Letters from the Mormon Fort

P-Day Epistle 20 February 2012

2012-02-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Another week sucessfully navigated. It's only 11:30 and I have already had a full day of headaches and annoyances. Two doctor's appointments, one in the other mission and about 12 phone calls I have yet to return. I dislike being the only Elder in the District that has the ability to drive and sometimes it seems the only one in the Zone that really seems to know what's going on. From here I still have about 2 and a half hours before I can go and chase the zone leaders down and get everyone's mail from them since they feel that what they are doing is far more important than the needs and desires of everyone else. This happens constantly and I keep warning them that they may possibly be facing a mutiny, or worse, a hostile take-over. You cannot keep missionaries away from their mail on the only day that they are able to write letters. That's my momentary rant.

I had some interesting experiences throughout the week which involved the Spirit teaching me some things about cognitive behavior and neuropathway partnerships in the brain. Long story, but it involved cheese and apples and therefore I was happy. I'm going to ponder about it some more and maybe I learn some interesting things to use in helping others over-come addictive behaviors.

I heard an interesting quote the other day: "Mormon women don't nag, they just express their opinions." I like that and laughed for quite awhile. For any who I may have just offended, you choose to be offended.

Anyway, still lots to do. Toodles.

Love,

Elder Collins

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

P-Day Epistle 13 February 2012

2012-02-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

This has been a good week. The weather has been beautiful! It's been in the 70's all week.. which is really bizarre and absurd if you think about it for mid-February. It's been good for productivity though and we have been relatively busy all week. If it's this warm right now though it means that the summer is likely going to be pretty brutal.

I had the opportunity to speak in church on Sunday. One of our Bishops called friday night and said that one of the assigned speakers couldn't make it and would I be willing to speak ten to fifteen minutes about kindness. After I stopped laughing I said sure. It was a good talk I think. I spoke about the atonement and the kindness of the Father in sending the son and also the kindness and love showed through the restoration of the Gospel. The spirit was there and so I guess I didn't preach too much false doctrine!

Tomorrow we get to have interviews with President Neider and that's always fun. I started repenting last week so I won't feel too guilty speaking with him tomorrow... kidding... mostly. We have a new missionary in our apartment right now. He's waiting on his visa to go to Mexico. We had to explain to him that even though Mexico may be where he has been assigned to go, he has had the opportunity to come to the best mission in the world right here and sadly he will have to leave at some point. He didn't take it as hard as we thought he would. Tough kid.

Things are going well. Please don't send much for my Birthday.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 6 February 2012

2012-02-06T11:08:00.001-08:00

This computer has just about exhausted my last remaining thread on sanity and patience. The next e-mail you receive from me will be relating the sad tale of how it took 12 officers to restrain me and beat me half senseless in order to transport me to a holding area prior to my arraignment for property damage, assualt, and possible battery. It just took 40 minutes to get turned on, load everything and then load this page. Sigh. And so many people wonder why I am the way that I am.

Anyway, good week thus far. Transfers were on Tuesday and I have a new companion. Surprise surprise. He's from Philadelphia. Yes, I know, Finally the opportunity to serve with an East Coast Missionary! A new area was opened up for Sisters, so one of my Wards was given to them. Now I only have two wards to worry about, which is odd. I liked having three. The adjustment has been slow, but I'm working on it.

I've been sstudying a lot this week and have been working on programs in the Wards to facilitate missionary work more. I will be presenting my thoughts to the Ward Council this Sunday and going from there. I've also been developing a new scripture marking system. The Owens system that was so popular back in the 80's and early 90's hasn't won my heart. I'm working on a simpler approach that gives a broader over-view of the Book of Mormon; it's purpose and the general plot lines. I'm almost finished created scripture marking chains and now I just have to put it all down on paper so I can see the bigger picture and fill in any gaps. It should be completed by the end of the week, I hope. The goal is for someone to pick up the Book of Mormon, look at the pictures in the front and then read the highlighted references and have a complete overview of everything. I've really been enjoying it and when it's completed I"m going to show it to the Mission President and some selected members of the Wards and see what they think before I begin to actively use it as a teaching aid for member missionary work. Let's flood the earth...

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 30 January 2012

2012-01-30T11:09:00.001-08:00

Transfers time again! I'm staying here in East Las Vegas but I'm losing my companion. From the rumours that I'm hearing, the mission is in a stage of reboot so to speak. Lots of changes within Zones and companionship's for various reasons. It will be interesting to see how things turn out tomorrow when we find out all of the details.

Things have been going well so far. We still have many people to teach and share the Gospel with. Yesterday in church we were asked to speak about "how the spirit of missionary work changes lives" I spoke about the Atonement and how it's application in our personal lives changes us. I think that it went well. I commented about how in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus blessed those who hunger and thirst after righteousness that they would be filled and how we only hunger and thirst when we don't have our needs met for something. Then how Christ promised to fill those who searched, to make up the difference with those who lacked the perfection demanded of them by the Law of Justice in order to have Eternal Life. It was a fun study.

I made a mistake a few days ago. I've been using our blender to make fruit juice and smoothies lately just because it's quick and cheap. Well, I also discovered that you can get juice from an onion. A lot of juice in fact. That was about 4 days ago. My hands still smell like onion. Don't bother asking what I did with a bottle full of onion juice. I definitely wouldn't have converted it to an aerosol discharge...

My study of the Book of Mormon continues to go well. As soon as I have completed reading it through again with noting the many testimonies borne of Christ, I'm planning on going through it again but this time looking closer at references to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (or something along those lines). Given the political situation currently and possible the future one I'm curious to see exactly what the Lord has to say about political structure, His stance on certain issues and how He inspires His leaders in times of war or political rule. I could make a whole bunch of politically charged statements at the moment but won't.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day epistle 23 January 2012

2012-01-23T11:15:00.001-08:00

I received my flight information. I have some mixed feelings about it. They hover somewhere between elation and supernal joy...

This has been a good week though. We have been finding a lot of new people to teach and share the Gospel with and that is always fun. I've been learning a lot and started reading the Book of Mormon over again, this time highlighting specific testimonies borne of Christ. There's a lot but sometimes you have to look for them. Last year we read it through highlighting references to Him and His words and that put a lot of color into the book. There's almost an infinite number of things to look for and study about in that blue book.

There are so many things to write about that I was thinking about this morning but now my mind has gone blank. I hate when that happens. Anyway, I'm alive and eating well.. too well..

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 16 January 2012

2012-01-16T12:51:00.001-08:00

We still haven't caught that peacock. Not only can they fly but they can run fast as well.

I had the rest of the dental work done this week. Turns out that it was easier to just break the old crown off and put a new one on. That wasn't too much fun, but now I'm just waiting for the new one to come in and I have an appointment on the first of February to have it put on. Yay. Hopefully that will solve all of the problems. The last root canal wasn't much fun at all.. and they wouldn't even give me good stuff! Take 800mg of Advil... sigh. It's all good though.

We met an awesome woman this week that is in the process of returning to the Church. Working with her is so much! As we teach and talk to her she remembers bits and peices and is slowly discovering that she actually does have a testimony of the truth. We are looking forward to continuing to help her grow closer to our Savior and feel comfortable meeting all of the new people at Church. It's going to be quite an adventure.

We finally had some awesome service. It's so hard to get people to let us help them down here. We found a member though that needed help putting a new timing belt on his car, and so we were able to help with that. It was so much fun to put on jeans and a t-shirt and get greasy. It felt manly. I liked it.

We had a fireside last night for recent converts and investigators hosted by the mission. I thought about not attending, but then decided that I really wanted to and I'm glad that I did. I saw a man that I had worked with in North Las Vegas a little over a year ago. He has an interview to recieve the Melchizedek Priesthood and is teaching the 8 year olds in Primary! That made me so happy. I'm so glad that he is thriving in the Gospel. He also told me that he has read all of the Book of Mormon!

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, in one of our Wards yesterday a Sister spoke about studying the Book of Mormon and made a comment about going through and highlighting every testimony of Christ in it. It's similar to what we did as a mission a year in that we read through in a month and highlighted every reference to Christ, His words, and His charateristics and attributes. I've decided that I'm going to go through and highlight every testimony borne of Christ throughout the book. It should be awesome and hopefully I'll get it done before I come home.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 9 January 2012

2012-01-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

So it's been a fun and exciting week, for the most part. We have several new famlies that we are teaching and helping progress towards baptism. I am not sure if there will be any baptisms on our part this month, but surely next month. It's just been a bit hard getting transfered into this area and not having anything to work with. The Lord has been blessing us richly however and we have a wonderful pool of people that we are working with. The next several weeks and months should be filled with so many people partaking of the full blessings of the Gospel.

One interesting thing happened in a lesson. We were in the middle of sharing the message of the Restoration of the Gospel and were just about to start talking about the First Vision and Joseph Smith. The gentleman has been attending church for about a year now and knows all of this stuff anyway. I felt prompted to ask him if he had ever prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true or not instead of proceeding with the discussion. His answer surprised me. He said that he had never felt the need to and didn't understand why he should. What a magnificient illumination! It really got me thinking though. Each one of us must come to the satisfaction of knowing what's in the Gospel for us. His chief concern was that he didn't understand "what's in it for me" and "how does it apply to me today". The same goes for each of us. If we don't understand why we do the things that we do, or why we believe the things that we profess to believe, then what are we really doing? Each of us must come to know what the Gospel really means to us. What the Savior really means to us. What the blessings promised really mean to us. If we don't, then we are like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro. Asking frequently questions like, "what has Jesus really done for me?","what can I possibly gain by keeping the commandments","Do I want my family to be together forever?","How does any of this affect me today?" and so on can have a profound effect on who we are. I learned alot this week. Mind you, there are better questions to ask, but those are just example I suppose.

Love,

Elder Collins

2012-01-02T12:59:00.001-08:00

This Christmas I began to work on a Christmas scripture message in which both the Bible and the Book of Mormon were used. What follows is what my companion and I came up with. It starts with a Book of Mormon verse and then alternates every verse with the Bible. It's easy to see how they compliment each other.

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and other cites. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.

And in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man who name as Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the Angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored, the lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin who thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.

And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary; for thou has found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus.

And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the spirit; and after she has been carried away in the spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And the angel said until me: Behold the lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And after he said these words, he said unto me: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of me; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship Him. And I beheld that He went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to hear him; and I beheld that they cast him out from among them.

He is despised and rejected of me; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; he was despised and we esteemed him not.

And it came to pass that the Angel spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that He was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the Everlasting God was judged of the world.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with His stripes her are healed.

And after all this, after working many mighty miracles among the children of men, He shall be led, crucified and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.

Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus.

And He shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, He standeth to judge the world.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where to they have laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of Him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of Him: That he lives! That He came into the world, even Jesus, t be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through Him all might be saved whom the Father had put into His power and made by Him.

2012-01-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

P-dy Epistle 2 January 2012

2012-01-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

When I was in Elko someone told me that peacocks were all white meat. I just sort of filed that away because it was interesting but not really relevant. Well, I learned a few things this week. Number 1. Peacocks can run fast. Number 2. Peacocks can fly. Abraham Lincoln once said that each person will have two great opportunities in life and we must ask ourselves if this is the first one, or the second one. Hopefully the first because the bird flew up onto the roof of a house so we couldn't catch it. Probably for the best, I can't imagine what it would have been like to get a peacock into the trunk of a Corolla and worse yet, get him back out of it. I've placed a baseball bat in the car now for future use... kidding.

This has been a good week though. I've been working with the Elders here in the District on having SEED moments. It's an acronym that means Spiritual Experiences Expected Daily. I had the thought when I first got here that what we all needed some increased motivation. I wanted that motivation to be directed down the proper avenues so hence the SEED. With all of use specifically looking for moments of Spirituality and blessings our faith has increased and with that increase in faith has come increased motivation to perform works of righteousness. The results have been amazing but I am more excited about the effect that it has had on the missionaries. I always try to stress to the Missionaries that I serve that I don't care about what their numbers are for the day so much as I care about what their prayers are at the end of the day. Lessons fall through, people have agency, things happen. What I care about the most is that at the end of the day they can kneel down in prayer and give an accounting for their day's labors and not feel the need to shy away or feel guilty. If they can offer to the Lord their whole hearts and not feel guilty about what they've done, then I am happy. That will increase their effectiveness and confidence more than me stressing lessons taught or referrals received. Missionaries who serve the Lord and do what He wants them to do are what I'm aiming at. Everything else is ancillary. It's all about working in the right direction.

I had a fun experience on New years eve. We were at a party for the In-Valley missionaries at the mission office and one of my Elders began to compalin about having severe pain. He had a kidney stone last week and thought that perhaps this was another one. I loaded him up in my car and drove to the hospital to get him looked at. Everything checked out alright, and he is doing just fine now but we managed to leave the emergency room at about a minute past midnight. The fireworks were going off on the strip and lucky us, the hospital we went to is only about 2 or 3 miles East of the Strip. We had a good fireworks show for a minute or two before we scuttled off to Walgreens to get his prescriptions filled and to drop him back off at his apartment, pick up mine and head back to our place. We finally got home about one in the morning. Quite the adventure and way to start off the New Year!

We met a family here and the Husband is from Eastern New Jersey, not far off the bridge. We hit it off right away and he ended up giving me a tin of Old Bay seasoning! Woo! I had just spoken to my companion a day or two previous that you couldn't find it out here. Now I have some.. just need some shrimp and crab now...

Christmas was great and I really appreciate all of the gifts that people sent me.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-day Epistle 26 December 2011

2011-12-26T13:12:00.001-08:00

Well, a new area and all the people do here is scream at you... ok, funny I know... I'm just East of where I was previously serving. It's a much different area and dynamic than I had before, but the work is still the same no matter what. We have three wards now and they are rather large, but we are working through it. My new companion is still learning a lot since this is only his third transfer out. Well, for that matter I'm still learning a lot!

Christmas was good. We had the three wards to go to and then calling home was a lot of fun. We had some members invite us over for dinner and it was really good, we have a lot of left-overs filling up our fridge. I've only been here about a week so I really don't haveuch of an opinion on what's going on. I just know that I'm a District Leader (again, yay!) with two other companionships that need some extra love. It's like the Lord has given me two eyars to learn and now this is my final exam. I've never seen a situation quite like this one and it's going to take a lot of prayer and study to figure out some solutions. I have every confidence however that things will work out the way that they are supposed to.

Sitting in Church yesterday a woman told a story about how she volunteered to help out at a homeless shelter. She decided to take her children with her to help them get an idea of what it means to serve others and the like. They were gathering clothing to donate and she kept telling the children that they couldn't give away their good stuff, just the old stuff that didn't fit or wasn't nice enough to wear anymore. As they were walking out the door she felt prompted to return and bring a pair of shoes and finally decided on her favortie pair of running shoes. Later while they were serving food to the homeless she saw a woman who was about 8 months pregnant, had no shoes and was very obviously homeless. She gave that pair of shoes to the woman and then spoke about her feelings doing so. It reminded me of something that happened to me about three or four months ago.

We were working with a woman who had just recently been baptized and she had been laid off. With no money to pay her rent she was being evicted from her tiny apartment in one of the worst areas of Las Vegas because she couldn't afford it. Concerned for her, we asked her what she was going to do or where she was going to go since she didn't have any family out here. She turned and looked at us and said, "It doesn't matter what I do or where I go. I'd like to not end up on the streets, but if that's what happens then I'm sure I'll be ok. I already have the most important thing to me, and that's the Gospel. No one can take it from me and it will always be with me." She had all that she truly needed, and everything else was just nice wants to her. She has since found a job and an apartment to live in and her testimony is stronger than ever. To me that is the most important gift that we can give, not only this time of the year, but always. The gift that will always be with us no matter what; that will comfort and guide us and always help us.

Merry Christmas to all!

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 19 December 2011

2011-12-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, transfers again. Don't know where I"m going but I need to be at the Mission office at about 2:15 to find out. Sigh. 6 Days before Christmas. I've been trying to send my bike home but UPS and Fedex are ridiculously over-priced this time of year. I'm going to work on finding someone that can send it on a corporate rate or something, either that or leave it here. The bike store close by quoted me at $60 to send it, but the UPS store itself said that it would be $160. I like the bike but not that much I think... I'll go to the bike store later today if I have a chance and see if they can give me a better rate again. It might just be inflated because of Christmas.

Things are going pretty well for the moment. I've got most of my packing done for the transfer. I really think that I have two more areas left on my mission, but I only have this transfer and two more to go and then I'm home! Maybe this will be my last area. I'm working on slimming down my luggage. I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated... I don't know how I've done it...

The weather remains beautiful here. The Book is still blue, the church is still true..

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 12 December 2011

2011-12-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

This has been a great week! We had a baptism on Saturday. We have been teaching C for awhile now and because of complications with custody and legal address the baptism was delayed until we could figure everything out. Finally while working with another companionship of Missionaries, two Bishops, two families, and the Mission President, we got everything all worked out and I had the privilege of baptising him this past Saturday. It was so great to have been there with him through everything- watching him absorb and process everything that we taught and gain an understanding and testimony for himself.

We have also had an interesting week of languages. We taught a man from South Africa who we assumed would have spoken Afrikaans.. but he did not. He spoke French, Swahili and Zulu. It's better that way anyway, we have a lot of people in the ward who speak French and I can get by alright with it. We have no one that speaks Afrikaans or Dutch. Yesterday we taught a family from Bhutan. We brought two members with us, one that spoke Hindi and one that spoke Hindi and Nepali. The man who spoke Hindi taught for awhile and then the man who spoke Nepali would fill in the gaps in Nepali when the family didn't completely understand something. We didnt know that Brother Ghaley spoke Hindi, but apparently he worked in India for four years to support his family before they came to America. That was incredibly helpful. We had to really follow the Spirit to correct one of them while they were teaching or to ask them to add something or ask a question. It was amazing and was possibly one of the most powerful and interesting lessons I've had on the mission so far. The conclusion is either the family learns English or we learn Nepali in order to communicate better. It will be interesting to see which happens first.

Things continue to go well. I still dont really need anything for Christmas.

Love,

Tim

P-Day Epistle 5 December 2011

2011-12-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

It almost feels like winter here. The temperature has been in the low 50's most of this week and windy so I have had the opportunity to pull out my hat and gloves from their long storage from last year. I was excited to see that a few mornings ago it was actually in the mid 40's. I love watching people bundle up in thick ski coats and parkas that look as if they could be used to cross anarctica. I suppose living in the desert and never really know what real cold is like will do strange things to you.

I've just recently gotten over a head cold. It started setting in on Wednesday and made me feel just terrible for a few days before clearning up. I found out that a entire mouth-full of Sudafed is almost enough medication... also that the amount of alcohol in Nyquil is just enough to have an AWESOME reaction with the narcotics in Vicodin... kidding. About both of those. I don't know how or why but the Lord continues to bless us so abundantly. I think at times it is simply out of pity. I feel like one of those kids in the Spring doing a community Easter Egg hunt and coming away with no eggs at all and out of some sort of pity/charity someone gives me a few of their eggs so I won't cry out of dissapointment. It is just so great to watch how readily the hand of the Lord is present in the lives of each of His children. Saturday my companion and I went to administer a blessing to a member of the ward and she gave us some cough drops (we were both feeling a bit under the weather still and no medication seemed to help at all) and while we were returning to our vehicle to proceed to the next appointment we walked over to the dumpster to throw away the wrappers from the cough drops that we were already devouring. As we turned around there was a bag with a bottle and two cans of V-8 in it. It hadn't been there when we went through the parking lot the first time and I hadn't noticed it when we approached the dumpster. Well, we took that vegetable juice home and drank it and yesterday we were both feeling up to par again. It is so easy to overlook those tender mercies.

We are teaching a man from Nigeria and he made a comment the other day that I am still chuckling to myself about. He said that when he was at home in Nigeria he wouldn't touch a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was because to him when the missionaries or other people would talk about it it sounded like they were say the Book of Mammon and the Bible says that we are not to serve Mammon. I suppose that you had to be there, but Mormon and Mammon sound an awful lot alike in a Nigerian accent. That was a concern that I never even thought about and I rather enjoy it. I can imagine attending Church in western Africa and hearing the Sunday-School teacher say "And we learn in the Book of Mammon...". Perhaps it is only my own twisted sense of humor that finds this funny, but oh well, I laugh and I enjoy doing it.

I heard an interesting story yesterday in Church and I don't know if I fully believe it or not, but once again, I laughed at it. Supposedly in a meeting with Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve the question was asked "just how does the Lord choose a new prophet?" and he answered "He kills off all of the ones that he doesn't want". For some reason that stroked my funny bone just right.

My new term for awhile "Spiritual Alchemy". It came to mind in the middle of lesson about repentance and change of heart. I love it and it makes me happy.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 28 November 2011

2011-11-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was great! On Tuesday a member gave us a turkey that he had recieved for free. Some kind of Buy One get one free deal at the grocery store. Honestly, we were at a loss. What were two missionaries plus their missionary roomates going to do with a 22 pound turkey? That's a lot of bird. We spoke to the other Elders and asked if any of their investigators could benefit from it. They were able to think of a few who had no money and one that didn't even have a refrigerator. Thursday morning we placed the turkey in our oven to cook and in a few hours we came home to a most wonderful aroma. The turkey was done (and it didn't burn the apartment down, super beneficial!). We carved out the two enormous breasts, one to go to each family and put the rest of the meat aside in case we came across someone else who wouldn't be able to have a meal that day. The spirit confirmed to us that what we were doing was wonderful in the sight of our Father in Heaven and we rejoiced at being able to be in the service of others. The families recieved the food with gratitude and thankfulness.

The mission did an in-valley activity that morning. All of the missionaries in the valley congregated in North Las Vegas to play some games together and to just have fun. President and Sister Neider brought their family that was visiting with them for the holiday and we all had a lot of fun.

