Christmas

I talked to family yesterday on the phone so I dunno what to say...

Christmas was great.

We went to the Lamphier's for Christmas Eve. They made a great dinner and we sang songs and stuff.
We woke up at our normal time of 630. and opened presents!

After presents was church and it was superb. A lot of music and a lot of good testimonies. It was a very good service. A lot of preparation from the ward.

After church was the Normans where I skyped st. george. I got to talk to the whole family there and I sorta met our new dog Cassie. I mostly saw Ciera Kristy and Mommy. It was really cool to talk to them. The time really flew by. I looked at my watch and a few seconds later it had been 30 minutes. It was really good to see kristen's face. and everyone else's I guess.

After the Norman's we went to the Englunds for dinner. We chilled there for about 3 hours ish. and ate! roast and smashed potatoes and such. the works. it was very good.

After dinner we went to the Gibbons. that was the best part of the night. The Gibbons are the best family ever. Every family we went to yesterday gave us presents but the Gibbons gave us the best presents. They got us each a nice tie and a couple pairs of socks. but the best part was 5 hard cover Book of Mormons with their testimonies written on the inside cover. they told us to give them out to people who need them. It was an awesome gift. they put some actual thought into it! Their whole family was there and it was just a very cool night. we sat around and told stories with them afterward.

Also at the Gibbons I took time out and skyped Texas family. It was great to see Mason Pamela Dad T and Lydia. I went over on time for both of my calls but it was worth "breaking the rules" for :). It was a very good christmas! And now I have so much candy and food that I dont know what to do with it.

Thats all.

It was great to see your faces!! you are all beautiful especially kristen.

Love,
Elder Paxman

I didn't leave myself enough time today

On Tuesday we ate with Rick and Chandra! that was way cool. We just talked for awhile and they invited us to come to the play that their church put on. We cleared time in our schedule on Saturday afternoon to go see it! It was awesome! they did an amazing job and Rick and Chandra were even in it! they danced. The play was called The Christmas Post and it was cool to see a play. Elder Dutson was loving it. He hadn't seen a play in months! He got his fix for awhile. They did a great job. It was fun to take a break and go to a baptist church.

We spent a lot of time with Baptists this week... I wanted to go back Sunday night too! But we didn't... I figured if we went back they would think we converted... so we didn't go back... Rick was going to dress up as john the baptist and tell the story of Christ from his perspective. It was going to be pretty sweet.

We also got six new investigators this week! Brandon & Erica, Bernadette & Tim, Don, and David. It was a good week for finding but not necessarily a good week for numbers. We got all those investigators but we didn't teach many lessons. We will teach more next week.

Mark and Dawn Hansen came to church! they brought Bradley. Its awesome! they had a good time but they only stayed for sacrament meeting. But Still! baby steps. I want to put them on date! they like what they are learning but they need to learn it better. and love it more!

Ummmm...Mike rapped for us the other day! it was hilarious. Elder Dutson started beat-boxing at his place. He does that. and Mike said "thats techno!!" he was a little confused... but hey. after that he rapped for us! he was making fun of it but it was pretty funny.

I dunno what else. Christmas is awesome. Its the best as a missionary. We get to watch a movie on Wednesday at our mission conference! Christmas is good stuff. keep it coming.

This is a very very short letter. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. I wrote a bunch of letters recently and I'm all emailed/lettered out.

The church is true. as true as it gets. Don't go anywhere else. This is the right one.

Thank you thank you thank you for all the prayers and thoughts and letters!! it means a lot!!!

Love you all

Love,
Elder Paxman

Christmas Time

Its Christmas time. Its fun but it is also very very cold. Its crazy cold. its been in the 20's all week and its gets below 10 at night. I wear my beanie and scarf and coat and sweats under my pants. I stay warm. except my face. I cant cover that. but the scarf helps.

So I can Skype home on Christmas. I will split time with Lucas and St. George. One of our investigators, Kimberly, has offered to let us use her computer and iPhone to contact home on Christmas. I will probably call around.... I have no idea. just be ready. I will hopefully be able to be more specific next week. I'm looking forward to it.

I will have the same address at Christmas but transfers come on the 11th of January (happy b-day Ciera) so it may change then. But for now you can send stuff to Betty.

So. We lost three investigators this week. They picked up and moved to Oregon. out of no where. We went over to daniel/anna/denim's home and we walked by the landlord and he said "nobody lives there anymore".  they just left with no warning and left all their crap there for the landlord to clean up. they are just gone. That was disappointing.

Kimberly is back on track. She has a quit date to stop smoking on the 15th. we asked her "do you want to be baptized more than you want to smoke and drink coffee?" she said yes. so we're working on that. she was going to pick us up and take us to church on Sunday with Julia but she got called into work. so close. we haven't had an investigator at church in like 5 weeks! it sucks. but we are so close to getting Kimberly/Julia and mark/dawn to church. also Josiah is progressing very nicely. We taught an awesome lesson at the church building with him.

that's all.... we have a lot of potential investigators. we could be getting a lot of new investigators in the coming week or two. ummmmm that's all. I don't know what else to say.

I'm getting old. its almost been 4 months! I will turn 4 this week. I love you all. Jesus Christ is our savior. Its fun to be able to teach that. really really fun.

The Greers are the best and so is Betty. Thank you for your letters and support!!! keep them coming.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Elder Dutson

Elder Dutson is awesome! I had a great companion in Elder Boswell but Elder Dutson is amazing. We are getting so much done! We work so incredibly hard. I haven't had time to think. We are so tired by the end of the day. Elder Dutson is in musical theater. He performed a lot before he left. He has a great voice and he uses it often. He is always singing about something, whether it be an actual song or something he makes up. He sings a lot. He loves to talk too. He usually does most of the talking when we contact or tract. I am fine with that. He is better at it than me so I will let him. I heard I was getting Elder Dutson and I had only seen him once. I saw him at the mission conference and he was walking across the gym with a pea coat and a scarf on with very good posture. So I thought I was getting a fruitcake for a companion. Then I heard he was a dancer/singer and he did plays. So I knew I was getting a fruitcake for a companion. But I used poor judgement. He is NOT a fruitcake... I guess. He is very cool. I want to spend the rest of my mission with him. He has us working so hard. I love it.

Yesterday we made a goal of getting 11 OYM's. We had 9 and we were on our way home so I said "lets get two before we get home" we only got one... So we got home and we were bummed because all we had left in the day is dinner and study. But I said "If we pray we will get one last OYM" we prayed and we had faith and we went to dinner at the burger's. And it just so happens that sister burger had her parents come over. Her dad and step mom. Her step mom is not a member so OYM!!!! we taught our spiritual thought at the end and that qualifies for an OYM. prayer answered.

I don't know what else to say... Which is crazy because we did so much this week. Mike bore his testimony in church yesterday. It was pretty awesome he said "Elder Paxman is a very good young man" He told his conversion story. He talked about the day we met him. He talked about the Book of Mormon. Greatest testimony ever. Then we taught Gospel Essentials and it was a good lesson on the Final Judgment. After class there were a few people who came up to me and told me how much of a great elder I was.

That's all I got. I'm pumped to keep working. I miss you all so much. I love that CD that you sent me mother. Dave sings very goodly :). Thank you. Also, mom, could you send me my Mavs hat that says CHAMPIONS on the front of it with my Christmas package? Unless you have already sent that. Then never mind. THANK YOU. Loves

Love,
Elder Paxman

Tranfers

Elder Boswell is out. He is going to Pasco. I am receiving Elder Dutson as my new companion. He has only been out about 5 months. One transfer longer than me. I am his 4th companion in 4 transfers and this will be his 3rd area. He has seen a lot of change in a short amount of time. Other than that I don't know much about him. I have been asking other Elders in my zone about him and nobody has anything bad to say about him. He is out here to work and he gets along with other Elders. Perfect. I cant ask for anything else. I'm excited to meet him.

