Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Address change
Kevin does not have a "direct" mailing address right now, so please continue to send mail to him at the mission office. However, THE MISSION ADDRESS WILL BE CHANGING JAN 1! I will post the new address when we get it.
Nov 28 Email
Well I’ll start off by telling you about my companion. He is from Idaho and his name is Elder H. He is going to be a super awesome companion and I have the feeling we will get along really well and have some pretty good success! As for the area I’m in well I’m going to tell a little story. Last night we ate dinner at a couple’s house in the ward and they were talking about how their daughter married someone from St George but I didn’t think anything about it because lots of people have said that. So we eat dinner and share a scripture thought and then the dad says "Let me show you a picture of the guy my daughter married and just see if you know him." He picked up a picture and what do you know it was my "Big Brother" Brandon Stocks! We ate dinner at Steph's parent’s house last night!! It was a really big shock to me! I didn’t even know her family was from here. So yeah I’m in Rancho Cucamonga. It is an awesome area and the ward seems pretty awesome too! It’s a very wealthy area which means that some people just are kind of jerks and don’t want anything to do with us. Oh well it’s their loss. As for the week we taught a few lessons but I’m still trying to figure everything out in this area so I’m not going to go into many details about who we taught and about what because I still don’t really know! haha we ended up tracting a bit the last couple weeks and we prayed before we left and picked a street that felt right and both days we tracted we got a return appointment! One was with a sophomore boy in high school the other was with a freshman girl in High School so we will hopefully be meeting with them this next week! I’m really excited! It was a really big shock when we asked "would you be interested in hearing more of our message?" and the boy said "yeah actually I would." so we set that up for Tuesday and when we knocked on the girl’s door she answered and when we asked if she would be interested in hearing more she said "yeah let me go get my family. Come on in." It was the first time we got invited into someone’s house while tracting!! But she said her dad apologized and said he was too tired because it was his only day off. But we set a return appointment for her on Wednesday! Yep it was pretty awesome! I’m really excited that its Christmas time! We are going to start gathering Christmas Decorations and what not to decorate our apartment with and see if any of the members have an old extra Tree around that we can use! Oh yeah I’m in an apartment and its a super nice one too! It’s me and Elder H. And another companionship Elder C (came out the same day as me), and Elder. It’s super awesome and we all get along really well and have a good time at nights when we are all back in. Oh and about "not looking as slim as I was" that’s because when I came out I was between 125 and 128lbs now I’m between 139 and 142lbs hahaha but it’s okay because I’m in a bike area now so I’m working it off/working it into muscle. So all in all its been a really good week and this next week should be awesome too. We have 6 set appointments already so we will see how they go and we are going to keep looking for more. I love you all so much and miss you!!
Just a couple other things! I’m so happy that Josh had his Farewell!!! I’m so excited for him!
I’m already half full on my memory card and we are adding to it every day. There are a lot of cool picture opportunities in my area. You will see them soon! A couple more Christmas ideas. blank Cd's (:
Just a couple other things! I’m so happy that Josh had his Farewell!!! I’m so excited for him!
I’m already half full on my memory card and we are adding to it every day. There are a lot of cool picture opportunities in my area. You will see them soon! A couple more Christmas ideas. blank Cd's (:
Friday, November 25, 2011
Nov 21 email
I’m actually excited for the holidays! Well it’s been an eventful week!
Okay so Monday night we ate dinner with the B family whom are basically awesome and I always just feel at home around them. But anyways after dinner they came with us to a new investigator’s house and we was having a really rough night and just opened up and vented for about an hour and you could tell it helped him out just having people to talk to about what was going on and it was some pretty crazy stuff but he really seemed to take a liking to the B’s so that was really good.
Tuesday- we went and saw J. Yes it was J that got baptized last week sorry for not saying that hah but we sat down and she talked to us for about an hour and a half and gave us advice about our futures and how she thinks we are just extraordinary and that we can go far and she said she was giving us the advice because we need more people like us to go far in life so it was really interesting stuff and we just had a good long conversation then taught a little bit about temples and what we do there. That was pretty much the highlight of Tuesday. Just did the usual knock some doors and what not.
