A Foot of Snow

This was a good week.

It snowed a foot last night and we had a snowball fight with Matthew and Joshua. They are the two Finch kids. Matthew is 15 and Joshua is 18. When we got home last night we went truck sledding. We grabbed on to the back of brother Finch's truck and we slipped through the snow behind him. We would grab on the underside of the bumper or on the tailgate. It was tons of fun. Brother Finch said "a few people die from doing this every year but we're conservative" hahaha. Don't worry. We were safe. There was a foot of snow as padding for when we fell. It was fun.

 

After that is when we had the snowball fight. It was tons of fun. Yakima is always good for a foot of snow. Yesterday is pretty much the first time I have driven in snow. We drove on the freeway up to Selah while it was coming down pretty hard. All of the snow is melting today though. The sun is back out in the Palm Springs of Washington.

We had a Stake Correlation again this week. And this time President Greer and President Stapleton were there. Normally President Greer isn't able to come and it's even more rare that both of them come. But for both of the ones that I've been involved with its been President Greer. Lucky me.

 

Anyways. There's lots of drama with boundaries going on right now. We're teaching Laura Larsen and she wants to get baptized at this point but has been attending 6th ward even though she lives in 1st ward. It's getting closer to her baptism date so we had to discuss it. We were able to set up a meeting with Stake President Button Bishop Miller (of 1st ward) and Laura. We met in President Button's office and had a discussion about which ward she would be baptized in. She was very adamant that it would be in 6th ward. But President Button and President Greer wanted her to be baptized in the ward that she lived in. She made it such a big deal and was stubborn enough to get her way... Which isn't what the church wants to do, but we made the exception.

 

One stake over, in Selah Stake, the sisters in Terrace Heights were teaching a brother, Richard Morrow, who lives in Yakima 1st ward boundaries. We didn't hear about this until Saturday when they showed up at our stake center to do the baptismal interview. We asked why they were doing it there and they said because he lived closer to that church than any other one. The reason he was going to Terrace Heights for church was because he has an Aunt that lives in that ward. So when we heard that we had to teach the sisters that you cant just baptize people wherever you want. You have to talk to the Bishop/ Stake President/ Mission President and if it is a special circumstance then they can get a boundary exception. We sorted through all of that in our Stake Correlation meeting and Richard Morrow will be baptized in Yakima 1st ward this Saturday. So now the baptism will count for our stake/zone's numbers instead of Selah hahaha. I feel bad, but it's not about numbers. But it's definitely about numbers (not really).

SO. We might get a training on how important it is to teach people within their ward boundaries. President Greer seemed mildly annoyed at all of the issues that we have come up with recently. Not a huge deal, but something that needs to be fixed.

We found 38 new investigators as a zone this week. That is insane. The past transfer we averaged 9 a week over 6 weeks and this week we go over 4x as many as that. And it was a transfer week! Transfers can be a big distraction to the work but not this week! 38 is probably the most Yakima Zone has every found in one week. We were very pleased with those numbers and we're looking forward to the progress that every area is going to make because of all the people that have been found. Finding more people means more baptisms in the end. Exciting stuff.

Laura is golden for baptism at this point. We sorted out what ward it will be in and we're moving forward. James is struggling a little bit... He was supposed to quit smoking Saturday and he was doing good for that day but didn't show up to church so we weren't able to make any contact with him yesterday. We're hoping for the best...

 

Trina is doing well. That is Josh Statler's girlfriend. She is asking all the right questions and is following through with the assignments we leave with her. It's starting to feel more and more like a baptism in the making. We hope to put her on date this Tuesday. We'll let you know what happens!

We chipped in with a few new investigators to help get 38 and we are excited for them. We found Kaysie Slack, she is 22 years old with two kids and is engaged. She was really cool and is looking for a church. She and her fiance have moved a lot in the past and are planning on staying awhile in Yakima so want to settle down and find a church to attend regularly. We can help with that.

