Merry Christmas!

...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!Hope you’re having a good time getting ready for the holidays. Thanks for all the presents....Tell everyone who wrote on the chain thingy, thanks a lot, and thanks for putting that together for me. I hung it up on the wall and read it every once in a while. .....As for stuff going on here, its going good. Jasmine wasn’t able to be confirmed yesterday because she was sick, but next week she’s going to be. Both Scott and Junior passed the sacrament, which was AWESOME. I couldn’t stop smiling. Scott and Sally (owner of the stable) are getting married by Pres. Nishimoto on Christmas day. They asked me to give a little talk at it. Jeremy and Tiffany are doing great. They are both now completely living the word of wisdom and can feel the difference in their lives. They seem a lot happier, their faces are pretty much glowing. They had never had chocolate no-bake cookies before (they’re from Mass.) so we made some and brought them over, they loved them....We also met a new man who wants to get baptized (from Phoenix). He’s a recovering alcoholic who’s been sober for 18 weeks. He used to go with his grandma to an LDS church in AZ, but when he became a teenager he stopped going. We’re hoping to be able to teach him AND his family, but for the moment his wife doesn’t seem too interested. We’re also going to try to start teaching Scott’s son, Greg. He has showed some interest and even came to church and the Christmas contata (thing put on by the choir...). It seems like every time we baptize someone the Lord provides new people to teach. Lets see what else happened. O we went caroling at a nursing home, which was interesting... We’re going caroling again tonight, but to some non-member homes in Seymour. Then tomorrow a family is taking us out to the Outback steakhouse for dinner. Today is going to be a fun P-day. First off the McKinzies (people we stay with) are kicking us out of the house because they have family coming. So we’re going to stay at the Appleton Elders (Elder Lyons and Huffman) apartment for the next week. Today we’re going to go to Pooh Saan (awesome Hmong restaurant, owned by members) and then sledding, if we can find a hill big enough. We also got Pictionary from one of the members, although I don’t think anyone can out-draw Dad's Cat….Love

SNOW!

Ok so this was a very long week. I'll start from the beginning. Tuesday is where it all started. Because of the oncoming storm that the weather predicted, Pres. Barrett wanted all the missionaries to come to Milwaukee that night instead of the next morning. Only problem was the predicted storm came early and completley blanketed WI before we started leaving. The normal 2 hour trip took 3 1/2 hours to make (were it not for angels we would have died like 5 times). So we get to Milwaukee at 10:30 at night and the office elders (Elder Allred is one) tell us we're going to be staying in a hotel. So we all head to the hotel and get some sleep. Wake up Wednesday morning, still tons of snow on the ground (14 inches) and still snowing a little. We all head to the chapel for trainer's training, which starts at 9. Pres Barrett starts talking to us about our responsibility as trainers and the trust that goes into it, etc. About an hour later the greenies get there. Having been there only 6 monthes before I can remember what it feels like. I must say it was pretty funny to watch, they looked really nervous. So after a brief speech one of the assistants starts to call off names of trainers and trainees. I got paired with Elder Huffman. I give him a big hug then we sit down and start talking. When everyone had been assigned a companion, we moved down the hall and took the classic 'point to the area where you're serving' pictures, then to a room where Pres. started talking about some missionary stuff for about 2 hours. During this time I told my greenie he would have the pleasure of driving us back up to the great white north. He kind of chuckled then said he didn't have a driver's license........then it was my turn to be nervous. I talked to Pres. and he said he would get back to me. Turns out both he and the office elders forgot to put a red dot (means I can't drive) next to my name when deciding who should be matched up. So Pres. decided I would switch companions with Elder Lyons (yes my roomate from the MTC and now my new district leader). So now Elder Lyons is training again and I have Elder Stevens (he's been out one transfer less then me) as a companion. He's from Salt Lake, and served in an area right next to Milwaukee until he got to Oneida. I think we're going to make a good companionship. I didn't actually meet him till Thursday at around 3. So anyways its still Wednesday and we still have to make the trip back to Oneida, but because neither of us can drive me and another Elder in our district who was training had to switch companions to drive up. The drive up wasn't nearly as bad as the one down, the plows actually had time to clean the roads. So by the time we get to the Appleton Elders' apartment it's about 6, so Elder Ferris our current DL at the time decides it would be better for us all to just stay the night down there. At that point we had about 3 hours to do nothing, so me and the other trainer decided to take our greenies tracting. Went for about an hour, which at that point our faces were kinda too cold to be able to talk, and decided to call it a night. I think it was like 10 degrees; I actually had to put on a scarf. O ya Jasmine's baptism is cancelled because of bad weather conditions (obviously). So transfers is the next day, Thursday. All six of us (both training companionships and DLs companionship) drive to the Appleton chapel to trade off companions with the incoming Elders. I meet Elder Lyons (much rejoicing) and my new, new companion Elder Stevens. He's cool, seems pretty down to earth. At least I trained for a day, right? After about an hour of organizing and exchanging bags, we finally head up to Oneida and start doing missionary work. The end. We did however have Jamine's baptism yesterday. It went really well. Her non-member dad even came along with a couple of her friends. All of the youth were there to support her, too. She even asked if she could bear her testimony after she was baptized, which was a bit of a surprise. So after all, it was a good end to a hectic week. As for Jeremy and Tiffany, they're having some issues. Elder Stevens and I taught them a word of Wisdom lesson that went really well. They commited to live it and to continue to pray and read. Turns out they are having some problems with keeping that commitment, so lots of prayers would be appreciated. Junior got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday, which was awesome. He and Scott are going to be passing the sacrament on Sunday and then preparing or blessing the next one. They are both really excited to do it. ...............      Love

