March 18, 2019 Elder Pew: Salud, Dinero, Amor! - Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass

Welcome to the Three Amigos edition of this letter. Jk lol.

So you're never going to believe this but I heard this song while at a members house and somehow I actually knew what it was. Now somehow here in Hancock the weirdest part about that story is how we were listening to Mexican swing jazz. Yep. This place keeps getting more and more interesting. This town is getting to rough for me...
Monday
We went and visited S who is a less active member. But I don't think she even knows that she is a member cause she gave us all her "Mormon Literature" which included a 99 year old copy of the Book of Mormon, so yes, i am keeping that. Then we visited E who is OBSESSED with family history. He has something like 45 binders full of family history stuff for his WIFE'S side of the family. He didn't even show us what he has for his side. He's a freaking master.
Tuesday
We had a young man come out with us. His name is J and he's cool. But he also walked with us for 7 hours so he's even cooler than you. Anyway, we had dinner with H's. This is where the above story happened. We were even eating tacos. Now when I say tacos, this isn't the typical Utah taco. This is an east coast taco, in other words, it's pretty equal to eating a lot of sweaty hot dogs. Anyway I ate 4 of them cause they taste good, but man I regretted that later. Anyway. We visited D that night and had an awesome lesson!
Wednesday
We had a lesson with T. Then we had an awesome visit with J, who was the first person I ever visited. She asked us "Idk if you guys know anything about Joseph Smith, because I have a couple of questions about him?" And we were like yep you asked the right people. Then we had dinner at the Ms which was delicious. Then J came out with us. We were only able to get in with our crazy "rich" friend.
Thursday
We saw Ws. They are 92 years old and also my favorite people.Their daughter B was there and apparently she knows the Dillmans from my home stake. Small world. Then we had dinner at the Cs. And yep you guessed it, tacos again! The regret I went through was exceedingly sore. Then we had an awesome visits with the Es. Brother F came with us and hes hilarious. He had one quote so be ready for that. We talked about the atonement, which always makes me HYPED! But it sounds like they are going to start coming back to church.
Friday
We saw W in the morning. We had E come out with us, hes also a weird dude. But hes working on his mission papers so it's a good thing he came out. We went and visited the Ks. We watched the restoration. Which every time I watch it the spirit reaffirms that Joseph Smith was a prophet here on earth. If you even doubt that for a second go watch "Safety for the Soul" by Jeffery R. Holland.
Saturday
We saw T again. She has started reading the Book of Mormon. But we had a good visit with her about Joseph Smith and such. We had a meeting with the Family History Consultants. They are going to start helping with the missionary effort.
Sunday
We had church but I was feeling so sick we went home and I took a nap until it was dinner time. We went to Bishop's for dinner and we had... enchiladas, they taste soooooo good. I'm still recovering. But after that we walked around Berkeley with 0 success by the worlds standards. Then we went to E's she will probably not get baptized but when she dies pretty soon here she will remember us in the spirit world and hopefully accept it there. She's usually watching basketball when we go over so we mostly just talk about college basketball.

Now its everyone's favorite, question time!

Did you have a better turn out for church this week?

We did have a better turn out for church this week  

Who has a baptism date?

H, C, and A

are on date but that is all.  

Have you given away my Book of Mormon? (I gave him one with my testimony in it to give away)No  

Any exchanges this week?Also no

Any new foods this week?Well we had 2 sweaty taco dinners and then enchiladas 

What do you have for other meals if no one feeds you?

Have you used your Pizza Hut gc? Yes

What has the weather been like? The weather was fantastic this week. It got to 77 and I got sunburnt 

Vitamins? Vitamins, 6/7 I swear on my life we were fasting for Danny one day and I forgot. I was depressed for like 6 minutes when I realized that.

What was the best thing that happened this week? The best thing that happened this week was finally being able to get members involved. 

