Another week down! Love my boys!

GOLFING ON P-DAY WITH THE BISHOP!  

The part two was actually week 10! 

But hey! Another week flying by!  It was an average week statistically but a great week in general. 

Monday: After my email got deleted, we got to do a zone activity called Frasketball or something.  Basically you play team handball with a soccer ball into a basketball hoop.  It started out slow but turned out to a lot of fun!  We then utilized my ping pong set and played ping pong for a while!  P-day goes by so fast.  We then suited back up and hit the road!  We decided to focus on part member families this week.  We managed to get into a few peoples homes and teach some lessons but a lot of the time when the non-member spouse answers they don't let us in.  That was the day it decided to pour down rain.  Everything was completely flooded.  

Tuesday:  We had distict meeting.  Elder O gives such great training and brings the spirit in pretty much everything he does.  He gave us each a christ like attribute and to do a journal on it.  It was randomly selected but I got Desire.  So this past week I really worked on being more converted and having a greater desire to talk to everyone! We recived a few names of people to go by and one is this family.  She has 3 sons and really wants them to have a postive male influence on their lives.  We stopped by and talked to them about young men, and they said they would go.  

Wednesday:  We went on exchanges with the Zone leaders.  I took over our area again and we had a pretty good day.  We had a few lessons but For some reason I felt rushed the whole day and the lessons weren't as personal as I wanted them to be.  This past week was the trainee takes control of all situations and the Zl litterally decided to not say a word so I really was on my own.  It was a good day and he evaluated and was said he thought it was great and he really wanted to focus in on having me take control.  But for me it really bummed me out because being the new missionary i am, I wanted everything to go perfect but it is tough sometimes.  

Thursday:  Wasnt near as stressed because the exchange was over.  After we had a lesson with the F Boys who are getting baptized this upcoming saturday! its about freaking time, many missionaries have tried before but we finally got them to do it! We visited some less actives and some people the ward has no clue whether they live there or not and then ate dinner with the Bates familly again... every time we eat their they always ask why I dont like chocolate and why I dont have an accent even though I have told them a thousand times. haha they are very very old...

Friday: was Elder O's last week of planning! He was super bummed, he really really wants to stay.  Friday was a tough day but an interesting day.  So there I was... bikeing down the street.  I stopped said hello to this man on the street.  Said "hey hows it going, is there anything we can...adfjasdfjasdkf" Elder O comes crashing into me.  He was texting while biking haha.  it wasnt to bad of a crash but it did bend up some part of my bike. Soo we were on foot the rest of the day until the Zone Leaders could drive us to a bike shop.   That pretty much killed our plans for the day...

Saturday: We helped some other Elders who were setting up for a baptism becasue they were running late.  Still without bikes, it took us a while to really get anywhere.  We were supposed to have a church tour, and have some people attend the baptism which they all no-showed so we had to leave and walk home.  We then had some crazy lady knock on our door asking if she could borrow a phone. We were like sorry we don't have one on us (of course we did but not allowed to give it out") then she stormed off.  We knew the lady and were kindof freaked out that she knew where we lived haha.  We then had a mission movie night where we bring investigators and less actives to.  It went well we had a few less actives come.  That is almost harder than getting investigators to do anything.  

Sunday; I FREAKING LOVE KYRENE WARD.  I really hope this ward doesnt spoil me and the rest be downgrades but Kyrene ward is just so awesome.  Church is always great, the people are  awesome.  We had a little scare because the Foote boys didnt come to church so we thought that they wouldnt be able to baptized.  But they ended up coming they were just super late... haha so everything is still a go and their interview is today.  We walked and visited some apartments and street contacted some people.  Our teaching pool is about to dry up so we need to start working on finding.  We got to go to a new member move in party for Kyrene ward and their was food and trivia so it was nice that we were able to go to some of that.  

we did get our bikes today and it only cost me like 8 bucks for the repair so that was good

That was my week!  So far my mission has been freaking tough.  Not a lot happening and have to do the best We can with what we have.  But the first convert in a mission is the missionary and these 3 months have strengthened my testimony immensely.  I am becoming so much more affluent with knowledge of scriptures and testimony.  Miracles are happening, everyday I witness miracles whether it be impressions to knock on that door, or to go over their or to see people share and feel the spirit.  It's awesome

Love Parker

Hey Mum!  and Everyone Else! 

 

Man if I had to sum this whole week up with a few short words, it would be "well, what now?" 

