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

Two More Baptisms

We had two baptisms this weekend! They both went very well. We were supposed to have three but one was postponed a week. Matthew Rose and Chris Beltran got baptized and confirmed this weekend. It all went very smoothly because of the help of the ward. Brother Brown baptized and confirmed them both. They made it really easy on us. No problems. No concerns. Their picture is the first one I attached.

The second picture is from Jason White's baptism last week.

This week we also put Jyheam, Jaysean, A'mi, and D'vonte on date. I think I have mentioned them before. They are the grandchildren of Sandra, who is also investigating the church. Katrina (investigator) is the mother of A'mi and D'vonte and Mindy (member) is the mother of the other two. They want to be baptized so we just needed the permission of the parents. So the date is September 22. The reason it is so far away is because D'vonte doesn't turn 8 until September 20 and they all wanted to be baptized together. The hope is that Katrina and Sandra will be baptized on the same day. Right now Sandra is having a tough time recognizing the answer to her prayers. She desperately wants the gift of the Holy Ghost but she doesn't know where to find it. We tell her that she can find it here in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but she wants to be certain. We suspect she already has and answer to her question. She has felt the spirit many times with coming to church and receiving a blessing and meeting with us, but she still feels unsure. I'm not sure why... We are going to try and strengthen her understanding of the Book of Mormon and we hope that will help.

Phoenix is getting baptized this Saturday. I don't think there will be anymore problems there. We just really hope he stays active... It's all up to his mom.

We had a mini-missionary again this week. And both times we had a mini-missionary, on the second day, we put 4 people on date. They must be good luck or something.

Every once in awhile we have gone into a home where the Olympics are on. Usually they turn it off quickly. It makes me sad that I'm missing it. But, again, it's what I signed up for. I knew I would miss it. OH WELL!

I also heard that Ichiro got traded to the Yankees the day that the Mariners were playing the Yankees. People here aren't too thrilled about it... Poor Seattle sports... They all suck. Go Seahawks hahaha. Ya right.

Well, I don't know what else to say. Elder Camba has been worried about his weight recently so I offered to go on runs at night. We are probably going to be doing that now. It was fun the first time we did it. And we go on walks in the morning with the other missionaries in our apartment complex for exercise. So I guess I like going on walks and runs now Kristen...

Oh! I didn't know Christopher and Conner were also DL's. I did know that James was. He also should be finishing up training if he hasn't already. I'm not sure what happened to Ryan... I need to write him. And James... and Christopher... Oh, and Conner. Dangit. There is no excuse. Everyone in the world is busy. I should just write more. Sorry.

Love you all! Write me even though I don't write you!

Love,
Elder Paxman

Baptism

So this was a good week. We had a baptism. Jason White. I would send pictures but I forgot my camera. Next week. Jason is Emily's brother. It was a very good baptism. His mom gave the talk on baptism and brother Storrs gave the talk on the holy ghost and they were perfect lengths and perfect content. Then the baptism happened. Jason's sisters and sister's boyfriends were there too. Lots of non members. Sandra and Katrina and their kids were there too. We taught them the next day... more on that later. Jason was confirmed the next day and all went well.

Alex came to church! We went to his house at 10:45 and told him church started in 10 minutes. He was surprised we showed up but he said he would come. He didn't show up for sacrament meeting but we saw him in the hall afterwards. We took him to Gospel Principles and Priesthood. In Gospel Principles we went around the room and just said our name because we had new people there. Alex went last and he stood up and said "I'm Alex Siharath, and I'm an alcoholic" We all laughed hahaha. He said "whoops wrong class hahaha". He is a pretty funny guy. I'm so glad he came to church. He took notes the whole time. We taught him on Tuesday after p-day fun and he was talking a lot, like he always does. He got on the topic of his MMA fighting and he said one of his favorite lines "Don't fear the guy that practices 10,000 kicks one time a day, fear the guy that practices one kick 10,000 times a day". He only uses three different moves in his fighting. We asked him what those moves were and he told us he would show us. We were at the church in one of the classrooms and we cleared out a space and we wrestled hahaha. He was so good. He is a small guy but I'm pretty sure it's all muscle. We wrestled for like 30 minutes hahaha. That's the best way to teach him I guess. My throat hurt for the next few days because he choked me out pretty bad haha. I guess I didn't tap out soon enough. Elder Camba doesn't like to be touched at all so he didn't participate as much but Alex made him a little bit. And he almost broke Elder Camba's wrist hahaha. Poor guy. That was a fun lesson. On Wednesday we had another lesson with him and we used a chalkboard. He is very very visual, so we drew out the plan of salvation and he drew his thoughts too. It was a good lesson. But the best part was that he came to church. I'm really really excited for his baptism. I pray that he stays active!

Phoenix's baptism is being pushed back... It wont be next Saturday either. We will see when... Hopefully August 4th. His mom needs to show some commitment so that he can actually have activity in the church. So far we haven't seen that.

I like Elder Camba more and more each day. He is a really good person. He is super obedient. It's a good example for me. I should try and learn from him. We are a lot more comfortable with each other than we were when it was Elder Lee, Elder Camba and I. Different dynamic. I like it a lot better now. I think I enjoy Elder Camba the most because we are having so much success.

