missionaries and people that want things to change in their area or in their life, but they are not willing to do the things necessary to change it so they just wait and nothing happens and then they just get discouraged and things get worse. Just do it!! Yeah it may take a little while for things to work out but when you are working diligently and you don’t give up, it will always work out. Agency is so sweet! 

 Anyways, I love and miss all of you and hope all is well! I’m excited to see you guys on Christmas! Keep doing what’s right. I’ll talk to you later!

Love, Elder Summerhays

                                

December 14, 2015

Dear Family,

 Transfer news came in and Elder Worley and I are staying together in Rio Zion! We are super pumped! There is a ton of work going on and a ton of work for us to do so this transfer should be a super good one! Thanks a ton by the way for the package! I love the alpha smart and not only does it let me have better journal entries, but I can type my weekly email up in the mornings so that they can be longer! We have also decided to do a twelve days of Christmas thing with our zone. Each day we are going to leave a note and some treat or something on each companionships doorstep leading up to Christmas, and we are going to use the wal-mart gift card to buy all of the stuff for it. I am going to buy a santa suit as a disguise so we don’t get caught, it’s going to be sweet! But thanks for all of the things that you sent me, I love you guys so much!

 This week was pretty sweet! We were able to baptize Kristina and Desiree! The baptism was awesome and a ton of people showed up to support them! They are so solid, and once again are going to be kingdom builders! We also had three confirmations yesterday because last Sunday was that conference so Emily got to get confirmed with them yesterday which was awesome! I got to do Emily’s confirmation and our ward mission leader, and a seminary teacher did the other two girls! It was so sweet to have three confirmations in a sacrament meeting! And they are all friends too so they will be able to fellowship each other throughtout their lives!

 We had a sweet Zone Conference/MLC/Zone Training this week. Elder Randall K. Bennett of the Seventy was able to come and teach us! All of the zone leaders got to have a pre meeting with him before the zone conference, and he told us that he had prepared by studying for weeks what he wanted to train us on, and he said that he didn’t have anything written down and that he was going completely by the Spirit for the conference, and throughout the conference you could definitely tell that he was going by the Spirit! He taught us so many things that the mission needed and that I needed personally! Then after the conference we had a special MLC where all of the zone leaders got together with Elder and Sister Bennett and President and Sister Miller, and Elder Bennett said that we were going to go around the room and say one thing from zone conference that we feel like the mission needs most. So we did that and the AP’s wrote them up on the board. After we did that President Miller got up and talked for a little bit, and we all counseled together on how we can narrow it down to one thing that we can focus on. Then President Miller just stared at the board for like a solid 1-2 minutes, the Spirit was super strong, and then he said “There is one thing that encompasses all of these things, and that’s conversion.” So then we all counseled together about conversion and Elder Bennett talked about it and gave some last comments and MLC was over. It was one of the most Spiritual experiences of my life!! He is my new favorite seventy haha! 

 Then later in the week on Friday we had our zone training where we were supposed to review zone conference and train on what we learned in MLC. So Elder Worley and I took Elder Bennett’s advice and studied the whole week about conversion and reviewed our notes from zone conference and when we prepared our training we wrote down a few things as kinda topics for discussion but the whole rest of the training was going to be by the Spirit. It went SOOO well!! While we were up there training thoughts feelings impressions and scriptures kept just coming to my mind and heart like things I had studied and experiences I had, and I would say it and it would be straight from the Spirit! We asked a couple of the missionaries what they thought about zone training afterwards and they said that it was the most spiritual zone training that they had ever been to! I know that it is because the Spirit knew what the zone needed to hear and Elder Worley and I were just the instruments that were used in relaying that to the zone! It was so incredible though! 

 We have applied the things we learned in the meetings with some of our investigators and we have seen sweet results. Robert accepted a baptismal invite so we hope to set a date with him soon! More of our other investigators are also keeping their commitments that they weren’t before. Things are going great in the area right now and we are pumped for the new transfer! Anyways, that was my week, and now I’m gonna go take some people to the woodshed in ultimate Frisbee! I love and miss you all! Talk to you later.

 Love Elder Summerhays

                                   

                                                

                                                  

      

December 7, 2015

Dear Family,

 Sorry I totally forgot to tell you all that this week is deep clean P-day, which is where we deep clean our apartment:P so P-day is on Monday... I hope everyone is doing good! Also next week is transfer week so P-day will be on Monday again!

This week was sweet!! We were able to baptize Emily and it went super well! Once again the High range ward came through in the clutch and we had 50-60 people there to support her! The grandmother Gina loved it and she was crying for most of the baptism! The Spirit was there so strong and it was a great day! 

Yesterday instead of Sacrament meeting we had a Tri-stake conference at a huge building called the Santa Ana Star Center. We had the meeting because they added a new stake in the Albuquerque area called the Albuquerque North stake, so Elder Randall K. Bennett of the seventy was there. So the three stakes that were there were us (Rio Rancho) Albuquerque, and Albuquerque West. What’s sweet is that Cherry Hills is in the Albuquerque stake and Volcano Cliffs is in the ABQ-West stake, so I got to see people from both of my last wards! I saw Randy, Avram, and Sarah Loy and I got to catch up with them, and I also saw Elder Burton and Elder Gardner which was sweet! Randy is a church service missionary right now, Avram said he has a golden referral to hand off to the missionaries that is even more golden than he was haha, and Sarah has been going tracting with the missionaries in Cherry Hills! It is so sweet to see that they are all doing missionary work and are staying strong in the Gospel! 

