Be Prepared to Learn Something

Friends and family!

We found 25 new investigators again this week. That was our goal! I am very pleased with that. Everyone in the zone is working really hard.

Elder Hutchens and I were able to teach 23 lessons this week! It's been awhile since I've been able to teach 20 in a week. He and I are working well together. I really enjoy being his companion. I've been thinking a lot about mason this week. He has a great privilege of going to the MTC. That was some of the best three weeks of my life. And he gets to stay there for 6 weeks! Lucky guy. I absolutely loved it there. Mason will do well. I'm really excited for him. Thinking of it makes me reflect back to when I first started. I wish I knew how to instill certain things about obedience, hard work, and missionary skills but all I know how to do is repeat myself and bear testimony. So I hope he can learn fast that working on those three things will be the best thing he can do for his mission. Just keep that focus and everything else works out. Just as long as you're not focused on anything else. #1 should be missionary work. That's what these two years are for.

Yesterday we were tracting and we knocked the door of a woman who wasn't wearing a very modest shirt to say the least. But she was very nice! We introduced ourselves and she said "I grew up Mormon" I asked how long it had been since she had attended. She said "Well, I haven't attended since I came out as gay." I continued unfazed and asked if she would be interested in relearning about the gospel. She said "I don't think my wife would be okay with that". It is so weird to hear a woman refer to someone as her wife. It seems so backwards. But it makes for good stories at district meeting.

Kinley will be baptized this Saturday if no one gets sick. We announced it again and expect it to happen. She is again excited to have it happen. So we're preparing for it.

Also, in the zone there is another baptism Saturday morning. So we should have 3 baptisms this weekend and 6 for the month of March! Very good. Hermiston stake doesn't usually get that much. We have a lot lined up for April too. We're excited.

We are teaching a young man named Jeremy Raymond. I don't know if I have mentioned him. He is in the YSA and has attended for the past month now. And is progressing pretty nicely. He comes to FHE and any other activities that he can. We were teaching him one night and his sister decided to sit in. She loved the lesson and took a book of mormon. She is 16 years old so we told the missionaries who cover the family ward in that area to go over. They stopped by a couple days later and have been back since with the YW president. Her name is Teona. She went to church this Sunday and had friends there. She is planning on getting baptized on the 14th of April! So cool. The missionaries who teach her are the ones who live with Elder Hutchens and I. Elder Babbitt and Elder Knight. We're excited for them. It's been awhile since they've had this kind of success.

Last night we got to go over to Brother Puzey's house to share a thought with him. Brother Puzey used to be a Bishop and has served on the High council for a total of 13 years. He is one of the smartest people I have ever met and we talked to him for about an hour last night. Before we went over there I said to Elder Hutchens "be prepared to learn something". And we definitely did. He says some amazing stuff. I think it is so cool that we get to talk to so many people on our missions. Members and non-members. Lately I have been telling myself (and Elder Hutchens) before we go into an appointment "be prepared to learn something" and without fail we always come out of the appointment enlightened and spiritually uplifted.

Well. this was a weird email. Thats how it usually works I guess. I just throw a lot of random things down. Oh well.

Love,

Elder Paxman

Pictures from the last Zone Leader Conference: 

Meetings, Green Food and a Baptism

This is what happened this week.

We had a lot of meetings.

We had the trainer/trainee meeting on tuesday and a leadership training on wednesday. They were both great. I love meetings and conferences but two full days in a row was hard. It made me have a new appreciation for President Greer. He sits in a lot lot lot of meetings.

I'm already getting short on time... 7 minutes left.

Quick story. We had dinner yesterday. Green eggs and ham. And green pancakes. And green everything else we ate. The juice was green and it was very cold. The glass cup that was given to me just came out of the dishwasher and was very warm. So when I put the cold beverage in the warm cup it made a cracking noise and in a couple seconds it broke into two even pieces. It was pretty cool. It split cleanly right down the middle. But the green drink went all over my lap. Good thing I was wearing my green suit! It wasn't so bad. It will come out at the dry cleaners if I ever get to that... We'll see. That suit is pretty hammered anyway.

What else.

We had a baptism this saturday! Israel Mendoza. In the YSA. First one in the YSA for a long time. We had 60 people in the YSA this week because we had Israel's confirmation and there was a missionary farewell. It was a good day for the YSA. Israel is great. He's a little shy and a little awkward, but so is everyone else in the Hermiston YSA.

Hopefully we have a few more baptisms to come in march. We are working real hard. Kinley's was moved to the 30th. She wanted to be baptized the day before easter. We were lucky that was a saturday.

And Natalie has run into some opposition from her family... Disappointing. But we hope to see her through it.

Alright. I gotta go or this might not send. 2 minutes left! Then it kicks me off forever. Don't ask me what I did with the other 53 minutes... I dont know.

Love,
Elder Paxman

Short Update

This is going to be really short because I'm already out of time.

We were supposed to have a baptism this week but it didn't happen because Kinley's mom is in the hospital. They called us the morning of to cancel. So we will reschedule for a date later this month. Hopefully the 23rd.

Natalie had to move her baptism too. It is now on march 30th instead of the 16th.

We did have a baptism fall in our laps though. Israel Mendoza will be baptized this saturday into the YSA. That's whats on our minds right now. March is a crazy month... It seems like we have to drive to Kennewick like 6 times this month... I don't really like it because it's making it hard to work our area. I hope we can get everything done that we need to. Tonight will be an exchange with the AP's. Tuesday we have to go to tri-cities for a training. Wednesday is the same thing. then we are staying the night in Heppner this weekend after the baptism on Saturday. It should be a busy week. Way too busy.

