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.