Ben 1/27/14

Hey family!!!!!

 

This week was awesome!!! I am thrilled to hear about the events of Wednesday (:  I'm happy for you all!!! Haha this week, like I said was great!!! Last week I forgot to mention that we set two dates!!! Both will be getting baptizedthis Saturday the 1st! The Lord is so willing to bless us.  Lately I've been trying to go back to basics.  As important as what we do is who we are. 

 

Among the events this week, probably one of the most memorable of my mission.  So as you know, Elder Nelson came to the mission Saturday. On Tuesday, I had a thought, which escalated quickly.  I called the district on Tuesday night, and told them President Berry just got off the phone with me and that he said Elder Nelson would be coming to our district meeting on Thursday. I told two Elders to fast because they would be giving the prayers and we need the spirit and I told a sister to make extra delicious treats and I told them all to bring their cameras so we could get a district picture with him afterwards.  To make a long story short they all bought it and didn't think it was as funny as me and Elder Davis did.  It was something I wish My brother or Ben or Brady could have seen! Gotta have a little fun right? Turns out one Elder lost a lot of sleep and the sisters were really looking forward to it. But I think they've forgiven me now (or I hope so). And the good news is Elder Nelson did come!!! What a great experience!!!  I heard from him in the MTC on Christmas, but not quite as close and personal.  I sat at the table at lunch after conference with him and Elder and Sister Munn's (area 70) and only a few sisters. I got as much one on one time as you can get.  I asked him how to get the members involved etc.  I got some quotes in my notes at the apartment. It was a stellar weekend. 

 

I've got so much to say but so little time. I will probably write a letter. Anyways life is good. Nate way to kick some bootie!!! Dad I rep Alaska and Mommy Thanks for everything!!! I want to be like you when I grow up!!! I'll try to write!

Love

Elder G

 

 

 President Berry,

Mission conference was wonderful!  I think something the spirit taught me was just to stick to the basics.  It was wonderful to be fed by a living apostle, I learned so much from him, I could list you all the notes I took, but I think what I really learned from the spirit I felt with him is to go back to the basics. I need to focus more on Christlike attributes.  We need to go back to basic finding and teaching skills and better magnify our callings.  What a blessing it was to hear so much of the word of the Lord this weekend and we are excited to put it in to practice going forward.

Elder Gottfredson

Kathy 1/27/14

January 27, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            It’s been an interesting week, but now I am under the gun to get the mission history done, so I’ll make this as short as I can (probably won’t be).  It’s a cloudy day today, relatively warm and snow is melting—melting all the loveliness from Tuesday.

            We had a nice group for FHE last Monday—a little sparse, but a great activity.  Knowing we had a full day the next day, it was nice to get home early.

            Tuesday dawned bright and, uh, snowing.  In the morning it was just light snow so we prepared to go to the mission office for transfers.  This was a first—no missionaries leaving from Midwood I or II districts.  We had the back of the car filled with clothes from missionary apartments that needed to be gotten rid of and those needed to go to the office.  I had a group picture to take of the “going home” missionaries and notes to take for the transfer meeting.  So, off we went at ten.  About 20 minutes later I just flat said to Lynn, “Turn around and go back to the apartment.”  He was so very agreeable.  : )  The streets were getting impossible plus the thought of going home in the late afternoon was more than I could stomach. 

            We got back safely, crawling along like everyone else.  It was very cold outside so the snow was powder.  The wind was steady about 30 mph down Ocean Parkway and it was interesting to see the snow accumulate on the well-used road.  We congratulated ourselves all day long that we stayed home.  (Found out the next day that mission mom, Sis. Calderwood, took 3 ½ hours to get from the mission office after transfers, a drive that’s normally less than a half hour).  I decided this was a good opportunity to do a lot of laundry, so I did that and did all my financial work.  We had a place by our kitchen window that is not subject to wind and by the evening, we could tell that we got 10” of snow.  Looking out on the street you would not know that because the wind blew it around.

            The next day I was very much into doing Institute.  I had to make up some study questions for the next week (to copy and pass out) and go over the lesson for the evening with a fine tooth comb.  Literally took the entire day to do all that.  We only had four show up for Institute but had a great discussion, great insight.  Why would you work that hard for only 4 people?  Well, because you are the beneficiary

            Doug Lee called Tuesday and let us know that the parole board in Albany denied Doug Lee being let off parole and being a completely free man.  He had been an ideal candidate for this and got the highest recommendation from his parole officer.  “Nope,” said Albany.  “You shot your wife and killed her—two more years on parole and possible one more year after that”.  That takes care of his possibility of being baptized soon.  Actually, that was a big relief for us and Pres. Calderwood.

            After Institute, I got some hot chocolate heated up that I had made earlier in the day and invited all the missionaries to come after nine and have hot chocolate and toast .  Only the missionaries from our building showed up but that was OK.  Those that came had a grand time together and really enjoyed the HC. 

            Thursday I made bread, did finances, did mission history, religious study and just filled up the day.

            The next morning bright and quite early I was at Target shopping, then came home to get Lynn and then went to Midwood chapel to have an interview with Pres. Calderwood.  (All the missionaries in our area had interviews).  We talked about our responsibilities in the mission and Doug Lee.  It is always so wonderful to meet with Pres. Calderwood—what a great man!   After, we both went shopping to get some things for a lunch we were having with Ernie and Dorothy Ahlborn who have been teaching Institute for well over a year in parts of Brooklyn.  I took fixings for grilled cheese sandwiches and a relish tray then Lynn and I traveled about 10 minutes to get to their place.  We had a lovely two hours together; we’ve worked more closely with them than any other couple missionaries.  They are returning to Orem in early February.

            After we returned home Lynn helped me download and categorize pictures from my camera.  I think I’m getting the hang of what he’s trying to teach me.  The pressure of getting this mission history done soon so that it can be turned in is getting to me—I’ll be so glad when it’s finished.

            At 6:30 Lynn and I were on a train headed to Lincoln Center so we could see “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini—certainly one of his greatest operas.  We had some good seats right on the main level—Lynn made sure I had a left aisle seat so my right foot would have room.  There is literally only one recognizable aria in that entire opera, so the rest of it is less than interesting, as far as the music goes.  But, and here’s the big but, this production was arranged in a simple, yet profoundly interesting way, with some choreography, Japanese puppetry called “Bunraku”, one scene where about 15 dancers had paper cranes on long poles, causing their wings to flap—well there were a lot of special effects (especially lighting) that carried the production.  The principles were pretty good—we’ve heard better, but nevertheless, it was well done.  You have to come away feeling rather sick at heart because of the plot of the opera—so extremely sad.  Didn’t get to bed till 2 in the morning, so it was a long day.

            Saturday after a very late start was shopping, cooking and then hitting the mission history.  Lynn felt like I had been stuck indoors too much (so true) so he took me to Green Wood Cemetery to see how pretty it would be in the snow.  Well, there was snow there, all right, but it wasn’t all that great looking.  That didn’t stop us from driving around and seeing all the dead people, and looking at the art work, and magnificent tombs; it was nice to get away.  We finished up the day by going to the Baked in Brooklyn bakery and bought a bunch of yummy bread.

