It has been another great week on the mission!

It has been a great week this week. so this week we got to do lots of things we had an awesome zone training and we had a great time doing a wedding this week. it was a great experience.
            the zone training taught me how to better read the book of mormon to get something out of it here is 5 points to it.

  a. Write down insights in a journal and annotate like crazy
      b. Look at the big picture
      c. Read between the lines (deductive and inductive reasoning)
      d. Ask questions to others and to yourself
      e. Apply it to yourself or to the people you teach

           these are the points we learned as we help our selfs come unto Christ as we help those we share the gospel with! and those that read this as they are preparing for a mission use this as you read the scriptures as you get ready to go out!

            now with the wedding that was so amazing the couple the other elders in our ward baptized and we had a great ceremony for them at the church and we surprised them with an amazing reception. it was amazing ill make a page with the pictures on it of what we did. i got to confirm the wife to The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. it has been a great week and opportunity to help them out with it and to get them on their way. The countdown has started for their 1 year mark to be sealed in the temple! its exiting! 

              

Hope everyone's week has been amazing I know mine has and look forward to another awesome week!

To those that have wrote me a letter sorry its taking me so long i have allot to catch up to and its taking me a little bit especially since i have been so busy! ill try to get it done as soon as i can.

Hope You Have A Great Week! And A Wonderful Day!

Simons says: Keep A Smile Upon Your

Beautiful Face And Show Your 

Love to Those Around

 YOU!

;D

-Elder Cody Blaine Simons

Beginning Of A New Transfer (6 months)

well its been a great start to the transfer. Thanks to all those that sent cards, packages, and love on facebook. so i have gotten a new companion and im staying in Anacostia central area. my new companions name is Elder Imo Eshiet and he is from nigeria so its pretty cool soon he will be a full citizen and his family lives in either north or south carolina. but its going to be a great transfer. its been a super busy week take a look in the videos section of my blog i put videos of celebrating my birthday and i added new pics of doing a service project on my birthday. it was pretty sweet and fun soon we will be going back to finish it up soon. so today i had a privlage to confirm someone that was baptized into the ward yesterday and it was a great experiance it was the other elders that baptized i just had the privelage to confirm the mom a member of the church! it was awesome! im so short on time but i had to get this up cauz idk if i can get it up tomorrow. if im on tomorrow i will add more! hope everyone has an Awesome Week! and a Great Day!

   

End of the transfer and my 6 month mark is this week!

hey how is everyone doing? my week has been great i have enjoyed it esspecially being my companions last week in the ghetto since he will be transfered also. so last week we got to attend a nationals game as a mission which i was expecting more competition in the game the phillies lost miserably which im ok with but the score ended at 11-0 and so yeah it was over at the 2nd inning so oh well but we got to teach a awesome first and second lesson with the people next to us it was pretty sweet. my grandpa told me i had to get a hot dog and soda at the game so i did and i took pictures of all sorts of stuff and made a page for the pics check it out sometime. anyway last week we also got to enjoy the temple it was pretty sweet. i always love going to the temple every transfer. its like a reboost for me in a way! all is great as i continue to work in the amazing ghetto of anacostia and as i get a new companion.but i cant wait to see what the next transfer brings me! its been a great week and i will be moving apartment soon within 20 days cauz our lease is up and our place is a crappy apartment so we will find one better and move so hopefully it will all be great! cant wait to heart from everyone one soon! enjoy this amazing week! until next week enjoy the pics! i will have a pic up soon of me burning a tie!

amazing week ahead being the week before transfers

so yesterday i didnt get to my post or my email cauz i had my day full yesterday. we did a service project for a charity called a wider circle which helps those in poverty ans we helped get things put out for those coming to look for furniture or food when i need and cloths and we spent 4 hours doing it. which was a great experiance and felt good to do. 

     so this week will be a great week we have some great investigators, less actives, and members we are going to be meeting with. also we got departing (end of transfer) temple trip wednesday and we are also going to be attending a nationals game saturday as a whole mission. i am exited for the game it will be my first time attending a nats game. but next week is transfer week and this saturday we find out who leaves and stays and then next tuesday we hear where the everyone will be leaving to if anyone is moving in the zone.

      update with the diet: it is going really great we are working on changing gyms at the moment but im losing fat and enjoy the biking (which im improving at) and also my food eatting routine and meal choices are doing great. hopefully i can stick to it when my companion and me split cauz he has kept me going and has taught me allot on it.

