Gobble

Whuddup fellas. This week been legit.

I HAFF NEWS. We got transfer calls this week. And guess what. I'M OUTTA HERE! I'm heading out from Paul this Wednesday and taking a 2 1/2 hour drive up to Carey, Idaho, which apparently is in the middle of nowhere. I'm super pumped. I love paul to death, but i'm stoked to make a change. By the way, looks like this will be a particularly large change, considering I've been assigned as a Zone Leader over the Carey Zone. So that should be fun I suppose! Pray that I don't ruin the mission.

But yeah, that has been the main focus of what I've been up to recently. I've been aware of my exit, so I've been spending my time seeing the last of the investigators and members I've come to know and love in this area. It's been so much fun getting to know everybody in this area: Paul is so small that it only takes about 6 months to accomplish that. It's sad to have to leave all of my new friends, but I'm excited for the chance to make a bunch of new new friends!

So yeah, other than that there's really nothing new that happened this week! Just packing up and stuff, so that's chill. Any questions? If not I guess I'll move on.

Hope you all have a BEAUTIFUL week! Mucho love! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Slavens

What the Heck to Write About

Ehh, sometimes you just have those weeks where it's like a way good week, but all the same you have no idea what to talk about 'cause it's all a blur. Once you've been out for like a million years like me, it all seems to form together like that. Hmm.

Anyway, like I said, it was a good week! We ended up running into a few new investigators that I'm pumped to start teaching, 'cause our teaching pool's been draining a bit since all our progressing investigators have either gotten baptized or just bailed out on us. Life is life. But yeah, I'm all giddy about it.

There's this one dude in particular that I'm stoked about, named De Wet. Weird name, I know. That's 'cause he's from South Africa. I asked him how to say his name, and he responded with "Where do you take your dog if he's sick?" I said "The vet," and he was like "Yup, that's how you say my name." He's hysterical, and I can't wait to help him come unto Christ.

Other than that though, there's really not too much that happened this week! Sorry I don't have a bunch of awesome stories and stuff! maybe some crazy crap will go down this week and my next one will be a bit more interesting. but anyway, I love you all! Everyone is the best! Hope you all have a wonderful week and everybody give somebody a hug for me!

Elder Slavens

Agridulce

That means 'bittersweet' in Spanish - word of the day! It also describes my week somewhat. Let me explain.

This was like the best week every for a few different reasons. But I made some decisions this week which are affecting me negatively, now that I look back on them. Check it.

First dumb decision - I had my warts frozen off by a member with the hook-ups. This guy is a chemical distributor for dairies, and as such, he has a large supply of liquid nitrogen. I've had a wart forming on my hand, and two on my foot, for the past little while. You know how much of an eyesore warts are, so I heard about this liquid nitrogen and I was like sign me up burr. Well he got a hold of the goods and stuck a Q-tip down there and put it on the wart and holy moly you have no idea how much it sucks to have a wart frozen off from in between your toes. I thought I was gonna die. But long story short, the huge blister that formed burst and now it's all infected and I can't like walk properly. But fear not! My companion went to Berkeley and knows everything so he taught me how to fix it!! I guess I should be fine soon.

Well actually, that was pretty much the only dumb decision I made this week. However I did make another decision that will probably change the rest of my life as I know it.

We were having dinner with a family in one of our wards and I asked the dude what his profession is: he's a chiropractor. In discussing this, we eventually hit the topic that he does some funky technique to get rid of people's allergies, 'cause I mentioned to him (as I do at like every dinner appointment) that I'm allergic to raw fruits and vegetables (by the way, nobody believes me here, either). He was all like "Oh, I can fix those, easy." And I was like yeah right man, like 4 weeks ago I met some other chiropractic genius that said he could do the same thing, and I'm still a mess (true story). He was like "Naw, I'm legit." So last Monday we went over to his office and (once again) long story short, he did a bunch of freaky voodoo tests on me and determined that I'm not actually allergic to anything other than fruits and vegetables. So he had me lay on my belly for a moment and he like poked my back in a bunch of random spots and said "Aight, you're fixed brudder." He said not to come into contact with any fruits or vegetables for 24 hours, and then I'd be good to go. So I did just that, and the next day I ATE 3 WHOLE BANANAS AND A SALAD AND CUCUMBERS. And I yet live! So as far as I can tell, I'm no longer allergic to fruits and vegetables. I even find I'm sniffling my nose a bit less, which will really throw off those of you who know me well. So yeah, that was pretty chill.

It was also my birthday this week, which goes pretty uneventfully on a mission. I'm 21 now, so that's cool.

ANNNND Kino got baptized this weekend! Holy heck it was so great to see him make that decision! It's been a long time coming, and I was so blessed to be a part of plucking the fruit or however you'd put it. That was some dang low-hanging fruit man. He's such a great kid and he'll make an amazing addition to the branch. So pumped.

So that was pretty much my week. Not really all that bittersweet, now I look back on it. But my foot hurts. But life is good. I love you all! Give each other hugs for me. You rock.

Elder Slavens

Trick or Trunky

Ya know what? I'm in a pretty good mood today! Things are looking up and the sun is not shining (overcast FTW) and life rocks.

Not too much has changed over this last week, I suppose. Not that that's a bad thing. We've seen a few solid progressing investigators come out of the woodwork which has been super duper exciting and we're gonna bust a move to get these people in the water (if any non-Mormons are reading this, please don't be offended by that statement. I'm prolly being sarcastic or something).

Kino's back on for baptism this week! He'll be getting baptized at 3:00 on Saturday and seems way excited about it - PLEASE PRAY THAT THIS STICKS. If it doesn't stick I know whose fault it is (again, probably sarcasm).

