This past week was the week of Christmas, so there were lots of cops all over the place because everyone was stealing presents for their kids/letting their kids steal their own presents. This week wasn't a busy week. On Tuesday we went to the Broomall building for a Christmas devotional. We had to get up at 5:30 to get there by 9. When we were there we watched Ephraim's Rescue and had a talent show after we listened to President Anderson talk. Our zone got up and did a Hawaiian dance for our talent. Half of us already knew it, the other half didn't. Those who didn't know it had no time to learn it and I was forced to be in the front... I had no idea what to do, it was embaresing. We got all our packages by the end of the devotional. I got 12 packages! Luckly we had the sister car to stuff everything in. After we got back we had dinner then went with the zone leaders to sing christmas carols to some of the less active members for the rest of the night.
Wednesday was Christmas, we didn't have time to open our presents Tuesday so we had to wait till Wednesday morning. I loved all the gifts everyone sent! Dillon's family invited us over to their house for lunch. We spent a long time over there. After we spent some time there we went to the Healy's house to call home (: we spent the rest of our night there.
Thursday we had district meeting and weekly planning, then we went to the Peterson's home for dinner.
Friday we walked around most of the day trying to contact referrals, nobody was home.
Saturday we played volleyball in the church building because the members that usually come out and play football with us were gone. We had two good lessons Saturday as well. First we had a lesson with a woman named Victoria, she is very smart in terms of the gospel. She is very interested in learning about the church. The only problem is that she's really busy. She is among one of the handful of people who are trying to get an education in our area. Then after Victoria we went to go contact a referral who's name is Adilana. She was home when we went and knocked on the door and she was very excited to see us. Her husband, William, came to the door with her and I felt inspired to ask if they had 15 minutes for us to teach a lesson. They were glad I asked! We sat outside their house and had a lesson on the restoration and answered any questions they had. They took a lot of interest in the Book of Mormon and were very interactive. William wants to know more about the Philadelphia Temple. When we were done they wanted us to come back as soon as we could. One thing that might be a obstacle though, they really like the church they're already in. Something I've learned is that every investigator will have a concern, problem, or barrier they need to overcome. Those issues are there for our benefit as missionaries, to help us learn and to help us love those we teach even more.
Sunday after we studied we went to the Rennie's for dinner with the rest of our district. They fed us tons of asian food!
Today for P-day Elder Shamo and I are going to check out center city and see what they still have up from Christmas.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Love,
Elder Chance Owen
Mission
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Let it Snow!
Hello Friends and Family! Go Eagles!
Tuesday was a good day. I felt inspired to stop by one of our investigators who we were about to drop because he never holds appointments and when we stopped by he was home and we were able to talk to him for and his wife for a while. We gave them a quick lesson on the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies. The spirit was there and we were able to commit them to read and pray; we were also able to set up a return appointment. We'll see if they hold or not…
Wednesday, we ran into a former member of the church, Bernardo, as we were walking down the street. He chased us down, told us his conversion story, then told us how he wanted to repent and become a missionary. He told us all about the steps he's been taking to get back into the church and how he's done all this stuff to change his life. He was a cool, honest guy. He spoke better Spanish than English however so we gave his info to the Spanish elders. Later this Russian dude, Misha (Russian for Michael), followed us on the bus and came up to us asking us all these questions about the church. He is very very interested but it was really hard to understand anything he was saying. However he told us he's on the FBI's wanted list so I guess well just meet with him until he disappears.
Nothing to exciting happened Thursday. We had zone training for the first half of the day, then district lunch in center city, then we went and tried to contact some referrals the rest of the day.
Friday we had our flash mob. For the flash mob we gathered about 30 missionaries and met up at a subway station in center city at about 4. Since it was raining outside Friday, everyone was taking the subways. We all gathered together and got on the most packed subway we could find. As soon as the doors closed we started to sing one of three songs; I am a child of God, child's prayer, or hark the harold angels sing. At first It went horribly because there were to many people crammed on the subway so we couldn't hear each other. Then, at the next stop, we chose to get on a less packed subway car that still had quite bit of people on it; it started to get better. Then we tried doing other things and what not. All in all, The spirit filled the subway car when we sang and we got lots of peoples contact info. We also got a good number of people to sing with us on the subway. I would say it was a success.
Saturday we played football again. After football I gave this lady in the ward and her child whose in the hospital a blessing as directed by the spirit. They're doing better. Then we went home and got ready for the ward Christmas party. When we got there we helped set up and everything was real nice and a lot of people came and the food looked good; there were lots of investigators there. When the party began, the lady at the microphone started to get aggressive. She ended up yelling at people through the microphone and she made a kid cry and she scared some of the investigators... crazy crazy crazy... Even though the member at the microphone was a bit of a control freak, the party still went pretty well. Thank goodness she's not the Relief Society President!
Yesterday it dumped a several inches of snow out here in Philly. The snow made the traffic horrible. It didn't start snowing until church started, so we were able to travel to church, but by the end of church it was snowing pretty good. The roads started to ice over and traffic came to a crawl, cars were sliding everywhere. Philly drivers are worse than Utah drivers too, so that made things even worse. We usually take the bus or walk everywhere we go so because of the snow, all the buses pretty much stopped.
After church (12:00), the Zone Leaders had a baptism, so we stayed for that. The spirit was very strong during the baptism, I remembered back to when I was baptized and how much joy I felt that day. Elder Shamo and I taught a 5 minute lesson on the restoration as part of the baptism. We were supposed to go home after the baptism and study for a few hours then head over to a members house, the Rennie's, for dinner (4:00), then go back to the church to watch the Christmas devotional. All the missionaries in the ward (six of us) were invited over for dinner because of the baptism. Because of the snow, the traffic was so bad, we ended up waiting an hour for our bus to go home, then realized its not coming and decided to cross the street and wait for a bus to take us over to the Rennie's for dinner. After waiting for another hour, we still saw no buses coming either way. The sister missionaries have a car, and sometimes the zone leaders are allowed to borrow it. The zone leaders had the car and picked Elder Shamo and I up and dropped us off at the next bus stop we needed to take to the Rennie's. The zone leaders had the car because they had an appointment scheduled right before dinner; the sisters just stayed at the church after the baptism and studied at the church. So after they dropped us off, we waited another hour for this bus, but it never came. By the time the zone leaders were done with their appointment it was about 4 and they went and gave the car back to the sisters at the church, then the sisters got permission and gave the zone leaders a ride to the Rennie's, dropped them off, then came and picked us up at the bus stop (about 4:30) and took us over. Luckily, Dinner was awesome! After dinner, the zone leaders went with a member to the the church and Elder Shamo and I went with the sister to the church. When we got there (7:30) nothing was set up for the devotional. Found out that the Spanish ward didn't want to set it up because they thought nobody would be there because of the snow... They forgot to tell us. We tried to watch the devotional on the computer in the clerks office but that computer doesn't work very well and we couldn't fit all the people who came (about 20 people) in the clerks office. So we just ended up getting dropped off at home by the sisters (just after 9). On a normal day the buses run at about 15 to 20 minutes a stop. It normally takes us about a half hour, from the time we get on the bus, to get to the church via bus and subway. And it normally takes us about 45 minutes to get to the Rennie's from the church via bus and subway. So that's how yesterday went…
I love and miss you all!
