Superliminal

I'll be honest, I have no idea why the subject heading is what it is, but the word popped into my head and I decided to type it down. I'll bet it was the spirit telling me what to write. Hopefully that subject has some profound effect on someone in need.

Anyway, hello there world! What a great week it has been! And a stinking fast one, at that! I really don't even know where to begin, because I don't really know what even happened this week, because I feel like I just wrote you guys like yesterday, blah! This is really starting to freak me out; I've been out for over 8 months now and I feel like I just got here. Ugh. Whelp, better make the most of it!!

So, I would like to start of with some horrible news that I received earlier this week. Elder Wright went to that training meeting with the 'director of pross' and came back almost in tears. Okay, not quite in tears, but it was a sad day. He had to come back and explain to me that we're not getting iPads until like mid-summer. This huge lump formed in my throat and my heart sank through the floor and I thought the world was over. Mainly because I had been spreading the rumor for the whole entire week to all of the surrounding missionaries that we would be getting iPads this week, which, in fact, we were not. So I became terrified that all of the Elders in surrounding areas would decide to come and beat me up. Thankfully that didn't happen, but it was still a sad experience.

And now some other news! Transfers are coming up this week! We just got the information about what we're gonna end up doing a couple days ago, and I'll tell ya, I'm quite pleased! I'm going to be staying in Wendell for yet another transfer! That'll be 7 1/2 months for me here in Wendell, if I even leave after that!! You see, I'm gonna be training this transfer! Brand new baby missionary of my very own! Awww! And in that case, since training takes two transfers, I wouldn't be surprised to find that I'll stay another transfer to finish raising my boy! I'm gonna die here! And Elder Wright's getting moved to Twin, which will we super fun, because Twin has like everything. So I'm jealous about that, but it's no biggie. The coolest people in all of Idaho live here, so it's chill. I'm really excited about this you guys, for real.

Other than that, we've had a few great lessons this week! People are still struggling with the whole marriage thing, but I suppose choices like that take time. We'll just continue to be supportive of these people and bring the spirit in truckloads to help them know what needs to be done.

This has been a super duper week and I'm so happy to be here! Keep your chins up, everybody! Talk to you soon!

Lesson Learned: I can still be a missionary without an iPad. I can.

Heart,

Elder Slavens

Mawwage

Happy day, everybody!! Is all's y'all having a good one? I sure hope so! I know I am!

This has been a sick nasty week. We didn't get huge numbers in terms of lessons taught and stuff like that, but a shortage on numbers has never really bothered me when it comes to missionary work. We've been focusing less on boosting the numbers and more on just helping those that need it, be they investigators or members or whatever. At least, that's what I've been focusing on personally. I really believe that I'm here just to help people, not so much to look good in the eyes of my Zone Leaders and whatnot. I've never really cared much about things like that, I guess. Anyway, this week ended up being more of a member-focused week: we did lots of service and formed stronger relationships with lots of the members in our area, which is always super fun and rewarding! We're hoping to see some referrals coming our way soon so we can hop to it and start teaching more people!! You have no idea how much I love these people, you guys. The Hispanic population here in Wendell is just the opposite of the pits. They're so loving and kind and humble and accepting and they love us. And for that reason, I WANT REFERRALS. I want to meet every single person here that I possibly can so that I can become best friends with them and have more crazy experiences and whatnot. Dang I love this work!

One thing has been coming up quite frequently, however, that has been throwing Elder Wright and I for like 5 loops. Pretty much every single investigator-couple that we've been teaching has recently admitted to us that they're not married. That's like 10 baptisms that could be happening sometime soon, which have been set back quite a ways because they have to go through that whole process. The world is definitely dropping the ball in that aspect - the idea of marriage just isn't important to people any more. "I mean, what's the difference, really? I've got my 'wife' here and 4 kids, and we are technically a 'family'. So what's the big deal about not getting married? It just costs us money and time." That's a pretty typical argument that I've had to learn to rebut. It's also pretty tough for them considering a good percentage of our investigators are probably illegal immigrants, so legal stuff does not work in their favor. Sheesh, Satan's a clever little bug. We'll squash him though. Anyway, that's definitely been a main focus recently: understanding and appreciating the true nature of marriage, lawful and spiritual, and the blessings that taking that step brings. It's a commandment, people.

