A Flying Car is like Spork

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

Yesterday was a pretty interesting day. Our churches have started now, and we planned on one of the people we're teaching to come. We had our fellowshipper for him go to pick him up, but he came back with a different person named John. John is deaf, and it's kind of hard for a deaf person to learn much in a meeting with out a translator. So about 10 minutes in, he stretched himself out across the pew, and started snoring! We're pretty sure everyone heard him. But, he asked us if we could come back later in the afternoon and visit with him.

So we came back and visited with him (he has a writing board that we communicated with). We learned that he believes in Judaism. He later gave us a book, The Tanakh, which is the Jewish bible, and asked us to start teaching from it, and giving people a choice to convert to Judaism. Being LDS missionaries, we probably shouldn’t try to teach Judaism, but he then motioned over two people (one of which was someone we were already teaching), and told us to practice. My companion, Elder Nabrotzky took the book and told the people, "I want to ask you a huge favor. I want you to smile and nod as I gesture to this book." They did that, and John got really excited. And then he left us, asking us to come back in a week. I don't know what we'll say at that time. He was a really nice man, and I'm glad we got to talk with him, but it doesn't exactly fit our calling as missionaries, to teach another religion.

The title comes the new Elder in our apartment, Elder Huang. He is hilarious! He likes all things transit and transportation. In fact he does transit trivia every night. One day we were talking about flying cars, and he mad the analogy to a spork. I agree with him.

There's a single phrase from a talk that i wished to mention. It was talking about Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and our responsibility to follow him with our whole heart. The phrase is "Our all, is a small repayment for his all."

Fun fact of the day, Potatoes are 80% water. It's pretty cool. Love you all!

Get away from me onion face!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

This week has been a great week! The Lord has blessed us by helping us put 3 people  on date. One of them we found just a week and a half ago, names Lacie. The other two are 11 year-old twins named Olivia and Carter, who like to roast each other. The title is from Olivia, who told that to her brother Carter in the middle of the lesson. It was an ultimate middle-school roast in my opinion! We have a few more potentials of people who are progressing that we're hoping to put on date soon. We've been getting along great as a companionship, and having been having fun. In a dinner appointment one night we got Elder Nabrotzky to fit 3 entire cornbread muffins in his mouth. Apparently he's done competitive eating before! I was very impressed.

Today's been kind of crazy. We learned that there will be two new missionaries in our apartment. Elder Holmes, who's in our district, and a new person he's training. This is a small apartment for 5 people, let me tell you. It's going to be interesting. Also, someone "reverse robbed" (as Elder Nabrotzky puts it) our apartment. They put streamers, candy, and compliments all over our apartment door. I'll include a picture. It was so kind of someone though!

We have recently been playing a game with members recently that show that nothing is as importing as Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice. Sometimes we may get distracted in the small meaningless things, but in the grand scheme of things, they don't matter. We won't take the things we have now with us when we die, so we need to spend our time working on things that will stay with us.

Potato harvesting is happening soon here in Idaho, so a fact about potatoes: In 2008, an estimated 300,000 acres of Idaho Potatoes were harvested - about 11 billion pounds of potatoes. That's enough potatoes to fill 500 NFL football fields. That's a lot of Potato!

Pictures:

1,4. Elder Nabrotzky eating da muffins (What a beast!)

2. A picture a member took

3,5. "Reverse robbed"

6,7. District pictures

The Grind Will Always Continue

 (Elder Cummings)

MTC. Done.

An update on the zoom calls Liang and I were able to have with some native Taiwanese people:

Penny and George are SO awesome! They're the couple that are interested in the church and were willing to practice Chinese with us. They hadn't met with the missionaries yet when we met them so that was stressful. I wasn't even stressed that much about them not being able to understand me(not because my Chinese is that good but because they're pretty dang good in English). I was the most worried about the impression we would leave on them, I wanted their experience with us to be memorable and encourage them to look more into the church. Liang and I said a very sincere prayer together beforehand and a couple minutes later we were talking to two natives(one from Mainland China and the other from Taiwan). My stellar companion quickly was able to turn it into a gospel discussion as we discussed all of our beliefs and all of our religious backgrounds and desires. Time FLEW. In about 30 minutes I think Liang and I both bore some kind of testimony about 5 times each. They had amazing questions for us and through the Holy Ghost our answers seemed to touch their hearts. It was a miracle, it really was.

