August 9, 2016

Elder Summerhays' Last letter:

Dear Family,

Man I can't believe it's already almost been two years! Time has gone by way to fast. This is the last email you will be getting from me on my mission and it feels weird for me to say that.

The past two years have been the best two years of my life hands down. I feel like I have learned more about everything than I had the whole 18 years before. I have loved every second of it, and though there were parts that were challenging, and tests that I had to get through, the happiness and pure joy that I have felt overpowers all. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to come to know my Savior, to help others to come to know him too, and to help them experience the peace that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will never forget the things that have happened on my mission and the Spirit that I have felt. I have had a complete change of heart and I don't know where I would be without that! Albuquerque and El Paso have a special place in my heart!

I have a testimony that Jesus is the Christ. That he came to the earth and performed the Atonement. He suffered and bled for all of our sins, and he has given us the opportunity to have faith unto repentance. We can become clean from the guilt and shame and sadness that comes from sin. He died on the cross and rose again on the third day so that all of us will one day be resurrected and return to our Father in Heaven again. I know that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 in answer to his first outspoken prayer. Joseph was called to be a prophet and, under the direction of Christ, was able to restore His church back onto the earth. We have the fulness of the Gospel today and that is such a blessing. It is found in the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith did translate it. It has a power in it that can change us and help us through this life. It is the evidence of our glorious message of the Restoration. I love this Gospel, and I love my Heavenly Father. I know He loves me and all of us with all his heart! His commandments will help us, they will make us happy, and they are the way to Eternal Life. I hope you all can come to know these truths for yourself too! I love  all of you and I am so grateful for all of the support that I have received on my mission! I am excited to see you guys in a week! Love ya

Love Elder Summerhays

August 2, 2016

Hey Family,

Congrats to Danny on taking 3rd place in the PGA Championship. I was getting updates from all the members this week haha! 

Elder Mapes and I have been working super hard! We're sprinting to the finish and it's great! I've seen a lot of missionaries during my time as a missionary, who don't sprint to the finish, and who just completely give up their last weeks in the mission field. I think it's super sad to see that. They don't reach their full potential. In a golf tournament if you're playing good the whole round you're not going to just give up on the last couple holes and double bogey out, it ruins your whole round. If you go home from your mission having given up for the last little bit, the rest of it is meaningless. If you're not going forward you're going backward. 

We tracted a lot this week because a lot of our investigators cancelled on us. We were able to meet with Fred and he didn't come to church this week which was a bummer, but we reset his baptismal date again. It's super tough because the only thing that is holding him back from being baptized today is his health. If he was feeling good he would be a member already, but the cancer treatment is just brutal on him, and he started feeling not so good again this week. We met with Jay yesterday and we found out that she has a problem with drinking tea. We got all of the tea bags that she had a threw them away for her, and she is trying to stop now so that's good! She also said that she is going to do everything that she can to finally make it to church so hopefully that works out too.

Missionary work is my favorite thing. I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father right now. I hope you all are doing well. Keep doing what's right and know that I love and miss you all! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

July 25, 2016

Hey Family!

Congrats to Joe on getting to play in the PGA Championship! That's so sweet! Wish I was there to watch it but you guys will have to tell me how it goes! Sounds like everyone else is doing well too! 

This week was awesome! We had a straight up miracle happen with Fred! So every time we have seen Fred since we met him, which was probably about a month and a half ago, we have said "Hey Fred how's it going?" when we walk into his house and without fail he always says "Not so good guys" or "Pretty bad" or something like that because his health is bad and he's going through some cancer treatments and stuff. We gave him a blessing a while back and in the blessing it said that he would be healed. So this week on Friday we walk in and he greets us and he's super happy! It almost didn't seem like it was him. Then we asked him how he was doing and he said "A lot better guys, I feel great!" The reason why it was so awesome is that this last Wednesday we had fasted for Fred and his health, that he would be able to recover and be able to come to church and get baptized. So we kept talking with him and he had a question about whether or not our church had some sort of program where we can take a bunch of his old stuff he had and give it to someone that needed it. So we told him about the DI but we didn't know if there was one in El Paso so we asked him what kind of stuff he had, and he told us. So then we offered to take some of the stuff and also to ask around to see if anyone could use any of it. And he got the biggest smile on his face and was just like "Really? Really guys? That's awesome, oh that's just great!" and then he kept saying things like that and started crying and said "Maybe I will join your guys church after all." So then we kept talking and answered some of his questions about the Book of Mormon, and he said "You know guys I'm really optimistic about coming to church this week, with my health this good!" and then he told us that if he came this last week and next week then he would be willing to be baptized the next week! So we set a date with him for August 6th and he accepted! It was a miracle, I've never seen him so happy! So we are excited for that day!

We also had a district meeting this week about the Atonement. I have been studying about the Atonement a lot this week and it's just so amazing! I've seen the change that happens in people's lives through the Atonement my whole mission and I've seen it in my own life more than ever! I would invite you all to study about the Atonement and strive every single day to be changed and converted through it! That is where true happiness lies I promise! I love and miss all of you and hope all is well! Keep doing what's right. Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

July 19, 2016

Hey Family!

The trip to McCall lake looks awesome! Everyone looks like they had a great time! Was the water pretty cold?

