It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Jesus' Birthday

Good afternoon, lords and ladies. *Bows really low*

Another week passes by in the timeless city (I mean village) of Wendell, Idaho! It has been an awesome week! Perhaps a rather uneventful one in the eyes of my beloved readers, but still very very good.

What happened this week? Well, not really much in terms of exciting stories about investigators. We have a few with baptismal dates that we're just working with to get to church and whatnot so they can decide for themselves that they're really motivated to take the step into the font, but not much has happened that's really noteworthy!

Now what I would like to discuss a bit are the awesome fun times that occur in the everyday life of Elder Slavens when he's not teaching the good people of Idaho about how to be saved.

Story #1: The other day we got a call from our Zone Leaders, who quasi-angrily told us that we had been butt dialing them like all day long and that they were sick of hearing our nerdy conversations about Lord of the Rings and Super Smash Bros. So I did some investigation on our phone; come to find that when I move my leg with it in my pocket, all the buttons on the phone get pressed at the same time, and it unlocks the phone and calls somebody, seemingly at random. To my horror, I looked at our recent calls to find that we had called a bunch of investigators too. Thank goodness they all speak Spanish! They'd have realized just how geeky Elder Wright and I are! Anyway, I was like, "Let's end this madness," so I went into the phone to put a lock code thingy on it so that this wouldn't happen again. So I go into the settings and find the 'New Passcode Lock' option. Sweet. It asks me for a new password, so I type in 5555. Easy enough to remember. It asks me to confirm the password. I do so. The phone then freaks out: "Uh-oh! That code is invalid! Now I'm gonna lock up like the Pentagon!" Which makes no sense because all I was doing was typing in a new code. But whatevs. So our phone is basically a brick now and we can't talk to anybody. It has been a very difficult thing to deal with, and I now appreciate phones so much. But not the one I currently have. At this point, nobody call me! I won't be able to pick up!

Story # 2: On Thursday we buried a member's dead wolf-dog half-breed. It was the strangest, most morbid service project I've ever taken part in.

Story #3: Two days ago I was driving, just like usual. We were on our way to the next city over to see a Christmas Cantata thing put on by the Church. I took a turn and, as is habitual for me, I sped up a bit to get some momentum. Then the lights go off behind me. Crap, dude. I got pulled over by the fuzz. So this cop comes up to me and asks where I'm coming from. As it happens, we had just finished another service project, and were dressed in our raggy service clothes. I probably looked pretty G. So this dude assumed I was just some snot punk kid. I subconsciously pushed my sweatshirt over so my tag was visible, and explained that we're missionaries from the Church, just heading out from doing some service for a poor old guy who can't walk. I hoped that'd soften his heart a bit. He proceeds to snatch up my driver's license and walk over to his car. 10 minutes later he returns. "I'm going to have to cite you for speeding,' he says. "Now get out of here, and watch your speed." Guess how fast I was going. 7 over the limit. Guess what my penalty is. 90 bucks. What a wonderful day.

Anyway, it's been a pretty fun week. Lots of fun things happen as a missionary, as I'm sure many of you are aware! Just too bad they all seem to happen at the same time. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I sure hope I do!

Elder Slavens

Dat Flu Though

Friends and family!! Why hello there!

I hope everything's going swimmingly for all my loved ones out there, and that preparations for the coming Christmas season are tickling your fancy and making you glow with Christmas cheer!

I, for one, am freezing.

It started snowing halfway through the past week, and has proven unyielding. The weather here is quite stubborn, that's for sure. At first I thought it was just bi-polar and couldn't decide where to go. But the past week has shown to me that, rather than being undecided, the weather is certainly decidedly against us. But it's okay, because I laugh in the face of harsh conditions! It only makes me more determined to get into somebody's house! Take that, snow!!

But this week has actually been quite a bit less productive than I probably make it sound. Namely because of the flu that's been going around which decided to hit our house last Tuesday. I got sooooo sick. I was bed-ridden all day, save the times I was bent over the toilet. Unfortunately I don't really know how to put that more gracefully. But Tuesday was very rough for me, and it made for a very unproductive day, which is always a bummer for a missionary. I can only imagine what it was like for Elder Wright.

Just kidding, I experienced it myself!

That's right! Within the next two days, Elder Wright had contracted the exact same freak thing I had had, and we went through the exact same motions once again! So that made for two off days this week, which is just so not fun! I mean, it wasn't the worst thing in the world, 'cause I got the chance to do a lot of reading and studying, but I wanted to be out there really doing stuff!

