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