"It Feels Like Home, Doesn't It?"

Dear Family and Friends, 

It's been another great week in the field. Another bike week under my belt. It was super rainy this week though! People here just say it is going to rain every day. It's funny! Haha. Cuz most days it does. Most of the time though it's just a constant light rain! Like in Utah if it rains it seems to rain pretty hard for a short time. It just rains all the time very lightly. We have had some good, sunny days too, which I guess is very unusual for this time of year here. Winter here they say is just cloudy and foggy and you don't see the sun much and it just rains. Haha but there were some gorgeous days this week. It's gonna start getting pretty overcast though these next couple weeks! Dad, you would love the weather here. Morning runs are absolute bliss. Haha... It's cool, but not too cold right now. It's foggy and wet and beautiful! It's amazing.  

This week had a lot of great things happen.  So like I said, starting with last Monday we went on a gorgeous  Pday hike. The hike we went on half the time didn't even look like we were in real places they were so beautiful. They were all pictures you would find in a calendar. It was sweet! We went on that with our ward mission leader and the Zone Leaders! 

PDay Hike - 10/13/14

PDay Hike - October 13, 2014

Elder Plessinger, Brother Graham (ward mission leader), Elder Redding

Waterfall on PDay Hike - October 13,2014

Saturday was great and I thought it would be a great idea to go see "D" Saturday night and get her to commit to coming to church so that she wouldn't have a day to cancel on us again. It was great. She is so awesome. She is 77 years old and I don't know how long it has been since she has been to church. That night we called Sister Doty the relief society president to ask her to pick "D" up for church the next day and she said they would be greet and she said that she was kind of surprised that she said yes. She said it has been over 30 years since she has been to church and she has tried multiple times to get her to come. Haha she said that she flat out slammed the door on her. Haha.  I told sister doty my feelings about "D"coming. I really wanted her to come because right now in her life, she lives alone in a trailer park with her cat and doesn't have a car or anything and has to be lonely. She told us that every Thursday she takes the bus to the store and it only costs her 4$ haha steal of a deal huh? ;) haha but by the sounds of it that really is the highlight other week. I knew that she was scared the weeks before and that is why she canceled, but I knew if we could get her to come once this would be something she looked forward to each week like the bus ride to the store.  

Sunday morning rolls around and she actually showed up!! Haha it was a miracle. I had fully expected Sister Doty to show up and "D" to just tell her she wasn't coming. She came!!! Haha I sat with "D" and just talked. Sister Doty introduced her to some people and we just talked. We have a really good relationship and she feels really comfortable around me. We introduced her to others and she seemed to really enjoy it.  During the middle of the meeting I leaned over to her and nudged her and said, feels like home doesn't it? She looked at me and smiled and said. "Yes, yes it does." A couple minutes passed by after that and then she nudged me and said, "thank you." That made my whole day. The talks were about tithing. I didn't know if she really understood, because she hasn't been in who knows how long and kinda has a little bit of issues with memory. But after when Sister D took her home she asked to go and get a tithing slip, she then told sister doty she was coming next week. It was exactly what I was hoping for. I think it is something she will look forward to every week.  That made me really think, we all should look forward to sacrament every week. It is an opportunity to start fresh and clean. It's a fresh new start for the week. It is a chance to improve. Great Sunday. 

After on Sunday I saw my friend C! She came to church too. It's hard though cuz she doesn't understand a ton in English... Well anything. Haha but we went over to the Mcdonalds after and I brought the "finding faith in Christ" video. We played it in Chinese. And after she asked me, how do I know that Christ was resurrected and lived again. It was super deep, she asked about why we call ourselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And she never has really asked that much about it. It was really powerful. She also read 8 chapters this week in the Book of Mormon. It has been another great week. 

PDay Hike - Mt. Hood

PDay Hike - Mt. Hood with Zone Leaders and Comp

PDay Hike Mt. Hood

Ty and Elder Redding

This week I was reading about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and it really came to me that they were not just a people that had a super strong testimony of The Lord, but they were converted. As Elder Bednar says, "having a testimony is not enough."  I think that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies are a a great example for all of us.  I can't imagine burying my weapons of war and letting people come and kill me without fighting back.  This made me think, what are my weapons of war that I need to promise to never dig up.  Sometimes when life gets hard we have a tendency to dig up old habits or pleasures or coping methods to deal with the problem or stressor at the time.  It seems to be a natural thing.  However, I know that once we can have those tough challenges in our life and keep our weapons of war buried and trust in The Lord, we to will have been converted unto The Lord. In the end of the story, the people who died without fighting back did not die in vain.  It also said that the Lamanites actually stopped killing them and there were more Lamanites converted than the number if Anti-Nephi-Lehies killed.  What are the weapons of war in our lives that are holding us back from being the best we can be？ I love you all. 

Love you guys, 

Elder Redding