[Note: Elder Pearson comes home on Monday, August 29th. He will arrive at 5:01PM on a US Air flight - which is Terminal A. If you would like to be there to welcome him home, all are welcome]
This sucks. I was pretty excited about the mission coming to an end until Monday. Then I realized all the lasts start. Last Tuesday with the last email. Last night was my last P-day eve. So we had a sleep over and didn't get to bed till 6 am. We were supposed to have a ride come at 5:45 AM to take us to the temple, but he never showed up. So we slept till 10 and started the day. We stayed up all night playing a sweet card game called Bang. So addicting!
The week has been sweet. We're still picking up a bunch of new people to start teaching. The weather is warming up a bit and all the anti-Mormon people are getting extra grouchy. I've had some temple stuff yelled out and heard a scripture in Deuteronomy 3 different times about false prophets - and the name Joseph Smith has followed the scripture every time. But it was cool.
We went on splits with a kid named Joseph. His brother's name was Hyrum. haha crazy stuff. We had a sweet mission conference on Saturday! Elder Bednar, Bishop Burton, and Elders Cherrington, Callister, and one I can't remember from Japan. It was intense. 3 1/2 hours with all these men and their wives. I learned a lot. Mostly that Elder Bednar is a really funny dude. He's a lot different when he's not in General Conference. He was having a good time calling a lot of missionaries out and slightly rebuking them. It was funny. 2 of my former companions, Daly and Waggoner got rebuked.
I've been doing well not thinking about home and after mission stuff till this weekend. Elder Bednar talked about marriage for over 1/2 an hour. Then on Sunday we had 4 Sacrament Meetings. All of them were about family and marriage. And one of them was a homecoming!
But it's all good. I'm still working hard, and making every hour count. On an unrelated note, here are some sweet scriptures y'all need to read. Job 10:20, 2 Tim 4:6-7, 2 John 1:12, and Moses 7:63.
Next I have the newly updated and completed top 25 reasons for not doing missionary work, in order. Reasons for not inviting their friends to meet with the full time missionaries. All which I have personally heard or experienced while on this mission by completely active people, with 2 exceptions:
25 "We're in Utah, everyone is LDS" - All
24 "I don't keep track of stuff like that" - Logan
23 "They moved in during the summer" - West Haven
22 "It's summer" - Brigham
21 "Our Bishop is really missionary minded" - Kaysville
20 "Someone in our ward joined the church a few year ago" - Kaysville
19 "They're all old people" - Brigham
18 "I've only lived here a few years, and haven't gotten a chance to know my neighbors yet" - Roy
17 "My kids pray for opportunities" - Brigham
16 No Excuse, whole family just left the room - Washington Terrace (Possibly not active themselves)
15 "It's no my thing" - Clinton
14 "They aren't members" - West Haven
13 "I'm on the High Council" - Logan
12 "They're letting us store stuff in their back yard and I can't afford to lose that" - Kaysville (Fairfield Ward)
11 2 reasons 1 Floor mat said Go Away 2 He had a U of U shirt on - Kaysville
10 "Our houses are on 1 acre plots and it's harder to meet your next door neighbor" - West Haven
09 "I'm not in the Relief Society presidency any more, I'm sure they'll find someone" - Perry
08 "I don't want to alienate my friends" - Kaysville
07 "They're getting active in another church" - Perry (They were inactive themselves)
06 "No offense, but I think I'm a better teacher than you" - Kaysville
05 "I wouldn't worry, he lives across the street from a church" - Kaysville (Fairfield Ward)
04 "We're good friends with them and I don't want to put that on them" - Kaysville (Fairfield Ward)
03 No Excuse, just yelled at us for knocking on their door when is said no soliciting - Kaysville (Fairfield Ward)
02 "Don't expect much, kids around here are raised not to associate with non-members" - Kaysville (Fairfield Ward)
01 "All my friends are LDS because the church says to have good friends" - Brigham
Hopefully that brought a few laughs. I worked hard to get these - lost the spirit a few times when I heard some of these. I didn't have the last one until this last week. But the Lord knew I needed a solid 25, so He provided.
In all seriousness, this mission, these past 24 months have been the greatest times of my life. Also, some of the worst. I've been scared and courageous. Alone and surrounded by loved friends. I've grown more at this time more than I will the rest of my life. And a lot more than I did before the mission. I'm still not where I need to be, but I'm on my way. And the experiences I've had and the people I've met have helped me to become better.
The gospel has filled holes in my life that things in this world would only temporarily fill. Christ's love is for everyone. I've seen it. I've been able to walk into a home, or meet someone on the street and immediately have a love for them. Even for members! It's crazy!
The friends I've made while out here, whether they be missionaries, members, or friends of other faiths, will always be there for me, and I'll be there for them. This is the exact same church that Jesus Christ established on the earth! Miracles still happen! My family and I have been part of and witnessed them. We have a living prophet. I've been fortunate enough to hear 4 of his Apostles in person while serving as a missionary (not counting General Conference) I've shaken hands with 2 of them. And even had a good chat with one. They do know Christ!
This message will help anyone. But we must let it help us first. We cannot help someone become converted past our own conversion. Read the Book of Mormon. Pray about it again and again. Seek answers as you attend church. Gain a testimony! I love y'all. Thanks for all the support!
--
Elder Pearson
Utah, Ogden Mission
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
2 Weeks Left!
So that sucks. This will be my 2nd to last email home. Next week I'll have a big long email. You'll laugh, you'll cry. It will be better than a movie. But today, it's gonna be boring.
First thing is first: Rick Perry is running for President. The man telling Texas to fast and pray for rain. I'm getting Utah pumped for this guy.
It took almost my whole mission, but I got a good jello story! Earlier this week we had dinner with an old couple. One of the side dishes was green jello with chopped almonds and shredded cheese in it. It was horrible. It still doesn't beat the jello with tuna and mayo that exists somewhere in the mission, but it was pretty bad stuff.
We got to live the Good Samaritan story. Sat night our split's car ran out of gas and died. So we pushed it to the side of the road, and he got someone to take him to the gas station to get some gas. While he was gone, the 3 of us waited by the side of the road for them to come back. While we waited, a stake party was getting out down the street. Many members of the church passed by. One even stopped, took a picture of us, and then drove off again. Finally someone stopped to see if we needed help. They were not coming back from the party. They had sleeveless shirts on and tattoos. But these were the people who acted most like Christ that day.
One more story. One of my newer excuses on the list I put out a while ago of why people won't have their friends talk to missionaries (the updated one will be on the next email) was the simple statement "she's not ready" Even though the "she" in questions went to youth conference. Even though she bore her testimony at girl's camp. And had been going to mutual. "She's not ready." I had this family who told this to us. They then told us of a family who would invite this girl. Eager to delegate, they sent us to the Meullers, who did invite Kyla. She has now had 2 lessons with us, and has a date to be baptized September 10th. "But she's not ready."
It was pretty fun telling this family all this on Sunday at church. I did it nicely and didn't offend. But this family learned what we all sometimes need to remember. It's not up to us to decide who is ready. Ed would be the least likely to be baptized, but he was. It's up to us as members to invite everyone. There's nobody that Christ wouldn't invite to be baptized. This seems a lil rebuking, but don't take it that way. Go out and be missionaries!
First thing is first: Rick Perry is running for President. The man telling Texas to fast and pray for rain. I'm getting Utah pumped for this guy.
It took almost my whole mission, but I got a good jello story! Earlier this week we had dinner with an old couple. One of the side dishes was green jello with chopped almonds and shredded cheese in it. It was horrible. It still doesn't beat the jello with tuna and mayo that exists somewhere in the mission, but it was pretty bad stuff.
We got to live the Good Samaritan story. Sat night our split's car ran out of gas and died. So we pushed it to the side of the road, and he got someone to take him to the gas station to get some gas. While he was gone, the 3 of us waited by the side of the road for them to come back. While we waited, a stake party was getting out down the street. Many members of the church passed by. One even stopped, took a picture of us, and then drove off again. Finally someone stopped to see if we needed help. They were not coming back from the party. They had sleeveless shirts on and tattoos. But these were the people who acted most like Christ that day.
One more story. One of my newer excuses on the list I put out a while ago of why people won't have their friends talk to missionaries (the updated one will be on the next email) was the simple statement "she's not ready" Even though the "she" in questions went to youth conference. Even though she bore her testimony at girl's camp. And had been going to mutual. "She's not ready." I had this family who told this to us. They then told us of a family who would invite this girl. Eager to delegate, they sent us to the Meullers, who did invite Kyla. She has now had 2 lessons with us, and has a date to be baptized September 10th. "But she's not ready."
It was pretty fun telling this family all this on Sunday at church. I did it nicely and didn't offend. But this family learned what we all sometimes need to remember. It's not up to us to decide who is ready. Ed would be the least likely to be baptized, but he was. It's up to us as members to invite everyone. There's nobody that Christ wouldn't invite to be baptized. This seems a lil rebuking, but don't take it that way. Go out and be missionaries!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
I Love My Bike!
I forgot how much I missed my bike. I just feel better when I'm not in a car all day. Elder Henthorn and Maw like it too. However, we've already taken a trip to the doctor. Elder Maw ran right into the big pole that controls the traffic lights, head first. It was some funny stuff. He's ok.
The weather is a bit warm, but nowhere close to Texas. I heard y'all have had a 30 something streak of every day over 100 degrees. That's crazy. Maybe I can bring some rain with me.
We're back to getting someone to give us rides every night because of the bikes. A few days ago, when a priest was driving us around in an old beat up car, we stopped at a red light and Elder Henthorn rolled down the window to talk to the car next to us. The guy just looked at the car and said "I'm worried if that's all my tithing money can afford!" It was pretty funny.
Being in a trio isn't too bad. A little awkward contacting people. But once everyone gets the area down, we'll be able to split up and get more work done. Should be sweet.
I had an awesome Birthday! I started it by doing some service, which is the next best thing to playing sports for missionaries. We helped distribute a big pile of rocks in flower beds. It took a while though, cause the rock pile was half sand, so we had to wash them first. After that, the family we did service with/for took us to get Bahama Mamma's at the Maverick. They are the best hot dogs I've ever had. And, they had chopped up bits of jalapeño in them. After that we did a bit of planning and then had breakfast for dinner! With a cool family. It just so happened that we didn't have dinner scheduled that night, so we were able to get one set up with this family, worked out great.
After dinner, we had a sweet lesson, and then went to a baptism. When I got to the baptism, my mom's fist boss/family friend, Pia, was there. She gave me giant cooler with cake and ice cream inside. And, of coarse, Dr Pepper.
It was a pretty sweet bday, in the middle of a pretty sweet week.
The weather is a bit warm, but nowhere close to Texas. I heard y'all have had a 30 something streak of every day over 100 degrees. That's crazy. Maybe I can bring some rain with me.
We're back to getting someone to give us rides every night because of the bikes. A few days ago, when a priest was driving us around in an old beat up car, we stopped at a red light and Elder Henthorn rolled down the window to talk to the car next to us. The guy just looked at the car and said "I'm worried if that's all my tithing money can afford!" It was pretty funny.
