Elder Riley Harris

May 6, 2013

So this week has been pretty fun. We gave one of our investigators a baptismal date! Well I wish I could be happy about that because there was some weird stuff happening with him since we did. I wish I could say weird as in him going through a rough time but I can't. He called us on the day that we had our appointment with him so we talked trying to be friendly when all of the sudden the phone just went dead. We thought nothing of it because our phone is a piece of junk anyway so we called him back. This women named Rita answered and said Kenneth wasn't there. We politely left a message asking him to call us back and left our names and number there for him. We thought nothing of it other then it was weird that only 15 minutes later he wasn't there and some girl named Rita answered. Anyway we go to district meeting and on our way back we get this text from another number. We ask who it is and it's a Rita. again we politely ask her how her day was and she answered very black by saying it was blessed so we asked her what we could do for her... She asked if we had a girlfriend. This is where we probably could have handled the situation better but we just asked her why she wanted that piece of info. She then talked to us like she was only talking to one and told one of us, Not sure who or do we care to know who, that we were cute. We told her thank you but we are representatives of Jesus Christ and don't have relationships for two years, Is there anything else we can do for you. Needless to say we got no reply from that. back to Kenneth though, ever since then he has called and set up appointments and with his car there he doesn't answer the door, he calls and it is dead silent when we answer, he avoids our phone calls... We have started to think that Kenneth is Rita... AWKWARD!!!!! We sure hope not but all signs are pointing to there is more here then we know about. We are going to try and see him again today and it will be a make it or break it situation.

May 20, 2013

To update you on the whole Kennita situation. He texted us again. Only this time he said it was Kenneth and it was on Rita's number! Haha busted. We tried talking to him but he ended up just being weird again so we told him we don't have time to play his games. We will talk to him if he wants to hear the gospel but otherwise he can't talk to us. He told us to have several seats... We don't get it at all but whatever. He's done and if not then he will be. Don't worry president is being informed about all of this so he knows. I've written it in my weekly letters to him so he knows all the details.

May 27, 2013

This week was rough. We had a lot of doors shut and people told us they weren't interested. A couple of investigators dropped us, an investigator's mom won't let her get baptized, and some less actives have been pains. It hasn't been all bad though. We had a less active family, Jimenez family that consists of a Mexican dad and a Chinese mom, come to church, Ashlin is still going strong, and our branch President is up for trying some new ideas we had! We are going to try a "pancake night" with the youth to see if they will bring some friends. We will have pancakes and share a quick spiritual thought to invite the spirit at the end then we will all leave. The other one was were were going to get the youth together to draw something on the street in chalk, Like the plan of salvation, to see if anyone in the community would come up and ask us about it. President Bennett seemed up for both! It was exciting to see that.

Oh the fun story this week is we went looking for a referral we got from a festival down here somewhere and we knocked on this door. This little girl answered, probably 15 years of age, and talked for a little bit and then when we looked like we were going to say something she looked back at her mom and said, "Come here Mom." she responded with, "No it's alright you got it, you can take care of it." We were both thinking that she was going to try and bash. Since we didn't want to totally destroy this girl we just asked if she knew the referral and left. We had a good laugh at it later. Then last night we meet a boy named Luke. He was just walking by while we were biking down the road and I faintly heard him ask if we were church people. So I stopped and said yes we were. He asked us if we burned up while wearing our church clothes all day and biking. We of course said no and then talked to him for a little bit. later we heard his mom tell him to come home, you should know we found out he had a little disability but what that is we don't know, and his little brother came out to get him and asked him questions like what did you talk to them about? We heard Luke talk about it and then say, "They were really nice." That made my whole night!

Elder Harris

Elder Brandon Wallis

Here’s an update on our investigators and the Albuquerque Mission. Casey Stearns has his baptism on June 8th and the next day on Sunday he's getting confirmed, his baby is getting blessed, and he's getting the Aaronic Priesthood. He's GOLDEN! Angela is still struggling, but she has a lot of support, so hopefully she'll continue to progress. This last week we taught 26 lessons! That includes lessons to less actives, and investigators. We also found 6 new investigators! The week before we found 3! Our lessons and our investigators just keep going up! We're all very excited. We've been going on splits with the ward members. (one of us will go with an Elder in the ward or a Priest). and we've had a lot of success that way. We have around 3 to 4 of our investigators that I could see getting baptized within the next few months. Our work is paying off, this area has caught fire. The Pope's gave me a card and a Wal-Mart gift card for my b-day! They're awesome. It's been very nice to live in their basement. I love this work, and it truly is the Lords work. I feel so blessed to be a part of it. We are all brothers and sisters, and we know the truth. We are all blessed with Missionary opportunities. Pray to be able to see those opportunities and to have to courage to take action and bless the lives of our brothers and sisters. We challenged two families here in our ward to pray every day for Missionary opportunities and they've had great success, and joy in their efforts. One family has three separate people that want to learn more about the Gospel and to come to church. None of them were from sources that they expected. One was an old work colleague that called him and asked if she could come to Church. We had another really cool experience this last week. We were helping the ward clean the church, I was washing windows, and this man walks in and asks me, "is this Church open to the public?".... It took me a second to respond! I told him of course! We were able to give him a tour of the Church and get his information for the Missionaries over his area. You never know what is going to happen, or how you will be able to help further this work. All we can do is prepare ourselves for those missionary opportunities by going to church, seminary and making sure we're saying our prayers and studying the scriptures. The Lord will place people that are prepared to hear the Gospel in your path when you prepare yourself for those opportunities.

