Fireside and S'mores - Elder Jake Avery

Written by  Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Our Fireside :)

Well, this week I will be starting my second year on my mission. That is a very unreal experience, (or will be anyway) when I have my anniversary this Thursday. To kill all of the cliche things that other people say, IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE I LEFT JUST YESTERDAY! It feels like a solid year, to say the least. It's been a very good and successful year, filled with lots of fun, scriptures, crying, guinea pigs, llamas, moto taxis and Spanish.

I am eternally glad for the decision I made to go on a mission, and even more for my awesome family who gave me the opportunity and ability to serve. Looking back over the year, there are three important things I've learned that stand out to me as more important than anything else.

1. The Church is true. No duh, but really, the importance of this statement can't be overlooked. As we consider this statement, we recognize that God has revealed His gospel to His children repeatedly throughout history, in a very perfect and organized structure. His church on Earth is an appendage of the same organization that exists in Heaven. That structure was organized though an ignorant young man named Joseph Smith. Can you imagine that he was 25 years old when the church was organized, and had the education of an 8th grader? My point is that God knows how to make us happy and successful, and He continues to reveal these things through revelation. The prophets and apostles He has called today are as vital as those He called during his ministry on Earth. His Gospel gives us all the information we need for our Salvation and happiness. The Church of Jesus Christ or Latter-day Saints, organized in 1830, is the same that existed in ancient times, the meridian of times, and the same organization that exists in heaven.

2. Families are made to last forever. God has a family, and he desires that we have the same joy that He has experienced. So He has put us into families and has given us the ability to create our own families. God is our loving Heavenly Father, and His family is His work and His glory. The same can be with us, if we put off the natural man and become saints. Our destiny is to create eternal families and dwell with them and with God for all eternity. When we align our lives better with God's commandments, the Spirit will deepen our understanding of this important truth.

3. The Holy Ghost is real. Just as real as God the Father, who is the personage of the Holy Ghost. He is sent by God to guide, help, illuminate and comfort us in this mortal life. We receive a right to His constant companionship when we promise to keep God's commandments and are washed from sin. It is Him who testifies of truth, so that we may feel powerful testimonies and have a conviction of the truth.

Well that's enough sermonizing for one day, haha :) I've also made a list of things for you guys to do if you get "trunky," to help remember me. (You can do one per month!)

1. Listen to the All-American Rejects
2. Grow out your hair and style it like Mufasa
3. Eat at McDonald's
4. Play basketball and throw an air-ball
5. Cite obscure Old Testament references 
6. Wear black skinny jeans
7. Talk about Maryland
8. Watch a season of the Walking Dead
9. Spin in circles while playing guitar
10. Listen to Muse
11. Be too cool to laugh at anything that is really funny
12. Look at a Mexican :)

Yes, you can also send mail to Elder Martinez. I think that'd be awesome! By the way, I got cards from Echo Acres and from Nantucket Drive. Please let them know how much that meant to me!

In my agenda, I made a little picture for the 4th of July. I drew an American flag and wrote 'merica. That will probably be the extent of my celebration this year.

I haven't been into the World Cup. Elder Uceda (from the Area) said that World Cup cannot affect the work. Our area is the highest baptizing in the world, and my mission is one that the Quorum of the Twelve are looking at as a model for missionary work. Unfortunately, I'm in the zone that baptizes the least in the whole mission, and I'm in the hardest area of the hardest district. But I'm not accepting that as a reason to be discouraged. Onward!

I memorized Matthew 6:25-33 to share with everyone in my area. I literally memorized the whole, darn thing. Only took me three days ;)

We were going to do a fireside, but there was a torrential downpour. Yes, a literal fireside. It rained a whole lot so everyone thought it had been canceled, but about 20 faithful people came anyways, haha! We used candles instead of building a fire, and I taught them how to make smores. We had thin cookies (because there are no such thing as graham crackers here) and everyone was asking, ''Are you going to pass out the cookies?'' No, you novices, these are to put around the marshmallows!

Well, that was my week.Thank you sooo much for everything :) I love you all! Don't forget to read your scriptures. See you in a year or so :P

Love, Elder Avery

The Book is Blue (June 23, 2014)

8 Sol Hamburger  (July 7, 2014)

We Never Walk Alone - Sister Hannah Avery

Written by Sister Hannah Avery, serving in the Chile Vina del Mar Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

We walk and walk and walk, but we never walk alone :)

Hello family and friends!

How are you guys?!?! We are starting to freeze again here in Chile! haha! Its weird to be cold when I know you guys are all nice and warm and prepping for 4th of July this week! WOOHOO! USA! :)

Well, we had a crazy week this week. First off, we had interviews with the mission president this week. All went well! We passed cleaning inspection :) We are just working our tails off now to have some baptisms before the end of this transfer! We have about two and a half weeks left, and have 6 people who can be baptized right away! Pray for us, PLEASE! But especially, pray our investigators!! :)

We also had some great Family Home Evenings with the members and recent converts in our ward this week! We are trying to strengthen the families in the ward here and help them keep the testimonies that they have. We are getting there!

We are freezing our buns off here too! We heard about the fact that Chile lost to Brazil and is out of the World Cup now.... darn it! But, it has been super fun to be here during the World Cup and hear EVERYONE cheer for Chile! And, it's great news to hear that the USA is still in the World Cup. VAMOS USA! :)

Well, I really can't think of a whole lot more that happened this week, other than the fact that I wore through my shoes, haha! It goes to show that we are walking like crazy here. There is no stop to the work!

