Keep it Secret, Keep It Safe Week 6

This week has felt like it went by real quick!

Last Tuesday, was District meeting. We spent some time practicing and learning about how to more effectively role-play investigators. Then we ate at Subway with the Elders we carpooled with. 

After that we spent some time knocking doors, and then went over and met with Nita Klinger (don't have a picture yet). She is awesome. she has three kids, two daughters and a son and all of them have various medical problems. Also their house is falling apart. But they are still awesome! the kids were baptized awhile ago but Nita still hasn't been. The meeting with her consisted of telling her not to watch an anti-mormon movie that her boss gave her. Apparently he is SUPER anti-Mormon Christian and when he heard she was taking the discussions, he grabbed the movie and started carrying it around to give to her. Super weird. Anyway she has a bap. date for the 24th of Feb. so that's awesome.

Wednesday, We spent the day knocking doors and meeting the people in the wards, and the people who don't want anything to do with us. It's pretty cool.

Thursday, I realized that I have accidentally turned into a stamp collector. Oh well. I keep getting cool letters, but I have no time to send my own! We also had dinner with the best family so far. The Donahoo's are great, built their own house, and the Father tried to convince us that he was a member of Jehovahs Witnesses. He was super funny. After that then we helped clean up a cool winter preparedness class at the stake center. Mom would have loved it. 

Nothing of importance happened on Friday.

Saturday I got another letter with cool stamps. And this is when we set the bap date for Nita. We put together some maps of the area, and figured out which houses were non members and knocked every one that was home, but no one was interested in their salvation for eternity. Oh well.

Then on Sunday we spoke in Yellowstone Sacrament mtg.   Elder Anderson spoke on Faith and I spoke on the Love of Christ. It went well. We also taught the Priests and Teachers in Homestead Ward, basically we just gave them an example of a lesson and then they copied us.

That was the week! These letters are prolly going to get shorter and shorter as the time feels like it's going faster and faster!

Elder Darcey

Ucon Stake Idaho

Also I have an actual address but I will figure it out later.

LTPS

And It Came To Pass: Emails! Week Six

Well, It's been a bit longer than a week. Because I am no longer in the MTC. I am in Rigby Idaho right now in the family history center sending this Email. But this is not where I am working right now. I am currently placed in the Ucon Idaho area. With my companion Elder Anderson. He is real cool. but I still don't know much about him.

We are in the Ucon Stake, but only half of it. we are in charge of the Homestead, Monument, Cottonwood, and Yellowstone wards. Both me and Elder Anderson are new to this area. So a lot of the week was spent on getting to know the members, and *trying* to get to know the investigators.  (house I live in HERE don't send mail to it send it to the mission office.)(also we aren't in the house we are in the separate garage in a tiny apartment)

BTW turns out we actually were going on a shuttle the whole way to Idaho. So our Wednesday was a normal one until 10:00 when we got on a bus and traveled for an hour, stopped in Salt Lake City for an hour to wait to pick-up another missionary checked out the Church Administrative building and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and then we were on the bus for another 4ish hours until we finally got of in Idaho Falls at the mission office. We arrived at 4:45 ish.

Then we spent some time learning about the mission, then we drove to the mission home talked to the AP's (apparently I am a wanted commodity because I can play piano and lead music), and spent another while eating good food from the Nelsons, having quick interviews and eventually learning who our trainers would be. We didn't meet them that night, just got their names. Then sleep because it was 10 already!

Thursday morning we ate amazing waffles from Sister Nelson, and then went back to the mission office to meet our companions and ride the "Transfer Train". But it turns out we don't get to ride it because we are going to a new area and we have to go with the housing coordinator and set up and clean the apartment. We got in his van and traveled to one of his three storage units to pick up a microwave, some desks, chairs, mattresses, and lots of other stuff too. Then we drove to the new area in Ucon. Turns out they decided to split the stake and make two areas out of it. So neither me nor Elder Anderson know whats going on or who anyone is. we spend around 4 hours helping Elder Mardis (Housing) set up the apartment. then we had to go and meet the Ward Missionary Leader for Yellowstone ward Brother Phillips. We ate a little bit then drove around while he told us about all of the less actives, part member families, and investigators in his ward. He knew all of his stuff. It was real amazing. Also he has a metal hand. So that's cool.

Before I go on I am going to go back and talk about the last few days in the MTC

Sunday some stuff happened.

Monday some stuff happened.

Tuesday some stuff happened.

Wednesday I went to Idaho.

There! now we are all caught up!

Just kidding. Some more stuff happened than that.

But not much.

Tuesday I decided to wear my purple tie because the district was getting pictures. And the very first person we saw upon leaving residency complemented it... I am fairly sure that tie is cursed. Also some brownies (and pens and a pillow sheet that I will never sleep on) mysteriously arrived for ME! There was so much that the whole zone got some! 

Alright that's all that happened! Back to Thursday!

After we met with the Yellowstone WML, we met with the Bishop! Bennett is his name and he knew just as much about the people around as the WML! good on em! By then we needed to head back home finish unpacking and go to sleep!

