See August 30 letter for details about punching the fish
Monday, August 30, 2010
August 30, 2010 - 20th Birthday
Aighright aighright aighright aighright
so here it is
monday:
We caught a HUGE FISH
18 inches 6 lbs...did i tell you this?
yea it's fat
I literally punched the thing to death after they caught it.....video to come..but yea
the didn't have any bait, so i got a stink bug and gave it to them...
they didn't think it would work so they through it in the creek
they eventually catch the fish...
when we gut it...i split open the stomach and guess what....stink bug, same one.
owned.
anyways,
then we went into boulder to pearl street
i bought myself a CU shirt and a Volcom tie for my bday! yay me.
then we chilled, played sand volleyball at the institute on campus and what not.
Went to dinner, then to The Hafer's (brittany and mark, + child TJ) for a lesson!!!
finished the missionary lessons.
Tue had some apps cancel in the morning. Contacted, other stuff.....had another appointment aka review night with brittany, went awesome.
Wednesday started out with some service for this dude who's like broken, cleaned out his garage, went well. Biked home, got taken out to lunch by some people we know here, b/c elder arterburn was leaving. Found out that Indian Food is like my cryptonite. It's good going in, but yea man....rough stuff. Had a great culinary art of a dinner, samon over rice. And met with DS, our jersey guy, talked about the gospel and all the little nuances of the east coast speak.
Thursday we had district meeting. Went well. Elder Searle, Layaffa, and me made a nasty Smoothie out of Dr. Pepper, cheetos, and cookies. Didn't taste too good. Went to the old folks home and did bingo.....there was this one really whack lady who kept hitting on arterburn and me....it was probably the most disgusting thing i've experienced lol, while being hilarious at the same time. It was 107 degrees that day. i literally felt like i was in an oven.
After that Brittany had her baptismal interviews and everything just went smashing! The Wells took us out to Chili's for ribs, SO GOOD! went into a rib coma that night.
Friday i woke up with a migrane :( elder arterburn had a dr. apointment and we hit friday traffic coming home from aurora. Did weekly planning ate dinner, normal boring evening.
Saturday we had a BAPTISM!!!
it went awesomely!
There were 3 other investigators from the other missionaries in our district and 2 of them said they wanted to get baptized.
It was so awesome, very spiritual experience.
Sunday was church, Brittany's confirmation, and a lot of goodbyes for elder arterburn. He's going up to Longmont and i'm going to stay here and be senior companion in Louisville with Elder Patrone Petrone? pet-row-na. yea so it should be good. hopefully we don't get lost too many time.
Oh and today i officially am not a teenager anymore.
happy birthday me lol.
So it was a great week
Baptism!
Birthday
And now transfer day will stink lol.
it's all good though.
It's worth it. Life is worth it, only because the atonement of Christ makes things possible!
Never give up
Never surrender
Love you all
Jonathan
so here it is
monday:
We caught a HUGE FISH
18 inches 6 lbs...did i tell you this?
yea it's fat
I literally punched the thing to death after they caught it.....video to come..but yea
the didn't have any bait, so i got a stink bug and gave it to them...
they didn't think it would work so they through it in the creek
they eventually catch the fish...
when we gut it...i split open the stomach and guess what....stink bug, same one.
owned.
anyways,
then we went into boulder to pearl street
i bought myself a CU shirt and a Volcom tie for my bday! yay me.
then we chilled, played sand volleyball at the institute on campus and what not.
Went to dinner, then to The Hafer's (brittany and mark, + child TJ) for a lesson!!!
finished the missionary lessons.
Tue had some apps cancel in the morning. Contacted, other stuff.....had another appointment aka review night with brittany, went awesome.
Wednesday started out with some service for this dude who's like broken, cleaned out his garage, went well. Biked home, got taken out to lunch by some people we know here, b/c elder arterburn was leaving. Found out that Indian Food is like my cryptonite. It's good going in, but yea man....rough stuff. Had a great culinary art of a dinner, samon over rice. And met with DS, our jersey guy, talked about the gospel and all the little nuances of the east coast speak.
Thursday we had district meeting. Went well. Elder Searle, Layaffa, and me made a nasty Smoothie out of Dr. Pepper, cheetos, and cookies. Didn't taste too good. Went to the old folks home and did bingo.....there was this one really whack lady who kept hitting on arterburn and me....it was probably the most disgusting thing i've experienced lol, while being hilarious at the same time. It was 107 degrees that day. i literally felt like i was in an oven.
After that Brittany had her baptismal interviews and everything just went smashing! The Wells took us out to Chili's for ribs, SO GOOD! went into a rib coma that night.
Friday i woke up with a migrane :( elder arterburn had a dr. apointment and we hit friday traffic coming home from aurora. Did weekly planning ate dinner, normal boring evening.
Saturday we had a BAPTISM!!!
it went awesomely!
There were 3 other investigators from the other missionaries in our district and 2 of them said they wanted to get baptized.
It was so awesome, very spiritual experience.
Sunday was church, Brittany's confirmation, and a lot of goodbyes for elder arterburn. He's going up to Longmont and i'm going to stay here and be senior companion in Louisville with Elder Patrone Petrone? pet-row-na. yea so it should be good. hopefully we don't get lost too many time.
Oh and today i officially am not a teenager anymore.
happy birthday me lol.
So it was a great week
Baptism!
Birthday
And now transfer day will stink lol.
it's all good though.
It's worth it. Life is worth it, only because the atonement of Christ makes things possible!
Never give up
Never surrender
Love you all
Jonathan
August 23, 2010
So check it life happens here are my blurbs:
Did i tell you i was 4th cousins wiht the family i'm living with?
Summer is over :( the kids are back in school here.
PS: quote from last week "is there a doctor in the pyramid"=duck tales and the magic lamp
So let's see, this past week......*chime sounds and everything going to fuzziness like a bad sitcom=going back in time*
Monday, I wrote you guys and then shopped normal things. Hiked a mountain again up to a cave, but the cave was closed b/c of bats.....apparently they bats need their privacy in the mating season b/c people are too loud....or something. I like how bats and dogs are more protected than people here lol. Then we went to CU campus and I got a pic. with their fat buffalo statue outside of their stadium...so trunky for college football.
Tuesday lots of dropped appointments, lots of hotness (temperature wise), and yea, it was a rough day.
Wednesday we biked out to gunbarrell really early in the morning and I got my hair cut, looks so fresh, by a member in the ward. Saw a bunch of people out there and then biked home while Elder Arterburn got dehydrated and exhausted=really not good/healthy. Pumped him up with fluids and went back out and about. Had some really good lessons about strength and acting on faith that night.
Thursday was district meeting on CU campus...during school hours. Did I tell you where the church building is located? Right on the Sorority/Fraternity street. So there were a ton of girls out pledging and stuff. Let's just say they have the highest percentage of good looking girls I've ever seen in my entire life. It's nuts. Then someone forgot something at the building so we ended up looping around through boulder to go back and get it. White boy dreds should be illegal....they look so bad. lol. But eventually we made it back to Louisville and missed our time with old people doing Bingo :(. But we're scheduled for next week so it will be tight. That night we had a lesson with BH, who we started talking to like 4 weeks ago. We talked a lot about her questions and then she told us that she was ready to move forward. Therefore, we are having a baptism on this Saturday! We're super excited and it's been a great experience helping her find joy and happiness in her life. To see a family united and have hope again is a great thing.
Friday- drove to aurora for E. Arterburns Dr. Appointment. Took a little longer than expected. So we came home and finished weekly planning. Saw some people and had a great dinner of Samon and grilled vegetables and other amazing tasting things.
