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!

January 21, 2009

I'm just writing a quick note about transfer calls. So it turns out I'm not staying here in Marshall. I'm going to be a District Leader in the Lenexa Zone/Stake. I'm not completely sure on what area I'll be in because when President called me Tuesday afternoon he said Hickory Hills ward, but that night the Zone Leaders told me Overland Park 1st Ward. That's what it said on the sheet they got. So I'm no sure. Lenexa Zone for sure though. Lenexa pretty much covers the Kansas side of Kansas City. My companion will be an Elder Murie. I don't know him or even heard of him. I think he's fairly new. It will be interesting!

January 19, 2009

There wasn't much that happened this past week at all because Elder Bartlett was sick for almost a whole week. Poor guy! So yeah, I'll tell you about the few things that did happen. Tuesday we taught Fidel again. We talked a lot about the priesthood and authority. All these things are making him think a lot. But he still doesn't have the faith (or doesn't exercise it) to pray and act on these things. He's such a great guy! I really want to see him baptized! I definitely think of him more of a friend than an investigator. There are people that I have come across on my mission that I feel I am specifically chosen just for them. Like my personality is specifically chosen and only I can reach them on a certain level. I trust and know that wherever I'm put is where I'm supposed to be but it is a strong feeling only with certain people that I'm talking about. When I am with those people I feel extra power of the spirit to help them overcome concerns. For example, Lupita from Newton, when I taught her it was as if I wasn't even me speaking. Just purely the spirit speaking. And soon after I left she was baptized! :) That's how I feel with Fidel. I really hope he gets baptized!

Fidel Medrano and Elder Montierth

Also on Tuesday we went tracting and found a new investigator. His name is Sherman Whitmore. He's a pretty nice guy. A little crazy. Haha. He talked our ears off! Haha! He talked about how he goes to a Jehovah's Witness church but knows they are a false church with false teachings. He said he goes because they are good people and he needs spiritual nourishment. He's a good guy. We'll keep visiting and teaching him. Haha!

Guess What?! Haha! I heard Elder Bartlett talk to his pencil this last week! Hahaha! We were walking down to our garage to get in the car and leave. Randomly I started singing Zippity-do-da. I sang the line, "Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder... " Then he pulled out his pencil and brought it to his face and in a high and raspy voice said "Look Pencil! Now he's having hallucinations of blue birds on his shoulder!" Hahaha! I paused for a little bit then said, "Elder Bartlett... you're crazy!" Then we both laughed! Haha! 

Tuesday night we drove to Warrensburg to stay the night again on Gay Street in the Zone Leader's apartment! Haha! Wednesday morning was interviews with President Van Komen. Interviews seemed to take FOREVER!! Haha! It was probably because I forgot to take my Adderall! Haha! I was getting so bored! But overall it was pretty good. Good training. Good interview. For the rest of the week though Elder Bartlett was sick with what we think is the stomach flu. We're not exactly sure. But that kept us in the apartment for basically all day every day this week after interviews. I had A LOT of free time! Haha! I was able to finish reading the whole Old Testament! Haha! By the time you get this letter I could be somewhere else. I find out tomorrow (tuesday). I've been here in Marshall for 4 1/2 months! That went by fast!