Wednesday, February 24, 2010

24 February 2010

I did get to go see Elder Perry. When I called the assistants they talked to president and the Zone Leaders lied, but President Christison reimbursed 100% of the miles. So we had to drive to pick up the Frisco Elders and down to Golden in blizzard conditions. it took us from about 5-10, but there were other things that played into it. Before we left i felt like we shouldn't go, we said a prayer and left anyways. We got up to Silverthorne to pick up the Frisco Elders just fine, although a trucker made it so I couldn't see a thing for a quarter mile going like 70mph in a 55 in a blizzard when I was going about 45. We picked up the other elders and the street curves at the end, and is on a slight downhill. I found out about 300ft b4 the turn that I was driving on solid ice. I slowed down to about five by shifting down, and tried to turn, it wasn't working, so I tried to gas it and turn harder, and it started to work, but then traction control cut my power, so I went back into the slide. We hit a bank and a small tree at 7mph and were stuck. The member the other missionaries live with brought his truck with snow tires and pulled us out. We assessed the damage, and it cracked the license plate frame, and left a very small bend in the bumper, I felt sick, but drove off and got us to our destinations. I talked to the mission president, and he said to talk to the car coordinator and fill out an accident report the next day. Needless to say I didn't sleep too well that night.

We went and had the meeting with Elder Perry and Elder Halstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy. It was amazing, we also got to shake both there hands, and Elder Perry asked us all a bit about where we're from. He was such a great speaker too, he speaks with such enthusiasm and gave us some great direction. only 121 out of 197 missionaries in the mission were able to attend.

I showed the car to the car coordinator and he couldn't even see the dent, and barely felt it. He told me not to worry about it. So no accident report or anything, its as if it didn't happen. We drove home and made it back around 3 we got to take us-285 straight out and the roads were clear with "heavy fog" in areas, but nothing compared to what we get back home.

It has been an interesting week, Thomas got to church and loved it, but I got a little sick the night b4 so we only went to Sacrament meeting since he had to work anyway. Monday was a fairly normal day, but all our appointments bailed on us, and we have been getting wind which coming off the snow the lakes, the creeks and rivers we have here, we have nasty conditions for tracting.

The wind also causes other problems. We are getting nasty snow drifts out at the house. We have a mile long county road to our house and then a 75 yard driveway off of that. We got some deep drifts yesterday and spent 5 hours digging out the driveway, jacking up the car and putting bark under the tires, etc. We finally got out and resolved to park out on the county road and walk the distance of a football field to our house and back. Which was a good decision, since it was drifted in even deeper today, and the fruits of our labor are not evident at all. Also they are plowing out the county road everyday, and last night I had to keep it at about 30mph and steer through it. but we made it home. Today they had to caterpillars out making a snow wall so hopefully it won't drift in as bad. We got out no problem though.

On top of all this I just got a call from the mission office telling me there's a recall on the car I've been driving for the gas pedal getting stuck. hahaha So I gotta have that taken care of, but the nice thing is that we have a district meeting up by the dealership next week, and were just going to have to eat the miles for district meeting, but now president will reimburse us all of the miles again. We have a 9am district meeting, so I set a 9am appointment at the dealership, and we're going to drop off our car to get worked on, and the district leader is going to pick us up and take us to district meeting. So that should hopefully work out. This week has been a whole lot of drama though, hopefully this upcoming week should be better.

I want to thank you guys for all the support. You're amazing! I hope that all is well back home, it seems so weird to hear all the great things you guys are doing, and sometimes I feel like I'm not doing anything good. But that's when I need to pray harder. Love you guys, I'm going nuts, so I'm gonna stop writing, because I can't think, because people here don't know library etiquette. They are having full blown conversations around me, and I cant think of what else to say.

Have a good week.