Sunday was excellent and extremely hot as usual. I ran out of short sleeve shirts so I biked around in long sleeves all day :( YUCK! but hey, it kept the mosquitoes off. Then by the end of the day I was beat and fell asleep at like 9:30 and didn't hear the alarm ring this morning.....sleep is a beautiful thing....one day i'll be able to sleep again.
Just realized I totally skipped saturday but nothing really happened. It was good.
Sorry this week was pretty bland.
Tons of biking.
love you all family and friends.
Take care.
Jonathan
Did i tell you i was 4th cousins wiht the family i'm living with?
Summer is over :( the kids are back in school here.
PS: quote from last week "is there a doctor in the pyramid"=duck tales and the magic lamp
So let's see, this past week......*chime sounds and everything going to fuzziness like a bad sitcom=going back in time*
Monday, I wrote you guys and then shopped normal things. Hiked a mountain again up to a cave, but the cave was closed b/c of bats.....apparently they bats need their privacy in the mating season b/c people are too loud....or something. I like how bats and dogs are more protected than people here lol. Then we went to CU campus and I got a pic. with their fat buffalo statue outside of their stadium...so trunky for college football.
Tuesday lots of dropped appointments, lots of hotness (temperature wise), and yea, it was a rough day.
Wednesday we biked out to gunbarrell really early in the morning and I got my hair cut, looks so fresh, by a member in the ward. Saw a bunch of people out there and then biked home while Elder Arterburn got dehydrated and exhausted=really not good/healthy. Pumped him up with fluids and went back out and about. Had some really good lessons about strength and acting on faith that night.
Thursday was district meeting on CU campus...during school hours. Did I tell you where the church building is located? Right on the Sorority/Fraternity street. So there were a ton of girls out pledging and stuff. Let's just say they have the highest percentage of good looking girls I've ever seen in my entire life. It's nuts. Then someone forgot something at the building so we ended up looping around through boulder to go back and get it. White boy dreds should be illegal....they look so bad. lol. But eventually we made it back to Louisville and missed our time with old people doing Bingo :(. But we're scheduled for next week so it will be tight. That night we had a lesson with BH, who we started talking to like 4 weeks ago. We talked a lot about her questions and then she told us that she was ready to move forward. Therefore, we are having a baptism on this Saturday! We're super excited and it's been a great experience helping her find joy and happiness in her life. To see a family united and have hope again is a great thing.
Friday- drove to aurora for E. Arterburns Dr. Appointment. Took a little longer than expected. So we came home and finished weekly planning. Saw some people and had a great dinner of Samon and grilled vegetables and other amazing tasting things.
Sunday was excellent and extremely hot as usual. I ran out of short sleeve shirts so I biked around in long sleeves all day :( YUCK! but hey, it kept the mosquitoes off. Then by the end of the day I was beat and fell asleep at like 9:30 and didn't hear the alarm ring this morning.....sleep is a beautiful thing....one day i'll be able to sleep again.
Just realized I totally skipped saturday but nothing really happened. It was good.
Sorry this week was pretty bland.
Tons of biking.
love you all family and friends.
Take care.
Jonathan
August 16, 2010
Dear Family
so this week has been long short and everything in between.
First off, let's go with tidbits:
Who remembers My Turn on Earth?
I hear the soundtrack to part of it this week (will explain where) and had vivid memories of all of us as tiny little kids watching it...all the actors having on very fashionable 90s clothes.
Who can tell me where this quote comes from: Is there a doctor in the pyramid?
Answer to come.
I found out that the member i'm staying with is my 4th cousin! ruben allred...so we've had fun talking about allred history.
So yea, i'll talk more, let's get down to it!
So last monday i sent you an email...dun dun dun dun!
After email we did shopping and what not and then decided to go hiking.
it was really overcast and cloudy but we hadn't heard any thunder or anything so we decided to go. We went to some mountain in the foothills of the flat irons, longs peak is a little north west of us...so we can't go there, it's a 14er. So we're hiking, and then we hear thunder off in the distance....but we're about 3/4 of the way up so we're like w/e. anyways, we get about 200 feet away from the top and all the sudden we look up and it's doomsday. It starts to drizzle and within 30 seconds it's hailing and dumping sheets of rain. my comp and boyce, other boulder elder, started to go back, but i could see the top and nothing was gonna stop me, so searle went with me and we made it to the top.... bad idea lol.
mom yes i'm alive, so you can read the rest now.
so we're at the top and lightning starts hitting like crazy, and the hail gets bigger... funny thing about the top of a mountain is that there's not a lot of places to take cover. So we found one little crevice to hide behind and pretty much got destroyed. There was a literal river forming on the next mountain rock face over, so we decided we should probably get down. So with a prayer in our hearts we started down and got pretty thrashed by the storm. It also was super cold up there, especially with the rain, and we were in shorts and t-shirts. but we made it down and found the other two huddled somewhere, so we took shelter and waited for it to blow over. we got a little window, so we booked it down the muddy trail, with a couple close near death experiences as we went, but made it down. we plan on doing another hike just like that one today :D, hopefully without the weather problems tho :(.
Anyways, that was good, we all went home and took hot showers...never felt so good.
Then we had dinner, tons of pizza, with our whole zone at our stake presidents house. It was good fun. i got to see elder alatriste who was in my last zone with me and we had a good time talking in spanish. One of the elders who's goign home at the end of the transfer can do a great President Ely impression and we all had a good time. After that our appointment cancelled, and so we walked around trying to find people ot talk to but to no avail....
Have i ever told you guys what boulder is like....well, let me do so.
So, this place is one of the wealthiest places...no the wealthiest place i've ever lived in. The housing and cost of living is comparative to SoCal. A 1 story house with a partial basement is like.... 500K. An apartment AN APARTMENT in the city is 100K.....no lie, retarded. The cars going on the road go like this....Subaru Subaru Lexus Subaru, Jeep (high end) subaru, lexus, lexus, mercedes, lexus, subaru, subaru, subaru, Subaru STI, Lexus, corvette, old car, honda, and then repeat. I'll give you some of the people in our ward, Head of Legality for Chipotle, Owner of Tech 9 and Nomis snowboarding companies, Other owners of various companies, Owners of Real Estate companies, other lawyers and consultants, A Guam EPA Consultant, just you know...normal things like that. The teenagers here all have cars and yea.....it's different, lol, but the people are all nice, just pretty happy the way things are and yea... anyways, now you know. OH!, and everyone here bikes....like full spandex and like 3000$ gary fishers and stuff....it's ridiculous. i'm like...go buy a homeless guy (there's a bunch in boulder) lunch or something. dang son.
but yea
after that rant i will now continue with this week.
Tuesday was fantastic!
We WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!
it was so good. We planned it the same day as elder bryan from my old district who is actually now comps with elder arterburns last comp who transferred from here...so we all had a good time. We did 2 sessions, and i managed to stay awake! the 2nd one was where one of elder arterburns converts was going through for the first time. Then we went to olive garden, so good. Came back and I saw Timothy Smith, my first Zone Leader who asked me if I was AP yet. I laughed and asked if he really hated me that much lol, that he wanted to curse me with such a thing. AP = Assistant to the President, you sit in the office, make phone calls, and do “office stuff” and don’t get to be “out there” really. And we had a good talk, he went home friday :( after extending forever more. We did a bunch of confirmations and then they needed help in the baptistry so I got to go and help a youth group with that. There was a name "Angel Grandpa" and i almost laughed. Then one of the last names was Cookenmaster. It was good. I’m short, kids are tall. Anyways, had a great time, went home and had dinner with a family, and the parents know uncle david i think, at least in passing, they saw him at some place in utah apparently last week. so that's cool.
