No Clever Title This Week?

Family!

Not too much happened this past week. 

My birthday ended up being a pretty good day.  The branch president's family tried to throw me a surprise party, but it's pretty hard to plan a surprise party for a missionary when every hour of your day is already planned out.  So it wasn't really a surprise, but it was still a party!  She made an awesome missionary cake for me, and they sang and everything!  And the Elders in my district got me some new indoor soccer shoes.  Now I can show off my full soccer potential...

On Wednesday I got the opportunity to go to a special leadership council.  About half the mission was there, and in addition to President and Sister Porter, they had someone there from the missionary department in Salt Lake and the guy who all the mission presidents in this area report to.  It was a really good meeting, and they focused a lot on our purpose as missionaries and how we can improve certain areas of our teaching.

We had a lesson with a less active this week who hasn't allowed missionaries into his home for over a year.  A lot of the members of the branch are related to him, and so we have a lot of support in helping to activate him.  To be honest, getting in to see him was a miracle, and we were super excited that it happened.  We'll now be seeing him once a week!

We had a lesson with a less active family who has an unbaptized, 9-year old son.  We asked him if he wanted to be baptized, and he said yes!  We are currently working with the branch to help activate the family so that the dad can baptize his son!

One of Elder Elbaba's investigators in his last area (Kentucky) was getting baptized on Saturday, and he really wanted to go.  We got permission to go if we had someone take us down there, so he found a member that was willing to drive us down to Kentucky, and we went!  So I spent a good part of my Saturday in Kentucky attending my first baptismal service on my mission!  It was pretty exciting!

That's about it.  Sorry I don't have too much to say this week.  I hope everything is going well at home.  Thank you so much for everything!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

A Missionary Cake!

Elder Foote's New Shoes!

Elder Foote's Pet Snake?

Good Old Middletown

River West of Dayton, Ohio

Welcome to Kentucky!

Missionaries Really Are in The Trenches!

So Begins The Third Decade!!

Familia!

Much to say, and not much time!  First off, thank you so much for all the packages and letters.  I really appreciate it!  Everybody in my district keeps reminding me of my birthday; I'm going to be OLD!

So this past week we continued with our focus on member missionary work.  There are some amazing members in this area, and I've really grown to love them as I've been here.  We've been trying to help them develop their own family mission plans, strengthen their testimonies, and teach them how to be effective member missionaries.  We've also tried to focus a lot on the less active members here as well, and the Lord has blessed us so much!  We had a couple that hasn't been to church for over 6 months come yesterday, and another couple has started becoming interested again after nearly 4 years of inactivity!  Super amazing!  Go Dayton Spanish Branch! 

This past week I learned an important truth.  Where there are many trees (Ohio), there are bound to be many leaves (Ohio).  There are so many leaves here!  We've done a little bit of raking, and there is definitely more to come...

We had a few awesome finding experiences this past week.  We went out for pizza after our district meeting, and the guy at the register started asking us about our name tags.  We talked to him a bit, and he told us that he wasn't really interested in learning anymore.  We went to sit down, and he started playing with a deck of cards really obviously at the register.  We finally asked him if he knew any magic tricks, and he got super excited and came to show us a few.  He reminded me of Kevin a bit...  After his tricks, he sat down and talked with us for a bit.  We ended up teaching him about the Restoration, and he was really interested in the Book of Mormon.  We left him a copy, and when we came back the next day, he had read the whole intro. and the first 4 chapters!  He doesn't speak Spanish though, so we'll have to pass him off to English Elders, but still, awesome!  We also met a guy named Dennis while street contacting.  He told us about the many times that his life has been saved by the Lord, then told us of his ability to hear the ancestors of a person and read that person's past and future.  So yeah, I had my past and future told by an old biker guy named Dennis on his porch in the middle of Ohio.  I'm not too sure if I trust his abilities...

We got to go carve pumpkins the day before Halloween with a part-member family, and it was great!  I didn't have the pumpkin-carving skills to make anything Gospel related, so I made a traditional pumpkin and a vampire from a stencil thing.  Halloween itself wasn't too exciting.  It rained the whole day, so trick-or-treating was canceled in some areas, and in others the kids had to show some serious determination to get their candy.  We had dinner with a member family, and their daughter dressed up as the pokemon lickitung!  Awesome!  Really the only spooky part of Halloween was driving through the streets of downtown Dayton after dark...

We had a Dia de Los Muertos dinner thing after church on Sunday.  It was pretty cool; I learned a lot about the traditions of the day, and my knowledge that Mexican food is the best food ever was re-affirmed...

Thanks again for everything; I hope all is going well at home!  Let me know how putting up the Christmas lights goes!

