Good Week May 16, 2016

Everyone!

Hello hey hi! How is everyone doing this wonderful week? Another week
has come and gone! Wow time really flies being out here on a mission.
This marks week 17 of being in the Langley Ward. This week was
actually pretty good. It was for sure my busiest week here! I am
grateful to be here as hard as it has been. I've truly learned a lot
about our savior and about how to plan! So I'll jump into this week.
Monday was a pretty good day. We just played basketball in Annandale.
I love playing basketball but it totally kills me and I am tired the
rest of the day. But after pday went went to FHE and played this weird
game called ninja. It's a game where you try and slap each other's
hands. Hahaha this member accidentally slapped the crap out of one of
the sister missionaries hahaha it was super awkward. Tuesday we went
on exchanges and I was with elder hart in my area. He has only been
out for 3 months so he still is a greenie. We taught a less active
named manny. He is super cool he loves to play air soft and stuff he
just recently turned 21. I'm sad because he doesn't wan to,come back
to church.. We will continue to work,with him. After the lesson we
went to teach this kid named Daniel. He is a pretty cool guy but has a
lot of struggles. I actually taught him back in October when on
exchanges with elder adair. We also brought a member of our Ward with
us who is planning on going on a mission. It was a great lesson. It
was 8 at night and Daniel claimed to just have woken up...hahaha but
we read the Book of Mormon with him and challenged him to ask God
every day if it is true. He agreed and we will be passing him off to
the Braddock elders. Tuesday was pretty good we had two solid
appointments so I am always pleased when that Happens! Wednesday we
spent tracting and street contacting. People didn't like us too much
on Wednesday haha Thursday was a special day for me. We had institute.
Remember that guy who I helped push his car away from the house he
hit? His name is Mario and he is a caterer. He cooked an amazing meal
it was shrimp with squid and chicken in rice. It was so mighty good...
I almost died. I got to talk to him for awhile as we were eating and
he told me he had been cooking for 28 years. We shared the gospel with
him and he gladly accepted it! We are passing him to the mt Vernon
elders! I'm pretty excited to hear about his progress! Friday we had a
lesson with our homosexual investigator. He is making great progress
too! We gave him a church tour and read the Book of Mormon with him.
We then went on exchanges with the assistants down in ft belvoir! It's
always fun going down there! There are so many Africans and they love
when we teach them! We spent the entire day teaching people. Elder
jones and Blanchard are great assistants and have taught me a lot. We
goofed around after the day was over joking around with them is so
much fun. Saturday we spent some time at a Methodist food bank doing
service at a food drive! It was a tom of fun! Sunday was awesome too!
We had two investigators at church! Trey and Tiffany! It was awesome!
They loved church! We got to sit down with Tiffany after church and
talk about if she would like to,take the discussions and she said yes!
Tom was awesome! This week has been awesome! I've seen the lords hand
in my area and in my life this week! He strengthens me so much! I can
do all things through Christ! Thank you everyone for your support and
love!! Have a wonderful week!

Happy Mothers Day May 9, 2016

Friends and family!

How is everyone doing?! Oh wait...I talked to you yesterday so I
already know how my family is doing! :) yesterday was great and I was
sooooo good to talk to you! Emilee has gotten so much bigger! I can
hardly recognize Kayla either...it's crazy!! I'm can't wait to talk to
you again! I can't believe I'm coming up on only having 10 months left
of my mission...straight crazy. This upcoming week will be alright we
have a lot of exchanges lined up! We hopefully will set with our
investigator Tiffany but she usually flakes out of our appointment!
It's lame! Tonight we have FHE at the church and are playing
basketball I'm pretty pumped for it! This past week we also had a good
time. We taught this guy named Trey. He is homosexual and was worries
about how homosexuals fit into our church. We assured him that God
loves all his children and there is a spot in the church for everyone!
It was a good lesson. This week we also had zone conference and got to
spend a lot of time with president and sister huntsman! They talked
about finding happiness in the work! On Tuesday we taught this less
active kid who's name is Manuel. He is pretty cool I messed around
with his air soft guns for a bit haha. That was basically the
highlights of the week! Been in the singles ward for awhile now. Our
elders quorum lesson yesterday was how to keep the spirit in your
dating life....yep. Weird. Anyways I talked a lot yesterday and going
to play some basketball now! LOVE YOU ALL!
Elder Routsong

14 Weeks in Langley May 2, 2016

Friends and family!