It is so much fun to watch how the Lord is providing and blessing the people here in this area. Between my companionship and the other one that we share the ward with, there will be a baptism every single weekend in December! We are continuing to work hard to perpetuate that into January and to build off of the wonderful Spirit and power that those ordinances bring. As a matter of fact we just came from an appointment with a wonderful man from Nigeria who agreed to be baptized on New Years eve! We are also awaiting delivery of two copies of the Book of Mormon in Afrikaans for some investigators that we have from South Africa. I'm certaintly learning a lot of foreign cultures here!

We have been focusing a lot on being exactly obedient in all that we do and to seek the will of the Lord in all that we do. Often it is easy to get into a pattern of doing things and not really thinking about why you are doing them. We are striving to pause for a moment and ask Him how He wants things done and the effects have been so amazing.

I had the opportunity to hear from a few people that I helped to come into the Gospel this week and it was so wonderful to see how well they are continuing to progress and build their testimonies. That was so nice to hear.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 21 November 2011

2011-11-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

It is really good to hear that so many have heeded the Prophets call for more Missionaries to enter into the service of the Lord.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and we have a dinner already planned out. Much to the disappointment of my companion I continue to turn down further offers of feasting and merriment. I like the way that my clothes fit and do not have the money to purchase additional coverings for my body. It is possible to take a black bed sheet and make a skirt and a white bed sheet to make a poncho or serape type of dress from it, but I am a bit worried about the chilly breezes. We don't need any Marilyn Monroe moments or anything.

The Lord has been really blessing us. lately. We have so many people to teach and it has been keeping us really busy. The Ward Members are really getting involved in the effort too and have been so generous in providing referrals for us to contact. We are anticipating so many baptisms this transfer and hopefully the next as well. The Lord has been guiding us to those who are ready for the Gospel and sustaining us in our efforts as we walk all over the place and climb stairs and fight giant desert cockroaches and sewer rats. If we return home at the end of the day with the aroma of cheap beer, stale cigarettes, and hand sanitizer we know that we had a successful day. I want to wander around in the draining tunnels but my companion is likely a bit wiser than I and won't allow it. There are tons of people who live down there who are just without hope.

My companion and I are having so much fun together and are getting along great.. maybe too great at times, but we are behaving ourselves for the most part. There was an incident of water balloons and writing bizarre messages in shaving cream on bathroom mirrors. The joy of that is that you wipe the shaving cream off and when the mirror fogs up from the shower the message appears. One day I will use my powers for good and not for evil... one day.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 14 November 2011

2011-11-14T11:03:00.001-08:00

Transfers came and went and of course I have remained in my area, since my companion returned back home. My new companion is awesome. This is his second area and I am his second companion, but he is really really great. He is from Mesa, but I try not to let that get in the way of getting along with him. We are working really hard and are finding new people to teach. This is such a culturally diverse area so the lessons can be interesting sometimes... especially when we need an interpreter for Hindi, Nepali, French, Aramaic, or any number of African Tribal dialects. We had a wonderful lesson with a gentleman from Nigeria this morning just before I sat down at the computer. We have a Liberian member that we are going to bring with us on Thursday when we come back because it is a little difficult for us to understand the cultural and religious difference at the moment.

I haven't seen the Weiner-mobile in awhile. Sadness.

The Lord has really been blessing us with the ability to just go out and work all day long every day. I'm putting a lot of mileage on my shoes and I love it! We bumped into a woman from Yugoslavia Saturday and she kept talking to us in Croatian, I think. I don't believe it was Serbian because she kept gesturing her dislike of the Serbs. It was really odd but I understood almost everything that she was saying. That was really fun, actually. We saw her later that day in her apartment peeling potatoes. This area is strange though. In every area I've ever been in we get yelled at a lot and people are generally quite disagreeable to us. Here we really haven't had a harsh word said to us except for a drunk woman who demanded that my companion give her his (insert expletive) tie. That was fun. She was so fouled up that she was using crutches, and even with the additional two legs she wasn't doing too well. It is really sad to see the things that people do to themselves seeking for happiness and meaning out of life.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 7 November 2011

2011-11-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

I can honestly say that I feel a new chapter of my life has been opened before me. Saturday we were driving to lunch and I saw something, perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity, that forced me take action. It was as if some unseen power grabbed on to the steering wheel and directed the car into a parking spot and I was carried as if on the wings of angels next to the most fabulous contraption ever contrived by man on Earth. Yes, I saw the weiner-mobile. I got a weenie whistle too! That was likely the highlight of the day actually, a little sad if you think about it, but awesome at the same time because now I feel like I have some closure to my childhood and can begin being an adult.... Ok I know I'm not kidding anyone with that one.

The weather has been beautiful here, in the 60's during the day and 40's at night. Lots of people walking around bundled up in winter parkas and then there is me in short sleeves. We are anticipating a baptism on the 12th which is just fantastic. It just takes some leg work for one Bishop to talk to another and an interview to be done and we are good to go. He is one of the most amazing ten year olds I have ever seen. He listens to every work that we teach and then he actually processes it and tries to understand it all. He is going to be an amazing addition to the Deacons Quorum when he is old enough.

My companion is going home and so that means I'll be getting a new one on Tuesday. I'm a little bit excited because it means that I don't have to get to know a new area, but it does mean that I'll have to get to know a new companion. It will be fun to see who the Lord tells me that I can learn from. It has been interesting helping him to get everything ready to return home. He is handling it much better than other missionaries I have seen that are ready to go home.

I got a call from Elko about a week ago letting me know that two of my investigators up there were baptized! That was really exciting to here. I'll have to ask for pictures and an updated address for one of them so I can send a letter of congratulations and let them know that I haven't forsaken them.

Oh Lord, forgive my whine, but if it be Thy will, could you please provide me with some cheese and crackers to go with it?

Love,

Elder Collins

2011-10-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

P-Day Epistle 31 October 2011

2011-10-31T10:00:00.001-07:00

So today for halloween I thought about wearing a blue shirt and red bow-tie and say that I was dressed up as a real person.. but then decided that a little pile of ash with a name-tag on top of it wouldn't be a good costume either. Sigh. God created me with this sense of humor and then I think He laughs a little bit when He watches me attempt to control and subdue it. I actually did enjoy a brief period of levity. I carved a pumpkin for our doorstep this evening but forgot the picture of it on my camera at home. I put a shirt and a tie on the pumpkin. I thought that it was pretty amusing.

The weather here is finally nice! It was 59 when I left the apartment this morning, which I understand is much better than what is going on there. Snow this early in October? That actually sounds like a lot of fun but I can't imagine it will be too good for the apple crops. That's a sad thought. The last time I saw real snow was almost a year ago down in Arizona and even then it was only an inch or two. Actually we had a lot of snow up in Elko in the mountains, but that didn't really count because throwing a snowball in shorts and a t-shirt just isn't as fun for some reason. It just feels wrong and slightly unwholesome, like flying a kite at night.

Things are going well. The people here are different from any other area that I've served in so it is an interesting opportunity to learn different skills in communication and conversation. This is one of the older meetinghouses in the mission and it has a real pipe organ instead of the electronic ones that are in 99 percent of the building around the world. The sound difference is really quite something else... when you have someone that knows what they are doing. Mistakes are not as easily forgivable as they are on an electronic organ.

Love,

Elder Collins

P.s. Christmas is fast approaching. Just saying.

P-Day Epistle 24 October 2011

2011-10-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

Got an e-mail from the mission office today. Apparently it is deemed too unsafe to go out and work this Halloween evening so we will be staying indoors watching a movie. The movie of choice has been designated as "17 Miracles". I've heard that it's good so I guess now I have an opportunity to see if the rumors are true! Last year being out on Halloween was a bit awkward. Everyone thought we were dressed up and didn't want to listen to us. I REALLY don't want to be out on Halloween in this area anyway. There's enough evil and weirdness out just during the day.

Heather finally made it to Brazil! That's super-exciting! I am really happy for her. It also means that letters are now going to cost 98 cents each and take two weeks to get back and forth. Oh well. The sacrifices we make to serve the Lord.. I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures and brushing up on my Portuguese (ñao é bom).

The weather is finally starting to turn nice. It's going to be in the mid-70's this week and the low 50's at night (woo hoo!) People around here seem to think that is terribly chilly or something. There are still a lot of people out on the street to talk to however.

We had an awesome conference with Elder Marlin K Jensen of the seventy on Friday. It was great! He taught about levels of faith and how certain miracles are predicated upon our faith and obedience. I took a lot of notes and am still wading through them trying to make sense of everything and actually organize it so that I can read it in a month from now.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 17 october 2011

2011-10-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

This week has been hot!! What on earth?! It's the middle of October and it's in the mid-90's. Gross. Having the car makes it nicer than last year being a bike when it was over 120 some days. You get on the bike after an appointment and it feels like the flesh of your hands is being seared into the grips on the handlebars. I won't even mention the seat.

This is a neat area. It's the most colorful that I've served in so far with North Las Vegas being a close second. I don't hear gunshots quite so often here though, maybe the walls of the apartment are really well insulated or something. The members are great. They literally come from all walks of life and the corners of the globe. There are so many different languages spoken in the hallways and we are constantly ordering copies of the Book of Mormon in different languages to meet needs here. The food is yummy too! We had a member feed us Brazilian food last week and I'm tempted to write to Heather and let her know to be careful because it's heavy food and I really wanted a nap afterwards! It was so good though!

Elder Marlin K Jensen of the Seventy is coming to speak this week and I'm really excited about that. I think it's going to be a lot about Preach My Gospel but oh well. It should still be a really neat conference. I'll do my best to behave myself. no promises.

Anwyay, have to get going.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 10 oct 2011

2011-10-10T11:10:00.001-07:00

It's been one of those weeks. Due to unforseen circumstances medically in another companionship, we were working together like the 3 Nephites for this week until the other Elder got better and left the mission home where he was being cared for. That was really interesting. It forced me to be nice and work with others. I suppose the Lord had a good reason for teaching me that, can't imagine why though. It is good to be back to normal with just the companion that's been assigned to me working in the area that we're supposed to be in.

The work is slow right now, not just for us but for all of the areas here in the zone. We are working hard, but right now there just isn't that much reaping to be done. I have my theories as to why, but they aren't very polite and so I won't give them voice at this time.

The weather here is starting to get nicer. It's only getting into the 70's during the day now. I'm starting to see more and more people walking around in winter coats and hats. This morning it was 55 degrees and felt wonderful!

We are teaching a few people right now but are always on the look-out for more.

Other than that things are going pretty well. I don't really have too much to complain about!

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 3 oct 2011

2011-10-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

This has been a long week. We got to go to the Temple on Thursday which was wonderful. It has been so long! General Conference was simply amazing. It was great to see Elder Hales there and to hear him speak.

I'm in the Paradise section of Las Vegas, which is pretty much the central valley. It's the equivalent of serving in Philadelphia or Wilmington. It's not terrible, but sometimes it gets pretty raunchy depending on how close to strip we are. That wonderful thing called freedom of speech and freedom of the press is widely abused here. My new companion is great! He is going home at the end of this transfer and is one of the most loving, tender and reverent people I've ever personally known. It's a real privilege to be allowed to be his final companion. I haven't had much of an opportunity to meet many members because of General Conference, but that will change this coming sunday of course. We have a car which is wonderful, but also awkward. A lot of people think we are the police because of it. Oh well. The guilty need the Gospel just as much as the next person, probably more so!

I've been giving my circumstances a lot of thought and I've decided that come what may, I'll love it. I haven't been to the doctor yet because everything is getting mixed up due to the time differences, but eventually it will get taken care of. I made the decision to serve the Lord for two years, so in a sense I am in bondage to Him. He decides the date of my release and if it is to be earlier than anticipated, then so be it. Until that happens however, I will remain in Las Vegas regardless of other circumstances or physical ailments. It will be quite interesting.

Love,

Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 19 Sep 2011

2011-09-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

I had a moment to think a few days ago and so I pulled out the calendar on the cell phone and counted how many days that I have left on my mission. Probably not the most productive use of time, but at least it kept me occupied for about 5 minutes. Depending on what happens with transfers in a week, I may only have one more area left on my mission. That's kind of an odd feeling. I'm used to being transferred around every three months like clock-work almost and now I'm sitting in the same place for months on end. It's not bad, just different. It gives me more of an opportunity to get to know the people here, and believe it or not I'm actually growing to like them. I know, me who doesn't like anyone.

This has been a good week. Not a whole lot going on right now, but we have a few new people to teach. The weather has been amazing lately. We even had a bunch of rain a few days ago, and it was real rain! We got probably an inch or so with lots of thunder and lightning. I was sharing a lesson at our dinner appointment and made a comment about how if we would all just live the Ten Commandments God wouldn't need to micro-manage so much and give us tons of other commandments. When I said that there was a loud clap of thunder outside so I apologized quickly. Maybe I should focus on keeping my mouth shut sometimes.

On another note, transfers are this weekend! I will find out details Saturday evening and then if I'm departing I'll need to get everything packed up and ready to head south on Monday morning. I'd really like to stay up here, but I suppose that want the Lord wants is more important than what I want. Maybe He will decide that there are still things that I need to do or learn up here. I might get to see some snow next transfer!

I heard a great line yesterday in Church: "My ears stopped listening before your mouth stopped talking"!!! I love it. Just thought that I would share that.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 9 Sep 2011

2011-09-12T10:31:00.001-07:00

Well this has certainty been an exciting week. We went on an exchange earlier this week. My companion had the truck assigned to us and another Zone Leader with him. The day went well, until about eight in the evening when I get a text message "We have two flat tires and need your spare". What a great way to end your evening, driving 20 miles into the middle of nowhere to change a flat tire. It could have been worse though... and it got worse. They called back and told me not to worry about it, that they had some other Elders on the way to help them. The spirit just kept telling me that I needed to go out there so we kept driving. When we finally arrived there was one truck with two flat tires and another with an obliterated front end. It lost a fight with a deer.

I made some phone calls and parked the truck at a members home about a mile away so it was safe for the night and then we headed back to town. In the morning I arranged to have another member with a trailer tow it back into town for us and drive it around so that we could get estimates. After 3 estimates about eight hours of work we were finally told to park it because Salt Lake was going to send an insurance adjuster out to look at it. So now we are down a vehicle and there is no estimate on when exactly it will be repaired either. It's just one of those things I suppose. Everything will work out.

The weather has been great here. It usually doesn't get above 80 in the day and in the evenings it drops down to about 45 to 50 degrees. Just fantastic! We both spoke in Church yesterday, on Missionary work of course. I talked about how the two most important building blocks to missionary work is to build faith and teach repentance. With those two as a foundation all other things fall into place and it places an individual on a pathway that will lead them to the Temple and all other blessings that are available to them. I guess I must be a good speaker, or at least an entertaining one because I've been asked to speak quite often in this area. I rather enjoy it.

We were talking to a man that got baptized two weeks ago over dinner. I asked him how he was enjoying being an official member of the Church now and if he had noticed any changes in his life. He smiled and said, "yeah, I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about confession anymore!" (He was Catholic). I suppose you have to know him and had to be there to get the full humor of that, but I laughed for quite awhile. What a huge change has come over him, you can see it in his smile and how he speaks.

All-in-all it hasn't been a bad week. No one died, except Bambi and last time I checked the Gospel is still true.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 5 September 2011

2011-09-05T11:32:00.001-07:00

It has been an alright week. The two baptisms that we had scheduled for Saturday went through wonderfully. It was an amazing experience. The couple was confirmed by my companion and I Yesterday in Church. The spirit was there so powerfully.

I've always held an affinity of sorts for the Prophet Jonah. I feel like I know him even better now after this past week. You can say that I've spent my time in the belly of the whale. The last few days have found me pleading for deliverance and Lo and behold, the only way out is through the path that I continually try to avoid. How frustrating and annoying at times. It's almost as if the Lord really wants me to do something and He knows that the only way that I'll learn the lesson that I'm supposed to is by doing it His way. Sigh. At this point the mouth of the great slimy thing is open and it's up to me to leap out and allow myself to be delivered or to stay put and be miserable some more. When I put it into those terms the choice seems to obvious but when everything is going on in a maelstrom of activity, it's not so cut and dry.

I heard a fantastic joke yesterday: An old monk loved to read the scriptures in their native language and so every evening he would climb a bell-tower with an old scroll and sit and read for hours and hours. One morning he didn't come down for breakfast and the other monks feared the worst, that he had finally passed away from old age. They climbed the steps up the tower and when they finally reached the top they found the old monk sitting there crying and crying. They asked him what was wrong and he finally choked out that there was a mistranslation in the scriptures. When they asked him what he was talking about he yelled out "it says celebrate!!"

Think about it and it will come to you. I laughed for awhile about that one. I also heard one that scripturally proves that there will be no women in heaven. I know, I was skeptical too, but you can't argue with the word of God. In Revelations 8:1 and in D&C 88:95 it says that at the second coming of Christ there will be silence in the Heavens for the space of half an hour. Proof that women aren't in Heaven... Ok, not as funny, but I still laughed at it.

Anyway, things are going well. The weather is beautiful and I love it. After those jokes I am reminded of a scripture in Amos, Chapter 8:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:

I think I should prepare myself for the famine of not hearing the words of anyone else for awhile..

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 1 September 2011

2011-09-01T11:06:00.001-07:00

We had three baptisms this weekend and we have two more coming up for this weekend. It's all incredible exciting. So many souls brought to Christ. All three were miracles though and I really take no credit for them. One of them had been taught for six years and finally decided that the time was right for him. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The other two were taught in Orem, Utah and then moved here shortly before their baptism date and we picked them up, finished teaching them and helped them to be baptized. Just a tender mercy from the Lord. The young family coming up this weekend is similar. They have member friends who shared the Gospel with them and helped them to see blessings that they were missing out on. By the time we entered the scene they had already made up their mind that they wanted to be baptized. All we needed to do was teach them. They converted themselves with the help of the Spirit.

The weather is still wonderful here. It's in the high 40's in the morning and sometimes reaches the mid-90's during the day. Still too warm for me, but considering the alternatives, I'll take it.

I have been trying to increase the member relations and work here lately. I was thinking a few days ago during a training that I was giving that when the Lord commands us to thrust in our sickles with our might and reap while the field is white (see D&C 4) He also wants us to think about who planted and prepared that field. More often than not it was done by the members, through their testimonies, and examples. Missionary work is not just for full-time missionaries. Our responsibility is to invite others to come unto to Christ and we are given the opportunity to exercise the keys of the gathering of Israel to prepare a people for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. That involves more than just baptizing. That is more than just finding and tracting. Missionary work is bringing others to Christ, period. That means that every member of the Church needs to get involved in the process and help each other.

Love,
Elder Collins

2011-08-25T10:59:00.001-07:00

http://mormon.org/me/5CG9/

P-Day Epistle 25 august 2011

2011-08-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

President Neider came up yesterday to interview each of us. It was such an amazing experience. I've been looking forward to sitting down with him since he first entered the mission field in July. He is incredible and I really enjoyed our conversation together. I truly cannot express how excited I am to continue working with him and his wife. We talked a lot about the progress of the mission and I was relieved to see that the revelation that I have been receiving lately fits perfectly with the path that everything is currently going. It's eerie, but good at the same time. I don't need to understand everything yet, I just need to be faithful and continue doing what the Lord asks me to do.. even if it makes no sense at first.

Late breaking news, our Preparation Day is going to be officially changed to Monday starting the first Monday in September, which is the 5th I believe. That will be interesting. Thursday is a good day for it, but then with weekly planning on Friday, you just feel useless until Saturday sometimes. So that's the official notice then, Starting in September I will no longer be writing e-mails or letters on Thursday and will only be doing so on Monday.

We have three baptisms this weekend. It's incredible. We had two planned for Saturday, but then on Sunday I was greeting people and a man who has been taught off and on for six approaches me and says that he was thinking about finally "taking the plunge". Honestly, I didn't know what to say. He said that he just got back from BYU Education Week and it got him thinking and on the way to church he realized that the time was now right. He will be baptized this Friday. I am so excited about that and I know that the Spirit is going to be incredibly strong at his baptism. We have a husband and wife set to be baptized the first weekend of September and are really excited about that. My entire mission I've worked to complete families and most of my success has come from unbaptized children and spouses. This will be my first husband and wife and I'm very excited about it.

The weather is still nice here although a few days it has spiked up to about one hundred degrees. I'm not too pleased about that, but it is so much better than other areas of the mission. I'm so thankful that I'm still here in the north. I have no idea how long I will remain here. Things are really interesting right now.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 18 August 2011

2011-08-18T13:04:00.001-07:00

I'm still in Elko. I'll likely be here another transfer or so. I've been given a few new assignments to fulfill here and they are dependent upon the free agency of others so I really do not know how long it will take to complete everything. It's an interesting challenge.

We were supposed to receive new missionaries on Monday when those who were being transferred went down to Las Vegas. Well, somewhere along the lines a wire or two got crossed and no one came up. That left a Sister missionary, myself, and two Elders out in Wells all by ourselves in the zone. It was a little awkward. After some scrambling around I found a companion and so did the Sister and thus we were able to avoid bursting into flames by being alone for three days. With everything that was going on it left me in charge of the entire zone, by myself until the Zone Leaders came back. I gathered all of the missionaries together from Wells here into town so we wouldn't be spread over an hour drive in case something happens and then drafted a new constitution to secede from the main body of the mission. We annexed Ely to the Salt Lake City mission just for management ease. We are now known as the North Eastern Nevada Mission. I don't think we've notified Salt Lake yet, but I don't foresee any difficulties in getting our boundaries approved. I am a bit concerned of whether this will be considered an act of war or open rebellion. We were each going to ratify the new constitution but then I read the first few verses of Helaman 4 and that sobered me up quite a bit so now we are just treating it as a novelty.

