September 15, 2009

This last week we went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. That was a pretty awesome exchange. How it works with them since they are so far away from their own area is that one goes with me and the other goes with my comp and the 4 of us double cover our area for a day. It's great because we get twice as much done! I went with Elder Ale (ah-lay). He is Samoan by decent but from Hawaii. He's a really good missionary with tons of personality! At the end of the exchange Elder Ale had me write "I am... " in my planner and then below it write "1." and below that "2". Then for 1 he had me write "a balanced missionary" and complimented me on my planning because we did a little bit of everything but got a lot done. And for 2 he had me write "Iceman". Haha! I was a little confused at first as well, but let me share his explanation.... He played Basketball at BYU hawaii and there was this guy on his team that everyone called "Iceman". They called him that because whenever he had the ball and going in for a shot, regardless of what was going on around him, he kept his cool and every time he went to shoot it, it was like he was the only one on the court. Nothing distracted him or got him worried. Elder Ale said he noticed that I was always cool, calm, and collected. If something fell through I didn't get upset or frustrated... I just moved onto the next thing with no problem or worry or stress. I really appreciated his comments and compliments.

So we've been visiting a pretty interesting member... Bro Watkins. He's about 50 or 60 years old, ex-marine, and very.... let's say anti-gun-control. Haha! He's kinda crazy and extreme in his ideas. He has tons of weapons of every kind around his house. He would love to see a bloody revolution. Haha! Although his ideas are very... different. He's a good and caring guy with a great testimony of the gospel. His views make sense to me in a very limited sense. I don't know why I'm telling you about him. There's no real significant reason... I just kinda like Bro. Watkins. Haha!

My spanish is improving so much! I love it! I love being able to actually communicate somewhat! Haha! I'm still far from fluent, but I'm still getting better!

He's so busy he forgets to do things, like date his letters.

I am doing well! I think I may have a little cold... or maybe it's the season change. I don't know. But I'm counting my blessings! So being a zone leader is super busy! When I'm not on exchanges with other missionaries (which happens twice a week, every week) I'm preparing for some meeting or training I have to do. So time to write letters is very scarce. My P-day this week was spent moving into another members home to live. The P-day before that was spent driving to Kansas City because the next day we had zone leader's council at the mission home. That was pretty cool. We talked about leadership-type stuff. Haha! What a surprise! Haha! Oh, the night before that we had dinner at the Wittekind's house! That was so awesome to see them all again! I love that family!

So we've been teaching a lot. In the first 2 1/2 days I was in the area we taught 19 lessons! Haha! From Thursday afternoon to Saturday! So that keeps me pretty busy! I've been here 2 weeks and I've gone on 4 exchanges already! I've gone to Newton, Auburn Hills, Wellington and Maize! That really makes the weeks fly by! Every week we meet with the Stake President 1 on 2 and talk about the progress of the zone. That's pretty cool! He's an awesome man!

Sunday I gave a talk in church in Spanish! 15 minute talk! It was about commitments and covenants. I anticipated when I was asked to give a talk the week before that I would be nervous and stressed so I prayed and asked God to give me comfort and calmness when I stood up to speak (because I assumed that it wouldn't come a second before that! haha.) then I left it to the Lord and knew he would grant my request. So because of my faith and looking forward to him blessing me with peace and calmness at that time... the fear and stress and nervousness never came! It was because of my faith and hope in the future blessings that brought the blessings right then! Haha! I love it! God is great! I did very well on my talk. I know God helped me because I spoke better than my skill really is! Haha!

We had zone conference this week. I gave a training on "An Eye Single to the Glory of God." It was short and to the point but pretty powerful. The work is going great here! We have quite a few people that are close to baptism! Hopefully that will happen soon!

What you have heard from my mom is very true! I have been SUPER busy! Although, things have slowed down a bit since the beginning of the transfer! Holy Guacamole! This transfer is already almost half over! Wow! I thought time would slow down for the last 3 months... BUT NO!!! Haha! It's still just truckin' along at the same speed if not faster! Haha!

August 20, 2009

So, today is Thursday August 20th and I'm on the transfer bus on my way to Wichita! ... again! Haha! I'm sure you've gotten the news by now from Sis. Clark. I'm pretty dang excited! It will be a lot of fun. I know as well that the Lord will be expecting a lot more from me. I'll be a zone leader in a true full spanish area. I will be working with the valley center branch. It is pure spanish! My spanish will be improving a lot I'm sure. It has to! Haha! My companion will be Elder Rupper. I don't know him too well, but I'm pretty sure he's pretty cool. Elder Higareda and I were double transfered out of Olathe. He is going to Newton, KS. So I will be his zone leader! Haha! I packed Tuesday night and Wednesday morning then the rest of Wednesday I was getting everything ready for the elders coming into Olathe. Double transfers are always tough on areas. I think they'll be alright. I'll definitely miss Olathe! I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in Wichita for the rest of my mission. Even though I wanted to serve in KC3 again I'm willingly accepting the Lord's will for me. I know this is where I'm supposed to be! Well, writing a letter while riding on a bus is kinda making me sick! haha! So I'm going to finish this up and get it ready to send when I get off the bus.

Update From Emily

Brian is really busy these days. He's working really hard and just doesn't have time to write much, so I don't have a letter to update his blog with, but I just got news from one of the members over there that Brian is being transfered to be a Zone Leader in Wichita, Kansas. That's all I know. I'll be sure to update as soon as I hear more from him. For more detailed updates for now, you can ask his parents. (They still get an email from him every week).

-Emily

July 13, 2009

The past week has been good, but also super crazy! As you know it was transfers last week. The Tuesday before transfers I thought for sure that I was going to KC3! I thought Elder Caceres was going to stay and I was going to go. Well, Tuesday at around 2:00 we got a call from President Van Komen. He first asked to talk to Elder Caceres. He called him to be a district leader in Salina, KS. I think he will do very good there. He is an excellent missionary and a super hard worker! 

Anyway, after President talked to him he asked to talk to me. I was pretty nervous, because I didn't know what he was going to say. Then he asked me to be a trainer. I was assigned to train Elder Edgar Higareda. He was born in Cancun, Mexico then moved to Indiana at age 11. He's completely fluent in English and Spanish. He's a pretty cool guy. He's definitely  going through some "growing pains" as he adjusts to mission life. That's normal though. It makes me realize how accustomed to this form of life I am. Everything is just habit for me. A phrase I've been saying a lot the past week is, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Haha! "What? We can't eat in the car?" ... "Don't worry you'll get used to it." "What? We have to stay in our nasty sweaty proselyting clothes while we plan at night?" "Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Haha! It's great! Hahaha! 

So yeah, I was super nervous to train a spanish Elder in a spanish area. I mean, my spanish still isn't spectacular, but he was going to be coming in speaking perfect spanish and probably able to teach in spanish better than me, but I was supposed to teach him things. The Lord definitely always knows how to humble me to new depths! It was one of the few times on my mission that I doubted (somewhat) that I could do something. I know that I know this language. I know grammar. I know vocabulary (fairly well). I can read spanish better than many people I teach. But God knows that for some reason I still have a fear of speaking this language. I don't know why, but I do. And that fear has hindered me a lot. This past week has been very interesting though! We teach a lot of spanish people, and before this week I would teach small parts of the lesson the look at Elder Caceres for him to take over the rest. Well, suddenly I'm the one teaching most of the lesson with my companion looking at me to take over for him. It's amazing how fast the Lord can force fear right out of you! Haha! The thing is . . . I can't afford to be afraid to speak this language anymore. I have to speak because if I don't then there is no one else to pick up my weakness. My companion is a good missionary, but he's still very green and he is looking to me to teach. So yeah. I've realized that I can speak a lot more than I thought I could. 

I've been super tired all week! That has really sucked! We've also been walking everywhere this week because Elder Higareda doesn't have a bike yet. Blah! I hate the heat and humidity here! Haha! Something that was very funny was Elder Higareda's first street contact. It was a guy BBQing in his driveway. A beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other! One of the first things he said was (looking straight at my comp) "In 20 words or less tell me when you believe." My comp was pretty taken back by that but he did a great job! I thought it was pretty funny that he put him so on the spot on his first day. Haha!

Well, Sunday was great! We had 5 investigators at church! Diego is still doing great as well! Still set for July 25th! I'm really excited for that! Well, that's about it for my week. 

I love this country, also! Actually the other day we were walking down a street and we came up to an office building and in the parking lot was laying an American Flag. It had fallen off it's holder on the building and it looked like it had been there at least a few days. It made me really sad. I'm sure other people must have seen it there before me. I love everything that flag stands for. I picked it up and put it back in place. For some people  that wouldn't mean much, but for some reason it meant a lot to me at that time that our flag was waving in the air rather than laying on the dirty ground.

July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July!

Last Friday we helped out with the Stake Youth Conference. They were doing an "Amazing Race" kind of thing in a giant park in Shawnee. Elder Caceres and I manned one of the stations. We were at the Archery range. No, we didn't get to shoot bows and arrows. That would've been awesome if we did, though! Haha! It was kind of like a pictionary type of deal but with clay. One person from their team had to sculpt a principle and the rest guessed. We were given a quick little lesson to share, but Elder Caceres and I didn't really get it, so we just made one up. Haha! I based it off of a scripture in Jeremiah (18:1-6) saying that we are clay in the Lord's hands. It was pretty hot outside, but we mostly stayed in the shade, so it wasn't too bad.

