Friends and family
Hello hello hello everybody. I hope that your week went really well!
Time is just moving on faster and faster. It seems like each Monday is
just a short time away. This week went pretty good. I still serving in
the Langley ysa Ward. When I am finished here I will have served for 6
months in Langley. God must be trying to teach me something about
singles wards and getting married hahahaha but I'll think about that
good stuff later. So for Monday of last week we didn't really do much.
I bought a sick new pair of running shoes and played just a few games
of basketball. It was Memorial Day and a member invited us and the
Tysons elders over for a bbq. It was awesome and the people were
totally crazy! Hahah that night we taught Tiffany with our Ward
mission leader Bentley. She has major concerns about the word of
wisdom. Bentley told her about his experience joining the church. The
lesson seemed to go well. We have been concerned for Tiffany cause she
has a lot going on and a lot of weird irrelevant questions. But we
keep trying! Tuesday we had district meetings and it was pretty
spiritual because we just had a brief testimony meeting. I loved the
missionaries in the district. We all had so much fun and were so
close. That afternoon we had to get a Tiwi put in our car. I was
pretty upset about that. That night we had a great member visit with a
guy named James. He is cool and I look forward to getting to know him
better. Tuesday night we got transfers....I honestly thought I was
going to leave. I won't lie...I was pretty upset I am staying in the
singles ward. I know that there is a reason I'm here though. This will
be the longest time I've spent in an area. Wednesday we had breakfast
with elder cline on his final day of the mission. It was sad. I'm
gonna miss that kid. He has been a great friend to me. Then my good
friend Marie took elder risenhoover and I out to lunch. She is such a
boss! She is literally the sweetest lady you will ever meet! That
night we went and taught Daniel. He is a good kid just really really
lost. He is 29 and just sits at home and plays super smash brothers.
We shared with him the "hope of gods light" video. It's so awesome.
About a guy who investigated the church for 2 years. It's a powerful
story. We applied it to him and told him that he needed to find
answers in his life. We had a member named Mikey there he did such a
good job befriending him. Thursday was transfer day. As zone leaders
this is literally the busiest day of the transfer. We ran so many
errands for everyone else! Dropping off bikes and suitcases all day!
It was exhausting. I got to see all my mission buddies though! Said
bye to elder cline and elder tesch. They will be missed and I can't
wait to see them again. I really hate when missionaries leave. It's
pretty sad. The highlight of Friday was we helped set up for the
Syrian refugee clothing drive. It was awesome! We worked so hard.
Saturday we helped out again at the refugee clothing drive and it was
a fun time. I always love being with the zone we are so close and have
so much fun joking around. Our most progressing and only investigator
Tiffany dropped us and we were pretty down in the dumps on Saturday
but things will work out and she wasn't ready. Life goes on I guess.
Sunday was good it was fast Sunday! I was just thinking about how God
loves me during the sacrament. It's so wonderful how he loves each of
us. His love is prefect and unchanging. We are so blessed to be able
to know that! Everything is going to be okay for us. There are always
good things to come. We just have to be patient (which is something I
am extremely bad at). This week was interesting and full of lots of
emotions. I'm grateful that I am serving and learning all this
valuable lessons for myself. I love each of you and am grateful for
your example to me and for your support and friendship! Have a
wonderful week!!
Love
Elder Routsong
Monday, September 19, 2016
Happy Memorial Day May 23, 2016
Family and friends
How was everyone this past week! Time flies when you are working hard
and having fun! Another Monday down! I believe this is week 20 in
Langley! Transfers are on June 2nd so I'll probably leave the singles
ward life. The work has been getting a little bit better each week but
progress is still slow. Last week for pday we went to top golf. I've
been there so many times that the lady recognized me Hahahah i love
that place. It's so much fun! Dad that will be one of our first stops
haha. After pday we went to FHE with Tiffany and we played volleyball.
This Ward is so unathletic it's so funny hahaha. Tuesday was a great
day though! We had district meetings and then e went and cleaned out a
nasty town house for this homeless program. What they do is they let
single homeless mothers live there for free. It was a nasty house
Hahah but we all had a fun time cleaning it. Then I went on exchanges
with elder cline. I love the dude. He is so funny and so trunky. He
goes home on Thursday so we had a great time! We met this couple from
ft belvoir that are dog trainers. They were so awesome! We talked
about if they were interested in investigating the church. They were
so nice and friendly! Elder cline and I stayed up a little late just
talking. I'm gonna miss having him around. He is one of my best
mission buddies! Wednesday we woke up early and went to the track and
I ran laps. I'm out of shape blahhhhh I also had a doctors appointment
and then we went to clean out this hoarders house. It was so nasty...