FRIDAY:

We went around and tried to meet with all the people on the list that was given us by the previous Elders, we also met with ,as many as were home, the WMLeaders and Bishops! Cottonwood doesn't have a WML! That tells you how well the work in that ward is going! it isn't! We got a ton of dinner appointments with members and even some PI's (sidenote: apparently there will never be a night where I will make my own dinner...) When we ran out of things to do then we walked around and tried some doors near houses we already were going to meet with! Either we ran into a member or we ran into a ᴠᴇʀʏ not member. So that was fun. Eventually it was 9 so we went home and slept.

SATURDAY:

We spent a large amount of time driving from the stake center (where our wards meet) to people's houses then back to the stake center. (sidenote again: our days currently start at noon ish because of extra study and lunch) After we met with some members tryin to get to know people then we spent a bit of time knocking on doors waiting for meetings. We knocked on one and they were nice but didn't want any, and the next one we knocked on was a member who said "don't bother knocking on that door those people hate the missionaries" so that was funny in the moment. There was also a funeral at the stake center all day so we stopped in after the fact for some food and to help clean everything up. I feel like my hand is going to fall off with all of the handshaking... oh well. Before the day was over we met with an Investigator Nina Klinger. She lives with her two daughters and her son in a house that is almost as bad as that families health problems. That meeting went well, but we won't be seeing her for a while because she has to go to Salt Lake for several different checkups. Her daughters 10-12 have both been baptized, but she hasn't. and both of the daughters are super less active so we have a lot of work to do with them. 

SUNDAY:

The day started early at 7 with Homestead's Ward Council, then Monuments WC then two sacrament meetings back to back and then a meeting with the other missionaries in the Stake to talk about whats been going on, also in that meeting was our stakes Senior Missionaries! The Christensens are awesome, and nice, and were in the MTC at the same time as me. After that we met with another investigator, Ryan! his whole family is LDS but he isn't. his Girlfriend is going on a mission and so he decided to finally decide to take the lessons and see if the church is true. We had an awesome lesson and got the whole family to re read the book of mormon and pray morning and night! After that we went back to church for our third sacrament meeting and SURPRISE! Nita is there, but none of her kids came with her. :( she stayed for all three meetings so that's awesome. after that we went to dinner(sidenote the third: all the pictures you are getting are from member mothers who also have had missionaries.) and then we went to two bishops firesides. one was at his house, and one was in the chapel at the stake center. after that it was 9 yet again so off to bed we went!

So far that's been it! I need to go and write a letter to President, and be done writing!

(sidenote the fourth, back and forth email conversations are totally allowed so if you reply quick I might be able to also reply quick.)

--Elder Darcey

LTPS

President, Mrs President and Ryan: Week Five

Made It To Idaho

Flew to Idaho on Wednesday the 17th of January.  

Brent Jay Nelson, 57, and Cheryl Ann Ellingson Nelson, five children, Woodburn 1st Ward, Keizer Oregon Stake: Idaho Idaho Falls Mission, succeeding President Glen R. Curtis and Sister Nancy Curtis. Brother Nelson is a former stake president, bishop, high councilor, stake Young Men president, stake mission presidency counselor, seminary teacher, Sunday School teacher and missionary in the Arizona Tempe Mission. Self-employed nursery owner. Born in Logan, Utah, to Jay Gerald Nelson and Julia Campbell Nelson.

Sister Nelson is a former stake Primary presidency counselor, ward Primary president, ward Young Women presidency counselor, seminary teacher, Primary teacher and cub scout leader.  Born in San Bernadino, CA to Jesse Roland Ellingson and Sharon Louise Bishop Ellingson. 


Family received three photos via text this week with messages from members and investigators letting us know what Elder Darcey accomplished this week.   Dia calls it "genius" missionary presidency work.

From Tiffany Anderson, "Your boys are at our house today teaching my son Ryan.  They are doing some amazing work.  

Our family just had the best scripture study with these two wonderful Elders.  Thank you for sending them on their missions.  

Just had these elders over to dinner.  You have done a great job with your sons. 

Adam Fell that Man Might Be: Men are That They Might Email! Week Four

Here we are. My final week at the MTC is halfway over. I leave on Wednesday at 9 in the morning. Then I head to the Salt Lake Airport (Yes flying, weird I know) and an hour-ish later I am in Idaho Falls.

And so, I reflect.

Sunday we woke up to no power. All the hall lights were out and the electric locks on the buildings were dead. As we started to expand our awareness, we discovered that it wasn't just our floor or just our building, turns out all of MTC campus, and a majority of East Provo was dead. Also there was fog. Not just regular fog. This was ADVANCED FOG! And we could not see further than 20ish feet in front of our face. Super weird. Other than that our Sunday was uneventful. It was fast Sunday, so the MTC presidency spoke to us.