I have some pretty crazy news. It might just be rumors getting tossed around and I may be getting overexcited about nothing, but I figure life is much more fun when you have hope. We recently were asked by our Zone Leaders to take some silly survey online about missionary work, because apparently the director of proselyting is coming within the next week to see our mission. I personally didn't even know that such a human existed, but apparently so. Anyway, since Elder Wright's the district leader, he's going to some training meeting that the director of proselyting is hosting this Thursday. We were just told about this like two days ago, so it's super last-minute, and it's going to be like an 8-hour long training meeting. On top of that the whole of the mission leadership is being super sketchy about it and won't tell us any information about what the point of all this is. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?? Well, I don't even know what this means personally. But I have a hunch: the Idaho Twin Falls Mission is gonna get iPads this Thursday!!!! Hooooohohohohoho!! This is seriously gonna make missionary work so much simpler, and it'll give us time to focus on the things that are really important. I am so beyond excited. But we'll see! Pray for me everyone, so I get an iPad!!

And I believe that's about it for me today!! I'mma sign off, but I hope you all have a wonderful week! You're in my thoughts and prayers and I love you all!

Elder Slavens

Can I Get an 'E'?

And if you hit me with an "l-d-e-r"

Then you'd see our

Missionary swagger

We never sag nor lag nor stagger

So please pump up your bike tire

Sit in the seat, sire

Kickin' it quick, ain't no trick, said, I'm no liar

Plant the BoM, right from wrong, with the mom that's

investigating and enjoying all the chats (discussions)

WWESD?

I like to teach the gospel motivatedly

But all work and no play makes me crazy

So

I take off a P-Day once a week

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gooooooood morning, world!!!

How's everybody doing? I'm doing just swell myself! It's been a really awesome week of teaching and preaching and loving and learning and growing and ah!! Such a good one. Where do I begin? Hm.

I had the opportunity to do an exchange this week which was way fun. I exchanged with Elder Perdue, from Texas, who apparently was at BYU the same time as me! Small world. Actually it's like a tiny little world - there's like 10 Elders here who were at BYU at the same time and I didn't know a one of them before the mission. So it's been cool to have that initial connection with lots of different people. But anyway, I just love exchanges. Such a cool way to learn different methods of teaching and studying and yeah, I love them. Perks of being a district leader's companion.

Every month as a mission we set goals for ourselves and focus on specific changes we can make to become more Christlike and so on. This month we're focusing a lot on our studies and how they can help us help our investigators. Mom, you'll be happy to know that I've been focusing a lot on making good use of my study time recently. I've been reading tons recently in the Book of Mormon, and the more I do, the more hooked I get to it, honestly. There are times when I don't even wanna go out and teach because I'm so sucked up in the Book of Mormon, which is good and awful at the same time. But I've just learned so much this week about how a good morning study can start off your day really right.

And hopefully all of you are doing your studies daily too! It doesn't need to be three hours long; just a solid 10-15 minutes can really change your day. Love it.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Big hug, big kiss, little kiss, big hug, little hug, little kiss, big hug, big kiss, little hug, little kiss.

Lesson Learned: A study a day keeps the devil away.

Elder Slavens

Oh, Is It Monday Again? Alright I Guess I'll Write Another Email.

Happy P-Day, everyone!! And isn't it a beautiful one?? It's actually very nice right now in Wendell, and I'm gonna make this email a quick one so that I can run off into the hills and enjoy my "day off"!

This has been a wonderful week with like literally no complaints at all. We've seen so much progress in our investigators and it's been such a huge blessing to see them all going somewhere. I love seeing people take steps to repentance and try to become better than they currently are. And this is really saying something, because pretty much every single person I have the honor to teach is like AMAZING anyway!!

