Some Pictures

3 More pics from Jimmy - includes two from a hike he got to do

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Okay, sorry if that thing at the beginning of my last email was confusing, I was just trying to demonstrate how crazy of a feeling it is when time is flying by and all of a sudden I have to switch planners because I'm through with my first transfer!
I'm glad Naomi is feeling better, but bummed I missed her first sacrament talk! Thank you SO much for the package!! The gloves are SO nice, they're a little tight, but I think they should be. The coat from brother Scofield is AMAZING! It is exactly the kind of coat that my call packet asked for, zip out liner and everything, and I wrote him, but the package didn't come until Tuesday(really quick if you sent it out on Friday) so I didn't have a chance to mention it in my letter, so PLEASE thank him for me!
Thank you for the advice on smoking, it's amazing how much of what you said is included in the program the Church teaches, it is truly excellent. One of our smokers is sick and the other fell off the map, so no progress at the moment, but I will be keeping everything you said in mind as we work with them! This week has been very administrative. We have had meetings in STL, Weekly Planning and Mission Correlation all in one week, but Thursday was the greatest day of my mission so far, and Elder Marshall (remember, he's been out 10 months) said it was the best of HIS too! We spent ALL of our time teaching! It was GREAT! Four lessons, all of them came through! We taught Teri-Lyn, a single mother who is VERY studious in the large print triple combo and bible we got her, loves 1 Nephi, and who's 6 year old daughter loves coming to church, she came to church twice in a row, but missed this week because she was sick. Tim Evans, a man looking for God after a long life without Him, he just started going to church a year ago and he's 51, he is so friendly and his house reminds me of Grandmother Jeanine's because he had a vision of his father and Elvis one time and so has Elvis plastered all over EVERYTHING! Also, we had an AMAZING first lesson with our next-door neighbor Liz! She has no religious background and is very honest with us, allowing us to really apply the Gospel to her and her needs, it was such an uplifting lesson. Then, to close the night, we taught another single mom up in Potosi, April Eads, who also has no religious background but is looking so hard for the truth and is very in tune with the Spirit, we had a great lesson and all of her questions were about baptism and she agreed to be baptized! I love this work so much. Elder Marshall said that he has never faced more adversity at any time in his mission, and I am not surprised, but that honestly just strengthens our testimony just as it did Joseph's (editor: he is referring to Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brother and yet bore his trials and let God make something good come from them, I mentioned it in an earlier letter to him.)  that this is where we need to be, and God has sent us to Potosi and the adversary really isn't happy we're here. I love the Spirit that I feel when sharing the Gospel and in our wonderful Church buildings that isn't found anywhere else we go. We visited a Pentecostal church with Tim Evans on Sunday, and it was pretty interesting. We wanted to hear some of the preaching, but we could only stay for 35 minutes before we had to make it to Sacrament, and so we only caught the singing (35 minutes of it!), which was pretty intense, I might add. I threw a snowball at Elder Marshall this morning! I made it out of the thick frost that had covered our car last night, then I wrote him a love note in it to apologize! I'm almost concerned about the end of this transfer, because I don't see how any companion I get could be as amazing as Elder Marshall, and I'm even MORE nervous at the prospect of training in four weeks! We shall see. I am doing well, though! If the protection of the Lord isn't comfort enough, I don't know if I could have any more reliable sources of help than Elder Marshall and President Clark, they are truly phenomenal. 

YAY Max! Aw, I miss my little buddy so much! Sorry about all of my stuff, thank you for keeping it safe, though! I'm kind of jealous that Liz is moving in AFTER I left, that would have been so fun to have her home!

(Editors note: Jimmy's nephew went to his first day of pre-school today and his sis is moving into his room temporally so we had to pack ALL his stuff and store it - 7 bins!) 

Thank you so much for all that you have done for me, everyone reading this, because if you are reading this, you have probably done more than you know. Every decision I have to make, I stop and think about whether or not it is worth not only the two years of my life that I am sacrificing, but all of the Lord's time it would take up, and all of the time, energy, and love put into my being here by everyone I know and love. I'll continue to work hard and I'll be emailing you some baptism pictures before too long!