Then Monday, started with cleaning classrooms and prank-ing the new-ish Elders with the Stupid-Green-Box (it's just a green Tupperware filled with parts of old games and trash. The prank is that it is easy to knock over, then you have to clean it up...) At class we learned how to change a lesson so that it pertains more to the investigator than simply teaching them. We also practiced teaching with the cool pamphlets. Dia sent me a letter, and our TRC with Adam went splendidly. Too bad we only had two lessons with him. We also practiced first meetings with people, and I imagine that normally that is taught in the mission field.

Tuesday we had only one class where we had to practice teaching by only asking questions. Dang it was hard. And the rest of the day nothing else happened. I got some packages :) and Elder Brown and I did lots of studying. The devotional was by Elder Bednar... He talked about what will be happening with the prophet being dead. Basically President Nelson was already the head of the Church as soon as President Monson was re-assigned. (Read D&C 107)

Elders Johnson and Berry(roommates) are off to Georgia as of Wednesday morning. They will be missed. But... I stole Berry's bed already. We practiced asking the Baptisimal questions and also got to watch some of our TRC recordings from a week ago. dang that hurt. We then went and showed the brand new district around the MTC and Elder Brown REALLY hurt his finger in the gym. 

Thursday we did LOTS of practice teaching SIMPLY. Which noone in our district was doing. Everyone felt kinda meh after that class because it hit real hard. most of us had been doing real bad in lessons, because of complicated teachings. The rest of that day went a lot better though. We practiced teaching about the Priesthood and Temples, and our TRC went alot better.

Friday everyone decided that they were all REALLY TIRED. We all had a slow day. Elder Brown's Dry Cleaning is lost and the people who cleaned in the morning didn't actually clean. they just made the building worse. We all got to watch President Monson's Funeral, and after that we spent time watching the cool hour long video on his life. It's awesome how much he did for getting the church into Germany. Our TRC also got REALLY CLOSE to baptism. But I think he threw "Maybe" at us to see what we would say... he is absolutely LDS........  Other than that our day went pretty well.

Today has gone great so far but not much has happened! I am now going to go get some stuff laminated, and write some actual phisical letters, because they are awesome. That's it for now!

Elder Darcey II

I have come here to chew bubblegum and send Email. And Elders can't chew bubblegum 1-6-18

The week has come and gone. So we look back and write an Email.

The 31st started with the crown of district leader being passed to me. The previous leader acending to the height of Zone leader. After church meetings we had the Sunday devotional. Speaker Brad Wilcox. So that was cool. He spoke on a ton of different things but of the two that I particularly remember, one was a story where he and an Elder are on a train, and the cabin they are in has a plaque that states "The Pope Sat In This Cabin" and the Elder was extremely excited by this. Then Bro. Wilcox said to the Elder "I am going to make a new plaque. One that reads "Here sat Elder___  who has more authority to represent Jesus Christ than the pope.""

Too bad MTC talks aren't released like BYU ones are. 

We also got to watch the Character of Christ which was a talk I had not seen until now. If you have not seen/listened/read it before do it now. I can wait...

Alright.

Now that you have seen it, we can continue.

On Monday we had our first TRC (Totally Real-people Center) that's where we go and teach members who everyone says are actually investigators. haha I jest. Out of our two people Emily and Jeff, Jeff has an actual chance of being a investigator but Emily not so much. We had continued meetings throughout the week with them, and honestly the first days meetings were awful. But the more Elder Brown and I were teaching, the better it has gotten by leaps and bounds. Also Monday we met our fourth teacher bro Lyon! The day ended with a spontaneous ULTRA-SPIRITUAL zone meeting in our room late at night. Basically the Elders before us were leaving in the morning and so we went around and bore some awesome testimonies about each other and the work they would be doing in just a few days. It was Awesome.

On Tuesday Elder Cook in our district had to go to the ER because he prolly had appendicitis thankfully he didn't, but the docs don't actually know what is causing the pain in the side he is having. Also President Monson died. Dang. His last talk in GC was back in April when he simply bore his testimony about the truthfulness of the BoM. It's powerful. Go watch it. As far as what we are doing in classes rn, we have been mostly working on teaching skills, and less on the doctrine. Actually talking is the hard part not knowing the knowledge.

On Wednesday, we got to host the new missionaries entering the MTC. All we had to do was pick them up from the basement, take them to their room, then take them to their class. The second Elder (only did two) that I did was going to Alaska. so that's cool. Elder Johnson used a fake Scottish accent to host, and one of the fathers of an Elder was actually Scottish and he didn't realize it was fake.

Thursday, basically nothing happened because a large majority of our district was sick. (I blame the Alaska Elder) The evening class that day only had two people who made it. and they weren't us. (none of us are sick as of Saturday)

And Friday we had an awesome TRC lesson, plenty of studying time, and between classes Elder Brown and I had a spirited conversation about what fiction story (movie/book/tv-show) had the best, and the most realistic, portrayal of time travel. (harry potters makes the most sense, but is entirely unrealistic.)

Our laundry is finishing up so I am out-a-time. After I am done here we are going to head back to our residence, clean up a bit, then prepare a lesson for tomorrow. 

Always send your questions and thanks for reading!

--Elder Darcey