            Yesterday we had church per usual and then went to the Bien Amis to visit them.  Only the two girls were there, with a female relative that literally didn’t say a word but kept her hands over her face the whole time.  There was also a four year old boy there who was also very quiet.  We just made a short visit and came home.  Talked to Sean and Bob’s family on Skype last night—so good to see them and talk to them.  It was especially wonderful to see little Tanner.  He was asleep the entire time and it was especially tender to see Joseph carefully holding him.  Emily demonstrated how she arranged her dolls by laying them down next to each other, covering them with a blanket and declared that they were on a picnic.  Sounds good to me.  The twins told about some nice plays they did playing basketball, which they are both into and enjoy.  Kyle is being bussed to a special situation to learn more about computer hardware and software, and if he learns well enough, hopefully pass a test that qualifies him to help others with computer problems.  I ought to get Kyle to give a more thorough description for what he’s doing.  He’s also teaching piano lessons to the twins-good on ya, Kyle.

            Lynn just left to go to the dentist.  He had part of a filling fall out and is going to get that fixed.  Right now, it’s not a big problem.

            Well, love to you all.  Grateful for the gospel and the chance to teach it in Institute—that is truly the best.

Love,    Kathy/Mom

Aaron 1/27/14

January 27, 2014

I love my family!

Hey all, it's been an awesome week again here in the OCM, minus some rather heartbreaking choices that one of our investigators made. 

It's the hardest things in the world to hear "I want my dad to stay, but mom won’t let him. I want him to stay." from a 5 year old boy. Killer...

But other than that it's been really awesome! The weather's been crazy, but we've been learning some extra tricks to stay warm. For example, my feet have been getting really cold, due to thin/wicking socks, and that the snow has been soaking my shoes. So we found a solution by putting on a pair of socks, putting a plastic bag over that, and then putting on another pair of socks! Warm and dry! :)

This past Monday we returned to a potential investigators house to find him nice and drunk with around 7 kids visiting. It was a fun visit for sure, but he's agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon :) haha

Tuesday was a work filled day (much as they all are!). Our planning has been getting longer and longer, and more specific by the day, so we can be more productive during the days. It means a little less sleep, because planning takes so long, but it's worth it! Unfortunately, plans don't always go as planned, so that's a struggle. I had the thought that when planning we were just thinking it out instead of depending on the Spirit to guide us, and we've seen even greater successes since having a focus on planning as Heavenly Father would have us do! 

Wednesday through Saturday were all pretty similar, with lots of lessons taught and a pretty good amount of finding! We've come into contact with a lot of former investigators who want to continue to learn, so we've been able to begin teaching 4 or 5 of them again! 

Question of the Day: How do you help a 11 year old boy living in rough family circumstances feel God's love, when he currently believes that God has abandoned him? 

Saturday Morning we got to do service! The only service I've been able to do since being here is shovel snow, and for that we've been wearing our suits and coats still. Finally we got to put on some jeans and a hoodie, and went to load up a U-haul for someone who was moving out to Columbus. I've never seen drifts on roads like I have Saturday morning. They would blow 3 feet deep in some places across the road!! We had to help push someone out of one haha. 

Sunday was a very interesting day. I forgot to tell yall last week, but church was canceled due to terrible weather. The weather yesterday was even worse than last week, but they still had sacrament meeting!! We showed up early to help direct traffic and shovel sidewalks. The drifts had gotten up again the church doors really deep as well. Luckily we had a snowblower!! Those things are awesome! 

Yesterday afternoon we went with Brother Vandiford, our Ward Mission Leader's son who is part of the bishopric, to visit our investigator Jake, who has been dating a member for 4 years now. He has decided to get baptized on March 16! Yus!

I know that this is God's work, and I know that he has me here in Springfield for a reason, and I love it! We have an awesome missionary force here (picture included of missionaries and ward missionaries) and the work is progressing! The "scripture" of the week is The Standard of Truth!! NO unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! Thank you for all your prayers and support, love and letters, and for just being awesome!

Love and Miss yall,
Elder Aaron Toombs

PS- I'm also attaching a pic of fried hotdogs, reese's cup, and m&ms in dorito batter. ;)

Aaron 1/20/14 Find, Teach, Baptize!!

January 20, 2014

Hey all, how's it going? I hope your weeks were half as awesome as mine was! haha

Springfield is awesome! I can hardly believe I've only been here a week and a half, it feels like I've been here forever! 

Dad, that's really weird that you were here a couple years ago. Did you stay in the Springfield Marriott?

The town here is pretty old, and unfortunately is past its hayday. We hear stories all the time of how awesome Springfield used to be, but it's turned into the "projects" now. Though in all reality, it isn't all that bad! There's some rougher part of town, but it's no worse than parts of Newark are. People here love this town, it's a real home to them, and that's why they're here. It's actually pretty cool. We've been using a door approach recently about families. "We've been going around the area today talking to people about families, and it's really interesting that no matter who we talk to, no matter the situations or struggles at home, the family is still one of the most important things to them. Why do you think that is?" In a world where families are under attack, we are doing everything we can to build them up and bring them closer to Christ.

We've been wanting more people to teach here, even though we have a pretty good teaching pool, so we've been focusing on finding new investigators, with success! Through effective planning by the spirit, the Lord led us to those who have been ready to hear the message of the gospel! And the members here are playing a huge part as well! We found a small family with the help of our meal coordinator this week, and we ended up having dinner with them on Saturday and begin to teach them about the Gospel. They are open-minded and really want to learn more. Nikki, the mom, was raised Catholic, but we know that she's felt the Spirit in her life. 

Unfortunately, this week was also filled with an unusually large amount of dropped appointments. It's like nobody can hear us knocking on the door! So this next week we've set a goal for many more lessons, especially lessons with a member present! One of the biggest helps that members can do it let the members know when they are available to go to lessons and help fellowship their investigators. The saddest thing to see is when an investigator is more converted to the missionary, and they never really knew how to get members out with them. 

Thanks for everything!! Love and miss y’all!

Elder Toombs

Kathy 1/20/14

January 20, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            Happy birthday Martin Luther King—a very good man.  It’s a cold, cloudy day for this holiday celebration.  I’ve not been feeling too well since Friday since the cold Lynn shared with me made its presence known in a runny nose and sore throat.  I’ve had laryngitis for over three months now and I was just getting to the point where it was really starting to leave when I came down with Lynn’s cold.  If I had my way, I’d spend my day in bed snuggled under warm covers, but, there’s too much to do, too many people to see (and share my evil virus with).  Also, I’ve had a rash on my back that showed up seven months ago and all the soothing creams in the world have not gotten rid of the rash, although they helped a bit with the itching.  Then, two months ago a rash showed up on my abdomen which itched liked crazy.  Then, a month ago a small rash showed up on my left arm, another on my neck—whoa—what is going on here.  So I checked out local dermatologists and found one highly recommended that is a 25 minute drive away.  Dr. Susan Bard was thorough and professional, but next time I see her, I’ll tell her to slow down; she was in a big hurry.  But, and here’s the interesting part, she said I had eczema, and since I’ve had asthma I was an excellent candidate to get it when my genes said “go” at age 67.  Looked it up on the internet—there is such a thing as adult onset eczema.  I’m using a topical steroid to get rid of the rash.  It seems to be working, but I can tell it will be a slow process.  So, here’s some more medical information that you may want to store away for future reference.