Halloween was pretty chill, I suppose. We're not supposed to be out and about after dark on Halloween 'cause it can get pretty sketchy with a bunch of little kids out in the streets - you never know when some parent might accuse us of all sorts of random stupid stuff - so we just try to avoid it all completely. Instead, we had the chance to do a district activity and pretty much just hang out all night. We were allowed to watch a movie like The RM or something like that, but we're such consecrated missionaries we just decided to play like 300 hours of air hockey instead. We all wore mustaches as our costumes - I guess that's about as far as we're willing to go. Probably only adds to our sketchy appearance though, so it's for the better we weren't running around in the streets. The picture's pretty dope though.

Anyway that's about it for me this week! Hope you all have a good Juan and I'll catch ya next tiempo, chill? Chill.

Elder Slavens

Dopest District Costume Party

Rupert Zone Halloween

It Has Been a WEEK Since Last Week

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, hello! I love all of you lots, just so you know. Yeh.

ANYWAY this has been a good week! Couple little disappointments, but meh, what'cha gonna do about it? That's life!

So our two baptismal dates that were set for the next couple weeks have been postponed. Kino has decided he's not quite ready, which is a major bummer considering we know FOR A FACT that he's like the readiest kid of all time. It's been tough to see him go through everything he's had to recently: his mom, Ana Maria, a recent convert that was baptized when me and Elder Josephson were together, has started smoking again and backed off on church attendance, and it's affecting her son. He feels that people shouldn't get baptized if they're making mistakes like that, and we're trying SUPA hard to help him understand that those things aren't HIS problems, and that he is definitely ready to take this step! But I think he wants all the problems with his mom to be resolved before he moves any further. Super noble of him, but like C'MON GET BAPTIZED. Just kidding, I just want what's best for him. At the moment he's set to get baptized on November 8, so hopefully he sticks to that!

Lindsay's date has also been moved back a bit, and thankfully for less sad reasons. She's got a friend who's getting baptized in another ward sometime in November, and she wants to join that friend and do it at the same time! So that's way cool, and I think they'll be a super huge support to one another, so that to me is a very good reason to wait a bit. She's been so much fun to teach and I'm so excited to see her commit herself to the gospel and be baptized! I just hope I'm around to see it happen!!

Other than that, it's been a pretty regular week. We're on bikes right now because our car is still getting fixed, and frick is that taking a toll on me. My asthma is like blasting through the roof 'cause I have literally no endurance after doing nothing physically trying for a year and a half. Oh my sheesh it's killing me! But ya know, it's all chill 'cause I'll probably come home with huge calves or whatever. just kidding I'll be fat.

HEY James passed the sacrament!! Ah, it was so cool to see! his tie was like way way too long and he was all stressed out that the water was gonna spill everywhere and I was watching him with just this huge smile on my face! It's so cool seeing all this work come to little bits of fruition like that. Pretty chill. :)

Anyway, that's about it for this week! Everyone pray for Kino and Lindsay that they'll stick to their commitments and have that desire to be baptized! It's what they need! Thank youuuuu! Have a wonderful week peeps.

Elder Slavens

¿Que Pasa, Calabaza?

That means "what's up, pumpkin?" in Spanish, which I find to be a very appropriate thing to say considering the current season/circumstance.

SO MUCH SERVICE this week! We spent basically three whole days helping out this less-active member dude who owns a GIANT pumpkin patch. There are like almost literally billions of pumpkins there. I think. But we spent a good amount of time this week just hauling pumpkins to and fro. Luckily, however, the dude let us take like a million squashes and gourds home, and we've been cooking 'em up like baked potatoes and putting brown sugar in 'em and dang is that good.

The musical number ended up going really well! And we had a really cool conference with Elder Golden of the 1st quorum of the 70, so that was awesome. I'm not quite sure why, but Elder Golden told President Curtis that he wanted to interview a few missionaries, and President picked me! So I had a one-on-one talk with a general authority which was way cool.

ALSO, Mario Corona got baptized this week!! Holy moly, getting that put together was almost more stressful than James'! Probably so, actually. So you know how each investigator planning on getting baptized needs to have a baptismal interview? Well that can only be given by a District Leader, Zone Leader, or something of that nature. It can't be just any missionary. And the thing that made this real tough is that with this most recent transfer, all of the missionaries in leadership in our zone were changed to English positions (except me), and Mario does not know that language!! So we spent like 5 years looking for a missionary to give the baptismal interview to Mario, but nobody could, and we thought we were gonna die.We ended up figuring it out, and though I probably can't properly express the stress I went through getting that organized, I just want you to be aware that it was there (wow, that sentence sounded like a poem).\

But anyway, he DID get baptized and confirmed this week! Woot woot! So legit. Although he almost was like 30 minutes late to the baptism, but whatever. It happened! I got to confirm him a member of the church on Sunday (which is always fun in Spanish), and I'm so thankful that I got to do that! I pray that he'll be led by the spirit to stick with it and never falter. This will change his life if he lets it!

Anyway, I'll probably hit the road now, but all you keep safe and whatnot and I love you and muah!

Elder Slavens

Making a Killing

I have absolutely no idea where the heck to start on this week, you guys. This has probably been one of the strangest weeks of my whole entire life. I seriously don't know where to start. Ahhh.