How is everyone doing this wonderful week? I believe this is week 14
here in the Langley Ward. Being in a singles ward is so weird! But I
have grown really close to a lot of people here and our Ward mission
leader Bentley is amazing. We have been working pretty darn hard this
past week. Last Monday we just played some hardcore basketball...like
always! That night we went to FHE and played this funny game called
awkward family photos! It was so dang funny! So it's like apples to
apples and you pick a phrase that best describes the awkward photo.
Hahah it was a good time. We had our investigator Tiffany there and
she had a great time laughing at all the photos haha. Tuesday was a
good day we have been working close with the stake high councilor over
missionary work for a metro contacting activity. He bought us 800
water bottles to pass out. So we picked all of those up,with a van on
Tuesday and then went to Arlington and Reston and had no luck with
people. They weren't too nice to us on Tuesday! While tracting elder
McCray and I quoted mr. Deeds the whole time. It was hilarious!
Wednesday we had district meetings and talked about how to find people
that God has prepared! It went super well! That afternoon we helped a
member in the Vienna Ward with some service. It was a good time it was
super rainy so we got all dirty and wet. That's the best kind of
service! Thursday was awesome we had our metro contacting activity! We
passed out water bottles at the don loring metro with Mormon.org cards
in them! It was so sweet we passed out 400 water bottles. People
thought it was so weird we were trying to,give them water Haha. For
some reason when you try and serve others nowadays people think it's
super weird. It shouldn't have to be like that! That night we had our
investigator Tiffany at institute and we got to hear from dean Jessie!
He was one of the original workers of the Joseph smith papers! It was
so spiritual! Tiffany loved it! Friday we weekly planned and set up
appointments with people for this upcoming week! Im pretty pumped! I
called this guy named Daniel and he dropped this missionaries after
two years of investigation! We are meeting with him tomorrow! I'm so
pumped to meet with him! We went up and worked in the Herndon area
that night people were so busy for some reason that night.  Saturday
was a great day though! We met with president hall that morning and
then had the rest of the missionaries over for a stake missionary
breakfast! President hall is so sweet! President burton from the
mission presidency was there as well and he is straight crazy. He is
so dang funny! But he bore testimony of the Angels that are around us
each and every day as missionaries. It was really spiritual. After
breakfast we helped a less active in our Ward move out. His apartment
was so nasty!! I felt so bad for him... I'm so grateful for the
blessing of having a clean home. It was so nasty! He is a great guy
though he has been trying to get the priesthood and go to the temple.
After we helped him move out we met with Brandon. The kid is so Solid!
I shared with him this poem.
 "Success"
Berton Braley
If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it,
If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it,
If life seems all empty and useless without it
And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,
If gladly you'll sweat for it,
Fret for it,
Plan for it,
Lose all your terror of GOD or of man for it,
If you'll simply go after the thing that you want,
With all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity,
Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,
If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,
Nor sickness nor pain
Of body or brain
Can turn you away from the thing that you want,
If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,
YOU'LL GET IT.

If you want to reactivate yourself to the gospel you can do it!
Anything in this life that you set your mind to you can succeed at
regardless of your circumstances or excuses that you or others have!
Brandon is great! I'm so excited and happy that I get to work with
him! He is a great example to me!

That was my week! I hope that each of you have a wonderful week this
week and all the snow melts in Colorado! Thank you for your love and
support! You all mean so much to me!!
love
Elder Routsong

Third Transfer in Langley April 25, 2016

Friends and family!

