Well this has been a crazy week here. Elder Liston got transferred and now I am serving here with Elder Mills. He is super awesome. He is from Bakersfield, CA. He has been out for 8 months now. He is super energetic and a great missionary so I am excited to be serving with him.

We picked up a new investigator named Nicole this week. She was sitting on her porch so we went and talked to her. She is super cool and really open to what he have to teach. She said in made so much sense that God would still talk to his children and still call prophets for us today. She was super excited to read the Book of Mormon and we will be seeing her again this week. We have been able have so many experiences of being able to see Heavenly Father put people in our path to talk to. I have seen that if stop and actually look we can see so many moments where Heavenly Father is a part of our lives. No matter how big or small it may be. I was grateful for this when Thursday rolled around... 

So Thursday was probably one of the craziest days of my mission. So we have had a clogged drain in our kitchen for a while now and we have tried everything to get it out. We finally thought we had it fixed when we got a snake and pulled out a huge glob of gross stuff. But we tried doing the dishes right after and it was still clogged. Well while we were studying we hear this gurgling noise coming from the sink. We were pretty sure that sinks didn't make that sound so we went in to check it out. When we looked in the sink was filling up with with dark brown moldy water(we had no water running in the house)!! It stopped right at the top of the sink so Elder Mills and I started scooping out the water with cups, dumped it in buckets and then we would dump it outside. We were making really good progress but then it came back with a vengeance. Water started filling up the sink at a rapid pace. Elder Mills and I were scooping as fast as we could, but it was all in vain. The water filled up over the sink and poured all over our kitchen floor. So our land lord called a plumber and now it is all good. Later on Elder Mills ripped two pairs of pants and a dog peed on my shoe. But the awesome thing was throughout the day we met a couple people who were prepared to be taught at this time. Miracles happen every day, even on our worst ones. He is a part of everything we do and loves us more then we could ever know. I am grateful for the hope that I have and will always have because of the love of Jesus Christ. I know He lives. Have a great week everyone, and if your sink gurgles on you, grab the biggest bucket you can find.

So transfers is this week and I will be staying here in York but Elder Liston will be leaving.... I am going to miss him so much. He has been one of the best examples to me and one of the best friends I have had! He is going to do great things wherever he ends up!

This week has been an awesome one to end this transfer on. Monday we went golfing and that was so fun to be able to go again. We actually did pretty good! We almost got par one time haha. 

We got a new investigator this week named Joanna. She is from Greece and is super cool. We had breakfast with her and we talked about what we believed and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was super excited to read it and even kept on hugging it! I am excited to meet with her again and see if she has been reading and praying about it. 

We also met with Domonic again this week. He came to church last sunday so we were talking to him about the experience that he had. He said it was awesome! He said, "You know that warm peaceful feeling that you guys always talk about? Well I felt that at church for the very first time in my life!" That was so cool and he it great to see that he is feeling the spirit and now he knows what it feels like so he can continue to look for that as he reads and prays about the Book of Mormon.

It is so cool to God playing apart in his life as he is trying to grow closer to him. The mission has really testified to me of God's love. It is always there for us even if we don't feel we deserve it. I know greater happiness awaits us as we fully embrace this Gospel and act on the things that we know to be true. It isn't enough to believe, we need to be motivated by Christ and all that he has done for us. To have our greatest desire to be to live with him someday and to help bring as many people as we can. Have a great week everyone! 

Elder May

Hey Everyone!

This has been another great week out here in York. I am loving it out here with Elder Liston. He is such a great companion, I am definitely grateful to be serving with him. We were able to do a lot of service this week. On Friday we helped Mari with some more yard work. She has had some pretty difficult health problems this past year and she has been receiving citations from the city for her yard so she has had to be out working in the sun with her health problems. Elder Liston and I saw her out working one day and we asked if we could help. It has been awesome as we have been helping her out how much we have gotten to know her. We have a special relationship with her and I know that is because of service. As we were talking to her we ended up figuring out that she thought we were Jehova's Witnesses. We told her that we were actually Mormon and her response was so funny. She was like, "Oh what a relief, just your everyday Mormon's." Haha I have never gotten that response from someone when they have found out that we were Mormon's! But we gave her a Book of Mormon to read and she is super open to reading it. We had an awesome training on the Book of Mormon this week and it has reaffirmed my testimony of it. I know that it is true and that it is the word of God, and that all who read it will come to know of it's truth if they read with a sincere heart and real intent. That is so reassuring to know that whoever does those things will receive an answer. I am grateful for the power of the Book of Mormon. So many blessings will come as we read from it's pages. We will feel closer to Christ and we will feel of the peace and hope that come from a knowledge of his Atonement. Thank you for all of the support!

