Transfer Week

Dear Friends and Family:

So, this week is transfers. The news: I'm staying in Boynyon Beach North, but Elder Van Wagenen is leaving. So tomorrow, we'll go to transfer meeting and we'll find out who my new companion is, and where Elder Van Wagenen is going.

One of the things that I've learned from Elder Van Wagenen is how possible it really is to have miracles, and to find and baptize weekly, sometimes many people a week. My time with him has really helped me to increase my vision and my desire to work, so I can see those miracles and those results.

This will be my fourth transfer in this area. I'm grateful that I've had all of this time to get used to using bikes. It's not too hard to get from one place to another anymore, but it's starting to get so hot that we have to plan in times and places that we can refill our water bottles throughout the day.

I'm nearing the end of Alma in my personal study. A few things I learned this week: by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Not just good things, but bad things as well. For example: the kingmen "desired that a few particular points of the law should be altered". It seems innocent and small, but what they really wanted was "that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish a king over the land".

Similarly, as applied in missionary work, things that seem small and innocent can lead to large problems. Many investigators fail to progress because of a single "wind of doctrine"; or, they can gain a testimony of Jesus Christ and the restoration as they read in the Book of Mormon a little bit every day.

I can't wait for Nathan's adoption! And Liv's too, if it ends up happening.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

A Million Miracles

Dear family,

So little time to talk about so many miracles! Consider this email a "teaser" for all of the other miracles that I'll have to tell you about 6 months from now when I see you in person! I wish I could write about all of the new people that we have been teaching but sometimes it seems that words just don't quite do it justice. The people truly are the best part of a mission! The best part of life, actually!

We had our last lesson with Robert this week, as we found out that he lives in Marysville so we had to do a pass-off lesson with the Armar YSA sisters. The good news about this is that the Armar sisters are none other than Sister Anderson and Sister Glancy! So fun to see both of them again and to teach a lesson with them! The Plan of Salvation lesson we taught was one of the most memorable of my mission thus far. The spirit was so strong, and I know that it's because Robert is so amazingly prepared! We invited him to begin reading the Book of Mormon last week and he read all the way through Mosiah in 4 days. Every time we met he soaked it all up like a sponge, it's like he hardly knows what to do with himself because it's all so real and so familiar to him. In our lesson I invited him to be baptized and he got so excited, but when we invited him to prepare for June 21 his face fell and he explained to us that he's going back to Nevada after school gets out. It was such an incredible moment to be able to explain to him how he can be baptized in Nevada because this is THE Church of Jesus Christ, and not only is His gospel and His priesthood the same wherever you go, but it will one day cover every corner of the Earth.

We have been meeting with Osharrhea daily and we and she are so excited for her baptism this coming weekend! She told us that one day last week she stayed up until 3 in the morning talking to her mom about the gospel. Everything about teaching Osh has gone so flawlessly because she has already been so well-prepared by her family, and she has them as a strong support system no matter what. Member missionary work truly is the way to go!

I'm out of time, but sending bucket loads of love your way! Love ya!

Sister Slade

Our favorite "Mission" snack for weekly planning each week.

 District P-Day at the beach! The little sand structure in the middle is the Everett Temple.

 Robert!

 Have a great day!

"Miracles are the natural result of the correct application of eternal principles"

Hello family!

I have about half the time to email here in the Everett library than I used to have, so my weekly emails may be much shorter and a lot less coherent from here on out, but here goes!

This has been a week of miracles! The week before I came here pretty much all of the investigators that Sister Bartsch and Sister Sinclair were teaching jumped ship, but this week Sister Bartsch and I were very blessed to find a few new investigators that seem very promising!

We have started teaching a 19 year old African American girl named Osharrhea. Her entire family was recently baptized, but she has been away at school in Alabama. Well she recently returned, and she is seeing how happy her family is and she wants to be baptized too! She is so sweet. She came to church and to a baptism and to our ward carnival this weekend and she loved them all!