Why don't we start with James' baptism? WHICH HAPPENED. Woot woot James got baptized this Saturday and it was totally awesome! But boy was it a roller coaster just getting there, sheesh. What a stressful trip! So check it out. As this week rolls around we are very aware of the fact that James is supposed to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, but the stress starts to hit when we realize we have like 2 more lessons to teach as well as getting the baptismal interview out of the way AND THEN making a million calls to the ward to get the program set up. So we go over to his house this Tuesday to get the lessons wrapped up, and his grandma waddles out and explains that James has not come home from school yet (mind you, this was at like 6 pm). Apparently he does this all the time - he gets a ride from one of his buddies after school and just kind of doesn't come home for like a whole weekend. I was just like aw no, James, you gotta get back home so you can get baptized!! His grandma continues, stating that James has a bunch of mental issues which prevent him from taking things seriously (including ADHD, bipolar disorder, and some deal that naturally makes him oppose authority figures). Aw crap, man, you can't be serious. So we do the best thing we can think of - say a prayer and move on for the day, hoping to run into him tomorrow.

We pass by the following day (Wednesday) to find James just sitting on the couch watching TV! Come to find out he'd just gone to a football game with his buddy that evening and come home right after. We were like JAMES YOU SUCK YOU SCARED US and he just laughed. Whatever dude. So we got started teaching him about the commandments, and here's the crazy part: he ate it all right up and didn't get distracted or anything! It was a totally smooth lesson, which is very uncharacteristic of James. But it went very nicely, and we set up and appointment for the next day to have his baptismal interview.

Guess what. He didn't show. OH MY GOSH I'MMA KILL SOMEONE. I called his grandma, who was supposed to drive him there, and she was like OH NO I TOTALLY FORGOT and I was like great job, grandma. So we set it up for the following day (which was a flipping DAY before the baptism) and she said that's chill. We showed up to have his interview the next day and, THANK GOODNESS, he showed up and passed with flying colors! It was then our responsibility to set up a whole baptismal program, speakers and all, in one day, which in and of itself was a very stressful experience. I think there were angels asking people to give talks and stuff, 'cause I do not think we had it all figured out ourselves. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and it ended up being one of the most spiritual, special baptismal services I've ever witnessed! James was so ready to take this step, and I'm super thankful to have been a part of all of it. In fact, I was even able to baptize him myself, which is always a good deal!

And now I'm like out of time even though there is SO MUCH MORE that happened this week that I wanna talk about. Dang it. I'll see if I can't shove some of that in next week, I suppose. But until then, everyone have a wonderful week and keep your chins up! Muah!

Elder Slavens

When You Don't Have Time to Do Anything

This has been one of those weeks! Whew, I am just so pooped I have no idea where to start! In reality, not much has happened this week - but my body does not agree with that idea; it's just dead either way.

This week consisted mostly of me pretending to know how to play the piano. You see, Elder Golden, a member of the first quorum of the Seventy, is coming to give us a training this week! Which should be cool. Anyway, he wanted a musical number done by my zone, and I have no idea why, but like the second our zone leaders found out about that, they came right to me and asked if I'd make one up. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhh okay fine. The problem is they gave me like a week and a half to make it up, and so I was like busting out ALL of the musical abilities I have to make up a musical number that sounds chill, and at the same time is easy to sing 'cause we have like no time to practice. Today is literally the one and only time that the zone is going to get together to not only learn it, but to get good at it. So that's like really all I've been doing all week - going to the church buildings to play on the piano and invent something to blow away a general authority - which I highly doubt will happen. Either way, I've done my best! We're gonna sing "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go", and I think it does sound pretty nice. I'll see if I can't get a recording or something to show you peeps.

But unfortunately, because of that, we weren't able to see many people! Conference also kind of sucked up all of Saturday and Sunday. So that really has been basically all we've done this week! I'll let you know next week how the musical number goes - hopefully it doesn't crash and burn. Fingers crossed. I love you all and all that jazz!

Elder Slavens

P.S. MONSTROUS shout-out to my little brother, Dallin, for deciding to serve a mission! Cambodia needs you man, even if they don't understand a word you say! Woot woot!

OUR WORK EXPLODED OH NOOOOOO

In a good way.

This has been an awesome week, my good fellows and... (wait, what's the girl version of a fellow?) Ah, well. Anyway.

Like I said, the work has exploded! Like, you know what a bomb does? EXACTLY THAT! We've been seeing so many cool things happen, and I'm convinced it's because Elder Hansen and I have just been working our tushies of and not giving Satan a break. We've figured out a good system for inviting people to be baptized, and people are accepting left and right and it's just the most legit thing! If all goes according to plan, as of right now, we should have baptisms lined up for four consecutive Saturdays once General Conference has come and gone. And we've got a couple more that are like RIGHT THERE!

So here's our peeps:

Mario was just married this week! That was the main thing he had to get past - living the law of chastity. He's been living with his girlfriend for quite some time now. They were basically married, just not married. You feel me? So the main thing holding him back was that. BUT THEY GOT MARRIED THIS WEEKEND. And the wife's already a member, so it could't get much easier than that! He's set to get baptized on the 18th of October. Every time we ask if he's still up for it he's like, "Claro, chavos; no se preocupen." Which loosely translated is, "Duh, bros; chill." So we're excited for that one.

James is the 12-year-old kid who's getting baptized the week after General Conference. The one who saw Tom Cruz giving the Priesthood to the actor Joseph Smith. Oh man, teaching him has been an adventure to say the least. Last time we went in to see him we were like, "So, James, what did Jesus do when he came down to the earth?", and he responds, "Well he came down from heaven and killed everyone and then brought everyone back to life and then he's gonna come again and kill everyone again and then this time we won't come back to life."  I'm just like dude, where the heck are you getting this information?? But it's all good, slow and steady and not distracted wins the race.