Let the third decade begin!

Love,

Elder Foote

A Birthday Package

Birthday Confetti!

Carving Pumpkins

Elder Foote's Masterpiece

Hostess Anyone?

Scary Vampire Pumpkin

Skeleton Cookies

Two Great Missionaries!

A Change In Focus!

Familia!

This week we had an awesome zone conference.  I wish I could record the talks that President Porter gives; they are the standard against what I measure a powerful talk.  I am amazed at how well he knows the scriptures, and at how well he is able to invite the Spirit into his talks.  After that zone conference, Elder Elbaba and I felt that we needed to change our focus a bit.  We realized that we need to focus more on the members and on strengthening the branch.  In order to have new converts and retain them, we are going to need more member support.  It will take all of us to baptize.  The missionaries in this area have been working for years now with little member support as far as teaching goes, and that is what we are going to try and change.  Changing what I've been doing for 4 months now isn't easy, but it's what needs to be done right now.

We had a new family move in from California a few weeks ago; I think I already mentioned them.  Anyway, the house that they moved into needs a lot of work, so we've been out there helping them a few times this past week.  Right now we're digging a huge trench to put in some power lines so they can have electricity.  We were almost done with the trench, then we decided we'd take another look at the plans, and we realized that instead of 13" deep, it needed to be 30" deep...  So I've been doing a lot of digging.

Not too much else happened this week.  I saw the boundaries of my area for the first time in my mission the other day.  It is HUGE!!!!!!!  I was shocked!  I thought we had been covering quite a bit of our area, but we are only covering a tiny part of it!  Based on the map I saw, our area is roughly 60 miles long running from north to south....  And that is after it was split 2 months ago...

We had a power outage yesterday morning.  I have learned that it is really dark at 6:30 in the morning...  Luckily some other Elders had left a flashlight in the apartment, so we were able to get ready by the light of the flashlight.  That was a pretty crazy experience.

Thank you so much for your emails this week!  They were awesome!  It's great to hear how everything is going back there.  I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.  Winter clothing time is upon us...

I'm Getting Used to Hot Sauce!

We Are Shooting For 222 Baptisms!

Taking Over The Area!

Family!

I don't even know where to begin!  I guess I'll start with my new companion!  His name is Elder Elbaba.  He's from American Fork.  His grandparents are from Argentina, but he is just from Utah.  Because he grew up around his grandparents, he understands Spanish really well, and he speaks it pretty well, though he never really spoke it before his mission.  He has been out the exact same amount of time as I have.  We entered the MTC the same day, and I actually met him in the MTC when me and 3 other Spanish elders met with President and Sister Porter when they were there.  So that's awesome!  Because of that, and because we both just finished training, we are both senior companions!  (and I guess both junior companions too...)

Elder Elbaba is a great teacher, and I've got a lot to learn from him.  We had a few pretty powerful lessons this week, and I'm excited to be working with him.

I'm not going to lie, taking over the area has been stressful.  For this past week and at least the next few weeks, we are relying completely on my knowledge of the area and of the investigators.  It's been a lot of work, and it will continue to be, but with the Lord's help, we'll make it just fine!

We had a new family move into the branch!  They moved from California, and the house they moved into needs a lot of repairs.  They also don't have much money, and they didn't have a lot to bring, so they were in need of a lot of things.  So on Saturday Elder Elbaba and I spent the majority of the day with our branch President gathering items that had been donated by people of the stake.  It was absolutely amazing to see how generous people are.  No one knew this family, but when they heard that they needed help, they donated whatever they could.  We helped collect beds, grills, space heaters, and a lot more things as well.  The service that the members of this stake gave was really amazing.

A few other things:

--I have been told I look like Zach Effron.  One of the members calls me Elder Effron every now and again, and then laughs after he says it... every time.

--We went to a Pizza Hut one day, and it was in the West Dayton area, and I guess the area is dangerous enough that you have to be buzzed in.  Think about that, you have to actually be buzzed in to a Pizza Hut!  I thought that was crazy!

--Elder Elbaba brought a typewriter with him from his last area, so I now have access to a typewriter.  So you may or may not be recieving a typed out letter in the future...

--Elder Elbaba doesn't have a driver's license, so I'm the designated driver!  I drive every single day now, and I have a feeling it's going to get old pretty quick...

That's about all I've got.  Sorry, once again, I wasn't super organized and prepared for this email.  I'll do better next week.  But here's a few pictures to make up for it!  Enjoy!

Love you all so much!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Feet in Ohio?

Ohio Spanish Family

Elder Foote and Elder Elbaba

Elder Foote and Elder Graf

Elder Foote and a Great Member of the Stake

They Must Not Like Cats?