Well guys, I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all sooooo much and miss you all like crazy! Happy year mark to Jakey on the 3rd! :) And happy 4th of July to all of you too! I love you! Talk to you next week! :)

xoxoxoxoxo Hermana Avery

Chi-chi-chi-chi-Le-le-le-le!  (June 23, 2013)

My Yoke is Easy  (July 7, 2014)

Flying in Mexico - Elder Brian Burgess

Written by Elder Brian Burgess, serving in the Mexico Puebla North Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

HEY!!!

HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING?

Last week was pretty good. We had a conference with our Mission President and I learned a lot of new stuff! Me and my companion are happy and just working hard.

So we have seen a couple of miracles. I will tell you about one. The other day we were contacting people in the street...that day we only had about 5 contacts, then it started raining. And when it rains here, it pours!! We said a prayer that we would be able to hit our goal that day of contacting 20 people. As we started walking, the rain calmed down to just a light drizzle. The second we hit our goal, I heard thunder... then it started pouring again!! The streets were rivers in seconds. But I was happy we hit the goal!

I will attach some photos from this week! Know you are all in my prayers and I love you all!

Elder Burgess

Transfers (June 16, 2014)

Circles  (July 14, 2014)

Prayers Drive the Work - Elder Kolby Madsen

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

(Note to reader: Clicking on highlighted words links to additional information. Some names are omitted for privacy. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

I found some sunglasses!

Mor! og menneskenes børn, haha! (Mother, and the children!),

I can’t believe that Nate hit his year mark this week, then Jake next week. Like, it’s crazy how fast everything is going! I can’t believe that Bree is going to be freaking 17 years old. I can’t believe it. I forgot Robert got home. Wow, I feel like he just left, and I was home just waiting to leave on a mission. Is Jodi back? Well, that’s way good that Maren is doing well. It’s about time she finds something she likes and that she is doing well. Anyway, great stuff. 

This week was so great. We were so blessed. To start off, we were on splits with Elder Hafen and Elder Pitcher,  just exchanges for a day. It was so much fun. We had some great things happen. We started to talk to each other on this hill going back to the train station because we were in Hobro, a city about 15 minutes train ride away from Randers. While we were talking, Elder Hafen was mid-sentence and I had this really strong feeling to talk to this lady as we walked by. So we did.

My new shoes, Eccos, should last me the rest of my life.

 The first thing we said to her was that we were missionaries. Then we asked her if she believes in God (which was unusual....I try not to be that blunt at first right off, but it felt right). We talked for a bit, and she at first did not seem very positive and stuff, then we talked about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony of it. Her eyes lit up, and she said that she wanted to read it and that she would love a copy. So we gave her a book and a card with our phone number on, in case she has questions. It was way inspiring. The Lord knows his children.

We met with T** and V**. It was a great appointment, but we still did not invite him to be baptized. We didn't understand why at first, but then we started to talk to him about prayer and he had questions about it. So we committed him to pray about the church and about the Book of Mormon.

Then, on Sunday, he and V** came to church. It was great! They talked to people after church, and the branch just took them in.

After that, we met with M**. He lives in Grenå, which is about a 2 hour train ride away, 2 and half by bus, or about 1 hour by car. But, Elder Hicks drove us, so it took an hour and a half, just kidding! We met with M** and it went so great. He loves learning about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. We invited him to be baptized, and he said he would if he finds out that it is true.

After that, we had this great opportunity to meet with B**. She is a friend of the ladies in strikker klub (the knitting club) and the B** family. They had us over to teach her in their house. She talked about how she wants to have a feeling of peace in her heart all the time, like she has when she is with the ladies from strikker klub.

We talked about Joseph Smith, but more importantly about God's love and the Holy Ghost. She asked about how she can know if it's true or not. So, we told her that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that all we have to do is pray to find out if it’s true, and He will tell us through a feeling of peace and through the Holy Ghost. It was a very good lesson, the Spirit was so strong, and the B** family bore testimony the whole time and shared their conversion story. Member missionary work makes the work move forward in a powerful way. We will meet with her again this week, on Thursday, and find out how her praying went.

Great week! So many blessings. I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father’s love and the things this area has been blessed with. But I'm even more grateful for the blessings He sends to us (His children) here. The Lord is so mindful of each of his children. He knows us perfectly, and I was able to see a glimpse of that this week. I am so happy with for opportunity I have to serve here, in Danmark.

I hope that we will all continue to express our gratitude to our Father in Heaven for the blessings we receive, continue to remember alt som han har gjort for os (all He has done for us)!

Mom, I love you. Have a great week. Thank you for your prayers and love. Prayers drive the work for us missionaries every day. We feel them as we see the work of the Lord progress.

Med Kærlig Hilsen

Ældste Madsen

Weakness Can Become Strength (June 30, 2014)

Lots of Work in Randers  (July 13, 2014)

De la Costa de Virginia - Elder Dallin Remund

Written by Elder Dallin Remund, serving in the Virginia Chesapeake Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Hola!

How are y'all? I didn't email the week before, but it was a rougher one. Not a ton of success from first glance. This week took things for a major turn and has me heel clicking all the way down the streets of Newport News!

Yesterday we had three investigators at church. E** and M** were there, and then N**, our new investigator came to church with his wife. They're from Belize. His wife, C**, was baptized in the church but has been inactive for years. This was her first time back in a very long time. N** said that he really liked church and that he would keep on coming every week. When I hear that, I just want to call up a mariachi band and start a big fiesta with piñatas. Maybe some potential investigators would show up to the fiesta, too! Haha!

