05/23/2016

Dear Family,

Thanks for the email. It sounds like school is winding down and summer life is starting up. Here is my update from my week.

I had interviews with President Taylor on Tuesday. This was his last set of interviews.He told me he would do my departing interview before he leaves so that will be cool. I will probably get one from President McAteer, too, so that will be interesting. 

We saw April for a minute on Wednesday. She is still doing well, but it will be hard for her to come to church with work. She has three daughters. Her boyfriend has some disabilities so it is hard to tell with him, but she tells us he is interested. 

Jeff was out of town this week, but we will meet with them this week. They do not have any kids living with them.

Arthur was also out of town, but we are meeting with him tonight. Arthur is in his mid-50's. I have no idea where his parents are. He has made a few friends in the ward so that has been nice.

We got a referral from Salt Lake on Saturday. It said that she prayed because she was going through a hard time and then the missionaries came and gave her a card. So she called the number and requested a DVD and for missionaries to come by. So we were pretty excited when we stopped by on Sunday. We stopped by and there were three ladies and a guy all really drunk and asking us dumb questions. It was a little disappointing, but hopefully we can go back. 

The best part of the week was Robert's baptism! It was so good. Robert was pumped. He invited three of his nonmember friends that came. There were also a bunch of people from his work that came. Elder Labis and I did a presentation on the restoration and it was the best one I have been a part of. Elder Labis has such a humble and simple, yet powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. Robert was confirmed on Sunday. I think he will have a smooth transition into the ward.

Good questions about the blessing. The sisters have been teaching her and she looks really promising. She hasn't been able to make it to church, but her daughter is also thinking about taking the discussions. I have been a part of a lot of blessings which turn has been a real blessing for me. I usually just say whatever comes to mind and I hope that works! President Taylor has talked about how bad it is to use a blessing as a pedestal. When you start commanding in the name of something or promising in the name of something, you are on thin ice. I have learned a lot about priesthood blessings.

Thanks for the updates from home. That is interesting about he state baseball tournament. I wonder what happened to South and Shelley. Fruitland seems to be there every year. I wonder how they do it! Good to hear the Cavs are doing well. It seems like they are the favorite in the east. There are several teams in the west that could give them a challenge, so that's good we only have to play one of them. It sounds like Doug and Cheri are getting things ready to go. I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be. The Lord asks us to do some really hard things. They will look back on their experience with such a sacred reverence, though. I am excited for them. I'm glad everybody is doing well. Keep up the great work! I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love: Jaxon 

1. Elder Labis' first time holding a bunny
2. Our district at lunch with a senior couple
3&4. Robert's baptism

05/16/2016

Dear Family,

Here is the update for this week. Robert is still good to go for his baptism on Saturday. We are really excited for him. The tithing lesson actually went really well. He said that paying $20 to the church would be the best $20 he can spend. His interview is tonight so say some prayers for him.

We found a couple of really promising people this week. One less-active lady reached out to the Bishop and said she wants to come back to church. Her boyfriend and three kids are all nonmembers. We have taught them once and then they came to a Book of Mormon class that we have. We will start to teach them and get them into the ward. We also taught another part-member family. They have met with missionaries before, but it has been awhile. Hopefully they will start to progress.

We are meeting with a recent convert that just moved into the ward. He is so cool. He has a rough background. He has been in huge gangs and was just a kind of bad guy. He found the gospel and it has completely changed him. He just got the Aaronic priesthood and will start a home teaching route soon. He has told us some cool stories. It goes to show that the gospel can change anybody. It reminds me of the story of Alma the Younger. Can you imagine the people listening to Alma right after he regained his strength? What a change! It would be crazy to see. I'm sure that the people running around with this guy a few years ago would be blown away with the change he has gone through.

Devon got baptized on Saturday. Elder Stevens and I got a ride back to Astoria to be there. It was way good! I was hoping somebody from his family would be there, but nobody was there from his family. His mom is still kind of against it. Devon is planning on a mission in a year so we will see how she feels about that. I talked to Sariah (his girlfriend) about seeing you guys at church a few months ago so that was cool. I also saw the Simmons family again. They met you there as well. I also met their daughter who is Emmi Harmon's (in our ward) roommate. She just got her mission call to Chile and she leaves in a few weeks.