Elder Boswell is very excited to be in Pasco. I know he puts on a show for me and pretends to miss me blah blah blah :). But I know he is excited to be in Pasco. He knows the ZL there pretty well. Elder Powell. Elder Powell is an awesome missionary and anyone would love to serve around him. It was fun to be with Elder Boswell for three months and I am going to miss him just like I know he is going to miss me. But both of us are excited to change and try something new.

My zone leader, Elder Nilsson, just went home. He hit two years and now he is dead. Probably on a plane right now. My new zone leader will be Elder Tuttle. So Elder Hansen and Elder Tuttle will lead us. The ZL's are in my district so we spend a lot of time with them. I am way way excited to serve around Elder Tuttle. There are only wonderful things said about him. He is a Spanish elder and all the Spanish elders proclaim him as the next Spanish AP. I wouldn't be surprised. He has only been out 9 months and he is already a ZL. It should be fun.

Transfers are tomorrow so all the changes will be occurring then. The past couple of days have been devoted to seeing people for Elder Boswell to say goodbye to. We ate breakfast with Sister Neale today (A less active in our ward). It was fun to be with her. Carrie Neale is a sweet soul.

Thanksgiving was awesome. Thanksgiving and transfer calls in one week made this week seem so much longer. We got to watch football on Thursday! There is a recent convert in the naches ward that invited the elders out there to thanksgiving dinner and he wanted them to be able to watch football. He called President Greer and got the okay from him! So we watched the Cowboys game over at Tom Meere's house. It was so fun. I missed football. And the cowboys won on a last second field goal! it was awesome. I hear mason gets to go to the cowboys eagles game on Christmas Eve. That's way cool! Go cowboys.

What else.... Yesterday we were walking downtown and this lady that we know, Nestle, invited us over. She is always sitting on the porch of her apartment building and every time we see her she wants us to give her a pass-along card. So I gave her a Christmas one and she invited us in. It was weird because we have never been in her home but we accepted. She stood up and unlocked the door and let us in. Then she stepped back outside and locked the door behind her! so we were just standing in her building not really knowing what just happened... Apparently when she asked us if we wanted to go in she didn't mean with her. She is insane. So we stood there and just laughed. We waited a minute and then unbolted the door and waved goodbye to Nestle... Crazy lady.

We taught the Hansens again. They are pretty sweet. We should baptize them. Happy Christmas...
I don't know what else to say... If you send me Christmas stuff don't send candy. I don't like candy unless it's reeses. or sour patch kids. the end. Like you'll send me Christmas stuff anyways :)

I love you all.

Elder Paxman

Meeting Elder Boswell's Family

Back at home we got to meet Elder Boswell's family. Elder Boswell is Chase's current companion. It was great to meet them!

Snow

It snowed on Wednesday. and it has been all week. It is a lot colder now. Kinda crazy. I wear a beanie every day now so that my ears don't fall off. I'm able to stay warm. I've got a coat and I wear my sweats under my church pants HA! It totally works. Yes, I stay warm.

So, on Friday Elder Monson got Emergency Transferred. Elder Monson is one of the Spanish elders in our district and we spent a lot of time with him and his companions Elders Hansen and Nilson. It was a bummer to see him go. I didn't expect him to leave. Transfers calls will be coming this Saturday and I expect Elder Boswell to leave and I will stay in Yakima and get a new companion. I thought Elder Monson would stay in Yakima too but he got ET'd. Elder Marroquin took his spot. Elder Marroquin and Elder Hendrickson were having issues in their companionship in Benton City (near the tri-cities) so President decided to split them up and Elder Monson was the one who moved. Elder Marroquin is from Ecuador and is awesome. I do see how he could rub someone the wrong way though... So he's here now but everything could change in a week... Elder Nilson is going home this Tuesday and Sister Cooper (in my district) is probably also going to be moving somewhere. So, in the district, that would just leave me Elder Hansen and Sister Brown. Then a bunch of new faces. That is what I see happening, but again, you never know. I will update you next week on transfers.

We almost nailed a dog on exchanges the other night. We were out with Brother Flowers and it was dark and cold and kinda hard to see I guess. we were cruising at about 40 miles an hour and then out of no where there was a dog standing in the middle of the street. Brother Flowers Swerved and barley missed the dog. It was a good sized dog. probably 50 pounds. It would have been bad. For us and the dog.

OYM's have been down because of the snow. The work really changes when the weather changes. No one is outside and even if they are they don't want to talk because its cold. We are starting to knock more doors because its getting colder and because we have few good investigators. Anna didn't come to church on Sunday despite her promise that she "already had her clothes picked out". She is a good soul. She will get it one day.

We have seen the Hansens a few times recently too. They said they would come to church as well but they didn't show so we visited them last night and they had a good excuse. Dawn's dad thought he had a stroke. It didn't turn out to be that bad but they had to drive to tri-cites to visit him just in case. So they missed church. I hope they can come next week but they work so much that its hard to catch them on a Sunday where they don't work. Mark really wants some answers but has a hard time understanding. He reads the Book of Mormon and doesn't fully understand what he is reading. But he wants to! If he keeps looking I know he will find what he is looking for. We will continue to meet with both of them and answer their questions. Hopefully they progress toward baptism.

We also have been talking to this young man named Josiah. He is probably 25 years old. Married. No kids. His wife hasn't yet warmed up to the idea of having two strangers in her home so we teach Josiah in the cold on his doorstep. We were walking down the road one day and Josiah just got home from work and got out of his truck so we stopped and talked to him. He told us he has a friend who just got home from a mission. Steven Corbridge. Steven lives in the Terrace Heights ward which is covered by the Sister missionaries in our district. So we got Steven's number from her and talked to him. He went over there and discussed the gospel a little bit with Josiah. Then we went and followed up. Josiah is awesome. He is very Christian and he relies on Christ fully, but he questions himself. He sees the life that Steven lives and he thinks he is too weak to stay away from sin. He doesn't think he can overcome temptation. We try to reassure him and tell him that he can. He served in Iraq but I have no idea how. He is the biggest softie ever and he will be the first to admit it. He is so whipped too. His wife Emily has him wrapped around her finger.

Mike is still doing okay. He had a little scare with his health the other day. He had a minor stroke but is back home with meds. I think he is doing better and the ward is taking care of him with meals. He is very gracious towards us for all the help he is receiving. I love Mike. He wasn't able to come to church on Sunday because of his health but that's okay. He wanted to come really bad. He is getting stronger each day.

Good work. Good food. Good times. On thanksgiving we are going to the Garcia's in the morning and the Gailan's (best ward mission leader ever) at night. Mike will be at the Gailan's too. I'm excited.

I love you all. I've been getting letters and emails. I just said I wasn't because I want more. Greedy me. Miss you.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Baptism

So yes, I baptized a dude on Saturday. It was kinda weird. Mike keeps telling us "I wont forget this for a long time". I believe it too. He loves the new friendship that he has with us and the friends that he is making in the ward. The tough part of this all is that we are trying to transition him from the missionaries to the ward. We need the ward to step up and be friends with him. He doesn't have a car so he needs a lot of help getting places. This past Sunday there was a stake choir concert and we had the Goveias take him to that. We had to go up to Brother Goveia and tell him to go up to Mike and invite him to the concert. Its hard work getting the ward to be friends with recent converts. The transition is happening though. Elder Boswell confirmed him and gave a really nice blessing. After the blessing Mike asked if he could have a copy of what Elder Boswell said. We told him that it was all done by the spirit and he was amazed. He is always so gracious and cordial.

