7-22-13

Family,

Sure sounds like you all had a great week this past week. Most of the names mentioned from our ward, I have no idea who they are. But I'm sure they're great people! That's awesome that Cody is close to getting a job! Hopefully there are plenty of options for him! All right let me tell you about my week now.

So Monday last week I met this American family visiting from Japan. One just got back from his mission to Manila, Philippines while the other goes to Madagascar in a few weeks. So that was cool to meet him. But other than that, Monday was a pretty boring day. Where did Nathan Burstedt go on his mission again? 

On Tuesday we had our first district meeting as a new district. We have the Auburn Hills sisters and the Maize 1st ward Elders (the zone leaders) in our district. They are all super super cool and have strong testimonies. I taught on PMG chapter 6. I love teaching about that chapter because it reminds me that I need to be more like Christ as His representative. Later that day back in our area, we saw one of our strange less actives. The only reason why we even visit him anymore is because his roomate is one of our newer investigators. Well we saw both of them together and after the lesson invited him for baptism and he said yes! He's only 2 months younger than me too. So we also invited him to church and he agreed to come. More on that later. After him, we visited one of our recent converts. He said he doesn't go to church out of pure laziness and also because he attends another church now. It doesn't help that he isn't all there in his head, if you know what I mean. So that was a bummer. For dinner we ate at this family who has a son playing baseball on the Wellington all star baseball team. They are going to the state tournament, apparently and played yesterday (Sunday). Hopefully they can get a testimony of the Sabbath Day. That reminds me, wasn't there a talk a couple of years ago in general conference that spoke of a young man and his father went inactive because he was on an elite travel baseball team that played on Sunday? You know what I'm talking about? I'd really like to read that one again sometime.

 Wednesday was a long, hot day. Tuesday was super super awesome and Wednesday was good but quite slow. It wasn't really all that hot but it felt like it because of the amount of walking we did. We did, however, give a blessing to a non-member who was recently abused. she was grateful for the service. We also dedicated their home even though their family has been living in that home for years and years. She said she would be down to listen to our message so I'm excited that we're going to teach her how to find peace in this life. After walking with virtually no success, we drove to Harper, had dinner, and had an appointment with one of our investigators that will progress and feel the spirit if they just come to church. They said that they think our beliefs are crazy when they haven't even studied about it. It kind of hurt me to see that. We gave them a restoration DVD. I think that DVD is the best way to introduce someone to the gospel because it gives a very nice visual. 

Thursday after weekly planning, we went back to Harper and saw mainly our typical less actives there. One of them is starting to be active again while the other wants to be active again but is taking care of her granddaughter and can't take her all the way to church. So that was a bummer, but it happens. We later found out that our recent convert - Sunday school president was never given the Aaronic priesthood when he was baptized. So we fixed that yesterday. Later that night we went to Anthony and had a good MML lesson with one of our members (member motivational less: the new key indicator we have) who told us they might be moving to North Dakota in the next month or two. 

Friday we had another eventful day. Due to all the walking from Wednesday my leg was aching all day on Thursday. Luckily it was better by Friday. Friday we started out our day really slow. But it picked up later on. The recent convert I told you about we actually met with him on Friday. Later, we decided to drop by one of our investigators. He is a tattoo artist and was in the middle of a job. Just having that visual in my head of that guy getting that tattoo makes me never want to get one ever. I mean I never did before I saw that but that just increased by a lot due to that image. Later, after dinner, we saw the guy we have on baptismal date again. We finished lesson 1 and discussed the Word of wisdom with him. He's got a problem with coffee, tea, and tobacco. But we're working on it. It seems like many of our investigators smoke. But whatever. 

Saturday was a pretty good day again. We celebrated Mom's birthday by me telling Elder Evans that it's my Mom's birthday. Don't worry Mom. I was happy on your birthday. By the way, I will probably be sending home a package with stuff I don't need. It's just 2 shirts and a nalgene bottle. I probably don't need my jeans either but the box isn't big enough for that so...yeah. I'll figure it out. Anyways, on Saturday we were walking around and got some success but not much. We talked to one of our potential investigator families outside as they were working on their yard. We answered their questions and even though the Dad said no, we're not interested, we have the son interested so we'll be going back to talk about the gospel. Apparently he only talked about listening to us with his wife for a little bit and they decided upon no because they were "comfortable" with the church they currently go to. So we'll be seeing them next week. 

Sunday, however, was a big day. We had 2 investigators at church that day...2!!!! The guy with a baptismal date and another guy who also lives in Argonia and is married to a less active. So that was cool. We had our monthly potluck lunch/dinner too. After church, we went to Harper, proselyted there for a few hours with little success, and...yeah! That was our week. Sorry this e-mail isn't as enthusiastic as ones before. I just don't feel up to writing that much today for some reason. So if you have any questions let me know.

Dad, thanks for the e-mail describing the events of the past week. I understand your feelings and thought it was interesting how Mom said you used to come home early after church but don't come home until after like 7 now. Our church here gets out about 1 and then the bishopric does the money and by the time 1:30 comes around everyone is usually gone from the building. The beauties of a small ward. I didn't know that Elder Cannon's Mom went to a high school dance with you. That's kind of funny because the world is so small. So President Finnegan is going to your ward next week, huh? That sounds cool. give him a shoutout for me, will ya? Thanks for being there ever step of the way, Dad, and supporting me through the best of times and the worst of times on my mission thus far. I know I have a long way to go but must focus with all my might, mind, and strength to bring to pass the "immortality and eternal life of man." It's God's work, after all, and we're just here to spread His message to the people of the world because no matter where you are, the gospel will never change. 

Thanks for telling me about your week. It's always exciting to hear! I best be off but will be open to chat for the next 15 minutes or so. Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "Who cares about dumb old Texas!"

"What did you just say?"

"Should I start running now?"

7-15-13

Family!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYY BBBBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY MMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this week was a good one. We were blessed with opportunities to preach the gospel and the Lord is watching over us. Sounds like you guys had a good week too. About the scout camp y'all had last week, they showed President Monson's video about 100 years of scouting at the regional scouting event up near Kansas City back in April. President and Sister Keyes went to that in the pouring rain. I don't think she was a happy camper after that, haha! That's awesome that Cody's getting his senior pictures tomorrow! I remember when I got mine. That is my mission picture, as I'm sure you are aware of. 

All right, let me tell you about my week. I have been praying recently to be able to have the courage to talk to everyone I see. I hate walking up to people and talking to them. But tracting is fine! So the past few days have been better but I have realized over the past week or so that Heavenly Father won't simply just give something to me like that but I have to work at it. Put forth some effort and then he'll help me. So that was cool to see for the past few days. 

Monday last week after e-mailing, it was approaching the time that we normally leave and the daughter of brother Brundage was coming to give Elder Dansie and I haircuts. She arrived super late. I decided to take a shower (I like to get it cut THEN shower) and right in the middle of my shower I heard that they had arrived. I wasn't happy but got upstairs and got my haircut anyways. It was a pretty bad haircut, to be honest. She left the top way too long including the part that hangs over the forehead. She was like: "Oh, you can just leave it flat or spike it up." But when have I ever done that? Yeah, never. We then rushed to do groceries and were 20 minutes late to dinner in Conway Springs. That night we talked to this one lady I was too shy to talk to. She finally offered us a soda to which I had to accept in order to get inside her house. She turned into a potential investigator. We then talked to this one strange lady who is married to an inactive member who goes to the local bar literally every night and gets drunk. I feel bad for both of them. 

Tuesday was our last day in a trio. Elder Dansie was also snoring for the first time since we've been together. So that brought me back to memories of Dad. Good memories. So I couldn't sleep and I checked my watch to see what time it was and it was 11:30. I felt prompted to say a prayer. So I got out of bed and said a prayer to stop Elder Dansie's snoring or to help me sleep through it. I felt peace and calm as I crawled back in bed. I don't know what happened after that because I quickly fell asleep. My prayer was answered! Anyways, Tuesday night, Elder Dansie and Elder Hellbusch burned a tie to celebrate Elder Dansie's 6 month mark. I choose not to participate in those foolish traditions. My ties are too precious to me. 