We met an awesome new dude this week named Javier, who's from Peru. By the way, Peruvians have really cool accents, like super duper flowy and it's almost hard to understand them 'cause their Spanish flows so well. Anyway, this is a really awesome man. He's come here all the way from Peru, leaving his family, so that he can gain some money to help support them. Apparently there's some freaky kind of industry in Peru that makes it almost impossible for citizens to get good jobs and make any money, yet the country lives. Not sure how all that works, but either way, Javier lives here now and I'm happy about that. Although I feel for him big time because he's planning to be away from his family for a seemingly indefinite period of time, solely so that he can take care of them. That is real sacrifice, and I have a lot of respect for the decision he's made. We were able to share the message of the Restoration with Javier this week, and he really seemed to enjoy it! I'll keep you updated on that one!

We also were able to do a lot of member strengthening this week, which was a huge blessing. We saw a lot of members of our ward who were having hard times, and it was our blessing to see those people and help them with the things that were bothering them. I love doing that stuff. I'm making awesome friends here in Idaho that I'll certainly be keeping in touch with from now on.

Other than that, no big news! Except for that I LOVE MY MISSION!! You guys are all wonderful and I love you too! Keep your chins up and always stay on the straight and narrow! Keep the faith! Muah!

Elder Slavens

What's With All These Observed Holidays??

Seriously, what even is President's Day? Sounds to me like it's just a silly excuse for the librarian to not let us in to do our emails. Anyway, that's why it's Tuesday and not Monday that I'm writing. Sorry about that! I'm sure everyone was just dying.

So for the 3rd week in a row I'm feeling rather out of sorts as I write my emails. I have a super hard time sleeping at night and so I've recently been taking Melatonin to help me K.O. rather than sitting up awake at 2:00 am. And I think I may have accidentally OD'd a little bit last night and taken one too many so that I would fall asleep faster, and it ended up having the opposite effect. I was up like all night, and as a result I'm like way groggy and blah. On top of that I just consumed like 40 pounds of Mexican food for lunch and that's putting me out of sorts as well. Though it was quite tasty.

Anyway, this has been a really great week. Although the sad thing is that I'm starting to find that the more enjoyable the week is, the less I seem to learn! And this has been quite an enjoyable week, so I'll have to think long and hard about what I've actually gotten out of it. Other than the fact that Melatonin may be a blessing, and it may be a curse, depending on the dosage. But we've just had a lot of success this week. Many little miracles are being witnessed by Elder Wright and I every day here in Wendell, and it's super refreshing. We were blessed this week to have lots of lessons with people, as well as 3 new people to teach who we feel have real potential to do the right things! And of course, we've stuck as well with the investigators of this area who are progressing, and we've seen them continue to do so as we've walked around knocking their doors.

Dang it, my stinking brain isn't working right now and I just can't for the life of me think of anything really specific that happened! I guess it'll just have to suffice by saying that this week was really good and we're seeing a lot of great things happening. Next week I will be sure to not do anything stupid like running around in the snow in no more than shorts, or overdosing on Melatonin, so that I might actually be able to write a well-connected and coherent email. Rather than just this blah blah blah. But until then, know that I love you all, and that I miss all of my friends and family back home! Hope you had a wonderful President's day, whatever that is, and that the upcoming week treats you no worse! Paz y amor!

Lesson Learned: Melatonin does the job. But read the labels or it might send you into a coma, or turn you into a zombie.

Elder Slavens

Cold Spell

Hey world!

So I am sick today, and my mind is basically a puddle, so if this email sounds super discombobulated, you know why.

This has been a really awesome week. We were able to do a lot of service and have some great lessons as well. We had transfers this week, and though Elder Wright and I made it through unscathed yet again, basically the whole rest of our district was torn right up, which really kinda sucks 'cause we were all getting really close and having a lotta fun, and then whoop! No more fun! It's no worry though, because I'll be able to see everyone at meetings and stuff!!

