Week 5

Enjoy the Coast of NC

Monday, July 23, 2012 10:02 AM

Alright family...how ya'll doin'?

Excellent hopefully.  I miss you guys, but I'm having a really good time out here in Morehead City.  We are seeing a ton of blessings and miracles from the Lord.  This area is starting to blossom, and I'm super excited.  This Saturday, we are having a baptism for a girl who is super solid.  We are so excited for her and her family.  Her mom is a returning less active, and she is a way fantastic support.  Her brother is also progressing and should be baptized a few weeks following her, as long as he starts waking up for church ;) Yesterday in church we had some major miracles.  2 of the Less Active families we are working with showed up.  It was amazing.  We were so excited.  The father of the one helped prepare and bless the sacrament, and hopefully soon will be able to receive the Melchezidek priesthood as well as both him and his wife are excited to start taking temple prep classes!!!!  So exciting!!!!

So, let's get down to the Nitty Gritty ;)

I have received letters 3 and 4 and for my entire mission, you will be sending everything to the mission office.  They do that so that you don't have to keep changing the address.  They just forward everything on to me and it gets to me like a day or so later... so all good.  Also, could you pass along the alfredo recipe, (no i don't have it memorized, DJ, stop laughing...I know you're laughing).  Alfredo sounds quite delicious.  

Good story that I also forgot to include last time is that I participated in the decapitation, de-feather-ization, and de-gutt-itation of chickens in a service opportunity with a less active family.  Ahh yeah...I just did the plucking part of the activity though.  Elder Jensen did the de-gutting though.  What a boss :)  

ps. This is going to be really random email...The end

Back to the email...the other day, we had an appointment with the chicken service family and we kept playing phone tag with each other, so when the time came for the appointment, we didn't know if they were picking us up.  So we waited a little and then took off on our bikes.  Oh my goodness.  I have never biked into such a headwind as we did on the way to that appointment.  SHeesh.  it was ridiculous.  That kind of biking should be outlawed.  First of all, we were going fast in order to be as less late as possible (like my grammar??) and that head wind was laughing at us.  I got there, and I was basically dead and sweat enough to refill the dead sea.   ( that's the biggest thing with the humidity...if I sneeze too hard, I sweat)  I'm always drenched.

I'm so glad that you've been receiving rain.  You needed it badly before Grand Junction decided to take off like the city of Enoch :)  

Overall, the work is going excellent.  We are seeing tons of progress, and are excited to see where the Lord takes this area as we allow ourselves to be instruments in His hands.  

Today, we are going to the aquarium which should be fun :) They have penguins ;)  It's kind of crazy how the time goes by.  We are already in week three for the transfer...that's almost half way done.  I'm eating well...in fact yesterday, I almost exploded from too much food.  The ward is really nice.  The new ward mission leader is a great guy.  

Nice on the condo and on the babies and other such things.  Little Timmy is the man.  We have a ton of new babies in the ward.  They blessed two yesterday and 1 the week before.  Also, like half the ward is related. K that's a lie, but seriously, it's a lot.  Several generations of lots of kids = team domination :) 

I'm so grateful for you, family.  You are the best family I could have ever hoped to have, and I wouldn't want to live eternally with anyone else, besides God and Jesus Christ.  :)  I know that my redeemer lives, and as I meet so many people with different backgrounds, I'm glad that I always know that I have you guys supporting me and loving me at home.  Sometimes when I get down like that, I look to my God and my Savior and I remember my family at home.  Thanks for everything.   

Luvs for evers and evers,

Elder Patty,

Week 3 and 4

Well How's North Carolina?

Monday, July 16, 2012 9:34 AM

ps.  Sorry for no pictures.  I forgot my camera at home :(

next time ;)