Wednesday was transfer day. Sister Brundage took us up to the 13th street building in Wichita an hour away. We were super late and the AP's were after us. But we got there and the transfers left on time. Elder Hellbusch returned to his own area in the Maize second ward and it's just us two now. My new trainee is Elder Evans from Salt Lake City, Utah (really, Holiday, Utah). He is the youngest of 3 boys: all of whom have served missions. He is a visa-waiter to Forta Leza, Brazil. He and I often battle as to what language is better: Spanish or Portuguese. The two are very similar. Anyways, to answer your question, Mom, that night we saw that younger couple. They told us that they studied it out and weren't really interested in the gospel. But I told them that they had to come to church to be able to make that decision. So they said they would skip one of their services and come to our church. I was like "YES!" We have an appointment with them this coming Wednesday. They didn't come to church yesterday, though. So we'll see what happens in the future. Also, that 17 year old that I was telling you about last week, I have no idea what happened to him. He lives up in the Maize 1st ward and I was on exchanges when I talked with him. 

Thursday we had weekly planning. After doing so, we saw a part member family: an older couple that live here in Argonia. She is a member but he's a non-member. They both committed to come to church should they get a ride. They didn't come yesterday because they didn't have anyone to take them. Sister Brundage went to a ward up in Wichita for a missionary farewell so she couldn't this week. We'll try to get them next week, though. 

On Friday, we had our zone meeting up in Wichita. Grandpa told me about a missionary who got transferred there from Honduras due to stomach issues. He's from their ward in Santa Ana. Well I met him on Friday. He's companions with Elder Neeley: who is from the Del Mar stake. He is a little different of a person. maybe it's because he misses Honduras a lot, but I don't know. There are also a lot more sister missionaries here in the zone. They just added like 2-3 new companionships to the zone. So hopefully this spices things up a bit. The zone leaders are in my district now along with the Auburn Hills sisters. So still just 6 of us. Later that day, we had another one of those experiences of one of our investigators saying that he's studied about it and isn't interested in changing. I think it's just because these people have only done one thing their whole lives and don't want to change at all. They're just set in their ways. Good thing we have the truth! 

All week it has been super hot. I love the hot better than the cold, so I'm not complaining. Saturday we studied until noon and then went down to Caldwell. I feel like we have like no time down there now that we're staying home for so long. We only got to see like 3 people before it was time to go to dinner in Wellington around 5:30. We did, however, talk to a world war 2 veteran. So that was cool. His wife passed away 4 years ago. Sunday we were expecting a lot of investigators to go to church but only a couple less actives came to church. That's still good, I guess, but doesn't satisfy my craving for investigators at church. Hopefully we'll get some this Sunday. We will do our best to get them there. Ward council this morning was actually productive for once. It wasn't Bishop story time, it was down to business time. He proposed that the Elders quorum come out with us and go bring back less actives. One at a time. That's how our ward will grow just like it did last fall when they had families move in like crazy due to the oil boom. Hopefully the Lord can bless us according to our humble level. 

It rained a ton yesterday AND today. I don't really like it when it rains in the summer because it gets super muggy when the sun decides to show his face again. But we didn't have too much success that afternoon/evening so got home and prepared for P-day today. But YEAH! That's my week this week.

So I hope it's okay if I send some stuff home that I don't need/want. I might send it in a package. There's a nalgene bottle I've never used and some clothes and stuff. That 94 year old woman didn't seem bothered when we were there. The only hint of it was when we showed up one day and when we approached the door, her sister and wife to the baptist preacher showed up as well. She thne said "Well I'm a baptist" to which I responded "That doesn't matter." After that, her baptist preacher showed up the following week and we got shooed off. 

Dad, that's awesome that you enjoyed the trip even though you said it was awful. Hopefully President Stapley can get the Kung Fu Panda quote right next time, haha! How's Cody's eagle coming along? Is he still waiting for letters of recommendation? That's what took the longest time for me. How's Caitlin's new job? Hopefully I didn't forget to tell you anything. Is there anything you need from me or want to tell you about? Well I best be off. I hope y'all have a great week and especially Mom have a great birthday! Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "The light bulb! Without it Roger won't be able to keep warm!"

"Roger! Without him the light bulb will have nothing to warm!"

7-8-13

Hey even robots need the gospel. This guy doesn't have a heart. He didn't even want to listen to me :(.

Family,

How's the life? How was high adventure? I loved getting your e-mails about what happened this past week. Too bad you weren't able to find the geode paths. I hope you'll be able to next time. Oh, now that Cody's back, could you send me a copy of EFY 2013? That would be sweet. All right now time to tell you about my week. 

So Monday was good. The whole week, actually was super fun having Elder Hellbusch here. He has energized the companionship a ton and is super funny. Anyways, Monday, we had a good lesson with this guy we're teaching. He and his wife are super nice.  I love to see their progression in the learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about baptism a bit and will invite him hopefully this week. On Tuesday we did not have district meeting, but rather we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went up to Wichita with Elders Skidmore and Stopper. They're in a trio too. We didn't do much proselyting but what we did do was work with the members. That's what our zone leaders are really trying to push for: member missionary work. So if you go on LDS.org you'll find the extra videos from the broadcast a couple of weeks ago. We've been showing them to members and I hope it'll help our members show how to be missionaries and invite their friends and neighbors to listen to the restored gospel. 

When I was on exchanges, we went out with a 17 year old who is on the fence deciding whether or not to serve a mission. So we actually taught him the restoration so that his testimony could get stronger and help him understand enough to where he could teach his non-member girlfriend about the church. So that was a cool experience. 

On Wednesday, we had our interviews with the mission president. I tried to perform my training but everyone was going in and out of district meeting so no one really got it. I will probably do the same training next district meeting as I did for the previous one. I had my interview with President Bell and told him that I knew his nephew in the Fleming park ward. So that was cool to see a familiarity with him. He's really cool and hard working. I think once he gets the hang of things, he'll be a great leader and president for us. Now I don't regard him as much as I do president Keyes. But I think that'll soon change. As interviews were about to end, the zone leaders took me aside and really pounded into me that we absolutely need to get a ward mission plan going or else there will no longer be a Wellington ward in 15-20 years. They were bold about it too. So that's something I've really been focusing on here lately. Elder Allen, when he was on exchanges down here, helped the 1st counselor of our bishopric get started on a ward mission plan. We don't have a ward mission leader so we're just going to have to rely on the bishopric to get this done. That'll be tough because our bishopric has so many other things to focus on. Hopefully they find time to get it going. Of course we'll play a part in it, don't worry. 

Thursday was the 4th of July and also my year mark for flying out here. We had a nice day that day teaching our less actives and other investigators. We had dinner at a member's house down in Anthony that was shooting off fireworks as we ate. So it was a huge partay. All the family was there. We also saw this one less active guy that is really struggling with himself because he knows he needs to go back to church but just doesn't have a ride. So that's why he's trying to move to Wellington to be able to have access to more rides. Oh, earlier that day, we had Elder Hellbusch meet this potential investigator we have. He is nice but has strange views on life to no matter what you say, he won't believe it. He gave us brats and a Dr. Pepper too. It was hot that day. That's the first caffeinated beverage I've had since November. I've never had Dr. Pepper but it was pretty good. I've been trying to drink less soda and more water. So I think that's a good habit to make now instead of later. Especially since water is cheaper. 

Friday we got the call that Elder Dansie and I are both training missionaries next transfer. I will be training a brand new one down here in Wellington and Elder Dansie is going up to the Manhattan 1st ward to mid-train someone. On Friday we also had a great lesson with that guy we taught on Monday. He has committed to come to church this coming Sunday. So I'm excited to see him finally come. So with this new training assignment, it will be my 3rd son. I hope to be able to help him on the right path because this time last year was about the time period that I met Elder Clare. He was awesome; so therefore I need to be awesome. 

Saturday was the day we were to go up to Wichita (for the third time in the week) for the trainers meeting with President Bell and the AP's (Elders Taylor, Stratton, and Herbert). The meeting was great! There are a lot of new missionaries coming in (23, I believe) so it will be fun to meet some of them with this next upcoming zone meeting on Friday. Later on Saturday, we went down to Caldwell. During the day we had a baptist preacher guy scream at me specifically that I'm going to he** double hockey sticks. He wasn't nice. He said it because we had a 94 year old investigator who we met tracting. She told her pastor she didn't want to meet with us anymore and therefore he came by and said stop "bothering" her or he'd call the police. Well I kind of argued with him. He wasn't nice. It just baffles me to see so many Christians be so mean to us like that. I just try to hold back because (even though it may not happen) in D&C 121 the Lord talks to Joseph Smith and tells him that the hopes of his enemies shall be "melted away as the hoar frost before the rising of the sun" or something like that. So it's up to the Lord to decide what to do with these kinds of people. 

