Monday, December 6, 2010
December 6, 2010
Hey family,
Sounds like everything´s going well up in Riverton. That´s too bad about Mikayla´s finger (Mikayla broke her finger playing basketball on Saturday.) But it sounds like everything went well with the Christmas tree and with the assemby. That´s awesome (Mikayla did a Christmas Tree service project for a teacher at school who has breast cancer and presented the tree in an assembly.) Sounds like it´s a lot colder up there than we´re feeling down here. Summer´s starting up and it´s been pretty hot this week.
This week was a lot of meetings and interviews and things, but the baptismal service for Norah and José went very well. It was a very good experience. Both Norah and José were super excited and it was very good. Norah´s daughters didn´t come, so that was disappointing, but her granddaughter Ashelyn came and she has come with Norah the last 3 weeks and really loves it. But her mom's not really into it. We hoped they would come to the baptism to have that experience, but hopefully seeing the changes in Norah´s life can help them to see the importance, bcause we´ve taught almost everything, and I know they´ve felt the spirit. They just don´t want to commit to change, give up the drink , and working on Sundays. We pray they can start making changes and that they can be good examples to their kids who are really excited for Primary and everything.
Elder Sypherd and I are staying together in 9 de Abril for 6 more weeks. Looks like when I go to an area I´m in for the long run. It´s looking like I´ll probably just have 4 areas in all of my mission; we´ll see. After Norah and José´s baptism, we don´t have a whole lot of investigators that are progressing, that just don´t want to keep the commandments. So we´re kind of going to be starting from scratch this transfer. We pray to be able to find those that have been prepared here in our area. I know there´s people here ready to be baptized, we´ve just got to try all ways possible to be able to find them. Hopefully this week we can set everything up to be able to help others to the waters of baptism this transfer. We talked a lot in all of the training with President Stapley about always improving and about focusing on our purpose and inviting people to be baptized from the beginning. We´ve been talking about baptism and inviting people to be baptized in the first lessons this week, and even if the people aren´t ready it helps them know why we´re here and we can know if they really have true intentions in coming to Christ. So we pray that everything goes well this week. I´ve been kind of worried because it seems we´ve almost lost all of our investigators, but we´re doing the best we can, and the Lord knows that, and we pray to be able to improve this time around.
We have 4 missionaries in our ward and they changed so now Elder Tattersall and Elder Pearson are both going to be in our ward. They both lived in my room in the MTC, so that will be fun to be all together. We´re just missing my compañion, Elder Jensen, or it would be the same as the MTC.
I have no idea what I want to do for BYU. I hadn´t even thought about it, and now I´m scared. I don´t even remember how to add. I don´t know how statistics and calculus classes are going to work out. I heard that missionaries can set up a time to go to the offices to sign up for classes, but I´m not sure. But I have no idea what classes to take, so I guess I just won´t go back to college (you´re probably mad now; but I think I was just kidding...... I might go back if you really want me too..... he-he.) So I don´t really know, but I guess if you give me options or something I can pick classes; but I don´t even remember what classes I´ve taken or what I need to take; but it might be easier if I could look at it on the computer in the offices too; no sé.
Well, Christmas is coming up fast, I´ll talk to you next week. I guess in a couple of weeks we´ll get to talk on the phone so that will be awesome. I love you guys; I´ve been here a long time, but I know I´m here for the right reasons.
Love, David.
Sounds like everything´s going well up in Riverton. That´s too bad about Mikayla´s finger (Mikayla broke her finger playing basketball on Saturday.) But it sounds like everything went well with the Christmas tree and with the assemby. That´s awesome (Mikayla did a Christmas Tree service project for a teacher at school who has breast cancer and presented the tree in an assembly.) Sounds like it´s a lot colder up there than we´re feeling down here. Summer´s starting up and it´s been pretty hot this week.
