Hey family,




Yep, its getting nice outside...a little too nice. It was 89 with 999% humidity on memorial day, which just happened to be when we were helping someone move. But it was ok, we had like 10 missionaries there to help. The lady we were helping move isn't even a member, but had heard from a lds friend in Lacrosse that we help people move. So a couple of weeks ago we set the whole thing up and got together yesterday to help her. Hopefully she'll come to church :)

Brat Fest was pretty fun. Elder Bogarus and me were on 'brat runner' duty; we pretty much just took large trays of cooked brats from the grills to the place where they package them. Not too fun, but ya we got to talk to some people. Plus we got cool brat fest shirts. And yes we did get a free brat, they weren't that good, just because of the pace at which they had to pump them out. O talking about food, I've lost 10 lbs and counting over the last couple weeks! Anyways the brat fest inspired us (like you dad) to have our own brat fest on memorial/ p-day. We found this old grill in our basement storage compartment and some coalsand lighter fluid. Then the elders from Baraboo (right below A.F.) came down and got some brats and brat buns (SO much better than normal buns). Our brats were 100 times better then the Brat Fest brats.

Thats pretty cool Dad's interview thing went good. At least he has a backup job for when he does end up leaving the gov. Glad I might have a job in Frankfurt, and for 10.50 an hour thats not bad. Glad your asthma is under control, just hang on to the thought of the fresh mountain air Utah has to offer. And good job with the simple acts of kindness, they're really going to appreciate them.

Well Kyle is now in Germany on his way back from Jordan today. We're going to have a lesson with him on Fri probably on the word of wisdom. I'm pretty sad I won't get to continue to see him progress anymore, but Elder Bogardus will take good care of him. Plus when I go back into the normal world I can communicate better with him via email and facebook and such.

So far, no new inv. But it has given us an opportunity to venture into the lesser known parts of Madison to try those who haven't been inundated by missionaries in the past. There are a lot of really nice neighborhoods here that we like to walk through and just talk to people outside their homes.

O ya funny story. So on friday there was a miscommunication about a dinner appointment with an elderly lady in the ward, which happened to be at the same time as brat fest. So regretfully we had to cancel with her (yes I do make mistakes, shocking I know). Feeling bad for her we decided to make her cookies and drop them off and say sorry. So the next morning we went to Copps and got the necessary items, came back and made some ginger snaps. They turned out really good and we were excited to drop them off so we hurried to the bus stop. We got on the wrong bus, of course, but luckily the right bus was leaving just at the right time so we hopped on that when we got to the station. Right as we were leaving we noticed something...we left the cookies on the other bus..... we were laughing pretty hard and were getting some stares. It didn't really sink in till like 30 min later that we had just wasted our whole morning. Anyways, we've made new cookies and this time we're not going to forget them, hopefully.

Later that day we had a great lesson with the Franeys, in which she commited to prepare for the temple. One of the big problems shes been having with coming to church is that her girl (4) doesn't like primary so she gets pretty crazy. Sis Franey always says, 'ya I'd come more if Grace had more friends.' Yesterday we had dinner with another lady in the ward who just happened to invite the Franeys over too. This Sister also has a 4 year old girl, who thankfully hit it off with Grace. Now she has a friend at church :) Seems like everything is falling into place.

Theres been a lot of 'lasts' going on. Today was our last district meeting, kinda sad. But I have loved this district, such a great group of elders.

Well have a great week!

Love

Hey family,

The weather here is finally getting nice. Tomorrow its getting up to 80! The trees (well like half, other half still dead looking) are getting leaves and blossoms, the birds are singing, the golden squirrels are frolicking (see picture). Ya there are a couple of golden squirrels running around, never seen them before. Anyway, the weather is nice and people are finally starting to come out of hibernation.

Tina is doing great! She is all set for her baptism on Saturday and is excited as can be. She even took the initiative to ask everyone personally on the program before we could do it. Shes still getting a lot of pressure from her friends and family, but it seems like the more pressure she gets, the stronger she becomes. Its probably going to be my last baptism, but I'm ok with that, shes so awesome.

Gestina is still awesome as well. Yesterday, after church, one of the members presented her with a brand new set of scriptures with her name on them. Gestina was really happy, she kept running around showing everyone. Shes going to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead this month in Chicago!

Kyle is doing well too. We had a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and re-committed him to read and pray daily as well as attend church. Because of his job as a consultant for refugee camps hes gone on business trips a lot so attending church regularly is going to be hard.