Love,
Elder James Marshall

Monday, Oct 24, 2011

I almost started crying when I read about the Vilayvong's endowments! Was that not just the most amazing thing ever?? Oh, I cannot WAIT to be able to go through the temple with them when Kenny and I get back. Brie is going to be learning the Espanol, huh? I bet DoLo is SO proud! She's going to be like the Sisters from the District! I am so sad I am missing so many AMAZING events, but hearing about them are such an inspiration to me!
This area is a tough one to work. There are many many people in very humbling circumstances, and it is marvelous seeing how vastly differing their paths are along their individual spiritual journeys. Many of them are willing, but have a long way to go, but that's okay because I have a feeling I will be in this area more than my 2 training transfers! No baptisms yet, but one of our Progressing Investigators is already on 1 Nephi 17!
Okay, my email got partially deleted and now I'm short on time. Dag nab it. Speaking of which, my companion always makes fun of me for being 80 years old because of some of the things I say and the fact that I wear a cardigan!
I am so happy to hear everything is going so well! You will be pleased to hear that my companion and I go jogging(yogging?) every other morning and that I haven't gotten sick despite EVERYONE dropping appointments because they are! Also, people have a tendency to invite us back, and then when we come back their spouse or sibling will answer the door and tell us that they aren't home, and we'll see the person walk through the back of the house! What the heck! We always have to just chuckle to ourselves and stop by later. We had to order 2 cases of 40 BoMs this month because we are handing them out like crazy! I love placing them! I believe it was Brigham Young who said a Book of Mormon given away is a future convert. We find it easiest to share a Mormon.org card with people with our info on it, but often as I can I use it as a book mark for a chapter that answers their needs that we have been able to discern in the short time we speak with them. I hope that everything continues to go well, and before too long I should be able to write you about a baptism or two! We are looking very hard for families to teach, which is hard, believe it or not, and we are having some success, and I can't wait to see their progress! Also, one of the hardest things is figuring out how to meet and deal with husbands and boyfriends. Women usually want to go to church it seems, and then they either talk to their significant other and suddenly don't, or it's just awkward trying to establish a relationship of trust with him. Any tips? 
YAY FOR PACKAGES! I can't wait! Also, the mail is getting bounced around a little, so I haven't gotten any letters in awhile, but that's okay, because I realized I sometimes focus too much on if I'm going to get one today! I can't wait to share with you more about the wonderful people here (ie Brother Tom Pezel; 67, Branch Mission Leader, used to be 70, Branch President, High Council, etc!)

con amor,
Elder Marshall

184 My bed!
185 Our front room
186 MUDDY BUDDIES!!!!
189 Comp Study drumming session using highliters and a 3-hole punch (he used to drum like dad)
193 The local grocery store, we couldn't stop laughing, I don't know why.

163 This "gated community" in the middle of nowhere. Do these rules seem a little odd to you?

166 My first in-field haircut! I could remember if I already sent this one...

174 P-day with the ZLs at Elephant Rock!

178 Me and my comp free running the park! Bouldering is awesome!

Monday, October 17th, 2011

"WHOA! Did you see that?!"
"What??"
"That crazy thing that just flew by!"
"You mean that blurr?"
"Yeah! What was that??"
"That was my first transfer!"

