haha so hello again everyone I'll reply to everyone individually as well but just a little update on what's going on here.
This last week was a doozy. Every month we do whats called a "Car fast" where we don't use the car between 10 and 5. I guess it saves miles? (not when you cover 5,000 square miles...) So on wednesday we were doing our car fast. We had been walking most of the day when we got a call from one of the members of the branch here, telling us that one of our investigators (who was on track to be baptized on wednesday [tomorrow] this week) had had some kind of stroke or something and was on her way to the hospital. Thankfully we were in Edenton and started booking it to the hospital in town. On our way there we passed the street that that particular investigator lived on, and noticed that the ambulance was still there. But as we kept running, we heard the sirens and the ambulance passed in front of us. It was kind of surreal...knowing that that person we care so much about is in that ambulance. It was definitely nothing like anything I've experienced before. So we run to the car and get heading over to the hospital. It's pretty close, so we show up probably two minutes after the ambulance gets there and then proceeds the waiting. After close to an hour, (or so it felt like) we finally are allowed to go in and see her and give her a blessing. As we go in, they told us she was still heavily sedated. Elder Bobo (another elder with me) gave her a blessing and she was conscience enough to send grab each one of our hands and then we were told to leave so they could move her. And apparently she stopped being responsive after that. As we went out we were told tat she was goin to be life flighted to Greenville, NC. They changed that Norfolk General, and then Sentura hospital in VA Beach. Soon the helicopter was here and they flew her away. Shes still in the hospital right now and we are all praying for her. Satan definitely does not want this women to be baptized. But things are going to turn out alright.
The rest of the week went pretty smooth. Sorta.
We are about an hour and a half from the stake center up in Chesapeake, and we were struggling to find rides. We had thought the ride was taken care of, but at the last minute our ride cancelled. So we called and called and called and FINALLY, at 8 o'clock we got someone to take us up that night. So we ride up and realize we have no idea where we are staying. So we call our Zone leaders expecting to stay with them, but are quickly told they have no room to transport us. So the have us call the Bennet's Creek elders and we twist some arms and they let us stay with them. And I swear, when we left that house we left our whole life there. Especially our phone charger which we won't get till wednesday apparently. haha.
So we finally make it home Saturday morning and everyone has been warning us that there is going to be some severe weather coming in later that night. I admit it was kinda windy in the morning, but nothing prepared me for what happened that night. We had people telling us all day to get inside because this same system that was going to hit us had been ripping up Raleigh for a couple of hours. Torn up a Lowes and killed a few people. Around 7 o clock the storm really hit us hard. I'm used to storms, but when you couple it with the wind we had it gets really scary. Nothing nearby got hit, but we found out later that at least 68 tornadoes had been registered in the surrounding area, and just over the river into a town called coalrain (or at least sounds like that haha) there were at least 20 people killed and house torn up. There were some members of the church in the Ahoskie branch who lost there homes. I've never been around storms like that. I did learn one thing about storms in NC...if it's windy, raining and lightening, and it starts to hail, you better run for cover. Because that almost always precedes a tornadoe. So I had fun experiencing that! haha.
But it's not all bad/scary news. I think I told y'all about the investigator we were teaching from Cuba, but we invited him to be baptized on may 1st and he is shooting for it. Those moments definitely make it all worth it. The work is good, although it is slow at times, the sucess make it all worth the while.
I hope I've told enough...have any questions, let me know! haha.
Love y'all, have a sweet week!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The thing about Virginia weather though is it's moody. It changes with a whim. we're back into the 30's and we had a thunderstorm last night. haha.
That's so awesome about Dad getting set apart. I'm glad that Grandpa got to do it. Man! I can't believe Grandma is gonna be 80. That's crazy. I thought she was still in her 70's too. (you should send me some of that Jam)
Man Jordan's injury sounds intense! man...if his foot is messed up bad enough he'll still be hobblin around when I get back! haha. I guess keep me updated on it all. (honestly not to worried about him getting his liscense either...ha.)
I definitely did get the package. Thank you so much! I am currently wearing the slacks, the watch, and I used the Thomas brush to brush my teeth this morning! haha. The watch is awesome, so let dad know thank you. I've never had a kinectic watch before. I alternate between the one I got for Christmas and this one. Today is a square day :)
march 3rd
haha yes I definitely have been in Wakefield for this long. We joke that if someone is in an area long enough (7 1/2 months) they become the prophet of that area. So...guess who?! haha. I think I'm getting kind of tired of all the garbage that goes down in this branch. There is so much contention it's sickening. Like especially between the 1st counseler and the branch president. mostly coming from the 1st counciler. ugh. I don't want to leave, but if I do next transfer I'll be alright with it.
My step-son is from Olympia, Washington, although he was born and raised in Utah. I'll tell you something that's really cool mom, and you can't let this leave this email (that goes for you too dad if you're reading this) but he's gone through the same addictions as I have and recovered from it as well, and we had similiar experiences which is a burden off me to be able to talk about them with others. It's been a huge blessing.
haha the jack bauer guy isn't our branch president, he's our branch mission leader! Yes I know the series ended last year. don't ruin the ending though! oh, and I was converted to Lost by Elder Parker. I will be watching the entire series of Lost when I come home. he basically explained the entire plot up to the last season. and if you ruin it I won't come home. haha.
So a quick story from this last sunday. It was fast and testimony meeting and so we were sitting with our recent convert, who is the coolest black gentleman you'll ever meet, and he starts getting his cane all ready and we're both like, "YES! he's gonna bear his testimony! woo!" and he gets up and he hobbles up there and explains that "when the spirit tells you to move, you move!" and then he explains that when life get's really rough, you gotta "try Jesus. just try Him!" and then he kinda backs away from the mic and sorta half whispers while shaking his head, "you're not gonna like it....you're not gonna like it...YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT!!" and just shouts that into the mic. and then he kinda smugly looks back at everyone and says "y'all have a nice day" and starts walking down. oh my gosh I wanted to laugh so hard it was such an awesome testimony and he was so proud of himself haha. He sat down and I patted him on the back. haha. It was the best.
and last sunday I forgot to tell you that we had our chorister totally pass out during conducting the opening hymn, and so we moved downstairs in the basement, and then while down there we had the former ym president's wife oppose (like when the do the whole sustaining vote thing raising your arm) the new ym president. I've never seen that happen in my life. It was ridiculous. Again why there is so much contention in this branch. ugh!
Anyways, I love y'all and hope your week is sweet. We're off to play some basketball and dodgeball for a zone p-day! haha.
March 14th
Life is going good! I hope you realized that we started emailing earlier! haha the library changed it's hours.
Yeah I heard all about the Tsunami. That's crazy about the evac though. They've been calling this the "great earthquake" in japan apparently because it was the worst one in recorded history. I just don't like when people see stuff like this and are like AHH OH GOSH IT'S THE SECOND COMING ARARARARARA. Yes. the second coming prophesies of earthquakes. But it also prophesies of a lot of other things that HAVEN'T happened yet, and probably won't happen for a while. I'm ranting because it was like all sunday it was about that. People don't stinkin know the scriptures.
haha yeah Jordan emailed me about his foot. that stinks...stupid ct technician got y'all questioning if it's broken or not, so just see a doctor as soon as you can. don't trust the ct tech! haha. I'm betting he probably won't be able to go to the thing either way if he's still in intense pain after two weeks. so yeah. Tell him to get a job! haha. Seriously though...I wish y'all had me get a job at his age! It would've really helped!
