Dec 19, 2011 Letter

Merry Christmas!!!

It's an exciting time of year. The best time EVER to be a missionary. I love the spirit that you get to feel around this time of year especially. Everyone has a new glow about them. You can see that the light of christ is reawakened in people that have gone without it for pretty much the entire rest of the year. Somehow the love that is in the air just seems to be contagious. I was very happy just being at Wal-Mart this morning and getting some groceries. We each bought a bottle of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for Christmas Eve! We are going to have such a sweet week! The Tarvin's are amazing! Wow guys, there is a line in my patriarchal blessing that tells me if you work harder than you have ever worked "you will be able to search out the honest in heart, bear your testimony to those you find and it will be carried to their hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.... They will bless YOU because YOU came."  That line as I was pondering upon it yesterday during church finally clicked for the first time. These people, staring clear back in West Chester almost 2 years ago have had more of an impact on my life then I have had on theirs. I am giving what I can, but truly I am indebted to them. They have helped me to find my Savior.. " A testimony is found in the bearing of it"  Being able to see how honest in heart they are, that they truly care about this whole life thing, that they honestly believe in their Savior Jesus Christ and that all they want to do is follow Him has made me look inward. I never asked myself what the purpose of life was, what happens after we die, how do we know who God is, does He love us? I never really even thought about those questions until I met these people. The fact that they cared enough to think about it helped me to think about it and realize how blessed I have been all along. I have had the truth and I took it for granted. Still do sometimes. All of the answers that have been given to me since primary, they have spent their whole life trying to find. Since I've been able to teach them the doctrines that I had been taught, I have come to find out along with them that these aren't just wishes, or popular ideas, these are eternal truths. Nothing is more valuable than knowing for yourself an eternal truth. When the fact that Jesus Christ was born in a manger in Bethlehem, that He lived a perfect life, that He suffered for us in Gethsemane, and was crucified at Golgotha, that He rose again on the morning of the third day, that in each one of His scars our names were imprinted somewhere, that He knows us personally and saw our faces when every odd was stacked against Him. that He ascended again to heaven, clothed in His immortal body, to retrieve His throne on the right hand of the Father. The same throne He descended from to appease the demands of justice on our behalf. When these eternal truths move from our heads to our hearts that is when we are converted and that is when we "become the children of Christ." I've seen the miracles that came after the trial of my faith. I believe it with all my heart and that makes this Christmas the most special one of all. It's hard to be away from you guys because I love you all so much that it kills me inside, but I know that one more Christmas is a small price to pay so that others can spend eternities with their families. Brooke was baptized by her father Kevin, (who was recently reactivated) He came home after 5 months on his mission and has been away from the church for about 20 years now. It was so awesome to see him come back and baptized his daughter! The Tarvins are just doing incredible. They have overcome it all. There is no way you woulda thought the first day we met them that they would be baptized so quickly, but it's gonna happen the 31st is set. They asked Elder Cannon and I to baptize one of them and one of the children each, but we had this idea to have one of us baptize Brother Tarvin, then to confirm him font side and give him the Aaronic Priesthood so he can baptize his wife and kids. I hope that is what ends up happening! Nothing would be cooler to see him baptize his kids. Also Scott got extremely sick this week (those darn trials of the adversary so we decided based on teaching purposes to combine his baptism with the Tarvins. Judy isn't getting baptized on the 24th. She told us again that it's going to happen soon, she just needs to do more study to feel 100 percent confident in her decision. Personally I feel she getting alotSmuin is our new comp. He is from vernal Ut and he is a STUD! I love this guy! Cracks me up, he has alot of energy, but he is actually normal for a change! Played Baseball, and Football in High School. Loves talking about College football, loves country music. Super easy to get along with, and he came pre-trained. He is skilled and loves the work so Im sure president just put him with us to give him a pre training to become a zone leader. We are gonna have super fun couple of transfers. I know that I will almost guaranteed finish these last 2 transfers with these same companions. Pres. Nilsen likes to leave missionaries in areas A LOOONG time. He also loves 6 month companionships, some have even gone 7 or 8 months if they are performing well together. Thanks to the blessings of the Lord and His tender mercies Elder Cannon and I have been leading the mission in baptisms ever since we got together and with all the people that are going to be baptized this upcoming transfer and the prospects we have for February Pres. Nilsen pretty much flat out told us he refused to break us up. We've had our rough patches, but all three of us get along great now so it should be great. Well family, I better get a going. Life is awesome. We got to give Elder Smuin his first hard core bashing experience with some Germans when we went tracting for the first time with him on Thursday. They invited us right in and were all smiles, then came the hammer and I knew it was coming, because the Spirit told me instantly when we walked in that they weren't sincere. Well we stayed for a bit anyways just to give him the experience but boy do these people drive me nuts sometimes. Telling us we've been brainwashed and they fear for our souls doctrines we teach contradict the bible. "The bible is the only authority we have in this world" it's a common phrase we hear alot out here. They said they were genuinly concerned for us and they hoped good people such as us would "free ourselves from the band of a cult" haha. It's crazy because all it does is strengthen my testimony and there were plenty of times i just gave them a grin and said. "With all do respect we are here to tell you this because we know it's true and we are messengers of our Savior and it is his will that we share the truth with you, and if you don't mind I will go ahead and let him stand as my judge and we suggest you do the same" Whether you are willing to accept it or not we have offered you truth and that is all we have in our power to do. Pretty intense for his first time. ha. Love it! Well fam I gotta get going! I love you all and can't wait to talk to you on Sunday! have a great week and enjoy the season! It's the best time of the year by far!

Elder Ingy

December 5 &13, 2011 Letters

Rob didn't have much time to write last week so I just posted these letters together.  I also just posted a letter that I missed from November.  Now I should be all caught up until he writes today! 
Dec. 5 Letter
Fam!!!

 

So we just had a really sweet experience this morning. We know a member who used to be an officer at the hamilton P.D. He just took us there this morning and gave us a tour and we got to take a mug shot and all of that. It was super hilarious. He said i looked the most natural at taking a mug shoot when i got my tough guy look on my face so that was a compliment somehow i guess. Ill tell you a crazy story to start off. I got to go down to Cincinnati. Westside, like the legitimate hood of all hoods on exchanges this week. We went to the second most dangerous neighborhood in all of Cincy. It was sweet. All projects. 99.9% african american. Well we were walking around looking for an investigator we had to get back in contact with and three big black guys that were all done up in their Krypt (blue bandanas) stopped us and asked us if we had some christmas money for them. We said no, because we really didnt have any cash on us. They said "Next time you guys come around here you better bring us some christmas presents." We just said alright and walked off and they just stared us down. Well we got in the car and drove right up next to the house we were looking for so we didn't have to walk back far after dark and the guys followed our car into the little neighbor hood and when we parked they all 3 started walking briskly towards us. We were kinda maybe a tiny bit scared at this point i'll admit ha. Well the investigator was about a 28 year old black girl with attitude and she saw what was happening and she came out of her house with a colt .45 in the front pocket of her jacket and walked right towards them and they scattered and we ran inside the house! We almost got jumped! How crazy is that!! My street cred just boosted by about ten thousand. We were on exchanges with the A.P.'s. The one I was with was named Elder Muir and he is alot like me. Same type of personality so we were both scared but at the same time had alot of adrenalin like it was something we were both always wanting to at least happen once on our missions. We even got outta there without getting punched which was an added bonus because I still have a good taste left in my mouth about the hood. "No blood, No Foul" right? Anyways that was a a little bit of news for you. Other news is scott sawyer is doing great. Eric Michaels (his Less active friend) is now officially reactivated and he is going to be getting the aaronic priesthood on sunday and then baptizing scott the following saturday. the 17th. The Tarvins are doing so good. They are getting SOOO much anti and it's scary, but they keep just ignoring it and moving forward. Brooke Tarvin actually got a phone call from a random excommunicated member of our church that lives out west who she doesn't even know that was trashing on us and said we are all "Helluva good Salesman" in her words. It was pretty cool that Sis Tarvin actually defended us and they all were upset that someone would say that about us because they know we believe what we teach and that we are sincere. I think the real reason they aren't on date yet for certain is because even though they know it is true they are dealing with some bad influences from Brooke's Mom. She really doesn't like that they are investigating as well as a lot of their friends and they are afraid they will lose their family and friends if they commit is what it all boils down too. They are very close though and don't be surprised to get an email that just says they are getting baptized on saturday out of nowhere because they are right on the brink of it. Judy is doing okay. She has been really really sick though. Her fellowshipper Bro and Sis Thompson had a tragedy. Sis thompson died after about 3 battles with cancer and that has been hard on Judy's progression in the gospel. She fasted yesterday for a firm confirmation that this is the path she needs to take and prayed about her date for the 24th. Please keep her and Mike in your prayers. We have just so many cool things going on. The Bishop of our ward, Bishop Foister has a brother that is totally inactive. He went on a mission and came home after 5 months and ever since just completely lost all drive to be apart of the church for the past 20 years. Well, we recently have started going over to his house and he has been coming back to church for the past month and we are now teaching his 2 daughters Autumn and Brooke. One is 8 and the other is 10 i believe and They both want to be baptized as well. They love the church everytime they have gotten to go and so it's amazing to see him being reactivated. Bishop Foister is really happy about it obviously. I think it has helped us build tons of extra trust with him. I really don't want to leave Hamilton. I love the people here and I feel like if I leave Ill have to start over in a new place where it's completely dead and I won't even have time to build trust with the ward. That is where all the success has come in my mission is really just gaining relationships with ward members and working hard on our own and then we find prepared people. In the first 3 months you are in an area there are miracles that can happen (the Cunninghams), but generally if that area is dead and your doubled in or something it takes a month or two just to build a foundation solid enough to have success. Im gonna lobby president to let me stay. We will see what happens. Either way ill try my best to do everything I can for either area im put in. We have zone leader council tomorrow so maybe we will figure out some stuff about transfers there. Hey well I hope everyone has a great christmas season. I hope everyone has a great week and Im glad to here about the free publicity the store is getting. That is great for the holidays and should really be a blessing. I love you all very much and am looking forward to talking with you soon! Be safe!