This week was pretty sweet! The highlight of the week was a miracle that we had on Sunday! In the morning we went to a catholic mass with one of our investigators named Victoria, because she invited us, and we felt like we should just to show her that we respect all religions. She is 16 and she wanted to start meeting with us because her biological father is a member and she wanted to have a connection with him by learning more about our beliefs. So we went and it was a pretty cool experience! The preacher actually gave a pretty good sermon, and after the sermon they did kind of a sacrament thing that they call the eucharyst. After mass we ate some lunch at our apartment then we went to church! Victoria was there and she sat by us, but then the Williams family, who have been fellowshipping her, waved at her to go sit by them so she did! sacrament meeting was great. We had Mike and Michael both passing the sacrament, and the speakers were pretty good too! After sacrament meeting was over Victoria came up to us with tears in her eyes and said "Sorry guys I just can't control my emotions! If I were to get baptized who would baptize me?" Haha so we explained that anyone with the priesthood could do it, and then she said "That last speaker just hit me really hard and I really felt the Spirit, and I feel so strongly that the church is true. I just don't know how I'm going to tell my mom and my stepdad." Her parents are really strong catholics and they really love their church so she is afraid that they won't let her get baptized. So we talked with her about it and came up with some plans of what she could say to her parents and we testified about the truthfulness of the Gospel, and she felt a little more comforted about it! So she is going to talk with her parents about being baptized and we are hoping and praying that they will be ok with it! But it was an amazing experience! When you guys go to church make sure to focus on the Spirit that is there because too often we go through the motions every Sunday, and we forget why we are really there. It is a day set apart to worship the Lord, and to rest from our labors, and you will feel the Spirit and have your testimony renewed if you do that! 

The three people who had baptismal dates all had to be taken off date because they didn't get to church this week so that was a bummer. But we are going to try to reset all of them this week! Anyways, I love and miss all of you guys and hope all is well! Keep on keeping on! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

July 12, 2016

Dear Familia,

Sounds like you guys had a good week and an awesome Sunday! Kill it out there Timmy and Brit!! You guys are going to be solid missionaries! I miss golfing with the fam, looks like a good time! 

This week was pretty good! The highlight of the week was Allen Greene. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was a really powerful lesson! We testified a ton about the Atonement and what it does for us. At the end of the lesson we asked him what the Plan of Salvation means for him and he said "Well gosh man, I mean there's no place I'd rather be than the Celestial Kingdom!" Then he went on to say "I just can't even imagine how much love Jesus Christ must have for us for willingly going through all of that. And knowing that..." and then he started tearing up "How could you not accept that, and how could you not follow him?" It was so powerful and the Spirit was there so strong! He's ready to be baptized, and all we have to do now is finish teaching him and get him to church! He's going to be a great member!

We also saw Bruce and Jay this week and taught them the Plan of Salvation as well. They loved all of it and believe all of it! After the lesson they said "When we're baptized you're still going to come by and teach us right?" and we said yes and also explained home teachers to them and Jay was like "I love that, that's awesome!" And then she turned to Bruce and said "Honey we found our church!" Haha so that was sweet! We're excited for their baptism. 

We had a zone training this week and we got a new scripture of the month. It's 3 Nephi 5:13. We are supposed to memorize it by the end of the month. I've been thinking about that scripture and there are a lot of ways that we can apply it in our lives, but I just love the humility that you can see in that verse. As disciples of Jesus Christ we have to remember that this is His work and His word, and that the people around us are His people, our brothers and sisters. We need to turn our hearts over to Christ and humbly serve Him. Always remember who gave us life and always remember who gave us the opportunity to find happiness and peace in this life and in the life to come. Without Christ we would have and be nothing. I love Him so much and I will serve him for the rest of my life. So I would invite all of you to memorize that scripture by the end of the month, and apply it to your life! 

Anyways, I love and miss all of you and hope all is well! Keep doing what's right! Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

July 5, 2016

Hey Fam,

Man the 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday! I love the Kaysville parade! Looks like you guys had an awesome time! Elder Mapes and I saw a couple fireworks from our apartment last night. It was funny because we were just sitting out on our porch watching them and then one of our neighbors just gets home and comes on over and jumps onto our railing and just sits there and starts venting to us about how bad of a 4th of July he had haha! It was good though because we eventually got around to talking with him about the Gospel and about God and stuff, and he said he wants to hear more! It was pretty sweet.

This week was really good! We were able to set a baptismal date with Fred! He finally admitted that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true. He said "There's just no way a young guy in New York in 1820 could have just wrote this book." It's super awesome to hear investigators admit that the Book of Mormon is true! It strengthens your testimony of it! So Fred's date is for July 23 he is praying about whether that's the right date or not, so we're going to meet with him this week again and figure it all out! 

We also have two more baptismal dates set with investigators named Bruce and Jay. They are a couple who really love hearing the word of God. They were both raised in the south as baptists and they love the Lord. We taught them the Restoration this week, and we had taught Jay it before but Bruce had never heard it. They both loved it and believed it, so we invited them to be baptized and they said they would! So we set a date for July 30 and they said that they would prepare for that day! We also have another guy on date for the 30th whose name is Allen Green! He works for border patrol and he's just a super nice and humble guy. We've taught him a couple times but he has read all the way through 1 Nephi! He loves the Book of Mormon and he has super good questions about it whenever we come over. He is definitely going to be baptized on the 30th! We are going to teach him the Plan of Salvation this week and continue to prepare him for his date!

We also met with Mark again this week. He continues to have questions but the good thing about it is that he's actually studying and not just going to the internet for his answers! It's crazy how true the Gospel is! Answering his questions and talking with him, even though some of his questions could be offensive or are maybe rude about the church, just confirms my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel! There is so much evidence I don't even see how anyone can deny it! 

Anyways, I love all of you guys and hope all is well! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

                                      

June 28, 2016

Hey Family!

Sweet, that Sam's going to scout camp! I remember those days. 

Our new mission President, President Guffey, came in today and we are meeting with him on the 2nd of June for a little conference to get to know him better!

We had some crazy and some awesome stuff happen this week! We had a great lesson with Fred. Last week we had offered him a priesthood blessing, because he has cancer and the treatment that he is going through is really wearing him out, and he said that he would like one, so that was the first thing we did. The blessing was powerful and right when it was over he stood up and just kind of smiled and said "Wow." and we asked him how he felt and he said "Really peaceful." It was the first time ever that we had asked him how he felt or how he's doing and said something other than "Not so good." so that was really cool! We then talked about the priesthood and the member that we had with us testified about the church and the Book of Mormon and Fred said that he felt something as he was testifying. It was probably the best lesson that we had with him and he is making more progress now toward getting his answer!