Hope everyones week is going amazing and everyone keeps a smile upon their face!

Have a wonderful week and a blessed day!

Elder Cody Blaine Simons

Careful: you give a lot of attention to details Original: you are unique and you dont copy others Decisive: you always make good choices Young: you are full of life

p.s check out the other tabs on the blog to see pics and videos

another week in the ghetto flown by with an amazing week!

This week has been a great success in the ghetto!

so this week we got to do so much we had some money lesson with investigators this week we also got new investigators this week! also we had a awesome zone conference which was amazing! (which i got an awesome birthday tie from the mission president and his wife! its the 4th one on the first pic of my tie collection which anyone can add to it if they would like!)

         so this week it has flown by i mean with the work going well in this area its amazing! i want to give a shout out to the young women in the west mountain first ward for the wonderful snacks and gift they sent me! that was an awesome gift! it puts a smile upon my face when i hear from others and get gifts like those that were thought through. i mean im grateful for my amazing parents for getting me some new pants and shirts and other things that they got me. 

     so tomorrow as missionaries we get to go have fun playing football at the national mall which is always fun! i am amazed at this area. when i go to church its few but the members are humble and amazing people! im glad i get to serve in the area i do i love my mission and all the things i can do in this area! 

hope everyone has an amazing week and a wonderful day!

till next time cant wait to hear from everyone that would like to get to me an ask questions.

   *if anyone is ever wondering what i may need or would like to send anything here is a list

-white short sleeve shirts

-ties

-stamps

-anything missionary supply wise

-church music cd's

-3 ring binders

-whatever you may think i may need if you know how a mission goes

*these things can be anything for my birthday also with it coming up on August 9th!*

MY TIE COLLECTION SO FAR!

almost half way through this transfer July 14th 2014

well wonderful awesome family & friends &other viewers. it has been a great week this week. im sorta getting a hang of my new area. its harder memorizing the roads around here. i miss the grid system but the gps got roads stuck in my head when i drove in my last area. but hopefully i can get the area memorized enough i can help the next companion if i dont move and be able to show him where to go.

         so recently i have changed my diet which i have been losing weight and people have been telling me i look like im thinning since the last time i have seen them. so i have a diet of food and i go to golds gym monday, wednesday, friday, and the other days work out at the apartment except saturdays thats basketball day. but also my food diet has changed i went to costco and spent $135 to have a diet for the month. so we have chicken and rice for lunches and dinners it depends sometimes but the rice is brown rice which either way i hate rice. but my breakfasts are one meal everytime and its a morning drink. so you put 1 cup oats, a bannana or Peanutbutter, 2 eggs, a scoop of protein powder and milk and blend it up and i take fish oil pills and a multi vitamin with it. so thats my breakasts but yeah the snacks are greek yougurts, cottage cheese, and once in a while a peanut butter and honey sandwich on wheat bread or multi grain bread. but it all keeps me going and so here is my routine workouts during the week.

gym-monday: chest/triceps

tuesday:  biceps/abs

gym-wednesday:legs

thursday:shoulders/triceps

gym-friday:back/biceps

saturday:abs/cardio/basketball

thats my routine during the week and the scheduled stuff. so i ave been going down in weight but building muscle. its been great and everyday im on the bike so it helps too.

               so this week i have been getting to know quite a few people in this area. the ward is small. its funny i comapre it to the school i went to being small but yeah its the only church building that i have seen that doesnt have a gym in it. but its a great building. its been a great experiance to serve in the ghetto here. 

               but im getting exited on this mission i mean so may things are getting better and better. ill tell you why my testimony has grown, i have felt in certain areas or times in the mission what my purpose with some people or some situations is. i have been able to meet awesome people and the great opportunities that i will have ahead i mean i read my patriarticle blessing and some of the things in there get me exited for the rest of my mission.