Holy COW! I'm through my first planner and don't even know how it happened! I only have one more left before I'm out of the training program and might be expected to train!! AAAAAHHH!! Time is FLYING!
 Okay! So Potosi is the geographic center of our area, but the vast majority of people live in Desloge(where we ACTUALLY live) and Bonne Terre, with Potosi being the next largest town. We live RIGHT on the edge of our area, if you look, Park Hills is in Farmington(where we lived before) Ward. Our address is Bonne Terre because the mailing out here is really funky. The demographics are that this is the country, and there is not a variety at all except the 20 or so employees working at the two Chinese buffets all of whom came from China, and the same number working at the two fairly authentic Mexican(HALLELUJAH!) places. We have our own 2010 Chevy Malibu full-time, but we really don't use many miles because Potosi is a 50 mile round trip and we only go there twice a week or so and most of our work is in Desloge and Bonne Terre. Funny you mention it, I got my first in-field haircut yesterday with my comp at Sister Peters' house, she works at Penny's cutting hair and did it for free! She is very sweet and has already fed us once as well! The members aren't feeding us very often, but that has alot to do with the activity rate and the fact that we aren't allowed to pass around a calendar and have to schedule them on the fly. Our staple diet has been pancakes and eggs for breakfast, top ramen or a bagel and cream cheese for lunch, and pasta for dinner, but last night we threw together some old noodles we didn't finish, a can of green beans, baby carrots, italian sausage, and lots of butter and garlic into our new(to us) electric griddle a member gave us and had some GREAT stir-fry! Okay, missionary story time.
This week has been rough. We set some high goals and have been working really hard to achieve them, but appointments kept falling through, mostly because everyone out here is getting sick, and new appointments all got scheduled for this week. Finding was going well, but we wanted six new investigators, which means we had to teach them a lesson and set up a following appointment. We only had 2 new as of Saturday night at 8:15. We had an appointment fall through so we started tracting these low-income apartments, and the last two doors were tender mercies from the Lord. The first was a wonderful single mother who isn't into any religion but said it was only because she hadn'y found one, and Elder Marshall and I both saw the light in her eyes as we shared a brief message of the Restoration and set up an appopintment and decided she was the reason our appointment dropped. So we had one door left, it was 8:30, and we had 2 out of 6 investigators for the week. We knock the door, and a lady answers and laughs and tell someone inside it's "church people". The response comes "sorry, we're flat broke" and I call inside, "What we share is free" (that exchange can be found paralleled in Our Search For Happiness, you'll find it if you read it) and she called us in. There were four people and a young child, the woman calling to us has brain cancer, and we began teaching them the Plan of Salvation and getting to know and love all of them. We got a lesson scheduled for tonight with all four. We made our goal that the Lord wanted us to set, and He led us right to His children who needed us most. We got home at 9:40 glowing. We will also be teaching them the stop Smoking Workshop (three of them have been smoking since 7 or 8) at their request. I love this work. I am so excited for tonight. We could have stopped and gone home before we found those people, but 3 profound times now the Lord has blessed us at the end of our most difficult days.

Love,
Elder Marshall

The view from our balcony. Walmart anyone?
What was an R8 doing in FARMINGTON, MO?!
Sister Peters cutting my hair on her front porch yesterday :)

***Update***

Elder is finally in his apartment.  This is his new mailing address.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to write him!  I can only imagine how much he appreciates it.  And as the months get colder, he will appreciate it even more!

Brenda 

Elder James Marshall
102 John Court #104
Bonne Terre, MO 63628

Monday, 10 Oct 2011

I AM sleeping tight in my own bed, now! Though my feet stick off the end most nights, haha! I can't imagine what my 6'5" companion is doing every night! Having our own place is very nice,if for no other reason than actually living IN our area cuts way down on travel time and we can be much more productive, I love it! That Old Testament really is cool, many of the disillusioned people we talk to who may or may not be ready for the Gospel talk about how churches need to be more Biblical, especially regarding the Old Testament. OT trivia!
Q: Did Moses have the Melchizedek Priesthood? If so, where did he get it from? 

I asked for more detailed conversion stories from you because I love sharing them, I love telling people, especially youth, about how it wasn't the words of anyone, but the example of one young man who was quite alone in his beliefs that is blessing the lives of my entire family and every person I meet on my mission. The Lord truly blessed me with a mother who so keenly recognizes light and truth and shared it with her husband and family. Something that I have especially found to be true this week is the way the Lord works with us. He extends tender mercies, but often at the end of a grueling path. This week was very hard, and just as we were at our most fatigued, and at the end of our night, our appointment fell through with a promising potential, and we decided we had to just keep working until the clock hit 9, at guess what?? We set up two appointments next week with three separate and AWESOME new investigators (including our next door neighbor) and met a less active member who we can start teaching and hopefully get back to church! All within half an hour! This is the Lord's work, and no unhallowed hand can stop it from going forth! I do, however, ask you to pray for Ronny Helm. He is our most promising investigator, and has a baptismal date, but we are pushing it back, because we are being impressed that he isn't quite ready and he has had some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. We taught him the stop Smoking Workshop, but he has had trouble adhering to it, so we are praying very hard that his desire and the Spirit will overcome what he cannot. We taught three new investigators this week and have appointments with all of them and they could all very well be baptized if they are willing, not to mention those we found but aren't teaching until next week! The more I strive to give my all to this work, the more my faith grows, and the less influence the adversary has over me.

It's Hictionary time!
"Do any of you want some soda?" = "Yun's want some sody?"
Waashington = Warshington
Tur Du Lac = Turtle luck
El Tapatio (Mex restaurant) - elta-PATIO

Love,
Elder Marshall!

Monday, 3 Oct 2011

Elder Marshall I got my call.

