Writings from West Virginia: We hit the Standard of Excellence!

Hello everyone! How are you all today? Mom says that some of you were all worried that I didn't get my letter out yesterday. Fear not, for I still am breathing. Anyway, the reason I didn't get a letter out yesterday was because of transfers. Transfers are this week, and our mission moves P-day to Tuesday so that all the people that are leaving can pack, do laundry, and stuff like that the day before transfers rather than two days before. Makes sense, right? Elder Fielding and I are staying in Buckhannon!

This week was great! We hit the Standard of Excellence! My first time hitting it! I'm not really sure how to explain it, but basically The Standard of Excellence is a goal set by the Mission President of hitting certain numbers during the week, such as baptismal dates, investigators at sacrament meeting, lessons with an active member present, etc. So hitting it means you had a great week!

Last P-day we went fishing for Snapping Turtles. Unfortunately, no Snapping Turtles were fished. Dang guy didn't like our hot dogs. Or the Blue Gill we cut in half. Boo. Oh well, some other time! Today we are going up to Clarksburg to hang out with The Elkins Elders and our Zone Leaders in Clarksburg. Elder Chavez goes home tomorrow! He's dying! Poor guy. We're going to play some Cornhole and Volleyball, so that should be really fun!

We taught A & R this week. R doesn't seem super interested, she just plays with the cat the whole time, but A is. She is getting really excited about the Gospel. They are almost done with the lessons, and then we really don't know what is going to happen. A's mom and dad, who live in Elkins, are actually taking the discussions from the Elkins Elders now! They are getting baptized in September! Isn't that awesome? Miracles everywhere!!

On Friday, we had to chance to see President and Sister Salisbury! President came down to interview N, for her baptismal date. We taught her last Monday The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Word of Wisdom, and The Law of Chastity. She was super receptive and excited to hear it, and she is ready to be baptized. She is getting baptized August 10th! We are seeing her this week sometime and teaching her The Commandments lesson, and then teaching her Laws and Ordinances after that sometime. Super exciting!

We also taught a lady named B yesterday. She has been an investigator since May, but because she lives so far away (the very bottom of our area) we can only go see her when a member drives us. She came to church on Sunday and really liked it! We're hoping to get her and her daughter J (also an investigator) to Church in the coming weeks together! That would be awesome.

Anyway, B has a really bad smoking addiction. She's smoked for the most recent chunk of her life (She quit in her 30s for 8 years, but started up again. She's in her 50s). To get her to stop, we taught her the Church's Officially Unofficial Stop Smoking Workshop, created by a missionary in 1983 in Dublin, Ireland. 15 steps to stop smoking, and you only need to follow it for 7 days, and boom, no desire to smoke. It's a really cool program, and although she was scared she couldn't do it, we have full faith and confidence in her. The main man of the night was Brother Brock Howes, our Ward Mission Leader. He served in Provo from 02-04, and absolutely killed it in the lesson. He just has a way to make people feel comfortable, he's just such a genuine, nice guy you can't help but like him. He did the majority of the talking, and she followed the steps. All temptation is now gone from her house and car. We had her break the cigarettes in half when she threw them away as a sign of her willpower and commitment to quit. We are seeing her next Monday to celebrate her quitting smoking!

So that was the week! I hope you guys all had a fantastic week too! Keep praying for me! I can testify to you that the power of prayer is real. Begin and end each day with a prayer.

I love all of you!

Keep writing!!!

- Brax