Glad to hear everything is going well! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Wallis

Elder Seth Garner

For all those missionaries getting ready to leave, here is a bit of Elder Garner's experience from the MTC.

Dear Family,

     I'd just like to start off by saying this has been the best experience of my life so far, and I have only been in the MTC for a week!!!  I would have never imagined that I would be able to experience something quite like this.  It is amazing how much missionaries rely on the spirit.  This has been the most humbling event of my life.  I have never felt closer to my Heavenly Father.  

     Being here at the MTC has also been one of the most difficult things I have ever done.  My companion is unmotivated, lazy, and doesn't care to learn or teach.  I knew I would be getting one of these, but so soon?  It has been really tuff, especially when I'm the only one taking notes and preparing and teaching the lessons... But! I know The Lord will help me with whatever I need, and if that's whipping my companion into shape, then no problem!  I have never felt The Spirit so strongly in my life.  I hope that I can have The Spirit as a constant companion for as long as I live!     

     

     Here at the MTC, I have had the chance to teach real investigators.  This has been the most spiritual experience for me so far!  I feel so much love towards these people whom I haven't even met before.  It is the most humbling experience to help someone say their first prayer... And this is only a taste of what the mission field will be like!  I can't believe that I head out in less than a week.  These last two weeks have seriously FLOWN by.  I can't imagine how fast the whole mission will go.  I AM JUST SO EXCITED!!

     Today I got the awesome opportunity to go to the Temple.  This was the third time I have been to an endowment session.  It really is the greatest thing to be able to go and become even CLOSER with Heavenly Father.  I so wish that I had gone more before I left.  So if you ever have the chance to go... GO!  Don't even think about it.  I promise that the Lord will make time for you to go. 

Love Elder Garner 

And into the field........

Everything is going good down here in Julian, running over squirrels, dodging flocks of turkeys, and seeing naked people.  Yeah, we saw a guy riding a four-wheeler, and he wasn't wearing any pants.  It was in the middle of nowhere, so I guess it's acceptable... But seriously I love this place!  Everything about it is awesome, and it is so beautiful!  Julian is completely different from the rest of the mission.  There's snow, pine trees, lakes, and pie!  Everywhere else is desert and palm trees.  We had an MTE meeting about a week ago right after a huge snowstorm.  The meeting was down in Poway, which is about twenty minutes from the coast, so we loaded up a cooler full of snow to take down.  When we got there, we had a huge snowball fight in 70 degree weather with all of the zones!  That was an awesome experience!

     The work here is exploding! We have kept super busy and are making a ton of progress!  It is incredible the amount of miracles that I see each day, and the days just keep on getting better!  I don't know how they can, but they do.  

     Quick Story:  There is a lady who got in a head-on collision with a semi.  Her name is Andrea Listeningdeer.  Doctors said she would be paralyzed from the neck down, and that they would have to amputate her legs.  The hospital she was staying at is owned by a member, and he offered to have her meet with the missionaries.  (This was a few months ago).  My companion Elder Dennison was serving in the area, and got to visit with her and teach her all the lessons.  He gave her a priesthood blessing, and the next day she was walking.  Turns out she lives in Julian, and is ready to be baptized.  The Lord truly does send people where they need to go, and Now Elder Dennison can finish the work that the Lord wants him to do.     

*Elder Garner is still currently serving in the town of Julian. His mission President told he and his companion that in order to keep the area open, (He and his companion were the first full time missionaries there) they would need to find at least 20 teaching opportunities a week. They have been able to succeed and last week they even had twenty six.  They have one of the largest teaching pools in the mission.  When we talked to him on Mother's day he said, "I'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER IN MY LIFE"!!!  Having a testimony and being able to share it and teach the Gospel, seeing people's lives change and gain that same happiness, is truly the most rewarding and deep sincere form of joy we can have!  IT'S AWESOME!!!  THE GOSPEL IS TRUE....May your life be blessed.  Sydney

Elder Colton Richins

The other baptism is with Domingos. I have told you about his story. Super sad. I really feel for the guy. He was divorced over a text message...and since then has been treated for serious depression. He was in the hospital for it and everything. When we were talking to him a few weeks ago, he told us that he didn't believe in God anymore. That he has lost hope in a loving God. Since then he has changed so much it is a miracle...especially in such a short amount of time! We call him almost daily to follow up on his Book of Mormon readings and how he is doing...and the other night we got a text message from him saying that the peace he felt doesn't come from the fact that everything is going well...but because of the love he feels for God and His Son who gave His life for us. Thank you for bringing Him into my life!....it was an incredible message. One of those sweet experiences that I will never forget.

It's unreal to me how close to the end my mission is...I still have so much that I need to learn. A mission isn't incredible because it is easy...I will be the first one to say that it is butt hard! However...it's so incredible because I am learning things in the span of two years that it would have taken until I reached the age of 55 to learn! My courage and faith is tested on a daily basis...and the challenges make me better than who I could have been at home. No doubt there will be much more challenges coming...but my attitude on challenges has changed a lot. I give thanks to God for the challenges I have...they are no fun to pass through...but they make us SO much stronger if remain faithful to the end. It is God's gift to us to help us remain spiritually focused in this life. It is through our challenges that we come to KNOW Jesus Christ. The countless times I have been on my knees in tears...I would not give up for the world!