That about characterizes the week haha.  Lots of stuff fell through, and there was more open space in our planner than I thought was possible in this ward.  But the upside was that we were forced to do a ton of finding, which then resulted in actually meeting a lot of new people to teach.  So I wouldn't really say it was a bad week or anything, but it definitely wasn't the kind of week that missionaries have daydreams about. 

The highlight of this week was definitely the Mission Tour that happened on Saturday.  Soooo cool.  Every year the missions in the church are visited and toured by a general authority who then addresses the missionaries and the leadership on all the things that they are doing well, and maybe chastises them a little bit on stuff that they can do better.  This year it was Elder and Sister Larry Lawrence (kind of a redundant name huh?).  They were legit.  Can't wait to see the impact that this is going to have on the mission culture. 

 

P-day was boring last week.  Elder A wants to play basketball at the stake center with the other guys, so that generally leaves me with not a ton to do except try and teach myself how to play piano.  That hasn't been all bad, but it gets old.  I know this shouldn't matter much, but I get a little worried about how that affects the other Elder's opinion of me as a leader.  I don't wanna come across as unfun or anything, but at the same time I'm just not willing to play.  They get too competitive and I have terrible coordination haha

Ate dinner with the S family.  They're cool.  They have a son named Josh who is Autistic.  But he's a pretty funny kid.  Loves video games (shocker) and is still super smart. 

Then afterwards we finally got back in with the S family.  That was kinda strange.  The parents are getting a divorce, but they still live in the same house.  They are civil about it, but they're super open about the fact that Sister Smith having an affair is the reason that they are splitting.  Awkward.  But we taught them about the Atonement and the kind of things it can do for them and their struggles.  They were both super receptive.  I think the kids need it too, cause I cant imagine how they are taking all this.

 

Tuesday was a long day.  We had a DLC meeting at 11 that morning, so that nixed any opportunity for us to go visit some of the people that we had planned on seeing.  But it was a good meeting.  I brought donuts just for fun, but really because I know that one of our Sisters just lost her Grandma and was really torn up about it.  Donuts cheer everyone up haha.  Afterwards we gave both Sister B and Sister G a blessing of comfort.  Our Sisters are really cool.  I really wanna keep up with them after the mission. 

We literally spent the rest of the day contacting potentials and talking to people.  I've found a pretty successful way to do that without coming across like a JW haha.  People are much more receptive if you just start talking to them on the street instead of knocking on their door.  It works a lot better.  So we set up a bunch of appointments that day. 

Ate dinner with the F family, and then we went to correlation.  Our phone bit the dust a few days earlier so we finally got our new one, even if its not that great either.

 

Wednesday I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went to their area with Elder D, while Elder A went with Elder R.  Neither of them knew how to navigate the area so they ran our miles up a ton.  But we had a pretty cool day.  Went to some service in the morning, and then we ate at Atlanta Bread Co.  Then we spent the rest of the day contacting potentials.  Found some cool people.  Ate dinner with their recent convert who's name is Amit.  He's Indian, but he speaks good enough English.  He fed us this really strange Indian dish.  Basically a cereal with rice and lentils that you put yogurt, chutney, and onions on top of.  It was... meh...

Then that night we had a lesson with a guy named J.  It started off as a lesson, but morphed into us playing a Bible trivia game with them.  I DEMOLISHED them haha.  Good thing I know the scriptures pretty well. 

Then we exchanged back.  I brought a lot of cool new ideas to my area.  And Elder A found a new investigator while I was gone!

 

Thursday we did some service at the Crisis center.  Too many of these projects are just becoming a chill out place where all the missionaries go to avoid doing work.  Its a little sad sometimes.  So we left when the rest started showing up. 

We made it our goal to contact every person in the area book, so we just went area by area.  Found some really cool people in an apartment complex, and then we set up a bunch of appointments with some other people who live right by the airport.  Our area goes all the way up there believe it or not haha.

Ate dinner with the P family, and then visited a bunch of LA's but none were home :(

 

Friday was our worst day of the week.  We didn't want to go to the church to plan because no one else was gonna be there, and we didn't want to spend the miles.  But for some reason that made it really difficult to focus on planning.  

Did a lot of LA contacting that day.  Actually got a lot of useful information that we can write in the area book.  Then we ate dinner by ourselves, got flaked on by both Jeff  and the other F family, and gave a card to a couple of interested gas station attendants haha.  That was pretty funny.  We had a rough day so we went looking for a Slurpee, but the first 711 we tried had a broken machine, and then the second one we tried didn't have any that were without food coloring.  But both cashiers asked about the Church and accepted an invite to church!  You never know how the Lord is gonna lead you to people haha.

