Week 21: Transfers and Dunkings

Hey everybody! Things were definitely more exciting this week in isolation compared to last week. It is definitely difficult out here being in quarantine, but it's all good. I'm having a good time regardless!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday we were able to hang out with the Elders in Polaris for district activities. We went to Cabelas and looked around for a little bit. After that we had some Steak n' Shake and played basketball at the church. Other than that, nothing happened.

Tuesday we helped the vehicle coordinator move some bikes around at the church and get them loaded up into a trailer for all the new missionaries coming. After that we just did some online proselyting which was alright.

Wednesday was super busy because we had to go to 3 district councils with Elder Holmes. We were having our interviews with President over Zoom so he had to be there for all the district councils to set up the call. It was pretty fun being super busy that day. My interview with President went good and he's happy to see that we are in good spirits with everything.

Thursday our mission had a Book of Mormon challenge to read it all the way through in 1 or 2 days. I got to the end of Alma and it mentally destroyed me so I'm pretty proud to get that far. After that we had baptismal interviews for the Kanu family and they passed! When we asked them who they wanted to baptize them the mom and one of the sons picked Elder Bond, the daughter picked Elder Holmes, and the other son picked me! It was super awesome to get to teach them!

Friday we got to help the APs with moving some mission vehicles. We went to the Powell building and got to drive them all the way over to Dublin by ourselves! That was so weird getting to drive by myself! I was on edge the entire time! It was super fun and we all got there safe and sound with no one going AWOL. After that we went to Marysville so that Elder Holmes could grab some of his stuff for Saturday. We also found out that they were moving transfers to tomorrow because the missionaries coming from the MTC got here today. So yeah it looks like I'm staying here in Worthington and Elder Bond is going to Greenfield. My new companion is going to be Elder Erickson. I am so hyped to be his companion! He was my Zone leader in Canal and he is a super stud!

Saturday we had our transfers which was an interesting situation with the whole social distancing thing. They just had the mission come by zones to limit the amount of people in the parking lot. Me, Elder Bond, and Elder Holmes got to help out with the APs because we had to the Kanu's baptism at 2pm so we couldn't leave. There was an interesting situation with transfers, but it went good overall. Once everyone cleared out we had the Kanu's baptism and it went really good. We dunked them and confirmed them after the baptism and it was amazing! Then me and Elder Erickson came back to Worthington and played some monopoly deal.

Sunday we just had a slow going day with nothing going on. A member gave us dinner which was super sweet and it was delicious!

Miracle of the week:

The interesting situation at transfers was when we had the cops called on us. Apparently like 5 seconds before the cops pulled in one of the APs shouted, "EVERYBODY 6 FEET NOW!" and then the cops pulled in without warning. Nothing came of it, but it was truly awesome to see the AP yelling to move away from each other right before the cops pulled in. Perfect timing!

Funny moment of the week:

When we were having interviews with the Kanu family, one of the sons was playing Roblox and we looked at his name. His name was "PoopButterBut". We just started dying after reading that. I love that family so much!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 20: Isolation Time!

Things just got real here in Ohio! We are under quarantine and we are having to stay in our apartments. No talking to people or visiting people and that SUCKS like none other! We are doing nightly chats as a district where we share a prayer, scripture and thought. That helps to break up the monotony. 

Here's a quick run through of this week:

Monday we had our normal P day activities. We played a lot of basketball and chair soccer which was a blast.

Tuesday was the great and dreadful day where we were told that we were being put into isolation. That day was sooooo boring. We did literally nothing all day except attempt to find people through Facebook. This was the the longest day of my mission so far.

Wednesday was boring. We again sat around and didn't do much.

Thursday we had a video call lesson with a member and that was the highlight of the day.

Friday we went on a walk around a little pond in our area and played basketball to alleviate the boredom. Other than that we did nothing.

Saturday Elder Dwyre went home. His dad came and picked him up and they drove back to NY. Then we had nothing to do again! Booyah!

Sunday was by far the best day of this nonsense. We were a little apostate and went to a member's home for sacrament and we stayed for a lesson and Uno. After that we picked up another missionary who was going home the next day named Elder Ayala. He spent the night with us and we reminisced on good times.

This has been a pretty hard week with the sheer nothingness that we are doing. It's all good, I'll survive, maybe.

Miracle of the week:

A member called us and asked how we were doing on food and they sent a pizza to us because they wanted to help out the missionaries. It's truly amazing to have such caring and loving members!

Funny moment of the week:

When we were walking around the pond on Friday, Elder Bond wanted to explore a little bit and slipped on some mud and nearly ruined his entire outfit. He barely caught himself at the last second and saved himself. Me and Elder Dwyre started busting up laughing. Elder Bond does not have the best luck sometimes with not getting his clothes trashed as we go outside.

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 19: Trio Life, Baby!