I'll get a shirt for Jordan today. I know exactly what kind shirt to get too. No worries. Thanks for the idea!
I have no idea what's going on with the branch president...it's ridiculous and I try and just ignore it.
I'm totally gonna get into Lost. Don't care what y'all say! haha.
when they opposed the new calling, the branch president sent out a member of the branch presidency to talk to her. It's been 2 sundays and they haven't been here for either. Soooo...yeah. bad news bears. We moved downstairs so we didn't all just stare at the chorister while she was recovering. ha.
April 4th
HEYYYY. Before I say anything. The time is come: I am leaving Wakefield :(
But here is the fun part....I'm going to North Carolina! haha. I'm going to the ABSOLUTE bottom of our mission. No one goes further than my new area goes. It's ANOTHER little branch called the Albemarle branch. Good luck marking my new area on your Virginia map! haha.
New address:
4107 B Ashley Dr.
Edenton, NC 27932
So yes. I'm really bummed, but also really excited. I have two new companions (we are in a trio down there) and There names are Elder Simpson and Elder Bobo. (no joke on the last one.) so that will be interesting. We apparently live with the branch president. So yeah. I've now officially been in all three states of my mission! Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina! haha.
New tablet eh? That's really cool though especially if you can get it to work with the droid market. That's what you need to do. Tell me some of the cool stuff it can do?
Ways the Priesthood has helped me? or ways I've helped others with the priesthood. Well I'll share one story that I don't know if I've told you or not...I was back in New Kent, and I woke up one night with a horrible blinding pain in my chest. I my first reaction was, "it's just heart burn, just take some tums and go back to bed." but I took tums and it didn't go away. I aimlessly wandered around the house mostly because I was in too much pain to go back to sleep. It progressively got worse and worse until I was sprawled on the bathroom floor pleading to Heavenly Father for it to go away...I remember distinctly saying, "please...I don't want to go to the hospital..." and the first impression I got was, "you need a blessing" I kind of pushed it away for a second and then it came stronger. I got up woke up my companions (who were asleep through this whole ordeal) and, while being hunched over in pain, said "Elders...I need a blessing." As soon as those Elders starting that blessing, the pain faded. By the time it was over the pain was entirely gone. Some would say it was just good timing. But I know it was my heavenly Father trying to teach me a lesson about how important a priesthood blessing really is, after all you can do for yourself.
Helping others? I would probably say how I've been able to use my priesthood to help others enter into their Father's kingdom through baptism. With that priesthood, those sons and daughters of God are able to have all of there sins washed away. in D&C 50, the Lord asks the prophet a question, "Unto what were you ordained?" Basically said, Why were you given the priesthood? He answers for us: "To Preach my gospel by the Spirit..." We were given the priesthood for two reasons. To preach the gospel by the spirit, and to perform saving ordinances such as baptism, and conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I hope that helps. The scripture in D&C 50 you'll just have to search for...it's there though :P
Anyways I'll keep mine short this week too...other than a picture from our lunch break in General conference. haha. This week we had a big long exchange with the petersburg elders cause they didn't get conference at there chapel. so we had fun.
anyways I know it's short but thank you so much I love you all and I'll talk to you next week!
April 12th
Hey everyone! I thought this would be easier than emailing everyone individually, but let me give y'all an update on what's been going on since I got transferred down to North Carolina! I know some of you haven't heard from me in quite some time but just thought I'd shoot y'all an email.
The first couple of days has been good. We live with our great branch president and his wife. We live just outside the town of Edenton and it's been a trip. Just the drive from Richmond to our new home took us probably from 1115 to 5 o'clock or close to it. Quite a drive. Saw a few "Bear Crossing" signs which I've never seen before...pretty interesting. But so far from what I've seen, North Carolina isn't that different from Virginia...it's definitely been humid the past couple of days, but I figure that's just the east coast summer.
The work has been going great down here. We just had a baptism on sunday and another one coming up real soon. But some great miracles have been happening down here. We actually had someone call US and ask us to come teach them. And that never happens...haha. But I'll be honest, I thought the area would be country, but it is no where near Wakefield! haha Edenton itself probably has the same population as all of Sussex county. haha not quite but real close. What's real cool as well though is we are right on the Albemarle sound. Infact the library is sitting almost waterside. It's really cool to see.
I got to participate in one of the most crazy things on saturday. A Good ol' north carolina pig picking. I swear when my companions told me about this I thought it was something where you picked dirt and crud off pigs. Shows you how much of a westerner I really am. Well, after I found out we were preparing the cooked meat for a fundraiser for a local volunteer fire department, I was pretty stoked. And for all of you back home or out west or whatever, BBQ down here is absolutely NOTHING like BBQ back home. I'm not bagging on it, but meat with bbq sauce is not bbq. So we found out this fire department had been up through the night cooking upwards of 50+ hogs so they'd be ready to prepare by eight in the morning. We got there before 8 and got on our thick rubber gloves and aprons. What they would do is assemble probably 8-10 people at a table and just throw down a quarter of a pig in front of you and you'd pull all the good meat off of it and put it in a bucket. Then when the bucket got full someone would take it to another table where there were choppers chopping up the meat. then when it was finely chopped, it was mixed with the greatest bbq sauce in the world (which is vinegar based), then put back in the bucket and on the grill to stay warm. It was incredible how hot those pieces of meat where...even with my super thick gloves a couple of times I had to take a step back and let my hands cool off. But in the end we helped this little fire department earn some money to keep fighting fires!
Just fyi, our library is closed on mondays so we have to do it on tuesday. Just for future reference!
The branch out here is great, but a little small. We have a phase two building which is pretty decent size. But now I know what you meant brother fly when you said the rooms where so tiny. Crazy. I also was toldlike, three days before church that i was giving a talk, so that was fun. Felt like it turned out well, I always love talking the first sunday in an area, and I promise that's not sarcasm ;)
Well, still alot more discovering to do out here and work to be done. I hope y'all have a sweet week and let me know if you have any questions or anything!
Love y'all and talk to you next week!
- Elder H. Christensen
That's so awesome about Dad getting set apart. I'm glad that Grandpa got to do it. Man! I can't believe Grandma is gonna be 80. That's crazy. I thought she was still in her 70's too. (you should send me some of that Jam)
Man Jordan's injury sounds intense! man...if his foot is messed up bad enough he'll still be hobblin around when I get back! haha. I guess keep me updated on it all. (honestly not to worried about him getting his liscense either...ha.)
I definitely did get the package. Thank you so much! I am currently wearing the slacks, the watch, and I used the Thomas brush to brush my teeth this morning! haha. The watch is awesome, so let dad know thank you. I've never had a kinectic watch before. I alternate between the one I got for Christmas and this one. Today is a square day :)
march 3rd
haha yes I definitely have been in Wakefield for this long. We joke that if someone is in an area long enough (7 1/2 months) they become the prophet of that area. So...guess who?! haha. I think I'm getting kind of tired of all the garbage that goes down in this branch. There is so much contention it's sickening. Like especially between the 1st counseler and the branch president. mostly coming from the 1st counciler. ugh. I don't want to leave, but if I do next transfer I'll be alright with it.
