Strange Stories - Elder Jacob Avery

Elder Jacob Avery - Peru Lima West Mission

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

Oooff! I'm getting to internet every week and I'm like..... I don't feel like writing anyone but Mom and President.

In the work, we're in a good rhythm. We got another lady to commit to baptism, but she makes me a little nervous. The other elders invited her to be baptized when I was on a work visit. Her name is Mo**, and she's 25 or 26 but looks likes she's 15. Her friend is getting baptized this week and she wants to get baptized too, so we scheduled her date in April.

Jo** is doing awesome. We found out that he has a bunch of family who are members of the church! They actually live in Rosales (my first area). Wow! What a small world.

It  was nice though because they visited with him and he's super happy to get baptized. He couldn't go to church yesterday because he pinched a nerve (he didn't know that, but he explained his symptoms). He felt better last night, and we told him that  he has to go to church this week to get baptized on the 21st. Oh, and I saw his wife! In the flesh! We had a conversation, but she said that she's not ready for us to talk to her. With many people it's not a question of if the church is true or not, it's more a question of if they want to take God's way or the highway. All in all, a good week.

I'm kind of panicking because I want to baptize, and there's no time left! I've got two and a half transfers. I was reading D&C 20:38-39, and it tells elders it's their duty to baptize!!

We're looking for families. It's sad because the families here aren't really families. I interviewed a family to get baptized yesterday, and they're all getting baptized without the mom :(  It was super, super sad for me to see that. They've been investigating for a long long time and the dad finally decided that his wife's best bet is to see if she follows their example by them getting baptized without her. They're a great family, but they're not an entire family yet. We're praying to find families!!

This was a really awkward week....If you want some strange stories, here they are:

First, we were talking to this mom and her young kids on the door step of her house. Her husband wasn't home for the appointment. As we were scheduling a return appointment, her 14 or 15 year old daughter (this is like Bek's age) picked up who I thought was her toddler brother, and started breast feeding him. WHAT?! Nope, turns out it was her kid...

Secondly, when we were teaching Ce** and his family, he said that his wife wasn't doing so well. She's pregnant and you know that there are people who do okay pregnant, and there's those that don't do so well. She's like 8 months in and super grouchy. In the middle of our lesson, she called Ce** over because she was having a contraction. Then we find out that she's been having contractions all day, and the last one was an hour ago!  ''Uhhhhh, yah, nos vemos amigo.''

Thirdly, there's this dude who has crutches and we feel bad  for him. He got in a fishing accident and now he can't  work because his let got torn up. The other day was weird though because he showed us how he had hook marks all the way up his leg, then he pulled his pants down (we're in the open, on mainstreet!) and showed us how his fishing accident has left him castrated or neutered....or whatever you call it. Wow..... I know that all bodies are temples, but sometimes there are maintenance issues with peoples' temples that I really don't need to know about.

Maybe those are stories will be interesting for the kids. Now it's time for the uplifting story! Three people committed to baptism this week! They are a husband and wife, and the other is their friend who we had know before, which just made it all the better. They're named Al**, Ra** and Lu**. It was very interesting though because we didn't know what we were going to teach them because we were short on time. I told my companion we're teaching the restoration and inviting them to be baptized. He was thinking the same thing so we went for it. Mid lesson, the mayor and vice mayor of the town came in the door. One of them is a less active member of the church, and they 're not usually very serious about the gospel. But the thing is, I don't know how else we would have gotten a lesson with those guys because they never want to go to church!

Elder Clouse was worried that they'd destroy the lesson, but I was feeling good about finishing out. We did it! We taught all five of them about the first vision and invited the three who are not members of the church to be baptized. They all accepted! The Spirit was strong and we left that lesson feeling like we were flying. That helps me understand why Preach My Gospel says, “The Lord will bless you as you teach the message of the Restoration to a world that desperately needs the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Anyways, I hope that everyone has a good week. I'm so glad that you're all doing well. And I'm thankful that I don't have to work at McDonald's again ;) I'm so thankful to be on a mission and that I still have a few months left to rock it! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Jake Avery

Building Skyscrapers (March 2, 2015)

What Does the Holy Ghost Feel Like?  (March 16, 2015)

Gifts - 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.

