8-19-13

Family,

I'm glad that you all had a good yet busy week. Mine was pretty busy. I forgot to mention last week that maybe I could use more Costco toothpaste too. Oh, could you also e-mail the Chandlers for me in Wamego? I would like to get their address to write them and maybe a few other branch members. But you don't have to worry about that until later. I'm getting a haircut later today but should shorten this letter because we need to leave sooner than normal. 

Well my week this week was a good one with the ending of the baptism. Monday was a normal old Monday being P-Day. We had dinner with a member that has just come out of inactivity. You know, this last week I was thinking of how I could improve on bringing back less active members here in the ward and thought that if I'm patient, I just need to love them and invite. Our stake President has told us that if we invite then it will be easier to bring people back instead of pressuring them. So that's what I will be working on this week. Our ward has, tops, 30% church attendance. So that needs to improve. But at dinner with that member, we had one of our investigators there. He's super cool and just became a catholic a few years ago. Later, we tried to contact our investigator with a date to be baptized this past Saturday. Well when we knocked, a crazy man answered the door with zero clothes on. You can mark that off tracting bingo, haha! But our baptismal candidate lives there for now. We're trying to get him out and into a member's house once he can get a good job.

The next day we had district meeting. Little did I know, it would be my final training...for now (more on that later). We spent our day in Wellington and spent some time helping another crazy less active guy pull some weeds. Pretty soon, just as in the past few weeks, the clouds started to darken. I told Elder Evans: "Hey we should probably be done." "Why?" "The clouds are darkening really fast." Then lo and behold, rain started to pour down just as we got in the car. So I'm pretty proud of my meteorology skills. Wednesday after weekly planning we went to Anthony and walked around there. School started Wednesday for Harper county. I kind of felt bad for them because I always thought that I started early back in SD. We weren't met with too much success. We talked with some old people that said: "eh, we have our church and you have yours." Other younger people told us that they'll take a copy of the Book of Mormon if we left them alone. I'm doing better talking to everyone I see but still have room to improve. I hope they just don't throw away the Book because it truly is an instant life-changer if they just let it. Some people just think it's a book with words in it, but it's much more than that. We later had dinner in Harper outside with this older single sister. The rule in our mission just recently changed where even sisters over 60 can't be alone with missionaries. So that kind of stinks now. But we obeyed and were blessed for it. That night we got rejected and not much happened. I don't say all this to boast (not even this itself) but I feel that my testimony is getting stronger each time someone slams the door in our face.

Thursday was a similar day. we began in Harper. A sister in my district called me to try to pass off lesson 2 to me. I bet some district leaders may have let it fly, but she didn't do all that well and I could tell she got a little upset about it. But after giving her some pointers, she passed the next day. So I'm glad that I am able to help. Thursday evening we came across this one younger man that is interested in the Book of Mormon. He said he enjoys to read and even though he didn't answer the door when we tried him yesterday, he seems promising. I am getting bit by mosquitoes a lot lately. I don't really mind because the itchiness goes away with a day or two. 

Friday was a good day. We had our baptismal candidate's baptismal interview. he passed! So then we taught a lesson at a member's house again. He then was cleared for baptism once we finished. The member friendshipper that we have for him was so kind to always give him rides to places and even buy him a full suit at the thrift store for under $20! So he has plenty of friendshipping. We just hope that he doesn't go off the wayside like another one of our recent converts who has gone inactive. Later, we had dinner with some people that just went to the temple that day and said it was awesome! I can't wait to go back and experience what it feels like to be in the Lord's house again. We don't have a temple in our mission, so we can't go anywhere even with a recent convert. We went on splits that night with them and saw 4 members (not all of whom are active). It was a good day.