Literally the entire house had garbage in it and it was stacked to the
ceiling! There was only one little walk way and the house smelled so
bad! They fed us some nasty spaghetti afterwards and I wanted to throw
up. Easily the worst spag I've ever tasted. That night we went and
check on several people but nobody was home. Our Ward mission leader
took us out to dinner and it was awesome. Ate at this place called
district taco. Mighty good. Thursday we went to the office and picked
up a brand new car. It was awesome! Then we went to a recent converts
house in the Tysons Ward and they made us some BOMB saltenas! Oh my
gosh kari they were so dang good. Especially if you eat them with
green sauce... That evening we exchanged with the great falls elders
and I went with elder Merrill! We checked up on a few people and gave
a blessing to a lady in our Ward with some serious strep throat.
Friday we had breakfast and a lesson with Tiffany. It was super
awkward. Her mom doesn't like us too much. For some reason they
thought we were bringing a table and they got super ticked when we
didn't hahahaha it was so funny. We talked to Tiffany about the
importance of baptism. She said she wants to be baptized but won't
live the word of wisdom...uhhhhhh nahhhhhh. I told her she had better
start praying to live the word of wisdom. She will be baptized but it
will be a slow process. I like working with her though. Her mom is
just super bold and scary haha. In the middle of breakfast she just
picked up the table with all our crap on it and carried it off
hahahahah. We also gave Tiffany a priesthood blessing to overcome s
few struggles she has been having. Saturday we went to a sweet
clothing drive the oakton stake out together to help out Syrian
refugees. It was awesome helping them all out. It was super hot and we
were wearing church clothes so that was the only downside. We then
helped Bentley plant his garden! It was super hot outside... We were
sweating like crazy. Like 98 degrees ugh! And humid! We were driving
home all gross and saw a big group of people playing basketball...so
naturally we stopped and played with them. It was awesome. They had
all talked to missionaries before! It was a big family reunion.
Straight crazy and everyone there loved us! They said "ohhhhhhh it's
those elders!" Haha black family reunions are awesome. Sunday was a
challenging day for me. All of our plans fell through. We were
supposed to take a less active who is struggling really bad to a sick
byu football devotional but he cancelled and so did the rest of our
appointments. So naturally I'm in a bad mood. I said a prayer and said
"will you take this bad mood away from me?" I said it twice and after
the second time I opened my eyes and I was happy! The atonement is
real and it can help us with the big things but also with the small.
Thanks for all of your love and support! I hope that you have a
wonderful Memorial Day! I'm thankful those who are fighting for my
freedom! Have a wonderful week!! :)
Love
Elder Routsong
How was everyone this past week! Time flies when you are working hard
and having fun! Another Monday down! I believe this is week 20 in
Langley! Transfers are on June 2nd so I'll probably leave the singles
ward life. The work has been getting a little bit better each week but
progress is still slow. Last week for pday we went to top golf. I've
been there so many times that the lady recognized me Hahahah i love
that place. It's so much fun! Dad that will be one of our first stops
haha. After pday we went to FHE with Tiffany and we played volleyball.
This Ward is so unathletic it's so funny hahaha. Tuesday was a great
day though! We had district meetings and then e went and cleaned out a
nasty town house for this homeless program. What they do is they let
single homeless mothers live there for free. It was a nasty house
Hahah but we all had a fun time cleaning it. Then I went on exchanges
with elder cline. I love the dude. He is so funny and so trunky. He
goes home on Thursday so we had a great time! We met this couple from
ft belvoir that are dog trainers. They were so awesome! We talked
about if they were interested in investigating the church. They were
so nice and friendly! Elder cline and I stayed up a little late just
talking. I'm gonna miss having him around. He is one of my best
mission buddies! Wednesday we woke up early and went to the track and
I ran laps. I'm out of shape blahhhhh I also had a doctors appointment
and then we went to clean out this hoarders house. It was so nasty...
Literally the entire house had garbage in it and it was stacked to the
ceiling! There was only one little walk way and the house smelled so
bad! They fed us some nasty spaghetti afterwards and I wanted to throw
up. Easily the worst spag I've ever tasted. That night we went and
check on several people but nobody was home. Our Ward mission leader
took us out to dinner and it was awesome. Ate at this place called
district taco. Mighty good. Thursday we went to the office and picked
up a brand new car. It was awesome! Then we went to a recent converts
house in the Tysons Ward and they made us some BOMB saltenas! Oh my
gosh kari they were so dang good. Especially if you eat them with
green sauce... That evening we exchanged with the great falls elders
and I went with elder Merrill! We checked up on a few people and gave
a blessing to a lady in our Ward with some serious strep throat.
