Past Missionary Companions

Landon Ross, Max Robison, Tucker Gammell and Austin Jensen

Past Missionary Companions

Elder Tucker Gammell - Home Coming Talk (Audio)

Elder Tucker Gammell

Home Coming Talk

November 13, 2016

Download Talk Click Here (mp3)

Returned With Honor November 5, 2016

Sydnea's Baptism Was Incredible!

Sydnea's Baptism

October 31, 2016

Hey Everyone!

Chillin in presidents office

Sydnea's baptism was incredible!! She had tons of support from her family, friends, and the ward. She was smiling the entire time. Her Grandpa flew out from Iowa to baptize her and that was so important for her. He served a mission just a few years ago so we had a good time talking with him. Sydnea bore a powerful testimony at her baptism of how thankful she was for the changes she felt and for all the people God brought into her life. Her family was zoned in on her and the spirit was definitely touching their hearts. It was awesome to see! Then our ward mission leader called me up randomly and had me bear my testimony to everyone because it is my last week in the ward. So I did and I am so thankful he let me do that. Overall it was a great baptism and we were all uplifted by the feelings we had there.

We spent a ton of time out in this mission with the other Elders. It was awesome being able to go and learn from so many of them. I spent some good time in a couple of the Spanish areas so that was awesome to be able to go out and teach in Spanish again. It's been a little while but I still was able to communicate and understand pretty well. Definitely not anywhere near where I was before but not too bad.

New companion Elder Carroll

We got our new companion Elder Carroll this week! He is an awesome Elder! He's from the Hawaiian islands and it's been fun having him with us this week. I wish I could stay and serve with him and Elder Schenk next transfer. We have worked so hard and seen some awesome things happening in our area as well as in the mission. It's pretty crazy that just as soon as you start getting the hang of things and you start to feel comfortable, that's when change is coming right around the corner. This past week has been such a great opportunity just to use what I've learned over these past two years and just work.

Costa Vida in Rancho

I really don't have too much I need to write about this week but I do want to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me over these past two years. Your prayers have been felt not only by me but also by those that I have been able to teach. Thanks for the emails of support and encouragement. Care packages were always a treat as well. :) it's been such an amazing experience being able to serve the people here in Sacramento. This place will always have a special place in my heart. I know that God had my best interest in mind when he assigned me to come here. There have been so many people who have influenced my life for the better and experiences that have solidified and strengthened my testimony. It will break my heart to say goodbye but I know there are amazing things in store as I return home. I'm so excited to use the things I learned out here in my life as I move forward. I can say with all my heart that God lives. He knows us. I've seen his hand working for me and through me over and over. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. It's only through His Atonement that we can see progress and happiness in our lives. The Book of Mormon is true. It's blessed my life and brought me understanding. Joseph smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees in 1820. He was just a man that was called to do a great work.  I love this church and the Gospel.

See you all soon!

Love,

-Elder Gammell

It Was An Incredible Week!

Good ol Carmichael Zone

October 24, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

It was an incredible week! So many testimony building experiences. We did a few exchanges this week with Sacramento, Elk Grove and Folsom. On my exchange with Elder Dukes we were working in our area. The night before we were planning out the exchange and I felt prompted to go to a part of our ward that we really have never touched. It's kind of in the rich, gated community side of the ward so we never really see much success over there. But, I felt like we needed to try working on this street called Chiquita Way. We planned it in for the next night and Elder Dukes and I went to try it out the next day. We hopped out of the car and walked like 50 yards and this couple started getting out of a car in their garage. We hurried up to them and introduce ourselves. Their names were Jim and Cheryl. We ended up talking to them for about 30 minutes and made a strong connection with them. They have a church they go to downtown and have been there for a long time. She is the pianist and they are pretty active in it. We brought the Book of Mormon into the picture and started to explain the story of Lehi and his family fleeing from Jerusalem and it made sense to them. They brought up the scattering of the house of Israel and it just made sense to them that the people in the Book of Mormon are part of that scattering. We gave them a copy and they were really excited to read from it. They agreed to have us back over and said they would read and pray about it. We are stopping by to see them tonight or tomorrow evening. It's pretty cool that God led us right to them and we were there right when we needed to be there. One minute earlier or later and we probably would have missed them. I love how it feels to follow a prompting and see the direct results from it. It doesn't always happen that way but when it does it's just a huge testimony to me that God puts us right where we need to be, right when we need to be there. And all we have to do is ask and listen.

