This has been the greatest week ever!! I can't even express my gratitude for our Heavenly Father! Thomas and Josh both got baptized on Saturday! I was able to baptize Thomas and Elder Hoyt baptized Josh. I still can't believe it. They are both so awesome! Josh kept saying over and over how he had never felt anything like this before and when he walks into the church it is like nothing else in the whole world matters. By teaching Thomas I have really come to recognize the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is a real power and only through it can we be cleansed from sin. The only thing is that it cleanses us from anything! The power of the Atonement is so real and being able to be out here and experience that first hand has been the biggest blessing of my life so far.

On Sunday Josh and Thomas were able to be confirmed. I was able to confirm Josh and Brother Orum confirmed Thomas. It has been so cool being able to use the Priesthood so much in this area. After church Fernando was given the Aaronic Priesthood. While we were sitting at church and I looked over at our row and I saw Fernando, Josh, Thomas, and a Less Active we have been working with named Kevin. It was so humbling to see all of these people that have changed their lives through Christ and that Elder Hoyt and I are lucky enough that we have a loving Heavenly Father that gracious enough to let us be a part of it. These people have been so prepared by the Lord. Elder Hoyt and I didn't do anything, I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father has let me be a part of the work here in Wheeling WV. I can testify that he loves us so much. More then we can ever know. It is a perfect love that is always there no matter our choices, which I am so grateful for.

On Friday we were able to go see a LA family named the Grows. She said that she used to have missionaries over all the time and that she even had a special "missionary" cabinet. I looked inside and it was just full of cereal, twinkies, chips, granola bars,cookies, and the best part, fruit snacks! I was in heaven. I decided that I really like missionary cabinets haha. Between 

all the pie and now this family we visit now, who knows what I am going to look like when I leave this area! We were able to show them the Because He Lives video and she said that she had to start thinking about baseballs in the middle of it so she wouldn't cry. That wasn't the response I was expecting but hey, at least she felt the spirit. Hopefully we can go see them again this week.

I hope you all have an amazing week, especially with conference coming up. Something that has been really cool that I have been able to do is to bring a question into conference and faith, and that question will be answered. You should all definitely try it! I know with all sincerity of heart that this is Christ's church. We are so blessed to be a part of it. We can all play a part in helping it progress in the little things that we do. Thank you for all of the support.

Elder May

This has been another great week! The best part is that Josh and Thomas both passed their baptism interviews and they are going to be baptized this Saturday! I am so excited. Elder Hoyt and I have been blessed so much out here these last couple of months. I know that it is out of the goodness and love of our Heavenly Father and we are going to keep working our hardest so we can always be ready for those blessings.

We met with Thomas this week and we really wanted to make sure that he was ready for Baptism and that he was aware of the Commitment he was going to make. We talked with him and we said that we wanted to really make that he thought that he was ready. The next time we met with him he said that he had prayed about it and that he knew  he was ready. But then he said that he wanted to do better on his scripture study. We have been talking to him and he is doing great with his studies and I know that he is ready to be baptized. He has been doing amazing with the Word of Wisdom and he has a very strong testimony of the Atonement. One of the best parts about being out here has just been being able to see people completley change their lives through the Atonement of Christ. And Thomas is definitely one of those people. He is so much happier now and he has hope. That makes everything worth it.

The work is going great out here and we are able to meet with lots of people. The ward is especially awesome. I know that is the biggest reason the work has been progressing the way it has. Members make the biggest difference in missionary work. Always look for ways to be a member missionary! One of the members took us to play tennis in indoor courts today!! It was so fun! He had all the rackets that I used and I got to play this pretty good player and we had an intense match. That was awesome and we are about to go get some pie so this day probably couldn't get any better!

I am so grateful to be out here and for all of your support. This church is true and I am so excited for Easter. Because of Christ we have EVERYTHING. Always remember that and let that be your motivation. He has done so much for you, so what can you do for others. have a great week.