Wednesday was a very rough day. Every single one of our plans fell through and we ended up tracting a ton that day with pretty much no luck. Nobody was answering the doors and the ones that did just politely turned us away. We did have a very good dinner with the M Family again. The ones that have the kids I love. The one from the picture. Yeah except that the mom wasn’t there so her nonmember husband fed us and we got to have a good talk with him. I’m going to be sad to have to leave them because J M was starting to seem a little bit more interested in the church again. He has had all the lessons but I’m not entirely sure what is stopping him from baptism.
Thursday- we had a service project on Thursday that was helping to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a blind house. It was actually really fun and we met some nice people. They had a piano and while we were waiting for the blind people to get out of their classes and come to dinner I sat down and played and a few older ladies came and listened and talked to me and then when they announced that there were missionaries volunteering they also said "we also have an excellent piano player who might be our entertainment tonight!" haha but I never did because I was busy and didn’t have enough songs to play. I didn’t have my music with me so it was all by memory anyways. After that we went to this lady’s house who is like 83 and she talked to us for 2 hours and we kept trying to get a word in and she would just keep going. It was really funny and she kept saying "okay I need to shut up now and let you talk" and then she would start talking again hah we ate dinner alone that night and then went back to see T who we had seen Monday and he was doing a lot better. He made us cookies and we sat and talked for quite a bit. He also was quite the talker. But I can really see him jumping into the church and being an awesome member!
Friday- we got a call around 11 that the bishop storehouse needed our help so we went there and it turns out there were only like 8 volunteers and it was the busiest day of the year with like 103 orders that needed to be filled and they usually start around 9 but they had just started when we got there. It was a bad situation but we helped for a few hours and the W’s who are in charge of the storehouse were very very thankful. We then met with S who I baptized and had a good talk with them. S isn’t so shy anymore. When we first met her she wouldn’t say a single word to us. Now every time she sees me she gets a big smile and gives me a big wave. After dinner our plans fell through and so we went up to see Brother C who is in the ward and is just a super awesome guy. we took brownies over and when he answered the doors I said "we brought a scripture message and some brownies." and he smiled and let us in and gave us some pizza and we had a pretty good talk and met his youngest daughter who was visiting from BYU and when his wife got home we shared our scripture message and had to come home.
Saturday- most of the day was used going up to W in the mountains for a baptism of one of Elder T’s old investigators. For dinner we went to the L’s who turns out her brother is the Bishop of the Knolls ward!! I’m sure you know who he is if that is the case! After that we went to the choir practice again and on the way home we got “the call”...... I’m getting transferred. I don’t know what to think about it. I’m sad to leave the ward but I’m excited to go to a new area so I find out tomorrow where I go and I’ll let you all know next week!
Sunday- took lots of pictures and said my goodbyes.
That’s about all for the week. Next week I’ll let you know about my area and all that good stuff. Love you all!!
Okay so Monday night we ate dinner with the B family whom are basically awesome and I always just feel at home around them. But anyways after dinner they came with us to a new investigator’s house and we was having a really rough night and just opened up and vented for about an hour and you could tell it helped him out just having people to talk to about what was going on and it was some pretty crazy stuff but he really seemed to take a liking to the B’s so that was really good.
Tuesday- we went and saw J. Yes it was J that got baptized last week sorry for not saying that hah but we sat down and she talked to us for about an hour and a half and gave us advice about our futures and how she thinks we are just extraordinary and that we can go far and she said she was giving us the advice because we need more people like us to go far in life so it was really interesting stuff and we just had a good long conversation then taught a little bit about temples and what we do there. That was pretty much the highlight of Tuesday. Just did the usual knock some doors and what not.