But it was amazing! A couple hours later, a member went and picked them both up from their house in his tiny truck and we had dinner. N** and C** got along well with the members and we had a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of the lesson, N** committed to be baptized on July 12th! You should have seen me last night. Whoo! We are very excited. It's going to be a busy next couple weeks trying to teach all the commandments and helping him to live all of them, too. We will be trying to arrange a marriage in the midst of it, too. This is no small feat, but we have faith that the Lord loves them and that the ways will open up for them to take this big step in their lives.

Everything else is going great. We're having lots of fun! We went to Williamsburg last week and we went disc golfing this morning. I'll get pictures to y'all once I get my camera! We might be going out to a lake with a buried church from Civil War days, so we're just having lots of fun and loving the growth from the mission.

I'm about in the middle of the Book of Mormon right now. I'm reading it in Spanish right now and I've seen my Spanish improve quite a bit as I've been reading out loud and understanding a ton more as well. I love the middle of Alma because it talks a lot about the sons of Mosiah and their missions. A lot of their records are bringing up the same exact feelings that I get as I teach and find people every day. It's pretty awesome. Aaron's account with his teaching King Lamoni's father had me feeling that same excitement and joy that I feel as I teach others about the Savior and prayer. Watching someone repent and change is something that just brings me so much happiness.

I love you all. I hope that all of us keep pressing forward this week!

Con todo mi amor,
Elder Remund

Summer Days in Virginia (June 9, 2014)

Miracle in the Heart of Independence Day Celebrations  (July 7, 2014)

Chi-chi-chi-chi-Le-le-le-le! - Sister Hannah Avery

Written by Sister Hannah Avery, serving in the Chile Vina del Mar Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

(Note to reader: Some names are omitted for privacy. Highlighted words link to additional information. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Hermanas Avery and Giron

Hola, family and friends!!

We had a crazy fast week this week! I will try to sum things up pretty quick here, since we don't have a ton of time. Here is the gist of what happened :)

First off, as you all know, we are in the middle of the World Cup right now, and well, CHILE is rocking it! haha :) I heard my good ol' USA is doing well too :) woohoo! As missionaries, we can't watch the games, but you can hear it from the streets when Chile scores, LOL! The first time it happened, it scared me so bad! There is literally NO ONE in the street because they are all watching the game, it's completely silent.... and then..... "GOOOAAALLLLL!!!" haha! Literally, it's like the whole country of Chile is asleep and when Chile scores, the whole world wakes up. It's a really cool sensation! :)

So yes, they have won both of the games that they have played, and they are in the middle of playing Holland as I write you this email, haha! Not sure who is winning, but I hope things are going well :) Hermana Giron and I wear Chile t-shirts and paint out cheeks with red, white, and blue Chilean flags when Chile plays. The Chileans love it! :) Of course, we have our jackets over top to look like missionaries, dont worry!! haha!

We are still preparing the M** and N** family for baptism, although they are going through some difficulties. Please keep them in your prayers! They are progressing, but Satan really tries to destroy families, especially when they are progressing in the gospel....UGH! I wish he would just "take it easyyyyy!" haha! But seriously....get outta here!

Othen than that, we are getting ready for interviews in our apartments with the mission president again this week. We have to clean like crazy, haha! It should go well. Our apartment is like a 5 star hotel! We are just working like crazy and trying to enjoy this super warm weather we are having! I feel so close to you all right now because it feels like summer, even though here in Chile, it's winter! :)

Well guys, I hope that you all have a great week! Pray that the M** family's baptism happens this Saturday! We are praying and fasting like crazy! Thanks for all the love and support everyday. And remember, the way to a Chilean's heart is brownies :) They FLOCK to the church!! Talk to you next week! Love you!!

xxoxoxoxo Hermana Avery

Visit from Elder Robbins  (July 16, 2014)

We Never Walk Alone  (June 30, 2014)

The Book is Blue - Elder Jake Avery

Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Well,we contacted a lot. Again. It's okay though because people are beginning to accept the invitation to be baptized. Our President told us that he doesn't want any more baptismal dates falling through, so we need to put the dates a little farther back, and Elder Oaks said that we need more baptisms and more converts, and that one cannot affect the other. To explain that, it seemed that the mindset in the South American missions was show the Catholics that they have been baptized incorrectly and need to be baptized again. So, two weeks after meeting the missionaries, people would get baptized by someone holding priesthood authority, then they'd never go back to church again. Elder Oaks said that they need to be converted before being baptized, and we still need more baptisms. This just basically implies that we need to be REAL missionaries.

One of the families we are teaching is an older couple. The dad is 78 years old and the wife is elderly as well. M** (that's the dad) was going to a church in Caraz a year ago (which is where our church is!), but their preacher got sick and went to Lima. They haven't heard from him or had church services since then. It's amazing to witness first hand how a church without priesthood authority can become extinct so quickly. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and they really liked it. They accepted a baptismal date for July. Woot! We just need to look up their four kids and get their families on board too.

A lesson learned this week is that Satan is very tricky. He will do very simple things like put you in situations to waste time. We had one day where we decided to help members paint, then we had one of those really long street contacts. Before we knew it, we had wasted the whole afternoon. Not that it was a complete waste, but it was surely not the potential we have as missionaries. Just remember, use time wisely. You can't buy it, borrow it, or reuse it. I think that I definitely wasted more time at home, and when I think of all the other things I could have done, it makes me wish I had done some other things.

To not bore anyone, I'll end there. Well, the Church is true and the Book is blue. Have a great week!

P.S. Lindsey told Hyrum that we're not actually together. I don't know why she'd lie to him about that ;) </3 hahaha!

