Ben's Last Report

Family,

Well, to be honest I don't even really know what to say.  As you all know...or forgot and are now reminded...this is my last week as a missionary.  It is a feeling that I don't even think I could put down into words.  Knowing that I will be leaving this area and this mission and the people that I have come to love is a very hard thing to handle.  Luckily, it has been all work and nothing else this past week and I have absolutely loved it!  Many missionaries and members are asking if I am getting trunky, but weirdly enough, it has seemed to have the opposite effect on me.  I feel like I need to work harder and do more.

This past week was just a blur of activity.  I had a leadership training meeting on Tuesday where two men from the mission department came and talked to us.  A very spiritual meeting and we are left with training that will greatly affect the mission.  I also had two exchanges with other Spanish missionaries and a baptismal interview, and on Saturday we helped out with a city service project of planting 1500 trees and other plants in a new park.  In all the craziness we managed to find and teach more then almost any other week!  We found a couple of families that we started to teach. One has been through Utah and saw, walked around, and took pictures by the "big church" (temple) in Salt Lake City. It was a great opportunity to teach about families and why we have the temples. They seem to be genuinely interested to learn.

We are looking forward to another good week with zone meeting, another exchange, and Elder Aidukaitis of the 70 coming this week.

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Ben

 

Almost Done in Seattle

Family,

Another wet week has flown by.  Luckily, the sun is shining today.  I hope Utah is as green as Washington when I see it. This week we have seen some success taking out several members with us.  We have had a hard time with that in the past because we can never find anyone not working when we need them to go to a lesson.  The branch president's son has said that he would help us any day. He served a mission in Chile and returned about 4 years ago and wants to help out.  Also, the recently returned missionary to our branch has wanted to come out.  We had both of them come our with us this past week.  It should help the work out a bunch to have members ready and willing to come to lessons.

Sad story of the week is when I kicked a soccer ball into the face of a recent convert (she is 10 years old). :(    The best way to get Spanish people together and have a branch bonding time is to play soccer. Playing sports literally is a good missionary tool...until you hurt someone.  We decided to join in and, of course, we weren't playing as hard as the other people.  My companion played as goalie, and I just tried to get rid of the ball if it ever came my direction.  I saw the recent convert several times and said sorry, but we also got some candy and were I was able to apologize more officially.  Good thing we have a good relationship with the person I pegged in the face...I don't know how an investigator or someone else would have taken it.

We found a new family that we have a lesson set up with tonight.  We have, on separate occasions, met both of the parents and they seem really awesome. Hopefully all goes good in this lesson tonight and we can help them progress. We also meet another lady this week that we had a lesson with and seemed pretty solid until we showed her the Book of Mormon.  I guess it is a little scary to people at first.  She did tell us though that she would read a chapter of it and see how she liked it.  With the power of The Book of Mormon, we are thinking her heart will be softened.

The mission is pretty excited for this next weekend when Elder Aidukaitis of the 70 will be visiting our mission. He is the assistant executive of missionary work. They announced that he would be coming this past week while we were at zone conference, and they usually announce such things months in advance, so I was quite surprised when I heard I would get to hear him. The Lord is hastening his work!

Love you all,

Elder Seattle

Three Weeks Left for Ben

First off congratulations to Amber on her new baby!!!

This week went pretty well.  Nothing crazy happened, but we continue to feel happy in the Lord's work.  I am so happy I received my new rain coat recently because with the exception of a few short lived hours Sunday afternoon, it has been pretty much a downpour of water everyday.  Now all I need is a waterproof backpack.  People are really funny when you knock on their doors and they say "we are not interested in your message but I hope you have a nice day and stay dry."  Haha, I wouldn't have it any other way though.  I have become accustomed to the rain and can't even imagine what a dry day is like.

This past week we did find a really prepared lady who is like golden....but she is a single mom so we passed her off to the sisters. They pretty much told us that she is amazing and SO prepared to receive the gospel.  Now we just need to find a man like that. The Hermanas also tracted into Jesus (our investigator) and had a lesson with him. They were thinking that it was a little bit interesting how he already had a Book of Mormon, knew so much about the church, and looked a little familiar.  They just laughed when we told them at correlation meeting that they had just taught and set up a return appointment with our investigator.  They asked Jesus' girlfriend when they were there is she wanted to learn and she said "no."  We are still working on it, but looks like it could be awhile more before her heart is softened to us.

One of the counselors in the former stake presidency (it was just rearranged 4 months ago) came and did a Book of Mormon presentation for the branch this past Friday. He served his mission in Peru and while there learned from the tribal leaders about their history.  All of their history was memorized and passed down from generation to generation.  Many of their stories match up with the Book of Mormon. The way the missionaries had success and permission to teach the people was to talk with this tribal leader about the Book of Mormon. He would see that what they taught was the same in the Book of Mormon and give the missionaries permission to preach to his people.  It was super interesting and I wish we were able to stay for the whole presentation (we had to be home). The cool thing is is that the words "Nefita" and "Lamanita" (Nephite and Lamanite) are in their language.  Over the years their meanings have been changed a little and "Nefita" means destruction or destroyed and "Lamanita" means fruitful or prosperous.

Love you all,

Elder B.

Update From Seattle

Family,

This past weekend was amazing!  We were able to watch all of the sessions of general conference (minus an hour of the Saturday afternoon session because I had to drive to Seattle for a baptismal interview).  It is always such a spiritual boost.  I loved it!  There were also a lot of talks directed towards missionary work.  Can you imagine in a couple of months there will be 90,000 missionaries? It is crazy!  One of the 58 new missions happens to be from splitting our mission in half at the start of July.  The Washington Seattle mission is already one of the smallest in the world, but will only be getting smaller.  The only investigator that we had come to general conference was Jesus.  He came to the priesthood session because it was the only one that he could make it to.  He really enjoyed it, and hopefully that will help him in his plans for marriage and baptism.  We set up multiple lessons with him this week, but they all fell through because of his work.

We met two other men just yesterday and were able to teach them.  We were actually meaning to get ahold of one of their roommates, but he had left right before we got there, and they were just showing up as we knocked on the door.  They, like most Spanish men, are super busy working and said they would only be in the house if it was raining so hard that they couldn't work. They seemed interested in learning, and one actually met the missionaries in Mexico years ago, but had not a set return appointment at all.

Our teaching pool really hasn't increased at all.  We are brainstorming of ways that we can find people to teach.  Nothing that we have used in the past has been crazy successful.  We even tried contacting in Goodwill this past week.  For me personally, I would much rather knock on someone's door or talk with them in the street as a way to contact them than contact in a store.   did talk with a man who invited us to come by his apartment later in the week. The only problem is that he didn't remember what number his apartment was in a complex.  He gave us a general idea of where, and then later in the week we tracted everything around it until we found him.  We were able to share briefly about The Book of Mormon.  It was interesting because he already had a Book of Mormon in his house but had never read it.  We committed him to read the introduction and still need to follow up on that.  This is an awesome branch though, and I am super excited to continue to serve here.  I look forward to working even harder for this last month.

Love from the Emerald City,

Elder B.

