Dahh West Side Update (for real this time)

Dahh West Side Update (for real this time)  

Temple Trip with dah Boys

Well some sad news... President Just called to let us know that The whole Jerusalem thing just isn’t going to work out and that God would like for Elder Allen and I to remain in Cleveland. So I guess ill tell you how my week went...

Well it was pretty cool, On Wednesday we got in contact with this woman named Heather that is super prepared and a whole bunch of "coincidences" happened that led her to us. So there we were and she told us her life story basically and she has had quite the life (typically inner city) but she has completely flipped her life around in the last two years and now wants nothing more then to do what God wants her to do (not so typical inner city). So we had an awesome restoration lesson and met with her two days later and had an awesome Plan of Salvation lesson. She told us of how her mom found out that she was meeting with missionaries and within the two days, since we had met, her mom threatened to disown her. She said she had prayed about it and when she read the testimony of Joseph Smith she knew it was all true and that this is what she wanted. We set a baptismal date right there and the next day (Sunday morning) she was at church and she loved every minute of it. This just proves that no matter how lost someone may seem, when they put their trust in God to lead them to something better, he will do it. So there was one of the big miracles of the week here in West Cleveland.

Another awesome/crazy thing that happened is that we set a Giant baptismal date/goal for Charisse and all her family for June 18th. There are a total of 12 people that are all included in that. So now we have split the family into 3 groups. When we go over to teach I teach the children over the age of 12 and Elder Allen teaches the children between 8-12 and then once a week we meet with all of them together and share a message. The first time that we split off into groups I met with the teenagers and taught the restoration. It was one of my favorite lessons that I have ever taught. The spirit was there super strong and about half way through one of the boys stopped and said "Can you feel that too or is it just me, but I feel happy inside and its something I have never felt before?" and I was able to help them recognize the Holy Ghost teaching and telling them that these things are true. It was really cool. Also Charrise wants Elder Allen and I to be in their family portrait that they are going to have put on the wall. I guess we will see how that goes this week. 

Willy Hollyfield made it another Sunday without smoking and he actually came out teaching with us. It was pretty funny because we went to visit some less active members and Willy (a non member) was calling them to repentance and saying that he will be at their house next Sunday to give them a ride to church. It was definitely a High light of the week. 

Another highlight is that Elder Allen and I were able to go to the temple with The assistants. The temple is definitely a place where we can still be in the world but not of the world. That was a very needed trip. 

Well, I know that there were other great things that happened that I would love to tell you all about but I am starting to have a hard time remembering what happened 20 minutes ago... It is crazy how fast time goes. 

Jacob 6:12

The Church is true and the Book is blue! 

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Changes

April 25, 2016

Hi

Exciting news... My mission call was reassigned this week and I am heading out to Jerusalem with Elder Allen Next week and My mission has been extended another 2 years. 

We are really busy packing and getting ready so I dont have a lot of time to say much about it but I will call you in the airport before we get on the plane. 

with much love

Elder Frandsen

A Good Week in the Neighbor"Hood"

Hey Y'all!

What is Round on the ends and HI in the middle...

oHIo

ANYWAYS,... here is how the week went:

1.  We met with our Progressing investigator Willy who we have been teaching for a month now and he has quickly become one of my favorite people hat I have had the opportunity to teach. He is a former alcoholic and was formerly homeless but has made some really big changes in his life in the last 5 years or so. His wife is a member and they have been coming to church together for a while. He had a problem with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon for a while but a couple weeks ago he said that he did what he was supposed to and prayed about it and received his answer. He knows that it is true and really wants to be baptized but he has the problem of smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. So during our lesson we taught him about priesthood blessings and faith and he said that he wanted a blessing, on Sunday, to be able to not smoke and be able to quit slowly, but surely. So we gave him a blessing and we followed up with him on Sunday and yesterday and he said he was able to make it the whole day without smoking and he felt 100x better... So when we met with him last night again to follow up he said that he had only had a half a pack that day and all of a sudden the cigarettes have just started to taste bad to him and he is slowly losing the desire and crave to smoke. So we are going to follow up with him again today, but he is determined and he thinks that by this coming Sunday he will be done smoking and never look back. 

This is Polo and I.

