First week in Kentucky

First pic is of Tow mater! Saw this on our way to the church on wednesday night.

Second one is of when we had to drive to Louisville early in the morning and it was super awesome to see all of the green rolling hills and horses and farms everywhere! Tons of horses down here.

So the last Elder that was here was super super small and he left a bunch of his clothes so Elder Burns and I decided to try them on see how they looked. This was the result of that!

Howdy ya'll!

Wow, this is a whole different part of the earth. I tell you what, you haven't seen true back country folks until you have been to London kentucky! I absolutly love it here! My new companion is Elder Burns. He's from spanish fork Utah and he's been out 17 months I think. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Louisville to London and man is it beautiful here in Kentucky! I like it so much better than Indiana!

I'll just start off by saying that our ward mission leader is amazing! His name is Brother. Johnson and he is a 3 year convert. He is one of THE nicest people I have ever met in my whole life! Hes probably late 60's and is super super happy and is always excited about church stuff and missionary work!

Its actually a ward here, not a branch, but its a small ward. I think about 120 active members. Only 80 or so were at church. But its made out of a lot of recent converts. These are some of the most humble and nice people I have ever met. They had me give the opening prayer is sacrament and then they asked me to speak in sacrament in a few weeks. I haven't said a prayer or given a talk in sacrament meeting in any of my other areas ever. So that felt nice to be recognized as a member of the ward and not just a missioanry. The people here just love the missionaries. I can just tell. I want to say we have been fed or brough food about 7 or 8 times already and I havent even been here a week yet!! I've been taken out to Cracker Barrel twice already haha thats some good ole country food there. And we went and did service for a lady in our ward and afterwards she made a huge country dinner of corn bread with bacons bits in it, fried spuds, baked beans, and pork chops!! haha sooooo good! I'll have to tell you next week more of a story about when we did serivce for her, he 40 year old son is a collector of trains. And he has a big set up in his basement. Ill send pics next week of that.

Anyways, back to the ward, the church is in a different town than we live in. Its located outside of Corbin, that where the sisters area is. Man it is hard to find haha not very big and hidden by houses and trees! But its a nice building.

I've done more driving this past week tahn I have in my whole mission haha. I had to drive back to Louisville on friday for a leadership meeting that lastest all day. It was probably one of the most inspirational meetings I have ever been in. Super great. All about being good leaders and how we can do better and set smart goals. The trainings were given by President Brough and the Assistants. Then last night was the monthly fireside, which is held in Lexington, so that was another hour drive there and then on the way home there were a bunch of wrecks and contruction so it took 2 hours to get home. Last night was a late night for us. And then today a recent convert drove us and the Mckee Elders to Richmond to go bowling for Elder Koeneg's birthday. So that was a 45 minute drive or so. We went to buffalo wild wings and then went bowling. I have never bowled so good in my whole life. Bowled a 170 and a 177. I got 4 strikes in a row one of the games haha it was a miracle.

Sheesh this is a lot of stuff and there is a lot more that has happened! I wish i could just call and tell you all about it!

Oh, our apartment is super nice. WE HAVE A WASHER AND DRYER NOW! I am so grateful for that. Makes life real nice. And we have a new Ford Fusion, its super sweet. I feel like Im driving a space ship. It makes that long drives really nice. For district meeting every thursday we have to drive 30 miles to Mckee for district meeting. The Mckee branch is sooo small. Their building is in a super small strip mall and it has like 4 rooms haha. Things down here are just so awesome! It might be a little harder to help people live the word of wisdom since EVERYONE smokes and Dip's tobacco but that wont be too bad! Nothing too bad for the Gosple to fix!

I love you all so so much and hope you have a wonderful week! Pray for us to find lots of people to Find and Baptize! We're gonna be workin hard this week!

Transfer to London, Kentucky; testimony of Atonement

Hey Fam and Friends!

