Life In T.H.E. Mission

November 28, 2011 - Final Letter

2011-12-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sending a couple of Large Flat-Rate boxes home today. You can open them or leave them taped up; there's nothing perishable in them. The weather has taken a wintery turn this week. it's been in the high 30s - low 50s at night. Our vehicle coordinator returned our Malibu back to us, all fixed up.

I'm souvenir shopping today, thanks for the thoughts. I will probably only bring 3 or 4 of my short sleeve shirts back, they are pretty frayed on the edges. I'm also planning on leaving my pillow and bedding seeing as I still have some at home....right?

The weeks been alright. Yesterday the Bishop made fun of me in priesthood opening exercises because I only have a few days left. Other than that it was a pretty good service. Sacrament meeting was one of the best I've been to. A recent convert that was baptized in September gave a really superb talk on the Holy Ghost, he was pulling stuff out of the Scriptures, Gospel Principles manual, Bible dictionary...it was great.
Thanksgiving was nice. The Mission President gave us the day off because no one wants to be bugged by the missionaries on Thanksgiving. We spent the afternoon with the High Priest Group Leader and his family. It was a good dinner.

On a different note we had a member take us 30-35 miles to another missionaries apartment for exchanges, after we switched we went back outside and the member was gone. (It was raining by the way pretty hard compared to Utah- actually the hardest I've sen it rain here all year. I've never been stranded on my mission before, so we went back inside and called the assistants. Thankfully they were able to pick us up and take us back to Dayton. I guess we just had a miscommunication about needing a ride back.

Kameron and his wife are still interested, we just can't get them to come to church, mostly because he works until at least 1-2 in the morning, so it's hard for him to get up in the morning.
I'm not sure whether I'll be able to read email next Monday, just so you know.

I don't know if you've been making plans already, But I really would like it if it was just you guys at the airport. People can show up at the house that night after we've been home a while if they want. I don't know what the plan is for meeting with the Stake Pres. I can't believe I'm actually writing this. It makes me feel like I'm being trunky. Sorry if this email is really BLAH I'm kind of depressed right now.

I think I'm probably going to need to see an Ear Nose and throat doctor when I get back. My cough is creeping back, I'm taking really deep breaths, I'm unusually tired and I'm forever in a "mental cloud/haze" if that makes sense. Some days are worse than others.

Ok I need to go. I'm almost out of time. Love you. SEE you soon. Bye

November 21, 2011

2011-12-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

I have decided to send my bike back using the method the mission office usually uses (Fedex ground I think).

I will probably send a package or two next Monday. I won't have time today because P-day ends at 2:00 today. The reason P-day ends at 2:00 today is because Thanksgiving is P-day all day for us, because no one wants to be bugged by the missionaries on Thanksgiving.
Hey, I am felling better, but I'm still not at 100%. One of our members thinks I have an embedded sinus infection. I don't know, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to get all the way better until I get to Utah. I do feel like there is something more going on with me than just allergies and a cold.

Well the exciting news from this weekend is that the county lifted the burn limit for a few days. The whole county has smelled like campfire smoke during the weekend. It's been so dry, people have been waiting all spring/summer to burn stuff....so the burn piles are really big.

We set a baptism date this week for Dec. 17. His name is Leroy, he has been coming to church for a while now...just walked in one day(before I got here) My excitement about his being baptized is stifled because I won't be here.

We've been trying to meet everyone on the ward list, this past week we met with different people, including the Ward Mission Leader, Bishop, and Relief society Pres. to try and find out who's who on the ward list. We were told of 20-25 households/families, that are on the ward list and it's KNOWN that they don't live around here anymore.

Sorry this letter is so short. Write you soon, bye.

November 14, 2011

2011-12-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

I'm going to miss the Christmas conference this year. I'm pretty bummed that I only get one.

The recent mission conference was pretty good (except misplacing my wallet of course). I found my wallet, it was in an obscure place in some other missionaries' car. I got it back today. I saw Tyler (Christensen) and talked to him as we were walking out of the building, I didn't get a picture though.

Would you please mail me the memory card I sent home a while ago (with pictures?). There's a video on it that another missionary wants a copy of and I will need the pictures for my scrap book page I will make for President Crawford when I leave. (Every missionary makes one, and president keeps a book of all the missionaries he's presided over.)

We were able to visit with Kameron this week. Both he and his wife accepted the commitment to be baptized, but we haven't set a date yet. He is more interested/excited than his wife is. He hasn't come to church yet, but hopefully that will happen this week.

I saw former Elder Serdar this week he and his parents were touring his mission. I think he sent a picture to dads phone. It was nice to see him.

Alright I need to go. Love you guys- bye!

November 7, 2011

2011-11-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Well it's November....weird. This week has honestly not been the best. I've been sick since Tues. with a cough/sore throat/sinus congestion/TIRED. We taught a total of 6 lessons this week. My all time low, because I've been in bed so much trying to get better. I just picked up some antibiotics from Walgreen's this morning. Hopefully that will help. I haven't gotten around to calling anyone about the bike shipping info. I've just been blahh.

We learned that Elder Rasband of the presidency of the seventy is meeting with the 3 Houston missions this Friday. Maybe I'll see Tyler again.

On the good news, we met a Police Officer named Kameron this week (yes with a K) he pulled the missionaries in Kingwood over this past summer and asked for a Book of Mormon and for them to teach him a little. Somewhere in between then and now there was a miscommunication and the missionaries here in Dayton lost contact/forgot/weren't told about him. We knocked on his door on Wednesday and he came to the door with his copy of the Book of Mormon and said he'd already read 1st Nephi, it felt good and he's prayed about it and it felt good. He's also really educated, he knows that the Bible isn't perfect and that there could be additional scripture. If anyone is going to be baptized into this ward before I leave it's him.

A song for sacrament meeting, the only two that came to my mind were Come, thou fount of every blessing or Come, come ye saints. I know Come, come ye saints, is associated with the pioneers but I think a lot of the lyrics apply to missionary work also. If you want to pick something else you can I really don't care.

I also learned this week that of the 4 of us flying to SLC myself and another elder are flying to Phoenix and then to SLC. Well the other 2 Elders are flying to Minneapolis and then to SLC, and they're supposed to land 10 min before us,....weird.

Thanks for the Birthday cards!

Sorry, my head's been in a cloud for a few days now...I'm drawing a blank on what else happened this week.

We also found out that Pres. Crawford is starting to make changes (meetings and such) I'm glad I'm leaving right before he starts to do this. It's just not what I "grew up" with.

Thanks for the $$$ that should be enough, Bike included.

See you soon,
Love you guys

October 31, 2011

2011-11-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hey,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our ward had a Halloween party on Saturday night as well. It was mostly for the younger kids though. I am planning on buying a pumpkin today and carving it up since it's P-day and we don't really have anything to do. Yes, it feels like Halloween. It is finally nice out and it's cold at night.

Thanks for the birthday package. I figured there wouldn't be much, that's ok though. We have dinner at a part members house Wednesday night. He, Kenny has been taking the lessons for a while now. His wife and one of his daughters (moved out, married) are active members. Other than that, no special plans for my birthday right now.

Yes, I am planning on sending my bike home. The vehicle/bike coordinator says it will probably be $100, but the old housing coordinator, Bro House, (no joke) lives in our ward and says the old vehicle coordinator found a way (he thinks it's FedEx ground?) that's like $30-40. I'm going try to talk to him about that and find more info.

Hmm do I have a song I want sung at my homecoming?......I'll have to think about that, I'll let you know next week.

Yes, I plan on bring some stuff back, but I'll need more money on the debit card. I'm pretty sure I'm almost out again. By the way my debit card EXPIRES AT THE END OF NOVEMBER! I'm pretty sure that will be important with flying home, but I'm not sure what to do about it besides tell you.

So, I got my "trunky papers" in the mail Saturday, stuff about returning home: travel, financial, medical,etc. Apparently, I need to be tested for tuberculosis ASAP when I get back. The church has a medical form they want me to fill out and send to SLC. I'm thinking I will send a package or two home of stuff that I have accumulated on my mission that might weigh down my bags or just take up a lot of space.

Elder Judkins and I have a goal to have two baptisms in November....all I really want right now is to FTB - Find Teach Baptize before my mission ends.

I'm excited for the month to start over because we have been scrimping and saving miles for the last 2 weeks. We have about 45 left for today but we're still saving because other people have gone over on their miles and we are trying to help them out. It's kind of complicated but miles are transferable between missionaries.

oh yeah something else for Birthday or Christmas is I think it would be cool to go see the Motab Christmas concert, But that could just be because I'm a missionary and that desire will wear off after I get back.

Well I need to go,
Love you Guys bye!

October 25, 2011

2011-11-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So, as you can probably guess, Elder Jensen was transferred yesterday. We had to be at the mission office by 6:00 AM ughh. That means a 4:00 AM wake up...zzzzzzz. Elder Jensen went BACK to Baytown which is really weird because that was the ward he served in before he was transferred to Dayton. So I had to wait around Kingwood, the mission office, until 1:45 ish for the transfer van to come back with my new companion, Elder Judkins. He's been out about 14 mo. He came out to Texas when Elder Sedar...I mean Eric became my companion. I am his third missionary to send home. Meaning he has already been 2 other missionaries last companion.

Oh about the chocolate, I don't think you understand how warm it still is down here. It's not crazy hot but the chocolate was all melted from sitting in a metal box in the sun all day. The mail man puts a key in our mail box that unlocks a bigger box if we have a package. So I threw them in the freezer. :-)

Yes our ward is doing a "Fall Festival" party this Saturday. I'm not sure what it's all about but it sounds like fun. I think I'm going to bye a pumpkin next Monday and carve it as a P-Day activity.

It's really weird that I'm in my last transfer... to know that I'm not going to be transferred anywhere else, and that I don't have to worry about getting a companion that's hard to get along with for a long time. I'm not talking about my new companion, he's cool.

My allergies have been pretty bad since I came to Dayton, I guess there is just stuff in this country air, but it's been worse the past few days. I think I might have caught a cold and a cough, but I'm on the upward slope. I felt terrible Sunday night and the 4:00 a.m. morning didn't help, but I'm getting better. Hopefully this snot doesn't turn to blood when I come back to cold dry air.

Right now Elder Judkins and I are making plans to try to meet everyone on the ward list. There are a lot of people we don't know and we have been struggling to find people to see. My goal is to baptize in the next 6 weeks!

Oh yeah, they shut down the Fred area :-{ I was sad to see that, but it needed to happen.

This last transfer with Elder Jensen, I learned the importance of preparation. The Lord will only supplement our effort, if we give our all. When Elder Holland came he talked a little about that. He talked about how much studying heart surgeons do before they are allowed to operate. There is more, but I am out of time.

I need to email President Crawford.

Love you hope you guys stay well,
Bye

October 17, 2011

2011-11-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Wow another week. One more till transfers. Well, I was in my first car accident ever this week. Don't worry it was just a fender-bender. Don't worry I wasn't driving. The cause of the accident: a lane change in front of a stoplight. The other car was a GMC 3500 Desil Denali. That was Friday morning, So right now we...well I'm driving a 2010 corolla until our vehicle coordinator has our car repaired.

Some one told us it was going to cool off this week. Yeah! :-))

We went to the temple last Tuesday. That was nice.

Yesterday I was thinking about how I'm about to start my last transfer and I had a very surreal experience. I couldn't comprehend myself doing anything besides being a missionary. The first 19 years of my life felt like I had watched a movie, and going home felt like a myth, like something that is talked about, that you see happen to others, but never happens to you....It was really weird.

In his letter Dad asked me if Dennis was baptized on the 24 of either August or September. I can't remember anymore, but yes he was. I believe there is a picture of him with Elders Vainuku and Hardy in the focal point.

Were we able to follow up with any of our media referrals from Gladys Knight? Yes and no. We gave one to a members friend who has come to church before. One to a part member couple, who we are kind of teaching, (It's along story), and a couple to some black ladies who are interested but they live forever a way and are super busy. It's been a few weeks since we've met with them.

It's weird that it is halfway through October already!

We are having to bike and mooch rides everywhere because we are already almost out of miles for the month. We've had a lot of extra trips this month, Temple, Zone Meeting, Zone P-Day, President interviews, members who live far away and probably transfers next week. We have 1,200 miles a month....we are at about 750mi right now.

Elder Jensen riding in Dayton, Texas

I'm out of time. Talk to you soon,
love you guys!

P.S. you didn't answer my question about Cameron saying I had to get up early the day after I got home and neither has he. Now I'm suspicious.

October 10, 2011

2011-10-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Well, another week down. It rained yesterday for the first time in...really since tropical storm Lee. Every week we drive over lake Houston....I mean the golf course lake Houston. Every week the islands are bigger and there is more grass.. and its the only grass around that's green. They say that when the water level started dropping they found that the people with lake front(now beach front) homes had hooked up PVC pipe and had been stealing water to irrigate their gardens.....oops! The weather is nice right now, except mosquitoes, sometime it gets a little warm but not really. We get to go to the temple tomorrow, what a blessing.

Let's see what happened this week.......ughhhh why is it so hard for me to generate a long descriptive email for you guys? We've been trying to stay busy. President Crawford has come out with 25 scriptures he wants us to memorize and 100 scriptures he wants us to familiarize ourselves with. We have our Pres. interviews this Weds. (last one until my departing interview).

You asked if I will have to lose weight because the ward is feeding us? Right now I'm at a total gain of 8-12 lbs since I started my mission. I'm trying to keep it that way.

Whoa! Wait! since when were Nick and Sarah having a baby? I know you told me last week but I don't remember hearing anything about them before that. Oh also about 6 months ago you said the Allred's were thinking about moving to UT? I'm guessing that never happened.

Nothing new to report in the way of missionary work sadly. I don't think we were able to meet with any of our investigators/ or potentials this week. Although we did receive a referral for the H.P. group leaders coworker who supposedly stopped the missionaries in Atascocita and asked for a Book of Mormon. He may also have been meeting with other missionaries in Kingwood, since that is where he works, but he lives right by our ward mission leader.

Sorry, no pictures. I thought the library would be closed because it is Columbus day(some of the banks are closed today) so I didn't bring my card reader/camera, next week though I promise.

Oh you asked about my birthday..... The only thing I would ask for while I am still out would be some good ol home cookin. As for after I get back... I want to build a computer in the case that I bought before I left So if dad (since he knows what to look for) sees any good deals online on black Friday or (tech Tuesday? does that exists or am I making it up)? or any other good deals on computer parts I would appreciate those. Basically, when I get back I would ask for help in doing that, buying a laptop, maybe some movies that have come out, and school( mostly because I'm going to miss sales around black Friday, on the computer stuff).

Out of time, got to go!
love you!!

October 3, 2011

2011-10-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hey,

How are you? Actually, I have not received a letter from Ethan yet, nor a package. I was really hoping Ethan's letter would come Saturday, but sadly no.

Wow, West Africa! I was not expecting that. I had guessed Europe. Do they wear pants in his mission? It sounds like it will be hard, but i think he's up to it. I wonder if he will be a Branch President on his mission. I'll bet the missionaries make up a significant part of the priesthood out there. 90's-100's all year ouch!! At least it's not 105 plus the humidity. The weather here has finally cooled off. It has been in the 70s since the first of October. I think we are through with the hot hot weather.

I did enjoy conference. I really liked the priesthood session as well as Pres. Eyrings talk on charity, Sunday morning. I also really like Elder Ballard's talk on the name of the church. I did not get to hear Elder Scott's talk though.. I guess he spoke first? We came to the church Saturday morning and no one had planned on setting up to watch conference. Then when the Bishop and ward Clerk showed up, they couldn't get a signal from SLC! They had to call SLC tech. to figure out what was going on. Turns out our satellite needed to be re calibrated for some reason. So we missed the first 20 min of the Sat. morning session.

Yes, the ward is feeding us. We are still trying to find new investigators. We may have found some, a couple of black ladies that were invited to go the the Gladys Knight concert by their member friend. They are very educated and knowledgeable about religion/bible (surprisingly). We've taught them the first lesson and have a return invitation for next Sunday.

I think I'm entering the last phase of my mission (knock on wood) at least a new stage. I will admit I am starting to get a little "trunky". I saw my name and others listed on a white board in Pres Crawford's office. The list was of missionaries going home in the next few months. That was a dose of reality.

I like Elder Jensen he's a hard worker. He will probably get transferred in a few weeks though, with how long he's been here and then when I have to leave.

Well I need to email Pres Crawford and Ethan,
Love you! Hope you making it with school and everything
Bye!

September 26, 2011

2011-10-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

The Dayton area is REALLY dry because it hasn't rained, lakes and ponds are drying up left and right, but it's still more humid than Ut I think. Hotter too.

Yes, I am excited for conference! :-) I'm guessing we will watch it at the church but that could change.

So, I guess the church puts on this performance called Saints United Voices (SUV) Directed by Gladys Knight. Well They came to Houston this week. I guess it's a really big referral generator. We received 3 Referrals for nonmembers yesterday and apparently we are getting some more today from it. So that has been a big thing going on down here.

I got your letters, thank you!

Not a whole lot to report on the missionary side of things. We've really been struggling to find new investigators and too find more effective things to do than tract. Seems like that is the story of my mission, struggling to find new investigators. President says this is a baptizing mission, but I don't see myself as a baptizing missionary.

Our apt. is getting bug control"ed" today, we had to pull everything out of the cupboards and cover them.

Did I tell you we are going to the temple again on Oct. 11?

I'm sorry maybe its because I ran out of milk yesterday so I only had 4 pieces of toast for breakfast, but I can't think of anything to report on.

There is a Chiropractor in our ward. He's helping me fix my Planters fasciitis/tight calf's. I'll have to wait and see if it makes a difference.

I'm just brain dead right now, sorry.

So Ethan wants to learn a language huh... For me the culture shock of Texas, and just trying to learn the lessons was hard enough, I think if I had been sent foreign I would have come home at my own insistence in the first month. I had seriously under estimated how challenging it would be, but I think Ethan is of that kind of caliber that he would succeed in a foreign speaking mission. Not to mention letters/packages are better if your in the USA.

That's crazy that his call's in the mail. You might want to think about having him open it recorded on video.

I'm almost out of time. Love you!

September 19, 2011

2011-10-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So, it's been another week. Elder Jensen and I are going to deep clean the apartment today....It needs it. The ward is awesome here, the work is a little slow though. I'm sad to say that "less than perfect" missionaries have been here recently. The work is also unique and different here than any of my other areas. Remember way back in the day when I had my call and you were researching my mission....Well, if you remember that, you'll remember that there was a "cleansing" a few months before I came out....we'll just say this area has a few scars from that event that we are still trying to heal.

Apparently this area has been pretty bad for meal appointments lately....we have a full week this week though....we may have mentioned the situation to the Stake President at a special meeting he had last Thursday with the missionaries to learn where the wards needed to improve in missionary work.

We've been on our bikes a lot this week in order to try to save miles. fortunately Tropical Storm Lee broke the heat.. it has still been getting hot, but not like it used to.

Man, that stinks about Ethan's call. Hopefully he will have it on the 28th.

We had a baptism this past week a man named Curtis. I met him once before he was baptized so I still don't know him that well.

I also went on exchanges with our District leader this past week. He's in a bike area. It was the first day of my mission where I didn't have a car.

Also, as far as I know, this past week one of my recent converts in Mid-County Lee Segura baptized his 8yr old daughter on Saturday. I was able to go back because we had a baptism here the same evening. (Curtis)

Apparently, we are going to the temple again in Oct.

I'm still trying to learn everyone here and meet all our potentials/investigators.

I need to go Love you!

Here is my new address.

704 E. Warring Dr. #240

Dayton, Tx.

77535

September 13, 2011

2011-09-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hey,

What a week! Well, as you can probably guess by no email yesterday, I was transferred again (What!!!!!!!!!!!)

My new area is the Liberty Ward, but we live in Dayton. It's in the country. My new companion is Elder Jensen. He's been out for about 6 months, and he's from WA. I'm glad to be in the country again, but there were a few people I was sad to say good by to. Along with being transferred, I was released as District Leader.

Another unique thing happened this past week. Last Friday, the mission office called, wanting to know what airport I was going to be flying into! YIKES! Talk about a thorn in your side! In the course of transfers I stopped in the mission office and saw my flight plans! Apparently, I have a layover in Phoenix, AZ. and I'm flying in at about 7:20 PM!!! That's disappointing! I guess I'm not leaving Houston until 3:00PM because it's cheaper. Weird to think about this. I will have to get back to thinking about missionary work!

Got to run,
Love you,
Bye

September 5, 2011

2011-09-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Things are pretty nice right now, it's about 85 degrees outside. We've got a big old "cold" front over us :-) if my amateur meteorology knowledge is right. Tropical Storm Lee was nice. It blew a lot of clouds in that cooled things off and it rained quite a bit on Saturday. It's just nice to be out of the stale heat. Tropical Storm Lee mixed things up nicely.