Well I love you all,

Keep emailing it makes me happy
Love,
Elder Pew

Oh ps to all who missed my Facebook post here it is

I was reading in Acts chapter 21 today and these verses hit me really hard:
12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

If you don't know the story I'll give you the ten peso version. Paul, formerly Saul, was once an enemy of Christ. He went about persecuting the believers and even was there at the stoning of Stephen and encouraged it. This guy was a bad man. But he had a very powerful experience in which Christ, the very man he had dedicated his life to persecuting, told him he needed him as an instrument in his hands. He went through a long and hard repentance process. Now here he is traveling, to what is almost certain death, and he is willing to align his will with that same Jesus Christ! The atonement can work in EVERY SINGLE person's life! I will forever be grateful for what my Savior did for me and hopefully I can show that appreciation by repenting daily. I know that he suffered and died for us. And he would have done it even if it meant saving just one soul. He did it for every single one of us. 

99 year old Book of Mormon

March 11th, 2019 Fix My Eyes - for KING AND COUNTRY

As a missionary you get to learn all of the best Christian rock bands. This is one of them. Enjoy.
Anyway our week wasn't too eventful but here we go!
Monday
We visited a sweet inactive family. They told us that they were going to come back to church once they found time on a Sunday, they have two kids that play travel baseball and softball all year long so they miss because of tournaments. Which isn't ok but still better than 0 commitment.
Tuesday
It was my birthday. I was with Elder B1 in Antietam! That was awesome! He's legit my favorite person ever so shoutouts to him if he reads this. We talked to a bunch of people and it was freezing cold but still fun lol
Wednesday
After driving back to Hancock we had a reallllyyyy tough day. A bunch of people cancelled on us which sucks cause then you have to adjust your schedule. Ya but anyway we met this guy who is convinced he is a billionaire when in reality he isn't even that rich.
Thursday
We visited the rich guy. He is pretty much the most worldly person ever. We probably won't keep teaching him cause he's psycho but we had to try. Then we went to Sister Bs for dinner. We aren't allowed to go inside her house so we ate in our car. That was kinda weird. But she did make us delicious chicken pot pie. We had an appointment fall through that night so we just kinda walked around Berkeley Springs. Which reminds me of something I forgot to put in an experience we had last week. We ran into this guy that was so obviously drunk that he kept telling us he wasn't drunk. Funny how the easiest way to tell if someone is drunk is to hear them say they aren't! It was hilarious! But anyway this guy tells us to call him Skateboard Freddie, and how he was ranked 24th in the world at one point and that Tony Hawk taught him how to skate. He keeps rambling and we give him a pass a long card and say goodbye. We said "See ya Skateboard Freddie!" Then he looks at us real confused and said "I'm too old to Skateboard just call me Freddie." We had a good laugh about that.
Friday
We went to S's. He introduced us to his cousin... she's just as nuts as he is!!! Then we accidentally ran into that rich guy again and he bought us lunch. Then we had an awesome lesson with M. Hes cool. Then we had weekly planning and went to the S's who are cousins of the Ks. They are all members but they are awesome so we visit every once in a while. Then we visited S K family!
Saturday
We walked and walked and walked and walked. We did not get into any houses except like 2 but I was still soooo happy that whole day! Idk what I did to deserve how happy I was that day it was crazy. We visited T and D. They are the best!
I also got to talk to all of you people. Which was good!!!
Sunday
Church had like 50 people there. Kind of a bummer pretty much everyone around here is sick so pretty much nobody came. We went to the Hs for dinner and then went to S Ks. We talked while T, who just so happened to be there, watched that chimpanzee documentary. After that was over we finally got a little lesson in. Good times.

Questions
No changes with transfers🤷🏼‍♂️ in our district one of the sisters is going home so we did have that change but that's all. The other sister is getting a new companion and I think it is Sister Ms trainer so I'm sure she's awesome!
The best thing I ate this week was a mac and cheeseburger. That was delicious 
I had a great birthday.
The snow has all melted. There is still a few places that have snow, mostly in Pennsylvania but for the most part it is gone.
I usually eat cereal or Eggos for breakfast. Not the best I know🤷🏼‍♂️
We haven't taught or spoke in our ward yet.
The best thing that happened was being able to spend a day as Elder B1's companion. It was awesome.
Elder A has taught me how to just talk to everyone. We just go out and work so that has been good.

