THE BEST 2 YEARS

THE END

2009-09-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

With 8 of these Elders off of their missions, and only a few left on missions. This wonderful blog and the newsletter "THE BEST 2 YEARS", is done. It was fun for me to do, it was great for these friends to keep in touch, and experience their best 2 years. Enjoy whatever comes in your future.... I know it will be great!

July 2009 News

2009-07-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

Elder Gary Chambers
Dominican Repbulic Santiago Mission
October 2007 ~ 2009

Saludos from Puerto Plata... es decir... the beach! FINally... It was soo worth the wait. That's right, I finally got transferred out of good ol' Buenos Aires and now I'm in Puerto Plata with my new comp Elder McGregor who is going home next transfer. Unlike the other companions I've killed, Elder McGregor is a naturally hard worker and isn't going down without a fight, which is totally ok by me. We are working hard and seeing great progress in our small but growing teaching pool of investigators. I really like the pace of work and the hill covered area... it's helping me loose that extra chub I've been hangin on too. I need to start some kind of Spartan workout, but Jeff's workout plan still hasn't come throught the fax... hurry that up Jeff! I don't really have that much to say... just that I can't wait to hang out with all you guys again! It's too surreal... to think that the mission has not been my life since day one, that home is actually real, and not just a fond dream I once had... I still don't believe it, and I won't until I see it. Anyways, Have a great month of July, and if it happens to be your last month, make it count! Nobody wants to look back with regrets, and it just too easily happens if we don't honestly give it our all.Something a lil funny happened just last night... my comp and I made a quick colmado stop (it's like a small store... you know, gas station style stuff, but smaller) to get a lil something to drink. Well, we got a 7up that we split... usually you pay them after you eat or drink stuff or whatever... but sometimes you pay before... it doesn't really matter. Well, with no reason why, I decided that I was going to pay after... so we finished our drinks over a small conversation, then my comp said, "alright man, lets go." So we got up, and walked out. We were about half'-way down the street when I realized I never payed the guy. My comp started laughing at me as we walked back to the colmado where I walked to the counter a lil embarrassed and paid the guy. I felt stupid. It was funny.... laugh. haha just kidding. I love you guys... Elder Gary Chambers

Elder Jimmy Miller

Fellas!!!
Things are great here. Today we had a sweet zone water balloon fight in central park. everyone was jealous of how cool we are. we had a people stopping to watch us it was funny. the zone unity is spreading which was major goal! Monday we said our final goodbyes to President and Sister Searle. We had a surprise gathering of our whole mission, has only happened one other time since i've been here and that was when President Uchtdorf came. The Searle's were so grateful. We got to hear from them one last time and even got to give Sister Searle a hug! This friday we will meet our new president. i also said my final goodbyes to Elder Jones. So sad. i can't believe how time flies. i still remember him greeting me at my first transfer!! love you buddy!!! see you soon! all of you!! you'll all be home for christmas i hope. cuz i will!! one last quick story. yesterday we were in our apartment and heard a loud bang. but we didn't think much b/c its a ghetto area but then we heard screaming outside like a mob and ran to the window. a cop car had collided with another, spinning it 180 degrees and and then went onto the sidewalk hitting 3 pedestrians and stopping in the street where it knocked a fleeing mothers stroller over. with the baby inside. the baby was fine but all the drivers and peds were taken in ambulances. we got some crazy pics and when we left a new york times reporter took our report and my companion was quoted in the Times. it was crazy!!! anywho. love you all! don't get trunky. live happy. live well. live STRONG!
LOVE ELDER MILLER

Anziano Scott Ball

Hey fellow missionaries,
Everything is still going well here in Milano. We had a little bar-bi-que (sp?) in the parking lot of our church. It was pretty fun because we're in the middle of the city and there's a fence around the church. People were watching us from their balconies. This month, we will finally have a baptisms in this ward after a year and a half of none. We have 4 baptisms planned between us and the sisters. We're excited, but we still have to get the ward excited about them. Well, these are the last few weeks of my mission and it doesn't even feel like it. I get homesick when I read emails, but I know that when I leave Italy, I'll miss it. Sprinting to the finish.
Anziano Ball

Elder Blake Smith

Hey everyone, I hope everyones mission is going well. I am having the best time here in Argentina. I am still with my same companion Elder Alfonso from Paraguay. We have an awesome area and are working a ton. So in the past couple of weeks i really learned that obedience is important. In our mission we have something called OPEN THE MOUTHS, we have to talk with 140 people in the street everyweek. Before i never really saw the importance but at zone conference the president of the mission said tht if you are obedient to this one rule you will have more people to teach. So the past three weeks we have talked to 140 people everyweek. We found people to teach and a guy talked to us while we were waiting in the atm line and he is progressing really well. So i really learned that when we are obedient to every little thing. We will be blessed. I only have 14 more months in the mission. I want to work hard til the end. A lot of you are finishing. Keep working hard. I love all of you and you are all a great example to me. Keep working hard as missionaries. The blessings will come. Elder Smith

Elder Jeff Stoker

Its been a great month. Im looking forward to another one. It is hard to believe that some will be heading home within the month. FINISH STRONG. It is proving to be quite difficult. For the last three transfers i have been put with missionaries who go home at the end of the transfer. So for the last 4 months i've heard alot about "home" and the "real world". haha. Dont worry though, because i will finish strong. I am officially 21 years old. whenever my companion gets mad at me, i just tell him to step off, because im 21 and i do what i want! It acutally goes over really well. I also just found out about 5 mins ago, that i will be going on my last visa trip. They are sending me to Kiev, Ukraine. I will be the Experiement to see if it actually works. I am looking forward to it. Dont think its all fun and games for me! hah. My mission president has put us on a new schedule. It is called the Stripling Warrior Schedule. We must leave our apartment by 3pm and not go back until 9:30 pm. Thats right.....6 hours and 30 mins of contacting. I feel like a contacting machine. haha. I am so tired every single day. It is alright though, because we had an amazing meeting with President Ucthdorf and Elder Andersen on May 31. When i shook their hands, it felt like a surge of energy went though my arm. It was an amazing experience to talk with 2 of the 15 living prophets on the earth. I wont soon forget it. I am on my last transfer and i really want to step it up even more. I thank you all for your stories, experiences, and inspiration in my life. I love you all. Look forward to the Reunion. :]. Have a great month. Sprint to the Finish lineThey are sending me to Kiev, Ukraine. I will be the Experiement to see if it actually works. I am looking forward to it. Dont think its all fun and games for me! hah. My mission president has put us on a new schedule. It is called the Stripling Warrior Schedule. We must leave our apartment by 3pm and not go back until 9:30 pm. Till next month. Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody. Greetings once again from the great state of CT! Wow, Mikey will have been home for a while when everybody gets their newsletters won't he? Its amazing how fast time flys when you're having fun and serving others isn't it? Last Friday we had our Zone Conference which focused almost entirely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and our testimonies of it. Since then, I've been trying to study the Atonement to get a better understanding of it and I've really seen my teaching of that principle improve. Sunday morning after I had been studying it for pretty much the entire Personal Study I ended with a prayer, as usual, and asked for a stronger testimony of the Atonement. Not even two hours later at church we watched "To this End was I Born" about the Atonement during Priesthood meeting and the spirit hit me so strongly. It was a really powerful experience for me to, number one gain a stronger testimony of the most important thing I could ever teach, and, number two gain a stronger testimony that God answers prayers. It was amazing to me how quickly and powerfully he had answered me since I really wasn't expecting it to come like that. On Monday we were able to teach an investigator about those exact two principles, the Atonement and recieving specific answers to specific prayers and it was an amazing lesson which really helped her get over some doubts. The church is so true. Well, I want you all to know that I'm doing my very best to not get trunky and to endure to the end since I get to teach people about it almost every day. I'll probably be getting all your entries handed to me by Sister Wells so until then, keep on keepin on. I love you guys. Garrett

Elder Logan Wells

WEll it is time again, pretty insane,but great. WEll yeah life here in Puerto Rico is going really well, I am now comps with Jake Free from Mesa for those that know him, its a great experience to say the least, its way cool, he will be killing me. Yeah, its great though we are just enjoying the work and trying to work in a way that is most effective, which is always good, but there is not much going on, I am heading home in a few weeks and so that is the news, its cool a little strange and a little weird, it feels as if I was home yesterday well I kind of was but its all good, nonetheless. I am just trying right now to make up for the lost time or the time that I am going to miss when I am gone, its weird it never seems like you will be done, and I imagine reality will not hit until I am on the plane ride home, which will be a weird and depressing day for our mission, because there is about 28 of us that will be leaving and only 12 coming in, pretty crazy but we shall see or not see but its gonna be hard. My only advice just keep working and enjoy the road as you go, don't have regrets and just live it up while it lasts, because in the end it will end and it is crazy! Well I love and can't wait to see everyone, Max, Garrett and Mike it will be good, and Daniel I can't wait to see you, have a great month! Lots of love, Logan

Elder Max Crandall

Elders!!! Happy Father’s Day!!! Just thought I’d get that out of the way. So, up until a week ago I was serving in a threesome. I was moved to Marysville and put in a threesome until my new missionary was released from the swine flu prison that is the MTC. The threesome was great because it was me, Elder Ivory who has been my friend for about a year, and Elder Jones, my baby boy who I trained. We kind of hoped that my new missionary would actually get the swine flu so we could just keep serving together. Bwahahaha. We were at dinner one Sunday at a member’s home and Elder Jones had convinced the family to make “hash,” a Georgia food staple from “back home.” Elder Jones is a good ‘ole boy and I was surprised but the hash was dang good. Anyway, the family asked if we would like “man bibs.” I had no idea what they were talking about but I immediately said, “Totally yes!” It’s basically a dish towel sewn onto a bib. The family loved that we were totally diggin’ ‘em so she said we could have them if we promised to wear them to every member dinner from then on. Again, an immediate yes. I’m probably going to wear it to zone conference and when I speak in church at home. Pretty stoked. My new companion finally arrived last week. He was born in Venezuela but grew up in the states. He’s really a good teacher for being a new missionary but he kind of lacks certain people skills. He has a girlfriend that he talks about too much and at inappropriate times and he talks about himself and his life way too much but I’m sure he’ll figure it out and be great. I mean, he does have me for a trainer. When he arrived we had to move to a new apartment and a new ward. The work here isn’t great but we’ve gotten a few potentials this week and the Lord is smiling down upon my new missionary (aka greenie luck). So my new elder and I are back on bikes. I was prayin’ and prayin’ that we’d get a car. Ummm…we didn’t. So, I tried to locate my old bike which I lent to a missionary down in Redmond. I guess we could say he stole it because he won’t admit he has it. Annoying. So I spent about three days on the phone with our ward trying to borrow two bikes. We finally got someone to agree to lend us one. He brought over this scary old commuter bike straight from 1963. His big claim to fame? “Yeah Elders, it has all of its original parts.” Ok…this isn’t a car. Upgraded parts is a good thing. The seat was basically metal in the form of a seat with a thin leather cover. We rode promptly to WalMart and bought a memory foam seat cover. Ahhh. Lately, we’ve been hearing about everyone’s plans for the 4th of July. Apparently, Marysville is nicknamed, “BOOM City.” There is an Indian reservation here (complete with casino) that sells thousands of dollars worth of illegal fireworks the week before the 4th. Then on the 4th they have an all-day celebration called Boom City, which we hear makes it impossible to even get to bed that night. I’m pretty stoked. I mean it’s no Hannah Montana Stadium of Fire but a name like BOOM City most likely will not disappoint. So I guess this will be my last newsletter from the mission field. Weird. I’ll keep writing if you will. I love you guys. Again, Happy Father’s Day and buenas noches to y’all. –Elder Crandall

June 2009 NEWS

2009-06-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

Elder Jeff Stoker

Russia, Samara Mission

August 2007 ~ 2009

So I found out.....absolutely nothing about my transfer. I will still be in Saratov, but I haven't found out who I will be with yet. I will be drifting around Saratov all this week. President Utchdorf and Elder Andersen will be coming to Samara on May 30, so on the 29th I will be taking a train to Samara and will get the chance to be at that meeting. Our entire mission is way excited. I am very happy because I am still in Saratov though this cycle. I guess Saratov just cant get rid of me. By the end of next week I should know who my companion is, and where I will be for sure. We also recieved news that 5 fresh American greenies will be arriving here this week. This is the first time I will see a greenie in aabout a year and a half. HURRAY! Ok, so i got a good story. As you all know, I have been working out every morning. You know...running, pull ups, push ups, etc. I guess it is finally paying off. Here is the evidence. Elder Beck and I were walking down the street and we saw a woman coming towards us. She was just staring at us the entire time. Unfortunately, as she was focusing on my muscles in action, she ran directly into a pole. It was really funny. We did our best to not laugh at that moment. We decided that it would be best if we eased up on our workouts...for the good of those around us. So that is my evidence. My comp and I are just walking distractions, because we are so ripped and muscular. It is either that, or we are really goofy looking...so I choose ripped and muscular. Ok, here is another story for you all. My comp and I found a purple cell phone on the ground. I love purple, so i snagged it. I decided to try and call the most recently called person, which happened to be a girl named "Super Mega Chick". We explained the situation to Super Mega Chick, and we agreed to meet somewhere and do the hand off. We waited for like 15 mins. Then this little 13 year old girl comes running up, asks for the phone, and runs off. I was shocked. It took me until Senior year to get a cell phone. Kids these days are spoiled! haha. It wasnt as magnificient as Max's cell phone story, but it will have to suffice. At church this last Sunday, the branch president asked me to get up and speak. Normally I would stress out and be upset, but suprisingly i accepted and was happy to speak. I am at an interesting stage in my mission. I feel like I am on top of my game, and not very much catches me off guard anymore. Hey, and it only took a couple of years! Well, that is all the time that I have for now. I love you all. Have a great month. Make sure you are all sprinting to the end!

Elder Stoker

Anziano Scott Ball

Hey missionaries, I'm doing good and still in Milano. My companionship was closed and now I have united with the other companionship. It was closed because we don't have enough missionaries to sustain so many companionships. My companion was transfered after only one transfer with me (I promise I'm not a mean companion). The work is doing good. Last week, we were kicked out of a building for ringing on doorbells inside. Well, we went in the building because a guy let us in and we started to ring doorbells inside. Some old ladies got scared and called the building manager. So, the building manager came and started yelling that we couldn't be inside and that we had to stand outside and speak into a speakerphone. Our president always tells us to get inside, so we always try our hardest to get inside and present ourselves in person. The building manager started yelling at us in Italian to "shooo"! (pretty much). I wasn't taking it and wanted to continue, so I said that she doesn't have to treat us like dogs. Then, she got more angry and threatened to call the police. The funny things is that the police do nothing because we are within the law and not breaking into peoples' houses. So, to calm her down, we decieded to leave and start another building. This is one of the many experiences of doing what we call "casa in casa" (house to house). Hope you guys are keeping on. I'm NOT getting trunky even though it is tempting. Big LOVES, Anziano Ball

Elder James (Jimmy) Michael Miller

Hey Brothers!Things are crazy here in the Big Apple. Things finished up pretty well in the Bronx. We had a baptism a couple weeks before i left and a couple more to follow in June. One in particular was really sweet. She went into the church/temple down in manhattan and asked to learn more about the church. turns out she lived in our area in the bronx so the sisters called us and she hasn't missed church since we met her and she studies the scriptures every day. She even had a dream in which an angel showed her some keys and told her to remember them because "they open the doors." Shs wasn't sure what it meant, so we taught her about priesthood keys. That's the first time i've taught an investigator that. She was amazing I was really sad to leave her and the others behind but duty calls. In fact duty called me and asked me to be a zone leader. so i'm now serving as a zone leader in South Manhattan. It's actually my old area only now i cover the family ward instead of the singles. So i already know the area which is nice. We live in a sweet apartment in the lower east side. we're high rollers. now it's back to street contacting non-stop. I'm excited though. I'll let you all know how it goes. time is short. i'll catch you all again soon! Live well. Live Happy. LIve STRONG. Love, Elder Miller

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey chaps.Greetings from the good 'ol Stamford Connecticut. Its still a little strange to me that I'm no longer serving in the great state of NY (I constantly talk to people about serving HERE in NY still) but I guess Connecticut is good as well. Actually to be honest I've really been enjoying my time here. After a long time of serving in city spanish wards that sadly don't have the strongest auxiliary programs its amazing to be here and to see the strength that this ward has. I'm sure ZL Elder Miller can relate since he served up here as well. Hiddy-Ho buddy! The first night I was here we had our correlation meeting and it was unbelievable how many members were there besides the Ward Mission Leader. Anyways things are good and I'm happy and healthy. I feel just like Abraham of old (and I guess Sarah as well despite my manly physique and all) as I've been blessed in my old age and have concieved! Thats right, I finally have been blessed with a son. We've been having a jolly good time together and have been teaching some cool people. The coolest people that we're teaching right now are a family of three women: Silvia (grandma), Adriana (mom), and Andrea (daughter) that were referred to us through a member friend of Silvia. They all came to church this past week and loved it so much that they came back for a young couple's meeting at around 5 o'clock the same day unbeknowest to us. At church there were a couple of confirmations and Silvia told her friend that as the bishop and Elders put their hands on the people's heads and began to pronounce the confirmation and blessing she felt an incredible feeling of peace and joy and she said that she knew that it was the power of god that filled the room. She said that she knew, because of how she had felt that the church is true. The coolest part of the whole thing is that Silvia, who is buddhist (incredible as she is the first hispanic to be so that I've ever taught), began to investigate the church because she wants her daughter and granddaughter to get some religion in their lives. Its amazing how true this church is and how the power of the God is manifest in the ordinances of the gospel. I love being a missionary. Its amazing how fast time has gone and I hope all of you will sprint to the finish and "leave it all on the field" as Elder Holland has taught. Besos, Garrett

Elder Logan Wells

Well my brethern things are becoming a reality way to soon, wellI am just here in Santurce which is a great area I am so glad that I am dying in this area. Well is great to think of all of the experiences and opportunities that have come to me thrugh being a missionary, well as I have been pondering exactly what I have learned and how I have grown and truly it boggles my mind. I really can't believe at how muchI have experienced, I would not change it for the world, that is for sure. So I heard that Maxi and I are going to be speaking the same Sunday, don't do too good, Max I do not want to look like a fool, haha! Well yeah its crazy, life in general is just moving too fast and I can't really believe it, not trying to get the whole cliche missionary thng going on, but time sure has flown,I am loving every minute of it at this point trying,trying not to get to trunky, as that is a common question around these parts as it is more than likely around everone else also. Well yeah its great to say nontheless, just enjoying life and ready to make somethings happen, for sure. I love and miss you all a ton, Congrats to our little Kleinman who will be home sooner than we know it, wow its great, haha ! Here is a funny story on our part over here, well me and my comp are just waiting for our investigator to come to the church we are just chilling and all just enjoying our selves when this lady starts yelling and is screaming policia policia and we are like oh great what is going on now, well me and my comp are sitting there and all of a sudden there is this guy running a bum with lots of stuff in his hands and then we are like oh great what do we do, so then we are like fine allright then, so we start to run after this guy me running and staying with my comp which was a surprise in itself because I had not the slightest idea that I could run like that hahha well we are gaining on him and we are literally right there when he runs into the street and another guy just clocks him right upside the head and drops him like a ton of bricks right there in the middle of the road it was great, we just kept on walking becasue we are not down with the spotlight things well it was great then another guy comes and well it ws hillarious, not that fighting is the answer but it was something that plays in my mind over and over again and never seizes to get a good laugh, well that was the story of my month. I love and miss you all! See you soon! Later, Logan

Elder Gary Chambers

Hi people! Wait... it's June! MIKE'S HOME! lucky dog. anyways, I thought about buying some cheese today, but I didn't. I'm good, and time is moving as fast as a really really fast moving object! It's craziness I tell you... kind of like the missionary who broke my pellet gun... GRR! just 2 weeks from transfers... and now I have to spend it watching cats moving with leisure past my window.... LIFE IS UNJUST! Sometimes I'll fake cock the gun to see if I can scare them with the sound (they know that sound), but they mostly just stare at me, boldly calling my bluff... it makes me feel horrible inside... *sigh* oh well. In other news, the comp exchange went well :) We found some hatian guy the other day who speaks some pretty good english and he wanted us to teach him. He doesn't know very much spanish, so I told him we could do it in english. Well I lied to him, because I couldn't teach in english to save my life... the whole lesson I was stumbling trying to find the right words, it was super choppy, and made me feel like I was learning english for the first time. Luckily he understood and accepted the commitment to read the pamphlet of "the Restoration" and pray to know if it's true. We'll see him again in a couple of days... Well that's all guys, take care... hope all is well. Love, Elder Chambers P.S. I love you...

Elder Grant Huish

I just wrote you an awesome story about this lady and her mom in an epic brawl, but then myldsmail had an error and it erased it so I will not take the time to re-type it. sorry, but you can imagine is was pretty sweet. so yeah thats about all I have for now. Oh,I do start the d&c countdown on Saturday and half of you have even less time then me. Time is short, work hard and be happy because you all know the other option. Loves, Grant

Elder Dallas Rowley

Hello Everybody! It's been a while since I've put in my two cents, and alot has happened since then. I am really enjoying my mission here in Beavercreek, Ohio. My companion's name is Elder Maylett. I've had some pretty good companions on my mission so far. my last 4 companions have been greenies. I've been on a bike for a while, until about the beginning ofthis transfer, when we took over our neighboring area (Xenia) and got a car. So we're covering two wards right now. I'm enjoying it, and have never been so busy on my mission!
We just had 2 baptisms last week, and the previous weeks. one was a part member family, and the other one is Chinese, and is now back in China! we're teaching another part member family right now that just quit smoking/drinking/chewing and is going to be baptized at the end of this month. Transfers is next thursday, and I really hope I dont get transfered. I've been here for 4 1/2 months, and it's my favorite area! I'm having an absoulutely fantastic time here, and I hope to hear the same from you all!

Elder Dallas Rowley

Elder Max Crandall

To: The Elders of Israel

From: Elder Crandall*s Mom

Brethren: I am writing on behalf of Elder Crandall. He has had a busy month and hasn*t been able to write home but the tender mercies of the Lord have once again answered a mother*s prayer through someone*s willingness to listen to the spirit. All the information in this newsletter submission came to me through two wonderful ladies. One of them lives in the town of Sultan, Washington. The other is the mother of another Elder that serves with Elder Crandall. Elder Crandall has spent the last six weeks serving in a very tiny town called Sultan, Washington. He has been the zone leader over a series of very tiny towns spread along a rural interstate. Most of the towns have a population of no more than 3500 people (that*s about the size of MVHS) but there are many of these towns so it makes for a large zone and many miles on the zone leader*s car. The mission president decided that for Elder Crandall*s last transfer he would take him out of leadership responsibility and have him train a new missionary. So Elder Crandall has just been transferred to Marysville to a bike area. He is currently in a 3 pack because SLC did not send any new missionaries anywhere last week because of the flu in the MTC. Hopefully, his *greenie* will arrive this week and they can get started. There is a young missionary serving in Elder Crandall*s mission named Elder Merrill. He has been out for about six months and Elder Crandall has been his zone leader. Elder Merrill sent his mother a letter and shared this story with her. She shared it with me. I*d like to share it with you. "Mom, I have exciting news that I haven't told you anything about. We've been teaching a lady named Francisca Farias. She was found through tracting by Elders Crandall and Prudent who got her to church several times, but then she had to go to Mexico for a month. She got back just after we got transferred here. The problem was that the Francisca that came back was not the golden Francisca on the Teaching Record. She had gone through a whole month of anti-LDS opposition down in Mexico and she even brought her stubborn Catholic mom back with her. Ever since we met her, she was still going through all that opposition. It took us a long time to get her back to church. Last week, we were teaching her and we asked her what she truly sought in her life. We weren't intending to discuss baptism with her because we already had earlier and she had been uncomfortable, but when she answered that she wanted the presence of God to accompany her in all her life, we recognized the gift of the Holy Ghost and knew the covenant requiredto obtain it. She still had the opposition and was too timid to commit to baptism, and she also thought that she wasn't ready which wasn't true! So we took an unconventional route- we had her interviewed without a date set. Elder Crandall did a wonderful job with the interview...she came out crying...the good kind, and as we were leaving, I started talking to her and she suddenly said, (this part was in Spanish but it said, "Can I set a date soon?" or something to that effect). It was music to my ears!! I asked her if this coming Sunday would be alright. She said Esta Bien!!! So yesterday, Francisca was baptized by Maxwell Crandall. It was so exciting. It was especially fun because everything went like clockwork....very unusual for this ward! It was so Awesome!!!" Thank you all for being such wonderful young men and valiant servants of the Lord. Thank you for listening to the spirit and following those promptings. It is a privilege and an honor for me to know and associate with you all.

Take Care, Sister Crandall

Elder Jordan DeGroff

Hola Everyone!So i am now in Mexico! Its called Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. The city or area im in is called Allende on 5 de mayo st which is a car wash with little rooms on the sides of it. Im living in a small 2 room house that can barely fit the 3 of us... its enough to live in as they say. Yes i said 3 as i have 2 companions! Elders Stojic y Gil! Stojic is from Phx(Deer Valley), AZ and Gil is from Cuoutla Morelos, Mexico. They are both awesome! They are teaching me alot but the Spanish still isnt coming... its really tough right now as we are teaching a few families and I dont understand a word they are saying... The people we are teaching are Oscar y Lidiya(couple), David y Lorena(couple) and Erika. Erika has had the discussions for awhile now and is getting baptized this Saturday!! The thing is they told me I will be performing the baptism!! Its crazy! In the MTC we had to memorize the Baptismal Prayer so im good that way! So I do know it so it should be pretty easy to do! So the Food is amazing!! Its been all with chicken, some sauce(salsa), rice, and tortillas!! Its bomb! And then to drink its always been a fruit water. They take the juice of a fruit and add water to it to make a drink. Its not a fruit juice. Its better! Taco Bell is horrilbe compared to this! But today I honestly had a craving for Little Caesers $5 pizza! What else.... Its amazing here! it rained today pretty hard. Oh ya.. I have pants that are dry clean only, they dont have dryers here as you hang them up after you wash them in this machine. I dont know what the machine is called but it has a washer on one side and a spinner to spin the water off it. If you look on google you will find it. Its made by Downy or thats the one a member uses that let us use it. It only uses cold water as well. No hot water so I was wondering, do I still need to dry clean it or can I just use cold water and detergent? The place where we shower is also the bathroom. Bascially the floor gets totally soaked and there is a drain on the ground. Its really crazy! Also there is no hot water. Just cold water so that part is tough! There is a bunch of mosqitoes and have gotten bit over 30 times since ive gotten here... Its horrible but its just cuz I have sweet American blood which they like. But when I become Mexican after like 6 months of living here it will calm down and not be so bad! Well that good enough for now! What we do is print out emails around 11am and then write back around the time im sending this. Like 430 which is 230 az time. Its also VERY humid here. Especially since its rained today and yesterday. When it rains it poors!!Hope to hear from ya soon! Love,Elder DeGroff

MAY 2009 NEWS

2009-05-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

Anziano Scott Ball

Italy Milan Mission

August 2007 - 2009

Ciao from Milan, Well, I just was transfered to the main city in my mission for my last city. I'm pretty sure it will be my last city. My companion is from Bountilful, Utah and his twin brother is serving in the Rome mission. Everything is going pretty well here. We just opened a companionship here in Milan, so the work is still slow with finding investigators. I can't believe I'm already this far in the mission. It felt like yesterday that I was at the MTC. I don't feel like my Italian has improved a ton, but my companion says he can understand me. We had a cool story this last week. We stopped by a investigator's house last week and we rang the doorbell at the bottom of the building. My companion spotted a bracelet on the ground by the door. We picked it up to realize that it was a diamond bracelet (real). We start talking about what we should do. We devise a method of getting it returned to the owner even though my companion wanted to sell it for some money to buy some ties... haha. We post a note in the palazzo saying that we found it and whoever lost it can describe it by phone to us and they will get it back. Then, the next morning, we received a call and this woman described it perfectly. We went back to the palazzo (building) and gave it to her. She offered us 50 euro, but we didn't accept it. Then, we kept talking to her and understanding where she is from and how she lost it. She is Russian (pure) and is a dermatologist. I quickly asked if she could rather remove my warts on my hands and she said yes. My companion say that I should have took the 50 euro instead of getting my warts removed, but I'm hoping to get a appiontment out of it. Anyways, enough with that. We have to go shopping for food. Ciao, Anziano Ball

Elder Mike Kleinman

Well I am busy with my new trainee. We had a baptism last week and are planning on a couple more before I get home. I can't believe my stay here is almost over. I will miss Argentina but I am ready to get going on the next phase of life, School and work.
I arrive home June 10th at 9:20 am. I told the family we must have lunch at Costa Vida for a sweet pork burrito ,Yum. I guess I will start online summer school and be looking for a job (Like the rest of Americans). I have loved serving the Lord and the people in Cordoba. I look forward to returning when the Temple is built. I heard about Chase's allergic reaction and it it is a must that the photo's be published in the newsletter! ha ha !
Take care my fellow missionaries, see you all soon !
Chau Chau
Elder Kleinman

Elder Logan Wells

Hey there brethern! Well I have been transferred again so that means that I am beginning my 8th area its a bit weird but we do what we can? It is cool though, so things are going really well I have been relieved of all callings no more office elder or district leader just going to die in peace and really not worry about that stuff. It is great to say the least, time is flying by so fast and I really can't belive it but its cool. It is awesome to hear how well everyone is doing, I love hearing from you guys, Mike try not to get to trunky! I love my area is all city and has old San Juan in it so we see lots of tourist that tend to stop us, which is cool, I don't mind seeing my fellow american every once in awhile. I love you guys have a great one! Logan

Elder Garrett Jones

Greetings from Connecticut! Things here are going well and I think I'm beginning to get accustomed to the area and am learning my way around town. We aren't teaching as many investigators as we were in my last area, but we are working with some way cool people. The members here are all awesome and seem to be very missionary-minded which means miracles for the work. Missionary life continues to treat me well. We're now in our nice new apartment (the sisters' old one), and I've decided that the sisters get much nicer places than elders do. I just got some good news. Carmen G. our investigator from the Bronx is getting baptised this Sunday and she called President Darger (the second councilor in the mission presidency who speaks spanish) and asked him to let me go back to Kingsbridge to baptise her. President Searle has been putting an end to that recently but I guess because Carmen called, they're going to let me! I'm so excited to go back and see everybody there again. It'll be awesome.That family has made the entire year and a half worth the trip just to be able to experience that one thing, let alone all the other good times and lessons learned in other places while doing other things. I hope you all keep on doing what you do and know that. I love and miss you. Garrett

Elder Grant Huish

hey clowns,
everything is good here in oregon. it is hard to believe that almost all of us are down to less than 6 months. i hope none of you are getting trunky though, that would just be sad. mission life is great. loads and loads of fun. i am glad to hear that most of you seem to be the same dorks that you were when we left. i am trying to think of a good story to tell, but all of the funny ones involve bad language so i wont tell them. so i guess i will just end it there and hand my computer over to another missionary. love you all elder huish

Elder Gary Chambers

Hey men, this is Elder Chambers reporting in... I am still in Buenos Aires going for a personal record of 5 transfers in one area and tying another personal record with having a comp for 3 transfers in a row! goodness... I guess we're just meant to be... Buenos Aires and me. Other then that, we had a baptism last saturday which was a positive (+) moment in my life... our great investigator Lucky got baptized! He's such a cool guy... despite his rare qualities, I love the dude. Well I just ran out of things to say... Oh yes! I wanna shout out a thanks to Elder Logan Wells for awesome gift of ties he sent me. Thanks man, you're the bomb! Now I'm out of things to say... I guess I'll tell you guys about the time when I thought I was going to die.......... hang on... let me find it so I can copy it in here... Ok here it is: We were driving along in a rickety old route car (ruta car) on our way to visit my comps old area... when suddenly the car hit a small bump in the road and the hood at the same time decided to say hi to all of us crowded inside, so it flew up and slammed into the cracked windshield, severely cracking it even more. I WAS TERRIFIED!!! I think my comp almost peed himself because he was sitting in the front seat while I was jammed in the back. Lucky for us the driver could no longer see, making driving much harder, especially at the high rate of speed we were already traveling. Fortunately, however, the driver decided to stop trying to drive under such conditions and slowly came to a stop at the side of the road. The most difficult thing for me from this whole experience was getting back into that piece of metal after the driver forced the hood shut. We were, however, close to our destination and no other rutas were in sight... so I crawled back into my fear stained seat while the more intelligent driver took it easy all the way to our stop. My happiest moment was getting out of that car.... I love life... and I love you too. Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Jimmy Miller

Hey BOYZ!!!
I can't believe i'm writing for this again! Time is flying. Reading that last newsletter blew my mind. i can't believe how soon some of you go home. It's finally getting warmer here in the ghetto. which is nice. all the fire hydrants are always getting opened up and pouring into the streets and people are always outside b-b-q-ing now. it's pretty interesting here. We gave spring a skip and jumped right into summer! A little too hot too fast but i'll take it over the cold. (props to Jeff for surviving Russian winters!) This week we'll be baptizing a lady who's been investigating for almost a year. She finally quite smaking and she's good to go now. We're also preparing another sweet lady from the Dominican Republic. She's way excited for baptism in May. Last week we got to go to a Yankee's game at the new stadium. Which was sweet. We (the yankees) finally pulled out a win in the 14th inning. Elder Jones was sadly tansferred away last cycle so i probably won't see him much if at all until we're home. sad. (Jones, if you're reading this i miss you!) gonna run. love you all! Live well. Live Happy. Live STRONG!
LOVE ELDER MILLER

Elder Jeff Stoker

The month of April was great for me. I was able to go to beautiful Kazakhstan again (that was in a sarcastic voice btw). I love kazakhstan, but the church just rents an apartment, and we end up sleeping there for about 5 hours before we have to get up and jump back on the train back to Russia. Now the visa renewal trip is 24 hours with 20 hours of it being traveling. ARGH! haha. Its all good though. The great news is i have a new visa. Speaking of great news...Yesterday we found out that President Ucthdorf and Elder Andersen will be coming to Samara on May 30. Needless to say, but i will...I am way excited. All the missionaries are geeking out. haha. Let's see what else happened this month. Oh, i will tell a story that happened on my visa trip....here is the entry "We took a train from Saratov, russia to uralsk, kazakhstan. On that train we got stopped at the kazakhstanian border. They started to go through our stuff, and look under our beds (this is a normal routine.) Then they decided to unscrew the wall in our little room. When they took off the first screw off, one of the guards pulled the wall back and shined his flashlight into the hole. He then screamed at us and told us to get out of the room immediately. We obeyed, because they had AK-47s.... one of the guards slid the door 3/4s of the way closed, and i was able to see over the guards head thanks to my 6'4" height advantage. I saw them finish unscrewing the wall, and they started pulling out jars of red glowy ball thingys. It turns out that the red glowy ball thingys were caviar (spelling?). I guess there is a conspiracy going around. I thought something smelled a little fishy when we went into our room. Luckly, they just took all of the fish good, and let us continue on our way. We were able to get our new visa and make it back to Saratov the next day. I am still way tired from going through all of the border checks in the middle of the night." Some pretty interesting things happened during contacting this week though. I will only mention two things. We ended up contacting in a park the other day, and as we were walking, we came across a middle aged woman sitting on a bench. She insisted that we sit down on the bench with her, and tell her about the church. She seemed normal enough that we accepted the invitation. It soon became apparent that she was way drunk. We talked with her for about 5 mins, and we told her that we were leaving. She asked me what my name was, and reached out her hand. In Russia, you must shake a woman's hand if she puts it out. Its the proper soviet union way of life. So i told her my name, and shook her hand. She must have decided to hold hands, because i couldnt pull away. I kept trying to pull away, but to no avail. Luckily i was able to finally jerk my hand away after a couple of mins, and we said good bye. My companion was laughing so hard, and he still laughs about me holding hands with a drunk woman. My second story is the longest conversation that i have ever had at a door step. Last night we ended up talking to an armenian gypsy for 2 hours and 15 mins. It was very interesting. I wont go into details, but i will tell you that we talked for maybe 5 mins as he lectured us for 2 hours and 10 mins. Well, i think that is all the stories that i have time to write....errr...type. Love you all. Thanks for your examples.
As always...have a great month.
Elder Stoker.

