Training assignment

Dear Elder Timothy Hoffman ,

Congratulations on accepting an assignment as a trainer. To be a trainer of a new missionary is one of the most important assignments in the mission. With this assignment, a great deal of trust is being placed in you. Your example in this assignment will set the course for  your companion's mission, and will have a large impact on the rest of his life. Please remember the following expectations for missionary leaders:

*  Strive every day to be exactly obedient to the standards of missionary conduct found in the Missionary Handbook.

*  Faithfully follow the missionary daily schedule.

*  Have effective personal and companionship study every day.

*  Be diligent, humble, and effective in your work.

*  Have effective weekly and daily planning sessions including follow the 13 planning guidelines and updating the area book.

*  Love your companion and foster a spirit of love and unity in the companionship.

*  Lead the companionship in staying focused on our purpose for being here as missionaries.

The Lord has asked you at this time to fulfill this sacred stewardship. Remember that this is the Lord's work and you are His servant. I trust you will work to your full capacity, using all of the abilities and skills with which you have been blessed.It is a privilege to serve with you.

Love,

Gene E Hancock, PresidentIdaho Pocatello Mission

cc  Parents, Stake President

5 Sep 2016

Well, things are different. So I no longer live in Idaho. So the stake I cover now is in the very bottom of Idaho and covers Cokeville Wyoming (where I am now living) so it’s pretty cool but way different. So Cokeville, for those back home, is about the size of Gresham only even more populated with Latter-Day Saints. It’s about 90% and most of them are active members. We also cover the Geneva ward which is not a town it’s a stretch of High way and a couple of farms make up the ward. Then there is dingle it’s like Geneva only it’s a bit more populated. Then we have Montpelier which is like the size of Clintonville, and we only cover half of the town. So it’s taking some adapting from serving in the middle of the largest city in the mission with the lowest percentage of Latter-day Saint, to where I am now.

Monday- I was still with Elder Magallon and we burned his tie, played some b-ball for p-day, and saw a couple of families to let them know I was heading out. Said good bye to my man Charles, funniest guy we taught well, mark is right up there with him.

Tuesday was pretty busy, we had a district meeting before transfers, it was pretty cool, and since everyone was training we focused it around training. In the afternoon we did stuff but I don’t remember what. The evening was crazy busy, we had said by to the Stoddards, Had a lesson with the Nielsons, it’s a bummer to leave those two.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it back for her baptism. Then we had a goodbye party kind of thing with Mark. We and his fellowshipper came over and we had Pie and stuff, Mark is the funniest guy. He got us a Chocolate cream whipped pie. Super rich. Any ways he cut it in fourths and decided to eat it with us. And he's diabetic and that pie was like pure sugar. So we kept telling him to stop, but he insisted because it was my last day there that he had to eat all of it. So I hope he didnt end up dead shortly after I left.

Wednesday-Transfers!! It was crazy, so many new missionaries I don’t think there is one companionship that stayed the same except for the APs and the ones already training from last transfer and even some of those changed. So we spent the day getting everything all organized and people moved around. I met my new companion, Elder Curtis. He is a straight up cowboy along with like 90% of Cokeville. It’s like real cowboys though they ranch and herd cows and stuff.  Elder Curtis is a rancher from Wyoming so he basically is at home in Cokeville.

Thursday- Trying to figure out how this area works, meeting a lot of the leaderships; stuff like that.

Friday- Zone training, it was super good and we have the biggest zone I’ve ever seen. There are about 35 missionaries in it. That might change soon but one of the exciting things is that living in this zone we will have an awesome opportunity to work with the Star Valley temple!  We did have a lesson today and it went pretty well. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It’s a strange part member family. The daughter is a member; mom isn’t and I don’t think the rest of the kids are. Mom has been to a lot of different churches and was always told crazy things about the Church. The kids are going to be helping with the ceremonies for the temple. They are in one of the dance things for it.

Saturday- stuff happened I don’t really remember

Sunday- Good wards. Had some pretty good fast and testimony meetings in Cokeville. It scared me at the start. This old lady got up there and started talking about the election and how it was freaking her out but the rest of them were more spiritual. After we taught the young women class about how our words have effects. We had tried to plan for this a couple of times but couldn't figure out what to do, then as we were about to start I got an idea for a demonstration (thank the Spirit for that one) But I did a missionary role play with the teacher. And sat there in silence for a bit. Asked her how she felt, she just said awkward; handed her a Book of Mormon didn’t say anything, same answer. Then bore testimony and talked about the gospel. Asked her again. This time she said she felt the spirit, peace, joy (see fruits of the spirit see Galatians 5:22). Then we talked about the influence our words can have and how as much as they can bring the Holy Ghost they can bring the spirit of contention. Hopefully it helped. Then we met the Farmers for dinner. Cool family, they have like a prodigy son on the piano. He composes his own music and has since he was 12 maybe even a little before that. Then we met with one of the bishops. Turns out they were having a family reunion so we didn’t get to talk to him as much as I would like to have. Then we crashed another family reunion and the Grandma made sure everyone was gathered so we could leave with a message. So we talked about the blessings of the gospel in our families. and about how we can’t lose hope for any family members who have chosen a different path. It was a pretty good Sunday.

