Weekly Post - 12/27/2010

First off, I'd like to declare my manhood! Although, I have been a man for over 2 years now I declare my manhood- being TWENTY! So HA! No more of that nineTEEN garbage anymore! So take that and repent all you people!!

Anyways Merry Christmas everyone- it was a good Christmas for me. Elder Sonderegger and I did get presents, and a white Christmas and you didn't; so take that!

This last week was kinda difficult for the work since it was in fact the week of Christmas- we didn't get the opportunity to teach Miranda or the Brooks; but we did get our whole Zone to come sing Christmas Carols on the 23rd to the Brooks and left them a copy of Joy to the World! So that was cool I guess. We did finally get in contact with a investigator that was being taught but the past missionaries had a hard time with, and we taught him two times this last week. Once on my birthday and the other on Christmas Eve- so that was pretty cool. He's way dedicated to learning now, and really wants to make a change. And his mom is a member too- so that helps. We're excited for him.

Christmas was really nice- we spent Christmas eve, Christmas day, and the day after Christmas with a brother in our ward who is going through some really rough trials, and was alone for the day. So we hung out with him, and visited him- bless his heart; he's one of the most amazing men I've ever met, and I can't believe how rough he's getting it lately :P due to the privacy of his situation I will not tell his name or say what's going on. But we're helping out, and things are getting better :)

I bought a really cool action figure at a Goodwill just barely... it's like a swamp creature thing... and, yeah.

So when Elder Sonderegger and I were at a members home on Saturday the member asked us to find a Christmas movie to watch on TV- so we flipped through some channels when one movie caught our eye... it was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Here's what happened:

The camera moves past the Christmas star and down into the North pole. Santa is obviously stressed out and the elves are not listening to him- suddenly they look and the Christmas star is flying at them. "take cover!" shouts Santa! Suddenly a group of men in black run out and start shooting at them "Protect Santa!" shouts Mrs. Clause and everyone runs to a closet and pulls out a bunch of guns and rockets and stuff! At this point Elder Sonderegger and I are dying of laughter- suddenly a guy in white snow gear [like in Inception] pulls up and takes of his mask "LEE MAJORS?!" everybody exclaims- Lee Majors and Santa talk about taking on the hoard on the NIGHT THE REIGNDEER DIED! Not a very good explanation of it, but there's a video of it I recorded; and it ended up being a Bill Murray movie so that explained it for me.

Ummm... Talking to the family was nice. I got super trunky or homesick after it, but then I went to Church the next day and I didn't miss them anymore. OH! We went to visit some members yesterday and randomly found out the sister's sister lives in my home Ward and I actually hometaught their family. so that was a little random.

Anyways, that's that.

Oh yeah, this last year we had a goal for the mission to get 350 baptisms for the year. We so far have 379. Just something cool for you to hear. And next year our goal is 500- so pray for us to get 500 baptisms.

Weekly Post - 12/20/2010

So I'm very saddened to hear the news of the burning down of the Provo Tabernacle. I literally burst into tears as I read an article my dad sent me, just remembering some of my greatest memories there. From The National Day of Prayer concerts, to the Masterworks Concert to Stake Conference that place was very dear to me- and now it's gone! I'll return to Provo, Utah in 21 months with no tabernacle! :( Things change fast- but alas, we hold our heads high, and move forward. My dad showed me a neat picture of the savior found in the Tabernacle. All the picture was charred black, except for the Savior- The Church is true.

 

So this last week was weird- last Sunday I mentioned how we didn't get to go to Church because of it beign cancelled due to weather conditions- well there definately is a difference in your week when you have not taken the Sacrament. Something I believe very strongly is about how if a missionary loses the spirit sometime in the week, then he has to wait until Sunday when he takes the Sacrament again to get it back- we must have that spirit to be with us always!

