The Church is Truer Than True!

Sister Anderson and I had the best week I've had since coming out on my mission. To the point that not only did we meet the mission standards of excellence, but we tripled them. And I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for how much we've been blessed! One of my friends who is on her mission is Spain said that Elder Holland came to visit them recently, and he told the missionaries there that "Your success if directly proportional to your desire" and I truly believe that! Earlier this week I was praying before personal study and I was thinking for a long time about what I wanted to promise Heavenly Father this week. At first I started to ask, "Please help us to find those people that are prepared to hear the gospel," but immediately the thought came to my mind, "Well what is it that you want exactly?" I thought for a long time and then came up with a specific number of lessons in my head that I felt we could promise Heavenly Father as long as we worked our very hardest. At first it felt outrageous, but I felt very peaceful the more I prayed about it. When we accounted on Sunday we realized that we had taught exactly the number of lessons that I had promised Heavenly Father we would strive for.

The most amazing part is that there's no way we would have been able to teach so many lessons and find so many new people if it was just sister Anderson and I. Heavenly Father is leading us to people left and right! A few weeks ago Sister Anderson and I went to find a less active individual in an apartment complex, and on our way out I felt like we should knock on a certain door so we did. The people were friendly but not interested, and as we were walking away they said, "You know I'm pretty sure one of the people living right across from us is Mormon. Maybe try them." Sure enough, when we knocked on that door we were able to meet a wonderful couple who recently moved here. The wife is a member and the husband isn't but he wants to learn, so we've started teaching him. Part-member families are my favorite to teach! :)

That same night we contacted them we were on our way to visit a different name but the name of a less active woman in our ward came to my mind so we suddenly decided to go see her instead. When we got there we had a wonderful discussion with her, and Sister Anderson shared an inspired story! The woman told us that it was really weird that we came that night, because just earlier that evening one of her daughters out of the blue had asked her, "When are we going back to my church?" We've also started teaching her fiance. :)

The ward can't get enough of Bennett and Verna, and Bennett and Verna can't get enough of the gospel! Something special from one of our lessons this week was that Verna has only agreed to say the closing prayer once before, and it was very brief, because she feels that her prayers are too personal and she has a hard time talking to Heavenly Father with other people around. Verna agreed to say the closing prayer for our lesson on Wednesday. She asked Heavenly Father how He was doing, and then she said, "I love you, Heavenly Father" and choked up and started to cry. One of the most genuine, heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. I've decided that when my mission is over you guys need to drive up here and pick me up so that you can meet all of these people with me!

The people here are so wonderful. Heavenly Father fills us with more love then I've ever felt before.

Up to this point we've been spoiled with having beautiful weather, but this week the weather has definitely started changing and I'm learning what Washington is actually like! I think I might have to invest in some good boots! We have transfers next week and it would make absolutely no sense for president to transfer me because Sister Anderson and I are in the middle of the 12 week training, but for some reason I've had a weird feeling recently that I'm being moved anyway. Who knows, though, it might just be me. I guess we'll find out! President Bonham is wonderful, by the way. I'm not sure I've told you anything about him, but he frequently tells the missionaries that they're not allowed to do drugs and not allowed to participate in high-speed races to the Seattle space needle. Okay, President Bonham, whatever you say. :)

The church is truer than true!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

Two week update By Elder Slade

First of all, I haven't received any mail from you (Mom and Dad) even though your Dear Elder letter said that you were sending a physical letter. The only thing I've received from you is the print-off from the Character of Christ talk, which makes me think you used a different mailing address for it. I don't know what happened to the rest of your mail, I think it's making its way back to you because it never made it here.

Thanks to Britney for her letter. I'll send my response to your questions in writing, because I'll have more time later today to do that and I don't actually have your letter with me at the moment.

And, the one other thing I received so far: a wedding invitation from Courtney. It was pretty funny, actually. The district leader gave me the letter, and I was talking to Eldè Trockel about it. The envelope said it was from her, so I was saying something along the lines of "She's my cousin. I think she was going to get married soon." As I was opening it, I was joking to myself about how funny it would be to get a wedding invitation from her, considering that I'm on my mission and there's no chance that I would be able to go. And then I pulled it out and started laughing.

