June 27, 2016

Hi Everyone!

Like you said it has been pretty busy leading up to the change. So President Johnson flies in on the 30th so his first day will be July 1st. We also will officially be receiving the Annapolis Stake from the Baltimore Mission on the same day. So between those two things and loosing s group of 24 in a few weeks, this mission is going to change
a lot really quick. But change is good, so we are excited to see what is in store. I'm so excited for you to meet the Cookes!! They are just the best. They are going back to Utah for a little bit then taking a vacation in California for a while. Then they will come back here and live in the Kentlands ward. They have already bought and moved into
it.

Sounds like St George was a great time! I'm pretty jealous of you guys getting to relax by the pool and everything, that sounds so nice. But we will just keep going go go go here in the awesome DC humidity!  But sounds like you got a ton of good stuff in. 

Well this week out here was another super good one. In some ways it felt super long, others it went by really short. On Monday after P-Day ended Elder Jorgensen and I went to give a blessing at one of the DC hospitals. It was for a lady actually in the WP2 Ward and it was for her non member husband. Her visiting teacher is Sister Vance and she's the one who set it up with us, small world!! But it was so amazing, a really awesome spiritual experience that had a really big impact on both her and her husband.

Wednesday we had our last interview with Pres and Sister Cooke.  Not much needs to be said about those cause I could just go on and on about how amazing they both are. But you guys will get to see for yourselves in a few weeks when you meet them!

Throughout the week we had tons of success in our area. We are really picking up speed with investigators and now have 2 on baptismal date! We have some super awesome investigators as well as some that are gonna need some work and progress.

Then the last hi light of the week was on Saturday.  So remember JS the guy who takes us out to lunch? So he is like the most amazing man. He's super Christlike and just loves the missionaries here so we jokingly call him John the Beloved cause he's like ancient and doesn't do anything besides serve missionaries. Well Saturday was his birthday and we wanted to throw him a surprise party! I guess missionaries have surprised him the last 2 years so we had to get creative. So we tricked him into coming to the Visitors Center thinking he was giving s ride to one of our investigators. And then we led him out the back door to where tons of Elders were waiting for him with cake, ice cream, and a Brooks Brothers tie was all pitched in for (since he buys all the Elders one before they go home). And he was so grateful for it all! He is one of those guys who I just can't wait to bring you back and have meet! I'll attach the pictures and video of us surprising him!

Well, busy week this week with the official change and then the 4th coming up. (Super excited about that one). I love and miss you all!! 

Have a great week!

Love,
Austin