Email Aug 27 2012

To Dad:  Well church this week wasn’t quite so bad. It was actually VERY good. We had E there and the Fs came and sat with us! It was a PERFECT sacrament meeting for the Fs. The speakers were a family who were almost all converts (all but the dad who had been less active for a long time) and had recently moved to BB. It was just a really powerful sacrament meeting and D F seemed to like it a lot. She also made a comment about how she felt more comfortable when she heard some kids crying and making noise because that was the reason she had been kicked out of other churches. So that was realllyy good.

E is still doing very well! At church he asked me if we were still on for September 15 and I said as long as he was still thinking that’s what he wanted. He even added his name to the roll in High Priests haha (High Priests and Elders are combined up here). The only problem still is that he likes his wine. He will overcome it though.

After church the Fs had invited us over for lunch and it was really good! They cooked hamburgers and made homemade fries. We had a really good talk with them and J F was talking a lot about his mission.

Most of our week was pretty much a really bad week. Elder D has been sick and so we have sat around. I cleaned the whole house. Like deep clean and it looks a lot better! The only other things from this week I have to talk about are on Tuesday we went down to H and had a Zone Conference which was really good. The AP's talked about the importance of asking people to be baptized on the first or second lesson and committed us to double our baptismal dates. President talked about helping investigators make and keep commitments. It was really good and we got a lot out of it. Then we rushed back up the mountain, went straight to brother M’s, got in his car, and went down the OTHER side of the mountain to the Redlands temple. It was fantastic! We got to witness 2 of the recent converts do baptisms for the dead and we switched off confirming them. Then our ward had a sealing session and we went and did a session with the ward, sat in the celestial room for a little bit then went and did sealings. I acted as a child a couple times but mostly was just a witness. I’ve always loved doing sealings.

Friday was the other good day. Elder  was already starting to get sick and he could hardly think so when we went to see our investigator J U who we tracted into I did pretty much the whole lesson. We talked about Joseph Smiths first vision and I talked about how the priesthood has been restored then I invited him to be baptized and he had a couple questions about how we do baptisms and after we told him about it he said yes!! He just wants to come to church but he is "sure he will feel good there because he feels good every time we come over." so we know that he does feel the Spirit which is good. He didn’t end up at church but he is a really neat guy! We set a date for October 20th. It sure surprised the ward to find out we set ANOTHER date haha. There will be more on the way! It’s been real good!

I love you and hope your week is great!

Email Aug 20 2012

To Mom:  Yep I’m okay and Saturday I was just sick so that’s probably why you had me on your mind. You seem to always know when I’m sick haha. It was just a cold though and I just dealt with it. There wasn’t any flooding in big bear but like I told dad in the big email that we did get a really nice rain storm and the streets had rivers flowing down them. It was no problem for our truck though ;) Yep I’m still district leader... this makes transfer number 5. That’s a loonnnggg time. But I don’t mind it. My district is really small and has great missionaries. One of them was in my district in B for the first 3 transfers I was district leader and now I’m back with him again! He is a good missionary and I enjoy having him in my district.

I love having the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to help us know when things are right and when they are not. I love you tons!! Have a great week!

To Dad: 

This last week had a lot of fall through appointments and some not so great days but we did have one VERY great lesson.

So we have an investigator named E that we picked up 2 weeks ago. He called bishop and asked to learn more about the church so we went over. Well we went back for a second lesson this last week and we had it outside because it was more peaceful and of course it felt great out there too. Well we taught the restoration and he ate it up! The Spirit was so strong when I was telling about Josephs vision and his comment right after was. "Well he came to Moses. Why not come to Joseph?" how amazing is that!! He reads and understands the Bible and so we help to show him that the Bible and Book of Mormon teach the same things and he was asking all these questions like well how did the Gold plates end up in New York. And he was just getting it so well! We then moved inside because it was looking like rain and we invited him to be baptized and he said YES! He also committed to come to church on Sunday! We set a baptismal date for September 15. So not too far out! He just asked "what do I have to do before that?" so we told him he has to know for himself that it is true and finish the missionary lessons. He is sooo solid. Now about Sunday!

E came to church! He was late and missed sacrament but he was dressed in a suit with his scriptures and he looked like he could have been a bishop haha. Anyways church was aweful haha Get this. Gospel Principles was about Tithing and fasting. Not usually one of the first things we teach investigators. Then in priesthood our Elders and High Priests got rebuked for not home teaching and taking the priesthood seriously and then the lesson was taught by a crazy guy who went into super deep doctrine and made temples sound sketchy. haha luckily it didn’t bother E too much. I was super worried. It was like a nightmare while it was going on but afterward Elder D and I were laughing as we told our ward mission leader. It sure makes for a funny story but not something I want to have happen again. But we look at it this way. If E made it through THAT he will make it through ANYTHING haha it also turns out that E knows a few people from the ward which is always just fantastic!

