El Paso, YSA Ward

Hi Mom and Dad!

Wow!  That’s crazy!  You are moving to Pittsburg!
I think this change for the family will be really good.  It will be a lot of work and craziness, but that’s ok.

My new companion is Sister Thompson from Ketchikan Alaska.
She has been out about a year.  About a month longer than me.
She has been here in this area for a few months, which is nice.

Sister Thompson - New Companion in El Paso YSA Ward

So, there has been a lot of change here too. I’m in an area that I never even considered, and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about, but I think this could be my most favorite area of all.  It’s almost the exact opposite of my last two areas. Any guesses? :)

We can see Mexico from our house…border patrol is everywhere.

I haven’t decided about how I feel about my new area yet.  I think I’m still in the adjusting phase.  Everyone says that it takes a bit of adjusting time for these type of Wards, even the elders said it.  For some odd reason I ended up in the University of Texas El Paso YSA ward.  Not sure who thought I would be a good YSA missionary, but here I am.

It’s just so different.  And its super weird being in a Ward/branch when they are all the same age as you.  I have always been in Family wards.  I’ve spent a couple of days in a YSA ward, but not full time, which is different.

I’m not sure if we are allowed on Campus, I can’t really seem to find it, but I know it’s all over the area.  We do have quite a few people we are teaching.  The problem with YSA's though, is that they are Flaky.  It’s kind of annoying.  Super in and out. Off and on.  So we have a TON of people but almost all of them are only sort-of, some-of-the-time. 

Actively teaching?  About 5, but the former teaching section of our area book is massive and we are constantly getting referrals from other missionaries and picking up new people.  But we mostly work with recent converts and less actives. People in YSA wards are sometimes really hard to work with.

Tonight we have a lesson with a boy we met on the street. He lives in Juarez, Mexico and doesn’t speak much English, so that should be fun.  I do wish that I knew some Spanish. I think I will probably learn some because here, the people who speak Spanish, they SPEAK Spanish and they actually don’t speak any English at all.  Actually the UTEP students speak both, jus the locals who only speak one or the other.

Since the First Presidency has been pushing YSA wards. We have the records for every YSA in the stake and we cover the entire stake, but just attend the YSA ward.  It’s actually interesting and very different to what I have done in the past.  We don’t attend ward council for each ward, but we are trying to set up meetings with each of the bishops to get info and such.

We live very very downtown. The area is old apartments and residential areas. It’s actually kind of sketchy.  I feel perfectly safe but it is downtown El Paso. 

My address is;
1501 N Stanton #1
El Paso, TX 79902

Even though it is a YSA ward we do get fed, mostly fast food, but beggars can’t be choosers.  Also there is a senior couple over the institute who do a lot for us. They are CES missionaries. Our church is at the institute building.  I guess the regular building is under construction.  I think the institute is connected to UTEP, but it’s open to people all over the El Paso Stakes.  It’s right across the street from campus, it’s really nice.  We do a lot of lessons there and do a lot of stuff at the institute.

It’s a bit warmer, but not dryer here than White Rock.  Its monsoon season here.  It rains and rains and rains.  And El Paso has no drainage system so the roads just turn into rivers and when the water is gone, there are mountains of rocks and dirt all over the streets. 
It’s very muddy here.  Yeah, it’s fun, especially when it backs up traffic.  It takes us FOREVER to get across the City

Love you!
Em

Transfers

Hi Mom & Dad!

How is your week?

This week has been fairly interesting.

We got transfer news on Saturday, I was right, I am leaving White Rock but interestingly my companion is leaving too.
We think the area is being taken over by Elders.  It should be an interesting transfer.
From what we have heard, there are crazy things happening all over the mission.

I am excited for a new area, even if it is sad saying goodbye to some people here.
Hopefully it will be full of fun new experiences.

And the White Rock ward just got a new bishopric.  So it was a really long Sunday.
Trying to get everything situated for two new missionaries is actually a lot of work.

My birthday was really good.  The person who was feeding us dinner made a giant peanut butter and chocolate cookie. And the little girl was dancing around singing "it’s your birthday"

Love you!
Em

Temple Work

Hi Mom & Dad,

Hope all is going well for you!  We just had Bible study.  It was good.  It was a slow night (soccer has started) and we only had one girl there.  Her name is Yanina and shes an exchange student from Germany and an active Catholic.  So it was an interesting discussion.

So several months ago President gave us permission to do family history in our down time.  So we have.  And I've found a few people who need work done!  :)

I've included the temple paperwork.

The woman who needs all of her work done is from mom's Icelandic line; Gudny Amadohtir.

The man who needs all his work done is from one of Dad's English lines.  He also needs to be sealed to his parents.  His wife's work has already been done, so he's already sealed to her but they had 9 kids.  2 are already sealed by someone else but the other 5 still need completion.

I hope that everyone is getting back into the swing of things with school and everything.