2. We meet with a less active Spanish speaking member named Polo, once or twice a week,  he has had a drinking problem for a while now and it is the only thing keeping him back from going to church and baptizing his daughter. He surprised us this week when he told us that from our previous visit to that one he had quit his job and checked himself into a recovery program and is now 15 days free from drinking. We left with him the talk from conference about fathers and he said he watched it 3 times he liked it so much and he is determined to be a good parent for his daughter now and he came to church on Sunday as well. God will help us when we are willing to try and do our part in overcoming addictions and this is true with Polo. 

3. Sherry our investigator that we picked up a month ago has come to church every week since and is on fire right now. We are working with her to quit smoking (I swear everyone we find to teach smokes) and in the last week she has cut her usage back in half, which is really awesome. So if anyone has any tips on how to quit smoking please let me know.

4. Charisse and her family came to church this week! It was super crazy and hectic setting up the rides and all and we never thought that it would happen but she and her 4 of her kids were able to make it, it was super awesome. During gospel principles Charisse was talking about how she has been meeting with us for a little while and she then started to cry, which took me by total surprise,  she said that in the last month she has seen a change in her family as they have listened to the message of the gospel and about how much happier they are. She said that she knows God sent Elder Allen and me there and that we are pretty much members of the family now too. This was probably one of my favorite experiences from my mission. It is nice to know that what we are doing is helping someone. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a tool in the Lord’s hand to help others come unto him and experience the joy of finding their relationship with him. 

5. Since it is transfers this week and Elder Wray who was the district leader is being transferred, we didn’t have a  District Leader.  President called me  yesterday to tell me that I am going to be the new District Leader. It really took me by surprise, ha-ha, I guess it’ll be okay. I am going to miss being a normal missionary who only has to worry about the people he is teaching and all that. But now, I have to try to run a couple meetings a week at the same time. 

6. Well this week was awesome. We saw lots of success and we had 11 people that we are teaching at church on Sunday, it was the craziest day of my life. But the ward did awesome in fellowshipping all of them. 

The church is true and the book is blue. Hope you all have a great week! 

and remember-

Antes de tu cases mira lo que haces.

Exodus 14:14

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Let it snow, a night with the Osmond's

Hey Y'all.

A great start to Spring here in Cleveland. 

This week Ohio couldn’t make up its mind about what season it is and decided to dump almost a foot of snow on us throughout the weekend. Luckily Elder Allen and I still have that temporary car from his surgery so we weren’t stuck outside in it. But it is almost worse being on the roads because everyone in Cleveland seems to forget how to drive when it snows... and they don’t plow the streets... it feels almost like rainbow road on Mario cart, lol. 

Here are some highlights from the week. 

1. Last night there was a fireside at The Historic Kirtland sites and David Osmond performed at it, and It was super awesome. We took a returning member with us and he was super stoked about it and it helped him out a lot. 

David Osmond

David Osmond with all the Elders.
(I got to see Elder Watkins again :) )

2. At the fireside I ran into Brother Slamone ( a less active I had been working with in Perry) he came to the event with his wife and it was probably one of the greatest moments of my mission. When I started talking to him I could tell that he looked different. He looked happier or something but as we got to talking he told me of how he had made the decision to return to church and his wife thanked me for not giving up on him. He has gone to church now for two weeks in a row. I love that family and It makes me so happy to see the change in them. I am forever grateful that I had the opportunity to be a tool for the spirit to touch his heart and for him get that desire to go back to church. It was awesome. 

3. We taught 36 lessons this week and set 3 more baptismal dates and we had 5 investigators at church. I have never been so excited to go to bed each night as I was this week. This is exhausting but it is all worth it. 

4. Elder Allen and I were almost overtaken by three large pitbulls as we were tracking in the sketchier part of town but we made it to the side walk right before the dogs ran out of leash, hahaha. It was possibly one of the scariest but funniest things, mostly because I was watching Elder Allen wobble to the sidewalk in front of me the whole time. 

Charrise and co. (this is only half of the family that we are teaching)
They consider us part of their family now and they all gather 
around for when the "Elders" come.  I love these guys. 

5. Elder Allen and I are teaching half of the Spanish ward members English now during our less effective proselting time and it is super awesome getting to know these people. They are some of the nicest, most sincere people I have ever met. 

