Email Update: 2/9/2015

Dear Everyone,

Thanks for all of the pics. Except the last Bean Museum one. YOU KNOW I DON'T LIKE SPIDERS!!!!@!!!!@!!@!@!!@!

Anyways, it sounds like things are going well for all of you, and that Michaela had a good Birthday. I'm glad that things are going well, and especially that Mei-chan can finally get some of her points across. I hope Jeffrey had at least a little fun at the dance; I always did, and he always has had more friends than me.

As for me, things have been going well. It's been a whole lot of Hastening the Work list searching, but it's still been good. We go around and try and track down a lot of the potential elders, the part-member families, and families with children that are unbaptized, over 8 years old. Usually, we'll get a polite if not positive response, and we've been able to make a lot of contacts with people that had been on a Do Not Contact list in the recent past. Two of them were even positive, and one family accepted home teachers!

On that note, allow me to rant just a little. PLEASE, EVERYONE DO YOUR HOME TEACHING!!!!!!!!! You have no idea how much we have to work with people who have no idea where their families are, and what their situations are. We constantly run into people, active members even, that haven't been home taught in months, some even since they moved into whatever ward we're working with. On the other hand, the families that have consistent home teachers, even if they aren't active, all love them. The less active and part-member families with good home teachers are more open to anything that we propose, and would give their left arm for their teachers. Not to mention most of them eventually return to activity. So, please, make your missionaries lives easier, and make the visits!

Now that that is taken care of, you may all return to your seats from the various things that you were doing during that rant.

Some of the cool things that happened this week involved a family that i'm pretty sure that I told you all about, named the Kilmers. Sister and Dan Kilmer are both less active members, and they both have weaknesses with the Word of Wisdom. However, Sister Kilmer allowed us to do what all of the past missionaries had been trying to get her to do since they started talking to her; she let us take her cigarettes. And then she has stayed off of them!! She is working with the bishop and other members of the ward to fight the addiction, and has a huge support group in the members. When we went over last night, one of the first things that she said to us was how much better she was feeling, and how much she was able to do without having that in her life. In addition to all of that, Dan has told her that if she does stick to this, he will quit his own addiction. It's so cool to actually see people who are willing to give it a shot, and to kick these things that just hold them down. It makes it even cooler to see when I know just how hard it can be to overcome things like this, and I know how much work it takes. 

So, there was one of the major stories this week. The other really cool thing happened on Saturday. We finally got to meet a former investigator named Megan Cameron. She is a young woman, in her early 20's, and she has had all of the discussions in the past. All of one side of her family are members, and most of them chose to be baptized later in life, showing that they understood what they were covenanting. Megan really is so close to baptism, she just needs to come to a knowledge herself, and even before that, to make the decision that if it's true, she will do it. I really feel like she will, too. We were able to leave a commitment for her to read the Book of Mormon, and to pray to know if the church is true. On top of that, I don't think that I've felt the Spirit as strongly during a lesson as when I gave the part on Joseph Smith's first vision, at least not since the last time I gave it to someone who'd been prepared ahead of time. Now, things really are in her hands, and I know that if she wants to know if the church is true, she will. I know that she will be able to make the choice even before that, to be baptized if it is. In other words, this is gonna be good.

Well, I think those are the major stories that I'm going to tell this week. Thanks for everything that you all do, and for all of the prayers that you say for us.

Love, Elder Stuver

P.S. I come home on July 7th. That is less than 5 months away. AAAAAAAARGH!

Email Update: 2/2/2015

Dear Everyone,

Yeah, I knew that would be a surprise. I also knew how much I like having a bit more info, and have had several missionary moms tell me---repeatedly---to write good sized letters home. The first shot just didn't cut it, so i fixed it.

That's cool to hear about the sister from Moscow; you never know what's going to happen down the line. Give her a "Good Luck" from me!

In case i forget later, Happy Birth-day Mickeyala!