So the Highlight of the week.... Fernando was baptized! It was awesome! He is definitely one of the most prepared people to hear the gospel that I have ever met. He has some of the strongest faith and greatest humility that I have ever seen. It has been so cool to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes people. He is so much more happy since we first started teaching him and he notices that in himself as well. Seeing the change that he has gone through and then seeing him baptized on saturday, really filled me with so much gratitude. I can't say how thankful I am to be out here, and how much I am able to learn every single day, especially from the people that we teach. I am so grateful to have been able to teach Fernando. Hopefully I can be a little more like him someday.

But this week we have stayed super busy which was great. The weather has been amazing as well! I even pulled out the short sleeve shirts a couple of days ago. The best part is the members don't get mad at me for not wearing my huge coat all of the time now haha. This one lady gave me two wooden tennis rackets so Elder Hoyt and I are going to play today!! I will try not to injure Elder Hoyt like I did Elder Taylor.

We taught Josh on Wednesday and Friday this week. He is so awesome!! Every single time we teach him I am so humbled and grateful that we have an investigator like him. We taught him tithing and the Word of Wisdom this week. Usually those lessons are ones you don't know how they are going to respond to. But Josh didn't have any problems with anything on the W.O.W and he was asking us when and how he could pay his tithing before we even taught him about it. We seriously have been so blessed out here to be teaching the people that we are.

Sunday Fernando was confirmed and I was able to give the priesthood to the Sister's investigator that I baptized a couple of weeks ago. That was really cool because now I have baptized him, confirmed him, and given him the Priesthood. He is the one with one leg, and he is one of the funniest people that I know. On Thursday we are having a tie-tying lesson with him. Soon his ties will almost be looking as good as mine haha.

Well thank you for the support that everyone gives to me. If you are thinking about going on a mission, DO IT! You will not regret it. I have been so happy out here and I can constantly see the Lord's hand in my life strengthening me and helping me do things that I would not be able to do on my own. I know that this is where I am supposed to be serving. I love it every day out here. I know that Jesus Christ lives and because he lives, we have everything in our lives. Turn to him for everything, he is waiting with outstretched arms.

Elder May

Elder May and Fernando

Sister Missionaries, Fernando, Elder May, Elder Hoyt

This has been another great week. Monday we didn't have a PDay since we went to the temple on Saturday. But we were able to do some service for this one lady who was doing some construction on her house. It was kind of fun to do it again. Tell Charlee not to worry, I am just as good at picking up trash now as I was 6 months ago haha.

 

Monday we had FHE at Bishop Orban's house with Josh. His family is so awesome. They fellowshipped him so well. That is how missionary work needs to be done. When the member are involved, that is when the work really progresses. Josh is kind of shy, but being there at bishops he really opened up and he had a great time.

 

Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders since they are the only ones in our District. I went with Elder Miller. He is from Canada, but other then that he isn't too bad haha. Just kidding it was awesome serving with him. I definitely wouldn't mind if we were companions in the future. The next morning we had gotten a bunch of snow, so we couldn't exchange back. So a lot of the next day with him to. But it was great.

 

Saturday Fernando and Thomas had their Baptismal interviews. Fernando is going to be Baptized this Saturday! It is going to be awesome. He is amazing. Thomas is going to be ready in a couple of weeks as well.

 

Sunday Josh, Thomas, and Fernando were all at Church. Finally with good weather people are actually showing up. Josh came up and asked what we did for tithing since he didn't see a donation box going around or anything. We haven't taught him tithing yet so I explained what it was really quick and showed him where the tithing slips were. He pulled one out, filled it out and gave it to the Bishop. He is so awesome!! I am so excited to be teaching him.

 

The work here is going great! We have been sooooooooo blessed by our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for him. I know that as long as we give our whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord, he will continue to bless us.

 

I know that this Church is true and I am so grateful to be serving here in Wheeling WV. If I never left this area, I would totally be okay with that. I have learned so much out here, it is crazy. I can promise you if you come out here with a sincere desire to serve out Savior, you will receive a million times more then you will ever sacrifice. The time is flying by way fast. It has been the fastest 6 months of my life. I hope you all have a great week.

