1-20-14

Family,

Trials. Aren't they awesome? Last week we totally had great key indicators. This week was a little different. We had 2 very slow days on Tuesday and Wednesday but I'll get into details in a minute. I want to answer some of your questions and ask you some questions before I forget them. So can I start telling people about Uncle Kenny's calling? I think it would be something cool to tell people. Do you know when Westview's high school graduation is? I really want to stay out here until the very end of my mission. If I am offered an extension, I'll probably take it. I don't know if I should request one but we'll just cross that bridge once I get to it. I'm glad Cody is actually trying in Calculus. Once I got to a certain point in that class, literally nothing made sense to me. So I gave up. So I'm glad Cody is doing so well. I didn't do the homework because I didn't know how to do it. I'm glad he went on team-ups with the missionaries. I bet that was fun. I heard about the referral that the Elders got in the ward there. Dad told me. That makes me so mad that people judge us so harshly. I really just want to punch somebody in the face when that happens to me. Obviously I don't due to certain reasons but it's frustrating.

Anyways, let me tell you about my week, shall we? So last week we were supposed to go bowling with the Sisters. I didn't even want to go in the first place but when we showed up, nobody was there. Apparently the Sisters were still e-mailing and hadn't finished yet. So we'll probably not bowl at all this transfer (huge victory). We had to shop there in Kingman which was different. We also had to pay to do our laundry at the Laundromat. It did a good job but I hate spending money to do my laundry. It was okay because I had a large letter to write. I got letters this past week from Billy and uncle Gene along with Grandpa (weekly letters). I enjoyed every one of them. Tuesday all 4 of our appointments fell through. All of our back-ups were also not available. So we resorted to an hour and a half of tracting. One of those individuals later turned into a new investigator. 

OH! How could I have forgotten this. Tuesday morning we went to Jeri's kitchen at 8 where the ministerial alliance of Kingman was to meet. That is where all the ministers from every church congregate to talk about stuff (I don't know what they talked about because we didn't stay). We wanted to go in and ask if we could sign up as clergy to talk to people in crisis. That's where we were referred to by the Kingman Christian church minister, Josh Bell. Once we brought up our request, the Baptist pastor said: "oh, that's only reserved for Christians." We then told him we were to which he responded: "no you're not. There's only one God and that's Jesus. Your view on the afterlife is so eschewed...." I tuned out after that so didn't here what he said. Then I almost rebuked him by saying: "Look! We ARE Christian." Immediately I felt the spirit leave me. So anyways suffice it to say, we left there without accomplishing our designs. Elder Clay, apparently, wanted to stay, but I didn't know that. So that was hard on me. But I'm past it now. I know I should've stood taller, though, and been bold like missionaries of scripture that would go into cities where they knew they would be rejected (Samuel the Lamanite, Alma and Amulek, Paul). But I didn't. Maybe we'll go back, I don't know. 

Anyways Wednesday we had lots of appointments. 3 of them fell through The first one at 4 held with the older man that struggles to accept the Book of Mormon. This lesson ended up being tough. We shared with him President Uchtdorf's talk: "Come, Join with us." He eventually said: "Look guys, I'm too old to change churches. I have faith and know I'm saved already so I don't want to be Mormon." He was super bold with what he said as well. That was a bummer lesson because we know what he just threw away. I hope someday he will realize what he's missing. For dinner we had a member come out as a team-up. We went to Jeri's kitchen and I had this amazing burger. I love food, did you know that? Both of the appointments fell through again this night. That was a real bummer because we were all looking forward to one of them. Our team-up then dropped us off early. We are very grateful for what he does for us. I love the Pratt branch. they are probably the smallest congregation I've served in but strongest in unity, spirit, and missionary work. Dad, what we do here is since members are so scarce, their duty is just get to know and fellowship their neighbors beside them, behind them, and across the street from them. I don't know, just thought I'd share that idea with you. 