Kino is the son of a recent convert in the Spanish Branch here in Rupert, and he really wants to get baptized. This family is absolutely hysterical. Kino speaks perfect English, but his mom certainly does not. We were talking about the differences between English and Spanish and she (in Spanish) was like, "Exactly, like in Spanish we say 'fallecerse', but in English you say 'passway'. And I was like what the heck are you talking about, lady? Nobody says "passway". For the longest time I thought she was saying "password", but after a lengthy game of charades I learned that she was trying to say "pass away", which is absolutely the correct translation for "fallecerse". You may have had to be there, but I almost threw up I was laughing so hard. We taught her, "It's pass away, not passway," and then she kept trying to say it and holy crap it was just a good time. ANYWAY Kino is the man. He comes to church every Sunday and when they do the Sacrament prayers and all that jazz he likes to repeat the words to himself so that he can have them memorized once he receives the Priesthood himself. Pretty cool stuff! He's got something kind of holding him back as far as we can see, but we have no idea what it is. Hopefully he sticks with this goal and gets baptized on the 25th of October like we have planned!

Lindsay is a 14-year-old girl who's like super dang busy. She does volleyball a ton and all this stuff so it's tough for her to meet with us too often. Her mom was raised Christian and her dad Catholic, so her parents always got into fights when it came to religious topics when their marriage started out. They ended up having to just drop religion completely in order to keep their marriage intact, with the result being that none of their kids know anything about the gospel or Christ or ANYTHING. It's pretty sad to see, and it gives a very good example of why, in our church, though it's not required that we marry "another Mormon", it's definitely encouraged. It certainly makes things a lot more comfortable. Anyway, Lindsay's mom really wants her to make her own choice and find a church that suits her well, and so far, Lindsay's making a pretty good judgment if I do say so myself! She understands the importance of baptism and really wants to get it done, she just wants to understand things a bit more before she takes the dive. Fingers crossed!

One more quick thing before I wrap up this ESSAY. This week we had a cool opportunity to watch, before it hits the theaters, the new movie produced by the Church called Meet the Mormons! It was a super good movie showing 6 different Latter-Day Saints and their individual stories and it was really inspiring and revealing when it comes to how Mormons actually are. I think a lot of people just don't understand us, and this movie does a pretty good job of teaching everyone the truth in a really non-threatening and chill way. So I would suggest that all you guys get your booties into the theaters when it comes out and give it a watch! And invite all your friends and whatnot so we can ALL understand Mormons a little better! Just an idea.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a very rewarding week, or something like that. Peace, love, kisses, and all that jazz.

Elder Slavens

Still Not Trunky Yet

Yaaaaaaaaaawn I'm tired. Oh that's right, I'm a missionary.

Wuddup peepel. This week has gone pretty darn speedy! I honestly am not entirely sure what even happened this week. A lot of chill stuff, I assure you. But I guess I gotta just take a mo' and think. You know I don't have the best memory in the tool shed or whatever.

Unfortunately, I have no crazy stories for you guys that I can blow up and exaggerate for your entertainment this week! Nonetheless, I do have news of SOME sort, surely!

Whelp, we have been seeing a lot of cool progress from our investigators as of late! I mean, relatively, of course. There's always those who drag their feet. Not like life is all rainbows and Hershey's Kisses. But like I said, it has been very nice to see some people plugging along like they should! Mario, one guy we've been teaching, is getting married on the 27th of this month and will get baptized two weeks later! He's been coming to church and everything, so we're pumped about that one.

Arlene's one of the foot-dragging peeps at the moment. We had a baptismal date set for her for the 20th (and if you watch the news or have a smart phone, you should know that that date's past by now), but she likes to go camping on Sundays. Like, c'mon! I mean camping's great and all but isn't it kinda gross? Wouldn't you rather just dress up in some nice clean clothes and come talk about Jesus? Seems like a no-brainer to me. We haven't been able to see her for a while on account of her tearing her house apart to do some reconstruction as well, so we haven't really had the chance to teach her about the true importance of the Sabbath. Major bummer. But hey, it'll all work out in the end!

James, the 12-year-old kid who's getting baptized n October 4th, is hysterical. We went to teach him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and at one point we whipped out a pamphlet with a picture of Joseph Smith being given the Priesthood by Peter, James, and John, and we asked "James, what do you see here?" The kid responds, "I see God, Jesus, and Tom Cruz giving a blessing to the movie actor Joseph Smith." Oh my goodness I nearly kicked the bucket. Funny little dude. But he's progressing well! He's coming to church and all that jazz, so all we need to do is teach those lessons and then come the covenants!

So yup, life's good. Seeing lots of cool things happen and that there's the report. Hopefully you found it to be of import somehow. Thanks for listening, anyway! Have a good week errbuddy!

Elder Slavens

It Was All a Stupid Ploy of the Devil to Distract Me from My Purpose. CURSES!

You're all probably wondering why I would have such a negative subject line. I'm a pretty optimistic guy for the most part, right? Well sometimes I just wanna smack the devil in the face because he makes stupid things happen.

You remember when I went through all those hoops and whatnot because I'd lost my wallet? And I had to like sign my soul off to the feds in order to get my license back? Like I said, I finally got a replacement license from my parents and that was going really well for a while there. I was driving without a care in the world. But then, that's probably what went wrong.

