Elder Booker Wakefield Back to Missionary Letters No es changa It has been a great slow and busy week here in Fray Bentos. Which is good because time was moving to fast in Oregon, and I need to most out of these last 7 months. When I first got here I could hardly understand any Spanish that I was hearing and it sucked🤣 but!! I can understand people now and talk enough to get my point across haha. I feel like I've come so far then I remember it's my first week. We've had milanesa almost everyday since I've been in Uruguay. Which is good cause it's way good! It's basically either chicken or beef flattened out, breaded and baked. So a giant chicken nugget. Then mayo the Uruguayans love mayo, it's insane. When we were doing Facebook we saw this gigantic spider, we tried to take a picture but it bolted and is currently hiding in my comps desk, so that's fun. We've had 12 lessons this week which is nuts compared to Oregon where lessons were pretty rare. I was reading Moroni 6:4 in Spanish the other day where it calls the Savior "the author and finisher of our faith." But in Spanish it is "el autor y perfeccionador de su fe." This little difference is so cool, through Him our faith can be made perfect! Anyway super short but a super cool distinction between the two languages! Have a faithfilled week! Love Elder Wakefield Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Stetson Ludvigson Back to Missionary Letters Wow the time is running down real quick, also depending on how crazy next week is this might be my last email. Because next week we have new missionaries coming, missionaries going the the Temple in Phillippines, missionaries leaving and transfer, all within a few days. So that will be wild and we are still not sure what the plan is. But this week was as usual, amazing! I dont have too much time right now so I will keep it short and sweet. This week we helped the youth in the Surakarta stake with filming a music video for the church, it was pretty awesome we were able to meet with everyone, and we also were able to go and see the big soccer stadium here in Solo. Also one of the youth forgot his church shoes so I let him borrow mine for most the day while they filmed, and so I just walked around barefoot, which is really normal here haha! This week was also filled with a bunch of member visits, I am trying to visit everyone one more time before I go home. The members here are the absolute best! This week we also helped a lot of the missionaries with their family history for the temple, most of them only have one generation of family history completed. We also were able to visit one of my all time favorite families this week! They just got reactivated in the church and their 15 year old daughter was just baptized, they are the best! Sunday was wild this week, so one of the returned missionaries that used to serve here came back and visited with his wife and he wanted to visit a ton of members. So we helped them out and basically biked around all of our area visiting members both active and inactive. One of the members we visited has been inactive for about 3 years but he made a promise that he and his family will be at church this next sunday, which is one of the greatest feeling ever as a missionary! He also is an artist and has some awesome paintings that he did in his house! Crazy literally only a few more days left! I am going to miss Indonesia and the people here sooo much! It's been really hard coming here but so worth it, and I am really bummed because right when I am getting the language and starting to make awesome relationships with people they ship me home haha, grateful for the time I spent here! Hopefully I will be able to see a lot of you next week!!! crazy I know! Love y'all Sampai Jumpa Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Jeremy Vogel Back to Missionary Letters Solomio (Harare), Zimbabwe Hello everyone this week has been a little crazy so let me try to sum it up. But first things first. Happy Birthday Dad! I would have called if it didn't cost all the airtime in our phone to call you for 2 minutes! Love you! Last Monday we actually had a combined dinner appointment that we attended to after we did our regular P-day stuff. We were with the other companionship in our district and we went to a small families house. The father of the house loves to have missionaries around and he is in charge of all the seminaries and institutes in Zimbabwe. His family is lovely and always likes having us around when we come. But this is the first time I would be able to talk to them all at once since I got here. So we used a good crowd pleasing object lesson (listen up David). We brought a bunch of vanilla Ice cream and a few toppings. Bring a few different things out and put it all on the table. Get everyone their bowl of ice cream and let them start putting on their topping from all their different choices; chocolate chunks, sprinkles, caramel, ketchup, pepper, and last but not least vinegar. Start asking them if they want some of the other things. But you start asking why they are not taking other things like ketchup and vinegar. After the "it doesn't go with ice cream" you start talking about how you spend your time. Because these things if you put them into your ice cream they don't come out. Tuesday started with a bit of a disappointment. After our District council we went to go get our lunch. We wanted to pick up a platter of meat we had ordered Monday morning. But the meat platter hadn't been prepared. So we are trying to do that again this week. We have gotten some new contacts at the mission office. These were people brought under pretenses that we were going to provide passports for people wanting to do missionary work. We are happy to help them figure out paperwork but we were not going to pay, especially when it was found out that these few were not members. And they were led over