Yes, transfers are this week, and yes Elder Serdar goes home this week. I know he lives in the Sandy area. I don't know if I will get transferred or not. I have a feeling something is going to happen with our companionship, but I don't know. I'm thinking the fact I only have 2 transfers left President Crawford is going to do something.

We don't really have any new investigators. We committed an "eternal" investigator, Dennis, to baptism on 9/24/11. His wife is a member. Missionaries have been going over there for some time now. This transfer has just been a hard one. I think the lord is trying to strengthen my weaknesses. Nothing has really been bad about this transfer, it's just been playing against my weaknesses.

We do have a potential investigator named Cathy, who is a referral from her member friend. I think I mentioned her before. We are going to take her on a church tour on Thursday.

Well, yesterday I wasted $1.86 + tax. I bought a pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream...so why was it a waste? It had coffee in it. It wasn't coffee flavored, but it had coffee in it...that was disappointing.

Well I need to get going. Sorry it wasn't longer with more detail.

Love you guys

August 29, 2011

2011-09-06T11:23:00.001-07:00

Elder Tyler Christensen and Elder Wesley Christensen

Hey,

Yeah I did have a better week this week. I received some answers to prayers about why we are struggling, and how we can improve. I also had the opportunity to see a lot of familiar faces this weekend. A lot of the members from Jasper and Fred were at stake conference so that was really nice. A "Tender mercy from the Lord". I saw Ty "Elder Johnson" from a distance, I saw a lot of Guy, I mean Bishop, in him this time, but I didn't talk to him. I did get to talk to Tyler for a few minutes after our meeting with Elder Holland before they strongly encouraged us to go back to our areas. At our meeting on Friday Elder Holland shook everyone's hand, that was cool. I recorded his talk on my voice recorder. It would be so hard to be a celebrity, even a Mormon celebrity. Everyone wanting to shake your hand, etc...I have more respect for the Apostles and First Presidency now. We had a good stake conference too. Pres. Crawford got up and told the stake that "yes, my eyebrows are real" "I was never involved with the Mafia" and said an Elder told him he thought he was a "government hit man" I was thinking to myself "good grief". We also had a good zone conference last Weds. I have one more left on my mission.

I get the feeling form Cameron's Emails that he is pretty excited for me to come home.

Well we're down to the end of Aug. maybe the heat will start to give a little here soon.

A Corn spider on someones front porch we came across while tracting.

I had my Temple Recommend renewed this week by Pres Crawford.

The work is still going pretty slow, but now I'm confident I know what we need to do to pick it back up!
Downtown Houston we had to drive past to get to the Missionary conference.

I need to go,
Love you Bye

August 22, 2011

2011-09-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sigh...another adventurous week...And another one to come. I think the climax of last week was getting food poisoning for the first time in my life, and throwing up for the first time on my mission. We are pretty sure it was the hamburgers we had for lunch on Friday. We ate at about 12:3 -45. I started to feel something around 4:00 Shortly thereafter I started my repentance process. 1. admitting I had done something wrong (eat the burger) 2. I was definitely feeling sorry for what I had done. We went home, I took a nap. At 6:45 I completed my repenting by making restitution (doing my best to make it as though I had never eaten the burger) and I will not be eating there again.... So that was fun...Not. Elder Vainuku got sick too but it took him longer to get sick and he never did puke. We are fine now though, don't worry.

Today marks the beginning of probably the most Intense week of my mission. Today is Zone P-day. Weds. is Zone Conference, Pres. Crawford has lengthened this one by 3 hrs!! We also found out this past week that Elder Holland will be speaking to the 3 Houston missions Friday evening (I'm going to try to get a picture with Tyler, I mean Elder Christensen) The reason Elder Holland is in Houston is because he is reorganizing a Stake Presidency. Well, that Stake Presidency is the Beaumont Presidency. So he will be speaking at our stake conference on Sunday which will be held in the Port Aurthur building. That's right, the church I go to each week. It's going to be a week never to be forgotten.

Elder Vainuku and I have been really struggling with finding new investigators. I think that's something I've struggled with my whole mission, but is really hitting hard now. I don't know that I ever really learned how to find...I learned how to tract, and contact, but I don't think I learned how to find. Yeah it's discouraging/frustrating, Am I the happiest I've ever been on my mission right now? No. Am I going through some stuff right now? Yes. Am I working what I judge to be my hardest/smartest, and am I going to get through it? YES! (It probably has something to do with there not being any 7-11/Slurpees down here. Can you believe that?!? no slurpees! And it's way hotter that Ut.<:-))

Is Robin a Freshman now? I was trying to figure that out the other night. If I remember right she is 14? If she's 14 she would be a Freshman this year. If that's true !!!!!!!! When did that happen!

My goal right now is to make it through the rest of August, it should cool down a little in September and should really cool down in late Sept. - Oct.

Well I need to go. Good luck adapting to the school routine.
Love you guys, Bye!

August 15, 2011

2011-09-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hey,

It's been a long week...... Cameron just sent me a letter, he sure is trunky for me. Yeah Elder Vainuku and I are doing well. He hardly gets any mail, but that's not because he's so far away. He asked his family not to write him to help him stay focused on the work. Thanks for the Banana Bread by the way.

I'm still thinking Weber and I'm thinking an Information Systems Technologies (IST I think that's what it's called) degree.

I'm Tired......

It's hard to believe Ty only has 5 weeks left.

Hmmm...something special for Nate and Liz.... There isn't anything special that I can think of off the top of my head,besides maybe including a picture or two that I've taken, but I'll think about it. Maybe I could get them a gator head or something..... haha Nate and Liz....

You are farther along than I am in the Book of Mormon. I'm In Mosiah (19?) although it is easier for me to read everyday than you guys.

You're going to sign me up for pageant next year right?

We contacted a Referral this week from a a member in Houston. Her name is Cathy, she is very intelligent. She speaks English and Spanish, (She's white not mexican). She want's to come to church, and take a tour of the church, but she wants to do it in September.

Oh, we also found out that one of our investigators is a Pedophile. Soooo, yeah, President Crawford says that requires first presidency approval. We're not sure if he will ever even be allowed near the church because it might be a Child Safety Zone...So that happened this week....Exciting, but he says he feels the Book of Mormon is true.

Ok I need to go,
Love you guys, Bye

August 8, 2011

2011-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

I hope you had a fun time at the Cousin Campout.

I can understand how Jacob feels. I was excited to be a senior, and finish school.....Good Times, but I am glad it's him not me.

I think I'm going to make sure I finish the Book of Mormon before I come home also. I'm in Mosiah. (Abinadi)

Elder Vainuku and I are having a great time. We're struggling to find people to see but we're working on it. Just this past week, we received a referral from Bishop. He had received a letter in the mail from a man named John, who had found the church in prison, but had recently been released. We stopped by and he want's to be baptized, but he can't come to church for another 3 mo. because he's under "intensive observation" I guess it's kind of like house arrest. Also, he was in prison for committing a Felony. So I'm pretty sure he can get baptized, but he'll definitely have to be interviewed by Pres. Crawford. (He didn't kill anyone, so far as we know)

We also received a referral from a Member of the church living in Sugarland, Tx. She said she's a convert, she grew up in this ward, and has a friend named Kathy, that she has been talking to her on facebook, that recently went through a divorce, has been reading the Book of Mormon, and wants to meet with us this Weds. So the Lord is blessing us!

Do we get fed? Yeah pretty good, we have a meal coordinator who passes the calendar around R.S. and also tries to fill in the blanks we probably get fed on average 5-6 nights a week. Occasionally, we'll get paid money for our appointments instead of a home cooked meal, (single sisters, family emergencies, ect.) I think I'm going to take that money and buy a new bike seat today, we're doing a fair amount of biking.

We did get a new car this week, well sort of. Our vehicle coordinator had us switch cars with our Zone Leaders because they use more miles than us and their car is also higher on miles. (the church tries to sell the cars at about 50,000 Mi.) So, we still have a 09 Chevy Malibu but now it has 49,000 Mi. instead of 26,000. Both cars have things that are broken on them, but I liked our old car better. We, still have the same amount of miles per month, 1,000.

Shoot, I forgot to shave this morning, I'll have to do it after we go shopping.

Ok, I need to go now
Love you guys.

Get Ethan's papers of asap, bye!

August 1, 2011

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Yes I'm still in Port Neches. Elder Shepherd got transferred though. He went to Buna. It's a small ward about 45 Mi. South of Jasper. My new companion's name is elder Vainuku (vy (like WHY but with a V) -nuke-ooh) he's Tongan. Not only Tongan, he went straight from Tonga to the MTC, so he's still learning English. So I'll have at least one companion who's not from Ut. I guess Pres. Crawford recently told him to have an hour of language study each morning....Wow, I never thought I would be studying English on my mission. He's been out the same amount of time as Elder Shepherd 7 1/2 mo.

Yes, I got the package, THANK YOU! We were having a rough day and it was exactly what I needed.

The Temple was great, as it always is. I did pray about school. I think I'm still leaning toward Weber because I'm already accepted, I know my way around, I can live at home, it's cheap (ish). But I'm still thinking about it.

Yes, It has probably rained more in the past 2 weeks than it has the rest of my mission.
and the mosquitoes are loving it. :-(

Wow! 20 mo. tomorrow! yikes!

So Ethan's Last Dr. appointment is on Friday? So maybe like 1 mo. until his call?

We're still trying to find new investigators. It seems like that's what I've been doing my whole mission is finding without a whole lot of success. I think I need to ask more inspired questions when we go tracting. We are trying to find investigators, in ways other than tracting also, part member families, Less/In-actives. We got a referral the other day that's in Anahuac (I think I spelled it right). It's on the other side of our area, like 50 mi. away...and there's no phone number! :-( We've got another referral in Winnie, that's like 30 mi. away. It's in the same direction at least. I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to get out there, because we defiantly don't have the miles.

ok well I need to get going

Love you guys Bye!

July 25, 2011

2011-09-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Sounds like your summer is as busy as ever. I'm glad you made it back safe.

Transfers are next week. No, I don't think I'll get transferred, but that's what I thought last time too....

Biking or car? it really all depends on miles. Right now we are ok, but we'll see how the last few days of the month look.

It has been raining a lot lately, which is good. We need the water, but now...Remember how Moses plagued Egypt with a swarm of locust? Mosquitoes up the Wazoo! Holy Cow!!! I've probably killed 30 mosquitoes in the last 2-3 days, and that's what I killed, not saw killed . It's all in the work though.

We get to go to the temple this Weds. that's should be a fun trip. I think I'm going to ponder where I should go to school while I'm there. I think just before pageant I ask you guy if you had any thoughts/recommendations about school since you've "been there, done that.", and also since you might know me a little better than "I" know myself. If you could send me your thoughts I would really appreciate it. :-) Also, if you'd send the memory card back out 'with pictures' I would appreciate that too.

We had Leadership Training this past week. Pres. Crawford sure isn't pres Mouldenhauer! That's ok though, it might also be that Pres. Crawford is brand new and Pres. Mouldenhauer was seasoned.

Right now our teaching pool is pretty empty. They've all been baptized. So we're having to "Prune" our area. By prune I mean stop seeing the same people that aren't coming closer to Christ and are just a way to fill up the day, and star finding new people. Yeah it's hard with how hot it is. But it was never easy for the savior so why should it be easy for us?

Yeah, I heard they had legalized more fireworks in Utah...figures that would happen while I'm on my mission. Oh well i'st not THAT important.

Ok, well I need to go. Stay safe, have fun, write you later,
Love you guys bye!

July 18, 2011

2011-09-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hey,

We had our baptism this weekend. Lee was baptized (by his father in law) and confirmed. I'm pretty happy for him and his family, They have the temple as their next goal, and a great family friend/ home teacher that will take care of them, and make sure they stay on the straight and narrow.

On the note of baptism, the Beaumont Stake/Zone is really pumped up right now because last month 16 people were baptized, which broke the old 30 yr record of people baptized in a month by 4 and those 16 people represented 1/2...1/2 of the people baptized in the mission. To bad I wasn't here during that month:-( This morning our Zone Leaders told us that we're already at 9 baptisms for this month, so we're pretty pumped up!

I think you should just save the Pageant shirt. I already have more T-shirts than I need. I need to send 1-2 home. That's pretty cool that your going to be on a 75th Anniversary Hill Cumorah Pageant committee next year, and that we don't half to "hope" we'll get in next year. I just realized you're still driving as I type this, that's a LOOONNNGGG drive!

Yeah I like President Crawford, he's defiantly not Pres. Moldenhauer, but that's to be expected, and that's not bad either. It's hard to explain the difference between them, Pres. Moldenhauer had a kind of intensity about him. His big thing was "Obedience with Hard Work". It sounds like President Crawford's thing will be "Preach My Gospel".

Yeah I like Elder Shepherd, he's a hard worker and wants to be obedient. It's hard to believe we've already been together 4 weeks.

Today is our Zone P-day we're going bowling, well I'm not I can't afford it this has been a pretty hard month on my monthly missionary funds. It should still be fun though to talk with friends. The last time I went bowling I just got frustrated because I stunk.

OK, well I'm out of time have a safe trip.
Love you guys bye!

July 11, 2011

2011-09-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So it's 91 F and lot's of humidity eh? Now you know what I've felt like for the last month, and the next 2 1/2 months, only in a white shirt and tie. :-)

We have Pres. Interviews tomorrow, I'm excited. We get to go to the temple on the 27th, that's always fun/nice.

This past week we set a baptism date with a man named Lee for 7/16(Sat) his wife is a recently reactivated member, and his 2 boys were just baptized. I'm told he was somewhat involved with his boy's lessons, so he already knew a lot bout the church and he has come every week since I've been here. (wow I can't believe the transfer is half over!) We got a text from his home teacher telling us his Facebook Status said he was on day 2 of no coffee and we hadn't officially taught him the word of wisdom yet!

Also this week, a bold move by the brethren in Salt Lake City, every companionship, or rather, every apartment, has been issued a portable DVD player! Your probably asking "Why in the world would they do that?" Remember those videos that we watched on the internet before I left? Well the idea is that we can watch those, the new ones that came out a year ago, and some other videos that go along with those, like videos of those missionaries teaching lessons. Why? Evaluation it's really easy (for me at least) to see a mistake in myself, if I see it in someone else first. Those can only be watched during study time in the morning.

Right now there is condensation running down the OUTSIDE of the windows at the library! (it rained this morning) YIKES!

Let's see what else?....We have been riding our bike quite a bit because of mile's, and it's just an area that is "built for biking" so to speak. We do still use our car though, trust me.
All right, I'm almost out of time have fun be safe, Please.

I love you guys!

July 5, 2011

2011-09-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

President and Sister Crawford and Wesley

Hey,

Well, I guess your all busy with the Pageant.Tthat's funny Ethan's Ishmael 1st son. When I was the second son of Ishmael, the guy who played the first son was a grown man...How old is the 2nd Son of Ishmael?....How old is the girl who plays Ethan's wife? Wait, dad shaved his head? send me a picture! That ringlett beard is the coolest beard I've ever seen!

That's cool you met Bro. Hilton's son. Bro Hilton is the stake Patriarch for the Beaumont Stake.

We met PSC (President & Sister Crawford) last Thursday. They were pretty cool, really nice. He was pretty relaxed compared to Pres. Moldenhauer, not that he changed any of the standards. Pres. Moldenhauer just had an intensity about him. It was different to see Pres Crawford with an Ipad while he spoke. Pres Moldenhauer was using pen and paper. One of his sons got him a IPhone 4. He had no idea how to use it. The assistants struggled for probably 10 min. trying to get their MacBook Pro hooked up to the projector (PSM's was a PC) they eventually gave up.

The works going good. Believe it or not I'm glad to be in the city. Most missionaries don't like it because you don't get to know the members as well because there are so many. But after 7 1/2 months in the country I was starting to feel like I wasn't working hard enough. It felt like we weren't seeing anyone in the evening besides our dinner apt.... because that's the culture in the country, people go to bed earlier. We're working with 3 investigators right now. One's the father of a reactivated family from La. True Cajuns, he makes homemade hot sauce and seasoning from Jalokia (AKA Ghost peppers) I had a LITTLE on my jambalaya the other day....Wheew talk about the fires of Hell. He gave me some dehydrated ones I could try to plant when I get home. I just remembered, he said this pepper comes from India, they RUB it on fences to keep......Elephants away! Yeah, Elephants!

In other news, I heard that Nate Gardner, my trainer, is engaged to Liz Smith, a sister missionary. Wow!

We went out to a place on the edge of our area called Gator Country yesterday for P-Day. I saw a glimpse of the heaviest known gator in the continental US,1300 lbs, and the largest known gator in Texas 13' 4" he wasn't in a good mood so I didn't get a picture, I did get a video but it's to big to email.

So the clock is counting down. I know your all really busy but Mom and Dad if you get the time I would really appreciate any thoughts/advice you have on where, and what study for school next spring. I think I know but you've both walked a path similar to this before and I can see how you could see/know things I don't. I know I thought mom sounded a little.....disappointed I guess at Christmas when I said I was thinking about going to Weber. If you would both write me back about this I would really appreciate it..Ethan too from what he knows about me could give a yay or nay for BYU. Thank you

Well have fun, be safe, stay hydrated, stay sane. Please!
Love you

June 27, 2011

2011-09-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

President and Sister Mouldenhauer and Wesley

Hey Guys,

WHOA! what happened to June? Hey So you're driving across the country as I type this huh, with Robin and Stacey?...hmm sounds like fun. ;-)

Port Neches is a pretty big ward. At the beginning of my mission it was covered by 1 set of sisters, so it can be done, but there's enough people for 2 companionship's. I don't think I told you that we live with Members, the Zimmerman's. They're an older couple. They have 2 teenage sons still home. One leaves for his mission in a month the other is about 17. We have a bedroom in their house we stay in.

So today I wrote my last letter to Pres. Moldenhauer, or actually, I wrote my first letter to Pres. Crawford today. Pres. Moldenhauer leaves this week. They bought their old mission vehicle and are driving back to Idaho. We have a Zone Conference on Thurs. where we'll meet PSC (Pres. Sis. Crawford) for the first time.

It's been crazy hot here, at least I'm by the coast so it's kind of breezy. I'm kind of excited because everyone's saying were' probably going to have a hurricane this year and this area got destroyed 3 years ago by Ike and Rita. I'm also excited because I'll get to see members from Jasper and Fred at Stake conference is Aug/Sept.

Well I hope you survive the Voyage out to Palmyra. Have fun, be Safe!

The Bank sign in the back ground says its 100 degrees!

love you guys, bye!

June 20, 2011

2011-06-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So, the Lord pulled a fast one on us this time. I DID get transferred back to the Beaumont Zone, to the Twin City Ward. I really was not expecting to get transferred. I think it surprised everyone. Elder Tracy is training a new missionary in Livingston. So, I had the new truck for like 10 days, but at least I was blessed with that. My new companion is Elder Shepherd from North Layton, he's been out about 6 months. We share the ward with 2 other Elders, Elder Hoffman, the Stewart's cousin, and he is also training this transfer, so he will get his new companion on Wednesday.

Our address is:
3146 Matterhorn Dr.

Port Neches, Tx.

77651

If this email reads a little weird it is because I went to bed at 11:30PM and got up at 4:00AM this morning so my brain is a little frazzled right now.

The big news in Livingston is that a week ago we set another Baptism date for July 16th. She is the 14yr old granddaughter of a less active member. Oh while I'm remembering, I never told you that there is a prison in the Livingston area that holds all the death row inmates for the state of Texas. I thought that was a neat little fact. Anyway, the less active member works there, that's why I remembered. Anyway, Her Mother is not a member either, she didn't seem as interested as her daughter, Katrina, but we were hopeful.

So I guess this area got hit pretty hard 3 years ago with Ike and Rita, well turns our our summer is starting the same way as that summer did 3 years ago.....fun times!

Oh I also heard today that in August Elder Jeffery R. Holland is coming down to release The Stake President and set apart a new one at stake conference, that's exciting!

Oh yeah if you could please remember to talk to dad about the CDs I don't know if you were waiting to see if I got transferred or not, and I understand your busy, but I would really appreciate it if you could get those sent out before you leave for pageant.

So I'm just about out of time(Did dad get the card I sent him?)

Got to go
Love you Bye!

June 13, 2011

2011-06-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Yes, transfers are next week. I'm pretty sure I won't get transferred, but you never know.

So it's been a pretty exciting week. We had Zone conference on Thursday. We said good bye to President Moldenhauer. It was the last time we will see them until mission reunions. They talked a lot about the hand off to President Crawford....Pres. Moldenhauer made a joke at Zone Conference that we know President and Sister Crawford have to be sanctified because they have 4 daughters.

