Week 29: Birthday Surprises

Hello everybody! This past week flew right on by as we had nothing but fun times and dean lessons (dean means awesome or sweet. It is and Ohio thing) in the schedule! Nothing too much has changed for us in the mission, we are still doing the same things we have been for the past little while. It's all good though. I'm having a blast!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was one of the best days of my mission! Today was Sister Stratford's birthday so we decided to surprise her with a cake. The ZLs and APs came over to our apartment and helped us bake and decorate a cake. We all then piled into the truck and went over to the mission home. We got there and we waited for President and Sister Stratford to get there. As soon as they walked in we brought out the cake and started singing happy birthday! It was such a sweet moment! We then sat around and ate cake and ice cream and talked with Sister Stratford for a while. Another fun part of the day was that there was a tornado warning while we were at the mission home. Overall it was a super exciting day!

Tuesday was just another average isolation day as a missionary. We had a couple lessons that went really good and we had a good time. Other than that, nothing too crazy happened.

Wednesday we had a crazy fun day! More on the morning will be mentioned in the funny moment of the week. But, we had a training visit with the ZLs and we had some non stop good times. I went with Elder Holmes for the day and we had a good ole time. We called a bunch of members and had a ton of lessons. We also played a lot of basketball at the church so I was exhausted at the end of the day. We stayed the night with them and just talked before going to sleep.

Thursday we came back here to Worthington and just had another normal day of missionary work in isolation. One fun part was in the afternoon, one of the youth was graduating this year. The ward was going to do a drive by celebration for them, so we decided to get in on the action. We put some streamers on the car with signs and a balloon. It was pretty fun! The family was happy to see us!

Friday we had one of the most interesting referrals that we got into contact with. She seemed normal at first, but then she got weird. All I'll say is that she considers her Thomas the Train toys her children and thinks that trains are living creatures. Yep. It was a very awkward phone call. Other than that, nothing else really happened.

Saturday we went and shot a whole bunch of videos for our zone page with the Elders in our zone. It went pretty good overall and we got some Taco bell so I can't complain. Later that night we got to play some basketball with Aramus our recent convert in the ward and had an all out good time. 

Sunday was a pretty good day. It went by pretty slow, but it was all good. We had lessons with a couple members and the ZLs went around to all the Elders in the zone and gave them blessings. It was a sweet time! 

Funny moment of the week:

On that Wednesday morning we woke up at 5:30 am and went to have a Surprise training visit with the ZLs. We got there around 6:25 am and started throwing bark at their window to wake them up and let us in. We scared the crap out of them when we started pounding on the door and ringing the doorbell. They weren't too happy to see us at first, but they still let us in and we ended up having a good time!

Miracle of the week:

One thing our mission President has told us to do is to ask God for a miracle. They are always out there, we just need to ask for them. So the night before we had our surprise training visit I prayed that Heavenly Father would send us someone to teach that for that week. When we woke up in the morning and got to Marysville, we saw that we had a referral for someone to teach. We are in contact with them and are having weekly Bible readings, but we left them a Book of Mormon the other day. Miracles are out there, you just have to ask for them.

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 28: Sleepovers!

Hello everyone! Holy cow, this has been one crazy week with all the good times we've been having! I'm excited for this new transfer and all the good times that are in store! I hope that you all are doing good wherever you may be and I wish you the best!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Wednesday was a pretty laid back p day because we didn't have to pack any of our stuff up for transfers. We hung out with the ZLs and the Polaris Elders for the day and had an all out good time. We grilled up some chicken, steak, and pineapple. After that we played some basketball and just sat and talked for a while. We stayed the night with the ZLs because they were replacing the water heater at our apartment and they didn't want us there. We weren't complaining!