Ok, my turn. This week was a little slower, due to running out of people that the past missionaries had seen. Now, we are trying to focus on nudging commitments out of those whom they had been teaching, and trying to locate a lot of the people from the hastening the work lists. It's a little sad; we're running into all of the same problems that past wards have had, with the same amount of solutions---that is, none. We keep finding people on the lists that don't have an accurate address, any address at all, have moved, died, have inaccurate response info, and other poor information. The saddest ones, though, are the people who had just been written off years ago, and people had just never tried since. Usually the people are pretty upset with the church, but are open to us coming by. Sometimes, they had just been waiting for someone to notice that they were missing, and to say something. Then, when nobody did, they assumed that they just weren't wanted, so they never came back. Luckily, that is much rarer than the other possibilities, but it does happen, and it's sad whenever it does. We were able to track down some of the people that the ward had been working with, and had good responses with most of them. There are, of course, those several that want absolutely nothing to do with us, but most of the people are open to us stopping by, if nothing else. 

One of the things that I've decided since I've been up here; i hate the smell of cigarette smoke. One of the families that we have been working with smokes more then the chimney sitting next to them. Add to that, at least the chimney has the decency to smoke outside! Every time we go over, I get scared i'm going to get second hand emphysema, and we come out covered in the smoke and gunk. The worst part is that one of them is on oxygen, and though i don't think that she smokes herself, it doesn't much matter, because the air is full of it down to your knees. I can only barely understand how they can live like that, and that's only because i kind of understand what an addiction can do to you. We even gave a blessing to the lady on oxygen, and in it she was promised that she would have three days and three nights completely free of pain, and all she was told to do was to read and study the scriptures during that time. When we came back the next week, we were told that she was completely relieved the moment we left, but three hours later, it was back. It just makes me frustrated when it's so clear and obvious what someone needs to do for good things to happen, not even hard things, and yet they choose not to do it, and they miss out on those amazing blessings. ARGH!!!!! *sigh* Oh, well. we can't force anyone to do anything. I just need some help knowing what i can do to spark them to make the choices themselves.

Now that that rant is over with, on to some better news. One of the investigators that we have been working with, named Jim, had had all of the lessons from past missionaries. According to the second councilor in the bishopric, who would go over with them on lessons, said that e took to the lessons like a fish to water. From what I've seen, that's a pretty accurate statement. Jim comes to church every week, participates in Gospel Principles, and has us over every week to read from the Book of Mormon with him and his family. He's always willing to help us out when we need some, and he finds things on his own that needs doing, and he does them. He's even been really willing to give us some background on anyone that we are going to contact that he knows, and when (and if) we should stop by. The only thing is, he hasn't gotten baptized yet. Honestly, I'm not sure why. I kind of feel like he's got something that he feels he needs to overcome, and he feels like he hasn't grown enough to be baptized, but I'm not sure. I know that he is ready, and that he will be a fantastic member. He's the only one that needs to figure it out. Anyways, the good news. Like I said, we've been reading from the Book of Mormon, and we'd been in Mosiah 24 last week. When we came back this week, he had already read up to Alma 3. This is really spectacular, because he had just been going along with where we were before. On top of that he's said that he wanted to read the whole Book of Mormon before he was baptized, and if he's going to read that much on his own, he's going to get to that point a whole lot faster.

Well, I think that just about covers this weeks cool stuff. Thanks again for everything that everyone does, says, and prays for!

Love, Elder Stuver

Email Update: 1/27/2015--Surprise

Dear Everyone,

So, we are kind of dead right now, so i was able t get permission to send you all a more reasonable letter. We weren't able to email for very long yesterday, becuase the computers were getting updated, and it didn't get done until right before i sent the last letter off. It's good though; these computers were really slow before the guy came. Sounds like people had been downloading videos for family history from a site that had all of those adware things attached to each of the files. Now that that is all taken care of, things actually go the way they are supposed to.