My step-son is from Olympia, Washington, although he was born and raised in Utah. I'll tell you something that's really cool mom, and you can't let this leave this email (that goes for you too dad if you're reading this) but he's gone through the same addictions as I have and recovered from it as well, and we had similiar experiences which is a burden off me to be able to talk about them with others. It's been a huge blessing.
haha the jack bauer guy isn't our branch president, he's our branch mission leader! Yes I know the series ended last year. don't ruin the ending though! oh, and I was converted to Lost by Elder Parker. I will be watching the entire series of Lost when I come home. he basically explained the entire plot up to the last season. and if you ruin it I won't come home. haha.
So a quick story from this last sunday. It was fast and testimony meeting and so we were sitting with our recent convert, who is the coolest black gentleman you'll ever meet, and he starts getting his cane all ready and we're both like, "YES! he's gonna bear his testimony! woo!" and he gets up and he hobbles up there and explains that "when the spirit tells you to move, you move!" and then he explains that when life get's really rough, you gotta "try Jesus. just try Him!" and then he kinda backs away from the mic and sorta half whispers while shaking his head, "you're not gonna like it....you're not gonna like it...YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT!!" and just shouts that into the mic. and then he kinda smugly looks back at everyone and says "y'all have a nice day" and starts walking down. oh my gosh I wanted to laugh so hard it was such an awesome testimony and he was so proud of himself haha. He sat down and I patted him on the back. haha. It was the best.
and last sunday I forgot to tell you that we had our chorister totally pass out during conducting the opening hymn, and so we moved downstairs in the basement, and then while down there we had the former ym president's wife oppose (like when the do the whole sustaining vote thing raising your arm) the new ym president. I've never seen that happen in my life. It was ridiculous. Again why there is so much contention in this branch. ugh!
Anyways, I love y'all and hope your week is sweet. We're off to play some basketball and dodgeball for a zone p-day! haha.
March 14th
Life is going good! I hope you realized that we started emailing earlier! haha the library changed it's hours.
Yeah I heard all about the Tsunami. That's crazy about the evac though. They've been calling this the "great earthquake" in japan apparently because it was the worst one in recorded history. I just don't like when people see stuff like this and are like AHH OH GOSH IT'S THE SECOND COMING ARARARARARA. Yes. the second coming prophesies of earthquakes. But it also prophesies of a lot of other things that HAVEN'T happened yet, and probably won't happen for a while. I'm ranting because it was like all sunday it was about that. People don't stinkin know the scriptures.
haha yeah Jordan emailed me about his foot. that stinks...stupid ct technician got y'all questioning if it's broken or not, so just see a doctor as soon as you can. don't trust the ct tech! haha. I'm betting he probably won't be able to go to the thing either way if he's still in intense pain after two weeks. so yeah. Tell him to get a job! haha. Seriously though...I wish y'all had me get a job at his age! It would've really helped!
I'll get a shirt for Jordan today. I know exactly what kind shirt to get too. No worries. Thanks for the idea!
I have no idea what's going on with the branch president...it's ridiculous and I try and just ignore it.
I'm totally gonna get into Lost. Don't care what y'all say! haha.
when they opposed the new calling, the branch president sent out a member of the branch presidency to talk to her. It's been 2 sundays and they haven't been here for either. Soooo...yeah. bad news bears. We moved downstairs so we didn't all just stare at the chorister while she was recovering. ha.
April 4th
HEYYYY. Before I say anything. The time is come: I am leaving Wakefield :(
But here is the fun part....I'm going to North Carolina! haha. I'm going to the ABSOLUTE bottom of our mission. No one goes further than my new area goes. It's ANOTHER little branch called the Albemarle branch. Good luck marking my new area on your Virginia map! haha.
New address:
4107 B Ashley Dr.
Edenton, NC 27932
So yes. I'm really bummed, but also really excited. I have two new companions (we are in a trio down there) and There names are Elder Simpson and Elder Bobo. (no joke on the last one.) so that will be interesting. We apparently live with the branch president. So yeah. I've now officially been in all three states of my mission! Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina! haha.
New tablet eh? That's really cool though especially if you can get it to work with the droid market. That's what you need to do. Tell me some of the cool stuff it can do?
Ways the Priesthood has helped me? or ways I've helped others with the priesthood. Well I'll share one story that I don't know if I've told you or not...I was back in New Kent, and I woke up one night with a horrible blinding pain in my chest. I my first reaction was, "it's just heart burn, just take some tums and go back to bed." but I took tums and it didn't go away. I aimlessly wandered around the house mostly because I was in too much pain to go back to sleep. It progressively got worse and worse until I was sprawled on the bathroom floor pleading to Heavenly Father for it to go away...I remember distinctly saying, "please...I don't want to go to the hospital..." and the first impression I got was, "you need a blessing" I kind of pushed it away for a second and then it came stronger. I got up woke up my companions (who were asleep through this whole ordeal) and, while being hunched over in pain, said "Elders...I need a blessing." As soon as those Elders starting that blessing, the pain faded. By the time it was over the pain was entirely gone. Some would say it was just good timing. But I know it was my heavenly Father trying to teach me a lesson about how important a priesthood blessing really is, after all you can do for yourself.
Helping others? I would probably say how I've been able to use my priesthood to help others enter into their Father's kingdom through baptism. With that priesthood, those sons and daughters of God are able to have all of there sins washed away. in D&C 50, the Lord asks the prophet a question, "Unto what were you ordained?" Basically said, Why were you given the priesthood? He answers for us: "To Preach my gospel by the Spirit..." We were given the priesthood for two reasons. To preach the gospel by the spirit, and to perform saving ordinances such as baptism, and conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I hope that helps. The scripture in D&C 50 you'll just have to search for...it's there though :P
Anyways I'll keep mine short this week too...other than a picture from our lunch break in General conference. haha. This week we had a big long exchange with the petersburg elders cause they didn't get conference at there chapel. so we had fun.
anyways I know it's short but thank you so much I love you all and I'll talk to you next week!
April 12th
Hey everyone! I thought this would be easier than emailing everyone individually, but let me give y'all an update on what's been going on since I got transferred down to North Carolina! I know some of you haven't heard from me in quite some time but just thought I'd shoot y'all an email.
The first couple of days has been good. We live with our great branch president and his wife. We live just outside the town of Edenton and it's been a trip. Just the drive from Richmond to our new home took us probably from 1115 to 5 o'clock or close to it. Quite a drive. Saw a few "Bear Crossing" signs which I've never seen before...pretty interesting. But so far from what I've seen, North Carolina isn't that different from Virginia...it's definitely been humid the past couple of days, but I figure that's just the east coast summer.
The work has been going great down here. We just had a baptism on sunday and another one coming up real soon. But some great miracles have been happening down here. We actually had someone call US and ask us to come teach them. And that never happens...haha. But I'll be honest, I thought the area would be country, but it is no where near Wakefield! haha Edenton itself probably has the same population as all of Sussex county. haha not quite but real close. What's real cool as well though is we are right on the Albemarle sound. Infact the library is sitting almost waterside. It's really cool to see.
