ELDER PATRICK CARPENTER

Welcome Home Elder Carpenter

2011-04-08T19:09:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
I'm sorry...no audio. I didn't have enough time to make any this week I'm sorry but I figured I'll just let you know face to face on Wednesday. Things are going well here. I'm getting ready to head home. I'll take the plane at 9:29 Wednesday morning from St.George to Salt Lake City, then to Detroit and plan to be in Montreal Wednesday night at 7:46. I'll see you there! I have to get running because Elder Hayden and I are going to go play some tennis. He's really good so I love playing with him. I'll tell you all about all the on Wednesday night. I love you sooooooo much!

Back to missionary work!!!

2011-01-02T16:26:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom & Dad!!!! The picture was taken at President and Sister Myers home on Christmas Eve. I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go with Elder Hayden so I have to go home and pack up. I am going to try to send some stuff home so I don't have to bring it on the plane. We had a good p-day today and still plugging away even though many of our investigators are away from school right now. Tomorrow the 28th one of our investigators is getting baptized in Roy (Jonathan's old area). She wanted to get baptized up north with all her family and friends. So now I get to plug away in Spanish and train the missionaries in the zone and get them going again before I leave. I don't want to let the mission president down because there are a lot of missionaries who let him down and it is sad. Other than that I don't know what awaits this week in my new zone so we'll see how that goes. Well that's about it. I love you as always and appreciate everything you do for me!!!

It's Christmas already!!!

2010-12-24T17:17:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom & Dad!!! I’m not sending you a long e-mail because we will be talking on Saturday. I am not in my other area yet, I am still here in a threesome with Elders Lowther and Jensen till next Tuesday when I move in with Elder Hayden. Then we will be back to weekly e-mails. We will be with the Adams family at one o’clock on Christmas day. We will probably be having several dinners that day and go around showing Luke 2 to everyone.
I wanted to say how I have really learned a lot about how the Church works and everything since we work with so many bishoprics. My p-day is still Monday. I am happy to finish in Spanish just as I started. I just love Spanish and I want to continue to master it and use when I get home. Things are going well here in our area. Three baptisms last week including Stephanie Nelson on Saturday and Byanna from Taiwan on Sunday. The Spirit was there and they got to bear their testimonies afterwards which is always awesome to hear new converts bear their testimonies. Things are slowing a little though as students are leaving for Christmas break and we only taught 37 lessons last week. So we’ve been out and about getting new investigators to teach and we have a new one to teach tomorrow. We are happy to teach people about the true meaning of Christmas and I know there are people whose minds and thoughts are turned towards the Savior and we need to bring the restored gospel into their lives. We are getting ready for the new missionaries coming in on Tuesday and get the transfer calls done and the transfer van schedule all done. What a wonderful time of the year. We have been having really bad weather here in St.George. It’s been raining for a week straight. I have never seen weather like this in St.George, but we are still going to play soccer tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to hearing your voices on Saturday. Love you for all you do!!

I'm Coming Home Feb. 2!!!!

2010-12-14T20:40:00.003-05:00

Hello from the Mission Office!!! This week we are working on the transfer board. This week we are going to sit down with President Leonard and go over all the transfers. We didn't have much of a p-day today as Pres.Leonard was in he office and he kept us here. He did order a pizza for us and then we helped with a baptismal interview of a ninety-year old woman. We didn't get to play any sports but we did some shopping and took an hour nap because we are pretty tired. We had a wonderful baptism on Saturday for Drew Thomas the football player from Dixie College. Very spiritual baptism and I confirmed him on Sunday. Last week we went up to Price to train ZL's. Got to see good old Price and Wellington and taught 4 lessons with Elder Richardson and we even found a new investigator. He has been out 5 months now and hasn't had a baptism yet so I gave him some support. It was good to travel again with Elders Laurie and Goodman even though we only took them to Richfield. It really is something to go out and tour the mission and see old friends. The departing missionaries leave next week and the incoming ones come the week before. We hope to have 4 or 5 baptisms in the next few weeks. We are trying to teach everyone before they go home for the holidays. We taught 39 lessons last week and 7 today. We are wondering what we will do during the Christmas break. I wanted to let you know I have my flight plans for 8 weeks from now. I'll be in Montreal Feb.2 at 7:46PM. I leave St.George at 9:29AM and go to SLC and then Detroit without any long layovers. I get to travel with Elders Esquy and Olson till Detroit. Things are really going well here. We always have so much to do with the mission and teaching all these lessons. We are teaching a guy named Sean Barry who is a friend of Elder Wilkinson an Area Authority Seventy who called President Leonard to ask him to send his best missionaries to teach Sean and President Leonard gave him our number. That was really cool teaching with a General Authority Seventy. Sean is really looking to know God and follow God and have faith. He just wants to know how everyone is able to have this great faith and knowledge. I have to go , but I love you guys and have a great week!!!!

The Lord is pouring out more blessings upon us!!!!

2010-11-24T20:03:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom & Dad,
Please thank the Blakemore’s for me, I really appreciate all their news and updates. Please let them know that I tried looking for that person that Brother Blakemore asked me about and I cannot find him. We looked in the phonebook and a few other places but couldn’t find anything.
I bought a new pair of shoes today for $33 at Ross. We still walk a lot even with a car. Taught 41 lessons last week and I had the privilege of baptizing Jonathan Lawson and the baptism was so great and the spirit was so strong and we had a couple of investigators there including Jonathan’s grandfather who is not a member. Well he must have felt the spirit because he talked to one of his member friends about some questions he had about the baptism and now he is going to start seeing the missionaries!!!! He will taught by other missionaries because we teach only young single adults. Just goes to show what can happen if you get people out to baptisms where the Spirit is felt just like it says in the D&C 84:20. Our next baptism will be Drew the big football player from Dixie College. He does everything we ask him, he goes to church every week, reads everything we give him, doesn’t have a problem with tithing or the word of wisdom. He is just a great guy and will be baptized on Dec.4. Heavenly Father just keeps pouring out blessings upon us. We are finding people and we are getting referrals. We are seeing the fruits of our labors and the fruits of the Holy Ghost who carries everything to the hearts of the hearer. It is so incredible to see on my mission what happens when the heart changes – their countenance changes, everything they do changes. I just love being here and so happy I came out on my mission. I am so excited for the next two months. Thank you for always teaching me to serve a mission!!!
For thanksgiving we going to play football in the morning and then eat with the Adams family and the Stoker family who I haven’t even met yet. Tomorrow I am going to Cedar City on an exchange and teach in Spanish again. I can’t wait to get home and speak Spanish with everyone. Alex Armstrong is also getting ready to be baptized. I enjoy working with the young adults. I jnow I don’t have much time left and so I am enjoying it more. I am a ten time better missionary than when I started and my testimony is so much stronger. Thank you again for all you do for me, and just in case you are wondering he Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet and don’t you ever forget it because I would have been home long ago if it wasn’t. I am going to finish my mission strong. I have heard every doubt and concern about the church here in Utah and nothing can shake me now. Have a great week and say hi to everyone for me especially Jonathan and Chris. Bye for now!!!

It's Crazy and Incredible Here in the Mission!!!

2010-11-15T18:16:00.003-05:00

Elder Jensen is with us now. He will be my new companion having been newly called as an assistant and arriving last Wednesday. We’ve been having a blast, maybe too much but we still get the work done. Incredibly, we taught 59 lessons last week even though it was transfer week and we were looking at the board checking the options. We split up every evening from 6 to 9 o’clock. We had 5 baptisms last week: Brittany Craig, Kara Anderson, Heather Suzuki, Kaylee & Kaylee-Anne Peterson all got baptized. It was a great week and a lot of investigators came to church. Our area is just exploding and going crazy right now, that’s why our area is getting split, because we cover two single adult stakes, the St-George YSA first Stake and the St-George YSA second Stake, but Elder Jensen has just come in and he’ll be my new companion we’ll cover the first Stake and Elder Laurie is being released for his final two transfers he’ll be a zone leader and train a new zone leader Elder Goodman, who is one of my close friends in the mission and they will work together serving the second stake and they will also serve as traveling elders going around the mission and visit different companionships that might be struggling and that need some extra training and help them out sharing their experiences with them. President Leonard really wants to use Elder Laurie and Elder Goodman to help the mission out, and I think it’s a good idea. There is so much work being done we had to split our area. I think it will be good for the investigators because we will be able to focus on the first Stake now and build that up even more, find even more people to be taught and do our best to baptize the people that we have. We already have a couple of baptisms coming up in the first Stake. A young man named John on November 20th and a few others as well. There should be no reason to teach under thirty lessons a week in the first stake maybe even more than that, maybe even forty. Elder Jensen and I should do great. Things are going great missionary wise. We just found another new investigator today. On Sunday being fast and testimony we had to go from Sacrament meeting to sacrament meeting to attend all the different confirmations and in each sacrament meeting we got to bear our testimonies, and in the Green Valley YSA ward we bore our testimonies. Later that same day we got a call from a girl who was at the service who had a friend there at the meeting and he asked her if he could meet with us, so we set up a time for tonight and we went by and taught him, his name is Drew and he was on the Dixie State football team but he no longer is playing. He is just a very humble guy who is curious and wants to learn about the church and wants to come and investigate, so Elder Jensen and I are really excited to be able to teach him. Things are going well in that respect. Elder Jensen and I get along great; we are going to have a lot of fun. We also teach well together. I will miss Elder Laurie of course and his wisdom, but it will be a good stretch for me, a good stretch of my capacities. I will get to learn and grow a lot and these next three month are going to be incredible. I will have to be on my toes for the rest of my mission. There is no way I can get trunky because there is sooo much work to be done, I cannot be on cruise control with so much going on.
The mission itself is really doing well. The numbers are steadily rising week by week. Last week in the mission we had 42 baptisms. It is the highest number of baptisms we’ve had since the formation of the St-George mission. Just a lot of work going on, and Elder Jensen and I will try to be the best assistants we can be and help raise the mission and train the zone leaders to in turn train the district leaders so they can train the missionaries.
I have to get going to train the trainers, but I love you guys very much, so have a good week!!!!

Our Area is Exploding!!!!

2010-11-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

Hey Mom & Dad!! There's lots going on down here. I had to go for my blood test on Friday and while I was there this girl named Whitney was taking my blood so I asked her if she knew anything about the Church and she gave us her phone number and address and although she cancelled our first meeting, we went out to Hurricane to visit her tonight. Her Dad who is a Lutheran answered the door said they were having supper so we agreed to come back Wednesday. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Our area is absolutely exploding. We'll be looking at the transfer board this week with Pres.Leonard. We also have 6 baptisms this week, 2 on Friday and 4 on Saturday. We taught 55 lessons last week. Tonight we did splits and taught 7 lessons. We plan to have 19 people at Sacrament this week. It's just crazy. We're getting referrals and we're meeting people all the time. We met a girl named Kelsey the other day and we went with Elder Goodman to see her and she has just lost her best friend and wanted to know if we had anything that could comfort her and we showed her lots of scriptures and told her about modern prophets and asked her to get baptized and she said yes. We're just meeting people like that all the time. We're looking at having 13 baptisms for November!! We couldn't even go out Halloween night so we stayed in the office and worked. We are even teaching with our recent converts and that is incredible to hear them bear their testimonies. Oh you asked if we need winter tires in St.George - Are you kidding?? There is no winter here. Speaking of cars, we just got a brand new Malibu today. Gotta go now, certainly appreciate all your prayers and everything you do for me. Love you - Bye!!!

2010-10-31T16:44:00.003-04:00

Hello Mom & Dad, just got your e-mails and am always happy to get the latest news. Things are going well here. We had two convert baptisms and a rebaptism Saturday night. Amber & Justin both got baptized into two different wards because they broke up so Amber stayed in the Morningside area and Justin moved out to Santa Clara. They were great baptisms, their families came, the spirit was strong and Elder Richards even went to Amber's baptism and presided there. Kaylee Brand who asked for her records to be removed because she was angry at God for a long time and 26 days after she got the notice that her records were removed, Elder Laurie knocked on her door and started teaching her. Great emmotional baptism with her Dad baptizing her. This weekend has been crazy with all kinds of Zone conferences and leadership training meetings and Zone Leader councils and going to bed late and waking up early in the morning to go and get the chapels ready for Elder Richards with lapel microphone and projectors and hymnbooks plus preparing agendas for the meetings. Elder Richards mission tour is over but we had a great tour with him. We had a north zone conference with him, a south zone conference with him and a leadership training with all the mission leaders down here in St.George. It was great to have him preside over the mission and I just felt the spirit so strong. In most of the meetings he just went by the spirit and his wife was great too. We even had an investigator fireside last night and four recent converts got up and bore their testimonies and conversion stories. We had invited a few investigators. We didn't get a chance to go out teaching with Elder Richards but he at least came to the baptism. A great experience to get to know him, get corrected by him and even interviewed by Elder Richards. He gave me some tpis on training other missionaries. He is so full of love and hardworking. They never look tired. You never see a General Authority dozing off in conference. It makes me want to work harder because I am so much younger!!! As I said things are going well in our area. We're probably going to split it at the end of the transfer. It is just exploding and we can't get around to everything as AP's. Nov.6 we should have at least 3 or 4 baptisms with more after that. We are really teaching some wonderful people. We are going to the temple on Wednesday and will be taught by President Romney (the son of Marion Romney). Saturday everyone here will be celebrating Halloween. I hope that covers everything. I love you guys and appreciate all your prayers because I really need them. So have a good week. Love you!!!

Got a Cold but still Very Busy!!!!

2010-10-17T17:37:00.004-04:00

Hey Mom & Dad!! My voice is a little better still battling a cold. Health is pretty good really. My feet are still not completely healed and sometimes it can take months but I feel they are improving. Love all the news and certainly appreciate getting e-mails. Tomorrow we are heading out to do exchanges with the Cove Fort Zone Leaders. We taught 55 lessons last week. We were supposed to have a baptism this week but it got cancelled because Tammy our investigator hasn't been honest with us. She wasn't really obeying all the commandments and I believe in the gift of discernment because it really witnessed to Elder Laurie and myself that she wasn't ready. We will still continue to meet with her and help her out. Next week we have a date for Amber & Justin who I have mentioned before (they are a young couple in their 20's) who were living together and when Elder Laurie taught them about the law of chastity Justin moved out right away with his grandparents. They are my favourite investigators and we love teaching them. Troy is also preparing for Nov.6th and a girl named Brittany Craig who we found just the other day and she is just so prepared by the Lord for baptism. Kaylie another investigator is getting married this weekend and then will be baptized on Novemeber 4th. Another investigator Moroni has a polygamist background so he has to be interviewed by a General Authority on Nov.6th before he can get baptized. The mission numbers are doing better. We are keeping very busy. Finally got my Utah license today, I was very nervous and I used Sister Leonard's car but the guy passed me anyway. So I'm back to driving here in Utah. Elder Laurie and I have been splitting up a lot with members at night and that has been working out really well for us. We will be going to the temple on the 21st and will be given a lecture by the temple president. Later this month I am going to go on exchanges with Elder Richards of the Seventy who wants to tour the mission so he'll be going out with me. Ok, gotta get running. Love you guys, have a great week and don't get sick like me!!!

We are Extremely Busy!!!

2010-10-12T07:34:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Thank you so much for the e-mail!
I cannot make any audios right now because I am battling a cold and barely have a voice! It is also late and I need all the rest I can get. We are extremely busy right now with mission things and our wonderful area and investigators. We taught 55 lessons last week. We have 17 scheduled for tomorrow! It is just crazy here. A lot going on for sure. I promise I will make some audios for you guys pretty soon here. Please let Anik know what's going on as well because I know she'll be expecting one. I'll send them as soon as I can. Probably tomorrow. I love you guys! I love your support and I am doing well! I'll let you know more soon. I go take a road test tomorrow for my license! Pray for me please. I'm pretty sure I'll pass and get Utah license. It cost 25$ and I took a written test and got 24 of 25! So I just need to pass this now. I gotta run! Love you!

Conference was awesome!!!

2010-10-05T20:09:00.004-04:00

Hello Mom & Dad,
Thank you for all the news. I am here with Elder Laurie in the office preparing for Zone Leader Council tomorrow. All the 10 ZL's from throughout the mission are here right now staying overnight. We will talk about the white handbook and establishing rules in the mission so that we can keep everybody obedient even in the small things. After that we're going on exchanges with Elder Haden & Elder Frye who are the ZL's in Red Rock which is great because I get to go back to Washington Spanish where I was first called as a ZL. Elder Frye is a visa waiter. I really love those two missionaries.
Thank you for the birthday money I will probably go out and buy some ties at this place we found where you can get 3 nice ties for $20. You asked about Elder Holland's 95 year old mother who we have heard of. Elder Holland actually went to Dixie High School where we work out because the principal is a member and he lets us work out for free and Elder Holland comes through often to visit his mother. In fact, there is a funny story about him that the Mauers told us (used to eat with them back in my Washington days) where he played basketball for Dixie High and he missed a wide open game winning basket with only a few seconds left and everybody said "well that's the last time we'll ever hear of Jeff Holland".
We watched the conference at the Adams on Saturday morning. Then went to one of the Stake Center's to fill up the font for Amelia's baptism at 4:30. So we mostly listened to it on the radio. Then we watched Priesthood Session (which was awesome by the way) at the chapel and went to Bishop Paul's house for spare ribs and peach pie. He is hilarious. He is the Bishop of the Pineview YSA Ward. Sunday morning we watched conference with Katie & Cara and some of their friends - Katie had asked to have her name removed but then Elder Laurie and Claridge bumped into her and now she is going to be rebaptized. Cara is an investigator who is also going to be baptized.
Then we watched last session with Amber & Justin our favorite investigators who we love like great friends. I really loved conference, I even stayed awake!!!! Wasn't the missionary choir fantastic. It was the same guy conducting as when I was at the MTC. I did look for Elder Glowa too. I really enjoyed President Monson talking about missionary work and his talk on choices and staying on the path and not deviating. And what about President Uchtdorf's pen!! When I get home from my mission I am going to study those talks!!
Thursday I am going for my Utah driver's license which means a road test and a 25 question test. No baptisms this week but some planned for the 23rd. It is really going well here and we are teaching a lot of people. Remeber missionaries just love referrals. I love you guys. Thank you for all you do. Have a great week and I will talk to you later!!!

Working Hard!!!

2010-09-07T19:04:00.001-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
I don't think there has ever been so much news in one of your e-mails. I don't have time right now to make you an audio recording and I'm sorry I didn't get one to you last week but I will make one this week I promise! Things have been crazy here. We taught 45 lessons to non-members last week and have 10 souls preparing for baptism in the coming months. I am learning a lot from Elder Laurie. He is an excellent missionary that loves to work hard. We get along great and teach in unity. There are a lot of things going on in the mission right now and a lot of changes being made to rules and things like that. We're trying to get this St. George mission well established with a tight mission culture and that requires us to tighten up the ship a little bit. We were at the mission home yesterday night and tonight talking about things with President and Sister Leonard. We are extremely busy and I love it! I can't believe "Jonathan" is home! He better not get married until I come back! Please tell him to e-mail me. Please tell everyone that wants to write to me that they can simply e-mail me whenever they want. I can't guarantee a response but I love hearing from everyone! Anyway, we have zone leader council tomorrow and we have much preparation to do so i must be going. I love you soooooooo much and will talk to you soon! Bye!

Dinner tonight at the Anderson's

2010-08-27T22:38:00.002-04:00

Brother & Sister Carpenter

Our family had the wonderful opportunity of having your son Elder Carpenter and his companion, Elder Laurie, at our home for dinner tonight. As a missionary mom myself, I know how wonderful it has been to hear about my sons as they have served the Lord. Your boy carries such a wonderful spirit about him! He has a strong testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and loves to share that message. You have every reason to be proud of him and his service. Enjoy the pictures!

Kelly Anderson
St. George Utah

Quick news from the new AP

2010-08-23T18:17:00.002-04:00

Hey. let me answer those questions:
As assistants, we don't always have time to sit down for an hour and do our weekly e-mails so we just e-mail whenever we can. We keep ourselves extremely busy, especially with this new mission so that is what I am going to do. I'll just e-mail whenever I get that chance and I will get those chances, I just don't know exactly when so...I hope that makes sense!
I want to put the Lord's work first and do my very best at this assignment because I am going to need to. I love you guys so much! I am also extremely behind on my journal also...we'll see how that goes and I will also do my best to send audios when I can. I just want to do a great job for our wonderful mission president. He is awesome! I love you again and can't wait to hear from you! All is going well and I am learning a lot!
We live with members in the Pine View area/stake, which is not too far from the office, about 3-5 minutes. My new companion is the other AP - Elder Laurie who is from Alberta. This means two Canadians in the office - pretty cool hey!! We live with the Wainwright family. So awesome! Sis. Wainwright pretty much does our laundry for us. She loves us and we love her. Yes we have a car. We drive a Ford Fusion. We take it all over the mission! We do get meals with members. The college students feed us sometimes but we just get invited over by different people and the leadership of the stakes feed us as well. Bishop Bergenson has been feeding us lately. Awesome guy. We have around 90 missionaries in the mission now and that will go up to about 100 here soon and I speak Spanish sometimes but we are in a full English area so...I'll use it on exchanges! Love you bye!

A New Assignment

2010-08-10T00:12:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
Check this out! Doesn't it look really nice? I am truly humbled by all of this!

Two more Baptisms this Week!!!!

