This last week was really good, we taught a lot and did a lot

of good things. I’ll be getting a new companion tomorrow. Still don’t

know who it will be.

But something really cool happened this week... we got a truck!! It’s

so sick, I love it. It’s a 2013 Toyota Tacoma. I feel like a real boss

driving in it. We fit in pretty good with all of our members, cause

they all have trucks too. We even picked up a recliner off the side

of the road and brought it back to our apartment, just because we can.

The Mardi Gras parade was so much fun. It was pretty clean for the

most part. We got tons of beads and their floats were pretty cool.

Some people on the floats would see E. Bennett and I and would say,

"It’s the Mormons" and then like the whole float would just start

throwing beads at us. It was pretty funny.

Something that I’ve enjoyed from my studies this week is in

3 Nephi where Christ teaches the Nephites. I love the way he does it.

It shows me the weaknesses and strengths of my own personal

teaching. I’ve noticed that he uses language and stories that relate to

them. And then teaches them simply and clearly. I also love how he

teaches his 12 disciples and then tells them to go teach exactly what

he taught them to the rest of the multitude. I think that’s important,

because president tells us all the time that when you are taught

you only retain 15% of what you hear. But when you teach someone you

retain 75% of what you hear. That’s a huge difference. So he was

allowing his disciples to retain and understand more of what he was

teaching by allowing them to teach others. I think that is why the

new Youth curriculum is so important, because it forces them to retain

and understand it, because they are the ones teaching. I know that

from experience as a missionary, that I understand it better when I

get to teach it. I love the example that the Savior has set for us,

and I got to learn a lot more on how he taught people.

Mardi Gras!

This past week I would count as a good one! We were able to stay in

our area almost everyday and we did a lot of teaching. When Elder

Allen Packer came to our mission a month or so ago, he challenged us

as a mission to teach 20 lessons a week! On average I would say we teach

from 10 to 15. It depends on your area. This past week Elder Bennett

and I taught 12, which isn’t bad considering our circumstances. We are

going to try and teach 15 this week.

We were able to see our main investigator this week. Her name is

Shasta, she has been investigating for a couple years I think now, she

claims to be a Mormon but isn’t baptized, she even defends the church

when someone tries to attack it. So we are going to try and help

her out as best as we can. She brought her brother to church this

week, so we hope to start working with him too.

Tomorrow we are going to a Mardi Gras parade!! I’m so stoked, We are

going to the one in Metaire, which is outside of New Orleans. I’m gonna

catch so many beads, I might even have to push little kids out of the

way to get the good stuff! Everyone says that most Mardi Gras parades

are good for familes and are clean. It’s just the ones down in the

French Quarter in New Orleans that are bad, and those are at night. I’ll

be sure to take lots of pictures and hopefully some cool videos!

I’ve been trying to study a lot on the Atonement lately. Its such a

deep and personal topic, I didn’t know where to start. But I have been

learning so much. It doesn’t just cover the repentance process, the

Atonement covers so much more! It strengthens us to do more than what

we could do on our own, it allows is to grow in ways that we didn’t

know, it enables us to have power over temptations, and so much more.

We can have eternal life if we take full advantage of it.  The more I study

the more I see more and more weaknesses that I have, but because the

Atonement I know that I can overcome them and become strong. Even

though we might not receive all the blessings of the Atonement in this life,

we have the hope, that the gospel gives us that we can receive all the

blessings that it gives, throughout eternity! My mind can’t even

comprehend what that even covers. Sorry I just got my mind blown

this week. I got a lot of work to do! :)

I had a kid ask me this week why I decided to serve a mission, as I

sat and thought about the thousands of reasons, one came to my mind...

"Well the Gospel is true" That’s all I could say, and that’s all I need to

say--the Gospel is true. We are in good hands.

Something cool that I learned this week is something that I read in my

personal study, I read 3 Nephi 11. Which is easily one of may favorite

chapters in the Book of Mormon. But the part I want to focus on is

in verse 5 where it says "and their eyes were towards the sound

thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the

sound came." I love how it says their eyes were towards the sound. I

relate that to another favorite part of the Book of Mormon where King

Benjamin is speaking and it says that the door of their tents were

pointed towards him. I think that if we have our priorities pointed

towards living the Gospel and focusing on what matters most. Then we

will get a lot more out of life and feel that happiness and peace that

we all seek.