Anyway, on the way back, our member's windshield wiper just came off in the pouring rain. I knew something would go wrong, haha, so it was a long, scary ride home, but we made it back! I know the Lord was watching out for us. Also that picture you got from that family... he sent you a picture about 22 months ago on my first week of my mission! One more cool note is that Astoria is having their first two Spanish baptisms on May 28th. One if them is a guy that Elder Stevens and I found.

Yesterday we got a call from a member in a different mission. He has been fellowshiping a lady for a few months and she is not a member. She was really sick so we gave her a blessing and then we taught her about the restoration. She is actually in a different war, but it was a cool experience.

Thanks for all the updates from home. Bummer about baseball. Hopefully things go better next year. Nice job on the talk Austin. Fulfilling the responsibilities as a priest may not seem like a big thing, but it goes a long way. I wasn't able to open that talk. Thanks again for getting all my USU stuff set up and ready to go.

Thank you so much for the email. Thanks for all you do for me. I love you all.

Love: Jaxon

Jaxon and elder ?? (I'll look it up)
Jaxon at a member house for dinner
Most of the zone in happy valley
Devon's baptism in Astoria 

05/11/2016

Dear Family,

Thanks so much for the Skype call! 4 for 4. The Lord helped us out a lot with making it work with the technology. I'm glad we have been able to do that. Thanks for all the updates from home. I'm glad to hear you are all doing well. 

I was going to sum up my week in the Skype call so I didn't have to now, but that's okay. We had an eventful week. Robert is doing well, although we had to push his date back a week. It is because of a scheduling conflict so we aren't very worried. So he is planning on the 21st of May. All we have left to teach him is the law of tithing which will be interesting, but it should go okay. The couple that fed us yesterday isn't golden, but here is some promise there. I feel like they would keep commitments because we asked them to and that might lead to something. We will see what happens.

I went on exchanges with Elder Stevens on Tuesday in his area. It was really fun to be with him again. We went through a lot in Astoria and I am glad that he is here in Portland. We actually went to institute in the evening and I had a good time there. His area covers all of Portland and Gresham because it is a YSA ward so it was fun to travel around the city and talk to people. I also taught a couple Spanish people which was cool.

Johnny Miller came to our mission and had a fireside on Friday evening that the whole mission attended. He was a professional golfer and is now a broadcaster for NBC. He is really good friends with President Taylor so it was good to hear from both of them. He talked about how he found the balance between church, his family, and golf. He said that some things had to take a back seat to his family. He said how his testimony was really challenged and as a result, strengthened. However, I think I missed how he remained active in the church and still golfed every Sunday. He may have skipped that part! Haha. It was good to see the missionaries, too. For most of them, it will be the last time I see them, at least as a missionary. It was a weird feeling.

Thanks so much for the email, even though we talked less than 24 hours ago. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love: Jaxon

1. Elder Labis and I with Johnny Miller
2. Cool quote I saw
3 & 4 A really cool sunset

05/02/2016

Dear Family,

This week was pretty good. I have gotten more adjusted to the new area and the people we are working with. 

First of all, I got the package! Thank you so much. I think you set the record of how much sugar packed into one shoe box! I was impressed and it was all that sweet stuff that I like so thanks! 

So Robert is progressing like crazy. His big issue was coffee, so we taught him the Word of Wisdom this week. He is usually really defensive when we talk about it, but he wasn't' this time. He said that if he had to quit coffee to get baptized then he would quit coffee. Then he came to church on Sunday and enjoyed it. Then he called us today and asked when we were meeting again and that he was just thinking about us. Then he told us he went into a gas station this morning to buy coffee, but then remembered and bought hot chocolate. Right now, the only hod up is his date. Originally it was for May 14th but there is a huge multi-stake thing all day at the stake center. So we went to Friday evening the 14th and found out there is a ward activity that night. So we are still working on it. 