We had interviews on Tuesday. I told President Van Komen that I want to serve in KC3 again. It's the only area that I haven't baptized in, the area that I got along best with the members, and the area I felt like I was supposed to do more in. But we'll see what happens. I'll find out on Tuesday. Isn't it crazy that transfers are already here!?! July 9th is transfers! I also had district meeting and talked about Obedience. It was a pretty good meeting! 

Wednesday I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders, Elder Briscoe, in his area. It was really good! We committed a lady named Cindy to live the Word of Wisdom and be baptized on July 18th! She very enthusiastically accepted! The zone leaders live in a very rich member's house. In the morning I accidently set off the security alarm while Elder Briscoe was in the shower and I disarmed it just a few seconds before it was going to call the police! Haha! It was pretty intense! Haha! Well, that's about it for my week. 

June 29, 2009

It has been a pretty crazy week or so. I'm sorry this letter is late. I simply just didn't have time before now. Thank you so much for all of your patience with me! :) So let me get on to updating you on the past week and a half. It has been a pretty crazy time.

First of all, I would like to comment that it has be SO HOT and HUMID here!! Haha! Wednesday the 17th we helped our across the street neighbors paint the outside of their house. They picked a pretty hot and sunny day to do it but it wasn't too bad. It was a great service opportunity! Haha! We got a pretty cool new investigator that day. Diego. He's about 19 or 20. His mom is a member in Mexico. So far he is looking pretty promising! Thursday morning was district meeting. I talked about how to get investigators to church. (It's a lot tougher than you would think!) Haha! After that I went on exchanges with Elder Wiggins in his area. My goodness! Was it hot! We walked around most of the day in 95 degrees and 80% humidity! I just about died! Haha! We didn't really get much done either. Haha! I was soaked in sweat. I really don't like the summers out here. 

Saturday the 20th there was a baptism of an old investigator from Hickory Hills. Lily Reeds was baptized and I was able to go up there for that! It was great to see a few people from up there again! On the way back we stopped at the Capener's house for dinner! That was awesome to see them again!

Thursday the 25th we went to the MO-TAB concert in Kansas City. That was way sweet! We went with Anahy (a recent convert) and her non-member husband, Aldo. I saw SO many people I knew from past areas! I saw so many that I couldn't even stop to talk to many of them because we had to keep going. I saw people from Lee's Summit, KC3, Hickory Hills, Overland Park, Olathe, and even a few from Marshall! There were tons of missionaries there as well that I hadn't seen in a while. It was great to see so many people! And the performance was excellent! 

This past week I also got a few chigger bites up my legs. That's not fun! They were really itchy for a few days. Oh well! That's part of the Kansas experience! Haha! Well, I really want to get this letter out today because you've waited long enough for this one. I'm sorry! It was a crazy and tiring week! I'm going to start your next letter right now. I just want this one out today. I still have things to tell you. 

"After a long day in the sun, and with a beat-up and hole-y shirt. I finished off the shirt. Don't worry. I have another white shirt under the ripped one. I'm not exposing my "G's". Sweet relaxation!"

"Baptism of Lily Reeds. L to R: Me, Sister Reeds, Elder Bevans and Zaugg"

June 15, 2009

We had a pretty good week! 30 lessons and 6 new investigators! Not too bad. Haha! So let's see what else exciting happened. For district meeting I taught how to reach 20 lessons through the ward's help. The other companionships are kinda struggling with lessons. I think it was a good meeting! After that I went on exchanges with Elder Allen in his area (he's the new elder). He's a good missionary. The area is pretty slow right now. Not much teaching going on. We tried contacting a lot of people with not much success. I've definitely been where he is in a tough area. I made sure to give him a lots of pointers and advice that would help him a bit.

Friday afternoon was the Farmstead as usual. Boy, was it busy! It's so funny! Whenever a member of the church goes to the Farmstead and then sees our name badges they always say something to let us know they are members. Like "Hey Elders!" The other main indicator that a person is a member (women especially) is their choice of clothes. Usually it is blaring hot and humid outside and they are wearing very modest clothing while most other women are... well, let's just say that their clothes would NOT cover garments. Haha! It's pretty bad out here in the summer! It's really sad... parent's let their little kids and young teenage daughters dress like skanks. Modest is Hottest... that's what I'm sticking to. Haha.

So Sunday morning we had a great lesson with Kristen. We first had a yummy breakfast with the Ponders and her. German pancakes, bacon, fruit... yum, yum! Then we taught her about the restoration. She said she prayed and I'm pretty sure she got an answer to if she should be baptized, but something is still holding her back. She's still hesitant about something. I don't know what it is. We are hoping to go to the Visitor's Center on Sunday. We'll see how that goes. Well, that's pretty much all the exciting news for this week. 

June 8, 2009

I've had a pretty good week! It went by super fast! We got 24 lessons this past week, so it's coming back up. It also helped that we got 6 new investigators, too! Our teaching pool is growing fast. A lot of the new investigators seem pretty promising as well! I'm excited! The work is going well here and we are staying super busy! I don't think I'll have a whole lot to update on for the week because I don't remember most of it. Haha!

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Independence visitor center with Marina and Mayra and Rosario. Marina is Rosario's sister and Mayra is Marina's daughter. They loved the VC! They cried when they watched the Joseph Smith movie. It was great!

Wednesday was zone conference. That was great as well. It's always a spiritual booster. They talked about a lot of different things. I don't think I could pick out one main theme. It was just very good. So, I cut my hair Monday morning because it was getting way too long. I've gotten a lot of compliments on my work! Haha! I haven't set photos in a while. I need to do that. I will do that! 

So this past Sunday night we had dinner at the Ponder's home. They are a very cool family here. Anyway, the daughter, Katie, has a friend whose name is Kristen. Kristen's mom is a member of the ward here that is just coming back from inactivity. Kristen is a non-member, but was taught by the missionaries about 2 years ago. She has kinda been going through a rebellious stage in life, but she was just accepted to BYU Idaho so she can be with her friend Katie. She has come to church many times and even girls' camp. So she knows a lot of people in the ward and knows a lot about the church. Since she's going to go to BYU-I she will have to make some changes in her life. So Sunday night Katie asked us how long we will be in this area for. We said at least another 4 weeks. (And because the Ponders like us so much) She said that we should have a goal to baptize Kristen before then! So I told her to set up a time that we could come teach her in their home. She told us she'd do that. So she calls us the next morning and told us that Kristen could come to dinner that night and was willing to be taught after! We cancelled our regular dinner that night so we could go teach Kristen. We went and it went really well! We committed her to pray about baptism. I think we'll baptize her! We are going back to the Ponder's Sunday morning before church for breakfast and another lesson! I'm excited!

So I think I know why I've been taking so long with the Spanish language . . . I remember my mom telling me that it took me a long time to speak English! I would just grunt and point at what I wanted instead of verbalize my thoughts. I wish I could just do that for the spanish language . . . *Grunt* *points at investigator* *points at baptismal font* *grunt grunt!* I'm sure that would work great! Haha! Anyway . . . the point is that I'm just slow at learning languages and I've accepted that. Although, I'm working harder than ever to improve my language skills! I was proud of myself yesterday! We were teaching a lesson in english and I couldn't think of a word so it took me a bit of thinking to get it, but when it came to my mind, it came as the spanish word instead of the english one. So I had to translate my vocabulary from spanish to english to talk! I think that's a good sign! Hahaha!

Well, I believe that's about it for this week. It took me until Wednesday night to finish this letter, and that's even with the time I took on Monday to write. Thank you for being so patient with my crazy busy schedule! It's Wednesday and we've already gotten 5 new investigators for the week! Haha!

June 1, 2009

Let me tell you about this past week. As you know, it was transfers week. You also know that I stayed! Elder Caceres stayed as well. We're pretty excited! At transfers 3 of my past companions went home! That's so weird! Elders Seethaler, Wuthrich, and Bartlett. Thursday night at the church there was a polynesian show put on by a hawaiian family that performs world-wide. It was way awesome! They did all kinds of dances. Including a native american hoop dance and flaming knife dance. Elder Caceres got most of the dances on video and I've gotten them from him now. They also brought people up from the audience onto the stage to teach them a hula dance from hawaii. It was a stake activity so it was packed in the gym. They all made a big fool of themselves! Haha! Oh... guess what else added to the fun and hilariousness of that part of the show....... I was one of the people up there making a fool of myself in front of the whole stake!! Hahahaha! They made some of the missionaries come up. My companion and I and Elder Graham and his new companion, Elder Allen. Remember that it was transfers that morning, so it was Elder Allen's first day in the area. Haha! Something else that's funny about Elder Allen having to get up and dance is the fact that it was also his first day IN THE MISSION FIELD! He's a brand new greenie! Hahaha! I'm sure he was thinking something like... "this isn't what I signed up for!" Haha! Nah.. he looked like he handled it well. Haha! We kept hearing comments about it for a few days. They told Elder Caceres how funny he looked and I was complimented on my dancing! Haha! And yes, I have a video of us hula dancing! :)

So.... just a little piece of interesting news... you know crazy Bill from OP? He's got a baptismal date for June 20th! Haha! That's pretty awesome! Haha

May 27, 2009

The past few weeks have been quite a roller coaster ride as far as events go. My morale and faith, though, haven't wavered. There were many things that made me disappointed, but none of those things made me discouraged. There's a big difference between the two! Disappointment is a fact of life, discouragement is a state of being that makes you want to give up or slow down.