Things here are plugging along.  On Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference.  Saturday night was all about missionary work.  The Mission President and his wife spoke and all of the Stake Presidency spoke.  And the Stake President seems to just love calling on random people to come up and bear their testimonies without warning.  Last Stake Conference he called up Marcela who is a recent convert and she did just great, but apparently she bawled afterward.

This time he called on Tom, who is the one I taught!  He did awesome!  He was asked to share his conversion story.  So he talked about his friends and how he and Dallin (who is on a mission in California) played cards and he started going to Seminary.  Then he was like "then I met the Sisters.  Sister Grigg and Sister Mangum.  Sister Mangum is in the back there"  And everyone turned around to look.  Embarrassing!  A member sitting next to me elbowed me and was like "Call out! Haha!"

We've been doing a lot of walking and talking to people recently.  Which is okay.  You do meet a lot of very...unique people that way.  Sometimes its fun, but its always memorable.  :)

Anyway, Love You!  Hope you can get down to the temple soo to do the work!

Love,
Em

Family History Success!

Hi Mom and Dad!

This week has been alright. Still slow, but I did have a really cool experience doing some family history research.
If I sent you a name, would you two like to do some sealings and maybe Jessica and Warren want to do baptisms and get all of his work done?
I reserved his name, so I’ll have to send it to you. 
His name is Thomas Theaker.  He is the son of a grandparent somewhere in Dad’s line.
For some reason he was missing :)
He needs all of his work done and needs 7 kids sealed to him and his wife
President gave us permission to do family history in the hours that we can’t contact, so we've been doing a little bit of it :)

Zone training was last Friday.  There were some good messages.  It was entirely devoted to strengthening your faith and attitude.  We also got a bunch of new mission rules.
President Miller gave a really good talk about spirituality. It was all about "getting out of the Boat." He compared it to the story of Christ walking on water. 
Peter had the courage and made the choice to get out of the boat and walk to Christ on the water.  Sometimes to gain a testimony, we have to actually do something to get it. It takes action.
Same with the story of the Israelites crossing the River Jordan (We've been doing that at dinners) 
They had to get their feet wet.

P-day today I’m trying to get all my music organized. 
They just changed the rule on Music. Now its only hymns, so I am trying to get the CDs all on my flash drive so I can pull off the hymns and put them on a CD.
I expect there to be clarifications within the next few weeks. But the rule we got on Friday said "Only hymns found in the LDS hymn book"
But then the Zone leaders made us a CD that had things like "Amazing Grace" and "Come Thou Fount" 
So I’m not sure the exact new rule.
They did say that the Primary stuff ok as well.
Today is actual a nice relaxing day. ;)
One of the first in forever!

No progression with our new investigator yet.
We haven’t actually taught her again because she is out of town.
But we are ready for when she returns.

Our other investigator discussions have ended though.
This investigator has been investigating since I got here.  
His son and daughter-in-law joined the church about a year ago.
He's 80 and some of his kids threw massive fits went they found out he was going to be baptized :(
He comes to church every week and he said that he would continue to come.
Maybe someday he’ll decide to be baptized.

Yeah, transfers are scheduled for next week.  I still feel like a change is coming.  I've been in this area for a really long time. And it’s a small area, so that makes it difficult to stay for a super long time.

Tonight we are doing the story of Naaman and washing in the river Jordan at Bible study.  It’s one of my favorite stories in all of the scriptures.
Probably not very many will remember that story.  From what I have seen, nobody knows their old testament very well, unless it’s a story like David and Goliath.

Dad your talk on standards goes along with Naaman.  There is some really good stuff on that subject!  It’s something, unfortunately, that we have to cover all of the time.  It’s a really good principle that not very many people have a testimony of. That’s why I love the story of Naaman.  It’s the small, simple things, like reading and praying and going to church that make the biggest difference in your testimony and your life.

There is also something else. 
My comp went to LDS Business College too and her major is now gone.
Which makes me worried about mine. 
Can you please check for me?
I may need to find a different school.
Don’t worry I am not thinking too much about it yet.

Love you,
Em

Horray A New Investigator!

Hello Mom and Dad!

It sounds like life is exciting at home. Lots of possibilities for changes.

Life in the mission field has both its good and its bad points.
We did finally find a new investigator, which is amazing and she is absolutely amazing. So excited for the gospel and the things it can mean for her.
We had our first lesson yesterday and she was so so so excited for a Book of Mormon.

Yes, my ward mission leader is awesome! I love him and his family so so so much!  James and Mamie Hammer, they have 8 kids.

Today for p-day we are in Santa Fe.  Right now we are at the family history library using the computers.
There is going to be a big missionary party, but as usual, everyone else is late :)

Seminary is D&C this year?
It’s a missionary tradition that your start D&C before you go home and read one chapter a day.
I did the math for my start day. It’s scarily close.

Love you!
Em