Mor,

I feel like that first week visiting Denmark will be way packed. Just so you know, next week will be a very short email...maybe. I haven’t decided.  I do not even want to think about home for the last week. So, if it's short, that’s why. Anyway, I am glad you got the itineraries. I deleted them after I sent you the forward. I really don’t want to think about that right now.

This week we had a great week. It was way fun and we had some great exchanges in Copenhagen (KBH) again. It was great. We are in KBH at least once a week. It’s crazy, but that’s just how it is with the work and meetings and stuff. It has been a way good week though.

Elder Ogden came down for splits.  I let him be with Elder Wright.  It was way fun.  I was with Elder Ockey again. We ended up on splits a lot because of the fact that my last two companions have become his, haha. We let Elder Ogden say hi to all the people that he taught while they were here, so me and Elder Ockey took the seven hour exchange and found people all day. The Lord blessed us with two new investigators and one of them will probably set a baptismal date this week.  That’s exciting!  His name is Re**.  He is great!  We will see how it goes.

We also got to meet with one of the families that we found a couple of weeks ago. His name is La**, like from the Book of Mormon. Haha!  He is way funny.  They made us dinner and he is actually a vegan. It was a great experience.  The food was way good! I really like him. He came to church and the ward fell in love with him and his daughter. It was great!  He said he really liked it, so we will see how that goes.

We had some really good things happen with our friends here in Slagelse. It was a great week. We also had zone training. We focused on teaching our investigators with the Spirit and really using the gift of discernment. It was great, and I think it went well.  We only had good responses from people. It was the best week our zone has had since I have been here! We had some really great things happen, and we are looking forward to seeing how this week goes! The Lord has blessed us with some great things here in the Vestsjælland zone!

We had a great experience with Ri**. She and To** have been trying very hard to find an apartment so that To** could move out and she can get baptized. We went through everything and set up her baptismal interview. Things are going to happen!  She is all set up! It was great because we went to go meet with them, and she had the hardest time the past couple of weeks because of work.  She could not come to church because of that. We had been praying that she would be able to talk to her boss and get a schedule change. Well, long story short, her boss was laying people off and she got laid off just in time to get a better job with more money, and now she does not work on Sundays! It was great. They also found an apartment for To** that he getw to move in for free.  It was  a great week!  So many miracles. We are so happy, and are feeling so blessed.  The Lord answers prayer, I have no doubts!

Well I love you all.  Have a great week!  Have fun  and remember WHO you are and.... yeah, I love you.

Med Kærlig Hilsen

Ældste Madsen

Praying Specifically  (March 2, 2015)

Two Years in the School of Life  (March 16, 2015)

American Football - Elder Brian Burgess

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

The ward had a baptism and the water wasn't working, so they had to bring in a fire truck!

Our football Plan of Salvation jerseys....get it?

We got to play some American football! Dream team (minus two who were late)

Good Trade (March 2, 2015)

New House  (March 16, 2015)

Transfers and the Gift of Tongues - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These are the Petronas Towers,
and were the tallest towers in the world until 2004.

Dear Family and Friends,

Transfer news just came. I am staying another round in Ipoh, and Elder Wadsworth will be my new companion. He was just the AP (Assistant to the Mission President) and everyone says he is amazing! That will be fun, but I will definitely miss Elder Li and his knowledge of which sketchy Indian restaurants are okay to eat at.

Yesterday I experienced the gift of tongues in a very real way. I had the opportunity to confirm K**, our investigator, a member of the church. I was so scared and was praying so hard. I had never given a blessing in Chinese before, especially not in front of a congregation at church. But when I spoke, I was able to say everything the Spirit prompted me to say. It was awesome and is another testimony of how much power God has. I know I lack the abilities to learn Chinese on my own, but thankfully God can do anything.

The thing about Elder Lallamant is all good. He is safe and President was the first to know about it. God protects us.

By the way, I had a dream last night that Hannah told me that Jonathan spoke to her in a dream and he said that I was going to Bintulu. HAHA! Clearly transfers were on my mind. Maybe I will go to Bintulu some day.