6. Cleveland is awesome. 

Well, I have now been out for over 250 days, I opened my mission call up one year ago from tomorrow. I could not have imagined even remotely close that this is where I would be at and this is what I would be doing before I opened that call. This past year has flown by and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world, serving around any other people, or doing any other thing. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and what he did for us, I am grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father. 

The church is true and the book is blue. Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Appendicitis, Hospitals, Hair cuts, and Conference.

Dear Friends and Family,                                                   

Well this was another strange week here in the city of Cleveland... Here is how it went down.

Monday Crew

​Elder Allen and I sitting in the hospital room waiting for
 the diagnosis to come back... He's a trooper.

Picture of Ole Elder Allen the next day after surgery...Good times.

Tuesday: Elder Allen and I both started out the morning not feeling so great and so we just assumed that it was the food we had eaten the night before but I was feeling fine after I had showered but Elder Allen was not. So we didn’t think too much of it and thought it was just something that would pass soon. We went to district meeting and did all the usual missionary things and came back and went to study Spanish at the library (a 20 minute walk). We walked back and Elder Allen finally said he needed to take a break because his stomach was hurting pretty bad and earlier he had forgotten to mention the fact that the pain was on his lower right abdomen. So, when he finally told me that It hit me that he could possibly have appendicitis so we called missionary medical and they told us we needed to go to the hospital. So us, not having a car and all, made the 20 minute walk to the bus station, taught a couple lessons to the people sitting at the bus stop, hopped on the bus and got off and walked into the Emergency room and within an hour he was being prepped for surgery, after the ultrasound came back positive for appendicitis. So within two hours of calling missionary medical he was in surgery, lol. I spent the night with the Assistants while he was in recovery and ended up spending most of the next day in the hospital waiting for him to get discharged. I am grateful that we were able to catch the problem before it became really serious.

​Just chillin in the hospital for the day...

Wednesday: Spent most the day in the hospital until Elder Allen was discharged and the good news that came from all of this is that now we finally have a car!! Ha-ha it only took one serious surgery to finally get one but we have one. So we drove back to the apartment and Elder Allen was still pretty loopy but I had promised him earlier in the week that he could cut my hair because I had cut his plus I felt bad for the kid because he had had a rough 24 hours. So n, the next thing I know my loopy companion is standing next to me with the shaver and is cutting my hair... at least hair grows back right? Missions are fun.

​(I let Elder Allen cut my hair the night after his surgery
while he was still a little loopy)
 But I got to see Elder Ogle this week at a Mission
 leadership training meeting. Miss this guy. 

Thursday: President Brown didn’t want us going stir crazy just sitting in the apartment and there was a training meeting so he invited us to it and Elder Allen pretty much slept the whole time but I was able to sit in on the meeting.  I learned a lot of awesome things and ways to be a better teacher and conduit for the spirit to be able to teach and touch the hearts of investigators. Also, I was able to see Elder Watkins and Ogle so that was a bonus. 

Friday: Elder Allen was a trooper and agreed to go to some lessons because we had a car and pretty much he just sat there trying to stay awake while the painkillers kicked in as I taught the lessons. I am grateful that he is a good guy and willing to continue to work even when he doesn’t have to. 

Saturday-Sunday: Conference was awesome as always. I am really grateful for our inspired leaders and for all of the awesome direction and guidance that was given to us. I don’t think too many people realize just how lucky we are to have a Prophet and Apostles that give us direction and guidance from the Lord. I truly am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. 

Time keeps on flying by and each week goes by faster than the previous. I pray that I will be able to make the most of the time that I have left. I know that this church is true and I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and elder Brother in Jesus Christ that cares for us and wants the best for us. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can find healing, comfort, and love. Alma 7:11-13. The church is true and the book is blue.

Love y'all!

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

Some basketball, Haircuts and food.

Hello Family and Friends!

​I dont think that these people like us very much knocking on their door....

    I once heard that as you grow up time goes faster because when you are 1 year old a year seems like a long time because it is 50% of your life… when you are ten years old it is 10% of your life and when you are 20 it is 5% of your life so on and so forth until you die... Scary thought because the time flew by this week and somehow here I am again writing you on Preparation day. 

