February 13, 2017

Hey Mom!                                                                                           February 13, 2017

I guess God called Harley home. I was just about as shocked when I read that. Nuts. I'm going to miss that pup. Still, we shall see her again! I've come to know that in times like these it's important to always remember that the spirit lives forever. 

Well, at least Smokey's all right. I guess Harley will have to watch and wait with Bandit now. Life rolls on for us here in Moses Lake. The past week didn't see too much excitement as far as work goes. Just a lot of walking and a lot of water. The sun's been out for a glorious few days now and it's been causing a really sped-up melt for the winter. I'm really thankful for the boots that you sent me, they've probably already seen more action that we bargained for! Chances are in the next month or so I'll be shipping a lot of my winter gear home, which will be nice because that stuff takes up a lot of room as far as travelling goes. But you never know, with such little time left I feel like it wouldn't matter too much.

We had a cool experience with Jacob this past week! We had previously left him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet that he actually read, and he had some real good questions about the Spirit World and the Kingdoms of Glory. We answered them, and he understood a little better. But when we went back to the beginning and taught him up to those points, everything clicked with him! He understood it even better than before! He saw how it's all centered around the Atonement, and how it's in our choice to choose what path we want to take. The coolest part was when we asked him if he would pray to know if it was true, he said that if he already knew the Book of Mormon was true, than the Plan of Salvation would be as well! He also said that he wants to take Natalia to the temple to be sealed when he can, and I don't think I've ever taught anyone with that much incentive before!

We thought it was awesome for him to see how the Spirit has testified of that truth of the Book of Mormon to him. Everything that we do out here and in the church all hangs on the Book of Mormon, and I've come to know now more than ever that it is a true book. All you need to do is just choose to read it with a real desire to know more about who we are as God's children!

It is cool to know that we will be with our loved ones again. The Plan of Salvation makes it possible for all of us to be with our loved ones again. And I find it incredible that the same knowledge is also taught to those who never had the chance to hear of it in this life, or embrace it more fully. Life can be fragile, but the bonds of eternity are truly unbreakable. I can't wait to meet Great uncle Josair someday!

I'm very glad to have you as my mother, dear mom. You've given me such a beautiful view on life and about the importance of keeping God first, I don't really know what I'd do without you. So many people out here don't have that same priority, and while it's an honor and privilege to teach them, sometimes I just wish that the world would have as awesome Moms as you. If we did, then the world would probably glow from the spirit that came. But you know, one day it will be like that, when the Savior comes again. I'm so thankful for Christ's Atonement in my life. I've done a lot of really dumb things in life sometimes, and everyday I stand in awe that He's never left me during any of that time.

It's interesting to see how we all play a part in each other's lives in some way or another. And in the end I know that we'll all be together again, and that no one who departs early wants to look down and see us fail in the process. I love you all and hope that you guys do a great job continuing to be such an awesome family to me and to the others your guys's light will inevitably touch! 

Church is true! Love you too!

Michael 

January 23, 2017

Hey Mom!

This week:

Snow, Ice, rain, freezing rain, fog, and more rain, and all in that order too!

Sorry to hear the plow gave out on the truck, the hydraulics at least. I kind of feel sorry for Dad working it alone, but it's a good thing we got the snow blower at least! Also great to see how much snow is on the ground this winter, it's about time! hopefully this fills the lake up a little more. By the way, how's Smokey taking the weather? The ole' cat probably likes being back in a more open place, finally put that coat of his to work.

But as you can probably tell from the week in words, this past week almost shot us down for work due to weather. I kid you not, a legit ice-storm blew in Tuesday night which shut us down for the rest of the evening. When we woke up and moved out the next morning, the ground was a solid sheet of sheer ice. Nobody was out, anywhere. 'Matter of fact, I slipped on my first step out in a comical fall. Fortunately we got a ride to where we were going. We ran over to the the DL, Elder Dalton and Goodwin's home to talk to them, and then we all ice-skated to Taco Bell for lunch. Still, the weather wasn't horrible enough to make bread, that's only when we get shut in all day.

