Monday, June 30, 2014

So....

June 30, 2014
I got emergency transferred! 

So I gotta get through lots of crap. But I only have like 10 minutes or so. 

Things were going really great this past week, Elder Goodsell and I were working really hard together and getting a lot accomplished. Until President Bell called just as we were entering into an appointment. I took the call and President said, "Elder DeFreese! Are you earning your wages as a servant of the Lord?" ..... "Uhh.... yes?" I replied. He says, "Have you baptized anyone?" sort of questioning I reply, "Yeah we had a baptism just this past weekend... why?" Then the hammer dropped. "Oh! Well in that case, the Lord has called you to come back to Derby zone and be a Zone Leader." 
Aaaaand I won't tell you the rest of the conversation. But to put it simply, I was pretty upset. Just got into this area, having tons of fun, working hard and seeing lots of success... and then I have all these responsibilities!  Sigh... so I accepted the call.

Good news is that I'm with Elder Kempter now! He's training me to be a Zone Leader, so it's really cool and real weird at the same time. But we're getting along as if we'd never stopped being comps the first time, it's going really well. 

I'm learning a lot and the Lord is reeeaaaalllly showing me my weaknesses. I don't know if I've ever been so humbled so quickly. BUT. I do know that the Lord will soon strengthen me so that these weaknesses may be strengths.

Buuut, that about does it really. I don't know what else to say. More next week? 

Love you all! Do missionary work, because it's the best!

Elder DeFreese

Monday, June 23, 2014

Holy Moses!!!!

June 23, 2014
So this past week was pretty good, I guess we'll go through just a couple things that were awesome before we get to what was really awesome about our week!
 
First off, last Monday evening we had just finished dinner and were about to go out and knock on some doors, when I saw a man doing some yard work! So I figured I'd go and talk to the guy, as I do, he seems immediately into it and is asking tons of really good questions and this guy just seems so cool and so ready to hear the gospel! After a 20 minute discussion, and just before I got to share the First Vision, the guy stops me. It's at this point that he finally tells me that he's Brother Wangsguard from the first ward. Hahahahahaha, suuuuuuuuper funny experience!!! I got punked pretty good, and that was fun. 
 
So then another cool thing that happened was that we went on team ups with a young couple in the ward, the Moberlys. Get this, Brother Moberly is the grandson of Brother Gile from Concordia!!!! Whaaaaat?!?!?! AWESOME!!!!!!!!! He's super cool, and his wife is too, they're great missionaries here, and he really takes after his Grandpa. 
 
One other thing to mention before we get to the biggest news of the week would be Tyrek (pronounced like derek). He's super cool, he teaches 9th grade English, and he's super religious, but he's searching for the truth. He has a lot of deep, meaningful questions, and he seems to really understand where we're coming from. But we had a great meeting with him, and he has committed to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true, however... he's 25. We thought he was closer to 30 or 31. Buuuuut this means that we have to pass him over to the university branch missionaries. So that's kind of a bummer, but it's OK! He's super solid and he'll be Baptized soon enough.
OK. Big news of the week! Sabrina was baptized!!!!!!!!! SUPER cool! It was a great experience! So let's go through the story! First, we had to go a few hours before so that we could fill the font, no big deal, right? Well... the plug was broken, there wasn't a good seal around the edge and it was losing water really fast. So, we were frantically trying to figure out how we could fix this in time for the Baptism, when Brother Macniel came around and said he could fix it!!!!! HUGE blessing there! He came in, figured out how to do it, and then ran to ACE to get what he needed, came back and got it fixed just in time. We were able to fill the font perfectly, and nobody really knew except us. So that's good. 
But the Baptism itself was awesome! Right after she came up (first try by the way) she just stood there, trying to keep her composure, the spirit was so strong, and she was definitely feeling it. As the people kind of moseyed on back into the relief society room, I got to give a lesson from one of the pamphlets that we use! So that was fun, Elder Goodsell and Sabrina were changing while I gave the lesson, and it went fairly well!
Then on Sunday I had the privilege of Confirming Sabrina a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was really cool, very spiritual experience as well.
Her husband, Adrick is also investigating the church, and is getting reeeaaallly close to baptism. He has just a few more hang ups that he's just not quite sure about, but he's doing real well and we're sure that he'll be baptized within a few weeks.
 