to the church by some members promising this is how to get free passports. But they are now interested. We went over to where they stay and it is an orphanage. And we are teaching them. But what is also interesting is the woman running the orphanage. She loves having preachers around her house. But she is a strong interdenominational person. Loves to have people from everywhere come and preach but never lets kids go to any other church than the interdenominational one run at the orphanage. We are working on her as she is a linchpin for a bunch of people. But she probably won't progress as many of the other children live at other peoples houses usually bring preachers of other faiths and now some of these kids are now like missionaries for hire. Taught them on Sunday after their session and we had like 15 new people from one lesson, so hopefully if we don't get through to the woman maybe this mass of children will get into her. Wednesday was interviews with President Makasi. Since the zone is smaller then before they decide just to combine everyone into one meeting. So we had a nice time just chatting about whatever we wanted. We had had exchanges cancelled that day (this is the third time in a row if you are counting). We are in the same zone as the Assistants and they showed up during the middle of their exchange. Weird but whatever. But then when lunch was decided the assistants were out, but ordered food for them but not the people they were on exchanges with, then told us to save their food. Hmmmm some elders decided to just help themselves. (I should mention that this was only one of the AP's ideas). But later the phone call if we had their food. Answer was no. Other then that we had a pretty regular week. Went around teaching. Shared what we could. But things got good during the week end. Saturday was the last attempt to do exchanges. I went with Elder Crook to Eastview while Elder Mhangwana went with Elder Ndlela to Solomio. We had spent almost all day at a wedding. At the end of it I did the baptismal for the couple. We only taught one lesson the whole day. During the wedding however we got a call from the Elders in Solomio. They had been joking with someone we were teaching. Then they told them I had got Corona and that I was being shipped home under critical condition. And she got uncontrollably emotional. They had to call me just to help her calm down. Apparently she had tears and everything. I had to talk her down for about 10 minutes between her sniffing and crying. Sunday was the last day for missionaries to Baptize. We walked all the way to Ruwa to baptize a member's little sister. He just barely received the priesthood so he got to baptize her. And another person (Edith) we baptized came to help. She had been baptized last month and she helped this girl when she got out of the font to get changed and redressed. But I am still trying to find another card reader for my photos. Because this is crazy So hopefully things come around. But I hope you all have a great week! -Elder Vogel Previous Letter Next Letter

Sister Savannah Pric Back to Missionary Letters We watched the entirety of the chosen this week lol Hola todos! This week as I've been preparing myself for conference and the words of the prophets, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that I'm not as bad off as I think I am, that I've actually improved a lot, and that yes, despite who I used to be, I am still worthy of change and growth. I've been listening a lot to different things, trying to bring the spirit into my life more abundantly. I actually have an experience I want to share about that. One day, I received a text from one of the ladies I'm teaching singing lessons to and she wanted to have another lesson! She told me that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and loved what was in it, and that she had some questions and wanted to talk. I was ecstatic! So we scheduled a lesson and planned what we were gonna teach her. That day I decided to read some conference talks that President Jackman had recommended for us about Easter, and I felt like I'd oblige him. I was listening to "Where justice, love, and mercy meet," by Jeffery R. Holland, and I was filled with the spirit, as you do 😂 I listened to a few more talks by him, and I felt really spiritually uplifted and inspired, better than I've felt in my life. (I also just wanted to add that, looking back, this day helped me to see how spiritually deficit I had become and that bringing the spirit back had helped me to feel better, and I've felt better since then). So then we had this lesson with Janet, and it was so spiritual. We talked a lot about her questions from the Book of Mormon, and then after she asked us how she can have the Holy Ghost more in her life, and we were able to tell her about baptism and how the Gift of the Holy Ghost can be with us always. At first I think she took that harshly, because she told us that what we were saying is that if our church is true as we claimed it is, then all the other churches are false. It took us a moment, but I think that moment was filled with the spirit, and we told her that it was true. She didn't back away either like I thought she might. She actually responded quite well, saying that she needed to read more before she came to any conclusions. She is the kind of person who told us all those weeks ago that she wasn't looking for my truth or my companion's truth, but God's truth. And I think things are going well, at least I hope so. We haven't had a visit since then, but we did invite her to watch General Conference this weekend, and she seemed chipper as ever! We are confident that the Lord is working on her every day! This week we also had a chance to receive the first round of the covid vaccine! I'm grateful for the technology we've been given that has given us a vaccine in just a year! I know that this is going to benefit missionaries so much because of how often we are out and about with people, and after we are fully vaccinated we'll be safe from quarantine even if we get exposed! I'm grateful for all that we've been able to do recently, but I'm grateful that we now have more opportunities to create safe environments for everyone we teach! Thank you for all your prayers and everything you've done for me! I love all of you! -Hermana Price Previous Letter Next Letter