Also, at Zone conference we got a new vehicle. Turns out our vehicle coordinator used to be on the High Council of the Kingwood stake so he came up to do "rescue missions" some times and saw how rough some of the roads are.....yup, a brand new 2011 Chevy Colorado LT (Z71). I feel really blessed and surprised. I think this is now the nicest vehicle I've driven in my life it had 43 miles on it when we picked it up!

12 days huh? wow! I didn't realize you would be leaving for the Hill Cumorah Pageant that soon. Should be fun though, right?

Oh, yesterday our newly SUSTAINED, not yet set apart, assistant ward mission leader got up in priesthood opening exercises and told the priesthood that he "wasn't bashful", that he was going to be calling on brothers to go to less actives and "rattle their cages", and if anyone said no they would have to stand before god at the judgment and explain why they said no. YIKES!!! Hasn't he read D&C 121? "no power can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood...but by persuasion, long suffering, and by love unfeigned." That is totally the wrong approach to missionary work... I'm a little concerned about this but we'll see what happens.

We're still having trouble finding new investigators. We did meet a black girl with a member(I can't spell her name) she came to church and said she would be back, but we haven't been able to teach her yet.

Well, I'd better go, I hope you don't completely lose your mind over pageant.

Love you guys
bye

June 6, 2011

2011-06-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So, at the Houston airport, it maxed out at 105F yesterday. They say we're breaking records right now. I think normally its like 89F and the old record was in the 90sF. No we are definitely in a drought here. Some of the Magnolia trees ( I don't know if you know what their like, I didn't before my mission) their leaves are turning yellow they are so dry. Gardens are really taking a hit. Whenever it does rain (which is not very often the plants jump 3in. then stop.

I think the last time we will see Pres. Moldenhaure will be on Thursday. We are having Zone Conferences this week. Then we have another Zone Conference on July 1st with President and Sister Crawford.

Right now we are doing allot of tracting and seeing members. We aren't really seeing a lot of success with tracting. We did have a media referral ( book of Mormon, from Mormon.org) from a lady who lives up in Corrigan....20 miles away and literally on the edge of our area and at the edge of T.H.E. mission.

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Serdar this wast weekend. That was fun. I learned that there is a a new Chevy Colorado at the mission office that will be heading to Livingston sometime soon. Apparently, the office staff found out they can order trucks for the more rural areas. So, 4 of the areas that missionaries have been lobbying for trucks are going to get them. Transfers are in 2 weeks. I think I'm staying, but you never know.

Ok, I'm almost out of time. Hope this email was what you were looking for. :-)

So, I realized I didn't tell you about the pants until after I sent them, They have a rip and I was hoping you could Sew them and send them back out with the CDs. Go ahead and try the food stuff. I think Dad and Jacob might like it.

Love you guys
bye

May 31, 2011

2011-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hey,

If you don't want that snow up their I'll gladly take it down here, cool things off. I think it's safe to say summer has officially arrived.

I sent a package today. I think you should get it about Thursday. One of the things in it is a conference CD case full of MoTab. I was hoping that dad could burn copies since some of the CDs are starting to get scratched. Also in the case is a list of songs I was hoping dad could burn some mix CDs from. Also, somewhere on LDS.org there are some CDs that can be downloaded I think they are called "A brand New Year". There's one for 2010, and one for 2011 if dad can figure it out I would appreciated it if you would send those out to me. Yes, they are approved. Needless to say after 18 Months I'm getting tired of Motab. I also sent a Memory card in the package FYI.

Ummm... another story.... I don't know we've kind of ground to a halt in missionary work. We still have our 3 investigators with baptism dates 2-July 9th, 1- Aug.-20th.

We spoke in sacrament last Sunday. I spoke on the Holy Ghost out of Pres. Eyring's talk "Serve With the Spirit". Like 4-5 people got on to me about being soft spoken, but other than that it went well. Oh and over half the congregation were visitors.

I had leadership training last Tues-Weds. It was pretty good learned a lot of good stuff. I found out President Crawford comes in either the last Tuesday or Wednesday of June (Pres. Moldenhaure's dates don't match) and the next morning Wednesday or Thursday President and Sister Moldenhaure will be driving back to Idaho.

Yesterday and kind of today my alergies have been real bad. I have been taking clariton but if it stays bad I'll start taking Allegra. That's what Sister Moldenhaure recommended.

Got to go.

Love you Bye

May 23, 2011

2011-06-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hey there

Brighton got to feet of snow in late May!?!?! Are you guys in danger of flooding? That's funny that you have tons of rain and SE Tx is in extreme fire hazard. Most gardens aren't doing well down here.

Ahhh time once again for the "Pageant scramble" That's OK though right? Because the things we should put our time and $ into are things that will make memories, build relationships, and strengthen testimonies, right?

This past week I learned that being "thin skinned" is a form of being prideful. "When we focus on our reputation...become obsessed with our status....that's when pride begins to corrupt," Pres. Utchdorf. The ability to laugh at ourselves is a form of humility.

We still have our 3 investigators. One with a Baptism date in August and two in July.

Oh yeah the library will be closed next week for Memorial Day so I'll email on Tuesday, probably a little later than usual.

There's leadership training tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm not sure what will be talked about, but it should be good.

Elder Gaverett spoke to us this past week.

Oh yeah all the Spanish Sisters I flew out with Went home 2 weeks ago.

Ummm... We used the power of prayer to fix one of our members car's CD player.

This member goes out with us a lot. He had a CD stuck in his player (6 CD changer) for probably about a month now and every time we go out with him we would try to fix it. This time we prayed and pop! out the CD came. Prayer works!

Well I'd better Email Cameron

Love you guys bye!

May 17, 2011

2011-05-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Good, I'm glad to hear you are doing better.

This coming Wednesday Elder Gaverett of the 70 will be speaking to us. It sounds like he's pretty strict. Apparently, he is going to be conducting random apartment and car inspections, and the only lapel pins we are can wear are the mission pins President Moldenhaure gave us.

Hmmm. as far as conference talks, you might try President Monson's "The 3 R's Of Choice", and President Utchdorf's "Of Things That Matter Most". I don't know if there what your looking for but those are the talks that come to mind. I'll keep thinking about it and let you know if I come with any others I like.

I suppose we could go tracting to try and sweat off the steak Bro. Dillard fed us. It's been nice the last few days but it is starting to really get up there in the temps and humidity.

Today I'm going to try to send a package (no promises though) with some Etoufee* (A-to-Fay) mixes, (add water rice and meat) and a can of some spice like the one I sent but spicier. Maybe a few other things too.

Not much is happening around here, we moved our Investigators baptism date from May 21st to July 9th, because they need to be married. They are getting maried on July 2nd and the next saturday is the 9th. We also still have our date for the 20th of August, but that's not going to change. The work is going well.

Well, I'd better email Ethan and Cameron,
Love you guys bye

May 9, 2011

2011-05-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Yeah, I also kind of don't know what to talk about. Sis. Bowen is a great...in case you couldn't tell. That's where we had Mother's day dinner...Fried catfish..mmmm.

I just remembered, I'm sure it's not as good as true blue, southern, home cooked gumbo but they do sell some gumbo mixes at Walmart just add meat, water and maybe rice, and cook.
I might send you some of those to try for dad and Jacob.

Elder Tracy and I are both staying for another 6 weeks.

My profile is on mormon.org now. Type in Wes and you can find me. Also, if you go to their video section (click on the "Mormon TV" link at the top) there's a lot of cool videos there.

I was really touched by this one http://old.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/videos?channelId=ad1fcf6cdfeac110VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&sourceId=674240dcb9d1a210VgnVCM100000176f620a____

It's getting pretty hot and sweaty. It's pretty much only nice now early in the morning or after the sun goes down at like 9:00, unless it's windy.

Well, I think I'll e-mail Cameron, and Ethan.

Love you guys!
bye

May 2, 2011

2011-05-16T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!

Happy half Birthday and 17 month mark to me!
Whoahh that's weird!

Hmmm, when to call for Mother's day.... So, our church goes from 10-1 (Tx time) so 9-12 Ut time. We have ward council in the morning from 8:30-9:30 (Tx) so the morning probably won't work since we're supposed to call from a member's phone. We really haven't made any plans or talked to anyone about calling home, so I don't know what will happen. Let me know if dad get's his flight changed pushed back, I feel really sorry for him if he can't. In all likelihood I'll probably call in the evening, but I don't know. If dad can't get his flight moved maybe I could have him call me back, and then call you in a 3-way call so he can still be a part of it, if his plane has landed. Just let me know about dad's flight and that will probably be the major factor in when I call.

This past week was kinda rough. We didn't get a whole lot of lessons taught. We saw a lot of people, just didn't get a lot of lessons.

We're kind of at a stand still with our investigators. Richard is still waiting on his mom, to allow his baptism, and we havn't been able to teach our other investigators this week. They're still interested, we just havn't been able to teach them.

Tomorrow I get to go on exchanges with Elder Serdar again. I'm pretty excited about that.

Transfers are next week. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting transferred.

I had a realization this week. The atonement was designed to relive us from our sins AND our sorrows/disappointments. I already knew that but I didn't realize it until this week. Pretty neat.

I had better go,
Love you Bye

sorry there isn't more to write about

April 25, 2011

2011-05-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So, when in the week do you sent the letter. I haven't been having trouble getting your emails. My email says I got it at 5:41 last night. It's probably because Monday P-day is a standard that SLC has set. That means all 50,000 missionaries are getting emailing. They are saying it takes 1-2 days. That's a lot of email.

As for the Focal Point, the mission news letter, whenever we have a baptism we submit the picture to the mission office and then it's up to the office staff what makes it in. I'm not sure that every picture of every baptism I've been apart of has been sent in. I know that Brother Dillard sends every baptism picture he takes to the mission office. The assistants even called us when Nate, Elder Gardner, and I were in jasper and asked us to send in a picture for the focal point and then it wasn't in the focal point, but then the same picture is in it 2-3 months in a row. So, I don't know. I am sure With Brother Dillard we will have a picture in it.

So this past week we set a Baptism date with this kid named Richard for Aug 20, 2011. The reason it is so far out is because that is the Saturday after he turns 18. Right now his mom won't let him get baptized, but her heart is being softened. Richard is really a miracle, he investigated/studied the church, by himself, prayed to know if it was true, then went against his mothers wishes and showed up at mutual one night where the missionaries met him. That was before I got here.

Do I miss Fred? A little I would've been fine with staying, but it was the right thing to move on.

I interviewed a 9 yr old boy named Joseph for baptism on Wednesday,(one of the Cleveland missionaries investigators). It was a cool experience. I don't know if District and Zone Leaders interviewed candidates for baptism when Dad was on his mission.

Today is our Zone P-day. We're meeting with all the other missionaries in the stake in Kingwood and having a BBQ, playing ultimate Frisbee, capture the flag, and soccer.

Thanks for the Easter packages. Yeah, we had somewhere to go. We went to the Thrifts, the older couple, who served their mission with the Cedarloft's in the Palmyra Temple.

I'd better srite Cameron. He's "so happy that you are coming home soon!" and then like 7 smiley faces.

love you guys~ Wesley

April 18, 2011

2011-05-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

That's so weird that Elder Gardner's (Nate) homecoming was yesterday! I don't think I really comprehend it. FYI: The story he told about Tiffany was an investigator in Jasper, she was baptized just before I got there.

Yeah, Bro. Dillard just takes pictures randomly, he takes a lot of "real" pictures.

It's week 4 of this transfer already, Holy Cow! Last Friday we went on exchanges with the Assistants, no real reason why (that I know of) we weren't rebuked at all. The assistants don't have their own area. Each transfer they go on exchanges with the Zone leaders, new missionaries and their trainers, and a few other companionship's. One of the assistants, (Elder Orndorff) was in my MTC District. This past week Elder Hoffman( the Stewart's cousin) got released as an assistant. I'm pretty sure to be with a missionary who was having problems with his companion. It was really weird, being in the middle of a transfer. Anyway, we had a lot of fun on the exchange, we split up and had a good time.

Our investigator Josh was baptized on sat. 4/16/11 as you know. It went well, I spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Elder Tracy spoke on Baptism.

On Wednesday we were supposed to be Paul Bearers for our Meal coordinator's Brother's wife..Long story. Anyway, we showed up and found out at the last second they didn't need us. Well, you can't just leave or break the caravan, that would just be rude. So, we went to the funeral service too. It was held in a Catholic Church. Fortunately, none of the family were practicing Catholics. Don't ask me why it was at a catholic Church. So, that was interesting.

After the funeral a member invited a lady he bumped into on a church tour/ lesson. She accepted. The only problem was that she wasn't there to learn, she was their to compare. It was one of the most frustrating lessons I have ever taught. In fact she preached Pentecostalism to us for half of the lesson. Aghhh.

I'm trying to tell more missionary stories, I hope I'm doing better.

We found out that one of our better investigators, Chis, is in jail now for traffic fines...something or other, hopefully he will be out soon. He's a member referral, we ate supper at his house on Wednesday. His wife/girlfriend (we're not sure) came to church with...I think it is his less active mother yesterday.

Oh, I haven't looked at the memory card you sent back yet, but I think the old guy was a less active member in Lake Chuck named, Dog...Yup he's a character. Was he in a power chair?

Well I'd better go,
Love you Guys

April 11, 2011

2011-04-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

What's up? So you've been getting snow huh? Lucky! It's just getting hotter and hotter down here. It was in the high 80's yesterday.

I got an email from Tyler Christensen. He just got transferred to College station. That stake borders the Kingwood stake(the stake I'm in).

We are in a car area. We could be doing some biking, but ya... the area's about as big as jasper...we have Moscow in our area, Moscow, Texas Ha ha!

It's so weird to think that Elder Gardner...I mean Nate is home now!

We did have our baptism on Saturday. Sister Larkin is the newest member of the Livingston ward. It almost didn't happen though. She had her baptism interview Friday evening...she didn't show, she got stuck at work. Luckily our other solid investigator, (Josh) came for his interview so the Zone Leaders didn't drive all the way up here for nothing. (It's like 60-70 Miles, one way from their area, Atascocita, to Livingston. Fortunately we were able to reschedule the interview for Saturday Morning before the baptism. So the Zone leaders used A LOT of miles those 2 days.

Elder Wesley Christensen giving a talk

You asked how the teaching was coming after not doing a lot of it in my last area. Ummm, yea it is a little difficult...I mean a little More difficult teaching after 4.5 months of Fred, Texas.

President, Moldenhauer just upped the bar on us this week (well either him or SLC.) Now instead of just reporting numbers, now every Sunday evening we report goals to Companionship goals, district goals, oh and district district numbers now too, not just companionship numbers. Right when it becomes my responsibility to take and report those numbers... Great.

On a different note, President told me that Cleveland is going to be getting a Spanish speaking Senior couple, the Boswells. He said they should be coming about the first week of May I think.

Well I'd better go
Love you guys

April 4, 2011

2011-04-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Elder Tracey and Elder Wesley Christensen

Hi, Well, I'm Good, Happy and Tired. I saw you have snow (on conference). The weather here is picking up. The humidity sure has anyway! I sure enjoyed conference weekend. We went to the church with some investigators. I thought Elder Oaks talk Saturday afternoon was one of the best. The Priesthood session was good.

My new area...... Well, today, in his email to me President Mouldenhauer called it, " Heaven on Earth." Livingston has about 5000 people, a few more fast food options (then Fred) and a grocery store which you can bet is nice to have.

The missionary work..... Well, on Tuesday I had the BEST correlation meeting I've had on my mission!

I think we have 4 investigators right now. One has a date for this Saturday to be baptized. Another has a date for 4/16/11 but he might move first. He's also on parole so it's possible he might not be able to be baptized. (Why? He drove his car into his parent's living room...)

My companion is pretty cool. I'm actually Elder Tracey's fourth companion. I've been out 11 months longer than him.

We had President Interviews this week, that was fun. It was sad though that it was our last one with President Moldenhauer.

Oh yeah, We have some members in our ward, the Thrifts. They served a mission in the Palmyra Temple with Bro/Sis Cedarloft. I thought that was pretty cool. They also have an original Chad Hawkins drawing of the Houston temple. I didn't know that Chad Hawkins married one of the Cedarlofts daughters. (at least that's what I was told. did I hear he bought a house from the Hopkins on the other side of the highway?)

Well I think I'll write Ethan and Cameron now.

There is a member of the ward, Brother Dillard who likes to take pictures of the missionaries and send them to their families. Hope you enjoy them.

Brother Vic Larson (Ward Mission Leader) and Brother Dave Dillard

Love you Bye

I got the calendar, Thanks!

March 28, 2011

2011-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Yup! I got transferred. I'm in Livingston, Texas now. It's a really country area. Not as much as Fred, but it's country.

President also asked me to be a District Leader. The district is Me, Elder Tracy, (my companion, he's from Logan, graduated in 2010 and has been out 4.5 months) and the Cleavland Elders, Backman, Mathews, and Martinez. I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest in the district.

Elder Martinez is a temporary Spanish missionary. He and a few other missionaries had visa issues. So he got sent to this mission temporarily. They are in a trio because they think he will leave for Brazil soon and that way the other Elders will still have each other when he leaves.

District Leaders get to go on exchanges with the members of their district, and the Zone Leaders. So I get to go on exchanges with Elder Serdar this transfer. He's a zone leader in this zone. Besides exchanges, District Leaders Take numbers from the district and give them to the Zone leaders, and plan and conduct District meeting.

Woaah mom, I want a little time with Ethan before he leaves on a mission, BUT a mission is important. Definitely worth more than a few weeks of contact.

Did you mail the calendar to the Fred address? if you did that's alright I'll probably be able to get it on the 8th at a meeting.

My new address is:

1025 W. Church St.

Apt. #504

Livingston, Texas

77351

I'm almost out of time I hope that I gabbed enough stuff to write about. Sorry I don't know more about the area.

umm I left Fred with 2 Baptism dates.

Love you you guys!

March 21, 2011

2011-03-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I know you want to here from me and I'm sure your very busy, and that that is probably the reason why I didn't get an email this week. Since I didn't get an email this morning this is a bare bones message.

Transfers are in a week I'm pretty darn sure I'm getting transferred.

The weather is nice. I got dads stuff on college thank you. I'm' regretting not writing a full email now (because that's not very Christ like or polite), but I'm out of time now....sorry.
Love you, REALLY

P.S. my but has been sore from biking

March 14, 2011

2011-03-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I got the school stuff yesterday,(never did get a family calendar). Yikes! College is more expensive than I remember. I hear that it dosn't really matter where you get your degree from as long as you have one, is that true? Also, this is probably more of a dad question, do any of those schools have programs/degrees for somthing like computer networking or whatever degree/program I would need to go into a job like that? As I've been out here, the things that have caught my eyes have been computers, so I'm thinking that's what I want to do.

That is pretty crazy that Alec Pectol is on his mission!

Yes I am pretty Darn sure that I am getting transferred. Elder Gardner's home coming is going to be on the 17th of April by the way I just remembered. I've also realized that Alex Casey's and my homecoming, could be on the same day. Weird.

I definitely want to do some gardening when I get back, probably just some potatoes, and peppers. Try to save a little money.

I'm glad to hear that Nick and Sarah are going to have a baby.

Sorry I don't have time to tell you the story of how we found Dennis, it really is a miracle, I'll have to tell you next week. He is doing well, by the way, he just needs to stop smoking.

We had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the zone leaders this past week, that's always fun.

Well' I got to go,
Love you

March 7, 2011

2011-03-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

I hope all is well up there. Sorry to hear there's a lot of yuck going around. I was feeling pretty yuck my self last night...ate too much...it didn't hurt, but I needed to burp an I felt like if I did it was just going to come on out since my stomach was so full.

What was so good you may ask? Mexican cornbread, beans, Ice Cream, and Brownies yum.

To day is our Bi-Zone P-Day with the Orange Zone it should be fun except it is kind of cold again.

I'm excited for General Conference coming up in April.

The reason I asked about the school info is because a missionary who has been out 18 weeks longer than me had to apply for BYU Idaho about 6 weeks ago. So I think the time might be getting short on that.

Gas is about $3.50 here yikes! I asked president if that was going to affect the amount of miles we have.. he said no it wouldn't change because of gas prices.

We had an Investigator at church last Sunday, his name is Jim. He lives on the same road as Dennis.(I'm pretty sure I told you about Dennis and the story about how we found him, let me know if not) That was neat, Dennis wasn't able to make it yesterday though, he was sick.

Sorry I forgot my SD card reader today

All I need to do with my Mormon.org Profile is to upload a picture I'll try to do that next week.

Transfers are in 3 weeks, I'm pretty sure I'm getting transferred, but I don't know for sure.

Hope you're all staying well and keeping safe.
I got to go,

Love you bye.