That's cool that you saw a picture of me on Facebook at a baptism. Charla got baptized from the Blue Lake ward and she wanted me to be there, even though it has been forever since I taught her. She has met with missionaries for decades. It goes to show that the Lord has his timing and we have no idea what it is. I never would have thought she would be baptized. It was a cool baptism, though. 

Elder Labis and I are getting along well. He shared his testimony on Sunday and it was really good. His English has gotten better in the last two weeks. He doesn't talk very much so I am working on letting him have more time so he can practice. We randomly ran into a couple of less-actives that were not in our records that are interested in coming back. It is cool to see how we are lead to people even without a car. 

I am excited to Skype on Sunday!  It will be our last time. Crazy stuff. As far as time goes, would the evening work for you? I was thinking maybe 7:00 your time. If that doesn't work, let me know.

Good call on not signing me up for the new freshman thing. I think I have an idea of what that is going to be like. And that architecture class will be different, but it will be good. Thanks for figuring out the orientation too. It is really nice  not having to worry about that. 

On Tuesday, I attended the trainer/trainee meeting. It is a meeting that all of the trainers and new missionaries go to with the mission presidency and the assistants. Elder Brase and Elder Jewkes are also training so it was fun to see them. President Taylor had some brand new teachings for us so I thought I would share. We spent a lot of time on 3 Nephi 12:11-14. First, we talked about how when we are persecuted in the Lord's name, we are in good company. Eventually, we will be rewarded for it. Then we got in a huge discussion about salt. Who knew? Did you know that salt is essential for the survival of human body? Now read verse 13. Did you know that salt never goes bad? The only way it goes bad is if it is contaminated.  Now read verse 13 again. How cool is that? We (disciples of Jesus Christ) are essential for the survival of the earth. We have to make sure we don't get contaminated. So then in verse 14, it talks about light. That light comes from the Holy Ghost. Also what is the difference between letting our light shine and not being a hypocrite, like Christ describes in the next chapter? The answer is found in Preach My Gospel in chapter six. It is the first paragraph under the section virtue. When we are pure from head to toe, we naturally have a light to us that other people notice. When we have to force it, it becomes our own light, not light from the Holy Ghost and that is not nearly as powerful. Anyway, I have been studying those verses for the last few days and it is really interesting.

Thanks again for the email. I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week.

Love: Jaxon

1. We got chik-fil-a (I have no idea how to spell that) this week. Since it is out of the mission, we walked with a member to the boundary, told him what we wanted, and he walked across the street and got it and walked back. Haha exact obedience!
2. Elder Labis with the Book of Mormon facing the wrong way haha.
3. A giant dog we met on the street. 
4. A cool view on top of a hill.
5. Look at this dog's eyes!

04/25/2016

Dear Family,

Transfer week was crazy as always. Here are some answers to some of your questions:

Elder Labis is from the Philippines. He had never been to America until about a month ago. He spent about five months as a missionary in the Philippines waiting for his visa to come here. His English is ok. We have a language study every day. It is weird teaching somebody else English. So there is obviously a communication barrier and a culture barrier, but it's ok. Elder Labis is really funny and sporadic and we get along well. The Sunnyside ward is incredible. It is even better than I remember. The bishop is so on board and that plays a huge part in it. It is the biggest ward int he stake and the leadership her is awesome. I didn't really have anything to compare it to the first time I was here, so I am looking at it with a whole new perspective. Quite a few people remember me actually. I am surprised. I am remembering more and more people everyday. It is fun to be back. Elder Labis and I don't have a car. It is kind of stressful, but we make it work. We have to depend on the members for rides. We mostly walk, but we ride bikes sometimes. The ward mission leader has a young family and is super busy, but he knows what he is doing. We live in an apartment across the street from where I was the first time I was here. It is just Elder Labis and I that live there. We have a few investigators we are working with. Robert walked into church a couple months ago and wanted to be baptized. He has been working on overcoming some Word of Wisdom issues and going to church, but he is on-date for May 14th. We are working with a couple of part-member families. We had tow investigators come to church yesterday so that was sweet. We have a decent teaching pool. 

