January 2014

January 6, 2014

Hey!
So it is kinda sweet! When I first got out here I served in Manchester right? It was part of the Cedar Rapids zone. I am now serving in Cedar Rapids as a zone leader! So I am back in my first zone! But sadly the zone split with all the new missionaries and my first area is in the other zone, but I was close to being able to go back there on exchanges. And I am with an awesome missionary, Elder Tyler Porter from Idaho! He is pretty great! We are getting along great and doing great work. I am excited to be serving here, except I miss Clinton a lot! But Oh well.

I get to go back for Will's baptism in February!!! President Jensen said we can go if I get a member to take us. So I just need to find a willing member! It's only an hour and a half away, so I think that it will work out! I am so excited for it.

So my first day here we taught this amazing sister! Her name is Sister Fernandez and she is blind. It was so amazing to watch her read the Braille Book of Mormon to us. It is truly amazing that a bunch of bumps on a piece of paper can turn into words in someone's mind. Truly a gift from God! I was humbled a lot when we went over there! I have it so easy, when real people have so many problems! We are so blessed! Love you all!
Love,
Elder Elder

Here is my new address:
419 F Ave. NW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52405

These were my investigators in Clinton! Gary and Kayla. We helped them get married and are working on baptisms. Hopefully they continue learning when I leave!

Liz and Sean's family! I miss them!

Elder Porter, he is great! He wanted me to tell you that he didn't do his hair today, so don't judge the picture too much.

The Richards family! I got permission to go back to Clinton on the 1st for Will's baptism!

New Year's Eve at the Buers

January 12, 2014

Hey!
Yesterday was my 16-month mark! Crazy right? Soon it will be Mother's Day and I will get to talk to you all again. Wow, I can't believe that Makaila is old enough to go on a mission. Everyone I know is old now and moving on in life. It is crazy and exciting! So did I tell you that I get to go back to Clinton on the 1st? Will Richards wants me to go back and baptize him! I am pretty excited about this. I love my new area, but Clinton will forever have a place in my heart. I just love everyone there so much. And, no, I have not found a family like the Kellers yet! :( I miss that family a lot, but I am actively looking for someone who I can call mom here... haha. So, I have been really bad at money management this week. I might need a little money from my home card, but I will do my best to not need it. Every time we have a missionary meeting all of the missionaries think that they need to go out to eat somewhere expensive like Olive Garden! And we have to go with them cause we are the zone leaders, and if we don't go then we can't gain trust with them. But you know me, always getting lots of food! And getting transferred, you always have to spend a little more at the grocery store because there is never the right kind of food at the apartment! But I will try and be more frugal!

Hey, that is cool that Erin wants to play somewhere close at least! And there are much worse places than Rock Springs. I was looking on lds.org just barely and they have a student ward there and everything. So it could be a great place for her to grow. It's Rock Springs, Wyoming right? It's cool that she gets to play soccer with them though! I am a little jealous of her. I would love to go play ball for a school somewhere. It would be a lot of fun!

So Cedar Rapids is kind of right in the middle of Iowa, well sorta. It really isn't close to anything. It is just south about 45 minutes from Manchester and west of Clinton by about 1 hour and 30 minutes. So I think that we are like 3 hours from Nauvoo. Maybe a little less. Hopefully I will get to go back there soon! That temple has such a special spirit. We will all have to come down here as a family and go through it one day.

So a couple cool experiences for you and the family. #1 - We teach the sweetest member here! Her name is Sister Fernandez. She is a blind sister that we read the Book of Mormon with a couple times a week. It is so amazing to watch her read the braille Book of Mormon. It is such a testimony builder for me, and it is quite humbling. I complain way too much and there are people way worse off than me in this world who don't complain and just enjoy life as they can. And the gospel truly can be understood by any and all, in what every situation they may be in!