February 28, 2011

2011-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Hey, whew, another unique week. Let's start with the bad news: As of last Friday all board and card game are un-approved to have in apartments. So today I'm mailing home a package which contains(among other things) a Lord of the Rings Monopoly game someone left in the Silsbee apartment. The other bad news is 3 people who said they'd be at church didn't show up.

The good news is that 1 did. Dennis came to church again, he's still struggling with smoking, but he's working on it. The other good news is that we're going on exchanges tonight with the Buna missionaries so 6 of us can get together instead of just 4. Also, a member called us and said
they have a friend who is interested in learning more about the church that we are going to meet tonight.

The work is going well. We have been working in Silsbee one day a week. Usually we split up with Elder Gardner and his companion when we work in Silsbee and see different people depending on the day... so they can do follow up during the week.

You asked about our miles, NO, we are not given more miles. We're over about 230 Mi. right now. I think we are paying about the same for gas as you. It ranges from $3.19-$3.30 We are paying over $3.20. bummer.

Oh yeah, we get to go to the Temple on the 23rd. That just happens to be the day that the stake has assigned our branch to "fill the temple" It's pretty cool, only problem is that most of the members going are going for more than one session because the temple is so far away, I'm not sure if we will be able to get a ride or not.

Alright I'd better go
Love you all Bye

February 22, 2011

2011-03-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I knew the mission President's name and that he was from La. but that was it. Yeah I think I'll have him for about 5-6 months. I think the switch is about July first.

Yeah, Sister Moldenhauer and I were starting to suspect I had an allergy. I've been taking "Walmart" Clariton for about a week now and I'm doing a lot better. I think the allergy + full days of work led to coughs/colds on top of the allergy both years.

We are spending about a day a week working in Silsbee with Elder Gardner and his companion. But the work is picking up...well kinda.

We have an investigator named Dennis he is in his 50s. He's had some bad luck in his life, he has no water or power, not much to his name. He needs a ride to church (20-25 miles one way) each week. He says he wants to be baptized and that he feels like the Lord has answered his prayers, that this is the true church. Right now he has a Baptism date for 3/12/11 we know he has a smoking problem but were going to talk to him about that today.

The reason why I said the work was "kinda" picking up is because you can't push a rope. It is getting frustrating trying to push the leaders of the branch to get on board with missionary work not just converts, but less active work too. In our Branch Council meeting Sunday afternoon the branch president asked us about our investigators then said: "I see Dennis made it to church" and that was all that was said about him. The branch has 4 focus families it's working with (Bro. Balla and the missionaries gave them 7 names, they took one and added 3 of there own). Well, one has become active so they dropped him off the list. They weren't going to add anyone in his place I had to ask if they were going to add someone to the list then suggest someone.
Missionaries do probably 85-90% of the work with the focus families anyway.....sigh I'm just frustrated, of the "oh well we tried, that's to bad" attitude. so I'm venting. Bro. B had to drive 70 miles in order to pick Dennis up and drop him off because other arrangements couldn't be made with someone who lives closer. I Don't know that's not my call to make. I'm just tired of it all.

Yes, please do send me a family calender, thanks!

So, Saturday, Bro. Hatton, (the members we live with) had us planting potatoes in the morning instead of studies. I personally dropped 1300+ (I stopped counting) potato chunks into the earth.

Also, could you find out when school registration is for next spring semester? Depending on when that is I'm going to need to really decide where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do, or if I want to wait a semester to try and figure that out.

I'm going to try and send a package home in the next few days, no promises though.

Alright I need to go,
Love you guys by :-)

February 14, 2011

2011-02-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

No, I didn't get transferred and neither did Elder Lundell or Elder Gardner or his companion.

I got last weeks email sent back to me the "Virtual Post Office" said your email had "Permanent, fatal errors"? I will try to send it again today.

Yes, I got the package thank you. I did not see the DVDs though. I will look again. The new Mens Mo-Tab is pretty good. It's something new anyway.

Here is a little information about The Legacy of Fred DVD/video I sent home. It was made 10 years ago, so....I think they built the new Church here in Fred about 20 years ago. There are a few pictures/videos of Bro. Balla in it.

I am about 87% done with my profile on Mormon.org. I just need a picture and to write a little more. How are yours coming. Is anyone else in the family doing it?

Actually, we don't teach or speak much at all in church. I think because the branch didn't have missionaries for so long they have learned to get along without the Elders. I say that but yesterday morning we went with Brother Balla to pick up an investigator to bring to church. So we missed PEC. That meant there was no report on the progress of the branch's focus families (because apparently we're the only ones who visit them)....and there was a member of the High Council there. It didn't look to good for the other PEC members.

I'm glad Ethan is going to put his papers in in August. I can tell he will be a great missionary....I think It will come easier for him than for me because of the skill set that he has.

This past week I have not been feeling well. I think I either have had a cold, colds or an allergy/cold combo because I have been sniffly and coughy since Christmas. It comes and it goes in how bad it has been, but it was its worst this past week with all the artic air. I've been taking it easy, resting, staying inside. I am using Dayquil, and Sister Moldenhauer has me on a nasal rinse. Today I'm going to get some allergy medicine since it's lasted this long. I was sick for a really long time a year ago also. It's not anything really bad, just annoying, and it won't go away.

Yeah, I'm glad I didn't get transferred, I love the branch.
I'm out of Time. I got to go.
I love you guys bye

February 1, 2011

2011-02-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,I am glad you enjoyed the birthday phone call from Brother Balla.
You asked what the hog thing was with Brother Balla. Well, Brother Balla owns a farm and he is always trying to get me to help with the hogs. The thing with the hogs is this: he's got about 4 piglets (I think is the word) that he wants me to help him castrate because it's supposed to make the meat taste better.......well, you asked.

The weather has been pretty cold. We saw light flurries of snow, and it iced up Friday night. We spent Wednesday Night through Saturday night with Elder Gardner and his companion in Silsbee because the pipes in our trailer froze and busted. It was Saturday evening before they were fixed. Supposedly it is supposed to get really cold around here again in the next few days. We might try to sleep at a members house because when it's 17 F outside space heaters don't work so well. We had ice on the INSIDE of our bedroom window Wednesday morning.

Thanks for sending the package. I need to send home some SD cards (I've been taking a lot of videos) and a few other things. I promise I will mail your B-Day card tomorrow!

Yes, transfers are next week. I don't think I will get transferred because they have been bouncing missionaries in and out of Fred a lot lately. It would be nice to have a new companion but, a great area, a new truck, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

You asked what area Elder Lundell came from before Fred. He served in an area called Summerwood, it's over by Humble, Tx. towards Houston. If my pattern holds that would be my next area.

Since it can be hard to find something to do in Fred, Elder Gardner is working with President so that we would spend a couple days a week in Silsbee working with them since they have more than enough work to do. I'm a little torn about the idea because its more difficult to work an area the more you are out of it. At the same time though, it really stinks being board and un-producive. Also, it would provide and opportunity to spend more time with Elder Gardner and his companion.

No, I did not watch the Super Bowl and no President did not authorize ANYONE to watch it. Elder Gardner told me if there's any slacking off, letting up, or relaxation of the rules it is either the assistants or Sister Moldenhauer who have pushed for it and President consenting to their counsel.

So Sister Moldenhauer in on a role about being more healthy: drinking more water, eating more fruits and veggies, less sugar, ect. I'm going to try to lose a little weight. This morning I had a Clemintine for breakfast.

Alright, I'd better go.
Love you all Bye

Janurary 31, 2011

2011-02-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Happy Birthday! I got you a card but I haven't sent it yet because I can't find any of the stamps I used to have.

Yes I got the shirts and the SD card. Thanks. I thought you were going to be looking into whether I still needed a retainer, and whether the insurance would cover it. I was waiting for an update on that.

Yeah we got the truck. It's nice! Right now it has just over 500 Miles on it. What kind of truck is Shane thinking about that cost 18K? I just know that President told me it was 35K. Maybe because we need 4WD. We really do need it. Maybe that feature is why it cost so much. Also, it's a full 4 door so we can carry other missionaries. Maybe President told me it was more so we would keep better care of it.

At NASA I learned that when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded and fell to earth. A lot of the pieces fell in the Hemphill, Texas area. Hemphill is only a few miles North- Northeast of Jasper. I thought that was pretty cool that I was that close to where that happened.

We stay busy most of the time. There are a few times where we really don't know what to do because no one is home, and we can't really tract. I love it here though, I don't want to leave.

Today Is Zone P-Day. Actually it is Bi-Zone-P-Day. The missionaries from the Beaumont and Orange zones are getting together in Vidor to play today(not sure what exactly) . I'm exited, it should be a lot of fun.

Just a fun thought. I'm still on the last tube of tooth paste you sent me with. That supply has lasted a long time.

We had our Branch Conference yesterday. It was pretty good. All the stake Reps. and their families doubled the size of our sacrament meeting. Next week is Stake Conference......and Super Bowl Sunday Yikes!! They are broadcasting the Sunday session to the meetinghouses through out the stake. I think the Superbowl is the reason why. The stake center is in Port Aurther, the Southern most part of the stake, like 100 miles from Fred/Spurger.

I hit a possum the other day. The second roadkill of my mission, (the first was a squirrel) it sounded really gross/crunchy!

Alright, I better go if roadkill is the best stuff I can come up with.

Love you guys,
Have a happy B-Day Mom!

January 25, 2011

2011-02-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hey,
Glad to hear your doing well.

First off just FYI:

You can tell Brother Knighton no we're not hunting on P-day because deer season is over, but more importantly missionaries aren't supposed to handle (much less shoot) firearms.

Stake conference is the week following this next Sunday.

The 1 hr. a week on mormon.org is an ongoing thing. We've actually been commanded now by President to make our own profiles. You should be able to look me up in a few weeks.

Yes you can watch the Christmas DVD. I'm only in it twice so look carefully.

Yes I got a copy of a mission picture at Christmas I got a hard copy which I haven't sent yet and Elder Gardner's going to give me an electronic copy today.

Most of the stuff from Christmas I sent back, the sweater, the wristbands, the games, was unapproved,(the sweater wasn't dark enough) that's why I sent it all back.

Yeah, we do a fair amount of service. Just whatever is the most productive thing to do.

NASA was pretty cool, but I just didn't feel like a missionary while I was there, even though we were dressed up and with our companions. I don't know, it was weird, but fun. We took a Tram tour around the Johnson Space Center. It was cold and wet. Guess who wore a short sleeve shirt and no jacket. It was pretty cool though. They took us into the room they controlled Apollo 13 from. The room they used in the movie was a set, but it looks exactly like the real one.

They also took us to the astronaut training center, and an old Saturn 5 rocket, (The Apollo kind with 3 stages.) Former Elder Henries family was there, they sat right in front of us on the tram. If you want, they might have some pictures of their family with Elder Gardner and I in the background...just a thought.

President pulled us aside yesterday at NASA and told us we had a great new responsibility.....a new $35,000 truck to take care of. We get it on Thursday at Zone Conference. It's a Silver 4 Door Chevy Colorado LT.

We have a General Authority coming to Zone Conference Elder Eduardo Gaverett. Should be good.

I think Bro. Balla has converted me to Professional Football. Maybe I'm just starved for entertainment and I'll take what I can get. I know that The Green Bay, Wisconsin "Packers" and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania "Steelers" are playing in the Superbowl on Feb 13.

So they finally finished the Layton over pass? That only took 17, months.

Alright I need to go. I hope you make it through the hustle and bustle of the weekend and don't get sick!

Love you all Bye

January 18, 2011

2011-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

I'm glad to hear you are all well. I didn't get the package yet but there wasn't mail yesterday so maybe I'll get it today.

This past week was a little different. For starters we had to get 3 new tires on the truck becuase they were bald 0-2/32nds in. tead depth....if that makes sense. We only needed three because one of them had already been replaced a few months ago. The vehicle coordinator said that it was 2008 the last time the truck got new tires, and the odometer said it had gone 40,000 Miles on them.That's a lot of driving here.

Also, we got some new pass-a-long cards. The church has changed Mormon.org. Now members of the church can create a profile. Almost like facebook, but with less information and contact. It's a great way to share the gospel without being put on the spot. The idea is that we can refer people to mormon.org where they can read profiles and see that "mormons are normal". Especially helpfull is that they can look up the profiles of people who are converts, particually those who converted from their current religion, and why they changed. So I hearby invite you guys, or at least Mom, Dad and Ethan, and Jacob to create profiles of your own. All you need is an LDS account, the same stuff you need for the family search if I remember correctly. President Moldenhaur has actually authorized us to spend an hour during the week to look at the site and familerize ourselves with it. So I'll know whether you have or haven't created a profile. I also invite you to share this with family and friends and encourage them to create their own profiles as well.

So there finally going to start building the new Fruit Heights chapel in 2 Months huh? Well, glad to know I didn't miss alot.

Former Elder Henry stopped by the church on Sunday. He was showing his family around his mission. When he was in Silsbee, Silsbee missionaries covered Fred also.

Did I tell you we get to go to NASA next week? President told us we have Sister Moldenhauer to thank for that. He said she pushed him, and pushed him and, pushed him untill he finally gave in. We're going next monday so I'm not sure when we'll email.

As far has how a normal day goes...

6:30 wake up get dressed and ready for the day

8:00 Personal study

9:00 Compainship study

10:00 leave apt.

12:00 (usually) lunch

6:00(usually) dinner

9:00-9:30 back to trailer

9:30-10:00 plan for next day

10:30 bed

what we do from 10-12 and 1-9 varies. see diferent people.

Well I need to go. Hope all keeps going well,
Love you
Bye

January 10, 2011

2011-01-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

One of the roads here in Fred, Texas

Hey there,

It's supposed to get really cold here in the next little bit.

I get to see Elder Gardner twice a week because we have a district meeting once a week that we go to along with two other missionaries in Buna (Bee-You-Na)

Elder Lundell is from West Point.

We're still just seeing members. I'm starting to get a little discouraged at our apparent lack of progress. We still have no new investigators, although we do have a few potentials to check up on.

We're supposed to get our new truck this week, I emphasize supposed to.

I Wrote in my journal last night for the first time an about 100 days.

We don't have a whole lot going on right now I'm not sure what to report on.

Stake conference is the first sunday in February. This means Elder Gardner and I will get to see all the members from Jasper there.

Did I tell you right now THE Mission is doing a Book of Mormon reading where we mark the words of Christ? It's a pretty good reading.

The longest so far that a missionary has been in Fred has been 3 transfers and I'm the oldest missionary the branch has had since they opened it up.

Well I'm going to Email the rest of the family if you have any questions ask away.

Love you

January 3, 2011

2011-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I am e-mailing so late. Elder Roos got transferred. My new companion is Elder Lundell, He came out 2 transfers after me. Elder Gardner, my trainer is going to be in serving the last 3 months of his mission in Silsbee. I'm excited about that because I get to see him at least twice a week. Elder Hoffman, the new A.P., wasn't feeling good so Elder Gardner ( old A.p.) drove the transfer van around. Elder Gardner will catch a ride out to Silsbee Wednesday night with a new missionary and his trainer so Elder Lundell and I are staying with Elder Gardner's companion, Elder Tautioli (Polynesian) in Silsbee until then. I remind you the Silsbee shed is 12' x 9' .

Yeah, I think I am feeling better. I think I'm just about over my cold, still got a little cough though. I'm going to try to send a package home today, not sure if I'll get the opportunity though.

Well, I got to go.
I love you guys,
Bye

December 27, 2010

2010-12-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hi,

WHOA!! This is my last email for 2010!!!

It was great to talk to you all.

The following are things we talked with Wesley about.
Fred, Texas is the exception to the mission. Meaning because it is such a small area that they have a different set of rules. They are not required to meet a contact or teaching quota each week. They also are allowed to leave their area to go shopping. He said that in Fred they have to wash their car/truck 3 times a week where the rest of the mission is once a week.
The members in Fred are great. He said they love missionaries and he is getting fed about 5 times a week. He said he wouldn't mind spending several transfers in Fred.
He and Elder Roos work well together.

Back to Wesley's letter.

It was really cold last night I wore BOTH my thermals. In the morning everything was frosted over, and puddles,buckets, ect. had frozen over. I've been feeling a little under the weather lately, but it's just a cough/cold. I took a nap on Christmas and yesterday. I don't think I'll be sick for nearly as long this time.

I'm not sure what to tell you, I told you just about everything on Christmas. I'll try to be sure to send a package next week with a memory card, that "Learn the Language" paper, some miscellaneous things, and a copy of that talk for Ethan, Jacob, and Dad.

We have our Zone-P-Day today, we're going down to Beaumont to do...I'm not sure what.

I'm almost out of time, I sent a pretty big letter to President this week, I hope you all stay safe and have fun.

Love you

December 20, 2010

2010-12-28T08:01:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

I got all my packages thanks.

We got a text from President last night, Elder Gardner is getting released as an Assistant to the President at transfers in 2 weeks His replacement will be Elder Hoffman, the Stewart's relative. Elder Gardner's pretty excited about getting released. He text us last night and said Christmas had come early this year.

We had a really good Christmas conference last Thursday. I don't know if the mission office told you, the mission theme for January through April will be: "Who am I becoming". President gave us Some talks from general authorities to read and ponder on.

Pride and the Priesthood, President Utchdorf

Beware of Pride, President Benson

Repent, That I May Heal You, Elder Anderson

The Fourth Missionary, Elder Corbridge

The last talk was not given at General Conference. It was given to missionaries when he was a mission president. I'll probably send a copy home soon. It's changing the way I look at missionary work, the gospel, and life.

Well, since I can't chat with you, We'll just plan on calling the evening of the 25th. We'll be at our Branch Mission Leader's house. His name is Welton Balla, he said he wants to talk to you before we do. He's a character, very missionary centered.

This past week, out of the 300 people in Fred 295 of them were either getting in last minute shopping, or hunting. (Hunting season ends the start of Jan.) Or they were sick, there's been a couple of bad flew virus going around. We're alright though, don't worry.

So I pulled out my recorder last night and started listening to some of the recordings I sent you.... The ones at the beginning with Elder Clark, that's not who I am any more, I was embarrassed to hear myself say some of those things.

I'm almost out of time I need to go.

Love you, Talk to you on Christmas
Bye

December 13, 2010

2010-12-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

I'm doing fine. I hope you all are too.

We've been doing a lot of member work since it's kind of impossible to tract and difficult to find new investigators. Other than that there hasn't been a whole lot going on.

We are thinking about calling in the evening on Christmas. Will that work? Let me know please.

As far as requests.... I could use another pair of thermals, but that's about it.

Yes, I'm excited for the Christmas conference. Our area seventy will be there. Also, Elder Gardner gets released from being an Assistant at the beginning of the year. I'm hoping I get to serve around him again.

Ya, Jacob said Alec Pectol was going to Italy. Wow. Aren't you glad that I'll have 9-10 mo. left when he leaves?

I think I'm starting to take after you mom. I get cold really easily compared to other people.

Just think soon it will be 2 Christmas's down, 0 to go.

This past week we were trying to track down a less active member and drove through a hunting club. We were following the gps. The gates going into the club were open, the gates going out on the other side, not so much. Needless to say it was exciting. The roads were really rough and we didn't see any hunters.

Today is zone P-day, not sure what we're doing, someone said we're watching "It's a wonderful life". I don't know if it's true.

Just to warn you, it's pretty redneck out here My vocabulary probably won't be the best when I call.,but I will NOT use the word Ya'll.

I'm out of time need to go.
Love you,
bye

December 6, 2010

2010-12-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Just think, I will be flying home 1 year! I can't believe it.

As far as the mail thing is concerned, I have no idea. The P.O. Box we pick our mail up from belongs to the members who own the property the trailer we live in is on. It doesn't seem to just come once a week, but everyday. I did get the year package, and and the church news package (thanks). I got them on the 3rd. The letter that you sent last week with all the questions on it, I think you sent it on Wednesday, I got it on either Monday or Tuesday.

We won't have to worry about the mice getting the food anymore, we got them.

Mostly we visit less active and active members. We have a few investigators, but it's a little challenging finding new people to teach because people are so spread out. We don't really tract at all.

The members are pretty cool though. Speaking of which, will you send me your recipe for Chicken Pot Pie? No I'm not going to make one, but a member said they might.

FYI, the last 2 weeks there have been 30-40 people at church.

Well I got to go. Did you guys get into pageant? Talk to you later

love you,
Bye.

P.S. I stopped drinking pop (most of the time) I'm trying to lose weight.

November 29, 2010

2010-11-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

This week we sent Wesley a bunch of questions. Here are his answers.

How is Fred (and the surrounding area)Texas?
Small, really small. Elder Sedar said in 2000 the census had 300 people in Fred. We also cover Spurger, and over to Warren. Lots of trailers....well compared to houses. Lots of southern words and vocabulary. Lots of dirt roads, bad ones. We actually drive a Toyota Tocoma Pickup thanks to Elder Serdar.

