.JPG) |
Left to Right: Elders Offutt, Burgin, Higgins, Hixon, Willis, and Brooks |
Monday:
Hola
hola I love you guys and miss you a lot! After email we ate lunch, came back
and played some ultimate Frisbee, and then we went to get our bikes back from Hermano
Carrasco's house. While we were there we ended up cutting his grass (it only
took like 5 minutes because he has a small yard and a beastly lawn mower) and
then we went back and showered. Next we ate dinner with Mauricio Rodriguez and
his wife Rubi (he's from El Salvador, she's from México). We had chille
rellenos stuffed with queso fresco y carne asada, very delicious! Then we
stopped by another house for a lesson and it was time to go in for the night.
It was a busy day, and I'm excited to get started with this next week. We've
got a lot to do but I'm ready to work hard! And General Conference at the end
of the week, so that's going to be fun! Have a great week :)
Tuesday:
First day of October After study I took part of the lunch hour to clean the kitchen and then made some of that chicken/quinoa stuff. We worked on more finding ideas afterwards and then we had a cool dinner with Freddy Carrasco (not related to Tomás Carrasco, our ward mission leader). His wife and he are from Argentina and he's a really funny guy, so that was sweet. Hermano Zapata helped us out with lessons today. This last Sunday there was a lady at church we didn't recognize, and it turns out her name is Guadalupe. We knew where her house was because we tried to stop by a month or two ago, and when we got there she was really excited and let us in and we got to talk to her and get to know her and her family, it was really nice and we hope she'll keep progressing towards coming back to church. We then taught William and Danny over at Hermano Ortiz's house, good lesson. We came back and after nightly planning Andrew came over and gave us all haircuts, we've got interviews with Pres. Swain (his mission president) on Thursday so we thought we might should look clean cut haha. He also brought over this weird Indonesian ice cream called Durian. In Indonesian, that word means "stinky feet" and it's actually illegal to have in public transportation and elevators over there because it smells so bad. It really did smell AWFUL! But Andrew assured me it tasted better than it looked....not too much haha. It was kind of like weird butter scotch, not too awful, not too good. All in all, a successful day.
Wednesday:
Today was a solid day. I got up after a snooze of the ole' alarm clock and then did a good pushup/chest workout. I drank a protein shake and then did some personal study. I just got through Alma 16, so I'm like almost halfway through the Libro de Mormón (the Book of Mormon) in Spanish! That's exciting. I did some language study in my grammar book and then we went to Carl's Jr. (basically Hardee's). I got this new Frank's Red hot and bleu cheese burger, so I kinda gorged on fast food for the first time in a long while. I took some pepto and I was good to go and we made some really good afternoon visits and met a new guy named Pablo who was really cool. I was almost got hit by a car...it was actually way too close for comfort, but I don't want to worry you too much so just know The Lord is looking out for the missionaries and I'm 100% okay :) The Benavidas got us a pizza for dinner, and then we went out with Hermano Carrasco and visited Jesús, the Salinas family, and then visited some branch members for lessons. Now I'm ready for bed, it's been a long and tiring day. We have interviews with President (Swain, mission president) tomorrow so I need to be well rested for that, hope y'all are having a great week!
Thursday:
Today was a quick day! The usual morning routine: 6:30, wake up, exercise, protein shake, personal study, comp study (companionship study), etc. Then we started biking over to the Magna East building (about 2 miles away) for our interviews with Pres. Swain. We were almost there and Burgin (Elder Burgin, his companion) wrecked hard! He hit a deep dip in the sidewalk and pulled a straight up Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story....soaring parallel to the ground before crashing! He was a little scraped up but took it like a trooper. Interviews were good, Pres. always has inspiring things to say and he's so powerful, really helps us work hard out here out in the campo misional (mission field). We went over to the senior couple’s (married couples that serve, usually after retirement age) apartment, The Taylor's, house for lunch and had chili, pretty good on a cold day (high was like 50 today). Then we did weekly planning and walked over to the Barboza family's house for dinner. We had a delicious meal - homemade arepas y flan. They're from Venezuela, so that was cool to experience some of that food (flan is not Venezuelan but it was their spin on it haha). Hermano Paredes picked us up and we had a really fun visit with the Sandoval family (their little kids are just hilarious!) and then we had a correlation meeting. I'm crazy excited that we're one day closer to conference!!!!! Love ya familia.