Being in a trio isn't too bad. A little awkward contacting people. But once everyone gets the area down, we'll be able to split up and get more work done. Should be sweet.
 |
| Elders Henthorn, Pearson and Maw - August 5, 2011 |
I had an awesome Birthday! I started it by doing some service, which is the next best thing to playing sports for missionaries. We helped distribute a big pile of rocks in flower beds. It took a while though, cause the rock pile was half sand, so we had to wash them first. After that, the family we did service with/for took us to get Bahama Mamma's at the Maverick. They are the best hot dogs I've ever had. And, they had chopped up bits of jalapeño in them. After that we did a bit of planning and then had breakfast for dinner! With a cool family. It just so happened that we didn't have dinner scheduled that night, so we were able to get one set up with this family, worked out great.
After dinner, we had a sweet lesson, and then went to a baptism. When I got to the baptism, my mom's fist boss/family friend, Pia, was there. She gave me giant cooler with cake and ice cream inside. And, of coarse, Dr Pepper.
 |
| Elder Pearson with his birthday goodies compliments of Pia Jones. |
Transfer Week
Tomorrow I start Transfer # 17. I am staying in Perry. Elder Waggoner is getting transferred out. I'll be in a trio companionship with Elders Maw and Henthorn. This will mean I will have 17 companions for my 17 transfers. It's crazy stuff.
We're losing the car, so I got my bike back. I've had a car just over 4 months, and I'll have a bike just under 20 months. Which is good. I feel more like a missionary that way. It'll be sweet to be able to bike my last month and get somewhat back into shape. It'll be interesting being in a trio. I'm planning on sending them to go teach every day and take priests out and go tracting or get members to invite nonmembers. It'll be sweet.
We had 2 baptisms this last Saturday. They were awesome!
The first was Gracie's. It was a sweet baptism, with a lunch afterward.
The second was Dylan's. If I haven't explained this kid before, he's like Cartman. As he came up out of the water he stood there for a few seconds then said "That... was awesome!" Then after he got changed the bishop gave him a journal to record his feelings from the baptism. He took it and held it over his head like he just won a trophy. It was a sweet baptism.
We've got one this Friday in the evening. It's gonna be a sweet birthday present. His name is Alex and he's a stud. This last month will be pretty cool. The trio will help me to work hard and finish like I should.
We're losing the car, so I got my bike back. I've had a car just over 4 months, and I'll have a bike just under 20 months. Which is good. I feel more like a missionary that way. It'll be sweet to be able to bike my last month and get somewhat back into shape. It'll be interesting being in a trio. I'm planning on sending them to go teach every day and take priests out and go tracting or get members to invite nonmembers. It'll be sweet.
We had 2 baptisms this last Saturday. They were awesome!
The first was Gracie's. It was a sweet baptism, with a lunch afterward.
The second was Dylan's. If I haven't explained this kid before, he's like Cartman. As he came up out of the water he stood there for a few seconds then said "That... was awesome!" Then after he got changed the bishop gave him a journal to record his feelings from the baptism. He took it and held it over his head like he just won a trophy. It was a sweet baptism.
We've got one this Friday in the evening. It's gonna be a sweet birthday present. His name is Alex and he's a stud. This last month will be pretty cool. The trio will help me to work hard and finish like I should.
Friday, July 29, 2011
SLC
This email is a day late because I was in Salt Lake yesterday. Soon to be departing missionaries get to go to the Salt Lake Temple with Prez Olsen. It was pretty sweet. The temple is huge, and really nice inside. After the temple and lunch, we went to the Church History Museum and a few other sites on Temple Square. It was a fun day. Just long, So we got to to do all the usual stuff today.
The week has gone well, We have 2 baptisms this upcoming Saturday. Dylan and Gracie. Dylan is hilarious. He's a lot like Cartman from South Park. He's a 10 yr old fat kid. He's always telling us to bring pizza to lessons and asking to see our wallets. His grandmother has been going to church with him, just becoming active herself. Dylan will have to keep being an example for his parents, but he's really pumped to go to church every week.
Next is Gracie. She's 9. Her best friends down the street take her to church every week, and have been for months now. She loves church and is way pumped to get baptized. No TV show character to describe her, sorry. This will put us at 2 baptisms for the month, which is an area high. It is kind of sad I, but we're working on it. We have 2 lined up for August, with hopefully more to come.
I'm trying to stay busy and not get trunky. At least not too much.
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| View of Temple and Tabernacle from the Church Office Building |
This email is a day late because I was in Salt Lake yesterday. Soon to be departing missionaries get to go to the Salt Lake Temple with Prez Olsen. It was pretty sweet. The temple is huge, and really nice inside. After the temple and lunch, we went to the Church History Museum and a few other sites on Temple Square. It was a fun day. Just long, So we got to to do all the usual stuff today.
The week has gone well, We have 2 baptisms this upcoming Saturday. Dylan and Gracie. Dylan is hilarious. He's a lot like Cartman from South Park. He's a 10 yr old fat kid. He's always telling us to bring pizza to lessons and asking to see our wallets. His grandmother has been going to church with him, just becoming active herself. Dylan will have to keep being an example for his parents, but he's really pumped to go to church every week.
Next is Gracie. She's 9. Her best friends down the street take her to church every week, and have been for months now. She loves church and is way pumped to get baptized. No TV show character to describe her, sorry. This will put us at 2 baptisms for the month, which is an area high. It is kind of sad I, but we're working on it. We have 2 lined up for August, with hopefully more to come.
I'm trying to stay busy and not get trunky. At least not too much.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Another Week
This week was not a lot out of the ordinary. We went to see the Brigham City Temple get the Angel Moroni put on it last Tuesday. But the wind was blowing too hard and we ended up leaving before they were able to do it.
We played sand volleyball at someone's home. A few days later I went to Farr West, and met the coolest guy ever. His name is Deon. He was baptized a few weeks ago. He's from Houston. Gunspoint Houston. He was Lil Flip's bodyguard for a while. Now he's living in Utah and just got baptized.
Sunday night we had dinner with the Crapse family. It's pronounced exactly like it's spelled, without the e. Waggoner and I found out the day before about their last name, and made a few jokes before dinner. During dinner the name was never brought up. Just a cool dinner with a cool family. It wasn't until the prayer on our way out that we ran into some trouble. I had to give the closing prayer, so I verified the pronunciation of the last name. Just as I thought. Before the prayer started Waggoner and I had big smiles on our faces and I knew it wasn't going to end well. As soon as I said "please bless the Crapes family" Waggoner erupted with laughter, which I followed, and one of their kids did too. The rest of the kids were not amused, and I'm pretty sure mom doesn't like us. We felt bad, but it was too funny. We did end up getting the kid that laughed to commit to do missionary work. So we'll get to see them again! And apologize again, LOL. The next day we met the Piles family...we never get a break.
This morning we got foot zoning appointments. A foot zone is basically a $40 massage on your feet where certain parts of the feet feel like crap. Depending on which part hurts, the foot zoner knows whats wrong with you, either physically or emotionally. Luckily, the sister that did it is still new. So she didn't figure out what's wrong with me emotionally. She did, however, tell me no more Dr Pepper and I need more greens. Pretty much my kidneys and sinuses suck. My eyes are in bad shape too. Anywho, for the most part it felt awesome. And it was free!! I did just down a Dr Pepper though at lunch. Some things just can't change.
That's all I got. We have 2 solid dates for baptism for July 30. and 1 more for Aug 6. Hopefully we'll get some more good dates, and help people Come Unto Christ.
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| Angel Moroni for Bountiful Temple |
Sunday night we had dinner with the Crapse family. It's pronounced exactly like it's spelled, without the e. Waggoner and I found out the day before about their last name, and made a few jokes before dinner. During dinner the name was never brought up. Just a cool dinner with a cool family. It wasn't until the prayer on our way out that we ran into some trouble. I had to give the closing prayer, so I verified the pronunciation of the last name. Just as I thought. Before the prayer started Waggoner and I had big smiles on our faces and I knew it wasn't going to end well. As soon as I said "please bless the Crapes family" Waggoner erupted with laughter, which I followed, and one of their kids did too. The rest of the kids were not amused, and I'm pretty sure mom doesn't like us. We felt bad, but it was too funny. We did end up getting the kid that laughed to commit to do missionary work. So we'll get to see them again! And apologize again, LOL. The next day we met the Piles family...we never get a break.
This morning we got foot zoning appointments. A foot zone is basically a $40 massage on your feet where certain parts of the feet feel like crap. Depending on which part hurts, the foot zoner knows whats wrong with you, either physically or emotionally. Luckily, the sister that did it is still new. So she didn't figure out what's wrong with me emotionally. She did, however, tell me no more Dr Pepper and I need more greens. Pretty much my kidneys and sinuses suck. My eyes are in bad shape too. Anywho, for the most part it felt awesome. And it was free!! I did just down a Dr Pepper though at lunch. Some things just can't change.
That's all I got. We have 2 solid dates for baptism for July 30. and 1 more for Aug 6. Hopefully we'll get some more good dates, and help people Come Unto Christ.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Nother Week
Nothing too specific to report this week. We're working hard and seeing success.
We've still just got the 4 with dates for baptism, but we're doing a lot of work to find people. We're asking every member we meet to fast and pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, then we're following up on the gospel sharing a week later. Hopefully with a whole lot of members who commit to do it, some people will invite their friends and we will be in business.
We're teaching a lot and going on a lot of exchanges. Today we get to go down to the Brigham City Temple and see the Angel of Moroni put on it. It's gonna be sweet.
That's about all I got. Not much, sorry
We've still just got the 4 with dates for baptism, but we're doing a lot of work to find people. We're asking every member we meet to fast and pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, then we're following up on the gospel sharing a week later. Hopefully with a whole lot of members who commit to do it, some people will invite their friends and we will be in business.
We're teaching a lot and going on a lot of exchanges. Today we get to go down to the Brigham City Temple and see the Angel of Moroni put on it. It's gonna be sweet.
That's about all I got. Not much, sorry
Friday, July 8, 2011
Email Time
This past week has been a crazy one. We were just told that on Aug 20th, just 9 days before I go home, Elders Callister and Charrington of the Quorum of the 70, Bishop Burton, the Presiding Bishop of the church, and Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the 12, and their wives, are coming to speak to the mission. Also, 3 days later, another member of the quorum of the 70 is coming to tour the mission. We were way pumped to hear about all this.
Then Sunday night Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the 12, came to Perry to give a patriotic devotional. It was not an LDS talk in any way, yet the spirit was there strong. He talked about the Pilgrims coming to America, then talked about the early settlers of Perry. It was first called Porter Springs, because Porter Rockwell started it. Then Elder Perry's ancestors came and it was changed to Perry. It was awesome.
They had a retired preacher from another faith give the opening prayer. So unaccountable. It was about 10 min long, and made no sense. He just tried preaching to us through prayer. The coolest part of the night was before and after though. We snatched some seats on the front row of folding chairs. Right by the door that Elder and Sister Perry walked though. As they walked by, Sister Perry stopped and pointed us out. We stood up and they walked to us. At this time the whole chapel and gym was silent. He shook our hands and asked us how many lessons we had set up for the week. He's big on every companionship teaching 20 a week. We told him we had 10 set up so far (a lot better than the area was a few weeks ago) and he said "Well that's half good enough"
Then he told us to get our ward mission leader to fill up the rest of the appointments. It just so happened that one of our ward mission leaders were sitting right next to us. So it was easy to pass the message on to him as Elder Perry walked away. After the devotional, Elder Waggoner and I stood at the door to shake people's hands and hold the door open for them, so we could get our faces out there. After the large masses had left, Elder and Sister Perry walked up again. He put his arm around my shoulder as we walked out of the church and to his car, and we had a good little chat. I explained we had 18 lessons the week before, and 16 ward mission leaders, so we'll be able to get 20 lessons taught hopefully. He's way down to earth and chill.
