Week 76 – Two Elder Moving Company – Elder Gideon Tonkinson, Washington Everett Mission

[No time for edits, so excuse any typos]

What’s up!
Hey Family! First off happy later birthday to Charles! And happy late anniversaries to Caleb and Hillary and Mark and Whitney! Exciting stuff! Hope that all of you enjoyed your special days.
Alright so this week was pretty packed with a variety of things. To start the week Elder Edwards and I went to an apartment that had been inhabitated back last transfer so we could get it ready to have some Sisters move in. They had been feeling not comfortable at their apartment so since that apartment was open President Auna decided they should move there. So in preparation we cleaned it out for 5 hours… We only planned to be there for 2 but we worked through dinner because they needed to move in the next day. It was disgusting. The Elders who had been there before said they had cleaned it and honestly knowing them, they truly thought they did but it was not to our standards and definely not to any sister missionary’s standards. But hey it all worked out and they’re moved in and happy. Wednesday we had a good district council and they had a discussion about zone conference and how they were applying. It was good to see that what we had taught hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. We had a lesson with Orlando our on date which went well. He was super enthusiastic about the Book of Mormon, the priesthood and prophets (we taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). From what I’m seeing even though we don’t know him well he’ll make his June 27th date which is exciting. Thursday and Friday we had a lot of lessons which was good. I always love days when we just teach and are just jumping from lesson to lesson. Honestly if we don’t have 3 lessons these days I feel like we’re not productive enough, which is weird because sometimes I’ve seen several days in a row without lessons. Basically we have been very blessed to have lots of people who want to be taught. Friday night we started an exchange and I went to Edmonds with Elder Hill which was good. We stayed up until like 2:00 just talking about missionary work and stuff, which was a lot of fun. He’s pretty close to the end of his mission and we also talked about what we had learned and things that we still wanted to do but also things we’re excited for when we returned home. It was awesome. Then the next day we had a lot of service and I actually got a little sunburnt. The first one we did for a couple who were not members but could be like a bishop and his wife they were so nice. Like holy cow. At the end he tried to convince me to be an actuary haha which was interesting. Then we biked to a Gyro restaurant and got lamb gyros and falafel which was awesome. So good. Then we headed back to apt and had Tim Tams and Milo and did a Tim Tam slam. Elder Hill served in Australia which is where he was introduced to it and I’m just gonna say… Tim Tams are amazing and a Tim Tam slam takes it to the next level. Then we did another service and they gave us an 18inch long salmon filet that they had caught up in Alaska on the fishing boat they run. Unfortunately I won’t get to eat it but it was funny having a frozen piece of fish wrapped in newspaper bungied to my bike haha. To finish off we had a dinner lesson and did some finding. It was a good day. Then yesterday was church and a decent bit of lessons. Unfortunately Orlando couldn’t come because he was down in Tacoma and his friends car broke down. But as long as we keep having the other lessons he should still be ready for baptism. So that’s the week.

Questions

Did everything go well with signing up for your BYU classes? – Yes flawless

Share a favorite teaching moment from your week. – Hmm probably teaching Raymond. He was so excited to learn about “how to be a good Mormon” and wants to keep working to get the Melchezidek priesthood

With you’re busier schedule have you been able to exercise routinely? – Yes

Share an insight you have gained from your personal scripture study recently. – Hmm well I’ve been studying the lessons in PMG and one thing stuck out this week and it said that repentance is the purpose of our lives.

What brought you joy this week? – All my classes coming together