Hello everyone! Things are getting more and more interesting out here. We got Corona Virus nonsense and now we are in a trio! I hope that you all are having an awesome time! Thank you for your love and support!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was super fun! P day is always a blast in this district because of all the fun games we do at the church building. Other than that we met with a couple older ladies in the ward and talked about the restoration with them.

Tuesday we did a lot of finding. Nothing too crazy happened for the most part. We met with one family but that was about it.

Wednesday was just completely packed with nothing but knocking. It was so boring! The only exciting part was the area we knocked. There were a ton of rich people there with super nice houses so it was nice admiring them before they slammed their doors.

Thursday we spent a majority of the day knocking, which went pretty much nowhere but it's all good. After that we met with a couple members and had a good time and awesome lessons.

Friday was a really slow day with weekly planning. We did have a really fun district council and I had to give a training because one of the Zone Leader who was supposed to bailed out and since I'm the district monkey I had to do it. It went pretty good though so I'm pretty happy!

Saturday was so much fun. It was our first day with our new missionary, Elder Dwyre. He was previously on OSU campus, but with the Corona Virus they had to leave. Apparently all residents on campus are getting kicked out until the semester is over so they had to relocate the missionaries assigned there because their teaching pool went to 0. So now we are in a trio, baby! We got to go and have tons of really fun lessons with some referrals and members. We did some finding in the snow which went pretty unsuccessful but it was all good. The new guy is a stud and we are all having a blast!

Sunday was probably one of the most interesting days of my mission. We aren't allowed to go to church anymore so we had to have a makeshift sacrament meeting in our apartment. After that we met with a couple members and had some awesome lessons. We walked Bailey again for a sister in the ward so that was fun. We ended the day with a super amazing miracle/blessing that I'll expound on in a second.

Miracle of the week:

We were riding our bikes today to save miles and we ran into a pickle with getting to an investigators house which was easily an hour's biking distance from us and the wanted us there in like 5 minutes. We didn't know what to do so we called up a member and told them our situation and they said they'd take care of it. They drove over and told us to throw our bikes in the back of their truck and that they'd drop us off and pick us up after. Then after the lesson they brought us over to their house and we had a lesson and they gave us some super delicious food! They really saved our bacon that day. I love that family to death!

Funny moment of the week:

On Saturday when we were finding in the snow we were in the parking lot and there were just giant puddles everywhere. One car came barreling down the road and did what we call a "drive by baptism" on Elder Bond. He got pretty soaked but it wasn't too bad and me and Elder Dwyre were dying of laughter!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 18: Baptisms and Fat Pastures!

Hey everyone! This has been another amazing week here in Worthington! Lots of adventures and fun times and things just keep getting better! We have several elderly families in our area. We have been walking their dogs for service. It has been a lot of fun. I was asked to speak in sacrament next Sunday. Apparently missionaries don't stick around too long in this area, so the Bishop said he wanted to have me speak before they transferred me. My topic is "Covenants". I have been assigned a "word" to use. Wish me luck. I will report back on how it goes. I hope that you are all doing good and I wish the best for you all!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was a lot of fun. We spent the entire day messing around for district activities which was awesome. We played a lot of basketball games and I came to the crippling reality that I am terrible at basketball. It's all good though, we all had fun!

Tuesday we did some knocking in the morning to no avail. After that we met with Aramus and taught him again and had an absolute blast. He is super awesome and he is progressing fast. 

Wednesday we had our Zone Conference! Wowzers that was just the best thing in the world! We had several very inspiring and beneficial trainings and we learned a lot. We got a very powerful lesson on fat pastures by President Stratford himself. I'll mention more of it in the funny moment of the week. After that we met with some members which was fun. But then the APs called us and wanted us to interview an investigator they had for baptism, named Ferdinand. That was such an fun interview. It went by so quick because he wouldn't let us finish the questions! He passed and then we went back home!

Thursday was a fairly busy day. We were constantly running around trying to meet with people. We met with Aramus one more time before his interview on Friday and it went well for the most part. He had some doubts at first but we talked it out with him. After that we met with a couple in the ward and shared a message with them.

Friday was such a fun day! We had our interview for Aramus and he passed! We all celebrated by playing a game of basketball together afterwards. I gotta say, playing basketball in a suit is NOT fun. My ankles suffered dearly the entire time and my pants were pretty close to tearing. But in the end it was still a ton of fun.

Saturday was the day that we finally dunked Aramus! We spent the entire day getting everything ready for him to get dunked and as we were getting ready a family from another ward walked in and asked what we were doing. We told them that we had a baptism at 5, and they laughed and said that they had one at 4! We were just like, "Awesome!" and got everything ready for them. They had their baptism and then everyone showed up for ours. The room was PACKED! Me and Elder Bond didn't even have a place to sit down! It was super awesome that so many people were there to support him in his decision to be baptized. After we dunked him we played some more basketball with him and his mom in our suits. (We still haven't learned our lesson) Then we raced over to the Powell ward for Ferdinand's baptism with the APs. He was super excited to be dunked and he is an awesome guy!

