Count down for Ethan Begins! 104 Days.

Elder Hemsley could use your love and support as he wraps up his mission.  He would love to hear from you.  His address is:  

16199 Green Valley Ranch Blvd Apt 212

Denver, Colorado 80020

Hey Mum! 

Part of me really wants to say that this was a really good week.  I mean, if you look at our stats for this past week, it was the best week that this area has had in a long time.  We found new people, we set up some solid appointments, and we've plowed past all obstacles that were standing in the way of Darwin and Carmen getting baptized.  Its gonna happen.  But the other part of me wants to say that this week was really tough on me.  There is no spirit of unity in this companionship.  Me and Elder B don't really see eye to eye on anything.  He's been having a really rough go on his mission for the last couple of months.  Bad companions, bad areas, bad stuff at home, etc.  Not a lot I can do to get him motivated.. 

Aside from all that, like I said, it was a good week.  Lots of neat stuff happened. 

Monday was an okay P-day.  Did all the stuff that we needed to, and then we went to the game store so Elder B could get something.  Drove around for a little bit looking for a Music Go Round that our GPS said existed, but it was nowhere to be found.  Oh, and later he bought a actual sword from the Legend of Zelda games at one of the oriental gift shops in the mall...

Ate dinner with just us, and then we went to our appointment with some new investigators, Brenda and Malek.  They were referred to us by the referral center, and it turns out that she is related to someone that lives in Eastlake Ward.  Brenda has spent the last couple of years around LDS family, and she is curious about it.  Up until this point, God had never played a huge role in her life.  She was Catholic growing up, but she never felt attached to it.  Then her husband is Malek, a Lebanese dude who has more of a "spiritual" outlook on God.  He also works for a medical Marijuana distribution company... which will be strange if we keep teaching him.  But at any rate.  That was the one time in the last three weeks that I've really felt unity in our companionship.  We taught by the spirit, and it was so thick there that you could cut it with a knife.  It was really cool.  I know without a doubt that they felt it.  I hope we can get them there.  They would make a great family in the church.,

Tuesday was busy as all get out.  We did some service in the morning hours and then we did some finding.  Afterwards we visited Marvin B., who we taught lesson three to.  It went pretty well, and he said that he definitely felt the spirit of it, but he also said that it was going to be difficult for us to meet with him for the next month or so.  That was a bummer, but he was really excited that there was going to be a new building being opened here pretty soon, right around where he lives. 

Went to Darwin and Carmen with a guy from the YSA ward, Ethan, who had asked to come out with us.  Great lesson.  Taught them about family history and temple work, as well as what its gonna be like to serve in a calling in the church.  Carmen wants to be in the nursery hahaha...

Picked up dinner from the Rowley family, and then went to visit a less active dude who said we could come back.  His name was Terry .  Turns out, hes a really cool dude who has kinda served as the missionary mom (for lack of a better term haha) for past Elders in the Ward.  He fed us unexpectedly, and then he told us about how his deceased wife was a Wicken, and how his religious life was basically a cross between LDS, the Occult, Freemasonry, and a relationship with Raphael his guardian angel haha.  Yeah... its a little strange, but man was the guy nice. 

Then we had correlation meeting, which went as usual. 

Wednesday was Zone Meeting, which went pretty well, except for the fact that every time some one gives a training, they leave commitments, and its getting kinda hard to keep up with them all.  But they're all good things.  I always leave those meetings feeling pumped. 

We tried a lot of people around the Green valley Ranch area, and then a few people around Montebello.  We actually tried to visit a semi-active dude named Jeff, who we had seen before at the church, but he was a total jerk and told us that he was already a member so he didn't need what we had to say.  Then he called and told Bishop that he didn't want missionaries coming around at all.  Bishop took it with a grain of salt since apparently this dude has been a jerk in the past, but it was kinda lame to get treated that way by a semi active member. 

Ate dinner with the Mata'ele family, and then we went to our appointment with the C family, who flaked again.  Third Strike.  They're out in my book.  We watched brother C drive away as we got there. 

