Another Great Week

Hello there,

It was a good week. I was anticipating transfer calls all week. They finally came. Everything in our zone changed. The only thing that I expected to happen that did happen was that Elder Lee got transferred and I will be with Elder Camba. There were a bunch of other changes within the zone. Every companionship changed in some way. Two companionships got doubled out. The AP's are now in a quad-panionship with someone who is getting doubled in and training and will have 3 wards. I don't know how much all of this means to you, but things will be a lot different next transfer. It will still be fun of course. And Elder Camba is a very hard worker.

Speaking of Elder Camba. I think I told part of his story last week. He was in Vancouver for 3 transfers and then he got sent home because missionary medical realized that he was on a medicine that you can't be on while you're on a mission. So the plan was to send him home and get him off the meds. He thought it was going to take six months, and if that was the case he didn't think he would want to come back out. And I don't blame him, I don't think I would want to either. But he worked with President Greer and the Mission President in Arizona (He is from Gilbert) and they gave him permission to serve in his home mission while he got on the right meds. So he was home for four weeks then he started serving in the Arizona Tempe Mission for three months and now he is back out here. The transfers in Arizona and Washington don't match up so we had three people in the companionship for a couple weeks. But now Elder Lee is going to Vancouver and Elder Camba and I are staying. If you're wondering what nationality that name is it's Filipino. He is half Filipino and half German. But he's pretty much 100% American. There are some things that he does that remind me a lot of Elder Dutson. Same genre of person I guess.

In the Arizona Tempe Mission they are super super strict. I didn't realize how chill President Greer was until I heard some of the stories that Elder Camba had from Arizona. President Hows in Arizona took away P-day for a couple weeks because they didn't have a high enough percentage of progressing investigators on date. So they needed to either start putting people on date or dropping investigators. They had a list of CD's that they could own and listen to. They weren't allowed to drive on Thursdays even if they had a car. They hardly ever knocked doors because President Hows didn't like that. Basically everything that Elder Camba says about it makes it sound like the No Fun Mission. Maybe it's not that bad but it sounds a lot different than what we have going on in the WKM. A lot more obedient.


Due to the change in missions. Elder Camba had brought a lot of ideas from Arizona. Which is good and bad. It makes me feel like crap because the missionaries are so good there ha ha. But also, it's good because it's an opportunity for me to learn how to be better. Elder Camba had been out 6 weeks less than I have but sometimes I have to remind myself of that. He is a good missionary. I am trying to get along with him as a person too. I just don't fully understand him yet. It's good that we got two weeks to transition. I really enjoyed the tri-panionship.

Moving on. This week we had a lesson with Charles and Mercy. They were a referral from Bishop. They live across the street from him. We were finally able to set something up with him. He has met with missionaries before and he was really impressed with Elder Moses from his past. Charles reads the Bible every day so he is familiar with that and Elder Moses was good at relating all that he said to the Bible. So when we got in there Charles was very nice. He started talking about the Bible vs the Book of Mormon. He sees no problem with the Book of Mormon but he believes that the Bible stands on it's own as God's word and doesn't need anything else. So when we say that we need both of them he has a problem. He asked if he could have a Book of Mormon and we pulled a brand new one out. He then asked me if I had a Bible on me. I pulled mine out and then he asked me to show him a scripture in the Bible and the Book of Mormon that matched up with each other. I was going to flip to 3 Nephi 11 and John 10:16. But before I could do that he stopped me and said that he wanted me to randomly flip somewhere in the BOM and relate it perfectly to the Bible. Uh oh... So I grabbed the Book of Mormon and flipped it open. And guess where it landed? 3 Nephi 11. Exactly. So I related it to John 10:16 and he was very impressed. He read both verses and saw how similar they were and really liked what he saw. It was a miracle ha ha.

Yesterday we had a Recent Convert Fireside in our stake. There were three testimonies by recent converts and then all the missionaries there sang the mission song and then President Greer spoke. When President Greer spoke it was awesome. His message was powerful. He spoke of the Doctrine of Christ and Gifts from God. When describing the Gift of the Holy Ghost vs. the influence of the Holy Ghost he used an analogy that I had never heard before. He said the influence of the Holy Ghost is like walking through a rainy field at night and then lightning strikes and we see our way, but that is followed again by darkness. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is like walking through the field on a bright clear day. We all know these things already but it was great to hear them put that way. I love when President Greer speaks. I would write more but I'm running out of time.

It was a great week. I'm looking forward to serving with Elder Camba in this area. We have another person on date. Hopefully we can baptize a lot this transfer. Thank you all for your support. Love you!

