July 6

i,

Yeah... around 8 months.... crazy. 

I am glad you got to get Travis' endowments done so quickly. :) and you didnt have to wait for the Temple to be open after a long time of closing. 

Definitely go back as often as possible. There is always something to learn, even if it is the same and repeated many times. There are reasons for that. 

The Burke's are... interesting. Very energetic and slightly crazy, but fun. They live a ways out of town and own horses. And Brother Burke speaks Spanish so he can help us when we need someone for fellowship :) And they fed us pulled pork sandwiches (definitely homemade like not from a package... which means they are good) lol And I wrote on a wall in their back yard shed so now i am forever marked at their house. They have a shed where all their guests write their name on the walls (they have a lot of names already) so it is kind of like a guest book, but bigger and cooler. :)

And it was kind of weird when i first met their son he shook my hand and said hey cousin burke... weird. and at the end i prayed and i asked to bless the burke family, and after the prayer elder S. looks at me and says hey its not cool to pray for your own family, you need to pray for other people too. and yeah... its weird saying their name or hearing their name, since it makes me think of us. kind of confusing sometimes :)

So this week, besides the Burke Family, our investigator did not get baptized. He actually cancelled our appointment and rescheduled for this week. But he did come to church, which i wasnt there for until Sacrament (english ward starts with Priesthood and then Sunday School and then Sacrament. and i was in the spanish branch yesterday during english classes... yeah sundays are fun and long) But he came to sacrament and said he felt the Spirit for the first time in sacrament! so we are getting closer!

 

For 4th of July we were told certain rules. We could not be out past 8pm, we could not knock from 5-7 like normal, but we still had to knock for two hours during the day, and fireworks are always not allowed for missionaries. So we did our day of looking for people. and Shelton was dead because 1. nobody wants to be in Shelton for a big holiday if they dont have to be. and 2. there is a massive fire danger right now so they left town to blow things up. So our 4th was kind of lame. and no we didnt see fireworks. but its ok. we still got to talk with people. :)

It was funny because we went to the recent converts house because he has no family nearby and cant get around much with his wheelchair. so we visited him and he said a prayer before we left his house and he prayed that God would "bless the fools with fireworks so they dont burn down the forest." it was kind of hard not to laugh during that prayer.... :)

Other than that not much happened this week. We are still trying to find people and teach people. Shelton is just so small and has such a crazy population of different people. But we are praying to find those who are ready, and praying to get some of these people in our list baptized. We have a few that are really close, we just need to keep working with them. 

Hope you have a great week!!! Love and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!

-Tanner