...we had success this week. Lily has always been extremely shy when we ask her to pray but this week she volunteered herself to give the closing prayer at the end of a visit. I absolutely adore children, they are so fun to teach and be around.

After we had a lesson with Lily we met a guy outside her apartment who was working on putting a lift kit on his 4x4 kia. He was super nice and we talked cars for over an hour. He said that installing the lift kit in the rear is the easy part and that the front end takes eight hours to do and is a two man job. I offered to help without hesitation and he accepted it without hesitation, so later this week Im going to be helping a guy install a lift kit. Looks like I'll get to work on cars after all haha. Im planning on inviting him to church after we get done with the job. So it should be interesting. We also tracted in to a young woman 25ish years old who was really accepting of everything and we made a follow up appointment. She brought her friend who was equally as interested and they were both very accepting of everything we taught. the ladys name is Lindsey and her friends name is Meagan. Lindsey said she has absolutely no clue what her purpose in life is or what she is supposed to be doing. So she's basically golden. I'll be sure to tell you how it goes. 

 

This week was all around great, the work was kind of slow but I still find joy in it. We got Ipads this week. My mission is one of 30 missions in the world that is getting them. Its kind of an experiment that will determine if the rest of the missions get them. So I wont have it anymore when I finally go to Brazil. Its pretty locked down and we have an area book app which is kind of formatted like our paper daily planners whuch they are hoping to eventually replace with Ipads. Its pretty cool, I feel privleged to get one. I will be able to tell my children that when I served my mission I had a paper planner hahaha. 

I got to go on my first companion exchange this past week which was really nice. It felt good to be able to have a different companion for a little while. I was on exchanges with the district leader which was cool too.  I'm really trying to learn as much as much as I can from Elder K, because I'm starting to realize that we really wont have a long time together and it is a really amazing learning opportunity that missionaries have with each of their companions. Even though he's a weirdo, he has taught me a lot. We have a potential investigator who has been on and off for over six months. His name is Bob R, he's 82, married for over 60 years and is a really awesome guy. He thinks the church is good and all but it just hasn't clicked yet. He even came to Christy's baptism. But we drop by every once in an while to check on him, and we did that saturday. His son in law happened to pull up with a big load of kindling wood for bother R and we helped them unload it. Brother R even at 82 hopped up in the lifted sliverado to get the wood out. He really reminds me of brother Wagner now that I think about it. He's a cheery, peppy old man with a smile on his face and always winks and smiles at me. Just like brother wagner. We helped him split some fire wood with his wood splitter powered by a four cylinder volvo engine from a CAR. Yes a car engine wood spliter. It was really nice to get down and dirty in service. It made me remember how much I love to work. When I hopped up in the truck bed of Brother R's son in law gary, he said "Man look at the brotha' gettin to work up in there!" I got a good chuckle out of that haha. 

Christine got baptized this past Saturday and was confirmed yesterday. Her would be husband of 17 years died on Oct 28th and she has been having an extremely difficult time. The first time I met her she was so depressed and sad. She still is a little, but her life has turned around and she has a light about her, I will never forget her face the day before, the day of, and the day after. She was just smiling so much, and looked so bright. It has been an amazing experience teaching her and getting to know her. She has had a rough life, but now she has new hope, peace, and joy in her life. It was just great. 

My companion and I are still getting alone pretty well. He gets impatient and gets rude with me sometimes but I get on to him when he does it and eat his food as a punishment hahahah. Things are going well in Keizer, and I am starting to really enjoy myself. 

Tchao!

Well I have almost been in the field for two weeks. It's going by pretty quick. The first four days were extremely difficult but I am doing A LOT better. It most definitely isn't easy, missionary work is very hard. But it is rewarding. I just get down really easy from tracting, it hurts my feelings when I see and hear how rude and close minded people are. Its painful, and hard to keep going when people say you're going to hell and say they're praying for the welfare of our souls. It by no means shakes my testimony, but it makes the work more difficult. 

I have really seen how heavenly father is using me as a tool in his hands by using my interests. I have been able to relate and make so many connections with a lot of people because I like antiques and cars. We went to this one less active couples house and they had a 110 year old oven with nickel plated accents all over it. It looked like it would have been an expensive piece back in its day. They also had a 200x sitting in the yard. I had fun talking to the guy about all his projects. I got to meet another inactive guy that was in his early 20s who had a 89 camaro with draglites on it. We get along REALLY well and I enjoy talking to him. We had a really good lesson at his house yesterday.  Christy R. who is getting baptized next week, we taught her about the word of wisdom, chastity and tithing. She is doing very well with everything except tithing. She is on food stamps and doesn't have much. So I shared the story dad always would tell me about grandma webb and how he never understood why she payed her tithing because she was so poor. I shared how although grandma webb was very poor she had enough faith to trust that the Lord would take care of her. It touched her and she agreed right then and there to obey the law of tihing. Before we could even extend the commitment she said "I'll do it". It was an awesome experience.

 I get fed extremely well here. We have meals with members every night. Last night we went to the Mangums for dinner. He's from Oklahoma and his wife is from Nashville so they both have southern accents, which was SUPER nice to hear. I miss the south. When they're baby would cry sis Mangum would say "I'm comin' baby girl" it seemed so out of place hearing that in Oregon. The people here are really really friendly, some more than others. But that's generally how it is everywhere.

Hey! Yeah my mission president is awesome, he is a spiritual giant. My area is called Keizer, it's a town that's smaller than Crestview. I am in the Keizer Its extremely pretty here, and it has rained every single day, but luckily only once when we are on our bikes. I'm loving the humidity, I didn't think that that would be one of the things that I would miss the most!  I have had a ton of spiritual experiences since I have been here, there is a reason why I'm here for sure. There is this one investigator Christy R, she is 63, and her "husband" of 17 years passed away a couple of months ago She has been having trouble with it and is has taken it pretty hard. I knew this story before I came to visit here for the first time last week. As soon as I saw here I just felt so much love and sympathy for her. We would ask her certain questions and she would just start crying because she was so sad. I bore my testimony to her that her heavenly father loves her more than she can even begin to comprehend, and that he knows her by name and knows and understands what she is going through. I told her that God knows what her purpose is and wants her to be as happy as she can possibly be. And that we are here to help her, and to help her attain that happiness. She kind of brightened up a little bit and simply said to me "I like that". She said she would be willing to do anything to be happy again. Her baptismal date is the 25th of this month..

... the Lord is most definitely blessing me for my efforts, and I can see it clear as day. 

 

I hope is all well.

Love, Elder Boyd

P.S. My mailing address is 700 Deborah Rd Suite 260, Newberg, OR 97132

SO. Here's the moment you've been waiting for! I have been assigned to the Oregon, Salem mission!!!!!!! I can't believe I got assigned there because that's actually one of the places that I wanted to go! I leave next Wednesday... Im going on a straight shot from Salt Lake to Portland. I am so so so excited. I went on the google maps on my lds account and went on street view in my mission across from one of the churches there. And I saw three fox bodies in someones drive way across from one of the churches! I like Oregon already. I think I'm mostly excited to be in a place that is really green and rainy. Well, thats only part of my mission the other part looks mountainy and rocky. But nonetheless I am super stoked.

 

Oh and here's a funny story. So there's this weird elder that came in one of the new districts, his name is elder "C". He's like super quiet and really weird. So a few elders and myself go into the bathroom one day and hear this elder "C" groaning on the toilet while PUNCHING HIS FEET. We asked him if he was okay, but he just kept groaning and punching his feet! Its was sooooooooooo weird and we laughed about it for the longest time hahahaha