2010-08-03T22:05:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Let me answer your questions:
Things are going very well here thank you very much!
My numb feet are still slowly getting better as well but very slowly. Not much of a difference. But they don't hurt and they don't cause me any problems so...I don't worry about them. I'm sure the nerves will heal soon as well.
We don't have a set number of hours we're supposed to give for service. We just give it when we can. We try to do something every week though but nothing set. I hope that answers your questions and I hope that you enjoy that audio because it was hilarious. What an experience! I love being a missionary!
Please thank Sister Kaufman for her e-mail and the pictures she sent me. I really appreciate it. I wasn't able to watch the video for some reason but I did get the pics! Sister Kaufman told me that in the video as Pappy and Mammy are saying goodbye, Mammy says "Be good". I remember her always telling me that and I want you to let Mammy know that I'm doing my best and that I am being good. Tell them I love and appreciate them please. Tell Pappy to keep those letters coming!
I also wanted to know when Rachel Simkovits is getting home because she's sent me a couple of letters and I want to write her back but I don't want to send one now if she'll be home when it arrives in China so please let me know where she would be if I sent one now so it gets to her. Thank you!
I loved your e-mails once again. Thank you so much. Things are going awesome over here. We're planning on 2 baptisms this week. Emilio Micheals and Brey Flanders. Emilio is 17 and has been fellowshipped by his girlfriend's family. He's such a cool humble guy. He has some native american background. We're meeting with him tonight actually to get his baptism all sorted out. Brey is 10 and I'm not going to lie, it's been quite the adventure teaching him. he doesn't always pay attention but he has that desire to follow his savior down into the water so he's ready! I gotta go but I love you guys soooooooo much!

New Training and Instant Results!!!!!

2010-07-26T19:28:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
Thank you for the e-mail and the pictures. I like them a lot. It's just been crazy lately. Our P-days are always packed right to 6 o'clock but we're planning on staying in Hurricane today so I'll have to time to give you the details.
Alright so let me fill you in on what's been going on down here! My health is doing a lot better. I stopped taking the prednisone and I feel fine.
I really feel blessed because the Lord has truly answered our prayers.
I feel fine and nothing is hindering me! Thank you so much for your prayers. I did receive that package from you guys this week.
I also received that letter from Pappy. Be sure to thank him for me. I got those socks too! I'll put them right to use in this heat. It is pretty hot here. I sweat quite a bit. That sun is brutal.
This week was a week of miracles for sure. We were trained by our new mission President tuesday and wednesday on things he was trained on in the MTC. There are things in Preach My Gospel that missionaries aren't applying or using very well so I believe all mission presidents will be training the leadership in their missions on these new things from the missionary department. They aren't new it's just that we aren't doing them very well. Anyway, it was awesome. I'm sure Elder Kaufman will be getting the same things. We learned a lot about inviting others to be baptized, the Holy Ghost, the Book of Mormon, prayer, and personal revelation. As a result of the things we learned, Elder McIlrath and I went from having no one with a baptismal date to 5 this week. We invited 5 of our investigators to be baptized and they all said yes and are now preparing to make that covenant. It was amazing. I love the people in our area. We teach some wonderful people. Anyway, I learned a ton this week that I will apply in my missionary service. Things are going very well in our area. I am working on being more bold and inviting others to do things to bring them closer to Jesus Christ no matter how simple they might be. The Holy Ghost is real and I feel it as I teach. We went to the temple last week and I just love the St. George temple. It is beautiful. I love going to the temple. This gospel is so true. I'll give you some more details in my audio because we have to get running. I love you guys and appreciate you so much! Have a great week!

Things are heating up in Hurricane!!!

2010-07-12T21:46:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
We're in St.George for the day because we went to the Visitor's Center next to the temple at 9 to practice singing because we will be singing at a fireside on sunday for President and Sister Leonard. We practiced hymn #335 Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy and it went very well. I will just sing the melody because...you know me...I can't really sing anything else. I think it's going to be an awesome fireside. Thank you for the e-mails as always. I love them every time. Well, things are going well here. I talked to Dr. Call on the phone this morning because I was supposed to have an appointment with him at 8:30 am but seeing as how I am in Hurricane and he is in Provo, that didn't work. He is such a nice guy. He talked to me about how things were going and I told him that I felt a lot better so he told me to just take half a tablet of prednisone for one more week every day and then stop and see how that goes. He told me to call him if anything acts up again. So, that is what I will do and we'll go from there. I should be fine. I am very well taken care of here. So that is the news on my health. I feel great apart from that. We have a nice air conditioner in our tiny appartment that puts me right to bed at night.
Elder McIlrath and I get along just fine. He's a great guy that is obedient and likes to work hard. He loves guns and weapons and things like that so I'm learning a lot. He wants to do law enforcement later on. He ballroom danced and scoobadived back home so he is a very interesting guy. His mom is a dietician as well so he knows a lot about keeping healthy. You should see him teach the word of wisdom! All I do is testify that what he's saying is true! ;) He loves to talk and is very knowledgeble so this will be a great transfer. I'm making a lot of new friends because I didn't know a lot of the Elders down here. It is quite hot but I am used to it after having been down here last summer without a car half of the week. We drive an 09 Malibu. I drive because Elder McIlrath never got his license. I like it that way because I get to know my way around the area a lot faster. It's fun to be so close to the center of the mission again. You're in the middle of all the action. Tomorrow is zone leader council again so I am looking forward to that. I'll be able to tease Elder Nascimento about how Spain won the cup and Brazil didn't haha. It'll be fun to see some of my friends that are in other areas of the mission. It will be President Leonard's first so it should be interesting. I am loving it here. We have a great zone and a great area. We have some great investigators too so we should have some baptisms coming up here soon. Our area is kind of in the building up stage right now. We need to work closely with leadership to get them motivated so that they can motivate the members we don't see very often. We received quite a few referrals from the ward mission leaders yesterday so it will be fun to contact them now. I must be going but all is well here in good ol' St. George!! I can never get away for too long! I love you guys so much and thanks for everything!

I'm off to Hurricane!!!

2010-07-06T17:31:00.005-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Yesterday was a holiday and today is transfers so all I could do for now is send off the audios I made and write you this small e-mail. I will finish up either later today or tomorrow. Thank you for your e-mails though. I'm off to Hurricane! Down by St. George. Yes, I am going to St. George again! Hurricane is like 10-15 min from St. George. I will be with Elder McIlrath. We actually go home together so it will be fun. I must get going but I'll talk to you from St. George next time! Love you! Bye!

Welcome to the St.George Utah Mission

2010-06-28T21:35:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I made an audio for you this morning so I hope you enjoy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope you guys had a lot of fun on the 24th! I will be there next year to enjoy it with you!
Alright, here is a little news. I've decided to come home on the 3rd of February. If they need me to stay longer, I wouldn't mind but if not, then I'll be home on the 3rd. I did pray and feel good about my decision.
Things are slowly picking up here. We're finding some cool new investigators. People that are very humble and ready for the word. I love finding those that have been prepared for the gospel. It is a wonderful blessing. You go home that night with your companion and you're both smiling and excited. It's a different joy than anything I've ever felt. Kaylee Davis was baptized on Tuesday. She had family from St. George there and the primary room was filled to capacity. It got a little hot in there. The spirit was strong. I love baptisms. We're going to need to work to get some more now. We have a few people that we believe will get baptized soon but they have some things to overcome. It will require much prayer and fasting. We spoke in the Spanish branch yesterday. It was fun to talk in Spanish again. I am a little rusty but I can still express myself. They are a great branch and we hope to help them to grow.
This is the last week of the transfer. I'll let you know what's happening next week. These are exciting times. We meet President Leonard tommorow. He will tour the mission this week. He starts here in Price. I can't wait. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have quite a bit of news next week! I love you sooo much and thank you for everything! Have a great week!

I know our prayers have been answered and I am healed.

2010-06-22T00:33:00.003-04:00

Hello Mom and Dad!
Happy Father's Day!! It sounds like you had a fun week-end though so I'm not worried! Please wish all of the fathers a Happy Father's day from me. What would I do without my father? I will be there next year to say it face to face, which is funny to think about. Thank you once again for the dearelders this week. You know how much I love to receive them. They motivate and encourage me. I love your testimonies. Please thank the Kaufmans for sending me a dearelder this week. I really enjoyed it. I absolutely love receiving mail. I'm glad to see that all is well back home. Please thank all those that have sent me things. I haven't had much time to reply lately but I will do my best to reply as soon as possible! I really appreciate all of the support and love! It makes such a difference. I appreciate all the prayers as well. Please tell Elder Kaufman thank you for praying for me. Tell him that I love him and that he is an example to me. I can't wait to see him again. I'll give him a big hug. I just can't wait to see all of my friends again! I will give them all huge hugs!
I'm sure you are wondering how my health is doing so I will tell you. I am doing SOOOO MUCH BETTER. I have stopped the anibiotics and now take prednisone everyday. The swelling all over my body has gone way down. My feet are still not 100% but they are not swollen anymore. I am still missing feeling on the top of my feet but my ankles are not swollen and they don't hurt me anymore. The pain in my feet is gone. I am slowly regaining feeling in them as well. I believe the nerves are rebuilding. Things are just so much better. My health overall has just gotten so much better. I feel great. I will take the prednisone for a few more weeks and I have a return appointment with Dr. Call in 3 weeks so we'll see how it goes. I know our prayers have been answered and I am healed. I think I am finally through with this problem. Nothing is hindering me now! I have truly been blessed greatly. I hope that answers your questions and explains how things are going.
I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life that are guardian angels watching out for me. The Lord has truly blessed me with great friends and family!
I have the option now of going home the 3rd of February or the 17th of March 2011. I basically have the option of going home when I got set apart or when I entered the MTC. I was wondering what you guys thought. I wouldn't mind coming home March 17th and having 6 more weeks to serve because if I've come this far, why not go another 6 weeks? I was just curious what you thought about me staying 6 weeks longer. I would like to do it. I will talk to Anik about it too and I'll do it unless you guys feel I need to come home the 3rd. I won't make a decision until I know how you feel. I do need to make a decision before the mission split though. Please let me know this week in your letters how you feel. I just love my mission and it has gone by so fast. I still have some time left but if I can stay 6 weeks longer than I will. Just let me know what you think. I must be going but I'll make an audio later. I love you soooo much! THANK YOU for everything!

Been a little hectic and more news on the feet!!!!

2010-06-15T19:22:00.004-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
I responded to your e-mail in the audio I made. I hope I answered all of your questions. The work is slow as the member referrals are drying up. Since we're covering the Spanish now too we have to work harder because we don't know any of the investigators or do we know the area book. All the missionaries around the mission have been calling to see if I would be going home because of my feet but I told them nope. I saw the rheumatologist this morning and he told me to stop talking the antibiotics and told me to get some prednizone to get rid of the swelling. He even said that he saw the same problem with another Canadian missionary. What an amazing doctor he was to come in early (7AM) just to be able to see me. I have another appointment to see him in 4 weeks. We have to go but I love you and appreciate all you do! Thank you for your prayers! Please thank Chris, Sister Simkovits in China, Heather Ashby, the Wongs, Pappy, Jason, and others for their letters! I love to read them! I am sorry I haven't replied yet. Things have been a little hectic here. I will though! Please thank them. Please thank everyone for their prayers. I know that they have been answered. I love you!

We're very busy and more updates on my feet!!

2010-06-07T23:18:00.001-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
I don't have much time to write so I'm glad I made an audio for you. We've been busy like crazy with all kinds of things. Like I said in my audio, we traveled like crazy last week. I am behind in my journal as well so I need to do that. Please apologize for me to all who have sent me letters. I do plan on responding but I need to get some things done first. I gave you the update on my feet. I don't know what else I can say. I haven't had the chance to soak them. I really just don't have time. I will try though. We will get this problem figured out. I appreciate all prayers on my behalf. I know they will work. Prayer is so powerful. My feet don't hurt ALL the time. they do feel weird all the time but only hurt around dinner time. They are swollen around the ankles pretty bad and I do feel my finger touching them when I touch them but they don't have much feeling. Kind of like they were asleep. My health is doing good in general except for my feet.
This week will be a big week for us. We have a lot of work to do. We have barely even touched all the Spanish work there is. Nothing is coming easy right now. We're going to have to work that much harder! Don't you just love it! I must be going. I'll have more news next week. I love you so much!

Latest news on my feet!!!

2010-06-02T23:28:00.003-04:00

Alright, here is the news about my feet: There is still no feeling in either of them around the ankles and on the top. I do have feeling on the bottom of my feet. I called Sister Pitts last week and she talked to Doctor Moody (mission doctor). Dr. Moody doesn't want to refer me to a neurologist just yet because he wants to do a couple of tests first. If he really cannot figure out the problem or problems than he will refer me to a neurologist. The problem is that there is no neurologist in Price so if I had to see one I would have to go to Provo all the time for different tests and stuff. I guess it's pretty complicated. I'm not in the Provo mission anymore either. Anyway, this morning I went to the local hospital here and they took some of my blood. Dr. Moody wants some tests done on my blood first so I did that and they will fax him the results. I can't wait to find out what he finds out. I sure hope they will figure out why my feet are this way. They both hurt every once in a while so I have to take ibuprofen to kill the pain but it's nothing too serious. The only thing is that they don't seem to be getting better really and I can't just take ibuprofen forever to kill the pain. I just pray Dr. Moody can find out what is causing this problem or what caused it and tell me how I can get better. So we'll have to wait for the results of those tests. That is the news on my feet. I don't suspect it is anything too serious though so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Anyway, I must be going now but I will do my best to make an audio for you for next week! I'm sorry I didn't have time this week. I love and appreciate you soooo much!! Thank you for all that you do!

We will be the Price-Manti Bilingual Zone Leaders

2010-05-24T22:51:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to make an audio for you but I will before P-day is over today. There is a ton of news here but first let me say a few things. I want to congratulate Ben on his call to Italy! That is soooo cool! he is going to love it! I loved learning a new language in the MTC. Knowing Portuguese, he should pick up Italian just fine just like Elder Glowa and Spanish. I am so happy for Ben! When he comes home, it will be like almost 4 years since I will have seen him. That's crazy! I can't wait to find out where Kameron and Tyler Keith are going. These are exciting times! Serving a mission has got to be one of the greatest decisions I have made in my life. I love it. There is nothing to compare it to. I am so glad I'm a missionary! It truly is the best 2 years. Please thank the Kaufman's for sending me those e-mails and pictures. President Kaufman is right, he did teach me the bank shot and that shot is the only reason I ever made any basketball team! Thank them for me please. Well, my right foot is getting better very slowly I guess you could say. It doesn't seem to hurt as much as it used to. But guess what? I woke up this morning and my left foot was numb! Yes! It is still numb right now. I can't believe it. I don't remember doing anything out of the ordinary to it to cause this but it is. I am going to have to call Sister Pitts again. My left foot doesn't hurt or anything like my right foot but this is exactly how it all started with my right foot! I wonder what I am doing wrong. Anyway, I'm not too worried. I'll call Sister Pitts and we'll figure something out. I might have to go see a foot specialist or something. This past week was pretty rough actually. Elder Nascimento and I haven't been feeling very well. We've both been battling colds. We are going to get plenty of rest today though, which should help. We had many appointments cancel on us as well last week. Like 2 or 3 every day. I guess it was a busy day for everyone but this week should be a lot better. Elder Nascimento and I are really working on finding more people to teach and we had a lot of time to do that last week with all the cancellations. We are working on building the area up a little bit. It will be a fun transfer. The biggest news is that Elder Nascimento and I will stay together this transfer. We got our calls yesterday. There is a little twist though. We will become a bilingual area. The Spanish speaking sisters in our district will be removed and our area and Castledale's area will become bilingual. Elder Nascimento and I will get to teach in Spanish as well. That means we teach EVERYONE in our area's boundaries, English or Spanish. This is the first time on my mission that I will be bilingual! I think it's great and I am so excited. Best of both worlds. Our address will stay the same.
Anyway, this will be an interesting transfer. We will be the Price-Manti Zone leaders. Our zone boundaries will change. We will no longer be the eastern Utah zone. We will take over half of the old Manti Temple zone, which means Mount Pleasant, Ephraim, and Gunnison will now be in our zone. Moab will stay in our zone along with Castledale and Wellington. Blanding and Monticello will become part of the Farmington, New Mexico mission. A lot of changes all around. A lot of great friends I have made here will go to the Provo mission and I will stay in St. George. These are excting times. Mike Berron is getting baptized on Saturday. He is 11 and such a cool kid. He was going to be baptized with his step-dad Tony but Tony needs to quit smoking first. We'll continue to work with Tony and he'll do it! I must be going now but I'll make an audio later! LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!

Traveling and New Companion for now!!!!

2010-05-17T23:02:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I just finished reading Anik's and your e-mail! They were great as always and I loved them. Thank you. I am writing to you from Blanding, Utah. I explained in my audio to you this morning as I was driving why I am here in Blanding for P-day today. It was a 3 hour drive down here. We left this morning around 8. The drive was beautiful. Everything is beautiful over here. Beautiful desert. It is very different to home I think. Everything is explained in the audio. I don't know exactly what we will do here in Blanding today because this man, Bro. Charles, was supposed to take us to Monument Valley and around there, which is about one hour from here but he had a family emergency and can't do it. We found this out after we had already driven for 2 and a half hours. It's okay though. We'll find something cool to do and when we come back as a family to visit my mission, we can go to all of those places. They are awesome! Utah is a pretty nice place and it has a lot of tourist places. Especially down here in the south. It has really grown a lot. I have some baptismal interviews to do tonight here as well and on our way back to Price tomorrow we're going to stop in Moab and train the new district leader, Elder Call. The former district leader is now my companion for a week, Elder Nascimento (frm Brazil). It is a beautiful day outside so I can't wait to see what we'll do. The Manti temple was great on Wednesday even though I had a sore throat. I love those live sessions. It is such a beautiful temple. The detail and workmanship is just amazing. Things are going very well here. We need to find some more people to teach this week. We'll need the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I do miss Elder Brons quite a bit. I really love that guy and it is no surprise to me that he is now assistant to the President. We had a great time together and I feel I could have even stayed another transfer with him. I hope we keep in touch after the mission and even during. He will stay in the Provo Mission and I will stay in the St. George mission unless President decides to pull me out but I don't think he will. I don't mind going to St. George anyway. It's beautiful! I do have some crazy news. Do you remember my former companion Elder Patterson from West Jordan, Utah? He had those health problems that kept him close to home. Well, we got a call from President Pitts on Wednesday telling us that he took the mission vehicle and just left by himself Wednesday morning. His companion was pretty freaked out by the whole situation and he hasn't been out very long either. They only found Elder Patterson yesterday at a Wal-Mart in West Jordan. He was missing for several days. Isn't that something. They think it was because he was low on medication and hadn't taken any in a few days. He never did anything like that when he was with me. They will probably release him now. It's sad because he was a good missionary despite his health problems. He went to Idaho and Orem before he eventually ended up in Wal-Mart. They tracked him down because he was using his personal credit card to buy things. Never a dull moment here in the Utah Provo mission. I just love it! Alright, I must be going but I love you guys so much. I will try and soak my foot this week and see how it goes. Thank you for your prayers and concern. Love you!

More Baptisms!!!

2010-05-10T22:50:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
It sure is weird to e-mail you after talking to you yesterday. I wish I could just grab the phone and call you again! But, e-mails are cool too. I don't have any questions to answer because you asked me them last night. I will try and do an audio for you today. I'll make one before we go out to work tonight. We are going boulder pushing or rolling today in Huntington. It is our district activity. It should be pretty fun. We had 2 baptisms on Saturday. One for Julia Dagget and the other for Kabrina Ludwig. They were both awesome and many people came to support them. Julia has been through a lot in her life and had to make some changes before she qualified for baptism. She made the changes and the baptism was great. I had the priviledge of baptizing her and Elder Brons confirmed her on Sunday. Julia is a CEU student. She went on a trip with the institute this past week to Nauvoo and she came back saturday on a spiritual high. The primary room was filled with students that went on the same trip. I just love baptisms. The spirit is so strong there. We get to go to Manti on Wednesday. We will go to the temple again. That temple is so beautiful. The live sessions are great too. Jessen Welch and Austin Dalton are getting baptized this saturday. Jessen is 10 and he's such an awesome, smart kid. We went over the baptismal interview questions yesterday after not seeing him for over a week and he answered so well. He's so excited to get baptized and so is his family. There will be many non-members at the baptism and Elder Brons and I will be giving talks so we will use it as a great missionary tool. Austin is in his 20's and has made some great changes in his life as well to qualify for baptism. He was living with this girl named Erica but last week he drove her down to St. George so that she could live with her parents and he could get baptized. He really wants to do this. Baptism is so important. These people will walk in "newness of life" (Rom. 6:4) and receive a remission of their sins. The Holy Ghost will then help them to endure to the end. I love the gospel and the cleansing power it has. I will never forget these wonderful people the Lord has blessed me with to teach and see be baptized. I love them very much and want to keep in touch with them as much as I can. Well, I must be going but more to come in my audio! I never know what to say in my e-mails because it's easier to say everything by audio. I love you soooooooooo much!

5 New Investigators and We'll talk more on Sunday!!!

2010-05-05T22:59:00.003-04:00

Thank you for your e-mails. I loved them as always. You guys motivate me so much. Mondays are always a great start to the week. This e-mail won't be too too long because we get to talk on Sunday. I didn't get a chance to make an audio for you but I'm sure you understand. I can't wait to talk on Sunday. It will be a lot of fun even though we talked not too long ago.
I did not forget that it is Jonathan's and Chris' birthdays this week. Please wish them a happy birthday for me. Next year I'll be there to do it myself! I really miss them a lot and pray for them often. I love my friends and have so many great memories from being with them. I can't wait to see them again! I am so happy to hear that Ben is getting ready for his mission. It will be such a great reunion when we all see each other again!
The weather was pretty cold these past couple of days but is warm today, which is great for p-day. We'll probably play some sports outside. It is usually sunny here and we rarely get any rain. The weather is getting better and better.
This past week was great for us. We found 5 new investigators that are awesome. We're teaching a 16 year old from Thailand. He's a foreign exchange student living with the Prettyman family. They are an awesome active family. Jean is his name and he wants to join the church but needs permission from his parents. We pray that he does. The members are awesome here and help us out so much. We do the best we can to gain their confidence. I really love this area and hope to stay here for a while. There is always work here. Julia and Kabrina are getting baptized this week on Saturday. Julia has quit smoking for over a month now. She got her own place and is now ready for baptism. Her baptism will be one of the greatest highlights of my mission. We have been working with her since I got here and she has overcome so much. She even asked me to baptize her and I am so excited! The mission really brings you great happiness! There is so much going on and I don't have enough time to write it all but we'll talk Sunday! I love you guys and know that I am fine. Continue to pray for my foot please. I hope it heals soon.