The guy who walked in to church said he didn't have enough time to devote to it' soooo dropped. We are going to meet with the other lady this week. Yesterday at church, during gospel principles class a couple from Taiwan walked in from off the street...Two weeks in a row thats happened. They stayed for the lesson and then we introduced them to a lady from Taiwan in the ward and they talked for a bit. We got their address and said we'd drop off a chinese b of m to them. Didn't seem necessarily interested, just curious, but we'll see what happens.

O one interesting thing that happened this week, we were street contacting and ran into two guys from Saudi Arabia. They didn't speak English too well so he invited us in to talk to someone who could translate. We were kinda hesitant, but weren't getting any bad vibes so we went in. There were like 5 other people in there (one guy sitting on the floor was wearing a sith robe...) all arabs. They didn't speak English too well, but spoke well enough to communicate. We had a really cool conversation talking about each others beliefs and practices. By the end they were curious about the b of m and 3 of them wanted one in arabic.

Ok have a great week family!

Love

Hey Family,


No didn't hear Osama died. We did hear about the tornadoes that killed a lot of people though. Ya four dunks is a lot, but there was one a couple of months ago that was at least 10. The person they (Norman Smith was doing the baptism, someone me and Elder Stribling taught in Racine :D were baptizing (T.J., someone ELSE me and Elder Stribling had taught, but went to jail for a little bit) was a afraid of water so it took a lot of tries. Eventually he was baptized though :)

Ya Tina is getting a lot of flak, but the ward here is so amazing she has a really great support group. Even if she does lose some old friends, shes already made like 50 new ones. She only has one more lesson worth of info and then shes ready for her baptism! Shes still as solid as ever. Pretty much every lesson we have to teach she already knows all about and could probably teach it to us.

Kyle has been a little reclusive the last week due to the death of a close friend. He didn't return our calls so we decided to go visit him. He was appreciative of our concern and said he wanted to continue meeting with us.

Yesterday we also got 2 new inv! One of them just walked into priesthood in the 1st ward and sat down. He said "it just felt right" so we have an appointment with him for this friday. We also ran into a lady walking her dog while visiting some members. There are these 2 buildings on Ascot Ave. that are only LDS families (7 of them) and this lady new 2 of the families. She said she would like to meet with us so we set up an appointment for Thurs. She is really friendly and seems open minded so we're pretty hopeful. Thank you all for your prayers, theyre being answered.

O ya that referral that sounded too good to be true...was too good to be true. It was just some college kid playing a prank on his friend, pretty lame. BUT when we were walking back someone called out to us on the street. Turns out she was a less active person from the campus ward. We invited her to church and she said she would "try to make it." You never know though.

My new companion is Elder Bogardus. Hes cool, glad I got a good comp for my last. He just got transfered from GB 2, the same ward I was serving in when I was in GB. Elder Wollauer traded places with him actually. Another interesting tid bit is that Sister Brodrick in the 1st ward is Elder Bogardus' sister. Thats right, not just his spirit sister, but his blood relative sister too. Crazy huh? All the people in the ward can't believe it when we tell them. One person actually thought we were playing a joke and wouldn't believe us for like 10 minutes. This is going to be an awesome last transfer. I still can't believe its my last though.

Thanks for all the prayers again, they really do help.

Have a great week!

Love

Hey family,




Last week was fantastic! Obviously with Gestina's baptism being the icing on the cake.

I'll save the baptism for last. So on Tuesday there was a hail storm, a big one too. It wasn't really long, but it was intense and just so happened to be during the time when we were walking like a mile to some ones house. The person wasn't even there :) but now I can say I was in a hail storm on April 19th. The atheist referal guy has never been home when we tried; we've tried 5 times in one week with no luck. We did, however, get ahold of his roomate who seemed normal and said he would give him his number and tell him we stopped by. O ya Elder Wollauer is getting transfered so I'm getting my final companion on Wed. He better be a good one.

On to the baptism. It was awesome. It doesn't matter how many you do, each one is amazing. I'll walk you through what happened. Gestina and company (2 brothers, 2 sisters, and Mom) got to the church about 15 min early. The member who was baptızıng her (Devın) was already dressed so Gestina quickly changed into her clothes and we took pictures. Then everyone sat down and we started. The speakers Gestina had picked out gave good talks and the hymns she had picked were good too (have I done any good today and Teach me to walk in the light). Then we all went into the font area. They went down into the font and Devin said the prayer, but when he tryed to baptize her she just kind of layed down...so didn't work out so good. BUT the second time she did it right...but her dress floated up. BUT the third time...it happened again. BUT the fourth time she was actually baptized! Not the worst I've heard of, but still was a little tense. When she came back she was absolutly beaming though. We showed a couple of Mormon Messages on the Atonment and revelation while we waited for them to change. Then at the end she bore her testimony, which was really cool to see.