The ice didn't stop. For the next few days the weather changed constantly from rain to ice, which would eventually freeze again at nightfall, turning Moses Lake and probably all the Columbia basin into a mega skating-rink, shutting down most facilities and activites. We don't have yak-tracks, but in a sign of growing member trust, Bro. Phillips in 7th ward volunteered to look into purchasing some for us. But you know, despite the setback, we actually saw some pretty good success for what there was!

We weren't able to meet Kristen, but we got a call from Bishop in the middle of zone Conference informing us that Kristen had been taken into custody. Details are odd. But her boyfriend, Rob, was all of a sudden interested in learning more about the Gospel! So we got together with him, had a real spirit-filled lesson, and he came to church Sunday too! Later on during the day we got texted by a lady named Natalia, informing us that they just moved into the ward and that her husband was interested in learning about the church! Go humanity! It was almost as if some rain froze together in the form of a blessing and smashed right through the roof onto us! 

And you know what else was funny, what bare-little tracting we did, we found ourselves in the right place at the right time! Passed out a few pamphlets, talked story with some people about the ice, good times! We also had two great lessons with less active families and part-member ones too! The first was with the Hudsells, Dad's not a member. But their daughter is getting ready to depart for her mission, and that has softened his heart a whole lot, or at least enough to be welcome to us coming by! The second was with a fellow named Matt, who served his mission in Salt Lake. Our fellowshipper, Bro. Baker, did a great job helping him know where his heart was at, and in the end Matt told us that we were an answer to his prayers the past week. Cool!

Dalton and Goodwin got in a car wreck due to the ice, they were in the back when the Spanish elders were driving. Everybody was fine, but Dalton got a concussion and Goodwin got some deep bruises. We had to drop by the past few days to visit with them while they were recovering so they don't go nuts, and we also got to administer to them by blessings. I'm so grateful for the priesthood that allows us to help and heal others.

Yeah, overall, things went by incredibly well the past week, despite weather. But you know, that's how the Gospel rolls on, no matter what happens. I'm glad to hear that the house progresses! I love all you guys, and I hope that you all take time to read the scriptures like you said. I always love reading from the Bible and Book of Mormon, inspired works they are! There's about an answer to all of life's questions in their pages.

Love you all!

Michael

PS: notice the reflection on the ice, that's how sheer it was.

January 16, 2017

Hey Mom!                                                                                           January 22, 2017

This week:

Going sub-zero, teaching my pre-mission self, pizza 'n more pizza, chocolate babka, and more!

Wow, just reading about your experience at the interior store was starting to mentally exhaust my mind! But it sounds like the house is coming along like clock work! I hope at least.

To answer your health question, I didn't get sick. And I don't think it was the flu. I am really grateful that we live with the Jones family where they allow us to read their books when we're stuck inside for sickness. I guess you could say I broke during that and read a few pages of the Complete Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a compilation of Medal of Honor recipients.

There's weren't too many spiritual highlights of the week, although the spirit was super strong nonetheless for what did happen! We got to read with Kristen 1 Nephi chapter 1, and she also accepted a baptismal date! But we agreed to keep it loose to accommodate her schedule because we can't get any contact information from her. While we were closing the lesson, her friend Bree walked in and started to listen with her. And in the end, they both committed to coming to church! Find when you teach moment! Unfortunately they didn't actually come, but we're still going to work with them! We also got to teach with the 10th ward sisters to a referral given to us, for a fellow attending their ward named Sky. That was a great lesson! Spirit was felt really well.

I guess you could contribute part of the slow in work to the weather and our lack of wheels. The record of coldest temperature worked in was broken on Thursday night when the sky cleared up and it dropped down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. We walked to the Garza', a friendly family who met with missionaries before, and after a very lovely visit with them, walked back. Both ways, I could start to see icicle drops form on my eyelashes, and when I looked in the mirror back at home, my balaclava was iced over where I normally breathe. I actually have to give deep thanks for sending me the new boots, they work as well as the galoshes, and a third of the weight!

