Elder Gillett 3.24.14

Instead of getting a phone call, like I had HOPED for today, this email from Elder Gillett is what we received instead-  

so i woke up today thinking i was headed to buenos aires but i'm not going anymore. For whatever reason they said that i was good going up to the airport and then i get up there and they never gave me my passport so i couldnt go. so i packed all my bags and everything for nothing. hahah a little frustrated but there isn't anything i can do about it. had to ride in a truck that they stuck all our bags in back to the mtc and now im back in my normal classes. don't know my exact departure date but im assuming its the same as the others in my district which is April 21st! Anyways kinda dissappointed but oh well. Anyways just wanted to let you know im safe and back at the MTC in provo.


We'll hopefully hear from him this week sometime for his pday, not sure if Thursday will be it or not... just wanted to let you all know he is okay & keep him in your prayers. I know he was feeling good & excited about leaving today.  Love, Brooke 

Elder Wilson email

La Laguna, Tenerife = The greatest place on earth!

Missionary Work = The greatest thing on earth! 

How lucky am I to be doing the greatest thing on earth in the greatest place on earth?  I am loving life so much! Things are going amazingly here.  And as you guys probably know, were going to know transfers this coming saturday.... and I already have been here for 6 months..... Im nervous.... but I think I'm staying. 

So just so you know, we have a ward talent show this week! Saturday! the missionaries are doing that thing where you put your arms behind your back and your companion puts his arms through.  So its like my body and face, with my companions arms... or vice versa. hahaha I just explained that terribly.  So anyways all the missionaries are doing that together.  And were doing it to the theme of "The morning of a missionary".... except the Elders are gonna act like Hermanas and the Hermanas like Elders... hahahaha it should be hilarious. 

So this week has been great!!! We are teaching a girl named Pili... and wow is she awesome!! She has a boy friend and he is a member.  He was less active for a ton of time, but is coming back now, and his GF is coming as well.  We started out just teaching them english twice a week. Then we gave Pili a Book of Mormon, and she loved it! We asked if we could teach her, and without even thinking she says "NO!" She has a super strong personality, and speaks her mind.  Which I like.  But yeah, they gave us a ride back to La Laguna, because its like a 40 minute walk to the church, and in the car she was just bombarding us with questions like "You were born in the church, what do you know?" "Have you ever gone to any other church?" "Im just gonna go to church, and learn that way" "You don't know any better, its all you know" and what not.  She wasn't saying those things in a rude way at all.  But was just saying them.  Well.... We invited her to come to a Family Home Evening with Efrain's family.. and she was super hesistant.  She didn't say yes or no.  But she ended up coming!! She said that her family had to basically force her and drag her to come.  Well she came and LOVED it! Ever since that night we have been teaching her, and she has been reading the Book of Mormon.  So we taught her Tuesday this week, and it was elder Wells and Bohne, because I was doing exchanges with Elder Bohnes comp.  They said it went really really well, and she was having so many spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon.  We then taught her on Saturday... unfortunatley those are the only days she can meet.. and I was there! The lesson that night was incredible.  She was just crying.   Her Boyfriend was on the erge of tears.  She shared so many experiences with us, and the spirit was so strong.  We comitted her to be baptized the 19th of April! Its incredible how if the spirit is present, the investiagors will ALWAYS say yes.  Well we met with her the next day for another family night in Efrain's familys house.  We watched the video of the Restoration, and after the video we had a little testimony meeting.  Pili said she feels like Jose Smith right now.  That she is investigating and really feeling good in the church.  Her little cousin was in the Family Night as well, and he started talking about the BOM and then she hurry and interupts him and says, "Dont say anything! Im still reading!" hahaha! so awesome:)  Its truly incredible the power the Book of Mormon has..  It was incredible.  It was truly so powerful and so spiritual.  Tana (Pili's BF whose a member) and Pili are the GREATEST! I have never cried so much because of laughing and because of the spirit with any other investigator.  They are INCREDIBLE! They are seriously the best! We have such an amazing relationship.  But she is not investigating the church because of the relationship we have. She came to church without even knowing the missionaries... another MIRACLE! So please pray for Pili and Tana!!! 

Well... thats like the highlight of the week.  Please continue to pray for Luis and his family.  Its so dang hard to meet with them.  This week German tourists came to church that speak english and no spanish... so I ended up translating for them. haha! Let me tell you... sunday school.... brutal. We were talking about the 12 tribes of israel and birthrights and all this old testament doctrine... I struggled translating that part.... but it went well.  I survived. haha!