Our other top investigator. D sadly did not come to church. But it’s okay because she was going to come alone because her husband worked on Sunday and I feel like it would be better for her first time to be with her husband because he would be able to help with the kids and everything. We had a fantastic lesson with them. (I thought I could have done 10X better but my comp assured me I did great) we taught about the atonement and how as we take the sacrament we apply the atonement. It was really powerful and her husband J keeps getting happier and happier. It’s amazing what the gospel can do. They are an amazing couple and it would be fantastic to see them sealed in the temple.

That is the good news for the week. We had a pretty great downpour here on Saturday and there were pretty much rivers running down the roads. Thankfully we have a truck and it’s fun to drive through big puddles in the truck haha well tomorrow we are going to get to go to the temple with 2 of the recent converts and be witnesses for them doing Baptisms for the dead and I’m really excited! I’ll get lots of pictures with them and with the M Family who is taking us down. The M are a super awesome couple here who although I’ve only been here 3 weeks have already gotten to be good friends with them. I’m sure you will hear me talk about them in later emails. Also they will most likely be at my wedding when I get married so you will meet them sometime too! haha love you tons! Have a great week and thank you for the pictures!

Email Aug 15 2012

To Dad:  The ward does take good care of us here! They like that we actually do work and they support us with it all. We are starting to get referrals and hoping they turn into some good converts! I’m just worried that I will get transferred out of here after only 6 weeks. Sounds like Michelle is doing really well! I can’t believe Brian graduated and that he is 25 now!! Woooaaah! Haha I keep forgetting that I’m 20 and keep telling people I’m 19. My comp catches it and then fixes the problem haha. I really enjoy my comp.  We get along and we are doing work and not just sitting around all day. I love you tons!! Have an awesome awesome week!!

To Mom:  Okay so I am finally able to email you! Monday was a crazy day that was really busy. Our zone activity was "the Olympics" and we had 7 teams of 3 and every team was a country. I was team captain so I got to choose our own country and we were Germany haha we then had a relay race, a water balloon toss, a wheelbarrow race, and 2 games of dodge ball. Germany tied for 1st place with 24 points... we tied with Scotland haha it was a lot of fun though. Then Tuesday we had a meeting down in Apple Valley that was from 10:30-1:30 then we went and ate lunch then went to pep boys which took from 3-8. Yeah they took FOREVER. And we just got new brake pads and an oil change. Super lame but it was alright. We walked over to a barber that gives missionaries free haircuts and got our hair cut. Then walked to Costco and ate dinner. Pretty boring day haha anyways now I’m going to talk about last week! It was a REALLY good week..

Tuesday- we went and taught a less active guy who is in his 20s and his non member wife who said she would be open to us teaching her. We had a pretty good lesson about the restoration but her kids were being loud. The Spirit was definitely still there and strong but it was a little distracting. They both paid really good attention and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. When we asked what day would be good to come back Justin said "how about Thursday?" haha 2 lessons in a week? He seems really excited that his wife is taking the lessons and we are hoping that this will also get him more active.

 
We then had our first district meeting up here which went pretty well. I have a small district here of only 4 people. But they are all good missionaries so I like it. We talked about how each of our investigators is doing and gave each other ideas of what we can do better. We did some role plays to try and practice how we can approach different topics during a lesson. I also did a little training about gaining desire as missionaries. We talked about what it takes to become an Olympic athlete. Such as. You need to practice, have a desire, be committed, many athletes have a role model, they endure to the end, and based on how they do each of these and their commitment they will receive either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze. We then talked about how this applies to us as members and as missionaries. We have a role model who is Jesus Christ, we practice in life by repenting when we make mistakes, We Endure to the End of our mortal lives, but we need a desire. We then talked about ways to gain desire. For me personally it is the reward. I gain a desire to be good at sports or what not because I think of the gold medal or trophy I could get. Things like that. But it went really well.
 
After district meeting we went and contacted a guy that had apparently called bishop and wanted to know more about our church so we went over and he let us in and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. The only problem he has with our religion is that he likes to drink wine. That will pass over time though. He said we can come by again soon so we are actually going today! We are going to teach him the restoration this time. He is a really awesome and neat guy and he is super funny and would make a great member of the church. He told us that he was joking with his bible study group that by the end of the year "he would be a Mormon and a mason." hahahah He is a really funny guy.
 
We also had a lesson with a recent convert lady and her nonmember kids. She has 3 that are baptism age but the father won’t let them get baptized when they are as young as they are :P so we are going to just keep teaching and get them to have a solid testimony before they even get baptized.  And that was pretty much the best parts of our day.
 
