Sister Petit from Todd's mission came for a visit... so much fun !!!

She and TJ doing the "dance" -- imitating Todd :) :)

September 27th Email

hey everyone

another week has gone by and i'm just living it up here in florida! we had another successful week here in tampa 3! we had two church tours this week. first was to a guy named jefson who when we knocked on his door told us to come in and teach him so we did and invited him to the church building. the lesson went great and he was out of town yesterday but is coming to play ball with us today. we also taught a girl named rochelle. she is wanting religion in her life and needs that guidance through this big part of her life. tim is progressing great. he has given up the worldly things we just got to keep him off. he is taking us to a rays game on wednesday and i'm pumped! the kid is a stud! he's way smart and picks up on what we are teaching, after our lesson we went outside and threw the ball around a little bit. gotta love the mish. pierre is getting baptized next sunday! he is excited as are we. we had a talk with him last week telling him he needed to be more committed if he wanted to be baptized and he has. britney is on fire. we taught her the second lesson and she came to church yesterday and loved it. she said the plan of salvation just makes sense and again said to us why haven't i heard of this church before? the gospel is great and is for everyone. my companions and i have started lifting and working out hard again to get back into shape. we wanna look good when we get back :) don't worry we aren't taking away from the work! why would we?! but time is flying and i had to hit the weights sooner or later!

love you all

elder salmon

September 20th Email !!!!!

hey everyone

this week is just another great week in the life of a missionary! i love this area and my companions! the work is going great and just continues to do so as well as having joy in the work. we had to move some baptisms back a little bit but it is all good. we currently have 3 set for the 10th of october! pierre had to move his back cuz he didn't come to church yesterday but he is determined to get baptized and i'm ok with that! tim is a stud! he is looking for the standards to live by in the church and i feel like he and i will get along really well. he is someone i am definitely coming back and chillin with and we will be friends for life he is awesome. we had a talk yesterday and he said if he is gonna be baptized he wants to be 100% active in the church. which i wouldn't want him to unless otherwise. he's awesome. he is also taking us to the rays last season game on the 29th! man life is great! the third person is britney. we talked to britney on campus and she has had a hard couple of weeks here at school and really wants the comfort and guidance of religion in her life. this past monday we had a family home evening with the branch at the institute building. president summerhays came and spoke about member missionary work. he then had elder alber and i come up to the front then called up two of the members from the branch and had us teach about the joseph smith story and the first vision as if they were investigators. i know it was a role play but wow i have never felt the spirit so strong. tears were going all over the room and it was just a testimony builder to everyone in that room that joseph smith was a true prophet and that through him the true church was restored on the earth. i have no adequate words to describe the feeling there. i love you all and i love this work!

love

elder salmon

September 13th Email 11 Months to go !!!

hey everybody

this week has been a good one but humbling at the same time. the Lord thought we were getting a little cocky and i'll admit i was getting a little on the big headed side and so this week we had 4 church tours and 3 lessons fall through. but we are staying positive and working hard. we have a lot of potentials its just getting them to progress is the hard part. elder kikuchi came and did a mission tour and it was amazing! he is such an energetic speaker! the meeting was from 9-4 and i was tuned in the whole time. he talked a lot about our morning habits and how that has not just a huge influence on your missionary work but also your habits for the rest of your life. we also went over how to simplify our teaching and having our lessons more interactive instead of preachy and it has worked. we are teaching a guy named tim and he came to church yesterday and we committed him to be baptized on the 26th and he is absolutely golden. he is looking for a potential wife with high standards and something that will help him be guided through school and raising a family. what better way than through the true church!! i feel so blessed to be in this gospel and i see that it has benefited more and more each day. i love being a missionary!!!

love you all so much!

elder salmon

September 7th Email

hey everyone

this past week has been a blast! i love this area! i feel like i'm at home ha. what we do for finding out here is walk around campus and talk to people and in the evening we go and knock on apartment complexes. it has definately been an adjustment period for me and i feel like i will grow a lot in this new atmosphere. before i felt content and felt that i was doing really good as a missionary knocking on doors and talking with people about the gospel. then the Lord put me in an area were i need to walk up to people as they are walking to class and while they are chilling on campus and studying and teach them about the gospel. man was that so awkward haha. but elder alber, rhodes and i are tearing it up. oh before i go into more i need to introduce my greenie. his name is elder rhodes from lehi utah and he is picking things up quickly. elder alber and i are holding nothing back. we are just treating him like he has been out here for a few months and letting him just figure his ways and teaching styles out and it is working great with him. but back to the area. in our potentials sheet in the back of our planner in the first week we have more than missionaries get in a whole transfer! this past sunday we had 10 investigators to church! and one of the assistants elder shannon served here and called me and told me that when he was here in one transfer he gave 28 church tours so he challenged me to beat that. last week we gave 7 church tours and yesterday gave 2 more. its amazing how many young men and women my age are looking for a church. they really are concerned for themselves as to what kind of direction they want to go as well as for their future families. what also helps here in this ward is that there are so many activities we have been to family home evenings on sunday and monday nights also on mondays is basketball. tuesday nights is institute and dinner after and wednesday night is bible study with game night after. its a party missionary style baby! this ward hasn't been huge on giving referals but the leaders want to start getting some so at family home evening we committed a bunch of them to bring people to family home evening next week and they were all happy and willing and most already were working on friends so its going to be great! we have a baptism this sunday, this guy is michael and is golden and loves the church. he works on campus over the meals so we get hooked up from time to time. also the following sunday we have another scheduled baptism for a guy named pierre. he is from haiti and loves the gospel. his father is an inactive member. our zone is like the smallest in the mission but this past week we have been number one and two in all catagories! great missionaries in the zone and some not so much but we're working with them and it'll all be good in the end. the church is so true!

i love you all

elder salmon