May 30, 2011

Hey Mom,
This week has been great. We had a very great week, even thou all the drunk people because of the Indianapolis 500 race. We were able to add 5 new investigators to our teaching pool. Most of them are really solid. They all have been really prepared and are willing to learn about the gospel in their lives. We had 10 lessons this week, all of them have been with a member present except for one. It was one of the best weeks that I have had on my mission thus far. I have never been so exhausted as I have this week. It's been super great. Don't be worried about the tornado's. We haven't had any problems down here so far. We had more problems in Plymouth. Oh well, I am still looking forward to seeing one on my mission. I don't even know where to begin. We had a lesson with an extremely rich guy yesterday and it was actually at the golf course. He bought us dinner and also the members dinner that were with us. It was awesome how he came in contact with the church. He was coming back from Vegas, and had a 7 hour layover in Salt Lake and decided to take a tour of temple square. He loved it. He was super amazed that we had found him so quick because he wasn't even home from the trip when we got the referral. He is super solid. We have another investigator that has read through the end of Alma and loves it. We just have a really hard time getting lessons with him, he wants to finish the Book of Mormon before he wants to meet us. We know that he is reading because we quizzed him about the story line and the characters. We are also teaching a set of 11 year old twins that are super solid. They are going to be getting baptized some time in June. We don't know for sure when yet. We are teaching a Baptist preacher that is a little bull headed and is in some way getting antied. Hope fully tho we can get things all figured out with him. We wont go to the lessons unless we have a member present. He asks some questions that Elder Belliston and I have no idea what the answer is. We are definitely in the bible belt now and I sure am out of the catholic realm. We live in a members home and the members are originally from Pocatello but had moved away at a young age. It's kinda weird living and sharing living quarters with them. I am use to it already. Except for the stairs. I actually fell down them the other day and twisted my back and dislocated my bad shoulder. Luckily I was able to put my shoulder back in place, but my pack is still really sore from it. I will manage it. This week we have been doing a ton of walking because we have not received my bike from Plymouth yet. Hopefully the zone leaders get it to me soon. We walk so much its not even funny. Luckily this week we will have the car again.
I have been keeping the Snake River Vally in my prayers and hopefully all is getting better. Sounds like the farmers know whats up with the sand bag filling contraption that has been invented. All in all this week has been great. We had a lot of fun and a lot of success. Thanks for all the prayers. I love you all.
Jared

May 23, 2011

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Hey Mom,

How are you doing?  I am doing great. I am just going to let you guess where I am at. I am not going to tell you because it is not necessary. Where I am at I am still doing the Lords work.  I will tell you that I am in the Eagle Creek ward and my companion is Elder Belliston. I am Sr. companion, and its scary. I have grown closer to the Lord by doing so. We live with some members house it is nice its awesome. Sacrament meeting blew me away I was not use to all the people and all the noise. Oh yeah we have a ton of investigators as well, we have been super busy. We only have tracted about 3 hours the past week. Tracting

I am sorry to hear that Dad is still fighting the illness, that is not always fun. I am still fighting my stuffy nose but I will manage. I think that it has alot  to do with allergies and the humidity but I have no idea. That's crazy about all the flooding, I hope that all goes well. I wish I could be there to assist in all the work that needs done. I hope that all continues to go well there.  I hope that there is enough people to help the stake with this disaster.

That's cool to hear about Hans Peterson. I thought that he was already gone.  Someone sent me pictures of him with a name tag.  That is cool that he is going to Arizona,  right in the middle of the heat. That's cool that Adam and Paden got their calls, when are they both leaving? I am super excited to be in a great area again. It makes things alot easier and keeps my mind off of home, so that is great. I Love you all and hope that all goes well. I will keep you in my prayers.

Love Jared

After reading Jared's letter, we received a phone call from our neighbor Jerry Jensen.  Jerry had a roping buddy call him this morning.  He said his son is in the Indiana mission and has a new companion from Blackfoot, Idaho by the name of Elder Bair.  Did Jerry happen to know this boy or his family?  Jerry laughed and said he certainly did.  We had land across the canal from Jerry and Jared had been his home teaching partner for 18 months.

Later in the day, I received an Email from Wayde, he is Jared's good friend who is serving in the same mission as Jared's cousin Justin.  Wayde mentioned that three weeks ago he baptized a woman by the name of Dell Omega Grant.  Justin had started teaching her a year ago.  It was nice that Wayde was able to assist the completion of Dell's baptism.

     This goes to show that we live in a small world.

May 16, 1011

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Hey Mom,

We are getting Double Transferred out this week. We got the call from the assistants this morning and we are both leaving. I will miss Plymouth very much, but oh well. The Lord has work else where for me. This week has been a hard week. The weather has been horrible. There has been 2 tornado warnings around the area.  It has been cold and really hot most days. We have had all of our set appointments fall through this week, so we did a lot of tracting. I am pretty sure that we got heat stroke the other day we were both sicker than dogs. But we are doing alot better. Even thou we did a whole bunch of tracting we were unable to find anymore people to teach. As of right now we only have 1 investigator and it is Earlana, and she is not even too solid to begin with. Yesterday we had stake conference and it was broadcast from Salt Lake and it was great. President Eyring and M. Russel Ballard Spoke and they both did an amazing job. They both spoke on missionary work. Its really ironic that is the 3rd lesson this month about missionary work for this branch. Its funny because it won't be the last missionary lesson either.