After dinner with a family with 6 kids under the age of 8, we saw one less active guy who we often see. He wants to come back to church but is afraid he'll be excommunicated because of some of the tings he's done. And believe me, he's told us those things. Hopefully he doesn't but it looks like he might. It's just up to him to decide to come back to church or not. 

Sunday was a hot and tough day physically. I was fasting about talking to people and having the courage to talk to everyone. It was 100+ degrees yesterday and waking around in that with no water was tough. We managed to survive as we made it to dinner. Elder Dansie has been in bed all day today, though, with what we think is heat exhaustion. Hopefully he gets better. Well that's pretty much my week! I know that this work is true with all my heart. I'm sure that I'm forgetting something, but we'll just have to wait and see. I got your brownies. They weren't smushed at all. They are still good too. Just a few crumbs in the bag. 

That is great that Ashley just got married! The McMullins must be having a great summer with so many kids succeeding in life and school. So many people I know need the gospel again but don't know where to find their testimony. Hopefully our testimony and especially our reaching out to those individuals with love will help them. This week will be interesting but I'll give you an accounting. Until then, love

Elder Sutherland

PS: "Welcome to our cluuuuuub! Welcome to our cluuuuuub! Welcome Squidward! Welcome Squidward! Welcome Squidward! Welcome Squidward! Welcome Squidward! Welcome Squidward!"

"ENOUGH!!!!!"

7-1-13

Family,

Well this has been an eventful week. One filled with trials and yet many blessings. On Monday, we finally got the oil changed. We were supposed to get it at 7500 miles but waited until almost 10000 to get it changed. 2 weeks ago we set the appointment for last week and finally got it done. We got a picture of the odometer changing to 10000 on our phone so that was cool. That night, we taught a lesson with a member present at one of these newer investigators of ours. they are an older couple and helped them move some stuff down in Caldwell like a month ago. The lesson went really well as the spirit was strong. Our member is soooooo good at bearing testimony while being a friend. He's probably the best at doing that in our ward. They said we'd read and pray but didn't invite them to church. We're going to let the spirit of the message work on them a little bit before we go in for the kill.

On Tuesday we had our district meeting in Wichita. I taught about helping our investigators understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I don't know if it helped because our entire district didn't have one person come to church. We've really been struggling with that recently and our zone leaders are trying to correlate with the district leaders to help in that regard. We've also been struggling a lot with members presents. With so many people moving out of our ward (including the Leavitt's as we found out yesterday) we are losing callings to fill. We need a ward mission plan and without a ward mission leader, it's pretty tough to do that.
Later on Tuesday, we exercised our priesthood and gave 2 blessings to individuals seeking the Lord's guidance. I was grateful to help. The priesthood has really opened my eyes to the vastness of God's power and creations. As the hymn says, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me." Without the priesthood, there would be nothing. That's how everything in the creation was organized. It's just amazing to see how people don't understand HOW the Earth was created (or by what power) but just know the WHAT. We also taught a couple other lessons that Tuesday night to newer investigators.

Wednesday was the first of 2 blistering hot days. It got up to like 105 on Wednesday and we had to walk around everywhere (stupid miles). We stopped at this one inactive lady's house who's been a member for her whole life but fell away when she left the house. She's now married to this guy who is the assistant pastor at the local Pentecostal church. I never back down to a challenge because I've heard of preachers being baptized before. Sometimes it takes someone else, though. It was quite interesting to talk to him because his doctrine is different than ours. He knows a lot about Christ's church but disagrees with it. We explained but he waved it off. He is nice, though! He gave us water! It's just a shame to see how far Satan has taken God's children off the straight and narrow path. He sure is good at what he does. After our day of proselyting, we got a call from the AP's telling us that we would be getting a new missionary for about a week and a half because his companion is a visa waiter and needs to be in a mission with an international airport. So President Keyes would be coming down and picking them up to take them back to the Missouri side of the mission. That would happen on Saturday (I'll get into that later).

Thursday was much of the same as Wednesday. We spent the first part of the day in Harper and taught a couple of less active lessons. They said they'd try to make it to church but didn't. Pity. Thursday, I heard it got up to like 109, 110, 111 degrees! With humidity! And we were walking around in that all day. It wasn't too bad once you got used to it (like a swimming pool) but was still hot. It was like Wamego last summer. We had to walk all over during our bike week because...I either didn't have a bike or it was broken. Anyways, after talking to one less active lady who wants to come back to  church (she's watching her granddaughter and taking care of them on Sundays and is so tired once the weekend rolls around that she never makes it), we drove down to Anthony to have dinner at a restaurant down there named the Cancun: a Mexican that has place that has only Mexicans working there. While we were eating, however, a sudden storm blew in and the wind was so hard that I seriously thought there was a tornado around. But there was no siren. Just heavy winds and light rain. We sought shelter but then got a message saying you still need to be out proselyting if there's no siren. So, out we went. We had called the zone leaders already and then President Keyes telling him about us staying downstairs but no response. So we just left and proselyted for the rest of the evening. During a lesson with one of our investigators, we had the power go out. It was out for like 10-15 minutes. But for Wichita, the power is still out as I type this. Apparently the winds up there got up to like 80 miles an hour or so. It blew trees down all over the place, tore roofs off, and did more damage than the tornadoes did of last month. But the storm soon subsided where we were without too much damage. So the temperature that day went from 111 to 70 in less than an hour. Crazy, huh?

Friday was an interesting day. Our main highlight was teaching this one guy who is a young biker. He is dating this one girl who lives up in Ottawa, Kansas. Apparently the situation is pretty serious because she said if he's going to marry him, they are going to have to be sealed together. He was wondering how to do that and was told to get in contact with us. So I was afraid it was one of those "flirt to convert" situations but made sure he understood the importance and significance of joining the church. After sharing the restoration with him, we invited him to baptism. He said no and after explaining authority he still said no. He believed that his baptist pastor had the authority to baptize him. He later texted us and asked if he needed to join the church to be sealed. I said yes and was quite bold with him.... He never answered back. During the lesson, I felt like I wasn't teaching well enough but later realized that the thing that was missing was the spirit. So I've been trying to be better at that since then. After a few other lessons throughout the day, we went home.

Saturday we had an appointment fall through in the morning so we just went home and made some calls before heading up to Wichita to pick up the new Elder, Elder Hellbusch, and his companion going to Brazil, Elder LaPray. We then went to the 13th street building to wait for President Keyes to pick them up. It was tough to say goodbye one last time to President Keyes as our mission president. Before my mission I thought he would be there for the whole duration of my mission. But little did I know what the Lord had in mind last October in general conference thus needing to expand for more missions for the missionaries to fit in and therefore more mission presidents. I hear President Bell is super cool. I will be meeting him this Wednesday so I am excited about that. After the goodbyes we left to get Elder Hellbusch's stuff and then back to the Wellington area. Elder Hellbusch just turned 21 this past week and has been out for 19 months. He's from Denver, Colorado and loves skating (just like Dallin!). He also went to BYU-Idaho for 2 semesters for fall 2010 and summer 2011. So I just missed him! But he's super cool and has already bolstered our companionship with a great spirit. He sure has a strong testimony and great ability to not only teach the gospel, but teach by the spirit. So I'm trying to take his example and use it for my own work. I need to lose my pride. So I'll be working on that this week.

While at one of our recent convert's house, our phone fell out of Elder Dansie's pocket without him realizing it. So we were without a phone for about 24 hours. I tell you, being without a phone for that long is quite tough. But we were without one for like a week when I first got here, so no biggy, right? I could tell this was going to be a great week and a half until transfers with Elder Hellbusch by the great lessons we taught with him. On Sunday, a fifth Sunday, we had a productive ward council meeting. But during sacrament meeting, however, one of our older members gave a 35 minute monologue talk about a missionary experience while she was in Arkansas. I didn't really understand the whole gist of it. But I am sure she did which is the most important thing. Our Bishop was out of town and left everyone totally unprepared for our fifth Sunday third hour lesson. So after a good Sunday school lesson, brother Leavitt taught a "wing it" lesson. It was about preparedness and all that was talked about most of the time was food storage. I thought it was quite intriguing, believe it or not. Everyone was engaged and involved. I'm not a food storage buff but it was cool. Proselyting for the rest of the day was great! We taught a couple other lessons and met new people. Hopefully we can continue in helping others come closer to Christ as this week begins. I will be meeting President Bell on Wednesday at a special meet and greet with him. So I am excited and look forward to it. So yep! That was my week for you!