Wednesday was Arterburn's 18 month bday, so we celebrated by doing missionary work lol.
We've been meeting with this one family where the dad is a member of our church and the mom is wicken, and talking about Christ and stuff. It's been going well. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2 Nephi. She was like, I wanted to find out if this was true and real, but I didn't expect an answer so fast. Apparently she had some very strong feelings while she was reading, and is really open to learning more. And From the book of Galatians, we know that that is how God talks to us. In chapter....4 or 5, it talks about the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, ect. all that jazz.
God doesn't always send us answers in neon lights or anything, he sends them to our hearts and minds, and comforts us.
So that was good. Then we went over to a family in our ward and had a talk about the fruits of the spirit and how we can listen to promptings in hard times, for example, school is starting back up and they have one in 10th and one in 8th, so we talked about how to stay on the right path and be happy. THEY KNITTED ME SOCKS! THAT'S WHY I'M A MISSIONARY! J/K. Then we had a good dinner with a smith family with three little kids. The baby 5 months old, was trying to eat something off the table and one of the kids...like 6 was like, yea, "she likes human food" and i about had a gagging attack, it was so funny. We did the lesson about how we can be clean through Christ, with a bowl of water where we put pepper in it...and then a drop of dish soap and all the pepper goes *shooop* to the sides. it was good. stopped by and set up some appointments.....yea, people here are very buuussssy, strangely enough, they always seem busy....hmmmmm, lol, but yea there's good people here.
Thursday was a funny day. We had a good lesson in the morning with someone learning about the church, and then in the afternoon we went to work at the old people memory loss care center. We played bingo again, and it was super fun. One of the old men, looked over at me, and was like...Do you think we're gonna make it? with reference to the game, and i was like. yea wink, just hold on with me buddy, and he was like...aight, let's do this, it was so funny. then some old lady like ran up to me and grabbed my fat cheeks and was like...they're so perfect! and your nose, and this and this and this and this, and she was like...i wouldn't change a thing...
it was funny and i was like....are you hitting on me lady? j/k i didn't say that, but i thought it, and then she ran off. it was good times. then we had music time with them and played drums. Working with old people is like working with little kids. I love it. But eventually we had to leave and went back out into the real world (the place where the live looks like an old town with shops and a town center where they meet and stuff, it's sweet). Had some dropped appointments and some unexpected ones...ended up at dinner with our 2nd counselor in the bishopric...bro fowles. he owns a graphic design company. he's tight. PS: keep your eyes out for a place called "smash burger" they're going places. They're company had 800% growth or something just ridiculous last year, and he does all they're advertising. Burger place. so delicious. anyways, he has 6 kids under 12, it was a good time.
Friday, we went to the Dr for elder arterburn, it was like a Mormon place too (attached to the cannery). so while he saw the doctor i waited in the waiting room and listened to the my turn on earth soundtrack blaring through the speakers lol. and then there was some song with these lyrics "the winds of change will guide you to reach for stars" and i don't know what song it was, but i really liked it. can someone find it for me? Then we went home and did weekly planning. Saw some people out in Gunnbarrel, one of the 3 towns we cover. Saw an indian friend of ours with a wicked sweet accent, and then biked literally 30 miles to finish out the rest of our day. I wanted to die.
30 miles.
However, most of it was through the part in between Gunnbarrel Heatherwood and Louisville, which looks a lot like the east coast. it's all like farms and animals and fields of corn and no shoulder (which makes biking fun) and there was actually humidity! cuz there was a stream/creek going through near us, and it felt like home! I LOVED IT!
Saturday we finished up some weekly planning and goal setting stuff. lunch was good. Met with the lady reading the book of Mormon, again, and it was really good. talked about the gospel of Christ, mostly the principles (lesson 3). then had dinner with the fischer family, and i finally got to meet my bishop who's been in Hawaii for the whole time i've been here. He's way cool, owns an orchid shop here, way sweet. Fantasy Orchids, look it up. Oh and our Indian friend, named Sudhanshu, referenced some sick quote something about, you can fill the oceans with one drop at a time or something.....i don't know if he made that up cuz he's like that cool. or if it's something else.
Sunday was good. Way good. lots of things happened but i am out of time.
So, my thought for this week.
The reason I'm on my mission is because of....love.
yep. Love for a lot of different things.
First and foremost my Father in Heaven.
I've felt so much love from Him that I can't help but be thankful for all of it and want to help others feel it too.
2nd People. i've always been a people person. Weather or not I felt comfortable in the past in large groups of people, I've always liked being around people no matter who they are, or what I’m doing. And I just love meeting new people and sharing a message that's helped me so much throughout my life.
Muslim, Hindu, Budist, Pagan, Christian, I've talked to all of them, and love them all.
And the thing is, the changes that i feel are happening in my life are probably greater than any that I am making in other people. Being able to talk to 40 and 50 year olds as a peer, being independent, learning to work hard, and not procrastinate, to stay healthy, take care of myself, find out who i am, what i believe, and so many more things...it's kinda hard to describe.
I'm definitely still me, fo sho, but with better set of priorities lol....sleep is definitely more important than rockstar now.....it's sad, but true, i love my sleep lol.
but yea.
The main thing i love, is seeing people be happy. that's what I'm all about.
That's the message that we share.
It's all about being happy. Knowing what's up, why we're here, where we're going.
We're all in it together, and that's about it.
Much love everyone.
Take care have a good week.
No Bears or Broken cars ok?
Elder J Allred
so this week has been long short and everything in between.
First off, let's go with tidbits:
Who remembers My Turn on Earth?
I hear the soundtrack to part of it this week (will explain where) and had vivid memories of all of us as tiny little kids watching it...all the actors having on very fashionable 90s clothes.
Who can tell me where this quote comes from: Is there a doctor in the pyramid?
Answer to come.
I found out that the member i'm staying with is my 4th cousin! ruben allred...so we've had fun talking about allred history.
So yea, i'll talk more, let's get down to it!
So last monday i sent you an email...dun dun dun dun!
After email we did shopping and what not and then decided to go hiking.
it was really overcast and cloudy but we hadn't heard any thunder or anything so we decided to go. We went to some mountain in the foothills of the flat irons, longs peak is a little north west of us...so we can't go there, it's a 14er. So we're hiking, and then we hear thunder off in the distance....but we're about 3/4 of the way up so we're like w/e. anyways, we get about 200 feet away from the top and all the sudden we look up and it's doomsday. It starts to drizzle and within 30 seconds it's hailing and dumping sheets of rain. my comp and boyce, other boulder elder, started to go back, but i could see the top and nothing was gonna stop me, so searle went with me and we made it to the top.... bad idea lol.
mom yes i'm alive, so you can read the rest now.
so we're at the top and lightning starts hitting like crazy, and the hail gets bigger... funny thing about the top of a mountain is that there's not a lot of places to take cover. So we found one little crevice to hide behind and pretty much got destroyed. There was a literal river forming on the next mountain rock face over, so we decided we should probably get down. So with a prayer in our hearts we started down and got pretty thrashed by the storm. It also was super cold up there, especially with the rain, and we were in shorts and t-shirts. but we made it down and found the other two huddled somewhere, so we took shelter and waited for it to blow over. we got a little window, so we booked it down the muddy trail, with a couple close near death experiences as we went, but made it down. we plan on doing another hike just like that one today :D, hopefully without the weather problems tho :(.
Anyways, that was good, we all went home and took hot showers...never felt so good.
Then we had dinner, tons of pizza, with our whole zone at our stake presidents house. It was good fun. i got to see elder alatriste who was in my last zone with me and we had a good time talking in spanish. One of the elders who's goign home at the end of the transfer can do a great President Ely impression and we all had a good time. After that our appointment cancelled, and so we walked around trying to find people ot talk to but to no avail....
