1. us and a famous Gorilla in Appleton. This was the picture on the Christmas cards we gave to our inv. and some members.

2. A light display in Oshkosh

Hey family,

Ya talking to you all was awesome, it was really good to see everyone's faces (even though they all look older, except you Mom...brownie points...). I told the Bentleys thank you from you and they said no problem, like they always do. They're pretty much the coolest family here, do so much for the missionaries. They also gave us some presents. Speaking of presents tell Larry's family thank you for the package, just what the doctor ordered. Also tell Nanny and Papa thanks too. And then thanks for all the presents from you 5 too of course, they were all really great. I got a present for the family, but I just haven't gotten around to sending it yet, but I'll get to it soon. Seeing you guys didn't make me homesick, Mom, that doesn't really happen to me, it was just nice to see you all.

Glad you had fun at the 'ski slopes.'  Did you put molly on a sled? Ya you're right, that was stupid, Molly can't sled. She's probably better at four legged sking. I want to try snowboarding out some time; too bad it costs so much money.

Well not too much has happened in the last 3 days. Jonathon and Kenneth (the 2 Hmong boys with baptismal dates, genius by the way) did come to church, which was awesome. We also had a really good lesson with Oscar and Alma last night. Elder Sharrah, a spanish speaking missionary who was with us for the weekend (Mom from Peru) was able to talk to them much more efficiently then us and resolved a lot of concerns we otherwise wouldn't have been able to talk to them about. Nothing too big, just stuff their old pastor was telling them (emphasis on OLD). Anyways they're still good for their baptismal date and excited.

Other than that, nothing much happened. We're going to play some volleyball today and go to the temple in Chicago tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone!

Love

 Hey family, thanks a lot for the packages, thank Nanny and Papa too. All the missionaries were jealous. Elder Saunders said "wow, you're family loves you more from Korea than mine does from Utah." Elder Warr was really happy he got a stocking too, that was nice. I put the presents under the tree (which I forgot to take a picture of again) so the apartment is looking pretty Chistmassy. And yes it is the same apartment I stayed in for last Christmas. It's actually a townhouse, 2 stories and a basement, so a good size (and great for hide and seek).




"Elders Rock" in the church parking lot



It hasn't snowed since last week so the roaads are clear again, although it also hasn't gotten any warmer than 20 either. Has Korea gotten any snow to stick yet? The other day it was 1 here and then add windchill on to that and it made for one freezing night. Let's just say we didn't do any tracting. Hopefully it will snow again soon though, shoveling really is a graet way to build relationships with members and find new inv. Before I forget Dad I did read the newsletter last week, its funny. I like the part where I got called to be both assistants, although you left out the part where I walked across Lake Michigan.

As for inv. We set 4 baptismal dates last Fri !!! 2 with Oscar and Alma and 2 with a returning members kids; Kenneth and Jonathon. We're really excited, all 4 are amazing and are going to be awesome additions to the ward. Well actually Oscar and Alma are going to be awesome additions to the Spanish ward in Neenah, but its all the same. We're also going to set a date with Andrea this week. She came to church yesterday with her 2 boys and had a great time. She picked the right Sunday to come because it was the ward's Christmas program (I was in the choir and did a trio) and it was a pretty good one too. Gospel principles class was a little shaky because we had this guy interjecting at random intervals talking about the anti-christ and the end of the world ... during our lesson about Jesus Christ so could have gone better. But she was understanding so it was ok. When people said " hope to see you around more often" she said "O you will" :) It was just a really great week, felt like all of our seed planting was coming to fruition. O and then we also got a new inv. for another area in the zone who said she would be baptized, so they are getting an early Christmas present.

About the phone call thingy we just got an email that said we can now do skype so if we can figure it out we could do a face to face talk which is pretty cool. I'll send another email with more details.

Have a great week! Talk to you on Sat.

Love

Hey family,


Yes I got the packages. Thanks so much for the tie, tree, and notes! They were a great pick-me-up. Zone conference was great, it was shorter than usual, but that was actually a good thing. Ya we got a big tree, its 6 feet high and came with lights, we got some ornaments and finished it off with toilet paper tinsel. I'll get a picture for next time. I also put up the stocking that you sent last Christmas so don't worry the apartment is plenty Christmassy. Its me and Elder Warr for 4 nights then the Oneida Elders for 3, then occasionally some other missionaries during like zone confernce or transfer times.

Yes we got a TON of snow this week. Fri had 2 inch, Sat had 2 inch, Sun had 10 inches, which really wouldn't be too bad except it was also ridiculously windy so the drifts were huge against peoples' houses and streets. Fri we woke up at 5 and helped people dig themselves out. Sat and Sun we just woke up and did it at the normal time (church was cancelled). We seriously shoveled 35 driveways between the 3 days with at least 4 Elders at one time. The last day was the hardest because the snow was really heavy due to the high humidity. We built a lot of trust with a lot of members (one old lady offered us each 10 bucks and we had to flat out tell her if we took it we were just going to put it in her mailbox when we left) as well as found some new potential inv. It was also really good excersise. It stunk that church had to be cancelled though, one of our new inv, Andrea, was going to come. She came to the Christmas party on Sat. and really liked it and said something told her she needed to come. I guess there's always next week. Oscar and Alma are doing fine. They were going to come over to dinner at the Fifes house (Bro. and Sis. Fife both speak Spanish, went to Mexico and Chile on mishs) but once again the snow storm got in the way. They said they know what we are saying is true and that the B of M is true. The only prob is they might be moving due to work so we haven't set dates with them.

Before I forget, Pooh Saan is the Hmong resurant I mentioned a while back (last year I guess) owned my a family in the ward. It's really good and is a mission favorite (especially of Pres. Barrett, don't think Pres. Jones has gone yet).

