Tuesday, May 31, 2016

"Family on 3" - May 30, 2016



WHATS UP FAM!

 ***Alright gotta start off with what is quite possibly the highlight of my mission when it comes to the non spiritual stuff of these 2 years.***

I'm pretty blonde as most of you know, I do some stupid things. I'm blonde... I accept that. Well we take off for Missoula Tuesday night to stay with the Missoula ZL's. MLC is in Helena that next morning so we stay at their place so we don't have to drive very far the next morning. We get to Missoula and to the ZL's apartment complex and we walk up some stairs and I go to open the door...

*This is my 3rd transfer going to MLC's... We always sleep over at the Missoula's apartment. I have been doing this for quite some time now, I don't need to knock, they know we are coming, I got this... 

Those are my dominant thoughts but in the back of my mind I'm thinking hmmm... Maybe I should knock... but nah I don't need to knock! I got this! 

*opens door 

*hears "Westbrook to Durrant, Durrant for 3... GOT IT!!!!" 

For a good, solid, LONG second I'm staring at the screen thinking "WHY THE FETCH DO THE MISSOULA ZL's HAVE A TV IN THEIR APARTMENT!?!?!?" 

Then it hits me... I look back into the corner of the room and see a stunned college student eating dinner alone at the table just staring at me while I'm standing inside his apartment with my suitcase and pillow in hand while wearing church clothes...

*WRONG APARTMENT! BACK PEDAL PETT! FREAKIN BACK PEDAL!*

I instantly start apologizing, I'm all "shoot sorry bro! Wrong apartment!" 

*at this point Elder Wells is now on the ground 5 feet behind me trying to contain his laughs 

Luckily he was a chill college student and not a disgruntled old man that has a 12 gauge. I tried to clear the air a little and sharing the gospel didn't seem too appropriate so.... 

"What's the score?"
"Thunder are up big." 
"... Oh sweet... Well. Cya later!" 

For those of you that have seen Dumb and Dumber it was a "big gulps huh... Well cya later!" moment 

And that was that. ... Most awkward... Funniest... Greatest... Longest 4 seconds of my mission. just try to picture all of this. I step out and shut the door and Wells and I are practically on the verge of tears we were laughing so hard. 

So ya, I accidentally broke into someone's house and got the score of the Western Conference Finals and didn't get shot at during the process. #AchievementUnlocked. Missoula just gets me out of my comfort zone. They have more people than cows and I'm not used to that. Too many apartments. Too many people. Considering all the things I have heard about Missoula It's probably a miracle I only walked in on an innocent college student watching the NBA...

Yep. Had to share that with ya. I'm blonde. 

Moral of the story... "Beware of pride" when thinking you know what you are doing and the world must be soon coming to an end if Westbrook is passing the ball so we better start repenting. 

Alright here's the other random highlights of the week...

- I was sick Monday and Tuesday so not much happened those days. I don't know what it was but it messed me up haha. At one point I was wondering if @dahlelama and @jonnybgbold wishes came true but I'm good now. 

- got haircuts and the Utes Banner continues to hang proudly. He claims that one has gotten the most attention from customers. Good or bad I don't even care. Haters gUn hate! #UteProud

- we got some propaganda for another church in the mail... I'm ok with that, we all wanna share what we believe.... Then I look at the back and it says "4 MAJOR CULTS" and I see "MORMONS" on there and I yell to Wells... "BRO WE MADE IT TO THE FINAL FOUR!!!!" (We are a little sports deprived if you haven't noticed) So we now have it hanging on our wall like its a March Madness bracket or college football playoff schedule and slap it whenever we leave the apartment/tunnel for motivation purposes. Not sure how eternal families and Christ centered lives and serving your neighbor makes you a cult but hey MORMONS WE MADE IT! #CinderellaStory #WeWantBama 

- Wells doesn't like hurting animals so he swerved to dodge a bird and ended up drilling it instead and I know this sounds awful but it was pretty funny. 

- member told us he spotted a Mountain Lion in his backyard. We bike near his house ALL the time so that's a little sketchy. I have decided if we come across one I'll just look it in the eye and say in a Australian accent "this is our world and you're just living in it" then run past it for a first down on a fake punt. #HackettForHeisman 

- We and the sisters are planning a big ice cream "meet the Mormons" party in #HamTown #TDFW. We meet up to discuss it and Elder Wells and I struggled slightly with staying on task but the sisters kept us in line so it was still somewhat effective... 

*** once again... 
- sisters 
- senior couples
- 50 foot pile of dog crap 
- elders 

 * so Wells and I were trying to figure out a way we could slyly get people's contact info so we can stop by and see them... I thought it was a decent tactic! 

Sister - "that's deceiving, you're taking away their agency." 

Me - "Moroni used Strategem in the Book of Mormon..." 

Other sister - "ya but that was war"

Wells - "THIS IS WAR!!!" 

***keep in mind this is a ice cream party we are planning for***

*goes all quiet 

*we are trying to keep a straight face 

Sister - "yep... These are our zone leaders." 

And that statement is probably the best way to describe Elder Wells and I haha. We get work done... but we are also eternal 5 year olds and we get distracted sometimes and we are kind of losing our minds a little because it's May and we aren't watching play off basketball but missionary work is better so it's ok!!! #Squirrel 

- got a text from Sister Meuchal asking what the wifi password was for home base. I thought that was pretty funny. 

- we go to dinner Saturday night and they fed us probably the most interesting meal of my mission. Doritos, chili, sausage, cheese, and ramen. Freakin awesome!!!! 

- Took us like 8 tries to send a voicemail out to the zone because we were laughing so hard the entire time. I don't even remember what we joke about but it is non stop laughing for us. Love Elder Wells.

- got flashed a gang sign by I swear the only ghetto car in Hamilton then seconds later street contacted into a elderly lady that was super nice but told us we are wrong. That was a rough sequence of events. 

- One morning I'm reading Alma 44 for personal study and verse 6 stood out to me...

Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up your weapons of war unto us

For those of you that don't know, @pettbryan has a pretty short fuse when it comes to us taking away his food and there was one time I distinctly recall him threatening Brady's life if we didn't show him where we hid the Mrs. Fields cookie... So I wrote in the margins so it now reads... 

Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up the Mrs. Fields cookie - @pettbryan

Ya, those were the little highlights of the week. Pretty awesome week. We had our MLC on Wednesday in Helena and I'm really starting to enjoy those. Any opportunity we get to hear from President and Sister Wadsworth is special. I have full faith in them leading this mission and it's fun sitting in on that council. I was able to sit and talk with President during lunch and I really do love and look up to him, we had a good talk. Told him how I sent a picture home and apparently my socks and slacks didn't match so the next week I got a package of socks from my grandma... He laughed and told me I now know how to rig the system whenever I need new clothes. I love President. So grateful for all he and Sister Wadsworth do. 

... He's also a total crack up. Sister Wadsworth is telling us how fast the last 11 months have gone and President chimes in "they feel like 3 years to me!" Sister Wadsworth just death glares him and keeps on going... I think President knew he was in the dog house for that comment so when she gets done with her discussion he jumps up and kisses her in front of all of us and then points out they are the only ones allowed to do that. Wells turns and whispers to me "fetch bro, Pres is makin me trunky!" And I whisper back "Pres has more MLC kisses than I do in my life" #SorryMom.  They're awesome, I love them.

Work is going strong. Still haves a lot of individuals and families that are on the brink of baptism, but we are getting really close. We held a zone fast for everyone's investigators yesterday and we know that will help. It's a ticking time bomb with our teaching pool, just waiting on the right time and more importantly gods time. We also found a cool young family Saturday, we walked out of the apartment that morning with the mindset of finding a family and the Holy Ghost guided us to one. Pretty sweet, we'll see what happens! The mom invited us to come to her sons baseball game so we are going on Tuesday, #Dingers. We are keeping our focus on families and we are already seeing potential with a few we have found through #Tracting🚜💨 and street contacting, it's all about families!

Work is progressing and it's the season of missionary work. "Schools out the nights roll in. Man, just like a long lost friend you haven't seen in a while, and can't help but smile!" ... Summertime by Kenney Chesney isn't on our approved list so someone go jam out for me... But ya! Great time of year for missionary work, just gotta keep on onwarding ever onward! Elder Wells and I see big things on the horizon for #HamTown. Get work done baby! 

We also held our zone training on Friday and once again, this zone is solid. I told them during my discussion that Elder Wells and I really don't know what to do with them in terms of training. Obedient, consecrated, diligent, just an awesome zone. During the training we talked about times we felt the Saviors love, and it got me thinking... 

Shared the time I was having one of my pre-mission "I'm in a glass case of emotions" breakdowns and I was praying for help. Joshua 1:9 came to mind telling me to not be afraid and an overwhelming sense of love came to me. That experience was close to a year ago but one I remember clearly. That made me think of another scripture we shared the night prior to someone. 

Moroni 8:16 - "perfect love casteth out all fear."

After receiving some sad news this morning, I want to tell all of you how much I know that scripture to be true. There's a lot of reasons to be afraid in this life, but with the love of our Savior Jesus Christ, the love from our Father in Heaven, and the love from our family around us, that fear can be gone. I don't know why things like this happen, but I know God loves us. I have felt that love, I have seen and witnessed it, and that's why I testify of it. Families are forever, I know that. Trials like this still hurt, but it is so comforting knowing we will see them again. That love from our Savior and family is so strong and prevalent, there is no room for fear or doubt. I'm so grateful we have been able to help the Matson family these past few weeks. It's a heart breaker for me, I don't like days like this, but it's a reminder of how powerful the message is that we carry. It's all about families. I'm so grateful for my family home and my Montana family. I dream of the day those families combine and it's been special watching that happen with the Matson's and Meuchal's these past few weeks and I know we are all united in this tough trial. My mom emailed me this morning and said something I really loved, "eternal best friends". That's what my mission has been and I'm so grateful for the families and individuals that have changed my life. The Matson family is one of them, which makes today rough, but I'm so grateful for their influence on me. Brother Meuchal pulled me aside yesterday before church and told me that if our family being able to help out theirs was the one reason why I needed to serve a mission, then it was worth it. I'm so grateful that I was placed here so we can help them. This one, simple way we could reach out to a family going through something we went through a few years ago has made these 2 years worth it. 

This is tough, I don't like these days, but it's why we have the gospel, it's why we have a Savior. I don't know everything, I'm not perfect at teaching, heck I can't even get the apartment right for the Missoula zone leaders, but there is one thing I do know and that is we will see our loved ones again. And IF we do the things we need to, we get to live with them forever! You better believe that "If" makes me want to do my best and help others. I want to be with my family forever. And if there is one principle that motivates me to do this work it's eternal families. I know we will be with them again. 

 

Love ya Fam, I love you so much and I'm so grateful for you and that I can be with you forever. Especially grateful for Sister and Brother Matson and their example to me. Family on 3.

- Elder K

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIZ! I love you so much Diz. Thanks for being my friend and for being so freakin cute. It's been crazy to watch you grow this last year and how big you are getting. I still remember how I'd be sitting in my room working on a vid and I could hear someone struggling to get up the stairs and a couple minutes later you'd peek your head into my room and come play with my Swoop hat. I know my friends loved you and you loved them, You were a total player with them so I imagine Kurt is nervous about that but can't believe you are already 2 Diz, Have a happy birthday! 

Pics 

- Stevensville Zone (L to R - elders Tenney, Peterson, Bills, Michelson, Wells, ;) , Thomas, Angle...sisters Parsons, Embry, Felemi, Adamson,) Elder Mikkelson is our visa waiter taking off for the Netherlands today, gonna miss him! 

 Final Four
When you have Hamilton members staying at your home in Murray
A member who knows my love of the Mouse and RES sent me this

Happy Birthday Diz


 

Make Your Own Light - May 23, 2016


 WHATS UP FAM

- We got the zone together for volleyball. Our team was making up names for fake plays and calling em out to make it sound like we knew what we were doing. Super fun. My new theory in life is to just act like you know what you are doing and it's going pretty well so far. Trying my best to implement that into the zone.

