Week 25: Grilling, Chilling, Roping, & Serving!

Hey everyone! This has been one of the best weeks of quarantine so far, especially with what we got to do Saturday! It was filled with blessings, tender mercies, fun adventures, and lots of fast food!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was one of the best quarantine P days I've ever had! We got to hangout with the Zone leaders up in Marysville for the day and we grilled up some delicious food. We grilled up steak, bacon, cucumbers, strawberries, donuts, rice krispies, rolls, and hot dogs. (Don't knock it till ya try it!) We just had a good ol time! Then me and Elder Erickson made quite the purchase. We both got ropes that are used for roping bulls to mess around with. So our P day consisted of roping, grilling, and having the best time of our lives!

Tuesday we spent pretty much most of the day roping. We are getting pretty good at it if I don't say so myself. We roped for a total of about 5 hours and played a little bit of basketball in between. It's nonstop good times!

Wednesday was another day of roping and basketball and not much else.

Thursday was quite the adventure, we got to help out the sisters in our district and then go on a sick hike in Dublin. We had no clue that this trail even existed, but we found it and went exploring and had an absolute blast of a time with 2 other elders in our zone.

Friday we had our interviews with President Stratford, which is always the best! We talked about the area and how things were going with the members and what we could do to strengthen them at this time. Interviews with President are always the best and the worst. They are the best because you get to have an interview with him, but they're the worst because it's only 10 minutes! After that we just did some more roping and called it a day.

Saturday was just the best! The entire day was a hoot n a holler from sun up, till sun down! Around 9am we got a call from Sister Stratford which nearly gave us a heart attack. When we answered, she immediately asked what we were doing. We told her that we were just studying and not doing much and she said, "Good, now get into some service clothes and then get on over here to the mission home!" We said yes ma'am and raced over there as fast as we could. When we got there she told us that their neighbors across the street were going to put down mulch in their garden by themselves and that she volunteered us to go and help them. So we went over with her and the lady was a little hesitant at first to let us help because she didn't want to inconvenience us. We told her that we were dying to do some service and that it would make our day to help them out. She finally agreed to let us put the mulch down for them and we went to work. We put down at least 30 bags of mulch in their garden in 2 hours and it was a blast! When we got done they were ecstatic! They wanted to pay us for it, but Sister Stratford told her she couldn't pay us. So she settled for the next best thing: she gave us both $50 gift cards to Canes! After that we told her we'd do any yard work they needed! Afterwards we went over to the mission home and got to talk with President and Sister Stratford. After talking for a minute they asked if we were hungry and then we hopped in the car with them and drove down to Canes for lunch. I can now say that I got to have a Caniac with President and Sister Stratford! And if having that awesome of a morning wasn't enough, we decide to go on a hike immediately after just for fun to the same place we went to on Thursday. We had a good time exploring around the waterfall and walking by the stream. This was one of the best days of my mission by far!

Sunday was a pretty jam packed day for us. We had several member lessons throughout the day that went really good. We also had an awesome family in the ward drop off some dinner for us which was delicious! The Lord really does provide blessings for the missionaries!

Miracle of the week:

On Thursday when we were driving to go on the hike, we got a call from the Sisters in Dublin saying that their car died and that they needed a jump. It just so happened that because we were going to the hiking spot, it put us really close to where the sisters were and we got to get over there really quick and help them out. We got their car working and went on our way. Nonstop good times!

Funny moment of the week:

On Saturday when we got to the mission home we ended up waiting for the Stratfords to show up for a while. To pass the time we just started roping the trash can. Eventually they pulled in and President just started laughing. He got out of the car and said that he had to have a turn roping the trash can. I got to say, President is a pretty good roper! I'm pretty sure we have THE coolest mission President!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 24: Sleep Walking and Nature Walking!

Hey everybody! This past week has honestly been one of the best ones of the quarantine so far. Me and Elder Erickson had a blast! I hope that you are all doing good and that you have an awesome week!

Here's a quick run through of this week:

Monday we had the Marion Elders come over for P day. We didn't really do too much besides sit down and talk with each other. Elder Erickson and Elder Steven's wrestled which was pretty funny. Other than that, we didn't really do too much. 

Tuesday we had our Zone Conference over Zoom which was interesting to say the least. I much prefer them in person but that's besides the point. We had trainings from the ZL' s, STL's, AP's, and then President. Overall it went super well and it was a lot of fun. After that we went on a walk and found a pretty cool little stream and walked around it and took some cool pictures.

Wednesday was just a chill boring day with nothing really going on.

Thursday me and Elder Erickson made history together. We became true OCMers by finishing the Caniac Combo from Raising Canes in one go. It was delicious, but I felt like puking after. 

Friday we didn't really do too much overall. We had a lesson with a family in the ward and it went super well. They are such an awesome family!

Saturday we watched a couple movies together and it was honestly a blast! We watched 17 Miracles, and Ephraim's Rescue. If you haven't seen them, I strongly recommend them!

Sunday was a pretty good day overall. We had a lesson with a family in the ward and they invited us over to have a BBQ when the self isolation is over. The only catch is that there is some yard work that needs to be done, which is fine by me!