 

Saturday was a good day.  Mission tour went awesomely, and really pumped me for the last 10 weeks of my mission.  Elder Lawrence was a heavy hitter on obedience, and he chastised our mission for being a little to casual, which is probably true.  Then his wife talked for close to 2 hours on the gathering of Israel and how those who were born into Israel were the most righteous in the Pre-existence.  I don't know how much of that was doctrine versus speculation.  But it was still super fascinating.  Then we got recruited to help our ward clean the building. 

Got flaked on by a couple of people that afternoon, but that led us to find a new investigator, Anthony, and then to street contact a super legit potential named Dave.  Pretty ghetto area though.  Project apartments. 

Then we went to the Wedding of Tim  and Jenny .  She is a LA who is trying to return, and her new husband is a new investigator that we are going to start teaching Wednesday.  He told us he wants to be baptized along with his kids.  So that is a plus!  Can't wait to get that started. 

Ate dinner with the R family, and then we went to our appointment with Javier.  When we got there, he was SMASHED.  Totally gone.  I got a little information out of him about how he felt embarrassed that he hadn't made it to church the last couple weeks, so he started to revert back to his old self.  Which sucked.  Plus he had a bunch of punk kids hanging out with him, also drinking and unloading a bunch of porn out of their car so they can sell it.  It was pretty bad.  Before we left he made me tune his guitar up and jam a little for him.  He was surprised that I could actually play haha.  

Then we taught a lesson to the R family that evening.

 

Sunday was kinda lame.  We went around to remind all of our investigators who had committed to come to church this week.  None of them came.  Even Javier who told us that morning that he would.  So that was a bummer.  But it was the Primary Program that day so I couldn't really stay too sad about it since I was laughing my head off.  The kids in this ward are hilarious.  SOOOO LOUD haha.  They just belted out those primary songs haha.

After church we went over to the F family, but they flaked on us a third week in a row.  They were busy rebuilding the roof of their trailer since their landlord was threatening to evict them. 

Ate dinner with President F and his family.  He's the patriarch of the whole F clan haha.  Hes first counselor in the Stake Presidency.  Super good Tongan food haha.

Afterwards we taught Part 2 of the Plan of Salvation lesson to the N family, and then taught Part one of that same lesson to the J family.  Both went okay.  Its tough to teach the J's 7 year old Elian.  But she gave us haircuts so its all good haha. 

 

Whew.  I'm gonna cut this letter off a little short today so I can go get some of that school stuff done.  I'm gonna call and get permission to fill it all out.  Love you!  Wish me luck cause this next week looks pretty good. 

 

Elder Efan  

Ethan is on the 12 week count down!

Hey Mum!  as well as Dad, Emily, and everyone else!

Needless to say I am very glad that this transfer is over.  Towards the end of it I was just basically rolling with anything and everything that happened to avoid making it any more difficult.  Elder B got transferred yesterday after only six weeks in the area, and I stayed.  I felt bad because of the way our companionship had gone, but in the end I was just glad it was over.  He is a good guy with a lot of difficult stuff that he's working through.  The one thing that cripples him is his lack of patience with other people.  He just can't fathom the idea that other people do things differently than he does.  But its okay, its over.

My new companion's name is Elder A.  I was actually companions with him about a year ago for a couple days when Elder W was having all his trouble.  He's a cool guy!    He may be my last companion!  who knows?  

So one of the interesting things about this week was the fact that a lot of the things that happened just kinda fell into our lap.  I really don't think we worked as hard as our numbers indicated.  Elder B. started stalling a bunch whenever it was time to go out and work.  For example, I waited for almost an hour one day for him to get ready.  We would walk out the door, than he would forget something, and then something else would happen, and then eventually an hour had passed by.  Then other days he wouldn't feel good with various ailments, so that would stall us.  I'm not saying I'm perfect at that kinda stuff either, but it was noticeable that he was just trying to kill time.  But the Lord made up for it.  We taught more lessons than we have since I've been in this area somehow.  We found some new investigators, and we made some significant progress with others.  So really I shouldn't complain.  But there comes a point in your mission where you start to catch the sense of urgency.  You want every minute to be productive.  It doesn't always happen, but you really feel it.  