Meeting with Kevin was also a ton of fun. He was a coworker of my dad's when we lived in New Jersey and he's so funny and happy. We didn't have as much as a spiritual discussion with him but we discussed temples and why we have them. I also invited him that if he ever saw missionaries to say hi and talk with them. I told him I am so nervous to serve a mission, that many of them will be too, and that just talking with them and being kind will make their day and give them an opportunity to do their job as missionaries.(I didn'ts say it quite that eloquently, it was all in Mandarin, but he said he would!) Again an amazing opportunity to practice Mandarin while being able to talk with people about our church and our Savior Jesus Christ. These opportunities would not have been possible if we weren't having home MTC and for that I am grateful.

Like I said, the MTC is done. I love my district and my teachers but boy am I excited to go out into the field. This week was a ton of fun and I learned a lot from my teachers as we had chances to just ask them advice and questions about the mission and life in general. Who would've thought I could rely on college students in their early 20's to give me some life advice? That's what the mission does for you, and it's awesome.

Unrelated note: This week I decided with my good friend Ryan that when we get back and start attending BYU, we're gonna host breakfast taco Saturdays at our place, we're gonna go hiking and backpacking all the time, we're gonna be EMT's, and we're gonna have a pet ape who we're gonna teach sign language(yes he will help cook the tacos and drive the ambulance, but we're gonna teach him piano too so on Taco Saturday's he can please all in attendance with his melodic tunes) Good thing I don't have to worry about figuring the ape paperwork for another 2 years though, that'll be a nightmare.

Spiritual thought: After Christ's visitation to the America's, recorded in the Book of Mormon, in 4 Nephi 1:17 it says "There were...[not] any manner of -ites; but there were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God". Earlier this week my Papa asked my family how the Nephites did it and how we can do it in this time. He cited verse 15 of the same chapter, "there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people". So we learn that we need the love of God in our hearts, but how do we do that? I joked and said that the Nephites needed Christ to come to fix it, we'll have to wait for the Second Coming. However, as I discussed this with my good friend Ryan, his thoughts particularly struck me. I'll paraphrase and add some of my own thoughts:

While it is good and important to apply principles and lessons from scriptures to society and how we can be a better people we are also taught to "liken them unto ourselves". In the Book of Mormon, the risen Christ literally visited the Americas, established His church in the Americas as well as in the Holy Lands, and taught and gave authority to people. After his visitation is where we read that there was no contention and everyone's hearts were softened to each other. There was great peace for many many years. While we should learn how to apply this to our society where there is so much hate, prejudice, pride, jealousy and more, the answer comes from applying the principles to ourselves. "... the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people". No one can force you to take something to heart. It is an individual choice, one we have to make just like these people had to choose to have the love of God continually in their hearts. While Christ has not literally visited us in our lives, we all need to choose to have Christ come into our lives, into our hearts. We need to have Christ come into our hearts and make a change that He made caused in the Nephites. It is a personal conversion. We are already made equal.if we want to be treated equal, it starts with having Christ come into our hearts and planting the love of God. So allow that to happen. Allow yourself to make room for God's love. That love will work in you and change you as it did the Nephites. I strongly believe it will and say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

PS There won't be another email next week! I don't leave for Baton Rouge until the 29th so there won't be much to talk about next week. But feel free to email me! I want to hear from y'all!

FOTOS:

1.       the last view from the MTC, pretty cool huh?

2.       First 10 minutes of Elder Liang and I meeting the other Mandarin Speaking district...(they came eventually don't worry)

3.       quick reunion with some of the best teachers ever! @mailaoshi @helaoshi

4.       Ready to go..

PPS. The ape is a joke don't worry(hopefully it's not a joke though, who else would play soul-searching melodies while we cook up some scrumptious tacos?)

You know what continues..(the grind)

 (Elder Cummings)

Week 8. Done. This coming week is the last one and then I'll have finished MTC. It's super exciting but also kind of sad; Even though I've never seen anybody in my district in person I've gotten to know them well, have had tons of fun with them, and have shared plenty of special experiences with them. Luckily, a good number of them are going to my same mission so I'll probably see them sometime in the next 2 years. My awesome companion, Elder Liang, will be speaking Mandarin in Florida, so I don't know when or if I'll see him in person ever, but I'm excited for the chance.

This week was my boy Ryan Fagergen's 19th birthday, shout out to him. We went to Taco Bell and I got to introduce him to the Crunchwrap Supreme(best thing on the menu by far).