This week was a lot of meetings and interviews and things, but the baptismal service for Norah and José went very well. It was a very good experience. Both Norah and José were super excited and it was very good. Norah´s daughters didn´t come, so that was disappointing, but her granddaughter Ashelyn came and she has come with Norah the last 3 weeks and really loves it. But her mom's not really into it. We hoped they would come to the baptism to have that experience, but hopefully seeing the changes in Norah´s life can help them to see the importance, bcause we´ve taught almost everything, and I know they´ve felt the spirit. They just don´t want to commit to change, give up the drink , and working on Sundays. We pray they can start making changes and that they can be good examples to their kids who are really excited for Primary and everything.
Elder Sypherd and I are staying together in 9 de Abril for 6 more weeks. Looks like when I go to an area I´m in for the long run. It´s looking like I´ll probably just have 4 areas in all of my mission; we´ll see. After Norah and José´s baptism, we don´t have a whole lot of investigators that are progressing, that just don´t want to keep the commandments. So we´re kind of going to be starting from scratch this transfer. We pray to be able to find those that have been prepared here in our area. I know there´s people here ready to be baptized, we´ve just got to try all ways possible to be able to find them. Hopefully this week we can set everything up to be able to help others to the waters of baptism this transfer. We talked a lot in all of the training with President Stapley about always improving and about focusing on our purpose and inviting people to be baptized from the beginning. We´ve been talking about baptism and inviting people to be baptized in the first lessons this week, and even if the people aren´t ready it helps them know why we´re here and we can know if they really have true intentions in coming to Christ. So we pray that everything goes well this week. I´ve been kind of worried because it seems we´ve almost lost all of our investigators, but we´re doing the best we can, and the Lord knows that, and we pray to be able to improve this time around.
We have 4 missionaries in our ward and they changed so now Elder Tattersall and Elder Pearson are both going to be in our ward. They both lived in my room in the MTC, so that will be fun to be all together. We´re just missing my compañion, Elder Jensen, or it would be the same as the MTC.
I have no idea what I want to do for BYU. I hadn´t even thought about it, and now I´m scared. I don´t even remember how to add. I don´t know how statistics and calculus classes are going to work out. I heard that missionaries can set up a time to go to the offices to sign up for classes, but I´m not sure. But I have no idea what classes to take, so I guess I just won´t go back to college (you´re probably mad now; but I think I was just kidding...... I might go back if you really want me too..... he-he.) So I don´t really know, but I guess if you give me options or something I can pick classes; but I don´t even remember what classes I´ve taken or what I need to take; but it might be easier if I could look at it on the computer in the offices too; no sé.
Well, Christmas is coming up fast, I´ll talk to you next week. I guess in a couple of weeks we´ll get to talk on the phone so that will be awesome. I love you guys; I´ve been here a long time, but I know I´m here for the right reasons.
Love, David.
Monday, November 29, 2010
November 29, 2010
Hola Familia,
It sounds like everyone had a fun Thanksgiving, except with how the game turned out. That´s too bad that we outplayed them but couldn´t finish them off. Today with the zone we had a Thanksgiving dinner from a sister from the church that does all the food for zone conferences and mission meetings. It was really good, but we had chicken instead of turkey and played soccer instead of football.
This week we did a lot of traveling and weren´t in our area very much. Thursday we had to go to the capital to do documents for Elder Sypherd, so we were traveling around from like 7:00 in the morning until 3:00. And then Friday we had to go like 2 1/2 hours away to do a baptismal interview for the sisters in my district. They live in a town that´s in the middle of nowhere and there´s only buses that go out there like once every 5 or 6 hours. So we lost the whole day, but it was an awesome town. Their branch had like 10 members, and the church is in a building that used to be a dance club. It was cool. The man that got baptized there this week was really awesome and it was a good experience doing the interview with him.
Nora is super excited for the baptism this week; Jose also. But Nora has to have an interview with President Stapely, and he doesn´t have very much time this week with transfers coming up and everything so we hope that we´ll be able to get the interview and everything so the baptism goes well Saturday.
This week I´m going to be away from the area all week again it seems like. All the district leaders and trainers are having training meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Sypherd will be working with a priest in the ward when I´m at the meetings. Everything's going well here. We pray that we can find out a way for Nora to get interviewed because she is very ready and very excited. We have transfers this next Monday, so we´ll see what´ll happen.