Trainer

Hey family,sorry I don't have much time to write today, we have to get Elder Heath ready to leave (hes going home if I never mentioened that). We're going down to Applton for most of the day. We might get more time later today though.So heres the highlights:-Scotts still doing great , Junior doing great, got interviewed for priesthood yesterday-Jasmin is learning fast and right on schedule for her baptism on Wed. Shes going to be a great example of a faithful youth.-O, yesterday at church we got two new baptismal dates, Jeremy and Tiffany Suoto. Jeremy is the son of a convert of 6 years. Jeremy and Tiffany got married two weeks ago and were talking with his member dad and mother in law and got onto the subject of temples. When they heard that one could be married forever in the temple they decided they wanted that (they pretty much told the parents they had to take them). So they came to church yesterday to check it out. During priesthood the teacher mentioned temples and Jeremy leaned over and said "I'm going to get married there." I thought I was shocked from Jasmin... So I said that was a worthy goal (and some other stuff) and told him that the first step towards that goal was baptism. He and his wife talked it over and agreed on Jan 10! There are going to be some hurdles to jump over, like they both smoke, but its been done before and I know that it can happen for them. Prayers would be very much appreciated. Another exciting/nerve racking piece of news is .... I'M TRAINING! and staying in Oneida. Which means I'll probably be here until March 4, bring it on snow. Ya so I have to go to 'trainer's training' on Wed. which is cool because that means I get to see Elder stribling again (yes this will be his third time in a row training, I guess he's too good at it). I'm 3/4 excited 1/4 nervous, I technically just got done being a greenie myself. But at least it's not as bad as my MTC roomate, Elder Lyons. He was called to train after only 6 weeks. Anyways should be a good experience, prayers please :)Ok have a GREAT week and thanks a lot for the boxes, they made my day (and Elder Heath's). Love you, bye

Thanksgiving

Hey!Ya Thanksgiving was great! We only had one big thanksgiving meal (it was really good, but not nearly as one of yours mom :) and then a little meal at the district leader's house. Then we watched some church movies and stuff. O then we stayed at the Appleton Hmong missionaries apartment for a couple of days because the people we are staying with had family coming, which was fun. Ya Scott and Junior are doing awesome. Scott actually gave a talk about his conversion story in church yesterday, it was AWESOME. He also got us at least one new investigator, Paul. Him and Paul have been close friends for about 15 years. Paul rescently had his wife leave him and was looking for somewhere to turn for help, so he asked Scott. Scott told him he should talk to us because we helped him so much, so he did. Now he wants to meet with us and said hes really looking forward to what we have to say. He seems like a great guy, I can't wait to start helping him.O, as for Justin, hes doing good, progressing fast. Hes just not as ready as the other 2 because of his background of being raised to hate Mormons. Pretty much what were waiting for now is for his friend to come back from the himalayas so he can ask him some questions. He said he wants to get some information from someone he trusts as much as his friend. Anyway, he'll probably be baptized by Christmas.Jasmins doing good, we're going to try to teach her 3 full lessons this week and then baptize her next Wed. Prayer would be much appreciated:) You finally got the package! Thats awesome, I was afraid it got lost in the mail. Those planners are probably going to mean a lot to me in 30 years or so. I'm so glad Abby and James like their extremly late birthday presents present. And thanks again for the Christmas music! I didn't mean we ONLY liked those 4 songs. It was all great, really is bringing in the christmas mood. The German songs are cool too, elder Heath likes the 'Kling Glockchen klingalingaling' song the best. He says it sounds like kling-on (hes a star trek fan, almost as much as dad...). I'm really looking forward to the Christmas packages too!I'm glad you guys had a fun Thanksgivings....Actually ya I do know Bro Kairis! We met with him a lot, at least once a week. He used to be a Catholic Minister, but converted about 3 years ago. Hes a really great guy, he has a lot of faith and isn't afraid to show it. Thanks for forwarding that to me, its nice to know hes still doing good. Ok well have a GREAT week!Love

Let It Snow

Hey,Ya this week was pretty busy. We got in our 20 lessons, barely last night. We also had stake conferenceyesterday that Junior and Scott both went to. Me and Elder Heath got to introduce them to Pres. Barrett, which was cool. There were a couple of really good talks and Elder Christoferson's (the apostle, probably spelled it wrong) son gave the closing prayer. O talking about famous people, remember that missionary that was in the temple when Elder Perry told him to get 20 lessons a week, turns out he actually IS in our mission, (I was wrong) but not only that, hes in my district. We actually came out at the same time. So thats cool.Ya so everything is going good. It STILL hasn't snowed yet, something the locals are all happy about, but not me. I want to go sledding already. Also when it snows we're going to build two missionary snowmen in back of the church welcoming people in. O and its almost thanksgivings if you haven't noticed. The branch is going to have a turkey bowl on a field in Seymor, so that should be fun. Then we've been invited over to two families houses for lunch/dinner.As for the talk I'll type up the good parts next week (sorry don't have it on me). ...Our recent converts are doing AMAZING. Junior keeps telling us how many people are telling him hes looks so different now. He said he felt a difference when he got the Holy Ghost, but didn't know it was coming out. So far he's read the Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith priesthood manual (that amazed us, its like 50000000 pages long). Scott's doing great too. He's up to 3rd Nephi in the B of M and has read Preach my Gospel (took him a week). He's also engaged to the member who introduced him to the Church, Sally. O and he's going to be passing the sacrament next Sunday.Jasmin is doing good; we taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday.  It went well, but she doesn't say much. ...But she listens attentivly, comes to church, and reads what we give her, so it's apparent that she wants to learn. wow thats an enormously long email. So this week should be good too. We FINALLY got an appointment with the elusive Dan and Jill. They seem pretty interested from the phone conversations we've had, but they've been moving their company for a while so we kinda lost contact. But they're done now so things should settle down for now. We're going to ask them if they want to be baptized when we go over on Fri. O ya Junior's getting interviewed for the priesthood too.OOOK have a GREAT week! Thanks again for the packages!Love

Editor's Note

For any of you who would like to send Alex a letter or package by mail, his address is: 

Elder Alex Julian
Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission
5651 Broad Street Suite 1
Greendale, WI  53129

This is the mission office, and it takes longer because they must forward it to Alex.  Add about a week on to any holiday deadlines. 