- had another sick lesson with Greg in Bro Pederson's home. We planned on watching the Restoration video but his son took the tv to his friends... So we improvised and watched it in the babies room. Bro Pederson gets it set up and it's movie time baby! Lemme paint a picture for ya... Here we are sitting in this tiny room. Bro Pederson (former military, big boy, freakin hilarious) is seated on the floor next to some Elsa and Olaf dolls. MetCalf and I are in lawn chairs. Our boy Greg is in a camping chair... we are surrounded by baby toys and dolls in a tiny pink room... And are watching a video about the restoration of the gospel. Super unconventional but the spirit was there and Greg loved it and it was one of those "yep, I'm really doing this" moments. 

- went out to lunch and I heard on the radio  "... today's music ain't got the same soul, I like that old time rock and roll" and not sure if it was the Bob Seger that gave me a tear of joy or if it was knowing what that Taco Bell was gonna do to my body that made me shed a tear. Yes.

- during our ZLC call with district leaders and sister training leaders we were talking about the ice cream social we are doing in #HamTown. Brimley asks "what type of ice cream"... I respond "yes." @TeamBetaAlpha's example continues to influence my life. 

- biked Satan Summit one last time with Metcalf. ***#MyRearBrakesAreEffectiveAs keeping Jared from cloning jeep keys. (Credit to Elder @TeamBetaAlpha)

- last day with Elder Metcalf we went to see Bishop Hawkes and he took us to the hangar to show us around. There are some sweet planes there. Then he took us to lunch and all I gotta say is Naps burgers + Bishop Hakwes = greatest day of my life. Can't wait to come back and fly with bishop. 

- transfers happened on Wednesday. Sad to say bye to Metcalf, but I was pumped for this next chapter with Elder Wells. We get to Helena and Elder Potter was there. Not really sure why he was there but he claims it was to see me so that was nice considering Kalispell is like 4 hours away️ <3. It was sad to say bye to Meinhardt and Brimley, can't believe they are done. I've been able to serve around a lot of good elders. Gonna miss all these elders going home these next few months. Meinhardt wants to run #StealthOps with us after the mission and I convinced Brimley to get a Twitter. 

 -  So I find Wells. Total. Freakin. Stud. I love him. Then we find the 2 elders coming in to the zone. Thomas and Tenney. They are also hilarious. That 3 hour drive back to the valley was awesome, I don't even remember what we talked about but we were in tears laughing most the ride. Thomas and Tenney were in the back seat and they reminded me a lot of Elder Mann and Elder Mann. 

- Oh ya... So at transfers I completely blanked we had a sister coming into the zone and after a good 30 minutes of bromancing with elders in Helena I remembered this. Went looking around. Couldn't find her. I go and whisper to Potter that I lost a sister and he just starts laughing. I'm thinking "oh crap I lost a sister... Assistants are gonna kill me right here in the stake center parking lot and this is why I can't have nice things".  But then I found out she hopped in a truck way earlier and is on her way to the valley and isn't lost and I can still keep my life so that was good. #CrisisAverted #LightTheU #SorryMom

- We get back that night and go out to dinner with the Kannenwishers. She was telling us her speeding stories and my goodness... I thought I had a lead foot. She's 65+ and freakin cruises! Her Cadillac CTS probably does have a little better performance capabilities than the panther but I was still impressed. 

- We go and see Greg. He's telling us for the next chess competition he's having his female player just use her female charm to screw up her opponent. He said "I was a young geek like these kids and it rattled me whenever I played a girl and she was staring at me!" So funny. Do what ya gotta do to get the W right??? We got into a super hero discussion also... Greg is DC but I still love him. He's all "I'm a geek, I'll admit it!" Me and Wells - "we are geeks too Greg!" *high fives all around*

- went to the soft ball game. #HamTown was winning big. #Dingers 

- ball is still going hard. Metcalf went off like Kobe in his last game before transfers. Wells is a straight up baller. Played at a JuCo down in Wyoming before the mission and after a few months with him maybe I'll figure out how to play basketball lol. He's freakin good. We get done one morning and we get on the topic of ticks. I told em about the tickcident and Bro Poulson told me to sing the "ticks" song by Brad Paisley to my wife one day. 

- hit up Naps with Sister Leiter on Saturday night. I love her, she's awesome. Definitely near the top on my Montana grandmas list. As we are sitting there the Meuchal's walk in so we have em come sit with us. Turns out Sister Meuchal was leaving for Murray that next morning to see Sister Matson and is staying at home base this week. Kind of a weird thought that she's eating a naps burger with me one night and Sunday dinner with my family next. They said since our family is helping them out I can bring my family up and stay in their cabin and I'm so down. Super fun dinner. Naps Burgers = Happiness.

- church was freakin hilarious. I love #HamTown, they make us feel like rock stars when we walk in. PEC was fun, we somehow got on the topic of duct taping our kids together when they fight #ThatEscalatedQuickly. This is why we need to have women in our meetings. In EQ we were talking about how to make our wives happy and Brother Pederson says "... Hallmark man, just let em watch their hallmark". You could hear the regret in his voice that he's been in the dog house for that one. 

Ya fam, freakin awesome week. I absolutely love Elder Wells. We clicked right out of the gates. We have been laughin a ton, I can't even remember half of the things that have happened but oh man it's been a fun first week. I'll try and share a couple...

- drive from Helena to Missoula Elder Thomas makes a comment about a hot dog... Elder Wells starts signing "hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!" And I busted up laughing. He has nephews too so he knows all about Mickey Mouse Club House. 

- I'm telling him how we named that guys grizzly bear carving Brick in honor of Brick Tamland... Well he also has a littler grizzly bear that needs a name too. Wells says.. 

"Adams... Grizzly Adams had a beard"

Me - "... Grizzly Adams DID have a beard...

"Adams it is"

He just quoted happy Gilmore with me... We had been together for like only 3 hours... DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS!!! 

