Elder Matthew Bair's Mission Blog

Airport pictures 1

2010-12-16T18:30:00.003-07:00

Just coming out of security.

Mom gets the first hug.

Then Dad gets a hug.

Followed by my sister Christi

And then Grandma Donna.

Airport pictures 2

2010-12-16T18:18:00.007-07:00

Grandpa Milt gets a hug

Niece Grace has grown since I left.

Christi and Westin.

My family.

The whole crowd that welcomed me.

Not much to say... (12/07/2010)

2010-12-07T19:28:00.001-07:00

I don't have much to say. Edgar and Lilian got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. I had the privilege to baptize Lilian while Elder Tom baptized Edgar. It was a very beautiful service. They then were confirmed at church on Sunday. They both seem really content and happy. We now, are teaching Lillian’s sister, Karen, who came to church on Sunday. She is really cool. She has a couple of kids and husband but I guess she and the husband are having a lot of problems. We are trying to help her out. She really wants to get baptized but she is scared. We are trying to get her baptized on the 14th (that just happens to be the day before I go home). We will see though.

We are also working with 2 boys named Christian and Xavian, they are cool kids. Their mother has been inactive for a number of years. She is trying to make her way back at the moment. They too will hopefully be baptized on the 14th. We will see though.

Things are still happening here.....even without a car. Life is good though. I can't complain.

Thank you for all you do.

I love you all

Well Hello! (11/30/2010)

2010-12-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

Things are cold here in Pasco. It has continued to snow and has only been above 32° a couple of times. It mainly has hovered in the high teens with a wind, which makes it cold. It really isn't that bad except the fact that someone slid on the ice and rear-ended us so we are without a car for a little bit and we have to walk everywhere. There have been times where there will be a gust of wind and I just have to stop and close my eyes and hope it stops. It is soooo cold. But, I would not change it for the world. The Lord has extremely blessed us. He is aware of us and at times, I feel like we were supposed to loose our car so we could go out and walk and talk to people. By the way, no one was hurt in the accident.

Things are going well here in Pasco. Edgar and Lilian were able to purchase their wedding license yesterday and are all set to get married on Thursday, then baptized on Saturday. They are an awesome family. They want Lillian’s sister, Edgar’s sister-in-law to be baptized as well. We have an appointment to meet them on Wednesday. It should be good. They are a really good family.

Thanksgiving was fun. We had a couple of dinners, one day we ate tamales, which is what the Hispanics usually eat for their special meals, and then we had the usual turkey and mashed potatoes. It was really good and a fun Thanksgiving. I have, though, never been so cold on Thanksgiving before. (It has been cold if you haven’t noticed!)

Francisco and Maribel are members that live here in Pasco. Maribel is Joel’s twin sister. They have also helped us with Erika and Edgar and Lilian. Well they are going to get sealed in the temple on the 11th of December and they asked me if I would be a witness. I was honored but I didn't really think President Greer would let me go. Well I called him up this morning and he said I could go. I am really excited. I have never been to a live sealing before. And it may be one of the few times I get to witness a sealing where a child is sealed as well.

Anyways. I better get going. Thank you for all you do.

Have a great week!

It is COLD!! (11/23/2010)

2010-11-24T15:47:00.002-07:00

It has progressively gotten colder this week. It has been kind of fun to walk around in the cold weather surprisingly. I have definitely put my big heavy jacket to good use this week. And it seems as though I will be needing it for a while. It snowed last night and it is supposed to snow again soon. The forecast for the low on Wednesday morning is -1° F not C. I couldn't believe it. That is just down right chilly. It has been kind of fun though.

Well we have some very exciting news. Edgar and Lilian are going to get baptized on the 4th of December. They came to church again yesterday and stayed for the whole three hours. Which is awesome. They have always wanted to but with their son Justin being autistic they were always worried. He did pretty well for about one and a half meetings and then his dad had to take him outside. The other day we went over there and Lilian asked if the church married people and we said yes and we found out that they are not married and they said they want to get married and what not. So we told them to get their license and everything and the branch president will marry them. They got excited and said they would. We then asked them after they got married if they would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and before we could finish, he said, "Yeah, I mean no body has told me this is true, like God didn't come down and tell me but I just know that it is. I just have this feeling that it is the right thing to do". It was awesome. He said well for me at least I don't know about Lilian. And she said Yeah I want to do it too. It was awesome.

So we are working on getting them married for this week so they can be baptized on the 4th of December. It should be awesome. Last night we went over the second lesson which is the plan of salvation. The Plan of Salvation is absolutely beautiful and when understood is amazing. But at times, can be very hard to understand. So we were going through the second lesson and Edgar just kept saying it makes sense. It makes sense that we lived with God before this life. It makes sense that we don't remember it because then there would be no test in this life. It makes sense we want to return with God and live with him. It was amazing. She is just happy and giddy all the time. She understands a lot as well, but more importantly she knows this will bless her family. She told us that they have gone through a lot of missionaries but they haven't felt anything until now. They always liked them coming over, they just didn't feel it. We told her that God has timing for everything and this just must have been their time. I also told her that ever since I have met them, when I knew they had an autistic son, I was very interested. To me, it is a very interesting disability. Plus, Alex has it and I just knew a little bit about it. Not a lot but I understand it. So Sometimes, God just puts us in places that will benefit everyone involved.

Well that’s about it. We have been doing a lot of tracting of late trying to find new people to teach. Please remember Edgar and Lilian in your prayers. Keep doing what your doing because your doing really swell. I love you all, Happy Thanksgiving!

From the windy city (11/16/2010)

2010-11-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

It has been very windy here in Pasco the past couple of days. I mean extremely windy. This morning, driving to the library, there were a few signs and trees that had fallen down yesterday. It was pretty exciting.

So we actually had an extra baptism that we weren't expecting this week. Gerardo decided to get baptized on Sunday rather than wait for next Saturday. So he was baptized on Saturday and he will be confirmed next Sunday. He really is a good guy. He understands a lot and has really opened up lately. He has gone through a lot of trials in his life that have been difficult but he has really changed. He will be confirmed on Sunday and will probably receive the priesthood on the same day.

The baptism of Karen and Daniela went really well. I got the privilege of baptizing Karen and Elder Tom baptized Daniela. It was really neat. There weren’t very many people there but it was still very spiritual. Then on Sunday Elder Tom and I switched. I confirmed Daniel and Elder Tom confirmed Karen. They are doing really well

Erika's baptism went awesome as well. I was also privileged to baptize Erika. It was really cool. Once she walked out of the font, she just stopped and started crying. It was really neat. She was confirmed by a member in the branch at her baptism because she had to work on Sunday. Well then she showed up to work on Sunday. They gave her the day off because it wasn't very busy and they knew that she wanted to go to church so she was very happy. She is really progressing well and has been reading and praying every day which is awesome.

Edgar and Lillian came to church again on Sunday. They are doing awesome. We are working with them still. Lilian wants to get baptized but Edgar wants to know 100% so he is really searching. We will be patient with him. There is no need to rush. But they are still doing really well.

Anyway, that’s about all I have. Thanks again for everything.

(11/09/2010)

2010-11-09T19:44:00.001-07:00

So Karen and Daniela are getting baptized tomorrow. (Karen is Edubijes I suppose that Edubijes is just a nickname....don't ask me). Then Erika is going to get baptized on Saturday. It should be awesome.

We also have a new family that is starting to progress. Their name is Edgar and Lilian. They have two kids, Justin (8) and Ashley (5). Justin is severely autistic. They are an awesome family. They have been taught off and on for about a year and half now. They are a family that seems that they would always let the Elders in and always wanted to be taught, but, at the same time, had never been to church and never really wanted to act. Well they came to church on Sunday. They said that one of their biggest fears has always been their son. He isn't very good at sitting still. Well on Sunday, it was testimony meeting as you know and so sacrament meeting ran for about an hour and a half and he stayed still the whole time. They just kept saying how surprised they were. They said it just seemed like something was holding him back. We then talked about baptism. They said if they found out these things were true then they would get baptized. They said they are going to earnestly pray tonight to find out if these things are true. They are a great family.

Gerardo is doing really well. Gerardo is a really really quiet guy and he is really starting to open up. He stayed for all three hours this week. He is making a lot of friends and you can just tell that he is changing. He is a great guy and is set for baptism on the 19th.

I don't know if you remember Carolina or not but she is back on date. She is on date for December 4th. She is a cool girl. I can tell the adversary really doesn't want her to get baptized (just like he didn't want any of us to get baptized) because it seems like every Sunday there is something new. Like this week her daughter was sick. It is frustrating but it is so comforting to know that the adversary will NEVER win.

Well the leaves are really starting to change here. It is really pretty but it sure makes for a big miss, but they are fun to walk on. I am really excited for these baptisms to come up this week. They should be awesome and a really spiritual experience. Erika is a really cool girl. She fasted on Sunday, which is amazing. She also said she wants to go to General Conference in April so she can see a living prophet. She is cool. I ask that you keep her in your prayers this week that she will be able to find a new job. She just started working at Taco Bell but they won’t give her Sundays off, she can come to church but she has to work the rest of the day. So she is looking for a new job.

I love you all. I appreciate you. God loves you more importantly. Imagine if everyone truly understood how much God loved them.

Have a great week.

Qustionaire (11/08/2010)

2010-11-08T19:25:00.003-07:00

We recently sent Matthew a questionnaire (in bold). His responses are italicized.
1. What do people do for work in Pasco? They work in the fields
2. Is it a very big city? The population is about 55,000
3. Is there anything like a college there? Yes, there is a community college called Columbia Basin Community College
4. Is there an airport there? Yes, Tri-cities airport
5. Do the Spanish speaking people seem to live in a certain area or are they all over the city? They are concentrated in one area but they live all over.
6. Are there areas that the signs are in Spanish and every one seems to be speaking Spanish? Yes, the downtown area is pure Spanish
7. What is the weather like? Cold in the mornings and goes up to the high 50s during the day.
8. How many members are in the ward? There are about 160 active members. I don’t know how many there are in total.
9. Is the ward totally Spanish? Yes
10. What is the family like that you are living with? He is the Branch president. They met on their missions in Guatemala. They have three kids, one married and one on a mission.
11. Do they have children at home? One boy
12. What do they do for work? He is a chemical engineer and she is a teacher.
13. Have they been members for very long? Yes, she is the daughter of the the family I lived with in Connell.
14. What are your living conditions like? Separate area of the house, different level, things like that. We live in the basement. We have our own room and bathroom. We go upstairs for the kitchen.
15. Are high school or college sports big in Pasco? High school sports are pretty big.
16. Which area of your mission has been your favorite so far? Why? Probably Yakima because I was there the longest and so I got to know the people the best there.
17. Do the members feed you every night and what kind of food? Yes, usually they ask and I say tacos. But, if not, we get pazole (soup/stew), mole (sauce), caldo (soup), you know the usual.

I suppose the greatest thing I have learned on my mission is my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know he lives. I know he loves us. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know it is the most correct book out there. That is what I have learned.

Hey (11/2/2010)

2010-11-02T20:21:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. Things are going well here in Pasco. We are working hard and we are being blessed in many ways.

Joel is still doing well. He received the priesthood on Sunday and was just elated. He has been trying to share the gospel with others and get their addresses so we can go over. He is really a great guy and is going to make a great member.

Edubijes and Daniella are still doing well. Their baptism has been pushed back once again due to work. They are going to get baptized on the 10th which is next Wednesday. They still want to get baptized it is just that their mother has to work at that time.

Erika is doing awesome! She is on date for baptism for the 13th and she is really excited. The date may be changed because the father of her children is coming back sometime at the end of the month from Mexico and she wants him to be there to see it. She is still REALLY excited to get baptized and she is soaking up everything we are teaching her. In this branch they have “Noches de Hogar”, or family home evenings just about every day, actually, Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday to be exact. It is more like a Family Home Week but that is beside the point. Erica has been going to all of them and is really making a lot of friends with members of the branch. She is awesome. She will get baptized, we just don't know exactly when, but very soon.

Joel's Mom's name is Consuelo. She is an awesome lady. She really doesn't understand anything; she just wants to get baptized. We don't know when it will happen because Joel's dad is being a little stubborn. But it will be soon.

Gerardo is also on date. He too has been going to the Family Home Weeks. He also came to church for the first time on Sunday. He is awesome. He is on date for the 20th. The only struggle with him is that he works a lot so it is hard to meet with him but work should be slowing down here soon.

That's about all I have. Things are going really well. The weather is cooling off, Thanksgiving is on the horizon. I am grateful for a family that is supporting me on this mission. Many people thank me for the sacrifice but, it is you guys with the greater sacrifice. I get to be out here sharing the gospel. You just have to be home and think about what is going on here. Anyways thanks again.

I love you all. God Bless

Pictures (October 2010)

2010-10-26T21:02:00.003-07:00

Joel and his sister, Maribel

Joel and Elder Bair

From left: Elder Tom, Maribel, Mirabel's husband, Joel, Elder Bair

Baptism! (10/26/2010)

2010-10-26T19:28:00.002-07:00

The Baptism on Saturday for Joel was a success. Actually more then a success. Not only did he get baptized, but, there were 18 investigators there. They weren't all our investigators of course but spread out through the three companionships. It was a really good service as well. The talks were good and stayed on topic, which is not always the case.

Edubijes and Daniella came to the baptism. They also came to church the next day. Their baptism got moved to the 6th. They just had too much going on this weekend. They are ready and really want to get baptized.

There was a girl that came to the baptism named Erica. She is awesome. She came up to me after and asked what time do your church services start? So I told her and then she said who can I talk to to learn more about your church? I probably got a huge smile on my face as I said “ME!” So she came to church the next day and then we set up an appointment for Monday. She is a single mom. She has a 2 year old and a child this is a month old. The dad just left and went to Mexico and she is going through a lot. She is currently living with five older guys that all rent out this little apartment but she is going to move in with a member, the one that took her to the baptism. We are helping her move tonight. She has gone to quite a few churches but she just hasn't felt right. She really opened up to us yesterday which means she is really looking for something. She doesn't feel that God loves her. We talked about that and she began to realize how much he did. How he had blessed her with two absolutely beautiful children. She is really looking for something and I pray that we are able to find out what it is a give it to her.

Diego and Alyda are doing all right. We went by a couple times. They have a desire. They did read a little bit so that is good, although they didn't come to church like they promised.

One more thing about Joel. Sunday he and his brother-in-law worked with us from 4:30 to 9. It was awesome. We got into one door and you could tell that Joel was a little shell shocked. Then we tried probably 5-7 other doors with no luck. So we knock on this one door and they didn't answer. So we go downstairs and are walking to the car and Joel says to me "we need to say a prayer so God will let us get into these peoples’ homes". My jaw about dropped. So we get in the car and Francisco, the brother-in-law offers the prayers. No sooner than we say amen, they open the door and Joel sees in and yells up "were coming!" So we run up there and have an awesome lesson. Joel bore his testimony of the changing power of the gospel. It was awesome. He is such a good guy. He said he is going to ask all of his co-workers and his friends for their address so we can go visit them.

Grandma-Thanks for the package I got it last night. I really appreciate it

Did the Ward Young women get my letter I sent to them? I sent it to Sister Brown. I was just wondering.

Anyway I better get going. I love you all.

Success! (10/19/2010)

2010-10-19T19:04:00.002-07:00

Elder Tom and I have been blessed with a lot of success right now. It is certainly nothing Elder Tom or I are doing but that the Lord has been preparing people in this part of his vineyard and we have just been blessed with being able to be here right now.

Here is a run down of who we are teaching....

Joel - He is going to get baptized this Saturday. He is awesome. He has such a desire to change and do what is right. We taught him about fasting last week and then he fasted on Sunday. I don't think I have ever met anyone that has fasted before their baptism. He has been so fun and rewarding to teach. Hopefully, since he is only 22, we can get him to go on a mission.

Edubijes and Daniella are doing really well. They are understanding what we are teaching them and they have a desire to get baptized. They are cool girls. We went by the other day and talked to them about the Word of Wisdom. They understood it and it was pretty fun to teach.

Carolina - Carolina is an 18-year-old girl that has 2 kids. The oldest being 2. She just separated from her husband because he was beating her and her 2 kids. She just wants to change her life. That's what she keeps saying. She is a cool girl. She is scheduled for baptism in November.

Diego and Alyda - They just moved here from the great city of Phoenix because of the Arizona immigration law. They are a cool family. They have 3 kids and one on the way. They are looking for a church. She has talked with missionaries before. They have a lot of questions. I mean A LOT of questions. We taught them the first lesson last night and committed them to be baptized and they said if the were 100% sure that they would. And that they would start praying tonight if they should. It was awesome.

Gerardo - He is a friend of a member. We went by and read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with him to get him to start reading it. It went really well. He wants to have peace in his life like his friend (the member) does.

Angelica - She is a friend of the same member (she is a great member missionary). Her husband got deported and they don't know when he will be back. She has 3 kids and is raising them alone. She also is looking for peace and comfort. We talked to her about reading the Book of Mormon and looking for that peace.

So there are a couple of more but those are the main people we are teaching. I am having a lot of fun. Elder Tom is really progressing. His Spanish has probably doubled.

Well I better get going. I love you all and keep doing what you are doing.

Pasco, WA (10/12/2010)

2010-10-12T19:46:00.002-07:00

Hello from Tri-cities, Washington. I am in the heart of the mission now. I am serving in Pasco, in the Pasco 5th Branch which is the biggest branch in the mission. There are about 200 people who attend in non-fruit picking season, and it has three sets of missionaries covering and it is keeping us busy.

My new companion is Elder Tom. He is from Marysville, California. His heritage is Native American, Navajo to be more specific and so that throws the Hispanics here for a spin. His Spanish is really good for just coming out to the field. He has progressed a lot in the week that he has been here and I am sure it is due to 1) hearing real people speak it fast, and 2) Not being so nervous and just talking. He is a good Elder and ready to work hard.

The work here is great. We have three baptisms coming up. One is a brother of a member. His name is Joel. He is awesome. He has had some struggles in his life with addictions and other related things but he is so willing and ready to change. Both times we have gone over there he has asked to say the closing prayer and both times he has asked for forgiveness. We challenged him to do it on his own too. Then the next time we asked him how it went and he just got this big smile on his face and just said great. He is awesome. He is scheduled for the 23rd.

The other two are young girls, Edubijes and Daniela. They are daughters of a Recent Convert. They are cool girls. They have been going to primary so they know the answers. They are going to be baptized on the 31st of October

The Pasco stake is awesome. They have set a goal to have 110 baptisms but the end of the year. Well as of right now they have had 68. We had a meeting last Thursday with the stake presidency and all of the ward mission leaders to get things going. We are going to work as hard as we can as a stake to get the 42 baptisms that we need. It should be a lot of fun a really rewarding.

Things are going great. Thank you all for all you do. Have a great week.

Well (10/05/2010)

2010-10-05T20:06:00.002-07:00

Well, as I said two weeks ago, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I know that I was sent to Milton-Freewater for a reason and I have found those reasons

First reason is how important members are in the conversion of Our Heavenly Father’s Children. The ward was very good at missionary work. They may not get the baptisms that some wards get but, we did have a baptism on Sunday and it didn't even feel like one because we really didn't do much. They took care of all of the details and planning. It was quite nice.

Sometimes I feel, as the missionary, that I am supposed to do all of the planning and get everything set up. I feel that these ward members are too busy to do anything and since this is my job I can just get it set up. But that's not the case. We need the help of the members.

Another thing I learned is the Lord listens to everyone’s prayers. He understands what you are going through. He realizes your pains and your joys. I felt as though Elder Holland stood up and talked to me as he gave his talk to open General Conference. Speaking of Conference I thought it was amazing. I got the chills as the MTC choir sang "Hark all ye Nations". We always sang that in the MTC and I thought they did an excellent job. Also, who knew that they had glasses of water underneath the pulpit? I wonder if they have several or if they all have to drink out of the same glass?

Anyways, I don't know where I am off to but I do know I am getting a companion that is flying in today from the MTC. I am excited and humbled. Everything will be great.

Well I would like to thank everyone for your prayers. I thank Chad for his letters. Keep up the good work. I know the Lord is watching over us. I testify that we do not walk alone. Never.

I love you all.

Well (08/21/2010)

2010-09-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life the Lord tries us. He doesn't do it to punish us, he doesn't do it because he is mad at us. He does it because he knows it will make us tougher. I have been transferred this week over to Milton Freewater, Oregon. I really am not excited about it. It is going to be tough. It is an English ward which I have nothing against English people it's just that I was called to teach Spanish people. We do Spanish work, we just don’t attend a Spanish branch. We also don't have a car and I don't have a bike so I don’t know what I am going to do there. This is something that is going to be really hard. I was unable to say good-bye to anybody over in Vancouver because I had to go right then. It is one of the hardest things I have done thus far in my mission/life. I know the Lord has a plan for me. I know he loves me and I know I will have a purpose in Milton Freewater, I just need to find it.

I did receive word that Ingrid is on date for baptism the 9th of October so that is really exciting. She is an awesome lady and will do great things in the church. I will really miss her. That’s about all I have to report on from Vancouver. Like I said, it was a sudden change, but I suppose the only constant in life is change.

