June 25, 2012

Hey, nice to hear from you. The weather up here has been pretty awesome really.  It's warm in the day, and cool at night. Or it will be cloudy and a bit rainy but then it will clear up and be nice and warm again!  It's pretty cool. It rains like once a day.

  Yeah 8 months.  It seems like it's been a while for me.  This stuff is so tough.  It's not what I thought it would be like. 

  We went to a pow-wow this last weekend. It was so cool.  I liked it.  The announcer called us out a few times and mentioned we were there to everyone.  Both times we went we were with a members.  Man, it was pretty fun.  All the dancers with their colorful outfits and jingles and bells.  Then you have the men gathered in drum circles and they sing the Native singing.  It's fun.

  Yesterday we had a pretty cool lesson experience. We rode up with a member almost 2 hours away to meet up with another member family and we had dinner and a lesson with a family.  There were like 6 adults there that we shared our message with. We taught the lesson, and they weren't super super open to it but it was a good experience and I feel like I learned a lot.  Then we drove back home and went to bed.

  I did get to play some hymns for our new Branch yesterday. About 40 attended. It was the first week of the new New Town Branch.  We have the Stanley Branch to cover also as I told last time and we might go up there soon for Church. Supposedly they did fine there also.

  I opened up the hymnal to 'Be Thou Humble' and played it a few times this morning. It's an easy one and I like it. I just wish that it was easier to be a truly humble person all the time.

  Thanks for all you do.  Thanks for the prayers, I need them like you wouldn't believe.

  Tell Dad hi for me.  I haven't written another letter to Lavell yet, but if you see him tell him hi for me. Make sure he stays around for a few more years at least.

  Tell Karlee congratulations. I don't think I remember knowing she was getting married.  That is awesome.

   Good Job on the Book of Mormon.  It's a joy to read it. 

  Yesterday in Sunday School we had a sweet lesson on Alma 5 and having a change of heart. I wish more people could feel it.

I love you all,

from Elder Ensign

June 18, 2012

Sounds like you're all doing very very well! I'm glad.  

   The Temple trips sounds super good.  I did hear from Sarah about her new job, and I'm glad to hear. I hope that it's great for her.  I got a package from Meredith today and it was super sweet!!!! It had all the goods. I love the pictures and the tie and the treats, the talk, definately the drawings too.

  Lori has been treating me so well too! She's a hero for sure. Others are sending their love and I appreciate it so much!

  I hope you feel my prayers and feel my love.

  We had a pretty good week in our service.  We had a new investigator attend church with us yesterday, he is a fireball of a guy. 20 years old and in love with the gospel.

  Our Branch split yesterday. So now we cover two branches, the New Town Branch here on the Res., and the Stanley Branch which is about 45 minutes north.  We'll go back and forth according to the needs of our investigators and the area.

  New Town is a fun place to be, and it is especially exciting with all the rapid expansion and growth.  There are tons of people from Idaho and Utah here. It's fun because people are very friendly and nice.  The Gospel is making an impact on a lot of people's lives here and now. 

  We rode our bikes out across the bridge today,  It's a beautiful ride. The picture of the bridge is running East to West and on the left is 4 Bears(Casino and a small community out there), to the right would be New Town; The lake Sakakawea you see there.
  I'll check out D&C42:61.  I like how you said all roads lead to the Temple, and I am and will do my best to have the guidance and strenth always of the spirit.

  Thanks for talking them, my old buddies for me. That meant so much.

  And it was my companion that got me to play golf. We had a pretty fun time. I did really good on the last hole!

Take care, ttyl. Love ya,

Elder Ensign

June 11, 2012

 

Well I'm doing my best to be as obedient as I can be.

I think one of the hardest things is to beat pride.  I read a talk by President Uchtdorf about Pride and the Priesthood.  It was touching.

A member from our Branch is letting us borrow his conf. edition of the Ensign because we never got the latest one.  I'm grateful he let us use his.

Last week Elder Greco and I went to a Native American funeral of a less active member of the Church from around here.  He was 40 and had 4 kids.  We were able to speak at the funeral, we were invited to as a matter of fact, and it was a good experience.  This man passed away on my birthday.  I mentioned that in my remarks.  His mother's name is Delma Fox, and she reminded me of you a little bit and Aunt Janae.  She is nice.  And here sister in law was named Mildred(grandma's name), and she is an active member of the church and we got to know her.  It was a cool, and interesting experience.   Their funerals are a bit different that the way we normally see, but quite similiar.  They have what is called a Wake, and that is like the viewing.  They feed everyone, and they stay up/awake all night and with the body.  We left at 9:30pm.  Then the next day is the service where we spoke, and the burial.  We were also able to dedicate the grave and bless it at that time.  I was grateful to been able to do that.  There was a big bunch of people throughout all this.  After the service everyone goes back and is fed again. They gave us tons of food. And they give out blankets to certain people. A lot of blankets.  We had the honor and opportunity to receive blankets.  I'll probably send it home soon.

