One year down, One more to go.

Hey Fam,

     On Wednesday I will hit my one-year left mark, I am not sure where the other year went because it still feels like yesterday that I was dropped off at the MTC. This time as a missionary goes by much too fast. I feel like I have grown and learned more about what life is all about in the past year than any previous years. I am grateful for the experiences and blessings that I have received while here in Ohio.

    This week was pretty good; we made a lot of good progress with investigators and in building up the work here. It started off with following up with a lady that grew up in a Mormon home but never became a member but loves the church, The missionaries ran into her about 3 weeks ago and committed her to start her family history and so we decided to follow up, she just let us right into the house and then began to tell us of how she prayed about whether or not she should investigate the church and the next day she went to some second hand store and the first thing she sees is a book written about the Mormon faith which has never happened before. So she thinks that is her answer that yes she should. Her husband isn’t all that onboard but her daughter has already started her family history and gone back like 3 generations. She is even giving some of her friends copies of the book of Mormon.... that never happens, so of course we are pretty pumped about that. Later that Day we met with Sister Bozeman who is a returning member and we are teaching her son who isn’t a member and her fiancée. We committed her son to a baptismal date for the beginning of September and committed them all to come to church this week and they all came!  Then the next day we met with our investigators Angelina and Longhui Zhou, who have no religious background but have been eating up everything that we teach them, But they ask the hardest questions that have answers but we aren’t always sure if they are ready for them yet So those are always interesting lessons. But next week they have said they will come to church, which will be the first time at any church ever in their lives.

    Other than that our focus has been working with the members to find friends and people interested in the gospel, So the week prior we had helped a couple identify a friend that goes to school with them and to invite him to do something, So this week we get a text from them telling us that he is coming to dinner the night we would be over so we were able to meet their friend and have an awesome conversation with him and he is actually from Cleveland right down the road from where I had been living the past 5 months or so we had some things in common there. So that was an awesome step forward.

    This week has been ridiculously hot, in the 90's with 60-70% humidity so tracking in the middle of the day is not fun but it did work to our favor a couple times because the people took pity on us and let us in to have a drink of water ha-ha. It feels like you are walking into a sauna when you open the door... makes me miss the plain old dry heat of Utah. The only other interesting thing that is going on now is that my companion and I go fishing for our morning workouts, which is pretty cool even though we are both really bad fishers. We decided that we should maybe just stick with the whole fishers of men thing instead of actual fisherman. 

     Sad news: Doug Gansler asked me to come back for his baptism and baptize him but President Brown put his foot down on that one and said no :( Oh well, I am just happy that Doug and Jessica have made the decision to be baptized. 

     Well that is all that I have for the week! Until next week, 

Elder Frandsen

"Faith does not require an answer to everything but the courage to move forward on answers already received." 

Holy Toledo!

Week 51, or something like that.

Hola 

    This week was full of a lot of changes and right now I feel like a lost puppy. This new area that I am in is a 180 turn from what I have been living in the last year, There are mansions and a whole lot of people that want nothing to do with us. Basically the opposite of the ghetto and I am not sure how much I enjoy the change. The upside is that the ward members are great and from what I have seen are really wanting to help with missionary work so we have something to work with other than just tracting all day. At this point we only have a couple of investigators that really aren’t progressing But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I think This will be a good area, it will just take a lot of hard work like missionary work usually is. 

     My new companions name Is Elder Durant, He is from Mission Viejo California and we have very little in common other than we both serve here and at one point we both had long hair. You would think that we wouldn’t get a long because of it but So far I have gotten along with him better than any of my other companions, which surprised me. He is a beach bum/hippy but He has a really good heart and loves missionary work and I couldn’t ask for much more than that. We live in a four Elder Apartment and the four of us have been out for a year or more So it is fun to be around and living with some elders that have been out for awhile. None of them are Spanish speaking Elders and this really isn’t a Spanish area but on church Sunday I met a few members that are Spanish or speak Spanish and they offered to practice Spanish with me so I wont lose it which was pretty cool. 

     Funny story from the week, we have about 4 or 5 investigators and so we spent the first couple of days trying to meet them so I know what we are working with. Well one of them is this older Asian lady who speaks decent English but still has an awesome accent. We show up at her house and she saw us coming so she met us out side and she was clapping her hands saying "surprise surprise the Mormons are here." it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen but it was just the beginning of a very strange 45 minutes or so. We go into her house and she has this huge self portrait hanging over her fie place and then gave us this tasteless jello that was really hard to put down but as a missionary you learn to put down strange food with a smile. Then she proceeded to tell us how she had read the pamphlet we left her and how she knows that the trinity is truth and how we are old fashioned for not believing in the trinity and for using the word holy ghost, (this is all because she attended a catholic mass a couple of years ago) so we spent about 30 minutes explaining the god head to this little old Asian lady and it was definitely a very strange experience from start to finish... But she keeps commitments and is really interested so I am excited to see where it goes. 