Ok the area and missionaries in the zone are : App 1 (us), App Sisters (Wilcox and Hogge), Oneida (Hatch and Zobell), App Hmong (Saunders, yes my old Comp. and Clements), Neenah (Tolman and Hugie), Oshkosh (Trusty and Gates), Sheboygan (Lor, yes my other old Comp. and Williams), Fon Du Lac (Bigham and Zan Steeter), West Bend (Redford and Anderson). There, all by memory. It's a really great group, except half are getting transfered or going home in 2 days so it will be changing a lot soon.

Ok have a great week! (Pretty sure that's exactly what I say every week)

Love

Hey family,

Thanks for all the future packages, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one today. Glad everything is ok with the Mollster, hope she's not causing too much trouble. Ya, the baptism was awesome, definitely one of the highlights of my mission.

We're going to get a Christmas tree too and put some hand made ornaments on it and stuff.

Ya it's getting pretty cold , just like he said it just rips right through you, but nothing I can't handle. Just means you can't do tracting without taking a break every 30 in or so because your chin is numb :) It still hasn't really snowed yet though, which is disappointing. When it does snow however its going to be a huge one, according to some old (probably a little looney, but not tooney) lady. I think we'll have an Oshkosh vs. Appleton district snowball fight.

So things on the missionary front are going ok. We have 5 progressing inv. right now, 2 of which are from Mexico; Oscar and Alma (yes she knows her name is in the B of M). They are really great people, but Alma doesn't speak a lick of English ('lu Mika' in Hmong, literally translated 'speak white american', learned that yesterday) so we have a couple from the ward who speak fluent spanish come and translate. The other 3 are a Hmong family (very rationally diverse here) who are coming back to the church/ kids being baptized. The Christmas devotional was great yesterday. Not a lot of members showed up (it was on cable) but we did have a cashier at a gas station we stop at to go to the bathroom come with her Mom. They said they had a really good time.

O in less exciting news, I hit my 18 month mark the other day, so now I need to burn some slaks. A missionary who just went home left some so no I won't be wasting anything, Dad.

Before I forget, I got to go on exchanges with the DL serving in .... ONEIDA! 3 really cool things happened. 1. I got to give a baptismal interview to a 9 year old girl named Abby. I told her I had a 9 year old sister named Abby and she thought that was cool. 2. I got to see some of the families I was close with; Cornelius', Sally (Scott was asleep with flu :( ), Bro. Reynolds etc. 3. The Cornelius' daughter who is on a mission is serving in our very own Frankfurt Germany International Ward :O I told them to tell her to say Hi to everyone who is still there for me. I mean really, what are the odds of that. Anyway, it was a really cool visit.

Go Steelers!

My ZL duties are going pretty good, lots of logistics stuff, like miles and numbers, but it's ok. I get to go to a lot of the different areas and get to know a lot of the Elders in the Zone, which I like a lot. We had a meeting in Neenah really early with the Stake Pres. and a High Councilman and stuff that was tiring, but thats ok. Ya A-town to GB is probably only a 30 min drive. I've spent the majority of my mission in the relatively small area of the 2 cities, which I couldn't love more.

Ok well we're going to go play a little B-Ball after Pooh Saan so I'll have a great week!

Love

Hey family,


Thats pretty cool you got to go to China this week. Glad you liked it, wish I could have gone, but Dad never offered to take us while I was there (sarcastic, he did). Hope Matthew is feeling better.

Lifes going pretty good here. We got a hold on all the stuff going on in the area, which unfortunantly isn't a lot. When we got here we had a couple of shaky inv. from the last Elders and a few RCs to work with. We've met all 3 RCs and they are all really nice, Bonnie, Bill, and Lindsay. But because we didn't have a lot of inv. we have been doing a lot of tracting and have had some really exciting success. So far we have found one really nice family; Ben, Crystal, Haylee (4, really funny) and Nathan. when we met them at the door they let us in and we started talking about families. We taught about the family proclamtion and about the B of M. At the end we were talking about how all the different religions came about and Ben said " Ya, you theres a lot of wierd ones out there, you got the _____ and the _____ (censored) and then the Mormons, theyre way out there." I almost burst out laughing, but carefully explained how we were Mormon. He said "O sorry, you guys aren't like the other Mormons I knew." Apparently he knew some Mormons from the UP that ... gave us a bad rep. Anyway it was pretty funny, he was really apologetic, we were just laughing. So they have some potential. Then we found a ton of inv. after them, just have to contact them.

The first day we were here a family invited us over for thanksgiving, which was nice. Don't at all know who they are, but theyre willing to feed us so I don't mind.So don't worry Mom, I won't be eating raman noodles with turkey flavor for thanksgiving (although now I think about it, that doesn't sound bad.)

On Fri we had a 'ZLs Council' and had the person over all the foreign MTCs come and talk to us. It was pretty cool, learned a lot and got to catch up with some of the missionaries there.

Ok have to go, promise I'll write more next time. Have a great week!

Love

Hey Family,




Sorry not too much time to write today.

So the area I got transfered to is ....... Appleton!!! Its the zone I was in when I was serving in Oneida, and I love it. Appleton was the zone I most wanted to serve in. No Dad, I wasn't a DL first, which is why I was pretty surprised when President called me to ZL. I'm serving with Elder Warr, whos cool. Hes actually Elder Lyon's boy. We got doubled in (both previous Elders left and we are both new) to the area so still trying to figure everything out. The Bishop, mission leader, and whole ward are awesome. There are about 200 active, which is huge for WI. The Lord is really blessing us here. So far we've had a couple of really cool miracles happen in finding and teaching people. We were led to a family who is originally from Venezula and are kind of confused religion wise. They said they are looking for answers and we said we have answers. The Mom and her sister even came to church yesterday! And no I'm not training Mom, both companions in a zone leader companionships are both ZLs.

Tell Abby I hope she gets better....You (Dad) and James adventure to the dolmans sounded like a good time, minus the driving.

Hope you have a great week!