We went on exchanges this last Tuesday and I was chilling in Paul with another Greenie in the District. Things were going super well, I suppose. We ran over to our Ward Mission Leader's house 'cause he has everything you could possibly need to wash a car, and we were like "Hey, WE have a car that needs washing!" Sounds legit, right? So we get the car all squeaky clean and life is good. I pull out of the driveway, pumped to run off and do some good missionary work. As I shift the car back into drive, I pull up at about 8 miles an hour for probably 2 seconds and BANG. I had this weird sensation like "What the heck just happened?" while my Greenie is over there like gasping for air. We sit there a moment in this weird time-lapse thing not having a clue what has happened, and then it dawns on me: Oh crap, I just wrecked our car.

We hop out and look a the front bumper, and whaddaya know? Big fat dent in our squeaky-clean car. The awesome thing is that our Ward Mission Leader has security cameras set up all over the place, so we ran back in the house and ask him if he saw us. Lo and behold, there we are, with like 10 different camera angles showing us the stupidest wreck in history. I had backed up to a point that appeared pretty safe to me, but I hadn't noticed the super low cement curb just in front of us. So I smacked right into that stupid curb, and now our beautiful 2014 Chevy Cruze has this big ugly gash in it. So dumb. I turned in the report and everything, and it's been decided that I no longer have driving privileges for the mission, which kinda sucks, because I just LOVE driving. But I guess I'll live. After all, I did do something pretty stupid to deserve it.

And that's why I say it was all a ploy of the devil. I went through all this stressful jazz to get a temporary license, and I literally drove for like a day or two and now may no longer drive. Satan is dumb.

It may sound to you like this was the worst week ever because I exaggerate a lot when I complain on these emails. Dramatic effect I guess, I dunno. But in all reality, this was actually one of the best weeks I've had on my whole mission! Weird, huh? We've just seen so many awesome little miracles this week. We were contacted by one of our WML's who said that a boy stood up in Sunday School this week and said, "I'm getting baptized soon!" Thing is, this kid's like 12 and has no idea what the church is all about - so we made a stop over to his house the other day, and we're like "Hey, well if you wanna get baptized soon, we can totally make that happen!" He was down, so we set a baptismal date for him on the 4th of October, and we're gonna come over twice a week so we can get all the lessons done before then!

And just a bunch of cool stuff like that. I'd love to tell all the stories, but this thing is already a flipping novel. Suffice it to say that we're seeing a lot of cool things happen here in Paul, Idaho! Exact obedience truly does bring miracles! I've seen lots of ups and downs during my mission. There've been times where I didn't feel I was being very obedient, and there've been times where I'm just following every rule and every suggestion made to help the work. Now is one of those times, and the fruits are HUGE. And juicy. Just keep that in mind, everyone! President Monson was right - obedience may bring blessings, but the miracles wait for those who consecrate themselves unto obedience to the things the Lords asks! And then we party.

I love you all to the very pit of my being! Spread the happiness, aight?

Elder Slavens

Paul, Round 2

I'm still here in Paul, everyone! But you already knew that. Not much of a surprise, is it? I'll probably be staying in Paul until the end of my mission, 'cause it just seems that's how my mission's going right now. BUT WHATEVER CUZ I LOVE IT.

This week has been pretty swell! The transfers have been all lined out and I am now serving here with my new greenie, Elder Hansen! He's from Apple Valley, CA, so the two Californian missionaries get no end of crap here in Paul. They don't like Californians here. But like, sarcastically. It's weird.

Elder Hansen is probably whiter than I am, so this should be an interesting transfer considering most of our investigators are Mexican and don't expect us to know any Spanish. That's probably one of the most fun things about being a Spanish Elder - we freak people out completely when they're like "Oh so sorry, no english," and I'm like "Oh, no importa hermana - sabemos espanol! Que pasa calabaza?"

Elder Hansen's a good dude. He got a 35 on the ACT so he's like way smarter than me. He's way skinny, be he can pack food like no other. His Spanish is pretty dang good considering he's been out like 5 days. Just lots of good stuff. I'm excited to hit the ground running, be obedient, and do some good solid work!

We had an insane lesson with one of our investigators, Mario Corona, this week. He's engaged (or something like that) to a member, so she's pushing him to be baptized. Apparently they're married legally, but not "through the church", whatever that means. So they're under the impression that Mario needs to be baptized to get married through the LDS church (which is not the case - we made that clear), and asked us to give them ALL the lessons in one single visit. Holy guacamole that lesson! It was like 3 1/2 hours long, and Elder Hansen and I were just puddles on the floor once it'd wrapped up. Flipping Spanish is exhausting sometimes. But good news! We have Mario set up for baptism on the 20th of this month, so long as all gets organized and set up by then! We're excited for him! Pray that he'll keep moving in this direction!

Anyway, it's been a great week. Life is still good. Never easy, but certainly good! I hope you all have a wonderful week, and until next time, this is FRESH TO DEATH signing off! Paz.

Elder Slavens

I Wish I Had a Bike So I Wouldn't Get Fat

Well helloooooo there errbuddy.

Guess what! I totally did not find my wallet at all this week! It's still totally gone. And now my parents are sending me a new temporary driver's license, which means I am not going to be getting an Idaho license, which means all of this was in VAIN! But I guess that's alright - it at least means I don't have to take the Idaho driving test, which would probably include a bunch of obscure questions about tractors that I would have no idea what to do with. So there's a plus. Thanks for saving me the pain, Mom.

Anyway, this week! It was good. First of all, we got our transfer calls! And I'm STAYING MUAHAHAHAHA. I'm gonna stick around in Paul to be the District Leader and take over the world. Elder Josephson, however, is OUTTA here!! And where is he going, you might ask? WENDELL HAHAHAHA. He's going to the area I was in for like a billion years and he's going to LOVE it! Seriously, we got our transfer calls and learned that and I just flipped out 'cause I'm so excited about it. He's gonna meet all these sweet people and hear a bunch of horrible stories about me and whatnot. Uh-oh, I guess.