Family can also email him at alexander.m.julian.wmm@myldsmail.net!

He loves to receive mail! 

Can I be baptized?

This week was great. I gave a talk on Sunday on the ever amazing subject of member-missionary work. It went well, people looked like they were actually listening. There were about 5 or 6 non-members there, 2 of which are current investigators. Then something REALLY unexpected happened after sacrament meeting. You know how both the people we've baptized have called the church or another member to ask if they could be taught, well we had our new investigator come up and plain out ask if she could be baptized. It kind of shocked us for a while. Her name is Jasmin and she's a cousin of one of the members in the branch. We start teaching her tomorrow. This week is actually pretty busy; we're teaching Scott, Junior, Justin, Jasmin, a couple families' FHE tonight, another potential investigator named Chin Chin(Chinese), and another member's girlfriend Lisa, an investigator named Patricia, and hopefully another couple, Dan and Jill. So right when we finished baptizing the people we were teaching the Lord gives us new ones. The weather here is actually pretty nice. It hasn't snowed yet since that one wierd day in October. Its been hovering around 45ish during the day. And yes Mom we're fine at night, the people we stay with turn the heat up to a sweltering 70 degrees so we only need one blanket if that. We're pretty much over our sicknesses, just some residual stomach stuff, nothing bad. On a more exciting note, we went to a Hmong persons baptism yesterday. It was a man and woman Elder Heath used to teach. After the baptism they invited us over for lunch; it was interesting. They dared all the missionaries to eat chicken heads. So we did. It tasted pretty gross though. First you had to break of the bottom part of the beak and get to the eyes. They didn't really taste like anything, pretty much just water. Next we had to break the skull open to get to the brain. It was kinda squishy and reminded me of cottage cheese, it wasn't good either.Ok well on that good note have a great week, and thanks for the package when I get it!Love

sick but a baptism

Hey,Sorry about all the sickness, hope youre feeling better by now. Sounds like the kids had a good halloween, though. Our all hallos eve was not as enjoyable. Me and Elder Heath have been pretty sick since thursday with some wierd disease with all kinds of symptoms. .....(graphic details and recounting of blessing given) Anyway, this week was ok (minus illness). We watched some conference talks with Junior on Tuesday and went over everything else he needed to learn before baptism. Then we taught him about tithing and went over the baptismal questions with him on Wed. It went really well, hes pretty much ready for baptism. O and hes going to be done with the Book of Mormon by this Wednesday! Pretty amazing to me considering hes also reading the priesthood manual and anything else we give him to read. We've seen a really big change in him since hes been coming to church and being taught, hes definently opened up a lot more and is just happier in general. Seems to be a symptom of the Gospel :)Scotts doing excelent too. Elder Heath gave him the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained him to the office of a priest. He too is done with the Book of Mormon.Justin is also progressing well, but unforunatly we're going to have to give him up to the Elders in Green Bay, due to the fact that he actually lives there. ...... On Friday we had our semi-annual 'mission tour' which is basically a really big looooong zone conference. The guest speaker was Elder Hafen (yes the one over the central european area when we were living there). He spoke for almost 4 hours on the atonement. It was a really good talk, but the whole time Elder Heath and I were about to die (sick)..We had to wake up at 5 AM and we got back at 7 PM, just in time to miss the trunk or treat (TONS of less actives were just leaving). When we got home Elder Heath got the chills (more like convulsions)........this week should be good. We get to baptize Junior on Sunday and start Scott on the member lessons, probably with his home teachers. ...Ok have a GREAT week everyone!Love

Baptism

Here's the news portion of Alex's email to his dad, minus some jokes about large Argentinian rats, C-4 and roadkill...
As for Scott, he DID get baptized yesterday, as planned. He actually had his baptism at the same time as an 8-year old girl named Lily. It all went really well. When Scott got out of the font he said he'd remember the baptism and how he felt for the rest of his life. The talks given were really good (given on baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). There were also a ton of non-members there so it was good for missionary work too. The whole thing was just a really nice baptism (the water was even warm).


> Junior is doing great, hes now on lesson 4 (commandments). We already taught him the word of wisdom, thinking he might have a hard time with that, but he said he would keep it and he understood the reasons for doing so and the blessings that come from it really well. Hes also been reading the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood manual. Hes in 2nd Nephi and chapter 4 in the manual. He askes a lot of good questions that usually take both of us to think about and answer, so we usually have pretty lengthy lessons. He also came to church yesterday.

> Then theres Justin. Hes doing amazing. He is very interesting to teach because of his Military recruiter position. Basically, he has the exact same skills (minus the Spirit) as a missionary does.So when were teaching him he can read us just as well as we can read him. Its kind of like teaching a mirror. Hes started reading the B of M and watched some conference talks (we watched Elder Hollands talk on the Bof M, really intense talk, but Justin liked it). we had another 3 hour lesson on the Restoration. He too asks really good questions which result in lots of discussion, but so far we've been able to answer all of his questions. He also came to church and the baptism yeserday, which was awesome. He also came over to a members house for lunch, then decided to go help us rake a yard for a member who can't really walk. So basically, hes another golden. We going to ask him to be baptized in November.

> So ya I had a really good week, we were pretty busy, which was a nice change from the normal slow pace of Oneida. Most of the farmers here are frantically trying to harvest their corn and stuff before it snows badly (its been snowing off and on lately, pretty early I hear). Its ataully not that cold during the day though, it got all the way up to 50 yesterday, so we busted out the beach umbrellas and lemonade.

