Buenas Dias!

Well we're still working on finding new investigators. It's pretty tough. We did find a family though that seemed like they should be pretty good. We talked to the dad and he was telling us that they don't go to any church, but are looking for a church to go to. They don't want their kids to grow up and fall in to the pattern most do. Which is going to church sometimes, as a kid then growing up and never going. We've only talked to them once, but we have an appointment with them tonight. So hopefully it will be able to go well. We're still doing a lot of tracting and contacting referrals. On Sunday we went to an english ward and talked with some english bishops and the stake president. The bishops were glad to see a missionary and gave us a bunch of referrals. I guess the english ones haven't really worked too much with them. So I guess some of the members don't trust missionaries. Hopefully we'll be able to turn that around. Things with my companion are going pretty well. He's kind of a little different, but it's part of learning to get a long with different personalities. I've been pretty tired lately. I'll go to sleep and wake up at 6:25 and it doesn't feel like I've even slept. The family that I wrote bout last week, the one with the kid that's been sick is still the same. I found out the name of the sickness but I don't remember what it's called. It was something like "leo" something. Well, the weather is starting to warm up here which is nice. But right now we're getting a thunderstorm. Which reminds me of home a little bit. I think it's the first one I've seen since I've been out. I can't really think of too much more that's been going on. We don't have any baptisms coming up, but we should be able to put some people on date this week. I'm working on getting the Master Teacher award so I've been memorizing a lot of scriptures in Spanish. It's fun and gives me something to do.

Malo Lei Lei

Hola!

Well things in the new area are going pretty well. All the people that the missionaries before us had, aren't really too good. So I'm kind of having to start over here. We're doing a lot of tracting and working on finding new people to teach. We've found two families that look pretty good and then yesterday we found a guy that seems pretty solid. One of the families has a little boy who is 5, almost 6, years old. And apparently like 3 months ago he was a normal kid, but now he's having problems talking and walking, like he's lost a lot of body control. They said the doctor said it was terminal, and that of the 4 types of the disease, this is the rarest. The dad didn't really want to talk to us, but we just kept talking about the plan then he said "someone from your church told us they were going to come over and give a blessing, but he said it would be in a couple of days." So we told him we have the same authority and offered to give the blessing. So we gave it, and then they became open to talking about the gospel. It was grrrreat. Then the guy yesterday we were talking to him and he told us "I don't like those Christian churches that yell and sing, and say they start speaking of tongues, and hit people on the head and say they're healed." That kind of surprised us, but then he said something more surprising. He said "two weekends ago I was watching something, I think it was from your church, I liked the way they explained everything. It was simple and I liked what they taught." So we told him it was probably General Conference, because he said it was Saturday and Sunday two weeks ago, and that the people he listened to were the Apostles and prophet. And so we talked to him a little bit and we're going to return on Saturday. Hopefully something good can come from these people we've found.
 
My companion doesn't really know much about the area. I've been in it 6 weeks less than him and I think I know it and the investigators better. I feel like I'm training, in a white wash area. It's tough but oh well. The work here is going well, and hopefully we'll continue to find more people to teach! Oh one last story. So yesterday we went to check a referral and we knocked the door and an old lady answers and she tells us "I'm a Southern Baptist and I don't want to hear about your... I'm not even going to call it a religion because it's a cult!"" So I was trying to stay calm and I said "why would you say it's a cult?" and she started saying a bunch of stuff and then they said "but don't worry serving a mission is going to make you a successful person, the head of a company, and rich." Then her and her daughter started saying a bunch more stuff so I said "I can tell y'all have a strong faith in Christ. Keep manifesting it..." and they said "Amen. We do!" and so we started walking away when a spanish guy pulled up, the guy we were trying to contact, and so we started talking to him. Trying to see if he's interested and these crazy ladies were yelling "Adios! What don't you understand about leave! This is private property!" and then the old lady yells "Call 911! and tell them to get over here!" Which I wasn't worried about, because the police probably are mormon and wouldn't do anything to us. So we ended up not being able to talk to the spanish guy. But while the old lady was still yelling at us I offered to help with anything, cutting the grass or anything, then her countenance changed but she still hated me. So that was a fun experience.

Transfers

Happy Thursday!

Well I got transfered to another part of West Valley. Now I'm in the Granger East stake. We have one person with a baptismal date, but I'm going to see if I can change that. I'm thinking about 6 baptisms this transfer. My new companion is from Ecuador. He's kind of a quiet kid and he's been out for a few months. Everything in my life is going pretty well. Our new area is pretty big, and we don't have a car. Last night it took us about 30 minutes to walk to one of our appointments. I guess I'm pretty excited to work in this area. It's always a good thing to go to new stakes and meet new people. I can't really think of too much to write about. We're supposed to have a baptism on Saturday so hopefully that goes through. We talked to him last night and he said he was a little unsure. But I talked to him a little bit and I think he feels better about it.  That's all for now.

Stoked!

Buenasss diassss!! The weekend was GRRREAT! We had 4 baptisms. Which brings the transfer total to 7. And in the two transfers I've been here I've had 19. The whole zone together had 18, and the mission had 82 for the weekend. Then Sunday we had 9 confirmations in church. My arm was dead by the end. I baptized and confirmed the same person, so that was pretty cool.