The best part of the week though, besides the baptism of course, happened yesterday after the conference. We had an appointment with Sister Hodshire’s granddaughters, so we went over to teach them and we had planned to invite them to baptism because Sister Hodshire had talked to the people who have legal custody over them and they had said that they are ok with it. So we went in and taught briefly the first points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and when we got done talking about baptism I said “So would you guys want to always have God’s Spirit with you?” they said “Yes of course!” and I said “You can, and that happens when we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and keep our covenants!” They had gone to Emily’s baptism just the day before and they had loved it so they kinda had baptism on the brain! So after that I said “So we wanted to invite you guys, when you come to know these things are true, which you probably already know they are, do you guys believe that everything we are teaching is true?” they said “Yes!” so I said “Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?” And while I was inviting them they were both smiling and nodding at me! So they both said yes to the invite and I said “Sweet! Now all that we have to decide is when. We are holding a baptismal service this Saturday, do you think you guys could be prepared by that day?” and they both exclaimed “Yes!” It was SO awesome! Then Sister Hodshire said “We need to find out if this Saturday works for the other Grandparents, who have custody. So she called them right then and there and asked them if it would work for them, and they said it would work! I just stood up and celebrated right in front of them and they celebrated too! So we will be having another baptism this week and Elder Worley will baptize one of the granddaughters and I will baptize the other one! Everything worked out perfectly and I know it’s because God has prepared them and the family for them to be baptized! It is so cool to see how Heavenly Father is truly in charge, and this is His work!

I am grateful to be serving a mission and to be seeing the joy that comes into others lives because of the Gospel! I love and miss you all and hope all is well! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

                                          

                                         

December 1, 2015

Hey Family,

Congrats to the kids on the W in the turkey bowl and to Ann for the W in the dessert contest! It sounds like Thanksgiving was awesome! That's cool that Great Grandma Markle and Tyler were there at Grandma Deb's! That's awesome too that Ty is getting married soon! Elder Worley and I always pull out the Chewy impression haha! 

This week was really good! We were able to meet with Robert Jones and his family. We dropped by on Friday and they were just getting ready to leave to Colorado to go see some evangelical conference where some guy gives a big sermon. We think it’s a dumb idea first of all because they have no money, neither of them work and the tickets are $200 and they don’t have money for gas to get back or a place to stay when they get there, and second of all because the guy giving the sermon is probably a moron who just wants money and fans. They were like “We’re just going to take a leap of faith and go for it!:D” when or if they get back we are going to have to explain faith to them again… Anyways we shared a short message with them and said a prayer with them before they left. We got to meet with Emily and her family this week as well. We have been reviewing the lessons with her just to refresh and get her ready for her baptism! She is excited and nervous for the baptism which is natural. The High Range ward does a sweet job at fellowshipping so there should be a pretty big turnout at the baptism! It’s pretty cool to teach her because her parents are returning less active members and her grandma is not a member but she is super religious, so every time we teach all of them bring up good questions sometimes deep ones about the gospel and it is good for the whole family not just Emily!

We also picked up a couple new investigators this past week. The first one’s name is Florence. She was referred to us by some Spanish sister missionaries who knocked on her door and OYMed her and she said that we could come back. So we went and contacted her with a member and were able to go in and teach her the Restoration. She is a little bit crazy but the lesson went really well and she cried at the first vision and told us that she wants to feel God’s love in her life! So we promised her that she could. Her only concern is church, she said that she doesn’t like going to church because the pastor or whoever speaks always gets up there and preaches about how we should live our lives and then he goes out the next day and drinks and parties and is a total hypocrite haha. So we explained that The Church of Jesus Christ is different than other churches and that she won’t see that in our church! So we hope to eventually get her to come, and she also said that she wants us to teach her daughter next time too so that will be sweet! The other new investigator that we found is Arsenio. He was referred to us by the same sister missionaries. He is a single guy probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s who has met with missionaries before and who is looking for the truth in his life. He had been taught the Restoration before but he didn’t remember most of it so we went over it again, and the Spirit was super strong during the lesson! At the end we focused on prayer and reading the BOM and we asked him what he thought about the lesson and he said “I think that I need to spend more time reading the Book of Mormon and really pray about it.” And we were pumped and testified like crazy! It was sweet and we have another meeting with him on Sunday so we are excited to follow up with him on his BOM reading!

Geronimo ended up moving back out to the reservation to live with his mom so that kinda stinks… other than that our week was pretty sweet! It’s so cool to see how when you work hard, the Lord blesses you in so many different ways. Like we have been tracting and contacting a TON in the last couple weeks which I actually love to do, but we haven’t seen too much success from it, besides a couple potential investigators, but because we are working God is rewarding us in different ways, like we’ve gotten a ton of solid referrals and we have a lot of investigators come to church and just a ton of different ways. It’s just cool to see that when we not only have faith but show our faith Heavenly Father will help us and strengthen us! Anyways, I love you all and thanks for everything you do for me! Talk to you later.