Last week Sister Bartsch contacted a guy named Robert on campus, and he is so prepared! During our first lesson when we were talking about the apostasy I felt like I should ask him if he had ever felt a "personal apostasy" or a time of confusion and darkness in his life where he felt like there was something missing. When I said this his eyes got really big and he said "I feel that way all the time. Every time I'm not with people, I go back to constantly wondering what is missing and how I can fill this hole. But it's weird- it's like I don't even know what I'm searching for!" We testified that our message is what he has been searching for, and the spirit was strong for the rest of the lesson. After he said the closing prayer he said, "I feel really good! I think I really want to give this a try." The whole lesson was so golden and surreal that after the lesson Sister Bartsch and I had to immediately say a prayer of gratitude before we continued with our day. We can't decide if Robert is real of not. We think he might be one of the three nephites coming to test our missionary teaching skills. :)

I'm just about out of time, but really quick, i wanted to invite you all to do two things:

1. Will you all take the time every day to have personal scripture study with me? Even if it's just for five minutes, take some time to start study with a prayer, study your scriptures, and end with a prayer too. Don't even think of going one day without it! We wouldn't go a day without feeding ourselves physically, no matter how busy or stressful or crazy that day was, so why would we think of going a day without feeding ourselves spiritually? Every day counts! I promise that if you make "daily devotional time" a priority, the Lord will give you greater direction and peace throughout every day. Take some time today to pray to Him and promise Him that you will do this, then follow through on your promise and watch Him work miracles in your life.

2. If you haven't already, go buy the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton Christensen, then apply the principles that he talks about in your own life! It's only $5 and that money goes to the general missionary fund, so no excuses! It is an amazing book, go buy it and tell me what you think of it!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

We stopped to talk to a woman who was holding her pet snake and she said that we could hold it :)

Balo!

Dear Friends and Family:

We met a person who spoke Bengali this week. He taught us how to say "How are you?" and "Good". Good is "balo", with a very slight b sound, so it's more like "alo". And "How are you?" is pronounced "toumikomanatchè" - written phonetically the way I would have written it if it were a Haitian Creole word, because I'm not sure how to write it in Bengali.

Yesterday was Haitian Flag day! Woo hoo! Dizwit Me!

We are doing great down here in Boynton Beach North. One of our strengths this week was, again, our member work - getting members to come out with us, and teaching with them. But one thing we're going to try to be better about doing this week is pairing up the investigators to the members who will fit best with each other, so that they can make friends instead of just providing support. That is one of the reasons that we feel we have not had more people in sacrament this week and in the past.

This week, we had a miracle with a person named Jamesly Pierre. He is Ketty Pierre's brother, and thus is a member of the Petion family, if you remember who that is. It has really shown me how much the Spirit can change things when it is present.

Two days ago, we started a lesson with Jamesly. He made it clear from the beginning that he was atheist, and he had a hard time believing that God existed. But he also said that he wanted to keep an open mind about it, and so we decided to give it a shot. At the beginning of the lesson, he refused to say the prayer. But by the end, you could tell that he had felt the spirit. He said a prayer, and he committed to come to church the next day. In church, the spirit worked even harder on him. After sacrament meeting, we invited him to prepare to be baptized next week. Rather than saying no, he indicated that he wanted to wait a few weeks to make sure that he was ready. But the change between before the first lesson and after church was like night and day, and we had nothing to do with that.

I have noticed that I don't use the scriptures as much as I should while I am teaching. So a few weeks ago, I started to memorize a scripture a day, so that I can think back and remember them in the future when I need to use them. I have kept this up for about two weeks now, and I have a few more scriptures that I can use. I'll keep learning more, and using them in our lessons, and hopefully eventually I'll have the Book of Mormon memorized. (At the rate of one verse per day, I can do it in about 18 years. It's obviously a long term goal.)

