8/29/16

hey yinz.

This week has been pretty awesome. We got to do some good work and see some good things coming down the road for it. We've done tons and tons of finding. I've been talking to everyone and their dog. Dogs are actually much easier to start a conversation with so use them to get to their humans. there's a tip for you. This week we went from 1 investigator to 4 whole real people. Still dont know if half are solid but we're trying alright.

A main excitement that is happening is the renewed Member Missionary Guide is looking good and we've got like 5 printed off. We'll find out what the Stake's budget is for printing.

Went to Philly again. so that's legit.

This is Terry, he got mouth surgery and isn't dead so he's a believer to say the least! Now he's got a Book of Mormon.

Papa Ralph came to a members house for dinner on Sunday and it was a great time. He's a very good house guest. For reservations to have a spritely 90 year old over for dinner, give him a call.

There's the guide i made. its cute right?

It's short I know but its ok.
Elder Simmons

8/22/16

Well it was a super fast week. The main thing from this week was the new apartment we got. Its super nice, like a lot nicer than any other missionary place I've been to, including Altoona zone leaderss place. That took all of our friday to pack and saturday to move and such.

But Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Stolworthy, who is a big Tennessee man. Nice guy, we got to talk to a lot of people and even got a return appointment with a woman that we've talked to in the past. Spoiler alert: she said she wasn't interested the next day after we had gotten a couple to come with us. So we had not one but two investigators for almost 24 hours.. hah, but it's alright. We're working hard and doing our best.

The best news of this week was that the Lancaster Stake's conference will will be focused on member missionary work. and they'll be using the new and improved member missionary guide that Elder Allen and I made. So that's super exciting and if I get transferred next week I will be super ticked. I can't leave Lititz yet! This place is too awesome.

We went lemonading once and we got a number of a family that accepted copies of the Book of Mormon. So I hope the Lancaster Elders will be able to get in touch with them. We also gave our friend Anthony a copy of the Book of Mormon, we've balled with him once then ran into him at a gas station. We also visited Ralph this week! Love that guy, we watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with him. It is a much more touching experience when you are praying your investigator will have a super spiritual experience. At the end he told us, "aren't you so proud to be sharing this message?" Yes Ralph we are. We teared up and gave us hugs and thanked us for everything we and all the other missionaries have done for him. He also came to church for sacrament meeting, so he'll get there one day for sure. Our goal is to have members have him over for dinners. That'll be the trick.

that's about it for me.

Elder Simmons

8/15/16

Well this week was pretty cool. I had a good time. I do enjoy missionary work and such.
Tuesday was sweet because we got to do our Lemonade stand at a park. It's a really awesome way to get to talk to people. It's pretty non-threatening and we get to talk to a lot of kind people. Our tuesday go of it was pretty productive. We were able to give out two copies of the Book of Mormon and we got a number of a guy who lives in the city. We had 16 people drink our lemonade, which is pretty good considering the fact that if a cop came up to us for paperwork to see if we could legally give out lemonade to the public we'd have our hienies in the back of a cop car, or at least we'd get kicked out for a while. But hey its so flippin humid in this state that people are willing to trust us 19 and 20 year old kids.

Wednesday was good, we went to a restaurant that a temple worker said was bomb. I should've realized that we were getting a suggestion from a 70+ person on where to eat, so when we went there it was pretty much that age demographic, I was the youngest in there for sure. Elevator music, fake flower pens, it was great. If you're over 70 know that I'm sure you're a great person I just don't feel comfortable eating with your peers. Anyways. We tried to talk to people in Lititz but had a mediocre time. We helped a family move out then went and fixed some typos in our member missionary guide project. Thursday we had bingo with the great people at a retirement community. That was a good time, more satisfying than walking around a neighborhood at 2 in the afternoon so no complaints. Then we got to go to the Philly Temple AGAIN with the Whitings and they brought their non member friends. It was awesome!

Friday we visited Ralph who's family is still against him. Bummer but we'll keep lovin' him anyways. We also went to the park again and had a awesome conversation with a guy who at first didn't want a Book of Mormon but we answered a bunch of questions he had and we were able to tell him our experiences with the Book of Mormon and bear our testimonies of it and by the end of our time with him he wanted a Book of Mormon and he took a few pamphlets and all the good stuff. It was really awesome to see, and it feels good to know after a year you are still able to change lives.

Saturday we went to Baltimore for a baptism. It was a very kind lady that loves Elder Allen because he found her off the street or something. It was a good experience, I didn't really know anyone there so I was "Stoic".

Sunday's in this ward are always awesome, so no complaints there.

a very symbolic burning of the PPMBM year mark shirt.

Elder Simmons

8/8/16

Hello friends and family and PPM missionaries.

This week was a typical paper filled week. It was a hopefully exciting week for Ralph though. We still don't know the outcome of his birthday confrontation with his family, but on Thursday we got to see him with Bro Anderson. Ralph has days where he has his worries showing more than his want to be baptized. It was a good visit this week so it was all up to him on Sunday. The prediction is that it went badly and we'll have to clean up the ashes from the family blowing up to his want to be baptized. But we fasted for him anyways.

