Monday, January 26, 2009

Received Mon Jan 26, 2009

I think I'll start out this letter by talking about a few of our investigators.

First, we gave a baptismal date to one of our Hispanic investigators named William. He is from Nicaragua (not even half of the Hispanics here are from Mexico. They are from alll over central America). He is very very serious about studying the gospel and is very respectful about it all. He's come to church 4 times now. His baptismal date is for March 8th. He wants to make sure hes 100% ready before he makes the commitment of baptism.

With William, we teach his roommate, Jesús, and their neighbor Samuel. We also invited them to be baptized but Jesús is a little bit crazy and he said he needs a little more time. He's from Mexico where he has a wife and two kids. About 25 years ago he left and came to America where he pretty much wandered all over the place and lived in about 15 different states. He actually wandered through Arcadia at one point. He married a white woman while he was in California so that he could get papers and be legal. After he married her he left and pretty much just kept wandering and now hes in Galveston. He has a girlfriend right now and he smokes and drinks. So, he's got some problems. He says he usually goes back to Mexico to visit his family every 10 years or so.

You would be surprised at how many people here live like this. We call single Hispanic guys like him, chavos. You see a lot of chavos outside of home depot a lot just standing in a massive crowd trying to get work. We teach quite a few of them. Some are serious about learning and some aren't, so we sift through a lot of them.

Samuel is from Honduras and hes a pretty good investigator. He said he needed a little more time to think about baptism too and I don't blame him because we've only taught him twice. So hopefully in the near future those two will accept baptismal invitations.

Another chavo that were teaching is named Aldo. He is from Guatemala. We talked to him in the streets like a month ago and gave him a passalong card and got his phone number so we could call him later for an appointment. When we tried to call him later unfortunately his phone got disconnected. So like 4 days after that we were riding down a random street when we heard him yelling out at us from his front porch. We talked to him and his buddy that he was with and they were really really drunk, but Aldo told us that he knew we were messengers from God, so ever since that day he talked to us he started reading the New Testament and he read Matthew Mark Luke John and part of Corinthians. We talked to him a little about the Book of Mormon and also brought up the Word of Wisdom and told him that when he's drunk he cant have the spirit to be with him. So a week and a half later we were finally able to get a hold of him again and he said that after that day we talked to him he stopped drinking beer and he started reading the BoM. We taught a pretty good lesson on the BoM, then a little later we taught him another time. Right now hes in Houston but when he comes back were planning on giving him a baptismal date.

Were also teaching a korean girl named Somang. She is the neice of someone in the Thorley family, which is a very active family in the church. Brother Thorley is a white man and Sister Thorley is very Korean and doesn't have the best English. So since living in that house Somang has been brought to church 3 times, she's participated in family home evenings and also family prayers. We've taught her twice and she is progressing pretty well. Shes got a couple doubts she needs to overcome and as she keeps praying and when we feel like she has a testimony of the church were going to give her a baptismal date too. So those are some of our good investigators right now. '

We're seeing a lot of amazing things out here.Hmm...theres so much more to tell and not very much time.

On Wednesday of last week we had exchanges with the Texas City elders. Elder Pedersen went to Texas City and I stayed here in Galveston. My companion for the day was Elder Carroll who just barely got moved into our district. Hes only been out for like 2 transfers so he was a brand new missionary. I was pretty excited to be able to be the one to choose everything to do and how hard/how long to work. We had an amazing day. We taught 14 lessons before the day was over. One funny story that happened that day was after we talked to a big group of chavos we started riding away and I noticed my tire was completely flat. I found a big huge nail that went all the way through my tire. Luckily Elder Carroll had a patch kit, but we didn't have a pump, so we went and asked the chavos if they did. A Guatemalan guy named Angel ran inside the house and came out with an air compressor and started taking my tire off for me and doing everything himself. He patched it up and pumped it up and everything. Unfortunately the patches weren't working so well, so after trying to patch it 3 times he had a disappointed look on his face then jumped up and ran inside the house and came out with masking tape. He wrapped about 20 feet of masking tape around my intertube where the hole was. It was one strange looking intertube. Of course I took a picture of it, so you'll get to see it too.

