12/29/14 Wrapping Up

I cannot believe how fast this past week went by. I enjoyed getting to talk to you guys as well and I'm glad to see that you're all doing so well. Thanks for everything you've done so far to get ready for Friday, and also for school next week. It really is helping this be as stress-free as possible.

12/22/14 Last Full Week

It is weird to think this is the second to last pday...probably the last time I will go shopping and wash some of my clothes. But the work still feels the same and it hasn't hit me yet so I really am not feeling too many emotions. I guess we will see how I am doing a week from now! 

12-8-14 District Funeral

I'm sorry to hear that you guys are having such a rough week with the trials in the home ward. I hope that the spirits really strong to help comfort those who are afflicted right now. I will remember to keep everyone in my prayers. [This past week we had two funerals in our ward.  One was for sweet Brother Ray Felix.  The other was for Ryan's 9 year old friend Owen Hartle, who passed away from cancer.  It was a rough week.]

12-1-14 Stuffed Turkey

I am glad to hear you made it through Thanksgiving without me there without too much trouble. I bet it is a lot harder for you guys at home when the difference is so noticeable. I guess I have it lucky out here where it is easier to almost forget the holidays altogether and just focus on the work. I'm glad to hear you guys had a good time though. 

11-24-14 Don't Miss the Blessings

As far as being trunky goes, I don't know why it hasn't affected me as much. I think it's still because of Elder Coburn's example that I'm trying to stay focused. I guess my whole mission I've seen missionaries slow down and get "Trunky" and I made the decision a long time ago that I don't want that to be me. I'm definitely not perfect, but it's been a big goal of mine. Let me know if I'm starting to sound trunky it all so I can change! 

11-17-14 A Mini Missionary and a Mighty Miracle

Ha ha I love that picture I saw of you guys with Elder Holbrook! I'm glad you were able to go to his homecoming talk. Of course he did a good job; he was a great missionary. Yeah, we did get to see each other quite often. It seems like there's an endless supply of meetings.  I'm impressed Elder Holbrook knew every city I had served in! That's a lot to remember, but we were pretty close, so I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure he isn't too worried about the quality of the apartment… It seems like we've been to some pretty dumpy place is out here. There have been some exceptions of course;) 

11-10-14 Temple Trip

Well the big news this week, along with the temple of course, is that we got a brand new 2015 Nissan Frontier! Because we had to trade out cars I got to drive down to the temple with Elder Geisler so we didn't have to beg members for a ride. It is sooooo much nicer than our old truck. I guess this will be one of the few times I have a new car!:)

11-3-14 Halloween

[After much research and hunting, we were able to find an apartment for Michael and Elder Holbrook at BYU in January.] I am excited that you found a place! Thanks for all your work there and I'm sure it will be great. It's got to be better than some of the places I've spent the night in out here… :-) 

Fun While We Work

I'm glad to hear the apartment hunt is going well. Yeah, I've talked to Elder Harris a couple times and he told me he would be living at home. I thought I told you that, sorry for the miscommunication. It is exciting to get things figured out, and will help me feel a lot better about coming home right before school starts. Thanks for everything you've done on that front.

New foods

[Sunday night we received a picture text from Steve Collins, who had just fed the missionaries.  He wrote', " Just wanted to let you know your boys are doing well and are being fed.  Thanks for sharing them with us.  Their testimonies are powerful.  They are great missionaries doing great work."]Haha well I am glad you are easy to please, because picture texts aren't too hard for people to send.

10-13-14 Meet The Mormons

I am so Flippin' excited for the snow!! We went to visit some people this week up in the more mountainous part of our area, and you could see all the different shelters for the homes built over the top of them to help with the snow. The people were telling us that some years it can get up to 10 feet of snow in certain parts of our area! Now I'm not saying that's going to happen this year, but I wouldn't be disappointed if we saw a couple feet ;-)

10-6-14

This week was good. It was really busy, but I am doing alright. We had a leadership meeting on Thursday with all the ZL's so I got to see Elder Holbrook and Elder Harris. That is always a bonus. Our mission president announced some new rules that missionaries are not going to be happy about....and we get to tell them tomorrow at zone meeting. The good news is that I get to serve around missionaries that will still be nice to me no matter what (Elder Benedict and Elder Geisler) so that helps. 

October Transfers

The news for transfers is that Elder Page is getting transferred to Redding to take Elder Harris' spot (He is going to Olivehurst) and my new companion is Elder Larson from Springville Utah. I have talked with him a lot before. He knew Zach in high school (graduated 2 years after him). He said that Zach was the only senior that was nice to him on the team. Anyways I am excited to be serving with him...most likely he will be my last companion.   Elder Benedict and Elder Geisler are both staying. One of the other elders we live with is getting transferred as well, so there will be two new missionaries in our apartment.

