July 17, 2018

Family,

Well this week there was a lot of good things that happened and a lot of sad things as well. The sad is that almost all of our friends that we taught last week did not keep their return appointments this week. That is always one of the toughest things when you find people who seem so prepared and then they are not there for your next lesson. The good thing is we did find a lot of new friends and also got in touch with some people who we used to teach as well. Hopefully all of them keep their return appointments for this upcoming week!

We had quite a few interesting experiences this week talking to people on the streets. On Wednesday we found some sketchy apartment complex that we didn't know about in our area. The apartments are kinda tucked away so we went and tracted there and it went pretty good. We found a new friend and also this guy who's pretty cool who is a member but his records are not here. So we got his information to move him into the ward and he said when he gets back from his trip he will start coming to church with his nonmember wife.

As we were leaving the apartment complex this truck with a shattered windshield pulled right in front of us and parked in the middle of the road. Then this lady in her 50's or 60's got out just sobbing and the first thing she says is "you won't call the cops on me will you?" I was thinking I don't know should we??? She then goes on to tell us how her life is super hard and her parents won't let her have a dog and so she got super mad and she ran into some guys mail box on purpose and then kicked her windshield until it was shattered. Now she has to get it fixed.  ha ha It was pretty interesting. She just wanted someone to pray for her. So we did and we invited her to church. So we will see if she comes.

This week was also transfers and I got transferred!! That was kinda surprising. We thought Elder Wright was going to get transferred because he has been here longer. I'm going to be in Kirkland now which was a part of the old Seattle Mission. It will be exciting to see some new places. I've actually been up there before back when I was companions with Elder Pugh and he was getting his surgeries. They were up in Kirkland. It's another rich area.

Other then that I really don't remember what else happened this past week. I am now logged out of the area book planner so I can't go back and check. But this week flew by! Thank you all. I sure love you and am grateful for all that you guys do for me!

Elder Ethan Stucki

~I should get the jeans today. I made 1 video for Ty. I just don't have time. We have been busy. If he wants some of those ties I sent home he can take them on his mission... not the floral ones I sent home earlier.

~I'm sure this will be my last area. It is about 45 minutes away from where I am now. I am packed and we don't really have transfer meetings we just meet up at one building find our new companion and go.

~Elder Wright is from Pleasant Grove and Elder Scott is all I know. All my companions have been pretty good for the most part. I don't really have a favorite.

~I feel like I never know what to say in emails anymore. It's all just kinda the same ha ha

~No. I actually haven't been trunky. I wish I had longer.
~Yeah it will be good for him. (Ty) Hopefully he is getting ready. He should start reading missionary talks and things
~~okay... I love you all thanks for all that you do and have a good week!!

July 9, 2018

Family,

This week actually went really well and we saw tons of miracles!! To start off we are very thankful that we don't have lice!!! Most of our ward got it from the activity because the girls brought it home from girls camp but we luckily did not get it. So don't hug girls! Not because they have cooties but because they have lice!!

Tuesday we had a really awesome lesson with the G. family. There is a mom, dad and a daughter. Long story short they have had a rough past and have made tons of huge changes and are coming back to church. The dad is not a member. He wants to be baptized and said that when he can he is going to be. He is so excited we won't be able to keep up with him and he will be diving head first into the font before we can get there!!! Haha I love them. Ask me about them later on when I get home!! They have quite the story.

Wednesday was super awesome! We had Zone Conference last week and they talked about how ages 15 to 25 is the sweet spot. In that age range is when most people convert. Well this week we found a lot of like 15 -20 year old friends we are now teaching. (Now friends not investigators) Anyways we found (G) this week. She is 15 and is Chuukese. It's a small little island somewhere. Anyways the Family has apparently been taught before but we taught her about the Restoration and committed her to read and pray about the pamphlet. She accepted the challenge and we set up a return appointment for Friday. When we went back on Friday to follow up she said that she had read the pamphlet and prayed about it the way that we showed her to pray and she had the coolest experience!!! She told us that night she read the pamphlet and prayed how we showed her to and then she went to bed not thinking anything of it. That night she had a DREAM!! In her dream she said that the whole Restoration was laid out before her in order. Idk how exactly detailed her dream was or what all she saw but that was awesome. She recognized it as her answer and we are continuing to meet with her!!

Friday we had a big meeting that has been anticipated since January when the mission dissolvement was first announced. It was the first MLC or Mission Leadership Council held as a newly combined mission. It was good!! It was basically just a council the whole time about rules and procedures and how things are going to be moving forward. The Seattle Mission President obviously ran things a little different so we kinda had to meet on common grounds. It was good though.