 Salt Lake, UT south mission!

more detailed info soon to arrive to you by mail.

-Elder Vilayvong

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ELDER VILAYVONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe we will be out serving at the same time!!!!!! That is SO cool! A good friend of mine name Billy Shuster is serving there but Spanish speaking! KENNY, CONGRATULATIONS!!! I love you so much, Elder, and can't even express to you the enormity of blessings that will come to you for being willing and able to serve. I can't wait to hear more, and to be able to write you on your mission! Our letters will get to each other in like, two days! SO AWESOME!! Thank you for always being an example to me of service and virtue, I can't wait to be sitting at your homecoming talk!

-Elder Marshall

Hola!
Holding to that rod of iron is an infallible way to the tree of Life as a family, even when we stumble, if we hang onto it, we will be heading the right direction. YAY! My heart is SO full right now hearing Dad's wonderful depiction of Kenny's call and hearing that Brie got her papers turned in! I pray for them often, and I am so grateful for the Love the Lord has for them and the examples that they are to their families and soon to the whole world. Man, I wish I could be as cool as Kenny, haha, projector movie nights? That's AWESOME! If you tried to do that here right now everyone would freeze to death! The roofs, cars, and lawns are already covered with frost every morning! Conference is SOOOOO much more wonderful as a missionary than at any other time! Every day is kind of like a Sunday for us, so conference weekend is quite the event! I loved all of the talks so much, and how much I learned. Did you just LOVE Richard G. Scott's Saturday morning testimony of the Old Testament, mom? Or the talk(can't remember off the top of my head) that mentioned the importance of modesty, and that it is a protection and shield? Elder Oak's bright pink tie was my favorite one, bytheway, which was yours? Everything is on track for us to FINALLY move into our apartment, we could have today, but it's P-day, so we asked if we could do it tomorrow, turns out the Mission Office is moving tomorrow, so we will be moving in on Wednesday! Speaking of which, did you get the letter in the mail that the mission office is moving? PLEASE tell everyone you(or I) know and get them that address, I would hate for anything to get lost in the move!
We started the Stop Smoking workshop with our investigator with a date, Ronny Helm, and he is doing great, though the grapefruit juice is tough to swallow(literally), and he came to THREE sessions of conference, including Priesthood session! We are so excited, he already has multiple fellowshippers who are very active and we look forward to his service as a member of the Potosi Branch! Inactivity is a major issue out here, I don't know if I already told you that, partly from health and age, though. So we are focusing a lot on visiting those who haven't been coming regularly and hope to see some progress in that department. Oh! I got kicked out of my first house yesterday. He invited us in after talking briefly, and then asked us to leave when my companion invited him to read and pray, it was a weird 180, but hopefully the Spirit will work on him, he kept the Book of Mormon. I am learning very quickly the vital importance of loving the people I serve. Love is the central motive to all that God does for His children, so if we are to serve Him, we cannot do it without sincere love for our fellow beings. Hence the words of the scriptures teaching us that nothing we do means anything without Charity.

Something that I realize now more than ever, is that not only are members ALSO required to do missionary work, all of us, as members of the Church, ARE the missionary's of the Church, and the responsibility is only given to the full-time Elders to teach in preparation for Baptism and fill in to help the MEMBERS in their missionary efforts. If I had prayed as hard for missionary work when I was home as I do now, I would have been a much better missionary in the way I should have been when I wasn't called full-time. You stand side-by-side with us as the front lines of Chirst's gospel. Most of His children where you live, at least, are far more likely to have met or known a Mormon than to have met with the missionaries. You must be the core of the Lord's missionary work in order for it to go forth with the force that it is able to, and you have been a wonderful example of that to me. Keep up the good work! And just as important, KEEP READING!
I think of all of the things my family and friends have done for me and truly stand all amazed. I love you all so much. I can say without a second thought that I has the best friends a boy could ask for, and the best family I could have ever imagined. I hope all is well in San Diego.

Love,
Elder James Ray Marshall

Mon, 26 Sep 2011

I am so glad to hear everything is going so well!! PLEASE mom do whatever you can to emphasize modesty every chance you get! Young Women usually don't even notice it, but it really does dull the Spirit in multiple ways, no matter the circumstance, and the Spirit is something that my mission has taught me more than anything else is absolutely essential to us being happy. Modesty has a tremendous effect on everything to where our own thoughts drift off to, what we inherently worry about, what other people think of us, what other people expect of us, fulfilling what the Lord wants for us, and more. It seems like a fickle guideline, but it truly represents so much more and can be a very real strength for everyone, and as I've said before, I realize more and more everyday how amazing my wonderful parents are and how careful you were to teach all of us the things we needed to know, whether we realized it or not.