- while on the topic of Stepbrothers... I got bottom bunk and he has top. Whenever he jumps up there one of us says "I've been meaning to ask you... Do you like guacamole?" Our late night bunk talks are getting up there with the discussions Jared and I would have at night in the bunker.

- straight up told him one day that there are mornings where I wake up and first thing I think is "my lunch hour is going towards taking a nap" and he says BRO I FEEL THAT SAME WAY!!!. We love food. We love basketball. We love naps. We love naps burgers. We love getting work done. We aren't 100% exactly the same... He thinks Disney is overrated, he bleeds blue, and he is ladies man... We are total opposites in those areas, but other than that we are really alike!

We are real with each other, we wanna get work done. Its fun. He's been out 3 months longer than me so we are pretty similar time wise. We are excited for this upcoming transfer and hopefully more. 

If you would have told me I'd be having this much fun on my mission I'd look at you the same way I looked at the BYU fan who came up to me in Disneyland and told me Jimmer would have a better career than Michael Jordan. 

Best part about it all, is when you are unified the spirit can work more powerfully through your companionship. We have already gotten off to a hot start picking up where Elder Metcalf and I left off. We had a lesson with a less active and when we got there he was feeling pretty down. After we talked about Star Wars and shared a Mormon message with him he was all smiles. I love that, it's so cool helping people be happy. THATS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT!  

We had a other lesson with a guy we have been teaching since I got here. It's been baby steps with him but he's making progress. He's a cool guy, pretty big into lifting so he's huge. We have this lesson with him one night and Wells and I were bouncing back and forth in the scriptures lobbing doctrinal alley oops to each other and this Montana manly man with biceps bigger than my thighs starts crying. Completely caught us off guard. He said "I know it's all true". Spirit was so strong in that lesson, I love it! Still has some things to work on but he's making progress. 

All about the Holy Ghost. So grateful for that constant companionship and the guidance we receive. Cmon guys, No way I could rattle off scriptures like that on my own, you know that! I'll proudly state I graduated seminary but heck when @teambetaalpha and I weren't going on a crazy style run or constructing a hammock in the back of the dart and were actually in class I was usually drawing up uniform concepts for the Utes or something like that. I didn't know anything about the scriptures! Holy Ghost is the best teacher out there and I'm so grateful all he's taught me. This gospel is sweet. 

Lots of miracles. Lots of blessings. Church is true and light the U baby. I'll share one more thing and wrap it up. So we had President come into town for interviews for the zone on Saturday. President and Sister Wadsworth are awesome, I'd do anything for them. President and I had a good talk. We just talked. Had a good chat on the Atonement. Flipped through the scriptures a bit. Talked about the future. How I've changed. Talked about the zone. Our zone is freakin solid and he knows it. Elder Wells and I haven't even done anything so it's not us, we are just super grateful to have an obedient and consecrated zone. We talked about the family too. He told me how lucky I am to have the parents I have. I love President and the way he teaches me it's no coincidence that he reminds me of @pettbryan. Gonna be a good day when my family can meet the Wadsworths. President was right though, I'm very grateful for my family. 

While a missionary is being interviewed we all sit out and chat with Sister Wadsworth. It's so much fun, we dish out the sass to each other but she dishes it back so it's all good. She's telling us the light we have as missionary's is about all that's left in a world that's getting darker. Made me think of a scripture in 2 Nephi 7:11 so I shared it with her and the zone 

"Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled."

We sometimes wonder where the light is, but need to realize sometimes YOU have to make your own light with your fire. I love that scripture. Make your own light so others and yourself can walk in the light. #LightTheU

Church is true fam. I love it. I love sharing it. I love my family and President is right, I'm very lucky to have the family I have. We have a lot of young men in the ward graduating that are on the fence about serving a mission. The parents talk to us quite a bit about it and you can see they are sad about it. I can't help but see myself 2 years ago. Really wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I had nieces and nephews on the way, the dream job, a high performance automobile that smelt like pure gasoline 60% of the time every time, and the greatest family out there! I'll be real with ya, I didn't want to leave any of that! But I think about what did it for me, what finally clicked, and it was family. The example of my family, the church leaders, coaches, and especially my friends that decided to serve, so many examples. I'm extremely grateful for those examples cause I love it out here and don't wanna be anywhere else... No matter how BA those civil war cereal boxes look or how heated the NBA playoffs sound, a mission is where its at.  

So, thanks Fam. Can't say it enough how much I love and appreciate the family I have. Whether that family is friends, church members, coaches, companions, or my family that I love so much. Whatever category it is. Heck, if you take the time to read these incoherent rambling rants then you are grouped in there somewhere. It's all the same, I love ya. Family on 3.

- Elder K

Shout out to Grandpa Pett for getting the National Award of Merit for the Boys and Girls Club. That's awesome grandpa! I doubt you play Xbox so you may have to have someone explain this but you just received a... #AchievementUnlocked 

Happy birthday to.... 

Uncle Mark! Have a happy birthday Uncle Mark!

Lex - have a happy birthday lex!!! thanks for going on ULegacy stealth ops with me since my friends were too busy making out with their girlfriends! Those were freakin fun... Still proud of your conversion to the Utes, not many people can say they have kissed the U at RES so own that. Take the panther on a frosty and Kenney chesney run for me and Look out for those low clearance rock ceilings in Disneyland ;) 

My big Bro Brady. Love ya dude. Even though I'm taller than you I still look up to you as much as I did growing up.Thanks for your example and the memories bro. Watching Finding Nemo and playing Kingdom Hearts all night in Australia, camping out for College Gameday, getting up at the crack of dawn so we are the first ones to pick up Madden from Gamestop, stealing the pylon from the '12 holy war. I love ya dude, I love those memories. Really grateful to have you and Britt and Baylee in my life. I still don't regret throwing your game boy in the toilet 16 years ago because there is a 95% chance you were teasing me and deserved it but nonetheless Have a happy birthday big bro.

PICS

* last ZLC with Meinhardt, Brimley, and Metcalf. I Was too lazy to put on my suit so I hardcore high priested it. No regrets. (High Priesting - (v.) act of wearing different colored suit coat with slacks, often done by the high priests in the Mormon church)

 
*not a car but i figured Z would still like it! So sweet! Oh and shout to Elder Christensen for finding Frank last week. 