I really wish that I could go, and I'll actually be no more than a few miles away from the wedding, which just makes it all the more ironic that I can't. Anyway, congratulations to Courtney on her marriage. I wish her the best of luck.

Haitian Creole is coming along slowly still - at least it seems like it. It's hard to see any progress because it's not exactly quantifiable. I can't remember if I told you all already, but they actually gave me a bunch of French materials as well, because apparently Haitians speak Haitian Creole, but they read French. (If that makes any sense.)

Today Eldè Trockel has a doctors appointment outside of the MTC, because he has something wrong with his liver. So I'll be going with him in just a few hours; but Eldè Halling will be doing a companion exchange, he will be staying with the rest of the district so that only two of us have to leave campus. (Can you call it a campus?) Anyway, wish Eldè Trockel luck, because if it turns out that he's intolerant to gluten, then his life will get much harder. (On the other hand, if he's not intolerant to gluten, then the doctors have no idea what's wrong with him.)

Now I'll return to The Character of Christ. Thanks for printing this out for me. Unfortunately, the talk you sent me is not the same as the one I watched here at the MTC. It's pretty close, but it leaves a lot out, and reading the talk really isn't the same as watching him give it. I hope that I'll be able to convince the people here at the MTC to publish the talk on LDS.org, or at least to let me take a copy of that video with me when I leave, but I don't really think I'll be able to do it. Darn.

The cafeteria food is pretty good, most of the time. I've only had a few meals that tasted really "off". The one thing I don't like about the food is that unfortunately, pretty much everything gives you gas. I'm not even kidding, I don't know what they do to the food, but it's not normal. The juice is the worst, but most everybody learns to avoid it after their first week, so we can usually keep the methane levels to a relative low.

Thanks,

Brandon

Some awesome clouds, with a glimpse of the ground in the far distance. The plane ride really was a blast. (But I hope they send me to Florida in a bigger seat, it'll be a 6x longer flight and the flight here was starting to get uncomfortable after just an hour.)

MTC Lessons by Elder Slade

“Che fanmi,

Apparently I’m allowed to write at any time at the MTC. (Note from Nancy: Not correct. He clarified in an email last week.) When I am in FL-FTL, I will be able to write only on my P-day.  In the MTC, my P-day is Monday.  So far my experience with the MTC is that days feel like weeks, even though each individual activity seems really short.  I am having trouble thinking and retaining all of the information that I have been cramming into my head.  As they say in Haitian Creole, “tet chaje”—literally “mind full”.  For the same reason, I’m having trouble getting to sleep at night, which is only compounding the problem.

        A couple of tips for future MTC-goers:

1.   Don’t trust Google Translate.  At all.  It’s wrong.

2.   Speak as much of your language as you can, don’t attach words and phrases to English words and phrases, attach them to meanings.  For example, when I interpret “nan non Jezikri, amen’” I don’t have to consciously translate Jezikri any more, because I know what it means, instead of knowing that it translates as “Jesus Christ”.

3.   The juice gives you gas.  Avoid at all costs.

4.   If you are assigned to room M16-137, don’t bother messing with the AC.  It doesn’t work.

               Although I feel overwhelmed, I have to admit that I have been extremely lucky/blessed.  Haitian Creole is just about the most awesome language ever, and it is ridiculously simple.  Give it another few days, and I’ll have learned more Haitian Creole than I ever did Spanish.  Besides that, it sounds amazing, and I can’t wait to learn it.  One of the best parts about the language is how much you can say using a limited vocabulary.  For example, the verb “ule” means “to want”,  the verb “di” means “to say”.  But the verb “uledi” means “to mean” or “want to say”.  There are all kinds of clever constructs in the language that I really enjoy finding.

         You mentioned that Andrew gave a talk on his third day –so did I, with my companions (more on them below”, after only 1 ½ hours of language study.  It was terrible, as you can imagine.  We taught him again today.  It went better, thanks for asking!  But still it wasn’t exactly a conversation.