Well, we´ll talk next week familia.
Love, David.
It sounds like everyone had a fun Thanksgiving, except with how the game turned out. That´s too bad that we outplayed them but couldn´t finish them off. Today with the zone we had a Thanksgiving dinner from a sister from the church that does all the food for zone conferences and mission meetings. It was really good, but we had chicken instead of turkey and played soccer instead of football.
This week we did a lot of traveling and weren´t in our area very much. Thursday we had to go to the capital to do documents for Elder Sypherd, so we were traveling around from like 7:00 in the morning until 3:00. And then Friday we had to go like 2 1/2 hours away to do a baptismal interview for the sisters in my district. They live in a town that´s in the middle of nowhere and there´s only buses that go out there like once every 5 or 6 hours. So we lost the whole day, but it was an awesome town. Their branch had like 10 members, and the church is in a building that used to be a dance club. It was cool. The man that got baptized there this week was really awesome and it was a good experience doing the interview with him.
Nora is super excited for the baptism this week; Jose also. But Nora has to have an interview with President Stapely, and he doesn´t have very much time this week with transfers coming up and everything so we hope that we´ll be able to get the interview and everything so the baptism goes well Saturday.
This week I´m going to be away from the area all week again it seems like. All the district leaders and trainers are having training meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Sypherd will be working with a priest in the ward when I´m at the meetings. Everything's going well here. We pray that we can find out a way for Nora to get interviewed because she is very ready and very excited. We have transfers this next Monday, so we´ll see what´ll happen.
Well, we´ll talk next week familia.
Love, David.
Monday, November 22, 2010
November 22, 2010
Hola Familia,
Sounds like another busy week. That´s awesome that basketball is going well. The BYU vs. Utah game sounds like it´s going to be pretty good. We better walk away with a win, seeing that it´s the last time it will count for the conference. But at least we´ll still have games with them in the future; I thought we wouldn´t.
Nora is still doing really well. She´s still excited for her baptism on the 4th. José, a nineteen year old investigator that we´re teaching is also really progressing and also preparing to be baptized on the 4th. This week we did the first exchange since Elder Sypherds been here, and I left to another area that´s in my district, and he stayed in our area with a latin elder that got here the same time as he did. They actually did quite well; and he was able to make it to all of the appointments. Understanding is still a struggle, but he´s improving a ton.
We found an awesome new investigator this week named Cristina who is from Bolivia. She was a reference from missionaries in another area that had talked to her when she was in her daughter´s house. She says she´s been searching for the truth, and that she´s going to do everything to be able to know if the chruch is true, and commited to be baptized when she knows through the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true. She reminded me alot of David, the man we baptized a couple months ago that was completely prepared by the Lord. He received the Melchizedek priesthood 2 weeks ago in stake conference and is doing super well. We hope to take out a baptismal date with her this week. There was a very good spirit in her home.
It´s crazy that it´s already Thanksgiving this week. Everything's been going by really fast. Hopefully everything goes well this week with the party for Thanksgiving and everything, and that BYU pulls out the big win at Utah. Well, we´ll talk next week then.
Love, David
Sounds like another busy week. That´s awesome that basketball is going well. The BYU vs. Utah game sounds like it´s going to be pretty good. We better walk away with a win, seeing that it´s the last time it will count for the conference. But at least we´ll still have games with them in the future; I thought we wouldn´t.
Nora is still doing really well. She´s still excited for her baptism on the 4th. José, a nineteen year old investigator that we´re teaching is also really progressing and also preparing to be baptized on the 4th. This week we did the first exchange since Elder Sypherds been here, and I left to another area that´s in my district, and he stayed in our area with a latin elder that got here the same time as he did. They actually did quite well; and he was able to make it to all of the appointments. Understanding is still a struggle, but he´s improving a ton.
