Merry almost Christmas

WELL, this week I forgot to take any email notes on what to write home about, so I am drawing a blank already.

The Kristiansen’s are doing well. Pray really hard this week, and if we are blessed then Nicklas will be baptized with his family. The language barrier is tough, and he has no desire right now.

Theresa is still good on her date, but she doesn't know how she feels about coffee. Her husband will not stop drinking it (he is a member) even if we promised it would improve his health. It's sad to see how much they need it; no wonder it is against the word of wisdom!!!

Joshua was set to get baptized this coming Sunday as of last Saturday night. He lives with his anti grandparents but was going to spend the night with his parents to go to church with them. Somehow that didn't happen, and it looks like he is backing out now because of his grandma. I don't get it; his grandma watched her daughter and son-in-law change their lives, quit drinking, smoking, and fighting, they go to church every week, serve others during the week and are happy. And the grandma still won't let her grandson do this...even if she doesn't believe, how can she not see that this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to them. It is pretty ridiculous. The worst part is his parents have custody, but Joshua wants to live with his grandma, because she will give him a ride to school, buy him things, and he doesn't have to have any chores. So for a 14 year old, it is an easy choice to live with grandma and just not get baptized if that makes her happy.

A few other people have dropped off the list. We started teaching the son of a recent convert. His name is O'Ryan, and he is the craziest eight year old I have ever met. He has SUCH a short attention span. He forgets things within five seconds after you say them so it will be tough to teach him. I am not sure how we are going to do it. So last Friday, president called and said we were doing the Spanish training the following Monday, and he wanted Elder Martinez and I to train for 45 minutes on teaching skills. So the two of us got together. It took us about 1 and a half hours to decide what we were going to train on, but we agreed on asking questions in order to help people have more real intent with their commitments, like the way that Jesus Christ did with Peter.

Saturday night, it started to snow really badly, and president decided to not let the north half of the mission drive down to the training, so we just did the south half. We are lucky President Hiers cares about us so much. So this Wednesday, we are driving to Cache Valley to train the north half of the Spanish missionaries. We were also going to go to the temple today, but the pass up to Logan is snowy, so president asked us not to go; oh well. We are going to go bowling with the Kristiansen’s instead.

Well, I don't think much else has happened this week. Sorry I have been bad about taking pictures. Everything is snowy and cold. Yesterday it was negative two degrees when we drove to the gym, so that is pretty awful.

On Sunday, we went to a ton of ward councils, so we saw a lot of members, so that increased our visibility which our stake president is a big fan of. Other than that, we are still trying very hard to find new people, but it is not easy. Kind of just doing what we can and praying for miracles to fall in our lap. There are obviously lots of nonmembers but not ones that haven't been invited in the past couple months. Hopefully, something will change soon.

BUT…things are good. I am working still on being more grateful. I work on things for like two days, and then forget I am working on them. Last night, we shoveled snow, and I couldn't feel my chin when we are done; it is so cold. I do not like the cold right now, but once summer comes, I am sure I will want it back. I went on exchanges with Elder Cable last week, and it was 10 degrees outside. He wasn't wearing a jacket and wanted to turn the air conditioner on, because he thinks it feels good to be freezing cold. I eventually just started to slap his hand away and wouldn't let him touch it; I was going to be warm while we drove. I am not sick, so that is good news.

Love you all!!!! Merry almost Christmas!

Elder Bassett

PS This is from a conversation with one of our investigators:

Sister Kristiansen: What are you up to today

Elder Bassett: Haha; we are emailing our family…my mom said to tell you hi!

Sister Kristiansen: That is so kind of her. Tell her back that we are so happy about having you in our life. You two really know how the change people’s life to the better.

Elder Bassett (to us): Mom, they are the family I was always praying for…they really, really love us! Their entire countenance has changed since we started teaching them. They are the best…so much happier now. We are like their best friends. We get to their house and jump on the couch, put our feet up, and the kids run over to play with photo booth on our ipad, and we joke around like family. It is fun; we love them.

From Mom: That is so sweet. Thank you for sharing it with us. I'm so happy. I am off to go visit teaching but so glad I 'talked' to you before I left!  Can't wait to read your email. And beg your companion for a picture for your mom. Or just lots of you and the K family. 

From Elder Bassett: Sorry, I will do my very best for more pictures next week.

From Mom: Love you anyway! Really have to go now! Late!

From Elder Bassett: Can someone email me an update on Grandpa Gene?

From Mom: Hi. I'm with grandpa right now!  He got checked into the hospital again last night for a little pneumonia, and they are trying to figure out what's wrong. He's telling me naughty jokes and says he's fine, because his sense of humor is still good.

From Elder Bassett: Good to hear he is still joking around. He should get a short note from me in a couple days. Thanks for the package for my companions. I don't know what I was supposed to do with all of it, but I kept two ties and gave the other two to them. They were just too great. I guess I'm seflish. Thanks though!

From Mom: Haha. You're so bad!  You can keep the ties for now, but after you open your present on Christmas, give those to them or someone else that needs them. Haha. 

From Elder Bassett: OK I already wore the red one yesterday. There was no instructions in the box; it's not my fault! I am bringing them by the office today.

From Mom: I'm just teasing. It is my fault.  I mailed everything and got home and found the instructions for your package, and the card for Loretta's package that said who it was from. Are there any pictures this week?  I'm talking to grandpa and haven't scrolled through all my emails. 

From Elder Bassett: daang you sent just kidding too late...I gave all four ties away. That's ok, I have plenty and sorry no picture last week or this week. It just never comes up, and I don't have a companion that likes to take pictures.

Just another week in paradise

Thanksgiving was great. We had two meal appointments spaced out several hours apart, so we were intelligent about it. The first one was with the Hunt family. The food was good there, but so was the second meal! We spent some time talking with them and ate.

It was hard to be productive the rest of the day, but I tried to do some good studies and fell asleep in my chair, because we had just eaten. In the morning, we couldn't study, because we went to the Turkey Trot. Some people in West Point put it together for a boy with cancer. He passed away the week before Thanksgiving, so it was an emotional week for a lot of people in West Point. Elder Harper and I sold raffle tickets, and Elder Harper got on the loud speaker and auctioned off the live turkey, $600. We know the guy that bought it and are going to kill it and eat it with him and the Kristiansen’s on Christmas Eve. It was sooo cold at the Turkey Trot.

At night, we at with the Facer family, and they also invited the Kristiansen’s over. So we got to eat the turkey we killed! It was pretty good, but I'll be honest turkey is turkey. They say the non-frozen one would be so much better, but it all tastes the same. I ate a pretty good amount and had some pie but not as much as usual. No one sent us home with leftovers!! SO there were no leftovers this year, but that's ok; I am still very grateful.

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.