How was the trip to Blythe? Is Jayson's hearing better? How was Cody's last EFY? I truly enjoy hearing about your week because it helps me know that my prayers aren't going unnoticed. Dad, that's funny that that one guy's last name really is engineer. Why can't my last name be like "baseball player" or something that would guarantee a spot in the majors? Haha, just kidding. I did hear about the overruling of prop 8. When you described the details, I thought about Christ's last night in mortality and how many things the lawyers and judgers and stuff did that were against the law. Stupid California. Why are you so retarded? We won the vote fair and square. Hey, why don't they do the same thing they did for prop 8 and do it for the US president election? Now, wouldn't that be nice? Was the UT like: "take that, Mormons!"? I bet they were. I'm so glad I'm on my mission and don't hear about all this stuff. I'm sure stuff happens everyday that I don't want to hear about. But anyways, I best be off. I hope y'all have a great week! Talk to you soon! Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "I am a musical instrument with speed and aromance."

-Mater the tow truck

6-24-13

Family,

FYI my new address is:

7011 E 13th st. N.

Wichita, KS 67206

So DON'T send any more mail to the independence address because I won't get it. And a missionary with no mail is a sad missionary. I saw the picture that Mom sent me of Pennie and realize how old she is. I see dogs here (including wiener dogs) that are still young and brown faced so looking at Pennie is weird. But anyways the broadcast yesterday was super awesome! Seeing all those missionaries singing was sweet! Just think, that was me a year ago! So this is the second mission president's seminar in a row that I was able to watch. I attended last year in person at the MTC gym (the room is named M-1). I'll get into it here in my big letter. But let me tell you about my week. It was one of the most memorable weeks of my mission thus far. 

On Monday we decided to be more obedient than we have been and go to Wellington to shop instead of shopping on Fridays. We also scheduled an appointment to change the oil in our car for today. We taught one lesson that night to a couple we helped move some stuff for down in Caldwell a couple of weeks ago. They go to another church but welcomed us in. They also accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said they'd read it. So yay! That was pretty much the extent of our day. Tuesday was the big day. We woke up at 5 to leave at 6:30 (you know how long it takes me to get ready in the morning. Especially that early in the morning). We were to be at the Derby stake center (the new mission office) at 7:30. We got a mini tour of the new mission office and took some pictures with President Keyes. We also saw the new mission home just a few miles from the mission office. It's a super nice home and big too. President Bell will be arriving this Friday. After the tours, pictures, and a few words from president Keyes, we were off to Liberty on the Charter buses. Having experience with many car trips to Provo from SD, the drive felt like nothing and we arrived. They had reserved the whole temple for this special day, getting special permission from Salt Lake to do so. I checked my temple recommend in to a guy from the Fleming Park ward, Brother Phelps. It was good to see him again. After waiting for everyone to check in, I was the first one up the stairs and into a locker to change into my whites. We had a wonderful endowment session. Every single seat was full. Is it a new thing that the church is separating  the telestial and terrestrial rooms? I feel like that's the trend in new temples. But maybe that's just me. This temple only had 1 endowment room, I'm pretty sure. But I loved feeling the spirit of the Lord's house again. It's been a little under a year since I was able to go into the Lord's house. It was a great experience being in the celestial room with President and Sister Keyes and so many missionaries, exceeding the amount of persons allowed in this one room. I will never forget that sight. After changing, we went to the Liberty stake center for about an hour of singing and testimonies. The sisters from the Independence visitor's center came and sang the new Kansas, Wichita mission song, written by a missionary in the Independence side. The spirit was so so so so so strong. Elder Dansie (not to embarrass him) was a waterfall of tears. President and Sister Keyes were crying like crazy, and the rest of the missionaries made an encore of sniffs. Then the sisters sang "God be with you 'til we meet again." Again, tears were flowing. After testimonies from the newly called AP's Elder Taylor and Elder Stratton, we all loaded on the buses and departed. We saw president and Sister Keyes on the sidewalk waving and crying while doing so. We drove through Salina and down to Wichita on the way back, the super long way. It was awesome to be able to speak to the Wamego Elders that are serving there now. A lot has changed since I've been there. We got down to Wichita at 11:30. I tell you what, I was tired. It was an hour after my bedtime and we still had to drive home. The AP's then told us to sleep at the Auburn Hill's basement that they live in. So we obeyed (good thing too because it was getting super stormy out there) and slept in our church clothes with no toothbrush or mouth-guard or anything on a couch that curves, making it quite uncomfortable. We got permission from our mission president that we could sleep in the next morning. I fell asleep after 12:30 and slept until 7:30 the next morning. We wanted to get home and shower and stuff. It was a great trip and probably the best memory I have on my mission thus far. Later, we got back to the daily grind. We met this former investigator who said he's "taking a break" from religion for a while. I thought that was interesting how he said that. But that was the extent of our day. I fell asleep before 10:50 that night and didn't wake up once, which never ever happens, until 6:30. I was dead tired (I mean DEAD tired) for the next 3 hours or so. I feel better now, thankfully. That day was pretty uneventful, other than us walking around all day. So let's just skip to Friday, shall we? It wasn't too much of an eventful day either. But we did get some high-potential investigators. I hope they start investigating because they will need the gospel. Saturday was a pretty blah day too. It being wheat harvest season, Caldwell was a town with a hustle and bustle of farm equipment and trucks. It's kind of cool to see those columbines cut the wheat. Did you know Kansas produces the most wheat out of any state in the US, therefore the world? And did you know that Sumner county (the county I'm in) produces the most wheat out of any county in the state? It's true. We drive by a lot of bread on our way to certain places. We went out to South Haven that day too. I've never been out there because it's so far away. But it was cool to be able to meet some people too. Most of them, seemingly, aren't interested. But we met this one lady that lives in Wellington  that seemed pretty interested. Hopefully we can catch her and tie her down so that she can listen to our message. Sunday was another great day. We used no miles yesterday so anytime you can do that, that makes it a pretty darn good day. We had ward conference so President Williams, the Wichita stake President, came to ward council. He seems like a really great man. He gave some great insight on how to bring back less active individuals by talking about the savior and His mission. He also spoke in sacrament meeting talking about the same thing. He was talking by the spirit, we could all tell even though he had an Ipad, he was just going by what we needed to hear. What a talented speaker that is. We also had our monthly potluck after church which comprised of pulled pork. It was quite good. After walking around in the heat and proselyting for the next couple of hours, it was time to return back to the church for the broadcast. Not many people showed up for it. But I absolutely loved the broadcast. It was such a wake-up call to our ward leaders here to get a ward mission plan going and a ward mission leader called. When it was talking about the ward down in Oklahoma and how they were getting 2-4 member presents per week, that's exactly what we're getting right now. Hopefully we can get the ward involved enough to be granted some miracles. It will be a great day when a member is excited to show us their friend they brought to church with them. The spirit of God was there and we were very happy to be able to be touched by it. The whole night, I felt like the people of King Benjamin who said that they believed all of his words. I just didn't have a tent to point to the temple. Well, this was an amazing week and I am glad to be a representative of Jesus Christ at this time bringing the world His truth one person at a time. Let me know if you have any questions about my week or something to the point.

Sounds like you had a busy week this week. Now that school AND work is out, it's time to partay, right? Thanks for the pictures of the geodes. I probably should've known that but whatever. Wow! That's so cool that Jaromy along with a couple others got home from their missions! I bet they're happy. Is he going to Montana as a set apart missionary or just him? You never told me if the Hepworths were moving back in or not. From the looks of it, it sounded like they were. Keep up the member missionary work everybody! I hope y'all have a great week and bring many souls unto Christ. Love you!

Elder Sutherland

PS: "Patrick, may I take your order?!"

"I'll have a...uhhhh.....*snore*"

Snap snap snap; "Patrick, go be stupid somewhere else."

"Uh uh uh, Mr. Squidward."

"The ceiling is right, Squidward. You're not a very good employee."

"Ugh. Fine. May I take your order?!"

...

"Squidward, just remember: POOP."

"Patrick, may I suggest you order a Krabby Patty"

"Good idea, Squidward. One Krabby Patty please."