Love Elder Summerhays

November 24, 2015

Dear Family,

Happy Thanksgiving!! You bet our zone is playing a zone turkey bowl today!! We are so pumped! I'll let you know how it goes next week. I'm definitely going to miss Thanksgiving with the family, But I'll be stuffing my face over here in Rio Zion. We have 5 dinners lined up for thanksgiving so we are going to have to pace ourselves so we don't explode! It'll be a fun day! Know that I'm rooting for the kids in the turkey bowl this year! Hopefully they can pull through for another W!

This week was sweet for us! We were able to meet with Robert Jones and his family a couple times! Rosemary is his wife and she is a little skeptical about the church. She brings up a lot of unrelated doctrinal issues that she has, for example we were reading 2 Nephi 31 with them and when Nephi says "And the voice of the Son came unto me" she said that it couldn't have been the voice of the Son because Jesus hadn't taken the seat on the right hand of the father until after his life and resurrection. We explained to her about the premortal life and how Christ was with God and how he created the world and she agreed with everything that we said but she still didn't agree that he was talking to Nephi... So I don't think she even made sense to herself in her own mind but she agrees with the Gospel that is taught in the Book of Mormon so if we can soften her heart then she can start progressing! Robert came to church this week and he said he loved it so he is definitely in, but we just need to get Rosemary in as well!  We had a good lesson with them yesterday where we brought a member who explained our church meeting to Rosemary and she asked a lot of questions and we were able to answer them and when we left she thanked us for coming and said that she enjoyed it! 

We weren't able to meet with Kyle this week so we were kind of bummed, but the sweet thing is that on Sunday right when church started he texted us and told us that he had a feeling that he needed to come to church and asked us if he was too late, and we told him no and that he is totally welcome to come, so he did! He came just in time for the last speaker who gave a sweet talk about the trials that we go through and how we need to be grateful through them and he said that the talk hit him really hard and he was grateful that he came! We will probably meet with him a couple times this week and we are hoping to set a baptism date with him soon so we are pumped about that! 

We also set another baptism date this week with a girl named Emily! She is 14 years old and she lives with her parents who are both members who used to be less active but are returning. She asked us the other day after a lesson who she can talk to if she wants to be baptized, and we were like US! Haha so her date if for December 12th but it may have to be moved due to some of the member's schedules because they want to be there! 

Anyways that was our week! Love you all and have a good week! Bye

Love Elder Summerhays

November 17, 2015

Hey Family!

 Congrats to Sam with the W in the championship! And that was a sweet talk that he gave too! It's always great to see pictures and videos of the fam!:) That's a bummer that the Utes lost. Arizona has our number. That's awesome that Bopa Tee met Elder Smith! We didn't share an apartment but he was in my last zone, and we went on a couple exchanges together and I still email him every once in a while! He's a great guy, we became super good friends. 

This week was sweet!! We found 4 new investigators and we were able to set a baptism date with an investigator! The investigators name is Geronimo, he is a Navajo who lives with his aunt and uncle and his cousin Isaiah who is a less active that is becoming active. He was being taught in one of the other areas in our zone by some other missionaries but he is 18 so he is a YSA, but in order to attend the branch you need to be out of high school and he is still in high school, but he has been coming to YSA activities and he wants to attend the branch instead of his family ward. So we talked with the bishop of the other ward and talked with the Assistants and we got permission to be able to teach him! So we went over there with a guy from the branch and we taught him the Restoration and invited him to baptism and he said yes, so his date is for December 5^th! 

As for the new investigators, one of them is a 22 year old guy named Kyle. He would be a YSA but he has a kid so he has to attend the High Range ward. Anyways, we tracted into him and he let us in, he was watching a 49ers game and he was decked out in 49ers apparel, and he was chewing tobacco. He explained to us that his mom was a member and he had been to church a couple times and would like to learn more about it. So we set up another time when we could go back and we did, we taught him about the restoration, and he asked a ton of questions about the church that were all pretty random. He asked if anyone would judge him because of the things he did and because of the rough past he has had, and we told him that no one would judge him. Then he talked about heaven and hell and how he wants to make it to heaven, and he said “In order to make it to heaven you have to join the Mormon church right?” and we talked about that and said that you have to be baptized, and he said “I know that in order to make it to heaven I have to join the Mormon church, and I want to join, but there are some things going on in my life that I have to take care of, like I chew tobacco and I’ve been to jail and stuff, but Jesus can help me with that right?” and we were like “Yes he can!” and we bore our testimonies and invited him to church and he said he would come. He never came but we are super excited to keep teaching him because he definitely wants it! 

We also met this investigator family named the Jones’. Robert is the dad and he is a huge black guy, his wife’s name is Rosemary and she is a native. They have 4 crazy kids named Duron, Lil Robert, James, and Azariah. We taught them the restoration and it went well. They said that they have been in other churches that were good, but that haven’t helped them in times of need and they said they would test our church out and see what they like about it. So we invited them to church and offered a ride and stuff, they said they would come but they never did either haha! But they are great people who definitely want to learn hopefully we will eventually be able to get them to church! 

This week was awesome though we taught a ton and we were able to get 101 OYM’s. It feels so good to work hard 24/7! I’m so grateful to be serving a mission, and to be able to meet all of these amazing people and help them come unto Christ! I love all of you and hope all is well! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

November 9, 2015

Hey Family,

I totally forgot to tell you that this week is transfer week so P-day is on Monday... sorry about that haha! I'm not getting transferred though, Elder Worley and I are staying together and I'm pumped about it. 