I went 3/7 on vitamins

Ok that's all for the week.
Love you all, stay tuned for my transfer recap (below) which is going to be both hilarious and spiritual.
So much love!
Elder Pew!  

THE BOOK OF IZAK (Transfer Recap)

An account of Izak's journeyings in the land of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The story begins in Cedar Hills, Utah and spans the years 2019 - about 2021

Chapter one
Izak is called to serve in the land in the east. He calls the people of Hancock to repentance, few listen and many reject. If you trust in God all things are easier.

1. Now I, Izak, speak unto you my brethren an account of my journeyings and adventures. God was merciful unto me and called me to go out and preach repentance in the land eastward. For behold I accepted his counsel and began my journey.
2. And now, as I spent many days in the land of Provo, preparing for my journey, I was overcome by the spirit. For it had spoken many things unto me which I should do. For behold me and my brethren prepared ourselves to go cry repentance unto the people.
3. As we arrived into the land eastward we were met by the men and women of God who were already in the area, and they organized us to go and do the things which the lord had commanded.
4. For behold I was called unto the city of Hancock.
5. For the city of Hancock was filled with much wickedness, which did seek to pervert the ways of the Lord and did send many confusing things to the believers in the land.
6. As me and my companion, A, did go out and preach the word of the lord, we did speak repentance unto the people. Behold we did speak of the things pertaining to the Lord which brought unto us much joy.
7. For how great was our joy in Christ! For we knew of his great atoning sacrifice, behold we did repent every day of our ministry. We desired that our brethren in the city of Hancock would receive these things, that they might have joy in Christ as we did.
8. But behold, there are many who are wicked and would not receive the things which we spake unto them. But that did not discourage us. For we knew in whom we had trusted and that his will would be done, no matter how many rejected this great message.
9. Yea, there were a few who began to receive this message, and they did rejoice for they knew what they had to do to be baptized so that they could repent and begin to make great and sacred covenants with God in the house of the Lord.
10. Yea, this and many other things did we teach unto many people. And we did cry out unto the Lord and did ask for help that we might know how to bring these people into the waters of baptism. For this was our goal.
11. For thus we see that the powers of satan are throughout all the land. For as powerful as Christs influence is in the world, satan must have equal influence for their must be opposition in all things.
12. I will now speak unto you a parable, of the choice we have to choose between the opposition or Christ.
13. For behold this is the parable which I would speak unto you my brethren, that there are two wolves fighting a battle inside my head, yea, it is an exceedingly sore battle. One wolf represents Christ and one represents the opposition. The one who wins is up to you. For you get to choose which you feed. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

 Exchanges on his birthday with an elder from his MTC district so lots of fun!

March 4th, 2019 You'll Be In My Heart - Phil Collins

At this point yall already know the drill so there isn't any point in stopping this. Phil Collins might be the GOAT for all of these sheesh.

Well this week was absolutely wild! This letter is going to be better than the last one so that is a promise!

Monday

We met with N and R and taught them about the Book of Mormon. They have since started reading the Book of Mormon so that will change. We went to a less active family's house and taught about stake conference and they said they needed to come back to church, all on their own. That was a yeet! Then we gave our friend E a blessing. She was feeling sick before the blessing but not afterwards. Oh and you guessed it, I got noodle legs again. I honestly don't know why that keeps happening. Grrrr (shoutouts to kenzie and maddi for coming up with the perfect term for how I feel about my noodle legs)

Tuesday

It was exchanges with Elder M. Now is when you read the rest of what happened in a New Zealand accent cause Elder M is from there and has a sick accent. Anyway. I got to be in Antietam with him. I hoped to see the battlefields but I wasn't gonna ask if we could go see them. So we went to this lesson and had a bomb lesson about the Plan of Salvation and guess where the lesson was. On the battlefield. That was a highlight experience.