Something crazy happened on Sunday. After sacrament meeting we needed to talk to the Bishop about something so during second hour we waited outside his office for him to come out so we could talk with him. While we were waiting we got a text and it was a media referral from church headquarters named Mark Brunner who requested a Book of Mormon and it said that he requested contact ASAP. So we hit call on his number and he didn't answer the first time, so then we waited about a minute and he called us back. When he answered he was like "Wow your guys' system is amazing! I sent that request in about 1 minute ago and you were already calling me, in fact the reason that I didn't answer is because I was on the phone with someone from your church!" Haha! So Elder Mapes and I set the record for fastest contacted referral ever. I know that means nothing to all of you but we were pretty excited. So he asked if our church was off of Redd rd. and Resler rd. and we said yes and then he said "I'm near there and I can head over to your church to meet you guys if that works for you?" haha and so we said yes and he came and met us. We started talking with him and he had been catholic his whole life until he got mugged one time, and then he really turned his life over to Christ and now he is christian. He has a friend that is Mormon and he wants to learn more about the religion so he can have a good discussion with his friend. So we asked him if he had any questions and what he wanted to learn and he kinda just started Bible bashing us haha... So I was talking to him and Bishop finally came out of his meeting so Elder Mapes went over to Bishop to ask him what we needed to ask him while I talked with Mark, and then he came back and we ended up sitting down in the foyer. He asked us a ton of questions about the Apostasy and priesthood authority and a couple other things but as we were talking church was just happening haha so members were going by on their way to class and they would all shake his hand and introduce themselves right in the middle of this! And then one member overheard us talking and he actually ended up joining in on the discussion haha! This member is basically a Bible scholar and so he was able to answer a lot of the questions clearly. So we taught him all the way until the end of church haha and we confounded him by the Spirit, and this all happened during church haha. He said that he wants to meet with us again this week! We have an appointment set up with him and he says that his two main concerns are that the Apostasy never happened and that the priesthood was never lost, and that Joseph Smith is not a true prophet. We think that if we continue to help him feel the Spirit that he will eventually come around!

I've been thinking a lot about obedience this week and what comes from being obedient in our lives. I can testify that being obedient is the way to happiness, power, and having the Spirit in our lives. There is such a noticeable difference when we are obedient and when we are not. God will lead you in your life as you live his commandments. He is bound when we do what he say, which means when we are obedient we will recieve blessings, but when we are not we do not have that promise. Please stay obedient to the commandments, and I promise that everything will work out, and you will change! I love and miss all of you and hope everything is going well! Talk to you guys later!

Love Elder Summerhays

June 21, 2016

Hey Family,

Sounds like girls camp was fun! Idk if I could have done that challenge course, I hate heights. It sounds really fun though!

We had a pretty good week this week. We ended up having a lot of cancellations but it turned out to be pretty good! We found a new investigator named Josh, and he's pretty solid. He is a mexican guy who's a truck driver so he's out of town a lot and so it's hard to catch him. We tracted into him a while back and he said he would be willing to listen to us some time but he was busy then. So we came back this week and he let us in and we were able to teach the Restoration to him. He was asking a ton of questions throughout the whole thing which is good! At the end we invited him to be baptized and he said that he would if he read the Book of Mormon and came to know it was true! We are excited to continue teaching him although it's going to be a little tough to catch him with his job. 

We are still teaching Fred and he isn't progressing very much right now. We have been really bold with him about baptism and how he can and needs to get an answer through the Holy Ghost but he says that he wants to read the entire Book of Mormon before he makes any decisions... We're trying to help him understand that he doesn't need to read the whole thing to know if it's true or not, but he's been kinda stubborn. So we are going to keep meeting with him and continue being bold! 

We are working a lot on finding people right now with Michael and Mike being confirmed this Sunday. We are going to be out a ton in the blazing heat this week and it's going to be sweet! Anyways, I love all of you guys and hope everything is going well for you! Keep doing what's right! Talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays

June 14, 2016

Dear Family,

I know mom is at girls camp so I hope everyone gets this email. 

Mike and Michael got baptized!! The service went really well and they felt the Spirit super strong! Michael said that the thing that he is most excited about with joining the church is more involvement! He and Mike are really solid and they are going to be kingdom builders! We had stake conference this weekend so we are doing the confirmation this upcoming Sunday. 

We also found two new investigators this week. One of them is named Steve, and we met him a couple weeks ago while tracting. He said that he was busy working on something with the city council but that we could come by another time. So we went by again about a week later and he said he was still busy, but he promised us that he could meet with us the next week! So we called him and set something up the next week and it worked out! He is a really nice guy who you can tell is very honest, and he is a strong believer in Jesus Christ. He served in the Navy for a little while and now he just lives in a home by himself. We taught him most of the Restoration but he talked a ton so we weren't able to get through the whole thing in time. At the end he said that he has a lot of questions so we told him that we would come back and answer all of his questions. We're excited to continue teaching him. 

Transfers was yesterday and Elder Mapes and I are both staying here in the Mesa ward. Things are going really well and we are excited for this upcoming transfer. The ward is starting to catch fire with missionary work as well and we are hoping to get some referrals from the members pretty soon! It's so awesome to see all of the blessings that come from being diligent! This is my last full transfer in the mish because my next one will kind of be a half transfer... It's nuts how fast that last one went. Elder Mapes and I have set some awesome transfer goals and we're going to do everything in our power to reach them! I know it will go by too fast but I'm going to make it the best! 

This week I have been thinking a lot about finishing. With a couple missionaries in our zone leaving this last transfer and my time fast approaching haha. Also we have had a lot of investigators who will listen to us and will keep some of their commitments, like they will read and pray and sometimes come to church, but a lot of them are failing to finish. They won't make that last step into the waters of baptism. We continue to be super persistent and keep on inviting them but they just won't finish. I've seen some missionaries who do pretty good their whole mission and they have so much potential at the very end of their mission to work miracles and see success but they just can't finish! My invitation to all of you would be to make sure you finish! Whatever it is that's going on in your life don't run up and down the football field never running into the end zone. Make sure you finish strong! I love and miss all of you and hope everything is going well! Talk to you later! 

