Week 22; 19🥂

Photo Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QuW5JQQJL6emqhb68 I turned 19 years old today, crazy, wild. I definitely do not feel 19. We had zone conference this week and it was so fun. It was really cool to see all of the missionaries that I became friends with in my last district and Zone. President Hoffman and his own leaders trainings talked a lot about baptism and how we need to have the baptism mindset and vision, "View everyone in white." Not just baptizing people for a number, but baptizing people because you want to help them receive the blessings that come from it and to gather all of God's children. Baptism is Central to my purpose as a missionary. We also had a guy who gave a great speech on knocking doors and how to influence people. His name is brother Williams and he is a door to door salesman for solar. It was such a great and inspiring speech and he's very good at what he does. Give us some pointers for how to get people's homes and how to get people to talk to you instead of just slamming the door in your face. We then had some amazing Subs for dinner. What an amazing day. This week we really did not have any in-person lessons at all for our area. We only had lessons to pass off to the other Elders who are taking some of our friends to teach. We had a pass off lesson with the part member family that we were teaching and also this lady that we found at Sheetz it was pretty cool. In this pretty uneventful week we found some pretty cool people wow at Sheetz. Had just been calling some people and we saw these two girls walk in and one of them walked out and we talked to her and she was really awesome and very open and interested to learning more and coming to church, her name was Scarlett. We then had a pass off lesson with her because she lived outside of our area at Starbucks and it was really cool and we stayed at our purpose really strong with her and she was interested in being baptized. The next lady that came out we talked with her and her name was Lily, Elder McCurdy's future wife fr and she was super cool. Once again she was just really down to learn more and to have a church store and also come to church. Unfortunately both of them didn't show up to church this week but it was a really cool miracle that happened after facing all the opposition we've had this week. This week pretty much every day we've gotten into a couple bashes and we don't really know why. We're not wanting to bash and so you're really confused on why we're finding so many of those people. We did get into some pretty fun conversations and it was really cool defending our church and I haven't really gotten the opportunity to much yeah my mission. Some of the conversations did have some contention in them but some of them are pretty good and spiritual even though they were disagreements. We were pondering on my we were finding these people and we came to the conclusion that because we are not putting in enough prayer into our daily planning and that we need to pray to not find those people let's be led to people who are going to be open to this message. I had the opportunity read some church history this week and our second president Brigham Young really stood out to me for all his efforts. As the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he played a pivotal role in shaping the church's history. According to the book "Our Heritage" which I've been reading recently, Brigham Young led the massive migration of around 100,000 pioneers to Utah, establishing over 200 settlements, including cities, towns, and villages. This wasn't just a feat of logistics; it was a testament to the resilience and faith of the people. Under Young's leadership, the pioneers transformed the arid landscape into thriving communities, complete with schools, factories, mills, and more. He encouraged self-sufficiency, innovation, and cooperation, laying the groundwork for the growth of the church in the West. He did a lot and some of his notable things were the establishment of the University of Utah (1850), which would become a hub for education and learning. The development of the Deseret alphabet, an attempt to create a unique writing system for the church members. The construction of the Salt Lake Temple, a symbol of faith and perseverance. The creation of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, which helped thousands of European converts make the journey to Utah. Brigham Young's 33 years as prophet were marked by an unwavering commitment to the church and its people. He faced countless challenges, from persecution to environmental hardships, but remained steadfast in his vision for the church's future. I always had some false interpretations of what he did for the church but now I've come into a testimony of him and what he's done for us and all the membership we have in Utah and the surrounding areas and also in the world. With Love, Elder Batman