Then yesterday, Easter, was her confirmation. Another member Dan, gave her the Holy Ghost. Throughout everything both days she couldn't stop smiling. Shes so awesome.

Then Tina is going to get baptized next, in a little less than three weeks. Shes doing really good. Her friend from Wyoming is coming that weekend to baptize and confirm her. Her family, on the other hand, aren't being as supportive, they kinda freaked when she told them she was joining the church. Prayers on her behalf would be much appreciated. Shes also getting pressure from her friends here to not join. So shes going through the refiners fire before her baptism, but I have full confidence in her.

Thanks for the future package!! Have a great week!

Love

Hey family,




Ya we have a lot of good stuff happening here. Gestina's baptism is completly planned out now, its for the 23rd of April. She had her interview with the zone leaders and passed with flying colors (is that how that saying goes? what does that even mean?).

Tina was the one who was ready to be baptized...and now she has a date for May 14th! Shes really excited and tells everyone she meets, which is a complete 180 from where she was. Her friend from BYU-I is coming to baptize and confirm her. Shes just like Gestina, solid as a rock, made out of titanium. They will both be great relief society presidents some day, they just don't know it yet.

Kyle is still doing great too. We went over the Plan of Salvation with him last Tuesday and he said at least twice "wait hold on, you just blew my mind" :) Yes he does know the bible pretty well Dad, they use the king James version too, so at least hes comfortable with scripture language. The things he was most excited about learning the truth about were how Adam and Eves fall was a neccesary step in Gods plan, not a mistake, and the Spirit Prison. He liked how people can hear the Gospel in Spirit, especially when they never heard it here. We explained thats why family history is so important, so that we can find those people, which was especially interesting to him because thats what got him into taking the lessons in the first place. You can see the puzzle pieces fitting together in his head, its an awesome thing to be a missionary. Between our last last lesson and that one he had re-read 1st and 2nd Nephi and also 3rd Nephi :O and this time he had highlighted things and written down questions he had.

We're really happy with these 3. We just are having a really hard time finding more :) It seems like they are either ridiculously prepared or not at all. Not complaining though, I like rediculouly prapared just fine.

Last night we had a classical concert at the 1st Ward building. There are two retired world traveling musicians in the ward. All the pieces were really good, but more importantly there were a TON of non-members there. It was almost 50-50 members to non. Now if we could only do that for normal church services :)

The weather here is...Wisconsin-like, which is to be expected since we're in Wisconsin. Today the high is 43 and on thursday we're expecting more snow. BUT the trees are very very slowly starting to bloom, at least some are. Judging by how many dead plants there are around here, when everything blooms again its going to look beautiful.

This morning we got a referal from Salt Lake from a guy who is apparently Atheist and is "very interested in converting from atheism and joining the church." He also doesn't want any phone calls, but for us to come over instead. It could either be a trap or a sincere person in search of God. You never know in WI, and especially in Madison (Mad-town). I'll tell you how it went next time. It'll be kinda like a cliffhanger in a book or show: Next time on 'Elder Julian and the adventures in the Frozen North'. Will Elder Julian be kidnapped and held for randsom by a mob of crazy anti-religionists?!?! Or will golden inv. #4 be found?!?! Tune in next time for the answer. Ya Mom maybe you shouldn't read that last part. O wait, if your reading this you must've already read that.

Thanks for getting the whole plaque thing done, it looks good, minus the blurriness. Hope it wasn't an after shock from the earthquake :)

Enjoy the blossoms and have a great week!

Love

Hey family,


Those are really cool pictures. I can't beleive there are so many of those ceramic soldiers, did they used to be holding spears? or maybe some soda? Those wizard of oz costumes look awesome, was Abby Dorthy? How many plays have you been in now Abby? You must be a pro by now.

So the college kid turned out to not be a college kid, hes actually a consultant for a company that builds refugee camps for foreign countries. And the appointment went great! He now has a date for July 2! His name is Kyle by the way. Hes just as awesome as Gestina in that he takes notes and asks amazing questions. When we went over there he said he was sorry that he hadn't read a lot of the B of M, he had only read past Nephi... he ment he read all of 1st and 2nd Nephi in a week. Most inv. don't read that far in a month. He got curious about the church when he was doing family history and came across the churchs site and decided to go to a family history center. He said the people there were so friendly he was curious what the church was all about so he decided to order a B of M, hence the referal. He grew up Amish, but when he asked God if it was ok to leave he said he felt it was. Its interesting how Heavenly Father directs peoples lives to come in contact with the missionaries.