 

We also found Mariann. She is a Filipino lady and is a very active Seventh-Day Adventist. But she was the nicest lady in the world. And she lives in the nicer part of town. We decided to knock a few doors before dinner because we had about 10 minutes and she was the first door we knocked on. She let us right in and unfortunately we couldn't stay long because we had a dinner to get to. She told us to come back after the holidays.

The work is going well.

Today is also my 16th mission birthday. I'm getting old... I only have 8 months left! What is going on...

I will tell you more in a week over skype! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Paxman

p.s. Conner, if you get copies of my emails then here is a response. I do get copies of your emails through my mother. and I loved the "greatest comeback since Lazarus" plug. I laughed out loud. hahahaha lol.

 

 

Quick Updates

Short on time today again. I was busy reading/replying to other emails.

quick updates:

Elder Lyells is gone :( He left for Tri-cities this morning and I am with Elder Evans for the next few days. But my new companion will be Elder Manning. I am so incredibly excited! I couldn't be happier about this. He was my District Leader when I served here in Yakima last time and now he will be my companion. I'm sure I've said some things about him in past emails. He is wonderful and I am very excited.

We put Laura Larsen on date for December 29th. It was such an intense lesson. She has a lot of hold ups because her family is so against the LDS church. We told her in the previous lesson that we wanted to set a date with her and she said she would think about it. We went back on Thursday and we told her we wanted to set a date. She thought about it and we came to the conclusion that the 22nd would be a good day. So I clarified that she would be baptized on the 22nd and confirmed on the 23rd if she was able to receive her answer by then. But she stopped me and said that she thought we were setting a date for her to receive and answer, not a date to be baptized. Poor communication on our part. But Elder Lyells said "if you've received an answer then what would be stopping you from getting baptized?" She said "Nothing" without hesitation. So we let her think about it and we probably sat there for 5 minutes without saying a word. Then she said "the weekend after Christmas". So there you have it! She is working towards that date and she decided all on her own. We are very excited for her.

It's almost Christmas! I'm excited!

I'm just excited about everything!

I'm pretty sure I'm out of time...

I am loving it here in Yakima. The family we live with (the Finch family) is the greatest family every and I am working in the best part of our misison and I have had the best companions here. Life couldn't be better.

I am so excited for Mason. He will be so so so warm there. Unlike freezing Yakima. Our car was caked in ice this morning...

I'm glad dad is safe at home now. I'm sure it was a good trip.

I hope I didn't leave anything good out.

 

I got a letter from Conner this week. He's so good. I miss him Ryan Christopher and James...

Love,

Elder Paxman

Zone Leader Conference

Good good week. There is nothing to complain about in life. Except for cold weather.

So. I'll start off with some weird news. We had ZLC this week and President Greer let us know of some transfer date changes. The next two transfers are going to be normal 6 week transfers. But the following one will only be 5 weeks dues to the huge influx of missionaries. Then everything else after that will be normal 6 week transfers. But due to that one 5 week transfer all subsequent transfer dates move up a week. So I'm coming home a week early. It's kinda bitter-sweet. But mostly sweet. I know that that is what needed to happen and that will give me an extra week to prepare for school. I was supposed to come home to Missouri on August 20th, and school starts in SLC on August 26th. But now I will be home on the 13th. I definitely appreciate those extra 7 days to get ready for school. Also, President told us that in some missions they lost as many as 9 weeks because of the amount of missionaries coming in. So I am grateful that ours was only a week.

We had ZLC this Friday. That is such a wonderful meeting. I love meetings in the first place but ZLC takes the cake for all meetings. I learn so much in a few short hours. President just lets us know what's on his mind and what we need to focus on as a mission and then we take that back to the members of our Zone in a Zone Meeting. Yay! More meetings :).

It was an interesting week working with just two of us. We were still able to get a lot done but it was definitely different. It's a little bit easier when you have 4 people haha. But I love working with Elder Lyells. He is so great.