Friday:
Zone training day! We had our zone training meeting from our ZL's, Elders Bragg and Terry, from9-12 this morning. It was really good and they focused on what we can do to really better ourselves as well as help people come unto the Gospel. We also focused a lot on the Book of Mormon. They made mention of keeping a cleaner apartment, and my apartment mates took it to heart. Elder Burgin and I have done a pretty solid job...the others not as much haha. We all spent an hour or two cleaning while Elder Jacques made this really good buffalo chicken, probably super unhealthy since he fried it but delicious nonetheless. Burgin and I went to work on some online stuff and then had dinner with the Salinas family, the ones we baptized during my first transfer. They're such a happy family to be around, I love them! And they cooked amazing carne asada y chorizo...wow, it was one of the best dinners we've had yet. We rode around and made some visits but it was cold! Like, low 40s and we were freezing haha. This winter is gonna take some getting used to from this Georgia boy. Now I'm about to finish up the last of the dishes, and then get ready for conference tomorrow! I can't wait, it's going to be a really powerful experience. Look for me on tv haha (General Conference is televised on BYU TV), we're going to try and go to all the sessions tomorrow!
Tuesday:
First day of October After study I took part of the lunch hour to clean the kitchen and then made some of that chicken/quinoa stuff. We worked on more finding ideas afterwards and then we had a cool dinner with Freddy Carrasco (not related to Tomás Carrasco, our ward mission leader). His wife and he are from Argentina and he's a really funny guy, so that was sweet. Hermano Zapata helped us out with lessons today. This last Sunday there was a lady at church we didn't recognize, and it turns out her name is Guadalupe. We knew where her house was because we tried to stop by a month or two ago, and when we got there she was really excited and let us in and we got to talk to her and get to know her and her family, it was really nice and we hope she'll keep progressing towards coming back to church. We then taught William and Danny over at Hermano Ortiz's house, good lesson. We came back and after nightly planning Andrew came over and gave us all haircuts, we've got interviews with Pres. Swain (his mission president) on Thursday so we thought we might should look clean cut haha. He also brought over this weird Indonesian ice cream called Durian. In Indonesian, that word means "stinky feet" and it's actually illegal to have in public transportation and elevators over there because it smells so bad. It really did smell AWFUL! But Andrew assured me it tasted better than it looked....not too much haha. It was kind of like weird butter scotch, not too awful, not too good. All in all, a successful day.
Wednesday:
Today was a solid day. I got up after a snooze of the ole' alarm clock and then did a good pushup/chest workout. I drank a protein shake and then did some personal study. I just got through Alma 16, so I'm like almost halfway through the Libro de Mormón (the Book of Mormon) in Spanish! That's exciting. I did some language study in my grammar book and then we went to Carl's Jr. (basically Hardee's). I got this new Frank's Red hot and bleu cheese burger, so I kinda gorged on fast food for the first time in a long while. I took some pepto and I was good to go and we made some really good afternoon visits and met a new guy named Pablo who was really cool. I was almost got hit by a car...it was actually way too close for comfort, but I don't want to worry you too much so just know The Lord is looking out for the missionaries and I'm 100% okay :) The Benavidas got us a pizza for dinner, and then we went out with Hermano Carrasco and visited Jesús, the Salinas family, and then visited some branch members for lessons. Now I'm ready for bed, it's been a long and tiring day. We have interviews with President (Swain, mission president) tomorrow so I need to be well rested for that, hope y'all are having a great week!
