Camdenton

No, The Dogwoods are not in bloom still too cold we had a nice week last week but it started to get cold again which is dumb weather over here is kind of stupid.

So the temple dedication that is awesome the prophet is going to be there, largest temple in the last seventeen years.  I would like to be part of the temple dedication Grandma and Grandpa giving hook-ups. Right On! Dana told me how everybody suffered allergy attacks from breathing in dust that is cook. 

Yeah Elder Green is pretty chill we are having a good time. The baptism went pretty good this last week P is 10 and her younger brother J is 8 and it was good. I am sorry I didn't take any pictures but somebody else probably did I'll try to get a hold of one. Other than that things are going great in the OTM. Were still working with our neighbor she is a pregnant single mom and going to school full time and stuff so she is busy but she likes us coming over and teaching so it is going well. This week especially because of the baptism being over we are going out to do a lot of finding and trying to teach everybody on the lake so if we do come back I will have hopefully converted somebody who owns the Tige dealership. The guys at the Wake Effects (Mastercraft) are cool but not as promising. So we will see. Well that is all I have see ya later.

Camdenton

Well sounds like you guys had a splendid week I did too. The weather here isn't to bad it was pretty cold but it has been slowly warming up today it will be in the hi 40's to 50's and man it feels really good. I can't wait till later in spring when it will be a lot warmer like 60's 70's then we will really be talking.

Well I am jealous of the Gilbert temple the Furnell's (my kin) gave me a church newspaper article talking about the temple and then we went to eat with a family in the ward and well they talked about the ABC news special on the temple. They showed it to us being both from AZ and that was really cool just answered some basic questions didn't talk bad and stuff like that. I also saw the Peter's family on their so that was cool. Elder Green also saw a kid he knew on their so again kind of cool. So I am jealous of ya'll.

This week though was pretty good I did get the valentine's day stuff man I was surprised by Thomas's wedding announcement it was good though. Ashley L. her marrying Tanner Peterson was cool though. Tanner was in my Sophomore Seminary class and he was a nice guy and funny. I had a Valentine's day picture for you guys but I forgot my camera so I will send it next week.

We are having a good time working with some of the people here. We actually have a baptism for a 10 year old girl and her brother this Saturday. The other Elders taught her and we just got to set everything up but it is cool. We went back to the crazy guy who doesn't believe in Jesus and basically everything, but this conversation was a bit better and more pleasant I tried to pull a king of the Lamanites kind of thing but it all fell apart when he didn't believe in Adam and Eve. He believes in Evolution and he just believes that God started the whole process. So that again was interesting. With the Spanish investigator he committed to baptism he is just trying to get work off so he can come to church. Our neighbor she is pregnant and has the one kid. She is doing well so far so good and I think she is pretty promising so it should be a good rest of the transfer. Not exactly sure what will happen after though I have been here for a long time and well who knows. I certainly do not.

Well I think that is all I have for this week its been pretty awesome and I can't wait for the weeks to come and this time next year on V-day and all have to hold off all the girls. I am just that awesome. Can't wait to grow a beard!!! "haha not till your twelve son" bye

Camdenton

Holy Cow you wrote a lot. Thanks for the info on Hailey, I feel so bad about that,it is so sad it is rough when stuff like that happens and there is nothing you can do.

So Yes things are going extremely well I am very happy about everything and well that is what it is. We are working with everybody the last missionaries were. There was a lady who was just baptized in Nov. and she went to court for a bit and all that fun stuff and well her kids now officially can be baptized without the Father's permission so in two Saturday's they will be baptized. I am also teaching a Spanish family they know English okay so we can communicate. There are a ton of Less actives that they were working with. One guy had some nerve problems and I don't know exactly what went down but his face got stuck and he looks like Sloth from the goonies, but he is a really nice guy but sometimes when he laughs I have to try with all my might to keep it in. Oh and also I will be attempting to teach the former Senator of Missouri, Senator James Noland. He is super old and he is hunched over and you can place a cup of kool aid on his back, kind of like a walking table well we are going to see him this week.