Funny Story:

We have a less active member that we go and visit every now and again.  And they live in a pretty ghetto part of town.  And in this neighborhood theres like a group of 15, 22 year old guys.  We've talked with them before and were just friends.  Friends with the neighborhood punks... haha.  Well we walked by them the other day, and while we were walking by they all arrupted into cheers, yelling and clapping! hahahaha,  I know they were pretty much borderline making fun of us, but i just laughed super hard.  They know we can take it, and they love to joke around with us.  Its super funny! haha! 

So thats about it for the week! please pray for our investigators!! They are all the greatest.  If you could pray for: Pili, Tana, Jesus, Luis y familia, Veronica, Luis Alberto, and Javier that would be awesome.  I love you all so much family!

Love, Elder wEElson.  

..... Next time we email I could be in the peninsula... pray to keep me here! 

Elder Gillett 3.20.14

My official date for leaving the MTC is March 24th for sure! Guess they must have my Visa or have me on a temporary but i am still outta the loop on the whole thing so i have  no idea for sure what is going on! My Flight leaves from SLC at 11:35am or so i believe and it goes to Atlanta. I get to Atlanta at about 4:30 then at 7:30 i head from atlanta to Argentina on a 13 or so hour flight! I'm super excited to be going already. Maybe a little nervous because i feel like i've learned a ton of spanish but still could learn a lot more. Honestly it has been so much fun here! I love my District! I feel like i have been friends with all of them before we came here for sure. So my companion is Elder Sanders, from kentucky, he is a really nice kid but weird sometimes. He sometimes feels kinda left out because the rest of us played sports and were more athletes rather than being in band and plays. Then there is Elder Caleb trotter from Gilbert,Arizona, he played soccer down in Arizona so i always have a good time talking to him about soccer. Then there's Elder Wyatt Reynolds who lived in a small town called Pima, Arizona. He played pretty much every sport they had because it was a small school so its cool. He is really funny to and is good at lightening the mood. Then there is Elder Jake Cragun from Syracuse, Utah. He is a stud! More of a quiet guy but we have become super close friends i feel like! He snowboards, rides dirt bikes, and pretty much does most of the stuff i like to do as well. Elder Cragun, Elder Reynolds, And Elder Trotter are in a tri-panionship because there was a 6th elder that never showed up. They say it happens pretty often where elders just don't show up for whatever reason and they never know why. 

Thanks for both the packages! and all the letters! Thats a ton of candy! haha as a district we put all of our candy together pretty much and just have it all sitting on the counter. but we dont have any time to eat it other than from like 9:30 to 10:30 at night and so we don't usually eat it before bed! 

Its weird to be district leader but really nice! I like my district a lot as well so they make my job a lot easier. The Branch President is a really cool guy. His name is President Swenson and he is from Orem. Then Brother Jamison is the 1st counselor and i talked to him about Doug Schneider that he must have worked with or something. And Then Brother Sharon who lives in AF. They are all super nice guys and down to earth.

Kinda sucks that i won't be able to see Brad before i leave but i'm sure he will do amazing on his talk! I love that kid! He's gonna be an awesome missionary and as tough as the MTC can get sometimes, don't forget to have some fun and get to know your people in your districts and zone! Let loose sometimes or you will go absolutely insane sometimes. But at the end of the day it is the best feeling to just lay in bed and say "I did it. One less day until i can be out in the field applying all this to others lives" The coolest thing about the MTC is teaching your first investigator. Sometimes they are real and sometimes they are fake so you never know for sure but it is seriously the best feeling to get out of teaching them just knowing that you delivered the message you were supposed too. Thats the most rewarding thing. But Anyways i'm hoping i'll be able to see Bree while i'm here in the MTC. I think i should be able to on sunday night when we go up to the main campus for the devotionals!

Love you all thanks for the support and everything you have done for me! Being on a mission is one of the most challenging but rewarding things you will ever do!

Love, Elder Gillett <3

Dear Family and Friends :), Elder Frampton

That's sweet that Lone Peak got a 4 - Peat! I bet that was crazy ha ha. How are the soccer boys doing? How is our ward?

