This Year for Christmas
I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving.
The thrill just wasn't there.
No pictures taken with Santa Clause,
my decorating has no flair.
His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties,
two suits and socks...no fun.
I've bought him all white clothes because...
This year I'm giving Christ my son.
I've spent more time in the temple,
Felt strength come from His words.
I've reread November's Ensign,
and my testimony stirred.
Our family prays more frequently
My tears are quick to run.
Abraham seems closer because,
This year I'm giving Christ my son.
I wonder how those Lamanite mothers,
gave their sons to war?
Or how the pioneers chose Zion,
their sacrifice was so much more.
My loss will be his presence,
I'll miss his smile a ton
For two years we will pray for him,
I'm giving Christ my son.
I stare at his face when he's not looking.
I memorize his eyes, their shine.
He's always hungered for the part of him,
that makes his soul divine.
The stories and lessons he always heard,
His choice and mine are one.
I'll put my faith in God's hand,
This year, I'm giving Him my son.
Past gifts have lost their glitter,
I think I finally understand
Christ's birth should be celebrated
by giving Him a hand.
It's because I know Christ lives and reigns
that all his packing's done.
My gift has taken years to make,
This year... I'm giving Christ my son
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Elder Matt Hansen:
Everything here is going good and it looks like things are going to change for me in my last transfer here. I just got a call from President and it turns out that my companion is getting transferred and I am getting a new kid from the MTC, I don't know where he is from or anything but I guess I will know later this week. I am excited, I guess, but kind of nervous at the same time, I don't know the area real well so things will just have to work out. Other than that things are going well. Yesterday was a long day because we watched the general conference tapes from October instead of having sacrament meeting. The worst part about it is that they were in Kiswahili so my companion and I didn't understand much. I just read the magazine the whole time.
I'm sure you will have a blast for Christmas with all the kids there. I wish I could be there but I'm serious when I say this, I won't be. I won't be home until the end of next month so don't worry. I think they are going to send the itinerary to you but I don't know.
This week was definitely different than any other week I have had so far on my mission. My new companion got here on Friday so we have only been together for a couple of days but he is a cool kid. He is from South Africa and he helps me out to stay focused on the work. But before he got here something else happened, it was on Tuesday to be precise... About all I can say about it is that I'm happy you put money into my account because turns out we got robbed! It was a bit unexpected. My companion and I just came home and found that the lock and door was the same way we left it then we opened the lock, went in and the house was a mess. It looks like they just had a key or something because there was no sign of force entry, nothing was broken. They cleaned us out pretty good though. They got all my ties, my small suitcase, my suit, all my trousers, and money. Not to worry though, I still got one tie and a pair of pants and all my white shirts, they're not so white anymore. We don't know who it was but the zone leaders also got robbed the next day so it was the same people. Please don't worry though, we are safe and you put in plenty of money to last me and get me new things so don't worry, and thank you for the money. That's the week. Please don't stress out. Everything is going well. I love you mom and hope that all is well for you. I will get to go on a one day safari before I go home, and we stay on the same road as the church, not far at all. Love you, Elder Hansen
I'm sure you will have a blast for Christmas with all the kids there. I wish I could be there but I'm serious when I say this, I won't be. I won't be home until the end of next month so don't worry. I think they are going to send the itinerary to you but I don't know.
This week was definitely different than any other week I have had so far on my mission. My new companion got here on Friday so we have only been together for a couple of days but he is a cool kid. He is from South Africa and he helps me out to stay focused on the work. But before he got here something else happened, it was on Tuesday to be precise... About all I can say about it is that I'm happy you put money into my account because turns out we got robbed! It was a bit unexpected. My companion and I just came home and found that the lock and door was the same way we left it then we opened the lock, went in and the house was a mess. It looks like they just had a key or something because there was no sign of force entry, nothing was broken. They cleaned us out pretty good though. They got all my ties, my small suitcase, my suit, all my trousers, and money. Not to worry though, I still got one tie and a pair of pants and all my white shirts, they're not so white anymore. We don't know who it was but the zone leaders also got robbed the next day so it was the same people. Please don't worry though, we are safe and you put in plenty of money to last me and get me new things so don't worry, and thank you for the money. That's the week. Please don't stress out. Everything is going well. I love you mom and hope that all is well for you. I will get to go on a one day safari before I go home, and we stay on the same road as the church, not far at all. Love you, Elder Hansen
Elder Cade Casper:
Nov 30, 2009
Hey mom and dad, so I am getting transferred. I found out last Saturday night because Elder DeYoung knew an office elder that leaked it to us, but I found out today officially from my district leader. I am excited for change. I am going to miss Dover and this ward a ton, but I am welcoming to change. I am going to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the transfer meeting, and hopefully I stay on that side of the mission. But like I said, I'm going to miss this place. I have said some goodbyes to members and tonight we are going to Jay and Catherine's (with the bap. date) and the Shoemaker's as well, I'm REALLY going to miss them. But I will let you know next week where I am at.
But I laughed at your first sentence. I wondered a couple times what Thanksgiving was like back home. Bro Shoemaker kept asking me: "So, this is your first big holiday away from home?" And I would say yes, it is Bro. Shoemaker haha. Sounds like things went well and everything was fun, you guys didn't talk about me too much did ya haha? But Thanksgiving here was way fun. It was a neat holiday to be in Dover (Christmas would be sweet) I enjoyed it spending time with other families and their friends. We played in the Turkey Bowl. It was great. It was way muddy and I didn't take any pictures dang it, but it was fun even though my legs are still sore. We came back to the apartment and then around 2 went to dinner to Bishop Toone's. His son and the relief society president's daughter are engaged, so they were over there too, it was kinda weird but the food was really good. They are both from Utah so the food wasn't anything weird or different. Then we went to this single sister's house for another dinner, the Bruggeman's. She has like 4 kids, the oldest is 20 I think, and she loves the missionaries. It was really fun. Then we went to Pap Shoemaker's where a lot of the Shoemaker's were and it was us and two elders who are serving in York right now. It was fun. Then we went and had pie at a less active's house, it was a really good day. Ha we only ate at one place so that wasn't too bad.
But things are going well. I am glad I got to serve with Elder DeYoung, but I am glad to get a new companion. Elder DeYoung and mine numbers weren't the best, but he tried. We became good friends. Catherine is still scheduled to be baptised the 26 of Dec, but she is living with her boyfriend and we still need to teach the law of chastity, so I will be seeing in a few weeks how she is doing. We are going over there tonight to say goodbye. I went by Amanda and Ernie's last night, they are such an awesome couple. They are getting excited for the temple. I can't wait to hear in a year from now all about it!
It's great to be serving right now, I can't believe that I am almost out 5 months. Flying isn't it? I think so. I got an email from Scott and he said it would be his LAST one, wow. Send him my love for me. Then on comes the rest of them haha.
I'm excited about you being ordinance workers in the temple. That will be such an awesome experience. You guys will do well and I'm thankful that you are able to do that. A lot of missionaries out here have less active or non member parents, and I am so thankful for the family I grew up in and being born in the covenant. Man I wish we could go to the temple in D.C., a few members have offered. But things are going well, Christmas is rolling around the corner. Oh I don't know if I told you: Elder Wallis is in my zone, he is a district leader and he was training last transfer. I will send you a picture of us here soon. But I love ya and am surely thankful for all that you do for me and others.