I love you all. I know that the Lord loves us as well. Have a great week. I will check in next week from Oregon I suppose.

Hey Hey Hey (09/14/2010)

2010-09-14T19:56:00.001-07:00

Well things are going well here. The weather is once again cloudy on p-day but sunny the rest of the week.

We had a good Sunday and a good week. We had four people come to church, Ingrid, Domingo, Jorge and Jorge’s brother-in-law Mario

Ingrid was doing really well on Sunday. She came to church and we had to teach the lesson in gospel principles and so I had her be my scribe, since we all know how my handwriting is like. To quote dad, it is atrocious. Well anyway, everything was fine until Monday about lunch time. I got a call from Sonia that Gino had left Saturday night and was supposed to be back on Sunday but as of Monday at about 1 was still not back and that Ingrid had left to go look for an apartment. I don't know what had happened after that but Ingrid and Sonia and Ingrid’s two daughters are planning on moving out. I don't know how they are going to do it because Ingrid works for Gino so I don't know how they will have financial help. But we will see. I hate to see a family separate but then again Ingrid is very smart and is very in tune with the spirit for not being a member so I trust her judgment.

Well I better get going we ran out of time since we went to the temple today. Everyone else is doing well. I love you all and have a great day. Remember the Lord’s love for you all.

(09/07/2010)

2010-09-07T19:26:00.002-07:00

Elder Randell, me, and Elder Hortin

It is another rainy day in Vancouver. Last night when the sun went down there wasn't a cloud in sight. We wake up this morning and everything is wet and it’s raining. From what I hear, the rainy season is now upon us. I don't know if that means it’s not going to stop until March, but, it has been sunny for the majority of the week with it being breezy and highs in the low 70's to high 60's, I am loving the rainy season. We will see if it gets even more obnoxious later on.

The work here is going really well. Ingrid talked with Gino this last week about church and getting baptized and he said that it is fine. In fact he said if this is something you are really interested in then I want to start going to church with you and see what this is all about. So things are changing. She could get baptized tomorrow, but we just want to teach him as well. We will see how he progresses. To have him even say it is okay is amazing and then for him to say he wants to start attending church is just out of this world. He is a great guy; he just is used to being in control.

Domingo is doing really well as well. He came to church again on Sunday and we stopped by yesterday and he said that he and his wife are planning on attending from now on. He is starting to really change and people in the branch can see it. They say he just has a glow about him now that he didn't used to have. He is an awesome guy that really understands a lot, there is just something that he doesn't understand and we just don't know what it is.

Eddy and Blanca are doing well. They didn't come to church on Sunday but I didn't hear why. They have been reading a little bit which is good. They have a strong desire to change but I think since church starts at 2 on Sunday and they have never been accustom to going to church, it is probably pretty hard to start going.

Jorge and Claudia are doing well. They have been reading a little bit and I can tell that they are happier. As far as I know, he doesn't have a job yet but I can tell that they are happier. They didn't come to church which has been a struggle since we started teaching them, to get them to go consistently. But they are still an awesome family.

Scott- Logan looks just like you as a baby, well from the pictures of him and the pictures of you since I have obviously never seen either of you as a baby in person

Stacy- Does Grace have bars on her bunk bed, or is she going to fall off at night. Is she still collecting ear bugs?

Lady- That is awesome that you are going to give that pamphlet to your friend. Remember to tell the missionaries if you do give it to her. Which one are you going to give her?

Well that's about all I have. Have a great week everyone

I think I am in Chile (08/31/2010)

2010-08-31T18:00:00.002-07:00

Things are going well here in Vancouver. Sorry for not getting a letter off last week. I didn't have much written down and I couldn't think of what else to say and then I forgot to send what I had written down. Vancouver is doing well. It has been relatively cool lately. This morning it is in the low 60's overcast and misty. I don't know how it does it, but you know how people have misters in Arizona around their patio, well that's the same type of thing but its rain here, it's weird.

Sunday was a good day. We had three investigators at church, two of which were there for the whole three hours.

Domingo was the first. He is a great guy in a tough situation. He is married to a member but she is not very active. They have a son that is in Juvie right now, Mingo. But there is a twist, when this son was an infant, he was handed to them with a note that said you are now the legal parents, while they were at a carnival. Well obviously that is not a legal way of adopting. Well everything has been fine for the 14 years this kid has been alive, as fine as things can be. Well now that he is in juvie, for some reason, their other daughter is mad at them, so she called the court and told them the story and so now, they are thinking the court is not going to give them Mingo back. It is a sad situation. Domingo has been to church twice now and you can tell that his spirits are getting higher. So that is the story of Domingo. Add that to the list of things I didn't know I would do as a missionary, an adoption counselor.

Next up is Jorge. Jorge is married to Claudia and they have four kids. They also have no money. The other day we went by their apartment and Jorge was digging through the dumpster for cans to take them to Portland for the “cans for cash” thing. So we aren’t really sure what his true motives are but that is beside the point. Anyway, he came to church and now has come four times. Yesterday we went by and for the first time in probably two months, caught him and his wife at home. We talked to them about "seek ye first the kingdom of God then seek ye for riches". We promised them that if they read five minutes a day together that they will find work. So we will see what happens.

Well as you can see by the title, I have met a lot of Chileans. There are currently two families from Chile in the branch. Well another family came for the first time on Sunday and they are going to start coming. We met them yesterday and they are from Santiago and are a great family. The last investigator that came to church was Ingrid. Ingrid is the daughter of a lady that got baptized last October-ish. She is a great lady that would be baptized by now, but her husband won’t let her. She’s not even allowed to go to church. Well little by little, Gino (her husband) is changing. He came to a branch camp-out that they had and stayed the night which is amazing. So she really wants to get baptized. We don't know if Gino is going to allow that quite yet but we will see. We have made it this far so we will find out what happens this week. I would absolutely love to teach a Chilean.

Well that's about it. I hope you have a good week. Sounds like the weather is doing better down there. I hope so. Keep up the good work

Big things are happening (08/18/2010)

2010-08-18T20:43:00.001-07:00

BIG things are happening here in Vancouver. First, I will start with the biggest and probably the most exciting. Last week we started teaching this family named Eddy and Blanca. They are an awesome couple. It is just the two of them but they want to have kids soon. Anyway, they have been taught off and on for about a year when some English Elders tracted into them the other day and they passed them onto us. Well we started teaching them and quickly committed them to baptism. The date we set was for the 24th of August; because that's when Elder Arnold will be going home and since his family will be picking him up, his whole family will be there. We don't really have many obstacles to get them accomplished; we just have to get them married which they are willing to do. They should be buying their wedding license today so we should get them married probably the day of their baptism or maybe the night before. It should be quite the affair. We are working and praying really hard that it all works out. We are really excited for them. They are a great couple.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood of the 70. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. He talked about how to show true sacrifice. It was really good and he was a good speaker. He was funny and shared a lot of good stories.

Other things are going well here. I feel liked a lot happened but I can't remember it all. Probably because it was an extended a week. But I am enjoying Vancouver. It is probably not as good Yakima but it still a good area. That is too bad that that elder in your ward has only had 3 people to teach in 8 months. I sure have been blessed in that aspect. Sounds like it has been hot there in Arizona. It has been pretty warm up here. Some households are sweltering without AC and the humidity. We had Zone conference yesterday and they had Mexican food and it was kind of like an enchilada casserole which seemed hard to make but I thought that nachos would be good and easy, just some chips with some ground beef and all of the toppings. That would be something easy to do.

I got a call from President Greer last Wednesday and he said "Elder Bair, we are looking into the future here about you going home and from what other Elders have said I think we are going to send you all home the 15th of December, will that be okay with you, and I said that will be fine". So, I guess that is my release date. At first I had a hard time with it, but after thinking about it a lot, I felt that it will be okay. This will give me a chance to be with just you for a few days before everyone else gets out of school and work and what not.

Well I gotta run

Have a great week

Another week down (08/10/2010)

2010-08-10T19:42:00.002-07:00

Well how was San Diego? Sounds like you had a lot of fun with all of the shenanigans there. It sounds like there was quite the crowd of people if it got up to 32 without me and Scott there. I did get all of your post cards and that's too bad that it was cold. It was cold up here all week as well. The lows have been in the low 50's. It is actually nice to me.

Things are going well here. We actually have two people committed to baptism. We don't really have a date set because they haven't been to church and they aren't married. But here is the story. Eddy and Blanca are their names. They were taught about a year ago by some other missionaries and came to church and really enjoyed it but for whatever reason stopped taking the lessons. Well some English elders were tracting and ran into them and they let them in. So then they passed them onto us and we have started teaching them. Well we asked them about baptism and they want to get baptized but they aren't married. So we talked about marriage last night and they have a lot of interest in doing so. Eddy also called Blanca earlier that morning and said if we are going to get closer to God, then I can't drink anymore so he told her to pour all of his beer down the drain which she did. We hadn't even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet so that was awesome.

Things were going well. The training in Tri-cities was for different people and Elder Arnold went and another Elder that was training went and so I was put with another Elder that is brand new to the mission for the week. So I trained for the week I guess, although, I didn't do much since he isn't a Spanish speaking missionary.

Arnold is getting set to go home here in a couple of weeks so I will be getting a new companion so that is coming on the horizon.

Wells that's about all I have. Sounds like everything is going well there in Arizona. Try and keep cool. We have Zone Conference with Elder Ringwood next week so I will be emailing on Wednesday next week so I will talk to you then. Have a great week.

A lot of walking (08/02/2010)

2010-08-02T17:44:00.003-07:00

Well we only get 1,400 miles a month on our car, and at the end of last Tuesday we had used 1,340....so we did a lot of walking and riding the bus. There are a lot of interesting people on the bus....very interesting people. But it was good. We weren't able to teach as many lessons but we were able to talk to some different people and get out and enjoy the sunshine. It has been nice and cool which has made it very nice.

I don't have much to write about. We talked to Emidio (we thought it was Emilio but it is actually Emidio, who would of thought?) about baptism and he seemed interested. We had him read 2 Nephi 31 and pray about it and he did and said he felt good. But he said he wanted us to come over and explain it to him. We haven’t been able to do that and he didn't go to church, but at least he is thinking about baptism.

We had 2 people come to church. Jorge came again, even though we have tried to stop by to talk to him but we were unsuccessful all week. A man named Juan came with friend. He seemed very interested and he was even taking notes during the classes. We have never met him but we have an appointment set up so we will see how that goes.

Other than that things are going well. Tell everyone hello for me in San Diego.

When you have FHE will you read with the group 2 Nephi 33:10 and talk about how this book testifies of Christ. Then read Alma 7:11-13 and show that it really does. That Christ was truly bruised for our iniquities. Just a thought. If you use it, let me know how it went

Pictures (July 2010)

2010-07-27T20:44:00.005-07:00

Celebrating Independence Day with Elder Arnold,

the sister missionaires and the Reschke Family

Doing what missionaries do best.

More of the same.

Trying to make a reed vibrate.

Another week down (07/27/2010)

2010-07-27T20:36:00.002-07:00

Well another week is in the books. They seem to go faster and fast each week.

Things are going well here in Vancouver. We are still working with a lot of people, but we just can't get them to come to church. It is really frustrating but I guess that's life for ya.

We are still working with Domingo. He is doing really well and he wants to get baptized. There is just something holding him up that we aren't too sure about. We think it is self worth because his wife is always saying "If you would have just joined earlier maybe our kids would still be active" and all this stuff so we just think he thinks that he has no place here in life. But he is a really good guy who really knows his stuff. He has read a lot of books about Joseph Smith. Now we just need to get him to read the Book of Mormon.

Deborah is doing well. We are working with her Husband Arturo. We told him the other day, “look Arturo, we are not here to baptize you, we just want to teach you about Christ and show you what your wife believes in.” The spirit was there and we know he felt it but he is just so stubborn that who knows if he will act on it. He is really a nice guy, but for one reason or another, doesn't want his wife going to church or doing anything like that.

Friday we had interviews with President Greer. He is an awesome guy. We talked about a lot of things and he helped me a lot. I asked him about which College to go to, ASU or BYU-I and he said it’s really a toss up. Either one will work, you just have to be patient with the answer. We talked about when I will be coming home and he pretty much put it up to me. So my tentative release date is December 22nd. That is not for sure. It will be in about 6 weeks or so but that is the tentative date. We talked about a lot of other things. I really enjoyed our interview. At the end he prayed and said thank you for letting us be in the great weather since in Arizona it is 117°. I though it was pretty funny. But he is a good guy.

Other than that, things are going well. How have all of the Birthday celebrations been going? Mom, from your letters it seems that you have been really busy lately. I was wondering if you guys wanted to tour the mission. It doesn't matter to me but there have been a few that have done it lately so I was just wondering.

Well that's about it for this week. Have a great week.

A very busy week (07/20/2010)

2010-07-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

We had a very busy week between teaching people and doing service.

For the service part, we mowed lawns, pulled weeds, and gave some gravel a face lift by sifting out all of the dirt. It was all fun and it kept us on our toes.

The weather has been nice here. It has been cool the whole week. Every morning we wake up to cloud coverage that I call a marine layer because that's what my dad always called it when we were in San Diego and it usually "burns off" at about 1 or so. I don't know why I call it that but I do. It keeps things cool at night and makes it so it doesn't warm up so much during the day.

Most of the people we are teaching are doing well. The only person to come to church this week was Jorge as in Jorge and Claudia. We had actually dropped them for a couple of weeks a couple of weeks ago to see if it would get them serious. Then he came to an employment thing at the church and the branch employment specialist invited him to come to church and he did. So that was nice.

The Arroyos are doing really well. We had an appointment with them yesterday and brother Arroyo was saying. One day I will get baptized I don't know when but one day. I guess about six months ago he wanted nothing to do with the church but then his son was put into juvie and we think it has humbled him. He is a real nice guy. Now we just have to get his wife to stop telling him that the reason why their kids are so bad is because he never gets baptized (let’s just forget the fact that she hasn't been to church in years)

Well I wrote down what I wanted to talk about this week in my planner, but then I forgot it. But I wanted to write down the things that I didn't realize I would do when I got on my mission.

1. A marriage counselor
2. A family counselor
3. An employment specialist
4. A financial Planner
5. Addiction recovery expert
6. A lock smith
7. Give instruction on the function of the church.
8. Speak in church more times a month than high counselors
9. Be called on to play the piano at any second, even sometimes after the song has started.
10. Learn more about myself than I every have.

That is my list. Those are all things that aren't found in Preach My Gospel, the white handbook, or your call letter.

Well that’s about all I have for this week. Have a great week

The tale of a mixed-up week (07/13/2010)

2010-07-13T19:43:00.002-07:00

Well this week was topsy-turvy. It had its high-lights and its low-lights. It had its hot days, and its cool days. It was a very up and down week.

First Wednesday-Friday

Well even though I said in my last e-mail that it has been very cool and pleasant ever since I got here, it got hot, in a hurry. Wednesday and Thursday were both in the high 90's while Friday cooled off to about 92 or so. It was hot. I guess when it is hot, people don't like to hear the gospel. Wednesday we did not get into one house and Thursday we only got into one. It was hard. It was frustrating, but I just kept thinking that we are so blessed to be able to get in with a few people each day that a couple of days not getting in will just make us realize how blessed we are.

So nothing really happened those days until Friday night rolled around. It was 8:45 and we were thinking of what to do for the last 15 minutes of the day and Elder Arnold said we can go try Emilio, he is a guy Elder Arnold taught when he was here before and we can get in and see if we can teach him again. So we go by and he lets us in. We talked to him a little about 1 Nephi 8 and Lehi's dream. We then invited him to soccer the next day which he said he wanted to go to and to church on Sunday which he also agreed to going to. So Saturday morning rolls around and we swing by his apartment so he could follow us to the park where they were playing soccer. We all play soccer with the Priesthood and everything went great. Emilio made friends and everything. It was awesome. So then the next day before church we call him to see if he is coming he said yeah he was getting dressed right then to go. So he shows up at 1:50. He stays for all of church and we even got his son, Emilio Junior to go to nursery. It was awesome and he said he enjoyed church.

We also started teaching this family Edith and Marco. They are a cool family with 2 kids and Edith is pregnant and was due the 9th but still hasn't had the baby. Well, Sunday we were seeing if someone could watch the kids while she has having the baby and maybe take them some meals. Sister Resheke volunteered and so we went by Sunday night so they could meet each other. They hit it off really well and she is going to watch the kids during all of the doctor visits and while she is in the hospital.

Then yesterday we had a really good day. We taught 5 lessons and found 2 new investigators. I don't have time to go into all of the lessons except one. Just know they were all great. One of those was Deborah and her daughter Alejandra. They were taught about 9 months but Deborah’s husband Arturo is a staunch Catholic and so that is tough. Anyway we start teaching them and Deborah stops us and says do you have the power to heal. And we explain priesthood blessings then she asked if she could have one. So we did. Well Elder Arnold anointed and I gave the blessing. Well I bless her that she would be healed. So anyway after the blessing we asked her how she felt. She said she felt something go from her feet and leave her head. Then she just started crying. She said she had been diagnosed with a life threatening disease and was so depressed that she grabbed a bottle of pills on Friday and was going to kill herself. She didn't though (obviously). Well she never told us what her disease was but whatever it was, she is cured. It was amazing. An awesome story for an awesome day.
That is the story of our week. It was amazing to watch the Lord work with us. Have a great week

The weather is perfect (07/06/2010)

2010-07-07T20:22:00.001-07:00

I just wanted you all to know that the weather is perfect here. It has been in the low seventies with a slight breeze and mostly sunny. My Arizona instincts keep telling me that it is just going to get hot, but the later it gets, and the more I talk to people, I don't think it will, at least for not very long.

This week was somewhat of an uneventful week with a couple of stories.

We ended up doing a lot of service this week. We helped take down a vine that had overtaken a fence. We helped with our new member’s yard, the Nihipalis, they are from Hawaii. We also helped out over at the Boyles (where we used to live).

Friday we met the Greers. They seem very nice and excited to be mission presidents (well as excited as you can be!). It was nice to be able to talk to them about Arizona. It seems as though life will continue as normal with a few changes coming from the brethren.

We had an uneventful 4th of July. We weren't allowed to touch fireworks nor watch them. Although that was somewhat hard since everyone and their brother were launching them off. All fireworks are legal 2 days before and on the 4th of July here so it sounded like a war zone. It was ridiculous. Especially since it starts getting dark at about 10, right before we are crawling into bed. But it was okay. They had a lot of fireworks for sale that's for sure. Every street corner was selling them.

Last night we had quite the night. We went out with a member of the Branch Presidency, Hermano Garcia, a great guy from El Salvador. He is really nice and always smiling. Well anyway, we pile into his little Honda and start our journey for the night. Well we are telling him were to go and what not and we get to a stop light and tell him to turn left. The light turns green and we realize that he is turning left, but right into on coming traffic. He didn't realize that there was a median, or he just didn't feel a need to use it. So we are heading to on coming traffic with a few cars coming our way, a car going our direction on the right side of the road honking at us. Hermano Garcias' eyes get as big as cantaloupes and he started to slow down. I told him to just keep going because the median ended about 100 feet down the road. We get over and get own our way. Once we were all relieved and knew we were all okay, we started busting out laughing. Then Hermano Garcia says that was okay. It was so funny. He is a great guy and he made it a fun night.

Well that was the week in review. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Mom did you send a letter this week?

Stacy did you delete your blog?

Pictures 1 (June 2010)

2010-06-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Elder Arnold and me in front of the Portland Oregon Temple

Our District at the Portland Temple. Elders Bartar, Hobbs, Arnold, your truly, Sisters Pleshek and Kendell.

No caption required.

Elder Arnold, a goat, me, Hermana Kendell.

Baxter and I

Pictures 2 (June 2010)

2010-06-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

Vancouver West zone picture with President and Sister Greer.

Vancouver zone when President Belnap went home.

So long President Belnap (06/29/2010)

2010-06-29T19:56:00.003-07:00

Well as of Monday, June 28th at 1 o'clock. We officially got a new mission president. President Leonard Dare Greer from Gilbert, Arizona. The original report from some Elders that met him yesterday is that he laughs a lot and is always smiling. That is different from President Belnap who was serious for the majority of the time.

This week was a crazy week. We did our normal thing most of the week but then Friday and Saturday we went to a dance festival. The Dance Festival 2010 was the youth conference this year. What it was, was seven stakes got together and put on a show of different dances. There were nearly 2,500 youth involved and they just did dances. The theme was a Firm Foundation and so they had different dances that would show how they would keep a firm foundation in Christ. About five percent of the youth that participated were either non-members or less-actives. They put on three shows for anyone that wanted to attend.

The reason we were there is because, first, all of the non-members that were there and second, we were part of the show. At the end, all of the youth sang a How Firm a Foundation. When the second verse started, we all marched out holding white flags. It was really neat and fun. In between all of the practicing and the meals and what not, we went and talked with the youth which was also really fun. For part of their youth conference, on Saturday morning they had a little fireside-type thing where President Belnap, Sister Cook (the first counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency) and a Seventy came and spoke. Well, to open that up, they had a little presentation were they did a skit on the 2,000 stripling warriors. Then they said today we have our own warriors and we marched out singing Called to Serve then when we got there, we recited "The Standard of Truth". It was really neat. So we had a good week. Also, before the shows started, we were the ushers and we just welcomed people and told them where to go. So it was a different but very fun and rewarding weekend.