I have a confession to make. I have not sent out the flash drive yet. Every week I'm going to something happens so I cant do it. The good thing is I keep taking more pictures and adding them to the flash drive. Today I've got it all ready to go and I'm going to send it.

Ok, that's about all I have time for today. Mom, you can get me the smaller sized journal. If they don't have any of those get the full sized one. Either way is fine for me.

I think Steelers are going to dominate the Cardinals. You never know though...remember last years super bowl. I've got my money on the Steelers though. Last time I picked them they went all the way. Ok, I think that's all your questions. If I missed any let me know. Sorry I'm in a big hurry this week. I've been typing really fast trying to get everything in.

I love you all!!
Have a good week!
Love,
Chase

Friday, January 23, 2009

Received (finally!) Fri Jan 23, 2009

I am sure everyone was wondering why I didn't e-mail this week, so I'll answer that question first. Monday was MLK day so all the libraries were closed and we had no place to e-mail. So, we planned on just e-mailing the next day. We forgot that we were going on exchanges that day, so we couldn't e-mail that day. Since we've just been so busy we haven't even been able to even stop by to e-mail home and let our families know whats goin on.

So that's whats goin on for me right now. I'm just going to wait to write a real e-mail home on Monday, but I wanted to let everyone know what's going on.

We have been really busy though, here's a couple of the things that are going on. We've got 4-6 pretty good investigators that are progressing so we are visiting them as much as possible. We're actually planning on giving out some baptismal dates in the next week or so. Then we've got like 15 other investigators who aren't progressing for whatever reason, so we need to stop by them and either drop them or get them progressing again.

We also have 10 focus families we try to visit weekly. Focus families are families that the ward/branch councils have chosen for us to focus on and visit weekly. They're usually recent converts or widows or people who just need some strengthening. We have 5 families from the ward and 5 from the branch. So we need to visit all of them every week.

Then the bishop and mission president have asked us to start going through the ward directory and trying to contact people and see if they even live on the island anymore (because they might have moved away because of the hurricane). We've also been challenged by the zone leaders to go through our area book and try to contact some old investigators.

SO...basically we're busy all of the time, which is a really good thing. That's all I've got for this week, but I'll be sure to write a good one on Monday.

I did get Christopher's wooden pen. I'm really amazed by it. I use it to write in my journal. That reminds me, I'm almost out of pages in my journal. I only have like 5 pages left, so I was wondering if you could send me another journal. I trust Mom's judgment on choosing a journal. I'm not picky at all about what it looks like or anything. I made a new year's resolution to write in my journal at least every other day. I've been doing pretty good, but I wont be able to write much longer if I have no more pages.

I'm sorry I couldn't e-mail sooner this week, but I love you all and miss everyone! I am also so happy and honored to be able to be a missionary. It's an amazing thing to be able to be a representative of Jesus Christ's church and I realize I'm only going to have two years to do this so I am working with all my heart might mind and strength. Ok, I'll be sure to write in a couple days!!!

Love,
Chase

Monday, January 12, 2009

Received Mon Jan 12, 2009

Nooooooooo...the chargers lost. That's ok...I actually don't care that much because I didn't get to watch them this year anyway. The 4 teams that are still left are a huge surprise to me. The Eagles might actually make it all the way this year!