Elder Colton Richins

Elder Brayden Evans

¿Como etan la familia Evans?

Well this week was a really good week. I have had a lot of reflection time this week on my life and a lot of time to focus on my studies of the Savior. There really is not another phrase more important in the existence of time than ¨He is Risen¨ (Mat. 28:6) When this was said, it was complete. We had the chance to return to our Father in Heaven. Because of this we can progress and have eternal happiness. I had some very intense feelings in my studies this week as I followed Marry and Joseph to Bethlehem, Jesus through is ministry and miracles, to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem where we would be Spit on, beaten, and Crucified... After he suffered the pains and tortures of the whole entire existence of humanity, until the day of His Resurrection. I can't really put my Testimony into words other than to say I know that Jesus Christ died for us, and ¨He is Risen¨ We really need to take a minute out of our day and think about that. The other things really don't matter. Repentance is possible. The Healing power of the Atonement is real. Repentance needs to come first, and after the healing process will proceed if we allow the Lord to mend our heart. Sometimes Healing takes a while but what is really important is not how we feel here... Its about what is waiting for us in eternity.

So everyone down here is obsessed with a band called One Direction. Its kind of annoying but just so you guys know that I'm not weird and I'm still funny,  I'll share with you what I did. I put a bunch of music on a CD with Church Music and wrote on it ¨Juan Dirección ¨ and we gave it out to people in the street. ¨Saying Free CDs for Juan Dirección!¨ I'm hoping to draw someone to the church with that. We wrote our address on the back of all of the covers and our number... No one has called us yet... :( That's just to show you how much people intended on listening us this week.



This week we had our interviews with the mission president. We ended up talking for like 25 minutes about Eternal Marriage. It was a good learning experience. President Wagoner is a Man of God. There is no other way I can describe him and Hermana Wagoner is super honrey with all of the missionaries. She not the type of person who is going to kiss your boo boo better. So basically, shes like mom so we get along great!  haha. I called her when I had to buy medicine for an allergy I got on my arm and the first thing she said was, "Well Elder Have you rubbed some dirt on it?"( haha) I don't think she was kidding, if you want the honest truth.
Well that's about it this week, everything is going well, still alive. We had to buy Raid to kill all of the Bed bugs that have been eating us alive in the night time for the past week but besides that I'm all healthy.
I pray for you guys every day
Elder Evans

P.S. Landree soccer is a good choice :)

Kade, that happened to me my sophmore year too.

Rylee, just get married before I get home, I hate weddings.

Mom, Love you :)

Dad, I know you still haven't cleaned the garage

Mr. Elliot, I'm thinking about you buddy :)

Elder McCade Tracy

Mama!

It doesn't seem like it was a week ago! Every day, no matter what we do goes by in just a couple hours and it always makes the weeks go by that much faster. This week has been super AWESOME! The clothes fit better than they used to, but they're still a little too big. My suit jacket is perfect, but could it be possible to trade in the suit pants for a smaller size? Because they balloon out around my pockets and it doesn't look good with the smaller suit jacket. I'll send back my black suit in a couple weeks or so after you find out more with Men's Warehouse if it's possible to trade them in for a smaller size, and this is all explained in a little video tour of the apartment that I did last night :)

Neither Felicia or Kelly came to church, and neither of the families are progressing at this point. Which sucks, because we thought they were super solid and ready to commit to come to church and read the book of Mormon.

Last Saturday we got a referral for a lady who had a member friend and she wanted to learn more, so she gave the missionaries a call! We met her on Monday, her name is Lakeshia Johnson and she has a 10 year old daughter who is also very interested, we've only met with them twice and had them attend church yesterday and they're preparing for a baptism on June 8! So just before transfers, and I'm super excited for them because I know that they'll be super strong members once they're baptized. Tuesday was actually pretty busy but was a good day to bike in 100% of humidity :) we got to see a lot of good people, but it was a little disappointing having some people who we thought were so solid not remember their appointments with us but oh well that's how it goes sometimes. Wednesday we were on exchanges and I was with a Spanish Elder who has only been out in the field for a couple weeks, but everything went pretty awesome with that and I learned a lot from that experience. Thursday, wasn't very productive because of meetings and weekly planning but it was still pretty good for the time that we had. Friday, again not very productive with appointments but we did get a lot of things done that day. Saturday, we mowed the lawn that morning and we tried to go see Lakeshia in the afternoon but she wasn't home so we went up to Sister Fitzpatricks for a couple hours to work on the wall and we're almost done with those two drawings now, as we were seeing a less active member, that night, Lakeshia actually called us and wanted us to come see her as soon as we could because she wasn't home earlier that day and we had a super spiritual lesson with her and her daughter, who understood a lot of what we talked about! Yesterday, Elder Bolliger, Elder Carson and I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting and in all three we let the members know that we can only do so much as missionaries and that it is up to them to help the recent converts stay active in the Church. It was pretty awesome, and we had Felton, Lakeshia and Shakayla to church and they all enjoyed it especially with the pot luck that they do every month :)

High- Finding Lakeshia and her daughter, it really helped our week start off on a really good note. Hope it continues for the rest of my mission.