Dec 7, 2009
I am in Erie, PA, right up against Lake Erie. It is a frozen tundra up here, but the first snow of the year was two days ago. It is the first time since 81 that there wasn't snow on the ground before Thanksgiving. My companion is Elder Juarez from Yakima, WA. He is Hispanic and he speaks Spanish. He is cool, we sort of get a long so far, but we are just trying to get used to each other. He has been out 13 months. We got doubled in, or "white washed" into the area. So just like Elder Tranter and I did in Dover, we are two completely new missionaries in our area called Millcreek, but it's pretty much Erie. It is Elder Juarez's first time white washing an area, and my second, even though I don't know how much help I was to Elder Tranter when we did it the first time. So that is where I'm at, Erie, PA. Erie is the third largest city in PA, bigger than Harrisburg. It's pretty flat, which is rare for PA, so they kind of have a grid system. Neither one of us have GPS, so we are having a good time using a map. The elders before us didn't leave much, no real investigators, so we are starting from scratch pretty much. Each area has an Area Book, but some are better than others. The area book in Millcreek is terrible. There used to be 12 missionaries in Erie, now there is just 4. President has had to close a lot of areas since the missions merged, and Erie lost a lot. So, there is A LOT of people in Erie and just four missionaries, there is work for us to do. But this Area Book is really helpful when it's done well, but this one is really bad so it doesn't help us at all, it tells us where members live and splits the area into sub areas.
My address is:
2708 Garland St. Apt. #2
Erie, PA 16506
A lot of missionaries I know served here, and a lot of them came up to us and said how awesome the ward here is. There are two wards in Erie, and our ward has a lot, a lot of students. There is LECOM (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine), which is the nations largest med school, and other colleges and universities. The ward seems good, but I slightly compared it to the last ward I served in and it didn't measure up. But, we will get to know them and I'm sure I will grow to love them as well.
Oh I saw Chance Powell, who served in the Harrisburg mission, I'm sure you remember him from sports, he is from Hibbard. He is now in Dover with my last companion. Elder DeYoung called us a few nights ago (he served in Millcreek for 9 months) and said Susan Blackcloud called and wants to be baptized, so that was awesome.
I love you Mom and Dad and am thankful for you. I'm thankful you are active and set an awesome example for me growing up. I know the Lord is watching over you intently. Love ya, Cade
Dec 14, 2009
Things are going well in Erie. Things have picked up a little bit. We had some investigators come to the ward Christmas party with their kids. Their names are Kelly and Stacey, but we aren't quite sure where their intents are, or if they are really serious about church because they didn't come, but, we are just starting to really teach them so I will let you know how that goes.
But the week went well, we are starting to get to know the ward better and how we can better utilize them for rides and teaching people with them. We are trying to visit a lot of part member families in the ward, and hopefully we will find a family who is ready to complete their family or come back to church. Tracting has been quite unproductive here, we tracted one day when it was 15 degrees, with a 10 to 15 degree windchill- just to say we did it! It was so cold, people kept telling us how crazy we were.
We had a funny thing happen though. We were trying these former investigators close to downtown Erie, and we walked around the corner and this guy was hiding (from the wind- it was FREEZING!) behind a door, so we started talking to him. He knew us instantly as people spreading "God's Word" and kept telling us how he believed, he is black and VERY baptist. He said he was going to court for something to do with his Social Security, his name is Robert. He was waiting for the bus and was freaking out he missed it. Our car was parked like 150 feet from us and we knew he would watch us get in and drive away, so we were kinda thinking we could give this guy a lift (which is something we ARE NOT supposed to do). Finally, he asked: "Ya'll think you could please just take me half way or sumpin?" Ah man, if we said no, he would watch us just get in a drive away, so we said ya. On our way there I told him we would make a deal with him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it, and we are meeting with him on Thursday at his house. Ha next time in a meeting if someone asks if we have found cool ways to find new investigators we will tell that story haha. I will let you know how that goes.
This week we had Zone Conference- it was great. It was a meeting when everyone could see that President is inspired. He said a lot about how lucky we are to be on missions, how they are better than the military, better than a college education, all of that. It was cool. It made me reflect a lot, these past two transfers have been interesting. It has been getting harder and harder to do little things like wake up on time, and it's getting to me- of course I'm not a morning person. But it was a great meeting. An elder made a movie of the mission in the past year, it was good, we all got a free copy.
But no one has came up to us or called and invited us over to their house for Christmas, kind of a bummer. I sure hope someone does next Sunday or even before that. But I will let you know next week all the details, if there are some. I will make the calls, and I will be able to call everyone so I just need numbers.
President's interviews are tomorrow, so that will be good. We have a good week ahead where we will try a lot of part member families and appointments, even though we aren't teaching a whole lot of people right now.
It's crazy to hear about the people that have been in Erie, never before would we have noticed that, of course. But things are going better, things will continue to improve, there is always a lot of things that could improve. I love the emails and am excited for the holidays. Hope everyone is safe back home. I love you both and think about you each night. I am thankful for the prayers you offer for me and I def need them. Cade
Hey mom and dad, so I am getting transferred. I found out last Saturday night because Elder DeYoung knew an office elder that leaked it to us, but I found out today officially from my district leader. I am excited for change. I am going to miss Dover and this ward a ton, but I am welcoming to change. I am going to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the transfer meeting, and hopefully I stay on that side of the mission. But like I said, I'm going to miss this place. I have said some goodbyes to members and tonight we are going to Jay and Catherine's (with the bap. date) and the Shoemaker's as well, I'm REALLY going to miss them. But I will let you know next week where I am at.
But I laughed at your first sentence. I wondered a couple times what Thanksgiving was like back home. Bro Shoemaker kept asking me: "So, this is your first big holiday away from home?" And I would say yes, it is Bro. Shoemaker haha. Sounds like things went well and everything was fun, you guys didn't talk about me too much did ya haha? But Thanksgiving here was way fun. It was a neat holiday to be in Dover (Christmas would be sweet) I enjoyed it spending time with other families and their friends. We played in the Turkey Bowl. It was great. It was way muddy and I didn't take any pictures dang it, but it was fun even though my legs are still sore. We came back to the apartment and then around 2 went to dinner to Bishop Toone's. His son and the relief society president's daughter are engaged, so they were over there too, it was kinda weird but the food was really good. They are both from Utah so the food wasn't anything weird or different. Then we went to this single sister's house for another dinner, the Bruggeman's. She has like 4 kids, the oldest is 20 I think, and she loves the missionaries. It was really fun. Then we went to Pap Shoemaker's where a lot of the Shoemaker's were and it was us and two elders who are serving in York right now. It was fun. Then we went and had pie at a less active's house, it was a really good day. Ha we only ate at one place so that wasn't too bad.
But things are going well. I am glad I got to serve with Elder DeYoung, but I am glad to get a new companion. Elder DeYoung and mine numbers weren't the best, but he tried. We became good friends. Catherine is still scheduled to be baptised the 26 of Dec, but she is living with her boyfriend and we still need to teach the law of chastity, so I will be seeing in a few weeks how she is doing. We are going over there tonight to say goodbye. I went by Amanda and Ernie's last night, they are such an awesome couple. They are getting excited for the temple. I can't wait to hear in a year from now all about it!
It's great to be serving right now, I can't believe that I am almost out 5 months. Flying isn't it? I think so. I got an email from Scott and he said it would be his LAST one, wow. Send him my love for me. Then on comes the rest of them haha.
I'm excited about you being ordinance workers in the temple. That will be such an awesome experience. You guys will do well and I'm thankful that you are able to do that. A lot of missionaries out here have less active or non member parents, and I am so thankful for the family I grew up in and being born in the covenant. Man I wish we could go to the temple in D.C., a few members have offered. But things are going well, Christmas is rolling around the corner. Oh I don't know if I told you: Elder Wallis is in my zone, he is a district leader and he was training last transfer. I will send you a picture of us here soon. But I love ya and am surely thankful for all that you do for me and others.