I got to participate in one of the most crazy things on saturday. A Good ol' north carolina pig picking. I swear when my companions told me about this I thought it was something where you picked dirt and crud off pigs. Shows you how much of a westerner I really am. Well, after I found out we were preparing the cooked meat for a fundraiser for a local volunteer fire department, I was pretty stoked. And for all of you back home or out west or whatever, BBQ down here is absolutely NOTHING like BBQ back home. I'm not bagging on it, but meat with bbq sauce is not bbq. So we found out this fire department had been up through the night cooking upwards of 50+ hogs so they'd be ready to prepare by eight in the morning. We got there before 8 and got on our thick rubber gloves and aprons. What they would do is assemble probably 8-10 people at a table and just throw down a quarter of a pig in front of you and you'd pull all the good meat off of it and put it in a bucket. Then when the bucket got full someone would take it to another table where there were choppers chopping up the meat. then when it was finely chopped, it was mixed with the greatest bbq sauce in the world (which is vinegar based), then put back in the bucket and on the grill to stay warm. It was incredible how hot those pieces of meat where...even with my super thick gloves a couple of times I had to take a step back and let my hands cool off. But in the end we helped this little fire department earn some money to keep fighting fires!
Just fyi, our library is closed on mondays so we have to do it on tuesday. Just for future reference!
The branch out here is great, but a little small. We have a phase two building which is pretty decent size. But now I know what you meant brother fly when you said the rooms where so tiny. Crazy. I also was toldlike, three days before church that i was giving a talk, so that was fun. Felt like it turned out well, I always love talking the first sunday in an area, and I promise that's not sarcasm ;)
Well, still alot more discovering to do out here and work to be done. I hope y'all have a sweet week and let me know if you have any questions or anything!
Love y'all and talk to you next week!
- Elder H. Christensen
feb 24 2011 catch up time again!
Hey Hey! I'm sorry about the monday abscence but I assumed you realized it was a holiday! haha. Anyways....
I'm glad everything worked out safely. I always get tripped out on the time zone changes with flights...I couldn't imagine the time change deal with dad...I'd probably just have to pass out for a day. haha. I'm real glad Jordan and Ryan did so well with taking care of you. Tell them they have my approval. haha. I'm kinda surprised Jordan did so good but I'm glad he did. (Don't tell him I said that :P) Ok. Thank you for sending the me the stuff, it is definitely greatly appreciated!
ANYWAYS THE BIG NEWSSSS.
DUM DUM DA DUM DUM DA DUMMMMMM
----
I'm staying in Wakefield another 6 weeks! YEAAAAAAA!!!
The sad news: Elder Parker is leaving :( But I knew it had to happen eventually. I'm going to be doing what's called step-training with a very new Elder. Basically he's been with one Elder for the past six weeks (the first six weeks of his mission) now he's coming to me. His name is Elder Richards. I've met him before, he's a pretty cool cat. But just so you know, I'm glad I get to stay another six weeks. I'm really attached to this branch, and I'm not afraid to tell you I'm going to cry like a little baby when I have to leave :)
Uh-Oh. The dreaded stake president call. You are mean for making me wait till next p-day to find out what's going on. But I'm sure Dad will be called to be a Bishop and you'll be in the Stake YW presidency :) let me know!
Oh my gosh Jordan is turning 17? UGH. I remember before my mission realizing that he'd be that age when I come home. It all feels like it isn't real. what the. ryan driving? no it won't ever happen. I'm still 19 and my mission will last forever. (If I have anything to say about it :) )
Anyways yeah so quick update on our week:
We are basically starting from scratch again in the area. All of our investigators got baptized....I guess it's a good problem? I don't know. But I'm kinda figuring out some goals I have for this next month and 1/2 and what I wanna do. So I just need to sit down and figure it all out.
We've been trying to do some more community service out here in good ol' Wakefield and so we went to the Mayor (who owns a service station here in town; yes it's like you'd see in some movie) and asked him what kind of service opportunities he had. He told us he wanted us to rake some leaves at this ball park in town so we did that today. I don't have a problem raking leaves (except oregon leaves, like in grandpa's back yard since they are always wet :( ) but when it comes to raking PINE NEEDLES, that's when I have a problem. It was good though, we got to help out our little community.
I'm real sad that Elder Parker is leaving. Me and him are best buds. But I'm definitely better at my seperation anxiety than I used to be. So I'll be fine...I'm excited for this next month and 1/2!
Anyways Mom & Dad, love you so much and hope your week is good. I'll talk to you next week
I'm glad everything worked out safely. I always get tripped out on the time zone changes with flights...I couldn't imagine the time change deal with dad...I'd probably just have to pass out for a day. haha. I'm real glad Jordan and Ryan did so well with taking care of you. Tell them they have my approval. haha. I'm kinda surprised Jordan did so good but I'm glad he did. (Don't tell him I said that :P) Ok. Thank you for sending the me the stuff, it is definitely greatly appreciated!
ANYWAYS THE BIG NEWSSSS.
DUM DUM DA DUM DUM DA DUMMMMMM
----
I'm staying in Wakefield another 6 weeks! YEAAAAAAA!!!
The sad news: Elder Parker is leaving :( But I knew it had to happen eventually. I'm going to be doing what's called step-training with a very new Elder. Basically he's been with one Elder for the past six weeks (the first six weeks of his mission) now he's coming to me. His name is Elder Richards. I've met him before, he's a pretty cool cat. But just so you know, I'm glad I get to stay another six weeks. I'm really attached to this branch, and I'm not afraid to tell you I'm going to cry like a little baby when I have to leave :)
Uh-Oh. The dreaded stake president call. You are mean for making me wait till next p-day to find out what's going on. But I'm sure Dad will be called to be a Bishop and you'll be in the Stake YW presidency :) let me know!
Oh my gosh Jordan is turning 17? UGH. I remember before my mission realizing that he'd be that age when I come home. It all feels like it isn't real. what the. ryan driving? no it won't ever happen. I'm still 19 and my mission will last forever. (If I have anything to say about it :) )
Anyways yeah so quick update on our week:
We are basically starting from scratch again in the area. All of our investigators got baptized....I guess it's a good problem? I don't know. But I'm kinda figuring out some goals I have for this next month and 1/2 and what I wanna do. So I just need to sit down and figure it all out.
We've been trying to do some more community service out here in good ol' Wakefield and so we went to the Mayor (who owns a service station here in town; yes it's like you'd see in some movie) and asked him what kind of service opportunities he had. He told us he wanted us to rake some leaves at this ball park in town so we did that today. I don't have a problem raking leaves (except oregon leaves, like in grandpa's back yard since they are always wet :( ) but when it comes to raking PINE NEEDLES, that's when I have a problem. It was good though, we got to help out our little community.
I'm real sad that Elder Parker is leaving. Me and him are best buds. But I'm definitely better at my seperation anxiety than I used to be. So I'll be fine...I'm excited for this next month and 1/2!
Anyways Mom & Dad, love you so much and hope your week is good. I'll talk to you next week
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Yeah ok so heres the deal. Apparently the server went down or something cause everyone else had the same thing happen. so idk?
haha I heard that the Packers won eh? cool stuff. At this point I really don't care all that much but you know how that goes. haha.
Holy cow a Lady had a seizure? That sounds mega-intense. If I was giving a talk during that day I definitely wouldn't be angry haha...I'd be happy cause I knew no one would even notice if I messed up. haha we had a sunday kinda like that yesterday...it was fast and testimony meeting and we have this member who is kinda less active and in the middle of meeting (everyone is quiet waiting for someone to go up to the stand) he stands up and kinda quietly says "Lord, Lord, Lord..." and then he starts getting louder and louder and singing things like "I JUST WANNA PRAISE YOU" "LORD, LORD, LORD" and I was like, oh my goodness...what is going on here. Then he got up there and finished his song and told us about how he is so sick and he may not live and all this stuff. It's what you get when the african american religious culture out here is predominately baptist. haha. Sacrament meetings in our branch are a trip. Anything under the sun can happen...
