#Mormonmafia

We got to be Zombies and help out with Sonjas Halloween stuff. The Clown dude is her husband.
It was pretty fun! They are such cool family.

Sup fam,

Hope things are going well! if not maybe one of my really cheesy scripture jokes will (en)lighten things up for ya,

Q:  Did all of the creatures on Noahs ark come in pairs?

A:  No.  The worms came in apples.

Q:  What did Noah say as he was loading the Ark?

A:  "Now I herd everything".

Tune in next week to hear more!

Well here is the update for the week!

Sonja: We got permission to go and help her and her family with their Halloween activities they do each year (pictures will be included). Later on in the week we went over to do family history work with her and her daughter to help Sonja get ready with some names for the temple and they were able to get one of their family lines all the way back to 244 BC and it was super awesome! We are going to the temple with her next week to do baptisms :)  She also spoke at a fireside Sunday night for new members and investigators.  She has the coolest testimony and at the end said she will always be grateful for "her" missionaries and what they have done for her. When she said that it hit me that I, the 19 year old from Utah that still feels like he has no clue what he is doing, has actually made a lasting impact on someone’s life for the better and it was pretty cool to really see and realize that. Because, we as missionaries are getting moved around so much and I know that I have been able to help others but sometimes it is hard to really realize just what we, as missionaries, are able to do for other people, because it is what we do all the time. I am grateful that I have been able to help her and many others because they in turn have made big impacts on my life that are for the better. 

​Pic taken of all the cigarettes
 they gave us to throw away 
right before we threw them away...
oh the joys of being a missionary hahah

Mike, Lisa and Kenji: 
 Kenji is so smart for being 8 years old, he asks better questions than most adults that we teach do. He is already in Alma of the Children’s Book of Mormon and tells us every little thing that happened and why he liked it each time we come over. Mike and Lisa both had a really great week as well! We were able to teach them about Temples and families and focus on the priesthood and how they will be able to go to the temple as a family a year after their baptism to be sealed together for time and all eternity. They were so excited about that and have set a goal to go to the temple in a year to 

Pic w/ Mike, Lisa,Kenji and Mike jr :) They are awesome. 

do that. It is cool to see the added peace hope and direction that comes when we realize that family relationships can continue after death. The other cool thing was that the ward fasted with Mike and Lisa this week so that they would have the strength to overcome the addictions they are trying to quit. We gave them Priesthood blessings on Saturday to help start their fast to be bale to quit smoking and be ready for their baptism on the 20^th.  Right after we did that they gave us all their cigarettes and told us to go and throw them away because they were done with that stuff. They are on day 3 now and still going strong. The power of faith and action are real. They are doing really well. 

Longhui and Angelina: Longhui has been attending the singles branch and Angelina has been coming to the ward with us. Longhui is set to be baptized on the 26th and Angelina says that she has received the answer that she needs to be baptized as well, but doesn’t know if the 26th is right for her, she committed to fast this week, to know if the 26th was the right day for her as well. We will be seeing them on Wednesday to see how it went. It has been cool to watch as they once had no knowledge about religion what so ever and now they are at the point where they pray and read from the scriptures daily and have even fasted and been able to recognize God speaking to them.

The Bozman Family: they are a Part member family we have been meeting with for a little while that has recently started to slowly come back to church and the 9 year old boy, Jonathan, finally committed to baptism and said he feels he is ready now and his mom was excited about that and they set the date together for the 27th of November and they were also at church yesterday. She feels that this will help the rest of her family feel the spirit again and give them a desire to return, we are praying that as well. That would be really cool to watch and help out with. 

Well that is all for this week! The other Elders in the ward are doing really well and we both have lots of people to teach and the members are coming out with us almost every day. That really is what has helped these people progress from gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, to gaining a testimony of church attendance, and all in all gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ. Member missionary work is the best way to do missionary work.. so just because you aren’t a full time missionary doesn’t mean that you can’t do missionary work and be able to help others come unto Christ as well. 

I love my mission, I love my companion and I love being able to serve the lord and for all the great experiences that I have had.

Read ur scriptures and say ur prayers

Love you all!