            We had a terrific FHE last week—the Elders did a great job, and we had an enthusiastic large group to play Pictionary.  We had 3 birthdays that we celebrated which is why I brought a large chocolate cake. 

            Tuesday was temple day.  They informed us that the temple had downloaded the newest movie just the day before.  I was on a regular session but because there was a woman who was deaf, we had to watch the old-old movie (aka the Michel Ballam movie) since that’s the only one that has the video with people signing and the words going across the bottom of the screen.  The l2:30 pm session did get to see the new movie and they loved it—said it gave them a different perspective.  Our NYNYS returning home missionaries were in that session with Pres. and Sis. Calderwood, so it was fun to chat with them for a while.  Lynn started coming down with a very hoarse voice late in the afternoon, came on all of a sudden so we took the easiest and fastest way home and settled in for the night.

            The next morning, Lynn and I went to the mission office to pick up a group of missionaries going for their either ¼ mission or ½ mission temple trip.  There were several that we knew quite well so that was fun to go to Manhattan with them.  Alas, because there was one lady that spoke Spanish, we had to have the old-new movie (#2) instead of the new-new (#3).  The third movie doesn’t have the translation capacity yet.  But, several Elder were happy about the situation because they hadn’t seen the 2nd movie and really wanted to.  We used to treat the missionaries to a hot dog after going to the temple, but the office said that had to stop because it was costing the senior missionaries too much money, and they were right.  Interesting, when we got to the station right by the mission office, all the Elders took off to find some restaurant food for dinner.  All the Sisters went back with us to the office.  I did start up a conversation with a man on the train when we went over to the temple and asked him about the headlines of the paper he was reading.  He was very happy to tell me all the political news.  I was about to give him a pass-a-long card, but the train stopped, he shook my hand and got off.  Oh, well, OK.  He/She who hesitates is lost.

            That night for Institute we showed the rebroadcast of the CES fireside of this past Sunday.  Elder Tad R. Callister was the speaker.  We had two new people show up so that was great.  But, especially great was the talk Elder Callister gave, a really good talk on the church now being like it was in the days of Christ.  We didn’t have time for discussion afterwards but just answered a few questions.   It was a long day.

            The next day was my dermatologist appointment and that took my entire morning, but time, obviously, well spent.   The rest of the day was spent at the apartment getting necessary things done.

            Friday, bright and early, Lynn and I went to visit missionaries—first at the Bensonhurst area of our zone.   We are responsible to inspect the missionary apartments in our zone so that is what we did.  It’s so fun to do this because relating with the missionaries at their own pad gives you a different, more informal way of being around them.  We asked them a lot of questions about what they do have and don’t, looked at the conditions of the apartment, told them to correct things where it was necessary, (clean!!) and asked them what their needs were.  Without question, the Sisters apartments are the cleanest and tidiest.  Some of the well-organized, leader-type Elders that we especially appreciate working with also had their part of their pad clean. 

            The next day, we inspected missionary apartments that are in our building, and then went to two others that we had to drive to.  There are two apartments that in our opinion are so bad that the missionaries should be moved out, period.   At one of the apartments the Elders told us an interesting story:  At four am that morning they heard a lot of noise, so loud it woke them up.  It was the sound of cars going fast down the street and squealing brakes with the turn on the curve.  They also heard what they thought were gun shots, then, the final loud noise was a car crashing into another.  They were looking out the window at all of this going on and saw the car crash.  They waited for a bit, and then went outside to see.  By then the police started coming, five squad cars.  What they saw was a man on the street and another man leaning over the front seat of the crashed car.  They stayed outside and talked with the police giving them statements and watching all the CSI work.  They said everything they saw, heard and did with the police was just like what you’d see on CSI on TV.  Eventually, two paramedic trucks showed up and took away the bodies.  The man in the car was shot through the neck and side and died at the scene.  Don’t know what happened to the other guy--just a little fun and excitement for your missionary day.  The missionaries actually went back to bed and fell asleep. 

            The interesting part of this is that they lived in a Jewish neighborhood, solid Orthodox Jews, so there should not have been thing kind of thing happening.  But, the Elders said that the men in the cars were from the Caribbean neighborhood (black) and they were obviously chasing each other.

Saturday afternoon Lynn and I went to visit people from the ward—one lady we visited lives quite a ways away and she’s not on our home teaching list.  But, someone from the ward asked us to visit her, so we did.  It was nice to get acquainted and meet her very sick husband.  The other people we visited were our home teaching families.  Just had two nice visits that day.

Yesterday we had a lot come to church.  (We got there early for Ward Council meeting).  But, I think we had extra at church because people are finally catching on to the later schedule.  I asked another woman to direct the music in RS for me since I’m trying hard not to use my voice when I don’t have too—got to get rid of the laryngitis and singing puts me back at square one.  In the afternoon we went to two families for home teaching—one was not home, but the Neilsens and their adorable children were; had a nice visit with them.

Well, that’s my week.  Of course we are relieved and happy that Tanner is back home with his family.  Fun to see the pictures of Joseph and Emily holding baby brother!  Thank you, Goerings, for all you did for that family for three long weeks!

The Church is true, that I know and testify of.  Love to read the Book of Mormon and feel its Spirit when I study it.  We are grateful to be here in New York—so many blessings being on a mission. 

Hope you have a great week and enjoy your free time today.   Love to you all—Kathy/ Mom

            

Ben January 20, 2014

***Here is Ben's Email. He got transferred to Winter Park in the middle of Orlando and is super happy. He comes home December 17th.... so less then 11 months left for him. ENJOY!!!

Hey Fam!!!

Wazzup Wazzup!!! I miss you so!!! I think these next few months will be the ones I miss you the most til I'm home.  SC basketball......  I told you about how I have taught myself to remember my dreams, just
last night I was wearing the jersey again and in a huddle with Ben and Brady and Coach Brown. Good job getting the wins this week!!!

So yes I have loved week one of this Transfer!!! Everything is perfect!!!  So I am in the GOLDEN ROD ward and my new companion is Elder Davis! The majority of the ward is actually in Orlando! I made
it to the big city. There really isn't an "Orlando ward" So this is basically it!!! The towers are on the Horizon just outside of our ward boundaries. This is my third ward the 50 runs through. I'm basically
right in the middle.  This place is such a blessing!!!  It is crawling with people thirsty for the gospel. Our actual address is key biscane lane (appts) Winter Park, FL. There is a Winter Park ward but that's not me. My new companion is Elder Davis! He has been awesome already! He is a kid that would have been one of my buddies in high school. Haha he played strong safety for Payson high in...... 2006. Built kinda like Austin Larsen (24 yrs old) How awesome is that!!! He just got done being trained so I am his follow up trainer. It is such a blessing!  He is a really cool guy and we are going to have a lot of fun and also see a lot of success.  He waited... and the longer you wait the harder it is to come so he really is dedicated now. He's one that I can already tell I'll be tight with when I get home.