I heard that my previous companion is now down in one of my old zones serving a District Leader, so that is very exciting to me. I hope that he does well.

With everything that has been going on lately I've been reminded constantly of a poem that I came across awhile ago when I was in Kingman. I wish I could remember where I found it or who the author is.

How slow the forming-
How hard some blows-
But I the stone must come to know
In my own person, my own soul
Thy will, Thy purpose here below.
O Master now I plead to thee
Cut off my roughness, form my face
Refine my feelings, make of me
A fit reflection of Thy grace.
Yea, haste the day when I may kneel
Before thee and great Elohim,
Accepted, powerful in Thy home,
At last like Thee,
Each grain of stone.

It reminds me a lot of a talk given my Elder Hugh B Brown called "The Currant Bush" and another talk by Elder Holland called "The Inconvenient Messiah". Very humbling and requiring me to be very meek and submissive.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 11 August 2011

2011-08-11T11:09:00.001-07:00

An Amazing week we have had this week. Some many people to teach and share the Gospel with. Right now we have 3 people that have agreed to be baptized next transfer. We have two or three more that will likely agree but we have not yet had the opportunity to ask them. We are so excited about the work that lays ahead here. Transfers are on Monday so we are a little bit nervous to see if one of us will be leaving this area and transferring somewhere else. The heat of the summer is almost over in Las Vegas, but it's still pretty miserable down there and no one wants to go there quite yet.

I've been studying a lot lately about the principle of happiness and how it relates to so many other things. Essentially God has designed everything to bring us happiness and it's our job to figure out how, in a sense. Not always the easiest task. I was reading a talk given by Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve while he was president of BYU called "the Inconvenient Messiah". I've read it a lot of times, but this time something really stood out to me near the end. He was addressing people who feel like their prayers are not answered sometimes or they are left alone. He mentioned that Christ is better than we are and even He cried, "Eli Eli, Lama Sabachtani". Sometimes we all just need a reality check.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 4 August 2011

2011-08-04T10:04:00.001-07:00

We had a Zone Conference yesterday. It was the second time that I've had a chance to meet President Neider and his wife. They are very loving people and very interested in missionary work. They are both so different than President and Sister Christensen though. They've only been here in the mission for a month so maybe they are still trying to adjust to being mission presidents. There has got to be a major learning curve. It was really good though. President Neider talked for about 15 minutes about 2 Peter Chapter 1 and how we can take those virtues that Peter listed such as faith, virtue, temperance, etc and apply them to grow our knowledge of the Savior who was the perfect example of all of those things. Sister Neider also spoke for awhile along with the Assistants and the Zone Leaders. It was fun.

Do you remember me talking about the girl that we have been teaching for awhile that has begun to change her life around? Well, we saw her earlier this week and she is still sober and has been for several months now. She is continuing to read and pray on her own and the change in her is so extraordinary. It is visible even in her countenance.

Sunday was interesting. We had been asked to speak in one Ward about Temples a week ahead of time, which was fine. It gave me plenty of time to prepare everything for District Meeting on Tuesday and Zone Conference on Wednesday. Well, Saturday evening about 8:30 we received a phone call asking us to speak in another Ward on Sunday. Ok, fine. I can do that. The problem was that we were in the process of securing a wheel chair for an investigator so that she could come to church on Sunday. We had spent about two weeks praying and searching to find one and had come up empty-handed and we were feeling rather dejected by Saturday. Well, Friday we felt prompted to stop by and see a family that we hadn't seen for several weeks and when we pulled up I parked in front of their house instead of across the street like I usually do. It was the perfect angle for the headlights to shine right inside their storage shed and I could see a wheel chair sitting there. A light bulb came on inside my mind. We asked the family if the chair was being actively used and if we could borrow it and we received the answer that it belonged to their father and they would need to check. Well, Saturday about 8 in the evening we still didn't have our hands on a chair so we went back. She had just happened to have lunch with her father that afternoon and asked him about it and he said that we could have it. So at 8:15 we were on our way to our investigators home to make sure the chair would work and then we received the call. It's funny how a happy-bubble can be burst so quickly.

Both talks went well though. My first talk I spoke about Patriotism and how it's more than just respect for the land we live in, that it's about defending our families and our people. I related that to defending the doctrine of families and how each of us could do that. I assume it went well because I wasn't boo'd off the podium. The second talk went well too. I spoke about Temples and how to understand their importance we needed to understand the Plan of Salvation and the Doctrine of Christ in which the Plan is centered upon. After I explained what the Doctrine of Christ was and how it was the catalyst for the entire Plan of Salvation I explained how the Temple fit into all of it. I was rather happy with myself.

Things are going well here. We have a lot of people to teach and are already planning for next transfer to have a few baptisms. My focus here with the missionaries has been to have a slow and gradual increase in productivity that they can sustain rather than a sharp spike in effort that burns them out and leaves them dejected because they know they can do better but are too tired to do so. So far it's been working. When I was in Green Valley as a District Leader my aim was to allow every companionship of missionaries to have the ability to be self-governed. I taught them doctrine behind choices and decisions and then allowed them to see that I trusted and loved them enough to allow them to choose how they worked in their areas instead of constantly supervising them. It worked well and I"m trying that same approach here. There has been mixed results but there has been a positive effect. When people feel confident in what they are doing they feel more capable and have more self-esteem and are happier in general. That's my goal here. A happy missionary is one who works hard for the right reasons and they are all understanding why they need to work hard. It's awesome.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 28 July 2011

2011-07-28T10:43:00.001-07:00

We had a baptism on Saturday which was awesome. We have been teaching a girl for about two months now and finally everything fell into place so that she could be baptized. Her dad performed the ordinance which was just totally awesome. He was so happy about doing it. We went back to their home after-wards for dinner and a birthday party for her younger brother who just turned seven. I made him a missionary business casual shirt just like mine and my companions. He loved it. His parents told me that there was some difficulty in getting him to remove it that evening so he could go to bed.

We have a woman that we are teaching right now who prefers to go by "big mama". We finally managed to get arrangements made last night that will allow her to come to church on Sunday. Ever since we gave her an extra-large print copy of the Book of Mormon she has been reading it for hours every night. Last night when we were talking with her about the Restoration she said, "You have answered questions that I have had my entire life". It was so amazing. You can't leave her home in a bad mood, it's impossible.

We have a Zone Conference here on Wednesday the 3rd. It will be the first time to really sit down with President Neider and be instructed by him. It should be fun. I'm not going to say that I'm totally thrilled with what the Assistants will be training about. One of the Zone Leaders let me know a few days ago. It's the same stuff that I've been teaching and training about since I got up here. Oh well, maybe they are more inspired than I am and can communicate something that I've left out. We shall see.

P-Day Epistle 21 July 2011

2011-07-21T11:06:00.001-07:00

It's been hot up here in the promised land. A few days it has climbed to just about 100 degrees, which is a vacation compared to the weather down in Las Vegas. I'm so thankful to be up here right now. I get to enjoy my last summer on the mission without wondering how many seconds it will take for my shoes to melt to the pavement if I stand in one place too long.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day. A van carrying employees for one of the mines out here was in a horrific head-on collision and we went to the hospital under the direction of the Bishop to give a blessing to several people who were involved in the accident. While walking through the parking lot a car had a sticker that said, "Marriage is grand, Divorce is 100 grand". I found some humor in that. It made me think of a couple that we had dinner with a few weeks ago. The wife had a really obnoxious laugh, or at least I thought it was. The first impression that came to my mind was, "wow, they were sealed in the Temple, that laugh is forever.. poor guy" but then I repented and went about my day. Everyone survived the accident. Several are still in ICU but are expected to make a full recovery.

We have a baptism this weekend that we are really excited about. It's a nine year old girl that we have been teaching for about a month and a half now. We were waiting on getting approval from her biological mother before we proceeded with the baptism, but now all of the paperwork is in order and she will be baptized on Saturday. The whole family is just so cool and we love them so much.

We have been teaching so many people lately, next to the time that I spent in North Las Vegas a year ago, this is the busiest time of my mission. We met a woman about a week ago who insists on being called "big mama". She has a strong Pentecostal background and is just loving and faith filled. She almost cried when we taught her about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy. "I always felt like there was something more and just didn't know what it was!" she said. We taught her about the Great Apostasy and the forming of other churches and said that we answered a question that she has had for over 50 years. It was awesome. We are working out a way to get her to church. She is confined to a wheelchair so we need to find someone that can haul her electric chair for her. Once she gets there I don't think we will ever be able to get her out of the primary.

Everything is going so much better around here. I'm working hard on being humble and submissive to the will of the Lord and, go figure. things just work out easier. I remember a quotation by Neal A Maxwell that says, "unless we submit ourselves to the will of the Lord, His yoke will chafe and torture our shoulders."

P-Day Epistle 7-14-2011

2011-07-14T10:59:00.000-07:00

With transfers rolling around again not many things changed in my life. Every companionship in the Zone was changed except me and Ely. I was pretty upset about that. I wanted a change and I wanted things my way. In retrospect now I can see how perfectly selfish that all sounds, but at the time I felt perfectly justified in my desires. I called the Zone Leaders and asked if I could speak with them at some point on Sunday about what was going on. They agreed and for two hours after church we talked. Mostly I argued my point and they listened. Even ask I was speaking I knew that what I was asking for was selfish and a product of my own pride, but I felt like I somehow deserved it. Finally the suggestion was to pray about it, right then and there, and if after I still wanted the phone call to be made, it would be. As soon as I knelt down and started praying the Spirit told me what the answer was, that I needed to stay, that it was indeed the will of the Lord that I remain where I was. The remainder of the prayer was simply me wrestling with the Spirit trying to secure for myself the ability to do the will of the Lord.

I'm still here in Elko so things worked out, but I will admit that I am much closer now to understanding what is meant when Enos said he wrestled before God. I'm a District Leader again, which I'm actually quite happy about. I really loved it down in Green Valley and I'm excited about it now. I love asking the Lord what I need to teach on Tuesdays at our District meetings and receiving that inspiration and at times revelation that I need to help the other missionaries. I love praying for each them by name every evening and asking for their protection and ways that I can help them achieve what they need to. The answers always come, sometimes at the last minute or just when I need them, but they always come.

Last week we went out to Lamoille Canyon in Spring Creek and played for awhile. There were still some glaciers and snow there despite the summer thawing out and we had a lot of fun. It rained for awhile on and off which was actually cold and felt wonderful. It was a little slice of Heaven.

Do you remember awhile ago I said that a woman approached us in church and asked us to come by and talk to her husband, who she has been trying to get baptized for 14 years? She said that she has all of the missionaries come to her house and talk to him because one of us might be the ones. Well, we have been teaching him for 3 weeks now. We've made it farther than any other set of missionaries. It's not us though. He has been slowly prepared over the last 14 years through her righteous living and the gifts of the Spirit and the time is just right at the moment we feel. Maybe we will stay in the area long enough to see him be baptized. That would be awesome!

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 7-7-2011

2011-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

President and Sister Neider came up here on Monday to meet with all of us. It was really good to get to know them. I really like his sense of humor. He is no nonsense, but is able to laugh and joke which is great. I'm a firm believer that if you're not having fun in the Gospel, you're doing something wrong.

One of the Zone Leaders and I went up to Owhyee on Saturday. While there we traveled to the very edge of the town and the edge of the mission at the Idaho border. I think the fact that we were so close to stepping into outer darkness started to get to my companion as can be seen by the expression on his face. It's an Native American Reservation and we had quite a bit of fun while we were there. We stopped for lunch at a little deli and the man working there had some music playing. According to him it was pow-wow music, but I've never heard pow-wow music like that before. It consisted of banging on drums and screaming. Not singing loudly, but just blood-curdling screams and drums. We thought it would be a grand idea to get a copy of the cd and arrange it so that it would be an alarm going off for some other missionaries about three in the morning. No luck on getting the cd. It's probably for the best.

The fourth of July was great. There were so many people around to talk to and most of them were sober! Later that evening we witnessed the Death Star exploding (it might have just been a firework, but I think it was the death star) and thereby saving the planet of Endor.

We are continuing to teach people and help them understand the blessings that the Gospel can bring into their lives. Many of them want these blessings: Peace, Happiness, Family Togetherness, Knowledge that they can live with God again, etc. The difficult part of the process is helping them to understand that they need to change their lives to receive these blessings. God wants all of His children to be happy and He wants to bless each one of us according to our needs, but sometimes the blessings that we desire are predicated upon laws that we must be obedient to. It's sort of like or mortal life. We want to be healthy, but we won't get that way by eating trash and not exercising. We want Eternal life but we don't want to keep all of the commandments that the Lord has said we need to keep in order to achieve that. Many people have the idea that God's blessings are unconditional. His love is, He will always love us no matter the things that we do. He may not love the things that we are doing, but He will love us. Many of His blessings are conditional upon our obedience. I'm not going to give my child the keys to the car if He can't resist speeding.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-day Epistle 6-30-2011

2011-06-30T10:58:00.001-07:00

Ever since we sheared those alpacas awhile ago I've had a strange notion in my mind. The members that we live with have this crazy little dog. It's half Cocker Spaniel and half Shitzu and has really long hair. The member told us that the hair needs to be a minimum of an inch and a half long in order to be spun. I know an older woman in Osino who cards and spins her own fleece. The question in my mind has gone from "could I?" to "Should I?" I have not as yet come to an answer. There is one more thing that dogs are can used for to become useful. I suppose that is more socially acceptable than eating them. A lovely brown sweater would be nice when it gets cold out again...

Aside from that things continue to roll forth here in Elko with the same pace that they have been. I've been sick since Sunday so that's made me pretty miserable. I've just had a head-cold, but I'm feeling a lot better today. We have several individuals who are progressing steadily toward baptism and it is wonderful to watch the change that is coming over not only them, but who is around them as well. We are teaching a young woman who has had a long past of substance abuse and addictions and slowly over the past 4 weeks we have watched as she has turned from her old habits and began to lean upon the ample arm of the Lord. What joy we felt when she first told us that instead of giving in to a temptation she turned to prayer and felt the temptation be lifted from her and be given new strength. We are so excited for her progress and it is so evident the ways in which she is being blessed right now.

President Christensen is now Brother Christensen and along with his family is likely heading towards Colorado, or Maui. President Neider is meeting with all of us here in Elko on Monday and I'm really excited to meet him. Other than a slight disturbance in the force the transition was made smoothly and I haven't noticed anything out of sorts here, yet.

This weekend in Elko is the National Basque festival. With it comes the promise of all sorts of fun things to do and great ways to get distracted for awhile. While doing our best to stay focused upon our responsibilities here I'm sure there will be large amounts of food consumption, the occasional stomach-ache and hopefully (oh so hopefully) the running of the sheep down city streets. There will be a lot of people coming into town and with it a lot more opportunities to call people to repentance.. and eat.

Love,
Elder Collins

P-Day Epistle 6-23-2011

2011-06-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

On Monday I stopped by a little shop in town that makes t-shirts during our lunch time, mostly out of curiosity than anything else. By the time I left the shop I was determined that I simply must have something made. It was similar to the creation: I said "let there be awesome" and it was done and I saw that it was good. Basically it's just a white Hanes pocket tee but I had them print a copy of my Missionary name badge on it and a neck tie. It's awesome! According to the Missionary Handbook we are required to wear a white shirt and a tie.. no specifics, just a white shirt and tie. I think that I should probably follow the Spirit of the Law instead of the Letter of the Law on that one. One interesting and rather amusing fact, the artist at the shop managed to find the exact same font that the Church uses to print my name-tag. It's called "minion pro". I smile at that.

Last night we were coming back from a teaching appointment in Ryndon, about 15 miles east of Elko on I-80. Driving down the road it sounded like it was raining but it was only the sound of millions of bugs being murdered by the front end of our Chevy. I hope I thinned out the mosquito population here a bit but I doubt that my efforts were as successful as I would have liked them to be.

It's starting to get warmer here. The last few days it's been in the low 90's but there is so little humidity that it's not too bad. Annoying, but not terrible. Much better than being in other parts of the mission anyway.

Today was the last time to e-mail President Christensen. President Neider arrives early next week and will soon take command of the Starship Enterprise.. I mean the Nevada Las Vegas Mission. Things will likely be really interesting for the next month or two as he settles in and as the Elders and Sisters here adjust to him. We are all terribly curious to know more about him and his wife and I am certain that some missionaries are hoping that he will relax some of the rules around here. Only time will tell.

I am thinking about answering our cell phone "Abraham's adoption agency, how can I help you?" More missionary humor, think about it and you'll get it. If not then read Galatians Chapter 3.

Love,
Elder Collins

06/23/2011

2011-06-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

Well, Heather has left for her mission to Brazil Sao Paulo so there is no one left to update the Blog. That means that it will now be included as part of my weekly e-mail home. There is nothing that I can do about the footer at the bottom of the e-mail. The postings will no longer be grammatically correct or very interesting because she is a much better writer than I am and probably manages to make everything sound so very exciting and interesting.

6/16/2011

2011-06-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, it's getting hotter here. The last few days it was 80 which was just way too hot. It could be worse since Las Vegas is over 100 already. I'm happy with it being about 70 and no warmer. The good thing is that this is the summer here. It might reach about 90 or 95, but that's it and then it will start to get cooler about the end of August.

On Monday I had a fun experience. I helped shear some alpacas. I also rode a giant dog. That was a lot of fun. There are few funnier things than a sheared alpaca.

The Eleventh Plague--Mosuitoes

2011-06-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

"Look at that, he swallowed one."

6/9/2011

2011-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

We had a baptism this weekend. It went really well and his family was there. We are praying that they will see the example that he is setting and become more curious about the marvelous change that has come over him. We set a family for baptism this week and it was amazing. We have been watching the marvelous change that comes over someone as they begin to understand and accept the Atonement into their lives. They have a long way to go before their date, but I have faith that they can do it as long as they continue to do what they need to. We have been helping them recognize that the baptism date isn't a deadline, but a goal and understanding that helped them out greatly.

We met a woman at church on Sunday that asked us to come over to her home and meet her husband who wasn't a member. She said that she has been praying for 14 years since they were married that he would accept the Gospel so they could go to the Temple and be sealed together. She doesn't know if Elder H and I are the ones that will be able to say just the right thing to him or not, but she wants us to try. We have been trying to catch him almost every evening but he works late hours and lives quite a distance from where we live so we are still trying. Maybe tonight is the night!

I saw a quote the other day that I really like. It says, "Sometimes God calms the storm, and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child". I really like that perspective because it illustrates that yes, sometimes bad things happen to good people, but there is help there available if we are just willing to accept it. A lot of people don't understand that, and a lot of people want to understand that. It's so awesome to have the chance to bring that light into their lives.

We are working hard to find people and some days we find a lot who want to learn more about Christ, or how to strengthen their families, or how to find peace and happiness. Some days we find a lot of people who don't recognize the message that we share. It comes to the point where sometimes we get frustrated that other people don't see the truth in what we teach and it takes patience to understand that they have their agency and that maybe they are just not ready emotionally, spiritually, or even temporally to accept the Gospel yet. We just move on and seek for others, just like Christ did when He would be rejected in a town or city.

Love,
Elder Collins

6/2/2011

2011-06-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this has been a great week. The weather up here is awesome. Most days it gets to the high 60's and then in the morning it's the high 30's or low 40's still. Totally awesome. The Ruby Mountains still have a lot of snow on them and sometimes in the morning there is snow on the mountains around here in town. Nothing big, just a dusting to turn them white. It melts off as soon as the sun comes out though.

We are finding a lot of people to teach right now and have a baptism on Saturday. Our goal is to have 3 more this transfer. It's easier because this will be a 7 week transfer instead of the normal 6 because of the new mission president coming in. However, next transfer will be only 5 weeks.. a little more difficult to baptize someone in that little amount of time, but possible. It just takes a lot of planning right now.

We are doing a lot of service here. Mostly pulling weeds (people here have A LOT of weeds!), but there is other stuff too. Now is the time to start chopping firewood to let it season for this coming winter and so I'm hoping for the chance to get an ax in my hand.

We had our final interviews with President Christensen on Sunday. It was nice. He said that I bring an interesting dynamic to the mission. I think that was his kind and loving way to say that it's never a dull moment with me here.

Elder H and I are planning on having a BBQ sometime this transfer. The thing is we are planning on doing it Tongan style.. in the ground with hot rocks... and a dog roasting inside of it. I finally found a way that a dog is useful, you can eat them. I'm excited.

Love,
Elder Collins

5/26/11

2011-05-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, well, well. Transfers again. Guess what? I'm back in the Promised Land. I got the phone call Saturday evening at a rather obnoxious hour that I needed to be at the Mission office at 6 am Monday morning to catch my ride back to the Elko zone. That surprised me a bit because of everything that's been going on with my hand. I would have thought it rather convenient to stay in Henderson another transfer just to make sure that everything is alright. I guess the Lord has other plans. 9 hours and about 600 miles later I pulled off of I-80 onto Idaho street in 50 degree rain with a Tongan sitting next to me. I always love the way the mission just keeps me on my toes.

On the way up we met in Ely to get everything arranged. Elder P (if you remember he was my companion in the MTC) was leaving Ely after being there for 6 months so he and I had a great time catching up and I saw the S family. Sister S was my very first baptism in the mission. Right now they are waiting on the paper work to be completed so that they can go to St. George and be sealed together. Brother S also gave me a package of homemade Scrapple. It was so great to get to see them again. It's been exactly a year since I was in Ely and tings haven't changed at all. It was almost like going home.

