This past week has been pretty awesome. Tuesday and Wednesday we had team-ups. Tuesday I was with Elder Seymore. After our district meeting we went to work. We were able to meet with a couple less active families and teach a member lesson at the Ferbraches. Dinner was with the Palmer family. They had promised to make us Hawaiian pork and peas. Elder Seymore seemed to like it at first, but as Sister Palmer was describing what was in it she said that it had fish sauce. Elder Seymore took this to mean that the sauce was made of ground up fish, and didn't want to eat anymore.
Wednesday I went down to Cody for team-ups with Elder Matthews, my zone leader. I seem to have the luck that whenever we go tracting we get invited in on the third house. Of course I've only gone tracting twice, but I think it's cool.
Our dinners seem to go in spurts. In the first two weeks I was here I had Hawaiian haystacks three times, last week we had lasagna twice in a row, and this week we almost had chicken enchiladas twice in a row. People are so worried about feeding us spaghetti that they end up feeding us the same meals anyway, but all the food here has been pretty delicious.
This week has been the most productive of all the weeks here. We have contacted almost all of our referrals, we started teaching several new investigators, and we have one kid who is getting baptized next Saturday.
Elder Seymore was transfered this Sunday to Billings, so Elder Trujillo is with us till Wednesday, when he gets his new companion. We have found out that the new Elder coming in is also a Brazil visa waiter, so I'll be able to practice my Portuguese with him every district meeting. It's weird to think that I've already been here one transfer. I can't think of much more to say, but I love you all and miss you.
Love
Elder David Short
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
These are the days not to be forgotten
This last week was pretty awesome. On Thursday I had my first taste of elk. The Mangus family made a elk roast for dinner on Thursday. I must say that elk is pretty dang good.
On Tuesday we had an investigator commit to baptism. Well kind of. He is nine, he is in a part member family and his dad, who is active, wants him to be baptized. It's funny teach to him because he is always calling his mom and step-dad to repentance. We were teaching about the word of wisdom this last week when he gave his mom a slow head turn with a raised eyebrow. She just looked back at him and said "I'm working on it honey." He is also a Magic the Gathering-aholic, and Elder Hancock promised him, before I came to the area, that we would play him a game once we finished the lessons.
Monday we visited one guy who is in the military, and he showed us his photos of his deployment to the middle east. Throughout the slides he'd quickly skip over a couple pictures saying stuff like "you probably shouldn't have seen that" or "you shouldn't know about that." So if I'm kidnapped by the government, it is because I know too much.
Tuesday we had specialized training with the mission president, and he announced to us that online proselyting was being opened to all worthy missionaries in the Billings Montana mission, but I'm not allowed to have one till I've been here a transfer. Hopefully I'll have a missionary facebook and blog next week.
My cooking skills have come in handy. The other day Elder Hancock and I enjoyed chicken with stuffing.
Sister Schroeder of the Lovell 1st ward asked me if I wanted a missionary picture at dinner last night. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about. Sister Schroeder is an artist and has a drawing of a missionary tag next to some scriptures, with Christ's hand shaking a missionary's hand. So for the missionaries who serve here, she photoshops their name onto the tag and makes them a print. She is making mine so that the tag is in Portuguese. I am so stoked!
We were talking to one of our investigators yesterday and he was complaining about how lame our last basketball game was. I will agree that not everyone was very sports man like, but the funny thing is that he claims that at the beginning of the game Meryk (a tiny sixteen year-old girl) cracked his rib. I was laughing on the inside. That particular investigator makes some pretty ridiculous allegations sometimes.
No more word on my visa yet, but I know that it will come in the Lord's time.
May my love be upon you!
Love,
Elder David Short
On Tuesday we had an investigator commit to baptism. Well kind of. He is nine, he is in a part member family and his dad, who is active, wants him to be baptized. It's funny teach to him because he is always calling his mom and step-dad to repentance. We were teaching about the word of wisdom this last week when he gave his mom a slow head turn with a raised eyebrow. She just looked back at him and said "I'm working on it honey." He is also a Magic the Gathering-aholic, and Elder Hancock promised him, before I came to the area, that we would play him a game once we finished the lessons.