I have a few cool connection stories! First, there is someone in our ward that served in the same mission as Shawn in San Diego at the same time. His last name is Coffey, so he told me that his mission president wanted to put him and Shawn together for obvious pun reasons. But Elder Coffey was Spanish so he said he doesn't know him super well. Second, the young men's president here is really good friends with Rex Fullmer. His name is Jim Zorns. I guess they went to college together. Anyway, he sent him a picture of us and got a response so that was cool. Third, there is somebody in the ward that worked with Steve Ard and Wade Treasure so they know them super well. Fourth, Danielle Gibson's sister's husband's parents are in this ward! HaHa! 

The weather here is starting to get warmer and it is raining less frequently. That is especially nice since we are walking. 

Thanks for the updates from home. Baseball is the best. Thanks for the updates on all of that. Go Cavs@ LeBron always sweeps in the first round. Lucky for us, we only have to face either Golden State or San Antonio, instead of both. Hopefully they can keep going and Cleveland can get a championship! I will be sure to keep Jayce in my prayers. What a stressful time for them. I'm also glad that Austin had a good time at prom. Some pictures would be great. 

Thanks also for taking care of all the college stuff. It is nice not worrying about it here so thank you.

That is a great thought from Tyler McKellar. He gives the best talks. Remember the one he gave about what happens next? I still remember that from like five years ago. I have found on my mission that 99% of the time, a testimony comes over time. Usually people have an aha moment somewhere along the path, but it still takes time. A lot of people worry about getting that huge moment of light and it holds them back. Just keep going and God will give you just enough light to test you and to keep you going. Elder Bednar has a couple of good Mormon messages about that called Patterns of Light.

Thanks so much for the email! I love you all, and I can't wait to talk in a couple of weeks on Mothers Day. Have a great week!

Love: Jaxon

4/18/2016

Dear Family,

Thanks so much for the email. A lot happened this week so here we go... 

We took Ed to the family history center on Tuesday and he loved it. While we were there, I took some time to look up some of my family history. It was such a cool experience. I loved reading about some of my family history and where we came from. Thank you to whoever put all of that stuff on there. 

I had one of the funniest experiences of my life on Friday but it was also the most awkward. We stopped by a recent convert who just moved in. She is in her 60's and not quite playing with a full deck. We visited for a while and gave her our number and told her to call us if she needed anything. Well...she did. I'll spare you the details, but it involved going to the store and buying something for her that I did not want to buy. We finally got a hold of the sister missionaries, and they took care of everything. It was really an embarrassing situation. 

Transfer news... I am being transferred back to the Sunnyside ward. I will most likely finish there. My companion is Elder La. I have never seen him before. All I know is that he spent some time in the Philippines and had to come here for some reason. He has been here for a transfer. Elder Trotter is staying and training and he is the new district leader. I am also going to stay a district leader. Another cool think is that Elder Stevens will be my zone leader so that will be fun. I am really excited to go back to Portland. I have always felt like there was some unfinished business there from when I got transferred out of there the first time. 

Church was kind of a struggle. A lot of people committed to come and nobody did. It was kind of embarrassing, but I have gotten used to it. We did get out of teaching gospel principles. Our bishop texted us at 10:30 Saturday night and asked us to teach so we had like zero time to plan. We got in there and there was a ward missionary there and I jokingly asked him if he was the teacher. He said that he helped he planned the right lesson so we just let him have it. It was a tender mercy! 

We kind of met with Kenny and Takia. They are hard to get a hold of and meet with, so we took them off date. They are still willing to meet, though. Orion is making progress. He is still coming out with us and planning on a mission so that is cool. 

Thanks for the updates from home. Baseball sounds like it is going well. I'm glad you beat Firth. That is cool that Kelton got his mission call. It's a good thing the Cavs won. That would have been a bad sign losing to the 8 seed game one at home. Hopefully they get on a roll.

