Monday, July 28, 2014

Derby Zone!!!

July 28, 2014
So, transfers took place, we're now the ZL's of the Derby Zone, and Elder Kempter is in the new Andover Zone. 

So now I'm with Elder Turner, and he's actually from Atlanta, Georgia! How cool is that?!?? (It's cool because my oldest brother Jason served there as a missionary.... for those of you who don't know). He's also the second youngest child, just like me. So we get along real well! 

I guess to try to catch you up on all the craziness, we'll start with Tuesday! Tuesday was spent doing apartment checks, setting up programs and different stuff on the Andover laptop so that they could hit the ground running. Aaaaand we also got to work with the new missionaries coming out this transfer! Super fun! One of the new missionaries, Elder Telford, asked to be my temporary companion as we got out to try and find some new investigators at an apartment complex. Elder Telford is actually from Springville, Utah as well! And he knew my other brother Don, from scout camp! (Timberline, if you know what that is) So that was fun.

Wednesday was crazy, Transfers is big for ZL's because we have to set up the church, make sure everyone gets there on time and has their luggage ready and everything, and we have to stay until everyone else is gone so that we can clean up and stuff. So that was fun!

Then pretty much the rest of the week we have been trying to figure out what in the world we're supposed to do here! Haha, I have little to no knowledge of this Area, so we've been running around trying to visit as many names as we can from the Area Book and from the Ward Roster. So it's been real fun! We've found a couple families so far who are pretty receptive. 

Other than that... I'm not really sure what to talk about.

OH! Remember how I spent like, 2 weeks in Manhattan? One of the investigators that I taught there just got baptized this past week! (Adrick, not quite sure if I mentioned him, he's Sabrinas Husband, who we baptized while I was there). SUPER cool! Love it!

Anyways, I think that about does it, thank you for all your prayers and support!

Love,

Elder DeFreese

P.S. Please make sure to utilize the power Heavenly Father has given you, that power is the power to choose. So choose to invite people to come to church, choose to read your scriptures, choose to bear testimony! And if you're not motivated to do those things, remember that Motivation is not an emotion, it's a decision. So do it! I promise you won't regret it, the Lord will bless you!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Holy Moses!!!!

July 21, 2014
Hi everyone! Let's get started! I don't have a whole lot of time left, so I'll make it as informative and quick as possible.

On Tuesday this past week we had Zone Conference! It was my first one as a Zone Leader and it was suuuuper stressful!!!! We had a lot of things to talk about and train on and we had to make sure that all of the District Leaders bought in to certain new policies and such, so that we can have unity within the Zone. But it went really well, we talked about Finding New Investigators though the Rescue. (Working with Less Active members of the church). I feel like it went really well, Elder Kempter and I have a great teaching pattern and it's always really spiritual.

So... yeah! On Thursday we had District Meetings! Elder Kempter and I split up again so we could go to 2 District Meetings, and they went really well! I enjoyed them thoroughly. Afterwards we went on exchanges!!! I went with one of our District Leaders, Elder Hughes, he's from Bountiful Utah! Super cool guy, we had a lot of fun! We found 4 or 5 new investigators, taught a few member present lessons, and really enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun. However, our exchange had to get cut off early, because of some dang Zone Leadering things that we had to do. But it was still good, we had fun!
 
On Friday we had another District Meeting! This one was with (technically) our district! So it was really nice, Elder Kempter and I both got to attend! Lots of fun, we always learn so much. 

On Saturday we had 2 Baptisms in the Zone! So cool! The first one was a Sister in the Harrison Park ward that the sister missionaries found and taught. But it was cool, because we still attended that one. The only scary thing was that a few hours before the Baptism, the sisters called and asked me to sing a solo for the musical number...! WHAT?!?!??? I said yes, and started praying my stupid heart out. But then those crazy sisters called back like an hour later and told me that they were kidding! I almost released them on the spot!!!!!!!!!!! Ha, like I can do that... but seriously! I was upset! 

Anyways, then the other baptism was supposed to start at 4:00, but the investigator was getting cold feet because her family was reeeeaaallly against it. BUT, after waiting for 2 hours, she showed up! Then, after waiting for another half hour or so, she was finally ready! It was really cool.

I think that about catches you up on this week.

The big news is that this week is transfer week, and I am staying here in the Derby Zone! Elder Kempter is going to open up the Andover Zone, which consists of the northern half of the current Derby Zone. So that's cool! I'm gonna miss him again. My new companion is Elder Turner, and I've never met this guy, so it'll be cool! 