 

* gonna change the sign on the church to say "visitors and wild life welcome". #WelcomeToMontana 

 
* Pett - Wells era begins 

 


* hype notes to Greg!!  Hopin he and the chess team get that big W this week in zoo town! #MakeEmQuit

Running into John Johnson 
 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

One Heart Beat - May 16, 2016


What's up FAM! 

I'm staying in #HamTown for 6 more. Elder Metcalf is out and Elder Wells is in. He came out a little before and me and is from AF and we bro-hugged each other last transfer day in Helena and he's pretty tall and a stud ball player... That's about all I know! Extremely grateful for my time with Elder Metcalf and the things he taught me, really gonna miss him! Grateful I get to serve and learn from another experienced elder this next transfer. Adventure is out there. 

Last weeks adventures: 

- capped off preparation day last week with Moose Creek BBQ. Decided after we put down 12 oz of meaty excellence topped with grilled onions and jalapeños we better do some physical activity so we were chompin through the rain on our bikes. IT WAS COMIN DOWN!!!  Thanks to 12 weeks with Elder Christensen, I have a new love for puddles.   Super fun, completely soaked. That UA rain gear is beaut. Utah - Michigan 2014, Trek to Quest in Disney World, and now missionary work. We have been through it all. 

- also decided to start a new hashtag... #MyRearBrakesAreAffectiveAs...
Send in any ideas. 

- District Meeting was a good one. Last one of the transfer. YW's were cooking something and the whole church smelt like onions. During the entire district meeting I was saying "it's quite pungent... It stings the nostrils..." But no one caught on so that was a little sad. We had a little testimony meeting at the end and it was nice. The sisters thanked Elder Metcalf and I for always being so "official" and I'm thinking in my mind how I have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee at my personal study desk and how I've been quoting Anchorman during the entire District Meeting but I'll take it! #Banked3Pointer 

- Missions teach you a lot... Including how to be easily entertained. During the District Meeting break, Elder Angle and I made up a new game where we kick rocks into a certain area of the parking lot and who ever does it in the lesser amount of kicks wins. Golf/soccer/Rock = SocckeGrolf. Straight up considering playing it for preparation day. 

- Went biking and we see this sweet old lady sitting on a chair outside. We yell to her and she responds back "good and how are you doing?" Except it sounded more like "goot und hov are du doing". #SprechenSieDeutsch???  That German accent got me to slam on my front breaks. 

#MyRearBreaksAreAffectiveAs..... @pettbryan at the free throw line. 

---- And we get talking to her. Really sweet, elderly German lady. VERY German too. Moved here 3 years ago from Deutschland. Lost her husband around that time too. Really cool talking about eternal families and Christ with her. Very religious and she was excited to start reading the Book of Mormon so we will see where it goes! Can't wait to show her a President Uchtdorf Mormon message. #CelestialLanguage 

 - lol, so we have a lesson with Greg in Brother Pederson's home. Solid lesson. I love Greg and Brother Pederson is a total stud. We get talking about how Christ and the gospel unites all of us around the world. I shared Mosiah 18:21 with him, I call that the "United Together Eternal Soldiers" #OneHeartBeat scripture. Bro pederson followed it with "yeah!Jung Dong in China and Phillipe in Brazil are hearing the same message you are hearing Greg!" He's freakin hilarious. 

- go to some apartments to drop off a Book of Mormon. As we pull up on our bikes we notice the kid who LOVES to play tag with us is playing out in the field, same 10 year old that raced us the night of the taser incident. He has lots of energy and was wearing a Pikachu hat and we would've loved to play tag... But we had a lesson we had to get to and there's no way we could leave to that lesson if one of us was "it" so we needed a smooth way out that didn't involve him tagging us.

*I turn to Metcalf and whisper "bogey in the weeds 30 yards out, on your 6" 

*Metcalf turns to gain a visual 

*I say "place the BoM, shoot the gap" and nod towards the path that leads us back into the clear 

*Book of Mormon is placed 

*we shoot the gap

*wild Pikachu comes at us from the tall grass

*make it out without being tagged. 

*We get to our next appointment on time. 

#AchievementUnlocked 

-one dude opened the door buck nude waist down. #Tracting🚜💨

- Went back to see our Marvel friend. We nerded out BIG time again. Funny guy, he knows his stuff. I still have my heart locked towards the MCU so don't worry. We also got into Pixar conspiracy theories, I'm a total nerd. Going back next week to teach the whole family, pumped for that. Good family. 

- we had some 9 year olds making fun of us while we were on our bikes. That was degrading. Freakin 9 year olds. I was contemplating drop kicking one. #MeanManPuntedBaxter 

- LEMONADE STAND. Super fun. We met one guy who was just awesome. Grew up not exactly living the gospel, went to jail and found God while he was there and completely turned his life around. Amazing story. Shared with him the story of Alma the Younger and he thought the similarity was cool. We acknowledged we had different beliefs, but we had a good time sharing views and talking about our Savior. Before he left he said "we're both gonna make it to Heaven and we are gonna fish out of the golden rivers together when we do". #ImDown. His testimony actually really helped me later that day. We ran into some Anti Mormon jerks that night. Won't go into detail what was said. But I was feeling off. This one guy was evil, we'll leave it at that. But the testimony of a Born Again Christian I met at a lemonade stand earlier that day is what strengthened us after that experience. We're all on the same team when it comes to Christ. Can't wait for those golden river fishing trips. 

- also had some members in the other ward come by and tell us they wish they had elders rather than sisters... I tell you this cause it's made pretty clear since day 1 in the mtc that it goes..

- sisters 
- senior couples 
- 50 foot pile of dog crap
 🐶💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
- elders 

and even though that's true and I completely agree it still touched our hearts that someone would want elders. 

- biked Satan Summit directly after downing 2 burgers and brownies and ice cream. I thought I was gonna die. 

