15 Aug 2016 - Final

One last time. It's crazy how time sneaks up on you. As I wrap up my mission a song comes into my head. It's "Your Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. I can't believe it's all over tomorrow. It doesn't seem like I've been out that long. At the same time I've been out here for forever. Home life is kind of a blur, I don't remember what it was like back home. It seems like a far off dream.

Anyway this week was really good! On Monday we went and cashed in all of the coins I've collected over the last two years. It came out to about $76, but the coin machine took like 11%. So I got 60 something dollars back. I went and bought a new pair of shoes at Ross. There just walk around shoes, but there pretty sweet. So  for our activity we played basketball and volleyball. It was really fun. We have a sister in our mission who is going to play Division 1 college volleyball after her mission. She was on the other team. She is kinda scary when it comes to playing volleyball. But anyway she went to spike the ball and I totally blocked her and everyone started yelling and shouting. Then we started smack talking back and forth the rest of the game. It was really fun.

On Tuesday I had my departing interview. We talked about continuing discipleship, college, dating, and how my mission experience was. I love President Palmer so much, Sister Palmer too. We had a lesson with Lyna. We went over the baptismal interview questions. On the way back we ran into two other sets of Elders and we make s'mores in this lady's front lawn. Then we went and saw her pig. And yeah that was Tuesday.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Jefferson. We taught him how to grow his spiritual crop.

C- Church

R- Read

O- Obey

P- Pray

It went really good and he paid really good attention. We also taught brother Neff. We read 3 Nephi 9 with him. Then we went to the McFarlane's. It was a good visit.

On Thursday I had "Trunky Temple Day." That's what all the missionaries call it. We went to the Salt Lake Temple. Then we ate a chuck-a-Rama. Then we went back to the mission office and had a testimony meeting. It was powerful. I was tired the rest of the day. We went on a mini exchange right before dinner until the end of the evening. I was with Elder Weller the DL.

On Friday we had district meeting. We gave a training on working with stake and ward leaders. We compared working without ward leaders to when Teancum goes to kill the Lamonite king by himself and then gets killed. Following that we had my funeral. That was pretty much our day.

On Saturday we had Lyna's Baptism! It was good. There was lots of people there. I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Elder Coleman baptized her. After the baptism I got changed and played basketball with the young men in the Marshallese branch. Most of them were non members. It was fun. Then one of our ward mission leaders took us out to Braza Grill for lunch because I'm leaving. Then we had a lesson with Tommy. We talked about his baptism. Then we went to the church to use the bathroom. We were both in stalls on opposite sides of the bathroom. Someone walked in, used the bathroom and then walked out. We didn't think anything of it. But when we got out and were leaving we saw the bishop and two cops. The bishop saw my shoes and bag under the stall in the bathroom and thought someone had broken into the church and was going to vandalize it. Then when we got it figured out and left we went outside and ran into another set of cops circling the building. So we got the cops called on us. Then we gave a lady a blessing and taught Bill Tate later that night.

On Sunday in the first ward we went to, the bishop had me stand up and announced I was leaving. Then we had Lyna's confirmation. Then at the last Sacrament meeting the Bishop announced I was leaving and then had me come up and bear my testimony. After dinner we had a meeting planing an event with some of the wards and then we visited the McFarlanes.

Love,

Elder Pleshek

8 Aug 2016

This week was good. On Monday we played basketball and soccer. After Pday we ate dinner with the Seastrands. We had burgers and ice cream.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Keven. We shared a some scriptures and prayed with him. Then we went to visit Richard Thompson. He had lots of questions, so we answered them for him. He was really confused about the time line of the Book of Mormon so we helped with that too.

We also taught Diana and she almost died on us. She almost had an Epileptic seizure. So we stopped the lesson and got her a taxi to the store to pic up her medicine.

 On Wednesday  we had exchanges. Elder Thacker came to my area with me. We had lots of fun. We walked around the trailer park for a while and talked to some people. We also ran into the Sisters so we talked to them as well. Then we had a lesson with Jefferson. We taught him the Law of Chastity. He said he would live it. Then that night we went to Brother Neff's house and we got on the subject of the second coming. And then we went to the McFarlanes.

On Thursday we had a lesson with Lyna. We finished teaching her all of the commandments. We have one more lesson to teach her before she gets interviewed. We also had weekly planning. Other than that it was a short day.

On Friday we had Zone Meeting. We had some really good training about companionship unity, using scriptures and overcoming challenges. Then we had training on how to teach simply and a training about keeping Christ at the center of our lives. Then we went and got shakes and hung out with our district leader for our lunch hour. The rest of the day we worked super hard and knocked on every referrals door in the 7th ward.

On Saturday we cleaned the apartment and then had lunch with Erin. It was a good time, but it was super weird. It was like meeting someone in real life that you saw in a dream. That's what home feels like, kinda like a dream. Anyway then we had a lesson with Tommy Bean. We shared some stories out of the Book of Mormon with him. Then we had a lesson with Lyna. There was some commandments that we missed so we taught those. Then we had a lesson with this lady and it was super frustrating. She would question everything thing we said. We would tell her how she can know the truth and she would say, "but how do you know that's not the devil trying to deceive you?" So we would tell her. And she would say the same thing again. So we have another lesson with her on Saturday and we have some answers for her.