Love you all,

Elder Avery

Trains and Planes (March 2, 2015)

Crash  (March 16, 2015)

Building Skyscrapers - Elder Jacob 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.

"Anyone can build a skyscraper on the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Well, the good news. Jo** is progressing. He's told us a few times this week how God trusted Joseph Smith a lot and how God must have been so confident in him. I was like, ''Testify, hermano!'' He's progressing and going to church. His family isn't so nice though. I've only talked to one of his eight daughters. It's kind of sad how they just out cast the geezer out.

Everyone in the district is doing super well. Now I just need to give them a better example of baptisms because I feel like these kids are showing me up. My companion and I are searching for people to teach. We're just hoping to find someone ready, like Jo**, but 40 years younger with a wife that actually lives with him.

We're trying to get Ed** and Ma** to progress. It should be easy because they're very good parents and they used to be really active in their church. They just had some doubts about their old church, but they still know the Bible well and are starting to understand the Book of Mormon. Ed** goes to another city to work, but his wife is at home all week. So we're following up with her to make sure she reads her Book of Mormon. She'll feel it when she reads it.

Other than that, my week has been normal. We had to ride 20 minutes to find working internet because the power went out in Vegueta ... that's annoying. It's okay though.

We did a training with President this week. It was really good. His wife talked about the natural order of the gospel and why Preach My Gospel teaches the lessons in the order that they're in. It made me think a lot about building a sky scraper. I think that the reason why people have issues building faith in God is because they have a cruddy foundation and don't understand what He really is. Some of them lack an ability to interpret the blueprints (the scriptures) so they can't build as they should. Others ignore, or don't even know, that there are living directors and engineers to help them out (living prophets). It's all gotta go in a natural order though. At least I believe so.



Anyways, I'm short on time but I love you guys so much! I've eaten most all the food that you sent me (well, shared it), and I'm super excited to have Old Bay seasoning!! You guys are amazing and I love you all so much :) I don't know what I'd do without you. Have a great week and keep up the good stuff!

Love,

Elder Jake Avery

The Whole Shabang (February 23, 2015)

Strange Stories  (March 9, 2015)

Good Trade - 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.

So it's been an alright week. We went on divisions with the Zone Leaders. And that went well....

Today I traded some push up handles for some hair clippers with guides. So that's cool.....

OH!!! So my companion and I have been in our area about 2 weeks. Our house doesn't have a boiler... or great water pressure. SO....everyday I get up and stick a water heater in a bucket of water and then I use a yogurt container to shower, using the warm water in the bucket....

So we have been on the search for a new house. And we finally found one! IT'S SWEET! Tomorrow we just have to meet with the new landlord and if everything goes well we have a new house in the center of our area, right next to the store, laundry mat, and internet. We are so lucky to have found the house. I hope all goes well!

The zone leaders are planning this sweet activity next week with football shirts and pizza, playing some true all-American football!!!! Pictures will be coming soon!

I sure do love being a missionary! My companion and I are seeing many miracles.  Yesterday we had  six investigators go to church! We have been truly blessed!

Read the Book of Mormon, and it will change your life!

KNOW YOU IS LOVED!

Elder Burgess

New Companion and Coyote Burger (February 23, 2015)

American Football  (March 9, 2015)

Praying Specifically - 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.

Mor,

Well, that is great news about Braden’s call!  I am so excited for him!  He will love it. July 8th... that’s forever away, holy cow!  That’s great. He will love it. I am excited to hear where Michael goes. Does he still speak Spanish?  I am glad to hear that it all went well.

Ve** (family I told you about that has a West Valley house) told us that her husband is actually in jail because of some stuff and that her son is the one who had cancer, but now he is fine. He just has had some crazy scares and has had a hard time adjusting back into life after fighting it for 5 years. But he is healthy and just wanting to go on with life, so school has been rough because he missed so much. Anyway, we taught them and we invited her to baptism.  She said yes, and we are praying over a date for this week. It's great! We are hoping to get her and her family to church as soon as possible. That is our goal. It was a great appointment, and we had a good chat with her and her two daughters-in-law. They both are interested as well, and we look forward to seeing them this week. She said she would love to have her whole family in the church.  She says that the whole thing feels right. It was a great appointment!