Low- While we were on exchanges, we went to an apartment complex to find some Hispanics for the Spanish Elders to teach them soon. We happen to come across quite a few apartments of families from Nepal, and one invited us in and we began to talk about The Book of Mormon and how it came about. They thought it was amazing that Christ actually came and appeared in the Americas, because they never knew it and we asked them to read The Book of Mormon and they said they would and discuss it as well. After we said the closing prayer, because one of them had to leave, this man walks in the door and he looked like a preacher from how he was dressed. We introduced ourselves and asked him how he was doing, he then read our name tags and immediately lost his smile and became very set in his ways, he then started to tell the family that we don't believe in the same Jesus that they do and that we don't believe in the Bible..... We tried to reason with him and let him know the truth, but he then told us "I don't want to get into it with you guys here, and I hope you guys find the truth and I'll be praying that you young men will find the truth!" Neither of us said anything and we walked out the door, soon after he walked out and headed towards the dumpster and tossed the Book of Mormon that we just gave them into the trash, it was a good thing that we were so far away from him otherwise I would have snapped and begun to bash with him for a couple minutes, but it was the best and worst lesson so far in my mission.

I'll send you more pictures soon.

Just Lakeshia and her daughter this week.

Sounds like everything is going really well at home, and everyone is staying busy. I can't wait to read all your letters and see the progress that all y'all are making each and every day as it gets closer to summer and the end of school!

Love y'all and miss you like crazy!

Love your Son and Missionary,

Elder McCade Tracy

Elder Colton Price

Here are parts from several of Colton’s letters.

I just want to tell everyone that I am having AN AWESOME TIME HERE IN THE FIELD!!!! The work is great and I am trying to become the "fourth missionary". It is a talk that gives the different types of missionaries and puts them into four different categories with the fourth being the best one. It is actually harder than you think, but easier to maintain once you become. I am learning Charity, personal accountability, and consecration to the Lord. In essence, all we have to give is our heart and our will, He has given us everything else that we could give back to Him.

I am teaching everything that I have learned over the years. There is not a single day that goes by that a past experience doesn't help me share my testimony or teach a principle. All of these experiences are then rolled into the 5 lessons in Preach My Gospel. The lesson that we teach most often is the Restoration (lesson 1, no surprise there) :) and the other lessons just come in as we continue to teach people. We break a lot of the lessons into parts for different investigators since no one progresses exactly the same.

The investigators here are progressing SUPER well. We had another baptism on Saturday. Sister Townsend was baptized by Elder Smith, and I had the opportunity to confirm her on Sunday. It was pretty nerve racking. :)

So let us begin with yesterday (Sunday). I was in the apartment with my companion after planning not so patiently awaiting transfer calls. I was decently nervous because we should have been called at around 9:40-9:55, however the call didn't come until about 10:20! So my companion is leaving to be district leader somewhere else, and I am staying in Huntington...Training!! I AM SO NERVOUS! I haven’t even finished my training technically. So I am really excited about this and I will be in Huntington for the next 3 months more than likely. :)

Teaching is going well this transfer as well. My companion and I taught a total of 102 lessons this transfer! We have been EXTREMELY busy.
So, my companion is named Elder Callister; he is from Kaysville and he is a really funny 18 year old just like me. he is so much fun to be companions with. He is so much like one of my friends back home it isn't funny! He even talks like them. Elder Callister is a really solid missionary, and I am not even remotely disappointed that he is my companion. His attitude towards life makes it really easy to be relaxed and comfortable around him. I am not as stressed out as I thought I would be, but I can't seem to turn my brain off anymore, which has actually turned out to be a real help.

Earlier last week I asked Heavenly Father to help me with my memory and with my ability to lead; He answers prayers. I can't seem to stop thinking about investigators, members, plans, and back up plans. Its kinda like the "be careful what you ask for" joke.

I know that Heavenly Father prepares us for special assignments in this life--there are no accidents. If Heavenly Father can take the time to put a star in a precise orbit so that it would give light on the night of Christ's birth, then He must definitely take even more time and care to place us in a precise orbit in life where we can illuminate the dark places of the world.

I know that this is the true church, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Book of Mormon is the true doctrine of Christ. I love Heavenly Father and I love Christ. I love my family and am so grateful for the prayers and support.

There is nothing quite like missionary work. It’s fun, hard, demanding, rewarding, exasperating, and comforting all at the same time. I recently had a change of heart. I am now focused completely on the work. You would think that putting everything that I am/was on the shelf for two years would be demanding or not worth it. I am here to promise that the very moment that I completely submitted to the will of my Father in Heaven I felt a calm and loving feeling come over me. Heavenly Father recognizes our sacrifices, and the more we put on the altar to sacrifice, the more He is willing to bless us with true joy.

I absolutely love this work! I love the people, the place, and the time that I have been called to this work.

