Horses

Whattup y'all, this week was a fun one. 

Working on the horse farm

Elder Ahern and I did some mad work out here in Moscow. The coolest thing we did this week was work out at a horse farm. There is this place called Orphan Acres, which is like a horse farm for wild and abandoned horses. We worked out there for like 3 hours. We shoveled poop, built stalls, and ran away from crazy donkeys. (Please enjoy the pictures!) It was awesome.

Chilling with the horses

Other than that we taught Brian and Melissa again, we had "the talk" (law of chastity) and it went ok. They don't really want to get married, but we talked about God's commandments and they seemed to understand at least why they would need to. Brian is progressing a lot faster than Melissa, he has read several chapters of the Book of Mormon. When we asked him about it he told us he felt like he was reading Spanish. He wants to be baptized but he feels like he won't be worthy any time soon, we always end up talking about repentance with him. He has a desire to change and be baptized so we are just clinging to that right now. 

Other than that, we haven't been teaching a lot of investigators. None of them hold appointments, it's frustrating. We knocked on a lot of doors that didn't answer.

We drive to Spokane and spent all day there on Friday for new missionary training. It's a follow up for Elder Ahern to talk about how he is adjusting to being a missionary and what not.

New missionary training

This week I wanted to share a quick quote that I heard from President Eyring, "You hold in your hands, the happiness of more people than you can imagine." Let us be kind to all those who we come in contact with. We all have the power to not only teach the gospel but be examples of the power of the gospel as we live by example. Love those you come in contact with. Be a light!

I love you and I have a testimony of our Savior, I love him too. Have a great week

-E.Rapier

Elders Ahern, Rapier, Brunt, and Davis

Methodist Pastors, the Temple, and Jail

Went to the temple this week

Whattup y'all, I took a week off last week from writing an email because I was feeling kind of lazy.  Not to worry because I'm back.

Elder Ahern and I had a killer week out here in the great Palouse. We went to the Temple. It rained a ton - I felt like I was walking around in Seattle. The rain was actually so bad that there was a ton of flooding. We had kind of a cool service opportunity because of it. We went to a little community library that was right next to the river; they were scared it was going to flood, so we moved every single book and DVD out. Then 3 days later we moved all of it back in, lol. 

Greeted by a muddy dog while out tracting

Elder Ahern and I found 4 new people to teach this week, of course 2 of them were in the pit (trailer park). They are about as stereotypical hillbilly-ish as it gets. The other 2 people were normal (thank goodness). We ran into a Methodist Pastor who was actually super cool; he didn't try to bash with us or anything. We had an hour lesson about the Plan of Salvation with him, it really was a cool experience. 

We tracted a lot this week, it's fun. I actually really like tracting, you get lots of funny experiences. We had some solid lessons, and we have 2 investigators on baptismal date right now. They need to come to church though. Brian and Melissa are awesome, only problem is they like smoking weed a little bit too much. 

We taught another lesson in jail this week. We met this really nice lady who's in for drug charges, she loves the church and has met with missionaries before. It was cool to teach her but it was annoying because we had to pass the phone back and forth and we couldn't hear what she was saying when the other person had the phone. 

This week I learned a lot about submitting with cheerfulness. We walked around a ton in the rain, and at times it was rather easy to wish I was somewhere else doing something else. I have come to understand that the Lord expects not only a sacrifice of our time and talents but of our poor attitudes. Being positive and learning to do the will of the Lord with a good attitude has made me a better man, more importantly it has helped me become a more effective servant of the Lord.

I love you all - keep on keepin on. I pray for all of you :)

-E.Rapier

Dinner with the Ellis family from the Palouse Ward

Eyebrows - not sure what's going on here :)

First Week with Elder Ahern

Whattup y'all. 

This was my first week of training a new missionary, I picked up Elder Ahern on Tuesday in Spokane. We had a lot of fun this week. Most of the time we spent trying to help Elder Ahern get used to talking to everyone we see about the gospel. We spent a lot of time practicing teaching so he would be comfortable to teach an investigator. 

Elder Rapier and Elder Ahern

We had a really cool experience. We knocked on the door of a less-active member and a girl named Melody answered. Her mom (the less active) wasn't home, but right when we were about to walk away I just asked if she wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ and she invited us in. After we taught the restoration we asked her to be baptized and she said yes! This was pretty much Elder Ahern's first lesson so I taught it on my own. He just looked shell shocked the whole time. Afterwards, he told me he was so scared. I am super grateful for tender mercies like this experience with Melody. 

On Elder Ahern's first day, I made sure to take him to the trailer park! We knocked on one door and someone yelled at us, "We took this house by force and we'll take you too." Elder Ahern froze with fear. It was super awesome. I would say it was a solid first day for him. I am probably the worst trainer ever, but hey, we're having a good time. 

This week I've pretty much had to do almost everything because poor Elder Ahern has no clue about what's going on. During this time I have pondered on the Savior leading his sheep. The sheep have complete trust in him, they don't know any better. While it may seem a stretch to draw a comparison between me and the Savior, I realized it's important to remember that we all have the ability to be Christlike leaders in the lives of other. By the things we do and the way we carry ourselves, others will follow. When we are baptized we take upon us the yoke of Christ. A yoke joins two people together; we are yoked together with Christ to bring forth His work. While our efforts will never compare with His, we have promised to try our best. Remember that you never need to pull alone, your Savior is right next to you. Setting a good example is the BEST kind of missionary work. As we lead as Christ would, we can all become fishers of men :)

I love you all so much

-E.Rapier

Out Doing Good 

Groovy VW Bus