I am still reading through the Book of Mormon. I just finished 2 Nephi 9 this morning. It is a different feeling reading through it for the last time as a missionary. I am learning so much new stuff. It is cool. I am so thankful for the resurrection. We don't talk about it enough. I love the resurrection.

One question about USU. When does the fall semester start? I will let Guy know when I know that.  That is about it for this week. Thanks so much for the package that is coming. I can't wait to get it. Thanks for all of your love and support. I feel the power of your prayers everyday. I love you all and I hope you ahve a great week.

Love: Jaxon

The four of us in our apartment went disc golfing this morning. The weather has been beautiful lately.

Here are some pictures of Cathlamet:

This is the Greenman family. They are not members. We met them by doing service for them and they pretty much adopted us as their grandkids. It was tough to leave them.

To all the BYU and D-League fans out there!

04/11/2016

Dear Family,

The highlight of my week was stake conference this weekend. President and Sister Taylor spoke. President Pond, the Portland temple president was there and he spoke too. Elder Golden of the seventy was there and he presided so we had a stacked lineup! Haha. Elder Golden is really funny. He talked about how you never know who will accept the gospel and that often it is people you never would have thought of. He shared a story of this coworker that he avoided because he was not a good guy. twenty-five years later as a stake president, he was going through the people that were going to e sustained as new elders and there he was! He didn't believe it at first, but there he was. The guy went up to Elder Golden and said something like, "You never thought I would join, did you?" Elder Golden responded with saying that he knew that he would eventually join, but inside, he was thinking, "I thought you were going straight down...!" It was pretty funny.

I got some good insights in conference. First, our faith is increased as our personal righteousness is increased. Along those same lines, we receive blessings when we are obedient to commandments. So when we ask for blessings, God just gives us commandments. How crazy is that?! 

Second, I've always wondered why investigators don't understand certain principles of the gospel when they are so clear to me. The answer is the gift of the Holy Ghost. He enlightens and expands our minds when we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. So when an investigator reads from the Book of Mormon and prays, they will feel like it is true. When a member reads from the Book of Mormon and prays, they get so much more than just  a good feeling that is't true.

Transfer letters come this week so I will find out what is happening. This week was a seven week transfer because now the MTC time is three weeks. At stake conference, President Taylor asked me what I thought of finishing my mission in the Sunnyside ward and finishing training a missionary. Remember the Sunnyside ward? I was there for the first two weeks of my mission. He said he was thinking about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I stayed here until the end. There are two transfers left for me after this one. 

We helped a guy clean out his room on Tuesday. He is pretty much a hoarder. It was bad. So we tried to sort it out for him. Every time we asked him where he wanted something, he told us it stayed in his room so we weren't making much progress. Then we started sneaking stuff out to his dumpster so we could make some headway. He called us the next day and asked where all of his receipts were for his taxes. HaHa... ummm???? We might be going dumpster diving this week. 

We met just with Ken this week. His wife couldn't make it. They have a sincere desire to repent. Her dad lives in a different ward in the stake so he is pretty close. I'm not sure if her mom is in the picture at this point.

One of the youth in this ward that comes from a big family that is trying to be active is on the fence about a mission so we have been taking him out with us a lot. I have seen how the Lord uses His missionaries in many different ways. Sometimes it is to help one of His children get on missions. 

I just started over with the Book of Mormon. I want to finish it one more time before I come home. President and Sister Taylor are doing the same thing, along with a lot of the missionaries who are going home at the that time too. I am still learning so much.

Thanks for the sports updates. I did hear about he championship game. What a crazy and cool finish to an awesome tournament. Thanks for telling me about the Buhl tournament. I have a lot of good memories there.

Thanks so much for the email. I love hearing form you. I am doing well here and I am happy. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love:

Jaxon

Cookie party
We went to the beach today and dug for some clams. The limit is 15 so we got quite a few. We went with the Kolditz family, a family in the Cathlamet branch. Their neighbor is the game warden and not a member so they invited us to come with them.