THIS ALL MAKES SENSE!!!

Well Happy Father’s Day!

This one is going out to YOU and Mom of course, but just be glad I took a little time to add your name to the send list. Soooo… I was thinking what would be best to send my daddy for father’s day and well... my best conclusion was to just put a lot of effort into the letter you wanted me to write to your young men. So, I hope that makes you feel special that I know that the best gift I could possibly give you is a letter to help some of the people you care about MOST, besides the Savior and your family of course. Your a good man pops and I love you a ton. Thank you for being a worthy priesthood holder and being good to mom. I, Elder Ward, have been born of goodly parents not “a” goodly parent but yes two… a great mom and a dad.

This week actually I had a really cool experience. Elder Taylor and I have been trying to help a guy named Cameron Martinez get his eagle project. To explain a little… Cameron is the son of an Internagator (eternal investigator). Mainly, it’s just been me trying to  help because I bore my testimony on the power of getting your eagle done in a few weeks... (he turns 18 Saturday) and they only have Queen Scouts in Canada ( what a weird country) anywho…we have been helping him to help us build a relationship with Cameron and if we can teach and baptize him, his Mom will surely follow. Anyways, we have been helping a ton, and one day we went over to discuss project details and Crystal (Cameron’s mom) answers the door with tears in her eyes. She told us that she and Cameron had just got in a fight and she was really frustrated and tired of being a single mom. She said that she just prayed to have a man come into her life not really for her, but for the family, and me and Elder Taylor kinda just looked at each other... we didn't really say anything to that, but we are making good ground work and the project should get done this Thursday.

Anyways, Elder Taylor and I are getting a TON of work done. Our Zone leaders did accountabilities on Sunday (asking for numbers for lessons taught, new investigators, and what knot). Anyways…they had to ask if the numbers we reported were just our own as a companionship or if they were for the whole entire district including the other 2 sets of missionaries. This transfer has flown by! I've learned the harder we work, the faster the time goes by and the happier I am personally. Oh, and the more people we find, teach, and baptize.

This week we went to go visit some recent investigators named Katie and Joey and we brought a new member to the ward with us.  At first Katie was wondering what the heck he was doing in her house, but we had an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It took 2 hours!!! They had so many good questions and loved every second of it! Katie even said, “You know, ALL of this just makes sense!!! “

So this letter will be a little jumbled but also I need to mention... I got Zach’s letters you mailed to me and MAN!!! I realize now just how crazy it must be getting letters from me and other missionaries. He is like a new person! Missions sure do change people and he is still just a baby conceived in the MTC! I can't wait to see him born into Maryland. Funny thing is it might be frustrating for him because there probably won’t be a whole lot of Maryland Baltimore Spanish speakers, so I think in some areas Zach will only be allowed to teach Spanish speakers... everyone else he might have to hand over to other missionaries (I’m not for sure, but that’s how it is for the Spanish elders in the MIM.)

Good news…Bob Lamb, the older guy I think I mentioned last week, has committed to be baptized July 7th! We had a sweet lesson with him. We watched the Joseph Smith video and read 3 Nephi 11 and explained he didn't need to worry about being to wishy washy on which church to join but to just follow Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God.

We met with Brother Nichols and I was almost brought to tears when I told him I might leave within a few weeks... He expressed his gratitude and thanked me for being his friend. I told him I didn't do much and he stopped me and just told me how grateful he was for helping him get on the right track... That brought me the same JOY mom has been reading about in Alma.

I love you guys so much and I am going to try and send some pictures. Oh and Mom I still have my card. I think I will be okay for now.

God Speed,
Elder Ward

p.s. Wipe those tears away mom I forgot to mention the funny things that happened this week. #1 we killed one of our investigators cats... 2 weeks ago it got let out when her 11 year old daughter opened the door to tell us her mom (our investigator) was sleeping. We saw that it got out and after a little effort trying to get it to go back in I just told Elder Taylor to let it go... This week we talked to her and she was a little down in the dumps and then she started to mention how her cat is probably dead... Elder Taylor and I silently agreed to not speak of it and we did our best not to laugh or cry in fear. So that goes to show the importance of keeping your appointments with the missionaries.

p.s.s. So the zone leaders pranked us... they stole our sheets got them wet and threw them in the freezer!!! So the next day late at night at 8:45, Elder Taylor grabbed sand from the courts nearby the ZL's house dumped it in there shower and did a few other not so kind things. On the way home I started to feel a little bad, but then I saw their car and they got us again too! They Stole ALL OF OUR LIGHTS!!! We both had a good laugh but we decided to call it a truce from now on.