Dec 7, 2009
I am in Erie, PA, right up against Lake Erie. It is a frozen tundra up here, but the first snow of the year was two days ago. It is the first time since 81 that there wasn't snow on the ground before Thanksgiving. My companion is Elder Juarez from Yakima, WA. He is Hispanic and he speaks Spanish. He is cool, we sort of get a long so far, but we are just trying to get used to each other. He has been out 13 months. We got doubled in, or "white washed" into the area. So just like Elder Tranter and I did in Dover, we are two completely new missionaries in our area called Millcreek, but it's pretty much Erie. It is Elder Juarez's first time white washing an area, and my second, even though I don't know how much help I was to Elder Tranter when we did it the first time. So that is where I'm at, Erie, PA. Erie is the third largest city in PA, bigger than Harrisburg. It's pretty flat, which is rare for PA, so they kind of have a grid system. Neither one of us have GPS, so we are having a good time using a map. The elders before us didn't leave much, no real investigators, so we are starting from scratch pretty much. Each area has an Area Book, but some are better than others. The area book in Millcreek is terrible. There used to be 12 missionaries in Erie, now there is just 4. President has had to close a lot of areas since the missions merged, and Erie lost a lot. So, there is A LOT of people in Erie and just four missionaries, there is work for us to do. But this Area Book is really helpful when it's done well, but this one is really bad so it doesn't help us at all, it tells us where members live and splits the area into sub areas.
My address is:
2708 Garland St. Apt. #2
Erie, PA 16506
A lot of missionaries I know served here, and a lot of them came up to us and said how awesome the ward here is. There are two wards in Erie, and our ward has a lot, a lot of students. There is LECOM (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine), which is the nations largest med school, and other colleges and universities. The ward seems good, but I slightly compared it to the last ward I served in and it didn't measure up. But, we will get to know them and I'm sure I will grow to love them as well.
Oh I saw Chance Powell, who served in the Harrisburg mission, I'm sure you remember him from sports, he is from Hibbard. He is now in Dover with my last companion. Elder DeYoung called us a few nights ago (he served in Millcreek for 9 months) and said Susan Blackcloud called and wants to be baptized, so that was awesome.
I love you Mom and Dad and am thankful for you. I'm thankful you are active and set an awesome example for me growing up. I know the Lord is watching over you intently. Love ya, Cade
Dec 14, 2009
Things are going well in Erie. Things have picked up a little bit. We had some investigators come to the ward Christmas party with their kids. Their names are Kelly and Stacey, but we aren't quite sure where their intents are, or if they are really serious about church because they didn't come, but, we are just starting to really teach them so I will let you know how that goes.
But the week went well, we are starting to get to know the ward better and how we can better utilize them for rides and teaching people with them. We are trying to visit a lot of part member families in the ward, and hopefully we will find a family who is ready to complete their family or come back to church. Tracting has been quite unproductive here, we tracted one day when it was 15 degrees, with a 10 to 15 degree windchill- just to say we did it! It was so cold, people kept telling us how crazy we were.
We had a funny thing happen though. We were trying these former investigators close to downtown Erie, and we walked around the corner and this guy was hiding (from the wind- it was FREEZING!) behind a door, so we started talking to him. He knew us instantly as people spreading "God's Word" and kept telling us how he believed, he is black and VERY baptist. He said he was going to court for something to do with his Social Security, his name is Robert. He was waiting for the bus and was freaking out he missed it. Our car was parked like 150 feet from us and we knew he would watch us get in and drive away, so we were kinda thinking we could give this guy a lift (which is something we ARE NOT supposed to do). Finally, he asked: "Ya'll think you could please just take me half way or sumpin?" Ah man, if we said no, he would watch us just get in a drive away, so we said ya. On our way there I told him we would make a deal with him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it, and we are meeting with him on Thursday at his house. Ha next time in a meeting if someone asks if we have found cool ways to find new investigators we will tell that story haha. I will let you know how that goes.
This week we had Zone Conference- it was great. It was a meeting when everyone could see that President is inspired. He said a lot about how lucky we are to be on missions, how they are better than the military, better than a college education, all of that. It was cool. It made me reflect a lot, these past two transfers have been interesting. It has been getting harder and harder to do little things like wake up on time, and it's getting to me- of course I'm not a morning person. But it was a great meeting. An elder made a movie of the mission in the past year, it was good, we all got a free copy.
But no one has came up to us or called and invited us over to their house for Christmas, kind of a bummer. I sure hope someone does next Sunday or even before that. But I will let you know next week all the details, if there are some. I will make the calls, and I will be able to call everyone so I just need numbers.
President's interviews are tomorrow, so that will be good. We have a good week ahead where we will try a lot of part member families and appointments, even though we aren't teaching a whole lot of people right now.
It's crazy to hear about the people that have been in Erie, never before would we have noticed that, of course. But things are going better, things will continue to improve, there is always a lot of things that could improve. I love the emails and am excited for the holidays. Hope everyone is safe back home. I love you both and think about you each night. I am thankful for the prayers you offer for me and I def need them. Cade
Elder Adam Walker:
It has been a great week this week, we have had some really interesting things happen that’s for sure. It has gone by really fast as well. We were supposed to be having another baptism this weekend but she feels that she isn't ready right now. It was really kind of a bummer because we have been trying so hard to help her out in every way possible. A member took us out to eat along with the lady that was going to be getting baptized... that was just great. If you can just imagine 2 autistic kids at pizza hut... one of them puking in the process, and yelling and screaming the whole time that we were there, you can just begin to imagine how the night was. Anyways it was nice of the member to try to fellowship her. Just didn't go the greatest. We just keep going though. One of the football players, Pres Crawford that we are teaching here at SVU has finally decided that it is the right thing for him to do and he wants to get baptized. So we are happy about that one that made our week much better, we saw him yesterday morning. This past week has been good, we made cookies for all of our investigators and they all really appreciated them. The ones we made this week were heath cookies, they were really good. We made 6 dozen of them.
Last night we had an interesting experience. We were asked by this lady to go and try to talk to her sister because she was going through a hard time and she really thought that we might be able to help. So we went in last night and started to talk to them, we talked about the restoration a little bit, but then the one lady that we went to talk to just stood up and started freaking out about how God has turned his back on her, she has done everything she could possibly do but everything bad is happening to her right now. Then her sister that asked us to come in, started arguing with her. It was a mess, it was the worst argument that I have ever seen or heard. We got them to cool down for a minute and we thought that we had things under control, when all the sudden they started freaking out again. It was a mess. The sad part was that they were just being so selfish about everything, all they cared about was themselves, if it wasn't for their own good, it wasn't what they wanted. It is such a long story to explain, and there are so many details but overall I was just thinking that its so sad to see so many unhappy families, we really take for granted what we know. Many people think they know who they are, but they don’t. The neat thing is that we do know who we are, we know exactly who God is and we understand that trials are here to make us stronger, no matter who we are, whether we are righteous, or wicked, we are going to have adversity. The only difference is how we take it and how we deal with it. We all have different hands of cards, and we have to play them the best way we know how to. Everything is going really well here though, I’m happy to be alive and everything is great. Next week is transfers, so I will be getting a new companion, it will just be interesting to see whom I get. I’m exited for change, but it’s been fun being with Elder Reed so we will just have to see how it goes. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Elder Walker
Nov 17, 2009
So transfer news! Elder Reed is leaving, and I'm getting a new companion. His name is Elder Anderson. If you remember the kid that was in my ward at Utah State and he lived in the same apartment building I did in Logan, we were in the same ward, we got our mission calls the same day, we were MTC roommates, and here we are, he is now coming to be my companion. I'm exited, he is a way cool kid, we will do really well with each other. I'm exited for this transfer, we have a lot of people lined up and lots of good potential. Our Zone is getting mixed up just a little, we are getting 2 new greenies. So that will be a boost to our zone and we are getting some solid missionaries transferred in so we are pretty exited about it all. We have a lot of work to do but it will be great. Life is just going really well. Couldn't ask for anything better. Time is flying by. Month by month, I want it to slow down. Tomorrow we have to get up at 3:30 so that we can get to Roanoke for rides and everything so its going to be an early morning. I should have my new companion by 3 or 4 tomorrow so I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to miss Elder Reed but I'm ready for a change and I'm looking forward with optimism. Its going to be a great transfer. Thanks for everything, love you all.