Anyway, we were doing a service project this week for one of the members in our area, and it had snowed HARD the night before. Like, I had never seen snow like that before and I was just freaking out like SNOW SNOW SNOW! But I'm the only Californian here and everybody thought I was just being a baby. Anyway, we went to this member's house to do our service project and there was snow everywhere and it was quite chilly. We ended up moving a bunch of stuff back and forth and whatnot, but naturally every once in a while a little snowball would be thrown between Elders, just to keep us on our toes. But before we knew it, we were all just pummeling each other with snow and it turned into this monster snowball fight between us and this family. It was so much fun! However, I wasn't really dressed for success. I had only shorts on and my hoodie's sleeves were rolled up 'cause that's just how we do it in California, and I haven't really seemed to adapt. We ended up messing around in the snow for quite a while, and I'm completely convinced that that is why I am now sick. Blegh.

Another fun story! We went to church this Sunday, and it was all just well and good, you know, like any normal Sunday. I was sitting in the pew before Sacrament Meeting started, and this guy comes up and like shoves himself into the seat beside me and I'm just thinking 'Who the heck does this guy think he is??' And I look up, and it's freaking JOHN BLATTER of San Ramon, CA! None other than my old YM leader who basically made me who I am! It was so crazy to see him and I was just so surprised I didn't even know what to think! He told me that he had just been in Pocatello to visit his brother and that he figured he might as well just swing by Wendell as well while he's at it! And boy was I happy at that! It was so great to see someone from back home who knows me for who I actually am, and not as this missionary who has to restrain all the weirdness because if he didn't then nobody would listen to him! So that was fun. Good to see ya, Blatter!

Anyway, that's about all that happened this week! It's been a good one, and again, sorry for the discombobulation! I love you all!!

Lesson Learned: Wear actual pants in the snow.

Elder Slavens

There's me in my shorts and rolled up sleeves with my head in the snow. And Elder Davis' head, which has fallen off.

 This is Raul Ortiz, like my favorite man in the world. He can't say Slavens, so he calls me Elder Sleeping Bag. Look at the beautiful drawing he made of me!

JOHN BLATTER CAME TO WENDELL TO SEE ME!

Transfers, Exchanges and Other Cool Stuff

Well hello there! I'm back!!

I don't really know where to go with this email right now, because for whatever reason my mind is just running at a million miles an hour, but nothing crazy has happened for me to be thinking this way, so basically I'm just excited about nothing.

This has been a really good week! We didn't have many huge lessons or grand spiritual experiences, but it's just been one of those good ones! Since Elder Wright is the District Leader of our area, he is asked to go on exchanges with every other pair of Elders in the district, which naturally means that I get to exchange with the guy that he's not exchanging with! For those of you who don't know, an exchange is basically just when two companionships of missionaries split up and join one of the other missionaries to give each other pointers and stuff like that.

Anyway, Elder Wright kinda put off doing these exchanges until like the very end of this month, which is when he was supposed to do it, and so we ended up being super pressed to get all of them done and ended up exchanging with like 4 companionships in one week. Elder Wright and I were hardly even companions this week! But it's been so dang fun to see the other guys in action and to learn ways to be more efficient and obedient.

Big News!! We got transfer calls just the other day, and it looks like Elder Wright and I are sticking together here in Wendell once again!! That's three transfers together, which is just unheard of! I'm super excited to stick with him, because we've gotten to know our investigators together really well and I think we'll be able to finally see some big progress soon, which is super exciting. I can't wait to see where we can take this!

And unfortunately I really don't have much more to say today! It was just a good week and I'm really happy! I hope you all have awesome weeks and learn something new every day! I'm working hard on recognizing what those lessons are. And it's been an adventure doing so! Peece!

Lesson Learned: Elder Wright and I have something to accomplish here in Wendell.

Elder Slavens