Elder Liang and I set up some times to talk to some native Taiwanese people we know. Later today we're talking with some of his family friends who are interested in learning more about our church and beliefs. Next week we are going to talk with one of my dad's old co-workers who was born and lived a while in Taiwan. It'll be a really good opportunity to improve on my Mandarin so we'll see. Super exciting, super nervous, but it'll give me a better taste of what life in Taiwan will be like.

My spiritual thought is nothing super special, it's just my personal testimony and thoughts on missionary work. To paraphrase multiple of the people in my district and from my teachers...

Up until now I've done everything significant in my life for myself. That's not an inherently selfish thing, it's how life is a lot of the time. I strived to do better in school so I could get better grades. I tried to be cool so I could be popular and more people would know who I am. I tried to do better in my sports, so I could be a better athlete. I tried to do well in school and I tried to do well on AP tests and SAT's so I could get into a good college, where I could get a good education, and hopefully help me get a good job. Now for the next two years of my life I will be able to drop all of that and have the opportunity, every day, to serve others and invite them to come unto Jesus Christ. I will not have to worry about a job, school, taxes, friends, etc. There will not be another time in my life that I will be able to devote as much effort, time, and focus to serve, help, and teach others. It will take a lot of energy and I won't do it perfectly but that's ok. Because this isn't my work, it's the Lord's. He invites all to come unto Him and as a missionary I will be able to extend that invitation to others. I know He makes up for my imperfections and just asks that I repent and continue to try again. For that I am grateful.

Photos!

1. This week's view was the beautiful coasts of Croatia...

What do you call a cow that stops giving milk?

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

Transfers happened this week! Elder Thompson went to Rigby, and Elder Nabrotzky came here. He is originally from Provo, but has lived all over the world. We've been having a blast so far. Elder Nabrotzky wants to be a personal trainer, so he has planned a exercise program to get us swol by the end of this transfer. Every time we walk in the study room, we have to do 5 pull ups or 10 push ups, and every time we enter the bathroom, we have to do 10 squats. It's kind of annoying, but hopefully I'll be swol by the end of this.

This week we had some kids we were teaching put fake nails on us during a lesson, because it kept them quiet. Then after that, they starting beating up Elder Nabrotzky. It was pretty funny. I'll include a picture. Let me tell you, it's not always easy being a missionaries. Sometimes the hoard of little kids will get you.

I've been reading about when Jesus came to the Americas in the Book of Mormon, and the love that Jesus had was amazing for me to study. He took everyone, one by one, and let them feel the prints of the nails in His hands and feet. That would have took incredible patience by itself, but the symbolism in it reflected a divine love no one else but God has. Christ invites us individually to use the gift he gave us by dying for us. With dignified pose, he went through afflictions and pains, for us. He went through so much, that we can't even comprehend it, but he did it for us, so that we can find joy. If that isn't love, then I dont know what is.

The title comes from Elder Thompson. He couldn't decide whether the answer was a milk dud, or an utter failure. Haha!

Love you guys!

Pictures:

1. A picture with a person Elder Nabrotzky knew

2-4. Some of the kids we teach beating up Elder Nabrotzky, and also attacked us with chalk

5. Taking a selfie in the bathroom, with a plaque that says "No selfies in the bathroom"

September 15th 2020

 (Elder Petersen)

Hey Everyone it's been a while since I last wrote sorry about that. So in the past couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of the same things that I have talked about in my previous emails. The first and foremost thing that we have been doing is calling people, we still haven't been able to go to members homes so any messages that we share have been primarily over technology. The biggest change in my life since I last wrote though is that we had transfers last Wednesday and I got a new companion, his name in Elder Dawson and he is from South Carolina (and hates the cold for some odd reason 😂😂). My days overall have been really good trying to keep busy when everybody else is busy 😅. So for clarification on that last comment in this are which is Franklin Idaho for any who didn't know moat of the people here either farm, hunt or is someway involved with the school district. Which is why as much as we are try to keep busy and meet with as many people as possible we are struggling a little bit. But we are powering through it and becoming better missionaries and better people for all the work that we are doing. Love y'all hope you have an an amazing week and I will talk to y'all later!

The Continual Grind (MTC 6)

 (Elder Cummings)

This week has been a blast! This was Week 7, so we oldies in the MTC only have about 2 weeks left.