Work Continues in WA

Family,

Well, this week has flown by, and I really don't even know what to write about it. We are still in the process of training the new branch mission leader on what his calling exactly is.  He loves the work but doesn't really know too much about what we do on a day to day basis.  I think he just thinks we knock doors all day:)  The Hermanas are in Renton, and we passed off a bunch of people for them to teach.  I honestly think our area book was cut in half.  We are looking for some people that want to learn so we can grow our teaching pool.  We found several and one family seems to have potential.  The mother was excited to hear that the church offered classes for her daughters (around 5 years old).  I guess the church she was attending in the past didn't.  She said they would start reading The Book of Mormon and that we could come by tomorrow.
 

This week we had our investigator (Jesus, the man from Puerto Rico) ask us if we had a date he could be baptized!  I told him any day after he was married. He then said "that would take a miracle" because his girlfriend has no desires to be married....we are now praying for a miracle! :)  He hasn't been to church for the last little while because he starts working at McDonalds at 4 in the morning on Sunday and doesn't get out until after church ends.  Just yesterday though, he slipped in a little late to sacrament!  He said he got off work a little early so he could come.  We didn't see him much though because right after he has to go to a second job.  We also started to teach his 17 year old son that just arrived this past week from Puerto Rico.

 

Well, that about wraps up the week.

Love you all,

Elder B.

 

 

Ben Stays in Renton

Familia,

First off a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Grandma Judy!!!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Well, transfer calls are in and......I am still in Renton with Elder Carpenter!!!  It was a huge amount of waiting to see if we were going to stay.  President Larkin didn't get transfers done until last night (Monday), which is the latest I have ever seen it done, and so nobody knew if they were leaving.  I thought for sure I was leaving, or at least Elder Carpenter would leave, but it didn't turn out that way. This will now set a record for me for the longest time serving with a companion without any kind or break (Elder Wilkins will still have the most transfers with me just at different times).  We are pretty excited to continue serving around each other.  It is really unusual for a trainer to be with the trainee for 4 transfers. Maybe the Lord knows I need to have twice as long to teach my companion as other missionaries need. :)   Hahah, over the last few days I have pretty much said goodbye to the members here, so they will be super surprised when I show up to church again. 

Yes, we should be getting the Hermanas back here in Renton today.  One will be straight from the MTC.  We also have a new branch mission leader that was sustained last Sunday, so the missionary work here should really change. The new mission leader is a convert of about 2 years and loves missionary work!!! Hopefully we can get him oriented on Preach My Gospel and area books really soon.

Right now we have been trying to teach a lot of women in this area.  It makes it a little difficult at times to always find a member to go with us to the lesson, so I guess the Hermanas will automatically have some work when they get here.
The branch is pretty excited because the first missionary EVER to serve from this branch is coming back today!  Of course I never knew him, but he may be a huge asset for us if he really wants to continue doing missionary work.

Not too much to report.  I love the members here, my companion, the work, and even the rain...yup life is swell!

With much love,

Elder Seattle

Temple Trip in WA

Family,

Well, today has been wonderful but we are in a bit of a rush.  We just got back from a temple trip in Bellevue.  As always, the temple was wonderful.  Of course, the district I am in realized it was my last temple trip (as a missionary) and were (jokingly) saying that the next time I go through the temple would be to get married... I managed to not think about that. :)  The only problem is that the temple trip really cuts into pday so we are running around like mad the rest of the day.  Also to make pday even shorter, I am traveling back up to Bellevue for a baptismal interview at 4pm and then we have an emergency district meeting thing at 5:30pm.

I have no idea what to say about you not hearing from the mission, Mom. They called me about a month ago because they were trying to get a hold of you but didn't have the right address or phone number.  I have now given them the correct information 3 times, but maybe they have lost it again.  Or maybe they forgot I was leaving!!!  At any rate, I know when I am scheduled to leave (May 6th).  Due to a change up in the length of time missionaries stay in the MTC, our transfer this transfer was cut to 5 weeks, thus robbing me of a precious week in the mission.

This week was really good.  It seemed like we weren't really reaching anyone, but then we had a couple investigators, part member families, and less active families we have been visiting show up to church at the end of the week. This past week was one of the biggest groups I have seen in the gospel principles class at church!  We also had interviews with President Larkin this week, and he told me he would be putting Hermanas back in Renton next week. One will be straight from the MTC and the other will have never served in Renton.  We will most likely be passing off multiple people that we have been teaching to them, and so our teaching pool will be cut in half.

Not too much new to report. Transfers are this weekend and Elder Carpenter is hoping that we stay together so he can "kill me off."  I don't think that it will happen (I have never been with a companion for 4 straight transfers), but we can hope for the best.

 

Love you all,

Elder Ben

McKay Still in Denial

Sounds good -- book me a flight to Phoenix.  On second thought, I'll just tell the mission office I want to fly directly there instead of to Salt Lake City.  They gave me my flight plans this week.  I just about shredded it and played ignorant that it was never received.  I've managed to hide it from most of the zone so far, so I can slip out quietly without too much fanfare or people being ridiculous and making "Hey elder, how far away is that plane?" jokes.  I've decided that the best way forward is to legally change my name and submit my papers again!  Wahooo!  Peru, here I come!  (Or maybe China...I've loved teaching these Chinese investigators here in Gainesville...). Benjamin, I agree with you.  A 10-14 year mission (Sons of Mosiah or Paul style) sounds pretty epic.

When is Mayu's recital?  Is that this week or can I make it?  I hope Terry had some video of his....or maybe I'll just request a private concert.  =)

Elder McKay

Scripture Challenge

Well, not too much to report this week.   We are on the search for those that are truly interested. A lot of people tell us to come back later, then when we do several times they finally tell us they are not interested.  We did meet a couple with a one year old daughter from Mexico that seem to be interested though, and we are excited to start teaching them more.

A couple of weeks ago, I challenged myself to read the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Pearl of Great Price before the end of my mission (I had just finished the Old Testament and knew that to add that on as well would be too much).  I still don't even know if it is possible, but I am giving it everything I have.  It has been an awesome experience and I am spending every moment I can reading.  Right now I am loving reading of the mission experiences of Paul.  I love how bold yet simple teaching he does.  There is so much to learn as a missionary, and I wish I could have a 10 year mission just to learn it all.  There is no end to improvement.

Not too much else to report this week.

Love you all,

Elder Ben

Baptism in Seattle

Family,

Congratulations on Casey's mission call!!!  That is exciting.  I am sure he will do well with speaking French if he was the runner up for language sterling scholar.

Gabe, I wish you well on the ACT.  Don't worry, I was thinking I might not do to much better then the monkey, but somehow I was able to pull off a little bit better then expected.

Joe, I am excited to speak Spanish with you!!!  Let's have a goal to have at least a simple conversation by the time I get home.  I  had 9 weeks in the MTC, so you should be just as good as when I left the MTC by the time I get home :)
 

This last weekend we had 2 baptisms!!!  Our investigator and her daughter were baptized.  Also a child of record (8 year old) was baptized the same time.  We had also been teaching him so that he would be more prepared for his baptism. It was nice to see all 3 of them dressed in white.  Due to the fact that we thought she was moving last weekend, we didn't announce it in sacrament meeting.  We spent the whole week getting everything planned and calling everyone in the branch.  The baptismal service was a little bit out of hand.  The programs were forgotten by the person in charge of them, the speakers mixed up what topic they were supposed to talk about, and even though we had members picking up the people being baptized, they arrived a half hour late.  After all of that, I guess that the important thing is that the ordinance was performed.  Haha, another funny thing is that the week that a baptism happens is the week I don't have my camera. Yep, it is in the car that is being worked on. :(   We should get it back today, but that didn't help me last weekend.  Luckily, Elder Carpenter was able to get a picture.  Hopefully I will be able to send you a copy.
 

