Week of January 27, 2014

How's it going? I hope this week treated everybody well! It was a good one out here in Newcastle! We had a couple of good finding miracles, a couple good laughs, and it was just a good week! 

So at the beginning of the week I was just feeling good about the future here in Newcastle. So I was just excited! Well on Wednesday I was super excited and we went out and tried a ton of people… Everything fell through. We were about to head in to dinner but we decided to go try one more potential and…. nothing happened. So it was kinda disappointing, but we started to walk back to the apartment and we see a guy walking from Sonic to the apartments. We never see anyone out walking in Newcastle ever, so we walked over and asked if we could give him a card…. We realized we didn't have a card. haha but we played it off real smooth and we asked talked to him for a little bit and then asked if we could come share a message about Jesus Christ and he said, "Yeah come tomorrow at like 1 or 2." It was super cool because if we hadn't been prompted, or followed the prompting to knock on the potential's door then we would have missed out on the opportunity to talk to Richard! The lesson with him went pretty well too so that was good!

Friday haha ok. So we tracted into someone while I was on an exchange and she was crazy. We prayed with her, then as soon as my companion said amen she started praying Spanish, but all she was saying was mumbo jumbo (I know enough Spanish to know what she was saying didn't make sense) and then she said "mucho mucho mucho mucho gracias. Gracias gracias mucho mucho mucho" forever! And she finally said amen and then we sat down to start teaching her and then her husband walks in. We start teaching and we're talking about how Heavenly Father loves us and then all of the sudden the husband starts yelling about all this weird stuff about how he gets in trouble for nothing. He went off for like 15 minutes. So finally he stops and then he walked out of the room. So we just basically restarted teaching and we probably retaught her the lesson like 6 times because she couldn't understand. The meeting was pretty crazy, but we'll still try to teach her!

Then on Saturday we were walking back to the apartment at like 8:55. We walked around this corner and right as we did this lady walked by the corner and we had enough time to say hi then she was by us. It was perfectly wrongly timed. Anyways we're like "Dangit!" because we never see anyone out walking! Well she turns around like 50 feet away and said, "Hey, do ya'll have any pamphlets?" So we gave her a few pamphlets and we taught and testified, and gave her our number. It was super sweet!

Well, that's about it for me here this week. I hope everyone back home has a great week! Keep the faith!

Week of January 20, 2014

How's it going? So there's a little bit more to write about in this week's email, but still nothing flooring. One of our Zone Leaders is going home in a couple weeks, so this transfer he's been trying to do exchanges with all the elders in our zone. So on Monday I was in Norman. The Zone Leader I was with actually went to the same high school as Payton Dastrup. He knows him too! His name is Elder Traasdhal. He's a great missionary! Anyways we exchanged after P-day, and he accidentally left his wallet in the church building, and didn't realize it until right before dinner. So I got to drive the zone leader's truck around! Haha that was on my missionary bucket list, so I can check that off now! haha That was a fun exchange though! We watched the Mormon message "Wrong Roads" by Elder Holland. I think that's what it was called… Anyways while I was watching it I had a story click in my mind. I was thinking back to the recruiting process, and how it felt right to go to Pepperdine. But things totally did not work out with that, and as soon as I found Davis I knew for 100% fact that Davis was where I needed to be. Looking back on it, I know that Davis was the best place for my life, and I did question a little why things felt good with Pepperdine, yet it didn't work out. Anyways that video helped me relate that. I shared that story with the less active we were visiting and the spirit was really strong as we talked. So that was sweet!