Elder Foote Halloween Package

Dayton Spanish Elders!

A Full Fledged Missionary!

Family!

So this past week was pretty crazy.  Usually I write in my journal what happened each day, then before I come to the library I look over what I wrote and decide what to put in an email.  But I haven't been able to keep up with journal writing very well this past week, so this email will most likely be very disorganized and shorter than normal.  Sorry!

So we had 2 exchanges this past week, one with the zone leaders and one with the other Spanish elders.  With the zone leaders we went out to Englewood for the day, and I did English work!  It was crazy!  I could communicate!  Well ok, I can communicate in Spanish, but English is still easier.  But I like Spanish work better... =).  Anyway, the zone leader area is the ghetto of the Dayton area, so they call it "EngleHood" instead of Englewood.  We had some pretty interesting experiences... 

The cool thing about the Spanish work here is that we have been commissioned to become friends with the people and really get to know them and love them.  So one night we ended up joining a backyard soccer game for a while, and we made friends with a lot of people, and then got to share a brief message with them afterwards.  Finding through futbol!

I am done with training now!  I finished yesterday, so I'm now a full-fledged missionary!  And to celebrate, we taught the law of chastity to a couple that wasn't exactly keeping it.  I've never taught it to someone before, so that was an experience...

This morning we went and played golf with the branch president and his son.  We just did the driving range, but it was really fun.  Then his son put on Zelda music on the way back home, which pretty much made my day... =)

Ok, as far as transfers go, I'm going to be staying here, but Elder Graf will be leaving.  He's going to be training again, and he'll be the district leader in his new area.  So I'm going to be taking over this area, which is a little nerve-wracking, but I'm also excited.  I know that if the Lord says I can do it, then with his help, I'll do it! 

That's about all I've got!  Have a great week!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Foote                       

                                    

Elder Foote, Elder Graf and a great church member!

General Conference Week!

Familia!

Much to say and not much time.  Of course, conference is a topic that I have to touch on.  It was so good!  I don't think I've ever got as much out of conference as I got this past weekend.  I could spend a ton of time talking about different things I learned, but I don't have a ton of time, so I'll include a part of the letter I sent to President Porter about it:

Saturday Morning Session:

Edward Dube of the 70 said something along these lines: "Every part of the gospel and its teaching are only appendages to the Atonement of Christ".  This is something that I can apply in my life.  There are many aspects of the gospel and many things that we are to teach, but as I study and teach people these principles, I can and should always keep in mind that all these things are only appendages to the Atonement of our Savior.

Saturday Afternoon Session:

S. Gifford Neilson said: "This work won't move forward in the Lord's appointed way without the members."  We need to work on involving the members more in the work in this area.  This might entail strengthening their testimonies first and helping them realize the importance of the work.  This quote helped me realize more that it is the will of the Lord to involve members in the work.

Priesthood Session:

President Monson said: "Above all, be a sincere friend to those you teach; truly care about them."  This is something I have been working on over the past little while, and it is something I will definitely continue to work on.  I need to continue to strive for charity and to have a pure, Christ-like love for all people with whom I come in contact.

Sunday Morning Session:

Elder Richard G. Scott said: "As you fill your life with service to Heavenly Father's children, Satan's influence will lose power over you."  By truly consecrating myself and fully losing myself in service to the people in this area, I will have an even greater capacity to resist temptation and not yield to my own selfish desires.

Sunday Afternoon Session:

David M. McConkie said: "You cannot expect the Spirit to help you remember the scriptures and teachings if you have not studied."  Don't get me wrong, I study.  I study a lot.  But I really liked this quote.  There are many like it throughout Preach My Gospel, and it is always something I need to keep in mind.  As I seriously study, with real intent, and really try to understand things for my investigators, the Spirit will be able to recall the things I sincerely study to my remembrance when I need them.

There you go, there's a few of my thoughts on the matter.  I hope you all were able to get something out of it too!

We were blessed to be able to watch one of the conference sessions with A….. and D…...  It was an amazing experience.  The session we watched with them focused on their needs to an amazing degree, and it ended up being a very spiritual experience for all of us.  Afterwards, they both told us how the Spirit feels to them, and that it has changed their lives as we've been meeting with them over the past little while.  That whole experience allowed me to gain a greater testimony of our Heavenly Father's love for each and every one of us.  He loves us so much.  He'll do anything He can to help us return to live with Him.  It's amazing to me.

On a lighter note, D….. had never heard President Monson speak before, and he thinks that the Prophet sounds like Batman...

