Hello!

This week has been a bit of a struggle. It started off really
well, but towards the end things got tough. On Tuesday I was on an
exchange with our 6'8" Canadian District Leader haha. He is always
great to have because instead of contacting people, they ask him about
his height and then love that he is from Canada haha. But we had a
good day on Tuesday. We had a lesson with Trevor, he is 22 and was
raised in a Lutheran church, he is going through some hard times
though because he is fighting or custody of his child and he is down
on himself. So we had a great lesson about Gods love and about prayer.
We really just tried to help him build a relationship with God. I love
teaching about something so simple, but so hard. Because we all know
what it is that we need to do, it's just a matter of doing it. And
helping others realize the importance of building that relationship
always helps me to realize that I too, can always work to strengthen
my own relationship with God.
Wednesday was by far my favorite day this week. Elder Longhurst
and I had a great morning of studies and we went and visited some of
our focus names in the Northern part of our area which we don't get to
very often. But after our meeting at the church, Elder Longhurst and I
went on splits with members. I went to teach Anthony the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. We had already taught him a bit about faith and
repentance so when we got there, I asked him why it is so important to
him to have faith? And he said,"faith gives me a kind of identity,
faith helps me to not want to make mistakes." And I thought to myself
that things with Anthony are really starting to click. When we got to
baptism I asked him if he has ever been baptized, he said when he was
a baby but it didn't mean anything to him and then he said,"are you
offering me to be baptized?" And I said yes. He said he wants to and
then I told him that it was great but that there are some things we
have to work on before he gets baptized. The lesson went really well
and he was excited for us to come by again and for church. Later in
the week, we stopped by to arrange a ride for Anthony to get to church
and he wouldn't even talk to us. He said he was busy and doesn't have
time. That same day, we found out that there are complications with
Lawrence and his situation, and they are moving. Our two strongest
investigators were gone in about 4 hours. I realized that missions do
put you through some of the best times and also some of the worst. It
all comes down to our reactions. There are always going to be tough
times. We shouldn't pray to have these trials removed because often
times, the Lord is trying to help us grow. We need to pray for
stronger shoulders to carry the load. Elder Longhurst and I were just
bummed out about it but I have been keeping positive and optimistic.
Elder Longhurst last night let it all out. Our Ward is stressful,
there are many great families, but a lot of the ward isn't super
involved and Elder Longhurst goes home in 3 weeks. He hasn't baptized
much on his mission and we lost our two strongest investigators. I saw
it coming because he won't answer phone calls, he gives me the phone,
he won't help plan much, and he has been more negative lately. He
mentioned last night that he felt bad because I had to put up with his
downhill spiral. So, I didn't like doing it, but we had a stern
conversation about attitude and about faith. I was upset because he
has 3 weeks left and he is losing hope and faith and doesn't really
care. But we had a good conversation about why we decided to serve
missions and what ways we have changed from being out. It was great to
hear his testimony finally come out of him again. It made me realize
why Elder Longhurst and I have been put together as companions. I have
learned a lot from him. And the Lord needed us to be together so we
could both grow as missionaries but more importantly to solidify our
testimonies.

This week has been a bit rough but we have lots of good things
coming this upcoming week! We are working well with the ward and when
the time is right, things will work out! I hope you guys have a great
week! Love you! Elder Byington

P.S. Big news coming out of Phoenix. They just caught a man named
Bryan Miller for some crazy stuff in the 90's. They investigated his
house for over 5 days and scanned everything in there for more clues.
Look him up and see what you find. He lives about a half mile below
our apartment and we use his street every day haha. He was a man we
contacted that didn't want to talk to us much haha.