There is a high chance that I will end up in the Cincinnati Ohio mission...I might train Zach Beckman. Wouldn't that just be awesome! Tell him I said hi. :)

PS I have officially had one of those moments as a missionary where I know that the Lord protects me. This very Very VERY angry man answered his door...we left quickly. :)

We were mostly worried that he would throw something at the car, you know, the important, irreplaceable part of missionary work ;)

To Close with a testimony

I know that God lives. I have not had a single experience that leads to this conclusion, rather I was blessed to always know in my heart that He is there, just behind the veil. Jesus Christ lives. He knows us just as much as Heavenly Father does. He and Father, and the Holy Ghost are one in purpose, knowledge, and action. Christ has done for me what no other being could--He prepared the way for me to return to my Heavenly Parents and Heavenly Family. In doing this He prepared a way for me to start my own Heavenly Spiritual Family just as my Father in Heaven has done with us. Just as the knowledge that God lives, I cannot pick just one experience that made me know. But know I do. My calling is to testify of the divinity of Christ to all the corners of the earth. Right now I have been called especially to Indiana, but you are within the sphere of my influence and to you I shall testify as well. He lives. He forgives. He loves.

In the name of my Master, Savior, and Redeemer--Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Sister Sydney Burningham

     Hey, Happy Mother's Day yesterday! This week has been crazy, but so good. I loved talking with all of you and skyping, seeing all the little kittens y'all are raising. Sam's mullet is pretty sweet, Son buzzed all his hair off so that was cool Jessie and I tried to get him to do that forever and he finally does when I leave. Ridiculous. Haha, but seriously I love you all so much Mom, I think I forgot to actually say happy mothers day, so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Sorry there was just too much to talk about. Sister Johnson and I were very grateful for the opportunity we had to see our families and talk to them about our lives here in Kingsport.
      One big success of the week is that we tracted into this woman named Sandra Nadeau and she is AMAZING. She doesn't really like church that much but guess what? She loves family history work! So yesterday she came into the church to do family history work and I think she really felt the spirit we talked to her about baptisms for the dead and it was an incredible experience we hope to get over to her place soon to follow-up and decide what she needs to be able to accept the gospel. The work is progressing all around us. Something I've learned this week is that people are prepared everywhere. But I've always learned patience. I haven't seen a baptism on my mission yet but I also know that the most important thing is the effort we put into this work and the charity and love we have for the people we meet. We have 3 or 4 investigators who are really progressing towards baptism so hopefully some of them will have a date this week! I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve these people and just get to know about where they come from, how religion has shaped them into who they are today or lack thereof sometimes. I found this INCREDIBLE scripture today that really spoke to me it's in Helaman 5:47. If there is one thing this gospel has given me it is peace of mind and encouragement in this work. He is always there for us if we turn to him. I also had more evidence this week of how powerful the priesthood is, and that it is REAL. We had an investigator who was going through a lot but she wants to join the church she just needs help focusing on it and turning off her brain at night (which reminded me of you, Mom) So the Elders gave her a priesthood blessing before church yesterday. The spirit was so strong she just cried as she told us this is the most peace she has had in a very long time. She knows the church is true and that Heavenly Father wants her to be here at this time. Her husband is what is keeping her from it,but hopefully we can meet with him soon and get teaching him! The church is so true.
"The size of your faith or degree of your knowledge is not the issue- it's the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth that you already know."
 We do not have to be perfect, but there is no option for giving up.
 If you don't know the church is true, pray to know it's true, have the desire to believe and it WILL come. 
 I love you all so much thank you for your prayers and Happy Mother's Day to all those beautiful Mom's out there!
 Love, Sister Burningham

Elder and Sister Laird Evans

Laird and Karen Evans Karen and I serve at the Conference Center and the Tabernacle as Guest Service Missionaries. Our service includes working with security during all General Conference sessions, Music and the Spoken Word, the Christmas Concert, the First Presidency Messages and other events which are held at the Conference Center or at the Tabernacle. One assignment we were given was Baggage Check during a live broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. One young man came in and checked in his backpack and sleeping bag. He was from France. He said that he had traveled across the United States by thumbing a ride and sleeping on the side of the road. He was very interested in hearing the Tabernacle Choir sing. When the program was over he came in and picked up his sleeping bag and backpack and expressed his great pleasure in listening to the Choir. We have met many people from many different foreign countries as well as those from the United States. We have enjoyed answering visitors questions, bearing our testimonies and serving in the Conference Center and at the Tabernacle.

Elder Bremen Acord

BREMEN has been doing remarkably well. He is keeping himself very busy and seems to have really hit his stride this last transfer. Bremen transferred to a new island called Sao Vicente about 6 weeks ago and spent his first week with a companion that he absolutely loved. They worked like crazy and you could tell that he was really coming into his own. After the first week his Mission President told him that he would be transferring across the city of Mindelo and would be getting a new companion…one who has pretty much checked out of the mission and was planning on doing absolutely nothing for the last year of his mission except argue with his companion. To make things even more challenging, even though his companion had been out twice as long as Bremen, Bremen was going to be the Sr. Companion and he was also supposed to walk his new companion through the 6-week training program that they give to new missionaries who just arrive in the field. In Bremen’s words “he hated me before I even got there.” Seriously, who could hate Bremen for very long?

Bremen worked extra hard with the locals and his companion. Last week’s 2-paragraph e-mail, included this paragraph:

“This week was really good. We had an awesome zone conference with Presidente. We had a lot of awesome lessons and we are working with some sweet investigators. This week Aderito will be baptized. He is 36 and he is awesome! He is definitely going to be a strong leader in the church pretty soon. so ya, that's pretty much whats happening to me right now. Good week. I love you all so much! have a good week I will talk to you in 2 weeks!”