I don't know if I told you about mike... He is a clinical psychologist, but isn't currently practicing because he isn't in great health. He lives humbly because he cant work right now but is in the process of getting knee surgery and maybe surgery on his shoulder. He had a stroke a few years ago and is still trying to fully recover. He's getting there. But until then he can't drive and somehow all his assets are frozen. I dunno. He hasn't gone into too much depth about it. He has never been married so he was worried he wouldn't fit in in the LDS church. We reassured him he would but I don't think he fully believed us until he experienced it for himself. He regrets not having a family but he loves the new ward family that he has.
He reads every day and is so curious to learn more. We just gave him a triple combination and a LDS edition KJV Bible. He reads all the time. He is just an awesome guy. I cant expect to ever find anyone as great as him again on my mission. We met him, and 20 days later he was baptized. That's insane. Elder Boswell and I were Blessed.

Because we were devoting so much time to Mike last week, the rest of the work slowed down a little bit. We realized that we don't have very many people to teach... So now we are back to finding. And teaching the few people that we have to teach. Staci thinks we're weird because the last time we were over there baptisms for the dead came up and she thought we baptized dead bodies. We explained what it was but I think she still is a little freaked out. We still meet with her but whenever we talk about religion she kinda puts on a front of "Mormons are weird". Next time we see her we will probably bring it up and see what she says. We're going over there tomorrow afternoon.

We also have Roman still, he is something else... He came to church in a pink polo and short plaid shorts with a virgin Mary pendant around his neck. Ridiculous. But he came to church! He is in the MLM business but he is on the end where he is getting taken for a lot of money and doesn't know it. Nothing like ASEA haha. Whatever he thinks he is doing its not working. But he is convinced that he is making millions within the next few months. one time he said "I'm making 5 million dollars on Saturday" Saturday came and went and somehow the check didn't come! shoot. Hopefully he shapes up.

Anna. She is a nice lady who wants to be baptized. She wants to come to church with her son Daniel too. They are way nice people. We are working with them. Its going well. They could be baptized soon. They are moving forward. We just need to meet with them more often.

That's about it. I attached baptism pictures and pictures from the temple. The small group is my district and the large group is my zone. The temple was great.

I love you all. Where are the letters? they stopped coming...

Love,
Elder Paxman

Mike Waters

This week is going to be a short email.

We went to the temple this morning so the day is a little shorter. It was way cool to go to the temple. The Colombia River Temple is very small but very pretty. There were a lot of missionaries there and it was fun. I learn every time. I love going.


This week we went with Mike to a baptismal service to show him what it would be like. It was a stake baptism so it was an 8 year old. Its not going to be exactly like that but it was good for him to be there and see. We have been meeting with him almost daily. He has had a small issue of quitting smoking which is saying a lot. The fact that it's a small issue is amazing. He is showing a lot of will power to quit. We went and bought him a bunch of gum to help him out and he says that helps a lot. I dont worry about him. He says he is done and we have to believe him. He will be interviewed on wednesday and baptized on saturday. We were at his place yesterday and we were talking about who he wanted to baptize him. He felt really bad because he was torn. He wanted us both in the font with him but he understands that only one of us can preform the ordinance. He decided that he wanted me to baptize him. Then we told him that Elder Boswell could confirm him and he got a look of relief. Confirmation and baptism are just as important. So he felt a lot better when we told him we could both be apart of it. I dont think we told him, but he knew that Elder Boswell was the senior missionary. And I felt really honored that he wanted me to baptize him.
Mike totally gets it. He understands everything. Yesterday he said something like "This experience is going to be something that bonds us for life" then he got a little teary eyed and sentimental. Nobody understands this like he does. He is very humble. Very intelligent. Gracious. Genuine. I love him. Every time we meet with him I feel so much better.

It's crazy how this all happened. We ran into him on the street. Taught him. And now we're going to baptize him all in 4 weeks! That never happens. Most of the time preparing someone for baptism takes much longer. and referrals are much more successful. It is a miracle how prepared Mike Waters was. He is just someone who gets it.

One thing I have learned on my mission is that as a missionary being obedient brings blessings. I have been trying to be perfectly obedient. Something President Greer stresses is adjusting and not adjusting back. Adjust to be obedient to God's commandments and when you get home dont adjust back. Thats the hard part. I am learning what to do to not adjust back. And I plan on doing that for the rest of my life. I gotta continue to attend the temple. Pray and read daily. The easy stuff that makes all the difference and sometimes isn't so easy.

I love you all.

Mike is pretty much all we are focusing on right now. We have nothing else to do. Everything else is dead.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Awesome Week

Hey there family and friends,

This week was awesome. Mike Waters. He is the epitome of one who God has prepared for the missionaries. Like I said, we ran into him last week and he was willing to listen. He goes into the lessons with what he calls a "healthy amount of skepticism". But he doesn't doubt. He accepts what we have to teach and really thinks about it and then takes it to God. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and he hasn't even read any of it. He prayed about it and has read the intro and the testimonies of the witnesses but he hasn't started in 1 Nephi yet. We are going to see him again tonight and tell him he needs to start reading. But we met with him last week on Thursday and he accepted the invitation to be baptized and he will be baptized on the 12th. We set that date before realizing that if he does it a day earlier it would be 11-11-11. so we will ask him about that and see if he wants to have a friday baptism haha. He came to church on sunday and he is so excited about everything we have to tell him. He loved church and loves the Book of Mormon. In our second meeting with him he said "I want to be a member of your church". The missionaries can work with that! I am so excited for him. Just to be able to see him every sunday at church. He seems very solid and sure of this path. He is kind of out of work right now. Its an interesting situation. He has a lot of assets I believe but they are somehow tied up. I dont know how truthful that is but Mike is a smart guy so I tend to believe him. He is living in a hotel right now because he cant afford anything else until July when he apparently can get ahold of the money that is unavailable to him right now. He was a mental health therapist. And he is out of work. So no car. No real house. But he has a lot of time to study and pray about the things we bring to him and he has the desire to always know more. Seeing his progression is fun. Im always excited to get over to mikes place even though its a long walk. From our house its probably an hour walk if we just do it straight. But its worth it. We are trying to introduce him to as many people in the ward as possible. He is a single 56 year old man who never really got around to getting married. He is self conscious about that and its his biggest regret, that he never got married. So he was nervous to go to church when he heard how much emphasis we put on families. He didn't want to be judged or feel out of place. I feel like that is a real concern for a lot of people who we invite to church. They don't want to be judged. I guess what that tells me is that at a lot of churches around the world, people feel judged and uncomfortable. And when they come to the LDS church they fear that judgment. So all we can do as missionaries and members is make everyone feel welcome. Otherwise they aren't going to want to come back because the LDS church is just as unwelcoming as any other church they dont want to go to. The members are very important. And in Mike Waters' case, the members did a good job and he is excited to come back next sunday and learn more.

Other than Mike we had a really good week. We are focusing a lot on him, but we have other new investigators too. We still have Denim, Anna, The Hansens, Stacie, and others. They are all kinda in and out, up and down. We haven't been able to meet with the hansens for about a week because they had family in town but we will see them tomorrow and hope they have read. If not we will recommit them. One thing that Mark said in our first meeting that was really cool was "If I have half as much faith as you two young men have then I would certainly be baptized". He said that after we invited him to be baptized. It was cool to see that bearing my testimony to people really does have an effect on them.

We are meeting with Denim on Thursday and that will probably be the same routine. Although, I believe Denim has read. I just hope he recognized his answer. That is part of the Missionaries' job, to help people recognize how the Holy Ghost talks to us. Anna, Stacie, Roman, Sandro, they all need to keep commitments. I love them to death and I want them to be happy and I know that the gospel is what brings true happiness so we are trying to let them know that for themselves. Oh well. There is only so much we can do. They still have their agency.