 

Monday we were on our way to meet with Jessica and Mark but she told us not to come over because she didn't feel like she should have us over that day, [remember she got anti'd the day before] so that  appointment fell through- and we scheduled a new one on friday. That monday by the way was the WORST P-Day ever! It was so boring, we didn't do anything fun! So this P-Day we're going to be sure to play some basketball or something.

 

I don't really remember anything else from this last week other than this exciting news:

 

WE HAVE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE FOR MIRANDA NUTTALL!

 

It's really exciting- the date is March 12th, and it's a date we are just shooting for her to be ready for. If she feels she can be baptize sooner she can be baptized sooner, if later then later. But for now that is the date! We're super excited, and she is really working hard with us! So yee haw! :) She's awesome, and willing to make a change, and she really wants to be a part of this- which is key because you must have the want to change if you are going to try to change.

 

So I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting this last Sunday. It was a really crappy talk- I didn't feel very organized, and I was super nervous because as soon as I stood up to speak I noticed Sister Jergensen in the congregation... so it made me super nervous that my Mission Mommy was there! But people said it was a good talk to close the meeting with [I was the concluding speaker], and that I really brought it home. So maybe it's all in my head and I really am that awesome? Be humble Elder.. I somehow ended up singing in the Ward choir before my talk too, which was awkward, and the two pieces the brother chose were terrible, and weird. "Candlelight Carol" and "Winds Thro' the Olive Trees" <=Ugliest Choir piece EVER! I had to take the lead as a tenor though because for some reason all the other tenors decided to follow ME of all people, who I might remind you hadn't rehearsed this song before... but to my surprise I SOMEHOW could read the music, and I followed it perfectly. That was quite the blessing, but the tenors still didn't follow me so it was bad. But that choir conductor just shouldn't be conducting... anyways!

 

...

 

OH! We had a Zone Conference! I forgot about that! Tuesday was Zone Conference! And it was amazing! How did I forget this?! Yeah, I was at my first ZC on Tuesday and it was really neat, they did show us one of those videos on youtube of the people singing that hallelujah chorus song- it was really cool. The APs gave a really cool lesson thing on being consecrated missionaries, and it pretty much made me feel like a really crappy missionary. I found I have A LOT to improve on, and that I am no where near consecrated, so I've been working really hard on that, and I will have you know I believe I am doing alot better! My teaching skills have improved too. So I really love my mission president, not only is President Jergensen to best mission president out, but he is so freaking uplifting! He gave the best lesson during this conference, the spirit was so strong! Love the guy. After that we went and decorated cookies and had a talent show. It was really cool. Then we did other stuff less cool, other than Sister Jergensen's awesome talk she gave! And the testimonies born by the departing missionaries going home in January.

 

Then Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Connell, who replaced Elder Price in the Des Moines 3rd Ward, and he is really freaking funny. He's currently waiting for a visa to go to his mission in Brazil Sao Paulo- but he's been out here for I think 5 months now so President Jergensen is considering trying to see if we can keep him- because it doesn't look like he's getting his visa soon. We did alot of cool stuff, like tracting and tracting. It was good stuff and cold.

 

Anyways I don't really have much more to add- oh yeah, Jessica and Mark dropped us. They want to stay friends, but they don't really want to hear the discussions anymore. It's really sad, but we had dinner with them on Friday and we're going to schedule another appointment soon, and we're gonna totally get them back. So keep them in your prayers, people!

 

Elder Prows out!

Weekly Post - 12/13/2010

Ok this last week was a bit crazy.

Monday we had P-Day as usual and we went to a shop called Big Bass Pro... that shop is like a big in-your-face-to-Cabela's! Holy cow! It's amazing! Here are some pictures I took of some of the displays from some hunts some people got that are put up there. All the hunts are native to Iowa and real animals that were donated, it's amazing! It just made me want to go hunting even more- some day I will go hunting and I will fulfill my dream!

So Monday we had the opportunity to go to that store, and go bowling in which I totally got owned with a score of 20 I think? I went half way through the game with a score of 0, it was not a good game for me. But after the half way point I started to make a comeback. We had dinner with the Nuttall's as well and it went super well! We got to know them and we were able to get to know them very well.

