Transfer and New Comp

heeeeeeeey...

you'll be getting a handwritten letter from me soon. We finally got kicked out. Elder Reed and I got transferred and our area shotgunned. I'm now in the Meridian East stake which isn't too far away from my last area but it's still new. My new companion is Elder Budvarson and he's a stud. There is a PANTLOAD of work being done and it'll be really good for me. In our apartment is also Elder Lee - who's cool - and his companion Elder Dabel. I'll deal with it and it'll build me. I'll be writing again soon!

Love you!

tay

 

 

(The Elders have been looking for a new apartment. The one they were in wasn't working out for the family any longer. It looks like they didn't wait for new digs in the area. - Mom)

Liken the Scriptures

So moses is the ultimate water bender, elijah was a fire bender, samual the lamanite an air bender and mahonri moriancumer an earth bender. Jesus Christ is the avatar. <reed and ehlers>

Sink or Swim

Elders Reed and Ehlers

When I walk in the spot, yeah, this is what I see: Everybody stops and they stairing at me. I got passion in my stance and I ain't afraid to show it show it show it show it... MISSIONARY AND I KNOW IT. WigglewigglewigglewigglewiggleYEAH!

Mother father have we been BUSY! I got my new companion - Elder Reed - and we get along really well!

 A few weeks ago I've finally hit my "mission crisis". Did it gnarl my nads to the point of wanting to come home? Not quite BUT it was a "sink or swim" kinda situation. Remember how I was talking about Cronin leaving and I would become the area leader? Well that's only half true. Cronin did leave but I am not the area leader, nor am I the senior companion. I more or less run the show - remembering names, faces, addresses, locations, appointments, stuff, anniversaries and birthdays - but Elder Reed is the senior companion and the area leader (the previous statement is only half true because Elder Reed's a righteous dude and he's adapted to the area extremely well) ANYWAY when Cronin was here, he was responsible for remembering names and addresses and things so all I had to do was follow him. With him gone, and myself being to only one who knew the area, I really had to make bacon and step it up. This is the first time I've had responsibility like this on my mission and quite frankly the first time I've EVER had this kind of responsibility in my whole entire existence.

I was trippin' some major balls and I stressed more than I have in my entire mission. I lost a lot of sleep and ate a lot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. To counter my most distressful dilemma, (HA! How was that alliteration for ya? Yeah. I'm a poetic stud) I spent A LOT of time on my knees and starting with man in the mirror (and take THAT Michael!) using a portion of my boldness and cunning we've gone from 4 lessons in the first week of February to 25 lessons the second week and 26 lessons this past week. Life is what happens when we're planning for something else - and it kicked me in the tights and I went down. So in my agony I got back to my feet and roundhouse kicked life Chuck Norris style right in it's big stupid face and claimed victory. Freakin' yeah.

tay

Hoopin' and Hollerin'

Today is the first day of the new transfer. Elder Cronin - who was in this area for three months - has left and I am left to run the show. I'm getting a new companion, Elder Reed, who's been out for 3 three months more than I have. I still haven't met him. He's coming from an area 4 hours away or something so I'm just chillin' at the mission office. Elder Cronin said he worked in the same area as Elder Reed once upon a time. I'm kinda excited to be the area leader, though. It's a new experience for me so I'll be raising the bar. I look forward to it. With the Man upstairs on my side, I'll conquer and enslave victoriously.

The weather here's been bipolar. Throughout the course of January, it's up and down from sunny and warm, to cold and dark, to 6 inches of snow in 4 hours and EVERYTHING melted by the next afternoon, raining cats and hogs... Nature's a mother. I just don't get it.