Thursday we did service for 3 hours. If we can make it to service through the week on Thursdays, we can make it through the rest of the week. We were also fasting today because the Valley center Spanish branch sisters were going through a really hard time with their investigators. I definitely felt closer to the spirit as we proselyted today. We had another amazing lesson with one sister that we are teaching. She came to church last week but not yesterday for a reason that we aren't aware of. We set her on baptismal date while showing her the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. It was very soul stirring and she wants to do this because she knows that it's true. It's just her fiancé that is holding her back. I think I'm going to have to start doing the 3X5 card thing again like I did in the Fleming Park ward. 

Friday was a day filled with meetings. We proselyted for less than an hour before we had to go to Wichita for a leadership meeting. I learned how to access the atonement more in our lives by never forgetting that Christ has suffered more than we could ever comprehend. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest being who ever walked this earth. So sometimes we as missionaries complain and question why people just don't flock to the font. This is the fullness of the gospel, why is this so hard? Salvation was never easy, Elder Holland said. It hit me to the core. "Whenever I am drawn away from my priesthood duties by other things and my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: 'Remember him'." - President Eyring. Immediately after the meeting we drove all the way out top Pratt for dinner and district meeting. I also discussed the atonement and self-accountability. I asked the district what I needed to do to improve. They didn't tell me anything but I really love the sisters in our district. They are so hard-working and show me an example of how to work hard. 

Saturday was a good day. We started out by helping out at the local basketball camp here in Kingman I was at the station where the kids do lay-ups. I taught them about the proper form and stuff. The investigator in charge that asked for our help was grateful for the assistance. I really loved being with those kids teaching basketball skills. Immediately after changing, we walked up north to attend the funeral of Stephen Fish (who Elder Clay and I call aqua man.) He died suddenly 2 Saturdays ago of unknown causes. It was a little weird because there was lots of worldly music and the pastor of the Cunningham Christian church conducted the service. He was like: "Let us pray" randomly. It was strange. Elder Clay and I were the only ones to say: "Amen." Stephen was a long time less active whose father-in-law was the pastor of that church. That was a cool experience, though. Later, we taught a lesson to a lady that we tracted into on Thursday. We taught her lesson one and invited her to be baptized. The spirit was there and she said if she knew it was right then she would be. So that made us happy, knowing that the Lord will bless her with an answer if she just asks Him. 

Sunday was a longer day. We were at church doing services, potluck, studies, and baptism the rest of the day. We didn't leave the church until after 7:30 because we also had a plumbing problem that I had to fix. We got it all fixed then concluded our night with another investigator dropping us quite harshly with the words: "This Saturday is the 7 year mark of my wife's death. I just want to be alone so please leave." He was nice whenever he was not thinking about his wife. We offered anything that we could help him with including the peace and joy of the gospel. It wasn't the right setting to tell him that he could see his wife again. We'll give him a month or two until we go see him again. But yeah! That was my week!

Please say hi to Whitney for me if you go to her farewell. She has been faithfully writing me throughout my whole mission and am very grateful for it. I'm so happy the NFL season is almost over but can't believe the time has gone so fast. Hopefully you all have a great week and don't get sick. I'm going to miss the Beebe's too. They were such an awesome family. Dad, I'm just wondering, what's the percentage of activity in the PQ stake? We have over 2,000 people who don't attend church every week here in this stake. That's a drastic number and must change. So we're trying to work on getting people active as well. Thank you for all your love and support and LETTERS! I laughed through a lot of Billy's letter and really love the letter I got from Uncle Gene this past week. Well I best be off. May the Lord bless you this week and keep up the good work. Can you please commit me to pray for you? Because I keep forgetting to pray for a lot of things. Thanks! Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "SpongeBob, we aliens would like to have a word with you."

"You know how people talk loudly when they want to sound smart?"

"YES!"

"Well maybe if we played loudly people would think that we're good."

Cody, finish the quote.