By the way, I attached pictures from our baptism we had this last saturday (the 5th) It was great but oh gosh you have no idea how much stress we were under...you remember the hassle we were getting from the branch about that investigator getting baptized? Well this is him. and the DAY OF his interview with the Zone Leaders those same members called us and while Elder Parker was in the shower rebuked me to no end because we were actually going to go through with his baptism. They told me up and down that he wasn't ready and he shouldn't be baptized and all this other jazz. They just don't understand what baptism is. It's not a thing we need to be perfect for. It's not a last step, it's a FIRST step. Yeah we may still have some problems. But when you find the recent convert who is perfect before they're baptized let me know.
Yeah I'm just gonna say I've been real frustrated with some of the members of this branch lately. They were making our lives miserable. But the baptism basically was ridiculous as well. First off the hot water heater in the building wasn't on and we couldn't turn it on, so the font just filled with ice water. On top of that, when we turned off the font the plug started leaking so by the time they got in the water it was probably knee height. so with that, our investigator has high blood pressure so the water basically made him freak out and after the ordinance was said, it took probably like 2-3 minutes before he could syke himself up enough to go in the cold water.
Yeah but thankfully we are gonna have another baptism this friday :) So we will let you know how that goes as well.
I don't know haha...I'll try and send a few pictures.
Kind of another update on the suicide-investigator. We really haven't had any contact with him since that day, although we have tried. His phone is off and he's never at his house. BUT. We did see his ex-fiance driving around up in surry, and we were ALMOST positive it was him in the passenger seat. So we really have no idea.
I know, I'm doing better on money. me and elder parker have figured out how we are going to grocery shop from now on. We go to this place called "Dollar general (not a dollar store, just sounds like it haha) and we buy most of the non-perishable stuff, like cereal, canned foods, all that stuff. And then we buy the stuff we can't buy there at the regular grocery store. we save a ton of money that way. last p-day we only spent 25 dollars each for groceries. Pretty good considering we had enough for two people for a week!
Thank you for the advice on the money saviing. I'm working on it and will hopefully do better. Basically all the cash I get goes into my lock-box. I save that.
Oh gosh seriously? No way...that blows my mind...Tell David I say welcome home and back to this life. I feel for him. haha. Oh gosh I don't even wanna think about that day...
Thank you for all you do mom and dad....I love you all a ton. I hope your week is good and I'll talk to you next week!
haha I heard that the Packers won eh? cool stuff. At this point I really don't care all that much but you know how that goes. haha.
Holy cow a Lady had a seizure? That sounds mega-intense. If I was giving a talk during that day I definitely wouldn't be angry haha...I'd be happy cause I knew no one would even notice if I messed up. haha we had a sunday kinda like that yesterday...it was fast and testimony meeting and we have this member who is kinda less active and in the middle of meeting (everyone is quiet waiting for someone to go up to the stand) he stands up and kinda quietly says "Lord, Lord, Lord..." and then he starts getting louder and louder and singing things like "I JUST WANNA PRAISE YOU" "LORD, LORD, LORD" and I was like, oh my goodness...what is going on here. Then he got up there and finished his song and told us about how he is so sick and he may not live and all this stuff. It's what you get when the african american religious culture out here is predominately baptist. haha. Sacrament meetings in our branch are a trip. Anything under the sun can happen...
By the way, I attached pictures from our baptism we had this last saturday (the 5th) It was great but oh gosh you have no idea how much stress we were under...you remember the hassle we were getting from the branch about that investigator getting baptized? Well this is him. and the DAY OF his interview with the Zone Leaders those same members called us and while Elder Parker was in the shower rebuked me to no end because we were actually going to go through with his baptism. They told me up and down that he wasn't ready and he shouldn't be baptized and all this other jazz. They just don't understand what baptism is. It's not a thing we need to be perfect for. It's not a last step, it's a FIRST step. Yeah we may still have some problems. But when you find the recent convert who is perfect before they're baptized let me know.
Yeah I'm just gonna say I've been real frustrated with some of the members of this branch lately. They were making our lives miserable. But the baptism basically was ridiculous as well. First off the hot water heater in the building wasn't on and we couldn't turn it on, so the font just filled with ice water. On top of that, when we turned off the font the plug started leaking so by the time they got in the water it was probably knee height. so with that, our investigator has high blood pressure so the water basically made him freak out and after the ordinance was said, it took probably like 2-3 minutes before he could syke himself up enough to go in the cold water.
Yeah but thankfully we are gonna have another baptism this friday :) So we will let you know how that goes as well.
I don't know haha...I'll try and send a few pictures.
Kind of another update on the suicide-investigator. We really haven't had any contact with him since that day, although we have tried. His phone is off and he's never at his house. BUT. We did see his ex-fiance driving around up in surry, and we were ALMOST positive it was him in the passenger seat. So we really have no idea.
I know, I'm doing better on money. me and elder parker have figured out how we are going to grocery shop from now on. We go to this place called "Dollar general (not a dollar store, just sounds like it haha) and we buy most of the non-perishable stuff, like cereal, canned foods, all that stuff. And then we buy the stuff we can't buy there at the regular grocery store. we save a ton of money that way. last p-day we only spent 25 dollars each for groceries. Pretty good considering we had enough for two people for a week!
Thank you for the advice on the money saviing. I'm working on it and will hopefully do better. Basically all the cash I get goes into my lock-box. I save that.
Oh gosh seriously? No way...that blows my mind...Tell David I say welcome home and back to this life. I feel for him. haha. Oh gosh I don't even wanna think about that day...
Thank you for all you do mom and dad....I love you all a ton. I hope your week is good and I'll talk to you next week!
January 31 2011
Yeah so update on the investigator who seperated from his fiance...so Elder Parker and another Elder were in Wakefield this week while I was up in Richmond for a leadership conference. They went to go see this investigator and when they walked into his trailer it smelled REALLY bad of gas. So they asked him about it and he said that he had been trying to kill himself. He told them "each night I hope that I don't wake up." It was crazy. So they (Elder Parker and the other Elder) and called our branch mission leader, Bro. Gruber. He is retired air force, and his training with things like this is you don't leave these people alone. So he called the Elders and said to go back and he was gonna call the police. So right as the Elders show up the cops show up as well. So already it looks kinda bad. But the cop goes up and talks to the investigator and after opening a few windows and talking with him, he tells our investigator "you can either come with me to the Hospital willingly or or I can take you in handcuffs. So he chose to go willingly. And we haven't had any contact with him since, because his phone is off. So yeah...craziness in Wakefield
So a little update on those investigators....one is getting baptized this saturday and the other is getting baptized next saturday :D So we are really excited! I love the Holy Ghost...I only worry I about the time when I don't get to recieve this kinda revelation for people, you know? I hope I can remember all this.
I really liked your story about the temple...you have no idea how much I long to go to the temple...I miss it so much. And just before I go to far into it just fyi, that picture over Joseph Smith is actually of Peter, James and John (basically the first presidency of Christs mortal ministry) restoring the Melchizidek priesthood.
But I love the temple...I want to go home and spend as much time as I possibly can at the temple...I think that's the only way (along with scripture study prayer and coming to church) that I'll be able to maintain the spirit I feel out here.
Alright well It was really good to hear from you all. I love you all a ton and if you have any questions let me know!
