Hello everyone!

 So I do not have a whole lot of time because we are going to the temple on Friday so that will be my p day but they said we could take a little time today and email before going out and working... So I would like to talk about three cool things that happened :) and sorry I have not sent any pictures... for some reason these computers here do not want me to send pictures.

 Anyways,

1st: Sooo the assistants called us on Tuesday to tell us that the mission president has heard our cries for help because we have so many English investigators and less actives we are working with that we cannot do much with the Spanish people. They said since they have seen the work progress in this area recently that they would like to split it and add 2 English only elders to help out so we can help the ward to grow! Last night we ran into the mission president at a fireside and he told us to talk to the apartment manager Trena(whom we are teaching) about getting another apartment or expanding ours. Hard work pays off.

Pretty much every street in my area

2nd: Doug and Jessica... We had another amazing lesson with them on Thursday night and our ward mission leader came with us and it is amazing how much more effective lessons are when you have a strong member of the gospel there to help teach and testify. We ended up having a 2-hour lesson because Doug has been reading the book of Mormon, gospel principles manual, doctorine and covenants and the pamphlets and he writes down all the questions that he has and it is awesome. Jessica does the same thing and this week we had challenged her to read the word of wisdom pamphlet and pray about it and ask for help in quitting smoking. So she did just that and she has done great she has cut down her number of cigarettes significantly and she sees why the word of wisdom is so important. We talked to them about the law of chastity and they are deciding about marriage right now and what they should do. So pray that God will guide them in that decision. Then they came to church yesterday and it was the coolest thing. The ward welcomed and accepted them really well and it just felt natural that Doug and Jessica were there with us. Again, Doug shared with us just how much he loved church and how amazing and kind and accepting everyone was! We invited them to a fireside that night and they said they would love to come so they ended up giving us a ride and we ended up teaching them another lesson in the car that we had not been planning on but that is how the spirit works. Doug and Jessica both felt the spirit very strongly at the fireside and Doug actually started to cry during one of the testimonies. I Love seeing how much the gospel changes people and the joy that it brings into their life. Afterwards Doug and Jessica shared how out of the 10 churches they have attended combined that this is the only church that has been able to answer there questions and really live by what they teach. I don’t know how we got so lucky as to find them... they are amazing and so ready for the gospel.

3rd: Tim. So Tim is a special man... We met him last week and I felt like we should invite him to come to church before we had even taught him anything and he agreed to on Saturday I had another feeling that we needed to go and talk to him and ask about church again and again he said yes but then again so do a lot of people and they don’t end up coming but we found a ride for him and 5 minutes before church started, there walks in Tim!  We were so happy we didn’t know what to do because we had three investigators at church but our ward mission leader ended up sitting next to Doug and Jessica so I sat next to Tim and explained everything that was going on as it happened. Remember that we have not taught Tim a lesson before we had only invited him to come to church so he quite literally knows nothing about what is going on. He stayed for all three hours and it was awesome how everyone came up to him and introduced themselves. After church we asked him how he liked it and he said it was so great and he loved it and he felt so accepted! So we invited him to come to the fireside that night in Kirtland and he said yes! And when we arrived Tim was sitting in the front row with Brother Hay and the sister missionaries talking to the mission president. Afterwards he told us of how when he told his aunt and his mom about church and what happened that they both expressed to him how they were interested and would like to come next week and will hopefully both be there tomorrow when we go to teach him! I wish that all investigators were like that. Then life would be easy, but life is not supposed to be easy, I have learned. 

I love this gospel and the happiness it brings. I love being able to help others find the happiness that it brings as well. Yes I love this area even though it snowed two nights ago and has been freezing and I don’t have a coat yet. After a week where we had 3 solid potentials drop us and no one answered, to have the miracles on Sunday and see our hard work pays off, made it all worth it.

Love you all!! 

Elder Frandsen

Yup, my favorite job of backing of the car.

Hola!

So this was an eventful week so ill just cover a couple days again,

  Tuesday: So we took our apartment manager to Kirtland and it was really spiritual and who knew that our apartment manager was going to be a golden investigator! All of the senior missionaries kept asking how we had found her and all it is that we invited her one-day to come to Kirtland. But we are now teaching her and again it shows how God is preparing people everywhere. So we are now teaching our apartment manager :) Also we taught four real investigator lessons! Which is crazy because in my first week and a half we only taught 1!

My Apartment Building

  Wednesday: The day started off with two cops busting into our apartment at 3 AM. I was so confused at first as to why two cops were in out room and how they got there and what we could have possibly done wrong. But it all ended up being confusion because our back door to the apartment building was open and the cops didn’t know it was an apartment building for some reason and they went in to make sure that no homeless people were in the building. They didn’t find any homeless people in the building but they some how found a back way with a door unlocked into our specific apartment so they were really confused when they opened the door and two teenage kids were asleep. So that was a great start to the day. Then after that in the morning I gave my first blessing ever to my companion! I was super nervous at first because I hadn’t done this before but once I calmed down and finally gave him the blessing it was actually a really cool experience. We went to Kirtland next because we had to practice for a program they are having in a month. We then taught Judy who wants to come to church this week. We then had a lesson with Doug and Jessica and they have a baptismal date! And when we invited him to be baptized he said yeah let me go mark it on my calendar ha-ha. I wish all investigators were like that and that excited to hear the gospel.


  Friday: another cool little experience... We went to an apartment complex and stayed there for about two hours and in that two hours we taught 3 lessons, taught another lesson in Spanish and have gained another Spanish investigator. Then we ran into a less active that wants to go back to the church and gave us her info to pass along to the missionaries that live in her area. And that was only one apartment complex out of the 5 others that were there! It has been really cool to watch our pool of investigators go from 3 to the 10 that we have now :)


  Saturday: We met with Estaban the less active we ran into in the street last week and he told us of how he had been praying for the past month to find the missionaries and how we just ran into him that one day. Another testimony builder of the power of prayer! We then went to go to a return appointment with a Spanish guy and taught him the restoration and have another lesson so now we have 3 Spanish investigators!

  Sunday: This was a very spiritual day and I kind of had my first baptism... kind of. Doug and Jessica were the only investigators who made it to church this week but it was an amazing experience for them and after church Doug couldn’t thank us enough for allowing them to come and worship with us and to experience the special feelings of our church. That was a really neat experience because I have watched him these last three weeks since we met him grow so much and become so much happier it with Jessica! After church there was a baptism for a lady who has been investigating the church for 20 years now and her husband who was baptized 2 years ago who had investigated it for 17 years was going to baptize her but the only problem is that he cannot move very well. So they asked me to be his spotter just incase if he needed help. Well first off he choked up when he was saying the prayer and I have only felt the spirit that strongly a couple times as I did when he started. But when she went under I had to jump in the water and pull her up because he couldn’t but he had to do it again because he said a word wrong so the second time I had to jump in again to help him pull her up so that is why I count it as a half baptism because I assisted ha-ha. It was still a super neat experience and I am very grateful I was able to help.

 Well it was another good week even though at times it can be really hard and discouraging when investigators drop or you aren’t sure what to do. But I can always look at the miracles that have happened and the people that god has lead us to and it makes it all worth it. Another quick little funny story: A lot of the homeless people in the area come up to us and tell us that they are Jesus Christ before we even talk to them. It still takes me by surprise every time it happens but apparently that is a usual thing that happens here. But we always just give them a restoration pamphlet and tell them that god loves them and we love them as well and then they get a smile on their face and say thanks and walk away.

 Love you all!

 Elder Frandsen