April 2009 News

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

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

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

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

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