Love ya,
Tom

17 February 2010

Zone Leaders are a pain in the butt. Elder Perry is coming to our mission on
Saturday. We would be able to go, BUT we have no way to get reimbursed for
miles. We were also asked to drive another set of elders which would make
our trip 330 miles instead of 250 and told we had a 305 allotment for the
week, but we cant get reimbursed for miles. So I called the assistants and
worked out where missionaries who have the other elders on their way can
pick them up, and asked about reimbursements. Turns out our zone leaders
have been reimbursing themselves too much, so because of that we had to make
a decision to not go and to not get to meet Elder Perry. Oh well though. He
is coming out to train the stake and ward leaders on HIS 20 lesson ward
council program. There has been a problem out here where the leaders accuse
the missionaries of making it up and refuse to work with us. I have never
seen it happen on my mission because of this. He is going to inform them
that this program is a prayerful idea of the brethren and is not an option,
but a requirement. He also wanted to talk to the missionaries in the morning
that day, but I wont be able to go now.

So I have put myself on a little diet and been doing a lot of ab,
resistance, and cardio workouts I learned at the University. I want to get
back under 200 lbs. I am progressing towards that goal, and feeling better
about myself everyday.

Thomas, our investigator wants to be baptized so bad. He has given up
drinking. He has now started the task of reading the Book of Mormon for a
third time, and is loving it. He is praying hard and is more ready than
ever. His work schedule has not allowed for him to attend church, but the
member he works with was baptized a little over a year ago, and the owner of
the restaurant will be giving him that subway next month, so he will be
making the schedules then. So if we can get him out before then, he's
guaranteed to get out after then. He also wants to cook us up some steaks!
yum, yum

So have you guys ever tried those stouffer's lean cuisine meals? They taste
way good, fill you up, and are about 300 calories each. Those are amazing
for a diet, because I don't even feel like I'm dieting after I eat one, but
I am still seeing the results. hopefully I can gain some muscle mass back
too... Ive lost a lot of that in the last 5 months or so since I stopped
lifting weights.

Last night we went to the girls high school basketball game for a UBC
(unbaptized child) of a PMF (Part Member Family) and we've been working with
her a bit. It was such a good game, it was way fun to watch. We will be
going over to have dinner with them and teach a lesson tomorrow. It should
be pretty awesome.

Other than that there has been a lot of door knocking, and that's always
fun. One of our Zone Leaders came up with us for the day last Thursday, and
he tracted with us and kind of made one of our investigators mad. I don't
like that. But we have lunch with the member who owns the body shop that she
works at today, so she should be there and we should be able to talk a bit.
Some people are just socially inept. I don't know that they should be
missionaries, because they're the ones that make people not like us.

Well I'm excited for all you guys are doing. I wish I could tell you a bit
more about whats going on here. We have potential to have 3 on a date, and a
couple of those for next transfer, so the "3 months on, 3 months off" area
may be open for 6 months straight. Daaaaaang!!!!! That would be pretty
sweet!

Well life is good. We're keeping busy, having fun, and teaching some people,
so its a great time right now. My companion is another kid that grew up on a
cattle ranch. He is from Hiko, NV and has been out one less transfer than
me, which is great, because I'm still designated driver. :P

Well y'all take care now. Wednesdays seem to come and go so fast, it feels
like I just wrote you guys yesterday. Love you guys.

Elder TOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

10 February 2010

So... those missionaries that came by are ridiculous. First of all we have been instructed out here by a member of the first quorum of the seventy and our mission president to introduce ourselves as ministers of Christ's church. Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is way too long, and you've already lost their attention and interest by the time you've spit that out. Most Christian people have ministers, and they respect them, so with that introduction and a piece of a gospel truth you are far more likely to get into a house than with a long intro and long drawn out conversation on the porch. I also think its ridiculous to say... "you're less active right" unless that was like a joke specifically for you from Bishop Lomenick, which would be inappropriate also. It is so simple with LA, PM or even active families to get a lesson. Drop a phonecall and tell them you're new in the ward and are just trying to meet some people in the ward... Ask if you can come over for dinner or to share a lesson, and if they don't answer ALWAYS leave a message with your phone number. Its worked out pretty well for me. Besides, the church has been instructed to never use the word inactive, its less-active. No wonder people have a bad impression of missionaries.