 

 

So this week not much happened. We got our fortunes told! that was weird. But I will start at the beginning. There is a PMF (part member family) on our list so we noticed the big CALL BEFORE YOU VISIT, so we did just that. And a man answered and said that we could come visit. We went over there and he just talked and talked. he told us his whole history with the church and all the other things he believed. It was really odd. But then he just looked strait at me and told me that I was going to marry a Non- member, I would be a Financial Business man, I would find my "gift" at 21 and a half, I would be well off at 35, and that I was very open minded and that my brain turbines were always going fast. Ha ha sooooo he told me to keep his number and call him later in life and I would be amazed. He also did it with my companion. It was super weird. But that's about it, because we got sick on Wednesday and had to stay in for like three days! it was awful because as a missionary you cant do like anything to pass the time so we slept and studied and cleaned. I got better quicker then he did. And we both still aren't full health but we can at least work. We did a lot of thinking this week thanks to being sick and I really liked this story so I figured I would share it with you.

 

One night a young man had a dream. He dreamed there was a new store in a nearby shopping mall. He went in and saw an angel behind the counter. Nervously, he asked what the shop sold.

 

"Everything your heart desires," replied the angel.

 

"Then I want peace on earth," exclaimed the young man. "I want an end to famine, sorrow, and disease."

 

"Just a moment," replied the angel. "you haven't understood. We don't sell fruit here - only seeds."

 

I really like this little story. It helps me remember that I have to work to make the things that I want grow. God wants the best for each of us and gives us a way to have all those things. We now have to choose to work for all he has in "store" for us. I love you all and am so glad to be on my mission.

 

- Elder Frampton

Hey

Hey Family!

What an incredible week this week... just like every other week! haha! Except this week was better... just like every other week! hahahaha... but seriously. Its incredible how happy I am here.  The Canary Islands are incredible... but more than anything the people here are the best.  I know I talk about this every single week, but its incredible how much I have seen the ward progress, and the love all the members have here.  I love La Laguna!!!

So yeah, Luis's baptism went incredible! But get this... Pablo is going to get Baptized this Saturday!!... and... Luis is going to recieve the Aaronic Preisthood and baptize him!!!!! How awesome is that?? That is going to be the most incredible baptism ever.  Seeing his dad just receive the preisthoood that week, and baptize him that very week! It will be such a beautiful service, and we are so excited to finally have this whole family together as members, and take this saving covenant into their lives! We have been spending a lot of time with Pablo this week! I think we saw him every single day! Today he came and played some basketball with us, and it was a blast.  He's actually really good.  He dribbles between the legs and everything.. haha! So I'll keep you posted on that!

Mom, this week in studies I had an awesome experience! I was reading Alma 2: 29-31 and totally thought about you and the experience you had with Aubs and basketball.  This is about Alma fighting against Amlici (not sure if thats his name in english... I forgot...haha) and he begins losing, and is about to be killed, but has he is fighting he pleads to the Lord in prayer saying something along the lines of "have mercy on my and save my life, so I can be an instrament in your hands and save these people!" and the Lord gave him the strength and Alma ended up killing Amlici. From your experience mom, I believe that if Alma would have only pleaded "save me! have mercy!" the Lord would have left it up to Almas own strength... but he did what you did.  He offered something! He told the Lord he would be an instrament in His hands.  And THEN he had the strength to kill Amlici.  God is a God of Covenants.  We must do our part, and offer something to the Lord.  Sacrafice something.  I know for asurety that when we sacrifice and make covenants with our Heavanly Father, he always will bless us! but we must DO something!

This week, has been one of the weeks where I've ever learned the most.  Not because it was the hardest week ever, but just because I really am starting to apply things that I am learned.  For the past little bit, Elder Franson/Wells and I have been teaching a crazy amount of lessons, basically just full all day of lessons.... but no one was progressing or keeping comitments much.  Numbers wise, we were doing INCREDIBLE... and working so hard.  But lately I had been thinking a lot, and knew that we needed to drop those investigators to have more time to find others... It was just hard to do it.... I was being way too prideful.  So I have had that on my mind tons, and praying a lot to know what to do... well this week we had Zone Training and the Zone Leaders talked a ton about the improtance of dropping investigators that are never keeping their commitments.  That very day Elder Wells and I dropped almost all of our investigators... and it was such an answer to my prayers.  We applied what we learned in that meeting, and as well of what we have been learning in Preach my Gospel and wow have we been blessed! This week we still taught TONS, but taught different, more progressing investigators.  It was incredible.  The Lord has just been waiting for us to apply what we were learning and feeling, and he directly blessed us.  I have learned so much, and it has been such a humbling week, to know really how inspired Preach my Gospel is, as well as our leaders.  Elder Wells has especially taught me to trust in the promises of Preach my Gospel.  That guy is such a stud.