 A district farewell.

 My man Charles

Dingle. Capitol of the world?

29 Aug 2016

So things are going good in Pocatello, but changes are coming! So this Wednesday I will start second half training Elder Curtis in Montpelier. So I'm going to be transferred. Basically nothing is staying the same in the mission. 43 of our 55 companionships are going to be in training this transfer. It’s a little crazy but it’s going to change the mission for sure. 

I don’t feel like doing a day-to-day of this week. Things have been awesome. We had a lesson with the Nielsons and they are still going strong. We actually had two lessons this week with them. We taught all the commandments and they are already following most of them. They are just ready to go. They have been preparing for several years and they just decided now is the time.

Then we also had a lesson with Mark. We knew this would be my last lesson with him so we made sure that it was a good one. He likes the church so much. He is just like a step away from really committing to the church.

We had an awesome Fireside last night but none of our investigators were able to make it. A couple people shared their conversion stories, they were pretty intense stories, but they were awesome none the less.

I'm pumped to be training it should be a fun experience especially since I don’t know the area at all. But the Lord will help me out.

Have an awesome week!!!

22 Aug 2016

So Pretty good week. Well a really great week.

Monday- so for p-day a couple of Sisters said they set up capture the flag and when everyone got there it was a service project. But we did play capture the flag afterward so it wasn’t really a lie. The trees we were playing in were a menace though, everybody left with cuts, I messed up one my hands with a pretty deep cut but it wasn’t too bad. Plus the whole area was covered in horse apples. But nevertheless it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday- We tried to watch Jeffery R Holland's devotional with Mark but he got a bit busy. The highlight of today though was talking with the Nielsons. So they want this to be low key but I don’t have anyone from the area on this message. But anyway we were having our lesson with them and first things first. While we were talking, their little three year old puked out of nowhere. That may have distracted from the Spirit a bit, but we got back on track.  We now have a date for sister Nielson to be baptized, and it set so that Brother Nielson has time to get worthy to baptize her! They are pretty close to the ward (they both grew up in it and they have family in the stake leadership) so the people that we have let know are just stoked. Like 5 years of prayers are being answered. Bishop was ready to party once we told him. But to be clear, this is really nothing of our own doing. They just finally feel the church is something they need in their life. We were just in the right place at the right time.

Wednesday- we finally had our first lesson with the Klye's. We met this family almost 2 months ago and they are a bit flaky at times, so lessons have never gone through. So another miracle!!!

Thursday-Super weird day so we spent all morning planning, we decided to do some work on organizing the area book. At like, 2:00 a guy knocked on OUR door. Felt so backwards. But this guy is a less active that fell away from the church. We met him a while back and his sister served a mission so he knew our apartments have the Jesus picture. Anyway he was trying to say it wasn’t bashing us and said oh you’re doing good things. But then told us basically the church is leading us to hell. He was a big "saved by grace" guy and said for whatever reason our belief in Christ won’t save us but all you need to do to be saved is believe in Christ. We tried to discuss with him, but from the get go I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. So we lost like three hours trying to help him understand. Like the thing is we believe that we are saved by the grace of God, But in order to obtain that grace, we need to follow Christ, which entails that we keep commandments that we can and work to have a Christ-like nature. But yea it’s tough when people won’t consider the things you say. But above all else..... HAPPY B-DAY BENNY!!!

Friday- Had a lesson with Mark, He loves the Word of Wisdom. We told him transfers are coming and he said and I quote "Maybe we should get this thing done before you guys leave." He hasn’t accepted a date yet, but he will get there.

Saturday- mostly met with leaderships and talked about how to help out individuals

Sunday mostly went to church

Enjoy your week everybody, and save periodically when typing long messages.

15 Aug 2016

This week flew past, like its a blur, Sunday was awesome though we had 3 non-members come and there were like 5 less actives that came to church!!

Monday- I don't remember anything

Tuesday- we got Elder Magallon's bike tire fixed; then it popped two hours later... Oh that day we also met a kid named Draven who was baptized in I.F and is trying to find the church. So we talked to him and he got there this Sunday!

Wednesday- we had district meeting. We also had a lesson with a couple the Spanish Elders are teaching. We were trying to figure out who should be teaching them. The Spanish Elders are going to keep teaching them. They had a litter of puppies and they were adorable!

Thursday- Tons of planning like usual, We had a lesson with the Stoddards and just reviewed what baptism is with Ducky. Then ended the night with a correlation meeting and the ward missionaries seem pretty excited about doing work. So I wont be shocked if good things happen there.