Elder Frandsen

SpOoKy

One

Two

Three

To Whom it May Concern;                             Oct 31, 2016

     Well here are two really cheesy, typical Mormon jokes:

Q: Before Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet, how many letters were there in the alphabet?

A: 24, There was no D&C

Q:  Why did the Lamanites have sore knees?

A:  Because of all the (K)Ne(e)phites. 

Alright that last one might have been a stretch.... I guess we just all press on, right?

Another week down in the service of the Lord! I'll try my best to remember the highlights.

Jack Jr. :)

1.Sonja: She is doing great! She already has a calling after only being a member of the church for one week... and she is already magnifying it. She is the secretary in the Young Women’s and it is a perfect calling for her. We were also this week to do family history with her and we only had 30 minutes, but in that 30 minute time frame we found 20 names that she can take to the temple. We are doing it again this week and we will see what else we can accomplish there. I love being able to help people prepare to go to the temple and find their ancestors. Tonight, since it is Halloween and we aren’t allowed to go out tracting we are helping Sonja and her family with their Halloween activity they are doing(pictures to come next week).

2. Mike, Lisa and Kenji: Another great week for them, last week we had given them the Families and Temples pamphlet and invited them just to read the first part.  When we came back to cover it they had read it all and could have taught us the lesson. Then they told us of how they had already set it as their personal goal to be able to go to the temple a year after their baptism, to be sealed together as a family! That is always a cool thing to hear as a missionary :) Lisa, in the middle of the week, texted us and told us she was struggling with something and would like a priesthood blessing. So we went over and were able to give her a blessing and afterwards she texted us and told us she felt 'That feeling again" which was the holy ghost comforting her and letting her know that it was going to be okay and she was making the right decisions. She also said that the things she was struggling with went away and she was doing great. The power of the priesthood is real. Kenji is already half way through Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and doing awesome! They are such a great family and I am grateful to be able to teach them.

3. Elder Cortez and I were able to find 2 new investigators this week, set a baptismal date with a part member family that seems pretty solid, and have members out teaching with us 6 days this week. He is starting to feel more confident about speaking English and participates more in the lessons. The other Elders in the ward are seeing lots of success right now as well and it just seems like this ward right now is the place to be and I am glad that I am able to be here. 

4. Other than that, Elder Cortez and I were Mario and El Chapo for the ward Halloween party. Poor Elder Cortez doesn’t really know what cold weather is like and has been sleeping in his new giant winter coat every night because he is cold. 

Another day another dollar

Well that’s all for this week! Tune in next week for more from Toledo Ohio

The church is true, God loves us and Jesus is our Savior.

Don’t forget to read ur scriptures and say  ur prayers

Love, Elder Frandsen

Ward service project

P Day

Pretty Scary, huh?

Q: whats would be scarier showing up at your door step...
a killer bear and bunny or two mormon missionaries?
A: recent polling shows that here in Toledo Ohio it is a toss up!

Elder Wheelwright and I offered to help some people carry some stuff in side and
we just happened to pick the cart full of alcohol... its not what it looks like I promise

The Holy Ghost and a Sheet of Paper

Hey Y'all,

 I was able to go to the Detroit Temple this week for personal worship and it was super cool.

Here's the weekly joke:

Q:  What did the lions say before going out to hunt the LDS missionaries?

A:  Let us prey. 

.... Yup, the jokes are getting lamer by the week I know.

     Well here is the run down for the week;

Sonja:  She was confirmed a member on Sunday and she asked Elder Cortez to do that so for the past week. Elder Cortez and I have been practicing how to give a blessing in English so he feels more comfortable with doing the confirmation. So he had been carrying around a piece of paper with the wording and things to practice for his pronunciation and one day he couldn’t find the paper and I was sitting at my study desk when he came down the stairs saying "Where's the sheet? I don’t know where I put my sheet".  Since he still doesn’t know English the best and has a great accent, I didn’t realize that he was talking about the "sheet" of paper with the stuff he had been practicing and because of his accent I thought he was saying a completely different word all together. So, when we got it all figured out , we had a pretty good laugh about that one. (hence the title of the letter) and yes the sheet of paper helped because he did great. 