Wednesday was a very rough day. Every single one of our plans fell through and we ended up tracting a ton that day with pretty much no luck. Nobody was answering the doors and the ones that did just politely turned us away. We did have a very good dinner with the M Family again. The ones that have the kids I love. The one from the picture. Yeah except that the mom wasn’t there so her nonmember husband fed us and we got to have a good talk with him. I’m going to be sad to have to leave them because J M was starting to seem a little bit more interested in the church again. He has had all the lessons but I’m not entirely sure what is stopping him from baptism.
Thursday- we had a service project on Thursday that was helping to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a blind house. It was actually really fun and we met some nice people. They had a piano and while we were waiting for the blind people to get out of their classes and come to dinner I sat down and played and a few older ladies came and listened and talked to me and then when they announced that there were missionaries volunteering they also said "we also have an excellent piano player who might be our entertainment tonight!" haha but I never did because I was busy and didn’t have enough songs to play. I didn’t have my music with me so it was all by memory anyways. After that we went to this lady’s house who is like 83 and she talked to us for 2 hours and we kept trying to get a word in and she would just keep going. It was really funny and she kept saying "okay I need to shut up now and let you talk" and then she would start talking again hah we ate dinner alone that night and then went back to see T who we had seen Monday and he was doing a lot better. He made us cookies and we sat and talked for quite a bit. He also was quite the talker. But I can really see him jumping into the church and being an awesome member!
Friday- we got a call around 11 that the bishop storehouse needed our help so we went there and it turns out there were only like 8 volunteers and it was the busiest day of the year with like 103 orders that needed to be filled and they usually start around 9 but they had just started when we got there. It was a bad situation but we helped for a few hours and the W’s who are in charge of the storehouse were very very thankful. We then met with S who I baptized and had a good talk with them. S isn’t so shy anymore. When we first met her she wouldn’t say a single word to us. Now every time she sees me she gets a big smile and gives me a big wave. After dinner our plans fell through and so we went up to see Brother C who is in the ward and is just a super awesome guy. we took brownies over and when he answered the doors I said "we brought a scripture message and some brownies." and he smiled and let us in and gave us some pizza and we had a pretty good talk and met his youngest daughter who was visiting from BYU and when his wife got home we shared our scripture message and had to come home.
Saturday- most of the day was used going up to W in the mountains for a baptism of one of Elder T’s old investigators. For dinner we went to the L’s who turns out her brother is the Bishop of the Knolls ward!! I’m sure you know who he is if that is the case! After that we went to the choir practice again and on the way home we got “the call”...... I’m getting transferred. I don’t know what to think about it. I’m sad to leave the ward but I’m excited to go to a new area so I find out tomorrow where I go and I’ll let you all know next week!
Sunday- took lots of pictures and said my goodbyes.
That’s about all for the week. Next week I’ll let you know about my area and all that good stuff. Love you all!!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Nov 14 email
First of all yes I did get your package and it was awesome! I loved all the pictures and goodies! But... I’m not sure why you sent me mascara. (Note from Pam – apparently the mascara I bought when I bought the stuff to send him got left in the bag!!) Haha I’m glad your talk went really well and I would like to read it! That’s also a really neat story! I’m currently writing with a dog sitting at my feet under the computer desk haha the J’s have 3 dogs and they are super awesome! I’m glad grandma is doing good now! That’s pretty scary. We gave a blessing to a lady that fell down just last week. I’m not sure exactly how she is doing now but hopefully better.
Well this week I only will have to write about Thursday - Sunday! Not really a whole lot has been happening. We dropped by an investigator’s house to see how he was doing because we hadn’t seen him for a bit and they let us in and we got to teach them a lesson so that went pretty well. We also stopped by a less actives house and apparently it was a good time to go. She was having a really hard day. Some things from her past were coming back and it was some pretty bad stuff that it wasn’t her fault but she was crying the whole time and we read scriptures about the atonement and about how one day we will rest from our afflictions and she told us how much of an answer to her prayers we were and she knows everything will work out but she just doesn’t want to have to have bad memories resurface and it was just really hard. I’ve never wanted to give somebody a hug so bad you could just tell how hard it was on her. Other than that we only had a couple other meetings with investigators.
