Well there were no questions this week so I'm almost at a loss of how to start this letter! I guess getting to talk to me over Skype on Sunday kinda took all the questions away huh. Oh well all is good over here in the Spokane area of the world.
OK not a ton of stories for this week, naturally everyone has been super busy the week leading up to Christmas and we didn't get a lot done in regards to the work, just snip-its here and there and helping people remember the true meaning of Christmas. its absolutely amazing how many people don't get it anymore, how they just try and make it a "family holiday" without remembering the real reasons for why we have this day to begin with.
Oh well people will be people and there is not a ton we can do about it, we can only exhort (strongly encourage/invite) people to come unto Christ and leave the decision up to them.
I guess I really just want to use this time to give my testimony of the Savior. I can only marvel at the amazing impact that he has had in the history of humanity, if looked at as only a man, there has never been another individual like him who has altered the course of human culture so dramatically, and with such influence has been remembered for more than two thousand years. And it's not that he is just remembered, think of all the people you have ever heard about in history, how many of them are remembered with love? how many of them are more than just facts on a page about certain events, to which they have been given credit. The Christ is a man who has been remembered because he lived, and taught. And not because of some sort of prestige or high rank in society, he started his life being born amid the stables in Bethlehem, a small out of the way city, and laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. I think just from looking historically there has never been or ever will be another personage to really compare with Jesus the Christ. I know his teachings, not perfectly I am still just a student in his divine word, but it is remarkable in its simplicity and clarity and through living those precepts and principles we are able to receive more peace and joy than from any other source. I know not just of his magnificence as a teacher though, I know of a truth his divinity and place as the son of god. I know that he literally was and is the son of god, and as such he is our savior. he performed miracles through the power of the priesthood and showed forth many signs and wonders to signal to the people where they might look for peace and hope and salvation. He preformed the atonement, where he sacrificed himself for the sins of the world and gave us the opportunity to go back and live with our father in heaven, i know of a realness that the atonement is not just words on a page or a free ride, but something that we can apply into our lives and come out clean, obtain divine help and feel his support lifting us higher than we imagined possible. I know that there is a God, that he has a plan for us, and that Jesus Christ came down to fulfill that plan and allow us the opportunity to choose for ourselves if we would follow that plan. He loves us dearly, more than we can possible imagine, he understands us, he has felt everything that we feel and knows how to succor us. He exhorts us and says come unto me, but leaves us the choice to accept his helping hand or to struggle through on our own strength. My only desire is that some day I will be able to meet my savior and be welcomed into his warm embrace and feel of the potency of the love that he has for me, and then be able to hear him say, "You did it, you made it." And to be able to show my gratitude to him for everything he has given me is a small price to pay, that's one of the reasons i try so hard on my mission. Because I know this is true, I know that it will bring people to him, and I know that I need to share what I have felt with everyone else.
I love my savior, and I love my family.
Well I am looking forward to the New Year, for the chance to make some resolutions and revamp myself and start with a new determination to become better. Not sure what my resolutions will be quite yet, but I will probably have them by next week. And I will try and let off at least 1 balloon, who knows maybe I can get more people started on the tradition! I remember you guys in all my prayers and hope all is going well. I will try and write letters by hand as well, I think my big hold up is the fact that I don't have very many interesting stories to share but I will try and do better.
loves!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Love your Neighbor!!
12/19/11
Mom's Questions
Do you get to do that from a members home? We are we will be doing it from the Simpson's home, at least that is what i have heard.
Do you have any idea what time you will be skyping? well our church block is from 9-9:55 so probably around noonish is when i will finally get around to calling ;)
Did you get your package at your apartment last week on Wednesday? I did, thank you so very very much, and i only cheated 1 time. i thought the 11 was a 1, sorry. but I'm loving them all! and I will get around to writing Marlee a special note, i need to make it out to the post office soon
Dads Questions
Howdy, how did Washington treat you this past week? Well not amazing we were sick 4 of the seven days I ended up going stir crazy jut sitting around the apartment all day long but we were able to have a few very powerful lessons and put 3 more people on date bringing the total number of people that i have put on date in the US to 10! just goes to show you that the US has just as much potential as PERU. :)
Do any of them have any children yet? yes actually a lot of them have children but most under the age of 5 but they are so cool and its great to help these new families find direction in their lives and I hope to be able to be there when they get sealed in the temple.... oh yeah they are totally going to make it all the way there ;) i can see it.
Are they older or younger? most of them are younger, mostly in their 20s - 30s, but that's a great age group and one that seems to be able to relate to me pretty darn well so I'm okay with it, they are all children of god and I will lift where I stand.
Wow, not very many questions this week, that's OK i guess, i didn't really write that great of a letter last week so i guess i cant complain. i just always love question and i hope your posting them in my blog, because you never know what kinds of things i may want to try and remember the details of how things actually were and what other people may be interested in knowing (some people may have the same questions as you guys)
Anyways if i get a say in how it all goes together, it would be copy and paste it all into a word document, spell check it and then copy and paste it into the blog. there is nothing that i write that i would mind if someone found so just make it easy on yourselves. :)
cool well it's story time and do i have a story this week, we were having way too much fun being sick all this week, (btw its a real measure of how much someone loves you when they clean up your vomit) but it was all normal gringo things to me so i spent most of the time between throwing up cleaning up my companions barf. but we did get better by Sunday morning and were able to make it to church and to a couple of appointments in the evening one such person is an 18 year old girl named Samantha (no i don't know her last name) oops i need to back up a little, about a week and a half ago we were riding our bikes and i felt impressed to stop and talk with a larger man with two little girls on the street corner and started talking with him. Well his name was Brian and we found out that he was a member and he had with him his two nieces and they are not members well we found out that there mother was but wasn't coming very often and so we took note of their address and of their uncle Brian and set up an appointment and were able to go visit him but the girls weren't there.
anyways so back to this Sunday well we were meeting with Samantha and she is living with some friends (for the last two weeks) and we were able to have a dinner appointment at a members home (so she and the adoptive mother and one of her daughters came to the dinner appointment) and have a lesson afterwards and we really got know her (she is amazing and really funny and is just about as busy and involved in everything as a person possibly can be, just a great all around person) and her family and have an amazing lesson about the book of Mormon and by the end of it the spirit was so very very strong and we were able to invite her to be baptized this next month and she accepted so we set up another appointment for tonight and we are going to see how it goes. also there may be a lot of potential in helping the family she is staying with because only the mother is a member so we may have potentially found a gold mine of good people.
but it hit me later on in the lesson that the daughter looked very familiar and then as we were getting ready to leave i realized that it was Brian's niece and that's when it hit me. the impression to go and talk with Brian on the corner was pretty much telling me that there was someone ready in his immediate circle that was ready to listen to the gospel. and it is true she is so ready to let the savior and his teaching come in to her life and allow his power to heal her of some of the burdens that she has put up with for a long time
I know that our father in heaven loves each and every one of his children and that he is involved in their lives that he wants for what is best for them and is guiding us to be his hands in helping them receive this restored gospel and be alleviated from their sorrows and trials. I love this work and know that it is god that moves it forward.
as put recently "i know the church is true, if it weren't the missionaries would have destroyed it long ago" we are imperfect people called to a perfect cause and we do our best and the lord takes care of the rest.
Mom's Questions
Do you get to do that from a members home? We are we will be doing it from the Simpson's home, at least that is what i have heard.
Do you have any idea what time you will be skyping? well our church block is from 9-9:55 so probably around noonish is when i will finally get around to calling ;)
Did you get your package at your apartment last week on Wednesday? I did, thank you so very very much, and i only cheated 1 time. i thought the 11 was a 1, sorry. but I'm loving them all! and I will get around to writing Marlee a special note, i need to make it out to the post office soon
Dads Questions
Howdy, how did Washington treat you this past week? Well not amazing we were sick 4 of the seven days I ended up going stir crazy jut sitting around the apartment all day long but we were able to have a few very powerful lessons and put 3 more people on date bringing the total number of people that i have put on date in the US to 10! just goes to show you that the US has just as much potential as PERU. :)
Do any of them have any children yet? yes actually a lot of them have children but most under the age of 5 but they are so cool and its great to help these new families find direction in their lives and I hope to be able to be there when they get sealed in the temple.... oh yeah they are totally going to make it all the way there ;) i can see it.
Are they older or younger? most of them are younger, mostly in their 20s - 30s, but that's a great age group and one that seems to be able to relate to me pretty darn well so I'm okay with it, they are all children of god and I will lift where I stand.
Wow, not very many questions this week, that's OK i guess, i didn't really write that great of a letter last week so i guess i cant complain. i just always love question and i hope your posting them in my blog, because you never know what kinds of things i may want to try and remember the details of how things actually were and what other people may be interested in knowing (some people may have the same questions as you guys)
Anyways if i get a say in how it all goes together, it would be copy and paste it all into a word document, spell check it and then copy and paste it into the blog. there is nothing that i write that i would mind if someone found so just make it easy on yourselves. :)
cool well it's story time and do i have a story this week, we were having way too much fun being sick all this week, (btw its a real measure of how much someone loves you when they clean up your vomit) but it was all normal gringo things to me so i spent most of the time between throwing up cleaning up my companions barf. but we did get better by Sunday morning and were able to make it to church and to a couple of appointments in the evening one such person is an 18 year old girl named Samantha (no i don't know her last name) oops i need to back up a little, about a week and a half ago we were riding our bikes and i felt impressed to stop and talk with a larger man with two little girls on the street corner and started talking with him. Well his name was Brian and we found out that he was a member and he had with him his two nieces and they are not members well we found out that there mother was but wasn't coming very often and so we took note of their address and of their uncle Brian and set up an appointment and were able to go visit him but the girls weren't there.
anyways so back to this Sunday well we were meeting with Samantha and she is living with some friends (for the last two weeks) and we were able to have a dinner appointment at a members home (so she and the adoptive mother and one of her daughters came to the dinner appointment) and have a lesson afterwards and we really got know her (she is amazing and really funny and is just about as busy and involved in everything as a person possibly can be, just a great all around person) and her family and have an amazing lesson about the book of Mormon and by the end of it the spirit was so very very strong and we were able to invite her to be baptized this next month and she accepted so we set up another appointment for tonight and we are going to see how it goes. also there may be a lot of potential in helping the family she is staying with because only the mother is a member so we may have potentially found a gold mine of good people.
but it hit me later on in the lesson that the daughter looked very familiar and then as we were getting ready to leave i realized that it was Brian's niece and that's when it hit me. the impression to go and talk with Brian on the corner was pretty much telling me that there was someone ready in his immediate circle that was ready to listen to the gospel. and it is true she is so ready to let the savior and his teaching come in to her life and allow his power to heal her of some of the burdens that she has put up with for a long time
I know that our father in heaven loves each and every one of his children and that he is involved in their lives that he wants for what is best for them and is guiding us to be his hands in helping them receive this restored gospel and be alleviated from their sorrows and trials. I love this work and know that it is god that moves it forward.
as put recently "i know the church is true, if it weren't the missionaries would have destroyed it long ago" we are imperfect people called to a perfect cause and we do our best and the lord takes care of the rest.
12/13/11 - We get to Skype for Christmas!!! Yippy!!!
Moms Questions
Where is your new companion from and what is his name? Jacob Meager from Garland Texas
A male model for Aeropostale???? yes technically a floor model
Serious??? yes
How are you doing? wonderful
Dads Questions
Good morning, how are things in Washington today? very very cold
Did you tell Elder Meager he had better be careful, or he will end up in the emergency room for something? i did tell him a few times
Was that him in the photo you sent? yes that was
How long has he been out? about 8 months
So how come you got kicked out of your old place? his 20 year old single daughter was moving back in
Since you are now living with the other missionaries, does that change the laundry and cooking situation, or does the members still do it for you? no we still have members doing ours but the other elders don't
Were you able to pick up your clothes yet? yes i was i think they still look a little baggy but they a definitely better than before and they look good :)
How do they fit? good just about ad good as clothes normally fit me
That sounds good about Cody and Lisa; do they have a wedding date set up yet? yes, its before the 31st and that's about as specific as they are getting they are still trying to get a marriage licence
Did you meet any new people this week? yes a great couple, Patrick and Marissa we are going to see them later tonight and they are working on getting baptized on January 21st
So how’s the English going? well i still cant spell but i am trying to get used to it
Can you speak it and communicate in it yet? of course it is my native tongue even if i prefer the sound of Spanish
Ha ha, nah is it different teaching in English or do you slip every once in a while and say things in Spanish? i do slip into Spanish quite frequently actually
Have you had a chance to use your Spanish to talk to or teach anybody there? not really there are more islanders and Russians than Spanish speakers
Do they have Spanish speaking missionaries in your mission? of course they do about 3/4ths of the elders speak Spanish just are not being used as Spanish elders.
Kristi's Questions
but we just wanted to see how you're doing in Washington!? its awesome there are some of the greatest people here in Washington but it is super cold!
I have always wanted to go to Washington. are you liking it? ba da duh duh dum I'm lovin it.;)
Cool well sorry i didn't write yesterday i was really really busy and didn't get the chance got some good news though we will be able to use Skype! for Christmas! AHHHH! anyways so i will definitely need you guys to have that turned on on Christmas so that we can talk and maybe even see each other! oh and your email would be good as well or someway to find you guys easy at least.
I did get my bike yesterday and thank you so very very much it is wonderful and it works great.
OK so this week has been crazy even though we didn't have that great of a start, last week on Monday and Tuesday we got zero lessons and i was pretty bummed but then on Wednesday we just caught fire and were able to get 6 people on date and 19 lessons and that was just huge! and it just goes to show that god answers prayers especially since i knew almost nobody in the area when my last companion broke his foot. but I'm doing good cant wait to hear from you guys on Christmas and see how you all are doing. umm i don't really have any stories this week just lots of hard work and diligence and the testimony that i can put with that because it is so huge to just keep pushing even when things seem bleak and that rewards so come as we do what is necessary.
um as far as a story my life is a story and its hard to pick one thing from another but a good experience would just be when we invited amber to be baptized she was sitting down with Cody and Lisa and we were just talking about their plans to be baptized and i think i asked her "what do you think about their decision to be baptized?" (this was the first time i had ever talked to her/seen her for more than 5 seconds) and she said oh we i really want to be baptized! i know its all true. and my heart just soared! and we set up a date and they are working on being baptized in January. just things like that all over the place all through the week and i know that god listens to and answers prayers, I'll work on having a better story for next week but this was just meant to be a quick line anyways because i didn't have the chance yesterday
Love you all!
Where is your new companion from and what is his name? Jacob Meager from Garland Texas
A male model for Aeropostale???? yes technically a floor model
Serious??? yes
How are you doing? wonderful
Dads Questions
Good morning, how are things in Washington today? very very cold
Did you tell Elder Meager he had better be careful, or he will end up in the emergency room for something? i did tell him a few times
Was that him in the photo you sent? yes that was
How long has he been out? about 8 months
So how come you got kicked out of your old place? his 20 year old single daughter was moving back in
Since you are now living with the other missionaries, does that change the laundry and cooking situation, or does the members still do it for you? no we still have members doing ours but the other elders don't
Were you able to pick up your clothes yet? yes i was i think they still look a little baggy but they a definitely better than before and they look good :)
How do they fit? good just about ad good as clothes normally fit me
That sounds good about Cody and Lisa; do they have a wedding date set up yet? yes, its before the 31st and that's about as specific as they are getting they are still trying to get a marriage licence
Did you meet any new people this week? yes a great couple, Patrick and Marissa we are going to see them later tonight and they are working on getting baptized on January 21st
So how’s the English going? well i still cant spell but i am trying to get used to it
Can you speak it and communicate in it yet? of course it is my native tongue even if i prefer the sound of Spanish
Ha ha, nah is it different teaching in English or do you slip every once in a while and say things in Spanish? i do slip into Spanish quite frequently actually
Have you had a chance to use your Spanish to talk to or teach anybody there? not really there are more islanders and Russians than Spanish speakers
Do they have Spanish speaking missionaries in your mission? of course they do about 3/4ths of the elders speak Spanish just are not being used as Spanish elders.
Kristi's Questions
but we just wanted to see how you're doing in Washington!? its awesome there are some of the greatest people here in Washington but it is super cold!