(Background to this story: Elder Avery made friends with a boy in his first area named Hyrum. A couple of weeks ago, Hermana Lindsey Jeppson, who is Elder Avery's neighbor and friend from home, started teaching Hyrum's friend in Peru over Skype, email and Facebook (she is serving in the Mesa Arizona Mission, speaking Spanish, and also serves in the Mesa Temple Visitors' Center AND is a Facebook missionary). When Hyrum shared this with Elder Avery, Elder Avery said, "Actually, Sister Jeppson is my girlfriend. We are getting married." When Hyrum asked Sister Jeppson about this in their next lesson, Sister Jeppson said, "He wishes I was his girlfriend!")

The True Nature of Meat (June 16, 2014)

Fireside and Smores  (June 30, 2014)

Weakness Can Become Strength - Elder Kolby Madsen

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denamark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

(Note to reader: Some names are omitted for privacy. Highlighted words link to additional information.)

Mor!

Things are going swell. I love it here. We had a great week, and things with Elder Howland are going great. Man, I missed Youth Conference. That was always the best time ever. I can’t believe that Lex got her call to Chile. Like, everyone is in Chile. Holy Cow. We need some more Scandinavian missionaries. That’s crazy cool. I am excited for her. It will be a great experience for her. Maren just better not get called to speak Spanish. It's lame everyone is Spanish speaking. I think she should go to Sweden. That would be fun for her. That’s so cool about all the mission calls, just as the Lord needs it. The more out, the stronger they are when they get back, and the more we can send out in the future. It's a great cycle, and it’s exciting to see the growth in the world.

We have had some great thing happen this month in our mission. We have had a fast for the past 49 days (each companionship fasts for one day). We have had 22 people reactivated and 9 people baptized in two months. That's very, very unusual here in Denmark. It’s great to see the work moving forward. I really enjoy it.

This week we have had some great opportunities to meet with a couple of people. The summer months in Denmark....I guess I just forgot what it was like last year. The sun goes down at 10:40 p.m. and comes up at about 4:15 a.m.  Last night was the longest day of the year, but it’s just wired seeing only sun. Især (especially) when I was in Herning, there was a total of 19 hours throughout the whole winter that we had the sun up and showing, haha! Just crazy, I love it.

We went to visit T** and V** this week. It went great. They had done their reading and stuff. We had a great lesson on prayer and why we do it. We are hoping to get T** to schedule a baptism date this week, which would be the highlight of my mission. This man is so prepared, but we will see how it goes. The Lord has His plan, and people have their agency.

This week we did a total of 15 hours of service for 4 different people. Service is defiantly the way to get people to see your work ethic, plus they can see that we mean it when we say we are willing to serve them. This area has picked up so much in service hours! I am so grateful I can be a part of it.

On Saturday we didn’t have much planned, so we were doing our studies, and on days we don’t have any lessons planned, I try to pray for help to study for those people we will come in contact with that day. I pray to have the Spirit with me so I will learn about what those around me need. During my study, I read in the Book of Mormon and then in the Liahona. There was a talk titled, "Challenges are Blessings," and I really enjoyed it. Right after studies, Elder Hicks (senior missionary) called us and said he wanted us to stop by L**'s home (a lady who is getting baptized) to see how she's doing with not smoking.

When we got there, she invited us in with a cigarette in hand. She tried to hide it, but then she just said that it is so hard to stop smoking.  I still had the Liahona in my bag, and that article I'd been reading earlier popped in my head. So we gave a little lesson about how, in life, we have challenges and we have weaknesses, and that we should look at them as blessings. Then we talked about Ether 12:27 (my favorite scripture), and told her that our challenges are allowed by God. He allows us to have challenges so that we can humble ourselves and come closer to Him. Through our faith and humility, our weakness can become strength.

That experience was an answer to the prayer that our studies would be useful to those around us, even though we did not have anything planned. It was definitely a blessing and (again!) another witness of following the Spirit. I am so grateful for my mission, the things I have learned, the blessings that I have received, and the blessings to others I can see through the Lord's work.

I love y’all! Have a great week, keep up the great work, and have a great summer!

Ældste Madsen

Holy Days (June 16, 2014)

Prayers Drive the Work  (June 30, 2014)

Visit from Elder Robbins - Sister Hannah Avery

Written by Sister Hannah Avery, serving in the Chile Vina del Mar Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

(Note to reader: Highlighted words link to additional information. Some names are omitted for privacy. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Hermana Hannah Avery

Hello family and friends!

We had a crazy week this week! First off, I want to apologize for not writing anything last week.... I got a little too distracted with missionary things and forgot to write! LOL! My bad. But, here is the email for this week :)

We had our whole mission meet together on Tuesday in Viña del Mar to listen to Elder Lynn G. Robbins. It was AWESOME! We really felt the Spirit for sure. We thought that he would talk about how we can be better missionaries, improve the mission, etc....but no, he basically talked about marriage the WHOLE TIME, haha! There are a lot of missionaries going home in the next month or two, so I think he was putting the pressure on them :) I am happy to not have to think about that for another few months!