Thursday was cool cause we went on a trio exchange with the Zone Leaders.  Elder D was our third comp for the day.  That definitely alleviated a lot of the tension since he's such a cool guy.  Did some service In the morning that really affected the way that I view a lot of the service around here.  I realized that I may have been using it as a crutch to fill time.  I think we probably wont go there as often anymore.  Elder D's philosophy was about service made a lot of sense. 

Went to lunch since it was Elder D and Elder B's one year mark, and then we had DLC's.  I don't know why, but I just get this sense that the Sisters don't really enjoy having to interact with us.  I just feel like they're constantly judging us.  It makes it really difficult to work with them.  Brother Mata'ele kinda picked up on it to.  He thinks they're too harsh. 

Went and taught R  lesson one as a review.  I think he could possibly get there, but I'm always worried that he's in an altered state of mind.  Its tough to tell.  But he loves the Lord.  Dunno how much longer we are gonna keep teaching him though.

Taught Darwin about the Priesthood and after some hesitation he accepted a commitment to prepare to receive it, and then we went to the Hall family's house for dinner.  Brother Hall is not a member, and as it turns out, he's a registered Pokémon gym leader hahaha.  So you know what happened for most of the dinner.  But I gotta say he was pretty cool.  He gave us a few promo cards as souvenirs.  t. 

Ate dinner with the Rays, and then we took Brother Mata'ele to our lesson with Marlin.  Elder Boerstra actually saved us cause he knew some Spanish.  So we kept the lesson going.  We wanted to hand him off to the Spanish missionaries, but marlin kept trying to say that he was okay with English.  We couldn't understand him though haha.  But right at the point in the lesson where we were starting to not know what to do, guess who knocked on the door?  The Spanish Elders.  They were looking for someone else, but stumbled across us and we handed Marlin off to them there.  It was a hilarious coincidence haha.

Saturday Morning we went back to the Halls to help them lay some sod down in their front yard, and then we got called by Brother Dowda to come to children's hospital and give a blessing to a friend of theirs.  

Taught a lesson to the LA Degala family, and then we ate dinner with the Halls again!  They like us a bunch I guess.  We got to hear a little more about what Brother Hall believes,  and what was keeping him from being baptized.  Interesting theories, but still not ready it sounds like :P

After church we ate with the Spohn family, taught a lesson to the less active L family, and then visited the Part member R family.  Hoping that some of them had made progress towards investigating or coming back, but no luck. 

Well that was my week. .  Love you guys

Elder Efan    

And Parker's Address is       4801 East Euclid Ave Unit 2

                                              Phoenix Arizona  85044

President threw a curveball on us!

"My purpose today is to assure you that our Heavenly Father and the Savior live and they love all humanity.  The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of Their infinite Love."  - Henry B. Eyring 

This week we have probably taught the most lessons since I have been here.  We now have a steady teaching pool and we have 4 people on date to be baptised, and one who has a date but will have to be moved because we haven't been in contact with her.  We have a young man named Jack, we have two other young men named Seth and Cole, and another boy named Rayden! They all are pretty set and solid!  Then there is Catalina who we have on date but have lost contact with her for a while.  

Monday: Was a pretty normal P-day we had personal study, companion study, and emailed and went to walmart and all that jazz.  We went home cleaned our apartment which took a while ahah.  Then after that we went and played ping pong at the church for a while which was fun.  Then after our P-day ended we went and had dinner with the guy from last week who was drunk and wanted to feed us.  So we went by and he fed us like the best ribs and wings I have ever had!  He was like a cook in New York before he retired!  This time he was completely sober though haha

Tuesday: Tuesday was my first zone conference training.  It was really awesome! The theme was back to school because school is back in force here!  The Zone leaders and sister training leaders are awesome and gave some great training on the spirit in conversion. After that we went home ate lunch and had comp study.  It is tough because a lot of our day is taken up because of our two hour training everyday and since we are on bikes we are limited on the amount of people we see.  We were supposed to have ward correlation but brother lilly never showed.  Like I said it is tough to coordinate things when our ward mission leader isnt involved at all.  But Bishop said we will be getting an assistant and a bunch of ward missionaries!  We then went and visited some families with Brother K, he was bishop and is now the first councelor.  He literally runs the show haha everyone knows him, he knows everything, and is just a self-less kindof guy!