Things are going well here. Other than the fact we had to move out of the Boyle's. Our investigators are doing well on the reading front but they aren't coming to church. Which is frustrating but we are working with them on that. The weather has been in the high 70's and sunny all week long while cooling off to the low 50's at night. Just about perfect. I have found out that no one has AC here so that could be good and bad. Either it was going to be sweltering in homes, or it won’t get hot enough to need any AC. I am hoping for the latter.

It sounds like everyone is on vacation there or will be soon. Stacy is on a cruise, Scott is on a cruise/Hawaii, you guys are going to Christi's and Christi lives a vacation. Are you still planning on doing a trip when I get home? If so, when would it be, right when I get home or in the summer.

So I am pretty sure I want to do accounting. Brother Boyle is an accountant for Pacific Power and it sounds fun to me. I also am pretty sure I want to go to EA but if I can’t, then MCC would be fun as well. So if you could look to see if there are any classes I can take at EA, plus I would like to live in an apartment not the dorms, and any jobs that might be available. So, I don't know when all of that needs to start but that's what I want to do when I get home. If it changes, it changes but that is the original plan.

Well that’s about all I have. I hope you have a great week. Remember we are always examples.

Another day on the mission (06/22/2010)

2010-06-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

Well this morning we went to the temple which was very nice. Then we got a chance to go to a u-pick, and we picked five pounds of fresh juicy strawberries. It was pretty fun and they are really good.

Things are going well here. Ofelia is really progressing. She has been reading the things that we left her. We met her roommate, Anna. She is also doing really well. They didn't come to church because they had plans of buying a new car for Ofelia but they should be there next week. We had a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon so that was real good.

Andres and Isabel are doing well. We are still waiting for their divorce papers to come in. They should be here soon. They are really progressing and starting to see the importance of reading the Book of Mormon every day.

Dora is also doing well. We were able to meet with her yesterday after not seeing her for a while. She has a real desire to change. You can really tell that she wants to do the right thing. She just doesn't really know where to go. She has also had a really hard life. Her husband has left her and she has two kids that she is trying to raise. So I think she is really searching.

Jorge and Claudia are doing well. They still haven't been to church but I just don't think they see the importance of it. I don't know how we are going to change that.

We were able to go to the temple today. The Portland Temple is really pretty. They have a greenhouse type thing in the middle where you can take pictures since it rains so much you can't do it outside. It was a pretty temple though. We also drove by the Rose Garden where the Trailblazers play. That was cool, for me at least.

The weather is looking nicer. The clouds are gone away today and it is sunny and in the high 70's. It is real nice.

Vancouver has a lot of nationalities. We have a few Russians, along with many Chileans, Guatemalans, and Peruvians and of course Mexicans. It is real fun to see all of the different races. Elder Arnold told me that I have started to pick up a little Chilean accent. I don't hear it but I told him that's just what I was taught from my dad. It is fun to hear the different ways of saying things in the different countries.

Well I don't have much time today that's why this letter is short. The Boyles are doing well. We worked on the yard again on Saturday. That was fun. Mom, Sister Boyle wants you to join missionarymoms.com. It is an e-mail site for missionary moms. She said she can update you on me. She is in the northwest division I guess. I don't know what to do but she said she is there.

Tengan un buen dia

It is still....wet (06/15/2010)

2010-06-15T16:53:00.001-07:00

It is still raining. We a got a break Saturday to Monday but last night and into this morning it has started raining. It is nice though. It keeps everything green and cleans the air. It really doesn't make it too cold so that is nice as well.

Well this week has been a good week. We found a lot of people and to cap it off, Andres and Isabel and their family came to church. It was really good to see them there. They really enjoyed it as well.

Thursday we decided to go and walk to save some miles. (Hey it stopped raining) Well things were going well. It was kind of sprinkling almost like a misting. We were walking and talking to people. Well it just started to pour cats and dogs. We both had umbrellas but it was bouncing off the concrete and hitting us. Then this homeless man came up and started walking with us. His name was Woody. Well Woody was using a cardboard box as an umbrella. We had to go somewhere so we said our good-byes. Then we decided to give one of our umbrellas to Woody. He was very appreciative and it was okay because it had gone back to just sprinkling. Well we got out of our appointment and started walking back to the car and it just pouring, again. This time we had no umbrellas. We got a second shower that day. We were both just soaked. It was fun though. So we get in our car and we are able to teach three lessons, right in a row in the same apartment complex. Then we got four text messages with referrals from the MTC. It was awesome. We were truly blessed for walking in the rain....with Woody.

One of those text messages was for a lady name Ofelia. This is a cool story. On Saturday I went on exchanges with an English Elder named Elder Barter. Well we are both new to the area and really didn't know how to get anywhere. So we were trying to find Ofelia. She lived on the other side of the city from where we were. I was trying to find it but I just couldn't. I thought, I will call Elder Arnold but then my pride got in the way and I thought, no I can do it. Well after trying and trying and having no success, I thought again, just call Elder Arnold, it will be worth it. So I called him and he was able to help me get to her apartment. So we knock on her door and tell her who we are and she said, are you with the other guys that had come over (English elders) and We said yes so she quickly let us in. So we sit down and I ask her, “how did you get to know the other guys.” She said that one day she was sitting outside thinking about her life and thinking about all of the stupid things that she has done. She started to pray and ask God for forgiveness and asked him to send someone that could help her. Well up rolled two Mormon missionaries on bikes. She said that she wants to get closer to God to have more peace and happiness in her life but she doesn't know what to do. She also said she wants her family to be more united (her brother and sisters and her parents). I promised her that this is what she was looking for. She just had this look in her eye like she knew this was it too. We finished the first lesson and she said she would call us once she found out her work schedule for this next week. Well last night she called and we are going back tonight. She said she loved our message and can't wait to hear more and that her roommate wants to hear more too. It is awesome.

A little bit about the church in Vancouver. My new companion is Elder Arnold. He is from Provo and will be going home in August. So, for the moment, I am a junior companion again. Here is his blog elderbenjaminarnold.blogspot.com. He even talks about me in it. We, along with a pair of sister missionaries attend the Spanish branch here in Vancouver. We get about 80 out for the meetings. There are also about 40 English companionships in the area too. So about 40% of our mission's missionaries are in the Vancouver area.

Well that’s about it for this week. Things are going really well here. We are truly being blessed.

2010-06-08T20:17:00.002-07:00

Well hello from the very wet Vancouver, WA. It has rained every day I have been here. The sun has come out for small amounts but has quickly gone away. It is very beautiful though. There are trees everywhere. There is also a lot of moss. There is moss in the gutters on the sidewalks, on trees, on houses. Everywhere that it hasn't been cleaned off yet. We have been spraying down the driveway of the members we live with (the Boyles, awesome people). You don't realize there is so much on there until you wash it off. We have to use a pressure washer because there is so much moss.

Vancouver is a good place. Elder Arnold and I are really working hard and trying to be exactly obedient. I knew Elder Arnold in Pasco so the transition has been seamless. He is a really good Elder and we are getting a lot of work done. Here is a rundown of the investigators, starting with ones fromYakima.

Jorge- He is on date for the 20th of June. I am very excited about that. He is a unique story. A humble story. But the moral of the story is, he is getting baptized in a couple of weeks.

La Familia - Andres, Isabel, Brenda, and Adresito. Those are the names of this family. They want to be baptized but they are not married. Isabel is waiting for her divorce papers from Mexico. They are a great family. They really have an intention to learn and are very knowledgeable already. I am excited to teach them and get them on their way.

Ernesto-Elder Arnold and I found Ernesto on Thursday. We were out tracting and we walked into him. We talked to him for about 15 minutes and the spirit was really there but he said he is moving to Mexico and won’t have time so there is no point in us coming over. We tried to get him to commit but he wouldn't, so we left. The next night we were thinking of something to do when we both decided we needed to go see Ernesto again. We knocked on his door and he gave us the usual, I am leaving, I don't have time, I am tired. Well we told him it will be for 10 to 15 minutes and he let us in. We had a very powerful lesson. We found out his concerns and the things we desire in life and showed him how the gospel can help. He was like, so are you guys going to come back or do I have to go to you? It was so cool.

That's about that. We live with really great members like I said. They have a modest but beautiful home and yard. Elder Arnold and I take care of it. It is so fun. They have a really cool dog named Baxter, he is the one in the picture, and he got caught in one of the blankets on my bed. He loves to lie in my bed while we are studying if Sister Boyle is not there.

There are a bucket load of Chileans here in the branch. It reminds me of Gilbert. There is a one member named Brother Ramirez who is actually from Mexico but he looks just like, I mean a spitting image of Choche. It is eerie. The branch is very nice and very welcoming.

Well I uploaded a few pictures on Picasa. I hope you enjoy. I live right off of the I-5 so Lady I am just a stone’s throw away from you. Have a great week everyone.

Farewell Yakima (06/01/2010)

2010-06-01T19:30:00.001-07:00

Well Saturday morning I was told I am leaving Yakima and I am heading to Vancouver, WA (not Vancouver, Canada). I am really excited to see Vancouver. Everyone tells me that I will love the branch, the area, that everything is so green and pretty and I will love it. Like I said, I am really excited to go but I just wish I didn't have to leave Yakima. I have loved Yakima. We are teaching unbelievable people and I have seen some remarkable things.

Sunday night I had the distinct opportunity to baptize Leo. That was the first person that I have actually baptized and it was an awesome experience. He is going to make a great member. We went by yesterday and they were just both so happy and Cindy was saying we are going to the temple in one year and how great life is and how everything is so great right now. They are going to do great. I just feel so honored and privileged to teach and witness the change of both Leo and Cindy. The baptism was great. The spirit was really there and we were able to get both Heraldo and Tomas there.

They are both doing great. Heraldo told us he has set August 30th as his cut-off date. He is going to tell us before this date whether or not he is going to be baptized. I believe he will be baptized. Everyone in the branch just loves him. He is really a great guy and will make a fantastic member.

Tomas is also doing well. He was supposed to be baptized on the 6th but that will probably be moved back. He is doing great; he came to both church and the baptism so that was good.

Jorge and Fransisca are both doing great. It was hard to say good-bye to them. They both just bawled their little eyes out when I told them. They are both just great humble people and they are also two people that I strongly believe will be baptized.

Yakima is blessed. The Branch is awesome. I loved my time here. But as George Costanza says, I am going out on top.

(05/25/2010)

2010-05-25T17:18:00.002-07:00

Well hello everyone. Things here in Yakima are going great. This also might be a normal size e-mail because I remembered to write things down again.

Saturday we painted a house which was part of Mormons Helping Hands and Habitat For Humanity. It was an older lady's home and it was a lot of fun. I thought the most fun part was to watch and listen to the youth. As we were finishing up they just kept saying how good they felt and how they felt accomplished and just felt good. I don't think they realized that they felt good for helping someone, not because they felt accomplished for painting a house. It was cool and fun to watch them as they painted the house.

This Sunday we had five people at church. Leo came with his wife and is doing great. He is going to have his interview tonight, and if everything goes well, he will be baptized on Sunday. It should be awesome. He is a great guy and I feel privileged to teach him. Jorge and Franisica were there again. It was really good to see them and they really seem to enjoy it. It was really funny though because one time I looked over at Fransica and she was doubled over asleep, just like Grandma Bair. So I felt right at home and didn't even think twice about her sleeping. She is an older lady so she is allowed to fall asleep.

Jorge is doing great. On Saturday we went by and we were talking to them and this guy that helps them out with their yard comes by to ask them a question and then asks if he could sit in with us and of course we said yes. So he is listening and starts saying how the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon are false. All we need is the Bible, you don't need anything else. Well before we could say anything, Jorge says, this door is open to anyone that wants to talk about God, but you will never come in here and disrespect another religion. It was awesome.

Gustavo was there as well. He is really hard to teach. He seems to enjoy it. He participates in Gospel Principles in Sunday School, but yet it doesn't seem like he is paying attention when we go by to teach him. It is weird. Tomas was there as well. He is doing great. He is going to be baptized on the 6th of June. So we had a good bunch at church which is always nice.

This past week we had a lot of people come up to us and ask for money from the church. That really puts us in a bind because, we can't do anything even though we want to help. We tell them to call the Branch president but no one ever has. So I don't feel too bad because they have to do their part.

Well that’s about it. My final thought today is there is always another day. Sometimes there are days that are just long, and hard and boring, and you just want to get it over with. But the best thing is you can wake up the next day and it’s like the day before never happened. The Lord is ready to bless us all.

Have a great week

(05/19/2010)

2010-05-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Things are going really well here. Both Tomas and Leo are doing great. We had stake conference this week so it was somewhat difficult to get people to church . But conference was really good.

We moved Tomas's date back until the 6th of June because he felt like he needed more time. That is fine. He is a great guy and likes to learn so we will give it to him.

I am really am dumbfounded at what to write. Elder Urbina was sick for most of the weekend with the stomach flu and then yesterday, we had a Spanish zone conference.

I am sorry for the short letter. I hope and pray you are all doing well.

Have a great week

(05/11/2010)

2010-05-11T18:42:00.001-07:00

So I am just like everyone else who wrote me. I don't really know what to say after talking to you just Sunday. I do have a few observations from Sunday though, that I will go over.

Grace is a busy-body. She is so smart and she is good at telling stories. I don't know if you know but she told me the story of Snow White while you were eating dinner.

Everyone looked really happy. It was good to see everyone so happy. Also everyone pretty much looked the same as I remember them.

Grandpa Milt looked really skinny. I had no idea he was losing weight. He seemed happy and good as well.

Well that’s about all I have. Have a great week. I will talk to you next week.

Big things are happening (05/04/2010)

2010-05-06T05:55:00.003-07:00

Things are really REALLY going well here. We now have two people on date for baptism. This first one is Leo. We had him on date for the 16th but we pushed it back for the 30th to give us a little bit more time. We went over on Saturday and his wife, who is a less-active member, was there and was acting very strangely. She kept saying that he is not ready for baptism and he is doing it for the wrong reasons and all of these sorts of things. I said well let’s ask him and so we did and he said I like how the members of the church help one another out and she started yelling, see, he just wants money and all of this stuff and he just thinks they are going to help him financially and all of these things. But we took it along with our branch mission leader who was there that he meant that they helped with spiritual matters. Anyway after a little bit of time she finally came out and said, "I just don't want his life to be as terrible as mine because I know this church is true and I didn't follow the gospel and I am being punished for it and there is no way that I can change and I would just rather him live in ignorance that make this huge decision and not fully understand it and fall away and have a terrible life like mine. Well we promised her that we would not baptize him if we didn't think he was ready and that she needs to think if he is pulling him back or pulling him forward. And that together they can go through the repentance process. It was really good. Then we went by yesterday and it was totally different. She was helpful and teaching him. It was really good. So he will be baptized on the 30th.

The other one on date is Tomas. He will be baptized on the 23rd of May. He is doing really well. He really wants to be baptized and is still telling everyone about the church and how much it will help them. It is awesome. He really understands the bible and he is such a good learner and understands everything we tell him. '

Another kid we are working with is Gustavo. He has come to church for three weeks in a row now. It is hard to teach him because we don't know if he is really interested or he just comes because he lives with a member and they bring him. He seems interested and understands what we teach him. We need to get in and really find out what his interest is. It is hard to teach him because it is always so loud in the house he lives in. They have a couple of little kids that are always making noise, but we can figure it out.

Heraldo is really doing well also. We had lunch with him on Saturday and he asked us where we do baptisms and we told him in a font and asked if we ever do it in a river and I said yeah, but we would have to get permission. That’s where he wants to do it he said so we will see if that gets him over hump. He is really doing well. He finished the Book of Mormon as well so we will see what happens.

That’s about all I have. Although the other day we were in this lesson with the door open and we start hearing this pounding noise and I thought it was some sort of compacter packing the dirt down or something like that then we see this old Cadillac-like looking car, literally bouncing down the street with its hydraulics. It was so funny. I kid you not , the front wheels of the car were getting probably 3 or 4 feet off of the ground. It was so funny. They were just doing laps back and forth down the street.

Oh yeah the weather has been almost cold lately. Yesterday it was in the mid-50's and really windy. It was cold. I can't believe that we are in May. It just doesn't seem real to me.

Well I gotta go. Have a great week

Pictures 1 (May 2010)

2010-05-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Our district in Yakima April 2010:

Back row from left:Elder Urbina,Yours truly, Elder Luncefor, Elder Deloach.

Front row: Elder Becerra and Elder Lundquist.

Elder "Davey" back for a visit

I rolled my ankle playing basketball

Elder Urbina and me off to do something important.

An El Camino limo

Pictures 2 (May 2010)

2010-05-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

Heraldo and me

Brother Webber (branch mission leader) and me

Hmo Alfaro and I

Two Arizona boys getting homesick

Elder Urbina and I doing missionary work.

Pictures 3 (May 2010)

2010-05-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Elder Deloach and I

Manuel Pimental and I. He got baptized last September and is getting his papers ready to go on a mission.

Leo with Elder Urbina and me at Leo's baptism.

New apartment (04/27/2010)

2010-04-27T19:05:00.002-07:00

Well we have some new things going. Some big things going on! On the 16th of May, Leo is going to be baptized. He is such a good guy. We went over last night and we went with a kid named Manual who is just such a great kid who got baptized in September, anyway. We were introducing Manual to Leo and I said Manual got baptized about 7 months ago, and Leo turned to me and said what do I have to do to get baptized. I said do you want to, and he said yes, he said I felt so much peace and calmness at church yesterday, and I want that in my life. He is having a lot of troubles at work with co-workers wanting to get him fired and what not and he is actually afraid for his life so he said he hasn't felt so much peace in his life in a long time. He is just an awesome guy, he said “the only other time I somewhat feel that way is reading the Book of Mormon or the Bible”. So he is going to get baptized on the 16th. His wife wasn't there and when she came back I told her and it was almost like she saw a ghost and I told her, probably one of the most bold times in my mission, if he is going to get baptized, you need to turn your life around, and she said okay. So its going to be exciting, I can't wait to go back and teach him.

In other news. We had to switch apartments this last week with the big change in areas so I had to do a lot of cleaning. We have to clean up the old apartment so the church can get its deposit back and I have been cleaning the new one because it is a lot smaller so I have been moving things around to try and make it more spacious, while doing that, I have been finding a lot of dust and gross things underneath furniture (even toe nails). So the vacuum has been in full force. The other day I was cleaning out the old fridge, which was pretty disgusting by the way, and I was thinking how come ours was never this way, then I always remember mom cleaning it on a regular basis and it made me really appreciate all the times mom has cleaned my house and for anyone that stays at home or works and cleans the house.

We also had 5 people at church. There is a guy named Tomas that the other elders were teaching but now we are, that is awesome. He should hopefully be put on date for baptism here soon. Anyway, he brought a friend that was telling Tomas that he feels that the devil has entered his life and Tomas said, well you need to find a greater faith in Christ, come to the Mormon church and they will help you. It was awesome, so those 2 were there. Leo and 2 people brought friends to church and we have appointments to teach them both. It was so cool.

Anyway that’s about all I have. Heraldo is still doing good and looking better.

Have a great week

You may not believe it.... (04/20/2010)

2010-04-20T16:56:00.002-07:00

But I am staying in my area with my companion. It is very unusual for me, but I am very excited. We have a lot of things going on, and there is a twist, we got a bigger area. Here in Yakima there has been 2 sets of Elders that have split the city in half and have worked together to cover the whole city. Well the branch president wanted single sisters because, there are a lot of single less-active women and a few investigators, and a lot of single girls that are thinking of going on missions. So he thought that would be helpful. So the other two Elders left and Elder Urbina and I are now covering all of Yakima for anybody with a male in the household and the sisters are covering anyone that is a single mom or single women in general. So I am looking forward to it. Our investigator total just about doubled. We will have a lot of work to do but it should be a lot of fun.

I finally remembered to write things down again for what I want to talk about in my e-mail. FYI, I just looked to my left and saw probably the tallest woman I have ever seen in person, she has to be at least 6'6", anyway....

Things are going better with our investigators. We met with Heraldo on Saturday and told him that he has to find out if the Book of Mormon is another scripture that he can use with the Bible. He has already said that he believes that book is inspired and written by prophets. But he still has his doubts, so we told him to ask if it was a book he could read to go along with the Bible.

We also found another man to teach named Leo Morales. Leo is married to a less-active member. He cut his finger on Friday at work on a table saw, so his in-laws had us come and give him a blessing. Leo only speaks Spanish and his in-laws only speak English so they had us do it in Spanish. Anyway, I guess his wife wants to go back to church and he is interested in getting his life back in order because he is having a lot of problems. He is a really humble guy, he has been taught before but he said it just wasn't right at that time.

In other news, Saturday we got invited over to dinner, not knowing that it ended up being a birthday party. Not just any old birthday party, but a birthday party with a clown. It was quite the dinner appointment. It was really good food though so it was worth it, I guess, and we got to see a magic show, it was exciting.

Also yesterday we got to do some service, and I have a major role. We were installing sprinklers for a family. They ended up not knowing what to do whatsoever so thankfully I that experience before my mission. It felt weird being out there doing it; I also got a nice little sun burn on my neck. It was fun though.