Wednesday- we had a really neat experience while tracting! We were just about done and were walking to the next house and the guy was on his porch cleaning his grill and looked up and said "Elders, come on up here out of the sun and talk to me." so I figured he was one of those "I’ve talked to missionaries, like them, but don’t want to hear the lessons or be a member of the church." So thinking that we just asked about his life and he asked about missions and where we had already been and everything. Then out of the blue he asked. "So what is your purpose?" We told him what we do and he asked what we believe so we got into Joseph Smiths story a little and he was very seriously thinking about it. Then we set up a time to come back and he said "do you have any reading material?" Thank goodness I had stuck ONE Book of Mormon in my bag. I gave it to him and we told him to read the intro and he promised he would! We are going back later this week! It was amazing! We were definitely led there!
 
Thursday- we went around to ward members and got things worked out for us to start a volleyball night once a week for the youth and their friends. We are starting it tomorrow night! But we had to go through a lot of people to get it figured out. For dinner we went to the ward mission leader’s house. The N’s. They are such an awesome family! They are working on adopting a 14 year old boy who has had a pretty bad growing up situation and we have been teaching him. He wants to join but they need legal guardinship over him first but he already wants to serve a mission. Anyways after dinner we read from the Book of Mormon with him and then he asked if we could go play soccer at the park. Our plans had fallen through that night so we went with him and M N who is 16. We had a really fun time together!
 
Friday- we had another lesson with D F from Tuesday. (They rescheduled to Friday) It. Was. Amazing. We taught her the doctrine of Christ from 2 Nephi 31 and talked about how important baptism by the priesthood was. Her kids were even quiet this time and the Spirit was really strong. I asked her how she was feeling and she said she felt peaceful and happy. We told her that was the spirit and we set a baptism date with her for October 13. She wants time to REALLY know it’s true and see how our church is because she has had some problems with other churches kicking her out because of her kids. So we invited her to church on Sunday. It was a great very spiritual lesson. ALSO I HIT 1 YEAR! doesn’t feel like it though.
 
Saturday- was a bummer day. haha
 
Sunday- church went really well and D F came but only for a little so we showed her the building and where her kids would go and told her a little about what happens where and everything. She promised that she would come for the full time next week! Other than that our Sunday was average. Cool story though we filled out a progress record which just goes through all the people we had taught in the last week and took it to Ward Council and the 1st counselor in the bishopric said that this was the first time in a LONG time that we had to use the back of the page. Also after church bishop pulled me aside and thanked me for how much work was going on right now and how appreciative the ward already was for the good work going on. It made me feel super good and I promised him we would be keeping it up and trying to do even better. It’s nice to have a supportive ward that likes us.
 
Anyways that is the week! I got an amazing letter from Sister Nielson and it was a copy of Darien’s letters so far and some pictures of him. It was great to see how good he is doing! I’m sending her a thank you letter but if you happen to see her tell her again how much I appreciated it. I love knowing what is going on with my friends! I love you tons!!!

Email Aug 6 2012

To Dad:  AHH Big Bear is AMAZING! It’s like going to heaven! I get to possibly see snow up here! The ward is nice up here the building is beautiful! still getting to know our investigators so not too sure about them but for now we are going to work with less actives and then see if we can find investigators through them because tracting isn’t too useful here because lots of the cabins are vacation homes or rent out homes so people don’t live in many of them. I’ve heard a bit about the Olympics especially about Bolt! I heard he did fantastic again! I heard it’s neck and neck with China right now. I’m a little bummed I’m going to miss them but I’m looking forward to winter Olympics in a couple years! Well I hope you have a great week! I’ll be sending a letter home soon with my talk and another letter! Love you tons!

Family letter:  So yes big bear is AMAZING!! It is just beautiful and everyday I wake up and it’s like being in a whole different world than when I was in Barstow! It hit like 84 as the highest it’s been the other day. It felt amazing to me! There are big trees everywhere a BIG lake that is beautiful! We live in like a little cabin which is super cool! The ward is really neat up here and they love my companion and seem to like me at least a little. They appreciate the work we do. We have a lot of strong members here. Not a lot of solid investigators yet but we are working on it. We got a new investigator the second day I was there. He isn’t too solid but we are going to at least try. Earlier last week we spent a good bit of time at the bishop’s getting the info on less actives and active members. Our Bishop is soooo good at what he does. He was in the temple presidency for a while and takes his callings seriously which is great! So we have a whole bunch of less actives he told us to visit that we will be going to see this week. Anyways, just been getting to know the area. Lots of people on the weekends not a lot during the weekdays but I got sooo lucky to be there! That would be really awesome if I could be there for the winter and see snow! It’s also cool because all the youth in the ward (which isn’t a lot) snowboard so instantly have a connection there. It is really really awesome!

