Feb 17 2016

Good to hear that the move is done! And that everything went well. The new place looks nice. I like it. Loved the pictures that you sent. You had a lot of love, support, and help from the ward. I’m sure that there were a lot of people to help with the piano. All pianos are heavy. It makes me sad that Harvey is shipped off to St. George. But it is probably the best thing, because that way that diaper can come off, and he does not have that humiliation wherever he goes. Diaper of shame. He’s a free dog now. A free dog is a happy dog. 

We had a good week. We had dinner with a less active that we have been working with. There has been a lot of improvement with the dad. He is talking more, which is one of the things that the bishop told the councilor that he wants to see. It’s working. Before our visits he would say a few words here and there.

We have a new less active family that we are working with. We were going through our Perspective Elders List, and we knock on a door. They said we could come back (heard that before) so we come back, and set up an appointment. We went back and had a lesson that night. They have two kids. Their son has 3 or 4 Perplexes.. I thought of you Dallin when I saw all of them. Not sure if you are still into that kind of stuff, but he had all same ones you had. 

Thursday was a great day. I enjoyed it. We had housing inspection. We got a 9.8 out of 10. I was hoping for a bigger score because it was my birthday but 9.8 was all we got. Our Landlords who are members made me a cake.

 We visited with a less active. They have 3 daughters. Two of them are twins and we share the same birthday! I got a picture with them. They wanted a message about family unity, so we looked for a talk, told them where to find it, and gave them homework. They were not really expecting that, but I have worked with them for about 4 or 5 months now, and they have no excuse not to come to church. 

That same day we contacted a media referral that we got. They requested a bible. That went really well. She said that her sister or cousin lives in Utah and is a member. She keeps on telling her that she needs to take the missionary lessons. She told us that she would once as she moves. She has plans to move in the future. For supper some members in my last area took us out to eat. They are really cool and very thought full. I love em. We went to Boston Pizza. 

Friday we helped a returned member move to a different house. He can’t help because of health, but we were able to move everything. He has a bigger and better basement suite for less, and a better landlord. 

We found a new investigator, but we will be passing him off to the YSA sisters because he is a YSA. He was a media referral that is from Africa. He requested a bible. We gave him one. He is very religious; very strong Catholic. We talked to him on the door for a while. He showed us pictures of Africa and the mission that he served. It was a very good conversation. 

We helped out with some district finding in the south, I had some interesting experiences. There was this couple sitting on chairs in their garage, enjoying the warm weather and the sunshine. We talked to them for a while, they were really nice and friendly, but I think it was because of the alcohol they were drinking. haha jk. Also at the end, when we were walking back to the truck to meet back with the district, there was another couple in the garage. Again, it was a house that we knocked on before, but they were not home, so they just got home. We start talking to them. The wife walks inside, so we are talking to the husband.     
The wife walks out with a bag of beads and a can of beer. She explains that she makes angel necklaces for people that are in the hospital and their family. The necklaces go together when they die. She said that she blesses the beads before she makes them. She asked us to bless them for her. We gather together in prayer holding hands. Elder Owens got her free hand and I had her hand that was holding the beads and the unopened can of beer. We prayed for the beads and she said thank you. That’s a funny story.     

Feb. 8 2016

I’m going to start out by answering Dad’s questions that he sent me; 

The most embarrassing thing that happened to me..  There was nothing that was really embarrassing that has happened. If there was something then I usually pull it off pretty well. haha. As you may know from Christmas phone call home, I have the same hairstyle as Tanner and most missionaries in this mission. I have a comb-over. So on Thursday we had a supper appointment with one of my favorite members in the ward. He was kind of making fun of me because of it, and I had gotten a hair cut on Monday that week. But he was just giving me a hard time and saying “oh the gay people have that too”..... Things like that. He was joking. It was more funny than embarrassing. It was probably more embarrassing to his wife than me.. haha 

The funniest thing was when we were at Lethbridge for MLC, when two zone leaders showed all of us what they were doing in their area. They had a missionary come up who was 6' 6" and jump over a broom stick that they were holding about 2 feet above the ground, and he hit the broom; he jumped much higher without the broom stick there. 

The scariest thing was driving back to Calgary. That highway has severe wind bursts so that made it sketchy driving back going 110 - 115. I’m happy that I did not have a trailer to pull. Semi trucks have tipped and rolled because of the wind. 

