Week 2

So this past week has flown by. On our last P-day we went to Zion National Park. It was beautiful.

We rode the bus all the way in and went to a place called the narrows. The attached pictures are in the narrows. I took a lot more then that, but that is all that I can send in this email. So that was super fun. It starts getting really deep the further you go in. We didn't go terribly far, it actually started raining and they warn that if it starts raining you should be careful because it can flood very easily. So we headed back out. Had lunch in the park and then headed back home for our appointments. 

We were busy the whole week. We had a ton of lessons during the week. We had a few here and there that fell through. But that happens. The real bummer was the weekend. I am serving in Hurricane (can't remember if i mentioned that last week or not) so it is a fairly small town. And this past Friday the High School here had a pre-season football game so the whole town was pretty much at the game. And for whatever reason Saturday was also slow. No one was home. 

There are 2 stakes here though. If I had to guess i would say it is about half Mormon and half non-member. So there is a ton of people here who have never heard of the gospel. Hurricane used to be a small farm town. But with all the financial problems in California a ton of people have moved into the area. We are about 15-20 miles outside of St. George so a lot of people have moved here and commute over there.  We have a Baptism this Saturday. Her name is Paige and she is 17. Most of her extended family are members but her immediate family is not. So we have that to look forward to. We have a couple of others we are working with towards baptism. 

It actually turns out that our mission is the highest baptizing English speaking mission in the states. So there is a ton of work out here that needs to be done still. The members are really good about helping with the work. We get a fair number of referrals and of the 19 lessons we taught last week 15 were with members present. So that really helps when we have their participation. So I guess the big thing I am trying to get at is HELP THE MISSIONARIES!!!! It only works when members participate. Give referrals! We love them. Go out with the missionaries whenever you can. It helps us and helps the investigators. It amazes me how the Lord has prepared so many people and the only reason they aren't members or aren't baptized is because they don't know where to find the truth. We know where they can find the truth! We just need to tell them. Share what you know. Because their lives literally depend on it!

But I love you all and until next week

-Elder Valentine