 

Love,

Elder ingy Dec. 13th letters
So yesterday was our christmas devotional and it was also our preparation day so we have literally no time to write this week, but I real quick wanted to say hello and just let you all know that I love you and that it's been a great week. Tarvins are set on date for the 31st for baptism. They came to us like we told ya they would and said they knew it was true and they were ready. Scott, and Kevin Foisters daughter Brooke get baptized this weekend and Judy set for the 24th. I don't know about transfers yet. Pray for me that all goes as planned. I love you all.
Love, Elder Ingy

Hey Fam real quick update while we have a spare minute today, just wanted to let you know that IM STAYING IN HAMILTON!!! WAHOO! Ill get to die here now im almost positive of that! Also some other crazy news to get to ya........ Elder Cannon and I are staying together for another transfer, Elder pearson is leaving, but guess what we are still going to be in a tripanionship because President called and asked us both to train a brand new missionary! Im gonna be a papa for the 4th time haha. This time I have a spouse helping me raise this one. lol. It's exciting, kind of frustrating to think that we are gonna have three again, but I think we have finally figured out how to really make this work! It should be a fun way to finish up these last 2 transfers. All of the baptisms the new missionary will get to be a part of this month and the ones we will have in the coming months. The lord is really blessing us. Im shooting for 20 baptisms in my 7 months in hamilton.  By the end of December we will be at 16 so I know we can do it with hard work and ample help from Heavenly Father and his ministering angels. That is the goal. Im gonna pray harder, work harder, and live more worthy of the lord's referals so we can see lots of amazing miracles to finish up. Love you! MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Elder INGY

November 21, 2011 Letter

Apparently I forgot to post this letter so sorry it's a little out of order.  I am really behind but I am working to get caught up again.

Hey Greatest Family EVER!

 

Im glad you got the video this morning! That is great. haha she started filming us last night at dinner and then she asked for your email to send it and i was like oh mom is going to love this! lol. So in the spirit of thanksgiving I want to share with you guys a little poem that I wrote yesterday while I was taking the sacrament. I was reflecting alot on my life and about (funny you bring this up today in your letter dad) the pre earth life and things that were said about it in my patriarchal blessing. I spent only about 15 minutes on this so it's nothing great, but it potrays the thoughts i have for my savior and I want you all to know how much I am grateful for him and for my heavenly father.

 

"WHAT IM MOST THANKFUL FOR"

 

His Mercy Extended to Pay my debt

My sins of the past the Father now forgets

There is nothing that I've done, which merits such grace

Yet for atleast one drop I know he saw my face

Why would he suffer for someone weak like me?

Please remove this cup was his only solemn plea

Still the will of Father was his truest pure desire

and with each and every stripe we all are lifted higher

The Devil, his angels, Damnation opposed

Despite the opposition to the occasion he arose

The Father's perfect plan pointed to this sacrifice

Oh my brother, lord, and savior, holy one, jesus christ

Though my sins be like scarlet, they may be white like wool

I will give place no more....For the enemy of my soul.

 

 

That is what I am most grateful for this thanksgiving season and because a prophet counciled us never to neglect the father I could also say without the father we would never have had a savior. So I am most grateful for loving heavenly parents. They allowed me to have the best earthly parents, and family that I could ever ask for. It's a blessing to be a missionary and know the gospel is true for myself. That knowledge is priceless, and it's the greatest gift I have ever been given. It's been a great week. Companionship problems are still a little rocky. I have tried to just do what I was doing last transfer and just accept that I am part of the problem and It's only a short period of time so there is no need to stress about it. He really is a great guy and a great missionary. He is having problems at home as well, his dad is really seriously sick and it's making him even more edgy and I think he just takes that out on me sometimes, but understandably enough. I would most likely be the same way. I am here to help him with his trials he is going through not make them worse so im trying my best to do that. The work is amazing! Carolyn and Noah were baptized saturday!!! I will send you a picture of it this week. It was a really great experience to see it! WoW! Noah was just beamin and Carolyn was too she came up to me after and said that she knew the lord sent me to her to help her overcome her addciton and she loved me for that. Nothing feels better in life than to here those words. Not even winning a state championship or scoring 40 points in a game could even come close. The Raiders Super Bowl is even on a complete lower level than that. The Tarvins are doing great! They are coming to the bishops tonight for family home evening and are very close to being baptized I can feel that for sure. Judy Rimroth is amazing! She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and Jospeh Smith is a prophet and she accepted a baptismal date for Dec. 24 ( christmas eve obviously ha) We put it off in the future a little bit even though she is ready, because idealy we want her husband mike to be baptized with her and he hasn't gotten his answers that he is looking for from the spirit he says so we will keep working with him! hamilton is just a great area I couldn't be more blessed. The work is fun! That is the best part. Dylan coming out EAST!!! YAH!! That's so sweet. I wouldn't trade my stateside mission to the ohio for anything in the entire world! He will love it in New York. you baptize alot more out here than you would going foreign anyways. People are so prepared and what better place to preach the gospel than in the same places the prophet joseph preached. There is a special spirit in Ohio, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania. All of these places have so much church history and you know the prophets and apostels of the early church walked on these same grounds. God and Chirst were aware enough of new york that they appeared there together which you can't say that about anywhere else aside from the apostle stephen that is basically the only account we have of them both appearing. It must be a pretty sacred place. Man Im so happy for him! Best decision he will ever make and couldn't think of a sweeter place (besides Ohio) to go! lol. Congrats! Love ya dyl! Youre the man! So im running really low on time today, but I love you all so much. I got the letters and I loved them and Ma Im gonna try extra hard to get that stuff done. I just honestly have no time to do it on the computer so i will have to hand write it. If i don't get accepted till the fall so be it. It's in the hands of the lord anyhow. Ill be on the track that he feels will be most beneficial to me when im going to one of his schools. Ill try my best to get it back to you soon though k? I love you so much and thanks for all you do! Im happy that the family is growing so much and i think about how much of a blast it's gonna be to see my nephews and nieces and sisters and parents and cousins quite often. Almost enough to get me slightly trunky then i slap myself in the face and remember to finish strong and remember how important this work is.. Finally i just wanna send off by saying GO RAIDERS!!!! Life just couldn't get any better! HA! Yes. Love you all. Have a great week.

 

Elder Ingy

November 28, 2011 Letter

Family!!!

 

 

Sounds like everyone had an amazing thanksgiving! Im glad mom didn't really get ran over by a reindeer!!!! Don't worry Avers I woulda cried to if I woulda saw that on the tv! Your a champ! That must have been fun over at the G parents! Lots of cousins were still there like you said!! Im glad Dylan is excited about his mission call. I gotta say that you just can't really understand how great it is to go stateside until your out here. Sure you don't learn a language, but think how lucky I am... I can go back to my mission pretty often if I want to. It's almost like a second home out here. This place owns half of my heart so i don't wanna have to leave it and never come back. As far as Im concerned I was born in Cincinnatti. ha. This is where my life really began! I can't get over though how awesome it's gonna be to see all the little nieces and nephews here soon! Like you said though dad there is tons left for me to do. Rob was definently right before I left when he said as soon as you get down to about 2 transfers left it's a lot tougher to focus, but I feel great today, I feel ready to go out and see lots of sweet miracles and I don't think it will be a problem. Heck 3 months basically for the rest of my life! ha well that is until I go on a senior couple mission. Mom and Dad you should totally do it! It's the sweetest gig ever the way they have it set up! You don't go out and tract or do any of that either, it's more like office work almost like being a receptionist for the mission for you ma and for dad he would be put in charge of all the mission finances or the cars or apartments just things like that, but your always around awesome missionaries and get to hear all the miracles and be at zone conferences and all that good stuff. Plus you get to watch tv when your done for the day if you want! YES! Serve the Lord by day, ESPN by night! GREATEST THING EVER!!! ALRIGHT! Plus you get to choose where you go basically so you could go to like washington d.c. or florida, california, south carolina, new york, ohio, wherever you would want. Even australlia! Anyways I think im getting a little over anxious about that but just something you should think about. So what a great week! The Tarvins were at church again and are so close to baptism. They don't have a date, but they said they just need a little more time because they both want to finish the Book of Mormon all the way before they do it, They are already in Alma in like 2 weeks so should be soon! We recently reactivated a 17 year old named Eric Michaels. Hadnt been to church since he was a little kid, but we started teaching him and he has come the past 2 weeks. He loves it and he is tearing apart the Book of Mormon right now. He is so fired up he has starting talking to his friends and we are teaching one named Scott Sawyer who came to church yesterday and flat out said "I love it, I guess Im a mormon now" Then we had a lesson after church and he asked us if he could be baptized haha. Baptismal date December 17th!!! OH YEAH!!! The Coles, Cunninghams, Pat, and Kimmy are all doing awesome. All coming to church every week and the Cunninghams feed us dinner like 2 times a week! She is always making us crock pots full of food and sending them home with us! It's awesome! Im doing alot better with my weight this winter though. im doing lots of pushups and using the "bender ball" every morning and Im down to about 183 still. if i can set up shop right around 178 ill be feeling good. That'll mean i didn't gain any weight on the mission! We have been out just finding our butts off every day. Contacting lots of referals, tracting, seeing former investigators and trying to re light a spark, working with inactives and asking for referrals from them. We didn't have any success all week even though we were working hard and then Sunday came and Scott shows up to church! BADA BING BADA BOOM HE"S SWIMMIN WIT THA FISHES! That was so awesome! Found out Richie is still doing awesome! Comes every week! still 1st counselor in teacher's quorumn. He made the freshman basketball team at boone county high. I told him when he is a senior im gonna come back and watch one of his varsity games!  So guess what? For our Christmas Devo on December 12 guess who is coming? SHAWN BRADLEY IS IN THE HOUSE! all 7 feet 6 inches of him is coming to talk to us! How cool?  Pres, Nilsen and him are like best friends back home. Also P Nilly ( Pres. Nilsen) (little nickname I made up for him) is flying out Cafe Rio for the entire mission! HA! Sweet Pork Burritos and Salad will be in my belly come december 12th! It's gonna be great! Im super excited. The Lord has blessed me so much these past 2 years. Wow! This is just the icing on the cake. We are gonna go out this week and work our butts off. The Lord will lead us to a few more prepared people and it's gonna be epic! Hey family you have a great week alright. We are going downtown Cincy to get some pics and stuff again today. As far as gift cards go ma I was thinking Chilis for starters, That is the most important place. Also like subway is good. applebees. Pretty much anything you can think of they have our here where im at!  You guys are the best! Your gonna love the chirstmas card we make this year it's gonna be pretty funny. We had a great idea that some resources we have are gonna help us out with! Love you be safe. Ma Im getting on today and writing those essays and all that. I want to apply to BYU_I as well as BYU Provo for summer semester just to see what happens I really feel like i need to. See lindseys email i wrote for more details why. I think its the same application and you just click that you want to apply to both byu and byu i im pretty sure. Have an amazing week!