This week has been crazy! Yesterday I drove 300 miles. We had a zone conference and we got stuck bringing the Elders in Frisco home. I had to drive a bit quicker than I wanted to to make it to our dinner appointment, but we made it. Going to Frisco adds an extra 50 miles or so to the trip. But we're sitting pretty still, bc we get half of that reimbursed, so I still got 208 miles for the week. Yesterday we finally got planners too, Ive been living off index cards for a couple weeks, because no one brought them to us in the mountains. I also got a brand new preach my gospel from the mission office, because mine is totally falling apart. Yesterday I also got a really sweet package from a girl I met in Nauvoo that lives in Hurricane, UT that Ive been talking to, with a long letter, some candy, and a camel (because "I made it over the hump, but I still have to endure to the end") haha. It was kind of cute/funny.

We're still shooting for a baptismal date of the 21st with Thomas. I just hope he doesn't start drinking again, because yesterday he found out his fiancee who is in the ARMY is going to marry another soldier instead. ouch! So keep him in your prayers... hes such a good guy.

We are back to 2 in our teaching pool. One that came to sacrament was so weirded out, and didn't stay for the last classes or anything, and doesn't want to learn more right now, so hopefully they'll be found again in the future. Shes an excommunicated member who wants to come back, but her husbands holding her back, and when we had knock on their door, we were told that we were the first missionaries to come by in the four years they lived there. That ones a bit crazy!

Tonight into tomorrow we have a Zone Leader Team-up. Our zone leaders down in Golden are training a kid, so one of them and their kid are staying, and the other one is getting a ride up with a member of his ward to our area. We were asked to find him a ride to AVON to go with the VAIL Elders at around 7. hahahah We lucked out though, bc the only ride we could find with a member was at 3pm. So he gets to go from dinner tomorrow to the end of the night with the VAIL elders, and we only get him from 9pm-3pm.

Well I don't know what else to tell you all! I hope life is treating you well, and you all have a great day

Love,
Tom

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

3 February 2010

Hey guys,
Life is good out here... I forgot to bring my new PO box address, so I guess things will just have to go to the mission office for now. I'll try and shoot you a quick email during the week though.

So here's a cool story. Thomas, that we have been teaching... i couldn't get a hold of him to set up an appointment. But last night I called and set one up for today. I talked to him and as of last night since last Wednesday he's in 3 Nephi 26 in the Book of Mormon! Ain't that crazy?? He said he's been praying and he likes the book of mormon, he feels like God is leading him by the hand to where he needs to be. Last Wednesday we had the first lesson, and the spirit was so strong that he started to cry pretty good. It was probably one of the most powerful lessons I've been a part of. We will be baptizing him this month, and hopefully we can get some more. In our branch of 30 we had 4 investigators at sacrament last week. Things are really picking up!

Other than that much isn't going on here. We tract, we eat, we sleep! Such is the life of a missionary. Today is going to be a busy day too. We email now, have lunch with a member at 11, after that we are going to the church for the blood drive to answer questions if anyone has them (too bad the white handbook forbids us from donating). Then we have an appointment at 4 and one at 7:30. So we don't get much of a Pday. But we're probably gonna go on a little day hike one of these days, so its all good. I've been wanting to go on a hike the whole time I've been here. haha

What the heck is with you guys and Disneyland. It seems like you've gone more times in this year than I have in my whole life! Do I get a pass next year too? lol

Anyways, the new place is great! We have so much more space and are able to pretty much do our own thing. I'm so tired though... This last week was crazy. Had to leave early up to Silverthorne to switch companions because it was dumping down snow. There was about a foot on the ground by the house just from overnight and it kept coming. Then I met my new comp and we drove back in snow. It was an ok drive aside from the morons who think they need to brake on ice, so you get to shift down and watch them fall in a ditch. AWD helps too tho. And it stunk when I got stuck behind a snowplow for like 10 miles. Other than that it was a fine ride. Snow driving is easy... go slow, and correct without braking, but don't overcorrect... that's most peoples problems. It ain't a big deal though.
Then we took his stuff to the new house, went back finished packing and packed the car again and got moved in. It is so fun to be able to settle in and hit the sack a bit early that night.

Other than that I dunno what to tell ya. I don't have much else new or interesting in my life. But I love the new email client! It's awesome.

Love ya,
Tom