Alright Family,

Here's the big email where I try to fit everything that's happened in the last two weeks (which has a been a ton) into 1 email.  Good luck ;)  So where to start, ok.  The airport.  We had to get up at 2:45 am on Monday to get ready to fly out.  We had to be at the curb at 4:00 and then drive to SLC where our flight left at 7 something.  I really wanted to be brave in the airport and talk to people.  :)  In SLC airport, we talked to several people who were mostly Mormon. Go figure.  A couple couples (haha) were heading up to Palmyra to work in the pageant and stuff like that, and I told them that Rochester is where a lot of my mother's family live.  Good stuff.  So the flight went well to Detroit.  All on time and everything,  then our flight out of Detroit got delayed like an hour and a half.  However, the flight attendant lady on the flight to Raleigh was super fantastic.  She, over the speaker, thanked us missionaries for all we do, (not Mormon by the way) and she was really nice.  At the end, I gave her a pass along card with a message written on the inside that I wrote specifically for her.  She loves her family a lot so that's what I kind of worked with.  Amazing early on experience. :)  Anyways, so we got to Raleigh etc. got to the mission home etc ate etc.... The mission president is really nice and amazing.  He and the Mrs. are both really amazing.  So skipping ahead.  I got assigned to the wonderful city of Morehead City on the coast of North Carolina.  I was super excited to go to the coast for my first area.  It's really nice here, all be it a little humid ;)  I sweat like a pig no matter what I do, but if I run, I sweat like 25 pigs.  I can barely take my undershirt off afterwards.  My companion's name is Elder Jensen.  He claims Logan, UT as home, but he grew up in Cailfornia and has lived in Idaho and Arizona after that.  He's a little older, 23, but he's amazing.  I can't believe how blessed I am to have a trainer such as him.  It's amazing.  I prayed that I would receive a good trainer, but I knew from the spirit that regardless of what trainer I got, he would be the one for me.  Well, Elder Jensen and I get along phenomenally well.  We are both really hard workers and exact obedience is really important to him as well.  I know, could things have gone better, I submit that they could not.  He's 8 months out and this is his second time training, but he says all the time that he doesn't feel like he's training which is a compliment that I really appreciate.  Studying is going well, and I love every aspect of the mission.  Elder Jensen is plain incredible though.  He is hard working and wants to help me and let me grow. He doesn't try to keep me under his thumb because I'm new and he knows more.  He appreciates when I take the lead and when I show the desire to grow and learn.  All and all...know that the Lord has blessed me greatly.  So we live with members in a gigantic house.  I sleep in a queen size bed, and just to highlight my companion again, he gave me the queen size bed because he said that it would probably be the only time in the entire mission that I would have the opportunity of sleeping in one.  Plain nice and considerate.  I love that guy :)  So, the work is starting to pick up.  We've already seen a ton of miracles.  A less active family that we are working with showed up to church on Sunday.  It was miracle, nuff said.  And they stayed for the entire block. Oh yeah :) And also we've made some contact with less active individuals and some unbaptized individuals.  Anyways, Elder Jensen's companion before me was an elder who was going home the transfer I got here and he was, to put it nicely, ready to go home.  Elder Jensen commented on how the entire ward’s countenance towards the elders has changed and we received some referrals and possible referrals yesterday.  Yes, I'm being fed, mom, don't worry about it.  :) Things are just going well overall.  This Sunday one of our investigators is getting baptized and then her brother is getting baptized a couple of weeks later.  AMAZING FAMILY!!!! I love them so much.  It's amazing how God blesses us with charity and Christlike love if we are willing to put in the effort and seek it.  The mother of the two kids is a returning less active, and this was just the right time in their lives for the gospel to begin blessing their family again.  The mom recently or is currently working on a divorce, and the dad was really anti Mormon so that was why it didn't work before.  One thing of many that I love about out here that's different than the MTC is sincerity.  These people are sincere in everything from their faith to their concerns.  It just allows the spirit to work so strongly through us with them.  I love it.  We've had some really good lessons.  We've also had some interesting experiences ;)  

So this ward is tiny, activity wise.  They only have a 35 % activity rate, but those 35% are amazing.  They all work so diligently with fellowshipping investigators and less actives alike, and they are super nice.  Definitely a solid group, minus the part where 65% of their ward is inactive.  I don't know for sure, but I feel like that is particularly high.  In Elders Quorum yesterday. They had 11 elders, a couple of visitors, and us.  That's it.  The number of young men at home is larger than their elders quorum ;)  Crazy.  Oh, side note.  When I take a shower, it sometimes feels like (smells like) I'm taking a shower in a mini geyser, if you are catching my drift ;) yeah, I'll deal.  So this guy in our ward is the uncle to Rocky Mortensen's wife.  Pretty crazy, eh.  It's pretty crazy that anyone here in Morehead City has a connection to someone in Grand Junction.  Also, something from the MTC.  Dad, did you ever know a Mr. Pacheco (Puh-Check-o) of Grand Junction possibly spelled wrong.  If so, I happened to run into his son in the MTC, not a missionary, a little older.  Again crazy connections, but he knows the Kelly’s well and grew up with their sons until they moved.  Crazy stuff happening all over the place.  

Umm....

Well, I don't know much else to say even though I know there is a lot I could say.  We have a car every other week, but we still bike mostly because it saves miles, and we need those miles so we can go visit the outer areas towards the end of the month since some of the areas on the outskirts would be a beast of a bike ride and an all day event.  My bike came all safe and sound, and they even put it together for me.  I'm teaching my companion how to play the piano.  Before I came, my companion had prayed about wanting to learn how to play the piano and then when I played the hymn for our "meet the companion" meeting, he kind of just looked up in amazement. :) haha.  But, it's fun.  Since it's so hot on our bikes, we were told to schedule in a break to cool off in the afternoon, so we go to the church and play the piano.  Oh yeah.  It's the best.  I love planning.  I love goals.  I love everything.  I am so glad that I have donated 2 years of my life to the ever so important work of the Lord.  And family, I don't think I realized until I got out here just how important and necessary our work as members is in the missionary efforts.  We should never be ashamed to share the gospel and we should always be looking for opportunities to help fellowship those that the full time missionaries are working with.  Without the ward's effort, the work missionaries do does not really work.  The mission is definitely changing me for the better and I've only been out here for about 6 days.  Crazy.  I'm almost 1 month out.  Hard to believe.  