Love Elder Summerhays

                                                                    

June 7, 2016

Dear Family,

Congrats to Liv on graduating! That's super awesome Liv wait to stick it out! I bet you guys are all getting excited with summer coming up!

This week was really good! We were really busy which is the best! We are getting excited for Michael and Mike's baptism this Saturday, and so are they! They are both super ready and they are going to be solid members of the church! 

We were also able to meet with Fred this week. He is reading the Book of Mormon every day and studying it thoroughly. He has questions about it every time we come over and we answer them for him. We invite him to baptism in every single lesson and he keeps saying that when he gets a solid answer then he will set a date for his baptism, but he wants to first get to that point so that's what we are working on with him. We are also working with another guy named Bob Gardner. His wife is a member named Michelle who is less active, and he has been meeting with the missionaries for years now. He has an alcohol addiction that he is trying to overcome right now by going to rehab, and it's helping a little bit, but he still hasn't completely overcome it. We are working with him and we invited him to be baptized. He talked about how he has a couple things that he has to overcome before then, but eventually he feels like he wants to do it! So we're helping him with that and he came to church this week for the first time in forever so that was cool! 

We did a lot of tracting this week as well and we met a lot of nice people who just didn't want to take the necessary steps to change their lives around. We would explain the Restoration to them and talk about prophets really simply and testify about how it can help there lives and we would ask them if they thought this message would be important to them and they would say "Yeah definitely!" then we would ask when we could come by and share it with them and they would say "Well you know guys I'm not interested but thanks for coming by!" Then we would talk to them a little bit more and try again, but they would say they are busy or something like that. There is a saying in our mission called Learn, Do, Become. When we learn the Gospel we have a desire to live it and when we live it and do it, then we become like the Savior. We meet a lot of people who learn about the Gospel but they are not willing to do the things necessary to become a better person. There is so much potential that all of us in the world have as sons and daughters of God, but in order to reach it we not only have to believe in the Gospel and believe in The Savior, but we have to live the Gospel and DO like the Savior. I challenge all of you to do that. If you have anything right now that you feel like you could do a better job at, fix it! If you do you will become someone better! I love and miss all of you and hope all is well! Talk to you next week. 

Love Elder Summerhays

May 31, 2016

Hi Family,

Congrats to Jeff on the mission call! Is he speaking English? That sounds like a boss mission though! Kill it Jeff! Sounds like memorial day was awesome! I'm thinking about you guys!

This week was awesome! We had the opportunity to have a zone conference and it was powerful! This was President and Sister Miller's last one. The Zone Conference was focused on PMG and the importance of it. All of the zone leaders in the south of the mission gave a training and we learned a ton! At the end of the conference President got up and bore his testimony and shared some thoughts with us. He actually talked about missionaries who are getting ready to go home, and how we shouldn't worry. He bore a strong testimony about conversion, and how we need to decide to be a disciple of Jesus Christ right now and if we do that, that's what we will become. He said it a lot better than I make it sound, but it was so powerful! It applied so much not only to my mission but to the rest of life. We need to be committed in what we do. Life is completely up to us, we have 100% agency all of the time and we need to put doubt and fear and worry out of our mind and make the decision now to serve the Lord for the rest of our lives. If we doubt and fear what is in the future and we have that in our mind then that's what will happen. President said "You have the iron rod in your hand, now recognize it and do something with it!" I give the same challenge to all of you! At the end of the zone conference we all got in a line and were able to hug President Miller on our way out. Everyone was bawling and it was a spiritual experience. 

Other than Zone Conference we were able to teach a lot of lessons to investigators! We have 2 people on baptism date now. Michael Pinon missed his date this Saturday because he was out of town this week with family stuff, but he is back now and we reset his date for June 11! He is so ready and he's pumped to be baptized! We also have another guy on date for the 11th named Mike Nami. His wife is a recent convert who got baptized a couple months ago, and he just never got baptized with them. He made up some excuses for why he didn't get baptized and why he hasn't been baptized yet but we were able to go in there and figure out his real concerns and set him on date! They are from Iran so religion over there is very different than it is over here, and he explained it a little bit to us and it was pretty intense. But we were able to address his concerns and he committed to be baptized on the 11th of June which just happens to be a day after his birthday! We're super excited.

We weren't able to meet with Jay this week but we have an appointment with her tomorrow. We did meet with Norman again though, and we taught him the Restoration. He agreed with all of it but he did admit that he is a little hard headed haha. I can tell he wants it to be true but he just has to make the steps to come to know it for himself. He committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon so that was good! 

It's getting hotter and hotter here and we have been out biking lately. I am loving life, and having fun in the sun. Elder Burnett and I are going golfing today so that's going to be sweet! Anyways, I hope all is well with you guys! Love and miss you. Talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

May 24, 2016

Dear Family,

Sounds like everything's going well at home! Everybody is super excited for summer I bet! I remember how excited I got for summer and how short it usually went haha! But don't listen to me. EFY is pretty awesome Ann! 

This week was sweet! It was one of those weeks where you are just super exhausted at the end of the week because you worked really hard! It feels good! This week we found 2 new investigators. The first one is Jay. She is an African American lady who really loves God and Jesus Christ and who wants to come closer to them. She is living with her fiance and her son, and her son has a ton of questions about the Gospel that Jay doesn't know the answer to so she asks us and we answer them! She has a health condition where she has to go to physical therapy and she needs to walk to stay healthy. Jay had never heard of the Book of Mormon and when we told her about it and explained what it was she said "Why don't more people know about this?? This is awesome we need this!" Haha we were pumped to hear that. She needs someone to walk with her so that she has the motivation to do it so she was like "You guys can be my walking buddies!" And so we agreed and went walking with her. While we walked we taught her the Restoration and it was one of the best lessons I've been able to have. The whole thing made perfect sense to her and she had the perfect questions and the perfect answers to our questions! At the end of the lesson we invited her to baptism and she said "Wait a minute I've already been baptized though, do I have to be baptized again then?" And we explained the authority and told her that she did need to be baptized again and she was like "Yeah ok I can do that! Wait a minute do ya'll baptize, because when I was baptized it was in a river and I ain't gonna do that again!" Then we explained the baptismal font and she was like "Oh ok I like that!" Haha so she's super ready and we are excited to keep teaching her this week! 