Now my companion is another super awesome companion! He’s from West Jordan Utah and he was MTC companions with Elder N so I’m follow up training him. He was actually trained by Elder R who was my MTC comp! Pretty crazy! I’m sooo excited for this new area and new zone! I’m now part of the A V Zone and it has a TON of my friends in it! So zone activities are going to be super super awesome! And the best is that this is the hottest month of summer in Cali and I get to be in the mountains! Also it supposedly rains a lot in the mountains in August! I was definitely blessed! Well I love you tons!!

Email July 30 2012

I’m glad to hear that your talks went so well! I was shaking pretty bad in my talk too haha it was funny because afterwards there was a family that had been visiting from Arizona and their son came and asked if I had ever been to Arizona because I looked familiar. I told him that I hadn’t and that he looked familiar too. Turns out they used to live in Leeds and I went to school with him for a year hahah crazy world. I’m a little nervous to see where I will be going. I’m not sure if I’m district leader anymore... Nobody has told me so there is a possibility I’m not in leadership anymore. But we will find out tomorrow. Oh I was going to tell you guys. There is a cool thing they do here in B on Fast Sunday they put out papers in the foyer with all the missionaries names on different papers and the ward can sign them and write little notes on them and send them to their missionaries. I think it’s a good idea 'wink wink' hahaha I’m glad to see them getting members involved though that really is the best way to do it.

So mom.... Michelle, Becky, and Dad have all made mormon.org profiles.... I’m still waiting to see yours ;) hahah

Also a lady from my ward here in B is going to St George on Saturday and she has my pants for you! They still have the tags on and everything. She will be giving you a call I’m sure in the next few days. She is an amazing lady and is quite spiritual giant.

Well I love you tons and miss you!! Hope you have an awesome week! I’ll let you know where I’m going next week!

To family: Welllll all I know is that for sure I am leaving. I got the call Saturday night. Something crazy is happening in B though. They are completely taking out the N S missionaries and now B B will cover N and B east and B A will cover B West and F I. I’m kinda jealous they didn’t do that sooner because F I is super cool and I would love to be able to do work there. It’s been kind of a crazy week. Not a ton of lessons again. But we were able to get in and teach some good lessons to people and I said my goodbyes to a lot of people throughout the week. Elder N and I had a pretty cool experience. We had an appointment with the V family again. And once again we got there and there were NO cars. We both got pretty bummed and went down the street and pulled out the ward list to try and see if we could find someone to go to. None of them felt right to us but when we started driving we had the feeling we should go back so we did and went and knocked on the doors even though there were no cars. Well the person who answered the door didn’t live there and was just watching the house but he just so happened to be a kid I recognized as the guy who is dating one of the youth in our ward. He let us in and we taught him a really powerful lesson on the Restoration and he said he would read the Book of Mormon. It turns out he has a lot of ties to the church that he didn’t even know about so hopefully that will work out and they will make progress. Other than that our week was pretty average. Yesterday was a pretty sad day. We all gave our talks starting with Elder N who spoke about Temples, then Elder G played the piano and sang, then Elder R talked about the Atonement and I ended by talking about Hope. I made copies of my talk and I’ll be sending one home for you guys. It was funny because the other day I realized that it was one year ago on Sunday that I was standing in front of our home ward giving my farewell. Well exactly one year later I gave my "farewell" from B. I had a lot of people come up to me after and tell me how much they enjoyed having me serve there and how much they have loved getting to know me and that they were going to miss me. It was crazy! There were people I didn’t even think liked me very much that did that. It is always sad to say goodbye.

After Church we went out to the H’s and did scripture reading with them then me and K made Brownies because of my birthday on the 13, her birthday on the 22, J’s Birthday which was that day, and sister H’s birthday on the 13 of Aug. so that was pretty fun and they turned out pretty good. after that we went to dinner at the R family and had a really good time and when I was leaving there youngest daughter gave me a little card and she said how much she was going to miss her "favorite missionary & best friend" it was super cute. Then we went to the E’s where earlier in the week we had gone and tie-dyed shirts and picked them up and relaxed for a bit. My shirt turned out pretty cool. I’ll send some pictures soon. It was super sad to say goodbye to them all though...

Well today was probably one of my favorite Pdays I’ve had so far. We went over to a family’s house we had only been to once because he said I could come by and play around on his guitars so I did and Elder N played on the drums a little and then Bro H played on the Bass and we just had a super good time! It was the first time I had played an electric guitar in a year. After that his wife asked if we would like to eat lunch with them so we all had PB&J and apples and then we played some games with their 8 year old and 11 year old kids. It was really fun and relaxing and it was good to get to know them better... now that I’m leaving. haha I wish we had gone over sooner. Yeah it’s been a pretty good week and I’m just excited for transfers and to see a new place... which will be down in the valley again! No more desert for now! haha well I love you all and miss you!