Wednesday

We visited S... Then J... Then we had an awesome lesson with L about the Plan of Salvation.

We went to visit J and K, the guys we knocked on last week, and they weren't home. So we went to M's house and he told us about how he always runs into missionaries when he needs them most. That guy is a miracle.

We taught A, a recent convert, so that was good. Then we visited T and D.

Thursday

We visited the Ps. They are basically our Grandparents. Then we went to D's after knocking a bunch of doors with no success. D talked about how he needed to do better. Which like ya duh bro. He knows what he needs to do he just needs to actually do it. BUT we were talking and his mom was there listening like always. So we were like hey B could you keep D accountable to all the things he says he is gonna do, she said yes. So we officially picked her up as a new person to teach. Then we gave R, E's boyfriend, a blessing. He hurt his wrist so we went and gave him a blessing. Guess what. After the blessing he said his hand was tingling, so we called him the next day and his wrist was healed. Like priesthood power is real y'all.

Friday

We had lunch with the O's that was cool. Then we visited B. Who is an absolute legend. We read the story in the Book of Mormon about the Rameumptom (hopefully I spelled that right) and B was like "yo this is just like our day" what a guy. He then showed us his zoo room. The man has all this taxidermy in his house. Think the Bean Museum except B's son killed all of them. He apparently owns his own safari company, so he has like lions and stuff. It's pretty cool.

Then we had McDonald's in Berkeley Springs for dinner yay! We visited C cause he needed help getting ready for his move. Then we went to E and R's. They had friends over. We didn't stay long. 

Saturday

All I remember is we went to R's. He has been listening to a lot of anti so we just sat there and let him slander the church all he wanted and then left.

Sunday

We had church. We had dinner at the A's. The Patriarch of that family is the coolest guy and is our Ward Mission Leader.

Vitamins: 6/7 I forgot yesterday cause I was fasting. RIP I was so close.

Anybody who is still confused about what this place is like, just think about how Leh, Utah is.

Anyway I ABSOLUTELY love it here. It is so great! Being able to help people is awesome and lessons are awesome! I just have absolutely loved my mission so far.

Thanks for all the birthday emails, I read all of them even if I didn't respond. (I got too many lol)

Love you all

Don't let the cat in the house,

Elder Pew 

February 25, 2019 Straightjacket - Quinn XCII

If you haven't heard this song, do please look it up. (Unless you're a missionary of course, in that case wait just a min)
Anyway. This week went by really fast. Like I can feel the pace of things picking up. It also was a week of miracles and cool things. Let's start with Tuesday
Tuesday
Nothing really happened on Tuesday except I had a dream I was dating Ariana Grande and she was taking the missionary discussions. I woke up just after she accepted the invitation to be baptized. So that was that.
Wednesday
First things first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE KING AND THE LEGEND MY LITTLE BRO MICAH! It was really cold and snowy so we mostly just walked around and knocked doors. Not a ton happened because of the snow. But we did get to visit the Ks so that was awesome.
Thursday
I didn't have time to write in my journal that day but I'm pretty sure we went down to B and visited D so that was good. Hopefully he can get back towards being baptized.
Friday
It was the three week meeting! I got to see all my buddies from the MTC and they all seem like they are improving in the work so that made me happy. Shoutouts to them. After that we had dinner with B which was super cool. B is an absolute legend. After that we went to Cs house and we blew him out of the water with testimonies.
Saturday
I had an interview with President Mutombo! He is an inspired man! I got a lot of great advice that I am trying to apply! Then it was R's birthday so we got her a present at the store. Apparently she liked it even tho we are dudes and don't know how to do presents. Then we went to visit this guy M. He wasn't home so we were walking back and I had a feeling we should knock on this door so we did it. This lady answers the door and we tell her about how families can be together forever. She starts crying and asks if that means she can be with her baby who died in the womb again. And so of course we said yes. The we went back Sunday and had a bomb lesson with her husband. Super cool miracle there. Then we had the option to either meet up with D and his family or go to D's. We were going to do both anyway we just needed to decide which to go to first. I had the distinct impression that D wasn't quite home yet and so I said we should go to D's. That went ok and we were there probably 5 minutes. So then we went to D's. We get there and he says "Wow I just got home 5 minutes ago you guys have awesome timing cause I'm having a bad day." So pretty much the spirit guides us. Let us always follow it.
Sunday
It was stake conference and President Mutombo spoke so it was awesome. Afterwards we went to that bomb lesson with that lady and her husband. It was really good. We had dinner with the H's which is always awesome. Then we stopped by the Gs again. That was a really cool lesson. Then we went to both Ks and Bs house and had amazing lessons on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was amazing.
That brings us to now folks.