Anyway...its been a pretty long week. After I e-mailed last week we went to Bolivar peninsula again, except this time we brought a car with us across the ferry so we could drive around the island and see more. It was pretty interesting; everything is still smashed and destroyed over there. We did see some crazy things, but all the destruction is getting kind of boring now. I took a few pictures though. But anyway, (this next part could get gross) the next day me and Elder Pedersen woke up throwing up and having some bad diarrhea. At first we thought it was food poisoning, but now we think it might have been a bug we caught on Bolivar from touching stuff. We still don't know what it was but I have never been so sick in my life. I only threw up once in the morning but I still felt nauseated all day. I've never had diarrhea so bad before. Me and Elder Pedersen spent ALL day running back and forth to and from the bathroom. Sometimes we both needed to go so we would run over and use the Brown's bathroom when they weren't home. We both felt so weak and felt like we were about to pass out by about 11am. All we could really do was lie in bed or sit at our desks. I ended up losing 6 pounds and he lost 9 pounds. Later that night I started feeling a little better and the Brown's went and got me some of my miracle juice: Powerade. Elder Pedersen got some Gatorade even though I explained to him that Powerade is far superior to Gatorade. Anyway, I drank some powerade and tried to eat a little yogurt. I surprisingly slept well that night and woke up pretty much all the way healed. I was still exhausted and worn out from the day before but I was pretty much better. Elder Pedersen still had some sickness that day, so we had to stay in again. So on Thursday we finally got to go out and work again.

Thursday is our weekly planning session day though, so we had a pretty long planning session. We wrote down all the names of the people we need to visit and we came up with 15-20 people. Were definitely going to be pretty busy for a while. We've got to sift through these people. A lot of these people are investigators that hit an obstacle and stopped progressing. So we've been visiting these people and we've been pretty bold, and told them they need to get their priorities straight or they will never be able to stay happy. Pretty much nobody could deny what we told them, but they just cant force themselves to take the next step. So were currently sifting through these people, trying to kick them into shape and if they don't respond, we drop them.

Montanna did get baptized yesterday. We changed it from Saturday to Sunday, because Abraham and Paulette both had to work on Saturday. It turned out really really well. A TON of people showed up. Usually only like 15 people come to a baptism including missionaries and the person's family, but this time there was easily 30+ people there. Montanna is 12 so we've really been trying to work with the Young Women to help get her involved. I remember hearing a talk from somewhere, I'm not sure, but they were saying how full conversion has two parts: spiritual and social. Missionaries are in charge of the spiritual side, but the members really need to do the social side. So, we had some of the young women Montanna had already started making friends with do the talks and prayers. All of the young women actually showed up, so it turned out really well. She's going to be a good member. It was really neat to watch that family form. It started as Abraham by himself and now he has a wife, and 2 kids there. His other son really wants to move in too. By the way, we found out that the problem in the family is definitely Kim, not Abraham. Kim is probably the most dramatic girl I've ever met. She basically lied to us about everything. Everyone else in the family is ok, but she is pretty lost right now. She's acting like she's trying to find a new religion now and shes basically doing EVERYthing she can to get attention. She was one of the people we were really bold with and told her she's messing up her life. I'm sure she'll come around again. I'm just glad that the Perez family is still strong.

We got transfer calls this morning and I am NOT getting transferred! I will be starting my fourth transfer here. I've been here for over 4 months already...time has flown by. I wanted to stay for one more transfer here and sift through these people and find another person who is ready to receive the gospel. Last night I got an epiphany and realized who we need to focus on and who is probably ready to receive the gospel. Her name is Somang, she is from Korea and shes is going to be living here with her aunt, who is a member. That family is really strong in the church, and Somang has already come to church twice. We've always wanted to visit her but we have so much on our plate right now that we have totally forgot about her. So I'm excited to start teaching her and I have pretty good hopes for her.

No, I don't think I noticed the moon on the 10th. I was definitely outside but I don't particularly remember the moon. The moon always looks HUGE here. Ive seen it a couple times where it was just barely over the horizon of the water and it was a full moon and the moon was red and orange and HUGE. It always looks cool when its out above the gulf of Mexico.

Nope I haven't tried my debit card since last weeks e-mail. That's about all I can remember for this week.

I'm happy I'm staying for another transfer here in Galveston. I know this place like the back of my hand. I not only know all the streets and all the buildings, but I know where all the bumps in the sidewalk are and where the sidewalk starts and ends on each street. When we get referrals I can look at the address and tell you if its at the start of the block, middle, or end. Its pretty fun when you get to know a place so well. I've been having a ton of fun while working hard, and that is when you do the best work. You teach better, you find better, and you're just a better missionary when you're always in a good mood and you've got a smile on your face.