The day Me and Green moved in there was a pregnant lady with one son who moved in next door she was having some trouble getting things out of her car so we helped her out with one of our youth. Saturday we went over and taught her and she came to church the next day. She had some questions about it so we went over that night and answered them and she had nothing but good to say about her experience. So I think good things are going to happen. Oh also you guys will enjoy this, we are teaching this crazy disabled guy named S. S just started to believe in God and everything else he doesn't believe in. Not Jesus, Prophets, the Bible, anything that a normal person believes in he does not. He also says when the clock says 10:10 that is God saying hi to him. He doesn't believe there is a purpose to life. He thinks God just put us here. But he does believe in After Life but no Pre-existence and well the first time we went over there I just asked him like a thousand questions and he came back with the same answer. "God is my friend but he doesn't care what I do. Heaven or Hell it won't matter what I do here he'll put me where I belong. He is awesome and we are already best friends.

That was basically everything we are working with and it should be fun the rich side of the lake is different for sure but so far so good.

I can't remember what else you asked me or talked about but give my best to the Aiono family and have a good week because I am sure I will.

Camdenton

Well, first things first. I now email on Mondays again, whoopee! That is wonderful news for me, I have been waiting a long time to have a day that I know for sure is going to be the day where I can email. JK not that big of a deal but yeah I am strictly on Mondays now. Me and Elder MArtin's 9 day comapanionship has been planned for a long time but the problem was it only lasted 9 days. I love that guy; we better serve together for real before this mission ends. Well, I can honestly say that I am super happy. Here goes my next transfer, 7 1/2 months being in the same ward. I am not complaining I am rejoicing I love this ward and now I get to see the wealthy side of things it is a whole new aspect to Lake of the Ozarks. yeah I am really going to miss all those crazy people that I was in charge of for the last 6 months but it is good to be here now and so I am digging it. Now the Sisters well I wish them best of luck and they need it but they will do good they just can't visit some people that we were visiting and can't go to certain places up in that area but they will be fine I am sure. Plus I get two phone calls every day with questions so that will be Brilliant. They are nice though just Sisters and I guess they could come down for P-day they just have to waste a bunch of miles because they can't ride with us in the car like we would do it with the other Elders. Funny thing we took them to their apartment and they walked in and were wide-eyed with concern. I was inside laughing so hard because Sisters usually get the best of everything, but not the case here. It was classic. so sick so sick. Man its weird what time does when you spend a year in the Midwest. Well I think that is all I'll send you more info. about the area when I get to know the people we are visiting better and what not. Also their are so many boat dealerships on this side and a few that have wake shops. Score! "Not till your twelve son"

Osage Beach

Hello family well this week has been one of the greatest weeks I have had in a long time but it has also been pretty sad. So me and elder Martin have been serving together for this last week and our time together officially ends this Thursday. It has been crazy because we have been covering for the last week both Laurie and Lebanon and we have been doing a mighty fine job if I say so myself. It has been fun to see some of the people back in Lebanon ward. Seeing that they are still in church and doing good so it has been fun. I also took Martin to a few of the crazy people that we teach and I am sure that he had a good time visiting them. Well the darndest thing has happened as of Saturday night we got transfer calls and I was pretty sure I was being taken out of Laurie. Well I was right I will no longer be serving in Laurie and all those crazy places. Where am I going? Funny you should ask because I am only going 22 miles south to serve in Camdenton the nice, classy part of the Osage Beach Ward. I am a little upset because if I am going to stay in the area I would like to be where I have been the entire time, but things happen and I have no say just got to do what the good Lord tells me too. My companion is Elder Green unfortunately it is not Elder Martin the last 9 days have been splendid. All I know about Elder Green is that he was MTC companion's with Elder Bunch. What? That's right with my trainer and from what I have heard they didn't like each other that much. Well so we'll see how it goes I have heard he is a cool guy. Another crazy thing is that the Laurie area is getting sisters which I went bananas over. It is not exactly the most safe place especially for Sisters but like I said the good Lord knows and plus I was serving there before them so they should have plenty to do and visit semi-normal people. We'll see how that one goes as well. So a little more about the weeks and less about external problems it was pretty sweet. In Lebanon visited some old investigators and stuff and converts and whoever else they had. In fact we tried to contact a referral Jim Morrison from the Doors. Jokes! But his name is really Jim Morrison and he lives next to a whole bunch of Morrison's and they own Morrison plumbing so seems like a 3 generation big ol' happy family. Up in Laurie we visited the few, the proud, the crazy. Jokes! It was a good time we visited the guy that had the tumor on his jaw bone because he is back home now. I feel bad for the guy he just kind of has to wait and wait till it heals and one side of his face is swollen and man you couldn't understand a word he said. Except that I could understand every word he said I may have been in Missouri to long. Other than that the Less Active family that we found the week previous we went over and had a lesson with the entire family and it went very well. I say give it a couple months and they will be back in church. Dj and her daughters are doing good still having some struggles but the Sisters will probably get the job done they are better than us. That is usually how it goes. Well Van Woerkem and Bulpitt (Camdenton Elders) Leave this week it will be sad having them go because they are some good guys but we are having a last P-day hurrah and are going to have some wicked fun. That is basically all I got for ya.