- basketball was super fun this week. Koerner boys came and played (they are 14 and 9 I think) and they are gonna be good ball players. I teamed up with them and we played Bro Poulson, Cheese Pizza, and Metcalf. Lots of fun. Back home I usually left all the shot blocking to Elder Boyd but I had a nasty block on Cheese Pizza... It was bad. Kind of like the block Billy Madison had on the first grader. #CallMeRudy.  I love Cheese, we found out he wasn't going to seminary regularly till we started playing ball with him. That was a nice bit of news hearing we are helping a youth get to seminary. Especially considering I was once compared to Satan in a Sacrament Meeting talk because I tempted someone to go to Italian Village instead of seminary... @TeamBetaAlpha threw me under the bus in front of his entire ward but we still graduated AND got a pizza bender #AchievementUnlocked.

- biking one day and we meet this awesome old guy finishing a giant bear carving! It was sick. This guy was hilarious, total jokester. Picture Jourdan Nichols at age 75. I asked what the name of the bear is and he told me we could pick. This is obviously a big decision so we are going back Tuesday and will also share the gospel then too. I'm thinking we name him "Brick" in honor of Brick Tamland. (YouTube "anchorman furry tractor") 

- Oh ya. So Doug (kid we met at last lemonade stand) is on baptismal date. Had a sweet lesson with him at the church. Only thing is he is in Corvallis boundaries so those elders will now teach him. Elder Stockton and Elder Nash dish out one last assist to the zone. 

- dinner at the Dickemores. BIG basketball family, love them! 10 year old had a shirt that said "basketball is my girlfriend" #GOALS. They were trying to recruit me to work for USU. 

- Alright this probably won't make the blog but I gotta throw it in here haha. so that one lady who flips us off every time we go to the motel to see Greg took it up a notch and yelled a not nice word followed with "... You Mormons!" And I busted up laughing... Again... And she wasn't happy I thought it was funny... Again. Not sure what we did to her but it cracks me up. 

- met a family that are refugees from Africa. They have 3 young kids that are so dang cute. They accepted a Book of Mormon and picture of Christ, we'll see where it goes. 

- used Kaelin Clay's ball drop in a lesson on repentance! It was sweet, we were talking about how beating ourselves up won't do much after we mess up. Told them how the team responded by supporting Kaelin. Certainly not the brightest moment of the season, that following week every touchdown in practice the ball was to be handed to the ref, but they learned from the mistake and moved on. Next game Clay catches OT touchdown and we win at The Farm against Stanford. #ChurchIsTrue #LightTheU 

- dinner with The Bishop and his family. The Hawkes are straight up #goals. Awesome family. We were talking about roller coasters and I told them about Expedition Everest, Rockin Roller Coaster, Space Mountain Mission II, all that fun stuff. Gracie, Natalie, and Cash want to come on our next Disney World trip, so just a heads up on that mom and dad. Got a verbal commitment they'll do Summit Plummet too. Cash (around 1 first grade) said he's worried he'll scream like a girl and I told him he's obviously never seen me go down Summit Plummet. 

- more service at the old Montana farm home. So much fun. We spent the first bit eating fried chicken and fetch with the dogs and holding their baby bunnies. It was awesome. Their 3 dogs are so much fun!!! The golden retriever jumped on me with a log in its mouth and drilled ground zero from the Tickcident a few weeks back. It's been a rough transfer for that region of my body. Also caught a duck with my bare hands! It tried to escape but not quite fast enough. #LockDown. I propose we name him Vernon Adams... #ShotsFired 

- Interviewed a 9 year old girl for baptism! Super cool. She is what I picture Diz will look like when she grows up. 

- We were invited to talk with the youth last night at a stake priesthood night and that was a big eye opener that all this "I'm a missionary" stuff... Is real. You grow up knowing a mission is 2 years, well It's not "2 years" anymore it's less than that, which is kind of sad. Pretty cool talking to these young men and seeing my self 8 years ago. Shared with them my Avengers/NBA All Star Team/Jedi/ (whatever else appeals to young priesthood holders...) Theory and I think they liked it. I'll share it some other time in a separate spiritual rant. It was a good night, gosh I wanna teach mission prep when I'm home haha. 

It was a good week. Lots of little miracles that make you step back and see how cool it is to be a missionary. You got the miracles and the "Imma keep it real with ya" sections of these emails... just know being a missionary is awesome. That's something I never thought I'd say so I have either been straight up brain washed or I gotta testimony of this gospel and sharing it. 

A lot of the people we teach probably won't be getting baptized any time soon, but they're making progress to coming closer with their Savior and that is something special to be a part of. It's an eternal process. We had a lesson with Dave this week and it was so neat. I've mentioned earlier he has pretty rough health, and we went over and he had questions about the next life. Read out of Alma where it says our bodies will be restored and you could see it in his eyes how much comfort that brought to him. Experiences like that are tough to beat. I love Dave. I mentioned a while back the "inches" Uvid and Charity comparison, and I can say I'd go that inch for Dave. He looks out for us, he gives us Hawaiian Punch after we have biked for a few miles to go see him, he stands up for us when most of that trailer park hates us (nearly had it one time this week but then I remembered A. I'm a representative of Christ and need to turn the cheek and B. That man is 3x my size and 90% chance he has a gun) but ya, Dave looks out for us! I love him. Metcalf and I would do anything for him, and I know Dave would go that inch for us too. 

It's bringing souls closer to Christ and uniting families for eternity. Helping others find peace through the atonement. And if they are ready, getting them into the waters of baptism. It's so much more than I ever thought it'd be. 

Coolest part of it all is going back to what Brother Pederson said, that everywhere around the world the same message is being shared. Just like The United Together Eternal Soldiers scripture in Mosiah... 

"they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."

It's uniting all of us. "One heart beat" as Coach Whitt would say. Grateful I can do this work and for all my friends doing this work and the example they are. I get that Montana is a lot closer than South America or Sweden... But I'm perfectly fine with it. It's beaut here. So sweet we are all doin this work. 
 