               so we just found out that the previous mission president here has been diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer so i ask that all of you that read this pray for president Matsumori. which he is a temple president now. i hope all will be great in the end for him. i heard he was pretty awesome.

            so one thing i want to ask who may be getting rid of any old dress up pants that you dont want anymore that i may be able to have cauz i dont want to ruin any of my suit pants biking. so im looking for some that i can just use that are easy to bike in. im looking for 36x34. so if anyone that has any can mail them to either address to get them to me or if its drivable to my parents.

      my parents address: 10178 s 6000 w. payson utah 84651

      mission office: 11700 falls rd potomac md 20854

anyway i would really appreciate if anybody had any to get rid of for me to have.

      hope everyones having a wonderful week! and look forward to those that i hear from soon!

                                        DC NORTH ELDER CODY BLAINE SIMONS

                                                                D&C 4:2 

4th of July celebration! July 6th 2014

well this week has been a great one with the 4th of July and all the great things. sorry i didn't get a mass email out last week they moved our pday to the 4th so that we could enjoy the 4th of July! it was a great holiday! we got to see some crazy things in dc! i am now in a new area with a new companion which he has an awesome blog to go check out(my companions blog). his name is Elder Erik Little. hes a great companion we are enjoying each other and oh just to let everyone know im in anacostia which is a ghetto area so it is awesome to experience. i have really enjoyed my mission up to this point now yesterday was my 5 month mark and at the end of this transfer i will hit my 6 month mark its awesome! so in this area the ward is small which is easier to do testimony meeting with everyone cauz i am more comfortable to smaller groups and its been great. i have enjoyed the ward here but miss the laurel ward.the ghetto is a new experience and a wonderful place. ok so i got to tell you stories k. so during our celebration we went to the mall and watched the fireworks and got to hang with a cool family. well towards the end as we were in an hour line to get on the metro to head home there was a drunk lady that started a fight with a innocent guy and everyone was yelling for the cops so the horse cops came over and was trying to stop her and she started booking it and they chased her for a little bit with the horses and came back with her in hand cuffs which was sweet so everyone started cheering for the cops. so that was funny and cool.but we had a good time enjoyed the fireworks there and got to take some cool pictures of the fireworks which will be put up soon when i get them put together on the photo section of the blog. who likes my idea for the blog? so one thing i decide with the blog and people can make suggestions but i want to put stories or my experiences up so that those that are thinking about a mission can read my stories and heart from others also. allot of what inspired me was when i went on an awesome youth conference trip which was a mini mission thing at Utah state and allot of things i got out of it where the stories the spiritual experience and how you can grow from a mission. i am grateful to sister Chisholm, sister Obray, sister Belk, sister york, brother Mckay, Brother Southwick, Bishop York, and all the other leaders that i may have missed and to all the youth i was able to have great Experiances with. my mission is the best thing i have decided to do and something i will remember for the rest of my life. im greatful i was called to the Washington D.C. North mission.

         so how was everyones forth of July? was there any cool stories to share? i enjoyed the 4th of July! hope everyones having an awesome week And a blessed day! 

2 days away from the end of the transfer next month it will be 5 months down 19 to go! then 6 months and 18 to go! June 23 2014

well this week has been a  great one being my last week in laurel. so with knowing im moving im going to be getting a new address which i wont know till after wednesday my address but tomorrow i will know where i will be going to. for now i know im going to a bike area. i have a little bit of bike experiance here in laurel after the car wreck but the other areas arent as big as this one. so yeah it will be all good.

so with that im going to miss my investigators i have been working with. 

herbie and mercades have been great to teach they got to the point we just need to marry them and then the can be baptized and their daugher wants to do it with them so she is waiting till they get married so they can be baptized as a family and the son will soon be 8 and he can be baptized also. 

then with dencie she was awesome to work with. her family was less-active but got them coming back to church. she was suppose to be baptized but someone dropped the ball in comunications so it went to long so she turned 9 so it becomes the missionaries duty at that point. she has been great to work with and enjoys the missionaries.