9-22-14 Boston

Wow, sounds like fun in Boston. I think from Dad's job, us kids have gotten the wrong impression of what a 'business trip' actually is...because from our perspective now, you guys just get a bunch of mini vacations with travel paid for by Dad's work. Ryan and Daniel never knew about the days back in Colorado where business trips didn't mean vacation. Haha but I am glad you kids are having fun on your excursions! [Steve had a business trip in Boston, and Laura tagged along at our own expense.  Work only paid Steve's flight and hotel for two of the nights.]

See, one of us is working!

Half Mission Conference

[Michael had a half mission conference on Monday, so his Pday was pushed to Wednesday.] We have only had one 'full mission conference' since I have been here, and that was back in March 2013 when Elder Anderson of the 12 came to visit. I guess I should be more specific, this was a 'half mission conference', so the northern half met on Monday, and the southern half met on Tuesday. Then, on Tuesday evening after the second conference, there was a special leadership meeting held for all of the ZL's in the mission as well as the STL's. . It was a good conference, but I had to wear a suit 3 days in a row, so that was different. The seventy asked each of the ZLs to sit on the stand for the first portion of the conference, which was really weird for me....as if the other missionaries don’t hate us enough already, I don't think that helped. It was cool though because he talked about looking out at the missionaries and paying attention to promptings of the spirit as to what their needs are. He said it was practice for future callings, and that the mission is the MTC for your life.

Typical Sunday

Things in Oroville are good, slow but good. We are just trying to rebuild the teaching pool after having a few baptisms. It is tough, but that is how most of my mission has gone so I think I am supposed to learn something from it, haha. It is good though, and I am enjoying getting to know the people and the area better. The hard part about being a zone leader here as opposed to Olivehurst is just that I have no idea what is going on yet...that and most of the mission wide meetings are held in Gridley because it is the central point in the mission, so we have to set up and take down a lot of stuff. 

Here is our Sunday schedule:

9:30- missionary coordination meeting

10:30- ward council

11:30- 12:35 Family Ward Sacrament meeting

1:30-4:30 YSA church

4:45-5:45 YSA Branch Council

Plus I between 12:35 and 1:30 we have to drive 30 minutes from Oroville to Gridley, and then back after branch council. It's a long day. Yesterday we somehow were able to teach 5 lessons in only 3 hours. It was an awesome day.

9-1-14 Describing Elder Page

It is fine having pday on a holiday. Holiday's really don't exist out here, at least for me.

That is cool that Elder Page's mom emailed you.  Today we talked about writing home and he told me that he is just tired and doesn't feel like there is anything to write home about. I guess it is a feeling we all have, so I am sorry if my letters ever feel boring.  Two words to describe Elder Page are Friendly and Confident, which I think are some attributes I need to work on. I am glad to be with him so I can continue to learn from him.

First Thoughts of Oroville

[Sunday morning we woke up to news of a 6.0 earthquake in Napa Valley which is about 100 miles to Michael.  The Mission President in the neighboring mission sent an email out to parents immediately saying all missionaries were safe and counted for.  Curious if Michael felt anything, we were quickly comforted.]  No I didn't. I feel like I keep getting ripped off with potentially cool earthquake stories...oh well.

Transfer to Oroville

I am getting transferred up north to Oroville to be one of the Gridley ZL's. I am so excited because my new companion is Elder Page. We came out to the field together. If I could pick anyone to be my companion I would pick Elder Harris, but I have been saying for a long time that number 2 would be Elder Page, because he is awesome and we get along really well, so I am excited! And if that isn't enough, both Elder Geisler and Elder Benedict are going to be in my zone, and on top of that, Elder Geisler's companion is the DL and Elder Benedict is my DL, so I get to go on exchanges with both of them!!!!!!! Hahaha it is going to be a party these last few transfers! [Michael trained both Elder Geisler and Elder Benedict.]

Priesthood Power and Faith

My companion is feeling much better since he just had a cold. I am not sure exactly how bad it actually was, but it did cause us to spend a lot of time at home. Haha I don't think I am any stronger than other people. I think more of it is just in your head...I guess that is what I learned from your inspired parenting style of making us go to school and at least "try" to stay, and then call home if we couldn't. I think almost every time I was able to stay once I got out of the house...aside from that one time where I almost passed out in class, but besides that, I attribute it to you guys.