Then Saturday we went back to a return appointment we had with (S) who we found last week. She is 17 and from Kenya we taught her and her mom this time. They are super cool. We invited them out to church and they came!! It was so cool. Hardly ever do we have people here come to church after the first invite. It usually takes weeks of reading to get people to come out. So that was awesome.

~Elder Wright and I gave the talks in sacrament. So that was cool. It was on the life of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. So it was pretty good!! And a really awesome week!!

~Sounds like it was a good week! You do better about writing about your week then I do.  haha

~No not really. I mean there are always exciting things happening but I cant keep track of them all...

~What am I going to do about school... everyone keeps asking me that and saying I should probably start signing up for it and idk how to do that kinda stuff. Kailor asks me about it
every week.

I have to go though I love you all and hope you all have a good week!!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki

July 2, 2018

Family,

This week went pretty good. 

Monday ~

Fun P-ay we just drove around and went to a few different popular places like Brown's Point were there is an old lighthouse on the Sound.

Later in the week we did some service for a less active member and helped him move a giant walk in freezer to some other guys house. The thing was so stinkin' heavy. It was in pieces but still massive. But that's okay because we have some lessons lined up with him to start teaching him so he'll come back to church!

There are lots of people like that in this ward. We will talk to members who have had experiences in their life recently or they are starting to come back to church. We are hoping that we can start teaching some of them. Mostly those who are non-members and help them to join the church.

We had our Festival of Finding for probably the last time since the mission just split. It was this past Saturday and it was really good. We found 15 new investigators a Zone which is awesome. This week as a Zone we have had the best we have ever had and found 35 new investigators. We usually find around 21. Seven of those investigators were found in our area as well so we are super excited to start teaching some new people.

On Thursday we had our Zone conference which was very good. We got to hear from one of the Assistant's that was the Assistant in the Seattle Mission. It was cool to see the differences in the missions. The things that they are doing good at that they can help our mission with and the things that we are good at that we can help their mission with as we come together. I am excited for the combination of the missions and to see how things go. It's weird because now our Mission office is in Bellevue. We will get to drive up there and we will see a lot of new things.

We had a really good lesson with G. It is so much fun to go and teach her because she is just so awesome and understands all of the Gospel. Everything we teach her she soaks right up and she's always reading and studying on her own. We wish everyone was like that. 

After the Finding Festival on Saturday we also had a ward BBQ that was really fun. They had lots of games like volleyball, badminton, Frisbee, football and many more. We had the barbecue and then afterward there was a fire and people sat around the fire roasting marshmallows and singing songs. There are a lot of different ethnicities in this Ward. It was cool to see the Islanders who brought their ukuleles and guitars and played and sang, someone was playing a harmonica and everyone else was just singing. It was pretty fun.

That was about it for this week. Hopefully this all makes since because I did it all with the text to speech. But thanks for all you do and have a good week I love you all!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki

PS -  I need new jeans!!

sounds like good things are going on back at home. So that's exciting.
Things are going good here. My companion and I get along really well.
The best part of the week was the Festival of Finding because a lot of new investigators were found. and ya there are always spiritual experiences on missions.

Also!! we will be going to see President Nelson speak!!! I am so excited. September 15!!

The mall here has a sweet hat store that makes me want to add to my collection!!
There will be tickets but the General Authority over this area talked with our Mission President and said they will reserve seats for all the missionaries.

… about girls camp. My ward just had girls camp this past week and some girl went there with lice and it spread like a wild fire! So they had to come home early. Then we had a ward party the next day and I think someone gave me lice!!!!! My head has been tingly and there are little white things but they don't move. idk if it's just skin cause I've never inspected my head before and idk what lice are like. I'll be ticked if I have lice. I think I might just be paranoid but I swear I feel little tingling's on my head. We talk to and touch so many people and all the girls and the leaders got it so idk man but I better not!!

Have a good week. I love you all!!

I think I'll shave my head!!

June 25, 2018

Family,

This week was a little bit slower than normal. Our last P-day was pretty fun. We had a Zone activity and played sand volleyball and spike ball.

I went on an exchange this week with Elder Worthington from Montana. He was a lot of fun to be with. He is newer missionary he is on his 4th transfer. He is a super good missionary and has a lot of faith. 

We had a good lesson with our recent convert G. She is so awesome. I just love her. She has the biggest heart in the world and just wants to help people. When she came to church she saw one of the less active sisters we have been working with who is struggling and went and pulled her aside and talked to her to fellowship her. She is so sweet.