Wednesday: We took to cutting through some of that giant list that the Elders quorum gave us.  With all the apartments it is tough to find people.  We ended up going to the wrong apartment number but it was for the better because it was a new member who was kindof struggling.  So we talked to him, he was super young and only acouple of years off his mission.  I always think back to Brad Wilcox's BYU devotional where he talks about how "missionaries come home slip up or lose faith and think it is all over... seriously... they have spent their entire missions helping and teaching how it is never over... they don't understand grace."  We then went over and taught one of our best lessons to Jack who is going to be baptised.  His mom's boyfriend sat in on the lessons and loved it! So he is now taking the discussions as well! Which is good because after this big hump of people we are literally going to have nobody to teach! So that means a lot of finding!  

Thursday:  We went and saw victor, he lives over in Guadalupe which is the less happy part of town, but he is literally the sweetest man ever, he is probably the hardest worker too.  I have mentioned him before but we stop by because it is really only him that goes to church.  We took brother bates to a lesson with catalina but it fell through, she is older and was blasting music so loud that she couldn't hear the door... supposedly.  Then we taught a lesson with the foote boys.  They are super awesome and are already very knowledgable! So they are also on date.  We taught the the gospel of Jesus christ which is basic but powerful and most important principles.  

Friday; We had weekly planning at the church.  So we planned for our upcoming week.  It is kind of a debate because some people say you should plan ever moment of your week, so you always are ready, others say you plan through preach my gospel and then nightly planning you plan for your day tomorrow.  I like nightly planning because how often do missionaries actually get to everything the plan for?....not very often... to much to do... so daily we can plan and if we miss people we can try again.  We taught the toledo's boys Rayden is on date and his younger brother is 8 so he is under bishops authority.   With them that makes a lot of people on date, so it will be crazy to juggle all of these baptism in the upcoming months.  

Saturday:  Was kindof unproductive because Elder G. and I both felt bad, we think it was something one of the members fed us.  Members feed us so much, I feel fat all the time haha and the air in my tires slowly get released because of my fatness... jk.  We taught jack the restoration as well as his mom's boyfriend.  Jack is still 100% on board but like expected the mom's boyfriend has tons of questions especially since he was raised catholic, but he was polite and still wants to learn more.  Elder G

's stomach was still hurting and he couldn't really do much, especially since we are on bikes haha.  So after comp study and training, we took facebook hour and then he just had to sit there.  I think it was the food from last night (the members are trying to kill us like stuffed turkeys).  

Sunday was crazy!!! It first started out normal with sacrament and other meetings.  We taught gospel principles which was fun because we had to wing it since none of the teachers showed up.  Then we had another lesson with Jack on some of the commandments.  Everyone keeps coming up to us because of all the part member families we are teaching haha.  We then visited some less actives most weren't home.  Then.... Elder G got called as Zone Leader! Which was totally unexpected because who is going to be my second half trainer?? I'm staying in the ward but he is leaving the zone! So many people got transferred as well as Elder C who is one of our Zone Leaders. So that really throw a curve ball on us!  So I will have a new companion by the end of the week!

I hope everything is going well!! School starts soon i guess.  I am sure Emily is just so excited! haha Well I guess real estate being busy is a good think though! Love you guys! How long does Ethan have left on his mission ?  For some reason I'm blanking isnt it like two more months? Which means when I call home on Christmas he will be there but I wont!.... odd feels odd... haha

Love
Elder Hemsley #2

Another Week Down!

Week five is in the books! It was a long tough but rewarding week!

