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