Who is your New companion and where is he from?
Elder Roos from Salt Lake City

Are you the senior companion again?

Yes

What did you do for Thanksgiving?
A whole lot of nothing. We ate lunch at a members home, then went back to out trailer until 7:30ish when we went to our Branch Mission leaders home for the rest of the evening. Oh ya, we did do a re enactment of World War 2. We even killed real Germans.....Cockroaches that is.

How is living in a trailer?
COLD!!!!!!!!!!! :-(( Please send me Thermals. We have 4 portable heaters in our trailer that we try to stay warm with. I've used an electric blanket at night and been fine, but in the evening and in the morning when it is cold outside the trailer is really cold. We are not going to freeze to death, but it's not very comfortable...especially since I take after Mom and like it really warm. The worst part is that our bedroom and bathroom are on the same circuit breaker and if we have a heater going in both rooms we can't turn on the lights or the circuit breaker will blow.
We also have MICE, Harold and his brother Gerald.

Where do you shop?
Silsbee Walmart

Where do you email us from?

Silsbee Library

When is your whole mission Christmas Conference?
December 16, in Baytown

Do you have any idea why the Mission President wants us to send all your Christmas stuff to the mission office?
Probably to make sure that packages get to the missionaries. Friends and family might not know about transfers. Maybe to prevent theft, not everyone has a P.O. Box. They are probably going to hand out packages at the Christmas Conference.

Would it be safe to send your packages to you since you pick up your mail from the post office?
I would say yes, but with how small and Ghetto Fred/Spurger are I think it would be best to send packages through the mission office. I'm just a little weary they might get lost if they are sent here.

Do you have any requests for Christmas now that your living arrangements have changed?
More "Washable" ties. I'm going to buy myself a new razor today, so that can be part of Christmas. No, I can't think of anything I really need or want right now. I could write you a list of stuff to buy like movies and games and you can save them until I get home if you want :-).

Well got to go Love you guys bye

Novemeber 22, 2010

2010-11-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Yes, I did get transferred. I'm now in Fred, Texas. You'll probably have to look awhile to find it on a map. It is North of Silsbee and South of Woodville. The last census they took (2000) had 300 people in it.

My new address is,

P.O. Box 505 Spurger, Tx. 77660

The roads are so rough out here we're driving a Toyota Tacoma pick up in a few weeks we're supposed to get a new Chevy Colorado.

NO mom, I have not had any other bruises and the one on my fore head never hurt, and it went away after a few days.

I have no Idea what our plans for Thanksgiving are. We'll probably hang out at our branch mission leader's house. I really don't know how the work is going in this area. Funny thing this was Elder Serdar's area before he came to Lake Charles(Elder Serdar is training for the second time this transfer) and Lake Charles was Elder Clark's area before he came to Jasper.

I like the camera thank you!

Mission stories...hmmmm Did I tell you that Salt Lake City gave us texting? I didn't text Dad's phone though. I sent him an email from a computer.

Oh yah, when we went to the Temple, I bought Mormon Tabernacle Choir "Ring Cristmas Bells" and "100 years of Excellence". I also got the new D&C study DVDs. They have the new Joseph Smith Movie on them. I really have no idea what I want/need for Christmas. I'll try to think of somthing.

Well, I'd better email Ethan, I'm fine no need to worry. Talk (write) to you next week,

Love you guys
bye

Novemeber 15, 2010

2010-11-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

That e-mail you got was actualy an automated response I set up. So, if you write me it will tell you I will write you on my P-Day. I didn't think it was turned on yet.

The weather has really cooled down here. It's getting down to the 50's and 40's at night.' I like it though. It's easier to stay warm than to stay cool.

Transfers are a week from today, we'll see what happens.

We get to go to the temple tomorrow!! I'm excited. We also get to go to the bookstore, the only Mormon store for probably hundreds of miles. I know there aren't any in T.H.E. Mission.

Let's see.... a good story.....Hmmmm. Ok, here you go. I took a 15 min. power nap during lunch (Saturday). I was too lazy to crawl under the blanket , and I didn't want to wrinkle up my clothes. So I laid on top of the blanket and flipped the sides up and over me. Kind of like a cocoon. It was light too, so I covered up my face with the blanket and put my hands on my face to keep it from falling off( hope this is making sense). Well, I got up and went into the bathroom, and there was /is a bruise right in the middle of my forehead just above the eyes. Eveyone says it looks like I got hit with a stick, or somone took a straiting iron to my forehead and burned it. The best part, I had to speak in Sacrament meeting the next day (Yesterday). So, that's what's new with me, a mysterious brusie that dosen't hurt on my forehead.

Is it all snowy up there yet?

Oh ya, in the smallest most minute possibility of a chance that you DON'T know Robin REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY wants a cell phone. (I got your letters.)
Well, I need to go, hope all is well,
love you guys
Bye

November 8, 2010

2010-11-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

How's it going? The weather has really cooled down I'm loving it.

The pizzas did work out thanks.

My birthday was great. Thanks for everything. I think you had something to do with he 46 birthday cards I received, thanks.

I actually just sent a package today with the pants + some other stuff. I didn't think to put the camera in it though.

We're going to the temple on the 16tht That's a week from tomorrow.

Right now the number of people baptized in THE mission for the 2010 year is in the low 300's. The goal was for 534. In Zone Conference 2 weeks ago President Moldenhauer told us that if we don't make the goal it is because of our unbelief. Yes we are making an extra effort for these last 2 months, the theme for November is: "An Attitude of Gratitude" and the theme for the month of December will be: "A white Christmas".

Transfers are the 22, the week before thanksgiving. I do think I will be transferred. The only thing that makes me think I might not is that the assistants were messing around with Elder Serdar and told him he was going to be a Zone Leader next transfer. We don't know if they were being serious or not.

This past week we've been doing a lot of tracting looking for new people to teach. Several people have said we could come back, but we haven't been able to catch any of them at home yet.

The missionaries we share the ward with tracted into a lady who spent some time on an Indian reservation teaching English. She said that when she was with the Indians the Elders of the tribe told her that Jesus Christ came to America. So she was interested when the missionaries told her about the Book Of Mormon.

Got to go,
Love you guys
Bye

November 1, 2010

2010-11-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Yes I did get both the Halloween and Birthday packages, thank you. Unfortunately the Assistants said we could'nt dress up for Halloween trunk or treating party so I couldn't use the wig.

Yes we did find the Recent Convert form California, Ming. He is in Bejing China....he turned his phone back on, that's how we know where he is.

Things are going great, we're loving the cooler weather, it's still in the 80's.

Today is our Zone P-day, and it's combined with the Beaumont Zone. It should be a lot of fun. I know we are going to play soft ball for sure, I'm not sure what else.

This week was kind of hard, our teaching pool just evaporated. Right now we have no one to teach except for an inactive, recent convert, part member family...... A recent convert who hasn't come to church, her nonmember husband. But that's the mission. We will find those who have been prepared.

Thanks for telling everyone to mail me a B-day card. I got 15! on Friday, and 6 on Saturday.

You can send a pizza if you want. There is a dominoes, pizza hut, papa johns, papa murphies, near by. I'm not sure about Little ceasers.

Sorry to cut it short but I got to to so we can get to Zone P-day on time. I Love you guys. Bye

October 25, 2010

2010-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sad I didn't hear from you this morning. That's ok though, I know your busy. I hope the churches filters didn't block an email that you sent.

This past week, because Elder Serdar is the District Leader, we got to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Vidor, Tx. Elder Serdar stayed in Lack Charles, and I went to Vidor. I like going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, they're always good missionaries. The exchange did make me miss the country though, Vidor is very country. The pictures are at the Texas visitor's center in Orange, Texas off of I-10.

The weather is still in the 80's or so. A few of the leaves have fallen but it's still probably more green than Utah is in the summer. I honestly can't remember how green it is there, only that it is less green than here.

We get to go to the Temple on the 16th, that's exciting.

Our fan in the apartment stopped working this week, so I took it apart and put it back together now it works, but it's really noisy, we'll probably never use it again.

We had interview's with President Moldenhauer this past Wednesday, that's always great.

We get to go to the ward Trunk-or-Treat this Wednesday, that should be fun. Elder Serdar has a Bunny suit another missionary left in the apartment that he's going to wear (supposedly). I don't know what I'm going to do, if anything. Elder Serdar said he would be upset if I dressed up as him.

When we stopped at the border I got an "Official Texas Travel Map" I'm sketching a copy of it with the areas I've served in on it. It's funny, THE mission seems so big, and Houston so far away, and then you look at it compared to the state of Texas..... Texas is REALLY BIG.

Love you,
bye

October 18, 2010

2010-10-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Funny, I've been sick too. Weird family bonds. I'm over the cold though, just need to get this phlegm out of my throat.

B-day requests?....Just Ties, Polyester please. and for either Christmas and/or Birthday, maybe a new camera. My camera's been around the block but it still works for now.

Also, what ever happened to the medical insurance card you guys were going to get me?

So, when a missionary goes home, mission language is that he died. I tell you this because I spoke with a being that belonged to the world beyond this one. Someone who has passed beyond the veil to the land of eternal P-Days. Former Elder David Clark toured his Mission with his family this past week. It was pretty weird to see him not as a missionary. He was in Lake Charles seeing people from his mission. He gave us a call for a phone number and we met up at one of his recent converts house for a few minutes on the way to our appointment.

I am including a voice recording I made last night. Tell Dad I owe him an apology, I was wrong about the definition of pride and being proud.

Oh so yesterday the Primary asked us to sing called to serve with them in the primary program and said if the kids (25+) sing louder than the 4 of us then they could cut our ties. Well, the primary lady, I'm not sure what her calling is, only brought 3 ties for the primary to cut. Yep I had to saccrifice my tie and walk around the end of Church like 15-20 minutes of E.Q. and afterwards, with a snipped tie. There's my funny story for the week.

Love you guys,
Bye

October 11, 2010

2010-10-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I'm Still in La. Looks like I'm going to spend about 1\4 of my mission out side the state of Texas.

The Conference was good. Tyler (cousin) was actually one of the first missionaries I saw that was not from my mission. I also saw Ty (neighbor)before the meeting started. I got 2 main messages out of Elder Costa's Talk.

1: You really don't have it that bad. He Told us some of the missionaries in the meeting covered an area smaller that 1 square mile. As a mission president in Brazil, he had an area that was in the Millions of square miles. Plus Brazil has only 2 seasons: Summer =127 F. & Winter 100 F. with 90% + humidity. Also that we are serving in the united states where it is the easiest to talk about religion.

2: Teach by the Spirit, & TEACH PEOPLE NOT LESSONS. He told his conversion story about how the missionaries taught a Lesson to his family, and his father did not let them come back because the missionaries taught them about F.H.E. Well, Elder Costa's parents were doing F.H.E. 7 days a week and didn't like how the missionaries told them to only have it once a week. 10 years later 2 new missionaries came and taught his father what he needed to hear and not a lesson. etc.

I'm thinking about sending a package home either today or next week, probably next week. I will send a memory card with pictures as well as all the voice recordings I have made so far.

So on Saturday we stopped at Panda Express for lunch/dinner. I went to the bathroom, and the zipper on my suit pants broke!! Fortunately 95% of the time left before we got to the apartment was sitting in the back seat of a truck. I still felt really self conscious as we left Panda Express and got into the truck. If I remember correctly, Missionary Mall said they would replace anything that broke from normal wear and tear. I will send a picture on the memory card so we can see if they will replace them or not.

Elder Serdar bought a typewriter from a thrift store last week to type letters on since computers are banned.

I heard Mellisa's Engaged (from Robin) is that true?
Well, I hope your not all Black + Blue from your wreck.

Well I got to go,
I love all of you,
Bye

October 4, 2010

2010-10-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Aggghhhh, I only have 29 more days as a teenager!! I've been out 10 Months, double digits! :-) Man that's crazy. It has been so nice the last week, words can not describe the joy I feel. :-) Things are going great.Transfers are in a week so we will see what will happen. I really have no idea if I will stay or not.

Did I tell you that we have a Tri-Mission conference coming up on Saturday? It will be with Elder Costa, of the Presidency of the Seventy. He spoke about prophets in the Saturday morning session of Conference. The bad news is that One of the Recent Converts from the new "Preach My Gospel" DVDs moved to Lake Charles so we wil probably have to report to Elder Costa about how Brother Ming Han is doing. That in it's self is not the bad news, the bad news is that we have no Idea where Ming is. Ok, that's not true, before he turned his phone off he told us he was back in China! He told us he would be coming back on August 26, but his house (work owned) has been rented out to another employee. He quit his job and turned his phone off. So, we might have to tell Elder Costa that we lost a really important Recent Convert. Possibly infront of 3 missions....Glad I'm not the senior compainion or District Leader. ;-)

Also, Jim ______, the guy who has been trying to quit smoking, we think he might be avoiding us. We don't know why. We hope we're wrong.

We didn't have anywhere to go last night so we decided to contact people around McNeese State. It was around 7:50 PM. So, we contact college sudents for like 45 Minutes. It's about 8:30 and dark and I turn to Elder Serdar and say, "Elder, ALL the people we've contacted so far have been girls. Almost all of the people I've seen have been girls. I think this might be the Girls Dormitory we're walking around." Needless to say, we got out of there pretty quick before we got the cops called on us.

Ok, 9 minutes left. I guess we get to go to the Temple again in November, that's cool. Could you print up and mail me copies of President Uchtdorf, and President Eyring's preisthood talks as well as Elder Oakes's talk from this conference, and last conference? If you could just print those up and mail them I would really appreciate it. Those were my favorite talks by the way. Oh ya, after hearing President Uchtdorf's talk on pride tell Dad I owe him an apology. I was always telling him not to be proud of me, well I was wrong.

Well, I need to go. Have a great week. Be safe.
Love you guys. Bye!

September 27, 2010

2010-10-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Oh my gosh it feels so good out side right now! It makes me want to sing a hallelujah chorus.

My week was pretty good. It was different being in a trio instead of a normal companionship. In a lot of ways I liked it because you get...more of a variety???... I guess that is the best way to put it.

Today is our Zone Preparation day, not sure what we're going to do, but I'm excited for it.

So, when we moved into the sister's old apartment, we asked the mission office if they had changed our address in the computer, they said yes, but guess what??? This past week the housing coordinator from the mission office went to the old apartment to finish close/clean it up. Elder Serdar had 8 letters from the past 3 1/2 weeks plus we had 2-3 referrals they had mailed to that address, oops. (That's why we mail directly to the apartment.)

Was it Deborah's (Pulley) husband who had the 3B's diet when he goes to the south? Blue bell ice cream, Barbecue and Brisket? Well I found a 4th B, Buffalo Wild Wings, Yum. Turns out it's banned because the environment is not conducive to having the spirit, but those were some good wings. I'm definatlely going to eat there when I come back after my mission.

So this week the church decided to upgrade all their missionary phones. They gave us the LG "Remarq". It's a slider phone with a full keyboard and camera. Huh?? that's a nicer phone than what I had back home. I have no idea why the church gave us these phones. There is so much about them the missionaries can abuse. The screen is on the out side, and sliders are kind of flimsy so they will probably break pretty quick. We aren't supposed to use the camera, but it's not locked and there's no way to track when it's being used. And there's like real music on it for ring tones. Don't get me wrong it seems to be a great phone, just a terrible missionary phone.

So any way, the Zone Leaders called us up on Wednesday and told us to drive 30 miles to Orange, Tx. and to be there in about 1 hour, and told us we would get our phones Thursday evening. I don't know if you understand, maybe Dad, how disabling not having a phone is. I think it would be like Dad having to work from home with out a phone, phone numbers or any other form of contact other than face to face. Then after we gave our old phones to the Zone Leaders and got back to Sulphur, we realized they didn't tell us when/where to pick our new phones up. So we don't have a phone, we don't have their number, but that doesn't matter because they don't have a phone either, and the Zone leaders live 45 -60 miles away. Fortunately, we got it all worked out. Our apartment has a land line we never use. We were able to use a ward list to call our ward mission leader and fortunately he was home. He was able to give us the Mission office number which gave us the Housing coordinators number who happened to be at the same meeting as the Zone leaders, during lunch break. whhheewwwwww. Needless to say we were blessed.

Well, I've ranted on about phones enough. your right we weren't able to do much work in Lake Chunk (Charles) this week.

Real quick then I've got to go. Elder Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy is coming on 10/9/10 to speak at a tri mission conference so that's cool. Will you or Dad get on the new family search look up Nida Christensen, Born: 6 Jan 1903, Died: 31 Oct 1991. She's one of Elder Serdar's ancestors. Just want to see if we're related at all.

well I've got to go hope you have a fun week and a great conference.

Love you Bye

September 20, 2010

2010-09-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

I think I'm doing as well anyone could in these circumstances. The humidity has been down the last couple of days so that has been really nice. I think it might be starting to cool down a little, just in the mornings, and evenings. It might just be a localized cooling not seasonal.

If you want to, you can include in the news letter that Elder Serdar is( well was/Will be) a professional Halo player, I forgot to tell you that. This coming week Elder Serdar has to go to Kingwood for a leadership conference for 4 days. Since it is so far away I am going to be spending the week in Sulphur with the missionaries there. Elder Serdar and a few other missionaries will stay in Kingwood with the assistants. Most of the Leaders that will go to that conference will get back to there areas every night. But president decided we're just a little to far away for that. So if you send any mail I won't get it until Friday night at the earliest.

I actually had stopped cooking pizzas because it was getting so hellishly hot outside that the AC in the old apartment was having a hard time keeping up, and firing up the oven didn't help any. Mostly now my lunches are either eating out, or yogurt and a can of straight tuna, no mayo or anything. I did PB&J for a while but gave up on that also. Don't worry, if I wanted something tastier I would go too the trouble to make it. On the bad side of food, our meal coordinator is scatter-brained. We have had 3 dinner appointments, 2 of which WE set up, in the last 3 weeks Besides the standing appointments we have on Saturdays, & Sundays. The Bishop and the Relief Society President are working on it though.

No we didn't figure out what kind of spider it was, Elder Serdar took a video of it on his HD video camera I'll try to remember to stick it on a memory card the next time I send one home. I'm pretty sure it was not a tarantula though, it was fast. It looked like a giant Hobo, or wolf spider, but I have no idea what kind it actually was.

Thanks for the address, I also have the Houston mission address from the ward newsletter (Ty's address)

On Saturday, we get to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. That's always fun. Both of our Zone Leaders have actually served in Lake Charles before, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still working on the retainer. Both us and the dentist have been really busy. I'm going to try to do it today some time.

So this week some old lady gave us $20 because her son is a Mormon and was a missionary. So we decided to use the money to get some Ice cream and dinner. Well, at the ice cream parlor the lady who served us asked US questions about religion. She was at work but she said we would meet with us and wanted to learn more. It was a pretty cool miracle.

Well I need to go I'll talk to you later.
Love you
Bye!

September 13, 2010

2010-09-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I got your letter today. No, the tie is not too bright, but it is too small. Elder Serdar who is 5' ?'' can barley wear it. I hope you enjoy Lake Powell, Take some pictures.

I am not sure if there is any sort of fall here. I know the pine needles and pine cones fall, but I don't think very many, if any leaves fall.

I'm getting pretty pumped for conference in 3-4 weeks, and NOT because I can sleep in and don't have to dress up. Funny/Weird huh? No my feet are not hurting, maybe a little off and on. When they do I try to do the calf stretches on door steps while we're tracting.

Elder Serdar and I are getting along great I'm having the most fun I've had in a while. Today for P-day we're probably going to the church and watch church movies: The new Joseph Smith movie, The Testaments, etc.

Oh ya we also found a HUGE spider in our apartment last night. The BODY, the body was at least 1.5'' long, not counting the legs. Elder Serdar put 4 gloves on, 2 on each hand, and caught it in a Tupperware container and put it in the freezer until it died. That's how we measured it. It scared me pretty bad. My vocabulary almost got a little larger. I thought everything was bigger in Texas, not LA. I will maybe send you a picture next week.

The work is going great. Last Saturday we set 2 Baptism dates. One of them was with ____, the guy who's read a whole triple, but can't quit smoking. After steering the conversation away from himself for most of the visit/message, he told us he knows he needs to quit smoking and is going to try to quit again. The spirt was really strong.

Well I need to go. I look forward to hearing how your trip was

~Love You Guys! Bye

September 7, 2010

2010-09-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Map of Lake Charles Area

Hello there,

No, no emailing on Labor day, Libraries are closed. Yes I did get the package thank you. The weather hasn't really changed yet. It's still hot, people are saying it will be untill Oct. or Nov.
I'm good on socks for now I bought a 6 pair from Ross a few months ago so I'm good thanks though.