Osage Beach

Well this week was pretty good. That is crazy that the temple is open now man I wish I could see it and do the whole open house thing that would be pretty sweet. Well kind of a lot has happened this week and I won't be able to explain everything this week but I'll do my best today. First of all we met a couple of Less Active peoples this week which has got me pretty excited. The First lady we have been trying to contact for a long long time she had no phone number so we went by her house occasionally if we had extra time. I thought it was a summer home and we were just trying for nothing. Well this last week we pulled up and her car was there so I got kind of excited. She answered the door and hooray she is pretty normal. She works at Wal-Mart and her schedule is super crazy so we always just came at the wrong time. Well her name is P and she is a nice lady. She has just quit smoking well she is doing e-cigarettes which is a step in the right direction. Well anyways she told us that something in her life was missing and that was church but she couldn't find our church well because it is on the other side of the lake. So she is getting her work schedule changed around so she can get Sundays off so she can go to church so that was sweet and I am excited. The other person is a family with four children in a trailer (nothing new). they are really nice just kind of fell away after they got offended but they love the missionaries so it will be pretty swell I think. they might not come because of the distance but if we can kind of restore their faith then maybe a miracle will happen. So on to the other crazy news Archibald has 9 days left but yesterday we found out that I have only today left with Archibald I'll explain why next week but some emergency transfers are happening tonight. So Archibald is leaving and going to be with the Zone Leaders in St. Robert and Elder Babb is going to be with the Zone Leaders in Springfield and Me and Elder Martin for the next 9 days are going to be serving together. Hooray! Me and Martin always talked about serving together but I am afraid it will only be for the 9 days but hey better than nothing. So I am not sure on all little details like if we are going to be in Lebanon or up here or both, but this for sure until transfer calls which will happen this Saturday then my permanent fate will be decided like if I stay or go and who will be the next crazy I serve with. Again sorry for telling you this random sketchy thing but I will explain it all next week. Stay classy San Diego

Osage Beach

This week I am swell. The more contact I have with the other missionaries the more normal I remain and we had a zone meeting and so I got some normal contact. The cold is all gone that is Missouri for you. Yesterday Sunday was high 50's and the week before was negative and snowing. You want to know the weather in Missouri walk outside and check the weather every twenty minutes. Investigators are doing okay not bad just a long and drawn out process but hopefully we will have some success within the next couple of months. Wow sounds like you guys had an eventful week. With Conferences and Norwegians and all that jazz. I don't really know what to say to that I didn't have a conference or Norwegians where I am. I guess the most exciting news this week is that the Goat lady is out of the hospital and no longer yellow. She had Hepatitis in her immune system or something like that I couldn't hear her that well dogs were barking, but it was just messing her liver up and that is what caused the yellow and she has gall stone problems but they couldn't operate because of the liver problems so they gave her medicine and sent her home. At least that's how it sounded but I couldn't hear because of the dogs. So I don't even know but she is back home and she does look better than she did I am just bummed that she couldn't just stay at the hospital because her shack is not healthy for her you can't live with 7 dogs inside a 10 x 15 shack and remain healthy especially with no running water. Man that is crazy to here about Jamie man I really hope that he feels better I have a feeling it will be good but then again I am all the way out here so I don't really know. So how is everybody else doing Dana said that she is sick and stressed what's new? How is Chris? Katie? Parker? Jared? Sounds like they are all doing good. Well not much to share this week I guess I am not the greatest at sharing time but what ever it will get better always does. You guys have a good week and I will to.