The less active lady is a returning active member. Her husband is not a member. They used to be huge into drugs and had lots of money and lost every thing. He was in prison for a long time. Now they are living in tents at a state park and have totally changed there life around in the past couple months. They haven't missed church in 2 months. He is working with a member now and she also has a job and they should be able to get a apartment soon. He listens to General Conference talks while he gets ready and while he is at work. He wants to get baptized but he is on probation right now so he can't at this time. But he will! They are awesome.

There's really not much else to write about for this week. Thank you all for all that you have done. I love you and hope you have a good week!

~Most of our investigators right now are kinda hard to meet with so not a lot of them are progressing. The only one that is would be B. but we have a hand off lesson with the YSA Elders set up for Wednesday so we won't be teaching him anymore. 

~That's exciting for Ty. If I had one suggestion for him it would be to have Dad teach him how to give a blessing and to maybe give you or someone one before he leaves. I had never given a blessing before my mission and I didn't know how and then I got out here and was pretty scared to. Luckily I had a good trainer who asked me to give him one so I could learn. But that would be good for him.

~It just wasn't a busy week and I didn't write throughout the week. It's true we all get lazy after we experience spiritual things. I think that's why it is so important to flame that fire we feel by reading and praying and also serving others every day. It is the natural man though. Peter, James and John and the rest of the apostles walked with Christ for 3 years and witnessed and even preformed many miracles themselves. When Christ left, what did they do? Well Peter said "I go a fishing." and they said "We also go with thee." they went back to old habits. and that's what we do as well.

Hey HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! That is exciting. 25 years!!! That means your kinda old. 

Just a little bit

Love you all
Elder Ethan Stucki

June 18, 2018

Family,

This week went pretty well. We had a couple lessons with our recent convert G. and she is progressing so well. Tuesday we went on a last minute exchange with the Assistant's. I was with Elder Newville in Kent and it went well. We found 3 new investigators for them in their area. Elder Wright and Elder Christensen were in my area they put two of our investigators that we found on Sunday on date for baptism! It is a mother and her 11 year old daughter who recently moved to here from Louisiana and are looking for a church. They are pretty cool people and we are excited to continue to teach them.

Wednesday ~ We were able to meet with B. an investigator who is 18 years old and graduating high school this year. We found him last week as well and we left him with a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read. At our follow up he said that he felt like he needed to get baptized. We committed him to be baptized and he agreed so we are  excited for him. We will hand him off to the YSA Elders because he is YSA age.

Thursday ~ We had Ward Corrolation meeting. The highlight of the day was later that night after the meeting we had a lesson that was supposed to be with a lady named H. that we had found little while ago. She was not home so we ended up having a lesson with her cousin named H. and one of her friends J. that was there. They both became new investigators.

Friday ~ We saw a lot of miracles in finding new investigators. 

Saturday ~ We went on exchanges again. I was with Elder Henrie who is from good ole Panguitch, Utah!! I love Panguitch. We spent most of the day doing service helping 4 different families and individuals move out of their homes. From 7:30 am until 3:30 pm. We started with 2 families to help and ended up getting calls to help 2 more families. So we didn't get to teach much together but we got to do a lot of service!!

Sunday ~ Good day - but sad because none of our investigators showed up to church. We were able to go around and have some good lessons with some members though to help inspire them with there missionary efforts. 

Happy Fathers day to all the Fathers and Grandfathers they did a lot.

The scriptures are full of accounts of how Fathers play an important role in the lives of there families.

We read in 1 Nephi how Nephi had listened to the words of his father and was desirous to know them for himself. As he prayed to the Lord in faith he received his desire and saw what his father had seen. (1 Nephi 10:17)

Enos teaches us how he was able to have all of his sins forgiven after his Mighty prayer. What started him to pray however was "The words which he had often heard his father speak concerning eternal life."
(Enos 1:3)

Alma the younger taught how he was "Racked with eternal torment" but remember the words which his father "prophesying unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a son of God, to Atone for the sins of the world."
(Alma 36:17)

Joseph Smith listened to his father's advice and read in the Bible and happened up on James 1:5 which started him in the journey of being a tool in the hands of the Lord in restoring the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth again.

Heavenly Father loved the world so much that he sent his only begotten son into the world so that through him, we can all have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I want to put My Dad in there as well with a lot of these same qualities. He taught me how to work hard, do what it right, raised us in this wonderful gospel, and taught us about Christ. I know he would do anything for us kids because if the love that he has for us and I'm grateful for that and for him!

Thanks everyone for all that you do. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki

June 11, 2018

Family,

The start of this week was pretty average. We did lots of finding less active members and part member families. We had a couple of good lessons with the (M) family. Mainly Brother M. His kids were running around and his wife was sick. Brother M. is a less active member who hadn't been to church for a year. (more or less) That was the last time he had been but he has never been to active. His family goes every now and again. We got talking to him about church and why he doesn't come anymore and it was because he has had people give him a hard time because he smokes. We started teaching about building our foundation on Christ and applying his atonement into our lives.