        There are only five people in my district.  Elders Ashby and Casper are companions, and I am part of triple companionship—me, Elder Trockel, and Elder Halling.  We all are speaking Haitian Creole, but we’re all going to different missions.  They will be at the MTC foe six weeks, I will be here for seven.  I don’t know what I’m going to have to do for that last week (as far as companions are concerned). (note from Nancy: See previous blog post) The reason that I stick around for an extra week is because the FL-FTL mission’s transfers are a week behind the MTC schedule. So I come t the MTC the 18th so that I learn the language with others who are learning it, but I stay for a week longer because otherwise I would arrive in between transfers and they wouldn’t know what to do with me.

        I hope you’re all ok.  I’m out of time (and paper) for now.

Elder Slade

MTC Pictures of Elder Slade

Moroni 7:35-37 By Sister Slade

Once again, Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me in the ways he chooses to bless his children- oftentimes in ways that they didn't expect! The first half of this week was definitely a test of my faith and patience. It seemed like all of our appointments were falling through, and when we did have appointments for some reason it was next to impossible to find members that were available to help us. The challenges at the beginning of the week made us work harder though, it's funny how the more desperate you get the more sincere and pleading your prayers become. Heavenly Father must have approved of our hard work, because we have seen so many miracles in the last couple days-big and small- that I feel overwhelmed by how aware Heavenly Father is of me and of the people around me.

We had exchanges on Saturday, and Sister Kidd and I were doing a lot of tracting because both of our appointments had fallen through. Up until this point we still hadn't found that new investigator, but I had been praying for days that we would find someone new to teach that week. After a whole lot of no's we knocked on a door, and a girl answered and to our surprise she immediately invited us in. We got to know her and found out that her name is Mikayla and she is 14 years old. She told us simply that she wanted to know more about God and Jesus Christ. This girl has got to be incredibly prepared, because from minute one when we had an opening prayer, you could tell that the spirit was working on her and she was very intently focused on what we were telling her. The spirit was almost tangible, it was so so strong during the lesson, that at one point after I shared with Mikayla the first vision I felt like I had to just stop in the middle of what I was saying and ask, "Do you feel how warm this room is right now? Do you feel that warmth inside of you?" Mikayla's eyes teared up and she nodded and we were able to explain to her that that feeling was the holy ghost telling her that what we were telling her was true. Such a beautiful moment! She's young and open to learning and hungry for truth. I am so excited for Sister Anderson and I to be able to teach her!

We were able to get in contact with another 14-yr-old girl who is inactive, and we were able to go visit her along with the YW first counselor. When we got there the girl told us that after we came she called her mom (Who is also inactive and who she just recently has been able to have contact with) and her mom was so excited because she said she has been wanting to get back in contact with the church. In the last few months the mom has been working really hard to overcome drug addictions and is making HUGE changes in her life. The mom joined us for the lesson, and at multiple times would turn to her daughter and teach her things like how to pray and who Heavenly Father is. Hearing the moms story and everything that both of them have had to go through was so touching, especially since the mom has a super firm faith in Jesus Christ. At one point she started crying when she said, "I'm having a religious conversation with my daughter." We will be teaching the girl and her mom together from now on. The timing of finding them and the changes that have been happening in their lives within the last month is impeccable- absolutely not a coincidence. :)

Two  hours before church started on Sunday, Sister Anderson and I decided that we needed to invite two of our potential investigators to church- people we haven't even had the chance to teach yet. When we got to church one of them was there with his 2 kids, and the other came with 6 of his grandkids. Bennett and Verna also came to church, and 4 of the less actives we've been working with came. In the end there were 13 nonmembers at church yesterday, and the ward- especially the primary and YM/YW- hardly knew what to do with itself! What an incredible thing to see! I was smiling the whole first half of sacrament meeting- I almost couldn't keep from laughing- because it was just such an outrageous and unexpected blessing for everyone!

