"Well it was a great week"

Dear Family and Friends,

Well i actually have things to talk about this week!!! It was a good Week. it was cold and it snowed and froze one night.

So i was thinking about "what are some of the weird things that utah people do." i found one. A lot of people don't drink the water here. because it is gross. especially in riverton. but i noticed that at dinner they will hand us bottled water to drink. haha i thought that was weird as i drank the bottled water.

The other day i gave this lady a blessing and i didnt know here. she was over at a member house and with her kid and she requested me to do the blessing. i was very troubled at first because i didnt know what to say or even why she wanted a blessing. It was very humbling when i realized i didnt need to know her. the Lord knows her. after the blessing i could now guess what her problems were and i felt like i understood her better.

Well it was a great week because we picked up 3 (really 4) investigators. i didnt want to count one of them because we dont have a return lesson any time soon. Anyways we taught them all and put all of them on date for the 7 or the 9th of December.

Danny Pham was my favorite lesson this week. He was Buddhist kinda and he is dating a member who wants to get married in the temple. and he has been coming to church for the last month and a half. We were talking and i asked him what he wanted to gain from meeting with us. he basically said i want to know what are the qualifications for being baptized. and i showed him. then i asked if he wanted to be baptized. he was very surprised that he could get baptized. When i told him what he needed he found out that is really simple. and we will be there to help him out. I was in the lesson on a split and i put him on date for 20 days later. i dont know why its so hard for people to invite. Baptism is soo necessary for people. we shouldn't hesitate to invite everyone.

We talk a 2 little girls as well. Lilly wiggins and Sierra litchie. both want to be baptized and parents are a little less active. so really we are teaching the parents and both are giving more and more support and are getting more active and the wards here do a  great job of fellow shipping when we invite them to. But we have to invite them, after we break the ice. when they should be doing it first.

We taught another lesson to a friend of the 2nd councilor in the stake presidency and he wanted us to slow down a little bit. But he needs to gain a testimony first of the book of mormon. thats all he needs. he just has a problem with the golden plates.

Last friday Elder Heath and i got to go to the temple and see scott get sealed to his parents! oh that was soo great! it just put everything into perspective. See all 18 kids walk in wearing white was a beautiful sight. The doctrine with the sealing was very interesting and got me thinking about the atonement and the house of israel. The adoption happens when we are sealed. thats what we all need! we need to be adopted. everyone needs to be sealed. and the first step to taht is baptism.

Last thing, the presiding bishopric has called for a special stake conference in our stake here and they will be presiding. not really sure why but it should be very exciting.

Love Elder Salmon

"Spirits are high"

Dear family and Friends,

So we had transfers! Guess what! i am staying haha and i have the same companion! and im still DL. everything is the same! haha but we got 2 new people in the district. its cool. I guess the Lord wants me to find teach and baptize here. So i have mixed feelings. this is the second transfer ever that i wasn't either being trained or training someone. feels like ive been training my whole mission. oh wait thats because i was. i know this stake really well so working it is really easy for me. the hard part is i have to wait on everything. WE have 4 NM lessons set up and i am very excited for that. will be the first NI we pick up in 7 weeks. and we get 4 Inv. all in one. The lord blesses us. They brought in 2 new zone leaders. So lots of changes but i do like both of them. i am now the second oldest missionary (time wise) in the zone. elder hatch is the oldest and there's a 3 way tie for second place in age and im one of them...

So Elder Bennett the redhead elder that was with me on the Airplane ride from seattle to salt lake is in my district. and we got a new sister. sister williams i dont really know her but i wll get to in this transfer. So far the spirits are high and the faith is high in our area. we have had a few miracles, like our lessons being set up, and some inv. have decided to get Married in the summerhills stake! Man the worst thing is that the bishops are the ones slowing them down.

Well hopefully i have more to tell you about next week. tomorrow in district mtg i am having a scavenger hunt to keep them excited. so i hope it goes well!

Love elder Salmon

"Fellowshipping is very important"

Dear Family and Friends,

Soo this past week was not too bad. not the best when it comes to missionary work but hey im doing my best. 

on monday we went golfing and i had a lot of fun. im still not very good but we had golf carts and everything was free except for the cart. i paid 3.50 for it. i actually hit on the green on a par 3 but i didnt birdie. I need more practice and i need consistent clubs. and someone to teach me a little bit more. Today i think we are just going to play vball, bball and a game like mafia in the church building. So its cool.