We are all on the same team. We may have different strategies or tactics. Some may wanna run a spread no huddle while others are a west coast pro style offense. Some may have a powerful drive off the tee box while others are Phil Mickelson deadly with a lob wedge. Some may use a predator missile while others use a air strike in COD. We have different talents, tactics and abilities, But we play for the same team, and it is one heart beat. The gospel is unifying a world that... Not gonna lie, looks like is falling apart. And we get to go out and share it, Bring the World His Truth! One heart beat. 

It's easy to imagine where I'd be back home had I kept on with work and school or hanging out with my fam, whatever it may be, but what I can't imagine is what my life would be like without these last 10 months on a mission. I love it. I love the challenge. It's an adventure and I'm hyped for this next adventure with Elder Wells and all I can learn from him. The wilderness must be explored. 

I'm sad to see Elder Metcalf leave, he may have never farted in front of me, but we had a brotherhood together. I said it since we first joined up... Kennedy was his Qui Gon and he was the Obi Wan to my Anakin. Pleased to report we ended our training without me limbless on a lava beach. He taught me a lot on zone leadership and I'm grateful for the diligence, humility, and obedience he instilled into me. We're going to be tight after the mission. #AutoBotsRollOut

 Church is true Fam. 

-Elder  K

--- s/o to my boy elder Christensen whose birthday is this week. Love ya bro. Those 12 weeks in #BGrade I'll never forget ;) 
 
PICS
*sweet pic of a hoop 
 
* got this cool pic of Dave looking through my quad while I looked through his bible from when he was a kid. It was a sweet lesson. He had the classic rock on low volume, it was beaut. 
 
* district pics
 
* basketball soccer dog again
 
* saw like 6 corvettes during the lemonade stand. welcome to #HamTown. 

 
 
 



Monday, May 9, 2016

"Tractor Tipping" - May 9, 2016


WHAT'S UP FAM. 

Hope you're ready for this one... This is all over the place. 

Happy Gilmore. ZZ Top. Nuclear war... And Carnies... All in one. #BuckleUp 

- Had apartment inspections. Didn't "fail miserably". #NeverForget #BGrade

- Some members take us out for dinner one night and this restaurant must have had the Kenney Chesney Pandora station on or something. Shed a manly tear thinking about @TeamBetaAlpha when "Anything but Mine" came on.

- So can't remember if we told you about Sam but he is this older Native American man we met while biking. Was a member like 40 years ago but hasn't been back since. We have been working with him a little, really cool guy. We were on his porch and I'd shoot the ball at the mini hoop on the other side of the yard and his dog would soccer dribble it back to me! It was awesome. Basketball and soccer coming together, anything is possible. No ties or flopping from the dog so I was fine with it. Ted Lasso would be proud of me. 

 
- We go have a correlation meeting with Coach and his family and my stomach made the most gnarly growl ever!!! Coach asked if it was a fart and I told them that I honestly wasn't sure. Reminded me of the interview scene in Stepbrothers. 

- Had another service opportunity doing a lady's yard. While we are doing it her neighbor comes out and offers to pay if we do hers. We tell her we do it for free and then went over and did it. Afterwards we get a chance to start teaching her. She was so nice, a sweet elderly lady from Hawaii. Her English isn't too strong so we had to really simplify, it was awesome. Already said she believes the Book of Mormon is true and it makes sense the Gospel would need to be restored. She said "this is the church, this is the one". Pretty cool for someone who hadn't even heard about it 15 minutes earlier and barely speaks English! We'll see where it goes, really grateful to have the Lord place us in her path. She reminds me of the old lady in Happy Gilmore... "heeeeeeey you don't want breakfast?" 

- while on the topic of Happy Gilmore. The previous night we had a Cinco de Mayo taco fiesta at the Koerner's. Somehow Bro Koerner and I started singing the song Happy sings to the old lady through the speakers. It was beaut. Bro Koerner is like a foot taller than me and 3 times my size, he's awesome. I love the Koerner's. As we are leaving Kyler walked us out with his sword and whatever Rafael uses armed and ready to go in the back of his shirt. Love that kid. How we teach them is usually whichever Elder isn't teaching is entertaining Kyler so the rest of the family can pay attention. I was letting him play with my quad and it flipped open to D&C 100 where the picture of Z and I walking to Toon Town is book marked. He picks it up and says "look, it's me and you.". Didn't want to go full on @pettbryan right there in the middle of a lesson but it plucked my heart strings. That entire rest of the night no matter what he did (eating sour cream with a spoon, praying, yelling the female chest body part, sword fights, burping) I was trying to imagine that's how big Z is too. 


- We have a new investigator we got from the lemonade stand, his name is Doug (I'll explain more in a bit). Every time we plan for Doug or talk about him I start singing ".. And then we're gonna find our best friend Doug and then we're gonna give him a best friend hug". 

- Did service again at the place we did the chicken wire fence. (104 year old Montana farm house, it's unbelievable, mom you'd love it). No kamikaze chickens this time but they did have a baby duck hatch! We were in the front yard working this time, Metcalf was mowing and I was going hard with the weed wacker. They had this brick border around their big tree  and wanted all the grass and weeds on it gone. I'm not the most effective in terms of accuracy with a weed wacker but I'm good at straight up destroying everything with one. And this task was simple, terminate everything. #OperationWhirlWind. I get going and turns out this border is actually a full on brick path covered in weeds and grass! It comes out like a good 6 feet! They had no idea, it was sweet. Then she fed us pulled pork sandwiches and it was beaut, I love Montana. Husband isn't a member and she's a less active, we're making good progress with them. That's a family I'll be tight with.
 
- exchange with Elder Angle in Corvallis. Total stud, love that guy. We met this guy who has family in Murray. I ask who and he says "they live across from the Jordan River and the golf course, names are Brad and Julie"... He knows the Stenifeldts! Pretty sweet. Small world. 

- met this dude sitting outside his apartment and we somehow got on the topic of Marvel and the nerdness was spewing everywhere from our mouths, oh man I love Marvel. Awesome guy. He has a young family and we are going back next week. Told him he can't spoil Civil War for me. 

It was just an awesome week. I don't know exactly what it was, but it felt good. My mind is all over the place so I'll share a couple of the big highlights and we'll call it good for the week... 