Mike, Lisa and Kenji: Another great week for their small family. Mike has given up coffee as well and now they have set a quit date for smoking this upcoming week or so to give them a little time to prepare for that to make sure that they won’t go back to it after they have stopped. Kenji is all the way in Jacob of the Book of Mormon and Mike and Lisa are about to finish 2nd Nephi.  Eveytime we come over they always have great questions and point out to us cool things that stuck out to them and how it has helped them. Members have been coming with us to every lesson with them and I can say that with the help of the members their progress has sped up a lot more! Mike is determined to be baptized with his family and has made tons of progress this week... The little miracles that they are experiencing each day are so cool to see, such a cool family. 

Laurie & Tina: Laurie is a new investigator that we recently picked up and here is the story of how it happened... A couple months ago, a member that I had never met before, called and told us that she had a friend that might be interested. Her friend is deaf and was wondering if we knew of anyway that we could find someone to help teach her (even though the member is an ASLinterpreter).  Nothing came of it, but we had kept that in mind for a while until we received a media referral from some ASL missionaries in Arizona saying that a women named Laurie had gone to the deaf branch with her cousin and loved it and wanted to know more... Well one small problem is that neither Elder Cortez or I know ASL... what a coincidence that we had recently talked with a member who did know ASL though, so we got in contact with the member, Tina, and went over to her house.  She said she would love to help us and right before we were about to video call Laurie she asked us for the name of the woman and we told her it was Laurie and Tina got super excited and said Laurie is one of my good friends! So she video called Laurie and introduced ourselves and set up a time for next week for all of us to meet and teach her the first lesson. So on Saturday we were able to do that and taught Laurie the restoration and it was a really cool experience to teach and have Tina interpret.  Laurie seemed to enjoy it and came to church the next day with Tina to interpret... she liked it but obviously it is hard to go to church and be the only deaf person there but a deaf branch has to start somehow. So we will see what God has in store for her and her husband. It was cool to see how it all came together and was able to work out and see all of the things just fall into place. 

Other than that we had some lady tell us she was going to set up Bible studies with a whole trailer park for us to teach... so we will see if that one pans out! 

It was another good week here in Toledo, Ohio. I have a real testimony of member missionary work. When members and missionaries work together the process for investigators is much smoother and it helps them along the path to conversion. When the members in this ward have come with us to lessons and fellowship the investigators, everything else just falls into place, and of course the Book of Mormon and it’s teachings are really what solidifies that conversion and brings us unto Christ and our Heavenly Father. I Love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all that it teaches us and helps us to do. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has a perfect plan for each of us and I am grateful for the Book of Mormon that strengthens my testimony, of all of this every day. 

 Dont forget to read and pray! 

Love y'all

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Me and my boy, Elder Cortez

Pic of all dat boys

Detroit, Michigan Temple

Milagros, bautismos y ardillas

#God's Army

Whats up fam,                                         October 17, 2016

Couple of jokes for the week (yes I know they are getting worse by the week).

Q:  Why are all of the prophets from the Book of Mormon always depicted with large arms?

A:  It's from scripture chasing with the brass plates in seminary.

Q:  What kind of a pet did Lehi have?

A:  A flea. The Lord told Lehi to take his family and flea into the wilderness.

Well here is the quick run down of the week:

That awkward moment when you are a missionary
and all you can do is give someone a high five.
Sonja's Baptism:  Sonja is on cruise control and has been for the past 3 months... she is so cool. We visited her earlier in the week and her goal was to finish the Book of Mormon by her baptism and she did it!  Her goal is to read it again in 90 days with the Relief Society... if only everyone that we taught was that ready and willing to learn then the world would be a different place. The baptismal service itself was such a cool experience.  Half, if not more of the ward, was there to support her in her decision to be baptized.  Her family and in laws were there as well. Right after I baptized her she turned around to me with the biggest smile and the spirit was really strong and then she gave me a high five, ha-ha. At the end of the service she got up and bore her testimony and she has such a cool story and most everyone there was in tears by the end of it.  So cool to watch her as her faith in the Savior and the gospel have grown the past 3 months. Glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of it.