Have i ever told you guys what boulder is like....well, let me do so.
So, this place is one of the wealthiest places...no the wealthiest place i've ever lived in. The housing and cost of living is comparative to SoCal. A 1 story house with a partial basement is like.... 500K. An apartment AN APARTMENT in the city is 100K.....no lie, retarded. The cars going on the road go like this....Subaru Subaru Lexus Subaru, Jeep (high end) subaru, lexus, lexus, mercedes, lexus, subaru, subaru, subaru, Subaru STI, Lexus, corvette, old car, honda, and then repeat. I'll give you some of the people in our ward, Head of Legality for Chipotle, Owner of Tech 9 and Nomis snowboarding companies, Other owners of various companies, Owners of Real Estate companies, other lawyers and consultants, A Guam EPA Consultant, just you know...normal things like that. The teenagers here all have cars and yea.....it's different, lol, but the people are all nice, just pretty happy the way things are and yea... anyways, now you know. OH!, and everyone here bikes....like full spandex and like 3000$ gary fishers and stuff....it's ridiculous. i'm like...go buy a homeless guy (there's a bunch in boulder) lunch or something. dang son.
but yea
after that rant i will now continue with this week.
Tuesday was fantastic!
We WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!
it was so good. We planned it the same day as elder bryan from my old district who is actually now comps with elder arterburns last comp who transferred from here...so we all had a good time. We did 2 sessions, and i managed to stay awake! the 2nd one was where one of elder arterburns converts was going through for the first time. Then we went to olive garden, so good. Came back and I saw Timothy Smith, my first Zone Leader who asked me if I was AP yet. I laughed and asked if he really hated me that much lol, that he wanted to curse me with such a thing. AP = Assistant to the President, you sit in the office, make phone calls, and do “office stuff” and don’t get to be “out there” really. And we had a good talk, he went home friday :( after extending forever more. We did a bunch of confirmations and then they needed help in the baptistry so I got to go and help a youth group with that. There was a name "Angel Grandpa" and i almost laughed. Then one of the last names was Cookenmaster. It was good. I’m short, kids are tall. Anyways, had a great time, went home and had dinner with a family, and the parents know uncle david i think, at least in passing, they saw him at some place in utah apparently last week. so that's cool.
Wednesday was Arterburn's 18 month bday, so we celebrated by doing missionary work lol.
We've been meeting with this one family where the dad is a member of our church and the mom is wicken, and talking about Christ and stuff. It's been going well. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2 Nephi. She was like, I wanted to find out if this was true and real, but I didn't expect an answer so fast. Apparently she had some very strong feelings while she was reading, and is really open to learning more. And From the book of Galatians, we know that that is how God talks to us. In chapter....4 or 5, it talks about the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, ect. all that jazz.
God doesn't always send us answers in neon lights or anything, he sends them to our hearts and minds, and comforts us.
So that was good. Then we went over to a family in our ward and had a talk about the fruits of the spirit and how we can listen to promptings in hard times, for example, school is starting back up and they have one in 10th and one in 8th, so we talked about how to stay on the right path and be happy. THEY KNITTED ME SOCKS! THAT'S WHY I'M A MISSIONARY! J/K. Then we had a good dinner with a smith family with three little kids. The baby 5 months old, was trying to eat something off the table and one of the kids...like 6 was like, yea, "she likes human food" and i about had a gagging attack, it was so funny. We did the lesson about how we can be clean through Christ, with a bowl of water where we put pepper in it...and then a drop of dish soap and all the pepper goes *shooop* to the sides. it was good. stopped by and set up some appointments.....yea, people here are very buuussssy, strangely enough, they always seem busy....hmmmmm, lol, but yea there's good people here.
Thursday was a funny day. We had a good lesson in the morning with someone learning about the church, and then in the afternoon we went to work at the old people memory loss care center. We played bingo again, and it was super fun. One of the old men, looked over at me, and was like...Do you think we're gonna make it? with reference to the game, and i was like. yea wink, just hold on with me buddy, and he was like...aight, let's do this, it was so funny. then some old lady like ran up to me and grabbed my fat cheeks and was like...they're so perfect! and your nose, and this and this and this and this, and she was like...i wouldn't change a thing...
it was funny and i was like....are you hitting on me lady? j/k i didn't say that, but i thought it, and then she ran off. it was good times. then we had music time with them and played drums. Working with old people is like working with little kids. I love it. But eventually we had to leave and went back out into the real world (the place where the live looks like an old town with shops and a town center where they meet and stuff, it's sweet). Had some dropped appointments and some unexpected ones...ended up at dinner with our 2nd counselor in the bishopric...bro fowles. he owns a graphic design company. he's tight. PS: keep your eyes out for a place called "smash burger" they're going places. They're company had 800% growth or something just ridiculous last year, and he does all they're advertising. Burger place. so delicious. anyways, he has 6 kids under 12, it was a good time.
Friday, we went to the Dr for elder arterburn, it was like a Mormon place too (attached to the cannery). so while he saw the doctor i waited in the waiting room and listened to the my turn on earth soundtrack blaring through the speakers lol. and then there was some song with these lyrics "the winds of change will guide you to reach for stars" and i don't know what song it was, but i really liked it. can someone find it for me? Then we went home and did weekly planning. Saw some people out in Gunnbarrel, one of the 3 towns we cover. Saw an indian friend of ours with a wicked sweet accent, and then biked literally 30 miles to finish out the rest of our day. I wanted to die.
30 miles.
However, most of it was through the part in between Gunnbarrel Heatherwood and Louisville, which looks a lot like the east coast. it's all like farms and animals and fields of corn and no shoulder (which makes biking fun) and there was actually humidity! cuz there was a stream/creek going through near us, and it felt like home! I LOVED IT!
Saturday we finished up some weekly planning and goal setting stuff. lunch was good. Met with the lady reading the book of Mormon, again, and it was really good. talked about the gospel of Christ, mostly the principles (lesson 3). then had dinner with the fischer family, and i finally got to meet my bishop who's been in Hawaii for the whole time i've been here. He's way cool, owns an orchid shop here, way sweet. Fantasy Orchids, look it up. Oh and our Indian friend, named Sudhanshu, referenced some sick quote something about, you can fill the oceans with one drop at a time or something.....i don't know if he made that up cuz he's like that cool. or if it's something else.
Sunday was good. Way good. lots of things happened but i am out of time.
So, my thought for this week.
The reason I'm on my mission is because of....love.
yep. Love for a lot of different things.
First and foremost my Father in Heaven.
I've felt so much love from Him that I can't help but be thankful for all of it and want to help others feel it too.
2nd People. i've always been a people person. Weather or not I felt comfortable in the past in large groups of people, I've always liked being around people no matter who they are, or what I’m doing. And I just love meeting new people and sharing a message that's helped me so much throughout my life.
Muslim, Hindu, Budist, Pagan, Christian, I've talked to all of them, and love them all.
And the thing is, the changes that i feel are happening in my life are probably greater than any that I am making in other people. Being able to talk to 40 and 50 year olds as a peer, being independent, learning to work hard, and not procrastinate, to stay healthy, take care of myself, find out who i am, what i believe, and so many more things...it's kinda hard to describe.
I'm definitely still me, fo sho, but with better set of priorities lol....sleep is definitely more important than rockstar now.....it's sad, but true, i love my sleep lol.
but yea.
The main thing i love, is seeing people be happy. that's what I'm all about.
That's the message that we share.
It's all about being happy. Knowing what's up, why we're here, where we're going.
We're all in it together, and that's about it.
Much love everyone.
Take care have a good week.
