11/10/2014

Dear Family,

I'm not sure why the picture description isn't showing up. Maybe they get lost somewhere? I don't know. I will try to see if I am doing something wrong or how I can fix that.

So really cool story about the World Series guy. He is the most receptive guy I have every taught. He is just one of those guys that has not heard much about Mormons and then we tell him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and he is all in. He said that there is no way a 14 year old just makes that up. He is planning on getting baptized on December 13th. There are several problems here that we still have to work out. He lives with his girlfriend who is active in another faith. He also works a ton so it is hard to set up an appointment. He is pretty golden, though. So Elder Kelly has really been stressing role plays this last week. I still hate them but I am getting better. The morning we were going to see Junior (World Series guy) we decided to do some role plays for challenging somebody to be baptized. We did several different scenarios and one of them was that they wanted to read the whole book of Mormon before they wanted to get baptized. We discussed possible responses to that and how we would handle that. The exact same thing happened in Junior's lesson! Crazy! He wanted to read the whole Book of Mormon before he gets baptized, but we had a few different responses to that ready to go! It was really awesome so we set a date for December 13th.

We also taught Julia this week. Things are getting really crazy for her. She has two little kids and they have been in the hospital this week because they were both really sick. Then she got in a huge argument with her husband so things were not going really well for her. We basically told her that we don't want to be another burden or stress in their life, but this is what is going to be what makes her happy and peaceful. We had a sweet lesson that was all about the Book of Mormon. Then something crazy happened. We put her on date for December 6th, which just happened to be her birthday! This wouldn't be so crazy if it didn't happen to the other set of missionaries three times in the last three weeks. They put two people on date on their birthdays and they had no idea beforehand. Then Elder Kelly meant to put somebody on date for December 20, but he accidentally said September 20, which was this lady's birthday! Just weird and crazy.

One more cool guy we met on the street. He was baptized over 40 years ago, but he could never stop smoking. He is schizophrenic, so it is extra hard for him.  Again, we just started talking to this guy on the street. He said that we are the missionaries to help him stop smoking. He also said that this was supposed to happen. That was on Friday. We taught him on Saturday and then he was at stake conference on Sunday. Afterward, he said that the rest of his family needs to be there at church. His name is Steven, I will keep you updated on him.

Here are the answers to the questions. The apartment is one of the nicest in the mission so it is pretty sweet. I am staying warm at night. It does not get super cold here, maybe in the 40's, so it isn't too bad. It turns out my companion loves sleeping to the sound of a good fan, so we are always running the fans at night! Members feed us about every night and we get leftovers, too. I eat bagels, English muffins, or eggs or something. We are trying to eat healthy so I eat oranges bananas and zucchinis, and whatever else so I am doing well that way. The ward mission leader is moving in a few weeks. I definitely don't have the same kind of relationship as I did with Brother Forsyth, but he is good. That is one hint we need to be better at, just working with the ward mission leader, because when we leave, it all could come crashing down. I am getting along great with the ward and its members. We usually take between 10 and 15 members out each week. By the way, did you ever ask Jim Lasson if he has a first cousin named James Howard? he goes out with us once or twice a week and he is awesome. It was funny, the executive secretary can't go out with us because he is just swamped with tithing settlement. I can just imagine Dad and Bishop Robson being swamped with things to do with tithing settlement. Haha!

Thanks for the sports updates. Dad was right, you hear things every now and again, but for the most part I am pretty lost when it comes to sports. The Cavs sound like they are struggling. Figures. I have heard good things about the Browns so far. I hope they keep it up and make a play-off run. When are basketball tryouts? Let me know how that goes.

Mom, I'm sorry about your friend that passed away. I feel so bad for the family. That reminds me, do you remember in February bout that family who all died from carbon monoxide in Pocatello and they had two kids on missions? Well, one of the kids, the daughter, was in the Washington Vancouver Mission. She decided to stay home after that, but we are still praying for her and the rest of her loved ones.

We had stake conference yesterday. President Monson and Elder Anderson talked from Salt Lake and it was broadcasted to all of the stakes in Oregon. I feel like President Monson was pretty bold. It was kind of overshadowed by his love and care, but he basically said that we are being complacent with the less-actives. I hope that we can all take his message to heart.

This letter format is working great. I love Austin's and Carson's letters I'm glad that everybody is doing well. I pray for you every day. I guess Guy Johnson wasn't in Gresham last week? I swear I saw him! I get that a lot, though. One of these days it is actually going to be somebody from home. I think that is it for this week. Thanks for your emails and prayers and all of the love and support you give me. I love you.

Love Jaxon

PS Do you have any good ideas for simple cardio workouts that I could do in the morning with limited space and no weights? Push-ups and sit-ups are kind of getting old. :-) Maybe you could get Vanderhorst on that!