Tuesday was a good day. I felt inspired to stop by one of our investigators who we were about to drop because he never holds appointments and when we stopped by he was home and we were able to talk to him for and his wife for a while. We gave them a quick lesson on the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies. The spirit was there and we were able to commit them to read and pray; we were also able to set up a return appointment. We'll see if they hold or not…
Wednesday, we ran into a former member of the church, Bernardo, as we were walking down the street. He chased us down, told us his conversion story, then told us how he wanted to repent and become a missionary. He told us all about the steps he's been taking to get back into the church and how he's done all this stuff to change his life. He was a cool, honest guy. He spoke better Spanish than English however so we gave his info to the Spanish elders. Later this Russian dude, Misha (Russian for Michael), followed us on the bus and came up to us asking us all these questions about the church. He is very very interested but it was really hard to understand anything he was saying. However he told us he's on the FBI's wanted list so I guess well just meet with him until he disappears.
Nothing to exciting happened Thursday. We had zone training for the first half of the day, then district lunch in center city, then we went and tried to contact some referrals the rest of the day.
Friday we had our flash mob. For the flash mob we gathered about 30 missionaries and met up at a subway station in center city at about 4. Since it was raining outside Friday, everyone was taking the subways. We all gathered together and got on the most packed subway we could find. As soon as the doors closed we started to sing one of three songs; I am a child of God, child's prayer, or hark the harold angels sing. At first It went horribly because there were to many people crammed on the subway so we couldn't hear each other. Then, at the next stop, we chose to get on a less packed subway car that still had quite bit of people on it; it started to get better. Then we tried doing other things and what not. All in all, The spirit filled the subway car when we sang and we got lots of peoples contact info. We also got a good number of people to sing with us on the subway. I would say it was a success.
Saturday we played football again. After football I gave this lady in the ward and her child whose in the hospital a blessing as directed by the spirit. They're doing better. Then we went home and got ready for the ward Christmas party. When we got there we helped set up and everything was real nice and a lot of people came and the food looked good; there were lots of investigators there. When the party began, the lady at the microphone started to get aggressive. She ended up yelling at people through the microphone and she made a kid cry and she scared some of the investigators... crazy crazy crazy... Even though the member at the microphone was a bit of a control freak, the party still went pretty well. Thank goodness she's not the Relief Society President!
Yesterday it dumped a several inches of snow out here in Philly. The snow made the traffic horrible. It didn't start snowing until church started, so we were able to travel to church, but by the end of church it was snowing pretty good. The roads started to ice over and traffic came to a crawl, cars were sliding everywhere. Philly drivers are worse than Utah drivers too, so that made things even worse. We usually take the bus or walk everywhere we go so because of the snow, all the buses pretty much stopped.
After church (12:00), the Zone Leaders had a baptism, so we stayed for that. The spirit was very strong during the baptism, I remembered back to when I was baptized and how much joy I felt that day. Elder Shamo and I taught a 5 minute lesson on the restoration as part of the baptism. We were supposed to go home after the baptism and study for a few hours then head over to a members house, the Rennie's, for dinner (4:00), then go back to the church to watch the Christmas devotional. All the missionaries in the ward (six of us) were invited over for dinner because of the baptism. Because of the snow, the traffic was so bad, we ended up waiting an hour for our bus to go home, then realized its not coming and decided to cross the street and wait for a bus to take us over to the Rennie's for dinner. After waiting for another hour, we still saw no buses coming either way. The sister missionaries have a car, and sometimes the zone leaders are allowed to borrow it. The zone leaders had the car and picked Elder Shamo and I up and dropped us off at the next bus stop we needed to take to the Rennie's. The zone leaders had the car because they had an appointment scheduled right before dinner; the sisters just stayed at the church after the baptism and studied at the church. So after they dropped us off, we waited another hour for this bus, but it never came. By the time the zone leaders were done with their appointment it was about 4 and they went and gave the car back to the sisters at the church, then the sisters got permission and gave the zone leaders a ride to the Rennie's, dropped them off, then came and picked us up at the bus stop (about 4:30) and took us over. Luckily, Dinner was awesome! After dinner, the zone leaders went with a member to the the church and Elder Shamo and I went with the sister to the church. When we got there (7:30) nothing was set up for the devotional. Found out that the Spanish ward didn't want to set it up because they thought nobody would be there because of the snow... They forgot to tell us. We tried to watch the devotional on the computer in the clerks office but that computer doesn't work very well and we couldn't fit all the people who came (about 20 people) in the clerks office. So we just ended up getting dropped off at home by the sisters (just after 9). On a normal day the buses run at about 15 to 20 minutes a stop. It normally takes us about a half hour, from the time we get on the bus, to get to the church via bus and subway. And it normally takes us about 45 minutes to get to the Rennie's from the church via bus and subway. So that's how yesterday went…
I love and miss you all!
Monday, December 2, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
This past week went by really fast! We didn't have very many lessons scheduled because everyone was out of town but we were able to spend some of our time visiting less active members of the ward throughout the week. Tuesday we didn't have any lessons. Everyone that scheduled appointments with us for Tuesday forgot to tell us they were leaving out of town. However while we were traveling on Tuesday we did meet a lot of people while waiting for the buses.
Wednesday we started teaching Two new investigators. While we were on the bus traveling Wednesday, I gave a man a pass-along card with Jesus on the front. He takes the card, look at it... Then asks me "who dat?" pointing to Jesus. I looked back at him and said, "that's our savior, Jesus Christ". With a surprised look on his face he looks up at me and yells " Fo Real! I thought Jesus wa black!" everyone on the bus turns around and looks at us... That was fun.