On Sunday I bore my testimony twice. It was a pretty regular Sunday. We also had a lesson with Diana. She is doing better. Well that was my week.

1 Aug 2016

This week was great! On Monday we had an all day pday, because everyone was celebrating Pioneer Day and we aren't supposed to be in large crowds we got the day off. We went shopping with our district leader. And then we got back and filled up water balloons for an hour to take to our activity. Our activity was Zone Olympics. It was district on district. The first event was throwing water balloons at the Zone Leaders. Everyone took a turn throwing a water balloon. If you hit them your district got a point. Then we had a water balloon toss and the last event was a soccer tournament. We ended up getting 2nd place. Then we had a huge water fight. Once we ran out of balloons we just filled up the buckets and dumped them on each other. Then we hung out in the church building until 8pm.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Jefferson. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was a good lesson and it was also very interesting. He has I think 4 younger brothers and sisters. They were being loud so our member saw some cupcakes on the stove and called all of the kids over to eat the cupcakes. So that helped. The funny part is that the member that went with us didn't even live there and had no idea what the cupcakes were for. I love serving in the Marshallese branch! It has been one of my favorite places to serve. They are all so hilarious!  Then we had a lesson with Richard Thompson. It was actually really good. He read the Book of Mormon between our visits.

He had lots of good questions for us. The Lord has really been humbling him. He even asked about church! After dinner we had a lesson with Bill Tate. During our lesson his son showed up. That was good, because he talks about his son a lot and it's good to put a face to a name. So that was Tuesday.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful. The whole day was open so we did some finding. Then after dinner we went to my last area to visit the Thaxton's. I found a suit in the apartment that doesn't fit anyone so I burned it at the Thaxton's. It was a good excuse to see them. We had ice cream afterwards and they want to take me out to dinner before I leave.

On Thursday we went to Bountiful for the whole afternoon. We took the mission van this time which is what we will probably be taking from now on unless someone borrows it when we need it. If that happens we get to take the truck, so we hope people use the van more. The mission van is one of those big 9 passenger ones. So the lesson went good. We taught the restoration and put the dad on date for August 27th. Then that night we went and helped Sister Neilson with her back yard. We dug up cinder blocks and made a wall out of them against the fence. We sprayed a lot of bugs with Raid.

On Friday we had district meeting and it was really long. It was long because during accountability the two senior couples took 20 minutes each. They talked about everyone they are teaching and they had to tell a story about every person they are teaching. And the story's weren't even related to what their concern is. We were only supposed to talk about one person and what their concern is. Then we went to In-n-out for lunch. Then we went and set up a lesson with Keven for this next week. Then that night we visited the McFarlanes. That was a good visit.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Tommy Bean. We read out of his children's Book of Mormon with him. We read about Nephi and Lehi in jail. Then we went to Lyna's house to teach her. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and the word of wisdom. She is really shy, but she is opening up to us. We also taught Jefferson, we taught him the word of wisdom and Law of Tithing. He agreed to live both of those. Nothing happened that night.

On Sunday we had a pretty average day. We dipped out of church early to go and see our recent convert Diana. Her son kicked her out and she is living in a small RV thing from the 70s. She was having a tough time, but then when we showed up she was happy as could be and was thanking God for her trials. I wish I could be more like her. She didn't come to church because she was feeling down, but she told us that she would never miss church again and nothing is going to keep her down. So it was awesome to see her. She always makes my day better. Then in the evening we went to a musical fireside in Taylorsville. It was really good. There was a gospel choir made up of Polynesians called "Devine Heritage" they are really good. You need to YouTube them. So that was my week.

25 Jul 2016

This week was great! On Monday we hung out as a district. We played Spoons, basketball and Volleyball.

On Tuesday we went to Bountiful to teach a Marshallese family. The lesson was really good and we have a return appointment this week. I got to drive and it was pretty exciting. Then we stopped and got Slurpees from 7 eleven. The rest of the day was contacting.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Diana and then we had another one with Jefferson. Then after that we did a Zone blitz. It was long and hot. Then that night we went and visited the McFarlanes.

On Thursday we had weekly planning. Then we had a lesson with Lyna a Marshallese girl and her family. She is active and so is her family but Lyna's records have been lost and they don't have enough information to recreate them. So she has to be re baptized. So we taught her the restoration and put her on date for August 13th.  In the evening we had a lesson with Bill Tate. It was a pretty good lesson. We talked about faith with him.

On Friday we had district meeting. It was pretty good. Afterwards we ate pizza. Then we had a lesson with Tommy Bean. We read with him about baptism in the Book of Mormon. We are just preparing him for his baptism. He has already been taught everything. Then afterwards we had another lesson with Jefferson. We read in the Book of Mormon with him. Then we went to dinner and I ate a bunch of zucchini. That probably won't happen again. And that was our day.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Keven. We read scriptures with him too. Then I had a meeting with President Palmer. He says he wants to meet you and Dad when we come out in October. Then we burned my old ripped up suit with a family in Taylorsville. I also stepped in a hole and hurt my ankle.

On Sunday there was a lot of church. Jefferson didn't come to church so we have to push his baptism back a week. But yeah that was my week.