So Close and Yet So Far Away...

Hey Everyone,

So it was really interesting the meeting I had this last week.  I thought it was going to be a departure meeting, and it kinda was. But President wasn’t talking about our departure papers or anything.  He more wanted to talk about the "legacy we leave behind".  He referred a lot to the kind of impression we would leave on everyone before we finished the mission.  He is worried that a lot of us are going to "peacefully leave the mission", or slowly stop working and visit all of the places we haven’t visited yet and visit old areas instead of focusing on the mission.  He wants us to worry more about what people think about us when we leave, if they saw us as a hard worker all the way through or missionaries that just "got by".  He mentioned to us that the last 2 months of the mission would be the months we remember the most.  So he wanted to know what our goals were til the end of the mission.

Something else interesting was that he asked me if I would like to stay in my area till the end of the mission.  I told him I would pray about it and talk to Elder Pike about staying with him.  I felt that it was the right thing to stay in my area, so I let him know.  I also let him know that my goal is to baptize 20 people before I finish the mission.  20 people in one change is something that has never happened in my zone.  I will be busting my butt to get it jaja!

A cool thing happened to us at the end of this week.  We hadn’t been having much luck in the work, but we went on divisions with the zone leaders on Friday and Elder Pike with our zone leader contacted a girl named Brenda, which seemed like the only solid person they talked to.  When we went there on Saturday, she was there, but only because she had told us she would be.  They were remodeling their bathroom and she really needed to be somewhere else, but she was also interested in us.  So we went in and shared something short and sweet and invited her to church.  Long story short, she loved church and had a million questions about being a member.  We know she will be a baptism with her family if we do what we are supposed to.

Anywho, that was my week.

Love ya guys!

Elder Scott Donner

Choosing to Be Positive

Hullo,

It was a very tiring week last week.  Elder Pike and I were working our butts off so that we might be able to find someone to prepare them for baptism.  We were able to learn a lot of things this week.

I noticed that we had kind of picked up a negative attitude about the work, because we were literally doing everything we could, but were finding little to no success.  We went back to the house for a couple of minutes and talked about how our attitudes were affecting our work.  We didn’t necessarily feel unsuccessful or like we were wasting time, but we were working ineffectively and sluggishly, and my companion was getting slightly frustrated.  When we had talked about it, we decided that the Lord would only bless those missionaries who were going to continue to work as if everything depended on them, but prayed as if it all depended on God.

We were able to finish the week working positively.  Even though we didn’t find much success, we were blessed with a couple of referrals from other missionaries in this zone.  We are in the last full week of May, and then we will be working towards our goals in June.

Something interesting I came across in the Book of Mormon the other day was a couple of chapters in 2 Nefi.  I don’t remember which chapters, but in one chapter, it talks about how the Lamanites were condemned for their wickedness.  The chapter right after talks about how the Jews are condemned (the last will be the first and the first the last).  I found it interesting because I felt that they were almost comparing the Lamanites to the Jews, and then using that to teach the Nephites.  Just interesting.

Anyways, I have attached 2 videos.  One is a story of our weakness to ice cream.  The other is a little bit of Mexico night life.

Love ya Guys,
Elder Scott Donner

Coming Home July 23rd (Monday)

                                                                                                   

 



 Due to the Mother's Day phone call on Sunday there will be not email update for this past week. He is doing great and loves the people he is serving. 

Transfers are on June 11th which will be his last transfer and he is hoping to finish his mission with Elder Pike, but recognizes that sometimes the Lord has other plans.

He flies home on Monday, July 23rd and in Scott's own words..."It seems like so little time no matter how I look at it!"



The Phone Call!

Hey guys,

THE CALLED ME!!!  It was kinda overwhelming because the assistants called me this past week to ask me what airport I would be flying home to.  I was so nervous that I blanked and couldn’t remember jaja!  I was able to tell them though.

This last week was kinda a slow week.  We are working hard to find more people, and I will have more to tell you Sunday I imagine.

I think I will just send pictures and info.

One of the youth leaves for the mission tomorrow for Honduras.  Thats exciting.  The video is of him.

Today was the second part of the tournament that we are having here in the mission.  This time it was soccer.  Like a moron, I didn’t bring my camera again...  I am hoping that some of the hermanas can pass on some photos that they took.  But anyways, we ended up losing in the first game again, so it wasn’t too exciting jaja!

But ya. I am having trouble sending the videos, so I will next week.  Talk to you all this Sunday!

Love,

Elder Scott Donner