Thursday we were supposed to have a Turkey Bowl at the mission house but the backyard got flooded from the rain we had Wednesday so we had to relocate. The Turkey Bowl was so much fun! I was really sore the next day. We had three dinner appointments scheduled but only one of them followed through. First we were invited to go over to brother Jeretsky's home. Brother Jeretsky looks exactly like the man who plays chess with himself from the pixar short films. Elder Shamo and I were supposed to be the only ones having dinner with Brother Jeretsky but he decided to cancel because he was to lazy to cook the turkey.... good old Brother Jeretsky. For our second dinner appointment we were invited over to an investigators house. His name is Ray, he lives by himself, young man. He forgot to mention to us that he decided to go to his aunts for thanksgiving last minute. Lucky our last dinner appointment held. It was at a members home. The Layton and Brown family. We're preparing their son Dillon to be baptized on the 15th. They fed us, however the food was not like your's Mom… But I was still very thankful for their invitation and for the extra food they made for us. They are great people and I'm glad they we're willing to feed us.
Friday we spent the entire day at the church. After we studied in the morning we went there to plan. Then we practiced some singing with other elders for an upcoming flash mob. We went and got some Chinese food and brought it back to the church for dinner. After dinner we had a lesson planned for 6:30 but she didn't show up so I helped Elder Shamo do some Facebook proselyting. Then we left the church at about 7 and went to contact some referrals.
Saturday did not feel like Saturday. Saturday we spent all day trying to contact people. We visited some less active members, visited a member, Sisiter Schurez (shes an interesting lady), and taught Giovanni about missionary work. Sister Schurez used to be in a gang and now she in her late 60s and loves to make crafty porcelain containers. She's giving us little fake trees to put on our desks for Christmas.
Sunday was a good day. After church we had to study. Then we had two appointments that fell through. After our lessons that didn't happen we contacted some referrals then went to dinner at Mike and Dana's house. While we we're there I found a bottle of fragrance oil sitting in their kitchen that smelled EXACTLY like the apple crisp/cobbler that mom makes. Smelling that made me sad... Being away from home has been really hard, there's so much I miss about home. But at the same time I'm having so many wonderful experiences out here in Philadelphia. I could not stay out here doing what i'm doing if the Lord wasn't here helping me. He gives me the energy I need every day, he gives me the joy I feel every day, he walks right beside me through every trial I face, he gives me something to look forward to every day, he's helped me see all the blessings he has given me, and he teaches me something new every day.
Wednesday we started teaching Two new investigators. While we were on the bus traveling Wednesday, I gave a man a pass-along card with Jesus on the front. He takes the card, look at it... Then asks me "who dat?" pointing to Jesus. I looked back at him and said, "that's our savior, Jesus Christ". With a surprised look on his face he looks up at me and yells " Fo Real! I thought Jesus wa black!" everyone on the bus turns around and looks at us... That was fun.
Thursday we were supposed to have a Turkey Bowl at the mission house but the backyard got flooded from the rain we had Wednesday so we had to relocate. The Turkey Bowl was so much fun! I was really sore the next day. We had three dinner appointments scheduled but only one of them followed through. First we were invited to go over to brother Jeretsky's home. Brother Jeretsky looks exactly like the man who plays chess with himself from the pixar short films. Elder Shamo and I were supposed to be the only ones having dinner with Brother Jeretsky but he decided to cancel because he was to lazy to cook the turkey.... good old Brother Jeretsky. For our second dinner appointment we were invited over to an investigators house. His name is Ray, he lives by himself, young man. He forgot to mention to us that he decided to go to his aunts for thanksgiving last minute. Lucky our last dinner appointment held. It was at a members home. The Layton and Brown family. We're preparing their son Dillon to be baptized on the 15th. They fed us, however the food was not like your's Mom… But I was still very thankful for their invitation and for the extra food they made for us. They are great people and I'm glad they we're willing to feed us.
Friday we spent the entire day at the church. After we studied in the morning we went there to plan. Then we practiced some singing with other elders for an upcoming flash mob. We went and got some Chinese food and brought it back to the church for dinner. After dinner we had a lesson planned for 6:30 but she didn't show up so I helped Elder Shamo do some Facebook proselyting. Then we left the church at about 7 and went to contact some referrals.
Saturday did not feel like Saturday. Saturday we spent all day trying to contact people. We visited some less active members, visited a member, Sisiter Schurez (shes an interesting lady), and taught Giovanni about missionary work. Sister Schurez used to be in a gang and now she in her late 60s and loves to make crafty porcelain containers. She's giving us little fake trees to put on our desks for Christmas.
Sunday was a good day. After church we had to study. Then we had two appointments that fell through. After our lessons that didn't happen we contacted some referrals then went to dinner at Mike and Dana's house. While we we're there I found a bottle of fragrance oil sitting in their kitchen that smelled EXACTLY like the apple crisp/cobbler that mom makes. Smelling that made me sad... Being away from home has been really hard, there's so much I miss about home. But at the same time I'm having so many wonderful experiences out here in Philadelphia. I could not stay out here doing what i'm doing if the Lord wasn't here helping me. He gives me the energy I need every day, he gives me the joy I feel every day, he walks right beside me through every trial I face, he gives me something to look forward to every day, he's helped me see all the blessings he has given me, and he teaches me something new every day.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Monday November the 25th
This week was pretty uneventful. Nothing exiting or cool happened. Tuesday was my companion's birthday, we didn't get to do anything special. He got a birthday package but other than that it was a normal day.
Wednesday was another normal day. We had four appointments scheduled but only two of them followed through. People out here do whatever they want for the most part. We can't force anyone to have a lesson with us. Usually the only time people don't follow through on appointments is when its the first appointment and they haven't met with us before.
Thursday was zone conference, I got my packages after conference was over. I was SO excited to finally get my scriptures and my bedding. The scriptures are awesome and I finally have blankets to sleeps under! Zone conference was great! We learned how to teach more effectively and how to better recognize the spirit. Zone conference pretty much took up the whole day.
Friday we spent all day contacting referrals. We had four appointments scheduled and only one followed through. That one lesson was with Giovanni and his family. They took us out to dinner at pizza hut and we talked to them about the importance of attending church and enduring to the end.
Saturday we helped a member move early in the morning, then we played football for a couple hours. Usually for football we have a good handful of investigators and non-members come play with us but this Saturday was so cold and windy nobody wanted to come out, but we played anyways with some members and other missionaries. After football we had weekly planning, then we had a lesson with a boy named Dillon. I don't remember if I've already mentioned him or not but his family is less active. We got them coming back to church and they're now fully active and loving church and almost fully involved again. Dillon is ten and he will be baptized on December 15th.