Things are going great down here. Yesterday we finished moving all the heavy stuff out of the old apartment. Some of it went to the Mission Supplies for other apartments, some of it went to our new apartment. So, now we have 2 couches, a lazy boy recliner, two 4' x 8' white boards, two 2' x 4' whiteboards 3 area maps...it's a lot. It took us probably 2 hours to re arrange everything so it would fit. All of our maps and white boards are hanging up in what is normally the dinning area. We call it the Bat Cave now.

Now all we need are some more people to teach. Our investigators have been dwindling for the last little bit, but we're going to change that. We have a lot of Potentials we just need to get back with them.

I remembered my camera and my voice recorder today so that's good. The pictures were taken at the "Creole Nature Trail" close to the gulf.

Dang it I wanted to ask you to research a name on the family history site but I don't remember the name. I also should have taken a picture with Elder Serdar to show you, oh well, next week I promise.

Do you think you could find out Tyler Christensen's Email/ Mission address's for me ? This week I locked the keys in the car, I'll let you listen to that on the recording though.

Well I'm going to send some more pictures now, if I have time I will write some more.

Love Wesley

August 30, 2010

2010-09-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sorry it's taken this long to email you guys. There was a chemical spill somewhere on the I-10 so the Transfer Van was REALLY late. My new companion is Elder Serdar. He was also trained by Elder Gardner. He's been out about a year, was just called as a District Leader, and is from Sandy, Ut. I was told that Elder Hugentobler went to Jasper, but I'm not sure how legit that info is. I also heard that 48 out of 52 companionship changed with 10 area flushes (both missionaries pulled out and 2 new ones put in).

Yes, I got the package I haven't had a whole lot of opportunities to use the towel (chill-it) yet, it's been a little cooler lately, but it seems like it will be really nice.

Speaking of which, there used to be Sisters in Lake Charles before I got here. Well they moved us into their apartment because it is a little nicer, so now our box # is 312 instead of 826.

Today it poured rain while we were coming back after meeting the transfer van in Vidor. I don't think I can accurately describe how hard it was raining. Maybe it was like trying to drive when that red/purple part of the storm went over our RV at pageant.

On Thursday I will have been out 9 Months, the same amount of time as a school year. Wild!

Man! Last P-Day we went to the Creole Nature trail with the Sulpher missionaries and one of their investigators, and we got some sweet pictures of alligators, but I left my SD card reader at the apartment.

The work has been kind of slow lately. Especially with moving apartments, and transfers. But we press on, we have 3-4 appointments lined up this evening so we are having some success.

The CD player in our car has stopped working, so that stinks. I'm thinking about loading the songs onto my voice recorder because it has a headphone out jack and the car has a microphone in Jack so theoretical I could play the songs from the voice recorder into the car.

Well, I need to go. I love hearing from all of you, Love you Bye!

August 23, 2010

2010-08-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Hope you make it through the next week or so. Transfers are next week, anything could happen, but probably I'll stay and Elder "H" will leave. I'll let you know next week for sure. I just realized today is probably Tyler's first P-day in the MTC....Memories. Oh I forgot to tell you when we went to the Temple, President got us all together for a Mission conference, and as we were leaving I happened to walk by a Spanish Elder who says he was in the 3rd grade with me, Brett Jenkins. His name sounds familiar but I'm not sure I remember him. Weird huh?

How are they changing the PMG? What they're doing as I understand it so far is simplifying it. Teaching missionaries to teach simpler, by the spirit and from the scriptures. The lessons/PMG hasn't changed, they are just teaching us HOW to teach better. You remember the Videos we watched on the projector before I left? They came out with more as a part of this. They are in California this time, and they show what NOT to do as well as what to do. They show bad lessons as well as good to help missionaries recognize the difference, truly they're more relate able. They are going to start teaching the missionaries in the MTC this next May why I don't know.

So yesterday it was about 95 F-100 F (which means 118 real feel). We picked the shadiest street we could find and started tracting it. We weren't having much success, then we contacted a guy named Jonathan who was walking down the street. Basically, his questions led us to teaching a Lesson !! AND he under stood that we claimed to be the 1 true church with the authority. He asked us for our contact info, which we happily obliged in giving him. The only down side, he and his family live in the middle of nowhere, a little "town" called Reeves (you can try to google it if you want) it's just barely in our ward boundaries. I don't think I've ever had someone understand priesthood authority, and tell us he was searching for truth in the first contact....It was pretty cool. He has studied the Bible a lot! The Bible says something about not filling "the Lusts of the Flesh" so his family doesn't watch TV because of what is out there! I'm excited to see what happens with him.

There is a dentist in town who is a member who says he can make me like grind guard, Invisaline plastic thing that should hold my teeth in place he said he talked with on Orthodontist at the practice he works at and the ortho said that should work.The Best part, it's free! If you like you can talk to Dr. Rampton about it and tell me if he thinks a retainer would be better. I'm going to set an Appointment for this week probably Weds. Evening. So if Dr. Rampton says get a retainer you might want to call the Mission office to let me know. If you even want to ask Ramtpon about it.

Alright almost out of time Love you By!!!

August 16, 2010

2010-08-19T18:25:00.002-07:00

Wesley at the Houston Temple

Hi,

Ugh.. I'm tired. We had a great week though! On Wednesday we went to the Temple. We got up at 4:00 left at 4:50 and got to the temple at about 8:00. We did have a quick breakfast at McD's Yuck! On our way back, most of the missionaries from Beaumont and Orange Zones stopped for dinner at IHOP. Yum.

On a less positive note, we have ants in our car! :-( Remember the gray Volvo? It's not that bad. They're not flying ants and they're just under the Passenger seat...where I was keeping my GPS!!! For about the last 18 hrs. I have been shaking ants and Larvae out of it (SD card slot). Right now I've got most/all of them out...And it still works Hooray! I'm going to buy some compressed air and blow it out and some raid to spray in the car.

We did have the Baptisms on Saturday. I was able to baptize two of the Daughters. There are two sets of missionaries in the ward and the other set had a baptism as well. So, 5 people were baptized on Saturday and Confirmed on Sunday.

Wesley and Elder H

We had a new investigator come to church too! We gave her and her friend a church tour on Saturday only, someone took down the stuff after we set it up, before the tour (We set it up, left then came back). She was concerned that, I think it was Jim Jones, the coolaid/cyanide guy back in the 90s was involved with us, we assured he was not.

There is a member here who is a dentist that I am working with about my teeth, he said he should be able to do it but he wasn't at church yesterday. If it doesn't go anywhere I will go to the dentist the Mission office recommended 70+ miles away.

Got to go
Love you all
Bye

August 9, 2010

2010-08-19T18:25:00.001-07:00

Hey there!

I hope you all had fun in Colorado. I sent you a package today, It's full of stuff I have acquired and don't really need. I also sent back a bunch of letters you guys have sent out. If you could put the stuff where it will be safe I would appreciate it. I am sending home a cook-book (not the one you sent out) that you can keep and try some of the recipes in it, if you like. The winter coat is not in that package.

In a weird way I have come to appreciate the Plan of Salvation more. I guess you could say I had/having "a mild quarter life crises". I'm almost 20! My life will never be like it was before my mission, maybe for a few months...or weeks.

Anyway, our Baptisms should happen this Saturday, finally. At this point we have a lot of people we tracted out who said we could come back. We just haven't been able to teach them yet.

Apparently, in at least this part of LA. it is illegal to solicit. Tracting isn't, but some people don't understand that. There is a story that goes with this that is on the voice recording.

I wish I could think of what else to write....It's HOTTTTT!

Right now our time is spent between tracting, teaching a few less actives, a lot of recent converts, trying to get back with people we have tracted into, and teaching 2 investigators plus the family that is getting baptized on Saturday. Both the other 2 investigators smoke, one of them frequently bears his testimony about the church, just can't quit smoking, the other one was a media referral. He has some mental challenges. He's all there he just has trouble putting his thoughts into words.

I'm almost out of time I love All of You. hope you are staying safe and having fun. Enjoy the last of the summer.

Bye!

August 2, 2010

2010-08-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

8 months today 1/3!

My teeth aren't that bad. My bottoms are pretty secure and my tops haven't moved a whole lot. I've just noticed flossing (yup twice a day) that there is more space between them. They're all still straight, mostly it's just a little bit more space between them. I'm not sure where the space is coming from, like I said my teeth are all still straight. I'm not sure what could happen if left unchecked, but seeing as how my teeth have twice as much time to move before I come home as they have had to move so far... The best course of action in my mind would be for me to call the mission office/ talk to local ward members and ask if they have any records or recommendations on where to go. Then make an appointment and see what the ortho. thinks...then of course pray about it. I will call the mission office today and ask about that. Please send me a letter with what you think about that or any other thoughts.

No, we did not have our Baptisms, Bishop felt like she had not quit smoking for long enough and pushed it back until the 14th. Yes this is the lady we tracted out that could not go to her old church because of her parents funerals and her 3 daughters.

Yes I got the packages thank you! Jacob has really grown! You should put a missionary tag on Flat Elder. Did you send the packages on the same day? One of them (the box) got here a day before the other one. I'm not sure if my camera can play recordings or not, I will look into that next P-Day when I am on a computer. I will also make sure to send a voice recording each week.

I was going to send a package home, but I have kept forgetting. I will hopefully send it home next P-day when you are all home so it doesn't sit out all day. You can send the small PMG out, it will be easier to take to meetings than a big one.

I Don't feel guilty buying food with the Debit card, because that's why I have it. I guess it just doesn't feel right using money you +dad have earned to buy things for me that aren't ABSOLUTLY essential, like souveniers, CDs, the GPS, ect. I guess I'm just feeling more independent, and will find a way to repay you in the course of my life.

I need to go I'll look into the stuff you asked about.

Love you Bye

Also, you asked about new shirts, awhile back, I guess Mr. Mac has some pretty thin ones, but I'm not sure about sizes/prices. If all else fails a FEW new shirts like the ones I have now would be nice.

July 26, 2010

2010-07-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I'm sending this now so you might be able to read it while I'm writing the rest. You don't need to send me those CD's When I asked about them it was because I thought we had a copy already @ the house Dad could copy them. Honestly, I want as little money spent on me as possible. I already feel guilty about the monthly payments, and using the Debit card to much.

You said something about sending me a preach my gospel? I guess a small one would be kind of cool.

Hey there,
I'm glad you made it back safe! Summer break is more than half over! People around here say it normally doesn't really cool down until late September, sometimes October.

We had to push back our baptisms this last Saturday because the mom smokes. Which REALLY stinks because President was talking at a Specialized Training meeting ( basically a Zone Conference) about how we had gotten more baptisms this month than any other month in the last 11 years he asked every one in the room who had baptisms this Saturday (7/24) to raise their hands when we didn't he asked us about it. We told him we had to push our dates back. He then told everyone that IF that had been the case we would have had 44 baptisms this month
more than any other month in the last 11 years (goal was 43) So this month we wound up with 40 Baptisms, the 2nd highest baptizing month in the last 11 years.

Hey would you ask Holly if when they lived on Guam if they new any members with the last name: Tuituu? One of the Elders in the new PMG DVDs is from Guam and his last name is Tuituu, he is serving in California, (San Diego I think)

My heels have been hurting lately. I'm going to try some Dr. Scholls Heel cushions. It's not a full sized insert it just goes under the heel of the foot so I don't think it will affect the fit of my orthodic very much, if at all. I have not had any Planters faciaties* or what ever it's called since we had those made in Nov.

Could you ask Dad to research if there has been any scientific findings to prove that Tea and Coffee are bad for the human body. I hear Tea is supposed to have "Tanic Acid" in it. If he could just do some digging and let me know what he finds next week that would be great.

Maybe one of the reasons my heels have been hurting is because we have been doing A LOT of tracting. We tracted one street from 3:00-5:00, 5:30-7:30 yesterday. Fortunately it wasn't that hot. We have had to drop most of our investigators because they are too busy, or not interested, mostly not interested. Our apartment was inspected last week, we passed, but were told to "Reduce the amount of food in this Apartment." Go figure! Most of it is canned food, Peaches, Tomatoes, Green beans and then later that day, the ward gave us a box of food left over from the youth conference! wow!

I'm almost out of time got to go.
Love you all Bye

July 19, 2010

2010-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hey, well today was transfers. Neither Elder Hugentobler or I got transferred so I guess it is another 6 weeks. (Hey, that's the rest of summer break!) Yes, I got the shirt. I sent you some mail while you were at the hill, hope you got it in time. I sent it on Tuesday.

This past week has been HOT!! I never thought I would say that I love the rain. Yep, that's because it cools everything down. I've got some pictures I'm going to send in another email I think Dad will get a kick out of some of them. Do you have wicked Pageant tans?

On Friday we have a meeting in Beaumont from 9:00-2:00. We are going to watch all the new PMG DVDs and talk about the teaching changes that are happening.

We will hopefully have a baptism on Saturday, a black lady and her 3 daughters. We also have one planed for the 7/31, if he can quit smoking this week. President is really pushing right now for us to try to have more baptisms this month than any other in the last 10 years.(42+) (right now we have approx. 28)

Mom, I think I might have my thyroid, or whatever part of my body that controls my body temperature, checked because I feel cold if the apartment is colder than 70-72 degrees. I think you gave me whatever it is that makes you cold. Which is kind of a problem when your companion likes it at a fridged 60-62 degrees. Seriously, I sometimes where a sweatshirt in the apartment.

You asked how compatible we are. Well I'll say this, it is scary how similar our relationship is to the relationship I had with Elder Clark, only I'm Elder Clark and Elder "H" is me. (If that makes sense) I was really hoping I would get transferred, I'm not looking forward to the next 6 weeks. That's all I'll say about it. You know it's weird, as a missionary you do things you would never normally do for fun because you don't have anything better to do (Glue a cockroach to a pencil) (that wasn't Me Promise)

I'm almost out of time, Praying you travel safe I'll talk to you later, Love you!! Bye!!!

When does Ethan go to BYU?

Sorry for being such a big pain in the past

July 12, 2010

2010-07-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I would start out today's letter with some pictures of Louisiana.

Here you can see the elevation change.

I thought this was pretty funny.

I thought the population was 1 Billion?

Hey there, I got the letter with the postcards, but no package. Sounds like the only difference in weather is that your not spending the whole day in a white collar and tie.

You remember the videos about missionaries we watched before I left? Well they have a set of DVDs about the same missionaries illustrating different principles of missionary work. The reason I'm telling you this is because we had President interviews the day we went to the MTC so President Moldenhauer and his wife were nice enough to drive us down since he was headed back to Kingwood anyway, he told us to relax, maybe even nap while we were traveling, I think that is the only time my mission president will tell me to relax or nap! Anyway, he told us that as of July 1, the brethren have come out with a new set of Preach My Gospel DVDs and are significantly changing the way they are training missionaries and teaching missionaries how to teach. They are also changing the way missions run, I don't know how it was when Dad was on his mission, but President interviews and Zone Conferences used to be once a transfer (6 weeks). Now they will be once a quarter (3 months). President also said we will be going to the Temple again in August. Don't tell anyone because I'm not supposed to know, but one of the MTC trainers let it slip that President is trying to work it out for the mission to go to NASA (that's all I know.

Is it getting easier to teach? To a degree. I'm definitely better at teaching than I was in the MTC.
Transfers are in a week, exciting times.

So this last week (Friday,Saturday) we went to the MTC in Kingwood, it was a lot of fun. Elder Frakes and I got some Mango slices offered to us while we were tracting. :-) That was a first for me.

I'm almost out of time I hope being cast team leaders is going well. Are you going to put Flat Elder in the Family costune Picture? Remember to stay hydrated and stay safe.

Love you BYE!!!!!

Did I ever tell you I dropped My PMG in a puddle of water? Well I did.
Actually the apex of my cooking right now is throwing a frozen pizza in the oven.

July 6, 2010

2010-07-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hey there, I got your letter from the 29th (Tues) today. Your are right that does sound like stuff that would happen to us. Just watch, you'll go home and the water tank lid will be found in less than a day. I'm glad you made it to pageant safe. Did you take Flat Elder with you? Which specific apostle is Dad Portraying? I can't believe that was a year ago that we were there.

If it makes you feel any better my life has been just as hectic and crazy as yours.... well crazier than normal anyway. So we have this investigator , a one handed,(cancer) 23 year old, Jamaican kid, who has been investigating for about 3 months. Apparently, for some time his plan has been to get baptized between August and the end of the year. Well, on Wednesday (30th) he called us and told us he wanted to get baptized in a week (Weds. 7th @ 10:00). Then he called us two days later on Friday, and said he wanted to get baptized the next day (3rd) with the Sulphur missionaries investigator. Well, a couple of frantic phone calls, an interview, and 30 hours later, he got baptized. In a week he went from being baptized before the end of the YEAR, to being baptized before the end of the WEEK. Go figure! And at the last minute he asked Bishop to baptize him instead of Elder Hugentobler. So bishop had another member run by his house and bring him a towel and a change of clothes.

Yesterday we had Zone P-Day. The zone got together in Orange Tx. and we played crab soccer, ( didn't work to well with shorts + Garments, we only played one game) Basket ball (well, I didn't) and Volley Ball. Today my whole body is sore! Especially my legs and back.

On Thursday Elder Hugentobler and I are going back to the MTC (]Mission Training Camp) in Kingwood Tx. this time with Elders Frakes and Jensen. I don't know why we are going back, but it is not unheard of for more experienced missionaries to go to the MTC. I am excited, Elder Frakes used to be my Zone Leader and I'm glad I have the opportunity to serve with, and spend time around him again.

I got some Louisiana postcards for you. I am going to try and mail them to you next Monday, (Jacque gave me the Pageant mailing address) 10 min. left.

Would you ask dad if he ever held any leadership on his mission?( Trained, D.L., Z.L.) and what he did with his companion(s) (if he had any) that didn't want to work? Don't worry about me, Elder Hugentobler is a very hard worker. Elder H____, (the Stuart's relative) is trying to train a missionary that ( as I understand it) has no work ethic and no desire to work. and that got me wondering about what I would/will do if/when I get a companion that doesn't want to work(hard).

I'm running out of time I love you, hope you all have a great and safe time at Pageant Bye!!

June 28, 2010

2010-07-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hey there, you traveling family. I hope the car ride is a little more comfortable with only 6. I hope you can listen to the audio with what ever dad does for the Internet while you are away from home.

Elder Clark brought my package and coat to Zone Conference last Wednesday. I will just hang on to them until you get back then I will mail the package out to you.

Just remember, however hot and humid it is out there, tell the kids it is probably not as bad as down here. Remember that day we flew into Atlanta Ga. I don't know about you but I could feel the humidity and heat as we went into the airport. If they remember that, it is probably as close to here as they can relate to. I can't really complain though, it could be so much worse, and I'm sure I have adapted somewhat. We were talking with someone and they said whoever settled here was either crazy, or they settled in the winter.

Could you get me a mailing address for you at pageant?

I just realized, we will still be an hour different, but now you'll be the one an hour ahead. I'll be going to bed while you're preforming. Sorry I ran out of Missionary Support Funds (MSF) this month , I don't know where it all went, that has never happened to me before.

When does pageant end? I ask because transfers are on the 19th. I would be surprised if I moved but you never know.

I'm almost out of time please be sure to let me know what parts you get at pageant.

The missionaries in Sulpher (in our ward) our having a baptism on Saturday, so that's good. We have a family of 4 we are hoping to baptize on the 17th, A mother and 3 daughters. We also have a one handed 20 something Jamaican guy we are hoping to baptize in August (he had his hand amputated because of cancer).

Love, Wes

June 21, 2010

2010-07-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

It's officially, the first day of summer! Boy is it hotttt!!

I did the math and decided if I start reading the Bible 3 pages a day then I will finish on my 2 year mark. Right now I'm on page 6.

I will talk to Elder Clark about the packages at Zone Conference on Wednesday. I did get the package you sent out, thank you.

My new area's pretty cool... except it's LA. everything is backwards! I think I liked Jasper better though, the members were more friendly.

Last Tuesday we tracted out a lady who has been looking for a church to go to because they held her parents funerals in her old church and she sees the coffins every time she goes. she thought it might have been a sign that we came because she was just telling her kids that they needed to get back into church and then we knocked not too long after that.

Hope all is going well with Pageant. Please email me pictures if possible and tell me what roles you get. hopefully the Drive won't be so bad with only 6 people. You can send the books out if you want, sounds like a good idea.

Hope you don't stress to much. Looking forward to pageant updates love you

Sorry it wasn't longer. I think a mission is like pageant, you almost kill yourself, but after all is said and done you love it.

Love you, Wes

June 14, 2010

2010-06-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

I think this picture accurately represents my last transfer.

Hey, my address is:

1531 Country Club Rd.

Lake Charles, La.

Box # 826 70605

I wrote the wrong address on the envelope, the address the mission office gave you (above) is correct.