We get two more mini-missionaries this week. two at the same time. That should be fun.

We will see Tom Duvall again tonight. Hopefully that goes well...

Linda and Elijah didn't come to church. Again. Very disappointing.

I realized this week that we have been really busy. I used to have time at night to do things like read or write or whatever but lately we have been planning until 10 or so and we are so tired by the end of the day that we have no time to do anything. I haven't sent a letter in awhile. SORRY!!! I really am. We just have been super busy. I'll try to write more on p-day.

Sandra and Katrina came to church again. We had 7 investigators in second ward today. Sandra is the grandma and Katrina is A'mi (8) and Devonte's (7) mom. Mindy is the mother of Jyheam (10) and Jaysean (9). They are all black as you can probably tell by the names. And they are the coolest kids ever. They are so interested in the gospel. Jyheam and Jaysean have been taught everything before a few months ago and they still remember all the little details. So they teach A'mi and Devonte with us. When we explained the Holy Ghost Jyheam said "I feel the holy ghost right now! It's like a warm feeling in my chest" and at the end of the closing prayer Jaysean said "When he asked if the Book of Mormon was true my heart was like 'ding'!" And then when we left, they all said "We should have a Book of Mormon study when the missionaries leave! YEAH!!" And we left and they all were sitting at the table reading the Book of Mormon with each other hahaha. They're just kids but they get it way more than anybody else does. Hopefully Sandra and Katrina feel the same. We are teaching them in Bishop's home tonight.

The Orozcos are still kinda where they were last week. We saw them on Saturday night and they didn't come to church even though they said they would... That was disappointing. So we will have to try to help them keep the chaos out of their busy home. We will see them a lot this week I'm sure.

Chris and Matthew are being baptized next Saturday. So we have to pull all of that together this week. It should be fun. I'm really excited for that one too. They're awesome kids and they ward is keeping good track of them.

That was our week. Very busy again. And tonight will be way busy too. We have to end our p-day early because we have so many appointments. Oh well. Good thing missionary work is fun!

I'm happy because I'm busy. It's hot outside but not too hot. No problems. Life is easy. Thank you all for you love and life updates. I appreciate it a lot.

Love,
Elder Paxman

People on Date!

Another temple week. Sorry. Well it was a good one. Going to the temple is always very refreshing. I always learn a lot.

 

We have been teaching a lot of members recently. President Greer has set a focus on finding new investigators and this week we were finally able to really get going on visiting members of our wards and teaching them about the Doctrine of Christ. Then we ask them for referrals! And it works! We always ask for referrals at dinner and other times when we see members but it doesnt have the same effectiveness. We go in their home and share a message and are out in 20 minutes. Because it's so focused and they know why we are there we actually get referrals! That has been fun. We are trying to visit with everyone in our wards.

 

We have 11 people on date for baptism at one point this week. two of them fell off date though so now we have 9. Two will be baptized this saturday. Jason and Phoenix are being baptized this saturday. We put some of the Orozco family on date. The orozco's have a lot of people in their family. It's 2 sisters and their men and usually around 10-12 kids living in the house. And 5 of them are baptismal eligable. Three of them have accepted a date for baptism. AND THEY CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY! They took up two rows haha. It was great to have them there and see that they were on track.

 

Matthew and Chris are also still on track for next week being baptized. They are way excited too.

 

Alexander Siharath has kinda disappeared... We haven't been able to find him! We're kinda nervous about that because he's so so cool. He just needs to be less busy and understand what's important.

 

Linda was the last one that set a date. She has to serve some jail time. A week and a half I think. And they didn't show up to church after we had a really really big stress on that in our last lesson. We told them that we would knock on their door at 8:30 to get them out of the house and they promised us they would be there. And they weren't. That was a big disappointment... I don't know what to do with them.

 

Thats all 9. And we hope to put 4 more on date really soon. Sandra and Katrina, who just moved in with sandra's daughter in law, mindy. They moved from Louisiana. Mindy is a less-active member and her kids aren't baptized. Jahiem and Jaysean are baptismal age though. So Sandra Katrina Jahiem and Jaysean, and also maybe One of Katrina's children. Sandra and Katrina are really really black. That makes it kinda fun hahaha. We taught them this week and it went really well. The reason we got in contact with them is because bishop's wife knew they had moved into mindy's place and she went and picked them up for church. So that is where we met them. It was awesome!

 

We're also teaching a Part-Member family, the Duvall's. Tom is a non-member and Bonnie has been a member all her life. They both smoke. That is the only thing holding Tom back from being baptized. He wants to quit so we are working with him. I hope they start attending church and going to the church sponsored addiction recovery class in kennewick.

 

Connie Acosta needs to get married. That's it. Then she can be baptized.

 

The holmbo's daughter is moving to Pasco and she will probably be baptized soon too! That is Jason's half-sister. And Emily Water's sister. The Holmbos are like a baptism factory.

 

I am doing well. Elder Camba and I are staying very very busy. 11 people on date is pretty crazy... We are very blessed with work in our area.

 

The weather is hot. It's been in the 100's lately.

 

Everything else is going well. Keep praying for me. I wish I could write more...

 

Love you all! Write me.

 

Elder Paxman