11 months?!!!

Hello my awesome family!

So today I am now 11 months old! I can't believe it! It's hard to believe that I am almost half way done with my mission. Time just flies by like crazy.

So after trying for 5 weeks in a row, we finally got Leiloni and Anara to church on sunday! Last saunday she told us she had a ride to church from her friend but then she didn't show up and we found out that she had forgotten how to get to the church and her phone is broken. And the weeks before that she had to go to the hospital because her baby had a fever. So it has been a big ordeal to get her here but she finally made it. We are planning to have their baptismon Aug 2nd! And she has asked me to baptize her and Elder Jensen will baptize Anara, her 11 yr old daughter.

Justin C is doing great. He is just waiting to move out of his house before he gets baptized. He is basically a member already. We almost had him come out teaching with us the other day cuz he has a strong testimony of almost everything and he knows it pretty good. His baptism date is on the 6th of September.

Idk if I have told you all about Sarah J yet. Elder Jensen (my last companion) and I were walking down the sidewalk and we saw her sitting on the porch talking on the phone so I pulled a card out of my pocket and went to hand it to her. She got off the phone and came down to us and asked if we had a Pearl of Great Price. Thats not usually a question that we are asked haha. We asked her why she wanted one and she told us that she had investigated the church 30 years ago when she was 16. But because of some bad choices made by a member of the church, she left and didn't want to be baptized. The things that member did were way out of line and I don't blame sarah for running off. But anyways, she has come to church 4 times in a row and she is loving it. We talked to her about baptism last lesson and she wanted to take some time and read about baptism so she could re-learn the true meaning of it. When she came to church she showed us her Book of Mormon and it literally had 20-30 sticky notes sticking out of it that she had used to mark scriptures that were about baptism. And she wasn't even half way through the Book of Mormon yet haha. We will be seeing her on wednesday and she is making us Sea-food! 

We are also working with a less active lady named Elizabeth L. She just moved into the ward about 4 months ago from Shelbyville kentucky but originally she is from Africa. She has been wanting to come back to church and be active again but she has been looking for a job and she doesn't have a car. But she also has 4 boys who aren't baptized yet. Jerry is 14, Tacoonda, we call him TT, is 11, Justin is 9 and charlie is 2. We have just started to teach Jerry and TT and it is going good. We had a lesson with them on friday night, we played basketball with them at the church on saturday evening, and then we had another lesson with them on saturday. We talked to them about being baptized and they both said they wanted to. So we set a date with them for the 6th of September. We put it so far out because they don't live with their mom right now. They still live in Shelbyville until their Mom gets a job. I think she just got a pretty good job in New Albany working at Aflac. So hopefully soon the boys will be moving there!

Oh so idk if I have mentioned but I have recently gotten into jump roping in the mornings! And it is killer! The Zone leaders have been doing it for a while and they told me to try it in the mornings and it is awesome! I've gotten it down pretty dang good. And it has helped me in basketball so much with my jumping and my running. It really makes me put on a good sweat in the mornings haha its awesome!!

I think thats a long enough email for this week haha

I hope you all have a great week!

I love and miss you all!!!! 

Elder Eastin

New Mission President, and a new teaching pool

Hello from Indiana!

This week was another great one! Things in our area are going pretty good and we have a great teaching pool. 

Justin C is an 18 year old boy that took the lessons from the missionaries 2 years ago and was about to get baptized but his mom was totally against it. She threw away his Book of Mormon and wouldn't let him come to church. So he waited 2 years and secretly read the Book of Mormon until he graduated and moved out. Last sunday he just showed up to church and we have been teaching him ever since. He will be getting baptized in the beggining of september. He is super awesome and really smart. Looks kinda like Harry Potter haha.

Another new lady we are teaching is Sarah J. A couple weeks ago we contacted her outside her house and she asked for a Pearl of Great Price. Thats not a common question we are asked haha. Turns out, she took all of the lessons 20 years ago back in Philadelphia and was about to join the church but the man fellowshipping her was trying to court her and marry her while she was 16 and he was like 40. So that freaked her out and she left. But now she is taking the lessons again and she is super solid. Church brough back some scary memories of her past when this crazy guy in the church was trying to get her to marry him. But she met with the Bishop and us and we talked for a while and resolved her concerns. She is soooo awesome. She is basically a Mormon already haha!:)

Leiloni sadly had to make another emergency run to the hospital on saturday night with her baby because she had a fever. So she wasnt able to come to church so we will have to move her Baptism to next saturday. The church has a policy that says an investigator has to come to church 3 times before they can be baptized. She has only come twice. But she is so committed to joining the church. She is almost done with The Book of Mormon for the second time!! She is amazing. And Anara, her daughter, is reading a lot too. 

On the 4th of July we went to a baptism in our ward in the morning, and then we went and helped a non-member move out of his apartment....which was on the 3rd story. So we had to carry everything down 3 flights of stairs haha. Took like 5 hours to get it all. And from 6-9 we didn't have to work so Bro. Kastelar took us to the driving range and we also played a couple of holes. It was THE BEST. It was super fun to go golfing. Then after that we went and played basketball at the church for the rest of the night. It was super fun.

Oh we also got a new mission President! President and Sis. Brough. Its pronounced like rough but with a B. They are super super super awesome. They are both so excited to serve and they are way nice. President Brough is active and funny and he jokes a lot and is really fun to be around. They have lived in Mountain home Idaho for most of their lives and before they came out on their mission they lived in Cedar city.

Wow, big email, haha. Had a lot to say today. And thats not even half of what happened this week haha. Missions are so fun! Can't wait until after this life to just watch our whole lives over again and remember all of the funny stuff that happened.

I honestly wish you all could experience the things that I have seen and witnessed on my mission. Words cannot describe the conversion that I have felt.

I love you all and miss everyone so much! God be with you till we meet again!

Elder Eastin