When I have time I'm teaching my good friend, Ryan(previously known as Elder Fagergren) a piano arrangement of "Be Still My Soul" while he waits to be set apart and go into the field. We're making good progress, it's coming along nicely. Speaking of music my companion Elder Liang continues to amaze us when he played a musical number for our class one day and totally destroyed it on the cello. It was an amazing arrangement, amazingly played.

This week I tried to go at least one day without speaking English, only speaking Mandarin. Those who have seen me or talked to me this week are probably like "you did!?!" because it's just that hard. Especially when you're at home with family and you know very little Mandarin. I did really well one day until my second class where I kind of gave up without meaning to, it was late and it takes a lot of effort. Nevertheless, I can repent and try again. I will get it sometime before MTC ends. Even if it means I basically don't say anything one day, as long as it's Mandarin I'm good.

In one of our classes we were left without a teacher after he was unexpectedly preoccupied when it was time for our calls to start. So we started another zoom call and just started going over grammar and sentences and then did a GSR(Gospel Study Review) where we talked and bore our testimonies on prophets and apostles. It was awesome actually, I thought we were pretty productive, I don't know what those in my district think.

This week during one of our classes we discussed spiritual gifts. It was an amazing discussion. We read this verse from Moroni 10:

"8 And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them."

I don't think God made us like we make cookies. You put all the ingredients together, throw some chocolate chips, and mix it up and whatnot(I don't really know how to make cookies). When you take the dough and form the cookies, some cookies have more chocolate chips that others, some are bigger than others. God didn't throw a bunch of spiritual strengths and gifts into a big bowl, stir it nice and evenly till all the weaknesses and personalities looked pretty evenly spread throughout the "dough", and then guesstimate how many are in each person when he grabs a handful. No. He made us each individually. He gave us our spiritual strengths and gifts fully knowing that we would need them and that others would need them. He gave us our weaknesses so we would have to rely on Him, Christ, and Christ's Atonement. He knows us perfectly, and knows what we're capable of, even if we can't see it ourselves. We should "deny not the gifts of God" in ourselves. We are children of a Loving Heavenly Father who created us with love and meaning and care. What's great is that unlike after cookies are made they're stuck with the number of chocolate chips they have, we don't have to be content with the chocolate chips WE have. We can obtain more spiritual gifts and be strengthened through repentance and Christ's Atonement. Through our trust and devotion and effort to Christ, He will "make weak things become strong unto them"(Ether 12:27). I know that spiritual thought was all over the place but I believe it is true. If the analogy didn't make sense, think about it, go make some cookies, and think about it again. Christ is our Savior, He is the Living Son of the Living God, and because of Him, we can be made better and do better. In His name, Jesus Christ, Amen

Photos!

1. A nice healthy meal at home MTC...

1.       2. This week's view...it just gets better and better!

2.       3. Apparently Glasses Friday is a thing in our district, I had to grab some(those aren't finger guns, it's how Chinese people count 7 on their hands(for week 7 of MTC), they count to 10 with one hand using ASL looking stuff, pretty coooool)

Slade Sauce

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person could hope for,

This week has been a pretty interesting week. For example, we started teaching a schizophrenic dude. His name is Alex, and he says he's lived 533 lives, and dies at the age of 42 every time. He said he has lived as Alexander the Great, King Arthur, and Jesus. It was a very interesting conversation. The second time we met with him though, he was a lot more sane, so we think he took his meds.

This title comes from a new company I'm going to start, selling salsa. There's a non-member who tried some of my homemade salsa, and he was super impressed, and actually wants to buy some salsa off me. He says I should sell it to people, and call it Slade Sauce. Not a bad option if the whole chemical engineering thing doesn't work out. I have to thank my mom for the recipe though!

This week is transfer week, and Elder Thompson will be leaving us, but we will be getting another missionary, who is either finishing his training, or just our of training. Also, Elder Baron, the Elder that I trained, is going to be in our district! I'm excited!

It's been a good week, we've seen miracles, put a kid on date for baptism, found 3 people. The lord is blessing us! I also met a member this week that is actually a potato engineer. He has spent all of his lives, breeding and changing potatoes to make better french fries, or better potato chips. That's another option if chemical engineering doesn't work.

Love yall!

Pictures:

1. Us messing around as we prepare for filming a video.

2. District Picture

The grind continues to continue

 (Elder Cummings)

It's been another week of hard work, fun times and learning opportunities...