I have always wanted to go to Washington. are you liking it? ba da duh duh dum I'm lovin it.;)
Cool well sorry i didn't write yesterday i was really really busy and didn't get the chance got some good news though we will be able to use Skype! for Christmas! AHHHH! anyways so i will definitely need you guys to have that turned on on Christmas so that we can talk and maybe even see each other! oh and your email would be good as well or someway to find you guys easy at least.
I did get my bike yesterday and thank you so very very much it is wonderful and it works great.
OK so this week has been crazy even though we didn't have that great of a start, last week on Monday and Tuesday we got zero lessons and i was pretty bummed but then on Wednesday we just caught fire and were able to get 6 people on date and 19 lessons and that was just huge! and it just goes to show that god answers prayers especially since i knew almost nobody in the area when my last companion broke his foot. but I'm doing good cant wait to hear from you guys on Christmas and see how you all are doing. umm i don't really have any stories this week just lots of hard work and diligence and the testimony that i can put with that because it is so huge to just keep pushing even when things seem bleak and that rewards so come as we do what is necessary.
um as far as a story my life is a story and its hard to pick one thing from another but a good experience would just be when we invited amber to be baptized she was sitting down with Cody and Lisa and we were just talking about their plans to be baptized and i think i asked her "what do you think about their decision to be baptized?" (this was the first time i had ever talked to her/seen her for more than 5 seconds) and she said oh we i really want to be baptized! i know its all true. and my heart just soared! and we set up a date and they are working on being baptized in January. just things like that all over the place all through the week and i know that god listens to and answers prayers, I'll work on having a better story for next week but this was just meant to be a quick line anyways because i didn't have the chance yesterday
Love you all!
Another one bites the Dust!
12/5/11
Moms Questions
Do you have an address for me yet? yes long story though and it was a good thing i didn't have an address until today it is 1226 E Rowan, Spokane, WA, zip code no idea 99...something
Shoes with spikes?? yeah their cool, there is no snow right now and no ice but everyone is saying that its coming!
I have never heard of such a thing! Maybe that’s because I live in Arizona…..haha! Which shoes have the hole in the bottom? the ones without the laces
Maybe after we recover from the alterations, you could take those whose and have them resoled? maybe, i think that is going to be a while though and its not a real necessity sine i have my other shoes, let me wear a hole in these ones first. ;)
That way in the spring they (the shoes with a hole) will be ready for wearing? ok give it some time though
Do people seem more receptive to listen to you now that it is the holiday season, or are they just to busy with the hustle, bustle and commercialism? well I'm not sure how they are through the rest of the year its pretty much just been holidays all the time since I've been back ;) but i have not seen a real difference no.
How are your investigators doing? doing great we had a very interesting week and weren't able to work very much, but i have a lot of high hopes for this week.
How is the companion? well this is kinda the question i was waiting for...... he is in Texas....... he kinda broke his ankle
Do you guys live in an apartment or with members? we did live with members but we got kicked out and are living with other missionaries
Are there just the two of you or are there 4 of you in an apartment? there were two now there are four
Are you learning to cook for yourself? not really just cold cereal toast and sandwiches
How is the laundry coming? great still have a member that does those for us.
Now that you get to do all of that yourself, how is it going? good all we have to do is really wash dishes ;) but that's easy.
Do you eat with the members much? every time there is an investigator we can eat with members
How is the ward and area that you are in? its amazing i love it to death, there are some really amazing people out here.
Dads Questions
Howdy, what’s new this week? well i got a new companion his name is Elder Meager, also from Texas, actually garland, Texas
Can you believe it he (Aaron) will be driving, dating, and blessing the sacrament? not really that is kinda crazy to think about, he is soo young!
So did you get to see the first presidency’s fireside last night? no we weren't able to we went around and visited people
What do most people do there? um there is a college campus not to far away, so there are a ton of students, also a lot of retired people, but there are just a large spread of various jobs
So in this area is it more like here in AZ where the members feed the missionaries every night or just on special occasions? actually we are doing this thing called nativities in the home where the members invite nonmembers to there homes for dinners and a Christmas movie, like joy to the world or something like that. and they invite the missionaries over as well and it is as formal or informal as the members want it to be and as social or doctrinal as they would like but basically they are doing that every night from now until Christmas.
Do you have much time to do things on p-days or too busy doing you laundry that you never had to do before? well it actually depends on the p-day, today we don't have very much time to do like anything.
If so what have you done or seen so far? basically when we do have free time we play basketball at the stake center
You told us you companion is from Texas, and that he has done about everything, but that is still a little veg, was he a green beret or an astronaut, has he climbed mount Everest or even mount Humphries with a 50lb vest? well my old companion has just had a super super hard life, my new companion well he is a male model for areopostale(?)
That is great about Cody and Lisa, how are they doing this week? wonderful, they are super excited to get married and be baptized
Well I need to go, let us know how you are doing? OK right now good, during this last week super stressed, outlook on next week is hope full
How are you feeling? happy, ready to get to work :)
What are you doing (not right now this second, but this past week.)? not much basically trying to get work done in my area
How do you feel about what you are doing? good, i think that this is possibly the most important thing i will be able to do in my life and if I'm not satisfied with my efforts knowing that I've not given my all, then i know where i need to improve, but if i have given my all then I'm just happy well i think the word is actually complacent.
Ok so you probably are really lost and want to hear all about this week and so i think that I will try and give my best summary of what happened this week, and it all started right after i finished emailing you last Monday. So last Monday we got off of the computers and headed down to the stake center to play basketball (we had a few hours of spare time to relax) and so we headed over there got changed out and started playing some three on three and having a really good light hearted game. then between on of the actual games my companion was doing a little one on one action while we were just watching and the other guy went for a shot and my companion jump up for the rebound, well my companion came down on the outside of his right foot and twisted it to the extreme. as in the bottom of his foot was now facing inward and upward almost staring him in the face. needless to say he started screaming "i broke my foot!" and we were just all in shock for about 2 seconds and them when we looked at his foot we shocked for another 2 seconds, then we called 911 and gave a priesthood blessing and right as we were done the fire department showed up and started pumping pain meds and then the paramedics showed up and took us to the hospital (yes i rode in the ambulance!) and we were set up the trama room and they reset his foot (i have the video) and took a couple of x-rays, well there didn't seem to be any breaks but they think that the foot was just so swollen that it was hiding hairline fractures and a few torn ligaments, so the doctors rapped him up gave him a boot and sent him on his way with a bunch of pain killers and told him to be immobilized for the next three months and he will need to probably get surgery. So he went home and left me without a companion for the week so i was going from companionship to companionship and trying to work in my area as best as i could, or knew how, and so that was stress full it is definitely harder to worry about an area all by yourself, i don't think i would like to be a single parent that would bee way too much stress. and so this whole week i was living with other elders and then then got kicked out of our old house and got a new companion.... well they are trying to kick me off so that will have to do for now, i will definitely write home all about it when i get the chance, i love you guys hope to hear from you soon, tell grandma i love hearing from her!
Moms Questions
Do you have an address for me yet? yes long story though and it was a good thing i didn't have an address until today it is 1226 E Rowan, Spokane, WA, zip code no idea 99...something
Shoes with spikes?? yeah their cool, there is no snow right now and no ice but everyone is saying that its coming!
I have never heard of such a thing! Maybe that’s because I live in Arizona…..haha! Which shoes have the hole in the bottom? the ones without the laces
Maybe after we recover from the alterations, you could take those whose and have them resoled? maybe, i think that is going to be a while though and its not a real necessity sine i have my other shoes, let me wear a hole in these ones first. ;)
That way in the spring they (the shoes with a hole) will be ready for wearing? ok give it some time though
Do people seem more receptive to listen to you now that it is the holiday season, or are they just to busy with the hustle, bustle and commercialism? well I'm not sure how they are through the rest of the year its pretty much just been holidays all the time since I've been back ;) but i have not seen a real difference no.
How are your investigators doing? doing great we had a very interesting week and weren't able to work very much, but i have a lot of high hopes for this week.
How is the companion? well this is kinda the question i was waiting for...... he is in Texas....... he kinda broke his ankle
Do you guys live in an apartment or with members? we did live with members but we got kicked out and are living with other missionaries
Are there just the two of you or are there 4 of you in an apartment? there were two now there are four
Are you learning to cook for yourself? not really just cold cereal toast and sandwiches
How is the laundry coming? great still have a member that does those for us.
Now that you get to do all of that yourself, how is it going? good all we have to do is really wash dishes ;) but that's easy.
Do you eat with the members much? every time there is an investigator we can eat with members
How is the ward and area that you are in? its amazing i love it to death, there are some really amazing people out here.
Dads Questions
Howdy, what’s new this week? well i got a new companion his name is Elder Meager, also from Texas, actually garland, Texas
Can you believe it he (Aaron) will be driving, dating, and blessing the sacrament? not really that is kinda crazy to think about, he is soo young!
So did you get to see the first presidency’s fireside last night? no we weren't able to we went around and visited people
What do most people do there? um there is a college campus not to far away, so there are a ton of students, also a lot of retired people, but there are just a large spread of various jobs
So in this area is it more like here in AZ where the members feed the missionaries every night or just on special occasions? actually we are doing this thing called nativities in the home where the members invite nonmembers to there homes for dinners and a Christmas movie, like joy to the world or something like that. and they invite the missionaries over as well and it is as formal or informal as the members want it to be and as social or doctrinal as they would like but basically they are doing that every night from now until Christmas.
Do you have much time to do things on p-days or too busy doing you laundry that you never had to do before? well it actually depends on the p-day, today we don't have very much time to do like anything.
If so what have you done or seen so far? basically when we do have free time we play basketball at the stake center
You told us you companion is from Texas, and that he has done about everything, but that is still a little veg, was he a green beret or an astronaut, has he climbed mount Everest or even mount Humphries with a 50lb vest? well my old companion has just had a super super hard life, my new companion well he is a male model for areopostale(?)
That is great about Cody and Lisa, how are they doing this week? wonderful, they are super excited to get married and be baptized
Well I need to go, let us know how you are doing? OK right now good, during this last week super stressed, outlook on next week is hope full
How are you feeling? happy, ready to get to work :)
What are you doing (not right now this second, but this past week.)? not much basically trying to get work done in my area
How do you feel about what you are doing? good, i think that this is possibly the most important thing i will be able to do in my life and if I'm not satisfied with my efforts knowing that I've not given my all, then i know where i need to improve, but if i have given my all then I'm just happy well i think the word is actually complacent.
Ok so you probably are really lost and want to hear all about this week and so i think that I will try and give my best summary of what happened this week, and it all started right after i finished emailing you last Monday. So last Monday we got off of the computers and headed down to the stake center to play basketball (we had a few hours of spare time to relax) and so we headed over there got changed out and started playing some three on three and having a really good light hearted game. then between on of the actual games my companion was doing a little one on one action while we were just watching and the other guy went for a shot and my companion jump up for the rebound, well my companion came down on the outside of his right foot and twisted it to the extreme. as in the bottom of his foot was now facing inward and upward almost staring him in the face. needless to say he started screaming "i broke my foot!" and we were just all in shock for about 2 seconds and them when we looked at his foot we shocked for another 2 seconds, then we called 911 and gave a priesthood blessing and right as we were done the fire department showed up and started pumping pain meds and then the paramedics showed up and took us to the hospital (yes i rode in the ambulance!) and we were set up the trama room and they reset his foot (i have the video) and took a couple of x-rays, well there didn't seem to be any breaks but they think that the foot was just so swollen that it was hiding hairline fractures and a few torn ligaments, so the doctors rapped him up gave him a boot and sent him on his way with a bunch of pain killers and told him to be immobilized for the next three months and he will need to probably get surgery. So he went home and left me without a companion for the week so i was going from companionship to companionship and trying to work in my area as best as i could, or knew how, and so that was stress full it is definitely harder to worry about an area all by yourself, i don't think i would like to be a single parent that would bee way too much stress. and so this whole week i was living with other elders and then then got kicked out of our old house and got a new companion.... well they are trying to kick me off so that will have to do for now, i will definitely write home all about it when i get the chance, i love you guys hope to hear from you soon, tell grandma i love hearing from her!
Always have opposition, but worth it!
11/28/11 Shannon & Kristi
Hows the mission going? amazing! thank you for sending me your address, i wrote it down so i can write you guys a letter so look forward to that coming soon.!
Anything super sweet happen lately? yes lots of candied yams, they were super sweet potatoes.... haha anyways yeah we have had a lot of really cool experiences
Hows the companion? he is really cool to i think that there isn't anything that he hasn't done or hasn't happened to him yet....other than having a kid or dying obviously.
Dad
How was your week? it was good, we actually taught a lot of lessons and were able to bet the standards of excellence here in Spokane which is amazing and we were able to put two people on date Cody and Lisa for the 24th of December!
How did you celebrate there? we went to a couple of different houses and ate to the point of exploding!
Any different traditions that you did in Washington that we do not do here in Arizona? not really anything that stood out, just that it seems that we as a family seem to have more traditions than the people here, which is kinda cool.
Anything on your Christmas list you would like? oh i got a few things but most of it is just things i have at home that i now want up here like (my electronic toothbrush, my GPS... I'll think of more as time goes on....)
Any of the rules a little different in Washington than Peru with dress or music? well yup everything is more laid back here basically if it invites the spirit we can listen to it, my companion was listening to phantom of the opera this morning (but for me i think i will stick with things made by the church if you have the primary song Cd's that would be cool just the ones with the accompaniment not the people singing, or hymns without words, you could throw is some motab if you want though, Cd's always work best)
what kinds of music can you listen to? everything, as long as we can justify it by whats in the missionary handbook, I've seen elders take it to the extreme though
Cd’s or a jazz drive with mp3’s, do you have the ability to listen to either? both but Cd's work better for me.
How’s your coat? its good i can get the zipper to work, but that's OK because it buttons up the front as well so don't worry about that.
How’s your feet, boots, galoshes? all i have is really one pair of shoes, i wore a whole through one pair in Peru, i still have them but when there is snow on the ground my toes get wet so i put them up for the winter, i heard that i might need some boots or something to put on my shoes with spikes later on, but I'll play it by ear.
Do you have a beany? i do i also have a hood with a face guard so I'm good on that
Can you where one? yes we can
How is the camera holding out? it is still amazing i was able to get rechargeable batteries for it so its just like a normal camera now so no worries on that front either
Do you need a bike lock for it? i will need a lock for it, i have heard that a lot of bikes get broken and stolen in this mission and so a good lock would be great.
If so a key lock, or combination? i always have preferred key
How is your backpack holding up? great i love it think i always will as long as it holds up forever.
Will it work as you ride a bike or will a side bag work better? to me it sounds like a side bag would get in the way a little more than a back pack while riding a bike
BTW: I'm not sure how huge the emergency is to get me the bike asap, i have heard that it is super hard to ride a bike when there is snow on the ground and my companion prefers walking to riding through the snow, getting shan's bike sounds wonderful and I'm sure that eventually i will need it so thank you very much just get it to me when you can :)
Mom
How was your Thanksgiving Day? It was good we were able to eat with a couple of people including a recent convert and spend a good time with a couple of other families. it was a no proselyte day so we couldn't know doors out of respect for other people but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Good ‘ol American Thanksgiving Turkey? yes it was good 'ol American turkey, but i missed dads special marinade and the deep fried turkey.... oh well just one more Thanksgiving to go!
What size of shirt did you buy at Nordstrom? 16 1/2, and 35 on the sleeves, it is the tailored or slim fit one
What was the brand name? um not sure what brand
Also, what are your mission rules about ties? there are no rules as far as I"ve seen so any ties are good, i don't have any paisley so that would be good, my favorite colors are blue, gray, black, red, green, dark purple...etc
Can you wear any tie? i would say yes, but i don't like the ones with pictures on them so if you got me those i would probably were it like once
Or do they need to be solid or can they have a print on them, do they need to be dark ties? no rules so go for it i would stay away from extreme colors like PINK
Also, can you wear sweaters or sweater vests under your suit coat? yes we can
How is the work going? great we were able to teach a lot of people this week in spite of it being a holiday week and everyone being gone
How is the weather? cold, sometimes windy, but that's OK i here that it sometimes only gets to -20 so no biggy :(
Also, can you tell me about your coat? its good, its definitely getting a lot of use
Is it going to be ok, or will you need another one? yeah its totally fine, but if you feel so inclined i would not reject another one.