No Bears or Broken cars ok?
Elder J Allred
August 9, 2010
Wonder of wonder miracles of miracles...
So, yea nothing huge, but i just thought i'd quote fiddler to start off because...
This morning I got up at 6:30 worked out and did all my stuff before studies at 8AM and I WAS AWAKE! it felt good to actually be functioning in the morning, i guess after 8 months that my body is used to it or something.
So....random tidbits to start
-i shipped a box...aka the box of stuff i was shipping to tina and matt, so they can bring in the MT for you all....you should all open it together....from the top...aka the side where the address is...and don't slice too far when you open it!
Yea...so open it all together! :D
-There's lots of things in there, most i just need stored, and the lollipop is for princess olivia who graciously sends me candy!
-Grandma Lois, thanks for the letter! Funny thing about sister Davis, is she is in my district! so i see her on P-Days and on Thursdays for district meeting, she's doing really well and is a super awesome missionary. Not even green. Another thing is that my trainer (Elder Hiatt) is in her same stake...are you in her stake? Do you know a Hiatt family? Daniel Hiatt, still elder, goes home in like 2 months to Winsten Salem....so not sure if you know him.
-Ben- Thanks for the bear update, if any of my family gets eaten by bears i'm blaming you, so you better rambo those bears. Also, do you remember an Elder Lamb? or Elder Kuan?
-I got my bike tuned up a little......i did some work myself and am learning lots about bikes...i wish i had time to take the whole thing apart and just figure it out....but not so...
-last pday we went fishing, elder arterburn got a 1' trout and i almost caught this huge one, i hooked it 5 times...it broke the line twice and flipped off twice.....it was so frustrating...we didn't have a net :( but we're going bk to get it in a week on next pday so i'll be sure to get a picture of the monster
-Isaac- the new duty to God program is sweet, get to work on it and it will help mission prep so much! Go out with the missionaries!
-I think that's it? Thanks for the letters this week nettina and bowmans and gma and anyone else......
ok
so
week time now
Last monday we did pday stuff, went fishing in the rain, really fun. then biked in the rain to dinner with this newly wed couple named the Woods. Nate Woods is going into like rocket science and actually took a class from uncle david and i thought it was funny. he talked about his class and quirks and they were quite accurate haha. he somehow got an internship with nasa through a friend through uncle david or something...idk. But anyways, then after dinner we went and set up an appointment with a drunk guy, that was good. lol. He's an X-firefighter and got really mentally thrashed by seeing tons of things and almost dying many times and having buildings collapse on him. But we met with him later in the week and committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said he would be baptized if he found out that it was true!
Tuesday was a rough day. We've been dealing with some health issues. and when we went out no one was home....and it rained and thundered at us. We saw a guy who hasn't been to church in a while and talked about how the scriptures bless our lives....it's sad to see people who know it's true but don’t act on it. Then dinner with someone i don't remember... and then more ppl weren't home :(
Wednesday we were all over the place, we had a very full day....however, not a lot of ppl were home. but we set up like a million return appointments so hopefully they go through. met up with another guy, DS, who hasn't been to church in a while...he's from jersey, not sure if i mentioned him before, but he's got the two nicest dobermans in the world. And some of the original frames from Oliver and Company....like the transparencies that the artists used in the film...its sweet.
We talked about friends, our casual acquaintances and what makes them different from our best friends. what are the characteristics of each. and then which side is God on? which side do we want him to be on?
Thursday was district meeting, which went well. Then we went to do service at an old folks with mental disabilities and memory loss home. So we played bingo, and i got to be the candy man.
Old people are so funny. I was taking one guy to the living room area to have a "reminiscing" session with the rest of everybody but he took me to a closet and was like...this is my room...it's not much of a looker. and i was like...uhhh ok wink, that's his name is wink, i like it...now let's just go over here. it was really good to do service again. I've never heard "oh heavens" so many times in my life lol. Afterwards we went to see our new investigator the firefighter and didn't show. but we ended up finding him in a park and he said he had a job interview, so we just sat down and did the lesson there, which i already talked about. it went well. then we booked it to dinner with and English sister and her brother. they have such tight accents. We discussed the articles of faith and how they explain plain and precious truths.
Friday was weekly planning. boring day.
Saturday was essentially a stay at home day cuz Elder Arterburn wasn't doing too well with his illness. I ended up calling our mission presidents wife and he's going to go see a doctor and get everything taken care of, which i'm very grateful for. It also gave me time to write my talk for sunday and read the Book of Mormon. I loved it.
Sunday church... I gave a talk on preaching the gospel. i really liked it and i'll try and send you all a copy. elder arterburn talked about living the gospel. It's amazing how being a missionary just gets you so used to being in uncomfortable positions, that as soon as i stood up there on the stand like...i just felt totally comfortable. I love giving talks now. Then we met with a part member family and talked about the restoration. The mom is going to read the Book of Mormon and find out if it's the word of God! The dad, who is a member just got a set of 150$ skateboard bearings for free....cuz his buddy owns a skateshop..i'm so jealous. Then we dropped E. Arterburns bike off for service.....wlaked around...contacted people.... had dinner with an awesome family.
Walked around more and i babbeled the first lesson to Elder Arterburn in spanish. I think i did pretty well, seeing as I haven't had a spanish conversation since talking with Hicidro a long time ago. But yea, we're going to go see this spanish lady on thursday, a friend of a member, and see if she's interested in taking the lessons. If so we'll turn her over to our awesome lucky spanish elders and go from there.
But this week has been good.
I learned a lot of patience...and stuff.
I was also thinking, being on a mission is like growing 20 years older instantly.
Because most of the people we interact with are...older, like....40 or 30s or 50s and have alot more knowledge and life experience than we do. and to connect with these people we have to be on the same level...and it's almost like i can feel myself becoming an old fart...though i'm still FRESH TO DEATH.....like crazy.
but yea, i love being a missionary, it’s seriously the best job in the world.
You hear people make fools of themselves as they try and yell disses out of car windows, and then the occasional cat call from the local college chicks and what not....
and we get to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
What a blessing it is! We KNOW, that families can be together forever....that's what helps me maintain my sanity of being away from all of you for so long.
But i love you all.
Continue to read the Book of Mormon....and Mormon is actually a very good book (Mormon is just one section of the whole book, but it’s named after him because he compiled it), i just finished it, and now i'm in the book of Ether.
but i love you all
take care
have fun familia
Jonathan
So, yea nothing huge, but i just thought i'd quote fiddler to start off because...
This morning I got up at 6:30 worked out and did all my stuff before studies at 8AM and I WAS AWAKE! it felt good to actually be functioning in the morning, i guess after 8 months that my body is used to it or something.
So....random tidbits to start
-i shipped a box...aka the box of stuff i was shipping to tina and matt, so they can bring in the MT for you all....you should all open it together....from the top...aka the side where the address is...and don't slice too far when you open it!
Yea...so open it all together! :D
-There's lots of things in there, most i just need stored, and the lollipop is for princess olivia who graciously sends me candy!
-Grandma Lois, thanks for the letter! Funny thing about sister Davis, is she is in my district! so i see her on P-Days and on Thursdays for district meeting, she's doing really well and is a super awesome missionary. Not even green. Another thing is that my trainer (Elder Hiatt) is in her same stake...are you in her stake? Do you know a Hiatt family? Daniel Hiatt, still elder, goes home in like 2 months to Winsten Salem....so not sure if you know him.
-Ben- Thanks for the bear update, if any of my family gets eaten by bears i'm blaming you, so you better rambo those bears. Also, do you remember an Elder Lamb? or Elder Kuan?