Hello hello all! This week marks the start of my third transfer here
in the Langley young single adult Ward. I've learned a lot here haha.
Today also marks me being a missionary for 13 months. Pretty crazy how
fast time flies out here! I hope it is going fast back in Colorado!
Anyways, I'll go ahead and describe my week for you! Last Monday was a
good time hah we played football and the weather was a perfect sunny
and 75! I got sunburnt pretty badly though. We had FHE that night and
the Ward challenged elder Neyman and I to hide and seek. Elder Neyman
and I hid in the attic of the church and nobody could find us Hahahah.
Tuesday we had some training. I've taught like a thousand of these but
I always get so nervous for them. It went really well we talked about
mission standards. It was pretty good. I went on exchanges with former
Russian companion again. We taught this less active named Osmar. I
feel,really bad for him. He wants to come back to church but his
girlfriend won't let him. It was sad. That night we found
of,transfers. Elder vasilyev bought a ton of Taco Bell and pounded all
of it. I was impressed. I found out I have elder McCray as a new
companion! He is a cool kid from snowflake Arizona. Wednesday elder
Neyman packed the whole day and we talked to our new Ward mission
leader Bentley! He is awesome! He converted 2 years ago and loves
missionary work! Thursday we had transfers and I picked up elder
McCray. We had s meeting to introduce all the missionaries in the zone
then we went and dedicated a house! Pretty cool! We went to institute
that night. Friday we tracted this one place called circle towers for
literally 5 hours. We didn't see a single white person they were all
Islamic or Indian. I felt,like I was in another country... Saturday we
taught this gangsta named BLACK... HAHAHAHA seriously that's his real
name... I asked him is he ever heard about the Book of Mormon and he
said "isn't that the book where you do voodoo magic and sh**!?" Hahaha
I just sat there and said "nahhhh" he was cool with it. We will go
back and see him this week hahaha so funny. We also had a lesson with
a less active and we shared the talk "ladder day saints keep trying"
by elder Renlund. I invite you all to read that talk...it is literally
my favorite talk ever. Please read it. We tracted into this lady named
Lauren and she told us she wants her records removed from the church..
I was devastated. She was such a sweet person and knew the church was
true but felt like she couldn't live the standards. It was a sad
experience for me. Bishop will be meeting with her this week. My new
companion is elder McCray and he is a stud though! We are getting
along super well and having a ton of fun! It's been a good week! I
love each of you and am grateful for your examples in my life! Have a
great week!
Love
Elder Routsong

Virginia April 18, 2016

Friends and family!

Hello hello! How is everyone doing this week?! Things in Virginia just
keep on rolling. These Monday's seem to just come and go so quickly. I
can't believe how fast time is moving. This week we had a few good
teaching opportunities! Monday of last week we didn't really do
anything exciting just played basketball and hungout. It was nice to
relax though. Monday night the Ward had FHE and us and the sister
missionaries combined had 4 investigators there. It was awesome! This
singles ward does a really good job at helping people feel comfortable
and not intimidated in church settings. We all talked about general
conference and then we taught our investigator Fatih about the Book of
Mormon! It was pretty awesome and he was asking great questions!
Tuesday was district meetings in the morning and we went to Taco Bell
with elder v haha it's so funny a Russian kid ordering Mexican food oh
my gosh. After lunch I went on exchanges with elder Escobar. He is s
good guy! He is in the Spanish program and this was his first English
exchange! He saw it all haha we got kicked out of an apartment complex
and an investigator named Carly dropped us haha I felt so bad cause
the Spanish program is so different than the English. But we had a
good time other than that! Wednesday nothing really happens I was sick
Wednesday and Thursday so that kinda sucked. But our investigator
Tiffany attended institute so that was pretty awesome! She is really
adjusting to the Ward! Friday we had lunch with this guy named ric
tally he is pretty awesome! He is a convert in the Alexandria 3 Ward!
He is great! We also taught Alejandro a less active and the lesson
went really well we helped him set a goal to get to the temple so I
was excited about that!! Saturday was a great day though! Had a
meeting with the area 70 about the new church app called just serve.
We as missionaries will be using it a lot just to serve other people!
It was great! After the meeting we met with Brandon carter! The less
active guy from Utah. I shared with him about my life before the
mission and how hard it was for me to chose to serve. It was a
spiritual lesson he is inspiring to me!  That night we had dinner with
Bentley and Eder and Brenda all newer members and Bentley taught a
temple prep class it was great! Sunday morning we woke up and helped
Bentley prank some of his office workers. They switched his desk
around so Bentley took us to his office and we pranked the entire
place! We moved every desk around! It was great...I haven't pranked in
awhile. Church was great too! Bentley is our new Ward mission leader!
So I'm pumped about That! This week was good I'm working hard and
looking forward to more great experiences!! Love you all have a great
week! Sorry this email was kinda lame!
Love
Elder Routsong

I can build her a cake or something April 11, 2016

Friends and family!