Last week we also got to go with Bishop Allred to meet with a couple named Sage and Kaylee Utter. They're less-active, and Bishop asked us to see if we can start teaching them. Sage has Asperger, and so when I explained my brief case to Bishop, he immediately knew I was at the right place and right time to meet with Sage. So on Tuesday we went over to see them again to get to know them. I decided to take Bishop's advice to see if our personalities line up. And you know, he wasn't off too much! We sat down with him, and so we just got talking to him about the things he loves to do, which basically curtailed my pre-mission life. Youtube, video games, and good graphics. Elder Mayes was also a gamer before too, so the three of us really hit it off!

...

And now's the part where I confess that in an effort to ultimately gain his trust, we also allowed him to showcase some newer games to us. I know, not the best action ever. But in the end we got to make a new friend! And he's perfectly cool with us coming by to teach lessons.

We also had one of those episodes where we got fed pizza for three days straight. Not as bad at pasta for a week, but still, when Sis. Pack dropped off dominos on the third day she said that she had hoped that we hadn't been getting fed pizza for everyday the past week. She, along with Bro. Jones found it hilarious when I told them the truth. To wrap it all up, Elder Mayes came down with the plague again on Saturday, so we stayed inside after going around with Bishop Allred again trying by more LA  members. This time, I made some chocolate babka, which is a fluffy sweet bread with chocolate swirls baked into it. You know, it came out pretty good! I would suggest the cookbook Bread Illustrated if you ever see it. 

And...you know that's about it. I hope you guys stay safe with all the snow that's being blown around and all that! Moses Lake has been getting some pretty heavy snow as well. But we march on! I can't blame people for saying we're crazy. I prefer peculiar, and you know, Hoorah for Israel!

Love you all!

Michael

January 9, 2017

Hey Mom!                                                                                                

This week:

4th quarter, clear cold and snow cover, teaching well, moving trailers, "Galtwin," and more bread!

Glad to hear the house is coming along? So, what are you deciding for flooring and all that? I've always wondered what a house that we designed looked like. As a matter of fact, I always found it funny to recognize how skilled you guys are to do that type of stuff. Either way, keep me updated on how it looks! 

As for us in Moses Lake, things progressed really well this past week! I guess apart from more important matters it's official; I'm in the last quarter of the mission. And dang, it's awesome so far! The only down-side for us was the weather. Weekly, the high was about in the late 20's, the low dipping down to about 2-4 Fahrenheit with wind-chill. On Sunday it snowed all day long and dumped more snow on Moses Lake than the city's seen in the past few years! So we spent all of last night shoveling people's walks and pushing 2-wheel drive cars up steep driveways. 

But on a more work basis, something pretty cool happened! So a gal named Kristen came to church last week our of the blue, and bishop was able to set up a lesson for us in his office with her on Tuesday! We and a few members of the RS were there, and I'm not going to lie, that lesson was probably one of the best lessons that I've ever got to be in. Never mind how we taught and all, the spirit was super strong, and there was such a clear feeling to what the spirit was having us teach! Kristen felt it too! She loves likening the scriptures, so she was super excited to start the Book of Mormon, and she also said that she'd get baptized when she came to know of it's truthfulness! We and the members there immediately bonded with her, and there was such a great feeling of family during it.

What was funny was that as we were walking out of that lesson we got text-dropped by another pair of investigators. Cory and Danielle had been meeting with elders for a while, and although they told us they were going a different route, they were super appreciative of all we and the ward did to help them out. Bittersweet, but the Lord has a timetable much more expansive than ours.

But I'll tell you this much, we had a lot more humorous experiences this week than I've seen in a while. On Tuesday we helped the friend of a family in the ward move out of a trailer. When we got to his place it was clear that we'd be getting our hands dirty. The guy hadn't been very good to keep things in order for one thing, the fact that he was getting evicted that very day didn't help with packing either. After we helped him and his boys load up a truck full of random items they ran off to their storage. That's when a posse of youth showed and leaders showed up to help. They did a lot. The guy had an entire room that wasn't packed, so for the next two hours we broke things down and boxed stuff up. One of his sons stayed behind to help. He wasn't terribly proud of his Dad's way of living, but he was super appreciative of the ward's help. 