Elder Max Crandall

Brethren * How*s it goin*? Things are great here in Warshington. I am loving life and loving serving the Lord. I*ve been transferred again and now I*m in Sultan. For some reason I just cannot seem to get away from the Snohomish zone. I*ve served around or near this ward three different times. It*s all good though because this is where the work is really happenin*! Sultan is completely po-dunk. The population is only about 3500 people. In fact, the Sultan ward is actually comprised of the population of four or five towns; Sultan, Startup, Gold Bar, Index, Skykomish, etc. It basically means we run out of miles quick. Also, being the zone leaders is rough because we*re on the far end of the zone, and the zone is huge. One advantage is I*m in a 4-pack. My new companion*s name is Elder Qualls. We are with two other companions, Elder Campbell and Elder Bley. Elder Campbell has been out for about eight months and Elder Bley has only been out one transfer. I guess I should start with a little Sultan ward history. What makes this ward famous is a ridiculously missionary minded member named Brother Styles. His basic philosophy is baptize, baptize, baptize. His wife asked him the other day, after 27 years of marriage, *Why are you so focused on missionary work?* At least he admitted it. He sighed and said, *I*m just obsessed.* He*s great. One of the most intense people I*ve ever met, but he*s amazingly smart too. So the Sultan ward is somewhat divided. Half of the ward sides with Styles and wants to help everyone receive the blessings of baptism and confirmation. The other half suffers from doubt and disbelief as to whether the new members can stay active. It*s been cool though, because what most of them don*t realize is Styles works just as hard at retention as he does at baptizing. He*s only one man though. If everyone realized what we*re doing and helped, we*d probably retain 100%. Every Sunday after church, we have a fellowshipping lunch. Every Saturday night, Styles buys a ton of ingredients for lasagna. He pays for it all out of his own pocket, brings it all to our house, and we make four pans of lasagna. The missionaries do all the work, throw it together, organize the lunch, cook the food, and all the members have to do is bring the less active members and the recent converts. It*s amazing. Yesterday we had 60 people at the *lasagna dinner.* I*ve become the master lasagna maker. There*s a lot of work to be done here and sometimes things get really crazy. I actually haven*t been this stressed in my entire mission but it*s cool though because I can see how the Lord is actively keeping me from completely losing my mind, curling up in the fetal position and weeping bitterly. I owe Him a lot and I can never fully repay all that I owe. The Lords' will will absolutely be accomplished.The only variable is our own personal salvation and joy with those souls after this life.I couldn't imagine standing before God next to the person with whom I failed to share my testimony.Having to apologize for all the blessings that individual missed out on because I failed to open my mouth is a hell worse than I can imagine. God*s speed, Gentlemen --Elder Crandall

April 2009 News

2009-04-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Elder Max Crandall

Washington Everett Mission

August 2007 - 2009

Looka me. I made the front page! Woot! So things are great here in Redland (Kirkland/Redmond). I*m senior zone leader, I have a new companion and we*re also training a greenie. We*re working hard and we*re seriously busy. We now have four people on date. Watching as our investigators learn and grow and experience the spirit is so great. I have had a testimony for a long time about how God has a hand in everything that happens. I also have had a testimony that the Lord will use others to convey the message He wants to share with us but for some reason, I*m always a little surprised when amazing things happen. A really cool thing happened this last week. We were in the bank parking lot waiting for our greenie to finish up some bank business. As we were looking around in the parking lot, I looked across the street and saw some apartments. I knew that a former investigator lived in them. My old companion and I had tried to get a hold of her about 40 times. Well, what*s the harm in checking again, right? We went over and knocked on the door and we pushed our greenie up front. He was freaking out but she opened the door and before we could really say anything to her she said it was weird that we had just knocked on her door because she was just reading her scriptures in D&C and *(I*m thinking, I*m sorry? What did you say? Did I hear you right?) Then she told us about how she had already picked out her baptism date. As you can imagine, I was a little flustered. I asked her if she had been working with missionaries in another ward. She said she hadn*t told anyone except for some guy she knows at BYU who she said was going to fly down and baptize her. So*no missionaries, no bishops, no ward mission leaders. She just decided to get baptized and picked out her own date all by herself. We told her that she needed to be taught by missionaries before she is baptized and she also needs to be interviewed. She said that*d be great and then asked if we needed dinner. It was the best Sunday ever. She*s on date for April 25th. I*ve recently been reading Jesus the Christ and studying about His examples of faith, desire and diligence. I*ve learned some really cool things. I love the Lord, Jesus Christ with all my soul. I know that He suffered for us so we can live with Him again. I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve Him and help bring about His work. I am humbled at what He has done for each of us and I glory in His grace, truth and mercy. I know that He leads this church today through a prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I can*t wait to hear from him this weekend. General Conference is probably one of my favorite times of the year. I*ll keep prayin* for you guys. *Elder Crandall

Elder Mike Kleinman

Well everything is going good here in Libertador! Yes conference was amazing as usual, and Im glad a few of our investigators were able to attend. We have high hopes for them to be baptized in the coming weeksWell, we just got done with a zone conference and it was great. The President talked about how important personal management of all things entrusted to you (such as your family, finances, church callings, work) is in having a sucessful life. In these harder economic times, its especially important to manage what you have.
Everything is going great with my trainee Elder Hidalgo; we are now on our way to teach a really cool new family that said they wanted to get baptized. The father apparently is a construction worker that builds all our chapels here in Argentina, so he has been to many meetings and realy likes it! yeah! Well, I'll let you all know how that goes.
I was really excited to hear that I was drawn for Bull Elk!!! this year. I know what I'll be doing for Thanksgiving . Can't believe how fast June 10th is approaching.
Well until next time my friends.
Ciao, Elder Mike Kleinman

Elder Blake Smith

Well I received my first transfer this month. I left Bermejo and I am in San Juanino, in the Province of San Juan. I will have my second Latin companion. His name is Elder Cubilla (Cu-bee-sha) He is from Bueno Aires and is 24 years old. This is the biggest mission in the area but has the fewest baptisms. We are really working hard on changing that. This last Sunday we had our 5th baptism. It was great. We are teaching a sister that is in a wheelchair and have been trying to figure out how we will get her in the water for baptism. The work is great. I can't believe I have been out for 7 months already. I really enjoyed General Conference. My favorite talk was by Elder Holland. I loved his testimony of Christ. We spent two days in the stake center. It was great, and I loved the whole thing. Well all is well and I hope you are all doing great too. I look forward to the news letter and hearing from all of you. Elder Blake Smith

Elder Grant Huish

well my dear friends. the church remains true, just in case you were wondering. even in oregon, the most godless state in the nation. it seems from the newsletter that all are doing well wherever they may be. i'm very glad to hear that. i find it joyous that just the few of us mesa boys have been able to see the gospel bless so many lives throughout the entire world. if by now you are thinking this doesnt sound like grant, well you are right, i am very tired today and not myself. probably a good thing. well i think i am going to finish there so that i can email my mission president and then hopefully go take a nap or something soon. love you all grant

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody,I'm sitting here writing from the middle of the Bronx. Every once in a while it hits me that I actually live in the Bronx and walk around it every single day.Its a very interesting place and not really one that I would love to live in for the rest of my days and raise my family in. So things have been good lately. I honestly feel like I've never had more people to teach or more investigators that I love and would do anything for. I don't know if its Steele and I working together, if its the area, if their is something in the water, or if the Lord is just straight blessing us right now more than in other times for some strange reason but we are teaching like crazy. Yesterday was such an unbelievable day that its hard to believe it since we sat down and taught six lessons (which is a new record for me), found three awesome new investigators, and were able to hear Grimilda explain how much she loves the church and how much she's been sharing it with everybody. Things are going awesome. I'm out of time once again, I love and miss all of you over there in the west. Enjoy the weather and get that pool warmed up for me! Love,Garrett

Elder Jeff Stoker

The weather has changed so much the last couple of days. For example, on Thursday we recieved 6 inches of snow, rain, and hail. It was one of the strangest things that i have ever seen. You dont know whether to go outside with a beanie, an umbrella, or a helmet. Things are drying out now though. my companion and I celebrated our first time of the year going outside without a beanie. I felt kinda naked. So, i think that i can finally saw that i have endured, and conquered the terrible Russian Winter! So enough about the weather. My companion and I taught a missionary classes for the 5th sunday. It went really well. We invited Elder Reshednikov (a member of the seventy) get up, and he gave an amazing talk. It just so happens that missionary work is his favorite topic. He gave us all a guilt trip. It was needed though. I can see good things in the future for the church in Russia. It has been a pretty good week. I was able to o on exchanges in my old area, and talk with old investigators. We had a meeting with a guy who is a biologist. I thought he wanted to hear the discussions, but He decided to give us the discussion. He went off talking about biology, and all the stuff that entails. He then tried to explain the fourth dimension. i am not quite sure what in the world he was talking about, but i somthing to do with 3-D and stuff like that. I would fall asleep if someone tried to describe it in english, but this was all in russian. I would catch every other word, and he used scientific terms like we had been studying russian science all of our lives. I just spent the time looking at him nodding my head saying ya...ya.... of course....i understand. I felt like it was day 1 again. I was able to witness another investigator get baptized. There is nothing better than baptism. Everytime you see it, you feel the spirit. This week, i also hit my year mark in saratov. Offically giving me the title Mr Saratov. I also bought 2 shopkas. They are sweet. One is fox fur, and the other is rabbit fur. I think that they just lied and told me that just to make me buy them. They are probably both wild dog fur. I still like them though. Oh yea, Good news! American missionaries should be arriving this month. It will be good to see some greenies for the first time in about a year. I just hope i dont have to train :]. there are about 60 missionaries in my mission now, and 45 will be going home in the next 3 transfers. I am not sure what will happen, but hey it will all work out. I am glad this is God's work, and we GET to participate. I love being a missionary, and i know all of you are tearing it up in your "fields". Love and Hugs! Lets keep it going. Like always, have a great month. Elder Stoker

Elder Chase Judd

Hey Friends,I just would like to say I have officially completed a year! Time goes by so fast when you are enjoying what you do. Well i have had a lot of wonderful experiences in my mission and one is of a family in my first area who we were teaching but we baptized his wife but the husband couldnt be baptized because he did something really bad that we had to send a letter of permission to the first presidency well after 9 months of waiting we got the letter. It said that he could be baptized! So my mission president gave me permission to go tell him then he let me baptize him. I know that the atonement is real that and that anyone can repent of their sins. I love you all and i am grateful everyone you and that all of you are doing well in your missions. Have a great and wonderful time enjoy it we are all decreasing in time now!

Love Elder Judd

Elder Jimmy Miller

Hey boys!Things are sweet here in the Bronx. Quick story. So the other day we were going to walk with an investigator to the church to give them a tour. Well on our way to their house we encountered at least a dozen anti-mormon people passing out flyers near the church. There was one guy in particular, their leader I suppose who was pretty aggressive when we walked by, he was yelling at us. There was no way around them. We knew that if we brought the family to the church we'd have to go through them. And when we got there they were insistant on going there. So we left and i was praying like i never have before. I was praying somehow they would leave us alone or be distracted. We decided to walk on the other side of the street from where the 'leader' had been but guess where he was. Lame! Right in our path. But we were blessed he was occupied talking to someone else. We made it though! SO amazing. But after a sweet tour of the church we knew we would have to go through them again..and so we tried the other side of the street..and again..he was there! But this time we weren't so lucky. He got a pamphlet into the hands of one of the daughters. But that was it. Nothing more and i was able to get it from her and they didn't ever realize what was going on. It was amazing. We've taught the family a few sweet lessons on they're coming to church. The Lord really does have his hand in this work. Also the Bronx is sweet but it has too many cats, i think i'm gonna start my days now by shooting cats too!! love you all!! LOVE ELDER MILLER

Elder Gary Chambers

Well hello fellas... I killed a cat with my pellet gun............................. April Fools! gwahahaha you probably believed me! Hahaha, that is the greatest. Yeah I'm still here in Buenos Aires going for 6 months! WOO HOO! It's cool though... really, it is. I mean, I get to eat as much Genoa Salami as I want kind of.... (p.s. that stuff is delicious). That... AND my comp is the same :) We're still getting along just fine though, so dont you all go grey haired over me now... you hear?! haha jk, you can if you want. Lucky for us, our lessons are starting to pick up (that was a pun, but seeing as only my compwould get it, there is no real need for this parenthesis.......). That was a pun by the way.... One of our new investigators' name is Lucky, and he is great... we're lucky to have hi----ok sorry I'll cut that out. He really is a great guy though,I mean, he even calls us his professors! And he almost ALWAYS picks my comp to say the prayer... I really like him. Another great tidbit of news is that we found yet ANOTHER cool house of investigators that also happens to be a family... we taught them only once, but man they are like a missionaries dream family of investigators! They are really interested and seem to ask all the right questions including... "Can we go to your church?" Can I get a Halslknfwoeuhfs?! I hope you guys are all having a great April month... and don't get trunky... work really duro! Love, Elder Chambers

Anziano Scott Ball

Ciao Ciao,
Everything is doing well here in Modena. I'm still here for a 5th transfer and I think I might be transfered this next transfer. We just had a baptism of a Russian/Ukrainian guy. We had his friend baptize him and it went great. The next day, during the confirmation, This guy brought 2 Ukrainian friends to church. They said that they loved it and are coming next week. We are excited because we were running low on good investigators.
Other news, My companion's bike was stolen 3 days after he bought it. They left mine and took the lock with them. I kind of feel like the times when the Gadiation robbers stole everything and God cursed the land that the people would find things gone if they laid them around. We roll with the good times and the bad times. I know the church is true and God blesses us in mysterious ways. Vi voglio bene, Anziano Ball

Elder Logan Wells

Dearest Brethren,

Well let me see it is April, not much more to be said. Our mission is doing really well. We are breaking records left and right, it is so rad. This past month has been good. Pres. Guldbrandsen showed up in my ward. Pretty weird, but great to see a familiar face. We have touched lots of hearts with the help of the Lord. The work is going well. I seem to be recieving so many blessings everyday. I am still a DL and a moving Elder driving my 15 passenger van, interesting to say the least. I have embraced my inner Puerto Rican, and it is great. TRULY, I am loving it so much. I love the people so much. My Ward rocks, and well so sorry for all of you, but I have the best mission.... what do you got to say about that? I love you all. Peace, Logan

March 2009 News

2009-03-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

Elder Logan Wells
Puerto Rico San Juan East Mission
July 2007 - July 2009

Like everyone else I really can't believe that it is already my turn? Well yeah where to begin Brothers the realitiy of things are becoming way too real and its scares me oh so bad. I am back in Puerto Rico, back to the crazy puerto ricans that are so hard to understand I don't care how long you have been here if they don't slow down just a little bit there is no way to understand everything that they are saying. I love them to death, well time has really been a crazy thing for me, it just doesn't stop. So a good story well there are so many I have had the greatest of times and there are endless stories, I love serving a mission so much its just sad that it has taken me this long to really begin to love it, but I guess the fact that I am helping people recieve eternal salvation is a helper for me, I love it so much! I really just wanted to share with you guys that I love the gospel so much this mission has literally changed me and formed and shaped me into the person that I am today, it is weird to think that so many of us have changed for instance Grant says that he is not lazy anymore, I just don't know how true that could be? It is weird what the Lord can do with us if we are willing to be the instruments in his hands, I have really seen that here truly the moments that I am really willing the Lord just shoves so much at me and is like take this and do what you need to do with it, and its like okay I will and bascially what I am saying is that there is no greater place than the mission field! I have seriously found myself and its great that I know who I am, and what I will become! I love you guys! Oh, Elder Beatty sends his "hello" to Gary, Elder Beatty is my ZL so Iget to talk to him every night. Well brethern the time is running out just keeping going strong and the Lord will bless us, we are so priviliged! I hope that you all have a great month. I love you all!

Adios, Elder Wells

Elder Jimmy Miller

Hey BOYS!!!
I'm still hanging out here in Kingsbridge in the Bronx. Its so amazing. We've been so blessed in the short time I've been here. We've been finding so many people it's been hard to keep them all straight. Most notable we're teaching this awesome family from the Dominican Republic. They all love the Book of Mormon and to have us over. They just eat up everything we share with them. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bronx its very diverse--minus white people. Whenever we see another white person it throws us off. And i think being a tall white boy in a suit throws them off. I love it here- although i hate walking everywhere, i'm still getting used to it and i really strongly dislike the cold. i can't wait for it to warm up. We get to do some pretty sweet things here though. This morning we played football in front of the new Yankee Stadium. It was awesome. This is such a sweet mission to serve in. DONT BE JEALOUS! Hope you're all well. Live well. Live happy. Live Strong!
LOVE ELDER MILLER

Elder Grant Huish
hey everyone
how is it going? life is great here in the original OC(oregon city). Man i have been in this area for like 5 newsletters now. we have 2 baptisms this week and another one next month which is pretty exciting. i hope all is well for everyone. some of you are going home pretty quick that must suck. ha ha. oh josh steiner says hi.
love grant

Anziano Scott Ball
This is Anziano Ball's mother . . . again! As usual I am still having sleepless Tuesday nights because I am up by 3:15 am getting online to chat with Scott. So consequently he wrote an email for this newsletter but he said the computer deleted it and he didn't have the time to write again . . . and I am probably taking some of that time. I can't believe another month has gone by and Scott will be home in six months. He appears to be having some great experiences in Modena. Here are a few excerpts from some of his emails this month.
"We are doing fine in Modena. It has been raining then warm, then raining, then warm. We are hoping that it warms up here quick, I'm getting tired of the cold. I bought 2 pairs of pants for the summer since I don't have any more. There are many sales on at this time of year, 70 % of clothes and other stuff. Almost every store has something on sale.
Giorgio, our Russian, is doing great. He works during the week as a truck driver, so we only see him on the weekend with our new convert. He is being baptized for sure. He just accepted to obey the law of tithing and fast. Antonio is still struggling to understand a few things, so we might move his date back. We found a lot of people last week, so we will see how they turn out this week."
Love ya, Anziano Ball

Elder Chase Judd
Hi friends,
Well I am out of time ah! Hey i had a good experience this week i ate a ton of pineapple on monday and the next day on tuesday i woke up had diaherra and puked 10 times cool huh? Well i love Mexico i love you all also hey i have 11 months woooooooo! Love you all i am still in the offices working like a white man.
LOVE ELDER JUDD

Elder Garrett Jones
Hey everybody, what's going on? The Lord continues to bless Steele and I with people to teach and with inspiration about what to teach. I have had two amazing experiences of this this past week that I want to quickly share with youall: On Saturday I was on a split with a new missionary from Brazil. We wentto look up a potential investigator that we had from Venezuela and when we knocked the door she came out and brought chairs for us to sit outside the door with her since there was no man home. We sat down planning to teach the Restoration since it was the first lesson with her but I noticed how she seemed somewhat sad and tired. We started to teach about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, about her relationship with God and about the love that he has for her, and about how we can recieve strength from these things in our daily lives. As we spoke I started to see her change and to see her start to really open up to us. She told us about how she had come to the US with her three kids and had worked like crazy for the past 10 years to provide for them. She told us about how she had got very sick recently with diabetes and osteoporosis and how lonely and tired she felt now that the kids had moved out. It was an incredibly powerful lesson for me as I came to see how the Lord had put us in the correct place and had inspired us to teach the correct things to a lady that obviously needed the comfort. I left feeling like I had accomplished what the Lord wanted me to accomplish and that was an amazing thing for me. The second story is about Grimilda, who is an investigator we've taught for a bit now. She is super awesome and has seen her life change since she's met with us. She told us about her best friend who is a member over in California and what an amazing example she is for her. So a week ago from yesterday Elder Steele and I were trying to decide what to teach to her and we felt that she needed to hear about the second part of the Plan of Salvation including baptisms for the dead and about life after death. Steele and another missionary went over and taught her about that and it was an awesome lesson. The strange thing was that we did something I've never done or heard of doing by teaching the second half of the plan without first teaching the first half. But it felt right and so we did it. Well this past Monday Grimilda gave us a call and told me about how she had just found out that her friend in California, who was one of the big reasons she has been investigating the church, had died. She was super sad but told me that she felt so good about what we had taught her and knew that the Lord had prepared her for the news. When we went over and saw her yesterday we talked again about the Plan and she was so happy to know that what we were teaching her was true. We left on such an awesome spiritual high that the rest of the night just kinda flashed by. Its amazing how the Lord uses all of us to help his children out. I love this work and know that it is his His. Keep on keepin on everybody and we'll hear from you next month. Garrett

Elder Gary Chambers
Hey guys! I hope your all doing well in your respective missions... One of the Sister missionaries that was in my group is going home like at the end of this transfer........ that feels a lil wierd. I'm not trunky though, I promise. My new comp is Elder Cardon from Casa Grande, AZ and is a pretty cool kid. He's my first Jr. comp in the mission, and we work really well together. Work is going great now and I honestly couldn't ask for much more, I like it. I'm still in my same area... Buenos Aires, but without the cat problem that I had been fighting for the longest time before. The office final got our front door fixed so that we can close it when we leave. As good as that makes me feel, I see the cats prowling around the house still... and for all the pee and crap that they graciously left on our floors in the past, I had a distinct feeling that karma was well overdue... So.... I went out and bought a Desert Eagle pellet gun and I start my morning out by popping a few cats and watching them dart of in pain... it's a great way to start the day :) We have a couple of investigators that we're ready to put baptismal dates with who have been progressing fairly well. They go to church every week and have told us they want to get baptized... but for some reason I have the WORST luck with finding people at the time of our cita... I hate it. We've been fired on so much this past week that it makes me want to cry... naw... but really, I hate it. We're movin' along though. All is well. I know that this Church is true, and I'm proud to be one of it's many worthy representatives. Thanks for all your stories and examples... can't wait to hear back from you guys. Take care.
Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Mike Kleinman
Hey fellow Missionary...Fellows. Cordoba seems to be churning along like it always does. I am now in the most dangerous part of the mission. But I love it a lot cuz there is an actual black market here and they got sum goood stuff! Everyone is really friendly here anyway, so when they say dangerous they mean like "care-bear with a BB Gun whos got nothing to lose" dangerous. I went to the Cordoba zoo today and that was...well...lets just say I actually felt like becoming an animal rights activist after going to that place. The tiger looked like a starved cat, and I know for a fact that elephants cant be as skinny as the one I saw. I was like inverted. So Brock is home now I cant believe that!! I can only imagine what he might be doing right now (it involves a PS3, daniel, pepto bismol, and the first season of alias.) The Prez here is thinking of new ways to not make old farts in the mission trunky so he's gonna have them all train, like me! Oh well, it could be worse. I could be training, blanking an area, and be a district leader at the same time. (happened to one of my comps here) Well I hope all are doing well! ttyl bffs
Elder Kleinman

Elder Blake Smith
Hey Elders, Well so I am finally used to the missionary life. Ha ha it is a little different than I thought. And South America is a little different as well. But I don*t have a ton of time to write today so I will tell you a little about Argentina. So I am serving in the province of Mendoza and I am still in my first area and my third transfer in Bermejo. I am loving it. I have had three baptisms and we are having one thing Saturday. The language is coming along. Thanks to my Latin comp that I had last transfer. The people here are just a little different but I love it and love seeing the new weird things they do here. Sorry it is so short this week. But I want to thank all of you for your examples that you all set for me. I love this work.
Elder Smith

Elder Jeff Stoker
Dear Elders,
I got one question...Where'd Febuary go? Looking back at this last month, I cant remember too many things that happened. The work is still going. I am still in the same area. I hope to hit my year mark in the same area this month, so wish me luck. I love it here. Our branch has really stepped up this last month. The 50 active-member branch here has decided on doing a 40 day fast for missionary work. One member (or the missionaries aka. me) will take turns fasting for 40 days straight. We are about half way through, and i can already see miracles. You can literally feel the help. By 10 pm, i just pass out on my bed. You think that waking up at 6:30 am would be routine by now, but i still struggle at rolling out of bed. Luckily we dont have carpet, so when i smack against the floor, it wakes me up. I havent told anyone about pulling toe hair either, and i decided it would be better to not tell anyone, especially my companion. Things here are bitter cold again. I thought that the winter days were over, but once again I eat my own words. There has been a nice -20 degree breeze that pierces through any clothing, skin, flesh, etc. It hits the bones directly. I wish that everyone could experience it, because it is very hard to describe. We have a bunch of investigators, and we are trying to get them ready for baptism. Well, Have a great March. Keep on pushing. God speed.
Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Max Crandall

Ye Elders of Israel -- How are things? Life here in doubleyou-A is great. I’ve been praying for a good attitude almost every day and it’s really helping. I’ve realized that it’s all an attitude thing. Both of my new comps are good examples of pretty important principles I think I need to work on. I’m trying really hard to develop these things and figure out how to be a ZL. Elder Flake is very humble and just plain solid. He’s a cattle rancher if ever there was one. He sings country songs all the time and tries to get them stuck in my head. Country music is of the devil. Elder Hughes is very proper and obedient, so I often make inappropriate comments for the shock value – but he is going to hook me up with his hot cousin in Gilbert so it’s all good. I’m so stinkin’ excited about life. I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more pumped up my whole mission. Our area is doing amazing things and our whole mission is shattering records left and right with no sign of slowing down. The Lord is definitely blessing us and His hand is very apparent in the work. Our zone is the stereotyped “rich” zone and considered unfruitful but we have found that working with the members is the way to get stuff going down here. About a month and a half ago, we were sitting in Elder’s Quorum. The lesson was on missionary work and in the middle of the lesson the teacher challenged everyone in attendance to invite one of their friends to take the lessons from the missionaries. This great guy in the ward, perhaps bored with the lesson or moved upon by the Spirit, took out his cell phone and immediately texted one of his friends right there in E.Q. His text asked her if she’d like to learn more about his church. She apparently thought that’d be a great idea and asked how she could. So he leaned over to the guy next to him and got our phone number and texted it to her. She just got baptized! She was the most golden investigator ever. She went out and bought a quad after the first lesson. She didn’t have a single concern! Right away she asked where she could listen to the prophet. So we explained General Conference and she said she wanted to go. She is always asking us if there are other books or manuals that she needs for church too. In the last three days, our zone has put six people on date for baptism! We cover two wards and one is the Singles Ward so naturally a lot of our investigators are 20 year old single women. I just mention that to scare my mom. The mission’s success hasn’t come without opposition though. Recently, there were seven missionaries sent home. I don’t know what they did – don’t need to know – but it’s a heartbreaking thing to see them leave. I know that this work is the greatest work on earth and I never want to stop. I feel humbled and thankful and I am so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of all of this. I love our Savior, Jesus Christ. What He did for us never ceases to astound me. I love telling people that it’s my job to talk about Jesus Christ 24/7. They often laugh, but it’s great anyway. Thank you guys so much for your great examples.

–Elder Crandall

February 2009 News

2009-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Elder Garrett Jones
New York, New York North Mission
July 2007 - 2009

Well well, I'm with you Mike, I can't believe this is already around to me again. So, things here in the Bronx are going really well for us. Elder Steele(who was in the MTC with me and who is one of my good buddies here on themission) and I are having a blast working in one of my favorite areas of the mission. The Lord has truly been blessing us with people to visit and teach and we are having a bunch of fun doing so. Our members are especially amazing since I think we have some of the best cooks from every hispanic country you can think of. I'm loving the Papusa's, the Mangu, the Ceviche, the Arepa's, the Mole, and of course lots and lots of rice, beans, and tortillas. Some of you spanish speaking guys might know what I mean when I say that hispanics make the best food hands down. I'm actually going to need to start cutting back, denying people food (I hope no old Dominican lady kills me for denying her Bandera), and getting more cardio excercise in or you all might get to see a fatty Jones.Anyways I'm loving life as a missionary of the one true church on the face of the planet. The work really is going well and we're seeing miracles as we put forth our effort all throughout the day and pray for the Lord to put people in our path. Right now we're working with a young, sweet Mexican family that love us coming over and love what we teach them. They're feasting on the Book of Mormon (scripture pun intended) and know that they want what's best for their daughter. The only problem is he works on Sundays which has been the killer for them. I hope you all don't have to deal with that as much as we do here in NY because trying to figure out how you can help solid people that have to work on Sundays progress is enough to make you start crying during weekly planning and your nightly prayers. Anyways I guess you just keep going right? Anyways things are good for us. I'm still waiting to be able to train somebody and get my posterity going, I'm so jelous every time I hear about one of you getting to train cause its the only thing I've wanted to do my whole mission and I haven't done it yet. Anyways I hope you all have fun and keep working hard. Time justkeeps going faster and faster and I hope we can all make good use of it while its here. Till next month, Garrett

Elder Jeff Stoker

Howdy fellas,
I guess ill start off by giving a quick update. I am still in the same city, Saratov (which makes 11 months), and i am loving it. I seem to know about everyone in the city now. Things are going great here. Freezing, but great. We get to experience the great sensation of nose hairs and eye lashes freezing when we walk outside. Looking back at this last month has been crazy. It seems like yesterday we celebrated New Years (Sleeping=best celebration). Some events stick out in my mind, and i would like to share some with you. The other day i talked with a man, and he told us very good news. He informed us that he had killed satan and 70% of the dark powers. He also added if we join him, then we should be able to eliminate the last 30%. Great news huh? Anyways, i was able to go on a weird exchange this month too. I spent a week in Samara with the Zone Leaders. It was wierd being in such a large city that i didnt know. The day i returned, i had to jump on a train headed to Kazakhstan to renew my visa. We got stopped at the border, and he went through my bag. He even flipped through the scriptures. The guard made it all the way to Alma before he gave up and let us go. We decided that it would be really wierd to run into 4 american teens dress up in formal clothes trying to cross into kazakhstan. Oh well, the trip was a success and i made it back with a new visa. The work is going great. It seems like we get blessed way more than we deserve. I am grateful to be able to serve the Lord. I love you all, and thank you for your examples. Big thanks to all the Mom's out there who support us, We all appreciate it. Well, i gotta get ready for another new month. Shall we not go on in such great a cause? Have a great month!
Elder Jeffery Stoker

Elder Grant Huish

Hey everybody,
Well, it's P-day again. It is weird to think how fast every weeks seems to go by. Things have been going really well up here lately. We saw a little snow the other day but for the most part it has just been very cold and dry. The work is moving along quite nicely. We have set 2 baptismal dates in the last 2 days. One of them is a girl, Libby, who is super excited about the gospel. The other is a girl, named Kristina, who we have met with a lot in the past and now that her friend is getting baptized she wants to. We are going to have to make sure she is serious about this before she gets baptized. We have also been teaching quite a few lessons lately, which is always fun; It sure beats tracting. We are seeing a lot of success which is no doubt due to the Lords help. We are kind of having people fall into our laps. I almost feel like I'm one of those lame missionaries who serves in South America. Just kidding, but stateside missionaries are the best. I'm sure you can all agree with that. Love, Elder Grant Huish

Elder Jimmy Miller

Hey Fellas!! Its been such a good start to the year. Besides the fact that I'm freezing to death. This past month it's been a little difficult to find people. Seeing as it was winter break for all the Universities and we're in the singles ward. Not even our members have been here. The day after Christmas we had to combine with the family ward and ended up with only like 3 people from our ward. Anyway, so it was a little rough for a bit but miracles happen. Sunday during church i was kind of bummed because and investigator we invited didn't come. So it was sad all of church. Then as we were walking out of Elders quorum a brother from the ward came up to us and said 'hey there's someone who wants to meet you.' He introduced to this guy who had walked in at the end of church and wanted to be taught what we believe in. It was amazing! We sat down with him and quickly found out he was in our area and age group! We had an awesome lesson and commited him to baptism right then and he accepted! We met with him again last night and he told us he was amazed himself that he was so calm in our lesson because normally is very angry and aggressive when he talks about religion. The Lord really has answered our prayers! Last week I was transfered to Kingsbridge in the Bronx. I am still a DL although now only Elders no more Sisters. Oh and I serving with ZL Elder Jones! He's the man. It will be a awesome cycle. Thanks to all of you for you you're nifty stories. Until next time. Live Happy. Live Well. LiveStrong. LOVE, ELDER MILLER

Elder Gary Chambers

Hey, Its that time again! Congrats to Elder Jonesie, I love you man... Baptize those Dominicans that I can't reach! Well, this month is quite the countdown month, not only for Mr. Elder Brock Smith, but also for my comp who is going home the 4th of February. Don't worry, hasn't had the smallest effect on me, it was the phone call home for Christmas that made me trunkie. Other then that all is the same over here. I am just now slowly learning how to work well with my comp... its just too bad it took all this time to figure it out. If I had to give a small bit of advice to anyone who has or will have a companion that they find hard to get along with... this would be it, "DO NOT let the little things he does that bother you blind you from seeing the good things he does. The faster you can figure out how to find and enjoy the good things that your comp can offer, the better of a companionship you will have and the better of a missionary you will be." I know that's pretty cliche advice, but it was a hard lesson learned for me. I love you Elders (that means "Guys" in Mormon) and hope that this newsletter finds you working harder than ever... there's not much time left. I know this Church is true and that we are blessed to be apart of it... also Air Conditioning is a blessing. K love you bye.
Love, Elder Chambers

Anziano Scott Ball

Ciao missionaries friends,
I'm still in Modena. It is raining alot since there is this hurricane by Spain and France. The last week it has been cold, but slowly slowly it is warming up. I'm still in bike and I just learned yesterday that I'm getting a new companion from Tucson, Arizona. I'm happy that I'm able to get someone else than those utards. Modena is a blessed city and I'm glad to be here. We are going to set up some baptismal dates with a few investigators this week. It will be good practice for this new kid that I'm getting. I'm feeling sad that time is flying so fast. I was counting how many transfers I had a few days ago and I scared myself. I don't have much to say other than that. I love you guys and I'm glad that we can see success even in Italy.
Anziano Ball

Elder Max Crandall

Hola Brethren – And so it goes. I’ve been transferred again. My mom says it’s kind of like “Where’s Waldo.” I guess I’ve been called worse things. I’m now serving as a zone leader in the Redland zone. It covers all of Redmond and Kirkland. I’m in a three-pack with two other zone leaders, Elder Hughes and Elder Flake. I’ve never served here before and it’s basically Richie Rich meets Bill Gates down here. We live in a way nice apartment here in Kirkland. Very hosh posh. However, it’s basically built for two people. I have zero room and I don’t have a bed. So I’ve been sleeping on the couch. What’s hilarious is that I’ve been dragging it into the bedroom every night and then dragging it out into the living room every morning. Maybe it’ll help me work off the ol’ lbs. We have a pretty good zone, complete with a lot of my pals. It’s weird being in a three-pack. It’s kind of nice because we can lend one of us out for exchanges and still work in our area, but it is all pretty nuts. We’re having a blast and trying really hard to get the work going in our area. Hughes and Flake baptized a lot of their teaching pool last transfer so we’ve got to find new people to teach. It’s a little difficult down here with the prideful Microsoft rich employees. Rich folks think they don’t need God but I know we can do it. I hope Christmas and New Years were great for y’all. Christmas time is basically an excuse for everyone to say they’re too busy to listen to us. Our mission president asked us to write two letters; one on Christmas Eve and one on New Year’s Eve. The letters were supposed to be about Christ-like attributes we would like to develop and goals we would like to set and achieve. It was actually pretty cool. We’ve kind of been having a rough time getting our ****** to come to church. We’ve been trying to come up with ways to provide extra incentive to go. It’s kind of difficult because the Spanish ward meets about 20 miles away. Getting ****** to go up the street with you is difficult enough, let alone talking them into a 20 minute car ride. So with one family, we’ve been bribing them with dancing. Apparently this family loves nothing more than watching goofy white dudes in suits dance to Rihanna and other such crap. It’s been kind of fun though. We keep raising the stakes too. “If you come to all three hours today, we’ll dance for four songs AND we’ll bring two other missionaries to dance with us.” I think we need to raise the requirements though because only one of them came this last week and we were still obligated to dance for four songs with extra missionaries. It’s like making a deal with the devil; you’ve got to cover every angle and say things like, the WHOLE family needs to come to three hours of church if we’re gonna do the shimmy. Tricksy ******. In summation, I am doing well and I am very happy serving the Lord. It blows my mind that He’d allow me to do this. I know that He lives and that He is our Savior. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that the church that was restored through him is led today by another prophet of God. I am so thankful to the Lord for the great abundance of blessings I have received. God’s speed gentlemen, God’s speed.

–Elder Crandall

Elder Brock Smith (Welcome Home, January 30th, 2009!)

Howzit my M_town peeps! Well Im a dead man walking Im kickin up the dasies as in on fri morning Ill be home and it seems very surreal I still cant grasp the fact that ill actually be home it kinda hit yesterday when my ward sung aloha oe to me but even I still cant fathom te fact that Im done it doesnt seem like that long ago that I got out here and now Im pau Hana. I really cant beleive so to all yall trust me the day that you finish will creep up on you like a thief in the night so do all you can and take advantage of every moment cuz soon youll be done and you dont want to have a list of things that you should have done in the yesterdays that have past and have no tomm to do anything its the best feeling to look back with no regrets knowing that you have served with all your might mind and strength. Well I love you all not much else to say I fell as if im in a dream world its really a crazy indescribable feeling I cant believe it it such a catch 22 type thing many tears of both joy and sadness will be shed by me this week so basically ill be balling like a baby. So know all yallgat work even harder cuz now I cant anymore you gotta suckerpunch satan and keep serving with all you heart might mind and strength Iesu Pu and May the force be with you always B Sexy B Smooth B Smith

Elder Dallas Rowley

Hey!
Doing well, verrry short on time but these are some words that will sum up my las few months; Progressing investigator with baptism date, miracles, bike, snow, ankle sprain, murder (don't worry, not me or my companion), study, awesome. I hope to have more detail next time so you can all see how awesome Ohio is! Stay safe and successful. Love Elder Rowley

Elder Logan Wells

Well let me see Bretheren,

Alot has happened.. I am so excited to be a part of the work, this past week I have really began to realize what I can do on this mission, its lame that it has taken me this long but hey better late than never is what they say right? This past week we had our zone conference which was way awesome by the way. President gave us this little talk about paradigms it really struck me truthfully what he was talking about like they are some are good and some are bad. We missionaries really seem to have alot, well what it is all about is the fact that as missionaries there are alot of things that we do that we don't really know why we do them, we were taught that way and so we just do it that way and never really question why. Well one of the things that he talked to us about was setting dates well yeah he wants us to do it on the first lesson, well at firstI was like wait are you crazy? They have to come to church first they have to read the book of mormon, they have to pray and the list goes on. Well he explained to us that some cases yes but not all of them, they want us to do it on the first lesson. So as me and my companion really took it into heart what he was saying alot made sense and so we took the challenge and well in four days we set 8 baptsimal dates, which I have never done my entire mission. So yeah we did it, and really changed our attitudes and we told the Lord we were willing to do what it takes to truly find these people and that if he put them in our paths we would be his instruments. I realized alot of things I am not the greatest teacher and neither is my companion but when it came to it, I was able to say yeah I am not the best but make me what you can and I asked and I really had that desire and the Lord granted it unto me never have I seen so many prayers answered as I had this past week its so insane! Well now for the bad news, yes we are in transfers and so I got a call I am leaving, soI have to leave all that I have done and go on, its hard but that is the misison right? I am leaving my paradise of Tortola and going back to the island of Puerto Rico. The news, is that I ama moving Elder and so the big 15 passenger van is now my responsibility! I am not sure how this is going to work because I have to start driving it the moment I get back and that is gonna be a little interesting considering for the past 6 months I have been on the left side of the road... and now its back to the right side, not really sure how this is gonna all play out, but we shall see, the scary part is that I have to take our Mission President to places such as the airport and stuff like that. Well the Lord will have to help me for sure. The other day I was saying that I have kind of flown under the radar the whole mission to the senior couple here. Then the next thing bam moving Elder, bam District Leader, way to much for me, I fear that I will want my days of normalness back in about two days from now! The mission has taken a turn and there is no turning back! Well I love and miss you all! Love, Logan

Elder Mike Kleinman

Well, I got transferred finally! I am now in the most southern part of Cordoba city in a neighborhood called Libertador. Its a fairly small area. Unfortunately it is also the most dangerous haha! This should be fun! Anyway, all is well nothing has happened for a while here...I think. My new companion is named Elder Camacho from paraguay, but looks like a total american white guy heh. He is super new in the mission with only 3 months so itll be fun being with a greenie. Anyway, I hear that Brock is home now playing guitar hero with Daniel. Crazy guys, I'll be seeing you soon in 4 months. For the rest of my fellow Elders take care. Give it all you got, it's the only 2 years we have to give. I am loving it. chau chau

Elder Kleinman

Elder Blake Smith

Wow, this month went by really fast. Really, really fast. We worked hard this last week because it is Elder Macias last week in the mission. He leaves for home on Thursday. I got sick this week ran a high fever, but now I am back to 100%. I would rather be out working than here in our apartment. Yes there are sister missionaries in our mission and they are missionary machines. They really get things done. We will be having tranfers this week, I am pretty sure I will stay here in Bermejo, and will have a new comp. I have learned so much from having a native companion. We bore our testimonies in church and I wasn't stumbling over words like before. Having Elder Macias has been a huge blessing. On Saturday we had a baptism. We were filling up the font, and I said "esta aqua es para limpiar el pezcado. My companion looked at me funny. And then I realized I said "this water is for cleaning fish" I ment to say "esta aqua es para limpiar pecado" This water is for cleaning sin. Every one thought is was funny. I was able to baptize him, and it was a very nice experience. We have two more baptisms next week.

Every thing is great here and we love the work.
Elder Blake Smith

Elder Jordan Shill

hello family and friends!!wow, i cant believe i am in italy!!! it is so awesome, i love it here!! i am in verona, Italy!! how cool is that! what a week, what a week.... where to start... well i guess i'll start with getting stuck in frankfurt, that was no fun... we were there for like 7 or 8 hours because the flight crew went on strike until noon.... yeah they had a time schedule for their strike posted! i guess thats pretty common here, welcome to Europe! haha it was a long day, but we finally got there all safe and sound. we met president Dunaway and his wife, they are AMAZING, and went to the mission home in opera, where they continued to drag us around so we wouldn’t fall asleep with the jet lag haha we were SO tired! we met the assistants, went over some rules, ate dinner and went to the hotel, where i slept like a rock until our alarm went off... we got ready and went to the church where i got my new companion, Anziano Aillon (like eye-on) who is AMAZING! he’s so awesome, we have an awesome time together. so after that we got on the train to VERONA (the most beautiful city ever) and i dropped off my bags and went to work!! so yeah we have a bunch of investigators, and they are awesome!!! we have 2 baptismal dates later this month, and hopefully one early next month we'll have to see... i am absolutely LOVING verona, it is the most beautiful place ever!!! love the people, the buildings, everything is awesome!! We’re going to go take pictures later today of all the sites in Centro (central verona) which was built in like the 1500s, yeah its AWESOME! i feel so blessed to be a missionary right now.... we get the chance to testify of Jesus Christ every day, and bear witness that there is a prophet on the earth today. how amazing is that? i am so lucky to be here, it is helping me learn so much more than i ever thought it would. yeah, times get hard, but that just means something better is just around the corner. i love being a missionary!!the weekly study this week is in alma ch. 22.... this is about alma the younger and his conversion. this really made me think about how it can apply to us, how we need to be truly "converted" even though we are already members. i love this story...well, all is well in verona, the sun is out and its beautiful today! thank you for all your love and support, you all are amazing! have a great day, remember that heavenly father is there to help you always, with anything big or small...

arrivaderci!!

Anziano Jordan :)

January 2009 News

2009-01-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

Elder Mike Kleinman

Argentina Cordoba Mission

June 2007 - 2009

Hey everyone!

Well, well.