How are things progressing there? great we were able to put a few people on date and we are hoping to get something like 6 baptisms on Christmas eve :)
Where is he(companion) from? Danton Texas
Would a heated blanket be a good Christmas gift? I'm plenty warm at night Ive had like 10 blankets gifted to me and being in a heated house alot are not being used.
Ok so first and foremost about two hours ago I took just about all of my clothes to be fitted (none of my shirts, but like four suit coats and six pairs of pants) and the grand total that that will cost is dah ta da da! $468.49! i know completely ridiculous! i was flabbergasted! but i need clothes that fit i cant really walk around like a well dressed gangster with my baggy clothes all bunched up under my belt and coat, so there is that and then his card machine is broke so somehow by Dec 10th (when they will be done at latest according to him I need a check or cash for that) so Merry Christmas Elder King you got clothes that fit ...one of the reasons i don't expect anything for Christmas this year... but with this last purchase i should be good. oh and PS I'm still loosing weight here in the states shockingly enough so that's not going to be an issue i think as a missionary. Any other business? oh tell Tate that i loved that letter it was amazing and that i wrote him a letter that he should be getting soon. also I'm sorry for the loss in the family, but the name didn't ring a bell so send my regards anyways. Great to hear from just about all of you this week was good, we were able to meet with some more people this week the experience was with Cody and Lisa, they have been super sick and haven't been able to come to church for the past couple of weeks and when we went over an Tuesday we talked about priesthood and authority and about blessings, well they got really excited and asked for a blessing and so later that week we were able to give them a blessing and the very next day they we healed and blessings started to flow into their lives from all directions and then as they were in the car to go to church they ran out of gas, which was a real testimony that we will always face opposition and have to jump hurdles but that is ok because in the long run it is all worth it, i was just thinking about a Scripture in Romans.... i think 8:14 you'll know its it if it has the work reckon nice Texas word. :)
Anyways i love you guys i know this work is gods work and i am thrill to be able to participate in it. no matter where you are god is the same and he hears his children's prayers, i have seen i think just about everything now but I'm sure god still has a few surprises up his sleeve but I'm ready I know that my redeemer lives and this is his church and nothing will take that testimony away
loves hope to hear back soon
BTW: sorry i will eventually get you guys a picture, i don't have my camera right now and i will eventually get you my address ;)
Hows the mission going? amazing! thank you for sending me your address, i wrote it down so i can write you guys a letter so look forward to that coming soon.!
Anything super sweet happen lately? yes lots of candied yams, they were super sweet potatoes.... haha anyways yeah we have had a lot of really cool experiences
Hows the companion? he is really cool to i think that there isn't anything that he hasn't done or hasn't happened to him yet....other than having a kid or dying obviously.
Dad
How was your week? it was good, we actually taught a lot of lessons and were able to bet the standards of excellence here in Spokane which is amazing and we were able to put two people on date Cody and Lisa for the 24th of December!
How did you celebrate there? we went to a couple of different houses and ate to the point of exploding!
Any different traditions that you did in Washington that we do not do here in Arizona? not really anything that stood out, just that it seems that we as a family seem to have more traditions than the people here, which is kinda cool.
Anything on your Christmas list you would like? oh i got a few things but most of it is just things i have at home that i now want up here like (my electronic toothbrush, my GPS... I'll think of more as time goes on....)
Any of the rules a little different in Washington than Peru with dress or music? well yup everything is more laid back here basically if it invites the spirit we can listen to it, my companion was listening to phantom of the opera this morning (but for me i think i will stick with things made by the church if you have the primary song Cd's that would be cool just the ones with the accompaniment not the people singing, or hymns without words, you could throw is some motab if you want though, Cd's always work best)
what kinds of music can you listen to? everything, as long as we can justify it by whats in the missionary handbook, I've seen elders take it to the extreme though
Cd’s or a jazz drive with mp3’s, do you have the ability to listen to either? both but Cd's work better for me.
How’s your coat? its good i can get the zipper to work, but that's OK because it buttons up the front as well so don't worry about that.
How’s your feet, boots, galoshes? all i have is really one pair of shoes, i wore a whole through one pair in Peru, i still have them but when there is snow on the ground my toes get wet so i put them up for the winter, i heard that i might need some boots or something to put on my shoes with spikes later on, but I'll play it by ear.
Do you have a beany? i do i also have a hood with a face guard so I'm good on that
Can you where one? yes we can
How is the camera holding out? it is still amazing i was able to get rechargeable batteries for it so its just like a normal camera now so no worries on that front either
Do you need a bike lock for it? i will need a lock for it, i have heard that a lot of bikes get broken and stolen in this mission and so a good lock would be great.
If so a key lock, or combination? i always have preferred key
How is your backpack holding up? great i love it think i always will as long as it holds up forever.
Will it work as you ride a bike or will a side bag work better? to me it sounds like a side bag would get in the way a little more than a back pack while riding a bike
BTW: I'm not sure how huge the emergency is to get me the bike asap, i have heard that it is super hard to ride a bike when there is snow on the ground and my companion prefers walking to riding through the snow, getting shan's bike sounds wonderful and I'm sure that eventually i will need it so thank you very much just get it to me when you can :)
Mom
How was your Thanksgiving Day? It was good we were able to eat with a couple of people including a recent convert and spend a good time with a couple of other families. it was a no proselyte day so we couldn't know doors out of respect for other people but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Good ‘ol American Thanksgiving Turkey? yes it was good 'ol American turkey, but i missed dads special marinade and the deep fried turkey.... oh well just one more Thanksgiving to go!
What size of shirt did you buy at Nordstrom? 16 1/2, and 35 on the sleeves, it is the tailored or slim fit one
What was the brand name? um not sure what brand
Also, what are your mission rules about ties? there are no rules as far as I"ve seen so any ties are good, i don't have any paisley so that would be good, my favorite colors are blue, gray, black, red, green, dark purple...etc
Can you wear any tie? i would say yes, but i don't like the ones with pictures on them so if you got me those i would probably were it like once
Or do they need to be solid or can they have a print on them, do they need to be dark ties? no rules so go for it i would stay away from extreme colors like PINK
Also, can you wear sweaters or sweater vests under your suit coat? yes we can
How is the work going? great we were able to teach a lot of people this week in spite of it being a holiday week and everyone being gone
How is the weather? cold, sometimes windy, but that's OK i here that it sometimes only gets to -20 so no biggy :(
Also, can you tell me about your coat? its good, its definitely getting a lot of use
Is it going to be ok, or will you need another one? yeah its totally fine, but if you feel so inclined i would not reject another one.
How are things progressing there? great we were able to put a few people on date and we are hoping to get something like 6 baptisms on Christmas eve :)
Where is he(companion) from? Danton Texas
Would a heated blanket be a good Christmas gift? I'm plenty warm at night Ive had like 10 blankets gifted to me and being in a heated house alot are not being used.
Ok so first and foremost about two hours ago I took just about all of my clothes to be fitted (none of my shirts, but like four suit coats and six pairs of pants) and the grand total that that will cost is dah ta da da! $468.49! i know completely ridiculous! i was flabbergasted! but i need clothes that fit i cant really walk around like a well dressed gangster with my baggy clothes all bunched up under my belt and coat, so there is that and then his card machine is broke so somehow by Dec 10th (when they will be done at latest according to him I need a check or cash for that) so Merry Christmas Elder King you got clothes that fit ...one of the reasons i don't expect anything for Christmas this year... but with this last purchase i should be good. oh and PS I'm still loosing weight here in the states shockingly enough so that's not going to be an issue i think as a missionary. Any other business? oh tell Tate that i loved that letter it was amazing and that i wrote him a letter that he should be getting soon. also I'm sorry for the loss in the family, but the name didn't ring a bell so send my regards anyways. Great to hear from just about all of you this week was good, we were able to meet with some more people this week the experience was with Cody and Lisa, they have been super sick and haven't been able to come to church for the past couple of weeks and when we went over an Tuesday we talked about priesthood and authority and about blessings, well they got really excited and asked for a blessing and so later that week we were able to give them a blessing and the very next day they we healed and blessings started to flow into their lives from all directions and then as they were in the car to go to church they ran out of gas, which was a real testimony that we will always face opposition and have to jump hurdles but that is ok because in the long run it is all worth it, i was just thinking about a Scripture in Romans.... i think 8:14 you'll know its it if it has the work reckon nice Texas word. :)
Anyways i love you guys i know this work is gods work and i am thrill to be able to participate in it. no matter where you are god is the same and he hears his children's prayers, i have seen i think just about everything now but I'm sure god still has a few surprises up his sleeve but I'm ready I know that my redeemer lives and this is his church and nothing will take that testimony away
loves hope to hear back soon
BTW: sorry i will eventually get you guys a picture, i don't have my camera right now and i will eventually get you my address ;)
New companion & area
11/21/11
MOM'S QUESTIONS
What were you able to buy? I was able to get everything that I need so don't worry about that, anything helps but between me buying and other elders gifting i have sufficient. ;)
It looked like you went to Nordstrom’s – what did you get there? i think that is where i got a couple of new white shirts that fit me (for the first time in months) and warms winter socks and a suit coat that matched my gray pants.
How many suits do you have with pants to match? OK i have 1 black coat and suit, one charcoal gray pant and suit, 1 black with narrow yellow pinstripe coat, and two other suits that were gifted (they are too big so i will have to get them tailored eventually)
What is your address? um I'm not sure i haven't memorized it yet i will try and get it to you.
Also, did you get a package from Brother Tolman before you left Peru? yes yes i did tell them thank you for me it was awesome!
Sister Palmer had also dropped off a package the week before you left. Did you get that one? yup i got them between the two of them they were really trying to fatten me up ;)
We sent a package last week, did you get it? got that one to, thank you by the way for the scarf Ive used it every day since, walking in the snow gets your neck and face alot colder than you would think.
Where is Elder Rollins from? well i heard wrong last week its actually Elder Rolind, and he is cool, way different than me in just about every way, has a ton of really interesting life stories, i think he has experienced everything except having a family, and dying.
How long has he been serving? 17 months or something like that he goes home in June.
How is it having an American companion? (Something you have never had, if I remember right?) it is really different, but i think that that is mostly for one reason though, he is the only companion that i have had that is bigger than me... physically at least. i think he is like 300lbs he is literally a giant among men, but he has a phobia of midgets, its hilarious. :) Anyways this week has been great! i have been able to get to know my new area and the people here, they are amazing the members are awesome and very inviting, the ward is super missionary work focused and they are super happy people. I was warned about this area though, that the members love the missionaries a little too much to the point of not liking the rules and they have taken a couple of missionaries to the movies on a couple of occasions. so that will be an interesting challenge that we will have to overcome, be as loving as possible, but not step over the lines drawn in the sand. But this week we had an amazing spiritual experience our ward mission leader has his assistant sister strange (yes that is her real name) and she was baptized just under a year ago in this ward and ever since then she has been trying to share the gospel with her family and well it hasn't always been received well. the huge problem was her aunt who is very catholic and all of the knowledge her family has of the gospel comes from her, well one of her aunts was sick and going to go through some operations and so sister strange asked her if the elders could give her(not the catholic aunt but another one) a blessing. and she said yes. so we came over at about 7 o'clock and we headed over to her aunts house and it just so happened that her other aunt (the catholic) was there as well. so we went into a brief explanation of blessings and the authority really basic really simple maybe took us 5 min to explain and then we went on with the blessing, my companion anointed and i blessed, and it was a normal blessing and we ended and the aunt receiving the blessing said is that it? wan we said yup, all that is left now is you faith in Christ to be healed.
well as we were focused on the aunt who received the blessing the other aunt took hold of sister strange and pulled her aside and said what was that? and said in all my years of going to church and learning and seeing different things, i have never felt what i felt tonight. and she went with sister strange into the bathroom and from what sister strange told us just bawled and sister strange told her that is what it feels like to be in the presence of the truth and the authority from god.
later sister strange was telling us all super excited that the opposition that comes from her family is like a dragon and that her aunt was the head and if we can take down the head (convert her) then the rest will fall.
anyways i just know that this church is true that it really has the authority of god to perform miracles and change lives and i am so happy to be able to participate in it her in Spokane Washington ;)
lots of love
thank you all for the letters i will try and get back soon.
MOM'S QUESTIONS
What were you able to buy? I was able to get everything that I need so don't worry about that, anything helps but between me buying and other elders gifting i have sufficient. ;)
It looked like you went to Nordstrom’s – what did you get there? i think that is where i got a couple of new white shirts that fit me (for the first time in months) and warms winter socks and a suit coat that matched my gray pants.
How many suits do you have with pants to match? OK i have 1 black coat and suit, one charcoal gray pant and suit, 1 black with narrow yellow pinstripe coat, and two other suits that were gifted (they are too big so i will have to get them tailored eventually)
What is your address? um I'm not sure i haven't memorized it yet i will try and get it to you.
Also, did you get a package from Brother Tolman before you left Peru? yes yes i did tell them thank you for me it was awesome!
Sister Palmer had also dropped off a package the week before you left. Did you get that one? yup i got them between the two of them they were really trying to fatten me up ;)
We sent a package last week, did you get it? got that one to, thank you by the way for the scarf Ive used it every day since, walking in the snow gets your neck and face alot colder than you would think.
Where is Elder Rollins from? well i heard wrong last week its actually Elder Rolind, and he is cool, way different than me in just about every way, has a ton of really interesting life stories, i think he has experienced everything except having a family, and dying.
How long has he been serving? 17 months or something like that he goes home in June.
How is it having an American companion? (Something you have never had, if I remember right?) it is really different, but i think that that is mostly for one reason though, he is the only companion that i have had that is bigger than me... physically at least. i think he is like 300lbs he is literally a giant among men, but he has a phobia of midgets, its hilarious. :) Anyways this week has been great! i have been able to get to know my new area and the people here, they are amazing the members are awesome and very inviting, the ward is super missionary work focused and they are super happy people. I was warned about this area though, that the members love the missionaries a little too much to the point of not liking the rules and they have taken a couple of missionaries to the movies on a couple of occasions. so that will be an interesting challenge that we will have to overcome, be as loving as possible, but not step over the lines drawn in the sand. But this week we had an amazing spiritual experience our ward mission leader has his assistant sister strange (yes that is her real name) and she was baptized just under a year ago in this ward and ever since then she has been trying to share the gospel with her family and well it hasn't always been received well. the huge problem was her aunt who is very catholic and all of the knowledge her family has of the gospel comes from her, well one of her aunts was sick and going to go through some operations and so sister strange asked her if the elders could give her(not the catholic aunt but another one) a blessing. and she said yes. so we came over at about 7 o'clock and we headed over to her aunts house and it just so happened that her other aunt (the catholic) was there as well. so we went into a brief explanation of blessings and the authority really basic really simple maybe took us 5 min to explain and then we went on with the blessing, my companion anointed and i blessed, and it was a normal blessing and we ended and the aunt receiving the blessing said is that it? wan we said yup, all that is left now is you faith in Christ to be healed.
well as we were focused on the aunt who received the blessing the other aunt took hold of sister strange and pulled her aside and said what was that? and said in all my years of going to church and learning and seeing different things, i have never felt what i felt tonight. and she went with sister strange into the bathroom and from what sister strange told us just bawled and sister strange told her that is what it feels like to be in the presence of the truth and the authority from god.
later sister strange was telling us all super excited that the opposition that comes from her family is like a dragon and that her aunt was the head and if we can take down the head (convert her) then the rest will fall.
anyways i just know that this church is true that it really has the authority of god to perform miracles and change lives and i am so happy to be able to participate in it her in Spokane Washington ;)
lots of love
thank you all for the letters i will try and get back soon.
First week in Spokane Washington
11/14/11
Well thats not nice, my P-days are still monday it was just a weird week last week, so I'll expect nice long letters next week.