Chile Vina del Mar Mission

It was a great visit, and we got to take a picture with all of the missionaries from the entire mission this week too! It was pretty cool :) I got to see my cute Hermana Puertas again too, as well as Hermana Mori, Hermana Stewart, and Hermana Page! All of my companions in one place! :)

Hermanas Avery and Puertas

We have been working our tails off to try to keep things going with our investigators! We have seven people with scheduled baptism dates, and the M** Family is doing awesome! The dad, A**, has FINALLY started to quit smoking! Pray for him! He has gone four days without drugs or cigarettes. It's amazing. He just cut it all clean and hasn't done a thing since. If he keeps this up, they can be baptized NEXT WEEK! Pray for our investigators!! :)

We got SOAKED this week with the rain too! We used black trash bags one day to cover up because it was super sunny in the morning, and then BAMMM! RAIN! But seriously, it rained ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT and we were soaked soooo bad. And I fell and hit my head pretty hard in the stairs near our Ward Mission Leader's house... that wasn't fun. But I am okay, and we were just laughing like crazy all day long because we looked like a couple of soaked crazy girls walking all over the place. Gotta have fun when life rains on you! :)

My trash bag is very stylish!

Anyways, I know that this email is not super long, but know that I love and miss each and every one of you, and that I am so grateful for all of the love and support you give me everyday :) You all are the best! Have a great week and I will talk to you all next week! Love you!

xoxoxooxox Hermana Avery

Almost Heaven....McDonald's (June 2, 2014)

Chi-chi-chi-chi-Le-le-le-le!  (June 23, 2014)

The True Nature of Meat - Elder Jake Avery

Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Elders Avery and Martinez, Peru Lima West Mission

Well because all of the people I've been teaching for a while aren't progressing, we've focused a lot on contacting. I think the English word is tracting. Anyway, my district leader came over on Tuesday for our first full day of contacting and it went well. He showed me how to approach people so that they recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ instead of Americans with money who like to giggle. He also showed me how to handle a situation where the investigators aren't progressing, and how to get into the door of almost any house. I had a successful day with him.

We kept going hard all week, trying to get people to come to church, and trying to get them to pray and read their scriptures. When Sunday came, three less active members ended up coming to church! It's a lot better than zero, but hardly the seven investigators and eight less active members we were expecting. One less active member had told us she would go to church on Sunday, so I called her while we were waiting for her at the bus stop to see what was holding her up. She told me, "Because today is Father's Day, my dad says I can't go to church. But I will send my daughter." To give a little background, this woman is 37 years old and her dad is 70.... I told her that she should invite her dad to come with her, then they could be together at church on Father's Day. It didn't happen, but was worth a try  :)

It's not always easy being a missionary, but it's rewarding. I really love being a missionary, and I'm very ready to find a family of 12 to baptize this week, haha! We had two lessons last night with full families, and they both promised to read the Book of Mormon. So, we'll see how that goes.

My companion is awesome! He works hard! I think his mission must be tough because he's 21 years old and he's the only member in his family. His dad is actually a preacher for another church.

I learned how to make some Peruvian meat thing called pachumanca (they haven't discovered BBQ yet). So, there was a huge pot of dead pig and chickens with blood. My job was to (with my bare hands) distinguish a chunk of chicken and a chunk of pork and wrap it up in paper, give it to someone who wrapped it with leaves, and they gave it to someone to put in a hole in the ground where they had made an oven out of mud. It was difficult to tell what was chicken and what was pork. The chicken skin was the dead give-away because it is super goose bumpy. Plus, chicken bones are smaller than pig bones. It was very traumatizing. To beat all, they had no running water, so I got to wash all that yumminess off in a bucket. Yeah, buddy!! After working two years for McDonald's, I finally learned the true nature of meat in one night in Cochauain.

Well, that's a little taste of my adventure this week. We're praying hard for baptisms. If the sun sets on Saturday and there's no darkness, it means we got a baptism in Yungay!

I love you lots. Remember to not be a stinker. Just because someone else is a stinker doesn't mean you can be stinkier (that mostly applies to Jared). I miss you guys a lot. But, hey!! I'm almost half way home. Keep being good!

Elder Avery

Miracles Happen Everyday (June 9, 2014)

The Book is Blue  (June 23, 2014)

Holy Days - Elder Kolby Madsen

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

(Note to reader: Highlighted words link to additional information. Some names are omitted for privacy. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.)

They celebrate them (Mother's Day and Father's Day) here, but they are just not as big as we do it back home. Plus their Father's Day is during the week, so that is weird. They have three huge holidays and they are all about Christ, but they just use those days to party and get wasted. It's funny because we did service on one of the days of remembrance, and this guy said that we should be home resting. When I asked why, he said, "Because it's a hellige day (holy day)." The member who was with us is a really good friend with him, and she said, "If it's so holy, why are you drinking and having a party tonight?" I thought that was funny, and he just walked upstairs and smiled. But it's true that holidays, which actually began as "holy days" have become so bad around the world....not only in Denmark.

Well, this week we had some really great opportunities to go and visit some people. We also had a great zone conference and many other things.

We Met with K** again, and he had many questions. We had planned to teach about the restoration of the gospel, but it turned out being a lesson on the plan of salvation instead. He is great and has lots of questions. He said that all his questions were answered! Having lots of questions is better than just sitting and listening to me teach. He is searching for truth himself.

Later we we met with H**. He's very quiet, said he is having a hard time with life and doesn't have enough energy to talk about anything. He said he would like to learn, but he is just not feeling good. So we talked about music because I noticed that he had a guitar. He really started to open us, and he played us a song. It was awesome. He is very good. He's what is called a førtidspentionist (pre-pentionsist). They become pentionists here at the age of 55 (I think). For health reasons he can't work, and he finds it really hard to fill his time. He said he needs friends and stuff, and he wants a job but he can't just go and get one because the government won't help him. Well, we told him that as he reads and prays for help with finding something to fill his time, he will be able to get something to do. We told him that we will do our part to help him, but we needs to show his faith to the Lord. He said okay and then played a song for us in English. I really liked it.