The next few days Elder Sonderegger and I got to hang with one of the Elders from the 3rd ward since his companion was at leadership training, so we did alot of work with him, and it was awesome. Elder Connell is his name.

So I had the opportunity to go with Elder Knapp [A Zone Leader from the Iowa City area] to teach a lesson to Jessica and Mark Brooks. And man, oh man. That lesson went so well! Jessica told us about how once she met Elder Sonderegger and I she went and prayed to know if she should let us come back, and it felt right! And then when we gave her a Book of Mormon she started reading it, and prayed about it and it felt right! GOLDEN! We were so happy, and they talked about how their life had been changing, and they just want to hear more. I couldn't be more happy about it...

Friday we went to service as usual only this time Elder Connell came with us, so it went by alot faster. It was pretty awesome.

Saturday was the first snow of the month! And boy was it crazy! A blizzard! I went tracting in a blizzard, and the snow that was in the air was pretty much hail, and the wind blew really freaking hard, so it HURT. That night we got a phone call from Brother Thomas who is the Brooks' fellowshipper, and he does a dang good job by the way. He told us that Jessica would be coming to church the next day!! We invited her and she turned it down because she teaches Catholic 6th grade sunday school every sunday at 6:30. But it just so happens it got cancelled! So she decided she'd come to our service before hers at 11! YEE HAW! Our service got cancelled... so she didn't get the opportunity to go. We were walking to her place, to visit and check up on her, but after walking a block in 5 degree weather with 10 degree wind chill that day and the humidity, it wasn't going to happen [do the math 5-10= -5 so we were walking in -5 degree weather]

We then had to go help a non-member move [planting seeds there] which we got done by the help of the Elders quorum in our ward, and we organized it in like 1 day so it was way short notice, but we got it done for her. After that we went to a members and had dinner- a really yummy pork roast! :] Later that night I was sitting on the floor playing with my foot when I saw Elder Sonderegger answer the phone. He looked excited, but then a look of shock came on his face. He left the room and talked on the phone for like 2 minutes and came back in. Jessica had gone to her mass that morning like she said she would, and turns out she talked to one of her priests about us- he told her not to have us comeback, and I guess she said it was her choice to have us come back or not- and she got Anti'd.

To Be Anti'd- when a person comes to another person who displays interest in our faith, and they tell that person as much negative stuff as they can about our church to get them to lose faith.

In this case he blew up, and told her we're racist, practice polygamy, and that we believe there is more than one God, and tons of other Anti... I am not a fan of that priest.

So in the long run, she probably doesn't want us coming back anymore. We have an appointment tonight with the Brooks, and we're ready to pretty much throw it down; when I say that I don't mean be hostile, or fight or rebuke anyone. But we are not going to lose her, we are going to invite the spirit, we are going to bear testimony to her, and we are going to clarify the church, and we will pray with her. We've worked super hard with her, and so we are not giving up- so pray for us!

I know not alot of people are reading this blog, but I ask to everyone who is reading this blog to please pray for Elder Sonderegger, myself, Elders Ball and Connell [who will attend the lesson with us] and the Brooks.

This is a crucial lesson for us! So help us not lose them!

Weekly Post - 12/6/2010

Ok so first I'd like to clarify something- I've been getting alot of reports from people that apparently I'm really depressed or something out here. That's not the case though; yes, I have an occasional time where it is a little more challenging. But my mission is going very well. I am very pleased with the success that Elder Sonderegger and I are having, and I am definately having the time of my life.

There was one bad thing this week, but it's all good and it happens- Fred and Katie dropped us. We were really upset about it because they seemed very promising; but they said they were not feeling ready to investigate further. They just aren't really feeling like searching for anything; so they asked we cease the visits and when they feel ready they will give us a call. Bummer? Yes. But life moves on, we have other people to teach; so let's hold our heads high, pray and move with the spirit.