Nov 24, 2009
I was able to go out on exchanges with Alec Fullmer last Wednesday. It was really fun, we were in Roanoke waiting for our companions to come down on the bus and we had some time so we were able to go out and do some tracting. We got into one home and taught an awesome lesson. It was really neat to be able to go out with him for a couple hours. He is still Alec but has changed a ton, he is a really good teacher, really sincere and humble about everything, it was awesome. 2000 miles away we meet up and were walking down a street, haha I couldn't believe it but it was great. Everything is going well here. My companion is great, we get along well. The work is great. Nothing too exciting has happened, just a normal week, we have been tracting a lot. Trying to find people to teach. We have a lot of good potential, people are just scared of commitment. We have a baptism Dec 5th, so that will be nice. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Elder Walker
Dec 1, 2009
Sounds like it was a great Thanksgiving there at home. Mine went well also. We had a dinner with a family, there were probably 30 people at theirs. They had quite a bit of food as well. They even had a non-member family there so we were able to talk to them. Ever since Thanksgiving we have just been eating left overs the whole time, yesterday's was terrible. I felt really bad. we had a dinner appointment with this really poor couple, and we had left overs with them. All I can say is I'm glad I am a missionary and am pretty much immune to bad food because I'm pretty sure the ham that we ate was not cooked all the way through and the baked beans that she had made probably had more sugar and brown sugar on them than there was actually beans in the pan... the pumpkin pie, well lets just say it didn't look like pumpkin pie... haha- we are still alive though and its been a great week. I'm sure you have all kinds of stories about eating weird food, we just get a couple every once in a while. You might like to hear this, we came across this Phillipino family a couple weeks ago and they said they want to learn more, so I will keep you updated on them, hopefully we can see them sometime this week. We have a baptism this weekend, her name is Melissa Carter, so we are exited about that. We also set another person with a baptism date last night. So hopefully he will come along, his wife is a member but he is not yet. He just has to quit smoking and he will be ready. Pres Crawford is a college student that we are teaching here, and he will most likely get baptized at the beginning of next month, January. Then we have the Mkinya kids, remember the black, less active man we tracted into, his kids. They said they will hopefully have permission from the mother by Christmas. So things are looking good here, things are going really well. We just keep on going and hoping for the best every day that we go out. Thanks for everything. I love you.
Elder Walker
Last night we had an interesting experience. We were asked by this lady to go and try to talk to her sister because she was going through a hard time and she really thought that we might be able to help. So we went in last night and started to talk to them, we talked about the restoration a little bit, but then the one lady that we went to talk to just stood up and started freaking out about how God has turned his back on her, she has done everything she could possibly do but everything bad is happening to her right now. Then her sister that asked us to come in, started arguing with her. It was a mess, it was the worst argument that I have ever seen or heard. We got them to cool down for a minute and we thought that we had things under control, when all the sudden they started freaking out again. It was a mess. The sad part was that they were just being so selfish about everything, all they cared about was themselves, if it wasn't for their own good, it wasn't what they wanted. It is such a long story to explain, and there are so many details but overall I was just thinking that its so sad to see so many unhappy families, we really take for granted what we know. Many people think they know who they are, but they don’t. The neat thing is that we do know who we are, we know exactly who God is and we understand that trials are here to make us stronger, no matter who we are, whether we are righteous, or wicked, we are going to have adversity. The only difference is how we take it and how we deal with it. We all have different hands of cards, and we have to play them the best way we know how to. Everything is going really well here though, I’m happy to be alive and everything is great. Next week is transfers, so I will be getting a new companion, it will just be interesting to see whom I get. I’m exited for change, but it’s been fun being with Elder Reed so we will just have to see how it goes. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Elder Walker
Nov 17, 2009
So transfer news! Elder Reed is leaving, and I'm getting a new companion. His name is Elder Anderson. If you remember the kid that was in my ward at Utah State and he lived in the same apartment building I did in Logan, we were in the same ward, we got our mission calls the same day, we were MTC roommates, and here we are, he is now coming to be my companion. I'm exited, he is a way cool kid, we will do really well with each other. I'm exited for this transfer, we have a lot of people lined up and lots of good potential. Our Zone is getting mixed up just a little, we are getting 2 new greenies. So that will be a boost to our zone and we are getting some solid missionaries transferred in so we are pretty exited about it all. We have a lot of work to do but it will be great. Life is just going really well. Couldn't ask for anything better. Time is flying by. Month by month, I want it to slow down. Tomorrow we have to get up at 3:30 so that we can get to Roanoke for rides and everything so its going to be an early morning. I should have my new companion by 3 or 4 tomorrow so I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to miss Elder Reed but I'm ready for a change and I'm looking forward with optimism. Its going to be a great transfer. Thanks for everything, love you all.
Nov 24, 2009
I was able to go out on exchanges with Alec Fullmer last Wednesday. It was really fun, we were in Roanoke waiting for our companions to come down on the bus and we had some time so we were able to go out and do some tracting. We got into one home and taught an awesome lesson. It was really neat to be able to go out with him for a couple hours. He is still Alec but has changed a ton, he is a really good teacher, really sincere and humble about everything, it was awesome. 2000 miles away we meet up and were walking down a street, haha I couldn't believe it but it was great. Everything is going well here. My companion is great, we get along well. The work is great. Nothing too exciting has happened, just a normal week, we have been tracting a lot. Trying to find people to teach. We have a lot of good potential, people are just scared of commitment. We have a baptism Dec 5th, so that will be nice. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Elder Walker
Dec 1, 2009
Sounds like it was a great Thanksgiving there at home. Mine went well also. We had a dinner with a family, there were probably 30 people at theirs. They had quite a bit of food as well. They even had a non-member family there so we were able to talk to them. Ever since Thanksgiving we have just been eating left overs the whole time, yesterday's was terrible. I felt really bad. we had a dinner appointment with this really poor couple, and we had left overs with them. All I can say is I'm glad I am a missionary and am pretty much immune to bad food because I'm pretty sure the ham that we ate was not cooked all the way through and the baked beans that she had made probably had more sugar and brown sugar on them than there was actually beans in the pan... the pumpkin pie, well lets just say it didn't look like pumpkin pie... haha- we are still alive though and its been a great week. I'm sure you have all kinds of stories about eating weird food, we just get a couple every once in a while. You might like to hear this, we came across this Phillipino family a couple weeks ago and they said they want to learn more, so I will keep you updated on them, hopefully we can see them sometime this week. We have a baptism this weekend, her name is Melissa Carter, so we are exited about that. We also set another person with a baptism date last night. So hopefully he will come along, his wife is a member but he is not yet. He just has to quit smoking and he will be ready. Pres Crawford is a college student that we are teaching here, and he will most likely get baptized at the beginning of next month, January. Then we have the Mkinya kids, remember the black, less active man we tracted into, his kids. They said they will hopefully have permission from the mother by Christmas. So things are looking good here, things are going really well. We just keep on going and hoping for the best every day that we go out. Thanks for everything. I love you.