So, I hear Brother Pfunder was a Leprechaun for Halloween. The Lamphier family in our ward are related to the Pfunders. Sister Pfunder is Sister Lamphier's niece? I think that's right. But when we see the Lamphier's, they usually give me an update on what Brother Pfunder has posted on Facebook recently. They think he is hilarious of course. Because he is. Its a small world.

Someone told me yesterday that no one cant teach you to hate God better than the Catholic Church. So... Stay away. Because we love God. He told us how much he hated God and he didn't believe he loved us and was cussing at us and telling us about his Catholic experience. And then as he walked away Elder Hansen (we were on exchanges) said "God bless you". and then we walked away as he was still yelling. It was pretty funny. Elder Hansen is one of the zone leaders in Selah and he is pretty funny. He is a 300+ pound man with Tongan heritage. Funny kid. Push over. Big, but harmless.

Love you all! Keep the letters coming! Goodbye

Love
Elder Paxman

Another Week

We had a great week this week. We got 5 new investigators!
But more importantly I got kissed by another man. That is two for the mish. I still got game.
Jason came up to us yesterday and he kissed me on the neck and said "Greet your brother with a holy kiss, it says that in the bible"
Creepy. He was extremely drunk. Funny guy.

Mark and Dawn Hansen are a family that we are now teaching. They have a 6 month old son named Bradley. He's a cutie. They were awesome. We set up a first lesson with them and Dawn had cupcakes ready for us! Usually people forget we're coming or they ignore us but this lady made us cupcakes! It was way cool. Then we taught them. Mark knew less and wanted to know more. He has never really had a church or been to church so he has a blank slate. Dawn has more of a background and some animosity for religion in general. She doesn't like the hypocrisy of some religions so she is hesitant to jump into anything at all. We are working with them and we will see them again tonight. Great people.

Then we have Mike Waters. The other day we were on 11th avenue and Summitview and Boswell said we needed to go to Sonya's place. She was like 25 blocks away and when we got there it is about 50 blocks from home. Sonya is useless too. Its pointless to knock her door. But we did it anyway. We walked down to 7th street and knocked her door and she didn't answer even though she was home. Useless. BUT, on the way there we ran into Mike. He came up to us and we felt like we needed to leave him with a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon so we did and we told him we would be back on Sunday. we met with him on Sunday and he loved it. he had read before we came which is more than anyone ever does. Then we taught a lesson. He loved it! it was awesome. We just need to talk about baptism next time we go there. Mike is solid.

Denim Moore is a referral that we have been trying to contact for weeks. His dad was baptized and we were told we should go over there. we did and he has been impossible to contact but finally we did yesterday. We taught a killer first lesson. the best first lesson Boswell or I have ever taught. We tried to put him on date to be baptized but he was hesitant to put a date on it. He said he would be baptized once he received the confirmation from the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true Joseph smith was a prophet etc. But he didn't want to put a date on it yet. His dad was baptized though and he is ready. He is almost there we just have to work with his crazy schedule to meet with him more often. He is kinda a recovering drug addict and he lost custody of his kid. Now his son, denim jr. is living with his dad. He is trying to get his life back in order and is doing a good job starting. he is 37 years old by the way.

That is 4 of the new investigators. Stacy is the other one. She is just a nice lady. Told us she would read but needs about 2 weeks to do so. So we are just giving her some space so she can sort these things out. She has two pet ducks ha ha. They are named Barbie and Que. She is just a chill lady. Open to try the "Mormon thing".

That's the work. We are being blessed!

I love you all!! thank you for your thoughts and prayers and letters. I appreciate it so so much. Keep sending the letters.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Lots of New Investigators!

I didn't get transferred. Not surprising. I will be with Elder Boswell for another transfer. After that the likelihood is that he will be transferred out of here and I will stay. This next transfer goes right up to the end of November right after Thanksgiving. So I'll probably stay with Betty in Yakima for Christmas.

As for this transfer. Elder Boswell was made District Leader! It's way cool to see that. I'm excited for him. And I know he is excited for himself too ha ha. It will be good for me to be companions with a district leader. Maybe I'll learn something.

So. Frankie isn't going to be baptized. He is in jail. Not surprising. Just hilarious. Maybe a little sad. But not really, it's just funny. He stole his friends car while drunk and is now incarcerated. He kinda fell off date... Best of luck to Frankie! Crazy guy...

Alvina and Dolly are a little shaky... They had something going on a few nights ago and they cancelled an appointment with us. I called them and there was arguing going on in the background. That was on Thursday and we haven't been able to see them since. We went over last night to check up on them because they didn't come to church obviously. We got there and it was dark and kinda sketchy. We talked to their family and friends but they didn't want to see us so we left. They are off date because they have to come to church twice before they can be baptized and there is no way that can happen now before their date which was October 22. Next time we meet with them we will try to get them back on track! They are really good people. I just hope they are okay.

We have had a lot of people drop us recently. Eddie, Caleen, Juanita, Frankie is in the pokey ha ha. But we also have a few new investigators too. Our teaching pool has turned over in the past week.  There are so many new names on our board. We recently taught Sandro. He was interested and he asked us if he could come to church. We said yes and he didn't show up, but he seems nice and open lalala. That's how a lot of people are at first. We also taught Stacy. Same sort of thing. She is extremely nice and was excited to finally sit down with us. Petersen and Boswell contacted her in June. She was walking by her house and she was holding a duck. So they talked to her about it and apparently she owns two ducks as pets. I met them yesterday and they are pretty cool. But they first saw her in June and she told them to come back later in the week and they could talk. They were never able to get a hold of her again so they kinda gave up. Then last week the Spanish Elders in our area knocked her door and she said "You guys aren't my missionaries, where are my missionaries?" So they sent us back over there and we were finally able to teach her yesterday. She seems like she will actually follow up with the commitments to read and pray. She has genuine interest and really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

We also got some referrals from the Zone Leaders. Sandro was one of those referrals. We also received Jennifer and Kris. I think they are both single mothers but I'm not sure... We haven't been able to teach either of them yet but they are both very nice and want to know more. We are just trying to catch them in their busy schedules. That is always the case.

We received another referral from elders in our zone. His name is Albert and he is probably in his early 20's. Apparently he read the Book of Mormon in a week and he wants to meet with us. That's all I really know about him, other than he is hard to get an appointment with of course.

Serena was another referral from someone in our ward. We're going over there tonight.

That is a bunch of new people! Its crazy to look back to when I got here six weeks ago and see the people that we were focusing on then. They have since faded or become less interested. Some have stayed the same. Or in Alvina's case, become more interested and made a lot of progress.

So there is a cool story behind Terry Kimbo. The black man who came to church with us last week. Peterson and Boswell helped him move from 2nd street to 11th ave. He appreciated it but didn't really want to become involved with church which was fine. They just helped him move. Then I came and a couple weeks into the transfer and we ran into this young man named Cheddar Bug (real name is Chester). He preached at us from his front porch. He was kinda nice, just trying to prove us wrong or something, but really he made no sense. That was the same day that I got bit by that small dog so we avoid that block haha. (By the way that dog bite was nothing ha ha, tiny dog, not a big deal). A few days later we were walking and we ran into Cheddar again on his bike. He told us it wasn't a coincidence we kept running into him. A day later we got a call from Terry and he said that Chester was his brother. We had no idea. Chester called Terry and told him that he ran into the missionaries and Terry told him about his experience too. Coincidence. Pretty cool though. But the next night we were at the women's shelter trying to get a hold of a young lady named Nichole. We got there and left a pamphlet for her to read at the front desk. The secretary at the desk was a large black woman and she was very nice. We talked for a little bit and she told us that her brothers had told us about the missionaries. So we ran into three of the Kimbo's. She told us that she had 6 brothers and most of them live in Yakima. We were just running into this family everywhere. Then Terry came to church and we learned more about him and how he has a twin named Jerry who lives in Seattle. Terry is a nice man. We didn't really know what to do next though. Cheddar isn't going to be taught. Terry is kinda out there... Melissa is really nice and we want to teach her but its hard because the only place we know where we can find her is at the women's shelter at night... So we kinda just gave up and did other work. But then yesterday we ran into another one of our African American friends. His name was Chris and he started preaching at us at the bus stop. Telling us that we are all brothers and sisters and we don't need to go to any specific church. God doesn't segregate, he loves everyone. We were agreeing with most of what he had to say but he kept talking anyway. He said to us "I bet you guys would go crazy if a black man came to your church" we told him that Terry came with us a week ago and we asked if he knew him. and of course he did. They are brothers as well. So we met Cheddar, Terry, Melissa, and now Chris. We haven't met Rodney, Moses, or Jerry. I don't really know what to do because I don't see any of them accepting the gospel, but its really cool how we run into a lot of the Kimbo's separately.