John Day, as you seem to already know, IS in the middle of nowhere, but it DOES have a lot of really cool views and forests. Still not the oaks, maples, or the like, but really pretty none the less. As for the job that Aunt Terierose was talking about, I'd be a little relieved; there is absolutely nothing in the way of shopping, and what little there is is super expencive, maybe 3 to 4 times how much it would even be in a town like Fruitland or New Plymouth, or Vernal. What it does have up here is a lot of really down to Earth people, that care about each other, and use a good bit of common sense. Which puts me in the minority. Common sense isn't typically my forte. It's a good thing a lot of the people like guns and knives, or i wouldn't have anything to talk aabout. That, and the fact that i'm planning on being a mortician. People always have a similar reaction when they hear that---they all make the same "thinking" face, corners of the mouth turned down, and looking at the ceiling. Then, they either make a comment about how buisness will never die, or tell a story about someone that they know who was, is, or was going to be a mortician. One of the best times was last night, when we ate with a part member family named the Martins. Sister Martin had that exact face on, then told about a brother of hers that was going to be a mortician, but instead became a grave digger (apparently there is more money in that in the UK). THEN Brian, her husband, told me about what his family does, something that i'd not heard of, but i knind of agree with.

Brian told me that his family took care of all of the funeral and burial needs of anyone in the family themselves. The next of kin, of the same gender or spouse, would dress the person, laying him or her on a bed in a small cabin. This cabin is located on a family owned cemetary, and the whole family comes to the funeral. No "outsiders" are invited to either the viewing or to the graveside service (though the reception for the community does have other guests), and everyone takes part in the gravedigging and the burial. This all has to take place within 36 hours of the person's death, because they do not embalm. 

The reason that I like this idea so much, is because of how tight knit the family is during the hard time they're all going through. It lends a lot to closure, and to knowing that everyone cared enough about each other, and about the person, to do all of this work. It also takes a lot of the stress, financial and planning, that can come with death and burial. Most of all, in my opinion, with it just being the family, you all understand how people are doing, so you never hear that dreaded question, "Are you OK?" I really like that there are still people that have this close family mentality, especially when it comes to something as hard as death.

My only problem with it is that, if everyone did it, I would be out of a job.

Anyways, that was something that really stood out to me. Something else from that dinner was a comment that jumped at me for a spiritual reason, but not until this afternoon, and the converstation hadn't even been anything remotely spiritual. Brian and I were talking knives and guns. I told him about wanting to learn to make showknives, which ones I had already collected, and the list of guns that i wanted to have at some point. He told me about having a bunch of knives, one that he had actually set aside 200 euro for when he was living in Germany to buy. He also told me about some of his favorite guns, and made some suggestions as to improvements to my list (he looked at me sternly when i said i wanted a 45 Glock, and said, "You're just not aiming that high, are you." When i gave a sheepish nod, he said, "Buy a Colt or a Kimberly. They will last a lot longer, and i can hit a man-sized sillouette from 100 yards with my Colt 45 1911 Frame."). That's about when he said something really profound, probably without realizing it. He said, "There are some things in life that you just need to spend as much as you possibly can for. Knives are one of them."

While I totally agree with him on the knife part of the comment, it was the first part that stood out to me. This afternoon, I was reading The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball, and there was a phrase in it that said that, "the rewards are well worth the costs." I started thinking about the story from last night, and the parable that the Savior told about the Pearl of Great Price. Christ told of a rich merchant that, when he found a pearl of great price, that he went and sold all he had, and bought it. There are some things that are worth any price paid. There are some things that you should spend as much as you can on. We are never supposed to give a half effort in living the gospel. We are never supposed to, for example, pay half of our tithing. We are supposed to give all of the service that we possibly can. We are supposed to spend as much of the time we are given, on praying, and on studying the scriptures. It was just really cool that a random conversation about sharp pointies, could lead to that kind of thought process and revelation. I think that that lesson to me, through a nonmember, meant more to me then a lot of more flashy thigs that i've had in my life. 

As for how the rest of the week went, we spent pretty much the whole time trying to contact old investigators and less actives from past missionaries. We actually did really well, if i may be so bold. We were able to meet all but three of the people we wanted to, and have two doorstep lessons while tracting. That part is really cool for me, because I. Hate. Tracting. I've never liked it. I've always been horrible at it. I keep thinking how i would feel if someone came to my door when it's already dark out, trying to tell me that what i believe is wrong, and that i can only go to heaven if i listen to what these two random kids, in suits that barely fit them, tell me to do. Because of this, i say things in a very abrupt, and sometimes impatient, manner. It usually results in my hidden desire; a quick "No thanks," and the door closing. On the other hand, as Elder Reischman has been taking over a little (lot a) bit, we have been having much longer conversations. The two that we were able to teach started with him doing what i should be doing; asking about the person. Offering to help around the house or yard. Actually trying. Luckily, i did catch on, and was a bit bolder, asking if i could share one of my favorite scriptures (Luke 22:41-44). The two time where that happened, we had really good discussions, and were invited back to one of them. (Not really interested right now, but we can try and change that). In other words, I've been slacking, and having the wrong attitude, and i need to fix it.

