FOUR BAPTISMS THIS WEEK! Lovin' it!

Hola Padres!   

        29 August 2011

 

This was one very successful and rewarding week! We had a lot of good things happen!

School has started again down here in Utah. This makes it a little tougher for us to continue teaching as much as we used to. During the summer months, we were so busy all day long and could space our lessons out throughout the entire day.  It is a lot harder to cram all of our lessons in from four in the afternoon to nine at night. Just one of the many struggles that we have here in this area, but we are still making it work!

Well Mom, you know how at the beginning of my mission you said that I was going to fall in love with Spanish food (rice and beans or all of that)? Well it absolutely has happened! It took me to not be in a Spanish area to figure this out. In the Spanish areas, I was so surrounded by the native food that I didn’t really think about it. Then this week we went to a little Mexican shop for lunch and it made all the flavors of Spanish food come back. It made me feel comfortable and right at home. So I miss Spanish food a ton! I can’t wait to get back to a Spanish area where I can just have Spanish food all the time. So sorry Mom, you might want to learn how to cook some real Spanish food for me! (Well, the mom has a better idea, HE can learn how to cook it and then cook it for us when he returns!  J )

This week we also had a new challenge, we had a third companion. It was one of our Zone Leaders. His companion got called to be the Assistant to the President, so he left in the middle of the week. Elder Bagley has been with me and Elder Nathan since Wednesday. It has been pretty tough because his style really doesn’t match Elder Nathan's and mine, but we found some common ground and just went forward.

We have had some pretty cool experiences with some investigators and the Word of Wisdom. We thought that some of these investigators were going to take it pretty hard and not be able to go through with it, or put up a fight, but that didn’t happen at all. We just taught them about it and they already knew that they needed to quit and make that change. So we have had four different investigators stop smoking, chewing, and drinking. It is a pretty awesome thing to see that change in people.

Another crazy experience we had was a humongous Slip n Slide! We went to a ward party and they had it at this park where there is a huge hill and they happen to lay out 4 or 5 old billboard signs and set up some sprinklers and hoses. So being the crazy and adventurous missionaries that we are, we decided to spice up life a little and go down the Slip n Slide too. But we didn’t change into shorts, we just walked up to the top, took off our shoes and went down in our white shirts and ties! It was pretty crazy and fun! I have seriously done some of the craziest things on my mission in this area. I mean a parade, racing a ram, and now a huge Slip n Slide! (Our wild and Crazy Chad boy is still alive and well!) 

You mentioned about Steve Wilstead's brother-in-law and that he picked us up. It is a pretty crazy story to be honest. We got a ride to a little town on the edge of our area, but we didn’t have one back, so we just decided to start walking back, hoping that someone will pick us up. So we walked about 5 miles and then Steve Wilstead's brother-in-law picked us up and gave us a ride back into town. We got to talking and it came out that he knew someone up in the Tri-Cities. So I asked the last name and he said Wilstead. I told him that he was our Home Teacher and all of that. It is just crazy to see how small the gospel makes the world.

Now onto the rewarding part of this week. We had four baptisms this weekend! We were super excited and it had been a lot of planning and following through! We baptized a set of twins named Hayden and Kyle. They are 10 years old and are pretty crazy and into Star Wars and Indiana Jones. So we had some interesting times with them! The next baptism was a 9 year old kid named Kayden. Elder Nathan actually knew this family when he was here last year.  Our last baptism was another 9 year old kid named Dominic. We only taught him for about 3 weeks. We met him and instantly he wanted to get baptized. Both sides of his family are members and he has be attending Church for the last 4 months. He just need to get taught and baptized. It was one of the most crazy and stressful days of my mission. We got everything worked out, and everyone was baptized that day. On Sunday I was even able to confirm Kayden and Dominic.

