General Conference is this week!

General Conference is this week! Everyone should watch it! It's pretty important. A prophet of God is going to be speaking. So pay attention. That's all. 

Experience to share: If anyone does not know what an Area Book is, it is a binder with all the information on all current, former, and potential investigators in the area. It is incredibly important to missionaries. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, we lost our Area Book. That is probably one of the worst things that can happen to missionaries. We must have left it on top of the car as we drove away. So we had to, from memory, recreate as much as we could. Which was not very much. We had been using that for the last few weeks. Then, we were knocking on a Less-Active member's door, and she gives us the usual spiel about how she's about to leave, and doesn't have time. But then she tells us she has some books for us. She goes inside for a minute, and then comes out with our Area Book! She said that a friend had pick it up off the side of the road and given it to her. It was an incredible miracle for us. We now have all the information we need about our area again. God actually cares about us, and cares about what we care about. God is aware of us.

I love you all!

Elder Plehn

P.S. Write me! Thanks!

Back to normal

Hey everyone!

I'm back to my normal P-day. Being a missionary is awesome. I get to see a lot of cool miracles and I get a lot of really interesting experiences. We are teaching a lot of people. We only have one person on date, but were pretty close to getting a second one. We took three of our investigators to a baptism in Selah on Saturday, just so they could see what goes on at a baptism. All three of them liked it, and all of them felt the Spirit. 

We're working on getting more investigators to church. When an investigator comes to church, it shows a lot about their willingness to learn more. And it gives them opportunities to feel the Spirit and develop relationships with members. 

I am surprised by the progress I feel that I'm making. It's becoming easier to share what I'm thinking, and to share my testimony. I still have a very long way to go, but I'm feeling more confident about what I'm doing. 

As always, I love hearing from you! 

Love, Elder Plehn

Sorry this is late...

Hello Everyone!

Sorry this is coming on Wednesday instead of Monday. We had our quarterly temple trip today, which means our P-day was moved to today. 

We've had a pretty cool week. This weekend was Sportsman Days in Naches, which is the biggest event all year. It's pretty much a fair. Our ward had a family history booth and we got to be in the parade. We met some solid people that we're working on contacting.

We had exchanges for the first time. I got to go with Elder Doman, one of our Zone Leaders. He's a Spanish missionary, so I got to use some of my very limited Spanish. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I just didn't talk very much. But I learned a lot. It was interesting to see different styles of missionary work. I had a great conversation with Elder Doman about deciding what kind of missionary I want to become. I would suggest that you all take a few minutes to decide what kind of person you want to become, and then WRITE IT DOWN! That's important. It won't do you any good unless you can remember it.

As always, I love hearing from you all! This Gospel is true! Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" 

Love, Elder Plehn

Hello!

Hey everyone!

 

Washington is great. I'm really glad that I'm here. I think that I've adjusted well to missionary life. We've been having a great week. We still don't know everyone, but we're doing our best. Our ward is great. We get great meals everyday, and everyone is so friendly.

 

Being a missionary can be difficult, but there are definitly a lot of benefits. I'm learning so much about the Gospel and how to apply it in my life. In Sunday School yesterday, we had a great lesson on the Holy Ghost. We discussed how the Holy Ghost is just as kind and loving as the rest of the Godhead. He wants to be with us all the time, because he loves us just as much as Heavenly Father and Jesus love us. When we're not feeling the Spirit it isn't because the Spirit has left us, it's because we've left the Spirit.

 

I'm recognizing more and more opportunities to share the Gospel. Lately, we've been having trouble finding something to do after 8:00ish because the sun goes down, and people are not too receptive. But we've been walking around everyday, hoping to find somebody. Yesterday, we were about to call it a night and head home, but decided to take one more lap around town. While we were walking, we came across a group of people hanging out in their garage. We stopped to talk to them, and they invited us in, fed us some amazing tacos, and invited us to come back. We're really excited to go back and see them again.

 

Something I've really been enjoying is having multiple hours in the morning dedicated to studying and preparing for the day. I've learned so much, and most of what I've learned, I've learned during either personal or companion study. Studying the scriptures daily is something that I've always struggled with, but having that time set aside really makes a difference. Now I'm regretting that I didn't put all the effort I could into morning study before I left, simply because it would have helped me throughout my day.

 

Anyway, being a missionary is pretty cool. I love hearing from everyone. I love you all!

 

Elder Andrew Plehn

Hey everyone! I'm actually here now!

I'm actually here now. It's so strange. For everyone who still thinks that because I'm in Washington, I'll see a lot of rain, you are completely wrong. The weather here is actually exactly like Utah. I'm serving in the Selah zone, in the Naches ward. My companion (Elder Schoenberger) and I got doubled in, replacing two sisters. Life seems normal already. There's nothing that I haven't gotten used to yet. My area is basically four different towns: Naches, Tieton, Cowiche, and Gleed. The ward here is awesome. The ward mission leader is a recently returned missionary, and he is super dedicated to missionary work. There are apple orchards everywhere. And apples are in season. They are delicious. My mom should be posting my address where ever she posts these emails. It's the mission office's address. They forward mail to me. Anyway, send me mail! I love hearing from you all! I'll have pictures next week!

Love, Elder Plehn