That is the work. We are working with Alvina and Dolly. And finding! We have a lot of new investigators, but we are trying hard to find more. I love the work. We get out and work hard every day and we get good numbers. I guess that's the reason Elder Boswell is District Leader now. I have a good companion.

I didn't get very many emails this week. That must mean life is either so busy you don't have time to email, or so dull that you have nothing to email about :). I hope it's because you're busy. I miss you all a lot. I love you guys. I love your letters so so much. Even if I don't reply keep sending them. I still love you.

Love,

Elder Paxman

P-Day

It's P-day.
This week was Zone Conference. It was on Thursday. President and Sister Greer gave some really good council. So did AP Gudjenov (I probably spelled that wrong...) and AP Draper. The conference consisted of each of those four leaders talking to us about an old talk by Elder Bednar on how to be a PMG Missionary. We have to:

1. Know that we are representing Jesus Christ
2. Be Worthy
3. Treasure up the words of eternal life
4. Recognize that the Holy Ghost is the ultimate teacher
5. Teaching is more than talking and telling.

If we do those 5 things then we will be PMG Missionaries. That was the instruction that we received. Then we practiced it with role plays. We got lucky and President Greer sat in and took part in our specific role play. It was fun to see him act like an investigator. It was kinda intimidating to be teaching the president, but I enjoyed it.

Then we had a lunch prepared for us and we sang the mission song. Then we went through the RM moment where missionaries who had gone home from the WKM (Washington Kennewick Mission) sent in updates on their lives. I didnt know any of the missionaries but I had heard about a few of them. One of them was AP Baker. He is my great great great great grandpa in the mission and he just went home. Baker trained Hawkins, who trained Fletcher, who trained Larkin, who trained Petersen, who trained Boswell, who is training me. did I put the right amount of greats? I might have missed one. I think that's right though. There was an update on Baker who recently returned home, as well as about 8 other missionaries. That was fun even though I didnt know them.

After that we got a new phone. Our old one was kinda beat up. The new one we have is just a cheap sprint phone, but its still nice to have a new phone. I like it.
That was Zone Conference.

It rained last week. A couple times. And when it rains it kills the work in a walking area. Its kinda just an excuse, but its hard to get work done when it rains. We had a good week. We got a couple good investigators to church. Alvina was able to come, but Dolly was sick due to her stomach cancer so she didn't come. It was Alvina's first time I think... She was quiet but she remembered what was taught and told Dolly about it which is impressive for her. I think she enjoyed it and I have seen a change in her and Dolly. I'm starting to feel like they really could be baptized. It will probably be a week later than we first expected, but they are really trying to change their lives. The other day we watched one of the "Mormon Messages" with Alvina and taught a short lesson. Then we had her say the prayer. It was the first time I heard her pray out loud and it was such a sweet prayer. Really short. But she said "Thank you for sending these two young men to me" then she started tearing up so she quickly said amen. It was very sweet. Now we will try to get Dolly to church next week. She should be able to. I wonder about her though. She is sick and I dont really know how sick she is. She could pass away soon for all I know. I dont know how serious her cancer is. She doesnt talk about it too much, and she gets along okay.... I dont know. The big issue with those two is alcohol, but they really really want to quit and they are not only getting rid of the alcohol, but they are trying to get rid of people who dont invite the spirit into their home. Its great to see that they want to improve their environment to better improve their lives.

Terry Kimbo is the other one that came to church.  It was kinda crazy that he came to church because we have never really taught him a lesson... Elder Petersen and Boswell helped him move and he just thought it would be a good idea to go to our church! so he did :). Crazy man. I love him.

That was the week! I wish I could write more but I am out of time. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Paxman

General Conference

So this week was way busy. On Wednesday we went on companionship exchanges so I was with Elder Barton on Wednesday. We did some really good work. we got 30 OYM's which is a ton. Sometimes companionships don't even get that in a week. We talked to everyone. We also put Alvina and Dolly on date to be baptized... They are interesting. Alvina owns the home but it getting older and needs help from her friend Dolly. They have both been kinda impossible to get a hold of until about a week ago when I figure they hit rock bottom. They drink their sorrows away and we have visited them when they are drinking a few times. They get depressed and they turn to alcohol for a solution to their problems. We are trying to fix that for them and they want to change. They are on date for the 22nd of October but it would kinda be a miracle if they actually were baptized on that day. They have to come to church twice before they can be baptized and they need to quit drinking among other things. The environment they live in just isn't a good one. They live downtown and its a rough situation. We have seen them a couple times since they committed to baptism and they seem really excited. I think the excitement is good, but I think right now its not because of a testimony of the Book of Mormon or anything like that, they just are turning to God to help them and The LDS church was the church they turned to. They are nice people and want to change. That's what's important. Alvina and dolly are in their 60'sish by the way

So exchanges went well and I learned a lot from being with Elder Barton all day. He is our District Leader and a good missionary. The next day I was back with Boswell and we put Frankie on date. Frankie wasn't even up on our investigator board, but we met with him in the park and he accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 29th of October. It kinda came out of no where because, like alvina and dolly, Frankie is really hard to track down. We set up an appointment with him in the park and we taught him for the first time. Gave him a book of Mormon. Told him to read and pray. then put him on date. With him its kinda unlikely that he will be baptized on the 29th... He is a weird dude to say the least. Right now Elder Boswell and I are trying to determine if it would even be a good idea to baptize him because he is just a guy that we really don't know. Kinda creepy... I dunno. We just need to get to know him and really see if he is progressing in anything. He says he is reading the book of mormon. But also, he is leaving town for two weeks... So he wont even be in town to come to church! gah...

As for the rest of our investigators... Its all kinda dying. Boswell and I look at the board every night to plan and it seems like we have no one to visit. We're just in a funk and we need to get out of it! Maybe not even a funk. Probably not. We just see a lot of the same people a lot. But its great. really. its great. Eddie is still going forward. Kimberly has fallen of the face of the world for the past 2 weeks. I haven't even seen her. Denim is hard to contact. Marcus has been found but we haven't been able to meet with him. We have an appointment on Friday. When I email home about investigators it seems like I just throw out names and you guys probably don't know what I'm talking about. If that's the case then tell me and I will try to be more clear. But its hard to remember what I've told you and I know a lot about each of these people but don't have the time to write it all down ya know? I try my best!

We are still walking. Its good to walk. The weather is getting a little bit colder but mom sent me a bunch of great crap so im okay! Really though. That package was the greatest thing. I loved it, it made me happy to see the food and the suit and the coat. I wear the coat every morning in our home. then I take it off to go outside. For some reason it is colder inside then it is outside. especially in the morning. But the weather is pretty nice right now. We still wear short sleeves.

General Conference was really really good. I watched all sessions at the stake center and took a ton of notes. My favorite talks were by Brother Ardern and Brother Callister. Brother Ardern's was about spending time wisely and using the gift of time well. Especially as a missionary I have to determine if going somewhere is wasting the Lords time. Sometimes its easy to visit some people but if it wastes time then I should do something that is a better use of the Lords time. Brother Callister's talk was on the Book of Mormon and he just threw down on anyone who doesn't believe in the book of Mormon. It was a really good talk.

