I'm so so excited to be able to hear all about the exciting adventures from this last week. Anything happening in Salem this next week? I saw SHHS football won again on Friday, so they are now 2-0 on the season so far. How has Justin been playing so far?
Well, as the title states, it was a very busy week and I would say, probably the busiest week I have had in the last 13 months. We were literally going non stop! So, without further ado, here is my week😉.
Hannah Saylor is still on date for September 5th to be baptized by her boyfriend here in Wadsworth, and so we are just working hard with her each of these weeks to keep her prepared and ready, super exciting!!
On Tuesday, we were having a fairly regular day actually. We called some members up, had some lessons with them and had gone on 2 or 3 walks. We met with Lexi and Ryan Kelly and their 2 adorable babies at their house and talked about Joseph Smith's First Vision and how that impacts us today. We then got a call from the Massillon sisters, and they said they needed their apt to be rededicated. So, we drove down there to Massillon which is about 40 min away, rededicated their apartment, then drove another 20 min over to the Canton elders apt to have a training visit the next day! Whhheeww, was that just day 1?!😅
Wednesday morning we got up, and went on a run. One of the Canton elders (Elder Draper) graduated in 2019 with me and he went to Ogden High School, and we ran cross country together. So we went on a run that morning, and raced the last 400 meter . . . I won :):) Then, we went and helped a nonmember down in Canton move to a different house for about 2-ish hours, they gave us pizza, so that was nice of them. Then, me and Elder draper walked roughly 10 miles around North Canton and passed out a few pass a long cards and talked to a few people. Then, we got to the church and the 4 of us elders had a young men activity that night with the Priest's about missions and how they can prepare for them now. Super awesome! We got back to Wadsworth at about 10 o'clock that night.
Thursday was a pretty regular day as well, we went on some great walks and Sister Zuro saw us out walking and so she bought ice cream for us, which was so so nice of her! We helped out at the food pantry too, and it was so so packed and busy. We were literally running around trying to get things packed and bagged to get it out to the people who ordered it. Overall, super great and fulfilling day.
Friday, we were up and moving at 5:45 am, left the apt at 7 am to drive to the city of Akron where our whole Akron zone of missionaries met at a food pantry and helped for the next 4 hours pack and box food, and take it out to the people. I put pictures on the drive of it. And we got super nice yellow service shirts from the Horgesheimers. Then, at 11 o'clock, we all left and quickly changed into missionary clothes, and drove 20 min north to Talmadge to the stake center where we then had an amazing 4 hr zone conference (the first one in person in 6 months). Super super fun! I was pretty tired when we got back to the apt that night at around 6, and then we also had a district devotional that night over messenger of which me and Elder Moss were in charge of. We talked about how we can be becoming stronger Disciples of Jesus Christ, and building our foundations on the basic principles of the Gospel. Did the fun stop that night though? Noooooo . . . .
Saturday arrives, and we were up at 6 am, left the apt at 7;30 am to go back to Talmadge, this time to the zone leaders apt for a training visit that day. Then, from 10 am to 5 pm, the 4 of us helped do service at 3 different houses, all doing yard work outside. It was also 98 degrees all day with 80 percent humidity. My face and neck shows it too 🙄 sorry mom and dad . . .😅 It was so much fun, and made me miss doing weeds and mowing the lawn back at home haha! Then, me and Elder Hibbard (the zl I was with) had 3 lessons that night, one of them in person with a family with 10 kids and it was so much fun! We got back to Wadsworth at about 10:15 pm that night.
Sunday, ah we made it to the end of the week 👏 We had a very spectacular great zoom call with Sister Zook in the morning, where we studied Come Follow Me with her, and taught the topic of Remembering the Lord, even when it's hard. Then, we had a ward coordination with Brother Johnson who is the ward mission leader, picked up food from Sister Demming (a super sweet older lady here in the Ward), dropped off some bibles for a guy in the area, had a lesson with the McPhearson family over zoom, and a mission wide devotional that night. It was such a great day, and honestly, Sundays are the days I love because we can reflect on our week, as well as spiritually prepare for the upcoming week and do everything we need to be ready for school, work, and to have our best week yet!
I learned a lot this week, some things that I now value as crucial and vitally important, and not just for my time as a missionary, but for every part of life. It was that of:
- Keeping ourselves physically in shape. I can't even tell you guys how many times I told Elder Moss that I'm so grateful we have been running every morning, because it really did help us out to have the energy and stamina to accomplish everything this week.
- Using our time wisely. There were many times this week, that had I not been planning out the next activity, we would've missed it. It is so important that we always plan and prepare for everyday, because Heavenly Father wants us to accomplish everything we need to each day and each week.
My thoughts this week have been a lot of feeling the Lord's hand in my life. It kind of was the climax of this whole COVID 19, quarantine, wacky lifestyle we are all in right now. It taught me how much the Savior loves and truly and really does care about us. He just gives us stuff each day to stretch us to where we need to be, so that we can and will hit our fullest potential in this life. A quote that was shared at Zone Conference was: "It is never good to sit on a nail, and then not move". It is always easy to sit and let life pass us by, but if we are on top of the nail and then not moving, that is bad, because then that means it isn't hurting enough to want to move. It isn't hurting our life enough to have stuff in our life that we need to let go of, but we aren't because of how it may turn out. I promise, that as we turn to our Savior Jesus Christ to help us off of the nail, and ask Him to make us strong to be able to move forward and move on in life with faith, hope, optimism, and charity -- That we will indeed be able to do just that 👊🤗.
I know our Savior Jesus Christ lives and that He loves us. This week has been great for many reasons, but one of them was because even when I felt like my head was going to fall off because of everything I needed to do and was asked to do last week, my Savior Jesus Christ was my strength and my light, to be able to guide me and help me become a better person each time I turned to Him and asked Him for help. "Come unto Me, and I will make you fishers of men".
How is Salem doing? How is things going with the start of the new school year? How are the projects going at the house for the shed and the fence and the cement? :) I'm so so very excited to be able to see how they turn out! :) ALSO, here is to my last full week being a teenager🤗😉
I just wanted to let you all know how wonderful and incredible and amazing you are. You have been able to do such great things, even amidst all the hard times that have been here in the recent months, and I'm so so proud of all of you! I don't know why I got so blessed to have 9 wonderful people for my family, but man I'm so so forever grateful for all of you 🤗🥰 thank you guys for your examples to me and for always being there for me. We are in this together, and I'm so very grateful for that, that we are a team in this earthly journey 🏈🤗👍.
I love you guys so much and I pray for you everyday, and miss you guys lots and lots 💖 I'm so grateful for your guys examples to me, and for your love and support of me, you guys are my #1!
I love you ALL Forever and Always 💛
Elder Dylan
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