"Believe in Miracles.  I have seen so many of them come when every other indication would say that hope was lost.  Hope is never lost.  If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Saviors own anguished example, if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead." -Elder Holland 

Monday:  After Emailing we headed over to a zone activity which turned our to be just some random member yelling and screaming at us when we wanted to play like dodge ball.  So Elder G and I, as well as the ZL slowly sneaked out of the activity and had to go commando and hide places so nobody saw us leaving ahah.  After that we went to Dick's Sporting goods which was fun because I got to hit on the Golf Simulator and we got to just check out all the stuff there.  After that we played ping pong at the church for a while then went back home.  Once P-day ended Elder G and I got stopped by this drunk dude who we both had met before but it was funny because he was just like "guys I have been drinking all day, so whatever comes out of my mouth, don't take it personally."  He then he told us he wanted to feed us another day apparently he used to be a really good  chief in new york.  Then we were about to leave that when he got up and gave us both hugs saying "if representatives of Christ won't hug me then you know I am going to H***" haha very interesting.

Tuesday: We had greenie meeting which was on asking inspired questions.  We role played and  the spirit was really strong.  I taught the plan of salvation.  District meeting was on extending invitations, it was really really good. After that we took our training and companionship hours.  This week in the program is literally just watching the district over again.  So the videos I watched before I left, we had to sit and re watch them.  We then had ward correlation meeting which was really boring, we are struggling with getting our ward mission leader involved but bishop did tell us we will be getting a bunch of new ward missionaries as well and an assistant ward mission leader, so hopefully things will improve.  

Wednesday: Really with training half of our day is spent inside.  So we really don't go our and proselyte until after lunch.  So we watched more of the district and discussed good things and bad things that the people did in it.  We went and visited this extremely old british lady named Elsa.  Most of the stuff she said made no sense especially when she just decided to ragg of George Bush but in those cases you just smile and nod your head haha.  Then after that we had our final lesson with Jared before his baptism.  We taught the laws and ordinances which now have to be taught before baptism.  It used to be you didn't have to until after they were.  It has come to the point where there is no use trying to keep your white shirts dry.  Every day we are soaked in sweat haha.  We ate with the Bates again.  They absolutely love us and said we are the best missionaries they have ever had even more than the ones who taught them.  

Thursday:  Personal study I focused on some general conference talks its cool because with the Ipad we have like every talk since like 1975 haha.  Training we watched more of the district.  Then we visited more new-member move ins.  We have over 15 apartment complexes in our area so it is tough because people come and go so fast.  For some reason every person we meet, there animals love me.  The dogs and cats just smother me and the owners are always like wow they never do that.  Then we went and visited a former investigator named victor.  He is really old and paranoid.  We had to say who we were from outside before he would let us in, and on the counter he had a gun out.  I assume he pulls it out every time someone knocks on his door.  But he actually really really liked me. So I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  

Friday: We had exchanges which meant another Elder came into our area and Elder G went somewhere else.  So I was in charge of everything.  Elder W who came over to my area literally doesn't say a word.  I wonder how him and his companion get any work done.  I don't think he said one word to anyone, member or non-member.  We taught a couple lessons or should I say I taught a few lessons.  I didn't get lost and we hit everyone that I wanted to see so it was a pretty successful day of me taking the lead full time!

Saturday: It was Jareds baptism!!! So my first baptism has officially happened! Most of the day was spent preparing for it  whether it was filling up the font or setting up chairs or figuring our what to say.  We had a great turn out but their was one problem.  Jared was no where to be found.  He and the young men had gone on a hiking and camping trip the night before so we all had to sit and wait till the leaders good actually get him there.  Set a new record for mormon standard time.  He was about 45 min late ahah.  Wasn't his fault in any way just kind of stressful.  The service was great and he is such a stud.  He will be a great member and great missionary when he gets older.  We also got a new investigator for his baptism.  His name is jack and he is one of Jareds friends!

Sunday: We had Jared's confirmation and he also received the Aaronic priesthood.  So he is officially part of the ward.  His grandfather did the baptism and confirmation which was important because his grandfather has practically raised him.  After that we had meetings after meetings.  Meetings about meetings haha.  Ward council is like a comedy fest.  Everyone is cracking jokes and laughing but it is so efficient and they everything works great.  president Hartmen leans over to me and just says "this is how the lord works my friend..." haha.  