I drove the rest of the way up from Ely with Elder D who was going to Wells. I dropped him off there and picked up my new companion Elder H from Tonga. He's really fun. He had to learn English in the MTC and so I tease him every once in awhile. He's really good-natured and we are having a lot of fun together. I don't think that the temperature has climbed above 60 the whole time that I've been here and I've had the Air-conditioning cranked up in the truck. That's right. I have a truck to drive. Well, not a real truck, it's just a little Colorado that I almost got stuck and rolled over yesterday, but it's still a truck.

We were trying to find a family that lives out in the middle of nowhere and none of the roads were paved. The road went up a hill so I turned on the 4-wheel drive (real 4-wheel drive shouldn't be engaged by pushing a button...) and kept on going.. it got bumpy.. and washed out.. and narrow... and so once Elder H was sitting in my lap because he slid across the bench seat towards me I decided to back down and just walk up the hill. We found the family though and we are going to see them again later in the week. They also told me the right way to get there that doesn't involve acrobatics or near death experiences. All in the name of the Lord...

Everything has been going great. We've been finding a lot of people to teach and I'm serving in an amazing area.

Love,
Elder Collins

5/19/11

2011-05-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Things are going great. It actually rained for a little bit yesterday and it's been cloudy and chilly for the last week. It's been awesome! We've been finding a lot of new people to teach and have been staying busy.

Transfers are on Tuesday and so we'll find out Monday if one of us is going or not. I think I'm leaving, but who knows. maybe I still have work to do in this area. We will just have to wait and see.

Time is short as always though.

Love,
Elder Collins

5/12/2011

2011-05-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, we had our new mission office dedication today. The Stake President here gave an awesome dedicatory prayer. Afterwards we had some Zone prepared skits. The entire mission that is serving here in the Valley got together, so about 170 missionaries or so. In our skit our topic was beating the sun. Somehow I got roped into playing President Christensen. I didn't burst into flames on the spot so I guess I must have done alright.

We finished moving out of our apartment yesterday and into our new member home. We need to go back and find somewhere to put a desk, dresser and a book case and then we'll be totally out of the apartment. We filled 3 dumpsters with trash... missionaries have lived in that apartment for the last 8 years.. and missionaries accumulate junk for some reason.

The weather has been nicer here- back to the low 80's lately. It's going to climb back up though. Whatever. It'll be 120+ by August anyway. Maybe I can get transferred back up to Ely or Elko for the summer. That would be nice. it's good to have hopes and dreams.

Things are going well here. Right now the District is on track to break a record. We are currently looking at more baptisms just in my District this transfer than some entire zones get in a transfer. We'll see how it all comes out. Some of them are set for next transfer though, but who cares. It means that the missionaries are out working hard and following the Spirit to find those people who are ready for the Gospel. I couldn't care less if there were 15 people getting baptized or 1, as long as they are out there working. The harder they work, the less I have to do to keep them in line.

Love,
Elder Collins

4/28/2011

2011-04-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this has been a long week it seems like. The Zone is coming off of a 3 transfer plateau and starting to slump down because they're getting tired I think. Elder O (the other District Leader) and I have been working hard to pick the spirits back up and keep the missionaries focused. On Tuesday we sat down and instead of training them or lecturing them, I asked them to make a list of people that they were teaching, their concerns and how they can be helped to come to Christ. To have a list of names of real people to help achieve goals was a powerful experience for the Elders and I think it helped them to get back on track and focus on what they are supposed to be doing.

Easter was good. We ate at one of our Bishop's homes and had meatloaf. The wards put together big musical numbers and it was awesome. Elder P and I came up with an Easter lesson where we watched the video, "The Lamb of God" and then presented the family with an empty plastic egg symbolizing the empty tomb and the new life that we are now able to have. It was really good.

I had to get my watch fixed a few days ago. I broke the crystal on it and it was running funny. I managed to find a guy with a watch shop about half a mile from where we live right now and he gave me a huge discount on fixing and tuning it all up. Being a missionary is like being a secret agent, we just have resources and contacts all over the place. We're better at the mail carriers in tracking people and things down.

The lease is ending on our apartment soon. We have one member that has offered to let us live with him and we are currently waiting on everything being approved by the mission office. I hope that it happens soon because the lease is up in a few weeks. Being homeless would be exciting for a little while, like a few hours or something, but not for an extended period of time.

The weather is nice here and people actually have flowers blooming in their yards. Believe it or not but for the last few days it's actually smelled like spring-time here. I had a few extra eggs left over from Easter lessons, so when I went on an exchange with a missionary who lives with the assistants to the president on Monday, we hid the eggs around their room. I will see them tomorrow at our Zone Conference and see if they say anything about it. Personally I think it's funny to put a sock on in the morning and find a plastic egg inside of one of them.

There are a few Capriottis around here that I haven't managed to eat at yet. I'm working on it.

Love,
Elder Collins

4/21/2011

2011-04-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, today marks one year since I first entered the MTC. Easter will mark the fact that I only have 365 more days left before I return home. Who's counting though?

Elder P and I were talking last week about some of the problems in the Wards we are serving in right now and how we can help to fix them. We came to the conclusion that we are like Highway Department Missionaries. We are a big nuisance and nobody likes us, but they are thankful for everything that we did once we are gone.

The weather is starting to turn warmer and there have been a few days when it has been in the mid-90's. Yay. For the most part it has been staying around the 80's though and that hasn't been too bad. Last Friday we found out that the Mission office won't be renewing our apartment Lease which ends in May. That means we now have about 30 days to find some member provided housing. I hope that our Bishops are on the ball! It would be pretty awful to be homeless this time of the year.

Things are getting shuffled around a lot in the Mission. President Christensen is preparing to leave soon and so he is doing all that he can to make sure that the mission is in tip-top shape for the new mission president coming in July. That will be a fun transition I'm sure.

Anyway, I can't think of much else to say.

Love,
Elder Collins

4/14/2011

2011-04-14T21:35:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, another transfer come and gone and I'm still in Green Valley in Henderson. My new companion is Elder P, the same Elder P that graced some of my photos from Kingman. It's going to be an odd transfer serving with him, but it will be fun.

C----'s baptism on Sunday went really well. We had a big turnout which was great. The Ward really needed that baptism and it has lifted everyone's spirits, especially C----'s. We stopped by yesterday evening to introduce Elder P to her and she was glowing. How satisfying!

The members here continue to be awesome and there is really nothing that we stand in need of. We do need an extra set of raquetball raquets, but that's another story. Tennis ones are working just fine for right now until we can talk a member into getting us some. There is some talk about us moving apartments in May so we won't have the courts anymore.

We are teaching a man right now with Cerebral Palsy. I can't remember if I've mentioned him before. I don't know if he'll end up getting baptized, but it's amazing to teach him. He's been dependant upon other people his entire life and to see his perspective of things is interesting. It helps me to understand a little bit more how we are all dependant upon Heavenly Father and how we can improve our relationship with him. Because he has some physical disabilities other abilities of his are heightened and you can literally see the Spirit work on him when he recognizes truth. He's a lot of fun.

anyway, got to go

Love,
Elder Collins

4/7/2011

2011-04-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this transfer is wrapping up and even though it is coming to a close, the work going on in the District isn't. There are 3 baptisms scheduled for this weekend. The Sisters have 2 and then Elder J and I are baptizing C----. The vision of the Mission is that every companionship baptizes once a transfer. This District has acheived that, sometimes several times over.

I was interviewing an 8 year old girl that the Sisters have been teaching yesterday and she almost gave me a heart attack! I was asking her about the word of wisdom and she did fine, and then she said, "and no hot drinks, that's why I drink my tea cold!". Elder K, one of the Zone leaders was sitting outside the room on the couch and said that that only thought going through his head was, "hmm, I wonder how he's going to handle this one". Canadians... Anyway, after talking to her a little more I found out it was herbal tea and that her member grandmother had been giving her.

Carrie is doing really well. She is still set to be baptized this sunday right after Church. She even asked me to baptize her, which is really awesome. I couldn't begin to count the number of people that I've taught and helped baptize so far on my mission, but she will be the first that I actually baptize. I've confirmed a few, but never baptized anyone.

It was nice and warm for awhile, and now it's getting to be more like April.

General Conference was great. I liked President Monson's remarks in the Sunday Morning session. He said, "If you have not yet been to the Temple, or if you've been but do not currently hold a Temple Recommend, there is no more important goal for you to work toward than being worthy to go to the Temple. Your sacrifice may be bringing your life into compliance with what is required to receive a recommend. Perhaps long held habits disqualify you. Maybe having faith and discipline to pay your tithing. Whatever it is, qualify to enter the Temple of God. Secure a Temple Recommend and regard it as a precious posession, for such it is." He also made it sound like he was about to announce the construction of a Temple in Jerusalem and I just about had a heart attack, but he was talking about the one in Rome.

Love,
Elder Collins

3/31/2011

2011-03-31T04:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, I can't remember if I wrote about C---- last week or not. She's getting baptized on April 10th, right after church. We set her to be baptized on the 16th and she didn't want to wait that long. Who am I to argue if she can prepare herself by the tenth. Here's evidence of a small world. One of her best friends growing up was J---- Winn. She talks about him constantly and how he would always invite her to seminary and set such a good example. You should have seen her reaction when I told her that his dad was the one that ordained me an Elder. That was fun.

The weather is getting a lot warmer out now. I knew it couldn't hold off forever, but I was hoping another few weeks. Nope. Oh well. It's not triple digits.. yet. We had interviews on Monday and President Christensen didn't really rebuke me for anything so I think I'm finally getting the hang of things! Only took me a year. Either that or he had a sore throat and didn't want to yell that much. I'll assume I'm doing well.

We got new cell phones in the mission. We can text now.. and they're camera phones.. it's amazing the trust that the Church and Lord places in a bunch of missionaries with that kind of power... We can create our own ringtones and alarm notirfications though... We're waking up everything morning to "rise up oh men of God" right now. Whenever I get around to it, that'll change to "He is Risen" by the Tabernacle Choir.

Saw Gladys Knight in church on Sunday. We are working on having a lesson with Marie Osmond pretty soon. Fun stuff.

Anyway, still alive and kicking, and a little more tan than I was last week.

Love,
Elder Collins

3/24/2011

2011-03-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Been Busy. Still in Green Valley, Henderson, Nevada. The mission office is changing locations. There will be mail forwarding for awhile until they get all switched over. I don't have the new address yet, nor is it in service yet. The office will be moved to a Chapel at the Corner of Maryland and Serene Ave's in Las Vegas around the first week in April.

This are going well here, very very busy and lots of work to do. Haven't died yet. Has two baptisms on Saturday and we are working on having several more pretty soon.

Love,
Elder Collins

3/17/2011

2011-03-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Happy St. Patricks Day! I think as a missionary I'm allowed to celebrate that..

This week has been awesome. We've been working hard (and working on our tans) and have quite a few people to teach right now. My Entire District is doing so awesome. This past week we actually surpassed the entire zone's numbers for week 1 of the transfer. That's just unheard of. Our numbers doubled in a week. It's not because of anything at all that I'm doing, it's just because the Lord has been blessing us that much. Elder J and I have two baptisms on Saturday and last night I interviewed two more people who will be baptized this weekend as well. What an awesome opportunity. It's amazing to talk to someone and see how strong their testimonies are even though they don't know much at all about the Gospel. They've felt the spirit, they've gotten answers to their prayers and they want to be baptized. That's so awesome. One of them was a 17 year High School Senior. As he and I were talking I remarked to him how incredible it was that he was so young and yet he knew the answers to some of life's greatest questions. He knew who he was, he knew why he was here and he knew where he was going after this life. He knew who the savior was and why He was the savior. A friend of his is a member and invited him to Seminary once. He liked it and asked his friend if he could go to church. When he went to church the missionaries approached him and asked if he wanted to learn more. Now he's being baptized, the only member in his family. His father is curious now. Who knows how many lives this 17 year old will influence because of one person's invitation to attend Seminary?

The weather has been great here. High 70's and low 80's mos tof the week. Lots of wind here though. Chicago as the windy city doesn't have anything on Vegas. There's a surprising amount of pollen here too. Lots of pine trees and olive trees. Some mornings we come out and everything is just yellow and green. I'm so glad that I don't have allergies. There's no rain here to just wash all of it away so it just sticks and blows around everywhere.

I'm doing well. I bought some new shoes on Thursday and I really like them. Kohls was having a big sale which made me pretty happy. I can't really think of anything that I need right now.

Love,
Elder Collins

3/3/2011

2011-03-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Another Transfer has come and gone and I've left Arizona. That's a shame too because I was really enjoying myself there. There is an element of excitement that comes from dodging tumbleweeds whilst riding a bike. I do wish that I had taken the time to get a picture standing with one of the giant saguaro cactus that are all over the place. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll be back in Arizona and have the chance then.

I'm now serving in Green Valley, which is just west of where I was before I left to go to Kingman. It's still Henderson, but nice Henderson. Green Valley and Anthem are where all of the movie stars and famous people live. Marie Osmond and her family are in one of the Wards that the Zone Leaders cover. It's fun stuff.

My new companion is Elder J. He's from Alabama and so far we are getting along.

President Christensen called me Monday night and asked how I was doing. I told him and he said that was good because the Lord wanted me to serve as a District Leader. There are 8 Missionaries in my District including two sisters, one of which is brand new. This should be a very fun and exciting transfer. I get to give my first Baptismal Interview tonight. Talk about humbling. I'm the only person that stands between this person and salvation and I get the opportunity to represent the Lord in determining their worthiness and level of commitment.

Thanks so much for the card and the money. There isn't a Cracker Barrel around here, but there is lots of other yummy places here to eat.

Love,
Elder Collins

2/24/2011

2011-02-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this has been a fun week. I've been sick all week long as usual. There is some sort of upper respiratory infection going around and it just keeps getting passed around. Each time it does it mutates a little bit and so the doctors have just stopped giving out medicine for it. Most days I'm not too bad, some days I just hack and cough all day long. Most of the town has either pnuemonia, bronchitis, or a combination of both. It's fun stuff. I'm not that bad though.

We had a mission conference with Elder Costa of the Presidency of the 70 in Vegas on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and we stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way back. Took lots of dam photos of dam tourists and the dam bridge that just got built. It was pretty cool. Elder Costa spoke about his most recent general conference talk and why he gave it. He said that over 70% of the convert baptisms in the church are now coming from those with a Catholic background who have no idea who or what a Prophet is. I found it pretty interesting.

It snowed here a few times. If you think people back there can't drive in the snow, you should see them out here. There were dozens of car accidents before the snow even started while it was just raining. It only snowed an inch or two where I am, but up in the mountains they must have gotten close to a foot. Good for them.

We had a baptism this past weekend. A ten year old girl from Wikieup. I found out that I was conducting the meeting about 10 minutes before it started, and also found out that I would be conducting the music and a few other things as well. I'm not sure how that one happened since it should have flowed downhill to Elder A, but oh well. It was a good baptism and lots of people showed up. We have two more people set for the 18th of March right now and We're working hard to set a few more people.

No word on Transfers yet. They're on Tuesday the 1st and I have an inkling that I might be one of the new Zone Leaders down here. I don't know though. Maybe I'll stay, maybe I'll get transferred back to Vegas. I guess you'll find out on Thursday when I e-mail again. I wouldn't be surprised if I got transferred again though.

Love,
Tim

2/17/2011

2011-02-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom

Well, Kingman is going well. Everyone is still sick here. Apparently its something in the constant dust and no one really gets well, they just recover enough and then get sick again here. A few missionaries have a theory that when Satan was cast out of Heaven and down to Earth, He and the one third of the host of Heaven were dropped in Kingman. I'm starting to adopt that myself. The people here are good and the members are great. We are getting fed way too much, and since there is a Cracker Barrel right here in town we are getting fed WAY too much. I think I've eaten there almost every day this week. I'll complain when that bothers me.

We've got a baptism coming up this saturday evening and we are driving into Vegas to go see Elder Claudio M Costa speak in the morning. That should be a fun two hour drive. When I got transferred to Kingman it was dark outside so now I'll actually be able to see more of the desert... There is a Joshua Tree national Forest in our area as well and I'm tempted to go and see it just out of morbid curiosity. The Joshua tree looks like something out of a Dr. Suess Book. Saturday the 26th we have two more baptisms scheduled. Things are going really well here.

We are planning on going hiking up Bull Mountain today, but that may not happen because of the weather. It's pretty chilly here and no one wants to come with me. I don't know how high the mountain is, but I do know that dwarfs pretty much everything around here.

Love,
Tim

2/3/2011

2011-02-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, the cold weather finally caught up to us out here. We had Zone Conference yesterday in Bullhead city and when we went to leave at 8 in the morning we found ourselves changing a flat tire in 18 degree weather. It's amazing how quickly you can get a tire changed with 4 highly motivated Elders. We made it down there about a half hour late but none of us burst into flames or anything from the look that President Christensen gave us. I called ahead and let everyone know we were running late.

I'm feeling better and not wishing I was dead anymore. I still have the sniffles and a nasty cough though. Please send me more of those honey cough drops that you sent me at Christmas, no menthol though, just the plain ones.

The members here are better at feeding us than my last area. It's awful. We helped a less active member get some fire wood on Tuesday and he gave us 3 dozen fresh eggs (fresh out of the chicken's butt, as he described it). Other members constantly send us home with food.

I don't really need anything though, except more paper... Actually I could use a new pair of shoes... the ones I have right now have just about had it. I can get another couple months out of them, but they won't last through the summer.

Love,
Tim

1/27/2011

2011-01-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Arizona is fun so far. It's cold and there are tumbleweeds blowing around everywhere and everyone has a dog. The dogs even seem to own dogs here. I didn't like dogs before I came out, know I loathe them. I suppose it isn't very Christlike, but everytime I see a rat that barks, I want to stomp on it's neck. The Coyotes eat a lot of them here and that makes me happy for some reason.

We had a baptism on Saturday, a 12 year old girl in a less active family. They are interesting. The father reminds me of Jim, only slightly more obnoxious and so we get along well. We are working hard at helping them to stay active.

I'm getting sick again. Everytime I get transferred it seems like. Sore throat and congestion. Yay. I've been sick more times since I've been out than I have in the last 15 years being at home.

Love
Tim

1/20/2011

2011-01-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, Transfers happened and now I'm in Arizona. I knew that I was going south, and I kind of hoped to go all the way down to California, but that didn't happen. Kingman is pretty remote though. Supposedly it's the best place to be in Arizona right now. Bullhead city and Lake Havasu city are both really hot already. It was about 45 when I woke up this morning here. I think that President Christensen thinks that I'm racist or something. Remember how I said tha Elder F was 50% of the black missionaries here? Well, now I'm with the other 50%! My companions name is Elder A and he is from Ghana, Africa. He's really great. I served around him when I was in North Las Vegas. I'm not quite sure why he and I were paired together, but I enjoy it. He's a great Missionary and I am happy to see him again.

We got to drive over the Hoover Dam to get down here, but you can't see anything from the road. It was pretty lame. It's pretty down here, reminds me a bit of Ely, only much less green (if that's possible) and a bit flatter. I like the people already. We stopped in at a less-active's home yesterday and the first things he asked me was, "can you weld, can you drive a tractor, and can you shoot?" when I said yes to all three he decided that he liked me and he's taking us out to lunch tomorrow. There's a Cracker Barrel here, so guess where I'm going to suggest that we go?

I haven't the slightest idea how long I'm going to be down here. The word exile comes to mind though. Who knows. Most missionaries that come to Kingman stay from between 4.5 and 6 months. Hopefully I'll come north again before the summer, but I think that I'll pass my one year mark down here.

Love,
Tim

1/13/2011

2011-01-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Ok, so crazy week. We have a baptism this Saturday that just sprang out of nowhere. We had been teaching a girl who we thought was 8 and it turns out that she's 9. Nothing like a baptism the last week of the transfer. We should have at least one more, maybe two by the end of next transfer which is March 1st I think.

The weather can't decide what it wants to do. Some days it's warm, other's it actually downright cold. I'll take it over the 120 of the Summer though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my knees bent for a summer back up North. Elko is nice in August! :)

They changed the mail delivery here. We no longer get mail on Tuesday at our District meetings and Zone Conferences. It's now distributed on Thursdays. I think it's to help keep the missionaries focused, I don't know. I'm sure there's a reason behind it but I'm just not privileged to know the how and why. It doesn't bother me too much except now I have to take time out of my P-day to go to the Zone Leaders house to get my mail. Oh well. I'm over it.

I have no idea if I'm going to get transferred or not. This has been such a strange time here that I haven't the slightest idea about what will happen. It'll probably be something that will just augment the oddness of everything else that has been going on. Maybe Elder F and I will stay together, and I'll train a new missionary and so there will be 3 of us or something. Weird like that.

Anyway, we have a surprise apartment inspection that I'm not supposed to know about so I have to get home and tidy up a bit before they get there. It pays to make friends in high places sometimes.

Love,
Tim

1/6/2011

2011-01-06T06:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so a learning experience. it is possible to make a smore with a gingerbread man, a peep and some Hershey kisses.

However, if the plate isn't microwave safe, not only does it explode in the microwave, but the gingerbread man burns to the surface. Fun stuff.

It tasted good though, except for the burnt parts. Not sure why the plate exploded, it was Corning so it should have been alright. Oh well.

12/30/2010

2010-12-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, it feels like winter here, finally. There's a rumor of snow even. I was in Boulder City yesterday and the breeze coming off of Lake Mead made me almost think I was at home if I closed my eyes and ignored the smell of dirt and sand. The Elder that I was on an exchange with doesn't know how to read a map so I was forced to do a U-Turn in the middle of US-93 to avoid going into Arizona. That was fun. He doesn't speak English really well so when I asked him if I needed to go north or south, he said south, because that's how it looked on the map even though it was 93N. He then got me wrapped in bearing my testimony in Spanish to some investigator. I learned something though. The word "hijo" means son of or child of. It's properly pronounced "E-ho" I was pronouncing it "Hee-O" which apparently is slang for "son-of-a..." he told me after the lesson and we laughed the whole way home. The things that you learn on a mission.... Funny thing is that I've been saying it like that my whole mission practically and no one else has corrected me. It does explain the laughter though from street contacts. I just thought my accent was funny...