Ok, well that's all for this week. I need to go buy one of those pouch things so I can send that flash drive home.

I love you all!
Love,
Chase

Monday, January 5, 2009

Received Mon, Jan 5, 2009

Happy birthday Zak!!!

I totally didn't realize last week when I was writing my e-mail that your birthday was going to be that week. Then the next day as soon as I wrote down the date I realized it was your birthday! So have you been working on getting your drivers license? I procrastinated a while and I don't think I got mine until the end of my Junior year. I definitely would at least get started on getting your permit pretty soon though.

Hooray...we finally got to go out and work this week. We did really well too. We found 13 new investigators and we had 6 people at church yesterday! As a whole district I we had 10 or 11 at church, so it was a pretty successful week.

On Tuesday one of the APs (assistants to the pres) spent the day with us. His companion was in Texas City with those Elders trying to solve some problems going on down there. Elder Zolman is the one who was with us. He served in Galveston for the first 11 months of his mission, so he knew the area really well and knew a lot of members. Hes one of my favorite missionaries out here and I really learned a lot from that day. We were pretty bold with a lot of people. We started talking to some guy said he was an alcoholic and he wants to start changing his life around. We asked him if he wanted to stop drinking and he said yes, so Elder Zolman was like, ok well lets start by getting rid of your beer. Surprisingly, this guy actually did it. He took his huge bottle of beer and we watched him pour it out into his front lawn. He looked pretty sad pouring the beer out, but he did it anyway.

Throughout the whole day we saw lots of crazy stuff and got a lot of laughs. We actually taught a lesson on some guys doorstep while one of his buddies was sitting on the steps with a big bag of drugs. After we taught the guy Elder Zolman looked at the druggie guy said how's it goin' or whatever. He said, Well I'm gonna make some money tonight. Elder Zolman said, "Oh really, where do you work" The guy was like, well I work for myself. Then Elder Zolman said "Hey whats in the bag." The guy was like "Tobacco." Elder Zolman said something about how that was some weird looking tobacco. There's definitely a drug problem in Galveston. We had a lot of good experiences though.

Oh yeah, we set up a baptismal date for Montanna. Her date is for January 10th which is this Saturday. Unfortunately there is a ton of drama going on in that family right now. Her new Dad (or stepdad or whatever he's called), Abraham, is super stressed out and hes severely bipolar, so he's exploded a lot of times and there are a lot of problems going on there. Kim moved out because she couldn't take it anymore and Paulette is really depressed too. Were going to focus on reconstructing this family this week. Its actually pretty stressful for me and Elder Pedersen to see all these things happening, but I'm pretty sure everything is going to be alright. I told Paulette and Kim that as long as I am here I am going to work as hard as I can and do everything possible to help them out and get Abraham some help. So that was the drama for the week.

For New Years Eve we went and ate dinner at the Rabago's, which is where we ate for Christmas Eve too. They are one of my favorite families I've met out here. They always take good care of the missionaries. They are the ones who are in charge of feeding us every Sunday after church too.

Now to comment on Mom's e-mail...How did everyone like the hockey game? I remember I went with Russell and his dad. It was fun for the first half, then we left. I did get to see 2 or 3 fights though, that was the best part. The whole reason you watch hockey games is to see fights, at least in my opinion. Same thing goes for nascar too, the only reason you watch nascar is to see the crashes.

Haha...anyway....So the Chargers won?? Someone actually told me that at church yesterday. Chargers are goin all the way this year!!

I have to say, I find it pretty that Mom and Kylie are winning in the Gridiron thing. Yes I got the package full of pictures and I loved it.

Ok, well that's all the time I have this week. Our area is still on fire and were seeing miracles happen here every day. I'm definitely going to miss this area when I leave. There are so many good members here and I have so many memories. This is the last week of the transfer too, so next Monday I find out if I stay or go.

Ok I love you all!!! Have fun in school! Study hard and get good grades!

Love,
Chase