There are going to be some big changes here in the Branch.  The area, because of the oil boom has grown so much they are spitting the branch here. So the Natives will have a smaller branch here, and many of the people up north will have their own.  On Sunday, most of the people in attendance are white people, even though we're smack dad on the Res.  With this change, it will open up the building a lot more, and I hope and pray that the people here, the Natives, will feel much better about coming and worshipping the Lord on the Sabbaths.  This is their right and priviledge.  We hope to help them see that.  The Natives are such nice people, and spiritually powerful too.

Tell Jason Nutt Happy Birthday for me will ya!?  I don't know how you would exactly but if you can please do. Oh, and Smith too. Joshua Smith.  Maybe you can get in touch with their parents or something.

I read a few chapters of Mosiah yesterday and today about King Benjamin and his big exhortation from the tower.  And how we can have a change of heart, and no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually.  To not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably and lovingly.  I'm grateful that is what we can and do, and will have when we live the gospel.  It's my prayer that you can feel my love.

Thanks for the prayers and the love.  I got the card in the mail! I loved it!  Although, there was something fishy about that...... haha. Seeya later, talk to ya later.

Love your Elder

May 30, 2012

Wow, what an interesting time it's been.  It is a great blessing to have our name.  It means a lot to me, and it helps me want to be my best, and to be true to faith of our fathers and of Christ.  My last companion gave me a tie and signed the back of it and put :" Ensign of Christ to the Nations"  haha. I liked it a lot.

My Companion has been out almost 5 months.  His last trainer didn't keep him too strict at all, actually quite opposite. He does have a strong testimony and a good knowledge base of the Gospel.  He takes a bit of prodding sometimes.  He is good with talking to people. We do pretty well there.  I try to keep him in line with the rules and stuff.  Our studies together are improving, he and his last comp. didn't study together really at all it seems. The Lord is blessing us as we work and plan and strive.   He is a good guy.  He cooks food for me quite often, the catch is I 'get' to clean up.....We have fun with each other.  We are amazing.

We went out teaching with a member last night, Bro. Pinto.  Bro Pinto is here working in the oil fields and He is a Native American from New Mexico.  He has such a strong testimony.  He truly loves the people here, and loves serving them.  He wants to do all he can to help his lamanite brothers and sisters and we get to serve with him quite a bit.  We went over to Sis. Simmonds house last night with him, she is a member who served a mission in New Mexico like 40 years ago. Crazy eh?  But she hasn't been to church for awhile so we like to go over and invite and have lessons with her and her granddaughters.  We started our lesson not knowing that her granddaughter Hayley hadn't been baptized yet, and she's 10.  The lesson was focused on Christ and his earthly ministry and then it ended up really spiritual and we invited Hayley to be baptized.  She'll be praying about it and talking to her grandma and we'll see them again soon.  We think she'll want June 30 as her date.

I love serving the people here in New Town. The Natives are special people.  We work in another city called Stanley that is mostly caucasion people and we have some awesome investigators up there that we're working to see more.  Stanley is about 45 minutes away from New Town.  Most of the active people in our Branch come from the Stanley area and beyond.  We learned this week that they are forming a Branch in Stanley this summer!  That will make everything very different here.  New Town is going to undergo some big changes. I can see the Lord's hand moving and shaping this area and setting things up in place.  

Yep my bday is Monday!  Our District is going to have a Pday together and we're going to Theodore Roosevelt Park(Not sure if it's National or State, but I think National)  That will be awesome.  We have some cool Elders in my District.  I will plan on emailing at 10:30am Monday morning and seeing if you're on too.

Elder Salmon is a nice guy I met him during one of the mission prep. classes I had.

We get to talk to a fair amount of people. probably 10-12 on average a day.

Congratulations on being through for the year!!!!!!!!!! Yay!  Have the best summer ever!

Love you all.  I'm excited for Sarah!   

 

May 21, 2012

I'm getting Elder Greco, from Pocatello Idaho as my new companion in a few days. Being with Elder Barney was a challenging but good experience.
I read Alma 36 and some of 37. I'll go over those again later.
That's great that people are doing good there. The name Boston is a good one. I like it.
I like that 100% obedience deal too. One lesson I've learned lately that Obedience is better than Sacrifice. It was an Old Testament story that I read the other day of Saul, and I thought a lot about it today during study for some reason. I feel like it's so important to be obedient but it's truly a test sometime. Always worth it.

You are so awesome. Thanks for being so great! The Gospel is the way to the Abundant Life. Tell Dad I love him too. I will pray for all of you. Choose the Right, when a choice is placed before you. Choose Jesus Christ and remember Him.

 Love you, Sincerely, Elder Ensign