     Other strange thing that happened, So apparently this new app came out called Pokémon go and we went to the local park to go contacting and We had heard nothing about this game until we noticed all of the people at the park on their phones walking around... now most people usually sit on their phones and do nothing but this was a little different, there was this little kid who came up to us and said "stand still.. There is a Pokémon next to you I need to catch it" and we were so confused but his mom came up to us and explained the whole thing and once we understood almost every person we saw was playing the game. It was like a scene out of a horror movie where all the people get brainwashed ha-ha but I guess it is good because it gets people out of their houses. But apparently a 26 and 27 year old broke into the Toledo zoo and 3 in the morning to go and catch a Pokémon lol they are currently in jail. 

Well that is all for the week! Say your prayers and be a good person :) 

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Goodbye Cleveland... :((((((((((((((((((((

Hiii

      Well, President surprised me on Sunday night when he called to tell me that I am being transferred.... I thought I was going to have another 6 weeks at least in the Lakewood ward but apparently the lord has different plans. President said it was a last minute change, and right now I am not too fond of last minute changes. The other crazy thing is that there will be no more Spanish Elders in the Lakewood ward so the 3-4 people we were teaching a week in Spanish are probably just going to be dropped now. My next area will be in the Toledo 2nd ward in Toledo Ohio... (I don’t know where that is either don’t worry ha-ha) But I am excited for the new things to come but sad to be leaving this ward after what seems like such a short time, especially when after a lot of hard work we are seeing the fruits of that labor pay off. Maybe it’s a good thing anyways because I would have been evacuated out of Cleveland for two weeks due to the RNC...

      Well, here is the good news from the week. We went with Charisse and Alexis to the temple! I think the greatest moment of my mission so far was when I watched both of them go into the font to be baptize for family names.  When Charisse got into the font started to cry and the spirit present was really strong. We were able to confirm them as well afterwards. The other cool part is we were able to drive down with Elder Titera the area 70 and his wife. She is Charisse’s fellowship member and has been working very closely with her to get some family names for the temple. It makes the work so much easier when you have a really good fellowship for investigators and recent converts. The ward also helped to make Charisse and Alexis like a part of the ward while driving there and back. It has definitely helped in making the transition from missionaries to ward members. I guess the big reason I was sent to this area was to meet the Stubblefield family because I met them the first night I was here and the last weekend here we were able to go to the temple. It has been the greatest experience to watch them make the changes necessary and see their testimonies grow. The other miracle that has come from the temple is that when Charise got home and told the rest of her family just how great it was, more of them decided that they were ready to meet with us and also Charisse has invited like 7 or 8 of her friends to take the missionary lessons at her house. She is almost a better missionary then we are. I am going to miss her and her family a lot, when I told her yesterday that I was leaving she started to cry and it was the saddest thing. They have become like another family to me. Missions are great and I am very grateful for the relationships that are made here. 

Kirkland with the Hollyfield's

     Other good news, Brother Crowning, the returning member we are working with, has finally quit smoking and set a date with the Bishop for getting his temple recommend and going to the temple! He is another miracle of my mission. More good new is that Doug and Jessica from my last area let me know that they are getting baptized on August 14th! I am hoping that president will allow me to be there for when they are baptized, but if not, I am so happy to hear that they are making that step forward. Also, Willy Hollyfield has set a date for baptism and has basically quit smoking... watching people come unto Christ and change their lives is a great thing to watch.

     I love this gospel and I am grateful for the knowledge and peace it brings me. 

Thanks for your love and support!

Alma 40:25

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Charisse and Alexis at the Temple

Bye Hollyfield's

Bro. dery ...gonna miss this guy

My District

Greatest Senior Couple x 100

A baptism, a warzone and some old friends.

My City

Hi,                                                               July 6, 2016

     I would like to start off my letter by letting everyone know that the ghetto of Cleveland is the place to be on the 4th of July. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to be on the front lines in an old civil war battle, then just make your way to Cleveland and you wont be disappointed. There were large firework shows on every corner and there were people sitting in their front yards shooting their guns in the air. When we were riding our bikes home we couldn’t see more than 50 yards in front of us, due to all of the smoke. The fireworks didn’t stop until 4 in the morning, the whole night it felt like our house was shaking because of all of the noise. It was definitely something that I wont forget. Also, the Lakewood ward is pretty great, they had a bunch of things going on all day and the 4th fell on preparation day so we got to do stuff with the members for most of the day.

     On Saturday Mercedes was baptized! Luke ( a young man who came home early from his mission) has been coming out with us a lot to get ready to go back out on his mission and he has helped a lot with the Stubblefield family and Mercedes wanted him to baptize her. It was a really good experience for both of them. Another miracle from Mercedes being a baptized a week later than originally planned is that her cousin is staying with them now and she was able to watch as Mercedes got ready for her baptism and was baptized. So we taught her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and the next day we came back and she had already read a couple chapters and said she was ready to be baptized. She asked her mom for permission and she said yes so she came to church on Sunday and has a baptismal date for a couple weeks from now. Oh and this week luckily the font was filled up on time so no garbage cans were used to fill up the font. 