Another busy week and more to come!!!

2010-04-26T19:31:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I just made an audio for you like 3 hours ago so this e-mail won't be too too long. I saw Dr. Moody on Tuesday and he said that I must have done something to a nerve in my foot that caused this. He said it will eventually heal but it will take some time. I really wonder what I did. I still don't know. I haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary. Anyway, I just need to be patient I guess. Thank you for your prayers. The great thing is that it does not affect the work at all. I can still do the work! But I wouldn't worry about it too much because I have seen like 4 doctors now and none of them say it's anything serious so...Thank you for the e-mail as usual, I always love them! I do miss being Spanish speaking. It is very different but I get to practice it still with other missionaries and especially when I go on exchanges with the Spanish speaking of our zone. I love it. I do really enjoy English work as well though. Whatever language, I love it! haha I still study it as much as I can. Please wish Sean a happy birthday for me. I can't wait to see my cousins again and play hockey with them as well as argue about who the best is even though we all know it's TAMPA! haha (just not this year). I love them. My favorite scripture is still Nephi 21:14-16 although I do really love D&C 122. I love scriptures that can help us to overcome trials and challenges through Jesus Christ. This past week was crazy with all the travel and everything but I really enjoyed it. I love going on exchanges with other missionaries around the zone. I learn so much from them. I got to meet Elder Eddingtons father, Bishop Eddington. Do you remember Elder Eddington? He was my comp in the MTC. He's doing great in Paraguay and is actually teaching a bunch of Germans that moved to Paraguay a long time ago during the war. There is a whole community of them and so he's teaching in German. He knew a bit before he went out. It was cool to know how he's doing. He is a great person. I also met Brandon Wilkinson of the Westwood ward, Helper Stake after speaking in their sacrament meeting. I mentionned I was from Montreal and he is Ben Cahoon's nephew. I told him Ben is a hero back home. He looks a lot like his uncle. Anyway, I'd better get going. I love you very much. This week should be awesome with Zone conference and exchanges with the assistants tomorrow. Have a great week!

Another Baptism this week and the Lord blesses us abundantly!!!

2010-04-19T20:05:00.004-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,
Another week has come and gone and I hope you got and enjoy my audio. I will be seeing Dr. Moody, the mission doctor tomorrow in Provo since Elder Brons and I have to go up there for Zone Leader Council Wednesday. We'll stay in the mission home Tuesday night. I'll get to see Elder Chavarria and some good friends as we all stay in the mission home because we're too far away to travel Wednesday morning. Elder Aguilar is now an assistant to the President. He is an excellent missionary. I wish I could serve with him again. We laughed a lot together and I'm sure you'd love him. I'll see him Wednesday. Anyway, Dr. Moody will look at my foot then decide from there what to do. I hope it is nothing serious and that is what I must pray for. I might have to see a neurologist. I can't wait to find out what is going on! I'll most likely know by next e-mail. Thank you for your prayers! This past week was awesome. Jordan Powell got baptized Saturday and his very inactive Dad came to the baptism and even said the prayer to bless the food. Jordan is Dave and Bonny Powell's grandson. They referred him to us because his parents were kind of less active. His mom is their daughter and she was at every lesson and has come back but we hadn't met his Dad until the baptism. He even came to church yesterday and was telling Jordan to stay reverent in sacrament. Let's just say that Dave and Bonny are so happy right now and we are all seeing how the gospel blesses families. I LOVE the Powells. I loved teaching Jordan. What an awesome kid. His little brother Landon is so cute and says the funniest things. I have some videos of him doing funny things like belly dancing haha! Sister Powell always make us a treat when we go to teach. She makes some killer cinamonn rolls that make Elder Brons and I water at the mouth haha. John, their youngest son has a friend that we're teaching over there now named Austin so the teaching at the Powells is not over! A great missionary family that's for sure! Austin even agreed to baptism last night and went to church yesterday too. He drives a nice mustang I'll have to get a ride in one day! Life is fantastic Mom and Dad. Things are going extremely well here and the Lord is blessing abundantly. Thankfully, we have room enough to receive them. I am loving it here. This Saturday Brandee Mast is getting baptized. She was well prepared when we met her. I try my best to be spiritually prepared every day because like Elder Eyring said the Lord sends his prepared people to his prepared servants. We all need to be prepared servants. I hope all is well over there! I love you and say Hi to everyone for me!

I'll be in Price for Another 6 Weeks!!!

2010-04-13T22:15:00.002-04:00

Thank you for your e-mails! I love you guys! It is so great to get these updates from you. I am a very blessed missionary. other missionaries do not get all the support I get from back home and it really helps me. So thank you for everything you do! Thank you for your prayers. Things are going very well here though. My health is pretty good and nothing keeps me from doing the Lord's work. We got our transfer calls and Elder Brons and I are staying together here for another 6 weeks. I am excited and happy. This area is doing very well and now that we've both been here for a little while we are excited to get down to work. I really want to be better. I want to work harder, talk to more new people a day, have effective studies, pray more and rely on the spirit more. I am going to study more on prayer and recognizing the spirit because those are the most important things you can do as a missionary. I really don't want to waste a second and have the Lord's will be done in this area! I love my mission. It is a great learning experience! Jacob and Kristen got baptized on Saturday. They are students over at CEU. Jacob is from Korea so we had a local Korean member help us fellowship. His name is Bro. Sheen and he got to baptize Jacob! It was great. Kristen's baptism was awesome too and I got the privilege of baptizing her Saturday. She had a ton of friends come and it was just great to see them support her in this. Her best friend Mae Goss was at every lesson and actually got back active in the church which was such a support for Kristen. We had a lot of fun teaching them! I love being a missionary over at the college because everyone is your age and you meet so many cool people. I love our ward mission leaders over there. I have made some great friends. I am happy to be here another 6 weeks. At the end of this next transfer, we will know what mission we'll be in. Wherever they call us to serve at the end of this transfer will be the mission we'll be in so these are exciting times here in the Utah Provo Mission. We've been getting a lot of referrals from members and I feel we need to work even harder to deserve those referrals and trust from the members! Well, I must be going but I love you! and have a great week! Tell Anik thank you for her wonderful e-mails! You guy are the best!

Wasn't Conference Awesome!!!

2010-04-05T22:42:00.002-04:00

It was a wonderful conference! I can't wait to feast on the May Ensign for my personal studies! I loved Elder Holland's talk on Lust and pure love. We teach a lot in our area on the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. It is crazy because there are quite a few people that believe what we teach but are not willing to make certain changes in their lives. We do our best to strengthen their testimonies and help them make these changes. They need a lot of support with prayer and fasting. We try and visit them quite often to boost them with spiritual messages. The natural man is an enemy to God unless he yields to the Spirit and that is what these people need to do. I loved conference and appreciate it much more than I used to. I am actually sad when it's over now. I loved Elder Rasband's talk as well on missionary service. It was awesome! What a blessing to have these righteous men with great faith guiding the church with revelation they receive from on high. What a message for the world! Thank you so much for that Easter package. Elder Brons and I have a lot of candies to eat but I think we'll share them with investigators and other missionaries. THANK YOU! I still haven't finished Pappy's last letter but I loved reading about how Pappy and Mammy met and about those rubbies that just randomly scream! It is exciting! Please thank him again for me! Thank you for your letters as always! I always love them!
I have a good routine going so things are going well. Thank you for your prayers.
Please wish Mike and Chris Happy Brithday for me! I hope it was fun! Sorry i missed it! Elder Brons is from the North Island of New Zealand in a place called Rotorua. He has some Maori blood in him. He is the best!
I am sorry I didn't get a chance to make you an audio. I didn't have much time this morning as well. Last week we went to a place called the Wedge and San Rafael. It was like a mini grand canyon and we saw a dinosaur footprint and Indian writings. It was awesome. Bro. Engar brought us there! He is awesome! I took a lot of pictures! It is beautiful here and there are a lot of cool places. We went to the Manti Temple on Thursday and that was awesome. It is a beautiful temple. It looks like a castle. They do live sessions there so that was a first for me. It is pretty different. It is amazing that Moroni dedicated that site for the temple so many years before. It was beautiful inside and just a great experience! There are many beautiful temples here in Utah. We had our interviews with President on Friday and those are always good. We talked a lot about the zone and different things. He is a great man. Sister Pitts taught me how to conduct music! It was cool. We are well taken care of here by wonderful members and even non-members. We had a big breakfast on Saturday morning with the Quintons. Can't wait to do that again with you! I love you so much and thanks for everything! I'll make an audio later!

The Work & Weather is Great and GC this weekend!!!

2010-03-29T23:26:00.003-04:00

Thank you for the great e-mail again. Let me see if I can answer some questions: I did see a doctor about my ankle. One of the members, Bishop Heiner, is an orthopedics guy and he took a look at it yesterday. He said it's nothing serious and that it'll heal itself so I just have to be patient. Thank you for your prayers though. I know they were answered. The weather is beautiful here in Price and was all week. It is not too hot and not too cold so just right. We get to take our suit coats off after General Conference. I can't wait! I received everything last week. I received your package with my memory card in it and the money. Thank you for that. I really appreciate it. I will go get me some new slacks! I need some since we'll be taking off suit coats next week. We will watch GC with some members and investigators. We will do one with the Quintons, Hunters and over at the CEU campus. We'll have to decide for the last one. Elder Kaufman is so lucky he gets to go to Salt Lake! That's awesome! Well, things are going well here. I'll mention more in my audio. I love you guys and appreciate it! John Wells got batpized Saturday. It took him a while to do it but he finally did and it is all because of the Holy Ghost. He always tells the children of God that they are doing the right thing. We have found many people this week that have been humbled and are now ready for our great message. there are many former drug addicts in this area and many that just want a change. Repentance is such a wonderful thing. Though our sins may be as scarlet or as crimson they can be white like snow. What a great message we share and have. I love being a missionary. Don't you think if the church wasn't true I would have found out by now and come home? All of this is true, so true and I love it!!Have a great week and I'll make an audio for you guys later! love you!

I'm better this week and my Blog Page is Awesome!!

2010-03-22T22:36:00.003-04:00

Hello Mom and Dad!
It sounds like you had a good week and I hope you enjoy the audio. I will make sure I make another this afternoon to give you more of the news. I am right now looking at my blog page haha. I felt like seeing it. It looks awesome! What a great job you guys have done with the blog page, it looks sweeet! Thank you for doing that. It will be great memories for later on. I got that letter from Pappy this week so please thank him for me. I really like it because it's like doing family history for me! Let me answer some questions: My ankle is unfortunately still the same but there are a few doctors in our area that are members and they said they'll take a look at it so no worries! What a blessing. I'll get with them this week. I have not heard back from Thomas yet, and my suits are actually holding up very well. I have had to re-sew the buttons on my black one over the course of the mission but they still are in good condition and I plan to keep it that way. That is incredible that Marion is getting married in July. I am so happy for them! I can't wait to meet Hugo he seems like a great guy. Matt Matheny got baptised on Saturday. He had friends and family there to support him so it was great. He is a great kid. I didn't get to teach him as much as I would have liked to but he did ask me to confirm him so that was awesome! It is cool doing such things in English haha. I did get to practice my Spanish a bit because we were down in Moab again this past week. I spent Thursday with the bilingual Moab Elders. Moab is really beatiful and a huge touristic place. We'll have to go there together sometime. I had a lot of fun with them and I just love the Spanish people! They are so kind to us. It was fun doing some Spanish work again. I know Jason is just loving it. I can't wait to speak a little espanol with him later! I have good health right now and feel fine, which was different from last time in Moab. Zone conference was awesome. We went into some pretty deep stuff with President Pitts. He says the gospel is 16 feet deep but so simple at the same time and that is what we teach. It is all about Jesus Christ. We have some great missionaries in our zone and I love them all! Elders Whalen and Fly always take good care of me when I go down to Moab. My studies have been very good this transfer. I try to study from CH.3 of PMG everyday as well as the Book of Mormon. There is so much I want to read and know but I take it one personal study at a time. Anyway, I must be going but I love you very much. My talk could have been better prepared but I tried to be excited to motivate the members. Sister Hunt wanted to call our mothers so I gave her your number. She's super nice and has a son serving. The members here are so nice. I talked about you guys because you were my first missionaries and are my goodly parents. I talked about Dad's conversion as well. I gotta go but I LOVE YOU!

Last week was pretty hard!!!!

2010-03-15T22:18:00.002-04:00

I am sorry because I was going to make you an audio this morning but I ran out of time. I am sorry to hear that Mom is in so much pain. That is no fun! I will definetely pray that you can handle those kindergarteners. They are a handful! It looks like you guys had a great weekend. Anik did too. I am glad to see that is was fun being with each other. Thank you sooo much for that St. Patrick's day package! Elder Brons and I are sharing the goods! And they are very good! THANK YOU! Please thank Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter for their card as well. I love getting news from them and will do my best to write back but please thank them for me. I love them very much and pray for them always. I have not gotten Elder Clarke's package yet. Maybe I'll get it tomorrow. I don't know if he's dropped it off or not. I need to take some more pictures though before I send this one off. I have been bad at taking pictures lately. I'll do better! Well, I am doing alright over here. This past week has been pretty hard but don't worry I am fine. It was hard because we travelled a lot. Our zone is huge. It goes from Vernal down to Blanding and Monticello. You should look it up on the map. We went on exchanges with some of the elders in our zone so we had to travel to them. I spent Wednesday in Moab and Friday in Duchesne. Moab is like 2 hours south of here and Duchesne is like 1 hour north. Elder Brons and I split up and went with different companionships. It was a lot of fun except that I got sick Wednesday and actually I felt bad for those Elders haha. So I was just a little sick last week but nothing huge. I had a fever but feel a lot better now. The Elders I was with took great care of me and I thanked them a lot. The brotherly love on the mission is incredible. It was a tough week but I prayed a lot and the Lord helped me. I didn't have to take any time away from missionary work. The Lord always takes good care of me and always gives us these trials to humble us and give us experience. I am currently having problems with my ankle. I didn't do anything to it but it got all numb and swollen on Friday night. I woke up and it was like that. Weird eh? I called Sister Pitts and she should call me back. I might have to go to the doctor to see what it is. I don't think it's anything too serious because it would hurt more. It was hurting last night during the night and at 12:43 am I had to ask Eder Brons for a blessing. He got up right away, grabbed his oil and give me a blessing. He then grabbed a t-shirt of his, grabbed some ice and wrapped my foot up for me so that I could sleep better. I think saying that I love my companion would be quite the understatement. He takes good care of me! So we'll have to see what is up with my foot. There are a few doctors that are members of the church in our area so I might see one of them. If anything, zone conference is Wednesday so Sister Pitts or the mission doctor could take a look at it. Apart from that tiny opposition, all is well here in Price. I love it here and I love our investigators! I gave a talk yesterday in the Price North 10th ward. A lot of elderly people but they seemed to enjoy it. Elder brons spoke at the college too. He did a good job. Things are going well here. We have a baptism this Saturday of Matt Matheny. He's had a hard life and he's only 14 but wants to change. I love him a lot. He is getting baptized by himself and he has great faith. I just wanted to tell you guys that I love studying the gospel. The Book of Mormon has so many wonderful stories that we learn so much from. I am currently in Mosiah 13 and Abinadi is about to chastise King Noah and his wicked Priests for not living the 10 commandments. I always start off my personal study with a little Book of Mormon. Well, I must be going but I wanted to end by telling you that I love you and appreciate all that you do! I know your prayers on my behalf get answered! All is well here and I love the mission! I am so glad I chose to do it! I would have regretted it forever! Have a great week!

I Love Price and Zone Leader's Conference Tomorrow!!!

2010-03-08T22:32:00.002-05:00

Thank you so much for all of your letters and everything you send! I love it all! It encourages me and motivates me to be better! I love you!
Thank you for your prayers and fasting. Every time you do so, things just go great in my life!
Thank you for the updates. I have not gotten any package from Elder Clarke yet but I will be at the mission office tomorrow because we have ZLC so I hope it is there and I can just pick it up. I can't wait for those letters from Pappy as well. I learn a lot from them especially about my family history! THANK YOU PAPPY!
I can't wait for ZLC. Not only do I get to see good friends and former companions and eat great Sister Pitts cooking, we get great instruction from President Pitts and the Spirit fills the room as he speaks to us and we discuss different things. There are some great missionaries in this mission that are true examples to me. I love being around these great men and learning from them. These are experiences I will never forget.
I love Price. I can't wait to bring you back here, I have never been in a place like this. This area of Utah is all little towns, counties, and communities. There are a ton of trailer parks that we go too often. There are very interesting people here and not that many members of the church. There are still alot but not as many as other areas I have been in. This area truly needs the gospel. There are a lot of people that have issues with chastity and the word of wisdom. We cover CEU, College of Eastern Utah, so I met a lot of cool people there. We are having a lot of success and it is definietly cool to preach and teach in my native language. I do miss Spanish though. I love this area and I love my companion. We get along great and he goes home like 6 weeks before me. We are both pretty young. I have met some great people here that's for sure. Yesterday, we went to the Helper Stake conference. President Maynes was getting released so Elders Allan F. Packer and Munday were there. I felt the spirit so strong as they were speaking telling me that what they were saying was true and how thankful I should be that I know the truth and am in this position. I am in the right place I know it. Anyway, we have to get going but thank you for everything and I love you! Your one and only,
Elder Carpenter

I'm transferred to Price Utah!!!

2010-03-01T22:09:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I hope you enjoy the audio that I made. I realize that it had been a while. I can't wait to receive Pappy's letters! They are always exciting to read and I learn a lot about my ancestors. GO CANADA! GOLD MEDAL! Of course, there are a lot of people here that keep me updated because they know I am Canadian and love hockey. It was cool that it was Canada vs. USA. The Mower family often have us over for dinner. They do not go to either branch of ours but they just love the missionaries and have always had the zone leaders over to eat so we continued the tradition this transfer. Brother and Sister Mower are an older couple. They watched the game yesterday and when we went over for dinner,cSister Mower asked me to explain hockey to her because she really didn't understand what was going on. It reminded me of when Dad and I would have to explain things to you Mom. Sister Mower said "why does that goalie always leave his net!?" haha. I love that family and it was fun explaining it to them. You'll have to meet them one day. I believe you'll enjoy it. I found out that Canada won through them. I think you guys would also enjoy meeting the Shellines. Bro. Shelline loves music and loves the same kind as you Dad and knows a lot about it too. You would love talking to him. He even has his own little studio. I'll have to take you to meet them one day. I can't wait to revisit the mission later with my family (present and future). I have made great friendships here in this area that will last an eternity! I have had many experiences and learned a lot. Alex Gonzalez got baptized on Saturday and I had the great honor of performing the ordinance. I absolutely love the Gonzalez family. We often worked out in the mornings with Jose and even Alex has been getting up with us lately. We just have to wake him up. We would visit them often and are actually eating with them tonight. So we got our transfer calls last night and President Pitts told me I will be going to Eastern Utah with Elder Brons. Our area is called Price and we cover 3 stakes. I love Elder Brons. I have gone on exchanges with him before and we got a long great. I will be serving in English this transfer which will be quite the change. English work is very different from Spanish work. I will be working with many more ward mission leaders and the correlation is done a bit different. I will make sure to continue to study Spanish daily though. I do not want to miss a beat because I want to come home fluuuuuuent! I am excited to preach the gospel in my native tongue though. I guess there are some Engligh speakers that the Lord wants me to meet. I do not know my new adress so this week I would just send things to the mission office until I get you the new adress. I am going to my 3rd corner of the mission. I have served in St. George, which is like the southwest corner of the mission and Eagle Mountain, which is like the northwest corner. It will be cool to now serve in Price, Eastern Utah. I am excited! I have learned much in this area and will continue to grow. Thank you for all of your support and for all that you do! I love you soo much! I thank all those that write me, think about, and pray for me! THANK YOU! I absolutely love my mission and cannot wait to share experiences with Elders Kaufman, Glowa, Macpherson, Bilodeau, Hines, Catudal, Wong, as well as Sisters Simkovits and Arrellano and many, many others! Hopefully Andrea sees a differnce in my Spanish from the MTC! haha Please tell all of my friends that I love them and think about and pray for them. Tell them to serve missions because it will change everything for the good! Tell them to read, ponder, and pray to protect them from temptation. I have really developed a love for gospel study. I learn and apply something different every day! I must go but I love you and appreciate you! Have a great week!

The Pimentel Family was Baptized Yesterday!!!!

2010-02-22T21:40:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Thank you so much for your wonderful e-mails. I never have to ask how things are going back home because you tell me everything. Let me just mention a few things before I talk about my news. Please thank Pappy and Mammy for another great letter! I really do love to receive them. I really appreciate how Pappy takes his time to write all of those stories for me. I am blessed to have such wonderful support from my family! What a blessing you are in my life! And I never let Heavenly Father forget how thankful I am for you in my prayers. I thanked Anik in my audio to her because she sent me a beautiful package once again!! She is amazing! I did share the chocolates with my companion so don't worry! haha About the cards for Thomas, I did send him a card for his birthday and it is in that letter for you guys because your birthday card is in there too Mom. I am so sorry you have waited all this time to read it. But please give Thomas the letters I have sent to him. I really would like him to write me back. The Church and Google have gotten together to make these new e-mails. It's basically gmail but from the church. I have a lot more space and stuff though which is awesome. Anyway I don't know how long my old e-mail will continue to work since I've been using this new one for the past 2 weeks. I would send mail to my new e-mail now and please tell Anik to do the same. Thanks! Well, things are going well here. My health is fine. The Pimentel family got baptized yesterday actually. We were so happy to see them finally get baptized because we have been waiting since January 9th to do it. They have been working a lot and Brother Pimentel had to quit coffee but they are on the straight and narrow path now! They are a great family and well-prepared by the Lord. They will get confirmed next week. We didn't have the week we wanted. A lot of the investigators we have right now aren't progressing. Our goal is to fellowship them better as well as keep our lessons shorter but more powerful spiritually. We need to find those that want to act on this wonderful message we have. We do have another baptism for Saturday: Alex Gonzalez. He is 14 and I just love him. We have created a good friendship even with his whole family. His parents are recent converts and love having us over. Alex actually asked me yesterday to baptize him. What an honor!! We have quite a few members that really want to help us and are great missionaries. It is a blessing to know them! I have to go but things are great and I love you!!!