 

Elder Ingy

November 14, 2011 Letter

Ingy Fam!!!!  Congrats Ash Pash AND Dru. Maddox is gonna be a baller I can already tell from the picture! YES! haha. Man Im anxious to meet all of these new family members!

Well, The baptism for Kara was great this weekend! The Coles due to smoking are moved to this Saturday. Carolyn got it down to one cigarette a day, but she just couldn't get over that hump with a week to spare before the baptism so we moved it back a week. She has completely quit for the past week though and is doing great. They are very excited for the baptism! The Tarvin family I told you about came to church! They are SOOO SOLID. All 5 of the family members came and absolutely loved it. Brooke being the baptist she is was a little hard headed about it all at first, but she has completely softened ever since we taught the plan of salvation and since she has been reading and they are completely on board. We are extending to the whole family for the 17th of December on Tuesday. They are all open about the fact that baptism is the main goal. They just want to ensure that everything is right. Which the spirit is telling them that it is and satan is just making them second guess themselves. It happens to everyone, but Im sure they will be baptized very soon. How awesome is that! An entire family getting baptized again! WOW. The Lord is on the move here and it truly is reminding me of a lot of stories you read about the Book of Mormon where the Lord has sent many angels to prepare the hearts on his children in a specific area, then he sends the missionaries he needs to be there and the work explodes. That's all that is happening I can't stress enough that it really has nothing to do with us. The Lord is at work and the faith of the members is making all the difference. This ward wants a new church building and they are gonna get it here very soon at this rate. I could never complain about serving in Hamilton! It's the best ward in the mission! I love it. So Ill tell you something that will really throw you for a loop! Transfers came and Elder Cannon and I are still together, but we got a called by president and because our area is doing so well he gave us a special assignment to serve with a 3rd companion for this transfer. Guess who that companion is????? Elder Pearson haha. My comp. from Northern Kentucky. It is so weird having 3 of us everywhere. Ill be honest Elder Pearson was a struggle to get him to want to do much work, but we got along great personality wise and it was a breath of fresh air, because cannon and my personality differences are starting to come out lately and there has been to much contention. He is just so numbers oriented, he makes a bigger deal about finding new investigators than he does about baptizing the ones we already have. We are clashing quite a bit, but im just praying for charity and trying to swallow my pride and be humble enough to let him be the senior zone leader even though i don't necessarily agree with alot of the things he does. He gets upset with me because i don't like to make robotic lesson plans for investigators, all i feel like we need to do is have a general direction and commitment that we are teaching towards and other than that i like to go in there and listen to what they are saying and follow the Spirit accordingly. Preach my gospel says it best when they say "TEACH PPL NOT LESSONS" "Think not what you should say beforehand" i believe is what it says in doctrine and covenants. He is very organized, structured, and has to be in control of every situation and leading every situation, not to mention adds rules to the white handbook because it's his own opinion .. well then theres me and Im not saying im right and he's wrong, but either way we are completely opposite and I don't care much for structure, struggle with organization, and don't care about how we do things so long as the end result is what the Lord would want it to be. It's taken every ounce of energy that i have to try my hardest to just follow the white handbook and I work at it every day and he thinks we need to be going above that. I just want to say listen Elder, there is already enough rules, you don't get brownie points in heaven for doing this, all it's doing is driving the Spirit away because of contention. Sorry as you can see Im getting extremely impatient right now and Im praying like crazy for the strength not to explode and so far i haven't thank goodness, but i gotta get this off my chest sometime so you get to hear it. Does anyone have any advice for me in this situation? If it's criticism so be it, I probably need to hear that so go for it, Im open to anything haha.  Alright I feel better now. It's crazy serving with Pearson though and it's nice to have someone to talk with about mountains, and fishing, and basketball. ha. Really everything all around is great though. Milton is still doing amazing. Progressing very quickly and already knows it's true, we are really just working to help him overcome his addiction. He is fun to teach because he has so much energy about him and just laughs about everything. It's great. Mike and Judy were out of town this week so we didn't see them. We tracted in to a new couple named Roger and Shiela Bailey that are very prepared, we go back to teach them this week as well. The first lesson went great with em and they ordered a Book of Mormon couple years back and no one ever delivered it so they are very open to reading it now obviously. That's really about all that's new here. Life still keeps on keepin on. Time is still flying for now. Hope everyone has a great. week. I love you all so much and even though it's been FOREVER it feels like since i've seen you guys I still love you more than ever and reflect on the blessing it is to be apart of this family every single day! Be safe, healthy and Happy!

Elder ingy

November 7, 2011 Letter

Hey Everyone!

It was a pretty decent week here in Hamilton. Too many darn meetings though haha. With Halloween we didn't get to work all day, Tuesday we had zone leader council up in Columbus and we were gone ALL Day and into the evening, then Wednesday we went to Oxford, oh (Miami University) the crazy place I told you about at the start of my mission and blitzed the area and went tracting there all day to try and find the sisters there some new investigators because they haven't been doing squat all transfer. We knocked on the about 100 houses right there by campus with all the college students. A couple of them were hilarious they all had names painted on each house. There was one named BOOS CLUES, also LIVE< LAUGH< CHUG<, then there was MENACE TO SOBRIETY, and some other ones that were too colorful to even mention haha. Elder Cannon and I were like, well who knows if we will find anyone, but atleast we will have some funny memories. We found one new person for them to teach and talked to alot of college students it was fun. Haha we could barely even open our eyes without seeing an attractive girl and Im pretty sure in the 5 hours we were tracting we said "LOCK YOUR HEART ELDER" to eachother over 50 times. It was unreal!. lol. It blows my mind how someone could ever go for a girl on their mission, we were talking about it while we were walking, just like "man how stupid could you be, of course it's a temptation, but NOTHING is worth throwing your enitre mission away for. You have to not have a brain to give in to that no matter how pretty a girl may be. That's just stupid. I kept saying to elder cannon "Man I didn't give 20 months of my life to the Lord to get excomunnicated today, it's not even an option." It's crazy the world we live in. It scares me to death. Out here is so different than back home. Don't get me wrong there is tons that goes on back home, but here people have no sense of what's right or wrong and ANYTHING GOES. There is no line that they draw, I guess BYU_Idaho is having it's line drawn a little further back, but there is still a line. Its just nuts! Phew. I'd never survive going to college out here. If I was stuck out here without being a missionary you could just chalk me up for the Telestial kingdom. lol. Thank goodness for the saints migrating west. 17 miracles saved my life as much as it did theirs.  So needless to say we didn't have quite as much get done this weekend, but we are still looking forward to the baptism for Kara Saturday, it's all good to go, and pending smoking Carolyn and Noah Cole are going to get baptized Saturday also. We should have 3 people getting baptized it's awesome! We are super excited miracles keep happening here! We are still working with Milton, still working with Mike and Judy, they came to church again sunday. Saturday night the ward did a movie night and watched 17 miracles in the gym on a projector. We got to go watch it! It's the best and I think Mike and Judy really softened a lot after it. It definitely had a huge impact on them! We are teaching Josh Stubbs still, they came to 17 miracles as well temporal circumstances are making it hard for them to commit to baptism though for now. We are teaching another family named the Tarvin family! They are solid! Husband, wife, a son and daughter both of age to be baptized and a couple of younger kids. It's David and Brooke Tarvin are the parents. We got refereed to them from mormon.org. They ordered a couple of Book of Mormons and are so prepared. He recognized after years of writing the church off that the Book of Mormon is still standing, the church is growing, and the hatred and opposition towards the church is stronger and stronger. He had a pastor who was constantly sending out emails about the Mormons being a cult and all sorts of other anti stuff and it intrigued him to give it a fair shot and find out for himself. We had the ultimate Tad R.Callister lesson with him about the Book of Mormon and how it's from either God or the devil. There is no middle ground. Joseph Smith didn't give us the option to say it teaches good things, but it's not scripture. It claims to be the word of God and it either is or its a complete fraud. We then read some scriptures with them from the Book of Mormon about coming unto Christ and being perfected in him and asked.. "Who does that sentence sound like it comes from?" We then read in 3 nephi 18 about praying always lest satan desireth to have you that he may sift you as wheat... we after that read a scriputre in matthew about how satan can't cast out satan or else he would be a kindgom divided against himself.... We asked the Tarvins do you think satan was capable of inspiring someone to write about prayer and coming closer to Christ? They were really excited to read more about it and take it to the Lord in prayer for a confirmation, but they want to meet with us 2 times a week and from the looks of it they are going to progress really quickly. There sincerity was through the roof. Everything in the work keeps going well. Elder Cannon and I really do work well together, we have alot of disagreements about how to go about doing the work but that is to be expected. The only complaint I could ever say is that reading 5 pages of the new testament every night at 1130 is supposed to build unity and all it is doing is putting a wedge between us because I'm getting up at 630 and exercising hard as a i can for 45 minutes lately and im too tired to be staying up that late. Oh well. Only 4 more months i can give it my all to finish off. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger right? So ash, We will see if im right about this whole thing! I bet that it will happen. ha! Other than that Paycen sounds like a stud. I can't wait to see him soon. Ma I already told you I don't want Christmas presents. First off I have NO ROOM for anything and Id rather just buy a few clothes and things to have for school when i get home as far as a phone and all that i want to pick that out on my own when i get home too and same with everything else ya know? I haven't been around it for a long time so i have to be able to go to the store and assess what is my best option. I really don't need anything at all. The best thing i could possibly think of is just gift cards to nice restaurants. That''s my favorite thing to do in the world anyways is eat so i might as well eat at nice places. Don't worry about it though. We could just celebrate Christmas and my birthday after i get home. I can't use anything out here anything so it just sits around and rots. I have too many clothes out here already that i need to send home haha. Just have fun there and don't worry about me for Christmas! I'm doing the Lords work and he takes care of his missionaries. I love the work and get to feel the Spirit every day and that is the best present Ive ever been given.  I love you guys so much though and i hope everyone has a great week and know that i pray for you all and think about you often, not too often, but often enough to still remember everything about you all! Your the best!" I know that my Redeemer lives, what comfort this sweet sentence gives...." talk about the best more true song ever written! Love Elder Ingy!