One of our investigators, Marino (the husband of a recent convert, Rosario), was taken to prison right after he came home from Anahy's baptism. He had some outstanding warrants for his arrest so they came and got him. We all think it's a blessing that he is in prison, though. He was trying to give up drinking but his "friends" kept dragging him back to it. He couldn't get away from them because they live right by him. Also, unknown to his wife, he had a girlfriend on the side that has been in the picture for about 5, yeah 5!!!, years. He also wanted to break it off with her so he could get baptized. So now the Lord has taken him away from all those things. He could be in there for maybe 2 years! It will be good for him. Rosario has such an amazing optimism! She is way awesome!

As of 2 weeks ago we had 4 people committed for baptism with a date... but as of right now, we don't have any. Jessica was to be baptized May 23rd, but she isn't able to go to church for awhile because she has to work Sundays. We thought it best not to baptize her into inactivity. Haha! She's doing good other than that. She'll be baptized eventually. Another person is Paulina. She had a date for June 6th, but she has to be either married or not living with and not doing certain "acts" with her boyfriend for at least 2 weeks before the baptism. It's now within that 2 week period before the 6th of June so she can't be baptized then because she's still living with her BF. She still really wants to be baptized so she is trying to work things out... either get married or break-up. She's living in a home with many families. One of the families is members of the church. I think she'll still be baptized as well. Horacio is another one that was committed for June 6th, but he didn't come to church... so he won't be baptized on schedule. We're not sure about him... we think he might be wanting to join to use the welfare system. We're being careful, but still working with him. Elba was the other one for June 6th but didn't come to church. I still have hope for all these people and we're still working hard! :)

Last week I went on exchanges with Elder Graham, my MTC companion! That was pretty fun! We went to his area. Last Thursday I went to Independence with the zone leaders at the Mission Home for a mission leadership council. That was pretty cool. Some people from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake came out to talk to us. I really enjoyed it! 

Haha! So get this... you know how Rosario's husband, Marino, went to jail? Well this past week we started teaching Rosario's sister, Marina! Haha! She has a husband Marino, and a sister Marina. She's really awesome! I think she'll get baptized!

I'm sorry my update for the past few weeks was little, but I know you want to hear from me, so I'm going to wrap this letter up so I can send it off. 

May 11, 2009

Things have been so busy here! And I'm still trying to adjust to being here. I'm never good with change. But I'm loving it here! We are just so very busy! I feel very sorry that my letters have been so late recently! I'm going to do better.

So let me tell you about the past two weeks. First, I'll start with the week of Apr. 19-25. Wow, that's a long time ago! I'm so sorry, babe! It feels like it was just yesterday, though! We taught a WHOLE LOT that week! Sunday- 4 lessons, Monday- 4 lessons (that was the day we worked the whole day because of the temple trip), Tuesday- 7 lessons (we also committed Anahy for May 9th!), Thursday (I was off on exchanges) but elder Caceres got 8 lessons, Friday- 2 lessons, and Saturday- 4 lessons.... total of 37 lessons for the week! When the AP's found out about our numbers they called us and told us we broke the mission record for lessons in one week! The last record was 34. Haha! How cool is that! They asked us how we did it, and I told them we blacked out Sunday morning and woke up Saturday night with 37 lessons! Haha! It's probably not too far from the truth! That week was such a big fast blur! Haha! After District Meeting on Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Hanson in the Olathe 2nd area. We biked a lot and we committed one of their investigators for baptism on May 30th... my birthday! Haha! For district meeting I taught the "I'll try VS I'll do" principle because it's a new set of missionaries! haha! Friday we went to the farmstead and had a good time. It was soooo busy! I was on the Fishing Shack Register pretty much the whole 4 hours! Lots of elementary school fields trips! Haha!

So, I don't really remember much of what went on the next week. I'm sorry. We went to Zone conference on Wednesday in Lee's Summit! I got to see the new stake center there. It was still being built when I was there. Driving through Lee's Summit brought back a lot of memories! Haha! Zone conference was pretty good, as always. It's Elder Seethaler's last transfer. He goes home May 29th! That's crazy! After Zone conference I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders, elder Peterson. That went alright. And then on Friday we went to the Farmstead again! Haha! That's how fast the weeks go by! I can't keep up! Saturday I interviewed a lady for baptism from the Olathe 2nd ward. Casey Ellis. She's pretty awesome! She 24 and she is joining against the will of her whole family! That takes a lot of courage! But she knows it's true! I love the gospel! We taught 24 lessons that week. Not bad! Oh! We also committed another investigator for baptism that week! Her name is Jessica Velasquez. She's 18, from Guatemala, and she is committed for for May 23rd! She has quit coffee which was her only concern. She's pretty cool!

Well on to the next week. I'm sorry I'm going so fast through the weeks. I'm catching up so I can get back on track with regular letters every week. This past Wednesday we got an awesome new investigator! Heracio Hernandez. He was a headquarter referral to Olathe 3rd ward, but they gave it to us because he's spanish. We went over and he was so excited to see us! I guess when he was 7 his 3 older brothers joined the church. He even remembers the missionary's name.... Elder Thompson. This was 32 years ago, by the way. Well, for one reason or another he didn't end up joining the church, but he loved everything about it. He remembers all about Joseph Smith and the gold plates. And he LOVES the book of mormon! He had left his in Mexico, so we gave him another one. He was SO grateful! He's coming to Church on Sunday! His wife was raised Catholic, so she doesn't have good ideas of the church, but he told us that we will be able to change that! Haha! He started reading the  book of mormon to her and told her about the mormons "Son De Dios" --- "They are of God". Haha! He's golden! I'm excited for him!

Thursday after district meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Wiggins in the Olathe 3rd. He is a sign language Missionary. We go way back  to the KC zone! Haha! We went and did service at a home of a completely deaf couple. 100% deaf! Friday morning I went to the Farmstead with Elder Wiggins. We were in the dairy barn until 12:30 when we switched back up from exchanges... then I went to the fishing shack with Elder Caceres! Haha! I got 2 shifts at the Farmstead! That was awesome!

Saturday was a crazy day! It was a good day, a stressful day, happy day, sad day, and even just a plain weird day! It was quite a rollercoaster! It was Anahy's baptism, which went great! It was very good! Although, 15 minutes before the baptism one of the people giving a talk cancelled. So I had to fill in at the last second and give a talk on baptism in Spanish. That was stressful! Haha! 30 minutes before the baptism Elder Wiggins calls me and tells me that his companion fell 20 ft. out of a tree and fractured his face and was being rushed to a hospital in an ambulance. I guess they were doing service for someone. That night he went into ICU and was operated on. It will take a few days before he can leave and then he is getting sent home. That makes me sad! Especially because it happened right before Mother's day! He will recover, but it's still pretty bad! That was Elder Bradshaw. Poor guy! Also on Saturday before the baptism we were at a spanish members apartment, Angelita. Apparently she bought a live chicken, because she like chicken fresh! Haha! We watched her cut it's head off and de-feather it by boiling it. Weird... just a weird experience. It was a first for me. Haha! Well, I guess I'd better wrap this letter up.

April 27, 2009

Finally have some time to write you all the things that have been going on! I have a long list of things to tell you! Well, let's start with the Monday before transfers. Wow, that seems like so long ago! Yet, it went by so fast! I actually found out Monday night that I was being transfered. But I wasn't told where. The ward temple trip was that Saturday and we both wanted to be able to go but we didn't know if one of us was being transfered and if one of us was... if it was close by so we could still go. So we called up President Van Komen and told him the situation. all he told us was that I was being transfered and it would be close. I had to wait until Tuesday night for the details. That was torture knowing I was leaving but not knowing where. You know how I hate not knowing things! Ha ha!

Tuesday morning we went to the Farmstead. We weren't in the barn this time, but in the "fishing shack" Haha! It was a lot more fun than the barn! Haha! We found all kinds of ways to catch the little fishies in the "lake"... it was more of a pond, but it was loaded with little bluegill fishes! Fishing is not usually my sport or the sport of any other ADD person.... but I liked it because it was so dang easy to catch a fish in that pond! Haha! And there's no complicated equipment involved... just a long thin stick, fishing line, hook and pale of worms! Haha! It took 2 seconds (literally) of having the line in the water to catch my first fish! Haha! Right after the farmstead we got ready and then went to the Independence Visitor center with the Bumatays. That went really well! They are progressing very well! 

Wednesday morning we went to downtown Kansas City, MO to go to the school Bro. Laudie goes to... UMKC. We went there to get our teeth checked out by him. Wednesday night we had dinner with the Capener's. The last supper... in overland park! Haha! We had some amazing BBQ ribs! MMM!!!! I'm really going to miss them! Right after dinner we went over to the Bumatay's to have a lesson and eat some amazing homemade strawberry cheescake!... Because I was leaving. That's was very nice of them! I sure miss Overland Park, but I'm sure I'll be back sometime.