The next day we had our zone conference, which was amazing. We are to studying about how to learn our mission language. It been going really well. One of the things that I have not been able to do very much is to speak Danish all day, every day, outside of the apartment. The best way to learn the language is to speak it. Well, Elder Howland is very good at that, so we have been doing it and our language skills have gotten better. We both enjoy the language and now we speak more Danish than English in our companionship.

Teaching in Danish during Zone Conference

At zone conference, President Serderholm had invited some people from the area. Usually we have our conference in English, but our focus was Danish this time. For the meat of our discussion, we had the opportunity to practice teaching some Danes. We taught our lessons in Danish and they gave us feedback. There were seven people who pretended to be investigators, except one really is an investigator who lives in Århus. His name is D**, and he is half Spanish and half Danish. He has met with the sister missionaries in Århus for a while, has read the Book of Mormon, and knows almost everything. After all of our practice teaching and stuff, D** stood up and said that he has always been amazed at how fast the missionaries pick up the language. He said that he could recognize that there were a couple grammatical mistakes, and if there were more he didn't catch them because the message speaks for itself.

Long story short, speaking the language (Danish) is important, but the language of the Spirit is more important. President stood up and asked, "D**, do you believe in God?" He answered with a big, Danish, "NO!! But I love to learn about this church."

As we went on, President invited all of the people we taught to come up and stand at the front of the room so we could thank them. I have never done this before, but we sang acapella, "I am a Child of God." Half way through, I started to realize that we sounded way good, især fordi (in particular, because) we did not practice at all. President just felt impressed to do it. At the end of the song everyone left except D**. He wanted to stay and hear the rest of the conference.

As the conference went on, President Sederholm talked about how there is a difference between tongue and language....like in the scriptures when it talks about how everyone will hear the gospel in their own tongue and language. The tongue is the mission language, and the language is the language of love and spirit. This was very interesting to me because I remembered when I was companions with Elder Zalewski. We were both relatively young in the mission....I mean, I was only out six months and he had only been here six weeks. We made it by and even had some really good things happen. I remembered back to how bad my Danish was, how bad my grammar was, and it hit me. That's the language of the Spirit! It's what made our companionship function. We both relied on the Spirit so much, and that was when things started falling into place.

On our way home after zone conference, we got a text from the Assistants to the President (APs) telling us that D** scheduled a baptismal date! He had felt something so strong during the song. I know that President Sederholm is a man called of God to lead this mission. I know that he is inspired. This was truly a miracle and we are all very happy to be a part of it.

I love you and hope you have a great week

Ældste Madsen

Journey of Life (June 9, 2014)

Weakness Can Become Strength  (June 23, 2014)

Transfers - Elder Brian Burgess

Written by Elder Brian Burgess, serving in the Mexico Puebla North Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Transfers!

So this week was the transfers meeting, and my companion from Panama, Elder Garrido had changes. I am in my same area with my new companion from....Panama, Elder Batista. Kinda funny because there are only two Elders from Panama in the mission!

Elder Batista and I have been working really hard! He is a great and funny Elder! So glad to be with him right now! I love this work! And my area is really fun! We have spent the week talking to every person we see in the street and helping our investigators understand more about the doctrine! We were so fortunate to have four investigators come to church Sunday! And we have a baptism the 28th of this month! I am so happy and excited! I love you all! And hope you have a great week!

Photo that is attached - Me, grilling at the Stake Patriarch's house in our ward as a goodbye dinner for Elder Garrido! Alot of fun! They looked at me with hamburger buns, and meat on the table and said, "Elder Burgess, you're from the USA. You know how to cook hamburgers," and then they gave me the spatula, haha!

The church is true and the sky is blue. Two facts that I know!

I love you all!

ELDER BURGESS

Hold to the Rod (June 2, 2014)

Flying in Mexico (June 30, 2014)

Happy Birthday, Sister Oliphant!

Written by Sister Justyce Oliphant, serving in the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

I can not believe that 8 months ago today I was headed to the Provo MTC. This is literally FLYING by!

Mom sent me some money for my birthday and I bought myself a new outfit! It's super cute and I wore it to the interviews with President Cardenas on Thursday! Momma also sent me this necklace!

T** and her husband are progressing so well. They have such a huge desire to be baptized and are praying and fasting for the opportunity to be married legally. They study Principles of the Gospel each night and are always full of questions when we go over to their humble home. To get to their house we walk across a huge bridge that scares my companion everytime we walk on it. I think it's quite an adventure!






Our ward mission leader, Arnold, is always so willing to come with us to visits or to introduce us to his friends.

I had a really good birthday! My companion decorated my bed with paper balloons and confetti when I was in the shower, and made a yummy breakfast and "cake" out of bread and peanut butter! Then we taught some lessons and our bishop asked us to come to the Ward Council meeting at 3 o'clock at the church. So we went to our lunch appointment and the hermana wasn't there, so we went to the church hungry and decided that we would eat something at the house after the meeting. Well, there wasn't anyone at the church for the meeting except the bishop, and he was interviewing someone, so we waited for a little and were watching Mormon messages.

Then the Elders came and so we waited with them. Okay and when I say waited, maybe we partied a little bit....Then, a hermana came and asked us to come with her and.... SURPRISE!! They threw me a fiesta! haha! Elder Reyes has more pictures on his camera that I will send later, but it was so fun! We ate tostadas and tamales and had cake! Oh, the Mexican traditions are fun!! They have a tradition of biting the cake... I didn't want to, but they said just bite the frosting in the corner. I thought, hey it won't hurt anyone! So I bent down to bite the cake..... and.....