with pedro and mike they are on the path of baptism. it was a great how we were able to meet them. so there was a time when the spanish sisters where tracking in pedro and mikes area they met a few people they sent to us as referrals. so we went to go check on those referrals, we came out of one of the buildings and pedro stopped us and said "are you guys affiliated with any church?" and you know we go along telling him how we are missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. he then asked if we gave rides. and we told him how we can have members help give rides and so he got exited and we went to his apartment a few  times and got them on baptismal dat thats on july 6th but sadly i wont be there for it unless some how i find a way there i know for sure ill make it to denice's baptism.

so yeah hopefully all is great in my new area. but this next few days will be packing to leave good ol' laurel im going to miss this area its got all you need and its a great ward here.

so hopefully everyone got the letters i sent out to. and i hope you enjoy it and look forward to those that write back. i relized next transfer ill be hitting my 5 month mark then my 6 month mark to where i can burn a tie it will be fun we will see which tie i burn for it and these last few months have flown by like crazy next thing i know ill be looking back when i finally hit the year mark. so it will be awesome. 

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

4 months on the 5th! Put your shoulder to the wheel! June 2 2014

so last week i didnt email because me and my roommates went to the the zoo and did shopping and didnt get back in time to do emailing before p-day ended. so thats why there was nothing last week. 

so here is the report for this week so it has been really great and things have progressed on! ok, so i believe it was last week that i didnt report that we had something come up. one night we get a phone call from sisters saying they had referrals for us, so we took the info from them to go and check on the referrals they gave us. well a couple of days later when we go to check on these referrals. as we were coming out of the apartment building they lived it a guy stopped us and asked if we were affiliate with a church and we said "yes, so we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." and he asked if we offered rides to our church and we told we could get a member. so we had that cool thing happen for us and now when we went to go teach them the first lesson i could tell the spirit was there and we got him on date for july 6th!

so one of these p-days i have decided that im going to pick an hour to write the people that i have had a hard time finding time to write back and get back to them. so if anyone would like to write me or ask any questions about anything or would like something from a missionary, feel free to write me. also im working on improving on facebook with people so if you know anyone that could use a facebook missionary. suggest them to me on facebook or suggest me to them on facebook and i will help them out and answer questions for them. im always trying to put stuff on facebook that may be a quote or picture that will make someones day or to help them with gospel questions. if i schedule it i do discussions over chat with many people about the gospel and i start groups that would like to keep it private with certain people or i can make ones that are opened up. either way i schedule stuff like that when i can or when i need to!

         hope everyones week is great and the day is a BEAUTIFUL one!  

                     HAPPY MONDAY!

       (the pics below are new ties i got and a pair of shoes i got for my collection)

I'll be emailing later hopefully

$10 shoes that are regularly $30

                          $4 ties each which come with a handkerchief and a tie and cufflings  

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

almost the end of my 3rd transfer with my 5 month mark on the 5th of july. June 15 2014

another great week has passed by in this wonderful journey! time flies its weird to think that on the 5th of july ill be on my 5 month mark. but all presses forward in the lords vineyard!

i want to wish all those fathers out there a HAPPY FATHERS DAY! hopefully my card made it to my dad! but this week i took time to write everyone a letter and gave them a picture along with it hopefully those make it out soon. but the letters are short but decided to do something to make up for not getting an email out last week. last week i got to busy to write the email cauz i had to prep my apartment for treatment which i might have to do again but im not sure anyway, you know how your parents always said "goodnight, dont let the bed bugs bite" thinking that was a joke. thats how i thought it was till i was getting eatten alive by them which now i believe in bed bugs. right now i have all my stuff washed and bagged in garbage bags till it gets resolved.

so this week has been cool since we have been able to finally get a hold of allot of our investigators and hopefully the Jamaican family makes it this sunday! we have had great progress with the investigators mike and pedro which have a baptismal date for july 6th so as well as its going i hope they get baptized. hopefully i get to stay another transfer to see it happen but we will see because this transfer ends on the 25th of this month. my prediction  is that i may get transferred and get sent to dc biking or something but we will see where The Lord sends me. so also we went to go see a less active that hasn't been to church for a while neither has his family and we went over there to visit with hi one day and we got talking and something came up that was something that The Lord would like him to do and he was telling us how his oldest son that lives with his mom is preparing for a mission and would like his dad to be there but he cant because of a situation i cant mention anyway but he now that his son has brought this up and another thing that is helped him was doing family history but he has this desire to come back to church and he has this feeling that there is temple work he needs to do for family that he has said that he feels he needs to do for some of his family. so he asked us for the phone number to call to set up an appointment with the bishop when he feels he's comfortable to do it. so there was that great miracle and hopefully we can get them re-activated but it will be sweet when they get to that point.