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Transfers to Silverlake YSA

Dear family,

Drum roll please...I left Halls Lake YSA on tuesday only to go all the way... to the Silverlake YSA ward, just north of where I was! I could hardly believe it! I was really hoping to stay YSA when I found out I was going to be transferred, but I wasn't getting my hopes up since there are so few YSA wards in our mission, and even fewer that have sisters in them, but what do you know, my wish came true! I love the Silverlake ward! Not that there's anything wrong with old people, but serving in a ward with and teaching young single adults is basically the greatest!

My companion is Sister Bartsch, from Berlin, Germany! She is a powerhouse missionary and I am so grateful for that! Last week I was praying to be put with a sister who really knows why she is out here and who would be willing to work hard so that the Lord could bless us with miracles, and Sister Bartsch is outstanding in so many ways! We have decided that our companionship needs to be exactly obedient. We work hard and listen to the spirit and I know that the Lord is going to bless us so much this transfer!

Unfortunately most of the investigators here dropped Sister Bartsch and Sister Sinclair last week, but we are on the uphill climb and we are going to be spending a lot of time at Everett Community College contacting people this week in order to find new investigators. We do have one investigator who is preparing to be baptized that we are very excited about. Her name is Kenna, and a few weeks ago her roommate introduced her to the gospel. She has jumped headfirst into investigating since then, and she is truly converted! She says that "I don't want to be called an investigator, because I'm not investigating, I already know that it's true." It's all about the member connections. The Lord needs your help in order for the work to actually hasten the way that it is supposed to! :)

This week for Mothers Day I studied mothers in the scriptures and the qualities that women posses because of motherhood being part of their divine role and nature. I remembered a scripture in Moses 6:59 that stood out to me in a devotional I listened to while i was at BYU. (Go look it up right now before you keep reading!)The Book of Mormon talks about how all things testify of Christ, and I think it is so amazing that we as women are also a type of Christ. Just as we bring new life into the world through "water, and blood, and the spirit," Christ is the one who allows us to have new life through those same things. Even women who do not yet have children testify of Christ through who they are and the ways that they strive to follow His example.

Love all y'all! Ich liebe dich!

Love, Sister Slade

Great Week

Dear Friends and Family:

This week has been a great week for me and my companion. One of the biggest strengths that we feel we have had is our diligence, especially in member work. We have had many members come out teaching with us this week, and we went on two splits to get more work done with them. We're planning to keep that up, and to continue to get members to come out with us, and to continue to go on splits as many times as possible this next week. They can make half-days feel like full days, and full-days feel like day-and-a-half days.

For example, on Wednesday, we had splits. I went with Brother Milton to help a new family move into the ward (just a father, actually, but he speaks French so we can't wait to take him out with us!). My companion went with Brother Archie to teach some investigators. We had five lessons total that day, and all of them were amazing, spirit-filled and spirit-led lessons. This Wednesday may have been one of the best days on my mission so far, nothing really bad happened at all, and things just seemed to work out.

On Sunday, we skyped at a member's house, and we had a great time. It was really good to see you all, chè fanmi mwen an!

I can't wait for zone conference tomorrow, especially so that we can learn what we as a mission will be allowed to do in the temple. I can't wait to go back again, especially to the FFL temple, considering how much effort we have put in to get people to go there and to prepare for it.

Inspirational quote of the day:

"And now, is not this grievous to be borne? And is not this, our affliction, great? Now behold, how great reason we have to mourn.

"Yea, I say unto you, great are the reasons which we have to mourn; for behold how many of our brethren have been slain, and their blood has been spilt in vain" (Mosiah 7:13-14, Book of Mormon)

Starting about a week and a half ago, I have decided to memorize a scripture a day for the rest of my life. I've managed to do it every day so far. Wish me luck!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

P.S.: Transfers are not next week, they'll be the week after that. I got it wrong while I was skyping!

Kisa lamou ye? Bebe pa blese m! Pa blese m! Ankò!

Dear friends and family:

We will be able to Skype, but we have no idea at what time, so I'll just write down the skype account you want me to call. We were thinking we will call some time around 5:30 (our time), but we will call briefly earlier in the day to iron out the details.