We found an awesome new investigator this week named Cristina who is from Bolivia. She was a reference from missionaries in another area that had talked to her when she was in her daughter´s house. She says she´s been searching for the truth, and that she´s going to do everything to be able to know if the chruch is true, and commited to be baptized when she knows through the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true. She reminded me alot of David, the man we baptized a couple months ago that was completely prepared by the Lord. He received the Melchizedek priesthood 2 weeks ago in stake conference and is doing super well. We hope to take out a baptismal date with her this week. There was a very good spirit in her home.
It´s crazy that it´s already Thanksgiving this week. Everything's been going by really fast. Hopefully everything goes well this week with the party for Thanksgiving and everything, and that BYU pulls out the big win at Utah. Well, we´ll talk next week then.
Love, David
Monday, November 15, 2010
November 15, 2010
Hola familia,
Sounds like a fun week up there. I´m glad everything´s going well with basketball and volleyball. Too bad you had to leave before the end of the last set. It probably made the difference for the other team to pull out the win. (Mikayla had to leave her church region volleyball game in the 3rd game because of basketball. They ended up losing by 4 points).
And BYU is finally pulling it back together. They should be decently good this next year. That shootout sounds awesome. (Dean helped organize a shooting camp for our ward on Saturday). It would be cool to shoot a fully automatic. I got the Halloween package last week and the candy was super good.
This week we had an awesome experience with Nora, the Bolivian investigator that came to Stake Conference this last week. On Tuesday we took a sister from the ward with us to go and teach her. She had felt super good in conference and all that Sunday she felt a peace. She read a ton and felt like she was receiving an answer, and the spirit was there very strong. We were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 4th of December and she is super excited and came to church this Sunday. She says she knows that that´s what she needs to do and that although she won´t be working on Sundays, that God will provide everything she and her family needs. Her daughters are still learning, but they don´t want to give up the partying and the drinking with their friends on the weekends. But hopefully they´ll continue to see the changes that Nora is making and be able to take steps towards coming to Christ also.
Saturday we did service at Patricia's house, the sister that we baptized about 2 months ago. All the houses here are made of big orange hollow bricks and when they want to do a second story they have to make a cement roof, but they don´t have big trucks or machines like we do so it´s a grand ordeal. You have to mix sand and gravel and another powder to make the cement, then pass bucket for bucket for the guy that´s up on the roof spreading the cement. So I stood on a table, and passed all of the buckets full of cement to a guy on the roof and then he would pass it to the guy that would pour it and level it. It was fun, but a back killer. It´s hard for them to understand that we make our houses from wood, because they all do their houses this way. But the material makes it so the houses are super hot in the summer and super cold in the winter. Maybe someday insulation and sheetrock will make it down here, but it´s probably way more expensive than the materials they use.
Everything´s going good here. We´re excited for Nora. She´s super excited for her baptism coming up, and we hope to find a lot more new families to teach this week, and keep improving in everything that we´re doing.
Well it was good to hear how everything´s going up there and I hope everything goes well this week and we´ll talk again next week.
Love, David
Sounds like a fun week up there. I´m glad everything´s going well with basketball and volleyball. Too bad you had to leave before the end of the last set. It probably made the difference for the other team to pull out the win. (Mikayla had to leave her church region volleyball game in the 3rd game because of basketball. They ended up losing by 4 points).
And BYU is finally pulling it back together. They should be decently good this next year. That shootout sounds awesome. (Dean helped organize a shooting camp for our ward on Saturday). It would be cool to shoot a fully automatic. I got the Halloween package last week and the candy was super good.
This week we had an awesome experience with Nora, the Bolivian investigator that came to Stake Conference this last week. On Tuesday we took a sister from the ward with us to go and teach her. She had felt super good in conference and all that Sunday she felt a peace. She read a ton and felt like she was receiving an answer, and the spirit was there very strong. We were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 4th of December and she is super excited and came to church this Sunday. She says she knows that that´s what she needs to do and that although she won´t be working on Sundays, that God will provide everything she and her family needs. Her daughters are still learning, but they don´t want to give up the partying and the drinking with their friends on the weekends. But hopefully they´ll continue to see the changes that Nora is making and be able to take steps towards coming to Christ also.