That’s about all I have. I realized for about four straight meals, not including breakfast, we had carne asada. That is probably my favorite Mexican food so it is fine by me. But I just thought that was interesting and that I might throw that in there.

But I gotta run. Have a great week!

Just another day in paradise (04/13/2010)

2010-04-13T19:27:00.002-07:00

I was thinking the other day about life. I was watching and thinking of people in general. There are people in school, working, sitting around doing nothing, in jail, sick, afflicted, and I thought to myself, I have none of those things. I get to go out, and talk to people. Sixteen months ago, I would never had done that, 10 months ago, I wouldn't think it would be fun. I go back to what my brother-in-law Chad told me when I got my mission call, he said "we look at our missions and think, wow two years, that’s a long time, but in reality, it is like entering a machine which takes every care in the world away from you". I second that.

Things are going well here in Yakima. The transfer is almost over. We will find out what happens on Saturday. I hope I stay, but at the same time, I will go wherever. Things are going well though.

We are still working with the same people, but there still aren't too many updates. We have been trying to get out and walk more with the weather being so nice. Yesterday we walked from when we left the house at 12:00 to about 4:30. At the end of the day I took off my shoes and the toes on my left foot were all black. I couldn't figure out why but then I realized that I had a big hole on the bottom of my shoe. I could pretty much stick my whole figure through it. I guess I won't be wearing those shoes walking anymore.

We actually did a little bit more service this week. One day, we finished painting a room. Another day we helped this lady with her yard. And other day, a guy had gutted his house and so we helped him throw all of the garbage in a trailer so he could take it to the dump. I enjoy doing service. It changes up the day and you get to get out and use your body. It is quite nice.

Well I really can't remember too much of what happened but I am going to start writing this down again to tell you. One thing I have to say is that the power of prayer is real. I testify of it. There is no other way we could get through our lives without it. I invite you to use it often, but use it sacredly, use it like a conversation, but use it respectfully. Moroni 10:5 says “that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of all things", it doesn’t' say something, or things I want to you tell you, it says ALL things. I testify that is true.

I love you all and appreciate all you do for me and my family

It snowed again!! (04/06/2010)

2010-04-06T20:03:00.002-07:00

So Friday morning we woke up and went for a bike ride for our exercises and it was pretty cold and it was just kind of misting, nothing major...so I thought, I looked down at my lap after a little bit and there was snow sitting there smiling back at me. It was definitely interesting. We ended up get about 3 inches or so. It melted away as quickly as it came though.

Things are going well here. I thought Conference was amazing. You know it has to be good when the Prophet of the world gets up and says this has been one of the best Priesthood sessions that I have been to. It is probably pretty good. I thought Elder Oaks' talk on the healing power was awesome along with Elder Uctdorf's talk on patience. It was all good though. A lot of talk on getting families prepared and everyone has a part in it.

Well a quick look at the investigators. We didn't get to have a very good week with conference taking up most of our prime time on Saturday and parts of Sunday. But this is what happened.

Maristle- she is the granddaughter of the member I talked about probably a month or so ago. We finally got with her. It went really well. We were talking about the fall of Adam. The spirit was really strong because I know we didn't explain it very well but she understood it. It was amazing. She also asked what the steps were for becoming a member of the church. That is always a good sign when that comes up.

Jacinto is good. He has really started working hard so it is hard to meet with him. But he is doing well. I think his interest has tapered lately from not being able to meet as much but he is still doing well.

We were unable to meet with Heraldo because he was working way too much. But he is doing well also.

I think that is about it. Things are going really well. I am having tons of fun. I don't really know what else to write these days. I know my e-mails haven't been as good but I just don't know what to write for some reason, that’s why I just talk about the investigators.

But I gotta go. Have a great week.

(03-31-2010)

2010-03-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Things are going well here in Yakima. It is really warming up but the past couple of days have been really windy which makes if very chilly at times. Other than that though, things are going really well.

"Collect the Elect" went really well, but I wish it would have gone a lot better. We found some people but we didn't find anyone that just stood out as to say "this Person is going to get baptized". But we are working with some people and trying to get them going along. We are still working with the other people still though.

Heraldo is doing well. He found a job which is really good. He is almost done with the Book of Mormon. He said that he feels it is racist because the Lamanites were cursed with brown skin. We told him that Cain was cursed with black skin for making a pact with the Devil and I think he understood that. He also said that he doesn't believe that they lived in America because their culture doesn't match up with the Mayans or Aztecs or any of those groups. We didn't really have time to answer those questions. But that is just how he is. He knows his history very well and he wants everything to line up. And we are trying to get him to feel that it is true rather then see it. Because once you feel it is true you will see it.

Jacinto is doing well. He has started the Book of Mormon from the beginning and as far as we can see, he is understanding it. He is tough to get to church like we said but hopefully we can get him to watch conference this weekend. Hopefully he can be baptized on the 17th of April. That is our goal. For Heraldo too.

We talked with Rene about church and he said he didn't really like it because he said it was too boring. He is used to churches with more music and more soul as he put it. It is frustrating when these people have been hurt by other churches and don’t understand what church is for. He is a good guy. He didn't come to church on Sunday because he was busy or something but hopefully he can watch conference and maybe be baptized on the 17th.

That’s about it for the investigators. We have done a lot of work with Less Actives. That’s pretty much how my whole mission has been. Out of the Focus 15, 7 of them are in our area. And 5 of the 7 have come to church. #6, he has never met and #7 we have only gotten into her house once. So the Lord has really blessed us that way.

That’s about all I can think of for now. Time is going by way too fast. We are already half way done with the transfer again. It is crazy. I hope and pray you all have a great week

"Collect the Elect" (03/23/2010)

2010-03-24T06:50:00.001-07:00

Well Hello again. Another week down in the great city of Yakima Washington. I hope everything is going well for all of you. The weather has been really nice of late with the temps. being in the mid 60's during the day while dropping down to the low 30's at night. It has been quite nice.

Things have been going well here of late. We have started a new program here for the next month that I talked about in my last e-mail called Collect the Elect. What it is is we are trying to find all of the people that are ready for the gospel and have a mission-wide baptism on the 17th of April. The goal is to have a whole bucket-load of people being baptized on that date. The way we are going to do that is by Collecting the Elect. Today, Thursday and Saturday, we are going to tract form 6-9 at night, on double exchanges. We are just going to tract and find as many as possible this week. And then the next 3 weeks, we are to make contact with as many as we can every day and try to get as many committed for baptism for the 17th of April. It should be really fun. I will let you know next week on how many people we were able to find.

The people we are teaching are doing well. We did however, have to drop Jorge. He is a great guy, but he has been taught since September and has yet to come to church. Hopefully he can have another run with the church.

Jacinto is doing well. He didn't come to church, which is frustrating. He did though, pray and read the Book of Mormon and he didn't get a distinct answer other than he needs to keep studying. He is an awesome guy. We asked him if he would be baptized on the 17th of April and he said that would awesome but he didn't know for sure yet. We will keep working with him though.

Heraldo is still doing well. He is a little bummed out though because he has yet to find a job. He had to sell his car the other day for a little money. I imagine that would be tough. He is still doing well though.

La Familia Almanza and Rene came to church as well on Sunday. That was really good. The Almanza family hadn't been to church in about 2 years and Rene is Sister Almanza’s Brother. He is a good guy. Their original plan was to only go for Sacrament meeting. Then after that was over they decided to stay for Sunday School as well and then go home, and then once that rolled around, they just stayed for all of it which is a really good sign. They are an awesome family who has a great testimony. Hopefully, we can get them back into the habit of coming to church.

That’s really about it for this week. Hopefully we have a lot more people to talk about next week with Collect the Elect being in full swing. I hope and pray all is well with you. Have a great week.

There were a lot of "other" activities this week (03/16/2010)

2010-03-16T17:29:00.002-07:00

Well this week has been interesting. We still got our teaching in but we have had to do some other things as well. We did some service and we had two conferences, one for the branch and one for the mission.

First an update on the investigators-

Jasinto-He is still doing really well, he didn't come to church this week but he did read 3 Nephi 11 and understood it very well. We haven’t asked him if he wants to be baptized yet but he has a strong interest in coming to church. He is also going through some tough times right now because his brother back in Mexico is having a child out of wedlock and his mother doesn't know what to do with him. He said he won’t listen to anyone so he is having struggles with that. But he is a great guy and reads very well. We left 2 Nephi 31 so he can understand why we get baptized and who gave us this example.

Carlos- He is still doing well. We went over on Saturday night and told him to just put everything aside and find out if this church is true, because if it is, that means everything else we have talked about is true. He said he would pray that night if the Book of Mormon was true and if the Church was true. He didn't come to church because he had to work and he was unable to meet with us yesterday but we are going to meet with him tomorrow so we will see how that goes.

Jorge is still doing well. We asked him if he would be baptized on the 17th of April and he said he would be yet he still didn't come to church on Sunday. It is really frustrating trying to help someone you love when they won’t put in their part.

Heraldo- We were able to meet with him on Sunday night. He called up and asked if we could meet with him. It was a really good lesson. He finally asked some of his doubts. He wanted to know how he could get closer to God and we told him he had to pray and ask questions and feel things and that will get him closer than anything. Well he said I can't tell the difference from when it is just a good feeling or actually the Holy Ghost. So we worked with him on that and he came with a better understanding I hope. He is also a good guy and so hopefully he can start feeling the Holy Ghost.

Well that’s about all we have for investigators but last week we were able to help a member family tile their bathroom. That was really fun. We just plastered it and stuck the tiles on. It looks really good from what I could tell. They seemed to like it, they asked us to come back again so that is a good sign.

Also on Saturday we had Hispanic conference that was for all of the branches in the whole southeast part of Washington. It was really fun. I got to see a bunch of families from my old areas. It was fun. One interesting thing was they asked me to play the piano for the Primary kids. Those songs are really hard. Probably because I had never practiced them. But I did and I realized they are hard because they are so pretty. I never realized how beautiful primary songs are. Probably because I haven’t sung them in about 9 years. I also had to play the piano in Sacrament meeting on Sunday with one song I had never played before and was unable to practice. I stumbled a little bit but it wasn't that bad. I was grateful the Lord helped me out or else it would've been bad.

Yesterday we had a Zone Conference. (FYI mom they had rice with a kind of a sweet n' sour sauce with meatballs, it was good so maybe another idea). It was a good one. We are having this program where we are going to work extremely hard this transfer and on the 17th of April, have a mission wide baptism where we are going to have just one big baptismal service in our stakes and invite everyone to be baptized, who has been taught of course. It should be really fun and rewarding.

Well that’s about all I have. The other day I was talking with Elder Urbina about SD, I can't believe you guys go again in a few months....that’s only 3 transfers, anyway, I was telling him how you go to the temple and my whole life I always thought it was weird that you went to the temple while we were on vacation. Well now, since I have gone through on my own, and realized that you never get to go together with everyone like that, any other time. It made sense to me. I thought I would just throw that in. And Mom, you would have a lot of fun with Elder Urbina, he gets startled very easily. You and I would be dying laughing at some points.

Well I better get going. Have a great week

Questionaire (03/09/2010)

2010-03-09T19:49:00.003-07:00

We recently sent Matthew a questionnaire (in bold). His responses are italicized.

Do you have many opportunities to play the piano? Just in district meeting once a week.
Now that you serve only in the Spanish branch, do you spend most of your day speaking Spanish? Yeah pretty much. I only speak English with my companion sometimes.
What do you do for service? Actually not much. We are always asking but Hispanics don’t like to accept help. So just randomly we will do things.
What is your favorite thing about your mission so far? My favorite would probably be when people start asking us questions because you know the Lord has put us in their path and they need to hear something about the gospel.
Do you give talks or teach lessons at Church fairly regularly? Not really. This branch is really good. I have had to bare my testimony once and teach gospel principles once. That’s it.
Do you ever need to do any cooking or do you have dinner appointments regularly? We only cook for lunch. The rest are just dinner appointments.
You mentioned that you do a lot of talking on the streets. How does that work? It works fairly well. You never know who is ready for the gospel, so you have to talk to everyone.
How big is the city of Yakima? I would say about the size of Glendale’s population-wise. Maybe a little smaller, but a lot more condensed. (Look here to see what the population is.)
Is Yakima a farming area or is there another industry there? It is all fruit orchards. There are a lot of apple trees.
How often do you end up tracting? We normally only tract for about 5-10 minute increments. Only if the first plan we had falls through as well as the second, then we tract.
What is different now that you are the senior companion? Not much, I drive and I am responsible for pretty much everything that happens.
How many members are in your ward, or is it a branch? There are about 130 that come to the branch.
How big is the ward area? It covers all of Yakima and surrounding areas.
Do you spend every P-day with the other Elders in your District? Yes
Do you play basketball at the church? Yes
How many Spanish Elders are there now? Elders – 26, sisters - 6
You seem to have spent most of your mission in basically the same area. Is that where most of the Spanish speaking people are? Yes, this is where all of the farm land is.
Will you most likely stay in that area or are there other areas in your mission where there are Spanish speaking Elders? I will probably stay on this side, there are only two Spanish areas on the west side.
People ask me what they can send you. What is the thing that you most appreciate getting in the mail? I love letters, I don’t need anything else, just a letter in the mail.
Tell us about the person that you have taught, that you have seen the biggest change in. It is probably Jorge here in Yakima. I have seen him go from an ornery old man who thought God was never going to forgive him of his sins to a happy guy who is trying to fight through Satan’s temptations to go to church.

Things are going well (03/09/2010)

2010-03-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

Things are going really well here in Yakima, Washington. It is even better that I get to stay for another transfer, with my companion, Elder Urbina. I really love this area. There is so much work to do and I love being submersed in the Spanish culture. This will be the longest I have been in an area, consecutively that is. The work is going really well too

We found a new investigator named Jasinto. He is a friend of a less-active member. He has a lot of questions on how to really receive forgiveness. We briefly went over the first lesson and he read the whole pamphlet. I have never met anyone that understood it so well, he literally nearly recited it back to us. He read the whole thing, it was amazing. So we went in a little bit more depth the next time we were there and challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11. We were unable to meet with him again for a lesson but we stopped by and he said he started reading it and once again, pretty much recited it to us. It was amazing. He is a great guy, but his only problem is he works on most Sundays.

Heraldo came to church this Sunday and stayed for the whole three hours which he hasn't been doing of late. He seemed to really enjoy himself so we don't know what is going on. He is a great guy but I guess he just doesn't have time to meet with us.

Jorge is still doing well, not much to report on that. He is battling with the flu right now. But he still hasn't come to church...

Rafael came to church again and is really doing well. He said he is going to come for the rest of his life now. He is one of three less-active families that we have been working with and have started to come back to church. It is awesome. At times I look at my mission and think I did more work with the less-actives then I did with investigators. I don't know why, but that is just how it ended up.

Well that is about it for this week. We are working hard and are still looking for people and finding them, but the hardest step is not meeting with them twice, is getting the third and fourth visits. That is the difficult part.

I hope you have a great week.

This week went by really fast! (03/02/2010)

2010-03-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. How are things going? Things are going really well here although it was somewhat a cycle week in terms of investigators. We have found a lot of good people to start teaching but lost one at the same time...I will explain.

We did not have a chance to meet with Maria this week because she was sick (there were a lot of people sick this week) but we managed to talk to her grandma to see how she enjoyed it. Well she said her daughter Juana, Maria’s mom, (sorry this is so confusing) said on the way home, we are going to become Mormon! I thought Angelina (the grandma) was going to die laughing and with excitement. She said she has tried to get them to listen to the gospel but they have never had interest. Angelina is really excited and I think her daughter and granddaughter are also. Maria has questions about the preexistence, while Juana can't read so she is somewhat leery of that. They are both doing well though.

We are also teaching a guy named Carlos. Carlos is tough because he says he has been baptized and for what ever reason he won’t understand the whole authority principle. He is a good guy and likes to talk religion but we are still trying to figure out if he is interested in our church or if he just wants to talk religion.

Jorge is doing really well, he too was sick this week so he still has yet to come to church. The one who dropped us was Heraldo. He said he is really confused but has a lot of economic problems so he is unable to meet with us anymore. We don't really know why but every time we taught him anything he was taking it to the heart, he just wanted the facts so we were probably going to give him an ultimatum soon. He is a good guy; hopefully he can find the desire again soon.

Well I spent most of my time uploading pictures so I didn't get much time to write. I am sorry. If you have any questions just ask. I hope and pray you have a great week.

It is great to be a missionary (02/24/2010)

2010-02-24T19:38:00.002-07:00

Why hello everyone. We had another succesfull week. It wasn't one of our best but it is still great to be a missionary. The sun has been out all week long and it has been in the mid-50's. So it has been fun to be out and doing things. Here is an update on some people.

Rafael - You know how I told you about how the mission focuses on 15 people from each ward and we work with them. Well Rafael was one of the guys that we focused on. Well I am not really sure how long Rafael hasn't been to church but it has been a while. He is 69 and a little crazy but an awesome guy. He was baptized about 3 or 4 years ago. We started going over there and the first few times we visited him, he would reluctantly let us in. Well now when we go over he is excited to see us. Then this last Sunday we called him up to remind him about church and he said that he called a guy to give him a ride but the guy wasn't going (well he called a guy that was less-active too). So he asked if we could find him a ride. We did and he showed up for church. After Sacrament meeting I told him it was good to see him here and he said well I want to thank you and my Heavenly Father for getting me here and I am going to keep on coming from now on. Then after church he asked me if I could show him how to donate tithing because he wanted to get donating again. It was awesome. He is an awesome guy.

Jorge- We went over on Saturday and actually sang some hymns with him. He had the hymns on CD playing behind us so it wasn't so bad. We sang a bunch but the one that touched him the most was "I Stand All Amazed", he started crying during the second verse. The spirit was really strong. I guess it is true what D&C 25:12 says that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me. He was all set to finally come to church on Sunday but his landlord showed up unexpectedly to do some things around the house so he couldn't come. He is an awesome guy. He is so much happier than when we first met him.

Heraldo- We decided to just cover all of the doctrine with him since he has so many questions. It says in "Preach My Gospel" "the study of doctrine will change behavior quicker than the study of behavior will change behavior". So we went and covered the word of wisdom. It went well but he still has his doubts.

We found some other people that I will skim over real quickly until they are progressing more. Maria is a granddaughter of a member that comes and takes care of her. We went and visited them yesterday and Maria's mom (the members daughter was there) and was asking the typical Catholic questions, what do you believe about the Virgin Mary and saints and what not and we explained it to her, Maria said to her mom and I quote "that is true" talking about how we worship Jesus and not his mother "you can believe what you want but that’s the truth, he is our Savior, not her". It was awesome, she had a lot of good questions.

Also last night we had a return appointment with a guy named Carlos. He is a Christian who knows a lot about the Bible but he had a dream the other day that a lady told him that there is a church out there that is perfect and without stain. We shared with him the first lesson and boldly told him that we are the perfect and true church. The spirit was really strong and it was a really good lesson. We have a return appointment Wednesday.

Well I better run but PLEASE keep praying for our investigators. They need it. Have a great week.

Another week down (02/16/2010)

2010-02-16T21:52:00.002-07:00

So another week down and the time is going way too fast. We were extremely busy this week. We taught a variety of people and had the baptism for Eduardo.

Eduardo’s baptism went really well. Everything went as planned. We wished there were more people there but a lot of people got confused at the time and showed up an hour late. But it is all good. He is baptized and will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. We went over there on Monday and I asked his mom how he was doing and she said he is way different already. She said he normally just wants to sit at home and watch TV, but yesterday he asked her if he could go to the store with her. She was shocked. He is a great kid that has been coming to mutual and to church and I can see him serving a mission in the next 10 years.

Everyone else is about the same. We were able to get in with Duvi and talk to her. We had a couple of great lessons. On Friday she said she was for sure ready to be baptized on the 28th of February and everything was just fine and dandy. Well then she came to church and left about 5 minutes before Sacrament meeting. The other elders called her because she was going to follow them to the baptism. Well she told them that she couldn't get over the fact that women participated in the services like give prayers and talks and what not because in the Jehovah’s Witness church they don't. Well she said she didn't want us to come over anymore she wasn't really interested anymore. So that was a complete 180 degree turn. We don't know what happened. It was weird. I think we are going to try and get over there and see what really happened.

Well we are somewhat back in the finding mode. We have a lot of good people but they are having trouble taking the next step. Rosa has another daughter named Claudia. We didn't have much contact with her because she was always with her boyfriend. Well her boyfriend just got thrown into jail. So we have been working extremely hard with her of late but her boyfriend is getting out soon. Is it bad to pray for people to stay in jail?

Mom you asked if we work with less-actives or investigators more. More investigators but the mission has this thing where every high priest group, relief society, and elders quorum in each ward select five people they want to focus on. They could be less actives, part member families or investigators. So we have been working with them. We have found a lot of success in this and it is an awesome program if everyone is on board and understands it. It is awesome.