Friday we had breakfast and a lesson with Tiffany. It was super
awkward. Her mom doesn't like us too much. For some reason they
thought we were bringing a table and they got super ticked when we
didn't hahahaha it was so funny. We talked to Tiffany about the
importance of baptism. She said she wants to be baptized but won't
live the word of wisdom...uhhhhhh nahhhhhh. I told her she had better
start praying to live the word of wisdom. She will be baptized but it
will be a slow process. I like working with her though. Her mom is
just super bold and scary haha. In the middle of breakfast she just
picked up the table with all our crap on it and carried it off
hahahahah. We also gave Tiffany a priesthood blessing to overcome s
few struggles she has been having. Saturday we went to a sweet
clothing drive the oakton stake out together to help out Syrian
refugees. It was awesome helping them all out. It was super hot and we
were wearing church clothes so that was the only downside. We then
helped Bentley plant his garden! It was super hot outside... We were
sweating like crazy. Like 98 degrees ugh! And humid! We were driving
home all gross and saw a big group of people playing basketball...so
naturally we stopped and played with them. It was awesome. They had
all talked to missionaries before! It was a big family reunion.
Straight crazy and everyone there loved us! They said "ohhhhhhh it's
those elders!" Haha black family reunions are awesome. Sunday was a
challenging day for me. All of our plans fell through. We were
supposed to take a less active who is struggling really bad to a sick
byu football devotional but he cancelled and so did the rest of our
appointments. So naturally I'm in a bad mood. I said a prayer and said
"will you take this bad mood away from me?" I said it twice and after
the second time I opened my eyes and I was happy! The atonement is
real and it can help us with the big things but also with the small.
Thanks for all of your love and support! I hope that you have a
wonderful Memorial Day! I'm thankful those who are fighting for my
freedom! Have a wonderful week!! :)
Love
Elder Routsong
MClean Day May 23, 2016
Friends and family!
Hello hello! Another week! Wow seriously though time just flies so
fast. This week was good but the weather was straight awful except for
Thursday! Thursday was like the first time we've seen the sun here in
about three weeks. It's been a very rainy and cloudy springtime. I
heard the weather back out west is great though! This week we worked
hard! For pday last week we went to presidents house! It was awesome!
My leg is feeling better from my long board crash hahahaha but yeah it
was a good time! After pday we had FHE at the smiths house! We all
just talked! Between us and the sisters we had 5 investigators there!
It was awesome. I was nervous for Tuesday because we had to present
for zone training! I get nervous every time even though I've presented
and ran like 10 zone trainings. Thanks to my public speaking professor
at uvu haha. Elder McCray and I talked about our attitude in the work.
It's something I've been thinking about and struggling with lately. I
have to question myself if I do have the best attitude. When I stop
and think about it I can change and choose to be happy! It's the best!
Our attitude has a DIRECT correlation to our faith! Anyways, the
presentation went great! After zone training we went out to lunch with
one of my favorite people! Her name is Marie Hamilton! She is a 70
year old lady from Sierra Leone! She is so awesome! She took us to
shake shack. I love spending time with Marie! Mom and dad you will for
sure meet here when you come get me! After lunch I went on exchanges
with the Spanish elders. Elder biehn came out to the mission with me
and we had a good time. Met this awesome black,guy named Kenny he was
baptized about a year ago and has good grills on his teeth. Spanish
exchanges are fun ha but I have no idea what's going on. Wednesday was
kinda a boring day. People didn't like us:/ oh well! We tried our
best! Thursday I went on exchanges with the Vienna elders. Elder
overstreet and I are good buddies! We had a lot of fun joking around
while we worked. The sisters had a scary lesson with one of their
investigators so we went and gave them a blessing. That night we had
Tiffany at institute and it went super well! She loves the church! I
hope she makes the decision to get baptized. Friday was a good day I
went on exchanges with elder Rammell in the Tysons Ward. We tracted
for like 3 straight hours. It was awesome! They have several people to
go check back with. We also helped their recent converts from Bolivia
move some stuff into their house! Cynthia and Gustavo are so dope!
Gustavo is a fighter and he was telling all these stories about
kicking people's butts. Apparently there is a lot of fighting in
Bolivia...kari I hope you didn't get involved in any! They are having
us over for saltenas this week:) Saturday was by far my FAVORITE day
this week. We took all day as a zone and helped with a community event
called McLean day! It was a local fair and we helped people's set up
rides and booths and spread mulch. It was so awesome...except it
rained the whole time...we still had fun! I got to play some bubble
soccer and ride a few rides with my comp. at the end of everything I
did a mud slide with some other elders. It was nasty but dang fun.