Sydnea is ready for her baptism this Saturday!!! She passed her interview and is good to go. We also found out that she will have some family there that aren't members so we are super pumped for that! It will be an awesome day for her and everyone who comes.

Katherine got her patriarchal blessing this week! She was so excited for it and really did need it. We told her about them a little over a month ago and she wanted to get hers so bad! She got it all set up and finally went and got it yesterday. Her appointment was right after church so she was anxious to go the entire time at church yesterday. We had some errands and appointments after so we were thinking about her when we knew she was there. She texted us right as soon as she got out and all the text said was, "Wow. Just wow." Haha she had an amazing experience. She had a lot of guidance and direction giving to her. One cool thing that happened during it was that Jordan and Briana sat there absolutely still and silent for the entire blessing. That in itself is a miracle because they never stop moving and talk so much!! We were so happy to hear from her that it was all she had hoped for and more. She is going through alot right now in her life and it seriously amazes me that she has stayed as strong as she has through the challenges that they are facing. It seriously has been a huge testimony builder for me. They always tell us that they wouldn't be where they are without us but I really do know that I wouldn't be where I am without them. God places people in our lives for specific reasons and I know with all my heart that one of the biggest reasons I was sent to Sacramento was to find and get to know Katherine, Jordan, and Briana. No coincidences in this life. :)

I'm excited to see what this upcoming week has in store. I have to make the most of these days because there really aren't that many left.

Love you all!

-Elder Gammell

Folsom Lake

We Did Three Exchanges This Past Week!

October 18, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

It was a great week! We did three exchanges this past week in Carmichael, Rancho Cordova, and North Sacramento. It was cool to get out and spend some solid time proselyting this week. On my exchange with Elder Escoton, he came to our area from North Sac, we taught our new investigator named Margene. Margene is probably in her late 70's. Our bishop called us the other night and gave us her name and address and told us to go by. She had met with missionaries before in another ward in the stake and was very close to being baptized. But because of her health she couldn't go to church and ended up having to move away to her grandsons house. Her daughter in law contacted our bishop and said that it would be a good time for missionaries to start going back to see her. So on Saturday morning we went by and visited with her for a little while. She really loves to talk! Haha it's a good thing we have had quite a bit of practice listening during our missions ;) After she told us about all the struggles and challenges she had gone through over the past few years of her life we started talking about God's plan for her and kind of the purpose behind the trials we all face. We shared some scriptures and discussed them with her and it was cool to see the bitterness she was holding within her heart all started to fade away and was replaced with a peace and comfort. She was very thankful for us coming over and told us that we better keep coming by haha. Her health still isn't very good but we know there can be a miracle provided and hopefully it ends with her being baptized.

We live with the administrative Elders and they tend to get drawn into the office quite a bit so we did a little team up in their area to try to find some new people for them to work with. I went with Elder Page and we went to work a little in the Fair Oaks 4th Ward. We tried to see a few potentials but didn't have any luck. Right at the end of the exchange we stopped to see another potential and ended up contacting a young girl sitting in her front yard. Her dog came running up to us so we had it follow us back towards her. We introduced ourselves and found out her name was Samantha. We talked with her for a little bit and somehow ended up talking about the power to seal families. It caught her attention and she really liked the idea of the YSA ward. We gave the sister missionaries her info and they went by to see her a couple days later. Turns out she came to church on Sunday and loved it. Now she is getting baptized in two weeks!! So crazy how fast that happened and that just goes to show that you never know just who is prepared to receive the gospel now. We are excited for her.

Sydnea is doing awesome! She is still set to be baptized on the 29th so we will be meeting quite a bit this week to get her ready for her baptismal interview this weekend and then next weekend will be the big day. It will be such a cool day for her and her family. We are hoping to get them out to the temple this week as a family to take a tour so that'll be sweet.

Love you all so much!

-Elder Gammell

I Was A Great Week!

