Attending the Temple and Prayer 1/9/13

Hey sorry I don't think I told anyone that we switched our pday to today because we got to go to the temple. Elder Lawton said that yesterday and I was like oh ya I didn't tell my family either. But I am sure you guys didn't mind or take notice! ha Grandma and grandpa i got your guys letter and Glad to hear you read my emails as well. Love you guys very much! The temple was cool its a pretty small temple we just went as a district with us the senior couple "The Baxters" and a lady named sister draper in our ward it was cool. The Temple president wasn't expecting us... district leaders fault ha so we just rushed an Endowment sessions. It was a cool opportunity it wasn't as revelatory as other temple sessions but it was nice to go to. I was really tired haha so maybe that is why it was kind of weird to go right in the middle of all the missionary work. Week has gone well, highlights of it were teaching with president, Got like 16 people to this basketball thing we were doing. like 7 were non-members. Went on some exchanges this week. One with elder mumford.. it sucked and one with Elder Wolz that I liked. A decent week at church a really crappy week until we blitzed(2 comps in nsp) the area on saturday then we did good. We have some good investigators but other than that everyone is just super sketch. I asked president for advice and he said follow up with commitments and be bold. So that is what I want to do. Hey Elder Ruesch in the district goes home January 30th his homecoming is probably the first week of sunday you guys should totally go. He is from Alpine Utah. He is a good missionary he is just really old and probably freaking out. He doesn't show it though. Any big announcements in the world? Sounds like dads event went well. coolio. Man this transfer is halfway over.. crazy. Hey elder mumford told me that the next transfer is a 5 week transfer so my mission would be cut short a week. I wouldn't get 2 years. so i would get home on sept 3rd 2014. It hasn't been announced officially but sounds pretty legit i guess. Idk why maybe they just want to change the transfer times to accomodate the onslaught. sorry i stink at writing and stuff um yes please look for my scriptures in th emove. Mine are getting wrecked. It is kind of nuts. man this is tough work. Elder Lawton is super smart. He will be a way better missionary then me. He is just timid and kind of shy. We get along well though. But he is probably here to keep me in line so that I don't do anything disobedient. I am getting a lot better, I feel like i am pretty personable to everyone that is probably my strongest point. It is stupid what you can feel guilty for out here hahaha... not stupid that makes me sound like a pessimist. Just like feeling bad for not excercising a full 30 minutes every morning. It is crazy. idk ha wany you will know when you go on a mission. ... ha. So not much else just trial by fire here. Cause I don't know what I am doing but I am kind of figuring things out. Hey dad idk if you have mission Journal entries but that would be cool for you to send me those someetimes. I could do better at Journaling. its just too busy! anyways Pday is on monday again so you should all be talking to me soon anyways. I am doing pretty good. you all are the best! Oh when i went teaching with president on saturday we did nose goes for who says the prayer with our Investigator... check out presidents letter understand that it is a widespread practice to play a simple game (touching your nose with your finger, pretend shooting each other, etc.) to determine who will offer a public prayer. While I’m learning that these practices are widespread in the Church, it is not something we should be doing. Prayer is a sacred privilege. It trivializes prayer to say that someone who is the last to touch his nose or is the one who is shot first prays. These games should not be played among missionaries, investigators, members or any other group. Show the dignity of your office by not participating in them. The proper way to determine who prays is that the presiding or conducting authority makes an assignment and asks someone to pray. In lessons, we ask the head of the household, who presides in the home, to ask someone to pray. In a Sunday School class, the teacher asks someone to pray. (We don’t ask for volunteers.). Among companions, whoever is leading for that day determines who will pray. Please make sure we prepare properly for prayer by using this dignified and appropriate means of asking someone to pray rather than playing a game in which the loser pray -your boy Elder Hall