I Have a Windbreaker

Ya ya, I know it's going to be cold. Everyone I talk to here is like 'It gets REALLY cold here, like negative 30 sometimes.' I think I'm pretty well prepared though, I have a windbreaker after all.


> Scott's doing great! He's right on schedule for being baptized next Saturday! We also set another baptismal date with a guy who goes by Junior. His story is pretty cool. Right before the priesthood session last week someone called the church phone, the Branch president answered. The person on the other side said he wanted to meet with President Nishimoto in about 30 minutes and would only give his name as Junior. So President Nishimoto met with him for about an hour. Apparently Junior has had a rocky past, (later confirmed by the members who knew him, small town) but wants to change. Elder Heath and I have met with him twice now, and he came to church yesterday. He is very sincere about changing and has asked that the members give him a second chance. He now has a baptismal date and is very excited about it!

> Then yesterday when we were at the potluck after church, President Nishimoto got another call at church from a guy named Justin, who wanted to talk with us and get a Book of Mormon. We met him in the parking lot and started talking about the B of M, but he stopped us... and said he knew a lot about it and about Mormons because he had grown up in Utah. Turns out he is an Army Recruiter and in his travels decided it was time to dig deeper into the religion he had grown up around. We talked for about 3 hours in the parking lot. He seems very interested about learning about the church, and we have another meeting with him for Wednesday.

> So basically the moral of the story is, if you pray for it and work hard, God is going to lead those people who are ready to you. Thats 3 in a month (Scott, Junior, Justin) who have been drawn to the church.

> Thanks for all the prayers, now you have 2 more to pray for :)

Companion Hair Cut!!

O ya its Nuj Bliam, I spelled it wrong in my haste to finish on the computer. We only get 2 hours on the computers here. Ya I might start needing my winter clothes, its getting kind of chilly here. I got a free jacket (actually really nice) from another missionary so that should work for about a month. It got down below freezing the other night. I'm really happy for Abby! It's so exciting that she got baptized.  I wish I could have been there for that, I'll just have to give her a HUGE hug when I get back. Sounds like the rest of the family is doing good too what with the scouts and .... such. .......On saturday I got a haircut, but not any old haircut, o no.I had elder Heath cut my hair. All he knows how to do is use clippers so we decided just to save money and only use clippers. As a result I have the shortest hair I can remember having, its only 1 inch long! So these are the pictures : 1: my 'before' shot 2-3 'after' shots Some of the branch members thought Elder Heath got another new companion. I will say it takes a lot less time to dry short hair. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened last week (what can I say it's Oneida), but here are some other things that happened. On Tuesday we taught Scott another lesson on the commandments (lesson 4). It went really well, he doesn't have a problem with anything. We're going to help him put up a gate for the stable next week, then he's going to take us horse-back riding. On Wednesday we made S'mores for dinner on the church fire pit, it's in the corner of the field in back of the church. On Thursday we helped this old farmer guy husk corn FOR FIVE HOURS! We taught him a lesson while husking. You would not believe how tired we were from just peeling corn. Saturday and Sunday, of course, were General Conference. NO ONE came to 3 of the seesions out of the 4 regular ones. During the last one we just brought the couch in and watched it on that. So it was a pretty good week.Hope everyone has an AMAZING week, LOVE YOUElder Julian

Nul Bliam

O some other random stuff I remembered. That Scott guy bore his testimony in church yesterday, which was cool. I also got a Hmong name from one of the members in Apppleton. I'm named Nul Bliam, its the name of a character in Hmong mythology that symbolized Youthfulness, thought that was cool.k by

Almost two weeks in Oneida

Haha thats pretty funny you found our libary (note from Karen:  I googled Oneida and the library was the only building I saw). Im pretty sure it and the post office are the only real buildings (besides houses) around her. There are some weird posters out there, inside there are a lot more Indian things, dream catchers and such. There is only one other person here, so that gives you some idea of how popular this place is. That's pretty cool you got to read Sis Black's blog. She and Sis Behrends(half German) were serving in Racine/Kenosha for pretty much the whole time we were. They are good missionaries and fun to teach with. They came with us to Jannelles house a couple of times, mostly to help control her siblings (they usually let us teach because she was our investigator). Its nice to hear we did a good job, whenever I think about lessons I taught I always concentrate on what I did wrong or could have done better and what I'll do differently next time. As to the picture, I don't even remember being in it, must have been last zone conference. Its wierd on your mission, time flys, but when you think of past events they seem like dreams. As to the work in Oneida, things are going good. Things aren't as fast-paced here, which is a complete change from Racine. ....there are lots of less-active members, but they aren't converts.... We've been going around to a lot of such families and 2 of them came to church on Sunday. We also set a baptismal date with a man named Scott. He's been searching for the true church for 6 years and said that none of the ones he had been to seemed right. A couple weeks ago he was driving around the area looking for a stable for his horse. He said that every time he passed a certain one he felt something pulling him towards it, unlike any other time he passed other stables. After about the third time he felt this he finally pulled in and decided to keep his horse there. The owner of the stable 'just happened' to be a member of the church who invited him to church and to learn from the missionaries. He says he gets that same feeling he had to go to the stable every time he reads the Book of Mormon (he started reading from the beginning before we even asked him to) or hears us teach. He is now on the 3rd lesson and has a baptismal date for couple weeks from now. Tell Abby happy birthday again, the package should get there sooner or later.  ............... Those rice crispies were really good, me and my companion already devoured them, they're already gone. So the weather here is getting colder, right as we decided to start jogging in the morning. Today its really windy/cloudy, about 50 degrees. So still short sleeve weather. Apparently it got down to about -30 one day. One stupid missionary decided to go out and get the mail in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. When he got back inside his skin was chapped and half-frozen. I'll have to test it...Well have a great week Love Elder Julian

Thanks for that mom. The last scripture is also one of my favorites, I first read it in the MTC and it helped me. This verse has also meant a lot on my misson: Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. This scripture has been proven true especially so far on my mission. If we are humble the Lord will build us up to where we should be. Love Elder Julian

We got the email! Oneida!