The next day was 4th of July!! Perry city was having a fun run. They had a 5K and Mile run. Waggoner did the 5K and I took the easy run. I'm way out of shape. I ended up in 12th place with a time of 7:38. Maybe I should have eaten breakfast?
We stayed up late Sunday night making t-shirts for the fun. We wore black shorts with white t-shirts. We drew a tie on it, and a tag so we could still be missionaries. The back said "I'm a Mormon" and then under it "Mormon.org" It's a big advertisement the church is doing. Gotta always be doing missionary work.
After the run, we got free breakfast, and headed home to prepare for the parade. We got most of the zone to the parade. We all decorated our bikes and planned on biking in the parade together. What we didn't plan on was biking right behind Elder Perry. It was sweet. Waggoner and I rode a tandem bike. It was definate crowd favorite. At the end of the parade, Elder Perry talked to the zone, and took a pic with us. Sweet day!
After that we worked hard and found people home during the day! Not so much luck during the evening though. So we just crashed a party and shot this guy's pellet gun with them. Then we went home and watched fireworks. White trash style of coarse. We took our chairs from inside, and cd player and took em outside to sit and watch fireworks with music. While drinking a DP. Awesome night.
The area is really turning around. We now have 4 investigators with a date for baptism. which is higher than the 0 we had at the beginning. And hopefully that'll just keep going up. We're teaching this hilarious 10 yr old kid, Dylan, who's trying to get us to bribe him to go to church, read, and pray. He wants to get baptized, but told us he'd do all the other stuff if we gave him $100. We told him he'd get blessing for doing it. And he said he wants "the blessings in Benjamins". Awesome kid.
We also started teaching this awesome lady Char. She's an older lady who grew up Catholic in Illinois. She's now interested in the church. Our 2nd time teaching her, we taught the Restoration. And it never fails, when we teach this lesson, and get to the first vision, something interrupts it. Whether a dog, doorbell, or phone. It's going to happen. Well we came up to the First Vision, we told her Joseph Smith went to a grove of trees to pray, and she interrupts "real quick, I have a story to tell you." Works every time. But this time was different. She told us about how she was at Costco and saw a painting. She said it touched her more strongly than any painting ever has. Even though she had no clue was the painting was or was about, she bought the $250 painting titled "The Grove". She showed us the painting of a grove of trees, and from studying it, she could pick out 3 separate sources of light in the air, to which she told us was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We told the first vision, the explanation of the painting. And with tears in her eyes, she agreed to work toward being baptized on July 30th. It was awesome! It feels soo great to be seeing success again. The area still has a ways to go, but it's getting there!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Heyy
This week's been SWEET!
Elder Waggoner is a stud! He is not from Texas like I thought. He's from Southern Illinois, but he's got the accent to fool anyone. I'm doing my best to pick it up. He'll probably be the one who will kill me off - but we'll see.
The area is pretty cool. We have a stake in Brigham and a stake in Perry. The area isn't very busy right now, oddly enough, even less busy than my last one. But we're working hard to fix that. We've already picked up several new investigators and a date for baptism.
This area has the Utah famous Maddox restaurant. Good food. I've been hearing about it my whole mission, and now I get it free once a week. Also, in our area is the only person I know that President Monson, the Prophet of the Church, has called an Anti-Christ. He's the guy responsible for the most famous anti-LDS movies and literature. There's a lot more he does, but I'll just leave it at we have been commanded from the First Presidency that if we knock his door we get sent home. Crazy stuff.
Anywho, Things are going along great. We've got someone we're teaching who is EXACTLY like Butters on South Park. It's hilarious. This is going to be a sweet area to finish up in. And Waggoner is gonna make sure I finish working hard.
Elder Waggoner is a stud! He is not from Texas like I thought. He's from Southern Illinois, but he's got the accent to fool anyone. I'm doing my best to pick it up. He'll probably be the one who will kill me off - but we'll see.
The area is pretty cool. We have a stake in Brigham and a stake in Perry. The area isn't very busy right now, oddly enough, even less busy than my last one. But we're working hard to fix that. We've already picked up several new investigators and a date for baptism.
This area has the Utah famous Maddox restaurant. Good food. I've been hearing about it my whole mission, and now I get it free once a week. Also, in our area is the only person I know that President Monson, the Prophet of the Church, has called an Anti-Christ. He's the guy responsible for the most famous anti-LDS movies and literature. There's a lot more he does, but I'll just leave it at we have been commanded from the First Presidency that if we knock his door we get sent home. Crazy stuff.
Anywho, Things are going along great. We've got someone we're teaching who is EXACTLY like Butters on South Park. It's hilarious. This is going to be a sweet area to finish up in. And Waggoner is gonna make sure I finish working hard.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Transfers
My last area as a missionary in the Utah Ogden Mission will be in Perry Utah. It's just South of Brigham City. So I will get to see the Brigham Temple go up, which will be sweet. Perry is in the Willard Bay Zone, which goes from basically North Ogden into Malad, Idaho. So it's pretty big.
I'll be serving with Elder Waggnor, who I haven't ever served around, but I hear he's a stud. I'm way pumped for this area and comp. The area next to us is where Ed Davis, a recent convert I started teaching in my first area, lives. So it'll be awesome to see him. He's doing well from what I hear. Going strong in the gospel. I'll have a car to end my mission with. And a gym close by. Gotta continue the 6 months to sexy.
It's sad to leave this area. Transfers are always hard when you've been working with people for so long. But I'll be close enough to come back for baptisms. And a wedding in August! An investigator, James, is getting married to his fiance so he can get baptized! That will be sweet to go to.
This Friday, [last Friday] we had Elder D. Todd Christoffersen come speak to the mission. It was mostly an open Q&A with an Apostle. We were told twice, by President Olsen and him, not to ask dumb questions about the 3 Nephites and stuff. We only had one idiot missionary ask a dumb question, which Elder Christoffersen basically told him so in the answer. It was sweet! Also, at another time, while reading Preach My Gospel, he let out a big DUH. So it is now completely acceptable, lol.
After all that, we went to Chipotle for lunch. It was amazing! Still delicious after 21 months of not eatin it. I gotta go get ready for the move, but I love yall, and hope all is well.
I'll be serving with Elder Waggnor, who I haven't ever served around, but I hear he's a stud. I'm way pumped for this area and comp. The area next to us is where Ed Davis, a recent convert I started teaching in my first area, lives. So it'll be awesome to see him. He's doing well from what I hear. Going strong in the gospel. I'll have a car to end my mission with. And a gym close by. Gotta continue the 6 months to sexy.
It's sad to leave this area. Transfers are always hard when you've been working with people for so long. But I'll be close enough to come back for baptisms. And a wedding in August! An investigator, James, is getting married to his fiance so he can get baptized! That will be sweet to go to.
This Friday, [last Friday] we had Elder D. Todd Christoffersen come speak to the mission. It was mostly an open Q&A with an Apostle. We were told twice, by President Olsen and him, not to ask dumb questions about the 3 Nephites and stuff. We only had one idiot missionary ask a dumb question, which Elder Christoffersen basically told him so in the answer. It was sweet! Also, at another time, while reading Preach My Gospel, he let out a big DUH. So it is now completely acceptable, lol.
After all that, we went to Chipotle for lunch. It was amazing! Still delicious after 21 months of not eatin it. I gotta go get ready for the move, but I love yall, and hope all is well.
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| Elder Pearson with his district June 2011 |
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Mavs Won!
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| Elder Pearson playing "Scripture Jenga" |
Besides that, the work's been going along. Not too much to report. This Friday we're having Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come to speak to the mission. So I'm pretty excited about that.
This week, Bohanan the Great and I were checking up on a referral. We knocked on the door and heard "Come on in." I hate walking into peoples homes. It happens a lot. So we knocked again and got the exact same response. I tried yelling "are you home alone?" and just got "Come on in" again. After about 4 more "Come on in's" I assumed it was not an old lady telling us to come inside, but in fact an empty home with a parrot in the front room. We're gonna go back to further investigate, but it was pretty funny. We almost walked in.
Anyway, I gotta go play capture the flag with some people. Sending letters = loving a missionary.
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| To show how large the area is - and they are on bikes! |
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Thursday, June 9, 2011
Week 4 of 6 of the Transfer
These last 2 weeks have been crazy! Trying to do double the work, in double the area, with the same amount of time isn't the easiest. Luckily we have bikes. We just have to work on riding them a bit faster now, so it'll actually benefit us.
The new Providence stake is awesome!! They are so pumped to have missionaries that give them the time of day. One of our Ward Mission Leaders in the new stake is a Professor for one of the Ward Mission Leaders in the Logan stake. Pretty funny stuff.
We've been doing a lot of Exchanges this week. That is when 2 companionships switch for a 24 hr period. So you get a new companion to be with for the day. We were on exchanges yesterday and had a sweet lesson. It was with Chap, who Bohanan and I have been trying to get a hold of for 3 months now. He just graduated H.S., so he's got a bit more time. The spirit was strong and even though it was our first lesson teaching together, Elder Mansell and I taught together pretty unified. It's been a while since I've had a lesson like that, which definitely has taken it's toll on me. But it was sweet just getting one great lesson in.
The new Providence stake is awesome!! They are so pumped to have missionaries that give them the time of day. One of our Ward Mission Leaders in the new stake is a Professor for one of the Ward Mission Leaders in the Logan stake. Pretty funny stuff.
We've been doing a lot of Exchanges this week. That is when 2 companionships switch for a 24 hr period. So you get a new companion to be with for the day. We were on exchanges yesterday and had a sweet lesson. It was with Chap, who Bohanan and I have been trying to get a hold of for 3 months now. He just graduated H.S., so he's got a bit more time. The spirit was strong and even though it was our first lesson teaching together, Elder Mansell and I taught together pretty unified. It's been a while since I've had a lesson like that, which definitely has taken it's toll on me. But it was sweet just getting one great lesson in.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Snow on Memorial Day
I never thought I'd see snow at the end of May. But that's what I saw yesterday.
The mountains are white again, and the cold was there. Luckily, it's warmed up again and the snow down here is all melted.
We got a phone call on Thursday telling us we now cover the Providence stake as well. So our area has now doubled, making it one of the largest bike areas in the mission! Luckily, Bohanan's bike is going be here Thursday so we'll actually start getting work done. I'm pumped.
The area is similar to Kaysville. Too many girls, and very financially stable people. Oddly enough, so far, I like it. That makes it way different from Kaysville. I've had 2 former companions, Elders Henke and Houghton who have served in this stake before.
Since we have been working in this stake, we've taught a family from India. They were not interested, but I learned all about their beliefs. And we're going to start teaching 2 girls from Ethiopia. They seem way cool.
Besides that, we're just continuing to work.