Sister Kallie Graves Back to Missionary Letters My companion said the most legendary thing to me that I have ever heard. (Important side note: my district was going to do a fast together for the temple) So my comp and I were doing weekly planning (basically the torture of the mission), she turns to me and goes "Sister Graves, I have something wrong with my stomach, and everyone in the district knows. And well I just have something wrong with my stomach. When I am hungry and when I fast, my stomach goes BRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUU (I am indeed quoting the english version, so enjoy) Sometimes its just like brruu but other times its like BRRRRBRBBRRRRRURUUUUUGGGGGGGG. So I cant fast with the district on Monday." Don't laugh, she has a serious medical problem. She needs help. Good thing we live with the Sister Medic. Also, this week marks the third time I have asked someone to read a scripture when they didn't know how to read, which always results in an awkward next couple seconds. Also pt 3! This week I jumped on an English call online with another American. For the next 40 minutes, we got Bibled bashed IN THE NICEST WAY YOU CAN POSSIBLY BE BIBLE BASHED. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Shoutout Rickey: for being absolutely agnostic in the nicest, most respectful way possible! I hope you have a good life! This week I gave my first Book of Mormon away alone (Small victories)! Because of teaching online, I end up teaching a lot about the Book of Mormon. I do not think that I can convey how true that book is. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It actually occurred. Christ really did come and visit the Americas. The passed week I have been teaching this woman online named Graziele. I taught her the Restoration and she went to church on Sunday. Sunday afternoon, she texted me (picture Portuguese) "KALLIE (we use our first names online) I DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH WHEN I WOKE UP BUT I WENT ANYWAY AND I MEET THE SISTERS THERE AND I GOT THE BOOK OF MORMON AND EVERYONE WAS SO NICE. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I WANT TO GO BACK! I AM SO EXCITED TO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!" Queue melted heart. Then in our area we met an 18 yr old pregnant girl named Bianca. We took her from her broken home and took her to the visitors center. After the lesson, she took one step off the center's grounds, turned to us and said I want to go back. I want to feel that peace again. When can we come back?" I think sometimes we overlook this fact. Sometimes we forget where true peace comes from. True peace comes from Christ. We literally have access to the greatest book ever written: the Book of Mormon. Too often it lies untouched on the book shelf. Too often we have a temple or a church in our backyard and we don't ever realize how amazing that is. Christ wants us to come to him; his marked arms are always open for us. Christ means strength and comfort and love and peace and happiness forever with people you love forever. This week, I invite you to come to Christ, the Prince of Peace, and read the Book of Mormon. Read Alma 7. Oh my heck, the Book of Mormon is true. Never forget that. Com amor, Sister Graves Previous Letter Next Letter

Sister Resha Nicole Bunker Back to Missionary Letters To start off, we had District Council on Tuesday. Part of District Council includes us discussing a Gospel principle, and deciding what we can do to teach it more effectively. This week, we discussed the Great Apostasy and the need for a restoration of truth. It all makes perfect sense. After Christ and the Apostles were killed, there was no more authority on the Earth. The Priesthood was simply gone. With no authority on the Earth, there could be no leader. With no leader, there could be no more guidance or direction from God on a large scale. As a result of this, unauthorized people made unauthorized changes to Jesus Christ's truths he had taught. For 1,820 years, people were lost! This really puts things into perspective for me. Because of the restoration of the Gospel, we don't have to be lost anymore. The Priesthood has been restored to the Earth, we have a leader, aka President Nelson, and we have Christ's truth back on the Earth in their fullness. IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING. We had an opportunity to teach a man, Kenny, this exact thing. We were out doing some tracting one day, and while we were walking towards the street we wanted to knock, a man was standing outside watching his friends kids. We discussed The Book of Mormon with him, and discussed how it is evidence of the restored Gospel of Christ. He was so fascinated! We are going to meet with him tonight! Here is another good tracting story. We tracted into 2 members who hadn't updated their address. So moral of the story, update your info on LDS Tools. :))) It was hilarious! Our zone is making an emphasis on tracting this month. We are all setting aside an hour every single day to tract. We knocked, and we knocked, and we knocked. I've loved every second of it, who knew that tracting could be FUN?! Saturday night we had a lesson with Marleney and D'leiny. They currently attend a different Church, but have been praying about being baptized. They asked us how to know which Church they should commit to. We invited them to pray, and to search for the Spirit