Most spiritual thing: We were teaching a less active member last night on Sunday. We share a message, and in the end they kinda open up, and they start to ask questions. Question after question. I liked it. I was the most questions I have answered all week. They were questions about the word of wisdom, temples, church. It was great because we knew all of the answers. With some of the answers, we said that we will look further into it and we will bring you a book, or a conference talk. They are going to have us over for supper next week. 

We had some really cool miracles happen this week. We got a call from Bishop the other week. He said that he just received membership records of this gentleman who has been less active for 10 years. He wants to come back to church. Usually less actives come to church, or they say they will come back because they want money or food. But this is not the case with him.  He has a job. He wants to come back. He is still living worthy. The only reason he went less active was because his family gives him a hard time. He has read the Book of Mormon 3+ times, and really wants to come back.. We taught him last week. He came to Church and we taught him there. There is a real strong desire. He is really a humble guy. 

Feb. 1 2016

January is gone and same with most of the snow. I heard that Logan got a ton of snow over this last week.  Most we have had is a chinook for two days. It was really nice. It felt like spring. We were in the double digits. 

On Tuesday night we received a transfer email for everyone in the zone. There were a few missionaries that were transferred. I thought I was going. I also thought that I might stay. It was 50-50. I wanted to stay, even though I have been here a long time. I could do 5 more weeks. I’m not getting transferred. 

Wednesday we called Jeff, he was that referral that we got the last time we were on exchanges. We set up a time to visit him and his family on Saturday.

Thursday was transfers. We helped out with that because there were some elders in the zone that shared a car. We took them to transfers. 

On Friday there was a party for Jeff to celebrate his families arrival to Canada. It was hosted by his boss. They had it at the church. There was lots of pizza and wings.   

After the party we had a baptism! 

Before they added a new stake and before the zone changed we were covering a YSA ward. In that YSA ward we had a super solid investigator. She has been taught all of the lessons. She came to church every week. She had Preach My Gospel, and she knew a lot. She wanted to be baptized, and she could have been because she was 18, but she chose not to because her parents did not support her, and they did not like the Church. That was one thing that Elder Christensen and I fasted and prayed for, was that her parents’ hearts would soften. Over time those prayers were slowly being answered. Her mom allowed us to come to her house and teach a lesson, as before it was at a member’s house. That was a big step that they allowed us to come into their home. Even though her mom was not there or not in the room she still allowed it. 

A few days passed and we get a phone call from an unlisted number at night when we got home. It was her! This happened a 2-3 weeks before Christmas. We both knew that something was up because of the tone of her voice. We did not know if it was good or bad. She told us that her Mom said that if she gets baptized in the Mormon Church she would support her! But that before she gets baptized she needs to come to church with her mom a few times and continue to come to the Mormon Church, just to show that she is committed. She sounded really really happy and shocked that her mom would let her do this. She said that it’s the best Christmas present that she could give her.  

On Friday she was baptized. Elder Christensen baptized her, and I was able to be one of the witnesses. There were a lot of people there at her baptism! It is the biggest baptism I have been too. It was so big that we had to move everyone from the RS room into the chapel for the baptismal service. The Chapel was full. After the talks we all moved back into the RS and she was baptized. 

Her mom, dad, sister, grandma, cousin(s), friends, and ward were there. There were a lot of non members there. I do not have pictures of it but I will get them on Wednesday when I see Christensen. I will have him send the pictures to my camera then.

Our lesson on Saturday with Jeff went really well! He is so prepared! He knows the Church is true, and he wants to be baptized. He wants his wife to be baptized with him but she is shy around us and she is Catholic. We taught the first lesson to Jeff. His wife walked out because the baby was crying. We continued to teach Jeff. He accepted all of it. We put him on date for baptism on February 27. He said that he would be baptized with his wife together or not, but he really wants it to be together. Because he does not live in our area we had to pass him off to the sister missionaries. Which is sad but I think they will be perfect for his wife. I can see them getting baptized on the 27. 

Last Sunday was the 5th Sunday, the theme for Sacrament Meeting was Missionary Work. I gave a talk. Our ward mission leader, Elder Owens and I all gave a talk. We taught the first lesson but we broke up the points and made it into 3 different talks. It went really well!