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 :(