Thursday was of course transfers! We drove all the way to Independence just to come back to Olathe! Haha! My companion is Elder Caceres. He came out at the same time as me. He was born in guatemala but has been living in Orem, Ut for the past 9 years. We get along pretty well! We had weekly planning on thursday when we got back to Olathe. Then we set out on our bikes the rest of the day and got 5 lessons!

Friday we got to go to the St. Louis Temple with the Olathe 1st ward! We have a recent convert here named Rosario and she was able to go on the youth temple trip! We took a charter bus there. It was pretty nice. The St. Louis Temple is beautiful! I wouldn't say my favorite, but still beautiful! I got to confirm the youth for the dead! My companion was baptizing people! It was way awesome! Friday night we drove up to my old area in Overland Park to stay the night with Elder Murie and his companion so we could ride with him in the morning Saturday up to the church to get on the bus and go to the temple with Monica. Well, we were there at the church Saturday morning at 6:00 but then Monica never showed up! :( We tried calling, Elder Murie went to her house... nothing! We were about to go to the temple anyway, but then at the last second we decided not to go because we had just gone the day before. We decided it would be better to go back to Olathe and work. I'm kinda glad we did, too. We got 6 more lessons on that day, which gave us 25 lessons for the week! I was pretty bummed about Monica, but I'm better now. 

Okay, here's what I'm going to do so I can get this letter sent out Tuesday monring. I'll send this letter off and in another letter I hope to have done soon I'll tell you about last week.

April 20, 2009

I am doing great! I know you've heard by now, but I got transfered! I'm in the Olathe 1st ward with Elder Caceres. So I started this letter Monday night and now it's Friday night. We didn't have a P-day this week because we went to the temple last Friday and the rule is that we have to "make up" the time by working all of Monday. This week has been CRAZY BUSY! Let me tell you how crazy in brief... It's Friday night and we have 33!!! lessons already for this week... with 7 SET appointments for tomorrow! I have so much I want and need to tell you! I want you to know that I'm late on writing because I have zero time.... even to breathe! Haha! *breathe* Haha! I have a big long list of things to tell you the second I have time to write it! I promise!

April 13, 2009

Tuesday morning we went to the "Diana Rose Farmstead." It's a community farm/petting zoo. It's pretty awesome! Missionaries in the area have been volunteering there for the past couple of years. Last Tuesday was their first day open this season! Elder Murie and I worked in the "barn." There were 4 calves, one cow, and one pregnant heifer! I got to feed them and do all that fun stuff! They had a TON of a baby goats! They were cute! After we did the morning duties there really wasn't much to do! Haha! We got there at 8:30 and left at 12:30. There was a lot of standing around! Haha!

Wednesday's district meeting was about the phrase "I'll try..." or "I'm going to try..." as opposed to "I'll do" or "I'm going to do." It was very good and I learned a WHOLE lot from it! I have a goal to never have an "I'll try.." attitude, but an "I'll do" attitude. Yoda sums it up with "Do or do not. There is no try!" Having an "I'll try" attitude instead of a "I'll Do" is letting the devil deceive you. That's what I learned.

Wednesday night we went to Eric and Alyce's house to give Eric a blessing of comfort because of his brother. The bishop and brother Feaster came, too. It went really well! And Eric is coping fairly well! the lesson we had days before the accident really helped him and gave him a lot of comfort! Bishop Campbell gave the blessing. It was very good!

Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Mapa in my area. We had a good time! We taught Bill Kinsella that night. It went really fast, though. Friday, I went on exchanges with Elder Clayson in his area. I did a baptismal interview for an 11-year-old named Alec Green. He is super smart and knows his stuff! He was ready! The exchange went well! We didn't get a whole lot done, though. Their area is kinda slower than ours.

Saturday we were at the Capener's and I had him adjust my back and neck. That always feels good! Also that day we did a short presentation at a baptism for an 8 year old in the ward. That went well! There were some great treats after! Haha! This weekend was stake conference so we went to the Saturday night adult session. It was on Self-Reliance! It was really good! Bill Kinsella came to that and the Sunday Session! It was a broadcast from church headquarters. Pres. Monson, Elder Oaks and Snow, and Margaret LIfferth spoke. It was very good! Almost like another session of General Conference!

Well, today, Monday, we went golfing with some members from Mo-ville. I twas really fun! I didn't do all too bad! Haha! A few times I even hit it straight! Haha! Aren't you proud of me? Haha!

April 6, 2009

The work is going great! Time is going by so fast! It's all turning into one big blur! Well, let me tell you about this past week! We found 4 new investigators last week! That's pretty good! The first is named Alonzo Dial. He was married to a member until she died about 4 years ago. Back then he was taking the lessons and was about to join, then his wife suddenly died and he dropped off the map. But we're working on him again. I think he will be very promising. The next two are Frank and Jessi. An inactive member is living with them, Alex, who is frank's brother. Frank and Jessi are married with a super cute two-year-old, Martin! They are very interested in learning about the church! They are maybe in their late 20's early 30's. We taught them twice last week! The last one is Pepe. He is originally from spain, but speaks great english. He is also very interested in learning about the church! They are all very promising investigators! So I'm sorry if this letter isn't in chronological order. It's all a jumble to me! Some thing I know when and some things are just kinda thrown into the mix.

Tuesday night we taught Eric and Alyce a super fun lesson.. the law of Chastity! Yay... super fun... not!! Haha! I hate having to teach that to an unmarried couple! Blah! It was going good until we told them that Eric couldn't get baptized until they were married. That made Alyce cry... and here's why... Alyce's son, James, turns 8 in I believe June. Well, they wanted Eric to be baptized first, receive the priesthood, and baptize James. But they are planning on getting married towards the end of the year (well, at least Eric is planning that... Alyce doesn't know he is proposing soon) So the fact that Eric might not be able to baptize James made her cry a bit. But they understand and accept it. The lesson actually turned out really well because he asked questions about the temple and we talked all about that, the spirit world, proxy ordinances... all kinds of stuff about after death (which was extremely beneficial because of events that happened later in the week... I'll talk about that in a second)... okay, it's been a second, Hahaha! I'll tell you. Well, Friday night around midnight Eric's brother died in a motorcycle accident. He died instantly on impact. Eric was super sad about it. He went with his family for the weekend so he wasn't at conference. So yeah. That's what happened with them that week.

A member of the Hickory Hills ward gave us an address of a new member in the ward that only speaks spanish. they asked me to go by and tell her about conference and the spanish ward of the stake. We went by one day that week and I was a little nervous because I haven't really used my spanish in a while but I actually id pretty well! I impressed myself! Haha! Wednesday was District meeting and I talked about finding. It went good. I'm assuming because everybody found new investigators that week! After district meeting we helped bro. shriner clean up the fallen branches from his yard. that went pretty fast.

Sometime during the week we went to Bro. Chambers house. Bro. Chambers is a fireman but he is also a licensed Massage Therapist and he has a massage room in his house. We went here to see if he could do anything about Elder Murie's headaches. (yes, he's still having them often) He gave Elder Murie a massage to help loosen up his muscles. His head ache was gone by the end of the massage. Then I got a massage for some muscles that have been bothering me. It felt very nice! Haha! I talked to Bro. Chambers a lot about being a massage therapist. That is something I've always wanted to do. Elder Murie's headache came back the next day, sadly. We are pretty sure it's chronic tension headaches. Poor guy!

Saturday was General Conference! Woot! It was so awesome! I love Conference! It's so uplifting and enlightening! I took a ton of notes! Bill came to the priesthood session and Bill, Jesse, Joyce, Lily, and the Bumatays came to the Sunday morning session. That was awesome! I really loved Elder Hale's talk about provident living! I saw ways I can improve myself. I get $150 a month and I always run out before the end of the month! That is a horrible habit to have! I am not going to be that way for the rest of my life... living paycheck to paycheck! So I will force myself into good habits while I'm on my mission so I'm not failing when it really matters! When I have others depending on me! So I'm putting myself on a budget for each month. At the beginning of the month I'm going to take out $15 signifying tithing (even though I don't pay tithing right now... it's the principle.) Then I take out another $15 signifying 10% of savings. My dad taught me "10% to the Lord, then 10% to myself in savings"... I'm going to start applying that now! Although, the money I save up on my mission that way will be given back to the mission when I'm done! Haha! But I will have learned an important life skill... saving! I've never been good at that! It's already been tough! I've already had to tell myself many times that I can't afford it! Haha! I love M. Russel Ballard's quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!" So true! Priesthood Session was awesome! President Packer had a funny saying... "young men speak of the future because they have no past, and old men speak of the past because they have no future." Haha! I love that old big-eared man! Haha! Pres. Monson said something Sunday morning that I really liked... "the future is as bright as your faith!" Amazing! I just really liked all the talks! I'll probably have more to say about them when the Ensign comes out with the talks! Between the Saturday morning and afternnoon sessions a member took us to Costco to get pizza! MMM! I love Costco pizza! I also got myself Milk, bagels, and nacho cheese from there! Yum! Haha! I haven't been to Costco in SO long! I love Costco! Haha!