answering their prayers. They asked us the following questions: -How does the spirit speak to you? -How do you feel it? I invite you to reflect on how the Spirit speaks to YOU, and how YOU feel it. President Nelson gives some suggestions to help figure this out in his first address as President of the Church. Go read "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our lives." Acting on the promptings we receive from the Spirit and being obedient help us to find the most joy. I was reading in the Book of Mormon, and I came across a verse, 2 nephi 5:27. "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness". The people of Nephi were being obedient to the commandments, and seeking for the Spirit to guide them. The result was happiness. I know that obedience brings blessings, and obedience brings joy. God has created a beautiful plan of happiness for you and for me. It's up to us to choose it. Have a great week! Sister Bunker Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Jeremy Perkins Back to Missionary Letters Let's go!! Found out yesterday that I'll be staying another transfer in Tickle Creek with Elder Maxwell! That will mean I will have served 10 ½ months in the Mount Hood Zone! I think it's be really awesome to say that I've served 1 year in Mount Hood. I'm excited to stay because good things are coming! We had to drop Dan and it was pretty hard because he told us he wanted to be a part of our church, but he wasn't willing to do the necessary steps. On the bright side though, we met with a guy that we round over Facebook. So funny story, the Social Media Specialists have really stressed the importance of joining groups, and so I decided to join a dad jokes group, well I sent a dad joke to a bunch of people and got a few responses, one was named Scott. We've been talking for about 2 weeks now and somehow the gospel was brought up. We had a church tour with him the other day and he is now reading the Book of Mormon! Another cool miracle is we took a member to a meeting with our friend Erin! Erin really opened up to her and explained that she doesn't want us to feel bad or that we've failed because she hasn't converted yet. Rather she said she is continuing praying to find out for herself if baptism is right for her. It was an amazing experience. Go feed the horses! I've been reading in Alma lately and I love the part where Ammon, after he defended the flocks, is feeding the horses. He went the extra mile. In Alma 18:8-9 it states "And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power? And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses." So my new saying is "go feed the horses" go the extra mile. You have 10 people on baptismal date, amazing! Go feed the horses! keep going. Keep progressing. I'm grateful for stories and examples like these that build my testimony. I know the Book of Mormon is true, it is tangible evidence of the truth of the Church of Jesus Christ. Anyone can find that out. You just have to open the Book, study, and pray. Love you guys have a blessed week! elderjeremyperkins Previous Letter Next Letter

Sister Bernice Fiso Back to Missionary Letters This week was amazing!!! I'm grateful to be participating in this great work of teaching repentance and baptizing converts!!! We were able to literally witness a beautiful baptism yesterday morning and I know for a fact that the spirit was present! I'm grateful that Heavenly Father provided Sister Bokai the opportunity to teach Terry and that the spirit was able to touch his heart in a way that no one could have. Terry loved his baptism day and his son was able to attend as well. We're starting to teach him. He told us he felt good at the baptism and he loved how welcoming and friendly the branch was. I love the fact that Terry's conversion process all began with a baptism. He attended a recent converts baptism, Kemal Cummings. He loved how he felt that morning. He loved the spirit. He loved every moment of that baptism and said he wanted to feel like that all the time. We invited him to be baptized, and even though we had some bumps on the road and curves Heavenly Father came through and really answered our prayers, especially Terry's when we needed it! And yesterday was his day. What an emotional day it was. Elder Allred baptized him, Sister Bokai and I witnessed and testimonies were shared. 'Twas a beautiful day indeed. I'm grateful for this opportunity that I get to share what makes me absolutely happy with those I love and meet. The gospel and the Book of Mormon is changing me. I know with every fiber of my being that this church is true! I've experienced too many miracles and blessings for it not to be true. I love my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives! Sister Fiso Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Braden Bingham Back to Missionary Letters This week was so good I can't wait to see what will happen next! There were definitely some difficulties last week not gonna lie! One missionary in our apartment was feeling sick one night and I loved to tease this guy so I made my way to his room as he was sick I was teasing but that next morning Karma got me good. For three days my head hurt and I had a pretty bad fever. I'm fine now and we are doing great in the work! It was a humbling experience lol. Something awesome about this week as I was reading hard in Genesis and Moses and was able to get a lot of insights from these books! I learned that when we read in Gen 2:17 and then Moses 3:17 we will see that there is a difference and something clearly missing. In Genesis, it states only that Adam and Eve should not eat the tree of Knowledge In Moses, it states they should not eat "Nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thy self" In the book of Moses, it is better understood that God gives each of us Agency and it will ALWAYS be up to us to choose. I loved this insight from my personal study this week. I hope everyone is having their own powerful personal study. Something great that happened Saturday night was Elder Curtis and I made French toast and Buttermilk Syrup!! It was good and everything was from scratch! It was an awesome accomplishment. We also attended a baptism this week for Pleebo. Our baptism will happen this Saturday!! Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Nathen Abbott Back to Missionary Letters The End Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me the past 2 years as I have been on this amazing journey. This is the very last weekly email that I will be sending out. I am on a train right now heading to Prague. I fly home tomorrow morning so I guess that I will see you all soon! I will forever be grateful for all the amazing people that I have met while on my mission. Whether they be fellow missionaries, Czechs, or Slovaks. The people that I have gotten to know the past 2 years are seriously so amazing. They have blessed my life so much. I have learned so much from them. I love Czechia and Slovakia with all my heart. I could go on and on about all the things that I love here. Most importantly, I am grateful for the relationship that I have gained with my Heavenly Father and Savior while on my mission. I have learned about them, and I have learned to trust them and to follow them. I have learned how amazing and loving they are to all of us, even with all our faults, they love us much more than we will ever be able to comprehend. It has been a week full of pondering and just thinking about my mission. Yet I still don't think that I can really put it into words yet. So I'm not really going to even try it right now. Thanks again for all the love and support! I love you all and I will talk to you soon!! Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Hayden Johnson Back to Missionary Letters Alma 26. The last week of my mission Well... As most missions around the world that have been affected by the COVID-19 Virus the New Zealand Auckland Mission as also been affected. All the missionaries in Auckland have been put in heavy quarantine for the next 30 days. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has put the country in Level 4 Lock down which has prohibited ANYONE that is not a New Zealand resident to enter the borders. Thankfully for here in the cook islands there has not been any cases and they have restricted the borders that they most likely will not be receiving it soon. If it were to get here on Rarotonga.... It would cause havoc! Since there is not adequate hospitals and medical facilities it would most likely spread very fast. The area Presidency took that into consideration and requested that all the missionaries in the Cook Islands be sent back to New Zealand...... BUT since New Zealand has closed their borders only 2 of the Cook island missionaries that are New Zealand residence went back and the 6 American missionaries were informed we would be stuck here until further notice.... 😂 Then yesterday we just received information that New Zealand has allowed us to enter their borders just to transit immediately back to America.... Yea, back to America... Back home.... We all were discussing if we would be reassigned or not, but now the church has released that any Elder with less than 6 months will be released. I only have 5 months left on my missions which means when I return to America I will be released as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is many different emotions that run through my heart at this time. How quickly all this happened.. How scary it is around the world with all the unknown.... But as cheesy as it may be, the feeling that I feel the most abundantly. Is gratitude. How thankful I am for a Prophet to guide us in these latter days. How thankful I am to have been able to serve the Lord with ALL my heart, might, mind and strength. How thankful I have been to receive a change of heart and the gift of a firm growing testimony. I now have placed myself upon the rock of my Savior and I will not be moved. I know the Book of Mormon is true, that any man will grow nearer to God by studying and applying its words. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, the only man that would be able to restore the Church of Christ in these Latter-days. I know the Plan of Salvation is real.... It brings me such peace to know the purpose of this life and to know where I am going after. I know that God lives and that He is aware of all of our situations, that He sent His own son, a perfect son, to suffer, bleed, and die so that we all may live. I have loved being a missionary for the Lord and just because I may take off the badge from my shirt. I will continue to serve the Lord wherever I may be. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me, messaged me, commented, or prayed for me... For I have felt the love and it has helped me throughout my mission. I no longer have to worry about the future because I know what I need to be doing now. I love you all Kia Kaha Kia Manuia Te Inangaro e au kotou❤️ -Orometua Ioane Tamaiti Previous Letter Next Letter

Elder Josh Abbott Back to Missionary Letters Hey everyone! This week in Spokane was awesome. It's been pretty nice weather and the work is going so good. Casey got baptized on Thursday and I had the privilege of confirming him in church yesterday. The spirit was super strong and we had lots of non members present. Our zone had a goal of 45 baptisms and on dates this transfer so getting Casey baptized was a great way to start off the transfer. We have also found a couple of awesome people that really want to be baptized so this zone is just blowing up right now. We're seeing some amazing miracles and the Lord is truly blessing us for working hard. I love my mission and serving the people of Spokane. This church is true! Previous Letter Next Letter