I am so incredibly happy family! Thank you for all the love and support you guys always give me.  I love you guys more than you even know.  Thanks for always bein that for me, and makin me so happy with your emails and letters.  They are greatly appreciated.  To be humble is to be powerful. Meekness is power.  Its incredible how the world sees it the exactly opposite way- as meekness is weakness.  Meekness through our Savior, Jesus Christ really does give us the power we need as set apart missionaries.  

The District is doing great!   The district I'm in is incredible and I feel extremly blessed to be in this district.  This week I went on exchanges with Elder Bohne.  I'll just say were destined to be companions one day.  I love that guy so much!!!

Love  ya'llll tons!

Elder Weeeelson

*ps- Im workin super hard on picking up the Canarian accent... hahaha

Elder Vawdrey today

Hey Family!

 

That's super good to hear about Tanner! I'm super proud of him! He will be an awesome missionary! It's more than ok to be nervous! I'm still nervous out here! Man that's soo soon he leaves! I'm super pumped for him to leave!

 

It is good to hear that Brad is doing much better! I was worried about him all week! I just hope he can get out and serve in Ukraine! It is most defintaly the best time out in the field! The MTC got super old super quick! Same thing every single day! But out here it is different almost every single day! I'll be sure to email him real quick!

 

ahh my Spanish.. But I probably wont be comfortable with it until like my 10 month mark! Like I am learning a ton every single day, but there is just soo much to learn! They say once you know how to conjugate into tenses. It makes it a ton easier! So I'm just focusing on that into like past tense, preterit tense and future tense. Those are the easiest.. there is tons others that are even harder!

 

This week was pretty good at the beginning of the week. Started off with finding 2 new investigators and teaching them. Then we taught Santiago, Rigoberto and a new kid, Rolando. They are all friends and super awesome! They are friends of the Saldivar family! I love that family! But we had lessons with them and stuff.. Then we kinda lost contact with Juan.. So we don't have a lesson set up with him or we haven't even been able to contact him.. So right now we dunno if we are gonna have him baptized on the 23rd.. After Thursday the week kinda just slowly went downhill.. We don't follow our schedule planned out for the next day.. There is just always an excuse to go somewhere else.. Or do something for the district! But I really just want to work and teach and baptized! Then I kinda got negative and down on myself.. Which sucks! Don't do that! It's not worth it! After I got negative I just got impatient again and Elder Ochoa started to bug me super bad! I swear it's only on Saturdays and Sundays that people bug me. I dunno why! It is annoying! But we have a dinner set up for almost every day this week! All except Saturday! So that's good!

 

I haven't used my cleats yet cuz it has been really cold in the mornings and rainy all the time! They say this is the coldest spring in a while! Hopefully it warms up soon! We played basketball at a elementary in the morning on Wednesday.. then I left my jacket there! So now I only have a sweater! Ahh! No worries! I have been really warm!

 

Asombroso sobre LP winning State again! Tell LP soccer to just win state already! 

 

Love you family! You are the best! Do good in work and school!

 

Love,

 

Elder Vawdrey

Jarrett Weekly Letter 3.9.2014

whats up!!!

 

Well it was an alright week that is for sure it was really sad to see Elder Jones leave but it was going to happen sooner or later right? Well I got a new companion obviously and he is Japanese his name is Elder Sakae he is really a nice guy and right now he is on his 9th transfer he just barely turned senior companion and district leader at the same time. Also he barely speaks any English again so it is an adventure.

 

So basically he is a really nice guy but he really doesn't know what he is doing. He is nothing compared to Elder Jones, no offense but his skills are not that great. I am just happy at how much I learned from Elder Jones that is for sure. And I am glad that he taught me how and what I need to do when I am senior companion, because basically right now I am senior companion; I plan every night, I call the people we need to call, I contact every person, I start and teach most of the lessons, I do all the records and basically everything; so basically I am senior companion. It is honestly like I flipped positions from last transfer. He also doesn't have much dendo fire, and so I am really trying to raise that for him. The only problem is I don't want him to bring me down to his level so I want to just keep pushing and stuff it is just hard when someone doesn't have much happiness in the work.

 

I am sorry but other then that nothing much happened! Well besides that I love the branch that I am in they are totally family; they are the best there is!!  They are just so nice!! I honestly get along with every single one of them and they help me so much and they make me feel loved it is just amazing!!  This is probably why I like this area so much!! 

 

Love,

Elder Nielsen

 

Oh P.S. I cook every meal and I do all the dishes! Can you say taihen!!!!