Weeks 4 & 5- Welcome To Washington!

What's up everyone!

 

 

Finally, I have actually begun my long awaited church mission. And so much has happened since I arrived here about two weeks ago...

 

 

Upon arriving at the massive, nice mission home I found out my first area was the Selah 1st ward! Selah is barely west of Yakima, has a massive Treetop apple juice facility as it's only and is smaller but growing insanely fast. There's a ton of traffic because there's only one way in and out and so many more people are always coming in every day. The people here are all so kind and loving though and this is definitely the best first area I could have asked for. I get dinner from members almost every night and the food is super awesome. I even have a super distant relative in my ward!

 

 

Firstly though, I need to talk about my awesome missionary companion and where I live. My companion is Elder Shepherd and he's already been out for 22 months but he's nowhere near being trunky, which means ready to go home. He's been a great teacher so far and I've been learning so much from him and his awesome example, which includes his firmness in following mission rules and doing what he's supposed to do, always. I'm so blessed to have him as my trainer.

 

 

I live in an apartment with four different missionaries, with another apartment with two more missionaries right above us. It's so cool being around so many different people all the time, this includes my MTC companion, Elder Haws, who is one of the two missionaries residing above me along with his companion Elder Brown. We share our car with them two sometimes as we split our ward, the Selah 1st Ward, with them. Our two roommates are the Zone Leaders, and they really are so nice and hilarious!

 

 

Right off the bat we're having my first ever baptism on the 8th! A young adult named Ethan is preparing to go on a mission and his girlfriend, Cass, has really wanted to become a member and be baptized before they go their separate ways. It's been really awesome to see somebody so ready to take a quick leap onto the covenant path. Cass is always reading more than she needs to, always has meaningful deep questions, and is genuinely interested in our church. I love seeing people grow a desire to be with our Heavenly Father someday and it grows my testimony to see how committed she is to suddenly change her life, especially as she is preparing to join the Marines.

 

 

Another really awesome, spiritual experience that I've had that's really stuck out to me has come with a more recent convert named Sister DeCampos. We planned a lesson for her a few days before we were to meet with her, but during our companionship study earlier in the day, I received a prompting to use a talk for a different family that we had dinner with the very next day. I felt prompted to listen to a talk titled The Immediate Goodness of God by Elder Kyle S McKay with Elder Shepherd. We had no idea how to incorporate that talk with our dinner appointment with strong members who were doing well but I really felt that we needed to talk about it. And it turned out that Sister Decampos was really struggling, that talk genuinely fit perfectly with her needs and it's helped her so much. Already having such a powerful experience where the Holy Ghost has spoken to me has been a truly massive testimony builder for me.

 

 

General Conference was this last weekend and it was super cool and spiritual as well. Elder Ryan K Olsen, who gave a talk during the Sunday afternoon session, said that, "every solution is found in him" and he's right. No matter what trials we face, how hopeless we feel, or how bad things may seem, we will always have a way to find peace and comfort. Jesus Christ is our personal way to happiness, through him we can find solutions to the hardest problems. And that gives me so much hope and joy. And I hope that it does so for every one of you as well. I love you all so much for supporting and cheering me on. I'm going to try my best to do so for all of you as well!

 

 

I can't wait to email you all next week, things are only just getting started here in Selah! I wish you all the best for now and forever.

 

 

With Love,

Elder Stephen Timothy

 

 

PS- Sorry for not sending an email the week before, I had genuinely technical problems and I feel terrible for missing out on keeping you all updated on my missionary journey. I'm going to make it a priority to ensure that it never happens again!

 

 

Pictures:

-Wall of Jesus pictures

-Elder Dayton

-Bucking hay is dope

-Me n Elder Shepherd

-Conference with the boys

-Dope view

-Some road I own

-Parting of the MTC gang