As for the people we teach:

James Draven

His date had to be pushed back a week because we weren't able to make much contact with him at all last week. We stopped by about 6 times and never caught him home. We were trying to call him all week but we learned yesterday that his phone isn't in working order. BUT. We did get to see him yesterday after church. He was playing the new Call of Duty of course. He has already beat Halo 4. He likes video games. But that was a side note... He is still on track for baptism. Still excited. I still love him. He is such a cool guy. It was great to talk to him yesterday after stressing all week about how he was doing spiritually. He's still doing alright. And he will be baptized on the 15th.

We have FHE tonight and James will be coming to that. We're making gingerbread houses tonight for FHE! We also have visit nights for the YSA on Tuesdays. We go to the church at 7 and anyone who wants to visit someone in the branch comes too. Then we divide and conquer. Then meet up at DQ at 830. That little activity has been quite effective at finding us new investigators in the YSA. We found Trina this week through that. She is dating Josh Statler who is a returned missionary in the YSA. A couple weeks ago that is how we found Hannah and her roommates. She is roommates with Jaimi Cox who is an active member of the branch too. I LOVE the YSA. The Branch President is great too. President Hendrix.

We found another new investigator in the YSA. Juaquin Horta. He knows Cameron Mugleston, who is also in the branch. We will be having a lesson over there on Wednesday with Cameron right before institute and Juaquin wanted to go to institute as well. I'm super excited for him. He seems pretty cool.

That same night we have an appointment with Trina. And Clair Schend, a less-active member of YSA.

But we do work outside the YSA too. I just don't want to talk about it. Because I would rather  talk about YSA. I love teaching people near my age.

It has been a good week. I hope I was able to convey that.

Love,

Elder Paxman

 

This is a picture of Marilynn and Jonathan's baptism. They got baptized Sunday . The missionaries are Elder Snow (left) and Elder Packham (right)

 

Turkey Week

Hello Family.

It was a wonderful turkey week here in Yakima. Very very cold. No snow this week but lots of frost in the mornings.

We taught a wonderful lesson on Tuesday with Hannah. She has softened her heart a lot. She enjoys us coming and she has learned a lot. She mentioned that she would always hide from missionaries in the past because she didn't know what they had to say but now that she has been introduced to it she is a lot more comfortable and actually likes the gospel! Of course she does!!!

We are still pluggin along with James Draven. He is getting more and more comfortable with his baptism on the 8th. His concerns are disappearing one by one. We had an exchanges with the AP's this week and Elder Lim was able to go over there and teach James with us. I think he helped a lot in making him feel like he has met all qualifications necessary to be baptized. He also wanted to know why he needed to be baptized again and we were able to answer that for him. I'm praying hard that he will follow through with this.

We taught Laura Larsen a couple times this week. We had a very interesting lesson with her... She has attended West Side Baptist church for years and no one in her church or her family knows that she is investigating the LDS church except for one of her cousins. She was telling us the other day about some questions that she emailed her Pastor and we read a copy of it. She mentioned that her Pastors name was Rick. I asked the last name and she said Harpel. It was interesting to hear some of the things that Rick had said haha. And it was really weird to make that connection again with Rick. It makes me feel like I'm supposed to be in Yakima or something. I was here last winter and got to know Rick and his wife a little bit and see things from their point of view spiritually speaking and now I am here on the other side. Laura is troubled by a lot of things she has heard from those in her church. Especially when they explicitly bash on the LDS church in their sermons. But a lot of their doctrine isn't very sound and she is troubled by that.

We read the email that was sent to her and it was hard to understand completely what the West Side Baptist church believes. I've studied the answers to her questions and it is very confusing. It makes me grateful for the Doctrine of Christ and its simplicity.

That was an interesting connection that I made this week. If you dont remember the rest of the story, Rick Harpel is Dave's cousin and he lives here in Yakima. I was able to hook up with him last year and we had dinner and lunch together a few times. It was really cool to see him and visit. And now we have sort of crossed paths again. Fun fun fun.