Hey Mom/family,So yes I am in Oneida. It has about 4000 people in the area, but the actual town boundaries only have about a thousand, so basically I’m living in a farm town. It is on the Oneida Nation Reservation, which is pretty cool. The branch here is pretty cool, everyone is nice and friendly. Anywhere from 50 to 100 people come to church every week I’m told. Our area is fairly large, it encompasses about 10 towns, all of which are pretty small, except Green Bay of course. I realized yesterday this is the most rural area I have every lived in. We live with this old couple about a mile from the church. They have a huge backyard and there’s a farm next to us with chickens and goats. As for being busy…not so much so far. The situation here is different than it was in Racine. There we had tons of investigators and people to help find the Gospel, whereas here we have TONS of less and inactives to help. What’s been happening in the past is that the missionaries here baptize people into the branch, but they have no member support so they usually fall away. So basically our job is to strengthen the ward and activate people mainly.That’s pretty funny what sis Birch said about my companion about the 20 lesson thing. The real story is that a missionary met Elder Perry in the temple and was promised that if he tried his best he could get 20 lessons a week. That missionary wasn’t my companion, but Pres Barrett made it a mission goal, so we should be getting it anyways. As for investigators, I think we have 3 progressing right now, so I’ll fill you in on them next week after I meet them all. Weather here is really nice, like you said high 60s low 70s. The whole 90% humidity is pretty close, it feels like a sauna sometimes and anytime you go outside when its that bad the car is wet, like it rained.O another good thing about Oneida, nobody uses this library so the bandwidth is open (unlike Racine where every hobo off the street used the library’s computers, it’s true we met one) enough that I shouldn’t have anymore problems while I’m here.Well I’m doing great, hope you’re all doing great! Love Elder Julian

Transferred!

I just read the email from Sister Birch saying that Alex has been sent to Oneida,
WI. She says she took goodies and supplies for the journey (2 hours :) to the Elders.
She also says that he's getting a wonderful companion who was challenged by a general
authority to have 20 lessons/week, and has met that goal so far! So Alex will be very
busy. Apparently he's getting our emails, but has been unable to send his. I'm feeling
very blessed to have Sister Birch watching out for Alex like that. :)

last week's post from Sister Birch

Dear Karen,
I saw your e-mail and called Elder Julian just a minute ago. The server was down last week and this wek since p-day was on the holiday he and his companion haeven't found a break in plans to get to the library to e-mail. They are super busy he says, they me an awesome guy through a media referral named Cramon(no last name) who is "solid" this is good and starting to read the Book of Mormon, they are setting up his next appointment as I am talking to your son!
He reports that Norman is finally off probation and that is "sweet" and now he expects he will really progress. Norman also dumped his girlfriend, apparently she needed to go.
I asked if this would make sense to you, he said yes.
He attended the Ward Summer Corn Roast at the Davis' last Saturday. I can attest to it being the best shindig of the summer in the ward. The Davis' have a large Victorian home on a huge lot and lots of fun outdoor things set up. Volleyball, basketball, a trampoline, rope swings, shady trees, a horse breeder whose fence backs up to thier property , kitties and doggies and foood food food for days!! The roasted corn keeps coming the entire time, it's not uncommon to eat 3 pieces each before the event is through and THEN the watermelon bust ensues! This used to be a joint party between Kenosha and Racine when I attended, but the ward split several years ago and after trying to hold it all together for a few years it got just too unmanagebale to have 500 people roaming the property and blocking the street with cars all afternoon so it had to be limited to Racine only.
He tells me he has plenty of dinner appointments and will be with the Costable family tonight. Jeannie is a great cook and will spoil them for sure!(I called to clarify)
He seems so happy and very busy- and still has his smarty pants sense of humor- (tied to tell me all of Racine had been translated including the librarian with the key )so I know it's hard mom, but he is okay. he loves you all and PROMISES to get an email to you next week. I told him not to feel bad if it meant sending it through g-mail or another account just to be SURE you get one. I also told him some moms have theier son's dearelder passwords so they can check to see if something was written but returned by mailerdeamon or just failed to send and saved as a draft because myldsmai is NOT all it's touted to be. Please email back if I can pass anything on you your son.
My best,
Teresa Birch

