Hi

Picture of the district #MERICA

Nothing to out of the ordinary to Report this week so Ill keep it short and tell a couple stories from the week.

First: Our investigator Victoria who is a retired nice Chinese woman with a thick accent was telling us how much she enjoyed being a doctor and things about her career and what not. Previously I had mentioned that I wanted to go into the medical field so she looks at me and says " you will be a sexist doctor" and then she said you will look the part well and you have the right personality for it. I was confused and it was really funny to hear here say that but she continued on to say that I will be a "sexy" doctor wearing a stethoscope and other hospital get up... Now I was really confused as to what she was trying to say. So next she says, I will call you in ten years when I am sick and have you tell me what to do because you will be a successful doctor... Elder Durrant and I realized that she had been saying successful wrong the whole time and with her accent it was hard to understand... Language barriers always lead to weird miscommunications. 

Second: Ron is getting baptized this week and Ron is a little bit bigger than the average person,so there are no baptismal jumpsuits big enough for him. Elder Durrant and I had to go on a hunt for 5x white pants of some kind. We searched Wal-Mart, Target, Meijers, Lowes, Men’s plus sized clothing stores and a few other places and you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find white pants... let alone white pants that are 5x. So we were about to give up on our search when we came upon this Plus sized clothing store for women and so we decided to give it a shot and we ended up finding the last pair of 5x white pants in the store on the clearance rack... hopefully Ron doesn’t mind wearing some Capri’s. We also got the pool approved to use for his baptism! 

Third: This week was pretty great because we had members out teaching with us everyday and we have members signed up to come out with us almost everyday this coming week as well. Church this week was really good as well, Sonja came again for the third week in a row and we had another investigator named Casey there along with a returning less active family. Things are looking up here and the work is moving forward. I love being able to serve where I am. 

Other than that, All is well in Zion. 

Read your scriptures and say your prayers

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Healing Power of the Atonement

Hi,

    So to start off I will share a quick little story with you of what happened yesterday:

Elder Durrant has a hammock that he set up out side so when we came back for dinner, I decided to hop in and try it out for a bit. Right after got in it this 5 year old kid comes up and says, "Hey mister how did you get up there?" I had the classic response of "magic" and right after I said that he said, "I have a knife you know..." So I sat there and thought about it for a bit and said "and why is that?" and he says " to throw it at your head for lying to me because I don’t play around mister I go to the school for USA killers and I can stab you in 3 different ways with it... come down here and let me show you something" And then he ran off and hasn’t been seen since... got to watch my back now so James Bond Jr. doesn’t get me... oh the joys of living in weird apartment complexes. 

     Well here are a few things that happened this past week:

1. An Investigator we are teaching right now named Ronald has been getting progressively worse in health which has made it so he can’t make it to church to be baptized, even though he has a great testimony of the gospel. So we called President Brown and asked him if we could just move forward with the baptism so we can help him to get the temple work done for his brother and daughter who have passed on and we got it approved. The only other catch is that he will have to be baptized in a pool because he doesn’t fit in the font... So we went on a search for a pool to use and we found a member in the ward with a pool. Ron is so excited to make these steps forward, so pray that his health will stay good enough that he can actually go through with it. 

2. We met with Sonja again this week and it was another awesome meeting. She read another 30 chapters of the Book of Mormon in between visits and came to church again this week with her daughter this time. And again the ward welcomed them both in and it seemed like she was a part of the ward and had been a member for years. The Bishop has offered his house for her to take the discussions at and we are starting that this week. It is so cool to watch again as someone finds the gospel and starts down that road of making those changes. Another thing that I thought was pretty awesome was when Sonja told us of how the thing that she loved the most of what she had read so far is the hope that Jesus Christ offers and how she can be forgiven of past transgressions. 

3. We were teaching a couple this week named mike and Lisa. Probably one of the weirdest lessons I have been a part of on my mission. While we were talking to them all of a sudden Lisa just leans over to Mike and starts making out with him on their couch right next to us like they had forgotten we were there and it continued n for a couple minutes and then they realized someone was there and they stopped before we just awkwardly excused ourselves... weird, weird and weirder. 

4. Transfers happened and Elder Durrant and I are staying together for another 6 weeks :))

    Anyways, these last couple of weeks I feel like I have learned more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ then all previous 19 years of my life combined. Growing up in the Church you are given the simple primary answers and then when you grown up you get some more of the complex answers to why things work but that is all that they are is just answers. That is until you figure out how to take them from being just answers to things that you actually have faith in and apply in daily life. And yes for the last year or so I have been doing that every day so you would think that I would have learned all of this already. I finally feel like these things are starting to sink in and I am understanding the Power that we can unlock from the atonement of Jesus Christ. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life that I regret and wish I could take back and I have stopped doing those things but I always wondered If I had fully let the Atonement work in my life to help me get over those things. So recently I feel like I understand more of what that means... of course repentance means to change and I have done that, but when we fully let the Atonement work in our lives it changes our heart and our desires and it helps us to turn away from wanting to follow the world. This happened for me as I put aside my doubts and put more faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I wish I could put this all into words better, but what I can say is that I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power that it can bring into our lives. He can help us through everything and to overcome everything if we let him. I am grateful to be able to teach others about that and I am grateful that there is more to our purpose than just this life here on earth.