I got word yesterday that a girl that we were teaching before the Stake Realignment is being baptized on Saturday. That's fun and exciting. We have a guy that we're teaching right now that will likely be baptized by the end of the month. There are a few more people that we're teaching that might be getting baptized in a month or two as well, but that's all up to them at this point. If they want to work on getting a testimony or not.

A good missionary joke:

Two missionaries are teaching a man and they explain the Book of Mormon to him. He says that he is having problems in his life and so they want to give him a verse or two that will help him to know how the Book of Mormon can help him and build his testimony. One of them is a greenie and gets so nervous and so instead of leaving 1 Nephi 3:7 he leaves 3 Nephi 3:7. The man promises to read the verses and the Elders leave. They return the following day to see how everything went and he refuses to talk to them and tells them to go away. They can't figure out why.

Anyway, tihngs are same-old same-old here for now.

Love,
Tim

12/23/2010

2010-12-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

This week has been wet. It has rained almost every single day and we discovered that the member that we live with never bothered to get his roof fixed. Nothing got ruined but the house smells like wet dog now. Because it's been raining there has been no one out to talk to and very few people are home because they are out of town for Christmas. Everyone is always out of town, no one every has family in from out of town is seems like. Oh well. It's just made for a very slow week, some days we didn't even see another person, much less talk to anyone. Things like that will drive you crazy very quickly.

Herman was baptized on Sunday. After a lot of drama, flirting with a nurse or two so I could see what was going on with his medical chart, phone calls to Panaca and Caliente, he was baptized. As far as I know he is still alive. I hope that the Elders up there will call me if he passes away, but who knows. I'll finish the rest of his work when I get home if someone else hasn't beaten me to it already.

We've got a few invitations for Christmas and members keep giving us baked goods. No new pants or shirts, but lots of baked goods. If only they realized..... Actually I got two new ties yesterday from a recent convert and so that was really nice. Tonight and tomorrow we're planning on dropping in at investigators homes to share "a Christmas message" with them so that should be much more exciting than walking around in the rain for 12 hours at a time with nothing to do.

On a funny note we were teaching an 8 year old girl the other day. I asked her who the current Prophet was and she said, "T...T...T.." and I said, "Thomas?" and she replies, "Yeah! Thomas.... Thomas... Thomas... Edison?" I told her that he had brought a lot of light into my life as well but that it was actually Thomas S Monson. It was pretty funny.

People out here are weird. I tried to buy ground cloves at the store this morning to bake some cookies with and they don't exist here. Lots and lots and lots of whole cloves, but no ground ones. No one seemed to know what I was talking about either. You think Wal-Marts are bad out there, try a Vegas one. Twilight Zone.

Things are still mixed up in the Wards even though they were realigned a month ago. The Ward Directories aren't correct, callings haven't been extended or accepted yet and no one knows anything or anyone. I have the Mission office breathing down my neck to provide Ward information and there is nothing to give them. There is no Relief Society Presidency, there are no Home Teaching assignments because there is no High Priests Groups or Elders Quorum Presidencies... I'm about to tell them to pray about it and maybe they'll recieve revelation on the matter because that's the only way that they're going to get the information before I do.

Love,
Tim

12/16/2010

2010-12-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

This has been a rough week. On Sunday I think I pinched a nerve in my upper back and couldn't move for about 3 days. I'm doing much better now. There are a lot of good doctors in this area that took care of it for free. The weather has been nice, upper 60's and I've been wearing short sleeves most days. It's a little chillier today, low 50's and cloudy. Reminds me of a nice day in Washington D.C.

We inherited an investigator from the Sisters with the Stake realignment changes. He's 76 years old and I'd give him about a week to live. He was doing fine about two weeks ago when we first started teaching him but in the last week has just gone downhill. He was placed in Hospice on Tuesday so that should say a lot right there. He was supposed to be baptized on the 19th and I got special permission from President Christensen to baptize as soon as we could him interviewed. I had the interview set up on Tuesday morning but when I called to see how things were going I found out that they had increased his morphine to every two hours instead of every four because of the backwards progress that he had made. Monday night we stopped over and had given him a blessing and after we left he got out of bed and walked for the first time in 24 hours and ate for the first time in 3 days. That evening though something happened and he regressed a lot. We saw him Tuesday afternoon before the hospice people came and he managed to walk around to the bathroom. He really wants to be baptized but there is no way that we can interview him because he doesn't have the cognitive capacity. The doctors said that the cancer has spread to his brain. He still recognizes us when we stop by and visit with him but he doesn't really know where he is or anything. I've stopped promising him that if he eats and gets stronger that we'll baptize him because everytime that I do he fights to get out of bed and prove that he's strong enough. It just wears him out. Baptizing him is the easy part, for all it matters we can baptize him on a hospital bed. He just doesn't have the ability to go through an interview. I'm getting his personal information and will be baptized for him when I get home from my mission if it hasn't already been done. One way or another he'll get baptized.

Went to the Temple this morning. These 7 am sessions are rough when you have to get up at 5 and you went to bed around 11 the previous evening. I stayed awake during most of it though.

Love,
Tim

12/9/2010

2010-12-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, looks like another 6 weeks in Henderson. Elder F and I are still together which is odd for me because this is the first time that I've been out that I've had a companion more than a single transfer. Guess I'm not finished learning from him or something. The weather has been pretty decent here. It gets cold at night but by the time we wake up at 6 it's about 45 or so. It's been around 60 during the day which has been great. It still gets a little chilly on a bike but I guess that all comes with the job.

I'll have to do a better job of describing those photos. The one with the woman is not the one that had to be re-baptized. Her name is Diane and was taught by the previous Elders here and got baptized two weeks after Elder F and I got transferred in. Elder F is on the left, Brother Funaki (our Ward Mission Leader) is in the middle and of course I'm on the right. Speaking with Elder M (who replaced me in North) several other investigators that I taught are being baptized this month as well. That was really exciting to hear about. If all goes well I should have 2 or 3 baptisms down here in Black Mountain by the first of the year, but that all depends on how motivated the investigators are. I can lead them to the font but it's up to them to jump in, I'm not allowed to drown them.

I'm feeling a lot better from the cold last week. I gave it to Elder F and he's pretty sick right now but I'm doing much better. And yes, that is more than I've been sick from back at home in years.

Don't worry about getting me too much stuff for Christmas, It's all either going to get sent home or packed up when I come home anyway and the fewer things there are the less expensive it'll be. Did I tell you about Elder Shane M Bowen coming to speak to the mission a few weeks ago? Well, he gave two main talks and I finally have one of them all written out. It's about 25 pages long though but if I send it to you, could you type it up and mail me back the typed up copy? It's all pretty much formatted the way that I want it typed up. It's just easier to read and annotate that way but it's no big deal I can just study it cave-man style without it being typed.

Love,
Tim

12/2/2010

2010-12-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

This week has been cold! Several times we have been out walking and there is ice in the gutters or the grass from someone's sprinkler system that has gone off in the middle of the night. We've been doing more walking than biking because it's not very much fun going downhill on a bike in 40 degrees at 20 mph. I think that's what has gotten me sick. I've had a cold all week since Saturday. Two days ago I finally died and my District Leader and one of the Zone Leaders came over and gave me a blessing with Elder F. I'm doing much better but still have the sniffles in the morning when I first wake up but that's it.

The Stake realigned on Sunday. As of right now we are still covering the same two wards but we've switched our entire teaching pool with the Sisters because of where our investigators live. They've done the same with us. Who knows what will happen with transfers on the 7th. I have a feeling that we'll still be covering the same wards with the new boundaries. I also feel like I'll still be here but with a new companion, but I'm not sure about that one.

Thanksgiving was good. We ate with a member of the Bishopric and his family. It was really good. We also enjoyed the icy bicycle ride down the side of the mountain where they live back to our house. No word yet what we're doing for Christmas or when I'll be calling yet. I'll find out all of that a little closer to the end of the month I think, probably with just enough time to let you know before it actually happens would be my guess.

How was thanksgiving around there? Pumpkin pie doesn't seem to be that big of a thing out here, but I had some really good pecan pie. Has it snowed yet there? Yes, Ely is covered right now. I wish I was there.. kind of.

Things have been going pretty good though. I thought of a few more things that you can add to my Christmas list of stuff. Paper. I prefer Clairefontaine Triomph (just do a google search for it, I usually buy it from swisherpens.com) lined. They are about $5 a pad plus a few bucks for shipping. Rhodia writing pads work as well, the same company makes the paper except the Rhodia paper is just a hair thinner but no big deal. It's also slightly cheaper when you can find the right kind. I think you can find it on Amazon.com. I don't remember the exact details about it but I know that it's about 6x8 sized and lined. Rhodia's product naming is awful as it usually consists of a number followed by a letter. Period. Unless you know exactly what you're looking for good luck finding it.

Love,
Time

11/25/2010

2010-11-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

This week has felt more like November. It's been cold, by Las Vegas standards and I've actually had to walk around in a coat and a hat the last few days. It's mostly just been really windy and cloudy so it's been colder than usual. We've gotten some new investigators and we've been teaching more lessons than the first week that we were here.

We're going to a members home for Thanksgiving dinner today at two and so that should be fun. The best part is that they live on the side of a mountain two miles away and we get to bicycle up there. The ride down is always a ton of fun. He's a member of the Bishopric for now, but they are going to reorganize the entire stake this sunday so who knows what will happen there.

The work has been slow this week because it's been cold and it's a holiday. Most people are either not home or not walking around for us to talk to. That means that we will start hitting up members for referrals and maybe twist some arms or something.

We had a conference with Elder Shane M Bowen of the 70 on Saturday and that was really really good. He made us feel guilty for about an hour or so and then for the next 2 hours expounded doctrine explaining exactly who we are as children of God and members of the House of Israel. It was awesome. I'm working on transcribing the audio files that I recorded but that could take months given how much free time I have to play with stuff like that. I've got about a half hour or so.

Yes, Elder Fl is a convert. He, his dad, and is younger brother joined the church back in 2005. His older brother and his mom did not join. He's 23 and from Houston.

Love,
Tim

11/18/2010

2010-11-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Dear mom,

Ok well, this week has been warm. I guess it's chilly at night and when you're on a bicycle, but for the most part it's been in the 70s. Very strange.

I'm going back to North for a baptism this afternoon. Elvis is finally getting baptized and I'm really excited to see it. He wants me to give a talk about the Holy Ghost. It says a lot about him that he wants to get baptized at 4 on a thursday instead of a Saturday like most people. I like him.

The whole mission is gearing up for a visit by Elder Shane Bowen on the 70 this weekend. He wants my half of the mission to be there about 7 am on Saturday morning and he's going to talk for about 4 hours. It should prove to be very fun and exciting.

I was talking to one of my Ward Mission Leaders here and he said that it would be best for you to take my car out and drive it for about 20 minutes a week. Starting it up and letting it idle doesn't allow it to burn off a lot of acids and carbon buildups that accumulate from a running engine. Makes sense to me, but it's whatever you want to do with it. Maybe just drive it to work one day a week or take it to Church on Sunday or something.

I'm also aware that Christmas is approaching and I haven't come up with a Christmas list yet. I don't really need a whole lot. I'd like some rechargeable AAA batteries for the lights on my bicycle. Only need 6. Not a big deal though, just a nuisance to change them every so often. I'd like to have a Pearl of Great Price Student Manual, Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual, and Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual. All of these can be purchased online at the Church Distribution Website at store.lds.org. If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

Love,
Tim

11/11/10

2010-11-11T01:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well, another day another dollar... I think... Things have been going well here. We have a few people set for baptism, one of them I don't think will make her date anytime soon. She's too wrapped up in herself, but you never know. That's what prayer is for. Things are kind of boring here. It's the oldest part of Henderson and as a consequnce one of the oldest parts of Las Vegas Valley. Most of the people here are pretty settled in and older so exciting stuff is few and far between. I guess that's actually a good thing. People here keep telling us not to walk around at night but I guess they haven't seen some of the other areas of the mission where the cops won't even walk around at night.

The Wards are likely going to be re-aligned here by the end of the month and for some reason the Stake Presidency announced what was going on so the members here are petrified for some reason about it. That makes the member work a little slow but it's going. We are teaching some pretty awesome people right now so hopefully that'll spur some work on.

If you want a good laugh, look for a book called, "The Brick Testament". It's stories out of the book of Genesis in LEGO. One of our investigators had it sitting on his coffee table and I couldn't help myself. It's hilarious. Doctrinally correct, but done in LEGO.

Love,
Tim

11/4/2010

2010-11-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom

Well, this is now the second week in Henderson. It's been not much different from the first week except that I'm not looking down at the map every 30 seconds to see where I'm at and how to get to where I want to be. We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday with a woman that the last two Elders here taught and so that's pretty exciting. There is going to be another baptism directly following that one, a non-convert one. Long story but there's no record of this lady being baptized and even with witnesses saying that she was dunked, it's gotta happen again. It's going to be a water-side confirmation and the Bishop has asked that Elder F and I take care of that for him. We haven't worked out who is going to baptize and who is going to confirm yet, but somehow or another before Saturday it'll get worked out. We're meeting a few more people here and from what I've seen this area needs some TLC. We've set a goal to baptize 5 people this transfer but it's going to take a miracle for that to happen. It's possible, anything is possible. We met a kid yesterday afternoon, sat down and taught him and then set him to be baptized on the 27th of November so that made yesterday pretty exciting. There are a few more people that I'm planning on setting for baptism between today and the weekend unless for some reason the Spirit prompts me not to.

Monday we had a huge in-valley conference. Every missionary that was serving here in the Las Vegas valley went and sat for 3 hours and listened to President Christensen and the Assistants talk about how we can meet our goals for this year. It was really good and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of training about effective street contacting and getting investigators to Church. The next several months until the new year are going to be pretty hectic but it should be fun. Because of the conference we got our mail on Monday instead of the usual Tuesday so I get to wait a week again to get stuff. No big deal, just a little frustrating.

Halloween was interesting. Everywhere we went we got our pockets filled with candy. It was hard to talk to people because they just thought we were dressed up in costumes and they wouldn't take us seriously. Oh well, their loss I suppose. I had dinner a few nights ago with Elder James B. Gibson. He's an area seventy for the Southwest. Nice guy, a bit direct and penetrating though. We're eating with him again near the end of the month. Now I know how President Monson's Home Teachers feel.

Love,
Tim

10/28/2010

2010-10-28T01:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, it's been another Transfer and here I am in a different area with a different companion. Big surprise. The real surprise came that Elder E was transferred as well. If you'll remember back 3 months ago, Elder M and I were double transferred into North. He was transferred a month and a half ago to become a new Assistant to the President. Elder E came in and became my companion. He was just transferred out with me and became the other Assistant. I'm getting a bad reputation around here. I get double transferred out of areas and my companions become assistants. The worse reputation is that I get double transferred into areas.

Elder Mi went home on Tuesday and so I got to see him one last time before he headed to the land of eternal P-days. Elder Evans and I didn't sleep much this past week because we got the phone call on Saturday that we were getting DT'd out of the area. We spent a lot of time preparing the area book and getting everything set in order to prepare the new Elders that would be transferred in. Well, Sunday night I got a phone call from President Christensen letting me know that I was going to be double transferred into an area, that I would be the senior companion, and that there was a lot going on with the Wards that I would be in. He also said that he wanted to have a phone conference with me this morning to give me further instructions about the area. That just filled me with glee.

My new compainon's name is Elder F from Houston Texas. He's been out 3 months and just a fun fact, he is one of only two African American missionaries in the entire mission. Yep, this mission is fast becoming the largest mission in North America and we only have two black Elders. I guess that gives me bragging rights, I don't know. Anyway, We're serving in the Black Mountain Stake which is in Henderson.

We are covering two wards with really tiny boundaries. The member concentration here is pretty high. Not to go into too many details, mostly because I'm not supposed to talk about it because it's a special assignment from President Christensen, but the Wards are suffering. Our job is to be here and build them up, to baptize everything that moves, improve member activity and morale and just help them during some transitions that are taking place. There is a member here who President has taken a special interest in and he wants us to work with them and see that they stay active and steer them towards a mission. The Elders who got transferred out of here didn't exactly leave meticiulous notes on things, but that's alright, we're getting settled in.

We moved into a brand-new home.. one that wasn't even ready to be moved into yet... That was a spiffy surprise as well. Tuesday night we had to run to the store to pick up some basic living items, like food and silverware and the like. We picked up everything else today. Elder F is going to be fun to serve with. He's a convert so it's fun to watch him teach people. He isn't walled up behind years and years of Mormon jargon and Primary indoctrination. I don't think I'll be here for more than one transfer, but you never know. I guess it's just up to the Lord to decide if my work is finished here or not.

The weather has been turning cooler in the morning. By the afternoon it's warmed back up. If you just happen to have a medium sized plain black V-neck sweater hanging around I wouldn't be opposed to having you send it to me. I got the apples, they were yummy, thanks so much.

Love,
Tim

10/14/2010

2010-10-14T01:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

We had a baptism this Saturday. He's been taught for about 6 months and made little progress until Elder Mk and I met him and refused to let him slip through the cracks. He was busy with starting college as a freshman and didn't have time for many appointments. We did our best and eventually we managed to see him several times a week as his faith grew and he started coming to church. Elder E confirmed him this Sunday and in the blessing told him that a way would be prepared for him to serve a mission. Then since it was fast and testimony meeting half of the people that got up talked about their missions. President Christensen has already told me to help him in every way to serve a mission. It's funny to think that he could leave while I'm still serving my mission.

We have some other people that we are teaching right now that will be baptized in early November if all goes well. It likely will. That should be exciting. I still feel like I'm going to be transferred in two weeks, but the way that the Assistants are talking I might stay here. That would be pretty cool. I'm not used to staying in one area for so long. Next Thursday will be my 6 month mark, I think. I entered the MTC on April 21st so that would mean October 21st is it. I'm supposed to burn a tie, but that probably won't happen unless I pick up some extra ties somewhere.

The weather is still in the mid 90's here. Locals say that it's the warmest October that they can remember. I just wish that it'd cool down a little bit. I'm looking forward to going out and buying a sweater or something. Watch, I'll get transferred and go farther south. Down there it's in the 80's on Christmas day. That would just be different. It's not quite right to decorate a palm tree with christmas lights.

Anyway, I've got to go as always.

Love,
Tim

10/7/2010

2010-10-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

General Conference was amazing. We watched all of the sessions at the Stake Center. Sunday morning there was a family with a baby that refused to be quiet and they refused to do anything about her, but they were gone for the afternoon session and so that was awesome. I can't wait for the talks to be printed in the Ensign. I've been going over my notes and writing out in long form but I'm only at the Sunday Morning session. I don't really get much time to do things like that.

Since the weather has been nicer out we've been riding our bikes more. About 30 miles a day... yay. If I remember correctly the Missionary Medical form said that I needed to be able to ride 10-12 miles a day... something's wrong with that picture I believe. Oh well. Surprisingly there haven't been more people out to talk to even though it's nice.

We have a baptism this Saturday for one of our investigators named Alex. He's 18 and really excited. He asked Elder Mk to baptize him so I called down to the mission office and talked to him to make sure that he could come. He'll be here. It'll be good to see him again. We've invited a bunch of our investigators to the baptism as well. Since we are always on exchanges I work with Elder H in his area about 50% of the time. We taught a kid last night and set him to be baptized on November 6th and then invited him to Alex's baptism as well. He said he would come and bring a bunch of his friends. That should be really interesting. I know his area better than he does, which isn't saying a whole lot because he has only been here in North for 3 weeks now and this is his second transfer so he's not used to learning an area quickly. He'll get it though.

It seems like a lot of the people that we are teaching are just disapearing. One of them hitchhiked or something to Pennsylvania a couple days ago. He was supposed to be baptized on the 16th of this month. I have to get in touch with the missionaries out there and have them pick him up. Another one that was set for the 30th picked up and moved across town out of our area. The Lord is providing though. We have found several new people that will probably accept a commitment to be baptized and another set of missionaries gave us a referral yesterday for someone that they've been teaching and set that doesn't actually live in their area. They had no idea because it's right on the border of their Zone and ours. You win some and you lose some.

I really think that I'll be transferred in 3 weeks. Things are really crazy around here right now with so many missionaries in this zone and so many new ones in the mission. The pattern seems to be that you go to Warm Springs from North, but I have a feeling that I'm going to go much farther south, like Arizona or something. That means that come Christmas and Thanksgiving time it will be in the 80's. Weird. President Christensen has told us that holidays are normal days for us. In past years the missionaries would go in early for Halloween to avoid the mischief, but he says that he wants us out until 9 this year. That should be interesting knocking on doors. He also says we can't wear festive ties for Halloween or Thanksgiving but that he wants us to wear festive ties for Christmas. Weird as well. Doesn't really matter though.

Love,
Tim

10/1/2010

2010-10-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this has been just another week in the mission field. Went to the Temple this morning and that was really nice. The Vegas Temple is really pretty--small, but pretty. Been doing a lot of exchanges as usual but it doesn't appear that the area has been suffering much because of it. Our numbers went down slightly, but they usually do at the start of a new transfer anyway. Things are quickly getting back to normal. The tempreture has still been in the high 90's low 100's which according to the locals here is abnormal. I've stopped taking weather advice from them because it seems like every person that you talk to will give you a different answer. Supposedly this is the rainy season here. It hasn't rained in two and a half months. Most people here are emmigrants anyway so I don't think they are qualified to speak of "normal weather".