ldsmail - a fail

This is an email from a wonderful sister in the area next to Alex's. She takes care of the missionaries like no one I've ever heard of (lucky us - rather, blessed). We didn't get an email last week because of the holiday on Monday (being his P-day).
My lds mail is stoop-that's a direct quite from your boy who still refuses to open a gmail account or give up his myldsmail password so his mommie can hack his account for letters he may have written but were not sent due to loading errors. Something about wanting to remain on his mission and obey rules, maintain a temple recommend...stuff like that. So good for him, he at least called me this evening to have me hit the highlights of his week for you. Here goes..."hi, I love you, there's no place like home(sis Birch added the last one but it's TRUE and your son agrees) Well transfers are this week and it looks like I'm moving on . Loud "Noooooooo" from sister Birch, that can be heard clear from Kenosha to Racine. They won't tell me where I go until Tuesday, Elder Stribling will be training again, I'm going to miss him.Now Racine stuff. We found an amazing guy who we had a lesson on the restoration with, his name is Hubert, he had two friends over who we taught too. We had an inactive sister,Sis Brooks return to church after 11 years on Sunday, she came with her daughter who is real active. (Sis Birch knows them from when the Kenosha-Racine Wards were one!Waaaay cool!! GoElderJulian!!!) George is doing real good, he's up to Mosiah in his reading now! Norman is doing ok with out the girlfriend. I'm happy Molly is doing good.(Woof and a headrub from sis.Birch who LOVES doggies) I'm sending Abby's Birthday-slash-souveniers package for her birthday.My dad and my brother will think it's neat we met 4 schizophrenics and a bi-polar this week! (I told him this reporting is lost on moms, but he insisted)At this point the conversation turned to me suggesting he write something about the people he's met in Racine ward so he can look back, read this and remember them. He said you would'nt know these people but I said it is still a good idea. He decided to write it in his journal, good boy!! I also quizzed him on any mending he may need done so he can put his best foot forward in his new area, he declined. He had a fun p-day plaiyng disc-golf, watching a church movie and being bossed around by the sister missionaries who wanted to go to the beach to run around in the sand. It was a beautiful day, one of the last we will be seeing for many a month so it is probably good that the sister missionaries won that descision, they are fairly mothering, so they are in good hands with our sister missionaries at the helm of p-day plans.I wish he would stay another transfer, but this is great news too, it means he's done training, moves on to his "buster" companion, and has learned the ropes fast! I will find out from his DL where he goes tomorrow evening and let you know so you don't have to wait for next weeks e-mail which at this point isn't exactly a solid way to communicate. Elder Julian knows he is welcomed(encouraged) to call me if there is another week of failed emails with mylds.com. I will see him on Weds to bring him some treats for the journey to his next destination. Banana bread is defenitely on the travel-goodie box menu! I am beat, long day at work, but I'm glad I could help Elder Julian get a letter to home today, even though it is heavily para-phrased by me. It feel like iv'e made my mini-contribution to missionary work in the world today! Have a great week. Talk to you soon!love, Sis Birch

2nd installment, Sept. 1, 2009

So I have a few minutes to write , the Spanish Elders aren't quite done yet. So basically the jist of the last email was that we set 2 baptismal dates with Sarah (formaly known as Diara) and her fiance Jeremy. The Sarah stroy is funny, I had explained it all, but basically a media referal for a woman named Diara had Sarah's number on it. We were actually at Sarah's aunt's house teahing her while Sarah was there. We actually dropped her aunt ( kinda crazy and not really interested in the Gospel) but Sarah and her fiance were interested in what we had to say but never got to invite us over because we dropped her aunt. So by divine help we got in contact with Sarah through an incorrect media referal and now they have dates! They even saw a picture of the Salt Lake temple and said they want to get married there!All other investigators are doing great and so am I. Thanks for the love and support!Love Elder Julian

September 1, 2009

Hey family,So I just spent 30 minutes writing an awesome email that was filled with amazing spiritual experiences, BUT this stinking email service just spazed and I lost the email. So I'll send you a REALLY good one next week. SorryLOVE YOU A LOT Elder Julian

Monday, August 24, 2009

Hey, thanks for the Emails! First off, yes I got the packages, THANKS! I don't know If you bought any for yourself, but theres two I really like. Theyre called 'Eclipse: grateful praise' and 'Joseph:Nashville tribute to the Prophet'. I recomend them for the house.Thats cool you got to hear a talk by the mission pres. My companion has a best friend who is a missionary in Korea (Elder Eckman), maybe you know him. Ya the members are on the ball about referals, we got about 5 in the past two weeks, two of which were solid. And its true what he said, referals are infinantly better than trackting. We shoot for about 10 invites a day too, usually get more though. Weathers pretty nice, its hovering around 70. Its been raining a lot though and its bike week next week. We already got drenched once. Haha, we also found a drunk guy half laying in his car with the doors open. We woke him up and told him to get in and close the doors because it was pouring. As for what we do when people are working...Racine has a HUGE unemployment rate. Its proboly at 50 %. no joke. So thats really not a problem, but we usually try to set up appointments for mid-day times.So investigators....George is still doing awesome, theyre in Mosiah now. Once you know they get past the Isiah chapters you know theyre going to finish it. Norman has been a little bit elusive (got more hours at work, which is good because when we found him he hadn't eaten in 4 days). As for new investigators, we got 7 this week.First off is Sam, he used to be a paratrooper and is now investigating different religions. He said hes deffinently coming to church next week. Then theres Michael, who is a member's brother. He basically grew up in the church and is a member, but doesn't know it. We call them 'dry Mormons'. Glenn, a media referal for the Book of Mormon, is another recent one. Then theres Gwen and Jerry who are very excited to have us teach them, and call us a blessing. Diara, the neice of a crazy lady we used to teach (thought she saw the grim reaper every night for over a month and that he dead husbands spirit was in a stuffed penguin). Thankfully Diara is sane and very intested, she actually called us to see if we could see her and her family. And last and certainly not least is Mary. The Spanish Elders actually found her, but gave her to us to teach because they can't teach in English. She is AWESOME. She has 3 kids and 2 friends who are all interested. She and her oldest daughter are avedly reading the B of M. We commited her to baptism and she said YES! She, her family, and her friends are coming to church this week too. They are going to be an awesome addition to the ward. Wow, sorry for the life history there. But just like you, I'm really excited for them......Have a Great week!!!Love Elder Julian