October 10, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

It was a great week! We had another MLC and it went really well! We decided to mix it up a little bit and we did a really cool activity. When we meet together as missionaries, whether that be a district or zone meeting, we usually have some sort of role play where we practice teaching or applying some principle of missionary work. So we did a role play in MLC where we had everyone in the room gather in the middle and we split into two lines. The objective of the role play was to praise or compliment each other. So one side started by giving the compliments and after 30 seconds they would rotate one person down and start over. So eventually everyone was able to complement 13 people and receive compliments from 13 as well. It was such a cool activity and the spirit was so strong there. It was cool to see how everyone was able to see strengths within themselves that maybe they didn't know were there. We were able to grow so much closer to each other and it just felt good to look for the good in everyone. That spirit carried us the rest of the way through the council so it was great. Then each of the companionships there were able to take it to their zones across the mission and do about the same thing. We have had great feedback from it and a huge increase of love within the mission so it had a great effect on the missionaries. It's pretty cool to see the fire that builds in ourselves when we strive to look for the good in others instead of the bad. We can always find a negative in anything if we look for it. The cool thing is we can also see the positive in all things all well. If we just make a slight mindshift all of a sudden there's a huge change within ourselves and we get to experience the joy of loving others.  That was another point we touched on quite a bit. If we truly love and serve God and the people around us, it takes care of everything else. All the worries and struggles might still be there but we have a broader perspective that allows us to press forward with joy.

We had some pretty cool things happen as we were out working this week. I went on a team up with Elder Worthen over in East Sac. Right before we were about to head back to the car to head home for the night we started talking with this guy. He drove past us a little earlier and gave us a look that definitely meant he didn't want to talk haha. But as we walked to the back of the apartment complex we ended up running into him and his little family as they were heading in. We started talking with him and he surprised us as he actually seemed happy to see us. He opened up and he told us of all the changes he had made in his life over the past year. He was in prison and had a huge change of heart that made him decide he wanted to change his life around. He now has his wife and two little kids in a little apartment and he is working to provide for them. We testified of the power of Christ's atonement to him and the spirit was there very strong. It was pretty late and his wife was calling him in to help put the kids to bed so we weren't able to talk for long but he wanted us to come back and share a message with his family. So we set up a time and the Mission Oak Elders are excited to go back.

We have several exchanges this week so i am excited for those! Sydnea is doing great as well. She is working hard to prepare for her baptism so we are trying to meet as much as possible over the next couple weeks. Time is cruising by as always. It's all good though.

Love you all!

Elder Gammell

General Conference Was Awesome!

October 3, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

General Conference was awesome! Spent a lot of time in our the stake center but they hours really did fly by. There was something in just about every single talk that really stuck out to me and I was able to get a lot out of them. I think my favorite one was Elder Holland's talk in the priesthood Session. He did a great job teaching us the principle of being a disciple of Christ through home teaching. It was definitely a call to repentance for a lot of people but it will be a good thing. If we can get past just filling the requirement and truly serve one another with love, everything changes and we are able to experience joy with those that God has entrusted us with. Made me excited to be a home teacher when I get home. I had some really good breakthroughs during conference of how I am going to continue my mission after it's over. Still a lot of work and learning to do.

We had several meetings this week with all the new missionaries. We have some team ups planned this upcoming week where we will be able to go out with them and do some work in their areas. Probably one of my favorite things to do is go out with the new missionaries. So cool to see the progress in each of them in such little time here. I always learn so much from going out with them so I excited for this week.

Sydnea is progressing really well. We set her baptismal date for October 29th so we are stoked for that! Probably will end up being one of the last baptisms on my mission. She is super excited and really has a desire to learn and understand the gospel. I think she gets frustrated sometimes because she wants to understand everything all at once but we had a great lesson over Skype yesterday with her where we talked a lot about how we really just need to focus on how we feel. We taught about the Holy Ghost and the experiences she has had when she has felt it in her life. We invited her to really focus on that over these next 4 weeks. Then we made some plans with her to help her learn as well. Seemed like it brought a lot of peace to her. She is really excited for the end of the month though. It will be such a huge blessing for her family. Hopefully her step dad will catch a little more interest over this next month. We will see. :)

Love you all! Thanks for all the prayers. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Gammell

Aimee Was Baptized This Week!!