Thursday:
Today was a quick day! The usual morning routine: 6:30, wake up, exercise, protein shake, personal study, comp study (companionship study), etc. Then we started biking over to the Magna East building (about 2 miles away) for our interviews with Pres. Swain. We were almost there and Burgin (Elder Burgin, his companion) wrecked hard! He hit a deep dip in the sidewalk and pulled a straight up Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story....soaring parallel to the ground before crashing! He was a little scraped up but took it like a trooper. Interviews were good, Pres. always has inspiring things to say and he's so powerful, really helps us work hard out here out in the campo misional (mission field). We went over to the senior couple’s (married couples that serve, usually after retirement age) apartment, The Taylor's, house for lunch and had chili, pretty good on a cold day (high was like 50 today). Then we did weekly planning and walked over to the Barboza family's house for dinner. We had a delicious meal - homemade arepas y flan. They're from Venezuela, so that was cool to experience some of that food (flan is not Venezuelan but it was their spin on it haha). Hermano Paredes picked us up and we had a really fun visit with the Sandoval family (their little kids are just hilarious!) and then we had a correlation meeting. I'm crazy excited that we're one day closer to conference!!!!! Love ya familia.
Friday:
Zone training day! We had our zone training meeting from our ZL's, Elders Bragg and Terry, from9-12 this morning. It was really good and they focused on what we can do to really better ourselves as well as help people come unto the Gospel. We also focused a lot on the Book of Mormon. They made mention of keeping a cleaner apartment, and my apartment mates took it to heart. Elder Burgin and I have done a pretty solid job...the others not as much haha. We all spent an hour or two cleaning while Elder Jacques made this really good buffalo chicken, probably super unhealthy since he fried it but delicious nonetheless. Burgin and I went to work on some online stuff and then had dinner with the Salinas family, the ones we baptized during my first transfer. They're such a happy family to be around, I love them! And they cooked amazing carne asada y chorizo...wow, it was one of the best dinners we've had yet. We rode around and made some visits but it was cold! Like, low 40s and we were freezing haha. This winter is gonna take some getting used to from this Georgia boy. Now I'm about to finish up the last of the dishes, and then get ready for conference tomorrow! I can't wait, it's going to be a really powerful experience. Look for me on tv haha (General Conference is televised on BYU TV), we're going to try and go to all the sessions tomorrow!
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View from Scottie's seat inside the Conference Center |
Saturday and Sunday:
General Conference!!!!!! Wow, it's Sunday night and I'm exhausted. It has been an amazing and powerful weekend, but I'm exhausted. We got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning, got ready and left, and didn't get back until like 10:30 (way late because traffic getting out of SLC after conference was crazy and we had some ride difficulties haha). So needless to say, that was crazy. Today we got up at 6:30, were out by 7:30 again, and then didn't get back until around 6. So much conference, I loved it! We were in every single session except the last one, and we watched that one on a big screen in the Tabernacle, where they used to have conference, so that was cool. We managed to get tickets and it was an awe-inspiring experience to be inside of conference center. We even saw some people we know, Elder Burgin saw a bunch of friends from back home and I saw Luke Leonard, he went to GaTech with me and was in my Institute class (scripture study class) and everything. Way cool, I'll send the picture we took.
General Conference!!!!!! Wow, it's Sunday night and I'm exhausted. It has been an amazing and powerful weekend, but I'm exhausted. We got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning, got ready and left, and didn't get back until like 10:30 (way late because traffic getting out of SLC after conference was crazy and we had some ride difficulties haha). So needless to say, that was crazy. Today we got up at 6:30, were out by 7:30 again, and then didn't get back until around 6. So much conference, I loved it! We were in every single session except the last one, and we watched that one on a big screen in the Tabernacle, where they used to have conference, so that was cool. We managed to get tickets and it was an awe-inspiring experience to be inside of conference center. We even saw some people we know, Elder Burgin saw a bunch of friends from back home and I saw Luke Leonard, he went to GaTech with me and was in my Institute class (scripture study class) and everything. Way cool, I'll send the picture we took.