 

Elder May

Another great week here in Wheeling! There have been so many miracles happening. God is moving his work forward here and it is awesome to be a part of. Thomas, Fernando and Josh all have baptismal dates this month and they are doing great! We taught Fernando the WOW this week. I was kind of nervous at first because he was doing amazing and we knew that he had problems with it. When we taught him it he was a little surprised about the coffee thing. But when we asked him if we would live the WOW in his life, he looked at us like we were asking a dumb question. He looked at us and said, "Well yeah, I want to follow Jesus Christ so I will do anything I need to." That was a week ago and he had only one cup of coffee the next day. He is doing great. One of the most humble faithful people I have ever met. He has a date set for the 14 of March. He is definitely going to make it!

We taught Josh the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome. He said that it all just made sense. He said that he knew what we were teaching is true. We committed him to be baptized on March 28 and he said "Absolutely". He already has an amazing testimony and we are so lucky to be teaching him right now.

Thomas has a date for March 14 as well. We have been calling him every night to see how he is doing. On Friday he gave us a call and said that he wanted to push his date back. We asked if we could see him real quick and he said we could. He told us that he bought some E-ciggs to help him quit smoking. He said that he didn't want us to plan a baptism just for him to mess up and then having to cancel it. We told him that it was up to him but we shared some scriptures about faith as well. We testified that if he had the faith that he would be ready for baptism on the 14 but we told him we would do what he wanted. He stood up and handed us his cigarettes. So that was his answer! It was awesome. We gave him a blessing after that he would have the strength to make it to the 14th. I feel so blessed to be here right now. I don't feel like Elder Hoyt and I even have to do anything. These people are so prepared and awesome it almost feels like they are teaching us sometimes. I love seeing our Saviors hand in everything we do. It is truly his work.

Saturday was amazing. We got to go to the temple. I love the temple so much and the things that we are able to learn there. The peace that abounds in those buildings is amazing. It is a testimony to me of the reality of Jesus Christ and that this really is his restored church. As we were sitting by the doors ready to leave, the doors opened and the Turners walked in. They are the most amazing couple ever and Elder Taylor and I had a great relationship with them. They were one of the hardest families to say goodbye to before I left and there they were at the temple. I was sooo happy to see them. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done to not give sister Turner a huge hug. But I gave brother turner one so it was all good haha. It was such a tender mercy! this church is true. I know it is. We are so blessed to be a part of it. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder May

Columbus Ohio Temple

Elder May with the Turners

Elder May and Elder Hoyt

This week was an awesome week ending with the baptism of the Young family. It has been really, really, really cold out here, but we are still keeping really busy. We have been super blessed with some amazing people to teach.

On Monday we were able to teach Thomas again. He is doing a lot better with not smoking and he is excited for his Baptismal date. When we got there he was rubbing some lotion on his grandma's feet because they had red lumps on them. He said that he was wearing gloves because he didn't know if it was contagious or not but then we would rub the left over lotion on his face... So if he has red lumps on his face the next time we see him, it was contagious haha. I love Thomas a ton though. I don't know if he has had many friends in his life so us going over there and showing him that we care is making the biggest difference right now. Missionary work can be done in so many ways. For Thomas, he just needs to feel like he has a friend. So we have been calling him every night to see how he is doing. It has been really fun. He laughs super easy so I feel like a comedian by the time that I am done haha.

Wednesday we met with an Atheist named Marqueese. He is honestly one of the coolest guys I know. He wants to know if God exists but in order for that to happen he wants a sign. I don't think Heavenly Father works that way. We don't make the terms for how things are going to work in life. We are going to see him on Wednesday so we will see how that goes.

On Friday we had an awesome Lesson with Fernando. He is progressing great and he just loves the way he feels as we meet with him and as he comes to church. I love being able to teach all of these amazing people that the Lord has prepared for us. It is very humbling to me the think that Heavenly Father is trusting us with his children that he has prepared. But I love being able to meet with them and Testify with all the sincerity that I have that this church is true and that God lives and loves us. Fernando is awesome and I can't wait to keep meeting with him.