Now for question answering time.
I did get the packages
The weather is all over the place. Currently there is like 40 miles per hour wind.
The best thing that happened this week was finally trying Berkeley Springs water (not) that stuff is delicious (not)
Vitamins: 2/7 RIP to my streak. Next week is going to be better!

Spiritual thought: Diligence. What do you think of when you think diligence? Probably consistency in following God and his commandments. Well in Preach My Gospel it says that to be diligent you must also be energetic. How often do we do things were commanded to do without energy. Try to understand that these things are important. We follow the commandments so we can live with God again. That is an amazing thing we should look forward to. Anyway try to be diligent this week.

Sorry this email was lowkey boring.Next week I'll have a better one hopefully. All in all I am doing well. I love being a missionary!

Love you all,
Keep the emails coming!
With much love,
Don't let the cat in the house,
Elder (*Elmer) Pew

February 18th, 2019 Here I Am - Bryant Adams

Oh yes. This is a good song.
Spirit. What a great movie.
Well I know you are all probably wondering. Why the heck did Izak not email yesterday? Well it is because President Mutombo is an inspired man with a plan(good rhyme eh?) And he told us that because of Presidents day we were to have preparation day on tuesday instead. I was kinda mad at first but I am glad I always try to follow his counsel cause he knows way more than me. Anyway...
Monday
For some reason I did not write in my journal.
Tuesday
Today we had exchanges. I went with Elder E. We stayed in Hancock so I was in charge. Don't worry we only missed one appointment because I didn't know where the heck we were. He likes sports so we talked basketball and I decided my all time starting five.
At PG: Either Steph Curry or Steve Nash. I can't decide
At SG: MJ duh
At SF: LeGoat James also duh
At PF: Karl Malone cause I'm from Utah
At Center: Kareem Abdul Jabbar, not because of the cool name but cause he's good.
Well enough sports let's get back to the good stuff. We had an awesome lesson with N. I felt awesome teaching and it was awesome and I'm pretty sure I'm awesome because I trust in God and he's awesome. Anyways that's pretty much all we had the chance to do today.
Wednesday
We went to Pennsylvania to visit as many less active members as possible. We had dinner with the Hs which is always awesome and it was the most DIVINE roast I've ever had. Sorry mom I still love yours don’t stop making it but this stuff was next level!
Thursday
The only highlight of Thursday was that I realized it was my second to last valentines day as a single man. Thank goodness.
I bet you laughed at that one.
Friday
So now is when the big announcement happened. We went wild in the park where we were doing comp study. That was wild. Like seriously I was happy for the rest of that day. We also had a miracle this day... it goes something like this
So ya'll know how knocking on doors at 8:50 at night isn't that effective... So a couple nights ago we were walking back to the apartment and Elder A is like "Hey you wanna knock a door at 8:50 at night?" And I'm like "Sure I guess." So we did. This guy poked his head out the window and his girlfriend lowkey sneak attacked us while we were talking to him. We talked to her and she said she went to Lifehouse church in H. She said she wanted her boyfriend to learn more about Jesus Christ. So we went back home and on the way back I turned to Elder A and said "I'm pretty sure they are ELECT." And he's like "Ya I feel the same way." The next couple of days they weren't home. THEN today we were on our way back at like 7:30ish and I'm like "Elder A, let's go visit those people from the Lifehouse church." And he's like "Ya cool." So we did. We were talking for a while and she said she was talking to her boyfriend about Prophets in the Old Testament, like Noah and Jonah. So then I'm like "What would it mean to you if there was a prophet like that on the earth today?" And she said "That would mean everything to me cause then I would know where to go for guidance." Then