Well here are some things from the week:

1. So this week we had two progressing investigators move out of the area :(( Jessica is moving back into down town Cleveland and Michael found another foster home on the East side. So that put a big dent in our progressing investigators that we have. But life goes on. 

2. Thursday night at 3 in the morning I was woken up by gun shots that were a lot closer than usual so I woke up Elder Allen and all he says is, "How close are they?" And I said, "Like 2 or 3 blocks" to which he responded "Ehh wake me up when they are a block away" and that was that. So I went back to sleep and nothing else happened. lol. 

​Some cool graffiti

3. It warmed up a lot this week so there has been 4x as many people out in the streets, which is a missionaries dream come true.  So we were able to find some more new investigators to replace the two big ones that we lost. But with the warm weather there is a lot of people outside playing basketball. One night we were headed home and we were walking by an investigators house and they were playing some basketball so they stopped us and asked us to come play with their friends. So, of course we agreed because it was a gold mine for some new investigators. So we played and we won so they said that they had some food from Easter inside. So we went inside and ate with them and were able to teach them the restoration and pick up a new solid investigator. 

4. Elder Allen and I were sitting down after daily planning last night and he said, " I need a haircut and they are expensive" So I had the great Idea of saying " I’ve seen my dad do it a couple times.. can't be that hard." So the next thing we know I am cutting his hair, haha.  Needless to say he only has like 4 bald spots now... just kidding, I would have to say I did pretty well for a first time. But I definitely don’t see myself going to beauty school. 

​dahhhh city

5. With it being Easter and all I have been thinking a lot about is the atonement of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. That knowledge alone brings so much hope and promise to life. I am so grateful for that knowledge. I am grateful for the healing power of the Atonement. I am grateful for the gospel. And I am extremely grateful for the knowledge that families are forever. 

Mosiah 14:3-5

The church is true and the book is blue. Love you all! Until next week,

Elder Frandsen

​Elder Allen and I are trying to go to the Hungarian services next week. 

11000 Hours Or So Left

Hey Y'all. (It is a West Cleveland thing)

Lafe's apartment is the beige home, the door on the right is the entrance.
3044 West 104 Street
Cleveland Ohio, 44111

   Random fact of the week... Mormon male missionaries serve for approximately 17520 hours and the female missionaries serve for 13120 hours.

Yup, Elder Allen and I got bored while we were walking one day and that’s what happened.

Cool things that happened this week:

1. I gave my First blessing in Spanish this past Thursday. Blessings are already nerve racking enough as it is so I was pretty nervous to give a blessing in Spanish. So I said a prayer before hand for some help and I was definitely given that help. It was a really cool experience and I am grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost because I was saying words that I had no clue that I even knew them. 

2. We set two more Baptismal dates this week with investigators that we have found in the last week and a half. Jessica Hacker we picked up last week and she is a former that got in contact with us. We were able to have a really cool experience with her while teaching about the Atonement. She has had one of the craziest last weeks since she got in contact with us but she has been able to quite smoking since our first visit and feels no desire to do it again. So we committed her to be baptized on April 16th. The other investigator we picked up Saturday night and got her a ride to church and committed her to a baptismal date there for April 16th and she agreed and is super excited. Her name is Sherry. We also have an investigator named Michael who lives down the street from us that we meet with a few times a week for like 30 minutes before we have to go back to the apartment. We have to get in contact with his social worker before he can come to church with us but he is one of my favorite people that I have worked with. He wants to be baptized soon but he needs permission from his social worker before he can decide on anything. So in the last 2 and half weeks Elder Allen and I have been led to find a lot of people that are ready for the gospel and are already progressing. I am thankful that Heavenly Father is guiding this work because if he weren’t, then nothing would get done. 

3.Yesterday Paul Cardall visited our stake and performed at a fireside for an Easter event and it was super awesome. If you haven”t heard of him before you should look him up because he has a ton of awesome music and a really cool life story. That was an awesome event I got to go to and I even saw a lot of members from the Perry ward that I was able to talk to afterwards!

