Scottie with the Lizarraga family from his first branch

Hola Family!!

This last week has been good. We've had some crazy weather too, ranging from sunny and 65 on Tuesday to this crazy snowstorm yesterday haha. It's been good though!

Tuesday 3/25/14:

Today we had interviews with Pres. Swain (his mission president). We have them quarterly and it's always an awesome experience and time to talk with him and learn from him and feel his general desire for our success and growth in the Gospel. After interviews we started exchanges (temporary switching of companions with another set of missionaries) . Since I actually have elders in my district now I have to go on exchanges with each of them once a transfer (part of his responsibilities as District Leader). I went with Elder Stancliffe and we went into his area, which was good. We visited a lot of his investigators, went to Cafe Rio for dinner, and then came back and talked about his area, I gave him a bit of guidance, then went to bed. It was solid!

Wednesday 3/26/14:

This morning we got up, did studies, and then met up to un-exchange (returned to original compantionships) haha. Elder Chavez and I had a pretty busy afternoon contacting referrals and a quick service for Herman Quiroz, then we were off towards dinner. After dinner we went over to one of the Sister missionaries wards (local congregation), and we helped with a youth activity. The youth wanted to invite non-members and less active friends and then challenge all the missionaries in the district to a volleyball game... We may or may not have dominated haha :) it was fun, and then we taught a lesson about the Atonement and how we can apply it in our lives. That's one thing that I've gained a super strong testimony of in my life, and I'm so thankful for the love of Christ and his sacrifice for us.

Thursday 3/27/14:

Weekly planning day!! That's what we did for the majority of our morning and afternoon, and since Sis. Ashcroft (a sister missionary in his district) was hitting her 1 year mark we celebrated that with her. Afterwards we went to dinner, and then we spent the night teaching the Tepox, Renteria, and Valencia families, which was really good. The day seemed to fly by too, we stayed so busy!!

Friday 3/28/14:

Today was awesome. I got up and finished preparing for district meeting, we discussed the consecrated missionary talk by Tod Callister and how we can always give consecrated efforts to The Lord. Then, I went on another exchange, this time with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Ulu'ave and we went to his area, he serves in a YSA (Young Single Adult) ward so that was kind of cool! We taught a good bit of people, and we went to a birthday party dinner for this lady in our Spanish ward - she made really good chicken and rice, I enjoyed it. Afterwards we went back to his place and talked, he's super funny and we had to wait a bit before the other elders got there to un-exchange so I got to hear a ton of his funny stories. I also learned a lot from him; he's from Hawaii and goes home next month so that's crazy!

Saturday 3/29/14:

Busy day today as well! We spent all morning doing service with Sisters Unga and Ashcroft (sister missionaries in his district) in their area, then we came back, got cleaned up, and went over to Magna. A guy I was teaching in my first area, William, got baptized and I was invited back to give the talk on baptism. It was a powerfully spiritual experience and I got to see a lot of members from my first ward, which was pretty cool! I'll send some pictures as well :)

Elders Shrack, Quiles,Burgin and Higgins at William's baptism

Sunday 3/30/14:

Quality day today. We got up, studied, went to church and there were a TON of people there today, due to a baby blessing :) So that was fun. Afterwards we looked outside to see that this crazy snowstorm blew in, so we ran home to change into some boots and then we contacted some referrals and had a meeting with the stake president. We ate dinner at the Hardy family's birthday bbq, and then we saw one more person. We came home, called in all the numbers, and that was that! It's been a great week!

Hey!! I love y'all, I gotta run.

Love always,

Scottie

Dude with bunny ears - my guess is they came from his Aunt Tammy!

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy)

Hola hola Tia Tammy!!

It's ben a great week, we're enjoying the nicer weather, even though a crazy little snow storm blew in last week.

Word of the week: conferencia general - that's Spanish for General Conference! We're excited to be able to hear from living prophets and apostles this upcoming weekend, I hope y'all get to see some of it! (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a General Conference twice each year that is broadcast for church members throughout the world to hear from church leaders.)

Aunt Tammy, thank you so so much for all of the goodies, letters, and the awesome shirt y'all sent in my package. That was seriously awesome. I want to write a real letter back to say thank you, but it meant so very much to me and I just wanted to let you know I got it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Y'all are awesome :)

Love,

Scottie