The other new guy that we met is Norman Flaiz. He hasn't been to a church in a while but he had some questions about God. His biggest one was why do bad things happen to good people. He related a story to us that he had heard on the news about someone innocent being murdered and he just couldn't understand why God would allow that to happen. So we pulled out some scriptures in the Book of Mormon and helped him answer his question. It was cool because just a couple days earlier I was studying the questions of the soul section in Chapter 5 of PMG, so we were able to answer the question clearly! But he committed to read the BOM and next time we go over there we are going to teach him the Restoration. 

We did a ton of tracting this week in the hot sun, and I'm getting more and more tan! Met some crazy people and some normal people but I love El Paso! We have zone conference coming up this week and I'm excited to see what's in store for that! We have been working a ton with the members and helping them to do missionary work. Sometimes that can be hard but the members are doing a good job at inviting their friends and fellowshipping our investigators. I would invite all of you guys to do missionary work! Share the Gospel with others and I promise you'll be happy! I'm so lucky to be able to be a missionary and I can't wait to continue to share the Gospel after my mission! I love and miss all of you guys and hope all is well! Keep doing what's right, and I'll talk to you later!

Love Elder Summerhays 

May 17, 2016

Hey Family,

Sounds like you guys are doing pretty good! That's sweet that golf season is starting up for Sam. I'm excited to play when I get back! How warm is it in Utah right now?

This week was pretty good for us. We found a couple new investigators. One of them is named Fred. He was referred to us by the sister missionaries in our zone. He is an Anglican guy who doesn't agree with all of the stuff that his church is teaching, and he wants to find the truth. We went over there and he talked about how he has been in a couple churches throughout his life and he has liked almost all of them but he has found things that he disagreed with in all of them. So we told him that if he read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and continued to meet with us that he would know the truth. So then we went back later and talked about the Restoration and he liked it and agreed with all of it, and we invited him to baptism at the end and he said that when he learns more and comes to know that it's true then he will be baptized. He committed to come to church last Sunday and he came! We were super excited about that, and he is going to be baptized in the near future! 

The other new investigator that we found was a lady named Ashley. She is in medical school right now and she has had a busy schedule. She has also been through a lot of religions and she told us that she doesn't actually know what she believes in. She has been to so many churches and she had questions and the churches couldn't answer them and told her to pray about it, and she prayed and didn't feel like she got an answer. So she was starting to believe in science rather than religion. We told her about the Book of Mormon and how it supports the Bible and contains the fullness of the Gospel, and if she read and prayed about it she would know that God is there and what the truth was. Then she said "Well what's the difference? Why will this be any different than what I've done in the past?" So then we testified about how it could help her and why it is different and recommitted her to read and pray about it. So she said that she would, and before we left she asked us some questions about polygamy, not the polygamy in the modern church but in the old testament times, and we told her we would answer it when we came back again. So then we went back with one of our members and asked her if she had read and prayed. She said that she hadn't because she has been so busy with school and stuff, and she kept asking more questions about how she can know, and once again asked what the difference was between our church and other churches. We once again told her that she has to read and pray about it, and that there is no way she is going to know unless she does that. So she said she would and she told us to come back again later in the week. So we went back and this time her mom answered the door and said "Oh Ashley is sleeping, but she told me to give you guys this." And she handed us the Book of Mormon and it had a note in it that said (see picture). So we were kind of bummed about that, but we aren't going to give up! 

We also did a little bit of tracting this week and contacted a bunch of other referrals that we had been given. It was a pretty solid week overall! Michael is still progressing and he is really excited about his baptism coming up on the 28th!  It keeps getting hotter and hotter over here and I'm getting a nice tan! I'm loving ever minute! Anyways, I love and miss all of you guys and hope everything is going well! Talk to you later! 

Love Elder Summerhays

                             
                              

May 10, 2016

Hey Family,

It was awesome to see all of you guys on Mothers Day!! You all looked great and super different haha! Ava Grace I apologize for thinking you were Mia haha! I love each and every one of you and hope you know that! 

Things in El Zion are going well! Elder Mapes and I are doing a ton of finding! We have been tracting and visiting a lot of the members to get referrals! The members here are awesome (Close to Rio Zion) and they all have a super strong desire to do missionary work! We are hoping to see more referrals come this week because we spent a lot of time setting up some appointments yesterday for weekly planning! We have a guy that I may have mentioned in the facetime named Michael Pinon. He was referred to us this week by some missionaries who said that he was asking them how he could get baptized! We went over and taught him the Restoration this week and he said that he will be ready for baptism by May 28th! He is really solid and he came to church this week so that is awesome! Right now we are mostly working on finding so we can build up a solid teaching pool! 

Anyways, I hope you all are doing well and loving life! Be happy, and keep doing what's right! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Summerhays
                         

May 3, 2016

Hey Family!

That's crazy that there was another wind storm! Was it just as bad as the last one? That was fun to be able to go around and help everyone out though. It definitely feels good to serve! 

So I got transferred. It was so awesome to be able to serve in Rio Zion and I’m super grateful for the experiences that I had and the people I was able to meet! Now I am in El Paso Texas in a ward called the Mesa Ward. You can look out the window of our apartment and see Mexico haha! My companions name is Elder Mapes and he is a ton like Elder Olsen haha! I'm not a District Leader or a trainer anymore just a regular old missionary! There is definitely a lot of work to be done here. This ward has had a couple not so good missionaries in the past and so Elder Mapes says that the work is struggling a little bit, but I’m ready to turn El Paso into El Zion!! It is a lot warmer down here than it was in Rio Rancho and this will most likely be the last area in my mission, so I’m going to come home scorched and super tan! 