When I received the assignment to come, first of all my district doubled in size from my last district, but it has been the most struggling district in the mission. This week our district had five members present at lessons to investigators. We had three of them...... Just for contrast in the ville alone we averaged about 13 Member Presents per week. So it is a humbling assignment to be trusted with such a potential. This is one of the most populated parts of the United states, the bar has been too low here.  It is the most fun kind of missionary work I believe though. The ward had 3 Convert baptisms in 2013, but we have more priesthood in this ward than Clermont and Titusville combined. We set up meetings with The Ward Mission Leader and Bishop this week, I'm still testing waters but I really have so much faith about the future ofthis area.

But yep, Tuesday morn I got up and finished the last of my toiletries packin, kissed the Holy Land goodbye, and got in the car with Bro Moon (who reminds me of my grandpa) and Elder Ferrin, who came out with Elder Davis.  I left I huge manual I'd been putting together on p-days for the sisters that came in with Elder Beck to replace me and split the ward.  I've only thought about it maybe once this week and I know that with Ferrin letting Elder Beck know what's up in the Ville and Sisters taking the North half, They should baptize more than I did these next few months. That is what you want to see.

One miracle we saw this week was with the M. couple.  I was on exchanges with Elder Monsen in Cocoa and his sister sent him a referral about this family who they have been working with for a long time and brother M. has already outlived his terminal cancer and his wife both have been exposed well to the church. So of course I thought nothing of it at the time being "somewhere in Orlando" but then when I got here I realized that's our area!!! I know the Lord prepares people and he wanted me to hear the M.'s background and understand how much it meant to the family before I got transferred here. So we taught them Wednesday!!! Talk about an awesome 2 first new Investigators! They have a Jewish background and will have to overcome some things but they are absolutely prepared. Arthur doubts Joseph Smith and wants us to teach toward that, and Phyllis believes 100% in Joseph Smiths vision, but doesn't believe in Jesus Christ........... Silly. "Phyllis, you do know that Joseph Smiths vision was of Jesus Christ
right?"
"Oh yes absolutely"
"So you do believe in Jesus Christ?"
"No and I never will!"

I have really loved being a missionary this week!!! It is so fun to take what I've learned here and leave my mistakes behind. What a Godsend opportunity.  The people here are awesome! There are so many
young couples going to UCF and leading busy lives! It is going to be the best time of my life here I already know.  I was asked to give a talk by the bishop first Sunday and I feel like he's totally on board.

Matt! I love you tons bro!!! Keep it up with the ladies and
basketball. If nothing else box out hard!!! I am going to meet Elder
Russel M Nelson this week at mission conference and I will say whats
up for you!!! Nate man I want you to know every Wednesday and Friday
night I fall asleep praying for the warriors!!! Basketball is a game
you have to play with emotion, but you can't play emotional
basketball. There is no emotional roller coaster... there is only one
emotion to play with. Win. Kill. You have to play with a temper, but
it has to be an even temper. I am glad you had fun at Junior Prom. Ha ha. Focus on
basketball for 2 more months. Girls and school and student council will
all fail to make you as happy when you look back in memory. Your
situation is different then mine in the advice I would give you vs the
advice I would have given myself. You are leaving on a mission in June
or July.  You have March April May for school mission girls
(carefully) and most of all focus on family.  Get your scholarship,
but after that there is really no point in having your focus be
sports, you won't be on the court for almost 30 months after March. So
now is your time to focus in. You can count the days you have on two
calendar pages. Make the most of them. Learn dedication and resilience
and win basketball games and be a leader. The attributes you will gain
as a biproduct will bless your life and your mission.

Dad! I love you so much!!! I have so much respect for you and you're priesthood. Many of my dreams lately have put you in a holy light. You have been a Seventy and a patriarch in many of them. I had a dream last night that a big black water Moccasin attacked Matt and you blessed and healed him. Thanks for all you do!!! Continue to cheer on the Warriors for me!

Mom!!! You are the most beautiful woman alive!!! I am so excited you
are having the sister Missionaries over for role play! Maybe you can teach them a
thing or two!!! Me and you will go out with them together if they are
still covering our area when I return. I learn more every day about
just how wise you are and how close to the spirit.  I understand
better why and how you live the way you do. I am so proud to have such
a great mom that understands and lives her temple covenants. I love
you so much and pray for you.

The Spirit of God like a fire is burning. Study of the week Daniel 2

Love Elder G

Kathy 1/13/14

January 13, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            Happy, Happy Birthday, dear Sean!!  He’s 44 today.  Lynn and I talked with him for a while this morning.  Weather:  apparently quite a few of you were affected by the Arctic cold blast like we were.  Last Tuesday morning Lynn and I were walking to the train station (to go to the temple) with the wind blowing 20-30 mph in our faces.  It was four degrees and felt like 17-19 below zero.  Reminded me of walking around in winter Minnesota.  So, we felt pioneery and just toughed it out.  But, the warm train felt mighty good.   Then, in just a few short days it got up to about 60, rained like crazy and the temps have yo-yoed ever since.  The weather did affect how many people came to the temple, simply put, there were not a lot there.

            Last week for FHE we had a birthday party for Tanya Golikova.  She turned eight that very day.  Her mother wanted to have a party so she stayed home from work and baked and decorated 99 chocolate mini cupcakes.  She brought balloons for decorating the room downstairs and had games planned so everyone could participate.  Some of the games were guessing where a scripture was found that she quoted.  It was harder than it sounds.  Lynn beat two young missionaries by getting Alma 32 verse 20 through something.  You would have thought he had won the Super Bowl by the way he reacted.   Thankfully, Tanya had a good group there for her party.

            Lynn and I were dismayed that she hadn’t been prepared for baptism so we went to their place last night to talk about baptism and were so shocked to hear that she wants no part of it—wants to wait till she’s 30 so she can be baptized at the same age her mother was.  Oh,   well, hummmm.  How do you deal with that?  I finally had the thought that she really hasn’t been exposed to a culture where baptizing 8 year olds happens as a normal process of being a member of the church.  It’s possible she’s never seen an eight year old baptism, and even if she has, it was an extremely rare occurrence.  Also, she doesn’t like to go to Primary class but spends that time with some adult friend.  So, she really doesn’t know what the church is all about.  We have our work cut out for us.  I will take all suggestions as to what we should do to teach a “you can’t tell me what to do” girl.

            After our temple service last Tuesday (I was kept very busy with the responsibilities I was given and so was Lynn) we went to try and find Dillards.  Supposedly it was supposed to be down at Times Square area.  But, when we got there, there was only a woman’s clothing store.  We were trying to return some boots.  A Sister missionary’s aunt got them for her for Christmas but they were the wrong size.  The lady helping us went to her computer and discovered that Dillard’s did list a store there.  This small store sold their clothes to Dillards but the boots could not be returned.  When we got home, Lynn found out that Dillards didn’t exist in the East, north of Virginia.  Waste of time.  : (

            Wednesday—big day.  Lynn and I went to our mission office for a Sister Missionary Conference.  I was there to be part of the Sisters, Lynn and the other men were there to be our lackeys.  (They set tables, served the salad bar lunch and cleaned up).  It was an all-day affair and was truly wonderful.  As part of the experience, they showed the video of Brad Wilcox’s talk “His Grace is Sufficient.”  Now I have used this talk as part of my Institute, as you well know.  But, actually seeing Brad give the talk is a more intense experience.  I would like to try and show it for our Institute class someday.  We had four workshops which were useful—I liked Pres. Calderwood’s thorough exam of Sec. 25 in the D & C the best.  Some of the sisters performed spiritual musical numbers, and Pres. Calderwood did give one major speech at the beginning, a small one at the end.  It seemed to me that the theme of the conference was “Sisters, do keep all the mission rules and work hard, but, if you happen to fail, don’t hate yourself!!!!  Instead, be forgiving, loving and kind.  And, don’t be hard on the other Sisters.   I guess this must be a problem.