All started with the lemonade stand. For the most part this one was almost a bust actually. Had like 4 people come up with what felt like the sole intent of trying to condemn us to Hell. Alright I'm going to get real with ya for a second here... This is my Clark Griswold rant of the transfer lol. 

That kinda stuff makes me mad, I'm sorry. We all have different beliefs and backgrounds, that's fine, but we don't go up to people and say "I don't mean to come off confrontational but God is going to punish you for what you are practicing". Bruh, do you honestly think I'd be doing this if I didn't know it's true??? Give your family a call and tell them you love them, probably pretty nice to be able to do that more than 2 days a year huh? But what do I know, I'm apparently just some kid from Utah that doesn't know anything and is going to Hell for trying to serve others like Christ did. 

*Those are things I'd like to say but I'm really trying to get better at this whole being Christlike thing.

 Heck, If I had a dollar every time someone whipped out the Book of Revelations on us, the south end zone at Rice Eccles Stadium would be under construction, some people just love to argue. If you don't believe the same as we do, that's fine, I respect that, but call it both ways and respect us. We're just trying to hand out some freakin free lemonade. Rant over. Where's the Tylenol. 

So a good 2 hours later with some bite marks in my tongue we pack up. That's when 2 high school kids walk by and I hear... 

 "... They come running just as fast they can, cause every girl crazy about a sharp dressed man" 
 ... being played from his pocket. My head jerks around and I say... More like yell (classic rock soothes the soul and I haven't heard that song in 10 months so I was a little excited)  "IS THAT SHARP DRESSED MAN BY ZZ TOP!!!" Hearing that song alone was a tender mercy then we get talking to them and they don't have a religion but are interested in finding one! Heck ya. We are meeting with them at the church Wednesday. And that is  my boy Doug that we are "gonna give him a best friend hug". Interesting thought Metcalf and I had. Had one of those confrontational Jack wagons not shown up, we would have packed up a lot earlier and not have ever met Doug. Gods hand is so strong in this work, but it's not always what you expect it to be. Like Mosiah 23 says, the Lord will try our patience and faith. 

Next up. Splits with THE Bishop Hawkes. Not gonna lie. Probably the greatest night of my life, Bishop is a stud. I couldn't sleep the night before I was so excited for this split. We go see a less active guy we are working with and this brother says that grizzly bears are the only things that scares him. 

Bishop responds with "there's only 2 things that scare me... And 1 is nuclear war... And the other is carnies..."  

While this member and Elder Metcalf are looking at him with the "what on earth?" Look... I have my hands down in my palms trying to contain my laughing. I look up to see my smiling bishop and all I say is "small hands" and he nods at me. I gotchu Bishop!!!  You know you have a good bishop when he's quoting Austin Powers in lessons with a less active. Super fun night, he's a great bishop. He brought a really strong spirit into the homes. The Hawkes are definitely a family I want to stay tight with. I told them I'll drive to Logan if it means seeing them whenever they fly in on their plane, I'm not scared.

 (I have officially adopted "beaut" and "I'm not scared" into my everyday vocabulary. Bishop says one of those 2 at the end of every sentence, it's beaut.)

On the drive back Bishop tells us he would feel like he hit the lottery if his daughters married guys like Metcalf and I. I'm not saying this to try and boost my draft stock or anything, but not gonna lie that plucked my heart strings a little considering how protective he is of his girls. He's a good bishop, and he's an awesome dad, no doubt Dad #Goals. He looks out for us. 

Then you have Sunday... It was a special day. My hands were shaking bad hitting that call button lol.  Seeing Eli was awesome, he's a tank! Bay and Diz are huge! And Z TALKS!!!  When I left it was a big deal if he said anything other than "desth" or "nana" and during the Christmas call he didn't say anything so you can imagine my excitement when he straight up told me he wants me to shoot monsters with him and go on Small World!!! I kept it together for the most part, couple tears. Then at the end when I saw the reason why @pettbryan wasn't talking was cause he was emotional it was game over and the wheels fell off and I broke down but mama J gave me a hug after so it's all good. 

40 minutes isn't enough, but I'm so grateful for it. It's enough to remind me how much I miss my family and how much I love them. When that call ended and the face time app went back to just showing me. I sat there for a moment looking at some teary eyed blondy wearing a name tag, and it was one of those moments where it hit me that I'm really doing this. Some do a pretty good job being away from their family, but I'll fully admit it eats me up being away from mine. A mission teaches you a lot. From the gospel to removing a tick latched on your crotch. But it's especially taught me how much I love my family. I can't wait to ride Small World with Z, or sit in the cave with @pettbryan, especially can't wait to show my fam the Big Sky,  or even be able to just sit and talk all night long with my mom, but deep down there is nothing else I'd rather do for the next 14 months. Because I know this is where I gotta be and the Lord continues to teach me and show me miracles. 

Example of a miracle, later Sunday night we go do family history with our Native American friend Sam. He hasn't heard of his parents or any his family in a really long time and we told him about family history. Brother Smith (he has an eye patch and is the Steph Curry of family history, that's all you need to know about him, I freakin love him. #GOAT) helps us out and we found Sam's parents. He knew they had passed on years earlier but didn't have any real information, He got a little emotional reading their obituary's and looking at pictures of them and afterward told us "once I saw my family on that screen I couldn't stop myself from crying". 

Sam and I aren't too alike. He's 65 +, Native American, has a pony tail, carries a sweet staff/stick, etc. we have all these differences and circumstances. But I had a pretty good idea what he meant when he said that in his wise Native American accent. "once I saw my family on that screen I couldn't stop myself from crying". 
 

Can't even put it to words what it was like those 40 minutes with my family and what it was like seeing Sam so happy to find his mom on Mother's Day. It's difficult for me. I ain't gonna sugar coat that, but those moments make it worth it. All about families. 

Sorry if this was all over the place, just know I love ya fam! Here comes the 7.5 month stretch till I get to talk to ya again.

"I'm not scared". 

Love ya, the Church is true. 

- Elder K

Pics 

- Tractor Tipping. All we got left is Guido, Luigi, and Frank I think 

- some members got puppies