General Conference is weird here. Instead of being broadcast at all of the buildings it's only broadcast in the stake center. With a stake population of 6,000 plus I'm not quite sure how that's going to work. Hopefully most people stay home and watch it on television or something. I'll probabably be a little upset if I get into the building and there are 4,000 adults and 2,000 crying kids. All of the building have dishes so I don't know why they don't broadcast it. Of course they do the same thing with Stake Conference. Instead of broadcasting it to all of the chapels like we do they hold 3 massive sessions that consume the entire day and just make you feel like you hate little kids and hard seats. Weird people out here. I'm looking forward to it though. We have several investigators that have promised to come and that should be pretty exciting for them. I'm curious to see if they are going to carry over from last session the emphasis on family prepardness and Gospel basics. Likely not but you never know.

Heather is working on serving a mission. She'll be coming home sometime soon to start her papers with President Engebretson. Do you have a key to my storage unit? I don't know if there is any room left in it anyway for her to put some of her stuff, but if there is I'm sure her parents would appreciate not storing all of her stuff in their apartment for two years. Before you ask, I don' t know what's going to happen with Conan, or where she is going to stay, or how she is going to pay for the mission... but those were the same questions that I had before my mission and they all worked out.

The apples at Milburns that are u-pick are tree ripe so they go bad rather quickly after picking. The store bought ones last a week or two longer. I can do without the donuts but I really would like to have some winesaps sometime soon. It isn't September and October without them.

Love,
Tim

9/23/2010

2010-09-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this week so far hasn't been as busy as past weeks. There has been a lot going on but a lot of appointments have been falling through lately. That just happens sometimes. Elder Mk and I found a hive of killer bees just before he was transferred. He wouldn't let me throw rocks at it which is probably for the best. I've attached a photo of the hive. The weather has been decent here, under 100 most days now and around 75 in the mornings. That's actually worse than waking up at 6 am and it's already over 100 because it teases your body and reminds it that there really is nice weather. Waking up and it's nice and cool kills me by noon because now it's 100 again. I didn't notice the heat much when it never got less than 102 or something. Oh well.

We are still teaching a lot of people and many of them have a baptism date which is awesome. It looks like most of them will be able to keep that date and be baptized this transfer.

I can't really think of anything interesting that's been going on this week. I'm sure that there has been but I've just been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write about any of it in my journal. I know that we bumped into a stripper earlier in the week and then a little later talked to an FLDS guy who is "basically Mormon". I had to bite my tongue to not talk to him about the importance of families.

Anyway, time is short and so I have to go. Tell dad Happy Birthday for me, Since it wasn't p-day I wasn't able to write.

Love,
Tim

9/16/2010

2010-09-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

So, Elder Mk got transferred. That was a huge shock. The bigger shock came when he was made an assistant to the President. My new companion is Elder Es from Northen VA, D.C area. He's a good missionary and we're getting alot of work done.

So funny story, we crashed a Jehovah Witness Lesson yesterday. That was awesome. We didn't steal their investigator, but we sure did confuse them and make them feel uncomfortable. We've had lessons every hour on the hour the last couple days. The results of weeks worth of hard work. We have some spectacular new investigators that have so much potential. It's going to be great teaching them.

The Zone grew even bigger this transfer. There are now 26 missionaries here. That means I'm going to be working with a lot of Elders this transfer since Elder Es has even more exchanges to go on. Oh well, guess it means that I have to get along with people. I'll work on that. Of course we don't really have time to try to find something that we don't like about each other.

I got your letter yesterday. I don't remember any of the questions that you asked me. I'll try to write to you today but there is a Zone Activity that is going on today. yay.

Love,
Elder Collins

9/9/2010

2010-09-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Heather,

This has been a very long week. We have been working so hard and have had many great successes and been witness to many miracles. I have much to send you in the way of photos and voice recordings but I cannot do so until I come across a cable for them. I seem to have lost the one that I had and until I get a new one I can't do much in the way of sending things to you. I'm working on it though.

I wrote to Jon last week so hopefully he received my letter not too long ago. Mike wrote to me and let me know that all of his mission stuff is taken care of. I'm so proud of both of them! They are going to be fantastic missionaries. I wish that I was there to help them along but I know they don't need my help.

I wish that I had time to study. I get a scanty half hour in the morning to study the scriptures. All other time is used studying Preach My Gospel. There are no changes being made to Preach My Gospel itself, just to the MTC curriculum concerning the manual. I only have the first two lessons, but I will copy them and get it in the mail to you as soon as possible. The first is the Doctrine of Christ and the second is Revelation through the Holy Ghost. There are six more from what I understand. It sounds so fantastic.

Earlier in the week I greatly disturbed the powers of evil. I fear that to provide many details will only frighten you, but know that I am well and there is one really ticked off evil spirit that doesn't have a home anymore, and a twelve year old boy can sleep better at night now. I couldn't write to warn you, otherwise I would have. What you may wish to do is have two worthy priesthood holders come over and bless your home. It may do wonders.

I greatly appreciate your input into my studies of the Holy Ghost. I had made some of those connections but you made them so much clearer for me. Christ tells the Nephites the same thing when He is teaching them in 3 Nephi 18: 33. Read 12: 1. Christ says that He will be the one to send the Holy Ghost to them. In 18: 37 they receive the Melchizedek priesthood. In 28: 11 we learn that it is because of Christ that we receive the Holy Ghost. In 28: 18 the Disciples are now giving the gift of the Holy Ghost, after the ascension of Christ. It's really interesting and I wish that I had time to sit down and study it out more fully. Read 2 Nephi 10: 3-4 and ponder what one of the main roles of the Holy Ghost is. I don't think that there is just one simple answer to this.

This past week I have been studying a lot about the parable of the sower in its relation to missionary work. I've just been strongly prompted to do so. What is odd is that I have also been strongly prompted to study Jacob 5 from the point of view of a mission president or one in charge of missionaries. In that context there is much instruction about discipline and organization. I know that mission president is more than a little outside my stewardship, so I'm confused by these promptings. It will all come to light soon enough I think.

I know that our Savior lives, that He knows us and loves us. I know that through that love we can each return to be with our Father in Heaven and be cleansed from the burden of our sins. I know that a single righteous example will echo into the eternities and influence the lives of those around you.

Love,
Tim

P.S. I totally miss Wawa mac n cheese. I also had to do a 7-11 run with Elder R for a slurpee

9/9/2010

2010-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Things are going great. Transfers are on Tuesday and I have no idea if I'll be leaving or staying. This is such a unique situation that I"m in right now that I can't even begin to guess.

There are 4 of us in the apartment in answer to your question. Did the hurricane cause any damage around the house or anything?

I'll probably be shipping some junk home. I've got stuff that's been sitting in a suitcase for the last 2 transfers that I haven't even touched. It's still stuff that I want but not that I want to haul around for the next year and a half. Yeah, I was thinking about that today. Including my time in the MTC I've been out for about 5 months now. The end of this next transfer will be almost 7 months, a little over a quarter of the way finished.

The weather has been a little cooler here lately. It's hardly broken 100 this week so far, which has been fantastic. It was about 70 when I woke up this morning.

Anyway, got to go.

Love,
Tim

9/2/2010

2010-09-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Heather,

Words cannot explain the blessings and the miracles that I have been privy to witness. The Lord is truly opening the windows of Heaven to us.

Sacrifice truly does bring forth the blessings of Heaven. President Christensen made a statement awhile ago at a meeting that each of us needed to place everything on the altar. It is so obvious which have done just that, and who have not. Those who have sacrificed all to the Lord are happy and productive. I cannot honestly say that I have given all to Him, but I am prepared to. I am in agreement with your promise to follow the commands of the Brethren and will honor and sustain them as do you. The more that I give the more that I receive in return. I am as perplexed as you are by the blessings that have been given to me--I accept them with humble gratitude.

I have had no time to stop and take any photos or really pick up any souvenirs since I have been in this area. My preparation days are filled with planning and much work, so much so that I barely find time to write to you, much less anyone else. I am woefully behind on writing to so many people. Growing up I can remember so many stories about all of the things that Elders used to do on their P-days. I have heard stories here as well and I am left to ponder where they find the time. Maybe it is just a generational gap. They still accomplish much.

We have so many amazing people that we are teaching right now. I think that I told you about the whole family? We blessed their home for them a few days after we got into the area. Well, anyway, we taught them the law of chastity last night. We were both a little nervous about it because he wasn't married. His children were so hopeful and so excited that their parents might be getting married. We did not get a positive commitment out of them but then again it's a private matter between them. It was amazing to teach them and counsel them about the blessings of marriage. I had no idea what to say to them because I have never had this situation before. It was amazing to just rely upon the spirit to give me what to say. We have both been praying, pleading rather, that they will have a strong enough faith and testimony to commit themselves to each other.

We met an interesting woman late last week. She was very drunk. During the course of a very awkward lesson she blurted out "When I see you guys I know that God exists." She then proceeded to hug Elder Mk. I managed to evade. It was a very awkward and strange lesson. We meet lots of fun and exciting people here.

We met a man three days ago. When we got to his home he went and fetched his neighbor for the lesson. We set them both for baptism that night. Last night we stopped by and he had a friend with him. We could have set him as well but want to get to know him better. Maybe tonight. Amazing miracles like that just keep happening. All we are doing is being as obedient as we can and we are being blessed for it.

Yesterday, Elder R and I were out working in the morning. The two people that we found that would allow us to talk to them turned into a new investigator. He needed that testimony builder and I am thankful that he had that opportunity. One of them was tough. He knows his Bible far better than I do. Good thing the Bible was written through the Holy Ghost. We conversed for about half an hour right outside a 7-11 about the deeper points of doctrine. I don't know where he picked it all up, but he is very knowledgeable. He did stump me on John 16: 7. I felt like telling him that even the Bible Dictionary doesn't know why the Holy Ghost wasn't in full operation among the Jews! I researched it a little this morning and the Spirit tried to help me out but I'm not understanding the answer that He is trying to give me. I get to learn something new every day.

This is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. It is His restored priesthood authority that organized this Church. We have a prophet of God to give us the direction that we need and share the love of our Father in Heaven with us. As we keep the commandments that are revealed to us, we are blessed.

Love,
Tim

P.S. On a note of personal interest, during a baptismal interview the candidate is asked if they are willing to obey gospel standards. There is no covenant to obey them at baptism. Elder Mk pointed it out to me the other day.

9/2/2010

2010-09-02T11:24:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, as usual this week has been crazy. Haven't had much time to do anything. When Elder Mk and I got transferred into this area 5 weeks ago we had one investigator set with a baptism date. As of last night we have 7. All of them are pretty solid except for one. We are averaging 2 new investigators a day, and on Tuesday we found 8 new ones, which is impressive because Tuesdays are our disctict meetings and we don't start working until around 1 in the afternoon. The Lord has been blessing us beyond measure and it is a direct result of our obedience and our hard work. From 6 am to 10:30 pm we work like crazy and the hard work is showing. We are still living below our privilege here, but things are improving. No thoughts yet on whether I will be transferred or not.

There are HUGE changes going on in the Mission right now. Things are being completely changed around. Elder Mk keeps telling me that he keeps feeling prompted to teach me as much as he can about leadership and training and President Christensen has told me that he keeps feeling impressed for me to be around as many people as possible. There is about to be two massive influxes of new missionaries in the next two transfers and very few going home. Right now this mission is one of the biggest in the world. We have about 212 missionaries and at the end of the next two transfers we will have around 240 missionaries. It's very exciting!

Love,
Tim

8/19/2010

2010-08-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this has been a loooong week. We've been working from sun-up to way past sunset every night. This past week I've managed to get home before 10 twice. There are huge changes going on in the mission right now. We just did a massive mid-transfer apartment change, which has never happened in the history of the mission on this scale. The MTC is changing the curriculum starting this coming Spring (which may or may not be common knowledge at the moment) and so we are re-training all of the missionaries in the field right now to prepare them to be in conformity to these changes when they occur. It's actually a little bit exciting. There is a larger emphasis on teaching the doctrine instead of learning the doctrine now. Go figure that kids these days don't have good communication skills. Besides all of the new meetings and trainings Elder Mk has been going on exchanges on average 3 times a week. This means late nights trying to get all of the Elders to where they need to be each night and then pciking them up and doing it in reverse the next day. It also means that I've been spending a lot of time with Elder R, a brand new missionary that is being trained by one of the other Zone Leaders, Elder B. I've spent more time with and done more to train him than Elder B has simply because he hasn't had the time to be around to do so. I talked to President Christensen about it and he said that it was a big responsibility for me but that the Lord knew that I could handle it.

I had a chance to meet with him on Sunday one-on-one and he made a couple comments about my possible future in the mission. He made comments about every impression that he has gotten about me has been that I need to be with as many companions as possible. It's very likely that I will have a different companion every single exchange on my mission. He said that he wants me to be a missionary that he can send to the remotest parts of the mission and not have to worry about interviewing me all of the time. Sounds like it's going to be an exciting two years.

The weather hasn't been too bad here. It's funny how I can pick up when the humidity climbs above 20% here. We've been working hard and had no time to really do anything, which is good. Speaking of which, gotta go again...

Love,
Tim

8/12/2010

2010-08-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Heather,

The first week of this transfer has been simply amazing! When I first got here to Las Vegas I didn't know what to expect. This is an amazing place. I still doubt highly that I would ever develop a desire to return and attempt to raise a family here. The Saints here are strong, they have to be. I don't even know where to begin. It has been non-stop from six in the morning until almost eleven every evening. I haven't even had time to write in my journal which is the only thing that I am lamenting about the work.

We, meaning Elder Mk and I have been working non-stop to learn as much as we can about the area and the members. We managed to make ourselves little pocket maps of the area and they have been life savers. We are really starting to know where things and people are, which is great for getting to appointments on time. We are both learning so much, it is just incredible. We see the Lord's hand in almost all that we do. He [Elder Mk] is a Zone Leader so he has a lot of responsibilities with meetings and exchanges with other Elders. That means that I am often left with a different companion. It has been fun so far but it really stretches me to grow. It's good. I've been spending a lot of time with a new missionary named Elder R. He has only been out about a week. It really makes me focus on what I have been taught and keeps me centered on the basics. There is a lot of trust involved to allow me to spend that much time alone with a trainee. I think that I scared him a bit though earlier in the week.

We were out together contacting and we came across a man who by ever appearance has led a life mostly confined behind bars. If he wanted to he probably could have broken me in half. Well, we started talking to him. It was a busy street corner so he asked us to walk with him down the street. No problem there. As we walked he spoke about the necessity to instill respect into his children and used the phrase, "Death before dishonor." As we walked more away from the beaten path his language and mannerisms grew more vulgar and aggressive. He then began to talk about how he really needed some money and hoped that he could come across some that day. At that point I told him that we had an appointment that we needed to get going to and attempted to leave. Elder R had been silent this whole time. The man asked if we could pray for him that he could find some money so I offered to pray with him right there on the corner of a street. Elder R later told me that he was praying with his eyes open in case we were about to be mugged or worse. After one of the strangest prayers of my life we walked briskly away from him. Well, yesterday he called and thanked us for the prayer and told us that it had been answered. Very little chance of him turning into an investigator, but a very nice story.

It is amazing how much of a footing Satan has here. It is written into the law here that missionaries are considered solicitors. We get yelled at by housing complex and apartment security in most places that we go when we have actual appointments with people. The amount of pornography here is incredible. It is on almost every street corner, free for the taking. I saw a boy who couldn't have been over thirteen years old yesterday on his way home with groceries, stop and pull a magazine out of one of the bins and just keep right on walking. There is no regulation, no locks on the boxes, nothing. The area that I spend most of my time in isn't as bad as other areas, but it is still a place that is a New Gomorrah. Filth is a thriving market here. There is hope though. There is an army of us here taking the sin out of Sin City, one soul at a time. There are many wonderful people here still. About twelve percent of the population here is LDS and growing.

I really do wish that I could have stayed with Elder A for one more transfer, but the Lord needed me somewhere else. I'm taking those things that I learned and that you suggested and applying them here. Not that Elder Mk needs any prodding or encouragement to press on, but it has strengthened our companionship. Whereas before I wanted to become a better teacher and student of the gospel so I could bring people to Christ; now I want to be so, so that we can bring people unto Christ. I don't want him to worry about who to give me as an exchange companion while he is gone. He has enough to worry about. The better missionary I am, the less work he has to do.

We have the potential to be a powerful companionship and I am really looking forward to building out bonds together.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights about the love of God. It has been something that has been on my mind lately and your letter has sparked an interest for me to look elsewhere in my search of revelation. Speaking of such I was in the single's ward sacrament meeting (I am the only person in recent mission memory that has served in a single's ward without being a zone leader or assistant) and I was pondering something out. As often as I permit, the scriptures once more spoke peace to me. Isaiah 54, one of my absolute favorites, is the culprit this time. I was thinking of the sacrifice of coming on a mission instead of starting a family and verses one through three made a different kind of sense this time, especially since I had been reflecting upon how desolate it is here. We chose for me to leave and come here and so later we will be blessed far more than we could have hoped for before. We will need to enlarge our home, to strengthen it to hold all of the blessings that await because what we have now just isn't big enough to contain it all. I knew that already, but I don't mind hearing it now and again.

I'm being well taken care of and showered with great love. Elder Mk is just amazing and Elder P is so full of love and Canadian goofiness. I have your prayers and affection and I have my knowledge of our Savior. I am very well and so do not worry at all. I am also going to the Temple this coming Thursday morning so that will help me so much. It has been since early May that I have even seen a Temple much less set foot in one. I'm so excited about going and will get a member to print me off a family name of mine so I continue doing that work here.

I pray constantly for you and about you and the Lord continues to hear those prayers. I know that He lives and that He loves each of us.

Love,
Tim

8/12/2010

2010-08-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, things have been great here this past week. The tempreture has been under 110 all week, which is always fabulous.

Elder Mk and I have been scrambling to learn as much as we can about the area and our hard work and prayers have been paying off. We are actually figuring out how to get to streets and learning who certain people are. We cover the entire stake as a young single adult ward so that's still pretty tricky, but we're not worrying about that yet. Our family ward has been awesome and has helped so much in supporting us in any way that we've asked. Our ward mission leader was just called so he doesn't know what he's doing at all yet, but he is doing a fantastic job at working with us. All of our leadership is new because the Ward just recently split. We are pretty much working with a blank slate up here and it's awesome. When we got transferred in we had almost no one to teach and this week alone we've found about 10 new people which is impressive by itself- but is more so when you realize that we've hardly been working in the area. Since Elder Mk is a Zone leader he is constantly gone to meetings or on exchanges or something. We've only spent two full days working together this past week. I've been left to work in the area a few times with a brand new missionary, which is fine with me, we get along well, and I've been transplanted into other companionships in other areas as well. For the amount of time that we've actually spent working in our area, the amount that we have gotten done is nothing short of a miracle. Our prayers are being answered almost as soon as we finish saying them.

I've been biking a lot, but that hasn't been a problem because it's mostly just flat here. I"ve been getting an awesome tan as well. I have a testimony of the fact that parting your hair in a desert clime is a supreme form of obedience. I have an amazine tan line on the side of my head from that. Getting it sunburnt still hurts more than I would like it to.

I finally decided it'd be best to get a lock for my bike. I picked one up at Wal-Mart last Thursday that you'll need a plasma cutter to get off my bike. It's pretty impressive looking. Mostly i'm just afraid that someone will steal and pawn the bike in an attempt to make their mortgage payment or something. There are so many houses that are in foreclosure up here. Lots of them are really cheap too.

Had a bad experience yesterday morning. We left the house at ten after 6 to go play in a park for morning exercise and it was 75 degrees out. For a brief moment I felt chilly when the wind blew. I suppose that it's a good sign that I"m getting used to the heat, but I don't want to get used to the heat, I like my arctic tempretures. I actually found myself saying yesterday, "hmm, only 103, that's not bad at all"

Well, Got to be going, still a lot of stuff to get in order today.

Love,
Tim

8/5/2010

2010-08-05T19:10:00.001-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, I'm out of Ely. I got transfered down to Las Vegas. I'm now currently serving in North Las Vegas but somehow or another managed not to be serving in the ghetto. My New Companion is Elder Mk from upstate New York. We both got double transferred into a new area with a new Ward. He has also been asked to be a Zone Leader here in what is now the biggest Zone in the entire mission. Between trying to figure out our Ward boundaries, who is actually in our Zone and District, trying to find out who to contact in this new Ward because there is no leadership yet besides just a Bishop and his counselors and moving in it has been an interesting couple of days. We are sharing an apartment with another set of Elders, Elder Mo and Elder P- the very same that was my MTC Companion. It's been good to see and serve with him again.

I'm only covering two wards now, the brand new one that has just been formed and a Singles Ward. Typically only Zone Leaders and assistants to the President are allowed to cover them but since Elder Mk is a Zone leader I'm allowed to serve with him there. That should be pretty interesting. The heat here is something else. I drove the 4 and a half hours from Ely on Monday at when I arrived in Las Vegas at 5 it was 106 outside. I'll take it over the 90% humidity any day of the week. Still hot and it takes your breath away at first, but you don't walk around soaking wet all of the time. I spent the night with Elder L in the apartment of Elder P and his Companion Elder F. Tuesday was Transfer Conference and we all got re-assigned. I didn't know that I would be living with Elder P until I came into the apartment and saw his name tag sitting on a desk, that was a pleasent surprise. Elder Mk and Elder B had new Zone Leader training yesterday so I went out with Elder P and Elder Mo and worked with him all morning. Have you ever bicycled for 6 miles in 104 degree heat? How about when it was only supposed to be 4 miles but Elder Mo got lost? That was a new experience. I have respect for anyone that is able to live here, but I think that there is something wrong with them for desiring to move to such a desolate, filthy place. It's about 105 already today.