The Mission is splitting - Welcome the St.George Mission!!

2010-02-16T19:40:00.004-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I did not have the chance to make an audio for you this morning but I do have 16 mins to write an e-mail right now so here it goes: I would like to wish you a happy Valentine's day! I will be home for the next one to wish you it in person! Please thank Sister Simkovits for sending me a letter all the way from China! That's awesome! I will make sure to write her back. Please thank Pappy as well for his wonderful letters! They always motivate me! What a wonderful family I have. Anik's e-mail was great as well so please thank her for me!
I didn't e-mail yesterday because it was President's day. The biggest news I have this week and probably the biggest news yet on my mission is that the Utah Provo Mission is splitting. Yup, President Pitts told us 2 weeks ago that there will now be a Utah St.George Mission down here in the south of Utah but he commited us not to say a word to anyone. He actually closed all doors and microphones in the sacrament room at zone conference 2 weeks ago and told us. We were to keep it secret. Isn't that amazing? If you want more information, check out the church news from February 13th. I don't know yet which mission I will be in. After May 27th, I believe we will know. So it could be that I leave my mission from a different mission. I don't know where the Lord will put me. I am anxious to see what happens. The borders and all are in the church news so read it there please! Anyway, I only have about 6 min left so I'll wrap it up! Other news is that I am doing fine. We work out quite a bit every morning. Elder Chavarria is running a lot now because he wants to slim down. It is really funny because we are teaching this 14 year old boy named Alex Gonzales. His dad is the guy we work out with in his basement. Alex has this poster of Brad Pitt from the Fight Club movie. He has his shirt off and he is all of ours' goal. It is so funny. Everytime Elder Chavarria starts eating a lot he wants me just to say "Brad Pitt" and he stops haha! We get along well and so the work is moving forward. We had 2 baptisms Saturday. The Pimentel family (3) was also supposed to get baptised but we didn't realize that Ernesto Pimentel drank coffee recently so we have to wait a bit. He needs to work on his testimony anyway so it's cool. His wife and 13-year old boy are solid though. We love them! I love this area a lot and want to stay here longer. There is a lot to do here and a lot to build up. Alex G. is also set for baptism for the 27th of February. I hope that this e-mail suffices! Thank you always for yours! I always read your e-mails and dearelders carefully and know all of the news so thank you for it! Remember to always pray for the Lord to place His children that He has been preparing to receive the gospel in your path. The reason our mission and all missions in Utah are so successful is because of the members. They are fantastic! That's why we work so hard to teach them the principles of preaching the gospel. I love you both so very very much and think of you all the time! Have a wonderful week and say hi to everyone! Tell them I love them and thank them for their prayers on my behalf! tell Jason: Trabaje bien duro mi amigo, porque "por sacrificio, se dan bendiciones"! Can't wait to talk to my brothers about their missions! I see Elder Kaufman s doing well! i can't wait to see him! Love you! bye

Happy Birthday & Happy Valentine's Day to you know who!!!

2010-02-08T20:12:00.007-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
I hope you like the audio and I'm sorry it cuts at the end but I was going to say Bye anyway so...I wanted to start off by saying HAPPY BITHDAY to you Mommy!
You still look like you're 25!! I will be there for your next one and I can't wait! There are quite a few birthdays this month actually so can you please wish Thomas, Catherine, and Andreanne HAPPY BIRTHDAY et Bonne Fête for me. I also want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's day for the 14th! and Especially to Anik!!! It is my second in the field! which means my last one without all of you!
So you saw the pics with my América soccer team jersey with the Bimbo on it. América is a pretty big Mexican team and I got the jersey from Elder Candia actually. It was really nice of him to give it to me. I figured I would win the hearts of some Mexicans by having it although not all like América. You have to watch out because there are some that hate them! But I like it!
I wanted to tell Dad that the last general authority we had tour the mission was Elder Brent Nielsen like 4-5 months ago. We should be due for another.
Please tell everyone hi for me and thank you so much for your e-mails! I love them! They motivate and encourage me to be better! You guys are great examples to me! I am glad you liked the pics! And yes I still love to do my best to make people laugh! But I have finally learned after all these years the time and place to do it!! I wish I had understand that in seminary!
Things are great here. We are fighting hard to get 5 baptisms this weekend even though there is great opposition from the adversary! We have faith and we will do it! We are actually having great success. We're working hard to encourage and motivate the members. We're thinking of things we can do with them to get them doing more missionary work! We plan on taking members out with us every night. Today we are going skating again. It gets pretty expensive though because it's 7$ every time but...I love it! I plan do all of my studies in Spanish now for this year. I only have this precious year left so I must do the best I can! I love you guys soooo much! Thank you for all you do! This is Jesus Christ's Church. He is the Saviour and the Son of God and I am so happy to be representing Him and His church! The gospel is the way to happiness in this life and eternal life in the life to come! I must go but have a great week mom and dad!!! I LOVE YOU!

I got a Letter from a Convert in Lehi!!!

2010-02-03T18:42:00.002-05:00

Hey I am so sorry but I only have 5 minutes left here but I'll do my best. My myldsmail.net account needs to be updated so that took a while and I didn't even get it done. I will do my best to make an audio for you. I am sorry I have been lacking on that. We have been exercising a lot in the mornings. Just know that all is well here in St. George! I have received all of your letters with gratitude! I can't wait to get Pappy's letter as well. I really do love to receive his letters. I got a letter from a recent convert in Lehi this week. Let me tell you of the joy that filled my heart as I read that they are active in the church and are learning every day!!! I love the Gospel!! We had zone conference and I have to go bye!!!!

Ahhhh....isn't this great!!!!!

2010-01-25T20:30:00.005-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!
Another week has gone by and I am here in the St.George library with Elders Chavarria, Webb, and Parisutham. Elder Parisutham is from India! Isn't that something although we know a lot of people from India back home. I am just glad to see that the Lord's children in India get to hear the gospel as well. He said there are 4000 members in all of India and just 100 missionaries for the country as well. He is a nice guy and is serving over in Laverkin, which doesn't have very much. It is a little town. I'm sure it looks nothing like India. I told him my grandmother was born there! Anyway, things are going great here. Sorry I couldn't make an audio. We didn't have much time this morning. We presented our Zone Plan of Action at 9 am and played soccer this morning at like 6. I was telling Anik that Elder Chavarria loves to exercise. We wake up every morning at 6 (except for Sunday) and do some form of exercise. We either play soccer at the Recreation center or go over to Jose Gonzales' (A wonderful recent-convert that loves the missionaries) and work out in his basement. Let's just say that I am feeling stronger physically and spiritually these last few days. I really want to be better. I want to rely on the Lord more. We have a few baptisms lined up for this transfer and we need to do all we can to have them baptized. The Lord must lead us! This work is so true! The heavens are opened and revelation exists. We have asked, seeked, and knocked for our area and zone and we have been answered.
Please thank the Blakemore's for me because they sent me a very nice dearelder and I appreciate it! So please thank them for me! Today at 4:30 we are going to Provo for Zone Leader Council. I always love that! I love President Pitts! He is a great mission president. I have made quite a few friends here in the mission and I am excited to see some of them tonight and tomorrow at ZLC! I love my mission! I am having such a great time! I am having such great experiences that I know will help me for the rest of my life. I love those that we teach. I might not always understand ALL that they say nor understand their culture but I love them. The gospel truly changes human lives. The Holy Ghost works so hard. The trick is to work hard with it. The greatest experiences are when you can feel the Holy Ghost testifying through you to those you teach. What a wonderful feeling! We had a great experience the other day. We were driving around looking for an address when we saw two younger guys rollerblading. Elder Chavarria felt impressed that we should stop the car and talk to them. I was driving so I immediately found a place to park. We got out and walked towards them. It turns out that one of them has been looking for the missionaries because he wants to talk to us and prepare to serve a mission. His friend speaks Sanish better than English and is not a member but wants to learn more and has been going to church! We got their phone numbers and addresses and will call them this week! Isn't that great! We will really focus on following the Spirit this transfer. Our ward mission leader also knows a former investigator that would like to get baptised! I know him and can't wait to prepare him for this! Ahhhh...isn't it great! You never know what the Lord has in store for his faithful servants. So I need to work on being a more faithful servant! I testify that this is Christ's Church. He set it up and has now brought it back. He has always been the head of the Church and this dispensation is no different. He has always called prophets to teach us the gospel and this time is no different. There were prophets, apostles, seventies, bishops, evangelists, teachers, etc. in his time and now is no different! His Church will always be the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He loves us and will never leave us alone! That is not part of the plan. His plan is perfect. Only perfect beings with all knowledge and wisdom that love us could have made such a wonderful plan of happiness. Families can live together forever and not be separated by death. Jesus Christ overcame this world so with his help, why can't we? Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. He translated golden plates containing a record of the ancient inhabitants of the americas the way he said he did. He was a prophet. And as you would say Dad "Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise". To this day, I have never let anyone tell me otherwise and will continue to do so unless Heavenly Father gives me a different answer than the one He gave me. All is well here in St. George. We have a big week ahead of us and we are excited! We have many people to visit from our area books. Spanish is doing well. I still have much to learn but I will come back fluent that is my goal. Tell Jason that I can't wait to speak Spanish with him when he gets back! I love you! Have a good week!

I have a new Companion - Elder Chavarria!!!

2010-01-19T18:22:00.002-05:00

We still had P-day yesterday but we just couldn't e-mail for too long. Please wish Mammy a HAPPY BITRTHDAY!! and send her all of my love, kisses, and hugs! Tell her I love her and thank Pappy for his letters if I haven't already done that because I love them! I absolutely love to read them. And Andreanne also sent me a Christmas letter and I am not sure if I told Anik to thank her for me yet so please tell Andreanne THANK YOU! I really appreciate it! Oh I love to get mail! Thank you to all who send me mail and updates and news! I love it all! I sent off my memory card to Anik today about 30 min ago so pictures are on their way. I got my license a couple weeks ago...I thought I told you that but anyway, it expires in September though of 2010. Why is that? I might not be able to drive after that. Anyway, the biggest news is that I have a new companion: Elder Chavarria from Costa Rica originally and Nashville most recently. He is the best! I am so happy right now to be with him! We are going to have so much fun together! Elder Aguilar is up in Eagle Mountain. Being Zone leader is a lot of fun. You make a lot of new friends. We have a fantastic zone so it is really easy. I learn more from them than they do from me! Anyway...we really have to be running now, we have an appointment at 4 but I love you and things are going fine. My health and skin are doing good and don't stress me. I need to work on my Spanish though because I don't understand a lot of the jokes but I'll get it! We had a baptism this past Saturday and we anticipate some more for February! We're excited to role up the sleeves and get down to it! the Lord has an errand for us Dad with blessings waiting! How could we ever turn that down? I feel it is time to fast and pray mightily for this area to pick up more. We need more support from the members and we need to find more elect from the four quarters of our area. Many are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it (D&C 123:12) but we know where it is! We need to lead them to it! I love you and have great week!

January 11 mini post due to lost e-mail!!!!

2010-01-18T22:45:00.001-05:00

Hey! guess what? I had a whole e-mail typed and it got erased! But I made an audio so that should be good! Just one very important thing: Can you send me your conversion stories? and other great experiences you've had as members of the church? I want to have these on my mission and for the rest of my life. So please send those to me this week by dearelder! I will really appreciate it! Don't forget to include your testimonies! I love you! THANK YOU!

Happy New Year and let's do our part!!!

2010-01-04T21:52:00.003-05:00

Hello Mom and Dad! The picture is our district at the Stewart's on New Year's Eve.

Let me just quickly answer some questions: The CTR ring is small but I knew that, I like it on my pinky! Thank you for sending it! I LOVED the box you sent! I opened it last Monday and took tons of pictures! Everything was just perfect and I loved everything and all that was in the stocking. The CTR rings and so nice and clean! THANK YOU! I am really getting spoiled by you! You didn't have to do all of that but I know no matter what I say you'll do it so...I LOVE YOU! I saw the thought you put into it and I was overwhelmed with joy! I have not received anything from the SAAQ yet...just a letter from the Mission Office telling me not to drive because they knew it was expired. My skin is not doing too good so I will have to take anibiotics because I have to shave and shaving makes it worse so I need some extra help. I know it will get better. Thank you for fasting. I will kill this problem once and for all! I do know Elder Perez, he was actually in the district I was supposed to be in in the MTC and comes home at the same time as me. Really nice guy. He is in Cedar now with Elder Davidson, another canuck! They cover a college campus and are doing good. I'll tell him she said HI. I think it's great that you gave those BOM's out Dad. Just make sure to do the follow-up you plan on doing! As members, we should always be thinking of our friends and family that are not members and pray for them. We should always do our best to invite them to church-related activities (New Years Eve party, Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve fireside, FHE, sacrament, etc...) Keep up the good work! And rememer the Lord is preparing those around us. We learn in the MTC that the majority of the elect are friends and family of members. Be an example of the believers! Let's treat our neighbours kindly and serve them!

Thank you to everyone!!!

2009-12-29T12:21:00.002-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I really did enjoy talking to you Friday morning! It was the best gift! To hear your voices and know that all is well is exactly what I wanted. I think I have changed but you guys are just so natural with me that I feel very comfortable. I love you! I did get the dearelder package and THANK YOU!! I put the tree on my desk and have been sharing the great treats! I love the CD and just THANK YOU! I really appreciate it. The Shelline family is gone until Wednesday so we'll have to take care of the parcel. There is a UPS store and pick up place here in Washington so don't worry. THANK YOU!!!! in advance! I am so happy to hear that Johnny boy is doing well! I love him! I need my best man you know? I remember sharing a locker with him all through high school! he is my brother! Alright, I just wanted to thank some people really quick for their wonderful Christmas wishes and gifts: THANK YOU TO:

1. The Glowas for the picture and nice tie!

2. The primary for the package with pictures and treats!

3. Anik's parents sent me a great letter too! I love gettings letters from them! so thank you to the Therien family as well.

4. And of course...Anik sent me a fantastic box once again! I know she is with you so give a her a BIG HUG AND KISS for me! ;)

I felt SO blessed this Christmas. Even though I am far away, I felt your love and prayers in great abundance! I love serving a mission! We really did have a great Christmas. We spent most of the day visiting investigators and recent converts on Friday. They were happy to see us. We even played hide and seek with the Shelline family! It was awesome! They have such a cool family. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with them! Can you believe that hospitality? I had a great time. I feel so blessed to see my patriarchal blessing fulfilled by having these guardian angels around me always willing to help me. The area is doing well. There is a lot of work to be done however. I am still working hard to develop the gift of tongues. I can speak just fine about the gospel in Spanish but I need to learn more words and more about the different cultures. I have a great book for that actually so don't worry about me! I really do love my mission. I have had numerous wonderful experiences that have changed my life. I have a great companion that loves all those around him and would help me with anything. I have learned so much from my companions and the missionaries I serve. I really want to be like them. I have seen the great light that the gospel brings into the lives of those that follow its principles. Just like it says in Alma 26 Dad. The gospel is light and shows us the way back to our Heavenly Father but there are those that do not have that light and therefore are confused about how to get back to their Father in Heaven. We share that light with others as missionaries. We have that light. We have the best flashlight to get to the end of the dark tunnel. Lehi would say that we have the iron rod to hold onto to get through the mist of darkness. We have all partaken of the fruits of this true gospel. It is now time for us to share them with all those around us. Let me just say that this is the church that has the fulness of the truth. I represent Jesus Christ and his church and I know that this is his church, if I didn't, I would not represent it. Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet today and how thankful I am to have had parents to teach me these things! I love you and have a great week!

Zone Conference Yesterday and Talk to you Friday!!!

2009-12-22T18:17:00.003-05:00

Thank you so much for the e-mail! I love you! So I guess you're wondering why I didn't do anything yesterday. We had zone conference yesterday all day so we moved our P-day to today. Sorry about any inconvenience! I made an audio for you and Anik this morning. I explained everything about the phone call. So I will call Christmas morning between 7 and 8 which means 9 and 10 for you! So be expecting the call Christmas morning! We are allowed to call from our cell phones and Elder Aguilar will call Christmas eve so I have a lot of freedom with the call. We are allowed to talk for an hour! There is no greater gift Christmas morning than to be able to talk to the ones I love and hear your voices! So let Anik know. I told her already but make sure the three-way is all set up and good to go! So be expecting a long distance ring! I love you! Let me answer some questions real quick: I have not received anything from the Lahache's but I can't wait! I did receive that dearelder package but have not opened yet! Thank you! Maybe I should open it then? I have not received anything from SAAQ either. I haven't made cookies for investigators yet but that's a good idea! Alright I hope I covered everything because I have to run but I love you and appreciate you so much! PLEASE say thank you for me to the Kaufmans for their e-mail today and Patricia Deer for her package and that great CD. There is a song on the CD that Elder Aguilar and I listen to everyday and the whole CD is great! Also the Stake Presidency for their card, and of course Grandma and Grandpa for their wonderful card and money! I love them all! THANK YOU! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Off to Provo for Zone Leader Conference

2009-12-14T21:28:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad!Alright I only have 7 minutes but let me try to say as much as I can and I will try and make an audio later but it has been hard lately. I'll figure something I can do to make it! I would send everything right to that address since I am sure that the Office will be busy with other packages all through the holidays. I don't know about the UPS thing. I would just send everything the cheapest way possible. We do live with members. We live with the Shelline family. They are actually about your age and don't have any kids living there. They are super nice and have a beautiful home. Tell Anik not to worry about her package! She doesn't even have to send me a package! She sends me so much already so I don't mind at all if it comes late. She's the best! haha I love you guys and appreciate all that you do, I really do! You are the best and what would I do without you! I love you! I can't wait to hear your voices at Christmas and it won't be hard because you guys are a great support! Alright I must go. We drive 4 hours to Provo today at 4 for ZLC tomorrow. It will be so fun! I love you!

I'm Going Back to St.George for the Winter!!!

2009-12-07T19:24:00.002-05:00

Hello Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for the e-mails. I loved Aniks as always and I hope I can answer her questions and yours at the same time. I am so lucky and blessed to get such great e-mails and updates from you guys. I feel you are becoming pros at sending me info from back home whichever way you do it! Thank you so much! The news is big this week. I am not staying in this area. President Pitts called me last night to tell me I am going back to St. George! YOUPI! I am leaving the cold and snow and going back to my favorite palm trees, red rocks, and dry heat!!! I can't wait. He also extended the call for me to serve as a Zone leader for the Red Rock zone down in St. George. I will serve with Elder Aguilar in Washington city. I am sure you are just as shocked as I was when I got the telephone call. Isn't that crazy mom and dad? I am going back to the southernmost part of the mission and I am going to be a zone leader! I just find it crazy because I really do not feel very experienced enough to be a zone leader you know? Anyway, I am very very excited and these next six weeks are going to be incredible. I have met Elder Aguilar before and he is just awesome! He is just full of energy and I can't wait to learn from him. I am sure I will learn so much. This is going to be another huge turning point for me on my mission! So I leave tommorow and take the St George shuttle at 6:30 am over in Provo. I don't know what my address will be. I will find out tomorrow. I will pack all day today and send some stuff I don't need back home so be expecting a package. Whatever you send to me this week will have to be sent to the Mission Office until you find our my new address next week. I know you sent stuff off with those Elders but they will have to give it to the mission office. Anything coming to me will be best through the mission office this week. Next week I will tell you my address down south. I will not need any winter clothing at all so don't worry about that. Also thank the Glowas for sending me a Dear elder, I really enjoyed it! THANK YOU!! and I do pay my fast offering dad! Every single month! You cannot convert beyond your own conversion so how can I teach others of fast offering if I don't even do it myself? It is snowing today actually and I am so happy to get away from it. I will try my best to make an audio for you this afternoon because you have gone 2 weeks without one! I will have enough time! I love you guys so much and thank you for all that you do! I absolutely love my mission and I can't wait to work hard with Elder Aguilar! I hope we will make a great team! He is such a nice guy. I will really miss the Benhams but Elder Bowers is replacing me and he is a good missionary so I'm not too worried! Well I kind of have to go but I love you and can't wait to answer any questions that you have! My health is doing fine and I'll just say more in the audio but I think I said the most important! I will definetely have more info next week! I love you!

Thanksgiving passed and 2 Baptisms this week!!!