This week I went on 3 exchanges! Normally we only have 1 a week.

But since this transfer is shorter, we only had 4 of the 5 weeks to do



exchanges and the assistants called and wanted to do an exchange



this weekend as well. So over all, we have 8 exchanges to do in 4 weeks!



It’s crazy. At the beginning of this week we went to Convington to go



on exchanges with the district leader and then the other set of



missionaries in Mandeville, who are in the process of training and



being trained. I had a lot of fun and got to get to know a lot of the missionaries



better. On Tuesday I got to play basketball there and was able to beat



up on all these high school kids. Little did I know but 12 of them were



not members. Convington is this super rich, nice area and is



probably one of the nicest areas in our mission. I saw Tim McGraw's



mansion on the water. It was pretty sweet. Then this weekend I went












on an exchange with one of the assistants, Elder Carter. He is a cool kid and 

I was able to learn a lot.







For those of you who don't know what an exchange is. It's.... When my



companion and I go to another missionary's area and I go with one of



them and Elder Bennett goes with the other. We get to talk, teach and



get to know them. It's a great way to learn new things from different



missionaries and sometimes it's to get a companionship who is not



getting a long away from each other. 







This week we were able to have a lesson with this one family who I



will probably be talking a lot about... the Costas. They have tons of



part members in their family, so we hope to be working with them a



lot. But we were able to use that story that momma sent me about the



guy playing the violin in the DC subway station,and how he was played



Bach and stuff but no one really noticed him... that one. Well we read



it and they loved it. Then I asked who can the people in the story



represent. And we came up with that the guy is Christ and the precious



music is the Atonement. The people passing by is us. Some of us just



walk right on by without even noticing what Christ is constantly doing



for us, and some just stop for a second, throw a few coins and then



keep on going. I loved how only the children wanted to stop and



listen, but then the parents want them to keep going. We all know how



much Christ loves little children and how so much more spiritual they











are then the rest of us. The spririt was super strong and I know that






they all felt it. It was awesome. 

Albany, Louisiana

Lots of new and exciting changes this week. It was hard to say goodbye

to all the people in Morgan City, but I think that both Morgan city and

myself needed a change. I am now in Albany, Louisiana. My new comp

is Elder Bennett. We both were trained by Elder Davidson, so its funny to

He is from Canada, a suburb of Ontario. He goes home at the end of this 

transfer. So I have about 4 1/2 weeks to get to know the area and to know 

how to be a zone leader! Should be a interesting few weeks, but I’m 

looking forward to it!

I really like Albany. It reminds me a lot of Many, small country town

with a small ward, but awesome members. It’s a nice change from Morgan

City. We play basketball every Thursday night and football every

Saturday morning. I think Ill fit in just fine! We are just working a lot with

less-active and part-member families. Almost all of the main families in our 

ward have at least one or two non-members, so we are going to be working 

closely with all of them. The leadership of the ward is really good and they

are really missionary-minded, which is such a nice relief. The stake 

president lives in our area too and he is all for missionary work. So he helps 

us out a lot.

So far being a zone leader isn't much different from being a district

leader. But I think that’s about to change pretty quick. We have to go

on exchanges with all the district leaders in our zone and then also

all the missionaries that are training. So that makes 7 exchanges in

the next 4 1/2 weeks! Should be pretty crazy, we will hardly be in our

own area and hardly with each other. But I’m happy because it will give

me a good opportunity to get to know a lot of the missionaries in our

zone. We have 28 missionaries in our zone so I have a lot of people to

get to know!

In closing I’d like to share what I learned in church this week. We had

a high councilmen come and speak in our ward. He spoke on how D&C 4

can apply to all of us, not just missionaries. He talked about how if

we try to apply and live the principles mentioned, then we will be

more aware of surrounding missionary opportunities for us and also it

will just help us maintain and increase our own personal testimonies.

I wish you could have heard it because I really enjoyed it. My favorite

thing about missionary work is knowing that when I go home, I get to

use all these cool things I’m learning and all of my fun and crazy

experiences. All of it won’t just stop when I get released, I have a

lifetime of "normal" life to build off of what I learned in two years!

But I still have tons of time left, 9 1/2 months to be exact…just

in case anyone was wondering.