October 31, 2011 Letter

Hey familia!

 

Well, sounds like little Paycen is just a stud. I saw the pics of him and he is really doing well. I don't check my hotmail anymore Linds so sorry I didn't get the pics or letter you sent last time. So you can send me pics to this one so I can see em that would be awesome! Im sorry to hear Avers isn't feeling to well and that Rob has been struggling too. I'll keep you all in my prayers as well as Ash as she is getting close to having the baby. Things need to settle down a bit there for the holidays, ha, but I'm sure that probably won't come until after Christmas time. Things are always crazy around this time of year, now top it off with two of our family members coming down to join us here in this crazy world is just adding to the excitement! Yesterday we had a great Sacrament meeting!!!! Mike and Judy came! YES! Think they had a good time. Carolyn, Jake, and Noah Cole also came for the second week in a row! Kara's isn't happening till the 12th now haha. Trivial little things about family members from Utah being able to come out and see it keep holding things up. Oh well. It'll happen soon enough. Now on the 12th we will have baptisms all day. First Kara, then Carolyn, Jake and Noah right after! We found an awesome new investgiator this week named Milton Blackmon. He is a BROTHA! YES! ha. I can tell you right now he's getting baptized in December. He loves the church already after just one time. He says he has a HUGE hole in his life. He feels empty. He has a great personality and you would never know that he is so depressed, but he openly told us that he struggles with an addiction to pornography and he used to pick up prostitutes and stuff, "fornicated with half of Hamilton" is how he put it, but he has AIDS so he gave that up and because he was so addcited to it, he picked up pornography and he said it's going to be a battle, but he has never tried to overcome it with Jesus Christ in his life like he will be doing this time. There is no doubt that he will be able to do it. Milton is just such a good guy. Really a pure heart and in just the first week we already met with him twice and had lessons and he came to the chili cookoff! How great is that! We met a man named David Turbin as well. He is a referall from mormon.org. He got on there and requested a Book of Mormon and a Bible. He struggles with faith in general. He knows the theology behind pretty much every releigion there is, but he says there is so much bull that is spread about the Mormons as well as opposition to us now as well as back in Joseph Smith's time that it must be the truth. So he said he is sincerely excited to look into the church and find the truth in his life once and for all! Halloween is no different for us than any other day because it's p day anyways. All we did is instead of going out and working this evening we come in at 7 and have our studies and instead of having studies this morning we went and did service for our bishop. Elder Cannon and I showed up on this doorstep and said Bishop we've got two hours.. How can we help? His garage was attrocious so we cleared all the junk out. Swept the entire thing and put the stuff back in that he wanted to keep as well as through the junk away. It looked like an entirely different place and I think it had a big impact on our relationship with him. The Bishop is the key to missionary work, so if you are close with him then you will most likely be successful. That is what I've learned. Things are truly going amazing. I could never complain. I pretty much agree with you dad I would love to just stay here the rest of my mission, but if I had to predict I would say the trend of my mission says that I'll leave the transfer right before Christmas and for my last 3 months I'll get released as a Zone Leader and go and train another greenie. That is what President Nilsen usually does. It will be a trial if he does do that, because that means I'll get whitewashed in to an area and have to transition from having a comp. that is extremely refined and skilled as a missionary who is exactly obedient and follows the Spirit in all that he does to someone who is brand stinkin new that has no idea to do anything hahaha. Looking back now I've realized that I've pretty much spent my whole mission with brand new Elders and the entire time I really had no idea what I was doing either. Now because the Lord is more involved in my life and I have more skills for him to use and my comp. is insanely amazing at the work it makes me feel like I've died and gone to heaven. We receive strong promptings everyday about where we need to be and without fail we walk right into a miracle! It's the best. I could be a missionary forever..(if i could watch ESPN at the same time and be with you guys too of course) but for real I hear about all the people at home doing this and that getting married, going to school and all of these things and more and more my desires for anything like that are just going away. Missionary work is becoming my drug hahaha. I feel down so I go out and work, if I feel tired I just work harder, if I lose the Spirit I instantly go to the Book of Mormon for comfort and plead for it back. That feeling of the fruits of the Spirit is what I thrive on now and the seeing the Atonement so active in the lives of these people I love there is honestly not a satisfactory substitute.  The Savior is exactly what his name indicates him to be. I can tell that I am your son dad, because the exact things that I know bother you about people in the church are the same things that get on my nerves as well. It's not the church of Joseph Smith of Latter-Day Saints. As much as we owe brother Joseph for what he did, I really wish that people in the church would not put so much emphasis on him. He had his flaws like the rest of us, you can never put your trust in a man, but you can put your trust in the Savior and if the Savior is guiding that man in every thing he does that is when he becomes trustworthy. We are so inadequate. We are less than the dust of the earth and I know that. I also know that to Jesus Christ we are everything. No matter how insignificant our lives seem to us, they mean everything to God as President Uchtdorf said in conference. I Love you all so very much! I hope you have the best Halloween ever and I can't wait to see the cute little girls in their costumes! It's gonna be great to get those pictures. Dad have you ever read the book called DAY OF DEFENSE??? I read a few pages of it the other day and it seemed like the coolest book ever, if you haven't read it you should and let me know how it is. Be safe everyone!

 

Elder Ingy

Oct 24, 2011 Letter

Hey Family!

LINDS AND ROB! THAT'S AWESOME! Im tellin you guys I just had a gut feeling he was coming. That gut feeling never fails me. haha. It's right 99 percent of the time. I still hold to what I said with Ash. That was what the gut told me so that's what itll be most likely! Im so happy for you guys and for Paycen! I can't wait to see pictures of him! I bet he is just a little baller. Im glad you guys didn't name him Jacoby cuz now I can name my son that. ha! I wish I could be there too see him, but soon enough right? Congrats!