This week was sweet! Phil and Nicole were able to be baptized which was awesome! We did the confirmation right after the baptism because this week was a regional conference for us so we couldn't do it on Sunday. We had to get permission from President Miller to do that though and he said the only way we could do it is if we got a lot of people to come to the baptism. So we were a little worried leading up to the baptism cause we were afraid that not a lot of people would show up, but Nay. There ended up being around 80 people at the baptism! It was so sweet to see so many people there. That was the most I have ever seen at a baptism and it's probably the most I will ever see, but it was cool to see how much the ward supports the converts in the ward and the missionaries! We talked with Nicole after the baptism and she said that she was so happy and relieved that she was finally baptized and she said she felt amazing and knew the church was true! It was sweet! Also, last week I emailed Avram, my recent convert from Cherry Hills, and told him that Phil was a paramedic and asked if he knew him, and then later into the week we got a call from a random number and it ended up being Avram! He said that he saw my email and he does know both Phil and Nicole and he was wondering when and where the baptism was, so we told him and he ended up coming too! It was awesome to get to see him and catch up with him! 

Anyways, The Church is true! I am so happy to be serving a mission! I love and miss you all and hope everything is going well! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

November 3, 2015

Hey Family,

Sounds like everyone had a good Halloween! Hopefully people were a little more receptive than they were to us when you knocked on their door on Halloween! Hopefully the Acura's replacement does well. I don't think it can fill the shoes but hey at least it's red haha! Good to hear that the Utes beat OSU! Hopefully they can come through in the clutch and win out! 

This week was sweet for us! We were struggling to teach investigators towards the end of the week because all of the appointments we had set up cancelled every day until Saturday when we finally taught a couple of our investigators! We were kinda bummed about our teaching for the week but then something awesome happened at church! We have been teaching the granddaughters of this lady in our ward named Sister Hodshire. Sister Hodshire is a little old lady who can speak Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and English. She looks a little bit like Grandma Deb and she is a saint!! I don't know how she hasn't been translated yet because she is such a good member of the church! But anyways the granddaughters names are Christina (15) and Desiree (13) and we have taught them the Restoration and The Gospel of Jesus Christ lessons. We aren't sure yet if we can set a baptismal date with them because they have to get permission from their legal guardians and we aren't sure who they are or what they think about it. But this week in fast and testimony meeting we were just sitting there watching people bear their testimony and then Christina gets up to go and bear hers and right after her, Desiree also went up to bear her testimony! They talked about how Christina has been going to Seminary and loving it and how she has been meeting with the missionaries and knows that the Gospel is true and Desiree talked about how she wants to go to seminary next year and how excited she is and it was awesome! They are super solid! Sister Hodshire came up to us after and said, in her Italian accent "It's crazy how many miracles you see on a daily basis! This was a miracle and I see a baptism coming up soon!" It was so sweet! Pretty much every investigator that we have in the High Range ward is progressing and we are finding more in the YSA branch! Phil and Nicole are still on for baptism this Saturday which we are pumped for! Things are going awesome in Rio Zion! Oh and my trainer Elder Harral became the new AP so that was sweet! 

Anyways, I love and miss each of you and I hope things are going well at home! I know that this church is true and I'm grateful for the chance that I have to serve Heavenly Father with all that I have for two years! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays  

October 27, 2015

Hey Family!

I heard about the Ute game this week... It was a heartbreaker to hear. That's nice that dad has some time to relax with work off this week! Have you found a replacement for the Green Monster yet? How cold is it getting in Utah right now? It's cooling down here and the weather has been prime! 

This week was pretty good! We got to go to the temple yesterday which was awesome! I can't believe that it's already my third temple trip out of 4!! It's always great to go to the temple and feel of the spirit that is there! We also met with a couple of  our investigators. We have one investigator couple whose names are Phil and Nicole Baker. They were referred to the missionaries by their neighbors who are members. They have been investigating for a while now and are on date for baptism for November 7th which is next week! Phil is a crazy fast reader and has read almost everything on the Gospel library app including all of last conference and PMG haha! Nicole is solid as well and they are both helping each other on their way to baptism! They had Word of Wisdom issues in the past but they were able to get over them and have great testimonies of the Gospel! We are excited for their baptism coming up!

We don't have any investigators right now in the YSA because the investigators that were in the YSA are now recent converts haha! But we have a lot of potentials that we found in the last couple weeks so we are really excited to meet with them! One of them is named Jessica. We found her while tracting and contacting in an apartment complex. She was on her way home from work and we stopped her right before she went into her apartment and talked to her! She said that she was Christian and has strong faith in Jesus Christ and we told her that we were too and kind of explained the Book of Mormon to her! We asked her if there would be a good time that we could come back and meet with her and she didn't give us a specific time but she gave us her number and told us that we could call her and set something up! So we tried calling her this last week and she never answered, but then we were contacting in the same apartment complex yesterday and we heard someone yell "Summerhays!!" And we turned around and it was her haha! I was surprised that she remembered my name because I don't think anyone else that I've met on the mish has remembered my name after meeting me once! But she told us that she has been really busy and she has been meaning to call us and set something up but she just hasn't had the time, but she said that this week she wants to meet with us so we are hopefully going to set something up! 