We had the baptism on Saturday and it went so well!!! Elder T did a good job baptizing and she was just so happy! Ever since the Spirit really started to work on her she has been so happy and is always smiling. When we were at her house this week she brought us out two cups and she said "Here you go I made you some coffee." Then we took them from her and looked at them and she started to laugh and said "I’m just kidding its hot chocolate!" haha it was so funny! I knew it wasn’t coffee because I would have smelled it but she just thinks she’s super funny. We also got out the binder to make the record for her and she said "You do it on paper? I figured you would carve it into some brass plates or something!" and then she would just laugh! She is quite the character! But yeah she was so happy after her baptism! And on Sunday I was the one that got to confirm her which was really scary for me because I had never done that and I had to do it in Sacrament meeting! But I did good and she turned around after and said "I’m so glad that it was you that got to do this part." It made me feel so good! Also in sacrament meeting 5 year old C sat by me and he is a stud. He is such a funny little kid. The whole B Family is so awesome!
Ohhh last Monday we had dinner at the B’s family’s house who are also super amazing! They make me feel at home. But yeah she asked what we missed that our moms used to make and so I had her make tater tot casserole. And they all thought it was pretty good then she gave us the left-overs and we brought it home and Brother J loved it and ate almost the rest of it! hah so yeah this week has really been pretty easy. We met with the couple that was supposed to get baptized next Saturday and J is ready but her husband J is definitely not but he is getting there. So we will continue to work with them but J doesn’t want to get baptized until J gets baptized so they can together.
I’m also not sure if I told you but there is a Christmas festival type thing here every year and missionaries get to sing at it. It’s called the Crèche festival and so each Saturday night we get to go practice for it and it’s really fun. Especially being able to be with a bunch of other missionaries! Well by next email we will know who is getting transferred so I will let you all know! I love you lots!! Be safe and stay warm!!
Well this week I only will have to write about Thursday - Sunday! Not really a whole lot has been happening. We dropped by an investigator’s house to see how he was doing because we hadn’t seen him for a bit and they let us in and we got to teach them a lesson so that went pretty well. We also stopped by a less actives house and apparently it was a good time to go. She was having a really hard day. Some things from her past were coming back and it was some pretty bad stuff that it wasn’t her fault but she was crying the whole time and we read scriptures about the atonement and about how one day we will rest from our afflictions and she told us how much of an answer to her prayers we were and she knows everything will work out but she just doesn’t want to have to have bad memories resurface and it was just really hard. I’ve never wanted to give somebody a hug so bad you could just tell how hard it was on her. Other than that we only had a couple other meetings with investigators.
We had the baptism on Saturday and it went so well!!! Elder T did a good job baptizing and she was just so happy! Ever since the Spirit really started to work on her she has been so happy and is always smiling. When we were at her house this week she brought us out two cups and she said "Here you go I made you some coffee." Then we took them from her and looked at them and she started to laugh and said "I’m just kidding its hot chocolate!" haha it was so funny! I knew it wasn’t coffee because I would have smelled it but she just thinks she’s super funny. We also got out the binder to make the record for her and she said "You do it on paper? I figured you would carve it into some brass plates or something!" and then she would just laugh! She is quite the character! But yeah she was so happy after her baptism! And on Sunday I was the one that got to confirm her which was really scary for me because I had never done that and I had to do it in Sacrament meeting! But I did good and she turned around after and said "I’m so glad that it was you that got to do this part." It made me feel so good! Also in sacrament meeting 5 year old C sat by me and he is a stud. He is such a funny little kid. The whole B Family is so awesome!
Ohhh last Monday we had dinner at the B’s family’s house who are also super amazing! They make me feel at home. But yeah she asked what we missed that our moms used to make and so I had her make tater tot casserole. And they all thought it was pretty good then she gave us the left-overs and we brought it home and Brother J loved it and ate almost the rest of it! hah so yeah this week has really been pretty easy. We met with the couple that was supposed to get baptized next Saturday and J is ready but her husband J is definitely not but he is getting there. So we will continue to work with them but J doesn’t want to get baptized until J gets baptized so they can together.