I am going to miss Forrests baptism this week, but he is excited and so ready to be baptized. This last week we were able to teach him a couple times and also pull some weeds in his backyard, and pull out a tree in his yard! His parents were wanting to pay us but we told them that we did it for free. I hope their hearts start to soften and maybe they will want to hear the message! We also met with Fred and Mary and Fred said that he wanted to be baptized but the only thing that is holding him back is his health problems. He is afraid with his bad knees and back that he wouldn’t be able to come up and down the stairs into the font. He wants to wait until he has better medication that will help him feel better, so hopefully that happens soon so he and Mary can get baptized as well! 

Anyways, I am super excited to be here and I see so much potential in our ward! I am excited to see miracles and to help more people into the waters of baptism! I love being a missionary! I love and miss you guys, and hope everything is going well! I'll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

April 26, 2016

Hi Family!

Well I got taken to the woodshed on the BOM challenge! You guys smoked me but that was definitely cheating! It sounds like a sweet experience though to do the Book of Mormon read a thon. I've never done one of those so when I get back we'll have to do one haha! 

 This week was pretty good. We were able to teach Forrest a couple times. He is almost done with all of the lessons so that’s cool. The most powerful lesson we had with him was yesterday. We taught him about tithing and it went really well. He accepted everything that we taught, and at the end we talked about fasting. As we were talking about it he interrupted and said “I already fast, does that count?” and we were like “You fast?” and he was like “Yeah I skip breakfast and lunch every day.” And the member that we had with us was like “Why??” and he said “We don’t have enough money to eat more food.” That was really sad to hear. On your mission you really grow to love the people that you serve and you want them to be so happy. It was sad to hear that his family is struggling so much. But we testified to him and helped him and later on after the lesson was over, he brought up that he has depression, and that has been a struggle for him, and he wants to overcome it so bad, and he knows he can but he just needs to do the things necessary to overcome it. We testified like crazy about Jesus Christ and how he can help us and what he can do for Forrest. We told him to pray always, and to stay close to Christ and that we’d be here to help him. I know that he will overcome it some day! I love Forrest and he is going to get baptized. We asked him if he still wanted to get baptized on the 7^th of May and he said yes so that is going to be awesome! 

 We also met with David and taught him the 10 commandments. Later on in the week he came to a baptism that was happening in one of the other wards in the stake and at the baptism, his fellowship (Kyle) talked with us about how Davids parents went crazy about David being baptized and coming to church and stuff. They don’t want him to be baptized, and they don’t want him to meet with us anymore… So that was a huge bummer, but hopefully their hearts will soften to the church some day. Fred and Mary also came to that baptism that was going on. Since Mary grew up in the RLDS church, she said that the baptism was super similar to what she was used to she said “Coming here is like coming home.” So that was pretty cool! Fred really liked it too and you could tell that they both felt the Spirit really strong! It was a powerful baptism and at the end of it, Ryan, the guy that was getting baptized, bore his testimony and it was one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard on my mission! Forrest was also there and he said that you could see a change in him after he was baptized! It was a great experience for everyone. 

 We weren’t able to teach as much as we would like to this week but we saw a lot of little miracles and we were able to find some awesome people while knocking on doors that we hope wil become new investigators this week! I love being a missionary so much, and I know without a doubt that the church is true! It is such a great blessing that we have in our lives and that is why it’s our obligation to share it! I love and miss you all and hope you are all doing well! Next week is transfer week so I may get transferred from Rio Zion, but I know that wherever I go there are people there who need the Gospel just as much as here! I’ll talk to you guys next week! 

 Love Elder Summerhays

April 19, 2016 (Preston's Birthday!)

Hey Family!

Thank you all for all the birthday wishes! It has been an awesome day and I wish I could go golfing, but President decided that today was deep clean P-day so we are going to be cleaning our apartment all day! :D It's ok though, our apartment needs a good cleaning! Congrats to Sam on being able to get the Aaronic Priesthood this week, that will be awesome! I'm proud of you Sam! 

This week was awesome for Elder Olsen and I! We were able to teach Forrest probably 5 times and we set a baptismal date with him for the 7^th of May! He said that he is one of those people who likes to really know things before he makes any decisions, and we told him that he can come to know what he needs to know in order to be baptized. He isn’t going to know everything, but he will know that the Gospel is true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. So he just needs to come to church one more time because he came this last Sunday and he loved it, and in order to be baptized he needs to come twice. He said he is going to have a lot of questions because the topic in YSA sacrament meeting was on Temples, so that should be sweet! We also met with David twice this week, who is our investigator who is autistic who was on date for the 30th of April. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the second time, and he said that he has a problem with drinking coffee which was kind of a bummer. We told him that he needs to stop or else he can’t be baptized on the 30^th of April, and he said “But that’s going to be hard!” And we told him that yes it was, but we testified that Christ and us and Kyle (his fellowship) would help him out so that he could do it. He still said it was going to be hard but he commited to do it. Then about two days later he drank a cup of coffee… I was really bummed because if I get transferred next transfer I won’t be able to be at his baptism now… He will be baptized though either way so that’s good! 

Other than that we did quite a bit of tracting this week, and we ran into a guy that cussed us out, and said that only a fool would believe that there is a God and that Christ exists. And while he was going on a rant I was like "Well as representatives of Jesus Christ..." and he interrupted before I could say anything else and said "You guys aren't representatives of Jesus Christ! Have you seen Jesus Christ?..." and he went on and said some more things with a few choice words and I was just like "Sir I haven't seen Jesus Christ, but I know someone on the earth who has, and he called me to do this!" and then he didn't really know what to say so he kinda just changed the subject and said goodbye to us and told us not to come back. It is awesome to be able to bear your testimony with power and authority of the things you know to be true though! It's so great to know that we have a prophet on earth today who is lead and guided by Jesus Christ, to help us know what he wants us to know! I love my mission, and I love the Gospel! 