I hope I explained that well... I feel like I didn't. I am kinda in a hurry.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! The Finches fed us. They are the family we live with. They're the greatest. Sister Finch came home this morning with a 6 foot Christmas tree strapped on to the roof of her Denali. We assumed it was for them but she said it was for us! It is so cool to have a real Christmas tree haha I love it. We'll get to decorate it tonight.

The best part of Thanksgiving was when Elder Smith the younger opened his mission call over skype with his family. He is going to the New Jersey Morristown Mission, Spanish speaking, on February 6th. That was way exciting to hear, it made me excited for Mason. So I called President Greer and asked if I could call my family to hear where Mason was going. At first he said he would call for me but then we got to interviews and he hadn't called yet so he let me call Mom for a few minutes to ask. It should be another week before the call is here but it was still great to get to talk to Mom for a few minutes over the phone. That was the day after Thanksgiving.

The Smith brothers went home this morning. They are traveling right now back to Utah. It is super crazy... Being with missionaries right before they go home is hard haha. It is so hard not to think of home yourself. Oh well, it's a good kind of hard. I think it was worse that I was with 3 missionaries at once that were all going home right around the same time. But Elder Lyells and I have 2 more weeks together and then he goes home too. Which will be good for him. He misses girls haha.

I think that's all I have to say. I hope I explained everything well...

I love you

Elder Paxman

Elder Paul D. Pieper

Hey. I'm still here.

This week was cool.

 

Elder Paul D. Pieper came to town and we had a half mission conference. He had some wonderful things to say about finding the "elect" and then he gave us some pointers on how to teach. He wants us to help people help themselves. Often when investigators have questions we just answer them. But he wanted us to take their questions and teach them how to find the answer for themselves in the scriptures. He gave some examples and told some stories. It was a really great conference.

 

One of the best parts about it was the Zone Leader meeting beforehand. There were 14 Zone Leaders, the Assistants, President and Sister Greer and the Piepers. It was a great meeting. I think I got just as much out of that 30 minutes as I did in the rest of the 5 hour conference. He gave us some great council on leadership and how to emulate the leadership of the Savior. He is the perfect example after all.

 

Also at the conference I got to see Elders Dutson, Camba, Lee, Burgess, Mellies, and a few others that I'm good friends with but haven't been companions with. I love Elder Dutson so much. I really hope I get to serve in his zone again someday, he is so great. That was one of the best parts of the conference. I love seeing my old friends! It makes me excited for Christmas Zone conference which is also half the mission. And we get to watch a movie! My guess is that we'll watch Brave. Is that a good movie?

Here's something crazy that happened. So right now Elder Lee is serving in my first area, Yakima 3rd ward. So I get to see him on p-days. And his companion got Emergency Transferred (ET) to the west side. So Elder Lee has been without a companion for a week now awaiting a replacement for Elder Crandell. He told me today that Elder Burgess is coming to be his new companion hahahaha. It will be fun to be around him again. And they're both Samoan! Funny funny funny. I am thinking about Elder Burgess and him walking in the cold of Yakima during the winter. It's an interesting thought. I am not really sure how he is taking it haha. It is hard to leave Pasco 2nd and 4th wards. There is so so so much success to be had there. Speaking of that, Brother Votaw got baptized. I'll send pictures in another email. Mission life is crazy. It can change at any time. Recently a Zone Leader in the mission went home early and a ZL from the west side got ET'd over to Richland. You can move anywhere at anytime. Things happen. I just hope that I wont have to be involved in an ET any time soon.

The area that we are working in is doing wonderful. We put someone on date! Elder Joseph Smith and Elder Landon Smith went to an appointment with James Draven and Landon put him on date for December 8th! That was the first time he ever invited someone to be baptized! He was way excited haha. It was fun to see. I wish I could have been there but it's even better that his brother was there to see it. Afterwards Landon called President and Sister Greer and they said that he could call his Mom and Dad too so he and big Elder Smith called their parents and told them about it. I'm sure that was fun. While they were talking to their parents I was thinking "I wish that I could talk to my parents..." haha. Next transfer is coming soon! Then I can call you all.