Elder Walker
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Elder Andrew Peña
November 30, 2009
This week was great! It went by super fast! And of course Thanksgiving was this Thursday! It went really well! We ate at about 2:00 and ate A LOT! We ate at the Thompson's home, they have 4kids. One who is 20, one who is 14 and twins who are 12. They fed us like we were kings! We were asked to do our weekly planning on Thursday this week instead of on Friday so that is what we did until about 2:00. We had a lesson with Ricky, Robert and Dominque Moore who will be baptized on the 12th of this month! We had dinner at the Moore's and it was good! We only taught two lessons that day from the time we had our planning session in the afternoon and our dinner appointment! As far as it went for missionary work it was zero! But that is ok! The turkey was really good! Along with the Idaho potatoes!;) We taught two lessons in a members home this week and we taught 23 quality lessons. We found a new person to teach, her name is Janelle and she is married to a less active that is coming back to church who we have been playing basketball with from 6 to 7 in the morning about 2 or 3 times a week! Tonight we will invite her to be baptized along with Rudy, Reyna and Alfredo! So those lessons shall go well! Pray for us and them! Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder Kramer, one of the assistants, and it was really good! We had a couple of really good lessons that day and we did two church tours and invited them to be baptized and we were able to find out a lot of concerns that were holding them back! It was really a neat experience! Saturday we were able to find Dayunie who was someone that we had planned on being baptized about a month ago and we talked with her and her family and she was thinking about being baptized in December and we have a lesson with her on Tuesday so hopefully this week we can have 10 people with a baptismal date! Right now we have 5 but it will likely be 7 by the end of the week! So people are being prepared! And thank you for your prayers in helping us accomplish our goals! We had 5 investigators at church and 2 of them have baptismal date. There were 2 new investigators that have never been before that came! And then Dayunie hasn't been for like a month and she came with her family! So it was really good! We saw a lot of success as a zone! We set a goal to have 72 member present lessons! Our average from the last like 6 months is about 50 or so and we just fell short. We had 70 member present lessons! Our own companionship had a goal of 7and we got 8 but we could have gotten 10 so we just fell short as a zone! It was really good! As a mission we have 749 people that have been baptized and we have 236 individuals with a baptismal date! Usually 1/3 of the baptismal dates get baptized. That is usually worldwide, but as a mission I think we do a little better than that! That was pretty much my week! My companion and I gave talks in sacrament meeting and my companion gave a great talk on adversity and opposition. It was a really good talk! While I talked on obedience it seemed to me as the topics ran together! It was good! I can't believe how fast this month went by! We will have a lot of good lessons this week with our investigators! Hopefully we will be able to have a few more with a baptismal date! Today we have our zone activity. We are either going to play dodge ball or ultimate Frisbee and we get to eat a lot of pizza and cookies! Haha, our zone has 10 companionships in it! So it will be a good dodge ball or Frisbee game! Haha, something that I am pondering about latley and thinking about is our potential to become more like God! And the intelligence and the knowledge we obtain in this life! I'm thinking about studying a lot about knowledge but I've beeing thinking about it a lot but haven't really done much with it yet! We will also have our zone meeting this week! That will be good! We still need to think about what we are going to do for like role plays or activities for it! It is like a district meeting but instead we have the entire zone together! I may have shared with you about this before a little bit about prayer! And in the bible dictionary how prayer is a benefit to us! There it talks about sometimes God wants to bless us but those blessings are conditional upon our asking for them! But by our asking for them they are then granted to us! It was just something that I enjoyed as I was studying this week! I hope everyone has a great week and they had a great thanksgiving also! I didn't hear too much about what anyone did for Thanksgiving so maybe I will hear from you all next week about how it was! Thank you for the emails and we will look forward to hearing from you later!:) Elder Peña
This week was great! It went by super fast! And of course Thanksgiving was this Thursday! It went really well! We ate at about 2:00 and ate A LOT! We ate at the Thompson's home, they have 4kids. One who is 20, one who is 14 and twins who are 12. They fed us like we were kings! We were asked to do our weekly planning on Thursday this week instead of on Friday so that is what we did until about 2:00. We had a lesson with Ricky, Robert and Dominque Moore who will be baptized on the 12th of this month! We had dinner at the Moore's and it was good! We only taught two lessons that day from the time we had our planning session in the afternoon and our dinner appointment! As far as it went for missionary work it was zero! But that is ok! The turkey was really good! Along with the Idaho potatoes!;) We taught two lessons in a members home this week and we taught 23 quality lessons. We found a new person to teach, her name is Janelle and she is married to a less active that is coming back to church who we have been playing basketball with from 6 to 7 in the morning about 2 or 3 times a week! Tonight we will invite her to be baptized along with Rudy, Reyna and Alfredo! So those lessons shall go well! Pray for us and them! Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder Kramer, one of the assistants, and it was really good! We had a couple of really good lessons that day and we did two church tours and invited them to be baptized and we were able to find out a lot of concerns that were holding them back! It was really a neat experience! Saturday we were able to find Dayunie who was someone that we had planned on being baptized about a month ago and we talked with her and her family and she was thinking about being baptized in December and we have a lesson with her on Tuesday so hopefully this week we can have 10 people with a baptismal date! Right now we have 5 but it will likely be 7 by the end of the week! So people are being prepared! And thank you for your prayers in helping us accomplish our goals! We had 5 investigators at church and 2 of them have baptismal date. There were 2 new investigators that have never been before that came! And then Dayunie hasn't been for like a month and she came with her family! So it was really good! We saw a lot of success as a zone! We set a goal to have 72 member present lessons! Our average from the last like 6 months is about 50 or so and we just fell short. We had 70 member present lessons! Our own companionship had a goal of 7and we got 8 but we could have gotten 10 so we just fell short as a zone! It was really good! As a mission we have 749 people that have been baptized and we have 236 individuals with a baptismal date! Usually 1/3 of the baptismal dates get baptized. That is usually worldwide, but as a mission I think we do a little better than that! That was pretty much my week! My companion and I gave talks in sacrament meeting and my companion gave a great talk on adversity and opposition. It was a really good talk! While I talked on obedience it seemed to me as the topics ran together! It was good! I can't believe how fast this month went by! We will have a lot of good lessons this week with our investigators! Hopefully we will be able to have a few more with a baptismal date! Today we have our zone activity. We are either going to play dodge ball or ultimate Frisbee and we get to eat a lot of pizza and cookies! Haha, our zone has 10 companionships in it! So it will be a good dodge ball or Frisbee game! Haha, something that I am pondering about latley and thinking about is our potential to become more like God! And the intelligence and the knowledge we obtain in this life! I'm thinking about studying a lot about knowledge but I've beeing thinking about it a lot but haven't really done much with it yet! We will also have our zone meeting this week! That will be good! We still need to think about what we are going to do for like role plays or activities for it! It is like a district meeting but instead we have the entire zone together! I may have shared with you about this before a little bit about prayer! And in the bible dictionary how prayer is a benefit to us! There it talks about sometimes God wants to bless us but those blessings are conditional upon our asking for them! But by our asking for them they are then granted to us! It was just something that I enjoyed as I was studying this week! I hope everyone has a great week and they had a great thanksgiving also! I didn't hear too much about what anyone did for Thanksgiving so maybe I will hear from you all next week about how it was! Thank you for the emails and we will look forward to hearing from you later!:) Elder Peña
Elder Cade Casper:
Sept 10, 2009
But did you like that? Got mugged? I thought that was funny. But at the time, I probably would have felt better writing that to you then what I did, about leaving State College.