I love and miss each of you and hope everything is going well! Thanks again! Talk to you later! 

Love Elder Summerhays

 

April 12, 2016

Dear Family,

Sounds like everyone is doing awesome! That's so crazy that Dad is in Ireland! Hopefully you get to play some golf Dad! 

This week was pretty good for us! We got to see Forrest again a couple times! He was like having anxiety attacks about the after life and he was really concerned for what was going to happen to him after he died. So we went over more of his questions and made him feel a lot better about it. He said "The more you guys come over the better I feel about it!" So that was good! Then we went over yesterday and had an awesome lesson with him that answered a ton of the questions that he had! He will be baptized!! 

We also had a lesson with a new investigator. Her name is Nicole O’Keeffe and we had met her a couple weeks ago but we finally got an appointment with her so we were pumped! We went up and talked to her for a little bit and while we were talking to her the Spirit kept prompting me to set a baptismal date with her at the end of the lesson. So I was like “Ok” haha! So we started teaching and the lesson was SOLID and the Spirit was super strong! At the end we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! And then we talked with her about setting a baptismal date and when she thought that she could be baptized by. She thought for a couple seconds and then said “Two weeks!” hahaha, we were pumped!! So we said “Well we usually hold baptismal services on Saturdays so that would be the 23^rd of April.” Then she said “Well I don’t like the number 23 can we do the next week?” and we told her that we could and set her date for the 30^th of April! We were super excited, but the only hold up is going to be that she is on probation which means she will probably need permission from the First Presidency in order to be baptized… We hope that she will be able to be baptized soon but either way, whether it’s sooner or later, she will be baptized!

We also had a baptism of one of our investigators in Cuba this week! We got to go up to the Cuba branch sacrament meeting on Sunday for the confirmation and it was awesome! Mckenzie kannon is her name. She is about 10 years old and she is going to be a solid member of the church! 

Anyways, that was pretty much my week! I love and miss all of you and hope everything is going well! 

Love Elder Summerhays
                                       
                                   

April 5, 2016

Dear Family!

Those pics from Hawaii are sweet! It looks like you guys had an awesome time! 

This week was sweet! We were able to find three new investigators! David, Daimon, and Forrest. David was referred to us by a less active in the YSA branch named Kyle Connolly. He is a little bit mentally disabled but he told us that he wants to be baptized haha! So we taught him twice this week. The first time we taught him the Restoration really really simply and it went well! He retained a lot of it and loved the message! The second time we talked a little more about baptism because he had a couple questions. This time we were at Kyle’s house and it was awesome because Kyle served a mission and he was really active after his mission but then he kinda fell away and got into some bad stuff. At the lesson he talked about how he used to love studying the scriptures and praying and all of that stuff but he talked about how he just doesn’t make the time anymore. But David said that he wants Kyle to baptize him, and Kyle said that he would do that. He is going to have to make some changes but I think he will do it! It’s really cool because teaching David is also helping Kyle to get active too! But David is probably going to be baptized on April 30^th.

Daimon is also one of our new investigators. We met him a while ago and we have set up appointments in the past but he always gets called into work so we can never meet with him, but this time we went over for our appointment and his brother answered the door and told us that he wasn’t here but that he should be there in a little bit, and as he said that Daimon pulled up in his truck! We had just had a Zone Conference that day about teaching simply and using the pamphlets when we teach the lessons so we were pumped to teach! Daimon came up and said sorry for not being here a couple times in the past but that he wanted to hear our message! So we taught him the Restoration super simply right there on his driveway and invited him to be baptized and he said that he would when he felt that it was true! It was super powerful and he committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon before the next time that we came! He even prayed at the end of the lesson to know if what we taught was true! He is super solid and is going to be baptized in the near future! 

Our other new investigator is Forrest. He was referred to us by some sister missionaries in our zone. He is a good guy who was struggling with and had some questions about the after life and what happens aftere we die. So we went over there and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and explained it to him. He told us that it made sense and we committed him to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Towards the end he talked about some of his beliefs and he said “I believe that way back in ancient times, there was one church, and all of the churches today branched off from that one church, that is why all of the churches are different but they all have things in common and similarities.” Haha so we talked about that too and told him that next time we come we could talk about that as well as the Plan of Salvation, and he thought that was awesome! He is solid and we are going to teach him again this week! 

General Conference was awesome! I loved all of the talks! One of my favorites was President Eyrings talk in the very first session! He spoke with so much power about how we need to prepare and soften our hearts to hear the word of the Lord! We need to feast upon it and really pray to seek the revelation to help guide us in our lives! It was a perfect way to kick off all of the rest of the talks! It is great to hear from the Prophet and the Apostles. You can’t listen to them without feeling the Holy Ghost witness to you that they really are prophets, seers, and revelators speaking for the Lord! It’s so great to know that we have a prophet guiding us, and telling us exactly what the Lord needs us to hear in our times! I know that the church is true and that it is run by Jesus Christ, and I’m grateful for that knowledge. I love all of you and hope everything is going awesome! Keep doing what’s right! Talk to you later! 

Love Elder Summerhays
                                

                                                    

March 29, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Hawaii looks so awesome!! I miss that place a ton, and it's so good to see that all of you guys are having fun! I remember getting scorched every day and having sand everywhere after body surfing some sweet waves haha! I hope you guys have a good trip! I heard the Utes got smoked in the tourney by Gonzaga. That stinks. 