Still dont have an adress for you i do know that i will still be in the Spokane area in a ward called Beakon Hill, if you can find that, but it is so amazing up here, there is less difference between here and peru than you might think, sure the problems people face are a lot different and the culture is way different but the message is the same and the teaching is the same and the way it affects peoples lives is the same. i think the main difference is that here everyone is using a private car and arent forced to talk with anyone which makes it a lot harder to contact people as you walk down the street. dont get me wrong we had a ton of people tell us they are nto interested in peru but it was the fact that we could cast a lot wider of a net in a lot shorter of a time that i think is the real reason that peru or any south american country has more "success" but i love it here i was in the 2nd ward here with the zone leaders for the last week and until tomarrow, when i will get my companion Elder Rollins, dont know anything about him or the area, only that it was the highest baptizing area about 2 years ago. But I am really loving WA we have a lot of good investigators here and i have met a lot of good people.
somthing new here in spokane that didnt exist in peru is a church tour or teaching chapels whichever you want to call it, but it is somthing so amazing and a huge tool that we can use to bring in the spirit and help people learn about what we are all about. it is somthing that i am just learning about and the effectiveness is huge and it is somthing that i wish that we had known about in peru because we would have been baptizing by the thousands :) but you start in the foyer and look at the diferent pieces of art on the wall and explain about how we are a christ centered church and how we are meeting together to remember and learn of him and try and do better, we learn of his gospel, and then we invited them to pay attention to the spirit as they walk through the church with us. then we take them into the chapel and explain what our meetings are likem and how it it a lay ministry, or that the bishop and other leaders do not get paid. and then we walk them up to the sacrament table and explain the sacrament and what it means, and what it does and bear testimony, then we take them to the relief society room, or wherever there is a font or a picture of baptism in the church, and teach about baptism and what it means and the restauration of authority and then invite them to learn more and from what we have seen only like 1 in fifty will say no thankyou, which is huge when you think about it and it only takes like 15-20 min which is great and it is a great thing to teach and to resolve a lot of first impression doubts that people have, to invite the spirit and bring people closer to christ.
i know that god lives and loves me, that i am one of his sons, i know that jesus christ is my savior and he died so that i could repent and live again, i know that jospeh smith is the profet of the restauration of the gospel of jesus christ, and that this is god's chruch. i love you guys so very much, i hope you guys write me soon and i would like to know what is going on down in warm mesa, we had snow fall here this week and that was a shocking change from a peru spring/summer and well i was super cold, but dad you were right this has got some of the prettiest scenerey in the whole world and a lot of cool old buildings. this mornign we went and played frisbee golf and had a blast out in the forest doing that, i think i picked up a new hobby. but this week has been good, havent suffered too much because of the colsd because we are not on bikes as zone leaders but ive heard that this next area will be a bike mission. heres a tip though they can forward packages to me from teh mission home if it is priority mail, im guessing thats the normal usps in the white box, but nothing else ups nada, so if you want to send me somthing that is still the safest address.
so im at a loss of what to say now......i didnt have any questions....... soooo........ wbs love!
Well thats not nice, my P-days are still monday it was just a weird week last week, so I'll expect nice long letters next week.
Still dont have an adress for you i do know that i will still be in the Spokane area in a ward called Beakon Hill, if you can find that, but it is so amazing up here, there is less difference between here and peru than you might think, sure the problems people face are a lot different and the culture is way different but the message is the same and the teaching is the same and the way it affects peoples lives is the same. i think the main difference is that here everyone is using a private car and arent forced to talk with anyone which makes it a lot harder to contact people as you walk down the street. dont get me wrong we had a ton of people tell us they are nto interested in peru but it was the fact that we could cast a lot wider of a net in a lot shorter of a time that i think is the real reason that peru or any south american country has more "success" but i love it here i was in the 2nd ward here with the zone leaders for the last week and until tomarrow, when i will get my companion Elder Rollins, dont know anything about him or the area, only that it was the highest baptizing area about 2 years ago. But I am really loving WA we have a lot of good investigators here and i have met a lot of good people.
somthing new here in spokane that didnt exist in peru is a church tour or teaching chapels whichever you want to call it, but it is somthing so amazing and a huge tool that we can use to bring in the spirit and help people learn about what we are all about. it is somthing that i am just learning about and the effectiveness is huge and it is somthing that i wish that we had known about in peru because we would have been baptizing by the thousands :) but you start in the foyer and look at the diferent pieces of art on the wall and explain about how we are a christ centered church and how we are meeting together to remember and learn of him and try and do better, we learn of his gospel, and then we invited them to pay attention to the spirit as they walk through the church with us. then we take them into the chapel and explain what our meetings are likem and how it it a lay ministry, or that the bishop and other leaders do not get paid. and then we walk them up to the sacrament table and explain the sacrament and what it means, and what it does and bear testimony, then we take them to the relief society room, or wherever there is a font or a picture of baptism in the church, and teach about baptism and what it means and the restauration of authority and then invite them to learn more and from what we have seen only like 1 in fifty will say no thankyou, which is huge when you think about it and it only takes like 15-20 min which is great and it is a great thing to teach and to resolve a lot of first impression doubts that people have, to invite the spirit and bring people closer to christ.
i know that god lives and loves me, that i am one of his sons, i know that jesus christ is my savior and he died so that i could repent and live again, i know that jospeh smith is the profet of the restauration of the gospel of jesus christ, and that this is god's chruch. i love you guys so very much, i hope you guys write me soon and i would like to know what is going on down in warm mesa, we had snow fall here this week and that was a shocking change from a peru spring/summer and well i was super cold, but dad you were right this has got some of the prettiest scenerey in the whole world and a lot of cool old buildings. this mornign we went and played frisbee golf and had a blast out in the forest doing that, i think i picked up a new hobby. but this week has been good, havent suffered too much because of the colsd because we are not on bikes as zone leaders but ive heard that this next area will be a bike mission. heres a tip though they can forward packages to me from teh mission home if it is priority mail, im guessing thats the normal usps in the white box, but nothing else ups nada, so if you want to send me somthing that is still the safest address.
so im at a loss of what to say now......i didnt have any questions....... soooo........ wbs love!
Transfer to Washington Spokane Mission
15 November 2011
Dear Brother and Sister King,
I was pleased to welcome your son, Elder King, to the Washington Spokane Mission today. I’m happy to report that he arrived safely. I had the privilege of meeting and associating with him and note that it is evident that he comes with a desire to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Elder King understands the role of the Holy Ghost in accomplishing the work here in the Washington Spokane Mission and has committed to live worthy of that power.
After prayerful consideration, I have called Elder Lubina and Elder Terry to serve with Elder King in the Spokane West area. These Elders are zone leaders, and I believe that your son is in excellent hands. We expect that your missionary will serve in this area for the next few weeks as he begins his service here.
I have enclosed photographs of your missionary and assure you that Sister Palmer and I will love Elder King. Our great desire is that his time here will further establish him on the path of righteousness, as well as bless the many people he will serve.
Attached are the new updated recommended guidelines we have for parents. These guidelines are based on many years of accumulated missionary experience, especially those guidelines concerning personal contact with your missionary. Elder King needs your good example. I sincerely request that you consider them for the benefit of your son and his fellow missionaries.
Thank you so much for sharing Elder King with us.
Sincerely,
S. Mark Palmer, President
WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION
Dear Brother and Sister King,
I was pleased to welcome your son, Elder King, to the Washington Spokane Mission today. I’m happy to report that he arrived safely. I had the privilege of meeting and associating with him and note that it is evident that he comes with a desire to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Elder King understands the role of the Holy Ghost in accomplishing the work here in the Washington Spokane Mission and has committed to live worthy of that power.
After prayerful consideration, I have called Elder Lubina and Elder Terry to serve with Elder King in the Spokane West area. These Elders are zone leaders, and I believe that your son is in excellent hands. We expect that your missionary will serve in this area for the next few weeks as he begins his service here.
I have enclosed photographs of your missionary and assure you that Sister Palmer and I will love Elder King. Our great desire is that his time here will further establish him on the path of righteousness, as well as bless the many people he will serve.
Attached are the new updated recommended guidelines we have for parents. These guidelines are based on many years of accumulated missionary experience, especially those guidelines concerning personal contact with your missionary. Elder King needs your good example. I sincerely request that you consider them for the benefit of your son and his fellow missionaries.
Thank you so much for sharing Elder King with us.
Sincerely,
S. Mark Palmer, President
WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION
Awesome Investigators
10/31/11
Marlee that sounds so awesome. I'm so happy that there is so much missionary working going on in that part of the world ;) and well your costume sounds like it was the best, now all you need is a han solo.;) anyways I'm happy that you are starting to like the northern part of the state and that you are now finding lots of new friends,there is always a transitional phase in every age of life and i think you just passed your high school college transition. woohoo! keep me posted on those classes teachers, but especially you friends who are investigating the church!
Dad's Questions
So what’s going on down there? not much a little here a little there the hum drum of the 6:30 in the morning to the 10:30 at night normal everyday routine.
How is mission life treating you? its going good, we finally have evidence that i have lost weight, i broke down and stepped on a scale and guess what Ive lost 52lbs.... again! so yeah the mission is what does it, go out and teach the gospel! burn calories! yeah!
So they do not celebrate Halloween, do they have the day of the dead or anything like that? They exist here but its like April fools day, not a whole lot of emphasis
What other holidays do they celebrate? well every holiday that they have really is because of some saint or other religious day created by the catholic church.
What do they do for them? carry around idols in a parade and get drunk.... wow that's a very.... bleak way of looking at it, but this week one of our investigators told us how they were going to one of these processions, and they paused and look at it from the out side and realized how absurd it really was,and turned around and didn't go in.
Any cool traditions that would be fun to try out here? that isn't against the teachings of the church..... no. give me a while to find a good one, maybe from a member family....
So how is the new companion? Elder Andes Abel Granda
How long has he been out? 15 months
Where is he from? Guayaquil, Ecuador
How is the missionary work going this week? great we were able to make a ton of visits! lots of people that want to be baptized, but just need to come to church! ugh.... I think that is the hardest part, getting people to commit to go to church every Sunday for the rest of their lives! he he wow it sounds like a lot bigger of a promise when you say it like that.
Does it look like all you scheduled baptisms will go thru? looks like some of them will, but others need to be delayed for that reason of not going to church.
Did you meet any cool and interesting people this week? yes, we met a family that is going to get married and baptized in November and they are the coolest family ever, we broke the ice with them right from the start and they are super excited!
Mom's Questions
Did the Mission President ban you guys from playing “Missionary Tag?” Nope, he actually played it the following week, but with water balloons!
Do you guys get on facebook? NO, that's not allowed, that was a comment of when i get back to the states.
Or were you referring to when you return home? yes
Did you get your package from the mission home? no, not yet...
Was everything still in pretty good shape or was it pretty stale? not sure haven't opened it
What types of things could you use down there? umm nothing really i have all i need
Is there anything we can send you that would be helpful for you to share with the members down there? nah anything you want really
I was thinking of things like CTR rings for the kids, pictures of the Savior, book marks, stickers, things along those lines that you may be able to hand out and use in your discussions with the people there? ummm sure!
Do you have access to any of those types of things and would that be helpful? we have access to all of those things but its the thought that counts!
What size shirt do you wear now? depends if its a big med then med, or a small large than large, size 34 pants (Peruvian pants) not sure if its the same
Also what types of things are you craving from home? awww I miss you.....cough cough..... yeah no whatever i miss......cookies, they don't have moms good cookies here, the recipe would be amazing
How is the teaching going this week? awesome had some good experiences
How are the recently baptized members doing? great we got a few that are preparing to serve missions and are submitting their papers!
Probably hard to remember the English spelling and punctuation of things? you have no idea... that and well i never had the best typing skills.
ok so this week was awesome, we were able to have a lot of success in teaching our investigators and we got about six people to come to church with us three of whom are getting ready to be baptized in the coming weeks!
umm a story of the week, not not really any come to mind, just that it warms my heart to see our INVESTIGATORS going out of their way to find people to teach, they start sharing the gospel with their neighbors and sharing with them how blessed they feel to have found the truth and start sharing their testimonies and having real faith building experiences, BEFORE getting baptized and it just goes to show how wonderful and easy this work really is and how all we need to participate is a testimony.
anyways gtg love y'all!
Marlee that sounds so awesome. I'm so happy that there is so much missionary working going on in that part of the world ;) and well your costume sounds like it was the best, now all you need is a han solo.;) anyways I'm happy that you are starting to like the northern part of the state and that you are now finding lots of new friends,there is always a transitional phase in every age of life and i think you just passed your high school college transition. woohoo! keep me posted on those classes teachers, but especially you friends who are investigating the church!
Dad's Questions
So what’s going on down there? not much a little here a little there the hum drum of the 6:30 in the morning to the 10:30 at night normal everyday routine.
How is mission life treating you? its going good, we finally have evidence that i have lost weight, i broke down and stepped on a scale and guess what Ive lost 52lbs.... again! so yeah the mission is what does it, go out and teach the gospel! burn calories! yeah!
So they do not celebrate Halloween, do they have the day of the dead or anything like that? They exist here but its like April fools day, not a whole lot of emphasis
What other holidays do they celebrate? well every holiday that they have really is because of some saint or other religious day created by the catholic church.
What do they do for them? carry around idols in a parade and get drunk.... wow that's a very.... bleak way of looking at it, but this week one of our investigators told us how they were going to one of these processions, and they paused and look at it from the out side and realized how absurd it really was,and turned around and didn't go in.
Any cool traditions that would be fun to try out here? that isn't against the teachings of the church..... no. give me a while to find a good one, maybe from a member family....
So how is the new companion? Elder Andes Abel Granda
How long has he been out? 15 months
Where is he from? Guayaquil, Ecuador
How is the missionary work going this week? great we were able to make a ton of visits! lots of people that want to be baptized, but just need to come to church! ugh.... I think that is the hardest part, getting people to commit to go to church every Sunday for the rest of their lives! he he wow it sounds like a lot bigger of a promise when you say it like that.
Does it look like all you scheduled baptisms will go thru? looks like some of them will, but others need to be delayed for that reason of not going to church.
Did you meet any cool and interesting people this week? yes, we met a family that is going to get married and baptized in November and they are the coolest family ever, we broke the ice with them right from the start and they are super excited!
Mom's Questions
Did the Mission President ban you guys from playing “Missionary Tag?” Nope, he actually played it the following week, but with water balloons!
Do you guys get on facebook? NO, that's not allowed, that was a comment of when i get back to the states.
Or were you referring to when you return home? yes
Did you get your package from the mission home? no, not yet...
Was everything still in pretty good shape or was it pretty stale? not sure haven't opened it
What types of things could you use down there? umm nothing really i have all i need
Is there anything we can send you that would be helpful for you to share with the members down there? nah anything you want really
I was thinking of things like CTR rings for the kids, pictures of the Savior, book marks, stickers, things along those lines that you may be able to hand out and use in your discussions with the people there? ummm sure!
Do you have access to any of those types of things and would that be helpful? we have access to all of those things but its the thought that counts!
What size shirt do you wear now? depends if its a big med then med, or a small large than large, size 34 pants (Peruvian pants) not sure if its the same
Also what types of things are you craving from home? awww I miss you.....cough cough..... yeah no whatever i miss......cookies, they don't have moms good cookies here, the recipe would be amazing
How is the teaching going this week? awesome had some good experiences
How are the recently baptized members doing? great we got a few that are preparing to serve missions and are submitting their papers!
Probably hard to remember the English spelling and punctuation of things? you have no idea... that and well i never had the best typing skills.
ok so this week was awesome, we were able to have a lot of success in teaching our investigators and we got about six people to come to church with us three of whom are getting ready to be baptized in the coming weeks!
umm a story of the week, not not really any come to mind, just that it warms my heart to see our INVESTIGATORS going out of their way to find people to teach, they start sharing the gospel with their neighbors and sharing with them how blessed they feel to have found the truth and start sharing their testimonies and having real faith building experiences, BEFORE getting baptized and it just goes to show how wonderful and easy this work really is and how all we need to participate is a testimony.
anyways gtg love y'all!
Emergency Room Visit
10/17/11
Moms Questions
So, now that you have all of our attention, how are things in Peru? well this week was uber stress full and uber hard, but all in all things are good.
When is your next transfer week? transfers are this next week the 24th of October
How are things going with the clothes shopping? hehe slowly, we really don't have time, so I'm picking things up very slowly but its coming along, eventually i will have everything i need.
Do they celebrate Halloween in Peru? they know what it is but its not really a big deal down here and i don't think they do the whole trick or treat thing, there really is no Halloween buzz
How about my picture? hehe guess what i forgot again!
Any chance it may show up in my in box any time soon? that depends on what kind of picture your looking for, just something to show you what i look like yeah any time, something worth sending and putting on display well that takes time!