 

James is a pretty cool cat. He was in the military and that kinda messed him up so he doesn't retain all the information we send his way. But he is accountable, and he is ready to be baptized. He has been taught for years now by Sister missionaries and now us in the YSA. He was interviewed by President Greer a few months ago and President cleared him for baptism. I'm really excited for him, he is such a good guy.

Speaking of President. I got to see him yesterday. I love that man so much. He is the greatest. ZL's in the past have said that the best thing about being a ZL is that you get to spend more time with President. I didn't realize how much more you see him though. It really is a lot more. I wish I could spend all day with him. Another thing that I've learned is that the church has a lot of meetings and reports and councils and correlations and coordinations. There are just a lot of meetings in the church. And one of those happened yesterday. Elder Lyells and I had our Stake Correlation Report. We met with the Stake Presidency, the High Councilors over missionary work, and President Greer. And we reported on the goings on in our zone. It was a fun meeting. I had always known they happened in the past because my Zone Leaders would always gather the information from us every month, but I don't think you really realize what the meeting is like until you attend one. It was fun to be there and see the efficiency with which those brethren can work. Meetings are fun. I think I'm the only one who thinks so.

I think I'm done now.... I don't have anymore time.

I love you all!!!!!!

Fun Week

This was a  fun week. Life is a little more stressful when you have a responsibility over more things, but the companions that I get to work with are the greatest. It is so much easier than training haha. Well, I guess it's just different. When you get to train then you have to make sure the work moves forward and that your companion is learning. That can be a fine line to walk sometimes. It's good to have companions that know what they are doing. It is so nice to be able to rely on them.  Between the four of us in our companionship we have about 62 months of missionary experience! It is so fun.

Another nice thing about all of this is that it would be very easy for them do exclude me in some ways because they all knew each other before the mission but they have done such a great job of making sure I'm up to date on what they're talking about. They catch me up on stories of pre-mission life. It really helps.

It is fun to talk every night at dinner with the members. At first we don't tell them that Elder Smith and Elder Smith are brothers and that Elder Lyells and Elders Smith were all best friends in High School. But it always comes up in conversation one way or another. It is fun to see everyone's reaction haha. I love it. I think it might be getting a little old for them but it's still fun for me.

Ken Kidd is pretty much ready to be baptized. So is James Draven. Ken is in his 60's and is married to a member. He has come to church twice and plans on continuing to come. Things are going really well for him, we just have to make sure he has friends that keep him coming to church.

James is in the YSA and he mentioned how he wants to get baptized. We weren't quite sure if he could be baptized because he is on medical marijuana. But we asked President and he said that he was good to go as long as he isn't abusing it. He came to church this week and is on a good pace for continued progress.

I love working in a YSA. It is so fun to work with people your age. We are starting to teach an apartment of girls that are all going to YVCC (Yakima Valley Community College). Jaimi is an active member and she has introduced all of her roommates to the church. We went to visit night on Tuesday and Jaimi and Hannah and Hannah came to dairy queen afterwards. We talked with both Hannahs about coming to church and they seemed way interested. There is also another couple of roommates that we haven't talked to yet. Jaimi was saying that Cat would be the most interested and that Sierra is a roommate of hers that is less active that we could work with. Apparently Sierra went to church yesterday. I didn't go to YSA though, I went to 6th ward with the older Elder Smith (Side note: his name is Joseph Smith. Pretty cool huh??). YSA and 6th ward meet at 1:00. 1st ward meets at 9:00. So we have to split up.

Laura Larsen is also still coming closer and closer to baptism in the 1st ward as well. We are working closely with her to resolve some of her concerns. Things are going well. I love working with my companions. I love working in Yakima.