#2 - We are teaching this one lady here who is really cool. However, the other day she was really struggling. She texted us earlier that day and told us that the lesson we were going to have with her that night was going to be her last one. So we thought long and hard about what we could share with her. When we got to the member's home where we were teaching her, we decided that we were going to watch a powerful Mormon message with her called, "I hope you know that I am having a hard time" by Elder Cook. It is so amazing! She was crying a lot afterwards and then started to tell us that she was really struggling and wanted to end her life. She told us a bunch of other things that have been happening to her and that she was failing as a mother and that Heavenly Father wasn't helping her at all. She was in a pretty dark place. After she shared her feelings with us, we sat in silence for a few seconds and the whole time I was just thinking, "What could I possibly say to make her feel better and help her out?" and right as I was thinking that I remember D&C 121. How Joseph Smith was feeling some of those same feelings and how he wanted to know why God wasn't there for him and the Saints. She really liked it and it started a great conversation that really ended up helping her quite a bit! It was an amazing lesson! Hopefully we will be able to start teaching her again soon! Well, I am out of time! Love you. Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Elder

Elder Porter...

We share an apartment with these Elder, Elder Payne and Elder Sites. They are great and we have a lot of fun!

January 21, 2014

Hey!
I did have a great week! Every week is great out here. I always have a lot of growing opportunities. Every single day! That's what I love about life, every experience we have leads us to become what Heavenly Father wants us to become! He is a great Father and has so much patience and love for us.

I learned something cool in church today. Our minds are always on and thinking. It is impossible to not be thinking of something and our minds pull from what is in our memory. So if we are feeding our minds dirty things, or even just irrelevant things, that is what our mind will draw up to think about. It was a talk all about distractions that Lucifer puts in our paths. It was great. And another thing I learned was that we have been given an inheritance of time while we are in this life, a gift from God, and we need to make sure that we are investing that time on good stuff. If we got an inheritance of money from a relative, we would most likely invest it in a business and get more money out of it right? So why wouldn't we invest our inheritance of time? Kind of an interesting thought huh?

Love you all!
Elder Elder

I spent a good 2 hours cleaning the kitchen when I got here. I was nasty! Missionaries are slobs!

Um... the shower sucks... haha

See, I still make my bed

We live in a two-story home with another set of missionaries

Companions!

Look at this goof! Elder Porter.

January 27, 2014

Hey!!!
Well, I had a great week! Sadly, we were grounded a lot because of the freezing cold weather and the snow, but at least I got to catch up on some much needed sleep! Haha. Actually let's be honest no matter how much you sleep I will always be super tired in the morning. But I just have to get my lazy bum up then I start to wake up more. So we are supposed to work out each morning at least that is what it says in our white handbook of mission rules, but I really have not done good at that on my mission thus far. In face, that is a rule that most missionaries don't do good with. So I have set a goal to work out each this week! And not just a few pushups, I mean a good work out every morning. I mean let's be honest, I have to look good for Lake Powell right? Haha. Oh, questions about that, has anyone said whether or not they are coming with? Just curious...

So I love living with two other missionaries! We have a blast together and being in Cedar Rapids is great too, because everyone in the zone is really close. So on P-days we play lots of basketball! It is an absolute blast. I miss basketball so much, but being here has helped out. I am slowly getting back into better shape. But I still have not gained or lost any weight. I am still at 195 pounds! Which I am pretty excited about. Do you think in your next e-mail you could make a list of some healthy snacks that I could get at the store. Because I still don't eat the greatest. I have gotten better though. I bought a bag of oranges last week. And plan to do so again this week. But I just need some good healthy ideas for breakfast and lunch. Oh, you would be so proud of me. I learned how to use a rice cooker and definitely made dinner for my comp and I. I put some tomato sauce in a pan with red beans and ground sausage, and put that over the rice. Oh man, it was good! But it did make me pretty stinky afterwards for like a whole week, if you know what I mean... haha

Love you all!
Elder Elder