"conversion or re-activation always starts with how they feel, not what they know"

       - Elder M. Russell Ballard 

             (mission conference)

i hope that next week will be a great week full of work to do! 

so last week i gave a workshop on 4 christlike attributes and im going to share it with all of you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 11 2014 District Workshop

5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

D&C 4

When I think about this scripture I think of as we do theses Christlike attributes we do it through god.

Remember when elder Ballard came and he was telling us when he got called in to get asked to be an apostle and how I think it was president hunter who asked him but said "with all the love I possess" and not "with the authority that I have."

Definition of the Christlike attributes. Scriptures to share.  

________

Faith

________

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation. Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10:14–17). Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith.

21 And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Alma 32

_______

Hope

_______

to desire something with confidence of fulfillment

a desire supported by confidence of its fulfillment

that which is desired

expectation, confidences 

Do we have hope in our day? 

_______

Charity 

_______

The highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ. It is never used to denote alms or deeds of benevolence, although it may be a prompting motive (1 Cor. 8:1; 13:1–4, 8; 13; 14:1; Moro. 7:47).

Charity

Do we always look or take those opportunity to help those we see that may need help?

_______

Love

_______

April 1995 by president Monson called "that they may hear"

Third, labor with love. There is no substitute for love. Often this love is kindled in youth by a mother, expanded by a father, and kept vibrant through service to God. Remember the Lord’s counsel: “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.”11 Well might each of us ask himself: Today, have I increased in faith, in hope, in charity, in love? When our lives comply with God’s standard and we labor with love to bring souls unto Him, those within our sphere of influence will never speak the lament, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”12

Questions/ discussions

How can these Christ like attributes can help us In our life's. 

What does it mean to you to have faith, hope, charity and love towards others? 

These where things we talked about to improve our missionary work and just Christlike attributes we can use in our everyday life with those we care about or help out in times of need.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the thing i like about this workshop is the greatness of the christlike attributes we can use to help others or just those we see that need help. in conference one of the general authorities stated that in the dictionary "selfie" was the word of the year but if we show these christ like attributes to others we can turn the "selfie" word into "selfless acts" and i know we will have happiness and joy as we show this to others. I'm grateful for the gospel we have and the atonement that Jesus Christ has given us and that i can be out here in D.C/Maryland teaching those in the lords vineyard! I'm grateful i can show others the joy and happiness in this gospel. and i say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

I hope everyone's having a great week and a blessed day! Hope everyone gets the letters I sent out! So how has everyone's summer been? How has everyone's week been? I always look forward to others letters or questions for me!

Let me know if you don't get my letter by Wednesday July 18th 2014 so I can try to send it again and so you can have it! 

I sent this a day before so that anyone wants me to respond to anything tomorrow so I have the time!

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

Today is my 3 month mark being on my mission! May 5th 2014

Well like my subject says today is my 3 month mark it feels like just yesterday I was entering the MTC which was an amazing day and I'm not regretting anything about my mission! Time feels like it has flown so fast! I can't believe may 14th is the last day of the transfer continuing to my 3rd one and it's been great! This week is my last week of doing the 12 week program which has been great. But we will see what challenges come to the next transfer that lead to great blessings! 

       This week has gone by to quick. Doing the same as what Gordon b hinckley's dad told him to do "loss your self and go to work." And I have done that and kept myself busy next thing you know I'll be like my dad (elder Johnson) at my year mark saying " man has time flown" but all progresses! But today I'm going to a zone activity that's games and a BBQ which is going to be great!

       So last week we have had pretty good success we were able to meet with the Jamaican family except the dad this week but we got to finally got to talk with them and they had friends over and we taught them and they were from New York staying for a while. We hoping we can see them again. Also we have had success with meeting with less actives too. 