Well on that note I have to go. Have a great week

So we got a new e-mail system (02/09/2010)

2010-02-09T18:36:00.002-07:00

So we got a new e-mail system. It is powered by Google. I like it a lot better because it has some of the nice features that a regular e-mail has like...auto-save (I tend to need this one a lot). Also it has a lot more space. Plus it tells you when a new e-mail comes in, on the old you had to update to see if new e-mails had come in or not. All of my e-mails were transferred over.

Things are going really well here in Yakima. We are finding a lot of people to teach. We taught 23 lessons last week. The lesson system has changed in our mission. Before, it was if you teach two or more principles, and extend a commitment, it is a lesson. Now you have to have an opening and closing prayer, teach two or more principles and extend a commitment. So we had 23 of those which is really good. President Belnap wants us to teach 20 a week and for the most part a lot of people are struggling with that but he asked us at this last zone conference to put our mind to it and really work towards that.

Edurado is doing really well. He will be baptized this Saturday. He is learning and understanding. Rosa is also doing really well. We have committed them to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning as a family. She seemed really excited to do that.

Duvi is having her struggles. We have moved her baptismal date back to the 28th of February. She has a lot of doubts and problems but she says she knows the church is true.

Herraldo still has his doubts. We have based his doubts down to the fact that he doesn't believe that God has a body of flesh in bones....therefore; Joseph Smith could not see God. So we are working with him on that right now.

Jorge has a lot of problems going on in his family right now. He is a good guy but at times it seems his mind is preoccupied with other things and he not letting the spirit touch his heart. I know he is happier when we leave but I don’t know if he recognizes that.

We are also teaching two guys named Jose and Miguel. They are roommates and are both really good guys. Jose ordered a video from the MTC and we went by and watched it with him and Miguel. Then we went back and taught them the first lesson. They were both really interested. Miguel knows the branch president here. They said they have been searching for a church and feel this is a good one. I think they will be able to progress and hopefully reach the waters of baptism. They actually live with a less active family who is a brother to Miguel. So that would be nice to get them all back and going to church.

We have also four more new investigators since we last spoke. There names are Margarita, Maria, Jared and Evudarado. They are all really nice and hopefully are able to progress. I will give more details on the ones that are doing well. One thing is Jared and Evudarado are brothers. After our lesson we left and walked one way down the street and then we were walking back and we saw Evudarado reading the Book of Mormon. That was an awesome feeling.

One other thing that I would like to point out, that I believe just my immediate family will understand ... and the person to find it the most interesting is Stacy. (Of course). I have discovered that I have a mental clock like dad. I wake up 2 minutes before the alarm goes off everyday. I just thought I was just used to getting up at that time, but here, we have to get up at 6 to get ready and go to church on Sunday, and I get up at 5:58. It is cool. Just thought I would let you know.

Have a great week

This whole having the spirit thing is awesome (02/02/2010)

2010-02-02T19:55:00.002-07:00

Well transfers have come and gone and I am really enjoying my time with Elder Urbina. We both seem to be on the same page and both have an extreme desire to work hard and be good. Here are some of the things that we have been doing

Wednesday, we had transfers and one of the first things we did was go to Duvi's house. We talked to her about lesson number three which is essentially the 4th Article of Faith, repentance, baptism, light of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It went really well, the spirit was really strong and we committed her to baptism on the 21st of February. She hesitated at first saying it was too soon but the spirit helped us be bolder and resolve her doubts. She is a really good lady who wants to know the truth.

Then later that night we stopped over at Rosa's house so Elder Urbina could get to know her. Well Eduardo (her son) was there and was actually paying attention. He usually zones in and out. Then Rosa said that he had told her that he wanted to be baptized. We set a date for the 14th of February. He is really doing well. He came to mutual for the first time on Thursday and really enjoyed it.

Then Friday night we had an appointment with Herraldo. We went in with a motive that we weren't going to just talk religion. We were going to teach the doctrine and help him realize that we wanted him to be baptized, and if he is not interested in that then we are going to have to stop meeting him. We told him that if you have no desire to know if this church is true or not, then we are wasting our time and more importantly yours. He whole-heartedly agreed. We also read 1 Nephi 14 with him about the Church of God and the church of the devil. It was really good. We told him we are preaching that we are the only true church here on the earth today. We committed him to read 2 Nephi 31 about baptism and we would talk about his prayers to know if the church is true and if he needs to be baptized. We are going to talk to him tonight about what happened.

We found another family. They were taught here in about September but they were dropped for not keeping commitments. We saw their name in our Area book and decided to go over and see how they were doing. Their last name is Pimintel. So we went over and they let us right in. We taught the 1st lesson, left and the spirit was really strong. Then we went last night and read with them 1 Nephi 8 about Lehi's dream. We have decided that we aren't going to move on until they have a testimony about the Book of Mormon. So we will just read it with them and hopefully they will read it on their own so they can know that it is true. President Benson once said that we need Book of Mormon converts.

Also last night we went to Jorge’s house. We showed up and he was quite angry because of something that happened in the bank. A very minor thing. A little background on Jorge. He is from Guatemala and is 59 years old. When he was 6 years old he was living on the streets, he took his first alcoholic drink when he was 8 and was an alcoholic by age 8. He has tried to stop drinking for many years but became sober and has been for 7 years now. He is a great guy, but he feels that God does not want to forgive him of his sins because he says his life is so crappy now that God is punishing him. Well before we even saw him that day we decided to read with him from Alma 7 about Christ suffering for us and 2 Nephi 31 about how Christ was baptized and He was perfect and how important it was for us to be baptized to be cleansed of our sins. Well, as you remember, he was pretty irritated with himself and God when we walked in, but we stuck to our game plan and by the end he was crying. He had realized that God really did love him and how much He really had. We committed him to pray if he should be baptized on the 28th of February. He said he would and we are going back on Thursday to see how it went.

I am so grateful for the spirit accompanying us in our visits so we can have so much success. I contribute most of this to my wonderful parents who lovingly told me that I needed to get my rear in gear. It breaks my heart that I was too ignorant the first year of my mission to figure this out, but I am grateful I have when I have. I am excited to go out and work and talk to everyone. This gospel really is true and the blessings are apparent in our everyday lives.

Sorry it’s so short!! (01/26/2010)

2010-01-26T20:47:00.002-07:00

So I just wrote a whole long e-mail and exited before I saved it so this one will be a Reader’s Digest version

Rosa and Mariana got the Holy Ghost on Sunday. I had the privilege to confirm Rosa a member of the church. It is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Later that night we went to Sunnyside and watched Morgan get baptized. I also found out that on Sunday Nancy Mendoza got baptized. We worked with them a lot while I as there.

Elder Cavaness went home today. That means I have a new companion, Elder Urbina. He is from Gilbert, Arizona and has been out about five months. He was working in Yakima already so he is now my companion and his former companion will be training a new Elder that is arriving from the MTC today. We will still be working in the Spanish branch.

Sorry it’s so short!!

It is warming up (01/19/2010)

2010-01-19T17:10:00.001-07:00

It has been warming up a little bit lately. It has been in the mid 40's with a lot of rain. It has actually been quite nice. I do wish it would snow a little bit more again. Two snow storms are not enough in my opinion.

The baptism for Rosa and Mariana went just as planned. Elder Quintana, the Elder that was here before me, baptized them. Everything went well. It is interesting to note that this is only the third baptism that I have been to on my mission of my own investigators. That is probably due to the fact that I have been moving around so much.

Duvi is doing well. She came to church on Sunday but left early because she was sick. But on Friday we went over there and we were teaching her the plan of salvation. She said she really liked it and thought it was very interesting but she couldn't believe that until she believes that the Book of Mormon is true, and we are all “you’re right”! Then she said “well actually the other day when you asked me to pray about Joseph Smith, I did that night, then I had a dream that night and she said I don't know what was happening in my dream but I just felt calm and peace and Joseph Smith’s name kept going through my head.” So I said “do you believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet?” and she said “yes”, then I asked if she believed the Book of Mormon is true and she said “yes”. So that’s a good start. Hopefully we can get in a few times this week and commit her to baptism.

Ricardo didn't come to church and we haven't been able to meet with him since our last appointment. We had another Family home evening with Ivan last night. He is doing well. He didn't come to church on Sunday because he had to work I believe. Heraldo came to church, and we are meeting with him tonight. He is doing better even though, the back window of his car is still broken.

Well that’s about all that has been going on. Elder Cavaness is at the temple today with President Belnap. Elder Cavaness goes home next Tuesday. I don't know what will happen to me but I will probably stay here.

Other than that things are good. I have noticed that my eczema has not bothered me at all this winter. My legs are dry and sometimes they itch, but nothing bad. I wonder if I have grown out of it. I hope so.

Well I better get going. Lately I have been reading Our Search for Happiness by Elder Ballard. That is a really good book. I recommend it to all. It is very insightful and just an all around good book. Have a great week.

We are super busy (01/12/2010)

2010-01-12T18:55:00.002-07:00

We are SUPER busy. We have been finding solid people to teach left and right. Here’s the run down and hopefully I don't leave anyone out.

Rosa-Is doing great. She will have her interview tomorrow and be baptized Sunday at 5. She is really doing well, outside of her crazy kids. Her 14-year-old daughter is dating and 15-year kid is in a gang. A couple of weeks ago he was shot in the arm four times. He is not a very smart kid. It is amazing though, how calm she has been and how she has kept her focus on things, even with the adversary trying his hardest to pull her down.

Heraldo- He is doing well, he missed our appointment on Tuesday and didn't come to church on Sunday, because his tire was a flat and someone bashed in his windshield. The adversary again trying to pull someone down....

Ivan- Ivan came to church a couple of weeks ago. He is the one that is married to the member. Well we went over to their house last night and had a family home evening with them. He is a really nice guy. We don't really know if he wants to join but according to his wife...he is interested.

Duvi- Wednesday we went tracting and the second door we knocked on was Duvi's, she opened the door and said I have lived here for 5 years and you guys have never knocked on my door, come in. So we come in and she explains to us that 2 years ago, she was excommunicated from the Jehovah's Witness church for dating outside of the church. She said that she wanted to get married and all of the single guys were way too young, (she is 41) so she went to look for a husband in other places. Well now she is excommunicated and no one that is a Jehovah’s Witness can talk to her, not even her family that are members. Very strange to me. So we have begun teaching her. She has a lot of great questions, which makes it a lot easier to teach her. The other day she asked me "how do I become a member of your faith?" Well we met her Wednesday, went back Friday, and she came to church on Sunday and we met with her again yesterday, and started teaching her 27-year-old daughter who is also very interested. She is a very nice lady, who is very eager to learn.

Ricardo- Last Tuesday we went to this one house looking for a less active member. Well he didn't live there but Ricardo did. He was talking to us and said it is funny that you guys came tonight, because today at work I asked my friends, why are we in this life. I am tired of this routine, I feel empty inside. He said I have three questions, where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going after this life. Our jaws just about dropped. So we went back on Sunday and answered those questions. He said I believe what you guys are teaching me, you really do have the answers to those questions. He is also a great guy, likes to talk, but a nice guy. Our next step is to start teaching his wife and their five kids. Hopefully we can fill all of their emptiness that they feel inside.

Well that’s the run down of the people we are teaching. We also have many more that we have talked to, and others that have been taught for a while. What do I contribute it to? Not having time to think about other things, ever since we have gotten here, we have run around like chickens with our heads cut off. We have been busier than a one-armed paper hanger. We have been busier that a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest. In other words...we are busy. It is nice. I loved Toppenish and my other areas, but Yakima is quickly jumping to the top because of how many people there are to teach.

Well that’s about all I have this week. Please pray for the people I have listed. They need your prayers. The Lord has put these people in the path of His gospel, if they do their part, they will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven. Have a great week.

Another 6 inches later (01/05/2010)

2010-01-05T13:17:00.004-07:00

Well another six inches of snow fell on the ground over the week. But then to top it off, it was in the high 30's and rainy yesterday so it made for a very wet and cold day. There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground, but not as much as there was.

Things are going really well here. We had another four people to church. It was Rosa and her two kids, and Heraldo. Rosa is still doing really well. She is still set to be baptized on the 17th. She is an awesome lady.

Heraldo is doing really well too. We went by Tuesday night and told him to put all of his doubts behind, and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true. He seemed to understand why we were wanting him to do that. It was a really good lesson, though at the end he walked out and said, oh yeah I don't know if the new church schedule is going to work (we went from 12:30 to 9) because my other church starts at 10. So that was kind of a curveball. So we expected him to just come for sacrament and then leave and go to his other church. So he comes to church and then stays all three hours. So after I asked him how come you didn't go to your other church. He said that he would rather be here. So I think he is getting it. We don't know how the praying has been going because our next appointment is tonight. Afterwards though he asked if we could go with him out to his car. So we did and we though he was going to drop us. He reaches in and his Book of Mormon and all of those books were sitting on his passenger seat so we thought he was reaching in to give those back, but then he reached into his glove compartment and pulled out two ties and gave us each one. It was really nice. They are nice ties too. It was cool

The story of the week has to belong to little Emily Cruz:

Last Tuesday after e-mailing I got a call from President Hanson of the Mattawa branch presidency. Mattawa is over by Connell but is in the Spokane mission. He said that he has two investigators that are at the NICU in Yakima because their baby was premature and that was the closest NICU I guess. So they had asked for a priesthood blessing and he had called us to see if we could make it over there. So that night we go over there but the parents aren't there, so we weren't allowed back there. Well the next day I was on exchanges with Elder Urbina and we had set up a time to meet them there. So we get over there and they had just gotten there, she was feeding the baby so we had to wait outside. Well the dad comes out and says she is ready but says only 2 people are allowed back there at a time. So since a parent had to be there, only one of us could go. So I went. For the record, I have only given about three blessings in Spanish in my life so I didn't know what I was going to do. So I head back there and I see this baby and it was the littlest thing I had ever seen in my life. I was talking to the mom for a little bit and come to find out, the baby was 7 weeks premature. It weighed 2.2 pounds at birth. It was tiny. So I anointed her and blessed her. I could only fit my index and middle finger of both hands on her head, and that was stretching it. It was so little. The spirit was really there though and I can tell you that she is going to be all right. She will live a happy healthy life. It was awesome.

Have a great week and remember to pray like it is all up to the lord.

Happy New Year!! (12/29/2009)

2009-12-29T15:35:00.002-07:00

Why hello from the frigid Northwest. We woke up yesterday morning to about an inch of snow. It was nice to see snow again. I decided that cold weather is absolutely useless without snow. So that stuck around all day and then there were another 2 or 3 inches this morning. It is very pretty and nice to have around.

Well I feel like we have finally gotten a hold of things in Yakima. The work is really progressing along. We had six investigators at church along with a couple of less-actives. I will list the names of the investigators and then give a little bio of them underneath. Rosa and two of her kids, Herrald, Celestino, and Ivan.

Rosa- Rosa has three daughters and a son. She has been taught by the missionaries for a while. Rosa is currently going through a divorce with her husband (due to some issues I won't go into) and she has a court date for the 26th. We were over there last night and we were talking about the Holy Ghost and we asked her "wouldn't you like the Holy Ghost for when you go to court" and she said yes. So we talked a little bit more and she is going to be baptized on the 17th of January. She is awesome. You can really tell that the Lord put the missionaries in her path about the same time all of this was going on.

Heraldo- Heraldo is a 27-year-old guy that is very knowledgeable about the Bible. He has attended a lot of different churches and is seeking the truth. He has a lot of doubts like why we celebrate Christmas and other Holidays. He asks a lot of questions which is always good and he also comes to church every Sunday.

Celestino- I don't know much about him. He has been taught by missionaries for over a year. He wants to get baptized but not married and is living with a lady so that is a problem.

Ivan- Ivan is the husband of a sister in the branch. He just started coming this week so we are trying to get in and teach him.

Well Mom, remember when you told me maybe I won’t have to talk so much in this branch. Well, Sunday I guess the speakers didn't show up or something so they asked the four of us elders to speak. So I guess I may be speaking a lot in this branch.

On Saturday I had a package in our mailbox from the Lundbergs. It was from Susie and she had sent me a pan of Cinnamon Rolls. It was awesome. She is so nice to send me those.

Merry Christmas! (12/22/2009)

2009-12-22T13:42:00.004-07:00

So I am in Yakima now and I am really enjoying it. It was hard to leave Toppenish but it was a good change at the same time. There are a ton of Hispanics here and it is nice to be in a normal-size city again. Their branch is a good size and seems to be fully functioning. They are a lot of fun and very nice.

On Saturday they had a branch Christmas party. They had good fun, a piñata, dancing and Santa Claus....well kind of. The Branch President came up to me and said the guy that normally is Santa Claus, could no longer fit in the suit. Since he asked if I could do it, I was like why not. So I left, put on the suit and came out. It wasn't how you would normally think Santa Claus to be. They just had me come out and dance around then I sat in this chair where the kids came up and I just handed them bags with candy in it. It was super fun. I have many pictures and a video that I will be sending. At the end when they announced I was leaving...this one little girl ran up and gave me a big hug and then gave me two pieces of candy she got from the piñata.

The work here is going well. We still are trying to get a handle on things. There are a lot of investigators that are progressing but have their own set of difficulties. They do have a bunch though. Our days are packed with people to teach. It is really fun in that aspect of the work. Elder Cavaness is super fun and so are the other two that cover the branch. It is weird that I went from five units to two and a half. I am enjoying it here though.

I really don't know what else to say. We have done a bunch but it seems as though it has gone too fast. We are still pretty confused too so that may be a reason that I can't think of much to say.

I did get your package. I am excited to open it on Friday. Speaking of which, we still don't know what time we are going to call on Friday but we will be calling on Thursday to give you a time for Friday. We do have a lot of meals lined up so don't worry. We get fed here every night and if one of our dinners cancels, we can just go with the other elders so essentially we have 2 dinners lined up every night. We have had good meals so far but the funniest must have been Sunday. We just had left church because it starts at 12:30 so we just went to our dinners right after. Well we were sitting there for a few minutes when one of their daughters left. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 pizzas. So only in a Spanish branch would you be fed a pizza from the store on the Sabbath. It was pretty funny.

Well that’s about all I have. Things are going great. I will talk to you on Friday then we will have a lot more to talk about!!

Pictures 1 (December)

2009-12-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Pictures 2 (December)

2009-12-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Pictures 3 (December)

2009-12-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

A few of my presents/cards I got for Christmas

A few of us on Christmas

Pictures 4 (December)

2009-12-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

We went bowling and look who had the high score.

Look at that bowling form.

Pictures 5 (December)

2009-12-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Making tortillas

Someone threw powdered sugar everywhere (12/15/2009)

2009-12-15T21:40:00.003-07:00

Well last night we were at the Morales house for dinner and saying good-bye and someone walked outside for something and yelled it’s snowing! Well I jumped up and ran out there and it was true. So we came back in, finished up and walked outside and it had dusted everything. So we went to this other house for about an hour and came back out and there was a good inch on the ground. We went to another house and came out; now there were two inches on the ground....I think you can see where this is going. This morning we woke up with about four inches on the ground. It was awesome, although they weren't very good at clearing the roads. So finally there is snow and a good amount for my liking.

Well I am being transferred again. I am going to Yakima with Elder Cavaness. He was my companion when I was in Toppenish the first time. He is a really good kid that is leaving at the end of the transfer. He is in Vancouver right now so we are getting doubled into the area. Kind of a tough thing right before Christmas but it will be fun. We just cover a Spanish branch that has about 120 people attend so I am way excited. I will definitely miss Toppenish but I am excited for Yakima. I will only be 20 minutes away so it won’t be too bad at all.

The Morales family is doing great. They came to church on Sunday and then we went over there that evening to see their horses. Well, Sergio is from Monterrey and Monterrey's soccer team was in the league championship so we were able to talk to him during breaks and half-times and things like that. There was a baptism in Sunnyside that night which is the reason we went over there to get them there. Well the game ended just in time and Monterrey won, so we head down to Sunnyside to get them to the baptism. That was awesome. Monday we went over to their house and we had dinner with them. They made Tacos de asada which were really good and then everyone left except the dad left for something for a couple minutes. So we talked to him and he was really opening up to us. He said before you guys came over, we were fighting and stressed out so much that I just wanted to leave. He said that ever since you have started coming over, I have been much happier and my attitude has been much better. So that was really good to hear. I am pretty sure they will get baptized I just don't know when. They are such a good family and I will truly miss them.

Well this week was filled with a lot of saying good-byes and what-nots. We didn't get too much done. I will really miss Toppenish but I am happy with my new area and new companion. I will let you know next week how Yakima is.

Scott, even though I am not in Canada, they say this area is one of the coldest parts in the state of Washington, so maybe I am getting a little taste of what you went through on your mission.

Well I can't believe I only have a year left. The hardest part to believe is that I am half-way done. I can't believe I just have to do what I just did. That is just cuckoo talk to me. Oh well, the beat goes on right? I have definitely learned a TON and am looking forward to the rest of the lesson I will learn.

Here is a copy of the Christmas card I sent out.

It is frigid (12/09/2009)

2009-12-09T12:43:00.002-07:00

It is down right cold. I have been wanting the cold weather so there would be snow, well there is no snow but it is definitely cold. Yesterday while driving down to the tri-cities for our Christmas zone conference, the temperature on the car recorded a high of 3°F. That is FREEZING. That means it is getting in the -'s at night. Plus the wind-chill. The Yakima River is just about frozen over and that is a pretty fast moving river. But all of this without the snow. They say they are expecting 5" on Saturday though, we will see about that.