4. We get asked the question of "how many wives do you have?" at least 3-4 times a day as we are walking around to and from appointments.  I have gotten in probably not the best habit of answering people by saying "I have 6 and my buddy here has 9!"  7/8 times that I have said it, the people have actually invited us over to talk to them and explain to them what we do. We have been able to actually teach the restoration 5-6 times and found a new investigator from it as well...  I still have yet to ask the mission president his thoughts on my response, so I’ll have to ask him this week. 

5. In the past two weeks I have come to realize that I have a harder time understanding the Lingo of the inner-city kids at this point then I do understanding Spanish... These kids are speaking English but sometimes I feel like I am in a foreign country because they are using words that mean something completely different to them than what it actually means. At the end of my time here maybe I’ll understand.... But in all reality I love the people here they are all super awesome.

Elder Allen and I have listened to the talk called "The Myth of Mortal Perfection" a few times this week and it has really made me think about the plan of salvation and just how much our heavenly father loves us. We each have our own personalized plan with our Heavenly Father because not one of us is  exactly the same and we all think and act differently. But yet our Heavenly Father loves us all the same amount and wants us all to succeed and return to live with him the same amount. I am grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father, who has prepared a perfect plan for each of us. Isaiah 49 is an awesome chapter that talks some about it.

Well, I love this Gospel and everything that is included with it. I Love the people of Ohio and I am so grateful for this Opportunity to be serving here. The Book is blue and the Church is true.

Until next week,

Elder Frandsen. 

Caminando, caminando y mas caminando

Hola Familia y Amigos,

​How the kids play ball in the Hood.

  Being in the city of Cleveland, I have seen and experienced many weird things. If they had happened to me 6-7 months ago I would have thought I was going crazy; but now it is pretty much the normal. At one of our lessons this week, there were three naked babies running around in circles running from their dad. The other night Elder Allen and I were awakened at 2:30 am to yelling outside in the street. We went out to see what was up and It was some of the drunk neighbors yelling at each other. All the other neighbors were outside sitting on their front porches just watching like it was a weekly thing and their entertainment until the cops show up. Without fail, when we  walk down the street and see someone walking up to us, like they are mad and it is going to be bad, as soon as they see the name Jesus Christ on our name tags, they just shake our hands and tell us to pray for them like 5-10 times. Sometimes the people will go as far as to say that since we are men of God, that they need to confess their sins to us. Then they start on this list of things they feel bad about and each time I hear crazier and crazier things. And after about 9:00 at night, we begin to hear gun shots randomly and we always just say that the city is celebrating early for July 4th with some fireworks. But after all of this stuff, I have met some of the nicest, most humble people here in Cleveland, that are looking for something more, but aren't quite sure what that "something more "  is. I love this city and all of the people in it.

Anyways, Here are some cool things that happened this week:

1. We found 6 more new investigators. So in the past 2 weeks we have found 16 new people to teach! 2 of the people that we found I would like to share a little bit about.The first is a kid named Michael who just recently moved down the street from us from the East side. We were walking to an appointment on Tuesday night and he was out in the street talking to some friends. He stopped us as we were walking and wanted to know what we were all about.  So I ended up talking to him for about 20 minutes about what we do and the message we share. Then he shared a little bit about how he has been looking for God in his life; so, I gave him a Book of Mormon and marked a chapter for him to read with a promise of how the Book of Mormon can help. He also asked for a Bible.  So I wrote him a little note in the Bible and dropped it off.  The next day when we saw him, he shared with us how he had taken the Book of Mormon to school with him and whenever he had free time he would start to read it. And each time he said all of the problems in the world and all the other things would just zone out and he would feel different as he read the book. He then told us the story about Nephi and how he thought he was so awesome. He is an awesome kid and he is excited to come to church. 

    The other person that we found is a former investigator named Jessica that met with missionaries for four months or so but her boyfriend didn't like the church, so he made her stop. She said that as soon as she stopped trying to find God in her life that everything just turned upside down. So she called the other missionaries and they found out that she had moved into our area. We went over and got to know her a little bit and she shared how when she attended the Mormon church that she felt something different. She is excited to start learning again and to be able to start studying the Book of Mormon. It isn't everyday as missionaries that you just have a golden Investigator dropped into your hands. 

​Pretty much like half the buildings in the city.

