July 25th --- 19 Days !!!!!!!

Hey Everyone,

19 Days!!! But who's counting right? haha. This past week we were able to meet with Angy and set a date with her for the 6th of August!! She is great! This Tuesday her mom decided to sit in on the lesson and it's going to be about the Plan of Salvation! What a perfect time for her to step in and know that she can be with her daughter and the rest of their family forever! I got a call from Port Charlotte this past week and Sarah is getting baptized on Saturday!! She is so ready and excited. Last night she texted me for some advice. She was upset because she only wanted a few people there at her baptism and some people had invited themselves and she didn't think it was very considerate of her feelings for them to do so. She even contemplated not getting baptized. After talking with her and telling her that I agreed that it wasn't right for them to invite themselves but it shouldn't affect her decision on what she knew to be true. And she agreed and is all good and ready to be baptized on Saturday! We had interviews with President Summerhays this week and it was great!! I love talking with him. It was another laid back interview as always. President and I have always gotten along and seen things from the same view point. We discussed more about what he wants to do and asked about what he should with the mission in the next couple of months. It's great to know that he trusts and respects my opinion enough to discuss that with me. He didn't want to talk about me much because he wanted to save it for my exit interview that will be in 2 weeks. I did however get a committment out of him to take the 4 missionaries that are going home with me golfing the day before we all leave! So I'm pretty excited.

I Love You All,

Elder Salmon

July 18th Email !!!

Hey Everyone,

3 and a half weeks left!! Crazy!! Sorry these last couple weeks of emails is going to be a little shorter than normal because I'm trying really hard not to get trunky :). So I'm just gonna get on, tell you whats going on then take off to ball it up in Fort Myers. We taught Angy this past week with Sister Leatherwood and Sister Bennett and she is absolutely golden! She took everything in so well and her fellowshippers are amazing. She went over to Sister Bennett's last night to do her reading assignment. We are also teaching a man named Michael. Michael has been investigating the church for some time now and had some problems with our beliefs due to how he was raised in his faith. He has been able to over come those obstacles and come to know that this is the true church. The hold up now is smoking. He has been smoking for most of his life. A lot like Bill. He is living somewhere that we know unless he moves out he won't be able to overcome that addiction. He is being helped by members to find him a better place to stay. The Lord continues to bless us as we are working smart. We have received two media referrals and plan to contact them as soon as possible and hopefully begin to teach them and bring them unto the fold.

I Love You All,

Elder Salmon

Baptism !!!

Cuddling a baby :)

Another Baby :)

July 11 th Email !!! 1 MONTH !!!!!!

Hey Everyone,

Great news!! Bill got baptized this last Saturday!!! It was such a great experience to see him after so many years of wanting to be a member of the church he was able to overcome the temporal things he needed to and get baptized! We have been doing a lot of member work this past week and the Lord has blessed us because of us wanting not only to work but to work smart. We got a referral from a family in the ward who's daughters have brought to church the past 5 Sundays and went to girls camp last week and wants to take the discussions! They set up the appointment for us and just told us when to show up. Her mother agreed to sit in on the lessons! We also just received a family referral from a member in the spanish ward here and we will be meeting up with them this next week as well! Things are going great and I am loving the work!

I love you all!

Elder Salmon

July 5th Email !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone,
Elder Nielson and I are trying to really get the work going down here in Naples. After a lot of discussing and planning we've come up with some ideas to best approach the work down here. Elder Nielson and his last companion did a lot of tracting and after being in Port Charlotte and seeing how effective working smart was I did not want to tract unless we had absolutely nothing else to do. We have a 30 page roster front and back of members in the ward and their is no way that even half of them come to church. We are calling and/or visiting every member in the roster that is in our area of the ward. It was extremely effective in Port Charlotte and this ward is really capable of expanding tremendously. We already have 2 elders quorums so there is no reason it couldn't be expanded to 2 wards within the next year. We have done a lot of area book work and trying to set up lessons with old investigators and it's looking good. We are gonna start reteaching a girl named Tisha. We've dropped Rosa because she decided she is going to go to a Presbyterian church on Marco Island that is closer as well as that is where her daughter is going and her daughter didn't want to go to a different church and so she wanted to be in the same church as her daughter. We were out to dinner this past week and sat next to an older couple. We started talking and joking around with them and then they started asking us questions on why we are out here and what we are doing. An hour and a half went by and we had taught the first lesson with them in the restaurant! It was a great experience and we will be following up with them this week and hopefully continue to progress them. I've done a lot of studying about Preach My Gospel and applying it to life in and out of the mission. It has everything in there to organize what I am wanting to do and how I can achieve what I want to do in my life both spiritually and temporally. Just like so many successful businesses they have a mission statement, and out here on the mission we too have a mission statement "Our purpose is to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End." I started to think about what is MY mission statement for life. I'm still pondering on what I'm going to choose and I've got a few ideas and want everything I want to do on life and the choices I make to be in harmony with that mission statement I have set for myself. Elder Nielson's knee is still bugging him and got another MRI this past week with contrast and will find out the results this Friday. Hopefully nothing is torn or else he will probably have to go home and have surgery.
I love you all!
See you next month!!
Elder salmon