This Saturday - the 11th - M. Russell Ballard will be visiting our mission. I'm super stoked.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we've got a handful of eternal investigators who are youth leaders and ministers at a local non-denominational church. I've learned a whole pantload working with them and it's been a huge blessing. They help run the youth program of Capital Christian Center on the other side of town and it's been interesting seeing the interworkings of a church other than my own. I've gathered their church services are more of an attractive production than a formal meeting. They have a paid staff and clergy that run the shows. They hold services at a handful of different sites around Meridian, Caldwell (another Boise suburb), and Boise. There's not a whole lot of hoopin' and hollerin' but services include group prayers, sitting, standing, praising, arm-raising, chanting, live music, and intricate lighting. Quite literally, it's a stage production with an audience. The pastors and preachers are more or less motivational and public speakers but they'll preach and teach outa the bible... Here's a group of folks that are doing the best they can with what they've got the best way they know how. Good Christian fellas, too, which kinda caught me off guard. They're spending all their time and effort in bringing everyone and anyone they can closer to Christ. It's really quite a phenomenal deal and they do A LOT for the community! They provide a sense of unity and decency throughout the area and I commend them all. It's a huge comforter knowing that there is still a whole lot of good in the world outside the LDS church. Here are people who know nothing about the restored church but are still more Christ-like than a good deal of Mormons I know. It's a beautiful thing! And really it's a question of "when" they'll see the restored light rather than "if" and they're getting a whole lotta folks ready for us - LDS - in the long run.

Well I gotta split but until next time, good night! Party on Wayne! Party on Garth!
I'll write again soon. But I love ya and I'll catch all ya'lls later.

Kindest personal regards,
The Incredible Elder E!

Glowing

I included my email that preceded Tay's. It should clarify some of the things he is talking about.
Juli

---

Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:56:15 -0700
Subject: Re: mmmmmkay 2

Holy NUTS Julian Smith is a funny dude, in a strange pathetic but very amusing sort of way. His video quality is excellent for home videos. I think he'd be a lot funnier if it was 2:00 in the morning and we worked a really hard day and we were all dehydrated... But all things considered, I like him. I've heard of Kid History but I haven't seen them yet. I'll have to look them up!

I DID get my face mask! It keeps me cozy, though it's a little small. Either I'm getting fat or clothes are getting smaller. I barely fit into the jeans I brought! Is there anything I could do to get a bigger one? It comes in handy when we have to stick up gas stations and convenience stores.

I'm glad you liked the phone call! Elder Cronin and I were member-tracting the ward council members and we ran into the Tuttle's. Super cool couple. All their kids are grown and gone and they're just enjoying the simple life. They got telling us about their sons and when they were on their missions and what it meant to them and the blessings they got etc. etc. and she asked us if she could call our moms. She said she arranged for moms in her sons' missions to call her every now and again and she's Facebooked a lot. She called Cronin's mom first and then you. We were there and it was really nice to hear your voice - your expressions and your tone of voice and things.

When we first got to the Tuttle's we began the routine introductions - what's your name? where are you from? how long have you been out? how long have you been in this area? what was it like when you got your call to Boise? how old are you? tell us about your family? - and I guess my original mission call stuck out. Either that or I've picked up the lingo from hanging out with Elder Ady, who's from Cardston. Brother Tuttle asked if I was from Canada. I asked him why the heck he thought that. He told me I have the accent. I responded with, "holy crap. how interesting."

There was an article on Brian Regan in the Deseret News and I've got a lot more respect for him than I did before! Come to see he's a hardcore family man. I don't know if he's LDS or not - I'd doubt it for obvious reasons - but he's very family oriented and the stand-up is just something he does for fun. He never thought he'd hit it off as big as he has but his family still comes first. I'm really glad you guys got to see him!

It's good hear about Dallin... How's he doing? I imagine some stress will let off having one less job but how's he been? I think about him A LOT. What's he been up to? How's school? How's home life? How's church? I'm thrilled to hear the bishop's in on helping out Dallin. I've found it makes a monumental difference in life having a super-active bishop. Could you invite him - the bishop - to write me?  Are there missionaries in that area? If there are, try to convince Dallin to go out with them. I LOVE the priests here and I imagine it's a good thing for them to get involved with missionary work, for the sake of their missions someday and also it's just good for relationships and people skills.

Of late, I've been having several good missionary experiences. The missionary routine in and of itself is huge. I learn something new every time I study and as I go throughout a day in the life I'm always seeing and learning new and amazing STUFF. We're currently in the process of reestablishing a foundation for missionary work in the area - finding alligators, meeting and building relationships with members, making lists of folks who can give us rides, etc. and I didn't shave this morning. It's been interesting meeting different folks with different lifestyles and different ideas in different situations. Members and families active in the church are always fun. Less-active members and part-member families are also fun. I like to meet with nonmembers and infidels and learn about their beliefs and their outlooks on life and religion. It's very educational for me and it also gives us an opportunity to educate others.

