August 3, 2010
Dear family,
This week was a pretty good one. Three people we were teaching got baptized. The baptisms were a little stressful, though. How it worked out is the only times they could do them was 4:30 and 5. so we plannd on going to T[...] and V[...]'s baptism at 4:30 and leaving right after they got baptized to go to D[...]'s baptism. We got to the 4:30 baptism and the Spanish elders were supposed to get clothes, but got ones that were too small. We ran around everywhere trying to find clothes, but ended up just leaving and going to D[...]'s baptism. Everything eventually worked out and everyone got baptized. I like doing things myself and not relying on others, that way I never get disappointed because we weren't able to be there to see T[...] and V[...] get baptized. All of the confirmations went really good. All three of them cried, even D[...] who's a fitness trainer in the Air Force teared up.
We won some points with the sister missionaries on Saturday. The 4 sisters in the zone for some reason decided they didn't like us so they would criticize everything we did and not pay attention. So we set up a time to just talk it over with them. I was wary going into it because 1. I didn't want to come down really hard on them and make them feel worthless and 2. I didn't want to in any way grovel for their support. So we had to go somewhere in the middle of all of that. We told them the things we were doing in the zone and got them to agree that what we are doing will help, then we got them to tell us they support us. It went a whole lot better than expected. I hope this is the last of our sister problems.
Love, E[...] M[...]
August 10, 2010
Dear family,
Hey mom you sent me the Men's Wearhouse receipt for the suit I got in 2007. The suit I would like tailored is the one I got right before my mission. It's the average joe brand bought late in 2008. If you would sent that receipt it would be much appreciated.
That's great that K[...]'s home. Don't expect a 40 minute talk from me though. I've figured out that 15 to 20 minutes is ideal for keeping everyone interested and not rambling on. Not that I want to talk about going home, but have you thought about how I'm going to go home? The mission office will probably ask me some time if I'll need a plane ticket or whatever. I don't care if I fly or drive, my only stipulation is I don't want to stay in Utah, I would like to leave the mission home and go home.
The sisters in the zone like us now. It's working out good now. It's not that the Spirit wasn't in our trainings. They were just looking for things wrong with it and with that attitude you are stiffnecked and in Jarom 1:4 you can't be guided by the spirit that way. Just like a dumb horse can't be led by the reins if it has a stiff neck.
I went to the hospital yesterday and interviewed this old feeble man for baptism. He took the missionary lessons before and he said he always knew the church was true, just kept procrastinating himself getting baptized. Now the doctor told him he only has a week to live because of his cancer. It was a wake up call and so he decided he wants to go through with it. Afterwards I asked him how old he was. 55. I thought he was in his 80s. I'm glad Dad takes care of himself. I wrestled him right before I came on the mission, and this guy would've literally died if I tried that.
Love, E[...] M[...]
September 7, 2010
Dear family,
That's good to hear about the trip. Elder S[...], my Swedish companion, always said that American bread and cheese are terrible. He said the European stuff is way better. I hope you're taking bunches of pictures cause its not everyday that you get to go to Germany.,
We had an amazing baptism last Saturday. C[...] E[...], a mildly autistic 9 year old, got baptized by his dad. His dad got worthy and active so he could baptize his son. C[...] is deathly afraid of water and his mom told us that he'd probably fight rather than go in the baptismal font. When it came time for C[...] to get baptized he got in the water and whined a little bit then got baptized. When he came out of the water he said, "Can I do that again?" The baptism went really good and I think it was almost more for the family than for C[...]. He isn't very accountable, but this brought the family way closer together. His dad whose a prison guard even teared up during the confirmation.
I survived another transfer. I'm still with Elder S[...] so this will end up being 4 1/2 months together. I'm good with that because we work good together.
Love, E[...] M[...]
September 22, 2010
Dear family,
Yesterday, I got to go to a leadership meeting with Elder Robins from the Quorum of the 70. It was pretty cool. He talked to us about gospel pairs. Like how the Atonement and the Fall go hand in hand--one cannot be there or explained without the other. He focused on two different ones: Be and Do like Christ, and agency and responsibility. A major portion was on not making excuses because when we do that we lose control of the situation. We try to extinguish our responsibility by blaming or any other excuse. When we were in the premortal life, we fought to have that responsibility just as much as we fought for agency, so why waste it? I think all of us need to keep this mindset because at judgement every excuse we use will sound stupid when we say it in front of Christ. Instead we can take responsibility and do all we can, we have more control than we think. It was a good meeting.
Everything is going all right here. Since it's my last conference in the mission I'll get to go down to Salt Lake next week for it. We're trying to bargain with stake presidents for tickets for some of our investigators. We'll see if we can get them.
Satan's working hard against us. A family with four kids was supposed to get baptized this Saturday. The grandma got offended for no reason and called it off. The week before a baptism is always crazy. We hope it works out in the future.
Love, E[...] M[...]
September 28, 2010
Dear family,
This weekend should be pretty good. I get to go to Saturday afternoon and the priesthood session of conference. One of the people I'm teaching is going to come with us on the Saturday afternoon session. We called all the bishops in the three stakes and tracked down some tickets so we could get the investigator and the fellowshipper to come with us.