Sunday was a good day, Church was all right Our ward is very small. After church I met the first black man to receive the priesthood, or so he says he was the first... He's really old though so I believe him. His name is James Berry. After church was ward council. Usually every Sunday night we have a dinner appointment with a less active member named Mike and his non-member wife Dana but they went out of town so we went and tried to make contact with more people Sunday night. I'm predicting this week to be kind of a less active week because everyone will be leaving town for thanksgiving. I still need to figure out how to send my pictures home. Might just send the SD card home and have you guys send it right back. I can't believe how fast time is going by.
Wednesday was another normal day. We had four appointments scheduled but only two of them followed through. People out here do whatever they want for the most part. We can't force anyone to have a lesson with us. Usually the only time people don't follow through on appointments is when its the first appointment and they haven't met with us before.
Thursday was zone conference, I got my packages after conference was over. I was SO excited to finally get my scriptures and my bedding. The scriptures are awesome and I finally have blankets to sleeps under! Zone conference was great! We learned how to teach more effectively and how to better recognize the spirit. Zone conference pretty much took up the whole day.
Friday we spent all day contacting referrals. We had four appointments scheduled and only one followed through. That one lesson was with Giovanni and his family. They took us out to dinner at pizza hut and we talked to them about the importance of attending church and enduring to the end.
Saturday we helped a member move early in the morning, then we played football for a couple hours. Usually for football we have a good handful of investigators and non-members come play with us but this Saturday was so cold and windy nobody wanted to come out, but we played anyways with some members and other missionaries. After football we had weekly planning, then we had a lesson with a boy named Dillon. I don't remember if I've already mentioned him or not but his family is less active. We got them coming back to church and they're now fully active and loving church and almost fully involved again. Dillon is ten and he will be baptized on December 15th.
Sunday was a good day, Church was all right Our ward is very small. After church I met the first black man to receive the priesthood, or so he says he was the first... He's really old though so I believe him. His name is James Berry. After church was ward council. Usually every Sunday night we have a dinner appointment with a less active member named Mike and his non-member wife Dana but they went out of town so we went and tried to make contact with more people Sunday night. I'm predicting this week to be kind of a less active week because everyone will be leaving town for thanksgiving. I still need to figure out how to send my pictures home. Might just send the SD card home and have you guys send it right back. I can't believe how fast time is going by.
Monday, November 18, 2013
This past week went by insanely fast!!
Tuesday evening we were on the bus and we found a handful of small bags filled with cocaine sitting on one of the seats... That was interesting. Nothing else exciting happened Tuesday except for the snow.
Wednesday was just a day dedicated to contacting referrals, we walked all over our area and only several of our referrals were home. A lot of the other addresses we got were either abandoned homes or people who have recently moved in and have no idea how we got their address.
Thursday we had a drunk guy sing to us on the subway. When we got to our stop and had to get off he gave us a hug and told us he loved us. Sweet man. We found a little white board thing on the bus that night and wrote our information on it to see if anyone would call us.
Friday we had a lot of lesson appointments, only two of them held. Both of these appointments were with new investigators. One of them is a guy named Richard and the other a woman named DaShey. Both great people. Richard is older, he has diabetes, and he is a very faithful man. During our appointment we asked him to pray that night to know if the church is true and he said, "well I'll just do it right now". He prayed right there in front of us, on his knees, and told us he believes what we taught him and believes the church is true. That was a very cool experience, I could feel the spirit radiating in the room. DaShey is younger, she's working on her nursing degree and doesn't really have a stand for religion. The Lord Brought DaShey to us. She said she was on Mormon.org and felt something special about what she was reading. She said she felt inspired to meet with missionaries. She already follows the word of wisdom and she is very nice. We invited both Richard and Dashey to be baptized after our appointments with them. We feel Richard will be ready by December 15th and we feel DaShey will be ready by December 22nd.
On Saturday we had a lot of people out for football, it was fun. After football we were supposed to help a member move but they forgot to mention to us that they decided to postpone their so we showed up at their house only to be told to come back next week. The rest of Saturday we had a lesson with a boy named Dillion, he's ten, and we went and tried to contact some referrals who we weren't able to contact Wednesday. We met a woman who is interested in meeting with us and we met another woman who tried to tell us she was a God... There are defiantly some interesting people out here. Walking down the street we saw a man smoking on his front steps to his house and we felt inspired to talk to him. We taught him a little bit and he told us he was interested and agreed to meet with us again. Sunday our investigator Richard came to church. Out here we have people called "active non-members" who are non-members that are just as active as normal members. So we've been meeting with Giovanni (finally learned how to spell it) and his family since I first got here; they are active non-members. They've been coming to church for a while. There is Giovanni and Rebecca and their two children Giovanni Jr. (we call him G) and Siani. Giovanni and Rebecca are trying to figure out their marriage situation but their son G is eight and their daughter Siani is six.
Sunday I baptized G. Giovanni wants to get baptized but he doesn't know what to do with Rebecca, Siani wants to get baptized too. Rebecca is always working or sleeping so we never see her and we have no idea what her deal is. Baptizing G was an incredible experience! I cannot describe how amazing it was. G was so excited, I was excited, Giovanni was overwhelmed with joy and Rebecca was happy. G will be confirmed this upcoming Sunday.
That night we had two dinner appointments. First we had the Heel family at 4:00pm then Mike and Dana at 7:30pm. The Heel's are members. Mike is less active and Dana is a non-member. On our way to Mike and Dana's house we almost got hit by a car. Out here you can turn left on a green light like they do in Utah. So we were walking across the street, at the crosswalk, we had the right of way, and this van decided to completely ignore us and comes strait at us as were walking. We literally had to jump out of the way to dodge it. Then on the way back from Mike and Dana's we saw a huge crime scene. Streets were blocked off, helicopters flying around, people everywhere; we have no idea what happened. The Lord defiantly keeps us safe out here so you guys don't need to worry.
Tuesday evening we were on the bus and we found a handful of small bags filled with cocaine sitting on one of the seats... That was interesting. Nothing else exciting happened Tuesday except for the snow.
Wednesday was just a day dedicated to contacting referrals, we walked all over our area and only several of our referrals were home. A lot of the other addresses we got were either abandoned homes or people who have recently moved in and have no idea how we got their address.
Thursday we had a drunk guy sing to us on the subway. When we got to our stop and had to get off he gave us a hug and told us he loved us. Sweet man. We found a little white board thing on the bus that night and wrote our information on it to see if anyone would call us.