            That evening Lynn and I had Institute.  Just three showed up but we had one of the best class experiences ever.  The three ladies opened up like I have never seen them do before—it was just great.  We discussed Packer’s talk about the scriptures being our safety net in a more wicked world.  One of the women there was our 19 year old Dyan who is turning in her papers soon.  You should have seen her eyes bug out when we told her that after the papers would be sent in, it would take 3 weeks before her call came in the mail.  She was flabbergasted that from the time she got her mission call to the time she would enter the MTC might be as much as 5 months.  Again, this is a problem of a local church culture where missionaries leaving NY are extremely rare, not like where we’re from where mission calls are a “dime a dozen.”  She was going to quit her job this week; we told her that might not be a good plan.

            Thursday Lynn went to the NYNYN mission office in Scarsdale, NY.  It took him 1 ½ hours to get there.  He met up with the Sr. Missionary couple from Monticello who had Doug Lee’s legal papers that he took out of prison.  Missionaries loaded the papers in the Forester and Lynn took them to Doug’s apartment, again, meeting up with our missionaries who brought the heavy papers into Doug’s apartment.  Doug figures it will take 2 months to go through the papers.  He is going to contact two prominent law firms in NY to try and get a job as a litigator.  And you know what—I think he will get a job; he’s too shrewd and smart to pass up. 

            I have been working as much as I can to get the Mission History finished and returned to the mission office.  There’s lots to do, I’ve got a ways to go.  All spare time is given to this project, so if you want to know what I’ve been doing, I’ve been doing that.

            One other thing of interest—Lynn got tickets to go see the Fantastics down by Times Square.  It’s considered an Off Broadway show, and it is north of Broadway.  We had a hard time finding it, but ended up at one small door, to a small lobby, to a small theater, which had seating for about 100, a kind of theater in the round, but it was three sided.  There were only 7 actors in the play/musical and they were not miked.  But, the quality of the acting and singing was incredible; again, only in NY do you get the very best.  “Try to Remember” was the only familiar song.  The plot basically is a story of life as told through the eyes of two idealistic dreamers who fall in love, then discover that real life is much more than roses and poetry.  Fantastics is the longest running play/musical ever.

            After the musical we went to Olive Garden and our waitress looked at my missionary badge and said, “I know who you are.”  Turns out she’s member of the church.  Her parents were pioneer members in Ghana, Africa.  We had a great time and the food was wonderful. 

            Yesterday Lynn had a meeting at church an hour before Sacrament meeting was supposed to start.  I dropped him off and then drove 20 minutes to pick up Katheen (I’ve done this before, but this was my first time doing it alone).  I was supposed to call her on my cell phone and let her know I was outside.  Without a cell phone you can’t get hold of these people behind heavily locked doors.  I dialed, and a recorded lady told me my plan was up and the phone would not work.  Panic.  I tried to push a door bell, but it wasn’t working.  (Knocking wouldn’t work; Kathleen lived on the 2^nd level).  I was about to leave, when all of a sudden Kathleen’s non-member daughter came to the door to leave, saw me and said her mother was coming.  I told Kathleen what had happened and said God wanted her to go to church.  She agreed with my assessment. 

            Lynn gave a talk on missionary work in Sacrament yesterday, and as usual, he did a great job.  All the meetings were extremely good and we had a pretty good attendance thanks to the later schedule.

            Ah, God’s miracles.  Grateful for the truth of the Gospel and for Jesus Christ and His merciful gift of the Atonement.  Grateful for being here on a mission in New York.  We are so blessed. 

Love to you all—Kathy/Mom

Aaron 1/13/14

January 13, 2014

Hey all!

It's only been a little while, but it's been pretty full already! I love it here in Springfield! It's a ward on the verge of Hastening the work, and I am grateful to be able to see that begin to progress here! I also have an awesome companion, Elder Mosley from Mesa, Arizona! He's an incredibly dedicated missionary, and is a great teacher, especially for only being 4 months out! It is a little strange though, since he's younger than Nathan is! I'm definitely becoming one of the old guys in the mission. -_-

Elder Jardine and I were awake unto a little after 1am packing and cleaning for the Sisters, and we had a late night last Wednesday. We got up and went to the car wash to finish cleaning out the car, but it was a little weird because it was only around 20 degrees out. The car was clean, but it had a layer of ice over it! We then drove to transfers, and I met my new companion Elder Mosley! We had a member Tom Young take us to lunch on the way home, where we had a nice chat with a Pentecostal minister with our Mexican food. We then visited with many different less actives and families, as well as the most progressing investigators, Terrance and Ciera. They are an awesome couple, who have had to overcome a lot to get to where they are now. But they can feel that the gospel is true, and want to be baptized! The only thing stopping that at this point is a minor Word of Wisdom issue, and that they still need to be married!

Friday morning we shoveled semi-random people's driveways in our suits to try to find new investigators, and then went to work with weekly planning and helping me to get to know the area. There is a lot here to know! Since this is my first time not being doubled into somewhere, it is a very different experience for me. It's nice to have someone who pretty much knows the area and the people here. There are three sets of missionaries in the ward, two sets of Elders and a set of Sisters. There are so many less actives though, we all have many names in each of our areas, and we all have lots of work to do!

I have really discovered the NEED of having the Spirit when planning and when we are out and about. Especially when I have no idea where anything and anyone are, and my companion is pretty stressed out about leading the area. In the matter of a few days, we have had many spiritual highs and lows. It can be easy to get discouraged, but we have prayed a lot this weekend, and we have felt the Grace of our Lord in seeing some minor, but significant, miracles. We will truly be relying on prayer these next few weeks, and I feel the prayers that you all ask in my behalf!!

Sunday we had a very special experience with Terrance and Ciera, and Bishop Jensen. After church, we met Bishop at Terrance and Ciera's home, in preparation of Ciera receiving a blessing to help overcome a few of her trials. It was a very enlightening and spiritual experience for everyone there, and the Spirit was so incredibly powerful. I know that my testimony has grown so much about the importance of families, and instead of just knowing it intellectually, I have FELT that importance. Families ARE the most important unit in the plan of happiness.

I know that this Church is the Church of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he loves us, more than we can comprehend, and that he has done everything to bring us unto him. Because of Him, we can have real, lasting happiness that goes far beyond the reasoning of this world. I know that I am called of God to share that message with those here in the Springfield ward, and I know that because of my Faith, and Elder Mosley's Faith, and the Faith of all who support us here in Ohio and back home, we will see many come unto Christ.