Saturday night after priesthood session a lot of the men from OP1 went to Sherridan's Frozen Custard! We went as well! Bro. Laudi (who has a twin brother in Lee's Summit that was in my ward... I wrote a little about him a long time ago) said he would pay for us! He's way awesome! He is one of the few in Mo-ville that isn't going to Chiropractic College. Instead, he is going to dental school! Haha! While at Sherridan's I felt like I should ask him a question. I felt like asking him if he needed any patients to practice on. That's kinda a random question, so I hesitated until right before he left to go home. I asked and then he immediately got a big smile on his face and got excited then said, "Yes! I actually do! I have boards son and I haven't found any body ot test on! That would be GREAT if you two could do that!" Haha! So that worked out perfectly! Maybe the spirit told me to ask him that! So we are going to get our teeth worked on for free!

April 2, 2009

Well, let me tell you about my week. It wasn't all too eventful but I will try to spice it up as I move along. Ha ha! So I'm pretty sure I told you about Elder Murie spraining his ankle... no fun for him. He still got around pretty well, though, because brother Capener used this stuff called "knesio tape" or something like that. That stuff is amazing. I'm sure you will probably google it and find out more about it than me so I won't explain what it is or what it does. Ha ha!

Tuesday we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Hutcheson in his area. He kinda has a lot of struggles and that day was especially bad so it was a little rough at first. Haha! We were biking and he didn't talk much at all. He progressively  got more mad as I tried to talk to him about some things. He wasn't angry "because of" me but since I was with him he was angry  "at" me. It was interesting! Haha. But eventually I just gave him some space and time to cool off and then he was fine after that and we had a good time. Haha! In the morning when he was having a hard time waking up I attacked him with a nerf gun. So I got him to exercise by him running and trying to get away from me. It was pretty hilarious! I had fun with it and it got him up. So it worked! Haha! 

Wednesday afternoon we went on another exchange with the zone leaders. I stayed in my area with Elder Stevens. He's from bluffdale, Utah. We have quite a bit in common. Graduated the same year. He worked at a movie theatre for a while (not megaplex, but cinemark) stuff like that. We had a pretty good exchange. We taught Bill Kinsella, an old feller that we've been teaching, and the Bumatay's, a couple that were less-active members but are starting to come back to church again. They are pretty cool!

Thursday we taught Jesse and Joyce and did our weekly planning. Friday morning we helped Jesse and Joyce move from one apartment building to a neighboring building. That wasn't too difficult at all. It only took 2 hours with 4 people. Haha. That's nothing at all! At 1:30 we went to interviews with President Van Komen. That went well! I have a feeling that I might be transfered to a spanish area because of the talk I had with President. We'll see what happens. I really hope to develop my spanish so I can be an effective spanish missionary. I also had district meeting at interviews. It was very short. I talked about self-evaluation and goal setting. It was alright. 

Friday after interviews I went on exchanges with Elder Pehrson in his area (yeah... I went on a lot of exchanges last week... it was pretty crazy). We didn't do a whole lot Friday night, but Saturday morning was quite an adventure! Let me tall you about that. So Elder Pehrson has bad knees and so Saturday morning he had an appointment with a member doctor that specializes in joints. That doctor lives in Olathe (Oh-lay-th-uh) Haha!. Well, Saturday morning we had a member ride so we could get there by 10:00. We were meeting him at his home. Note also that the weather on Saturday started out as rain... then progressed to freezing rain... then to a very heavy snow. Haha! We got to Olathe by 9:30 so we decided to go get some breakfast. McDonald's was the place of choice. haha. Well... 10:00 rolls around so we go to his house and knock on the door... and no answer! There was no one home! We waited for quite awhile thinking that maybe he was a little late or in the shower or something like that. By 10:15 we decided that we needed to call him. The only problem was that we didn't know his number. Haha! So we started a wild goose chase on the phone to get his number. After calling many numbers we got a hold of the Assistants to the President who gave us the number for the Olathe Zone leaders who then gave us Dr. Salin's (that's his name) number. So Elder Pehrson gave him a call and talked to him. Turns out that his wife signed them up for Saturday morning chapel cleaning and after that was a baptism for an 8 year old boy in the ward. He asked if we could come over to the church and then he would give us a ride so our member could go home so we agreed. His church building, however, was 30 minutes away, in Missouri! Haha! It's actually the same building I went to when I was serving in KC3. Luckily I knew how to get there. It was just past the state line. So we were dropped off there and just went in and watched the baptism. Haha! We got a few "who are you and why are you here" looks but that's alright! Haha! One person asked us if we were the new Elders in the ward! Haha! At this point we didn't know a single person in the building! After the service Bro and Sis Salin introduced themselves and then we were off in their car with them and their 3 kids. We had to drive back to their house so Bro. Salin could pick something up. They are a way cool family! Mid-30's I would guess. Very funny! At first sis. Salin tried to convince us that she was the doctor and bro. salin was the stay at home dad. she said she thought elder pehrson had a case of "Ligament Tendonitis" which doesn't even make sense! haha! Bro. Salin had to pick up his access card for his office and we dropped his family off at the same time and started toward his office (his 7-year-old son came with us, too). His office was on Nall and I-435, which is only about 2 miles from where I live with Bro. Shriner. Bro. Salin looked at Elder Pehrson's knees and told him what was wrong ( and no, it wasn't ligament tendonitis, hahaha!) He gave him some exercises to do and gave him some shots into his knees for the pain. He then took us to Chipotle for lunch. After that he took me to Bro. Shriner's house to switch back up. We didn't do much else after that because of the weather. Actually, I lied. We did a baptismal interview for a 19-year-old girl named Rashaunda Dodd. She was baptized Sunday in the singles ward. 

Just one more thing. Monday while we were playing basketball I fell and sprained my wrist! Haha! Don't worry, I'm doing alright. It's my right wrist so it doesn't really affect me too much. It should heal pretty fast. Well, that's about it for this week.

March 23, 2009

Well, this week was pretty scant as far as events go. Elder Murie has been having very severe headaches all week! He has been having headaches before this week, but not nearly as constant and severe. So he has been in bed sleeping most of the week. We did some work but no nearly as much as we usually do. We only got 12 lessons this past week, which is still not too bad! Haha!

Well, I'll get on to the rest of the week. We taught Erick and Alyce on Tuesday. I believe I already told you about Erick proposing. That's exciting! Oh, Tuesday for dinner was a St. Patrick's Day theme. We had corn beef and cabbage. It was actually pretty good! A lot better that what I thought it was going to be! That was with the Sinsel family. Bro. Sinsel is in the Hickory Hills bishopric. And of course I wore green! I wore a green tie! That's the only color variation a missionary gets! haha. 

Wednesday's district meeting was about desires. I asked the Elders what their greatest desires are. Then what their greatest desire should be. Then talked about making the transition. I used a few quotes such as: "We cannot let our passions destroy our dreams."-Camelot and: "The secret to true happiness is not doing what we love to do, but loving what we need to do."- Joseph Smith, Jr. I also used some scriptures such as Alma 29:4, Romans 8:5-10, 3Nephi 13:20-22. Those are just a few.

Wednesday, March 18th was Elder Murie's B-day! He turned 20 year old! We had dinner at the Capener's house! No surprise there... we are always there! Haha! We had ribs and twice baked potatoes for dinner. It was very yummy! Earlier in the day we taught Monica about temples and family history. Right after we told her that the church was very big into genealogy for that reason she said, "Hold on a minute." then she went upstairs briefly and brought down a binder. And guess what was in that binder?! This blew me away... she had probably over a hundred ancestor names and information! How she got them is even more amazing! A while ago one of her aunts (who is not a member) got very interested in genealogy and started looking up all the information she could about who her ancestors were. She recorded names, dates of birth and death, life history, and even maps of where they lived! Then she just gave it all to Monica a few years ago for no apparent reason! Well, now she knows why she has all those names! As the only member in the family she can take them to the temple now! She is very excited for that! the spirit of Elijah is definitely at work! It has been so amazing to see everything in her life come together like this! She is overflowing with joy!

Thursday and Friday were not very eventful at all! Not really Saturday either, except there was a Ward Chili Cook-off that was pretty good! Some yummy chili! Sunday, Ali Haught came to church all by herself why the rest of her family stayed home. She called someone for a ride and got ready by herself! I'm so proud of her! Monica came as well and brought a friend of hers, Juan! She is already trying to reach out! She's awesome! So it's Monday night and guess what!? Elder Murie woke up with a slightly less painful headache this morning! That's good news! The bad news is that he sprained his ankle today playing basketball! Poor guy! Haha! I feel bad for him! He'll get better, though. Well, that's about it for this week. 

He forgot to date this letter.... (ha ha ha)

This past week was great! It feels like it is going by so fast, but at the same time very slow. It's a weird feeling. It just feels like everything is merging into one day. I can't really describe it. I think it's kinda throwing me off. I'm still getting used to it. I'm doing good, though. Well, I'll get on to telling you about my week.... Last Tuesday we taught Eric and Alyce about tithing. It went very well. Alyce is a little doubtful about tithing, but Eric is all for it! He loves the principle of tithing. Eric is a lot more spiritual than Alyce even though Alyce is the member and Eric isn't. It's pretty funny. Ha ha!

 

Wednesday was Zone Conference. It was awesome! A general authority was there to train us. Elder Mask from the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy came. He was very enthusiastic and funny. He taught about obedience and working hard and being diligent. I learned a lot from him! He is amazing! It's such a blessing to be taught personally from general authorities. We were so busy Wednesday night that we had to do splits with different members. I went with one member and Elder Murie went with another. It was pretty weird being without my comp, but it was a good night. I taught the Haughts and Bill (crazy old guy). Haha! 