On Wednesday we got to go to the DC temple. We were there from 12:30-7:30. We got to do every ordinance you could think of. It was pretty cool because I got to take family names that I had gotten...back in october 2014... I could've sworn I got them done but I guess not! It was cool though because over half of them were from Baltimore so its like they got to go to their own temple. I got to remember and learn a lot more from the temple. It was an amazing time.

Another highlight was on Saturday when we got to got to play bingo with around 20 older folks. Some of them really put the pressure on to have the pace of game go quickly. If they aren't happy they have no problem saying it out loud, loudly. Haha but it was a great time and probably all of them enjoyed us. Here's the craziest thing about my week. First off we had a day that absolutely was terrible. We were left walking around neighborhood trying to talk to people for hours. I prayed that we need help, it was obvious to me that our efforts weren't doing much of anything. So the next day we cleaned our apartment-which has nothing to do with the prayer just important back story. As I was vacuuming I hit a plug socket, but not the one that had the vacuum plugged in, don't freak out. Point is I tapped it and half of the electricity went out in the house, which also meant one of our two AC units was out. (We're looking for a better place to live). That evening we got the landlord over and he got an electrician over as well. While both of them were there we had a nice time getting to know both of them, you know, being a friend and such. When the Landlord left we got to know the electrician even more. Not only was he funny but a Christian as well. We got to know a lot of his story, some things only his wife and brother know. We got the chance to tell him about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. By the end of his 4 hours at our house he gladly accepted a Book of Mormon. He was excited to read it because he was tired of the Bible being shoved down his throat. He appreciated and specifically said that he was impressed that we didn't shove our message down his throat either. We gave the book to him like a friend would give a gift to another. It was really awesome. I have prayed a good while to have him want to learn more. It would be a great thing.

Good things to come in Lititz, we've been able to meet a few people once then see them randomly again and get their number. It should be good things to come

Elder Simmons

8/1/16

This week has been pretty interesting.

On Tuesday I had my first zone training. I felt like a brand new missionary, it was hard. So here we all sit at table in a semi circle in the gym. my backside was in pain after sitting there for so long. Anyways they do a thing where your companionship has the chance to stand up and share a miracle to everyone. Elder Allen got me to stand up the first time and I complied. I quickly realized its not to tell everyone about a miracle but to brag about your area/work. So when Elder Allen wanted to stand up again I didn't stand up. I don't need to doubly brag, doesn't need to be a thing. I enjoyed leaving him high and dry up there.

Wednesday and Thursday's highlights were going out with some awesome members going and visiting some less active members and such. The coolest experience was with bro Meldrum who was telling us at dinner that no one in his 4 years of living in Lancaster County has ever recognized him on the street as the man who delivered their baby. That was until that night, an hour after he told us that. We talked to two women standing outside their apartment and she recognized him. It was awesome. Both of them are down to listen to our message. Bro Meldrum did a great job at introducing the Book of Mormon to them. Members are the best to work with. Friday we went to Lititz and talked to people on the street. It was pretty cool, super hot though.

Saturday was also an awesome day because we got to go to the baptism of Meghan. Nick and Meghan are this awesome couple who I've been able to be friends with. I've been there in some cool moments in her conversion like her baptismal interview, the temple and her baptism. After the baptism the rains came down and it was madness. Not that I can post it to my icloud photo sharing but it was epic.

Sunday's highlight and what will be today's is making a member missionary booklet. essentially were taking Pittsburgh's and making it into a single little accordion booklet. if any PPMers are actually reading this far ask me for the finished product next week. It has been really fun to be able to use Photoshop again, I've been able to remember ways to work the program that I did not think was possible to remember.

Elder Simmons

7/26/16

Baltimore, West York, Philadelphia and Birthday

Hello Everyone,

Essentially my week is the subject line. On Tuesday we went to Baltimore to pick up my companion Elder Allen. He's a cool guy. So I got to go to Balmer which is cool. It's a lot like Pittsburgh so that's neat. Dirty, has buses, and homeless people weave through cars at stop lights. that's a new one. Before I knew it I spent the day in West York and walked in the blasted heat. It was alright I suppose. Just a funky day.

Fast forward to Saturday because I dont have an Ipad so I've got a time limit on the computer. Saturday was my birthday and we got to take Ralph to the Philadelphia temple. It was a unforgettable experience for sure. The spirit was super strong in there. A favorite two lines I heard was when Ralph said, It's just like heaven in here. then Bro Anderson said, That's what I've been trying to tell you Ralph. Really an unforgettable time, people we teach have no idea what the temple is like and how that's our main goal. Ralph better understands the baptism is the gate and temple is the goal. Other good parts of being at the temple was seeing some old missionary chums who are back in the PPM. I even got to see President and Sister Johnson which made my day. She even remembered my birthday, what a flippin saint. It felt like seeing my parents again, I was so happy.

I will admit I did not think this change would be so hard. Who knew that on the other side Mas-Dixon line so many things would be different. Adjusting to missionary life when I first came out came easily to me. Now adjusting to a new mission is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Some days I feel like a brand new missionary. I'll probably even read the booklet now.

Probably a good thing these updates are shorter. Anyways
Elder Simmons