I love and Miss you all!!

Elder Aaron Toombs

Ben 1/13/14

***Here is Ben's email. It is short but sweet. He will be transferred out of Titusville tomorrow. We do not know where he is going, but he is excited!  He has grown so much and is learning new things every day!  I love that kid! Enjoy!***

 

Hey Fam,

 

Well yep, it's pack it up Monday alright! What a great and needed opportunity to repent. It's tough to leave. Especially when things are going so well. I wanted to make sure I didn't have a lazy last week, so Elder Ferrin and the new District Leader are set up OK. We had 8 at church which is unheard of and 9 with a baptism date.  It's a great place and I will go to every single street with you guys and introduce you to all blessed people I've met!!! I think it's good though because growth requires change. I've had a lot of it thrown at me lately.  It's all a blessing.

 

You know dad I like what you said about being a leader and all, it's true being a leader is a great opportunity. Lately though I've been contemplating the opposite.  I already know how to be a leader in a lot of ways, I'm confident already, right now I'm kind of trying to focus on learning how to follow. Follow the Lord.  I don't think it's in the cards for me to move up in leadership right now, not because I'm not capable, because I am to focus on other things. Leading by example rather than words, I'm still learning to personify humility, I have a humble heart but I could always improve.  I truly believe that "in this church it's not where you serve but how".  I see a lot of missionaries who get called to Zone Leader or assistant and get caught up a little so it's not really something I want right now.

 

Man I miss you all so so so so so so so so so so so much! I'm gonna try to write because this will be a shorter email. That's a heartbreaker against Dixie. It's crazy I'm missing it really.  I love you all so much!!! I have dreams about you- I have taught myself to remember my dreams. Got to go! 

 

***A letter to his mission President ***

First to report on an exchange. This week I went to Cocoa with Elder Monsen! I really think he's going to turn around Cocoa ward! Assignments like that one are exciting. He is a great missionary and I learned a lot in the exchange. The Future for this district looks so bright!!!  

The highlights of this week were all those people we helped get to church. You and the leadership have been focusing on that and it would good to see what can happen. It helped me feel more comfortable leaving Titusville. I also feel good about the dates we set and the people that are preparing to make those sacred covenants. This week has been a blessing and I am excited to face the future with faith.

Elder Gottfredson

Kathy 1/6/14

January 6, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            How are you on this cloudy day?  Like so many parts of the country, you can say about Brooklyn:  “if you don’t like the weather, just wait a bit and it will change.”  This past Thursday night and into the morning we got 6” of powder and in the morning the sun came up, it turned very cold and it was a beautiful day full of sparkly white.   It was freezing cold Friday and Saturday.  This morning, it’s relatively warm; we got a good drenching of rain, most of the snow is gone, and, well, yeah.  That takes care of that part of winter.

            It’s been a quieter week.  FHE went quite well Monday—the missionaries brought a man to the activity that found the missionaries and wanted to learn about the church, actually, late Monday afternoon.  He had a discussion upstairs, and then came to the basement to be with us.  We did see him at church yesterday which is a good sign.

            Tuesday was temple day, of course.  It was a very, very busy day for both of us.  To start our very early morning, we went to Times Square before the crowds arrived.  Lynn took a lot of pictures.  We saw the stage, the railing that keeps people in check at night, all the media trucks and police up the yazoo.   It was a lot of fun, without the hassle.   At the temple I was 1^st follower for the early session.  There were 30 women and 16 men; there are only 40 chairs in the session rooms so out came the folding chairs.  We had a good sized group of senior missionaries from the Morristown, NJ mission.  We didn’t leave the temple till 4:15 because Lynn had an especially full afternoon.    

            We got home and I went to work making a spinach salad for the ward New Year’s Eve party.  Since I knew that mine would be the only vegetable salad there, it was extra huge.  Put in sugared almonds, sliced strawberries, mushrooms, cut up clementines, red onions and then Brianna’s strawberry vinaigrette.  The party was supposed to start at 8; we got there at 8:30, the man in charge showed up at 9:30.  That is SOP for this ward. 

            So, when we got there, everyone came to ME and said asked ME what should be done.  Really?  I asked who was in charge.  No one.  OK, so I started through the kitchen and pulled things out of cabinets and drawers to make the party happen.  This is where being in charge of FHE helps, because I am one of the rare people that knows what’s in the cabinets.  Fortunately there were plenty of plastic utensils, found some mis-matched plates and cups and a pile of napkins, plus some plastic round table cloths that we put over the rectangular tables.  We were good to go.

            Soletas had their karaoke machine and the older kids were into dancing to the music, eventually the adults joined.  They were having a great, great time. It was fairly well attended by the Caribbean members, no new Park Slope people.  (Christmas vacation was taking a toll and the bishop showed up at 10 by himself).  We spent our time talking to the members and eating—got in one dance.  By 10:30 I was so tired from an already long day, so we decided to go home and let the rest of the party people clean up afterwards.  Have to admit, I didn’t want to be in charge of that either.

            Lynn and I came home, watched the ball drop at Times Square, drank Sprite and had some dessert.  Happy New Year.  Because our place is situated wrong, we were not able to see any fireworks—just watched them on TV. 

            The next morning I was bound and determined to watch the Rose Parade, so I watched it on NBC—yuck, such bad coverage.  We can’t get ABC here because of the media situation Lynn has us in, so missed their coverage.  It was a lazy day the rest of the day.  Lynn did spend a lot of time on the phone talking to the senior missionary living in Monticello, NY.  Monticello has a prison which housed Doug Lee.  He left that place a year ago, a free man (well, only physically free) and put a lot of boxes of legal papers in the local LDS church, with a promise from the guy who picked him up that he would get Doug the papers to him,  eventually.  Well, the man renegaded on his promise, and the people in Monticello haven’t been willing to really look into getting the papers to NY.  Lynn and the currant senior missionary worked on a compromise of meeting half-way at the NYNYN mission office.  But, with all our bad weather, that has not happened yet.  It’s a costly trip since we have to pay tolls.  Doug needs the papers so he can get a job with a law firm, or so he hopes.

            Thursday and Friday were financial, laundry, Institute prep days.  Lynn got notification via email that the Botanic garden orchids were especially nice right now, so we went there on free Friday through the snow and cold, struggled to find a parking spot, and found out that “because of weather” the entire garden was shut down.  What!?

            So we went home, I got a lot more coverage on my legs (the wind was cold) and we went to Manhattan to The Morgan, which is J.P. Morgan’s home (take note you Chase bankers) turned into a great museum.  For six weeks every Christmas they have the one and only manuscript of Charles Dickens’  “A Christmas Carol” on display which we wanted to see.  The museum is a mixture of tasteful modern, enclosing the 19^th century.  Their free Friday didn’t open till seven so we ordered some sparkling water, three tapas and listened to a great jazz trio in their large foyer.  I’ve got to try and learn to cook risotto after having some pumpkin risotto that night that was so good.