Anyways, I love and miss you all and hope everything is going well! You're all in my prayers. Keep making the right choices! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

October 20, 2015

Hey Family,

That's horrible news about the Green Monster:( Definitely going to miss that car. I would say she's in a better place now but the shop isn't a very good place for cars. Hopefully you guys can find a good replacement! And I'm so glad that Liv is ok too! What street was she on when she crashed?

This week was awesome for us! The zone is doing super well! We got a call from the Assistants last night and they called to tell us that Rio Rancho is doing the best that they've seen ever! We were pretty excited about that! Elder Worley and I are kicking it into turbo and finding people out the wazoo! We taught a ton of lessons last week and we have planned to teach even more this week! We did have to drop Caroline though which kinda stunk... She wasn't really all there, and she said that she wasn't going to go to our church but she still wanted us to come by and teach her. We invited her to baptism and explained it as simply as we could, she said that she didn't really understand it and she asked "Would I have to go anywhere to be baptized?" and we said "Yes." but she said that she didn't want to go to our church and that she likes the church that she just started going to like a couple weeks ago... Haha so that was kind of a bummer. But we found a couple YSA's last week that are pretty solid and we are excited to teach them this week!

Anyways, I have definitely learned this week that when we show diligence and faith God makes us instruments in his hands and we can see miracles in our lives! I love this work and the people that I get to serve! Be safe and keep doing what's right! I love all of you and hope everything is going well, I'll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

October 13, 2015

Hey Family!

That's sweet that everyone is on fall break and even better that they get to clean and organize!! :) I totally forgot that in Utah they do Stake Conference right after General Conference! That's not how they do it in NM but I think I like it better the first way! It sounds like the Stake Conference had a theme of acting for ourselves and being anxiously engaged! That's definitely a subject that I love and one that my mission has definitely taught me! I'll admit that I was kinda lazy before my mission and it's so much better to get up and just do it! Agency can make or break you.

Our week was sweet!! We had the baptism of Alissa, and it went really well! I was able to confirm her and that was the first time that I have ever done that so it was an amazing experience! Alissa is awesome and she is definitely going to be a kingdom builder! Bringing people into the waters of baptism is the best thing ever!! We were also able to find a couple new investigators this week. One of them is named Caroline, she is probably in her 50's and she lives alone. We are over the YSA branch and another ward in the Rio Rancho stake called the High Range ward, so we teach any YSA in the stake boundaries and anyone in the High Range boundaries. But we met Caroline while tracting and she told us that we could come back and share a message, so we brought a member and went back to teach her. We taught her the Restoration and she talks a TON!! The lesson got off track multiple times but we were able to bring it back and we committed her to read and pray about the BOM and she said she would. She is going to a christian church right now that she really likes so hopefully that isn't too much of a block for her!

Anyways, I love serving in Rio Rancho and being able to go out every day and invite others to come unto Christ! It brings so much joy into my life and into the lives of others around me! It's the best thing in the world! Love and miss all of you and hope that you are all doing what's right! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

October 6, 2015

Hey Family! 

So I got transferred to Rio Rancho serving in the High Range ward and the Rio Rancho YSA branch! My new companion is Elder Worley!! He was my companion in the MTC so we are STOKED!!! The High Range ward is full of golfers and Ute fans so it's probably the best ward! A ton of members have offered to take us golfing now that they know who I am hahaha and they all keep me up to date on the Utes! Speaking of that's so sweet that they are ranked 5 I heard Travis is killing it!

We have a baptism coming up this Saturday of a girl named Alyssa in the YSA branch. She is super solid and her whole family and a lot of her friends are against her being baptized. They throw anti at her left and right like all day, but her testimony is crazy strong and she knows without a doubt that it's true! It's way cool! We have a couple solid investigators in the High Range ward and we are excited to find a ton more this week! Last week we had a zone training which went really well! I love giving trainings, it's super fun to get up there and just testify and throw down on missionaries! Haha we have a zone conference coming up this week which we will be giving another training at! It will be really good to hear from President Miller as well! 

General Conference was boss!!!!! I loved all of the talks but my favorite was probably President Uchtdorf's in the Priesthood session! He just kills it every time, It was sweet how he related the story of Daniel to us! We need to always be worthy and defend our faith! Anyways, thanks for the emails I love and miss you all! I'm pumped to be in this new area and for the work that I will be able to do here! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

September 28, 2015

GO UTES!!! That's so beast that they beat Oregon! Does that put them at 4-0? So we got the transfer news and I'm being transferred! I'm kinda bummed but excited at the same time. I'll miss Amy's baptism but I will get to serve in a new area so that will be fun! I won't find out my new area until the transfer meeting on Tuesday! The YSA branch got reopened and the are getting sister missionaries in it!

This week was good! We went out with our Stake President last Tuesday, and a couple weeks ago we had a meeting for the leadership in the stake and we were able to go to that. They put a big push on members going out with the missionaries to meet with less actives, part member families, children over 8 who haven't been baptized yet, and prospective elders. So the appointment that we had set up for President Lewis to come with us to was a family who had called us asking if we could visit with them and their 16 year old son who was looking for some direction in his life. They told us that he is very anti-social and that they haven't been to church in years, so we were really excited to meet them! We went over there with President Lewis and were talking to the family and the family consists of Bundimae (great grandma) Valarie (grandma) and her husband,  Jayce (16 year old grandson) and Logan (11 year old grandson). So we asked them some questions about why they called us and what their background was with the church, and they said that neither Jayce or Logan had been baptized and that they had been less active for like 30 years!! Haha so it was a less active part member family, with a child of record over 8 who hadn't been baptized, and almost a prospective elder! We were super excited about that and we ended up teaching them the Restoration and inviting Jayce to read the Book of Mormon which he said he would! Hopefully they will continue to progress in the Gospel! We had some other teaching appointments and got in some tracting time as well this week so overall it was pretty awesome!