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| May 30, 2011 |
We got a phone call on Thursday telling us we now cover the Providence stake as well. So our area has now doubled, making it one of the largest bike areas in the mission! Luckily, Bohanan's bike is going be here Thursday so we'll actually start getting work done. I'm pumped.
The area is similar to Kaysville. Too many girls, and very financially stable people. Oddly enough, so far, I like it. That makes it way different from Kaysville. I've had 2 former companions, Elders Henke and Houghton who have served in this stake before.
Since we have been working in this stake, we've taught a family from India. They were not interested, but I learned all about their beliefs. And we're going to start teaching 2 girls from Ethiopia. They seem way cool.
Besides that, we're just continuing to work.
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| One of our investigators, Breanna, drew this after we taught her about the Tree of Life. Notice the Tree of Life has Dr. Pepper on it! |
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| Elder Flake (on exchanges) Elder Pearson, Michelle (friend of Breanna) and Breanna the investigator having fun after the lesson. |
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Still Cold And Wet In Utah
Not gonna lie, I get pretty jealous when I hear about people swimming. My Alaskan companion is bundled up in his heavy jacket today!
This week's gone well, we haven't picked up anyone new to teach this week, but we're trying to help those we are teaching progress in the gospel. We're getting people to church finally! It's a huge obstacle with a lot of people. Most people want to get baptized without ever going to church. Still working hard and spreading the gospel.
We had a sweet dinner with a couple who spoke 4 different languages combined. It made me think of how many different languages the Book of Mormon is in, and how accessible it is to the world. In Mosiah 1:2 King Benjamin "caused that they should be taught in all the language of his fathers, that thereby they might become men of understanding; and that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers, which were delivered them by the hand of the Lord." These people had to learn a new language to be able to read the scriptures. I'd like to be able to say I would be able to do this, but that would be a hard thing to do. I'm so glad I've got it in my own language.
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| Elder Pearson holding a tarantula |
This week's gone well, we haven't picked up anyone new to teach this week, but we're trying to help those we are teaching progress in the gospel. We're getting people to church finally! It's a huge obstacle with a lot of people. Most people want to get baptized without ever going to church. Still working hard and spreading the gospel.
We had a sweet dinner with a couple who spoke 4 different languages combined. It made me think of how many different languages the Book of Mormon is in, and how accessible it is to the world. In Mosiah 1:2 King Benjamin "caused that they should be taught in all the language of his fathers, that thereby they might become men of understanding; and that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers, which were delivered them by the hand of the Lord." These people had to learn a new language to be able to read the scriptures. I'd like to be able to say I would be able to do this, but that would be a hard thing to do. I'm so glad I've got it in my own language.
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| Playing with a squirrel - I guess he forgot it is rodent! |
Monday, May 23, 2011
And The Rains Came Down And The Floods Came Up
The flooding has begun. We had a sacrament meeting stopped because half of the ward was being evacuated from their homes. The water went away fast, but apparently the water was up to waist deep on some streets. The snow is melting too fast, and the rivers are overflowing. But the work is moving forward. I feel bad, our apartment is uphill by the temple, so there's no threat of flooding for us, but a lot of people we're talking to are going through a lot.
In other news, Bohanan is getting beat up. We played basketball last Tuesday, and he got his first finger jam. Then yesterday, there was a fat bumble bee hiding in his jacket that stung him.
But he's still going strong. The flooding is slowing down a few things for the missionary work. We've had some sweet lessons though, and finally getting a hold of some people we haven't for a long while. So that's good.
We've got a lot of awesome investigators, they just have some things holding them back from being baptized right now. We're working on it though. Besides that, life is good. We've got some sweet missionaries around, and the weather is perfect.
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| Early Flooding in Logan. |
The flooding has begun. We had a sacrament meeting stopped because half of the ward was being evacuated from their homes. The water went away fast, but apparently the water was up to waist deep on some streets. The snow is melting too fast, and the rivers are overflowing. But the work is moving forward. I feel bad, our apartment is uphill by the temple, so there's no threat of flooding for us, but a lot of people we're talking to are going through a lot.
In other news, Bohanan is getting beat up. We played basketball last Tuesday, and he got his first finger jam. Then yesterday, there was a fat bumble bee hiding in his jacket that stung him.
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| Elder Pearson labeled this photo Bears, Bees and Battlestar Galactica. Apparently Elder Bohanan knows a lot about Bears and Battlestar Galactica... |
We've got a lot of awesome investigators, they just have some things holding them back from being baptized right now. We're working on it though. Besides that, life is good. We've got some sweet missionaries around, and the weather is perfect.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Transfers
So I'll be serving with Elder Bohanan again. I'm only the 2nd missionary to serve with him longer than 6 weeks. The other one got to choose where he wanted to serve next and who with after doing that. But it'll be sweet. I'm loving it.
The District got bigger. The campus district was a 6 man district. This transfer, one of the areas is dissolving, and the other 4 missionaries are going into my district. Making it an 8 Elder and 2 Sister district. I've spent most of my mission in 4 Elder districts. But it'll be way sweet. I got campus in the district now!!
I got my release date, it's Aug 29. And I start school Sept 12. So I'll have some time to be home before school. Which will be nice to relax.
Not a lot has happened with the are. We had an investigator, Ray, who was sent to the hospital for getting drunk, getting into a fight with another drunk, and getting thrown through a glass door. Now he moved out of state. But it's kinda nice, he argued a lot with us.
June 18ish we are having Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the 12, come to speak to the mission. I'm way pumped for that.
Today's letter is gonna be a shorter one, but I got some sweet pics. That's all I got for today.
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| Elder Pearson acting cool - His new proselyting look |
The District got bigger. The campus district was a 6 man district. This transfer, one of the areas is dissolving, and the other 4 missionaries are going into my district. Making it an 8 Elder and 2 Sister district. I've spent most of my mission in 4 Elder districts. But it'll be way sweet. I got campus in the district now!!
I got my release date, it's Aug 29. And I start school Sept 12. So I'll have some time to be home before school. Which will be nice to relax.
Not a lot has happened with the are. We had an investigator, Ray, who was sent to the hospital for getting drunk, getting into a fight with another drunk, and getting thrown through a glass door. Now he moved out of state. But it's kinda nice, he argued a lot with us.
June 18ish we are having Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the 12, come to speak to the mission. I'm way pumped for that.
Today's letter is gonna be a shorter one, but I got some sweet pics. That's all I got for today.
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| They were in trouble for their messy apartment - so they left this during inspection. They passed |
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| Elder Bohanan in the trunk - he likes to travel this way? |
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| Cute duckling they found.... |
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| Sign in the Logan Temple Parking Lot |
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Still Snowing :)
Snow in May. Yehaw. The weather is so bi-polar. Yesterday was in the 60's. It's gone back down for today.
This last week, Bohanan and I have been finding a bunch of people to start teaching. I got a sweet package from home, with an awesome Dwight Schrute bobble head. And I got a sweet pic of Bohanan with him.
Look for the resemblance.
I saw some people from home this week. We randomly contacted Rachel Jensen, which was cool. And had dinner at the Huffmans. Which was also sweet.
I gotta say, I liked seeing the Huffmans more though, because I got good food out of it too.
I had a cool insight while in the Temple. The purpose of the Atonement was for Jesus Christ to suffer and overcome all that the fall of Adam has brought us. He suffered for our sins, which were brought into the world when the fruit was eaten. He suffered and overcame death that was brought into the world when the fruit was eaten and Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden.
Something else that came into the world when the fall happened was thorns. "...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" (Genesis 3:17-18) This is something that's always gone over my head. But the only other time in the Bible that sticks out to me where thorns are mentioned is when Christ wore a crown of thorns while on the Cross. I don't think it was coincidence that he was made to wear a crown of thorns. I think it's a symbol of Christ's suffering everything that Adam and Eve brought into the world when the fall came about. Not really important, just thought it was kind of cool.
This last week, Bohanan and I have been finding a bunch of people to start teaching. I got a sweet package from home, with an awesome Dwight Schrute bobble head. And I got a sweet pic of Bohanan with him.
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| Elder Bohanan and Dwight Bobblehead. |
Look for the resemblance.
I saw some people from home this week. We randomly contacted Rachel Jensen, which was cool. And had dinner at the Huffmans. Which was also sweet.
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| Elder Pearson and the Huffman Family |
I had a cool insight while in the Temple. The purpose of the Atonement was for Jesus Christ to suffer and overcome all that the fall of Adam has brought us. He suffered for our sins, which were brought into the world when the fruit was eaten. He suffered and overcame death that was brought into the world when the fruit was eaten and Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden.
Something else that came into the world when the fall happened was thorns. "...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" (Genesis 3:17-18) This is something that's always gone over my head. But the only other time in the Bible that sticks out to me where thorns are mentioned is when Christ wore a crown of thorns while on the Cross. I don't think it was coincidence that he was made to wear a crown of thorns. I think it's a symbol of Christ's suffering everything that Adam and Eve brought into the world when the fall came about. Not really important, just thought it was kind of cool.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Cold Utah
So it's probably gonna snow today. Yay?
This week has been up and down. The biggest downside is we are no longer teaching the Meeks. Turns out they were just trying to scam the church to get drug and alcohol money. Luckily, we had a STUD fellowship, who also is just getting activated herself, figure it out pretty early on. So, not too much of a loss there.
On the good side, we had a sweet voicemail from a drunk guy a few days ago. He wanted to thanks us for all our "cultivating and renovating" and to tell us the Lord loves us. It was pretty epic.
We also had dinner with a couple who named their 2 kids Pear and Trip. Gotta love Utah.
Another sweet part of the week, last night, we had dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. People walked around with swords with meat on them and had us try different kinds of meats. Like 15 different meats, including chicken heart (not a fan of) and lamb (really good). Def not the cheapest, so I'll probably never be there again, but it was really tasty and all you can eat.
I want to end with some scriptures. We're told to liken the scriptures unto ourselves. Here they are:
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many reminders, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do no procrastinate the day of your letter writing until the end; for after these two years, which are given unto you to write Elder Pearson, behold, if you do not improve your time while in these two years, then cometh the night of the homecoming wherein there can be no letters written!
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will write letters to Elder Pearson. Nay, ye cannot say this; for it will be too late!
A good friend cannot bring forth short letters, neither a corrupt friend bring forth long letters. Every friend that bringeth not forth long letters is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore, by their letters ye shall know them.
Not every one that writeth unto me: Elder, Elder, shall receive letters in return; but he or she that doeth the will of me who is serving in the Ogden Mission. Many will say unto me in that day: Elder, Elder, have I not sent a postcard unto you in thy name, and a gift at Christmas time? And then will I profess unto them: I hardly knew you; depart from me, ye that rarely write.
O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of Elder Pearson, for they set their packages aside, supposing they will soon find a stamp, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And their package shall perish. But to be learned is good if you send packages promptly.
Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every T.V. show, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to the couch, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your missionary that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the post office.
Moreover, when ye write letters, be not as the hypocrites, for they use big printing that their letters may appear unto Elder Pearson to be long. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou writtest letters, use very small print, and many long pages.
Lay not up for Elder Pearson packages upon the table, where moth and dust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for Elder Pearson packages in the post office, where neither moth nor dust corrupt, and where thieves do no break through or steal. For where your package/letter is, there will your stamp be also.