2009-11-30T23:14:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad, tell Anik thank you for her wonderful e-mail! She is the best! She asked when transfers are and the answer is next week. You will know next Monday whether I go or whether I stay. This could be the last week in this area for me. I hope that I stay actually I like this area. But I would like to go to an area that is struggling and build it...that would be awesome! The work is doing very well but we need to think of some ways to involve the members more with our investigators. A lot of our investigators don't go to church and don't have fellowshippers. We will try and change that by doing FHE's with members and investigators and other activities. We are very busy. We have a lot of appointments and our area is rather large. It takes about 20-25 min depending on traffic to get from one end of the area to the other. If you want an idea of how big it is, search on google maps or something and get a map of Lehi, Saratoga, and Eagle Mountain because we cover those 3 cities (in Spanish). I absolutely love just working and pondering on ways to help our investigators improve and excite members. I think I will miss that aspect when I get home. Elder Diaz is such a funny guy and we get along very well. He is teaching me many Christlike attributes such as patience and charity. He always shares with me and is very loving. I have learned a lot from him this transfer. I did not get a chance to send those letters to my friends either because I did not have time but today I will do that license thing you told me about and perhaps write a letter to Chris or Thomas. I really don't need anything right now to be honestbut but tell Elder Green and the Lahache's thank you for me! How nice of them. I am glad to see Daddy is still keeping up in hockey! and telling me the news. Tell Ben Cahoon congrats for winning the Grey Cup! I am proud of them! I did get all dearelders last week and you can even send them this week because they will get to me before transfers so just keep sending them to the house please. Next week I will tell you the new address if I have it. I would wait to send any packages until we find out what is happening at transfers. Did I mention I love you guys! I am so spoiled with blessings! Thank you for all that you do! Thanksgiving was so much fun playing football and everything. Sis Benham is an amazing cook by the way because we ate with them for lunch Thursday and it was gooood! I hope she makes banana cake soon! We went to the Temple Saturday morning and I just love the Temple. I really do get excited when we go to the Temple and I am glad I have that feeling because I want it to stay like that for the rest of my life. The Mt. Timpanogous temple is gorgeous too! We took pics and I will send them off! We worked hard once again and it was fun! We ran into these ladies knocking on doors and one was on the way out and got us hot chocolates at Mcdonalds and a burger! How nice right? And they offered to do sewing for us whenever we needed it! My green suit pants have a whole in the back pocket so I will bring them to them today. What a blessing! The best doors to knock on are the ones you know with 15 min left in the night! The Lord always blesses us when we do the absolute most we can. Always be anxiously engaged in a good cause! This Saturday we should have 2 baptisms : Carlos Salazar and Kimberly Querales. I can't wait! There isn't much news other than that but I will try and add some more in my audio. I met an RM that Elder Begin killed off when he was in Hawaii. Don't remember his name though. We heard Elder Walter Gonzalez speak yesterday at the Saratoga ward for a fireside. He only has 2 days off all year and he chose one of those to speak to the Saratoga ward. It was fantastic! I love listening to General Authorities speak (especially in their native tongue) I got to hear the Uruguallo accent! it was great! He talked about tithing and adversity. Really nice man! Keep up the work you guys! I am so proud of the desire you have to do missionary work! Just pray and fast for opportunities and they will come. Just remember that the world needs the restored gospel but they can't know that until they know what the restored gospel is. Almost everyone wants to live with their loved ones forever and we are the only church that can make that happen! Don't you think they should know that? I love you guys! have a great week!

We Taught 22 Lessons Last Week!!!

2009-11-23T22:49:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad! Thank you so much for the wonderful e-mail! You guys motivate me so much it is incredible. Please never stop writing me. The three of you (with Anik) are a wonderful blessing to me and I thank God every day for you! Anik's e-mail was fantastic and once again, as every week, outdid herself! I love you guys! Let me answer some questions if there are:
Alright return and report of DL and thanksgiving: I have a very small district of 6 elders, two of which are the ZL's whom I report to so I try and do all they ask of me by getting numbers in on time and so on. They are always good missionaries and good friends. Then the other two report to me, Elder Candia and elder Fonoimuana (polynesian). You really have to develop Christlike attributes as a leader. I need to work on patience as well. I always report all to the ZLs and President Pitts to get their guidance when it comes to my stewardship. I will always work on being a better leader. Thanksgiving is a non-proselyte day in the mission so we will be playing a lot of football and sports all day then out at 6 to proselyte. We will visit investigators that have invited us over. We want to meet their families! It will be awesome!
Things are doing very well here. We worked very hard last week and taught 22 lessons without even going on splits. Just for one appointment. So you can imagine how busy we were. I love working hard and coming home tired...man that is the best feeling! We found some new people too! it was great. I saw Elder Breton who served in Montreal and I actually spent a day with him when I was there. He's from New Jersey but is here on vacation to visit some friends! I finally understood all he said in spanish! Elder Merrell knows him. I wanted to comment some more on your e-mail. It is sad to hear about the YM. I wish Elders Kaufman and Glowa and I were there to help but we have our hands full here haha! I would warn them of the dangers of quenching the Holy Ghost. It does not dwell in unclean tabernacles. I can't imagine going through this life without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Often I sit and meditate after saying a prayer in my personal study to receive revelation. I keep a pen and paper close by to write it down.
I loved Elder Scott's talk this past conference on spiritual guidance. Anyway, I love them too and will pray for them. Tell me if there is anything I can do...maybe a letter to the YM...maybe I'll do that. They need to go on missions! it is so important. What a wonderful experience I am having here. What happiness comes from serving a mission. I have never felt so close to Heavenly Father in my life! Watching the Gospel change a life is better than any T.V show or movie! I love the members here that help us so much and I am so greatful that my very own parents feed and go out with the missionaries. I can see that blessing my own mission. Today I got my haircut but I asked for a 2 all over! Big mistake! Way too short and I will have to buy a hat! haha. Anyway I better be going! I can't wait to make an audio for you! love you!

There is a lot of Work in this Area

2009-11-16T19:42:00.003-05:00

Hey Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the pictures. Thank you so much for all that you send me. Anik's e-mail was so funny...she told me she was talking to you as she wrote it. Thank you so much for the news and everything. I am sure the wedding was really nice. FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MARION!!!! Yes please wish Marion a happy birthday for me. I am still older than her haha! So I loved your e-mails and thank you! I love you guys so much! Thank you for always motivating me and everything. I did get your dearelders and i loved them as always. I hope Anik doesn't find my audios super weird because I really can't express myself the way that I used to. I know she still loves me anyway though! Let me answer some questions: The things in the district are doing well. I worry about some of the elders' obedience however. I really have to be an example and follow the spirit. I will seek guidance from my leaders about how to help the elders be more obedient. It is a great opportunity to learn and serve. I love the elders and hope that they see that I love them and want to serve them. Elder Diaz and I are doing good. There is a lot of work in this area and I think it's great. I need to focus more on the work and be more diligent to be able to take advantage of this area and see many baptisms. Just know that I'm okay and my skin and health and everything is going well. Pray for me to be a better leader and to help the elders around me. Pray for us always that we might continue to get along and be more diligent. Now I have like 4 min left and I wanted to say some things.

Don't worry about me! I love being a missionary and there is so much work and I am getting lost in it. I want to get completely lost and tell you about it! Thank you for everything and more in the audio but the church is still true and always will be! I love it! I will put to practice more prayer and fasting to see more success! I want every family we meet to be sealed in the temple! I love you! have a great week!

The Gospel Changes People's Lives!!

2009-11-09T22:46:00.002-05:00

Hey Mommy, Daddy, and everyone! Thank you so much for your e-mail and of course thank Anik for me even though she reads this but thank her because I love her e-mails too! And please thank all those that write me and send me wonderful things. Let me reply a bit to your e-mail. I loved the picture. I see plaques like that all over the place here in Utah because you know, a lot of people serve missions and I thought they were such a good idea and really nice. I really like mine! Thank you! I have seen that reflections of Christ DVD before and the book and it is really beautiful I think. I think they did a great job! Great idea from Elder Merrell.
I am so happy for Ted and Rebecca and I know they are ecstatic right now. Please send them my congrats! I hope that all goes well with everything and will pray that it will be everything that they want! But...I mean...Anik and Marion are in charge of the reception so there is no need to worry! Did you see that birthday box Anik sent me? come on...it's going to be a great night and very well decorated! I hope you feel better Mom and keep up the good work with Sylvianne! That was such a good Idea that you had! Every member a missionary! I love you guys! And tell Elder Borja I say Hi and that I hope he bought some new shoes haha. He had some pretty beat up shoes when I was there and refused to buy new ones. I understand but I don't know if they'll last another winter! He's a great guy! I hope the work is doing well in Lasalle. You know that Elder Kaufman, Elder Glowa, and I pray for it all the time and can't wait to come home and help out. Thank you for the adresses! I will write something for sure! Now to update you on the life of Elder Carpenter. We have mice down in the basement. We hear them in the walls and caught one last week. He got stuck to this trap the Benham's gave us to put down. It had this super glue on it with food. We took him, stuck him in a bag and shot him out! It was funny! Elder Diaz doesn't like mice very much. But then again, who does? We also set a baptismal date for Carlos Balcazar. A 23 year old from D.F. Mexico. He is single and lives with a family that are members and go to the Lehi Ward. He is changing so much. He came to church yesterday with a white shirt and tie and earingless. I love being a missionary and seeing people change their lives because of the gospel you teach!!It changes people. It is so true! NEVER FORGET IT! Yanina got baptized! Man, what a pleasure it has been teaching her and her family and watching them change as well. Her husband is now re-activated and he baptized her! Oh I love it! She was elect from the start! I love going over there and having some gooood Argentinian food! Elder Diaz and I get along great and work hard together. Having fun working hard is the best way to do it! I love you so much and must go but send my love to all those back home and all those out serving the Master himself. For Christmas, really...ties are just fine. Just remember that I don't have very much room left in my baggage. But anything you send I will love!!! because I love you! And tell Hugo that his cousin Elder Tapia says Hi. I went on splits with him Thursday night. Super nice, humble missionary! And he says Hi to his cousin. I told Elder Tapia that his cousin is dating a friend of mine!! Small LDS world.

Elder Diaz and I are getting along Great!!!!

2009-11-02T23:23:00.003-05:00

Hey! Alright I only have 8 minutes so this will be pretty quick. PLEASE thank Anik once again for a great e-mail! She is the best!!! What motivation you guys give me haha! So about Elder Diaz! We get along so great! He is not what I thought he would be! He doesn't spring out of bed at 6:30AM but he does get up just fine! I am not too worried about that. It is not what I thought. He is a fine missionary and a such a nice person. We are having a lot of fun together and I love him! He is 22 and was born in Puebla, Mexico but grew up in Orange County, California so you can imagine I love him! I will say more in the audio later. To answer your question, it is the Timpanogus Temple...beautiful! Yes there are swings in the basement haha. I have Cold Fx so no need to send. Please send me Chris' and Thomas' address okay? I gotta go! Ties would be great for christmas!! I LOVE YOU!

We're OK down here in Provo!!!

2009-10-26T22:50:00.001-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad! I only have 14 minutes to write you something so I'll write the most important. I just read Anik's wonderful e-mail as always! She's the best! And I also read President and Sister Kaufman's e-mails to me. I love them! Tell President Kaufman that I will have a lot to report when I get back haha and Sister Kaufman that I am glad Elder Kaufman is okay because I pray for him all the time! I will make sure to wash my hands. I am glad to see all is well back home as always! I love you guys! I love the support that I get! Mommy, I am okay. I take 1000mg of Vitamin C every day and wash my hands as much as I can thorughout the day. I feel good and try not to touch my face with my hands. Sister Pitts is making sure we are okay so please don't worry too much. And I am not taking that vaccine. It is optional and I'm not taking it. I have heard horror stories about it! I'll just be wise! I guess I did go ballistic but didn't pee my pants...that's a little too much and like that guy went on a mission before I was born...how am I supposed to remember him haha. It was so fun though. And I live in Saratoga, not Eagle Mountain. Just to clarify haha.
I'll do like Elder Kaufman now. I'll talk about Thomas, Sean, and Uncle Ted in my audio. I have 4 minutes and guess what? I am staying here! I stay in my area. President Pitts called me last night to tell me Elder Diaz is coming to me from Eastern Utah. I hope he speaks good spanish because I want to learn from a native! This transfer should be a lot of fun! I don't know what will happen. Elder Patterson goes to Spanish Fork with Elder Call. I'm happy for him. So that is that! Enjoy the audio! I love you!!

I love being a Missionary - No greater happiness!!!

2009-10-19T23:16:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy and everyone! I can't believe Rebecca is going to San Fran! Everyone goes to Utah or California don't you find? I am so happy for her and I'm sure her brother is ecstatic! She will love it! Like I have said, a mission changes your life and actually I put it this way for me personally, in D&C 76, Joseph Smith says that he and Sidney Rigdon's eyes were opened and their understanding enlightened or something to that effect but that is what has happened to me. I see things a lot differently now and understand them better. Ask and ye shall receive right? Let me just see if there are any questions to answer. I know Anik didn't really have any. I really never cook Mommy because we don't really have to. Members provide us with food all the time and it's great! You don't know how much I used things I learned from my mom and dad on my mission! Every day!! You led me to my testimony!! And about Christmas...I really don't need anything to be honest...but I'll let you know if I think of something this week. Thank you so much for the offer! And yeah bring Sean to that Fireside...he will really like that I think! I can't believe he lives so close!! that is so cool I can't wait to hang out with him when I get home! I miss my family! I miss playing hockey! haha I miss playing hockey with my family haha! Thanks dad for sending the update. This past Saturday I had the privilege of baptising Omar Campos. We love him. He's 15 and a lot of his family are already members except for his Dad, brother, and biological mother. We're teaching his brother right now though and he is so elect! We're excited! We are going to play soccer with them today I believe. It was a great week-end as we had several multi-cultural parties. Latinos know how to party that's for sure! It was fun to bring our investigators there and fellowship them. Things are going great here. More to come in the audio of course but transfers are next week and I think one of us is going. Can't wait to tell you. So don't send any mail after Thursday because it'll take forever to get it. I get mail so fast though and I love it! Thank you for all you do and send Sis Benham that Banana cake recipe Mom! I want some more! Love you guys! Thank everyone for their support I love it! It's funny that Daddy says "that's what it's all about Charlie Brown" because every single time Elder Patterson and I accomplish something or especially have a baptism I say to him "that's what it's all about Elder" and he just chuckles and says Yup. He must have a lot of patience for me because I'm crazy! But I love being a missionary! No greater happiness I tell you! I can't wait to continue missionary work when I get home! I am going to fight the good fight for a long time! I love you all and have a great week!

Tell Elder Glowa a Mission is Awesome!!!!

2009-10-12T15:25:00.002-04:00

Alright I have 19 minutes to do this! Before we were going to a family History center but now we are in the Lehi library. Man, imgaine if I saw the Glowas for some reason haha I am like 20-25 minutes from Provo! I am so excited for Jason, I just can't express enough how just awesome a mission is. You learn more about yourself than you ever have before. You grow closer to Heavenly Father. I have really been trying to work on my prayers. I don't say amen until I feel I have sincerely shared everything I needed to say. Anik also wanted to know how well those great t-shirts fit...they fit great!!! I love them!! Just wait until you see the pictures! I took a lot! Once again...THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!! I am the most blessed missionary I tell you! We're not doing anything as Canadian elders for thanksgiving, we'll just wait for the American one. The District leader calling is going well. We are doing good as a district. I love my district and that is what is most important. King Benjamin was an awesome leader and we need to learn to serve those we lead. I think that is what makes a great leader. So I pray for charity to be able to serve my district when they need it. I went out with Elder Sacca on splits and just tried to show him that I love him and appreciate him. He is a funny guy and we had a lot of fun. He reminds me of my cousin Sean so we got along great! I hope they're doing good! So what I have learned is that leadership is all about service! I am so sorry I didn't mention this before but yes, I did get Grandma and Grandpa's beautiful card and gift! I was so happy. I love getting mail from them!THANK YOU SOO MUCH! and Mom, your cake was awesome! just how I like it...I threw up all week but it was still good! hahaha no I'm just kidding it was fine! Elder Patterson said it was great too! THANK YOU once again for spoiling me like crazy! I love my family! Anik sent me the nicest package! you should have seen it...I don't even want to throw away the box! She's the best!! I took plenty of pics which I will send off today with my busted watch and other things! Can't wait for you to get them! Tell Jason he will love his mission and the MTC, I loved the MTC. Don't worry about Spanish...I know it's kind of frustrating at first not being able to express yourself as well. It's not only the language but a whole different culture! But like they say in the mtc...the spirit speaks all languages and I can testify of that! Just love everything about the mission! I am doing great here, we have a baptism next Saturday for Omar Campos. A really cool 15 year old guy. I now take down the definiton of every Spanich word someone says that I don't know. I would tell Jason to do the same! Alright...love you!

We loved General Conference!!!

2009-10-05T22:39:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom and Dad,Alright, YES I received both packages!!!! I got yours last Monday and Aniks like 30 minutes ago. I am so excited! I haven't had time to dig into Anik's package because we picked it up from the post office so it is now in the car but please give her a sincere thank you because i saw what was in there and it looks great! Tell her thank you for ALL she does and ALL her support. You are wonderful! I am so blessed to have a great family and a great future family! And my gosh, you guys spoil me!! what is with such incredible gifts! I got super spoiled haha! I love you! I am wearing this beautiful watch right now, it is fantastic! thank you! and that tooth brush!! my gosh!! thank you!! I feel like I'm at the dentist every time I use it! you are THE best parents and Anik is THE best girlfriend ever!! haha As I dig more into her box, I will have more thanking to give! I hope you got those forms I filled out and signed. Thank you for taking care of things back home. I read Anik's e-mail and about her decision for school. She made the best choice! I didn't know being a garderie person was even an option! forget that! Her dream is to be a teacher! She made the right choice! I know the Lord was in it as always. I'm so proud of her for studying it out in her mind and then relying on the Lord just like he told Oliver Cowdery to do. You don't know how much I use that divine counsel. I also loved conference and tell Anik that I fell asleep on Elder Patterson's shoulder the whole time haha noo just kidding. I stayed awake because I have truly found a great appreciation for conference. I was really unwise to not pay attention when I was younger. These are the men that receive revelation for US. It is wise to heed their counsel. I have to say though that 3 of the 5 sessions I watched in spanish so it was a little more difficult to understand. I can understand spanish pretty well now it will just take some getting used to. I loved President Monson's talk on anger. I love the Prophet. I also loved M. Rusell Ballard's talk on relationships between fathers and sons. Daddy and I are pretty good! I can't wait to get the conference issue ensign. Oh and please continue sending your dearelders straight to the Benham's home because I get them like 2 days later!! It is so fast! I got a ton of letters last week and I'm all up to date for you! So please tell everyone to do that. Don't go through the mission office anymore until I say something okay? THANK YOU! tell Anik to continue as well please. And last but not least, how are my friends doing? I hope Jonathan knows that I think of him all the time! and I follow his example. Jason is going to be a great missionary. I'd like to tell him something Elder Bell once told me when I asked him if the two years goes by fast. Elder Bell told me: once you lose youself in the work, time flies! and now I know what he meant. Just forget yourself and get to work Gordon! Work, Work, Work, that is the secret. before you know it, the mission will be over and it will have been a successful one. Alright I'm out! This church is the only true church sobre la faz de la tierra y Presidente Thomas S. Monson es el Profeta de hoy dia. Nunca olvidense de eso! les amo mucho!

Another Great Week - We taught 27 Lessons!!

2009-09-28T22:51:00.004-04:00

Thank you for the wonderful e-mail as always and tell Anik she's the best! and that her e-mails are ALWAYS exactly what I need. Please thank the Kaufman's for the pumpkin cake, it was delicious! and the hot chocolate and candy was great! I took a pic of me eating it! Tell Elder Kaufman I love him and am so proud of him and talk about him all the time! He's an awesome missionary! I just can't wait to be able to talk about our missions together...to go to Tim Hortons, blockbuster, and all that again and hang out! Life is great! I can't wait to serve in different callings together! We should teach a mission prep class together! I pray for him always! I feel soooo bad about the package! I'm sooo sorry that it did that but please don't worry about me, I got the Kaufman's package before so it was great! This week will be awesome as I get those packages from you and Anik because I haven't gotten hers yet either so...but thank you so much in advance! I love ya! And yes I really think you should send your stuff straight to my home now. The end of this transfer is the 25th of October so around then, make sure to send stuff to the mission office and I well tell you when it's okay to send to my home. The Benham's are sooo awesome! We absolutely love them! They do so much for us! They are an awesome family! Sis Eddy is so funny as well haha....all the missionaries love joking around with the senior couples so you can imagine me! I am glad to hear things are going great back home! Go Tampa!!!!!!!They will do great! they will win the Cup the year I get home! Things are going so well here really...the district is doing great. Elder Patterson and I taught 27 lessons last week! We are really getting blessed it is crazy! We have found some new investigators as well. We are so blessed! A lot of it is all your prayers! I am so excited to be able to be a fireball of energy and pump the district! I love it! I love you! I cannot wait until General conference!!!!!!! I love that!!! What we will do is watch different sessions with different investigators...okay I must go...you know what! I Loooove you!

Happy Birthday Patrick!!!!

2009-09-21T19:47:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy and everyone!
I only got some dearelders from you last Monday and they were from the week before. So like I think they will come on Mondays from now on. It looks like it is taking like a week to get here...something like that. I got some more from Anik though so I was all smiles! haha but yeah...they take a little longer, especially with tranfers. I didn't have enough time to read all of Anik's e-mail but tell her thank you and love you! Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! it has come so fast! I love you all so much! Please give a special thank you to the Wongs for all of their beautiful letters and support and thank you to the Stake Presidency for their birthday wishes! Thank you so much for the support! It is much appreciated! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I am glad to see that Tampa has some great depth haha! Thanks dad I really enjoy those updates! Say hi to all my buddies because I love them! Things are going very well here in well...Lehi, Saratoga, and Eagle mountain. If you want to know how big my area is...it goes from Traverse mountain to City Center, Eagle Mountain...look it up on a map! it's huge! We finally hit our goal of teaching 20 lessons this week but to tell you the truth we could teach more and we will! this is only the beginning! We are working so hard and seeing the fruits! We work very well together! District leader is great...I mean I only have been it for a week but I love my district so things are really easy! I just want them to know that I love them and am here to help them but like...to tell you the truth I learn more from them than anything else! We have great missionaries in the district and things are going really good! We are having dinner tonight with the Parks...do you remember Elder Park...yup, we are having dinner with his family! isn't that so cool? they live in Traverse mountain! I am so excited to speak french with him! he got back in November and married in June haha! anyways I have to go! I love you! and my fav scripture is : 1 Nephi 21:14-16! love you!

Hello District Leader!!!