Well, i think that that fills my promise of a huge letter. Sorry again for such a short one yesterday, and i'll work to not let it happen again. Thanky you all for everything you do, and for all of your prayers.

Love, Elder Stuver

Email Update: 1/26/2015

Dear Everyone,

Actually, Oregon is awesome so far! We've been teaching a bit (mostly just old contacts from past missionaries), and we were able to have two lessons at tracted doors. No interest as of yet, but things should be picking up as we get to know the area a bit more. Honestly, That's all that i have on me right now. I promise to send a huge letter next week to make up. For now, just know that I appreciate all of the prayers that are said, and all of the time that is spent in helping me and all of the missionaries in the field. 

Love, Elder Stuver

P.S. Shotgunning is a crazy experience, and not one that i would repeat, but not too bad either. Tell Sarah that i said Hi, and that it's so weird to hav left before her, and get home after her.

Email Update: 1/19/2015--Transfers!

Dear Everyone,

Sounds like things are pretty crazy for you at work, Dad. I hope that it's not too bad, and i'm glad to hear that no one had to be laid off---that always makes it nicer. 

As it turns out, i have a bit of news of my own. Today was transfer day, and i'm now serving in John Day, Oregon. In case you are wondering where that is, it's in the middle of nowhere, past Baker City. It's the extreme western end of the mission, and we cover around 120 square miles. I'm so glad we get a car. My new companion is named Elder Reischman, from Phoenix, Arizona. The thing is, they haven't had missionaries in the area for almost a transfer, due to a car wreck by the last set. So, we are going to be reopening the area. This is my first time "shotgunning" an area, so things should be fun. This is where the Area Book comes into play, so i hope that things were done well by the past elders. 

All in all, things should be fun. 

Actually, something really cool about this new area. Last night, i asked Elder Riley for a blessing before getting transferred. In that blessing, i was promised that we would have baptisms in John Day, and that the work which had been slow, will pick up. Soooooooo... I'm psyched. 

That's honestly the major things from this week. That and the fact that we had a day where we taught nine different lessons, and found two new investigators from shoveling people's snow. Woot.

Love and Insanity, Elder Stuver

Email Update: 1/12/2015

Dear Everyone,

Thank you for all of the prayers that you say for all of the missionaries. I feel like that is never really mentioned enough, so i'm saying it now. I don't think we would ever be able to do half of what we do without the prayers and care of all of the people back home. So again, thank you.

As for what happened this week, not too much on my end, just the usual work stuff. Some good news though; Doug Sweat finally got a job! He is working the graveyard shift at the local Maverick station, and doing really well at it. The only annoying thing is that, well, it's the graveyard shift. That means when he works from midnight to 7 am Sunday morning, it can be a challenge to get them to come to church. This week was that case, and none of the Sweats made it to Sacrament. It was a little frustrating, but sadly understandable. Other then that, everything is going really well with them, and they are continuing to progress.

We had some really good days working with the Durand family, too. Sunday night, we went over to help them put together a new charcoal grill/smoker. We had really good hot dogs that night (with J-Dawg sauce), and i have learned something over the last few weeks. Banana peppers are amazing on almost everything. Especially on pizza and hot dogs. Tuesday, after the smoker was put together, they had us over to dinner again. Doug took the time to show us how to make what he calls Chicken Riggies, made with riggatoni pasta, and a lot of peppers and mushrooms and onions and olives. It tasted good. We got to spend a lot of time talking about Captain Moroni, a subject which i, for some reason, enjoy a large amount. We then got to spend more time with Doug on Thursday night, when we went to sports night at the stake center and played vollyball. It was loud, crazy, and really fun. There was even a pretty good spiritual thought at the end, from John 17:3. It has been a really good week for working with him, and he seems to be getting more and more open to talking to us and asking questions about the gospel.