-I got my bike tuned up a little......i did some work myself and am learning lots about bikes...i wish i had time to take the whole thing apart and just figure it out....but not so...
-last pday we went fishing, elder arterburn got a 1' trout and i almost caught this huge one, i hooked it 5 times...it broke the line twice and flipped off twice.....it was so frustrating...we didn't have a net :( but we're going bk to get it in a week on next pday so i'll be sure to get a picture of the monster
-Isaac- the new duty to God program is sweet, get to work on it and it will help mission prep so much! Go out with the missionaries!
-I think that's it? Thanks for the letters this week nettina and bowmans and gma and anyone else......
ok
so
week time now
Last monday we did pday stuff, went fishing in the rain, really fun. then biked in the rain to dinner with this newly wed couple named the Woods. Nate Woods is going into like rocket science and actually took a class from uncle david and i thought it was funny. he talked about his class and quirks and they were quite accurate haha. he somehow got an internship with nasa through a friend through uncle david or something...idk. But anyways, then after dinner we went and set up an appointment with a drunk guy, that was good. lol. He's an X-firefighter and got really mentally thrashed by seeing tons of things and almost dying many times and having buildings collapse on him. But we met with him later in the week and committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said he would be baptized if he found out that it was true!
Tuesday was a rough day. We've been dealing with some health issues. and when we went out no one was home....and it rained and thundered at us. We saw a guy who hasn't been to church in a while and talked about how the scriptures bless our lives....it's sad to see people who know it's true but don’t act on it. Then dinner with someone i don't remember... and then more ppl weren't home :(
Wednesday we were all over the place, we had a very full day....however, not a lot of ppl were home. but we set up like a million return appointments so hopefully they go through. met up with another guy, DS, who hasn't been to church in a while...he's from jersey, not sure if i mentioned him before, but he's got the two nicest dobermans in the world. And some of the original frames from Oliver and Company....like the transparencies that the artists used in the film...its sweet.
We talked about friends, our casual acquaintances and what makes them different from our best friends. what are the characteristics of each. and then which side is God on? which side do we want him to be on?
Thursday was district meeting, which went well. Then we went to do service at an old folks with mental disabilities and memory loss home. So we played bingo, and i got to be the candy man.
Old people are so funny. I was taking one guy to the living room area to have a "reminiscing" session with the rest of everybody but he took me to a closet and was like...this is my room...it's not much of a looker. and i was like...uhhh ok wink, that's his name is wink, i like it...now let's just go over here. it was really good to do service again. I've never heard "oh heavens" so many times in my life lol. Afterwards we went to see our new investigator the firefighter and didn't show. but we ended up finding him in a park and he said he had a job interview, so we just sat down and did the lesson there, which i already talked about. it went well. then we booked it to dinner with and English sister and her brother. they have such tight accents. We discussed the articles of faith and how they explain plain and precious truths.
Friday was weekly planning. boring day.
Saturday was essentially a stay at home day cuz Elder Arterburn wasn't doing too well with his illness. I ended up calling our mission presidents wife and he's going to go see a doctor and get everything taken care of, which i'm very grateful for. It also gave me time to write my talk for sunday and read the Book of Mormon. I loved it.
Sunday church... I gave a talk on preaching the gospel. i really liked it and i'll try and send you all a copy. elder arterburn talked about living the gospel. It's amazing how being a missionary just gets you so used to being in uncomfortable positions, that as soon as i stood up there on the stand like...i just felt totally comfortable. I love giving talks now. Then we met with a part member family and talked about the restoration. The mom is going to read the Book of Mormon and find out if it's the word of God! The dad, who is a member just got a set of 150$ skateboard bearings for free....cuz his buddy owns a skateshop..i'm so jealous. Then we dropped E. Arterburns bike off for service.....wlaked around...contacted people.... had dinner with an awesome family.
Walked around more and i babbeled the first lesson to Elder Arterburn in spanish. I think i did pretty well, seeing as I haven't had a spanish conversation since talking with Hicidro a long time ago. But yea, we're going to go see this spanish lady on thursday, a friend of a member, and see if she's interested in taking the lessons. If so we'll turn her over to our awesome lucky spanish elders and go from there.
But this week has been good.
I learned a lot of patience...and stuff.
I was also thinking, being on a mission is like growing 20 years older instantly.
Because most of the people we interact with are...older, like....40 or 30s or 50s and have alot more knowledge and life experience than we do. and to connect with these people we have to be on the same level...and it's almost like i can feel myself becoming an old fart...though i'm still FRESH TO DEATH.....like crazy.
but yea, i love being a missionary, it’s seriously the best job in the world.
You hear people make fools of themselves as they try and yell disses out of car windows, and then the occasional cat call from the local college chicks and what not....
and we get to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
What a blessing it is! We KNOW, that families can be together forever....that's what helps me maintain my sanity of being away from all of you for so long.
But i love you all.
Continue to read the Book of Mormon....and Mormon is actually a very good book (Mormon is just one section of the whole book, but it’s named after him because he compiled it), i just finished it, and now i'm in the book of Ether.
but i love you all
take care
have fun familia
Jonathan
August 2, 2010
Dear family
So, dun dun dun dun
Today i have officially been a missionary for 8 full months! *Raa raa yeaa whoo hoo*
Feels like 8 years...lol
Mission time never seems to make sense to me, it's always way too short or way too long....no middle ground, but whatevs.
Shout outs to THE MAXWELL FAMILY and LYDIA CRYSTAL and THE BOWMANS and SMITHS for letters this week!
So last pday i had my dr appointment in the morning which i already wrote about....
then email and shopping and what not. Thennnnn....we went to the institute building on CU campus...or maybe it was a diff one and played BBALL and VBall, really fun. One of my ZL's is samoan from western samoa or "the real samoa" as he calls it. He's the freaking funniest guy ever. I was playing the piano (which i figured out i want a baldwin grand exactly like they have there, it's probably just a couple thousand dollars or something, no big right?) and he sang and it was the funniest thing ever. good times. Then we ate dinner with a couple that works in the temple, hopefully they'll be able to help us out with transportation, cuz i have a trip and we're planning on going saturday if all goes according to plan.
Also, did i tell you about the insanity of this bike area?
So on average we bike 20+ miles a day. The most i think was like 27ish. It's insanity. While my legs were pretty big back in arvada, they are now just like...rock solid and bumpy and nuts crazy. We see all these like spandex bikers "roadies" and i'm like...real bikers bike in church clothes with backpacks...on heavy mountain bikes. But yea, it is really hard. This place is as hilly as PA, it's nuts, i must be too close to the rockies, which i have dubbed the misty mountains. AT least the ones that overlook CU boulder.
Yea so tuesday was an interesting day.....
So we met with this lady who's a judge in the denver drug court.
And we talked to her and were gonna start teaching a lesson but then she was like...can we talk about this...and laid out a whole bunch of controversies, so we said a prayer, and were answering these questions, but her heart just wasn't open, her ears weren't open. She kept bugging us about answers and stuff and we pretty much laid it out that no matter what we said it wouldn't matter b/c if that's what she believes, then nothing else we say matters.....so yea we left. We went and dropped off a bday card for Sister Gordon (our bishop's mom). that was fun. Thennnnnnnnnn we met with a media referral who wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon, only so he could bash with his brother in law... so we tried to teach the first lesson and he ended up trying to saaave us and convert us...and so we just were like...well, you should read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. and that was about it....i guess technically he's a new investigator...but it probably won't go anywhere. Then dinner with this family who has the tightest back yard ever... the peck's, their dad is like a big kid...literally he made them the biggest swing ever...like a huge hamster wheel, a log cabin, and a huge like........spindal walking thing...i will take pictures and send them
PS: I DIDN"T SEND THE BOX!!! I've been so busy :(
i guess i will send it when you all get home...which is like the end of the transfer but it's all good. It's got dad's bday present in there...yes father, i didn't forget about you, i'm sorry you've had to wait :(!