An old bones like me in the spotlight again heh.
Christmas here is pretty different in that its just the fourth of july with pressents. No trees, no Christmas lights, just a whole lot of explosions! Whats cool about down here is that they dont have firework restrictions, so you can go buy those professional sized ones like in the states for nothing. New years was even cooler. We live in a tower in some apartments so at midnight, we went up to the roof and we could see the entire city of cordoba. When it struck 12 the entire city went into a brilliant flash of fireworks and booms. It was waaay cool! We almost got hit a few time by incoming rockets or flares from large fireworks, it was intense! So now we are in 2009 and I can't really grasp that fact yet; its crazy! The work is going at a strong pace here and everyone is really excited for the temple anouncement. I got a ton of good stuff for christmas, including 6 Mug Rootbeers!!! I know for all ya states kids thats like "pfft" but those are worth more than gold or small children here!!! Totally reminded me of times at Max's house snatchin' a mug from the fridge o' plenty. Oh man, good times. Just so ya know Max, when you get back you will probably just find me in your basement already with like 20 cans of that stuff playin' on your comp. teehee. Well I hope you all enjoyed your New years and Christmas!! Until next month!

ttyl bff Elder Kleinman

Elder Max Crandall

Hey Hey Hey Gentlemen, What’s goin’ on? Seems like forever since I last wrote. Changes abound. I had one transfer of no worries. It was kind of like a mini vacation. I didn’t have to worry about Spanish, work in other areas, other missionaries, numbers, responsibility in general or basically anything except where I stood with the Lord. It was great to have minimal responsibility and to be able to sleep well at night knowing everything was fine. My focus was just good ‘ol missionary work in my native tongue. Blink my eyes and I’m back speaking Spanish, senior comp to a greenie, and DL. Well, it keeps me humble and I learn more when I have more responsibility. Pres. sent me back to Monroe. I served here a while back so serious Déjà vu. Same apartment, same city, different companion. My new companion’s name is Elder Prudent – as in “wise and…” He’s from Idaho Falls, ID. He’s a country boy for sure. We all got to go to the temple on December 11th. We went for our Christmas conference. For last year’s Christmas conference, each zone gave another zone a gift and the zone leaders opened it in front of everyone. Our zone got Putt Putt Poop; an indoor putting green for the john. Classic. For the rest of my stay in Mt. Vernon I tried to poop at the ZL’s every time I could. This year we couldn’t meet together as a full mission like we did last year. Apparently that’s banned now. Pres. Showalter begged our area authority to let us all be together just for a mission picture but nothin’ doin’. Things are good work-wise. We are working with a lot of Hispanic families – mostly flakey investigators but that’s Spanish work for ‘ya. Needless to say, there is never a lack of entertainment. We have been teaching a couple named Sergio and Blanca. They had a baby a couple of months ago. Sergio really wants to get baptized. Only problem is he is married to a different gal down in Mexico! Sheeesh. We’re trying to work that out and after Sergio gets divorced and remarried to Blanca, things will be great and they’ll both get baptized. Wacky. The weather has been ridikalus. It rains a lot here but we were snowed in for P-day. That’s crazy for Washington. When it snows we are not allowed to drive so we’re trapped. The Monroe 2 elders came over so we were all trapped together. We realized how bored we were so we worked up enough courage to venture forth into the extremely wet, icy, wet, did I say wet, snow. It was insane. We didn’t have boots or gloves or any Stoker-like snow paraphernalia. We carried the groceries home and the gallon of milk froze to my hand. Muy loco. It was great to hear the family’s voices on Christmas. I hope you all had a great phone call too. It was the best gift ever. I know this gospel is true and it is the only way to be truly happy in this life and the next. I love tellin’ people that. Keep up the good fight. --Elder Crandall

Elder Garrett Jones

Hello everybody! Happy New Years! Its so crazy to me that we're actually already here in 2009. That number still seems very large and far away to me for some reason but I guess I just need to settle down and take it. Things are going great for me here in NY. The weather is getting cold especially since I've been transfered to work once again in the Bronx and no longer have a car to heat up in. I'm sure you Elders that aren't serving in the DR or PR can relate to the pain of trying to decide how much clothes you want to have on for the rest of the day and almost always wishing you had more or less. For those of you who can't consider yourselves blessed. Being in the Bronx again is pretty crazy for me but its been a blast, especially since I'm on the complete opposite side that I was on last time and therefore get to see a different view on things. Its crazy how many Dominicans there are here compared to my last area which was mostly Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Peruvians. Its funny though because my companion Elder Steele (who I was actually in the MTC with) came from upstate as well and so we both like to visit and to teach all the people who aren't from the DR. I love Dominicans (Don't get me wrong Gary), but its very hard to beat Peruvian food and I love how Mexicans talk. Salvadori ans are pretty sweet too.
Anyways things are great and I'm loving life here in service of our Lord and God. One quick story and then I'm out. Ok, so we went to an area recently that we normally don't go visit because its a bit farther than we like to walk. We went to this place because of a former investigator from about 4 years ago that we found in an old area book that was collecting dust in our room. We looked the guy up and met Danni, a 30 year old Dominican who loves the church and has been occasionally reading his BoM ever since the Elders gave to him 4 years ago.
He said that he loved it when the missionaries came over but that at the time he was really busy with work and just couldn't keep visiting with them during the week and coming to church on Sundays. Well now his work has calmed down and he no longer works on Sundays and so he wants to start coming back and learning again. We've met with him a couple of times since then and when we started to talk about getting baptised he told us how much he wanted to be baptised before and said he was ready to make the step. He's a really cool guy that we can totally see was prepared by the Lord and then put in our path. He'll be baptised in February after he is taught all the lessons again. I love you all a ton, keep working in this the single greatest work ever=2 0and I know the Lord will bless us with miracles.
much love,
Garrett

Anziano Scott Ball's Mom

Hello from Anziano Ball’s Mom,
Scott has been very busy and asked me to send something in for the newsletter. We were able to talk over the Christmas holidays and it is so amazing how much he has grown. He is still in Modena and loving it. Every Wednesday Scott arrives at the library in Modena to email me. I finally figured out what time he arrives which is about 3 am in Arizona so I get up at that time early Wednesday morning and email him and sure enough he is online so we email back and forth for about one and a half hours . . . yawn. They will have to transfer him for me to get any sleep on Tuesday nights. Anyway, here is a short message I copied from one of Scott’s emails.
“This week has been going fine in regards to missionary work. We went to Zone Conference in Mestre and had a Christmas Meeting which we shared talked about the Savior and sang songs. It was a nice time. After that we had a nice Sunday with the members in the church here in Modena. There weren't that many people, it seems that many of them have gone on vacation. We are teaching a Zimbabwe family about the gospel right now. The husband has a baptismal date for January 10th and we think that it might change because we want to baptize the whole family at once. Riding around in bike is very cold! I bought gloves and a scarf because it has been soo cold. The humidity is horrible, but other than that, it is a beautiful city.”
My family is truly blessed because of the efforts of Scott. I am so grateful for the gospel and how it blesses our lives.
Ciao, Scott’s Mom

Elder Grant Huish

Hello Friends,
How are you doing in our various locations throughout the earth? I am doing just splendid here in Oregon City, OR. We have had alot of snow lately which was cool, except for the fact that it meant that we had to walk everywhere. my shoes arent made for walking in snow. i numerous times, it was not pleasant. I guess it has helped me to gain an appreciation for the automobile though. Ehh.. i probably just lazy im sure some of you have to talk everywhere, that sucks. Well it is crazy to think that almost all of us will go home this year, WEIRD. I still feel like i just got here sometimes. Missionary work is the best. Don't you just love it. So here is a wonderful story that just happened a little while ago.....we had an investigator named ezra who told us 3 weeks ago he wanted to come to church, but then church was canceled, then it was canceled again and then finally he comes to church. he brings his girlfriend along as well. we were pretty excited when we saw him and also that a member of the stake presidency and his wife were going to speak. well turns out the stake presidency member was sick so he sent his daughter to take his place. so first the youth speaker speaks and its good. then the daughter speaks and its pretty fantastic so things seem to be going well, then the wife gets up to speak and talks for like 20 mintues about her dad and how he died and how much she loves him and doesnt relate it one bit to the gospel. she told countless stories and just stood up there and cried the whole time. so afer about 18 minutes or so she says that she has another story and our investigator and his girlfriend just got up and left cause they were so sick of her. luckily they still want to meet with us but no im scared to bring them back to church just in case it sucks again. hopefully we can help him build a strong enough testimony that it won't matter. Well my dear friends i wish you all the very best. love ya elder huish

Elder Gary Chambers

How was your Christmas? Haha that's almost my favorite question to answer... Mine was really good, mostly because I was able to have a gamers debate on how Xbox 360 is better than PS3 (that one's for you Jeffy poo)...... That member knows quite a bit about his game systems, but I totally knocked him out of the contest with statistics and facts... domination I like to call it. Anyways, enough about that, lets talk more about things more people can relate too... like how badly I had to go poop last Sunday night... it all began with the salsa....... (screen fading to strokes of a harp) Due to a companion inter change, I found myself walking around in the Zone Leaders area, my temporary companion at my side... we had just finished a contacted lesson, and it was nearly time to end the comp inter change... "I need to withdraw money from the ATM for lunch" spoke up my comp. "No" I responded... "Really?" came the confused response. "No, I was kidding, you can use the ATM" said I with a sheepish smile spreading over my face. "Oh, ok, thanks man... uh, I mean Elder" "You bet hot dog." Before too long we were in a huge "Wal-Mart-like" store called JUMBO! hahaha... anyways, as my comp finished using the ATM within, we decided to get a couple of things. As we weaved through the isles, we came by the vegetable and fruit section and something caught my eye! I immediately stopped and spun around to be sure I wasn't seeing things... But sure enough... there it was! A damaged apple amongst undamaged appples, I couldn't believe the negligence... but I allowed myself to forget it and we continued on. A few moments later, the voice of my companion came from behind... "Huh... that's a first..." "What, what happened?" "Oh nothing... I just saw a package of fresh Jalopenos back there..." "Huh... wierd........ Wait, WHAT?!?!" I darted past him retracing my steps scanning the vegetable shelves until my eyes fell upon the word "Jalopenos." I froze... then unfroze and bought that package of jalopenos for dirt cheap (yess...). With those very Jalopenos I have made several successful batches of salsa and have been spreading the flavor through the neighborhood. People find this salsa very intrigueing, and I thoroughly enjoy the looks on their face after they try it... when the impact of jalopeno hits and burns their taste buds! Muahaha, they always come back for more though, they must like the abuse... just like me :) I am slowly but surely spreading the good news of Mexican Salsa throughout the DR, but due to my pride, I changed out the word "Mexican" and put "Chambers"... :) People like it, and due to all the batches I've made, I've been eating alot of salsa myself. Well, I know the basic laws... like what goes up, must come down... what goes over, must come under (theory check?) ... and what goes in, must come out... but I love salsa so much that it was hard for me to gadge myself well, and the impact of all the salsa seemed to charge up inside me and pick one moment to hit me all at the same time... this time was Sunday night during the dedication of a couples house whom we recently baptized. Needless to say I was in dire need of a bathroom during the prayer, and refused to use their bathroom afterwards, due to the gouronteed smell that would fill the newly dedicated house. My comp seemed to notice something was wrong with me by all the strange faces I was making, trying to surpress the amazing power within. He came over and asked if I was ok, to which i rapidly responded with, "YO VOY A EXPLOTAR" as an urgent whisper in his ear. Fortuneately, that has the same meaning in spanish as it does in English, and we bolted to the house. Once the bathroom door closed behind me, I..... well, you get the idea. While sitting there, I came up with another poop song! Yay... I would write it in here, but it's not the same as if you hear it, so you'll all have to wait till I get home... :) Other then that, I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Logan Wells

Well newsletter time again? huh well yeah this is the year boys ,that we go home, its kind of crazy to think about that our time is coming up on us so fast well yeah, Daniel I cant wait to hang when we get home seriously, well don't get married before we get back okay. Well yeah anyway all is so well here I am still here on my little 13 mile island and enjoying my nice little summer, haha yeah still got the 80s and to tell the truth I don't miss the cold weather at all and yeah I feel sorry for anyone that is in it. Well yeah its all good though i have seen so much success in the people here on this island they are definately way to nice to us and i love them way to much if that is possible. well YEah the mission is going great christmas was crazy we got fed 4 meals and definately all of the weight that I had lost is coming back don't thnk that is a good thng well I guess its time for new years resolution. Goal one loose weight, definately on the priority list haha well yeah all is going well here I do belive that Grant you owe me a letter well yeah I love you all and god speed. Peace Love and Baptize

Logan

Elder Brock Smith

Hauoli Makahiki Hou! Well I hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas and that your New Year well be good as well. Its good to hear that everything is going good with the business and all its such a miracle I cant believe how its taken off you continue to be an inspiration to me such faith and trust in the Lord I had my doubts but I trusted that you knew what you were doing I know that listening to you has yet to get me into trouble. It was good to get to talk to you on Christmas eventhough it made me way trunky but Im good though my time is almost up and Im striving to take advantage of every moment two weeks will be my last zone confrence and then the transfers always fly by from there its nuts how time is flying by I cant believe its been as long as it has cuz it really doesnt seem like when I look back on it. You must take advantage of every moment cuz what seems like forever will soon be over eventhough its pretty hard to picture yourself at home soon it will be a reality even if it does take you until the first morning that you wake up in your bed at home to realize it (cuz I think that Itll take that long for me to realize it cuz right now everything seems like Im in an alternate reality right now I cant be on my last four weeks its just not possible the fact that I have only 31 days left really seems impossible so to all of you no matter how long youve been out on a mission soon itll be over and youll wonder wha the heck happened where did your mission go and you dont want to look back and have regrets trust me I know from exp continue to serve with all your might mind and strength and most importantly ETTE that is a very hard principle a lot harder than I thought but striving to ette to the end of my mission is teaching a lot about ette to the end of life and how its not going to be easy and you cant slack off or satan we'll get to you and before you know it youll be gettin etd home like this other elder did who was supposed to go home with me but he just couldnt ette and he wnet to extreme measures well more like bizzare measures to get sent home ive been trying to think all weekend what must have been going through his head but ive no realized that it must have been nothing short of the cunning craftiness of satan. Well anyway on a lighter note I want to thank you all for your ongoing support It has really helped me get through these two years and has made the time really fly by I couldnt have done it without you all. Well I continue to ette eventhough my comp drives me bonkers sometimes dont worry two exchanges a week and with all these off days it will help the first half of the transfer go by fast and then the second half always flys by like crazy anyway so ill survive im sure well we had a good sacrament talk yest about serving and obeying without being compelled to do them it was good for me something that I need to hear cuz I fear that without the structure of mission life my life will have the potential to be crazy thats why me and barnett are going to strive to keep each other in check although we are kinda crazy but well see how it goes. Well I really cant believe that by the next time I write for the newsletter I'll have like four days until Ill be home its nuts. Hauoli Makahiki Hou Iesu Pu And May the force be with you always B Sexy B Smooth

B Smith

Elder Jeff Stoker

So anyways, Christmas this year was very different than any other christmas that i have ever had. I did alot of thinking. I am glad that i was able to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. We didnt do anything special for Christmas. We just acted as if it was any other day. it was very wierd. So about 5 mins ago i found out that we arent allowed to be outside past 5pm this wednesday and Thursday because it will be New years! I dont think anything good will happenif we were on the streets. My mission president thinks its a great time to do some "spring cleaning". I am not looking forward to this! hah. Oh well, it needs to be done. Last week Elder Slezak and I were kinda frustrated because we did not find any new investigators. This week was kinda of the same. Thursday came around, and we realized that we still didnt find an investigator. We went out that afternoon dedicated on finding a "Normal man". We also wanted to have a meeting with him that night. We ended up doing just that. We met with him, and he even came to church. This next week we are going to invite him to be baptized in Jan. Things are looking good for january here in zavodskoy. Hopefully we can see two people get baptized. I know it will take alot of work, and faith on our part though, and i am all for it. So it is already in the middle of winter now, and things are starting to cool down. It has hit -15 and the ground is now covered in snow. We set up a meeting at our church building, and while we waited, i found a snow shovel. I decided that i might as well do something productive while i waited, so i actually got a chance to shovel snow. I can understand why i always hear people crying about it. I also started up a slipping on the ice contest again. So far i am winning, my companion landed right on his butt the other day. Dont worry, i have had my fair share of falls, which i dont want to talk about. :} I forgot to mention this in past newsletters, but my mission got a referral! It was amazing. It is wierd for me to think about a russian guy wandering around SLC on temple square. We were all pretty excited. Miracles are happening, so expect one! hah. The other day, i also realized that my entire passport is full of visas, and stamps. I had to send it, and get more pages sown into it. Now my emergency pouch hanging on my belt is heavy with all the new pages. Anyways, things are going great, like normal. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Wow time is flying. I love you all. Thanks for your examples.
Elder Jeff Stoker

December News- The Best 2 Years

2008-12-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

Elder Brock Smith

Hawaii, Honolulu Mission

January 2007 - January 2009

Aloha,Ka Kou

Well anyway things here are good.I got a call from the assistants asking if I wanted to go home a day early or go to the pcc,I was one day early fro shua I mean we dont get to go the the temple anyway I will come back and see the pcc another time, thats what I thought at least but I don't know what the other 12 people chose so we'll see what happens. It is crazy they will be bookin my flight very soon but if we do go home one day early then 60 days left oh my its crazy after this holiday season then bam it'll be practictally over. All the Elders are talkin about what movie to watch on christmas and I am just hey I don't care I'll be home like a month after that so whatevahs, and there just like shut up so then they proceed to remind me all the time that im going home soon, which is kinda irratating cuz Iam gonna miss it here and miss being a missionary it really is awesome stuff. This was the best choice I ever made the time has gone by so fast, Wow I just want to finish strong,and it is hard, I am training again and I am greatful I have had the oppertunity to get to do that so much. It is not easy for me but I know I have grown alot.Cuz mean time you have out here in da field bein one of Jesuses Guys live one life that stay to da max foevah bra so sweet da sky wen rip open and start fo shower you with da blessin from da Boss up in the Sky ho cuz its awesome sorry I stay speakin so much pidgin ovah heah dat i no can spell notin else sorry. Hey I say work hard you guys are all the bomb. Happy thanks giving, and a super Merry Christmas.I will see some of you soon. Daniel How are things going, My Bro. God speed. I cant wait to hear from all of you in the news letter. Time is really going fast. I am very greatful 102 passed in the states. Things are amazing in the plan, I could see were the Lord in these things happening.Well if we are prepared we shall not fear.My testimony has really grown and I am thankful to Be one of the lords Missionaries.it is getting scary to think now I have to return to a whole new life I donot know if I am ready for. Merry Christmas and the best to all of you dudes in 2009.Dont get trunky. But yeah about my comp thats true only 1 and a half more transfers with him I think Ill survive. Anyway thats about it. B Sexy B smooth B Smith

Elder Garrett Jones

Hi everybody,We are still working hard. We seem to find a lot of cool, nice people who want us to return and then are never there when we do. That's one thing about the Hispanic culture is that they are very nice to the point that they will lie to you instead of just straight up telling you they don't want you to come back like white people do. This may sound a little strange, but it's refreshing occasionally to be just straight up rejected. Don't let me fool you though, we are teaching some great people who have a lot of potential.The temperature here has really dropped with that amazing New York wind that ony seems to be there during the winter to make everybody much colder and miserabler (a new word). The winter clothing is officially out of the suitcases now. I know that I'm exactly where the Lord wants me to be and that this is his work I'm doing. It's amazing how many cool experiences I'm able to see and have each day and how different I feel when I come home after them. I love and miss you all and hope everything is going well. Love, Garrett

Elder Grant Huish

Hey Everybody, How are you doing? Things here in Oregon are wonderful! We had a baptism last week, it was a girl named Ashley Haynes. She is engaged to a member and basically already believed the church was true before we met her. Other than that, I am still in Oregon City with the same companion. For the last few days we have spent alot of time planning for our zone training and making plans for the zone this transfer. Which brings me to my next point, I only have 18 more minutes and I still have to type a bunch of stuff and send a letter to my mission president. Sorry. Love, Grant

Elder Daniel Anderson

HOWDY YALL! So this month was just as Crazy as all the other ones have been. At the begining of the month, Bishop/ President Nelson pulled some strings for me and got me in to the Mayo Clinic. Pretty much they are my last shot to make it back to the mission field so i was pretty excited to go. It turns out they said i have had almost everything possible done and that they don't think there is much they can do to help but they are going to try. So i have these two tests they are going to do and they are putting me on all kinds of different medicines so hopefully they will start helping. Oh here's another fun story, i went to see a shrink (psychologist) and she had the CRAZIEST EYES!! They were constantly moving and they could look in two different directions at once. I know some of you might disagree with this but this doctor told me that i'm a pretty normal person and that my mental state is not effecting my stomach.... YOU HEAR THAT? I'M NORMAL! Anyway on to bigger and better things. Later that month I took a trip to Utah to visit some of my buddies from my mission. I was there for like two weeks and I got to see yalls favorite cousin of mine, Sarah..... haha Jeff she says hi. After i was done hanging out in the cold Utah air, I drove over to Cali to visit my mission again because I was asked to escort a guy i helped through the temple. It was really cool to go and support him. He is the only active member in his family and there are only 4 out of 15 members in his family. We went through the Oakland temple and it was really pretty. I was nervous to take him through because i had never been and i didn't get the chance to go to the temple on my mission so it had been awhile. George just got his mission call to Minnesotta speaking Hmong and he reports December 10th so i'm way excited to see him off. After my big long trip to Utah and Cali i came home and my family went to the Sand Dunes for Thanksgiving. It was really fun being out there with everybody. Because its Thanksgiving and all, i just want you all to know how much i look up to each of you and that i'm thankful to have you as my friends. Love yall, Daniel PS - Brock i'll see you in 50 "ish" days (work hard!)

Elder Max Crandall

Hola, or should I say, hello. I got released from the Spanish program. President said it had something to do with the changin’ times. It’s weird but I feel great. I also got transferred. I’m now in a town called Snohomish and my new companion is Elder ****. We live in a member’s home. They keep their house about 5 degrees warmer than the temperature outside. Bought some thermals. Changed my life. I think this’ll be good for me. If I’m going to learn discipline any time in my life, I imagine it will be here. We went out with a ward missionary from the ward we are serving in. Our ward mission leader’s plan was to visit all of the members in our ward, share a message about missionary work, commit them to do something, and pump them up. The ward missionary told us that he had called 20 families but only got an appointment with one. Well, that’s fine. Mormons are busy people. The work here in Snohomish is finally picking up a little. Basically, God is great and rewards countless hours of pointless tracting. We are working with a nine-year-old girl. The other day, her older brother’s friend came over. He looks just like one of those 13-year-old-already-smoking-pot-skater-punk-trouble-makers. We asked him to stay for the lesson. He seemed embarrassed or mad at himself for getting trapped by the Mormons. “Why hello there son, would you like to learn about God and come to church?” “Gee, misters, that’d be swell!” “That’s Elders to you, boy.” Huzzah! By the end of the lesson he accepted to come to church, read the BofM, and be baptized. Woot! Thank you, Holy Ghost! Only problem is, his family is Jewish. I’ve never put a Jew on date before. Sure, he probably isn’t a practicing Jew, but it’s still cool. I hope Turkey Day was great for everyone. I’m singing in a mission octet with Elder Josh Ostler. Life is good. We’re all going to the temple on December 11th. Can’t wait. Happy, Happy, Merry, Merry – Elder Crandall

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey Everyone! Well, I am out of the office and here in Alto Alberdi! I am loving being back into full time proselyting. We'll be baptizing two families in December which should be great. The Bishop here is super enthusiastic to help the ward progress in the work. Well, I can't believe christmas is coming up soon! The other companionship that lives with us went out and bought a christmas tree, heh.My companion is Elder Carter from UT. I am also living with Elder Oliphant, an Elder who was in my MTC group, so we already know each other really well. It should be a fun transfer, as long as I don't get shipped out, because transfers are on the 24th!! What bad luck! We had our own Thanksgiving by buying a big chicken, no turkeys here. It was a great feast. We are in summer now,and it's hot. I will have a month or so of cooler weather then I get to come home to summer again, Lucky me ! Time is flying by... Well camaradas, let's make the best of the little time we all have left. Till next time. All for one (the Lord), and one for all.

chau chau Elder Kleinman

Elder Jeff Stoker

Dear Elders,All is well. What can i say more. I cant believe that December is here, and there is no snow here yet. I guess that i am pretty lucky. It will come, so dont worry about that. You can hear my freezing to death stories. It has been an exciting month. I am still in my same area, which makes 10 months in the same city. Thanksgiving came, and me and my companion celebrated by eating some buckwheat, and potatoes. Quite tasty, i guess we had no choice, because it was the only thing that we had to eat. It is funny the things that you are willing to eat on your mission. One of our investigators made us squid, and my companion refused to eat it. I figured that i might as well try it, and it was definately an experience to remember. I wish i could tell you what other "wierd" foods that i have eaten, but to tell you the truth, i have no idea what i am eating most of the time. I find comfort in not asking, if i dont not know. The work is going really good here. We are working out butts off trying to accomplish President Hinckley's challenge. It is really hard when these visa trips mess up things though. We going on exchanges like 3 times a week. As i am writing this, we are in a threesome trying to cover two areas. I am having a blast though. I guess i will tell you a story that happened last night. So, we were sleeping at some other elder's place, and they called us and told us that they just got chased by a guy with a knife by their apartment. We we just happened to be exactly in that area. So as soon as my comp told me, we started to run, without a reason. We ran across the street, and i turned around and saw the guy that had the knife, and he was following us. Of course we booked it out of there, and he decided that he shouldnt chase us. Moral of the story, I am blessed, and so very lucky. Ok, and thats that. Everythings great. I love serving the Lord here in the Russia Samara Mission, which also happens to be the BEST mission in the world. (sorry about bursting all your bubbles.) I love you all, and i hope you are working your butt off. Time is too short. Have a great month. Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Jimmy Miller

Ridiculous!!I have seriously like 5 minutes to write this and I don't remember what my last letter said. Well in short the last couple weeks have been pretty amazing. The three weeks ago our mission president promised everyohne a phone call of someone wanting to be baptized if we would continue to work diligently. So a week and a half after that we still hadn't received a call or really seen much of anything. Monday of the second week we planned to have 2 new investigators and both fell through. Tuesday was gonna be a great day, but it too failed. So Wednesday, P-Day, came not any too soon. Then that day, around 4 we were headed down to the church to email when we came out of the subway my phone buzzed that i got a voicemail. I called it and it was one of the Sisters saying to call her back quickly. So i did. She was screaming "Miracle!" when i answered. She said a friend of the area 70 had emailed him and said he wanted to be baptized and that he lived in our area! She told us to meet her and her companion at the Trump Tower that night for an appointment with this guy and the area seventy! It was amazing and he's set for baptism in December. I know that God is over this work and that He will assisst us as we show our faith. Keep it up guys. I admire those of you in colder climate than I. (Jeff in particular!) I'm dying with the cold winds we get here. We also recently had Elder Holland come and speak to our stake. It was amazing. He said he came to tell us that even thought things looked tough "Everything is ok!" It was powerful. We and our investigator got to shake his hand. It was sweet. Anywho. Carry on boys! Have a Merry Christmas!! LOVE ELDER MILLER

Elder Gary Chambers
I switched on you guys again! Haha Oh man that never gets old... and speaking of old, La Vega is now history, and I'm now registered in Buenas Aires... The Northern section of Santiago. I don't know so much about Good Air, but it sure is a neat lil area... Our entire area is made up of about 16 shortish streets, so pretty much everyone has had lessons, is an inactive, or an active member... not too much new other then that... OH WAIT!!....... no.... nope nevermind. I did get a new comp though who happens to be my FDC (First Domincan Comp) (like I even had to explain that one...) His name is Elder Mota and he sure looks like he's not a Dominican (it's his white skin). It's cool though, he's helping me alot with the whole language speaking thing because he doesn't know english. Oh yeah! I was walking up one of the 16 streets of ours, and I noticed this little girl of about 5 years staring at me (it's my white skin)... I thought, "aahhh... how cute, this lil girl is staring at me. I'm going to say hi when we pass her." So all geared up, we began to pass and I turned, smiled and in a friendly voice said, "Hola"... Almost immediately she responded... "Shut up!" It completely caught me off guard and I just started laughing right there... hahaha that lil girl is funny. Thanks for listening gents! Time is low so I must go. Loves! Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Logan Wells

yo wat is up my brothers and sisters? well guess its that time again its been doing great well i am still here chilling in the british virgin islands on the island of tortola well i keep hoping that daniel is gonna write me and tell me that he is coming to tortola on a cruise we get them in everyday and he just keeps going on all of these cruises, so that is an invitation, haha well yeah things are going great here we are see so much success right now, the lord has blessed me so much, we are getting people to church like every week and helping lots come back to the church. Its amazing what the lord will do if we just ask for a little help. i really see miracles everyday of my life, well saturday the 29 i am going to be entering the ocean, yeah its great whe n you have baptism there are no fonts and so we go to the ocean, so that is pretty sick. Well i love it so much, i look forward to your letters every month, i love hearing about all the progression on your missions, the holidays have me going for a spin becasue they were just here yesterday, so crazy. Well i hope all is well in all the places that you are, gary expect something around christmas there is a member that is going home for christmas and they live in santiago, you are actually in his area right now, if your still in la vega he served there for like almost a year his name is miguel bueno i dont know if you know him or not , well i love you all. merry thanksgiving and happy christmas

love you all logan

Anziano Scott Ball

Hey my missionary friends!Everything is going great here in Italy. I haven't written the past few newsletter letters, but I hope that they were good. I am now in Modena where they make balsamic vinegar and cheese! The food is amazing. I don't know if anyone heard that Rome is getting a temple! I don't think it will be coming soon, but we are all glad that it is coming. I'm now on bike for the first time in my mission and it is painful. I didn't know I could be sore in some spots of my body and I don't think I will ever get used to riding a bike. On top of riding a bike, it is very cold here and it was snowing the other day. Anyway, We have transfers the week before Christmas and I hope that I don't get transfered out of here. I hope that everyone has a good christmas and that y'all keep on keeping on!vi voglio un mare di bene e tanti auguri per natale, Anziano Ball

Elder Chase Judd

Hey friends,Well i have 8 months in the mission now i am getting pretty old. Well this past weekend was the rededication of the mexico city temple and we got to watch on sunday it was way cool to see all of the new things in there but yeah while i was watching it my backpack was in another room and some little beaner/frijolero stole my camera so all of my pictures are gone all of my memories especially all of my BAPTISMAL pictures ahhh! I love mexicans its just some are a little sneaky and it can happen anywhere in the world. I am still in Catemaco the witch and wizard place but yeah still havent seen any so its my goal before i leave here i bet i will leave this change. I love you keep working hard have fun don't get to serious like me i have changed alot. good bye. LOVE CHASEY FACEY O ELDER JUDD

Elder Blake Smith

Hello!
I am finally here in Argentina. Yesterday the weather was amazing it didn’t rain but it made walking around alot better. We finally had a break from the heat and Islept with a blanket last night. We have some pretty good investigators right now. I am still getting used to the food here, it just isn’t very flavorful, but I guess when you are here for a while you get used to it. ya so last week we played soccer as a zone. I scored three goals and it was so fun. We had one native play with us the totally blew us away. He was so good. And we have to play during the siesta or during the middle of the day so everyone was so burnt. Except me I got darker. I am going to be black when I get home. The funniest thing on the mission happened last Thursday. Ha ha we opened the mouth why we were on the way to an appointment. And the guy we were talking to was talking bad about the church and missionaries. He just wasn’t being nice. Ha ha and then some dog ran up to him lifted his leg and peed all over that guys leg. I had to try so hard not to just crack up laughing. He deserved it though. He was being mean. Man I love that dog. Oh something else that was funny so on one cuadra or block. Which these blocks aren’t very long we saw 21 dogs. It was so funny that is our record right now with 21 dogs on one block. This week we are really working on getting people to church I think we have 16 investigators right now and so we are trying to get them all to church this next week. In all reality only like 3 will show up but we have to invite them all. Have a awesome month. Love, Elder Blake Smith

2008-11-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

November News

Elder Blake Smith

Argentina, Mendoza Mission

September 2008 - 2010

Hi to all,

I am just counting down till I leave the MTC, I leave for Argentina on the 10th of November. I have endured, and am ready to move onto the real deal. We met with the consulate from Argentina, he was real cool. He talked about the people, money,streets, food, but I don't think I will understand how it all works till I get there. I have heard lots of speakers, one of my favorites was Sheri Dew. She talked about learning the language of the spirit. She was very inspirational and it was full of motivation. I have enjoyed going to the Provo Temple every week, but must say I miss and love the Mesa Temple. The weather here has been cool, it was weird to walk thru frozen grass when we went to the temple! Oh, here is a funny story. I heard my alarm go off, and I went and turned it off, I said my prayers and went into the bathroom. When I was in the bathroom I wondered why no one else was awake yet, it was 6:30...So I went back to my room and it was actually only 1:15, so I only dreamed that the alarm went off. That was so weird. So a few nights ago we had TRC, so we went to a fake store and had to buy some new clothes, as we were checking out we had to tie in the gospel somehow and get a appointment to come teach them. As were teaching we found out they were ******, all of our outlines we ever had were thrown out the window. IT was the hardest lesson I have ever taught. Not only the spanish, but how to teach them to. It was a good learning experience but it was hard. I am learning how to teach the plan of salvation in Spanish. Everyone be safe, my next letter will be from Argentina, wish me well. Love, Elder Smith

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hello everybody! Wow this month has been super crazy. Sorry about my last letter but i went to the Bahamas with my parents. We stayed in this tight resort called Atlantis. It was really cool to just chill there and get away from home..... it kinda reminded me of the cruise some of us went on before the mission. After the Bahamas i flew to Florida and stayed with my sister Sarah and Blane. I hung out with them all week and just helped around the house. We went to Disney World one day and we hit up this "ghetto seaworld" place. My nephews liked it tho, so it was fun. Then after i was done in Florida i flew straight to California to go visit my mission because i girl i taught was getting baptized. It was a REALLY LONG flight because i had to go through Chicago but on the 2nd leg of my flight i sat by these two girls who go to the Nazarene Church's version of BYU. They were kinda cute haha jk but i got to talk to them about our church and why its true and they both committed to reading the BOM!!! I was so Stoked that i got to experience that before going back. Going back and seeing all the people i taught and worked with on my mission was really different but it was good to be there. I went with my old companions to teach Kalia (the girl getting baptized) and after the lesson she asked me if i would confirm her. I was HECKA excited to. That Sunday the branch really put me to work, I gave a prayer in Sacrament meeting, taught a Sunday school class, played the piano for primary, helped set up for linger longer right after church and then confirmed Kalia and sung in the special musical number at her baptism! IT WAS FREAKING CRAZY!!! i thought that i would be normal when i came back but boy was i wrong :) So another friend from my mission that i helped out a lot just got his mission call and leaves in December. He is going to Minnesotta Hmong speaking and he asked me to be his escort for the temple so i'm heading up there again sometime this next month. Oh and Jeff you will like this..... Becca and Sarah say hello. After my trip around the country my cousin came to visit with her two friends..... don't even ask........it was as bad as i remembered. Its amazing to me how the Lord really helps us to stay focused and do misisonary work even when we get away from the routine of missionary work. It is really hard but the Lord does help us. I just got a new calling as the Choir Pianist and i'm not that excited about it but at least i have a calling now. Other than that not too much is going on. I am going to the Mayo Clinic soon and hopefully they will be able to help me out, and i'm starting to look at schools to go to. I miss you all and SORRY i'm terrible at writing but i am trying ;)
Love ya,
Daniel

Elder Grant Huish

Hey everyone! How it going. things here in Oregon are great. By some miracle the wheather is still nice. Usually by this time of the year it should just be pouring everyday.There is not really not much going on here. We have picked up 4 new investigators so far this week. hopefully the appts. we set up will go through. they all seem pretty open and interested,I just hope they don't get anti'd or something.AI never realised how much is sucks to have to be the person not to do something. Being a ZL bites sometimes. we have several missionaries in the zone that aren't too obedient. not terribly disobedient by any means just sluffing off the small stuff. well i guess someone has to tell them to stop it might as well be me. they dont listen anyway though. other than that stuff it is life as usual up here. well i guess thats it for now.

love you all grant

Elder Gary Chambers

Pues pues pues...... where did all the time go? Nothing too cool has happened since I got here in La Vega... it's kinda just a really REALLY rich area of the island that seems to stay pretty tranquilo. Probably the most interesting thing that happened this week has to do with not having any money... Because of transfers and needing to buy a fan.... my money has completely disappeared. This past week I was making up things to eat and what not, trying to get by on the little I had... Well, this all seemed to work ok until we ran out of drinking water (dang it, there goes my instant mashed potatoes...) and soon followed by the gas that powers our stove. Seeing as absolutely NONE of the 4 missionaries had enough money to get more, we all found ourselves in a pretty interesting situation. Now I know that there is such thing as home accounts, but that just spoils the fun! In our desperate state, my comp and I rigged a tin can and made a small lil fire in it so that we could fry the rest of our eggs to have some edible food. It has been a pretty intense week and although it was supposed to end today... there was a problem in the office, and we won't get any money until tomorrow..... yay..... Now I get to try and figure out which plants growing in our front yard are edible. As for liquid? I might just make an emergency trip to the chapel right across the street and borrow some H2O... who knows, anything could happen! Sorry my entry is a lil bit short... deal with it! I love you guys, hope your month rocks mine! Cuidense Love always, Elder Chambers

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey everyone!
Well, as I'm sure you all heard, a Temple was announced for our mission! Wahoo! The great part is that it will be in my area, right next to the mission home. The members in this ward are totally stoked which means fun time for the work. Elder Nelson visited us 2 weeks ago and we got to chat it up with him, it was great. The man is so intelligent its scary.During one of his talks he got tired of having a translator and just started speaking very fluent spanish. Apparently he knows like eight languages sheesh!He promised some great blessings for this mission if we all work our hardest to prepare everyone here to be able to receive a temple.He also talked about how he can look into a mans eyes and see their very soul, so as many of you can imagine, many missionaries had their eyes closed when they went up to shake his hand. (Nah jk, except that he really can see your soul, no joke.)Well I'm finally leaving the office in two weeks once I'm done training my replacement. I hope they send me up into the Sierra Mountains its amazing up there in the summer (there's also a giant rock festival as well. teehee)Well, I don't have much more time so I hope all is going well and I'll write ya'll next month! Elder Kleinman

Elder Brock Smith

Howzit Mesa Militia? I swear that its only like one week in between these things time goes by so fast I dont believe it, time is really being gay right now it wont slow down at all a member told us that we have less time now then before because of the things we do and something to do with quantum physics I didnt understand it but I kinda want to believe him cuz it would explain why it feels like my mission is just a series of blurs like it never occured one day Ill wake up and itll seem like it was just one long dream its nuts, make sure you take advantage of every minute cuz the downhill is sure a lot faster then the uphill way faster I cant how fast this year has just flown by I can still remember the time when I thought that this my mission would never end and now I dont want it to. So the other day we were walkin in the pourin rain and some guy called us over he then proceeds to tell us in a hawaiian round about way that we are crazy why would you do this well thats very easy sure because I represent the one true church on the face of this Earth Jesus hung on the cross he suffered for me I think I can walk in the rain for a couple hours for him what about you sir what would sacrifice for the Savior that cigar that bottle of heinekin no huh So your tellin me that you cant give up those things when the Savior bleed from every pore for you. He said cuz I dont have too Im already saved Im part of the kingdom. So works dont matter no they dont I just gotta preach the word and save others Uncle let me read you a verse from the book of mormon 2ne 9:34 which says if we dont follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ well be damned I said sir does that sound like works arent required think on it you have a good one and walked away he still thought we were crazy but now he has something to think about when hes sober. I swear hawaii makes no sense they focus so much on there mary jane and ice problem when its the beer and the cigs that are really the problem those to things effect way more people I mean you have drunk driving and second hand smoke come on now focus on what really matters. > Well the other week I got a letter from Mike and about had a heart attack I thought it would never happen I could barely contain myself It was crazy I mean even Elder Stoker writes me more often it was a Early Christmas Miracle I think. Well transfers are comin up and I think its gonna be crazy well see what happens but there seems to be about a fifty fifty cahnce that Ill get transfered again. Aloha my fellow Elders Malama Pono And May the Force be with you Always!B Sexy B Smooth B Smith

Elder Jeff Stoker

Dear Brothers,Another month down....NEXT! haha. I am having a blast here. The work is going so amazing. Crazy, but amazing. I swear that every time that my companion and I plan a day, it NEVER goes according to plan. I have been on exchanges all this last cycle because my companion, Elder Marsing, along with 11 other missionaries from my mission are stuck in Sweden. For some reason they could not get a new Russian Visa. They have been gone for one month now. I just got back from my visa renew trip from Kazakhstan. I cursed myself and thought i was going to go to Sweden, but i got humbled. It was a neat experience though. I was kinda amazed by how close we were to the Middle East. The entire time we were gone, we just spent studying, eating, and sleeping. Needless to say, i am glad to be back in my area. My companion is still gone, but hopefully he will be returning sometime within a week or two. This entire month, i have been serving with Elder Slezak, and we have been covering two areas. I am having a blast though. These visa trips are so annoying, but things always seem to work out. We have some really cool investigators, and i am loving it. I thought we were out to preach the gospel, but it seems like i am learning more everytime i meet someone new. I am kinda bummed that i didnt get to go to the temple, but i guess i deserve it. hah. Ok, i want to tell you a story about a lady i met in Kazakhstan. We went to the capital city, Astana, and we slept in an apartment close to the Humanitarian Missionaries that serve there. The Church isnt registered in that city, so we had to take off our name tags, and we were forbidden to do any contacting. It turns out that there is only one member there in Astana besides the humanitarian missionaries. Her name is Jana. She saves up money, and rides on a bus everyday for 3 hours to come and take sacrament every week that is held in the living room of the humanitarian missionaries here. She doesnt even speak english, and that is all the senior couple knows. In that sacrament meeting, three languages are used between the three people. It definately makes me realize how lucky we are. She is a HUGE example to me and I was so impressed by her. I couldnt believe how much she sacrafices every day. I know that there are people like this every where, and it makes me so happy to be where i am, and do what i am doing. I know that everyone of you are having life changing experiences. You all are getting old now. I cant believe it is Halloween....again. Happy holidays. I love you all. Keep on working hard. Especially you Chase! haha. Have a great month, and i expect everyone to write next month....dont let me down.Elder Jeffery Stoker

ps. Snow is coming....help me... soon i will be walking over the Volga River. Quite an accomplishment huh?

