Hello again!! Another great week in the OEM! Elder Sutton and I have
been going really good lately! Last week we went and saw a lot of
referrals. Unfortunately none of them were very solid but now we are
getting a lot more referrals from members. Oh boy we've been having
great spiritual lessons with Maxine and Cassie. It's been great! Also
though when we were teaching Maxine last Wednesday she was asking some
way deep and hard questions that I really struggled to answer and
Elder Sutton wasn't helping me out much because he wanted me to get
the experience of handling people's concerns. At first I just confused
her but then I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and tied it
all back to that. The Book of Mormon is a way powerful tool in
conversion. Now Elder Sutton is having me teach a lesson every day and
he's going to help me out until I'm a quote "Master teacher" which
will be sweet. Our goal is to have me completely ready to take over as
District Leader in case President Russell asks me to for next
transfer.

Oh boy we had quite the experience this week… we went and saw Fred and
Shelly at their house. They're the ones who need to get married so
Fred can get baptized, but oh boy I learned why we always taught them
at the church... the first thing I noticed was that it was a tiny
shack which I was expecting but when we went in the smell was like
terrible sweaty body mixed with cat pee and throw up… oh boy I almost
gagged several times but thank goodness the lord blessed me to keep
composed so I didn't hurt their feelings. I just tried not to look
around because it was gross anywhere you looked. So we kept it brief
and set up a return appointment but at the church this time.

Our cars battery is starting to die on us constantly. We keep having
to call our beloved Ward mission leader brother Sherwood to give us a
jumpstart. We just dropped it off in Roseburg and the ZLs dumped us
off at the church. I went on splits with Holman this week. He is so
fun and we always do some good work when he's around.

Saturday was Halloween so we had to be in by 5:00. Elder Sutton and I
played Magic and studied the scriptures while eating pizza which was
fun. Elder Sutton makes sure I work out and write in my journal
whenever I can so that's been fun as well. I hope I'm as fit as him
when the mission is over because this hot employee at Ross gave Elder
Sutton a 20% discount because she thought he was hot. I paid full
price.

So down here we are working on the teaching pool. I see more and more
everyday how the Book of Mormon changes lives and brings people to
Christ. We've been having fun and have been working hard. We bore out
testimonies yesterday and Maxine actually came to church!! So she got
to hear it. I described how my feelings about my mission have changed
toward my mission and now everyone keeps saying "I'm glad you like us
Oregonians now." Elder Sutton was excited to give his last testimony
on Sunday in the mission. Sorry if I don't get back to some of you the
same day with the emailing but I will respond eventually! Love you
all!

Elder S. Jackson Martin
Oregon Eugene Mission
South Umpqua Ward