I’m also not sure if I told you but there is a Christmas festival type thing here every year and missionaries get to sing at it. It’s called the Crèche festival and so each Saturday night we get to go practice for it and it’s really fun. Especially being able to be with a bunch of other missionaries! Well by next email we will know who is getting transferred so I will let you all know! I love you lots!! Be safe and stay warm!!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Nov 9 2011 Email
Ward History: I’ve been on my mission for 3 months now and it’s been a great experience. We have had 3 baptisms and 3 on the way. It is incredible the challenges that are out in this world and even the challenges that I have on my mission. I know that this will be the greatest time of my life though and that I will never regret serving a mission. I know that the Lord does provide for us missionaries and for everyone that will accept him and keep his commandments. We just need to trust in the Lord.
Well the last week and a half has been pretty good! Not so much last week but this week is going super good! We have just been packed with lots of people to teach and new people to meet. I’m finally getting better at knocking on doors. It was hard for a while because I just wouldn’t know what to say but we have 2 return appointments with people we met knocking on doors. We had one funny experience this last week where we knocked on a door and this darker lady answers the door and glares at us and I introduced us and she said she knew who we were and then asked if we had read the sign on the window. I looked around at all the windows and saw no signs anywhere and she came out and angrily pointed at the window and then noticed it wasn’t there and just felt dumb and went back inside and told us to leave hahah. It was really great! We also had a funny moment while we were walking past a bus stop. I walked toward a Hispanic guy and said "hey how're you?" and he just put his hands up and said "I didn’t do nothin." over and over and I kept trying to tell him we weren’t the police we were missionaries and after about a minute of this he put his hands down and got a big smile and then said "hey guys how’s it goin?" and shook our hands haha. He wasn’t a member but he knew who we were and we talked to him for a minute and he seemed really interested. Now it just depends on if he actually calls to get the Book of Mormon or not. Those are our two funny stories! As far as awesome stories there’s one involving J of course because she is just awesome! She is completely committed to the church already and it’s just super awesome. She said she had a dream about us one night and we were dressed in white just smiling at her and the next day was S’s baptism and she came to that and the first person she saw when she walked through the door was me dressed in all white just like in her dream and she said it was basically a confirmation to her that this is what’s right. We continue to have amazing lessons with her and we found out that a member came to her house (we aren’t sure who but we have an idea) and was talking about how tithing is a pain and asked her why she wanted to get baptized and just saying stupid things and J replied by telling her that she sure wasn’t sounding very Christian and that paying tithes is the least we can do for God for all he has done for us and just stood up for the church! She isn’t even a member yet!! This last time she also told us how much of a blessing we have been to her life and how much she loves us and it was just super awesome! We had an awesome dinner last night at the part member’s house. The kid who I’m with in the picture dressed as jack sparrow. It’s his house. That family is just really awesome I love being over there and being with them! Their kids are the greatest! It’s really crazy that Christmas is coming up so soon! Well that’s about all for this last week and a half. We had some good days and some not so good but that’s how it goes! I love you tons!!
