Week 42: Zone Conference!

Hey everyone! This has been an awesome week for me. We had plenty of good times and lots of service! Cleveland is truly a blessed area!

Here's a quick run through of the week:

Monday we had district activities at the church which is always a hoot. We played lots of basketball and even more volleyball. After that the Zone leaders came down for training visits and we had a good ole time!

Tuesday I spent the day with Elder Tolman and we worked hard and ate plenty of Taco Bell. We had a couple really good lessons and reached out to a lot of people. It was a really good day!

Wednesday was a pretty average day for us. We taught a couple lessons and had a couple lessons cancel. It's all good though, that's just life!

Thursday we had Zone Conference in person and it was absolutely amazing! We had a lot of really awesome trainings and the spirit was definitely strong. We talked with President afterwards and he said that he has big plans for Elder Parker and I, so we are concerned for what he has in store for us. Afterwards we taught a couple lessons that went pretty good.

Friday we did some service for a family in the Cleveland 3rd area. They were moving out and we helped them load up their stuff into a moving truck. It was sad to see them go, but it was awesome doing some service. That night we had a lesson with a member and they invited their nonmember girlfriend to attend. It was an awesome lesson, she didn't seem too interested but she liked the lesson. 

Saturday we did some service in the morning that was really good. We did some yard work which was a blast, I haven't done yard work in ages! Afterwards nothing too crazy happened, but it was still a pretty good day.

Sunday was just filled to the brim with meetings for church, but it was pretty sweet. We had a pretty good lesson with one of the members and we had THE best oven pizza of my life which was sweet! It was a really good start to the week.

Funny moment of the week:

When the Zone leaders were down we ended up having an hour long deep doctrine discussion with all the missionaries and it was pretty fun. We mainly talked about fun or interesting Old Testament stories which is a hoot! 

Miracle of the week:

One of the ladies we are teaching and have on date invited her sister to a lesson and it went really amazing. She then talked about inviting her daughter and a coworker with her to the next lesson. She is doing as much missionary work as we are! She is such an amazing lady!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 41: Plank N Teach

Hey everyone, this isn't going to be a long weekly. It was a pretty uneventful day for the most part, but there were still good times to be had!

Here's a VERY quick run through of the week:

Monday we had district activities which is always a blast. Other than that, we just messed around and had a good ole time.

Tuesday we started off the day with a fire drill in our apartment, so yeah, fun times. Other than that we just taught some lessons and called it good.

Wednesday we had District Council, outside, which went really good. Afterwards I went on a training visit with Elder Allen and we had a pretty good time. We stopped by a couple referrals to no avail and I planked on 2 more Cleveland signs. If you aren't aware, there are 6 Cleveland Script signs. My goal is to plank on all of them. I am at 4. Wish me luck on the other 2. 

Thursday was a pretty slow going day up until the end. We had a lesson with a lady that Elder Parker met yesterday and we put her on date for baptism! She is so ready for the gospel, she was asking all the right questions and the only downside is that she isn't YSA because she has a daughter. It's fine though, it was still amazing teaching her!

Friday was just another day in the life of a missionary. We had weekly planning and had a lot of lessons cancel. It's fine though, that's just life.

Saturday I went on another training visit with one of the new Cleveland 3rd Elders whose name is Elder Findling. He is a complete stud! We had a really good day together and a couple amazing lessons. One will be mentioned in the miracle of the week section.

Sunday was another average day in the life of a missionary. I did make a leather cover for my Triple Combination so it was pretty awesome!

Miracle of the week:

So on that training visit we met a lady that had signed up to learn more about the bible and we went over and taught her about the Old and New Testament. She didn't know too much but we read through Matthew 6 and she was just absorbing everything like a sponge! She told us how she just wants to grow closer to Christ and that she is excited to study the scriptures to grow closer. We then told her about the Book of Mormon and she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. She was so excited to learn about our church and the Book of Mormon. She told us that she knew there was a reason she reached out to us. It was just such an amazing lesson to be a part of.

Funny moment of the week:

A hobo asked us for money one day and we noticed that he had a pamphlet about the Restoration in his hands. Apparently another missionary gave it to him when he asked for money. Ahh, the joy of missionary work!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 40: Protection From the Element?

Hey everyone! This has been an exciting week for me despite it being a shorter one. Also, by exciting I mean absolutely bizarre! There is just never a dull moment here in Cleveland.

Here is a quick run through of this week:

Wednesday we had our p day and we didn't really do too much since no one was going anywhere. However, we did move all the new Cleveland 3rd Elder's stuff to their apartment for their arrival the next day. It felt really good to be able to have our study room back instead of it being in our living room. Other than that, we didn't do too much throughout the day besides basketball at the church.

Thursday we had a couple lessons throughout the day that went really good. In the afternoon the new elders came and we helped get them set up in their apartment. When they put all of their stuff away we snagged them to be third males for a lesson we had with an investigator. It was a really good lesson and we put her on date to be baptized! But, it's a little bit weird because she isn't YSA age. She is a middle aged lady that the Cleveland 3rd elders had us teach because they were super busy with lessons. But yeah, she's on date now so good times.

Friday We had a rather interesting lesson with another one of our investigators that has given us reason to be concerned. I can't go into detail but we talked with our Mission President and he told us to talk to him and to keep him updated on what happens.