We had a really cool experience on Tuesday. I'll back it up to my study. I was thinking about Helaman 13, and how it says that the voice of the Lord came to Samuel the Lamanite. I was thinking a lot about that, and I realized that it probably wasn't a voice booming out from heaven, but rather exactly how the voice of the Lord comes to us- through a simple thought. When he acted on that thought, it was obvious that it was the Lord speaking to him. Well on Tuesday we were about a 25-30 minute walk from the apartment. It was about 8:30, so I was like. "Alright let's head back." We started to cross the street and Elder Barrett said, "We should go see our friend Ryan at the gas station." It's a guy who works at a gas station that we met. Anyways I said, "We probably don't have time tonight." We walked about 50 feet toward our apartment and I thought, "We should go visit him." So I said let's go and we turned around and walked about 5-10 minutes in the wrong direction to this gas station. We walked in and Ryan wasn't there. So Elder Barrett got something, and when we were checking out the lady there leaned forward and said, "I knew it! Are ya'll Mormons?" We said we were and she said, "I honk at ya'll all the time! I wanna here what ya'll have to say!" So we talked to her for a little bit and gave her a Book of Mormon! She doesn't live in our area, and she said her mom probably wouldn't let her have the missionaries over there, but maybe we can work it out. Anyways it was a way cool experience. The other cool thing was we walked a normal pace all the way back and we still made it back to the apartment at 9! I learned there's always time to follow the spirit! And now looking back at it, that was totally the voice of the Lord telling us to go there! That was my cool experience of the week.

Other than that not much else happened. We had a super powerful lesson with Lee, but she's just not willing to give up beer. She told us she'd call us if she wanted to meet with us, so we don't think we'll be invited back, but it was still a super powerful lesson and things went great, so we did all we can do.

Well that's about it for me here. Hope life in the real world is doing everybody well! Have a great week this week!

Week of January 13, 2014

Hello hello! Sorry I haven't gotten a big email out to you lately. But here we go!

This week was a good one! I'm going to jump around a little bit on days here, so bare with me! I'll start with Wednesday and end with Tuesday. Wednesday we were taken out to lunch by a member at a burger place. They have really big burgers. Well the member basically dared me to get their "Big Pappas XXL" burger. It's a triple bacon cheeseburger. So I got it, and pounded it and all the fries (and a couple of Elder Barrett's fries...) and was basically stuffed. Well when we were out working about a half hour later a member family stopped us and said, "Hey we're going out for lunch, get in- you can come with us!" So I went and had a steak quesadilla. Haha I couldn't even hardly walk straight the rest of the day I was so full. Haha but it was good! I'm still not hungry. But yet I'm still losing weight on my mission. Oh well.

Thursday we taught Lee! That was a really interesting lesson. We were talking to her, and she's reading in the beginning of Alma right now. She says she likes the Book of Mormon, but she hasn't gotten an answer to her prayer if it's true. So we asked her if it's built her faith in Jesus Christ and she said it hadn't. It was a little confusing to us, but we talked more about it, and told her it would help her to get an answer if she came to church. Haha she said, "I'm not going to your church. Can't argue with that answer can you?" Haha so I laughed and said, "No we can't! We're just here to invite you, and this is the way you'll really get to know if it's true." Then we talked about the Book of Mormon, and what it would mean to her if it was true. She said she would come to church if it was true, so we're really praying she gets an answer! She really liked the member we brought with us though, and she wants us to keep coming over, so we'll keep working with her!

The rest of the weekend not much happened. We set a couple of return appointments, which was good! We got a new bishop here on Sunday, which will be good for our old bishop. He doesn't have to balance being in the Stake Presidency and being a bishop anymore. The new bishop is a great guy though! Really young, and just really cool. So we're excited to work with him!

We had a really powerful Specialized Training meeting on Tuesday about the Atonement. It's funny because when I think of the Atonement I almost always just relate it to the fact that we'll be forgiven and resurrected. But we talked a ton about the enabling power of the Atonement. They gave us a video that mixes talks by President Eyring and Elder Holland. Elder Holland's talk was ultra powerful. He gave it at a mission president training in the MTC. You can find it on LDS.org the talk is called, "Missionary Work and the Atonement." I'll copy and paste my favorite part talking about what 19, 20, 21, and 22 year olds will ask mission presidents.

"Why is this so hard President? Why doesn’t it go better President? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font? "You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
"Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
"For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
"If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
"The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

It really helped me see how blessed I've been the last 2 1/2 transfers. I mean it's not even like the people in Newcastle hate missionaries, or like I've been treated bad. All it's been is a lack of teaching and "key-indicator success". But it's definitely caused some thought, and some struggle. It's been hard at times not to think I've been wasting my time. It was hard seeing the basketball season start, and not be a part of it. There's been a lot of tough moments out here, but Elder Holland talks about how missionaries and members proudly say that we are disciples of Christ, and we are. But we better prepare to go a couple steps to where Christ has gone in order for us to truly be His disciples. Anyways that was a little quote that helped me.