Those talks and Elder Holland in the priesthood session, President Monson was hilarious on Sunday Morning, Sister Dalton's was a great talk, I enjoyed Elder Ballard. I think his name was Kamashita... Brother Kamashita gave a good talk on missionary work. Mason, you should read that. The name was something Japanese. You can figure it out.

Missionary work is the best work ever. Not just because its the Lords work, but because it is the most fun. Every day is straight up fun. I enjoy it very much. I heard all about how fun it was to be on a mission but I didn't really understand until I got out. Every day I enjoy it more. I don't want to go home. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your letters. I appreciate them so so so much. Thank you grandma and pamela for your dedication to writing :). You guys are great. You too Tiffany. I know I haven't written you back in awhile... But I'm still thinking of you. you'll get a letter soon.

And Ciera, Mason, Mom, Dad, Dave. Thank you all for your prayers, letters, emails, and thoughts. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Paxman

The Work

Hey there,
The work this week wasn't as good as I expected. But, if my expectations aren't high then we wont get anywhere. We had a district meeting yesterday where we went over the importance of being bold with our baptismal invitations, we need to constantly be repenting, and we need to drop investigators/less actives if they are not progressing.

The reason why I am out here is to baptize people. that is the doctrine of Christ. So this week I plan on being more bold and introducing baptism with more importance and more directness. We need to start putting some people on date! Elder Boswell and I have some investigators that we could drop and we need to make more of an effort to get our investigators to progress if it is possible for them to do so. so pretty much we are going to be cutting the "dead weight" so to speak. We didn't get any investigators to church this week so that was depressing, but next week is General Conference of course so we will try really hard to get investigators to listen to what the prophet has to say.

We are having a lil get together at a members home with all the missionaries on Saturday for conference. A barbecue and General Conference watching party. Maybe we can get people there!

We never got to see Kimberly this week. She got caught up in the fair that is going on. The central Washington state fair is happening in Yakima right now and there was a parade on Saturday. Kimberly canceled on us on Saturday because she was at the parade and then she skipped out on church because she was too tired from the day before. We will try and meet up with her on Thursday. we have an appointment and we are going to baptize her! soon... she just needs to work out the W.O.W.  stuff... her daughter wants to be baptized though... 8 years old, julia, watches tangled every day. cute kid.

Joe is going no where. he needs to come to church

we met with Marcus and he rescheduled on us. he could be a really good find though.  we meet with him tonight.

Denim is M.I.A. we have not been able to contact him.

Steven and Bryar. I think we need to get more serious with them and tell them why we are here. TO BAPTIZE THEM! but seriously...

So, I got bit by a dog. and I got a Gatorade bottle thrown at me. pretty funny stuff hahaha.

Yesterday we ran into this girl who called us over and asked us what the difference was between a mormon and a christian. we told her that we are christian and we love Jesus. She proceeded to give us her address, phone number, name, she was pregnant and she told us she was having the baby in a couple weeks. she was very open with us, but she was nice. we are seeing her tonight after basketball... it could be fun. her name is Nichole and she is kinda on her own I believe. Her baby daddy isn't a great guy. I'll learn more tonight.

We met with this guy named Eddie on Saturday. He is in his 60's and he lives at an apartment downtown that is a rehab apartment. He is kinda in charge of making sure everyone stays off drugs and booze. He was a really nice guy and we taught him a first lesson. We invited him to read and pray and invited him to church. We should have asked him if he wanted to be baptized but we didn't. we had a member with us. Brother Delaney. and when we were describing the Holy Ghost to him we asked Brother Delaney to bear his testimony on the Book of Mormon. Brother Delaney is a real soft spoken person but he is way funny when he does talk. But he bore a really great testimony. In essence he said, "the feeling you get when you read the Book of Mormon is an overwhelming feeling of joy. You can be addicted to a lot of things like food or cigarettes (eddie smokes) but those only bring temporary joy. The Holy Ghost brings a lasting joy that you feel throughout your whole body and it just makes you happy." It was a great testimony and Eddie ate it up. He really appreciated what we had to say and I really appreciated what Brother Delaney had to say. It was an awesome visit. I hope we can see him again soon. He didn't come to church but I feel like he is progressing well.

Those were some of the experiences of the week... I cant think of any other ones.

The weather is getting colder. Everyone in Yakima has a dog. A lot of people smoke and its really hard to get them to stop. People in Yakima use sprinklers at all hours of the day, it makes no sense. The streets are really narrow here. the population of Yakima is about 120,000. I was surprised to hear it was that many. Its basically the size of St. George. A lot of people here still love the Seattle Super Sonics even though they don't exist anymore. Everyone is a seahawks fan and a mariners fan even though they both suck really bad. People cant pronounce my last name. Boswell can but he chooses not to. He calls me Pac-man, Paxamillion, Paxmaaaan, Paxton.

I hear Elder Boswell's mom is going to st george in november?

I love you all!
Love,
Elder Paxman

I'm Getting Old

Elder Boswell tells me daily that he is getting old. He turns four on Sunday. We are still so new to the work and we are kinda learning as we go because of our lack of experience but time moves fast and Boswell is getting old apparently. I look at elders who have been out a year and longer and they seem so old. I have no doubt that I can be where they are. It just seems like it will take forever until Ive been out a year. But then at the same time if you blink then its been a week and you didn't even see it go by.

So I tweaked my ankle last week right after I was done emailing. I was playing basketball... oops. But I walked ten miles the very next day and its all good. It still hurts a little but I am going to play basketball again today and try not to step on anyone's foot. Ill be fine. My feet hurt at the end of every day from walking so much. I usually fall asleep around 10 even though I am allowed to stay up until 1030. It is hard to wake up in the mornings and it seems like I'm always tired.

As far as the work goes it all looks very promising. Right now we are in the stage of preparing. We could be very busy in the near future with a lot of really good investigators, so right now we are just trying to get it all going. The investigators that are progressing for us are Kimberly and Julia, Joe, Steven and Bryar, and Denim. They are well on their way to make the changes in their lives that are necessary for baptism. Kimberly is Julia's mom and she dropped the missionaries a few weeks ago after being on date for baptism and quitting smoking for almost two weeks. She dropped the missionaries because she started smoking again and it just didn't feel right to her. We contacted her again on Wednesday and Elder Boswell was bouncing off the walls with joy because we got her back and she wanted to see us again. We have been meeting with her since then and she came to church on Sunday. All we need to help her with is her smoking and coffee issues. Its hard to know how to do that, but we will try and guide her. Julia, her daughter, loves us and she wants to be baptized and apart of the church.

Joe is a 60 year old man who loves his car, motorcycle, family, and cigarettes. He has been baptized in the roman catholic church and the stone church and now he is kinda just living his life and praying for guidance. Last time we met with him I was pretty straight up with him and I told him that the Elders coming to his home was the guidance that he was praying for. He was convinced that god wasn't answering that prayer, but I was there to tell him that God had answered him. He just didn't recognize it. I think he took it well. We invited him to church and prayed all week that he would come, but he didn't show up.

Even though Joe didn't show up we had a great day for less-active members and investigators showing up to church. Carey Neil showed up to church. I didn't realize it was such a big deal, but she apparently hasn't been to church for almost a year and she came two weeks into my mission. It was great to see her there but Elder Boswell was way excited. Which of course made me more excited. Also, Davit Knott came to church too. He has come two weeks in a row and it seems like he is getting back into the habit of coming to church. I know he likes coming, he just comes for sacrament and then leaves before we can talk to him.