2009-09-14T20:02:00.002-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy and everyone!
Well, another transfer has gone by and we got our transfer calls yesterday! Elder Patterson and I will be staying together but there is a little twist to it this time. President Pitts asked me yesterday to be District Leader here in our little district. Elder Bullock is going to be a zone leader down in Saint George to replace my good friend Elder Drew. So, I will be District Leader this transfer. Another Elder from Vancouver is coming to replace Elder Bullock so one Canadian for another! which makes me happy! My district will be Elder Patterson and I, Elder Sacca and Elder Candia (from Vancouver) and the zone leaders. This will truly be a humbling experience for me. I know that I will have to rely on the Lord even more now, which actually makes me pretty excited. I am looking forward to serve my district and to try and be the best example I can for them. It will be humbling because I am the youngest missionary in my district in terms of mission experience! I am ready though and will need your prayers of course! I love my mission! Elder Patterson and I are doing great. This past week was a little tougher because no one was ever home! But we will keep working hard and visiting as many people as we can. We have 4-5 baptisms lined up for this transfer so it should be very excited. Dalia is getting baptized on Halloween. Hey, she wanted it... But yes, things are going well here. I am just glad to know that the Lord and President Pitts trust me. I will definetely miss Elder Bullock, we are such good friends. We'll see him at my wedding! haha. I hope all is well back home but it seems that it is. Anik is doing fine and I pray for all of you every day! This week's dearelders were so slow! I only got yours Mom and one from Anik from the 31 of august. I think that with transfers they are holding the mail. We went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple on Wednesday and it was so beautiful! I took good pics! Now to answer some of your questions: The talk went alright yesterday but it is kind of tough for me being nervous and speaking another language you know? But it did go very well except for the counselor had to tell me to close up haha because I was talking a bit long. It was fun. Don't worry, I won't open it until my birthday I promise! Time does go by fast. The trick is really just work hard! Honestly, time flies by when you don't have time to look at your watch. That's the trick! I am so happy to hear that Chris G and Kameron and others are getting ready for their missions! you have to go. it is not even a question!!! it is the experience of a life time!I love you all and thank you for everything! take care!

Hola Padres!!!

2009-09-07T21:58:00.002-04:00

Hola Padres!Marion quiere que hable en espanol a cada vez que escribo asi que lo siento pero ustedes necesitaran encontra alguien para traducir mis correos! No chiste no mas! haha no se preocupen, no voy a hablar puro espanol!
Well, there you go, at least a little taste of my Spanish so far. I will try and speak more in Spanish in some of my audios so that you can track my progress. I love the Spanish language! I want to master it! I will try throughout my mission to master it. Thank you so much for all of the e-mails today! I enjoyed them all! I'm glad to see that everyone is doing well and that Anik is going to be working at Subway! Tell her to save me some cookies! ;) You all seem so happy and excited and it is so fun for me to feel that and know that I can focus on the work because all is well at home! Now I get an e-mail from Marion too, that's great! Tell her that she will have to teach me what she learns in university in Spanish!
The weather is pretty much still the same...no comment there haha...Elder Patterson and I are staying very healthy. I got those fillings put in on Wednesday and now my mouth is all good according to the doctor. I really appreciated that so don't worry too much about that.
But all is well healthwise thank you! Tell Marion to keep working with the Elders and doing missionary work! Nothing brings greater joy as she already knows! Thank you for the sports updates...too bad Roddick is out! But Matt Lashoff is from Boston right? So he is used to winning which is really good! Well thank you for all that you do and for writing me and everything! I got two dearelders from you this past week. One was marked the 25th of August and the other didn't have a date. But they were good and I got everything. I only got one from Anik though...marked the 24th of August...so I was pretty sad about that. I hope you figure out what is wrong with the dearelder service! And as for my b-day...welll...I just need a watch because my watch broke! yeah...the battery ran out so I took it to wal-mart and long story short....the front is cracked! so I need a new watch and that is all so a watch would be great! Other than that I am fine!! I really don't have room for anything else in my baggage! At least a watch I can wear haha anyways I must go so have fun I loooove you soooo much!!!! and really thank you for all you do!!!

ELDER PATTERSON BACK ON TRACK AND THE WORK IS BUSY!!!

2009-08-31T21:53:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy and everyone! Another week has just flown by and it's because we are so busy here!! This past week has been absolutely crazy! Elder Patterson is now feeling a lot better. His condition was that he has a form of cancer where his body eats up a lot of his white blood cells so he has to take a lot of medication and that is why he is so close to home. He lives like 30 minutes from where we are and it is funny to see everyones reactions as we tell them that. So he sees the doctor close by like every 3 months. He is not terminal. Anyway so when he gets simple colds and stuff, it hits him even harder. He was sick for a week and a half but now I have my companion back and I am so happy! Finally someone to counsel with instead of making every decision on my own. I wasn't able to read Anik's e-mails before writing this because there are two so I just printed them and can't wait to dive into them! :):):):):) I will of course talk about them and the e-mail you sent me more in my audio. I am glad to hear that all is well and Marion is moving in! That is so cool! Alright so as I said, we worked so hard this past week and I got home every night dead tired! Last week, we only taught 7 lessons all week because Elder Patterson was sick and I was pretty much alone but guess what, this past week we taught 18 lessons, all with a member there!!! 100% fellowshipping! It was the best week of my mission and so far and you know what? that is only the beginning. I love this area and we are going to make it boom! Hard work pays off. We have a baptism this Sunday at 5 and another one 2 weeks after that! And more in October I'm sure! The Lord blesses the obedient and diligent and especially those that recognize his hands in all things. That has been one of my favorite scriptures for a long time. I am doing fine except those dearelders...yeah...I only got Mommy's and none of daddy's. So please check with those letters. I got Mommy's and one from Anik this past week. Oh and please give me Anik's new address at the apartment! (unless she doesn't want me to have it...;) So yes I must go now but I love you and can't wait to do the audio! Thank David and Sarah Jones for me! love them!

Elder Patterson has been sick!!!

2009-08-24T22:25:00.003-04:00

Hey Parents! I hope you like the audio. I did receive the package and I'd like to thank you sooo much for it! I now take 1000mg of Vitamin C every day to build my immune system. I don't really know why Anik and Rebecca were over there?? I guess because of the single-adult conference?? I'd like to congradulate Elder Kaufman, 1 year on his mission! That's incredible that a year has gone by already no? I know he's doing a great job except I haven't been getting daddy's dearelders with the info on them. I have been getting mommy's but not daddy's lately. I don't seem to get them as regularly so I would suggest that you check out what's going on. And Jason is going to the temple! what a wonderful experience that will be. The temple is a beautiful place and I am so blessed in my mission to go there every month! I hope that he learns important truths that will help him on his mission. I know he will! And Mom & Dad! 25 years ago you got married!! That is really something! I love you very much and your support for me is so appreciated! Poor Elder Patterson is still sick and has been sick all week! He has a cold but because of his condition, his immune system is not as strong so common colds affect him a lot worse. I just wish he would get better because I've had to take care of the area all by myself this past week since he just tries to sleep all day. Thankfully we live with such a great family that takes care of him as I go out and work. But it has been hard being without him. I really appreciate having a companion now. It is impossible to do this work by yourself and I believe the Lord has been teaching me and humbling me through this experience. We have great investigators and I know we'll see some baptisms soon. There are such great members that come out with me and offer to help me as my comp rests. Please pray that Elder Patterson gets better. The poor guy is having a hard time. He's been vomiting and everything and he just needs to get better! I have had a lot of time to study as you can imagine. I thought I'd share some of the scriptures that have been striking me lately just as James 1:5 had a strong affect on Joseph Smith. I love to study!!! I love the gospel! I don't know why I didn't study more before my mission! The Book of Mormon is so great! I am honestly afraid to be caught without it because without it ...where is our religion...we have none. It is the evidence. It is the sword of truth. How can we know that that 14 year old boy saw the Father and the son?? That blue book! The book of Mormon! Was there an apostasy? Well, in 1 Nephi 13 it says that there was and the Book of Mormon is true so there was! All you have to do is pray! You don't have to trust men. Ask God yourself, He answers prayers, He lives! What a simple message we have yet because of the simpleness of the way...many perish. I love how Matthew dropped everything in Matthew 9:9 and followed the Savior. Fishers of men He made them. He has us engraved in the palms of his hands as Isaiah said. That is such a strong scripture! Alright well I must go but please remember that Book of Mormon and how great it is to have it! Don't ever forget just how true it is and most importantly, what it means that it is true! I love you!! and Hey Dad thank you for the hockey updates! Thank you parents for sharing your testimonies with me!

Hello from Saratoga Springs

2009-08-17T20:07:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy!I totally forgot that you guys were in Maine that is so cool! I hope you are relaxing and enjoying yourselves, you deserve it! Let me answer your questions real quick. Elder Patterson is from West Jordan, Utah. There is more info in the audio so if you have more questions after that preguntenme! (ask me). We drive a really nice car, a 2009 malibu. It is gold and huge but uses up so much gas. It is all for us so I need to exercise even more!
I haven't gotten the box yet either so I hope that you got mine. Please tell me when you get my stuff too okay? I'd like to thank Marion and Marvin for sending me stuff this week! I will reply to them today for sure! I really appreciate it! I love getting such support from family and friends! We live with a family and they are english and go to one of the nearby wards. They are originally from Alabama and we don't really spend that much time with them. They are a younger family. They have 5 children and are really nice to us. The basement is really nice. When I know more, I'll be sure to tell you.
Please ask Anik as well to see how Elder Eddington is doing in Paraguay, my comp from the MTC! I wanted to know how he is doing and Anik is in contact with his girlfriend! Alright I must go now but I will talk much more in the audio, I can't wait! I love you guys so much!

Week One in Lehi

2009-08-10T19:51:00.002-04:00

Hey Parents,I know you had a ton of questions and Anik did to so I will try to answer as much as I can. Please tell Anik thank you!!! and I will respond to her e-mail in my next audio! I'll do my best with the time I have. There is just so much to say and I can't say it all right now but I will make an audio. I'm sorry but I didn't have any time last week to make one with the packing and everything. Thank you for sending me the stuff I needed, I love you guys! What would I do without you! I hope you realize just how much you help me focus on the work and not have to worry about anything else! So answers: we took a van from St.George to Provo Tuesday at noon. Elder Patterson picked me up in Provo. I was with all other missionaries going to the training meeting or going to another area. There was like 8 of us in the van. The first day was great. Elder Patterson and I get along great. He has been out a transfer longer than me and we are anxious towork hard. The area was not in very good shape when I got here. The area books were not up to date and things like that but we will change that! We are going to turn this area around! I feel more like a leader in the companionship, which is good for me. We work together and have the same desires to see miracles! I just want you to know that I love working hard and more importantly effectively. We went through the area books and organized everything. We have some good investigators (we put one on date yesterday YES!!!!!!!!) but we will get more! We have great ward mission leaders that help so much! Like, I just can't see why we would not have extreme success in this area. The only reason this area has not been booming is because of previous missionaries' lack of effort. Well that will not happen with Elder Carpenter! I have been truly blest with the gift of tongues but I still need to get better, yesterday this family told me they were shocked I barely had an accent!!! What a compliment. I hope the Lord heard that because I am the spanish tool in his hands. Elder Patterson's spanish is pretty good too. I don't know the address of where I am but I will get that! We live with a family of members that are so nice. Our appartment is super nice (well it is just the basement) it just needs a good cleaning. Yes mom, cleanliness is next to Godliness. I have kept that mentality all through my mission and I will continue to do so. I've learned how to clean and I love it! Anik and I are going to have the cleanest house haha! We cover the Lehi 38th spanish ward, the Saratoga Springs 6th ward, and the Cedar Pass 13th ward. Tell Mason Payne to come see me speak in the Saratoga Springs 6th Ward on the 13 of september at 11 am! That would be awesome! Okay I'm hungry and gotta go! I love you soooooooo much!

We're off to Lehi - Draper!!!

2009-08-03T18:32:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy! Wow that is quite some portrait of me you got there, that is amazing. I like how I have such perfect skin haha! Hey first thing I wanted to say was thank you to Aunty Anne for sending me a dearelder again. I really really really really enjoy them. What a blessing it truly is to have such a loving family, with you praying for me, because of those prayers, I am filled with energy throughout the day. I haven't even had a headache yet on my mission. The worst I have gotten was a runny nose, that's it! I sleep like a baby every night and I am so healthy right now, I don't think I have ever been this healthy. Thank you for all of your prayers, they truly do get answered. But even better yet are your prayers for our investigators and the people of this area. It's been hard right now. Our investigators don't seem to want to progress. In a way, we need a lot more help from the members. When an inestigator has a fellowshipper, whom they trust and whom they can rely on, it is very rare that they will not get baptized. That is what we need. We need our investigators to get good friends that can testify to them of the wonderful blessings of the gospel! That is why we play soccer, to have the members invite their friends to come play and get to know the missionaries and we invite investigators to come and get to know the members. It has been hard as welll because our Ward mission Leader has been gone these past two weeks and our branch has zero ward misionaries (although they just called one yesterday). But, things are looking up! Our branch just got a new language missionary couple that come from the Sunset stake but will serve in the branch and help us and the branch build up the area. They will be a great help to us! Last week, we played hockey again with the Salmon's and it was so awesome! We had pizza, played hockey then had pie and ice cream! and don't you worry daddy, I'm not rusty yet. We ran into a young man the other day that is living with the Ochoa's. The Ochoa's weren't there so we decided to talk to him. He is Catholic and we had a very interesting conversation with him. He laughed when we told him about the great Apostasy, like he really laughed hard. He truly believes that Peter gave his Priesthood power to the leaders of the catholic church. It was hard. He also has this book that talks about Mormonism saying that John the Baptist gave the Melchizedek priesthood to Joseph Smith...kind of off a bit. Satan is truly a blinding force to people. He is the mist of darkness in the vision of the tree of Life! Hold to the rod! Oh by the way...I am getting transeferred!!!! Yup I go from the bottom to the top of the mission. I am going near Draper (in the Lehi area) I will be with Elder Pattersson from Utah actually. He has been out like 2 months more than me. It should be a lot of fun! What an adventure! I will still be spanish! I love my mission! so have a great week and I need your prayers! You can be expecting a box from me pretty soon!

A Little Late but Here It Is!!

2009-08-01T17:56:00.003-04:00

Well looks like you're finally in the same time zone as me! But you are definitely a little further north. Daddy mentioned that you were feeling the heat up there but let me tell you, It is so HOTTT! down here in St. George. Every day now is really crazy. I mean you can just feel the sun. Some days it is instant sweat! But the Lord protects us and cools us down when we need it and we have wonderful members that help us by driving us around once in a while. So let me just say a few things because I only have 9 minutes left since I had to fill out this questionnaire for zone conference. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEGE! It is ben's b-day on the 30th and I just wanted to wish him a good day! Elder Orth reminded me of Ben a lot so you can imagine how much fun we had together! And congradulations to Nathan and Meagan Greener! While I was at the MTC I had the chance to so some proxy sealings as a child to the parents so I got to imagine a little bit about what it must be like to be sealed in the temple. What a great Blessing of the restoration! I hope they have a great life together! I got Anik's e-mail and was perfect as always. Please thank her and keep in touch with her! Friday was pioneer day so we didn't proselyte again. We had no appointments so we played tennis and basketball that night. Elder Drew, who happens to be from Cardston, whooped me good at tennis!! He's an excellent player with a great serve. Humbled me a little bit but I still have hockey to make me prideful haha - just kidding...I also had the interview with President Pitts Friday and I totally forgot to read him that e-mail from Pres. Kaufman but I will do it I promise! and Satuday night we have like 5 investigators come play soccer, which was great but none came to church! Only this family that is friends with Bro Corona so it was great to see them come! We played soccer in the pouring rain, soaked from head to toe! I gotta go!

We have 11 Investigators

2009-07-20T18:47:00.002-04:00

I only have 20 minutes to write so I will just write my news for this week so you can put it on the blog and I will answer questions and everything else in the audio. Let me just answer some questions quick so you don't have to wait a week: nope I don't get anything from the guys, but I don't blame them because I don't write them either. I wish I could but I am sorry I just don't have the time to write. Yes sometimes companions split up in sacrament to sit with investigators, members, and just to build unity in the ward. Tell Anik that I loved her e-mail so much! and that I will respond to it in the audio for next week. I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything you do! Okay so let me write some news. We are kind of struggling to get investigators to progress. We had no one at church yesterday. We have some great investigators though. Like the Gonzalez family that Bro Corona introduced to us but they didn't come to church! that is really frustrating. But we had 2 non-members come to soccer on saturday. We play soccer every saturday so that non-members could come and members could invite friends. We need to get the members to start providing us with people to teach. Sometimes they don't always understand that they have to find people for us. I hope that LaSalle does that for the missionaries. The ideal would be that Missionaries didn't even have to tract. I went on exchanges with Elder Drew Wednesday and learned a lot. I love him and hope I serve with him one day but it would have to be in a bilingual area because he is english. His area is the Dixie College campus and I had a blast teaching and working with him! All in english so I was on full blast baby! haha. Elder Drew and I both want to serve together. We also had these like con-artists try to get money and food from the church but President Perkins felt right away that they weren't sincere. Turns out they go all over with this pity story and ask for money. They tried it on us but we didn't feel good either. I still struggle to understand what the hispanics are saying and it really tires me out because I have to concentrate so much on what they say. The Lord blessed me though and I understand when I need to and speak when I need to. I learned a good lesson about not ignoring the spirit. We were looking for this guy in an apartment complex but couldn't find which one he lived in. I kind of said a little prayer in my head and the number 15 popped out but I thought it was just my mind making up stuff. I didn't say anything. We should have said a prayer together but Elder Portillo just kind of said let's go. Anyways like 2-3 days ago we see the guy walking on the street and he said he lived in #15! I felt so bad and had to repent. I will never do that again! We need to work on following the Spirit better as a companionship. I need to speak out a little bit and I am working on it. I just don't want Elder Portillo to think I'm telling him how to do his job you know? Anyways things are still very good here and the more I come unto Christ, the more I see my many weaknesses! but that's just the way it is! I love you guys so much and hope you enjoy the audio!

July 13 - Busy & It's Hot!!!

2009-07-13T21:47:00.003-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy, First things first, Tell President and Sister Kaufman that I love receiving their e-mails. I wasn't able to open the pictures that Brigitte sent me so maybe it would be better by mail but please tell them Thank You! At my next interview with President Pitts, I will tell him those stories that president Kaufman sent me! I thank all those that write me and support me! And how is Elder Johnny boy doing? I always pray for my brothers and sisters out serving the Lord! How great will it be to see them after and talk about our missions! Elder Kaufman and I will go on the metro and convert thousands! haha And I'm glad to hear Jason is learning that language because I still struggle and I know that it will be such an advantage if he learns quite a bit before the mission.
Time does go pretty fast, we do sometimes share spiritual messages when we visit members but sometimes time does not permit it but that is definetely something we could work on. I don't have much time left so I will write the news! We have been teaching a family of 4 recently. Fairly young couple with a 14 year-old son that has been being fed some anti-mormon stuff, he wasn't at the lesson yesterday but his parents said he has a lot of questions for us so I can't wait! I got to recite the first vision to this man named Jamie yesterday that came to church with David Toledo because he seems interested and when we went to vist the Toledo's later on he was there and we explained some more about what our message is and I went straight into the first vision! and handed him a JS pamphlet and commited him to read it. We have a return visit on Wednesday so I hope it goes good! We have been finding a lot of potential investigators lately. The Lord has really been blessing us! I really want to make the most of my mission here but it is true that it goes by fast and one day I won't be here anymore. I love President Perkins, I have such a laugh when we go eat there, he is such a funny man. Reminds me of when the Elders came over and had a good laugh with Daddy. Zone conference was fantastic! President Pitts is a great man! He is all fired up and wants this mission to be the best! He and his wife are very loving and are just so envelopped in their callings, it is great! I know I will learn so much from him! I hope he doesn't tell us as he told the high councilmen in president Kaufmans e-mail to work until our tongues hang out haha! but I wouldn't be surprised. I am doing good here and I will call about my visa dad for sure this week. Please know that I am okay out here. IT IS SO HOTTTT! GEEZE! it just burns, anyways I must go now, I get to go on exchanges with Elder Drew wednesday! yes!! I am so excited! he's great!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

2009-07-06T17:26:00.004-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy,You guys always have a lot of news it seems. I am so glad to see everything is going fairly well though! Let me just answer some of your little questions and Anik's too: We don't really do any set service. Just help people move and things like that but that might change with my different areas but the answer is nothing set. And yeah Daddy we have to take members out with us. We have a member almost every night that comes out with us from 6-9. We try to have members come out for every lesson. There are a lot of RM's that went Spanish speaking that like to come out with us and practice their Spanish. We have so much help though. The people are just great here in Utah, it is truly a blessing. When I get home I will make sure to do the same with the elders we have. I could go with the English ones, Spanish or French! Isn't that such a blessing for me! Thank you for all the news and thank you for all you do! I love you guys soooo much! What great support I have! And thank Anik for me. Tell her that her e-mails couldn't be any more perfect! You are right mom she's the best!
Okay so here is the news: We got a new Mission President! I met President Pitts on Friday! He is from New York state, around the Rochester area. His full name is Neil Pitts and he said he knows Pres. Jarvis because he gave a stake conference there around 3 years ago but I don't remember so maybe you do? He was in the 8th quorm of the Seventy. Look him up and you can read more about him. He is pretty different from President Brown. He was a convert so I bet he will have a different approach on things but I think he and his wife are absolutely awesome! I can't wait to work with them! I will have them for the remaining 3/4 of my mission! I'm excited! Last week was a good week. We continued to knock out the Canyon Pointe appartments last week and found some success. There are a ton of Spanish people living there. We found some new people to teach. I really need to work on my teaching skills and Spanish at the same time. I want to be the best missionary! I work hard and I constantly treasure up the words of life wherever I am and I can tell you that the promise is true that I have been given in the very moment what to say. IT IS HOTTTTTT! oh yeah we walk around during the day because one bike was broken and man....it is hot..it does get fairly humid here too and we sweat! I haven't gained any weight yet on my mission which is nice...I look bigger but not fatter....that's good! Anik will be the happiest hahahaha. 4th of July was awesome, it is pretty much a day off for missionaries and it wasn't our P-day. We just went to the activities they told us to be seen by the community so that;s what we did. At night both zones here got together and we played sports and I danced my "HAKKA"! Yeah, we practiced this samoan/tongan dance like every morning last week at 6 am and performed on Saturday! People took tons of pics and videos for me, which you will see very soon. As soon as I get my other memory card I will send you the one I have now because it is like full! I hope you enjoyed the pics I did send. It is great to know that I just need to send my memory card to Anik and she talkes care of everything! It helps me focus on the work even more! It is such a blessing to have such great support! Oh yeah and thank the Wongs for me once again! They are so kind to send me a Canada Day card! Please thank them for me! I love every single person back there! We had a baptism Saturday for Margarita! It was really beautiful and even greater because it was the 4th of July! She was a delight to teach and everything! I am doing good here mommy and daddy, I will try my best to make an audio for you every week because Anik can listen to the ones I send you too so you both get one which is so much better! I hope you like the one I sent. Anyways please never worry about me! I'm doing good and am well taken care of! I love you!

