Training Letter From Mission President

Baptizing and Confirming

Family,

It was a really busy week. We are still doing our dirty 30 New Investigators per week in Pasco Zone. We failed this week... For only the second time yet. It was kinda disappointing. We were only at 15 going into Sunday... So we needed 15 on our last day. That wouldn't be the most we have ever found in one day but we were unable to do it. Elder Burgess and I spent all of our time finding on Sunday. We had already found 3 new investigators that week but we wanted to help the zone out! So all of our activities were spent finding. We ended up getting 6 new investigators and we put 5 people on date on Sunday alone. Marina, Shane, Mikey, Victoria and Michael are the ones on date. And the new investigators are Marina, Luis, Felix, Olivia, Michael and Joshua. Craziness. Art, Anthony and Destiny were the three other new investigators we got this week. ALSO, I had the privlege of baptizing two people this week. Hooray! Alycea and Lili are their names. The older one is Alycea. I attached a picture.

So! Busy weekend. The whole week was busy. But especially the weekend. Not only did I get to perform the baptisms, I also got to do both the confirmations. We didn't have very much male fellowship in the ward for the two girls so they really only knew me... I was very honored to be a part of it.

Baptisms pump you up.

We stopped by the orozco's house every day this last week getting the girls ready for their baptism. And in due course we ended up putting Mikey Marina and Shane on date as well. Marina and Shane need to get married first. And they will do that on the 15th of September. We just need to go get their license and then set it up with bishop. It should be pretty small and simple. Then the baptism will be the next week. That is also the week that Jyheam Jaysean A'mi and D'vonte are getting baptized. That will be a busy day. We hope that Sandra and Catrina get baptized that day as well... That would be really good.

Elder Burgess and I are really blessed to be working in this area. A lot of other companionships struggle to get new investigators so we try to do our best to pull our weight. 9 new investigators 24 lessons and 9 people on date now. I love Pasco 2nd and 4th wards.

Training is getting easier. Because Elder Burgess is a fast learner. He humors me. I try not to be prideful. I have to remember that I don't know everything. Elder Burgess is a good man. He's fun to work with because he has such a desire to work and work right. I just hope we can work right and that I'm teaching him the right things.

Joshua is one of our new investigators and he is pretty cool. We have been trying by his place many times. More than we usually try. Usually we give a person like 5 or 6 chances and if we don't catch them then we move on. But we keep missing Joshua and something was pulling us back. We finally met with him last night. We learned a little more of his situation. He is 24 and is on dialysis. He has Kidney Failure. So he goes to treatments every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He has a firm belief in God despite his struggles and was open to learn more. That was the last thing we did last night and we got in a little later than we wanted to because of it but it was well worth our time. We weren't out past our curfew ha ha.

That's all I got. I love you all.

I'm glad mason is transitioning well. I hope Mikayla is doing the same. I hope the book launch went well. And that Dave gets home from Georgia safely. And many more things that I didn't include here... I appreciate all the news from home. Go Broncos.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Another Great Week

Well family and kristen,

 

This week was just like any other. It was great. I think I say that every week... I've never had a bad week out here. Sometimes there are bad days but there has never been a bad week. The bad days are easy to get over. It doesn't seem like it in the moment because the immediate results dont usually show. And you are just on your knees and you feel sad and then you end the prayer and you still have problems. But then you fall asleep and wake up and the problems don't seem that bad at all. Perhaps it isn't that way with all issues. But for most it works. For bigger ones it might take a few more days. But I haven't had to deal with any of those recently haha. I am not so sure that what I just typed made any sense but I don't have the time nor patience to reread it all. The ten minute sign just flashed on me for this library computer...

 

We have 6 people on date right now and 2 of those are set up for this Saturday. It might turn into three baptisms though. It's the Orozcos. Lili and Alycea are getting baptized for sure. And Lili's brother, Mikey (13) just got back into town and his mom is really pushing for him to get baptized with his sister and cousin this saturday. He isn't so sure because he just spent a bunch of time with his dad in California and his dad kinda anti'ed him out of anything to do with mormons. But he is only 13! So maybe his non-member mom and member aunt can talk some sense into him. His mother, Marina, really really wants to get baptized. But she needs to get married first. Hopefully we can put that all together for next month. It should happen. Then her boyfriend will be her husband and they can both get baptized!

 

We also have a lot of good potential on the horizon.  There is a good possibility of 8 total baptisms for us in the month of September. The Orozcos and the Macks. Both families came to Stake Conference. And also Victoria. We taught her last night. We ended up talking for about 2 and a half hours! About pretty much everything. By the end we soft committed her to be baptized. We are plugging along with her. And we hope that it can keep moving forward. I'll let you know more about that later.

 

It was stake conference this week. Elder Foster of the seventy came. Wonderful.

 

Training is harder than being a District Leader haha. But for me, that just means that I'm learning more. It's taking me back to the beginning of my mission. I try to remember how I felt. I'm trying to push away pride and use patience. It's a lot of work but a lot of fun.

 

NO TIME HAVE TO SEND THIS.

Training

This week went well. Tuesday was sad. It was really hard to say goodbye to Elder Camba. He is the type that didn't want to talk about it. Even when we said goodbye we didn't prolong it. I felt really bad for him. He wasn't excited to go. I hope I don't bother Elder Burgess too much when I mention him.