Gestina is still going strong too. Shes really excited for her baptism and is in the process of setting up the program. She even invited her Mom from Milwaukee (who she was pretty sure woulnd't come) who will now be coming for both the baptism and the confirmation (which happens to be on Easter)!

Then yesterday one of our inv. who has been investigating for about a month and a half, but has been in contact with the church for more than a year, has decided she wants to be baptized. We're most likely be setting a date with her this wed.

We ALSO had a former inv. randomly show up at the campus ward too. He stayed for all 3 hours.

So thanks for all the prayers and support, I really appreciate it, but I'm sure the people we're teaching will appreciate it more.

Thats cool James wants to go to BYU for sure, should be fun. I asked some more missionaries what they thought of Nauvoo house and they said it was pretty nice.I'm kinda excited about it. Still don't know what I want to get into yet, but I have a plan. While I'm on my mission I'm just going to stick to being 100% missionary and then when I'm done I'm going to figure it out, instead of spending too much time thinking about it.

The weather here is getting a little nicer, its about 60 today. The plants are almost budding, but mostly still look dead, everything happens a little bit slower here. We have had a couple of cool thunderstorms here. We had a freak warm blast yestertag where it got up to 80 and about 300000% humidity, but now its back to 60 so you really can't predict anything. We don't have to wear suit coats anymore though :)

As for the riots and stuff, we were downtown the other day, right by the capitol about to catch a bus and saw a group of about 10 protestors with drums and stuff. We were then stopped by a man who started asking us questions about what we believed. Turns out he knew exactly what we believed and was trying to prove us wrong (what do they expect we're just going to say "O wow your right, and then get on the next plane home....). Anyways after about 20 min of this we said we had to go so they walked off, the protestor group was like 60 strong now, making all sorts of whooping and wailing. The funniest thing that happened was this guy on a bike with a sign came speeding by screaming "GO WALKER, WE LOVE YOU WALKER!!!" right through the protestors. Madison is probably the most entertaining area I've been in so far.

Well have a great week! Enjoy the weather!

Love

Hey family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Well for your birthday I got pictures of the capitol building. They're not the most spectacular cause I was snapping them while waiting for a bus, but I tried. Hope you had a good day.

This week went ok. We've been getting a lot of referals lately. We got one from a college kid who wanted a B of M, the lesson went really well and we have another appointment with him on tuesday. The other 3 referals didn't go so good... The most peculiar one was a man who just wanted to learn english. He currently speaks about 10 words and had a friend who said we could teach him english so she refered him to us. Turns out hes from Afganistan, hes Muslim, and has no interest whatsoever in learning about Jesus Christ (all this was found out through hand gestures and fragmented sentences). But before we found out all of this we tried to explain what we actually did, so I got on his computer and went to the russian lds.org (his friend speaks russian) to help explain what we did, then went on to the conference talks from last year and pulled up one page in Farsi and one in English. We listened to a talk in Farsi by Elder Uchtdorf (I picked one that was pretty universal) that they really liked. Anyways we told them we wouldn't come back but that they should look up like an English for begginers class or something....

Gestina is still doing great. She went to both of the Sunday sessions of G.C. and took notes on stuff that stuck out to her. The last lesson we did with her was on the Word of Wisdom and following the prophet. She took it really well, but had some Qs about coffe and tea (as they always do) but by the end understood why and commited to keep it. She also commited to find out whether Pres. Monson is a prophet. What a perfect chance to find out, G.C. ( no not game cube, James...)! This week we are teaching her about temples and the Law of tithing and fasting.

So something very important I have learned, how to say chipmunk in German; Backenhornchen! So yes I am learning more German.

The weather here is getting marginally nicer, its around 50 regularly. Although it did snow last Fri...so usual WI weather, can't decide what it wants to do.

Thanks for the prayers for new inv. We recently had a loss of inv. (no one was relly that interested in actuallty DOING things) so we're down to 2 or 3 solid ones. Your prayers help. The mission has recently just started a push on 'finding' so the next couple of district meeting topics are on that and the upcoming zone conference. Apparently low inv. numbers are a problem all over the mission, not just in the areas I'm in :)

happy B-day again Dad, have a great week family!

Love

Hey family,




Glad to hear you're ok. We didn't hear much about the earthquake, just that it was big and a couple of people were killed of the coast of CA.