In the mornings we go out with a couple of other companionships to a park and play frisbee or football or something. When we get there at 6:20 in the morning it's already 98 degrees. People here are crazy. I'm starting to get used to it though. I just keep telling myself that it could be a lot worse and do my best to remember some of the horriffic summers out there when it has been 115 with 99% humidity or something. It helps for about 10 minutes. We have a car though and so that helps quite a bit too.

There are actually places to go shopping here! There is a Wal-Mart within walking distance, a 7-11, a walgreens and actually some decent places to eat. I'm living right next to Nellis Air Force base and watching the Fighter Jets take off and land is pretty cool, but can interefere with sleeping sometimes when they hit their after-burners a little too close to the ground. Should be interesting being here when World War 3 breaks out. There is also a few places to go shopping for clothes, I think, which is pretty nice.

One of the changes is that all letters and packages MUST now be sent through the mission office. I don't even have an option to bend that rule because we don't even have a mailbox here. I get mail once a week at District Meetings. Period. That's it. District Meetings are on Tuesdays. That basically means you can't send me perishiable stuff because it will be sitting around forever or if there is an emergency you can't get a letter to me in a few days. The only option there is to call the Mission office at the number I gave you or to call President Christensen himself (he has said that emergency calls should come to him). We are still allowed to e-mail at the Family History Library which is pretty nice.

Well, I've got to get going. Shopping at Wally-world awaits.. along with unpacking (finally!) and trying to get to know this new area.

Love,
Tim

8/5/2010

2010-08-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

My dearest Heather,

After a four and a half hour drive and some minor confusion, I arrived in Las Vegas for only the second time on my mission on Monday the 2nd. It was a fun drive down. Elder L rode with me and it was nice to have his companionship. You know me and how I would have preferred silence, but it was still nice to have him along. Elder N, the mission vehicle coordinator, drove the large 15 passenger transfer van and trailer back. His driving borders my own and so once we actually reached the city of Las Vegas I was able to see just how well our Chevy Malibu performs on a congested interstate highway. I won't go into details but suffice it to say we both arrive in one piece and on time.

Backing up a little bit, this was one of the best weeks of the transfer. I set the husband of a part member family for baptism and another one finally decided that he and his children want to be baptized. All total there could be six baptisms or more in Ely this transfer. I hope that Elder A and Elder Sm are able to baptize each and every one of them. I wish that I could be there to see that happen, but the Lord has other plans for me.

Monday evening when we arrived in Las Vegas it was about 106 degrees but overcast. Elder L and I stepped out of the car at the chapel and were quite taken away by the intensity of the heat. We unloaded all of our luggage from the car and took it inside to wait for transfer conference the following day. We talked with Elder H from our time at the MTC for awhile. It was really good to see him again. Then Elder P and his companion showed up. We went back to their apartment for the night.

Tuesday morning was filled with Elder P packing and preparing to go to the chapel for the transfer conference. Once we arrived there I saw and spoke to Elder Mi for awhile. I really enjoyed talking to him. He only has two transfers left before he goes home. I was expecting to go to the Mesquite Zone, but it didn't happen. My name was one of the last once read from the list. It seemed like it took forever. Finally my name was read with my new companion and area, which meant nothing to me. All I knew was that I was serving in North Las Vegas with a Zone Leader. The full implications of this are still sinking in , but the main point is that I'm going to be busy. We were double transferred into a brand new ward and a newer area. There are no benchmarks and very little in place to learn from. All we have to rely upon is the Lord, the power of prayer, and a lot of experience in doing what each of us do best. It's going to be a long transfer. We cover a singles ward that encompasses the entire stake and the brand new Laurel Canton ward. I'm looking forward to it, actually. It would be nice if it wasn't so incredibly hot outside, but I don't think that will change for another month or so.

I cannot fathom raising a family here yet many people so rather successfully. I affectionately refer to the area here as the outskirts of Hell. This town belongs to Satan and I am here to wrest it out of his hands. No easy task. We have an advantage though. He is busy attacking individuals in order to destroy families and we are teaching families in order to destroy him. There are a lot of strong missionaries here right now. The best part about being in Las Vegas is that I'm once again able to go to the Temple. I haven't been in about three and a half months. Words cannot explain how much I'm looking forward to that. I think that I go in three weeks. I'll check on that so that I can take a family name with me.

Elder Mk is amazing. He lives near Palmyra which endeared him to me quickly. He is diligent and obedient and I really am looking forward to teaching and serving with him. He has been out a little bit over a year so I will have the chance to see him around for quite some time. I really don't know much about him because we have been so bust trying to get the area put together and find out what we need to do. I like him better by the minute.

Jesus is the Christ and He lives. He continues to answer the prayers of men and guide His Church through Thomas S. Monson. The Atonement is real and can cleanse each and everyone one of us from our sins and transgression. Through His love for us each of us can be with those we love for all of eternity.

Love,
Tim

7/29/2010

2010-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

I’m still alive. I didn’t have time to e-mail you today. One of the new rules is that we only get one hour to e-mail. Period. That includes our letters to President Christensen. After I finish reporting our weekly numbers to him, it’s just about time to log off and go about our day.

We had a massive thunderstorm two nights ago. I don’t think that people here are used to that kind of storm. Lots of rain too, probably more that we have gotten all summer.

Seems like I don’t have time to do anything. We don’t have too many teaching appointments, but somehow we are just busy all of the time. I wouldn’t mind it except it’s not really a productive kind of busy.

Pioneer Day in Lund was kind of boring. There isn’t much to do in a town of about 200. There was a parade and some craft sales and a rodeo that we couldn’t go to. The weather stayed nice for the most part though, which was good because it is normally so dry and dusty down there. We didn’t have much success there, but did manage to find a few people who were inactive or a nonmember.

Youth Conference was this past week or so and apparently their service project was to write to a missionary. Anne, Bryson and some kid named Ryan wrote to me. I would have written them back but I haven’t had time yet and I don’t have an address. They went to Palmyra, which I am pretty jealous about.

I am quite certain that I am being transferred. I would be shocked if I stayed here in Ely one more transfer. I’d like it, but I doubt that I will.

Well, got to go, as always.
Love,
Tim

By the way, the first missionary that taught me as I was coming back to church is the Bishop’s son in McGill. It’s a small world. He remembers me and knows Heather as well since he served in Rising Sun for awhile.

7/22/2010

2010-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this week has been lots of fun. It's been hot, but not as hot as it's been there. Up in Ely it has been around 95 or so, but down in Lund it's been over 100. Lund isn't too bad, we only go there once a week and we usually drive everywhere since it's so spread out. We are going down on Saturday for a big Pioneer day celebration that they hold every year. All 4 of us are going down with a ton of supplies and a booth so it should be pretty interesting. Supposedly there is going to be about 3,000 people there, which is huge for a little town the size of Lund.

Funny thing is we are only allowed to get supplies once a transfer since we are up here in the middle of nowhere. We had a non-member who was going to be down in Las Vegas anyway pick them up for us. He also picked up my box from you while he was there and delivered it to me last night. Elder A and I were walking down the street about 8:45 on our way home and a black truck pulled up and someone yelled out if one of us was Elder Collins. I was wondering who this person was and what they had found out that I had done because I'd never seen him before. When he said that he had a box for me I realized who he was. WHen I asked for some Tide-to-go pens I hadn't expected 9 of them. Thank you.

We are working with more and more less-active members now. I'd say probably a good 50% of our teaching pool is made up of them. It's not a big deal because it helps to build a relationship with the Ward members and get them to trust us more with referrals and the like. We met with one of the Bishops in a Ward that we cover yesterday to update him on the progress of an Excommunicated person that we are teaching and ask him about the progress of another woman that is planning on being baptized soon. While we were talking to him he told us about a member who was a recent convert and just went through a divorce and wanted to know how to get back into the swing of things. He is working with the Bishop but we stopped by anyway. He said that he wants to take the lessons all over again to firm up his foundation. I have a feeling that he has a lot of non-member friends that we can teach as well.

We met a guy yesterday through a referral from the other Elders here. We contacted him about 10:30 and went back at noon to teach him. We are going back at 6 today to teach him more. That doesn't happen here. Usually you have to pull teeth to get return appointments with people. I think he is mostly just curious. In his words: "Before I moved here I always thought that Mormons were just a myth or something, just a story that gets told but now that I'm here and see that it's an actual religion I'm curious". He moved here from L.A. Seems like a nice guy and we are going to try to include his whole family in the discussion tonight. Hopefully we can baptize them, that would be nice. Things really slow down here in the summer because of the heat and all of the activities going on.

My knees are doing a lot better. I don't know what Bishop Willes has been doing but it's working. I suppose it could also have something to do with a blessing that I got a couple weeks ago as well.

I got your letter yesterday, there was something that you asked in it and I don't remember what it was and it's not right here in front of me at the moment.

Gotta go,

Love,
Tim

7/15/2010

2010-07-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

My knee is doing alright. Bishop Willes is doing laser light and ultrasound therapy on it. I don't know how I hurt it, and it doesn't hurt all of the time, just enough to be a nuisance. It's been hot here, but not as hot as it's been there, thankfully.

We've been pretty busy this week. Friday we got a referral from the Church Headquarters, contacted her later that afternoon and set her for baptism yesterday. She will be baptized on the 31st and confirmed on the 1st. It's pretty cool. We've been praying and fasting as a Zone that we everyone would be able to baptize this transfer. Her husband is less active and we are attempting to work with him as well so they can go to the Temple in a year together. It's really awesome.

Also this past Friday one of our investigators dropped us. She decided that there was too much going on in her life and she wasn't getting the support that she needed from her family to really take the effort that she needed to progress in the Gospel. Well, that ticked me off, so Saturday after we finished working at the Church owned ranch putting up barbed wire cattle fence all morning we went over to her house and helped her family put a roof on her house. Then we prayed and waited. Last night she called us and asked if we had an opening. We saw her this morning and talked for awhile and she is agreeing to come to church, continue praying and reading the scriptures. I feel like we can set her for baptism pretty soon too after she goes to church a few times and sees the blessings that come from it.

We have two less active families that we are working with at the moment (we have a lot more than that, but only two that I really like!) that are showing a lot of progress. One of them has decided to quit smoking cold-turkey and start coming back to church after years of smoking and other substance abuse. The other we are meeting with tomorrow night and will commit them to come to church and let go of all the fun stuff that they like to do on Sunday that keeps them from coming. We're doing a lot of work, but our numbers don't show it because we don't track what we're doing. Our Zone leaders got on me about that awhile ago, but the way I see it, I don't care if we track those statistics or not. According to some Missionaries we are here to baptize. According to me I'm here to bring others to Christ, it doesn't matter if they've been baptized or not. It's kind of the Ward's responsibility to fellowship and reactivate people, but they're not really doing their job right now to the best of their abilities and hopefully if they see all of the people that we are reactivating they will get on the ball about it. If not, doesn't matter as long as it doesn't interfere with our regular activities. Less actives give great referrals.

Could you send me your conversion story? I can't remember it, I just remember one sacrament meeting you were talking about when the missionaries knocked on your door you were drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette at the same time. The only reason I remember that is because I was curious how you wouldn't light yourself on fire doing that.

Anyway, running late today so I've got to go.

Love you,
Tim

7/8/10

2010-07-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Most beloved Heather,

I've been thinking more and more about how the gospel is able to bless families and I have had the pleasure to teach several children lately. They are amazing little creatures. It is amazing to watch them learn and grow.

The 4th was interesting here too. Most people went out of town I suppose for the weekend, but the ones that stayed decided to party a lot. There were fireworks at night which was really good. Elder L and I climbed onto the garage to watch them and were satisfied until we saw Elders A and S on the house roof. They had contrived a makeshift tower out of the dining room table and a chair to accomplish that task. I decided to change locations and that view was much better. We goofed around for awhile as is evidenced by the photos. The real adventure came when we realized that we had no way down. It was also at this point that Elder A chose to inform us that he is afraid of heights. Well, the pictures chronicle that adventure of lowering him down.

[Note: The camera card didn't work, so I don't actually have any of these photos. Trust me, no one is sadder about it than I am :P ]

This past Sunday was interesting. Every first and third Sundays there is a Spanish sacrament meeting. Being fast and testimony meeting there was a lot going on there. Elder A translated my testimony for me which was a new and interesting experience. There were only about a dozen of us there and with singing the hymns in Spanish and not understanding what was being said I got a real sense of what it must like for other missionaries throughout the world. It also gave me a little idea of what a woman named Katrina must feel like.

Katrina is the mother in a part member family. She is deaf. She is able to read lips though and can speak somewhat so we are able to communicate with her. I often wonder what she feels when we teach her. She does not have many of the same distractions that we have and likely can feel the Spirit more strongly and easily. It's amazing to watch her as we speak. You can tell when she feels the Spirit and when she really understands what we are talking about. Maybe it's because we have to look her in the eyes the whole time we are there so that she can read our lips.

I know that as we keep the commandments that we have been given we will continue to be blessed. To say that I would travel through Hell for you is quite a literal statement here. Between the heat and the filth in Las Vegas there are not many degrees of separation. I do so for the glory of God and the salvation of my Brothers and Sisters. I do so because I now the truthfulness of what I am doing.

May the blessings of Heaven be constantly poured out upon you.

Love,
Tim

7/1/2010

2010-07-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

[Couldn't share most of the letter this week, y'all. Here's the part I can share though. Cheers!]

Dearest Heather,

You would be so proud of me. I'm sure you already are already. One of my concerns about a mission was teaching and working with children. I have no experience with them. None. They are interesting creatures. I have come to prefer teaching them more than adults. A few days ago we taught a lesson on charity to a pair of less active parents. Midway through the lesson I began talking to their daughter. She can't be more than eight. I challenged her to do one nice thing for her parents and her younger sisters without them knowing about it. I will be following up with her at our next visit.

I taught a nine year old about the degrees of glory a week ago. It was amazing. When asked to pick up her toys she would be upset if her brother got the same reward of a giant ice cream cone as she did if he just pushed his toys under the couch and she actually put hers away. She understood perfectly--it was amazing!

I know that the Church is true. It's true because it is founded upon Jesus Christ Himself. I know that each of us can be forgiven because of our Savior's love for us and I know that we will each receive what we deserve when we stand before God. I know that families can be together forever and that it is a blessing that should be sought after above all else.

All my love,
Tim

7/1/2010

2010-07-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Things are going well here. Elder A and I are adjusting well to each other. This has been a busy week. We went to Lund on Monday and spent all day down there, had District meeting on Tuesday and interviews with President Christensen, yesterday we had Zone Conference in Elko and that took up the whole day as well. The assistants to the President stayed at our house last night so they wouldn't need to drive all the way back down to Las Vegas so there were eight of us cramped into that tiny one bedroom house last night. I didn't care, that's one of the benefits of having the top bunk.

We got the O.K. to back to Lund on the 24th for the big Pioneer day celebration down there. All 4 of us are going down and will have a booth set up and everything. It should be really cool. They have a parade and craft show with a rodeo and fireworks. It's supposed to be a big regional thing here (there's really nothing else to do so why not go down there?) so hopefully we will get some pretty good referrals. Tuesday we had a quick district meeting because Bro. Danner (the member who owns the house that we live in) was putting in a new washer and dryer for us. We helped him with that and it took up the whole morning. We met with President Christensen in McGill while he was on his way to Elko for Zone Conference. Things are going really well and we actually sat and talked for more than 5 minutes this time. Basically he wanted to know how Elder A and I are doing together. He also said that I can start studying Spanish for 20 minutes in the morning so that I can maybe pick up some door contact models or something. I wish that I had picked up the Spanish language material in the MTC now. It was only a couple dollars and that's the only place that you can buy it. I'll survive though.

Oh! I finally bought a bike here. It's a nice bike actually. Everyone here gets these big bulky mountain bikes but I got a nice light road bike. The whole thing only weighs about 20 pounds, if that. I had the clerk build it to my specifications so I know it'll hold up here. I wanted 27 gears on it, but settled for 24 because I didn't want to pay an additional $100 for a bigger gear-set. I just bought a helmet in Elko yesterday so I can finally start riding it around (go figure, there's no where here to buy a bike helmet except the store that I bought the bike from and they would have to order one in for me). Since we are covering twice the amount of area now since we are the Spanish Elders I figured it would be good to save the miles on the car because they still didn't give us any extra. we have a thousand miles to last a month and that goes REALLY fast around here if you're not careful. The nearest town to Ely is McGill and that's a 30 mile round trip. Lund is about 80 miles, Duckwater is almost 150, Garrison, UT is about 200. It's 380 miles round trip to Elko but we had a member drive us there yesterday so that really really helps.

A correction in the last letter you sent me. I don't get $400 a month here. Thats how much I pay and it goes into the mission fund. I get $115 a month to live on. The rent is free because it's paid by the Church, but it's still only $115 a month to buy all of my groceries and to live on. It wouldn't be bad down in Vegas but up here things are really quite expensive. We get by though. Surprisingly I"ve been able to keep my expenses to about $90 a month. It makes things interesting, but the members here are really good about feeding us. I've had a meal almost every single night since I've been here. They're handy to have when you wear a white shirt all day long every day.

We are still finding people to teach but it's still really difficult to get them to read the scriptures and go to Church. Apparently that's normal here though. President Christensen and I talked about it and he said that this is one of the lowest baptising areas of the mission because it's the hardest area of the mission. We are 3 hours away from our Zone Leaders and 4 hours away from him. We are almost totally autonomous here and the geographic area is huge with little tiny towns dotting it. We have a mission goal of having every companionship baptize at least once a transfer. We did it this previous transfer but it's going to be a huge stretch this one. We only have one or two investigators that could possible meet the criteria (new rule, you have to come to church at least 3 times before we'll dunk you) but they are not showing much desire. We meet with one of them tomorrow so we'll try again to light a fire under him or something. Hopefully he will open himself to the Spirit and give up his pride. Hopefully.

Anyway, Got to run as usual.

Love,
Tim

6/24/2010

2010-06-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well, Elder M got transferred down to East Las Vegas on Monday. Monday morning it was about 105 down there. It's about 70 right here right now. My new companion is named Elder A from Mesa, Arizona. He's a spanish speaking Elder so he and I will be covering the Spanish Branch here along with all of the Spanish referrals. Guess how much Spanish I speak? None. I'm still waiting on word from the Assistants to the President for permission to alter the morning schedule to allow for language study. Our schedules are set unless you're a bi-lingual Missionary then you're allowed time in the morning to study a language. Elder A does Spanish and English so he gets 30 minutes in the morning so I don't see what the difference is since we can't leave until he's finished studying to just study with him and see if I can pick up enough to follow along in a discussion or something. It should make the next 6 weeks pretty interesting. We have quite a few Spanish investigators and several that were dropped in the past because no one spoke Spanish. I think that we can get a baptism or two out of them.

Elder A and I are getting along alright. He's been out 8 months so technically he is my senior companion but I'm senior to the area so I've been playing senior companion the last couple days and will probably continue to do so until he gets familiar with the area and the people. He doesn't drive so guess what that means for me? I finally get to drive. I've got a bunch of paperwork to fill out because standard policy is you don't drive until you've been in the mission field for at least 3 months. They're making a big exception with me.

I got that box you sent me when I got home last Thursday. Thank you. Elder A is still adjusting to the fact that there is nothing here in town or for 3 hours in any direction. He asked where he could buy a pair of brown socks and I tried not to laugh at him too much. Everything is going well here. I can't really think of anything that I need.

We've got a few new investigators that are moving along well. Two of them we are meeting with tonight and if all goes well we will likely set them for baptism. A few others are prgressing slowly because they can't come to church because of their work schedules. We are working on that as well. I think that we can have at least two baptisms this transfer if we work hard at it. There's a lot of work to do here and a lot of people are interested it's just a matter of getting them to Church and getting them to read the Scriptures. We have Zone Conference on the 30th so we will be going up to Elko again. I'll be able to buy a bunch of the stuff that I need up there, but I really don't need that much. As a matter of fact I'll probably be sending a box or two home in the future with stuff that I just don't need. I think that I'll be staying in Ely until August or September. Missionaries usually stay here for about 4 1/2 to 6 months. Ones that serve in Las Vegas get transferred about every 3 months. That should be nice. I'll spend the summer up here and then spend the winter down there. I think that's every Missionaries dream here.

Anyway, got a letter to write to president Christensen so I've got to go.

Love,
Tim

6/24/2010

2010-06-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

Dearest Heather,

This past week has been full of newness for me. Elder Mi has been transferred down to Las Vegas and I have a new companion now. His name is Elder A and he is from Mesa Arizona. in some ways I prefer him to Elder Mi and in others I do not. I suppose that is natural though. I will reserve forming an opinion about him until I have gotten to know him better. he is very knowledgeable and speaks Spanish which will help greatly here. I, however, do not speak Spanish. I will make every attempt to study and learn so that I can be helpful and follow along with the discussions. The next six weeks should be very interesting for me.

I wish I could put into words the things that I have been learning lately. Wonderful feelings of duty, love and knowledge have been flowing into my heart and mind daily. The gospel is so much simpler than most people imagine it to be, myself included. It is amazing.

The work is proceeding here, but few of the people are progressing. We are striving to help them understand the importance of reading the scriptures, praying and going to church. I'm going to work harder at likening the scriptures to each of our investigators and pray that it will help. I'm working hard and will begin to work even harder. There is so much potential to be found here.

Remember that a butterfly must fight it's way out of a cocoon to gain strength. The purest substances must be constantly refined. Rejoice in the furnace of afflictions and seek for the beauty that lies beneath. Each of us was made for this world by the master craftsman so that we could inherit the next. Who you think you are is not who you will be until and unless you reconcile with the will of God. Do not fear, He is with you.

And Ephraim be crowned with his blessing in Zion...