In the middle of the lesson I was trying to think of what Christ would say to Brother M. if he was in the lesson with us. As I was thinking about this I felt so strongly that Christ wants him to come back to church and be there with his family. I was kinda nervous to say it because he had already told us that he has made up his mind that church wasn't for him but he still loves the gospel just not going to church anymore.

But of course when Christ needs his message to get to someone he will make it happen. The impression grew stronger that I needed to tell him so I kinda explained to him that throughout the lesson I had been thinking of what Christ would tell him if he was there. I told him as representatives of Jesus Christ we strive to live in such a way so that we can have the Spirit to help us get God's message to the hearts of those we teach. I told him how I felt so strongly that if Christ was there, He would invite him to come back to church. We read in  3 Nephi 18:12 with him. It talks about the commandment to continue to partake of the sacrament and how that is how we can build our foundation upon Christs rock. The spirit was so strong as we did so and to see brother M. (now this is a guy who's been in construction all his life, he's 55, used to be kinda a cowboy)  Just a big tough man...  to see him getting teary eyed and almost begin to weep... was another testament to me that God knows the hearts of his children. He knows what he needed at this time. We know that he knew at that time what he needed to do. He didn't say much after the lesson but we hope and pray that he will come to church this Sunday.

Saturday was another special day. It was G. baptism!! It went really well and she had quite a bit of family come that are not members. It has been so fun working with and teaching G. she just soaked every thing right up and knew it all to be true. While we were teaching her she even helped to reactivate one of her friends families who are members of the church but haven't been out in over a year. So that was super awesome too.

Those are the main points of our week. We have found some really cool people that we have return appointments with for this next week that we are exited about. Last Friday we had interviews with the mission President that went really well. 

Thank you all for all that you do. 

I hope you all have a good week. and Happy Birthday to Ty this last week too! 

I love you all!!

Elder Stucki

June 4, 2018

Family, 

Sorry this might be a little bit shorter this week but it was still a good week! The best part was obviously this past Saturday we had 2 baptisms for the (L.) girls. They were the girls we found like Sundays ago. A member of the ward council told us about this family that had recently started coming back to church and they had 2 girls who were not baptized. So we went to their home. They wanted to learn about the Gospel so we taught them and yesterday they were able to get baptized! It was a pretty awesome day!
Really that was like the highlight of our week. Since the baptism was pretty sudden it took us most of week to get things figured out. Scheduling the building, getting clothes, people to give talks etc. We are also in the process of planning another baptism for this Saturday as well for (G.L) So we have been super busy. Things are super good as well!!

Other then that this past week we had MLC on Friday which went really well. We talked about leadership qualities that are important to have and how to help missionaries focus on their faith, desire and purpose. Especially with the mission split that is about to happen. That's really about it for this week. Thanks for all you guys do I love you all!

~I did get my package. Thank you very much!! Your the best.

~The picture was of dart night and the rest of the day we will play some basketball and do some shopping. 

~There are a couple of really nice pairs of shoes at Ross that i have been waiting for them to go on sale. Elder Wright got a sweet pair of church shoes for 49 cents!!! The lady marked them all the way down for him because they had been there for a long time. So for the past 4 weeks I've been waiting for these shoes to drop in price.  ha ha 

Have a good week. Love you all!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki

May 29, 2018

Family,

This week was has truly been a week of miracles! It started off last Sunday as we heard from a member in the Bishopric that the (M) who have been less active but have been coming out to church, have 2 daughters who are 11 and 12 who are not baptized!! Well kinda... So the mom wanted the 12 year old to go on the temple trip on Saturday with the youth and as she met with the Bishop he found out she didn't even have records. The mom says that her and her younger sister were baptized at 8 back in Hawaii but there is no records of them anywhere. The ward has searched everywhere and even called Salt Lake but there is no record for them. So Wednesday night we got a call from the Bishop asking us how to go forth with a re-baptism. Since they had come out to church over 3 times we were just going to teach them all the lessons and then baptize them Friday so she could go to the temple on Saturday. The font at the temple broke and so the trip was cancelled so we are not in a rush anymore. Friday night we taught them and went over the baptismal interview questions and got a feel of what they know and are teaching them right now. They will get baptized this next Saturday June 2!! We are so excited for them they are awesome. The dad is also not a member so we hope as we teach the kids the dad will soften his heart as well!