Saturday we did service at Patricia's house, the sister that we baptized about 2 months ago. All the houses here are made of big orange hollow bricks and when they want to do a second story they have to make a cement roof, but they don´t have big trucks or machines like we do so it´s a grand ordeal. You have to mix sand and gravel and another powder to make the cement, then pass bucket for bucket for the guy that´s up on the roof spreading the cement. So I stood on a table, and passed all of the buckets full of cement to a guy on the roof and then he would pass it to the guy that would pour it and level it. It was fun, but a back killer. It´s hard for them to understand that we make our houses from wood, because they all do their houses this way. But the material makes it so the houses are super hot in the summer and super cold in the winter. Maybe someday insulation and sheetrock will make it down here, but it´s probably way more expensive than the materials they use.
Everything´s going good here. We´re excited for Nora. She´s super excited for her baptism coming up, and we hope to find a lot more new families to teach this week, and keep improving in everything that we´re doing.
Well it was good to hear how everything´s going up there and I hope everything goes well this week and we´ll talk again next week.
Love, David
Monday, November 8, 2010
November 8, 2010
Hola familia,
That´s awesome about Brandon´s baptism Saturday. Sounds like he was very prepared to receive the gospel. It´s awesome that all of you guys could go and support him and Heidi. Sounds like BYU got it together this week and Utah fell apart. We´ll have to beat them good this year, being the last chance for a while that we´ll have to play them.
This week went well. Norah and Marisol made it to Stake Conference and it was a really good experience. Hopefully that trial of faith will help them to progress so that they can really prepare for baptism, and that they can have the faith to keep the Sabbath Day holy.
Also, we found a super awesome family on Thursday: Fredi, Rosi, and their son Fransisco. They are from Paraguay. Wednesday we were walking in the street to go to an appointment and a car pulled up next to us and stopped. It was Fredi and his wife Rosi. Fredi said that like 10 years ago he had talked a little with the missionaries and that they wanted us to pass by their house. So we went and they were really cool. They were born catholic, but never felt like that church was true, and are looking for the truth. They´re like in their late 20´s, early 30´s and their son is 9, and was really excited about helping us read the scriptures. We have a lot of hope that they are really going to progress well. We also found 2 other complete families, something we haven´t been able to do for a while, but that´s really important, finding complete families.
Also, we have an investigator José that´s 19, and we had a really good lesson with him Thursday after we helped him with his Calculus homework. I never thought Calculus would come in handy down here, but it was fun to try to remember math for a little while and then translate it all to Spanish. We talked with José about baptism and about faith and real intent. He´s been hesitant to commit to baptism although he´s been keeping all of the commitments, but he was able to really see that he was going to have a confirmation from the spirit if baptism is what God really wants for him. But he has to be willing to really follow the answers that God gives him. We really felt the spirit in that lesson, and we were able to take out a baptismal date with José for the 4th of December, so we´re really excited about that.
Well family, I hope everything goes well this week, and we´ll talk next week.
Love, David
That´s awesome about Brandon´s baptism Saturday. Sounds like he was very prepared to receive the gospel. It´s awesome that all of you guys could go and support him and Heidi. Sounds like BYU got it together this week and Utah fell apart. We´ll have to beat them good this year, being the last chance for a while that we´ll have to play them.
This week went well. Norah and Marisol made it to Stake Conference and it was a really good experience. Hopefully that trial of faith will help them to progress so that they can really prepare for baptism, and that they can have the faith to keep the Sabbath Day holy.
Also, we found a super awesome family on Thursday: Fredi, Rosi, and their son Fransisco. They are from Paraguay. Wednesday we were walking in the street to go to an appointment and a car pulled up next to us and stopped. It was Fredi and his wife Rosi. Fredi said that like 10 years ago he had talked a little with the missionaries and that they wanted us to pass by their house. So we went and they were really cool. They were born catholic, but never felt like that church was true, and are looking for the truth. They´re like in their late 20´s, early 30´s and their son is 9, and was really excited about helping us read the scriptures. We have a lot of hope that they are really going to progress well. We also found 2 other complete families, something we haven´t been able to do for a while, but that´s really important, finding complete families.