So a little update on those investigators....one is getting baptized this saturday and the other is getting baptized next saturday :D So we are really excited! I love the Holy Ghost...I only worry I about the time when I don't get to recieve this kinda revelation for people, you know? I hope I can remember all this.
I really liked your story about the temple...you have no idea how much I long to go to the temple...I miss it so much. And just before I go to far into it just fyi, that picture over Joseph Smith is actually of Peter, James and John (basically the first presidency of Christs mortal ministry) restoring the Melchizidek priesthood.
But I love the temple...I want to go home and spend as much time as I possibly can at the temple...I think that's the only way (along with scripture study prayer and coming to church) that I'll be able to maintain the spirit I feel out here.
Alright well It was really good to hear from you all. I love you all a ton and if you have any questions let me know!
January 24 2011
so. first off, last monday after p-day we went out to our little town called waverly, and tried to follow up with an investigator who, last time we came by, was having some marital problems (didn't know if his newborn son was actually his son, because fiance said it might be another guy :S) so we could see if he was ok. This story tells you how ridiculous society is. Basically investigators fiance came home and said, I don't know if the baby is yours, I've been messing around with another guy, I'm going with him to take a DNA test. So investigators upset, but says go and find out. Fiance and other guy leave and are gone for a long time. Then they come home at like 2 am that night and investigator is sleeping on the bed. Fiance comes in and says "you gotta go. he's the daddy." and she kicks him out before he can get any of his stuff. new guy moves in with her, and apparently starts being real abusive and a trouble maker. that's where we come in. Later that night we go over to our investigators house (or so we thought) and when we knock on the door a lady answers the door and I ask if our investigator is there. she looks confused and asks a lady behind her. then they ask the fiance and she says he isn't here. So we leave. it isn't until we get to the car that we realize that the two women in there were former investigators. and the fiance is a former investigator. we walked in on a former party. what's funny is they had a book of Mormon on the table and you know that they were having a ridiculous discussion about us coming by.
anyways, back to the life of our investigator. thankfully he had an aunt who had an empty trailer that he can go into, but basically he's homeless cause theres no power and no running water. it's real bad. if he comes to church he probably could get some help because he is not a guy trying to take advantage of the system.
so after that we went to some members house who live out in the country countryside. haha. had brussel sprouts for the first time...really not that bad. tasted alot like broccoli. so I wasn't that dissapointed. ha.
then later on in the week we went to go see a less active member out in this tiny town called Ivor. We pull up to his house and one look tells us he is a horder to end all horders. His yard is a JUNGLE of every sort of thing you can imagine. I mean seriously, there is no end of the types of things you'd find in his yard. mirrors, deer skulls, car hoods, blankets, you name it. It is a nightmare. So we make our way through the maze of craziness and knock on the door. And all of a sudden the member comes trudging through the grass and leaves from one side of the house. he starts talking with us and turns out he's a real nice guy, but just very poor and very much a hoarder. He told us in his house his water heater blew up and ruined his floor so he walks around on boards to prevent him from falling through the floor. We offered to help him but he wouldn't let us in the house. It's situations like that that make me always want to keep my house immaculate. haha.
hmm also, up at the top of our area, there is this big plot of land (like huge) that one of our ysa members works at. It's basically a private estate, but here's the thing; the family who owns it is only there 6 weeks out of the year, but they keep it running the rest of the year. it's full of animals and everything. These people are disgustingly rich. they've got a big black chain link fence all the way around (it's like 400 acres) and electronically monitored gates. We thought about going up to it but really figured it wouldn't do much good. haha.
Also, got to go on an exchange with one of my Zone Leaders the other day which was fun. Found some new investigators and ran into some ridiculous stuff. That's the day we found our investigator with marital problems sitting on another trailers front step. and we also talked to just some ridiculously crazy people. Waverly is just a mini-petersburg, which is just a bigger oak grove, which is basically the most ghetto you get in this mission. But that's pretty stinkin ghetto. You know youre in the ghetto when all you see is dumpy little houses and you walk into one and find a giant 64" flat screen tv hooked up to Dish network but not enough food in the fridge. or no furniture. that's really how ridiculous it is. and it's like that all over here. people who have 300 dollar cell phones but go to the store to buy food with food stamps. people who spend more money on alchohol or cigarrettes than they do for food. it's real bad. It's real sad too...you want to help, but again it's about how they can help themselves first.
But anyways...friday was good too. We went to petersburg to have a district meeting (a meeting with all the other elders in our district, along with the zone leaders) and it went pretty well. Since I'm the district leader I have to prepare all the trainings and whatnot. I was thinking a while ago what I wanted to train on and I felt impressed to train on obedience. I really didn't know why, but just felt like I should do it. So I got that all together and trained on that. Later on we went on exchanges with the petersburg elders and found out why. There was a few things (not like ridiculous things) that I noticed we needed to improve on. I'm gonna talk to them later on hopefully...that's the thing I love about the Holy Ghost...sometimes I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing, but I can see it after the fact and I'm glad I did it.
We also had interviews with President Perry and mine was really good. It had to be short but I had a really good talk with him. Mostly it was about how I'm always feeling like I haven't done enough. Like I'm not fulfilling my utmost effort. that's my biggest pain. He talked alot about it though and helped me alot. He is definitely an inspired man. He has helped me so much you have no idea.
and then the next day we went to a baptism and it was the best. it's hard to explain unless you were there, but when it came time for the baptism the man getting baptized went down into the water and when we came back up he shouted, "thank you, Jesus!" oh my gosh it was so funny and yet awesome. you get used to that kinda stuff out here. There's so many baptists it's common place. It makes for a fun mission. I wish I could tell you it all but that would take days. haha. you'll hear it all when I come home I'm sure.
Then the other day we finally had another lesson with an investigator that we had lost track of and almost dropped cause nothing was really going on with him. But we went over there expecting to teach about the Gospel. But as we started asking him questions we felt impressed to start talking about the sacrament. It was so good...again, why I love the Holy Ghost! He brought out some concerns and we cleared them up and he is solid. He is set for baptism on the 12th of Febuary. He is the man. he used to play baseball for the minor league oriels.
That's a basic summary for the week...I'm going to another leadership training that will start tomorrow morning and go until friday afternoon. fun stuff!
anyways, back to the life of our investigator. thankfully he had an aunt who had an empty trailer that he can go into, but basically he's homeless cause theres no power and no running water. it's real bad. if he comes to church he probably could get some help because he is not a guy trying to take advantage of the system.
so after that we went to some members house who live out in the country countryside. haha. had brussel sprouts for the first time...really not that bad. tasted alot like broccoli. so I wasn't that dissapointed. ha.
then later on in the week we went to go see a less active member out in this tiny town called Ivor. We pull up to his house and one look tells us he is a horder to end all horders. His yard is a JUNGLE of every sort of thing you can imagine. I mean seriously, there is no end of the types of things you'd find in his yard. mirrors, deer skulls, car hoods, blankets, you name it. It is a nightmare. So we make our way through the maze of craziness and knock on the door. And all of a sudden the member comes trudging through the grass and leaves from one side of the house. he starts talking with us and turns out he's a real nice guy, but just very poor and very much a hoarder. He told us in his house his water heater blew up and ruined his floor so he walks around on boards to prevent him from falling through the floor. We offered to help him but he wouldn't let us in the house. It's situations like that that make me always want to keep my house immaculate. haha.
hmm also, up at the top of our area, there is this big plot of land (like huge) that one of our ysa members works at. It's basically a private estate, but here's the thing; the family who owns it is only there 6 weeks out of the year, but they keep it running the rest of the year. it's full of animals and everything. These people are disgustingly rich. they've got a big black chain link fence all the way around (it's like 400 acres) and electronically monitored gates. We thought about going up to it but really figured it wouldn't do much good. haha.