     On Sunday Doug and Jessica (investigators from my last area) came to The Lakewood ward to visit me. It was so awesome to see them again and to see that they are still just as strong in the gospel as before, Jessica also said that She quit smoking 6 days or so prior and feels like she has finally kicked the habit! They met with President Brown and will hopefully be getting baptized in the next month or two. Missions are awesome. I am grateful for all the friendships that I have made while I have been here. 

     One other miracle, Charisse’s husband is an alcoholic and hasn’t been living with them because she wont allow it. But he has visited a few times while we are there and has been nice and sort of listens but he visited the week after Charisse was baptized and said that she seemed happier or something was different and he wanted it because he hates where his life is going right now. So he asked her to give us his number to come over and teach and help him. Charisse has been praying for her husband to soften up and see the light and the answer finally came. We are going to start meeting with him this week. God really does know each of us and our situations personally and is constantly helping. 

    Well I have loved serving here in Cleveland and there are so many weird things that I see everyday but have now just become a normal part of everyday life... I dont think my life will ever be the same after living here. 

The church is true and the book is blue,

Don’t forget to read your scriptures.

Romans 8:28

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

BAPTISMS, CHAMPIONSHIPS AND PARADES AND STUFF

Hi all people I know,

El tiempo vuela

    Well I would definitely have to say that this week has been the best week of my mission.  Tons has happened but the greatest even was the baptism of part of the Stubblefield family :) I'll start out with a funny story about it.

1. There was supposed to be 4 people getting baptized this past Saturday but one of them got stuck in Sandusky Ohio because the car she was riding in broke down on the way home so she will be getting baptized this Saturday... Satan does what he can to try to stop things... But the craziest part of the whole thing was that our ward mission leader said he was going to plan the baptism and we didn’t have to worry about it... I couldn’t really tell him no or anything so I agreed. We checked up on him during the week and he said that he was on top of things but when Saturday rolls around he hasn’t made the programs, assigned talks and he picked us up 40 minutes late to get to the church to fill up the font. So elder Brady and I had to improvise and figure out a way to fill up the font faster so I had the idea come to my head that the kitchen had big pots and hot water so we started filling up pot after pot full of hot water and wheeling it to the font and dumping it in. The font take 2 and half hours to fill up and we were there an hour before the baptism. So this was a rush. Finally about 30 minutes till the baptism Elder Brady grabs a large rolling garbage can and says" if we clean this out it'll double the amount of water" so next thing I know we are using a large garbage can full of water and rolling it back and forth from font to kitchen... But it was a miracle because right at !0 the font was filled up right to where it needed to be.... It was an eventful baptism to say the least. 

Best Day Ever!

2.Charisse, Tiffany and Alexis were all baptized and there was a large attendance from the ward to support, which was awesome. Alexis and Charisse both were dunked in one try but Tiffany (she is deaf) didn’t quite understand that her whole body had to go under for it to count so the first to times we tried her feet came up out of the water like a rocking chair. The third time I had to step on her toes a little and put her under, check and then bring her back up. Luckily she enjoyed being in the water so it was good. After the baptism Charisse said that she felt like all the previous 46 years of guilt and shame that she had been holding in was now gone and she felt like a different person. It has been such a cool experience to watch as charisse has been changing and finding the light more fully in her life. The next day after she was confirmed she started to just cry when she sat down and she later said that she felt the most peace and comfort during her blessing then ever before. Later that night when we went to visit her she looked like a different person, she had a different light to her. Miracles are real. The gospel works. Doesn’t matter who it is or what they have been through. 

Dah King

Kyrie

Kevin

3. Other things... So there was the championship parade this week in Cleveland and it was crazy... There were almost 1.6 million people packed in like sardines. None of our buses or trains was running because of how crowded it was. Elder Brady and I went to lunch with a member and he said he was going to take us for a little bit to the parade because it was by the lunch place and right when we showed up all the players were going by so we got to see Kyrie, Lebrun and Kevin love. It was sweet. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time. 

4. A less active that lives on the end of our street was shot this week But is luckily alive. We have been working with her and her son and we have become pretty good friends. So when we heard on Thursday that there was a drive by and she was accidently shot it was really sad. It is sad how much stuff like that happens here in the city. The people here are so caught up in the worldly things and can’t let go of their pride that they are willing to do anything to show people it as well. 

Life is hard, but the gospel brings us hope.

Read the scriptures

Say your prayers

Be nice and stuff

2 Nephi 4:17-35

Love you all

Elder Frandsen

Best Day Ever!

Our Study Room

​Poor Elder Brady got his front tire stolen.  lololol