Well its finally time to head off to a new area. Can't believe that it has already been 7 months since I have been here in New Albany! But I am very excited for something different. The members were very kind to me this sunday and I received a few gifts from some of them haha There are a few members that i don't want to leave and it is going to be very hard to say goodbye!

So, Im headed to London. Yup that's right, London........Kentucky. Way down south. About the farthest south you can get in the mission. And the farthest east. I will be the District leader there in the Foothills district. 

This week has been eventful and quite stressful again. But I just want to share with you my testimony of the enabling power of the Atonement and how through Jesus Christ we can be given strength not known among men. I have found so many times on my mission that I feel like I cannot go any more but my body just seems to keep going and I find strength from somewhere that keeps me going. Being up at 6:30 and working all day and then going to bed at 10:30 is nuts on your body but the renewing power of the Atonement gives us strength when needed!

Bill L finally made it to church this sunday! He was able to get off of work for a few hours and came to the first 2 hours of church! He loved it! He is going to be baptized on Oct. 24. I will hopefully be able to come back for his baptism. 

Leiloni and Anara didnt come to church.... leiloni had to go to the hospital to be with her Mom. Dang Satan.... he always puts something in her way each sunday. She has had to go to the hospital 4 out of the last 7 sundays!!! But I still love her and she will be strong.

This E. I baptized her in May and had to say goodbye last night. 

Love Ya'll!! I'll be writing from London next P-Day!!

Elder Eastin

"Mormon block"

Had a baptism this weekend!! It was awesome. It was Justin C., He's 19. He was introduced to the church 2 years ago by his girlfriend, who is a member of this ward. Wanted tog et baptized but his parents said that if he did that he would get kicked out out the house. So he waiteed for 2 years until about this last June when he showed up to church. He has a super strong testimony and he's awesome. He had me confirm him, which was awesome. Made the whole week awesome.

This week was super good for the amount of lessons we taught. Taught a total of 35 lessons. Found 17 new investigators, which is great. But a lot of them are in the Projects, which is the government housing, so its ghetto haha but a lot of the people there are humbled because of their tough financial situations and so they are looking for something better. Lot of drugs there too but people are pretty nice generally. We have a few awesome active families that live there and we love seeing them. They all live like right next to each other and so we call that part of the projects "Mormon block".

Leiloni and Anara made it to church this sunday. I was so happy to see them. They haven't been for the past couple of weeks because of health issues. I wish you all could meet leiloni one day. She is amazing. I Love her so much. Gonna miss her when i leave.

So transfers are coming up this coming tuesday. We find out what happens on saturday when President calls. I am ready to get transferred haha. I have been here for almost 7 months now, starting to get old... I just need a change. 

Oh so this last week I went on an exchange with the bike Elders and i worked with Elder Butikofer in the bike area. And it was the hottest day of like the whole summer. I have never sweat so much in my whole life before. Riding bikes was the worst but it made for a great experience and good stories. I drank like a gallon of water that morning. 

So.. in the likely event that I get transferred this coming week, if you send me something in the mail it needs to be soon or else send it to the mission office and they will forward it to my new address. 

I love you all!!

Elder Eastin

Golfing for pday

Hello awesome siblings!

So i just got back from golfing with my ward mission leader! Elder Jensen stayed with the bike Elders and I got to golf 18 holes at the nicest course in the area! It was sooooooo fun! I love golfing! I wish I would have golfed more back home! I played alright haha I haven't played in over a year so I wasn't that great. It rained for a fees minutes but other than that it was perfect weather. probably the most humid golfing I have ever done!

I just wanted to tell you all that I love you all so very much! I am so happy that you all are active in the church. You have been a great blessing for me on my mission. I hear so many missionaries say that their whole family is in-active or that their siblings are in-active. What a blessing it is that ya'll are active. I thank Heavenly Father for that every day!

I love you! Its crazy to say that by this time next year Ill see you!

Elder Eastin