That was my week! It was long, hard, interesting, spiritual, and rewarding! All in one!

Love Elder Hemsley #2

And from Ethan

Hey Mum! 

 

So this week felt ridiculously long.  A lot of it had to do with the fact that we were pretty much out of miles on Monday, so we spent the last three days of the month bumming off rides from various members and other missionaries.  We actually got given a different car that has a bike rack on it, so that's gonna help a ton with managing the area a little better.  The problem we keep running in to is that our appointments are never close together.  We try and schedule to meet with people during times that work for them, us, and more often then not, the member who is coming with us..  But at any rate, at least we're teaching. 

 

In other news, I met brand new missionary from Alpine Utah who knows all of the people that I used to hang out with at BYU!  She's from the same ward as my old room mate and she knows all of the guys from Proving Ground.  It blows my mind how small the world is. 

 

So as for week 2...

 

Monday was okay since the Zone Leaders were nice enough to give us a ride to do all the stuff that we needed to do that day.  They're great guys for sure.  I just hate being that guy who always needs to get bailed out haha.  Nothing else super special about P-day. 

Ate dinner with the Harrisons that night, and then we had a lesson with the Fa'amatuainu family.  We tried and tried to share the first lesson but we kept getting interrupted by various things.  They have a son named Ison who I think may be autistic, and he's always a handful.  The thing that we really wanted to focus on was that this is THE true church.  A lot of the Polynesians just have this mentality that any church will do.  Its cause of the culture.  The family all has to be one religion, so a lot of times the spouses will join the church just out of obligation and not cause its true :P 

We had another few people planned to go see that evening but none of the ended up panning out.  We did street contact a super cool family though.  I had felt that I had needed to talk to them, but a ton of things kept getting in the way as we were both walking.  Finally I just stopped caring about the awkward circumstance, and I just ran up and started talking to them.  Gave em a Boom of Mormon and had a great little visit with them.  Not interested enough to give us their address, but with the new building opening up right around there, im sure they'll have more contact. 

 

Tuesday was all biking.  We biked around Montebello and contacted a bunch of people, and then we taught a referral finding lesson to the Johnson family.  The sisters beat us to the people they were working with haha. 

Ate lunch, and Elder B said he wasn't feeling good so he conked out for two hours.    But I spent the time calling and setting appointments with people.  We got bailed on by Isaac  again afterwards.  I think that may be the last time we try to go over there in a while.  Had our Tuesday lesson with Darwin and Carmen, which was super difficult to control and keep on topic because Darwin had started reading the Bible we gave him and he went off on a thing about how old the Earth really is etc.  He thinks too hard some times haha. 

Ate dinner, but them we got a call from the Strasberg elders asking if week could do a baptismal interview that evening, and that it was the only time that they would be able to do it.  So we had to re arrange a few things.  The guy, Gerardo Guzman, was super super prepared for it.  It was a cool experience to interview him. Then we had correlation meeting that night.

 

Wednesday was definitely the most difficult day of the week.  We had district meeting that Morning and Sister Grenfell gave the training on how to use our time here wisely.  There is a whole chapter on it in Preach my Gospel.  I had her do it on purpose, cause the Sisters in Green valley just seemed to have it all figured out, all the time.  It was a good meeting.  Afterwards we went to L&L's Hawaiian Barbecue.  I think I've found my new favorite style of food.  Polynesian is where its at haha.  

Got home, ate dinner, and spent the rest of the evening trying to contact people in Montebello.  It was raining so I was glad when the evening was over. 

 

Thursday was by far the most packed of all the days.  We tried desperately to find a member who could give us a ride to DLC's cause the ZL's couldn't.  So when we realized it wasn't going to happen, we just decided to bike the crazy huge distance to the Alameda building where the meeting was at.  It took like 2 hours.  We biked through the Ghetto, the industrial park, the railroad station, AND we even biked by the local prison haha.  Crazy.  But we did end up magically meeting the ZL's at a subway that we stopped at, and they carried us the rest of the way.  They were amazed we had biked that far. 