Well the last week and a half has been pretty good! Not so much last week but this week is going super good! We have just been packed with lots of people to teach and new people to meet. I’m finally getting better at knocking on doors. It was hard for a while because I just wouldn’t know what to say but we have 2 return appointments with people we met knocking on doors. We had one funny experience this last week where we knocked on a door and this darker lady answers the door and glares at us and I introduced us and she said she knew who we were and then asked if we had read the sign on the window. I looked around at all the windows and saw no signs anywhere and she came out and angrily pointed at the window and then noticed it wasn’t there and just felt dumb and went back inside and told us to leave hahah. It was really great! We also had a funny moment while we were walking past a bus stop. I walked toward a Hispanic guy and said "hey how're you?" and he just put his hands up and said "I didn’t do nothin." over and over and I kept trying to tell him we weren’t the police we were missionaries and after about a minute of this he put his hands down and got a big smile and then said "hey guys how’s it goin?" and shook our hands haha. He wasn’t a member but he knew who we were and we talked to him for a minute and he seemed really interested. Now it just depends on if he actually calls to get the Book of Mormon or not. Those are our two funny stories! As far as awesome stories there’s one involving J of course because she is just awesome! She is completely committed to the church already and it’s just super awesome. She said she had a dream about us one night and we were dressed in white just smiling at her and the next day was S’s baptism and she came to that and the first person she saw when she walked through the door was me dressed in all white just like in her dream and she said it was basically a confirmation to her that this is what’s right. We continue to have amazing lessons with her and we found out that a member came to her house (we aren’t sure who but we have an idea) and was talking about how tithing is a pain and asked her why she wanted to get baptized and just saying stupid things and J replied by telling her that she sure wasn’t sounding very Christian and that paying tithes is the least we can do for God for all he has done for us and just stood up for the church! She isn’t even a member yet!! This last time she also told us how much of a blessing we have been to her life and how much she loves us and it was just super awesome! We had an awesome dinner last night at the part member’s house. The kid who I’m with in the picture dressed as jack sparrow. It’s his house. That family is just really awesome I love being over there and being with them! Their kids are the greatest! It’s really crazy that Christmas is coming up so soon! Well that’s about all for this last week and a half. We had some good days and some not so good but that’s how it goes! I love you tons!!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
We finally got pictures!!!!
(That's a soccer tatoo on his cheek)
Oct 31 Email
So for this week! It was pretty eventful!
Tuesday: there was a new missionary meeting for the newer missionaries and so the district leader sent his greenie to go with a car full of missionaries and came with us for the day. It was pretty fun and we got to teach J again like every Tuesday. She just seems so much happier than she was when we first met her; it’s incredible. Anyways we planned on teaching her about the Word of Wisdom because we knew that she drinks coffee and tea. We got there and just talked for a bit and then she just said "oh yeah and I haven’t had coffee or tea for a week... why is it that we can’t drink those?" I was super shocked and we explained it and she accepted it and said she won’t drink either of them anymore! It was amazing! Our dinner that night fell through - luckily the district leaders’ dinner didn’t so we went with him! yay! After dinner the mom that lived there pulled out a bunch of stuff from a church class she took awhile back and taught us a ton about like how the temples were back in the day and about where the new temple is supposed to be built before Christ comes again and it was super awesome.
Wednesday: we went on exchanges and the district leader came with me to my area again and we had a very successful day. He interviewed the two girls for their baptisms and we got the program all figured out. We also got to visit two less actives we haven’t seen for a while, one of which actually let us come in and sit down and introduced us to his family, which he hasn’t done the last 3 times we had been there. I guess having the district leader with me was just good luck! We had a pretty full day and didn’t have much time to do anything else.
Thursday: was just a disappointing day but we did get lots of service in at the bishop storehouse because they had hardly anybody there helping and there were 89 orders to fill which is a lot above average.
Friday: we had president interviews and we just talked about better ways to bring in new investigators. We were there for a while because we gave two other elders a ride and had to wait for them to get finished. We then went and saw a member family and just checked in on how they were doing and if they needed anything from us and they were really nice. They are an awesome family! Later that night we went to go practice for this choir thing in Upland... well we got there and it turns out our zone leaders gave us the wrong date and so we sat there for a while and then called the APs and asked when it was and found out it was the next night... that took up the rest of our night.
Saturday!!! We woke up and got all ready for the baptism. I squeezed into my white baptism pants and we greeted everyone who came. It was a really good program. Brother J gave a talk on baptism that was really good and S’s nonmember brother read a scripture about baptism. It was really neat because there were a lot of non-members at the baptism from both families. After the talk I got the opportunity to baptize both S and M! It was a really good experience and afterwards you could just see how happy they were - it was really awesome. After that we just went and did some tracting and had lunch and everything and then that night we had our ward Halloween party! It was so much fun! I loved being with all the members! I sat down and got to know a lot of the youth that I hadn’t gotten a chance to really talk with at church and make friends with many of them. It was also awesome to see all the little kids in their costumes. I got lots of great pictures!
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