Anyways, I'm excited to see where my new area will be and to be able to serve there! I'm so grateful to be on a mission! It's the best calling in the church by far! Thanks for all the support and the emails! I love all of you guys and I'll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

September 22, 2015

Hey Family,

Everyone in my ward is talking about college football now that the season is starting. I heard BYU lost by 1 this weekend haha brutal! I didn't hear anything about the Ute game but hopefully they won! I'm guessing Tyler is going to be married in 6 months haha! That's sweet that Bamuel had a comeback in his football game! 

Transfers are coming up next week and we get the transfer news on Saturday. I have a big possibility that I'll be transferred. I hope I stay at least one more because the area is doing really well right now and the ward is catching the vision of missionary work! There are rumors that they are going to reopen the YSA branch in our stake to missionaries. It was closed down a while back because we lost a lot of missionaries and there wasn't much work going on there, but now a lot of new missionaries are coming in so they may reopen it! Elder Burton and I are hoping that we can take over the branch! Who knows what will happen though?

This week was pretty good. No Amy did not get baptized... So we had a lesson with her last week and we kinda came up with a plan to let Shawn know about the baptism. We were with a member and the member suggested to write him a letter letting him know her feelings about it and her decision. So she decided that we would postpone the baptism to this Saturday and give him the letter on the Saturday of last week. So she wrote up the letter and we all fasted and prayed a ton that Shawn's heart would be softened, and we all said that whatever happens it's the Lord's will. So she gave Shawn the letter and he ripped it up and threw it in her face and cussed her out for a couple hours before he left the home to go get drunk at a casino or something... So she and the kids left and stayed at her parents house for a while and they ended up coming to Church on Sunday even with everything going on which was amazing. But we realized that this Saturday is not going to work for the baptism because her daughter will be with her dad on a campout. So we have set the date for Oct. 2nd the day before conference! We're still deciding what to do about Shawn but Amy will be baptized whether it's on the 2nd or later!! I really hope I don't get transferred so I can be here for it! She said that she wants me to be the one to baptize her so I hope I can be here! The rest of our week was pretty crazy as well haha! We ran into a lot of crazy people while tracting and we had a lot of cancellations but that's ok because most of them moved their appointments to this week so we have a lot going on this week! Tonight our Stake President is coming out with us to some appointments so that will be sweet! 

Anyways, I love and miss all of you and I hope everything is going well! Keep choosing the right! I'll talk to you all next week! 

Love Elder Summerhays

September 15, 2015

Hey Family!

That is SWEET that Dad qualified for the Boston Marathon! And that story is awesome! I wish I could come and watch it in Boston! You'll have to send me videos and pictures though! Priesthood blessings are awesome!! I don't know how you can not believe in God after witnessing a priesthood blessing or being a part of one! They're sweet!

Speaking of priesthood blessings, Elder Burton and I went on exchanges twice this week and on one of the exchanges Elder Burton and another Elder in the zone found a girl named Alexx (Yes two x's... some parents haha) she was outside chasing her dog down the street and they asked her if she needed any help getting him back in the house, and she said no but they ended up helping her anyways and asked her about the Gospel and stuff. She started asking some questions about what we believe and she asked what we do for sick people in the church. They explained priesthood blessings and how it's the same authority that Christ used to heal the sick and she thought that was pretty cool so we went back yesterday and taught her a little bit more about it and gave her a priesthood blessing. It was a great blessing and after it we asked her how she felt and what she thought! She liked it and she asked some more questions, and we ended up teaching most of the points of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and stuff! She loved it and we set a return appointment for this Friday to go back and teach her more! Amy should be having her baptism this week but she called us this Sunday and she said she hasn't talked to her husband Shawn yet and she wants our opinion on what she should do. We are meeting with her tomorrow so keep her in your prayers and hopefully we will be able to help her get an answer as to what she should do! We biked a ton this week which was sweet and we found a lot of potential investigators so hopefully they will turn into new investigators soon!

Anyways, Love and miss you all and hope everything is well at home! Missionary work is amazing and I love it! I'll talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

September 8, 2015

Hey Family!

That's sweet that the Utes beat Michigan! I can't remember who told us but I think it was one of the members that we ate dinner with that was telling us about it! Sounds like Sam and Char are killing it in football! Grandma Deb sent me a picture of Bam in his football jersey and it looks sweet! Mom that movie that you guys went to see sounds sweet!

This week was really good for us! We were able to meet with a ton of our investigators and we were super busy because of MLC and Zone Training and stuff! I love those weeks where there is just no break from appointment to appointment! We met with Amy a couple times this week and she came to church on Sunday finally!! We have been talking with her about the hope that the Gospel really brings into our lives, and how we can become perfected in Christ! In our last visit we shared the Mormon message called "The Hope of Gods Light" If you haven't seen it I would recommend it! But she is on her way to baptism on the 19th. We also met a new lady named Annya! We were going over to a recent converts house to ask him to come participate in our zone training on Friday and she was over at his house talking with him and so he invited us in and we talked with them. She ended up asking a ton of questions about our church and our beliefs and we taught her basically all of the points of the Restoration and some of the Plan of Salvation! It was really awesome to see how the Spirit can confound anyone if we are in tune with it! We weren't able to meet with Tina Arce this week but we are hoping to maybe see her tonight!