Elder Jimmy Miller

Greetings Everyone!!!The last month has been glorious!! I remain district leader in South Manhattan but I now have Elders in my district. And I'm also a FATHER! I'm training an Elder from Finland, Elder Parkka. He's awesome and loves the work. We rocked it this last month. We had a sweet awesome baptism. Back in August we got a referral from a member for his friend Jacinta, from Australia, he had invited her to church and she had really enjoyed it. But she went out of town for over a month so we didn't meet her until late September. But from the time we first met to her baptism was 3 and half weeks. She was so ready. She actually moved up her baptism date. She's already finished the Book of Mormon and we took her to the temple last week. It was amazing. It's one of those converts that you feel like you honestly didn't do anything they were so prepared. So needless to say we feel very blessed. It's getting mighty cold here and I'm not looking forward to it. Here in Manhattan we never go inside we're always on the street and people don't like to talk when its cold. So we're praying for a mild winter and that i can put on some fat! Anywho. Keep the faith and carry on! Love Elder Miller

Elder Logan Wells

Okay what to say to my brothers in Christ

Well its been great I am still here in The British Virgin Islands on the island of Tortola, transfers are next week and I will probably be staying becaue my comp has been here for 8 months so the odds are pretty high. Which to tell the truth I really dont mind because I love it here and have been seeing so much success. You know the month of October we had the challenge for the whole mission to read the Book of Mormon and so I took it. Well its been such an eye opener for me because I have seen the reality of so many things in the scriptures, its just amazing to know that we have so much guidance in this life. Truly, I think alot of people take andvantage and think they are so alone and well all it takes is for them to pick of there sticks and read a little and realize that they are not alone. Its been awesome here I think alot of you are starting to get a little cold, well I am still here in my 80 degree weather that will not change and at times seems like it never stops raining its been crazy, I love the dry weather of Arizona truly I do,and our air conditioning, mmmmm I think I have slipped off into a dream. No but its been so great here I love Tortola, its just insane to think how many different places we are in, but none the less we are doing the work of our Father in heaven. But I love you guys and until next month. Peace. Logan

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey hey everybody,Wow I can't believe I have to write another one of these again. Last month I took the easy way out and had my mom put together different letters to form the entry but I'm back now. Things are going really well over here for me in New Rochelle NY. I'm still here for the forth cycle which starts today and I finally got a new companion. Elder Miranda stayed with me for a while, but he finally got away from me. My new companion is Elder Doermann who I have already been with down in Olmstead. I didn't really believe it when it happened but we're back together and ready to get out and work. Lately the work has been going really good for us here, we've been teaching a lot of brasilians and I've been picking up a (really) little bit of portugues to be able to better communicate. It's really funny how similar the two are though, as after a little accomodation anyone who speaks the one can at least understand basic ideas of what someone speaking the other is saying. I dont' know if that made sense but ya. The bad news is they just brought in new Elders to teach portugues and so our thunder was taken from us. A couple of weeks ago we were able to baptise the largest Dominican (here's to you Gary) that I've ever met.The man was difficult to pull back up out of the water without falling back in myself, but we managed through it. We've had some sweet experiences lately with answered prayers and whatnot but not too much room here to share them all. One of them we brought a lady to church this past weekend and at the end of it all she told us how good she felt being there in the church, how much love she felt from the members, how many things she learned, and at the end told us that this is where she wanted to be every Sunday from here on out. It was way sweet.Well keep up the amazing work out there, I love and miss you all. Garrett

Elder Chase Judd

Hi Elderes, I am still in Catemaco. I like it but is pretty tough. I just hit my 6 month mark.Well we had a Baptism, WOO HOO!!! It was a difficult beast to kill but it was worth it. There is a story behind it, don't worry I will tell you. We were going to Baptize our investigator in the Laguna but it started raining at 9 in the morning, so we went to the church to fill the font and left it running while we ate some breakfast, and yeah guess what happened? It's not what you think, it didn't run over it stopped at the first step. We were out of water... Scared ya!!! There was NO way I was going to fill it with a bucket, I did that last time and WOW my arms were burning after that experience. So yeah, we turned the faucet on and it started to drip out a little bit, so we left it and then we went to pick up Juana at 11 and guess what, she wasn't at home. We were pretty crushed, and I wondered why Satan always wins at these times? But don't worry I still had faith, so we went to the house and prayed, and went to search for the little run away. We had checked her house at least 6 times that day and at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon we went back and she was their, and boy did she have some doubts about baptism. The best one was why can people like you come down here and we can't go up there? So I told her this is probably the only chance you are going to have in your life to be baptized and be washed free of your sins if you pass this opportunity who knows if it will ever come again. YES, it worked and she went to the church with us, and we baptized her. What a Day!! Well I love you all, I hope you are having sucess. Love, Elder Judd

Elder Max Crandall

Dudes and Dudettes -- So things here is the NorthWest are Northwestery. The missionary work in our area has been booming. It’s most excellent, seeing as it has been dead for well over a year. We’ve been trying to work really hard to build up the Spanish group up here. Basically, there are about three or four families that are active to semi-active. Of course, everyone knows you need families like this to start a branch or even a group, so we’ve been trying to help them build their faith along with inviting their friends to be taught. We’ve had a few success stories, but it’s been really neat to see the strength of these few families. We’ve all planned a temple trip for them in mid-November and they are all trying so hard to stay temple worthy so they can go. What probably helps the most in all of this is we have one of the most amazing bishops. He is so helpful and missionary-minded. He is constantly trying to work with part-member families in our ward, almost behind our backs. It’s neat. There is one part-member family that we’ve been working with. They are a Hispanic family and the dad is not a member. The mom and kids were baptized a couple of months ago but Tony (the dad) wasn’t really interested. He hurt his back so until it gets better he’s making piñatas for a living. When we first started going over there, Tony would make fun of us, swear at us, and other such negative activities. Now he is on date for baptism on November 8th and he’s changed so much. We also have two other people on date for baptism. It is really exciting. I eat really well up here in Bellingham. A member owns a discount grocery store and gives us each $20 every month. I mostly eat oatmeal and chimichangas. I need to come up with a fabulous drink though. Our mission president recently made a lot of changes, especially with P-day. So basically we aren’t allowed to use our cars on P-day anymore. We are also not allowed to meet missionaries anywhere but our church building. This has greatly reduced the time left over for letter writing and laundry and other such P-day activities. We’ve been having to walk everywhere on P-day. So P-days are like Sundays; naps, soft music, friends, family gospel, rest, sleeping…but throw in no transportation. On the upside, I feel so lucky that I got to see conference. I hope you guys were able to either see or hear it. Although I really missed watching it on my mom’s couches. And I missed going to the priesthood session with my Dad. The priesthood session was so great. I think my favorite talk might have been Richard G. Scott but I’ll have to do a more in depth study of all my notes and get back to you. It feels like I went to a totally great rock concert with a ton of stellar bands and I can’t process which was the best. The church is true and I honestly can’t see how anyone could doubt that. Keep on tractin’. –Elder Crandall

Anziano Scott Ball

Buon Giorno,
Right now in Modena, we are searching for new investigators. The couple I was talking about in the past letters didn't accept our baptismal invite. This is the story. They are a couple that isn't married (like most italians). They live together and have lived together for the past 8 years. The woman loves the church and found the church and introduced it to her companion. They have been taught for about a year and she has been ready for baptism for a while. The sisters were teaching them during that time and the sisters gave both of them a invite to be baptized and they said that they weren't ready and also the fact that they have to get married first. Anyways, blah blah.. shortened up.. the male companion became afraid of marriage and baptism and stopped doing anything. Then we started teaching them and they love the elders. So after 6 months of him doing progress again and ready to be baptized... we give him the invite to be .. first married... then baptized. He made up a ton of excuses and said that he wasn't ready for it still ... after a year of this. I'm almost sick of him. Anyways, the woman started crying because he is holding her back from being baptized. It is a mess. I'm glad I don't have a family as messed up as some here. Ciao, Scott

October News

2008-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER NEWS

Elder Dallas Rowley

Ohio Columbus Mission
May 2008 - 2010

Hello everybody!

Things are going great here in Gahanna, Ohio. I just got back from transfers, and I went from a threesome to a twosome. So I am really excited for my first "normal" transfer. We've really been having alot of new investigators lately. It's been awesome. Some cool things about Gahanna, well we have a way sweet new apartment. We have a vine behind our apartment, a 30' vine like the vines you would see on Tarzan. Ohio has some pretty great storms. A couple weeks ago we had the wind caused by the hurricane, and it was pretty brutal. There were power lines and trees down EVERYWHERE, and trees were crashed into houses here & there. Leaves and sticks lined the streets. We didn't have power for a little over 3 days. There was a huge tree in the local cemetery that was uprooted by the storm, and it's roots flung a bunch of coffins and dead bodies all over the graveyard. It was pretty gruesome, but it wasn't all that bad since it didn't actually happen. But a big tree in the cemetery did fall down by the storm. Anyways, a guy in our ward, Brother Hartzell, works for the city's electricity, and he had to work a week's worth of 15 hour days until all the power in the city was back. He was way exhausted, but he got the power back! Our district sang today at transfers. A samoan in our district played his ukelalie as we sang "how can I be?" it's a song about the book of mormon characters. it went really well. There's a lesson you can all learn from the samoan(elder Afatasi)'s companion, Elder Brown. Their bikes got stolen, and they tried to get them back, so when they found the thieves, they got out of the member's car and tried to get them back. Elder Afatasi got his because of his size, and Elder Brown got out to "support" his companion, and he got his jaw broken in 2 places. He's fine now, he has 2 disks in his jaw. So if your bikes get stolen, or if you are being robbed, let it happen. Well, I am out of time. I love my mission. Time is flying faster and faster each day. I'm more and more excited for the rest of my mission each day. I hope you all recognize the "greatness of your calling" on your mission. Keep it up! Elder Dallas Rowley

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody,It has been another good week here in New Rochelle. Elder Miranda and I have been working hard and praying for our investigators and zone and things are looking pretty good for us right now. We keep finding good people to teach, people who are interested and have questions for us, so its been really fun lately going out and teaching. One of the elders in our apartment went home and guess who his replacement is! Elder (Cameron) Hardy! It was weird seeing him coming through the door with all his luggage. Probably the craziest thing that has happened recently is Elder Billings' incident. He is a crazy Aussie that I live with. Apparently, Elder Billings thought he would be tough and eat a mushroom off the side of the road that looked tasty. He did it in Australlia occasionally and so he thought it would be fine to do here. Elder Mook told him not to, but Elder Billings assured him that he knew what he was doing. Yup, it turned out that he didn't know what he was doing, and had to spend the night and almost the next night in the hospital after puking out blood and some crazy diarrhea! We have an investigator who owns a bodega (a hispanic mini-mart/liquor store), and we go teach him right there in the bodega, which is a different =0 Ateaching environment. He is an awesome investigator. I hope everything is going well and that you're having some cool experiences as well. Don't go eating any shrooms! Love you all tons, Garrett

Elder Chase Judd

Time is flying by so fast, I already have 6 months!! Holy cow I'm scared, I hope I don't have an accent.. We have transfers tomorrow, and my comp is leaving for Mina 3 hours south, and I am getting a white companion woof! He is only a month older then me, and he will be senior companion. I am kind of nervous but we will see, his name is Elder Wray. It should be exciting!!!Conference was really good, I got to watch it in English and the room had air conditioning it was awesome!! We had one baptism last night, our other one fell through on Friday, her husband wouldn't let her. I love being a missionary!!! I love you all, I love my area, I love this church, I know its very true from all I have seen down here. I hope you all have a testimony of this Church if you don't read Ether 12:6 and then pray love ya all!!

Elder Judd

Elder Gary Chambers

Hey there Gentlemen and Ladies! I just got transferred.... today :) kinda sucks to be honest... I didn't really want to go, but that's the name of the game, right? Yeah my comp Elder Yack got a kid this transfer, so I got shipped out to a cute lil place called La Vega (nothing like Las Vegas). It's actually a pretty big city, the only problem is that it is FULL of ricos... meaning big Iron/steel gates to knock on... and still nobody hears you. Yeah that doesn't work... Luckily my new companion Elder ****** (did anyone ever watch Gargoyles as a kid?... just wondering) is saying that they do pretty ok with references from members... so I'm going to assume he isn't lying and hope for the best! As I said, today is day one, and a P-Day at that, so all I know is the house is roomy, the toilet works fine (very important), and the fridge has a cool little ice box in it where I put my nifty "UPHILL" water bottle (a missionary must). I couldn't really tell you all about my new comp... because we haven't had a lot of time to talk, we came over to use the internet right after I finished unpacking... during which time he talked to all the other missionaries in the house (4 man house). In the small lil conversation we had on the way over here, however, I did learn that him and another missionary in the house have a steady membership at a nearby gym which he says is a good gym... So I just might join them, who knows..... Either way, this room is way too cold, I think Dominicans should take classes on how to use an AC unit, because I don't think they know. Well, sorry I don't have any cute stories... maybe next time. K love you bye!
Love, always, Elder Chambers

Elder Logan Wells

Hello...Well another month came and gone its not long before the time will be up and we will be going from one homecoming to the next and well its cool. well i am still here in tortola it is really awesome i love it so much. Well i have found a secret lover her name is reggae its a pretty cool type of music you cant really go anywhere without hearing it. its pretty cool, well let me see funny story of the month well lets see we had a couple of Elders come over for a night so that we could take a boat over to St. Thomas for a zone conference well we decided to do a little companion exchange well they decided that we could take the truck becasue we had a couple of appts so well me and Elder Jones took the truck of the which is my first time driving without my companion so that was a first he has to watch me so I don't make any mistakes well as you would know we passed our place that we were suppose to be going by about 5 miles and Istarted to look around and wonder why it did not ever seem to be that far away well I turned around and the instincts of american driving kicked on so i started driving and i am looking ahead and i see these light coming at me well they just kept coming and me and Elder Jones are just like what the heck is going on and well I just remembered that its not him making the mistake its me I was driving on the wrong side of the road, its pretty crazy. Its been a little hard getting used to but the driving on the other side of the road can be a little much sometimes but its all good. I really love it here though a bit of a cultural shock but what really isn't when you are serving a mission? Well I love you guys go forward and baptize the whole world!
Peace, LOGANDREWELLS

Elder Grant Huish
hello fellow missionaries all is well in oregon. i would like you all to know that i am not lazy(stupid chase). i actually work if you can believe it. i know its kind of crazy seeing as how i was darn near one of the laziest people on the face of the earth back home, but its true. i guess i just never really had anything to work towards back hom. well the story i would like to tell you now has nothing to do with missionary work it is about how evil tongans are. so last pday we were playing ultimate frisbee. and when the girls highschool soccer team showed up to use the fields we decided to leave. sadly i forgot to pick up my wallet. i realised this a couple hours later. i told elder ***** what had happened and he told me he would go back and get it for $500, i said now of course and went back myself to get it. i asked the soccer coaches and the parents and no one had seen anything. i though all hope was lost. i went back home and went out to work for the evening. i called the mission office to have them cancel my jp morgan card and to have them contact my parents to have them cancel my card as well. at about 10:15 that night i get a call from elder ******. he asks me if i found my wallet to which i replied no. he then asked me what i was doing the next day. i told him our plans to which he replied. you should come pick up your wallet. so the moral of the story is that tongans are evil, and girls soccer teams are absolutely no help. the end. love grant

Elder Max Crandall

Gentlemen – Things are going okay here in Bellingham. It is absolutely gorgeous up here; green as far as the eye can see. We had a dinner with some members a while ago who said Bellingham was supposed to be the Chicago of the Northwest, but they didn’t finish the train rails all the way up here. Since the rails didn’t make it this far north, Seattle became the Chicago of the Northwest – so they say. Bellingham is a neat little city; nothing like Seattle. There are a ton of hippies up here! Hippies and college students. We live next to this hippie guy who is just about fried out of his mind every time we talk to him. Then when we say we have to go, he bows to us and wishes us well. He’s great. The people here are really friendly and it seems like Bellingham is one of the more family-oriented cities here in my mission. I am no longer on a bike here in Bellingham, which is going right to my hips. Just kidding. I’m trying to run a little bit in the mornings, although I am very, very glad to be in a car now that the rain’s a-comin’. I think summer has finally called it quits up here, and although that means murky, cloudy, dreary days, we are still blessed beyond what we deserve. I’m serving as a district leader now and it is a seriously humbling experience. I’ve been a district leader’s companion through most of my mission so I thought I knew all the ins and outs. I knew it would be hard but I figured I had a leg up given my experience. Well, turns out all of my “experience” is worth bupkiss. I have a really good district though. I don‘t really have to do much to make sure they’re working. They are all great missionaries. I am so happy to be out here serving the Lord as a missionary. It is the oddest, greatest, and most rewarding thing I’ve done yet. I’m not really looking forward to coming home in a year. It has been a really weird experience hitting the year mark. I don’t feel any more experienced than the first day Elder Rammell held me in his arms and said, “I hope you’re ready to work.” This recent anniversary has left me in a constant state of ponderment and wonder. It seems to me that the Lord would have had a much more effective two years if he had called someone older, wiser, and more mature but I’m thankful the Lord didn’t do that and He called me. I know this church has the complete, eternal gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that He died for each of us so we could return to our Father, with clean hands and pure hearts. I am so grateful I have been blessed to live in a time where I can enjoy the blessings of the gospel and share them with everyone. –Elder Crandall

Anziano Scott Ball

Ciao!I have been transferred to Modena. It is amazing! We have been totally busy everyday since I got here. I haven*t had any time to do finding work here which I have been doing in the past few cities. We have had a appointment after appointment. I*m really glad to be here. Anziano Hatch has been in the mission just 3 more months than I have and he is really amazing. He is from Aztec, New Mexico which is just 30 minutes from Durango, Colorado. He speaks Italian just fine and we get along very nicely. We both had companions this last transfer who were a little bit mad, but now we are both happy to be free of them. Modena has a beautiful meeting house! It*s pretty much just like the one we go to in Mesa. We have a huge ward too! Our ward is about 80 members. The amazing thing here is that they pay their tithing and fully. We (as missionaries) see how the ward was blessed* with an amazing meeting house. I will actually tell a funny story that just happened. Our bishop here at Modena is a really famous blood doctor, but other than that I wanted to tell a story. He was asking the missionaries if the ward could by us (the missionaries) a car. So this is how this ward works.. since they pay their tithing*they have a lot of money and we also have a member who owns part of a insurance company and one who sells cars. So they all got together and set up a plan of getting a *ward* car and the missionaries would use it only when they had to go out of the city (which would be a lot cheaper for us). The ward would use the car for going on trips to the Switzerland Temple. I have to say that would be a great idea. Anyways, we talked to our president and he said that we could have only one provided by the mission(which are limited to two cars in our mission). We were kind of sad, because we were so excited to get a car instead of a bike. This ward is amazing though! They give the missionaries a lot of referrals and there are already a few baptisms planned in the future. We have one coming up next month and should have another 2 that same month. One baptismaldate we will be setting tonight for a couple. They already accepted to be baptized, we just have to set a date. I*m so out of energy everyday when we come home because we head from one appointment to the next. We have a lot of work right now because there is only one companionship here and there used to be two here. Our guess is that president will be splitting our companionship up after this transfer and both Anziano Hatch and I will be training new missionaries which will make two companionships. The sisters are pretty cool here. They are having a hard time with the work here, but they are seeing amazing changes and we saw a miracle during district meeting (our meeting that we do one a week for correlation for us and the sisters). While we were having district meeting, 2 women rang the doorbell of the church and so we let them in. Turns out that one of them just came here from Brazil and is a member. She talked to her friend so much about the church that her friend wants to come to church also. The sisters set a appointment with them and I*m sure that the sisters will have that woman baptized. Yeah, the people of Treviso were hard to talk to or rather even stop on the street. Here in Modena, it is much more relaxed and there are many people who are from Southern Italy who are always friendly. I*d have to say that here and Genoa are equal in how nice the people are. I can say that I can start a conversation with anyone on the street here* it seems like heaven compared to Treviso. Ciao Ciao, Anziano Ball

Elder Jeff Stoker

Dear BFFs,
Things are going good over on this side of the world. Me and Scott have got it taken care of. So I think that my mission call should have read, "you will be serving in the World Mission". We just found out that the Visa renewal trips will now be changed to Sweden. Which means that I will be able to attend the TEMPLE! I am so excited about that. I am not telling you this to brag...(ok maybe a little bit), But Just letting you know how crazy every single day is on a mission. It is amazing how you can get one single phone call and it will change everything. Things have been really good this cycle though. I am still in the same area with the same companion, which is really good, because my area is the "ghetto" of saratov. I love it too, although some times it gets a little scary. If i can be friends with all of you this long, than i can easily make it in the ghetto right? So the work is going amazingly. It is so great that God CHOOSES to work through immature, unprepared 19 year olds. It is so great to see the way that the gospel changes peoples lives. Thanks for all your examples. I love you all. Have a great month. and remember...Keep on keeping on.
Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Mike Kleinman
Hey everyone! Well another month blown by! It sure does go really fast. I hope everyone is doing well in their various missions. We just got transfers and I will be officially leaving the office. ¡Por fin! It is a little sad though as I have been learning a whole lot of really funny slang from my latin comp. I still don't know where I will be getting sent though seeing that I still have to train my replacement. Elder Nelson will be coming down to visit our mission the friday after general conference. So I gotta put on my spiffy tie! We baptized a woman this past week names Sonia Sosa, shes 26 and is super cool. The mission overall is improving exponentially, seeing real miracles, in trying to complete with the challenge from Pres. Hinckley to double the baptismal rate. Really exciting times! Well, remember that as some of us are now on the downhill, (Brock I'm looking at you!) we really need to make the best out of the time we have remaining. The mission is great with too many awesome experiences to tell in a short letter. But I guess there'll be plenty of time for that when we are all back. Well, until next month! Chau Chau
Elder Kleinman

Elder Brock Smith
Wow another month gone. I am back in Hilo, me and my new comp whitewashed into an area Yep again I whitwashed into a place where no work has been done for about 21/2 months. The mission pres calls me up on Mon and says Elder Smith the Lord wants you to serve once again as a District Leader on this Isand.The Lord is trusting to do your best and this is a tough area, and usually I do not like to have to finish your mission with such pressure, But this is the Lords call not mine. By the way your whitewashing also, oh great thats just great, I'll do it Pres I cant say no but its not exactly the best way to end my mission with way flippin hard trials.Next transfer we get 25 greenies so I hope that I will get to train Jessie Browns nephew. that would be awesome. I know what the best medicine is though, work work, work there is no substitute. Well I hope you all are doing good out there Its a great time to be a missionary since the America is being humbled and may soon be in a depression I mean heck the stock market could crash today, and we dont have to worry cuz the work of the Lord will always continue to go forward nothing can stop it. I really envy you who have more time then me left mission life takes away many cares and sorrows of the world cherish your time it will fly by soon you will only have four months left too, so make it count! Peace out! Elder B Smith

September News

2008-09-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Elder Dallas Rowley

Hey Everybody,
Wow, it has been a while since I've written in here. I've been here in Ohio for about 2 months. I love it here. The city I live in is called Gahanna. It's on the list of "Top 100 best places to live in the world". Which is nice. The people here are very nice and kind, but very dedicated to their religion, which is mostly catholic. But I'm in week 3 of my second transfer right now. I stayed, and one of the elders in our fourpad got transferred to Marblecliff. So now I'm in a threesome. My companion's names are Elder Linderman (trainer) and Elder Joy. We have been having alot of success as a threesome so far. We have 2 baptism dates, and 2 recent converts who are awesome. It's amazing to see the difference of investigators' ability to learn before and after they recieve the Holy Ghost. Their names are Brother and Sister Cox. Brother Cox was telling us a story last night about "back in the day" when he put a guy in the hospital for 2 weeks with one punch to the chest. He also does some really cool leather work. Right now, he is making me my very own customized billfold. He is preparing to recieve the Aaronic Priesthood in a couple weeks. They're good people. I have seen miracle after miracle here. There have been alot of health problems in the companionship, and I have been blessed to have the opportunity to exercize the Priesthood for healing them. I have a new, strong testimony of the priesthood. It's a very real power. Well, I don't write well under pressure, and I only have 3 minutes left of E-mail left, thanks alot, ugghh. I love you guys, Godspeed.

Elder Dallas Rowley

Elder Brock Smith

Whats up My town Bros,Time has sure been flyin by. Still here on Oahu, working hard. We are teaching a few new families, and working with some less actives as well. The islands are beautiful all this water, and rain is sure diff than what I am used too. I would stay here forever if it were not for My Mom and Sister, I would never want to leave this place. I cant believe I have less than 5 months left, I want the time to slow down....Logan I am grateful all is well with you,and wish you the best for the remained of your time.Daniel, I have been fasting and praying for you much bro. I pray Gods speed be with you, that you can have a speedy recovery, I know you did more than most of us the time you were out, you were Sr Comp so soon and DL all be fore you were even out 1 yr. That is amazing speed. You Are a giant in the gospel bro, your the bomb.. Love ya Man... Hang in there,I cant imagine how hard it is for you right now.. Just know you are one of My Heroes. I will keep praying for you,Hang in there bro.Work Hard, stay strong, and May the force be with you always..B. sexy,B. Smooth, B. Smith

Elder Mike Kleinman

¡¿Cómo andan misioneros?!It is really hard to write in english now, all I have had are latin comps except for my trainer. But thats great because now my spanish is tizzite. Sorry for not writing last month! Like any of you noticed :(Hah, jk jk. Anyway, things are really picking up here in Córdoba and the work is steadily moving foward, we have had some freak illnesses (as in the entire mission) lately but we have seen some really great blessings come from our sacrifices. I got a stomach worm and/or virus and lost a bunch of weight neato huh? I'll probably gain it back seeing as today we are going to a giant BBQ for Pday. oh well. It great to hear all of your stories in your various missions its really...enlightening(?) or sumthin. Anywho, I am really bad at ending letters like these so I'll give y'all a choice:A) I love you all!B) "Keep on Keepin' on" --Garrett JonesC) ¡Ciaó!D) Other:_______________
Elder Kleinman

Elder Chase Judd

I love Mexico, i love the people, and i hate the weather ah just kidding i feel bad for Jeffler in the freezing cold Weather haha you are punished for how many hours you played Halo hahaha just kidding i bet Russia is awesome! But transfers are here and i am going to the Jungle with monkeys and Witches yeah people keep telling me that there are a lot of witch craft there so we will see what happens i am excited! I hope everyone is doing well in there areas and not being lazy and doing the lords work! No sea flojo elder huish nah chiste! i love you all keep on doing what needs to be done for the lord so we can all see our baptisms after this life!
LOVE ELDER JUDD

Elder Jeff Stoker

Hey hey,
So i am pretty sure that all of August was a dream. It is crazy how many stressful things can happen during a month, and when you look back you cant even remember one of them. So i got transfered to another area in the same city i was in before, Saratov. I am glad that i am still here too. Saratov is known in our mission as the "ghetto", but i decided i love the ghettos. hah. Anyways, i went to Czech Republic this month, and it was amazing. I actually ate at Subway. It was soooo good. (dont say anything Gary...Remember our working days?) Anyways, it was a way fun trip, but we never had time to sleep, and it was for 48 hours of continuous travel. In my new area, the work is going crazy. I love being apart of it. It seems like for every bad thing that happens, 100 good things happen. sorry my letter is so random, but that is what happens when you have ADD. So i guess there is a war going on or something (i honestly dont know anything about it) with Georgia and Russia and USA took georgia's side. So needless to say, Russians arent very happy when we tell them we are from America. It is funny how many people have asked me about it, and why america is against russia, but i can honestly say i have no idea. I Heart Russia. It is crazy to think that everyone is approaching thier year marks. Wow you guys are old. Brock, you better get off your suitcase making airplane noises! hah jk. Alrighty, i honestly dont know what else to write. I think Max wins every newsletter with his entries. I think that there must be power in that typewriter. A Beer poster?!? Come on! hah. Thanks for everything that you guys have done, are doing, and will do.. Have a great Month.
Elder Jeff Stoker
ps. Everything is good with my stomach now. The doctor has some miracle pills. I think they only worked because they were made by the Soviet Union! Hammer and Sickle. hah i love that sign.

Anziano Scott Ball

Ciao to all the missionaries,
I'm still serving in Treviso, we just had transfers two weeks ago and the Lord is telling me that something else needs to be done here! Well, I'm glad that I stayed, because we received 4 referrals right before transfers and I wanted to contact them. We have contacted only one of them at this point and time because everyone is still on vacation. Everything closes here for the month of August and everyone goes to the beach.. so it is really hard to get anything done. Referrals are hard to find in this part of the work in contrast to the US. We had a great lesson with our referral. She actually went to Temple Square and was taken on a 2 hour tour and loved it. We gave her a Book of Mormon with the invite to read and pray and she said that she would call us when she has completed the book... but then I said "No! you need to read Moroni 10:3-5 and pray .. then you can call us, not after you have read the whole book." I'm impatient about those things. We are really excited that s he understands a ton and wants to read.
Other than that, our nice little italian branch is doing well. We have our 35 members and they are doing great. I've been dipping into the spanish language a little bit because we have a investigator that speaks half spanish/half italian.. so sometimes I try to respond back in spanish. Spanish has to be the easiest language to learn... it doesn't have complicated prepositions like italian.
I want a native companion sooo bad, but it is really improbable that I will get one.
I hope that everyone is doing well!
Anziano Ball

Elder Grant Huish

hey errrrbody.things here in oregon are great. especially now that i have a car. i am so happy that i wont be as nasty sweaty when i show up to an appointment anymore. the work is going well. my little greenie and i are staying together for another transfer. so i have an interesting story for you all. the other day while i was on exchanges i met the most friendly couple. we walked up and the husband was in the garage. he said ive dealt with you enough i dont want to deal with you anymore. to which we replied oh so youve talked to the missionaries before. he said yeah thanks to your church my daughter is living on the streets. they "facilitated her laziness" and now she lives on the street. then the wife walked out and said oh is the the jehovas witnesses. the husband replied no its the lds. she then said get off our property and never come back. we started to walk away and he yelled thanks for killing my daughter. my companion for the day mumbled "your welcome" under his breath. i started laughing. the husband then screamed its not funny and we walked away. aww the joys of tracting. well i hope are is well for you. i am just peachy. i wish you all the best of luck and oodles of success. oh by the way mike crismon lives in the same appartment as a kid serving from the ward im in. cool huh, yeah i found out when they sent him a picture of me and comp and mike was like hey thats grant.
love ya grant

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hello Everyone! So this last month has been Horrible. Its been good being able to see/ talk to all of your families but I hate being home. I miss the field so much, enjoy it while it lasts. I have absolutely nothing to do besides go to work for my Dad. I have no life at all. Mostly I hang out with Stephen and his friends or your siblings. The doctors still haven’t found anything and I’m getting ready to go to the Mayo clinic and we all hope that they will find something so I can get back out there. I HECKA miss ALL of you! I mean when your out in the field you have your moments but most of the time you are to busy to miss anyone but now that I’m home with nothing to do it SUCKS!! Keep up the good work!
Love ya, Daniel

Elder Gary Chambers

Well, I'm happy to announce that my old comp is gone... He packed his bags and his trunkie butt into that plane and flew home. Elder Yack is with me now, and it's a complete 180. We are working really hard and having a really great time while we're at it. The members here did a awesome job of accepting him in and also throwing us quite a few references... so we've been pretty busy to say the least... Navarrete is great :) Other then that it's been pretty regular... I know most of you have heard that a few storms and I guess maybe even a hurricane have passed over me... just so you know, I'm still alive (sorry to dissapoint). The damage, if any, happened in the southern portion of the Island, and I only saw a clouds and rain... not too much though, so we're ok here. It did a good job of cooling off our water source though, so the last few showers have been quite a rush. I'm working again, and couldn't be happier :) I hope you all are ok... Daniel, You're in my prayers home dawg! I hope everything goes well with you... If you ever feel like life is just too much... don't be afraid to pay a visit to "Happy Land" For a quick recharge on self esteem :) That's what I used to do... then I got shipped away from my Taco Bell, so life's been quite the challenge. I love you guys... Work Hard!... No regrets.
Love, Your Elder Chambers

Elder Jimmy Miller

For lack of time I'll just share a quick story. As a mission we have a goal for every companionship to baptize in September, so we've spent the last week pleading to find an investigator. We've been doing lots of street contacting because we have had no investigators. But yesterday that changed. We met with a guy named Terrance at Bryant Park by Times Square. We had the first lesson and he understood it and accepted a baptismal date for September 27th! Even crazier, this guy is one we met like my second day here in Manhattan. He was on our subway car, one of only 2 other people, and I talked to him. Last night he said that first night we really left an impression on him. When we started the lesson he was like, "just to let you know I've started going to another church so I don't think I'll be joining yours or anything." But the spirit changed that in a huge way. Fifteen minutes after we left he called us, but we were on the subway so he left a message. He said right after he spoke with us he talked to his Mom, and she wasn't happy. So he wasn't sure if he should continue. But I called him back and he agreed that he needs to do what God tells him. So he says if he knows it's true he'll still be baptized! I was scared for a second, but he's awesome and so ready. It's all dependent on his answer, which I know will come. Miracles are happening! Keep up the good work!! Daniel we're praying for you!
Love, Elder Miller

Elder Logan Wells
Greeting to All....Well let me see this month has been absolutely wonderful! I have been called to serve on an island called Tortola so that is crazy, its a British Virgin Island so I finally got a stamp on my passprt! I love it here so much I am now an english speaking missionary so that was a little bit weird getting used to, but I love it I finally don't have to struggle to get my point across. Everyone here is black which is cool by me, but there not like every other african there literally all like those people you see on cool runnings the movie. So that is sweet the people are so humble they love telling you stories and everything to them is like a story so its way cool,I absolutely love it here! I am literally serving in paradise I can look around and see that heavenly father loves the earth so much. When they told me I was leaving I was in complete shock because I was never expecting to leave Puerto Rico just because of my knee. I am so excited that I returned to my mission I would not trade it for the world. Daniel I love you man, I know how you feel it sucks, but just put a smile on and everything will be okay! I love you all and have a good month. Peace, Logan

Elder Garrett Jones

I can't believe I'm writing another of these. We're already in September. Crazy. Well August was great as usual here in NY and we have actually seen a lot of crazy stuff going on, especially recently. Just a couple highlights would have to be eating cow heart, calamari, and scallops (crazy Peruvians!); breaking the WoW for the first time ever (When I was on a split a less active member gave me a glass of what looked like juice but turned out to be iced tea, curses!); having to admonish and almost beg a missionary for a full hour to work and contact people (a RUSSIAN missionary, Jeff! This falls on your head as it is your people); we accidently locked our keys in the trunk (that was fun); the cops got called on us for my first time (they just asked us to leave the neighborhood); we even had the fire alarm go off at the church building as we walked by because of some little kink in the system and had the entire fire squad rush into the building to see what was going on. Yup, all kinds of good stuff going on here! On the more spiritual side of things it has been somewhat crazy as well. I have had a lot of those experiences lately when the spirit comes and powerfully tells you that you can do better, that you can teach more effectively, love the people more, be more obedient and therefore QUALIFY for more blessings. I'm sure you all know what I mean. One of the investigators that we've been working with for a long time and who has pulled a full 180 degree turn and got baptised which was awesome to see. When he first started coming to church Rudy would come with a bandana and a crooked hat on his head, baggy pants and a lot of times a scowl on his face. Now when he comes he has a white shirt and tie, hair combed and happy. Sweet. Last Saturday we decided to do some tracting and found an Indian Hindu who believes in Christ by some random turn of events who told us that the night before she had been praying to God for guidance and direction on what to do and she felt that we were her answer. Ya.The only problem is she is english speaking and so we had to refer her to the other Elders. But ya things are going really well for us right now. We're working with two families that have 5 baptismal age people in them that are solid so thats awesome. Mission life goes on and I love each and every day of it. The church is true and we have the privilege of testifying of that. I hope everything is well with you all, now get out and work! Love, Jones

Elder Blake Smith

What's up? Well all I have really been doing is getting ready to go on my mission. I have exactly two weeks!! I am so excited. I finally have all my clothes and almost everything I need for my mission. I have also been writing my talk. I am speaking on missionary work through service and being a good neighbor. I am kind of nervous but I know I can do it. So I enter the MTC on September 10th and I can't wait. I can't wait to get to Mendoza and start to teach the people about the restored church and the Plan of Salvation. I know this church is true and this work is important and must be done. And I am happy to be a part of it. The next news letter will be even better because I will be in the missionary field. Till next time. Blake Smith

Elder Max Crandall

The Fellas, The Fellas,
What’s up? Yeah, so I got transferred. I’m in Bellingham, WA! It’s beautiful up here. I thought Mt. Vernon was gorgeous…this place is magnificent! It’s so green everywhere you go. Consequently there are a ton of little gnats and bugs and things. It’s all good though ‘cause I’m not afraid of them…anymore. The only stink part is that my ex-companion, Elder *****, is now my current companion…AGAIN! It’s way weird that we’d be together for another go around, and it usually never happens. Once you have a comp and leave him, that’s usually it so I felt comfortable in my ******-freedom to make all the little jokes and jabs. Well, alright God, you win! I learned my lesson! I don’t think repenting is going to make my time with him go any faster but at any rate, it’ll all work out, right? Right? *weeping* But Elder Anderson, the missionary who lived here before me left a lot of ice cream. Just another tool to drown my sorrows. Don’t worry. I only cry in the shower. The upside is I’m now in a car area. At first, I was muy excited about this. Ecstatic, even. But I realized something; no bike = no exercise = lardy gordito boy. I think I’ll try running but I’ll probably only get to run up and down the parking lot. I still have to be in sight and hearing of my comp, and I have a feeling Elder ****** won’t want to run. Also, in my brand new adventure, I’ve been called to be a district leader. Luckily my district is way solid and there are a ton of great missionaries here. Although, my area kind of blows. Bad. We only have like one investigator. He’s a Spanish guy named Jose. His main hold up seems to be he doesn’t know who God is. He’s trying to make things more complicated than they are, but he says, “Do I pray to Jesus? Or Mary? Or God? Or the Father?” I wanted to tell him that I trade off every night between Jose Smith and the Virgin Mary, but I didn’t think that’d help. He’s reading the BofM and praying about it. He really likes the idea of having prophets again on the earth. Just makes sense, huh? Wish more people could see that. Anywho, this transfer couldn’t be as hard as last transfer. It was really tough. My last companion, Elder ****** was really struggling with feelings of wanting to go home and I did not have a lot of success helping him stick with his mission. I’m not totally convinced it’s for him anyway. Each day I had to play the motivational speaker and try to get him to work. I kept saying things like, “You’re always the happiest when you’re working the hardest,” and other such truths. He never seemed convinced and was more interested in what was playing at the movie theater. It was a really sad experience. He’s such a great kid and he was a hard li’l worker when he wanted to work, but if he didn’t feel like it, it’s was kind of like dragging a sack of taters. What it really boiled down to was Elder *****’s testimony. I told him if he had a beef with the BofM, Joseph Smith, Thomas Monson, or any other doctrine like that, he should stay out here and try to fix it. But Elder ***** told me that he didn’t really know if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or that He died for us or if there even is a God. That’s pretty much the name of the game out here, so I don’t really know if this is the right place for him. He told me stories of when he was in Primary and he’d ask his teacher how we truly know if Christ lived or not. Do you wanna know what that teacher said back? “If you’re wondering about that, this probably isn’t the church for you.” Who says that?! Help the kid out, dufus! I was so ticked. Elder Richard Hinckley came and spoke to our mission. He talked to Elder ***** for a little bit about staying on his mission. He even let Elder ***** hold Gordon B. Hinckley’s watch! How pimp is that?! I was totally geekin’ out. Elder ***** flip flopped back and forth everyday between staying and going. We’ll have to see how it pans out. Well, on to the next big adventure. Until next time chaps. --Elder Crandaddy
p.s. Daniel, write me. I am your boon companion. The moon is red and I like ice cream and Balthier.