Well anyway, things are going well here. We had our Christmas Zone Conference yesterday which was really good. We started off with training by President Belnap on focusing in on our goals. Then there was a singing presentation where different people sang. Then there was a slide show of the different pictures and then lunch then we watched “Forever Strong”. It was really good and had a good message to go with it. I would suggest watching it. All-in-all it was good day.

The Morales are still doing well. Last Thursday Elder Searle and I were on exchanges and we went over to see them. They had just gotten back from the hospital because their 5 year old daughter had: the flu, a respiratory infection, an ear infection, and a urinary tract infection. Quite the long list for a little 5 year old girl to handle. Well anyway we offered to give her a blessing and they accepted. Elder Searle anointed her and I sealed the anointing. I could really feel something special from that little girl and that whole family in general. It is hard to explain but it was the same feeling that I got from the Rodriquez family when I was in Connell, who by the way are doing awesome and haven’t missed a day of church since, but it was just really awesome. They are doing great.

Speaking of Connell, I spoke with Elder Mendez at the conference yesterday and he said that the Rodriquezes are doing well, Veronica is struggling a little but he said that just started. He also said that a less active family that we worked with almost every day while I was there has been going back to church. He has stopped drinking and bore his testimony on Sunday. That was really good to hear.

So on Sunday Maria, the lady that got baptized while I was gone, got called to be the teacher in the relief society. That is awesome. It is so good that she accepted that calling. The other day we went to her house and she was reading the Book of Mormon while listening to talks on the internet. That is a devoted and converted lady. She bears her testimony every month about how she didn't realize how lost she was and how much she knows the church is true. It is like President Benson said, we need Book of Mormon converts and she truly is one. I believe she had read the whole Book of Mormon before she got baptized.

Scott- I saw a picture of you on your hike on Thanksgiving and noticed you were wearing my shorts. I am glad you are putting them to great use. Do you wear more of my stuff or more of your stuff?

It feels like Christmas....I think? (12/01/2009)

2009-12-01T20:32:00.003-07:00

Well it has been pretty cold here of late. Starting Thanksgiving Day it has been really foggy and in the low 30's every other day, the other day it will be sunny in the 40's. It has been fun in a new experience kind of way but I can see where it could get old quick. We saw snow flakes last night but it didn't stick. It was so foggy last night that as we were searching for our dinner appointment, we couldn't find it. Their house is kind of out in the middle of no where and we were on the right road but we couldn't see it because it was off-set from the road enough that it was hidden in the fog. We called twice with no answer so that was kind of interesting. That is about it for the weather report.

Well before I forget, I will be e-mailing on Wednesday next week. We have a zone Conference on Tuesday so p-day will be on Wednesday.

Well to answer some questions that you had Mom and Dad from your letter. There is a lady who is a member that lives in Yakima but has a beauty shop down here that doesn't get very much business in the day so she cuts our hair for free. She cuts it, shampoos it, then restyles if for you, it is quiet nice. I don't know what I will do when I can't have someone shampoo for my hair for me. I think the economy is the same here as it is everywhere. Some people are out of jobs but nothing too major from what I can see. They have things that are like labor camps where a group of Mexicans will get like a six-month visa and they come and live in these somewhat of apartment-type things on the land of these farmers and they just work for them for six months. They have a place to stay and one of those big vans that they all share. It is all done through the farmer. It is kind of interesting. Then when the six months are up, they go home until the next harvest.

I found it quite funny that dad has to baby-sit Grace. I remember it must have been two years ago now that Me, Dad and Scott had to baby-sit Grace and she got into the Christmas presents under the tree and Stacy laid into us. So Dad, don't let her get into the Christmas presents.

Well Sunday I had to give another talk in the Spanish branch. This one I was told to give ten minutes before sacrament meeting. I really do enjoy giving talks now. That may change after my mission but I don't get nervous at all anymore. I spoke on the Book of Mormon.

Well probably the highlight of our week was the Morales Family. Last Wednesday we went over to their house and had dinner and afterwards we taught them the plan of salvation. We asked them how they felt and they said that they have never learned so much. The mom couldn't believe how many questions the kids asked and how in to it they were. So it was a really good lesson. Then they came to church on Sunday which is always a plus. We asked them if they just wanted to come for sacrament meeting or for all three hours. The mom said just for sacrament meeting while the kids get used to it. Well the 16-year-old daughter said why don't we just go all three hours. Well they only ended up coming for sacrament meeting but it was still really good. Well that night we went over and talked about some different things and committed them to be baptized on the 26th of December and they said yes. So far, it is just the 16-year-old daughter and the mom, the 13-year-old son wasn't there but we will commit him probably tomorrow. So that was pretty awesome I would say.

Well that is about all I have to report on. It sounds like you guys had a good Thanksgiving. Have a great week. Be safe shopping for Christmas there are a bunch of crazies out there.

What are you thankful for? (11/24/2009)

2009-11-24T12:44:00.002-07:00

Well it is the season of giving thanks and I am grateful for many things. We actually had about eight offers or so to go to eat with on Thursday. We have narrowed it down to three. We are eating with the Zillah Elders for the three of them. The first will be just a regular family dinner. The second is so big that it will be at a high school. They say there will be something like 300 people there. That will be crazy. The last one will be the Clements. That’s the lady that called you guys. It should be really fun. I am looking forward to it. Let me know how all ya'lls
Thanksgivings went.

Well things have been pretty normal here. We didn't have as many to the Spanish branch as we did the week before but we still had a solid 50 or so. It is a lot nicer to have a lot of people there. There are two families that have come for three weeks in a row. There are now two deacons to pass the sacrament every week. It is really nice. I don't know if I told you or not, but while I was gone they got a new branch presidency and I think they have a new fire under them. They really love these people and just want to help them.

Well the report on the Morales is good. They came to our Saturday activity and they had a good time. The little boy MJ (6) is so funny. It was really fun. Then we were talking to the dad about coming to church and he said he would be there. He said “I just have to come to set the example for the rest of my family.” It was amazing. Well Sunday rolled along and they weren't there so we went by Sunday night and asked what happened and he said he got up late and by the time he got ready it was 9:30 and I said well church starts at 10:00 and he got this confused look on his face and he was like really? So I guess he got confused, but that night he prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help them get to church on Sunday. Heavenly Father wants them at church so they will be there at church. They are an amazing family.

Well I don't have much to report on this week...obviously. I do want to say if you guys are doing a gift exchange. I would like to be in on it. I mean, if I can. Another thing...dad asked a few weeks ago about what I wanted for my birthday/Christmas and I told him I would think about it. Well here is my short, very missionary version, of my Christmas list:

1. That calendar I mentioned before with the pictures and what not.
2. Nice black shoes that I can wear to church and other meetings - size 8.5.
3. A pack of brown socks and a pack of black socks
4. Two long sleeve white shirts, JC Penny Stafford super shirt, no button collar - size 15.5/32.
5. Of course...ties.
6. A gray suit to wear to church and meetings, mine are looking kind of dull and I don't like wearing them to meetings. (This one could be tricky but let me know how you want to do it.)
7. A new watch, I have had mine since the 7th grade and it is pretty dinged up.
8. I heard at missionariesmom.com or something like that, they have a small-sized PMG. An elder here has one and I like it.

Anyway that is my list. So I thought it was a pretty good one.

Anyway I better run, have a great week and remember to be thankful...of course that goes without saying but I everyone else is saying it so I though I should too.....

Well Hello (11/17/2009)

2009-11-17T18:32:00.002-07:00

Well things are going pretty well here. The weather has warmed up. There was been frost outside every morning but it has been warming up into the high 50's throughout the day which isn't bad. I guess I will have to wait some more for snow.

So I have another injury to report. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they play basketball at one of the local high schools around here. So every once in a while we will go. So we went on Friday and everything was going well. I was guarding this guy that was just running all over the court. Well one time he was running towards me and he stepped on my shoe and since I was already going backwards, I just went down with nothing to break my fall except my rib, which usually isn't a good thing to break your fall....usually. So anyway, I get up and I was fine and I just played the rest of the day. I didn't think much of it but it was kind of achy throughout Friday and Saturday. Sunday it was doing better but it was still hurting when I would try and move in bed. So I talked to an athletic trainer in the ward and she said that it is either cracked or bruised, but the only thing they can do for it is wrap it in an ace bandage. She said either way it will just heal on its own. So that is my injury report for today.

Well Saturday we had an awesome opportunity to hear from Jeffery R. Holland. Elder Jay Jansen of the presidency of the seventy accompanied him and he was awesome as well. He just gave us the typical rebuking of “you need to be obedient” but he said the mission doesn't really need that. You guys need to teach with more power and authority. We were able to shake his hand before and he said he interviewed during that split second that he looked into our eyes. He turned to president Belnap and said President “you have a good mission here, there are 3 or 4 that are struggling but we all have struggles”. It was pretty intense. It was a worth while experience.

So there were even more people at church this week for the branch. We were up to 64 for this week. It was definitely a good sight. Although I was asked to speak so that was a little interesting thinking there will be maybe 30 than speaking to 64. But it was fun none-the-less.

On Sunday I walked into opening exercises of priesthood meeting and they had already started and said we will be singing a cappella unless we have a piano player in our midst. I am not at the stage that I volunteer to play but I don't like singing a cappella, especially in priesthood, so I told them I would play and they were tickled pink. You would have thought the prophet had just walked in. Hopefully they aren't asking every week now.

Well the Morales are doing well. They seem to enjoy us coming over and what we talk about. I know they feel the spirit; it is just getting them to church. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. It is like pulling teeth trying to get them to go to church.

There is another girl, Morgan. I don't know if I have talked about her or not. She is 18 and works at the Taco Bell here in town. That’s where we met her. We have been teaching her for a little while and she believes everything. She has even been to church three times. Her problem is that she doesn't know if she can repent. I think it is she is afraid to get new friends because she said she will have to if she doesn't want to do the "bad stuff" again. Whatever that means. So we will see about that.

Well that’s about all I have to report. We have seen some success in the less-active aspect of work. There have been two families that have made their way back to church a of couple times in both the branch and the ward.

Oh, another story. So there is another ward that meets in the church building that we meet at after us. After our meetings were out, there was an older man that was struggling getting up the steps into the church house. Some people were helping him up the steps while I was holding the door. I didn't know him but I guess he has been a mission president in Chile and a Stake President in the stake I am in. They call him President Allsop. Anyway we got into church and we left. Well I guess as the sacrament was being passed he took the water and he has having trouble getting it down. I guess he was coughing it up. Well the Bishop goes down to help the man’s wife and they get the paramedics there. They came into the chapel in the middle of the Sacrament. That would be definitely interesting. So they took him to the hospital where he died at 4 the next morning. They said he had a stroke. He was teaching the gospel principles class the week before. So he was doing all right. There will be a funeral Friday.

Well I better run. You guys have a great week.

Pictures (November 2009)

2009-11-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Elder Bair's most important baptism.

A group of Elders

Elder Bair with a new friend.

A group of missionaries (Elder Bair second from right)

Things are getting back to normal (11/09/2009)

2009-11-10T19:32:00.003-07:00

Well after a crazy transfer last transfer, I feel things are finally getting back into place. I feel like an NBA team that has come back, last season was tough, but it is good to get a new start.

Well first off for the weather report, it is down right frigid. It was in the low 40's all of yesterday and it seemed as though it was going to snow but it never did. It is dropping into I am assuming the mid 20's at night but I don't really know since I am not out at that time. But all in all, it is very chilly. Never in my life have I seen leaves change colors and fall but it is in full force here. It is so very pretty and we have been able to help a few people pick up their leaves. I am not going to say that I didn't have a chance to jump in a few piles.

Well we had a good week. Sunday we had 53 people at church in the Spanish branch. We usually average about 35 to 40 so that was really good. It is more than likely since the harvest is dying off and people now have "time" to come to church. We will see what happens next week.

We were able to go over to the Morales’ house last Wednesday and talk to them about Alma 32 and faith. We are now at the point where we just need to get in there and get them to read the Book of Mormon and start praying. They are such a great family and have a desire to learn. Coming to church wouldn't hurt either.

My ear is feeling better. There is no more fluid coming out which is always a plus. Pretty much the whole week when I swallowed it sound as though it was popping which was really annoying. You don't realize how much you swallow until you can hear it. That has seemed to stop though in the past couple of days so maybe it has finally healed over for good. We will see though. I asked the doctor if I need to do anything for my ears and she said the only thing really to do is get tubes put in. So that doesn't sound very exciting. Also she listened to my heart and lungs and said I was kind of wheezing. She asked if I wanted an inhaler. I asked if I needed it and she said are you having trouble breathing? and I said no, then she said don't worry about it. She said remember, no matter what a doctor tells you, it’s about how you feel, not what they think. So that really calmed my nerves down. Oh and also my allergy problem has been solved. I told her that I had an allergy problem and she told me to take Zyrtec and I said yeah I had looked into that but that is quite expensive and she said yes that’s what I thought but at Costco they sell the generic and you get a year supply for 16 dollars. So I asked a member if they could pick me some up and I have taken it for about 5 days and it has worked like a charm, I can go to any dog or cat and not even think about sneezing. It is very nice.

Last Sunday was high council Sunday for the stake. Usually they can get people from the high council that speak Spanish but they couldn't this month I guess. So I had to translate 3 talks from English to Spanish. They would say a sentence and I would say it in Spanish. It was very hard but very rewarding. Although one guy started talking about planets and orbits and another guy was talk about the engines in cars. That was a tough one.

Well sorry but I can’t think of anything else. I need to get back to writing things down so I can remember them. Have a great week.

So transfers this week... (11/03/2009)

2009-11-03T19:00:00.002-07:00

Well, on Halloween we found out what was happening next transfer. Elder Viera and I are staying in Toppenish together for another transfer. Since Elder Viera only has 2 transfers left. We will either stay together the next 2 transfers or I will leave after this one. Let’s hope that we stay together.

Well I went to the doctor on Thursday. We had a nice little visit. We talked about a lot of things and it reminded me of when Stacy went to the doctor one time and she made a list of all the things that she could think of that were wrong with her so she could remember to tell the doctor. Anyway, we go in and the doctor asks me a few questions about what happened and what not and I tell her that I got sick. She asks me questions about that and tells me that I had the Swine Flu. She said that the Swine Flu is the Flu for this season and that it is not as bad as people are making it out to be. So she looks at my ear and said that it had already healed over but it was very very thin and I would probably rupture it again by just sneezing or blowing my nose. Also there was an infection in the outer ear canal that was similar to swimmers ear. She said it looked like proud skin. I thought my skin isn't very proud; I get sunburned all the time. But anyway, so that was that. She prescribed some ear drops and said that the clogged sound and the ringing in the ear will be there for about a month or so. I thought, oh joy!

Well anyway, to go along with the medical theme. Elder Viera had his wisdom teeth taken out on Friday. Someone in the stake did it for free. He had all 4 taken out so he was laid up pretty much all weekend. I was left to take care of him. That was a chore and a half. But I must say I made him take his pills on time every time without fail. So that was good.

Well since I had that doctor’s appointment in Yakima and Elder Veira had his wisdom teeth taken out we didn't have much going on this week. I did talk to Connell and the Rodriquezes are set to go for this Saturday. I don't know if I will be able to make it down there or not. If I get a ride, I can, but it’s hard to find a ride for a Saturday night.

We didn't do much for Halloween. Friday was the ward trunk or treat so we went to that. Nothing too spectacular happened. Then Halloween, we had to be in by dark which rolled in around 6:15. Plus Elder Viera wasn't feeling too great anyway so we didn't do much. I read a lot, that’s about it.

Well sorry this letter is so short. Not much really happened. There was snow over in Sunnyside which is about 20 minutes east of here so maybe snow should be coming soon. Someone told me the Suns are 3-0. That is amazing. Are they playing against good teams?

Well I better run. Sounds like you had a great Halloween. Dad your pumpkin looked really good. I was impressed. Grace your outfit was....original. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. You must have had a lot of pizza. Have a great week.

A wild week (10/27/2009)

2009-10-27T19:08:00.002-07:00

It has definitely been a wild week but it has made it go by fast.

It all started Tuesday with getting sick. Then Saturday rolls around and my ear was sounding very clogged. I didn't think anything of it nor did anything about it. Well 5 a.m. Sunday morning rolls around and I wake up with an ear ache. I tired to just go back to sleep but it was gradually getting worst. I finally got up and took some Aleve. So after about 40 minutes the Aleve kicked in and I was able to go back to sleep at about 6:15 to wake up at 6:30. So I was feeling fine. We went to church and did all of our meetings. The English ward and the Spanish Branch were combined because of the primary program. So lucky me. I got to translate for all of the little kids. The older kids that had their part memorized were hard because they just talked really fast. And the sunbeams were hard because I couldn't understand them very well. But it was fun. The rest spoke slowly and understandably for the most part. So anyone that gets down and about half way through Sunday school my ear starts hurting again because the Aleve was starting to wear off. So I told Elder Viera that I had to go home to get some Aleve. So we go home and I took a couple then just laid down. Well at about 11 my ear drum popped. It felt so good. It wasn't hurting that bad but it was hurting. So I lay my ear down to make sure it drained something and ended up falling asleep. Well 20 minutes later I woke up and we went on our way. I just had to make sure that there was no goop coming out of my ear all the time. So that was that. Pretty exciting.

Well I don't have to much to report because we were unable to get out and do much this week. But Wednesday we went by the Morales. We just kind of went over The Book of Mormon and what it can do for us. Then we asked if they found out that our church was true, would they get baptized and they said yes. So now we just need to help them find out the church is true then talk to them about baptism. They are awesome.

I got a call this last week from the guys in Connell. Victor, I don't know if you remember him but he is going to get baptized in the middle of November. Also the biggest news was that the Rodriquez family is going to get baptized either the 7th or the 14th of November. I am so excited. They are an awesome family. Hopefully I will be able to make it down there. But that is next transfer so we will have to see.

Also, last week we got a call that Elder Jeffery R. Holland is going to come to the mission on the 14th of November. It is going to be sweet.

Well that’s about all I can think of. There is a girl named Sister Guzman or Hermana Guzman who is currently serving in the Visitor Center there at the Mesa temple so if you guys go, you should stop by and say hello.

Well I better run. Have a great week

(10/20/2009)

2009-10-20T17:42:00.004-07:00

Well the same old same old has been passing through here. It has definitely warmed up but it is still chilly in the mornings and very hard to get up since it is still dark.

Mother, I got your hats. I will hold off passing them out to people until it gets a little colder. There are definitely enough people here that need them. There is a lot of poverty here. I got the box the same day as your letter on Monday.

Well I guess since I am coming up on my year mark, my garments are getting a little raggedy. If I could get like five new bottoms. I would like the Medium short Dri Lux. There is no rush, just next time you are in Mesa if you could swing by the beehive center.

That is amazing that the fire marshal had to tell people to leave the building at the temple hearing. Sounds like it was close to not getting passed. Can they do anything to that land until it passes? I am assuming not. What about the Gilbert temple; is it done and how about the Gila Valley one? How are those coming along?

Yesterday morning I woke up with a little bit of a cough and felt kind of achy. It proceeded to get worse. I didn’t sleep very much last night. Thankfully it is p-day today; maybe I can get some rest.

Well Sunday night we had a little fireside that President Belnap puts on every once in a while. In these firesides he has recent converts come up and share their conversion story and their testimonies and we are supposed to invite our investigators and less-active members to listen. Well we didn't have any investigators nor less-active members but we did have Nick speaking. So we went up there to listen and he did awesome. He told a longer part of his story that I had never heard.

A few years ago he got divorced and to cover up the pain he turned to drinking and the "party life" as he called it. He also got into the wrong crowd and was making money "the easy way". Well he was living in Spokane and he drove down to Sunnyside to visit his grandmother and his grandmother told him that she didn't like the way he was living and she wanted him to change. He just ignored her. She told him that she didn't want him driving back that night because it was too late. Again he ignored her. So later he goes to visit his mom. She works at the casino and didn't get out of work at 11. So he visited with her and she also told him that she didn't want him to go home that night. He ignored her and went and got into his car. He tried to turn on his 4-week-old brand new Lexus and it wouldn't start. Well he had a meeting to be at in the morning so he tried and tried to get there but he couldn't. He called his best friend and told him that he couldn't make it and his friend said okay I will go by myself. So the next morning, that car starts right away. He drives to Spokane and gets home and looks for his best friend because they lived together. He couldn't find him anywhere and neither did anyone else. Well he gets a call from the police and they tell him he needs to come to the city morgue and identify a body. So he goes and he walks into this room and they roll this body out that looked like frozen meat with 6 gun shots in his chest and 1 in his head. This body was his best friend, and that "meeting" was a set up. He said that it was supposed to be him on that table. He goes on and tells how later, he met this girl and she invited them to church and the rest is history. That was a powerful story. The spirit was so strong.

Well that’s about it for this week. Sorry it is short. The Morales family is doing well. They didn't come to church but they said they tried...whatever that means. The Solis family is still stuck on the Sabbath day. And Alida, Veronica daughter is getting baptized on the 31st and her husband is having a change of heart.