He is just so busy that he doesn’t have much time to even write on P-days other than to say that everything is awesome and send a picture or two (attached is my favorite…ever). He and his companion are getting along very well. In fact, we received the following postcard from his companion last week:

And to think that 6 weeks ago he couldn’t stand Bremen or his situation.

One final very interesting point. When Bremen got this new assignment with Elder Pugmire he was also asked to start a new branch in the city (Branch 5). The first few weeks the branch only had about 40 people a week attending Sunday meetings… then Bremen and his companion got to work. They would leave for church an hour or so early and would walk through the city collecting members who haven’t made it out to church in a while. Soon attendance on Sunday started to climb higher and higher. Now, just a few weeks later, the branch has over 90 members regularly attending Sacrament meetings.

Also, 53 weeks ago (before we had even heard of the country of Cape Verde) the country organized its first LDS Stake. Last Sunday, Bremen was able to participate as the church organized it’s second Stake in the city where he is currently serving. The tiny 5^th Branch that Bremen started became a Ward in the 2^nd Stake of Cape Verde. Bremen and Elder Pugmire were the only missionaries that ever served in that branch as they opened it, grew it, and it turned into a Ward all within about a month. There is a great video about the first stake that the church produced about a year ago. It can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xF-rySmUGo

Bremen’s e-mail from 5/13 –

Yesterday was soooo awesome!!! I miss you guys so much!!! it was soo good to see all of you and you all look reeaaally good! Its gunna be a long 7 months before that happens again... but umm I  already told you pretty much everything that’s going on in my life. Last night I did get a call from Presidente Oliveira. I am getting on a boat this afternoon and going to Santo Antão serving in Porto Novo! I will be serving as zone leader with Elder Haili. He is from Ethiopia and he is super funny! I am so excited! I will let you know on the details of that area next week. I hope you all realized how much I love you and miss you yesterday. Thank you all so much for being such amazing family to me. You are all such great examples to me and make me want to work harder every day. I love you all like crazy. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Acord

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Bremen also sent an e-mail to a few friends and family members who are all considering missions. Here is his advice:

Soo... I am here on my 10th month in Cape Verde. Without a doubt the most life changing months of my life up to now. I don’t know exactly who is going to be reading this, but I want whoever it may be to know that everything that I am going to say is 100% sincere and I really mean every word. I know there are a few of you back at home that are at that stage deciding on a mission or not, coming up on some pretty big decisions... I can think of a few of you, Keaton, Mason, Dakota, Nate. I have known you all for a really long time, and you have all known me for a really long time. I want you all to know that I love the crap out of you guys and I really, really want the best for all of you, soooo, with that said, this is what I think will be the best for you. Go on a freaking mission! Stop thinking about it, you are just going to convince yourself not to go.

Maybe you are all already planning on, but stop doubting and just do it. I can promise you that it will be THE best thing you could possibly do at this time. I can say that I know my life is going to be awesome in the future, I have soooo much hope for what is ahead, and its because of what I have learned out here. Before coming, I was maybe a little bit like you in the whole since that going on a mission sounded like it would really suck and I didn’t want to go at all... Yes, the truth comes out. ha I am so so so so so grateful that I just did. Yes, there are sooo many things back at home that I miss like crazy! Family, Emma, Hockey, cheeseburgers... k but all of those things will be there for me when I get back.

You seriously have absolutely nothing to lose by going on a mission, and only the whole world to gain. I absolutely LOVE my mission. Its the hardest thing I have ever done. I know without even a shade of doubt that the gospel that I am teaching every day is 100% true. Did I know before my mission? frick no! does it matter if you know before? No! maybe a little bit, but I’m proof that it doesn’t! haha I am soo freaking glad that I came out here and got my testimony. I want nothing more for all of you. I love you guys like crazy. I hope this little message helps. I hope you know that I am sincere. If any of you need anything, please write me:

Elder Bremen Acord

C.P. 420

Praia, Santiago

Cabo Verde

West Africa

I would be more than happy to help with anything, doubts, questions anything. love you guys.

Elder Zach Benard

(5/14/13 marks the 6 month mark! Here are some excerpts from Corvallis, where he Currently serves. Transfers are 5/20/13 but we anticipate him staying there. Thanks for your support of the missionaries. As parents, we love love the growth that occurs and know it helps having great ward members supporting and praying for them. Thanks so much!) 