The Church is true and the book is blue!

Read ur scriptures.

 It’s good for u.

say Ur prayers 2. 

Love you all!

Until next week, 

Elder Frandsen

Went to the Toledo art museum This week and I got to be handicapped pete for the day because I was having a hard time walking with the back problems I have been having, lol. Also a less active member gave me a 3xl shirt and I decided to wear it.  

Good Time in Toledo

I got to to see Doug and Jessica a few days before the baptism :)

Goodtimes in Toledo

Hey Y'all!

     Well another week has come and gone and Clinton and Trump are still running for president, we still don’t know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a lollipop. For some reason I decided to cut my own hair for the first time and lets say I wouldn't recommend it but yet life still goes on... Some weeks are just a little more humid than others.

       I don’t have a lot of time to write this week so I will talk about a couple cool things that happened this week:

1. On Thursday I had a doctors appointment in Kirtland and I had talked to Doug and Jessica a few nights earlier and when they found out I would be in town they decided to surprise me and meet me at the Kirtland Historic Church Sites and we were able to go on a quick tour and take a few pictures and talk about their baptism, which happened yesterday. It was really awesome to see the growth that they made from a year ago when Elder Ogle and I went on that first tour with them, to now. Their conversion to the gospel is very strong and I loved being able to hear their testimonies on how much the restored gospel has changed their lives and relationships with their Heavenly Father. I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to help them with that process. Also, while Elder Durrant and I were there we made a stop off at the Kirtland Temple visitors center and saw these awesome Joseph Smith for president shirts so of course we bought them... Pretty good purchase if you ask me. 

2. Sonja Thompson (Formerly known as Beth) was another big miracle this week. So it started out with her texting us Friday and telling us that she had already read all the way to Alma in the first week that we gave her a Book of Mormon... That probably doesn’t sound super awesome but when you are a missionary and an investigator tells you something like that it is kinds like the 4th of July. But the icing on the cake was when she came to Church. It couldn’t have been a more picture perfect first for an investigator. The moment she walked in a ton of the ward came up and said hi and a couple offered to go to the 2nd and third hours of class with her and she made good friends with the YW president and Relief Society president. So that was exciting but the best part is that a lot of the ward came into the gospel principles class and it was the best class I have had in gospel principles while on my mission. The Spirit was there very strongly and the ward members took charge with helping Sonja there as well. It was such an awesome experience to watch. I am very grateful for an awesome ward that is willing to do missionary work. I am also grateful to be able to teach awesome people like Sonja out here in Ohio. 

   Missions are great.

   Read ur scriptures & say ur prayers

Until Next week,

Elder Frandsen

Me at the zoo in a child sized poncho.

Our matching Joseph Smith for president shirts..... lol

Jessica got baptized!

Billy the traveling bed bug

Billy the traveling bed bug

Hola todos 

Well to start off the letter will tell you about Billy,

So Elder Durrant and I are teaching this family that lives in this po dunk trailer park (my type of people :)) ) hahah and we have always been a little wary of bed bugs when we go over there but this time we decided to go inside and have the lesson because it was 50000 degrees outside and the lesson went well and everything until we started on out way home and I pulled out my planner and saw Billy the traveling bed bug and we both freaked out and grabbed the alcohol spray and sprayed everything down and well lets just say that billy is no longer here with us. Bed bug scares are the worst but it always makes for a good experience. 

     Miracle #1

This week we went back to follow up with beth (name has been changed) the one that was our miracle find a couple weeks ago and she told us the coolest story. So when we got to her house the door was already open and she said "I knew you were coming today because I prayed and asked for it So I left the door open" well we were both in shock because how often does that happen? and then she told us that the time when had had come before she and known we were coming because the night before she had prayed for us to come as well! Seriously so cool. She also said she has continued to pray about investigating and started to read the book of mormon and she said " you are probably going to think I am crazy But I feel like it is all true... " and well we were speechless again (this doesn't happen very much to me because usually it is hard to get me to be quiet) then she said that she knew she needs to be baptized (she knows this from study the doctrine with out us asking her too) and she first needs to get her husband on board but will be coming to church. It was a miracle and proof that god answers prayers. 

    Miracle #2

Longhui and Angelina who came to church last week had such a great experience that they said they talked to their parents about being baptized and there parents said "if you believe that it is true and feel it is right for you we will support you" they also said that they have recognized god answering their prayers. The progress that they have made in the last 3 weeks is amazing. We told them we will wait to set a date for baptism until they get to church again. God is good. 