Sigh. "Is that for here or to go? DOH!"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh............"

Smash smash smash smash.

"It's all right, Mr. Squidward. We'll sheck on these 2 later."

Sorry, Cody for slaughtering that quote. I just remember the part where Patrick says the ceiling is right. That's one classic episode.

6-17-13

Family,

So I got the Harvester this last week and wrote you a little note along with it. I think I also wrote the wrong date too but I think you can figure it out. So sounds like y'all had a good week. I had a pretty good one too. I'll get into it in a minute. Well I might as well get into it now. 

Well Monday was just another Monday. The weather here is starting to get hot again. After P-day last Monday we went to Mayfield and did a little tracting where we met this one guy from Kirkland, Washington. He was nice but said he'd never become a Mormon. Well don't worry we'll change that. He said he needed us to leave because the K-State baseball game was coming on. I respected that and said we would return later. We also had an appointment fall through that night too but whatever. On Tuesday we had our monthly zone meeting at the Wichita stake center. The building is about a year old so it's awesome to have a super nice new building to have meetings in. I learned about the atonement. But unfortunately I didn't pay attention as much as I should've so didn't get much from the meeting. I then went on exchanges after the meeting with the Auburn Hills Elders. I was with Elder Stein in their area for the day. Nothing much happened other than the super heat until dinner time where we went to this one member's house who had a huge blue parrot. It was flirting with me for the longest time and squawking at me. It got on my shoulders (they got a picture of it and sent it to me but I didn't get it for some reason) and danced around then started to pinch me. It was funny but kind of annoying. After dinner we went to this one headquarters referral house. They were a nice couple but the husband dominated most of the conversation (pretty much all of it, actually). That was pretty much our Tuesday. On Wednesday we had a pretty slow day. We ate at pizza hut then went to a lesson with the investigators that we have on baptismal date. Since we don't have any active members anymore in that city, it is difficult for us to get a team-up there. So this time we did our best with what we had. Thursday was the big day. My year mark. I was thinking throughout the day "this time last year I was...." I don't think I should've been doing that but whatever, it happens. We had a very interesting lesson with one of our best investigators. He told us that he'll never be able to be baptized for certain reasons even though he wants to. So that was a bummer. But it feels good now to tell people: "Yeah I've been out a year." Oh, also Elder Dansie and I decided to fast in preparation for the temple tomorrow. So from Thursday lunch to Friday at lunch we fasted that we'd be able to have a spiritual experience. Hopefully we can because I know the Lord will grant us our desire according to His will. I'm super excited to go to the Kansas City temple tomorrow. I haven't been to the temple in over a year so this should be awesome. I'll be tired because we have to wake up at 5 but it'll be super fun. It just might be the most memorable experience on my mission other than the Gladys Knight event back in October on my 4-month mark. These 2 will be highlights to look back to. Friday we broke our fasts and went to Belle Plaine first then went to Wellington. We have an investigator who, if you knock on the door, you better hope it's him because his Mom and Grandma hate us for some reason not known to me. Well his Mom answered this time and shooed us off without giving us a chance to speak, really. That night we had chili for dinner. So I threw as much cheese, fritos, and sour cream as I could on there to dilute the beans. It worked but I ran out of the good stuff and just left the rest of the beans at the bottom of the bowl. So chili is no good for you. One of our investigators, when he was found 2 years ago or so, had a huge drugs/smoking and drinking problem. Now he's cut down to only a couple cigarettes a day. He's quitting all this stuff so that he can be baptized. He quit coffee just last week so YAY! But he hasn't come to church ever since I've been here. He didn't come yesterday either even though he texted us yesterday morning telling us that he would be there. It's tough but it happens, I guess. That's the toughest part about this area. People just aren't that committed to following up on their invitations. Saturday was a little weird. We were walking around, as usual, to save miles. But while we were doing so, one of those San Diego rain storms happened where it absolutely pours for like 15 minutes and then stops suddenly. A few minutes later, it was blue skies again. I thought that was super strange. Nobody was home down there in Caldwell so it was a pretty tough day despite finding a new investigator that is 94 years old. She's super nice and has lots of potential. On Sunday we didn't have a single investigator at church. The one that came last week didn't come because she was sick. She has super bad social anxiety so she doesn't even want you to look at her when you walk in. We have some great fellowship for her, though. So I think she will be baptized eventually but it may take a year or so. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. We almost ran out of gas yesterday too but had just enough to make it home. Good thing we have a gas station in Argonia with relatively cheap prices. We didn't buy any so just went home. When we got home, the member we were living with was watching the NBA finals again. It was very difficult to ignore especially since my favorite team was playing. I seriously think the church should ban TV on Sunday; unless it's something on BYU TV or something like that. But yep! That was the gist of my week!

Of course you guys went to a Padres game. But how could you be late! AND you left early? But I'm sure it was fun. So Cody's taking AP Calculus next year, huh? Good luck. I didn't like that class but since math is Cody's best subject (other than PE) I guess go for it! Say hi to Dallin and Erin for me! And Caitlin and Billy too. Hey question to Dad or whoever can answer this for me. What's a geode? I got that e-mail from Alex and appreciated the advice he gave to me. Well I hope y'all have a great week, now! Until next time! Sorry for it being a little short. Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "When your cable doesn't work, you get angry.

When you get angry, you go blow off steam.

When you go blow off steam, accidents happen.

When accidents happen, you get an eye patch.

When you get an eye patch, people think you're tough.

When people think you're tough, people want to see how tough.

And when people want to see how tough, you wake up in a roadside ditch.

Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of cable and switch to DirecTV."

6-10-13

Here's a couple of pictures from the sunset the other day. It was absolutely pouring on Saturday and the sun looked cool through the clouds there too but I had to slow down because it was raining so hard so I couldn't take any pictures. Besides, there were trees blocking the way. The other picture is a picture of someone's yard name sign that looks like it says poop. And as far as I know, that's what it says. I didn't get close enough to read it. There people in the window too. I thought it was hilarious and thought you guys would enjoy that. We also saw a license plate that said "POOP C" on it. It was funny.

Family,

Yes Mom, my name is hard for not only little kids to say but also adults. It's funny sometimes. I'm doing pretty good. This has been a week of miracles. I won't hesitate to begin so let's do this.

