This week has been a solid week of really intense new transfer. So we
just opened the Coos Bay Area for Elders which has been a bit rough
since we had no investigators or anything but we are working on that.
This week we found a few people but a couple of them ended up being
part of North Bend's area. We have been able to meet a lot of cool
members and people around town which has been great. We are still
living in the old North Bend apartment so we don't actually live in
our area. We just found out that we are seriously limited on miles for
our car so we are trying to conserve that. For the most part that has
been going pretty well for us. It's nice to have a car now.

I am enjoying my companions. They are both awesome. Elder Deppe came
out with me so I already knew he was a stud and Elder Kellerstrass is
a really good guy too. We have had to work super duper hard to build
up somewhat of a teaching pool and that is progressing slowly. This
week we taught a man named Jim who was sort of interested but mostly
just wanted to hear our views. He said that he didn't see how we could
claim the authority to be the only true church. We explained to him
that our authority comes from Jesus Christ and we could literally
trace our priesthood back to him. After a while he said that he had a
nephew who was a preacher and he was going to ask him where he got his
authority and see what he says. That should be interesting. The nice
thing about being so close to North Bend and sharing a building we get
to still see the people I taught and the members that I came to really
enjoy. It's super cool to just be one area over.

Since Elder Kellerstraus is doing New missionary training we go down
to Coquille on Fridays before District meeting and have training. It
was crazy because I hadn't been to New Missionary Training since I was
a greenie nearly one year ago! Crazy how the time flies. It's really
weird being on the coast because the zone goes all the way from
Florence down to Brookings so we are all too spread out to meet up
very often so a lot of the new missionaries had to skype in to the
training. Elder Kellerstrass did a good job and he is really trying
hard to be a good missionary.

Tracting has been interesting. One man answered the door and said,
"I'm Jewish and I don't need the Angel Moroni!" We laughed pretty good
after he slammed the door and wanted to tell him it was Jesus he
needed. One guy last night was a bit drunk and started telling us what
it means to be The Lord of Hosts. Which was interesting except that
none of it made sense. Yesterday we also tracted into a less active
who really wants to come back to church. It was super cool to hear her
story and we were able to set up a return appointment.

Besides all that we have seen a lot of cool things this week like a
guy named Tim turned up at the church and just said, "I felt the Lord
tell me that I was needed here." It was super neat and he stayed all
three hours. Sadly he lives in the North Bend Ward so the Zone Leaders
are going to be the ones teaching him which is a bummer. I miss
sharing a ward with them.

So yep it's been a great great week full of adventure! Thanks for all
your prayers and support! Later!

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
North Bend Ward

Oh boy what a crazy time out here on the coast! Elder Batt is suiting
up to go home today and I am getting transferred yet again! I'm
getting transferred to the Coos Bay Area which is right next to North
Bend and will be opening it up for Elders. They haven't had a set of
Elders in like a year so they are really pumped. So I got my call
Friday night and President said "Elder Martin I need you to stay where
you are at and you will get Elder Kellerstraus who will need to be
follow up trained." So I was like neat! I get to stay in North Bend
and train a noob. Then I got a call from the APs and they told me that
there was a switch up and that I would be getting Elder Kellerstraus
and Elder Deppe (Who came out with me) and be in a threesome because
Elder Deppe was supposed to train but one of the trainees went home
from the MTC so they needed somewhere to stick him. Then Elder Holman
said, "Oh and President was mistaken you are being moved to Coos Bay!
Haha so now I'm Opening an area/follow up training/being in a
threesome/district leader. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AMAZING TRANSFER! I
know for sure that Elder Deppe is an amazing missionary and I hear
awesome things about the other guy. I know we will have an awesome
transfer! Oooo and they are giving us a car! So I don't have to bike
with two other dudes behind me! I'm super pumped!