Love

Hey family,

 (editor's note:  pics are of Alex and companion Elder Harper with investigator twins Dominique and Brook, the Ingrahams - they live with them, and investigators John, Wendy, Dominique and Brook)

Ya there were a couple of Tornados down by Milwaukee, but nothing too bad. yep Jon is a golden inv all right, and yes we set his date on the first lesson, along with all of our other dates, except for John (family John). Pres. Barrett really stressed setting dates on the first lesson because it gives them a direction and purpose with meeting with us, not just to have a 'bible discussion'. O ya we set another date with a girl named Tabitha for Dec. 4 also. She's one of the less active youth's friends here. We go over to Timmy's (the member friend) house every week pretty much for a lesson and I guess she saw us and was curious who we were. So Timmy invited her over and she is now going to join the church. She even came to YW 20 min after we met with her. Another goldy.

Sports night WAS fun, we played kick ball and dodgeball. All we need is more people to come, which will happen eventually. D and B came again which was awesome.

So now for the big news ....drum roll.... yes I'm getting transferred :( and Elder Harper is staying here. I'm kind of glad though, not that I'm leaving, but that Elder Harper gets to take over the area, it'll be good for him. He's really come a long way since when I first got him. I've also been called to be a zone leader, which I wasn't really expecting. President didn't tell me which zone yet, but it can only be Appleton, GB, or Milwaukee north or south zones. At least I'm pretty sure. Anyway I'll find out where I'm serving and with whom. Kinda nervous, but the Lord will help me learn and figure it all out, He always does. Yesterday being fast Sun. I was able to bear my testimony and say goodbye and thanks for everything to everyone. I made a lot of close friends here, I'm going to miss A.F. but there are more people in more places I need to meet, and apparently more missionaries I need to help.

J, W, D, and B didn't come to church this week (again) because Brook got some sort of eye infection thingy. We saw it... its pretty bad. The Ingrahams were able to take us over there last night though to say goodbye. The girls made us a ton of stuff; drawings, this plastic stained glass looking thingy, a picture frame with scriptures in it, a card from Wendy, candy (a lot, just what I need...), and a cake! It was really sweet. Then they begged us to stay and watch this Noahs Ark cartoon with them. Then we took pictures and said goodbye. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to their baptisms.

Yes Mom I know I have only 7 months left, thanks for reminding me . For some reason everyone I meet seems to think 7 months is a short time and keep saying things like "O you must be getting ready to go home soon, huh".... NO I'm not ready to go home yet, I'm just getting started. Even random cashiers, who aren't even members say stuff like that. Then the district made it into a joke, not funny. Anyway, yes it goes by really fast.

Yes, I got the package, THANK YOU. Stuff like that makes all the difference. NO Dad I didn't get the 20 bucks, but they stop forwarding mail a week or so before transfers and don't send it out till a couple days after, so I'll prob get it soon. I'll tell you when I do.

The weather is not too bad here. Its 58 today, which is really nice. No snow yet, but its getting below 32 at night so it won't be too long.

As for what I want for Christmas, nothing too fancy or expensive. Just cards and stuff, not a lot of candy please :) Maybe if you could get a couple of my friends to write something (like Brooke(still nothing) or Chris or Connor (long shot)) that would be pretty cool. I might think of some small stuff, but nothing too crazy.

Have a great week, hope you don't get run over by all the people from the G 20!

Love

Hey Family,


Yes I like working on houses. It's cool to see the project after we're done with it and then to see the joy that the people whose house it is have for our help. Glad everyone had a fun Halloween. Abby's costume sounds scary, and James's sounds.... oriental. We had a trunk or treat party here on Wed. It was too windy to actually have it in the parking lot (REALLY windy, couple tornados here and there) so we just had everyone grab a room and the kids went around the church. There were like 1\3 non-members there, which was an awesome missionary oppurtunity. We now have one solid inv. from it (setting a date on the next lesson) and a potential family.

Jon and Jessica's lesson turned out different than we expected. First off, only Jon was there. He let us right in though, without even asking how we got his address and started talking to us. Turns out he has been prepared his whole life to hear the Gospel (even though he didn't know it). We went through the whole Restoration with him and set a date for Dec. 4! He even put on his calandar - Dec 4, Baptism! For real!- because he was baptized into another church as a kid, but now recognizes that they didn't have the proper priesthood. He's awesome; he even said a perfect prayer and asked that he would get an answer to whether or not the B of M is true. We still haven't been able to meet with Jessica yet.

John, Wendy, Dominique and Brooke are doing good. None of them came to church on Sun,...... Something must have happened, o well. The girls did come to our first weekly 'Family Sports night' at the highschool, which was fun.

We found out (name left out) is going to be in Jail till next Christmas and on probation for another 3 years so his new date is going to have to be in 2014 at least. We are going to set up an appointment to see him. He told (name left out) in a letter that he stills prays and can't wait for him to baptize him (and now (name left out) will be able to confirm him too) and really would like a B of M and maybe some for the jail library. So Sat we went to the jail and asked one of the gaurds if they could give him one we brought and put the other 4 in the library, she was glad too.

Tell James congratulations for sticking out cross crountry and Happy Birthday again.

Tell Abby her poem was awesome, I can't believe she wrote that. I'm pretty sure it was better than anything I could do. I thought it was so good I read it to Elder Harper.

Tell Matthew he ROCKS.

Ya the weather here is getting pretty chilly. We've had to start scraping the ice off the windshield in the mornings. And thus starts the long cold winter of WI (yay).

To answer Dads Q: Some were ressurrected right after Christ, some sporatically throughout history (Peter, James, Moroni), all the righteous not yet born will be at the 'First Ressurrection' (beginning of Millenium), those during the Millenium who die but will be ressurrected in 'the twinkling of an eye', all the rest (wicked) at the 'Second Ressurrection' (end of Milenium). I think. And thanks for the football updates :)

Have a great week,

Love

p.s. sorry no pics, camera ran out of batteries and I forgot to charge it :(

Hey Family,

Thanks for the emails and the package (it was devoured in seconds). Ya lds email only takes 10 MB at a time or it doesn't send the email.