So Monday was a ho-hum kind of day. We went over to Mayfield and Milan to see some of our potential investigators and other investigators. Monday night, however, we got some BIG news! As a part of zone conference next week, President Keyes has received permission from Salt Lake and the Kansas City temple presidency to have us ride in charter buses up to the temple and go through a session! I'm way excited to be able to serve in the temple again especially since I haven't been there since last June! President Keyes loves us and we love him. With the mission split coming up I'm excited to be able to have this event. I'm not sure if there will be another event similar to this now that this will be the Kansas Wichita mission. We won't have a temple in our mission anymore. Sadface. I don't know all the details for the trip quite yet but will know tomorrow at zone meeting. I was so happy when I heard this call because you probably know how much I loved serving in the temple before my mission. Now I get to do it again. Tuesday was a good day too. Our district meeting was filled with the spirit. I trained on the spirit, coincidentally, and I could tell everyone was inspired. The zone leaders also attended the meeting. Later during our proselyting time, we had a super solid investigator drop us. It was heart breaking. Spouses sometimes can be so hesitant or more resistant than the other. We also got one of our investigators to commit to come to church yesterday. She did come and we were happy! She has a crazy sleeping schedule and has social anxiety but we got her there. Later that day, we were trying potentials when the husband of this one lady answered the door. His wife said evenings were the best time for them. We talked a bit about the restoration to her husband at the door and then was bearing testimony about how Joseph Smith was a prophet. At that moment, I can't remember what he said but it was something rude and then he slammed the door in our face. That was so much fun! Wednesday was a day that could have been a long one but turned out being a good one. We didn't see too many people especially since it had rained the night before. So we decided to go to a town that Both Elder Dansie and I have never been to out in Attica. We used lots of miles that day but ti was worth it as we found a couple of good potentials. Later that day in Harper, we had a lesson with these 2 new investigators we found. They are a super young couple with a 2 year old and an 8 or 9 week old. They have been prepared to hear the gospel. We taught them lesson 1 and invited them to baptism. Even though they didn't say yes, I could tell that we left something for them to think about and consider in the future. The Lord sure blessed us that day. After weekly planning on Thursday, we went to see a less active couple out in Harper. They have lots of cats, including cute baby kittens. But it was funny how it reminded me of how Caitlin and Billy were living in DC. I don't know what it was in there but all of a sudden I was sneezing all over the place. I'm not allergic to cats but it was bad how I reacted to whatever was in there. That event made me feel a little sick the rest of the day. After, since our next appointment fell through, we went down to Anthony to go see the investigator who wants to be baptized but can't unless he comes to church. He doesn't have a vehicle to transport himself and his ride bails out on him every single week, it seems like. But anyways we had a nice lesson with him. Earlier in the week, he wanted me to use his chainsaw to help him cut down some tree branches that blew over the night before. I've never used a chainsaw before and was a little scared. I didn't use it very long when he said that I do it wrong and will injure myself badly if I don't do it right. So he just did the job himself. Friday for lunch I had a soda with my meal and as a result was super super super super super tired from the sugar crash for the next couple of hours. That includes when I was driving too. So it was hard for me to pay attention when we were talking to some of our less actives. But I eventually got over it and helped people build their testimony. Later, we taught one of our newest investigators the restoration. His Grandma and Mom weren't too fond of us so we had to go teach him by his car instead of on his porch. He said he might come to church but he didn't. That was pretty much the whole day. Not too many people were available. The next day (oh by the way waking up in the morning has been super tough in the near pitch black of our basement) on Saturday we went down to Caldwell. But today was a really slow day. Nobody was home and we were walking around all day in order to save miles. We met some nice people and we met some not so nice people. One nice person we found out was moving to Redlands, California. The not so nice guy we talked to boldly told us that Joseph Smith was NOT a prophet. I mean he made sure we understood him. All I did was bear solemn and humble testimony that I know he was a prophet. People like that confuse me because they say they're Christian but don't treat us missionaries like that. If say a Jehovah's Witness knocked on my door, I'd let them in to share what they had to say. But this guy just pounded us with what I'm sure his pastor told him and how he was raised. Free agency can be frustrating at times. We also met this one lady that really shook my testimony because of the "advice" she gave us. But that one guy strengthened my testimony. Hopefully I can continue on and be a strength to those who want to denounce the church of God. Then after dinner we went to Milan and talked to a less active there who told us his life story. We read the book of Enos with him and he said that was just what he needed to hear. So the spirit does some amazing things. It was pouring rain when we left to drive home. But hey, we got a free car wash! It was fun driving through gutters with high water levels. Sunday was a pretty good day too. But church was super boring. We had one investigator attend church and even though that was great, one of these Sundays, we'll see 4 walk through those doors. Sunday night we talked to this less active couple who just recently moved from South Carolina and have a sweet southern accent. They said they will be at church next Sunday. So yeah! That was the extent of my week! Now I'm here!

Yay! Jayson finally got a haircut! I'm so proud of you, bro! Keep up the good work until school finally gets out! I never did the square dancing thing in 2nd grade because we were in Seattle. I was happy about that too, haha. I want to know how Cody's finals go. Wait, I keep forgetting to ask: Did Cody take the APES AP test? I remember I did and felt like I did really well on it but got a 1 on it. I think I accidentally skipped a question but didn't skip it on the score sheet. Ashley McMullin is getting MARRIED! I didn't know that! Maybe I did but I just don't remember. Who's the guy that she's marrying? Sorry about your trophy, Jayce. One of my t-ball trophies has a broken ball on the tee so I know how you feel. Oh and tell Caitlin and Billy I'm going to try and write them back today but I have many letters to catch up on so we'll see. Tell Dallin I love him and want him to come back to church so that he can live with God again. I miss you and pray for each of you every night. Have a great week! I hit my year mark this Thursday, the last day of school! Until next week. Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS:"But Mike, the Boo-mobile's in trouble."

"You're still not listening."

GASP

"Welcome to the Himalayas. Snowcone?"

"Oh boy, that abominable snowplow sure is great."

Sorry for botching it, Cody. I'm sure you can say it right.

6-3-13

Family,

This was a pretty good week. The weather has been really nice to us and I am really grateful for that because it was hot the week before, haha! I got a letter from Caitlin and Billy and also another one from Tyler Winston. I thank them for the letters. 

All right, on Monday all we had was a great lesson with one of our most promising investigators. We also had a team-up that was able to come (finally). But that was the extent of our Monday night. It being P-Day, nothing else really happened. Since it was transfer week, we didn't have district meeting on Tuesday. So we went up to Wellington and just had a normal day up there. First we did some service for a less active guy in our ward. (We did like 4-5 hours of service this week and almost stuff every day). He needed help tearing out these trees whose seeds blew over from his neighbor's yard. He had tons of them. The roots were so far down underground that it was going to take all week to get all of these things out! So after tearing out a couple of them, we stopped. We accidentally left some roots in there too. So hopefully they don't grow back. He had 2 options. 1, keep his garden and tear out all the trees or 2, administer poison to his whole garden to kill the trees and everything in it and wait 10 years for it to recover. After realizing that it would take lots of our time and his effort, he decided to do the latter. I got super sweaty from this and it reminded me of doing yard work at home. The trees kind of reminded me of the tree behind the shed. Is the tree still there or did you take it out? So yeah. After changing, I got super tired and we went over to Belle Plaine anyways. Later in the day we had a good lesson with one of our top investigators. She's been struggling to come to church because she stays up all night smoking up a storm and sleeps all day. So that doesn't help. Although we got her all ready to go last Sunday and the member that came and picked her up didn't knock loud enough. So she wasn't there. That night (Tuesday night) we got our transfer calls. Only a total of 46 missionaries in the whole mission were affected by this transfer. And we weren't affected at all. I'm still with Elder Dansie. The only missionaries that were affected by this change in our district was the Auburn Hills Elders. It came kind of at a surprise to them but it happens...just as it did to me in Wamego. Wednesday was another day filled with service. First we had an appointment in Bluff City that fell through. Then we had service with another less active. We were going to help him install a car cover but the wood he didn't have the wood he needed. So he just had us help him install an outdoor shed. He had everything up except the floor and the door. So we just helped with the door on a blustery day in the hundred acre wood. Their neighbors had pet ducks and roosters so it was fun to listen to their cute little noises. It was really rainy that night but I enjoy Kansas storms out here. Later after dinner we talked to this one less active guy that lives in Harper. He told us that he is going to another church with his wife. I was heart-broken as he said that. Why don't people just get it? Moroni told us that there will be many churches these days that will seek to get gain and be proud in their hearts. The state of the world today is quite alarming. On Thursday we had simply EVERYTHING fall through. We did, however, talk to this one less active couple that hates our current Bishop because of money. After scheduling appointments, going down to Anthony, and trying everything we possibly could, dinner with the Leavitt's finally arrived. Later, we saw one of our potential investigators. He has a bad sailor's mouth but enjoys us. I think he's hilarious...not when he swears, just when he talks to his neighbors. His one neighbor ran inside when he saw him approaching with us. But another one of his neighbors was really nice to us and actually turned into one of our newest investigators. He's Mennonite but we shared a little about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read and pray about it to which he agreed. I was also exposed to have him tell us about the NBA Eastern conference finals. I hate it when people tell us about sports. You can talk about the sport but not professional please. That was the extent of our Thursday. Friday we were in Wellington again. We had a good lesson with our recent convert (although she didn't come to church!) and then a little later with another recent convert. We read 2 Nephi 25 with him. Reading that with him really solidified my testimony of the Savior. Isn't it a good one? We went tracting later on and were very successful in finding a couple new investigators. One of which seems very promising. We have an appointment with them tomorrow at 5 so hopefully it goes well. We also taught a couple other people on the same street. It was nice to actually sit down and talk about the gospel to people. Even if they aren't really interested in the gospel, it's nice to plant that seed, you know?