Now it is time for the big news about transfers. I will be staying here in Price, but Elder Nathan will be not. I am pretty bummed about that because we just worked so well together.  My new companion is going to be Elder McCarty. Oh, I will also be District Leader again. So I am excited about! I will get to visit a lot of different places so I will have a few more experiences.  I am still keeping my Spanish, don’t worry about that. My mind doesn’t work as quickly as it did just a month ago, but I am still keeping it down and I try and talk to anyone that speaks Spanish.

I enjoyed the little package that I did get from you. (Elder Chad is approaching the ONE YEAR mark on his mission, so we sent him a WASHINGTON t-shirt and a McD’s gift card.  I also asked if he was still getting lots of mail from the regulars, or if his mail was not as frequent.)  Well my mail that I get is starting to slow down, but that is just what happens when you get farther into the mission. Well I am grateful for all the support and everything you do! Have a great week!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!

siempre estan en mis oraciones!!     les amo!  ELDER D!

Busy Days, Hard Work, Equals Being A Missionary!

Hola Benditos Padres!!!                22 Aug 2011

NEW MISSION CAR????



Well this week just keep going by quicker and quicker. I don’t know if it is something in the water here or what, but this transfer has gone by the fastest of any of my whole mission. This week is looking to be a really good one with a lot of success. We have really expanded the area and the teaching pool here, so it is really nice to see that our labors are producing success. I will let you know all the great details next week, so stay tuned!

Our Tuesday here was nuts. We had an appointment scheduled for every hour of the day until it ended. We were just going non stop from 10 in the morning until 9:30 at night. We hardly had time to even contact anyone. We would just look at our watch, then planner and hop in the car to drive to another appointment. It was one of the most rewarding, but tiring days of my mission.

It hasn’t helped that I have gotten sick again. This is probably the worst time I have been sick since I got on my mission. It was pretty bad, but I didn’t take a day off and just kept going with the work of the Lord. I did take care of myself with all the stuff that you sent me a little while back. So no worries, I am on the uphill slope out of being sick. Let’s just hope that it stays that way.

This Friday was pretty tough for us. Price is a pretty small town, and with most small towns, when there is a big community event the town shuts down. Well that was the case this week. There was a high school football game and it was like no one was home for that night and the next day. It was pretty tough night, but we made the best of what we had.

We are still doing a lot of service. This week our service was framing walls of a house. It was pretty crazy to be using tools and doing physical labor. It was a really good way for the family to make some new friends with members of the ward.

Boys will be BOYS!!

Sunday provided us another extremely eventful day. We took the drive out to East Carbon, a little tiny town in our area, for Sacrament Meeting. We some how convinced our driver to take his little Ford Escort out into some playground. Well, we got the car stuck, so we had to go inside and get a kid that we know pretty well to pull out the car so that we could get back for some other meetings.



How do you say STUCK
 in Spanish?



We then went to a missionary farewell. I know you can’t call them that anymore, but that is what it was. It is just weird to think that I did that over a year ago. It is just so crazy to think of where I am on my mission and that this kid is just starting out on his mission. Time really does fly by! After that, we had to teach a class for another ward. We actually had to teach the Young Women about community service. It was a bit strange -- it was the first time that Elder Nathan or I had been in Young Women’s for a lesson.

NEWS FROM HOME:  I am really happy to hear that everything is going better at home. I am glad that your job is good, Mom. I wish you luck with learning the system and all that. It really will work out for you I know that. I am glad to hear that Dad is doing a lot better. I am also glad that the news from the doctor’s was nothing but good news. That takes just a little more off of my shoulders and allows me to relax just a little bit more. (about his father’s health)

Well sorry this week’s letter isn’t as big as it usually is, I just didn’t have to many crazy experiences or much to say this week! Well I hope all is well!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!      ELDER D

Finding Success in Price...in English!

Parental Note:  Some parents do not hear from their missionaries very often, or not much information.  We are fortunate that Chad corresponds well and we enjoy sharing his mission with him!  Thanks to all who let us know they read this blog and enjoy hearing of Chad's missionary adventures. 

No new pictures this week!