How is everyone doing this lovely week?! This was a good week for me a
lot of stuff happened! I can't believe that I have been on my mission
for almost 13 months now. It blows my mind how fast time goes while
serving others. I'm grateful to be a missionary even though it is most
likely the hardest thing I've ever done. It's worth it.
On Monday of last week week hiked great falls park! It's a pretty neat
place! We did it for our zone activity and people seemed to really
like it!! That night I went with the oakton zone leaders to teach a
lesson to a young single adult. Like always...he wasn't home. But I
got to spend time with elder tesch he is a stud so I'm pretty happy!
Tuesday was an interesting day...I went on exchanges with my former
companion from Russia elder vasilyev! He is fetching crazy... Hahahah
he played Pokemon with the Vienna elders and was going straight crazy.
But we got a lot of work done! Met several people. We also,went to
Popeyes for lunch and this member gave us 100 bucks for lunch.. It was
so awesome cause I only have like 11 bucks to my name haha. Elder
vasilyev called it a Popeyes miracle. Wednesday was a sick day for me
I didn't feel good the whole day. It was terrible so we stayed in for
a good Ammont of the day. Thursday we had missionary leadership
council and got to spend a lot of the day with president and sister
huntsman. They are amazing. I'm lucky to have them! That night we
taught this guy named Chandra and his family the restoration. The
lesson went great! We also,taught a less active in our Ward about
going to the temple. He is so awesome. This guy also ran his car into
somebody's house so we helped him push his car out hahahah it was
crazy. They house wasn't damaged badly but it was crazy. That was my
cool experience of the week! Friday was a good day I had a doctors
appointment and then we spent the rest of the day checking up on
people from a list that bishop gave us! We knocked it out pretty fast!
Saturday was our finding fest! The zone got together and went finding
the whole day. Elder overstreet and I helped this guy build a zip line
haha it was awesome. Then I locked the keys in the trunk of our car...
It was so embarrassing. Sunday we had an investigator at church!! Her
name is Tiffany and she was a referral from some sisters in Baltimore.
She teaches IT at the fair fax nova campus. It was a miracle. Also!
Brandon came to church!! He even bore his testimony about how he was a
sinner but is coming back to church and feeling the love of god!!!
Holy cow...it was so spiritual... Brandon amazes me. This is also the
only Ward where ive bore my testimony on fast Sunday three months in a
row. Breaking records! Love you all have a great week!! Thank you for
your examples to me!! I miss you all!!!
Love
Elder Routsong

Conference Week April 4, 2016

Friends and family

How is everyone doing this wonderful post conference weekend?! This
week was interesting for sure! Monday was a fun time we went to the
city to check out the cherry blossoms and they are so awesome! That
night we worked around the area but nobody was really nice to us!
Darn. We met this guy named Jeff who has a big American bulldog and it
bit the crap out of my hand. Tuesday we had district meeting and it
was a good time elder overstreet is a great district leader. The rest
of the day we went to ft belvoir on exchanges with the assistants. I
was with elder jones. We had a great time! We read the Book of Mormon
with this guy named Sam it was cool. We also handed out like 5 book of
Mormons it was fun! Wednesday was a darn fun day we had some service
in great falls area. The whole zone of 22 missionaries came to this
old ladies house and we mulched and cleaned up her yard. It was such a
great experience. Her name is Kathy and she is from England just a
sweet old lady! When we finished she said she wanted to pay all of
us...we kindly rejected and told her we love to serve! She was so
happy! Serving others is the best way to find happiness. That night we
had dinner with Bentley he is a stud. He took us to this place called
"we the pizza" it's mighty good. He taught us how to find people
interested in the church on Facebook. Thursday we did service for this
guy in the McLean 2 Ward. He was dope his house was so,nasty. Mom and
dad it reminded me of grandpa nagys house hahaha but anyways. Then I
went on exchanges with my buddy elder cline. He is sick. We did more
service for s lady In the Tysons Ward. We threw her couch off the
balcony. It was awesome. Friday we went to the office and delivered
car insurance to the zone it was boring. We also taught this kid named
sahir. He was this crazy Muslim kid we knocked into hahah but it was
good. He wasn't really interested but he was a cool kid. Saturday was
so sick.... So before I write about Saturday let me share with you an
email I received on Monday last week

"Hey Elder, my name is brandon, I am a Private First Class in the
Army,  stationed out of Fort Myer. I'm an inactive member from Utah.
I'm needing and wanting to regain that happy, peaceful loving feeling
I felt.
They say that the Savior is the key to comfort and peace, and I've
lost that comfort and peace.  Spiritually I need help.

If we could schedule a meeting that would be fantastic. Below is my
contact info, the best time to call is after 530pm"

I have been praying for people to teach... Waiting for the opportunity
to help somebody...anybody come closer to,the love of the savior.
Brandon is that person. We watched all sessions of conference with him
on Saturday. The first talk given by elder eyring was the perfect talk
for him...the lord was communicating with Brandon. I will never forget
Saturday. God loves all his children regardless of where you are
spiritually at....I testify of that.

Sunday we watched conference with some members at it was a fun time! I
also had the chance to see Milton! He is doing so well! He was doing
homework when I stopped by them was going to watch conference! I love
that kid so much! He is a rockstar!
this week was a good experience.

Thank you all for you examples! I love each of you and and grateful
for you love and support! Have a wonderful week!!
Love
Elder Routsong