Another week bites the dust!

Well hey there familia!

Its been an interesting week out here in beautiful Oregon! its kinda seems like a blur and we were pretty busy but we had a ton of stuff that got canceled on us this week. Thats OK though we made due! First off I'm not sure you all can tell from the pictures I've been sending but it is seriously naturally gorgeous out here! The mountains are pretty incredible! Its been raining a bunch lately so everything super green and it just looks awesome! Its a bunch different the back home beauty. I mean I don't think anything compares to the ocean and all of our trees and rivers but its pretty dang nice up here! Its also been super temperate recently! like it was low 70's ish all week long! haha sorry since its been super hot in VA and Florida and other places.. We've been enjoying it though! On Wednesday night after we did our planning for the next day we took a drive up this smaller mountain that has an awesome view of the valley and just sat there and looked at all the lights and ate Otter pops lol! Its was so cool! you could see everything! It looked way bigger then it is though lol. We take time to have little mini adventures like that to de-stress and enjoy the area while we have it! Next Monday as a last hooraa before transfers we are all going up to a town called Joesph were they have this incredible glacier lake! I'm super pumped! Its a bit away so I thought it would be worth it for potentially my last p-day in the area! I'll take tons of pictures of that! It apparently looks identical to the Swiss alps up there! Its that pretty! haha This area is so cool! The Elders in my Apartment are awesome to! I'll miss Elder Epperson a bunch. I hope we don't end up in separate missions! haha no dad wants to leave his son behind! but Elder Hatifi and Christanson are way cool to and we are super close! thats one of the best things about Lagrande is getting to live with 3 other missionaries! its just fun! haha it can be a little distracting at time though lol. Anyways we have 2 weeks left in the transfer and I do think I'll be moved this one...

Anyways the work this week was up and down. We had a lot of appointments cancel but we also had a bunch of unplanned opportunities! We finally found a whole family to teach!!!!!!! I'm flippin out lol! haha I haven't got to teach a whole nonmember family yet!(well the wife is a member but she got baptized when she was 10 and never went to church since!) They are super cool though and they have been sooo prepared! The dad is just full of questions and he feels that he's been moving towards this path for awhile! The 2 kids are both teens and are super excited to learn! We taught them the restoration of the Gospel and gave them each a Book of Mormon! The spirit was crazy strong! We invited them to be baptized and they said yes!! haha they also said that they have a bunch of preparing to do and they want to make this change as a family or not at all! soooo tight!! It stinks that I'm not going to be here to finish with them but I've just been praying for the opportunity to help bring the message of the gospel to a whole family! So ya that was way cool!  The daughter is a beast XC runner so I told her about you my sista's lol!
Anyways other awesome things would be JT our Ginger Student! He has been so on fire. We challenged him to be baptized this Saturday before he leaves but he says that he does want to finish the whole book of Mormon and read some of D&C before he takes that step. He said the biggest reason he wants to wait tell he gets back in the fall is that he wants to talk to his dad in person and share with his parents the things that he has come to believe! I thought that it was a mature decision even if I wanted to see him get baptized! He came to all of church again yesterday and brought a friend with him! he loved it! Anyways the coolest thing with JT this week happened last night! We were being a little crazy staying up talking and he texted us at about 1040, He said that he had been praying and asking some questions and he just felt overwhelmed by the spirit! He apologized for texting so late but he felt like he had to tell somebody! He also sent us a short testimony cuz he was in the mood to testify!!! lol that was so flippin cool! I've had the opportunity to see him change completely! He was skeptical about the existence of Heavenly Father and he thought the Bible was just Fantasy! He prays with so much real intent now! He reads the BOM and Bible every day even when he's busy! its just been super cool :) I feel crazy blessed to have got the chance to know him and help him find all these things out for himself!

Anyways M has been doing awesome! She's been doing amazing as a missionary! we met with one of her friends this past week and we are going to meet another one this week! she is just on fire! she loves the gospel and isn't afraid to share it with anyone!!! She's going to do baptisims for the dead at the Temple this Saturday!! she sounded super excited about it! haha she was stoked to be declared by the bishop a "goodish human being" haha so ya she got her temple recommend! Anne is also going this Saturday to start her husband’s work and a bunch of other relatives haha! she's done way good with all of that!  We had a really good lesson with S and we reset her baptismal date for 6/29. She just has a hard time feeling worthy of all the blessings the gospel has and will bring her.. thats exactly why she needs it! She also has a hard time coming to church because she is so shy.. I guess one step at a time though. Haha Me and Epperson tried some tracting for fun this week and we actually found a few people to teach from it! So we might do it a little more often haha nothing crazy though :) Ideally we have set appointments all day or we are contacting referrals but when we have some of that fall through we've hit some doors haha. It was a fun week for sure! Anything you all want from Oregon? haha I'll find out soon but I want to be prepared for when the time comes! The members here sure do spoil us! Its been really cool to actually get to know these people! Love it!

Anyways thanks for the Emails! those have been so awesome! Thanks again for my B-day stuff! holy cow I love my watch!!! have an awesome week and have fun! I know school and stuff can be boring at times but I've come to realize that no matter what your situation is you can make it fun and enjoy yourself! I know we have hard things to do and some stuff that just aint no fun but I know when we choose to dwell on the positive and forget the negative we can honestly enjoy just about any situation! haha ok mic and manda.. maybe enjoy life as a whole while finishing school and studying for tests haha! Just have a blast ok! haha

I love you all a bunch! Summer is almost here!!! go to the beach a few times for me would ya! haha that is definitely a first weekend home to do list item lol!

Mucho Loveo Elder Aaron mac!