Anyways, being a missionary is the best! I love all of you and hope you are all being safe! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

                  Elder Summerhays burning a shirt to celebrate his year mark

September 1, 2015

Man I can't believe I hit my 1 year mark this Thursday! Crazy how fast it has gone by! It sounds like everything is going well at home. That's sweet that Sam and Char are both playing football! Is it tackle or flag? Tight end is a sweet position for Char to play in haha! And I bet Sam is a beast running back and wide receiver! That's hilarious that Pookie attacked a chicken! Where did the chicken come from haha?

This week was really good for us! We met with Amy New and talked about the baptismal interview questions. We had a member with us and we talked with Amy about telling her husband Shawn about the baptism before she gets baptized just so she can have a little bit of support! They are taking marriage counseling classes soon so she is going to bring it up with the counselor there, we are going to be praying for her and hopefully everything goes well! We met with a lady named Tina Arce in our ward. She has a daughter on a mission right now in Tennessee and she emailed us and told us to go to her moms house and teach her because she is not a member. So we set something up to go and meet with her and we taught her the Restoration. It went really well! She had a couple concerns about the Book of Mormon and a couple other things about prophets but we were able to resolve them and help her to understand! She said she would be at Church last week but she ended up being sick so that kinda stunk but she will be there this week! We met with a couple other people as well, and did a lot of tracting and contacting!

Anyways, I am so grateful to be on a mission and I can't believe how fast it is going! Like Dad said in his email I need to make this year better than the next, so that is what I am going to do! I'm not going to let one moment go to waste! I love you all and thank you so much for the support that you give me! Have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

August 25, 2015

Hey Family!

So transfers happened! I stayed in Volcano Cliffs with Elder Burton which I was happy about! Our whole zone got switched around and we got two brand new missionaries! It was cool to see them and help them out a little bit! It reminded me of when I was brand new and how nervous I was and how much I didn't know! It's weird to see how far I've come!

This week was great for us! We spent a lot of time finding new investigators but were also able to meet with the investigators that we do have and teach them! We met with Jim Millard this week. Idk if you remember him but when I first got to the area Elder Mikesell and I taught him and set a baptism date with him, but ever since then he has dropped off the planet like no contact at all! So one of the days last week we decided to drop by his house and he ended up being there and let us in! He said that he was just getting ready to put his dog down which he took really hard, so we said a prayer with him and set a return appointment to come back and teach him. So we went on splits on Thursday this week and I went with our Bishop to go visit Jim, and we basically caught up with his life and asked him if he had any questions or concerns. He focuses a ton on the deep doctrine of the Gospel and wants to know all of the "mysteries of the kingdom" I guess you could say, so we told him that he needs to start with a foundation of faith and prayer and the basics before he can gain a testimony of the deep stuff! We both testified and the Spirit was there and Jim said that he hasn't prayed or read in a while and he admitted that he needs to start doing that, so we committed him to do it and he said he would! We also met with Paul and his family again this week and taught them the Plan of Salvation! It was a really good lesson and they loved the idea of families being able to be together forever! Their son Isaiah actually sat in on the lesson this time and he ate it all up as well! We told him about Seminary afterwards because school is starting up and he said he really wants to go even though it's early morning! The whole family believes in what we have taught them and they accepted baptism so hopefully next time we meet we can set a date with them!

Anyways, I am loving being a missionary! It's a great feeling to come home at night just scorched from the sun and beat because you worked hard all day! I can't believe it's almost been a year already... I love all of you and hope everything is going well at home! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

August 17, 2015

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is making the transition back into school. I heard it has been really hot in Utah the past couple weeks. It has been super hot here too, and we have been outside a lot and I'm definitely getting a tan!

This week we were able to set a baptismal date with Amy New! She is going to get baptized on the 19th of September! We are really excited to continue to teach her and help her into the waters of baptism! This week we were also able to find a new investigator family. Their names are Paul, Julie, and their kids Isaiah, Luke, Gabe, and Micah (all bible names except Julie). We contacted them a couple weeks ago and they said that we could come back and share a message with them. So we came back yesterday and taught them the Restoration. It went really well and they agreed with all of it! We committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they said that they would! Paul wondered why so many people would reject another book of scripture to help increase our knowledge and we told him that we wonder that same thing haha! But we are meeting with them again this week so we are excited for that! We also did some more tracting and contacting and we were able to find some more potential investigators so hopefully we can turn them into new investigators!

Anyways, I hope all is well back home. Keep doing what's right and remember that Jesus Christ lives! I am grateful to be serving at this time and I love all of you! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

August 11, 2015

Hey Family!

All the pictures of St. George look awesome! I love that place! I remember that hike that we always go on when we go down there, was it the same one? Whatever it is it looks like a sweet hike! There is a petroglyph national monument right outside the border of our area. We live right next to a mesa and right next to some volcano's but I haven't visited them yet. Mom I thought it was funny that you said "Doh!" Haha everyone in our zone is starting to say that because I say it too!

