Monday, April 23, 2012
April 2, 2012
What's up righteous babes?!
Dang what a splendid week! There
was so much good that went on. So I
think Monday and Tuesday my patience with Elder Boam was very rapidly melting
away and I felt the inclination to punch him but I held back! That night I half heartedly said we
should study "How to Strengthen a Companionship" out of Preach My
Gospel (where this is contained, I know not) and Elder Boam agreed. The next morning I woke up and for some
reason I kept thinking of the words Christlike attributes (which location of
where it is contained, I am aware). So
we read through all of them for Christlike attributes and as we did this I
felt a very strong love for Elder Boam and just from reading this, a
strong friendship developed. Ever
since that study, things have been great with us:) Our numbers greatly increased this week too! A man in the ward, Brother Oyer, has a son who
is 26 that we are teaching and he is great! He lives with his girlfriend, Melissa and
their new baby girl, Angelina (she is such a cute baby!!) We taught them about how we get answers to
prayers and what they feel like and they committed to reading the Book of
Mormon and being baptized! We were also
able to do a bit more street contacting and found a couple guys who are very
interested in continuing to talk to us! One
of those guys is Brett, he is probably in his mid thirties and has a family and
he is really religious, we are not sure which congregation though. Anyways, he had some deep questions which I
didn't know for sure how to answer. His
main questions had to do with why do we need more books when the Bible already
tells that for us to be saved we need to have faith in Christ and
repent of our sins and it’s as simple as that. He also wanted to know what set us apart from
other religions and I knew the answer of course, but didn't know in which
manner I should present my answer. I
prayed a lot about these things and asked that my prayers be answered by those
speaking in conference, and if any of you men remember the first line of the
first talk in priesthood session by Elder Bednar, "The Priesthood authority
is what sets us apart from all other religions." I marveled at how clearly my prayers were
answered continually through out the rest of conference by other speakers. It was such a great day for Elder Boam and
me. The senior couple from Chambersburg , my last area, was able to give me some
great advice on what lessons to teach and I am so thankful for the Kenleys! Ugh just a sick week guys! I appreciate everyone's prayers and support! Oh so I have a funny joke I heard from this
less active guy! Here it is: “The Pope
called a meeting in the Vatican
with all the cardinals and priests and many others, telling them the news was
urgent. The Pope began by telling them
he had good news and bad news. The good
news is that Jesus Christ has returned and is back on the Earth and is living
once again among us. All the cardinals
and priests jumped and shouted for joy! What
could the bad news be?? Nothing can ruin
this glorious occasion! Well
brethren....he called from Salt
Lake
Catching up...
We are behind in updating Trey’s blog (so sorry, Trey)! He has just had his first transfer and is now
serving in Jamestown , New York
Elder Trey Rudd
Here is Trey’s last update (March 19th)
before leaving Chambersburg ,
Pennsylvania
Well, hello hello! Do I have an update for you! I will start off by saying I got my first
baptism!!! It was a member’s son who is
twelve, so it was a gimme, but still counts!
His name is Thomas Hunt and he is probably the shyest kid I have ever
met! He is going to be a Seinfeld
“low-talker” for sure! Thomas is a great
kid, but he would not go under the water!!!
He would kick and thrash and start crying when he had to go under! Oh my lanta it took forever! Finally he was successfully baptized and we
got to go have lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant. It was really fun because we were able to go
with our 16 year old investigator, Jacob.
He has a lot of problems, but he is so cool! We were able to teach some great lessons this
week. It’s just funny how all of our
investigators will do super well and then out of no where something happens and
they stop progressing. That keeps happening
with Jackie and it’s frustrating, but we just have to help her push through
it. She was trying to get me to ride her
Harley last night!! I got to fire it up
though and rev the engine! Ugh, it was
so sick! Well it has been great in Chambersburg , PA Jamestown , New York
Highlights of Chambersburg
Visit to Gettysburg
Interesting Investigators – Joe
who looks like the Guns N’ Roses guitarist, Slash, but blonde hair instead of
black. His life was at a low and he
needed something to build him back up.
He has a serious drinking problem and tried to commit suicide. His wife, Donna, is so intrigued by how kind
and willing we are to help. She said, “I
don’t know what it is about you guys but you have this different feeling about
you and we want that in our lives.”
Jonathan was a church
website referral and he was actually the one that went on and requested a Book
of Mormon. He is only 22 and I am not
sure, but I think he drinks and smokes and he lives with a girlfriend and their
kid but they are great! He is seriously
so smart and reads the Book of Mormon more than most of our ward members. He asks us very deep and inspired
questions. The Spirit is definitely
working on him, but there are some downsides to him. Besides living with his girlfriend, he smokes
Mary Jane EVERY FREAKING DAY!!! It is
laid out all over his counter. He showed
us this garden tent he is setting up in his house. Yeah you can easily guess what he is planning
on growing. Yep, you got it, some more
Mary Jane! He does have some tomato
plants though and things like that. He
was talking to us about weed and told us how he cooked with it a lot. He asked us though if we would like some
brownies and before we could answer he went and got them. So pause right now…it is about 8:30 at night
and I am not thinking as sharp as usual.