I said "Well we have good news for you, in our church we believe there is a prophet alive on earth today." And I'm telling you her eyes grew to the size of a balloon. So Elder A says "Ya'll have 20 mins to watch a video?" And they say "Well we aren't doing anything else." So we showed them the movie about the Restoration. We told them to focus on how they feel during it. After the video we asked them how they felt. And she said she felt motivated, which was cool, BUT THEN her boyfriend says, and I'm not kidding you, "I felt something inside of me, but it is too hard to describe." Then Elder A once again showed how much of an awesome missionary he is and said "That feeling is the Holy Ghost." Then went into detail on how they could feel the spirit by reading and praying and coming to church. Then we testified of living Prophets and then she said she was excited to learn more so she could come to know if it is for her. So we left them with a Book of Mormon and a challenge to read it and pray about it. They also committed to come to church on Sunday.
Long story short. When the spirit says to knock on a door at 8:50 at night do it!
So that was lit.
Saturday
I don’t remember anything about Saturday.
Sunday
Sunday was wild. We went to church. Awhile back we met this guy who was in a parking lot and he said he would come to church in two weeks. As a missionary when someone says that we think there is no way it'll happen. Well spoiler it did happen. He came and LOVED it. Oh also everyone we taught came to church. Ya we had 10 people at church which is INSANE. We also sang Be Still My Soul, my favorite hymn, in sacrament meeting. I was fantastic. We can leave it at that right?
Another miracle happened before the day was done. We went to the Ks. The son of the other Ks. He's an awesome active member but his wife and children aren't even members. Missionaries have been trying to baptize them for 7 years. We went over there and I asked them if they would be baptized and they said yes. Freaking heck being a missionary is awesome!
Monday
Not a lot happened. It was a good day tho. Being a missionary is the best.
Ok so I heard there was a few of you who still don't understand my descriptions of my area... well here is a much easier one to understand.
OLD
Also our ton of lunchables is nearly gone. Like seriously idk how that's even possible but it happened.

Anyway its question answering time now.
On P days we don't do much besides just kinda chill all day.
The ward technically has 400ish members but 300ish of them are  less active. So we do a lot of visiting of members to try and get them to help get the  less active members back to church.
The most surprising thing of this week was how quickly those lunchables disappeared tbh
I will call today and we can figure something out for calling. (Izak called this morning and spoke with us for about 15 minutes and had family prayer with us, it was good)
Elder A has been here 2 transfers more than me.
There is 4 companionships in my district. Elders and sisters in H, Elders in Antietam so Elder B1 and us
I am sleeping well. But right outside our window is the popular place to drag race so that can get annoying.
Vitamins.... 4/7 which I think is a personal best... I'm not sure but I think it is.

Spiritual thought
This week I was thinking a lot about joy. I was thinking about how as a kid keeping the commandments was super hard and how I didn't like it. But then I realized. If I am not comfortable following Gods rules now, what makes me think I'll be comfortable following his rules in the celestial kingdom. That is the end goal. To be there with my family someday. And if I can't follow Gods counsel now, I won't feel comfortable doing it then. I won't be able to, it's as simple as that. So then I was thinking about who I am. And I think as a missionary I'm finally finding this out. Like the song says "Here I am, this is me, there's no where else on earth I'd rather be." I feel that way about my mission. There is no place I'd rather be than giving back 2 years of my life to someone that gave me so much, even Jesus Christ. It's not much of a challenge if you look at it that way.