Miracle #3

Doug and Jessica are getting baptized this coming Sunday!!!! I am so excited for them. They are my favorite people that I have met here in Ohio and are the reason that I saw my testimony grow so much in the first 6 months of my mission. the gospel is good. 

sad news from the week... President told me that my calling has been changed and that I am not assigned to speak spanish anymore and that I am and english Elder. There are no more branches in the mission so there are no more spanish Elders :(( 

Well it was a good week, didn't wreck on my bike so that is a plus. :)) 

as time goes on and I continue to recognize gods hand in my life I am more and more grateful for Everything I have and the opportunity to be here in Ohio serving as a representative of the lord. 

Remember to trust in the answers that you receive to prayers and you wont go astray.

Read ur scriptures.

Love y'all! 

Elder Frandsen

Mid Mark Crashes

Preparation Day Activities

Buenas Tardes Todos,

     Well we finally had a successful week here in the town of Sylvannia, Proselyting... not riding bikes. 

     To start off the week I will tell you a quick funny story of this guy names Abraham that we met. So he stops us as we are leaving our apartment and asks us what we do and the whole 9 yards and we taught him some stuff, explained what we do, blah blah blah but at the end he says "how do you know what you are doing is right? I met this guy in Africa that would get buckets of goat pee and dump it all over his head because he thought it was right so I decided to join him... How do I not know that what he is doing is right and what you are doing is wrong?" Well we kind of just sat there for a second not really sure what to say to this man who just told us he dumps goat pee on his head to make it to heaven. SO I kinda just said well, you could try reading this book for a week, pray about it and see how you feel and then go back to your old ways and see how you feel then and which you feel is more right and left it at that. So we will follow up in a week or two and see how it went... 

     That same night we were going over to visit an investigator and he had a friend over named James, James has served a few prison sentences so of course any normal person would judge him and think he isnt the best  guy. But that is the weird thing that I have learned on my mission, those whom we would think would be the nicest are usually the most judgmental and rude while those whom society would deem as failures or outcasts are those with the kindest hearts and are the most accepting. James told us of how while he was in prison he got a hold of a bible and that is all he did for three days was read and when he finished it he felt more love than he ever had previously and he said it was then that he turned his life over to God and Jesus, so we had a great talk and got his info and left. We stopped at a gas station like 15 minutes later and I am looking at the drinks deciding what I wanted when James walks up behind me and says “it's on me tonight boys" and he bought us a drink and gave us a pizza. We have an appointment with him this week and I hope that it will work out for the good. 

     Cool miracle for the week! Longhui and Angelina, our asian investigators, made it to church yesteday. At the begining of the week we thought wouldn’t have been possible because last week when we invited them and they asked their dad he was very firm in his decision that he wouldn’t let them go but Angelina (who is 11) shared with us that she said a prayer before asking her dad again if she and her brother could go and he changed his mind! Oh, to have the faith of a young child. God really does listen to our prayers. So they were able to come to church and they both loved it! It was Angelinas first time ever being in any sort of church building and Longhuis 2nd time.  God is preparing all different types of people to hear the gospel. 

If you look behind me you can see the tracks that were my downfall, look closer and you can see my flat tire, ripped pants and shirt and just how happy it all made me ;') 

       Well this week was a week crashes... First it started off last Tuesday with Elder Hampton hitting a pot hole and crashing on his bike and getting a flat tire, and then the next day consisted of me hitting some train tracks which then launched me about fifteen feet off of my bike which flattened my tire, ruined my pants, shirt and scraped me up pretty good... God was looking over me because it should have been a lot worse. and then the next day a greenie missionary (new guy) was on exchanges and he ran into a curb, knocked his chains off and fell off ripping his pants and then the following day Elder Durrant and I were riding to an appointment when he took a turn too sharp into gravel and crashed scraping him up pretty good. Short story of how I wrecked, I was going down a bike trail in front of Elder Durrant and I didnt realize the turn off had train track and I was going pretty fast and I only had about half a second reaction time from turn to tracks to realize what was going on and so I didnt have time to hit my brake so instead my reflexes were to try and bunny hop the tracks which ended up just propeling my launch off of the bike as my bike tire hit the first railroad track and I flew. I had time to think about what had just happened while I was in the air and I smacked the ground. It was quite enjoyable (pictures to come.) So let’s just say that this week, it was the missionaries-0 and bikes-4.

Patrick....rip

   

Other intersting things, we had a pet fish for a short time before cooking him. We named him Patrick that we caught in the pond behind our apartment... Elder Wheelwright and I both had our shirt burning ceremonies for our 1 year mark on Wednesday (the day I wrecked and ruined my shirt I was wearing so that was an easy choice). Good times. 

Ceremonial Shirt Burning

Well, this Friday is the year mark of entering the MTC.. Crazy how time flies. Love and miss you all! Trust in the lord and good things will come.

Read your scriptures.

Alma 36:3

Hasta la semana que viene,

Elder Frandsen