The last thing for this week was this last Sunday. We had Ward Conference in both of the wards that we cover. That meant that we spent four hours in Ward Councils. Then we had 3 more hours of regular church. It was a long day. Other then all of that, i'm doing really well. Six months to go, and I thank God for the 18 months so far; i needed them.

Love and Insanity,

Elder Stuver

Email Update: 1/5/2015

Dear Everyone,

Thank you for all of the pictures! I remember that snowsuit, too, and it's cool to see that it's still working. We should make Mochi next year. It looks fun. However, i feel a little disappointed in you all. No New Year's "Ocean's 11" watching? That was one of the traditions that i missed the most!!!

As for us, we had a strange week. The first three day were almost entirely empty, because we weren't able to see anyone on Monday, Tuesday we had district meeting, and then we both got sick, on different days. So, we didn't have a lot happen until Wednesday evening. New Year's Eve, we were able to go over to the Sweat's home again, and watch a kind of strange movie, called The Handcart. It looks like it's made by the same people who made Mobsters and Mormons, the RM, and Baptists at my Barbecue---so our neighbors (whose names i can't remember) probably did the music tracts for it. It was from the perspective of a non member who gets baptized to convince the woman he loves not to be a Mormon. Spoiler: he fails. They both end up in the Martin Handcart company, along with her sister, and a friend nicknamed Moose. It showed a lot of the hardships that they went through, and a couple of the miracles that happened, and it had a really cool preface---it was the main character in a history class in 1905, telling the story of the handcart pioneers to a class of people, including the professor, that were absolutely convinced that no good came of those last two companies of that year, and that it was Brigham Young's fault. The main character told his story, and testified that yes, it was too late in the year, but Brigham Young made every effort to help and save the saints, and that every saint that went through those trials came out knowing that God lives, and that it was by His hand that they were able to last the journey. (That was a long sentence...) It was a good movie, but i like 17 Miracles better, and Ephriam's Rescue even better than that.

The other cool part of that night was the fact that the Sweat's friend, Donny, sat through the whole movie, and the one that we watched with them on Saturday night, Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration. Donny has been more and more listening to the things we've taught, said, and shown, and he's been coming to Church almost every week. I feel like he is feeling the Spirit a whole lot more, now that he is living with a couple that are working so hard to come back to Christ, and to change their lives for the better. I really hope that he will start to want to do the same, and that Heavenly Father will give him the strength and courage that he'll need in order to do it. As for Doug and Mickey, they are both doing well, though Mickey had to be put on a new insulin that is messing with her a little. Doug, after looking for months, was finally able to get a job with Maverick, and even though he was tired after his first full day's work, he seemed glad to be working again. He'll be working a graveyard shift, so that he can go to all of the mandatory meetings that drug court is having them take. I think that he'll do awesome; i just hope that it doesn't get in the way of his coming to church.

After those first three days of the week, things got kind of awesome. We had promised the district that we would get at least 21 lessons this week, because the week's training was on goal setting and accountability. Well, with all of the slowness from the first half of the week, we realized that we weren't going to make the goal as it stood. So, we figured out how many lessons that we would need to get each day, in order to hit 21 lessons, and it turned out to be 5 a day. That is hard up here. We are lucky if we can get 3 a day usually. But, we wanted reach the goal, so we started truckin'. by the end of the week, we were able to teach 22 lessons, and each one was a good discussion. One of our investigators even seems to be really warming up to us, and in almost every lesson that we taught, the people asked us questions that we could teach on, before we even had the chance to say much of anything. One of the families that we taught Sunday, Joe and Ashley Rasmussen, Ashley was having a really hard day. She had just gotten news that her grandmother had passed away the day before, and Ashley hadn't had the chance to say goodbye to her for a few years. She was really broken up, and they are having trouble finding a way down to Arizona for the funeral, due to lack of funds. I read out of Alma 40, and testified on the Resurrection, then both Elder Riley and i told of some personal experiences about losing someone close. I hope that we were able to help a little; that is a really hard time to go through, especially without a full knowledge of the Plan of Salvation to comfort you.

Anyways, those were some of the major parts of this last week. I hope you all have had a great week, and have another one now!

Love, Elder Stuver