Had DLC's which is always interesting, and then we got dropped off at Resharde's place.  He is an investigator that the sisters handed over to us, and this was the first time we met with him.  Really loves the Lord, but I'm worried that he was high when we taught him :P  Everyone in Montebello smokes.  It was a good lesson but im not sure how far he will get.  We're gonna go back by again this week. 

Taught our Thursday lesson with Darwin and Carmen and we committed them to live the Law of Tithing.  Carmen was all in as always, but Darwin was a tad skeptical, but eventually when we explained what it was used for and why the Lord has always required it, he began to warm up to it.  Then his Hispanic dad, who was Catholic, came in and Darwin asked him about it in Spanish.  The dad apparently was SUPER staunch that "you should always pay your tithing" regardless of the church haha.  So that was a little miracle.  They were all for it by the end.  Dinner was dropped off, and then we went to teach Traphena about the word of wisdom.  She agreed to quit smoking!  She's got an excellent support group with us, the Mata'eles, and her family.  Great lesson.  She was a little thrown off by the green tea thing though haha. 

Came home and actually got to eat the food that was dropped off. 

 

Friday was spent doing a lot of planning.  That's really all there was to it.  We went to the church to do it this time, and elicited the help of other missionaries who were there.  Most people plan the same way I do, but I got some good tips.  That evening we went to the Hatch family's place.  They're LA, and they are related to Orrin Hatch.  It was kinda awkward at first, but it got better.  They both work on Sunday which sucks.  But I know they felt the spirit. 

That evening we exchanged with Elder B, and Elder B came with me to our area.  He's a super cool guy too.  He's almost 28!  He was less active for a lot of his life, and had hit some pretty bad spots before he finally was reactivated and went on a mission.  He's almost done though.  He actually had a traumatic brain injury a while before his mission, and he had gotten into a car accident a few months ago that sort of reactivated a few of his symptoms.  I would have never been able to tell, but it was interesting to see the different demons that every missionary seems to have to deal with, regardless of who you are.

 

Saturday was crazy too.  We had to exchange our car with the Spanish missionaries since theirs had a bike rack, but we ended up leaving the phone in our old car.  So we went the majority of the day without a phone.  Taught a new investigator named Marlin, who was at one point going to get baptized, but he couldn't give up drinking.  We may pass him off to Spanish since his English wasn't super good, but it was a really good lesson.  We spent a little while waiting for the Zone leaders to bring us our phone back, and then we went to visit a few people who bailed on their appointments :P  We did get to talk to this really cool kid named Daniel at a trailer park that we were in, and just when he was starting to talk about how much he felt the Spirit when we were talking, the Park Manager came and rudely asked us to leave.  We put up a fight though.  We were there because the Fellows family had invited us there, and we had just causally struck up a conversation with Daniel as we crossed paths going to our car.  She basically told us that we weren't allowed to visit someone who had invited us to their home, and when we told her that that was illegal she threw a hissy fit and went and got her boss. That dude was a was a jerk too until he realized that all of our information checked out.  They finally let up, but the lady looked like she was about to kill someone haha.  

That evening, Brother Mata'ele took us to another Luau that was happening at the Methodist church.  They were a lot of the same performers from our luau since it was a collaboration, and we got to talk to a bunch of people and tell them about our church and how the Book of Mormon was actually related to Polynesian culture (remember Hagoth who sailed off with his group and was never heard from again?  Well almost all Polynesians have this legend about their common ancestor whose name was Hagoti or another equivalent name).  Pretty neat stuff.  All the Methodists warmed up to us eventually. 

 

Then Sunday was crazy too.  Meeting with the Stake president, meeting with the Ward council, church, and a bunch of cancellations :P    But we did finally meet with the Fellows family.  Ate with the Bishop's family and then we tried a few people before Elder B's Rolled ankle started giving him some trouble.  The Fifitas gave us some ibuprofen and that about did it for our week.   

 

Wish me luck as we approach these people's baptism dates! 

 

Love
Elder Efan