Also, got to go on an exchange with one of my Zone Leaders the other day which was fun. Found some new investigators and ran into some ridiculous stuff. That's the day we found our investigator with marital problems sitting on another trailers front step. and we also talked to just some ridiculously crazy people. Waverly is just a mini-petersburg, which is just a bigger oak grove, which is basically the most ghetto you get in this mission. But that's pretty stinkin ghetto. You know youre in the ghetto when all you see is dumpy little houses and you walk into one and find a giant 64" flat screen tv hooked up to Dish network but not enough food in the fridge. or no furniture. that's really how ridiculous it is. and it's like that all over here. people who have 300 dollar cell phones but go to the store to buy food with food stamps. people who spend more money on alchohol or cigarrettes than they do for food. it's real bad. It's real sad too...you want to help, but again it's about how they can help themselves first.
But anyways...friday was good too. We went to petersburg to have a district meeting (a meeting with all the other elders in our district, along with the zone leaders) and it went pretty well. Since I'm the district leader I have to prepare all the trainings and whatnot. I was thinking a while ago what I wanted to train on and I felt impressed to train on obedience. I really didn't know why, but just felt like I should do it. So I got that all together and trained on that. Later on we went on exchanges with the petersburg elders and found out why. There was a few things (not like ridiculous things) that I noticed we needed to improve on. I'm gonna talk to them later on hopefully...that's the thing I love about the Holy Ghost...sometimes I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing, but I can see it after the fact and I'm glad I did it.
We also had interviews with President Perry and mine was really good. It had to be short but I had a really good talk with him. Mostly it was about how I'm always feeling like I haven't done enough. Like I'm not fulfilling my utmost effort. that's my biggest pain. He talked alot about it though and helped me alot. He is definitely an inspired man. He has helped me so much you have no idea.
and then the next day we went to a baptism and it was the best. it's hard to explain unless you were there, but when it came time for the baptism the man getting baptized went down into the water and when we came back up he shouted, "thank you, Jesus!" oh my gosh it was so funny and yet awesome. you get used to that kinda stuff out here. There's so many baptists it's common place. It makes for a fun mission. I wish I could tell you it all but that would take days. haha. you'll hear it all when I come home I'm sure.
Then the other day we finally had another lesson with an investigator that we had lost track of and almost dropped cause nothing was really going on with him. But we went over there expecting to teach about the Gospel. But as we started asking him questions we felt impressed to start talking about the sacrament. It was so good...again, why I love the Holy Ghost! He brought out some concerns and we cleared them up and he is solid. He is set for baptism on the 12th of Febuary. He is the man. he used to play baseball for the minor league oriels.
That's a basic summary for the week...I'm going to another leadership training that will start tomorrow morning and go until friday afternoon. fun stuff!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
december 13
alright! sooo. I just would like to announce to you at this moment that it is SNOWING in Wakefield, Virginia currently! I'd send you a picture but I left my camera in the car! woo! But yeah it's been snowing since early this morning. So crazy. It doesn't snow like this here. So I'm pumped. It's not sticking to the roads which is even better! I can enjoy the snow and still be able to go out :D
Holy cow it's less than two weeks! It's like...12 days! Holy moly! I'm pumped too! I'm pretty much open to any time for christmas calls. We don't have any like, set plans except to go to a members house SOMETIME during the day. So we can totally call you early. Maybe even while you're opening presents :O. or after if Jordan and Ryan can't wait :P If I called right at 10 am or 1030 It would be 7 or 730 there. So yeah I don't know if you wanna get up that early?
haha heat wave...we had a heat wave yesterday. It was in the 50's! haha It's gonna cool down now though. Who knows if we'll get snow again :P. Yeah it was raining a ton here as well yesterday. But it got cold enough to snow I guess :P. I don't know how much longer it'll last, but we'll see!
so these last couple of p-days me and elder parker have been watching these living scriptures videos and oh my gosh...they are hilariously awful. haha. It just makes the p-day fun!
wow! christmas package already? thank you! I really don't know what to expect...so hurray! haha. aww sad. I wanted those fuzy slippers...if I find em can I buy them? haha.
ok! So story! you remember those old converse I took with me? So I still had them...until a few days ago. they finally died :( They completely fell apart. Not the new joe boxer ones you sent me or anything. Just the old ones. So I was at this members house when they died and they saw them and we went over to their house for dinner the other day and they have this super cute 3 little kids (two girls and a boy) and they got them to bring us these two bags with presents in em. They bought me a brand new pair of converse! I was feeling really bad because they bought em for me....but then I didn't want to offend them by saying I wouldn't take it! so I was super grateful.
yeah! You did tell me about the clcasses. how are they going? or have they started? that's a cool thing though.
holy cow?! the house is gonna be totally different when I come back. new tv and everything? ryan was saying something about a new kids tv? what happened to the flat screen in the kids tv room? you should save that for me so I can take that with me to college! :D. haha. holy cow though...sounds like you already spent all the christmas money! :P
Jordan's probably fine...haha. I totally thought I broke my toe last p-day...like I SLAMMED it into a chair and it was popping and cracking and everything...but it was just jammed apparently cause the pain went away like, a couple hours later. Felt like a total baby calling the medical advisor. ha. oh well.
haha they are changing our time in wakefield too...actually just flipping the block schedule. it used to be priesthood/relief society first, then sunday school, then sacrament meeting. so yeah.
It's snowing harder again!!! HAppppppy!
I'd rather talk to you all without the extended fam too...not that I don't love em but I'd rather spend more time talking to less people! haha.
december 28
know you already got the call, but YES. I did get the package! Thank you so much. holy cow, you sent me both a watch and gps. I didn't expect to really get either haha. But I love both thank you so much. They are both really good.
and yes. we did get the snow. actually, ALOT more than they were predicting. we got like, 12-15 inches. and it shut us down for a while. infact there is still snow on the roads, actually more like ice. so that's whats going on there.
I've been a little frustrated with things lately...things have really turned down here, just because of the holidays I'm hoping. I mean life is still good but the work has slowed down. I'm not sure what's gonna happen next transfer...I might be outta here, or elder parker might, or we might just stay (haha thought I'd cover all my bases there...) It's just a coin toss really. But I'm just frustrated when nothing is happening in an area. I feel like even though I'm trying to do my best somehow I'm not. I'm sorry it's confusing but we're working to get this all running again.
so I'm not sure what else to say. I hope new years is great for ya. I love you all so much. btw, tell dad even though I'm pretty sure the ties came from his closet, I like em. I'm actually wearing one right now. haha. the oregon gear was sweet. thank you! All the gifts were great.
I'm sorry I've spent so much money lately. Things keep popping up and I'm sorry. I put it back in my lock box and don't want to use it again. I'm working on budgeting it better...I'm sorry. So I had some questions that I don't want you to think I'm getting trunky or anything but I just wanna get this all ironed out first. can you find out if it's even possible for me to defer another semester of school at byui? and if it's possible for me to apply at byu again? and if so, I need to work on finding a job...I guess I can look when I get home, but as it gets closer I would greately appreciate it if you could put the word out that I'm looking for work, but wait until it's very close. I don't want people to think I'm getting distracted or anything. yeah sorry for that paragraph, but I wanna make sure it's all figured out before I come home.