Aimee's Baptism September 24, 2016

September 27, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

Amiee was baptized this week!! It couldn't have went any better. She was really excited for it and we made sure to keep close contact all week with her to make sure she was ready. It's always scary the last week before a baptism because it seems like something always gets put in their way to try to stop them from making it. Amiee was able to stay on track and Saturday was a great day for her. She even stood up and bore her testimony to everyone. There was great support from the ward and the few young women we do have. They are definitely excited to add one more to their numbers. Sydnea also was able to come with her mom to watch Amiee get baptized. That made her even more excited for her baptism which should be coming up soon. Hopefully the week after conference but if not it will be at the end of October. So we are excited for that! Amiee also stood up in sacrament meeting and bore her testimony again after her confirmation. It's been cool to see her learn and grow. The cool thing is that there is more to come.

We finished up transfers this week so that was good. It ended up all coming together nicely and everyone got into their new areas with transportation and housing so that's all that matters haha. We also were able to send the departing missionaries out and pick up the new ones again. I love going to pick up the new missionaries! It's so cool to be able to see them right when they come down the escalator and take their first steps into Sacramento. They have no idea how lucky they are to be where they are at and they have some amazing things ahead of them. I definitely didn't know what was ahead of me when I first got here but it's cool to look back and remember all that has happened.

I'm super excited for this upcoming transfer. There are a lot of good things going on in the mission. It will be busy as usual but I feel like there will be some incredible miracles that will happen over these next 6 weeks. There's a lot of work left to do here.

Love you all!

~Elder Gammell

This Week Was Insane!

September Zone Conference 2016-Carmichael Zone

September 19, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

This week was insane! Haha we did 4 exchanges in a row and it was awesome! I don't think I have even gotten close to as tired as I was on Saturday night when Elder Schenk and I finally met back up. We saw some great things and had a lot of cool experiences. I think one of my favorite parts of going on exchanges with the other elders is the opportunity to get to know them a little bit more. Whenever I leave an exchange I always feel a ton closer to that person and it's cool to be able to hold each other accountable to goals we set throughout our time together.

Elder Kristensen and I had a great opportunity to help a member of our ward that was going through a really tough time. He texted us and asked if we could meet him ASAP. We met at the church and eight as we sat down he started to break down and told us about how his life had just made a huge change of direction for the worst. He went from having a wife, car, and house but over the last 6 years he has lost it all. He told us how he felt like he didn't have faith in anything anymore and it scared him. We sat and listened and then we were able to help him by turning into the Book of Mormon. We read some scriptures with him and were able to help him see that he really hadn't lost his faith in God. He had lost faith in the people that used to be in his life and those that were currently around him. He wasn't willing to humble himself enough to ask for help from others so we talked a lot about that with him. We set some goals with him to make the changes he needed to move forward and we all were able to leave the church feeling so much better then it all started. He thanked us and he had a big smile. It was so cool to see just how much the spirit really does make the difference in lessons. Sometimes we have no idea what others need but our Heavenly Father does and as we listen to the promptings that come to us we are able to say exactly what God would have them know. And that's when the change happens. It was cool to see it happen with this brother.

While I was on exchanges with Elder Bingham in Rancho Cordova, we were able to teach a girl that I Contacted like 5 months ago when I was serving in the YSA Ward in Elk Grove. Her name was Rebecca and she remembered me. We passed her off to some other missionaries and we never heard what happened. Turns out she was able to meet with them once or twice but she had a ton of stuff going on in her life. She moved up to Rancho and the elders passed her off again. We sat down with her and talked about the restoration and it all clicked with her. We invited her to be baptized in October and she said yes! We were super pumped for her and hopefully she can stay on track.

Amiee is getting baptized this Saturday!!! We are stoked for her! She has been working really hard and is trying her best to be ready. All of the young women in the ward are excited to have another one added to the group. She has already been a part of them for a little while now but she will be official here pretty soon.

Sydnea will be getting baptized here in couple weeks as well. She is so prepared so we talked with her about possibly moving her date forward a couple weeks. She is praying about it so we will see what her answer is this week. We love meeting with her family. They are awesome. We have been able to teach a couple of Skype lessons to them so that has been really cool. It can't replace actually being there but it's nice when schedules aren't lining up to get a quick 20 minute lesson in.