But that is not all the Miracles!!! Thursday night at 8:30 we went to visit a referral in a apartment complex but she wasn't home. We decided to try another referral in the same complex we have been trying to get a hold of but have missed. Anyways he was home and let us right in!! He and his wife are from Kenya and they were so kind and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony of how much it will benefit them in their lives. It was a simple lesson yet the Spirit was so strong. They both said they knew it was true before we even asked them to read it. At the end of the lesson they did commit to read the Book of Mormon and they both committed to baptism for July 7th!!!

We were so blessed this week with finding and having 4 new investigators placed in our hands and on date for baptism. (G) is also progressing super well. She accepts everything we teach and is willing to change if she needs to, to please God. She has so many member friends and they will study together. She is super excited for her baptism as well for June 9th!! The Lord has been blessing us so much lately and things are going so good! I love the mission and I love this gospel. It's the sweetest moments in the world watching things click in these individuals heads, seeing the light that comes into their eyes as they learn more and desire to be a part of it.

It has been such a blessing in my life watching our investigator (G) as she learns about this gospel. She is just like Lehi in 1 Nephi 8:12. She knows that this gospel is true and she desires it more in her life but not just in her life but also in others lives as well. She has been inviting friends and family to come to her baptism and to church. She is even bringing a less active family back to church!! It's so amazing the joy that comes into ones life as they accept this message.

I'm also grateful for all of you and hope that you all have a good week. Thanks for all you do. Love ya!

Elder Ethan Stucki

~Mom...

We had transfers this week but Elder Wright and I stayed together. This was the transfer that decided where we will go or what mission we will go into. So I will be going to the Seattle mission.

We are going to Buffalo Wild Wings today. and yeah we would love some food!! we are like out!! we are still pretty good on cereal. idk what else there is to ship. Those black forest fruit snacks are the best!!! yes I love jerky. granola bars are good the sunbelt honey and oats ones!! chili is good. maybe a little mac and cheese

I gotta go tho have a good week  I love you all!!

May 21, 2018

Family,

Okay so this week I think I'm just going to touch over some of the better points of the week. We were able to have 3 lessons with our investigator who is on date for June 9th. She is progressing and for the most part most her family is pretty supportive even though they are mostly all Catholics. She is from Guam. She was having a party at her house so on Tuesday she asked us to mow her lawn and clean up her yard because it was very much overgrown. It was fun to get out and work.

We were able to have our first lesson with the (M) family. They are less active members that were baptized within the last 5 years. They moved here from Texas a little over a year ago and just haven't been out to church. They are a younger couple with 2 kids that are like 4 and 5. We taught them on Tuesday and they had us over for dinner on Friday and then again on Sunday!! They are also doing really well. It's cool because we  met them through our investigator (J) because they are good friends. We have been able to go through all the lessons with them together for the most part.

Thursday we had zone conference which went pretty good. Elder Wright and I taught about Strengthening Our Desire to Serve and Our Faith that we can accomplish what we set out to do. We tied it along with Joseph Smith's first vision account and how his desire was to know what church to join. Joseph Smith had full confidence and faith that he would receive an answer and was fully willing to get up off his knees after he prayed to go and join what ever church he was told to join. As he prayed the first thing that came to him was opposition. He was seized upon by some dark unknown spirit. We all have opposition in our lives especially when we are trying to do what is right. Joseph then exerted all of his power to call upon the name of the Lord and was delivered from the darkness and not only received an answer but a specific answer and later he had instructions given to him of how to accomplish it. Which is what we know as the Restoration of the Gospel. That is a quick run down of what we went over but it was pretty good!

Saturday we had our Finding Festival which was way fun. We moved it to week 5 of the transfer but we mixed it up this time. We didn't do any tracting but everything was done out in public. We rode from 10:00 - 5:00. We rode the buses around federal way talking to people, we set up whiteboards with questions about God in parks and taught people. Some missionaries went to the baseball games that were going on and drew the Gospel of Jesus Christ into hop scotch and taught people there. It was a good day! We ended up finding 33 potential investigators and 4 new investigators as a zone!! It was a good day.

Sunday we had a pretty cool experience. We were at this big apartment complex. We had prayed and felt that we should go and tract there as we were doing our planning in the morning. When we got there we felt like we should pray to know what specific building to go to. As we did it was pretty interesting because we both got a different answer. (It has been a testimony builder for me as I have been on my mission that almost every day as my companions and I pray we come out with the same answer of what we should do. Then we see miracles as we go and do it. But this time it was different)

I felt like we should go to apartment B and Elder Wright thought we should go to apartment A.