BAM! My face was pushed into it!!! haha! The sister behind me is Sister Jairu and she helped my companion shove my face into the cake. There is a first time for everything!

I was asked to sing in the other ward that meets in our building yesterday. It went well! And after church, cute Andrea came with us to a few visits! It POURED on us!!







Well that's all for this week. I am so happy to be a missionary, and I can't believe I am 21 years old! I couldn't think of a better place to be than here serving our Lord and Savior. I know He lives, and I know he loves me!


Thank you all for everything you do to support all of us missionaries!!

Love,

Hermana Oliphant

Raining, and raining....and raining! (June 9, 2014)

Nine Months in Mexico  (July 21, 2014)

Miracles Happen Everyday - Elder Jake Avery

Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

So, this week was the long awaited transfers. Elder Aldana went to Lima and Elder Martinez was sent to save my life. Elder Martinez is a Guatemalteco, about 5'5'', 21 years old (my oldest companion yet), has been out for more than a year, and is a convert of 3 years. He's helped a TON already and has only been here for a week. He gets up on time, talks to everyone, and is really great at inviting the Spirit. I don't have a picture of him yet, but I'm sure you're imagining the wrong guy in your head so stop imagining now.

We have been able to schedule baptismal dates for the two sisters (again? YES!) and they went to Sacrament Meeting. We'll see if they follow through this time, but I'm a little more interested to see how things go with their brother, P**. He had work on Sunday, but I'm making sure he gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon and gets baptized.

One member who has been a terrible alcoholic made a miraculous recovery this week! We were in a member's store talking about where less active members live (can I just say, it'd be a lot easier if house numbers existed....) when this member's daughter came in. I asked her how her dad was and, to my complete shock, she said that he was sober and in the house. We went straight there and found the whole family together. We talked about making plans to get them sealed in the temple, then gave the dad a blessing to resist temptation. I prayed so hard everyday that he would control himself and not drink. We called them and visited them many, many times, and he hasn't drunk yet (or at least not much). They gave a really lame excuse for not going to church, so we visited them on Sunday and thankfully found the dad sober, so we watched The Lamb of God with him. I reminded him that he needs to go to church and talk to the bishop so he can take the sacrament like the Apostles.

Well, that's my week. To sum things up, the Church is true, prayer works, and miracles happen everyday. I love all of you and miss you guys too!! Have a great week!

Elder Avery

Mass Internet Outage (June 3, 2014)

The True Nature of Meat  (June 16, 2014)

Summer Days in Virginia - Elder Dallin Remund

Written by Elder Dallin Remund, serving in the Virginia Chesapeake Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Elder Remund and E**

Hey all!

I better make this one quicker. I'm doing good, as usual. Transfer calls came and Elder Barber and I are staying, but a ton of the mission got changed around so it will be fun to get to know some more people.

Virginia is getting really nice. We ate outside with a member family last night and it was heavenly weather. (I attached a picture with me and one of their kids, E**.) The fireflies were out all over their backyard. I look out and marvel about how awesome God's creations are. I love the East Coast!

We have seen a lot of miracles this week working with members. The F** family have kicked into high gear, friendshipped about half our investigators and helped them come to church. One of our investigators ended up having a wife who was baptized into the church years ago, but hasn't come back yet. Both of them should be at church this week and we're hoping to schedule her husband for baptism very soon here. The work goes along so much easier when the members are out there being friends and inviting them to progress along with us as we teach them. It goes along the lines of bearing one another's burdens in the work of the Lord.

We taught E** and M** the last lesson in Preach My Gospel. I got to be there to teach them everything. They're not getting baptized or married until December, but I'm so excited for them (I attached a picture of their super cute baby, J**). They had us over on Wednesday and gave us pupusas. I love their family so much! They will be one of the families I talk to frequently and visit after my mission ends. So fun!

I love you all so much! Hopefully we have someone scheduled for baptism by the time I email next Monday.

Con amor,

Elder Remund

ONE YEAR! (May 26, 2014)

De la Costa de Virginia  (June 23, 2014)

Journey of Life - Elder Kolby Madsen

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

This week we had some great things happened. We received a great referral from the sister missionaries in Alborg. They said that he was very nice, wants a Book of Mormon, but and that he's a little argumentative. Then they said good luck....it’s always fun to get one like this.

So, we went to contact him after something fell through (I can’t remember exactly what it was, but felt like we should go to talk to him then). When we knocked on the door, he let us in and said he wanted the book and had some questions. Every question he asked was just heading toward a heated discussion. For example, "What is that big church building in Salt Lake City?" We told him it was a temple.  He asked why only members of our church can go in. So we told him everyone welcome to come to our churches, and those who have gone through the steps of faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost are all welcome to come into the temple to make covenants with our Heavenly Father.

Elder Howland didn't want to get up from the floor, but here he is!

Then he asked, "Why does your church get to be a part of the covenants and my church doesn't?" We told him that he could one day go to the temple, if he chose to take the steps God asks.

He then asked why our leaders are the only ones aloud in the middle of the temple. We explained that our apostles and prophet go to the temple to do the same thing that we do when we go to the temple; to worship God and remember the covenants they have made with Him.

Then he asked, "Why are your leaders the ones who get to choose who does and does not enter the temple?" At that precise moment, the thought came to show him the baptismal questions in the planner....the ones we use to conduct a baptismal interview. So I took out my planner and said, "Here you go. These are the questions we ask for baptism. They are the exact same questions we ask for the temple, except you are asked if you've been baptized in the temple interview."