Did I tell you Mikella Passey was engaged? you did, but i forgot to comment on it! That really is so exciting and amazing! i know she has really looked forward to getting married and I'm super excited for her! :)
Are you taking pictures with your camera? yes i am, still loving my camera, starting to wish that it was a little smaller, but I'm still loving it!
How is the memory card holding up? mom its 32gb its holding up great i haven't even come close to filling it up yet. Time for a new one? nah and if i need another i can find them pretty easy down here.
Well this week was very exciting and it all started last Monday after i wrote you guys, kinda sad huh just after writing something exciting happens and i have to wait an entire week to tell you guys about it. well last pday we were all gathered together as a zone to take a picture and play a few games, we started off with basketball, then moved on to a dodge ball like game, and then moved on to missionary tag. you guys remember how to play right? no ok here´s how you play. you need to have an even number of people and everyone stands in pairs scattered throughout the room or gym or area. and one of the pairs is split, one of the two has a dodge ball and is trying to hit the missionary that is unpaired, but this missionary can run to one of the pairs and form a trio, and when that happens the missionary on the other side of the trio has to leave and find another pair in order to be safe and not get hit with the dodge ball. well we were playing this game and having a great time, right up until something confused my companion and elder Mejia's (zone leader) and they both took off running and collided head first with one another, well elder granda fell to the ground and we all saw blood spewing from both of their heads so we carried them into the bathroom to get them cleaned up, but when we saw what we were dealing with we called a taxi to take us to the hospital elder granda and elder Mejia's had both split open their heads and needed stitches. my companion got 11 stitches three on the inside and eight on the outside, it was pretty grew some. But because of that and doctors orders, we have not had the opportunity to work very hard this week which made it a very stress full week and wore on me pretty hard. but my companion is all good, no serious damage but he will have a scar for the rest of his life.
But all is good. president manning told me that they have people working in my visa and not to worry and so that's my advise to you guys as well.
Moms Questions
So, now that you have all of our attention, how are things in Peru? well this week was uber stress full and uber hard, but all in all things are good.
When is your next transfer week? transfers are this next week the 24th of October
How are things going with the clothes shopping? hehe slowly, we really don't have time, so I'm picking things up very slowly but its coming along, eventually i will have everything i need.
Do they celebrate Halloween in Peru? they know what it is but its not really a big deal down here and i don't think they do the whole trick or treat thing, there really is no Halloween buzz
How about my picture? hehe guess what i forgot again!
Any chance it may show up in my in box any time soon? that depends on what kind of picture your looking for, just something to show you what i look like yeah any time, something worth sending and putting on display well that takes time!
Did I tell you Mikella Passey was engaged? you did, but i forgot to comment on it! That really is so exciting and amazing! i know she has really looked forward to getting married and I'm super excited for her! :)
Are you taking pictures with your camera? yes i am, still loving my camera, starting to wish that it was a little smaller, but I'm still loving it!
How is the memory card holding up? mom its 32gb its holding up great i haven't even come close to filling it up yet. Time for a new one? nah and if i need another i can find them pretty easy down here.
Well this week was very exciting and it all started last Monday after i wrote you guys, kinda sad huh just after writing something exciting happens and i have to wait an entire week to tell you guys about it. well last pday we were all gathered together as a zone to take a picture and play a few games, we started off with basketball, then moved on to a dodge ball like game, and then moved on to missionary tag. you guys remember how to play right? no ok here´s how you play. you need to have an even number of people and everyone stands in pairs scattered throughout the room or gym or area. and one of the pairs is split, one of the two has a dodge ball and is trying to hit the missionary that is unpaired, but this missionary can run to one of the pairs and form a trio, and when that happens the missionary on the other side of the trio has to leave and find another pair in order to be safe and not get hit with the dodge ball. well we were playing this game and having a great time, right up until something confused my companion and elder Mejia's (zone leader) and they both took off running and collided head first with one another, well elder granda fell to the ground and we all saw blood spewing from both of their heads so we carried them into the bathroom to get them cleaned up, but when we saw what we were dealing with we called a taxi to take us to the hospital elder granda and elder Mejia's had both split open their heads and needed stitches. my companion got 11 stitches three on the inside and eight on the outside, it was pretty grew some. But because of that and doctors orders, we have not had the opportunity to work very hard this week which made it a very stress full week and wore on me pretty hard. but my companion is all good, no serious damage but he will have a scar for the rest of his life.
But all is good. president manning told me that they have people working in my visa and not to worry and so that's my advise to you guys as well.
Faked us out!
10-10-11
Tate's Questions
How are you doing? great even better now that i have heard from you and time is already flying by if it went even faster i wouldn't be able to keep up
How many people have you baptized? not sure anymore i think on the plus side of 15
So what do you do while you’re on your mission? baptize :) and serve alot of people, but we mainly listen to people and help them to know how they can have gods help in their lives.
Shannon's/Kristi's Questions
Anyway, how are you doing?! great
how is it being back in Peru? different and at the same time just like i remembered it
getting your Spanish lingo on? of course, i was just thinking at how big of a miracle it is to have the gift of tongues and how i never imagined being where i am now having long talks and making friends in Spanish
Are you still baptizing pretty much every week? yup pretty much we have over 10 people planned to be baptized between now and Nov 12 2011
how's the investigator hunt going? great the good thing about being a gringo is that nobody ever says no and so we can pretty much enter any house we want with the exception of those that are really anti Mormon.
Do you have really good retention down there after baptism? we that's the huge problem, i haven't had an issue with it with any of my converts, but we find people about every week that were baptized and went for about 6 months and then stopped going for the last 10 years. so yea retention is the killer in Peru
lots of tv and studying... really boring huh?i would say so you guys used to do a ton and now you've succumbed to the hypnotizing effect of tv! beware beware beware! jk just remember to do what is important
I just told Shannon I want us to take our own family Christmas picture to send out to everyone of us in footsie pajamas... what do you think? umm i have no idea where i could possibly find footsie pajamas in Peru so go for it and just crop me in behind you guys in my suit and tie
do you think it's as dumb as Shannon says it is? well...... cough..... no but i wouldn't feel comfortable doing it, yes it would be funny, but lets do something nice and not force shan to do it.
Shannon wants to know if you have any idea on when you'll be coming home... like what month and stuff? umm no one is really sure sometime at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013, Ive heard everything from November to January so i come home when they buy me tickets
Dad's Questions
How do Tennis shoe? ........
Has your Spanish taken over that much, it is just a silly way of saying, hello, howdy, how are you doing, what’s new, what’s going on in your life, or how is life treating you? well I'm pretty sure I've never heard that expression ever and yeah I'm pretty much lost in Spanish but good everything is good
Are there any couple missionaries in your area? in my mission yes, have i ever had the opportunity to work with them no
I’m sure there are in your mission, what do they have them do? not sure, they work, and I've heard from other missionaries that they are teaching, but i think the majority of the work is helping out president manning with the missionaries
Mainly work with the members or are they out knocking on doors also? no I'm sure they contact, I've never had to knock doors so i don't think they have to either are you having fun? of course :)
Mom's Questions
You are also coming up on your first summer in how many years? i think 3 or four
Will that be enough for now? yeah for now, i took out 180 last Monday and it got me 500 soles and i will work with that for now if i need more its nice to know that there is another 220 in my account
When do you think you will be going shopping? not sure I'm going to try and just get what i have tailored, but if not there is a sister that makes pants really cheep about 60 soles each (23-25$)
Maybe some now and another $100 in a month or so? nah I'm very careful and i don't carry very much money with me at a time maybe at best 20$
Have you tried using your VISA debit card to get cash? yes i took out money in the bank so everything is working supposedly
Next item of business, maybe you should ask the mission office about your VISA! Is that something we should be concerned about? i doubt it but if they cant get me my visa ill probably just go to another country here in south America like Columbia! woo hoo!
Do they remember that you are there on a tourist VISA? yes but not sure how the whole process works in getting me approved
How did the baptism go on Saturday? hehe long story but it goes something like, we got to the waters edge and she didn't feel good and said she couldn't be baptized while she felt like that and so it didn't happen
Was the water cold this time? nope it was room temperature which is alot warmer than anything we normally have
Did she go all the way under? didn't even put a toe in the water
Were you able to get a picture taken of yourself? nope i forgot, i will try and remember for this next week.
Do you have a CD player? no and here in Lima its a little hard to find one, everyone uses usb and cd players have slots for usb to play music from them
What music do you listen to and do you listen to CD’s? church music and efy music and yes we can use cds
How is the apartment are you living in now? pretty little thing we are thinking about changing locations and living in a whole house with hot water for the same price
Is it pretty nice? yes except for two things sometimes there is not water and there is not enough electricity to have hot water to bath. Do you do your own laundry and cooking or is that hired out like before? its hired out and we receive a ton of blessings from these people its truly amazing the service they provide for us.
Well that's all the questions and thank you all for writing me! it really is awesome to hear form all of you know what is going on, I love you all, Tate yes i miss you, Kristi i get dibbs on naming the baby Jesus Alexander Alfredo king! or if its a girl Maricela Angelita Sabrina King. how awful am i or what! anyways that is so exciting that you told me before anyone else! and don't worry your studies aren't as important as having a baby, just think of the conference talk this last time that the commandment to multiply and replenish is still in full force and the lord will help and provide a way. :)
anyways now that you've all had a heart attack on behalf of Kristi we're even.
and this week has been so amazing, we were able to visit a ton of people and we are helping a ton of people come back to god.any stories for this week not really yes but not any worth writing about and remembering, just that this week was super stressful, heard about alot of couples breaking up, others having problems, others getting married, and still others getting ready to be baptized. so all in all a good stressful week and now sure i will ever get used to it but its the most fulfilling work there is.
God loves you, i loves you, and hope to hear from you soon!
Tate's Questions
How are you doing? great even better now that i have heard from you and time is already flying by if it went even faster i wouldn't be able to keep up
How many people have you baptized? not sure anymore i think on the plus side of 15
So what do you do while you’re on your mission? baptize :) and serve alot of people, but we mainly listen to people and help them to know how they can have gods help in their lives.
Shannon's/Kristi's Questions
Anyway, how are you doing?! great
how is it being back in Peru? different and at the same time just like i remembered it
getting your Spanish lingo on? of course, i was just thinking at how big of a miracle it is to have the gift of tongues and how i never imagined being where i am now having long talks and making friends in Spanish
Are you still baptizing pretty much every week? yup pretty much we have over 10 people planned to be baptized between now and Nov 12 2011
how's the investigator hunt going? great the good thing about being a gringo is that nobody ever says no and so we can pretty much enter any house we want with the exception of those that are really anti Mormon.
Do you have really good retention down there after baptism? we that's the huge problem, i haven't had an issue with it with any of my converts, but we find people about every week that were baptized and went for about 6 months and then stopped going for the last 10 years. so yea retention is the killer in Peru
lots of tv and studying... really boring huh?i would say so you guys used to do a ton and now you've succumbed to the hypnotizing effect of tv! beware beware beware! jk just remember to do what is important
I just told Shannon I want us to take our own family Christmas picture to send out to everyone of us in footsie pajamas... what do you think? umm i have no idea where i could possibly find footsie pajamas in Peru so go for it and just crop me in behind you guys in my suit and tie
do you think it's as dumb as Shannon says it is? well...... cough..... no but i wouldn't feel comfortable doing it, yes it would be funny, but lets do something nice and not force shan to do it.
Shannon wants to know if you have any idea on when you'll be coming home... like what month and stuff? umm no one is really sure sometime at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013, Ive heard everything from November to January so i come home when they buy me tickets
Dad's Questions
How do Tennis shoe? ........
Has your Spanish taken over that much, it is just a silly way of saying, hello, howdy, how are you doing, what’s new, what’s going on in your life, or how is life treating you? well I'm pretty sure I've never heard that expression ever and yeah I'm pretty much lost in Spanish but good everything is good
Are there any couple missionaries in your area? in my mission yes, have i ever had the opportunity to work with them no
I’m sure there are in your mission, what do they have them do? not sure, they work, and I've heard from other missionaries that they are teaching, but i think the majority of the work is helping out president manning with the missionaries
Mainly work with the members or are they out knocking on doors also? no I'm sure they contact, I've never had to knock doors so i don't think they have to either are you having fun? of course :)
Mom's Questions
You are also coming up on your first summer in how many years? i think 3 or four
Will that be enough for now? yeah for now, i took out 180 last Monday and it got me 500 soles and i will work with that for now if i need more its nice to know that there is another 220 in my account
When do you think you will be going shopping? not sure I'm going to try and just get what i have tailored, but if not there is a sister that makes pants really cheep about 60 soles each (23-25$)
Maybe some now and another $100 in a month or so? nah I'm very careful and i don't carry very much money with me at a time maybe at best 20$
Have you tried using your VISA debit card to get cash? yes i took out money in the bank so everything is working supposedly
Next item of business, maybe you should ask the mission office about your VISA! Is that something we should be concerned about? i doubt it but if they cant get me my visa ill probably just go to another country here in south America like Columbia! woo hoo!
Do they remember that you are there on a tourist VISA? yes but not sure how the whole process works in getting me approved
How did the baptism go on Saturday? hehe long story but it goes something like, we got to the waters edge and she didn't feel good and said she couldn't be baptized while she felt like that and so it didn't happen
Was the water cold this time? nope it was room temperature which is alot warmer than anything we normally have
Did she go all the way under? didn't even put a toe in the water
Were you able to get a picture taken of yourself? nope i forgot, i will try and remember for this next week.
Do you have a CD player? no and here in Lima its a little hard to find one, everyone uses usb and cd players have slots for usb to play music from them
What music do you listen to and do you listen to CD’s? church music and efy music and yes we can use cds
How is the apartment are you living in now? pretty little thing we are thinking about changing locations and living in a whole house with hot water for the same price
Is it pretty nice? yes except for two things sometimes there is not water and there is not enough electricity to have hot water to bath. Do you do your own laundry and cooking or is that hired out like before? its hired out and we receive a ton of blessings from these people its truly amazing the service they provide for us.
Well that's all the questions and thank you all for writing me! it really is awesome to hear form all of you know what is going on, I love you all, Tate yes i miss you, Kristi i get dibbs on naming the baby Jesus Alexander Alfredo king! or if its a girl Maricela Angelita Sabrina King. how awful am i or what! anyways that is so exciting that you told me before anyone else! and don't worry your studies aren't as important as having a baby, just think of the conference talk this last time that the commandment to multiply and replenish is still in full force and the lord will help and provide a way. :)
anyways now that you've all had a heart attack on behalf of Kristi we're even.
and this week has been so amazing, we were able to visit a ton of people and we are helping a ton of people come back to god.any stories for this week not really yes but not any worth writing about and remembering, just that this week was super stressful, heard about alot of couples breaking up, others having problems, others getting married, and still others getting ready to be baptized. so all in all a good stressful week and now sure i will ever get used to it but its the most fulfilling work there is.
God loves you, i loves you, and hope to hear from you soon!
October 3, 2011
OK, so this week has been really good and we are planning on having a super good week this week too, this Saturday we are planning the baptism of Hna Dominga (she was almost baptized and then didn't go all the way under) so your prayers that everything will go according to plan would be amazing! and her son Juan Jose, he was supposed to be baptized too, but he didn't yet get his answer, and so we delayed it for the next week but while his mom was having her interview we sat and spoke with Juan Jose and then we had the opportunity to kneel down with him and ask god if it was true. and he said that he felt it. well we are still going to work with him this week and the next because we don't want to baptize to baptize but baptize real converts and we want to be super sure that he really has his answer and wasn't just saying that because he felt that he had to. so well see where that goes, but i fell confident that he really felt it and that this next week he will be baptized. :) other than that i love the spirit and how it directs us to speak the exact words that we need to speak so that people can know how to return to god. i love general conference for the exact same reason and how it helps me to come closer to god, a recent thing that we heard from our leaders was that from every conference whether district, zone, multi-zone, ward, stake, or general, if we come away thinking oh that was nice and continue the same as we were before we have been deceive and are in a false sense of security, these people are inspired of god to help us know how we can change and become more like Christ or what more we can do and we should apply it. and then they went into how if we have to justify why we are not doing it we are listening to the voice of the devil. ouch that burned but its true, so my invitation is what can you do better after hearing general conference.
other things:
It would be nice to have access to cash, nobody in Peru works with cards everything is card hold cash and so i will have to take out of my card at the bank and work in cash, because credit doesn't exist and yeah 5-600 would be more than enough thank you! :)
thank you for all you do on my behalf love you all
tell Tate and Aaron i love them and am looking forward to hear from them soon! ;)
oh and Marlee, and Shannon, and Kristi, and ...etc ;)
Dad's Questions
How do Tennis shoe? still have no idea what this means you'll have to explain it to me
What is new in Peru? well general conference was a new experience
So was that a great Conference or what? it was pretty much AMAZING!