         I have really enjoyed my mission so far and the rest of my mission is going to be even better. A older guy in our ward says " this Monday is better then last Monday!" That is so true he further I get in my mission the better it gets! 

         I got a letter from the young women from my ward in west mountain and it made my week it was a great letter! I'm glad I'm a great example to those in my ward and family! If there is someone you know that you feel could use a letter from a missionary or an uplifting  letter let me know and I'm up for it and willing to make them feel better!

       How has everyone's week been? Hope it's been a great one! Make this week better then last week! And have a fantastic day!and I'll be emailing later maybe but have a good one till then!

What a great week it was! May 19 2014

so last week was transfer week which was great! i have got a new commpanion here in laurel. It's weird trying to introduce someone to the area when I'm kinda still learning the area in a way. But he's a great companion his name is elder porter. He's a great rapper. And an out going guy. He's from Idaho somewhere by Idaho falls in a little town next to it. 

     this area presses on in work! this ward here is awesome. they are great at fellowshipping with those we bring to church.

      ok so on saturday we had an awesome mission confrence where we had the baltimore and dc south mission join us at the stake center next to the temple for an amazing confrence. well guess who our guest speaker was....... it was ELDER M RUSSELL BALLARD..... he gave us an amazing talk about missionary work and it was an amazig one and where i was standing a hand shake away when he walked in it was great. allot of times i felt like he was looking at me when he talked about topics that i needed help improving on. it was also ccool because i got to see my buddy i graduated with elder hunter meldrum. it was cool he is serving in the dc south mission.

      my week has been busy due to helping my new companion get to know the area and the investigators and also the ward. because idk if i will be here next transfer i hope i will be but we will see how it goes. this month we have been getting feed well. i dont complain.

      all has been great how has everyones weeks been? has anything great happened this week that i have missed? have you had a great miracle this week?

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND AN AMAZING DAY!!!!!!!

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

Wednesday is the day of transfers and i am staying in the good ol' laural ward area! May 12 2014

so with transfers coming up this wednesday i will be letting my trainer go to a new area i will stay and get a new companion. which will be diffrent but in a way it will be getting me to take charge in all the lesson sometimes i dont talk much in the lessons so it will be good for me since i know the people better. but anyway last week i fiished the 12 week program! YAY! so im exited so this week will be great last week has been a good one we have had a fun, hard working last week together.

      last week has been good its been getting warmer thats for sure! but its rained during the night time a couple of nights. its been all good though and fun!

     so yesterday i got to skype home for the first time for Mother's Day which was really fun! looking forward to christmas when my other siblings will be around for it! my littlest sister neilah was being funny telling me all she has done and showing me things. it was great to see my grandpa and my family but the weird thing was that it wasnt to long ago that i saw them so yeah i will get to see them on christmas but hear from them through email still. also talk to them about how its weird that i hear how my sister and brother lindeon and zach are ending school in 2 weeks and my brother and sister mckenna and justin ending in 3 weeks, because it will be a year on the 22nd this month that i graduated high school and it doesnt feel like to long ago i was riding the  bus to school and being a senior but its weird now to be out on a mission serving The Lord when i feel like that idk. but i dont miss the classes at school or anything like that the things i miss from school are the friends i had and the things we did together.

     it doesnt feel like to long ago that i was in the mtc having great spiritual times with brother gruninger and sister donaldson and all the great elders that were in our district there. i have learned allot from them and my trainer out here in the field. time flies when you put yourself in the right path in life and to keep yourself going strong. 

      so today we are going to go play golf for pday which i am exited for! its great! so the pictures down below are my family skyping and the other is a group picture of us elders that are serving in the ward here and the last picture with elder johnson (my trainer and companion) in this area. we have had a great time together.

but all is great here! how has everyones week been? anything exiting coming up this week or in the future?

Hope everyones week is amazing keep it going and have an awesome day!

Mother's Day skype home screen shot

East elders on the left and west elders on the right for laurel area

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

You got mail from a missionary! April 21 2014

Well how's y'all's week been? Mines been fast and awesome!