Also, we have an investigator José that´s 19, and we had a really good lesson with him Thursday after we helped him with his Calculus homework. I never thought Calculus would come in handy down here, but it was fun to try to remember math for a little while and then translate it all to Spanish. We talked with José about baptism and about faith and real intent. He´s been hesitant to commit to baptism although he´s been keeping all of the commitments, but he was able to really see that he was going to have a confirmation from the spirit if baptism is what God really wants for him. But he has to be willing to really follow the answers that God gives him. We really felt the spirit in that lesson, and we were able to take out a baptismal date with José for the 4th of December, so we´re really excited about that.
Well family, I hope everything goes well this week, and we´ll talk next week.
Love, David
Monday, November 1, 2010
November 1, 2010
Hola Familia,
That´s awesome that everything went well with Halloween this week. It sounds like everything´s still busy up there and that´s awesome.
Elena is still progressing a ton and is excited for her baptism on the 20th. We´ve been inviting all of our investigators to make the step of baptism, but we have quite a few that don't really want to commit to live certain principals, but we´re gonna work hard and help and invite them all to make this important step of baptism.
We had a really good lesson with Norah and Marisol this week, the family from Bolivia that work on Sundays. They commited to come to stake conference this Sunday instead of work and the fair, so that will be a huge step for them, and we hope it will be a good experience and that they`ll be able to put forth the faith and keep the Sabbath Day holy in the future and take the step of baptism.
This week for stake conference Elder Foster from the seventy is coming and the first 40 minutes before stake conference starts, he´s going to have a little meeting with just the recent converts and investigators. So that´s going to be really awesome.
Elder Sypherd´s spanish is still struggling. It´s a lot harder for him than it was for Elder Pratley, because he´s quiet too. He just doesn´t talk, and I even ask him questions like how something helps him and he still can´t get past a broken sentence. We´ve got to keep building his confidence in speaking. That's the main problem. But we´re going to keep working hard, and the Spanish will come. It's more important that we complete everything we´ve been asked to do, and then the blessings, then the gift of tongues will come, but it´s still really hard for him right now.
With being district leader now, everything is a lot busier, and this week we have to travel almost 2 and a half hours to go to some interviews for the hermanas in my district. So we always have less time in our area, but we have to keep improving and getting more done in our area. So it´s a little more stressful, but we´re going good.
Well I´m glad everything's going good up in the land of Utah. I guess we´ll talk again next week.
Love, David
That´s awesome that everything went well with Halloween this week. It sounds like everything´s still busy up there and that´s awesome.
Elena is still progressing a ton and is excited for her baptism on the 20th. We´ve been inviting all of our investigators to make the step of baptism, but we have quite a few that don't really want to commit to live certain principals, but we´re gonna work hard and help and invite them all to make this important step of baptism.
We had a really good lesson with Norah and Marisol this week, the family from Bolivia that work on Sundays. They commited to come to stake conference this Sunday instead of work and the fair, so that will be a huge step for them, and we hope it will be a good experience and that they`ll be able to put forth the faith and keep the Sabbath Day holy in the future and take the step of baptism.
This week for stake conference Elder Foster from the seventy is coming and the first 40 minutes before stake conference starts, he´s going to have a little meeting with just the recent converts and investigators. So that´s going to be really awesome.
Elder Sypherd´s spanish is still struggling. It´s a lot harder for him than it was for Elder Pratley, because he´s quiet too. He just doesn´t talk, and I even ask him questions like how something helps him and he still can´t get past a broken sentence. We´ve got to keep building his confidence in speaking. That's the main problem. But we´re going to keep working hard, and the Spanish will come. It's more important that we complete everything we´ve been asked to do, and then the blessings, then the gift of tongues will come, but it´s still really hard for him right now.
With being district leader now, everything is a lot busier, and this week we have to travel almost 2 and a half hours to go to some interviews for the hermanas in my district. So we always have less time in our area, but we have to keep improving and getting more done in our area. So it´s a little more stressful, but we´re going good.
Well I´m glad everything's going good up in the land of Utah. I guess we´ll talk again next week.
Love, David
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