I'm a Rock

Jacob's baptism

Elder Ward and Jacob

Dearest Family,

Mom, are you kidding?! I’m a rock! Nothing gets me down! haha But in all seriousness, it sure is making me tired not being able to work as effectively as I have in the past... Elder Tafiti and I have really come to love and respect each other. That’s good because he still has another transfer after this one which is on September 5^th. He goes home the same time as Trevor...

A funny thing too is that I realized Elder Tafiti is Futi's Cousin!!! Like BYU volleyball legend FUTI!!! haha Except he is 5'8” so I don’t know what happened there... I really have to say that I've come to love him and that there is a lot of good in him. But that is enough about that. MOM, DAD, family, I will have you know even though I’m a little more tired than usual I still am happy and am still trying to do my best to keep going strong...

Brother Armstrong... he is the man!!! Definitely go find his boy and give him heaps of Rolo cookies. Brother Armstrong is a champion at helping us with the recent converts in the ward and getting other members involved with activities and such. You might have to come stay with him if you make plans to come pick me up when I'm done :) but that’s still forever away so we won’t have to worry about that for now.

Well, this week we baptized Jacob Papuni!!! Jacob asked me to perform the baptism and man I chucked him in the water!!! and then threw him right out! I didn't mean to be irreverent in any way but I seriously just got so excited I couldn't restrain myself (oh and he is a little bit of a feather weight). haha It was a good program though.

This week let’s see, oh yeah, I will give you more deets on Micaella Wilson. She is 17 almost 18 and she is keen to be baptized on September 8th! She wrote President Leikas asking if some of her previous missionaries could come back for the baptism and the next day he gave her a call saying that they could come and that he will be attending himself... I challenged her to read the Book of Mormon all the way through before she gets baptized to make it more meaningful and that we would make it a race too! She had a little bit of a head start in Jacob two weeks ago but she has made it all the way to 3rd Nephi. That’s like 300 pages!!! I’m only at the end of Alma!!! She asked me to do her confirmation so I'm pretty stoked about that! Oh yeah, she also said that she found me on Facebook along with Elder Manewell. You should have Collin go find them both.

What else happened this week??? hmmm I learned how to break into my flat courtesy of my Zone Leader Elder Barney... I forgot my white tie and extra garments for the baptism... whoops and then we got there and I realized I didn't have a key. It turns out you just have to lift the door a certain way. It’s pretty easy... haha. Funny thing is I ended up forgetting an extra white shirt too for after the baptism, so my sleeves were a little wet after. J

Good news I’m sending the package today!!! In it I should have.... ah never mind. I will keep it a surprise. J

Also I forgot to mention about good husbands. haha I remembered the time Dad busted Jared’s shoulder and he almost got least-favorite uncle status. Uncle Spencer could break my shoulder and he still wouldn't sink lower. J But yeah, this week we had dinner at a member’s house and the husband was terrible to his wife... It made me mad. Don’t worry, Mom, I’m reading about the stripling warriors and I bet you anything they had mad hot wives... Jokes jokes. But seriously, I've been thinking about it and you and Dad both have taught me, Trevor and Collin to respect girls really well. Like for example the only time we really got hurt/spanked/maimed by Dad was because we were nasty to MOM.

Dad, I just read your letter. Sweet miracles! Angels definitely caught that boy. Little children are so special to Heavenly Father... I just watched “On the Lord’s Errand,” the video on Thomas S. Monson. There is a story about kids in Samoa who were told that if they prayed hard enough they would be able to shake the apostle’s hand. While President Monson was there he felt prompted to do it regardless of his lack of time and he shook each child’s hand... Heavenly Father is so quick to answer children’s prayers it’s unbelievable!

Go Collin and Jared!!! Karaoke at Costco!!! That definitely sounds like them. They will make great missionaries. NO FEAR. Oh, and good job Collin talkin’ to the ladies for young women’s. That was the opportunity of a lifetime!!!

Arohanui,

 

Elder Ward

p.s. Thanks for the DVD. It has helped out heaps!!!