I think that's a mental side-effect of the mission, you learn what not to do in life in terms of living. 

We also bonded more with the zone by adopting "twitter" names for each other. Not certain if it's real or not, but in the end it's basically a heads-up text about spiritual/amazing things that happened to us during the day. Elder Mayes and I settled for the callsign Camaezmint. Elder Dalton and Goodwin (who are the type of guys I straight up hang out with) in 5th ward settled for the glorious title of Galtwin. Not certain why I find it so funny, it just sounds so dumb! Galtwin. *Sigh...I see myself gaming with these guys when we're all done!

And I made more bread this past week too! Elder Mayes came down with a small flu, and so after deciding we'd take the day for recovery (a wise guess because it snowed later on), I figured I'd pull another recipe from the Jones' Bread Illustrated book. This time settled for making some Challah, which is a sweet bread shaped in a dense 10-inch braid, with another smaller braid baked on top. It was really good! I think I'll get myself that book when I return.

Yep, life rolls and and life is good! Thanks again for all you guys have done to help me out with! Always remember that I love you guys. Don't know what I'd do without you! Seriously, I don't.

Love you

Michael

January 2, 2017

Happy Birthday Mom!                                                                       January 2, 2017

Once again, I'm still grasping the fact on how the house is the only project I remember where it's not just Dad and I who are working on it. And it's even weirder to see how smoothly it seems to run. You know, I feel like I'm identifying to be a "desert dweller" as far a climatology-home goes. People tell me when they hear I'm from Vegas that I'm not used to the snow. I guess I've seen both white-out and sandstorm.  Can't wait to see what else that goes too.

I also find it funny that between your 3 sons, Daniel has the most class when it comes to how mission culture affects us. I can see Daniel singing Italian while making pizza, bread, and pasta perfectly, but I can't really see Paul singing hill-songs over a BBQ, and I can't really see myself singing who-knows-what grilling hot-dogs at a Seahawks tailgate.

Meh, good times!

Speaking of Good times, what did you do for your birthday? Can you believe that 2017 is already upon us? Hard to grasp, but we got a great start to the week this past week! On Thursday Elder Mayes and I went down to the food-bank to serve from 10-12. We weren't able to get a ride back, and our afternoon plans were super loose, so we considered staying from 1-3. It felt odd, I'm still working off the E-burg service surplus from that time, but we felt oddly at ease with staying. So after lunch at the local teriyaki joint (that was nostalgic), and a very fun walk back to the food bank, we went back to work.

 Eventually the whole zone showed up, and we were all making senior bags in an "assembly line" manner. I was at the end with another volunteer tying the bags together. All of a sudden, this guy asks me, "so what is the Book of Mormon about anyway?" So we got talking, learned he's very religious and loves to read the bible, and in the end he took a copy of the Book of Mormon and told us he was very interested in reading it! His name is Mark, and the sisters who cover his ward were there too! They got him hooked up, and Mark said that he'd like to come to church, and also try to invite a friend! Go humanity!

Another experience last night also makes the highlights. Kid you not, we were walking around in a blizzard around 4th ward. Not only was it snowing, but it was drifting too. We figured it'd be a good chance to get inside with some potential investigators. When I first came into Moses, we tracted into a lady named Stephanie. We decided yesterday to go try by, (previous attempts hadn't worked) and she let us in! And we got talking to her family, and they are actually super-interested in getting some life questions answered. Stephanie's whole family is LDS, and we also got to teach half of a mini-Restoration to their 9-year old son, Issac who is super curious about God. The husband, Nick, is the owner of a local pizza joint around here, and he said we were more than welcome to swing by for lunch sometime and we can talk to him then. He believes in a Higher Power, and although he doesn't really know why so much bad happens in the world, he wants the best for his family. Kind of goes to show, someone tells you you can come back, never doubt it. This will be a great moment for teaching in 4th ward. 

And Bishop in 7th is going to set us up for a lesson with his friend who came to church too! 