Love,
Elder Paxman

p.s. Pictures of Elder camba and I and Baby Ann's baptism

Third Companion

I'm moving slow today... I had lots of emails to read.

This week was crazy. We got a call on Thursday that we would be receiving a third companion, Elder Camba. He came in the next day. He was in Arizona. He started in the WKM but had to go home for health reasons. He was home for 4 weeks then he went back out into the mission field in his home mission in Gilbert Arizona. He served there for three months and then he was cleared to come back to Washington. So President decided to put him with us. I don't really know what's going to happen next transfer, but I do know that there will only be two of us, so someone is leaving. My best bet is that Elder Lee will be leaving and I will stay with Elder Camba. But both Elder Camba and Elder Lee could leave and I could get someone else. Who knows. I will tell you in a week.

Also, in one of the wards we cover, we are getting a new bishop next week. I will let you know about that too. It should be a good thing. Bishop Christensen served for about 5 1/2 years, so it was his time.

We had a baptism yesterday too. I fasted all day for that and for our new investigator goal as a zone. The baptism went well. I was worried the whole way that she wouldn't even show up for her baptism ha ha ha ha. Baby Ann is a very shy girl. But she made it! And she's glad it's over ha ha. Now she can just move on with the rest of her life in the church. She will be confirmed next week. I was able to baptize here. That was a good experience. The water was very warm. I think the baptism went well due to the fasting and prayers.

Going along with that, I fasted for our zone's new investigator goal. We went into Sunday (Father's Day) 9 short of our goal. And we never get 9 on any given day. But I got a text from Elder Pickett and Elder Ruettinger in my district saying that they just got 5 new investigators!!! So Elder Lee, Elder Camba and I had a renewed sense to work and we went out and got one more. Then we called the Zone leaders and they told us that they got three on the day!!!! SUCCESS! It was awesome. And just as a cherry on top, Elder Pickett and Elder Ruettinger got two more before the night was done. So we did it. That was an awesome experience. And the prayers worked! That was two weeks in a row where we hit our zone goal for new investigators.

I don't really have any more time... I'm sorry this is so short. I hope it all made sense... I will try and move faster next week. I'll definitely get you pictures of the baptism and other stuff like that. Love you all.

Elder Paxman



P.S. Here are some pictures from our P-Day lunch today.

Pictures

Busy Working

Family and friends,

 

It was another good week. Kinda stressful working out all the details of a baptism but it will work. Baby Ann's baptism will be on Sunday. She is 17 and their whole family just doesn't talk! They are all so shy. So when we were asking Baby Ann who she wanted to talk at her baptism/who she wanted to baptize her/what songs we should sing/when it should be, she gave little to zero input. So I volunteered myself to baptize her and we set up the rest of it all by ourselves... I just hope she shows up!! So we set it up for Saturday at 6. But then bishop said that wouldn't work for him and he really wants to be there. So we rescheduled for Friday at 8. But that didn't work for our WML or for Sister Bedoya who is going to speak at the baptism. So we moved it to Sunday after church. Which is fathers day... But it was the best we could do!

 

We got a referral on Tuesday morning from Brother Hale, who is the Ward Mission Leader of the YSA branch. He told us that there was a brother who had showed up to church a couple times but he is 33 so he is too old to go to the YSA. So he sent him to us. We went over there Tuesday night and after 10 minutes of knowing him, I put him on date for July 7th. As I was extending the invitation I didn't realize what I was saying. So I asked "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" He said yes. And I was going to stop there. But then the Spirit opened my mouth again and I said "We will be holding a baptismal service on July 7th, will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that date?" and he thought about it for a couple seconds and shrugged his shoulders and said "umm, yeah". It was awesome! His name is Isaac Verduzco. And he came to church! He looked awesome. Hopefully we can keep that up.

 

We taught 28 lessons again. We always have something to do. We received 4 referrals on Sunday. We are going to see Casandra and Gavin again this week! Im super excited for that. That will be on Thursday. She didn't come to church again this sunday but maybe next week... I hope she is still interested.

 

Elder Barton is doing well back home. Apparently the issues with his sinuses were worse than they thought so he probably wont be coming back which is a real shame. Darn.

 

We got a text from Natalia telling us she moved to California and she would be there for 6 weeks so she could be closer to her deported husband... So we texted her back the next day and she told us she actually hadn't left yet. So we went over and talked to her. At the end of the meeting I think we left her with an understanding that she needs to follow the law. Always. And we suggested that she should go through the process of getting her husband legal so that she doesn't have to worry about all the other things that are bothering them.