2. We met with our investigator, Marlene, that we found 2 weeks ago. When we taught her about Baptism, she stopped us before we could even finish inviting her to be baptized and she said, "You need say no more. I know that I need to be baptized and I want to be baptized on the 16th of Aprill." So after we recovered from our shock, we were super excited for her. She is a good friend of a member and It just comes to show that missionary work goes 100x better and more effective when members are involved.

3. Elder Allen And I walked probably 70 miles this week if not more... But it all paid off because of all the people we have been able to talk to and find to teach. We taught 36 lessons this week! Hard work pays off especially when the Lord is putting people who are ready to hear the gospel in our path. 

4. Since Elder Allen does not speak Spanish, I have to teach those alone which can be fun; but, sometimes when we are working with the Puerto Ricans and they forget that I cannot understand them when they speak 1000 miles an hour, it would be nice to have a companion who could help out with those situations. But it was awesome to be able to teach 10 Spanish lessons this week. But I am also grateful for a companion that loves to work hard and has a good sense of humor about things. We are learning to work together and we made lots of progress this week. 

5. The scripture that Helped me out a lot this week was Ether 12:27

God gives us weaknesses to humble us. I am grateful for the weaknesses that I have been given to keep me in check and keep me on my toes, always trying to be better. But I know that through those weaknesses that God strengthens us as we continually try to be better. I love the Lord and all that he does for us. I love the gospel and the hope and peace that it brings into our lives. The church is true and the Book is Blue!

Love you all! Until next week,

Elder Frandsen 

Cleveland Baby!

Hello Y'all,                                                                                           

Cleveland Baby!

Saying goodbye to the Kirtland Zone Elders

Another week down only 800 more to go (I wish).

So here is how the week went down.

Tuesday: This was a bittersweet day saying bye to all of the awesome people of Painesville and the Perry ward. Elder Watkins and I had dinner with Raquel and Spencer and we had an awesome experience where Spencer’s parents called to face time with us all the way from Mexico to thank us for helping Raquel out along the way on her path to joining the Church. They were some of the nicest people and it was one of my favorite experiences from my mission. After that we went over to Doug and Jessica’s so I could say bye to them. I love them and I know that One day they will both make the decision to be baptized. I am going to miss them. 

Wednesday: Well I left Perry and met my new companion, Elder Allen, in Cleveland on the way to the Apartment. So my new area is part of the Lakewood ward but the actual area covers most of West Cleveland so it is quite the change from Painesville which is a smallish city to an area with over 400,000 people in it... But it is super awesome and I am super excited for this area. 

Thursday-Saturday: We found this new family to teach and there was 16 people in the lesson as we taught... it was the craziest thing I had no clue that many people could fit in one tiny room other than the fact that the mother thinks she is a prophet and should start a new church they are actually super solid. We also started to teach a part member family and their friend with our ward mission leader so this area has already been super awesome and Elder Allen and I have already seen tons of success. The only thing that is hard is that the area we cover is massive and we do not have a car so we walk all day every day and I thought I was used to walking from Perry but I was Wrong... even with using the Public transit train we still walk 10-15 miles a day,  I have never been so tired in my life. 

Sunday: The ward is 25-30% Spanish and I have been able to meet half of the active Spanish members and they are some of the nicest people I have met. They are super awesome. I will be teaching about 30% of my lessons in Spanish now, which I am super happy about.  Plus I have talked to a few of the families and they have asked about teaching them English so hopefully that pans out. Oh and the rest of the members are great too!

A little bit about Elder Allen... He is from Utah and has been out for about 3.5 months (it is really weird being the companion in the companionship that has been out longer) but he is a good guy and he likes to work hard so that is a plus. 

Well this week has felt super long because so much has happened and I wish I could tell you all about it but I can't. But I can tell you that I know that this Church is true (and the book is blue) and I am so grateful for the Gospel and all that it includes. Something that I have learned that has helped me out a lot is that God cares more about who we are becoming then who we once were. That along with the scripture Mosiah 2:41 have both been something I have thought a lot about this week. Well until this time again next week...

Sinceramente,

Elder Frandsen

My new address is :
3044 west 104th Street
Cleveland Ohio 44111

Last time I will se  Elder Bateman :((

This church wins.