Jacob and his family with Elder Ward and Elder Tafiti

 

Sweet New Investigator

August 19, 2012

 

Dearest family,

Thank you so much or your letters of encouragement, support, and testimonies. Good news… I finally got the PACKAGE!!! It is so nice to have a clean pair of socks everyday. It makes me really happy. Oh and the candy was good. It lasted a day. I shared most of it with everybody. I figured it's more valuable seeing people get a kick out of "American lollies" then keeping them all for myself. It was also funny because of the way they pronounced “Mamba”. They also have a hard time saying my name "Conna"

TO answer your question mom…our mission kinda has a lame rule about eating dinner and being done by 6pm and no later. Sorry it’s not lame. I need a better attitude about this one. ;) Anyways, pretty much all of Auckland shuts down by 6:00 too, sooo a lot of families complain to us about it. We are only allowed 4 meals a week too. Sooo normally we have something dropped off which is alright. We just don’t get to talk with the members and help them with their missionary efforts, but on the other hand they usually fill our fridge or buy enough KFC to feed 6. When we do make it into member’s homes, which happens very rarely, I almost die every time... Yes I have had to stuff my rain jacket pockets before. Every Polynesian’s rule is NOBODY leaves until everything is gone and they like to pick on me because I’m the skinny white guy. :) Oh and a lot of members we seek referrals from or less active people we visit will usually offer us something to eat, or they just make it and then tell us to go eat. SO yeah I’m pretty well taken care of. I don’t think I will have to worry about losing weight on my mission.

Anyways this week had its ups and downs. We found a sweet new investigator named Alex. He was referred about a month and a half ago and we managed to contact him once. He wanted to get baptized but every time we went to visit, he was never home. Thursday night though I felt like we should head over there. He came to the door and he was in bad shape. He began to tell us how he was hit by a drunk driver. It destroyed 3 disks in his back and his left arm. Long story short, he lost his job and still has a family of 4 to provide for. He is a pretty rough character you know the type that likes to include obscenities in every sentence??? Well, that’s him. It was so cool though while we bore our testimony about the atonement and talked with him about Jesus Christ his whole countenance changed, even his language.

Brother Armstrong emailed you huh? That guy is so awesome. He used to be the previous mission president’s counselor. He helps us out heaps. Definitely go find his son in Mesa or send him cookies or something. That would be pretty cool. Funny thing is he played for Highland rugby. Remember the movie, Forever Strong? haha Oh and speaking of rugby, this Saturday Brother Armstrong helped start rugby touch as a ward activity that people could bring their friends to. We decided to skip our 5 o’clock dinner (we didn't have anyone assigned that night) to go play. At first I felt so out of place cuz I had no idea what was going on. I started to get the hang of it by the end though and actually started doing pretty good. They nick-named me the All-American All-American.

I love you guys so much... oh and hey I liked the questions mom. You should have everyone ask questions that have been on your mind.

Dad good job cutting down those tree branches. Happy Birthday!!! This year you get a chainsaw for your birthday next year you get a walker and adult diapers :) haha Just kidding. I appreciate you soo much dad and all the things you took the time to do with me. Whether it was teaching me a lesson by throwing me on a big stack of pillows asking me certain gospel questions, or serving others like Kirk Jones, Sister Wainsguard, or other family members. Everything you did doesn't go unnoticed by me and especially by Heavenly Father, and it still doesn't! I watched all 20 of those Mormon messages and one of them is titled “Be Ye Men”... I think. It was D. Todd Christofferson telling the story of the husband who skipped lunch for a long time so that he could buy that ironing board thingy so his wife wouldn't have to go in the other room and cry because her hands hurt so bad when she ironed from the surgery she had on them. Anyways, it made me think of you... you’re not perfect like mom but you’re sure the number 1 dad in the world and I think all of your priests would agree that you’re a pretty great father to them as well.

Love Elder Ward #2

The Spirit was Overflowing

Dearest Ward Family

I would like to start my letter by addressing that you are indeed my favorite Ward family and just behind you guys is the Gilbert 3rd, the Flemming Park, and Red Hill ward families. I couldn't help but think that as I read this morning from a small pamphlet on “our journey to eternal happiness” or something like that given by Thomas S. Monson. He had 4 main points and one was honoring our heritage. Man! President Monson is a champion! I watched “On the Lords Errand” which is a movie about him and it got me thinking about him and the cool experience seeing him at the cultural celebration and dedication for the Kansas City Temple. I just want to go give him a big hug someday or at least a handshake. ;)