This is one of the hardest missions in the US. (editor's note:  I had written that some of the moms on the Missionary Moms email group were talking about how hard the WI mission is compared to others, and because of his good attitude, I hadn't known that.) Technically I've only had 4 baptisms and been part of about 10, but even if I only had any one of them I would count my mission as a success. The eternal concsequences of one missionary reach so far, even if I got no baptisms I'd still count planting seeds as a success. I will forever be thankfull I had the small part I did in the people I helped to be baptized and for the friendships with those people I've made. The harder the mission the more character you build, tell them that.

This week was good. As you can tell from the photos we helped out at the Mauston Habitat for Humanity. We pretty much finished the whole sub-floor (partical board pretty much) in 5 hours. We also got 2 new potential inv, Jon (I think half of this area's men are named John) and Jessica, the owners of the house we're helping to build. We have an appointment with them tomarrow, which we're excited about. 

John, Wendy, Dominique, and Brooke are doing good. We gave them a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and Eternal families that went really good. We also explained why they have to be married before they can get baptized, .... Wendy took notes while we were teaching and drew out the whole P o Sal with notes on each step. They still haven't been to church though (this week was Stake Conference with Elder Robyns there) so they are not technically 'progressing' but they are gaining stronger testimonies. The girls will probably be baptized on their set date and the parents will take a little longer.

That poem was great Mom, really captured the suspense and awe of angels appearing. I want to read the other kids poems too.

Have a Great week everyone!

Love

 

P.S. HAPPPPPPPYYYYYY BBBIIIIIIRRRRRTHDAYYYY JJJJAMMMESSSS!

youre so old now, I probably won't even recognize you when I get back. Hope you have a fun day and party! 

 

Ok so we actually had inv. at church this week!!!!!!!!!!!! Dominique and Brooke came with the Ingrahams (the members we are staying with in Westfield) to all 3 hours! Their parents couldn't make it because they were too busy doing work and stuff (), but 2 is better than none. They said they really liked it and said they wanted to come back for YW on Wed. We finally have progressing inv. exciting. Sis Ingraham also brought her nephew to church so he'll turn into an inv. in a week or two.


Robert and Sarah moved to a huge Mormon town named Hement. He said there is a huge church building down the street from where they live. They are just going to introduce themselves to the missionaries there and ask to be taught. Robert said he wants to take Sarah to the Temple before he left here and hes the kind of guy that once he puts his mind to something he sticks with it. They gave us their phone number so we'll call and see how they are doing.

As for being transferred, heres the breakdown and the reasoning behind it. 80% I'll be transferred. Usually trainees don't stay with their trainers for more then 2 transfers (actually never, that I've seen). 15% Elder Harper will leave and I'll stay for 1 more. This does happen sometimes, Elder Stribling (now home ) stayed and I left Racine. 2.5% We will both stay. 2.5% We will both leave. So there it is, probably leaving, which I'll be sad about, A.F. has so many awesome people. O transfers are on Nov 11.

Anyway, enough dwelling on the negative. Thats cool you got to go to the ol' Mt. Sorak again. I still have pictures and show them every so often to missionaries. They are always impressed with the serene beauty . What does the base do for halloween, so they allow trick-or-treating or have any cool parties? Does the ward do a trunk-or-treat? We're doing one here the Wed before Halloween, should be fun. Stuff like that is always good for people to bring friends and family to, plus we already have our costumes (missionaries are pretty darn scary to some people).


Ok have a great week everyone!

Love

Hey family,


This week was fantastamazing. I'm just going to blurt it out without any introduction. We have 5 baptismal dates now. Most I've had at one time so far. They are : John, Wendy, Dominique, Brooke, and Steve. Dominique and Brooke are John and Wendy's twins and their date is also set for the 13th of Nov. Steve is a very good friend of Mark AND James' (James isn't an inv. Dad, hes already a member) who recently has felt really lost in life. He just suddenly told James all the problems hes been having and that he noticed how the Gospel changed Mark and him so dramatically. James told him to meet with us missionaries, so he did. Now hes going to be baptized on the 27th of Nov.! We're really excited. Just stinks I'm probably going to be transfered Nov 11, but its ok, at least theyre getting baptized. Ok so heres the list of inv now :

John, Wendy, Dominique, Brooke, Steve, Gina, Robert, Sarah (his wife), Joy, Frank.

We weren't able to meet with Gina yesterday or last week because she has 'degenetive back' thingy and she hurt her back, so shes going to be out of it for a while. Then Robert and Sarah are going to be moving to CA this week so we'll lose them. Robert said he didn't want anybody besides me to baptize him, but I told him I didn't get done with my mission for another 8 months so I said I would give him the Melchezidek priesthood instead, he said ok. He invited his wife to a lesson with us and she is just as solid as he is! We taught the Restoration and then on Temples. We gave them the recent Temple edition of the Enisgn and she has already read the whole thing and has questions! We have our last meeting on Wed . They'll be a great adition to whatever ward theyre in in CA.

O another bit of depressing news. We had 8 (!) inv. who said they would be at sacrament meeting, guess how many showed up... no, 0. Steve and Robert at least gave excuses, but the rest, nothing. Steve had to go to Baraboo for something, and Roberts no-so-active Dad parked his semi truck in front of Roberts car, so him and Sarah couldn't come. Anyway, I gave a talk...wait a minute, maybe thats why no body came, they didn't want to hear me yabber any more than they had to . Well, theres always next week.

When we set the dates with Dominique and Brooke, we taught them about the YW program, they really liked the idea. We gave them some New Eras and they asked if they could have more. I think Wendy and the twins are more interested than John now :) They said theyd be at Mutual on Wed. Sure hope they are.


Elder Dunford huh, I'll have to say hi when I see him. I'm getting too veteran (imagine me with a smug veteran look on my face) I don't know like half of the new missionaries, theres just too many and I'm in the middle of no where so don't get to meet them.

Thanks for sending the package mom!