Friday we had a lot of lesson appointments, only two of them held. Both of these appointments were with new investigators. One of them is a guy named Richard and the other a woman named DaShey. Both great people. Richard is older, he has diabetes, and he is a very faithful man. During our appointment we asked him to pray that night to know if the church is true and he said, "well I'll just do it right now". He prayed right there in front of us, on his knees, and told us he believes what we taught him and believes the church is true. That was a very cool experience, I could feel the spirit radiating in the room. DaShey is younger, she's working on her nursing degree and doesn't really have a stand for religion. The Lord Brought DaShey to us. She said she was on Mormon.org and felt something special about what she was reading. She said she felt inspired to meet with missionaries. She already follows the word of wisdom and she is very nice. We invited both Richard and Dashey to be baptized after our appointments with them. We feel Richard will be ready by December 15th and we feel DaShey will be ready by December 22nd.
On Saturday we had a lot of people out for football, it was fun. After football we were supposed to help a member move but they forgot to mention to us that they decided to postpone their so we showed up at their house only to be told to come back next week. The rest of Saturday we had a lesson with a boy named Dillion, he's ten, and we went and tried to contact some referrals who we weren't able to contact Wednesday. We met a woman who is interested in meeting with us and we met another woman who tried to tell us she was a God... There are defiantly some interesting people out here. Walking down the street we saw a man smoking on his front steps to his house and we felt inspired to talk to him. We taught him a little bit and he told us he was interested and agreed to meet with us again. Sunday our investigator Richard came to church. Out here we have people called "active non-members" who are non-members that are just as active as normal members. So we've been meeting with Giovanni (finally learned how to spell it) and his family since I first got here; they are active non-members. They've been coming to church for a while. There is Giovanni and Rebecca and their two children Giovanni Jr. (we call him G) and Siani. Giovanni and Rebecca are trying to figure out their marriage situation but their son G is eight and their daughter Siani is six.
Sunday I baptized G. Giovanni wants to get baptized but he doesn't know what to do with Rebecca, Siani wants to get baptized too. Rebecca is always working or sleeping so we never see her and we have no idea what her deal is. Baptizing G was an incredible experience! I cannot describe how amazing it was. G was so excited, I was excited, Giovanni was overwhelmed with joy and Rebecca was happy. G will be confirmed this upcoming Sunday.
That night we had two dinner appointments. First we had the Heel family at 4:00pm then Mike and Dana at 7:30pm. The Heel's are members. Mike is less active and Dana is a non-member. On our way to Mike and Dana's house we almost got hit by a car. Out here you can turn left on a green light like they do in Utah. So we were walking across the street, at the crosswalk, we had the right of way, and this van decided to completely ignore us and comes strait at us as were walking. We literally had to jump out of the way to dodge it. Then on the way back from Mike and Dana's we saw a huge crime scene. Streets were blocked off, helicopters flying around, people everywhere; we have no idea what happened. The Lord defiantly keeps us safe out here so you guys don't need to worry.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tuesday November the 12th 2013
When my companion and I got up this morning it was snowing! Yesterday was Veterans' Day so the library was closed which is why nobody got an email from me yesterday. The weeks are starting to go by faster and faster and I'm starting to get used to the culture here. I cant believe I've already been out for a month! This past week went by kind of fast.
Monday (11/4) was P-day, we didn't do much other than prep for the rest of the week. Every Monday at 6:30 we have family home evening with the zone leaders at brother Abad's house. Brother Abad is an interesting guy. He's very large and he only has one leg... The other one is a metal rod with a rubber foot on the end that looks like a Halloween decoration. He lost the leg because he has diabetes, but he's really funny and always has interesting stories.
Tuesday we taught a couple lessons. Nothing exciting or eventful happened on Tuesday. Every Tuesday we have coordination at 7 till the rest of the night.
All day Wednesday we walked around and tried to contact and visit a list of referrals we were given. Most of the people we tried to visit weren't home but we called them and were able to get ahold of some of them and set up appointments.
Thursday we had zone training. I liked zone training. It was very interactive and very helpful. we talked about how to get people from being an acquaintance on the street to becoming a baptized member of the church. After zone training we stopped by this woman's house who asked us to pray for her while we were waiting for a bus on Halloween night. This woman is a single mother of two young girls. It is seriously a miracle that we met her because she has been searching for religious help most of her life. When she first saw us at the bus stop Halloween night she thought we were detectives and came up to us asking how we're doing. We introduced ourselves, told her we're not working for the government and then she asked us to pray for her. We got her info and she is now a solid investigator.
Friday we went on exchange with he Zone Leaders, that went well. I was paired us with Elder Toilolo for the day. Elder Toilolo is a huge Samoan dude from Hawaii. I like him. During exchange we both worked on talking to more people and interacting with others on the streets. On our way to an appointment we were waiting for the bus when, out of nowhere, some skinny dude parks his old suburban in front of us at the bus stop. He rolls down his window and starts yelling at us. He tried to tell us that we had no idea what we were doing, we're wrong about everything, and we're no being productive. At first we tried to calm this guy down a little bit and explain to him what we do as missionaries and explain to him that we're on our way to an appointment but that just made him yell louder. We tried to figure out why he didn't like us but all he kept on saying was, "Do you have the truth?" After a couple of minutes we just decided to ignore him but then he got out of his car and got in out faces. Noticing that this man had draw a small crowd around us we knew that we had to set a Christ like example as missionaries and just stand there and take it. We asked him some questions like, why he was yelling and what his religious background was and some other questions but he wouldn't tell us anything. We told him that we didn't want to argue and that we would like to set up an appointment with him so we could come teach him and bring him the truth but he refused and told us we didn't have the truth. Now whatever we said he would just say the opposite... "Sir, were your brother"... "No you're not!!!". "We have the truth"... "No you don't!!". "We would like to come teach you"... "no you wouldn't, you don't care!!!". "Sir, you're not gay"... "I am gay!!!". Hahaha, we didn't mention being gay but that would have been funny. Finally the bus came and we both felt good about the example we set at missionaries. We knew that everyone who was out there watching us had a new found respect for us because of the way we just sat there and let this guy yell at us as we were polite and stayed calm and tried to help him.
Saturday we played football with members and investigators till about noon, then went and cleaned out this ladies house who is expecting another baby. She's a member. After that we tried to contact more referrals.
Sunday we had church and ward council. Sunday evening we gave a lesson to Giavaughny and his son G. G is being baptized this upcoming Sunday and Giavaughny is someone we call an active non-member. He's as active as any other member but he isn't baptized. He wants to get baptized but he needs to get married to his girlfriend first.