Sunday was a busy busy day. We had tons of members that we met with throughout the day. We had some delicious food with a part member family and shared some quick messages. Then we went to choir practice and I still can't sing, but oh well. Sunday went by very quickly and I had a lot of fun!

Miracle of the week:

On Sunday when we went over to a members house and started talking with them. She was asking about how member meals were going and we told her that we couldn't eat with members unless there was a non member present. She went into total mom mode and gave us like 3 bags of food to take home so we aren't going hungry and said that we could stop by anytime for dinner. (She has a part member family). Now we have food for days! She is such an awesome lady and now we don't have to buy too much for groceries.

Funny moment of the week:

When President gave his training he read from Ezekiel 34 and it talks about how we need to be shepherds and gather Israel and bring them to pastures on the high hills. But not just any normal pastures, they need to be FAT PASTURES! Then we went off about fat pastures and how awesome they are. Then we listed fat pastures in our lives such as the temple, church, seminary, family, etc. Now all I think about in church is Fat Pastures, not to be confused with Fat Pastors.

Love,

Elder Bohn

 

Week 17: It's Duck Season!

Hey everybody! This past week has been filled with amazing miracles and super cool experiences. I am loving Worthington more and more everyday that I'm out here. 

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was a really good P day for us. We did a lot of shopping at random stores. We went to Burlington and I got some new shoes and a new belt. Then we found a Chinese Market where they had a whole bunch of Chinese food all over the place. They had a section where they had cooked duck just hanging off of a hook. Then in the back there was the fish section where they had a huge array of seafood and whole fishes. After that we hung out at the church and messed around for a couple hours and then went to our stake coordination meeting that robbed us of 2 hours out of our P day, but it's whatever. After that we didn't really do much.

Tuesday went by so slow for the majority of the day. We did quite a bit of finding and tracting. We ended up knocking for about 3 and a half hours and had no success until we finally found one lady. More on her will be in the miracle of the week. After that we met with a couple members and called it a day.

Wednesday was just super awesome! We had our district council in the morning which was a ton of fun. We had some awesome trainings and it went really good. After that we met with a mom and her son. Their names are Amber and Aramus. She is a member but he isn't yet so we have been teaching him for the past little while. At the end of the lesson we were able to put him on date and he will be baptized on March 7! He is going to get baptized by one of our Zone leaders Elder Kamerath and we are all stoked! After that we met with a couple more members and shared quick messages with them and had a blast.

Thursday was a pretty uneventful day. We didn't do anything too crazy or too fun. We had a couple member missionary visits and that was about it.

Friday was the best day ever! The entire mission got together and had a video call with President Ballard, President Stratford's mission president, and he talked to us for an hour on being better teachers. It was super amazing and he might be one of my favorite apostles now. At the end we got to "shake" his hand through the screen, so yeah I'm never washing this hand again! After the video call we got to knock some doors for an hour and do some weekly planning.

Saturday was one of the busiest days that we've had out here! We had another miracle that morning when we were going around sharing scriptures with people doing street contacting. One lady that we were talking to seemed open to a scripture started crying as we read the scripture to her. She told us that God sent us to her and that he was talking to her through us. It was a super awesome experience and I'm glad that we were able to brighten her day a little bit. In the afternoon we got to meet with a family that were put on date a while ago and they are planning on being baptized at the end of the month. We taught them about how the church is organized and set up. After that we met with a ton of members and shared messages with them. 

Sunday was really fun for us. We got to pass the sacrament again which is always a blast. After that we gave a training to the teachers in the ward on how to teach in the Saviors way. After that we went over to Amber and Aramus' house and had a lesson and lunch with them. After the lesson we went and gave a blessing to a lady who will be going into surgery soon. Afterwards we went to choir practice because Elder Bond committed to do it. I made no such commitment so I only went because we have to be attached at the hip. The choir teacher said that he'll make a singer out of me, but I doubt it. I'm far too stubborn.

Miracle of the week:

On Tuesday when we went tracting we had our miracle. At the end of our of knocking we found a lady named Kelly. We shared a scripture with her and she said to come back by at 2:30 to have a lesson. We were super hyped about it so we had lunch and comp study and went back over but she didn't answer. We were a little bummed out but we decided to knock a little bit more. We knocked for another couple hours and nothing. At around 5:00 I said that we should go back and try Kelly again. So we went over and she answered and said that she was happy we came back. We then shared the message of the restoration with her and left her with a Book of Mormon. It was a super spiritual lesson and she understood things so well. She seemed to like the idea of the Book of Mormon and said that she would read it.

Funny moment of the week:

For our stake coordination meeting we were supposed to wear suits to look more professional. We totally blanked that the coordination meeting was that day so I decided to wear my very bright multi colored sweater. So I was the one schmuck that was wearing a sweater. The Stake President looked at me and had a look of disappointment and confusion then continued and it was a little awkward. But yeah good times!

Love, 

Elder Bohn