Thursday we got up in the morning and we went to transfers. We had to go because we were picking up a missionary who was going home the next day. His name was Elder McVey. We got to transfer and talked with all the Elders there and waiting for him to show up and it was pretty fun. When he got there we loaded up the car and decided to go to the mission home. More on this will be in the funny moment of the week. Afterwards we went back go Marysville with the ZLs and had a party. We grilled up some burgers and wanted to make the best of Elder McVey's last night in the mission. As we were partying, we all had the fantastic idea to pull an all-nighter because we had to leave at 4am the next morning to get him to the church building. Elder Holmes and Erickson went over to the gas station and grabbed some Rockstars and some snacks in preparation for an even better time. (Don't worry, I didn't drink any of them) We stayed up all night just talking and reminiscing on good times and it was amazing. At like 2:30 we all got pretty hungry so I made some mac n cheese. I don't know if we were just crazy from sleep deprivation or what, but that was probably the best mac n cheese I've ever had in my life! Eventually it got to 3:30 and Elder McVey went and got ready for his flight and we slept for like 30 minutes.

Friday started at like 4am I've decided. When Elder McVey finished getting ready we loaded in the car and drove over to the Dublin building. We got there and just threw the football to pass the time until the APs got there. When everyone finally got there we loaded up the trailer and they left. But, as they were leaving everyone who just dropped them off stood by the exit to the parking lot and shouted, "Hoorah for Israel!". It was sweet to see their faces as they drove by. After that morning we were dead. Nothing else really happened for the rest of the day until the ZLs came that night for Elder Bosworth's birthday. We baked a cake and sang him happy birthday and then they went back home to Marysville.

Saturday was a pretty slow going day. Nothing too exciting happened for the most part. We had a couple really awesome lessons, but that was about it.

Sunday was a lot of fun overall. We participated in ward council in the morning and it went pretty good. After that we had a lesson with Bishop's family and then went to the church to give a Sister a blessing which was pretty sweet. After that we went over to the APs apartment to grab a cake pan. They weren't there when we grabbed it so we made a mattress teepee in their living room and left a note saying that the ZLs did it. And that was pretty much it for the day. We had a good time!

Miracle of the week:

A miracle this past week to me is all the progress we were able to make with the ward. They talked about how happy they were with the way we were doing things during ward council and that they want to help us with anything we want or need to do. It's truly amazing to see how diligent and helpful this ward is with missionary work!

Funny moment of the week:

So right after transfers, I'm not sure whose idea it was, but we decided to go back to the Stratford Salon. We all got another round of cuts and Elder Erickson is missing a chunk right above his ear. She did pretty good on mine, but I'm still not sure why we went back besides the fact that Sister Stratford is the best ever!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 27: Transfer Week!

Hey everyone! Holy smokes, this has been a pretty good week so far! It's been a long week because tomorrow is transfers and today is our P day. I hope everything is going good for all of you. 

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was a really fun time! We got together with the ZLs and the APs and ate about $50 worth of Canes and played some basketball. It was pretty fun and the day went by too fast.

Tuesday was slow going for the most part, we had a couple member lessons but that was it. At the end of the day we drove down to Powell to spend the night with the APs for a training visit. 

Wednesday was so much fun! We had District Council in the morning which went really well. We came up with a lot of fun and effective finding ideas for being in quarantine. After that we made some videos for Facebook with the APs and ended the night with Dairy Queen.

Thursday was a really slow day. Nothing too interesting happened besides a couple lessons.

Friday we had our zone calls where they just told us more about the Facebook pages we made. Oh, go follow our Facebook page called "Shining the Light of Christ in North Columbus" and start liking and sharing all the posts. After that we had a couple Elders in the mission stay the night so they could go fix a couple bikes in the mission. We didn't get that much sleep that night because we talked all night long.

Saturday was slow going once they left with the vehicle coordinator to fix bikes. We had a couple lessons and we cleaned the apartment a little but that was it. When they got back at the end of the day, we had an Italian food feast, which was awesome! Then they stayed the night again because they live 2 hours away in Tallmadge.

Sunday they got up and headed out after spending some more time talking. Nothing else happened that day so it was pretty boring.

Monday was a good time because we had a couple lessons, but I was exhausted because I kept thinking it was P day. Other than that it was just another day in quarantine.

Tuesday we found out our fates for transfers and it looks like Elder Erickson and I are staying here in Worthington for another 6 weeks! We are both pumped!