Oh yeah, and I'm TRAINING again. Man, they gotta stop giving me greenies to ruin - I guess I just haven't gotten it right yet.

So yeah, this has been a good week. Working with a bunch of really cool people who want to do good things and it's all just such a blessing! Out of the blue, one of our REALLY OLD un-progressing investigators showed up to church this week and I was just like broooooo, no way. It's all worth it when you see great stuff like that happen - you just realize that this really is the Lord's work and He's got a plan for everything! Hopefully we can see that investigator start to progress some more!

Life's just good. We have so many awesome members here that support us and do all they can to hasten the work in there sphere. We walked into a Sunday School lesson this Sunday and the teacher was basically just firing everybody up about missionary work and it was just really cool to see! It helped me to realize that I'm not all alone in this and that I should definitely do better to utilize the awesome members we have here.

So yup, that's pretty much my week! Been a good one. Transfers are coming this week and I'll have my new greenie ready to go and I'll send a picture and all that cute stuff. Alistense.

I wub you aww.

Elder Slavens

And the Rains Came Tumbling Down

You know those weeks that come up where you're just like "Holy moly, is it possible to endure any more trials than I've experienced this past week?" Those are tough weeks, huh?

Well this week wasn't quite THAT bad. But sometimes ya just gotta stop and think why me?

I lost my wallet this week.

Every week after our district meeting we go out to lunch together and just have a grand old time - one of my favorite moments of the week in which we can build some district unity and get to know each other over a giant pizza or something. Well this week we went to a burger joint and wrapped up and immediately after that I ran off with another Elder, named Elder Jones, to do an exchange. Since then I have not seen hide nor hair of my dang wallet! I'm convinced that it was stolen by an alien or something in that burger joint and that that alien's like doing tests on it to find out how he can clone me. I guess that'd be pretty cool, but like seriously, I NEED MY WALLET.

This is causing me no end of grief. First of all, I have no money. Which obviously is not good. Second of all, I have no driver's license. And these two things are very much conflicting. You see, I need my driver's license to drive! So I asked the mission about how I can get a hold of a new one, and their suggestion was to work on getting an Idaho driver's license. Which I think would be pretty cool anyway, so maybe this is all worth it. But the problem is, IT COSTS MONEY to get a new driver's license! But my debit card is gone as well! And I can't get a new one WITHOUT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE to prove that I'm a bona fide Elder Slavens! BLAAHHHHHHHHHH. It's like Inception or something, just the wallet version. Thankfully it hit me earlier that I have a passport!!!!!!!! Woo! Thank goodness I went to the Mexico MTC which required I bring a passport - I'm convinced that THAT is the reason I went to Mexico: so that I would have my passport at this point in time, allowing me to obtain a new debit card, which will in turn allow for me to get a new driver's license, and then I will be good to go. But sheesh though.

On top of that my temple recommend is MIA, so hopefully some snot isn't going through the temple every day unworthily. That would be bad.

But whatever, we'll get it all worked out, don't worry guys!

On the bright side, Elder Josephson and I set a baptismal date this week with one of our solid investigators, Arlene! She's so ready to make that covenant, I just can't wait! In our most recent lesson with her she described to us an experience she had recently in which she was at the death-bed of a super old LDS lady who like received an epiphany for Arlene, saying that she needed to not be afraid of the temple and she needed to read her scriptures every day and go to church and all this super important stuff! And Arlene says that that experience strengthened her testimony like no other and that now she's more ready than ever to take that step! How cool is that? So pray for Arlene that everything goes smoothly with baptism - and for meas well, that everything goes smoothly with my wallet.

I hope everyone can see the silver lining this week, 'cause there always is one!

Elder Slavens

Life Is Life

OH NOOOOO THIS WEEK WAS PRETTY DANG TYPICAL AND I'M HAVING A HARD TIME COMING UP WITH SOMETHING INTERESTING TO REPORT ON. OHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO.

Eh, I guess I'll just do my best with what my feeble mind can remember.

As previously screamed, this has been a more or less typical week in terms of missionary work in Paul, Idaho. There ain't really any super hilarious stories or anything like that. Now, Mom, keep in mind that that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad week! I have no complaints! But I guess I just don't have many paragraphs flowing out of my fingers.

You know, some people may look at a mission like Twin Falls, Idaho and think "Dang, these kids probably get like a billion baptisms on their missions 'cause it's just so easy there." But I'm here to tell you that leading people into the waters of baptism is not an easy feat, no matter where the heck you go! It's been a real struggle finding those who are really ready to make that huge change in their lives, especially as a Spanish missionary.

A good percentage of the Latino population that we visit lets us right in because they think they'll be condemned if they don't, but then don't commit themselves to making the changes that we invite them to make! It's like c'mon, do you even wanna see Jesus again?? I figured as I started my mission that it'd be a walk in the park to convince these people of the truthfulness of our message. But oh boy, was I wrong! I've learned a lot since being out here about humility and patience. These people aren't baptismal statistics, they are individuals who all need something different. And you need to put all you've got into finding out what their specific needs are and helping them decide to change, rather than feel forced or pushed into it. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still!

I've loved my mission every step of the way, even though it has most certainly not been a walk in the park! I suppose it's been more of a sprint in the park. It's beautiful all along the way, but it's harrrrrrrrd.

I guess there's my little schpeel for the week. Not probably what most people wanted to hear, but I suppose it's what I wrote! Whoops! Hopefully something loco happens this week that'll give me like 20 paragraphs' worth of good story. Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and that you're praying every day and reading your scriptures and all that good stuff, because those are the things that make life grand! Paz y amor, locones mios.