Elder May

Hey Everyone! Every week out here is awesome but this week was especially awesome. So it started out by being able to go to the D.C Temple! One of the people that Elder Hoyt and I were able to teach in Wheeling got baptized. His name is Jasper and he is such a great example to me. Jasper moved to Maryland while we were teaching him and after that I thought that would be the last I heard of him. But after I got transferred I got a call from the Elder's in Wheeling saying that Jasper had called them because he wanted to let Elder Hoyt and I know that after he had moved he had gotten baptized!! I called Jasper and he said that he was doing great and that he was the most happy he had been before. He said that he was planning on going to the temple that upcoming week! So we called our mission president and he said that Elder Liston and I would be able to go with him as long as we got a member to take us!!

Meeting at the temple was so amazing. I saw him walking over to us and he looked like a different person. He seemed so much happier and at peace, he had a different light about him and I know that was the Holy Ghost. Going to the temple is amazing, but going with someone that we had been able to teach and who was going for the very first time was different. I was so overcome with gratitude in the temple. The last time I had seen Jasper he had some concerns about this church and now I was sitting next to him in the temple! That was a miracle to me. It was also a testimony to me of how much Christ is apart of this work that we do and how much he loves us personally, how much he loved Jasper personally and how happy he was to have Jasper making the covenants he needed to return to live with him again. I learn more and more every day how much this life isn't about us. It is about turning away from ourselves and looking to help our Fathers children, and that is when we feel the most joy, peace and fulfillment in our lives.

After the temple the day just kept on getting better! We stopped at this place called HipHop Chicken. While we were there I ran into someone who I thought looked familiar... It was Elder Spence Lawrence!! Just kidding it wasn't an accident that we were both there haha. On the way home from the temple I would be going through his mission so we both talked to our mission president's and they said it would be okay if we got some lunch together! It was so great getting to talk to him again. I never thought I would be able to see one of my best friends while I was out on my mission. It was great talking to him about everything! I think the coolest part was that we both didn't skip a beat when we saw each other, it was just like old times, but at the same time we both have changed a lot for the better. While we were eating Spencer started talking to a lady about the church and asked if some missionaries would be able to go over and teach her sometime. I really look up to him and it was cool to see that my friends and I were out doing the same thing no matter where we are in the world. That right now our whole purpose was to invite others to come unto Christ. I am so grateful for all of them and the examples they are to me.

The week ended with a trip down to Pittsburgh for some meetings. We had a great time and received some awesome training about the Book of Mormon. I strengthened my conviction and desire to share it with everyone. After the training we were able to go on a hike for the rest of  the night! On Sunday I was able to give a talk and I never thought I would say this, but I wished I had more time up there haha. I love the mission and I love being out here. This has been the best times of my life and I am grateful for all that I have learned. Have a great week, thank you for all the support!

Elder May and his good friend Elder Lawrence

Elder May and Jasper

Elder May and Elder Liston

Hey everyone! Life is going so great out here! It was in the 90's all week and at least 1000% humidity! I always thought that it could only go up to 100% but I no for sure it at least goes up to 1000% haha. We went and played soccer with some investigators Wednesday night and it was insane. I have never sweated so much in my whole life. But that is alright it is all part of the Pennsylvania experience!

This week has been so good. We have been able to teach a lot of our investigators and even get in with some that we haven't been able to see for a while. Domonic is doing great! We were able to see him twice this week and he is really growing and showing that desire to repent and be baptized. It is cool that this is such an important desire to him especially since he is only 14 years old. One night after we had seen him, he gave us a call. It was pretty funny because he asked us if after our next lesson with him if we could hang out for a little bit. He said we could play some video games or watch tv or play some basketball. We had to break it to him that we couldn't play video games or watch tv and he couldn't believe his ears! But we did tell him that we could play basketball with him so that was really fun.

The highlight of the week was getting a phone call from the missionaries serving in Wheeling right now. Elder Hoyt and I teaching a teenager our same age down there named Jasper. He is one of the coolest guys ever and probably knows more about the church than most members do. While teaching him I probably had some of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. He has had like 3 baptismal dates in the past and every time he backed away right before it happened. While we were teaching him he ended up moving to Maryland and that was the last we heard from him in a while. Well the Wheeling Elders called to tell me that Jasper had called and wanted to talk to Elder Hoyt and I to tell us that he had actually gotten baptized!! I couldn't believe it! I was so happy to hear one of my good friends made one of the most important decisions in his life. I found out his number and gave him a call. He is going to the temple this week and we are allowed to go with him since this is his first time. So I will be going to the DC Temple on Wednesday!! I am so excited to be going to the temple but more importantly to be going with someone who I truly care about and to see the happiness and peace that this will all bring to him. 

I know that this God's work and that it is rolling forward here in these last days. I am so happy to be apart of it. This life is not about us, no matter how much we think it is sometimes. This one of my favorite quotes:

 "The most worthy calling in life is that in which man can serve best his fellow man.... The noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make other lives better and happier." David O. Mckay

I know that is true. Look for ways to make someone else's life better today and you in turn will find your lives will be full of Joy and happiness. Thank you for all of the support! I hope everyone has a great week.