We taught Monica 3 times last week to get her ready for her baptism that was on Saturday. She is so awesome and golden! She was so ready for baptism! We taught her Thursday night, Friday morning, and then Friday night she had her baptismal interview. That went great! Saturday was the baptism! Her parents drove an hour and a half from Topeka just to see her baptism! And they aren't members either! I was so glad to see her parents supporting her! Monica and her family came a half hour early so while Monica changed into the white jumpsuit Elder Murie gave them a tour of the building. The baptism was at 11:00 and the Relief Society room was packed! So many people from the ward came to support her! It was amazing! I performed the baptism. The whole thing went very smoothly. Bro and Sis Capener gave wonderful talks as well! After the baptism all the members in Mormon Village had a BBQ to celebrate Monica's baptism. That was so good for her! She got to know everyone a little better and feel of their love. It was very good for Monica's parents as well to see how the members love Monica! It was perfect weather outside, too! It was just an amazing day!

Monica's baptism

After the BBQ was all put away and cleaned up, Elder Murie and I saw a U-haul truck in Mo-ville. U-haul trucks mean "service" to missionaries! So we jumped at the opportunity and asked if we could help. It was a young couple with 2 kids. They were moving in and the husband was going to Cleveland. Steele and Laney are their names. So we helped them move in and in return they offered to have us over for dinner Sunday night! They aren't members, by the way... :)

So before I get to how that went I've got to tell you about the rest of Saturday. The evening was spent doing 2 baptismal interview for Companionships within the Zone. That was great! And even though the night was spent out of our area we still reached our goal for lessons this week! We got 23 lessons that week! We were very excited! Sunday went amazing as well! Elder Murie confirmed Monica and she had a great time at church! She will be an awesome member of the church! We hope to go to the temple with her within the next few weeks to do baptisms for the dead! That will be so amazing!

Sunday night we had dinner with Steele and Laney. It went really well and we taught them about the restoration. They are pretty cool people. They also know some of the members from Mo-ville. They've got no chance now! They have fallen into the snare of Mo-ville! It's just a matter of time before they are baptized! ha ha ha! JUST kidding.... but who knows? Ha ha. So we found out on Tuesday that Eric is going to propose to Alyce!! Now all he needs to do is quit drinking! And he is working towards that. Then he can get baptized! I'm so excited for them! I'll tell you how it goes in my next letter! Well, that's about it for this past week.

Elder Montierth being himself.... at Liberty Jail... what a goof. :)

March 13, 2009

Wow! Time is moving so very fast! There wasn't a whole lot that went on this past week. At least not compared to the last few weeks. Last Wednesday night we started teaching a less-active couple, the Bumatay's. They are in their 30's and want to get back into things as far as church is concerned. So the bishop told them that the best way to do that is to take the missionary lessons like an investigator would. We will be teaching them all the lessons now. We are very excited about that! On Wednesday we taught them the restoration. It was a great lesson!

Thursday was such a perfect weather day! It was such great weather that we taught Monica outside in the afternoon. We taught about tithing. It went so well! She is so awesome! She is actually excited to pay tithing! She is so willing to do whatever it takes to obey God's commandments! She has experienced a true change of heart. A mighty change of heart! It is so amazing to see!

Friday morning we had a meeting as a zone to start out the new transfer. It was very good and very spiritual! We talked about a lot of things: prayer, faith, sacrifice, attitude, charity, etc. It was the perfect meeting to start out the transfer. So that meeting ended at about 12:30. Then we had lunch at Panchos (that place is amazing!) So our work time started at about 2:00. From that time til 8:00 we taught 4 lessons. Not ad for not having any scheduled! At 8:00 I had an interview with a guy named Tom that was getting baptized the next day. He's ready! He is 18 and he wants to go on a mission! That's really awesome. 

As of Friday night we had 15 lessons for the week so we would need 5 lessons on Saturday. Well, judging from the past few Saturdays we knew it was possible so we planned accordingly. So we went to the first family on our plans and they were there! The Geyer's are an active elderly couple that have been sick recently so we visited with them. Then we saw the next person on our plans... Barry Pennington. We had been trying to visit him since I got in this area. He is inactive but a great guy! He is in his 50's and living alone. After Barry we went to the Preater's home. They were there as well! It was great! We taught them a good lesson. We continued throughout the rest of the day and taught 2 more lessons ! Again, the Lord came through and helped us accomplish 20 lessons for the week! That's the 5th week in a row! It sure is a miracle to work here! I feel very blessed!

Sunday was great as well! Monica came to church! We weren't sure if she was going to come because she was in Norman, Oklahoma for the weekend to help her sister with a newborn baby. You can do the math online and see how far away that is. But she drove all the way back home so she could go to church at 1:00 on Sunday! She knew that if she didn't come that day then she couldn't be baptized the following Saturday. She is so awesome! She really wants to be baptized! :) That makes me really happy to see her amazing progress! The previous week she went to the Gospel Doctrine for Sunday School and it was kinda over her head, so the next week the Ward Mission Leader threw together a gospel principles class at the last second and had some other members come in and support the class. It turned out really well! She learned a lot from that class! After church we had dinner with the Capeners and Monica and then taught Monica some more and answered questions she had. She is already trying to reach out and share her joy with others that she knows! It's great! Monica is being baptized on Saturday and I'm baptizing her! I'll tell you all about it! Well, I'm going to finish this letter up. I plan to send out another letter on Monday or Tuesday. Sorry for this one being late. 

March 2, 2009

I can't believe how fast time is flying by! It feels like it was just Monday yesterday! I can barely keep track of the days as they fly by! This was another great week! There was a lot that went on! Monday night we had FHE with a family in Mo-ville (Mormon Village), the Forreds, and we taught them about baptism because they have a daughter that will be turning 8 soon. That was pretty good. Sis Forred's non-member sister was there also. After that we went over to the Capener's house to teach Monica there. It was a good lesson. We were going to have dinner at the Capener's the next night also so they invited Monica to dinner. We got to the Capener's house early and helped them prepare dinner. It was hawaiian haystacks! MMM! Then we had another good lesson with Monica. That night we also taught Erick and Alyce the 10 commandments. That went pretty well. They are doing great. Erick is steadily reading the BOM. 

Elders Davis, Hutcheson, Murie, Stevens, Mapa, Corzo, and Clayson

Wednesday's District meeting was on helping investigators keep commitments. I think it went very well. After district meeting, since we were all out of money, we made egg drop ramen noodle soup at the church. It wasn't too bad... I never was a huge fan of ramen anyway.

After lunch I went on exchanges with Elder Mapa in his area, Chapel Hill. That was pretty fun. We biked SO much! Haha! It was great! We taught a guy named Jimmy Green. We were super bold with him. Well, at least I was. Ha ha! We also played basketball with some high school aged black kids on a super ghetto court! I was the only white boy there because Elder Mapa is half black- half Tongan! It was fun! It was a good exchange. Thursday was pretty uneventful. Friday Ali had her baptism interview with one of the zone leaders. She did awesome! So by Friday night we only had 14 lessons taught for the week. We needed 6 more, but we had a ton of stuff going on on Saturday. It was a super crazy day! Here were the set things that we had to do: 9-11 in the morning we were going to be helping an elderly lady move, 2-4:30 we had the baptism, and 6:30-8 we had the Elder's Quorum Pinewood Derby. Oh! And we didn't have the car or any rides to these things as of Friday night. So I'll take you play-by-play through this day. 

Woke up Saturday morning and looked outside... about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing. At 9:00 we walked about a mile and a half to get to the elderly lady's house. There were only 8 people there to help, including us, the whole time we were there. She hadn't packed ANYTHING up yet. There were only 4 males there. The other 4 were women. It wasn't too bad. In her basement , garage, and upper level she had probably at least 300 2 ft-long plastic tubs! She had SO many! We filled up the entire U-haul and only got about half of them out of her house- it was actually a duplex. Ha ha! We had a good time!

At 11:00 we came back home and made Bro. Shriner (the guy we live with) lunch in exchange for a ride to an investigators house and then to the church! Ha ha! We made spaghetti then headed up to Jesse and Joyce's house. Oh, we also taught Bro. Shriner a lesson after lunch! The lesson with Jesse and Joyce went really well! Then Bro. Shriner dropped us off at the church at 2:00 so we could get things set up for the baptism at 3:00. 

The baptism went awesome! There were lots of members from the ward there to support her, including her family's visiting teachers, home teachers, primary teacher, and most of her primary class! It was so cool! Her aunt Amanda and Amanda's boyfriend, Marcos, were there, too. They are investigators so it was good for them! Ali is in the Hickory Hills ward, but Sis. Capener came with Monica so Monica could see a baptism in our church. That was awesome to see 3 of our investigators there. Oh yeah, clarification: Sis. Capener and Monica are from the Overland Park 1st ward area. Elder Murie baptized Ali and I gave a lesson while they were changing back into regular clothes. Since we had investigators from 2 separate wards we had to count my lesson twice, one for each ward. We made an appointment to teach Monica again at 4:30 at her house. 

We were done cleaning up the baptism by about 4:00 so we had our ward mission leader drop us off in Mormon Village. Then we started searching for a team-up to go into Monica's house with. Haha! Bro. Taylor from Mo-ville was available so he came with us. He is really awesome! We taught about baptism and confirmation and answered some questions she had about the baptism. 