The Elder before us was named Mike MAson!

Aaaaaand we pet a camel we saw on the highway one day!

September 19th, 2011

The work is going AMAZINGLY well! Like I said last week, Elder Marshall and I are opening an area, and there are so many miracles every day, it's amazing how your perspective is changed as a missionary, someone sitting outside smoking is now a daughter of God who has an entire life-story they could share with us and could benefit eternally from us talking to her and her husband. That just happened last night. We have been guided in our tracting, too. We have tracted into multiple less-active members, who just needed a little help to get back to church, and one of them was a single father who we spent most of Saturday and Sunday with him and he came to church, I really think he needed us based on some things he and his mom said. This work is so amazing, the Lord is reaching out to new people every day through us, and I hope you have been as blessed by it as I have been. The weather has gone crazy and it has gotten CHILLY all of a sudden! It's looking like there will be an early winter this year, and it has been raining the last few days, but I have been managing to survive without a raincoat, because I brought that fleece REI jacket I got from the Melrose building. It wouldn't do much in a downpour(which happen) but it keeps me dry in the lighter stuff so far. I haven't gotten any mail yet, and We still don';t have an apartment, and it will probably be another three weeks before we move into one, so you could probably just start mailing anything in the next week and a half to 1005 Vandiver Farmington, MO, that's where we're staying. Things are going really well with the Branch, too, a huge portion of our efforts are going towards strengthening the Branch we are trying to bring people in to, because there is an 80% inactivity rate!!! Hence my excitement at those less-active contacts. Also, they want me to play in sacrament meeting AND the ZL's are asking me to play at all of our meetings and such.. I don't know if I already mentioned that, but the lady who plays messes up a lot, so they're really pressuring me, but I don't know if I could do any better, because they sing some of the weird hymns out here and I’ve never played the organ! I love this work so much, and Elder Marshall says that he has seen more miracles in the week and a half we have been here than he has in the entire rest of his mission, and I believe it.

NO! Not the Chargers! Stupid Patriots. Anniversary game against KC! You should go! If only it weren't on a Sunday. 
I was telling the other elders that the way the weather is right now is like the depth of winter in San Diego, and they all were like "Are you SERIOUS??" I love my city. I'm also really glad to hear that you're sticking with tennis and getting good at it, everyone down here (and I'm really not exaggerating all that much) has diabetes, or some other horrible health problem, but they are still wonderful, loving people, PLEASE stay active, I don't want that to happen to my family.

I would highly recommend reading Romans, it reminds me of the scripture that says if you believe the scriptures say these things, you have not understood them, because there are some plain and precious things that were preserved in that book that it would appear as if others disregard. All of my gear is working out wonderfully, I always get a comment or two a day about my CamelBak, some people ask me if I have asthma (cuz they assume everyone has some sort of horrible disease) and if it's oxygen. My shoes are all doing really well, the Ecco's are looking like they won't be wearing down too quickly, and the Nunn-Bushes are comfortable too, both will be preserved by the "service" pair I brought from target and my running shoes. Today is Zone P-day, which means we drive two hours to our ZL's apartment and play sports for a few hours with a bunch of missionaries, it should be SUPER fun! I am SO jealous of your food! I have had to spend money on some basic living items instead of food, because this is my first transfer, so I have 17.10 to last me 10 more days, but I have a lot of food saved up, like PB&J and Top Ramen and some stuff the branch has given us, which is a HUGE blessing. Sleeping on the couches is getting really old, though, so I can't WAIT for us to get our own place, not to mention morning showers are a bit complicated. Many people here are very hospitable, though, we have a dinner appointment with the couple we contacted last night! And THEY offered! Even if they don't get baptized in my time, hopefully we'll have left a lasting impression and planted the seed of Faith. It's tough sometimes, though, because MANY of the people are so jaded towards religion, it's hard to get through to them, but the unique message of the Restoration is so powerful and true, that if they will listen, it usually allows their souls to be wrought upon by the Spirit. We just opened this area and we already have two investigators committed to baptism! So great. 