But that about catches you all up! So I'll send a few pictures maybe, and then go on my merry way!
Love you all so much, and don't forget the key 3! 
1. Pray to Heavenly Father
2. Read your scriptures
3. Go to church!

I promise that if you do these 3 simple things consistently, the Lord will shower his blessings upon you, and you will have a much greater measure of the spirit than you've ever had before.
 
Love ya!
Elder DeFreese
 
1. Me, Sabrina, Elder Goodsell
2. Beautiful Manhattan :)
3. Me trying to do some service.
(we were cutting branches and trimming the trees and stuff)
4. Elder Holbrook and I  :)
 
 



 

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Manhappenin'!!!

June 16, 2014
HOLY MOSES!!!!! This past week has been absolutely crazy!!!!!!

So to start, I'm now in Manhattan Kansas, where K-State (home of the wild cats) is! But we'll talk about that in a minute. Lots to cover today and not too much time.

First off, one of the Zone Leaders here is Elder Johsnon! The same one who came into the mission field with me! So we've been having lots of fun reminiscing about the good old MTC days! Also, my companion is Elder Goodsell, he's from Rexburg Idaho! He's like 4 inches taller than me or something, it's awesome! I feel so small! Haha, but we are having a lot of fun, we watched a lot of the same tv shows, movies, some of the same video games. We don't really have sports in common at all though, he used to do cross country, and that's about it. But it's cool, at least he likes to be active! We work together really well too, we're able to have fun while we're out working, and things are just going really great out here!

One big thing to talk about as well, is that we are having a baptism this week! Her name is Sabrina, apparently Elder Goodsell and his previous companion found them when they came to a dinner appointment early, and decided to knock some doors before they went to dinner. They found Sabrina! SUPER solid, she is coming to church, and living all of the commandments right away! She is married and has a couple kids, and her husband should be getting baptized in the next week or two. Really excited about that! 

So another couple things to update you on why I love the crap out of this place, 1 big reason is that I have a QUEEN SIZE BED!!!!!! Whaaaaa?!? I'm so stinkin' happy! It's great, I'm loving it! Also, I found a suit here that fits me perfectly! (Pictures will be sent in the next few minutes) I was just roaming around the apartment and found this closet full of stuff! Another thing that I found was a coat that fits really well too! (This is significant because my coat was stolen out of the church in Wichita a few months ago)

ANOTHER reason why I love this place is..... TACO JOHNS!!!!!!!!!!!!! They just got it like 2 weeks ago, and it's in our area! (OK it's like, a block outside of our ward boundaries, but I have permission to go when I want, because I'm that cool) Hahaha, but I'm super happy about that, I haven't had a Taco Johns close by since I was in Concordia, so it's been a loooooooooong time! Actually, on Transfer day we had to run some errands for the other missionaries and didn't end up getting to the apartment until like 7 ish, so on the way we stopped at Taco Johns! Super happy about that, it was the best, like always!

OK, Last thing. SUPER cool! On Friday we were out tracting and we ended up knocking on the door of the Quarterback for K-State! Pretty cool! We talked to him a bit, shared a brief message about the Restoration, and gave him a Book of Mormon! The only problem is that he's really busy with school and football, so we weren't able to get a return appointment, but he was super nice and we'll definitely be seeing him again! 

But that about updates you all, please write me letters! Haven't gotten any letters in a while...

Love you!

Elder DeFreese

P.S. When was the last time you invited someone to church? Think about it..... then think, "Should I invite someone else as well?" Answer: YES! Always!
Please invite someone to church this week, if you haven't seen the "Because of Him" video, watch it. Search that on Mormon.org and then share it with others. Share your testimony, then invite them to church. The impression that you leave on your friends and family will last FOREVER. Make sure it's a good one.
 
1. Taco Johns!!!!!
2. Elder Goodsell and I!
3. The Favres before I left :(
4. Sister Deeba Kimmel, awesome lady!
 
 
 



 

Monday, June 9, 2014

The Dream Team!!!!!

June 9, 2014
So this past week was ridiculously hectic and crazy!