Elder Slavens

Woah, I'm On a Mission

Whut is up. Bro. Duuuuuuuuuuuuude.

How is everyone doing this fine week? It is a mighty fine one, if I may say.

This week has been FULL. I've been moving like nonstop and now my legs are sore. Not really, but I just want to give you an idea of how much I've been moving.

Now that I'm the District Leader 'roun' these parts I've got a few new responsibilities that I wanna touch on. First of all, this week we had a Leadership Training Meeting that I was just stoked for. Basically this is a meeting where all of the missionaries in leadership positions come together to learn how to be better leaders. On top of that there's almost always

some big announcement of sorts in which we are told about some new proselyting technique we're gonna adopt, or the introduction of some new materials, or perhaps iPads - I guess you just never know. It wasn't iPads this time, so don't get your hopes up. I already did that for you.

There actually wasn't really any big news at all, which was a little disappointing. Not to say it was a bad meeting! No sir! I learned a lot about how to be a servant rather than a tyrant. We talked a lot about that. However, there was one segment in which President Curtis asked all of the missionaries if there were any rules that they wanted clarified, and oh man. They jumped on that question like a bunch of rabid dogs. Everyone was bringing up all of these super trivial things about like whether or not we can ride lawn mowers and stuff and I was like ughhhhhhhhh. We did that for like an hour or two, man. Kinda silly. I feel like if you have a situation like that and you really, truly and sincerely want to know the most appropriate way to deal with it and be obedient, then a simple prayer will do. No need for all of these firework displays. I feel like some

missionaries just want so badly to be viewed as 'obedient' that they just make themselves look silly. Or maybe I'm just cynical. Ah well!

I was especially excited for this meeting, however, because afterward we do this BIG MONSTER exchange where all of the leaders in the mission mix up and join other leaders for the rest of the day. I was stoked because I figured it'd be a good opportunity to shove off and see some part of the mission that I'd probably never lay my eyes on otherwise 'cause I'm a

Spanish missionary. Ah well, that wish wasn't granted - I ended up hanging out in Paul for the exchange, but that wasn't a big deal, because it was a super good experience anyway! I had the opportunity to serve for the day with Elder Williams, one of the Spanish Exchange Elders (basically meaning they go on exchanges with lots of Spanish missionaries to help them out with stuff). It was a lot of fun and I learned a ton about teaching simply and being humble. I liked the exchange a lot!

Aaaaaaaaannnnd then on Friday I had the chance to go on another exchange with one of the Elders in my District because that's another responsibility I have as the District Leader! It's a lot of fun being able to throw in my two cents to these other missionaries, because in fact, I'm the oldest missionary in my District! Weeeeird. So I guess I've more or less had a bit of experience, and I like being able to impart my sub-sage wisdom. I do my best, alright?

We've been teaching lots of cool people that are progressing well. I guess not lots but we're definitely seeing movement. I'll update you on that next time!

Have a bootifoo week!

Elder Slavens

I Guess That's Fair

Well, my friends! This week has been a week of weeks! Obviously.

The meat and potatoes (I'm an Idahoan now) of this week was the Minidoka County Fair. A good amount of time has been spent the last few weeks preparing for the fair that went down this last week. Long story short, our ward mission leader is part of the fair board, and he wanted to help us set up a booth to get people interested in the church. We decided to have our focus be family history work because that's one of the more relatable subjects that our church stresses. Now, unfortunately, I have like no time to explain all of the stuff that happened at the fair. Suffice it to say that it pretty much didn't work out. Whoops! I think the booth looked just a little bit too "hertiagey", and that being the case, nobody was all that interested. But all of the missionaries in the zone spent pretty much all their time this week at the fair, which ended up showing in our key indicators (meaning the whole zone got pretty much no lessons and stuff). Well we learned from that! They're hoping to do it next year as well, and learn from what didn't really work out this year. But hey, no worries! Life is life.

That's literally like all we did this week. And I'm pretty much out of time, so I can't really make up some interesting story like I usually would do! I'm sorry! Next week I'll bring something that'll blow your socks off of your feet.

I hope you all have a great week and keep Jesus in your thoughts! Until next time!

Elder Slavens

The Party Ants Take a Stand

And thus we see the completion of one week and the initiation of another.

It's been a supa dupa one! My reign as District Leader has begun, and just this week alone I've found the opportunity to exercise all kinds of unrighteous dominion. I kid. I jest. No unrighteous dominion being exercised here. Probably. We've just been having a really good time this week. I'm honestly so stoked about my district right now - everyone's so cool and I think we're all gonna get along great! This week I had the opportunity to lead my first District Meeting. Every week we all gather together as a district and have an inspirational little segment we call a District Meeting. We basically just discuss ways to be more effective as missionaries, and we're held accountable to one another 'cause we talk about how many lessons we've taught and whatnot, and we feel really bad when we haven't done much. It's a good way to keep us on our toes, if nothing else!

Anyway, in our District Meeting this week we talked a lot about how important it is to have faith in every footstep we take as missionaries, and I think it was really solid! Everyone left feeling really good and pumped up, so I must have done my job somehow!