September 12th, 2011

This is so awesome!!! It was amazing getting to talk to y'all on the phone at the airport, thank you SO much for being available, I still feel really bad a bout not mentioning the time difference. So we flew in to St. Louis and the weather was PERFECT! It has been SO nice this entire week, and every house we stop at it seems mentions how the weather has changed so much and vbeen so nice since we got here. It drizzled a little the other day, but other than that it has been in the 70's and mostly sunny with no excess of humidity to speak of! We spent the first night at the mission home, and Pres and Sis Clark are so great! They are both really funny and caring, and Pres Clark makes an amazing roast! Then the next morning we got to the Transfer meeting, and I met my new companion, and you'll NEVER guess what his name is. ELDER MARSHALL!! We are the Elders Marshall! His first name is Cameron, but it's still wicked awesome!  He is way cool, too, he's only been out 7.5 months! Cool thing #2, we got called to open an area that's been closed for at least two years! It's called Potosi, a branch of about 40-50, and there is not a lot up here. We can't even find a place to stay yet, so we're sleeping on the couches of the Elders in the next closest area which is Farmington, but we have a 2010 Malibu, so we've been able to make it to our area without too much trouble. Opening is a really interesting experience, but it has been such a strong testimony builder for both of us that this is where we're supposed to be. Our mission is getting super young, of the 6 Elders in our district, 2 of us are green, one is one transfer in, and the other three are all well under a year! I can definitely feel myself every day getting more and more lost in the work and finding a greater and greater love for the people. We have been guided to people up here who have been waiting for the Gospel almost every day. Yesterday we found a young man who was a recovering alcoholic and said that the BoM had been the only book of doctrine he studied when he was going through rehab that made sense, and so we taught him most of the Resoration and have another appt tonight! We just got here and we are finding like crazy, the Lord's work will go forward no matter what! A major part of our work will be focused on strengthening the Branch. There are a TON of less-active families in the area, and we've already started visiting some of them. I still haven't gotten any of your mail, which I expected to be the case, so if you send anything else (make sure you tell EVERYONE this) send it to the Mission Office, I'll give you the address of my apartment when we actually have one. Another fiasco is the fact that the Church is out of planners! They were, as I might have mentioned, through my entire MTC stay and they still are, thank GOODNESS the sisters who had out car before we got it left a blank one in the back of the trunk! How are things going back home? Is Levi walking around on his own yet? Can Max write his ABC's? Have my sister and that Mexican Man of hers set a date yet? Are you getting any help from anyone else with cleaning now that I'm gone? Oh, I had to buy a blanket and pillow, since we're starting out with nothing, things should continue to be pretty interesting, even once we do get out to Potosi. We are following this new 12 weeks training program (ask Mike about it or to look it up) that is really interesting, and it's goal is to put out Elders that, after two transfers, can train. Wow. We're the first set of missionaries to be officially using it (piloting has been done) so it is very exciting, but almost worrisome to think I might be responsible for training an Elder in three months! I have a perpetual list of things I might like, and the most important things on that list right now are that black overcoat in my closet that I got from the mission home, and those blue and green REI jackets, it's been cooling off and I've been hearing about the ice storms, and Elder Marshall (isn't that weird sounding? It's WAY weird to say all the time, but when someone calls we both answer) says all about how it gets WAY & colder here than in Vancouver, Washington, where he says the coldest it gets is "only" 20. Oh geez. Other than that, though, I packed pretty well, everyone seems surprised that I only have one checked bag and a carry-on, most of the Elders had to full-sized checked bags and a carry-on. I'm REALLY hoping I get all of your mail soon, cuz I haven'y heard from anyone in over a week and a half, but the days are already flying by, and the more I enjoy the work, the faster everything goes. Even as a greenie, I'm not feeling like a burden on my companion, which has a lot to do with going out with the missionaries before I left, how amazing my family is, and the new program at the MTC. But mostly my family. I love you all so much, and I hope you like the pictures!!!