Well, I love you all so much.  I couldn't have asked for a better family.  When I think about you, I just can't express my gratitude and love for all that you've done (especially you, parents) and all that you are.  Keep being amazing!!!

Love your favorite current missionary,

Elder Patty

Week 2

Week two in the Good ol' MTC

Monday, July 2, 2012 12:36 PM

Hey familia,

Life's going excellent for the most part.  I can't believe that I only have 1 week left and then it's off to North Carolina for me. We leave next Monday at 4 in the morning and have a pit stop in Detroit before making it to Raleigh-Durham.  I'm super excited.  The MTC has been a great experience, don't get me wrong.  I think I've come to understand more here about the gospel of Jesus Christ than maybe even my entire life.  (That's not to be taken as an insult or as a jab at your parenting ;) I just really never let certain elements of the gospel sink in and the MTC does that for you :) ) Anyways, one thing that I wanted to say that I'm not sure if I've already said it was that it's amazing how spiritual role playing can actually be.  Before I entered the MTC, I kind of scoffed at role playing because it seemed extremely fake and everything.  But since being here in the MTC, it's amazing to see that the Lord teaches us through his spirit while role playing.  When both parties are sincere, the spirit can be really strong even though I know the person on the other side is just playing a role and isn't real.  But I am excited to leave the MTC and enter the actual field.  It's kind of freaking me out a little bit, but I'm excited and everytime I get freaked out etc. I know that I can just turn to the Lord and rely on Him and He will help me accomplish His work if I let him.  That first Sunday is going to be kind of weird I feel.  I'm going to be in a new ward in a new part of the country, introducing myself as a missionary for Jesus Christ and I'm only 19 years old.  Crazy.  Oh, Mom you should ask Ricky, Mark, and yourself if you ever knew an Elder Baron who served in Upstate New York because if you have, he is in my branch presidency.  My companion and I are getting along really well.  We're becoming a lot better at teaching together and complementing each other, and we're really working on teaching by the spirit and letting the investigator and the spirit direct the lesson. 

One experience that we're having here is a thing called Zone Teaching.  It is where my companion and I teach 2 other elders from the zone in a role play situation.  Last week we were the investigators, but this week we teach, and part of last week we taught too.  I'm not going to lie, it's extremely frustrating.  Our "investigators" decided to play as a couple of punks.  :) They continuously ask weird questions and questions that they know are difficult to answer.  They're supposed to be playing as "progressing investigators" but after 2 lessons, we got a "I'll think about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon" out of them.  Fail.  I don't think they got the memo that they are supposed to try and base their person on someone they know and act as them, but not reject the gospel if their friend at home did.  Did that make sense?  The one kid's role had lesson one for real, but I don't think it went really well...so I guess he's just replicating that with us?! Whatever :) Yesterday, in one of my meetings I think, we read the scripture, Moroni 7:48 about Charity and 2 parts stuck out to me particularly.  Is not easily provoked and endureth all things? ;)  Ok, spirit :) I'll just do my best to teach them and not allow them to frustrate me :)  Good stuff.

All right, here's the best part.  Yesterday, I had one of the most powerful moments of my life.  A guy named Ken/Ted Gibbons came in to do a fireside.  He acted the role of Willard Richards and basically retold his story of his life with Joseph Smith up until the moment Joseph was murdered.  The spirit testified so strongly about the divinity of Joseph Smith's role as Prophet of the Restoration and about the truth of everything Joseph Smith stood for.  I can't wait for the day when I can personally speak with Joseph Smith and thank him for everything he did and suffered just so we could all have the truth and the chance of being saved in the Kingdom of God.  Following this marvelous performance, we sang Praise to the Man, and part way through, the missionaries started standing up spontaneously.  Wow.  It....Was....Amazing!!!! I really can't describe to you just how amazing it was.  The spirit was so strong.  I know that the Lord may not ask of me to be a martyr but he is asking me to serve a mission for him to bring others to the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the path to Salvation.  Again...WOW. 

We also went on a temple walk yesterday, and I took that time to study the scriptures and to let the spirit teach me things.  He did.  I know that God loves me and that Jesus Christ loves me.  I know that this is where I'm supposed to be.  I love this gospel.  I love the atonement.  I love my savior. 

Well, times up,

I wish I could say more, but if I have anything super important to say, I'll write a letter

Love,

Elder Patty,

Ps.  I got a letter from Gram Gram and a letter number 2 :)

Bye