Yep, Mike's baptism went well and so did his confirmation. He is now a fully-fledged member. We've already talked to him about the priesthood and he is going to start meeting with Bishop so he can get it in the next couple of weeks, right as I'm leaving.  From the secret zone leader itinerary it says I'm going to be in the Madison zone. Its one of the only 2 zones I haven't served in yet, so I'm pretty excited about it. I've also been called to be a district leader now. I'm really glad about that for a couple reasons; I don't have as much responsibilty (gets old after a while with all the meetings and such) and I get to do trainings and other DL stuff. So there really aren't a lot of reasons, but its something new, so I'm happy. Elder Warr is going to get one of the Milwaukee North ZLs and Elder Saunders is training ANOTHER new missionary (poor guy).

O, very important, before I forget. I have 2 large packages I'm sending to Nanny and Papas full of random papers and baptism programs and planners and stuff. If you could tell them not to open them until I get there and that I'll just sort out all the stuff myself that would be great. Also tell them THANK YOU!

Thanks for the prayers, they're helping of course. We found a lot of potentials in miraculous ways. Now it's just a matter of Elder Warr and his new comp teaching them all. 2 part member family's records have very recently popped out of nowhere even though they have been living here for 2 years and 9 years. Both of those families (including the non-member parts) are willing to take the lessons. So thank you for the prayers.

Well the parking meter has about 5 min left so we gotta go. Have a great week.

Love

Hey family,


 A beer brat is a brat cooked in beer. I was joking.

Mikes baptism went really good. We had a lot of support from the ward and some of them even brought cookies :O There weren't even any hitches like people forgetting towels (has happened at nearly every baptism). Elder Warr did the actual baptism and I gave a talk, then Bishop will confirm him next Sun. He wasn't confirmed this week because we had a regional conference. Elder Cook, the presiding Bishop, and Pres. Eyering spoke (broadcast from Utah). It was a really good conference. Melisa's (Mike's now wife) son is going to be baptized next week in Neenah, which ish nieshe. The only problem is now we have no progressing inv. so thank you for your prayers.

No I don't mind keeping my moving date for the 15th if it will jive with the plan better. It'll be good for you to support James as a family.

Thanks again for all the stuff for my B-day. I hung my banner up above my bed and I'm going to leave it up until I leave.

O ya about the picture with the dancing gorilla. There are a few famous dancing mascots in Appleton, the gorilla probably being the most famous. I always thought the gorilla was as tall as me, turns out he/she is a midget. Anyways whoever it is is pretty funny. The dancing staue of liberty lady is next.

So I don't have a lot to say, not alot happened. O I did go back to Oneida for the last time, got to say goodbye to everyone there. It was really good to know I made an impact, people still remember my name :O I even got to help out at the stable one more time. I took some pictures of horses and stuff and got to say goodbye to Scott.

Have a great week! Hope Abby gets better

Love

Hey family,


Thanks for all the birthday wishes and for the pizza and everything else you've done. The toppings on the pizza were great and it was even papa johns. Whats funny was that 10 min before I got it I was like "hey, we should order some pizza" At that point everyone (Elder Saunders, Loder, Warr) was already in on the plot and said "na, thats ok we'll just make something here." Its was pretty good timing. The cake was surprisingly good. I had a great b-day yesterday. No it doesn't feel any different to be 21, although Dad did give me a good idea, beer brats. I'll have to try that out tonight.

Mikes doing good. Hes more ready for baptism than we thought. His date is for the 5th and we have 2 more lessons with him before that. We had a really good man to man...to man with him the other day about why hes doing this and if he understands its a life long commitment and such. So far everything is falling into place.

As for new inv. we did find a couple of new ones. One man, Manuel, we found when we were trying to find a LA lady. Hes speaks only a little English so me and one of the Spanish Elders went over to teach him. Turns out he used to be taught by missionaries in CA, but when he and his wife split up and he moved here he lost all contact with the church. Just so happens we 'accidentally' found him and now he has a date for the 26th of March. Of course, now hes the Spanish Elders' inv. but I'm ok with that, at least we found someone who was prepared in Appleton.

About the whole leaving 6 days later, I'm happy I get to stay a little later, really sad I don't get to leave with Elder Allred, Lyons, Smalie and everyone (big going away dinner, testimonies, telling stories, flight back with everyone, etc.), happy I get to see everyone at the airport. I think i would have rather left as normal and just seen you later, but this way is ok too. At least this way I can have the classic 800 people there to welcome me back thing (even if its only 8 or 9 :)

Thank you all for the prayers, we need every little thing we can get.

Have a great week!

Love

Hey family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!! Hope you had a fun party and weekend!

Ya I think ldsmail was just being stupid that day. The leadership meeting was really good, we just went over the new MTC cirriculum. We recieved a lot of revelation for our inv., they seem to kind of be coasting.