January 3
anyways. I love you all a ton. I hope your week is good. talk to you next monday!
Why is your email all...colorful?
I got all those christmas messages last time! yoU didn't need to send em again!
haha glad to get everyone out of the house eh?
oh and btw, I noticed that you did answer my questions about college...I just asked em because I need to know whether I need to be worrying about signing up and registering or not. so please let me know!
also I had a question for dad to figure out. and I know it doesn't matter rihgt now but I just was curious. Could you ask him to find out how much an iphone 4 would cost if you bought it on a plan? I know they cost more without a plan but with a plan is what I'm wondering.
Young womens councilor eh? You need to ship those youth into shape! haha.
my new years was even more uneventful. I was with Elder White on an exchange (one of the elders who came out with me) and so we had a good time. we had to come in early because of the new years but we played monopoly which was fun. I'm pretty sure it was Elder White's objective to trunk me out of my mind because that's what happened. haha. but I'm fine...it was just the new years and realizing that I'd be home this year freaked me out.
making jewelery? what the? haha. the rest sounded cool though. haha.
haha so my ocmpanion is feeling better but now I'm sick! It's real junky. haha. but I've gotten a little better so that's nice.
so I'm about to get kicked off so I'll do a quick summary.
I did get the money from frank and I'll be writing him today. also will write the girls if I can.
I felt real bad after what i said about dads ties. I like em and I wear em. I just noticed they were from dads closet!
yeah I don't know about the skype thing. i think they are doing it in certain missions and not all of em. Hopefully mothers day!
by the way loved the pictures!
anyways mom love you. there isn't much going on this week!
Holy cow it's less than two weeks! It's like...12 days! Holy moly! I'm pumped too! I'm pretty much open to any time for christmas calls. We don't have any like, set plans except to go to a members house SOMETIME during the day. So we can totally call you early. Maybe even while you're opening presents :O. or after if Jordan and Ryan can't wait :P If I called right at 10 am or 1030 It would be 7 or 730 there. So yeah I don't know if you wanna get up that early?
haha heat wave...we had a heat wave yesterday. It was in the 50's! haha It's gonna cool down now though. Who knows if we'll get snow again :P. Yeah it was raining a ton here as well yesterday. But it got cold enough to snow I guess :P. I don't know how much longer it'll last, but we'll see!
so these last couple of p-days me and elder parker have been watching these living scriptures videos and oh my gosh...they are hilariously awful. haha. It just makes the p-day fun!
wow! christmas package already? thank you! I really don't know what to expect...so hurray! haha. aww sad. I wanted those fuzy slippers...if I find em can I buy them? haha.
ok! So story! you remember those old converse I took with me? So I still had them...until a few days ago. they finally died :( They completely fell apart. Not the new joe boxer ones you sent me or anything. Just the old ones. So I was at this members house when they died and they saw them and we went over to their house for dinner the other day and they have this super cute 3 little kids (two girls and a boy) and they got them to bring us these two bags with presents in em. They bought me a brand new pair of converse! I was feeling really bad because they bought em for me....but then I didn't want to offend them by saying I wouldn't take it! so I was super grateful.
yeah! You did tell me about the clcasses. how are they going? or have they started? that's a cool thing though.
holy cow?! the house is gonna be totally different when I come back. new tv and everything? ryan was saying something about a new kids tv? what happened to the flat screen in the kids tv room? you should save that for me so I can take that with me to college! :D. haha. holy cow though...sounds like you already spent all the christmas money! :P
Jordan's probably fine...haha. I totally thought I broke my toe last p-day...like I SLAMMED it into a chair and it was popping and cracking and everything...but it was just jammed apparently cause the pain went away like, a couple hours later. Felt like a total baby calling the medical advisor. ha. oh well.
haha they are changing our time in wakefield too...actually just flipping the block schedule. it used to be priesthood/relief society first, then sunday school, then sacrament meeting. so yeah.
It's snowing harder again!!! HAppppppy!
I'd rather talk to you all without the extended fam too...not that I don't love em but I'd rather spend more time talking to less people! haha.
december 28
know you already got the call, but YES. I did get the package! Thank you so much. holy cow, you sent me both a watch and gps. I didn't expect to really get either haha. But I love both thank you so much. They are both really good.
and yes. we did get the snow. actually, ALOT more than they were predicting. we got like, 12-15 inches. and it shut us down for a while. infact there is still snow on the roads, actually more like ice. so that's whats going on there.
I've been a little frustrated with things lately...things have really turned down here, just because of the holidays I'm hoping. I mean life is still good but the work has slowed down. I'm not sure what's gonna happen next transfer...I might be outta here, or elder parker might, or we might just stay (haha thought I'd cover all my bases there...) It's just a coin toss really. But I'm just frustrated when nothing is happening in an area. I feel like even though I'm trying to do my best somehow I'm not. I'm sorry it's confusing but we're working to get this all running again.
so I'm not sure what else to say. I hope new years is great for ya. I love you all so much. btw, tell dad even though I'm pretty sure the ties came from his closet, I like em. I'm actually wearing one right now. haha. the oregon gear was sweet. thank you! All the gifts were great.
I'm sorry I've spent so much money lately. Things keep popping up and I'm sorry. I put it back in my lock box and don't want to use it again. I'm working on budgeting it better...I'm sorry. So I had some questions that I don't want you to think I'm getting trunky or anything but I just wanna get this all ironed out first. can you find out if it's even possible for me to defer another semester of school at byui? and if it's possible for me to apply at byu again? and if so, I need to work on finding a job...I guess I can look when I get home, but as it gets closer I would greately appreciate it if you could put the word out that I'm looking for work, but wait until it's very close. I don't want people to think I'm getting distracted or anything. yeah sorry for that paragraph, but I wanna make sure it's all figured out before I come home.
January 3
anyways. I love you all a ton. I hope your week is good. talk to you next monday!
Why is your email all...colorful?
I got all those christmas messages last time! yoU didn't need to send em again!
haha glad to get everyone out of the house eh?
oh and btw, I noticed that you did answer my questions about college...I just asked em because I need to know whether I need to be worrying about signing up and registering or not. so please let me know!
also I had a question for dad to figure out. and I know it doesn't matter rihgt now but I just was curious. Could you ask him to find out how much an iphone 4 would cost if you bought it on a plan? I know they cost more without a plan but with a plan is what I'm wondering.
Young womens councilor eh? You need to ship those youth into shape! haha.
my new years was even more uneventful. I was with Elder White on an exchange (one of the elders who came out with me) and so we had a good time. we had to come in early because of the new years but we played monopoly which was fun. I'm pretty sure it was Elder White's objective to trunk me out of my mind because that's what happened. haha. but I'm fine...it was just the new years and realizing that I'd be home this year freaked me out.
making jewelery? what the? haha. the rest sounded cool though. haha.
haha so my ocmpanion is feeling better but now I'm sick! It's real junky. haha. but I've gotten a little better so that's nice.
so I'm about to get kicked off so I'll do a quick summary.
I did get the money from frank and I'll be writing him today. also will write the girls if I can.
I felt real bad after what i said about dads ties. I like em and I wear em. I just noticed they were from dads closet!
yeah I don't know about the skype thing. i think they are doing it in certain missions and not all of em. Hopefully mothers day!
by the way loved the pictures!
anyways mom love you. there isn't much going on this week!
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