Well heath keeps saying im going to leave so i did my very best to leave him with some inv. this week we should pick up 2. one is a Ward mission process!!! those are way to few and far in between. Those are members setting up lessons for us. i wish people would just set them up and then invite us to the lessons. we will make sure one of us gets there. Anyways i was soooo excited when he called me! even though i set it up. i saw the NM at church asked the member to invite him and then he did it. Too bad people cant do that on their own. thats why i feel like a facilitator because people dont do these things if i dont ask because members get scared. i dont know what of because rejection is a part of life. we just need to get use to it. But we do have to ask everyone. 

Anyways i was riding my bike on a back road in my area. it was dark and i really could see very well. i came up on a house that had an unusually bright light. it completely blinded me and i couldnt see the path at all. at that moment i had 2 options to hit the breaks and stop and go back or i could continue riding at that speed even though i couldn't see anything. i chose the the more daring and i kept riding. i had traveled the road before and i knew it wasnt that rough and i would be okay. and i was i made it through and everything was fine. I had been thinking lately about the light of the gospel. To most of us it helps us find the path and allows us to see. But to those in darkness it can blind you. and i really thought of the LA and the NM that are brought into the light it can be very scary. It takes a lot of faith to keep going by yourself. but if they had someone who has traveled the road before it would be much easier. Fellow shipping is very important. 

Love Elder Salmon

October 28

i really dont have anything more to tell you today... i havent done anything. no new inv. and we are not teaching anyone...

But dont be discouraged because im not!!! i really am happy because im clean. im doing my best and i have done my very best to teach the people here in south jordan. Everyone just says no. sooo what do i do  but keep working and have faith in the lord.

i get to go to georgettes baptism in november in the other mission! hehe shes pretty solid. But really though lifes good. We have one more full week then transfers. ive been doing a ton of splits with the Zls this transfer... not sure what that means but we are going golfing today with them. ill probably lose because im terrible.  but this is probably my weekly letter. sorry im also kinda lazy today. 

With love elder salmon

October 21

Dear family and friends, well not much is happening here in south jordan. This week we have a meeting with the area authority and he will be training the whole ward councils on how to work properly. i think he is also going to role play in front of everyone and im pretty sure he will use us in the role play. im a little nervous because im not sure what i will have to do. It is staring to get cold here and i was thinking i pretty much have everything i need for the winter. i might buy a another sweater, one thats more like a cardigan just because i can now and it would be a little warmer than the argyle sweaters taht i have.

So georgettes baptism got pushed back by the west missionaries to the 6th of nov. i hope i can go. 

This month i should have 2 sealings that i might be able to attend. Elder Kulu and i taught jen and ron nichols and they are scheduled to be sealed this month!!! soo excited to see them. he is in the EQ presidency right now. so im very glad for that experience to teach him. And Scott will be sealed to his parents! its going to be sooo good! i love the temple!

Not much has happened we are looking to pick up two new inv. this week. pray for us.

Love elder Salmon

October 14

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, its only been 5 days. i could get use to having a pday every few days. but thats not going to happen. We just passed our half way mark on this transfer. times goes by to fast. it has been a long time since we have found a new investigator and we are really struggling with that district wide. tomorrow we have a special district mtg on finding. lots of participation. i delegated out the training among the district. Also during tht time we will be having interviews with the mission president so the Aps will be attending our mtg. We got to go to the temple last thursday! WOW!! thats all i have to say. this made a lot of my impressions and guesses way clearer. i loved it! it was like a movie! but real! and i learned doctrine! all the things that i wanted.

So georgette is supposed to be getting baptised this Sunday. we are running into some complications from the west mission. i know it is the best situation for her to be baptized as well as confirmed in her home ward and so we contacted the missionaries over there. however what they want to do could very well cause a lot of conflict so we are working it out so that she has the best situation. i will make sure the baptism will happen this sunday either here or in her home ward i dont care. she has a very strong testimony. she knows that if she joins there will be conflict in her family and she is willing to go through that to be baptized. i am impressed.

well i am alive and well. 

With love Elder Salmon

October 10

Dear family and Friends,

Well, we have Pday on thursday just for this week. so i will email all of you on monday again. I am still in south jordan and coming to a close on training elder heath. we have 3 more weeks together. Conference was Great! man it was soo good. i love every second of it! we got to go to 3 session with permission form Zls, and i actually didnt see anyone i knew there. except for sister Gee. that was cool. i have missed a lot of my friends and try to stay in contact with them as much as possible. i am kinda in a rush this Pday because we are going to the temple and i need to make sure i have time. ill write more on monday. I am doing well and healthy.

Georgette our only investigator is progressing really well. she know the spirit is around when we teach her. She has made very many comments and i am very hopeful that she will be baptized on the 20th. that is her date and our last lesson with her was very good. we taught the gospel and hit hard on keeping the sabbath day holy. that is our only concern with her. 

Well lifes good.

Love elder SAlmon