Also sidenote. Did anybody else get the feeling that Heavenly Mother had the idea to let us call every week or was that just me?

I love this mission, I love this gospel. I can't wait to call pretty soon here.
I love you all, keep choosing the right,
Keep the emails coming... And lastly, don't let the cat in the house,
Elder Pew

Also you're all beautiful people, don't ever forget it.

GW's bath tub pretty amazing!

GW's bath tub

February 11th, 2019 In the Air Tonight--Phil Collins

 Alright let me stop you right there...
I know you're probably thinking, "he already used a song by Phil Collins?"
Heck yes I did.
And if it was up to me I'd always use songs by him.
The story is I was walking down the street and some people in Hancock were fixing the electrical system to an apartment building and listening to this song so I knew I had to use it.
Well anyway... this week had some pretty awesome moments and really awesome moments and that is about it.
Monday:
We visited the H... What an interesting family. Then we visited C for a while and he's honestly the most paranoid person ever so he just rants to us about how his neighbors listen in on his conversations and follow him around underneath him. He is a veteran so no judging.
Tuesday:
We did a whole lot of walking! We walked to the north side of H and knocked. Knocking is honestly so fun. Especially here because everyone is nice until you find out they are related to pastor T then they start flipping out at us. It's so much fun! On the way back we had lunch at KrazyRays BBQ and it was DIVINE I'll send pics later. Then we taught N’s family about the Plan of Happiness so that was lit. He used to be a member of the Jehovah's Witness so he had quite a few questions but we answered all of them. I think. Then we had dinner with the Hs. Which Hs? You might ask if you lived in this area. The ones that own the gun store, no the older one. He went out and visited members with us the rest of the night! .
Wednesday:
We did a whole lotta finding so we didn't teach much but that's ok. We had to go to H  for a baptismal interview. That was crazy. On the way back we stopped by the 93 year old C and his wife. They are awesome members so that was cool.
Thursday:
We had Zone Conference. It was really neat. I got to see Elder B2 and B1 and also Sister T. So that was sick. But most of the day was driving there and back. And yes mom I got the package and the sweaters. I looked like a goon with 2 packages lol... But! We had a miracle that night.
MIRACLES IN H!!
So we have been teaching this guy for 7 months. He's always been super prepared. Like definitely elect! He wanted to be baptized but always had something holding him back. As of late he has been struggling with a new job that is hard on him. We thought that this would hold him back even more. But we just kept with it. AND THEN this past Sunday he called us this past Sunday and was SO excited and he told us about how he had a dream. This dream was PROPHETIC. We told him to write it down and ponder about its meaning. So then today we went to visit him. We asked him if he had an answer to what the dream meant. He told us that it meant he was going to have to make a hard decision between the easier wrong or the harder right. Then Elder A being the great missionary that he is, told him that he felt that decision was about being baptized. Then he got EXTREMELY EXCITED! He told us about how he had quit smoking all on his own and the whole world seemed like it had been opened up to him and that baptism was what he needed to do! So we told him he could be baptized on the 23rd and he told us he wanted to!
MIRACLES IN HANCOCK!!!
He's such a great guy... sadly he had a family emergency on Sunday so he couldn't come to church or else he would have been baptized on the 16th of this month.
After that awesomeness we visited R and P. They are a recent convert family. They own 16 cats. No joke. 16. I was able to give R a blessing. For those keeping track that is my very first one. Halfway through my legs became noodles... that was weird. It was crazy to feel like someone else was speaking through me. Like I said stuff I never would have thought of saying. That was pretty cool. Then we went home.
Friday:
We knocked a lot of doors... No success but then we visited the K family. They are a part member family.The father told us he knows it’s true he just doesn't really care. But he has so much potential so we keep visiting hopefully his heart is softened. Then we walked to the west side of town to visit the Fs. They are an older couple but she always gives us water which is great.  After that we visited the Gs. They are also a part member family. We taught them the Restoration focusing on the sealing power being restored. It was awesome. I felt like I taught it super well cause I felt like myself while I taught it. The mother of the family and the most active one reminds me of my Mom kinda, plus they gave us fajitas so that was sick. Oh and C’s brother B ward took us to dinner at a southern restaurant and I tried frog legs. They honestly just taste like chicken. Nothing special and nothing gross.