This week was awesome! We only had two dinners on Easter compared to our 4 on Christmas so that was a break! We did a ton of tracting and had a lot of appointments fall through. Right now we are working on sifting through our investigators to see which ones actually want to meet with us and who doesn't. It's been a little rough but we keep pressing forward! Elder Olsen and I are getting along great, and we are both loving the work! We were able to teach Reyna this week which was good! I was on splits with a member when we taught her, and we brought someone from the branch so that she can have a friend when she comes to church. But she had a ton of questions for us, mostly about the Book of Mormon and a couple about Joseph Smith. Eventually she said "You guys keep talking about how there are so many churches on the earth, but how can you really know which one is true?" And that's the question that every missionary wants to hear haha! So we talked and testified again about the BOM and all the members in the room bore their testimonies, and the Spirit was super powerful. At the end we committed her to read and pray about it to really know if it's true, and she said she would and that she felt bad that she hadn't been doing it! So she is probably going to be baptized in the near future, she is really seeking the truth and we're excited to see what happens! Also it turns out that she was like best friends with Kyra, who just got baptized, when they were younger. So they are getting in touch again and that is going to be huge for Reyna! 

Other than that we had a couple more appointments but most of the week was tracting! This week should be even more of it! Anyways, I love and miss all of you and hope all is well! Talk to you all later!

Love Elder Summerhays

March 22, 2016

Hey Family!

That's SWEET that you guys get to go to Hawaii! Take lots of pics for me! I hope we can go on another Hawaii trip when I get home! I have seen a couple pictures of the new Provo City Center Temple and it looks awesome! I actually watched a time lapse of it being built and it was nuts! I'm excited to see it when I get home! Congrats to Timmy on the call to Cali! That will be an awesome place to serve and it's sweet that he gets to learn Spanish! Kill it Tim!!! 

This week was pretty good! A ton of our investigators cancelled on us and a couple rescheduled for this week so that was kind of a bummer! We did a lot of tracting and finding which was actually really fun! We did get to teach one of our new investigators named Richard White. He is a YSA who lives with his super inactive mom, and they are kind of struggling to get by right now. He has a dog named Ghost which was named after the Holy Ghost haha, because one night he was praying that he would be able to wake up at a certain time in the morning, because he felt a little lazy and he needed to wake up. Then he went to bed and his dog woke him up at that exact time, so that's pretty sweet! But the first thing that he said when we got into the lesson with him was "So when is the soonest that I can get baptized?" Haha so we told him the requirements and he said that he would live them! But he had been taught by missionaries before in a YSA branch in Utah and he said he didn't like the branch there because the people in it were kinda snobby and stuck up haha, which I can believe. But he said he loves our branch and he really does feel that our church is true and he wants to be baptized. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and set a baptism date with him for April 9th, so we are super excited for that! 

That was one of the many miracles that we saw this week! We were definitely getting some opposition from the adversary this week, but one of the lessons that we learned is that there is opposition in all things, and for all the bad things that happen, there are always good things to be happy about! Every time we had an investigator cancel or we had some brutal rejection tracting, we saw a miracle later in the day or the week! It was so awesome to see and know that God does love his children and that his power can overcome anything! I love being a missionary and being able to see these things on a daily basis, and to be able to feel the Spirit work through me as I speak and testify of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It's the best thing ever! 

Anyways, I hope you guys are doing well! Have fun in Hawaii next week and don't forget to take pics! I love and miss all of you. Keep choosing the right, and you'll be happy!

Love Elder Summerhays

March 15, 2016

Hello Family!

It sounds like everyone at home is doing pretty good! March Madness is coming up, I bet everyone is getting pumped! It seems like everyone is getting married and it's nuts! 

 

This week was sweet!! We did a lot of contacting and were able to find 2 new investigators. We had a sweet experience while we were tracting. So we were knocking on this one street and while we were walking we ran into a vivint alarm salesman. He was pretty young, and he ran up to us and was like "Hey guys how's it going?" and we started talking with him and it turns out that he is a return missionary as of 10 months ago. He served his mission in Japan, so we talked with him for a little while about it and then he was like "You know what I was talking to a guy on the other street over and after I sold him an alarm system we were talking and we got to talking about my mission and what missionaries do. You know what I'm going to call him right now and ask him if he wants to meet with you guys!" Haha so he called him and asked him if we could come over and teach and talk with him and the guy said yes! After he hung up the vivint guy was like "I have been praying for an experience like this guys!" It was SO cool!! So we hopped in our car and drove to the next street over and went and knocked on this guys door. His name was Mario and he was waiting at the door for us. He let us in and showed us his new alarm system, which was actually pretty sweet, then we got to talking about the Gospel and his beliefs and stuff. He told us that he doesn't like churches because the people there are hypocrites. He said that they come to church on Sunday and say that they believe in Christ but then they go out the next day and party and break commandments and do whatever they want. So we talked with him about how the Gospel is a way of life and not just a Sunday thing, and he agreed with what we were teaching and testifying about. Then we got to talking about the Book of Mormon, and he asked kinda what it was and what it was about, and we explained it to him and he was like "Oh cool can I have one of those?" haha and so we gave him one and marked a chapter in it for him to read, and told him to pray about it. We are going to have to hand him off to some other Elders in our zone but they will hopefully keep teaching him and see him baptized! It was super cool to see! Pray for opportunities to share the Gospel and I promise you will find them! Bear your testimony or talk about the Gospel whenever you get the chance, it brings so much happiness!

Saturday was the best day of the week though! I got to go through the temple with Avram and see him get his endowment!! It was such an amazing spiritual experience! He is going to continue to build the kingdom of God and I am excited to see him keep his covenants and see the blessings that will come into his life because of that! Right after the temple we had Kyra's baptism! It was one of the best baptisms that I have ever been to! I know I say that after every one, but they just keep getting better and better! She bore her testimony at the end of the baptism and the Spirit there was so strong! You can't deny the truthfulness of the Gospel after you see the ordinances of the priesthood being performed! 

I love being a part of this work, and being able to feel the joy that comes from sharing the Gospel and working hard every day! I love and miss all of you and hope you are all doing well! Talk to you all next week!

Love Elder Summerhays

P.S. Also there is an awesome talk about grace by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient" you should read or listen to it Mom it's awesome!:) Love you