Here is a review of what the past week was like: Saturday, Penn State had their first football game against Akron, and people over and over again kept telling us "Stay away from downtown, stay off main street" all of this stuff. So we did. We walked to an appointment we had and there were SO many cars going in towards the Stadium. On football days, State College goes from a town of around 50,000 people to the third biggest city in PA! I'm glad I could idealist say I served there, even if it was for only 6 weeks. Monday came around, and we weren't expecting to go anywhere this transfer, we actually set an investigator with a date THAT DAY, then finally we got a call- you are BOTH leaving. What? It was such a shocker. We were actually tracting by one of our ward missionaries apartment and he came out and saw us and said it looked like we just had a family member die or something. We were pretty pissed at first. So we came to find out that our entire district was being "washed out". They are putting sisters in both areas in State College. President Summerhays seems really big on putting sisters in university areas. So we were once again, pissed about that. I don't know, it was weird, the more and more we packed and got ready to leave, I felt good about it. So Tuesday, we drove to Harrisburg and then found out that Elder Tranter and I were being sent to Dover, where sisters were. So we took off for our new area. We came and honestly had no clue what to do. It is a small town, our area is pretty big. It is like a good mix of mainly middle class, with a few lower and upper class people. We tracted and the people were instantly a lot meaner from the people in State College, I don't mind it though, I think its funny. We looked at the area book to try to get to know our area, walked around, drove around, and tried by the Bishop's house and stuff. We tracted, stopped by a less active family, then met with the Bishop. It was a good visit we had with him, he told us about the ward and said he loved the sisters. Like the first three people we have met from the ward were like: "They took our sisters?!" so we will see how long it takes for that to get old but yesterday was awesome. We had District Meeting (Elder Tranter is the District Leader by the way) tracted, taught some lady named Marsha, then had dinner with the ward mission leader- Bro Shoemaker. He is a way cool guy, dang funny. He has a son serving in Brazil. But he was cool and told us about everything the sisters had going. He knows about everybody in the ward. This ward is way tight, almost too much. He knows what we need to do to have the ward trust us so they do missionary work. He took us to his dad's house, Don is his name. And I guess Don is a pioneer for this part of the country for the church. He was a Stake President multiple times, Bishop, and spread the gospel throughout all of Pennsylvania. The first ward in the church east of the Mississippi was actually settled in Waynesboro, just south of us. It was such a cool night, we felt very loved and there were several times that I got so excited to be here because of the way they explained the ward and the people here in Dover. We have a lot of work to do, but last night helped a lot. Bro (Don) Shoemaker played us a song that apparently all of the general authorities, past and present, quote. It was called "Accentuate the Positive" from like 1948. It was way funny. Last night was so reassuring for the week ahead.
Didn't think I would be in my second area on my second transfer. Elder Tranter and I talked on the way to Harrisburg and said that the Lord and President must have a lot of trust in us right now with me on my second transfer, us white washing the area, and Elder Tranter being District Leader. Even though I had very mixed feelings about leaving State College, I have felt so much reassurance that this is where I need to be. I have felt so much comfort and love from the Spirit, and so much from the ward as well. I am very excited to serve here, very thankful for the blessings the Lord has put upon me in my short time serving. I feel like I haven't even done that much to deserve everything I have been given. I have to keep working hard and do all that I can to show my love for the Lord while I'm serving. I am very thankful again. So my new address is:
20A Stony Lane
Dover, PA 17315
I look forward to hearing from you again. I love you and am very thankful for you both. I love you. Elder Casper
Oct 22, 2009
So I stayed in Dover. I was pretty dang nervous after we got the transfer call and Elder Tranter said he was leaving, it was Saturday night when we got it. I am still here, and I'm actually pretty glad I am. The ward is awesome, I know what I'm doing more than I think I do (which still isn't much), and I have a good companion. His name is Elder DeYoung from Salt Lake (Sugarhouse area) and he is a good Elder. I think we will get along better than my trainer and I did but it's still early to say. I had a lot of Elders come up and say I will have a lot of fun with Elder DeYoung, which I was glad to hear considering Elder Tranter wasn't a very fun guy. So, that's what the story is, so send off all the pics and stuff you have. He seems like a good elder but he has been out 18 months and is slacking on his obedience, but it's nothing that will be bad, we can fix that. He is 25 so I am learning a lot from him.
This past week was pretty crazy. We went to Shippensburg (40 minute drive) after Stake Conference on Sunday night and stayed with the elders there. Then on Monday morning we drove to Altoona for the Mission Tour and mini transfer meeting. The Tour was awesome, Elder C. Scott Grow was there and he was great. We had some good instruction about working with the ward and reactivations and stuff. I love stuff like that because it fires you up. So after that we got our stuff and came back to Dover. We have tracted a lot because I don't know exactly what to do but we had some good lessons and should be having some investigators and less active members coming to church this Sunday. The fruits of Elder Tranter and I labors are coming forth. So things are going very well here, I'm excited because I can be out of the shadow of my trainer and I am pretty glad to have a new companion.
I am very blessed to be here still. I love you and will hear from you next week. Elder Casper
Nov 23, 2009
Holy cow it's almost Thanksgiving! I can't believe it, but I'm excited. The weeks and transfers are going by so fast, and I can't believe this one is almost to a close. This transfer ends on Dec. 1st and President told me in our interviews if I'm not going this one it would be the next one. I wouldn't mind staying here one more with Elder DeYoung. He is very different from my trainer, but we have a good time, and I like him more and more each day. We still quarrel, but we have a relatively good time.
What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving? A cool family named the Bruggeman's have us over at 6, the Bishop has us over at 2, and we are stopping by the big Shoemaker clan's house in between those appointments. This ward is awesome. I have grown to love the Shoemaker's, they are an awesome family. Paps (Zach's grandpa) plays a song for the missionaries called "Accentuate the Positive" from like the 1940's, that's a line you hear a lot of general authorities quote, it's so funny haha.
But I love you guys, the work is going well. The Lord is continuing to prepare people, it's just a struggle to be His prepared servant by obedience and what not. Catherine is doing well, she didn't come to church yesterday but she is still reading. She is scheduled for the 26 of Dec. for baptism. Susan Blackcloud put off her baptismal date till March, that was a bummer. She loves us though and we love them, she will eventually be baptized as her husband starts to come back to church. I love you both and am thankful for you. Have a good Thanksgiving and don't bring my name up too much haha.
But did you like that? Got mugged? I thought that was funny. But at the time, I probably would have felt better writing that to you then what I did, about leaving State College.
Here is a review of what the past week was like: Saturday, Penn State had their first football game against Akron, and people over and over again kept telling us "Stay away from downtown, stay off main street" all of this stuff. So we did. We walked to an appointment we had and there were SO many cars going in towards the Stadium. On football days, State College goes from a town of around 50,000 people to the third biggest city in PA! I'm glad I could idealist say I served there, even if it was for only 6 weeks. Monday came around, and we weren't expecting to go anywhere this transfer, we actually set an investigator with a date THAT DAY, then finally we got a call- you are BOTH leaving. What? It was such a shocker. We were actually tracting by one of our ward missionaries apartment and he came out and saw us and said it looked like we just had a family member die or something. We were pretty pissed at first. So we came to find out that our entire district was being "washed out". They are putting sisters in both areas in State College. President Summerhays seems really big on putting sisters in university areas. So we were once again, pissed about that. I don't know, it was weird, the more and more we packed and got ready to leave, I felt good about it. So Tuesday, we drove to Harrisburg and then found out that Elder Tranter and I were being sent to Dover, where sisters were. So we took off for our new area. We came and honestly had no clue what to do. It is a small town, our area is pretty big. It is like a good mix of mainly middle class, with a few lower and upper class people. We tracted and the people were instantly a lot meaner from the people in State College, I don't mind it though, I think its funny. We looked at the area book to try to get to know our area, walked around, drove around, and tried by the Bishop's house and stuff. We tracted, stopped by a less active family, then met with the Bishop. It was a good visit we had with him, he told us about the ward and said he loved the sisters. Like the first three people we have met from the ward were like: "They took our sisters?!" so we will see how long it takes for that to get old but yesterday was awesome. We had District Meeting (Elder Tranter is the District Leader by the way) tracted, taught some lady named Marsha, then had dinner with the ward mission leader- Bro Shoemaker. He is a way cool guy, dang funny. He has a son serving in Brazil. But he was cool and told us about everything the sisters had going. He knows about everybody in the ward. This ward is way tight, almost too much. He knows what we need to do to have the ward trust us so they do missionary work. He took us to his dad's house, Don is his name. And I guess Don is a pioneer for this part of the country for the church. He was a Stake President multiple times, Bishop, and spread the gospel throughout all of Pennsylvania. The first ward in the church east of the Mississippi was actually settled in Waynesboro, just south of us. It was such a cool night, we felt very loved and there were several times that I got so excited to be here because of the way they explained the ward and the people here in Dover. We have a lot of work to do, but last night helped a lot. Bro (Don) Shoemaker played us a song that apparently all of the general authorities, past and present, quote. It was called "Accentuate the Positive" from like 1948. It was way funny. Last night was so reassuring for the week ahead.