Whenever we have a rough day one of the ways I remind myself of the miracles Heavenly Father is showing us is that I think to myself, "Bennett and Verna are getting baptized, Bennett and Verna are getting baptized!" and I say another little prayer of gratitude for them. We taught Bennett and Verna about eternal families and the temple this week, and when we asked them if they would continue to prepare themselves to go to the temple Bennett grinned and said to Verna, "Yeah, I think we can do that," and Verna just winked at him. Bennett and Verna were married two weeks after they met, and they've now been married 28 years. I've never met two people who are more in love. The beautiful thing is that they can now prepare with Everett and Darlene to go to the temple as they are all close friends now. I can't wait until a year from now when I'll be able to come back to Oak Harbor to watch both of those couples be sealed!!!

Everett and Darlene were called as our new ward missionaries- SOLID calling! :) Bennett and Verna still can hardly wait for their baptism! Verna has read through both the relief society and Sunday school manuals, and has recently surpassed me in her BOM reading! Bennett likes to tell us about his new favorite programs on the Mormon channel, and also about how he can only get through one chapter in 2 Nephi at a time because he ends up studying one chapter for 2 hours. :) Verna likes to say that, "On October 12th, you'll have yourselves a twofer!" It's hilarious.

Well I love you all! I'm so excited that Brandon is in the MTC now! I can't wait to hear from him. KaraLynne said she saw the pictures from when you dropped him off- I would love to see those too! How is school going for everyone? Are things pretty busy? I would love to hear from you guys, even if it's just a quick note.

Love ya lots!

Sister Slade

MTC and the Character of Christ By Elder Slade

I have already answered many questions in a physical letter which I am sending today. Feel free to type it up if you want to in order to put it in a blog, but since I don't have much time I'm not going to answer all of your questions and I won't go into much detail.

Week #1 started extremely slow and is speeding up alarmingly fast. It feels like it's been so long that I can't remember what happened at home just a week ago, but it's not really a bad experience. You guys should all watch Elder David A. Bednar's 1.5 hour long talk called "the Character of Christ", which is an awesome talk. I watched it last night. This morning I went to the temple and did initiatories. It is the first time I have been to the temple since getting my own endowments; it was a great experience.

My district is only five strong; my two companions are Elder Halling and Elder Trockel. Neither of them are going to the same mission that I am, but we are all speaking Haitian Creole. I have some pictures, but this computer doesn't have a card reader, so I can't send them to you. I'll see if I can do it next week. (My P-Day is Monday.)

A quick explanation on my 7-week departure date: learning Haitian Creole is only a 6-week language, but the Fort Lauderdale Mission transfers are a week behind most other missions. So they'll consider us ready to leave October 29th, but I will stay in the MTC for another week to Nov. 5th (alone, I will probably get a French-speaking companion - so, alone) after the rest of my district has already left.

Haitian Creole is an awesome, and incredibly simple, language. It sounds awesome; it is easy to learn; it will be incredible to speak; but it will most likely be useless for the rest of my life. Hah.

The rest of what I want to say is in my physical letter. I'm almost out of time, but if you respond quickly I may be able to answer.

This may sound mean, but I was really glad that I got to fly to Utah instead of driving there. It was a lot of fun. I got a bunch of pictures of cloud formations (which I can't send you.)

And, I haven't seen Kyle here yet, and I think he leaves early tomorrow morning, so I probably never will.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

I told you all to watch "the Character of Christ", but I can't find it on LDS.org, and I can't get on Google to do a more extensive search, so here's some more info to help you find it if you can:

It's a talk by David A. Bednar, given on Christmas day (a Sunday) at the MTC, at least a year and 9 months ago. (Before the age change, anyway.) It really is an awesome talk.