It's going to busy week again. Crazy we are already doing transfers again. It seems like it happens like every other week! So that's about what this week will consist of. Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Gammell

We Had Zone Conferences This Last Week.

September 12, 2016

Hey Everyone!

We had our Zone Conferences this last week and they went really well. The focus of the conference was "The Worth of a Soul". It was cool to see the change in everyone as we went throughout the conference. If we really do understand the love that God has for each of His children it changes everything we do in this life. Every person's soul has the same value. It doesn't matter what they have done or where they are at in life at this point. Everybody has the equal opportunity and privilege to access Christ's Atonement and become the person they were sent here to be. Unfortunately not many people understand this so it is so key that we do. We can play a key role in the lives of the people that God has placed in our paths if we do all we can to uplift and inspire them by teaching them the Gospel. Whether that be in our words or by the example we set for them. It was a great conference and I definitely learned a lot.

The work is going great in our ward right now. We have been super busy so we are trying to make the most of the time we do get in our area. We are still working with Amiee and Sydnea. They both are working diligently towards their baptismal dates. We are going to be working hard to help them stay on track until we reach those dates. We will be on exchanges this whole week so it's going to be pretty crazy. Elder Schenk and I won't be together until Saturday night haha. It will be good though. I was on an exchange in Folsom this week and we were able to go to the Varsity football game up at Oakridge High School to help in the snack shack haha. It was pretty sweet. I guess a couple years ago they weren't too game to have the missionaries help out there but once they tried it out everything has changed for them. Now they absolutely love us there and we were able to see so many people. We didn't really get to talk but it was still pretty cool just to know that they saw us doing some service there. I did get to see a couple plays of the game so that was pretty sweet too hah.

Sorry this is kind of a short one this week. I will probably have a couple stories to share with you next week. Have a good week everyone!

Love,

Elder Gammell

It Was A Great Week!

September 5, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

It was a great week. I did have a cold this whole week so that wasn't fun. Feeling a lot better so I'm really grateful for that. We had quite a few meetings this week so we were pretty busy preparing and setting up/taking down all of those. This next week we are going to have zone conference so that basically is our entire week. Zone conferences are always fun though. It's cool to get to see all the missionaries and bring everyone in for some training. So we are pretty pumped for that.

This last week we were able to meet with Sydney over Skype and we also got to stop in on Saturday night to talk for a bit. The Skype lesson was pretty sick. It was our first one and it went really well. It's so cool to see how we can still feel the spirit together even though we were clear on the other side of town. She is loving church and young women's. They are reading and praying every morning at 6:15 which is awesome! She is working towards baptism on October 29th. She has a cousin that is getting baptized on that day in Arizona so she is going to get baptized at the same time. It's going to be a little while and it's out of our mission just a ways but we are so happy for her. We hopefully will get to Skype in to see her get baptized. She is doing awesome!

Amiee is doing well too. She is working really hard to be baptized. It's been pretty tough to get our schedules to line up but we are hoping this next week to be able to see her a couple times.

We were able to go and throw the football around earlier today so that was sweet. It felt good to go out and run around for a couple hours. It's crazy when we pass all the high schools on Fridays and we see them playing. Glad I got my fill for the week haha.

It's been so cool to get to see the changes that the gospel has been able to make in so many lives of the people we meet out here. Especially my own. It was a pretty unique experience last week to be able to go back and clean up my account. It's amazing just how much I have I learned in the time I have been out here. I know I still have a lot more to go but it was cool to look back and see who I was before my mission and see how much more I understand about God's plan and his love for each of His children. Couldn't imagine where I would be and what I would be doing without this gospel. I know with all my heart that I wouldn't be as happy as I am now. There's a scripture that I have grown to love over the past few months in Mosiah 2:41. It tells us how if we keep the commandments that God has given us, He will bless us in our temporal and spiritual needs. Also through that obedience and Christ's atonement we are able to have eternal happiness and experience a fullness of joy. I'm not really sure I can comprehend what a fullness of joy is but it sounds pretty good to me.

Love you all!

