So this week Daniel L. Johnson of the Seventy showed up for a Zone
Conference! It was so spiritual I loved it! Haha he asked us what the
major difference between us as missionaries and the Mission President
and wife and haha I stood up and said "I'm not married!" And I
seriously thought that that was the right answer! But then everybody
laughed at me! So instead I pretended that I was joking to avoid the
awkward! Guys it was so funny!!!! Anyway yep good times!!! We heard
tons of great stuff and we saw so many great missionaries there I
haven't seen in a long time.

The rest of the week we hit the streets and it was so grand! We met so
many people who were not interested and it hurt my heart. Silly people
are so lost. But then we had a good week of teaching a few lessons
including to Tim and a Less active member named Don. It was so great
to see them.

We are having a lot of success having the young men bring their non
member friends to events. It's always so good to see them do
missionary work. There is one named Crayson. He is a stellar kid and
wants to be baptized but his parents are a bit hesitant. The plan is
to keep working with them so that he can take the lessons. It's been a
great time.

This week as well since Elder Johnson was coming to zone conference I
wanted to cut the hair that was touching my ears back so I could look
presentable for a general authority. I asked Elder Egan if I could
have the phone to call a sister in the ward and get a real quick snip
and he said, " Nah elder I'll do it!" And I actually thought he
sounded confident in his ability to cut my hair so I said "sounds
good!" So during our dinner hour he gave it a real quick cut with his
electric razor. Yeah dumb idea. My hair looked ridiculous! Haha he
like made them super uneven and then he just started laughing and was
like "Yeah okay let's call Sister Goodpasture." So thank goodness that
wonderful angelic sister was able to give me a haircut to mostly
repair the damage. It's kind of the most different haircut I've ever
had but it worked out.

So yep good week! It's been a great p day! Thanks y'all for all you do
and I love you!

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
Merlin Ward

Hey there everyone it's been a great week!!! Last week we started it
by having an exchange. So Elder Egan and I went down to Grants Pass
since our dinner was down there so we went down an hour early because
the district leader Elder Best wanted to do a real quick tracting
blitz. So we knelt up and Elder Egan and Elder Best picked a street
and went there and Elder Terrell and I went to another street and
started tracting.

Let me tell you about Elder Terrell he is a great guy! He's a big all
American football player who is just an amazing missionary. He's been
out about 22 months and is just a blast to be around. He sweats A LOT
so when we were Tracting whenever we knocked on a door they looked at
him and instantly let us in to get a drink of water! Haha it was so
funny! So we were well hydrated. And then are you ready for this!?
MIRACLE! We knocked on a door and this gal named Stephanie answered,
and was listening to us but was kind of standoffish. She then told us
that she had talked to missionaries before but didn't like it because
they told her she had to stop smoking and she got offended. Elder
Terrell and I then started talking about the word of wisdom right on
the doorstep! It was so crazy I've never talked about that right on
the doorstep before but that's what we felt we had to say. So we talk
about it and tie it back to the Book of Mormon and her attitude
changed completely! She felt the spirit! She went from where she was
before to saying, "You know what I think coffee and cigarettes are two
habits I actually want to get rid of and I want to learn more about
that book!" WE WERE SO EXCITED! But of course we kept our chill on the
doorstep and we set up a return appointment! It was just so dang cool
because that was the first new investigator we had both found this
transfer. Then we proceeded to go to dinner which was sushi! Oh it was
so good! TENDER MERCIES!

After dinner I took Elder Best back to Merlin with me. Elder Terrell
went with me for the blitz because he was the only one who likes sushi
but elder best was the one I actually went on the official exchange
with. The exchange was really a awesome time. We got to do some
service and go visit our two recent converts and some investigators.
It was so grand and Elder Best is an experienced missionary. He gave
me a lot of good advice. It was great! Then we exchanged back the next
day and exchanged our stories of the exchange and Elder Egan and I
headed back to Merlin. It was a great rest of the week and we were
able to teach plenty of lessons. In district meeting Elder Best taught
a wonderful District meeting and it really opened up my eyes to a lot
of things about happiness and obedience which was great. It's always
good to have a good district meeting.

Church on Sunday was great. It was Ward Conference so we got to hear
from the stake president which was awesome, he's a good guy. The
temple trip today was incredible. It's always so good to be in the
house of the Lord and kind of regroup. Anyway it's been a great week
and I've loved it so much! Another cool thing is that an elder I was
in the MTC with who went home the night before we left the MTC just
got permission to come on his mission. He is now in my zone and it's
so great to see him again! Anyway that was cool!!!

So yeah it's been a great week. The mission is still great! Just so
many tender mercies from the Lord. Daniel L. Johnson from the Seventy
is coming this Friday for Zone conference! I couldn't be more excited!
Super pumped! Love you all!!!

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
Merlin Ward

Hey there team! Things in Merlin are still excellent! We are trying to
get lessons and do service and it's going pretty well. It's been 100°
weather around here and that kind of sucks but that's okay. We luckily have AC in the apartment which is a way good thing. We have been
trying to keep our room as cold as possible which works okay. Anyway
but yeah a pretty good week.

This week we taught our recent convert Cassie which was a delight.
Turns out she is going to move closer to her fiancé for a while until
they can move out here. I believe she is actually moving to the La
Grande area? That'll be cool since Grammy and Papa live there but idk
where exactly she's going. We have been visiting Tim a lot trying to
get him more comfortable with us so that hopefully he will be
baptized. We met with a less active named Don this week which was
cool. He was a great guy who was just really interested to learn.
Besides that our finding continues and we have yet to find an
investigator. We have set up a missionary sports night every Friday
and told all the youth to bring as many friends as they could. So
hopefully that will go well because all the youth were way excited.

Yep things are still good. This email is late. I'll try to get more
detail next week!!! Love you all!!!

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
Merlin Ward