And then after dinner we went to...................our most progressing investigator...ugh, the ugh is for later.. taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3 in PMG) which went well, she still hadn't received an answer about the Book Of Mormon or anything...yet... but it was good.
Wednesday morning, did some service for an investigator...more painting has happened on my mission than the rest of my life put together. Then we met with a family who's been...well, going through a lot lately, lots of family trials, and we're helping their one daughter prepare for baptism. Their really great, and they're a great example to us of how to press forward even when times are really tough.
Saw more people... And then met with DS, i believe i briefly mentioned him last week.....a beagle and 2 dobermans...crazy nice friendly dogs. We talked about the gift of the scritpures and how they bless our lives. Went off the talk of......Elder Christopherson from last General Conference. It's way good.
Thursday...wow. ZONE CONFERENCE!!!
It was the first time when i was like...yes i get to see people i haven't seen forever.
i saw elder taylor! and elder finn from the old arvada crew, they're now serving in longmont. But yea, we did a lot of missionary stuff, and once again MORE MISSION CHANGES! at least this time they are now world wide. ZC will be once every 3 months and interviews will also be once every 3 months...craziness.
Also lots of like....."curriculum" changes about what we learn in zone conference and stuff. Dinner with a young couple named the pauls....very cool. drum set...but no snare drum :(* then walked around without seeing like anyone....and home.. Kent and Matt told me to enjoy two years of getting no sleep...and i didn't understand what they meant...but now i do. I never get enough sleep. after biking like a mad man all day i could sleep for 24 hours. and our planning sessions go really long...so it takes a while....i miss sleep lol.
Friday was weekly planning and a bunch of cancelled appointments...nothing really big.
Saturday it was like...crazy hot+humid...it felt weird to feel humidity...
Saw lots and lots of uninterested people..........and that's about it.
Sunday was church we had 2 investigators at church that was good. One was R and the other was a family with a 2 year old, it was really good and i think they really really enjoyed it. Then we biked around and got really dehydrated and somehow survived until dinner when i drank a whole pitcher of water. Then we met with R again. so she's a different faith currently, and after our last lesson had been like...well let's discuss some of these topics and we started answering them, and doing well, but she would just be like...well that's your belief, and after talking about it later, we both felt kinda constrained to not talk about some things and she was taking everything analytically and academically instead of spiritually....and she eventually just came out and saidi she didn’t believe any of it and what we are doing is wrong and it makes me sad. The really hard part is she loves mormon people and she loves the humanitarian aid and thinks we put the rest of "mainstream christianity" to shame by doing what we believe......so it was really hard for her, and she cried a lot. But we told her that we couldn't meet with her anymore but that we would always be her friends. she was more than welcome to come to activities and stuff...and that we would still see her...but it was rough, both sides believing the other was wrong and lost and at an impass....
so that's how we ended the week
so today i think we're going fishing but i am out of time.
a very trying week but good non-the less.
i love you all
i am so grateful for your prayers and letters and emails and support
BE HAPPY!
Love
J
So, dun dun dun dun
Today i have officially been a missionary for 8 full months! *Raa raa yeaa whoo hoo*
Feels like 8 years...lol
Mission time never seems to make sense to me, it's always way too short or way too long....no middle ground, but whatevs.
Shout outs to THE MAXWELL FAMILY and LYDIA CRYSTAL and THE BOWMANS and SMITHS for letters this week!
So last pday i had my dr appointment in the morning which i already wrote about....
then email and shopping and what not. Thennnnn....we went to the institute building on CU campus...or maybe it was a diff one and played BBALL and VBall, really fun. One of my ZL's is samoan from western samoa or "the real samoa" as he calls it. He's the freaking funniest guy ever. I was playing the piano (which i figured out i want a baldwin grand exactly like they have there, it's probably just a couple thousand dollars or something, no big right?) and he sang and it was the funniest thing ever. good times. Then we ate dinner with a couple that works in the temple, hopefully they'll be able to help us out with transportation, cuz i have a trip and we're planning on going saturday if all goes according to plan.
Also, did i tell you about the insanity of this bike area?
So on average we bike 20+ miles a day. The most i think was like 27ish. It's insanity. While my legs were pretty big back in arvada, they are now just like...rock solid and bumpy and nuts crazy. We see all these like spandex bikers "roadies" and i'm like...real bikers bike in church clothes with backpacks...on heavy mountain bikes. But yea, it is really hard. This place is as hilly as PA, it's nuts, i must be too close to the rockies, which i have dubbed the misty mountains. AT least the ones that overlook CU boulder.
Yea so tuesday was an interesting day.....
So we met with this lady who's a judge in the denver drug court.
And we talked to her and were gonna start teaching a lesson but then she was like...can we talk about this...and laid out a whole bunch of controversies, so we said a prayer, and were answering these questions, but her heart just wasn't open, her ears weren't open. She kept bugging us about answers and stuff and we pretty much laid it out that no matter what we said it wouldn't matter b/c if that's what she believes, then nothing else we say matters.....so yea we left. We went and dropped off a bday card for Sister Gordon (our bishop's mom). that was fun. Thennnnnnnnnn we met with a media referral who wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon, only so he could bash with his brother in law... so we tried to teach the first lesson and he ended up trying to saaave us and convert us...and so we just were like...well, you should read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. and that was about it....i guess technically he's a new investigator...but it probably won't go anywhere. Then dinner with this family who has the tightest back yard ever... the peck's, their dad is like a big kid...literally he made them the biggest swing ever...like a huge hamster wheel, a log cabin, and a huge like........spindal walking thing...i will take pictures and send them
PS: I DIDN"T SEND THE BOX!!! I've been so busy :(
i guess i will send it when you all get home...which is like the end of the transfer but it's all good. It's got dad's bday present in there...yes father, i didn't forget about you, i'm sorry you've had to wait :(!
And then after dinner we went to...................our most progressing investigator...ugh, the ugh is for later.. taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3 in PMG) which went well, she still hadn't received an answer about the Book Of Mormon or anything...yet... but it was good.
Wednesday morning, did some service for an investigator...more painting has happened on my mission than the rest of my life put together. Then we met with a family who's been...well, going through a lot lately, lots of family trials, and we're helping their one daughter prepare for baptism. Their really great, and they're a great example to us of how to press forward even when times are really tough.
Saw more people... And then met with DS, i believe i briefly mentioned him last week.....a beagle and 2 dobermans...crazy nice friendly dogs. We talked about the gift of the scritpures and how they bless our lives. Went off the talk of......Elder Christopherson from last General Conference. It's way good.
Thursday...wow. ZONE CONFERENCE!!!
It was the first time when i was like...yes i get to see people i haven't seen forever.
i saw elder taylor! and elder finn from the old arvada crew, they're now serving in longmont. But yea, we did a lot of missionary stuff, and once again MORE MISSION CHANGES! at least this time they are now world wide. ZC will be once every 3 months and interviews will also be once every 3 months...craziness.
Also lots of like....."curriculum" changes about what we learn in zone conference and stuff. Dinner with a young couple named the pauls....very cool. drum set...but no snare drum :(* then walked around without seeing like anyone....and home.. Kent and Matt told me to enjoy two years of getting no sleep...and i didn't understand what they meant...but now i do. I never get enough sleep. after biking like a mad man all day i could sleep for 24 hours. and our planning sessions go really long...so it takes a while....i miss sleep lol.
Friday was weekly planning and a bunch of cancelled appointments...nothing really big.