Our dinner that night was at the Sheffers. They also live in Mo-ville. Haha! So after we taught Monica we walked over to the Capener's and talked with them a bit until 5:30, which is when dinner was scheduled. Bro. Sheffer is way awesome! We always go see him to get our back and neck adjusted. He's very good. We had pizza for dinner then taught them a lesson. Were you counting all those lessons? Because that last one was number 6! We did it! We taught the 6 lessons we needed to get to 20! and we did it by 6:30 pm! That's a miracle! That makes 3 weeks in a row with at least 20 lessons! At 6:30 we went to the pinewood derby and won 4th and 5th place. Booyah! At 8:00 we didn't have anyone to go see so we just went home and prepared lessons for primary the next day.

Sunday morning I confirmed Ali a member of the church. That was very special! In OP 1st ward I got up and bore my testimony. For the 3rd hour in OP1 the RS was having a visiting teaching conference so all the women in the ward had to be there, so the men had to take over the Primary. Wow. 5 year-olds are CRAZY!! Ha ha! The lesson was on the different priesthood blessings... and I learned VERY fast how short the attention span of a 5-year-old is! Ha ha! I had a whole hour so I adapted my lesson quickly! Let's just say I have a lot of respect now for primary teachers! HA HA! I think I did pretty well, though.

I started this letter on Monday (March 2nd) and now it's Wednesday morning and my comp. is sick so I have some time to finish this letter. I've got to tell you about yesterday! It was awesome! We went to the Liberty Jail... Twice! ha ha! We went at 11:00 AM with Monica and the Capeners! It was so amazing! That was my first time ever going there. Same with Elder Murie. Monica really liked it! THEN... at 7:00 PM we went again with ERick, Alyce, Alyce's son James, and brother and sister Feaster. It was another amazing experience! To me, the second time was much more spiritual. Each time was a different sister missionary. The second time it was a sister that came out the same time as me. She was very powerful! And guess what?! She is done with her mission in 6 weeks! The sisters I came out with are going home at the end of this next transfer! That's so crazy! Well, on the way home from the Liberty Jail the second time we got transfer calls! You should have already gotten the news from the Capener's, but if you didn't... we are both staying! We are both excited about that! We will both be here for Monica's baptism! Yay! There are actually only 2 missionaries in my zone that are being transfered. One from my district is becoming a district leader, Elder Davis. He will be very good! He has been in Chapel Hill for 7 1/2 months! It was time for him to go. Well, I've got to wrap up this letter now. :)

 

Liberty Jail with the Capeners and Monica and Logan

Liberty Jail with the the Feasters and Alyce, Eric, and James. 

February 23, 2009

I just sent out a letter on Saturday about the week before this last week, so now I get to tell you about this past week! :) It was a very good week and a lot of great things happened! So Tuesday night we taught 5 lessons. It didn't seem quite as hard as it was to get 5 lessons in on day like it was the previous Saturday. Tuesday morning Sis Capener called us and told us that one of our investigators, Monica, was in the hospital... the Psych ward to be exact. I guess because of all the hard things going on in her life she had a complete meltdown, emotionally. So we planned to go visit her Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday morning we had district meeting. When I woke up that morning, I hadn't yet gotten an answer to my prayers about what I was going to teach. I was half-way through my morning studies and still had nada. So I prayed again. Then inspiration flowed and all the ideas of what to do came to me. It was a good district meeting. It went better than I expected. It was a tender mercy to receive that revelation. 

After district meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Corzo in my area. We always have a good time.  He was my zone leader in Newton, also. We went and saw Monica. She was just laying in bed awake when we got there. She was pretty depressed and sad. We talked to her about priesthood and gave her a blessing of comfort. I think we cheered her up a little bit. We talked about adversity, faith, hope and other things like that. She wanted a BOM to read so we gave her one and a few chapters to read and told her that we'd be back the next day because she had a lot of free time. She liked that idea. She couldn't leave the 6th floor so she had all the time in the world. Haha! The rest of the exchange was good. We taught 3 other lessons on Wednesday.

Thursday at noon we switched back up from exchanges and had weekly planning. At 3:00 we went to see Monica again but she was asleep. So we went to see Sis. Capener and update her on some things. I love the Capeners! We are over there almost every day! Haha! Bro Capener was there, too... so we could go inside. She made us some really good cookies! We told them we were going to see Monica at 4:30 and hopefully commit her for baptism. They thought that would be pretty cool, but I don't think they thought we could do it. Haha! We went back and she was awake. She was totally ready for it! She was at rock bottom. She knew she couldn't do it on her own anymore and was looking for what she needed to do. She was probably at the mo

st humble stage of her life. I talked to her about being born again into a newness of life. I talked about baptism being a new start to a new life. Being washed from all sin and starting over with determination to serve God. Baptism is exactly what she needs in her life right now. I read Mosiah 18:8-9 and asked her how she would like to be surrounded by people who have made that covenant. She wanted that very much! So we committed her for baptism on March 14th! She readily accepted! She said she had never been baptized before but her sisters have. Then she humbly asked, "what do I have to do to get baptized?" She really wanted those blessing of baptism that we promised? It was an amazing lesson! She also read the chapter we gave her plus a few more! Before we left we gave her some more good chapters to read. Afterwards we went back to tell Sis Capener the great news! We told her the news and she was so happy that she started jumping up and down! We taught Monica the next two days as well in the hospital. Those two days she was a lot more upbeat and optimistic! She read more scriptures and had a lot more faith and especially hope in God! She was willing to wait patiently for answers to prayers and the blessings of the gospel. It was amazing to see the difference in her in just those few days! This gospel is so powerful and amazing! I love it!

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about an amazing story that happened Tuesday night!! That night we taught the Haught family about the Book of Mormon. Amanda, sister haught's sister that lives there was present. I told them to all get their BOM's and hold them in their hands. We also gave Amanda a BOM for the first time. While they were holding them I picked up mine and said "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ... This book that is in your hands is THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK you will ever read in your entire life!" Then I shared my testimony of the BOM. While we were talking to Ali and her family, Amanda  flipped open her copy and read the first scripture she looked at. After she read a little she had an amazed look on her face and looked like she was about to cry. She then leaned over and told her sister what she read and showed her the verse. Then Sister Haught was shocked and said "Wow!" then had her tell us. So apparently Amanda was put on probation for some drug abuse issues just days before. This next part is nothing short of a miracle!! We talked earlier about how powerful the BOM is. This was the first scripture she read in the BOM when she randomly flipped it open... and remember this is her first contact and experience with the BOM... ok... read this scripture: Mormon 9:28. IT BLEW HER MIND!!! Hahaha! It amazed me, too! The BOM is so powerful! We asked her if she would read more of the BOM... she said, "Oh yeah!" Haha! 

Saturday was a pretty awesome day! We started by going to the Independence Visitor Center in the morning. We went with Sis Haught, Ali, Amanda and her boyfriend Marcos, and some of Ali's cousins. It was such an awesome time! I love that place. There is such a great spirit there. Right after we got back is when we taught Monica again. Then we went straight to the church for a church open house. It was a missionary activity to get non-members to come check out the building and different aspects of the church. There was an alright turnout. Not a ton of people. We are going to start teaching one of them soon. That's good news! Saturday we taught a total of 5 lessons again! Yay! That makes 22 lessons for the week!! At least 20 lessons per week 2 weeks in a row! That makes me very happy! Last week we also got 3 new investigators, 3 referrals, and Monica with her baptismal date! Blessings have definitely been pouring out upon us! I also got a letter from my friend, Parker!! That made me so very happy! He is the first of all the guys to write me or contact me in any way since I've been out. Well, that's about it for this week.

February 21, 2009

Last week and this week have been crazy but very good! I will start with last week. Last Tuesday night, Feb. 10th, we had a lesson with Eric and Alyce again in the Feaster's home. It went super well! We talked about prayer. We used a pretty cool object lesson. We made them "the prayer burger". It's a way to teach how to pray in a simple way. The different parts of the burger represent different parts of a simple prayer. The top bun represents the "Dear Heavenly Father..." The condiments (ie: lettuce, tomato, onions, etc) represent the "we thank thee for.." The burger or meat represents  the "we ask thee for"... and the bottom bun represents the "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." The Feasters did an amazing job of sharing their testimonies about prayer! 

Wednesday was interviews with President Van Komen. That went really well! I had district meeting as well. My district meeting was on following the spirit. I think I probably learned the most. After all that I went on exchanges with Elder Hutcheson in his area. He is an elder in my district who is kinda struggling right now. I think we had a really good exchange. I was able to help him with a lot of things. He's doing better now, too! So I'm happy! That night we had dinner with the Stokes family. They are way cool. Sister Stokes made this amazing V-day dinner! She made a heart shaped meatloaf with red mashed potatoes and a ton of other stuff like that. It was pretty fun! 

The mission's goal is to get every companionship teaching at least 20 lesson per week. As a district leader I really wanted to be the example to my district by getting 20 lessons. By the end of Thursday we had 11 lessons. So for Friday and Saturday we needed to work our butts off to get to 20 lessons! And we did work our butts off for those 2 days! Friday we biked around everywhere! Haha! We got 4 lessons on Friday and even a new investigator! Lauren Preater. She's from a part member family that we are visiting a lot. The lesson we taught pretty much blew her mind! Haha! It was awesome! Saturday I think we even worked harder! And for our efforts the Lord blessed us with 5 lessons! We got 20 lessons! It was definitely a miracle! But it felt so awesome to get to the mission goal! Both of the wards we cover were very happy as well!