The wedding last Sat. went really well. It was only Mike and Melisa's families who were invited and then us, so not too big of a group.The ceremony itself was pretty short with the picture taking afterwards being longer. Then everyone went bar hopping for a couple hours (including Mike......) and met up again at a restaurant called Saleas for an amazing dinner. The bill was $500! I think we'll just go to McDonalds for mine.... O but there was a bat in the chapel for the whole wedding, Bishop made us get it afterwards. Don't worry I got the whole thing on tape (digital tape that is). I might have the Bentleys try and send it to you.

Sunday went good, except we had NO recent converts or inv. at church. It also snowed a TON yesterday and all through the night. The roads are horrible, but kinda fun, lots of skidding. Then whats even better was last night in the blizzard we went to our mission leaders house for dinner and right at the end the power went out, so on the way home it was blizzarding (yes it a word, at least here in WI) and the power was out. Unfortunantly the lights came back on in 10 min, we WERE going to have a campout and make smores. So now its Mon and we've already shoveled out the Bentleys and Lindsay. I have before and after pics, the drift and the end was like 6 feet tall.

..(editing)... Which brings me to the next topic, yes I am going to be a fully fledged adult on Sun. My first order of buisness will be to buy beer and make beer brats, just kidding (or am I?). I found that old batman hood from when I was like 2 the other day. I don't think I put that in there, so I'm thinking you snuck it in.

O ya when we were at our mission leaders house we were showing them how to link different things to their blogs and such and I showed them your profile. It is really hard to search for people on that thing, not to hard to find you because your the only Karen in asia, but to find someone nemed Jim in America is impossible. Anyways the church is really pushing using mormon.org, and I agree the internet is the tracting of tommorow.

OK I'll send some more pictures now,

Have a great week!

Love

WOW. Ok I just wrote a huge long email that was very detailed and when I wrote it it got erased, but sent the pictures... wow. (Editor's note - picutures didn't arrive :(  )


Anyways the jist was, yes the library was actually closed because of Valentines day, Appleton was the only one in WI closed of course.

this week we had a 3-day long leadership in Milwaukee, I got to spend a couple hours with Elder Harper after one of the meetings. Hes grown a lot since I met him. We also got to go through Milwaukee (got lost) and saw the Brewers stadium (picture).

No I don't think I'd like it if you came and picked me up, I couldn't do anything fun with you guys because I won't be released yet. You'll prob have to send my records to Nanny and Papas ward so I can be released when I get there.

As for the job thing I got it and will fill it out.


Um, Mikes doing good getting married tomorrow, boys are doing good, Kenneth came in 4th at his spelling B.

Love

-Guess it didn't work again, good thing I copied it-

Hey family,

Ya Saturday we got transfer calls, I'm staying in Appleton with Elder Warr (longest comp. of my mission) for another transfer. I'm pretty happy about it, Appletons a great place. There were actually only two missionaries transferred this week, and according to the itinerary Elder Harper is going to be in my zone now! I'm pretty sure he's going to be in Fon Du Lac. To answer your question Dad it would be my last area because one transfer is 6 weeks and usually 'they' don't put missionaries in one area for only one transfer therefore I probably only have one more area. Now its almost definite since I only have 2 transfers left after this one.

The baptisms were awesome! I baptized Jonathan and E.W. baptized Kenneth, then switched for their confirmations yesterday. The second ward had a baptism that same day and same time, except nobody scheduled the building from their ward so there was a little confusion. Anyway we got it figured out and it all turned out great. O and the boys forgot their towels so they were freezing cold while we found some more (that was pretty funny). The boys' non-member probably future Dad was there and to their confirmation which was surprising, but good. There were a total of 9 baptisms on Sat. throughout the mission. THEN after the baptisms there was a ward party thingy with food and games (it wasn't a coincidence we scheduled the baptism before the party) that everybody stayed for. It was a little hectic, but at least we got to meet some non-members in a casual setting.

Yes Dad I have the Steelers helmet in my possession. I kinda hope the Packers win too, for the sake of missionary work, and I'd be able to say they won the superbowl while I was on my mission there for me before I left.

We had a stake priesthood meeting last night in Neenah (biggest building in WI) with the whoe Appleton stake. It was one of the best ones I've ever been to plus I got to see all my Oneida peeps and the missionaries who are leaving the zone one more time. Most importantly, however, was that there was ice-cream.

Mike is doing great. His baptism is scheduled for the 26th (confirmation on my b-day). His wedding is on the 19th at the kirche and then he's taking everyone out to dinner at a fancy place. We've done most of all the official 'lessons' with him and he understands and takes it all in very well so hes in good shape. He is now our only solid inv. so thank you for praying that we can find more prepared people. I'm glad both me and Elder Warr are going to be here for his baptism, it wouldn't be right any other way.