Monday we visited one guy who is in the military, and he showed us his photos of his deployment to the middle east. Throughout the slides he'd quickly skip over a couple pictures saying stuff like "you probably shouldn't have seen that" or "you shouldn't know about that." So if I'm kidnapped by the government, it is because I know too much.
Tuesday we had specialized training with the mission president, and he announced to us that online proselyting was being opened to all worthy missionaries in the Billings Montana mission, but I'm not allowed to have one till I've been here a transfer. Hopefully I'll have a missionary facebook and blog next week.
My cooking skills have come in handy. The other day Elder Hancock and I enjoyed chicken with stuffing.
Sister Schroeder of the Lovell 1st ward asked me if I wanted a missionary picture at dinner last night. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about. Sister Schroeder is an artist and has a drawing of a missionary tag next to some scriptures, with Christ's hand shaking a missionary's hand. So for the missionaries who serve here, she photoshops their name onto the tag and makes them a print. She is making mine so that the tag is in Portuguese. I am so stoked!
We were talking to one of our investigators yesterday and he was complaining about how lame our last basketball game was. I will agree that not everyone was very sports man like, but the funny thing is that he claims that at the beginning of the game Meryk (a tiny sixteen year-old girl) cracked his rib. I was laughing on the inside. That particular investigator makes some pretty ridiculous allegations sometimes.
No more word on my visa yet, but I know that it will come in the Lord's time.
May my love be upon you!
Love,
Elder David Short
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Ice is Melting!
Cara Familha
This last week was pretty darn cold starting out, with temperatures in the negatives, but it warmed to a balmy 34 degrees on Thursday. The only thing is that during the beginning of the week we don't have the car, because the sisters have it, and during the end of the week the weather is nice, but we're in the car. I feel that the Sister Missionaries have been stealing our blessings. The weather hasn't been affecting me too much, because a sister in the ward found out that I didn't bring any warm clothes, so she went out and bought me some thermals. They're taking good care of me out here. The only part of me that still feels the cold is my face, but I'm not really supposed to cover that.
The work seems to move in spurts. In a week where we aren't able to meet with a lot of people and teach a lot of lessons we're still able to perform a lot of service and talk with people to make plans for the next week. This next week is going to rock. I feel it in os frangos.
We usually play basketball on Saturdays with our investigators, but some of the church youth who come can be poor sports, which ruins the game for me. I'm still horrible at shooting, but I'm getting better at my defense.
We have a lot of investigators right now who tell us that they are interested, but they never keep appointments and then try to avoid us. But we shall prevail!
We don't have any baptisms lined up for this month, hopefully next month we'll have two, maybe three.
We're starting to make a lot of progress with our less actives and getting them back to church. We met with one less active for the first time this last week. His name is Brad. He is living with his girlfriend who is also a member, and they said that it would be OK to come back and talk with them. We asked them if they had any questions about the gospel that they would like answered. She said that she wanted to learn more about the plan of salvation. He said that he wanted us to explain how the dinosaurs fit in with everything and that he wasn't going to come back to church till he had an answer. So we are encountering a lot of stubbornness, but that's OK. It will never discourage me from the work.
I had a talk in sacrament yesterday. It was supposed to be about being financially prepared for a mission, using Elder Holland's talk from the Saturday morning session, but his talk didn't have much to do with preparing for a mission. I decided to focus more on the examples of sacrifice of missionaries throughout the scriptures and what they did to prepare. I felt like I was babbling a little towards the end, but all in all it went OK.
I shall speak with you again next week.
Ate Logo!
Ame
Elder David Short
This last week was pretty darn cold starting out, with temperatures in the negatives, but it warmed to a balmy 34 degrees on Thursday. The only thing is that during the beginning of the week we don't have the car, because the sisters have it, and during the end of the week the weather is nice, but we're in the car. I feel that the Sister Missionaries have been stealing our blessings. The weather hasn't been affecting me too much, because a sister in the ward found out that I didn't bring any warm clothes, so she went out and bought me some thermals. They're taking good care of me out here. The only part of me that still feels the cold is my face, but I'm not really supposed to cover that.