That stinks that C[...] has asthma. Maybe he'll get over it like I did. It's a good thing we got the medical care we do for it.
I hope the permission paper I wrote works out. I couldn't do it that fancy because we can't really access computers except to do email. I just went to the church and used the copy machine to make it.
I met a guy last week that served his mission in Scotland. He said he knew J[...] G[...] and he said he lost a bunch of weight on his mission. Said his clothes didn't fit good by the end. It's a small world.
Love, E[...] M[...]
October 5, 2010
Dear family,
General conference was really good. We got to go to more sessions of it than I thought we would. On Saturday we took some investigators to the afternoon session and then showed them around Temple Square. We attended the Priesthood session with the other missionaries and on Sunday we went to the afternoon session with A[...]--she got baptized last month, and one of her friends.
I think this conference had some of the most direct talks I've ever heard in conference. President Monson laid down the law about young men and senior couples needing to serve missions, Boyd K Packer's and M Russell Ballard's talks were amazing in that respective too. I really enjoyed being there. My companion hated the crowds, but I thought it was cool being around that many people all gathered to hear the prophet. We talked to an athiest from New York, and he said the Mormons are like the Israelites following Joshua.
Well, transfers come up next week so I guess we'll see what happens. My companion and I have been together for 4 1/2 months so its time for a change.
Love, E[...] M[...]
October 12, 2010
Dear family,
Yeah, I am getting transferred tomorrow. I'm going to serve in Layton. I'll probably be there for the rest of my mission because the elder I am serving with goes home at the end of this transfer so I'll probably stay there till the end.
We baptized a kid named J[...] on Saturday. We've been teaching his less active mom for a while, and he just stepped in to one of the lessons and he wanted to be baptized. That was the first baptism in a while that I haven't played the piano for. I should have though because the old lady they asked to play could only handle the right hand of the hymns.
There are protests up here against Pres. Packers talk. ... I think it goes well with the scripture that says people will call evil good and good evil. We are definitely in the right, but people think we are evil and judgmental for it. ... A man that has a whole lot of anger kills someone. Just because he's an angry person doesn't mean he can kill someone. It's still wrong...
Well i'll write next week.
Love, E[...] M[...]
October 19, 2010
Dear family,
Layton is good. My companion is Elder N[...] from Duncan, Arizona. We are teaching a bunch of people up here. This area has exploded with work recently. We are teaching a guy named W[...]. He was a truck driver and decided to do something new. So now he ended up in Layton with no home and no money. He is very sincere and is getting baptized on the 30th of October. He said once he started meeting with the missionaries he's been in higher spirits than he ever thought possible with the situation he's in. He's been offered one job so far and he denied it because it would require him to work on Sunday. Even before we taught him the law of the Sabbath, he rejected the job because he wants to do the religion with his whole heart and not hold anything back.
Love, E[...] M[...]
October 26, 2010
Dear family,
W[...] is doing good. he got baptized this last weekend. We moved it up because stake conference is this week, so we wanted him to be confirmed in sacrament meeting so we did it this last weekend. He just got a job working at a hobby store and the bishop's in-laws are letting him live with them. It's amazing how living the gospel you get blessed so much for it. He says the gospel is his "happy pill" because he's been so much happier since he started meeting with us even though his life was rougher than it had ever been. I'll send his baptism picture.
Yeah the winter has come. The snow hasn't stuck on the ground yet, but I expect it will pretty soon. It's nice to still have a car, especially one with a heater that works. Last winter the car I was driving the heater went out and the car guy at the mission office said I'd have to wait till the next month to get it fixed because there were too many cars in the shop right then. That was a cold winter.
Love, E[...] M[...]
November 2, 2010
Dear family,
That is good to hear about the C[...] family accepting the invitation to have the missionary lessons. I hope it all goes well and they feel the spirit.
To answer your question, Mom, nope, the Ogden temple isn't under construction yet, and they have not set a firm date of when they are going to start it. I can pretty much guarantee that I will be home before they start it. I still get to go to the Ogden temple every week except for transfer week.
Yesterday we had a lesson with this black guy named T[...]. We had talked with him a little bit before and finally were able to have a lesson with him. He had read a chapter we left with him and he was already convinced that the Book of Mormon is God's word. He felt the spirit again in the lesson and his biggest worry about joining the church is that he will revert back to bad habits. Its always amazing when we find people that prepared. It shows that tracting does work sometimes.
Love, E[...] M[...]
Oh yeah, my birthday is coming up and I don't really need too much stuff out here. I wouldn't mind if I had stuff waiting for me when i get home though. I'll need new toothbrush heads for my electric toothbrush (oral b vitality), garments (50\50 cotton poly med. tall tops crew cut, 32 bottoms), a digital picture frame would be sweet so I could have all my mission pictures on it, temple clothes (all I have is a tie and white socks), and when I get home i'll pick out my own regular clothes, so money for that wouldn't be a bad thing. That's all i can think of right now.