First off, on Tuesday we had an appointment with 2 new investigators, Anthony and Barbara (who they call Barbie....) and taught them half of the Restoration. It went great! He is concerned whenever he hears a church say that they are the only true church, so we explained to him that while we do claim that, we do not put any other churches down, for there is truth everywhere! We obviously went into more detail than that, and helped him to understand, but I don't want to explain it all again, so I won't.
 
Then on Wednesday we were out working hard all day, biking like crazy, talking to everyone about Jesus..... and we finally decided to go get dinner at Subway. While we were there, 2 crazy things happened: First - Elder Dickson's bike almost got stolen, but the guy who was going to steal it just felt that it was wrong and walked away saying, "Nah, I can't do it" (we found out because a little black kid came running in and told us) And second - Elder Kempter (our ZL) gave us a call and told us that his companion was getting transferred and he would be with us for the remainder of the transfer!!!!!! Whaaaaat?!?!?!
So we had to bike over to our members home, get a ride real quick over to the church, and pick him up!
 
To add to the craziness, I had already planned an exchange for the next day! So, I went with Elder Stum to his area, and Elder Knight went with Elder Dickson and Elder Kempter to work in 2 areas! It was craaaaaazy! But we all got some good work done, and had fun doing it!
 
So this past week has been awesome, Elder Kempter and I work really well together, and we have a lot of fun while still working hard. It's the bomb.
 
Funny experience from Sunday, I'm just hangin' out after the Sacrament, and Bishop gets up and says, "So we don't really have a program today... so I'm going to ask Elder DeFreese to get up and share a message with us"  uhhhhhhhhh....... what? Hahahaha, I joked a bit with him on the way up, got everyone laughing, and then when I got up there I shared some thoughts about Eternal Families and missionary work. I don't know how it went really, but I did manage to take up about 10 minutes! So that was good, right? Haha, it was fun though, I love talking about the gospel.
 
And now, we've got some more big news! I'm being transferred out to Manhattan, Kansas! I'm going to be a DL there, and serve with a missionary I've never met! My Zone Leaders are going to be Elder Johnson (Went to the MTC at the same time) and Elder Holbrook (Super awesome missionary) So I'm really excited for this transfer and super sad as well, I love/loved Harrison Park. And I'm going to miss the crap out of these people!
 
But that about catches you up! Love you all! Talk to you soon!
 
Elder DeFreese
 
1. My District
 
2. Elder Stum and I
 
 
3. It's a top hat!
 


 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 2, 2014
Soo..... really the only reason for that subject line is because there was a reaaal good thunder storm last night! It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I love the crap out of those storms. Elder Dickson however, reeeaaallly doesn't. So that was kinda funny for me :)
So this past week was pretty good, my exchange with Elder Eyre was alright, we didn't have a whole lot of time to work because we weren't able to start working until like 4 ish and our exchange ended right after studies the following morning. But it's all good, we had a fun time!
So I guess we'll start with the sad news. While Elder Eyre and I were on exchanges we had a teaching appointment with Richard, he's on date for the 24th of this month. Our member got to talking about some deeeeeep doctrine and stuff, that really wasn't necessary or anything. And now Richard has to think about what we've taught him. He hasn't gotten back to us since then....
But it's all good! We'll find another one!!
So this past week we spent a lot of time going out and trying to visit all of the Less Actives who are in the ward, we saw a good portion of them, and most of them were real nice to us! So that was good, we taught a lot and hopefully strengthened their faith and helped them have a desire to come back to church.
On Saturday we actually spent pretty much all day going out to the far edges of our boundaries, trying to visit the people who never see anybody. It went fairly well! We were in the car a lot, but we saw some people and I think we did some good.
Overall it was a very standard week for us, so this week is going to be much better!
One experience that I would like to share is with Brother Gubler. We have met with him twice now, super less active member from SLC, and he has never had a real testimony of the church. He's also getting married to a woman he met here in Kansas! Super nice people, really cool. But we shared a message about praying with faith, and invited/committed them both to read and truly pray about the Book of Mormon, and they accepted the challenge! It was a very spiritual experience, and we're going to follow up this week.
That about catches you up though! Love you all! Talk to you soon!
Elder DeFreese
 
1. Eh...... it's not what you think!
 
2. Going to Oz apparently