So I think this is what I'm going to do with this letter... It is Friday night right now and I haven't sent a letter out this week yet. I want to send this one tomorrow morning. I'll start another one tomorrow and have it done by Monday with all the details of this week in it, k? I'll tell you the reasons, though, why we were so busy this week... we committed another investigator, Monica, for baptism on March 14th! She accepted! The Capeners (the family that referred her) are thrilled! They are so amazing! I love the Capeners! We have also been teaching a lot! We are WELL on our way to 20 lessons this week! We are at 17 with 5 appointments tomorrow! For one of them we are going to the Independence Visitor's Center! I'll let you know how it all works out!

February 10, 2009

This has been a pretty good week for me! It flew by so very fast! I can't even believe it! Haha! So let me tell you about my week. Tuesday night we had a lesson with Eric Lewis and Alyce in Brother and Sister Feaster's home. It went amazing! The Feaster's are a perfect fellowship for Eric and Alyce! They are becoming great friends! Elder Murie and I actually left the Feaster's at 9:30 PM to get in on time. Eric and Alyce were still there when we left, talking and having a good time with the Feasters. They have connected well! 

Wednesday we had a district meeting. I trained on working and improving cooperation with members. I think it went really well. I hope it helps them in some way. Wednesday night we taught an investigator, Bill Kinsella. He's an older man living in a retirement home type thing. I think he might be crazy. Haha! He has a lot of random and crazy ideas and thoughts. We'll keep working with him but I'm not sure how far he'll progress. We'll see. Haha! That night we also so Ali Haught and her family. She is the 9 year old that will be baptized on February 28th. We gave her a "battle plan" the Sunday before. A "battle plan" is something for her to do each day to have spiritual experiences to "battle" Satan's plans to stop her. Most of the days are just short scriptures to read. She is awesome! She has been doing it every day so far! The battle plan goes until her confirmation day. Then she'll have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help her battles!

Thursday I went on exchanges with a missionary in my district, Elder Davis, from the Chapel Hill area. He is way awesome! He is from Draper, Utah. Only a few miles away from my house! Haha! We were in his area. That night we had an amazing dinner! Steak and potatoes... very big steaks! Brother King, who we had dinner with, was the manager of a steakhouse restaurant that close down a few days earlier. When it closed, he took more than $2,000 worth of steaks home with him! The steak I had would have cost someone $35.00! It was very good! He is probably going to become the owner of the place and re-open it. They were a cool family! We had some pretty good teaching appointments while on exchanges. Friday, while we were still on exchanges I had to do 2 baptismal interviews, because I'm the District Leader. Those 2 people were going to be baptized on Saturday. Friday morning as I was pondering over the baptismal interview questions, God really impressed upon me the importance and seriousness of the responsibility put upon me. He put an image and a thought in my mind. I wasn't "carried away by the spirit" or anything. It was more like a daydream image. The impression came across pretty powerfully though. The image was of a beautiful gate in heaven with a sentinel standing before the gate. The impression I got I guess was the interpretation. The gate was the gate that lead into the Kingdom of God, or baptism. The sentinel was the one who would ensure the worthiness and readiness of anyone that wanted to enter into the gate. The sentinel was a man dressed in white. That's the only description I have. The impression told me that for these 2 people, Rachel Sullins and Venus Ordonez, I was the sentinel before the gates of the Kingdom of God. Through the interview I was to ensure their worthiness and readiness for baptism. It was a very humbling and sobering thought, to say the least! It was a small thing but it helped me to see more fully the importance of this work. I'm grateful for it! I did the interviews and they were ready. :) They were both baptized the next day!

Friday night after exchanges we taught Monica Saunders, an investigator, in a member's home. The Capner family is so amazing! They were the ones that referred Monica to us. They live in Mormon Village. Bro Capner is going to Cleveland College with Monica. We taught the Restoration. It went great!

So guess who I went out to lunch with on Saturday! Ok, I know you already know so you don't have to guess... Anna! Ya, that was pretty crazy! Haha! We went to a super nice and fancy Italian Buffet. It's called Cinzetti's and it looks like a castle! Haha! They had really good food there. It was good seeing Anna again. We had a good conversation and just caught up on things. She told me about how Bethany is now officially engaged. Weird! We didn't talk too much about church stuff. I didn't want to preach to her. It was short but we had a good time. My mom also sent some more adderall and some contacts! I'm pretty excited about that!

Saturday was a beautiful day outside so we went and raked the Haught family's backyard. There were a ton of leaves! Haha! We also fixed their fire pit back there. Sunday night we went over and cooked s'mores in their fire pit! That was awesome! Very fun! That morning we came over at 8:30 to get them up and get them to church... and they came! We were very excited! Well, that was pretty much my week.

February 3, 2009

The change of pace from Marshall to here was pretty big and it has taken some time to adjust to. I think I'm up to speed and all right now. So now, let me tell you about the last week and a half. My new companion is Elder Murie. He is so awesome! He is from Laverkin, Utah (which is close to St. George). He has been out for 3 months and this is still his first area. I'm his 2nd companion. His trainer ended his mission (or how we say, died off) right when I got there. He doesn't seem like he's been out for 3 months. He acts like he's been out for 9 months. He knows the area very well, he has a great rep with the members, he's just an awesome guy and an awesome missionary. We get along very well. He also has a girl waiting for him. He has been dating her for about 3 years! Haha! 

So, let me tell you about my area. The members here are so awesome! I love it here. And guess what? Do you know how I said there is a Chiropractic College in the Kansas City area? Well, it's called Cleaveland Chiropractic College and the college is in my area! Yeah, it's in the Overland Park 1st Ward boundaries. One of the Professors that teaches there is a member and he's in my ward. There are also about 10-15 young families which the husband is going to Cleaveland. Most of them are all living in one apartment complex. It is called Mormon Village. Haha! There are some super awesome families there! There are also lots of non-member Cleaveland students there. Actually, one is an investigator, Monica.

I'm living in a member's home, Brother Shriner. He's an older man and a widower. We have the whole basement to ourselves and we share the kitchen with him. He's a nice guy. The day after I got to this area we had district meeting. I think it went really well! I talked about the power and authority of our calling and about being bold. I have a really good district with really good missionaries. It was weird for me when I started district meeting because I realized that besides the 2 Zone Leaders, I was the oldest missionary in my district-- oldest as in time in the mission field. The next oldest has been out 10 months. I'm an old fart in the mission now! Haha! Since we cover 2 wards, Sundays are long days at church again. 9 hours  if you include other meetings. It's ok though. I like church. 

Sunday, Jan 25th we went to the Independence visitor's center after church meetings were over. It was so awesome and spiritually powerful! We went with an investigator, Erick Lewis, and his girlfriend that he is living with that is a less-active member, Alyce. They are really awesome, though. We went through a presentation called God's Plan For Families, then we saw the Joseph Smith movie. It was amazing! I've seen it a few times there but it's always amazing! After the movie, Erick said he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet now! That was so cool to see him gain a testimony of Joseph Smith! 

We have a lot of really awesome investigators. There's Erick. Then we have a 9, almost 10 year old girl that we committed for baptism on Feb 28th. The rest of her family are members and they have recently started coming back to church. She is Ali Haught. She is very smart and really likes church! Next is Jesse and Joyce. Jesse is a member, Joyce is not. They are in their 50's. Joyce really wants to be baptized but they aren't married. Jesse is trying to get a divorce with his wife, but doesn't know where she is. they are really neat and they come to church every week. We watched The Testaments with them last week. Monica is another investigator that I kinda mentioned. She was referred by a member in Mormon Village and we started teaching her last week. Some other investigators of note are John and Katie. We started teaching them last night. They are way awesome! Elder Murie and his last companion found them from doing some random service raking leaves. They are very friendly and intelligent. I'm very excited to be in this area and this district. Every companionship in my district (4 companionships) has at least one investigator with a baptismal date! That is so awesome! 

Wednesday last week was Zone Conference. It was pretty good! I got to see my boy, Elder Perry, for the first time in a long while. He's been out for 9 1/2 months now! He's growing so fast! Haha! Guess who else is in my Zone... Elder Wuthrich and Elder McEntire! Haha! It's good seeing old companions again and seeing how they are doing! 

Elder Wuthrich, Me, Elder McEntire,

 and Elder Corzo at Zone Conference

After Zone Conference I went on exchanges with Elder Clayson in Overland Park 2nd Ward (OP2). He's also been out for 3 months and is an awesome missionary. We had a good time and got a lot done. After the exchange, the 4 of us went out to lunch! You'll never guess where we went.... FUDDRUCKERS! Woohoo! There is a Fuddruckers in my area! It was so good! I haven't had it for a year and half! It was oh so satisfying! Haha! On Saturday night one of our wards had a "souper" bowl Saturday. Every one brought different soups to share and eat. It was pretty good! There were quite a few non-members there. Well, I'd better wrap this letter up. I'm pretty excited to see my sister this weekend! I'll tell you how it goes. 

Think: "Missionary"

This poster is in the OP2 Elder's apartment. I love it!