We decided either way they were both on the other end of the complex so we were kinda confused but decided to start walking that way. We were about to get in the car to just drive over there but I decided that we might as well just walk and talk to people as we go. As we were about half way there we met 2 guys about 19 and 20 walking home. (D) & (V) We stopped and talked to them and they were so prepared to hear what we had to say. They said that they had talked with missionaries in the past and they invited them out to play basketball and have a lesson but they forgot where it was. Every Friday night at 7:00 we play basketball with the ward mission leader and invite all the non members we find and our investigators. Anyways they should be coming this week. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and they both asked for a copy and said that they would have some read before Friday night!

I'm so grateful for the way that the Lord works. I'm pretty sure that if he would have given us both the impression to go to apartment A or both of us to go to apartment B, we most likely would have been so excited to get there that we might not have taken the time to talk to these 2 guys along the way. Trying to do "what the Lord wanted us to do" but missed the wonderful opportunities that He was presenting to us along the way.

I'm so grateful for the Spirit in my life. We have seen many miracles the past couple weeks ad we have listened to the promptings of the Spirit which has lead us to much success. I know that the promises of the Spirit extend beyond missionary work as well and we should constantly be striving to listen to and follow the promptings as they come to us in our daily lives as well. I pray that you will all follow promptings so that you will find more guidance in all that you need.

I love you all and hope you have a good week!!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki

~Mom...(answers for Ty)

I did not use an umbrella.
Thermals are good. I would not get the thermal long john garments but just get regular thermals to wear over your garments. I never used shoe polish. journals are good. I would get a big one with big pages because it makes you write more if you try to fill out the whole page each day and also then you can put things in it like the programs of baptisms and things like that. .38 G2 pilot pens are the best. pencils are good to. sticky notes are good. oh well that's good then! also if anyone is ever wanting to send any gift card, there is a buffalo wild wings here...okay we will take you up on that next Tuesday because everyone goes there the last week of the transfer. yes transfers will be next Tuesday. Highlighters are nice for Preach My Gospel. don't use them in scriptures though it ruins them. color pencils are good for scriptures and certain pens as well to underline as long as they don't bleed through

May 14, 2018

Family,

I will probably keep it a little shorter today because I was able to talk to you yesterday for Mother's Day which was good! It was fun to see all of your faces and how much you all have grown but you all seem like your goofy selves still. ha ha

On Tuesday we had a really awesome lesson with a less active Part Member Family. We went over for dinner with a member and they had another couple who was there to have dinner with us. She is a member that was baptized 5 years ago and he is not a member. They both have had a super tough life with drugs for the past 20-30 years. He has been in and out of jail for 30 years which has been super hard. They just recently lost there home and they have one daughter who is 12. They are trying to change. They have been clean from drugs for 5 months and have been wanting to come back to church. It was good to be able to teach them and start to help them with that.

President Rasmussen also went out on splits with us Tuesday night so that was fun. Our lesson fell through so we got to find some investigators and do some tracting with him.

Thursday and Friday I was on an exchange with Elder Drabicki in the Spanish branch. It was kinda fun. Although I didn't do much because it was mostly in Spanish. But we did go to see a referral of a man named (A) that we had found in our area and he spoke Spanish so we said we would send some Spanish missionaries by. So Elder Drabicki and I went by and we taught him, his wife and daughter!! They were way prepared too. It was awesome.

Saturday was a day of miracles. We had a lesson with (G) who is a investigator we found earlier in the week. She was a referral from the Bishop that he gave to the missionaries about 3 months ago. The missionaries never went by. So he asked us if we would go by and visit with her. He had met with her for an interview to work at the DI. So Elder Wright and I went by earlier in the week and she is super solid! She had already been reading the Book of Mormon, she has member friends and has been inviting one of her less active member friends to start coming back to church with her.

So we had a couple lessons with her this week. On Saturday we went by and had planned on inviting her to be baptized. As we were teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the 4th Article of Faith we mentioned baptism. She told us that baptism is something that she has been thinking about a lot and something that she wants to learn how she can do it! We told her that we had planned to invite her to be baptized and she got super excited and started crying. She said that this is what she has been wanting and she is now on date for June 9th! She is a super sweet Philippino lady in her late 40's. Another miracle as well is that all of her family is super supportive of her and whatever choices she makes even though they all have different religions. On Sunday she came out to church as well and she loved it. It wasn't her first time coming, but it had been a few weeks. She loves it all. It's so awesome to see how prepared she is and how much the Lord has been working with her and preparing her to hear His message!