After he read the questions he asked, "Oh, so I have to confess all my sins to your leaders and they will hold them against me?" We told him, "No, when you confess your sins, it's for the purpose of showing your repentance and willingness to change. The only person who ever hears about it is the person you talked to." Then I shared with him the experience I had with C** (the guy who was baptized 2 weeks ago). I told him that the things C** shared with me in his baptismal interview would never be shared with anyone. The Lord already knows about the things we've done in our lives. But when we want to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, in faith and with a willingness to confess, repent, and be clean of those wrong doings, the Lord forgives us. I told him, in all honesty, I can’t remember the things that C** told me before he was baptized because they are not important anymore. It was important for C** to recognize his sins, confess them to a servant of the Lord (happened to be me that day), and move forward. Those things are forgotten by the Lord and also by me.

In that instant, this guy (K**) stopped asking questions in such a negative way. It seemed he changed from wanting to fight to wanting to understand. It was a very neat experience because he wants to meet tomorrow, and we are hoping to answer more questions and teach him the first lesson.

We also had the opportunity to meet with T** and V** this week, at his work. He works at a dairy farm. I was having flashbacks to the summer I spent with Zach and Todd and Jens....so much fun. The way cool thing about this dairy farm is that everything was 100% automatic. The cows were milked four times a day, and they had these automatic floor scrubbers so it was not full of crap all the time. The milkers were robots. I should have taken pictures. No manual labor besides feeding, and the place cleaned itself.

While we were there, we heard this very weird "moo" from a cow. Granted, I've never been around that many cows before, but I've never heard a cow make that sound. After the weird moo sound, we heard this thud. I walked over to see what it was, and there was this baby calf laying on the ground with afterbirth all over! It was way gross, but the little guy was so cute. It started walking around after 5 minutes. That was probably the grossest thing I have ever seen. The cow had some weird bag thing hanging from it. Elder Hicks just laughed when he saw my face (he was a farmer back home).

Really great week. Way cool to observe the gift of life and the beginning of a man’s journey back to his Heavenly Father. I love it here. Elder Howland and I get along great. I have been so blessed with all of my companions on the mission. 

I hope you have a great week! I love you all. Have a fun and safe time out of school, and if you go to Hawaii or the Bahamas like last year, have fun. Haha! Anyway, love you all.

Med Kærlig Hislen,

Ældste Madsen

I Gotta Save Souls and Stuff (June 2, 2014)

Holy Days (June 16, 2014)

Hold to the Rod - Elder Brian Burgess

Written by Elder Brian Burgess, serving in the Mexico Puebla North Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Hey everyone!

Not a lot of big or crazy stories this week. Just know that I love you all! My companion was told he will be training and has changes. So I will stay here in my area. I hope I can see some miracles and help more people in my area learn about the gospel and the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.

I will attach a talk that I love and hope you all enjoy it. It talks about the importance of always studying the Book of Mormon.

(Link to the talk: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/10/lehis-dream-holding-fast-to-the-rod?lang=eng

I love you all!

ELDER BURGESS

Elder Hamburger (May 26, 2014)

Transfers  (June 9, 2014)

Raining, and raining....and raining! - Sister Justyce Oliphant

Written by Sister Justyce Oliphant, serving in the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Hermana Justyce Oliphant - Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission

Hello everyone! This week wasn't really interesting. We did a lot of walking in the rain, yelling in our lessons to teach because the rain is so loud on the roof, and waiting in houses for the rain to lighten up. OH, and did I mention that it rained this week?

Haha, if you can't tell, it rained a ton this week. One day we were in a new area trying to find the house of an investigator and it started POURING rain. My companion forgot her umbrella so she was soaked. I was soaked except my head and shoulders, and we were trudging through the RIVERS that were running through the streets, asking people in their houses if they knew this lady. It was quite the adventure. We found the house and they weren't there..... so we were walking back the way we came and a lady called to us to come to her house and wait for the rain to lighten up. This family was really nice but they kept saying that they have their church and that they just didn't want us to get sick. We taught them about prayer and watched the rain and lightening and the THUNDER that sounded like it was blowing our ear drums out, it was soooo loud! When the rain was just sprinkling we ran to the bus stop a few blocks away, then went to our house to change.

And....it's STILL raining!

What an adventure this area is becoming! I took a ton of pictures but this internet place doesn't have a place to connect my memory card to send them. I lost my cable in San Cristobal, and literally no place has cables for my Nikon camera. Weird, right?! I will just send a million next week!

Today we ate hamburgers in a nice restaurant in the city. It was really nice because we were seated at a table and had a waiter and everything! My first time with a waiter in Mexico! And, yeah, I ordered my own food and he understood me. I even said, "No onions." haha!

I was asked to sing in Relief Society yesterday and it was the combined men and women meeting. It was on the spot....literally, my Bishop said, "And now Hermana Oliphant is going to sing a hymn." He said the hymn number then he looked at me like,"Please?!" haha! I had only heard that hymn like 2 times, but I think I did okay. Who knows the tune anyways. Oh, how I love sharing my testimony EVERY week in song and through music. :)

I have been studying a lot in Chapter 9 of Preach my Gospel, and also in 1 Nephi. I am so happy to hear that you are all doing well and keeping busy. I am glad Dad is home safe from his trip (I didn't know he was going, or I didn't remember!), and I am glad that everyone is enjoying their summer! I will send more updates about our investigators next week. Deal?!

Love,

Hermana Oliphant

I Should Have Knocked on Wood.... (June 2, 2014)

Happy Birthday, Sister Oliphant! (June 16, 2014)