LINK TO TALK

Member Missionary Work

How are you? It makes me so happy and a little bit sentimental to read about Brandon's mission preparations and everything that you all are doing too! It sounds like it was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa in town and spend that time with them. Tell Grandpa Putnam that I love him too and that He's in my prayers. I'll try to write him a letter later today so that he has something to read in the next week since I'm guessing he won't be able to move around much :)

This week felt slower than last because we had quite a few appointments fall through and we weren't able to get any more of our investigators progressing, but when we looked at the numbers and accounted last night, we saw that once more everything came together and we barely reached our goals. It's always amazing to me how that somehow always seems to happen! This means that this week’s goals are just a little bit higher again though. :)

I am so excited for Bennett and Verna's baptism on the 12th, I can hardly wait! I just feel so happy around those two, they are so special. I wish you all could meet them. Especially Grandpa Les and Becky, since they are very similar! The ward already loves them, if their name is brought up in ward council you hear a chorus of "we want them." :) Bennett and Verna attended one of 2nd ward's baptisms with us on Saturday, and they absolutely loved it. Afterwards Verna was telling us how she found herself humming earlier that day while she was cleaning which was weird to her because she normally hates cleaning. I told her that I thought it was probably because her spirit recognizes she has a lot to be grateful for. She laughed and said, "You know what I think it is?" and she got a little bit emotional and pointed to Sister Anderson and I. I'm so glad that Verna recognizes what a huge impact the gospel is having on her life. She and Bennett have been watching conference talks together for fun in their free time (SOLID investigator status.) They both attended church yesterday, and right before Sister Anderson and I taught the gospel principles lesson I heard Verna lean over to talk to Everett, and she asked him if he would be the one to baptize her. You should have seen Everett's face, it meant so much to him. Such a special moment!

We were also very excited to have one of the less-active women we have been working with attend church! Her name is Zola, and she is in her 80's but hasn't attended church in a long time because she was offended by someone a long time ago. She is such a sweetie. We found her a dress and a ride and she finally came to church yesterday. She said she absolutely loved it, and that she wants to come every week!

This afternoon is going to be crazy. The 2nd ward sisters have been living with us for a few weeks now, and this whole time we thought that it would be them that would be moving apartments, but we got a call this week and learned that it was actually Sister Anderson and I that would be moving apartments. Our apartment is only a block away from the other sisters though, so it will be nice to see them every now and then still :)

My testimony of the importance of member missionary work was reaffirmed this week. A few weeks back the 2nd ward elders gave us a referral for a man named Charles that they had taught a lesson to but who was in our area. Sister Turley and I went to see him and he answered the door speaking in third person saying, "Charles isn't here right now, and he's been really busy taking care of his parents so I don't think now is a good time for him to meet with missionaries, but I'll tell him to call you when he's ready to meet." Last week a woman in our ward named Augustina C. (SOLID member status.) told us that she was bringing a friend to church. She showed up at church and we were so surprised to see that her friend she had brought to church was Charles! Charles looked a little bit flustered when Augustina introduced him to me as Charles, but then we both just kinda laughed! We taught a lesson to Charles and also his parents this week, and it went very well! Oh- and his parents are pretty strong catholic and there's no way they would ever let us teach them if we had just come and knocked on their door. So the message to everyone this week is....go do missionary work!!!!! Maybe one out of a hundred people let strangers wearing skirts and ties into their homes, but if the invitation comes from a friend or neighbor that cares about them, that's a different story!

I love you all bunches. We had a zone meeting this week, and the zone leaders said that when they met with President Bonham this month he told them some amazing things. When President Bonham went to a meeting with President Monson and some of the apostles before he came into the field, President Monson told the mission presidents "The time for planting seeds has passed, now is the time to harvest." He told the mission presidents that he had recently met with some of the leaders in China, and in essence they were told that "We know your church is going to continue to grow here in our country and around the world, regardless of what we do, but we're going to do everything that we can to slow you down." We live in an amazing time in history! Don't forget that The Lord loves all of you, and he needs each and every one of us to play a greater role in "harvesting." Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. Brother and Sister Hansink (SOLID member status.) took us to eat at an Asian buffet this week and the fortune that Sister Anderson and I got said, "You will soon receive a letter from a loved one."- no joke! Haha. We thought it was so funny, we taped it to our door! You wouldn't want to destroy my faith in fortune cookies, would you? :)