I am only thinking yummy, warm delicious chocolate brownies, but I
really don’t even want any because I had a lot of sweets that day. So resume…he brings a bag of brownies into us
and I look at them and there are little sticks and root looking things in the
brownies!!! I asked him what the heck
was in them and assuming it was no problem, told us it was weed. Yeah, I was holding “Satan” brownies in my hand! The Word of Wisdom lesson is going to be a
challenge with him. He is great though
and we have gained a great friendship with him.
Our Apartment – Elder Mouritsen and I are living in an apartment
that really needs painting and repair.
We did inherit a weight bench and weights when we were helping a family
move. We also got a new couch to replace
the old, nasty red ones that were always saturated with moisture and bed
bugs! It’s a pretty cool leather one
that the mission bought for us! The
other night Elder Mouritsen and I were getting ready to go to bed and we heard
this girl yelling above us, “Don’t touch me _____ and get the _____ out of my
house!” We just stood there not knowing
what the heck was going on. We got our
cameras ready to record. Long story
short, he ended up busting her door down and running away! She was screaming and crying hysterically
after it happened and then she called the cops.
Ugh! I just love the people of Pennsylvania
Trey wrote on February 13th
– This week was the most challenging so far on my mission. We have hit brick walls with every one of our
investigators. Do you remember our
“Golden Investigators” Joe and
Donna? Hmmm…well they drink pretty hard
and smoke crack cocaine A LOT! Donna is
also very addicted to a number of prescription drugs. Ugh!
They have so many problems that we will need to proceed with caution as
we continue to see them (that is, IF we continue to see them). It wasn’t just them though. A few of the others are struggling to keep
their commitments. So Sunday comes
around and we have lined up about five investigators to come to church and of
course…one by one they cancel or just don’t show up. Basically, that is my week in a nut
shell! But hold on!!! I have learned some great lessons in this:
1. This is for Sonny Hogle – Making a commitment
and keeping your promise is one of the most important things you can do as a
person. For example, if Sonny is driving
Craig and I up to Roosevelt Lake and he
expects us at his house AT 6:30 a.m., we better be there!
2. Don’t smoke crack! (Thank you Joe
and Donna and the whole messed up state of Pennsylvania
3. Miracles don’t come until after the trials of
our faith.
Lynn and Jean Kenley are a
Senior Couple Missionaries serving in Chambersburg . Sister Kenley sent an email (February 16th)
to the family and had this to say about Trey:
“Your son is doing great as a new missionary. You can tell that he has been raised well and
that he has a firm footing and testimony of the Gospel. He truly is a fine young man. It has been fun to watch his daily
growth. He lives what he teaches and he
teaches with a strong testimony and conviction.
Elder Kenley refers to him as a “sponge”. He is always studying and calls to ask
questions and wants to learn more and more.
He is a good young elder.”
Another email (March 24th)
from Sister Kenley: “Just a quick note
to let you know how much we miss your son.
He is an excellent missionary and I know that he will do well wherever
he serves. He is very “outgoing” and has
a strong testimony and teaches with the spirit.
We just wanted you to know that he is a terrific young man and a great
missionary. He will be missed greatly in
Chambersburg, but we know that he will be doing well and loving to be in New York
Trey wrote on March 26th
– Hello friends! It has been a really
good week getting to know members and other people in the area. The area is super cool and everything, but we
just don’t have anyone to teach! We are
focusing a lot on finding by knocking on doors and street contacting. Ugh, that gets old very fast! I didn’t believe it when I found out, but the
ward consists of about 80 active members out of 600. THERE ARE SO MANY INACTIVE PEOPLE!!! Ugh, and they don’t go to church for the
dumbest reasons! Church was good
though. The ward members that go are
very nice. Ha ha, here is my highlight
of the week and this is pathetic because it’s not that big of a deal. My back has been killing me and a lady in the
ward is a chiropractor and she readjusted my back after church. It felt sooooo good!!!:) I am sorry for how boring this is guys, but
really this is just a dull area right now.
I am going to work really hard with Elder Boam. Yesterday we got to teach the small amount of
youth in the ward with Elder and Sister Anderson (I am so lucky to be serving
in another Senior Couple Area!!!). What
we did was come up with questions that guys and girls ask when they are
thinking of going on a mission such as, “How will I get the money?” or “What if
I don’t know all the scriptures?” This
little twelve year old asked if missionaries are really protected on their
mission, because she had heard about the ones that died in Texas and before any
of us could answer, Elder Boam jumped in and went off for a couple of minutes
on a rant about “If you are not exactly obedient you are more likely to die or
be shot or stabbed, things like that.”
Yes, that is in quotations because he said that…I was hiding my face
when he said that…I just love my companion!
On the bright side, I got to meet Bishop Porter and his wife who are
from Mesa
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