Miracle of the week:

The biggest miracle to me is that pretty much our entire District is staying the same. There are only like 2 new people which is cool, so we are all excited to stay together!

Funny moment of the week:

Elder Erickson naired his legs with Elder Bosworth because they lost a bet. I'll leave it at that.

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 26: Training Visits!

Holy smokes! This past week has definitely been a fun one! It was nonstop good times like normal filled to the brim with grilling and exploring! I hope that you all are doing good and I'm wishing the best for you!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday was yet again another hoot n a holler! Chillin' and grillin' are always the highlights of my P days now! We spent the day with the Zone leaders and Assistants having an all out good time. We grilled up corn on the cob, steak, ribs, donuts, rolls, and we had some mac n cheese on the side. This is some of the best eating I've had on my mission so far! After we had our feast we worked it off by roping and throwing a frisbee. We ended up staying the night with our Zone leaders because we were having our training visits the next day.

Tuesday was a day long to be remembered. We got a text from President Stratford saying that if any Elders in our zone wanted a haircut, they could come to the mission home and get one. We were pumped so the 4 of us scheduled a time with Sister Stratford and drove down to the mission home. What ensued afterwards will be included in the funny moment of the week. Following that harrowing experience we went on a hike in the same spot that we did last week. It was pretty fun overall and the 4 of us stayed together pretty much all day except for a couple hours. That night the 4 of us stayed the night in Worthington and had an absolute blast.

Wednesday we spent the entire day together again which is always fun. We went on some adventures and the fun came to an end when we got a call from the Sisters asking us where all the jumpsuits were in the Dublin building. They thought we stole them since we had the last baptisms. The only problem was that there weren't any of them there when we had our baptisms, we had to take the jumpsuits from the Marysville building. In the end we ended up just giving them a couple jumpsuits from the Marysville building and calling it good. They still weren't happy and we're pretty sure they hate us, but it's all good. After that we went our separate ways and went back to our areas.

Thursday was a rather boring day. We didn't do too much. We had a couple lessons, but that was about it.

Friday we had a Zone call with President Stratford and he told us that he is changing up our daily schedule. He is wanting us to start doing more and more finding and teaching online. We are now doing 8 - 30 minute finding sessions, 4 - 30 minute teaching sessions, and 4 - 15 minute break times. I'm excited for the work that we will begin doing and the miracles that will come of it. After that we had a couple lessons that went really good. 

Saturday was a slow going day well. We had a couple really spiritual lessons that really brightened my day. More will be mentioned in the miracle of the week.

Sunday was another slow going day. We had a couple lessons that went well and the devotional that we watched. Overall it was a really good day!

Miracle of the week:

On Saturday when we were having the lessons, we called one of the members to set up a time and to check up on them. They were so happy to hear from us. They said that they had been having a rough time with self isolation and not getting to talk to anyone. When the lesson was over, the member said that she wanted a lesson again next week and was super excited to get weekly lessons. It is a blessing to have such amazing ward members that are always up for a lesson!

Funny moment of the week:

So on that fateful Tuesday morning we drove to the mission home not sure what our fates would be. When we got there, Sister Stratford opened the garage and said that this is where she'll be cutting us. We asked her if she had cut hair before and she replied, "Well, I watched 2 hours of hair cutting videos yesterday!" I knew at that point I was going to kiss my hair goodbye. She looked at Elder Erickson and said, "you're first!". She sat Elder Erickson down in a chair and put a trash bag over him and started cutting. I don't know who was more nervous about the hair cuts, us or Sister Stratford. The funniest part was right in the middle of Elder Erickson's haircut, President came out and just started laughing and said, "You all are so screwed!" And then he went back inside. Next it was my turn and I was pretty scared. I thought I was going to lose an ear or something, but in the end I survived and my hair doesn't look half bad, from a distance of course. It was pretty fun getting to hang out with the Stratfords again and have an all out good time. Whenever I think that they can't get any better, they get even better!

Love,

Elder Bohn