Well, that is it for this week.  Pretty busy with the baptism, but very rewarding to see them and how excited they were for that day.

Well, this computer is going to kick me off, so I need to run.

 

 Love you all,

Elder Seattle

 

 

FL Update

Zone Conference this week!  Got to organize and take part in an awesome musical number, "The Lord is My Shepherd," with a few  talented elders and sisters!  Right afterwards I had to give a 20 minute training....sometimes I think I would rather sing in front of a group than speak. When I sing, I know what is going to come out.  =P

Cough still not gone, so I guess since Mom insists that I come home healthy I'll have to add another 4-6 months onto my mission just to be sure that it goes away.  I'm taking the scriptures as a lead on how to receive that extension:

 There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.  -- Luke 18:2-5

Ha! I've pestered President Barry so often about receiving extra time that he's probably becoming wearied of hearing about it!

Saturday we had a great lesson with Keith and he was loving the Book of Mormon and committed solidly for church.  Sunday morning, just to be sure, we decided to call and then text a reminder to him that his ride would be coming by at 8:30.  A few minutes later, we get a text back saying that he doesn't feel like coming after all and would rather just sleep.  Say WHAT?  No, way, Mr. Devil!  You ain't winnin' on this one!  I text back, "Keith, I can promise you that you will get much more 'rest' by keeping the sabbath day holy than you would by sleeping in. Will you  come?"   After 20 minutes of silence, we figured he had gone back to bed, but then he sent us another message, "Ok, I'm ready.  Come and get me."  Wahooo!  His baptism date can still hold solid!

Minor miracles still happening around us.  No one could possibly convince me that this work is not favored...far too many coincidences of meeting people and being there at "just the right time."

Bye for now!

Elder M

Cruising in a 12 Passenger Van

Well, glad to hear that all is well in Logan and that the weather at least permits you to see.  I do remember that during the winter months sometimes it can get a bit nasty up there.  I do remember the store Hastings.  It was just right down the street from the old apartment.  I can't believe that Jensen Book's is still in business.  Right before I left for my mission they started to go down hill.  I guess there will always be people reading books though.

This week was the worst, but best week ever!  We struggled all of the way up to Sunday.  We weren't finding anyone to teach and on Thursday (by phone) found out that our awesome investigator that was going to be baptized this weekend was going to move back to Panama! :(  We had just had a lesson with her 2 days before and nothing was mentioned.  She said that she was moving back to Panama on Sunday, and we didn't have a chance to see her after that because she was busy packing and everything. Totally bummed but got her address in Panama to send the referral to the missionaries there.  Then on Sunday one of the guys in the part member family she is living with says in priesthood meeting that she didn't move!!!  What?!?!  Totally confused at that point, but then she shows up at sacrament!!  I was busy at the organ (now my unofficial calling in the branch to play during sacrament) and so didn't get to talk with her until after. She told us after that both the part member family and even her daughter had convinced her to stay and continue looking for work here. Her daughter is 10 and doesn't speak any English, but is in school and must be enjoying it because she totally wanted to stay. They will still move back to Panama if at the end of March she doesn't have a job here because she has one guaranteed there. Crazy miracle to see her in church though.  Not sure as of right now if she will be getting baptized this weekend because of that break of teaching her that we had but we will see what happens.

WHAT!!! OK SOMETHING JUST SUPER WEIRD HAPPENED!!!  Ok, so I am sitting in the library typing this email to you right now when some other missionaries from the zone walk up to us.  One I have known since he started his mission 4 transfers ago in Renton and he is now training someone.  I thought that the person he was training looked really familiar.....then I realized HE WENT TO MANTI HIGH!!!  Crazy small world.  Alecia would know him...Elder Thompson.  Oh, he asked how you were doing Alecia.  Haha, I told him you were up in Logan now.  A little trippy to see someone that you know (or at least recognized) from pre-mission life.

So anyways, back to Sunday.  We were in church when a member family said that they had a friend that would be interested in meeting with us, and they had already set up a lesson for after church.  This member family is awesome and is all about missionary work.  We go to the lesson and meet the lady that they were talking about.  The lesson went amazing.  This lady has been through A LOT in her life, but knows God is there.  Super amazing, and before we could even ask, she told us that if she came to know that this church was true she would be joining it!  The next detail is even better.  The member family only met this lady 2 days before, and that was when they were working selling stuff.  Talk about asking everyone if they want to learn about the gospel.

Also on Sunday some recent converts from an English ward in the stake invited their grounds keeper to learn about the gospel.  Since they don't know any Spanish, the lady had to type out an invitation on her Ipad and translate it to Spanish so she could invite this man to dinner.  Ipads can be useful.  The English elders, who just happen to be in our district this transfer, quickly arranged for an exchange so that I could go to the dinner appointment.  There I met this super nice man from Oaxaca, Mexico.  He even knows our Elders quorum president already because they used to live right next to each other in an apartment complex before the elders quorum president moved.  Super awesome.

So Sunday was the redeeming quality of this last week.

 

We also found out this week that our mission is going to be splitting on July 1st. The Seattle mission is already one of the smallest in the world but will be split into the Seattle and Federal Way missions.  Well, I won't have to worry about that, I guess.  It is kind of sad that his mission as we know it is coming to an end though.

Also weird story of the week.  So the vehicle coordinator called us to say we got clearance to get our car fixed after the January 31 accident.  It turns out the car will take several days to get fixed, so we were told to drive to the mission office to pick up a van.  We get there and find out we will be driving a huge 12 passenger van until our car is fixed!  Hahah.  They usually use this van to haul beds, desks and such around the mission.  We have been driving it for 4 days now.  I am sure it is a bit humorous to see only 2 missionaries get out of a huge van, but that is what we are rolling with now.

 

Well that sums up the week,

Elder Seattle

Short Update From FL

Gabe and Joe are definitely too young to be doing anything for Valentine's day!  ....I don't even remember looking at a girl until I was 18. Yikes.  Stay safe, brothers!  =D

Not sure on the extension...it's probably safe to plan on the 21st unless otherwise notified.  Still working on it though....

Lung infection = stubborn.  Antibiotics didn't do anything.  Doctor will be checking it out again on Thursday.

New companion....but an old companion. I've been companions with Elder Bennion before waaaaay back in Fort Caroline in summer 2011 when we were both fresh.  Found out in his first ward council here that he's related to the elders quorum president...5th cousins once removed....I think that's what they determined.

Sister Howell came into the mission for her 3 outbound transfers from the Temple Square mission. That was fun - I've never met another Howell before and now there's one serving in my district!  She says family headquarters is in Michigan.  Do we have any relatives out thataway?

 Also met the Knudsen family's former babysitter.  That was an odd moment.  Lol, the church makes the world a very small place.

Loves,

~Me

Ben to Stay in Renton (again:)

Well, transfers were today (drum roll)..... I am going to be staying in Renton and Elder Carpenter will still be my companion!, Haha., I thought for sure that my time in Renton had come to an end and even told some of the members and investigators that I thought I was leaving.  Renton just can't seem to get rid of me. :)  Another elder form Manti, Elder Walk, has now (in a couple weeks) been in Renton for a year straight.  I have been here just over that with my two times being here, so we are the "old men" in the zone.  I think that it is a little bit uncommon to stay with your trainee for 3 transfers because the training program is only for two and most of them get a different companion right after.  We were both surprised, but glad, when we heard the news.