                                                             

Hola mis benditos padres!!!          15 Aug 2011

Well it is that time again, and this week felt like it went by quicker then ever! I just can’t believe how fast the time is really flying by, I know that you are counting down and know that I have been out for almost a year. It is still crazy for me to think about that fact, that my mission is almost half way done, but it really doesn’t feel like it has been that long since I left. I guess that is just a blessing for being here that the time continues to go and the more I get into it, the faster the time goes, or so it seems.

Well Elder Nathan and I have been having a lot of success lately. We have been able to start really connecting with the investigators that we were teaching, and we are finding new ones that are ready for the Gospel. We just keep going and finding new ones and helping the ones that we have. I truly feel that Elder Nathan and I were put here together for all of these people that we are teaching. It just is a testimony everyday when we go out and work and the people just keep progressing and heading down the right path.

There are so many crazy things that happened this week, and I can’t even list them all, but I will give you some of the many points from this week. Crazy story #1! We raced a ram, or also known as a big horn sheep, in our car. There is this little tiny old mining town that sits at the base of the mountains and we go out there twice a week, and there is a little area where there is always rams there. So we were just watching them and taking some pictures and then one was standing broad side to us. He was basically the king of the rams there. He scooted up a little and then it was on, the ram took of and so Elder Nathan slammed on the gas and we raced a ram. We got up to about 25 or 30 M.P.H., the only bad part was that the trail that the ram was on curved towards and crossed the road, so we had to stop or we would have had a bumper full of ram! It was pretty crazy, I mean how many people can say they raced a ram?

I also went on exchanges with another companionship in the district. I went to a little tiny town called Castle Dale. (The Broadheads used to live in Castle Dale!)  It was definitely nice to get back to my own companionship and my own area. When things just click in a companionship, it makes everything a whole lot easier, and I am grateful to have that happening here in this area.

I have really been tuning in my teaching skills in English again, because all  we are teaching is English lessons. We have taught maybe 2 Spanish lessons since I got here. It really sucks, but the English work just boomed and took over all of the Spanish work. I am glad to have the opportunity to work again on my English; it makes me have to teach everything very simply. We have taught a lot of younger kids lately, so its usually very simple and visual. We like to draw a lot of pictures for them.

We also had interviews and a training meeting with the mission President this week. The interview went really well, he asked a lot about the family and how things are back home. It was one of the first times that I actually felt that President cared for me as a person and had my best interest in my mind.  So my respect definitely seems to be growing for him.

Crazy Experience #2.  We have been trying to contact a kid named Kelton for a while and he is hard to find at home, but on Saturday, we found him at home, but there was also his mother's friend named Amanda. Amanda wasn’t too excited to see us or talk to us. She just kind of had that "what are you doing here?" look. Amanda is not of our religion and she just came out with a lot of typical questions that non-members have. She was very confrontational at the beginning and probably didn’t really care for what we had to say. But as we continued to talk and remain calm through all her questions and "attacks" on us, she began to open up a little bit. She began to listen and by the time we left, she was open and willing to be there the next time that we came. It was just so amazing to me to see how the Spirit really worked on her, and gave her the chance to experience that change and be open to the things that we are saying. So we have an appointment with her and Kelton tonight, so we will see what happens.

This Sunday, I  gave two separate talks in two different wards. It was super hard for me, since I only have a little vocabulary in "Gospel English". I was nervous and my first went alright, but I still stumbled through it and was super confusing. But the second one went a whole lot better. I just calmed down and just let it flow out. It is still pretty crazy for me to think how little of an English vocabulary I have now, but I have even less when it comes to Gospel topics.