Its crazy how much it has warmed up this past week.  It does not surprise me at all that the river is riotous. The water levels here have been down to about the normal. It has been a bummer deal, I was really looking forward to having this turned into a service mission. Beggar's cant' be choosers. It's good to hear that the family is doing good. I am happy that all is going well back home.

I did send those shoes back to the one store. I did get the other shoes also, and are they are too big. I will send them back and exchange them. Will  I need the paper work for them also?   I will wait till I get to my new area to do that tho. I got super tired of the nasty almond milk. They make a milk that is regular milk and is lactose free and it is cheaper so I switched and its just all around better. I love you all and appreciate all that you do.

Love Jared

May 9, 2011

Hey Mom,

Likewise it was always good to talk to my dear family, so I really don't have anything really that new to talk about since last night. I guess I will just tell you how the week went. First off we had an amazing week.  Tuesday we had a zone conference. t was amazing. All the training that was given was definitely inspired of God. The whole conference was on the topic of having a good planning and morning studies. It was very informative. We have been able to see the blessings that come from doing it as we have applied it. This week we have 3 new investigators. Damon, Watson, and Alex. they are all great. Watson on the other hand ended up dropping us on our second lesson. It is a bummer deal but it happens people still have their agency, they can still choose to hear us out or not. Damon and Alex are still doing great, neither of them came to church unfortunately but we I guess we just have more to teach. This week we have still have not been able to meet with Earlana.  Yesterday we talked in PEC and are going to hand her over to the branch to pick up teaching.  Your not going to find new people to teach if you can't help the ones that you already have. We have taught Earlana all that we can, it is in her hands now. Hopefully the branch will do good. All is going well tho. The weather is kinda starting to warm up, yesterday was the nicest day so far this year and today so far seems like it will be better. The Branch is definitely doing a lot better at being supportive, they are working with us and we are getting stuff accomplished. We have received referrals and we are able to contact them. Hopefully something comes from it. Something that  have become fond of is the spirit that comes from doing the Lords work, as we work diligently and as we are doing what the Lord wants and not what I want.  The feeling of satisfaction of helping salvation is amazing.  It is probably a lot of what you feel like when you do names in the temple. The enthusiasm and the excitement that comes from the Lords lost sheep when they have found what they didn't know they were looking for is amazing.  The lite that I can see in their eyes is what keeps me going each day. I know that this is the Lords work. I love this work because it is WORK. I love you all and have a Great week

May 2, 2011

Hey Mom,

This week went really well. Finally our efforts are paying off and we are seeing results. This week has warmed up a lot and it has rained a lot again. (Thank goodness for a full time car) it has rained so much that there has been a lot of flooding, not necessarily bad flooding but flooding none the less. There has been a couple of tornado warnings in Plymouth, unfortunately none have touched ground. I am still hoping that one does. It will give us a lot of teaching opportunities. We were able to have the best week this week here since I have been in Plymouth. We had a sweet lesson with a guy named Damon. He is early to mid 20's and is super interested and receptive of the gospel. We also had met a couple of really awesome people that the Lord has prepared for us. The Branch members are slowly coming around and are working harder to get us people to teach, this week we have received 5 referrals from the members.  It is been super nice to actually have some trust from the members. Earlana ended up not moving this week. Something happened with her landlord that she has to work out before she can move. She is still doing well and she is still reading and praying and coming to church and doing everything that she needs to to get baptized except to stop smoking. We are going to drop some spirit bombs on her this week about the word of wisdom. Hopefully she will feel the spirit enough to make that sacrifice. Yesterday at Church  Matt Johnson and Elder Gasser and I taught a combined lesson in 3rd hour, it went really well. We taught about missionary work and how the branch members can be involved in that. It was awesome the branch members need that alot and they are doing a lot better about it.
Its good to hear that the family is doing good.  I am really excited to talk to you all next Sunday.  I don't know when I will call, but I will call Saturday to set a time. Its really good to hear that all the nephews and niece are growing up and are all healthy and Strong. I sure do miss them alot.  I appreciate you getting that stuff for me. I hope that all is still going well I love you all.

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Elder Bair

April 25, 2011

Hey Mom,

Easter was great! It was really a new and awesome experience in the mission field. It really bring a new meaning to me and my life. Church was great, we really had the spirit with us. This week was pretty slow and wet, nothing new really happened. Earlana is moving this Saturday, but only a block away so she will still be able to be taught. She is still having some hard times with living the word of wisdom. We plan on reading the 89th section with her this week and have her pray to know again that Joseph Smith is a Prophet. We are really going to get down to the bottom of this and see whats holding her back. We have a couple of really cool people that we knocked into the other day hopefully they are as sincere as they sounded. The branch is slowly working to be better.  This week we had 2 referrals from them. They are the only referrals that the members have gave since like 1 year ago.  We have been busting our butts for the member trust, and it is starting to pay off.

It sounds like the family is doing great and that you had a great week. It doesn't surprise me that Wyatt and Andy snuck off to the shop. The shop is the best place. If I remember right you had 2 boys that would always sneak to the  shop. It sounds like everyone is getting finished up on school... except for me.  I have a legitimate excuse but I will need you to look at schools for me so  when I get home I can jump in, or maybe work. I don't know yet but I do want to know when I will need to start applications and stuff for BYU-I or maybe CSI, I  haven't decided yet. I love this gospel and all that entails it. I am grateful that I made the decision to come on a mission. It has helped my eyes get opened, and my faith and testimony grow. Today will be a good day we are headed to the Notre Dame campus and do some sight seeing. We have a little extra miles this month so I will talk to you all later .I love you all. Jared