Saturday it was like...crazy hot+humid...it felt weird to feel humidity...
Saw lots and lots of uninterested people..........and that's about it.
Sunday was church we had 2 investigators at church that was good. One was R and the other was a family with a 2 year old, it was really good and i think they really really enjoyed it. Then we biked around and got really dehydrated and somehow survived until dinner when i drank a whole pitcher of water. Then we met with R again. so she's a different faith currently, and after our last lesson had been like...well let's discuss some of these topics and we started answering them, and doing well, but she would just be like...well that's your belief, and after talking about it later, we both felt kinda constrained to not talk about some things and she was taking everything analytically and academically instead of spiritually....and she eventually just came out and saidi she didn’t believe any of it and what we are doing is wrong and it makes me sad. The really hard part is she loves mormon people and she loves the humanitarian aid and thinks we put the rest of "mainstream christianity" to shame by doing what we believe......so it was really hard for her, and she cried a lot. But we told her that we couldn't meet with her anymore but that we would always be her friends. she was more than welcome to come to activities and stuff...and that we would still see her...but it was rough, both sides believing the other was wrong and lost and at an impass....
so that's how we ended the week
so today i think we're going fishing but i am out of time.
a very trying week but good non-the less.
i love you all
i am so grateful for your prayers and letters and emails and support
BE HAPPY!
Love
J
July 26, 2010
Dear family
i'm sorry i only have 5 minutes to write today.......
i took way to long doing other things... so really quick update.
First off. i love our family. this week has been...rough for me.
being transferred for my first time was...let's say a shock to my system.
But everything is under control...
However, my new area is awesome.
It's got too many hills though.
i love my companion elder arterburn from ammon idaho.
i've now met two apostle's cousins, bro stiefvater from arvada- elder Christopherson, and brother anderson here- Elder Packer... it's funny to hear about young apostle stories.
the work here is going and hopefullly it will get better as we start to set people for baptism.
my legs are sore.
i love you all.
I want to bear my testimony really quick.
Jesus Christ is our Savior.
The Plan of Salvation is real.
That's all we need to know.
I love you all
Jonathan
i'm sorry i only have 5 minutes to write today.......
i took way to long doing other things... so really quick update.
First off. i love our family. this week has been...rough for me.
being transferred for my first time was...let's say a shock to my system.
But everything is under control...
However, my new area is awesome.
It's got too many hills though.
i love my companion elder arterburn from ammon idaho.
i've now met two apostle's cousins, bro stiefvater from arvada- elder Christopherson, and brother anderson here- Elder Packer... it's funny to hear about young apostle stories.
the work here is going and hopefullly it will get better as we start to set people for baptism.
my legs are sore.
i love you all.
I want to bear my testimony really quick.
Jesus Christ is our Savior.
The Plan of Salvation is real.
That's all we need to know.
I love you all
Jonathan
July 19, 2010
So, it's been a long week.
Moral of the story is...i got transfered.
You will have to read the whole thing to find out where i am.
SO
Monday, we had dinner with the resident allreds, that was fun. we had allred jello.
it was pday, it was dumb, i don't remember what we did
o yea i do, it was dumb.
Tuesday we helped the hamblins move to 6th ward, :(...we saw D and retaught lesson 1 which went really well. However, i guess moving was after D, cuz it took us so long that we were late for an appointment, and then had to walk home really far...it was fun. dinner tasted really good.
Wednesday was sister Jarstad's last district meeting, therefore i played the death march. we ate.....at some lame place afterwards, i didn't like it. lol, but it's ok, cuz i got a coupon for a free qudoba burrito. more people.
thursday saw D again good stuff. then helped bro hamblin move all day but i got to try mountain dew "distortion" which is really good. Then we ate with the rankins which was awesome, and then road very quickly to sister silvester's house
and we went over the First Temple Prep lesson, which was saweet. Then Tienvieri's to say goodbye to max who was off to salt lake to record with his cousin. O, and sister Silvester named me elder "dean" after some guy on a tv show, i thought it was funny cuz of g-pa is dean.
Friday was food bank. weekly planning. and slight headache that i quite napped off.
dinner with the petersons who know elder bowman.
saturday, went to see D again, and made a plan for baptism. Her date right now is July 31st. Then we went to a party at the foodbank, which was very good, and i said goodbye to everyone, assuming i was going to get transferred. Then we saw doreen and her daughters briana and becca. Found out I was getting transferred
had dinner with Sister Langan, more pictures, and then home to crash.
Sunday was church, and lots of goodbyes. Packing+Sleep+ Packing.
And now i am currently emailing you from the Louisville library in Boulder Colorado.
My new companion is elder Arterburn, from Idaho.
So far he's pretty quite and straight forward, but i'm sure we'll have fun. I'm in a bike area. my zone leaders are the CU Campus Missionaries, and that's where we have our district meetings is on campus. so i'm siked.
Dobronsky is now District Leader and Training this transfer which is sweet.
Lots of other transfer stuff happened, which is cool, but would have no importance to you...but pretty much arvada got nuked, 2 wards got swept (the old elders got transferred) and there's gonna be a ton of greenies (brand new missionaries).
anyways. lots happened, so now i get to get used to this new ward and new area, we are moving into a new place tonight, good thing i'm already packed.
i will send you pictures.
much love
Jonathan
Moral of the story is...i got transfered.
You will have to read the whole thing to find out where i am.
SO
Monday, we had dinner with the resident allreds, that was fun. we had allred jello.
it was pday, it was dumb, i don't remember what we did
o yea i do, it was dumb.
Tuesday we helped the hamblins move to 6th ward, :(...we saw D and retaught lesson 1 which went really well. However, i guess moving was after D, cuz it took us so long that we were late for an appointment, and then had to walk home really far...it was fun. dinner tasted really good.
Wednesday was sister Jarstad's last district meeting, therefore i played the death march. we ate.....at some lame place afterwards, i didn't like it. lol, but it's ok, cuz i got a coupon for a free qudoba burrito. more people.
thursday saw D again good stuff. then helped bro hamblin move all day but i got to try mountain dew "distortion" which is really good. Then we ate with the rankins which was awesome, and then road very quickly to sister silvester's house
and we went over the First Temple Prep lesson, which was saweet. Then Tienvieri's to say goodbye to max who was off to salt lake to record with his cousin. O, and sister Silvester named me elder "dean" after some guy on a tv show, i thought it was funny cuz of g-pa is dean.
Friday was food bank. weekly planning. and slight headache that i quite napped off.
dinner with the petersons who know elder bowman.
saturday, went to see D again, and made a plan for baptism. Her date right now is July 31st. Then we went to a party at the foodbank, which was very good, and i said goodbye to everyone, assuming i was going to get transferred. Then we saw doreen and her daughters briana and becca. Found out I was getting transferred
had dinner with Sister Langan, more pictures, and then home to crash.
Sunday was church, and lots of goodbyes. Packing+Sleep+ Packing.
And now i am currently emailing you from the Louisville library in Boulder Colorado.
My new companion is elder Arterburn, from Idaho.
So far he's pretty quite and straight forward, but i'm sure we'll have fun. I'm in a bike area. my zone leaders are the CU Campus Missionaries, and that's where we have our district meetings is on campus. so i'm siked.
Dobronsky is now District Leader and Training this transfer which is sweet.
Lots of other transfer stuff happened, which is cool, but would have no importance to you...but pretty much arvada got nuked, 2 wards got swept (the old elders got transferred) and there's gonna be a ton of greenies (brand new missionaries).
anyways. lots happened, so now i get to get used to this new ward and new area, we are moving into a new place tonight, good thing i'm already packed.
i will send you pictures.
much love
Jonathan
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