It was a most amazing week and I have a really sacred and testimony building experience I want to share with you to start off. So We were at a part member families house on Wednesday. This family has just a slew of inactive members over there, and alot of non members, but they LOVE the missionaries and let us in whenever we come by so we decided to buckle down and really discern by the Spirit which ones we needed to focus on. We we found through talking to an inactive member (Tina Cunningham) that her boyfriend (Josh Stubbs) was not a member.  We got to talking to him and turns out he spent 2 years in prison just recently for being a theif. Didn't go much more in depth than that, the kid is only 22 and he really has a big heart, just no direction. Well, in prison like most, he was preached the bible and turned to God because there was no one else, and he found that he was real. He went to church there and when he got out, but then at his church the pastor was corrupt and really rubbed Josh the wrong way so he left and has been looking for a place to go ever since that is pure and not about money. He agreed to let us teach him about the Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and as we were teaching the first lesson we were focusing on the portion of just the relationship we have with God being our Heavenly Father. The potential we each have inside of us being a child of the most almighty being in the Universe. That is saying something I would think, but we were tellin him how God knows each of his children individually, he doesn't just count his sheep he "numbers" them because each number represents a soul and individual whom he truly loves. We communicate with him through prayer, it is our way to get to know our Father, to remind us of things we once knew that becuase of the veil no longer remember. Just as we were talking about these things a miracle took place. One of the other inactive members "Heather Cunningham" was leaving the house and as she was getting her kids into the van she just collapsed out of nowhere, she turned blue, her vitals dropped and she was on the ground in a pouring rainstorm shaking like she was having a seisure or something. Well someone ran into the house and yelled at us to call 911 using so choice f bombs to get their point across (very typical of every single person we talk to here in Hamilton by the way) well Bro Johnston another inactive member called and we ran outside and immediately had a STRONG impression to give her a blessing, without asking, my comp. and I got to our knees and annointed her and gave her a priesthood blessing. The words distinctly came out which commanded her to be healed and that she would be alright and there was no need for anyone to worry the Lord will heal her according to the faith we exercised by giving her this blessing. I kid you not I said AMEN to close the blessing and not more than 20 seconds later she stopped shaking the color slowly started to come back and she sat up off the ground in the rain and stood up and sat in the back seat of the van. The paramedics got there directly following and still took her to the hospital because she still was a little blue, but her vitals were on their way back to normal and it was more of a precaution than anything. They found out that she has vertego which no one knew and it caused her to lose her sense of direction and when she fell she hit her head on the side of the van really hard. I don't know what all the shaking was from, but whatever was going on to Lord healed her right their in front of our eyes and Josh got to witness it. Talk about Heavenly Father being mindful of Josh, leading us to a place where we would be needed to exercise our Priesthood Authority. There is no better way to learn the importance of the Priesthood than to see someone use it. That is an experience I will always remember. I hold it very dear to my heart now and it's yet another testimony to me that Heavenly Father loves us and that the Priesthood power is His power that He loans to us if we have sufficient collateral (obedience, charity, humility ect..) D&C 84 and 121...  justifying that loan. Im so grateful that I was worthy that day to use my priesthood that I've been given.  Needless to say we are teaching Josh and he is very sincere and spiritually prepared. Temporal Circumstances are going to cause some trouble in progression, but like you said in your letter dad. We can't give up on people. Even though the Savior still loses some of his brothers and sisters to the advesary because they won't accept His sacrifice in their lives, He still has cause to be filled with joy, because at the end of the day He did EVERYTHING He possibly could for every one of His brothers and sisters. He has no regret! He couldn't have done anything more so He is at peace with it. That is the example we are all trying to follow. Do EVERYTHING you possibly can to help save someone else's life. As long as you know you have done ALL you could do, whether or not they choose to let you help them is up to them and you can be at peace nonetheless. The Cunningham's are doing great. Brian is recieving the priesthood next week! Douglas and Gabriel participated in the primary program yesterday, and they both did great! They shared in their parts about their conversion to the Gospel just recently and how the Book of Mormon has blessed their family! AWESOME! We began teaching 3 other people this week, I wish I had the time to tell you the details about every person. They are all wonderful and each have an incredible story, but time doesn't allow that to happen every week. Their names are Julie Martin, Gary, and James Roach. James claims to be a wicken, but we could tell instantly from the Spirit that he was just angry at God for his unfavorable life so he masked it by saying he believes in multiple gods and witchcraft. We came back for our first lesson and his countennace had changed alot, I think he felt the Lord's love for him through us and he is all gung ho about coming to church next week from the sounds of things. That was pretty sweet. Kara's baptism is actually this weekend it wasn't Saturday, but we are stoked for that! Wow it's gonna be sweet. Mike and Judy are doing awesome! They will be baptized soon I know that for sure, we gave them a tour of the church here recently. Also Carolyn Cole and Jake Cole showed up at church yesterday. We hadnt seen them since Jakes Dad committed suicide, but they have mourned and are now ready to turn to God and trust him. They want to start lessons again and Carolyn told us she wants to be baptized she just needs help quitting smoking. She even gave us referalls of family members she wants us to go and start teaching. There are probably 5 more people atleast that we have investigating right now that are progressing too I just don't have the time to go into all the details, but Hamilton is the highlight of my life I'll tell you that much. I love this place! It's so ghetto and hood and it's just the greatest thing ever to be a missionary here ha! The members are already like family and they love missionaries and treat us great! We are doing another 40 day fast for missionary work as a ward starting Sunday. We already did one here back in July and August and all the 15 baptisms here have happened since that started, so were doing another one to show our faith! Well hope everyone has a great week. Jordan Palmer sucks for the raiders!!!!AHHH! You all are the best! Love you so much!

 

Elder Ingram

Letter from Oct 17th, 2011

Sorry this is so late.  I've been slacking a bit!!!

Fam!!!

 

WOW what an amazing weekend! The Cunningham family was baptized! All 4 of them! It was the coolest experience of my mission thus far! Hands down! To see 1 by 1 all 4 go into the font and be baptized was just out of this world. The Spirit was so strong there and it was really cool because Brian's parents came down to watch the baptism and they came to Sacrament the next day for the Confirmations.  The are staunch Catholic and not really all for the whole Church of Jesus Christ thing.... Oh well, they had a good experience that they can't deny I know that. A lot of testimonies were born at the baptism about conversion stories (Our entire ward in Hamilton is converts basically) so there were a lot of touching stories that were told. Also in Sacrament Meeting there was a talk given about the Book of Mormon outlining Elder Callister's talk in Conference as well as a talk on personal revelation. It was really great for them to here those things. Couldn't of picked 2 better subjects myself. The Lord is on the move here in Hamilton. We had a great week. Found 3 more new investigators. Jennifer, Mike Rimroth (Judy's Husband) we officially taught as well as a girl named Kara Gabbard. She is an interesting case. We were looking through the area book at former investigators and I come across a name Molly Gabbard and I read about her first go around investigating. Well come to find out her parents are members and they go to the Fairfield Ward which goes to the same building as us but their church is just at 2pm ours is at 9 and then there is a Spanish branch that meets in between at 12. Anyways so Molly has a daughter (Kara) who LOVES the church. She goes to St. Josephs Catholic School, but even while she's at school in free time she reads the Book of Mormon and she wears a CTR band. She has gone to church with her grandparents to the Fairfield ward, but lives in Hamilton ward boundaries so she has just fallen through the cracks and people already thought she was a member in the Fairfield ward so missionaries have never taught her. I also think her mom was against her joining the Church for a long time. So we were on exchanges with the A.P.'s on Tuesday and we felt we needed to go visit Molly this former investigator. Turns out we made a good impression on her and even though she doesn't want to join the church we got to talk with her daughter and we started teaching her the following day. First lesson she started crying and we invited her to be baptized and she said YES! really emphatically. Her mom said it is your decision to make and we will support you in it! So she was basically just waiting for missionaries to come and baptize her for about the last year haha and they never showed up! Her mom has been softened and is okay with it now so it was really cool that the Lord just led us to her. She is getting baptized Next Saturday haha. How awesome is that! Things with the Rimroth family are going really well. The lesson on the Plan of Salvation was very guided by the Holy Ghost and I know that they felt the whisperings of the Spirit during the lesson. Judy said she has ALWAYS believed in a PRE-MORTAL LIFE as well as a degrees in heaven. It was really cool again to see how prepared she is. She will get baptized no doubt about it. Mike will too, he is really intriguied by it, obviously it goes against what he's always been taught so he has reservations, but he did feel the Spirit and was very agreeable for the most part. Had no big concerns. We didn't get to meet with Lenny this week. Things have been going rough for him with his wife again so hopefully this week. Eric and Britt have cut down their cigarettes from a pack each a day to Eric 2 cigs a day and Britt 5. They are really progressing alot and coming to church every week and have read 1 Nephi and half of 2 Nephi together. It's great. They are expressing more and more urgency about getting married soon too. Before Britt's mom dies and that is the realy big thing keeping them from baptism so once that happens they will do it! Things are just awesome guys! Elder Cannon is really fun to serve with. I'll admit the whole making me stay up till midnight every night so we can read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon as a companionship and planning for an hour on top of all the ZL stuff is starting to wear me down. 630 comes awful early and I have NO energy at all to excerise in the mornings. I literally feel like I've been hit by a train every morning ha but oh well, it puts hair on your chest! It's helping me have something I've never really had before and that is a lot better work ethic so it's a good thing as long as I don't get sick like I usually do when I have a lack of sleep for prolonged periods of time all we be okay. So that is awesome about Logan! Congrats to him! Im excited for him. When is that whole shindig going down? I assume it will probably be January so I'll barely miss it. Darn. Oh well. That's still great news! I told him he'd be hitched in a heartbeat. lol. The Raiders won again! Sweet! Did Cambell get injured seriously? That will really hurt them big time if he did! OHNO! 4-2 though that is awesome! The silver and black is back. Apparently Rob's 49ers are too! Dangit! ha I can't rub it in his face still As soon as the raiders improve so do the 9ers. Linds good luck with having your baby this week. Im pretty sure it will happen this week. Ash you are still atleast 3 weeks away. I just know these kind of things. Just don't name your kid Jimmer cuz that is what I'm naming my son! Alrighty fam I gotta get going. Thanks for all the support, testimonies, and love you send my way they really make a difference and I truly do have the best family ever. Tell grandpa's I say hello! I sent Grandpa Ingy Bob and card last friday so it should be there soon just wishing him a Happy Birthday. Have a great week guys! TUGGER I MISS YOUR SOUL!!!!!!!!

 

Elder Ingy!!

Oct 10, 2011 Letter

Family!!!