Elder Gammell

More Exchanges This Week

Mission Leadership Training

August 30, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

More exchanges this week. I stayed in the area both times and got to have Elder Pennington and Elder Spencer up here with me. We had some sweet experiences in both of the exchanges. It's always cool to get to be companions with someone else just for a day and to learn from one another. I also got to go on a little team up with one of the new Spanish missionaries named Elder Yorgasen. We had a good time working together. We went and tried to make contact with a few potentials but just ended up talking to people on the street for two hours haha. We were in the middle of Oak Park so there were quite a few "crazies" walking around. It's a pretty run down part of downtown and has a lot of drug/gang stuff going on. We actually ended up talking to a couple of really cool people and set some return appointments for them. Didn't get to use my Spanish as much as I would've liked but it's all good.

Katherine brought her brother to church this past Sunday! He seemed like he really liked it so we are pumped to see where it goes from here. Katherine is also inviting others to come so she is already becoming a missionary! It's probably a result of her  reading out of Preach My Gospel this past week haha. Her family is going through alot right now though so if you could keep her in your prayers that'd be sweet.

We got to teach Amy this past week while I was on exchanges. She is still working towards her baptismal date for September 10th. We haven't been able to meet as much as we would like to with her so we are hoping that picks up this next week. Sydney is in about the same boat as well.

We have a couple of new potentials and leads so I'll keep you posted on what happens with them in the coming weeks. We have quite a few meetings with MLC this week and Zone Conference next week. It's going to super busy so time I guess time will just have to keep flying by as usual.

Hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Elder Gammell

This Week Flew By So Fast!

August 22, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

This week flew by so fast! We had some good times going out to our area so that was good. It was also a big plus that the weather is starting to get a little nicer now. I'm not a fan of anything above 100 degrees hah. So that's been good.

This week we had a mission leadership training and it went really well. It's always good to see all the missionaries from all over. We have had a bunch of solid missionaries finish their missions so there a lot of younger elders and sisters leading the mission. In the training we we went over all of the responsibilities of district leaders, sister training leaders, and zone leaders. It's always good to get a little refresher and to make sure we are all on the same page. We also talked a lot about the importance of accountability. I definitely learned a lot in preparing for it and it will be cool to see the direction it takes us.

This week we met with a girl named Amy. Her mom was baptized last year and they just recently moved to our ward. Amy is fifteen and she has such a strong desire to learn and know where God would have her go. We stopped by Friday night and talked a lot about how they could strengthen their relationships with God and Christ. We left them with a commitment to read and pray as a family. Amy also accepted a baptismal date for the 10th of September! We are super excited to keep working with her to help her reach that goal.

We also met with another family that recently just started coming to church in our ward. The mom is named Misty and she has been a member for a while but just started coming back because of some things that have happened in her life. Her daughter, Sydney hasn't really had a connection with the church yet but is very curious to see what it is all about. So is her husband Matt. They had us over for pizza the other day and a lesson afterwards. It's so cool when you show up to a lesson and the people are actually excited that you are there and have been waiting for you. It hardly ever happens so it's pretty sweet. We sat down and got to know a little bit more about their family. Sydney was pretty anxious because it was all new to her so we were able to help her to know that she wasn't expected to remember everything we said but just to remember how she felt. As we went through the lesson we felt the spirit so strong and they did too. We taught the restoration in a way that I hadn't really done before. We ended the lesson by asking them if they would be baptized. Sydney said yes and Matt said that once he receives a confirmation he would. We left their house feeling on top of the world. I love their family so much! Elder Schenk and I can't wait to go back this week. We are hoping she will accept a date in September as well.

We had a ward luau on Saturday night. It was pretty sweet to look in the corner and see an entire table filled of people that Heavenly Father has allowed us to bring into the church. Katherine and her kids were there along with Megan and Ron. Diana, Jack, and Beverly were sitting over there too. They have all become really close friends so it's pretty cool to see.

Just a heads up, this next week Facebook will be going live in our mission so if you see me on Facebook that is why. I won't be communicating or anything with people back home but it will be a tool that we will be using here. It's pretty crazy that I have really just hoped that I would dodge Facebook for my entire mission, but I am so excited for it. We are giving a training to the mission leadership council this week and I have really receive a confirmation that it's going to bless our mission so much. It's also going to bless each of the missionaries. A lot of the reason we have iPads and now Facebook is to teach the missionaries how to use technology wisely and how we can develop habits that will not only bless us out here but also when we get home. I'm super excited to learn and grow from this. So that's just a heads up.