Yep, good week this week! I also got the chance to make some Hokkaido bread on Saturday when we couldn't proselyte, and you know, bread-making is pretty fun! Therapeutic I would almost say. And speaking of medicine, don't worry about the Aczone stuff, I've got it covered with what I got. I'd love to talk more about what happened, but I am out of time. Until then, know that I love you! 

Michael

December 19, 2016

Hey Mom!                                                                                           December 19, 2016

This week:

Really cold weather, Elder Mayes, snow shoveling, bike excursions (in the cold) and prime rib!

To answer your immediate questions, we'll probably be skyping next Sunday around 2:00 our time. Not certain if that equates to mountain time, or if church in Alton is still at 9 in the morning, but either way! I guess we'll be talking to you then! Also, the reason I didn't have a Santa hat in that picture was because all those elders were from the same zone that decided to do that. In my defense, I was wearing my red tie.

As far as winter logistics go, I am staying warm! I do kind of miss not wearing my Newsie hat though, but I think it probably wouldn't have cut it for the cold. The Balaclava serves just as well for biking and walking, but as you saw from Bro. Richeson's email, 6 F is really cold. As a matter of fact, during the middle of the night it dips decently into the negatives. Fortunately we are indoors for most of it, and two of these occasions was for the ward Christmas parties! Both were stupendous to say the least, and while 4th ward dished out a great breakfast, the ham they served at 7th ward was absolutely superb! They even let us take a plate of it home for the holidays, and that was really nice.

I also am now serving with a certain Elder Mayes from Lovell, Wyoming. He got transferred in from Wenatchee. We've both been out for 17 months, so our teaching styles are pretty hand-in-hand. And the best part is, he appreciates my bone-dry sense of humor too! So we've been getting along great. His introduction into the area went smoothly. Our first day was spent walking around and helping people shovel snow after the fresh fall that took place Weds. night. So we shoveled the walk of the Brights in 7th ward, and also for an elderly lady named Pat who we had served before. It went well! But the majority of our work took place in seeing Less-active members of the wards. 

Those were awesome moments! As few as they may have been we got to know a lot of new people. A lot of new friends made! And both ward councils were really pleased at our efforts, something that always feels nice. I guess one funny story came when we took a biking tour across our area to Dune Lakes, housing for the ludicrously rich. Long story short, on route I actually stopped in front of a random house to let Elder Mayes catch up on bike. Because we were in no rush we decided to knock on the door, and turns out it was another LA member of the ward we hadn't known about! His name was Cameron, and he said we could come back to visit. Cool! When we got to Dune Lakes we biked around the whole one-street development looking for a house for a home belonging to a lady named Kelly, who lived at the very end of the whole road. Fortunately we took a shortcut back, but it dipped from the 10-15 degree range down to the 5-10 during the ride.

You know that line from the Sleigh Ride, "our cheeks are nice and rosy..." Yeah I don't think whoever wrote that knew what preliminary frost-bite felt like. Don't worry, we weren't in that range. But at one point it did get cold enough where we could see the shadow and mirage of our own breath. But at the end of the week we were treated to prime rib by the Calaway family. That was dang good prime rib, but the company the Calaways provided was even better! And in the end they gave us each a gift of a nerf gun. Hooray!

But probably the coolest moment occured when on Sun. one of the High Priests, Bro. Lybbert approached us. He had previously been out with us to see various LA/PMF families in the ward. One of the families we visited was the Hutsells, who have a daughter going to the temple in preparation for her mission to DC. Because we took Bro. Lybbert out with us to visit them, Catherine, the daughter, was able to find a ride down to the temple with him, and he really enjoyed talking to her on the way down. So Bro. Lybbert thanked us for introducing him to the family. Tender mercies you know?

Yeah, I guess I'm actually going to be calling you guys on Sunday, that'll be great! I love you guys all so much and am glad that you love the Lord. Keep finding ways to share that light He has given us, you never know how much light one small little flicker of a spark can create.

Love you!

Michael   

December 12, 2016

Hey Mom!                                                                                           December 12, 2016

This week:

The Christmas gathering, bike crashes, colder weather, and white elephant exchanges!

