Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Well another week has come and gone in West Point, Utah. Things have been cold. There were a couple days where it was so, so windy. I do NOT like the wind. It wasn't that cold outside, but the wind made it pretty bad. There were a lot of fences blown over, and people staying inside, but luckily we have a car so we really can't complain.

So the first thing to talk about is the Kristainsen family. I am not exactly sure on the spelling, but it is pronounced like it looks. They are from Denmark staying with their godmother. She is from England and lives in our stake. They will be here until January. They are looking for a job right now so that they can stay. They only way the job will work is if it is something that one of them can do that an American wouldn't be able to do. They have to show they will not just take away an American job from a citizen here. Fin can drive all types of big trucks, so they are looking for something like that. If they don't find something, they will fly home and then come back again for vacation. The kids do not go to school, so they are home all day everyday. We met them at a dinner appointment and set something up. Fin didn't believe in God, but they like going to church with their godmother, because they feel welcomed here versus in Denmark; the churches there are mean and don't allow kids (they have never tried the LDS church in Denmark). Anyways, we have had three lessons so far with them (I forgot to mention them last week), and they have a baptismal date for the 14th, but it is shaky. Fin really did not want to go to church every week and had no interest in religion, but his heart is softening. He is just worried about our "no beer" rule though, but we will get to that later. There is a man that speaks Danish in our ward that comes to translate. When he cannot make it, we found two returned missionaries that served as companions in Denmark that came and taught with us. It is kind of crazy translating back and forth, but it is fun. They are a good family, and they like us. We are going to do a better job of daily contact and reading with them. They read their Book of Mormon, and we read ours and talk about it. Sandra is really playful and likes to come up behind me and tap my right shoulder then run to the left. She does that the entire time we are there. She is cute and doesn't understand anything we say. She is the only one not old enough to be baptized. Their accent is really cool, and they have taught us 2 or 3 Danish words.

If it wasn't in Utah, I would come back and live here....

One week in paradise! It has been great. I love being in West Point, UT. If it wasn't cold and in Utah, I would move back and live here one day.

I am jumping around-out of order, but Sunday was very welcoming. We went to three sacrament meetings that day, and one of them had a primary program! I sang along to all of the songs under my breath; they all made me think of Mom. It made me love the stake right away, and we got front row seats.

Other good news, Chad's mom wrote me!! It was from both of them, but she wrote it. It was so good to hear from them that they are doing well; an answer to prayers.

I started out in the area a day earlier than everyone else, because Elder Harper's companion had already gone home. We had a lesson that night with our investigator named Theresa. She is an older woman, but she is in a lot better shape than her husband who can barely walk or speak. She has lots and lots of questions. She was raised catholic, so it is a big change for her, but she wants to know more and does extra reading on her own. It was a great way to start out. She is a little hard headed, but so am I, so I love her. She is great. She will start reading The Book of Mormon more and be set. The second lesson we taught her this past week we talked about church. She said she hadn't ever gone to church, because her husband (member) had never invited her. (Invite the ones you love to do things that you know will make them happy! You will regret it if you don't). He had a smart remark that I couldn't understand, because he mumbles very slowly, and then he said he would start taking her to church in two weeks. He has been sick and thinks he will feel better by then, but I wouldn't want to rely on him for her church attendance. He is in pretty rough shape.

Great week-I guess every week is great...

I will be serving in West Point, English zone leader of the Clinton Zone with Elder Harper. I have talked about Elder Harper; he was my favorite district leader while I was a zone leader. I have wanted to serve with him for a while. He is very bold, knows how to baptize, has one of the nicest apartments in the mission, and he loves to lift weights at the high school gym up the street.

This week has been great! A lot of awesome things happened. I guess every week is great, though. Anyway, we had a mission tour this week from Elder Clark. I guess I can start with that.

Elder Kipp and I ended up going to the conference for the north half and the south half of the mission. It was basically the same training, but new revelation the second time. So it was a six-hour training; most of it was done by Elder Clark. They are in the process of trying to get a senior couple in every stake and aren't even close, but the few that were there he had stand up. He then rebuked everyone that hadn't recently bought his wife flowers not including holidays or anniversary's and made them all promise to buy their wife flowers. Then he thanked them for their service and told us to start working with them.

He brought Sister and President Hiers to the front and had us all say things that we have learned from them in their mission. You could see how happy it made them. I was really glad he did that. Then he went on and trained on pretty much every basic aspect of missionary work. He really emphasized talking with everyone and how to get referrals from members. He also talked a ton about diligence. Overall, it was really good, and I learned a lot and got ideas of things that I need to be doing better.

Another week!

It snowed here yesterday. Isn’t it awful? I'm not ready for the snow.

So this week is a little different; we have p-day on Monday like the rest of the world. We will be having a mission tour from Elder Clark this week. He will split the mission in half and give a mission conference to the north half of the mission on Tuesday and the south half on Wednesday. Then we will have mission leadership council with him on Thursday. It will be a great week even though I am sure a stressful one for President and Sister Hiers. Hopefully, we can get called to repentance; the last general authority was just way too easy on us.

This week has been great. I just have a feeling this last coming week of the transfer will be a very long one. We are pretty exhausted and ready to have an apartment again. It will be exciting to find out what will happen to us this transfer. Last week, I went to Syracuse for a few days. I went to one district meeting and everyone had dressed up for Halloween except for Elder Kipp and I. Afterward, we all went out to unlimited sushi together; we are big fans of unlimited sushi.

My son and grandson with Jaime Rogel..do you remember me telling you about him? I taught him last transfer. I am glad the two of them are doing well. Elder Salazar is as great as ever and everyone loves him.