This was an awesome week! I had the opportunity to go on an exchange in an area where they use bikes! Believe it or not that was the first time I have ridden a bike in over a year! I was a little bit rusty at first but before long I was doing back flips off all the jumps we went on! Okay maybe I didn't do any back flips, and there weren't any jumps there in the city but it was super fun anyway. We had the opportunity to do some more service with our investigator Fran. She is one of my favorite people! She always has these hats picked out for us to wear every time we go over there to do some yard work. This time we mowed her lawn and we also had Sister Rosengrant come with us to help meet Fran and to fellowship her. It's been cool to see how our relationship has grown with her as we have been doing service with her. I know that Service truly softens hearts and hopefully Fran will decide to start taking the lessons from us again. We had a really cool experience this week! We were teaching an investigator named Nicole a while back. She was super cool and she said that she would be baptized. Well after that we weren't able to get in contact with her again. We tried stopping by a couple of times with no success. One time we went there and some guy slammed the door in our faces. So I figured that was the last we would see of her. But Elder Mills one night felt prompted to try and see her again. I thought he was crazy because we got the door slammed in our face last time but we went and tried again anyway. Well we got there and she was home! She had been in New Jersey or something for a month so that is why we weren't able to see her. We asked her how her Book of Mormon reading had been going and she said that she hadn't been able to read it. But that was because her husband had taken it on a road trip to Maine to read. She told us a spiritual experience she had while reading it and how she was willing to learn and that her husband was open as well. I am grateful that Elder Mills was willing to listen to the prompting that he received. We would not have had the awesome experience we did if he hadn't listened. I have a testimony that we are put in companionships for a reason, I am definitely grateful for all of my companions. I have seriously lucked out, all of my companions have been awesome! I am grateful to be out here. I know that this work is true and that Christ is the one leading and guiding it. I am truly grateful for the Savior. I am grateful for the true peace and joy that I feel through him. I am grateful for hope. That is one of my favorite words. I know that even I can have this hope through Him. Thank you for all that you do and for the support.
Elder May

Elder Mills, Fran, Elder May

Elder May

Python Skin

Hey everyone!! This has been another great week! On Monday we got to play tennis which was super fun. I thought I even played pretty well! It helped that the people I was playing against had never played tennis before haha. 

The highlight of this week was probably our lesson with the Grove family. Usually the lessons are really distracted and are hard to keep on track. But this lesson ended up going well and everyone was focused. We all felt the spirit very strongly was we talked about Christ being the light in our lives. The Groves haven't been to church in years and Sunday they we at church!! They were probably weirded out when they saw me because as soon as they walked in I had the biggest smile on my face. I don't care, I was so happy haha.

We also we able to go see Bernice again this week. She had some questions on whether or not President Monson was a prophet so we showed her one of his talks from General Conference. She started crying during and she said she didn't know how to say how she felt. She said that she felt that he was a prophet of God. It was awesome! She has been progressing very well.

Well I am very grateful to be a missionary. I have never regretted being out here. Something that I have been thinking about a lot lately is my relationship with the Savior. I am learning more and more that my relationship with him is more important than anything else. In the moments out here when I have felt discouraged or alone, I have had some of the most intimate and personal experiences on my knees. I know the Savior lives. I have felt it over and over again. I hope to know him more personally throughout my mission and the rest of my life. Thank you for all the support.

This week was awesome. We had a lot of meetings this week with Stake conference going on and everything. We had an awesome lesson with Bernice though. She really wanted to watch general conference but she was really sick so she couldn't make it. We showed her President Monson's talk from priesthood session. Afterwards she was crying and she said she knew that he was called of God. She said that she would pray to know for sure if he is a prophet. I am so grateful to have a prophet on the earth today. It truly shows his love for us. Thank you for all that you guys do!

So how awesome was General Conference!?? I loved it so much and I was able to learn so much. And can I say how much Elder Holland made me miss my mom! Man she is the best and I can't wait to see her again. Even though I have gotten really good at cooking my hot dogs in the microwave I can't wait for one of her meals again. I really love her :) I am grateful for prophets and apostles that lead and guide us. I felt so strongly that these men are called of God and I sustain them with all of my heart. This week was great! We were doing service for Fran, the one with the donkeys, and she said that she was looking through some her husband’s old stuff and she found out that he was baptized a member of the church a year or two before they got married and never told her. He had pictures of his baptism, his priesthood ordination certificate and everything! She loved her husband so much and now she is thinking about being baptized. It was so cool to see how the Lord waits until people are prepared. We have been doing service for her for a long time and she was ready that day. She watched general conference and everything. I am grateful for the gospel truths that we have of eternal families and I know as we teach her about that the Holy Ghost will touch her heart and she will know it is true. We also had a very humbling experience this week. We were doing service for one of our investigators and she found out that she had stage 6 cirrhosis of the liver... She doesn't drink or anything like that, it is just failing on her. She is not qualified for a transplant because she has had cancer in the past. She told us that she doesn't know what is going to happen in her life now. She told us she was grateful that she got to meet us and that we made a difference in her life. How do you respond to that? What do you tell someone to comfort them when they are going through that kind of pain? We testified of Christ and his infinite love, atonement and sacrifice. That is the source of all hope no matter what anyone is going through. It made me realize how important of a job we are called to do. We are Jesus Christ’s representatives to lift up the broken hearted and to comfort others the way he would. I know how inadequate we are to do this work but he will strengthen us and use us because he loves his children. This gospel is true and is an unfailing source of hope to everyone. Look around you, who can the savior bless by using you. I know the lord can use us to make a difference in someone else's life. I have seen it and am so grateful for this experience. Thank you for all the support you give to me! Have a great week!

P.S. The missionaries went to the trampoline park today, it was awesome! I even
learned how to do a backflip! Next step, doing one on the ground, I
will keep you informed haha.

Missionaries at the trampoline park