Hey Everyone!!! Some Great news!! This guy named Dustin wants to get baptized and he's getting baptized this Saturday. We also just set a date with a lady we ran into last...Friday I think, and she wants to be baptized on May 4th!!! Her name is Mickey, like the mouse. :) We have only taught her the 1st lesson but they are both really cool solid people and they are just really awesome!! This week has been great, even though we just haven't had that many people come through for us. The lessons have been really good, me an E. Phair started watching Mormon Messages before we go to sleep so that we know what they are, and then we know what ones we can use in a lesson. My favorite (and the one that has helped a lot of people) is “Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them”, with Elder Nelson. I mean if nothing else the person will feel the spirit that's for sure. I loved this exchange we just did with the Spanish Elders, cause they have language studies...obviously, I'm not learning another language, so I studied for the normal hour and then got to continue reading the scriptures for an extra hour. Those that really know me, know that I hate reading and know that I didn't read at all before my mission, but that 2 hours of reading the scriptures was so awesome!! I would recommend reading the Joseph Smith History, if you get the chance, cause that's really cool and shows a lot about his experiences and such. We just had an amazing baptism the 27th and we have 2 more on May 11th with a really solid golden investigator who is pretty much a member. The baptism was Dustin, he's a really cool guy. He moved in about a month ago and we've only been teaching him for about 3ish weeks and now he's baptized!! He and his wife Adria are really funny and cool people they are always saying weird stuff like "so the quorum of the twelve is kinda like the fellowship of the ring but without the ring." Then, baptism for the dead, "so you dig up dead people and baptize them then put them back in their grave?" They are just really funny people. Mickey is awesome! She postponed her baptism date from May 4th to May 11th so that her 10 yr old daughter could be baptized with her as well and she also cut down on smoking a lot. On Sunday she didn't smoke at all!! Blessings and prayer really do work and whoever says that they don't...well they just need to look at her and my other companion who taught someone that was smoking 5 packs a day and received a blessing and quit the next day. A great story about Mickey; she said that she wanted to come to church and that the 3 hours of church was amazing and that's how it should be cause you can learn more from that. She also read the BofM and cross referenced that with the Bible Saturday night, and she came to church Sunday and loved it! That's also when we set the date with her and had our first lesson. Mickey and Rose were baptized on May 11th. When Mickey was getting baptized they got in the position and everything and then she started to go under like she was getting baptized and E. Phair was like, “wait nooo no no no I have to say the prayer first.” And Mickey was like, “oh oops just got all excited.” It was pretty funny. When I baptized Rose, after I said the prayer and baptized her, she pretty much ran out of the font, so if I messed up or she didn't go all the under....we ain't getting her back in there, ;) even though she wants to be baptized every year cause she thinks it would be fun. It was awesome having them receive the Holy Ghost on Mothers Day, that was our Mothers Day gift to them and they loved it and hey, it lasts forever as long as we are worthy and it didn't cost anything so that was also a bonus.

Elder Derek Fisher

I don't remember how many times the word "binyag" has been the subject of my email but by now i'm pretty sure I don't have to translate for you it's meaning, Yup this week we had another baptism! This has to be one of the most rewarding experiences for me personally because for the last 6 months I've been teaching Brother Ticman, needless to say it's been a challenge. Brother Ticman is one of the most intelligent men I've ever met, especially when it comes to Spiritual matters, every single time I taught him for 5 minutes he would spend another 20 minutes trying to teach me and my companion. Luckily his heart was never closed off and his ears were always open to listen. He has been a part of the catholic church, Jehovah's witness, born again, and when we met him after "proving those church's to be false" he was a member of 7th day Adventist "being the closest he found to follow the doctrine of the Bible". Time and time again we would meet concern after concern, whether it be the meaning of 7th day worship,to the Resurrection, even down to the First vision of Joseph Smith. I can truly testify now though that it is not me who taught him, it was the Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit. Every single time he would bring up a concern we would spend 2-3 lessons trying to resolve it but it would always end in frustration due to a firm belief in something else (even President Stucki had a hard time convincing him of sound doctrine when he would work with us) in the end we felt to just leave him to read certain passages in the Book of Mormon/Bible and pray and ponder about it, and each time he did, his concern would resolve itself. I've really loved teaching this man despite all the hardships because each time I could see he found an inner peace and excitement as he found answers to questions he didn't know he had. Another really amazing part about this is about 15-20 years ago most of his family was baptized by another "Elder Fisher", I know the Lord has placed me here to be the one to help him come unto a knowledge of this restored gospel though I take no credit for his conversion. Not only that but I've develop a much stronger personal testimony as I had to deeply study doctrines to be better prepared to teach him and answer any questions he would bring up.

There is another really interesting spiritual experience I had this week that I'd like to share though, one day in the Parañaque 1st ward, Elder Vang (a missionary in my zone) was walking through his area when a young woman said she had met a missionary on a jeepney a while back and how she's really interested in learning more, she has turned into one of their most progressing investigators. As it would turn out I was the missionary who talked to her on a jeepney over 4 months ago, It really goes to show that no effort is wasted and no matter what we do as the Lords servants we have an true impact in peoples lives.

Asides from that it's always such an amazing experience to witness general conference as a missionary. Since I've started my mission every general conference I've watched has been a true spiritual feast. I'm also really looking forward to quoting the general conference talks in future visits to members to get them excited about doing more member missionary work. Well I encourage us all to try and study and apply the counsel from the leaders of the church, they are inspired of God, never forget that. I love this work, I love this church, Most of all I love my Savior. I hope you all had a great week, I know I did.