Have a great week!

Hey family,


Ya I geuss it was farmville, mustv come out after I left (thank goodness). I think if the Egyptians hadn't have let Moses and his peeps go, Farmville would have been the next plague.

Yep, Mark is still doing great. We got 3 names of his anscestors found and printed out, so when he goes to the temple in Nov. he can do their work. We called Pres. to see if we could go, but apperently missionaries aren't aloud to go on Saturday ('prime proselyting time') and Pres. Barrett just kidda side stepped it. So I don't think I'll be able to go for the rest of my mission, but I've been 4 or 5 times already so I exploited the rule plenty :) Anyway, hes still really excited.

James is still doing really good, hasn't smoked for a couple weeks now, I think hes done for good. To answer Dads question, hes been engaged to a member for 4 years now (as of yesterday) but they want to get married in the temple so he has to stop smoking first.

Frank ACTUALLY CAME TO A SESSION! The Bishop bet us a bowl of ice cream he wouldn't so there. He came to Priesthood session and said thanks, so actual progress happening.

We set 2 batptismal dates with John and his wife Wendy (the ones in Westfield, new John). It was actually the first time we met Wendy, but she had a TON of questions (which we like) and commited to be baptized even before John could say yes :) They went to a members house for the first session and then ate lunch with them, which was great. They said it went well. We are really excited for them and their family (2 twin girls, 13, and a little boy, 3) The ward is going to have an amazing addition come Nov. 13.

Robert is progressing really good too. He came to 4 sessions (!) and brought his little brother with him. Hes pretty much a dry Mormon, but is going to be moving back to Cali in 2 weeks so will have to get baptized there. :( We told him to just walk into church and tell the missionaries he wants to learn the lessons :) Hes going to introduce us to his wife on Wed, shes interested in seeing why hes so 'into it.'

Then we got a new inv. Gina, a member's grandaughter in Westfield too. She at first was kinda standoffish, but then just started spewing out questions (again, we like that), all of which we're really good and heartfelt. We ansewered them and she said she felt all 'warm and fuzzy inside'. She took a B of M and a restoration DVD and we are meeting with her (and hopefully her husband) next Sunday.

So those are our 4 progressing inv. ; Robert, Frank, John and Wendy. Does life get any better?


Have a great week!

Really poor picture of me destroying a wall with a hammer. It was the coolest thing I have ever done, and very stress releiving. We have been doing A LOT of house building lately. We did habitat for humanity last Sat. I did mainly electrical stuff, digging holes for wires, stappling up wires in basement, etc.

Hey family,


Wow this lady in front of me is playing some stupid farm game and using up all the bandwidth for the whole universe, anyway patience.

Glad the house wasn't flooded. Seems like we've been blessed not to have any trees to fall on house or cars and no flooding.

......This week we also had a future missionary come along with us as our shadow to see what the mission life was like. It was awesome. We had a really good week. Mark passed the sacrament for the first time. O no shes back... But Robert didn't make it to church because his brother (semi- active) didn't want to go and he didn't know the way. But he said he'd see us on Wed. so at least we have a set appointment with him. John was golfing (more important than Gospel?) the whole day we were supposed to teach him, so that didn't work out, BUT we got another inv. whose name is John so thats ok....recognizes the spirit well. We watched a conference talk on families ('I love loud boys') and he said he could feel that the man speaking believed what he was saying was true, so we left him the DVD. James is still doing good. Hes planning on going to the next Temple trip (in Jan) and hes looking a lot more healthy too, both physically and spiritually. He also invited me to come over and play Halo when I get off my mission, so I'll deffinently have to do that. And he got a new cat, super cuddly.

O so we were driving to a members house in Coloma and we got behind an Amish wagon. It was sweet, apparently there are a lot of Amish around that area.

O ya, Franks starting to progress. He promised he would be to at least one of the GC sessions and we have started listening ( hes legaly blind) to the B of M with him. we're up to chapter 14 and he is comprehending a suprising amount, even all the Lehis dream stuff. Has a lot of good questions.

Thanks for all the prayers and letters! Got yours yesterday day with all the clippings, loved it.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love



P.s. sorry haven't had much time to write poems.

I thought I had this figured out - post order

Hi.  If anybody knows how to switch these older posts that I just added back to their chronological order, I would love your input. :)
Thanks,
Karen

Aug. 9

1. Deer. This guy was pretty much fearless.

Hey family,

Glad you're having fun in Utah and AZ and that all the dental stuff is going good. Its ok I didn't get pampered, builds character, right, or so they say. Such is the life of a first child, the guinea pig. Which reminds me, when James and eventually Matthew leave on their missions, there is a lot of things they won't need that’s on the list and a lot of stuff they will need that’s not on the list. I think I'll make my own list. So did James get the dissolvable stitches or the permanent ones? Mine took forever to go away.

So this week was bad and good. First the bad. On Friday we had a lesson with Jakee ....... So we said if she ever does want to learn more to give us a call otherwise we’ll use our time finding and teaching people who ARE interested, she agreed. So we got dropped. BUT on Tuesday and then on Saturday (good part) we had lessons with Steve, both of which couldn’t have gone better. The one on Tuesday we went over with the mission leader and taught the Restoration, spending a lot of time on Joseph Smith and the B of M, which he was really interested in. He said he watched the movie and had already started reading the B of M. He accepted the invitation to be baptized and we set a date for Sept. 18! We were all really excited. Then on Sat. we had a chapel tour type thing where we met at the church and showed him around. We then had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom, which went really well. He committed to keep it. He works with another member, James (mentioned in last email), who is also working on W of W stuff. That was definitely inspired and now they can work towards the same goal together. Steve is awesome though, he read the scripture that we gave him to multiple times so he fully understood it, then started reading from the beginning and got up to 1 Nephi 10. Hes also going to be at Mark's baptism on Sat. which is all set up and ready to go. Hes really excited, mentions it all the time.