Didn't think I would be in my second area on my second transfer. Elder Tranter and I talked on the way to Harrisburg and said that the Lord and President must have a lot of trust in us right now with me on my second transfer, us white washing the area, and Elder Tranter being District Leader. Even though I had very mixed feelings about leaving State College, I have felt so much reassurance that this is where I need to be. I have felt so much comfort and love from the Spirit, and so much from the ward as well. I am very excited to serve here, very thankful for the blessings the Lord has put upon me in my short time serving. I feel like I haven't even done that much to deserve everything I have been given. I have to keep working hard and do all that I can to show my love for the Lord while I'm serving. I am very thankful again. So my new address is:
20A Stony Lane
Dover, PA 17315
I look forward to hearing from you again. I love you and am very thankful for you both. I love you. Elder Casper
Oct 22, 2009
So I stayed in Dover. I was pretty dang nervous after we got the transfer call and Elder Tranter said he was leaving, it was Saturday night when we got it. I am still here, and I'm actually pretty glad I am. The ward is awesome, I know what I'm doing more than I think I do (which still isn't much), and I have a good companion. His name is Elder DeYoung from Salt Lake (Sugarhouse area) and he is a good Elder. I think we will get along better than my trainer and I did but it's still early to say. I had a lot of Elders come up and say I will have a lot of fun with Elder DeYoung, which I was glad to hear considering Elder Tranter wasn't a very fun guy. So, that's what the story is, so send off all the pics and stuff you have. He seems like a good elder but he has been out 18 months and is slacking on his obedience, but it's nothing that will be bad, we can fix that. He is 25 so I am learning a lot from him.
This past week was pretty crazy. We went to Shippensburg (40 minute drive) after Stake Conference on Sunday night and stayed with the elders there. Then on Monday morning we drove to Altoona for the Mission Tour and mini transfer meeting. The Tour was awesome, Elder C. Scott Grow was there and he was great. We had some good instruction about working with the ward and reactivations and stuff. I love stuff like that because it fires you up. So after that we got our stuff and came back to Dover. We have tracted a lot because I don't know exactly what to do but we had some good lessons and should be having some investigators and less active members coming to church this Sunday. The fruits of Elder Tranter and I labors are coming forth. So things are going very well here, I'm excited because I can be out of the shadow of my trainer and I am pretty glad to have a new companion.
I am very blessed to be here still. I love you and will hear from you next week. Elder Casper
Nov 23, 2009
Holy cow it's almost Thanksgiving! I can't believe it, but I'm excited. The weeks and transfers are going by so fast, and I can't believe this one is almost to a close. This transfer ends on Dec. 1st and President told me in our interviews if I'm not going this one it would be the next one. I wouldn't mind staying here one more with Elder DeYoung. He is very different from my trainer, but we have a good time, and I like him more and more each day. We still quarrel, but we have a relatively good time.
What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving? A cool family named the Bruggeman's have us over at 6, the Bishop has us over at 2, and we are stopping by the big Shoemaker clan's house in between those appointments. This ward is awesome. I have grown to love the Shoemaker's, they are an awesome family. Paps (Zach's grandpa) plays a song for the missionaries called "Accentuate the Positive" from like the 1940's, that's a line you hear a lot of general authorities quote, it's so funny haha.
But I love you guys, the work is going well. The Lord is continuing to prepare people, it's just a struggle to be His prepared servant by obedience and what not. Catherine is doing well, she didn't come to church yesterday but she is still reading. She is scheduled for the 26 of Dec. for baptism. Susan Blackcloud put off her baptismal date till March, that was a bummer. She loves us though and we love them, she will eventually be baptized as her husband starts to come back to church. I love you both and am thankful for you. Have a good Thanksgiving and don't bring my name up too much haha.
Monday, December 7, 2009
New Development:
I just received word from Colleen Snell - Scott's report has been changed to Sunday, Dec 27 @ 1:00 pm.
Grant's report will be the same day at 9:00 am
Wow - on this day we will all be very spiritually feed.
Grant's report will be the same day at 9:00 am
Wow - on this day we will all be very spiritually feed.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Elder Scott Snell:
We had four investigators out to church this last week for our primary program. They didn't come for the program it just happened to be the same day they came. I am convinced that where ever you go in the world the primary kids act the same. You have the kids up there making faces at the crowd, the one who is constantly waving at his mom, the kids screaming there lungs out when singing, the kid who walks up to the mike and says I forgot my lines. It was great. I actually was able to feel the spirit quite a bit when they would sing some of their songs. We had these two little kids that sang amazing solos. I see little kids and it is amazing how Christlike they can seem and then the next minute they are poking you in the rear and laughing like a little devil child. But they sure are funny.
Elder Green and I are getting along great. I have laughed a lot this transfer. It had kind of been a while since I just had a good hard laugh. So Elder Green and I were sitting at the church yesterday doing our weekly planing meeting. We were told to go upstairs after we were done because the ward was eating. Well after a little while we were about to go up and a member brought in this fella who had just wondered into the church wanting to learn about it. We just recently had a new building built in our area and it is pretty big and beautiful so it happens sometimes. So this guy comes in sits down and his face is bleeding. It looked like he butchered himself when he was shaving. After we got him some Kleenexes he asked about how our church was different from the normal christian church. I started to explain and before I answered the whole question he went off on something else. He did that like five or six times. He was talking about a million miles an hour and Elder Green couldn't understand him and I was having a rough time some times. I jumped from lesson to lesson answering his questions. He then went off about how he had just come from the Jehovah Witness's place and that he had rejected the book that they had tried to give him. I think that he was trying to tell me he wasn't going to be easy to crack. Well he then asked me about whether or not we believed it was important the way we worship Christ. I told him yes and then he asked how we got our way. I then taught him about Prophets again and how we don't believe the way we as humans choose but according the way God wants and that he relays that through a modern day prophet. That one slowed him down and made it so I could say everything I wanted before he interrupted me again. He then asked me if he could have a Book of Mormon and seemed a little less defensive towards me. He then continued to go a million miles an hour asking questions about the second coming and where it was going to be and the God head. I told him we believed God and Christ were two separate beings he then asked if all of the other churches are completely wrong or right. I said that is what we know to be true and he cut me off and said so they are wrong right? He was very persistent. We finished and we had been invited up to eat so we invited him as well and he came and started talking about what race of women was most beautiful, we awkwardly avoided that one and he them went off about the economy and I was glad I couldn't understand him. Anyway that was my weird guy story. He says he is going to call. Stay tuned. I hope all is well and everyone is happy and healthy. I love you all and miss you. Until next week Elder Snell.