Yesterday we had an amazing day as well. We put 2 people on date for baptism. One for the 10th, and the other for the 17th. And then we were checking past investigators the night before and felt like we should go visit one. It said they were only home on weekends, but we went anyways. It was a back up plan and the lesson we set up the night before somehow fell through. We went and she opened the door and was surprised. So then she told us a few days ago she saw some missionaries and was going to talk to them, but decided she could just go to the church building because she knew where it was at. But we showed up, so it was kind of an answer to her prayers. And she wants us to teach her sons, but I'm pretty sure she'll learn with them and her husband. So there's a potential of 4. It was great. On the weekend we saw some kids playing basketball and so we challanged them to a game of 4 on 2. We kept our suits on. And needless to say, we beat them 12-4. So that was kind of fun. I think that's about all that's been going on. We got transfers next week so I'll be e-mailing on Thursday. man this transfer has gone by so fast! It's crazy that conference is already here again. I'm Stoked.

A Quick Note

Anyways, The work here is going geat! We only had one baptism this last weekend. We were hoping for 3... But the good news is that the 2 that didn't get baptized are planning on getting baptized this weekend. So hopefully we'll have 4. Which is going to be great because there will be 12 baptisms in the stake which is pretty amazing. Hopefully the work will continue to progress. I can't really think of too much that has happened. And I don't have too much time, But I'm still seeing miracles and everything is going well. Sorry if this e-mail is kind of a let down, but I promise I will have more for y'all next week!

HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY!

Well, I had interviews with President Sonne this week and he told me "I don't know why, but God wants you to be fluent in Spanish." Then he followed it with "I don't know maybe your girl will be a spanish speaker." He's trying to get me to think about marriage. I think he's trunky. Then I talked to him about March Madness a little bit. It was a great interview.

Anyways the work in the area is going pretty well. We were able to have 2 weddings, and a baptism on Saturday. This weekend we're planning on having 2-3 baptisms. It should be grrrreat. I'm excited. Then we have 2 or 3 baptisms set up for the 27th, and then the 3rd is General Conference, and right now we're working on getting some people on date for the 10th. Which we should be able to do. There is so much work in this area it is crazy. I don't really want to leave after this transfer. But if I do, it's all good. It just means I'll have to go baptize like crazy somewhere else. But we still have 3 weeks left in this transfer. A lot of time to work.

I can't really think of any thing that's happened. Oh Sunday, I confirmed someone a member of the church for the first time. So that was an interesting thing. I think he's going to serve a mission. I hope so. Well I know this church is true and that I'm doing the best thing with my time. I've grown and learned so much. I've seen so many miracles and changes in the lives of the people that are here, it's amazing. right now I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Happy Birthday to Me!

WOOOOOOOO!!! The big 2-0. Man I spent my birthday with a CrAzY party! It started around 10:30 at night. We said a prayer. And went to bed. I think I woke up around 4:30 told myself "happy birthday" and went back to sleep. I probably had a sick birthday in my dreams. Then I celebrated by sleeping in 2 minutes until 6:25 A.M. Went to the study room and read my birthday cards and then, celebrated by running a mile. Shortly after I took a cool down shower, then ate some breakfast. A banana and a Slim-fast Shake ( I'm trying to cut the lb's before General Conference). Then I had some Personal and companion study. We made a baptismal program. During language study, my colleague in the work of Zion, Elder Hiatt, brought me a wonderful birthday surprise. He made me the best birthday card I have ever received, and some cosas to make S'mores. Subsequently, this later got us in trouble with the Zone Leaders and District Leader because it was midway through language study. But I'm alright with it. Because 1) It was Elder Hiatt. 2) It was my birthday 3) My spanish is perfect and I don't need language study 4)It was an act of love not of selfish sin. 5) I sinned in ignorance. 6) We had a lesson to help them with at 11 so they needed us to come over anyways. So I'm pretty sure that justifies it all! Then we helped him with his lesson. I had the opportunity of having 2 lessons with Elder Hiatt that day! Then our dinner appointment last night was sick. The guy offered to take us golfing whenever we want, so we'll probably go next P-day. Then to finish off the day we had a baptism and confirmation of one of our investigators. Probably the best thing to do on my birthday. Then when we returned to the apartment, we got chastised a little by the Zone Leaders about Elder Hiatt coming over. But it was all gravy, because it was my birthday. That was pretty much the highlight of the week. Oh and Sunday when we got to church the person that we baptized yesterday, asked us to give her baby a blessing to give it a name. So I figured my companion would do it because it was in spanish, but she was like "no you" so I got to bless a baby and give it a name for the first time, and the best part is, is that it was in spanish. Oh man. I went to Temple Square Monday night. The investigators we went with felt the Spirit pretty strong. The girl/wife ( who has been the hardest to convert) cried at one point. Then one of them said that they felt a little sad at the end of the Joseph Smith movie because he died. The guy that said that is getting baptized on saturday, and his sister and her boyfriend are getting married on Saturday. So this weekend should be good. 2 Weddings and 1 baptism! Well I think I've said about all that needs to be said.

The first two pictures are of the baptism. The kid in picture 2 is always dressed in slacks and converse it's sick. The next picture is the banner that we all sign.  The last picture is the of the SLC Temple that night.