Laura's baptism

Soooooo…. yet another GREAT week! We baptized Laura Lemalu and had her confirmed a member yesterday. It was so sweet coming down from the stage and looking out at the crowd as they watched Laura come down beaming in her white dress. The Spirit was just overflowing the room! A lot of moms had tears in their eyes, especially Laura's mom. Yesterday was a pretty special day for everyone. Also before church, the Papakura 1st ward had just finished while Elder Tafiti and I were sitting on a couch outside waiting for our investigators to come in. While I was sitting there, I saw a young boy about 8 or 9 years old staring and smiling at me. When I looked over he got shy and ran and grabbed his mom’s legs. With a little encouragement, she ushered him over and explained he really wanted to meet us. I asked him how old he was but I forget what he said.  I asked him what his last name was. He said, “Hall”.  After he said that, I took my badge off and put it on his suit and told him that one day this will say Elder Hall covering my name. Oh boy did his face light up!!

Haha! Anyways this letter might be a little short, but I forgot to mention my email subject is "Mission stuff aye". The Kiwi accent is so contagious…it’s hilarious! I find myself starting to use a lot of the words Kiwis use.  Also Kiwi’s vowels are funny so my “yeahs” are becoming “yeeehs” and my “nos” are becoming “nyos” (they slap a “y” in there somehow… its funny!)

This week we found Jacob Papuni.  His mom was a convert 3 years ago and is still active and her son Carter even left on a mission just recently to Fiji! So Carter and Jacob’s mom is having a real hard time having her oldest son gone. She has been crying a ton and was even out of work for about 3 weeks. iIt was such a miracle to be able to find her. We met with her first and encouraged her by telling her how much good her son Carter is going to do in Fiji. It made me miss my mommy and think about her a little and how she must feel and how often she cries for her boys. I love you mom. We are baptizing her son at the end of the month on the 25th. Jesus is so good.

I don’t have my journal and I won’t say anything negative in this letter to make up for last week. So I just want to express my thanks for your prayers and the good they did. Keep it up and I promise I will keep it up too. :)

Love,

Elder Ward

Connor's handiwork

p.s. No package yet...I should get it at zone conference this week or the mission conference the week after... either one.

Miracles

Dear family...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay maybe it was more than a "little" spilled milk but gee wiz. [This was in response to something Collin did that would take too much time to explain.] Anywho, this week was FANTASTIC let me start by telling you the two MAJOR miracles that happened this week.

Miracle #1

We have been teaching this couple named Mike and Linda. They are in their late 20's and are a super sweet couple! They pretty much already know the church is true and really want to get baptized but are not married and have a few Word of Wisdom issues. This week, Elder Tafiti and I, went over to their house unexpectedly and they let us come in. They hadn't been reading the BOM a whole lot so we decided to read the Book of Enos with them. It was good and it definitely invited the spirit and at the very end we started to talk about marriage. Elder Tafiti asked if they knew about Bishop being able to do it for free... They didn't. Then I asked if Mike had proposed yet. He said he didn't because he didn't have a ring. Elder Tafiti then took off his own ring and gave it to him. Mike then proposed in front of all of us. WOOHOO! The spirit was soooo strong. I cried and Mike and Linda cried too.

Miracle #2

Remember how I mentioned Daisy and how we met her at the chapel last week and we talked about the Atonement with her? Well she and her two boys Chevir and Zackary finally started to get taught at the chapel EVERY NIGHT this past week. We taught them everything, had them interviewed, and then baptized them on Saturday. It turns out they had a real bad situation at home so they would walk down to the church to come meet with us instead. The boys are awesome and they learned everything FAST! Then this Saturday was just crazy trying to call everyone for the SUPER late-notice baptism, find whites for everyone, and have the font filled and ready. The baptism was set up for 10:00 and Daisy was about 20 minutes late and the only people we could manage to grab was one member, Tobias, and one person from the Bishopric. haha Oh, and the best part was the APs showed up. It was a really small program but it was still so great!!! After we baptized everyone we only had two towels and one was mine. So we waited as Chevir got changed and we stood freezing with our feet still in the font... It was a little irreverent but Zackary even jumped back in and started swimming around. They were then confirmed yesterday at church.

Missionary work is the Greatest... I'm still struggling big time with Elder Tafiti. All I try to do is love him and try not to get on his case too much. Please pray for me I need your help big time. haha In fact, this week he tackled me into the couch and I somehow cut my toe big time on this metal tin thingy. But that's enough about that! Just know that I'm still SOOO Happy and the Lord is still blessing us greatly! I love yous all back at home.

CHEERs and G'day,

Elder Ward



Daisy, Chevir, and Zackary's baptism.