We're on the home stretch to the end of MTC(about 3 more weeks I think) and it's been awesome. You know the drill, it's a similar schedule every day, but I've never been this productive in my life. In 6 weeks I've learned more and advanced more in Mandarin than I have in the past 7 years I've been "studying" it. Yes, that says something about how I was studying the past few years, but it highlights the efficiency and amazing-ness of the MTC and my teachers, and the truthfulness of the Gift of Tongues. Young adults(basically old teenagers) from 18 years old to usually around 20 spend 6-9 weeks learning a language(often times brand new) how to effectively teach people, and then go and do it all in some foreign country for the next 18 months to 2 years of their life: there has to be some divine help or that would not happen.

I did get a bit out of my usual schedule this week, when the Elders(missionaries) from my ward invited me to play the piano as part of a video they're making as an attempt to spread some light and gospel through social media when quarantine makes in-person lessons hard. I don't know what their plan is with the video but all I know is when I walked into the room to record me playing, there were 6 missionaries, all over 6 feet, all bigger and more confident-looking than me. I felt very very new and inexperienced. It gave me a real sense of what getting thrown into the mission field will feel like(except hopefully they're not all over 6 feet too). These guys were "seasoned veterans" in the Lord's work. They weren't over confident. They weren't confident in themselves and they're ability to do things. They were confident that the Work they are about is true, and that it changes lives. They were confident in the Lord to fill in their inadequacies and weaknesses with His Grace and Love. They were confident that anything is possible with God, and that they are able to do anything with His help. I may have felt inexperienced being around them, but they quickly lifted me up and made me feel like I was in the field with them as well, and that my job is the same as theirs', and that makes us equals. It was awesome.

That brings me to my spiritual thought. During Elder Liang and my first Mandarin TRC(mock lesson with a native Mandarin speaker), I 100%, completely, fully relied on my Chinese skills, but mostly my awesome companion's Chinese skills. That made me so nervous and scared to do it, because I knew my Chinese is not perfect and super slow, and not correct grammar, etc etc. Throughout the week though, many times it impressed me this IS the Lord's Work. This is not Elder Cummings teaching his lesson. It's Elder Cummings and Elder Liang relying on the power of the Holy Ghost so they can be instruments in the Lord's hands to help someone better understand Heavenly Father and His plan for us. I better realized the importance of relying on God and His help. The Holy Ghost is the Comforter, He testifies of truth to people's souls. We are able to know things are true and do exist because of the Holy Ghost. In order to effectively help someone understand the truth of the message that I have been called to share, I need to rely on the Holy Ghost to be there and testify it to those we teach. They can believe my words all day long, but unless they do not feel the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost in their soul they cannot have a true, personal, testimony where they know it is true. I cannot rely on my own teaching and Chinese skills to do that for them, or they would never have that witness, I need to do my part and then rely fully on the Holy Ghost to teach them through the words we speak. An awesome lesson that I am beginning to better understand.

Elder Cummings

Pictures!

1. Crawfish boil with the fam to celebrate me going to Louisiana before Taiwan. Sooooo good!

2. some more zoom shenanigans, our teacher got corona a week and a half and is now fully recovered and joined us again all this this week(a miracle in and of itself) but we showed our love by making sure to wear our masks

3. Weekly view: I went to Down Under this week, a blast!

That solves our trio problem!

 (Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person can hope for,

It's been a great week! We found 4 people, one of which was a pretty great miracle. We had a referral from somewhere else, and we set up an appointment with them. We went to the appointment, and the original referral was not too interested, but his roommate was really interested! He had read the Book of Mormon and thought it was "accurate." We have another appointment this Wednesday with him. Looking forward to that! The Lord has really been blessing us. We see His hand in our lives almost every day. He is active in out lives.

Otherwise, we have been having lots of fun! I'm not sure if I told you, but one of our investigators gave us about 10 nerf guns with tons of bullets, and we've been having some fun with those. Though I may or may not have accidentally shot Elder Thompson in the eye. Oops. This week Elder some other Elders bet Elder Thompson that he wouldn't but mentos in a coke bottle, and but the bottle in his mouth. Today he did it. It was incredibly entertaining as coke went everywhere, and his cheeks flew out like a chipmunk. It's been fun for sure. The quote is from me. It's an inside joke now, as anytime we make a joke of one of us going home, or getting sick, or accidentally dying, we say that. Trio problems are real!

What do you need to activate a robot from Idaho? A potato chip! Haha! You get it.

Pictures:

1. My companions took my phone and took many pictures

2-3. Beautiful Idaho Sunsets