Green Magic

Funny: This week we went to the Bear Dance down in Ignacio. I had been among white people for so long that it was a shock to remember how many brown people there are down here. One thing that I do appreciate about the Southern Ute people is that they do respect the Elders ;) We spent a lot of time going to places that were "reserved for elders" bahaha.

Spiritual: While Elder Moea'i was on exchanges Elder Ludlow had his first door approach. It was as if it was someone doing a role play for us. This lady opened the door and after introducing ourselves she told us that they had just moved in and were looking for a church to go to. It was such an amazing miracle. That never happens out here, it was also really funny because we had been expecting a rejection so when she accepted we probably looked really dumb with wide eyes and open mouths. Haha

Where I am at: Elder Moea'i and I are training Elder Ludlow and we are having a ton of fun. It has been nice for the area because it is a new transfer and we have new expectations. Life is good and we are so excited to see what this transfer holds. This next week is the last zone conference with President Adams so we are really sad about that. But it should be a really fulfilling week.

I love you all and pray for ya'

Elder Black

Execute Order 66

Funny: We went into Durango for p-day last week and we went to Taco Bell and what was my number... 66, I was order 66. The person calling the order thought he was funny so he called out "execute order 66." So of course, when I picked it up I had to say "Everything is proceeding as I had foreseen it." It was maybe one of the greatest exchanges of my mission so far.

Spiritual: James (the investigator on date) came to church! He told us that he wasn't going to come to anything beyond Sacrament Meeting but he later told us that something told him to stay (I am fairly sure it was the Spirit). In our Gospel Principles class, we covered literally every concern he has ever brought up to us. It was amazing because we did not expect that at all.

Where I am at: I am staying in Bayfield and I am TRAINING again! Elder Moea'i and I will be training together and I am really excited. I have learned so much from this last time and I am excited to give it another go. We have been planning how we are going to help this new companion love his mission, I think it'll go very well.

Moms and BoMs

Funny: Once again that darn llama was back to annoy us while we were doing service. We tried the trash talking it but it would not have it. We asked the owner what to do this time and he told us to spit on it. So, I can now check off the bucket list item of spitting on a llama. It is also probably one of the stranger things I find myself doing on my mission.

Spiritual: So, we had a rough week of finding but we gave it our best and trusted that God would make up the rest, and boy did He. At church all of our investigators had cancelled on us because they wanted to spend time with their loved ones for Mother’s Day. But as we were going to Gospel Principles two guys walked in. One is a returning less active and the other is his non-member friend. It was such a miracle, we gave them a Book of Mormon and the non-member friend told us that he had read part of it while in the Army and that is why he wants to join the church.

Miracles!

Where I am at: I cannot believe it is already week 6 of the transfer. I feel like we just picked Elder Moeai up just last week. But the weather here is beautiful, they released the water from the dam and so everything is finally green. It is great! We are loving life and living well.

Thank you for all that you all do!

Talking trash to a llama

Funny: This week was filled with lots of funny moments. But one of my favorite was when we were helping someone clean out their ranch and they had a llama that was really bugging us. For some reason or another it would not leave us alone. For a while it was really amusing but eventually it got annoying. We asked the owner what we can do and he told us to trash talk it. We did and it backed right off. Haha, it was definitely one of the weirder moments on my mission.

Spiritual: We had a lot of great moments this week, we spent a lot of it building members trust. We were talking to the relief society president and she told us that in the past she had some very bad experiences with the missionaries but she feels that we are different and that she wants to let us teach her friends. That was so comforting in an area that we are struggling to have member trust.

Where I am at: Spring has finally come. And it is also gone. We are having weather in the high 80's now. But that means a lot more walking and a lot more service. Life is good here and we are pressing forward and trying our best to bring others the joy that we have felt.

Thank you for your prayers I really do feel them

Love y'all

The Call of the Car

Funny: We spent so much time cleaning our truck last Monday in preparation for this Zone Conference; hours were spent making sure that it shimmered and shined. We had decided that we were going to win first place. However, Monday night we got a call from the Zone Leaders that they needed to take our truck into Farmington for some maintenance. We gave it up and just prayed that they would return it spotless, they did in a way. When we picked it up on Wednesday after noon it was actually a 2018 Tacoma! our old truck had hit its miles and was replaced. Sadly, we were exempt from the competition because our truck is "too new". What a hard life to be living. ;)

Spiritual: We Finally finished developing our new plan for using ward missionaries. It is a really different plan that is set on getting referrals from the ward. It is amazing to see how quickly the ward missionaries have jumped on it. We explained the plan on Sunday afternoon and by evening we had gotten a call from one of them telling us that they had done it as a family and that they had invited one of their less active friends to dinner with us!

Where I am at: We are finally getting used to having our phones, I still am not sure how to use it fully but we are all learning together. We had a marvelous zone conference that was mostly skills practice on using our phones to further the work. We are seeing some incredible things come from being able to make contact with all of our investigators in new and unique ways. 

I love you all and am so grateful for you!

Elder Black