AUGUST 2008 NEWS

2008-08-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Elder Chase Judd

Mexico Vera Cruz Mission
April 2008 - April 2010

Hola,
Well we helped this couple get married, their name is the family Ballesteros. On Saturday we went and talked to them they want to be baptized, but the husband has to wait 3 months before he can, he needs to have faith and truly truly repent of things and obey all the commandments. So we talked to her and she wanted to wait for her husband, lame!!! So anyways that just made our day terrible to start off because we had been working so hard just to get them married and her to be baptized on Saturday so yep, that day was pretty long and hard. Well yesterday we were at church and they showed up and after sacrament meeting my comp was all, go talk to them I said OK what should I say and he said just talk to them. I still have problems translating words in my head so anyways, I asked how their night was and how they were doing and if she wanted to get baptized yet?! Guess what she said? I want to get baptized today!!!! It was awesome I love miracles it will truly bless her family for her sacrifice and the Holy Ghost will help to guide her family. Well anyways my companions name is Elder Lopez he is awesome. Oh yeah we were walking down to the lagoon and I saw this fat green thing it was a huge Iguana wow!!!! I am really tan and I am getting freckles from being out in the sun all day.. Well anyways none of our investigators want to come to church they are all lazy. Who knows!! I have made so many friends here it is awesome I love it here, it is such a great experience.. Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying here woo hoo with my same companion. Well until next time peace!!!
Elder Judd

Anziano Scott Ball

Everything is going good in Treviso. I'm currently resting due to a injury I sustained while playing soccer. So, I was playing soccer with some kids that are part of a part-member family. About half way through the game, I get blocked by a kid and I make a quick super turn. While I'm making this turn my foot is pushing off the ground and I hear a "CRRRACCCK!" and then I fall over and do a few rolls. (Another note is that I made the goal, but anyways* back to the story) I couldn't walk on it after that and then we went to eat at a member's house. I get home and call the president's wife and she calls the doctors. Then she calls me back and tells me that I probably just tore some ligaments. This whole time I am fearing what I would do if I broke it. So, for the next week, I can't move it that much. I have a brace that I'm wearing for the time being. It sure scared me thinking of the possibilities of going home or working in the mission office, but I just staying here for now =). I have to wear this freaking brace for 4 weeks though. So while I'm resting, we have received 4 referrals and I'm freaking amazed! I just received my first referral from Salt Lake City! It is amazing that we get referrals because usually we don't get anything for 2 transfers. It has been really hot the past few days. It isn't the hot that you think about in Arizona or California, but a humid hot. It is terribly awful. My companion is taking 2 showers a day and we just sit in front of 4 fans. Since I hurt my foot, (which by the way is doing better now) I have been stuck in the house studying the gospel and the language.. while my companion naps. heh. We have some great investigators this transfer and we just extended a baptismal invite to Justina yesterday. She accepted, but doesn't know if she will be in town for that time. So, we might have to move it. We have received 3 referrals during this past week that I've been out of order. It is a great blessing! We contacted those referrals (2 of them being from Utah... Salt Lake City..SLC) and they were ecstatic to meet with us. Next week we will have appointments with them. I might be transferred next week depending on the Lord. It sounds like my time to be transferred, otherwise I'm going to stay here a while. I hope Heavenly Father has a nice comfy city picked out for me. heh. I almost know that he won't send me to one because he knows that I'm hard headed and that I need another tough city to straighten me out. CIAO CIAO, Anziano Ball

Elder Daniel Anderson
Hello everyone. As some of you may have heard, I have been fighting my stomach problems over the past month. Right now I am sitting in my office at home* The last week has been extremely heart breaking and emotional for me. I received a call Monday night from my Mission President telling me that I would be released Wednesday August 6. I only had a couple days to deal with the Horrible realization that I was going home! Going home has been one of the hardest challenges I have had to face in my life. I loved being a missionary out in the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the last 10 months. This last week has left me a little shell shocked, I have been confused, angry, upset, excited, nervous, but towards the end I have felt at peace. I have felt the many prayers from you and your families and I am grateful for all the support. The hardest thing for me to learn on my mission was that sometimes our will, no matter how strong it is, sometimes doesn*t match our Father in Heaven*s but I do know that he will ALWAYS be there for us as we trust in him and strive to have a *Perfect brightness of hope.* I love all of you and wish you the best with all of your struggles on your mission. Work hard, Magnify the Spirit within you so that others will recognize it, and call down the miracles from heaven. I have seen them so many times in my mission and my life, and I know that angels truly are watching out for you and preparing people for you. One last piece of advice, be YOURSELF and do YOUR best! Love always, Daniel

Elder Grant Huish
hey everybody. i am sad to inform you that i am such a crappy missionary that i have already been released as a district leader. yeah i know pathetic. interestingly enough at 9 months(the length of a pregnancy) i got myself a boy. his name is elder liljenquist. when i found out i was training i though i was going to train devin smartt but i guess not. other than that it is pretty much the same ol stuff. things are starting to pick up a little bit here. the summer seems to be coming to its close though. we hade our first rain in about a month the other day. i quite enjoyed it to say the least. i hope things are going well for the rest of you. and well, no major news other than that so i will just leave you with this. well actually i couldnt think of anything to say here so yeah thats it. love, grant

Elder Gary Chambers
Hey Girls! This month has been LOADS better... Something got into my comp and now we've been leaving the house regularly! Hip Hip.... It's fun. There's lots of things I wish I could change still, but we're improving, and that's whats important.... And he only has 3 weeks left so.... screw him! Who needs to go home anyways... psht! So overrated. Now that we've been leaving a lil bit more often, I don't have tons of time to play the guitar I bought to pass the time in the house, but thats ok, I sneak in a few minutes here and there. we've been teaching a family or two who have been the key to keeping my comp alive out here... if it wasn't for them, I don't know what I'd do. The funny thing is, we found them on a comp exchange... I wasn't even there for the first appointment. He was walking around with his kid who also happens to double as our District Leader... and his kid managed to convince him that contacting isn't so bad... so they started contacting, and almost immediately, they found this amazing family! THANK YOU LORD! So yeah, we've been out and about lately.
Something silly happened just the other day... We were just invited in to a members house, and as we were sitting down, he offered us juice (it was a hot day). So my comp quickly agrees to the idea and 5 minutes later, ice cold juice was in front of our faces. I sipped it (it had a wierd color) and decided it wasn't so bad, then peered over the brim of my cup to see the uninterested look on my comps face. He asked if I liked it (in english... it's like code talking over here) and I said I did. His obvious response that he didn't gave me an idea. I asked, "Should I quickly drink mine so that we can swap cups before he turns around?" He smiled and said, "Hurry!" I quickly threw down my glass and we hurriedly, but silently, exchanged glasses. Not 5 seconds later the generous old member turned around from the fridge to see my comps glass empty and me sipping mine... Unfortuneately for my comp, there was more juice. "Oh you must be thirsty!" he said turning back to the fridge to retrieve the pitcher of juice. I busted out laughing while my comp tried to reject the approaching pitcher... but to no avail. He ended up just laughing along with me while the old man refilled his cup, it was hilarious.
Well, I hope all you guys are having a blast out there in the world... And Max, I really hope you treasure your Taco Bell joint, because out here... Crunchwrap Supremes are only found in my dreams (Yes, ryhm intended.... wha WHA!). Take care my loves! Gary

Elder Jimmy Miller
Salutations.I can't believe how ridiculously fast time flies in between writing these things. well this last week has been excellent. I had the privilege of seeing zone leader Elder Jones at mission conference. After some training and such we got to play sports and we played some pretty intense dodgeball. i nearly had my head taken off a few times. but mostly i'm a hard target to hit because if i turn sideways i'm invisible. well except for my now protruding gut. yes. i'm fat. Danbury continues to be excellent. Transfers is coming up so we'll see if i get the privilege of being here another cycle. That could be sweet. I do like having a car. But that's probably why I'm so fat. The work here is so awesome. Right now its kind of fun because every single investigator we have smokes. i think that the whole smoking is bad for you thing wasn't taught much in Danbury. Everyone smokes like a chimney. But they're awesome people. We finally got someone at church the last couple of weeks. We had a short dry spell but i think its over. We're so excited. We're teaching the husband of a member. I been going over to their house since I came to Danbury and only now is he opening up and being receptive. Never lose faith. Some people just take some time.Logan! Glad to hear you're headed back out man!! That's awesome. Hit the ground running!Keep spreading the good word!!Love Elder Jimmy Miller

Elder Logan Wells
Okay well here it is I am finally back into the field Idon't mean finally but Iam so glad to be here it has been awesome to come back to say the least. I am back here in Puerto Rico I got put into an area called Guaynabo with another latin companion, who is awesome and I love very much. Believe it or not he is more random than me which is hard to believe because that just doesnt happen very often. I am super excited because I got put into the area of my second cousins who are non members, so you never know what can happen. Hopefully the best. Man things are so crazy I am grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve and be in the work again! I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be and I wouldn't have it anyother way.. I had a had an amazing experience this week. I went on trade offs with the a ZL, Elder Howell from Kansas. We had been working hard all day long, we were at the point to either take a break to eat because we were waiting for a member. We just kept going and talk to people. Elder Howell decieded we would contact a old investigator who was almost baptized, but took another route, and it never happened. We stoped by and she shared with us on how her nephew had just passed away, so we all shared stories. I shared a story about my Grandma, because I did not know her too well, but I know that I will someday, because this is possible thru the plan of salvation, that God created for us. It was way cool, the spirit was so strong. We talked and talked, I asked her how she felt when she read the B.O.M., and she said that it was a very special feeling, one that she could not explain very well. We told her that, that is the spirit testifying of the truthfullness of it all. We extended a baptismal invite, and she accepted, so we gave her a date. She was so happy, and you could really tell. It just shows that the Lord knows what is going on, and that everything is possible, you just never know what the Lord has in store for you and that his hand is in this work, and it is true! I know that all is going to be well and the Lord will bless me for this descion that I have made! Well I love you all! Love, Logan

Elder Max Crandall
Gentlemen – que tal? Things are pretty crazy around here. We had transfers and I’m still in Seattle! On bikes! Depression! Just kidding. But due to this bike thing, I have lost enough weight that my Mr. Mac tracting slacks are sliding off my manly hips. Here’s something to be sad about though – they took my son away from me. I’m sort of upset. He’s not ready to “leave the nest.” My son, Elder Guillen, and the other greenie from last transfer, Elder Cordada, switched places. My old companion, Elder Cole, and I were tearing up the neighborhood but then last transfer, Pres. Showalter split us up and gave each of us one the greenies. I was doing my best to mold and shape young Elder Guillen into missionary extraordinaire and my old friend, Elder Cole, was doing the same for Elder Cordada. But I guess the Pres. felt it was best to flip flop them. I’m not sure why. Maybe they didn’t want me corrupting a greenie for more than one transfer. So on to Elder Cordada. He’s from San Diego, he’s short, he’s Hispanic, he speaks Spanish very well and he’s pretty cool. He’s no gauchito but he’s a great little Mexican and no one could replace my son, so I love him. My Spanish is improving, slowly but surely. It’s hard to keep it up when we’re not teaching a ton of Spanish speaking people. The ward we’re serving in is rather odd. It’s pretty darn poor, and it’s basically split into two groups. The old-timers who have been here for 4352.6 years and all of the young student couples going to college. The young guys tend to move in and out pretty quick too, which is hard on the ward. Because of this, and other obstacles, our ward actually used to be kind of anti-missionary work. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been trying to kiss major butt and get people pumped about missionary work. It’s actually starting to work, almost three months later. It’s way exciting but my lips are sore, figuratively speaking. Last transfer, Elder Guillen and I were able to baptize a gal named Illeyanna LaTorres. She’s a little bit of a wingnut but she is very spiritual and sweet. She had a really hard time quitting smoking. I don’t think I realized how hard it is to stop smoking until my mission. It’s about the most difficult thing in the world, in my semi-ignorant opinion. Since Illeyanna’s been baptized, she’s had a lot of awesome spiritual experiences. It’s been really cool. We’re also working with this one 22 year old guy named Brandon. A couple days ago we called him to set up an appointment and he said, “Sorry bro, I’m headed to Vegas. Ya know, gonna do some gamblin’, some recreational drugs…it’s gonna be sweet.” By the way, we haven’t gotten to the Word of Wisdom with him yet. Sheesh. It was funny how forward he was about it though. People here in Washington are either nice, slightly rude or apathetic. There are about 79% more apathetic people than any other category. I heard Washington has the lowest church attendance rate in the nation and the highest teen pregnancy rate. So basically I guess they don’t like to leave their bedrooms…oh, that was terrible and I’m sorry. Well, in closing, a little side note – both Elder Josh Ostler and Elder Jason Klingler from MVHS are zone leaders in my mission now and I see them every once in a while. I give Elder Ostler a little bigger of a hug, ‘cause I like him more. A lot more. But I’m not queer. Carry on Elders. I am so grateful to know what I know and I will never be ashamed of it. I would yell it from on top of a mountain if I thought anyone would hear.
Word to “the word” – Elder Crandall

Elder Brock Smith
What up M_town Bros.Wow the time is flyin by way to fast, by the time you all get this I will be down to my last 6 months. Crazy..... I am still pumped about the work, and am excited with my new comp. We have sat allot of goals and are working hard. I want to go out strong, and I am sad the time is going by way to fast. I never thought I would say that.I am now on Oahu, and it is said that once you come back on this Island and have 6 months or less you stay on this island, but it will be fine if that is what the lord wants Me to do. I feel like I wish would Have worked so much harder I could have done so much more... Well learn from Me do not let any moment pass you by, it will be over before we all thought it ever would. work hard. and serve well. Daniel and Logan God speed be with you. I will continue to pray for you.You know that song Big yellow taxi, You don't know what you got till its gone..... I am begin to feel that out here, I just want to finish strong. I love hearing how the rest of you are doing. You all seem to be doing great. We have some people we are teaching right now, and things look good, The book of mormon is such a powerful book, it is the book that just keeps on giving.......peace for now.. Remember B.Smooth, B. Sexy, B. Smith

Elder Jeff Stoker
Dear brothersHows it going? So like all other months, it has been pretty crazy. I have been sick for about two weeks. So i thought that i was starting to feel better, but this week i was way sick. My stomach is killing me. I have been talking with the doctor about every other day. Things are starting to look up though. I am pretty sure that things will be back to normal very soon, so dont worry. This week we have been blessed big time. So One time while we were outside contacting, we found two new investigators, and taught them with a member present that day. It was pretty nuts. It is amazing how things can just flip around like that. I have been going to exchanges with my district recently so if i do feel bad, my companion doesnt have to sit in with me all the time. So there are a bunch of rumors going on right now about Russia. So all i know right now is that Americans are not being sent to Russia any more for the time being. Our mission president told us that the Area Presidency has already been working it out though. So things will end up working out. He also said that We will continue to serve here until our assignment is up. Within the next two weeks i will be going to Czech Republic to get my Visa renewed, and i am way excited. So it is already week 6 of the cycle, and time is going by way fast. There is also a rumor that Elder Hinckley will be coming and speaking to missionaries this week. So we are waiting to see what our mission president says about that. Things are going good though. Keep working hard. I love to hear about everyone. It is crazy to read all the experiences. We are all serving a mission, but it is amazing to see how one mission varies from another. Love ya. toodles.Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Garrett Jones
Salutations!OK, before I begin this month's update I just have to say that this is the first one of these I have actually written. Every other time my mom has just cut and pasted little comments I've made through the month from weekly letters she's gotten. Mom, you know I love you dearly, but you dull everything down from me. This hopefully will be a bit better than my other stuff has been. The work here in New Rochelle has been amazing. It's a lot different than my last area in the Bronx, but it's great in its own right. Let me just say for those of you who caught that in last month's newsletter. Ha Ha Wha! Suckers, I have reached the feared, respected, and ultimately sweet position of zone leader. How? I have absolutely no idea. To be honest I was sad when I got called to be DL and sadder to be ZL. I have absolutely no free time. What little free time you have now during that 10:00-10:30 time, treasure it. I exhort you! This past month included my humpday, which was almost an out of body experience for me. It's scary how fast time has gone past. It feels like yesterday that I was hanging out with you all in Max's shed and eating all his cereal in the morning and then going over to Jeff's to eat all his left over Halloween candy from two years ago. Ah good times. One quick story before I go. Yesterday I went to Connecticut (It's a part of our mission, I swear) to bring some investigators to their wedding. I saw my first wedding! It was so sweet! Because they're illegal they can't get married in NY. Hooray for CT! Well the church is true, life is great as the Lord's servant. Hope all is well with everyone. Daniel, I'm sure we're all praying for you buddy. Keep on keepin' on. Love and kisses, Garrett

July 2008 News

2008-07-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Elder James Michael Miller
New York New York North Mission
December 2007 - 2009

Greetings!

This past month has been very eventful. I had a unique experience, my mom came out the beginning of June and she and I drove to New Hampshire for my one year heart check. It was kinda weird to see her but it was good and everything with my heart is perfect! My surgeon was very pleased. I've even put on 23 lbs. since surgery! Then on top of that I went home for a couple days this last week. A few weeks ago my Dad was diagnosed with cancer so I came to see him. He's so awesome. He has such a great attitude and he is determined to beat this. He's such a great example. As for the mission itself things are excellent. Transfers were this week and I'm still in Connecticut but I have a new companion, Elder Eyre. He's pretty cool, he's from Wyoming. I don't know him very well yet because I left two days after we were put together. The day I left we had mission conference and had the honor of having President Uchtdorf speak to us. He talked a lot about the importance of Preach My Gospel and using it to build our testimonies, and the faith of both members and nonmembers. We got to shake hands with him and his wife. Sister Uchtdorf asked me the infamous question - "Do you play basketball?" - I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The work continues to move forward. The ward I'm serving in is doing a 40 day fast for missionary work. There is a lot of excitement about missionary work in the ward so hopefully we'll see some fruits of that this cycle. Well I hope you're all doing well. Keep spreading the good word!

Love, Elder Miller

Elder Mike Kleinman
Hey kids!I hope everyone is enjoying their mission summer (or winter)! Here in Argentina things have been going great! We are seeing a surge in progress here and its a very exciting time. I will let you in on an insight of the Argentine people. Everyone is very specific on what they eat. And I mean everyone.For example: Today I went to go get a couple of burgers and while I was waiting for them a girl of about 14 yrs. came up to me and asked if I could give her something to eat (as in money). Well, I wasn't going to give her money so I gave her two cheeseburgers. I felt pretty gracious (self pride boost!) about giving them. Then she said, "Do these burgers have comdiments on them?" They did. And she was like " Ew! Condiments! I don't want condiments on my burgers!" And I was like, "WHAT KIND OF BEGGAR ARE YOU?!!" She took them still grudgingly. I swear everyone is a complete character down here. Anyway, now that I have my filler story in, I would like to say that I liked Daniel's asian button-up shirt he was wearing in last month's photo. Nice! Well, thats it. Till next month.
Elder Kleinman

Elder Chase Judd
Hola,Well I don't have very much time we are going to the church to eat in 20 minutes a missionary just returned from his mission, and I am so hungry we only eat 1 time during the whole day from 2 to 4. It is really humid holy Hannah, its hot here but I love it. Oh by the way I am in Veracruz as of the 20th of June. It is nice to be out of the MTC. So me and my companion have been teaching a ton of people and we invited 4 kids to be baptized on Saturday and they accepted, so I could be getting my first baptism this week, I am so excited. Well my companion is awesome he works so hard and walks so fast, he is from Mexico City and he never waste time. I am lucky he speaks English pretty well and can answer my questions if I have them, but we still only try to speak in Spanish. I can't really understand when people talk, but I am trying to speak it and read it so yep* So yesterday which was Sunday we went to a members house and ate clams, whole fish with the scales in a soup, and another kind of fish battered in guacamole and flour then fried, it was actually pretty good since I thought I hated fish, but yeah* I am excited I love the people, and the members feed us everyday it is awesome so many coconut trees and juice. They kept me in the city of Veracruz, my apartment is tiny, you could shower and go to the bathroom at the same time, way cool huh!!! NO air-conditioning everyone just has fans besides the church. Today we are teaching lesson 4 to those kids one I have never taught I am excited!! Well until next time*
PeaceElder Chase
P.S. We baptized the 4 kids it was awesome!!!!

Elder Brock Smith
Aloha Ka Kou!
Well once again the month flew by I cant believe how fast it goes. Tommarrow is transfers and I'm gettin transfered which sucks I am pretty bummed Ive had so many areas I can never stay anywhere long enough to really get things movin I really am sick of it I want to stay some where for more that 4 1/2 of three months its flippin crazy but hey I got believe in Revalation and all that and know that its where the lord wants me to go Well thats about it dont really feel like writtin Peace Out! Elder B Smith

Anziano Scott Ball
Yeah, its going great here. Our english class has grown from 2 students to about 10. We had 5 investigators in church last week and we are planning to send out baptismal dates to them this week.Anyways, not much to say this week except that it is amazingly hot here. The humidity is killing me off. I could never live anywhere else than Arizona. I get out of the shower and I dry off and still after that I FEEL WET. I hate this feeling. I hope that it is a short summer. We are today going to go buy better fans for our house and do some things here!Hey, good story, We were up north in the town called Conegliano doing street and just walking along. I noticed that a guy was running after us, so I turned around and he said "Hello!". We started talking in english and he spoke poorly. He said that he met us in the past and wanted to meet us again. So, we got his number and set up an appointment for Wednesday. We arrived at the train station and waited for 5 minutes, finally, we looked over to our right and he is dressed up in a shirt and a tie and is with a friend with the same thing. Also, both carrying bags. My companion said "oh poop, Jevoah's Witness's". So we met with them right there and he started asking us if we had ever seen this book which explains the Bible. We both said yes and then he went on about what they do.. Spreading the word of Christ. So far, I was cool with them, just having a good attitude.. I imagined Jesus against the Pharisees. It kind of reminded me of this. Anyways, They asked us.. "Where do we receive the will of God from"?.. (meanwhile holding a Bible). I don't know what came over me (the spirit), but I felt that I gave them one of the answers that Jesus would have of given them. I said, "Well, we get the will of God through prophets that he has called and they are they who wrote the Bible and also other works." That is all I had to say and their faces looked as though they couldn't say anything. I left it at that and they said they would give our number to some english members that they have to 'talk' about the Bible and they will call us in a little bit. I left that sitituation feeling that Istill had the spirit and that I acted fine.You could say I felt proud, but I knew that it was due to the spirit. Anyways, Ciao! Anziano Ball

Elder Jeff Stoker
Brothers,I am pretty sure that i just wrote the one for June about 2 days ago. Strange. So i just got another transfer, but it is to the same city i am already in, but about an hour bus ride away. I am also serving with Elder Waltman. For those of you who were at the MTC with me, Elder Waltman was my MTC companion. We are tearing it up. It is way fun. We dont even have to take the time and get used to each other, which is a huge advantage. We also found out that we cant go to Estonia to renew Visas any more, so now we get to go to the Czech Republic. I kinda feel like a missionary who just contacts on planes, trains, and buses. it is pretty nuts. The work here is going amazing. It is amazing how if you just be STRICTLY obedient, how much more you will be blessed. (by the way, i still got a while to go before i am 100% obedient, but dont let that suprise you guys, i dont want to ruin the perfect Elder Stoker image in your heads.) So this month has pretty much just flown by. I cant believe that i am already twenty. I can already feel the wrinkles. I love to hear about everyone in these things. It makes me laugh to think of Brock being my district leader, or Mike being my office elder. Whats next Max as a Zone leader. HAHA. (that was a joke). I love this work. It definately beats ANYTHING that we could be doing at home. I mean where else can you learn the things you are learning on your missions. Well just wanted to tell everyone to Keep on Keeping on. The time is flying way to fast to let any opportunity slip. Love you all, sometimes... Have a great Month.
Elder Jeffery Stoker

Elder Daniel Anderson
Hey Everybody! We just got our transfers last week and what do you know I am finally*STAYING IN STOCKTON!! Haha! My mom said I should name my firstborn after it! My new companion*s name is Elder Yang*the other one. He is also Hmong, but was born in North Sacramento. The area here in Stockton has really been picking up. We have been doing a lot of work in the south side of town, so it has been pretty interesting. We have a really big teaching pool right now, I just hope that we can keep it up. We are looking at some potentials right now and in a week or two we should have some baptisms. This one girl we are working with is so tight. Her name is Houa (it means cloud). She is 18 and just loves to learn about the gospel! She always asks questions when we teach her. She came to church last week and felt the spirit and she is going to pray about it. We met a family that knows the Hmong script, it looks like Egyptian, but it*s super hard and the guy that has it won*t teach us how to do it so it*s hard to learn. I have almost cracked the code/pattern and so I*m hoping that when I come home I will be able to write in it. We borrowed his book for a little bit but I don*t understand how it all goes together yet. I am the senior Hmong elder now because I have been in the Hmong program longer than any other Hmong missionary. Elder Lee who was in the MTC with me and came here with me went on one English transfer. It*s super weird that all of my friends in the mission have left*it*s kinda sad but it*s all good, the work will go on. I finished the Book of Mormon again this last week and one of my favorite scriptures is in Alma chapter 7:11-15 ish*I don*t remember off the top of my head, but I can see it on the page. You should all read it, I love it! I miss all of you * have a great month!
Daniel

Elder Gary Chambers
Big shout out to my dawg JIMMY BOY! Mr. Spotlight ;) Hope your mission is kickin' butt! Well, I promised you guys I'd let you know how the area is, so here I go... Once again I'm no longer in Constanza, I'm in Navarrete, and the people are great, as far as I can tell. The problem is I can't tell much from the kitchen window... All I know is the kids in my neighborhood really like to play stick ball (kinda like baseball, but lamer) every day and that the dog on the corner should either have its voice box ripped out or it should at least be shot. That bark really gets annoying. I know that the neighbors Mango tree produces alot of fruit, much of which falls onto their roof where they can't see it... Kinda makes me want to go roof hoping for a lil treat, but I can't find a safe route. I know that in front of the colmado on the other corner is where all the teenagers like to hang out (QT flashbacks), and attempt at making music with their wierd lil instruments... I almost threw a few eggs at them one night from how retarded it sounded... but that was my breakfast, and omlets are just worth too much to me. I know that whenever my comp goes to the bathroom, he takes at least 30 minutes... que se yo... I just try to use it when its open. I feel like I'm the main actor in that one movie where that kid with hair is on house arrest and he like spies on his neighbors... Only difference is I don't have a hot girl with me haha....... dang it. Yeah well, as you might have guessed by now, that means I haven't been leaving the house. OH NO ELDER CHAMBERS HAS JOINED THE DARKSIDE! Hahaha.... no. My comp is super trunkie and does nothing but sleep, eat, poop, and dream about home while chanting "8 more weeks." I hate it... I'm new to the area and he's taught me nothing about it... we leave more often to check his myspace than we do to teach a freakin lesson. Well, sorry, but Navarrete hasn't been a great experience yet... Sometimes I catch myself chanting quietly to myself, "8 more weeks..." Wow, Life is too good to be true. Satan's got me pinned guys... I'm screwed until he loses his grip on my comp... in the meantime, give him the 'ol one two for me and spread the word! My home is a prison... Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Grant Huish
hey everybody.Thiings here in Oregon are going farely well. It has warmed up quite a bit, and hasn't rained in Days now. I still have the opportunity of cruising around on my bicycle, which I thoroughly enjoy. I am now serving in a town called Aloha(pronounced incorrectly as seems to be common in Oregon). The work here was, well, non-existant when i arrived. It is starting to pick up slowly but surely. I am currently serving as a high and mighty DL because I am amazing. Just kidding, I'm not amazing, but I do enjoy the opportunity to go on more exchanges. My companions name is Elder Haynes. He is from Vacaville, California. For those of you who don't speak Spanish, that means cow town. I am pretty sure the lady sitting at the computer next to me has already been drinking this morning and its 10:30 am. She smells of beer profusely. Well I would tell some amazing story, but I don't have one sorry. S Later Grant
well i guess thats it for now. love ya

Elder Max Crandall
Gentlemen * Hola. Que Honda? So, pretty crazy I*m out here in Seattle. S*all good though. I am serving in the Greenwood Ward and we are actually the only ward in our mission that is in Seattle. Yup, so I*m here on my bike, training Elder Guillen. I knew training was going to be hard, but it isn*t hard in the way I thought it*d be. I*m tryin* to teach my boy values. I thought it*d be more of training him to teach and preach but it*s more of trying to steer him in the right direction. Then as he gets more experience, I throw in my two cents about how it went or what he could do better. He*s really a great kid. Elder Guillen was born in El Salvador where he lived until he was five. Then he moved to Virginia for a couple more years and then to Highland, Utah (American Fork area). He was only in the MTC for three weeks because he speaks both English and Spanish fluently. It*s been odd trying to train him. Mostly, I feel inadequate and could think of a billion better trainers, but I keep telling him that he has to learn from my mistakes and be better than me. At least that*s my parental desire. I think Elder Guillen and I will both be staying here on bikes through this next transfer, but you never know. Apparently there were a ridiculous amount of *midnights* this transfer. For my mom*s information, a midnight is when the mish pres decides someone needs to be transferred immediately instead of waiting until the next transfer meeting. Usually happens because boys are naughty. Silly billies. Anywho, sweatin* to the oldies isn*t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Don*t get me wrong; bein* on a bike is terrible. But I*ve been losing all sorts of weight and developing a stunning, manish figure (like I didn*t have one before). I was excited to hear the news about good ol* Elder Wells. I*m stoked that he can get back to the grind relatively soon. I*ve been praying for him too. Please let him know that I love him beyond the earthly limitations of my flesh. Those exact words, por favor. Gracias. Okay, so on to story time. One day Elder Guillen and I were riding down the side of the road on our bikes. Suddenly, the bushes were closing in on the left and the ditch on the right was getting bigger. All of a sudden, I made a girl noise and screamed, *Gauchito!* My bike slid into the ditch and I flew over the top of my bike. I probably shouldn*t have yelled his name because he promptly flew into the ditch right after me. As I removed my face from the dirt, I stood up to find Elder Guillen holding a bedazzled cell phone. *I found a phone. It works.* It was the weirdest experience. We went through the contacts and called *Mom.* Apparently this little, teenage Asian girl had been searching high and low for her cell phone and was very distraught. *Mom* thanked us profusely and gave us a box of fruit parfaits. Sometimes it is delicious to be a good Christian. I love telling that story. Probably because Elder Guillen and I laugh really hard every time we talk about it. I really like him. Kind of like a son. He*s teaching me a lot of Spanish and we*re working with a ton of people right now. It*s great. Just wish I had a car. Here*s something weird. Turns out that one of the Elders out here is the son of a guy my mom went to high school with. We figured it out when I told my mom that sometimes when we*re in the line at the Taco Bell, Elder Bussio will whip out his wallet and say, *This one*s on Vince.* So I tell my mom that Vince is Elder Bussio*s dad and my mom goes, *Vince Bussio that went to high school in Provo, Utah, a hundred years ago?* Turns out, same guy. I think that makes me and Elder Bussio related in some creepy, Mormon way. I guess that*s okay. Elder Bussio is a great guy and he pays for my Crunch Wrap Supreme. Well, as Joe Dirt says, Keep on keepin* on. Other great quotes include: Life*s a garden, dig it! AC/DC rules. I am happy. I smell good.
--Elder Max Crandall

Elder Logan Wells
Yo What a do...Well these past 2 months have been awesome. I can't say I have been doing much missionary work. Just chillen watching movies, and playing guitar hero. I had my surgery on the 18th of June, turned out to be the easiest surgery with the fasted recovery, no rehab or physical therapy. Well over the 4th of July I got to go to Mexico with the fam, we had fun quading, and being lazy. It was way fun for sure. Next Tuesday, I see the Doctor, he will sign me off and give me the heads up to go back. So next month no letter from home for me. It's so crazy, but all will be well. I have seen the Lords hand in my life these past couple of months. I know that if I did not go back I would regret it the rest of my life. I am just glad I have the opportunity to return to Puerto Rico. Oh, and I will still be back next summer. Thanks for all the support and prayers, I am so excited to get back out there and serve the Lord. I wouldn't have it any other way! PEACE Logan

Elder Garrett Jones
I am now writing to you from New Rochelle, NY, which is upstate. I met my new companion and he handed me the keys and said I had to drive. It has been a year now since I have touched the wheel of a car and I was terrified to be thrust into the driver's seat in the middle of New York City! My new companion, Elder Miranda and I are zone leaders here and are in charge of the Westchester zone which covers Yonkers, New Rochelle, Scarsdale, and White Plains. My new pad is by far the funnest, craziest apartment I've been in, with an Australian, a Singaporian, a Mexican, me, and two Elders from California and Utah. We had an amazing Sunday this week since a bunch of investigators all came to church. The ward really got excited to see all the nonmembers there and were fellowshipping them all like crazy. We are especially excited about the Herrara family, a sweet family of seven from Quatamala. I know this work is true. It is such a blessing to a servent of the Lord like I am.? I love and miss you all very much. Garrett

Elder Blake Smith
Hello everyone!!!!Whats up? Well I have just been getting ready to leave. I have been getting my visa and all of my things together. It takes longer than I thought. Three weeks ago I went through the temple and it was amazing. It was nice to have Logan here and to have him come through with me. I am so excited to get out in the mission field. I just got back from camping with my family and had a really good time. The next time we go up we are going to go to the Snowflake temple which I am really looking forward to. Other then that I have just been working and just finished up some school. But I will keep on preparing and can't wait to join all of you. Thank you everyone for your example. Blake Smith

June 2008 News

2008-06-12T15:23:00.001-07:00

Elder Daniel Anderson

California Sacramento Mission
(Mhong Speaking)
October 2007 - 2009

What*s up ELDRO*S? So I actually wrote this newsletter out old school like (on paper and not e-mail) so ya*ll best be proud. CALIFORNIA is tight. I*m still in the hood of Stockton but I love it. Everyone is all gangsta-like with their 209/NorCal gear. (209 is the area code here*I don*t know so don*t ask why it*s cool, but it is.) I*m with a Native right now named Elder Yang, but by the time we all get this newsletter I will be training a new white boy how to speak Hmong! Who would*ve thought I*d be training at 7 months? Not me for sure. I*m still struggling with the language but the Lord is helping me and will continue to, as this continues to push me. I have learned that the more you push your comfort zone and your limits and begin to make sacrifices in your mission the more the Lord blesses you with miracles and prepares you for future tasks. Working with Asians is hard work; it takes awhile to see results sometimes, but I*m starting to see some from hardcore miracles! Right now we have 9 firms and my head feels like it*s about to explode! I*m still not the best at the whole senior companion thing, so I don*t really know how to stay on top of this many people, but it*s super neat seeing elect people just pop up and fall right into your lap. The church is true no matter where you are and I have a neat experience to work in a branch of Hmongs, Laos and Cambodians and it doesn*t matter if people pray or bear testimony in a language I don*t understand, because the Spirit is still there and testifies of the truth they are speaking. I love all of you and am grateful for your examples over the years. Now let*s get out there and show Satan what the Lord*s Army is really made of!!! Love Always, Daniel *Vang*

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey everyone!I probably wont have much time to write you all today since we are EXTREMELY busy this week with transfers. Anyway, its starting to get really cold now here in cordoba. or maybe its just a cold front I dont know anymore. Well, the office going pretty good, we are making a lot of changes in how things function here. We are also seeing a whole ton of miracles when it comes to improving the mission! Our baptisms are still on schedule for the 7th, hope everything works out! So can you guys believe we are getting a THIRD new temple in Pheonix on top of the other two that were just announced?! I think Pres Monson s trying to win some brownie points with arizona. Just kidding, it was long overdue I think. Well, I am very happy to hear you all are doing well! Till next month my brothers, Ciao Elder Kleinman

Elder Jeff Stoker

I cant believe that it is June already. Summer is here. Here in Russia, it has definately been warming up. What makes it worse is that we have to be in Coats for most of the day. And what makes it even worse than that, is no air conditioning. AHH! This last week it has been raining really hard. It is fun to go contacting when it is pouring outside. everyone probably thinks that we are crazy. This last week we have found a new investigator that comes to english club. My companion and I are really trying to work hard with him, because my companion only has 3 weeks of his mission left. We have definately been blessed as of recently. We have two really good investigators. We are planning on setting a baptismal date soon with one of them. SoI want to tell a funny story that happened this morning. My companion got the hiccups this morning right before we went outside. It turns out his hiccups are WAY loud. so when we were outside, on buses, and in stores, he would hiccup way loud, and everyone would stare at us. It was way funny. It has stopped now, but I wish that we could have gone contacting when he had them. Well, I am trying to get used to this new schedule that my mission president gave us. It is wierd with everything being switched around, but I am sure that i will get used to it soon. My comp and I are really trying to work hard, and keep busy. My companion isnt looking forward to going home. Which is way good for me, because he is a good example. Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Jimmy Miller

The Lord is so merciful! These last 2 weeks have been amazing!! So two weeks ago we got a media referral for a girl named Amanda. And for a while we couldn't get a hold of her so one day we randomly stopped by her house and she was home. We taught her about the Restoration and she accepted a baptismal date for June 15th right then. And we found out she's the girlfriend of an inactive guy in our ward so we're hoping to reactivate him through this. Then a few days later we got a media referral for a lady named Kim and we found out she's the daughter of an inactive sister. We've taught her a few times, she's awesome and really has a desire to gain her own testimony. This work is amazing but it goes by too fast. Danbury, CT is getting HOT and HUMID and its totally not cool. This Mother's Day was cool, I got to play guiter for the Spanish Branches Mother's Day party. Not sure how I got volunteered but it was fun. Anywho. Love You All! Bon dia! Elder Jimmy Miller