McKay, you got in a car accident as well!  What are the odds of that?  Hopefully, I don't get any infections now soon.

Well, we had one really good lesson with the man from Puerto Rico this past week.  McDonalds is keeping him busy, but I will mention the LDS employment center to him.  I think we have one here in Renton.  He loves the church and wants to continue to come. The only thing holding him back from baptism right now is he needs to get married.  He wants to get married but his girlfriend doesn't want to at this moment.  Not much we can do about that.  We are only here to teach and invite.  When I told him I may be leaving he said, "I was hoping you would be here when I got baptized."  Uuummm, I hope I am too. We will see what happens.
 

The women and her daughter from Panama are also progressing really well. Satan has been doing a pretty good job making it hard to get a member from the relief society with us in the lessons, but lucky for us she lives at a part member family's home, and so we still have member support.  We have set up multiple lessons and had members coming with us, and then they call last minute and say they can no longer come with us.  One of them will go through though.  She has been to church now 4 times in a row and went to a stake wide Valentine's activity (don't worry, we as missionaries didn't go to a Valentine's activity) this past week.  She also loves the church and is looking forward to being baptized, hopefully on March 2nd.

I have continued to drive around the mission like a crazy man doing baptismal interviews.  Good thing for us that the zone leaders gave us more miles to use this month or we would end up walking.  It looks like this week may be a little more calm as nobody in the Spanish program that I know of yet has a baptism set for this week.  I have absolutely loved it though! 

The meeting with Elder Bowen was awesome!  I don't even think words could explain it.  He is a spiritual giant (as all general authorities are) and we as a mission learned a lot.  I love how after someone like that comes the mission work seems to see a large increase, and this time was no different. Throughout the mission the work seemed to pick up.  Everyone is trying to be the best they can and improve where they need to.  It is amazing to see.  A reference to Robert Bannister came up in his talk, and an elder on a senior couples mission and I were the only ones who knew who he was.  Weird.

 

Everything is great here! Love it!

Elder Seattle

 

 

Car Accicent in FL too!

Exciting week, in the mood of quickness, I'll sum it up and tell you the details in a few weeks:

* Car crash - rainy day, wet roads, not our fault, everyone ok

* Lung infection - mission doctor put me on the world's most powerful antibiotic

* President's Interviews - he can only give me 30 day extension but said he would "work on it"!  =D  ...also, not sure why he always mentions marriage and family in the past 3 interviews now.

* Bunch of new investigators, a few in church.  4 baptisms in the zone that we got to interview this week!  Thankfully, some of these investigators have sufficient English as their second language to understand the interview questions.

* Transfers - staying in Gainesville for my last transfer.  New companion....well, kinda.  Elder Bennion, who I was companions with a year and a half ago, has been asked to be a zone leader and join me here.

Loves!

Elder M.

Work in Seattle

Mi familia amada,

Well, this week wasn't quite as exciting as last week, and for that I am grateful.  I can only handle so much.  We did have two days of ridiculous opposition, but it didn't involve any sickness or car crashes.  This past week/ weekend it seems like I was kept on the go with how many baptismal interviews I had to do.  I love this opportunity to serve as the Spanish trainer (or Spanish assistant)!  Yes, it comes with its challenges and things to do, but I have the wonderful opportunity to meet everyone who is getting/planning on getting baptized in the whole Spanish program, and I have been able to meet some of God's elect.  Not only that but I get to see most of the Spanish missionaries in the mission, and it seems like we are driving from one side of the mission to the other on a regular basis. 

Even with all of the time driving and in meetings and with us being out of our proselyting area, our own work went up!  Weird!  We have started to teach a mother and her 10 year old daughter this past week.  They are from Panama and just moved here 3 or 4 weeks ago.  They are wonderful and we have had several really good lessons with them.  The mother read the reading assignment that we left her and liked it so much that she kept on reading!  In my experience, not too many people do that.  Unfortunately the man from Puerto Rico hasn't been able to meet with us too much lately.  McDonalds is making him work way too much, and now has also scheduled him for every weekend so he can't make it to church.  He is looking around for another job because he really doesn't want to continue working there.  He seems to have a huge desire to learn about and soak up the information of the church, but only seems to act or apply part of what we teach into his life.  It has been a little sad because I have come to love that family so much.  We are continuing to work with him, and he loves us coming over when his schedule permits.

This week (Friday) the mission has Elder Bowen from the 70 coming to speak! We are all pretty excited.  It isn't to often that a general authority comes and when we get the whole mission together in one place.

  

Well sorry not too much to report this week.  The work keeps moving forward!

 

Elder Seattle

 

Car Accident and Sickness in WA

Family,

Well, this past week was a little bit bizarre and I had several experiences that I have never before had on my mission.  Only bad part is, none of them were good.  Haha what a messed up week.  Satan was working his hardest on my companion and me (mostly me) this week, but luckily we came off conqueror. First off, I was pretty sick Tuesday and Wednesday.  I felt well enough to go to district meeting early Tuesday afternoon but then quickly went downhill from there.  We also started an exchange with our district leader right after district meeting.  I was way cold by Tuesday dinner and started to have queasy feelings. I lay down on the couch for an hour but then decided that missionary work is for 2 short years, and I wasn't wasting a single second being sick on a couch.  My district leader and I went out tracting right after that and the whole time I felt like I was going to throw up.....then I did.  I started to feel pretty good after that and was able to finish up the night.  Wednesday morning wasn't too much better, but as the day went on I started to feel better.  It was perfect timing too, because that night I had to be in Federal Way for a baptismal interview.  I think that hard word was the medicine.  I was able to work through it all.  After my companion asked why I didn't just turn in for the night Tuesday and lay around Wednesday and I told him the same thing I thought the night before. Missions are short. You don't want to look back and see that you misused a second of the Lord's time.

By Thursday I was feeling great and then WE GOT INTO A CAR ACCIDENT!!!  Yup, no joke.  Good thing for us it was nothing major and we walked away without injuries.  Also good thing it wasn't our fault, or I wouldn't be driving right now.  We were completely stopped at a red light and there was a bunch of traffic ahead of us.  I look back in the rear view mirror just a split second before the accident and see a car coming pretty fast.  I only had time to think "that car is coming pretty fast to stop in time....wait it isn't going to stop in time" and then the car hit us.  The impact made us lunge forward and hit the back of the car in front of us, so basically we were played ping pong with.  It took the rest of the night to get the situation worked out, and then our vehicle coordinator wanted pictures asap so we had to print pictures that night. Totally shot our plans. Then Friday, I had to continue filling out paper work, printing pictures and writing out what happened....another huge amount of time.

Lucky for us, the weekend was pretty mellow, and we were actually able to continue on in the missionary work.

We had one of the less active members come out to church for the second time in a row.  The others were out of town this past week so we will have to try again for weekend.  Also our investigator from Puerto Rico came to church for his 3rd time and loved it.  He is now trying to get his wife to come with him.  She is pretty shy and doesn't really want to go somewhere new.  He loves the church though and feels at home there.

Not too much to report this week.  It was a bit crazy, but we managed to pull through it.  Hopefully by next week I will have something a bit more spiritual and uplifting to report.