Those are the highlights. Other random stuff, there are a lot of deer lately, been jumping all over the road. We saw a mother with twins the other day, she hangs out in the woods where we live. So far we haven't seen any bears though, just raccoons and opossums and deer and mosquitos and stuff. We have these huge windows for a wall that faces this creek (pronounced crik here) and at night there are at least a billion bugs on it trying to get the light. We get some wierd ones on it. The other night there was this huge leaf bug thing, pretty cool looking. Some of the bugs are like that guy on 'I am Legend' who keeps smashing his head against the glass, except the bugs can't brake though....yet.

Thanks for all the prayers, hope you have a great week in the squeltering sun of AZ!

Love

Sept. 6

Hey familie

So Mom, didn't get an email from you this week, but its ok, I'll just cry myself to sleep tonight while sofftly wimpering and sucking my thumb. Just kidding. I'm sure you wrote one and the email service screwed up.

Hope everyones safe and there isn't any bad damage due to the storm, looked pretty intense from the pictures. We too are having some pretty gusty days, no trees uprooted, but a couple of branches did fall off trees, including the one we dragged out of the street. It has got a lot cooler, which is nice. The highs today and tomarrow are 65 and 70, so perfect weather. Probably won't stick for long, but its better than nothing. Can't wait for the tree's leaves to start changing colors, fall here is only for like a week and then everything is dead and its winter. Which reminds me of a classic WI joke I don't know if I've told before. 'There are only two seasons in WI, winter and construction season.' If you were here you'd understand. The roads get so bad due to the snow and the snow stays around so long that summer is the only time to do construction, so it goes non-stop for those weeks (just kidding, months).

To answer your question Abby and Matthew, a greenie is someone who is new to the mission, and thats why he needs training, although I've learned a lot from him too. The new place where were staying is pretty cool. Its small, just like the cabin, but the people we're living with are really nice. We played something called the 'Farming Game' which is kind of like Monopoly with them. Only is Wisconsin. Actually its from Washington, but we stole it, so there. Thanks for the updates, keep em coming. Whats everland anyway.

As to the missionary work, its going good and not so good. On the less-active, recent convert side its going spectacular; on the progressing inv. not so much. Mark is going to the temple with us on Sat. to do baptisms for the dead, which will be an amazing experience for him (and us). Hes awesome. Then theres James, the returning member. Hes down to a cigarette every 2 days, we're really proud of him. When we started meeting with him he was at 2 packs a week and rarely came to church. Now he attends every week and is nearly there with quiting smoking. I think his fiance is happiest out of us all :) We've been doing a lot of trackting in Westfield, with a few potentialish inv. We do have one funny story from it though. We knocked this one door and a guy half opens it so we introduce ourselves. He says 'O ok well I' as hes closing the door and then shuts it mid-sentence (Dad, it was like that guy in Italy who stole my chicken burger) on us. His little girl then opens the curtain on the door to see who it is and he promptly whisks her away. it was pretty funny, it made us laugh.

Hope you have a great week! Build some windmills or something for all those typhoons :)

Love

Hey family,





The temple trip was amazing. We actually gave Mark the Priesthood IN the Temple (doesn't happen too often) then walked right over to the font and did Baptisms for the dead. It was the first time I've ever given someone the Priesthood or done Baptisms so I think it was just as exciting for me as it was for him. He was beaming after we did the baptisms. He said he could feel the people he did the work for there. I stayed in the font and did some more baptizing for some of the youth. There were so many people in the baptistry that some had to stand (3 wards worth), but we'd rather have too many than not enough :)

James is also doing awesome. He hasn't smoked a cigarette in almost a week and is keeping strong! We're really proud of him. Thanks for all the prayers, they're working :) He said hes going to go with us on the next temple trip, hopefully I'm here for that.

So the teaching pool still isn't so hot, only have 1 real inv... This week we've scheduled to meet with a lot of the leaderships families and teach them the restoration for a couple different reasons. 1, if they know that we actually CAN teach the gospel they will be more likely to give us their friends to teach. 2, They will have a better idea of what to talk to their friends about. 3, We can build better trust and ask for service oppurtunities. Once agian thanks for the prayers for inv. and Elder Harper.

Sounds like you had a fun week, what with Everland and Typhoons and such, glad everything and everyone was safe.

Have a great week this week too! Good luck with school and work and all. Thanks for the package!

Love



poem:



An Offer You Can't Refuse (Though they Offten Do)



I have something here

That I know that you Need

A few simple lessons and

A great book to read



Don't think I don't know

What you're thinking right now

As we come to your door

You say to yourself, "Holy Cow"



"Not these guys again

Enough is Enough

When I open the door

I'll tell them right off"



Knock, knock, kno-

You open the door

And for a whole 2 seconds

We have the floor



We tell you our names

And why we are here

All while we try

To show no fear



We start with our message

The spirit draws near

Your heart starts to soften

Your eyes start to tear



You think to yourself

These guys aren't so bad

Maybe I'll listen to them

But only a tad



You have us right back

To teach you and your spouse,

Soon you'll be sealed

In the Lord's House

Hey family,



The kids are back at school huh. .....

Yes, we did move in to our new place, last night actually. It's an older couples house half way between Westfield and Oxford. They are really cool, really sweet people. They have a dog, 2 cats, and a bird, which I'm happy about. The plan from now on is to spend Thurs, Fri, and Sat in Westfield; Sun and Mon in Adams; and Tues and Wed in Mauston. So we'll be really good at planning by the end of it. We're doing the rotation because in any one town there is definitely not enough work for a whole week; with the rotation we get to hit every town and be able to visit a lot more of the member families without using too many miles driving back and forth.

The leadership training this week was great, pretty intense, but worth the time spent. We learned about the new 8 simplified lessons theyre going to start teaching the missionaries in the MTC. Don't worry, we still use PMG, its just that the MTC is getting a new curriculum on how to teach how to use PMG. At the same time theyre bringing every mission in the world up to speed so that the trainees aren't having to train the trainers when they get out. Now that I know them I'ts my responsibily to teach Elder Harper.

