31 Buckets

Hello everyone!

Well this week I just wanted you to know that Utah's Statewide Sport,
Church Basketball, is well underway. Spectators line the walls and
stage floor to watch the games haha it's pretty dang intense. But they
are missing out, this stake isn't like back home, they actually have a
limited number of fouls. Poor guys.

Anyways! This week was an interesting week for sure. The weather has
warmed up enough that it has been pouring rain but is still really
cold out so that has been an adventure. Monday night we went and
knocked some doors and visited some people, but unfortunately nobody
was answering. Tuesday we had a lesson with this lady named Ashley!
She and her family just moved in, she works with one of our ward
mission leaders and so we stopped by and talked with her after we
shoveled her driveway. She didn't seem that interested in actually
learning but we hope that as she feels the Spirit she will be! The
rest of the time we tried visiting some of the referrals we received
but nobody was home I guess!

Wednesday we had our seminary devotional again, we talked about
prophets and apostles it was a good time. The kids crack me up, it's
so weird because it feels like yesterday I was in their place. After
the devotional we were supposed to have a lesson, but they cancelled
so we went tracting. Some members had us come in and they gave us some
bomb hot chocolate to warm us up.

Thursday we had a Mission Conference! We were with all of the zones in
Cache Valley, so I got to see Elders Turnmire, Heslop, Murdock, and a
bunch of others. That was a great time. We had trainings on lots of
different stuff, but something that really stuck out to me was how we
need to focus on Strengthening the Church and how we can do that lots
of different ways. President talked about how we may not have much
work going with nonmembers but if we are bearing testimony and helping
the members and less actives out we are strengthening them. It was a
really good training. After dinner we had a lesson with the Hymas
family, they are doing way awesome! We set up Taylor's baptism program
and got everything set! She's getting baptized this Saturday! The only
bad part is she asked me to play the piano for her baptism but other
than that it'll be great! After that we went on visits with Bro Weber
and stopped by Mike's, who is our recent convert that just moved from
one ward to another! He's doing awesome, he is such a good guy.

Friday it was raining like all day, and we were knocking doors all day
haha. We were visiting some referrals we had just got (turns out that
Members had just moved into the house we were knocking) and it was
about time to head to dinner but we decided to knock another house,
and these members we know answered and told us everyone on the street
is a member, but that the corner house is kinda less active and so we
went and knocked on the door and the husband said "Elders come in!
I've been meaning to talk with you, my wife isn't a member and we just
moved here from Alaska and she wants the lessons!" Miracles man!!!
Just goes to show if we stay diligent, the Lord will bless us.

Saturday we spent the whole day doing service. So we were in the
middle of getting ready when we got a phone call saying someone needed
help moving, so we went and helped them move, then got a phone call
while we were finishing up moving asking us to come help someone with
their basement that had a little bit of a flood, so we did and when we
were finishing up Dani called us and her mother in law that lives in
Nibley, her basement was completely flooded so we went with Dani and
her nephew to go help and I called the Nibley Elders who turned out to
be Elder Turnmire, and we went and cleaned it all up. I'll tell you
what, carrying wet carpet and padding up a flight of stairs isn't very
fun haha, but I was happy we could help them out because their
basement was completely flooded and water was still coming in. After
we got the carpet out, we went around with vacuums trying to vacuum
the water up, but it just kept pouring in through the ground and
walls. We filled at least 31 Buckets full from the vacuums but it
didn't make a dent. After we were done helping them we showered and
changed cause we were soaking wet, and then we had a dinner that night
with Jarrett! He is such a smart kid, but he can't be baptized for a
couple months because his dad has to work on some stuff.

Sunday was another great Sunday, it was busy though. We were in
meetings from about 7am to 4:45! Then we had an awesome dinner with
Jason, a less active guy and his wife who is also less active. They
are so funny and really love us, and so we are having dinner with them
next week too! After that we had a zone fireside around an actual
fire, and that was pretty dang majestic. We really bonded as a zone so
that was awesome.

It's crazy time is going by so fast! I'm loving it out here in Utah!
The people here are amazing and I really have grown to love them so
much. Also, shout out to the MVT wrestling team for a good job at
state! And congrats to Brock for winning a state title!!

Well, I love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder Faraoni