Yea, there shall be many which shall say: eat, drink, and don't write.
Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him or her unto a wise man, who sends his or her package/letter by plane. And the rain descended, and the storms came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that airplane; and it fell not, for it was first class. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who send their package by boat. And the rain descended, and the storms came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the boat; and it sunk. And great was the sinking of it.
And because my words shall hiss forth- many friends shall say: A letter! A letter! We have written a letter, and there cannot be any more letters written.
And finally, I cannot tell you all the ways whereby ye may send correspondences; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
But this much I can tell you, that you ye do not send some letters, and some packages, and some gifts, and some cookies, and some love, and remember, even unto the end of my mission, ye must perish! And now, o man, remember, and perish not!
Elder Pearson
This week has been up and down. The biggest downside is we are no longer teaching the Meeks. Turns out they were just trying to scam the church to get drug and alcohol money. Luckily, we had a STUD fellowship, who also is just getting activated herself, figure it out pretty early on. So, not too much of a loss there.
On the good side, we had a sweet voicemail from a drunk guy a few days ago. He wanted to thanks us for all our "cultivating and renovating" and to tell us the Lord loves us. It was pretty epic.
We also had dinner with a couple who named their 2 kids Pear and Trip. Gotta love Utah.
Another sweet part of the week, last night, we had dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. People walked around with swords with meat on them and had us try different kinds of meats. Like 15 different meats, including chicken heart (not a fan of) and lamb (really good). Def not the cheapest, so I'll probably never be there again, but it was really tasty and all you can eat.
I want to end with some scriptures. We're told to liken the scriptures unto ourselves. Here they are:
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many reminders, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do no procrastinate the day of your letter writing until the end; for after these two years, which are given unto you to write Elder Pearson, behold, if you do not improve your time while in these two years, then cometh the night of the homecoming wherein there can be no letters written!
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will write letters to Elder Pearson. Nay, ye cannot say this; for it will be too late!
A good friend cannot bring forth short letters, neither a corrupt friend bring forth long letters. Every friend that bringeth not forth long letters is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore, by their letters ye shall know them.
Not every one that writeth unto me: Elder, Elder, shall receive letters in return; but he or she that doeth the will of me who is serving in the Ogden Mission. Many will say unto me in that day: Elder, Elder, have I not sent a postcard unto you in thy name, and a gift at Christmas time? And then will I profess unto them: I hardly knew you; depart from me, ye that rarely write.
O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of Elder Pearson, for they set their packages aside, supposing they will soon find a stamp, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And their package shall perish. But to be learned is good if you send packages promptly.
Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every T.V. show, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to the couch, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your missionary that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the post office.
Moreover, when ye write letters, be not as the hypocrites, for they use big printing that their letters may appear unto Elder Pearson to be long. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou writtest letters, use very small print, and many long pages.
Lay not up for Elder Pearson packages upon the table, where moth and dust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for Elder Pearson packages in the post office, where neither moth nor dust corrupt, and where thieves do no break through or steal. For where your package/letter is, there will your stamp be also.
Yea, there shall be many which shall say: eat, drink, and don't write.
Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him or her unto a wise man, who sends his or her package/letter by plane. And the rain descended, and the storms came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that airplane; and it fell not, for it was first class. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who send their package by boat. And the rain descended, and the storms came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the boat; and it sunk. And great was the sinking of it.
And because my words shall hiss forth- many friends shall say: A letter! A letter! We have written a letter, and there cannot be any more letters written.
And finally, I cannot tell you all the ways whereby ye may send correspondences; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
But this much I can tell you, that you ye do not send some letters, and some packages, and some gifts, and some cookies, and some love, and remember, even unto the end of my mission, ye must perish! And now, o man, remember, and perish not!
Elder Pearson
Monday, April 25, 2011
Another Week in Utah
I hear there is a bit of a drought in Texas. Yall can have some of our rain. We ended up sandbagging this Saturday. It was fun. People from FEMA were there making sure it was all done right. Hopefully the neighborhood won't be flooded.
In missionary news, we ran into the coolest people ever! Angel and Michael. They're a non-member couple that just moved here from Nashville, Tennessee. Neither of them know anything about the church, except that members are good people. They have 3 little kids, and just gave up their 4th kid together for adoption. Their kid was adopted by members.
They've been in Utah since Jan, and love everyone they meet. A member told them that before they were allowed to go to church, they had to meet with missionaries, he had to quit smoking, and she had to quit drinking soda. Not even caffeinated soda, just Hawaiian Punch. None of which are close to true.
But anywho, Angel has spent the whole time looking for missionaries so she could go to church. We found her this week! She went to church with her 3 kids! Michael wasn't able to, but is planning on it. He told us as he walked us out at the end of the first lesson that if this is the church Angel wanted to convert to, he'd follow her in a heartbeat. The best part is our fellowship.
At the beginning of my time here, we ran into Amanda, who was so inactive she didn't know if she was a member or not. Now she's picking up Angel to go to church, and going to lessons to help fellowship and friendship them. I've never brought a whole non-member family into the gospel. I've tried several times, came close a time or two. But this is going to be my greatest, and possibly last chance to get a family of all non-members into the church. It's something I've wanted since the MTV.
Yall keep the Meeks family in your hearts.
In missionary news, we ran into the coolest people ever! Angel and Michael. They're a non-member couple that just moved here from Nashville, Tennessee. Neither of them know anything about the church, except that members are good people. They have 3 little kids, and just gave up their 4th kid together for adoption. Their kid was adopted by members.
They've been in Utah since Jan, and love everyone they meet. A member told them that before they were allowed to go to church, they had to meet with missionaries, he had to quit smoking, and she had to quit drinking soda. Not even caffeinated soda, just Hawaiian Punch. None of which are close to true.
But anywho, Angel has spent the whole time looking for missionaries so she could go to church. We found her this week! She went to church with her 3 kids! Michael wasn't able to, but is planning on it. He told us as he walked us out at the end of the first lesson that if this is the church Angel wanted to convert to, he'd follow her in a heartbeat. The best part is our fellowship.
At the beginning of my time here, we ran into Amanda, who was so inactive she didn't know if she was a member or not. Now she's picking up Angel to go to church, and going to lessons to help fellowship and friendship them. I've never brought a whole non-member family into the gospel. I've tried several times, came close a time or two. But this is going to be my greatest, and possibly last chance to get a family of all non-members into the church. It's something I've wanted since the MTV.
Yall keep the Meeks family in your hearts.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Spring Break!
Spring break was one of the coldest weeks we've had for a while. Snowing all day every day this last week. We've now had so much snow, that if it warms up too fast, part of the area we cover will flood. There is a neighborhood that is in between 2 rivers and has a history of getting flooded. Of course, when we try helping people get ready for the almost sure flooding, they tell us they're gonna wait until it's closer to start preparing.
How close? When your basement is filled? Good thing we have prophets that tell us to be prepared.
Elder Bohanan and I are doing well. I now understand how my mom felt when she tried getting me ready for church/school every morning when I was 6.
We ran into someone who Elder Daly and I had stumbled across a while back. I wrote about her. She wanted to quit smoking and work to wards going to the temple. We just saw her and she hasn't smoked a single cigarette since that night! It's cool!
We also just saw someone at church who I barely remember seeing. Apparently, we told him to go to church, and he did! He hadn't gone for a long time. It was cool to see how getting lost or talking to random people actually leads to people Coming Unto Christ
How close? When your basement is filled? Good thing we have prophets that tell us to be prepared.
Elder Bohanan and I are doing well. I now understand how my mom felt when she tried getting me ready for church/school every morning when I was 6.
We ran into someone who Elder Daly and I had stumbled across a while back. I wrote about her. She wanted to quit smoking and work to wards going to the temple. We just saw her and she hasn't smoked a single cigarette since that night! It's cool!
We also just saw someone at church who I barely remember seeing. Apparently, we told him to go to church, and he did! He hadn't gone for a long time. It was cool to see how getting lost or talking to random people actually leads to people Coming Unto Christ
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| Elder Miller (trained by Elder Pearson), Elder Pearson (trained by Elder Sebesta) and Elder Sebesta |
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Spring or Winter?
We had a few amazing days of spring. It got up to 68 degrees one day! We were able to go to the park and contact a lot of people. We played ultimate frisbee with some non-members, and got one of the members who we played with to invite them to meet with us later. It was cool.
Then the weekend came along, and it started snowing again... o well. General Conference was amazing. I went down to Salt Lake City all day Saturday. I watched the Saturday Morning Session at the Conference Center. The Afternoon Session in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. And the Priesthood Session back in the Conference Center. I loved it. Soo many great talks. And about 5 talks either mentioned or were all about getting married asap. The most mentioned topic. Not good for missionaries. But besides that it was amazing.
I ran into some friends from home during conference. Erik and Jacob Petersen - it was fun to see them.
My companion is awesome! I get to serve with Dwight Schrute. Every day of my life right now could be on TV. And would get pretty good ratings.
It's scary sometimes during lessons, but that's something I can't control. Just gotta love it all. The work is still moving forward.
We had a 12 year old girl invite her friend to go to church and then meet with us at her home. Then during the lesson she asked her friend why she hasn't been baptized, and basically committed her to. It was awesome! She's gonna pray about it and we'll set a date for baptism during our next lesson.
We picked up 3 new investigators this week, and all 3 had 3 different members of the church invite us to meet with them. Funny how that works out huh?
Then the weekend came along, and it started snowing again... o well. General Conference was amazing. I went down to Salt Lake City all day Saturday. I watched the Saturday Morning Session at the Conference Center. The Afternoon Session in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. And the Priesthood Session back in the Conference Center. I loved it. Soo many great talks. And about 5 talks either mentioned or were all about getting married asap. The most mentioned topic. Not good for missionaries. But besides that it was amazing.
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| Elder Pearson and Elder Larabee in the Conference Center |
I ran into some friends from home during conference. Erik and Jacob Petersen - it was fun to see them.
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| Erik Petersen, Elder Pearson and Jacob Petersen |
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| Elder Bohanan |
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| Elder Bohanan and Elder Pearson |
We picked up 3 new investigators this week, and all 3 had 3 different members of the church invite us to meet with them. Funny how that works out huh?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
14 for 14!
Transfer time! I'll be staying in Logan. It'll be my 14th transfer and I'm getting my 14th companion. yay? I am pumped about my companion though. His name is Elder Bohannan. He's from Alaska, was homeschooled, and is now, I think, tied for most unaccountable missionary in the mission. I'm soo pumped!
Elder Daly is going to Star Valley, Wyoming. I'm pretty jealous about that, not gonna lie. But I think Prez is going to let me die in Montpelier, Idaho [this will be his last area]. It'll be sweet.
This week I went to 2 baptisms. The first was for Brother Dan Roberts. He's 61 and just deciding to get baptized.
It was super spiritual. His son had the opportunity to baptize him. We held the baptism in the Logan Tabernacle. We had the program in the chapel, and I got to give the talk on baptism. My ND talk in that chapel. Kinda crazy. The baptism had everyone there. At least 2 former stake presidents, the current stake president, current patriarch, and a handful of bishops, both current and former. It was definitely a great baptism.