Thanks for keeping my blog up Mom, means a lot to me. That'll be a great resource for me in documenting everything that went on. O I almost forgot. When I was at leadership training I got to spend a lot of time around Elder Allred and Elder Lyons (now serving together as ZLs in Mil. South zone). I also got to see Elder Stribling, probably for the last time before he goes home in Sept. The training ended every day at around 4 and afterwards we picked a companionship in the surrounding areas and helped them in their area. Guess where me and Elder Stribling got to go... Racine! It was so awesome. The two families in the pictures were really excited to see us. We also got to see some more families and play basketball with the old gang at church.

Alright I got to email Pres. before I get off. Have a great week!

Love

another poem :)

The Master Watchmaker

First theres the hour hand

Then theres the minute

They tick on the surface

Of the watches round face

Little pieces, pulleys and cogs

Turning and clicking in perfect time

Each one has a purpose

They fit with the rest

Sun as the hour hand

Moon as the minute

We walk on the the surface

Of Earth's mighty face

Little pieces, atoms and cells

Growing and changing in their due time

Each one for a purpose

Only He knows best

How clever one must be

To make a good watch

Much cleverer is He then

That maketh it all

Hey family,


Hope alls well in Korea, sounds like your getting back into the norm. Glad you had a fun vacation and that Mollys still alive and kickn (and fat).

Well twas a busy week indeed. Yes my boy can drive. His name is Elder Harper (see classic point to your area picture (do you still have the one with me and Elder Stribling?)) and he's from central Washington state, a little town called Ephrata or something. He's great, laid back, takes advice easily, is willing to work hard, and is pumped. The first person we met, before we even got into Adams, is now a potential inv. so we started off well. Unfortunately the week didn't end so hot. Steve is no where to be found. We'll keep praying for him even if he won't answer our calls. And thank you for all your prayers too.

No we haven't moved over to Westfield yet. This week I have to go to a 4 DAY LEADERSHIP MEETING in Milwaukee since I'm a trainer now. Not too thrilled, we had some good things planned for this week but now there aren't going to be any missionaries in A.F. till Fri. Elder Harper is going to W.I. Rapids with the district leaders comp. O well, hopefully the training will pump up the mission a little, its kinda slumping right now.

On a good note James (LA-ish I mentioned a while back) is actually making good progress towards getting over his smoking and is planning to go to the temple soon. His fiance won't get married outside the temple so thats his main goal hes working towards. O and Mark and his fiance, Raquel asked me if I'd be an usher at their wedding in March, I said yes of course. Mark still doing awesome, as usual. We tried to do some genealogy with him, but turns out you need a member record number to do anything, so have to wait for that. I checked mine out a little and saw that we had it go back all the way to Adam, which is amazing. Made the whole decendant of Ephriam thing that much more real. We're going with him to do Baptisms for the Dead at the St.Paul temple in Sept, hes really excited, mentions it every time we meet.

Well have a good week, hope you enjoy the pics

Love

Hey fam,


The baptism yesterday went amazing! Mark was so excited and had literally been counting down the days (on his calender) until his baptism. He was smiling so much it made us look sad in comparison. The confirmation the next day was equally awesome, I don't think there were a pair of dry eyes in the circle after about 2 seconds into it. Mark was beaming the rest of the day. Now he can't wait til we go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead (next month).

Steve on the other hand, not doing so good. Not that he has lost interest in the Gospel, just that he and his wife are going through a really tough time right now. Thanks for the prayers, I know they help. He wasn't able to make it to the baptism or church so he's struggling a little. We'll keep working with him and show as much love and support as possible.

Got a letter from Nathan the other day. Says hes doing good, pickin up the language pretty fast, which is a good advantage. I'm sending one back today.

O ya I got called to train again. Hopefully this time my boy (Boy - A trainer's trainee) will have a license. I'm pretty excited, just hope I can cram everything I've learned into him. This is a good area to be trained though; caring members, awesome leadership, no bikes :) We are moving to an even remoter area, called Westfield (east of Adams) and will probably have to do a lot more traveling, but we should be able to see some new faces. Elder Bowcut is sad to leave, this being his first area and all. He finds out where he's going tomorrow.

Sounds like you guys had fun in AZ, got to see a lot of family and stuff. Hope Dad didn't torture you too much with the site seeing, although that Joshua tree park sounds cool.

Have fun back in Seoul!

Love

Hey Family,


Got the package the other day, thanks a lot. The cookies are delicious (half gone now) and the basket is really cool. Matthew you are becoming quite the artisan. That rapids ride sounds fun, except for there being no rapids. I'd love to do that again with you guys next summer.......(time is going too fast). When I was in Cincinati, we did this canooing thing where you get a canoo and go down a river with a group. The 'long' route was supposed to take 2 hours and Nathan, Chris, and I did it in 45 min. We past everyone in our group AND the group ahead of ours. Anyway, we were very proud of ourselves.

Yes I have been praying and will continue to pray for James and you (Mom). Hope the dental stuff isn't too painful. Nathan went into the MTC last Wed, right? Thats pretty awesome.

So theres this guy sitting next to me who is here every time we come to the library. Hes like 70 and all he does on the computer is play this lame online game. when I'm retired I'm going to build spaceships or something, or at least play cool video games.

As for investigators, Mark is doing good as usual, still on for his baptismal date. Yes, his kids are interested, but theyre only 7 and 4, but Jaden (the 7 year old) can't wait till hes baptized. Jakee on the other hand is falling behind a little bit. We had a pretty good lesson on the Plan o' Salvation the other day. We we invited her to church, she said she 'would be busy' so we invited her to church next week. She said 'she had plans' so I suggested that she make church her plans, then she said 'things will probably come up'.....then we kind of just looked at her blankly for about 20 min while that all soaked in. So ya, not impressed but we'll keep working with her. We did however find a new inv. this week who has some promise. Her name is Tasha, she is one of Bro. Klish's (Mission Leader) students from 2 years ago. Pretty promising first lesson with her and Bro Klish on the ever famous restoration of the gospel.