I gotta run...Take care

Pictures (October 2009)

2009-10-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

A Group of Elders (from left: Elder ???, Elder Viera, Elder Searle, Elder Bair

Somebody broke into the mission car.

The Elders called the CSI: Toppenish

Officer Radke investigated

Elder Bair got his picture taken outside the Police Car.

I saw snowflakes! (10/13/2009)

2009-10-13T19:32:00.005-07:00

That’s right folks I saw about four snowflakes today, but mostly just rain; it is about 35° and down right chilly. It was even colder last night standing outside talking to a cop for an hour and a half.

The work is really going well here. We went by the Morales family on Wednesday and we had a really good lesson. Vaihane (16) was asking a lot of good questions. She wants to know why her family is going through so much trouble and what they can do to change it. We just talked about having that faith in the Lord and doing the things you are supposed to. At the end, we all knelt in prayer and Sergio (Dad, member) gave a beautiful prayer. It was surprisingly very Mormon-like for being out of the church for over 25 years. When we all said amen and were standing up Josania (mom) was bawling. It was awesome. We had an appointment with them last night but it got changed again to tomorrow night. We will see how that goes. We are planning on going over the restoration and watching the restoration video.

Some other good news is Maria. She was baptized while I was gone and she is doing awesome. She is reading the Book of Mormon for a second time and is memorizing The Articles of Faith. Last Sunday she gave the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting and she walks up and says “Buenos Dias, vamos a inclinar nuestras cabezas” or "good morning, we are going to bow our heads" and says the prayer. Hey, whatever works.

Today we went to the temple; that’s why this e-mail is so late. The temple was good like always. I struggled staying awake because we had the 8:15 session which meant we had to be up at 5:45 to get down there, plus we were up late talking to the cop last night.

Mom, I haven’t gotten your letter yet because yesterday was a holiday so sorry if you had any questions. But dad to answer your question about the plaque. I don't really know; I was thinking D&C 84:88 or somewhere in Alma. I don't have one set but I have a couple in my mind.

Okay....so the cop story.

Yesterday we had interviews up in Yakima so we and the Zillah Elders drove together while they just left their car in the alley behind our apartments where they always park. So that was all good. So we head home that night and pull our car into the garage and the Zillah elders go to their car and the passenger side window had been broken and their GPS was gone. So we were looking at it and calling the guy who is in charge of the vehicles when this truck shows up and rolls down his window and sticks out a gun and says get away from the car!!! Just kidding, the truck pulls up and two guys get out and told us they saw it happen and they had already called the cops that day. It had happened about 2:00 that afternoon. This guy who lives in our apartment complex (Juan) was outside on his lap top when he saw a car pull up and a guy get out with a girl driving. He didn't think much of it. Then he heard stomping noises, once again didn't think much of it until he heard the alarm go off so he kind of looks and he sees a guy walking back to the car with a GPS in tote and get in the car and they drive off. The best part is Juan, worked with that guy (Salvador) before so he tells us all of this and we get a cop there and he takes fingerprints. I got some good pictures so don't worry. But anyway, Salvador has been in jail before for stealing the jars of money for cancer kids. Not a smart guy. Juan had his number so they were going to work with that. We don't know what happened except it was exciting but very cold at the same time.

Well I better run. I have to speak AGAIN in church on Sunday. That is now number ten on the mission. Have a good one

I have never lived like this!! (10/06/2009)

2009-10-06T19:29:00.002-07:00

Why hello everyone. It is getting down right chilly here. I went out to the car at 8:00 this morning to get something and the temperature read 37° and there was frost on the grass. I am excited for the cold and have been hoping that it would be really cold this winter but I may be regretting that by spring.

So, first updates on Connell. Sunday, Samuel got baptized. He was the son of the member that we found in the garage. I haven’t heard how it went but I am sure it went well. Nancy, the one that was supposed to be baptized at the end of August has said that she really wants to be baptized now so we will see how that goes. There is another man named Adolfo. Now Adolfo has worked for a member for many years and has been talking to the missionaries for over 7 years. The man he was working for is now serving a mission in Texas but I think he gets home this month. Anyway, he called up Elder Mendez and I guess he had been talking to Adolfo and he told him that he wants to get baptized. So Elder Mendez went over there and Adolfo said he and his wife want to get baptized now. So we will see how that goes. Then Veronica now wants her 8 year old daughter baptized and they are trying to see if the dad is totally okay with it. So a lot is happening in Connell right now.

Now for General Conference. Conference was great as always. I did notice that the chorister in General Priesthood meeting was not singing. I thought that was interesting. I really liked President Monson's talk about anger. That was really good. When we stood and sang Praise To that Man for halftime for the priesthood session, it made me think of the time that dad left to go to the bathroom and then came back and said "When I came out of the bathroom I noticed that I was in the girls bathroom, I figured it wouldn't matter much". I also liked Elder Ballard’s talk about Fathers and sons. You also have to love Elder Holland’s talk on the Book of Mormon amazing. All-n-all it was amazing. We watched all sessions at the church.

Now for the work here in Toppenish. It is starting to pick up. The Solis family is Seventh Day Adventist. What that means is they focus all their attention on the 10 commandments and essentially still live the Law of Moses which had the Sabbath on the last day of the week. They are doing well. We haven’t been able to make it out there. They kind of live far away so we can't just pop in.

Every Friday we do something called weekly planning where we plan for the week, easy enough. Elder Viera and I have decided that I am in charge of the Spanish work and he is in charge of the English work, we still have input on both but we are just in charge for that. So I was looking over the names on the branch roster for the Spanish and this one name just kept sticking out to me. Sergio Morales. So after a little bit I said lets put him down to go visit this week. So Saturday night we head over there. They let us in and we find out that Sergio was baptized when he was about 13 down in Monterrey and is now 40. He said he hasn't been to church in a long time. But he mentioned that he had a brother who served a mission. Anyway, we were talking and Sergio’s wife, who is not a member of the church, was saying that just that morning she was talking with her daughter about how with all the trials they are going through in their lives, they need to find God. Well look who showed up that night. Then we challenged them to have family prayer together every night and when we were talking about that, and how you can work out your trials together with our Heavenly Father, Sergio was tearing up. It was awesome. We had an appointment for last night but I guess they have horses and they got loose so she called and asked if we could change it so we are going back on Wednesday. It should be pretty good

I was thinking the other day, I have a few scriptures that I like better than the one that is on my plaque right now. I was wondering if I could change that or if that is set in stone.

Well I think we are starting to work hard and I think it is starting to pay off

P.S. Mom, or Dad, or whoever wants to. I would like those tan slip-on shoes that Lady gave me for my birthday or Christmas one year, and the belt that I bought to match it and also that brown sweater I have. Scott probably has at least one of those things if not all three. But if I could get those that would be great.

Hey! You're back! (09/29/2009)

2009-09-29T19:16:00.002-07:00

That’s what I have heard a lot of lately. "Hey I know you." It has been fun coming back and seeing everyone again. We have hit the ground running as well. Elder Viera said that last transfer they really didn't work as well as he would like. So we talked it over and said we were really going to get things moving here.

Elder Viera is really fun. He is a talker but it is good. He really knows his gospel and is a good teacher. I think we go well together. I may have told you this before but Elder Viera is a rapper. Like he has an album out. He has rapped different things and he is pretty good. I am enjoying him. He is a nice guy and enjoys being with people. Hopefully I can learn a few things in that aspect.

Well, I don't know if you remember the Solis family. We had started teaching them right when I left Toppenish in July. We went over last night and had a good lesson. Their biggest hang up is the Sabbath day. They feel it is on Saturday. We told them to pray about it and we will do the same and next week we will discuss it. Hopefully we can show them that Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses which changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Their whole church is based on one thing. The Sabbath being on Saturday.

We have been teaching other people but not very much. We are still trying to get things together. We are trying to get the people I was teaching before and some he was teaching. I don't know if you know but Elder Viera actually started his mission here so we have both come back. He served here from February of 2008 to June of 2008 and then came back in July. He also served with Elder Flint when he was here the first time.

Well I better run. Have a good week.

It’s like Deja Vous all over again (09/22/2009)

2009-09-22T18:32:00.003-07:00

So we received a call on Saturday morning. This is how the call went (NO peeking down to the bottom to see what happened.)

ME: Hello, this is Elder Bair
President Belnap: Good morning, this is President Belnap. How are you Elder Bair?
M: Good, how are you President.
PMB: Good. Elder Bair I am going to transfer you next week. Now before I go on, I want to tell you something. I hate transferring Elders and I don't want to transfer you Elder Bair because I feel like you have really liked it up there in Connell.
M: Okay president
PMB: Well, let me tell you where I am transferring you. Elder Bair I am transferring you to Toppenish with Elder Viera. How do you feel about that Elder Bair?
M: Well, I am definitely sad to leave here but I have been in Toppenish so I at least know what it is like. And I know this is not from man it is from the Lord
PMB: (pausing for a second, I think he forgot I had worked there already) Okay, well I am glad you are okay with it, now can I talk to your companion?

I thought you might want to hear how a transfer call is. (PMB stands for Paul Manning Belnap. That’s how he signs all of his letters and texts so that’s what we call him when we are talking about him).

So I am headed back to Toppenish. I am very VERY sad to leave Connell. But by the same token I really liked Toppenish so I am happy that that’s where I am headed. President Whitby told me he would come get me if the Rodriquez family got baptized so hopefully that is soon and I am able to witness or be a part of that.

Speaking of the Rodriquez family. Last Wednesday they called and tried to cancel their appointment because they were sick but we wouldn't let them. We went with President Whitby and talked about the Branch President and Priesthood blessings. Then we gave all of them that were sick blessings, Alejandra (Mom), Jennifer(5), Jayson(3), and Allison(8 months). Then Carla(8) wanted one as well so we gave her one and then Alfonzo (Dad) as well. The spirit during that time was so powerful. When President Whitby was blessing Jayson I could just feel something. I just kept picturing him serving a mission. It was amazing. Then when I gave Jennifer her blessing I could really feel something special, not to mention we had a tough time holding our composure because she was so wiggly we had to follow her head with our hands. But it was awesome. That family is really really special.

Well I better go. Take care. I hope you still have the Toppenish address. If not I will get it to you next week. I have to go buy another suitcase today. I have accumulated a lot of stuff from Missionaries leaving things. I should probably de-junk a little as well. Take care.

Another transfer come and gone (09/15/2009)

2009-09-15T20:01:00.004-07:00

I can't believe another transfer has come and gone. The calls will come Saturday. We are expecting Elder Mendez to leave but who knows. I could get transferred again or we could stay together. Who knows?

Some updates on the investigators. We had a regional stake conference on Sunday and Elder Nelson and President Monson spoke. We actually had a lot of people go. I guess stake conference isn't a big thing for the Hispanic folks here in Washington. Alfonso Rodriquez came with two of his daughters. Alejandra Rodriquez did not come because their three-year-old son was sick. I thought it was just like life-long LDS Families that when a kid gets sick, one parent stays home and the other takes the rest to church. So they are doing well. They still don't have a date for baptism but they are currently praying for which date they should.

Samuel didn't come to church but we are about half-way done with the lessons. He is still set to be baptized on the 4th of October.

There is another man/kid (he is 20 years old) named Victor. Victor works with Hno. Gutierrez who is in the branch presidency. I guess one day at work they were teasing Hno. Gutierrez about paying tithing and he just bore his testimony to them. Then later Victor came up and said I want to go to your church. He has been coming for about a month and a half. We taught him the first lesson and it went really well. We are going back tonight to teach him again.

This is mainly for Dad and Scott but there is a train that goes through Connell. I have found that anytime I have time to watch the train I am always counting the cars. Something I picked up from my father and older brother.

The other day I was walking through Wal-Mart when I saw a Wii. I was wandering what happened to our Wii? Where is it stationed?

Another observation that I have had is that I have been taller than two of my companions and shorter than the other two. The weird thing is the two I was taller than were the gringos and the two I was shorter than were Hispanics. I thought that was a little backwards because I don't run into very many Hispanics who are taller than I am.

My Final Burn as Jim Rome would put it, or my last note, or my ending message for today is how to teach Hispanics to become Mormons. Yeah we can baptize many because they are so humble and have the blood of Israel in them but how do we get them to live their lives in accordance to Mormonism. They aren’t breaking any major commandments or anything like that. It is just not knowing that the bishop is in charge of the Priests Quorum or that the keys to the Deacons Quorum are given to the 12-year-old Deacons Quorum president not the adult leader. It’s little things like that. As President Whitby put it, a man I greatly admire, when he goes after the one lost sheep, the 99 are trying to get out and no one is there to help him keep them in. Anyone that is Hispanic and really wants to grow in this gospel learns English and goes to the ward. So how do we get the others to stay in the fold instead of trying to get out? Those are my thoughts. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Well, I better run. Que les vaya bien!

Brrr (09/08/2009)

2009-09-08T21:29:00.003-07:00

Well the weather has been awesome here. Last Wednesday I was sweating so bad that when this little girl was hitting my back for some reason she kept saying its wet, its wet. I thought if you only knew what it was. But it has progressively gotten better until this morning we walked out and it was very cold with the temperature reading 47°. It has been very nice with the daytime highs in the 70's. It is supposed to warm back up here soon though.

The wedding happened on Saturday. It was awesome. It was very short, just we two missionaries, the bride and groom and president Whitby and his wife. It lasted all of 10 minutes. The groom was very very nervous. I think he was expecting it to be some big thing but it was very simple and very awesome. We are going over tomorrow to talk to them about baptism. They haven’t been coming to church because they always say if God is willing we will go. This means, we want to go but if anything comes up, we won’t. So we need to work on that.

So about four weeks ago or so, we went on double exchanges with some kids in the ward. I went with this one kid and we were driving and I told him to stop so we could talk to this lady named Bertha who was out in her garage. She was grinding up corn to make tamales and after talking to her we found out that she is a member of the church. She is from Texas and is up here living with her daughter for the summer to pick fruit. She said that her daughter and her husband are members too but they don't go to church, and she has her two sons up here, ages 12 and 10. The 12 year old, Luis is a member but has not been ordained to the priesthood, and the 10 year old, Samuel, has not been baptized. She said she has been wanting to get her kids back to church and wanting us to come over but she hasn't done anything about it because she felt it wasn't her house so she didn't want to just invite us over. So she told us who she is living with and her son-in-law’s parents are active members in the branch and so we talked to them to have the lessons at her house. So everything is great. We head up there and the active lady said that her son and daughter-in-law said that we could do it at their house, they live right next door. So we go over there and have an awesome lesson, with participation from everyone. Samuel is going to be baptized on the 4th of October and Luis is going to get the priesthood the same day. They all came to church this Sunday. All because one mom/mother-in-law had a desire to go back to church, the Lord made it all happen. (Sorry if this story was so confusing.)

Well right now they just finished picking peaches and nectarines so all of the pickers just keep a box to themselves and give us some. I have never tasted such juicy, sweet peaches in my life. They are so good but they go rotten quickly. So we have to eat them fast, fine by me!

This weekend Elder Waldo came back to visit. I don't know if I have mentioned him. He is actually from Arizona and his parents live by Matt’s parents. Elder Waldo said he was going to visit you guys in December when he is home from BYU-Idaho. I don't know if that will happen or not though.

Well the other day Elder Mendez mentioned how he couldn't believe how well I remember things. I have been thinking about that a lot and I have decided that I can remember situations very well. I just can't remember all of the details. Like that one time when you (mom) took me visiting teaching and that lady gave me a pill.

Well I better run. Keep up the good work.

Pictures (September 2009)

2009-09-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

With Elder Mendez at our "home" in Connell, Washington.

A family in the branch at Connell, Washington

Another Talk in church (09/02/2009)

2009-09-02T16:49:00.002-07:00

I had to give another talk in church on Sunday. That was the 9th talk I have given on my mission. Five of which have been in Spanish. This was in English, in the Basin City 1st ward. They had some ward business to take care of so Elder Mendez and I had 10 minutes together. We had planned on 10 minutes each so we had to shorten our material. My topic was on missionary work. I shared the story of Grace and how she would tell the boys with their ears pierced that they were naughty. That got a roar out of the congregation. Then yesterday we had interviews with President Belnap (that’s why I didn't e-mail yesterday) and he told me that President Montierth (that is the stake president of the Pasco stake who was in attendance) called him up on Monday and told him that I did a good job. President Belnap told me thank you for representing the mission well. I just gave a talk. I don't know about representing the mission. But whatever.

So lat P-day we went to the Branch President’s house of the Basin City Branch. He is awesome. He reminds me a lot of Chad, red head and always cracking jokes. But anyway we went and he showed us around his farm on four-wheelers. They also have their own cow where they get their milk so right before we left, I was able to milk a cow. It was definitely interesting, but at least I can say I have done it.

Veronica is doing well. She had to be out of her apartment by the 31st of August and by her baptism (which was the 23rd) she had nowhere to go. But in the last week or so she was able to find a new house and is moving in on Thursday. The blessings of the Gospel are already pouring in on her.

I have a random question. Does the ward still pass out envelopes with the address of the missionaries? I have never gotten one of those. I didn't know if they still did it or what. Just a random question.

Well to close I would like to share a very personal and sacred story. I wrestled with the thought of sharing it but I decided I should.

I have talked about the Rodriquez family before. They are the ones that needed to get married before they get baptized. Saturday night I couldn't really sleep for whatever reason and I was thinking about them, hoping they would go to church the next day. I decided to kneel down and pray for them right then. As I was praying I felt the impression to fast for them starting then. So I got back in bed and fell asleep. I got up in the morning and started fasting. We got to church and guess who was there, the Rodriquez family. All dressed up, looking great. So after a few words, we have our meeting with President Whitby and he said that they had pulled him aside and she said we don't want to get rings right now, we just need to get married. It was awesome. So they are getting married this Saturday at 6:00. We still need your prayers though so we can commit them to baptism and help them along that path. Sister Rodriquez is so excited to be sealed together as a family.

Pictures 2 (August 2009)

2009-08-31T19:32:00.003-07:00

Baptisms make it all worth while. Elder Mendez with Veronica and Elder Bair

A self portrait

Ward missionaries with Elders Mendez and Bair

Elder Bair taking a nap with a new friend.

Pictures 1 (August 2009)

2009-08-31T19:23:00.004-07:00

Finding time to do service for others.

Elder Bair (right) with Elder Waldo

Trying my hand at bowling

Finding time to study

My desk

Lawn Mowing video (August 2009)

2009-08-31T19:03:00.002-07:00

A True Shepherd (08/25/2009)

2009-08-25T20:19:00.005-07:00

Why hello there. Things are going well here and the weather is great too.

The baptism of Veronica ended up happening on Sunday instead of Saturday. They wanted to move it to Sunday because they wanted to announce it in Sacrament meeting. So all went well. Elder Mendez baptized her and did really well despite being very nervous. The bishop confirmed her. He said he wanted someone from the ward to do it so that’s why he did it. The ward seemed very excited to finally have someone baptized that seemed to be in for the long haul. Next up, her husband.

On Saturday there was a lady we taught in Toppenish named Maria Ojera who was baptized. I don't know if I have mentioned her before but we worked with her for weeks and she finally decided to get baptized. Her son was also baptized.

On Thursday I got a call from the Elders in Walla Walla that a guy that we tracted into, probably my last week there, has been coming to church for weeks and is getting baptized I think this Saturday. I am really excited to see the fruits of my labors starting to pay off a little more.

Well we received some news on the temple this week. We are only allowed to go every other transfer. I guess the temple is so busy they don't have room for us.

The other day we went to dinner with this family that live way out in Timbuktu. I was asking him about the farms and what not and I learned that most of the people that grow alfalfa here are shipping it to Japan. I guess it is pretty easy to just put it on a truck and take it to the Columbia River and ship it to Japan. I thought that was pretty interesting though.

Another thing I noticed is these people have such big lawns and the men are farming six days a week. So most of the time, the wife has to mow the lawn. It is just riding lawn mowers but I thought that was interesting. Oh I forgot. We mow this non-member lady’s lawn every week so I get to ride one every week. Then she wants us to burn her weeds so I get to walk around torching weeds when I am not riding the mower. I need to get a picture.

Well that’s about all I have. I just want to end with a story I call "A True Shepard"

Since right about the time Veronica was getting serious about baptism there was a lady who moved back into the ward named Mayela. She had started coming to the lessons with us before she had been back to church. She became good friends with Veronica and has really helped us with getting to know Veronica's true feelings about baptism. Well, she has been getting Veronica to church and has found her daughters some dresses and different things like that. Well this last Sunday we were in the Spanish branch and Sister Poulson got me. She said that Veronica was not at church and she would go get her but her cousin, who is not a member, was at church and she did not want to leave her. So she asked me what she should do. I said well if I can go with another Priesthood holder and we can go get her. She says “great, I will get my husband to take you guys.” So we hop in the car and go get her. She was making lunch for her husband, but she said she would come when she was done. I said well Sunday School starts in 30 minutes so if you don't come, someone else is going to come for you. She said okay and we left. Well she came on her own and had a great time and was baptized that day. That is what I call a True Shepard.

Well I better run. Have a great week.

Baptism (08/18/2009)

2009-08-18T20:07:00.001-07:00

Well Veronica had her baptismal interview this week. She did it with the zone leaders and all is good so she is set for the baptism on Saturday. Elder Mendez is going to baptize her and I think I am going to confirm her.

