Hello Ohio

YO!

I dont even know where to begin because so much has happened in such a short amount of time.  I feel like ive been here for years but its been a good 3 weeks. whoops. ha Well i guess ill start from the beginning!

Okay so we got to OHIO!! It was a perfect bloody day... of course.  We meet our mission president. President Nielsen.  The most amazing, intimidating, scary, loving man i have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  We had our one on one interviews with him. OH did i mention he owns CAFE RIO!!!! That is the sickest hookup ever. I am so pumped about that. Anyway we had our meetings with him and mine went really good!  like 20 minutes later he called me in for a second interview.  I was freaking out cause im like great i did something wrong or i am getting a calling.  Well it wasnt either of those hahahah. I was sat down and watched a youtube video about the Amish.??? What? so confused.  There are Amish in our area. So i thought sweet i am getting called to the Amish land! No technology!!! hahah Well turns out i didnt get called there. soooo to this day i still have no idea why i watched that clip. Then we had dinner, kinda a Cafe Rio salad thing. so good.  then we split up to spend the night at members homes.  I went to the Sargents! They are awesome. and just happen to be HUGE BYU Volleyball fans.  So as you can imagine i was up for like 3 hours just being asked all sorts of question ahahah. Good times. The next day we went to this chapel to meet our new companions and get all our briefing on our area.

So we arrive at the chapel and get rushed into a room and have like a 2 hour seminar with loads of info!!! Then we when into the chapel and there was a bunch of elders and sisters lined up across the rows.  one of them was going to be my comp. i guessed it would be the shortest one since i feel like people would have a good laugh at that.  But i got elder Marler. The whitest Nerdiest kid from Hawaii. I laughed in my head as he rused to me for a embrace.  I love this kid.  He is so kind and so sweet.  He is genuine and thoughtful.  Although he is so shy so i do all the talking i still love him.  Its really been kinda nice having a companion that doesnt like to talk becasue then i get to say whatever i want hahahahah.  We got called to marion OH!!! It is so awesome!!! We at first we got there and we are like this is the GHETTO!!! Like ghetto country. and everyone is a current or recovering heroine addict.  So people are twitching all over the place! 

So we wanted to get started right away! so as soon as we got here we went to Wal-mart. haha but while we were there we met some awesome people and we just started talking to them about the church! Then eventually we asked if we could meet with them and talk to them some more! They all mostly said yes! Amazing! We have 5 potential investigators in like 3 hours.  So we were pumped.  Then the next few days were super hard cause we were opening up this new area and didnt know really where to begin. So we prayed and prayed and then decided to go visit a former investigator.  they didnt answer so we walked around the streets close by. these streets have tons of black people on them and its like scary some times.  Like they most likely are in some time of gang or drug dealers because its in this certain neighborhood.  We also heard gun shots ahhahahahahhahah. I heard that and boooked it so fast.  anyway right before that we were walking and i saw this big black guy walking and i thought or felt that i needed to go talk to him. i asked my companion if we should and he said no.  I simply ingnored that and walked toward him across the street. I said whats up man trying to sound a litle black and he smiled and i asked if he had ever seen missionaries before he said no.  So we got to talking and he later said after a while he felt that we talked to him for a reason and he wanted to see us again.  I was so pumped! Not only did i not get killed i met Mike who wanted to know more! He also wants us to teach his family! You know i think God has a sense of humor cause what big black guy with teardrops by his eye wants us to meet his family! Man so funny.

The next day we went to Kenton OH. A smaller town with a lot of quite people.  We walked about forever trying to meet people.  we were about to leave until i saw this house with the door open and i thought of how Christ is knocking at our door and we just have to open it.  Well this door was already open! So i said we have to go there.  We walked over and this 19yr old boy came out and we started talking and he then invited us in.  We taught him about the restoration and invited him to pray to find out if these things we said our true.  He started to cry because he said he didnt think god cared about him anymore.  But he said he wanted to be closer to god.  His name is Blaiz and i love him.  He is so cool and takes care of his little brothers and sisters.  Has the best heart.  

then! We left and walked back to our car and there was a women standing outside painting! We said hello! I saw her kids playing inside and so i just said hey one of the things we believe is in Eternal families.  And he looked at me then was quite and said. I was just thinking about last night that i wish i could be with my family forever.  Like WHAT!!!!! Miracles!!!! Her name is Betsy and she is 33 and has 3 kids. Her husband is Catholic but very open to hearing more.  We teach her tonight! So excited!!! 

Okay last story!! Pretty much this whole week i have worked on letting go of myself.  I have put all fear aside and just talked to everyone.  I think about when the savior comes again i want to be able to say to him that i tried as best as i could to help everyone know.  So this has really helped me just walk up to the most random people.  My companion just is dumbfounded because he is terrified of people. but he says he is learning a lot from me which means a lot because i feel like i am learning a lot from him.  Okay anyway we were at Wendys and i sat down with my food and i saw this family just sitting over in the corner and the heard in my head go talk to them. i ignored it cause for some reason i was scared.  I thought the dad looks mean and i dont want to be yelled at. I started to eat and felt sick.  I had to go over.  before i knew it my feet were on the move.  I made up something and said do you guys know where walmart is? they answered yes and then the dad started to draw it on a napkin while he was i started talking to the mom about missionaries which led to mormons. She told me what she knew and i told her well we believe in our church we have the opportunity to find out for ourselves if something is true.  So i asked. Would you like to know more so you can decide for yourself? She and her husband both said yes.  We met last night again at a loud laundry mat and taught them the restoration.  She wanted to pray and read for herself that night.  her boyfriend agreed to do the same.  I am so excited to here how it went.

This church is true. and i have already in one week of being here witnessed so many miracles.  My prayers have been answered everyday!! I love this gospel and i really love the people of Marion OH!!! They a small beaten down trodden under but still have faith.  They are miracles.  I love it here so much.  I have learned so much in a week. I hope you all the best!!! Please write me and tell me all the provo gossip. hahha cause i miss it! Love you guys and family!!!!

Elder Patch

Pics of OH. My companion and all the new elders coming to ohio