BY ALL THAT IS HOLY!!!!!

January 21, 2013

Hello and welcome to another week of woes, and experiences from Elder DeFreese! As you can see up there at the subject line, the title winner this week was my own little brother, Braden! That is a saying that we both used, kind of an inside joke. But it's still really funny!

Anyways, I'll try to make this a long-ish e-mail because I know how you all (Mom really) live for these e-mails! But not too much happened, so I'll do my best with what I have!

First off let me tell you all that I'm a little dissapointed, I didn't get many votes/thoughts on what car tracting is. I know it sounds simple but really it's very complex! All 1 of you that mentioned it... got it wrong. This is an exercise that we use to cope with our area. We don't have a lot of success when tracting, so while tracting and walking next to a busy street, we talk to the cars that drive past us. As they drive past, we teach a gospel principle and leave them with a commitment! (They are driving too fast to really get anything, but it makes us feel better) And that is how car tracting came to be! We jokingly say things like "Other lesson!" Or "Baptismal invite extended!" Stuff like that, it's really fun, and we cope with unsuccessful days better this way.

Oh! Last week you remember that I wrote about how I only got 1 letter? From another missionary!? Haha... well just an hour or 2 later, I went to the mission office to check for mail! And lo and behold, I got 6 letters AND a package!!! WOOO! Haha, that was really great, I love it! Thanks to all of you for the support that you sent me. And I'm sure that I'll get some more letters this week right??
So I'm REALLY running low on experiences to share this week. But so far in my mission, this week we had a memory that i'm not sure i'll forget for a loooooooooong time. Possibly forever! Anyways, me and Elder McBride were tracting just the other day, and we were riding our bikes up a BIG hill. We were just on our way back to the apartment because it was about dinner time. And while we were riding, we heard a very loud, "SATAN!!!!!!!!!!!" And we turned and were like, "What??" And this guy kept yelling things at us like, "We love SATAN!!!!" And "Who needs God when we have Satan!!!" And as we were contemplating whether or not we wanted to deal with this guy, his neighbor came out and told him to shut up! So we went and talked to his neighbor, and she has a family, they are all investigating the church now! We have only taught them once, but I think these guys are pretty promising. Anyways, as we left their house, the neighbor came out again and started yelling at us! So, we starting walking towards him to talk to him! As we did, he got really scared and started saying, "No, we're not interested! Go away please!" Stuff like that. So we said, "What? I thought you wanted to learn about why we need God!?" Hahahaha, it was super funny! He ended up slamming the door in our face, but it was fun.
So the last thing on my agenda to write about is exchanges! We are going on exchanges tomorrow, i'm going to be going with Elder Stephens to Blue Springs for the day, so it's going to be my first time working in another area! Haha, so more to come on that!
Sorry this e-mail was short, the work lately has been really slow. I'll try to work harder this week though! Also, Make sure you keep up those challenges that I have given you all! Bear testimony, Invite someone to church! We are ALL missionaries! Even if you aren't serving full time. Anyways, I guess I better run. I love you all! And I hope to hear from you REAL soon OK?
Love,
Elder DeFreese

Wow... I feel like I really need to send out my love and support to the Bate family. I have all the sympathy in the world for them, and I just hope that they will be OK. I wish I could be there to give them a hug, and a bit of encouragement. But this is the best that I can do. I'm sorry, for all that has happened. But I know that God has a plan for all of us. Even for those of us that get taken from this Earth, I know that he's keeping them busy up in Heaven! There is always work to do, don't lose heart! Put your trust in God, and push onward. I love you all!