The MTC District

September 5th, 2011

This experience is so amazing, and I have really grown in faith as I have seen how I can be guided by the Spirit as I practice and study, but I cannot WAIT to finally be able to put my efforts towards helping real people who have actually been preparerd by the Lord to recieve this message and come closer to Christ. I thought I knew before I left what it meant to be a missionary, but I only knew what it meant to go on a mission, and the things that have been taught to me here have been so powerful and allowed the Spirit to teach me so accutely that I am learning things abiut things I didn't know I would. Mom, tell brother Moore I plugged his statement, "You don't know what you don't know"! OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!!!!! The night after I emailed you for the Tuesday night fireside JEFFERY R. HOLLAND spoke to us!!! It was SOOOOOO amazing!!! If it take all of eternity (which it very well might) I want to be able to speak with the power, conviction, and authority with which he speaks. He spoke of how we don't have the right (imagine the emphasis and power behind him saying this) to fall away from the church when we return home, after this mission and after the people who have given their lives for this work, the most recent 4 hours ago, we don't have the right to tarnish the name of Mormon Missionaries. A sister was killed in a car crash in New York. This work is more precious to the Lord than any other, because His children are most precious to Him, and millions of people hold Missionaries as the archetype of perfection and hope in the church, and we have no right to take that away from them. He ended with a Q&A, it was indescribable. On a different notem Elder HArrison says to mention him and how hot he is, he really is hilaruious, though, I love the guys in this district. OH, and I realized that my Comp, Elder Bassett reminds me of Zack Carter!!! Maybe a little crazier. I love him though, we are growing so much together. I'll let you know how it is in St. Louis!

August 30th, 2011

Just a quick reminder, I can only write letters on the same day I can email (P-day) so if my writing seems delayed, or if my email doesn't address everything, there SHOULD be a letter on the way with more!

MOM! 1 Samuel 16:7 says not to judge, because the Lord doesn't look on a man's stature, but on the heart! And you can basically just look for Gospel pictures from the set you already have and pick your favorite ones and put them up, and you can also put up your favorite quotes backed with colorful construction paper, especially if they're quotes of general autyhorities telling of the importamnce of the Old Testament, or even scriptures from the old testament. AGH! I wish I could have some tortilla soup!!!! Mother, you seriously make the best tortilla soup I jhave ever had in my life. The food here tastes pretty good, but that's not the problem (nuff said, ask Mike), but breakfast is always the best meal, bacon eggs and hashbrowns with a different entree every day (ie french toast, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, etc.). And I have NO problem with you leaving my room full of my junk, but don't feel bad if you need to empty it out, I totally understand. I really wish I had taken more time to pack, because there are somne little things scattered about that I kind of wish I had, like the letter Riley wrote me that I didn't get a chance to respond to, or the little white tabs mike gave me to mark my scriptures with (in the top drawer to the left of my desk), and stuff like that.

Thank you SO much for setting up my Blog, Bianca!!!! I love you SO much and I LOVED getting that wonderful letter from you! (message to all who wrote me, responses are pending, I'll get them out ASAP) How did Max do at Disneyland?? Did he absolutely LOVE it?! Tell him I have his balloons he drew for me hanging up above my desk! I'm glad Mike has been able to squeeze in a few moments to send me a few words, I really do appreciate it. Everyone here gives me a hard time because I get so much mail I'm like a post office! I only have one day a week to reply to it all!

I REALLY hope things are going well with Annie, please contact her, the missionaries were probably a little over-zealous because the work has slowed down it seemed and they need good, proper uses of the Lord's time. Talk to sister Barton if you still can't get ahold of her.

NAOMI! I love you SO much little sis. I know I didn't tell you until recently, but I hope you know it's true, and that Mom isn't lying when she says that she used to say I had the most promise to do great, but that you are thus far surpassing me without breaking a sweat. Please keep making good choices and sticking to FSOY, it will save your life one day if you need it to. I love the labelling on your tear drop, bytheway, my comp got mad at first and said I was bragging when I hung your letter up and I yelled back at him that it was from my little sister and it was staying up!

Thank you for the encouragement, Maxine! I LOVE that scripture you shared with me! My classes are really good, and we've had kind of a weird deal with teachers, but the two actually assigned to me are AMAZING! Brother Hawkins and Sister Lamplugh, she's single, got back last year from Winter Quarters, he got married six months ago, and I don't remember where he served. Sis Lamplugh got to go through the temple with us today though, and it was SO cool! We went last week, but it was ASL, so kind of distracting. The Provo Temple is of course beautiful, but, and It's not just because I'm from there, I have yet to see one match the San Diego Temple for beauty. Even if it's while I'm gone, I am SO excited for you(Maxine) to be able to go through when you do.