Have a great week and stay warm (everyone always says that to us, but its impossible because its 10 degrees outside).

Love

Hey family,

So you got an asignment to Germany huh, thats pretty cool. I personally would like it if you were in the US, but we don't always get what we want . Thats part of this life, to learn to align our wills with the Lords will. Speaking of Germany, one of the Elders in Oneida was in Germany at the same time we were, his Dad is in the air force. Small world. Thats funny the school cancelled school with only 2 inches, here they don't close school unless they get a HUGE blizzard, the roads are just cleared too darn fast.



Front desk of PDC





Ya the PDC (paper discovery center) is pretty cool. You should look it up online. We had this whole 4th grade class from a school around here come in, it was like 100 kids. It was pretty fun, if anything we're getting really good at teacing people how to make paper.



Yes, J and K are still doing good, everything is lined up for the 29th. There are going to be 5 baptisms in the zone on that day, which is the most in one week since I've been in Appleton. The zone did really good this week, which is encouraging. I'm going to Oshkosh for 3 days on exchanges with the DL, should be fun. Mike is also doing good, but won't be able to come to church for the next couple weeks so his date will have to be moved back. Otherwise we are going over 2 a week and having really good lessons with their family.



For Dad: I can't believe both the Packers and the Steelers are going to the superbowl. I've never had a bigger moral dilemma in my life. You'll have to tape it so I can watch it later, eventhough I'll already know who won within a second of it being over; either there will be a parade or a riot in the streets. And yes I secretly want the Steelers to win, but if the Packers win it might make for good tracting.

Thats funny what Abby did in football, maybe moving back to Germany isn't the best thing for her....joke (ish). They grow up so fast.

Zone conference is once every 3 months. And transfers are this Sat., theres a 50-50 I'll be leaving to go to my last area.... :(



 Motion censor sneeze-thingy



Hope you all have a great week!

Love

Hey family,


Mom, you are a genious. We've been trying to come up with names for old missionaries all week, but ripe missionaries is definitely the best. I'll make sure it spreads like wildfire. Ya I think its finally hitting me that I'm a ripening missionary, its kinda cool, but also really stinks....ha.

The snow isn't too bad. WI really doesn't live up to all the hype, it doesn't get THAT cold and doesn't snow THAT much. It is going to get down to -9 on Wed without windchill, and a high of 3 (probably feel like -10ish) which is the coldest its been while ive been here. Its usually around 20, which isn't bad. Appleton is amazing at getting snow off the roads with these huge plows that clear a lane and a half while dumping out like a million gallons of salt so its really nothing any new missionaries should be worried about (or moms..). Its been snowing consistently for the last week, probably a total of about a foot or two. We always wish it snows because it means more service oppurtunities. We are yet to make a snowman, but it will happen. Your poor snowman is wilting.

Ya J and K are doing great. Yami (their Mom) was in FL for the week so the boys had to come by themselves (dropped off by the sitter). We were going to pick them up at the curb, but they came right in and started walking into the chapel by the time we found them. They are going to be a great addition to the YM program in a year or two. They even stopped drawing and put their folders away for the sacrament and then listened to some of the talks. Pretty amazing kids.

Mike is also doing good, they weren't able to make it to church yesterday because Melisa (his fiance whos a member) has the flu. We do have an appointment to meet with him on tuesday and we're going to talk about Temples and eternal families. He does have a date for Feb 5., which is 2 days after transfers so if one of us leaves its going to stink. When we were teaching him last week about prophets we asked him what he thought of the idea that there was a prophet on the earth today. He sat there for a little bit then said "I don't know, I'll have to pray about it." He is so solid. It seems like in this mission (I don't know about other ones) that either someone really gets it or they really don't, not a lot of middle ground. Mike gets it. Thank you for your prayers for the people we're teaching.

Ya the training was really fun and I geuss it paid off because the zone set 8 news dates since last week! 16 for the mission. To answer your question, it was at the last zone conference last, last fri. We also had some trainings by the mission Pres and assistants. Then of course we did some roleplaying and stuff. Zone conferences are usually good overall, though they can go a little long sometimes.

Um other random stuff, the Hmong missionaries moved in with us into our town house (3 bed, 2 bath, 2 floors and a basement). So once again I am with Elder Saunders a lot. Hes training this transfer, Elder Loder from CA. We are now doing service at the ' Paper Discovery Center' which is a lot cooler then it sounds. We get to give tours and help people make paper (we are experts now). Its a little unorthadox, but a great way to talk to families. Every time we've gone people have asked us who we are and what we do. They also do origami stuff ;)

Ok have a great week everyone,

Love

Hey family,


Why thank you, I try to take good pictures. Its not everyday we get to go to the Temple, might as well make them good.