Also, it snowed this week. A couple of different times. It stuck one time. but not very much. I hate it. I dont like the snow because that means it's cold. Life sucks then you die. but not really.

I'm so excited for mason to get his call. so so so so excited!

I'm still praying for all of my family just so you know. I pray that Dad is transitioning well to Jakarta and that Mom is settling in to Rolla. Life is good.

Love,

Elder Paxman

Companionship News

I am here again. Yakima is so choice. So, many of you asked about my companion and living arrangements. Well, let me tell you of the surprises that awaited me.

When I got to the transfer site on Wednesday I noticed that Elder Smith (Joseph Smith is his full name) was still there. He was supposed to go home the day prior. He had served an honorable 2 years, the last year as a Zone Leader. He was my Zone Leader while I was serving in Cathlamet. But he was still around. I asked around and it ended up that he extended for another month. That rarely is approved by the first presidency so it was cool to have him here. THEN, I found out he would be serving with Elder Lyells and I in Yakima! I was so pumped. But, it gets much more awesome. When we got to Yakima Elder Lyells and Elder Smith told me that they were best friends in High School. Which I did not know! But. Even more, Elder Smith let me know that his brother would be arriving the next day to serve with us on a mini mission for the month that he extended! So now it is the four of us serving in Yakima. Elder Joseph Smith and his Brother Landon Smith and their best friend Elder Trevor Lyells and myself.

It is all very fun. And we live in the coolest place ever. We live in a mansion and get the whole downstairs to our selves. We have our own full kitchen. A ping pong table. An air hockey table. a big couch where all four of us can sit and plan every night. Also, there is a basketball court in the backyard that we can use every morning for exercise. We live with the Finch family. They have two sons who are the most perfect people I have ever met.

Being a Zone Leader is hard... There is like no time to work. But it is nice having four of us because we can do almost twice the work in half the time. We just don't get out of our apartment until like noon or later every day because of all the paperwork and other coordination. It is way fun though. I love it. I get to see a whole new side of serving a mission. And it is great to have two Zone Leaders to work with. Technically Elder Smith isn't a Zone Leader anymore, it is me and Elder Lyells, but he still has 24 months experience to offer so he helps us out a lot.

The work her is going well. We have a few progressing investigators. I am still trying to learn it all in a short amount of time. Elder Lyells and Elders Smith will be going home by the end of the transfer and I will be left a lone man in Yakima. So I have to learn it all.

I feel like I have left information out... But I'm out of time. Email questions if you have any... And write them down on paper and send them to my address. The mission office...

Love you all,

Elder Paxman

 

also

We are teaching a family. The Kidds. The wife is a member and the husband is not. But she looks like a Lancaster. She has all the features. And most closely she looks like Cristi. It was throwing me off ha ha. She's a nice lady. We are going there RIGHT NOW.

Bye

 

Missionary Brunch Before Transfers

Pasco Missionaries

Pasco Missionaries

Michael Votaw--getting baptized November 17th

Sister Mathews took this picture above and sent it to Chantel (Chase's mom). Here is their conversation:

Sister Mathews: "Elder Paxman has been teaching my brother, sister, and nephew the last three weeks. The night before he transferred he stopped by to tell us where he was going and to say goodbye. When I learned he was going to Yakima I knew I needed to share my family history with him. My grandparents lived in Toppenish on the Yakima reservation and the chief lived across the street from them. The headdress was a gift to my grandfather. Your son is an awesome missionary and will be missed."

 

Chantel: "Thank you for sending this. I miss him so much and it brings me peace when I see his smile and hear about the lives he has touched. Thank you for being so kind to him."

 

Sister Mathews: "We had not really discussed much about home or family till the night he left because he is a very devoted and serious Elder, but the night he left he shared a bit of himself with my husband and I and he loves, misses, and cherishes his family. I know when my boys were serving missions it was special to hear from people they served. God bless."