Weekly Email - 30 November 2020

Hi everyone, sorry I missed last week.

Happy Thanksgiving! I got to eat Thanksgiving with an awesome family this week and it was so much fun! They also gave us lots of leftovers so we are not going to go hungry any time soon. We got two new people this week, one we found on Facebook and wanted to pray with us. They were super open to learning more and we almost had 3 lessons with them this week. We also found a former who is still super interested in learning more. We don't know why they stopped getting taught but it's cool because now we get to teach them!

Transfers is tomorrow but I am staying in the best area, Anderson Creek Park. The members here are so awesome and so excited to help with the work.

I am super excited to start light the world! Have you signed up for the daily texts about how you can help light the world. If not head over to www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world-2020 and sign up. It is a super awesome way to spread love and peace during the holiday time. And hey, when I am asking you to sign up for other sites, follow our zone facebook page. It is Come unto Christ in South-Central NC. This is the link https://www.facebook.com/ComeUntoChristinSouthCentralNC/ I might be in some videos here soon and I help make some of the posts.

I'm having fun and having lots of new experiences. Love you all, hope you had a great Thanksgiving and wish you a Merry Christmas. December 1st is tomorrow!

Elder West

Gratitude Challenge and Christmas Tree - 27 Nov 2020

 On Friday November 20, President Nelson (Prophet and leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) gave a message of hope. In his message, he also gave a challenge, a social media challenge for everyone to post something that they are grateful for each day for the next 7 days. Sam did this challenge and posted daily. His posts were amazing and funny too. Here are a few of his posts:

Sam also shared a picture stating that the tree is decorated!

If you notice the patches on the wall, he and his missionary companion are helping fix all of the holes. The holes were created by previous missionaries that lived there before them during the early parts of the COVID pandemic. Apparently, there was a golf club and balls in the house and they felt the need to hit the ball inside. Some people are pretty amazing.

Thanksgiving - 26 November 2020

 Happy Thanksgiving!

A family from Sam's Church ward invited him and his missionary companion over for Thanksgiving dinner. As a result of the COVID pandemic, they are required to eat outside. Good thing he is in a mission where it is still somewhat warm at this time of year.

Sacrament Talk - 22 November 2020

Sam was asked to speak in Sacrament. Picture taking in the sacrament room is not encouraged but someone did anyway. Since, it was shared, I thought I would post it anyway.

Facebook Message and Christmas Tree - 19 November 2020

 Sam has been utilizing Facebook to share thoughts. Here is one message that I really enjoyed and added a drawing he made.

Sam also shared a picture of a Christmas tree that they found in their closet. 

Weekly Email - 16 November 2020

Hi everyone. 

I've been having a lot of fun and learning a lot at the same time! This week was interesting. It was my first big rainstorm in North Carolina. It rained all day and the rivers started to overflow and flood the roads. We were stuck at home that day. We also had some lessons cancel that day because they didn't want to meet over zoom. On Saturday we had interviews with President and Sister Maurer. It was really cool to get to talk with them. On Sunday it was our Stake Conference and members invited us over to watch it with them. It was super cool and there were a lot of great speakers. Afterwards, we worked with the members to make some Facebook posts for our page. It has been a good week. We also have set up a few things for this coming week so I am excited for that. We have a couple new people we are going to finally meet and I am super excited. Well, thank you all and your awesome!

Sincerely Elder West

 

Here are a few of Sam's Facebook posts:

 

Not Dead From Flooding - 12 November 2020

Today we received a picture from Sam (below) with a message that said "I don't know if you saw the news but I am not dead from flooding!" This was a wonderful message to get both good and bad. I had not been watching the news very close and didn't realize that Tropical Storm Eta went through North Carolina. The news said that there were at least 11 people killed. They were getting 3" of rain in less than 2 hours and there were flash floods everywhere. Sam's mission president told them to stay home and do not risk going outside. I imagine they have been and will be doing a lot of service this coming week to help with clean-up.

Drawing - 10 November 2020

Sam was giving a picture drawn from one of the Church member's daughter when they were over for dinner at their home. Looks just like him! So cute.

Weekly Email and Baptism - 9 November 2020

Hey everyone, how are you guys doing? 

I'm doing pretty good. If you would like to email me, my email is sdwest@missionary.org. This week has been pretty good. We have found a couple new people. Facebook finding has found us a lot of people. We also have started teaching people on Facebook who live in South Sudan. On Saturday we had a baptism! It was kind of a struggle to meet with him this week but we got the last lesson we needed for him to be baptized. The baptism was cool and the spirit was really strong during it. The members are still feeding us most nights which is awesome. I'm excited for the holiday season coming up because of how much everything is going to be focused on Christ. Thank you all for your support and prayers I can feel your support every day. Thank you all, your all amazing.

Elder West

 

Here are pictures from the baptism on Sat., November 7th

Krispy Kreme Donuts - 2 November 2020

Sam was very happy to discover that Walmart sold Krispy Kreme donuts. He also learned that Krispy Kreme started in NC. The picture he sent made my mouth water, the best donuts ever! It is good to be in the South!

Weekly Email - 2 November 2020

Hey everyone. Happy Halloween! 

I'm doing good, this week has been super cool. We have been teaching lots of lesson so the week has ben pretty full. On Tuesday, we finally were able to get into Lindon Oaks. Lindon Oaks is a gated military community that because of Covid you can only get in with a military ID. There is a Chaplin in our ward who was able to get us 1 month passes. We went and did some service for a sister whose husband is deployed. On Friday I had my first Zone Conference. It was super cool. We talked about training things and how we can do more with finding people on Facebook. I also really enjoyed being able to talk to all the other missionaries. Halloween was a fun day. We spent most of the day working on a Facebook video. We went to a members house for dinner. They decorated and it was really fun. We had to go back to the church after dinner to finish uploading the video. We were trying but the church wifi was so bad we ran out of time. We were heading home and the car started to beep at us. It said that the oil pressure was low. We pulled over and looked under the hood and there was oil everywhere. We were also trailing a quite a bit of oil. We got the car in neutral and pushed it to the side of the road. We called the vehicle coordinator and we got the car towed today. We also called some Elders who are close to us and they came and picked us up. Sunday was fun. We have a baptism on Saturday. We finally confirmed with him, the time and he came to sacrament. He was going to come with his family but his son was sick and they didn't want him to throw up in the church. We have a few new people set up to meet with this week. We have also been helping out with a temple prep class and that is really cool. We have a lot of new members we are working with and it's a lot of fun. This area is awesome, there are so many cool people and members. This week I am going on my first exchanges and I am excited for that. I don't really know what all to expect but it's going to be great! This week is going to be fun, we have a lot to do. 

 

Love Sam