On Saturday I was also able to go to the baptism of Sister (N). She is a lady that I taught the past 6 months in my last area. She is super awesome and we have worked with her a lot. We have had her on a couple baptismal dates but they all fell through with her husband's sickness and then he passed away. The week I left we put her on date for May 12th to be baptized and that took place this past Saturday. It was good to be able to go back to that and to be there to support her. She has been taught since January of 2017 so some of the missionaries who had taught her have already gone home. Some of them are at school in BYU Idaho and they drove out to come to her baptism as well. It was cool to see all of her support.

That was about all for this week. It was good to talk to you all yesterday. I hope you all continue to read and to pray and to go to church. The gospel is true. It is important. It will bless your life. I love you all and hope you have a good rest of your week!
I love you all!!
Elder Ethan Stucki

May 7, 2018

Family,
Tuesday went pretty well. We had District meetings. My District leader is Elder Rudd. He was one of my previous companions which is pretty cool. Since he is a district leader I got to go on an exchange with him after the meetings. We go on exchanges with all of our district leaders each transfer. We were in my area and it went pretty well. We tracted into a super sweet lady who opened the door and told us to come right in. There was not a 3rd male so we could not go in but we taught her about the Book of Mormon on her door step. She wanted to learn more so we set up a time to come back on Thursday. We also had a meeting that night with President Keeney the Stake President who is so awesome!! He's such a spiritual giant and we get to meet with him weekly which is awesome. Watch and see he is going to be a General Authority one day!!

Thursday.... what a day ha ha
Today was actually a really good day with a pretty funny experience. So the lady I told you about on Tuesday... (T)  We went back to teach her with our Elders Quorum President and she was there and let us in. She had forgotten we were coming but was willing to let us come in and teach. As we walk in we saw her son there who was about 28 years old. He wanted to know what we were doing there and she told him we were there to teach her about the Book of Mormon. He came to us and was like "What y'all preaching tonight?" We told him we teach about Christ and he's like "really sit down I'm a prophet" right then I knew it was about to get interesting. I'll dumb this down a lot because we were there for 20 minutes before we just had to stand up and walk out. He pulls up a scripture in Numbers 15:38 about how it was a commandment to wear fringes and he was wearing fringes at the end of his shirt and we were not. So we can't claim to teach about Christ if we don't follow his commandments! It was a pretty funny experience honestly. Even more funny because our Elders Quorum President was just called Sunday and this was his first time going out with us. He was in for a treat!

Friday was MLC which took up the whole day. It was good. It was just basically on the new way to do planning with technology. There is a lot of training that is going on with the phones. 

Saturday we had to get an oil change on our car. We went out finding for a little bit and found a new investigator named (H). He is in his 60's. He let us in his home and just started talking. He has had a life full of crazy adventures and a pretty wild background that has led him to find Christ. It's pretty neat how within seconds of meeting us people will open up and tell us their whole life story. He is a southern baptism but at the end of our lesson he said that he feels like he understands Christ so much better then he did before. He invited us to come back. It was pretty cool! God's preparing his children!!

Saturday was also dart night which is so sweet! The member is a stud. We just eat food, play darts and talk about the gospel with every one who comes. We are free to invite whoever we want too. So we invited a couple of less active and investigators to come. There are so many people to fellowship them and it's just pretty sweet. Every ward needs a dart night for missionary work! It works!!

Something that has been on my mind this past week is prayer. I have been thinking about what President Nelson said last conference about how "you would be amazed with how much the Lord wants to reveal to you." The new way to do our planning with the phones is all based on revelation. Without that revelation we won't be able to do effective planning each day. The new way of ministering is also based on revelation. Without personal revelation we won't be able to effectively minister to those who we are to watch over. There is a pattern to this. The church is moving in such a way that we all need to be worthy of that revelation. How do we receive it? Through prayer. As I have tried to improve my prayers this past week I have also strengthened my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I have been able to understand and recognize the Spirit better. I hope each of you are spending time each morning and each night in prayer... talking with God to seek his guidance. I agree with President Nelson that there is so much He wants to reveal to us. We just need to ask Him. I love all of you and thanks for all that you do for me. I hope you each have a good week and don't forget to pray!!
Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki


~yes. It is starting to warm up but it is nice because I am done with the rain!!
we are planning on having a zone activity and playing ultimate frisbee today. The best sight to see here is the Redondo Beach. I have been really bad at taking pictures. However I did get a SD card for the camera and have started filming things for Ty. The socks you got me are the best. They last your whole mission. My socks still look brand new. They are tough. The shirts are good! My white shirts are still pretty white and looking good. They do need ironing because it looks better. Stains come out easy... with the help of bleach. ha ha I have only worn the big coat like 5 times. I like the smaller ones. On days it was really raining hard in the winter and I was on bike it was nice but other then that the smaller ones are nice. I don't like the backpack unless I was on a bike but for the most part I have always had a car. So I did not need one. Bedding and towels? Yes I am grateful for both of those! I like having my big quilt but IDK  what he will need there and how easy it will be to move it all because they are big.
I gotta go. I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!!