This past week I took over the area again.  But this time, I took over to a whole new level.  One of the Zone Leaders came and did exchanges with me, which is awesome, except for one small detail... he didn't speak Spanish!  So not only was it up to me to lead everything and know where everything was in the area, but it was also up to me to do all of the speaking in every single lesson we had.  Well, not all of the talking I guess.  He did say "Hola" at the beginning of the lessons, and "Adios" at the end.  But other than that, it was all up to me.  And I was pretty nervous.  But I prayed really hard, and with the Lord's help I was able to communicate alright with everyone we taught, and we actually had some pretty good lessons.  All things are possible when the Lord is on your side!

I learned at futbol this past week that I am a terrible goalie.  I can't block a goal to save my life.  So just for future reference, if I'm ever on your soccer team, don't put me in as goalie...

I had my definition of hot salsa redefined this week.  We were at a member's house eating, and she brought out this tiny bottle of salsa that supposedly made full-grown Hispanic men cry.  I am still working on developing a respect for salsa, and so I figured I'd try it just to see how bad it really was.  I tried to get some out, but the bottle was super small, so after a while of shaking it, I just gave up.  As I put the lid back on, a tiny bit of this salsa got on my finger.  I put this tiny amount in my mouth, and nothing happened.  For a few seconds.  Then all of the sudden, it started to burn.  I could literally feel it spread over my tongue.  I was lucky that I had only tried a tiny bit, because I think I would have lost the ability to taste if I had tried a lot...  So yeah, my respect for salsa has grown this past week.

That's about it.  Thanks for the conference package.  It's just me and Elder Graf, so I don't know how we'll eat all of that food, but we'll sure try... =)

Have a great week, and apply something you learned in conference!

Love,

Elder Foote

Elder Foote and Elder Garcia

Mis tacos de futbol!

Zone meeting on Thursday

Elder Foote and Elder Graf and Senior Couple

Another Week In The Great Ohio!

Mi Famila!

Thanks so much for the package with the talks.  They were all amazing!  Reading talks is always a nice way to break up the scripture reading.  Not saying I don't like reading in the scriptures, but it is nice to get to read some modern language every once in a while...

We had interviews with President Porter this week.  In addition to my own personal interview, us four Spanish Elders in Dayton area had a joint interview with him.  He told us all that we have to keep working at becoming Hispanic.  That is the big challenge for us in this area.  He said that's why he felt inspired to send Elder Garcia to this area.  So once again, I have been given the charge to become Hispanic. =) 

We found a family with 7 kids!  I might have already said something about them, but I'm still going to talk about them for a bit.  They have been taught by missionaries before, and they absolutely love it!  The kids are super interested, and one of the girls even asked me for some Book of Mormon homework before we left!  The only problem we have is getting the Dad interested.  He's not too interested in what we have to say, and I don't think he had a good relationship with the previous missionaries.  But, a little later in the week we had a mini-miracle that might help us get through to him.  We drove past their house on our way out of the city, and it looked like there was a huge party going on at their house, so we figured we would come back another day to talk with them when it was just their family.  We were almost out of the city when I got the prompting to go back to their house.  So we went back and walked up to this huge party.  Immediately the Dad of the family walked up, greeted us, sat us down, and started serving us food.  We talked to him a little bit, and although we weren't best friends by the end of our time there, it was definitely a step in the right direction.  We'll keep at it!

We had our weekly futbol game, and afterwards the branch hosted a breakfast at the church.  We had a really good turn out, and we got quite a few less actives and investigators there, which was awesome!  And just so you know, I'm getting better at futbol, I stole the ball from a native Honduranian! (maybe a little bit by luck, but still...)

Like I might have mentioned in a previous email, we have started singing to people to help invite the Spirit.  We went and talked to this one investigator later on at night right before heading back to the apartment.  She seemed super burdened with work and kids and everything, so we decided to sing her a song before leaving.  We sang "Nearer My God to Thee".  And it brought the Spirit so strong!  It was amazing!  She felt it too, and it was amazing to see how it completely changed her attitude that night.  Jesus called the Spirit "The Comforter", and that most definitely is one of His roles.

One of the families that helped get the Spanish Branch going in this area is having to go back to Mexico tomorrow.  They have been trying for months and months to get all the paperwork worked out, but it's taking so long that they have to go back and wait for a while.  So that has been a sad deal for the branch here.  The picture included is of us Elders with them after we helped them move some furniture.

Not much else happened this week.  I did discover that not all of the mosquitos are dead yet.  I thought they were all gone, but we taught this lady on her porch a few nights ago, and there are most definitely still living mosquitos...

Have a good week!  I love you all!  Watch General Conference this weekend!  I sure will be! =)

Love,

Elder Foote

Four Elders and a Great Family!