Elder Grant Huish

hey everybody, how goes it? things here in oregon are pretty wet. the work has slowed down significantly since the baptism a couple of weeks ago and we are doing a whole lot of "finding" activities. i would probably describe them more as searching activities. it is increasingly difficult to keep my companion motivated because all we have left is tracting the rich nieghborhoods which is a pain in itself plus he goes home on the 5th so hes getting a little trunky. luckily he is still willing to work he just complains alot. so the other day me and my companion used our combined efforts to totally counfound this old anti guy who thought he was soooo smart it was fantastic. well first of all this guy was evil he told us that the only reason he was talking to us was so that we couldnt be knocking on other doors and leading people astray to which i replied well trust me we will knock every door anyway but then later on in the conversation he was talking about how there is no tangible evidence that the book of mormon is true. it is just a good science fiction novel(this made me quite angry as you may well have guessed) so i replied to him where is your physical proof that jesus christ is your savior. as you can imagine there was a pause after this question and an unpleasent look in his eye, man that was a great moment. i know we arent supposed to bash but i think some people just need to be told whats what whethere they listen to it or not. well i hope you have all enjoyed my story and i wish you all the very best. keep up the good work, dont bash, and remember the church is true boys its so very true!

elder huish

Elder Brock Smith

Wow bros,Time wen get even fastah cuz I dont know whats up,the time between letters seems to be getting faster and faster maybe cuz my time out here is running out quick its whack man. Well things are going good here in the islands im still in waimea which is good and still DL which Im starting to get more used to, not quite so much stress,We also got a new Zl which is so much cooler than the last one I know him from Maui so thats pretty sweet. We got a greenie in the district now he's pretty chill hes Korean but from New Zealand so he talks with like an English accent which really through me off. Anyway this month is going to be a rockin one our goal of 100 baptims in the Month as a mission, I know will finally be achieved we just have to keep it going is all which I have confidence that we can do it and I know that we can. The Lord is truly pouring out his spirit over these islands and we are seeing many blessings in our behalf. It sounds as if you all are keeping pretty busy Daniel already being a senior compa and Mike being a flippin office Elder thats nuts man Im glad I know that I dont have enough time left for that to happen to me, maybe I can even dodge the zl card I hope but will see what the next transfer holds that will be the clincher transfer so we'll see. I hope that all you mammas boys had fun talkin to your mommies cuz I sure did. But that About it for me now catch you all on the flip side Peace out! ahnyeong! B Sexy B Smooth B Smith

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey gang! I finally got a companion after five weeks as the "third wheel." My new companion, Elder Sanders is from West Virginia and we are having a great time working together. The area here in Olstead (our section of the Bronx) is in definite need of some work which I am really excited to get out and do. I can once again get out and work in Spanish all day long. We've had some successes with teaching and setting baptismal dates. We also had one unpleasant experience where a baptism date was cancelled after the man's "pastor" was there and told us to get lost in a not very nice way. Sadly, our investigator looked like a statue standing behind the pastor, but everyone has their agency. We have several other baptism dates set. Sunday I gave my first three baptismal interviews. Take care everyone. The church is true! Garrett

Elder Scott Ball

Ciao,We are doing great here in Treviso. We are gaining a new investigator every week and that is pretty good for the standard. We had a cool experience yesterday. We were doing House to House (Casa in Casa as we call it), knocking on doors and everyone just thinks we are Jehovah's Witnesses or they don't want to hear about it (it*s like this always). So we are going along and we see a guy and his son leaving and the wife is there waving them away. So, we start talking to the woman (as the husband leaves) and she invites us in and just that was a really big shock (as in NO ONE INVITES US IN). So, she is interested and tells us that she was studying with the Jdubs also. She tells us that she is searching for the truth. We teach a lesson about the plan of salvation and she says that she will read our pamphlet. She said we were lucky, because if her husband was there, he would have kicked us out. Only because he doesn't want to have anything to do with religion. I hope she reads it.We also gained a really awesome African investigator from Cameroon. He accepts everything we give to him and the amazing part is that he calls us RATHER than us calling him. We were asking him for referrals, but he said the only one he knows is this friend of his. She had a bad experience with a Jdub and doesn't want anything to do with religion. This lady's friend was in the hospital and needed blood from someone else. So she offered her blood to help this friend, but there was a Jdub that said that she would go to hell if she gave blood. She gave her blood and the Jdub cursed her or something like that. So we hope that she gets over that and starts talking to us.Vi voglio tanto bene. Anziano Ball

Elder Gary Chambers

Wow is it just me or is it hot in here! I can't tell if I wet myself, or if I'm just sweating in my pants (with a bladder as weak as mine, you can never tell). Constanza is now in the dust!... as of today.... and I've been re-positioned right next to the big city of Santiago in a sweet lil joint called Navarette! So far, as today is my first day, I think I like it. My new comps name is Elder Harding, a stud from Idaho who turned down a bunch of basketball scholarships to come out to this rock and Preach the Gospel! YOU GO GIRL! Hahaha... no but he's cool. First downside is that it's hot now :(... the second is that my Dominican girlfriend is no longer living just across the street (long distance relationships suck). However, there is a bright side or two! No more "2 hours down the mountain" crap anymore! WOO HOO! also, the people here in Navarette LOVE the missionaries... so when you want anything, you just call the restaurant, or colmado and tell them what you want. 5 minutes later, they're knocking at your door with a hot delicious Dominican meal, or that Ice cold soda you wanted, FREE of delivery charge! Wow... is that white power or what! Not to mention that everything is way cheaper than anything Constanza ever had... I think I'm going to like it here :) the House is a lil bit messy, but I think theirs a phone number for that (just kidding, I'm not that lazy). I've really enjoyed your guys' entries... like Grants in-ability to see mail box posts in the dark... haha that story made me giggle. Hey Max, siga con el espanal muchacha! Es deficil al principio, pero con tiempo, puede hablar como los Mexicanos! Eso es mi meta... Me encanta los mexicanos. Haha Chase, I don't know why, but ever since I found out you were going to Mexico, the image of you and your dirty mustache keeps running through my mind and I laugh every time. Well, I'll be sure to let you all know how the area is here once I know... Until then, keep it real, and do your best. Con Amor (como siempre), Elder Chambers (aka Mr. Churia)

Elder Max Crandall

Happy Mothers and Fathers Day to all Moms and Dads. Things here in Washington are ever changing. Last time we spoke I was serving in a really small town called Monroe with a great missionary named Elder Cole. We had a car, we had a great apartment with a dishwasher, microwave, a washer and a dryer and a really good vacuum, and Elder Cole and I were really getting to be great friends. We even got along with the other missionaries in the zone swimmingly. It was the good life. Well, last Saturday, the 17th, we got our transfer calls. The zone leaders told us that there was only one missionary that was getting transferred. That was great by me because I was glad to have another six weeks with Cole. This was surprising because the only companion I*ve stayed with for longer than six weeks was my first companion. Everyone else has only been for one transfer. I think all the moving is due to the Spanish Elders being new to the mission. Anyway, we all thought life was hunky dory and we were gearing up for the new transfer. Then on May 20th, the day of transfers, President Showalter called Elder Cole and myself and asked both of us to be trainers. The mission knew that there were two Spanish Elders coming to the mission but they were scheduled to come next transfer. Well, since they both already spoke Spanish and English, they only had to stay in the MTC for three weeks instead of nine so they came early*but no one informed SLC or our mission. So President Showalter told me to pack my bags, I punched a wall (just kiddin*) and we headed off for the mission home. We all stood as the greenies walked in; five elders and one sister (who was actually named Sister Elder*). They started to introduce one of the greenies, saying he loves cars and working on them and he likes to play football. Then they said, *Your trainer will be Elder Crandall.* I walked down to the front to greet him; we embraced and I whispered, *Mi gauchito,* in his ear.* His name is Elder Ricardo Guillen. He is from Utah, he*s really great and I*m happy to be with him. We are serving in the Greenwood area which is on the edge of our mission, just above Seattle. In fact we are actually in Seattle. By the way, WE*RE ON BIKES!!!!!$%@#&. Our area is huge and we have Spanish investigators outside of our area. I suppose my tushie will recover one day. Oh, also, how cool is this? On May 31st we get to go hear Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, speak! I*ve been reading about Ammon * *I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks*that I may (1) win the hearts of my fellow-servants, that I may (2) lead them to believe in my words.* What a great insight! You can tract all day long and preach repentance but if people don*t think you care about them, they probably won*t listen to you. You gotta warm them before you warn them. I*m a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I know this message has the power to bless the lives of everyone on this planet. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. I am so grateful to know what I know and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to share that knowledge with the people in Washington. Vos amo mucho * Elder Crandall P.s. Hey Logan * (hit chest twice, show peace sign) Word to my homedawg. Prayin* for ya.

Elder Logan Wells

Well hello there! To say the least things have been nothing but normal let me tell you. As most of you know, I returned home on the 14th of May.It has been so weird to be home. I have had x-rays, MRI's, and Doctors appts. I am having surgery on my knee on the the 16th. I have fasted and prayed and feel at peace with the decision to be home, but know that I miss being a Missionary and the people in Puertro Rico. I know in my heart that my mission is not complete. It is my prayer that I will have a speedy recovery and be able to return to Puerto Rico. For those of you wondering what the Valley View Ward is like... let me tell you it sucks.. ha ha. I absolutely hate it, beside the fact that I am so used to the spanish people, the love they give, and a small branch. So with that being said, I am happily serving in the Arboldea Branch as a missionary, visiting the inactive. I am also enjoying movies, music ,tv and visiting with friends. Thanks for the support and love! Peace, Logan

Elder Chad Dewey

Hello Everyone,Another week in the MTC. Here are the happenings for this week…I got a new companion on Wednesday, his name is Elder R from Sacramento Ca. He seems pretty cool. He knows some Russian (meaning exactly that). He learned from Rosetta Stone, (the program that doesn't teach the grammar principles) and some guy he knew who spoke Russian. He is catching on quickly to the grammar so that's great. I have made a lot of new friends with the weee younger elders who just came in. There are three elders from Finland who are WAY cool that I love to hang out with when we have time ( haha ). We are planning a party back in Finland when the mish is all said and done. They said, we are going to sit in the sauna and then do snow angles naked in the freezing cold snow. Sounds rejuvenating...right??? After surviving in Russia for two years I'm sure I can handle it. ...something to look forward to!!(haha) Their names are Elder Huttenen, Koivisto, and Jotiunos…not too sure about their correct spelling. Then there is elder Traasdall from Gilbert in our zone. The thing that sucks is none of the younger elders in my zone are going to Ekat. Oh well. I have the new task of teaching these weee younger elders the ways of four square etiquette. Yes, there is such a thing of four square etiquette. They need to be taught a little class and a few manners when they play. They are coming along but need much improvement... I'm just the guy to teach them. (haha)A funny situation happened with a sister missionary the other day. She asked me how my mother was, it was way awkward, andI'm not sure why she asked me that. I'm still wondering…huh??? That's a sister missionary for ya. (JK) Sister missionaries are cool.... they are very strict sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I keep every little rule in the book, but there is a point where some go over board and make up their own little rules. There is still room to have fun while you're on the mish.I am going to tell you about an experience I had yesterday, or I should say…ANOTHER LEARNING EXPERIENCE...a particular elder and I were notified about five minutes before we had to teach a lesson. This was frustrating because it's important you go into these lessons extremely prepared. Our lesson still needed work because Elder (blank) wanted more time for his personal study. I got somewhat frustrated because we made a goal to have our lesson done by Saturday evening and it wasn't finished until Monday morning. So, here I go again!! I made the choice of letting my frustrations and impatience's take over and get to me, instead of turning to the Lord for help and relying on the spirit for direction and guidance I let the situation get to me. Later that evening my teacher took me out of the room to apologize for scheduling us to teach and not telling us. I explained I wasn't frustrated at him just at this particular elder. I felt he didn't take the instructions and goals I discussed with him serious enough and he wasn't prepared going into the lesson. My instructor said, I need to me more firm with him. After my one on one with my instructor I was feeling like you know what________!!! I was feeling like doing something to take my mind off it all, like maybe going to see a movie, or maybe playing a video game or two, or going out with some my friends and grabbing some good grub and just hanging out for a few hours…OH WAIT!!!...I forgot where I was for a minute! Okay…since I couldn't do any of those things, I resorted to my residency on bended knee, in prayer, having a conversation with the one who cared, who would listen and understand, the one who would give me direction if I go to Him humbly and ask, I just needed to still my mind long enough to listen. I prayed for what seemed to be a long time, asking for help with the frustration and anger I was feeling because I knew I needed to let it go in order to feel the spirit. It's somewhat tricking to constantly live and think the way you need to in order to have the spirit as a constant companion. Although I prayed for what seemed to be forever, pleading with the Lord for a change of heart and to let my anger and frustration go. I still went to bed with my head in the wrong place, but I know my prayer was answered because when I woke this morning my mind was clear and I felt at peace. I didn't care anymore and I was back to my positive attitude. I spoke to this paticular elder and explained the importance of striving to keep the goals we set. He agreed and it's been a great day. I think this all happened because I prayed that we could work together and have the spirit. Having the spirit is crucial on a mission and every second you don't is a waste of time. I didn't have the spirit last night until I prayed and asked for help and talked it over with this paticular elder…ANOTHER LESSON WELL LEARNED. (I know the Lord is testing my patients by giving me different situations because He knows I really need it in order to become a better missionary…kind of like going through a refinery process. Not fun, but necessary.)I just want everyone to know I love them and to make good choices. And for those serving missions or preparing to serve...REMEMBER it's important to have the spirit with you at all times, it will make your time more productive and worthwhile. I love you all. Take care and be safe. Sorry my story was kind long and boring.Love,CT Dewey.

Dallas Rowley

Well, I am sending this in text form to Sis. Wells. I am in California spending some time with the family. I am so excited, very ready, and very prepared to leave for my mission. I report to the MTC on the 18th of June. So this will be my last letter from home. I wish you all well. Dallas Rowley

Blake Smith

Hey, whats up everyone? Well the biggest news is I got my mission call. I will be serving in the Argentina Mendoza mission and I report to the MTC on September 10th. I am so excited to go out into the mission field and to start to teach the people of Argentina. I will be going through the temple soon and I am so excited. I want to thank all of you for being such a good example to me. Well I can't wait to join all of you in the mission field. Have a great month! Blake Smith

MAY NEWS

2008-05-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

Elder Grant Andrew Huish

Oregon, Portland Mission

October 2007- 2009

Hey everybody how are you doing? I must inform you all of a miracle that has just occurred, I actually remembered to write this on my own without my Mom telling me.... I just thought you should know that..... things here in Oregon are going pretty well.... it seems that we have already knocked all the doors where nice people live and now it is just a bunch of mean people left, many of which are old.... yesterday me and my companion were tracking, and you see my companion doesn’t like to knock no soliciting doors but I don’t care cause they need the gospel as much as anyone right, so as I was saying yesterday me and my companion were tracking and I come upon a no soliciting door and I disregard it just as usual but I looked in the window and saw a little gate thing blocking the stairs so I assumed there was a baby so to be nice I decided to knock instead of ringing the doorbell, after I knocked these two huge dogs just start barking like crazy and then I see this furious man through the window, "why would you knock you just woke up my baby why do you think it says no soliciting go away" being the jerk I am I replied "we aren’t soliciting anything" to which he replied in a very firm tone "go away, go away".... man I love the wonderful tracking experience especially in the old nice neighborhoods where everyone has already had the missionaries knock on there door like 40 times.... well other than that there are only two pieces of big new 1 there is a part member family in which all of the nonmembers over 8 are soon to be baptized and they are awesome and just to show that miracles do happen, a member actually invited us to teach someone in there home if you can believe it.... Well I love you all and wish you the very best of luck!

Elder Huish

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey Brothers,
Well I have been transfered to serve in the mission home as the financial clerk. I am loving it. I get to drive around town in a van to go run errands when I am not doing the accounting.We still get to go preaching after 5 pm. each day.Well, its been pretty crazy here in the office. I guess its always like that the week after transfers. I´m learning a whole bunch though and get to really work on my studies a lot more now. My area, Barrio Los Boulevares, is extremely cool! We are going to have two baptisms in the following week. They´re named Amado and Rosa Rojas. They are from Peru and were just waiting on their marriage papers to arrive from there and then they´ll get baptized. They´re really cool people and very spiritual. When we went to go visit them, a lady stopped us in the street and asked us where our church was. She said that she wasn´t satisfied with her Catholic background and wanted change. We told her where it was and continued. When we arrived at the Flia. Rojas, Rosa started talking about how she has always been inspired throughout her life. Well, we put it to the test and we prayed with them to find out if anyone they knew would be interested in hearing the gospel. She listed like 30 something names and we were extremely happy! One of those names was an old friend who lived nearby, so we asked if she could accompany us to go see her and invite her to church. She agreed, and when we got there, it turned out to be the lady that stopped us in the street! They were both very happy to be investigating the church and now this lady (named Maria) has a friend to go to church with. Well, she went and loved it so much, she is inviting her entire family and relatives to next weeks! There are sure a whole lot of miracle happening in this area and its pretty sad that I will only be in it for two more weeks because I´m being trained. Then I move over to another area with the rest of the office missionaries. President Olsen told us we have the hardest job in that we have to fufill our office duties, and since we are seen as leaders in the mission, we also need to achieve the highest preaching and baptizing goals as well. Sheesh... But hey that just means more room for miracles because there is no way we could do it otherwise hehe! Well, anyway, Thanks to all the families for your prayers and support.
Till next month my friends!
¡Ciaó!Elder Kleinman

Lorin Hendricks

Hello all, Sorry for not writing for the last little while. finals kept me very busy. Iam finally done with school, for the semester and I am back in arizona. The only real news is that I am going to the Peru and I report June 4. So I am back for a month then I leave again. other than that i am working and just killing time for the next month.I am really excited, but I am also extremely nervous. Honestly I am really tired too. In fact tonight I have another 8 hour shift back at Neilson's so I really don't have a lot of time to type today so I will talk to you all later.

See you, Lorin

Elder Brock Smith

What up mtown peeps? Things are sweet here in waimea with my cuz hos my comp which is pretty sweet we are way chill with each other so thats cool but the fog sucks really bad and its killin my allergies as well which sucks but im dealin with it though we have had two baptisms here in three weeks so that cool we are truly bein blessed one of the wards we cover is just so missionary minded si much is goin on this is such a great work eventhough it is challenging esp as DL i love serving but id never wish for it though having the ZLs hammer you sucks they make you do everything then they take credit for everything that turns out good which is pretty gay sometimes the numbers thing is pretty gay but i know we need it i wish that we didnt though but i dint like it though one thing that was eventful was that we got attacked by a dog and I beat it with a bat and it ran off with it tail between its legs which was awesome im now the dog slayer with the club that we made out of ironwood but thats all to report peace! B. Sexy B. Smooth

B. Smith

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hey Everybody!
The work here in Stockton is about to EXPLODE and I will be here to see it! My life has gotten so much more stressful since I’m the senior companion. I love my companion, Elder Yang. He is Hmong and was born in Thailand in a refugee camp. His family moved to Wisconsin and he is the 4th of 9 kids. He speaks a ton of Hmong to me because he is more comfortable speaking Hmong than English. I have learned a ton with him. Because he is Hmong EVERYONE lets him in and we get to teach. We had 12 other lessons this week all because of Elder Yang getting us in the door. We have a lot of potentials that we are working with and this transfer is going to bring out a lot of blessings. We were going to go contacting one day and I pulled the car over by this park and sat for a minute not really knowing what I was going to do but then I got out and pointed at a house to go to and it was HMONG! They let us in and it turned out the old man is a SHAMAN! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was really neat, the Spirit was helping us big time! Yesterday we ate all the insides of a chicken or a turkey, I don’t remember which. I also ate CHICKEN FEET!!! YUCK, it was so GROSS! Our whole zone is going to the Cambodian New Year for Preparation Day and I’m so excited to go see what it’s like! It’s going to be so much fun, lots of gross food that actually tastes good now…weird clothes…you know all the crazy Cambodians in Stockton, it should be great! The work is going good and I love it. I just found out that I will probably be staying in Stockton for at least three more months. I have a new calling in our branch. I am the organist and now…..Primary Pianist!! It’s hard but fun at the same time. It reminds me of my mom. I love and miss you all, have a great month!
Daniel

Elder Gary Chambers

Well well well... its that time again! I know I can't really talk to all you guys individually, so asking how everthing is going would be pretty pointless wouldn't it? As a matter of fact... any question would be pointless... I guess I'll just let you know how the D-Rizzle is, oh and me too. Life is still great fortuneately, I'm still stationed in the coldest part of the mission (Constanza), but I'm fully expecting that to change after this transfer since they sent me a new comp. Thats right, i FINALLY got me another one of those Missionary boys to replace my old one... Elder Rampton got shipped out and Elder Hill was sent into the mountains to fill his spot. He's a way cool guy from Idaho, and we get along great! I hope my wife is just like him..... haha NOT, that sounded so wierd to say... can i take that back? I'm going to take that back...... I never said that. Something cute and interesting happened the other day. I was out on the balcony (thats right, we live on the 2nd floor, cause we're cool like that) washing my clothes in the dinky lil washing machine when i noticed something strange going on below me. I couldn't figure out what she was doing at first, but one of our neighbors was making motions at her face while a lil boy held a mirror in front of her. I looked a lil closer, sneaky-like of course, and saw she was holding a razor in her hand! She was shaving her mustache and beard! I was soo bummed... It looked really good on her too... Right as soon as she finished, she glanced up and totally caught me staring. I quickly tried to busy myself to make it look less obvious that I had seen anything, but I'm pretty sure she knew. Officially the first time I've ever seen a girl ACTUALLY shave her face to get hair off of it... Wow....... Anyways, that pretty much explains how I'm doing and how the work is up here, so I'm gonna go now! Love you ALL!
Love, Your Home Dawg Elder Chambers
P.S. Hugs and Kisses all around!

Elder Scott Ball

Ciao Tutti,
Hey, I'm so glad to be out here in Italy. I was transfered and now I am in the small city of Treviso, which is 30 minutes north of Venice. I'm not used to this small city because I was in a big city for so long, but its going good. We have 30 active members here and a nice little branch. I'm with a kid from Oregon called Anziano Perez. He is pretty amazing and we are making the work grow here. Wow, time flys here, I can't believe that I've already been in Italy for 7 months already. I'm so grateful to be doing to Lord's work here and for all the people that accept our message. We do 'house to house' here and for all the hunderd doors we knock on, its great to feel the joy when one person invites you in and listens to the gospel. We are doing great and I hope that everyone is excersing their faith power in finding the elect. Give em' Heaven.
Vi voglio tanto bene.
Anziano Ball
ps. We are able to go to Venice for P'day! YAY!

Elder Max Crandall

Buenos Di-zzle my broth-izzles,
Another day, another town. Last letter I was serving with Elder Freakin’ Martinez and living in Sister Smith’s freakin’ basement – “the prayer lair” as I liked to call it. I was only there six weeks but now I’m in a really dinky town called Monroe. My companion’s name is Elder Cole and he’s the DL out here. I’ve been companions with DL’s for all but six weeks of my mish. What the hecka? Cole has been trying to learn Spanish for about six months now and we have about the same level of Spanish speaking skill. This is a good thing. That statement may seem weird, but now I am forced to try to help communicate to the masses. With Martinez, I would watch him speak at 246 mph, the investigator respond at 287 mph, which left me at 0 mph, stalled in the middle of the intersection. Now Elder Cole and I have to struggle to try and get our point across, fumble and butcher the language, and wait for the Mexicans to correct us. Now Elder Cole and I crash and burn together, in unity. I think this transfer will be one full of difficulty and growth. Right before I left Everett, President decided to keep our car to get the trunk fixed so I had to buy a bike. There is only one companionship of Spanish missionaries in each zone so that meant that Martinez and I were responsible for all the Spanish work in the whole zone. So what happens when we have investigators over in Mill Creek or North Everett? Get on that bike or get walkin’, fatty! I was actually looking forward to trying to get back in shape. Oh well. Here in Monroe we are working with a gal named Rosa Evelia Esquivel Jime. She’s a 37 year old Mexicana with four chitlins. She lives with her sister and her two kids, who are members. She only speaks Spanish so it’s been kind of cool to try and communicate with her. One day we went over there and asked her if she had any questions about her baptism. She responded, “I am scared, but I am sure. I have doubts, but I have seen the light and must continue towards it.” I mean, gosh dang…does it get any greater than that? I submit that it does not. Elder Cole and I were able to go to the temple! No one gets to go to the temple anymore! Well, I think the rule is we can only go at Christmas, unless we have converts who go. Well, Elder Cole and Elder Hulet baptized a gal a year ago so we got to go with her for her first time through the temple. Elder Hulet also came with his companion, Elder Gaddie. Elder Gaddie is from Mesa too. I guess we were in the same seminary class sophomore year but I didn’t know him too well back home. He is actually one of my favorite Elders. Wanna hear something cooler? We’re going to the temple again today to see that same convert get sealed to her hubbie! Two weeks in a row? Sheeeeeeesh. Someone up there loves me. Way Sweet! I know this gospel is true. I know that our Savior lives and that He knows us individually. He wants to help us and all we have to do is turn to Him. Vos amo mucho –Elder Crandall

Elder Michael {Jimmy} Miller

Greetings from the unknown land of Danbury, CT! Interesting fact, Danbury is the former hat capital of the world, and is where the term 'mad hatter' was coined. Many hat makers went crazy because of the mercury in the chemicals. And believe me the crazies are still wandering the streets here. Anywho, things are great here in the mission, I got the privilege of seeing Elder Jones yesterday at mission conference where we heard from Elder Maines of the Quorum of the 70. It was sweet. The ward members here are amazing. They feed us so much! I've gained 15 lbs!! And more importantly they're getting very missionary minded and we've gotten several member referrals in the last couple days. We've got an investigator with Hemophilia, Rich, who we're extending a date to tomorrow. He's awesome and is genuinely searching for truth. He's a missionaries dream! Anywho, the church is true the book is blue - take care all. BAM - Be A Missionary. Love, Elder Miller

Elder Garrett Jones

Greetings from the Bronx! Things have gotten a little crazy for me. On April 9th, my companion, Elder Bishoff and I were running around the corner on P-day to get some quarters for laundry and he saw one of those 3 or 4 foot rubber trashcans partly blocking the sidewalk. He decided to hurdle over it and when he landed he hurt himself. I called an ambulance and then President Searle. It turns out that when he landed he dislocated his femur from his pelvis. He needed surgery, a weeklong hospital stay, then another week at the mission home before flying home to recover. I have been pretty much a one man team directing my area ever since. My companions are the two english speaking elders I live with, and I won't receive a new companion until the next cycle when transfers happen. I was recently able to baptise two brothers, the Vegas, which was an amazing experience for me to be a part of. They were both super prepared and ready to follow Christ and it was sweet to watch them do it. The family are all baptized and reactivated and now their goal is to go to the temple and be sealed, so hopefully in a year I'll be able to tell you about how I was able to do that with them. That would be one of the sweetest experiences you could have as a missionary. The church is the only true and living church in this world, headed by a living Christ and a living God. I know that I am serving Him, and that brings me so much joy. I love and miss you all. Garrett

Elder Jeff Stoker

Hello Elders,I hope that everything has been going really good for everyone this Month. Because my last newsletter entry was pathetic, i thought that i would make up for it this month. Well things have been doing good for me. Me and my companion have been really trying to find investigators the last couple of weeks, and it is paying off slowly but surely. Last interview that i had with my mission president i told him that we are not going to have enough time to go finding, because we are going to be teaching all day. He laughed and said go for it. So i am trying to accomplish that. And let me tell you all, it is definately not as easy as it sounds. I think that i have had some of the worst trials thrown at me this last cycle. Needless to say, i am glad that i have got my companion with me, and even more glad that God is watching after me. So things are all good. Trials may seem hard, but they always pass, and the reward is always worth it. My companion and I have been teaching a Deaf guy. It is really hard, because we have to have a translator with us. It just so happens that i am in a branch that has 10 deaf people in it, so there are a couple member translators. We have been really blessed, and he wants to be baptized this next week. I am way excited. Let me tell you, it is really hard to have a lesson in Russian, and then it having to be translated into Russian Sign Language. it is amazing to see it though. I have come to realize that in no matter what language the gospel is being taught, it is true, and what max said about the gospel being true even if it is in the Spanish language is true. haha. Classic. Ill give you a high five for that one later maxwell. Anyways, love you all. Have a great month.
Elder Stoker

Blake Smith

Hey, what's up everyone? Everything is going awesome here at home. My papers went in on Sunday (April 27th), so I am very excited!!!!! I can't wait to get out in the mission field. Well I am just finishing up another semester at school, and still working for my Uncle and my Grandpa. The new ward is ok, but still not the old ward. Well I can't wait to get my call and join you guys as a missionary. Well good luck and stick in there. And by the this time next month I will have my call too!!! Talk to you later. See Ya.Blake

Dallas Rowley

Hey everyone, I got my mission call a couple weeks ago! I am being called to the Ohio, Columbus mission! I report to the MTC June 18th, and I can't wait get out there. I know it's where I should be. So I'm going through the temple for the first time this week, I just got my reccomend signed by our stake president this morning. I'm really excited to say the least. But not much else is new. Sorry I've been writing such short updates lately, I've been writing them on my iPod, & they seem longer on here. But anyway, I hope you all are doing good! Choose the right guys, choose it. Dallas

Elder Logan Wells

Well hello there! To say the least things have been nothing but normal let me tell you, I feel like I just did one of these yesterday, so insane how fast time is flying by, we have all been out on the missions for a little longer now and by now we are starting to feel like missionaries, or at least comfortable with the routines of the mission, well this last month has been crazy I was in a place called Caguas it is a really cool place in Puerto Rico where the church is strong and thriving, so crazy, but well I was there for three weeks because I had to have an emergency transfer because of the knee. Well I was there and like all getting comfortable with this place because the people are wicked sweet and I was like yes I will be in a place for a really long time because our President likes to keep people in there areas for a really long time so I was like yes, I was so excited then the calls come for transfers and I was like no worries I will be here still, hopefully not with this crazy companion because I will literally kill him if we are together any longer so I was like okay, then this call comes and there like Elder Wells your leaving I was no I am not, I refuse I am going to stay here I have only been here for three weeks and I love it, no way no how, there like yeah, so I was like fine, well so happens that there opened another area in Caguas so that they had to share the car so the other times they will be on bikes so they had to move me. So I was like where am I going, of course they wouldn’t tell me. so I waited till transfer meeting and well there are these mountains that are right above Caguas that have just these houses all over these hill I have visited this place and I was like its really pretty but I would never would want to serve here, well I should have no better than to say something like that, so the lord put me in a place called Aguas Buenas that is all hills and has a car all the time because it is impossible to ride a bike or walk because there have been way to many accidents here. Well so I am in the hills it’s kind of creepy sometimes because I feel like someone is going to jump out of the jungle and try to kill me. But turns out I love the place we have a branch that has been around for 23 years and there are still only 20 to 30 people coming every week. So well we are working with less actives a lot and we have already got one family to come back and our ward mission leader. so we have our work cut out for us but I am going to have this branch up to 40 to 50 people every week before I leave this place so far we started at 28 last week we had like 35 and so we are getting there, poco a poco, that seems to be our slogan in our area because it is hard to get any Puerto Rican to do anything they suck at commitments but we are here to change that and call them to repentance. So how do you guys feel about the two new temples that are going to be built in AZ I am so excited. Well love you all and have a good month.

Peace, Logan

Elder Chase Judd

HI elders, y people who are not on the mission yet.
Well things are going great here at the MTCI love it alot and it is not that bad. I have one month left here and only one more lesson in ingles then all en espanol. The language is coming but as everyone who has been here it is frustrating at times. Sorry Jeff and Daniel you guys have it tough. 12 weeks WO. Well I hope everyone is doing well I love all you so much. My companion is pretty cool he is half Korean and from Texas, haha what a cool combination huh? So tell me what the weather is like in everyones mission ok? I love you all ADIOS.

LOVE ELDER JUDD

April News

2008-03-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Elder Gary Chambers

Dominican Republic Santiago Mission

October 2007 - 2009

YESS!!! I made it to the Cover Page! I'm like... a celebrity now right? Oh golly... I'm blushing and everything..... Wow so how is the work you're probably asking me? (figuratively speaking of course...) I couldn't be happier. This oportunity... This chance of a life time... Man! How do you some it up? It has helped me to realize what is REALLY important... I mean, what counts! It has helped me to prioritize my goals! Most of all it's shown me what joy you can have from studying las Palabras de Dios (Whoa watch out for that Spanish!). I remember specifically Max writing a BIG letter home that had a section in it for me... before I left on my mission. I remember specifically him saying "Study the Book of Mormon!" and me thinking... "Yeah... I probably should..." Wow how true that is, how lucky we are to have this book! The Book of Answers as I like to call it. Ok ok, I know you guys already know what I'm talking about, so I'll say something different. Running dust slams the dream boat paper! HA! Hows THAT for something different? (Warning: Don't try to understand that) Anyways, what I'm trying to say is... We are SOO lucky to be here... to have this opportunity. Well, as a short lil update on my portion of the world (which is right next to Logans portion! Haha how ironic... Hey Logan!), The Dominican Republic is great, and the people are so cool! Not to make you guys jealous or anything... but I just can't seem to stay dry! I know they say not to count the baptisms... but once you pass 100, it's just too much to ignore! (Joke?) Haha no, but it's great. It's supposed to be hot here, but I lucked out and got pitched into the mountains where the weather is usually nice :) However, Arizona gets more rain than I do... what's that all about? All is well gentlemen... all is well. The Church is true and don't you EVER forget that! You're all on the right track (Except for Jeff). Be Fearless, Live Strong, and Do your best to make your Heavenly Father proud! Never forget that the Lord is on your side. Take Care... Elders? (or do you prefer more casual like... Home-Dawgs...)

Love Elder Chambers

P.S. Haha here's a lil game fore you... See how many "...'s" you can find!

Elder Chase Judd

Jambo everyone that is hello in swahili I can't wait to learn that language it is just soooo exciting. Well Ijust want to yell at Jeff and say " Zdravstvuite" yeah he knows what that means hahaha. Well I am off to the MTC on Wednesday FINALLY!!! I have been waiting my whole life for this moment and I am really excited to teach some African Americans. Hi Grant Hi Daniel HiGarrett Hi Jeff Hi Mike Hi Logan Hi Brock Hi Gary Hi Scott Hi Max Bye Dallas Bye Lorin and Bye Blake. Well I hope everyone is doing well... besides Jeff because he yelled at me, I was going to send you some peanut butter but nope not anymore. My farewell was yesterday and I cried through the whole thing I know its pretty embarrassing but it was Alli's fault she had to sing my favorite song "Joseph Smith's first Prayer", and in the third verse she sang it in espanol which made me cry even harder so I am just a big baby. Oh and it made everyone in the audience cry even Chas, just kidding Alli made everyone cry......... Daniel that is crazy that you are in the 2nd worst place in the USA. nyobzoo Daniel I am sorry I am not good at writing anyone back, forgive me please! I love you all! Wish me good luck GG I get set apart tonight so I gotta get in all of the cod4 I can get that is call of duty 4!!!!! Halo 3 sucks Halo 2 is way better ok guys. Chase

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey Kids!How is everyone doing? We had a baptism this last week, she is a Bolivian girl name Danny Paola Oreyai Chavi, and yes she did insist on us using her full name all the time, I don*t know why, and it was a real pain. But she is a wonderful girl with a great testimony. She is going to go visit her parents back in bolivia to convert them as well heh, neat huh? Well, things have gotten a little more interesting here in La Rioja, there is a strike that has been going on for 3 weeks now, where all food supplies and fuel has been stopped from going outside of Buenos Aires City. It all started with the people living outside of the captial city getting angry that all food products and fuel were so much cheaper inside the capital and super expensive everywhere else. So they told the president (a woman ha!) to balance out the prices so its more fair for the poor farmers to buy their own supplies. Well, apparently the pres. pulled a Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake" thing and cut off all routes for food supplies and fuel to enter any province outside of Buenos Aires city. Long story short, theres no food here and people are now rioting hah! But we got a good supply of rice and pasta to last us. Also, all the trucks that were bringing the food are blockading the highway so buses cant get through, and transfers are coming up so this should be interesting :) Well, I hope all are doing well and I*ll witre you all next month!

Elder Kleinman

Elder Grant Huish

Hey everybody hows it going? things here in Oregon are going pretty well. im actually back in civilization which is a nice change. my new area is pretty tiny though just like 4 sq miles or so. oh and im on bike now which is actually pretty nice, makes me feel like a missionary though my weak video game legs are struggling. my new companion actually grew up in mt vernon washington which is weird that he ended up in oregon. we are teaching some pretty sweet people here. its kind of weird, this lady who just moved into the ward was investigating in another area of the mission and she had a baptismal date set so that was pretty cool to find out until she told us where she lived and it just so happened to be the address of an excomunicated guy and then we found out that she still smokes and is on probabtion for like 17 more months which pretty much means she cant get baptised as you probably could tell. well i dont really know what to say othere than that. oh the other day i was riding my bike and night on the wrong side of the road so i turned of my light so that i wouldnt bling people driving past and then all the cars went by so i turned my light back on just in time to se a mail box pole sticking up out of the sidewalk which i was just lucky enough to crash into.... it was great i have a huge bruise on my leg now but dont worry there was only a little bit of blood.... well i believe that that is all that i have for now.... good luck everyone!

elder huish

Elder Garrett Jones

Greetings from the Bronx. Everything is going well here and I am so happy to be a part of this great work that we are all in. We have been able to see a lot of the Lord's elect come forth asking us to be baptised recently and its been such a cool experience for me. Natividad was baptised and confirmed by her husband and then I was blessed to be able to confirm Eddy after he was baptised by my companion. This coming week is transfers and I'm almost 100% sure I'll be getting a new companion who I don't really know, which is always awkward for the first little while. Whoever I get should be able to teach me some new things.Time here makes absolutely no sense. I start talking to somebody in the street thatI think I contacted yesterday and it turns out that it had been several weeks ago. I start talking to somebody that it seems like forever since we last visited and its been three dadys. Anyways, it comes down to just putting our trust in the Lord to guide us and remind us through the Holy Ghost of who we need to visit and who is ready to really progress and come unto Christ. As a District we've been looking for ways that we could do some service and one of the things that we've come up with is to teach English for free to whoever wants to come every Thursday and Saturday. We'll teach English for an hour and then share a spiritual thought for 30 minutes afterwards for those who want to stay. Tomorrow will be the first time we do it and we are excited to see how everything goes. I love this work and am so happy to be able to be a part of it. I love and miss you all.