Then in the evening I got to go down to Brigham City and see one of my first investigators, Brother Ed Davis, get baptized. Once again, amazing! I started teaching him almost 17 months ago, and now he has been baptized.
There were 12 missionaries there, and many more who weren't able to make it.
The turnaround he and his newly married wife have made since I first met them is incredible. I definitely didn't think I'd see the day, but it happened!
Also on Saturday, I had an 80 year old lady try to seduce me. I won't go into the details, but it was pretty epic.
We just had a lesson with a guy named James. James is a stud! He grew up in Texas! After reading just the introduction to the Book of Mormon and watching "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" He knows that it's true, and wants to get baptized! He's really excited to jump into the Book of Mormon. We haven't brought up that he'll have to marry his fiancé before being baptized yet. They have a plan for doing that quite a while from now. They both get benefits from military for not being married. :/ But it'll all work out.
We haven't taught Moe yet, but we visited him a little last night, and are going to have a lesson next Monday. I'm pumped. That's all I have for this week. It's been amazing. I am pumped for Bohannan, I just hope the work stays at the rate it's going. We will have to see.
Elder Daly is going to Star Valley, Wyoming. I'm pretty jealous about that, not gonna lie. But I think Prez is going to let me die in Montpelier, Idaho [this will be his last area]. It'll be sweet.
This week I went to 2 baptisms. The first was for Brother Dan Roberts. He's 61 and just deciding to get baptized.
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| Elder Pearson, Brother Roberts and Elder Daly |
Then in the evening I got to go down to Brigham City and see one of my first investigators, Brother Ed Davis, get baptized. Once again, amazing! I started teaching him almost 17 months ago, and now he has been baptized.
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| Brother Davis when Elder Pearson started teaching him. |
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| Ed Davis and some of the missionaries who have taught him. |
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| Elder Pearson, Nikki and Ed Davis. |
We just had a lesson with a guy named James. James is a stud! He grew up in Texas! After reading just the introduction to the Book of Mormon and watching "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" He knows that it's true, and wants to get baptized! He's really excited to jump into the Book of Mormon. We haven't brought up that he'll have to marry his fiancé before being baptized yet. They have a plan for doing that quite a while from now. They both get benefits from military for not being married. :/ But it'll all work out.
We haven't taught Moe yet, but we visited him a little last night, and are going to have a lesson next Monday. I'm pumped. That's all I have for this week. It's been amazing. I am pumped for Bohannan, I just hope the work stays at the rate it's going. We will have to see.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Snowing in Spring
First day of spring and it snowed! Gotta love it. Since the Ogden Tabernacle is getting demolished with the Temple, our Mission Office is moving. The new address is:
Elder Ryan Linford Pearson
Utah Ogden Mission
4380 S Orchard Ave.
South Ogden, UT 84403
We had a sweet talk from a High Counselor, he read from the Apocrypha. It was pretty funny.
We're continuing to Find, Teach, and Baptize. This upcoming Saturday, we have a SWEET baptism. Dan Roberts, who knows more doctrine than me, is getting baptized. It's way cool. He'll be a Bishop pretty soon.
Also, someone who I taught in my first area, Ed Davis, is getting baptized this Saturday. I'm so pumped! I'm going down to Brigham City to go to the baptism. So this Saturday is going to be sweet.
We had a cool experience this week. We went to visit a less active brother, Raymond, who we hadn't seen in a while. We gave him our number at the end of the visit. 5 minutes after we left, we got a call from someone who wanted us to give her mom a blessing. It turned out to be Raymond's wife. Right when we left, she called him asking to see if he by chance had our number so we could go give the blessing. It worked out that we just gave him the number a few minutes ago.
Elder Ryan Linford Pearson
Utah Ogden Mission
4380 S Orchard Ave.
South Ogden, UT 84403
We had a sweet talk from a High Counselor, he read from the Apocrypha. It was pretty funny.
We're continuing to Find, Teach, and Baptize. This upcoming Saturday, we have a SWEET baptism. Dan Roberts, who knows more doctrine than me, is getting baptized. It's way cool. He'll be a Bishop pretty soon.
Also, someone who I taught in my first area, Ed Davis, is getting baptized this Saturday. I'm so pumped! I'm going down to Brigham City to go to the baptism. So this Saturday is going to be sweet.
We had a cool experience this week. We went to visit a less active brother, Raymond, who we hadn't seen in a while. We gave him our number at the end of the visit. 5 minutes after we left, we got a call from someone who wanted us to give her mom a blessing. It turned out to be Raymond's wife. Right when we left, she called him asking to see if he by chance had our number so we could go give the blessing. It worked out that we just gave him the number a few minutes ago.
March 15, 2011
This week has been a great one. Funny story from last Tuesday. I was in Hastings with a few other missionaries. I got Branden Heath's new CD. Anyone looking for a cd to get it's a good one. Anyway, while in there a guy came up to me and started talking to me. I'm going to do my best to get the conversation word for word.
"Where are you from?"
"Texas"
"Is today your P-Day?" (we get that a lot because our p-day is on Tuesday instead of Mon)"
"Are you allowed to go into places like this on your p-day?"
"We are"
"Oh, just curious, because in MY mission, we weren't allowed to go into places like this, but then again you were called to Utah. It must be sad to not of been called to a real mission"
And walked away. It was pretty epic. Moral of the story is, make sure you don't become this guy. Don't make assumptions based on judgment and long past "knowledge" I don't care about what this guy said, but those same people are an investigator or less-active member's worst nightmare.
In other news, Elder Daly and I have seen how talking to everyone works. An unplanned contact is when you talk to someone who you hadn't planned on talking to. So it's different than tracting. We have a goal as a mission to get 10 unplanned contacts a day, which depending on the day, can be hard or easy. This last Saturday, Elder Daly and I had a goal of 75 unplanned contacts.
With help of a sunny warm day, we got 79. It was sweet to be able to talk to everyone like that. Saturday evening we got lost and, as we realized we had no idea where we were, asked ourselves, why are we here. We looked around and found our reason. A woman was sitting at her doorstep by herself. We went over and got to know her. As we talked, we found she was a member who hadn't gone to church in a long time. She was working on quitting smoking so she could go through the temple for the first time in a year. We talked for a bit and by the end of the conversation, were able to take her new, full cigarette pack, and tear it up and throw it away. Because we got lost, and committed to talk to everyone we saw, we were able to take some small part in helping her along the way.
Sometimes God sends us little promptings about something we should do, or who we need to teach as missionaries. Sometimes he is a little more vocal about what we need to do. This week we got a slap in the face from the spirit. Last Wednesday, we talked to a kid our age. His name was Shawn. He was a member, but told us he had a non-member roommate named Moe. He told us he'd invite Moe to church and to meet with us. We get people to commit to do that a lot, but it very rarely ends up happening. We finished our conversation with Shawn and kept walking. Not 5 minutes later we ran into another kid our age. His name was Moe. We knew it was Shawn's friend, so instead of trying to meet with him, we just offered any help and talked for a bit, hoping Shawn would invite him.
It means a lot more coming from a friend than two kids in suits. A few days later, Saturday, we ran into Moe again! He was sitting in a park by himself. We usually wouldn't have walked all the way over to him, but luckily it was our 75 Saturday. We talked to him a bit more. He grew up in LA. And was planning on going to Pepperdine for school. But he got into some trouble, and decided to come to Logan, and try to work his way into USU. We told him it wasn't coincidence us running into each other again, he agreed and said he was thinking about going to the singles ward with his friend that Sunday. We had a good chat with him, and then parted ways, still hoping Shawn would now invite him to meet with us.
Later Saturday we walked down a street we hadn't been on before (we're both still relatively new to the area). We knocked on a random house, and eventually found out it was the family that Shawn and Moe are living with. They weren't there, but if that wasn't the 4th prompting that we need to teach this kid, I don't know what is. We're going to call Shawn tomorrow to see if he's talked to him yet. I'm pumped.
"Where are you from?"
"Texas"
"Is today your P-Day?" (we get that a lot because our p-day is on Tuesday instead of Mon)"
"Are you allowed to go into places like this on your p-day?"
"We are"
"Oh, just curious, because in MY mission, we weren't allowed to go into places like this, but then again you were called to Utah. It must be sad to not of been called to a real mission"
And walked away. It was pretty epic. Moral of the story is, make sure you don't become this guy. Don't make assumptions based on judgment and long past "knowledge" I don't care about what this guy said, but those same people are an investigator or less-active member's worst nightmare.
In other news, Elder Daly and I have seen how talking to everyone works. An unplanned contact is when you talk to someone who you hadn't planned on talking to. So it's different than tracting. We have a goal as a mission to get 10 unplanned contacts a day, which depending on the day, can be hard or easy. This last Saturday, Elder Daly and I had a goal of 75 unplanned contacts.
With help of a sunny warm day, we got 79. It was sweet to be able to talk to everyone like that. Saturday evening we got lost and, as we realized we had no idea where we were, asked ourselves, why are we here. We looked around and found our reason. A woman was sitting at her doorstep by herself. We went over and got to know her. As we talked, we found she was a member who hadn't gone to church in a long time. She was working on quitting smoking so she could go through the temple for the first time in a year. We talked for a bit and by the end of the conversation, were able to take her new, full cigarette pack, and tear it up and throw it away. Because we got lost, and committed to talk to everyone we saw, we were able to take some small part in helping her along the way.
Sometimes God sends us little promptings about something we should do, or who we need to teach as missionaries. Sometimes he is a little more vocal about what we need to do. This week we got a slap in the face from the spirit. Last Wednesday, we talked to a kid our age. His name was Shawn. He was a member, but told us he had a non-member roommate named Moe. He told us he'd invite Moe to church and to meet with us. We get people to commit to do that a lot, but it very rarely ends up happening. We finished our conversation with Shawn and kept walking. Not 5 minutes later we ran into another kid our age. His name was Moe. We knew it was Shawn's friend, so instead of trying to meet with him, we just offered any help and talked for a bit, hoping Shawn would invite him.
It means a lot more coming from a friend than two kids in suits. A few days later, Saturday, we ran into Moe again! He was sitting in a park by himself. We usually wouldn't have walked all the way over to him, but luckily it was our 75 Saturday. We talked to him a bit more. He grew up in LA. And was planning on going to Pepperdine for school. But he got into some trouble, and decided to come to Logan, and try to work his way into USU. We told him it wasn't coincidence us running into each other again, he agreed and said he was thinking about going to the singles ward with his friend that Sunday. We had a good chat with him, and then parted ways, still hoping Shawn would now invite him to meet with us.
Later Saturday we walked down a street we hadn't been on before (we're both still relatively new to the area). We knocked on a random house, and eventually found out it was the family that Shawn and Moe are living with. They weren't there, but if that wasn't the 4th prompting that we need to teach this kid, I don't know what is. We're going to call Shawn tomorrow to see if he's talked to him yet. I'm pumped.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
More Snow
It isn't Logan without a few snow storms a week. I'm just happy I'm not driving in this.
Tomorrow is my 18 month mark, and it's just not right. I'll probably only be in 1 more area after this one. It sucks to know it's all coming to an end.
Elder Mocke was emergency transfered out of the area to campus to serve with a missionary that needs him now. So I'm in a newish area with Elder Daly. Sound familiar? At least this time I was given 2 weeks to get to know people. Twice as long as last time, lol.
