8/23/21: The work marches on

 Can't stop the work of the Lord, even with a wildfire! The other Elders in Susanville we're evacuated this week to Reno, so our zone when from 6 missionries to 2. At this point I'm numb to the news about the Dixie fire and the catastrophes it's causing. Now both highways to Susan Ville are closed so the only way out is to travel almost to the Oregon border to get out of the town. Despite that, me and Elder Feist have decided to pump up the work for our zone to substitute for the missing missionaries. That being said we found 5 people, had 3 at church and got 2 peoe committed to baptism (huge number for a town the demographic of Quincy). Of course the statistic achievements weren't the main focus of the work but they do make for fun zone competition. 


We did some service to start the week help Brother González to clean up his yard from multiple bears coming through and eating his trash. He was telling us he been trying to kill the bears himself because if animal contral gets the its would be a "waste of a lot of meat". He's a great guy, and he has hundreds of different projects going on on his property, from building wind turbines, a jeep and raising turkeys. 

We went into Reno for a day for MLC and I got a taste of what it was like to actually have other missionaries around. I didn't know what I was missing out on. We stayed with Elder Dodson and Lee who are great friends with my companion, and it was a blast hanging out and  joking around with them that night. The only downside of our area is how remote it is, we hardly see any other missionaries, but it does helo us to stay focused on the work. 

We've been helping Micheal and his daughter Annabelle prepare for baptism on September 25th. They have a strong desire but getting to church has been hard for them. We got to speak this Sunday so we made that a point of encouragement for them. Sunday rolled around and we didn't see them at the start of church, and not even through sacrament meeting. But as I got up to speak, they came walking in! I was so excited I waved at them from the pulpit. After the whole ward went straight over to them to welcome them. I was nervous they would be overwhelmed but when we spoke to them they were beaming with joy, saying it was the best, most welcoming church meeting they had been to. Annabelle told her dad she felt "right at home". 

It's been a good week despite everything. Talk to to you all soon! Pray for the fires. 





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