Miracle of the week:

On Friday when we had the call with the member they asked us when the last time a member gave us dinner. We told them it had been a little while and they told us, "That is unacceptable, we are going to drop off a pizza to you guys in 10 minutes". Then they gave us 2 pizzas, strawberry short cake, strawberries, and a $25 gift card. It is a tremendous blessing to have such an amazing, loving family in the ward!

Funny moment of the week:

After our Caniac challenge we went to sleep that night. At about 1:00 am I hear Elder Erickson wake up and sit up in his bed. He then grabs his pillows and blankets and says he's taking a nap downstairs on the recliner. I asked him why and he replied, "Because I can, dude". I just went with it and slept downstairs on the couch so we were still in the same room. When we woke up in the morning he asked me how we got down here and I told him what happened and he apparently has no recollection of it. So yeah, there is never a dull moment!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 23: Easter Weekend!

Hey everybody! This has been another exciting week of being a missionary in quarantine! I hope everything is going good for you all and that you had a blessed Easter weekend!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday we got to hang out with the Polaris Elders again for P day. We just hung out in our apartment and played games and grilled up some chicken. It was pretty fun, those elders are a hoot!

Tuesday we had District leader training for Elder Erickson with the Zone leaders. That went by pretty fast and we had some fun. After that we did a training visit and I went with Elder Bosworth for the night. That night we went over to the park and threw the frisbee for a little while and then we had a miracle! 

Wednesday I spent the morning with Elder Bosworth and we just talked for a while until we met back up with Elder Holmes and Erickson and switched back. Nothing else really happened that day.

Thursday was another slow going day where nothing happened.

Friday we had our Zone call and our zone got roasted by President. Apparently we are getting the least referrals in the mission and we SUCK at contacting said referrals. It's all good though, we're hopefully going to be doing better. The worldwide fast kicked my butt. It was so hard for some odd reason! I woke up and felt like I was starving! I survived and completed my fast which was awesome!

Saturday we didn't really do much again. We just were in the apartment trying to stay busy.

Sunday was by far the best day of the week! President Stratford allowed everyone to get with 1 other companionship for 4 hours to celebrate Easter. Since there are 3 companionships of elders in our district, President let all of us celebrate together. So we had us, the Zone leaders, and the Assistants at our apartment for Easter. We had the sacrament together and then grilled up some steak and cooked up a bunch of good food for dinner. That was some of the best food ever! I'm just counting this as the funny moment of the week because of all the funny videos and jokes that we told after we ate. This was a very needed and refreshing day to have during the quarantine!

Miracle of the week: 

While me and Elder Bosworth were throwing the frisbee we decided to go for a lap around the pond that was right next to us. As we start walking around a guy sees us and runs up with us and says, "Oh my gosh! How are you Elders doing? Walk with me!" So we are walking around with him and he tells us how he has been less active for a year now and has been debating on getting active again. When we were about to leave he told us how he doesn't believe in coincidences and how we both were supposed to meet and talk with each other. We bore our testimonies of the church and the Book of Mormon and left him with a challenge to do a 21 day BoM challenge to strengthen his testimony. It was such a miracle to run into him and help him with his testimony. There are still miracles our there everybody! You just have to find them!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 22: General Conference!

Hey everybody! This has been yet another fun filled week of being extremely bored while in isolation! I hope everything is going well for you all and that you have an amazing week! While out walking I have noticed a couple of things. Everyone is outside and now that they are all outside, we can't talk to them. Also, the more they come outside, the less they are wearing. Doh!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was P day which was fun. We did some shopping and played some basketball with the Polaris Elders. That was pretty much it.

Tuesday we sat in the apartment and tried to do as much missionary work as we could. Other than that we didn't do much.

Wednesday we had district council which was a lot of fun, even though it was over video call. There were a lot of good insights and principles to apply to our lives. After that we gave the sisters blessings which was interesting.

Thursday we didn't do much again. Nothing too crazy for that day.

Friday we had zone calls and we talked about how we can stay busy while under lock down. We received a commandment from Sister Stratford which was to walk at least 4 miles a day. So following the call me and Elder Erickson went on a walk around a pond in our area.

Saturday was so good! Finally getting to watch General Conference, which the prophet has been hyping up for months, was amazing! There were so many wonderful talks given that gave me so many new things to think about.

Sunday was so good as well! Getting to participate in the Hosanna shout was such a memorable and spiritual moment! The talks were very inspiring and I have so much motivation to go and do now!

Miracle of the week:

When we were giving the sisters blessings, I got to give a blessing to a newer sister. One thing we have to do now when giving blessings is that we have to cast Satan out. Our mission President told us that with this time of sitting idle, Satan will try to poke and prod at us and try to get into our minds. So when we give blessings we have to cast him out and replace the space with something positive. It was a very interesting and spiritual experience getting to perform a blessing for that sister.

Funny moment of the week:

For the Saturday evening session we were watching it with our Zone Leaders and we were going to grill up some salmon. When we went outside to light the grill, Elder Erickson sniffs and yells, "Man, who's smoking out here" as a joke. We look over and there is a random lady smoking a cigarette who just glares at us. We all let out a loud "oof" and hurried and lit the grill and went back inside.

Love,

Elder Bohn