I was actually just thinking the other day that you will probably be leaving in about 2 weeks....good times. Maybe you will get a taste of what I am living in down here.

Talk about humidity, that's fog as I was leaving Jasper

My new area is a city I would say pretty close to the size of Layton...all of Layton. That means lots of houses which means lots of tracting. Last Saturday almost all of our appointments fell through. We did a lot of tracting in the sun. We have probably 3-4 "searching" investigators. The ward seems pretty cool, it's nice to have a ward mission leader that is "on the ball" (he's actually an assistant to the mission leader, the W.M.L. is away working on the oil spill.) We don't get fed as often here, it seems like the members are more hospitable in the country. Or maybe it's just Louisiana.

THIS PLACE IS CRAZY!!!! people say drivers in Utah are bad.... they're practically NASCAR drivers compared to these ragin'-Cajuns.

For their sakes' I am glad Elder Clark never served with Elder Hugentobler. They both want to work hard, but are pretty much the opposite in every other way. Elder Clark was a goofball and had a temper, Elder "H" is serious and more patient. More like myself I think. Technically I am a senior companion by 1 transfer- but that doesn't mean I am a better missionary.

How am I doing? I'm' learning a ton and sweating just as much.

The voice recorder needs a program to put recording back on it. The device came with the program but the library computers won't let me install it. I think if I can install the program on the recorder itself instead of on the computer I might be able to listen to files emailed to me. I need to try it first though.

Could you please get me Tyler Christensen's Mailing /E-mail Address? I think it would be good for him to kind of know what to expect.

This was on the back of a semi truck.

I'm going to send this now so I can send some pictures. love you bye!

June 7, 2010

2010-06-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Was Dad praying for me to go to Cajun country? That's right, I'm in Lake Charles Louisiana. It's a pretty big city, well big compared to Jasper any way. My new address is : 1531 Country Club Road. Box: 826. We stay in some apartments, their pretty nice. Sorry, no pictures or voice today left them both in the car. I seem to have misplaced one of my memory cards during transfers. I think I know where I left it in Jasper, but if not it's alright. There weren't any pictures on it that you don't have.

Tell me about it! I love Gatorade, especially in this heat and humidity. It is supposed to be in the 90's with the heat index in the 100's all week I heard. Outside right now, the only way I can describe it is like the first summer we went to pageant. This is the first time I think it has really been this humid...or maybe it is just more humid because I am that much closer to the gulf. Have you heard if the oil spill is supposed to affect the weather at all?

My new companion is Elder "Hugentobler" (I think I spelled it right) He is from Manti. He came out one transfer after me and has been here for one transfer. The elder that used to be here was Elder Farley, the elder who had been in leader ship most of his mission. He got transferred home, he flies out on Weds.

I lost my copy of Mo. Tab. "Showtime" if you could send me another copy of that along with the soundtrack to the New Testament seminary videos (not really sure what it is called, but I know it is available to buy) I would really appreciate it.

I'm really tired right now. It is probably because I got up at 6:00 and haven't had any breakfast or lunch. On the bright side, the scale at the apartment said I weighed 195lbs. in full missionary dress, shoes and all. (Jasper didn't have a scale)

I wish the summer meant I could relax and sleep in. The good news is that Elder Hugentobler doesn't have a bike, and the area is really big so no biking for at least 6 weeks probably more. Elder Clark is supposed to be sending a package home for me today. I'll make sure he remembers. Oh ya, no more bunk beds, not in this apartment anyway.

TEXAS BBQ!

The barbecue last night was really fun but I felt kind of gross afterwards. Not sick, just Blah....

Leftovers !

10 min left.... hmmm. Is Ethan going to BYU in the fall? or summer?

Well, we'll see how things go, talk to you next week, Love you! bye!

Photos are of Micheal Ratclif's Birthday BBQ in Jasper Texas.

June 1, 2010

2010-06-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It's June!!!! AHHHH here comes the heat!! Transfers next Monday! I'm pretty sure I'm out of here. I would be very surprised if I stayed.

We had a really fun time yesterday, we played 6 vs.6 Volley Ball, Soft ball, and Ultimate Frisbee all 3 games were going at the same time we just rotated. I didn't use sun block, my neck got it pretty bad. President even got out and played softball w/ us.

I wish I could tell you more about what is going on. The last week is kind of a blur with transfers coming up. Elder Gardner got assigned an Assistant to the President. We all knew it was going to happen, President really likes him, we just didn't think it would happen so soon.

6 months tomorrow!!!!! Since it is against the rules to burn a tie on my 6 month mark I think I'll drown one in the washing machine. (don't worry, it'll be an old one) I realized tomorrow is exactly 1 year from the day I graduated. I will have been on my mission the same amount of time I was out of school, Crazy!

Our two investigators finally came to church the other day. They are children of a less active family. We have been doing a lot of tracting lately, lots of ring-around-the-collar....lots of Gatorade too. It has rained a couple of times since last Mon. One time was so bad we had to pull off the road and into a pawn shop for 30 minutes or so until it lightened up.

I have started carrying my scriptures in a case I made from a Captain Crunch cereal box. Mostly because it is lighter, and the members love it.

I gave myself a haircut yesterday it is a #2 again. Luckily that was enough hair to keep my head from burning.

Oh, ya, did we have a CD of the primary songs at home? I seem to remember one. If we do would you please copy it and send it out, if not that's alright. Also, I can't find my Mo.Tab. "Showtime" CD. Could you please have Dad make another copy and send it out after transfers?

Well, got to go. Talk to you later. Love you!

May 24, 2010

2010-05-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

It's getting hotter down here....and it doesn't cool down when the sun goes down.

Yes, I got grandma's card, but it doesn't do me any good right now because the DQ people won't take it. I'm thinking about selling it and using the money to get a tie from Bealls.

I'll tell you right now, the pics were taken at a members house in the country.... so the country area, of a country area.

Yesterday, when I was in the shower, the power went out. I closed my eyes, opened them back up and seriously wondered if I went blind, it was pitch black. the power came back on before we got back from church so the house was not "Texas hot" thank goodness.

We have 2 kids (9 &11) that we are working with (Branch pres.'s nephew's children....the same way Grace & Emma are related to you, I think.) They are doing well and progressing but their parents (less actives) haven't brought them to church. They don't even have to bring them, just get them ready so someone can pick them up. But they sleep in each Sunday morning....Church is at 10:00 by the way.

We were also working with a 16 yr. old boy, but he is moving to California for at least the summer. So we're not sure what is going to happen. We're doing a lot of tracting to try and find new investigators.

This is my planner

Got to go, by

May 17, 2010

2010-05-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Yep P-days are on Monday now. Kind of weird. The reason why they moved it was so that we can use this new utility the church came out with to include our weekly numbers in our email, if that makes sense. Our numbers week runs from Sun.-Sun. so on Monday we now report our numbers from last week to our mission president along with our weekly letter.

So as you saw and maybe listened, I bought a recorder from Walmart. It was an RCA brand for about $35. I can email the files, but I can't put files from the computer back on to it and listen to them. So, I am going to return it today. I think you will probably have to ask the "missionary moms" which one they use. If we can't figure it out I will probably just buy another one like this and send you the files.

The misquotes (and other biting, flying insects) are out! They have been feasting upon my arms. Oh, I did get the package and the watch thank-you!! I did get your letter. That is really weird he got called to Houston Texas. I was thinking how weird it would be if he (Tyler Christensen -cousin) came here....and even weirder if I trained him. So close.... I wonder if any of the 3 of us will ever get transferred into each others missions if they rearrange the stake boundaries again. I was also thinking about how nice it will feel when next summer comes knowing that it will be my last one and that Tyler still has 2.

I cut my hair yesterday, It is now a #3 on top and a # 2 up the sides. It is getting hotter and hotter, and it doesn't cool down when the sun sets. Not much anyway. But I think I am adapting somewhat.

Last Thurs. I went over to Woodvile on exchanges. We did service and put insulation in the top of this small barn/shed/thing. It was like 86 out side, at least 90 inside and at least 95 (probably more), up in the rafters. I don't know that I have ever had sweat from my face drip into my eye before. It wasn't that bad, but we were in service clothes not a white shirt and tie. I also don't know how humid it was.

President also announced on Weds. that on the 31st we will be having a bi-zone p-day in Vidor. He (president) said that he, his wife, and the assistants will be coming also. He said he wants it to be a day for us to "let our hair down"....says our bald mission president. We think we are going to be playing softball among other things.

Well I'm almost out of time. Cameron only needs to be in a cast for 2 weeks?

got to go love you Bye

May 11, 2010

2010-05-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hey,
It was great to talk to you on Sunday. Made me kind of homesick though. 6 1/2 more months to Christmas.

So, I'm not sure what to tell you, not much happened yesterday. In the middle of a lesson at about 3:00 I got really light headed and dizzy. So we had to go back to the apartment so I could lie down. It got better after a nap, but it didn't really go away until I woke up this morning. No idea what it was or what caused it, but it's gone now.

I decided for my 6 months mark I am going to go to Bealls, the only Dept. store in Jasper,(it was like walking into Kohl's or JC Penneys at the mall, it was refreshing) and get a nice 6 month tie. I wish I could think of something else to say. I know you want to here more.

Oh, you'll get a kick out of this. I got a suit from goodwill for $16 it is a little small but for $16 I think it is worth it in case I ever need a suit for tracting or whatever. It is gray w/ faint light blue pinstripes.

Oh, I saw an improvement in my teaching this week. Normally I struggle on transitions
(between principles) but in one lesson this week I made a excellent transition without really doing anything different. It definitely was not just me though, it was mostly the spirit.

No I haven't received the package yet. I hope I get the watch today. I don't think those recorders will be at Walmart, you can check though. I will keep my eyes open for them too.

I recommend if Cameron wants anything out of my room he should have someone else email me the question. It is difficult to follow all of his letters and I forget what questions were asked in the letters.

Please tell me when you know where Tyler Christensen (cousin) got his call to.

Well, I'm almost out of time, can't complain though. I remember when I got only 30 minutes and no exceptions if the computer was stupid.

Alright I'll write you all next Wednesday!
Love you Bye!!!

May 5, 2010

2010-05-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Did you get last weeks email? I sent it again to both you and dad just in case. I am going to start doing that with all my emails in case one doesn't work for some reason.

This week Elder Clark got sick. Sunday night he was up for like 3 hrs. puking. Or so he tells me. I think the spirit prompted me to put my earplugs in, (I got them because he had been snoring in his sleep). It was the first time I had ever slept with them in and I slept through the whole ordeal.

So, Monday night we got a couple of lessons in. Yesterday I only left the apt. to go out to the car, didn't even get dressed up. Having nothing to do and being bored just before a phone call in not good. It makes you homesick and trunky. So one of the things I did yesterday to preoccupy myself was reminisce of our trip to DC. I put all the monuments/museums we visited as favorites in the GPS. I also marked the SLC, Bountiful, and Logan temples, the Conference Center, and all the addresses on that orange piece of construction paper you gave me. Speaking of that, could you ask Carrisa and Kyle for their new address? Also, when I went to put Shane and Donna in there was already a little car on a lift over their address that said Egan automotive I thought that was kind of cool. Needless to say I was bored yesterday.

F.Y.I. P-day will be on Tuesday next week. So I won't get any letters written on Wednesday morning.

It is starting to get really humid down here, not looking forward to the summer. I also hit 5 months on Sunday, can you believe that?

So our monthly miles budget is 1465 miles. Last Thursday 4/29 we were at about 1405 miles. Well, we had to go to Beaumont for a leadership meeting. We drove to Sillsbee so we could carpool with those Elders the rest of the way. Ya.... their battery was dead, and they had to give a blessing at a hospital. The GPS could not find the hospital. Then we had to drive over to Woodville so Elder Clark could do a baptism interview. By the end of the day we had gone 236 miles. That's almost a 5th of our monthly limit in one day....at the end of the month!

I wish I could tell you a really cool spiritual experience because I know that's what you want to hear but I can't think of any at the moment, sorry! We don't have anymore baptisms line up until the start of June (5th) just before transfers.

Elder Gardner says he sent his pictures of our baptisms in Jan. & Feb. home. So, you could email his mom for copies of them. I never took any, I always left my camera in the car and meant to copy them off his memory card, but never did. I've filled up all the micro cassets I have so I will send those home either today or next week. I might send the memory card with them.

Well I got to go, talk to you on Sunday.
Love you Bye!

Yes, and I got the GPS it came on Saturday. Go figure, one package takes 6 days another 3 days!

I will probably call Between 2-3 central no promises though church is from 10-1 here plus branch correation meeting until about 1:30 so defenitly after that. We're going to talk with members today about using their phone on Sunday.

April 28, 2010

2010-04-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hi,
No, I did not get transferred, neither did Elder Clark. Elder Hoffman in Woodville did though.

I sent an email to dad with pictures in case it didn't work with your hotmail account.We did have our baptism on Saturday (There should be pictures at the end of this email). It is incredible to watch how hard Satan work against us. We got a text from L___ @ 12:00 midnight saying that she was going to need a ride to church. We tried to call and find out/fix the problem Sunday morning but her phone was dead. So, we missed PEC with the branch council driving all over Jasper trying to make sure L__ would be able to come to church and be confirmed.

The original plan was that L__ was going to ride with her member friend D___. We figured she was probably sleeping over at D___'s house that night because she said, "'We need a ride." We went over to D___'s house only to find out that they weren't there. Sis. C (D___'s mom) got D___'s Cell # for us and helped us figure out that the girls were at L__ house. D___'s car was there, but she didn't have her key. Don't ask me how that happened. So, we ran a spare key up to L___ house and made it back just in time for the end of PEC. L__ & D__ did make it to church & L___ was confirmed as planned.

You asked if we have to teach a lot at church. Not really. We pass the sacrament probably 1/2 to 1/3 of the time but that's it really. We say a prayer every once in a while.

We have probably 4-5 promising investigators we are working with at the moment. We will see how they all turn out.

I don't know why that email won't send ( April 14). I copied it and tried again.

Tell Tyler he should start working on his Spanish now. There is a family here who have a daughter in the Uruguay mission (she comes home in august) she went to the Argentina MTC and if I remember correctly they said she had to go tracting in the area around the MTC her first or second day! He can ask Seth if he had to do that (That's where Seth F. went right?)

I wish I could tell you another story but I don't have the time, I wish I had learned to type properly.

The Missionary that baptized L__ is Elder Fairbourn. Jasper was his first area 18 or 19months ago. Just goes to show, you never know what seeds you may plant.

Love you all

Elder Clark is the one on the right with the flower in his mouth.
This was after District meeting last Friday.

April 14, 2010

2010-04-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

This weeks letter is MIA--Missing in action. Hopefully, more news next week.

April 21, 2010

2010-04-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Sorry that is all you got I sent that off at the beginning of the e-mail session hoping you would maybe answer it before I got off. {He asked what kind of GPS?} I'm not sure why you didn't get my other letter. My email said it sent it off, maybe because we were emailing from a different place. I sent it to you again. I also sent a copy to dad just in case it didn't work again.

So, for either Friday night or FHE I strongly recommend watching "The Best 2 Years". Maybe it was funnier for me because I am on my mission, but it was hilarious and pretty realistic. The missionaries were all really extreme but I would not be surprised if there are some missionaries that are like that.

As you probably know Elder Spackman is going home in a week. One of my zone Leaders Elder Frakes has been assigned to fill the calling. It is pretty unusual actually, Elder Frakes has only been out a little over a year. Usually that calling is filled by more senior missionaries. So right now I only have one zone leader until transfers on Monday. He is bouncing around with some other missionaries in Beaumont. I don't know if I will be transferred or not. I think it's a 50/50 chance.

We have not got mail today yet, but I still have not gotten the GPS package. I have not had the chance to mail that package yet but I will today. Also I had a Black Jerry Garcia tie That was tearing in the back. Would you please send it out the next time you send something, I'll even sew it in my spare time if I need to.

We still have a baptism this Saturday. The interview is tonight. So, we are pretty sure it will go through. Elder Gardner is hoping to make it back for it.

Something else I wrote down to tell you, I have learned to love to mix my rice with whatever comes with it chili, gumbo, ect.

Also, on a sad note the bishop of the Buna ward died on Monday. A tree fell on him, not sure what happened beyond that.

Almost out of time, love you bye,

We cut this tree down 2 weeks ago after wards we learned it was really dangerous and we won't be doing it again.

Sorry still no picture of Elder Clark, that's him in the red.

I had more time than I thought. Um, tell Robin not to complain to me about going back to school "now I've got homework, now I've got to get up early, now I don't get to see my family (cousins, aunts and uncles) for a long time." Don't even give that to me Robin! You will see your family again before 2 years. You can call them if you want. You can still sleep in on Saturdays and holidays, so don't complain to me. {Apparently, Wesley feels strongly about this}

It is getting hotter down here. Its getting into the 70/80's now, not looking forward to summer. But maybe because it was so cold this winter, or because of the volcano in Iceland it will be a cooler summer.

I can't believe school is almost out. It is the first time in 12 years that school ending means nothing to me. It's weird!

Ok got to go now,
Love you, bye!

(These are my favorite things from my mission so far. The Bom (Book of Mormon) is from President Mouldenhauer. We are going though and marking all references to Christ right now. the Beanie baby is a polar bear given to me by some members. The gator head I bought at a gas station in Orange.....It's from Florida.)

April 7, 2010

2010-04-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

That's a bummer (you all had the flu), it has been going around here too. Elder Clark has not been feeling well the last couple of days, not the flu, just tired and crappy, it was weird.

Thanks for getting the watch. I got the Easter package yesterday. Thanks for sending all that out.

Yep, it has been about 80 degrees at about 2:30-3:00 the last few days, but it has also been breezy so it has not been that bad.

The work is going great. Because of all the tracting we did, we have a bunch of new people to check up with to see if their interested or not. We taught a quick first lesson to a "Christan" lady who said: as long as it doesn't contradict the Bible, she has no problem with the B.O.M.! One of our investigators, L_____, the last time we met was a little concerned about the baptism interview. When we came back a few days later we ask her if she would like to talk about it a little more and resolve her concerns. She told us after we had left she had prayed about it and wasn't concerned anymore!

Let's see, what else, we and our branch mission leader, a true cowboy and he's like 80 years old, were the only people who watched conference at the church, except for one session that the branch president and his wife brought a home-bound elderly lady to the church. My favorite talk was Elder Holland. What about you guys, who was your favorite?

The downside this week is that members think that when you wear the black name tag you are perfect and no longer a human being.

Did Tyler Calder get his call? Eric? I saw that Ryan, Jeff, and Lisa all come home soon.

Can't believe school is almost out, for the kids.

Got to go, talk to you later, thanks

love you bye!

2010-04-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

We were able to go to lake Charles for Elder Clark's baptism. We stopped at a flying J in Orange, TX and I bought an Alligator head & an alligator foot back-scratcher. It's basically an alligator foot on a stick. Sorry I didn't get to email you yesterday, the library computers are still down, so we are at a member's house again today (the only members I know of in this branch that have more than one computer).

L__ moved her Baptism date up to April 24th. It is the Saturday just before transfers...just in case. We have had a lot of people who said we could come back that we have tracted into this week. It is starting to get hotter, it was in the 70s the other day.

Next P-day I am going to send you a package, I guarantee it will make any sort of ribs, burgers, pork chops, roast, etc. better. Similar to bacon, but in my mind better. sorry this is so random I am just writing what I want as I remember it. Tuesday we typed the wrong address into the GPS for out dinner appointment. I had only been there once, with the GPS set on lowest miles setting not fastest time, and it is quite a ways off the highway, so I wasn't that concerned when we LEFT OUR AREA, and turned onto dirt, county roads that the GPS thinks are paved. We can't tell it to avoid unpaved roads. When we realized that we had the wrong address in the GPS we put the right one in but it thought the fastest way was through dirt county roads.....in the dark. Yeah, those roads were really meant for trucks, not for a Chevy Malibu.

We finally were able to get back to the main highway and get to dinner. We had an appnt. w/ L__ @ 6:15 so I figured we would be there about 7:30. ya, we left L__'s @ 7:40.... we got to dinner @ 9:00. Dinner was crawfish. We left dinner at 9:40 & got home about 10:27. We couldn't have dinner earlier because we had an appnt. at 5:00 with Aaron and Desert. They are 8 and 10 respectively. They are our branch President's nephew's son & daughter. Their parents are inactive members. They want to come to church again, but it is hard for them. He has "elephantitis"(?) in his right leg. We have taught their kids the first 2 lessons so far.

You said Tim is going to Costa Rica? Are you still going to be the Y6 Cast Team Leaders at Pageant? Oh, yeah, we looked at Wal-mart & could not find that "watch" you were talking about. Sorry I am not answering more of your questions, I need to start writing down all the questions I get in your letters onto a single piece of paper that I can bring with me to the computer.