My injury

P.S. Did you get the pictures from last week?

Luckiest Man on the Planet

Dear Family,

Let me start this letter with… COLLIN YOU DOG! You are almost the luckiest man on the planet! In one week you did pretty much all of the stuff I can barely afford to dream about... Magic Mountain with Jessica Barney, talking to Alex Boye, chicken and waffles, the beach, but you know what??? Notice how I said ALMOST? You still fail in comparison to me. ;) I am the luckiest man on the planet let me explain how.

Elder Tafiti

This week was transfers. Elder Manewell is gone and I am the new senior companion for the Red Hill Ward missionaries! My new companion is named Elder Tafiti he is Samoan from Utah he has been out 22 months.   I am going to do my best to keep inspiring him and keep him motivated the last few weeks of his mission.

Anywho, we were able to make sweet progress with a lot of our investigators! Daisy, we have never taught before but have tried a million and a half times to visit her, has come to church the past 3 weeks in a row and stayed for all 3 hours with her sons. One night she called and she was really struggling. :( We told her to come to the PMG class we were teaching and then we could visit with her after...) We came to the church and she was there and we talked about the atonement with her. Then the PMG teacher kinda ruined it by telling her it was just a class for members only. Long story short (cutting out some details), we took her to the baptismal font and explained how she could leave behind all her troubles and worries in the water as she comes up... and that the blessings from living the gospel don't start in the next life but in THIS ONE TOO!!! We’re looking to baptize her on the 11th of August with her 2 sons!

This week also we ran into a lady on the street, Sister Lemalu. Normally we just tell the members we meet to have a nice day and call if they need anything, but the spirit whispered that we should go share a scripture at her house... We ended up going and it turns out they have been a little inactive for the past while and there daughter, Laura, is 9 years old and hasn't been baptized! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ that night and boy do I love teaching kids! WE came back the next day and she remembered the abc's of repentance: Admit, Be sorry, Confess, DONT DO IT AGAIN, and Enjoy your blessings! She is getting baptized on the 11th as well! I had tears rolling down my face as her Father said the closing prayer to our lesson yesterday before church. He prayed in Samoan but it was a POWERFUL prayer with lots of thanks. (He was in tears along with his wife too.) They both gave us a hug as we left (Sister Lemalu caught me off guard). I left their house so grateful for the miracles and the opportunity to help bless the Lemalu family.

My painting for the O Kinga kids

Then the O Kingas! I might have mentioned them before but the wife is a member and they have 2 sons and a daughter named Taaliyah. We played the Holy Ghost game where you line up 9 pamphlets in 3x3 so it forms a square and then you hide a coin under one of the 9. Elder Tafiti leaves the room and then when he comes back I will tell him where to find the coin! So for example if they hide it under the top left corner one I will then ask him while pointing to the top left corner of a different pamphlet "is it this one???" Elder Tafiti will then know that it is in the top left corner and then I will continue asking, “is it this one”, pointing to several others until I finally reach the top left corner one. Then he says YEAH! It blows kids minds everytime! Some adults too. :) The point was if you feel the Holy Ghost its possible to never choose wrong! We explained that if you read Book of Mormon stories and pray you can always have the Holy Ghost! AND… to put icing on the CAKE, I made a point system: 1 point per prayer. 2 points per each chapter read in the BOM stories book. And 10 points for church attendance.  I promised them once they had a combined 100 points, I would give them my Adventure Time painting that I had an investigator make for me back in Missouri! Before we left, everyone was reading from the BOM and offering to say the closing prayer!!! VICTORY!!!

I am the LUCKIEST MAN on EARTH!!! Don’t worry though, Collin, one day you will be just as lucky as me and Trevor both. :)

Other funny story… Elder Tafiti can be quite hilarious at times.  He went through the little photo album that you made for me Mom and he put a picture of Jessica Barney and you right next to each other and asked if I ever kissed Jessica. I said no we were just good friends and he then showed me the pictures and explained, “that’s good because that would have been like kissing your mom”... You both look really similar in the pictures side by side. I thought it was pretty funny

I have some cool stuff to send home, but I find very little time to get these things done. Collin, I’m still searching for a rugby jersey. I have some experts doing research. Google the Vodafone Warriors rugby team... that’s what I’m thinking and tell me what you think next week! It might take more time but I also have a letter for Mariah, a Maori Jade Stone for Aubrey (I think you might be able to attach it to an earring or a necklace or somethin...), and I have 2 lava lavas maybe 3! Oh, and a picture of me, Elder Manewell the triplets, and their brother Haylen who we recently baptized. The triplets are Pania, Marama, and Kaila. It’s an awesome picture!