Well I hope you all had a great holiday season, and I hope the new year has started off right! I'm grateful to be part of this work at this time! It's a blessing! Have a great week!

Week of December 30, 2013

It's been 6 months already… That's been really weird to me! Time has flown by!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that the New Year is just as good if not better!

Not much has happened out here in Newcastle. Still on the daily grind, but that's the life as a missionary. Elder Barrett and I have some ideas on how we can get things going. Can't hurt to try new things right? There's always more that we can do!

I was able to play basketball 4 times this week! That was great! It was almost starting to feel natural again. We should be able to play at least twice today as well, but we'll see. After this week we'll be back to hitting it hard, but we're supposed to play it cool during the holidays, so that's what we've been doing.

We had a Jehovah Witness knock on our door on Christmas Eve. He saw us answer the door and said, "Someone opened the door and let in the JWs. Who are you guys with?" We had our tags on, we were doing studies, and so we told him and he said, "Oh. Well can I give you guys a Watchtower?" So we took it and we hoped he'd try teaching us, but he just said, "Have a good day- bye." And kinda just fled. Haha I guess he wanted nothing to do with us. Oh well!

Alright well have a great week back home! Love you all! Keep the faith, the gospel is true! Christ is our Savior and how blessed we are for that knowledge!

Week of December 16, 2013- Another 6 in Newcastle!

So I'll have another 6 weeks in Newcastle! It'll be good because Elder Fronk and I see a lot of good things happening so it's going to be fun to be here! Elder Fronk is going to Edmond, and my new companion is from So. Cal. He's in my zone right now, actually just a couple computers down emailing with me. He's a Spanish speaking Elder so that will be fun! That means I get extra study time while he does language study so that will be good for me! I'm excited!

We really only had 1 sweet experience this week. Well we had a lot more, but only 1 worth writing about. We unfortunately have been dropping almost all of our investigators recently, so we have been having fun doing that. Not. haha but we were tracting like 2 weeks ago and we met this lady named Lee. She's  an older lady and she said that she worked with a Mormon lady once, and she used to have a Book of Mormon, but she lost it. She said, "I don't believe what Joseph Smith believed." So we talked to her a little bit and replaced her copy of the Book of Mormon and that was cool! She said she would read it but everyone here says that so we never think much of it. Well this week we stopped by to see if she had read and she said, "Yeah I read about 1/3 of the Book of Mormon." We asked what she thought and she said, "Nephi and his brothers didn't get along did they?" Haha so we talked about that and she had a bunch of questions about the Nephites and the Lamanites. We answered a ton of those questions and it was good! Then she said, "In Jacob 2:27 it says not to have multiple wives. So why did some of the Mormons have more than one wife?" So we explained that. We talked for a while longer and she said, "You guys should come back next Thursday so we can talk more." So we hope that she finishes the Book of Mormon by then because now that she's through 2 Nephi nothing can stop her now right? Badum Pow! Haha

Well that's about it for us. I saw my first live possum. Those things are pretty big- it's crazy! We also found out the people from the show "Skunk Whispers" live like a mile away. haha I'd be shocked if anyone has seen that show, but if you have, that's in Newcastle! Anyways, that's about it for us here. Have a great week! Happy holidays! Love you all!

Showing off a picture a little girl drew for him!

Week of December 9, 2013

I gotta start this email by saying that I don't like ice, snow, or any weather under 70 degrees. Elder Fronk was talking about how cold it was the other day (He's from the Bear River area, so it's cold if he's saying that) and he asked why I wasn't complaining. Haha I told him, "Elder Fronk, as soon as the temperature gets below freezing I'm just mad. I could care less if it's 30 degrees or -50 degrees. I'm just mad." Haha I just miss not having to wear so much clothing! I want the short sleeved white shirts back! Anyways that was all the complaining I plan on doing in this email.