Love,
Tim

P.S. I'm allowed to drive now! It's wonderful. Elder A doesn't have a license... I know. Car seat!

6/17/2010

2010-06-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

Dearest Heather,

I am doing very well. Transfers are on Monday and we will get a Notification from the zone leaders on Saturday about who will be leaving the area. I still have a great desire to stay here in Ely and i pray that the Lord will allow me to remain and continue my work here. Elder Mi doesn't know if he will be leaving or not. He has been here for three transfers already and usually someone only stays for two to three transfers. It would be good to have him stay another six weeks but I trust in the Lord and President Christensen and know that whatever happens will be for the greater good.

The work continues to move forward here. We are having difficulty having people come to church on Sunday and so the things that they must in order to gain a testimony. We continue to seek guidance from God to know how we can best help them. There must be a way and with His help I know that we can reach them and help them to draw nearer to Christ.

I've built a good relationship with one woman I teach and I think that by careful applications of love she will let down all of her barriers and decide to come to church and be baptized. She is in her mid-seventies and is pretty set in her ways, but I know that she can be baptized. I also know that with work we can have her husband baptize her (of course he is older than she is and she may be more comfortable having someone else do it!)

Everything is going so well with the family we teach as well. I always look forward to their appointments because he is just so eager to learn and his wife is really starting to participate. Heavenly Father has been hearing and answering our prayers. I think that they will make the choice to be baptized soon and I'm so excited about that.

We have met many people this week that have a lot of potential as well and I'm looking forward to teaching them. I met two of them yesterday with Elder L. If you recall he way in my district at the MTC. We went on exchanges yesterday and he and I roamed around his area. He has grown so much and he's developed into an amazing missionary already. I know that I shouldn't compare apples to oranges, but i am able to learn much from him. I feel like he has learned more in the last six weeks than I have, but we have learned different things. He is going to accomplish so much. I have not heard anything about or from Elder P, but I know that he is doing well and loving every minute of his mission.

In a discussion yesterday an investigator made a comment about raising the bar. It made me think of you and a conversation that we had long ago. When the bar gets raised higher than we can reach we need to learn more and more to seek the help that is offered to us, spiritually and temporally.

I read a quote yesterday and I believe that it was given by President Kimball. It said that our testimonies should be our most prized possession. It made me think. I share my testimony many times during the day to total strangers. It made me question if my testimony was indeed my most prized possession or not. After some time of pondering I came to the conclusion that it was, but I did not treat it as such. I've resolved to correct that.

Reflecting back through my letters to you and my personal journal entries I feel as if I can make a much greater effort in my personal and public affairs to share my testimony more and share my knowledge of my Redeemer and his love.

I came across Joshua chapter 3 earlier in the week and it also reminded me of you. Sometimes we know that the Lord will proved for us but we need to take that first step. We need to walk to the water's edge with perfect faith before he will remove it so we can be on dry, safe ground.

I know the gospel is true and has been restored to this earth through Joseph Smith. I know that all blessings in this life and the one to come are given through the love of God for each of us. I know that because of Jesus Christ we can return once more to our Heavenly Home and receive eternal life in the mansions that have been prepared for each of us there by Christ Himself. I know that the Heavens are not closed and that we can each be guided from on high. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,
Tim

6/17/2010

2010-06-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Our sprinklers came on this morning and coated everything with ice. It was about 33 degrees in the sun when I woke up at 6. It's about 60 now and very nice. We're probably going to go hiking a bit later up in the mountains and it'll probably be chilly up there. There's a peak that's about 9,000 feet that I want to climb up but it doesn't seem that anyone else is up for it.

Things have been going well here. We've found a lot of people here recently. The other set of missionaries have a family of 6 set for baptism and two more people that we gave them as referrals. We have 4 or 5 that could get baptised if they would just stop being silly and sit down and read the Book of Mormon and pray like they're supposed to. The next couple weeks should be really busy if the investigators start doing the things that they need to do to gain a testimony.

As for one investigator, we are still teaching him. Naturally the Bishop wouldnt pay for his cell phone bill but he said something that made him happy because he stopped complaining about it. We met with him last night and are meeting with him again tonight. He reads when he wants to but doesn't have much interest in reading. He asks a lot of good questions though and is getting more and more interested, which is good.

We are teaching an older couple as well. He is an iactive member and has been for about the last 70 years or so. She has never been baptized and she finally told me why last week. She's afraid of water and thinks there are too many people that act like hypocrites at church. We've been working on buildng her faith to overcome her fears. The dislike of other's won't diminish until she actually decides to come to church. It's slow going but she's almost there. We're going to invite her to a couple baptisms in the next few weeks so she can feel the Spirit and see what's going on when you get dunked.

Another family is doing well too. His wife is finally loosening up and is barely participating in the discussions which is better than shunning us like she has been. He is keeping commitments and is getting more and more interested. We will probably invite him to be baptized really soon. He works a lot though so it's hard to get appointments with him as often as we'd prefer.

I bumped into a Mormon Fundamentalist yesterday. She didn't have time to talk nor did she seem excited about talking to us. Can't imagine why. I'd like to go tract out her house but she lives in the other's Elders' area. I think they're going to go find her.

Anyway, as usual, i've got to get running. Send your letters through the mission office since I don't know if I'll be transferred. Transfers are on Monday so after that I may or may not be in Ely anymore (I probably will though).

Love,
Tim

6/10/2010

2010-06-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

My dearest Heather,

Each week here seems to be better than the last. I'm pretty sure that is the way that it is supposed to be though if I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I continue to be amazed by the beauty of everything here. Remember how concerned I was when I got my mission call that I was going to be serving in a desert for two years? Ely is not a desert. It's a in the middle of Humboldt National Forest. Driving between the mountains reminds me of a blending of western Pennsylvania mountains and Maryland farmland.

Right now we are at the church-owned Cleveland Ranch near Garrison, Utah and the only way that I can tell that I'm not sitting in the middle of Fair Hill, Maryland is the mountains behind me and the mature elms that are along the fence lines.

There is a robin hopping along one of the wooden rails to the cattle fence and i hear another one in the elm tree above me. There are some finches which I have yet to identify and that sounds like a cat bird as well. The wind is gently disturbing the leaves on the trees and they are making a rustling protest. The rushing of the sprinklers and irrigators can almost be mistaken for the chortling of a mountain stream. There are even clover growing here. I haven't seen any since I left Delaware. The real treat however was the Tiger Swallowtail butterfly I saw flitting and bouncing around the garden. It was a very unexpected and welcome surprise. The aspens are huge as well. The trees right by the house here are perfect for a tree house and rope swing and there is plenty of room to run around with a kite. Just saying is all. We came out here for a district meeting because the two service missionaries here are part of our district; about forty miles away... we have a massive area that we cover.

I've been working on my tan lately. This past week it has been very warm here; unusually so according to the locals. It has also been humid which is also quite rare here. We are pretty low on miles for our car so we have been walking, a lot. Sometimes we walk seven or eight miles a day. It all depends on if we have teaching appointments or are just out finding. Sometimes we meet fifteen people in under an hour, other times we might meet only five all day long. It's all in a day's work though.

It has been amazing to see how the Lord is answering our prayers here. Hearts are being softened and doors are being opened to us. All we need to do is work as hard as we can and allow the Spirit to do the rest. For stubborn me that is a bit difficult but I am working on it. Please pray for those people whom we are teaching right now, especially one couple. We are teaching them the Plan of Salvation and things are going so well. The woman has trouble accepting it all because she used to be married to a member of the church who was not a good example. Our visits are usually very spread out because of his job so there is a lot of time for the adversary to get in there and do his work.

Most other people here just need a better understanding of exactly what Christ can do for them, they just don't understand. We're working on it but it is frustrating.

I'm doing very well here. I do not recall a happier time in my life and I am learning so much. I pray that I will continue to receive such choice blessings in my life and I pray that you might as well.

I know that I am an authorized servant of the Lord and that the things that I do, I do in His name. I know that one day we can return to live with Him again in the mansions that have been prepared for us to inherit. I know that the way is through active faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, repenting of our sins because that faith, being baptized in His name with His Authority, enduring so that we remain worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and never losing the desire to stay faithful to the very end.

I know the Book of Mormon is a true witness of Jesus Christ and is tangible proof of God's love for us. I know the Priesthood is real and it verily is the power of God Himself and that through faithful execution of it, nothing is impossible. I know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God to speak His words in these days to these people.

I testify of all these things with the authority of one called to open the gate of the path which leads to every blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the name of our Lord and Savior, our Eternal judge and advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. Amen

In all times, places and seasons,
Tim

6/10/2010

2010-06-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Well, this morning was busy. We went out to the Church owned ranch near Garrison, Utah. It was quite a bit of a drive and we just got back from grocery shopping about half an hour ago. I did get the box you sent, finally. Thank you. If the envelopes were on clearance why didn't you get more? That usually means they're going to be discontinued. Staples carries them sometimes but you can order them on lots of websites I think. I like to use them so it's easy to tell when there's a letter from me instead of just a regular plain white envelope. In regards to shopping in Ely and your letter. There are two grocery stores in town, period. You can usually figure out what the members are going to be feeding us the rest of the week by what's on sale. Last week it was lots of avacados and bell peppers. This week I think it will be a lot with cucumbers and fruit. As for clothing stores, there aren't any. Little known fact. Ely Nevada holds a world record. It is the only city in the Country where you have to travel for at least 3 hours in any given direction to reach a major retail center. The only place to buy clothes here is the thrift shop, and it's not even really worth wasting your time there. Most people here go to Vegas or Salt Lake City to shop. Some go to Elko, but they don't have much there either. I cant think of much that I need. I could use a 38 short black suit jacket. I have one with me but it's a 36 and i'm afraid it's going to start shrinking with how much the members feed us here. Kohls usually has them pretty cheap. I don't need it anytime soon, it's too hot to wear our jackets anyway right now and maybe by the time it gets cool enough to need to wear them I'll be someplace that I can just buy it myself so I know it fits properly. I'm surprised to see both Hostess and Little Debbie stuff here. There isn't much of a Tasty cake selection, but I'm surviving. Pretty much the only food that I cant find here is Scrapple and that would be icky to send through the mail anyway, so once again I think that I'll manage to survive.

The tempreture has been up around the 90s here which the locals say is unusual. It's supposed to be about 75 or 80. It's also been humid which isn't normal either. It makes walking every day a little uncomfortable, but it's not bad. Since the town is about 70% LDS lots of people help us out. Yesterday a random guy bought us sodas at a gas station and the Schwans guy gave us some strawberry icecream popcicles. We walk about 5 or 6 miles a day on average, but it depends on how many teaching appointments we have. Sometimes we walk less, other times we walk a lot more. One thing that you can get me, that I can't find out here at all is some of those plastic heel taps for shoes. I found some in Utah and bought them but they're not designed to walk miles on end every day on rock and asphalt so they wear out or fall off if I didn't have them nailed in well enough. I have a few left (they usually come 4 to a package and are pretty cheap) and they'll probably last me a couple more weeks. Shoes wear out a bit fast here because of the dry wind and dust and hard rock and blacktop surfaces to walk on. If I don't keep them shined everyday the leather tends to dry out a bit and if I let that happen too often it will crack and rip. They're doing fine though and as long as I keep the taps on the shoes they aren't wearing out- matter of fact one pair still looks almost brand-new.

We have a few people that we are teaching right now that have some real potential but a few others are just curious and aren't that interested. We have one woman who wants to get baptized and might have a little girl as well but we haven't been able to contact her yet because of the summer activities here. A few more have some potential if we can help them understand why it's important, but that won't happen unless they start keeping commitments. A lot of people here are Sunday Christians, period. They don't want to work at it unless it's for an hour or so on Sunday. It's hard to get them to change that attitude. We're working at it though.

Elder Mi and I have a feeling that he's going to be transferred on the 21st which would leave me here, likely to train a new missionary. We'll see if it happens though. The other set of missionaries here are in the same predicerment, one of them goes home on the 21st. They're having a lot of success and have 5 people set for baptism right now so we're not sure if their area will close and we'll be back down to only one set of missionaries to cover the entire stake again or not. Only time will tell. Elder Mi and I are getting along just great, which really helps to move things along. We don't have to stop and argue about how to teach a lesson or what we're going to teach or where we are going to go that day.

I'm doing alright on money. I'm in the most expensive part of the mission so my funds are set to Vegas cost of living, not middle-of-nowhere-Ely living, but we get by. With 4 of us in the house we split up groceries on Thursdays and that helps a whole lot. Other than that we dont really spend money on many other things. There's a historic train ride that I want to go on but that's $20 and would take up most of the day so I don't know if I'll end up doing it or not.

Anyway, it's that time again and I've got to go. I'll write to you again next week as usual.

Love,

Tim

6/3/2010

2010-06-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

This week has been hot. Well, hot according to the locals. It hit 75 here yesterday and was actually a bit warm for me. I walked around covered in sweat all day long. fun stuff. it's been typically 70 here and partly cloudy with an almost constant slight breeze. Perfect for flying kites or something. We've been doing a lot more walking because the miles on our car got slashed. We only get 1,000 miles a month now, which may seem like a lot but it boils down to about 31 miles per day. We cover 3 areas that are really far apart. From here to McGill it's 15 miles out and then 15 back and then to Lund it's 36 miles one way. That eats up our miles really quickly. I like the walking though. It gives us a better chance to meet people and talk to them and for them to see us walking around not casting spells or sacrificing goats or something.

We've started working with a lot of part member families. Some of them are interested and some are REALLY not interested. We've met a few though that we are starting to work with and might be able to have some get baptized. We had a baptism this past Sunday. I included the photo. Her husband baptized her after he has been inactive and disfellowshipped for 28 years. We helped to confirm her on Sunday.

We met a woman two weeks or so ago and finally were able to get back and teach her the first discussion Tuesday. She accepted everything, including Joseph Smith. We're already planning on baptizing her by the end of July. I'm going to go back over to her house this evening to visit with her and invite her to Church while we are out on Splits with the Elders Quorum. We had a lesson with a woman yesterday and she committed herself to baptism. At the end of the lesson she said that she had been thinking more and more about being baptised and thought that it was a good idea. She is aiming for the end of August but we think that she can be ready by the end of July as well. We have a lot of people to teach right now and most of them are really eager.

Last night we met with a guy that we have been seeing for about a week and a half. He's homeless and lives in a motel so we see him whenever we can because he's always out looking for work. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and then asked him if he would give the closing prayer. We had to teach him how and he was still hesitant, but did so anyway. it was just a simple prayer and he asked Heavenly Father for help through his trials. We left after answering a quick question of his and as we were walking through the parking lot we met the Bishop of another Ward coming to see him. I haven't the slightest idea how he found out about him because he isn't in this Bishop's Ward. What are the odds of that? We're planning on calling that Bishop later today to see what they talked about and what we can do more to help him. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes that had lapsed.

Our basement flooded yesterday, which was fun. The main sewer line that connects to the town sewage system from our house got blocked and backed up all of the drains in the house. Yesterday was the warmest day of the week. We called the landlord and he came over and fixed the problem but needless to say the basement doors are open and there are fans blowing it all outside. Really fun stuff.

Anyway, as usualy I've got to get going. We've got a really busy day planned today because we've got so many people to teach. We don't have as much time as usual to get all of our personal stuff taken care of. If I can I'll try to write you a letter later in the day with more details or something.

Love you,

Tim

5/27/2010

2010-05-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

Dearest Heather,

I love this area. It's so beautiful here. The pictures that I've taken just don't capture the real beauty that is here. The forests and mountains and canyons are breathtaking. I watched a storm come in over the mountains on Monday. I've never seen anything so spectacularly powerful. The people here are so down to earth; for the most part.

They are pretty friendly, especially when they don't realize at first who we are. Very few people have gotten loud with us. They usually politely tell us to leave.

I don't really know what to say about President Christensen. From the time that I have spent with him he seems totally amazing. he is always one step ahead of everyone. There is no doubt in my mind that he, just like President Winn and President Engebretsen are servants of the Lord. He is just full of love and compassion and this work means everything to him. His wife is equally amazing. Some of the missionaries don't care for him because he is kind of strict, but I think that is great of him. We are one of only a few missions that enforces the fact that your hair must be parted and your shoes polished at all times.

I'm getting used to the hair. I just got a haircut from a member today and she said not to worry about it. My hair doesn't like to part but will being to grow that way after a month of two. Until then I'm using lots of gel! It does really set us apart thought and now that I have a hair cut it doesn't look so bad at all.

I have no doubt that President Christensen knows me though. Our interviews are always brief because neither of us need to say much. I'm excited to work with him.

As for the people we're teaching, I don't even know where to begin. We have been working closely with a woman, and she is going to be baptized on Saturday. She is awesome and is so excited. her and her husband have worked so hard to be at this point in their lives. I can hardly wait to see the looks on their faces when he baptizes her. They are really great and I love them both. You would get a real kick out of them.

Another woman is a previous investigator. We found her in the area book. Missionaries taught her about a year ago but dropped her because they could never get in touch with her because she was always working. She has since retired. She was raised Greek Orthodox and still practices it a little. We are always greeted like old friends every time we stop by. We haven't had much of a chance to teach her because she has been busy helping a friend prepare for a wedding and then will be in Las Vegas for Memorial Day visiting family. in about a week and a half we will really begin to teach her the lessons. She seems really open and there is a good possibility that we can baptize her.

We met a man about a week ago while he was washing his car. He is Jehovah's Witness but invited us back another time. He did not give a date because he works so much and his schedule changes a lot. We managed to catch him at home Tuesday night and talked with him. He explained that he wasn't interested in conversion, he was just really curious about what we believe. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talked about it for about fifteen minutes. He is really open and accepting and the next time we go back we will teach a bit more about the Restoration but focus on the Plan of Salvation and prayer. He seems quite interested and I am really looking forward to getting to know him better. His wife is Baptist and doesn't much to do with us be we have only met her once. Hopefully her heart will soften.

Another man is the non-member husband in a part-member family. Missionaries have been working with him for a while with little success. We finally found out that he has a problem with Joseph Smith and modern prophets. He doesn't understand why we need them. Elder Mi shared Elder Robert D. Hales' talk from last April (I think) General Conference, then I stapled the Testimonies of Latter-day Prophets from the March 2008 Ensign onto the back of the talk. We taught him about the purposes of prophets and I prepped him for lesson four by explaining a little bit about the Word of Wisdom and how God revealed it through a modern prophet for our own good. I'm pretty sure that he understands now and I'm looking forward to teaching him this coming week. His wife is super supportive and comes to church all of the time. I think that we can get him baptized if we work slowly with him. He doesn't like to be pushed.

Another man is really down on his luck. For a variety of reasons he is living at a motel for free because he works there. He has no income other than a few dollars here or there and no local family. We worked with the Bishop and got him some food delivered and we are slowly teaching him. There is something about him that I can't quite put my finger on. I don't know how to explain it. Nothing sinister, but not good either. We taught him twice already and he is progressing well but is stubborn. We won't give up on him though and hopefully we can help him know God and Christ better. It will take a lot of work on his part to be baptized, but anything is possible. I plan to work with him as if he will be baptized though.

I don't know what to make of this man yet. He is a former investigator and claims to have read all of the Standard Works. Whether he understands them or not is another matter. He is another who works all of the time. We've managed to teach him once and are trying to meet with him again. He has family in town that he has been visiting along with work so we haven't been able to get in touch with him for the last few days. From talking to him he seems promising.

There are a few others that we are teaching and A LOT of less actives, recent converts, and part-member families. To tell you about each one would take all evening.

We have been teaching almost every day. I come home sore and tired most nights and feel really satisfied. Two days ago we were tracting Mcgill, which is a little town about 15 miles north of Ely. We tracted half of it in about four hours. Anyway, we had almost no luck at all. Most people if they were home told us to get lost. About half and hour before we were set to leave we knocked on a door and a woman answered it and greeted us cheerfully. Elder Mi was so amazed that he accidentally blurted out, "Wow! You're really nice!" After we introduced ourselves she happily replied that her graddaughter wanted to get naptized! Her and her mother both wanted this girl to join the Church and the girl wanted to as well. We hadn't expected that so we didn't quite know what to say except to ask when we could come back and teach her.

Guess what what we are doing tomorrow? We are both excited. that was a hot, windy, dusty day but that one door made it all worth-while.

Elder Mi is really cool. I won't even attempt to spell the town that he is from, but it is near Honolulu. He is the youngest child of eight and one of his older brothers served in this mission several years ago. He is half Hawaiian and half Japanese and has an odd sense of humor. When it snowed earlier in the week (yes, snow at the end of May, about four inches and I loved it) I mentioned that this is probably the last snow he is going to see for a while. He only has five months left.

I realized that I shouldn't say that after it was too late to stop myself from saying it. A snowball fight ensued. He throws like a girl and according to him I run like a girl. Either way, a snowball down the collar of your shirt makes for an awkward rest of the day. There was no winner to that fight. He is a great teacher and I've been trying to get him to look at people while he talks to them. He has a habit of looking everywhere but right in their face. It's a tough thing to master but I gently remind him about it from time to time.

Elder P is in my mission but I don't know where he is serving. Somewhere south of Las Vegas I think. The poor Canadian must be melting. I should likely see him again, but I have no idea when. I think about him often and know that he is doing well. He has a great sense of humor and I know that will give him a huge advantage.

Oh! And interesting thing that I learned the other day: This mission has a high rate of girlfriends waiting for their Elders. I have no idea why but the ratio is higher here than most other missions.

I baked some bread for my companions a bit earlier. Two fat loaves of French bread. They don't realize that it's finished et, but I'm wondering how long they will survive. It's so good. It's my favorite French bread recipe and makes two awesome loaves.

I wish that I could write more but I'm near the end of time to write.

All my love,

Tim