The Brooks [Jessica and Mark] are going wonderfully- we invited them to the ward Christmas Party this last Saturday- but Jessica and their daughter Chloe got really sick. So Mark went over to the Thomas' home and told Brother Thomas they couldn't be there. Brother Thomas said they were really genuinely disappointed; we went and visited them on Sunday and they said they were super disappointed they couldn't go and Chloe was crying alot about it, because she really wanted to go. The Thomas' are awesome, because they are really fellowshipping the Brooks Family alot, and it says alot about what is going on between them if Mark is feeling comfortable enough to go to the Thomas' and tell them they can't go- he trusts them. I'm super excited about this family; they are really receptive and they feel the spirit. Mark is really quiet about it, but I can see it in his eyes- he feels something, he just doesn't realize what it is [That gives us something to work with there!]. We are meeting with the Brooks this Wednesday and we will bring a different brother who has a 6 year old daughter [Chloe is 7 ;) ]. His name is Brother Uzel; and he's been a convert for a little over a year now- he has a very firm testimony in this church, and he is actually super active- he's the Boy Scout Master actually. So we're hoping he can help out with them alot, and just fellowship them. Also Sister Thomas invited Jessica to the Relief Society Christmas Party tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes down!

We're meeting today with Miranda Nuttall- she's an investigator the APs found randomly who was delivering a pizza to them. She was commited to EVERYTHING and even had a baptismal date! the only problem was the Law of Chastity... she was living with her Boyfriend Jon Nuttall [A less-active]. And they couldn't afford to split up [moneywise] so they got married! But the process of her getting married to Jon put off her baptism, and lessons. (She used wedding prep as an excuse of being too busy) but now that she's married and everything she wants to meet with us and get this whole baptism thing going again! Only thing is we know she is not keeping the Word of Wisdom-[we saw an ashtray full of cigarrette butts on her table the other day.] And so we're just going to work from it all through again with her. Make sure she is really prepared! So we're way excited about her.

Other than those two investigator groups we don't have much other investigators. But you know what? The Brooks are going so well I'm ok with it; I do want to find other people, yes, that's why we keep looking. We want to find as many people as we can. But if we don't find anyone, hey we have the Brooks! SO HA!

Weekly Post - 12/1/2010

Monday was not P-Day :P BUT! It was my 2 Month Click Day! I'm 2/24 of the way done! CRAZY!

So I have a funny story:

Last monday right after I had finished writing emails we went and played ultimate frisbee in a church. Elder Price made a really epic pass at me and I dove for the frisbee, nicked my face on the wall! I got a killer rug burn from that carpet stuff that they put on the walls in the gyms. It's all healed now, I only have like a little bit of red on my cheek- but the scabbing is gone and everything. It was a manly wound, and super awesome. I'll send pictures later.

OH MY GOSH!!! That same day I saw the coolest thing EVER!! I always wanted to see this, but Iowa has graced me with a once in a lifetime experience! So Elder Heywood, Elder Bird, Elder Sonderegger and I are driving home from the Mission office, and we're stuck in traffic, headed west. For some reason it was really busy, but anyways, we look to our right and running back and forth in a park next to us is this big buck! It was so cool- Elder Heywood says: "watch this he's totally gonna get nailed!" We see the buck dart across the street missed barely by two cars, and as soon as it enters the street heading east it gets NAILED; literally flies like 7-8 feet in the air, does like a 720 degree spin and lands on the sidewalk. It's antlers flew off when it hit the car, and it's legs had to have been broken because it couldn't get up. But it was so COOL! We could not stop laughing because it was so exciting, it was loud too! We could hear the CRASH from inside the van, while listening to the Home Alone Soundtrack and the windows up! It was loud! It was so cool, totally made my week. I wish I recorded it, because it would've been awesome to send home.