Mike, Lisa and Kenji: Mike is doing a lot better now and is able to meet with us again which is a plus.  Kenji their son is such a smart kid and loves church! Lisa is the rock of the family and is so cool... I have watched her changed so much in the past month as she has been truly studying from the Book of Mormon and praying daily. She has recognized the spirit guiding her recently and she says it is the greatest feeling and she knows that is what she wants in her life and is determined to have that for her and her family no matter what she has to give up. The power that comes from the gospel is real. They are a cool little family. 

Longhui: We set a baptismal date with him this week as he enjoyed the singles branch and wants to take the next steps forward. Member missionary work is real and is the reason why he is progressing as he sees others that share the same beliefs. He is coming to know for himself. 

Elder Cortez and I: This past week was great! We found lots more potentials and people to teach which is good so we won’t have to be out tracting so much during the winter months. He has a lot of faith and works hard. He also can’t say the word squirrel and it is the funniest thing to hear him say it everyday when he sees one. 

Things are going well, Missionary work is good and God loves all of us. The Book of Mormon is real and we should take advantage of it. Prayer is how we can communicate with Heavenly Father... so why wouldn’t we do it?  The church is true and the book is blue! 

Love y'all,

until next week, 

Elder Frandsen

Good Times!
Also, sonja showed us a good video called save the trees... check it out on youtube you wont regret it lol

I Gave Birth to a Spaniard

Buenas tardes,

Joke for the week:

Q:  Why did the home teacher cross the road?

A:  It was the last day of the month. 

aaaaaand then:

Brother Smith:  My home teachers are so good they come on the first day of every month.

Brother Jones:  Oh yeah? My home teachers are so good, they come the day before that.

Here is a quick run down of the week:

Tuesday: last day with Elder Durrant, yay, spent some time visitng some members of the ward to say goodbye.

Wednesday: Dropped Elder Durrant off at Cleveland and headed over to Kirtland to pick up the new guy and we all gathered in a room and then they had all the new missionaries come in and president announced one by one who would be with who and there were 2 Elders from Mexico and El Salvador who walked in and I knew that I was probably going to be with one of them and I was right! My new companion and guy I am training his name is Elder Cortez from Mexico. We headed back to Toledo straight to three appointments and the first appointment we had was with our two Asian investigators and the member we brought with us is also from Asia and when we sat down I realized that I was the only person in the room who grew up speaking English as a first language... good times. But Longhui and Angelina both came to church this week which is awesome because they haven’t been in forever. Next we met with Lisa and she is also doing awesome despite all of the crazy things going on in her life. It is so cool to watch her get so much peace, comfort and strength from reading the book of Mormon. And for Elder Cortez first American meal some members took us out to red robin :)) 

Thursday: We met with our investigator in the hospital who again told us that he was being killed everyday and coming back to life... each conversation with him that we have are all so different. It is sad to watch him struggle with the mental health problems he is having right now. After that I decided to take elder Cortez to a nicer neighborhood to tract and lets just say the people there are not quite as accepting as they are in Mexico of the gospel... But despite that he keeps telling me how we are in the Promised Land lol. 

Friday: Sonja was having a quinceanera for her daughter and she asked if we could help set up so we did and Elder Cortez was right at home because before his mission that is what he did for work was set up and run parties like that and then they let us stay for food and he was in 3rd heaven with how much food he has had in the last 5 days. Also, it was really cool too see that three families from the ward came to support Sonja and her daughter there as well. 

Saturday: I hope I am not working my companion to death hahah we had to bike about 25-30 miles to the 8 appointments we had all day and I feel like a concerned parent as he is riding his bike because he doesn’t know all the traffic laws so I keep looking behind me as we are going to make sure he is still there and he is still chugging along it is great. We also met with Lisa that day again and taught her about fasting and it was such an awesome lesson! We are also going to be teaching her son now with her there to review it with him. We set a baptismal date with them for next month and committed them to fast about it. Elder Cortez Also fell asleep in his missionary clothes like Elder Calhoun in the best two years is was hilarious. 

