Happy New Year!

The week here was really good! It felt like we had a lot more time to actually proselyte this week. And it seemed like the results of being able to just go out and work were really positive. It was cool because we spent a lot of time in a neighborhood where we do not usually do much work, and we saw that that area was very fruitful! We were able to find a bunch of different people that we have now started to teach! We are teaching a 14 year old boy, who seems really prepared. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets that we leave with him and seems to really enjoy everything that he is learning. The crazy thing is while we were on an exchange this week, Elder Patterson and Elder Kersten met another middle school aged kid. He invited us back over to his house this Sunday, and so we went over and met his dad who is a really nice guy. The amazing thing is that this boy is best friends with the other middle-schooler that we are teaching! What are the chances of that? Also, we met a couple of other middle school kids this week playing basketball with their dad. Their dad actually coached basketball down at Coolidge high school in Arizona. Well, we talked for a few minutes and invited them to church on Sunday and the dad told us that Javon would be there. As we were sitting in the chapel on Sunday right before church started, we saw Javon! He came to church and stayed the entire time! That was a huge tender mercy. And the crazy thing is that Javon also knows the original middle school boy that we are teaching that I mentioned first. So that is all confusing, but in short, we are teaching practically the entire middle school here! It has been cool to see how the Lord is preparing the hearts of the young people. They listen and act and feel the Spirit.

We had a bunch of cool experiences this week. One was when we were in that neighborhood that we haven't spent much time in. We had just finished talking to one of our ward mission leader's neighbor's and had a very good conversation with him. We were pretty excited and came up to a street that we hadn't been on before. I thought that it was a through street because it didn't say "no outlet" or anything like that. So we decided we would try. We soon found out that it was a couldesac! As we were walking back down a man pulled up to the mailboxes there and because of the perfect timing we were able to have a good conversation with him and he agreed to have us come back. He has been going through recovery and seems to be open to listening. It was just cool to see the Lord's hand in it. 

We also spent a little bit of time in Salem this week! We went on a short 2 hour exchange with a couple of different sets of elders down in Salem and were able to have a good experience. And then we had dinner with President and Sister Tateoka at their favorite authentic Japanese place in Salem! It was SO good. I was honestly really surprised at how good it was! It is called Bon Japan 86. Then a couple of days later in the week, we went on exchange with the Zone Leaders in Salem. We had a really good exchange and were able to talk to a bunch of different people! I was down in Salem and we made a determination that we would talk to everyone. The start of the day was rough, but as the day went on, we were able to talk to a ton of people and find a few humble people that were willing to listen and accept what we were saying! 

Earlier today we played pickleball with President and Sister Tateoka and the other Elders here in Newberg! It was a ton of fun. I don't know if you have ever heard of it or seen it before, but it is basically like a shorter, smaller version of tennis played with paddles and a wiffle ball. I think you guys would really like it.