Elder Deering and I had a great week this week. We did not get to teach as many people as we would have liked but we had the chance to go to the temple and it was amazing. I loved it. I was so glad that we got that chance. Now that did mean that we lost a day of work but it was a much needed trip. We had won a friendly competition and that was our reward. There are a lot of good things going on here in Des Moines. We have a baptism coming up this weekend and I am super excited for that. A couple that we have been teaching for a few weeks. They are excited for this weekend and I am glad that I had this chance to teach them. They are an awesome couple. We still spend a lot of time teaching people who are Burmese refugees. Most of them are not willing to make the steps they need to yet, but we are continuing to work with them. I have really grown to love the Karen culture and I have really grown to love many of the people that live in those apartments where we teach. There is a chance the boundaries for our ward will be changing next week and they are in a prime spot to be moved to a different ward. I will miss them if that is what happens but I know it will be the will of the lord. We are still working with many of the people who went to the Gladys Knight Fireside we had a few weeks ago and it helped break many of the berries that people have had about the church. We still get asked over and over by many people if we are voting for Romney. But that should be dying down here over the next few weeks as the election comes to a close. Other than that there is not much to add for this week. We have been working hard and we have a few appointments this week that we are really excited for. I am so glad that I have this chance to be a missionary. The work of the lord presses forward. We need more workers though so if there is anyone here who is wondering if they should serve a mission the answer is yes we need you. The lord needs you. Speaking of the need for new laborers here is a snippet from the church news but even these numbers are not enough. We need more: “As Church leaders had anticipated when the change was announced, the number of individuals who have begun the missionary application process has increased significantly. Typically approximately 700 new applications are started each week. The last two weeks that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week. Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicted that lowering the age limits for young Mormon missionaries would trigger a "dramatic" uptick in their numbers. Turns out, dramatic was an understatement. Try a 471 percent jump in applications — so far! "Slightly more than half of the applicants are women," LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said Monday in a news release. That represents a massive shift. Typically, women make up fewer than a fifth of the LDS missionary force, which currently stands at more than 58,000 worldwide. At a news conference after the historic change, Elder Holland said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was gearing up immediately to accommodate a larger missionary force — reducing by a third the time missionaries spend in training centers and hiring additional staff to manage the budding proselytizers’ language skills "The Lord is hastening this work," Elder Holland said, "and he needs more and more willing missionaries." I love all of you. Thank you for your prayers and for your faith.

This will probably be a short letter because there really is not much to talk about. We had a good week. As usual there was a lot of little things that made it hard at times to just do the work, but we were diligent and we were able to get much done. We spent a lot of our time walking around trying to contact people who have investigated the church in the past but for whatever reason they stopped. We are trying to see if any of them are interested again. We have had some success with that. There are still many people that we are teaching who went to the Gladys knight presentation a couple weeks ago. It really gave many people a different prospective on the church. I am excited for the work that we have to do before us. It has been a wet week. It would have been nice to have this rain during the summer but I guess better late than never. We have a baptismal date set for November 3. The only thing that will get in the way of that happening is if this guy decides to smoke again. But we are working with him and he is doing great and staying strong. For a while there we thought he would relapse but he has been strong and I am sure that he will make it and that he and his wife can be baptized next month. Other than that couple, we have a few people who we are hoping to be setting dates with here soon and for many of them it will make our break them. There are a lot of people who are only interested in talking but never committing to really learn. But the great thing is people here in Iowa are usually very cordial and rarely do we meet people who are angry or severely unkind to us. Though I will admit it does happen from time to time. We continue to push forward and to work hard. There is still much work to do here and there are many people who are waiting to hear the message of the redeeming power of our savior. I am so glad I have this chance to proclaim the gospel to the world and to represent my savior. I love all of you and I thank you for all that you have done for me. This church is true. J

I don’t even know how to describe this week. So for those who did not know, a lady named Gladys Knight came to Des Moines on Thursday. She used to be a famous singer. Any way her kids joined the church then later she did too then her husband followed. She was talking to President Hinckley one day and he found out that she wished there was more beat in our church music. He told her to do something about it so she did. She got a choir together and now tours the country with an all-volunteer choir. Going to LDS churches and doing presentations of Song and testimony. I have never heard a base guitar in the chapel and people where clapping after testimonies and prayers were given. But the spirit was extremely strong. We had about 2000 people show up for the 2 showings and many of them where people that had never set foot in a Mormon church. We were able to show them a little about what we believe and how we feel about everything. I really enjoyed it. The music was amazing and the testimonies where great. Best of all the spirit was strong. We spent a lot of time last week trying to get people to come to the presentation. After the presentation people could sign a card to say that they wanted a free sampler CD from Saints United Voices (directed by Gladys Knight) and a copy of the book of Mormon. We spent the next few days contacting and teaching many of those who requested these items. we had some amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong. I will admit I have never ridden a bike for so long in my life, hours and hours a day riding from one side of town to the other. But it was all worth it. The spirit led us to people who needed to hear the message that we had to share. It was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed this week. One of the best parts about a mission is that you learn so much about yourself and about the gospel. I have learned so much this week and my testimony has been strengthened. Elder Deering is finally getting settled in. it is a lot to deal with going on a mission. A lot if suddenly expected of you and you have to learn a lot in a short period of time. He is an awesome teacher and I am grateful for this chance that I have to be working with him. I thank all of your for your faith and for your prayers. I love being a missionary and I love this work. I know that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living god. I know this church is true and I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the crazy picture I'm on the back. I'm one of the people holding the kid up on the wall. my comp is the one under the blanket acting like the holy ghost. On the real picture you can see me my comp is the one standing to the left of Pres. Talbots head.