Monday (yesterday) was P-day and veterans day. We went shopping and prepped for the week then treated ourselves to sushi to celebrate veterans day haha. Most of the food places out here are sketchy so I haven't really tried to much out here. I've learned you can trust the Chinese places out here and the cheese steaks are not at all what I was expecting. Their not that good. I'm still looking for a place that makes good ones but so far... Not impressed. Overall the past week was good. I miss living in Roseville but I know I'll be home sooner than I think. The Lord keeps us safe out here so you guys don't need to worry about me to much. I'm trying my best to grow as much as possible. I didn't get the opportunity to really read anyone's emails today because it's not P-day anymore so we didn't have to much time but I'll be able to read them all next week.
Monday (11/4) was P-day, we didn't do much other than prep for the rest of the week. Every Monday at 6:30 we have family home evening with the zone leaders at brother Abad's house. Brother Abad is an interesting guy. He's very large and he only has one leg... The other one is a metal rod with a rubber foot on the end that looks like a Halloween decoration. He lost the leg because he has diabetes, but he's really funny and always has interesting stories.
Tuesday we taught a couple lessons. Nothing exciting or eventful happened on Tuesday. Every Tuesday we have coordination at 7 till the rest of the night.
All day Wednesday we walked around and tried to contact and visit a list of referrals we were given. Most of the people we tried to visit weren't home but we called them and were able to get ahold of some of them and set up appointments.
Thursday we had zone training. I liked zone training. It was very interactive and very helpful. we talked about how to get people from being an acquaintance on the street to becoming a baptized member of the church. After zone training we stopped by this woman's house who asked us to pray for her while we were waiting for a bus on Halloween night. This woman is a single mother of two young girls. It is seriously a miracle that we met her because she has been searching for religious help most of her life. When she first saw us at the bus stop Halloween night she thought we were detectives and came up to us asking how we're doing. We introduced ourselves, told her we're not working for the government and then she asked us to pray for her. We got her info and she is now a solid investigator.
Friday we went on exchange with he Zone Leaders, that went well. I was paired us with Elder Toilolo for the day. Elder Toilolo is a huge Samoan dude from Hawaii. I like him. During exchange we both worked on talking to more people and interacting with others on the streets. On our way to an appointment we were waiting for the bus when, out of nowhere, some skinny dude parks his old suburban in front of us at the bus stop. He rolls down his window and starts yelling at us. He tried to tell us that we had no idea what we were doing, we're wrong about everything, and we're no being productive. At first we tried to calm this guy down a little bit and explain to him what we do as missionaries and explain to him that we're on our way to an appointment but that just made him yell louder. We tried to figure out why he didn't like us but all he kept on saying was, "Do you have the truth?" After a couple of minutes we just decided to ignore him but then he got out of his car and got in out faces. Noticing that this man had draw a small crowd around us we knew that we had to set a Christ like example as missionaries and just stand there and take it. We asked him some questions like, why he was yelling and what his religious background was and some other questions but he wouldn't tell us anything. We told him that we didn't want to argue and that we would like to set up an appointment with him so we could come teach him and bring him the truth but he refused and told us we didn't have the truth. Now whatever we said he would just say the opposite... "Sir, were your brother"... "No you're not!!!". "We have the truth"... "No you don't!!". "We would like to come teach you"... "no you wouldn't, you don't care!!!". "Sir, you're not gay"... "I am gay!!!". Hahaha, we didn't mention being gay but that would have been funny. Finally the bus came and we both felt good about the example we set at missionaries. We knew that everyone who was out there watching us had a new found respect for us because of the way we just sat there and let this guy yell at us as we were polite and stayed calm and tried to help him.
Saturday we played football with members and investigators till about noon, then went and cleaned out this ladies house who is expecting another baby. She's a member. After that we tried to contact more referrals.
Sunday we had church and ward council. Sunday evening we gave a lesson to Giavaughny and his son G. G is being baptized this upcoming Sunday and Giavaughny is someone we call an active non-member. He's as active as any other member but he isn't baptized. He wants to get baptized but he needs to get married to his girlfriend first.
Monday (yesterday) was P-day and veterans day. We went shopping and prepped for the week then treated ourselves to sushi to celebrate veterans day haha. Most of the food places out here are sketchy so I haven't really tried to much out here. I've learned you can trust the Chinese places out here and the cheese steaks are not at all what I was expecting. Their not that good. I'm still looking for a place that makes good ones but so far... Not impressed. Overall the past week was good. I miss living in Roseville but I know I'll be home sooner than I think. The Lord keeps us safe out here so you guys don't need to worry about me to much. I'm trying my best to grow as much as possible. I didn't get the opportunity to really read anyone's emails today because it's not P-day anymore so we didn't have to much time but I'll be able to read them all next week.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Chance's First transfer into Philadelphia
So my first transfer is out of the MTC and into the outskirts of the city. This place is crazy! Not at all what I was expecting. There are things that should not be spoke of all over the place. Trash EVERYWHERE, you cannot walk on the sidewalk without stepping on broken glass, wrappers, or… other things. The place we live in is small and falling apart. Gunshots do go off every now and then, but not very often. Everyone that has a drivers license here shouldn't, seriously the craziest drivers ever. Yes, worse than Utah drivers!
Tuesday I stayed the night in the mission home. Wednesday I got assigned to my area and got to meet my companion. My companion is cool, we get along really well. His name is Elder Shamo and he's only been out for three months. Wednesday I didn't even have very much time to unpack, as soon as we got back we had appointments to go to. Half he time when we go to an appointment, no one is home. One of our appointments was a dinner appointment at a members house, a recently married couple from Utah. I like them. Thursday was Halloween so we had to be in by 6pm. Lots of crazy things happened Thursday night. People crashing their cars into houses down the street from us, people throwing eggs, people breaking things... Friday we had some appointments to go to and referrals to contact so that's all we did Friday. I committed a woman to be baptized on December 8th, we'll see how that works out. I met one of our investigators who is supposed to be baptized on the 17th this month with his son.
Saturday we played football until noon and then went over to the ward Halloween party. I got to meet some of the ward. Sundays are my favorite days because I get to go to church. The ward is small. Probably an eighth the size of our ward from home. Sunday nights, one of the members feeds all the missionaries in the area. We all get to hang out and eat real food and its nice. I really like Sundays. Today is Monday, November 4th. Monday is my P-day, I have no idea what we're going to be doing today.