So P-day was kinda lame last week.  I wanted to try and do something cool for Elder J and Elder S's last P-day.  But in the end J got permission to go downtown and hang, and S had a lot of stuff to do too.  So me and the rest of the missionaries who had nothing to do during P-day all got into the Library and watched a bunch of old Church videos.  We watched one awesome one about Joseph of Egypt.  Pretty sweet.  That is like my favorite story in the Scriptures.  Joseph was unparalleled in just being a boss haha.  

Ate dinner with President Spackman and his family (who turned out to be a bass player haha), and then we visited the P family.  Polynesian family with a daughter who recently married a non-member.  We wanted to see how interested he was.  Not too much right now unfortunately.  

Tuesday was a pretty good day.  We did service in the morning at the Ronald McDonald house.  I love that place.  The spirit is just there for some reason.  It does a lot of good for people who are already going through a really difficult time in the hospital.  I also struck up a sweet conversation with a native American dude who was staying there named Rod.  Gave him a BOM and told him how to get ahold of the missionaries that cover his area up in Montana where he is from.  At the end of the service I fiddled around on a guitar that they had lying around in the lobby next to a piano.  Unbeknownst to me, the receptionist was listening, and when i was done she told me that I should just stay there all day and provide ambiance for the whole place.  She really liked it haha.  

We planned on tracting that day, but Elder B
 stalled us, and by the time we were ready to go, it was time for us to move on and do something else.  So we biked around Montebello and tried to contact a few people.  But the the sky opened up and we got drenched.  So we sought refuge at the F family house, and taught a lesson to Brother F, who is less active.  Polynesians are so hospitable haha.  

After the rain let up, we met with a new investigator named Geo, and taught him the first couple points of the missionary lessons.  Cool guy.  We're going back today.  

We got home from that lesson and we were going to go meet Brother P so he could take us to dinner, but when we got there someone was standing at the door writing a note.  It was Elder B's BROTHER.  He had been passing through town driving a car back to the dealership that he works at, and he stopped by our place to leave a note.  But we ran into him!  So he came to dinner with us.  Turns out he served his mission in Atlanta, IN OUR WARD.  He knew the Bergevins, and the Bartletts and Bishop Wuergler!  Pretty crazy huh?  

Afterwards we taught a lesson to the Jones family, and then went to correlation meeting.

Wednesday was cool.  We had a stake missionary breakfast that morning, and then we had district meeting.  It was good meeting.  We wrapped up our 9 Day Christlike Attribute challenge, and made a list of all the Miracles that we had seen.  It was sweet.  Ate lunch, then we visited the A family , who recently underwent the tragedy of their niece being murdered.  It was crazy to hear about it.  Her and her husband were fighting and he just shot her.  Horrible.  

Ate dinner with the Mata'eles, and then we visited Werra with Brother Hess.  Because B doesnt want to do Comp study with me, he never knows whats going to happen in the lessons.  So I do most of the talking.  We put her on date for the 20th, but idk if she will make it.  Her comprehension is pretty low.  But she wants to be baptized!

Thursday was pretty good too.  Service at the Crisis center in the morning, DLC's in the afternoon, and then we visited Ernestine and her family.  We had a lesson prepared, but we spent the majority of the time talking about ways she can help her rebellious teenage daughter.  So the sisters have started teaching her, and we still teach Ernestine.  She is so cool.  She can totally go the distance if she keeps it up.  We just gotta get her to church.  

Ate dinner with the Neilsons, and then we got bailed on again by Tryphena :P  I dunno what to do about her.  

In the evening we visited the Hess family, and ended up visiting till it was time to go home.  Another example of stalling on the part of my Comp.  Oh well.  They're awesome.  

Friday was Planning day.  We taught Jeff again that day too.  He's way closer than he has ever been.  We explained how he will be able to recognize his answer, and taught him how to be more sincere in his prayers.  He grew up catholic so he's just used to the recited prayer thing haha.  

Then we planned for most of the rest of the day, and I interviewed one of the sister's Investigators for baptism.  His name was Chris and he was super legit.  Very prepared.  

Saturday was a good day too.  We tried to contact a bunch of potentials, and ended up running into a guy named Walter who reminded me sooo much of Dad.  He builds furniture out of old Drum sets.  Its pretty cool.

Ate lunch, went to Chris' baptism, and then we ate dinner with the Sanft family.  Another Polynesian family!

Afterwards we had a lesson with Javier.  Great guy.  He could potentially be baptized as well.  Gotta get him to church.  