Sunday: Church went really well, Lisa got up and gave her testimony and it was the coolest thing. She talked about how with her husband being in the hospital the last two weeks and all the trials she is having in her life she wouldn’t have been able to make it through them and would have gone back to drinking if it weren’t for the book of Mormon and what she has been reading, the support from the ward and from us missionaries supporting and teaching her. It was an awesome moment. Elder Cortez and I both got up after that and gave out testimonies as well. We also finished planning Sonja’s baptism for next week and she passed her interview with flying colors! She is so excited for her baptism and to make that next step on the path of the gospel. She is such a cool person and I am glad I ave been able to teach her. 

That is all for the week... so I will share a little bit more about Elder Cortez. He is from Matamoros Mexico and he grew up in the church, all of his family members are in the church as well and his dad being the last one to join about 3-4 months ago after he got his mission call. He was a visa waiting in Mexico city for three months so he has already been a missionary for a while so I guess all I have to do is help him get used to living in America and how things are done here. He is about 60-70% fluent in English so our conversations are about 50-50 English and Spanish so I can help him to learn English and understand what is going on sometimes. He is the funniest kid I have ever met and has a great love for missionary work, which has really helped me a lot. He has definitely given me a much-needed boost to keep on working hard until the end of my mission. He also tells me all the time how this is the Promised Land and how this is the greatest thing ever... it has made me realize just how much of the little things that I have I am taking for granted... kind of humbling. He has great faith and great ideas of thins he tried in Mexico that we have already tried here with some investigators that have worked great. God is good; he knows what we need and when we need it. I am grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary and all that I am learning and the growth I am experiencing. I am grateful for this extra little push to be better and work harder. I am also really grateful for how much my testimony in the book of Mormon and plan of salvation has grown recently. 

Well that is all from this week!

read your scriptures and say your prayers. 

Love y'all

hasta la semana que viene,

Elder F

Another Week, Another Dollar....

Hay y'all,

​Last district photo before everyone is transferred

Here is another one,

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?

"It's Christmas, Eve." 

Getting better every week :))

Good story for the week:

WE have been meeting with this guy for a bit and recently he stopped taking his meds So he ended up getting pink slipped and is in the psych ward at the near by hospital. So we still go and visit him a couple times a week to help him feel supported. But since he has gone cold turkey off his meds, the withdrawals have caused him to have a split personality. So the other night he told us he was actually 68, not 37, he had died 14 times and resurrected himself every time and that we were 2 crip gang members from Chicago. We weren’t quite sure how to respond to that. Next time we went and saw him he didn’t remember a word from that conversation so hopefully it was a step forward!

Other than that there wasn’t a whole lot else that happened, Lisa and her little boy Kenji finished 1 Nephi this week. She told us how grateful she is for the Book of Mormon and prayer because it is giving her so much more strength and desire to overcome the trials she is having in her life. It is so cool to watch everytime the power and happiness that comes into people lives when they start to actually search for God and read from the Book of Mormon.  She also watched half of conference and said she felt like the messages were directed towards her. Sonja is doing awesome like always and has almost finished the Book of Mormon and keeps telling us that before she was already a happy person but since she has been reading the Book of Mormon she has been 10x happier! Happy, you wonder why more people haven’t given the Book of Mormon a chance? 

Conference was awesome! I felt like there was 3 themes that stuck out to me

1. Trusting in the plan of salvation and a loving heavenly father

2. The Book of Mormon

3. Overcoming our doubts

Of course I am sure that many of you probably got completely different messages out of what was said. That is the amazing thing about the Holy Ghost and how it teaches us all something different and specific to our needs even though we all were listening to the same thing. I especially loved Elder Stevenson’s and Elder Ballads talks and of course I loved President Monsons talk about the Plan of happiness. I am so grateful for modern day prophets and apostles and the opportunity to be able to hear from them every 6 months. I hope that we don’t take that for granted. 

Tomorrow I go to pick up my new companion/trainee/son from Kirtland... I am really excited for the opportunity to show him the ropes of missionary work. 

Well that is all for this week! 

I want to leave a challenge for anyone that is willing, If you aren’t already studying from the Book of Mormon daily you should decide now to set aside 10 minutes a day to do so. The blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon daily are awesome :)

I love you all!

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Made Elder Durrant a beer cake for his 21st birthday... found the beer can in the street, haha not sure how sanitary it is.