 

It was so good to here from you all this week! Wow. It sounds like things are changing so much at home it blows my mind. Haha. I can't even picture what it will be like. Elder Ballard wrote me an email today and he is hating life haha. He said that everyday all he thinks about is the mission and that the mantle of a misssionary has completely left and he is getting super depressed because of it. He isn't in school, has no job, and has no friends around close that still live in Inkom so he just sits around all day and he was having some really bad back problems this past few months on the mission, turns out he had 2 bulging discs so he has spent his first 10 days at home in a back brace. It's too bad that life is super rough on him like this.  One thing I learned after high school through trial and error is that when life changes you have to embrace it and be the best you can be or you will be miserable. So Linds isn't doing too well? I'm sorry to here that.... I hope you get feeling better sis and that the baby comes soon so you can just get all this pain over with. That way Avers can get her bum fix taken care of too by changing all of his diapers. lol. Ash hope the move goes well this week, wish I was there and could help you out because we all know that my biceps are just so enormous and it would make EVERYONE'S life a lot easier hahaha. just kiddin. So sorry I forgot to tell you about Elder Cannon's longevity on the mission or however you spell that. He goes home on April 21. The transfer after me. So he has been out only about 3 and a half weeks less then me, I just go home a couple weeks early so we have equal experience. We teach super awesome with the help of the Holy Ghost. Our lessons seem to be very powerful and we don't plan for them much, just talk about what we can to commit them to do and focus on then the rest we just each bring up a thought or personal story about a principle, bear our testimony, share a scripture and we each know the Book of Mormon well enough now that the other can just build off that idea and share a different scripture to support it and bear their testimony. It is really fun to teach with him. I can definitely feel the Holy Ghost helping us out. This past week we had 7 investigators at Sacrament Meeting so that was awesome! Cunninghams got interviewed for baptism and they are all set for Saturday at 7 pm!!! It's so amazing guys, the change that has taken place in them is so impressive. They received that witness that the Book of Mormon was from God and ever since then its been all gravy.... They bear us their testimony all of the time and they already are living the commandments even tithing so it's amazing. We told sister Cunningham she can go to the temple and do baptisms for her mother and father after she is baptized and she starting crying she was so happy! Brian has had the biggest change of heart as well come over him and he said the opening prayer in our last meeting and told us that he keeps having things reaffirm to him how true the Gospel is! It truly is a miracle! We found the most solid new investigator this week also.!  Husband and wife! The Rimroth family. We taught Judy on Wedenesday and oh my goodness her story is amazing. I'll try to summarize it quickly. She grew up in the Church of Christ because that is where her mom went, well her dad was Catholic and her mom died so after that she became Catholic and when she was in her 20's she was studying to become a nun. She said the Holy Ghost pulled her away from there and helped her realize that some things had been corrupted in that faith. So after she got married her and her husband went to Presbytarian Church and she was an Elder in that church for over 20 years! They have male and female Priesthold holders there if you are unfamiliar with the way it works and their whole church leadership is like a democracy, the congregation votes on who serves in what capacity. Well long story short her Pastor was corrupt and she found out so she was scarred and left the church and hadn't been back to church for about 5 years. Well then she got in a car accident and it caused her to have neck and back problems. Well she had to go to a chiropractor and her friend happened to go to a Dr. named Tommy Thompson who is a member of the church. She didn't know this when she started going to him, but Bro Thompson being the good missionary he is talked religion with her during her back adjustments and what not. Well one thing led to another and next thing you know she watched General Conference and she loved it so much that caused her to call us and set us an appointment for Wednesday. We taught the Restoration and she was absolutely blown away by it. Every thing we taught answered a question or a concern she previously had and she already accepted a baptismal commitment barring what she thinks about the Book of Mormon as she reads. Of course it's crucial to receive that witness, but she WANTS it all to be true and that is half the battle. Also her husband came home late from work,  but this week he is excited to sit in and hear about the Plan of Salvation. He watched Conference as well.  THEY ARE GOLDEN! I'm so happy about it. The Lord is really pouring out His soul on the Hamilton area! There have been 11 baptisms in the past 4 months here, and the Cunninghams will be 12, 13, 14, and 15. The ward had a goal of 5 baptisms the start of the year because last year they had 0 baptisms the ENTIRE YEAR! Well, now the goal has been changed to 20 by the end of the year and we ARE GOING TO REACH IT! Ha I love it. The miracles are just changing the way I see life and giving me so much joy. Elder Cannon is so dang obedient and hard working and I love him for it, because he really helps me be the best I can be and get the most out of each and everyday. I definitely have a testimony that blessings come from hard work and obedience. You can get by on you own skill for so long, but as you surrender you life to the Lord, you do truly find it as the scripture says and the blessings from Heaven are poured down upon you! Oh just on a funny note, we taught the the Cunninghams the Law of Chastity this week and Douglas the 11 year old was so grossed out because he hadn't ever had "THE TALK" yet and when his mom finally was like "Come on Douglas don't act so childish you always say you want another baby sister! Where do you think she will come from" in the funniest voice with the most distraught look on his face he says " I don't know mom! I honestly always thought there must be magical elves that make all of that happen!" I was busting up laughing practically rolling on the ground. You kinda had to be there to get the full effect, but boy was it hilarious! Anyways, I need to write Grandpa Bob a birthday card and also I'll keep Grandpa Adrian in my prayers as well as my to awesome sisters! By the way how are Rob and Dru doin these days? Alrighty well the raiders are the best as always to close just remember that because it will make your life a lot better when you just all accept that fact. Love you family! Have a great week in St. George paps! Mom go spend all of his money while he's gone please! The church is true!!!  Love you

 

Love Elder Ingy

October 3, 2011 Letter

Family!

 

WOW! General Conference was absolutely amazing! I truly love the Prophet and the Apostles and all of the brethren. President Monson truly is a Prophet. I know that more surely now than I ever knew it before. I learned so much and am trying so hard to be a better missionary. I loved Elder Hollands talk. I was thinking to myself as I watched that there is no way that I could ever have lived with myself sitting through that if I had chosen not to go on a mission. I'm on the Lord's team. I may have scored a couple of points for satan in the past, but that's okay because I'm scoring a lot more for the Lord now and in the years to come so we will still win. I grew a greater love and appreciation for my family. The best family ever! The love that I feel for you all I can't even describe in words, it is incomparable to the love I feel to anyone else other than my Savior. My favorite talks besides Elder Holland's were Elder Callister's and Elder Christoffersen's and President Monson's that he gave in Priesthood. Also you're right Elder Uchtdorf gave a great talk in the Saturday morning session. They were all so good. The main things I took for this conference were.... It's better to look UP then DOWN. The importance of our relationship with Father in Heaven. How we all need to strengthen that more and more daily. I learned the power of prayer in missionary work is so profound. That nothing in this world aside from the Priesthood itself has more power than prayer. Elder D. Todd helped me in a lot of ways with his insights on apostate Christianity and it went along well with the a talk I've been studying by Joseph Fielding McCkonkie called HERE WE STAND. There are plenty of people who try to change and altar the Commandments of God. Sorry to say but those laws will never change. There are Korihor's and Nehors and Sherems who try to overthrow the Doctrine of Christ and preach the philosophies of man "mingled with scripture" It is so distorted and sad how strong of a hold satan has on the world today. As Latter Day Saints we have no obligation to agree and find common grounds with people of other faith. Ive learned that we have NO REASON to be ashamed of what we believe. Why would we be ashamed to have the truth? Do we believe it or don't we? If we do believe it then there is a PLACE where we should always stand.... It is a sacred place. A place where the heavens opened and the Father bore the most powerful testimony of the Son that has ever been spoken. In that place God reached out to a 14 year old boy who's mind was uncluttered and who's spirit was contrite. In that place The fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth and every other "creed and denominations are an abomination" It is because of what took place in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York, in the year 1820 that we now have Prophets, Apostles, Temples, the Priesthood, and the ONLY true and living church upon the face of the whole earth! IF we truly believe that and I TRULY DO, then we shouldn't be ashamed of it. We look the world straight in the eye and say "HERE WE STAND" The gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is the convincing evidence that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph was a Prophet, and that the Plan of Salvation is real and is designed for our happiness. It is either true or it's utterly false as Elder Callister said. It can't be a good book, with good instruction for Christian living and be only that. IT's Scripture from God or it's the work of the devil. Of course it's the work of the Son..... Those were my insights from Conference! Now onto the work.. Elder Cannon is my new comp. From Bountiful UT. He is a GREAT GUY. He has probably made only 1 or 2 mistakes in his entire life, but he has an amazing testimony and works his butt off. It's fun. I don't have the same relationship with him as I had with Elder Ballard. We are much more serious and more focused. I love serving with missionaries who are 100 percent dedicated and won't stray from that determination because it keeps me focused and giving it my all as well. I'm really excited for the transfer and I guarantee miracles because we will work our tails off and follow the Spirit. We had some cool experiences finding already. We were able to set up appointments with about 5 new people for this week through knocking on doors and other methods. The Cunninghams loved Conference and they are going to be baptized October 22 just because we need time to teach them everything that is why it is moved back a couple of weeks. We are teaching a man named Lenny. He is from the Bronx and he is so sweet! He told me all about all the best hot dog stands in New York to go to if I ever visit.! He is the man. He has been to church and came to a ward party Friday night and I got to talk to him for about an hour about tons of things. From sports, to the Gospel, to his life and all he has been through. He grew up in Queens and has had a ROUGH LIFE. Been in and out of prison, divorced his wife and hasn't had any involvement with his daughter,  recovering addict of every kind of drug you can think of. Even Dealt drugs. He sounds terrible when you think about his past, but if you could meet him you would know his heart is pure. He has made Tons of mistakes but the Atonement is for sinners, not perfect people. He wants so badly to change and It's so cool to be the one to teach and help him. I feel super inadequate to relate to him, but at the same time I think he is one of those people that was very specific that the Lord needed me to be his instrument in teaching him. We are going to extend to him for baptism in November and we will keep you updated on the progress. Really just an all around amazing week with miracles still to come! Love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all that you do for me and know that I recognize it and appreciate my life and family everyday. Have a great week especially you Ash and Linds, keep going strong only a few weeks left! You can make it! I'm so stoked for Nephews! It's gonna be SAWEET!

 

Love, 

Elder Ingy

September 26th, 2011 Letter

Fam!