Saturday was the Baptism and lets just say Satan was trying to do everything that he could to stop it from happening. The Young's have a hard time when the weather is bad because they have a hard time getting around. That morning it was snowing super hard and it didn't let up. Also the Transformer blew so there was no power to the church. We didn't have any lights or hot water to fill up the font. The Youngs and the Sister Missionaries decided to do it anyway. They knew the Lord would provide a way. There faith was awesome. We were able to get half of the power back to the church and we got warmish water in the font. They were right, heavenly father provided a way. It was super cool to baptise them. It was different baptising a man with one leg and one in a wheel chair. I had to improvise quite a bit but it all worked out good and Elder Hoyt and I were able to confirm them the next day as well.

Later that day was a huge miracle. We met with one of our investigators Josh for the first time. We were teaching him the restoration and when we got to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, it pretty much turned into a testimony meeting. He told us that he had been to Lds.org and that he had watched the Joseph Smith movie and that he loved it. He said when Joseph Smith saw the first vision it was an amazing experience for him. So that was awesome but then we started talking about the Book of Mormon. We turned to Moroni's Promise and he said he already knew what that was and that he had done it already. We asked him if he had gotten an answer and he said that he knew that it was true and that he was so grateful for the opportuninty he has to read it. We asked him to be baptised and he said absolutely! That was so awesome!

I was reading in Alma 5 today and it talks a lot about changing your heart. I was thinking about that a lot this morning. It wasn't saying to change your behaviour for a little bit, but to change who you are. Following Jesus Christ is something that has to be a part of who we are. It can't be dependent on who we are with or what circumstances we are in, it has to be our nature. That is when we will be able to feel true happiness and peach as we constantly strive to do his will and become the person he wants us to be. I love you all. I hope you have a great week.

Elder May

So this week has been freezing cold!! With wind chill it was like -10 degrees the other day. But we survived so it's all good. We got cut like 150 miles this month so we are back to walking just like the good ole' carless days with Elder Taylor haha. But I actually kind of prefer that. Well at least when the weather gets warmer anyway. 

But this week has been great and full of miracles. On Tuesday we had our lesson with Thomas and we read Alma 24 when the Anti Nephi Lehis bury there weapons of war. So Thomas took all of his cigarettes outside and we dumped them on the ground and then smashed them all. It was pretty fun actually! It is a pretty satisfying feeling to smash cigarettes to pieces especially when they are preventing your investigators from getting baptised. 

On Wednesday we met a referral we had gotten named Josh. Someone in our ward had given him a Book of Mormon and he had already read all the way through 1 Nephi by the time that we saw him. He said that he loved everything that he had been reading so far. He is so awesome and I can't wait to be able to meet with him. He has been prepared so much! 

Friday we were preparing for our lesson with Chris. We felt for some reason that we really needed to teach him in tithing. We had been studying for something else but we decided to start studying on tithing instead. We got a feeling that it was what we needed to do. When we got there his whole family was there and they were going to sit in on the lesson. That was the first time his wife has ever sat in and we were so happy for that. She kept talking about how she wanted to grow closer as a family and we were able to teach her about how the gospel blesses families. After the lesson we were wondering why we felt so strongly to teach tithing. As I was thinking about it, a thought came to me. Maybe we were supposed to plan on teaching tithing because when we got there, it was so obvious that it was not what we should teach. If we had gone with our original lesson plan, maybe that would have seemed okay to teach in that situation but it wouldn't have been what she needed to hear. Us going there and knowing for sure that we shouldn't teach tithing made it so we had to listen and try to teach to what she needed to hear. I hope that makes sense but that was so cool to me. The spirit works in so many ways and we just need to put our full trust in god and allow him to work miracles.

Saturday we had lunch with our Spanish Investigator. She made us cow tongue... and I loved it!! It was good! So that is the first meal I want when I get home mom. Just so you know ;)

This week I will be baptizing 3 of the sister missionaries investigators. I am really excited and touched that they asked me to do that for them. They are one of the coolest families that you will ever meet. But it will be interesting because one is in a wheelchair and one doesn't have a leg. So we will see how this goes. It will all be good though. The spirit will be there as these 3 people are making the decision to be baptized which will be the most important decision they will ever make in there lives. I love this church and I am so grateful for the blessing that I have to be out here serving. The relationship that I have been able to gain with my saviour is something that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Thank you for the support that you all give me.

Elder May