Well today we are going to play disc golf again at the high school (yes its pretty much the only thing to do around here) with 2 recent converts, Mark, and Bro. Klish. should be pretty fun. O the triatholon was a good time, except we had to wake up at 4:30. We were able to talk to a lot of people about what we did as missionaries and saw some pretty intense athletes. One guy did the whole course in 1 hour 4 min. It included 1/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. It was intense. On the other side of the spectrum, there was this huge guy, like 5' 4'', who did the course in 3 hours, but at least he finished.

Sorry no pics today, I completly forgot until we left the house for the library, so I'll have to make up for it next week.

Have fun in Utar!

Love

Hey family,


Sounds like you're having fun for the most part. That part about Molly made me chortle, Dad. She's probably having fun though. Thanks for braving the horendous Seoul traffic and floods. Good luck with everyone's medical and dental appointments. 2 Nephi 2:11. Thanks for the future cookies Abby and Nanny, and thanks for the other stuff Mom and Matthew. It's always nice to get a package every once in a while. Elder Bowcut gets tons of mail, so you don't need to send anything for him; I'm just kidding, do*.

This week was pretty good. We set another baptismal date with a lady named Jakee for the 21st of August. She's really open to different religions and has been looking for God's true church for a long time. She says she can feel the Spirit when we teach and when she reads the B of M, but thinks the Methodist church has a lot of truth, too . She said if she comes to know that ours is God's church before her date she'll be baptized. So she'll be baptized. She has a member friend who lives in her town (20 miles away from us, half a day's miles) of Mauston. It has a wopping 4000 people! *sarcasm*

Mark is still doing great, too. We had FHE with him and his kids, who are awesome. They came to church yesterday, as usual. O but we got a new Bishopric (seems to happen every place I go) yesterday. The old Bishop is a High Councilman now, and the new bishop is Bishop Barrett, no not related to Pres. Barrett. He's probably one of the coolest members here, so it should be really fun working with him. One of the members of the ward brought a record 4 friends to church, 1 of which is interested in meeting with us.

So we saw a pretty big deer bounding through our woods today. A few days ago a pteradactyl sized moth flew into out truck and wouldn't get out because it liked the light too much and we couldn't turn the light off because we had to get it out....anyway it reminded me of Mothra from Godzilla.

Today we're going to go disc golfing again, at a different course. You guys better practice up, I'm going to be a pro by the time I get home (the impending doom grows closer and closer). Speaking of which Elder Stribling gave his dying (To die - NOT TO PHYSICALLY DIE, but to go home, Mom) testimony at Zone Conference last week. It was sad, my trainer is going home. He actually doesn't leave till the end of next transfer, but since we only have zone conferences every 2 transfers now (O ya we only have zone conferences only 2 transfers now) he had to give his dying testimony this time. Zone conference was good though. They introduced the new lessons they're going to be teaching at the MTC and that we are going to start incorporating into our teaching. We're still using PMG, just learning how to teach better, whitsh ish nisch. O and also the sister missionaries are being told to wear bright colors so they don't look like 'dead nuns.' A couple of more changes are happening, but I don't remember them all.

This next week should be fun. We're going to be helping at a triathalon on Sat, should be a good way to talk to some people.

Hope you guys have an awesome, relaxing time in Utah!

Love

*n't

Hey Family,

Ya so I'm in Adams-Friendship now. Its in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a ton of trees. The town has about 2000 people, with something like 8 or 9 other towns in our area of the same size or smaller. Our area is HUGE due to the spread out towns, so we get to use our truck quite a bit. We do however have a mile cap (which isn't enough) so we will get to use our bikes in town, which ish nicsh. The area is really beautiful, lots of vegetation and actual hills (not common in WI), the downside of which is that there are hordes of bugs. I literally saw a swarm of mosquitos pick up a deer and fly back to their nest with it. A.F. really isn't as touristy as you'd think. Theres a town, Dellwood, right by the lake thats probably a lot worse. We went trackting the other day and all the people were surprisingly nice to us, unlike the disgruntled Packer fans of GB. Just kidding GB has good people too..... And I don't think we're going to meet as many crazy people here as we did in GB, unfortunately. They keep things interesting. Our house is pretty cool, its owned by a family called the Caldwell. Technically its a cabin, but more like a small house (I was imagining a log cabin I guess). It's in the middle of a forest, so at least we have privacy.

We had church yesterday (duh, it was Sunday) and most of the members are really cool. We have an awesome mission leader, he basically lets us use his house as a base of operations. We can eat anything we want anytime we want.... We're going to go play disc golf with him and the Stephens Point Elders, then have dinner at his non-member (missionary opportunity) mom's house. There is an actual ward here, which is surprising, considering the small population. Apparently we get about 90 active members coming to church on any given week  ....... I guess I have to get used to the small town mentality, its a lot more laid back.

My companion is from a town of about 500 people in Idaho, so he fits right in. He's a good guy,....I think he's stressing a little about having to take over the area at 3 months. We have to stay in Adams for most of the week because we don't have enough miles to travel to other towns very often, so he's kinda struggling finding things for us to do. We do have a baptismal date, Mark, who is an awesome guy (must come with the name ). He's set to be baptised in early August. He loves the Gospel and has read A LOT of LDS literature. He's a real golden inv. like Scott was. Anyways me and Elder Bowcut are getting along pretty well.

Thanks for taking care of Molly Dad and not beating her. And thank you for paying for the packages by sacrificing all the blood and sweat that you put into your job. Start getting the paper work ready to sue the kennel if they sell Molly to a restaurant. The Caldwells have a dog here, Sammy, so I get my K-9 interaction there. They also have a huge fish tank with some cool looking ones.

Have fun in Utah, tell everyone I said Hi and I love them. Be sure to go really fast on the alpine slide for me.
Love,