 

Hey so Ive got some really exciting news this week! Pat Thomin was baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday! Everything was wonderful. Tina Thomin (Her daughter in law) Also a recent convert gave a talk on the Holy Ghost at the baptism and it absolutely blew me away! It was unreal! I felt the Spirit very strongly when she bore testimony of how the Holy Ghost changes lives and families. I love the scripture in 2 Nephi that says to paraphrase when the Holy Ghost leaves then speedily cometh destruction. I've shared that with you before, but I live and see that concept every day. If my attitude is wrong and the Holy Ghost isn't there it's hard to be an effective missionary and that is when you make mistakes in life. When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, when angels are round about you bearing you up, that is when you are happier than you could possibly be in this life. That is when you want to die being a missionary. There is a huge contrast. It's unbelievable the influence the Spirit has John 14:26 he truly is the "Comforter" as it says. It's amazing that it feels just as it is described. A burning in the bosom. That changes people. I notice when I testify by the Holy Ghost it's a world of difference to when it is just my own words. I speak so fluently and remember things I've maybe read once in my life and I explain it better than I ever could on my own. It's so sweet. Teaching the gospel is the best!!! I wish I could just read the Book of Mormon and teach all day then I could never complain haha, I guess the whole tracting thing just builds character so it is necessary too unfortunately. I never really caught the fire for tracting and loved it like you did dad. I guess I just think about how I feel when someone knocks on my door when I'm busy doing something else, especially Jehovah's Witness and salesman and the first thing I want to do is slam the door haha. Oh well we found Richie tracting so miracles can still happen if it's inspired and your attitude is right when your doing it! Another amazing thing that happened this week concerning the Holy Ghost was in regards to the Cunninghams! They GOT AN ANSWER! They have been reading and praying and they came up to us in church yesterday and said "We want to be baptized" The Book of Mormon is true, the spirit told us so! How sweet is that! So they are gonna get baptized in 2 weeks! The family of 4 that I've searched for my whole mission! It's awesome! We also started teaching a man named Lenny Polanski this week. He has been through a whole heap of problems recently in his life and he is friends with a member of our ward. He came to church and loved it and is really excited to watch general conference. He talks like he is a member of the mafia. He has that Al Davis look going on except a younger version and could probably manage a football team better than Al can. haha. I know that he will get baptized too though. It's just a matter of time...! Elder Ballard goes home this Friday. Transfer meeting is on Thursday where I'll get my new comp. We all meet in the stake center next to the Temple for the meeting and members take us there and back. It's a pretty fun meeting. They call out your area and your name and if it's a leadership call they say that as well and then they call your comp and you have to go up to the front and give each other a hug. It's slightly Homo, but at the same time missionary work is super lovey like that. It's because we are all affection deprived I guess so it's gotta come out some where in a none gay way. lol. Hopefully I get a comp. around my age that will be good. Elder Ballard and I accomplished a lot together. It's probably been my most productive transfer of my mission while at the same time being one of the most laid back. Weird huh? It's cool though elder Ballard is going to BYU-I as well, a lot of people are so i get to see some of my buds again here soon. no big deal. Zone meetings and all that are pretty cool. I love it, but it's hard to motivate people. We set the example. Our area here in Hamilton has had 11 baptisms in the past 4 months and next transfer we will have 4 possibly 5 more. It's the standard area of the mission right now, but our zone has been far behind. Things picked up a ton this week! It was a great week for everyone. The zone found 16 new investigators. An average of 2 per area and we now have 9 people on date for baptism. So things are turning around, we are no longer at the rear of the mission, it's more like the middle now. Up in Columbus it's always a bit more productive than Cincy. I think it has to do with the fact that Joseph Smith dusted his feet off in this place, no joke, and it's always been the standard of wickedness for the U.S. Lots of poverty, drugs and bad things go on here. Plus Columbus has a temple. You know when a city has a temple it will be blessed with more missionary work. That makes sense to me at least. Our mission president always says "Teach to the temple" Baptism is just the first step, and that is a lot easier when your investigators can go see the temple and feel the Spirit just from being on the grounds. Cincy is my favorite part of the mission still though, it's where I was called and I'm attached to being here. I hope I just stay in Hamilton the next 4 transfers. I highly doubt it, If I could predict it I bet I'll be here 2 more transfers then my last 2 I'll get whitewashed into an area with a greenie to finish up. That happens a lot with missionaries who are dying off. We will see, I'll enjoy every second while I'm here though that is for sure! I'm anxious to get my new comp. He might be a goober, a lot of the ZL's are a little too over the top for my taste, and they majorly suck up to president. When he calls Elder Ballard and I and asks us what he needs to improve on for advice, we tell him something, where as everyone else is to scared to offend him or something so they just say "Your doing everything perfect president it's all us." I see it like he tells us how to improve all the time, we are more experienced at this than he is so I think if he asks we can give him suggestions too. ha. Anyways that's all that is new here in Hamilton. Life is good! All the boys on missions are doing well. Ive been talkin to Justin Coffin through email a bit lately. He is a stud. Tanner will be a missionary that people like as well. There is a certain type of personality that people tend to latch on to and it's usually pretty similar to what a lot of my friends were back in high school. They are peoples people so of course they will be called to lead it only makes sense I suppose. Hey so the things about the Raiders was so awesome! They sound like they are a force this year! Oh baby dad you better work with all your might to get us a Monday night game next year! That is something we HAVE to do together. You and I are the only true blue Raiders fans that I know of and we stay with em thick and thin so we've got to go to ONE game together! Boise State is doing awesome again, maybe this year they will make it to the championship finally. We will see... Any news on the NBA lockout? Keep me posted. Alright guys well I better get goin! I love you all very much and I've been praying for you! Especially for Linds and Ash and the little ones they have and ones to come! I think about you guys a lot and I'm grateful I have such an awesome family! I look forward to seeing you all again soon, but I want to finish strong! Here is my thinking..... Most people finish the last 6 months pretty poor. I figure this is when I can be most effective, because I'm a lot better person and missionary now than I used to be so I need to finish better. It all equals out in the end, but why not finish out on an upswing. I'm a lot sharper of an instrument for the Lord to use now than I was a year ago so why let that go to waste? Have a great week family! Please pray for the Cunninghams especially! Be safe!

 

Elder Ingy

September 19, 2011 Letter

Hey Family!

 

Well it's been a good week here in Hamilton like always. We are still gettin a lot done and Pat is still set for baptism this upcoming week. We had a sweet lesson with the Cunningham family last week. Although they are struggling with Joseph Smith being a prophet. It is such a different concept to them and they are well versed in the Bible so it's a change. If they will read the Book of Mormon and put Moroni's promise to the test they will receive an answer so really it's not so much of a concern as it is a waiting process. Only a matter of time. Eric and Brittany Davis are an interesting case. They have wanted to be baptized for a month now. Problem is they are unmarried have a newborn and are SCRAPING the bottom of the barrel financially. Eric works hard long hours, but only enough to put a roof over their head. They don't want to get married until he can get her a ring. Haha. I can't complain because that idea is what keeps our family in business, but at the same time it's the only thing holding them back from baptism. He only is looking at a cheap 400 dollar ring. For them that is through the roof cost though. He is saving tiny bit by tiny bit, but there is just no way he'll be able to pay for it anytime soon. He said if they can get the ring taken care of they will get married because they have wanted to forever anyways. The church can do a wedding practically for free, but we are looking to do some kind of fundraiser to make this ring thing happen. Being a missionary is a lot more than just being a teacher, I swear it's like being a marriage and financial counselor too. Anyways, we are working through that. We are getting ready to start teaching a few new people this week as well that have a lot of promise. The Schleight family as well as Doug Martin. Both member referrals. We rarely have to tract here which after Northern Kentucky all the time I spent in the heat on that bike and knocking doors I'm super appreciative with that concept! Nothing too exciting has happened though, just the everyday grind of being a missionary, the good and the tough. So I have been thinking. I talked to a missionary who is going home in January and he told me that the spring semester for BYU-I starts April 19.  I've prayed about this and think that I don't want to wait until fall to go to school. I'll get too bored with that much down time. So, I was thinking maybe I can go to school starting in April that way I will be busy after that first month and I could just live at home for that semester. Commute to class and set up my schedule for Monday through Thursday earlier in the morning. That way I can come home and go to the store and work for the rest of the day and on weekends I'll have all day to work.  I think living at home for that first bit would be a good idea just because I would like to be close to you all and have fun with the fam, but at the same time I want to be busy and have an institute class I can go to and a singles ward to go to on Sunday for church. Going back to the home ward for too long just doesn't sound all that appealing to be honest. I don't know anyone there and I'm at an age where I don't fit in there. So let me know what you think and if your okay with that start applying for that whenever you feel ya need to start. Stinking raiders, haha. They really screw things up don't they. I just had one of the missionaries who I knew that is home now send me an email and I open it up and it was the highlights of the Raiders game hahahaha. That little idiot! He knew I love the raiders and he knows I can't resist when it's right in front of my nose. I'm gonna write him back and give him an ear full hahaha. So anyways I saw a that they lost at the last second and it about made me tear up... They DO THIS EVERY YEAR! AHHH! They look like they are at least improving offensively though so that is good news. So College football season is in full swing. Sounds like that's all going good for BSU. Ill be honest dad I'd say I miss NFL more than college as well. College is the same teams every year, stinkin Oklahoma and Alabama and it gets old. GO BSU! How is Dyl doing? Is it starting to set in that he'll be leaving soon! He better not leave tell later in march or april i want to see that kid! Logan wrote me an email and told me he'll have a whole line of ladies waiting for me to date them by the time I get home. I'm holding him to it haha! He better not be selfish and forget about helping those people still out serving the Lord. Just kidding! lol. Anyways I really loved that scripture you talked about dad, Also that movie sounds awesome about the pioneers! Can't wait to see it. It's hard being on a mission in the states. Everywhere you go people are always watching movies when you show up and of course when we start the lesson we ask to turn the TV off, but at the same time it's hard because you don't want to be rude right off the bat and tell them to turn in off and deep down of course you want to see it so i get all these sneak previews of these movies that are apparently a year old that I haven't seen and it just kills ya inside haha. You see 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there of movies, your in restaurants you see highlights, your in stores and on the streets and you hear music. That is what is hard about the states. Foreign a lot of those temptations are taken completely away from you and your whole culture is different. That is what makes going foreign so hard, but I've found stateside is tough for me because Midwest is basketball and football central and without fail if it's Saturday wherever you go people are watching games and they don't want to turn them off so what do ya do? All these things you love are just waved in front of your face. I try avoiding those situations completely. See even as a missionary Satan finds ways to tempt you.  So it's not that the thing itself is wrong, it becomes wrong because we've been asked not to do it and we're breaking a promise. Well Family I love you all so much and hope that everything goes great! I miss you all and want you to know that your the best and I think about you every single day! Have an excellent week and be safe. Love ya!