            We finally got to go into the library which houses a large collection of books, rare manuscripts, 2000 BC antiquities plus many that were “younger”, valuable art pieces, music scores from famous composers (like Mozart) and three Gutenberg bibles, all in this dark, quiet (everyone whispered) plush, Harry Potterish library.  Then, we went to another part of the museum to see Da Vinci’s drawings for some of his future paintings and his manuscript drawings of animals and his ideas on how to take flight—papers from the book he kept.  Yes, it was “wow.”

            Next day we did make it to the Botanic garden and saw the orchids, but really didn’t see many more than usual.  What was fun is they brought in some new bonsai trees just for the winter.  One pine tree was almost 300 years old!  Someone in NY had acquired it and continued to baby it.  Many of the deciduous trees had lost their leaves and so they were boring, but it was nice to see the branching that was now uncovered.

            When we went to the entry a young couple asked us questions about the garden and its collections and how were they supposed to know where to go.  We were all too happy to show them.  The man immediately left me, grabbed Lynn and walked and talked with him.  Turns out he saw our tags and was eager to explain his religious life, didn’t want to hear much about us, but, wanted to explain his concept of religion.  We listened politely and agreed where we could.  After leaving them, we went to the greenhouses.  In the main entry to the greenhouses the gardens had a lot of amaryllis plants and Christmas decorations .  Also, there was a display of very large plants, all knitted, to be exact duplications of the flowers/plants they were supposed to be.  I have no idea how anyone could do such a thing, but there they were.  Most were made by a Russian immigrant.  It was truly amazing.

            The rest of the day was continuing on Institute.  Lynn spent a long time talking to Doug Lee whose life is going from bad to much worse—I don’t have the time or energy to explain all that’s happened to him, but he is a bitter man right now.

            We had some people come to church yesterday who normally don’t come because 9 am is just too early for them, so it was nice to see them at 12:30.  The meetings were very inspiring.  But, one man that changed his mind (that morning) from attending his neighborhood church and came to ours because he had promised us he would do that, (thank you!) came and contributed his incorrect doctrine of the church during Sunday School.  (He loves to be the center of attention).  Luckily, he didn’t contribute a lot and he was pretty much kept in control. 

            The best part of the day was after the three hour block when we went to the baptism of Normil Romelus, a young man in his early 20’s.  The service was 90% in French Creole.  Now the challenge—how do you keep a man whose main language is French, in the church?  It seems he knows English fairly well and that’s the bright spot.  Our ward has done a poor job of retaining its mostly French speaking people and that needs to be seriously addressed.  I’m impressed with Normil and am hopeful for him.

            Talked to Bob briefly last night and read Maureen Goerings family letter this morning, getting more information from her.  Bob and Moira have their hands full with little Tanner and all the other little ones.  Thank heavens!!!! for Ken and Maureen being there to take care of the kids.  Tanner is too weak to nurse, or swallow for that matter.  He has a tiny feeding tube through his nose.  Moira goes mid-morning to try to teach him to nurse and hopefully get him to swallow milk.  She stays there till the midafternoon.  She is also pumping milk and the whole thing is very exhausting. It appears he will be in the hospital for three to four more weeks, says Bob.  Fortunately, the rest of him is working just as it’s supposed to—just got to learn to suck and swallow.  So, pray for the family please.

            The church is true!  The Book of Mormon is the word of God; I never stop being grateful to study that book.  Just got through reading one of Pres. Monson’s Conference talks yesterday.  He and the others are inspired of God.  Sure have gotten an appreciation of that fact since being here, as many people struggle (within the framework of the church) with church leadership and modern prophets.  Teaching Institute has given me a great appreciation for those who love the Lord and want to relate His will to us, through His prophets and leaders.  We are a church of continuing revelation.

            Well, end of letter.   I want to express my love to all of you and hope you have a joyous New Year.

            Mom/Kathy

Ben 1/6/14

***Here is Ben's email this week.  He got a new missionary Facebook account to use with investigators so he answers a few of our questions about that. He tells us a little about a Baptism in his email to us and more details in the letter to his mission President. He talks about 3 very strong investigators who he says will probably be the elders quorum presidency when we go back to visit his mission areas during Spring Break 2015. He also talks about how much he will miss his mission. The last paragraph is just some quick notes to each of us and also a little about his buddy Elder Braydon Linde who has to come home this week for medical treatment. Too bad! I added a picture at the end of this email that was posted on facebook yesterday. It is of Ben and his companion after the baptism they had on Saturday. ENJOY!***

Hey Fam!!!

You are right about one thing it was another crazy week!!!  Blessings from heaven!!! First of all ya we're just going to leave my old Facebook deactivated and will reopen it when I get home so don't worry about it.  We are still being "trained".  The only training really needed is don't be a dummy and focus on your calling. It's really going to help!

Miracle of the week this week is Ashley got baptized!!! She had such good support and it was a spiritual time and they are really going to help the ward! She is only a few months older than me.

I think I've told you a little bit about Ronaldo the 3rd Nephite and his family and also Joe D. the Pentecostal Pastor. Spirit said they should be baptized after I leave. I know they will be in good hands. When we come back in March, between Josh (Ashley's husband who plays ball with us) Joe and Ronaldo they could be the EQ Presidency! There is a TON of simply amazing people here!  It hasn't hit me yet but Titusville has really become my home. Like when they kick out..... man it's been so long... maybe Dobby or professor Trelawny out of Hogwarts they wail "Hogwarts is my home!!!" That's how I feel "Titusville is my home!!!"  I'm soaking it all in. But I also want you to look up elder Hollands Devotional "remember Lots wife" http://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/01/the-best-is-yet-to-be?lang=eng This is my spiritual thought for the week. I want all four of you to either read or listen to it. 

Hahaha my brothers and their ladies!!! OH WOW!  Go visit Brady for me! I don't know if he'll be sad or glad to eat Ice cream again! Tell him I love him and give him a hug from his blind side!!! Matt go remind Brady how many times he got my slops.  I need a love jewel big M dawg. Haha make sure it won't get caught in my chest hair forest (; Dad I love your version of I ain't as good as I once was!)  Way to go with the plig mommy!!! It's 2014 alright!!! This week is huge with CV and dixie lower case dixie. No mercy! Who do they have? No one!  Don't think I don't look at the calendar every day Nate!!! Way to get your treadmill t-shirt Matt!

I had a weird dream last night. I won't bore you with the details, but  Elder Ferrin said I was also teaching and committing someone in my sleep last night as well. 

***Letter to his mission President***

Miracle of the week was Ashley's baptism!!! We were biking to her house in a storm and we locked up and knocked on one side of her apartment and it turns out on the other side the Hansen's were talking to her and we just didn't know it.  Her husband Josh and his parents, (St. Augustine Bishop and his wife) just walked up as we rode away, we saw the Hansen's out at the road and they told us they were home and to go back around to them! We went in and had a lesson and Ashley (8 3/4 months pregnant) said it was really important for her to be baptized and have the holy ghost before she was a mom. This young family has seen a 360 change with the help of their parents, the Hansen's and most of all the Lord.  It was such a blessing to be a part of!  We have seen many other miracles as we were able to set six dates this week and receive two referrals. "The Lord is extending his saints understanding".  The future is the only place for us here in Titusville!