April 30, 2018

Monday-
Last Monday for our p-day we had fun. There is a member here in Federal Way that owns a sub zero. They let the missionaries go every p-day and get free ice cream. So that is really cool! Later that night we went to a lesson we had set with (D) who was a potential we found on Saturday. We had talked with her a little bit about God's plan for our happiness. She had a lot of questions and today we were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She was so open and receptive and is in the best place right now. She already has a faith in Christ but nothing much past that. Her family has not attended church much so she wants to learn more! At the end of the lesson she was so excited to have us come back. It was pretty cool how we found her we went to try a former in an apartment complex and we ended up knocking on the wrong door because we got the apartment #s mixed up. We know it wasn't a coincidence that we knocked on her door. We were led there by a loving Heavenly Father who is watching over all of his children. He will help us find those whom he has been preparing!

Tuesday-
We had our district meetings. This zone is bigger then any of the other zones I have served in so there are 3 districts. We get to go to all three of them as well so it makes for a pretty long day but they are really good. Ever since I got here we have been really busy. Which is good. But it's hard to keep up with things. After district meetings we ran down to a lesson we had with (J) who is one of our investigators. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized. He declined at this time because he says he has already been baptized. He did commit to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and help "see where it goes from there." We wish we had more time to talk with him about it but he will get there. After that lesson we met up with the Assistants to go on an exchange. I went with Elder Christensen to Clark Lake in Kent. The rest of the night I was on a split with his ward mission leader Brother Smith who've I've never met. We went and visited families I knew nothing about. ha ha Oh, how I love the things you do on missions.

Wednesday-
Wednesday we finished up the exchange with the Assistants which went good. Elder Christensen and I were able to find a new investigator for them. We met him out walking his dog and he asked us if we had any tips for him on how he could draw closer to Jesus Christ because that is something he has been looking for. We were able to teach him the restoration and committed him to be baptized as well! It was pretty cool.

Thursday was full of planning and a lot of finding. We went to a apartment complex that is massive to visit a potential. As we were walking up to one of the buildings. 5 little kids came running out yelling, "missionaries, missionaries" they were so excited to see us and we were confused because we didn't know who they were. It turns out that their mother is the one that we were going to visit. The previous missionaries used to go and teach them all the time. Their family invited us in and we were able to teach them more about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. They committed to read it which is super exciting they are an awesome family.

Friday-
Our day on Friday was super empty so we went and did a lot of finding. We found a few new investigators. It is easier to find investigators here but it is hard to find people who are solid and willing to keep commitments though. The people here are willing to listen to what we have to say but not all of them are willing to commit to any invitation. We meet a lot of cool people of all sorts of backgrounds which is cool.

On Saturday evening our ward had a youth fundraiser that was fun. All the youth 12 and older did talent shows and had dinner and dessert for everyone to raise money for a trip they have coming up this summer. There was also a silent auction going on as well. It was combined with the Spanish branch so they did some cool traditional dances. Every Saturday night a member in the ward has a "dart night" where tons of people from the ward invite other friends to his home. He has a big "man cave" in his garage he has lots of drinks and food and we play darts. Lots of non members come and it is open to talk about the church so we are able to invite them to come to church with us.

Sunday-
We were pretty sad at church on Sunday because none of our investigators showed up. We are not sure what is keeping then from coming. They don't really have an excuse, they just don't come. So that's is what we will be focusing on this next week is getting people out to church.

That was our week in a nut shell. I'm loving Federal Way and Elder Wright is a stud too. I hope you all are doing good back at home. I am excited for Ty and his call!! 

I love you all and hope you have a good week! Thanks for all you do. 

(S) is doing pretty good. He missed his return appointment but we rescheduled for another day. (P) we cant get a hold of.

 I have watched Ty's mission call video like 10 times today. It's good. He is gonna love it. Did anyone guess that he was going to go there? There were a lot of people there!! Ty looks huge! 

I have a camera I can send home for Ty. It is the nice one you sent me. I used for like a month only. I will buy a SD card out here and put it in it and send it home. I will take pictures on it for him!! So don't buy him a camera. I am going to film me doing some object lessons or something that I have learned on my mission so that he can have them!!

Man I am so excited for Ty!! That is going to be so exciting!! 4 years is going to be a long time of not seeing him.

Have a good week. I love you all !!

Elder Ethan Wayne Stucki