News from Home:  (The mom redid the missionary board at the church and asked if Chad knew two other missionaries since the ward was combined, Elder Chidester and Elder Garrett. )  Well I do know one of those missionaries. Elder Chidester went to seminary and high school with me, and I am pretty sure that he is in the same mission as my MTC companion, Elder Wood. But the other one I do not know. And it is so crazy to think that Jared (Scrimsher) is coming home in a few months and then Jake (Romm) is right behind him. I can’t believe that it has come and gone so quickly! Time is truly going by way fast! Well I am happy to hear that you have found a job Mom! It is great! I was pretty surprised when I read where it was going to be at, but I guarantee that it won’t be bad at all. I am really glad that you were able to find work and hopefully it will be a good, stable job for you! (The Mom was laid off from her school district job of 5 years.)  I am also excited to see the bathroom when I get home too. There just seems to be so many changes going on at home. (Our bathtub cracked, had a leak and the floor got warped.)  I mean the highways, new furniture, and a new bathroom. What is next? A new room? I am glad that everything is going well with Dad as well, just keep me posted as the doctor appointments continue on. (Darin just got a clean bill of health from his oncologist!) 

I am grateful for everything that you do for me! Take care!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!   Les amo muchismo!   ELDER D

Grateful Dad is good from surgery

Hola Padres y todos las otras!                August 8 2011

Como estan? Well this week went by crazy fast. There were some days that drug on and were long while they happened, but overall, the week just cruised by! I guess that is what happens as the mission moves forward and I get farther and farther into it.

Last week was a pretty good P-Day. We were able to do some things to relax and it helped us enjoy the day a little more. We played another round of golf at a golf course about a half an hour away from here. It was in the middle of no where, but it had some pretty challenging holes and some cool views. It even had a waterfall in the middle of the course. So not too shabby for being in the middle of eastern Utah.

That night we had a good Family Home Evening with a family that Elder Nathan baptized their daughter and reactivated the family. We ended the night by going for a ride in their Jeep on some trails. It was a good way to just relax, but still help others come unto Christ.

Well one of those days that drug on was Tuesday, the day of Dad's surgery. It was pretty hard to keep myself focused throughout the day. I really tried to just stay all about the work, but it just kept coming back into my mind. We were doing service for a guy that is slightly handicapped and we got a call from President Leonard. It took a second for me to realize why he was calling. I also didn’t know if it was going to be good or bad, so I just mustered up all I could and answered the phone. Well luckily it was all good things that he had to say. He also gave me the option to call home, but I just didn't feel that it would be beneficial to me. I wanted to call home, but I think that it may have set me back a little bit. So I decided that it was best for me to just stay focused and keep working. I knew that Pops was okay and that was just the weight lifted off of my shoulders and I didn’t want to put another one on by calling home. So hopefully that makes sense why I didn’t call home.

Well the next day after Dad's surgery we had another baptism. This baptism was of another 10 year old kid named Braxton. This kid is pretty crazy and has ADHD, so it made it a challenge to teach him and have him focus, but it worked out. He was also taught by Elder Nathan last year as well. So Elder Nathan is working on the business he didn’t finish when he was here last year. The funny thing is that we didn’t have a jumpsuit small enough for him to wear, so we gave him an adult small and just rolled it up. So when he had it on, he looked like he had parachute pants on, the style that MC Hammer used to wear. Elder Nathan did the baptism and then yesterday I was able to do the confirmation. That was a little nerve wracking. I had never done one in English and I was comfortable with all of that stuff in Spanish, because that was how I learned them, but to try and learn and memorize all that stuff in English is new to me.

This week we have been finding just a ton of new people to teach. They range from 9 year old kids to 65 year old Texan guys. It is just crazy to see how you can touch the lives of so many different people with just one single message. The only down part is that we haven’t been able to find any new investigators in Spanish. That is the main struggle here is trying increase the Spanish work, but at the same time not let the English work suffer. It is something that is just hard to find that perfect blend or balance.

Well on a random fact, we helped a family pack up a U-Haul this week.  The random part is that they are from San Diego (where Elder Nathan is from), they are living in Wellington, and they are moving to Yakima. It is a really strange connection that they have with Elder Nathan and I.

I am glad that you are both doing well and recuperating well. It is nice to hear that Aunt Debi is there and is taking care of you both! Just keep strong and fight the good fight!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!     LES AMO!!!      ELDER D

Being a Kid Again in Price!

