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!

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.



Elder Pearson (in his Indiana Jones hat) and Elder Johnson



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.

It's Cold



Elder Pearson in his Indiana Jones hat.

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.

EMAIL

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.

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.

This week

These past few days have been SWEET.

I'm not going to lie, I've been pretty frustrated with the lack of success we've had in the past. I didn't understand how the missionaries before us could spend all day every day at the gym and movie theater, and get 6 baptisms the last month, and Houghton and I have been working our tails off and didn't have anyone for January. But right when I was about to lose it, the success came.

We stopped by some members on Sunday, and one of their friends was over. We had an impromptu lesson and she told us she wants to be baptized! So we set a date for the 19th. Then we got a call about someone we've been teaching for a while. He's 11, and just waiting for his dad to get ready to baptize him. Apparently, the Dad and the Bishop had met and agreed to just let him get baptized now. So there is another one for the beginning of Feb! The next day, we went to a Family Home Evening with a family who invited their non-member friend. The friend told us she had talked to her mom and they decided she could get baptized! So we gotta get that set up. We can easily have 6 or 7 baptisms for February. I'm really excited.

Besides the area being awesome, not a lot has happened. I got a Christmas package this past week from home. It was an additional, surprise, package. I got a sweet Indiana Jones Fedora that I'm wearing around more and more. Not sure I'm allowed to, but it's my parents fault if I get yelled at. I also got a sweet Dallas Cowboys, Miles Austin Jersey. Still trying to figure when and how I can wear that.

Pics will come next week.

Transfers!

It's transfer time, and nothing is happening. Elder Houghton and I will be staying together in Kanesville.

This week has been pretty slow as far as missionary work goes, everyone is out of town/ with family/ too drunk to talk to us around New Years. So, no cool stories to share about that. Except, during sacrament meeting this Sunday, two of our investigators, Weston and Danielle, went up and bore their testimonies! They are 11 and 9. Never mind that they were both the exact same short testimonies, the point is they felt the impression to get in front of hundreds of people and let them know the church is true! If we could only get their parents to act like parents and take them to church it'd be great.

This isn't spiritual or anything, but I have decided I'm gonna go to BYU Idaho for my first year, and then take it from there. It feels like the right place to start out.

Since I don't have any long spiritual stuff, I'm gonna write down my rough draft of my Lame Excuse List. In Utah, there are so many members, that tracting is pretty useless. So we rely on the members to invite their friends to meet with us. It's much more effective. While serving in Kaysville, the good people had inspired me to put together a list of the absolute worst reasons for not talking to their friends about the church. All from active members of the church. Please know that these excuses are not all from Kaysville, nor are all people in this city like this. My list is in no particular order:


1. "We're good friends with them, and I don't want to put that on them" - Kaysville
2. "They're letting us store some stuff in their back yard, and I can't afford to lose that" - Kaysville
3. "Our Bishop is really missionary minded" - Kaysville
4. "Someone in our ward joined the church a few years ago" - Kaysville
5. "Our houses are on 1 acre plots, and it's harder to meet your next door neighbor" - West Haven
6. "I've only lived here a few years, haven't gotten the chance to know my neighbors yet" - Roy
7. "It's not my thing" - Clinton
8. "The sign says no soliciting" Then the Young Womens President's husband yelled at us some more and slammed the door in our faces (Yes, he went to church every week) - Kaysville
9. Didn't give an excuse, just walked out of the room after feeding us dinner.
10. "I don't want to alienate my friends" - Kaysville
11. "I think I'm a better teacher than you" - Kaysville
12. 2 strikes: 1. Floor mat said Go Away 2. He had a University of Utah shirt on - Kaysville
13. "We're in Utah, everyone is LDS" - Everywhere
14. "I wouldn't worry about him... He lives across the street from a church" - Kaysville
15. "Don't expect much, these kids are raised not to associate with non-members" Kaysville
16. "They moved in during the summer" - West Haven

That's my list for now. I'll continue to update it as people let me know why they can't share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends and neighbors. Yall have a great week!

[Pictures from football game spoken of last week in letter - Ryan wanted all of us to know his team won!]



Elder Houghton trying to rush Elder Pearson



Whole crew playing football