The weather had been pretty nice actually. Friday night we went out and I was actually a little chilly. There was a storm that cooled things off quiet nicely.

The people we live with are out of town for two weeks so their daughter is taking care of the dog. Well the dog is very bored as you can imagine so she has been coming down with us and even jumped into bed with me one night. After a night of wrestling with her and flashbacks of Rex, I decided to bring her bed down. She has slept in there since but it hasn't been great for my allergies.

Well the last missionary that was in Connell had been there for nine months and had accumulated a lot of things. Well he had left a lot of shoes. And I discovered them so I have a lot more shoes! It is quiet nice. I have nice black shoes to wear to church instead of my Rockports that I have that are beat up.

Since in Connell there are only about three places to eat out and none of them are a chain like McDonalds, there is no place to waste your money. So from the $135 that we get each month I still have $100 left. It is nice. I don't know what I will do with it though.

I have counted my ties and I have over 50. I am trying to beat Scott’s record. How many did he have?

How is Westin? How did you get that name? I want to go to Disneyland when I get back so lets start planning that.

Well I better run. Sorry this letter is short. We did a lot but I just don't remember it all. Have a good week.

You wont believe it (08/11/2009)

2009-08-11T17:12:00.001-07:00

You won’t believe it, I am actually staying in my area with my companion for a second transfer. This is very weird but I am very excited since we have so many things that are cooking right now.

Now for the updates.....

Veronica came to church again. Her fellowshipper told us that she seems nervous and may need another week so after talking it over with Veronica we are moving that baptism to the 22nd of August. She seems ready but nervous. But who wouldn't be. I am excited and can't wait to watch her take the plunge.

The Rodriquezes are still ready to go for the 22nd. We are going over there tomorrow to talk about the wedding license and make the last-minute plans. They seem ready to do it as well.

The Mendozas are ready to go for the 29th still. They have kids that are their age so that is really good. The dad who hasn't been to church in about 10 years or so, came on Sunday and you can tell he was touched. Their mom is still shady but we will worry about her later.

Elder Hafen came and spoke on Wednesday on the atonement. He gave an awesome talk as you can imagine. One joke he shared was hilarious. I will relay it to you (he was a very funny guy).

A sports reporter goes up to a large football player after the game on a turf field and asks him if he likes turf or grass better. The football player things about it and after a while replies, I don't know, I have never smoked turf.

He was a hoot throughout the day.

The reasons I asked for the shirts is because we got two different types of fabric and one is very hot and stiff and so its makes it uncomfortable.

The pictures in my camera got deleted because I was playing around with my camera and I hit format memory card which I found out deletes all of your pictures.

My suggestion for “Preach my Gospel” is to read chapters 3-6. It doesn't matter the order but those will help you guys the most as members. The whole book will help but those are most church-oriented while the rest is more missionary-oriented.

Well have a great week and keep praying for the missionaries in your own wards by name.

Here we go again! (08/04/2009)

2009-08-04T20:31:00.002-07:00

Since Friday, we still have been busy. Saturday, we had a five-stake meeting, the whole south east of Washington and parts of Oregon, where Elder Perry from the area authority came and spoke about utilizing the ward mission plan and missionaries and stuff. It was for all ward council members so it was really neat. It was fun to see at church the next day how everyone was excited about it and ready to get missionary work moving. Hopefully it stays that way.

Then tomorrow, we are having Elder Hafen from the First Quorum of the Seventy coming to talk to us. That should be exciting.

Well, Sunday, Veronica came to church and seemed to really enjoy it. It was fast and testimony meeting which is always a little stressful for missionaries and investigators but every one said that it went fine. We weren't able to go because I have to play the piano in the Spanish branch. She still has questions about being baptized but she is still good to go for the 15th

Then last night, we were over at the Mendoza family’s house. The parents are members but inactive and we have been trying to get them to go. The dad has been trying but hasn't been able to. But two weeks ago the kids came. They have twin 14-year-old boy and girl and then an 8-year-old boy. So last night we went over and taught them the first lesson. It was really good for their dad and the spirit was really there. We committed them to be baptized on the 29th of August and they said yes! It was awesome, the spirit was there and you can tell they all felt it.

So the 15th, 22nd and 29th of this month are all going to be very busy with 4 baptisms and a wedding.

Well some other exciting news is that, everywhere I have served, the kids will always speak to me in English, but here, they actually speak to me in Spanish, it is great. And also, for the longest time I had a fear of talking on the phone in Spanish. I don't know why it is just hard, but I finally got over that. So now, it is just sharpening my skills in anyway I can.

The other day, all of my pictures on my camera got deleted. I had sent a lot to elder Cavaness though so I should be able to get those back. But the pictures may not come for a while...sorry.

The other day we went to this house to eat and the rug in the entry way was the same one we have under the kitchen table at home, at least it was there when I left.

Mom you asked about the Temple. You have to make an appointment to come in. There is only one Endowment room too. I have been thinking about getting some temple pants because they only have five that you can borrow and they reek of chlorine. Also, I was wondering if I could go to JC Penny’s and get some new shirts. Just a couple, because I have 2 different types of short sleeve shirts and one is not very comfortable, it is really hot. The other is a lot more breathable.

The other day for the sacrament hymn, we got mixed up on what I was playing and what they were singing so that wasn't too good.

Well I better run. Keep praying for me and all of the missionaries throughout the world. This work is more important than anything. Have a great week.

Pictures (July 2009)

2009-07-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

Missionaries will always find a way to goof off.

Here Comes the Bride (07/31/2009)

2009-07-31T18:29:00.001-07:00

We had interviews Tuesday and then Wednesday some missionaries had priest-age kids going out with them and Thursday too so here we are Friday with our p-day.

I had a lot written down but I forgot my planner so I am going to have to remember it.

Well, we have a lady set for a baptismal date of August 15th. She got her answer and has made friends with people in the ward. She doesn't really know everything but she knows it is true which maters the most. Her name is Veronica.

Second. The Rodriquez Family is getting married. We told them that they needed to get married so the Branch President is going to marry them on the 22nd of August. I am really excited. The things you go through on your mission.

We have 13 investigators that came to church on Sunday between the 5 units. The Connell Spanish Branch had 10 of those. It was really good. The Branch runs about 15 to 20 and we had 40. It was awesome.

So how is San Diego? It has been pretty hot here and I have been thinking a lot about what you have been doing there but thankfully we have been really busy so I haven’t had too much time to think about it.

Mom you asked me who wrote me. Clint and I write every week. I have gotten a couple of letters from Leah and other people from EA and Katie, Jill’s sister, has written me a couple of times and that’s about it. I think most people have forgotten about me by now. Oh well.

Well, like I said I forgot my planner so this letter is pretty short but I think I got most of the highlights. I was unable to view the videos because there are no speakers here at the library but I will get some head phones and watch them on Tuesday. I will have more to say then.

Have a great last night in SD. Talk to you later.

Halfway through the transfer (07/21/2009)

2009-07-21T19:21:00.001-07:00

Well before I forget, next week we have interviews so I will be e-mailing on Wednesday. Also we went to the temple today so that’s why I am emailing so late.

Well, as I said before, we went to the temple today. It was good as normal. I did it in Spanish again so that was fun and exciting. All was well. I am starting to appreciate the temple more now that I kind of know what I am doing.

I played the Piano in church again. It seems as though they are really going to rely on me to play. I enjoy playing but I am going to have to fine tune some other songs. I am really enjoying playing though.

On my talks I gave last week in church, I just made a few notes. I think in Spanish and just shared it. I pretty much just shared three stories and a couple of scriptures and my testimony. Nothing too fancy.

The weather hasn't been that bad here. It is hot but not too too hot.

We really worked hard last week. We taught 68 lessons and found 8 new investigators and a bunch of other potential ones. It is amazing how when you work harder, it seems the people you are teaching feel the spirit so much more powerfully.

We went back to Yahdel’s on Tuesday but he had gone to Othello, we went back on Friday (I think) to set up another appointment. He invited us in but he had to go somewhere so we just set up another appointment. He seemed pretty sorry for not being there for the last appointment.

Tonight we have an appointment with the Gonzaga family. I think we are going to try and put them on a date for baptism. I think I mentioned them in my letter home last week.

Whenever we are in the first visit, I try to ask them to read something out loud while we are there. If they accept then I know they can read. If they say no, then it usually means they can't read so we have to try a different attack.

I already got a hole in one of my socks. It is in the toe but they are only 7 months old so that’s not a good sign for the rest of them.

Well you guys are all rotten for going to SD without me. I want to hear all of the details in the next letter and Pictures are a must. Speaking of which, will you guys send back the camera chip so I can send the chip I have, to you.

Well I had better run. Sorry the letter is so short, not much happened this week. We are halfway done with the transfer already. Time is flying. We’ll talk to you next week. Have Fun in SD!!

Questionaire (07/15/2009)

2009-07-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

We recently sent Matthew a questionnaire (in bold). His responses are italicized.

What is your companion’s name and where is he from? Elder Mendez was born in Mexico, moved to DC, then to California and then to Utah.
Do you speak Spanish together all of the time? Not all the time but a good amount.
Do you knock a lot of doors? No not really. We have a lot going on right now.
Who drives the car? How is the Mazda 3? Elder Mendez drives. The car is not bad, it just looks flashy that’s all.
When you are working in the Spanish areas do they feed you? We eat in Connell Monday, Thursday and Saturday and the Spanish families mix with the English but there are only three active Spanish families so we don’t eat with them much. Then Wednesday, Friday and Sunday we are in Basin City. One week, we eat with Basin City 1st (English). The next is Basin City 2nd (English) then the next is Basin City 3rd ( Spanish) and that just rotates.
What crops are grown in the area? They grow corn, hay, cherries, and potatoes.
How many members are there in the Spanish branches? There are about 20 members in Connell and about 30 in Basin City.
The English branches? Or are they wards? The English wards are good size. I would say about 150 or so.
Did you know any of the Elders that are in your district before? Yes, Elder Uribe is in Pasco and Elder Stewart was in my district in Toppenish.
Do you like them? I love them all.
Do you always spend your P-days with them? Yes, so far.
Are they Spanish speaking Elders as well? Yes, we speak Spanish then there are two sets of Elders in Pasco and a set of sisters in Kennewick that all work for one branch.
Is the number of missionaries in the Kennewick mission growing or staying the same? The number is staying the same but 105 missionaries have been out six months or less.
What is your favorite part of the mission so far? Probably watching the spirit overtake me in what I am saying and then touch the people I am talking to.
What do people do for fun in such a small town as Connell? They go to Pasco.
What is the family like that you are living with? Are they farmers, do you live on a farm? We don’t see them much since we live in the basement but they are really nice. Yes, they are farmers and yes we live on a farm.
Do they have children? A lot but they have all moved out. Three of their children are still in the ward though.
What do they do for work? Farm
Do you spend any time with them? No, not really. We just tell them what we did that day.
How many people are you teaching right now? About 15 or so.
Do you feel any are close to baptism? Yes a lot. (See enclosed letter)
How are the mosquito bites? I haven’t gotten any here for some reason.
Are most of the members in the wards farmer? The majority are farmers.
Is that the main industry in the area? Yes.
Are there any colleges close by? The closest is in Pasco.
Is it humid or basically pleasant weather? It is pleasant.

A hand written letter home (07/15/2009)

2009-07-15T07:56:00.002-07:00

Well, since we only get an hour on the computer here, I thought I would snail mail a little. We are teaching a lot of people right now. One couple is Pablo and Araccli. They both are awesome. They both have received their answer that it is true.

Another family is Alfonso and Alejandra. They just started coming to church. Great people though.

Another is Imelda. She still hasn't gotten her answer yet but she is progressing .

Another family is the Gonzaga family. They were taught a few years ago but stopped for whatever reason. I was able to tell them last night that either The Book of Mormon is true or it is not. If it is true then this church is true. If it isn’t, then this is a fraud. I think the spirit touched them. They now have to pray to get their answer.

There are others but those are the closest to baptism. One of the problems we have is some of the people we are teaching aren't married so that makes it tough.

So pray like it is all up to the Lord and I will work like is all up to me.

Well Hello! (07/14/2009)

2009-07-14T19:52:00.002-07:00

Why Hello from Pasco, Washington. That is where we do our e-mailing. Connell is doing pretty good. I feel like I am starting to get to know the wards a little bit. I feel like I have to take charge in some of the meetings. Elder Mendez isn't that quiet but you can tell he was in the past because he kind of has a tough time talking to people. So sometime I kind of have to step in and explain some things.

On Sunday I had to speak in church.....twice. First I had to speak in the Connell Spanish Branch. I was the first speaker and the Elder Mendez was the second speaker. Then an hour later I, had to speak in the Basin City Spanish Branch. This time I was the only one. This meant I had to fill 30 minutes. I was somewhat rambling at the end but I filled the time. I had to speak on Service in both of them.

I have to play the piano in the Connell Branch. One member that got back from his mission about a year ago told me that I have won the hearts of the every member in the branch because I can play the piano. They had just been using a CD for their accompaniment. They let me pick the songs so I can play what I am comfortable with but I have really been practicing so I can have a better variety of what I can play. It is really fun and I really enjoy playing. I suppose all of those times struggling through the songs in Priesthood meeting has paid off.

Last Wednesday we went to a lady’s house for an appointment. She said she was busy but we just asked for five minutes so she let us in. We read the intro to The Book of Mormon with her. While we were reading it, her nephew came in and sat in. It was kind of interesting so we just went on. He asked us why our religion is different than other religions. We explained about the authority being lost and then restored and he said oh, that’s interesting. At the end, we asked the lady, named Mercedes to pray; she didn't want to but the nephew Yahdel, said he would. So he starts his prayer and says “Thank you God for sending these guys to me. I have wanted to find a religion so thank you for letting me talk to these guys.” It was awesome. We are going back there tonight.

The weather has been weird. One day it is 100 degrees and the next day it is 75. It stays pretty cool at night so it’s not bad at all. When the members find out I am from Arizona, they say that I must be used to the Washington heat.

A little bit about the place where we live. Their name is the Knights. They are really nice and have a big house out in the middle of nowhere. The coolest part about their house is they have a drinking fountain. We live in the basement. It has a sink, a little fridge and a microwave with a bathroom and a bedroom. It is pretty nice.

Elder Mendez and I don't speak Spanish all of the time. He moved to Utah from Mexico when he was one so he speaks English. He was baptized when he was 12, has been out on his mission for about nine months and I am his first junior companion.

Connell is mainly made up of farms - a lot more than Toppenish. There is a TON of corn here. There is also a potato factory that supplies 80% of the French Fries in America. So there are a lot of potatoes too.

Are you guys excited for your San Diego trip? Don't have too much fun without me. I can't believe ya'll are already going. Man time flies.

Some things I thought about would be cool for presents if you are thinking about that. Elder Cavaness had a calendar that his mom made that you can order on the internet. It had pictures of his family and different birthday and dates already in there. That would be sweet.

Well that’s all I have for this week. Seven months on Friday. I tell everyone six months now though. I probably will until about November.

Well I gotta run.

Connell, Washington (07/08/2009)

2009-07-08T20:10:00.001-07:00

Well, I have made it to Connell. The Town has about 3,000 people and it feels smaller than that if you believe it. We spend Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays there while we spend Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in Basin City which is about 20 miles southwest of Connell. Both are good areas but there are a little bit more members in Basin City so that makes it a little bit more fun. The people in Connell are a little bit poorer, not super poor, just not as well off. In Basin City, there are so many fields. People have very nice homes and are very nice. It is fun because we do a lot of Spanish work in the day which I love and then we go to these huge houses for dinner which is really fun too.

One funny experience we had was we went to this less active member’s house and there were the two ladies that were doing something with a chicken and I looked away and about 2 minutes later I looked back and one lady had it by its legs without a head on. It was crazy. They had just killed a chicken for dinner.

Other than that, it is not too bad here. We are super busy with a lot of people that are ready for baptism but just need to get married. Sunday, I asked a lady if she wanted to be baptized but she said she wanted to read more of the book (The Book of Mormon). But later she asked what she had to do to be baptized and I was able to tell her with the spirit there that she had to be married first. She is living with this guy that is a member but for whatever reason won’t get married to this girl. She seemed to take it all right but her boyfriend was nodding his head agreeing with me so he knows. I just don’t know why he won’t.

We have a lot of other people we are teaching. The towns are really small but since we can be in each town, three days a week, we stay very very busy. This week went by super fast.

Now for some other things that I meant to tell you in past e-mails but forgot to mention. When we had Spanish Conference way back in April, we were riding in the car with President Belnap and he asked Elder Uribe, the Elder from Chile, what he missed most about Chile. Well Elder Uribe thought for a second and said the beaches. Well if you have ever heard anyone with a Latin accent say beaches, sometimes it sounds like another word that should not be named. So he says beaches, and President Belnap says what?!? with a confused look and Elder Uribe says again, the beaches and President Belnap again very very confused, says what?!? Then I helped them both out and said beaches. It was hilarious. Ever since then, Elder Uribe calls beaches, the sea shore. Good call on his part.

Another incident was back in Toppenish we got a referral for someone that wanted the “Restoration” DVD. So we dropped it off and set up a return appointment. We come back and they are all outside eating dinner. So we sit down and start talking to them. Not much about the gospel because they were a little preoccupied so we said we will come back another day. Then one lady said why don't you share something from the Bible. So Elder Cavaness gets out his scriptures and starts talking about James 1:5 and how that’s the scripture that prompted Joseph Smith to pray. And this one guy says it never mentions Joseph Smith in the Bible. So he and Elder Cavaness go back and forth about this. I just kind of sat back and listened because I don't like to get into bashes because people just go round and round. But finally, I just asked the guy “how did you get a testimony of the Bible”. I felt like I was in a rap battle with the simultaneous “ooooh” from the other family members. Well he was dumbfounded and just says because it says in it that it is true. He kept talking about the book of Daniel and all sorts of weird things. At one point of time his brother told him to answer our questions, he said you aren't answering his questions you are just talking. So that was pretty neat. At the end, that same brother said hey we are all sinners, theses guys (pointing to me and Elder Cavaness) are good people and doing the best they can. They can receive revelations to tell us what God wants us to hear. That was pretty sweet to hear form a non-member. It was a crazy situation - but fun and spiritual all at the same time.

Well my little spiritual side for today is talking about giving my all. I realized that after our zone conference yesterday and speaking with the Stake President here in Pasco that it’s not giving 100%. It’s giving 125%. That is the best for the Lord. You have to give it your all.

Well that’s all I’ve got.

Have a great week.

Well ... (06/30/2009)

2009-06-30T19:45:00.002-07:00

Well, it has happened again. I am being transferred. I am going to Connell, Washington. It is about 45 minutes north of Pasco and it is a very small area. It is even smaller than Toppenish from what I hear. We cover 5 units - three English wards and two Spanish Branches. We cover Connell and another little town called Basin City and then another little town called Mesa. (Maybe it is Mesa, Arizona?!?!?!) I wouldn't say I am excited but after being transferred twice and having four companions in four transfers, I realize that every area is good and every one is nice. You just have to make it the way you want it. I am not excited about the small area but we are in the Pasco Zone and District so we get to go there every Monday for district meeting and every Tuesday for P-day. My new companion will be Elder Mendez. He is a native Spanish speaker but I don't know where he was born. The only thing I have heard about him is he is really quiet and has been out about nine months. This will be a change from my first three companions who were quiet talkative. Another thing about the area is since it is so big we get 1,800 car-miles a month. That may be the most of any area outside of the zone leaders. Also the car that they drive there is a Mazda 3!!

It is going to be tough to lose Elder Cavaness though. It seemed like we just got along from the start. He loves sports almost as much as I do.

Dad, Scott, Chad, Alicia, and Matt, how many areas did all of you guys serve in? I think I may be well on my way to beating you, although, there are only eight other areas I can serve in and two areas combine to cover one branch and two others combine to cover another branch so that puts it to about six other branches I can serve in.

Well not much has happened around here lately. I gave my talk in the Spanish branch on Sunday. I am assuming it went well. It is hard to fill about 20 minutes of time. We only had 19 people there, 12 of which were actually Hispanics, the rest were white people helping out.

The English ward also had me come up and bare my testimony. I don't know why they do that to me; they know I am going to cry.

We got an e-mail from the AP's saying that on the 4th of July we are to get ourselves more acquainted with the members. In other words don’t go around town talking with drunken people.

I won’t be e-mailing next Tuesday because that’s when our zone conference is down in the tri-cities so I will probably e-mail on Wednesday.

Just a few random items: At times I remember I still have 18 months to go but then I am like I have already downed a 4th, I can do what I just did three more times. We have zone conference every transfer. Every companionship in the mission has a cell phone. Every Spanish area has a car and most English areas do too but not all of them. The cars are normally either Corollas or Malibus.

Well another week down in the mission. It is going pretty fast. Mom, remember the Friday night before I left I was telling you I was going to be weird when I got home? I realized I will probably be a little weird but I am still the same old Matthew just living in small towns in Washington rather than the big city of Phoenix.

Well I better run.

Pictures (June 2009)

2009-06-25T20:15:00.000-07:00