Elder Gottfredson

Aaron 1/8/14

January 8, 2014

Warm, cold, warm, cold, freezing, insanely cold.

The subject has pretty much been the past couple of weeks as far as weather. There's a saying in Ohio, "If you don't like the weather here, just wait 5 minutes and it will change." It's way too true. Monday it got down to -11, and Saturday will be back up in the 50s. Whaaa??

So going back to 2 Mondays ago, December 30! It was P-day of course, and we had fun playing dodgeball/basketball as usual. Afterwards we had a quick dinner, and then headed out to Pataskala, Ohio, out near the edge of our area, to visit the Dills family. The Dills are less-active, and have been struggling with family issues for a while now. Their story is actually really sad, especially because all the problems have come from within the family. It's amazing to see the difference that not having a solid foundation built in the gospel, and lack of action from parents, can allow the adversary to rip families apart. I'm super grateful for my family (especially you Mom ;)) being so solid and immovable in the gospel!! But after months of trying we've finally gotten to visit with the Dills pretty frequently, and have begun teaching their daughters the lessons, and more about the Gospel. The older daughter, Cierra, 15, has been questioning a lot about the church, so we've been able to answer all of her questions, and I feel to help her on her way to begin building her own testimony. She's begun coming to Young Women’s on Wednesday nights, and always comes to church when her father does. The younger daughter, Falen, is 9 or 10, and we've been teaching her and getting her ready to be baptized. However, she wants her Dad to baptize her, and he can't do that for a while. While at the lesson, they all asked for blessings, so it was an awesome experience to be able to do that, and especially to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for each of them!! Afterwards, we got a call from the sisters who needed blessings, since a pretty bad creeping crud has been coming around, and around, and around. haha.

The next day was New Years Eve, and a large portion of the day was spent doing service for the Milhoans, couple and family that we've been doing lots of service for. They're the parents and family of our Meal Coordinator, Sister Scott. They have had us over on thanksgiving, the week before Christmas, and a couple other times for dinner. Elder Jardine and I moved a couple cords of split wood for them, which took 4 or 5 hours, and then we had dinner and played a couple games for New Years Eve, before we had to leave to make it in for curfew. 

New Years Day we had district meeting, and afterwards we went over the the Zone Leaders Area for a 24 hours exchange, which was awesome. That was when the weather started to go from warm to cold with lots of snow, so we froze our tails of tracting for a lot of the time. Yayyyyyyyyy tracting. ;)

One of the Zone Leaders, Elder Ose...something. I can't spell his name. He's going home in two days, and it was awesome to see that he was working hard until the very end, unlike many of the missionaries who trunk out a month or two ahead of time. That was an awesome example for me, and is something I want to emulate another year from now. 

Thursday the 2nd was filled with tons and tons of snow, doubled with tons and tons of wind. It was pretty ridiculous on the roads, since we ended up having to drive over 90 miles that day, coming back from the exchange and to get to the appointments around the far edges of our area. We visited with Bro. Dills again, and just talked with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (as found in PMG) and how he can continue to apply it more into his life. He's been a member his whole life, and has an incredible understanding of the doctrine, scriptures, and has a solid testimony. But he's fallen back into old habits that keep him from being active and worthy, and it's really hard to see. It all comes back to us eventually, and if we can "Just Do It," or not. After visiting with Bro dills, we went to the Watts house for dinner. The Watts are awesome, and bro Watts isn't a member, but is pretty much a dry Mormon. He comes to church every week! Their son Ross, who recently returned from his mission in Texas, was back visiting from BYU, so we got a couple referrals from him. He'll be a Ward Mission Leader/Bishop or more one day haha.

We almost died on the way home afterwards thanks to the crazy snow drifts across the roads, but we made it in once piece!

On Friday our hot water heater stopped working! they said they could get us a new one by Monday, so we just had to live with that for a few days. We'd go shower at the other Elders Apartment to keep from either stinking up the whole complex or from freezing our gonads off haha!  We ate at our Ward Mission Leaders house for dinner, and he told us a lot more stories. We've really struggled with Bro Styer, due to some serious personality clashes and such, but I've really grown to love and respect him. 

Saturday was filled with lots more service, which was extra awesome. The Elder Breshears and Elder Dotson came with Elder Jardine and I to the Milhoans again, to help them prepare their barns and such for the super cold weather that was coming. We cleaned out all the horse stalls, stacked a bunch of logs, boarded up windows, moved a bunch of haybales, put a snowplow on a tractor (I cannot confirm nor deny driving/operating said tractor), and got a stall ready to fill with Sister Scotts chickens. We had to wait for a little while after everything was done for sister Scott to get there, so we could follow her to her house to catch her chickens and move them back to the Milhoans barn (about 5 miles away), so we ended up doing a snowball fight for about 45 minutes haha. It was pretty dang fun :). They also made us some delicious Olive Garden-style Chicken& Gnocchi soup, which is delicious!!!!!! I'll need to remember to bring my camera later today to send y'all some pictures. 

We caught all the chickens, moved them into the barn, and then helped with some last second things with putting blankets on all their horses. I wish we could ride as missionaries! I'm pretty sure missionaries in the early church could ride horses! ;)  

Sunday was way different, since church changed from 1pm to 9am. We didn't get to shower until after church, and then we ended up having to do some paperwork for the mission. Bla. That evening we had dinner at the Williams, the AWESOME family who let us skype at their house, and by then it was about 45 degrees and had started raining and got really windy. We visited the Dills again, since they didn't make it to church, and by the time we got out it had cooled off dramatically. OH YEAH! Bro Slack actually came to church too! He's the guy who is insanely good at guitar, and his guitar is super nice too! for example of how good he is, we told him a couple songs he didn't know, he looked them up on YouTube, and by the time the song was halfway over he was playing along!! And the second time through he'd play it nearly perfect!! I want to be able to play guitar by ear like that. Anyways, he doesn't come to church for whatever reason, but he told us that if we found his name in the bible (Ithel) that he'd come to church. And since we found it, he stayed true to his word! In the words of the Ward Mission Leader, "Nobody misses out on the significance of the miracle that you elders got 'Buck' Slack to church." It was pretty exciting for me haha. 

Monday was super cold, and getting colder as the day went on. It started at 1 degree, and slowly went down to -6 when the sun went down. We visited Brother Slack Monday evening, and realized that we forgot our gas card in the apartment, and were running nearly on fumes. He was kind enough to let us use the gas he had in a couple gas cans in his shed, so we went out to grab those, but the lock was frozen stuck. It was about -11 now, with 25-30 mph wind. So we found a screwdriver and just dismantled the lock on the shed to get in. We went to the car, and put in the gas, and by that time I couldn't feel my hands from the cold. It wouldn't have been that bad, if I had realized that the lid on the gas can wasn't on all the way and was pouring -11 degree gasoline on my bare hands. I do not recommend doing that. Fingers don't move very well when they're starting to freeze. haha! :)

So it's been a pretty good week! Tomorrow is transfer day, and pretty soon here we'll be getting transfer calls. I'll end up coming back to the library to let you know if I’m staying or going. I've been here for 6 months now, so it's my guess (hope?) that I'll go, but "I'll go where you want me to go." :)

Love you all!! 

Elder Toombs