Garrett

Elder Max Crandall

My Brothers,*Que pasa? Things are going good here in Everett. My new companion is a native Spanish speaker from Costa Rica. His name is Elder Martinez. Elder Martinez only talks to me in English. I keep asking him to speak Spanish, he agrees it*s a good idea, then he talks in English. Not really much help. My mom sent me *Learn Spanish in Your Car* CDs for my birthday but Elder Martinez won*t listen to them in the car. Lo siento big guy, I thought we were supposed to be helping me learn Spanish. We don*t have much in common but the good news is he doesn*t have an American driver*s license so I get to drive! w00t! Elder Martinez and I both got whitewashed into this area so the work in kind of slow. I*m pretty much in the mission president*s back yard; less than 10 minutes from the mission home in Mill Creek. We live in a member*s home. Her name is Sister Smith. She is a 79 year old widow and has virtually seen the entire world, **but before you go off gallivanting to Europe and all those exotic places, I recommend seeing this great nation of ours.* We talk to her almost every night for about 30 minutes. She gets peeved if we don*t and I guess sometimes you need to kiss some member bootie. I accidentally told her that I know how to crochet now, so she wants me to make a ton of little beanies for the babies in the hospital. Honorable, but not why I*m out here. Her house is just filled with weird old stuff. She*s a big fan of antiques. We live downstairs and have our own little teeny kitchen. We have a car, but the trunk has duct tape on it so it won*t fly open. Apparently when another elder was serving in this area, someone ran into the back of him. I guess they figured a working trunk isn*t all that important. There are pretty much two parts to the Mukilteo area where I am * actual Mukilteo, which is really rich and prideful, and Southern Everett, which is full of Mexicans. Our ward has tons of people moving in and out. There is one road in South Everett that is just lined with apartment complexes. Since there have never been Spanish speaking elders in this area before, we*ve kind of been starting from scratch. If you wanted to know the update on the Spanish, I can understand about 80% of what*s said to me and I can communicate around -3% of what I want to say. I know it*ll come though. I have faith. The work has been kind of all over the place. It seems like we can find tons and tons of Mexicans who are interested in hearing about the gospel, when it*s preached in their home. But come Sunday, you*d think they thought we had the plague. I*ve never faced so much rejection in my life. At least it*s givin* me practice for when I get in the dating scene again. Well, I love you guys and pray for you. You are all amazing examples to me. *Elder Crandall

Elder Scott Ball

Ciao Everyone!
Everything is going good here in Genova still. Transfers are coming up in two weeks and I'm very scared that I'm going to be transfered to some very small town. It is so fun being 4 in the apartment here and going into 2 is going to be difficult, also depends how funny this companion might be. Right now, this week, we are working to give a baptisimal date to a Ecudorain guy who didn't believe in god. We had a good easter here in Genova and everything is completly closed here. No one is on the streets and it is very funny. Also the day after easter is a holiday and again nothing is open. We couldn't do any finding work really, so we just set meetings with some members and investigators then. During the day after easter, we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee with the sisters. On our way over there, we took the bus and there was this old lady sitting in one of the seats. A note, all the buses are usually full (meaning most of the time, you are stuffed, STUFFED in the bus). So this lady was getting out of her seat and a sister missionary started helping her out. The lady took her umbrella and started whacking the sister over the head yelling, ROBBER ROBBER! Then, the old lady started to run out the door and whacked me and another missionary with the umbrella. It was quite funny. Everyone on the bus was laughing. We saw that old lady again, but we didn't want to go up to her and say anything in fear that we are going to get hit with a umbrella. Have fun Elders, till next time.Vi voglio bene.
Anziano Ball

Elder Jeff Stoker

Dear Elders,
I hope things have been good for all of you. I got my first transfer two days ago, and i will be moving to my new area today. I am excited to experience some change, but i love it here in my first area with my trainer. Things have been good, but i think that it is time for a change. The weather here has been getting really nice. The only bad thing is all the snow is melting and it is make mud everywhere. I normally have mud over everything when we finally make it back in for the day. I am in a hurry, and i am sure all of you know how that goes. Just wanted to write and say hello to all you missionaries out there, and all you future missionaries. Keep on working hard. It is hard to believe that it is already the end of march. Well Love you all....sometimes. Have a great month.
Elder Stoker
ps. Mark Gets home May 1st. How crazy is that?

Elder Brock Smith

Aloha Ka Kou My M_town Brogs

Whats up? Well here on kauai things are goin good although Im probably gettin transferred from Kauai in 2 and half weeks and Im thinkin so im not lookin forward to that this island is the bomb but ill go whereevah the Lord want me to go. So E Crandell hows the Espanol? I thoroughly enjoyed last months newsletter it seems as if the time inbetween flys by so fast maybe its just me but it seems that time on a mission is in fast forward mostly all the time. This truly is a great work and Im thankful to be a part of it I see the hand of the Lord everyday and am so greatful for all the he does for me. Im anxious to see what this next transfer holds and I hope that by some miracle I stay here. Well things are goin good my greenie is startin to loose a little bit of his green tinge he is really startin to get into this work howd transfers go for those of you that had them? Well I could ramble on for longer but I think Ill call it quits nothin real cool to report until next time Iesu Pu And May the Force Be With You Always Elder B Smith

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hello Everyone!So nothing too exciting was happening around here before transfers. All of our investigators and people that were coming to church all stopped coming and they don*t want to hear from us anymore*yea it sucks but what can you do? We did find a super fun family. They are part of the Vang clan (white * like me!) and they just came from Thailand like 3 years ago. The family has 3 boys and 5 girls, that*s pretty small for a typical Hmong family. They don*t know very much English so we just go teach them and slowly try getting them to pray with us and then do some other stuff. My companion says that I need to make them *my mission project.* He thinks that they will get baptized but it will take a lot of work and it probably won*t happen until the end of my mission. We are always working on finding investigators and helping the ones that we do have. Sundays out in the field are SO STRESSFUL! I miss having a normal Sunday where everything just runs smoothly*but hey what can you do? Yesterday we had like 12 people set up to come to church but when we went to *face to face* them nobody was home and none of them would answer their phones! It is so irritating when people don*t follow through with their commitments but it*s okay, I am like the least stressed missionary in the branch so it is all good! We got our transfers and I am staying in Stockton! I*m the senior companion and I*m going to be follow-up training my brother * Elder Xao Yang. He was just trained by the Elder that trained me * that*s why everyone calls him my brother. He doesn*t speak very good English, so my Hmong is going to get crazy good*hopefully.

I miss you all and *love you Big, Big* Daniel

Elder Logan Wells

So I am in Caguas and well my companion is from here his name is Elder Guzman he is way crazy he is definitely a nerd and says that he wants to know everything and take over the world, a bit of a wack job if you ask me, but it shall be interesting, I am just hoping that my knee will be fine, with all the walking I was doing it was still hurting but I just didn’t want to go home so I told a few fibs to stay out here, but I have a car now and well it shall be really good, I am in the largest ward in all of Puerto Rico and supposedly all of the members here are really cool and help with everything, its super sweet they have dinner nights for the missionaries so we are going to get fed all of the time, well President told me that if the other two baptismal dates that we have get baptized on those exact days then I am allowed to go to those baptisms so I am hoping that I will be able to go to the baptism this Sunday and then the one on the 13 so that should be really cool because I love the people over there and they are the first persons that I am going to be visiting when I get back to this place that is for sure, I loved it over there and had the best time, it was quite a shock when I found out I was leaving well with all of the work that we were doing it was a bit of a downer well it is all good now because I think that I am going to be awesome here because I think they need someone with a little bit of street smarts here because the other guy that was here before me still didn’t know where to go he used a map the whole time and was here for 5 transfers, so crazy lets just hope that he doesn’t kill himself in the other area because its difficult, but man the other two people that are in my district seem like they are from another world, so we shall see what happens, it will definitely be a little bit different considering my whole mission I have been around normal sane people, well who knows. My companion is the driver and well doesn’t have a clue I had to tell him how to get home and I had only been there for two hours, how funny is that? Well friends, peace out, have a great month! I love you all! Elder Logan Wells

Dallas Rowley

Hey everybody, So my papers are turned in, I sent them to my Bishop about a week ago, & my Stake President sent them to "the brethren" 4 days ago. My call is going to be sent about a week later than usual, because of General Conference. But what can you do. I'm getting pretty excited to find out where I'm going. Man, I might not make it to Chase's farewell today because I have a meeting with my Bishop at the same time. But what can you do. Well, I hope you all are having awesome times, and hopefully I can tell you all where I'm going by next newsletter! Dallas

March News

2008-03-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

Elder Jeff Stoker

Russia Samara Mission October 2007 - 2009

Dear Elders,
Another Month. I am starting to realize time is a very strange thing. I honestly feel like I wrote one of these yesterday. Anyways, this last week for me has been quite an adventure. Our investigators got baptized! What an amazing experience, that I will never forget. It has definitely helped pull the branch here together. Our investigators have come a very long way. He had to quit smoking and drinking, which was extremely difficult for them, because they had done it all their lives. But they were finally able to stop. It is really amazing to see the change that the Gospel can have on peoples lives. So I am still in my trainer, in my first area. I don't think that I am ever going to leave, and I hope I don't. My mission president said that I am probably going to be here a while too. It is way crazy to think that it has already been 6 months. Oh, and I think I have already talked about the new law that Russia just passed, but if I haven't, I will now :]. So every 3 months i have to go and renew my Visa. It used to be every year, but they just changed it. To every three months I will have to take a train to Samara, then fly to Moscow, then immediately hop onto another train that goes into Estonia.We get to spend an entire day being tourists in Estonia while all the paper work is going through, then you do the exact same thing to come back. I just got back from my first Visa Renewal trip, and boy it was beautiful. Estonia is quite a view. It was really cool, because everyone there knows about 8 different languages, and if you only know 7 you are considered retarded. We were able to just walk around and ask people things in english, and they all knew it. It was a really neat experience. Moscow was also way different than any other place in Russia. IT IS CLEAN! hah. But I am loving it here, and every day I seem to understand the language a bit better. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing great. Keep on keeping on. Anyways, Love ya all. Stay outta trouble, have a great Month.

Elder Grant Huish

Hey everybody,
Sorry I didn't write last month. I completely forgot. I know it was probably hard for you all not to get to hear from me for so long so I will try to make this a good one to make up for last time. well as far as the missionary work up here not much is new. we still don't have really anyone to teach and we are running out of places to look. I got my first referral in over 3 months the other day though and we are probably going to check that out tonight which should be fun. the weather up here is beautiful. it has pretty much stopped raining other than a few sprinkles every few days and it has been anywhere from 55-65 degrees during the day. I am absolutely loving it, it makes it a little less boring to be walking around when there is actually a sun and not just a vast grey expanse over your head. so last week when i was doing my laundry (over in Long View Washington) a guy in the store next to the laundromat tried to run from the cops and they tazed him and there was like 15 cop cars and a fire truck and an ambulance. It was pretty crazy, they had to take the guy of in a stretcher. other than that I wish you all the very best of luck. Keep up the good work. Jesus loves you all and so do I. Elder Huish

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody. I hope all is going well in whatever corner of the earth you're in. It's cool to me to think that no matter what language you're speaking or country you're in, the Gospel that you teach people is the exact same as the one I am. It's amazing how much my testimony seems to grow everyday being a servent of the Lord and seeing him answer people's prayers. Here in the Bronx the work is going very well. There seems to be so many people who are prepared by the Lord to hear our message and who want to learn why they're here. The diversity of people with whom I get to work is very cool as well. I had a very interesting contact the other day that I think typifies to a very small degree the kind of people who I get to talk to everyday here in the Bronx. We were on the 6 train heading to our area and I started talking to the guy next to me. He looked about 25, was black, had a doo-rag, some fluffy purple gloves, boots and a big brown worn-down jacket. He told me that he had tried to read the Book of Mormon a couple of times but could never really finish it. Then he said, just like this, "I was reading, and I saw the name 'Sariah' and so I put it on my neck." He then showed me a tattoo that was on the side of his neck that actually said, 'Sariah.' After that the train stopped and he got off without really letting me recover from all the confusion. People here are just different than any I'm used to, but at the same time it's so great.The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy for us as we are working with several people who have baptism dates for the coming weeks. Spanish is great and I'm loving the work. Keep working hard! Love, Garrett

Elder Gary Chambers

*Hola mis amigas! *C*mo est*n? Well that's all you get in the way of Spanish from me... Alrighty then, here's the low down. Missionary work is coming along quite dandy if I don't say so myself... we have a few more baptisms coming up these next couple of weeks... assuming i don't get transfered that is... Transfers are next week and i am not sure how i feel about it. It would be nice to get a new comp, as I've been with my Dad for 2 transfers now... but who knows what will happen. We went to eat at a members house last Sunday, and initially we were excited. Expecting a hot delicious home cooked Dominican meal as is what is usually served (beans and rice grow on you...), but instead, she brought out this pot of.... ugh i didn't even know what to call it. It wreeked of Garlic, and appeared to be a cold mush. Later I found out that it was called "Cold Mush With Too Much Garlic"... I easily figured out how it got it's name, all by myself. Anyways, that was probably the worst thing I've had to eat yet....... uugh... I almost died. Today so happens to be the Dominican Independence Day... Where they broke free from the rule of Haitti, cute huh? No wonder they hate haittians so much... I thought it was just cause they were black, but I guess not. Anyways, that's pretty much it for me here. I've come to grow closer to the teachings of Christ, and am striving to live his Gospel... It's a pretty exciting thing to know who you are, where you've come from, and what you need to do to return and live with your loving Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon is the BoM! (pun intended) I love you guys, and hope your missions are doing great too. Take Care and always know that I LOVE YOU!Con Amor (that's Spanish for "With Love".... you're welcome) Elder Chambers

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey everyone!Things are going great here in Argentina! It is FINALLY starting to cool off and its raining a whole lot more now. Walking up to your knees in flood water is fun... Transfers are next week and ill be moving up to senior companion teehee! We will be baptising a couple of crazy cool families in the upcoming weeks and Im really excited for them. For this last P-day we went to a gigantic dam thats just out side the city up in the mountains it was really cool, it was surround by huge cliff faces and a big lake in the center. We found a service door (that im probably sure we wren*t allowed in) that leads to the very bottom of the dam under the lake. It was super dark and really cold and it was all slimy and I felt like I was in Jeffs room again. Hah! Well, other than that not too much is new...my birthday will be in this next transfer, and I will end my teenage years, sad stuff huh? My lushious beauty from my teenhood will now slowly be fading away awww. Well, I hope all is going well with you punks and have a good...month..? *Cia*! **Les amo muchisimo!! Elder Kleinman

Elder Max Crandall

Bonjourno from the Not-So-Great-White-North! I hope everyone at home enjoyed the Super Bowl and more importantly, the Super Bowl commercials. Being the out-to-lunch missionaries that we are, Elder Dance and I planned a baptism on Super Bowl Sunday evening*about three people showed up. Elder Dance said, *A football game should not be more important than a baptism.* I replied, *Unfortunately, sometimes it is.* We really heard it from the ward members the next week. Silly us. Things are good here though. I just found out we have a really anti guy here in Mt. Vernon. He calls in for a Book of Mormon all the time, trying to trick the missionaries into coming over to his house so he and his trained anti-children can bash with us. I have never been there * thankfully. Over here in Mt. Bernon (as the Mexicanos call it) we have two wards. A couple of months ago, they formed a Spanish Group; not a branch, but a group. They have their own Sacrament meeting, Sunday School, and Priesthood/R.S., and then they meet with Mt. Vernon 2nd ward for YM/YW and Primary. Up until now there have never been any missionaries called to the Everett mission as Spanish speaking missionaries but lately I*d been hearing that President Showalter was thinking about calling some of the Elders and Sisters that are already serving here, to be Spanish speaking missionaries. Last P-day I was playing racquetball with Dance, Stevens, and Featherstone when President Showalter called. He talked to Elder Dance for a bit and then he asked to talk to me. I swore silently and answered the phone. *Elder Crandall, I am calling to see if you would be willing to learn Spanish.* I told him that I would do whatever he asked of me, but he said that it was completely my decision and the only inappropriate answer would be a dishonest answer. I asked him if I could think about it and call him back. I started to weigh out the pros and cons and there are so many more cons than pros. The more I thought about it the more I realized I wasn*t getting anywhere. I left the game, went around to the backside of the barn we were playing in and knelt down. Each time I mentioned the word Spanish, I felt calmer than I have in a long time. I ended my prayer, swore silently again, called President back and accepted the call to be a Spanish-speaking missionary. I know it*s going to be really hard, but this is what the Lord told me I need to do, so I*ll do it. Plus I know my Mom would kick my butt if I didn*t accept. On the bright side, a whole new genre of ladies will be available to me when I get back. So I*m leaving Mt. Vernon for sure and I just got word who my new companion is going to be*I think I wanna run a spoon through my ear drum. Well, I love you guys mucho and I know the church is true*even in Spanish. Love, Elder Crandall

Elder Brock Smith

Aloha My M town Peeps Howzit!> Things are carzy here on kauai Im still training my greenie and I foundout out this morning that Im going to be called as a District leader which is really crazy I dont believe I still have so much to learn about missionary work and now Im supposed to be teaching a distrcit how to do it talk about blind leading the blind but Im greatful for this oppurtunity to grow and to help other missionaries I only hope that I can live up tio this sacred trust that the Lord has given me I always try to do my best but I wonder sometimes if my best is good enough, any of you ever feel that way? Well Elder Anderson training at 6 months thats nuts the best advice I can come up with so far is be yourself and teach mainly by example actions def speak louder than words to that I can Testify it wont be esay this has been the hardest transfer besides my first ever and now I found that It will only get harder for me which is what the Lord wants right now. Other than that all is well and I look forward hearing from you guys and seeing your growth. I throughly enjoyed Elder Stokers journal entry not even one stake thats nuts and it sounds like even crazier food than im gettin over here I enjoyed your comment about becomin russian esp because it is true haha. Well I also thought that it was funny that Garret and Grant are havin a contest for shortest entry Grant def won by not puttin nutin at all. Kauai is the bomb I love servin the Lord and will continue to do to the best of my ability. Study the scriptures Alma 33 is amazing yes chapter 33 not 32 or 34 like even always uses but 33 read it awesome stuff. Well thats about it for now I love you all Iesu pu and may the force be with you always Elder B Smith

Elder Scott Ball

Ciao Ciao Everyone!This week has been crazy! Ok, so we've been trying to dedicate ourselves to finding investigators to teach, so we've been doing everything possible. We did Casa in Casa, where you go and knock on doors and teach lessons in people's houses. We did that on one building and only had one person that was interested and we taught her, but she seemed kinda hesitant. Anyways, funny thing, so they don't even open the door most of the time. They say, "Mi dispiace", which means in english literally, "This displeases me", I feel like saying sometimes, if this displeases you so much, then open the door! They have had so many Jehovah's Witness's come by that they don't want to open the door because the J-dubs (Jehovah's Witness's) put their foot in the door, so they don't open it anymore. They always think that we are J-dubs though, I hate it so much. They say that we preach the same thing as the J-dubs preach. Anyways, I was on the bus doing the this place that is up in the mountains and I met this Ecuadorian guy that said that he would be interested in our message. So we met with him and he said that this might be what he has been searching for. So we just had a appointment with him this morning and talked about the book of Mormon and how God is giving us new revelation in our time. He said that he talked to his pastor of the evalgelical church and that he said the bible is all you need to be saved. I told him that, If there was new revelation in our time, would he want to know about it. Although, he didn't understand me that well. My companion said it and he said he would try to pray about the Book of Mormon. We are begining the see investigators and our hard work is paying off. I'm just glad to be working to bring about the gospel in every tougue. We have had other appointments with less actives and are contining the work of reactiving the less-actives. I might be transfered next week, but I will find out then. It has been almost 3 months, I thought it has been longer, but I was wrong. Vi voglio bene! Anziano Ball

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hello Everyone!So I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!! WAHOO!! It was so cool, I got to baptize a girl named De and it was awesome. I had been practicing how to baptize her in Hmong all week and I was really nervous to have to do it because it was my first time ever. It was such a neat experience getting all dressed in white and getting to baptize someone*I can*t explain it, it was just a super neat experience. It was really weird though because it was the most contact I have had with a girl my age in like 4 months! Weird but cool. My companion/trainer/daddy got transferred to North Sac Town to train again and my new companion sucks! He is so lazy and trunky. He is going home right after this transfer. He is kind of funny, he reminds me of David Spade*his voice and everything. I can*t wait for this transfer to be over*but at the same time it*s good because it shows me what I don*t want to be like. He is teaching me a lot about missionary work though and the Hmong language. My mom found out that where I am in Stockton is the # 2 most dangerous city in the Nation but hey it*s getting better, it used to be the # 1 (for like 4 years in a row!) I was hoping that my Mom wouldn*t find out! It is a really interesting place to be in that is for sure. I meet the most crazy people in the world here and the people here are from Everywhere! This past week there has been some guy living in the church parking lot*not a bum*he is like doing some repairs on the building or something and he is a member but he looks so *inner city*. But come to find out, he went to Southern California speaking Cambodian and he married a girl from Thailand. He lived over there for like 3 years and he came to church yesterday and was talking with everyone in the Branch. He knows Lao, Thai, and Cambodian! He told me something that was so tight! He told me that George Lucas went and found all these exotic languages for the Star Wars movies instead of making up a bunch of Giberish! He said that the Jawas speak Thai and that Jabba the Hutt speaks Hmong!! Things have been really cool down here in the Branch, things are starting to pick up and we are seeing tons of blessings. Yesterday, our district had a goal for 21 investigators at church and we had about 17 just from the Hmongs! We have started teaching a Hmong class to teach people to read and write Hmong. I have to play the piano at church and I teach piano lessons every Tuesday. The first piano lesson was terrible, I had to teach like 12 teenager*s all at once! I love you all and I hope everything is going good. I love it out here! If you want a cool scripture to go through, read Moses ch. 1. It*s crazy you learn so much about our Heavenly Father and some deep doctrine and you can see how BOLD Moses is! Love, Daniel

Elder Logan Wells

Hello, I just had my 5th transfer, and I am staying in Rio Piedras. I am loving it here. There is lots of work to do, and seems there isn't enough hours to get it done. My companion is from the Dominican Republic and I am learning spanish, and he is learning english from me. I have learned mucho espano from him. I injured my knee, and had to have x-rays taken. I don't know what the outcome will be. I am trying to stay positive! This area is a biking area, and I am only walking now, and the area is so large it is hard to cover by walking. But I just keep plowing along. I love hearing everyones stories, have a great month. Peace, Logan

February 2008 News

2008-02-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

Anziano Scott Ball
Italy Milan Mission August 2007 - 2009

Carissimi Amici,Well, I'm still serving in Genova, Italy right now on my 3rd transfer here. We are seeing a lot of progress here in the work. I just got my new companion from Spanish Fork, Utah, Anziano Rogers. I opened a companionship here with Anziano Ballard and we have done a lot of finding work doing Bus, Street, Homes, and Parks. That's sounds so weird to say that in English because we are always speaking Italian with that.. like Strada, Casa.. etc. The Italians here are awesome and we have meet many people and taught many lessons. We reactivated 2 less active members that have been inactive for some time. We are currently progressing with some investigators and are looking forward to invite them to be baptized. What else can I say! I love this work. I hear from some older missionaries that have been here, that they would like to stay longer. I'm starting to feel the spirit that they are feeling, always when I'm doing this great work. I'm living with the zone leaders currently and it*s pretty cool. Always learning something new from them. My old companion, my trainer went on to become a zone leader at Trieste, almost all the way across the mission (6 hours on train). It*s crazy to hear from everyone in these newsletters and to see people change during their mission. I'm learning from new experiences all the time. Especially, when talking with people and what to talk about and how to open up to people. I hope that I don't get transferred from this beautiful city, it*s the one closest resembling Arizona . . . with dry weather and the beautiful landscape.Vi voglio aver tanti benedizioni!

Ciao Ciao, Anziano Ball

Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey Everyone! I was able to watch the funeral, and I really like how Thomas S. Monson and the others kept a very upbeat attitude. We got to watch it in english in a smaller room in the church. While the rest of the members watched it in the main chapel. We have our zone conference this Thursday and we have to travel to Catamarca. Also, Elder Robbins from the Seventys is coming to visit us and inspect our pensions as well. For what, I have no clue. I love this work we are doing here. We have a few families lined up for baptism in the coming month and they are progressing just fine. All is going well here in La Rioja. Its hotter than heck being at 125 degs., but you get used to it. Sad thing is, after hours of walking in plain sun, Im still not tan...sigh. Its starting to cool off here...a little. Anywho, in the next couple of week there is a really big festival going on called the "Chaya." its a big party where everyone on the street throws water balloons and flower onto other people, while the punk kids here will throw water balloons filled with urine, gross huh? Which will be just peachy in prostelyting clothes heh. As Missionaries we are not allowed to participate, but most Missionaries see that rule more as "guidelines." We are teaching a bunch of great families right now. Everyone of them are the poorest of the poor, but they are wonderful people. Well, other than that, I'm still with my latin comp. Elder Suarez. he's a great guy and I*ve really learned a ton of spanish with him. I hope all is going well with everyone else! Thanks for all of your support guys! I know this is the Lord*s work and none other*s. Remember to sudy your scriptures well! *Cia*! Elder Kleinman

Elder Gary Chambers

Hello My Brothers,Another week under the belt here at the DRizzle... Things are going great! Had a fair share of changes and excitements around here... Originally, due to the size of Constanza, there were 4 Elders here, However... One Elder who has had a problem with his skin reacting to the climate here, had to leave last Monday for the States... Elder Judd was re-called to finish his mission in New Mexico... Because of this, we figured that they would send up another Elder to be Elder Silcox's comp. WELL, we were wrong, they shipped out Elder Silcox too... he's in the big city Santiago now. Elder Rampton and I are left with ALL of Constanza for oursleves now :) It's safe to say between our investigators and theirs, there is No time to visit my old friend "The John"... Sad story I know. We had an Interesting contact last night... Before we had a chance to greet him, he started Preaching to us in a voice much louder than necessary. He was preaching about Christ, and from what I could understand, everything he was saying was true, so i smiled in agreement and let him run out of breath... Once he paused long enough to get a comment in edge-wise, my comp jumped in and asked if we could share a message with him and his family... and with no objections, we were invited in and sat down. He started up with the preaching again, but before he could gain any momentum, my comp headed him off with the First lesson. After a few minutes of nodding and intense staring (I guess that's his thing...) My comp offered him the pamphlet we used in the lesson. He paused... I know that he KNEW that he should take it, but he wrote it off saying that he didn't need it, and that he had a complete Bible, and read to us a passage that suggested to be saved, one simply needed to believe in Christ. My comp chimmed in saying that Baptism is a crucial part in salvation, to which he agreed... Elder Rampton went on to explain that baptism by the Authority of God is the only baptism that counts. He then explained plainly that after the death of Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles, the authority to perform saving priesthood ordinances, such as baptism, died as well. He then explained that it was restored to the Earth once more through the adminstering of angels when Peter, James, and John (3 of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ who recieved the authority from Christ Himself) conferred the preisthood ordinance through the laying on of hands to Joseph Smith, the First prophet in our times. After all this, he still remained hard in his heart and instead of listening just started talking about whatever came to his mind to the point that he wasn't connecting thoughts anymore, and everything just got random. With a sigh of dissapointment, we decided it was time to go, so my comp asked who's turn it was to pray, and he chose my comp. So we all bowed our heads, and about 5 words into the prayer, the other guy i guess either changed his mind about who was going to pray, or was a big fan of "The Double Prayer"... Cause he started praying too, and again, in a voice much louder than necessary. I almost laughed just from how unexpected it was... but managed to restrain. With a lil difficutly in concentrating, my comp finished the prayer, and we decided to remain in prayer position until he finished his. Once he ended, he looked up and smiled at us as if he did that sort of thing all the time and it was to be expected. Hahaha i loved it... We shook hands and left. Well that's about all i have time for this month, I gotta run now. Love you all, take care. Elder Chambers

Elder Jeff Stoker

So....another month. I decided that time is a wierd thing. So I just thought I would say some things about the church in Russia, because i dont have that many interesting things to say. SO in the Russia Samara Mission, there is a City called Saratov. Saratov is known as the heart of the church in Russia. There are the most families there than any other city in Russia. There is not even a temple in all of Russia. The closest temple is in Finland. Not very many members have been to the Temple, because it is way to ****** expensive for them to pay for plane tickets to get there. ******Everyone here is waiting for the temple in the Ukraine to be ******completed. Hopefully it will be completed soon* Wanna know ******something crazy? There is not even a stake in All of Russia. In Balakovo*..which is where I am*. There has been the same branch presidency for 7 years. They know my cousin who served 4 years ago. I have seen a couple pictures with him and the members here. Anyways, everything is good with me. I just keep on keeping on. We are really trying to work with our investigators right now preparing for baptism. They are going to have the baptismal interview this Saturday, so we are extremely excited about that. Hopefully they will be baptized before the end of February. Anyways, After that huge storm, the weather here has really warmed up. It is only like 30 degrees now. It seems like it is 100 degrees though after going from -30 to 30. I am going to try to send out a whole bunch of letters this next week. Things are crazy busy for us this next week. It always seems like we are on the run. I have been trying to experiment to try and find the best Russian foods, and the best Russian candies, and it has come with very little success. I could definitely tell you what you shouldn*t eat though. I had borsch for the first time this week. Borsch is beet root soup. I took one bite, and then i said I choose death, before I eat this. It was bad. Then I tried it like 5 days later, and I actually liked it. Maybe it was starvation, but I actually liked it. And it is sad to say, but I am getting used to the milk here. It doesn*t have the nasty taste to me anymore. And to top all that off, I have found mormon approved tea, that I really like. (everyone here LOVES tea.). I think I may be turning Russian, so when I get back, I am going to be very rude, and very obnoxious when I return! HAHAH. Oh wait*.i guess nothing would have really changed. And just so every one knows, your complaining with how hot and cold it is in your missions gets no where with me. it gets 110 here in the Summer, and it gets -30 in the Winter. haha. So just remember, while you are freezing or sweating, just remember that someone out there has it worse..... Me. Anyways, I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic February. Love, Elder Jeff Stoker

Elder Max Crandall

Hola, gentlemen * So, first of all, check it out! I found a typewriter! I bought it at Value Village (a local thrift store) for $2.50! I think it*s going to increase my weekly letter output by 50%...maybe. Handwriting was killin* me. So, you may have noticed, I have not been transferred. Six months in my greenie area but do not mourn for me. I*m having the time of my life. Mt. Vernon is my home town, my hood, my arena. I*ve had three companions but I*m still in the same apartment. Elder Jensen, my last companion, was just transferred to a new area as a zone leader. We only served together for six weeks but he was great. My new companion*s name is Elder Dance *Dance Revolution* as I like to refer to him. He isn*t a good dancer and he*s one chilly chili and doesn*t speak a ton, but watch out when he does. He*s a cool kat. I hear that President Showalter wants to have missionaries stay together and in the same area for longer so if you think about it, I only have three new areas left. We*ve been having a lot of success here. One gent we*ve been working with is Alwood Harang. One Sunday, Elder Jensen and I were sitting in the foyer at church and I saw Alwood walk in through the side doors of the church. I heard this voice in my head say, *You should go talk to him.* I thought, I*m so tired though and I just sat down in this nice armchair. *You should go talk to him.* Yeah, but he*s probably a member and members are so awkward to talk to. Then I didn*t hear anything. I was so furious at myself later for not recognizing the Spirit. Thankfully, the Lord knows I*m an idiot, and Alwood came and talked to us instead. We*ve been teaching him for a few weeks now. On January 12th Elder Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us. I think it was the coolest experience of my life. I*ve never been in the same room as an apostle before. It was incredible. When Elder Scott walked in the room, everything changed. It was an amazing feeling. I tried to stare at him for a couple of seconds but I had to look away. It was like looking at the sun. He taught us a lot of neat things about the Spirit and how to recognize it. It was seriously one of the best days of my mission. This mission thing is like an emotional rollercoaster. I have come to realize how the gospel can and should be an anchor in our lives. Before, I took church, the scriptures, modern day prophets, all for granted. But the other day, when I was having a particularly hard day, I read a quote by President James E. Faust. He said, *What is the cost of discipleship? It is primarily obedience. It is the forsaking of many things. But since everything in life has a price, it is a price worth paying, considering that the great promise of the Savior is for peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come.* I suppose what I*m getting at is, talk*s cheap. Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said, *Deeds, not words * and becoming, not describing * are dominant in true discipleship.* I came out here on a mission expecting things to work out and I have been blessed that certain things have worked out, but I now realize that the best missionary work is accomplished through example. Sorry for draggin* on but I love you guys. I pray for you and I know you are amazing individuals. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that He directs the affairs of His church. Catch ya off the reel * Elder Crandall

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody greetings from the Bronx, NY! Things are going well here for me, we're working hard and the getting blessings from the Lord. The Bronx is different than anywhere else I've ever been. There is always something strange and new going on and the people here are surprisingly very friendly. It is surprising how many Spanish speakers there are, it seems like everybody is from Mexico, El Salvador, or the good 'ol Dominican Republic. We have been blessed by the Lord in that we've been able to witness Fernando progress towards his baptism this past Sunday. We're way excited for him especially because of all the opposition he's faced. Grant I think I definitely had you beat in that last letter for the shortest entry, and it looks like I might make it again. I hope all is well for all of you around the world, especially those who just got out in the field. The Lord loves us all and this is his work. Garrett

Elder Logan Wells

Well let me see, life here in Puerto Rico is great I am still here in Rio Piedras. The work is going good. I am just working really hard. I am still biking and walking. We recently got another Elder, so I am in a three some now. Elder Lloyd is from California and is 26 years old. Funny to think he is the same age as my Sister, and she has 3 kids. He is real cool, and looks like he is 21. I recently hit my 6th month mark and burned a tie and as it was burning the curtains caught on fire then my bed and before you know it our whole house was up in flames, and everyone was running around yelling policia policia. Ha Ha not really. I have seen some crazy things in this past four months here and well I am really just so grateful for all that I have and for all the opportunities that I have in this life. I am Thank-ful for the Gospel,family and you my friends! Peace, Logan

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hello Everyone!I*M IN STOCKTON! It*s so crazy here, I hear gunshots and sirens all day and all night long*I am in the middle of the hood*it*s kinda scary. But it*s all good, the Lord is with us. We have to be back in our rooms at 9:15. My apartment is cool, it isn*t too crappy looking. I live with two English Elders and they are ok. My trainer*s name is Elder Thorsen, he is from Dallas, Texas, and he is an amazing missionary. Everyone has said that the Stockton area has sucked it up lately and they put him here to start making things happen. He is really dedicated and he is teaching me a lot. He was in the last group of Hmong elders that came to Sacramento and he has been out for 18 MONTHS! Me and Elder Lee are the first Hmong elders that came to Sacramento from the MTC in over a year! It*s crazy, all the Hmong elders are getting ready to leave, so in six months I will be training*not good*. The language is really tough and I am trying to understand things better but*it*s like everything they taught me in the MTC was all wrong. Almost everyone I have met here speaks Green Hmong and they taught us White Hmong in the MTC, so that doesn*t help. I got my new Hmong name, I*m Tsim Meej Vaj now! My last name in English is tight it*s VANG! Anyway, it means to create clarity or vision. My mission president is probably one of the smartest men I have ever met. He used to be a Seventy! He has a photographic memory and can quote the scriptures like I have never seen before! He knows so much, and he is so nice. His wife is tight too, and he has a 24-year-old son that has Down Syndrome. He reminds me of my nephew Thomas, he is so cute. I will have a car my whole mission but Saturday we rode bikes*it was awful, I*m getting so FAT! It was fun because you talk to a lot of different people but there was this thing in the road I couldn*t see and I ate it pretty good*I know I*m clumsy but hey I figured I should get it out of my system early!!! We are assigned to one branch, but we have 8 missionaries there (4 Cambodian Elders). A Laosian member in our branch just died so that was sad and one of our Hmong members just found out she has lung and liver cancer*it*s really sad because she already had her arm amputated because of bone cancer. We have a super tight investigator right now, named De. She is crazy into the church and we will probably baptize her next Sunday. It*s pretty sad about President Hinckley but it*s okay, the Church is still true and we will continue to press forward. I have to go, I love you all, be good! Daniel

Elder Kellan Brady

Hello to all,

I know you have told me you enjoy me sharing my missionary experiences. About a week ago I was on exchanges with an Elder from the zone. We were in our area trying to find the most effective thing to do.
As we were driving I felt that we should turn around and tract a particular street called Winding Hill. This felt a bit odd because tracting is the least effective thing to do in this area. Sometimes I doubt, but this time I didnt. After we tracted the entire street I felt it was a fruitless event. We were told by most of the people that Mitt Romney is a nice man, but they were not interested in our precious message. Except for one man that told us to come back some time. We came back a week later and met with Alimo and his wife Tanchi. After our first appointment, they ask us to come back the next day. We taught them a powerful 1st lesson. They were both at church on Sunday. It is so special to me how quick you can love someone like you were related to them. I love them soo much. They both are so kind and nice to us. All of their family is from Californa, and they consider us as their own boys. The other day they said that they wrote a letter to you.
Now I could go on and tell you about how golden they are; but I will share a story that will state that. Alimo had a dream on Saturday night of a lady that had a problem with her electrical system in her home. She was trying to figure out what was wrong and she began to be depressed. She said a prayer hoping that someone would help her with her home. Randomly, her Mormon member neighbor dropped over and helped fix the problem.

Now when Alimo went to sacrament meeting, a woman told the same story of the very thing that Alimo had dreamed. It is so neat to see how God will answer prayers in different ways. Alimo, and his wife will make great members. In fact, we happen to find them precisely when they are starting a Spanish Branch here in Black Mountain.

Speaking of the Spanish Branch, I went on exchanges with one of the Spanish Elders from our zone. As we were driving out of one of the neighborhoods I saw a van going in the opposite direction from us. I felt we should follow them. Now keep in mind that we are on the lookout to find Spanish people for the branch. The people passing were Spanish looking. I normally will never follow someone. In fact, I have never followed someone home; because most people would be creeped out. Even I would be for crying out loud. Anyway, we did follow them home and we invited them to church. Yet, another soul was being prepared. The lady and her kids that we followed home were discussing just the other day how they needed to find a church. The whole family will be at church this weekend. As awkward and unnatural as it was, I am greatful the spirit led us to them.
I got my final Missionary packet today. It contains all the info about my mission I will ever need. I am grateful for it, but at the same time I don't want to open it; knowing that it represents an ending to my sweet mission.
I love this work! I love My mission! I love all of you!!!
Until Next Time ELDER K.P. BRADY

January News

2008-01-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

Elder Brock Smith
Hawaii Honolulu Mission, March 2007 - March 2009

Peace Out! Mahalo Ka Ko! Elder B Smith your M town Rep. Holla >

Elder Jeff Stoker

Hey Elders,
HAPPY HOLIDAYS. So I am finally in Russia. How crazy is that you may ask….let me tell you. CRAZY. Yesterday, Christmas Day, was -30 degrees. If that isn’t coat weather, then I don’t know what is. Every time I go outside, my nose hair freezes, which is an extremely weird sensation. But I really do love it here. Russia is completely unlike anything else I have ever seen. The people are probably the weirdest people on earth. A lot of them look like walking mummies, because they have smoked and drank so so so so much throughout their lives. They all have gold or silver teeth (if they even have teeth). I think they hire Russians to be in the rap music videos. haha. They have some nice grills. Anyways, I don’t really have a lot of time, and I wish I could write a lot more, but I am going to have to be very vague and completely random in this letter, so please forgive me. The food here is both good and bad. Their ice cream is to die for, and the juice is incredible, but their milk tastes like something just went terribly wrong with that cow. Russian music is hilarious. It is kind of like Mexican music, but imagine Mexican music with techno instead of banjos and what not. All of the Younger generation of Russians usually listen to American music. And kids will always come up to us and ask us to translate music. And pretty much they all worship 50 cent here. They mostly like American Rap. I have heard Akon’s new 17 hits, since I’ve been in Russia. It is way hilarious. Which reminds me, they also love Crazy Frog. I love it so much. I drop on the floor and just laugh everytime I hear it. Well I just wanted to say I love you all, and keep up the good work. Ill do better next month. Or at least ill try.
Love,
Elder Stoker

Elder Max Crandall

The mission has been a wonderful adventure and a life changing experience. I’ve been out for about four months now and I love every minute of it! Right now, I’m serving in the Mount Vernon 1st Ward in Mount Vernon, Washington, which is about 45 minutes from the Canadian border. The ward here is very diverse and it’s been so awesome to work with such diverse and wonderful people. My companion, Elder Jensen, and I have had amazing success here in Mount Vernon, but the work is far from over. Elder Jensen is a district leader in our zone, so he and I have many opportunities to work with other missionaries around our area. We are pretty lucky because we are in the most beautiful part of Washington, in my opinion. The stake we serve in covers all of Skagit County and seven islands in the San Juan Island counties. It really is an amazing area. What’s even more amazing is the amount of success our mission is experiencing. It seems as though more and more people are accepting the gospel and making the commitment to be baptized each day! The main reason for this success is because the members and missionaries are working together to double the convert baptisms as the prophet has counseled. It is so cool to see how the Lord has prepared so many people for the message of the Restoration. On my mission, I have had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends. I am already dreading the day when my mission is over. Although one day I will just be a regular person again, I hope I never lose this sense of urgency I feel for missionary work. I absolutely know how important this work is and I know that it is the Lord’s work. About two months ago, my old companion and I had the opportunity to teach a gal named Jessica Delafuente. At the time, we also tried to teach the rest of her family but they were uninterested. A couple weeks later, Jessica had the opportunity to be baptized and her family was very supportive and attended the baptism. The spirit at Jessica’s baptism was so strong that the rest of her family told us that they wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. It’s amazing to see this message touch the lives of others as well as my own. I love being a member and a missionary of this church. I love this because I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ that spring day in the grove of trees. I know that God restored His church to the earth and brought about the Book of Mormon through His prophet, Joseph Smith. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and enjoy this holiday season.