 

Love you all,

Elder Seattle

Work Going Well in FL

This was a rather full week -- lots of ups, lots of downs. One thing that you will never hear is that missionary service was ever dull! I feel like a chicken with my head cut off sometimes just running around from one thing to another; I have certainly learned the value of a daily planner to get it all accomplished.

On Monday, Elder Bishop and I hit up The Swamp (UF football stadium) for our weekly workout with our ward mission leader. We sprinted up the entire length of the stadium and I managed to get up the entire side in 30 seconds -- new PR!  Just about killed my calves though; it is incredibly hard to walk back down the steps after multiple repetitions and your legs are just shaking uncontrollably. =P  One of our ward members is a professional screen printer who makes t-shirts and he invited us to his shop to design a custom shirt for the Gainesville Zone!  That was a rather fun/unique P-day -- learning step by step how to design, prep, and make our own t-shirts.

Tuesday was a new first for me.  One of our recent converts who was baptized in November, received a home teaching route and asked us to come with him since his companion was unavailable.  Being with our own convert as he's out doing missionary work and visiting his families for the first time was soooo rewarding!  Now that's real growth!  Not just a baptism, but then seeing him actively engaged in the same work that we do! One of my other converts who was baptized in November in the 2nd ward also told me that she had received a calling as the Relief Society Activities Coordinator, she has a visiting teaching list, and that her 8 year old daughter that I had also taught had been baptized!  My heart was soaring that day.

Wednesday was another zone leader council in Jacksonville -- we discussed prayer and short, powerful lessons. If every missionary could have the same dedication and Spirit as the group in that room, the mission field would be a totally different experience. I'm very grateful that I get to attend those meetings/trainings with President Barry -- he's a very genuine and spiritually strong individual; definitely leads by love and example.

Thursday, was spent in Williston on exchanges. This was now the second time in as many weeks that I went on an exchange with an elder who goes home this coming transfer.  It was rather odd, almost like an exit interview, "What are some goals that you would like to set to finish strong this next week?"  It was a good exchange though and we received several referrals, found two families, and set a baptismal date at the door with one lady after a 3 minute lesson when the Spirit touched all of us very strongly.

Friday we taught a Scottish couple - loved their accents!  Reminded me of working tech support getting all those calls from the UK. Elder Bishop got tangled on a few things they said and didn't understand some of it, but thankfully I still remembered a few tricks of the language and smoothed it out.  =D

Saturday was rather uneventful. I do understand how Jake came back from his mission totally immune to cigarette smoke though. I think I was inundated with more second hand smoke that day than any other time in my mission.

Sunday was a bust and our morale was pretty low.  A score of investigators had committed to come to church just the day before and we had arranged rides for every single one of them with ward members.  For various reasons, every single one of them fell through that morning when the members went to pick them up.  Zero people in church....first time that's happened in a long time.... That night, a set of elders called to tell us that their investigator was in the hospital and wanted us to go give a blessing.  Our plans had fallen through, so we went right over to the hospital at about 8:15pm. As we read from the scriptures and gave her a blessing, the Spirit swept through the room and she started crying, but had no idea what was happening.  Her member boyfriend said, "You know what you're feeling, right?  That's the Holy Spirit working through you."  Wowzer!  Her heart was definitely softened that night and she is now much more receptive!  We'll hopefully be returning tonight to teach some more and set the other elders up with a baptism date (once she gets out of the hospital, of course).

Love ya!

Elder M. Howell

76 Languages in Seattle

Familia y amigos,

Mom, I think President Hintze has the right idea.  It seems a little bit weird and impersonal to end your mission by being released by phone.  Haha, I am never coming home so it doesn't matter.  With the influx of new missionaries and the massive hoards of people needing to enter the MTC, they are changing up the time that missionaries will even be in there.  That being said, we have to change our transfer date to before or after it was planned for to match when the new missionaries will arrive in the field.  So right now, I don't even know when I will be home.  Hopefully it will be a month extension or something like that. :)

Mom, to answer your question, I think that I have met someone from every Spanish speaking country except Spain.  I think it is nice that I get such a great variety.  It is always stretching my brain to learn more.  Just when I think I can understand Spanish, someone comes along with another crazy accent that I have to figure out.  Seattle is a melting pot for every kind of speaker, not just Spanish.  I believe we have one of the most diverse missions in the world.  I am also pretty sure the most diverse zip code in the United States is in my area (or so I heard).  Something like 76 languages spoken in 5 miles or something.  It sure makes it hard for any missionary to go contacting of tracting in that area.

Getting 3 less actives to church was actually the highlight of the week.  Two of them haven't been to church in over 8 months and then the other one is the man that hadn't been for 40 years!  I think that they all enjoyed it, so maybe it will be the start of them coming back.  One of the men had promised us that he would go to church.  Sunday morning rolls around and he told us (later in the day) he was so tired and was planning on skipping church that morning.  We called him about a half hour before church and he didn't answer, so we decided to go over to his house.  At the same time he saw the call from us and decided to still ignore it and sleep in.  He told himself though that if the missionaries came to his house that he would go to church.  To his surprise, we knocked on his door five minutes later and asked him to come to church!

We are constantly finding and sifting through people.  This past week I don't think we taught anyone more then once.  Even the Puerto Rican family was out of town for a bit, so we didn't see them more then once.  Although a miracle did happen.  A women who isn't a member, but comes to church frequently and is all but a member (her husband, brother, and son are members but for some reason she refuses to be baptized) brought her friend and her friend's daughter to church.  They liked it and the non-member member told us we should start teaching them!  Yay for non-member missionary work!!!

les amo a todos ustedes mucho,

El Elder Seattle

Delayed Baptisms in FL

Hey ya'll!

Here is a testimony to the reality of Satan:  our double-dipped baptism was thwarted this weekend!  Gar! Blast that miserable demon!

Here's how it happened....

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....  Our awesome buddy, Ken, was a thug in his former life. My letters in the past have expressed some of that -- shot 6 times, rapper, into drugs, lives in the hood, etc. However, when the light of the gospel came into his life, he latched onto it like a drowning man clings to a life preserver. Unfortunately, the consequences are a bit more long lasting than what we anticipated -- the law caught up to him and he's on probation for a significant amount of time. Church policy, states that baptisms cannot happen when a person is on probation without First Presidency approval -- which can only be given after a person comes to church regularly for a minimum of 3 months and is recommended by the mission president.  So now we have another 2 months to go...  Ken took it well though, and agrees that he'll be able to understand much more of the Book of Mormon in that time.

Satan also attacked Robin and kept her feeling ill this last week.  Her baptism is indefinitely postponed.

On the bright side, families are pouring out of the wood work and we had a gal who attended church with Ken ask one of the Relief Society sisters if our church baptized people because she was really feeling the Spirit that day and wants to be baptized!  Woot!

The work goes on.

Love ya!

Elder M.

40 Years Inactive

Family,

Happy Birthday to Landen and Mom!!!

Well, we are also in a bit of a cold spot right now., It has been in the mid twenties for about a week now. ,We haven't seen too much rain, but we have had a thick fog roll in for the past 6 days straight. ,With all the water in the air it makes it feel a,lot colder then it is.

It was good to hear that Dad finished up with his long job in Price.  I am sure it feels good to be home.

Today Elder Carpenter and I will be headed up to Seattle for a "culture day." Basically all it is is a pday you can use one time during your mission to see the sights.  Since I have already served in Seattle, I have seen most of the big tourist attractions, but Elder Carpenter hasn't.  We are going up there with our Elders quorum president and his family so it should be fun.