This week was really busy! We had MLC on Thursday and they talked a lot about helping investigators and missionaries make and keep commitments! We also came out with a new thing. So every year our mission sets a baptism goal, and this year it was 850+ baptisms. So in our mission right now we are a little bit behind in reaching that goal for the year so in MLC one of the zone leaders brought it up, and we discussed together as zone leaders what a good idea would be to get everyone kinda remotivated to reach the goal. We all decided on setting quarterly goals for baptisms! So every three months we will have a baptism goal for each of our zones and at the end of the three months we will set a new one so that we can stay focused and motivated on the goal! I thought it was a great idea and after we presented it and discussed it with the zone in zone training, all of the missionaries are pumped to reach the new goal that we have set! We also had SMCM this week which is a meeting where the Stake Presidency and the high councilors for each ward and us all meet and talk about the missionary work that is going on in the stake! It's a pretty sweet meeting! We get to work a lot with the stake high councilor over missionary work, which I think is pretty cool because that's dad's calling isn't it? Does it work the same in Utah? If it does then that means that I am going to one of the same meetings that dad goes to which is sweet!

As for our area things are going pretty well! We found a new investigator this week. He is the boyfriend of an older lady in our ward and he lives in Florida! It was pretty cool because I could relate to him cause Granny and Grandpa served there! Surprisingly he had never been to Rita's, and I told him he's gotta go there!  He is only going to be here until Saturday which kinda stinks... But we are teaching him this week and we are going to help him understand more about our beliefs so that either some missionaries in Florida can find him or that if he ever comes back hopefully we can teach him again! We had a lot of appointments cancel this last week but luckily they moved to this week so we are excited to be able to teach more of our investigators!

Anyways, I love and miss all of you and I hope all is well at home! Keep doing what's right! I am loving the mission, and transfers are next week by the way, so pday will probably be on Monday! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

                                                          Knocking on doors

August 4, 2015

Hey Family,

I can't believe school is starting up already! Summer always flies by even on your mission, but it sounds like you guys had an awesome summer! Congrats to Ava on being baptized and that's awesome that Jeff got to do it! 

This week was pretty good for me! We were able to teach a guy named Chris Gomez, I may have talked about him in the past but Elder Mikesell and I met him a while ago and have been trying to set up appointments with him for forever now! We tried stopping by a couple days ago and he let us into his backyard to teach him! We figured out his religious background and he was episcopal a while back and right now he is going to some Christian church a couple streets down from our area. He said it's kind of loud and irreverent but he loves the pastor there so that's why he keeps going. We were able to teach him the Restoration and focus on receiving an answer to prayer. He said that he really is seeking to know the truth and he said he would read and pray hard about the Book of Mormon and about our message, so we are excited to meet with him again this Sunday and talk about how it went! 

We did a lot of tracting and street contacting this week also and we met some people from London which was cool! We contacted them and it felt like I got a little taste of dad's mission haha! They had thick British accents and they were there visiting friends. They weren't really interested in the Gospel but they were really nice!

Anyways, things are going great in ABQ! We have MLC and Zone Training this week so we should be pretty busy! I hope you all are doing good and choosing the right! I love and miss each of you! Thanks for everything you guys do for me!

Love Elder Summerhays

July 28, 2015

Dear Family,

Thanks mom for the pants that you sent! They are awesome, in fact I'm wearing them right now! And Salted Nut Roll's are my favorite candy bar, that's hilarious that you guys ran around the whole store looking for Salted Nut Roll's! Also, I can't believe that Mason Seelos is already leaving on his mission!! Time is just cruising!!

This week was awesome! We were able to meet with Adelina last Tuesday and one of the priests in our ward came with us! We taught her the Restoration, and she had a lot of questions and concerns. At one point in the lesson after we taught the Apostasy she said "So you said that the Bible has lost some things over the years and that the Book of Mormon tells us about some of those things, can you tell me 3 things that the Bible has lost that the Book of Mormon has?" Haha so we explained that it talks about the Spirit World and heaven and more about the life of Jesus Christ, but then I got a prompting from the Spirit to talk about baptism, so then I said "Well the Bible talks about baptism and it says that Jesus Christ was baptized and that we need to follow his example, but it doesn't explain very much about why we are baptized, and what it means and does for us in our lives." and Adelina said "You know I never really noticed that before. In my church people always say that we need to get baptized, but I never really understood why?" And so we opened up to Mosiah 18 and talked about the covenant that we make at baptism and how if we keep it then we will not only receive Eternal Life but also we will always have his Spirit with us. She thought that was pretty cool and we invited her to baptism, and she said it will take a lot of study and prayer but if she does come to know it's true then she will be baptized! It was sweet because I had never really even thought about that before, but just like it says in D&C 84:85 it was given to me in the very hour what I needed to say by the Spirit! It was an awesome experience!

We also met with the Scotts this week and it was Ash and her daughter Nara that were there for the lesson. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on baptism as well, and we were able to set a baptismal date with them for August 29th! Nara is 9 years old and she said she really wants to be baptized, so that will be a huge help and motivation for Ash to be baptized with her daughter!

Anyways, things are going awesome over here in the ABQ! I love every second of the work and I don't want it to end! It's insane that my year mark is basically a month away... But that's just motivation to work harder! I love you all and hope all is well! Keep on doing what's right! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

                                                       Alma 32 on the sidewalk