Nov 23, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving, This week was a good one, we had stake conference and we had three investigators attend. It was a broadcast with President Uchtdorf, Elder Hollan, Stephens and another fella. I don't remember the name cause I chose to watch it in Korean with our investigators and as I watched the screen I found myself reading their lips rather then listening to the translation. It is usually really hard to understand conference and stuff like that cause they use really hard Korean but this time I understood a good amount. I was pretty happy. They gave a really good message but the Korean translator did a bad job at catching the feeling behind it so it kind of was a little bit boring for two of our younger investigators who nodded of a little bit throughout it. We are having an area seventy here for mission conference this week. Thanks for everything. I love you and miss you all, see you soon. Elder Snell
Elder Green and I are getting along great. I have laughed a lot this transfer. It had kind of been a while since I just had a good hard laugh. So Elder Green and I were sitting at the church yesterday doing our weekly planing meeting. We were told to go upstairs after we were done because the ward was eating. Well after a little while we were about to go up and a member brought in this fella who had just wondered into the church wanting to learn about it. We just recently had a new building built in our area and it is pretty big and beautiful so it happens sometimes. So this guy comes in sits down and his face is bleeding. It looked like he butchered himself when he was shaving. After we got him some Kleenexes he asked about how our church was different from the normal christian church. I started to explain and before I answered the whole question he went off on something else. He did that like five or six times. He was talking about a million miles an hour and Elder Green couldn't understand him and I was having a rough time some times. I jumped from lesson to lesson answering his questions. He then went off about how he had just come from the Jehovah Witness's place and that he had rejected the book that they had tried to give him. I think that he was trying to tell me he wasn't going to be easy to crack. Well he then asked me about whether or not we believed it was important the way we worship Christ. I told him yes and then he asked how we got our way. I then taught him about Prophets again and how we don't believe the way we as humans choose but according the way God wants and that he relays that through a modern day prophet. That one slowed him down and made it so I could say everything I wanted before he interrupted me again. He then asked me if he could have a Book of Mormon and seemed a little less defensive towards me. He then continued to go a million miles an hour asking questions about the second coming and where it was going to be and the God head. I told him we believed God and Christ were two separate beings he then asked if all of the other churches are completely wrong or right. I said that is what we know to be true and he cut me off and said so they are wrong right? He was very persistent. We finished and we had been invited up to eat so we invited him as well and he came and started talking about what race of women was most beautiful, we awkwardly avoided that one and he them went off about the economy and I was glad I couldn't understand him. Anyway that was my weird guy story. He says he is going to call. Stay tuned. I hope all is well and everyone is happy and healthy. I love you all and miss you. Until next week Elder Snell.
Nov 23, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving, This week was a good one, we had stake conference and we had three investigators attend. It was a broadcast with President Uchtdorf, Elder Hollan, Stephens and another fella. I don't remember the name cause I chose to watch it in Korean with our investigators and as I watched the screen I found myself reading their lips rather then listening to the translation. It is usually really hard to understand conference and stuff like that cause they use really hard Korean but this time I understood a good amount. I was pretty happy. They gave a really good message but the Korean translator did a bad job at catching the feeling behind it so it kind of was a little bit boring for two of our younger investigators who nodded of a little bit throughout it. We are having an area seventy here for mission conference this week. Thanks for everything. I love you and miss you all, see you soon. Elder Snell
Elder Andrew Peña
This week was amazing! Our mission president is inspired and continues to guide us to our goals! We set a goal this week as a mission to have over 200 individuals with a baptismal date! We were at 153 and that is about where we stay consistently as a mission. The most we have had would be around 180 at a time so with this goal we sent out miracles from companionships throughout the mission and missionaries setting baptismal dates with people and sent them to everyone to hear the miracles! We also followed up every night with who had set baptisms and every night we would let the assistants know of how many our zones had so they could inform us everyday how many we had. It stayed 153 until Tuesday and Wednesday it was at 163 and on Thursday it jumped to 191 and then Saturday to 208 and that is where we are currently! We've over achieved that goal and is the most the mission has seen all year! We have 681 individuals that have been baptized and our zone we had 4 baptisms our goal as a zone was to have 30 investigators with a baptism date and we had 29! Our goal this week is to have 35. As a companionship, Elder Whitworth and I had a goal to have three ( we had one at the beginning of the week ) and now we have 6! One of the miracles that we saw is we had a lesson with Micheal and Autumn and invited them to be baptized and Micheal said no and that he did not want to and Autumn said she would think about it. They are 14 and 13 years old. We had a lesson two days later and talked about baptism and taught why it was so important and invited them to be baptized and they accepted on November 28th, we also have 3 others for November 28th that may have to be pushed back to December, that is Robert Ricky and Dominique Moore. Alexandria, one of our investigators, when I first got to the area we were biking and we talked to Alexandria just outside her home and she was singing "baby don't hurt me" and she didn't stop to talk to us she just said sure come on by. So we went by and we had a great lesson and committed her to come to church and she said she would. She never came so we invited her to come to conference and again she didn't come. Time went on where we struggled with teaching her. She would miss appointments and wasn't home but then we were on an exchange and she stopped my companion and who he was with and told us to come by again so we went back and taught her again. She is in her 40's and is single and has lived a rough life, she has been involved with alcohol and is going to Alcoholics Anonymous and she has a piercing in her eyebrow and her lip and a couple tattoos. Wouldn't think she would be very interested in our message but she is awesome. We invited her to church again and she finally said she would come and she came for the first time and we sat next to her and she stayed all three hours and loved it so much that for our next appointment she said "when you two leave who is going to come to church with me when I keep going?" We told her the members would fellowship her and the missionaries are always here. She also brought up being baptized and asked what she needed to do so we came and taught her baptism and some commandments and invited her to be baptized on the 15th. She missed church two weeks ago but we got her a ride and she came to church yesterday. The spirit has been working with her so much that during our fast and testimony meeting she felt the spirit as little children bore their testimonies and she asked the member that brought her to church and was sitting with her if anyone could bare their testimony. Sister Thompson took her up in front to where she could bare her testimony and when the time came she stood up and introduced herself and gave a heart felt testimony of how she started coming to church and why, and gave thanks to Elder Whitworth and I! Her testimony was one of the many miracles that we have seen and heard and witnessed this week. She is preparing herself for baptism this month. Transfers came and Elder Whitworth will be heading down to be companions with one of my old companions, Elder Jensen. I will be getting a new companion named Elder Cook from Canada and is a great missionary. I will be serving in the same area here in Turlock and will still be a zone leader. This week we have transfers and to do stake correlation for Sunday and have zone council on Friday. Next week we will have zone conference which Elder Gibbons of the 70 will be coming to our zone conference and also will be holding a fireside that we need to have our investigators go to next week. I have tried to express the many great things that have happened this week and continue to strengthen my testimony through the things I was blessed to witness. A quote coming from the bible dictionary under faith says "miracles do not produce faith, but faith produces the miracle" also a wonderful quote that I have been listening to conference from 2000 thanks to Eli a general authority talks about becoming converted and talks about a poem or a parable and says something as a father to the son saying "all that I have I could easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself". God gives us this great life not just to see what choices we can make, but to see what we can become, through the choices that we will make. Are we becoming converted through our actions and the things that we are doing? Not just by the things that we are learning. I love the Gospel! I love it because its the only thing that can bring true happiness to one's soul! Nothing else can bring such joy and we cannot find it anywhere else. I am learning that and hope to be able to apply it through the rest of my life. I know through our faith we will see many great miracles in our life. I also know that through obedience is how we obtain any blessing from God. I hope to hear from you all this upcoming week. Set goals for yourselves and help yourself become something and become converted through faith and obedience to the gospel. We taught many people and accomplished many great goals! :) I love you all! Elder Peña
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