I don't think I am getting an accent down here, but I think my vocabulary and grammar are degrading. All right my time is just about up. Looking forward to your Easter packages. Oh, yeah, don't pickup scared dogs....they pee!

Love you all, bye!

Monday, March 29, 2010

2010-04-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Alright, the library is still having issues so I probably won't have the full hour to email.

This paragraph is dedicated to questions. When we went to the temple they took us to an LDS bookstore my debit card is almost out. Could you please check into it? These next questions are probably Dad questions. Could you please send me copies of the conference DVDs that we got from Uncle Jim? Would you please also send me a CD of Elder Hollands Talks? I'm pretty sure conference talks mp3s are available for download from LDS.org. Also, Is it possible that you could get your hands on a copy of the new Joseph Smith movie, and send it out? If not I will try to get it from one of the missionaries down here. Also, Whatever GPS you decide to get, I have heard that some models have 3rd party voices that you can download from the internet to the GPS. (such as George Bush) Would you please Look into that?

Ok, we have had a rough week. Instead of getting lessons we got a lot of return appointments. So, we will see how this week plays out. Also to pump some life back into the Mission Miracle. President has instituted the "week of sacrifice" this week. We are focusing on the Saviors finial week in mortality, since it was this week almost 2000 years ago. Each zone is also fasting one day of the week. Today is our day to fast. Also, this is where the sacrifice comes in, we are tracting for 5 hours a day. Mon., Tues., Thurs.,& Fri. 3.5 hours Sat. & Sun. and I think 4 hours on Weds. So P-Day Ends by 2:00 P.M.

Almost out of time. Sorry it is so short, got to go write you on Weds.

Bye
The picture is from a members house in Woodville. We were there for district meeting

March 17, 2010

2010-03-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
Well, we were right. Elder Gardner was transferred to be a Zone Leader in Kingwood.

Saying good bye

Our District

My new companion is Elder Clark, from Nephi, Ut. He was transferred from Lake Charles, Louisiana where he trained a missionary that came out from the MTC with me. I am not sure if I will stay another 1, or 2 transfers.

I am making a resolution to include more in my emails starting this transfer. I don't remember if I told you, President is letting us go to the temple in a week to reward us for working hard and being obedient. So, I may email Tues., Weds. or Thurs. I think Within the next 4 weeks or so I would like a GPS. I don't care if it is the one we got from Donna or if it is new. I realized it would be a good way to remember where members live if I ever came back, as well as being able to have one where ever I am transferred. Right now we are using one the branch owns so it will stay with the area. I would get one myself but I bet you can get a better price on the Web.

Alright now about the work. We have a baptism schedules for May 1st but we are going to try to get her to move it up a week or two. The investigator is ------ she is a 17 year old girl whose dad is inactive and mom is not a member. Their family has a pregnant pit bull that would like to kill us if she could get off her chain. She was almost baptized a year ago, but she and her member friend got in a fight. Now they are friends again but somewhere along the line the missionaries stopped teaching her. Probably in one of the transfers.

Our other soon to be baptism is ---------. She is the 14 year old girl I was talking about with the stake conference and relying on Elder Gardner for her testimony .She hasn't set a date yet but we know she will. The problem is that her member friend, the reason we met her in the first place, and her are not getting a long very well right now.

Don't get the Idea we are only teaching teenage girls. Those two are just the closest to baptism right now. Dang it, I will ask Elder Gardner for Baptism pics of the 2 baptisms we had in Jan. & Feb.

Alright, going to send pics now, love all bye!

Here's my new hair cut. I think I went a little to short on top, Ha Ha.

March 10, 2010

2010-03-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Beaumont Zone  had a Zone P-day  today. They all drove and
gathered together, emailed together at about 9:30 this morning at
the Senior Citizens Center. Then they were going to play basketball
and games together.

Hey,

I have misplaced the BYU watch. Would you please get the LL Bean one? I still have not mailed the brakes. I have been to busy to mail them yet but I got the box yesterday. I just need to get them to the post office. I will do it tomorrow. This computer is slower than molasses so I am not going to try to send any pictures today. I will also mail the SD card tomorrow with the brakes.

We are 100% sure that Elder Gardner is getting transferred and I am staying because of something that President let slip, and because of some issues Elder Gardner is having with an investigator relying on him for their testimony. Like how children rely on their parents testimonies when they are young.

Tell Dad happy Birthday Day and sorry but his card will be late.

Sunday night Elder Gardner hit a possum. He thought it would move out of the way, but nope. We turned around to look for it, but couldn't find it in the dark. Monday night we parked off of the main highway and walked to a members house a few tenths of a mile away because it was nice out. When we got back the car had almost a quarter of a tank less gas than when we left. Yep, we got siphoned.

We have a lot of potential investigators at the moment. Not sure how they will all turn out. Most of them are return appointments we got from tracting. We do not have any baptisms scheduled at the moment.

I am not sure if you have heard but Elder Perry is going to speak to the stake on Sunday! The story is that he had a meeting in Houston Saturday night and it was going to be to late for him to fly back to SLC so he chose a stake to speak to and we got lucky.

I bought some hair clippers today, if that turns into a big disaster I will send you some pics. I hope you will send me some pics of the trailer. My hour is up now.

love you all, bye!

March 3, 2010

2010-03-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

You asked about how much time I'm spending on my bike. I'm actually hardly doing any biking at all because our area is so spread out it is impossible to visit more than a few people on bikes. I don't think I have put much weight on maybe 5 lbs. or so. I don't really know because we don't have a scale in our apt.

We will almost certainly have 1, and probably 2 baptisms this month. (If not this month, then early April.) We our pretty sure Elder Gardner will get transferred in a few weeks and I will stay. The mission president slipped and all but told Elder Gardner he was leaving.

Yesterday was my 3 month mark!

I've been meaning to tell you, there is only one Elder in our zone right now that can play the piano well. (Go figure!) I am glad to hear that Johnny is going on a mission I actually had not heard that before your letter.

I am going to try to get some recipies for you to try the food, which for the most part is delicious. I have had some of the best beef ribs in the world. Monday night I had wild hog that a member shot in Louisiana. It tasted just like pork.

Check this out! A year ago Elders Jarman & Fairborn were friendly to the Dairy Queen employees so now they love missionaries and give us everything for free. They WON'T let us pay, and Elder gardner has like $60 in gift cards to DQ.

Well, I'm Fixin to run out of time I love your letters, Thanks, Love You Bye!

February 24, 2010

2010-03-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Are you trying to send me a message? Am I not writing enough about THE work?

Right now we have 2 real investigator and 2-3 potentials. One of our investigators is the nonmember friend I wrote about last week (or 2 weeks ago I don't remember). 1 week after that story, (Sun.21) she asked us if we could come over to her friends house after church ASAP we told her yes and taught for 1.5 hrs. When we had to leave to go dinner and then a few other appointments she asked us if we could come back later that night! So we sped through dinner and our appointment (1 was not home) went back to the house and taught her for another 1.5 hrs. as we concluded she asked if we could meet the next day! Unfortunately that fell through because her parents are strongly opposed to Mormonism. For about a day we were afraid (and praying for the opposite) that they wouldn't let her continue to investigate the church, But yesterday we got a call from her friends dad saying that after a long discussion her parents had agreed to let her continue to learn as long as she could show her maturity at home. We will probably have another lesson tonight.

As of this afternoon no we do not have any baptisms lined up. We had one last Saturday though. Good I guess, one of them is going through kind of a hard time because she can't be sealed to her kids because her husband wants nothing to do with the church, but she is such that she will "get over it"(her words not mine).

{Question was, What do you do with recent converts} - Kind of both, we follow up with R.C.s once a week but the branch is supposed to give them a calling, home/visiting teachers, fellowship, ect.

That BYU watch is working fine for now but if it breaks then I will let you know. I ment/mean to send the brakes back but I havn't yet, been to busy.

Love you all!
Wesley

February 18, 2010

2010-02-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was Stake Conference in Port Arthur (South of Jasper). They had an investigator/recent convert meeting an hour before the conference. Because our branch is so small and some extenuating circumstances we could not get a ride from a member in our branch who was going to that early meeting. Instead we had to drive down to Buna (on the way...sort of) to tag along with the missionaries there.

After conference our ride asked us if we needed a ride back. At first we told him no, we could get a ride with a member. But it worked out that we went back to Buna with the same ride that we went down with. We had lunch there and then found out that someone we had talked with at conference about visiting on our way back had been called in to work. so we decided to visit another member's house on the way back. They were having their cousins from the branch over for dinner and invited us to stay and eat, so we did. It turns out one of the cousins brought her nonmember friend who's brother is in the branch presidency. We found out that she has felt something different about the church and wanted to join for some time but has been to scared to ask her parents about it because they are strong Baptists and did not support her older brother when he joined the church.

She was a nonmember when she came to dinner and a dry-Mormon when she left. If things had not played out exactly as they did we would not have been at that house at that time when she would be there. If we had caught a ride with a member from our own branch to the conference we would have gone right by the house, if we had not had lunch in Buna we would have arrived at the house too early. and the family who's house we ate at has been praying that they would be able to have the missionary lessons in their home.

"The lord works in mysterious ways.....and in many instances the simple doth confound the wise."

I miss you all. Thanks for the packages. Love you

February 10, 2010

2010-02-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hi,
Last Thursday Elder Gardner and I had to be down in Beaumont for a meeting that started at 7:00 A.M., so we needed to be there about 6:45-50. Beaumont is a little over 1 hr. away, so we needed to leave @ 5:15 and get up @ 4:45 in order to have a "safety cushion" as it were. We carpooled with the missionaries form Buna in order to save miles, as we pass them on the way to Beaumont. We got there 10 minutes early and no one was at the building! We thought we were at the wrong building but everyone was "late" because of the rain. I think everyone showed up between 6:55 and 7:00, so no one was actually late.

I knocked a door this past week where (a daughter I think) made eye contact and waved through the door window- then went back into the house and the house went quiet. We knocked again and got no response. As we were leaving we saw the family driving away. I guess they couldn't think of an excuse not to talk to us so they left the house!

I made a personal amendment to the missionary handbook this week, it says: "Follow your host in the use of eating utensils" ( or lack thereof). Ribs are good!!

We currently have four baptism dates set as a companionship, and 61 dates in February as a mission. We've had 4 baptisms in Feb already. We hope to extend another baptism commitment possibly tonight, and another commitment or two in the coming days. Our investigator/convert is getting married on Sat. & getting baptized a week after that.

It is amazing how down to earth the members are down here. There is almost no beating around the bush or backbiting. There is a whole different kind of Mormon down here.

If you or dad ever see Johnathan or his mom could you please get his address so I can write him occasionally?

Please pass my congrats on to Carrissa!

I found a letter today I wrote a month ago and never mailed I will put it in the mail today or tomorrow. Thanks for everything! I look forward to your letters and everyone's packages.

February 3, 2010 - From Wes

2010-02-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
The church seems to have struck some sort of a deal with Google. The new email system that we're using is powered by Gmail, which is awesome! I said in my last email how the old email was pretty basic, well I don't have to use it anymore. I really am quite pleased now. I can save drafts like you suggested, and the browser auto saves drafts every couple of minutes, so no more accidentally deleting your email or running out of time! : D I think I can also send and receive more/bigger pics, too.

In one of the first pictures I sent home you can see that one of the corners of the bike box got thrashed and one of the brake pads for the front tire is missing. Could you please send me a new one/pair there is no bike shop in our whole area.

Niether I or Elder Gardner got transferred, he probably will in 6 weeks though. Elder Hoffman, who is related to the Stewart's down the street, came out one transfer before me and he is already training! He picks up his Greenie today. Right now we have 2 baptism dates for February, hopefully we will have another 2-5 for the rest of Feb.-Mar. Our goal as a mission last month was to double baptisms in January last year (14) so our goal was 28 our actual count was 36 : ) This months goal is again to double baptisms for the month (21 in to 42) The goal for the year is to double the baptism average over the last 10 or so years 267 into 534.

This week I got to drive a car for the first time in 9 weeks.

February 3, 2010

2010-02-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 2 MONTHS!

This week for some reason Wesley's letter did not make it to us. The following is from his companion, Elder Gardner's mom.

Hi Laurie,
We did get an email today and our boys are still together. {It was transfers this past Monday} I'm sorry your email got lost. That has happened to us before and it is hard to wait a week for more info. I will forward you the photo Nate sent. Maybe it was the same one. They are doing well. They taught A----- again...(the lady that they tracted out last week whose mother is in the hospital on life support). She loved the Plan of Salvation and they felt that she was truly interested and that her heart was open. Her husband is planning to listen on their next visit so they are hopeful that will be a good thing. L---- will be married this week and then baptized next week. She is very excited and Nate thinks very converted. They did set a baptismal date with K---- for February 20th. They continue to pray for and work with her. They feel like they made some good contacts this week and are hopeful that the people will let them teach them. All in all it sounds like there is progress in Jasper. They have the trust and support of the members and that is good. Isn't this your sons 2 month mark this week? Time kinda flies (kinda!).

January 28, 2010

2010-01-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody!
Yesterday as I was sending my email the computer logged off. Grrr.....
Alright, here we go again.
Sorry I didn't email you yesterday morning. I HAD to go golfing, but I didn't want to pay the $30 so I just drove the cart around for 5 1/2 hours as the battery got lower and lower. Elder Gardener locked us out of our duplex yesterday and the owner (a member, lives next door) wasn't home. Fortunately, there was a window unlocked that we could crawl through.

We find out if we are getting transferred on Saturday evening. We don't know where only that we are getting transferred that next Monday.

I think I am finally getting over whatever illness I had. Whether a virus or infection I don't know.

I've only had Gumbo once so far, but everything else (as well as the Gumbo) has been delicious and flavorful. The only thing I've had to eat that I truly could not stomach was eggs, like for breakfast or lunch.

Hmmm..... It doesn't surprise me that Carissa is getting married first or quickly, but it does surprise me that she is getting married THIS QUICKLY!

The email system we have to use is very basic and doesn't have a save draft button that I can see. I am just going to start writing my letters in Microsoft Word first and if I run out of time I can save them to my memory card. I got all of your letters yesterday. Robin is so funny with what she writes. Have you read any of her letters before you mail them? Hopefully, it will work and you will be able to see that I got a cheap SD card reader from Walmart. {For sending Pictures}

No, I did not get to go to the Temple during the MTC (Mission Training Camp at the Mission Home). I haven't had a chance to go IN the Temple yet either. The youth in our Branch had a Temple trip and President Mouldenhaur said we could tag along IF they brought nonmember friends to the Temple, dance and chili cook off in Beaumont that evening. So, we got to sit in the annex next to the distribution center and visit with the nonmembers. The branch also took everyone out to lunch at CiCi's Pizza. We didn't get to go to anything but the lunch and the Temple. Hope that makes sense. {see pictures in January 21, 2010}

Yes, we got our baptism on Saturday. Elder Gardner baptized him and I did the confirmation the next day in primary because he was late to sacrament meeting. We have a bunch of potential investigators. Hopefully, we will be able to meet with some of them today. We have one baptism date for February. I told you about her. She and her member fiance need to get married first. We have an older disabled lady who says she wants to be baptized. It might be more for friends and not really about beliefs, but who knows at this point.

Got to go Love you!

We have had crazy weather here. I took some pictures of the temperature from the car.

Which one just doesn't belong?

January 20 & 21, 2010

2010-01-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

Temple Trip Saturday

Hi,
Long story short, I am "borrowing" a computer from another missionary @ the library that I probably shouldn't be on. That's why I said I'd email you tomorrow. Things are going great. I will have the first baptism in the area since I've been here on Saturday (hopefully). We have a number of potential investigators. We will have to see if they are ready to receive the gospel yet. We are getting fed a lot of meals, but it is boring to eat the same stuff @ lunch over and over. I heard the librarians getting mad that I'm on the computer.
Got to go Bye
Wesley

Fresh off the Plane

January 21, 2010
Yesterday we were down in Beaumont for Zone P-Day. After we left the library we saw an accident happen not 100 feet in front of our car. An elderly gentleman in his ford explorer made a left across our side of traffic, so towards our right, and a dodge ram 1500 truck slammed on his brakes and plowed into his back above his rear right wheel. Everyone was alright, but the medics tool the elderly mans wife away in an ambulance. We are pretty sure it was just procedure and she is or will shortly be fine. We stayed just in case the police wanted our info. but they didn't.

Picking up Elder Christensen (Wesley) from the Mission home. December 23,2009

I am still sick. Sister Moldenhauer had another stronger prescription of antibiotics called in. It is really frustrating no just because I am still sick, but because I can't visit anyone without having to talk about how I am still sick. I can't go to the Dr. because there are no doctors in the area that take the churches insurance. All the members are giving me their home remedies for sickness. Monday night a member chopped up half a garlic clove stirred it in a cup of water and had me drink it! Fortunately, I did not throw up like I think the majority of people would. I am all right though. No need to worry

GOOD Mail Day
.

Right now we have 2 baptisms dates lined up. One is on Saturday for the 9 year old boy. The other is for an older lady in February as soon as she and her member fiance get married (they are living together). I wish I could tell you more. We have a lot of potentials but we need to teach them to see if they are ready.

Now to answer questions. Yes, Cameron play with the extra lego lizard and wheel things as long as they aren't the ones on the shelf.
Some missionaries do use memory card readers to email pictures each week. I may or may not start doing that. The problem is like dad said, size. Maybe I will start taking 2 pics of everything one large for the card and one small for email.
Here is the information for the plaque company before I forget:
Mullett-Hoover, Inc.
184 W. Center St.
Provo, Utah 84601
Mulletthover.com
I would like Alma 26:12 to be my scripture. It may not be that exact reference. The scripture says something like, "I do not boast in mine own strength, but in the strength of my God...He has wrought many miracles in this land for which we will praise his name forever."
Could you please tell me what Holly's Christmas package was. I want to find out if I ever got it. Also, are you talking about Carissa when you say 19 year old getting married?
I think you asked me what I am eating? Well, the members have fed me Gumbo, stews and soups, lots or beef and lots of beans (not by themselves but in dishes), chili. Nothing to crazy though.

Whew, that was close. I almost deleted the whole email by pushing one of the keys under the right shift button, but I was able to get it back by pushing control z.

Alright, I got to go. I look forward to your letters. Love you guys.
Bye,
Wesley

New Years Eve at Ryan Ebarb's

January 13, 2010

2010-01-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ok so first I am going to answer questions. First, I can't drive until I've been in the field for at least 1 transfer, then my companion and I take turns. Ethan: I go to the whole (sunday) block @ 10 plus Ward Council @ 9 and Ward Correlation from 1 to 1:30, but its not too bad because I'm up at 6:30 and in a suit by 8:00 anyways. Jacob: yes, some of the redneck jokes are true. So far the best thing I've eaten has been homemade chicken pot pie, its different from home but almost as good. I got all your letters on monday so that is how long the mail is taking.

So the nine year old didn't come to Church on Sunday (the 3rd), so the branch president syas he has to come at least twice in a row before he gets baptised. He came on the 10th so now he needs to come on the 17th so we can baptise him on the 23rd. Last Tuesday we visited a single lady that the previous missionaries had had some contact with but all we had was a name and address. We visited with her for about 10 minutes and left. A week ago she called and said she wanted to be baptised!! We were VERY surprised. I think she is interested because the missionaries are the only religious people to ever visit her (she has arthritis and can't go to her church anymore). She has a lot of ingrained beliefs that will need to be changed but I think she is sincere in her desire to come closer to God. We are still trying to meet with a guy who seems interested and has read some of the BoM but is living with some Pentecostals who won't let us teach him at their house, but we are going to try and teach the first lesson tomorrow.

Monday and Tuesday we went down to Kingwood for the MTC (Mission Training Camp). We each spent a day with an assistant and went through some workshops on how to be better missionaries (yes one of the assistants was Elder Spackman).

What was Holly's package? I got a letter from her but I don't remember a package. Did you read Robin's letter? I'm going to save it to show her in the future. On Saturday I got a picture of the car's thermometer at 18 degrees, and on Sunday we had to defrost the windshield with our hands and a gift card. We've also got our hands on some habenero and chipotle popcorn, we're going to hold a contest on who can eat the most.

I might buy an SD card reader so I can email pictures as well.

I got the information for the plaque but I left it at the apartment {we think he's emailing from a library?}. Ask dad if he has any recommendations for the scripture, I'm thinking Alma 26:27. Its something along the lines of "I will not boast of myself but I boast in my God, for in his strength I can do all things". Also, would you please go to toadland.net and give Bro. Read {an old seminary teacher} my email address so I can ask him questions? I have a lot of stuff in my old Seminary binders that I'd like to have, but I don't know what for sure, there's also a lot of files on the site.

I have to go, I love getting your letters. Bye!