So Tuesday of last week, Elder Sonderegger and I got into this bash with some mega catholic guy. He was crazy. He instantly started bashing us and quizing us on the bible and testing our knowledge of Jesus. It was so funny, cause he was surprised to see how much we knew. And we had good argument too. At one point he started asking us about polygamy, and the Churches breakoff that practices polygamy, and we told him we didn't know much about them because they aren't our church and he flipped yelling "Well you should know! You should know about your churches breakoffs!" So I said- "Do you know about the over 1000 breakoffs from the Catholic church?" and he said "No, they're not the catholic church. Why would I learn about a church that's not my church?" So wait! Didn't he just contradict his own question?! Moron. Then he started asking dumb questions like when was Joseph Smith born? December 23, 1805. Where were his parents from? We said we don't know and he flipped- "Well you should know! you need to know your churches roots!" So let me point this out, what does where Joseph Smiths parents birth dates and birth places have to do with our churches Doctrine and message? We're not giving a history lesson, we're teaching about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that there is a living Prophet today who hold the authority to speak to us for God, and warn us of things to come- like Noah! The guy was so closed minded- he invited us to a Mass and we gladly accepted. We will be attending a Catholic Mass this Saturday (I'm so excited!) But when we invited him to our church, and to read the Book of Mormon he insulted us and stuff. In the end we found out there was a seed burnt there long ago, by a member who was an idiot and made the guy angry. So the guy has this perspective about Mormons now that we're a secretive group who believes we are all perfect. It was dumb, but there wasn't anything we could do to restore his interest- he already had made his choice, and has his views on the church now.

Wednesday... I don't remember what we did wednesday. Oh boring weekly planning and I made a hat.

Thursday we had Thanksgiving and it was awesome! I wasn't homesick at all! [really I wasn't, is that healthy?] we watched football, and visited members. It was awesome. And then at the Mission Home we had pie, it was very cold. 21 degrees outside, and we had to bike!

Friday was a good day. We went on exchanges with the Des Moines 3rd ward. I went with Elder Phillip Ball and Elder Sonderegger went with Elder Alexander Price. It was really fun, Elder Ball and I had a good time, really got to know each other and met some really good people. We didn't however get to teach a lesson because all of them fell through :(

Saturday was District Meeting. I ended up somehow singing a solo of Away in a Manger with Elder Wengert [Ween-gurt] accompanying me. It was bad- really bad- if only I could sing :P We had alot of fun though, and we did this activity involving roleplaying following up on commitments and shooting basketball hoops. Then we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings for District Lunch which involved transfer calls- sadly Elder Lewis and Elder Price are being transferred away from us :/ hopefully we'll get two cool new guys. Elder Sonderegger got released from being District Leader too, so he can focus on training me and he couldn't be any more happy. Elder Ball is his replacement. Elder Wengert is being transferred too, and Elder Jennings is going home because he's done with his mission [Jennings and Wengert are our Zone Leaders]

Sunday was your typical Sunday- short and sweet.

Monday- not P-Day. I was not happy with Monday not being P-Day. BUT! Some members had us over for dinner, and they also invited to their family home evening with us a family that investigating with us! It was so neat, and I was happy to see members getting involved. I'm excited about Jessica and Mark because they really seem to be growing- I still don't think it's clicking to Jessica that we're saying this is the only true church though, and that Catholic isn't.

Tuesday- We finally got ahold of an investigator being taught by the last missionaries, who was put on hold because she was getting married. [so she can get baptized, Law of Chastity] And we set up a time so we can meet with her. We're going to start teaching her again, and we're so gonna get her baptized! I'm excited!

Today is Wednesday. And it's P-Day, we just went to the new Goodwill in Waukee [for those of you who don't know what that is it's like the D.I. or Savers] and I got some awesome ties. I'm stoked about it! Now I'm typing this blog post.

In the long run, this last week was interesting- for some reason I just became really bold out of nowhere and I was able to just talk to people. But these past 2 days I've been less bold. I don't know what it was, but I felt super intimidated around people. I'll figure it out- James 1:5 right?

Anyways I'm rambling! I hope you all have a great week! Stay safe! Hope to hear from you!

Love,

Elder Prows