We have been working with the family from Puerto Rico still.  The husband is progressing really well and loves the church, but the wife and kid haven't shown too much interest as of right now.  Our branch president has advised us to work with all of them until they are all ready for baptism, and they also need to get married before they can be baptized.  I think they want to get married though so it shouldn't be that big of a problem to overcome.  We will see what happens.

The man from Paraguay...actually turns out he is from Peru.  Weird right?  I guess both my companion and I heard wrong.  We taught him once more after our initial visit, but has been hard to teach since then.  He works over an hour away and so wakes up early every morning and then doesn't get back until late. He has started to read the Book of Mormon though and committed to pray about it, which is more than some investigators do, so we are excited.  He is pretty interested as well in the church because he has had good influences from his member friends in the past.

We also met a man that has been inactive for 40 years!!!  No, I didn't type that wrong.  This man was baptized around1962 when he was 14 years old and hasn't been to church since the 70's.  He was baptized in the first branch in El Salvador and just moved here in Renton several weeks ago.  He tried coming to church but got lost/couldn't find the address so we will have to have a member pick him up next week.  We seem to get in contact with a lot of people who are members but that we don't have records for in the branch.  It makes me wonder how many more there are here.

I also did something for the first time in my mission.  I contacted someone in Spanish, and Spanish was both of our second languages!  This lady is from Brazil and so speaks Portuguese.  Lucky for us, she also knew pretty good Spanish, and if she threw in Portuguese words I could understand most of them. She invited us to come back to her house another time when her whole family would be home and we could teach them then.

Well that basically wraps up the week.  Sorry I am out of time to write because we are in the Family History library at the church again this week due to the holiday, and so there is a line of other missionaries who want to write their families. 

 

 Until next week!

 

 Elder Seattle

 

Font of Forgiveness

Hello Family,

Not much of note to report this week.  All is quiet on the Eastern front. Robin's baptism was postponed till next week - she was in the hospital Sunday with some stomach pains.  She's one of the funniest people I've ever met though - just a pure, Southern black woman.  She's been promising us a mess of her famous baked beans and cornbread as soon as she gets out. Ha!  You should meet this lady - 350 pounds, 5'4" and just the most loving person you ever met.  I've almost taken to calling her "momma!"  =D   And you should hear her sing some gospel!  Woooeee!  Anyway, Ken is also scheduled for next week, so hopefully we'll be doing a double dip in the font of forgiveness, that tank of transfiguration, the pool of purification this next week.

Have all ya'll ever heard of Glady's Knight and the Saint's Unified Voices?  President Barry called her up and asked her to do a concert/fireside here in Jacksonville and she agreed!  They were booked up for the next 2 years straight, but somehow they found time to work us in.  Wow! That's going to be a major missionary opportunity getting people to that in the last week of my mission!  I'm so excited!  Some Southern Soul put into those mormon hymns!

Fun fact: How many of you have seen the cheesy LDS video "The Testaments"?  Well, guess what, the young woman that flirts with the main character the whole time is from Gainesville, FL!  Her family makes sure that everybody knows -- I guess it's their claim to fame!

Other fun fact for Jake:  We took our investigator Ken to watch the CES Devotional with President Uchtdorf a couple weeks ago. Before the broadcast began and immediately after, there were short video segments featuring the church's institute program and I spotted a familiar face both times!  Becky Bylund!  Yeah, it was a little weird for me to be sitting at an international broadcast in Florida and seeing one of our past dance partners reading scriptures.  The Mormon world is soooo small!  =P

Happy Birthday, Mom!  This would put you at about 35, right?  =D  Are you and Dad going to get to hit up the town and have a date night now that he's back from Price?

Jake and Daniel, well done with the races!  I've picked up running, but I'm definitely still at the 5K level.  Be ready to share some rock climbing skills with me. Ben, sounds like you'll be putting a lot of miles on your car with leading all of the Spanish areas in the entire mission; good luck!  Gabe, I got a good laugh out of your concise summary of your blind date experience -- "a 9.5"!  Go get em, cowboy!  Happy Birthday, to Landen this week!  Does he like Star Wars, Jaclyn, or are your kids sold on the comic book heroes?  Perhaps I can teach them the ways of the Force and bring them to the light side....

Till next time!

Elder M.

Work Picking Up in WA

Family,

We also had a drop in temperatures and it got down to 21 degrees.  The coldest is has been this winter.  Luckily, it wasn't raining at the time and so we didn't get a huge ice storm like we did last year.  My companion is still hoping that the ice storm will happen because he thinks it would be cool to see.  Not very good for the missionary work when something like that happens because we have to walk everywhere.

 

We should be also be receiving our first wave of several of missionaries in several more weeks.  It is an exciting time to be a missionary, and our missionary numbers will go up by about 70-80 people.

 

I was called this week to the assignment of Spanish Trainer.  Basically I am over all of the Spanish missionaries in the mission.  I have to do exchanges, baptismal interviews, and teach/train all of the missionaries.  It should be a fun assignment, and it will be a great way for me to get to know all of the new missionaries that we have here.

 

We were looking forward to having the Puerto Rican family at church this week.  Unfortunately, McDonalds surprised him and called him in to work on Sunday. :)  He doesn't really like working at McDonalds (I don't blame him) and is just working there until he can find something else.  We taught him the word of wisdom and he said it made sense and that he would start living it! 

 

We had a hard finding new people to teach this week and ended up teaching about as many lessons in English to people that we tracted into than we did Spanish.  We even put someone on date for baptism for an English ward. jajaja!  That is the wonderful thing about missions.  You never know, and never will know, how much good you actually do on your missions.  We also taught a guy (also in English) that was super interested in the church and had several friends who were members  All we could really do is give him a Book of Mormon though because he is moving to Thailand.  He is going out there to school and gave us his email address to forward to the mission office out there.

Sunday night we were going to visit a less active man in our branch.  We have been going by his house a lot lately, but for some reason he is never home or we show up when he is busy.  Lucky for us, we caught him at a good time and he invited us in!  Also, he had a roommate move in several days ago.  We were talking to the less active man for several minutes just seeing how he was doing, and his friend asks us what we teach!  This man grew up in Paraguay but has been in the states for about 10 years now.  He remembers a "mormon church" in his town and how beautiful it was and also had several friends that were in the branch down there.  We were able to teach him the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon.  The less active man then volunteered to take him to the Friday night activities and then church on Sunday!  This may be a way to get him going back to church and also introduce his friend to the church and the members!

 

The man with the broken ribs has recovered enough to at least start walking a little now.  He has read a little but not too much.  Several of the members have been doing a great job about going over and talking/ sharing spiritual messages with him.

 

Hasta la proxima semana

Elder B.

'Emergency' Baptism in FL

Well, Mom, I'm not sure if our winter here is over or if we're just in the eye of the storm, but we had a heat wave this week. Temperatures have been absolutely perfect in the mid 70s (even got up to 80 once) and college students have been running around in mini shorts and tank tops again. President Barry hasn't released us from suit coat season yet though, so we've been a little bit on the warm side as we're out working.  I hope Jake and Daniel tear it up this weekend at the Painter's Half!  I've actually gotten a lot more regular with running here in Florida, so perhaps I'll join them for the next one....if it's not negative 15 degrees outside, that is.  