Everyone keeps asking about this so... Send letters to my address ( 3311 Kip Street Philadelphia PA 19134 ) SEND PACKAGES TO THE MISSION OFFICE (Address is at the top of the blog). It takes about a week to send and receive letters between here and home. If I sent a letter home today, it wouldn't get there until Monday, or if I'm lucky Friday. Also I'll try and put pictures on Flickr today.
Friday, November 1, 2013
We got an email from the mission president today. What is the first thing Erin and I do… Well, we look up his address on Google Earth. Interesting. I bet Chance's eyes are as wide as saucers and his head is spinning! Well, one thing is for sure, he will learn gratitude. I will put some of the pictures below so that you can see where he is residing. I put a picture of President and Sister Anderson below as well.
I did a Google search on the area and there is a corner not to far from Chance's place that is rated the #1 recreational drug corner in America. I am sure he will be fine and the mission would not put him in harms way, but please remember to mention Chance's safety in your prayers. Monday is his P day. We are looking forward to getting en email and maybe some pictures from him then. I will post them when I get them.
1 November 2013
Parents of: Elder Owen
This week Sister Anderson and I have had the thrill of welcoming your son to the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission. He has arrived safely and we have enjoyed becoming acquainted with him .
Yesterday, Elder Owen was assigned his first companion and trainer, Elder Shamo. Below is their address; we invite you to please write or email Elder Owen weekly with positive, uplifting information and experiences to encourage him in his missionary efforts. Your expressions of love and interest in him will not only bless his life here in Philadelphia, but will cement relationships of trust forever. As instructed by the leaders of the Church, we ask that you not telephone or visit Elder Owen during his mission unless I have been informed in advance. He will have my permission to call on Mother's Day and Christmas. You should feel free to contact Sister Anderson at any time.
We know the Lord will bless you as He does all who make the necessary sacrifices to allow their loved ones to serve in these great callings. If we can ever be of any service or assistance to you or your son, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for the privilege of serving with Elder Owen.
Best personal regards,
T. Gary Anderson
President, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
Elder Chance Christopher Owen
3311 Kip St.Philadelphia, PA 19134USA
I did a Google search on the area and there is a corner not to far from Chance's place that is rated the #1 recreational drug corner in America. I am sure he will be fine and the mission would not put him in harms way, but please remember to mention Chance's safety in your prayers. Monday is his P day. We are looking forward to getting en email and maybe some pictures from him then. I will post them when I get them.
1 November 2013
Parents of: Elder Owen
This week Sister Anderson and I have had the thrill of welcoming your son to the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission. He has arrived safely and we have enjoyed becoming acquainted with him .
Yesterday, Elder Owen was assigned his first companion and trainer, Elder Shamo. Below is their address; we invite you to please write or email Elder Owen weekly with positive, uplifting information and experiences to encourage him in his missionary efforts. Your expressions of love and interest in him will not only bless his life here in Philadelphia, but will cement relationships of trust forever. As instructed by the leaders of the Church, we ask that you not telephone or visit Elder Owen during his mission unless I have been informed in advance. He will have my permission to call on Mother's Day and Christmas. You should feel free to contact Sister Anderson at any time.
We know the Lord will bless you as He does all who make the necessary sacrifices to allow their loved ones to serve in these great callings. If we can ever be of any service or assistance to you or your son, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for the privilege of serving with Elder Owen.
Best personal regards,
T. Gary Anderson
President, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
Elder Chance Christopher Owen
3311 Kip St.Philadelphia, PA 19134USA
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Week 2
Some things I forgot to mention last week... I got to see Elder Jensen before her left to New Hampshire and the MTC kind of reminds me of BYU a little.
Everyone was asked to prepare a talk for Sacrament Meeting last Sunday because the zone president was going to pick two of us at random to get up and speak. The topic was "enduring to the end" and the talk only had to be about five minutes. So I prepared an awesome talk Saturday night in our room. Sunday morning I forgot to take my talk with me to Sacrament and was called on to speak. Luckily my talk was copied right out of Preach My Gospel, and I happened to bring that to Sacrament sooooo.
Sometime last week one of the teachers told me "after Sunday the rest of the week will fly by and everything becomes a blur". Well whoever told me that was right. This past week went by super fast and I can't remember much other than what happened at out first appointment with another one of our "investigators". I think it was on Monday, but my companion and I arrived on time, we prepared a spiritual thought, and our main objective was to learn more about him and gain a friendship with him. His name is Aaron and he was referred to us by one of his friends. We knocked on the door, he answered, told us to go away. We spent around five minutes just trying to get this guy to let us in. After we finally got through the door, he had no interest in anything we were saying, all he was doing was trying to get us back out the door. We asked him some not personal questions and this is what happened... We learned we has no interest in religion whatsoever, we learned he likes to play volleyball, and we learned he used to go to a catholic school. Every time it seemed like we started to make progress with him, he would just shut us out. I don't know how this was brought up but out of nowhere he started to pour his heart out to us about how he lost his dad to cancer. He cried, we had no idea what was going on and then he kicked us out and told us to never come back... My companion and I were so confused! So we went back the next day. He invited us in and it was like nothing ever happened. We left him with a spiritual message and he told us to come back. Yesterday he bailed out of his appointment and that was the last time we could meet with him. So, other than that interesting experience with Aaron, there's not much going on here. Yesterday I got to be the investigator for some new missionaries that came in on Wednesday. I was assigned a role and had to give them a hard time and act like I had no religious background.
Since Wednesday I've been seeing a lot o people I knew at BYU which is cool. Today our zone is going to the temple. Tuesday I have to be in the travel office at 2:30 in the morning with all my stuff ready to fly out to Philadelphia. I traded some of my ties. We had a hall party with all the food mom sent me. I'm starting to live of the vending machines and fast a lot. The food that's served here seems to get worse and worse by the meal. And lastly, I think the funniest thing that happened over the past week was when I wrestled my companion for the mail because he wouldn't give me the letters I got. Mom, try and remember that I'm supposed to email only once so send me actual letters in the mail. If anyone is going to send me anything over the next couple of days, send it to Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to getting out of the MTC and into Philadelphia.
Everyone was asked to prepare a talk for Sacrament Meeting last Sunday because the zone president was going to pick two of us at random to get up and speak. The topic was "enduring to the end" and the talk only had to be about five minutes. So I prepared an awesome talk Saturday night in our room. Sunday morning I forgot to take my talk with me to Sacrament and was called on to speak. Luckily my talk was copied right out of Preach My Gospel, and I happened to bring that to Sacrament sooooo.
