No way!!!!

Dec. 10, 2012

Hey there! This message brought to you from the land of the frozen chosen! Haha, I heard that term a couple times this past week. Pretty funny! Ha, anyways. Lets get started!

So to talk about those new investigators that I found with Elder Stephens, no we haven't seen either yet. We tried to contact Becky but she hasn't been home when we came. So we'll keep trying. And Manuel is super busy right now, and he has asked that we come next Saturday (not this coming one, but the one after). So hopefully we'll be able to get in touch with him and start the journey! Haha. There are a lot of RLDS people out here, and I thought that would be tough. But it's... different. They believe in the Book of Mormon and everything, they believe in Joseph Smith. So for the most part we just have to get them to read the B.O.M. More, and pray about it. And pray about our teachings of the prophets that WE have. (for those who don't know, they believe that the prophet should be a descendent of Joseph Smith). So it's a whole lot of praying and hoping. Kinda different than most other investigators. In some ways it's a little easier. But in other ways it's a LOT harder.

My mom said she loved what I said about Fast and Testimony meeting last week. And she said something interesting. She said that the silence can be good, because everyone is just feeling the spirit and being still. But I just wanted to say that, when you feel the spirit, and it's telling you of the truth of something... Testify of it! Get up there! The time is yours to help others come unto Christ. I know for me it's real hard to get up there, but think of it this way. All you do is testify of the truth right? How hard is it to get up there and testify about the truth of Gravity? Try your best to get up there and testify with the power and knowledge you have, because it helps not only yourself grow, but everyone else that can hear you. Hopefully that makes sense, I have no idea.

I sure hope everyone is taking my challenge to invite and find others in your ward boundaries to come to church! When we bring others to church, we are that much more in tune with the spirit, and that much more happy, because of what we are bringing to these other people. Do what you can to get others involved. I can promise that as you do, you'll feel that joy and happiness that comes from bringing the Gospel to others.

Glad to hear you guys got snow! I really miss the snow! We haven't gotten any snow at all yet. Some rain, some mist and stuff. But that's about it. Up until about Thursday we have been having really mild weather. Around 60 degrees most of the time. But the past couple days has been more around the 20's. Every single day is super cold, and it's pretty windy out here too, so the wind chill comes into effect. Apparently it barely ever snows here, that's what i've heard. So i'm a bit dissapointed, I really miss it! But I really love it out here too. There's squirrels all over the place out here!!!!! Have I mentioned that?? It's ridiculous!! Haha, super cool though!

Glad to hear that Braden passed his Motorcycle driving test and everything. Would have liked to hear that from HIM though! Hahaha, jk I get it. You highschoolers are "super busy" hahahaha! Nah, I bet he's pretty busy with everything.

Mom said something about the sister missionaries, about how they're increasing a lot? Oh trust me, we've HEARD! Haha, in the MTC that's almost all anyone talked about. I'm not sure if I told you guys, but the number of applicants jumped 471% from the day of the announcement, to the 24th of October. Super crazy. But while I was there, there were about 25 18 year olds already in the MTC, so that was way cool! And we've heard that we are getting a huge influx of 18 year olds around March. So that's going to be very exciting.

So this week has been pretty slow to be honest. Most of our teaching appointments fell through, and a couple investigators dropped us. So our teaching pool is REAL low right now. So this week we are going to hit the streets hard and try to find some investigators. Hopefully the Lord will bless us this week. Or perhaps we need a bit more than a week of trials? We shall see! I suppose that's all, I keep forgetting my notebook to tell you guys all about my week. I'm sorry! But at least we kind of have the pictures figured out right? Anyways, I'll try to be more informative next week. Also, I got ONE letter this last week. Kinda dissapointing, my comp. got 2 packages and 6 letters, so I honestly felt a little left out. But hey! I know you all have a LITTLE bit of time, so don't be scared... WRITE ME!!!!!! Hahahaha, I could use all the support I can get! I love you all, and please take my challenges seriously. Bear strong testimony, and invite others to church.

Love,

Elder DeFreese.