We have a Baptism on the 4th of July!!!

2009-06-29T23:04:00.003-04:00

Hello Parents! Another week come and gone. I just wanted to thank Aunty Anne Little for her dearelder this week. It really booosted me up and gave me even more motivation to go out and baptize! I am so glad to hear everything is going great with her and George and tell her I will do the dishes every night for Anik! haha ...Alright so thank you for all the news and everything I am glad to see Tampa got Hedman! he will be in his prime when I get back! And that is so cool that President Kaufman met Len Barrie and that he is a member of the church! wow! I hope I get to meet him some day too. Tell President Kaufman I loved the picture too although I don't know if my mission President would approve of that hair! We got ourselves a baptism coming up this week on July 4th so it is even going to be a greater celebration for us. Her name is Margarita and she is what we call the "golden investigator. The spirit did eveything and we didn't have to do a thing. I played hockey last week and my Texan companion was MVP. Yup he saved the game at the end as I had two break aways and he stopped them both. I was very proud of him! Elder Orth tried to dump the water on him after for being MVP but missed haha. Sister Salmon took a ton of pics and vids of the whole affair which you will see one of these days! I wish I could send some pictures every Monday but it doesn't always work. I sent a ton to Anik though so they should last you a little while. Thank her for taking her time to transfer everything to cd's and things and doing all that for us. I really appreciate it! She's the best! And you guys are the best! Oh I thank Heavenly Father every night for such a great family! Caracol moved away this week so we are pretty sad about that. He meant a lot to us and we really wanted to baptize him. We would see him every day and he would constantly feed us or really just do anything for us. He was so nice. He is in Elder Zamora's area now. Elder Orth got transferred. I really loved that guy! Too bad he had to go! We said bye to President and Sister Brown on Saturday as they are done their mission! I sent my first e-mail to President Pitts this morning! I can't wait to build a good relationship with him. My spanish is doing pretty good. I still have a lot of work to do. I think when I get a native comp it will sky rocket. I learned french from talking to Anik so...same applies to spanish. Elder Portillo isnt really a native because he forgot it before his mission and had to re-learn it. So I am doing great right now except I have a tooth problem! nooooooooo! I will have to see the dentist. Don't worry though I am really good! Please send me those little Canadian pins I would like it! Just a little package you know? I love you guys sooooooooo much! and thank you for all you do!!!I hope you enjoy the pics! I must get going now but I hope I satisfied you for another week! Take care!

Getting Hotter with 7 Baptisms todate!!!!!

2009-06-23T07:48:00.003-04:00

There is always so much to say in so little time so I'm sorry if I don't always say as much as you would like. I hope father's day was great and Happy Birthday Dad! It is getting hotter and hotter here every day but a different kind of heat, I am used to the routine..I better be I've been out for 5 months! Transfers were today and that was some of my news, Elder Portillo and I are staying together here so I'm excited, I like this area! I wasn't ready to go yet so...it's good! So I hear I have a spanish speaking friend right? haha that is soooo cool!!! I am soo proud of Jason! He is going to love it! Fresnooo wow that is really cool. Spanish will come so easy to him because of Portugese but here's my counsel if he wants it. He leaves in October so I would say learn as much Spanish as you can right now! He has time to really learn it well before he leaves and be a real asset as he leaves on his mission. I am still struggling so my advice would be to learn that language! He will come in on fire! I am so proud of him! Thank you for sending me those updates! I can't wait to see my Lecavalier Jersey signed! That is soooo coool! Thanks dad you're the best! And it is about time I talk about my brother up in Ogden! He is the best missionary! I love reading his blog! His parents must be sooooo proud of the work he is doing! Tell the young men to follow his example and read his blog, he must be such a blessing to his mission President! tell Johnny boy I say Hi and I love him and I know his news and I hope he knows mine! I really don't have much time on P-days to write I am sorry so please send my news to him too! He taught 30 lessons! Wow what a stud! What an example he is to me! I am telling you he is a great missionary!
Today we went to Zion's national park in the morning with Brother Baltutis. What a nice guy to bring us there for free! He's awesome, you'll know more in my journal but ooo my gosh Utah is beautiful! I know what Dr Sonea was talking about now, don't worry I took pictures. Most beautiful place I have ever been! That park was awesome! Yes I am enjoying myself here. We have a few solid investigators. Caracol needs help though. He loves us but does not commit which means he does not desire to repent. We work hard with him. I had a great expereince Saturday. Margarita is a lady, 30s, that we are teaching and we were teaching the plan of Salvation and she got emotional and said she wants to get baptized! Isn't that great! We are just tools, the spirit worked bery bery hard with her I know! I was so excited. She even said Vamanos al rio! which means let's go to the river! But we still have some stuff to teach haha. I am excited though. I have had the privilege of witnessing 7 baptisms so far! I am soooo blessed Mom and Dad! The Toledo's, Felix & Dacia, and Karla. They have strong testimonies and are active. Dacia was particularly special to me because I was there from the beginning. I saw her seed grow like in Alma 32. She is even trying to bring a friend in the church now. I am so proud of her and her husband! Hey! I am playing hockey tonight with the Salmon family that live in Santa Clara! I have to go but isn't that cool! I am playing hockey! He is from Alberta so I'll show 'em! haha I love you I will make an audio later!

Happy Father's Day from St.George!!!

2009-06-15T20:23:00.005-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy, I just read Anik's wonderful e-mail, geeze I really love Mondays!
I'll just answer now. I am soooo sorry that I haven't written back to Marion, there is no excuse, I am just a bad person. She will get one very very very soon!!
I heard Pittsburgh were champions this week and I was so happy for them. They must have had to really work hard to beat Detroit at home! I can't wait to hear where Jason will go on his mission! Please keep me up to date on that! I say he's coming to Provo! Well he has to come here anyways. How are Elders Rodriguez and Antivilo doing? They were my first companions! well after Elder Payne and Bell. The economy in St. George is horrible, especially for the hispanic people. A lot are desperately looking for jobs...it is really sad. Well...we have the message of joy and happiness! I hope things get better...a lot of people are moving away too..
My Spanish is improving well...I read the Book of Mormon a lot and study vocabulary...I'm pretty sure I'll be better at Spanish than French when I get back just because I study it so much. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! TO ALL THE FATHERS!!
Anyways I gotta go...I love you very much mom and dad!! take care everyone!

Thank you Wongs & We've been knocking on doors!!!

2009-06-08T21:28:00.005-04:00

Hello! First thing I want to say is thank you to the Wongs for sending me those wonderful Brownies I got and the cool card with all of my missionary friends! I ate all the Brownies because Elder Portillo isn't too into that. Thank you sooo much!
The members really treat the missionaries always so it is so nice. I had lentil yesterday so I hope you're proud! Thank you for fasting for us out here, we have seen a lot more success, I'll tell you about it in a second. I actually studied that article very well Mom so I could use it with investigators and for myself. I really liked it. I take fasting a lot more serious now.
I can't wait to hear where Jason is going! I hope he comes here to my mission! That would be so fun! Good for him! I hope he knows how proud Jonathan and I are of him! What a great step he is taking. I am glad to hear as well that Chris has no more braces! Get him out on a mission before the girls grab on! Tell my friends I love them and think of them always. I really don't have very much time to write I am sorry...but I do love them!
Our chapel is on 750 N 1000 W. We meet at 1 on Sundays and it is called the Sunset 9th Branch. We have to go one day and do a session in St George as a family and do the tour and stuff, it is such a huge temple! Really nice! I'll send a postcard. Notice there is no Moroni on there though? I want Pittsburgh to win and so do the Zone Leaders. We talk about it a lot. There are people that like hockey down here.
Anyways thank you for the news as always! I can't tell you enough how much I love your letters! I am learning so much here on the mission! We are having more success like I said. We foung 2 new investigators and more potentials. We have been knocking a lot of Doors at Canyon Pointe. We baptized a woman named Karla on Saturday! I love baptisms! She was so ready! It was exciting!
I had my interviews with President Brown today too and that is always fun. He is so knowledgable and so caring. He asked us how we were doing and it went well. Sister Brown is also fun to talk to.
The Lord is before my face, on my right and on my left! Yes the weather has been a little cooler now but still pretty sunny. We are going to buy hockey sticks today at Deseret Industries! I want to play! Anik also asked if I exercise and yes I do but every second day...I need to do more! I must go but I love you very much! Thank you for everything!

We passed Inspection!!!!

2009-06-01T19:50:00.002-04:00

Hey Parents! Alright first things first, I'll answer your preguntas!(questions)
I don't wear sunscreen sorry...I don't get burnt though and we're not in the sun that much, just enough to get a nice farmer's tan. Yeah so I wouldn't worry too much about it, no one here puts suncreen on...in fact I just 2 seconds ago after reading your question asked Elder Drew my zone leader if he does and he said no. We ride our bikes all the time every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We ride from like noon until supper and then someone usually drives us around like a member after that. It gets hottest around 4-5 and we are usually inside teaching or eating at that time so...it is hot though! Our appartment actually has great air conditioning. As we walk in we get the cool air! It's great we are so spoiled. We put it on fan setting at night and I sleep like a baby! I also use my ear plugs because my comps have snored sometimes haha
We passed the inspection with flying colors and he was so impressed with us and so happy that we had cleaned up from the other elders because he said the last time he was in our apartment it was pretty bad. They are going to come this Wednesday to clean our carpet though because there are a lot of stains from stuff so we're excited to have a nice clean carpet. I wasn't worried about inspection though I'm a clean guy and so is my companion. Inspection is every transfer and it is an older couple that does them that work in the mission office. They say they've seen a lot of stuff doing that job so they were happy with us! We do keep it clean enough. We clean up after ourselves and we each have a bathroom so we clean our own bathrooms. We have a good vaccuum because our apartment is like all carpeting except the bathrooms and kitchen. I'm learning to clean! Yes we spoke in sacrament and yes my spanish is fine for that. I mean I wrote everything out so all I had to to is read it. My weakness is in conversation. When they get going I cannot really understand everything. I need a broader vocabulary and not just a gospel vocab you know? But yes I feel more and more confident as time goes by. I get compliments often from people on my Spanish. One RM even asked me if I was in advanced classes at the MTC haha but I said it is the French that helps me. Everything I have in English I pretty much have in Spanish so that is what I use for material. Like PMG and scriptures. That's all I used. Cool about Elder Park he was a great missionary. I actually saw Elder Lebaron yesterday! I don't know if you remember him but he was chinese and we would play football with him. He's married and I saw him at the tabernacle here in St. George at a fireside called Why I Believe and it was Pres and Sis Brown that spoke. Fun to see him there. We had a good chat. I hope I run into more that went to Montreal. Tell Chris to get out here! Tell all my friends not a day goes by I don't think of something I've learned from them over the years. Well I gotta go but I love you and we aren't having much success here so please pray for us diligently! We had Zone Conference and it was Fantastic! I couldn't send pictures but I'll figure something out! Love you! til next week!

A day late and still going great!!

2009-05-26T19:30:00.005-04:00

Hey Mommy and Daddy, I don't know how you do it but you guys always say the right things at the right times. I don't know what I'd do without you. I get your dearelders a lot faster than Anik's actually and I don't know why. I usually get mail every Tuesday, Friday & Saturday pretty much. They come at all different times but I did receive the ones from you this week, the ones that were separate. Mommy's came a day earlier than daddy's. Yeah so Anik's come really slow I wonder why that is. But they come and I love every one! I am really so thankful for all you do! You give me such motivation! I love you! Oh yeah you are probably wondering why you didn't get anything yesterday...it was Memorial Dayy so everything was closed. But we came today. I sent Anik two audios this time! I hope she likes them. My comp speaks on the first one a little bit and he is funny so ask her if she can show that part to you...you'll have a good laugh.
I hope everything is going good back home! Everything is going just fine down here in St. George...geeze man it gets so hot. Jonathan was saying it was hot in Ogden so imagine 6-7 hours further south! They say the rock is red down here because it is sunburnt! I haven't gotten burnt though...just tanned actually. My skin is kind of acting up but really nothing like it used to. Biking is really fun. I feel more active especially now that we play basketball for p-day and soccer with the branch on saturdays. Those latinos are really good at soccer but I stood my ground. I love the members here and I think they like us. I have developed a really good relationship with the Branch President. He smiles every time he sees me! We go to his home to eat pretty often and he loves telling me jokes because I laugh! He's a funny guy! We went to the Temple this morning because we are allowed to go once a month now instead of once a transfer. What a beautiful temple it is. It is huge! I really enjoyed going there this morning! We spoke in Sacrament on Sunday and it went really well. We had Elder Lamoreaux with us. He actually did his talk in Spanish and did pretty good job but didn't talk for very long. I spoke on the importance of being examples of familes based on gospel principles because non-members are attracted to that happiness members have in the family. You can ask Anik about Elder Lamoreaux, he doesn't have any legs and it is very funny. I love his spirit and enthusiasm. I have to get going soon because they are coming to inspect the apartment in 10 minutes but I want to say I love you and pray for you and eveveryone back home! A mission is such a great experience and brings you so close to the Savior! I am doing fine here and I know you are doing fine there! Keep sending me the hockey updates because the zone leaders ask me about them! We want to organize a street hockey game, that would be great! Alright my comp awaits me! Gotta go! I love you! I love Anik! take care now!

It's hot out here!!!!

2009-05-18T14:11:00.005-04:00

Hey dearest mommy and daddy! Oh how I love this time I get to write to you about my adventures. I know you want to know about my new companion. Elder Portillo and I get along really well. He is a funny guy and always has a smile. He likes to work and he loves being a missionary so I'm really heppy. He's from Houston Texas and has been out for like 18 months almost I believe. We are both fairly new to the area so we are still trying to figure it out. He is a clean guy which is great! The apartment is a lot cleaner than it was and I really appreciate it! Yup we get along just fine and I really mean that...I'm not going to tell you at Christmas that I'm miserable hahaha. This week felt longer because of the new routine but it was good. The members help us so much and love us so we are grateful. We still get fed every night but Elder Portillo doesn't eat as much as Zamora so I have to eat more but it's okay! I love the food. I don't think I am going to get fat because we bike A LOT and we are going to start playing soccer with the branch every Saturday. I love the branch, everyone is very nice to us. I actually try to be a lot like Elder Greenberg! He was such an example of a smile! I'm not like him but I show love for the members and always keep a big smile! We want to the members to trust us. We want to have 6 baptisms this transfer and I think it is possible. Felix's wife Deisha is a great investigator and loves having us over. We also have Karla who just had a baby and wants to be baptized. And we have Caracol and Lorenzo that came to church yesterday so it was fantastic. We want to baptize them! No one is ever home though! It really stinks but it makes us think about how we can be better you know. I love my investigators a lot. I know it is confusing but...we see a lot of people. None of them really progress though, we have a lot of flaky investigators and it's too bad but if we teach with great power and authority bringing the Spirit, they will feel someting never felt before. My testimony is growing so strong out here it is incredible. It seems as though the Church gets truer every day haha! I love you guys so much because you helped me gain a testimony. It seems every day I remember something you have told me. I remember those talks I had with you mommy on the way to school always telling me of my great potential and making sure I stayed on the right path. And Daddy always answering my questions and helping me gain a testimony of Joseph Smith. I remember all those Joseph Smith stories and I annoy my companions with them. I am learning to love others and I get humbled almost every day but it's okay. I just want you to know that your dearelders always help me keep pushing and keep going.
Anik sent me a letter and reminded me of a great quote: "A sacrifice is giving up something great for something better". I really cry out in prayer every night thanking him for all the wonderful people I have known over the years. My wonderful friends and my wonderful family. Anik and her family and her friends. I have been blessed beyond that which I deserve and I must give at least my little part back. I wonder how many drops of blood for me. I try every day to make sure that it wasn't too many. I love you all so much! My prayers get answered so much!
I prayed for my skin to get better and I had the inspiration to try something new and just not wash it or touch it just shave...it cleared up completely in a week! It is incredible. I pray for happiness and I got a great companion! Not to say I was miserable before but I really love Elder Portillo. I am driving now and I don't need an international driving license all I need is the tag because there are so many members out here. Driving is really different out here. You have that middle turning lane and barely any stop signs anywhere. I drive a Toyota Corrolla and it is really well built. It is fun to be driving again. I am a little rusty but the The Lord will protect.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!
Go on missions! haha I am glad to hear that about Jason...wow i am so excited for him!! That is awesome! Read PMG!! Tell my friends I miss them and love them so much. I miss Johnny boy and can't wait to see and swap stories!
I saw Sister Charrette down here at transfers because she was at Zone kick-off (goals for new transfer).I took a picture and spoke french which felt good!!
I love my mission and am doing well. The heat is something crazy here! I gotta go I love you all! bye!

And then there were two!!!!

2009-05-11T18:41:00.003-04:00

Hello Parents Again! It is so cool that I get to e-mail you as well even though we talked yesterday. I feel your love very strong and will help me for the rest of the week!
I always have all the time in the world to read dearelders. If you don't get that picture from the mission office this week then please call them and ask them what's up. You should get it this week so...I got some really crazy unexpected news today. Elder Zamora is getting transferred to be a zone leader and I stay in my area to get a new companion. I couldn't believe it because I only got trained for 3 weeks and have only been out for 3 weeks and now I kind of have to show my new companion, Elder Portio who I will meet Wednesday, around the area and show him to our investigators and all that so he can basically follow-up train me but it will pretty much be my full training. It is a little overwhelming because I lose Elders Paredes and Zamora but I will be okay and I will do my best, that's all I have to offer. It is going to be a great adventure! I'll make mistakes but learn from them! I think I even get to drive now so...I don't know what to expect but it's exciting! Hopefully I'll get a chance to clean the apartment up a little before he comes.The mission is really a great adventure full of different stories and people. I am so glad that I am here and that whatever I did previously in my life led me to a mission! You had a lot to do with that mom and dad!! you are the best parents! It is hard not to have you close but I know you are proud of me and I'll be home in no time! Yesterday was just fantastic talking to you and Anik, I really enjoyed it! I got off the phone and my companions were still on so I talked with Bro. Collier for a bit. They finally both came out around the same time maybe 10 minutes later. Elder Zamora had a big family to talk to and everyone wanted to talk to him. I'm glad I have my little family! Thank you for all that you do for me I really appreciate it! I really don't know what to expect for this following week as I get a new companion and all...my next e-mail is going to be something! Elder Portio will be the DL here so he must be a pretty good missionary. Elder Zamora goes to serve with his former trainer as a zone leader! Ahhh you never know what to expect on a mission I guess! Please pray for me that I can be guided with the spirit to know what to do and what to say. I bet my Spanish is going to greatly improve this transfer because I am going to have to talk more. Elder Portio won't know anyone or the area very well so I kind of have to show him so hopefully he gets the hang out it quick and we can feed of each other. I'm excited though, these are the times and feelings I am going to remember!I also wanted to tell you that I got a letter from Aunt Eileen and that was really cool. She updated me and the stuff going on over there. I really enjoyed that and do enjoy all of the wonderful support that I get. Thank you! I hope my friends are doing great. I don't have much time to write them so I'm sorry for that but when I get home I will write them all the time on their missions! I hope Jason gets his call soon I can't wait to see where he is going! Tell my buddies that they HAVE to go on a mission! They just HAVE to. You learn so much and grow so much it is just incredible. It is an experience that you can't miss! I hope Chris is still working hard to come out here! I can't wait to hear where he is going! Tell him to keep working hard and going out the missionaries and to go see the Bishop and fill out his papers! The sooner the better! He's got to get out here! He'll love it! I keep you all in my prayers all the time and I can't wait to see everyone again and tell them of this great time of my life. I thank everyone that reads the blog and keeps up with me! It is so fun to hear as a missionary that people care! I love the Lasalle ward very much and miss everyone! Tell the young men to prepare themselves NOW for a mission. Read Preach my gospel as much as you can! Know the Book of Mormon! You will be such great assets to your mission president! I wish I had of read more and studied more before my mission! I didn't do enough. The gospel is soooo amazing and a bottomless pit of knowledge! If I could go back in time I would have read so many more books and read my scriptures so much more. This church is the only true church and religion on the face of this earth! never forget it! There is a God and his son's name is Jesus Christ. They live! How do you know? Pray about it! Ask them if a 14 year old boy saw them in 1820 and they'll tell you yes! They do answer sincere prayers! I love the gospel and all that it encompasses! It is so wonderful and complete! Alright I have to go, I love you parents!!! I love you Anik!!! Have a great week!! Take care!!

St.George Week 1!!!!