And unfortunately, because of our sicknesses, I don't really have any other crazy stories to tell about this week! But the days we weren't sick were pretty good, although neither of us have been on our A-game since we've just been so out of it. But I think we're all better and that this week will prove more fruitful! Fingers crossed!! Well, 'arms folded' is more like it.

I hope you all have an awesome week! Thank you for your prayers and support, it means the world to me!

-Elder Slavens

Another Day, Another Blessing

Hello again, everyone! It's me! Elder Slavens!!

I've been having an absolutely awesome week! Unfortunately, not a huge amount to report on, but it was still really good!

Thanksgiving was really fun! We may or may not have spent the entire day with one family, named the Hesters. They may or may not haveten kids, and thus not mind too much the presence of a couple hungry missionaries. We may or may not have played Monopoly twice with them, and I may or may not have been beaten twice by the same stinking punk 12-year-old kid who kept rolling doubles and buying out all the good properties!! Needless to say, it was a great day, albeit a frustrating one 'cause that snot-nosed Clayton Hester kept beating me! But I'm completely kidding, I love that kid.

Though he is cheap.

The rest of the week has been awesome. We got a referral this week from our Group President to see a young family who's in a very rough spot. The dad just recently had his arm run over by a truck at work, his arm now being completely shattered and useless. On top of that, the mom has a broken arm too! So neither of them can do anything, and they have no way of paying their bills! So they called the city to find help, who then directed the family to the church, 'cause you know, we're the best, right? So the bishop agreed to help them out during this time of need, on one condition: let the missionaries come over and share their message!

Muahahaha, we got 'em now!

We've gone to see them a couple times now, and they're a really cool family with a lot of faith. They've agreed to be baptized if they have some time to do a bit more study and pray to feel the truth of the Book of Mormon, which I'm absolutely sure will come with time. We're also planning on doing something fun for them for Christmas this year, because it looks like budgeting's gonna be tight for them this season. Any ideas on what we could do for them??

Anyway, I'm off! Have a wonderful week, everyone, and be excellent to each other!

Elder Slavens

Cows and Potatoes and Frostbite and the Book of Mormon

Good day, everyone!

I'm doing absolutely wonderful, thanks for asking. This has been an awesome week, and we've seen things absolutely skyrocket in this continual upward spin this week. All this despite the fact that we haven't been doing a ton of work this week that necessarily gets us numbers to report. I think I have a theory.

This has been a service week. Like, lots and lots of service. Almost every single day this week, we've been helping members move houses, fix their crappy broken hot tubs they found on the free section of Craig's List, split lots and lots of wood, stack lots and lots of wood, and stuff like that. It's been a lots of fun, and I've been super happy to do it, but the sad thing is, all that service detracts from our time in which we can teach! But my theory is this: service, in whatever form, calls down rivers of blessings from the Lord. Now I'm not about to say that we miraculously dug up like 100 member-present lessons on a Sunday evening or something cray like that, but I will say this: the work we are doing here in Wendell is paying off. We ended this week with 9 progressing investigators! Yeeeee! And that's not even the exciting part. The part that's exciting is the raging fire we see behind the eyes of the members here. It singes my freaking eyebrows. They're just rockstars, I'm telling you! We're getting referrals all over the place, and they want to join us to teach lessons, and it's just miraculous! Because of our members, we have two families of 4 that all are just inches away from baptism. It's so exciting to see, and I love working here!

Now unfortunately, because we've spent so much time pulling apart hot tubs and whatnot this week, I don't really have any super exciting stories for your eager ears. I'll make sure to do something wacky this week so I have something fun to talk about next time, okay?

Wishing you all a wonderful week and a fattening Thanksgiving!

-Elder Slavens

I Can't Think of a Clever Subject

Well here we are again!

How is everyone? I hope your weeks have all been absolutely stellar and full of mirth!

Mine has been pretty good! Not the most active of weeks, but a good one nonetheless! First things first: I have a new companion! His name's Elder Wright, from New Jersey! He's tall and skinny, and has been out for 17 months. Count 'em! He's an old man!! I'm supa excited to see where this new transfer goes - the area of Wendell is just on fire! Although we haven't made a ton of very life-changing visits in the past week, our members are just here for us and are giving us referrals and becoming a real part of the work! And the thing that's amazing is that we don't really even have any members!! The members from the English wards are the ones giving us referrals and stuff! Gosh, they're the best. :)

So although Elder Wright is technically my senior companion and district leader as well, I'm in a very interesting, very new situation in terms of my missionary life. I have driving privileges! So basically I'm the area lead because I've got more experience in the area and whatnot. At first I was way stoked about this, but then I realized I've been here for like 6 weeks. On top of that, I have this horrible habit of not paying a smidgen of attention to where we are when I ain't the one driving the car - in other words, I don't know jack squat about where anything is in Wendell. Crap. So the past few days have been an interesting kind of science experiment trying to find out where the heck we are. And it's kinda sad, 'cause Wendell's tiny. I also don't really understand what 'saving our miles' is, so we may be going a few days on bikes, depending on how quickly I can get my act together. But I'm getting a hold of things (probably mainly because of the GPS Dad sent me -- thanks, Dad!), and I'll have it figured out before long! Fingers crossed!