After tracting, we were over to one of our investigators to help her move. She's moving to Midland, Texas with her family. She was going to be baptized for sure had she stayed but she's moving now so we'll hope everything goes well down there in Texas. Mom, are you familiar with Midland at all? I was just wondering. She and her fiancee were looking through their wardrobe when they found this Chargers jersey. He being a huge Raiders fan said chuck it. He got it as a joke back when he lived in California for his birthday. His friend was a big Chargers fan. So lo and behold it ends up in my hands! Even though it's LaDanian Tomlinson, I'll take it. It cost I'm sure like $130 so I'm happy, haha! We helped move her stuff into a storage unit and it all fit!. On Saturday we went down to Caldwell. This is where I saw the Lord's hand working. We were walking through town when we walked past this auction. There was a man on the side of the house which we were walking who was trying to get an organ into the horse trailer of his truck by himself. We offered to help which he gladly accepted. He also needed help putting this fridge and stove in there too. He got all this for probably a total of $12. He was super grateful and his wife offered us like $20 but we refused, of course. There were lots of people there so it was great to have so many eyes see the good that we were doing. Perhaps that will lead to some new investigators. We had several new investigators that we taught that night in Wellington after dinner. Sunday we had nobody at church. We could've sworn we were going to have at least a couple there. But nope. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday too so, yeah. Ward council was kind of frustrating because we didn't get to give a report on our week and make assignments for this week. We need to do better preparation when it comes to ward council and team-ups anyways. After church, all of our appointments fell through in Harper. But we did have some cool people that we met and look forward to get to know them better along the way. So, yep! That was my week for you.

Does school get out this week? Are you all eager for the summer coming up? How's Pennie? Sorry if I haven't answered some of your questions. I tend to forget sometimes or space out. I was going to ask you to have you ask the missionaries there about something, but I can't remember now. I should've written it down. Are the Hepworth's moving back in? Let me know what's new! Well I hope you have a great week and enjoy your time off of school!

Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: Last one of these, I promise. Cody can check me on this one because I'm not sure it's 100% correct.

"Well I married my dream girl. I married my dream girl. But she didn't tell me her credit was bad.

So now instead of living in a pleasant suburb, we're living in the basement at her...Mom and Dad's.

For we can't get a loan for a respectable home; all because my girl defaulted on some old credit cards.

So if we'd go to freecreditreport.com, I'd be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard."

5-27-13

Family,

I'm so glad to hear about the weekend's events. Is Little League already done? I remember it went into June. As I've said, I'm so proud of Cody and how he did this past weekend. Were there any other Westview athletes that did well? How has the Westview baseball team been doing, if you know? That's just exciting to hear everything about everything. I met a guy yesterday who's the same grade as Cody who just moved from South Carolina and plays football, wrestling, and baseball. He's being recruited by like 24 schools to play football for them! That includes LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, K-State, Oregon, and other big name football schools. He had a broken foot so hopefully he'll be able to heal in time. I feel bad for him because he's moving to a high school out here whose high school football programs don't even compare to those in South Carolina. Have you ever heard of Da'quan Bowers? He was supposed to be a first round draft pick out of Clemson a couple of years ago but instead got picked in the second round. Well he's close friends with this guy (named Chip) and now plays in the NFL. Pretty cool, huh? Anyways, on to my week. Mom, I was wondering, do you have to wear church clothes to work? Dad doesn't, so I guess it's just nice casual, right?

Last Monday was quite interesting. Due to the Potluck the previous day, my intestines didn't like the food I ate. I was needing to "go" more often than I wanted but I'm fine now. Then a little later while doing my laundry, the washer's spinner broke and therefore the whole machine. I don't know the entire details. I just know that that's what happened and we have a new machine now. So we had to go to the Argonia laundromat (I am so glad this tiny town has one) and pay $2.25 to wash and 75 cents to dry. It was a hassle but we got it done. I got my haircut last week too. Our ward mission leader's wife has been cutting hair for over 30 years. She did an amazing job. That is probably the best haircut I've ever gotten because not one piece of hair got down my shirt (I'm sure you know that feeling). Before I forget, how's Cody's eagle going? Sorry Dad, you give great haircuts. In fact the best. Everybody that was there witnessing my haircut couldn't believe how short it looked and thought I was crazy. Buuuut, It feels amazing to have this short hair again. She moves this week so no more haircuts from her. Tuesday my intestines were killing me yet again. But district meeting had to go on. I gave a good training and the spirit was definitely there. My camera was out of battery (weakest battery in the world) so I didn't get a picture of our district but I'll try to send a picture to you. Later once we got back to our area, we had a very good lesson with one of our investigators who is struggling to commit to come to church AND to stop smoking. She said she would come even though she has super anxiety problems. So we were super excited about that but she didn't come yesterday! That was a super bummer. We had zero investigators at church yet again. So other than that we had a pretty good week. After the appointment with that one lady, we were in a hurry for the rest of the evening. 2 appointments fell through and we changed out of our suits at the church. After dinner in the middle of nowhere, we contacted a referral, had one more appointment fall through, and went home. Wednesday we had 2 spiders visit our bathroom. They were pretty big ones too. I was scared to kill them so I let Elder Dansie do it, haha! We also went to Bluff City again and actually had some success getting a couple solid potentials and a new investigator. Apparently that city is the drug capital of Harper county. That's why we got treated so bad last week there. We also had another lesson with our top investigator and set him on baptismal date for June 15th. We just need to get him to church but he hasn't been coming. It's just super frustrating because he sets up a ride but just doesn't come. We had a nice discussion, though, as usual. And we'll see him later this week. Probably on Wednesday. Later we talked to this one less-active sister who is married to a non-member. She wants to go back to church but has health problems the prevent her from doing so. Our ward mission leader moved back to Wyoming on Thursday morning. Speaking of Thursday, we had weekly planning in the morning before beginning our day. We went to Harper later this day and it was supposed to rain a ton and I didn't bring my jacket. So we went back to Argonia just to get my jacket and guess what? It didn't rain the rest of the day! I wasn't happy because we used like an extra 28 miles to get a jacket that I didn't need. But we had a good work day seeing as many less actives as possible. We had 2 less active single sisters come back to church and a whole less active family. So we are focusing more on less actives right now which isn't a bad thing. After dinner we went tracting and met this guy with a sailor mouth and SUPER opinionated. I was bold about the gospel with him and despite my comments, he still said no. He was relatively nice, though. Friday we went to Wellington and had 4 lessons with less actives or recent converts. I also forgot to mention that Friday morning I was so tired when I woke up that I fell back to sleep on accident after the alarm turned off. Fortunately I only slept again until 6:38 but I vow to never do that again.

One of the less-actives we saw changed to seventh day Adventist. That church is so anti-Mormon it's unbelievable. We're going to do some major service for him tomorrow so hopefully he starts to realize the testimony he once had and come back to church... just like Dallin. I just have to say that he is a very strange man. We also had some potentials that dropped us. I was super bummed about this one person because her father came out and said we're not interested and no matter how much we bore testimony and how much we tried to pry him, he said not interested again. It tore me apart. People just don't want to pursue the truth. I've been trying to be bold with everyone but sometimes it just doesn't work. Maybe I need to just step it up a bit and be super bold. I think that's what I'm going to start doing. It's also frustrating to see how many people think they're "saved" when they're not! Christ himself said we must endure to the end (see Matthew 10:22) to be saved. I'm just looking forward to when everyone will feel the truthfulness of the gospel in the spirit world. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up now. I still have work to do. Saturday we went down to Caldwell and had a nice hour and a half discussion with this one guy who tends to dominate the conversation most of the time. He said he'd probably come to church next week. We also had another lesson with an older couple that we found a couple of weeks ago. They said they'd try to make it to church next week too because of the holiday this weekend. We also clarified some points about the Book of Mormon and helped answer their questions. They were grateful to understand our church a little more (that reminds me we need to update their teaching record still. Woopsies!) After Caldwell, we had dinner with this young family with 6 kids under 8 years old. They are still learning how to be parents, so it was cool to get to know them because of how close they are (relatively) in age. Later that night we had another less active lesson with this one guy Dad's age. He's a truck driver and has weekend off but is lazy to go to church. He said he'll "surprise us" one of these Sundays and come but wasn't ready to come back yet. He hadn't been to church in over 5 years, he said. So we'll be working with him. Yesterday, I told you about having no investigators at church, but the talks were good. One was by a soon-to-be missionary in a ward in Wichita. He's going to Ghana for his mission in a few months. So that was cool to hear about.We had a cool Gospel principles lesson too. We always are the ones teaching it and we're glad for any audience we get. Elders quorum was the most engaging since my first area. Our main teacher was out of town and he is kind of boring. Our substitute was a great teacher. Our priesthood lesson was on Elder Ballard's talk "This is My Work and My Glory". I told you about Sunday a bit with the recruited football player and all. But we also talked to a couple other less-actives and invited them back to church nest week. Hopefully we'll nab 'em but it's their agency so we'll see. During dinner here at home, I had a very cool spiritual experience. I won't tell you about it on the computer but maybe sometime when I get home or something. Nothing really happened at night, but YEAH! That's my week. Now to answer some of your questions. 