Hola Padres!                  August 1, 2011



Boys Having FUN in the RAIN





The crazy times continue to roll on and become crazier and crazier! The people are super nice and that is making everything here quite a bit easier for me in Price. The number one thing is that I am still having to adjust to how you do missionary work in English. It is a completely different set up compared to the Spanish side of things. I am enjoying having this opportunity, but sometimes I still wish I was in an all Spanish area.

This week we have had some crazy weather. I suppose that it is because we are in the mountains and things like that, but it is way different from St. George. We have had so much rain, but best of all we have had some crazy thunderstorms. Last night there was so much lightning and thunder that we were in awe the whole time. We did manage to get some pretty legit pictures from it. Well one night the rain started to just come down in sheets and we realized that we had left the windows in our house open so we went home a little early to shut them, so our beds weren’t completely drenched for that night. So Elder Nathan and I had the bright idea to go outside and play in the rain. So we went back to like when we were 12 years old and would go run through puddles and play football, so that is what we did for 20 minutes. But can you really blame us, since that is the only water that were are "allowed" to play in?  (As missionaries, they are not allowed to swim or submerse themselves in water.)

The theme of this area for the last few weeks has been SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE! We have been out doing so much service for people it is crazy. We did some demolition work and took down a wall or two of a house. We are helping a less active guy clean out and remodel his basement. And we also have tons of other acts of service throughout the days. We are actually offering to help and people usually say "okay" but in a joking matter and then we actually do it, they are pretty surprised.

This week we also had Zone Conference. It was pretty good; the only bad part was that we had to travel for 2 hours to Richfield. That part kind of sucked, but that is what happens when you are in the middle of no where.

The big thing that happened this week was the International Days. It is this big fair type thing that happens every year in Price. There are so many people that come and there is a little carnival, booths, food, and entertainment. We were even in the International Days Parade! This parade was a lot bigger and a lot more fun! (from the one last week where they rode a tractor.)  We used the same tractor and trailer, but instead of a camp chair in the back, we put the recliner from our house. So it made the ride a whole lot more comfortable for me. The other cool thing is that we were placed behind a float for a music store that had a kid playing drums to some music on it. So the whole parade we followed them and were dancing and just having a grand ole time. The spectators sure seemed to enjoy us and they could see that we are regular guys that like to have fun, but at the same time teach others about God and Jesus Christ. Well to along with the parade stunt, we set up a booth in the park to help others understand what we do. So the whole day people were coming up to us and saying "was that you in the parade? That was so awesome!" So it was pretty cool to have people say that.



I LOVE MOM Tat!



I did have a good birthday and I am thankful to all the people that wished me a happy birthday and sent me cards! It was definitely a different experience to have a birthday on a mission. At home we would go out to eat and then hang out with friends. Here it is not like that at all. We don’t have a chance to press “pause” on a mission and take a personal day. It was pretty cool that a few different families here gave me lunch and made me cakes and cards. So don’t worry Mom, I was taken care of! I did try and spice up my birthday a little bit, so I decided to get a tatoo. It is a tribute to my mother! Hope you enjoy it! (See Picture!) 

Well to top my birthday, we had a baptism! We baptized a 10 year old girl named Kiona. She was the youngest of a less active family and Elder Nathan actually taught Kiona last year when he was here. So it was pretty cool to see her get baptized now. She is a really nice girl and hopefully continues forward in the Gospel and can be an example to the rest of her family and her friends.

On Sunday, we actually went to Primary. I felt like I was 10 years old all over again. It was a good change!

(Comments on the homefront – Chad’s dad has cancer surgery on Tuesday, August 2.)   I am glad that the Bishop and the Missionaries came by and were able to talk with Dad and help him out. I know that everything will be fine. I will still be here working as hard as I can to help others. But I am glad that these things are taking effect with your lives and your are striving to live healthier. And I will keep my fingers crossed too that Emma and Keith will be able to move out soon so you two can recuperate together. 

I am so grateful for all of your support and everything that you do for me! Keep on pushing through! "Things will always get better!"

Live it, Love it, Preach it!   Con muchismo amor,  ELDER D