So this was a slow week, but still a good one! We're going to have to reset the baptismal date with this family, but no worries. They're still very interested! We had a great visit with the mom the other day, and she said she really wants all her kids to be baptized, including her 20 year old son, so she's going to try to get him over so we can teach him too! That was cool. We really like them and they're a great family!

It was a pretty bad sleet storm on Thursday, but we weren't told not to work so we went and walked down Main Street and when we got to the gym to warm up a little bit the owner said, "What the heck are you two bone heads doing?" So we told him until we heard otherwise we were going to work. He said, "No you're not. You're going back to your apartment or you're staying here until I can give you a ride back." So we walked back to the apartment and right when we got back we got a text saying cars and bikes were grounded, but we were still to go out and work. So we walked back out and when we got next to the gym, he was pulling out to drive home and he saw us so he waved for us to come over. We knew he'd be mad so as soon as we opened the door I said, "We were commanded to work!" He said, "No you weren't." Haha so we got in the truck and he drove us back. We called our district leader what happened and he told us just to stay in until it stopped sleeting. So we were in until 8 that night. But we went back out that night and got to walk in the ice for an hour. That was fun!….

Anyways that night there was a ton of snow that came, so there was snow everywhere and then ice under that, so it was pretty slick and the roads were still terrible. The cars were grounded again, so it was a day of walking. The sidewalks weren't shoveled, and we couldn't find a snow shovel anywhere to do service, so we just walked about 10-13 miles on the snow and ice. It was pretty crazy! We found a new investigator though so it was worth it! Her name is Ashley and she's from Sacramento! She had us come back the next day, so we went back and taught her. She's engaged and just getting into religion. She just started the Bible and now wants to start the Book of Mormon! She was concerned about how the Bible was compiled and she thought it could be missing things, or that important things could be left out, so she was excited about the Book of Mormon! Hopefully this week we can teach her fiancé as well! We'll see!

That's about it for us here in Newcastle! The Christmas Devotional last night was great! My favorite part was during the clip where the Primary was singing and the little boy winked at the little girl right in front of Elder Russel M. Nelson. Haha Shout out to that young one! He's got guts and game! Haha I about died when I saw that- it was too funny! That reminds me so there's a family in our ward who fed us on Sunday and they have a 2 year old that can only say the word "No." So every time I asked him for a high five he'd say no, every time I asked him to pass me the ball he'd say no, and every time I said yes to him he said no. Haha I'd say "Yes!" and then he'd yell back "No!" And so I said "Yes!!" And he'd say "No!!!" Haha it was pretty cute. His dad threw me a ball and little Zander (His name is Alexander, zander for short) came and tackled me! haha His dad was a football stud, so he's been teaching him from a young age. It was funny though I looked at Elder Fronk and I said, "This is going to be a great practice!" and then I looked at Zander and I said, "Will you be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God?" Haha and he obviously said the only word he knows how, "No!" Haha so I said "What would be holding you back?" Haha the other missionaries there died laughing! I couldn't resist! Anyways, yeah that's the fun story of the week I guess!

Well be safe in the crazy weather! Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy holidays! Love you guys!

Week of December 2, 2013- Thanksgiving

What a week! Last Monday we had dinner with the Clowards. They were going out of town, and their 10 year old son shot a turkey the day before, so we got a wild turkey Thanksgiving on Monday! It was gamey turkey, but it was good! Sister Cloward is from Germany and she was teaching us some German! It was fun! And a couple of the sides she made and the dessert was German, so I thought about Adam a ton. I told her that my brother speaks nearly perfect German and she said,  "I'll be the judge of that!" So she really wants to talk to Adam now!

On Tuesday we had a cool lesson with a recent convert about Patriarchal blessings, and she really wants one now! She's been baptized for just over a year now and she's read through the Book of Mormon 10+ times, D&C 5 times, the Pearl of Great Price 4 times, and Jesus the Christ. She's making her way through discourses of the Prophet Brigham Young. It's always fun going over there because she quizzes you on things like, "Where in the Book of Mormon does it talk about peeping wizards and unicorns?" And she asked us about the East winds and what those are. We had no clue. Then she asked us recently some question she had from the Brigham Young book, so she keeps us on our toes! We also helped our Ward Mission Leader finish a treehouse! That was cool! I attached a pic. We also helped a member put in her oven so she could have Thanksgiving, so we came to the rescue there!  (Turn your head to the left to see the picture- I'm technologically challenged!)

