Ya'at'eeh gobble gobble!

Funny: This week I went on exchanges with the district leader Elder Greenland. We went out to Echo Cliff Branch and spent a lot of the time chopping woods for older sisters. We were talking to one sister and she was talking about how she was asked to bring a fruit jello to the branches Thanksgiving potluck. But instead she is going to bring fry-bread. That describes the rez. Lots of fry bread. About 10 people brought fry-bread. I think I am beginning to tire of having so much fry-bread.

Spiritual: I also spent another exchange with Elder Hunt, we were out tracting in his area when we came across a couple who were looking for a church. We ended up teaching them the restoration and it was like something out of the district. They were so golden and the only question they had was when can we be baptized. The Lord is paving the road.

Where I am at: We have challenged the seminary to a #LightTheWorld battle. If they do more #LighttheWorld stuff than the missionaries then they get to throw pies at us. It is very motivating for both sides of the contest. We also had a great Thanksgiving. We ate with our recent convert at a member’s house and Then went and ate the next day with a bunch of Polynesians. I couldn't see straight after that. They challenged me to a chicken eating contest and I beat all of them except for their dad. They said that we will have to do a rematch, I am so ready for that.

The Church is true, God loves each one of you, and I do too!

The Peanut Gallery

Funny: Our ward is possibly the funniest ward I have ever seen. Yesterday the instructor in Sunday School gave a really motivating lesson on not giving up. She concluded with a really powerful testimony and right before we prayed, an old lady form the back row exclaimed "We're not going to give up. We just want to take a nap". Haha, the old people here have no filters and there are a lot of them.

Spiritual: We met a man from Washington who comes down to Church Wells every year at General Conference time. He is not member but has watched the last couple of conferences here. He is really interested but because he lives in such a lonely part of Church Wells he never gets missionaries. Until us! He went back up to Washington on Monday but he said he will be back in a couple of months. It was so incredible because out here we rarely get to meet people who have never met with missionaries.

Where I am at: The work here is a lot of less-actives. We learned that in the Southwest area there are 900,000 members and 600,000 of them are less-active. In our mission alone, there are about 160,000 less-active members. For us it's the Navajo people, most of them are members but have never gone to church and just did the placement program. They are basically non-members, except we don't get to see a baptism at the end of our work. The work is good though and we are learning and growing a lot. We also are super pumped for Christmas!

Zone Conference Week

Funny: This morning we went on a beautiful hike. We hiked on top of a butte and the view was spectacular, so what did we do? We spent 2 hours chucking rocks off of the edge. haha Boys are still boys no matter where you put them.

Spiritual: Zone Conference was this week. We had the great experience to lead some role plays focused on finding. We role played talking to people at spots that you normally don't think of (such as in line at the gas station). It went so well. The Spirit was so strong. It impresses me every time that whenever we meet random people on the street you can still bring the Spirit in and touch their hearts.

Where I am at: Elder Barnard’s birthday was on Saturday. So, we spent the day in Echo Cliffs chopping woods and cleaning old buildings. We also spent a lot of time walking to old hogans and trying to save miles. Over the past 4 days we have driven about 400 miles. Yikes! We also have been doing a lot of preparing for the #LightTheWorld campaign. It is going to be so fantastic, make sure, make sure, make sure you all do it.

Smart Phones, Cub Scouts and Exchanges

Funny: This week was the Balloon regatta it was a fantastic opportunity to do some street contacting. We ran into a pack of Cub Scouts and we talked for a while. I was talking to the leader and she was saying how there weren't any good camps in Arizona or New Mexico. She said she was looking for a new one and I convinced her to go to Construction Junction. I think I should get paid more for what I do ;)

Spiritual: This week we met with one of our Investigators who is so ready to get baptized but is just waiting for his wife to join us. She finally did, after a year and a half of missionaries teaching them she finally sat in on a lesson. It was all because the sisters in our ward took her out to lunch. It really showed me the power that members have on the work.

Where I am at:  We found out that starting in early 2018 we are getting smart phones!!! There is a lot to get ready for and there are a lot of mixed feelings but I think it will be for the better (when we have service). In other news I was only with Elder Barnard for two days this week because of exchanges. We went on so many exchanges this week. It was fun until I realized I had spent more time at the other elder’s apartments than at my own. haha oh well...

The Church is true, God loves you, and I do too.

Have a good week

Elder Black