Then that night we had transfer doctrine meeting.  We learned where everyone was going.  Most people in my district stayed the same.  Took some pictures with some missionaries who were going home.  

Then Sunday was pretty laid back.  We both spoke in sacrament meeting, and man was I proud of my talk haha.  Everyone seemed to love it a lot.  I spoke about gratitude and drew heavily from President Uchtdorf's talk in April. 

Got bailed on by the Fellows family, and then we ate Dinner with Brother Nau and his friend Isac.  They're super chill as well.  Good hawaiian food too haha.  

Spent the rest of the day at the Mata'eles looking for Elder B's Oakleys that he lost.   

Okay well thats my week.  I gotta go soon.  Love all of you!  Hope this week is as good as this past one!  

Elder Efan 

And for Parker - he had to do a quick email from his IPAD  

Tough week.

Pretty much all of our investigators bailed on us this week so it was
tough to even get a lesson in! We street contact a lot and give them
our number but never seem to get calls, but no worries that's
missionary work for ya! Ahwatukee is super tough area. Since the
dynamics are either extremely rich or extremely poor and unfortunately
neither are humble haha.
I don't have much time because for Labor Day Elder Brown and sister
Brown are having the entire zone over for a Labor Day barbecue. He is
the vehicle coordinator and she is the referal manager. So that should
be really awesome! So I will have to give the very brief version even
more than what I usually send.


Monday:was just a normal p-day. Went shopping played basketball and
stuff like that. At six is when pday ends so we had a lesson with a
part member family which was really good and then visited some less
actives and talked with them. Not too much happened that day :/

Tuesday: had the normal new missionary and district meetings. Elder
O gives great district meetings they are super powerful and are
extremely helpful. It is crazy to think that he is actually older than
Ethan haha. He leaves in like 3 weeks, he does a good job of not
thinking about it but everyone else loves to remind him. Then we went
and got a prescription for elder O which was way out of our area
so it took a lot of time but he needed it so it couldn't wait.  We ate
with the older bates family again. They feed us so much, and he always
loves to beat me with his cane when he walks by haha. I showed them
the picture book that you sent me haha

Wednesday: little success. We were supposed to have like lessons all
day but one by one they all cancelled.  So that meant we were in the
sun all day because instead of teaching we were trying to find haha.
We manage to meet with less actives but getting ahold of investigators
especially during the day, is tough.

Thursday: we had a mission conference! With elder Swizzer of the 70.
President Toone spoke for a bit on humility which is crazy because he
is the most humble person I have ever met. Makes you really think
inside how can I be more humble haha. Then Elder Swizzer gave
training and about dealing with people and not numbers. He tore apart
the district videos and critiqued them so much I would be so scared to
have him critique me in a lesson haha. It was so awesome and it was my
first of many!

Friday: was probably our toughest day. Nobody home, nobody interested
and hot and sweaty!  Usually I don't mention it in the letters but
usually talk to tons of people on the street and do quick lessons like
that but nobody even gave us a glance haha. President Hartman the
elders quorum president took us to long horns which was awesome. He
actually had to take a call so it was awkward being two missionaries
eating long horns by ourselves haha. But it was delicious

Saturday: Saturday sure is moving day. we went and helped this less
active family move and we blessed there home. They are really
interesting let's just put it like that haha... Then we had to get
going for a lesson which of course fell through and then later that
night came with the elders quorum to help move the rest of the less
actives furniture.  We did have a really awesome talk with a Christian
dude named Cody. Super religious and talked about his out of body
experience. But he is a born again who doesn't want to do anything but
say he is saved.

Sunday: we had church like normal guess what... Our lessons fell
through all except one haha.  The adversary has decided to make our
lives and our work much tougher.  I also got to be Amulek In a role
play that Bishop totally threw me on the spot in front of combined
relief society and elders/high priest haha. Then elder Oblad had a
meeting with president Toone to pass of the family proclamation. If
you can memorize it and recite it to him then you get some kind of
award!  after that elder O

me and the zone leaders got to chill
with president Toone for like 30 min and just talk and joke around for
a little bit! The ZLs said that never happens cuz he is always super
busy! President Toone is so awesome!


Well that was my week! I actually for more typed than I thought I
would! But I have to get going because we about to go to the barbecue!
 It was a tough week which means working even harder can only lead to
better week! Sounds like Emily is doing well! Keep up the good work
young padawan!  I miss having my appendige always on my right! Haha
let me how all the moving goes to!

Love you all
Elder Hemsley

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