A Dead Turtle on the Road

How are you all doing this week? How did all of your activities and adventures go? Anything fun or exciting happening recently?

It has been officially 12 weeks today, that we have been in self isolation/quarantine. Which means it's been 84 days of not a whole lot of human face to face contact for us. I think we are starting to feel it, and go pretty stir crazy. I literally felt like it was Saturday and Sunday all week long. I don't even remember what day it is. I keep saying that if we make it to transfer day in 2 weeks, we will have to celebrate because transfer day is 100 days of quarantine.

Also, I will hit my 10 months on the mission this upcoming Sunday June 14th!! It honestly is so crazy how fast time has flown by, and how much faster it is flying by every week now. What a great 10 months! :) 

Mid Transfer transfers are happening this week on Wednesday. We found out the news last night, and I will be staying here in Wadsworth with Elder Johnson. Elder Johnson will now be the district leader to finish out the transfer. Elder Moorwood is getting transferred down to New Albany. I have loved Wadsworth the last 2 weeks and I'm so so happy I get to stay here a little longer 😁😁🤙We have 14 elders and 1 sister coming this week who have been re-assigned; and then 25 re-assigned missionaries coming on June 24th. Lots of things coming our way! 😉

I had a very very great week, and I'm so excited to tell you all about it.

On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Stratford in the morning down in the city of Massilon, and after those got over we went to a really cool Catholic cathedral and took a few pictures of us in front of it. It was super sad though that day, because that was the last time that we will get to see the Stratfords here in Ohio. They said that zone conference next week will be over zoom. I'm going to miss the Stratfords so so much! They have been so great to and for me, truly a "grandma and grandpa" for the mission 😉 and then we came back to the apt and ate lunch, and did comp study, kind of just stuck around the apt. 

Wednesday we had district council and it was super fun! District council's have to be one of my very most favorite things of the whole entire week, especially with being inside right now. We went on a training visit with the Canton elders that night. Me and Elder Moorwood went down to stay the night with Elder Draper in Canton. I was able to drive while we were on the exchange, and ah it was just the best feeling to drive again. 

Thursday was a superb day! We had 5 lessons down in Canton, and were able to teach in some of them about Moses and the importance of knowing that we truly are all sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Father. Me and Elder Moorwood made a video of us doing a baptismal interview role play and sent it into the zone chat, so that was pretty fun. Overall, super great day!

Friday was pretty standard, but we did have some excitement as people were out protesting all day and some cops had to show up to make sure everything stayed safe for everyone. We had weekly planning, and then listened to some talks, as well as went over to the church bldg and had our district devotional that we usually try and have on Fridays and Sundays, and it was super fun, and some very cool things are always shared, so it makes it one of my favorite things during the weeks too.

Saturday was great! We went on some walks and unfortunately nobody was able to do a video or a phone call with us for a lesson, so instead, we wrote scriptures on some 3x5 cards and took them around Wadsworth to 4 or 5 different families. They all loved them super a lot and we even got some food out of one family since they appreciated the notes so much. We watched THE RM movie on Saturday night and it was super good and fun to watch.

Sunday was amazing, as is every Sunday! We did some personal study, and then took the sacrament, and then we went on a walk. On the walk, we met a guy named Jim and were able to talk with him for about 10 min. He is super cool and shared some of his background with us. He loves God and we were able to share with him some things we believe in, so even better. The Lord has a hand in all things, even in walks during the day 😉 We were able to have 2 lessons that night with 2 member families and talked about the Restoration and why/how the Book of Mormon plays such an important and crucial role in the Restoration. I also gave the devotional that night for the district devotional that we do. I did it on Elder Utchdorfs talk,  A matter of a few degrees.

Some fun things we did this week: 

- Went running at Rittman High School track and I had some fun times running the 5ks for my workout by myself

- Had some Taco Bell, Burger King, and went on some walks during the week to counteract Taco Bell and Burger King 😉😁

- Did some drives up to Hinkley reservoir and walked around up there (super super pretty area).

- We saw a snapping turtle on the road and just as Elder Johnson was going to pick it up, it got ran over by a car and passed away sadly. So that's where the title of this email comes from ;) 

- It rained for about 2 hrs on Thursday down in Canton, and I was possibly thinking we might need to build a boat

My testimony has been strengthened so very much this week. Everyday when I wake up now, I think about the Savior Jesus Christ and about how He must've felt for those 3 or more long hours when He was in the garden, suffering for each of us. When I think about 84 days of quarantine, all of those days are already paid for by Jesus Christ. What we learn here in quarantine will be what Heavenly Father uses to help other people in the future. And I love Elder Holland's talk where he says, "This isn't a dry run, this isn't a rehearsal; this is it! So we have to make the most of it". I know Jesus Christ lives, and I most certainly know that He truly is there for each of us as we come to Him with a weak, humble, and submissive heart, and then allow Christ to make out of ourselves, what we can't do alone. Philippians 4:13 😁👍

My invitation for all of us this week is something that I think we all are going to love.

The invitation is to: Make a plate of cookies and take it over to a neighbor's or a friend's house and leave it on the doorstep and ring the doorbell, and then run and hide, and watch the people open the door. 

I love this weeks challenge, because Jesus Christ truly did minister and serve not by what He said, but ultimately by what He did and how He did it, which was with: LOVE ❤

What's the update on working from home for NSP? Parker was saying on Friday that NSP will be working from home til September 7th, and Garrett will be at home til Sept 7th I think too. Father's Day is in 2 weeks. Sean, were you able to hear back on your job you put in for at work bro?

I pray for all of you guys every single day, and I truly truly miss you guys so so very much. I'm grateful and so eternally happy to know that you're all doing so great and continuing to stay happy and doing such great things 💛 

I wanted to share a quote I heard this week that I love: "The finest and brightest things in life aren't things; they're PEOPLE". People are great and meeting new people are so awesome!

I'm so excited to talk to you guys today!!

I love YOU Forever and Always!

Elder Dylan