Saturday was a great day and they appreciated all the help we gave to
the community. Sunday we had our investigator Tiffany at church and
she loved it! Our Ward is so good at fellowshipping people! I've been
here for so long haha! This week was also full of exchanges for me
haha but it was all fun! I'm at a point in my mission where change is
like everyday. I've started thinking about myself less. I can feel a
shift in my life as I have come closer to my savior Jesus Christ. I
know that the lord is taking my weakness and shaping them and molding
them into my strengths. His hand is in my life every day. I can truly
see it and feel of his love for me and for all of his children. I love
being a missionary. It's the most challenging thing I've ever done in
my life but it is worth it. Thank you for all of your examples to me
and your love and support! Happy birthday Emilee I can't believe you
turned 7! You are so old! Kayla congratulations on graduating
highschool last week! I'm so proud of you! Uvu is calling for you!
LOVE YOU!
Love
Elder Routsong
Hello hello! Another week! Wow seriously though time just flies so
fast. This week was good but the weather was straight awful except for
Thursday! Thursday was like the first time we've seen the sun here in
about three weeks. It's been a very rainy and cloudy springtime. I
heard the weather back out west is great though! This week we worked
hard! For pday last week we went to presidents house! It was awesome!
My leg is feeling better from my long board crash hahahaha but yeah it
was a good time! After pday we had FHE at the smiths house! We all
just talked! Between us and the sisters we had 5 investigators there!
It was awesome. I was nervous for Tuesday because we had to present
for zone training! I get nervous every time even though I've presented
and ran like 10 zone trainings. Thanks to my public speaking professor
at uvu haha. Elder McCray and I talked about our attitude in the work.
It's something I've been thinking about and struggling with lately. I
have to question myself if I do have the best attitude. When I stop
and think about it I can change and choose to be happy! It's the best!
Our attitude has a DIRECT correlation to our faith! Anyways, the
presentation went great! After zone training we went out to lunch with
one of my favorite people! Her name is Marie Hamilton! She is a 70
year old lady from Sierra Leone! She is so awesome! She took us to
shake shack. I love spending time with Marie! Mom and dad you will for
sure meet here when you come get me! After lunch I went on exchanges
with the Spanish elders. Elder biehn came out to the mission with me
and we had a good time. Met this awesome black,guy named Kenny he was
baptized about a year ago and has good grills on his teeth. Spanish
exchanges are fun ha but I have no idea what's going on. Wednesday was
kinda a boring day. People didn't like us:/ oh well! We tried our
best! Thursday I went on exchanges with the Vienna elders. Elder
overstreet and I are good buddies! We had a lot of fun joking around
while we worked. The sisters had a scary lesson with one of their
investigators so we went and gave them a blessing. That night we had
Tiffany at institute and it went super well! She loves the church! I
hope she makes the decision to get baptized. Friday was a good day I
went on exchanges with elder Rammell in the Tysons Ward. We tracted
for like 3 straight hours. It was awesome! They have several people to
go check back with. We also helped their recent converts from Bolivia
move some stuff into their house! Cynthia and Gustavo are so dope!
Gustavo is a fighter and he was telling all these stories about
kicking people's butts. Apparently there is a lot of fighting in
Bolivia...kari I hope you didn't get involved in any! They are having
us over for saltenas this week:) Saturday was by far my FAVORITE day
this week. We took all day as a zone and helped with a community event
called McLean day! It was a local fair and we helped people's set up
rides and booths and spread mulch. It was so awesome...except it
rained the whole time...we still had fun! I got to play some bubble
soccer and ride a few rides with my comp. at the end of everything I
did a mud slide with some other elders. It was nasty but dang fun.
Saturday was a great day and they appreciated all the help we gave to
the community. Sunday we had our investigator Tiffany at church and
she loved it! Our Ward is so good at fellowshipping people! I've been
here for so long haha! This week was also full of exchanges for me
haha but it was all fun! I'm at a point in my mission where change is
like everyday. I've started thinking about myself less. I can feel a
shift in my life as I have come closer to my savior Jesus Christ. I
know that the lord is taking my weakness and shaping them and molding
them into my strengths. His hand is in my life every day. I can truly
see it and feel of his love for me and for all of his children. I love
being a missionary. It's the most challenging thing I've ever done in
my life but it is worth it. Thank you for all of your examples to me
and your love and support! Happy birthday Emilee I can't believe you
turned 7! You are so old! Kayla congratulations on graduating
highschool last week! I'm so proud of you! Uvu is calling for you!
LOVE YOU!
Love
Elder Routsong
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!
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
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
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
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
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