Yesterday when we were making our rounds we got in with the M family. Brother M is a long time firefighter and EMT. The first time I met him, I told him my background with his field, and we clicked. He's not a member but his wife is. Sister M served a mission in Cleveland Ohio in the 90's so she's well aware of the gospel and the doctrine. She inactive but we're working on getting her back to church. She got to telling us her life's story and why she'd gone inactive and why it's been hard for her to reactivate and it's difficult having a nonmember husband and she really wants to be sealed as a family but it'll have to wait until the next life. I guess he's not a member because he had some falling out with the church way back in the day and he's content with not returning. As she's going on, I got the weirdest feeling that I should tell her if she commits to get active again, she will see a direct influence on her husband and he will come along. So I tell her that, swore my testimony and promise into it, but I was really hesitant and flaky-sounding. I told her about it being an impression and I felt the spirit and I'm sorry I was not confident and unsure. THEN she tells me not to worry, she absolutely believes me and knows it was the spirit because i was GLOWING. I told her, "no way!" and she said, "yes way!" ...Yeah. She's knows the promise I made her is true because I was GLOWING because I had the Spirit. Holy moly. Talk about somethin' special. Last night, I was a tool in God's hands to tell this woman what she needed to hear. I GLOWED. I've never GLOWED before. The gospel's true!

I love you mom. Thank you for everything.

tay

love you..

On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 12:57 AM,wrote:

Elder Tay -

Dallin and Kadi discovered Julian Smith videos a while ago. That reading one was funny. His sunglasses were the best part. They are still trying to convince me that Hot Kool-Aid is funny. The jelly-fish one is a little funny but they are like Saturday Night Live - mostly funny in the retelling and not necessarily in the original. Have you seen Kid History? Those are hilarious but Dad doesn't get them. It's doesn't make sense what he thinks he funny and what isn't!

Did you get your face mask? Is it helpful or too scary to wear? It got good reviews but you never know for sure until you actually see it.

I was thrilled to get a phone call from the family you visited last week. I wish I could remember her name - please refresh my memory. She said you were doing great and how much she appreciates your service. It was very thoughtful of her and I was truly touched.

We had lots of fun at Brian Regan. It was at Abravenal Hall so the venue was really great. Everyone had a good time and he does a good live show. It was all new material until the encore and then he did some of his more popular ones.

Tomorrow for Family Home Screaming we are going to take down Christmas decorations and do Thank You notes. The tree is pretty sad and disheveled but if I can get it down in January, then I am way ahead of last year when it was up until March.

Dallin quit Game Stop. He wasn't getting a lot of hours and it was hard for his manager to work around his Sonic schedule. He kept Sonic over Game Stop since his pay is higher and he gets hours. I think he was a little bummed to let GS go but I think it will be better for him to not be working 2 jobs right now.

Did we (or Dallin) tell you that the Bishop asked him to be the Priest Assistant to the Bishop? Dallin said yes. The Bish really wants to help him find his way to a mission. I hope he does but it has to be his decision. He would make a great missionary but I think sometimes that's hard to see it in yourself.

Grandma is doing well. We miss having her close and she misses all of us (and you). I am hopeful she will be able to sell her home in the Spring and we can get her and Grandpa up here.

Hang in there and keep the faith. I love you and I am proud of you. Thank you for serving the Lord in spreading the gospel. What you are doing matters and it is a very important work - not just for the gospel and the families that will be blessed by it but it's an important work for YOU. You are learning more about people and about yourself than you could in any other setting. Work hard and love the work.

I'm giving you a big mom hug right now. Thank you for being my son. I love you - mom

Wily Temptress

There are a plethora of things I'd like to talk about in this letter. The problem is I can't remember now that I'm here...

For starters, I think I've developed a remedy for my worst heartache. For those of you who are unaware, I have a problem with sleep...or I should say sleep appears to have a problem with me. You see...I love sleep. I love her deeply, more than any woman I've ever loved. She is perfect and beautiful and sweet and and charming and she's the one who keeps me going. Throughout the strenuous, tiring day, I find myself longing for her soothing caress, her enticing acts of love... However, like most women, she does have a mean streak a mile wide, cruel tendencies I am unable to bear. As beautiful and mysterious as she is, she is as well a wily temptress. The scheming wench who works me like a lifeless puppet. She'll beckon me to bed, oft times even demand I join her, but then toys with my emotions and teases me mercilessly, not succumbing to my persuasion until I'm at my wits' very end. It's more than I can bear! I can't live with her! Yet I can't, not even for a day, live without her! I acknowledge my part as the fool in this game of love and hate, but I am without any hope... or so I thought.