Did you get to see all sessions or only priesthood and Sunday? we were able to watch all five sessions which was amazing, i loved elder Hollands in priesthood meeting what did you think about it?
Do you have any good stories or incite I could use in my lesson? well as missionaries we are required to do service every week to serve the people and it is one way that opens the hearts of the people really really fast because they can see our genuine interest and love for them and that is really different to what normally happens and it sparks interest, any specific experience like Ammon, no but i know that heartfelt service is the fastest way to the heart of the people.
By the way how’s your goal at keeping a journal coming, still writing? yeah I'm still writing, its not really a journal of events as much as a book of thoughts and insights, and introspection. more of a look at how I'm changing book than a on this day i did this book.
are you smiling? right now yes, and of course how can we not smile in this work?
Grandma's Questions
How are things going in Peru? great grandma! thanks for writing! things are going great we are visiting a lot of people and helping them to find the truth, we have two ward missionaries in our ward here who are both older than 70, and they are out contacting people! your work in searching for our ancestors is invaluable and i just want to say thank you because i have seen the joy on peoples faces as they accept the gospel and know that our family feels the same way on the other side as we do their work too!
Mom's Questions
How about you? I'm doing good, cant complain about anything really just always have something to do. :)
Were you able to listen to conference and feel of that great spirit? yes it was amazing we had a few harry potter moments because in the Sunday morning session all the north American elders were listening in English in a closet underneath the stairs in the stake center! crazy huh! but it was an amazing conference and i love the feeling of being refreshed afterword to, but it doesn't stop their now we have to apply!
Ally Giles (can’t remember her married name) is expecting a baby! Freaky huh? uh yeah that is super freaky
How long ago was that picture taken? umm beginning of august... i think the 6th about two months ago
I need one for our family Christmas card and would like to have a current picture, please? umm i´ll see what i can do, maybe a Jared picture :)
Can you believe I’m already thinking of Christmas? yes because Christmas starts sooner every year pretty sure eventually it will be Christmas year round, just like Who Ville.
Why have you lost so much weight? um not sure, pretty sure its the curse of Peru!
Is it the walking, diet, diarrhea combination of all or what? I'm going to go with combination of all of the above
Do you feel good? yes i do don't worry its a good thing not a bad thing.
That is exciting about Jessica and her husband. Has he been receptive to the gospel? yeah he is really open too, but he is also the voice of reason in his family which make it amazing!
Did they accept the challenge to be baptized? yes they did we´ll be working with them until 12 Nov 2011!
How is Martin doing? no idea, sounds really bad but we have been super busy and he has been working alot and during this week we haven't had the opportunity to visit him.
Did they find the records for Nefi’s parents? also no idea its not our job and so well know when they tell us
Oh, and how about your VISA? still no idea
What ever happened with your visa? no idea
Did that get taken care of or are you still on a visitor visa? pretty sure I'm still a visitor, i don't have a lot of information on that end of the spectrum.
love you bye!
OK, so this week has been really good and we are planning on having a super good week this week too, this Saturday we are planning the baptism of Hna Dominga (she was almost baptized and then didn't go all the way under) so your prayers that everything will go according to plan would be amazing! and her son Juan Jose, he was supposed to be baptized too, but he didn't yet get his answer, and so we delayed it for the next week but while his mom was having her interview we sat and spoke with Juan Jose and then we had the opportunity to kneel down with him and ask god if it was true. and he said that he felt it. well we are still going to work with him this week and the next because we don't want to baptize to baptize but baptize real converts and we want to be super sure that he really has his answer and wasn't just saying that because he felt that he had to. so well see where that goes, but i fell confident that he really felt it and that this next week he will be baptized. :) other than that i love the spirit and how it directs us to speak the exact words that we need to speak so that people can know how to return to god. i love general conference for the exact same reason and how it helps me to come closer to god, a recent thing that we heard from our leaders was that from every conference whether district, zone, multi-zone, ward, stake, or general, if we come away thinking oh that was nice and continue the same as we were before we have been deceive and are in a false sense of security, these people are inspired of god to help us know how we can change and become more like Christ or what more we can do and we should apply it. and then they went into how if we have to justify why we are not doing it we are listening to the voice of the devil. ouch that burned but its true, so my invitation is what can you do better after hearing general conference.
other things:
It would be nice to have access to cash, nobody in Peru works with cards everything is card hold cash and so i will have to take out of my card at the bank and work in cash, because credit doesn't exist and yeah 5-600 would be more than enough thank you! :)
thank you for all you do on my behalf love you all
tell Tate and Aaron i love them and am looking forward to hear from them soon! ;)
oh and Marlee, and Shannon, and Kristi, and ...etc ;)
Dad's Questions
How do Tennis shoe? still have no idea what this means you'll have to explain it to me
What is new in Peru? well general conference was a new experience
So was that a great Conference or what? it was pretty much AMAZING!
Did you get to see all sessions or only priesthood and Sunday? we were able to watch all five sessions which was amazing, i loved elder Hollands in priesthood meeting what did you think about it?
Do you have any good stories or incite I could use in my lesson? well as missionaries we are required to do service every week to serve the people and it is one way that opens the hearts of the people really really fast because they can see our genuine interest and love for them and that is really different to what normally happens and it sparks interest, any specific experience like Ammon, no but i know that heartfelt service is the fastest way to the heart of the people.
By the way how’s your goal at keeping a journal coming, still writing? yeah I'm still writing, its not really a journal of events as much as a book of thoughts and insights, and introspection. more of a look at how I'm changing book than a on this day i did this book.
are you smiling? right now yes, and of course how can we not smile in this work?
Grandma's Questions
How are things going in Peru? great grandma! thanks for writing! things are going great we are visiting a lot of people and helping them to find the truth, we have two ward missionaries in our ward here who are both older than 70, and they are out contacting people! your work in searching for our ancestors is invaluable and i just want to say thank you because i have seen the joy on peoples faces as they accept the gospel and know that our family feels the same way on the other side as we do their work too!
Mom's Questions
How about you? I'm doing good, cant complain about anything really just always have something to do. :)
Were you able to listen to conference and feel of that great spirit? yes it was amazing we had a few harry potter moments because in the Sunday morning session all the north American elders were listening in English in a closet underneath the stairs in the stake center! crazy huh! but it was an amazing conference and i love the feeling of being refreshed afterword to, but it doesn't stop their now we have to apply!
Ally Giles (can’t remember her married name) is expecting a baby! Freaky huh? uh yeah that is super freaky
How long ago was that picture taken? umm beginning of august... i think the 6th about two months ago
I need one for our family Christmas card and would like to have a current picture, please? umm i´ll see what i can do, maybe a Jared picture :)
Can you believe I’m already thinking of Christmas? yes because Christmas starts sooner every year pretty sure eventually it will be Christmas year round, just like Who Ville.
Why have you lost so much weight? um not sure, pretty sure its the curse of Peru!
Is it the walking, diet, diarrhea combination of all or what? I'm going to go with combination of all of the above
Do you feel good? yes i do don't worry its a good thing not a bad thing.
That is exciting about Jessica and her husband. Has he been receptive to the gospel? yeah he is really open too, but he is also the voice of reason in his family which make it amazing!
Did they accept the challenge to be baptized? yes they did we´ll be working with them until 12 Nov 2011!
How is Martin doing? no idea, sounds really bad but we have been super busy and he has been working alot and during this week we haven't had the opportunity to visit him.
Did they find the records for Nefi’s parents? also no idea its not our job and so well know when they tell us
Oh, and how about your VISA? still no idea
What ever happened with your visa? no idea
Did that get taken care of or are you still on a visitor visa? pretty sure I'm still a visitor, i don't have a lot of information on that end of the spectrum.
love you bye!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Another couple prepared to receive the gospel.
OK, so this week we found another person who had been prepared by God and really it is a couple, they had just recently gotten married (that is huge not very many people get married they just live together) and the wife (Jessica) was telling us that she felt that something was missing from her marriage and she said she thought that it was the fact that they just did it civilly and not religiously which let us go right into talking about how we can be sealed together forever in the temple and she just lit up, and since then she has been reading the book of mormon and sharing it with other people too! They are amazing and this next visit we are planning on asking her and her husband to be baptized and start their family off right. Thank you for all of your prayers and love and I'm sending you the same!
That is so amazing about all the stuff that has happened this week I'm so happy for Gino! oh and remember that in revelation it says when the seventh seal opens there is silence in the heavens for the space of half an hour, and in gods time that would be about 20 years so if it did open this week we have a little bit of time, i heard about a missionary hear that received his patriarchal blessing which says that he will live to see the savior come again, so it really cant be that far off.
Love Elder King!
Moms Question's
How are things going there? things are going great had an amazing week even though the numbers don't show it we had a lot of great experiences in teaching the people.
Any baptisms this week? no not this week and yes this week, it was the baptism of Nefi and it was a ward baptism that we helped with, the thing is his parents were baptised about 5 years ago, but no one knows where the records are and so they are looking for them, but if they cant find them, his parents may have to be re baptized. :) easy for us, not sure how they would take it though...
You mentioned you may new some clothes pretty soon, how soon and what kind of clothes? well in the next couple of weeks would be nice
Shirts, pants, underwear, shoes???? all of the above, I'm pretty sure I've lost about 30-40lbs maybe more and nothing really fits at all i put on my pants and feel like I'm Jared from subway but its not a huge emergency just something that everyone is noticing. also my super shoes are falling apart, not to the point that they are not usable just that half of one of the soles has come off. but i have my other pair so don't worry. :)
Is it cheaper for us to ship clothes or for you to buy there? oh it is soo much cheaper to buy stuff here for example i can get a suit for 150 soles which is like 75 dollars its just that if I'm going to that i need to renew just about my entire wardrobe which might bring me into the 3 or 4 hundred dollar level which is more than I have on my card.
Are they wearing out or are they not fitting any more? no just not fitting, if i end up getting new stuff i will either keep all the stuff i have tucked away or donate it to the mission.
If not fitting, to big or to little?? way too big
How are Martin & Nefi? nefi is awesome he was baptized in Saturday and we are still working with martin, he is still super shy and doesn't always like to talk with us but he smiles alot more with us.
Do you pronounce that Nephi, like in the Book of Mormon? yes and no, nephi is how it is written and pronounced in English, nefi is how it is written and pronounced (nef ''e'')
Will you get to listen to General Conference live this weekend? yes
Where will you be while you listen if you get to? we will be able to watch it in the stake center
Do many of the members listen to conference or have the ability too? the only place you can see it is in the stake center or by Internet but not many people have computers and so i think there will be alot of people there, but more than anything every gets the liahona.
That is so amazing about all the stuff that has happened this week I'm so happy for Gino! oh and remember that in revelation it says when the seventh seal opens there is silence in the heavens for the space of half an hour, and in gods time that would be about 20 years so if it did open this week we have a little bit of time, i heard about a missionary hear that received his patriarchal blessing which says that he will live to see the savior come again, so it really cant be that far off.
Love Elder King!
Moms Question's
How are things going there? things are going great had an amazing week even though the numbers don't show it we had a lot of great experiences in teaching the people.
Any baptisms this week? no not this week and yes this week, it was the baptism of Nefi and it was a ward baptism that we helped with, the thing is his parents were baptised about 5 years ago, but no one knows where the records are and so they are looking for them, but if they cant find them, his parents may have to be re baptized. :) easy for us, not sure how they would take it though...
You mentioned you may new some clothes pretty soon, how soon and what kind of clothes? well in the next couple of weeks would be nice
Shirts, pants, underwear, shoes???? all of the above, I'm pretty sure I've lost about 30-40lbs maybe more and nothing really fits at all i put on my pants and feel like I'm Jared from subway but its not a huge emergency just something that everyone is noticing. also my super shoes are falling apart, not to the point that they are not usable just that half of one of the soles has come off. but i have my other pair so don't worry. :)
Is it cheaper for us to ship clothes or for you to buy there? oh it is soo much cheaper to buy stuff here for example i can get a suit for 150 soles which is like 75 dollars its just that if I'm going to that i need to renew just about my entire wardrobe which might bring me into the 3 or 4 hundred dollar level which is more than I have on my card.
Are they wearing out or are they not fitting any more? no just not fitting, if i end up getting new stuff i will either keep all the stuff i have tucked away or donate it to the mission.
If not fitting, to big or to little?? way too big
How are Martin & Nefi? nefi is awesome he was baptized in Saturday and we are still working with martin, he is still super shy and doesn't always like to talk with us but he smiles alot more with us.
Do you pronounce that Nephi, like in the Book of Mormon? yes and no, nephi is how it is written and pronounced in English, nefi is how it is written and pronounced (nef ''e'')
Will you get to listen to General Conference live this weekend? yes
Where will you be while you listen if you get to? we will be able to watch it in the stake center
Do many of the members listen to conference or have the ability too? the only place you can see it is in the stake center or by Internet but not many people have computers and so i think there will be alot of people there, but more than anything every gets the liahona.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
God knows where he puts us......Spirit testifies anywhere, even a closet!
This week we have been doing really good we have had a lot of success in finding new people to teach and had some really interesting experiences. i have learned that god knows where he puts us and that he knows how to help his children in ways that we don't understand or comprehend, i have found out that Elder Granda is exactly what a few of our investigators needed to start progressing and opening up and it is really nothing different than it is elder Granda that said the right phrase at the right moment that opened them up and it has been awesome to to see that change that he has had on them.
We had an experience a little funny this week when we went to teach nefi and his friend/brother martin, well martin was a little embarrassed because he hadn't read what he was supposed to so as we were coming in he had hidden himself in the closet, well nefi (8 years old) ratted him out and said haha martin is hiding over there! so we walked over and looked trough the hole in the door and talked with him and he said that he didn't want to listen and well we were like OK well at least come out and talk with us about why not, well he didn't want to, so we went in, and talked with him in the closet and it was interesting to note that its not important whether we are teaching in a closet or at a table, the spirit testifies and gives us the words to speak, well after 5 min we left the closet and his family went in and brought him out and we talked with him at the table and he opened up and we started teaching and now he is a little more excited to learn, a good start to change his life don't you think? anyway i have started writing a journal you win or really my mission president won and ordered me to keep a journal, but that ok I'm finding out that it helps to keep track of my thoughts and feelings.
anyways sounds like you guys are super busy, tell mar I'm sorry about the jeep and her roommate but that just means mar needs to get home earlier! love you lots hope to hear from you soon!
Moms questions:
Do you remember your first boy scout camp out? to be completely honest no.
What has been one of the hardest things you have had to do since returning on your mission, and what did you learn from it? um, well that's a long story and well, it can be summed up in a few short statements, the hardest thing i have had to do this time around is finding out why in particular this mission, and what can i do to feel like I'm having real impact with the people, and what do i want to get from my mission. and what have i learned from this is true conversion and what it means to walk by faith, and finding that sometimes we can find our own purpose in what we need to do.
How long has Elder Granda been serving in the mission field? 14 months
Are you still working with your investigators that are working to be married? of course and they are going to be married we just don't know when, which creates a few problems with putting down a baptismal date.
We had an experience a little funny this week when we went to teach nefi and his friend/brother martin, well martin was a little embarrassed because he hadn't read what he was supposed to so as we were coming in he had hidden himself in the closet, well nefi (8 years old) ratted him out and said haha martin is hiding over there! so we walked over and looked trough the hole in the door and talked with him and he said that he didn't want to listen and well we were like OK well at least come out and talk with us about why not, well he didn't want to, so we went in, and talked with him in the closet and it was interesting to note that its not important whether we are teaching in a closet or at a table, the spirit testifies and gives us the words to speak, well after 5 min we left the closet and his family went in and brought him out and we talked with him at the table and he opened up and we started teaching and now he is a little more excited to learn, a good start to change his life don't you think? anyway i have started writing a journal you win or really my mission president won and ordered me to keep a journal, but that ok I'm finding out that it helps to keep track of my thoughts and feelings.
anyways sounds like you guys are super busy, tell mar I'm sorry about the jeep and her roommate but that just means mar needs to get home earlier! love you lots hope to hear from you soon!