The work seems to move in spurts. In a week where we aren't able to meet with a lot of people and teach a lot of lessons we're still able to perform a lot of service and talk with people to make plans for the next week. This next week is going to rock. I feel it in os frangos.
We usually play basketball on Saturdays with our investigators, but some of the church youth who come can be poor sports, which ruins the game for me. I'm still horrible at shooting, but I'm getting better at my defense.
We have a lot of investigators right now who tell us that they are interested, but they never keep appointments and then try to avoid us. But we shall prevail!
We don't have any baptisms lined up for this month, hopefully next month we'll have two, maybe three.
We're starting to make a lot of progress with our less actives and getting them back to church. We met with one less active for the first time this last week. His name is Brad. He is living with his girlfriend who is also a member, and they said that it would be OK to come back and talk with them. We asked them if they had any questions about the gospel that they would like answered. She said that she wanted to learn more about the plan of salvation. He said that he wanted us to explain how the dinosaurs fit in with everything and that he wasn't going to come back to church till he had an answer. So we are encountering a lot of stubbornness, but that's OK. It will never discourage me from the work.
I had a talk in sacrament yesterday. It was supposed to be about being financially prepared for a mission, using Elder Holland's talk from the Saturday morning session, but his talk didn't have much to do with preparing for a mission. I decided to focus more on the examples of sacrifice of missionaries throughout the scriptures and what they did to prepare. I felt like I was babbling a little towards the end, but all in all it went OK.
I shall speak with you again next week.
Ate Logo!
Ame
Elder David Short
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Oi Minha Familha
How goes it my family and friends?
The past week has been pretty awesome and pretty lame all in one. We were out teaching a lot, and were able to accomplish our lesson goals. There are a number of people that we are working towards baptism, but none of them are really making much progress. They all seemed to have reached the point where they have to make a sacrifice of some sort to be baptized and they aren't willing to make it. We will continue to work with them, but there may come the time where we have to say that we can't come over anymore if they aren't going to listen to what we have to say.
We have several investigators who see us as friends and want us to hang out, but they don't seem to realize that first and foremost we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we have work to do. So that is a little frustrating, but it hasn't dampened my spirits.
We had Aspen come to church this week. She's about 13 and her family is less active. We've been teaching her, and trying to get her to commit to baptism, but she doesn't seem too interested. We got a call from the bishop saying that he had a ride for her for church and that they'd be at her house at five to one, so without any argument the bishop got Aspen to church. Hopefully she felt the spirit that was there and will want to come back.
I don't think I said it before so I'll explain it now. Elder Hancock and I are over the town of Lovell, covering the areas of the Lovell 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th wards. The sister missionaries cover the Lovell 3rd, Cowley and Byron Wards.
We have very long sundays with going to four wards and by the fourth ward I'm usually nodding, but I'm getting better.
With the immunity boost package you've sent I've been doing better. I've been taking a lot of zinc and emergen-C packs. I haven't had the opportunity to buy yogurt yet but I'll do that later today.
Love you all and I'll talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder David Short
The past week has been pretty awesome and pretty lame all in one. We were out teaching a lot, and were able to accomplish our lesson goals. There are a number of people that we are working towards baptism, but none of them are really making much progress. They all seemed to have reached the point where they have to make a sacrifice of some sort to be baptized and they aren't willing to make it. We will continue to work with them, but there may come the time where we have to say that we can't come over anymore if they aren't going to listen to what we have to say.
We have several investigators who see us as friends and want us to hang out, but they don't seem to realize that first and foremost we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we have work to do. So that is a little frustrating, but it hasn't dampened my spirits.
We had Aspen come to church this week. She's about 13 and her family is less active. We've been teaching her, and trying to get her to commit to baptism, but she doesn't seem too interested. We got a call from the bishop saying that he had a ride for her for church and that they'd be at her house at five to one, so without any argument the bishop got Aspen to church. Hopefully she felt the spirit that was there and will want to come back.