Another great experience we had this week: We were going to go and visit our friend Ro** from Brazil. We have worked with her every single week since I have been here in Slagelse and she has always been really positive, but has some disagreements with certain things. She feels like she is just not getting answers to her prayers. So, a couple of appointments ago, we asked her if she got an answer that he church was true. If she got the answer "yes", we asked her if would she get baptized. She said yes. So we started to invite her to pray more specifically.  Well, long story short she still has not gotten an answer, so we invited her to pray to receive an answer by a specific date and put her faith in motion.  As she works towards the goal to be baptized, the Lord will either confirm or not confirm what she is doing to be right. So, she set a date to be baptized on the 18th of April.

I was super excited about this for two reasons. One, she is going to get an answer (and I know it will be a yes as long as she does her part) and 2nd, that the 18th will be a great Saturday for her also because that just happens to be the Saturday that we will be in Denmark! That will be the best feeling ever to see her enter the waters of baptism, as well as to see her take the first steps on the path through the gate of baptism.

We had a great mission leadership conference, discussing what we are going to focus on for the new month of March, in regards to zone training. So we are looking forward to that.

So many good things this week. We are looking forward to teaching the two families we found this week as well. All is well, and the work is truly hastening! As a mission, we have surpassed our goals for the month and it has been great. We are going to do it again in March! Nothing can stop the work from going forward. We have been told this so many times in the scriptures and it's 100% true. Great week. Well, love you all.

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste Madsen

Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover (February 23, 2015)

Gifts  (March 9, 2015)

Trains and Planes - Elder Joshua Avery

Written by Elder Joshua Avery, serving in the Singapore Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Mandarin Chinese.

Me eating durian. It's really not that bad, but
gives you some really rotten smelling breath!

We said goodbye to a great missionary, Sister Fa.

Dear Family and Friends,

I just want you to know that I have to come home so I can teach my younger sister a thing or two about boys....just kidding, haha :) But seriously, what the?!  I need to pray for that boy's soul.

Zone Conference was so awesome. I could say a lot, but I don't have a ton of time, so I will tell you a story about what happened to Elder Baker on the way back. Malaysia immigration can be touchy when we go through because they think we are stealing jobs. So when we go through immigration, we pretend like we don't know one another and like we are traveling alone. We meet at the gate in the airport, and if our companion gets stuck in immigration, we have to leave them and pretend like they don't exist.

Elder Baker served in Kuala Lumur for a while, so he has a lot of KL immigration stamps from going back and forth to conferences in Singapore. When we flew into Kuala Lumpur after our zone conference, the immigration officer freaked out and gave Elder Baker a paper and told him to go to the office (which all missionaries know as the "I am going stateside" room).

Elder Baker was walking toward the office when the Spirit told him to get into another line. He put the paper the immigration officer had given him in his pocket and got into another line. The other line let him go through without a problem. I really like working with Elder Baker. Military guys are just awesome.

This week was such a learning experience. I imagine the things I learned are similar to those most missionaries learn at this point in their missions. I have felt weak in faith, and have been struggling to feel the Spirit as much as I did before. I realized that it was because of my pride. I thought I needed to be more self-reliant, and was trying to be able to do it all on my own through hard work. I began to feel alone and realized it was because I WAS working alone. In a way, it was like I was telling God, "I can do this myself and don't need your help." Admitting that things are beyond our control is the first step. You'd think I would have remembered that! I never realized what a problem I had with pride. Repentance this week has been the sweetest experience, and things are going better now.

Thank you for your insights. I love you! And thanks for helping me build a solid gospel foundation.

Love,
Elder Joshua Avery

Chinese New Year  (February 23, 2015)

Transfers and the Gift of Tongues  (March 9, 2015)

Some of the elders messing with Elder Baker
while he was sleeping on the train.

The are photos I took of the landscape on our train ride to Kuala Lumpur.