We have had a great week! We're a little disappointed that we were not able to get any investigators in sacrament, but I can't say I'm surprised. The dedication of the temple was a worthy alternative.

Part way through the week, we found a really awesome family through harvesting. We met the father, and we asked him to leave a blessing on his home and family, and he agreed immediately. He and his wife and their six kids (except for one who was still returning from School) all lined up for the prayer. They told us that they had been praying for someone to come and bless their house. They had tried to get people from other churches to come and do it, but without any success. The family accepted baptism, church, and a return appointment.

It was a great miracle, one of the best highlights from this week. Unfortunately, we have been unable to meet with them again.

Going to the cultural celebration was another great event from this week. I am very grateful that we were able to go and to watch and participate. The online video doesn't show much of it, but every missionary in the mission was there, sitting all together. We came down in the second to last song and joined in for the third verse, then we helped sing the finale as well. It felt like a vacation, more than anything. We sat back and watched the show for the most part, and we had the opportunity to "socialize" and to talk with our previous companions for an hour or so before the show started. It was really fun!

But the best event was, of course, the dedication the next day. I was curious to see how they are done, and I feel like I learned a lot from the talks and from the experience as a whole. I especially loved the talk in the second session, by Elder Christofferson. He really laid a lot of things down in a way that helped me to understand the purpose of the temple, and our purpose in life.

Our area and companionship have several investigators who are progressing with a date. We will be focusing on them, and getting them to continue reading in the Book of Mormon, and to come to church. And of course we will keep up our efforts to find others.

Fact of the day: "Print Screen" does not capture the mouse cursor. For example, see the attached image.​

Thanks,

Elder Slade

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves" -James Barrie

Dear family,

We just got the transfer news a few minutes ago, and it looks like I will be saying goodbye to the amazing people in the Halls Lake YSA area and leaving for a new adventure tomorrow afternoon. Lots of mixed emotions. It has felt like it is time for me to experience the next thing that Heavenly Father has in store for me, but it is always very hard to say goodbye. I will miss people like Bry and Carla and Gabriel and Minami. And I can't even start on the ward members! I am so grateful to know that because of Jesus Christ there is no such thing as a permanent goodbye!

So here's a miracle story from this week! Washington people are crazy. A few nights ago Sister Goode and I woke up at 2 in the morning because the neighbors below us were shouting profanities and blasting music and banging on their ceiling (our floor). These neighbors have been pretty rowdy before, but never anything close to this bad, and it was obvious that they were really ridiculously drunk. The walls were shaking and it was actually pretty scary. We started to feel really dark and nervous. We weren't sure what to do, so finally we decided to call our Zone Leaders. We talked about a few different options, including calling the police, but finally we decided to start with just saying a prayer. Sister Goode and I knelt in our living room, and I'm sure the Elders did the same, and Elder Caruso said one of the most inspired prayers I've ever heard. He prayed that our neighbors would be stilled even thought they had "given their agency to a bottle," and he prayed that we would feel the angels that would stay the night with us. Instantly after Elder Caruso finished his prayer the screaming and noise that had been going on for forever stopped, and it was quiet after that for the rest of the night. We ended up getting like 4 hours of sleep that night, so the next day was definitely a long one, but it was a powerful experience to have that prayer answered so quickly!

I have learned lots from my study this last week, but I particularly loved reading in Alma 5: I LOVED verse 38. Rather than share my insights on this verse, this week I want to hear what this verse means to all of you! Remember that letters are a great way to show a missionary love!!!!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. I don't remember if I told you about our investigator Jesse or not, but a few weeks ago I contacted this Irish guy in a wheelchair at the college. We had a very powerful first lesson with him, where he told us about all of the struggles he has been through in his life and how his faith in Christ has helped him. Unfortunately we weren't able to keep teaching him since we found out that he lived in Silverlake YSA's boundaries. We did a pass-off lesson, and I just found out that he is on date to be baptized!! So exciting! Hearing things like that gives me the hope that the investigators here that I won't be able to see continue to progress will be taken care of. In the Lord's timing I guess!