Thank you for sending the email from David, that was really cool! I am SO excited for the field, the new missionary program he was talking about is truly amazing, I have been here only two weeks and have improved an enormously humbling amount in being able to share this gospel. This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and I'm not even out in the field yet, but that is exactly why we are set apart, because with the help and strength of the Lord, we can heft any burden, even greater than that which we are able to bear. Believe it or not, I had some anxiety issues at the start, it freaked me out, because I did NOT see that coming, but I am doing fine now, my mind is clear and I am learning at an incredible pace. Oh, and Ev is my favorite godmother EVER!!!! She sent me a package of cookies one day and then sent me ANOTHER package a few days later with candy, silly putty, erasable pens and more in it! I have so much support from so many peiople, I am so blessed.

I also am not sure if I have:

the other memory card

shot record?

still need to talk to Maxine(or someone else) about Discover

I love you all so much, but my computer time is up and my comp wants to leave! I miss you, but I cannot come down, for I am doing a good work (name that scripture)! I will write you all soon, and OH!!! I will be calling at either 7-8am or early afternoon in a week!!!!! PLEASE be available, I will call the house phone first, then mom's cell!!!!!!

August 23rd, 2011

Okay, so before I just start talking, I want you to know that Tuesdays are P-days, but that only matters next week cuz I'm shipping out two weeks from today!!! Also, I have had the awesome pleasure of sharing this experience so far with Elders Justin Wait(left yesterday for Spokane, Spanish) Dalin Earls (Esco, leaving when I do to Indonesia), Bobby Shuster(Institute, SLC Spanish), David Riddle, Brandon Hernandez, Linnea Harris, and Stanton Kennington! SOOOOO cool!!! My District is full of some of the most devirse Elders I could have possibly imagined, but we all love each other so much and love the Lord's work and we all love to have a fun, positive time. We were at the fireside, and the conductor was announced as "Mack Wilberg" and I leaned over and said "You hear that Elders?! Mark Walberg is conducting the MoTab!!!" (That one's for Maxine) Thank you all so so SOO much for the Dear Elders! I couldn't BELIEVE I got two letters my first day, and was even MORE shocked at the FIVE I got two days later and then the few that have followed since! I love hearing from you so much, and I hope you don't forget about me!

I used the story of Samuel in the bible to incorporate into the dispensation of prophets, and how he too was called as a young boy, directly by God, just as Joseph Smith, and about the importance of speaking directly to our Father in Heaven and the invitation to pray! I can't hear enough from you that you love me, it brings me so much happiness to be able to hear from you and to know that I'm in this great nation and have the priveledge of being able to communicate so readily with you.

I have learned SO much about how I will always lack any ability to teach, only to invite investigators and invite the Spirit, especially with the message of the Restoration. My comps name is Elder Bassett from Westpoint Utah! He is a quirky little guy, but I love him. Me and all three of my roomates got locked out of our appartment yesterday! They were all in their towels and I didn't even have mine, but I was fortunately able to borrow one! It was so funny, we eventually got a key brought. On a more somber note, we had one of our favorite missionaries in out 5-comp District get sent home yesterday. I have such an intense love and respect for him especially after he took the most difficult steps of his repentance. we gave him a blessing and prayed fervently for him, and he told us if it wasn't for our strength and spirit, he probably wouldn't have done the right thing, and also that he will be right back here in a year when he is ready! I am so excited because he will have grown so much and be so strong and pure. His Spiritual strength will match his physical stature (6' 4" 250lbs). It is a darn good thing for Africans that rain doesn't result from people missing me! I can't wait for all of your letters either. I love hearing about missionary experiences you guys are having! And yes, Mike, my teachers (Brother Hawkins and Sister Lamplugh) are AMAZING! I love them both so much, they are so sweet and teach so well. I AM keeping a very good journal, so if I miss anything, you will hear about it eventually. The Provo Temple is amazing, we got to go through today, and I love the Spirit that is there. OH! MOM! President Brady is Brandon Hernandez's Branch President! Isn't that weird?! I am trying so hard to be obedient, every time I learn or read a new rule, I make sure I apply it immediately so that it becomes a part of what I do. There are a LOT of rules. I read in the Health Manual that we need to floss at night and brush before we go to bed and before we leave our apartment, so now I have to do exactly that! I have SO much more I want to tell you about, but, alas, with obedience, I have to get off in a minute or it will be over 30 mins. 

August 17th, 2011