This last transfer we got the first of the 18 year old elders and the wave of our 19 year old sisters begins in 3 more weeks. I think we're getting in 15 of them or something in one swoop and then another group 6 weeks later.  Some sisters will have to have two trainees at the same time to handle all of them. So yeah, it doesn't surprise me that all of Alecia's friends are moving out. Tell Lou that she should put her mission papers in -- forget about this boyfriend nonsense, a mission is way better! Grandma says that Madison is thinking about it too, so if the extended family hears this, tell her that I strongly encourage a mission for her as well!  =D

One of our district leaders down in Williston left us a voicemail on Friday afternoon requesting that we call him back ASAP! We called him back to find out that they were having an "emergency baptism" the next day and needed us to come down to interview the man. A few weeks ago, Elder Bishop and I had been called into the hospital to give a blessing to a man whose wife has been an inactive member for about 20 years. Before we gave him a blessing, we discussed some things and he said, "When I get out of this hospital, I think it's about time for me to be baptized." We had returned a couple times over the next week and read the scriptures with him, but he had been released and was still recovering at home in Williston. Fortunately, he had been able to make it to church that last week.  We referred him to the elders down there and they called him on Friday to setup a time when they could come meet with him and he said, "Could I be baptized tomorrow?  I have a lot of family in town that I would like to have be there for it."  WHAT?!  Ha!  Incredible!  So we approved it with the bishop and headed down to interview him.  The next day we returned for his baptism, met all of his non-member extended family, and several of them approached afterward and asked for copies of the Book of Mormon and if they could meet with the Williston elders. 

On the bummer side (for our area, at least) Brent and Lorie got an incredible job offer back in Georgia and moved back immediately to begin working.  Fortunately, they are still in our mission and we'll be getting the missionaries up there to visit them pronto to help them remain solid for their upcoming baptism. I was a bit down to hear that because this was the first time that I had seen an enter family (two parents, and children) coming into the gospel together, but I am happy that the Lord has blessed them with the opportunities to provide for their family and that they recognize it as a blessing from Him.

Ken is solid.  Or, in his own words, he's "concrete." We took him to institute on Tuesday, had a lesson and basketball with the elders quorum on Thursday, church on Sunday, and then the CES Devotional on Sunday night. President Uchtdorf spoke on "Truth" and Ken received a spiritual witness that this is exactly where God wants him to be. We're continuing to help him overcome some word of wisdom difficulties, so his baptism date may be pushed back a little bit, but he wants to quit and is making good progress on all of it, so we are very hopeful and optimistic about his future. Here's the kicker: his favorite color is white and he wants to go purchase a pure white suit for Sundays!  =P

Great week, great place, great people.

Loves!

Elder M.

Planning by the Spirit in WA

Family,

I am very happy to report that we have nothing like the weather that you are experiencing.  We usually stay in the high 30s up to 45 degrees or so...although we continue to be dumped on by a ton of rain.  We did have several days of no rain around the new year but that was very short lived.

 

We just had transfers today.  Transfers seem to be flying by right now.  Since I am training and the training program is for 12 weeks, I of course, didn't leave Renton.  I have a feeling that this could be the last transfer I will be here though. With the end of last transfer, I am now the oldest (missionary time) Spanish missionary in the mission.  A little scary because only one other Spanish elder has been out for longer then 4 months.

 

Right now, we have 1 investigator (the man from Puerto Rico and his family).  I only say one because we haven't been able to teach his wife or son too much because they work opposite shifts at work.  We, of course, have other people we are trying to visit and see, but nobody that we have taught too consistently.  They (the family) are progressing really nicely and it has been an absolute blast to work with them and get to know them better.  My Spanish ears are definitely not accustomed to listening to a Puerto Rican accent, and so I have been having to learn.  We have a family in the branch that is doing an amazing job fellowshipping them.  

 

 I think the awesome story of the week would have to be from this Saturday. These past couple of weeks we have had a hard time finding anyone home in the afternoon, and it seems like we haven't been 100% productive in what we try and do.  I commented that to my companion on Friday and told him we needed to seek the spirit better in nightly planning.  Later that night in planning, I felt the need to go see a less active man the next day.  We haven't been able to see this man for about 2 months because of his work schedule, and we have been by his house multiple times in the past with never seeing him.  We put him down though with faith that we would see him.  The next day at his house we knocked about 3 times, and we were about to turn and walk away when he answered the door.  It turns out that he broke 3 ribs in a bus/car accident a week ago.  After several days in the hospital and several more at his daughter's house, this was the first day home.  He has had a new job for about 2 weeks and was riding the bus up to it when the bus hit a car.  Of course, that isn't the awesome part of the story.  The awesome part is that we were guided to see him at the perfect timing...the day that he got home!  We had a really good visit with him.  Now with him having to be in bed all day everyday, he said he had time to read more in the Book of Mormon and Liahona, both he likes but always says he is to busy for it.
 

Love you all!

Elder Ben

 

Bible Miracle in FL

Hi Family!

So....I'm starving right now and probably won't be able to focus on writing a letter, so this might be the shortest ever update from Florida-land.  My companion had me chilling in the mall (at JCP, nonetheless) for 75 minutes while he tried on various new shirts, and we kinda skipped breakfast in the rush to check in with our district leaders with weekly reports and stuff, so my stomach is complaining vociferously!

Mom, it sounds like it was pretty cold there in Utah this week.  Just so you know, I didn't escape it entirely either.  We had an actual frost on our car one morning!  ....and then the sun came out and it disappeared a few minutes later.  =P

Tati had a baby, eh?  Wowzer, things have sure changed....  I think Ben and Bryce both had their first chilln's not too long ago as well.  Who's next?  Jake?  Bahahaha -- Take luck, brother!

I totally neglected to on our Skype call, but I wanted to shout out a big thanks for the Christmas package!  The classic Howell tradition of thin mints, some pistachios, funky "Udderly Smooth" lotion for cows, and an assortment of homemade goodies = perfect!  I really enjoyed it and still have a whole mound of stuff to chew through for the next few months now. Jaclyn's gift was definitely creative with the inflatable tree, ornaments, and "Santa Yoda" hat.  I included a picture of that so you can see what it was like (unfortunately, it was too small for my head).  Oh yeah, and the CD is amazing too!  =)

Brent and Lorie are still on for baptism on the 27th, and we continue to have incredible lessons with them several times a week. They've even brought in Brent's mom and Lorie's friend from Georgia over this last week who have been sucked into the discussions and want to continue when they return to home! Last night after the closing prayer, the Spirit was so strong that everyone was crying except Elder Bishop  and I - I guess we're just too used to it by now, or something. I love this family!  (The deep-South accent that I enjoy so much doesn't hurt either)

Here's the miracle of the week for you:  Elder Bishop and I received a referral from a member a while ago for a co-worker. We had called a couple of times and the family was pretty iffy on the ever meeting with us stating reasons of being really busy, etc. Last night, we were in the area, so we just decided to drop by since we had never actually met them.  Before we even finished knocking on the door, Ron yanks open the door with a Bible in his hand. Hmmm, that usually doesn't happen. We start talking and he brings some chairs out onto the porch and he is just the most open and friendly man I've ever met! We had a great discussion about the first vision and the spirit was there very strongly.  As we were about to leave he said, "I feel like I need to tell you this.  I haven't been to any church in over a month; I haven't even picked up my Bible in over month.  Tonight, for some reason, I just felt a strong urge to read from my Bible. I was holding it in my hands and just said a prayer to God asking what he wanted for me in life and for some guidance. As soon as I finished my prayer, you were knocking on my door."  SAY WHAT?!   The Spirit just clobbered us all!  Family, friends, whoever reads this, I just want you to know that there are no such things as coincidences!  NONE!  God is soooo involved in orchestrating our lives and we see miracles like this happening every week; sometimes daily.  I'm so grateful to be doing this right now - best thing I ever chose to do.  God is good all the time!