Love,

Elder Ward,

p.s. Mom I traded my card reader for a camera cord but I guess a 2nd one wouldn't hurt. I should be okay without it though.

Most Eventful Week Yet

Dear Familia,

Before anything gets said…MOM, YES I need that camera charger big time!!! Also I need to request socks… not those worthless church socks but those good athletic socks. I like the all black ones with the small white circles at the bottom. Those are the most durable and are the ones I wear the most. To be safe, 8 pairs would be good. I will only take out half now, so I won’t lose them all because socks are slowly become a highly treasured possession of mine now. OH…and I’m not sure where exactly you can find them, but a sister in the Missouri Mission had a super awesome Mormon messages DVD. If you could somehow come across 1 or 2 of those, that would be so appreciated!!! Those small video clips invite the spirit so well. It would help a ton!

So anyways… MY WEEK

Monday was a sweet p-day. I finally got reunited with ping pong! The Tongan ward was playing that and volleyball and boy was that a good p-day! It was sad at first. I completely forgot how to play, but eventually I got it back! A lot of the Tongans would be talking to each other and glance over to me and I would only recognize the word Palangie... I hope they were in awe with my mad skills. ;)

Tuesday. You remember mom how you were asking about biking??? Well Elder Manewell finally got back on so we started riding bikes around. Anyways…it turns out that in NZ the bike’s brakes are switched so right equals front brake and left equals back... I figured that out going down a steep hill!! I totally flipped head over heels and slid a good ways down the hill. I HATE BIKES... I nicknamed my bike stupid. :)

Wednesday was crazy! We started out the morning committing a sweet couple Mike and Linda to be baptized and married (opposite order) on August 25^th. Then around 12 o’ clock we were supposed to trade off with the zone leaders. We went to the street they told us to meet them at and they didn't show up for 15 minutes.  I was getting frustrated because we had an appointment at that time... so we decided to check back at the flat if they were there. When we turned the corner down on our street PRESIDENT LEKIAS was there!!! So long story short… me, Elder Alder, and President Lekias went to go teach one of our investigators, Teinei (Tane - ee). Pressure is on by now right? Don’t forget we have to sing... and well, bad news, Elder Alder is terrible at singing too!! The song, “Families Can be Together Forever”, I don’t think could have been sung any worse ever since it was first added to the hymnbooks. It was so bad that President laughed in the middle of the song! Anyways, the lesson went well. She wants to get baptized and understands its key in fulfilling the Plan of Salvation. She just needs to get married! We’re shooting for August 25th with her too.

Also that day after that lesson, President was about to take us home to eat a lunch but as we passed a street, I remembered a good referral on a street we passed by. I asked President to turn around and we ended up going back. Rhianon answered the door and we taught her and her partner the POS too! IT was super sweet! On the way back President Lekias said, “Now which is better.. eating lunch or teaching that lesson???” Easiest question ever!!

Thursday I got attacked by another dog... don’t worry it was just a little ankle biter, but I gave the thing a good kick. :) Don’t tell Ava. She might be a little devastated.

Those are my crazy experiences! Here are some awesome people were teaching and are progressing well!

Remember Sydney and her son? Well we helped her gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. She prayed about it and felt the spirit big time! She should be getting baptized either next week, Saturday, or the week after that... depending if she makes it to church.

Micaella is 17. She wants to get baptized really bad but she can’t until she is 18. Her parents just won’t let her... She is going to be baptized September 8^th.

Daisy, Chever, and Zachary A sweet family that we haven't even really taught a whole bunch. They are super hard to catch but they always show up to church on Sunday unexpectedly. :) They should be getting baptized together in about 2 weeks time.

Teinei

Sam and Tasha. Sam is a less active member and Tasha is a non member but they are progressing big time! Tasha wants to get baptized and knows the church is true! We are teaching them about forgiveness and the atonement! They are doing so well!

Those are just a few of the people we teach and meet with week to week... these people are my life and I love them to death!!! I have a sweet picture of Haylen and the triplet’s baptism printed out so I will try and send that this week with my letters home! Collin, I’m doing research on that rugby jersey! I have some people who have hook ups! Whatever I send you should be pretty dang cool but you BETTER LOVE IT!!!