About my allergies, no I haven't taken any medicine. I keep intending to but I just forget whenever I go to the store to get some. That or I just blow it off saying that I won't need it because it'll last for only a few more days with Summer coming upon us. But the next time we get gas I'll buy some there. We don't do too much tracting because the church is trying to turn away from that. We are focusing right now more on less actives and current investigators. I don't necessarily enjoy tracting but know I must do some just to make sure we get those that are spiritually prepared to hear the gospel. I try to mix it up in my approaches. Too many people here just don't care about us or the gospel. But yeah, it's okay. But that's it for me. I'm sure I forgot to say something but whatever. Have a good week and enjoy the last few days of school! It sounds weird to talk about holidays because holidays don't exist on a mission. Anyways, have a good week!

Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS:"Well I was shopping for a new car, which one's me? A new convertible or an SUV?

Too bad I didn't know my credit was wack so now I'm driving off the lot in a used sub compact.

F-R-E-E that spells free. Creditreport.com baby.

Saw their ads on my TV. Thought about going but was too lazy.

Now instead of looking flying, rolling flat. My legs are sticking to the vinyl and my moxy's getting laughed at.

F-R-E-Ecreditreport.com baby!"

5-20-13

So here are some pictures for the week. The first one was on Monday last week with me and the alpaca and llama that I showed you a couple weeks ago. I could've taken a close-up picture of them yesterday but I didn't. The next one is of the stormy sky yesterday in Argonia.

Family,

Whoa! Did you see that tornado?! I didn't. Anyways I had a pretty good week this week. The Bateman's don't ring a bell. It wasn't the family we had thanksgiving dinner with in 2000, right? I saw a raptor, ghosts, skeletons, and witches that Thanksgiving night. I was freaked out. You're going to have to remind me who they are because even though I remember some families from that era, I don't remember all of them. Well on to my week, shall we? 

Well last Monday I hit my 11-month mark. It feels so weird to say I've almost been out a year. I mean I just left for Pete's sake! I shouldn't talk about that. I don't want to get too trunky, haha! Other than finding a new investigator, nothing really happened that night. On Tuesday we had interviews in Wichita at the nice brand new stake center. We also had a combined district meeting with the Hutchinson district. I felt like I was all over the place in the training but it still went well. Our new car is pretty much the same car. We traded a 2010 silver Chevy Malibu for a silver 2012 Chevy Malibu with a bike rack! I was stoked about the bike rack because now we can save miles by driving to the town we want to go to and then biking around the town. My interview with President Keyes went well. We talked about how we should not bash other churches. I brought it up because I've seen other missionaries and members in most of my areas talk down about other churches. He didn't say he'd go fix the problem by telling every stake president to tell their members to stop it. He just said control yourself and be an example. I was expecting the former to happen but it was amazing to see the mission president talk to me in such a way as he did with such love and care that it made me want to be better. President Keyes is so awesome. If I stay in this mission, I'm really going to miss him. I'm sure President Bell will be good too, I'm just saying President Keyes is awesome. After interviews, President Keyes and Sister Keyes took us out to Panera Bread (Mom's favorite restaurant). We had a nice conversation but it felt like the Sutherland table a bit because there would be intervals of nobody talking. With the mission president, it was kind of strange. Once he dropped us off again, I forgot my blue suit (again) at the stake center while we were going on exchanges with the Auburn Hills Elders. I went with Elder Stein down to Wellington and Elder Dansie went up to Wichita with Elder Holt. Elder Stein's district leader in the MTC was Elder Hermansen, as I told you about in the skype last week. We had an okay day. It was starting to get hot. I think the hot summer is just around the corner again. Hopefully not as hot as last year but still hot. Wednesday was an interesting morning. After our studies, Elder Stein and I couldn't find a soul to talk to and at the same time didn't want to waste miles. So we just left early for Wichita to exchange back with the Auburn Hills Elders. Later that day my allergies were killing me. I had super itchy eyes all day long. In addition a bug really liked my left eye and flew right into it, automatically killing itself. But I was unsuccessful in getting it out that night and didn't see it in my eye in the morning. So I still don't know if the fly is still in my eye or isn't. Is it possible that a fly that gets stuck in your eye could get stuck BEHIND your eye? I sure hope not. After dinner, we tried some people unsuccessfully before heading home. However, we did contact a referral. Also, I don't know if I told you, one of the big oil companies, KSI, along with Shell are pulling out. So several of our members are moving to Colorado, Texas, or Wyoming: including the guy that helps us whenever we need a Spanish team-up. So we were bummed big time about that but just know now that we will need to get the help of the ward council even more than before. Thursday was weekly planning (again?!) followed by another day in Anthony/Harper. We actually first went to Bluff City to try and contact some less-actives. We invited one back to church and she said she would but she wasn't there yesterday...SOML: Story of my life. We also went tracting a bit in this very old and small town. Not a single soul was even sort of nice to us. In fact after knocking this one door, I think the lady called the cops. Nobody came but I just think it's ridiculous what people think of us. So every Thursday we have dinner with this one family that is moving back to Utah next month. But this past Thursday they forgot and we wasted an hour talking to their daughter. So they just got us Subway and we went home. I felt so unproductive that night. But when we got home, I was washing my face, as I normally do, and the power went out for like 5 minutes. It was kind of cool but freaky at the same time. Friday we had 4 lessons with less-active or recent converts and did some tracting. It got super humid on Friday and Saturday so tracting was tough. But we got some good potentials and plan to go back later. After dinner, we had a unique experience. So, I've been trying recently to try talking to everyone I see. That has been extremely difficult for me because it is tough for me to just walk up to someone and talk to them. But the words of another missionary keep sticking in my mind: "When you don't talk to them, you're throwing away their salvation." So we were going to talk to this apparently young couple but their friend stopped us and said they were going through really tough times. It made me upset because the gospel is exactly what they need. I told the old guy that too! Ugh! Whatever, they'll have the chance to accept the gospel in the next life although it's so much easier here than in the spirit world. We won't have to FEEL the repentance (forgive me if this is false doctrine). Anyways, we then shopped and went home. Saturday was another scorcher. Because Elder Dansie got his helmet at the store the day before, we were able to go biking that day! We went down to Caldwell and didn't have much success. We were sweating like crazy too. OH! I forgot to mention that morning there was a parade that was about to begin celebrating Argonia days. It's an annual thing and therefore lots of street contacts. I was terrified to even go up to someone more than ever before. But I got enough nerve to talk to a couple of people unsuccessfully. I felt proud of myself. Meanwhile, down in Caldwell, we talked to this one guy who chews tobacco. I could see it in his mouth. He's super nice and knowledgeable but talks most of the time. So we don't get much opportunities to speak. He said he's been reading the Book of Mormon though so that's a good sign. Nothing much happened that night. But we parked our car in the garage that night because it was supposed to get stormy overnight. In ward council the next day we made specific assignments to the auxiliaries that applied to what we needed. Hopefully we can get more involvement in the ward even though it will dwindle in number but not unbelief. Once we got home after the potluck and stuff, we got ready to go in the cool weather hoping to see a tornado. When we left and drove halfway across Argonia, we got a message from the zone leaders telling us to go inside and stay there until they give us clearance to leave. The sky looked pretty stormy but that didn't stop us. But we had to go inside now. So for the next 2 and a half hours we watched some DVD's from the thing I got for my birthday. We then got clearance to go. There was virtually no wind when we left. We heard there was a tornado at the Wichita airport and another one in Caldwell...where we were on Saturday. It apparently ripped out some homes on the South part of town down there. I can't wait to go down there this Saturday to check it out. On Sunday night we had a great dinner with the Leavitt's. After, they came with us to an awesome appointment with one of our investigators. The spirit was there and he is prepared to hear the gospel. He is probably one of our top investigators right now already. I think he'll progress really quickly. We then rushed home and called it a night. So that was my week! Any questions?

To answer your questions about service we did, hmmmm, I don't remember if we did any service this past week. We did the week before but not this week, I don't think. Church was good. As I said above, we are losing members here pretty soon so we may be blessing AND preparing the sacrament at church due to the shortage of young men. But yeah, that was my week. I will go now. Have a great week! Love,

Elder Sutherland