Elder Burgess is my new companion. He is not from Utah. Or America. He is from Samoa. It's so cool. You wouldn't think that Samoa would be too different but there are a lot of things that I've had to explain to him ha ha. He is 23 years old. He already has a degree from Wellington University in New Zealand. It's a degree in internation relations, media, and human sciences. He also managed a gym/bar before his mission. He's already an adult ha ha. I asked him why he waited to serve a mission and he said he just wasn't ready until now. He plans on going back to college (or university as he calls it) to get his masters when he gets home.
So he was born in New Zealand, raised in Samoa, he did a foreign exchange program in Japan for awhile, and He went to school in Wellington, New Zealand for three years. He has visited the states before but has never lived here. Until now.

The differences in culture are funny. For him and myself. We went to Subway today. There are no Subways in Samoa but there are in New Zealand. He says his favorite sub from subway is the lamb sandwich. That's his favorite kind of meat for anything, lamb.

Another thing is that he hasn't ever been to a Walmart and he was a new missionary so he had no clue what to buy on the first day here. So I shopped for him ha ha. He didn't know what to do.

Also, He swears periodically ha ha. I wasn't sure if I misheard him the first time he dropped the H word because he speaks with a Samoan accent but I heard him correctly ha ha. I asked him about it and they just aren't swear words in Samoa. He accidentally said the A word at dinner the other night ha ha. He said "ya I think it's pretty bad a** that Elder Paxman was born in Israel" ha ha ha. I don't think the members heard, and if they did they just ignored it. So that's when I asked him about it and I let him know what were swear words in the US. He felt bad. And I don't think he'll swear anymore. At least not on purpose.

I've been making a list of words or phrases he says that are different than the way we speak ha ha. It's fun. He is a big big movie buff. He loves movies and music and TV and anything pop culture. He doesn't talk very much around other missionaries. He talks a lot with me and a lot more in lessons. It's hard for me to get a word in in lessons... So we're working on that ha ha. He knows a lot but I'm trying to teach him that we don't need to tell people everything we know about a subject. We just need to stay focused on our lesson plan. It takes a lot of patience on my part. And I don't want to make him feel bad when I criticize his teaching. But if I don't say anything he wont learn... A lot of things will come with time and repetition. He already has a very good basis of gospel knowledge, so he's doing better than I was when I was new.

We get along well. And we're getting a lot of work done. He is amazed by how many Mexicans live in Pasco ha ha ha. I love it. He's got some weird quirks that come along with being a little bit older, but nothing too weird. He's just particular about lights being on and blinds being open and fans being on ha ha ha. I just let him do his thing. It's fun to be around a new missionary. I just hope I can be a good companion for him.

No more time! Sorry family. I will update you more on the work next week. Elder Burgess and I are still keeping it up.

Love,
Elder Paxman

p.s. I love you tons and tons Kristen Woodbury.

Trainer

This week we got transfer calls again. I got the call to train. We didn't think anything was changing. Again. Normally when you are training you get the call on Friday and we didn't receive any calls that day from President. So we were sure nothing was changing. But then we got a call on Saturday afternoon and President called me to train. That means Elder Camba is leaving and we are all very sad... Although I am very excited to train, which makes it easier for me. But I am sad to say goodbye to Elder Camba so soon and I'm sad for him that he has to leave. We were doing so well together. And we got along very well. He is getting transferred to Kennewick with Elder Winters. But he refuses to talk about it ha ha. Usually when someone gets transferred they want to ask other Elders about their new area/companion, but Elder Camba doesn't want to talk about it. I think he is in denial. I feel bad that he has to go. He is probably the best missionary that I have served with so far. And he has had to move around a lot... He has a good attitude about it despite the denial. He'll be fine. But I will miss him.

It is a lot easier for me though. Because I have been looking forward to training for a long time. And I get to stay in Pasco for two more transfers! Usually when you train you stay together for two transfers then there comes a change. Because I am staying that probably means that I will be around for Sandra/Katrina/Jyheam/Jaysean/A'mi/D'vonte's baptism I might also be around for the Orozco's baptism. We will see. I talk a lot about all these people and I hope it's not too confusing. I hope you know who everyone is.

Phoenix's baptism was on Saturday. That makes 4 for this transfer. I've had 8 baptisms in two transfers! that is really really a lot for an English missionary. Phoenix's baptism went well... It had really low attendance, but I think that was a good thing for both Phoenix and his mom Carmen. They only had three people in the confirmation circle on Sunday too. Now the goal will be to keep them active. That might be the harder part.

Linda and Elijah showed up to church! That was amazing. Someone told me they were here and I didn't believe it until I saw it. Elder Camba and I are separated during church because we have so many meetings to go to, so I didn't see them until after meetings. It was so so so great to see them there. We totally lost contact with them recently and we had given up because they were gone. But then they showed up and we're going to start teaching again. They ended up just moving rooms in their hotel. So not too much. But enough to have lost us. I wish they would have made an effort to find us sooner but this is better than nothing.

Tom Duvall has set a date to quit smoking and after he quits he should be baptized. That's the only thing holding him back right now.

Well. I'll tell you more about my new companion next week. I'm very very excited. Hopefully we can keep our success going!

Love,
Elder Paxman