2009-05-04T22:32:00.003-04:00

First thing to say is that there is a rule in this mission that we are only to e-mail our family.
Thank you for all that you do parents! I really enjoyed the dearelders you sent me and it is so fun to get them throughout the week! I feel less alone and closer to my family and friends. The first couple of days were hard on me because of the transition it was coming into the field. As you can imagine it is a total change in lifestyle and very stressful with the spanish and everything but I am doing fine! I just needed to adapt! So thank you for the dearelders and tell Anik thank you in advance for the ones I will get from her. I really have a strong motivation to be obedient to the "t". Exact obedience will protect me from harm and danger and will bless me very much.
That is why I am so comfortable being obedient because I make you proud and Heavenly Father proud. I love you very much! I am so excited for the mother's day call, I will call next Sunday night between 6-8 our time, which means 8-10 your time. Just be home in the evening and I will try and call as late as I can so everyone is free. I hope the conference call works. I will be at a members home and they have free calls to anywhere in the world but we will do what works best for the conference call of course! I am so excited for that!
I am doing fine here in St. George. I arrived in the middle of a transfer and that is why I am in a three-some. My companions are great guys and I really respect them. Elder Paredes is from Bolivia and he goes home next week so Elder Zamora will finish training me. I had to get to St. George by taking a shuttle bus all by myself, which was weird because I am used to a companion. The ride was 4 hours long and I was with 3 other people. None were members except the driver I believe so I just talked to them and represented the church as best I could. I got to beautiful St. George at 6:30 PM. We have to come back here when I get home! it is gorgeous here! There are palm trees and red rock and huge mountains with big homes. It is really something else. I forget I'm in Utah. It does get very hot here though but it is dry like Gabriel said so I survive. I really like it through we have great weather. We have a car only 3-4 days during the week because we share it with other elders so we spend a lot of time walking around and I am getting a good tan.
I can feel your prayers always! i love you very much mommy and daddy! I can't wait to tell you all my expereinces and rejoice over my mission forever! Say happy b-day to johnny boy for me okay? I can't e-mail him. Spanish is coming along okay but people talk really fast...I feel like the first couple times going to Anik's haha. I am learning though and it is hard not to be able to express myself as I want but it will come with time I know that. I am studying and focusing when people speak so I'll pick it up. We had a baptism this past Saturday and they are wonderful. It was a man named Felix Vega, his parents are members but he always had problems getting baptised so I was glad to see him finally get into that water!! He was so happy and it is great seeing a baptism. We have another family next week getting baptised too and they are the Toledo's and I am very excited for them.. the details are all in my journals ofcourse. We teach about 15 lessons a week i believe and we are very busy. We have a lot of people we can go and see. There are a lot that don't really keep their commitments and stuff but we are working with them. My companions are great teachers and I learn a lot from them. Elder Paredes has a great way with the spanish people. We have a D.A. every night. The members of the branch just love us and the spanish people love missionaries. Actually everyone here loves the missionaries. We have all kinds of people paying for our lunches and taking us out to lunch or dinner as well as driving us around, english and spanish. We are very well taken care of as you can see. People always ask us while we are walking if we need a ride and we get a lot of rides! I love it! I feel like a super hero! There is a sister in the branch that always says in spanish tiene cena esta noche? meaning do you have a supper tonight? because if we don't she says to come over and she is true on her word! The mexcican food does wonders to the stomach though.
I love the spanish people though they are so kind to us. The branch president is very kind as well. We get a lot of help from members coming out to our appointments with us which helps a lot. The bear solemn testimony and it makes all the difference. We also have a man named Moises that will be baptized in the coming weeks. He is thirsty for knowledge and I know he knows this is the truth.
I appreciate all that you do and will try and have more detailed e-mails because I had to make up for two this week. Remember I do my best! I want to have a fantastic mission full of obedience and miracles! I love you and say hi to everyone!

Hello from Beautiful St.George Utah!!!!

2009-04-28T07:14:00.005-04:00

Well, we have an hour to do e-mails but because I was fooling around with my recorder for too long I only have 30 minutes for this e-mail. I also have to write to my mission president during e-mail time so I have a little less than expected. I tried to send a 46 minute audio recording to Anik but it was too big so I couldn't send it!!
Alright so here is the scoop! I am in St. George! They sent me to beautiful St. George to be with Elder Zamora and Elder Paredes...oh my gosh it just erased half of my e-mail! things just aren't going very good for me today I'm sorry...well I will try and re-tell it from this point. Wednesday I met everyone at the mission office and they were all very nice to me.
I just need to tell you that you can send me dearelders still! Send them to the mission office and the mission offcie send them to my apartment on the same day! isn't that great! so just send them to the Mission office! You don't even have to write letters if you don't want to because I bet it is cheaper by dearelder! I needed to tell you this! And please I love receiving mail very much! it really motivates me! I'm so excited though I can get mail so fast! It will almost be like the MTC! I am also going to buy another memory card for my camera and what I will do is when one fills up, I'll send it to Anik and she can empty the card into a computer for safe keeping and send what is on it to you parents and then she can send me back the card empty because I have no way of downloading the stuff in a computer to keep it so it will just all add up so it is better just to send it back empty! then while that one is there I can fill up the other and just keep exchanging like that! So you will have all my pictures and videos and everything! I had explained all this in the audio but it was too big so...Anyways Don'y worry about me I am doiing just fine here! Next week will be a longer e-mail and Anik will have a great audio to listen to! I'm sorry about this week but the first p-day is always hard because I don't know how things work! I love you all very much and I will try and send as many details as possible next week! they should all be in my journals that will arrive at Anik's next monday! I love you very much!
I love you all! thank you for everything and I'll be expecting some dearleders!

Last Time From the MTC!!!!

2009-04-20T18:48:00.003-04:00

Hello parents! I love you very much and want to thank you for your wonderful support every day!!! I don't know what they will do with me Wednesday but you will hear all about it! I have to be at the travel office for 6:30 am! pretty early...I'll be in time for personal study! I am looking forward to Mother's day...to hear all of your voices! That would be great!
I sent a box home with a bunch of stuff I didn't need and was taking up some room! Just put it in my room and I'll be excited to see it when I get home. Yes I remember Elder Moore...cool guy...reeally nice...I told him to look you up and he found you. WOW that is so amazing! take good care of him! Tell him I said hi. Yes and please Thank the Glowas and The Wongs for me please! I truly APPRECIATE THEIR SUPPORT VERY MUCH SO! So thank them for me I just don't have time to write back really! I love everyone and appreciate them. How are my buddies doing? What do they do for fun? Are they getting ready for missons?
The weather is just great here. I love it. It is really beautiful in Utah actually I am going to love my mission! So Mom and Dad, don't worry about me I am going to be fine. I am already lost in the work. I can tell you for a fact that my testimony burns within me. Every single aspect of my testimony has grown, especially the Atonement. What a wonderful sacrifice that was for us. How sore we know not...how exquisite the pain we know not but we know He loves us and because he died for us...I will live with my wonderful family for eternity! I love you!
Elder Holland came on Tuesday! Oh my Gosh there are apostles on the earth today! Let me tell you I am a living witness. There is a Prophet that guides Christ's church just as Moses and others did previously, He never changes. Elder Holland is a passionate man. You have never seen him like this before. He goes crazy when talking to missionaries. He is great. He really loved his mission very much!! I want to work so hard mom and dad! so hard!! I won't come back until I'm satisfied and Jehovah tells me my work is done here. I am ready to put on the armor of righteousness in defense of truth! Dad, you should show the Lasalle ward just how powerful the articles of faith are when they are read in context with the Standard of Liberty! I love Joseph Smith, if anyone mocks him in my face they better step back because I won't be too happy. My testimony burns within me...the church is true! How wonderful it is!
I love you both! So take care until we meet again, bye!

Happy Easter from the MTC!!!!!

2009-04-13T18:21:00.003-04:00

First: Thank you Chris, Blakemores, and Marvin with a huge Thank you to the seminary class for a wonderful package! Thank you so much!! My companion loved his package too! Happy Easter! I can't wait for mother's day! It will be fun to talk voice to voice! I can finally answer all your questions. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRANDMA CARPENTER!! HAVE A GREAT YEAR!! I MISS YOU! Congratulations to the Montreal missionaries for their record! I'm so glad to hear that seeing as how I was part of that mission just a month ago! Yes so I leave next Wednesday at 6:30 am. A bus will come to pick me up at that time. I don't know what happens after that but I'm excited and stressed a bit..but I'll be okay. Spanish is coming okay I guess...it could be better...I'll work hard this week. I met an Elder Mayberry that knows Elder McCleeve.
I'm sending pictures on a CD you can make here in the bookstore. I take pictures of as much as I can so please be satisfied with what I send! I love you both very much!! Without your support I don't know what I would do! I love you! Alright gotta go! your one and only...Patrick

Conference was Great!!!!

2009-04-06T18:27:00.003-04:00

These computers are really not very good but I will do my best. I loved the conference very much. My weekend was just wonderful. I am not DL anymore because we changed half-way through to give someone else a chance. The missionaries get a lot of stuff too and everyone in my room has a girlfriend so...you can imagine!! I love the support I get from my family though it is wonderful...a dearlder everyday is just fantastic. Thank you so much for your support parents and everyone in the ward I really appreciate it. I will have more time to write to people and communicate while in the mission field. Tell everyone that I try my best but that I just can't always reply. I wish I could!!! My health is in very good condition actually. I have sufficient energy for my days. Sleeping early and getting up early really does work and I love it. I don't speak spanish as much as I should - I need to speak more but I am really blessed with the gift of tongues that's for sure. Studying it is so easy for me and that is because of God himself.
I have like two or three weeks left. Yes tell Auntie Anne, I got a dearelder from her and really appreciated it very much. Congratulations Auntie Anne - have the best time of your life because you deserve it. I love George. I loved him before I found out he played hockey so imagine. Thanks also for the letters from the Blakemore's and Chris. I really appreciate them. Tell Chris I love him and he is doing the right things. Just go out with the missionaries and he will be well advanced. General conference was wonderful wasn't it. I didn't fall asleep once. I enjoyed it thoroughly and every single talk was great. Elder Holland is my favourite what a powerful man he is. I love all the support - keep those dearelders coming. I love my friends and miss them dearly I miss everyone very much.
The Church is indeed true and I know Joseph Smith was a prophet don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I love everyone very much and have to go now. I will send audios in the mission field. Good luck to all.

It's snowing outside!!!

2009-03-30T22:14:00.005-04:00

I am departing the 22 of April...that's what it said on the package from the Paynes. I have no news on any Visa...you will have to get that. I still enjoy it here it isn't that bad I find! Everyone treats us well and I love to study! I didn't send any pictures to you yet so don't worry I will send them before I leave with others. Keep sending me quotes I love them! I saw Elder Schubert here who is Kyle Dean's best friend! It was cool! I was separated from my district for the temple trip...temporary exchange. Keep doing missionary work parents...you are awesome. I love to hear it!! People will love you and your testimonies! I am not that tired that often..only after lunch...but other than that i am fine I get good sleep! Law of Health is real! I am never sick and feel great! It is actually snowing here right now...Utah weather is really weird, one day summer...next day winter! I hope it stops because I want to have gym outside! I hope Jordan is doing great!! It scared me when I got that dearelder...I am praying for him...keep praying for him...the Lord will make sure he goes on a mission!! He is a great guy!! Tell him I love him and hope he feels the best! I want him to beat me at hockey when I get back.
We go to the big gym for general conference. Well I have to go time is counting down now...I love you so much and love everyone...got Marvin and Chris's letters. Don't worry keep sending I love them very much I love you so much too take care for now till next week bye.

The Church is True - Go on a Mission!!!

2009-03-23T18:12:00.005-04:00

Hello Mom and Dad! First off, I love you both very much!
I did say Bye to Elder Macpherson. I saw him the mourning he left. We took some pictures that I suspect will be on his blog soon. I did not have my camera with me so I couldn't take any.
Friday I went to the Temple trip. We did the whole tour of Temple square and I did it with fellow Canadians! I was so much fun. I stayed with Elder Henwood, he is a great guy from Nova Scotia. We saw a lot that we didn't get to see as a family so we are going to have to go back together. I took some good pictures but Elder Henwood wasn't really taking the kind of pictures I wanted but that is okay. I will print them out on a CD in the bookstore. That is pretty much all I have to say about that. I miss playing hockey soo much I am stuck playing Basketball now. However, I am getting alright at basketball, I thought I'd never live to see the day. You can tell El Presidente Kaufman I use that good ol' bank shot. Please thank the Glowas and Blakemores and Everyone for their support! I don't have time to reply to them but I really appreciate everything! It really motivates me and boosts me up. I am so glad to hear my friends are preparing for missions! Good job guys! Best decision you will ever make up until this point! I hope Chris's wisdom teeth didn't hurt too much! It is worth it to get them out though. Tell them to come on Missions, every last one of them! they will love it here! They will love their experiences here. Just ask Jonathan, he'll tell you! I love them all and wish them the best! read PMG and the BOM and they will be so ahead here! They will fly through the MTC like nothing. I want to say Hi to all my Family!! Hi everyone I miss you all!! I think of all my aunts and Uncles and Cousins and Grand parents! I love you all! I am doing great here! I am closer to the God that made me then ever before! He loves each and every one of us. We are all children of a Heavenly Father. I know that he has given us families to be happy because you all make me so happy! I can't wait to see you again! God is truly blessing me here, I know that! Serving the Lord is the best thing you can do! keep safe! I have all of you in my prayers! I am here because there is no better place for me to be right now. The gospel is restored and Christ's original church is here on the earth once more! A foundation of Prophets and Apostles, just like Moses and Abraham, Peter, James, and John. What wonderful knews that I carry to the world! This Church is true! God's will for us is known! What a wonderful time to be on the earth in these days when the fullness of the gospel has been restored. The Book of Mormon is Proof of this, It draws men closer to God. It contains, as does the Bible, the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness!That is my testimony! Guess who came to our fireside on Tuesday? Elder L. Tom Perry!! But I was so tired I kept falling asleep i was so mad! I did hear good things though he is really great! it is something to be in the same room as an apostle. Yesterday we watched the draper Temple dedication on the big screen in the gym. It was great as well! Loved it! I love temple dedications! Remember, by small and simple means...I love you! have a great day!Your one and only,Elder Carpenter

What a place to be!!!!

2009-03-16T21:05:00.005-04:00

I've been here 2 and a half weeks now, isn't that something? and I am still hanging in there!
We get 6$ on our card every wednesday, which i use often for little things. I hope I stay in the MTC for general conference, that would be great. We get to watch the Draper Temple dedication next Sunday, which is cool too. It is absolutely wonderful here in Utah. Just beautiful. I am in shorts right now. The weather is great everyday. I don't even think it has rained yet. It snowed once or twice but the snow doesn't stay. The mountains are beautiful too. I am going to love my mission. We don't really have "breaks" but when we are free to study, which is like 10 out of our 16-hour days, we go where we want to study and I have studied outside. Now, our teachers take us out more and more often because of the weather. Thank you so much to the Kaufmans, Wongs, and Blakemores for their Dearelders to me. They are really appreciated. I would like to say to President Kaufman that there is Mucho Tabajo to be done here, he was right! Oops sorry, I meant El Presidente Kaufman. And to the Wongs, I have great accomodations here, they really take great care of us. Linen exchange is every Tuesday so I get clean sheets every week and our dorm is very clean. I haven't seen an Apostle yet, but we get 70's every Tuesday and they are fantastic as well. They understand us because they are "Elders" too. How is Brandon doing in Texas? I have a missionary from Texas in my district. Dallas, Texas. Thank you Brother and Sister Blakemore as well for your support. I greatly appreciate it. I forgot to Mention Happy Birthday to Sis. Donaldson last week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAVE A GREAT YEAR! You deserve it! If there is one advice I have to give it is: GO ON A MISSION! No blessings will ever be greater than the ones you receive because of a mission. Ask President Kaufman: "If you do the Lord's work, you get the Lord's pay."
The Provo temple is very beautiful. I go every Monday morning at 7 am. Today we did an endowment session. I love it here. I have great missionaries arround me. I know I am in the right place right now. Spanish is comin just fine. I need to keep at it though. I have been here for devotionals for Elder Garn, Elder Kikuchi, and Elder Hamula. All from the seventy. It is so awesome to hear them speak to us I love it! The missionaries are very loved. We can feel that. We have truly been called by a prophet of God, you can feel that too. The spirit is strong here, if you are diligent to want to feel it, you will.
I miss Hockey soo much! I am forced to play basketball all the time! geeze!
I love you all very much!

It's Busy in the MTC!!!!

2009-03-09T21:20:00.003-04:00

I don't have much time because I e-mailed Anik. I love you guys. Thank you for the dearelders everyday they are fantastic. Keep it up! I am doing just fine here so don't worry about me! I have a wonderful branch president, President Dean. He is a wonderful man. Each district is in a zone and the zone is the Branch. We are branch 1. We meet in a little chapel in one of the largest buildings here (1M). I love being a leader it is great! I have wonderful missionaries in my District who are obedient and spiritual. My companion is a wonderful person. I didn't get to write my grandparents but I might have time today after this. It is now 11:20 here so 1:20 there. I love the MTC, I feel the spirit so strong here and feel part of God's wonderful army. Spanish is coming along just fine actually. My previous experience puts me ahead. French also helps a great deal. The food is actually pretty goood, you just have to choose the right stuff. I did not get fatter yet, and I do not think I will, I eat less than I used to back home. My skin is actually doing great!! No crazy breakouts anymore!! I shave and my skin takes it very well. I am overall very happy with the way my skin has been doing. My health in general is very good. I actually eat an apple every day. You know what they say. I have gotten all of you packages and letters and dearelders. Please thank the Kaufmans and Wongs for theirs. I really appreciate the support. I have seen Sister Arellano and Sister Simkovitz. They look like they are doing fine. Hamish is also a DL. He looks like he is having a blast as well. Tell all the boys I love them and to get out here, there is no better way to spend two years. I am not just saying that. Thank everyone for theirs prayers because I can feel them! I really can. We are incredibly blesed here at the MTC. We are really appreciated by everyone. I went to the temple this morning and enjoyed it. I served as a witness and child proxy for sealings. Can't wait to do them for myself. I love you very much and enjoy ALL NEWS ALL THE TIME. How is Tampa doing? And try not to write too many e-mails here because I really have no time to read them. Just send me questions and urgent matter. other things lease send by dearelder. 44 seconds left gotta send bye love you! Keep writing!

Yes there is life in the MTC!!!!

2009-03-02T19:15:00.004-05:00

Como estan? Hello greetings from the MTC. I only have 30 minutes to email and it counts down. Very strict! I am doing fine here, everyone is really nice. I hope you guys will use dear elder now so I can read those and answer your questions. I spent the night with Elder Macpherson on Tuesday and with a couple other canadians as well. It was a blast. I got to meet my new companion, Elder Eddington from Roosevelt Utah, and he is a real obedient guy. He is the perfect definition of Quiet Dignity. He is a great companion to me and a great example. I was called to be Distict leader on Wednesday. I have a district of 11 missionaries, 8 elders and 3 sisters. i have quite a few responsiblities but I will be okay. I just need to watch over them and lead by example. My Branch President told all of the leaders in our branch (zone and district) that we will be leaders for the rest of our lives. I am loving it here though. We are well taken care of. We have a lot of time to study and we have great teachers. Spanish is going well. Some of the other missionaries find it difficult but I told them it will come. My french serves me well here. Spanish comes easier because of it. My experience in Montreal really helps me. The others look to me for direction, which is cool, I like that kind of resposibility. I miss you all very much and can't wait to come home honourably. The spirit is felt very strong here, which is great. I am learning so much from the Spirit. We went to the Provo temple today and it was beautiful. Don't worry at all about me, I am doing fine and will do fine. I am surrounded by great Men and Women here. The food is okay, you can choose to eat well actually. They have a good choice. I don't think I will gain any weight. Anyways, ask me any questions and I'd be glad to answer! I will do my best!! Love you all!

Elder Carpenter

Welcome to the MTC!!!!

2009-02-24T16:00:00.004-05:00

Despite US Customs best efforts to stop him again (yes we were delayed and almost didn't make it through) Elder Carpenter reported today at 4PM and was given a temporary room till the following day.

His MTC mailing address is shown above.

MTC Bound

2009-02-21T13:08:00.003-05:00

The new Visa papers have been received and the flight booked for Monday 8:30AM. Elder Carpenter has to be at the MTC for Tuesday February 24th. Many of the other missionaries who have been held back will also be reporting. Finally, the fun begins!!!

Week 2 with the Spanish Missionaries

2009-02-09T12:45:00.002-05:00

Greetings from a cyber cafe somewhere near Pie IX, Can't wait to get to the MTC! We came straight to the cyber cafe so I had no time to get my wires in order to send you audios. But i will try it when i get home. I will then be set for my mission! I m fine here we are doing okay. My skin kind of broke out but I will be alright. Anyways gotta write Thomas an email so take care!

2009-02-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, the blog is finally up and running!!!! As you may or may not know, Elder Carpenter is currently serving in the Montreal Quebec Canada Mission as a Spanish speaking missionary until his visa problems have been sorted out by the Church. We expect good news in this regard sometime this week (Feb.12)!!! And then it's on to Provo, Utah where the work continues.

Week 1 with Spanish Missionaries

2009-02-02T12:27:00.001-05:00

Hey,I am having a blast, don`t worry about me! I can`t wait to get to the MTC though. Please call me when you have any information because I will come home as quickly as possible. I have a feeling they will call or email you and tell you that I need to take a flight in less than 48 hours or even 24. Thats what they do at the MTC. We are going to get some food today and I did some laundry so I am still good enough for another 3-4 days or so I guess but I hope I get news sooner than that. If not, I`m sure they will reassign me. Tell everyone hi or hola. My spanish is growing little by little i guess. Keep me updated...i hope tampa is doing well. Love you guys...see you soon!

The Criminal Missionary - Wanted for Visa Fraud

2009-01-28T15:16:00.004-05:00

Here is the USCIS official refusal to enter the US on a B1 Visa for his mission.