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