Saturday:
We did service for S. He is another one of the 3 in the Hancock area... that was cool and he wants us to teach the rest of his family tonight! They also gave us a ton of lunchables so that is a YEET. Then we visited BK who is a member and he has dementia so we gave him a blessing. Then his wife wanted one too so we gave her one as well. My legs once again became noodles.
Sunday:
We had meetings. Then church. Then we met up with N and R who couldn't come because she was super sick. So we gave her a blessing as well. You guessed it. I got noodle legs again. Then we went all the way to Pennsylvania to have dinner with the Ss who are members and they are awesome. They own a farm so I got bad allergies... like seriously bad. I called the mission nurse and she said the best thing to do would be to take a nap. So I did that. And yep it helped. Well after that we went down to B and knocked a TON of doors. And we felt like there was an ELECT there waiting to hear our message so we just kept knocking. Then we met G. She told us she was just wanting to go back to church. She's 19 and just graduated high school and works as a nurse at the nursing home (which side note: that place has gotta be packed with people there is so many old folks around here) and said she was literally thinking about going to church again so we're going to stop by on tuesday to teach her. Pray that goes well....
That takes us up to now folks...
Funny thing that happened this week. We met S. I tried really hard to understand him. But man every sentence is so wildly different from the last. Sad thing that happened. We discovered the area presidency doesn't want us to play ANY SPORTS. This is honestly my first time having beef with a mission rule. But alas I will keep it and try to have a good attitude about it.
K now for some notes about the area.
Question answering time!
I did get my package. I am thoroughly enjoying the snacks. In fact since we didn’t really have time to eat after Zone Conference we just ate all the Ding Dongs and the beef jerky so you saved our lives (or killed us I honestly don't know)
I heard from a few of my MTC friends over the week.
I don't get much chances to take pictures cause we are either driving through it or walking where it would freeze my hands off to take a picture but I did manage to get a few cool ones which I will send.
We are in a ward. But it’s close to being a branch.
We don't bike. Thank goodness. We usually drive to an area park and knock all the houses then rotate areas.
I went 3/7 this week with the vitamins. I know this is starting to become a highlight of my letter so I'm going to try to do better every week until it is 7/7
All I know I want for my birthday is snacks. We don't have much snacks. We eat breakfast burritos hot dogs and elk burgers mostly cause that's what people give us. The members love to feed us oh and I've gained 2 pounds since exiting the MTC where I gained 5.
The weather was really good but got worse every day. And now its snowing.
I usually do the exercises we would do for ultimate in the morning. I also walk like 8 hours a day over tons of hills... I can feel my quads becoming huge.
We have 2 chain stores in our entire area... We have a Pizza Hut and a Hardees. That is legit all... we do our shopping at a place called Food Lion so I mean that's lit.
Also I can't visit Antietam or Gettysburg. Antietam is really close by tho. I did however get to visit George Washington's bathtub but I forgot to take pictures so next time I'll remember to take pictures of that iconic thing.
Ok last but not least.
Missionary work is hard. You hear it from everyone. It is hard. But come on people you all make it sound like missionary work is just depressing! I have found that if I just find the one thing about every situation makes me happy and focus purely on that it becomes such a joy! Missionary work is hard but missionary work is also SO MUCH FUN I wish I had learned this principle earlier. Find the JOY in things instead of the HARD part about it. Life gets easier when you do this.

Ok that is all.
I love all of you, keep those emails coming.
Don't let the cat in the house,
Elder Pew 

MTC district with their teacher (a recent picture he sent us)

First area

Lunchables