We've seen some excellent progress in a few of our investigators, namely, the Perez family. That's the family I mentioned last week - the lady who just randomly got up to bare her testimony (bare? bear? baer?). They came to church yesterday, and are progressing magnificently! I don't know quite how attainable the 23rd of November goal is, considering that's this Saturday, and the husband hasn't even agreed to baptism yet! But whenever it happens, I know it will happen! This family is solid gold!

Anyway, it's been a really awesome week, and I've been so blessed to see the fruits of good missionaries in the past doing their jobs right. I'm doing my best to keep the momentum going, and not let the little town of Wendell, Idaho fall by the wayside! Thanks for all the support, everyone, and I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Esclavo

Oh No, I'm 1/6 Done. :(

Has the time flown by that fast?? What the heck, I've been out for 4 months now? This is crazy pants!

 Anyway, what a week!! It's been so awesome and I've had so many awesome experiences that I don't even know where to begin!! First of all, my birthday was on Tuesday! I'm 20 years old now, suckas! Although that really means nothing at all on a mission, and it was very much a regular day, so I don't have much to report on there. Basically I made myself a cake, sang myself happy birthday, and scarfed it all down, fearsomely quickly. Then we went out and taught people about Jesus.

But we've seen some incredible progress this week! Just last Sunday, Fast Sunday, we had our fasting and testimony meeting in the Spanish group, in which like 15 people were present, and this woman - a nonmember - got up and bore her testimony. She said that she didn't know much about the mysteries of God or how everything works, but that she knew He exists, that He loves her, and that He wants what's best for her. I was blown away by this woman's faith! She wasn't even an investigator or anything, just a woman who decided to come to our church one day! She then finished her testimony by saying that she's interested in the idea of baptism and wants to know what that's all about, so could the missionaries please come over and teach her? What?? That doesn't happen!!

We set up an appointment with the lady, named Adilia, and taught her the next day. She agreed to be baptized on the 23rd of November, and wants her family to join her! We had another lesson with all of them, and like every single member of that family is super duper receptive and can't wait to hear more! What a blessing!!

Other that that, we just got transfer calls last night! Bad news: Elder Johnson's being sent elsewhere to be a District Leader, and I don't know who my next companion will be! I've had an awesome time with Elder Johnson, and it's going to be a major bummer to see him go. But I suppose that's how mission life is, right? I'll fill you guys in on that next week!

Now that's pretty much the biggest thing that has happened this week, so I don't have much else to talk about! Just lots and lots of cows, and that's about it. The potatoes have been harvested, so Idaho's significantly less exciting at the moment.

I hope you al have a wonuhfuh wonduhfuh week, and I send you all hugs and kisses! Peace!

Elder Slavens

I'm At the Point Where There's Music On the Radio I Don't Recognize. Uh-oh.

Howdy, y'all! Is everyone doing wonderful?? Good to hear, good to hear!

I'm doing wonderful myself as well! It's been an absolutely awesome week, despite how long it's felt! Unfortunately the baptisms seem to have stopped at this point, but we're still working at it! We finally actually have some time to breath, however, which has been a rather backward blessing in and of itself. Boy, baptisms are stressful to plan!

Strangely enough, however, Elder Johnson and I seem to have become rather accustomed to stressful work, and at this point now that everything's slowing down, we really don't know what to do with ourselves. We've really got too much time on our hands, don't we?? Well apparently not. It's really been an incredible blessing, all of the success Elder Johnson and I have seen as of late. We pray and pray all the time, just thanking our Father in Heaven for all of the change we've been able to see in these people.

We've been seeing a lot of recent converts and less-actives recently, which has been so awesome. It's so cool to see people who've been led away find the path and once again make steps toward the Celestial Kingdom! It's also a huge blessing to see those who are just getting started, and helping them make those steps.

Now unfortunately, I don't have much time today because I was just informed that we have to make a drive to Twin to get our beautiful Jeep EXCHANGED!! I've absolutely fallen in love with this car, and I'm gonna be so sad to see it go. But I'm also hugely thankful that I've had the opportunity to enjoy it while it lasted, and I know that there are other missionaries out there without that blessing! Yuck.

So I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Keep your chins up!

-Elder Slavens