Saturday, however, was the big day. We had to drive out to Wellington and were the first ones to the church 30 minutes before the baptism. The font wasn't on so we had to text Bishop, who was doing missionary duties. That's why he was late. But we got ti filled and even though the church was getting it's roof and H-vac system redone, the baptism went well. Our Bishop baptized him. He told us that next time one of us should do it because we got him that far and therefore we should do it. But we asked him who he wanted to baptize him  and he said the bishop. But I appreciated the Bishop's comments to us. After the baptism, we had a conference call with all the new missionaries and their trainers. I felt indifferent on what this transfer would bring. After the call and lunch with the Bishop (I got probably the best french toast I've had in my entire life), we went down to Caldwell and had zero success. We only picked up one potential and walked around town having nobody answer their door. For those that did answer their door, they either didn't have time or weren't interested anymore. We finally went home and had a quick dinner before heading over to Milan and seeing an inactive who hasn't been to church in 5 years but knows he should go back. We committed him to go back this coming Sunday. So we were pumped. He has a lot of repenting to do but wants to go back to the temple. That may take some time but if it's worth it, then do it.

Sunday was an okay day. I had the first confirmation of my life. It was really cool to say the words: "Receive the Holy Ghost." That was a powerful moment for me. Even though the Bishop forgot to confirm him before the sacrament, it was a great meeting. Once we began our proselyting efforts, I really felt down in the dumps for some reason. I didn't want to go out and work at all. But a quote from President Kimball (I think) kept resonating in my head: "One of the greatest secrets of missionary work is...work! Work work work. There is no greater substitute." I probably messed that up a bit but whatever. So if you don't feel like getting up and working, whether it's a church calling, home teaching, or missionary work, just get up and do it! Pretty soon you will see miracles! I know that I need to be bolder in the work that I do do too. So I will be working on that this week too. The reason I say that is because last night, Elder Evans and I were in the land of giants (seriously!). We were in a home where a party was about to begin and there were two or three guys there that had to be like 6'9" or 6'10''. I was looking up at them when I shook their hands. They were all Mennonite. We tried to talk to the investigator that lives there but obviously he was busy and said he wouldn't be available for a month. I should have said that our message is more important than anything you could do, but didn't because of all the people there. We did hand out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon, though. So that was a plus. The member that gave us a ride bought food at Subway before he picked us up. I think the church and some wards really need to stress the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. So we'll be trying to do that in the future. That night, I got a call from President Bell informing me that I was to become a zone leader! My companion is Elder Eliason and he's from Idaho Falls (I'm pretty sure). I will be changing areas to Wichita somewhere. I am pretty sure we'll be covering the singles branch but we'll see. Lots of stuff that has to be resolved before we get there. It reminds me of the scripture somewhere in the doctrine and covenants: "Take no thought what you shall eat or drink, but treasure up in your minds the words of like eternal." So I just need to not worry about it and work as hard as I can because the Lord will provide. I see my faith increasing everyday here now. I still have lots to work on but those are natural thoughts. So that was pretty much my week. I hope to be able to continue on in the work of salvation.

OH WAIT!!! I went on LDS.org the other day and saw the first thing that comes up on the front page and noticed in that article that they were filming missionaries in the NY, NY south mission. One that we are all familiar with. That's right, Elder Walton is famous now! I watched the video and was like: "I know him!" ("SSSSSSAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH! I know him! I know him!) Just a fun little insert there, haha! I don't know how much time I'll be able to chat now that I will be in a new area and especially now that I'm a zone leader. I know that a lot will be required of me. "For where much is given, much is required." There's also a lot more changes in the mission. Lots more zones and districts, as you can see in the thing I sent you. But, yeah! 

Dad, I appreciate your words. Do you know where in Utah the Chapmans are moving to? I just thought it would be around where Elder Evans is from. How's Kenneth Young doing? I sure hope that the missionary work in your ward can really step it up. The missionaries need work to do. We need to be done away with recruiting (my substitute word for tracting). Hopefully that Jeff Morris guy can realize that this life is short and he needs church to feel the blessings of the gospel. Does he go to church at all? Where does he live exactly? It sounds like Jaromy's talk was super good. I wonder if he met any Spanish people in Montana. I bet he did. What's wrong with Cody? I want to be able to pray for his needs specifically. 

But anyways, that's it for me. I hope you all have a great week and beginning of school again! Who does Jayson have as a teacher? Mrs. Wiens? That would be cool. Have Cody say hi to Mr. Stimpson. I hope he enjoys being a big kid on campus. Thanks for being awesome! Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "There's a lot of love out there, ya know man?"