But Elder Daly is awesome. He's from Baltimore, Maryland. We're working hard and getting along great! This is my 13th transfer. And Elder Daly is my 13th companion.
We had an awesome baptism this Saturday. His name is A.C. One Saturday night, AC was praying and asked God what he should do. He got his answer to go to church. So he went to the LDS church for the first time ever, and the missionaries happened to be there. They met up and taught him. He's homeless, but going to college right now. He's like Will Smith on Pursuit of Happyness.
He spent a couple weeks in jail for something he'd done a year ago. Got out 2 weeks ago on Friday. Went to church again on Sunday, and got baptized on the following Saturday. It was sweet. I wanna read a direct quote from the talk on the Holy Ghost. It was given by his friend who he's living with. His name is Stevie. "People gonna look at you and say 'Oh, you a Mormon' or ' Oh, you a nigga." I'm not 100% sure where he went with that, but it was funny. I think he was telling him to endure to the end.
I got a letter from the Kynastons. They were in my first area, now they live in North Ogden. Garrett was the first person I baptized on my mission. He's 13 now, and I just heard he's in his Deacon Quorum Presidency! I don't care he's in the presidency, but this means he's active in the Church! His mom is about to start classes to work twards going to the temple! It's always scary when you baptize someone. Because you have no idea if, or for how long, they'll stay in the church. So it was awesome to hear from them, and to hear they are still in the gospel
But anyway. It's cold and snowy, but I wouldn't wanna be anywhere but here right now.
Tomorrow is my 18 month mark, and it's just not right. I'll probably only be in 1 more area after this one. It sucks to know it's all coming to an end.
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| Elder Pearson and Elder Mocke before Elder Mocke left |
But Elder Daly is awesome. He's from Baltimore, Maryland. We're working hard and getting along great! This is my 13th transfer. And Elder Daly is my 13th companion.
We had an awesome baptism this Saturday. His name is A.C. One Saturday night, AC was praying and asked God what he should do. He got his answer to go to church. So he went to the LDS church for the first time ever, and the missionaries happened to be there. They met up and taught him. He's homeless, but going to college right now. He's like Will Smith on Pursuit of Happyness.
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| AC, Elder Mocke and Stevie |
I got a letter from the Kynastons. They were in my first area, now they live in North Ogden. Garrett was the first person I baptized on my mission. He's 13 now, and I just heard he's in his Deacon Quorum Presidency! I don't care he's in the presidency, but this means he's active in the Church! His mom is about to start classes to work twards going to the temple! It's always scary when you baptize someone. Because you have no idea if, or for how long, they'll stay in the church. So it was awesome to hear from them, and to hear they are still in the gospel
But anyway. It's cold and snowy, but I wouldn't wanna be anywhere but here right now.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Week 2 in Logan
What a week. We had 2 baptisms this last Saturday. Then, the following Sunday, we had an investigator, A.C., who last we knew was in jail, show up to church! I've never met him, but he's gonna get baptized this Saturday! It'll be sweet. Everyone in this area is so missionary minded. It's sweet.
We've started teaching a stud guy. His name is Dan Roberts. He's in his later 50's maybe. His son was baptized a few years ago. Then 2 years ago, his son baptized his wife. Now it's his turn. He's been investigating for quite a while on his own, but hasn't been ready. I'm sure he's frustrated many missionaries back in the day. This man gives textbook answers to every question and backs it up withs scriptures. He shares sweet insights. He's a future Bishop at least, if not a Stake President. Our fellowship is a former Stake President and his wife. I love going to their home and teaching, he makes it too easy.
As far as Amanda goes, she has her mom and grandmother say she was confirmed. But we need priesthood holder's witnesses to re-create her record if she doesn't have one (Still checking on that) Otherwise, we'll have to re baptize her. Things are going awesome, soo busy all the time. Which is good right? FO SHO!
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| Lindsay's baptism |
What a week. We had 2 baptisms this last Saturday. Then, the following Sunday, we had an investigator, A.C., who last we knew was in jail, show up to church! I've never met him, but he's gonna get baptized this Saturday! It'll be sweet. Everyone in this area is so missionary minded. It's sweet.
We've started teaching a stud guy. His name is Dan Roberts. He's in his later 50's maybe. His son was baptized a few years ago. Then 2 years ago, his son baptized his wife. Now it's his turn. He's been investigating for quite a while on his own, but hasn't been ready. I'm sure he's frustrated many missionaries back in the day. This man gives textbook answers to every question and backs it up withs scriptures. He shares sweet insights. He's a future Bishop at least, if not a Stake President. Our fellowship is a former Stake President and his wife. I love going to their home and teaching, he makes it too easy.
As far as Amanda goes, she has her mom and grandmother say she was confirmed. But we need priesthood holder's witnesses to re-create her record if she doesn't have one (Still checking on that) Otherwise, we'll have to re baptize her. Things are going awesome, soo busy all the time. Which is good right? FO SHO!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
First Week In Logan
Logan is sweet! My apartment has a perfect view out of our window looking at the Logan temple.
We share the apartment with 2 other missionaries, Elder Lunt, and Elwise. My companion, Elder Mocke, is a STUD! He's been out 7 weeks now. He's by far the hardest worker I've had, and I've had a few pretty hard working comps. He's from South Africa, just an hour from Johannesburg. His dad is running the MTC there, so he got a pretty good preparation growing up.
The work is great. The mix of a great and prepared area, and Mocke's South African accent, give us plenty to do. We'll teach in 1 day more that I taught in a week in Kaysville. There is also a lot of diversity in the area. In our zone, we have missionaries from South Africa, Micronesia, Australia, Canada, Argentina, and 3 from Texas! We are teaching someone who only can read in Arabic, someone who is from Japan, and some Mexicans. And we had dinner with a family from India who converted and moved to America.
Oh, and I'm surrounded by Utahns. This is definitely a foreign mission. We are only covering 1 stake! It's sweet. Only like 8 wards!
We share the apartment with 2 other missionaries, Elder Lunt, and Elwise. My companion, Elder Mocke, is a STUD! He's been out 7 weeks now. He's by far the hardest worker I've had, and I've had a few pretty hard working comps. He's from South Africa, just an hour from Johannesburg. His dad is running the MTC there, so he got a pretty good preparation growing up.
The work is great. The mix of a great and prepared area, and Mocke's South African accent, give us plenty to do. We'll teach in 1 day more that I taught in a week in Kaysville. There is also a lot of diversity in the area. In our zone, we have missionaries from South Africa, Micronesia, Australia, Canada, Argentina, and 3 from Texas! We are teaching someone who only can read in Arabic, someone who is from Japan, and some Mexicans. And we had dinner with a family from India who converted and moved to America.
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| Logan Temple, February 2011 |
We had Stake Conference this weekend. It was in the Logan Tabernacle. And I was informed when I got there we were speaking in it. With President Olsen. I wasn't too nervous, until the conference started, and Presidend leans over to us and tells us almost every Latter-day prophet has spoken in that tabernacle. But it worked out well. We got a few laughs and got everyone pumped for missionary work.
After it ended, a man came up to me and introduced himself. I had a little joke that said something positive about Utah State, which is in Logan. This man was the head of Admissions and Scholarships at Utah State. He told me he could get me in and paying in-state tuition if I wanted. I'll probably stay with Idaho for now, but it was pretty cool.
Before I came to the area, Elder Mocke had tracted out a street with a 4-plex apartment on it. One of the doors was slammed on his face. At the beginning of last week, we were walking down that street and saw a couple, Amanda and Josh, standing outside. We only later found out that it was the same guy who had slammed the door on Mocke's face.
We set up a lesson with Amanda, the girlfriend. We have now taught her twice. She's Golden! The only problem, is she doesn't know if she's a member or not. She had met with missionaries before, got baptized, and never went to church after because the missionaries she got to know left the area. She doesn't remember getting confirmed, and if she never went to church after her baptism, there is a good chance it never happened, which means she'd have to get baptized all over again. Either way, she's excited to learn. It's way sweet teaching her.
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| Elder Pearson (in his Indiana Jones hat) and Elder Johnson |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Superbowl Weekend
Elder Pearson finds a cool front door while tracting.This week has been great! We attended a ward we hadn't been to this week. To our surprise, a non-member went up and bore what testimony he had so far. He said "I can't say I know the church is true, cause I don't yet. but I've been reading the Book of Mormon and trying to find out. He started laughing when we popped up after Sacrament meeting to set up a lesson. His wife, who is a member, encouraged him to set it up, and we are meeting with him next Sunday!
This week I am going to talk about 2 investigators we have because next week is transfers and I've got a feeling I might be getting kicked out of West Haven, because it'll be Elder Houghton's last transfer and I think President will make him Sr. again his last one.
The first is Francis. She's pretty golden. She's 14 and has great attendance in seminary this year. She went to General Conference and has a testimony of the Prophet. And she knows most of what we teach her. She's getting baptized Feb 19th. The next investigator is taking a little more effort and energy.
His name is Shane. If I gave y'all his last name and you could goggle his name and come across a lot of police reports... a lot. He's an ordained minister who's been locked up most of his life. He's been involved in identity theft, is known and respected by all the gangs around here, though not a member of any, and has seen and used a lot of drugs in his life. He just came across a video on goggle of one if his best friends being shot to death by some narcotics officers, and has decided he wants to change his life fast, before he dies.
He doesn't think he has too much time left, but wants to be baptized. He went to church last week, and wants to be accepted by a ward family. It was his first time going to a LDS church in 30 years. It was also the first time in any church for quite a while. He is going to need approval from the First Presidency to be baptized, but he is willing to put in the effort. He's a stud.
This week I am going to talk about 2 investigators we have because next week is transfers and I've got a feeling I might be getting kicked out of West Haven, because it'll be Elder Houghton's last transfer and I think President will make him Sr. again his last one.
The first is Francis. She's pretty golden. She's 14 and has great attendance in seminary this year. She went to General Conference and has a testimony of the Prophet. And she knows most of what we teach her. She's getting baptized Feb 19th. The next investigator is taking a little more effort and energy.
His name is Shane. If I gave y'all his last name and you could goggle his name and come across a lot of police reports... a lot. He's an ordained minister who's been locked up most of his life. He's been involved in identity theft, is known and respected by all the gangs around here, though not a member of any, and has seen and used a lot of drugs in his life. He just came across a video on goggle of one if his best friends being shot to death by some narcotics officers, and has decided he wants to change his life fast, before he dies.
He doesn't think he has too much time left, but wants to be baptized. He went to church last week, and wants to be accepted by a ward family. It was his first time going to a LDS church in 30 years. It was also the first time in any church for quite a while. He is going to need approval from the First Presidency to be baptized, but he is willing to put in the effort. He's a stud.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
It's Cold
So I'm writing from the Logan Tabernacle today. Bro Ninalga, the sweetest member ever, drove from Layton to West Haven to pick Elder Houghton and I up, then took us to Logan.
This morning I went through my 5th temple as I attended a session in the Logan Temple. That temple is SWEET! But Man Logan is cold! It's 13 degrees out with a non-stop strong wind that makes it no fun up here. It just makes me appreciate what my family went through when they helped get this city going and it was nothing but cold.