Love you all!

Elder Paxman

Letter from President and Sister Greer

March 4, 2013

Elders and Sisters,

The hastening continues!!  In February we “totally shattered” our goal and had a wonderfully unified effort of 56 baptisms!  Your hard work and effort continues to be evident as thirteen people were brought to the waters last week and 205 new investigators were found.  We need to keep moving to reach our goal of 55 this month. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to finding the elect.

We have now received more details from priesthood leaders about the stakes that will initially form the recently announced Washington Vancouver Mission.   Effective July 1, 2013, the following Stakes from the Washington Kennewick Mission will be transferred to the Washington Vancouver Mission:

Longview Washington Stake

The Dalles Oregon Stake

Vancouver Washington Stake

Vancouver Washington East Stake

Vancouver Washington North Stake

Vancouver Washington West Stake

On the same date, the following four (4) Stakes  from the Oregon Portland Mission will be transferred to the Washington Vancouver Mission:

Gresham Oregon Stake

Portland Oregon Stake

Portland Oregon East Stake

Rainier Oregon Stake

We have not yet received information confirming the East Side mission alignment.  Stay tuned.

Sister Greer and I cannot count the number of times we have been residing in a ward, stake or mission that has been subject to division or realignment.  In every case, it has resulted from growth in the church.  It is very important for each of us to sustain the decision of the brethren.   We urge you to stay focused on your purpose—to find, teach and baptize!! 

With love, President and Sister Greer 

District Leader Council

Family,

 

Another positive week in the mission field.

It is quite sad to hear of the passing of Cherie... I got a call from President Greer last night about it and I figured I would hear more today. My prayers are with the family. I wish I could be there.

Hermiston is doing well. We got 32 new investigators this week as a zone. That is amazing. Last week we got 36. As I have said before these numbers are incredible. We have 14 missionaries in our zone which is half the size as some other zones yet we are finding just as much and often more than most zones in the mission right now. We hope to keep it up! We have some really good missionaries right now.

We had a recent District Leader Council with Elder Babbitt and Elder Hundley and Elder Hutchens and I did a mini-training for them. I prepared a few Old Testament stories in Daniel 3 and 6 for the training and linked it all to leadership and how to be better leaders. Something that I learned as I taught was this: Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were commanded to worship a golden image that king Nebuchadnezzar created. They refused and they were brought before the king. In Daniel 3:16 it says something along the lines of "they were not careful with their words". I thought that was really cool. Sometimes other missionaries will try to influence us to not follow the rules completely and as leaders we shouldn't be "careful with our words" we shouldn't tip-toe around their feelings. We should be bold and loving and firm in obedience like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego.

The second story is about Daniel and the lion's den. and that is found in Daniel 6. I think it's in verse 5 where the presidents and princes realized that Daniel was way too righteous for them to find any fault in him so they had to make a law against obedience to catch him. Sometimes that happens in the mission field too. Missionaries can make it seem unpopular to follow a particular rule in the mission field and they almost create this "law against obedience". Just like in Daniel 6 when the law was made that you couldn't pray. Daniel stood firm and did it anyway and was cast into a den of lions as punishment. But by his faith he was delivered out of danger. And then the Lord caused the Presidents and Preists and their women and children to be cast into the den and they were ripped into pieces and eaten up!!! Isn't the old testament great???

Anyway. This is less of an email and more of a lecture at this point but I thought that was cool. And isn't it funny how we learn more when we teach rather than when we're being taught? So bear your testimony! It will do more for you than it will do for anyone else.

Speaking of that. I got to bear my testimony twice again yesterday. I think that's 8 times in the last three months...

We had another 'Hasten the Work' meeting last night. This one was much larger than the one in Yakima. It was in tri-cities (about 40 minutes from Hermiston) and Elder Risenmay, President Greer and Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy were there. It was pretty much identical to the meeting we had in Yakima. I was blessed to be at two of them. Elder Maynes part was completely new though. But, About 6 months ago Elder Maynes came to our mission and I got to hear him speak and he used a lot of the same material again haha. So it was a lot of repeating but it was all good.

Elder Maynes mad the comparison that Joseph Smith was essentially the first investigator in this last dispensation. And he is the best example of any investigator ever. He had a question and he did his best to find the truth. And in this instance Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ represent the first missionary companionship of the final dispensation and every missionary companionship to follow them was following their lead. I though that was pretty weighty. I really do represent the Savior as a missionary for this church. And I may be the closest thing to the Savior that some of these people will ever experience. That gives a whole new meaning to my mission.

Elder Maynes also discusses that we need to change from the theoretical to the application. Everyone is excited about all the new missionaries and we've been making plans for years to be better member missionaries and full-time missionaries but now is the time to put those plans to action! Exciting times to be a member of the church :).

Elder Hutchens and I are doing great. He has a ton of really great ideas to find. Very creative. It will be a good transfer. We have a baptism lined up for the next two weeks. Kinley Neely (13) and Natalie Trotter (46). We have been working with these two families for a long time now and it will be wonderful to see them enter the waters of baptism. Natalie will be a wonderful member. She has been living the commandments for years now. It just took a little bit to get her to see the truth.

Busy busy week ahead. And a busy month too! I hope we can keep everything straight... I hope I'm not forgetting anything!!! There's so much to keep track of recently.

Well. This was a good email. Sorry for preaching at you.

Love,
Elder Paxman