To answer your question, yes, I do know Elder Bird. As a matter of fact, he came out with me to the WYM. Funny story about that, when he stepped into the airport, Pres. Lewis embraced him and said something like "Elder Bird! Now all we need is Elder Bee," and then Elder Bee walked up and said "here I am." Yeah, kind of an old joke from the guys that came in then.

Also had to chukle at your Driver's license escapade. I always liked to say my incarnation of hell was being stuck in the DMV, with your number about to be called, but never being called for the rest of forever. Gives me the geebies just to think about it.

Yep, this week was the 2nd Christmas gathering of the mission, housed by the Yaetes in Quincy. They are a very kind family, when I served in Ephrata they had us over for P-day at their home a few times. All the North zones in the mission came down for the event, so I got to see Elders Painter, Allen, and a few others again! There was a very nice brunch, one that included famous Washington apple pie, and during the program every zone gave a musical performance followed by testimonies of Christmas. It was a lot of fun! We sang Little Drummer Boy, and some other zones included cello solos, ukulele accompanists, and professional-grade singing as well. After that we all watched Ephraim's Rescue, a very appreciated break from our media library.

I also got your packages,(Grandma Camit's also came on time as well!) but I haven't opened them yet. I decided that this year I would wait until Christmas to open them. That being said, is there anything perishable in any of them? Just thought I'd ask because I'd rather not have anything go bad for the sake of holiday tradition. That would be quite tragic. But either way, thank you so much for sending them! A package sent to a missionary is kind of like winning the lottery for most of us. Thanks again for all you love and support!

When we got back, it appeared that most of our appointments had started to fall through. Blast it all, the Sanzone's lesson fell through, but 7th ward is doing a great job in keeping them friend-shipped, so we can at least know we're not the only line of contact between them and the church.

For the rest of the week, things got a lot colder in terms of the weather. The first snow actually fell on Monday, and the first bike crash occurred the following day. You see I'd be fine and all to walk, but along with there being a mile-gap between our areas, Elder Sorenson insists that we bike for the sake of time. Guess I can't blame him. But several covered-ice slip and falls later, I think we may decide to change that. Especially for this next week, as on Sat. the high is supposed to be 9 F with a low of -7 or something like that. Yeah, it's getting cold here on the basin. As a matter of fact, Sorenson is actually getting transferred to Zillah on Weds. I'll be receiving a certain Elder Mays, so it'll be fun to see where that goes!

Work wise, we got in with a lot of Less Active families this past week, and most all of them agreed to let us come by and practice the lessons with them! It helps a lot to be a friend before you try anything else. Actually, just be a friend. Christ-like Love has a way of making things fall into place. One experience that sticks out was while we were out tracting in the said-cold, Matt Alvarado, a Less Active but super-solid member, was out to get his mail and invited us in. We talked a lot about his mission experince, and we got to practice a lesson with him. That prompted him to share with us what he called a "3-min Restoration," something he learned on his mission from the grandson of Pres. Packer. It lasted more than 3 mins, but let me tell you, it was like a spiritual shock-wave that showed us a new perspective in teaching. Hooray for being in the right place at the right time!

On a more humorous side of things, we had a breakfast/white-elephant party with the 7th ward council. It's funny because the last white elephant gift exchange I went too, I got that bar of Jesus soap that Hill had found from somewhere. I wasn't expecting that again, and fortunately I landed with some creme wafers instead. I think the next time I do one of those I'll just wrap a picture of myself for my gift. I'm not trying to be prideful, but someone suggested it and I thought it'd be pretty funny.

Anyhow I'd better wrap this up before I become too concerned in what I don't have time to include. There's so much that goes on, I wish I could just write it all so fluidly. But, life marches on. But yes, I am super looking forward to Christmas to skype back to you guys! I think it'd be a little fun to try to do a family Christmas sing-along or something like that. But always know that I love you guys no matter what season it is. I love how the Savior's love goes to all mankind, I've been turning a lot to hymn 198, O Savior, Thou who wearest a crown recently. Truly remarkable how much He lives for us, all of us. Sometimes I'm in awe in how patient he is with me. But we all have a divine potential, and He's helping us get there!

Love you all!

Michael