     So I want to tell you allot about my week but it's gone so fast I can't think of majority of it I can't come of it off the top of my head (the beauty of my journal) but I can tell you the weekend and my pday today.

     So today I went hiking and free style rock climbing around the great falls by the Potomac river. Got some cool pics. The rocks that I climbed reminded of the ones that I back-packed into the uintahs. But it was all cool there I will have to send pics! 

   So how was everyone's Easter? Mine was cool we dyed eggs the night before and the day before I got to do a Easter egg hunt with some youth in the ward at a members house. Got some eggs there with candy!

   Last week I got feed a ton last week for dinners, didn't even need to pay for dinners!

 So the night before Easter me and my companion went to a Easter program that was the Washington, D.C. Mormon choir and guess who was there to speak there. Take a while guess.........guess..........guess...........guess...........guess........guess.......... Guess.......guess........guess...............guess...........guess..........guess.......

It was ELDER L. TOM PERRY! 

He spoke before the choir did their program and there was a few of the area seventy there!

 They sat a few seats away from me it was so cool!

   So anyway everything has been cool here on my mission weeks are just going by to quick!

    I have enjoyed doing service for others and sharing the gospel!

 So how was everyone's Easter? Mine was great! Did you keep the true keeping of Easter in your hearts? I sure did! 

      Have a awesome week and and an amazing day!

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

Put your shoulder to the wheel! Push along! April 28 2014

 Well what a week! This week has been a fast week by time but by work it's been slow! Why I say that's is because our teaching pool has gone down. But that's ok we keep a positive attitude to find new investigators! Some of our investigators are hard to get a hold of.

But anyway so last night we had p-eve (the night before pday) and we did a sleep over and I guess I fell asleep and the roommates where asking me something and didn't get a response. So they thought I died but those that know me I'm a deep sleeper and something could happen to me and I wouldn't know so I guess they piled every pillow and splashed water on me and woke me up and it was only an hour after I last looked at my clock! But now I need to sleep with one eye open hahahahahahah.. Jk anyway but I was all fun!

   But yeah like I said there is not a whole lot to excite everyone about this week. But I did start a new diet this week to lose weight since my blood pressure goes up and down and I have gained 40 pounds since I came out so yeah me and one of my roommates is going to get a gym membership so that we can have more equipment to start a work our routine but yeah.

    We also had an awesome BBQ for a roommates bday it was fun! Decorated the whole room up with decorations and decked the place out!

   It was all fun there but how has everyone else's week been? I don't usually hear from many people to write or email back except a few family members. But it's all cool! I enjoy writing them! 

 But hope everyone's weeks are going well and there day is going great! 

  Have a fantastic week and a wonderful day!

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

The work presses on! April 14 2014

 Well another week has gone by! Wow I sit back in my chair during my lunch hours and look back on how time has flown by! I went to a baptism yesterday for girls that my companion taught in another ward and I think back how when I was baptized how great that day that was! You know I remember baptizing my brother when he hit the age of baptism and I got to enjoy that day with him! Thinking about it in my family me, Lindeon and zach were not baptized by the same person but I believe that my other siblings were baptized by our dad! For those that are confused the me and the 2 siblings are from our side then the other siblings are are step siblings from when we combined families together which was awesome! But yeah anyway we are all buds! 

     So last week was a pretty nice week got allot done and just enjoyable! There was a day we went into a store to grab something real quick k well there was a guy that told us about him trying to meet with missionary before and they did call so we told him we would be able to meet him so he pretty much made his appointment and said to meet him at the star bucks. Well we agree to it then we get there and we find the glenmount ward mission leader there and I can tell you I'm grateful for him for being the cauz this guy just went off on that we didn't have true faith and that we need to have a relationship with Christ before anything and that there was no apostasy and he wouldn't believe us unless we showed him in the bible where it was and we told him we don't need to show him scriptures to believe because if we showed him he would bring up another scripture and then it would become an argument. So yeah the mission leader helped us out and got him under control. The guy said that he was going to pray for us to change our minds about it. But like elder holland says "we need to defend our beliefs". 