The week has been good. Working hard and getting people ready for baptism. We also had a fun dinner at one of our Bishop's homes. His 5 year old daughter answered the door in a wedding dress and a necklace, and spent the whole dinner smiling and waving at us. They teach these kids at a young age to marry return missionaries.
Right now we have 5 people getting baptized in Feb. So things have really turned around. Two of them are the Eames for Feb 12th. I talked about them last week. This week I want to talk about Kelton. He's a stud. He's 19. He's living with 2 friends who are members, who brought him to church one day. There he met some people in the ward and agreed to meet with us. It's only gotten better from there.
Elder Houghton had planned on inviting him to be baptized on the 26th of Feb for our 1st lesson. But during the lesson we both forgot what day we planned on. So stalling, I pulled out the phone and checked the calender. It was between the 26th or the 19th. The 19th felt better, so that's what we committed him for and when we did he just laughed and said it was perfect. That was the only Saturday he had off. He hadn't had one off for months and didn't know the next one he had off.
It also happens to be the day before his birthday. So he's been pumped about it ever since. He reads, goes to church, and loves meeting with us (I think). It's been sweet meeting with him and seeing him excited for it all. That's the investigator for the week. Getting baptized on Feb 19th.
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| Elder Pearson in his Indiana Jones hat. |
This morning I went through my 5th temple as I attended a session in the Logan Temple. That temple is SWEET! But Man Logan is cold! It's 13 degrees out with a non-stop strong wind that makes it no fun up here. It just makes me appreciate what my family went through when they helped get this city going and it was nothing but cold.
The week has been good. Working hard and getting people ready for baptism. We also had a fun dinner at one of our Bishop's homes. His 5 year old daughter answered the door in a wedding dress and a necklace, and spent the whole dinner smiling and waving at us. They teach these kids at a young age to marry return missionaries.
Right now we have 5 people getting baptized in Feb. So things have really turned around. Two of them are the Eames for Feb 12th. I talked about them last week. This week I want to talk about Kelton. He's a stud. He's 19. He's living with 2 friends who are members, who brought him to church one day. There he met some people in the ward and agreed to meet with us. It's only gotten better from there.
Elder Houghton had planned on inviting him to be baptized on the 26th of Feb for our 1st lesson. But during the lesson we both forgot what day we planned on. So stalling, I pulled out the phone and checked the calender. It was between the 26th or the 19th. The 19th felt better, so that's what we committed him for and when we did he just laughed and said it was perfect. That was the only Saturday he had off. He hadn't had one off for months and didn't know the next one he had off.
It also happens to be the day before his birthday. So he's been pumped about it ever since. He reads, goes to church, and loves meeting with us (I think). It's been sweet meeting with him and seeing him excited for it all. That's the investigator for the week. Getting baptized on Feb 19th.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Utah weather is bi-polar. We had a good 2 weeks of 15 degree average. A high of 20 and low of pretty darn cold. Then it jumped to 50 for a while. Now we're in a mini snow storm. There was no snow when I went into the temple, but when I stepped out the snow covered my feet. This is gonna be sweet, because we are having an air soft war with an investigator and his fellowship.
For anyone's information, airsoft is NOT against mission rules, or the white handbook, or the commandments. So it's all good.
The investigator is Weston Eames, and Gavin is his friend helping him get baptized. They are 11. Weston's sister, Danielle is 9 and also working on getting baptized. I realized I don't talk a lot about my investigators, so I'm gonna start with these guys. They are both studs. They were ready to be baptized before we started teaching them. Neither of their parents have gone to church since they've started meeting with us, but Weston and Danielle have gone every week they've been in town since like November. They've both born their testimonies in Testimony meeting, in front of the whole ward. They read out of the Book of Mormon almost daily, and are getting well known in the ward.
They've got all the statistics against them staying in the church, being kids with no family support, but I feel strongly they will remain active and love the gospel. They always look forward to seeing us every Tuesday night, and they are excited to have this war. We got permission from both their parents to shoot the junk out of them. But they seem pretty confident in beating us. Weston just went out and bought a new gun. So that's them.
In other news, I will be going to BYU Idaho on September 12 to start the Spring/Fall track. I love yall, keep all the support going.
For anyone's information, airsoft is NOT against mission rules, or the white handbook, or the commandments. So it's all good.
The investigator is Weston Eames, and Gavin is his friend helping him get baptized. They are 11. Weston's sister, Danielle is 9 and also working on getting baptized. I realized I don't talk a lot about my investigators, so I'm gonna start with these guys. They are both studs. They were ready to be baptized before we started teaching them. Neither of their parents have gone to church since they've started meeting with us, but Weston and Danielle have gone every week they've been in town since like November. They've both born their testimonies in Testimony meeting, in front of the whole ward. They read out of the Book of Mormon almost daily, and are getting well known in the ward.
They've got all the statistics against them staying in the church, being kids with no family support, but I feel strongly they will remain active and love the gospel. They always look forward to seeing us every Tuesday night, and they are excited to have this war. We got permission from both their parents to shoot the junk out of them. But they seem pretty confident in beating us. Weston just went out and bought a new gun. So that's them.
In other news, I will be going to BYU Idaho on September 12 to start the Spring/Fall track. I love yall, keep all the support going.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Weekly Email
This week hasn't had too many exciting things. We've found more people to start teaching, and are continuing to work hard. Yesterday we set up a basketball game with some youth and had 2 non-members show up! Now we just need to contact the kids that invited them and see if we can't start teaching them.
I just got an email today asking me to share my testimony on my mission so far. So I'm going to do that on this email and have it take up the bulk of my email. The email asked for me to send a video with my testimony, but that would mean I would have to record myself talking, which aint gonna happen. Sorry.
But I am more than happy to share my testimony. My whole life I've planned on going on a mission. Not because I necessarily was excited to spend 2 years waking up at 6:30 every day just to get yelled at, but I planned on it because a Prophet of God has commanded it. I hadn't really done any missionary work before I came to Utah. The idea of inviting my friends to church or to meet with the missionaries was a scary one, and I didn't have the spirit of missionary work strong enough to overcome that fear.
When I came nearer to 19 years old, I started to become more serious about going on a mission. As I worked on my paperwork, the idea of serving a mission became more real to me, and honestly I was not looking forward to the next space in my life. Once again, doing all this out of a sense of duty, not because I had any personal desire to do it.
But once I entered the MTC, and then the mission field, my views of being a missionary have flipped completely around. A quote I love from President Hinckley is "What a glorious season it has been and now is. A new day has come in the work of the Almighty." Every single day, I get the chance to do the work of the Almighty. Every day I get to tell people of what I know to be true, through my testimony. I get to look someone in the eyes, tell them what makes me happy in this life, and what I know will continue to make me happy, and invite them to see how this knowledge will impact their lives. It's Awesome!
I've served in some very diverse areas. I've talked to just about every kind of person. I've talked to the poorest of the poor and homeless, to the very very wealthy. I've talked to White people, Hispanic people, I've even found a good amount of Black people in Utah. I've talked to people on every kind of drug, people who are drunk, past murders and adulterers. I've also talked to people who are trying their hardest to follow Christ, and hadn't found the path to follow yet. One thing that they all, and WE all have in common is a desire to feel loved. A need for our Savior.
No matter how someone is, or what level of pride they have, our Savior, Jesus Christ has suffered an unimaginable amount of pain and anguish for them so we would never be alone. He loves us all, so we need to love everyone. Being a missionary has brought me to the depths of humility and sorrow, and raised me to the heights of joy and love. I feel a desire for people's salvation who I've never met and wouldn't otherwise talk with them.
A scripture I have grown to love is Ether 12:6. It reads: "faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore dispute not because you see now, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Making the decision to serve a full-time mission was a trial of my faith. Everything I knew and wanted told me that this would be the biggest waste of time and money, that I would be miserable the whole time. But because I went through that trial, I have a witness of that faith. I trusted President Monson and the Apostles when I turned in my papers. And because they are inspired men of God, and his servants, this has been the best 16 months of my life. I would not trade the experiences and knowledge that I've obtained for anything this world might have to offer. Seeing a soul saved in the waters of baptism, or watching a wayward child of God find the path to righteousness, has given me more joy than I would of thought possible.
I'm so glad I have this opportunity to be where I am. I encourage missionary work for anyone who trusts in the Lord. Whether serving a mission away from home, or inviting a friend at home, your love will grow and your testimony will flourish. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I just got an email today asking me to share my testimony on my mission so far. So I'm going to do that on this email and have it take up the bulk of my email. The email asked for me to send a video with my testimony, but that would mean I would have to record myself talking, which aint gonna happen. Sorry.
But I am more than happy to share my testimony. My whole life I've planned on going on a mission. Not because I necessarily was excited to spend 2 years waking up at 6:30 every day just to get yelled at, but I planned on it because a Prophet of God has commanded it. I hadn't really done any missionary work before I came to Utah. The idea of inviting my friends to church or to meet with the missionaries was a scary one, and I didn't have the spirit of missionary work strong enough to overcome that fear.
When I came nearer to 19 years old, I started to become more serious about going on a mission. As I worked on my paperwork, the idea of serving a mission became more real to me, and honestly I was not looking forward to the next space in my life. Once again, doing all this out of a sense of duty, not because I had any personal desire to do it.
But once I entered the MTC, and then the mission field, my views of being a missionary have flipped completely around. A quote I love from President Hinckley is "What a glorious season it has been and now is. A new day has come in the work of the Almighty." Every single day, I get the chance to do the work of the Almighty. Every day I get to tell people of what I know to be true, through my testimony. I get to look someone in the eyes, tell them what makes me happy in this life, and what I know will continue to make me happy, and invite them to see how this knowledge will impact their lives. It's Awesome!
I've served in some very diverse areas. I've talked to just about every kind of person. I've talked to the poorest of the poor and homeless, to the very very wealthy. I've talked to White people, Hispanic people, I've even found a good amount of Black people in Utah. I've talked to people on every kind of drug, people who are drunk, past murders and adulterers. I've also talked to people who are trying their hardest to follow Christ, and hadn't found the path to follow yet. One thing that they all, and WE all have in common is a desire to feel loved. A need for our Savior.
No matter how someone is, or what level of pride they have, our Savior, Jesus Christ has suffered an unimaginable amount of pain and anguish for them so we would never be alone. He loves us all, so we need to love everyone. Being a missionary has brought me to the depths of humility and sorrow, and raised me to the heights of joy and love. I feel a desire for people's salvation who I've never met and wouldn't otherwise talk with them.
A scripture I have grown to love is Ether 12:6. It reads: "faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore dispute not because you see now, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Making the decision to serve a full-time mission was a trial of my faith. Everything I knew and wanted told me that this would be the biggest waste of time and money, that I would be miserable the whole time. But because I went through that trial, I have a witness of that faith. I trusted President Monson and the Apostles when I turned in my papers. And because they are inspired men of God, and his servants, this has been the best 16 months of my life. I would not trade the experiences and knowledge that I've obtained for anything this world might have to offer. Seeing a soul saved in the waters of baptism, or watching a wayward child of God find the path to righteousness, has given me more joy than I would of thought possible.
I'm so glad I have this opportunity to be where I am. I encourage missionary work for anyone who trusts in the Lord. Whether serving a mission away from home, or inviting a friend at home, your love will grow and your testimony will flourish. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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