Love Always,
Elder Max Crandall

Elder Gary Chambers

Hey You all! Wow quite a bit has happened this week… ok… here i go. So I had thought that i lost my wallet but it was in my back pack! Who knew… So i gladly put it in my back pocket, just befote we took off to our New Kid meeting that Thursday morning… Well we were a lil bit early, so we stopped off at a flee market kind of place to buy some super cheap ties (2 for a dollar mas o menos) What a deal! Well… this flee market is super busy and people are bumping into each other all over the place… so my comp (just before we dove into the crowd) warned me of thieves and to be careful… so as a security measure, i buttoned my back pockets… Well as we’re bustling through the crowd, i kept feeling fingers poking my butt… at first i didn’t think anything of it, but after about the 6th poke the realization hit me “wait a second… I’m not at the Stokers right now! This shouldn’t be happening!” So i reach back to check my pocket and my wallet was still there, but the guy managed to undo my button! It was a close call, so the rest of the time I walked with my hand of my left check… it worked out pretty well from there on out! Ok next story… My comp and i had a meeting with a reference we got that was like 2 or 3 miles out! It was a long walk down a stretch of well traveled road… so my comp (being experienced) pulled the hitch-hiker trick and flags us down a ride about a mile into the travel after being denied several times… Well we pretty much got fired on (they weren’t there) so my comp was a lil bit angry to start with, cause we traveled all that for nothing. Then he started getting really upset when everyone kept driving past his extended thumb while shaking there head. I thought it was kind of funny, but decided it was time to start helping out. So i told him “All right… i’ll use my beautiful face and get us a ride”… Just saying that to be stupid… So i turn around and stick up my thumb and the first car stopped! Hahahaha it was so funny! I just busted up laughing while he was shaking his head in disbelief hahaha that was awesome… So New Years day comes around and a member invited us to this thing he was going to do New Years morning (1/1/08) at like 6:30 called like some kind of stair climb with upwards of 400 steps... We had to start the new year by doing something cool, so of course we said yes. So that morning we took a hike down to where the stairs were at and after seizing it up, thought i could run up them... haha we all thought we could run it...... wow we were wrong, i got a pretty funny video of how pathetic I am hahaha... i tried to send it but it was too big. Anyways, it was WAY harder than it looked, and was a pretty cool challenge. Well, that's it for this week!Love, Elder Chambers

Elder Mike Kleinman

Happy New Year from Argentina ! We went to the new mission home to celebrate on Dec. 20th, this is were we received all our packages ! Yeah. We also went to a big festival in central, where they celebrated San Nicholas (Saint Nicholas aka Santa Clause) but here, he is really a Saint ! the apostasy & ignorance never ceases to amaze me.Thank you to all who sent me such wonderful goodies.The candies are delicious, since the Argentine's version of candies are halls cough drops. Ugh..Well after much partying, movies, fiesta's we are all back to work. We have had several baptisms since I was transferred Dec. 12th.I am in La Rioja. The mother of the family is going to get married soon, and then we will be able to baptize her too.My new area is the poorest area of my mission, but has the friendliest and most humble people you'll ever meet. I am constantly speaking Spanish, since my new companion is from Chile. He's great. Missionary life has been rewarding, I love it down here. Well I hope all the rest of you guy's had a great Christmas. It was good to talk to the family. Till next time my brothers. The church is true. Ciao, Elder Kleinman

Elder Daniel Anderson

Hey everybody!

I hope all of you had a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Christmas day was really cool. Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us in the morning. His talk was really good. I got to shake his hand and I was wearing a new scarf that my family sent me for Christmas. Elder Perry asked me where I was from. I told him AZ and he just laughed and said only someone from there would be wearing a scarf and then he flipped it over my shoulder, it was pretty funny. Christmas was overall, really fun and relaxing, yet spiritual at the same time. I have so much food now, it’s disgusting….I have gained 25 pounds!

So tomorrow is the BIG DAY! A lot of the language missionaries in our branch are leaving today or have already left the MTC. Only us Hmong and one Cambodian going to Sac-town are left. It’s kinda sad but I’m excited to go. We had a departure devotional on Sunday and that’s when it really hit me that we are leaving so soon! Yesterday in class we talked about all of the Hmong culture and it was so crazy! I loved learning about it though. They are really animistic (They believe there are spirits all around us that cause good and bad things to happen) and we talked about the Shaman’s and the different rituals and ceremonies they do at different times, it’s going to be so different with them, but I can’t wait, I love them so much already! The Hmong people really have a lot of Truth in the things they believe, it just isn’t all the truth that we have in the gospel, it is so exciting to be able to go and teach them what we know. In class the other day we all had to tell stories and then if we were listening we had to translate what we heard into English. This is what I understood:

“I with a time was. When I was talking to myself I said, “I that how many that.” When I obtained and went to somewhere I a bird was close to me.” That was all I understood. It was awful! I’M GOING TO DIE THE FIRST FEW DAYS IN THE FIELD!! No, I will be alright, the Lord will be with me!

The church is true, Jesus is the Savior of the world. God lives and loves each of you, and it is only through Jesus Christ that we can find true happiness. Stay strong, the Lord is with you. Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Love, Elder Daniel Anderson

Elder Grant Huish

hey friends, i hope things are going well for everyone. as for me i am still in a tiny little town with 1600 people, a ton of rain, and 9 places to buy beer and not one to buy bread.... YAY.... well as for the missionary work it is frustrating but hey what can you do? i have learned that as a missionary the power to backhand some people would be very effective, but thats mean so we cant do it... other than that things are going well up in Rainier, we have had alot of snow which is cool though we dont really get the chance to play in it. i hope everybody enjoyed there christmas and new years, i do believe it was the first away from home for most of us, well those of us who are away from home. in case you were wondering, yes i am just writing alot to make it longer because mine is always like the shortest in the whole newsletter, well except for maybe chase's. but hey chase yours better be long this time. oh and congrats my friend, i am ever so proud of you. well thats all for now.
elder grant huish gc

Elder Scott Ball

Hey All,
So this year is going to be great. Everything is going good here in Genova and I'm seeing miracles that couldn't be explained without mentioning God. We discovered a less-active and his brother (non-member) while waiting at a bus stop and we are going to be setting up a baptisimal date probably next week. They have had work every sunday until this last sunday, so they have been able to come to church. It is so great to see them work together and learn the gospel more fully. I've been able to understand Italian pretty much easy now..... now I have to work on speaking it well. Also, I'm learning to speak spanish here also. Alot of south americans come here and live here, I don't know why.. but they do. I can understand when they speak spanish, but I can only speak Italian, which they don't understand, this is why I'm learning spanish.
Christmas and New Years was great and we really had a fun time. We have eaten so much over the past week that I've gotten sick. I think I'm pretty much over it right now, but it stinks and I really want to go and talk to people now after sitting in the apartment for a while. We had to stay in for New Years and go home at like 10 p.m. because we got permission from the presidente. There ARE still so many drunks on the streets from New Years. We didn't go out after New Year's day because we had to do a super cleaning on the apartment which took the whole day, but I think Presidente made us do it becuase there isn't much talking to do with drunk people that day. It pretty cold here, but not snowing.
Short letter, but don't have much time, got to get back to work.
Ciao Ciao,
Anziano Ball

Elder Logan Wells

Hello my Brothers!

Okay well I am in my third transfer and have gotten transferred to an area that is in San Juan and is called Rio Piedras. It*s pretty crazy. I had my first baptism a couple of weeks ago. Well I have been transferred to an area that is all biking and up hill. It*s hard at times. Well my new companion is from the Dominican Republic and does not speak any English. So I am forced to speak Spanish all the time. Which I don*t mind because it helps me learn a lot faster. Time is going by so fast, I can*t believe it. I am in a Ward right now I am part of the San Juan Stake and we have about 70 to 80 people in church every week. So that is pretty sweet. The ward is awesome I love being in a Ward because the people know how a church needs to be ran and in the other little branches we definitely have to help the branch keep going. The building is about half a mile away from our apt. So Daniel you*re finally out of the MTC the real work is starting to begin. The weather is definitely crazy it*s still really hot and humid and its always raining they said we are out of the rainy season but it rains here everyday. It is cool, and I am really loving this place. So crazy how we are all over the world now, to think that a year ago we were just boys getting thru school and thinking about our missions and where we would go? Well love you all and have a great month. PEACE Logan

Elder Garrett Jones

Hey everybody, Well guess what? The unthinkable happened...I got transfered! My zone leaders got a call and told me Monday night that I was going to get transfered today but I had no idea where to. I didn't think there was any way it would happen this cycle but it did. I'm now writing you from the far side of the Bronx from where I was bedore. We're in the area Olmstead and my companion is Elder Doermann, one of the Elders that was with me in the MTC! We're way excited to get down to work with each other and build the kindgom but it will be trying to be with someone my own age and of my own language abilities. From what I've heard the Bronx is a really fun and interesting place to work and be. Sorry this is so short but with transfer meeting and unpacking and everything there isn't much time to write.

Love you all, Garrett

Chase Judd

HEY EVERYONE, This has been an exciting month for me. I had an awesome Christmas but 3 days after i got my mission call. I leave april 2nd to go serve the lord in the Mexico Veracruz mission. So i am really really really excited!! ok oh and im speaking French and maybe some spanish. Your Brother, Chase

Elder Kellan Brady

President Wadsworth ordered 150 UNLV-BYU game tickets and was wondering if anyone would benefit from going to the game. If anyone would be willing to drive up here, and would like to get into the game for free then let me Know ASAP. The game will be this Sat @ 5:00 pm. Speaking of President Wadsworth, we had interviews with him a few days ago. He said someting that was very special to me. In my interview he told me many wonderful things, some of which I can not tell you now. Yet I will say that he said that he really loves and respects you as parents. When he said this I thought, How would he know my parents because he has never met them. After I thought that he said "I dont need to meet your parents to know that they are great people, because I have already met them through you". He even told me to tell you, ''Thankyou for being such great Parents''. This weekend Lexi Wells, and Mike Vapper will be baptised. Lexi has been a very good example to her mom. We hope to even bring Teri Wells (Lexi's mom) into the church soon. Mike has come such a long way. I am not sure if I told you about him, but just in case I didn't, I will inform you again. Mike used to be a part of a huge gang from New York. He began to feel very badly about what he was involved with. He made the difficult and dangerous decision to turn his life around and turn in a bunch of the gang members to the police; and even himself. After he served his time, he came to Las Vegas to get away from the old gang that was trying to kill him. It was here that his heart was further softened. Mike has been going through the life changing repentance process. He is now really excited to be baptised. It is soo neat to see the Lord change his people. I sent home a lot of return address stamps home about a week ago. Please use them so they don't go to waste. I love my mission, and this time of year! I look forward to the call home on Christmas!!!
Until Then Peace and Love ELDER K.P.BRADY

December News

2007-12-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

Elder Logan Wells, Puerto Rico San Juan East Mission
July 2007 - July 2009

From Elder Logan Wells

Hey there my amigos! So i am just chillen here in Puerto Rico. No not really it is actually still in the 90s in the day and well far from cold. As for a cold christmas that is only a dream for the next two years. I know we live in Az but there is still some kind of temperature change. But what to say other than the fact that the work is true and that there is nothing more important than just getting out there and doing it.Well I am in my second transferI am still in my greenie area and the work is progressing. My companion and I opened this area and there is no doubt we can see the benefit of our work. We are having two baptsims this month. One is a lady that is 59 who a few years ago was the town drunk but the moral of the story she changed her life around and has been searching for the truth and well yeah she knows that she has found it. Pretty cool. So what really goes down here is that you walk around and people are blaring there regatone on speakers on top of there cars. Seriously. Oh yeah Max I drive an 2008 corolla, navy blue baby. We actually just got it and was a blessing. Well yeah Iam doing great. The work is work and we all know this.I Love you all and have a great Christmas. Peace Elder Wells

From Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey everyone! I hope all is going great for you guys! The work here in the C*rdoba mission and really taken off! We are seeing a whole bunch of baptisms and church growth, I give it another six months and we*ll have a temple here ya! Christmas is coming up soon, and I hear that here its more like the 4th of July rather than our kind of christmas. They still do have christmas trees though so thats good. My companion*s name is Elder Wilkins, he only has 1 transfer left in his mission and he*s in complete denial. Poor guy. His biggest fear now is the fact that he will soon be live bait for all those crazy BYU missionary-hunting girls. I would be too. On a brighter note, we are having a mission conference this month and I think Elder Scott is going to speak, which would be great, but nothing is for sure right now. For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we get to go caroling which should be interesting ha! And at night we are allowed to stay up till 1 AM and watch movies yay! I*m sorry if I haven*t written you all individually, but you all know how lazy I am. I hope all is going well with everybody! See you next month! -Elder Kleinman

Elder Garrett Jones
Hope everything is well and you all had a great Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving for us was one of the best days of the mission so far for me. I think the holiday had a lot of people thinking about their families and their lives and what it all means, because it was a glorious day for the work here. Since the beginning of my mission I hadn't spoken so much straight spanish without really any break, I would finish teaching one guy, and then turn around and start teaching the lady behind me. We did it for about 2 and a half hours. Our thanksgiving dinner was slightly different from others I have had, but I am sure the whole mission thing explains that well enough. The Lord blessed us this past week when I baptised Gilbert Rodriguez, who we have been working with for a while now. This Sunday my companion is going to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was such a cool experience for me to actually be in the water performing a saving ordinance for someone. The spirit there was so strong. He told me afterwards that he felt like "shouting joy and happiness," I love that kid. Well another cycle has gone by and I am still in my same area with my companion. Spanish for me is really starting t come along now. Being with a native companion has helped me out a ton and I feel like psople can understand me, and I them, much better now. Hope all is well with you all and know that I love and miss you. Elder Jones

From Lorin Hendricks

Hello, Greetings from Provo, the big news is that it snowed four inches this weekend. it was amazing! It is very cold up here, but you don't spend much time outside right before finals so it doesn't matter. I don't have a huge amount of time, because I have to go to class in a moment, so forgive the small blurb.Finals are in three weeks and i have to say that Iam fairly nervous. the final in math is 49% of my overall grade. that is crazy. I will be spending the next little while studying and not much else. oh well, finals will be done soon. I will see you all soon (unless you on a mission) Lorin

From Elder Max Crandall
What*s up guys and gals? Things are great in Mt. Vee. I*ve been through my first transfer and it*s been kind of weird so far. I heard that the last mission president ruled by fear with an iron fist. He strived for efficiency and ran the mission like a machine. President Showalter is pretty much the exact opposite. He is concerned with feelings and retention. Don*t get me wrong, both things are good but no one is scared of him. Missionaries think they can just slack off. It is kind of frustrating but I guess all you can do is do your best among the retards. Elder Rammell and I have been working really hard. We baptized a gal named Jessica. She*s 16 years old and she has a one year old daughter. Eesh. She*s really cool though and she*s been really receptive. We had also been trying to teach her family. They didn*t want to learn but they were very supportive of Jessica and came to her baptism. The baptism was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong that now her mom, sister and two brothers are getting baptized! It*s been so neat to teach them. It*s amazing how much of a difference the Spirit can make. It*s amazing to me, being out here, to see how important family is. I talk to poor and even poorer people all day long and the ones who rarely complain about their situation are those who have family surrounding them. I definitely took my family for granted before my mission but I*ll try never to do it again. Thanksgiving! This way cool family from second ward offered to feed us. We hung out and played with their kids until 3pm and then we ate. There was tons of food and it was scrumptious. I also had Mountain Dew. Delisioso! I*ve been thinking about how Valley View Ward was butchered and passed out like tasty little cocktail weenies. Valley View Ward was like a well-oiled machine so changes back home must be to open more and new opportunities to perfect the saints and build the kingdom. I*ve come to realize that when life seems to be spinning out of control, the best thing to do is rely on the Lord. He knows what will best help us grow and become more like Him. We*ll stay strong and build up Valley View again. We will again have our glory days! For the Motherward!! (Jeff, I miss ya man). Like Daniel says, my mind is like diamonds. *Elder Crandall*

From Elder Gary Chambers

Hola! I guess those in AZ are getting that cool weather right about now... ... yeah there is no change in weather here, unless it got hotter or something. I wasn't expecting anything cool though, so i guess i'm ok. It's a good thing i lived in arizona, now all i have to do is get used to having your shirt stick to your back all the time. Well nothing is EXTREMLY new here... we just got the rest of the latinos last week so testing our spanish on them has been... an experience. They usually understand us, it's when they try to talk back that there tends to be problems. Lots from the DR so their spanish is Rapido, love the challenge. We've been told not to teach them english, cause they want to learn it, and if it gets carried away, everyone will be speaking english with each other, and nobody learns spanish. Doesn't help any when the gringos hit the field. Solomente espanol... We just got back from our service project at the University! 45 minutes of trash-loving missionaries scoopin up junk... we had some people call us over to them, and they were asking us questions like... "why are you picking up trash??" and "who are you?" haha i stopped at first to think for a sec... i didn't know why we were doing it, so i just said "Porque no?" Haha i wish i know enough spanish to tell him more, but that seemed to suffice. We taught at that same university last Tuesday, and i realized something about this place... In America, if a complete stranger of a different faith came up to you and just started blabbering about his church at you, you'd probably just ignore him and find ways to get away. But we nearly always get people who actually listen and ask us questions (uh oh!) about our message, it's really cool... the people are way too nice, it seems unreal.. Well I love it here! wouldn't have it any other way, can't wait to pull a Jeffler and get out into the field, only 1 week left and i'm out of the CCM! Well i'm down to a minute now, so i guess i should wrap it up, I love you All and i hope that things continue to go smoothly for you! the Gospel is true and i love to teach more than i thought... (who knew?) Adios! Love, Elder Chambers

From Elder Scott Ball

Buon Giorno!Everything is going great here in Genova. We have such strong members in the ward. Funny thing is alot of them are return missionaries that speak English, they are Italians that served a mission. My English is getting very bad, its a symptom of every missionary here. I'm learning Italian really well, the key is to focus. I finally got sick of not understanding the people and just focus and prayed for the gift of tongues and it came. I am able to communicate and understand. Not communicate so well, but I do understand. I'm not really homesick.. it is nicer here than Arizona. I don't know what it is in Fahrenheit, but in Celsius it is about 10-15*. I just got the November newsletter because it was sent to my mission office, but that is cool. Wow, its so great to hear that Alex got back, it just seems like he left. Its kinda hard to get a written letter off sometimes, because it costs about 2 dollars here.. the euro is so much more than the dollar. I live in Genova with my companion and the zone leaders. Its a pretty pimp apartment. Well, I don't have a nice car or anything, but I have metro, bus, and my own feet. We don't have a dryer here, but the washing machine is really nice. We do have hot water! Anyways, I just wanted to wish everyone a Buon Natale! Merry Christmas for you English missionaries. Mike.. "Tu sei brutto"! il stesso a "You are ugly"! Ci vediamo fino un altro giorno!Scott

From Elder Brock Smith
Whats up M_town Crackers,How was everyone's Thanksgiving? I am Thankful to be out serving a mission right now,seeing the change in peoples lives is great rather they are coming out to church again and wanting to live better lives or having the gospel for the first time it is amazing to see the change take place. I pray everyone stays true to the church and what we have all been taught. The ways of this world don't bring happiness I have discovered it and found many investigators who have as well. Our Heavenly Father asks very little compared to the rewards that we receive. We are asked to go to church one day a week and the blessing we receive for tiring our best, well we get so much more than we can ever give. The other day I met an investigator who quit his job so that he could come to church with his family. He was the only support as far as a job went 7 children, and yet he had faith that the Lord would provide if he did his part. Soon after he found a higher paying job that gave him sundays off. It was so amazing to see the power of this mans faith. I was reading an article by James E, Faust the one in the conference issues b4 he died I thought that was interesting that it was on the power to change our lives for the better, That is what we need to do is constantly change our lives to be more like the Savior. I know that I want to hear well done my good and faithful servant there is a mansion prepared for you and your family, you shall have everlasting glory, now that will be sweet. I know that I want to see My Dad . I know that this church is true, and if we simply follow the prophet we can live with Our heavenly Father and our families forever, now that will be Heaven. This Life is a test. And as My Mom says an open book test, we can get all the help we need. We need to prove to ourselves that we can be true at all times. WE ALL WANT A"s. Anything but the Celestial kingdom would be ---- well you know would not be where we want to be. I hope and pray that we will live the gospel more fully this next year starting with today. Let us all model our lives after the Savior. Have a very Merry Christmas and a very great new year.... Elder Brocky Smith

From Elder Kellan Brady
Hello to all...The other day I was thinking of all the many special places I have been able to serve in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission. I have been in the ghetto of ghettos(Christy Meadows, Civic center) The rural of rural(Elko,Wells,Wikeiup,Peach Springs)The cold of cold(Elko...on bike)The hot of hot two summers in a row in (Vegas)The Meth cap of the world(Golden Valley)The epitomy of 3rd world country (Supai), and of course now the rich of rich(Green Valley,Legacy area). I am so greatful that the Lord has trusted me to serve in such wierd, crazy, and yet such neat, and beautiful places. I have met soooo many differant,unique, and yet loving, and caring people. Well, I know that this is not even close to being my final testimony, because I still have so much to do. Yet I will say that my mission so far has been so full of memories that I cant even remember what it was like before my mission.There is no room to boast, but our Zone is on track to break the highest baptizing record in the history of the Zone. Green Valley has never broke over 15 baptisms. As of now we have 25 set, and actuals. We must thank the Lord for our many blessings. For I am on the winning team, as Julee says it best. Peace and Love! ELDER K.P.BRADY

From Elder Jeff Stoker

So I leave the MTC tommorrow. Anyways, as you can expect, things are way hectic for me right now. I just found out i was only allowed 44lbs total on the flight in Russia. If you go over you have to pay mega $ to get on, but oh well. I got to bring my make-up case, because we all know that this doesnt come natural. Anyways, This thanksgiving was AMAZING! Elder Holland came and spoke to us, and it was probably the best talk i have ever heard. The Food wasnt that bad too. I think that when i leave here, i am going to miss the food. It is great to be able to choose what you want, and how much you want of it. So the just replaced the Scale here, and i realized i have gained like 5-10 pounds! hah. I am such a Fatty. I am almost as fat as Daniel now. I have so much going through my head right now, i have no idea what to say. Ill just start spitting things out at random. Ill start by telling you all my favorite joke. How can you tell how old a Dinosaur is????? Go to its birthday party! hahah. Wow. I have been here at the MTC for way too long. And my Russian still sucks. I also found out that it is like -10 in Moscow right now. So I am probably just going to freeze to death. I cant wait to get there and get my shopka (the Fuzzy hat thingy) and my Courtka ( the gi-normous furry coat) I am going to try to get ones made out of Some exotic animal. I think that would be sweet. And i also want a whole bunch of Lenin things. I am so so so so excited to leave here though. It is a kinda of a love-hate relationship that i have with the MTC. I am sure most of you know what i am talking about. But i have to go now. I have a whole bunch of packing to do. Have a great month, and Stay out of trouble. I think President Hinckley ways it the best, "Dont do anything stupid." Well i hope to have some amazing experiences to share with you next month. I love you all (or at least most of you)! hah Love, Elder Stoker

From Elder Grant Huish

Hey everybody,Things are going good out here in Oregon. I*m basically in the smallest town ever, there isn*t even a grocery store, well there is but it is a grocery liquidator which basically means that it is expired food*.other than that it is freezing up here and it rains a whole lot as can be expected from Oregon*The people are way nice, but they are all already saved I guess*.sounds like things are going good for most of us which is good*.hope you are all enjoying whatever it is that you are up to*s later.Elder Huish GC

From Daniel Anderson

Hello Everyone! Nyob zoo kuv tsev neeg!
So it’s Thanksgiving already, it’s so crazy! It was probably one of the best days I have had at the MTC! We had a morning devotional and Jeffrey R. Holland was the speaker! He talked about how we are so blessed to be missionaries and how we need to give the Lord everything we have. He expressed how much he, the Prophet, the twelve apostles and the Lord love us. He also said how sad he was when his sons were gone at Thanksgiving for their missions and that our families would miss us! We had our feast at 12:30 which wasn’t near as good as Mom’s or Grandma’s. We had a fireside in the afternoon from the Director of Humanitarianism. It was crazy to see how much the church does around the world. Then that night we did a service project building 10,000 first aid kits. It’s hard to believe that I am halfway done here at the MTC. I got to talk to Jeff a lot on Sunday but it stinks because he leaves TOMORROW! Sunday night we had to say goodbye…again…it was exciting but kinda sad because I’m a lone wolf now. My companion, Elder Khamsa, (he’s learning Laotian) leaves on Wednesday December 5th. I will then be put with the other two missionaries who are learning Hmong, Elder Lee and Elder Jones. Yesterday was another all Hmong day and it was really hard, it’s so tough not getting frustrated with each other and it just sucked but it was good at the same time. There are 8 tones in Hmong and they are really hard to get, but reading out loud from the Phau ntawv Maumoos (Book of Mormon) really helps you learn and practice them. I think of all of you often and hope that everything is going well. Love, Elder Daniel Anderson

From Chase Judd

Hi.. I am still at my house just doing nothing. I start work tomorrow so that will keep me busy until I go on my mission. I hang out with my family all the time now they have become my best friends. So i wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, Chase

November News

2007-11-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

Elder Max Crandall Washington, Everett Mission September 2007 - 2009

Elder Max Crandall

Hola! Bienvenido a la carte de Elder Crandall! I'm basically chillin like a polar bear. It's about 50 to 60 degrees here during the day. We*ve been working extremely hard which, I guess, is the point of missionary work. Every day we tract for about an hour and then we spend the rest of our day with appointments. We drive a sick 2004 tan Corolla. It's the illest to say the least. Members feed us every night. They have a calendar and sign up but recently they lost the calendar. We were bitter toward the Relief Society for a while they didn't even Relief, but we told the Carreon's about our situation and Sister Carreon cried. The Carreon's don't speak much English but own a awesome Mexican restaurant in town. They told us to come to La Casita anytime we want and eat for free! It's dang good and I'm gaining weight and, yes, I know I'm incredibly blessed! There is so much work to be done, all we have to do is ask the Lord to help us recognize it. I love you guys.

Elder Crandall

From Elder Mike Kleinman

Hey everyone!Everything is going great here in Cordoba, Argentina still. I have a new companion now named Elder Wilkins from Payson, UT. Hes a great guy and a total movie freak so we get along just fine. He ends his mission in two months though so hes what we call a little "trunky." But still, the work is going great down here and I love it more everyday. Although it is now humid like no other down here now, and it really takes a toll on you afterr a while hah. I also forgot to tell you that I can cook like a total champ now! I can make the best beef steak and ravioli you've ever tasted! This mission is wonderful and I'm extremely grateful to be able to serve my Lord here in San Fran. I would also like to give my salutations to Former Elder Alex Clark by saying: "Tu es muerte?" Wow. That really hurt saying that now, its just so wrong! Anyway, I'm also really glad to hear that Jimmy got his call to NY, NY. I know that is going to be awesome. Well, I hope all is going well with you guys! Sorry I haven't really written any letters to you all individually, they keep you pretty busy here, even on your Pdays. But I'll try to be better! Remember to always put your trust in the Lord and "...He shall direct thy paths." (Prov. 3:6)
*Cia*!Elder Kleinman

From Elder Grant Huish

Hey everybody,I*ve seen a whole lot of you up here at the MTC. It*s been pretty cool though not the most exciting time in my life. I can*t wait to get out in the field. I already got my flight plans so that*s pretty exciting. I leave here on the 7th of November. The best thing to do at the MTC is go to the RC. You*ll find out what that is when you get here, if you don*t already know. Well my friends good luck to you all. Have fun with whatever you are up to right now.

Elder Grant Huish

From Elder Jeff Stoker

Dear Elders, So I am still here at the good old MTC. Trying to study hard, because I know that in less than a month I will be thrown into Russia. But things are going pretty good here. Most if not all of you know what it is like here, and I really don*t have anything new to tell you about it. Except the fact that Dan Gary and Grant are now here with me. But anyways, things are going good here, and I can*t wait to get into the field. So it seems like all the exciting stuff is going on back home. VALLEY VIEW IS SPLIT! I am sure all of you know this, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am glad to be on a mission right now. Hah. But anyways, I just read a letter from home that was pretty exciting. My sister Teresa had Beck Stoker on Last Thursday, so I am so excited about that. And also My Sister-in-law Amber is expecting a kid now, and she is about 2 months along. How crazy is that. And to top all of that off Annie L backed up into the Honda FKR! Ha-ha (Annie if you read this, I love you! hah) so that is pretty much all that is going on with me. I wish that I could say that next newsletter I send will be exciting, but I'll still be here in the MTC until the 28th of November. And I think next month I will have to tell you some funny words in Russian. Like the one Garrett showed me before I got here about the word "choir". And if you don*t understand it, don*t worry next letter it will make sense. But I got to go run and do my laundry. (I never thought that would ever come out of my mouth)! Love you all, and I look forward to reading what*s been going on with all of you. Thank you! Have a great month. Love, Elder Stoker

From Elder Garrett Jones

Well I hope all is well at home, it has been another month full of a lot of hard work. I want to tell you something that happened a couple of days before my first transfer meeting a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely loved my first companion, but the thing was he didn't really teach me a whole lot about being a missionary. We just went out and worked and I tried to pick up what I could as we went along. So when I found out I was going to be getting a new companion, I started praying for one who could really teach me how to teach well, how to contact well, and how to be a better missionary. Wow was I blessed! Elder Castellanos (fluent in Spanish, and from Lindsay & Southern, in Mesa!) has taught me more in the last couple weeks than I think I learned in my entire first cycle. I am pretty sure I have learned how to do better in about every thing we do. When we go out we normally try to street contact for a full hour, then tract for a full hour, and then go on to our appointments for the night in between which we street contact. I am starting to get pretty confident during street contacting in my Spanish, even though some of the time I don't understand what they are saying back to me. I just pretend to understand everything, try to answer basically what I think they said, and then go on with teaching them about the Restored Gospel. It*s pretty glorious really. Well, I want you all to know how much I love and miss you. Love, Elder Jones

From Elder Logan Wells

Things were good this past month. Many things happened. Time is flying by so fast, I hit my 3 1/2 month mark, insane. I really cannot believe it. Oh as for the praying I have never prayed so hard in my life and felt so close to my savior.I finally got to drive a car. Can you believe I haven*t driven in over 3 months? It felt so good to drive. I went on a trade off where I went to another area and I was with Elder Opurto, who is from Aruba. He doesn*t have a drivers license, so could not drive. My license is still good, it was so great to drive again. I loved it. Well all is well and things are starting to work out and I am so happy to share this message with the people of Puerto Rico they definitely need it. Last week I went on a trade off with our Zone Leader, Elder Powers. Well they are on a island called Vieques, it took about 1 * hours to get there by boat. I gave my first blessing in Spanish, it was awesome to feel the spirit guide me as I gave it. We had lots of visits to do, and did many things for the members there. After we were done we went to the church building, let me tell you there were HUGE spiders on the wall. They scared me, I wanted to scream and run, and it was so funny because I did exactly that* I screamed and ran. But it was fun. I love hearing from everyone, it makes me not miss home so much. Hey, Chase..when we going to hear from you? Until next month. Peace, Elder Wells

From Elder Scott Ball

Everything is going great here in Italy! I'm serving in Genoa in my first city and the people are so nice here. Its right by the ocean, so we get that nice wind here. American food stinks compared to Italian food. The pizza is sooo good here. Anyways, I have to write my mission president right now, just letting everyone know that I got here safe. Oh, for everyone in the MTC, try to speak your language as much as you can, because I kinda regret not speaking more. I understand everything they say, but I can't properly comunicate back. Anyways, I'm sure it will get easier, I've only been here 6 days. Arividerci, Anziano Ball

From Elder Gary Chambers

Hola Elder y Hermanos!I am feeling pretty awesome here at the Provo MTC. I am sure you all know what I mean...unless of course you don't. Esta bien...So the spanish is pretty much my first language now except for not really. I am pickin up on it pretty fast though, and my companion really helps me speak it (he's a better speaker of spanish than I am..) It's pretty awesome here and I love it! Some news however... I previously assumed I'd be spending all 8 weeks here in the Provo MTC, but my assumptions were wrong. I am going to be shipped to the Dominican Republic CCM on Nov. 1st, and get my remaining training there. How crazy is that? I have seen everyone here at the MTC. I saw Jeff soon after I got here and have seen him repeadly afterwards... We love each other... Don't we Jeff? I saw Grant the day he got here, I have also saw Daniel, so now I have seen them all and can rest in peace. Scotty Ball left me last week, and didn't even say "Good-Bye. This brought me to tears. Oh wait... One more thing before I go, OK, so yesterday was P-Day for me and I learned a lil trick about e-mailing, you're typical "everyone was doing it" situation that I unfortunately decided to take part in. Well lo and behold, my first time doing it, and I get caught by "Big Brother", and he warns me not abuse the program or else I'd lose emailing privileges. Yeah, I'm the only one who got caught, and I am terrified that they were going to make a example of me. Well I was lucky enough to get off with a warning, but the moral of the story is ... DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU WOULDN'T NORMALLY DO! or as Pres. Hinckley puts it... "Don't do anyting stupid!", Ha Ha I love that guy.... Well until next time, Adios.

Sincerely, Elder Chambers

From Elder Brock Smith

What up my Crackas! Pretty crazy the stake split and all that jazz went but it don't really matter for us really. Its awesome to hear all the MTC stories from you guys brings back some sweet memories. I can't believe that its coming up on being one year ago time flies boys so take advantage of it from the beginning and don*t take 7 and a half months to start giving it your all like I did go out there and give em He... aven. What a great work this is it cool to be out in the mission field right now the work is booming and so many are being brought to a knowledge of the truth its amazing how the Lords Hand is truly involved in this work. This week I gained an even stronger testimony that the Lord watches out for us as my hand got slammed by a heavy farm gate that just one month age broke a farmers leg in three places and he*s not expected to ever recover if we are doing the Lord will protect us even from are own stupidity. Also I don*t know how often you get to go to the Temple but since I've been off island I haven*t been since April and next week we get to go I*m so excited I've never been so excited to go to the temple the Lord is teaching me to not take advantage of the Temple being so close and I promise that I never will. It sounds like Max has a sweet comp as well as Garret and all are having a good time. Mike gets to eat what he wants and not gain a pound while I*m trying as hard as I can to lose any weight. But things are going good here looking forward to hearing from you all. By the way Elder Scotts scripture about the food at the MTC was perfect so anyone who is still waiting to enter get ready. And man Elder Stoker if you think that Provo is cold man Russia will kill you at least that*s what one of are Russian investigators tells us so have fun. I love you all and hearing about all your greenie excitement keeps me going keep it coming.! Peace and May the Force Be with You always! Elder Brocky Smith

From Elder Daniel Anderson

Hey everyone! So I'm finally in the mission field as some of you already know,It is so awesome to finally be in the MTC! On my first day I went in with Grant and I have seen him more than anyone else but I saw Scott but I think he left this past week. My first day I had two companions and we are the ONLY 3 SPEAKING HMONG!! Unfortunately after I got to know my companions a little bit they gave me a new companion*his name is Elder Khamsa and he is the only missionary learning Laosian in the MTC so he is all alone*and what do you know they put me with him haha! He is so funny and is a really great guy, I like him a lot. He has been here for 6 weeks already so he is showing me the ropes. Since we don't speak the same language we don*t really understand each other when we pray but we can feel the spirit, and most of the day I am on exchanges with the other two companions that speak Hmong. So pretty much I have two companionships. The first night I ran into Jeff ,it was so exciting,I was practically running to give him a BIG HUG! It was good to see him and, Becky, I gave him another hug just for you haha! It is amazing to see how the Lord has blessed me with learning the language; it is coming so fast!! I can already pray and bear my testimony in Hmong. It's pretty tough to get used to but I love it here. My teachers are great and I really like my district. Oh yeah, Chase, I ran into Patrick the other day and it was really good to see him. We talked for awhile but I haven*t seen him since. The first night in the MTC they asked who could play the piano and about 12 of us raised our hands but for some reason they keep asking me to play the special musical numbers and I had to play in priesthood last Sunday. I hope everything is going well in Mesa. I heard that they split our stake and completely shredded our ward into three different pieces,that is really sad but its okay, it will change again soon. Until next time I hope you all are doing well. I miss you and love you all! Elder Anderson (My MTC Hmong name is Elder Tub Keej which means talented boy or smart boy or skilled boy, whichever you like the most)

From Alex Clark (just returned from Panama, Panama City Mission)

Hey ya all!
Hope all goes well! I have been home a little more than a week and it's really scary. We just had a ward splitting and stuff. So when I spoke I had to speak two times. I didn't recognize most of the people. It is nice to be home for some nice things like carpet, hot water with pressure, and home cooked meals, but nothing can take place of that wonderful feeling of preaching the gospel. It is nice to be home but like I said, it was wonderful to be preaching. I will share a few sayings that I really like the first goes as follows: "you can count the seeds in an apple but you can*t count the apples in a seed." as missionaries we prepare the field, plant seeds, and harvest the fruit. We don*t decide what part we do. But we need to remember that we don*t know where they will grow. So we need to plant as many seeds as we can whenever and where ever. The second saying is as follows: "you have two years to do it, and an eternity to think about it. Be obedient!" Well that one is pretty self explanatory. Obedience is key to a missionary's success. And one of my favorite chapters of preach my gospel talks about giving an accounting before the lord of all of the opportunities he has given us. That scares me still. Well take advantage of the short time you have in the mission field. Learn as much as possible and talk with everyone. Be safe, be happy, and remember to avoid the food that talks back. Alex the Clark signing in and then out.

FROM Lorin Hendricks

Hi, This is Lorin, reporting in from BYU. I have been having all sorts of fun up here (and I mean all sorts). Midterms are fun (hahaha). I had two on Tuesday alone. I can also honestly say that I AM SICK AND TIRED OF READING TEXTBOOKS! I can't really complain though, I have been having some fun and I get to do a lot of stuff in my classes other that study. I got to visit the campus machine shop then make some stuff on the lathe and milling machine.In my bio class I got trained to take blood pressure (among other things) and I then got a field trip to St. George and volunteer at the senior games there. I took allot of people's blood pressure and even though it sounds boring I had a lot of fun.Even with all the tests I have been taking I have been doing pretty well. I have managed to somehow keep my average test scores above the B range into the B+ and A- range. On a sad note, my computer died a month ago and is being repaired right now and so I am using the library's computers to write this and every thing else. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have an 8 page paper due in two weeks. As you can imagine I will clock a lot of hours in the library. I would write about the awesome stuff in Provo, but without a car I have left campus twice in the last two months.I have to say that I am really enjoying BYU. Everyone is very nice,and (besides the high marriage rate the class schedule) everything is so laid back. I the one thing I wish I could change am that there are four things to do here. Eat, sleep, study and socialize. There is time for two, maybe three. To do anything else requires taking time off of the rest. With classes the way they are I end up not eating, sleeping, or socializing very much. I would write more but it is almost midnight and they kick us out of the library at midnight and I still have a lot of studying to go if I want to go to sleep tonight. See you all late (possibly this Christmas, unless you are on a mission in which case I won't see you for a long time) Lorin (I just realized that I might not see all of you because I am now in the Avalon ward when I get back to Mesa. in which case we will have to keep using the newsletter)

From Chase Judd
Well Ihave decided to join a group of pirates since all of my friends are gone so sorry Ihave not been writing. I have learned many great things since being alone for over 3 weeks now, such as, mastering the art of Halo 3, becoming best friends with my Broher, and destroying everyone at Rook. I know these may seem kind of odd but its my life now and im getting used to it. I start my mission papers this sunday so I am very excited about that. Well its a saturday night and i didn't get to carve a pumpkin on halloween so im going to go do that now i love and miss you all! GG GB.