No we haven't got any real snow again since the big storm, just a couple inches here and there. Your snowman looks pretty funny, maybe you should give him a chair to sit on or something, maybe hes just tired. No we haven't made a snowman yet, haven't had enough time, but we will when it snows next. Sister Jones made two in front of the mission home and put tags and everything on them. Their names are Elder Snow and Elder Man... ya.

Ya it was sad to see Oscar and Alma go, but like you said theres a better situation in Texas for them. Kenneth and Jonathon (or Kennethon and Jonath as I like to call them) are doing great as usual. Came to church again yesterday and were going over tomaroow to finish up getting them ready for baptism. They've made a goal to finish all of 2 Nephi before their baptism on the 29th and I think they'll do it. They are quick readers, they read the last 14 chapters of 1 Nephi in 1 day. We also have a new investigator named Mike who is a returning member's fiance. Hes been to church the last 2 weeks and is planning on getting baptized, we just need to set the date with him (tomarrow too) and he'll be on his way. So you asked what we did to get people ready for baptism; funny you should ask, we just gave a training on getting pepole from their date to the font. Theres a lot of stuff that goes into it, but here are the basics; Keep frequent contact (daily if possible), get members involved in the teaching, follow up regularly, teach to their needs (don't give them a bandaid for a cold), leave commitments to their needs, use the B of M in every teaching appointment (the B of M is the Keystone of our religion and should therefore be the Keystone of their testimony), etc. Pretty much just the classic missionary stuff, but the key is love and consistancy. We had an object lesson that went along with it to show how precious inv are: each district (3) had to get an egg down a slanted table without it braking with only garbage sacks, paper, and tape. They only had fifteen min to put the blockade together and then they had to let the egg go at the top and watch it roll down. Kind of hard to explain, I'll get pics for next week. 2 out of the 3 got the egg down without it breaking.

Tell Abby congrats on scoring the basket and winning the game! Shes a good representitive of the Suns. Thats a cool FHE activity, thanks for doing your part in missionary work, doesn't it feel good? Whats the art retreat thing James went to all about?

No we don't have any name for old missionaries, but we'll make one up and start spreading it. Sometimes when they're really old, about to go home, we'll call them dying missionaries, but youve heard that one.

O funny story before I forget. Elder Warr and I walked into a Taco Bell with the area book (its big and navy blue) and one of the employees came up to us and asked if we needed to see the manager. We should have said yes and then asked for free food, if only we didn't know better...

Hope you have a great week!

Love

Hey family,

I'll get the Bentleys your email and they can give you their address, I forgot again :( but she'll want to talk to you anyways probably. No, they live in Appleton on Bateman. Don't worry Mom the presents were perfect, especially the pants. Strangely enough a couple nights before Christmas I was thinking "these pants (of the pajama variety) of mine are too thick and hot, I need something made of a lighter material" and then BAM I got the pants you made. So thank you for reading my mind ahead of time and making them. They are especially cool because they don't have a front or a back, as far as I can tell, so putting them on is that much easier.

You got 5 inches of snow, wow. Hope you could still open the door with all that snow..... Hope you have enough wood for the stove to last you the winter.... *sarcasm* Thats actually a fairly good amount. That snowman is awesome, I like the eyelashes and cap, very original. We haven't built any yet, but the Hmong and Oneida Elders built a pretty good snow cave out of a drift. We need another storm though, there's not a lot of snow left.

Ya the temple was awesome. We did some baptisms (I baptized a very big man, 6' 4" ish, prob weighed 270, good exercise) for Bro Bently's ancestors and then did sealings for like 40 people while Elder Warr went to a wedding of one of his cousins. It was a really good time. Chicago is the closest from a-town and takes about 2 hours 45 min in a minivan so I got a lot of good sleep in.

Well it's official, Oscar and Alma are moving to Texas til April :( We're saying goodbye to them right after this. We're going to get in touch with the missionaries there and tell them about O and A. They went to the Spanish speaking ward down in Neenah yesterday with the Spanish Elders, which was awesome.

Kenneth and Jonathon also came to church again yesterday. Their baptism is going to be in late Jan (prob the 29) and they are both really excited for it. Thank you for all the prayers, I know they are helping.

Yes Dad I love the people.....and the missionaries.... and the animals.....and the packers (who beat the bears!)

Hope you have a fantastic week everyone!

Love