I was also blessed *cough* with the opportunity to give yet another talk in sacrament meeting this week! I think it went better than the last one I did. I don't think I mentioned this, but last time I was asked to give a talk in sacrament, I did my usual thing - you know, I tend to get pretty sarcastic and whatnot - and I guess some people just can't handle it. I made a bunch of fake excuses about why my talk was about to absolutely suck, and I think some people thought I was serious, even though I was completely kidding (obviously I knew my talk would be perfect). Anyway, one lady walked up to me after giving my talk and said, "Elder, thank you for your talk. But I have one piece of advice for you. Would you take it?" I said, "Well sure, lady, I guess so." She then got all tied up in a knot and said "Don't ever make an excuse or give an apology for a bad talk again."  I was like oh dang this lady hates me!! But I guess I got over it.

Anyway, I think I played this one a little safer. I ended up just straight up telling the congregation "Just know from the get-go that I'm super sarcastic, and I really don't know how to turn it off." It got a good chuckle out of them, so I think it served its purpose. I gave my talk on leaving the 99 to find the 1, so it was a really good topic to get them excited about finding those wayward souls that just need a little push. Hopefully it did some good!

In terms of people, Manuel is doing really good. We taught him this week about the ten commandments, and the Word of Wisdom. He said he really wants to follow them, but that smoking will be a tough one for him. We challenged him to quit smoking then and there, and he said he'd do his best! We came over the next day, and although he had not quit smoking cold turkey, he only smoked 2 cigarettes that day, as opposed to his usual 10! That's definitely progress!

We're also teaching a new lady, named Arlene. She rocks. A member in our area said he'd met this woman who wants to get baptized. Now we missionaries tend to look at that stuff pretty objectively, and usually come to the conclusion that it's too good to be true. BUT THIS ONE ISN'T. Arlene has been in contact with the church for a long time, and she loves everything about it. She wanted to get baptized about 10 years ago, but couldn't because her husband said no. But now she's divorced (woot woot) and can do whatever the heck she wants! So we taught her the message of the Restoration, and looked almost excited when we invited her to be baptized! I think that will happen very soon. We're meeting with her again this week, and hopefully the momentum sticks!

So yup, this has been a really good week. Hopefully it stays so! Everyone have a rockin' week, on me!

Elder Slavens

New Management

Well good afternoon my fellow humans. You ready for some big news?

We got transfer calls last night! As expected, Elder Josephson and I are sticking together this time around, but perhaps not as expected, we're getting a change in command 'round these parts!! I have been assigned the new District Leader of the Rupert West District muahahahahahahaha. Things 'bout to chaje 'roun hee' boi. I am so stoked for this opportunity that I have to serve my fellow missionaries - as well as the chance to loosen things up around here a bit. Our current District Leader is super short with us for pretty much no reason - he likes to make up rules and tries to get us into trouble for stuff that we're not doing, and it's been a pretty frustrating experience at times. That being the case, I plan on being the funnest, most chill DL in the history of humans! Of course, I'm planning on stressing the importance of obedience and doing things right, but at the same time, a missionary needs to understand the importance of being himself as well, and not freaking out when things don't go his way. I think this will be a very very good transfer. Fingers crossed though - hopefully I'm not seeing visions of grandeur or something!

Anyway, this week has been legitimate. Much like last week, we spent a good chunk of this one inviting people to that dinner party thing that's coming up. We're hoping to see like a billion people show up and start teaching all of them about Jesus. The quickest way to an investigator's heart is through their stomach, right? I think that's how that expression goes. But unfortunately, because of that, I don't have a whole ton to report this week.

However, we did have another super good lesson with Manuel! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and answered the big three life questions for him, namely "Where did we come from?", "Why are we here?", and "Where are we going?". He loved the idea of the resurrection, and how repentance can help us get there. He recognizes that we'll never be perfect, but that through the grace of Jesus Christ we can get pretty dang close, and then be saved. I am so excited for this dude, he is ready as can be. All he needs to do is find the time to come to church. Pray that he might!

We've made a couple attempts to visit with Kellen and Darienne, that couple I mentioned a little while ago, but they've been pretty busy. Such is the life, I suppose! When there's more information on that one, I'll be sure to letcha know.

This has been an awesome week and I'm so happy to be here! You be happy to be were you be as well! I love you all and just wanna hug ya! Have a good week!

Elder Slavens

Fresh to Death

We have the wonderful blessing of getting two free bowling games in the local alley every p-day, and every time we play,

my name on the score board is Fresh to Death. You're all jealous.

This week has been super duper! We did a lotta stuff and it was just super dang busy.

The main thing we did this week was invite a bunch of peeps to a party! One of the wards in our area is hosting this annual dinner thing and we decided it'd be a good idea to invite like a billion Mexicans. So we did. We went out to the boonies of Paul, Idaho with one of our ward mission leaders and invited like every single Spanish dude we saw. And we spent like 3 whole days doing that. So naturally that took up quite a bit of time and we didn't really do much else this week. But my assumption is that we'll either get like literally 300 Mexicans coming to this thing, or none. So we'll see how that plays out. Our current concern is that they'll all show up, beer in hand, and destroy everything. So we're making sure a bunch of the Spanish missionaries around the area come to do an alcohol check before they walk in.

We also went to the temple as a district this week! It was so good, as always.

We had another lesson with Manuel, which went super well. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which covers stuff like faith, repentance, baptism, and all of the basics that make up the gospel. He loved it and explained to us that he prayed like we had invited him to do beforehand and had felt that this was the right path for him. He wants to get baptized but may not be able to for a while because his work schedule is super demanding and makes for a tough time getting to work. We're gonna keep working with him and help him find a way around that!

That's really the meat and potatoes (cool Idaho slang) of what we did this week. Those activities pretty much sucked up all of our time and we didn't have many lessons and stuff, but that's aight! We got stuff done, man.

I hope that this week is just lovely for all of you. Muah.

Fresh to Death