I don't think I said it before so I'll explain it now. Elder Hancock and I are over the town of Lovell, covering the areas of the Lovell 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th wards. The sister missionaries cover the Lovell 3rd, Cowley and Byron Wards.
We have very long sundays with going to four wards and by the fourth ward I'm usually nodding, but I'm getting better.
With the immunity boost package you've sent I've been doing better. I've been taking a lot of zinc and emergen-C packs. I haven't had the opportunity to buy yogurt yet but I'll do that later today.
Love you all and I'll talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder David Short
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy New Year
This last week has been pretty trying. With people not being home for the holidays and me being with a nasty cold, that I got at the beginning of the week. But we were able to push through and accomplish our goals and I'm feeling much better now. The temperature likes to mess with me, and has been going up and down for the past couple days. It has been getting down to zero, but we haven't had any wind to speak of, so it hasn't been that bad. For New Year's Eve we wanted to continue to be productive, but no one was home, or had time for us. We spent the evening with the Mcarthur family, playing games like Set and another game called author. In Author everyone has a piece of paper and everyone writes the Who, and then they pass the paper and without seeing what someone else wrote they write the What and it continues through When, Where, and Why. We had some pretty good laughs. We were allowed to stay out till ten thirty for New Year's Eve and we had an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Once we had gotten back to the house I didn't really feel like staying up that late, so I listened to some music, wrote in my journal, and then laid in bed till midnight. Other than that, this week we've been trying to focus on our progressive investigators and committing them to a baptismal date. We haven't had any success with that yet, but this next week brings new hope. We had a less active family that came to church Sunday, so hopefully they'll continue and become reactivated. My head is feeling a little fuzzy right now, so I can't think of what more to write, but I shall keep you informed of everything that is new and exciting. I love you all.
Love,
Elder David Short
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Feliz dia de Natal!
I don't really know what to write today, since I talked to you all on the phone on Saturday, but here are some events from the last week that I might have left out. Thursday Elder Hancock and I went caroling with the McArthur family and some of their friends. The caroling took place in the back of a horse drawn wagon; that was strung with Christmas lights. It was really cold, and I discovered that a lot of people don't know all the words to a lot of the popular Christmas carols. The McArthur family is awesome! For Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Dickson family. They did everything they could to make us feel at home away from home. Dinner was a variety of finger foods, including: Meatballs, deviled eggs, fish dip and chips, and mini cheesecakes, so I was content. Elder Hancock and I decided to open one of our presents on Christmas Eve, so I opened a tie, and he opened a pair of fleece pajamas. Christmas morning we went over to the house of an investigator and opened our presents with him and his family. I was very pleased with the purple paisley tie and CDs I received. The rest of the day we didn't have much to do except catch up on some journal writing and sleep. I forgot to mention that I now know how to solve a Rubiks cube. Christmas dinner with the Ferbrache family. They're awesome! I called you and then played a game of Clue. Elder Hancock would've won, but Eric(the Ferbrache's son. Age 13) forgot to reveal a card, so Elder Hancock was expelled from the game, and I won. We had breakfast for dinner, so we had french toast and Cinnamon buns. After dinner we had a vicious game of spoons and I won. We were able to keep busy this week even though it was Christmas. Elder Hancock said that I need to be trained, so the Lord provides work, and I saw that this past week. There are a lot of people we are teaching that just need for it to connect how important the gospel is in their lives in order for them to baptized. So many of them know that it is true and know that the Book of Mormon is true, but they don't feel the need to get baptized, but they will. We are packed with candy right now from all the members we've visited. New Years resolution: learn to say no thank you. We have gotten so much caramel corn and chocolate. Well I'm drawing a blank as to what else I should write, so I love you all and will see you two years.
Love,
Elder David Short
P.S. I got a E-mail from Sister Owens and she got her visa e esta no Brasil!
Love,
Elder David Short
P.S. I got a E-mail from Sister Owens and she got her visa e esta no Brasil!
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