Week #58 ~Week one. Got it down!

This week’s quote from President Weston,

"It is good to act as if. It is better to grow to the point where it is no longer an act." 
(Charles Caleb Colton)

This week has been super; it has been full of miracles.  We are opening a new area, which is very exciting.  Lake view is a very hilly place and the up hill parts of biking are very hard but the down hill parts are nice.  This whole week up until Friday and Saturday was just us driving or walking or biking around trying to find someone to teach.  Opening a new area is harder than I thought it would be because no one wants to talk with us.  We have been going door to door contacting all the members we have records for.  We tried everyone that we have record of and our ward has about 250 to 300 people in it. 

Yesterday, we were trying to contact a less active guy.   We knocked two times and nothing happened.  So we were going to walk away and I thought, third times the charm and I knocked again.  Then the neighbor opened up his door.  And guess what, he is a member that we didn't know about.    We talked and now we are going to teach him!    This is only one among many other miracles that happened to us this week.  This work is great!  This area is super special and ready to get taught!  My comp Elder Hammond is super nice guy and really funny.  We get a long great!

My new, Elder Hammond, he is from Mont Pilliar Idaho.  Also in my apartment is Elder Sorenson he came out with me.  Then there is Elder Neilson, he is a greeny and they are all great!

My new apartment is it is in a giant apartment building.  It has all new things in it.  It is very nice.  For my Halloween costume we are going to be the Men in Black.  I have the glasses and the black tie, I just need the flash thing and I am done.  Can you have Preston build me a deneurolizer (the men in black think that they use to erase peoples minds) and send it to me for my Halloween costume?

My old companion has been moved to the same ward as the President.  So he could keep an eye on him.  I am very happy and have great new missionaries to hang out with!

That is my week so far, Love you!!

Love Elder Vance

Week # 57~Omaha Nebraska!

To start a thought from President Weston,

"My Calling: I am called of God. My Authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master. He has chosen me to represent Him, to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, my acts are His acts, my words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done. To say what He wants said. To be a living, modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work. 

 HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie)

So this week has been super!  On Tuesday we went out and ate at Red Lobster and we had endless shrimp.  I ate a small breakfast the next day because I was still full!!  and it tasted really good!! 

Then on Wednesday Elder Saunders got a phone call from President Weston, he asked him what is up with Elder Millett and they discussed it in private. glad to be done with all that craziness!!!

On Friday I took a 4 hour trip in a 15 passenger van to go to Omaha and open up an area!  Opening an area is when a set of missionaries gets put into the area for the first time after a while with no missionaries in it. My new companion is Elder Hammond.  He and I came out at the same time.  He is really funny and cool.  We live in a brand new apartment with everything new in it and it still smell like new carpet.  We are also living with 2 other elders. So 4 elders in 1 apartment.  I am very excited to get to know these new elders.  They are great.  It will be a lot of fun and a adventure opening a new area and sharing the Gospel with them.

So that is my week so far.

Love Elder Vance

My new address:

7007 S. 148th st.  #12

Omaha,  Nebraska 68138

 My time is up and I need to go.

Love you,

Elder Vance

Week # 55 ~Three down...Who knows how many more to go.....

Quote form President Weston:

 "May I commend you faithful Saints who are striving to flood the earth and your lives with the Book of Mormon. Not only must we move forward in monumental manner more copies of the Book of Mormon, but we must move forward into our lives and throughout the earth more of its marvelous messages. This sacred volume was written for us-for our day. Its scriptures are to be likened unto ourselves" (1 Nephi 19:23)(President Ezra Taft Benson).

So this week was GREAT!

I was able to confirm three people that were baptized on Friday!  The H Family.   It was amazing, during the blessing I felt the spirit so strongly.  I was saying things that I had not previously planned on saying.  It was a great testimony builder for me about the Holy Ghost.  I was very nervous about doing the confirmation and I was stuttering and worried about forgetting the words.   Our bishop and others helped me remember and the blessing was fantastic, I could feel the spirit and the words came to me when I needed to say them.  Amazing experience!

There were two family members there, to baptize the family, but they asked me to confirm all of them  I was very touched. 

Transfers are in two week from now, I think that I will train but not sure.  I have been in Grand Island for seven months now. Crazy…. 

I will be sad to leave and I am very happy now!  The ward is great about helping us and feeding us. 

You have been asking for some pictures of me doing "Nebraska thing",  I will get you that picture if it is the last thing I do!!!   Promise!

I am reading in the B of M  in 2^nd Nephi.  Also in the Bible in Exodus about Moses and the people.  I am reading about the tabernacle and I calculated about how much gold and silver and brass that the people gave to the tabernacle.  The gold= about 2000+ pound,   Silver=3000+ pounds and brass= 1500+ pounds of metal.  Awesome, the scriptures can be as fun as you want to make them.  I enjoy reading and learning about the Gospel. 

On Tuesday we finally got to talk to the T family, they are some people that we have been trying to get in contact for a while.  Well, her little boy was really crazy.  We were in their front yard and he walked over to the driveway and made himself throw up a lot and then ran over to me and bit my tie, not just a regular bite but he held on even when I kind of smacked his head and told him to let go.  His mom pulled him off eventually.  We are teaching them and they seem to be receptive.  I love to teach the lessons and help people understand the Gospel. It is only hard if the person just doesn't get it at all. 

My mission sent home a package full of some books and things that I want to read when I am home but cant in my mission.  Please keep them safe for me for when I get home.

That is my week and my time is up and have to go.

Love you with all my heart.

Love Elder Vance

Week # 54 ~ Nebraska State Fair

Hello Family,

To start a quote from President Weston,

 "The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion."

(Elder Dallin H. Oaks)

This week has been blowing by super fast! Yet it feels like forever since I have been to the library to email.  So the Hamm fam is going to be baptized this Friday. I am going to confirm all of them except for their son because he is 7.  It is husband and wife and daughter age 10.  I am super excited and really nervous about it because it is my first time confirming anyone except in the temple. 

Thank you for the giant package to help me celebrate my ONE YEAR mark, I love the giant card it was really cool. 

My comp and I are getting along better.  Yesterday we went to the Nebraska state fair.  It was gigantic and really fun. Right as we entered the fair a couple of really cute girls came up to us and asked us for a picture,  so they did a selfie thing and we were off.  The fair was really fun! They had 18 inch long turkey legs and foot long corn dogs and a bunch of really interesting foods.  I bought a tie that lights up to sounds and It is legit!!  It is all black and the sound bars are green.  We also saw giant tractor races, pig races, a guy in a robot suit dancing while riding a Segway.  There was tons of these giant and weird fish.  We entered the photo scavenger hunt which made things more fun and entertaining for us.  We got to talk to a lot of people while experiencing the fair.  It was great!  Needless to say it was super cool and we should go there next year.  It comes every year to Grand Island.  That was my week.

Love you all,

 Elder Vance