 

Linda is turning herself in to the police to get rid of a warrant that was out for her arrest. She had a DUI that she never served time for. She said that it should be about 30 days. Maybe less. So that's kinda a good thing I guess. She is trying to turn her life around.

 

Connie Acosta came to church with her family!! (The ramirez family). She is still planning on getting married on August 4th and baptized on the 11th. They just need to keep coming to church!!

 

Love you all!!!

 

Thank you for your prayers

 

Elder Paxman

Pasco is Awesome

It was another good week. Pasco is awesome. I think I'm in the best English area in the mission right now. We are having so much success. A woman named Casandra showed up to church this week. She isn't a member and she is looking for a church. She went to all three hours and her son did too. Her son Gavin is 5 and he loved church. I think she enjoyed it as well and she said we could come to her home and teach her more. She was a really cool lady. Just a little shy. I hope we don't mess it up...

The Bishop also gave us a referral a few weeks ago and they finally gave us the go ahead to go over there and see them. So we went yesterday and talked to them. They are really cool! I talked to Charles, the dad, about church and taking the lessons. He said that they don't go to church but they know they need to. We are going to give him a call today and set something up. Like Casandra, I hope we don't mess this up.

These two opportunities don't come along very often. Usually when we teach, we teach part-member families or families that are kinda unstable and usually are struggling financially. But these two families are well to do. They are doing just fine. But they are missing the gospel. That is a little intimidating to me... I don't really know why other than it's different. And these are the people whose lives will really change if they can accept the gospel. I guess there is just a lot more to gain from this. Not to say that all other people have less to gain. I don't know how to explain it. But I hope we don't mess it up. I guess we cant mess it up if we have the spirit with us though.

One of my Zone Leaders is going home... It's weird. He needs surgery on his sinuses I think. And he will be going back to Utah this week to get it done. He really really wants to come back out but it is tough for missionaries to come back out when they have less than 6 months left... Elder Barton is his name. He was my first District Leader in Yakima. And he is my current Zone Leader. But he will be going home in a couple days and it will be hard for him to come back out... It's weird to see him go. He only had about 3 months left but he needs the surgery. I don't know what they are going to do about the Zone Leader situation. Elder Hansen might have to go solo for the rest of the transfer. I don't know...

I don't know what else to say again. I feel like this every week. We had good numbers again this week...

Oh. Something that I forgot to mention last week is that we killed chickens. It was service for a member. Some Elders told us about it and we were like "Yeah! Lets kill chickens!!" But then we got there and it was a bit tougher than we had first thought hahaha. Turns out I don't like killing things. But I did anyway. Then we watched him skin them. I didn't want to do it because I was in missionary clothes and I didn't want it to get on me, but other people, who were in street clothes, assured me that it didn't get on them so I had nothing to worry about. So I went up and slit it's throat and he shook around and blood got all over my white shirt and tie. I sucked the blood out of my tie haha. But as for the blood on my shirt, I hope it comes out in the wash. We will see. After all the blood drained out of the chicken I cut the head off. Yay... It was nasty. But it would be easier to do it again now. The first time is the hardest.

I was on exchanges twice this week. On Wednesday with the Zone Leaders and on Saturday with Elder Pickett in my district. I'm really grateful for my area. I love love love it in Pasco and 2nd and 4th wards. (Especially 2nd ward). I'm already afraid of leaving and I've only been here 3 weeks! And Elder Lee is awesome. We get along really well. With him and I, we were able to get to be comfortable around each other quicker than any other companion I've had so far. I don't know if that is because I have learned how to get along with people better or for some other reason. But I like him a lot. We have fun.

We got 63 OYM's this week too. So we have a lot of potential investigators to contact this coming week. I'm excited for that. Hopefully we can get a lot of new investigators. That is what the mission is pushing for right now. For every 14 new investigators in our mission, 1 is baptized. So we are pushing to find a lot of new investigators. Although, I looked at our numbers in our district for the past year and the average for us is every 5 new investigators, 1 is baptized. So if we can find more we will baptize more. Duh.

We have four on date right now. Baby Ann for the 16th, Linda for the 23rd, Natalia for the 30th, and Connie for the 11th of August. All girls. Hopefully more in the near future! I will keep you posted. We have some very good opportunities coming up. I love it.

Thank you for all your support. I went two whole weeks without a letter, but then I got three in one day, so that made it mostly better :).

Love you.

Elder Paxman