Loves!

Elder M.

Photos of the Week: Gainesville is crazy about the Orange/Blue/Green/White color combination. A slick car that we drove next to in a downpour that Gabe and Joe will appreciate. Proof of cold weather in Florida. And the Santa Yoda Christmas decorations.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about our other miracle.  We received a media referral for a man requesting a Bible, so naturally we met him and gave him a Book of Mormon.  A few days later, we returned with the Bible and met his stepson, Ken.  Ken is a young black man in his late 20s, with dreads half way down his back, and looks like a total thug.  He's also been shot 6 times.  But he's the most genuine guy ever!  Ha!  He had a change of heart a few months after getting in some trouble with the law and is now a peaceable citizen, trying to do good, and has taken to writing gospel rap.  Elder Bishop refers to him as his own Fifty Cent (apparently a famous rapper who's been shot a few times).  Anyway, he came to church this Sunday and ate it up!  During sacrament meeting he leaned over and said, "I feel like I could fly!"  The members loved him and he's been invited to all sorts of activities.  We even got to meet his probation officer this morning!  (Another reason why we ran behind and why I'm so hungry.)  He wants to be baptized on the 20th, so we're praying that he'll be able to get by with just an interview with President Barry and not have to wait for approval from Salt Lake City. I'll see about sending a picture we took with him next week!  =) 

 

 

Happy B-Day, Elder Ben!

Mom and Alecia, thank you for the birthday wishes.  I am sure that this birthday will be a happy one.  I can't think of anything better then teaching the gospel.  I don't have anything planned, but a family in the branch has invited us over to have lunch with them.  I think that they felt a little pity for us because we can't go to the branch New Year's party tonight because it starts after we have to be inside.  The same family gave me a birthday cake last week when we had an elders quorum get together at their house.  Although the cake looked too nice to put my face into, so I just cut it up and we ate it.  Maybe they didn't think that was very fun, and so want to get some cake on my face today.

 

It was great talking to and seeing everyone on Christmas day.  It was good to see that Daniel and Jacob haven't changed at all in personality. :)  I think the person that has changed the most has been Joe.  I am sure I wouldn't have recognized Kaden, Landen or Teyah though if I saw them.  I loved the package that I received and I thought it was wonderful.  I laughed when I saw the "utterly smooth" lotion and at first thought that it was really a product for cows. Turns out it really is quite nice. :)

 

This week was a bit of a struggle in the work.  I am not sure if people were out of town or what, but we had several days of no lessons or hardly even having people be home. The day after Christmas I went on an exchange with the district leader, and I had planned out a pretty good day I had thought.  Literally, nobody was even at their house that day.  My district leader was thinking it was really weird and that he has never seen that...neither had I.  Still not sure what was up with it.

We did have several highlights of the week though. First, we got a referral several weeks ago and finally were able to contact this man last Saturday.  He let us right in and was engaged in the lesson the whole time.  Really has the desires to learn and that is were it all starts.  Unfortunately, this man's only day off is Saturday, and so we have to wait a whole week to see him.

We also saw and had a lesson with the man from Puerto Rico. This man and his wife both work at a nearby McDonalds and usually work on totally opposite shifts, and so it is nearly impossible to teach them both at the same time.  The wife is pretty shy and so is reserved about coming out to activities but he (the husband) has been to church, the branch Christmas party, and the elders quorum get together.  He has really been fellowshipped well by the elders quorum president, and now the president has invited him over to his house several more times.  Most importantly, he has read the first couple of chapters in The Book of Mormon and likes reading it.  Hopefully, we can have a lesson with both of them this week.

 

My companion and I still continue to get along well, which I am thankful for. Even out of this hard week we found many things to laugh about and have fun. Missionary work can never be boring even when it is hard.  Seriously, it makes no sense on how happy you can be. You would think it would be completely the opposite it hard times.  Most of the things to laugh at are ourselves in tracting situations...when I say ourselves I mean me.  (I guess I can be funny even while trying to be serious).  I guess I still after months of doing it, I am not a professional with words, speaking, and expressing what I am thinking or feeling, and it can still be a bit of a tongue twister in the moment.   Tracting has become one of my favorite things, but I don't think you can master it.  Every door is a new situation and a new person, so it never gets old.

 

Well that is about it for this week. I hope you all have a happy new year!

 

Elder Ben

Fl Christmas Miracle

Happy New Year!

 

We have now had p-day on Christmas Eve and on New Year's Day!  The stores were all ridiculously overcrowded while we were purchasing our groceries.  P-day this week was changed to Tuesday since transfer meeting is tomorrow. Elder Bishop and I were both very shocked to hear that we're remaining together for another 6 weeks -- neither one of us expected him to remain after being here 6 months.  I suppose that will only leave me with enough time for one more companion in the future.  I've been hinting to President Barry that I want to serve with Elder Craynor or Elder Lang before my time is up.  Lol, we'll see if he listens to the "still small voice" of Elder Howell whispering in his ear.

 

We saw a few miracles this week.  Actually, just about anything that happened was a miracle.  Gainesville has been a ghost town for the past two weeks as the students vacated for Christmas break and a lot of families traveled elsewhere.  We only had 40 people at church this week -- about the size of the smallest branch in the mission. The work has been pretty tough because of that - all of our investigators were gone!  With faith in the Lord, and by His total grace, we were blessed with 7 new investigators last week.  Then just yesterday, we were mercifully allowed to find three more!  10 investigators inbetween p-days!  Wowzer.  I want to mention one in particular.

 

Brent is a man that we came into contact with a little while ago when his fiance, Lorie, moved in with her father who recently joined the church. Brent and Lorie in the past haven't had much at all to do with God or religion and he's got tatoos all over his body as evidences of a life lived in the worldly sense. In the past couple weeks since they moved to Gainesville, he has been very humbled by unemployment and inability to find work to support his family. When he first spoke with us, it was more of a plea for help to see if we knew of any work opportunities. A few days later, we were visiting our recent convert as our last stop of the day, and Brent happened to be there with Lorie. Before Elder Bishop and I left, he motioned to us and pulled us aside into another room. "Elders, I want you to pray for me." As the words came from his mouth, his total humility was very evident. Due to a combined situation of not being able to provide for his family, feeling useless, and the anniversary of his father's death the next day, Brent was feeling very low. Instead of a prayer, we offered a blessing and he readily accepted. In that blessing, Elder Bishop felt prompted to say that if he had faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord would provide him with a job. He had tears streaming from his eyes as the blessing ended and we left to head home for the night. The next morning, at 8am, Brent was woken up by a phone call from a man who was offering him a job. He immediately recognized this as the hand of the Lord and excitedly called us up to say that he wanted to take the discussions and become a member of the church.

 

This is God's work.  He knows his children.  I am so grateful to be allowed to have a part in it. We truly didn't do anything other than witness His mighty hand accomplishing the salvation of souls.  Praise be!

 

Love ya'll!

 

Elder M.