Of late, I've begun the before bedtime ritual of enjoying myself some pills and a nightcap - 10mg of Melatonin and 8oz of whole milk in my Luke Skywalker/Darth Vadar mug, nuked for 2annahalf minutes, add hot chocolate mix - and it's all my darling devil can do to resist me now! I believe the tide is turning and I now reign supreme as sovereign! I've returned to my throne where I rightfully belong, with a crown of gold upon my head. It's as though we've traded places, her and I. I lay in bed of my own free will and she begs to join me and offers to cater to my every whim and desire. My life has grown exponentially better since I've outwitted my love and we have become as one, existing in harmony in love and peace. Hope and change have been realized, my friends! It's good to be the king...

My quote of the day, "If you work hard, you will be happy. If you don't, you will go to hell." -Brigham Young

There's this part member fella in one of our wards. Bill was baptized when he was 8 but hasn't been active in 22 years. He started smoking 21 years ago and he'd smoke 2 packs a day for the better part of those years. About 4 months ago, he decided he was sick of it and - enlisting the help of God - quit cold-pheasant in a day. HOLY BALLS. Talk about faith. He doesn't have much of a temporal knowledge, like scriptures and church history and doctrine, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone with such a contrast to spiritual knowledge. The veil is THIN in this man's testimony. His wife of 6 months, J, is not a member and her family is really quite anti. A few months ago, she was interested in the church and began to pursue but then her psycho hose beast mom freakin' mother opened up a can of anti and J has since then withdrew her interest in salvation. She is very friendly and enjoys our company, as we visit them a lot. Her son, C, is 11 and he looks kinda like Spencer, but super crazy. He has Asperger's I think but he's really got a good heart. I LOVE the kid! He's down with the Word and would be baptized if we asked him, but we won't do that until J starts to rekindle some interest. She knows it's true and she loves it - she's seen how much it's helped Bill - but she can't take stress from ella familia at this point. They are a tremendous family. Bill's a heck of a guy and J's the sweetest, kindest woman and C's a good kid. I love 'em. We go over and chill with C a couple of times a week and either play catch in the front yard or a board game if the weather's lousy. They've got really good friends and fellowshippers in the ward, too. We're making progress!

Just Do It

Good golly miss Molly what a sneaky thing to do! I have got SO much on my list. I have a pantload of letters that need writing, a pantload of people to go visit, a pantload of studying to do, and a load of pants that need to be done. It's a great day for a Pday!

I am still enjoying my area thoroughly. The members take extremely good care of us. Today I think I resolved that I am a better sports' spectator than one who play sports. Today we went to play soccer with the SpanAms in the mission and I can honestly say I tried! Darn near broke my foot by I learned I'd be better off watching than playing. I've seen the same with football and basketball. Especially on a professional level. There has been a few times when we'd try to set up an appointment with an alligator or less-active member and they'd tell us they'd love to meet if we come watch the game with them... I confess I really, really enjoy watching football games and ESPECIALLY when BSU is playing. But the season is over now so there's a lot less of that. And there has been an instance or two where someone would invite us over for a game and have drinks and pizza and the whole nine yards...unless of course it's a first down, then it would be ten yards.

Actually my last "game" was on Thursday. We were riding through a neighborhood and the 9-year old kid - Parker - of one of our members and his buddy were playing football in a strip of grass between the sidewalk and somebody's fence, probably 10 feet wide and a 100 feet long, if that. To that kid though, it was as real a field as the Smurf Turf. He had EVERYTHING figured out. He had endzones and yard lines marked out according to fenceposts and the few scrawny trees that were planted there. For a kickoff tee he had a crappy old orange cone - the short ones like what they use for marking boundaries in soccer. Goal posts were trees. This kid had everything DOWN and he knew more about the game that I think I ever will. We stopped and started to play with them. It was TCU - us - and BSU - them... I gotta say I haven't had that much fun since I was a little girl. It was a RIOT! We'd try to give them the benefit of the doubt and let them have the ball even when they'd drop it or mess up the score so they'd be winning but Parker would have none of it. "First and 10 at the 47 yard line", "No I can't count that! The bottom of the goalpost is the top of the tree and since we can't kick that high we'll go for the two-point conversion", "Try again, that was an incomplete interception", "Ha! 2nd down. You can't cross that line or else it's offsides", "That's a penalty for pass interferance". Holy balls. This kid was the legitimate deal. The day after we went to Dick's sporting goods and I bought Parker a real kickoff tee so they wouldn't have to use those stupid cones. I gave it to him on Sunday and he made me promise to come back and play sometime. His mom had said that the next day his friend - who's the son of less-active and partmember family who we'll go to see soon - was BEGGING Parker to call the missionaries and invite them over to play. Yeeeeah..... I'm super stoked.