Sometime last week one of the teachers told me "after Sunday the rest of the week will fly by and everything becomes a blur". Well whoever told me that was right. This past week went by super fast and I can't remember much other than what happened at out first appointment with another one of our "investigators". I think it was on Monday, but my companion and I arrived on time, we prepared a spiritual thought, and our main objective was to learn more about him and gain a friendship with him. His name is Aaron and he was referred to us by one of his friends. We knocked on the door, he answered, told us to go away. We spent around five minutes just trying to get this guy to let us in. After we finally got through the door, he had no interest in anything we were saying, all he was doing was trying to get us back out the door. We asked him some not personal questions and this is what happened... We learned we has no interest in religion whatsoever, we learned he likes to play volleyball, and we learned he used to go to a catholic school. Every time it seemed like we started to make progress with him, he would just shut us out. I don't know how this was brought up but out of nowhere he started to pour his heart out to us about how he lost his dad to cancer. He cried, we had no idea what was going on and then he kicked us out and told us to never come back... My companion and I were so confused! So we went back the next day. He invited us in and it was like nothing ever happened. We left him with a spiritual message and he told us to come back. Yesterday he bailed out of his appointment and that was the last time we could meet with him. So, other than that interesting experience with Aaron, there's not much going on here. Yesterday I got to be the investigator for some new missionaries that came in on Wednesday. I was assigned a role and had to give them a hard time and act like I had no religious background.
Since Wednesday I've been seeing a lot o people I knew at BYU which is cool. Today our zone is going to the temple. Tuesday I have to be in the travel office at 2:30 in the morning with all my stuff ready to fly out to Philadelphia. I traded some of my ties. We had a hall party with all the food mom sent me. I'm starting to live of the vending machines and fast a lot. The food that's served here seems to get worse and worse by the meal. And lastly, I think the funniest thing that happened over the past week was when I wrestled my companion for the mail because he wouldn't give me the letters I got. Mom, try and remember that I'm supposed to email only once so send me actual letters in the mail. If anyone is going to send me anything over the next couple of days, send it to Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to getting out of the MTC and into Philadelphia.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
We got our First Letter from Chance.
Week 1
Wow, I can't believe that I'm on a mission right now. This is crazy. I cant wait to get out of the Provo MTC and into Pennsylvania. So far I have survived four incredibly long days here, these are seriously the longest days I have ever experienced. The first day here way by far the longest, especially since I had to wake up at 3:00am to get to the Sacramento airport. My companion that I had to ride with me on the plane was impressively weird, strangest person I have ever interacted with. When I first saw the gates here at the front of he MTC that's when it hit me, "wow this is really happening". The MTC is better than I thought it was going to be. Everything here scheduled for us and is very fast paced. On my first day I had a half hour to get checked in, get to my room, meet my new companion and get to class.
My MTC companion is awesome! His name is Elder Farrer, pronounced "far" but spelled "farrer". I seriously lucked out when it came to getting a companion that doesn't smell, isn't weird, and gets alone with me incredibly well. Not only do I have a great companion, I have a great zone and a great district as well. We only have one weirdo in our zone but that's ok because I don't have to share a room with him... He's really not that bad.
The food here is the same stuff they fed us at the Cannon Center; nasty, unhealthy, and makes my roommates hate me... I have to be out of bed every morning by 6:30am and I have to stand up in class sometimes to keep myself from falling asleep. The classes here are very interactive, but even though they're interactive that doesn't keep me from falling asleep while we read scriptures. Most of what we do in class is role play. We get to teach "investigators" and get a pretty good idea of what it will be like in the field. I have learned many new things and my testimony is stronger than ever. The spirit is incredibly strong here and I am making the most out of everything and I'm really enjoying it here. I'm having a good time. Thursday night I was appointed senior companion and online training leader. As the online training leader it is my responsibility to teach missionaries how to interact with online training websites and help them when needed. I no longer have time to continue this letter, so look forward to next weeks.
Week 1
Wow, I can't believe that I'm on a mission right now. This is crazy. I cant wait to get out of the Provo MTC and into Pennsylvania. So far I have survived four incredibly long days here, these are seriously the longest days I have ever experienced. The first day here way by far the longest, especially since I had to wake up at 3:00am to get to the Sacramento airport. My companion that I had to ride with me on the plane was impressively weird, strangest person I have ever interacted with. When I first saw the gates here at the front of he MTC that's when it hit me, "wow this is really happening". The MTC is better than I thought it was going to be. Everything here scheduled for us and is very fast paced. On my first day I had a half hour to get checked in, get to my room, meet my new companion and get to class.
My MTC companion is awesome! His name is Elder Farrer, pronounced "far" but spelled "farrer". I seriously lucked out when it came to getting a companion that doesn't smell, isn't weird, and gets alone with me incredibly well. Not only do I have a great companion, I have a great zone and a great district as well. We only have one weirdo in our zone but that's ok because I don't have to share a room with him... He's really not that bad.
The food here is the same stuff they fed us at the Cannon Center; nasty, unhealthy, and makes my roommates hate me... I have to be out of bed every morning by 6:30am and I have to stand up in class sometimes to keep myself from falling asleep. The classes here are very interactive, but even though they're interactive that doesn't keep me from falling asleep while we read scriptures. Most of what we do in class is role play. We get to teach "investigators" and get a pretty good idea of what it will be like in the field. I have learned many new things and my testimony is stronger than ever. The spirit is incredibly strong here and I am making the most out of everything and I'm really enjoying it here. I'm having a good time. Thursday night I was appointed senior companion and online training leader. As the online training leader it is my responsibility to teach missionaries how to interact with online training websites and help them when needed. I no longer have time to continue this letter, so look forward to next weeks.
Friday, October 18, 2013
We dropped Chance off at the Sacramento airport this last Wednesday just before 5am. He flew out to SLC and then took a shuttle from the airport there to his Uncle Kurt & Aunt Kerri's house in Orem. Chance got to have breakfast with them and then they dropped him off at the MTC in Provo.
We are very excited for Chance, but had no idea just how hard it would be to say goodbye for 2 years. It was emotional to say the least. We miss him dearly.
Can't wait to get his first letter from the MTC!!!
We are very excited for Chance, but had no idea just how hard it would be to say goodbye for 2 years. It was emotional to say the least. We miss him dearly.
Can't wait to get his first letter from the MTC!!!
Monday, October 7, 2013
If you want to follow Chance while he is on his mission, I will be posting his letters and pictures here.
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