Moms questions:
Do you remember your first boy scout camp out? to be completely honest no.
What has been one of the hardest things you have had to do since returning on your mission, and what did you learn from it? um, well that's a long story and well, it can be summed up in a few short statements, the hardest thing i have had to do this time around is finding out why in particular this mission, and what can i do to feel like I'm having real impact with the people, and what do i want to get from my mission. and what have i learned from this is true conversion and what it means to walk by faith, and finding that sometimes we can find our own purpose in what we need to do.
How long has Elder Granda been serving in the mission field? 14 months
Are you still working with your investigators that are working to be married? of course and they are going to be married we just don't know when, which creates a few problems with putting down a baptismal date.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Leadership may come - start preparing.....
OK so last Monday after writing you guys I went with e´ Roda's to the mission office so he could have an interview with President Manning, when he came out he asked if he could speak with me for a moment, well I instantly became nervous because I hadn't planned on having an interview and had no idea what to expect, so we went into his office and started talking and he took out his mission presidents handbook, and asked me to read the section about leaders and started talking with me about how the mission is very young and he needs missionaries that can inspire others to work hard and become better...etc, my brain was in shock, because well I didn't know what to think and I was... I think the word would be somewhere between stupefied and awestruck, but he finished by saying that very soon he would call me to be a leader and to prepare myself, and then we left well we were all expecting to receive the phone call telling e´Rodas that he was going to leave (President Manning told him he needed him in another area) and tell me I was called to be a leader, but thank goodness it didn't come, I'm here with elder Granda as co companion, but elder Perez our district leader said THAT'S ONLY FOR 6 WEEKS TO TEACH HIM THE AREA SO YOU CAN GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE A DISTRICT LEADER OR... ETC. so now we are all convinced that the next transfer is my time so we are going to work hard to get as many baptisms as possible between now and then.
Mom´s questions
Did you receive a transfer on Saturday? nope i get to stay here in Jose Galvez! A great companion, but a different one he is Elder Granda, Elder Rodas got transferred to another area about 15 minutes away in taxi.
Getting an ensign, impossible, the Spanish version is the liahona but they don't always have the same stories. because the liahona is like the merging of the ensign, and the friend, etc.
How is your health, do you need anything or want anything from the good ol USA? doing good with my health, nothing to report other than I'm probably going to need new clothes fairly soon.
Dad´s Questions
How do Tennis shoe? I have no idea what your trying to ask here.
What is new in Peru? not much the sun is coming out more and i saw the moon for the first time this week since being here, got a new companion Elder Granda from the same city as Elder Rodas.
That’s in about 1 ½ weeks now, right? (baptism: Joel) actually we moved up his baptismal date to this last Saturday and he was baptized and confirmed on Sunday, it was amazing (we changed the date because we had planed on having it the Saturday before a stake conference and so he would have had to wait a week to receive the holy ghost and so we moved it up to this week)
How is he doing? amazing he is now turning into a missionary giving references and opening up his family more and more.
How is his family doing? doing good, we haven't had the opportunity to sit down and teach all of them but all is well right now.
Just to let you know Brother Palmer continues to get better, he is planning on returning to Peru in October sometime. Speaking of Health how is yours? great haven't been suffering of anything recently so that's good :)
Keeping everything in and down? yup haven't thrown up in weeks, diareah well that's just a normal thing now.
Mom´s questions
Did you receive a transfer on Saturday? nope i get to stay here in Jose Galvez! A great companion, but a different one he is Elder Granda, Elder Rodas got transferred to another area about 15 minutes away in taxi.
Getting an ensign, impossible, the Spanish version is the liahona but they don't always have the same stories. because the liahona is like the merging of the ensign, and the friend, etc.
How is your health, do you need anything or want anything from the good ol USA? doing good with my health, nothing to report other than I'm probably going to need new clothes fairly soon.
Dad´s Questions
How do Tennis shoe? I have no idea what your trying to ask here.
What is new in Peru? not much the sun is coming out more and i saw the moon for the first time this week since being here, got a new companion Elder Granda from the same city as Elder Rodas.
That’s in about 1 ½ weeks now, right? (baptism: Joel) actually we moved up his baptismal date to this last Saturday and he was baptized and confirmed on Sunday, it was amazing (we changed the date because we had planed on having it the Saturday before a stake conference and so he would have had to wait a week to receive the holy ghost and so we moved it up to this week)
How is he doing? amazing he is now turning into a missionary giving references and opening up his family more and more.
How is his family doing? doing good, we haven't had the opportunity to sit down and teach all of them but all is well right now.
Just to let you know Brother Palmer continues to get better, he is planning on returning to Peru in October sometime. Speaking of Health how is yours? great haven't been suffering of anything recently so that's good :)
Keeping everything in and down? yup haven't thrown up in weeks, diareah well that's just a normal thing now.
Monday, September 5, 2011
2nd Transfer 5th Week....Faith Building Experiences & Open Hearts
OK this week was good we were able to have a lot of faith building experiences and open a lot of hearts to the gospel, this weekend we had the baptism of Michelle, she has been an investigator for about a year, and was always kind of loose about going, but she finally made the decision for herself that she needed to be baptized, it was amazing to hear her testimony after she was baptized because she has had a lot of opposition from her family and as she was investigating the church she found a place that was all her own and found out that she couldn't go with out it anymore because it had become something that she needed to have, and so she was baptized even though she was sick and even though the water was about 50 degrees, more like 40 according to my companion, they were in the water all of 1 minute and my companion said he couldn't feel his legs and they were both shaking! but it was a wonderful experience and hopefully it will help open up the hearts of her family (they were all present, except her father but he showed up for the confirmation the next day) other than that we have been working really hard to find new people to teach, and I'm starting to feel like if i don't baptize every week I'm not doing my job weird huh? i am so thankful for the many people that the lord has prepared to listen to us and for the opportunity that we are given every day to impact the lives of the people around us i know that my Redeemer lives! and that this is his gospel! and his church!
OK a few questions, marriage is hard, full of problems how do you grow together and not apart? how do you develop trust one with the other (we are trying to help a few investigators improve their marriage before they get legally married and baptized)
Thank you for all your help! and your love! sending prayers your way Tyler.
Dads questions
Hey what’s up dude? Not much today is p day and we had a baptism this weekend!
So how was your week? Its been great lot of work always busy but we are doing good this week
Moms Questions
Also, you had told us about Rene – he’s the one who has to wait a year before baptism because of drugs, right? yup that's him hes now working towards his baptismal date of DEC 17th
Do you think you will be staying there another transfer? you should know we don't know that, and well since I've never been in an area longer than 9 weeks being here almost 3 months and into a fourth makes me antsy
When are transfers? this Saturday!
Can you name them? Bednar, Christopherson, Cook, and Anderson, the first three were all during the same occasion.
I remember David Bednar when you were in Provo, Neil L. Anderson on your mission, and who are the other two? Christopherson, and Cook
Oh, yes and Elder Zwick! Does he count? Well if he does I have to add about four or five more to the list!
OK a few questions, marriage is hard, full of problems how do you grow together and not apart? how do you develop trust one with the other (we are trying to help a few investigators improve their marriage before they get legally married and baptized)
Thank you for all your help! and your love! sending prayers your way Tyler.
Dads questions
Hey what’s up dude? Not much today is p day and we had a baptism this weekend!
So how was your week? Its been great lot of work always busy but we are doing good this week
Moms Questions
Also, you had told us about Rene – he’s the one who has to wait a year before baptism because of drugs, right? yup that's him hes now working towards his baptismal date of DEC 17th
Do you think you will be staying there another transfer? you should know we don't know that, and well since I've never been in an area longer than 9 weeks being here almost 3 months and into a fourth makes me antsy
When are transfers? this Saturday!
Can you name them? Bednar, Christopherson, Cook, and Anderson, the first three were all during the same occasion.
I remember David Bednar when you were in Provo, Neil L. Anderson on your mission, and who are the other two? Christopherson, and Cook
Oh, yes and Elder Zwick! Does he count? Well if he does I have to add about four or five more to the list!
Monday, August 29, 2011
8/29/11 - Shook hands with Elder Neil L. Anderson!!
OK so this week has been awesome, not sure where to start but i think it is appropriate to start with i shook hands with Elder Neil L Anderson. He came to Peru too and three missions of the nine planned a conference where he would be able to speak to the missionaries, and just before it started he said that he would like to shake the hands of every missionary, and i was in the third row and our row was about to go up when we got skipped for some reason and so we waited and waited and waited, and i was the last missionary to be able to shake his hand, so that makes four of the twelve in my short life so far, which means I've got 11 to go! any ways he talked about the 4 things that we need to have to have had success in the mission and they are 1 a testimony of Jesus Christ, 2 a testimony of the restoration 3 a love of the Book of Mormon and New testament, and 4 a love of the spiritual life, which means I've pretty much got what is expected and now i can go above and beyond, but it was really cool.
this week we also had the opportunity to meet a friend/cousin(?) of Rene, have i told your about Rene? anyways we were able to talk with Hector and we started teaching him about Jesus Christ and what he means to us and how we can show our love by keeping his commandments(teachings) and we right there on the spot outside of his house asked him to be baptised and he said yes, because he wants to follow Jesus, it is really amazing how easy the work really is, am i allowed to say that?, we trust in the lord to provided people who are ready and he does, we trust him to give us the words to say and he does, we trust in him in just about everything and everything is provided for us, i think of how in the US alot of times we worry way too much about what to say or what people will think or about maybe putting people off, and maybe that is the most difficult part, but we are promised blessings if we do what is right we are a light on the hill and people see us, they are curious about this light that we have and sometimes we try and make it a smaller than it really is sand say oh well in my church we believe that.... or try and share the gospel in very roundabout ways, and really the best way to help these people is to say I Testify, because i know its true, that .... or to just ask them, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood of god? and if its no, you can ask why and they tell you their doubt their reservation, why they don't want to and we can start helping them in ways that actually make differences. sure maybe we don't open up with that line when we make contacts in the street, but we normally invite people to be baptized in the 1st lesson, so we don't waist our time in going in roundabouts. anyways i think I'm rambling now, elder rodas is awesome, thank you for getting me this info, and the email of Leslie!
Anyways love you all!
Moms Questions
How is your 19 year old neighbor doing now? He is doing awesome, he has been all but completely fellowshiped into the ward and people are asking why we put his baptismal date so far away (Sept 17), because he was really just a huge piece of gold and was really prepared to receive.
Does he live with his father? yes he does, he lives with his mom and dad, and a few little brothers, his family isn't as open as he is but there is still a lot of hope and room for us to talk, the thing is he really doesn't have very much time and when he does his family isn't there, but we are working to bring the whole family into the fold.
Has he received any discussions? yes he has we have taught him just about everything and i think the only one that we haven't discussed fully is the plan of salvation, but that's more just because its a lengthy lesson and he doesn't have a ton of time, and he already knows just about everything about it from studying the pamphlet. (like i said he is golden)
Do I need to contact the scholarship office to see that status of your scholarship? you will probably have to at least call them, I'm not sure if there is another way to find out, but like you said its nothing to worry about because its not like i can do anything about it.
How are you doing? I'm doing amazing!, starting to get into the rhythm of realizing most weeks are hard and we really just need to remember and look for the happy moments.
Dads Questions
What’s new this week? new this week, we where to begin, i shook hands with an apostle?, we met a few new people, mucked out stalls, lots of problems, lots of blessings.
Great story last So how is he doing this week? he is doing amazing, he is all but ready to run to the baptismal font and it is amazing to see the love that he has for the gospel in the little time that he has known it.
Did he make it to church this past week? not only did he make it to church but he is helping us to bring people to church!
Did mom tell you Danny Anderson received his mission call? no she didn't, but that is amazing that he is going to the second best mission the world! to bad he didn't hit the bulls eye of Peru! but that sounds awesome
this week we also had the opportunity to meet a friend/cousin(?) of Rene, have i told your about Rene? anyways we were able to talk with Hector and we started teaching him about Jesus Christ and what he means to us and how we can show our love by keeping his commandments(teachings) and we right there on the spot outside of his house asked him to be baptised and he said yes, because he wants to follow Jesus, it is really amazing how easy the work really is, am i allowed to say that?, we trust in the lord to provided people who are ready and he does, we trust him to give us the words to say and he does, we trust in him in just about everything and everything is provided for us, i think of how in the US alot of times we worry way too much about what to say or what people will think or about maybe putting people off, and maybe that is the most difficult part, but we are promised blessings if we do what is right we are a light on the hill and people see us, they are curious about this light that we have and sometimes we try and make it a smaller than it really is sand say oh well in my church we believe that.... or try and share the gospel in very roundabout ways, and really the best way to help these people is to say I Testify, because i know its true, that .... or to just ask them, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood of god? and if its no, you can ask why and they tell you their doubt their reservation, why they don't want to and we can start helping them in ways that actually make differences. sure maybe we don't open up with that line when we make contacts in the street, but we normally invite people to be baptized in the 1st lesson, so we don't waist our time in going in roundabouts. anyways i think I'm rambling now, elder rodas is awesome, thank you for getting me this info, and the email of Leslie!
Anyways love you all!
Moms Questions
How is your 19 year old neighbor doing now? He is doing awesome, he has been all but completely fellowshiped into the ward and people are asking why we put his baptismal date so far away (Sept 17), because he was really just a huge piece of gold and was really prepared to receive.
Does he live with his father? yes he does, he lives with his mom and dad, and a few little brothers, his family isn't as open as he is but there is still a lot of hope and room for us to talk, the thing is he really doesn't have very much time and when he does his family isn't there, but we are working to bring the whole family into the fold.
Has he received any discussions? yes he has we have taught him just about everything and i think the only one that we haven't discussed fully is the plan of salvation, but that's more just because its a lengthy lesson and he doesn't have a ton of time, and he already knows just about everything about it from studying the pamphlet. (like i said he is golden)
Do I need to contact the scholarship office to see that status of your scholarship? you will probably have to at least call them, I'm not sure if there is another way to find out, but like you said its nothing to worry about because its not like i can do anything about it.
How are you doing? I'm doing amazing!, starting to get into the rhythm of realizing most weeks are hard and we really just need to remember and look for the happy moments.
Dads Questions
What’s new this week? new this week, we where to begin, i shook hands with an apostle?, we met a few new people, mucked out stalls, lots of problems, lots of blessings.
Great story last So how is he doing this week? he is doing amazing, he is all but ready to run to the baptismal font and it is amazing to see the love that he has for the gospel in the little time that he has known it.
Did he make it to church this past week? not only did he make it to church but he is helping us to bring people to church!
Did mom tell you Danny Anderson received his mission call? no she didn't, but that is amazing that he is going to the second best mission the world! to bad he didn't hit the bulls eye of Peru! but that sounds awesome
8/22/2011 Who's your neighbor?
Lots of questions this week and i will try and get to them later and answer as many as i can, but first i just want to tell you about an experience that we had this week. We were just leaving our apartment when like the good missionaries we are contacted our neighbor and he accepted to let us visit him, but unlike good missionaries as the week went by we completely forgot who he was and where he lived and so as we did our planning we just kind of skipped over him, because we had other important things to do, but as we were leaving our apartment on the day we had the appointment we both instantly remembered who he was and felt that it was important to go visit him, even though we had planned to do something else, so we quickly adjusted our plans and knocked on his door, I'm sorry to say in this moment the thought passed through my mind he probably isn't there and we should hurry along and help these other people, but he answered and said Elders Ive been waiting for you! i was a little surprised by his response and we went into his house and got to know him, he is 19 years old and has had a rough life recently his father has gotten really sick and he had become really worried and he started to comment to us that he has seen us several times and had always thought, why don't they talk to me? when will it be my chance? and then when we were contacting him he was just started studying and work and when we asked if we could drop by he said no at first, but when we asked again, he said he heard a voice in his head say for god there is always time, so he accepted and had been waiting for us ever since, so we started teaching him and bore our testimonies about the church and he said i know its true! i can feel it, i feel something that I've never felt before, we then encouraged him to read and pray about the book of Mormon and we invited him to be baptized 17 of September and he accepted. i just want to bear my testimony that i know god is preparing people for us and if we are patient and willing to listen to the guidance of the spirit we will be blessed by god to have the chance to help his children.