     Ok so yesterday we had a awesome member give a talk in our ward about how people are on ease about helping missionary's with less actives and referrals well after he expressed that it is important for ward members to help hasten the work and that they need to make an appointment with the missionaries ASAP and have them over to see how they can help work with the less actives and to help hasten the work with us. Well when I look at our meal calendar we have the the next 2 weeks full of dinner appointments! This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    So anyway my last week was awesome! Can't wait to see what this week brings me!

 But with our investigators, Stephanie is hard to meet with since she's so busy with work and school so when I told you guys about her b date it's going to move but we will see when we can move it since we have to see when she can meet again.

     The Jamaican family we are progressing with them they are support great with reading the Book of Mormon and receiving the lessons even the kids enjoy the lessons. And I'm going to tell you we would have them on date but they are not married and the kids are both of theirs so we have to work on that to get them on date so yeah!

   

     So this morning we went to the sunrise to take photos and to see the cherry blossom festival! It was pretty cool I'll send pics! 

So how was everybody's week? I want to hear anything cool that's going on! What is everyone's plans for Easter? Mines to share the true meaning of Easter to others! 

Have an AMAZING week! Have a AWESOME day! I'll be on to email later around like lunchtime or so I'm not sure when yet I'm just enjoying DC right now

My tie decided to blow away when I was getting a pic but once I saw it so I didn't ask to take it again since I would feel bad since we were all hurting for breakfast

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS

	Apr 14

It's been 2 months as of yesterday! April 7 2014

Well last week has been a great and relaxing week!

  Started out with a pday with fun stuff going to the zoo. Then Tuesday was a good relaxing day. Then Wednesday was transfer meeting. Then Thursday was helping the new elders get to know this area and get them started since they are white washing. Then Friday we went and saw a bunch of people then prepared for an awesome conference weekend!

     Now in our area there is new elders in our area now instead of sisters so now it's all elders and we decided it would be really fun to have room mates instead of just the two of us sitting in silence or just one laughing at the other. But it's all cool we have had so much fun moving in with new elders into a nicer apartment.

     I enjoyed this confrence, especially the one about president Monson and uchtdorf touring the Air Force one that was a really good story. 

      There was a challenge we gave to people in our ward and less actives to when they go to see or hear conference to go in with questions they may have for help on challenges, or to spiritual questions. I know I can tell them 90% of my questions were answered and I have found it helpful. 

      Allot of the talks were very powerful and straight forward! It's been a good one! I'm waiting for them to put the talks on gospel library or to send the ensign out so I can go more into depth with them and share allot of my thoughts on them and have more to share to what I would like to share!

      So how's was everyone else's conference weekend? What was everyone's favorite talk and why?

  A talk I really liked was elder Neil l Anderson! I like his story or analogy which ever you may call it but we need to root our selfs into the gospel to protect our selfs from the whirlwinds of satan and to keep our self on the straight and narrow path! There is times we get moved from our spot without knowing it but if we are truly rooted our selfs into the gospel we will be protected for the whirlwinds of satan.

    I total agree with his talk! It's so true that we may be moved by Satans whirlwinds and not know of it but that if we keep ourself rooted into the gospel that we will be protected and be heading on the true path back home to our Heavenly Father!

      I also like president Monsons little sentence he say " if we find our selfs somewhere that we shouldn't be GET OUT!" 

     I thought that was a really cool one too!

And then one I thought was cool was elder bednars story about his friend and his truck. To me that was a cool thought to think about having a load of spiritual help and having faith to help yourself get unstuck from that snow! I thought that was awesome!

Anyway so yeah like I said I want to hear what your favorite talk or story was from general conference!

                              Have a awesome week and an amazing day!

P.s. for those that haven't heard my mission has made a a change in the mailing system so now they have you send it to our apartments and when the transfer gets close to ending, which is may 14th when this transfer ends just to let you know. you send it to the mission office till I can email where my new location is if I move but for now it is: 8301 ashford blvd #606 laurel MD, 20707

    

                             Have a awesome week and an amazing day!

I'll be on email later not sure when yet but I'll be on sometime today not sure when yet!

DC NORTH MISSIONARY ELDER SIMONS