Denim Meere is a new investigator and I am way excited to start teaching him. He is a referral from another companionship. His father in law was recently baptized and he is going to come with us to teach Denim. I have met Denim once and he is a way nice guy. We had an appointment with him yesterday but he forgot about some other commitments that he had made so we rescheduled. I'm super excited to get in with him and talk.

One other thing that happened this week is that we contacted a guy named Marcus Hartley. Elder Boswell found this guy in the area book and he and Elder Petersen knocked his door probably 20 times with no answer. He was on date to be baptized about a year ago but he was told he needed to wait a year before he could be baptized. Well its been a year and we are trying to find him. So i had knocked his door probably 4 times with no answer but one night he actually answered the door. and we were so surprised that the first thing Elder Boswell could think of to say was "are you Marcus Hartley?" he said yes and we made a return appointment ha ha. we meet with him on Friday. It could be a really good meeting. I'm excited to see him again.

Yakima is the best area to be born in. The crazy stories come daily. We walk down into the hood and talk to the crazy people and plan on meeting them again and you just hear some crazy stuff. Yesterday we were yelled at because we aren't taking care of the children enough ha ha.

I have still only knocked one door on my mission. we don't knock doors... We just walk. a lot.

I love you family!!! I sent personal emails to mom, dad, ciera, and mason.... Ill send some more. but that is all I will put in this email. I will try and write you all back. All the time I have to email is at night and I am usually pooped so I write a little bit. Talk to Betty. Then go to bed early. Its hard work. I love it so much.

Love you all, I hope I answered some questions and didn't leave anything out...

Love,
Elder Paxman

First E-mail From the Field

Hey all. So much to say and so little time

P-day is Tuesday first of all. You know that now. I got here last tuesday and stayed the night with the AP's in their apartment. There were about 20 of us in one 3 bedroom apartment. I got a bed though, lucky me. On Tuesday we basically went through orientation took pictures and ate food. There was a lot of information thrown at us and it was hard to process it all in the short time we had and I am still learning a ton. I don't think I will ever know it all. I'll always be learning the technical stuff of being a missionary.

I was told that I was going to the Selah Zone which is pretty much just Yakima. I hear Yakima and I think farm country. But its not, its a town, no farm land in my area. And mom, you told me you could handle it and to tell you everything, so let me tell you about Yakima :). I get here and Elder Boswell, my dad (trainer) tells me that it is the best place to be born as a missionary. He is correct I love it here in Yakima. The people are awesome and the members are helpful. The downtown area is pretty rough. "the hole" as we call it, is the hood of Yakima and it gets pretty rough. We just try not to walk around too late at night and if we are close to home then it is perfectly fine. Well, at least its safe enough. Yakima is known for its crime, violence on cherry street, car theft, and other things. A lot of the people we teach are white trash or hispanics and they are trying to get out of the hood. I love it so much.

The other day we were down on 2nd street which is the middle of the hood and we finished an appointment with Alvina Arora, as we were walking away we OYM'ed (Open your mouth - contacting) this young african american male. We gave him a card and complimented his outfit and as we were parting he said "Im on the prowl for some heroine shhhhh" then he walked away hahahaha. It was pretty hilarious. Things like that happen every day here. It makes missionary work much more fun.

Yakima is a walking area. walking/biking. But we walk. a lot. usually about 10 miles a day. The reason we walk in stead of bike is first because I dont have a bike yet. But also, because its easier to OYM people when you're on your feet rather than on a bike. Boswell and his dad, Elder Petersen, set the standart for OYM'ing. One week they got 140 OYM's which is insane. The standard of excellence set by the mission president is 84 and they destroyed that. So we are trying to keep that up even though school has started and people aren't on the streets as much.

Don't worry about my safety. Yakima is kinda rough, but I dont feel unsafe at all. I feel more safe then ever with the lord at my side. And really, its not as bad as a lot of people make it sound. We dont have very many investigators right now. Thats why we are doing so much contacting and finding. But the investigators we do have, Rebecca, Joe, Steven and Bryar, and others, are all on the verge of really wanting to change. Yakima isn't a great area if you want to baptize a ton as an english missionary, but there is definitely the opportunity for some hard work. Our OYM numbers show how hard we are working, and that will manifest itself into some more lessons taught and new investigators. Im excited for the work to keep moving forward.

Elder Boswell loves basketball, as Mom found out. He is 6'3" and a red head. Ryan will love that I'm sure. He is a real hard worker and a great dad. He has only been out 12 weeks so he is almost as green as me and he knows how I feel in a lot of situations. He is great at giving positive feedback and I always have to ask him for some criticism because he doesnt want to be mean. He is way nice and we have a lot in common. I am still learning a lot of things but I'm glad to have Elder Boswell to facilitate a lot of that learning.

read proverbs 26:11. Just for a laugh

Sunday was stake conference and I got to hear Jeffery R Holland speak again! it is amazing. he is following me. He said we need to stand in holy places and he gave three places that we should make holy and can use as sanctuaries. Home, church houses, and the temple. Good talk. Not as good as in the MTC, but still great to hear from the apostles.

We are staying with a member. I didnt know that that happened very often. Elder Boswell and I live with sister Betty Williams. She is about 55 years old and she is awesome. Her and Boswell get along real well. I'm out of time. I can tell you more about Betty next week or in some letters

Letter From Chase

I am going to the Selah Zone.  Yakima 3rd ward.  Elder Boswell is going to be my trainer.  All I know about him is that he has only been out 12 weeks.  That means that he just finished being trained and now he's a trainer.  I assume that's because he's an amazing missionary.  I will meet him tomorrow.

We just went through orientation at the President's home.  It was way nice.  Beauitful home.  We had such a nice lunch and dinner too.  President and Sister Greer are way nice and they're going to take care of all of us here.  I had an interview with the President, we ate, they gave me my area and trainers name.  And the AP's talk to us. 

Also, we went out and taught an actual appointment.  I taught with Elder Bowen and we went to a young family who had just been baptized about 2 months ago.  So we went and retaught the first lesson, the restoration.  I was nervous going into the lesson, but I know what I'm teaching so it gets easier.

When I was told where I'm serving I got so pumped.  I'm way excited to get tehre tomorrow and start the work with Elder Boswell.  I had the thought that he's only been out 12 weeks so he's not going to know anything and it's going to be hard.  But I'm not worried.  I trust President Greer, and the Lord. 

P-days are on Tuesday which is today.  So from now on that's when I'll be e-mailing and writing.  I thought P-day for all missions was Monday but apparently not.  Tuesday is the day.

I am safe.  Tell everyone that I love them.  By the way, Kennewick is a desert.  Not very pretty at all.  The mission is divided East and West.  West side is green.  East side is desert.  Selah is directly in the middle and to the north.  It should be green.  But not as much as Vancouver.

Elder Paxman

Safe Arrival

Leaving the MTC

So. Coolest thing that happened this week was Elder Holland coming on Tuesday for the devotional. I took three pages of notes and tucked them in my journal. It was the best. I have been to conference before and seen the apostles talk in person, but with Jeffrey R Holland talking to the missionaries it seems so much more personal.

He started by talking about God's love for us all. He is grateful for us and stuff like that. Eventually he got way passionate about us. He said "You dont have the right!' he kept saying that. You dont have the right to taint the good image of the missionaries. he said "Its almost painful how perfect people think you are". and he was almost yelling at the stand. Telling us that we didnt have the right to be anything less than perfect in the members/investigators eyes and we shouldnt do anything stupid to change that.

He opened it up for questions too, which reminded me of Grandma C and her letter she sent me. grandma, send me more letters like that. It was awesome to read about Elder Oaks and the questions that he answered. Elder Holland answered about 6 questions after going about 20 minutes over his time and then he departed. It was really really awesome.