August 17, 2009

As for the packages, they usually take about 9 days from Utah, and around 2 weeks from you, I think. Before I forget though, the pictures you sent me over email don't work (most of them) and they filled up my mailbox, so I think it'd be better If you just sent them in packages or letters. But I think the cookies should be ok, the ones from Dear Elder were fine.As for me I'm doing good, and yes I am eating enough veggies, mom -_- My companion and I gave talks yesterday on 'Let your words stand to edify one another.' We actually asked to give talks because we talked to a man who said he'd come to church if we were speaking. Turns out he couldn't come. So we got to talk anyways, it went well. We got the usual "O, wonderful talk!" comments. Goerge is doing AWESOME! His wife and him have been reading the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY for the last couple weeks. Theyre now in Jacob. He even said hes going to give up smoking and started this week. Hes so close to being baptized, his wife is so excited. Shes been waiting 17 years for this afterall.Everything is going good with Norman. We just taught him the second lesson (Plan of Salvation) and he understood and believed everything. He said since he went to church 2 weeks ago his life has just been getting better, and cited a few examples. He said he likes how he feels when we're teaching him and likes how we have answers to questions hes had (hes tried every other church under the sun). I'm really excited for him.Well, hope you have a good couple weeks of vacation and stay cool :) Love Elder Julian

August 10, 2009

This week was good. We got 2 really solid member referals (Mike and Tom). We taught Tom yesterday and it went really well. Of course, it doesn't hurt that hes dating one of the members in the ward :) The other one is a member's brother who said he wants to take the lessons now(after 8 years of his brother and mom being members). Looks like thats our calling here in Racine, teach people who have been exposed to the Gospel forever, but never met with missionaries before. So far, so good. Everything is going good with George, hes asked us over again for next week to discuss why there has to be an organized religion on earth. Should be a good step for him. Last week we got to go to the zoo, which is surprisingly large for a city of only 80,000. It has all the big animals; giraffes, rhinos, zebras, lions, and tigers, and bears. O MY! And it even has a fennic fox, so I enjoyed it. This P-day we went to this rich dentist guys house to watch the 'Testaments' on his home theatre. It was awsesome. When I say home theatre, I mean home theatre. HUGE projector screen, blue-ray, leveled seating (leather), and lights that dimmed. Then he took us to lunch at Red Robins, very good. Sorry about the toe and the humiddity. Its pretty hot here now. Last Saturday it was so humid, Elder Stribling and I were sweating like pigs just walking down the street tracking (not too attractive to open the door to 2 sweating young men). It was so humid we could actually see the water in the air, it looked like a white haze. Todays actually not THAT bad, but still hot. Actually we liked that street. It had two types of people on it; the ones who wanted us back, and the ones who didn't want to listen at all. The later actally saved us a lot of time. When we walked up to one guys's driveway he actually came out of his house to tell us he wasn't interested, saved us the walk up the driveway and the knuckle pain of knocking :) Yesterday was interesting too. While we were at church a huge storm blew thruogh, causing the power to go out in some areas. Funny enough It also made the traffic lights go out, so on the way home we hit a 4-way intersection that had 6 lanes on each street (total of 24 lanes!). It turned into a Soeul-esk moment where anyone who was brave enough to go across the whole intersection did, and those who were scardy cats were sitting there for hours. Long story short, it got our hearts beating.

Aug. 3, 2009

(Excerpt) Ya trial week was fun, but I did definently grow. But this week was great! Eventhough it was bike week (LOTS of good exercise) we still had a lot of very productive days. Like I said in the email to dad, we have a new baptismal date (Normon). Yes, when he is baptized he will be called Normon the Mormon. But anyways, hes really excited about changing his life for the better. He came the church yesterday, and even stayed for a baptism too. They forgot to fill the font, so we had to wait a bit, but he said it was a day well spent. He loved how everyone was so welcoming (everyone in the Racine ward is EXTREMELY nice) and the peace that he felt at church. Hes going to be a great member. O but before I forget, last night I invited, and we taught, the ghetto Ice-cream truck man. So there are 3 ice cream trucks that drive around the part of town we go through a lot to get to most of our investigators. This particular one is the coolest, it is completely spraypainted from head to toe. Even the stop sign on the back is spray painted on. So as we rode our bikes through this part of town we saw the place where the Ice-cream man lives. It just so happened that he was cleaning out his truck, so I decided it would be sweet if we could say we invited the ghetto Ice-cream truck guy, so I did. Turns out he was very interested and we ended up talking to him for 30 min. It also turns out hes going to MIT next week, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd have to read it before forward. We gave him our phone number and he said he'd call. So maybe when hes baptized he can give us a ride to church in the truck :)

July 27, 2009

Ya the priest was cool, he basically became a missionary
for the week. He lived with us and did everything we did.
He didn't teach as much, but he did give some good input,
it was fun having a second companion for a while.

This week was long. We got about 10 dogged (means people
aren't there for their appointments) appointments and lost
an investigator. She was actually a very promising one too,
everytime she'd talk about how she felt something was
missing from her church it would be exactly what we were
about to see. For example, paid ministers; she thought they
ought to be volunteers. We had an awesome first lesson,
the spirit was so strong. She even said she had to pray
about it to see if it was true first, before we even asked
her to. Then randomly yesterday she sends her son out to
tell us shes 'going to stick with the baptist church.'
We think it is probably outside pressure (family, anti-church
stuff, church, etc.) The moral of the story is, things
happen in the Lord's time, not ours. She'll be baptized
some day, if not in this life, then in the next. So basically,
this is what is called a 'trial week.' Which means blessing
week is next :) There's always a rainbow after the storm.

As for the rest of the investigators, things are going good
for the most part. People are really hard to get a hold of
here because most of them work 2 jobs and are rarely home.
One of them is going really good, though. His name is George.
Hes married to a member who converted 17 years ago, but he
never did. Shes been trying to get him to be baptized, but
he never has. George is super suportive of her choice in
religion and even took his son to the MTC when he was going
on his mission. He lets the missionaries come over for
dinner all the time, but one time (maybe 5 years ago) when
he had some Elders over they were talking about President
Hinckley. George loves Pres. Hinckley and was telling the
missionaries that if he were told by the prophet to move
he would. Apparently the Elders then were a little
rambuncious and said 'well Pres. Hinckley doesn't want
you to move, but he does want you to get baptized.' He
kind of gasped at this becuase it was too straightforward
and he never listened to the missionaries again....until
now. When me and Elder Stribling went to their house for
dinner a couple weeks ago we got along smashingly. We
started talking religion and by the end of dinner George
said he would start reading the Book of Mormon with his
wife. Ever since then they read a chapter in the morning,
then discuss it for about 30 min. Recently, hes even been
having us over to answer his questions. We have a 2 hour
lesson with him tonight! His wife says we were sent here
specifically for them because its the first time hes made
any real progress in 17 years. Even when he cut himself
so bad he had to go get stitches, he still came back and
had a lesson with us. We're hoping for the best. Wow that
was long.