Wednesday we did our weekly service at the library, and tried a bunch of people, but not much happened. Thursday we ate at our Ward Mission Leader, the Sagastizados, house. He's from El Salvador and so we had a great meal! It was spanish chicken, pappusas, tons of chips and homemade salsa, tamales and a bunch of other gringo food. Haha it was fun though! They had a ton of friends and family over. He had us all sing I am a Child of God, and had us share a message. There were a few nonmembers there which was cool! It was extremely powerful! They had a man there who is a palm reader. He said that I'm not evil and I'll live a long time. That was good! Haha But that was basically what we did.

Friday we had district meeting, and had a couple cool finding miracles! We found a family and they said they would love to have us back to talk to them some more, so we're excited about them! Saturday we drove the Blanchard Elders to Norman to exchange back, and we ate at Red Robbin. Elder Anderson is from the Bay Area, and he's a huge football fan. So we had a very long friendly argument about which sport was ordained by God. Turns out the Monday Night Football was started the same year as FHE, and other than that the games are always played on Sunday. He says that's because God knows how special football is so he gave them permission. I said it's a crafty tool that Satan uses to get us away from Church and family home evening, and that God combats that by having us gather together in the chapel for Basketball. He'll be converted before I'm through with him! Haha

Later that day we stopped by a potential's house who we had a great experience with last Sunday. The daughter and the Mom both asked us for a Book of Mormon, so we stopped by to see if they had been reading and what they thought. Their teenage daughter said that she was telling everyone all week that she was a Mormon. Haha she met her boyfriend's dad for the first time I guess and told him she was Mormon. I guess he got all defensive and was saying, "Well you have your beliefs and I have mine." Then she started reading parts of the Book of Mormon to him! It was way sweet! She was kinda doing it playfully, but still it was really cool! So we told her that we'd love to come by when her mom was home and talk to her about the Plan our Heavenly Father laid out for us, and how it tells us where we're from, why we're here, and where we're going after this life. She said, "I'd love that! Come by tomorrow afternoon!"

So Sunday we went over there and we taught them all the Plan of Salvation. They had a ton of questions about it, and the daughter had some questions about whether or not she was going to hell because of things she's done in the past. She was really surprised that we didn't put down a hell cutout and was asking about it and we told her that almost everyone gets some degree of glory because God wants all his children to be happy. We explained that by being baptized all that she might have done in the past will be forgiven, and she'll have a fresh clean slate. She was really excited about it! So we asked them to be baptized and the daughter without hesitation said, "Yes! I want to!" Then the mom started telling us her concerns, but we resolved those. She said that she would be. Then she turned to her 14 year old son and said, "You wanna be baptized?" He said, "No not really." And she said, "What? Why not?" Haha she resolved all his concerns for him right then and there! It was cool! So we told them that we had prayerfully considered when they could have an answer to their prayer and know that these things were true, and we know that they can have the confirmation by December 28th. They accepted that date, and should be coming to the ward Christmas potluck on Friday and church on Sunday! We have a lot of work to do with them to get them ready for that date, but we're extremely excited for them! It will be such an exciting time for them!

The other miracle that happened with that lesson was it went way longer than we expected it to. So we were in there teaching until 5:10. Our dinner appointment was at 5, so as soon as we got out we pulled out the phone and the member had texted us and told us that they had to move dinner back to 5:30. It was perfect! Haha so things worked out great!

We're extremely excited for this week coming up. We have a few more people we feel we can set baptism dates with! We're extremely excited to see the work slowly but surely progressing here! Can't wait to get after it!

That's about it for us here on this side of the state. Hope all is well back home! Love you all so much! Have a great week and hope everyone survived Black Friday ok! God be with you until we email again!