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!!!!!!