I leave tomorrow. After spending three weeks in here its hard to believe its over. It went so fast. Like I told mom in one of my letters, the days move like weeks and the weeks move like days. Creative, huh? I'll be packing today, I hope I'm under the weight limit for my bags and that they dont get lost on the flight. Although I'm not terribly worried. I will be able to call for 15 minutes tomorrow at the SLC airport and I have everyones number so be by your phones around 10:30.

Today is p-day obviously, but we didnt get to go to the temple. It's closed for labor day. So we went twice while I was at the MTC. I loved going, the Provo Temple is really cool.

So, no more MTC basketball. we had gym time every day and I either played basketball, volleyball, or bocci. Is that how you spell it?? Bacheeee. botchee. we played bocci. That is a fun game. Elders wouldn't get too competitive in basketball. it was relatively tame. There are rules that you cant touch the net, backboard, or rim ever, and only half court basketball can be played.

We sang come thou fount as a district on sunday in sacrament meeting. the departing district from the zone always sings a musical number the sunday before they leave. it was awesome to sing. I had to sing the harmony most of the song, but luckily my companion is a music master. He is way good at singing and swimming. Any other sport he kinda sucks at. Oh well, I love him anyway.

Off to bigger and better things hopefully. what I've learned from the MTC is that missionary work is impossible without the Holy Ghost. I am slowly developing a better relationship with the spirit so that I can be in tune with the investigators needs and show them what God is trying to tell them.

MTC Life

I still havent figured out how to send pictures yet but I am working on that. You probably wont see any pictures until I get to the field. Speaking of the field, I have received my travel plans. I leave tuesday september 6th. depart from SLC at 1125 am and arrive in Pasco WA at 107 pm (MST). Its a short flight. 

 

Last week I didnt organize my thoughts very well. I probably still haven't but I wrote some things down that I wanted to share with you. Last night was the coolest night ever. We had sunday devotional and President McKif spoke. But the best part was the closing hymn. We sang called to serve and it was the coolest arangement. We sang the first verse and chorus quietly. the next verse medium loud. the chorus loud. and then we stood up and repeated the chorus one last time and we sang at full strength. 2000 elders and sisters in this room singing called to serve. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. If you ever have 2000 people at your disposal I would that ye should have them sing called to serve really really loud.

 

Mason, I exhort you to spend five minutes and dear elder me. Send me a sports update for heavens sake!!! I have been disconected for two weeks and I need some information. You're my man, so do it. cool, cool cool cool.

 

We watch films on sunday's after the devotionals. Last week we watched legacy, this week was the Joseph Smith film. It's hilarious when people kiss in the film because you get a bunch of whistling and clapping from the elders. I don't participate in such tom-foolery but I do appreciate it.

 

Fun story. Elder Wakefield in my district is the chubby little elder and he is hilarious. Perhaps I've mentioned him before... He has a girl at home waiting for him and he told us a story about her. You know how you put your mouth on a baby's belly and blow and they think its the funniest thing ever. Well Elder Wakefield's girl, Cathy, was doing this on his mouth. He thought it would be funny to blow back. So when she started to blow, he unexpectedly blew back and it caught her off guard and snot flew out of her nose all over him. And thats disgusting so he threw up all over the couch. That is the funniest story ever so stop shaking your head at me in disgust. I laughed extremely hard.

 

I do some things here that I probably should have done at home but didn't. One of those is making my bed. I make my bed right when I wake up. Its the first thing I do. Also, I make everyone else's bed in my room. My companion's and Elder Wakefield and Elder Palmers bed's too. Today we woke up really early so I didn't have the energy to make their beds for them... I felt really bad. We went to the temple this morning and had to wake up at 5:30 to get there on time. Another thing I do here that I should have done at home is I have made a goal to do 100 push-ups or 300 crunches each day. Or both. And thats pretty easy so I might make it more. Elder Wakefield and I have commited to do this and I have been doing it every day but he sucks and I usually end up doing like 40 push-ups for him so that he gets to 100.

 

On a more spiritual note I have been learning so much here. I have really developed my faith in the past two weeks. I have seen how trusting in the lord makes all the difference. Trusting in the lord can mean so many things and recognizing those things is one of the ways that I have grown closer to him. Faith Patience and Humility are the three big things that I have developed. I would be nothing without my Heavenly Father and Savior. I realize that and its amazing how reading the scriptures, praying, and devoting yourself to Him can make the such a huge difference in your life. It is my testimony that God can change our human nature. We can become new beings in Him if we allow ourselves to change. I hope to gain a greater testimony of that not only through myself, but also by seeing other people change in Washington.

First P-Day

Hello everyone. Let me first tell you that I only have thirty minutes to email each p-day, which for me is monday. Not every missionaries p-day here is monday, so it was lucky that mine was. You shouldn't email me until I am in the field. I dont have time to read long emails and write one too so you should use dear elder. It is so so so much better. I get the letter the day you send it and then I dont have to waste my email time.  I am glad you're thinking of me though and emailing me. I have written everyone I just need to find the time to send it. We are not technically supposed to write letters on anything other than p-day, but I miss you all so much that i have "broken" that rule a little bit. I trust that you are all doing well and loving life.

You're probably wondering about my ankle. It hurts. I am trying to stretch it daily and get it better but with all the movement that goes on daily I havent been able to reduce the swelling or much of the pain. I just try to ignore it and I hope that it will go away eventually. I dont complain about it to my companion Elder Marshall. He is great by the way. I can see in my district that the companionships are calls from the lord and not our leaders. We work well together. In my district everyone is going to Kennewick other than my companion and one other sister. They are going to Toronto Canada. For some reason there werent many missionaries called to the Toronto Mission so they needed to put the odd ones out with other districts. The structure of the MTC is districts and zones, just like the mission field. There are 4 elder companionships and 2 sister companionships in my district (12 people total). There are three districts in my zone. When we go to sacrament meeting and other sunday meetings we meet with our whole zone but other than that we usually just stick together in districts. I eat learn sleep and do everything with my district.

So far in my MTC experience what I have gathered is that Role Playing is a huge part of the experience. I have role played so much in the past 5 days and I already feel so much more prepared to be in the field. I see the progress I have made and it makes me wonder why the lessons were ever taught any differently. Memorization of the lessons would make it easier to teach but so much less efficient. We are being taught to teach by the spirit and to tailor each lesson to the investigators needs. I have something called a TRC on tuesday which is a simulated teaching experience with someone from outside the MTC who comes in to be taught by a set of missionaries. We are given a little background on these people and an appointment to meet them. I havent done any TRC's yet but I imagine it will be a lot like the mission field in some ways and I am excited to learn from the experience.

My days are filled with a ton of personal study time in which I study the lessons in PMG as well as the scriptures. Also there is classroom time. 6 hours of that each day. The classroom time is taught by a returned missionary and sometimes it is us role playing with him and other times he is teaching us how to teach or other things. Classroom instruction and personal study cover the bulk of each day. Meals for our district are usually at 710, 1140, and 440. Its an extremely early dinner but so far I havent really had any problems with starvation in between dinner and breakfast the next morning. The food is great but I'll eat anything. They have plenty of variety and like I said, its all good.

The first few days dragged on so so so so slowly. They are long days and each minute is planned. Also, I miss home. Sometimes I feel like the only elder here who gets down because he misses his family. I know the other elders are hiding it just as I am but its hard to be away from family and kristen. I miss you guys a lot and I might have to break my leg on purpose so I can come home :). It does get easier every day to deal with the home sickness. Sometimes it hits me really hard during personal study and I cant focus but What I have learned is that I need to have faith that Heavenly Father will provide a way for me to press forward. I can't believe its only been five days. They say the first sunday is hump day and time will begin to move at normal speed again.

See You Later-MTC Drop Off

It was sad to say goodbye but Chase was so excited so that made it a little easier.  The MTC had so many elders there and it was a beautiful day in Provo.  I'm sure Chase is loving it.