With Love, 

Elder Fisher

Elder Brandon Wallis

This last week was awesome!!! We had several good lessons and we set two baptism dates! Angela and Casey. Angela was invited by her neighbors to hear the discussions in their home, and it's been going really well! Casey is married to a member and has just now started to show interest and is progressing very fast! The Lord has truly placed prepared people in our path. Both of them are preparing to be baptized on May 25th. We play soccer with Casey and some of the ward members on Thursday nights and it's helped him get to know a lot more of the people and feel much more comfortable at church. This last Sunday he wasn't at church, and we were pretty bummed about it. I knew he would feel pretty bad about it though. In one of the lessons we taught him I told him about when I swam in a swim meet on Sunday. I told him how important the swim meet was to me, and how rare of a chance this one was. It was the Clovis California Swim Meet. I told him how bad I did in my race on Sunday and how I just couldn't stop thinking that I wasn't keeping the Sabbath day holy. He had a very similar experience when he missed church and went to play in his men’s league soccer. It was a really good team and they needed him. It turned out to be the worst game they had ever had. He got stomped by a cleat on his ankle, and he said he felt super guilty and sad the whole time. Needless to say, he got his answer about whether to do soccer or church on Sundays. Transfers are tomorrow, and I'll be staying in this same area. I'm very glad I'll be staying. We've worked so hard to get this area going, and it has really started to pick up. We'll also be getting another Elder in our companionship. We'll be in a trio!!!! This Elder will be waiting on a Visa to go to Brazil. We're very excited to have another Elder and be able to go on splits a lot easier and teach more people that way.

The Popes are doing well, and we're continuing to look out for service that we can do for them. We helped them put in a garden a few days ago. They are such nice people and help us feel at home. Their dogs also make for great entertainment right before bed.

I'm very very grateful for the opportunity and responsibility I have being a Missionary, and a representative of Jesus Christ. I know this Gospel is true, and it has been repeatedly confirmed to me every day on my Mission. I have a Testimony of the Atonement. I know that Christ made that ultimate sacrifice for every one of our Heavenly Father's children. I have a testimony of Prayer. I know that when I'm prayerful and diligent in following the promptings and answers I receive from Heavenly Father I become a better tool in our Fathers hand. I have a Testimony of "opening our mouths",(D&C 33:8-10, D&C 60:2-3) I know that when I have the faith to open my mouth and trust in the Lord, it is filled with His words. This Gospel is for everyone. Everyone on this Earth was a "yes" sayer in the Pre-Mortal world. They can be "yes" sayers again in this World. I know that I'll be with my family forever. I know that it is only through this Gospel that we can have everlasting joy. I know that I have been called by a Prophet of God to serve in my specific area. Even though the chili here doesn't seem to agree with me, I'll continue to do my best, and improve each day so that I may better serve my fellow men, and therefore, serve my God.
I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Riley Harris

Riley is currently serving in Scottsboro Alabama and loving it.  He is currently the District Leader and is learning a lot.  He is overwhelmed with how many sister missionaries are entering the field.  Alabama made history with receiving the most sister missionaries in one transfer which was 22 sisters and one elder.  Riley's mission President does a wonderful blog that keeps us up to date as to how each of the missionaries are doing.  If you are interested, check it out at http://alabamamissionupdate.blogspot.com/ .

Here is some of the last letter we received from Riley today, April 29, 2013.  He mentions Unclaimed Baggage in his letter.  This is his favorite hangout on P-Day.  As you can tell by the name, it's where all the unclaimed baggage is sent if it is not claimed.  It's the Deseret Industries of Scottsboro.

So we got our transfer calls today......... We had to wait until around 1145 then the phone finally rang. We answered and hear that ... Elder McKay and I are both staying in Scottsboro!!! Things are going super good here. Like I cannot tell you how super excited I am. I'm freaking out I'm so excited. This week has been a really good week for us. I will include a little more but I just have to say again how excited I am about finally staying in an area more then one transfer and having the same companion for more then one transfer!

"Alright so this week started kinda rough. We had a few people we tried to meet here and there but they all just fell through. Nothing too solid. We met with this guy named brad who is a newly converted catholic but is extreamly open to listening to us. We will hopefully see him today, but he is always out and about helping people. His biggest problem is that he feels like he loves everyone else more then himself. Like that he doesn't love himself. We are going to try and fix that for him and show him that Heavenly Father loves him.

We also have Kim. Kim is super awsome. We met her at unclaimed baggage. She works there and is super friendly and could talk your ear off if you let her. She has a 6 year old son named josh and her husbands name is zach. He is actually friends with the former bishops son. It's super exciting to be able to see that she is prepared and she doesn't really know it yet. We were really excited to hear from her that she goes to a baptist church but she doesn't consider herself baptist which was great! She got sick and cancled her appointment with us but she is wanting us to come by. We brought her cookies and ended up meeting her husband because she wasn't home. He seemed really nice and offered to take us fishing sometime! They seem super legit!!

We also met Harli at Unclaimed. She doesn't work there like Kim does but running into her was a fun story. Elder McKay is a guitar guy who loves to play when they have guitars in. While looking at the guitars Harli came up and asked for the Ukelele. She doodled on it for a second while Elder McKay was holding the guitar and said Y'all should start like a string band or something. She responded by saying I don't think they could keep up.... Now Elder McKay is not one to pass up a challenge so basically we both asked to see her skill and then Elder McKay would play. She never did but we ended up talking about some of the things that we believe. She was interested because she is trying to learn about other religions. When she found out we were Mormon then she wanted to know everything. She is just full of great questions but she told us if she listens to us then we need to listen to what she beliveves. A fair trade but we look forward to talking to her more this week.

Finally we have andrea's friends mark and Nina. Hopefully we will be able to meet with them this friday but We will see. I can't say much about them because we met them in passing really. We just taught them because they were there but now they are intrested and want to hear more.

Riley's address is different from what is on the annoucements at church.  He is currently at:

307 Kirby Street

Scottsboro, Alabama 35768.

Thank you to all who have sent him letters.  He mentions them often and is very grateful for them.