Well I love you all! Hope you each have a great week!

Elder Gammell

Well Transfers Are Done!

Elder Greenwood, Elder Gammell, Elder Robison and Elder Ross
Sending off my old companions

August 16, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

Well transfers are done. It was the most insane week of my entire life haha. We had so much to do and I am so glad it all came together. It's pretty crazy just how much actually has to go into getting missionaries transferred. We sent home all the departing missionaries on Saturday morning so that was pretty crazy. Elder Greenwood, Elder Robison, and Elder Ross were my companions so that was weird to see them leaving. The night before they left we had a testimony meeting at President Jardine's house and that was incredible. The spirit was so strong as each of the missionaries gave their last testimony as a full time missionary. It was awesome to be there to see it.

Monday morning we picked up 15 new missionaries at the airport. That's one of my favorite things to do. It's so cool seeing them coming down the escalator and talking with them on the ride over to the mission home. They usually have a lot of really good questions and want to know all about the mission. This time they were pretty tired so it was a little more quiet. Plus we had one of the Elders in my van throw up haha. We were driving down the road and all of a sudden I hear, "Is there a barf bag in here?" That's when I hurried and pulled over and he spent some good time outside throwing up. Felt bad for him but he was ok after that. We got back and president had an interview with each of them and then we were able to pair them up with their trainers.

Then we went up the the temple to take a picture and sent them off to their areas. And in the middle of all of that we did the actual transfer meeting. Every transfer we have all of the missionaries that are getting transferred drive up to the mission office and that it where they switch companions. That's one of the benefits of having a smaller mission.

We decided to change things up a little bit from the way we did it last transfer. We brought everyone in and they all had an assigned parking spot. We planned out beforehand that they would be parked right next to, or very close to their new companions. Then they just get out and switch their things and head back to their areas. We ended up getting them all off in just over an hour so that was good. I was so sweaty after. It was 100 degrees outside and Elder Schenk and I were running all over the place. I am just happy we don't have to do it again for another 6 weeks. :)

We have quite a few people we are working with that we have high hopes of them being baptized here pretty soon. I will have to give you all an update on them next week.

Love you all!

Elder Gammell

Elder Schenk, Elder Gammell and Elder Greenwood
Dinner at Scott's

This Week Was The Bomb!

Katherine's Baptism 8/6/2016

August 8, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

This week was bomb! So many awesome things happened. It's been pretty cool to see the hand of the Lord working in the lives of those we are teaching and in my own life as well.

Elder Gammell & Elder Greenwood

We taught Katherine several times throughout the week to prepare her for her baptism. She finished the Book of Mormon and she loved it! It only took her like 3 weeks haha. She remembers almost all of what she read too so it's cool to see that it is sticking with her. She had been working to overcome a little problem with the word of wisdom and was struggling with it earlier in the week. We had a good talk with her and she committed to live the Word of Wisdom even if it meant having withdrawal headaches during her baptism. She was really sad because she didn't want to have that effect her experience. I promised her that if she would pray each day for help and continue reading the Book of Mormon with her baptism in mind that she would have a clear mind and no headache during her baptism. It was kind of scary promising her that but I felt like I needed to. We stayed in really close contact with her over the next couple days approaching her baptism and she had some terrible headaches! But it was all worth it. She pulled up Saturday night with a huge smile. :) She said on her way over to the baptism the headaches just suddenly disappeared. That was a huge testimony builder for all of us that God answers prayers and also that promised blessings work. The baptism was incredible. The kids were pretty excited so they did get a little wild before and during the baptism but it still went great. Katherine was as happy as can be and that's all we could've ever wanted for her. Pretty amazing how God led us to her again because she truly was ready to take this step in her life. I know it will bless her and her family in this life and also in eternity. :)

My new companion is Elder Schenk! We just picked him up last night so we are excited to have him with us this week. Then we will send Elder Greenwood off on a plane this weekend. Pretty crazy. Working on transfers just about all week so it'll be a busy one.

Love you all!

-Elder Gammell

August Missionary Leadership Conference