I don’t even know how to begin to describe this week. Elder knight Is now home. I am now with Elder Deering. He is from Salem Oregon. He has been on a mission for just under a month. 3 weeks of that was in the MTC. I will admit it has been weird training. I am now expected to know all the answers and to know what to do. But I will admit I am enjoying it. He is an awesome guy I am excited for this chance that I will have to be serving with him. We had an interesting week. It was supper busy but not with the normal missionary things. But that will be changing next week. There is a lady coming here on Thursday. Some may have herd of her. Her name is Gladys Knight. I guess she is famous or something, something about the pips. Anyway, she is a member of the church and travels around doing presentations with a choir she directs called saints united voices. She is doing a presentation at our church this week. We have been busy getting things up for that. They expect us to be really busy all this week because of this and hopeful after it too. I am excited for this. I really don’t have much to talk about from this week. We found a few more people that we hope to begin teaching but other than that there is not much that happened that is worth reporting. We have had a lot of people dropped over the last few weeks so we have spent a lot of time building our pool back up. I did want to take a moment and like my Brother Eric talk about conference. If you did not get a chance to watch it please do. It was amazing. Regarding president Monson’s announcement in the first session, I am supper excited. I think this will have a much needed impact on the missionary force that is out here. We need more missionaries. There is a lot of work to be done and not enough people to do it. I have to say here that if there is anyone reading this who is or has considered going on a mission please please please do. I promise it will be the best thing that you have ever done in your life. I have never made as good a decision as this one. I love every second of it. So if you have thought about it or considered it, please go. Ask God about it and then follow the prompting to go. I love serving a mission and I know that if you do your part you will too. And that goes for all who are reading this both young and old. J If you have no clue what I am talking about, go to lds.org and watch the Saturday morning session of conference it is wonderful. I really enjoyed conference and advise all to read and reread the talks from it. I am excited for this coming week. Big things are going to start happening her in the Iowa Des Moines mission. There is a spiritual fire starting to spread and we are seizing this opportunity to bring souls unto Christ. I love all of you. Thank you for all you continue to do for me. It is weird to think that I only have 10 months left. I have not been out that long and I plan to make every second count. I love all of you. I know thins church is true. I know Jesus is the Christ, In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

This was an interesting week. I have really be humbled. I have learned a lot and I have grown a lot in just a short period of time. Elder Knight will be going home Friday morning. I was expecting to be training next transfer because my mission president kept saying that I needed to be ready to train by October but I was also made district leader which I did not expect. I will admit President caught me off guard when he asked me for that but I will do my best. Because I am training I am almost guaranteed to be here until the end of December but all of that can change at a moment’s notice. The work here has really slowed down. Most of those we were teaching where either baptized or dropped. We did have some people from another ward move in to our area and they have a baptismal date set for later this month. We will start working with them here in a few days. We are still teaching a lot of Karen people. They gave us some original Karen shirts that look sweeeeeeeet!!!!! There are a lot of others that we are teaching but most people are not currently progressing. There is a lot going on this week and next and I am hoping to soon be just as busy as we have been for the last 3 months. I will admit I will miss elder knight I have learned a lot from him. He is ready to go home though. We have worked hard in this area and he deserves a small break. The lord will quickly call him to his next mission it just won’t be in a white shirt and name tag. 4 months is a long time to be with someone. I have not enjoyed every moment of it I will admit, but when I learned to humble myself I began to learn and grow. I have learned so much in the 4 months we have been together. I guess I will tell you more about my new companion when he gets here on Thursday. As for me I am excited for the learning opportunities that the lord has for me. I have learned and grown so much in such a short time but I know there is much more for me to learn and many ways that I can still improve. I wish I had more to talk about this week but not much happened. Because of how busy we have been a lot of our time was used catching up on paper work and many other little things that take you away from the really missionary work. But hopefully now we can stay up to date on all of this so that we don’t have to spend so much time in the future catching up. I love all of you. i am so grateful for this chance that I have to be here and to be a missionary. I love this gospel and I love my savior. I know that this church Is true. The lord has in his mercy made that known to me. i pray for all of you. Thank you for your prayers.