Talk to you all soon! Love you so much!

Elder DeFreese

P.S. "Motivation is not a feeling, it's a decision" So my challenge to you is to motivate yourselves to invite at least 1 person to church this week. I know you can! Love ya!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Are you kdding me?!?!??

July 14, 2014
It's been a whole week already?!?!? What the crap!?!?!!

Man... time goes by way too stinkin' fast.

Anyways, so this past week has been pretty awesome! Let's walk through it just a bit.

Tuesday is District Meeting day, so Elder Kempter and I attended 2 different District Meetings. (We split up, and each of us takes a meeting because they start at the same time... but we always have a companion)
Anyways, after District Meeting we went on exchanges! I stayed in our area with Elder McGiven! He's a super cool kid from Arizona, and we had a blast! At first I got lost, because we only have a couple hours a week to really work in our area. But that's OK, I finally got my bearings and figured out what the crap I ought to do. So it was good!

Then on Wednesday we exchanged back, did lots of zone stuff, and then we had dinner with the Bourms! It was some really delicious chicken with bacon and honey mustard, super good. BUT, they were playing Christmas music all day!!!!!!! If any of you know me, you know that I only listen to Christmas music AFTER Thanksgiving! So it was physically painful. But it was good :)

Thursday was fairly uneventful except for one thing, Takra. Elder Kempter and I have this ghetto called Oaklawn, in it are lots of Laotians. They play a game called Takra. It's kind of like volleyball, 3 hits per side, except it's all done with your feet and heat, etc. Kind of like soccer. The net is like 4 feet high. So Elder Kempter and I are really good because we're so tall, so they'll set us up to spike it with our heads! Hahaha, it's a ton of fun! And we're teaching a few of the guys there, I don't have their names down though. But that's ok!

On Saturday we had a meal at Sister Ellis' home with the Sister missionaries in our ward as well. It wouldn't have been so bad if we could have gotten over the fact that there were roaches all over the walls. BUT! We had lots of fun, and it was actually a really good meal, just gotta get over the fact that it might not be clean. But none of us got sick! So it was real good :) Gotta love those missionary memories! Haha!

On Sunday, we had one of our super solid investigators, Jason, try to drop us. Well we didn't let him! He had just broken up with his Girlfriend (she's his tie to the church) and so he was trying to get rid of all memories associated with her. But we told him that he was being silly. We walked him through everything, and he still wants to be baptized. The only sucky thing is that now he's single and he needs to be going to the singles branch here. So we don't really get to teach him anymore. But that's OK, he's still super solid and he will be baptized!!!! 

But that about catches you up on what's happening here! I gotta run!

Love you all so much, keep inviting your friends and family to come to church eh? And if it's not too much trouble, help them read the Book of Mormon and pray alright? K. Sounds good :)

Love ya!

Elder DeFreese

1. E. Kempter! Haha
2. The zone attempting a zone picture... :)
3. E. Kempter again!
4. Should I?.....
 



 

Monday, July 7, 2014

Happy Birthday!!!!

July 7, 2014
Alright, alright, alriiiiiight!

Another week come and gone, and I didn't get transferred! Who would have guessed?

So this passed week was pretty great! Elder Kempter and I are working together really hard, we haven't lost a step at all. We were able to just jump right into it! So things are going really well!

One of the big things to talk about was MLC's (Missionary Leadership Council) which was this pastTuesday..? Maybe Wednesday. Can't remember, but anyways. It went pretty well, It was cool being in such a council with all the leaders in the mission, setting goals and stuff to work on, it was great. We had a lot of fun too!

Also, the other big news to share would of course be the Fourth of July! It happened to fall on our Zone Training day! So we had a 3 hour meeting that Elder Kempter and I led and trained on several different things. I had to train on Revelation Through Church Attendance, it went pretty well. I hope they learned something.

Also, there were lots of fireworks! However, we had a 9 pm curfew and so we didn't really get to see any of the good fireworks. But we got to see some! So that was good!

Also, Just gotta get a shout out to Don and Andrew, Happy Birthday!!!! Love you both so much, keep bugging the crap out of Mom for me!

But I think that about does it, sorry my e-mails aren't the most  informative. But I'm trying to balance all sorts of things! Love you all! If you want to know about something, ask me and I'll include it next week!

Make sure to do some missionary work of your own, you WILL be blessed, that's a guarantee! 

Elder DeFreese