Love,

Elder Ward

p.s. NO UPDATE ON THE TEMPLE??? Give me some good news next week! IF you don’t have any then repent and GO!!!

P.s.s. I did read that talk mom…PERFECT

p.s.s.s. I also read the story, The Master’s Hand... I think dad might have shown me this one but its a poem talking about an auction with a worn violin. People place 1, 2, and 3 dollars but before it sells a man gets up and plays a beautiful song that puts people to tears... then it goes to 1000, 2000, 3000 dollars! Awh man can you send me that one next week? It’S SOO PERFECT and I'm not allowed to look it up

p.s.s.s.s. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH BE GOOD THIS WEEK!!!

I Couldn't Be Any Happier

It is a beautiful day 7000 miles away. I think I might have mentioned the distance last week, but it still blows my mind that I am so far away from you guys! Oh, and I am embarrassed to report but at the same time a little blown away that me and Collin are still so darn close. All of a sudden, Friday Night while I was lying in bed, I totally was thinking about watching the 4th season of 24 but that’s not what missionaries need to ponder on for too long so I mentally nuked it out of my brain (jack Bauer couldn't stop that one). I’m glad everything is well at home!

So this week hmmm... that family I talked about last week we tried to visit Monday but they weren't home and we haven't been back since, but we are planning to go see them tonight. Haha…. I love trying to follow and listen to the Spirit. IT’S HARD!!! Sometime this last week we were walking to an appointment and I glanced at this house and I felt like we should go there. I pushed it off and kept walking. Then I got angry that I didn't listen so I said, "ELDER WAIT!!!" He asked if it was a prompting and I just said, “I DONT KNOW!” He just kinda laughed at me because I was getting flustered. Long story short…we knocked on the door and we woke up an old grandma. I told her we felt like we needed to stop by and she asked why? I told her we were representatives of Jesus Christ and we had a message about the restored gospel. She closed the door, but I still felt good as I left her house knowing that I made the Lord happy whether it was a prompting or not.

Funny things that happened this week... it was Elder Manewell’s birthday and well he is a Starcraft nerd. We planned to visit one of our investigators, Micalla. She is 17 almost 18 and she has wanted to get baptized for about a year but her parents wont let her. But she is already set to be baptized September 8th! Anyways, we sat down for a lunch with her and her member friend Levi and she is a champion BAKER. At Elder Manewell’s request she made a Starcraft cake with a Zerg base and other things on it... It was pretty funny! A lot of investigators and less active members that were helping invited us over for cake and other foods and by the end of the day…I FELT NASTY! I probably had 4 different cakes and 3 different dinners...

Also another funny thing…we took Tama, a Maori 16 year old investigator, to a fireside last night and there was a lady who sang that did awesome!!! It was really funny though because after she was done, he started clapping really loud (not knowing that never happens... ever). His family and well everyone with him got a pretty good kick out of that. I found it hard to stop laughing too. OH and hey…I was finally reunited with my MTC companion, Elder Wachob, for just a few minutes! It was cool!

We had a good week teaching wise. I had someone get mad at me because…well this guy is less active and he has 4 daughters (1 that needs to get baptized), and we went over to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pretended that the floor was lava or SIN and we had to get to the other side of the room to make it back to Heavenly Father and a big happy face. If they touched any part of the floor, they couldn't make it. So we laid down stepping stones (paper with the words faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end) on the floor and explained each one as we went. Anywho… the father was drunk and he got real mad while I was teaching and said it was too advanced (I was teaching repentance). The spirit left and I did my best to stay patient with the guy. He almost kicked us out but he ended up leaving instead. We taught to the end of the lesson and helped all the girls, ages 5 to 9, understand the basics of the most important thing they could ever know in their whole entire lives and bring them the most joy. The Father came back at the end and I got a little prideful as the five year old took every step and explained each principle and ordinance PERFECTLY!!! I apologized to the father and told him I was new and still figuring things out.  He agreed that I still have a lot of learning to do, but before we left he did give us some bacon and egg pie.

Those are just some stories. I’m a little short on time, but life is good, missionary work is awesome, and I couldn’t be any happier! Collin, you still need to write me ya bum!  If you have time for Jack Bauer, you have time for me! Other than that, be good and go to the TEMPLE!!! How is that going by the way? I better hear a good report from all of you'se.

Love,

Elder Ward #2