This week has been awesome! We found a few new investigators this week
who seem pretty solid. One of them we got a call from the mission
office and they gave us a referral. From Washington. It is a women
named Melanie who has been investigating the church for six years
because her friend in Washington had been sharing the gospel with her.
The problem is that her husband neglects her and doesn't support her
in anything. She is super afraid of him and he is just straight up
awful to her. It is a really dicey situation and I feel super bad for
her! Her husband sounds awful. But we sat down with her and taught her
about the restored gospel in more depth. Turns out she had already
read the Book of Mormon clear to Jacob! It was so awesome and she said
she knew it was true and that she wanted more than anything to be
baptized! It was such a powerful experience. But since her husband is
such a hater it's a huge road block but we are praying for her. She is
so prepared and we hope it all works out for her! Be sure to pray for
her!

So awesome week is the moral of the story! Oh man so much wonderful
stuff! Sounds like Coos Bay is an awesome Ward and I can't wait to
serve the people there! Yeehaw! Thanks for all the love and support!


Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
North Bend Ward

This has been a pretty good week this week. We have been able to meet more investigators which has been good except a lot of them took the change as an opportunity to drop us. That stunk bad. But we have a few golden investigators. Yesterday we got one of them to come to church! Her name is Janet and she is super stellar. She's been working really hard to quit smoking so she can get baptized so be sure to pray for her. 

I ripped yet another pair of pants by challenging Elder Fowers my zone leader to a race. We ran in our parking lot and I biffed it and shredded my pants and my arm. My pride was hurt more than I was but it was still fun. We have been getting fed pretty good which is exciting. Elder Batt and I have been walking everywhere since he sent home his bike so it's been a blast. We get flipped off a lot though. Cool thing happened two days ago. We were walking and then someone drove by and waved then whipped around and came back to talk to us. It was a man who served in North Bend 37 years ago! It was nuts. The craziest part was that his daughter knew Elder Batt's brother in college! Since Elder Batt is going to USU in a few weeks him and her will be going to school together! Haha he won't admit it but he is pretty stoked.

Everything has been going good. Just kickin butt and taking names is all. Later! Hope y'all are doing well! 

Elder S. Jackson Martin

Oregon Eugene Mission

Successful p day on the beach
North Coos Bay Zone

Since we had transfers yesterday we did not end up having the time to email so we are emailing today. It's been super crazy. I was on the transfer Truck with the APs for 2 hours and then when we got to Eugene we had a 2 hour drive out to North Bend. Cool thing happened! One of my tightest mission friends, Elder Holman, just became the new AP! I was pretty pumped about that. I had a good last week in Merlin. Elder Egan and I were trying hard to have a good last week of the transfer. Unfortunately since Merlin has been so slow for the past 10 months we got a call Friday night saying that President was going to close down the area. So Elder Egan and I had to clean the apartment to perfection. Elder Egan got sent to Roseburg and now I'm here in North Bend on the coast right by Coos Bay. It's absolutely Beautiful. It's so cool being over on the coast.

I'm pretty bummed to leave all of my cool homies in Grants Pass. I made some awesome friends. It was the first time that I got along with all the sister missionaries which was fun. Usually I didn't talk to them much but in that zone we got to party with them all the time. Anyway it was an incredible experience over there and its a shame to have been six week shafted but I'll go back and visit for sure. 

Now I've been called as a District Leader out here with my new Companion Elder Batt. He is about to go home at the end of this transfer so President told me to, "Keep him away from being trunky at all costs!" We double transferred into here so honestly neither of us know the area or even what's going on. Luckily we share a ward with the ZL's so they have filled us in on a lot of stuff. Our district consists of us, the ZL's, and the STL's. I'm excited to be out here and can't wait to get to know the area. Already just walking to the Church we had 3 people honk at us and wave, 2 people say 'Thanks for your service." and 1 person ask how many wives we have. Haha we are loving it!!!

Elder S. Jackson Martin

Oregon Eugene Mission

Dang - second week in a row with no letter.....This is all we got today.
Dad



Stupid! I've been in Merlin for 6 weeks and now I'm getting
transferred. I'm got called to be a District Leader in North Bend

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
Merlin Ward

I don't think I'll be able to shoot off a weekly email but cool
miracle! We got a call yesterday about a referral who wants their
daughter to be baptized! So we are trying to get a hold of the person
to get it all figured out! Miracle!!!!!! Pray that it goes well

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
Merlin Ward