Friday- Crazy day, We had 5 members present set up and 3 fell though but it was an awesome day. We met with Mark and had a super good lesson.  He was trying to fix his DVD player when we got there and he said "yea it was barely working last night but... I think it just gave up the ghost." We find it funny when people talk in scriptural terms. That's part of what makes Mark so great. This week he had a lot of questions about how we perform baptisms and things of that nature so we are hoping that is a good sign! Then we had a meeting that I'm not going to go into detail about. Then we had a late dinner with a family who wants everything to be a bit low key, but they are going to get baptized. Nothing sketchy is happening. They just don't want everything publicly announced.

It was a pretty good week everything kind of built towards the week end but its time to get headed out for me.

8 Aug 2016

So I’m writing this in like no time at all. We got a new solid investigator. He is just out of juvie and attended the LDS services there. He called us over while we were walking by. Jesse is a pretty cool kid and is super interested by the Atonement. We took Mark to Sacrament and he joined us in a fast. Mark is diabetic so we had fruit snacks and stuff prepped in our bags but he had some awesome faith going in. He just said I’m doing this for God so nothing will happen. I really hope he commits. He's such an awesome guy and he's pretty enthusiastic about the Book of Mormon.

We had zone training this week, and it was pretty awesome. We talked about desire mostly and overcoming our natural tendencies to serve with 100% conviction. So at the end we all wrote down something we wanted to let go of and tied them to some balloons and released them. I think it was supposed to be like the Anti-Nephi-Lehis but in reverse. Instead of putting them under the earth we sent them over.

This week had one of the most special and near to my heart events of my mission.... A&W was giving away free root beer floats. Anyway, aside from that we also had a picnic with the Gwen ward. We spent the morning handing out flyers and kids from around the neighborhood started taking them and running around telling all their friends about it, so there was an awesome turn out. The big draw was a zip line and a hundred foot slip and slide. One of the best parts was that we had an investigator family show up (well the mom is less active). They came and the kids made a ton of friends and got along great with the ward.

All and all this week was pretty great and I hope you all have an awesome week!

25 Jul 2016

So this week was Pioneer day and apparently that’s a thing. I honestly don’t remember much of this week maybe it’ll come back while I'm typing.

Monday- Pretty busy, we couldn’t find a ride. The guy that we planned to have drive us around locked his keys in his car along with his spare keys. So we walked to a nearby grocery store. Then found a ride with someone else but that ended up taking like 2 hours. Anyway it was a pretty good day we had a meal with a part member family. We aren’t sure how to help the husband progress. He accepts the Book of Mormon and basically the entire church but he just isn't willing to commit at this time. Then we had a lesson with a recent convert. It was a little hectic. She has one child with mild autism and the other kind of instigates him. But eventually we got a little bit of order and we were able to get the Spirit in there. It helped that it turns out our member was a special needs teacher back in the day (we had no idea).

Tuesday- We had district meeting a day early so we could do it before transfers and even though it’s an eternity away, one thing that stuck out to me was just making sure my mission doesn't end when I go home. Especially since this is a place where we focus so much on member missionary work. It would be crazy hypocritical if I went home and never assisted the missionaries. The afternoon was pretty lazy - lots of trying to make contacts. Then we had a lesson with the Green family and it went pretty well. The one we are teaching there is a nine year old and she has had lessons in the past so it was pretty cool she brought out all these papers she had of the plan of salvation. Then we had a super late dinner, we ate at 8 o’clock so we were starving. It may not seem that late but it’s a long time for us.

Wednesday- Transfers and well nothing really changed for us. I don’t recall much of the day though.

Thursday I don’t recall much from today either.

Friday- We had a lesson with Mark, He's our most serious investigator and we brought up baptism last time we saw him. He made a letter to organize his thoughts and he gave it to us. He said he felt no need to be re-baptized but we explained to him if he studies the Book of Mormon more and gets an answer it’s not a re-baptism but a baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ. So he is going to continue studying and searching for that answer. I shortened it up a lot but it was a two hour lesson. Well I suppose about 15 mins of that was him and our member present talking about gluten allergies though.

Saturday- Pioneer day! So there used to be a whole parade for this that the entire town went to, like it was bigger than the fourth of July. But the city got mad because Pocatello is a little sick of Mormons. So now the stakes just put on individual celebrations. They had a mini parade and stick pull and someone made sarsaparilla, it was a pretty good day. Sadly our investigators didn’t attend. Later that day we had a meal with one of our bishops who has been the busiest out of them all and we finally had a chance to sit down and really meet him and get him involved with our work. Also they are calling a new ward mission leader and we don’t know who it is, but the bishopric has been hyping him up big time. We are just excited because it’s been a month and a half since we have had a ward mission leader.

All and all it was a pretty good week. And I hope you all have a good week!!