Umm this next part is kinda a tangent subject, compared to the usual mood of my letters but there's a thing or two I'd like to say. I feel I know that there is someone who reads my letters who is feeling a sense of detatchment. There's someone who feels lost, unknowing, uncertain, frustrated, miserable, angry... I want whoever that is to know that it's ok. I recall a time in my life when I was the same. I hated the world. I doubted the existence of God, or any supreme being for that matter. I felt the Church was the tradition of my forfathers and I wanted nothing to do with it. I used to do the wrong things deliberately in an attempt to show the world I could not be controlled and I was the master of my own reality. I was sick and tired of being told what to do. I was sick and tired of people preaching at me. I was sick and tired or going to church. I was sick and tired of going to school. I was sick and tired of being told how to solve my problems and sick and tired of knowing that those who told me these things were right. I was sick and tired of feeling that shame and guilt that comes from doing what I know is wrong. I was sick and tired and knowing my faults and knowing that I wasn't living up my own expectations and the expectations of my parents and peers. After a while I was so sick and tired of just being sick and tired. Quite frankly I wanted to die, and I thought about it more than I should have. The only time I felt alright with life was when I was at work or around other people who didn't have high standards so I could let my standards fall and no one would care. Regardless, at the end of the day, I was miserable. I hated myself.

I found I could end this misery by adopting - and ACTING on - the Nike logo slogan "Just do it." I always knew what was right and I always knew what I had to do it was just about DOING it! Now, it didn't happen over night. I made little improvements here and there and I'm still to this day making little improvements here and there. I started - consciously and knowingly - with the things I already knew, like praying. I didn't pray religiously like at every meal and every morning and every night but I prayed whenever I thought about it. If I was on the road, I'd say a prayer out loud to myself. If I was at work I'd say one in my head. As I gradually got into the habit, I began to pray on my knees at night. Things I'd pray for? I'd begin by thanking Heavenly Father definitively for everything I could think of and then I'd humbly ask him for things I need, namely the strength to carry on and the strength to resist temtation. I remember specifically a prayer I made asking if God was even there. Needless to say He responded positively to that one. I'd make a special point to pay attention to how I felt before, during, and after my prayers. Answers often came in a feeling of calm, or a feeling of security. Thoughts I hadn't thought before would cross my mind. It's in our hearts and in our minds that the Holy Ghost talks to us. It was a start.

Slowly I'd progress to obeying my parents, striving harder to choose the right, I began reading my scriptures - and for the first little while, just a verse or two a day - and reading church magazines, I'd focus more on how I could improve instead of dwelling on my weaknesses and sins, I cleaned up my language, I'd go to church IF ONLY because it's a commandment, and the list goes on. I had a dream once I was in the bottom of this great big hole in the ground. There was a man outside this hole who would constantly shovel dirt into the hole on top of me. Instead of allowing him to bury me and make the hole my grave, as I had been for years, I made the choice to shake the dirt off and stand on it, eventually building up enough to where I could climb out. To my surprise, the man that was throwing dirt at me wasn't a malicious butthead but instead it was myself. I climbed from the pit and I saw an identical clone of "me" but he was who I wanted to become. He was spiritual and strong and wise - and devilishly handsome, I might add.

I don't tell you this to brag or even for everyone to see the progress I've made. This has NOTHING to do with me. If anything, it's a real-life possibility to whoever it is out there that's struggling. I tell you this so you know that you're not the only one. It's somthing I did - I did! The world's once greatest failure himself! - and therefore it's something I KNOW you can do too. There is hope. There is an answer. You've just gotta do it. I have faith that you can. I don't know who you are, but day and night for a little over a week now, I pray and have fasted for you... God be with you.

All my love,

tay