Saturday was the most enlightening day of my mission by far. The Cleveland 3rd Elders wanted us to join them for a lesson with someone that just called them out of the blue and said, "I need to meet with you NOW" and a whole bunch of other wack stuff. So naturally intrigued, we joined them and talked with him outside in public to avoid a hazardous interaction. I cannot fully convey everything he said to us, but I will try my best in the funny moment of the week.

Sunday we had a pretty slow going day with not much happening. We dropped off a Bible to a lady that requested one who did not look happy to see us. We handed the Bible to her and she asked, "this isn't the Mormon Bible is it?". We told her no, but we could give her a Book of Mormon if she wanted. She quickly declined and said that she was Catholic and she only reached out to us to get a replacement Bible. Oh the joys of missionary work! Another thing, I figured out how to solve a 3x3 Rubik's Cube. It's nonstop good times here in Cleveland.

Miracle of the week:

When we got done moving in all the stuff into the Cleveland Elders apartment we ran downstairs to the back parking lot to grab something. While down there we saw a guy trying to get a queen sized mattress off of the top of his car by himself. We asked him if he needed help and he said, "Lord have mercy, heck yeah!". We then helped him get his mattress up to his apartment and he told us about how he was praying that someone would help him get his mattress to his room because he knew he couldn't do it by himself. As he was thinking this we asked him if we could help him. He was very grateful for our help and asked us if our church was doing any meetings because he would be interested in attending. We gave him our information and we will be trying to get into contact with him. Service is always the best way to bring people to the gospel!

Funny Moment of the week:

To summarize he talked about a force called "The Element" that is everywhere and all powerful, also it can swim so no one is safe. The one upside is that the heat kills it, but when the winter comes we are all done for. The Element also snatches teeth from people. After telling us this he proceeds to show us his missing front teeth as evidence. He also told us that the Element goes after all species: women, men, Chinese, Japanese, white, black, etc. While we were trying to fully process what The Element was, he then went full throttle into how he is in a position of authority and needs protection. He is, "the spiritual son of the Pope, Buddha, and the Bishop" so he needs protection from the Element. It was at this point that we realized that he thinks that we are security agents for the Catholic church and we are there to protect him and his family. That is pretty much all I can recall from our conversation, but it still boggles my mind thinking about all of the things that were talking about. The people of Cleveland make my life so much better because of the stories I get while here!

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 39: Non-Stop Good Times and an Absolute Party!

Hey everyone! We are having transfers tomorrow morning and it looks like I'm staying with Elder Parker for the foreseeable future. Other than transfer updates we just had an all out good time with going back to somewhat normal missionary work. 

Here's a quick run through of this week:

Monday we had our first district activity since this whole Covid nonsense. We had nonstop good times playing basketball and volleyball with everyone. We ended it off with donuts and had a couple lessons.

Tuesday we had a couple in person lessons with some investigators. They went super awesome and we were able to cover a lot of ground. Other than that, it was a pretty average day.

Wednesday we had District Council which went really good. In person District Councils are definitely the way to go. After that we had a couple lessons and updated some branch progress records.

Thursday I went on a training visit with Elder Black which was pretty fun. We taught a ton of lessons with some of their investigators and we set up a time to drop off a Book of Mormon to one of the ladies we taught. We did some street contacting which really didn't go anywhere. No one likes talking to us sadly. Other than that, nothing too crazy happened.

Friday I went on another training visit, this time with Elder Allen. We just went on a straight up adventure. As part of being in the YSA branch, half of our members and investigators are out of the mission. So we have special permission to leave the mission to go stop by to see them. So elder Allen and I leave and go drop off that Book of Mormon to their investigator previously mentioned and we make a couple pit stops. One of them was the Rock and Roll hall of fame which was pretty dope. We also made a stop to see the second Cleveland sign. I went ahead and planked on that one too. I own Cleveland. We eventually dropped off the Book of Mormon and went back to our area and taught a couple lessons. 

Saturday I had yet another training visit with one of our ZLs, Elder Winter. We started off the day with some service for one of their members by helping them move into their new home. Afterwards Elder Winter and I dropped off some treats to some members which was pretty fun. When the day was over we drove through a pretty crazy rain storm which was sketchy. It's all good though, we survived.

Sunday was a pretty average day for us. We didn't do too much besides the normal. Since it was fast Sunday it felt infinitely longer than normal which is always a hoot. We also had a very interesting lesson to say the least. To wrap it up, the guy basically told us there was an invisible person next to him sitting in a chair. He knew this because he saw their butt cheek imprint on the chair. Yep. Fun times.

Monday was a pretty average day. We had a couple lessons in the morning and did a little bit of street contacting. We talked to one guy that seemed kind of interested, hopefully he will reach out to us. Other than that, nothing happened

Tuesday was a slow going day for the most part. We had pretty much all of our lessons cancel on us one by one and we tried dropping by some people in person to check on them to find out that they gave us some random address. We got pranked. Later that night the transfer board came out and our entire district is staying the same. The only change is that we are getting another set of Cleveland 3rd Elders which is going to be an absolute party!

Funny moment of the week:

Before District Council on Wednesday everyone made masks out of random objects in their apartments. We then proceeded to take an extraordinary District photo. It's nonstop good times!

Miracle of the week:

We have a new guy we are teaching, Joe, and he is awesome. We had a lesson with him and he had a question about forgiveness for big mistakes. We then turned to Alma 36 and read about Alma's conversion story and how when he turned to Christ he was forgiven and his pains went away. The story really stuck with him and he couldn't hide the smile on his face. It was truly amazing to see how much the scriptures can impact people's lives!

Love,

Elder Bohn