8/22/2011 Everything has a reason.....
Anyways this week has been really hard but has really help us to learn and grow, we had planned to have the baptism of Rene this Saturday, but he didn't pass his baptismal interview, because just before last Christmas he had smoked marijuana, and as a mission rule we have to wait 1 year from the last time anyone did drugs to be baptized to make sure all the chemicals and urges are under significant control. it was really hard for me to accept this because Rene is just about as repentant and knowledgeable about the gospel as a lot of the members here and he took it a little hard, but we were able to talk with him and he told us that everything has a reason and if he has to wait, at least he will be baptized in the summer when the water will be a little warmer!
other than that our week has been a series of taking members out of their homes and having them introduce us to their neighbors, we got 8 good new investigators and are working hard to help them get ready to be baptized in the coming weeks...
... just got a dear elder letter from... Alma! how cool, cant wait to read it later!... tell him thank you for me!
anyways I'm going to try to send some pictures again so bear with me if this letter is short...
ok we have two pictures of Elder Rodas and a picture of yard work here in PERU!
Moms questions
How has this week been? ooh i really am starting to understand why people don't every say that these are the easiest two years, but we have really been blessed to find a lot of new people to teach.
Do you have the opportunity to go to the temple on your pdays or does your mission set times or days for the elders to go? the mission sets up times and days for the elders to go to the temple, we are given the opportunity to go 1 time every 3 months, which isn't much, but it is awesome, we have the opportunity to go to the temple this Thursday which is amazing!
Tates questions
How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful Tate! i love being a missionary, being in the service of god is awesome! did you know that you can be a missionary too, every time we serve someone we are really serving god, or in other words if we want to serve god, serve others!
other than that our week has been a series of taking members out of their homes and having them introduce us to their neighbors, we got 8 good new investigators and are working hard to help them get ready to be baptized in the coming weeks...
... just got a dear elder letter from... Alma! how cool, cant wait to read it later!... tell him thank you for me!
anyways I'm going to try to send some pictures again so bear with me if this letter is short...
ok we have two pictures of Elder Rodas and a picture of yard work here in PERU!
Moms questions
How has this week been? ooh i really am starting to understand why people don't every say that these are the easiest two years, but we have really been blessed to find a lot of new people to teach.
Do you have the opportunity to go to the temple on your pdays or does your mission set times or days for the elders to go? the mission sets up times and days for the elders to go to the temple, we are given the opportunity to go 1 time every 3 months, which isn't much, but it is awesome, we have the opportunity to go to the temple this Thursday which is amazing!
Tates questions
How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful Tate! i love being a missionary, being in the service of god is awesome! did you know that you can be a missionary too, every time we serve someone we are really serving god, or in other words if we want to serve god, serve others!
8/1/11 Miracle Baptism
oooooook this week has been fun and a little challenging, i promised myself not to write anything negative, but I'm pretty sure i have food poisoning today so if my letter is a little short, just know that I'm passing most of my time in the bathroom today. other than that I'm getting comments that every time people see me I'm a little bit thinner, huh oh well i guess living in a foreign country does that to you.
OK i want to write about the miracle baptism that we had and maybe one other thing if there is time. OK so we had been working with this family and the 9 year old girl was ready to be baptized with her 17 year old sister and so we put a baptismal date for July 30th, after putting this date a whole bunk of stuff started happening and the 17 year old changed her date to the 27th of August and the nine year olds attitude changed 100% she went from super happy to not smiling for like two weeks and she didn't want to be baptized at all. well we decided to just keep moving along and teach other people. well we were teaching outside of an investigators home and along comes Allison (9 year old girl) and she is beaming and asks us if we will come by her house later that day (Thursday) well we were more curious to see what had changed her mind and attitude than anything else so we decided to stop by for maybe five minutes, well when we got there she threw her arms around us and said i want to be baptized tomorrow! and we talked with her mom and her grandma and they said it was all good and so the first thing we said is can you wait till Saturday when we planned to have your baptism? and she said that that was OK. so in that moment we thought oh crap she needs to have her interview, like now to have enough time to resolve any issues that could come up, so we ran to a payphone and started calling the district leaders pension (where they were eating) and there was no answer, and it was getting kind of late and if we didn't get hold of them she would likely have to wait for the next week, so we started running to the bus stop to take a bus to where our leaders were and take them to her to have the interview, well as smart, or lucky, or miraculous as it was we got a bus in less than 30 seconds and were on our way, but we got off at the wrong stop, 1 too far and so we started running down the street to the corner where we would turn an run two blocks to meet the elders, well we weren't running more than 30 seconds when around the corner come the district leaders! yes awesome! (this was the miracle because if we had gotten off at the right stop, we would have missed them completely!) well she had her interview and passed with flying colors and we were able to have another baptism on Saturday! well the lord has really blessed us with a lot of success in this area, we have scheduled baptisms every Saturday for the next month and we will be baptizing abut 11 people! its amazing to be able to work in such a fruitful part of the lords vineyard.
awesome to hear from you guys, tell shan and kris that living in a mobile home for a while isn't half bad, i was talking with a member and during the first 2 years of their marriage they lived in a tent with a blow up mattress that they had to blow up every night and the mom was pregnant which made everything so much easier.... well kind of.... just remember to count your blessings because you could always have less.
Moms questions
How has your week been? Great! it has been a pretty normal week, still receiving lots of support from the members! had a miracle baptism, and learned alot.
Can you believe he will be 11 years old?? yes mother i can believe that Tate will be 11, he was born 11 years ago. ps HAPPY BIRTHDAY TATE I LOVE YOU TOO!
Today is transfer day right? yes
Are you staying or going? staying in my area! with my companion!, i think that that is a first in all of my mission! Elder Rodas, in Jose galvez, in villa El Salvador!
Grandmas Question
So do they celebrate Pioneer Day in Peru? no, no they don't, I'm pretty sure that's just a Utah, st David thing. :)
OK i want to write about the miracle baptism that we had and maybe one other thing if there is time. OK so we had been working with this family and the 9 year old girl was ready to be baptized with her 17 year old sister and so we put a baptismal date for July 30th, after putting this date a whole bunk of stuff started happening and the 17 year old changed her date to the 27th of August and the nine year olds attitude changed 100% she went from super happy to not smiling for like two weeks and she didn't want to be baptized at all. well we decided to just keep moving along and teach other people. well we were teaching outside of an investigators home and along comes Allison (9 year old girl) and she is beaming and asks us if we will come by her house later that day (Thursday) well we were more curious to see what had changed her mind and attitude than anything else so we decided to stop by for maybe five minutes, well when we got there she threw her arms around us and said i want to be baptized tomorrow! and we talked with her mom and her grandma and they said it was all good and so the first thing we said is can you wait till Saturday when we planned to have your baptism? and she said that that was OK. so in that moment we thought oh crap she needs to have her interview, like now to have enough time to resolve any issues that could come up, so we ran to a payphone and started calling the district leaders pension (where they were eating) and there was no answer, and it was getting kind of late and if we didn't get hold of them she would likely have to wait for the next week, so we started running to the bus stop to take a bus to where our leaders were and take them to her to have the interview, well as smart, or lucky, or miraculous as it was we got a bus in less than 30 seconds and were on our way, but we got off at the wrong stop, 1 too far and so we started running down the street to the corner where we would turn an run two blocks to meet the elders, well we weren't running more than 30 seconds when around the corner come the district leaders! yes awesome! (this was the miracle because if we had gotten off at the right stop, we would have missed them completely!) well she had her interview and passed with flying colors and we were able to have another baptism on Saturday! well the lord has really blessed us with a lot of success in this area, we have scheduled baptisms every Saturday for the next month and we will be baptizing abut 11 people! its amazing to be able to work in such a fruitful part of the lords vineyard.
awesome to hear from you guys, tell shan and kris that living in a mobile home for a while isn't half bad, i was talking with a member and during the first 2 years of their marriage they lived in a tent with a blow up mattress that they had to blow up every night and the mom was pregnant which made everything so much easier.... well kind of.... just remember to count your blessings because you could always have less.
Moms questions
How has your week been? Great! it has been a pretty normal week, still receiving lots of support from the members! had a miracle baptism, and learned alot.
Can you believe he will be 11 years old?? yes mother i can believe that Tate will be 11, he was born 11 years ago. ps HAPPY BIRTHDAY TATE I LOVE YOU TOO!
Today is transfer day right? yes
Are you staying or going? staying in my area! with my companion!, i think that that is a first in all of my mission! Elder Rodas, in Jose galvez, in villa El Salvador!
Grandmas Question
So do they celebrate Pioneer Day in Peru? no, no they don't, I'm pretty sure that's just a Utah, st David thing. :)
Sunday, July 31, 2011
7/25/11 - 21 lessons with members present!
Well like I said this week has been a really hard week, but a rewarding one. We had a baptismal service on Saturday at 11:00am, but the investigators didn't show up till 11:10 which made me and elder Rodas freak out a little bit, but everything else went smoothly(with exception that their mom didn't want to be baptized quite yet) I was able to perform the ordinance for Alexandra Mercedes Dias Quinche, it was really amazing and funny because their is no hot water in the baptismal font so the water was about 50 degrees so as we were getting in Alexandra was squealing and taking deep breaths, and as she came up out of the water she was gasping and just about running for the stairs, which made it all the funnier to watch her brother start walking down into the water hahaha but it was amazing. this week was a really hard week though not sure why it was so hard, maybe it was just stressful but the ward here has really caught the spirit of missionary work and we were able to get 21 lessons with members present! that's really amazing, elder Rodas even though he is in his last three months of his mission as of august 1st said that never in his whole mission was he able to get that many lessons with a member present. it is so amazing to be able to be working in this part of the vineyard, the impact of the members on investigators is amazing and their concern friendship and help they provide the investigator is priceless. my companion said something very profound the other day during training that i would like to share with you guys and hope that you guys will be able to think about it or even try it out. we were talking about inviting people to be baptized and how we should never hesitate to ask because 1 it lets us see really where their doubts are concerning the church and progress or answer their questions and 2nd the world never hesitates to ask people to smoke to drink, to go to inappropriate parties, and they accept, why then should we fear or hesitate to ask them to do something good, because chances are more often than not that they will at least give it a try. so never hesitate to invite people to come to church with you guys or to listen to the missionaries, because chances are they have seen your great example and are curious as to what makes you different from everyone else! anyways love you!
ps if you can still put some things in the package i thought of a list of things that i would like
the study giudes/manuels for the book of mormon, D&C, old testament, and new testament in english...there are also dvds if you can find those in spanish because they are full of short videos which are amazing. if you get me the dvds a cd dvd case like the books, but a lot smaller would be nice. also batteries, i got this camera because it used batteries and it is pretty easy to come by batteries here, the thing is the batteries last about an hour in my camera, where as the batteries from the us last about a week of heavy use and a month of light use. so if you can that would be awesome!
love you guys hope to hear from you soon, and not just mom and dad, and ocasionally marlee but ALL of YOU aaron, shannon, tater kristi....etc!
loves
Mom's questionsDid your baptisms go through on Saturday? yes! we were able to baptize victor and Alexandra, but their mom wants to wait a little while like a month, to take care of some personal issues first.... sigh oh well... but we{ll keep working with her.
Have any more of your investigators committed to baptism? we currently have 9 different people committed to be baptized between now and september 3 it is really amazing how easy it is to get people to accept a baptismal date, the hard part comes in getting them ready to make this covenant and to remain faithful afterwords.
When will you be having transfers? transfers are August 1st Tate's birthday! so you'll all find out then it'll be a nice present, happy birthday Tate i love you
Any new word on your VISA? no idea apparently my tourist visa is good for 6months so well just play it by ear until December
Dads questions
Howdy Jesse, what’s new in Peru? not much, just working hard, this week was a hard week but a rewarding one, we were able to have 21 lessons with a member present!
So how is the winter weather there? cold and wet, it doesn't really rain it{s kind of like being inside of a cloud and water just accumulates everywhere.
Do I remember right you are not far from the coast? that's right were pretty darn close to the coast even though its not inside of our area, on clear days we can see it though from the tops of our giant hills
So does that make the weather a little more mild? not really, if it weren't so humid it would be really nice, or if i saw the sun more than three times every 6 weeks
Is it more desert or tropic along the coast? well if you haven't seen on google earth a satellite view of Peru then here is the layout, everything from the coast to the Andes is desert and barren, nothing would grow here if it weren't for people piping in water, so there is little or no grass, trees are tiny and the view mainly consists of dirt and mud, however right now because it is so humid small plants like clover are starting to cover the mountains and so everything looks green, but as soon as the sun comes back they will all die off (at least that's what the Peruvians have told me)
Since your by the coast do you eat more fish than in the other places, or is your main food still chicken and rice? nope the main plate is still chicken and rice
So do you get the church magazines at you apartment to read? sometimes
Or do they want you spending all your time in the scriptures and preach my gospel? its not prohibited if that's what you asking, but we usually don't have very much time to just sit and read the church magazines since we are asked to study from the book of Mormon a minimum of 30min every day and read every word and look up every scripture in preach my gospel every 6 months, so that takes care of personal study and companionship study we don't have much time either, so keep the stories coming i enjoy reading the cliff note versions ;)
ps if you can still put some things in the package i thought of a list of things that i would like
the study giudes/manuels for the book of mormon, D&C, old testament, and new testament in english...there are also dvds if you can find those in spanish because they are full of short videos which are amazing. if you get me the dvds a cd dvd case like the books, but a lot smaller would be nice. also batteries, i got this camera because it used batteries and it is pretty easy to come by batteries here, the thing is the batteries last about an hour in my camera, where as the batteries from the us last about a week of heavy use and a month of light use. so if you can that would be awesome!
love you guys hope to hear from you soon, and not just mom and dad, and ocasionally marlee but ALL of YOU aaron, shannon, tater kristi....etc!
loves
Mom's questionsDid your baptisms go through on Saturday? yes! we were able to baptize victor and Alexandra, but their mom wants to wait a little while like a month, to take care of some personal issues first.... sigh oh well... but we{ll keep working with her.
Have any more of your investigators committed to baptism? we currently have 9 different people committed to be baptized between now and september 3 it is really amazing how easy it is to get people to accept a baptismal date, the hard part comes in getting them ready to make this covenant and to remain faithful afterwords.
When will you be having transfers? transfers are August 1st Tate's birthday! so you'll all find out then it'll be a nice present, happy birthday Tate i love you
Any new word on your VISA? no idea apparently my tourist visa is good for 6months so well just play it by ear until December
Dads questions
Howdy Jesse, what’s new in Peru? not much, just working hard, this week was a hard week but a rewarding one, we were able to have 21 lessons with a member present!
So how is the winter weather there? cold and wet, it doesn't really rain it{s kind of like being inside of a cloud and water just accumulates everywhere.
Do I remember right you are not far from the coast? that's right were pretty darn close to the coast even though its not inside of our area, on clear days we can see it though from the tops of our giant hills
So does that make the weather a little more mild? not really, if it weren't so humid it would be really nice, or if i saw the sun more than three times every 6 weeks
Is it more desert or tropic along the coast? well if you haven't seen on google earth a satellite view of Peru then here is the layout, everything from the coast to the Andes is desert and barren, nothing would grow here if it weren't for people piping in water, so there is little or no grass, trees are tiny and the view mainly consists of dirt and mud, however right now because it is so humid small plants like clover are starting to cover the mountains and so everything looks green, but as soon as the sun comes back they will all die off (at least that's what the Peruvians have told me)
Since your by the coast do you eat more fish than in the other places, or is your main food still chicken and rice? nope the main plate is still chicken and rice
So do you get the church magazines at you apartment to read? sometimes
Or do they want you spending all your time in the scriptures and preach my gospel? its not prohibited if that's what you asking, but we usually don't have very much time to just sit and read the church magazines since we are asked to study from the book of Mormon a minimum of 30min every day and read every word and look up every scripture in preach my gospel every 6 months, so that takes care of personal study and companionship study we don't have much time either, so keep the stories coming i enjoy reading the cliff note versions ;)
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