 

Elder Ingy

September 12th, 2011 Letter

Fam!!!!

 

It's been a good week here in Hamilton as always. I don't think you can really have a BAD week on a mission. Some are rougher than others, but I get to feel the Spirit testify to me every single day of the truth and it helps to keep a smile on your face. Have you ever seen the DVD "Special Witnesses of Christ"? If not I would encourage you to get it. I saw it for the first time yesterday after church at a members home and I was absolutely blown away. We really do have living Apostles and Prophets on the Earth. What a blessing! I was thinking yesterday and I know this is far off in the future.... Just a thought though, if at all possible you should look into getting tickets for one of the Sunday sessions of General Conference for April when I get home. It's 2 weeks after I get back and I would really love to go see it in person if at all possible.

 

Anyway, here are the highlights of this past week.....

 

We were able to teach Jessie again... We brought brother Thomin with us and she felt more comfortable with everything, only bad part was she has been really sick this past week and was unable to come to church, but she has read more from the Book of Mormon and she will come this next week I think!

 

Next news is Kimmy's baptism went smoothly. She is awesome! The family was great too and it worked out really well because Sister RUIZ gave us a referal to go and visit her sister. She said she trusted us and felt we were the missionaries who could help her sister realzie the truth. That felt good to hear that members of the ward are trusting us with friends and family to teach because they know that we are capable and responsible.

 

We got to teach the Cunningham family on saturday!!! It was awesome! They have been so prepared. We gave them a baptismal date for October 15 and they accepted without hesitation. They do drink coffee so we will have to clear that up, but everything else doctorinely and socially they are converted to the church already! We have another lesson with them tonight. They have a great family, Jennifer (Mom) is so nice. She makes us cookies every time we go over there for a lesson haha! It's so awesome even though I don't really need cookies cuz im on 6 months to sexy. Oh well! They're great.

 

Pat Thomin is doing well! She was at church again yesterday and is all set for baptism on the 24th of September. She knows it's true and has seen the change the Gospel brought upon her son and his family and wants to be a part of it.

 

Eric and Brittany are still struggling with smoking, but want to set a baptismal date for October. They said they know it's all true and that they need to get married, quit smoking, and be baptized so we are gonna set a goal for that to happen.

 

The Cole family is really struggling. Since the death we have only gotten to see them the one time. We are praying for them and trying all we can to stay in contact.

 

We found a couple of new investigators. Jason and Jenny Tobkin. They are newly weds, just graduated from OSU and are living with Jason's parents. They are extremly active in ther church and strong Christian, but he has grown up around LDS families and feels the love at the church. He even went to seminary a couple times in high school so he feels it's only right to read the Book of Mormon and give it a shot! We see them again on Wednesday!

 

New things are on the horizon for this week as well.. New investigators as well as a RAIDERS VICTORY tonight!!!!! So seems like it's gonna be another exceptional week! Well family I better get going, but I love you all so much and appreciate you more and more every single day that I'm away. You really are the best family in the world! Have a safe week! I'll talk to ya again soon!

 

Elder Ingy

September 7, 2011 Letter

Another great week down in Hamilton!  We had a sweet picnic for the entire Cincy north stake at the park on Monday where we played soccer for preparation day and ate some great grub.  Yesterday I didn't get to write because we were up in Columbus all day for Zone Leader Council.  Then by the time that was over with we had appointments we were in a hurry to get back to.  Then this morning we had Zone meeting where we trained the zone on the things we learned at ZL Council.  We've had a lot of meetings lately.  I'll be honest, I kind of just want to get out and go back to work and seeing miracles and not talk about them so much. It sounds like everyone had a great week at the cabin.  I talk about the cabin with Elder Ballard all of the time.  He is big into the outdoors so we are always talking about things like that.  It's interesting how much more excited I am to fish and do outdoor things than I was before. You kind of take it for granted until you don't have it anymore.  The little ones seem to be doing Well great! They are definitely the life of the party aren't they? Ash and Linds are both getting so close to having 2 more; it's crazy how fast that flew by! It's going to be so weird for me to come back to all of the people.  Unfortunately having a comp that is going home, we still talk about it a lot because he is looking for my advice and comfort to accept that it's happening and it forces me to ponder how I'll feel.  It's no big deal though because I'm content with where I am.  I love the people of The Ohio.  This place has my heart and I think it always will to be honest.  The fondest memories of my life thus far have taken place here and I'm forever indebted to the Lord for every day that I got to struggle, complain, work, laugh, love, and see miracles here.  I'm glad I still have 6 months left to give my will to the Savior. We are so busy right now, it's great!  Teaching, Teaching, Teaching!!!  With all of the investigators that we have, it makes it hard to choose which ones to talk about in the time we have to write.  We are teaching the Cunningham family now.  They should be getting baptized sometime next month without a doubt.   Pat Thomin is doing awesome and she is going to get baptized now on the 24^th for sure.  Kimmy is getting baptized this Saturday at 4.  We had a cool experience with the Cole family.  They are struggling mightily with smoking so they will not be able to be baptized until we know for sure they can quit.  I don't know if I told you about Jake the older son.  He is only 13 and he already has been in rehab for drug abuse.  His real father used drugs and actually gave them to his son and got him hooked on them at like 11 years old.  Can you believe that?  Well, his dad actually committed suicide this past week.  When we went over to their house Jake wanted nothing to do with us at first, but we just started talking to him and asking him about his dad, what types of things they liked to do for fun together, what his best memories of him are, we taught him the plan of salvation and he realized he needed to make changes in his life and not take the path his father took.  He said his dad had an obsession with California and that he had planned on taking Jake out there to live someday when he turned 18.  He loved everything about California and I don't know why really.  As he was talking, he looked down at some Burger King coupons that were advertising the California Whopper for sale.  He started crying and said his dad would have loved that and he would have loved to go eat one with him. After the lesson we went to BK and bought him a Cali Whopper and knocked on his door and handed it to him.  He just started balling and came and gave us a big hug.  It was pretty amazing because this is one hardened kid and his barriers all tumbled down from one act of kindness.  I don't think he knows what it's like to be loved by people sincerely.  It made a huge difference.  Another cool experience was when we were searching out some part member families to teach we were having a hard time contacting anyone and after one particular door with no answer we felt promptings from the spirit to walk down that street.  Well sure enough a block down there was a lady sitting on her porch reading. We approached her and started talking and were able to introduce her to the Gospel.  She said she is a recovered drug user, and she has been looking for a church for a while.  She was Presbyterian growing up, but never felt like it was the right thing.  We set up a return appointment and we came back the next day and she had already read 12 chapters in the Book of Mormon and had a lot of great questions.  She was really sincere and said she wants to know if it's true.  Her only concern is that she wouldn't fit in with her past.  So we will resolve that by bringing Brother Terry Thomin along, the recent convert with the tattoo sleeves and rough exterior to show her that anyone can change and the Lord doesn't care who she's been.  All he wants is for her to change her future.  There are so many miracles happening in Hamilton and I love it! The Spirit is being poured out upon this place; it's the most ghetto place in the mission, but thriving right now.  Well second or third most ghetto besides Over the Rhine and Price Hill.  The members trust us a lot and they just keep working with us and helping us find people to teach, mix that with the people we find from personal contacting and its one blessed place!  So as far as training the missionaries goes, I love it haha.  Elder Ballard and I just talk for about two minutes on what we want to cover then go in there and follow the Spirit.  It works out pretty darn good!  We tried to make it fun for our zone today by doing a DOCTRINE OF CHRIST trivia game.  Whoever answered the question right got a chance to shoot a free throw if they made it they got a fun sized candy bar. It was a fun little game just to lighten things up a bit.  Then we went in there and trained and practiced teaching and the meeting was a success. I would love to be a Gospel Doctrine teacher when I get home.  It's the funnest part about church.  Getting to learn and then teaching the things you learn about.College football sounds like fun! Boise State is solid! Wahoo! They are always so dominate.  They will probably go undefeated this year because no one expects it!  I sure hope so!  Also, the NFL is starting huh?  That's awesome!  Can't wait for the Raiders to start up, even though I'll probably be let down again,that's okay. I live for the first couple of weeks when there is still hope until they are crushed!  Well family, I gotta get going.  Lots of work to be done today!  We are going on exchanges with the District Leader and his comp in Fairfield so we have got to meet up with them asap!  I love you all and I'll write you again on Monday since there are no meetings or holidays!  Have a great week and be safe!

Elder Ingy