 |
Scottie and Luke Leonard, a friend from Ga Tech |
After all the Saturday sessions, Hermano Freddy Carrasco
(younger and from Argentina, not the one I'm usually talking about) took us out
with him and his son and his son's friend to the Red Iguana restaurant, way
good and managed by a member in the branch, Hermano Jiminez, so we didn't have
to wait in the wildly long post-conference line haha. After the Sunday sessions Freddy helped us out with
another ride back to Magna, we ate with the Gomez family, we taught the
Sandovals, we turned in weekly reports, and now it's about bed time haha. So
tired but so thankful to have been able to see all the conference sessions and
learn the great advice from our church leaders and really grow in my testimony.
Powerful. I love the Gospel!
(He sent the following explanation): General Conference is a semi-annual meeting we have in the church where we have an opportunity to hear the counsel and advice from our living Prophet, as well as other living apostles and church leaders. There is also beautiful music sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the experience is a truly wonderful time to learn what we can do to become more devoted followers of Christ and keep His light in our life always. The talks at Conference range in topic from fiscal responsibility to doctrinal teachings about faith, but all of the talks center on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our example to follow to return to live with our eternal families one day. I have a strong testimony that all of the talks at Conference can be viewed as modern day scripture and we should heed these teachings just as we heed the words of the prophets of old. Doing so will bring peace, happiness, and joy into our lives. I bear humble testimony of these things.
Some of conference highlights: (I took way too many notes to send, so this was a highlight to me) *For all those who doubt, doubt your doubt, not your faith. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency)
* I know that my redeemer liveth.
* Pres. Monson's (President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) talk where he started talking about his wife, man that made me cry (President Monson’s wife passed away recently)
* The Gospel is the way to eternal life, happiness, and peace
(He sent the following explanation): General Conference is a semi-annual meeting we have in the church where we have an opportunity to hear the counsel and advice from our living Prophet, as well as other living apostles and church leaders. There is also beautiful music sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the experience is a truly wonderful time to learn what we can do to become more devoted followers of Christ and keep His light in our life always. The talks at Conference range in topic from fiscal responsibility to doctrinal teachings about faith, but all of the talks center on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our example to follow to return to live with our eternal families one day. I have a strong testimony that all of the talks at Conference can be viewed as modern day scripture and we should heed these teachings just as we heed the words of the prophets of old. Doing so will bring peace, happiness, and joy into our lives. I bear humble testimony of these things.
Some of conference highlights: (I took way too many notes to send, so this was a highlight to me) *For all those who doubt, doubt your doubt, not your faith. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency)
* I know that my redeemer liveth.
* Pres. Monson's (President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) talk where he started talking about his wife, man that made me cry (President Monson’s wife passed away recently)
* The Gospel is the way to eternal life, happiness, and peace
 |
The Salt Lake City Temple at night |
I can't tell you how lucky I am to be
your son and be able to have y'all as my eternal family. Truly, thank you for
everything. I really do miss you all a whole lot, there's a lot of things I
can't wait to do with you when I get back, my mission has already, just in a
few months, taught me so very much.
Yeah
we're about to head out, so I love you! I hope y'all have a great week and are
able to enjoy some good weather too. Can't wait for next week.
Love y'all so much,
tell everyone I say the same!
Scottie
(From is email to his Aunt Tammy):
I'm trying to work
hard and make the most of every day! New word this week? I think the one from
conference I liked the most was amor. Love. Christ loves each and
every one of us, and wants us to be happy. If we work hard to love and serve
our families, we'll be happy too. That's what's important about life, learning
to love those that are around us, and understand Christ's love for each one of
us.
I don't know if I'm
really ready for the cold haha, we'll see! I'm biking every day still, but as
soon as the first frost/snow/ice hits we're off bikes for the rest of the
winter (safety reasons). So then we'll be back to good ole' walking.
Love always,
Scottie
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