So pretty much we're having some highs, some lows, so is
the life of a missionary. O, something exciting happened
with one of our baptismal dates. So Tina (the BD) has an
evil ex-husband who has some of her stuff (desks, mirrors,
etc.) refuses to help her in any way. She decided to go
over there and get her stuff with us and long story short
3 cop cars arrived and we had an interesting experience.
It all turned out alright-ish because now Tinas is going
over again (with her own police escort) to get her stuff.
Something funny that happened-we say a hilarious guy
'speed walking.' You had to be there.  
Have fun in Hawaii, don't get sunburned.

Love you, Elder Julian

Mon. July20

Hey, thanks for the email, sorry you had to use a psp.
Thats good Molly is doing good and getting some exercise.
Did you all have fun at Disney World? Things have been
really exciting here... and super busy. This last week
alone we got 5 new investigators. We even have a new
baptismal date named T.J. Teaching him will be especially
hard, he doesn't really believe in God or that he helps
people, but wants to and wants to change his life.
Please pray for him. Then theres Marra, Laura,Erika, and
Brother Petricek (not really a member but his wife is and
hes pretty much a dry Mormon). The funny thing is the
last 4 all live on the same street. So looks like we're
going to have another awsome week. O, when we were on
that street about to find Marra I got 2 doors slamed in
my face(thats a first for me)! It was funny. The second
one was hilarious. We knocked on the door and a lady
answers and immediatly says sorry I dont have time I
have a crying kid and I'm very busy. So my companion asks
'OK is there another time that would be better for you?'
She just stares blankly at us for a good 5 seconds then
slams the door. Apparently she didn't have a backup plan
:) But as the Lord says, 'ye recieve no witness until after
the trial of your faith.' Also another cool thing that
happened as we were trackting Marra's street was that her
little boy started following us down the street. When we
were next to their house he said something like 'come to
our porch next,' so we did and Marra was there ready to
hear what we had to say. My companion told President
Barret that and he made the remark 'wouldn't it be cool
if that little boy grew up to be a missionary.'

So everything is going great; nice weather, its car week,
good people to teach, haven't been held at gun point....yet.

Love you Elder Julian.  

Mon. July 13

Hey mom,
      Ya Sister Birch is cool, she gave me some pretty good
     cds, but I'd love to have more, thanks.  We had a pretty
    good week. We DO have the car, but we have a limited
    amount of mile we can use, so we've been riding bikes
    as much as possible, which isn't fun since its so hot
    these days. Thanks for the prayers. We had a really
    good day on Saturday. One of the baptismal date
    investigators was having a rummage sale. Shes
    having a tough time (pushy mother, divorcee is a jerk,
    etc.) and needed the rummage sale to lift her spirits.
    Her mom was telling her it would be a  failure and that
    it was proboly going to rain on her (which it was
    supposed to). We said a lot of prayers and the rummage
    sale went off without a hitch, not even a cloud in the sky,
    litterally. She looked super happy, thanks again for your
    prayers.  As for the blog you can put anything you want
    on. I have to go now, spent too much time on dads email,
    but have a great time at Disney world!

      Love, Elder Julian

First Day in Field

We just received this by snail mail, with the two photos at right.

Hey family,
So today's my first day in the field. It was so hot and very humid. They took us tracting as soon as we got off the plane. we drove about 10 minutes then split up. My part of the city was the waterfront park. It was so fun! We taught everyone and anyone who would listen. I personally placed three copies of the Bookof Mormon and tons of cards.......don't worry about me, I only got shot at twice.
Love,
Elder Julian

First Week in Wisconsin!

Hey family,Wisconsin is great! I got assigned to the Racine area. Its a good sized town of about 80,000 a little South of Milwaukee. The President and his wife are great and really energetic. I have a great trainer too, his name is Elder Stribling, hes been on his mission for about 9 months. The elders before us were both leaving (one died, which means his mission is over, and the other is now our ZL) so me and my trainer got doubled in. It was hard at first learning all the streets and leadership of our ward, but now im really good at using maps :) We have a great ward here! Everyone is super friendly and excited to get new missionaries. We have 5 baptismal dates set for July for our ward. In fact in my first appointment we went to with the old elders we set one of the dates.As for me and my trainer, we've been hard at work trying to visit as many of the leadership and baptismal dates as we can, while still doing some street contacing and tracting. We actually found our first investigator yesterday, her name is Vicki. We were looking up a referal that a member gave us on a street called Fieldview. After we tried the refferal's house (no one there) we started walking back to our car. On the way back we saw a lady sitting in her garage and we decided to talk to her. Once we introduced ourselves she started asking a ton of questions. We ansered them pretty well and talked about almost every Gospel principle. After about 15 questions and 30 minutes later (we sat on the driceway) we had given her the 1st, 3rd, a little of the 2nd lessons, a Restoration DVD,and a Book of Mormon! We have a return appointment next week. I'm super excited!As for monatary things, we have an o.k. appartment in a neighborhood that has a barbed wire fence (keeping us out of the one next to us). At least we have our own washer and drier :) We have a car 3 out of 4 weeks, so thats nice (some members live pretty far out). Overall its been a GREAT couple of days!