Mar 18 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey Everyone how have y'all been? Sorry I didn't email last week but it has been crazy since last time I wrote. That first week was not terribly bad, in fact it was pretty boring. Last Monday is when it truly started to get hectic starting out with my companion Elder Cianciotto getting transferred out of the area on super short notice with me staying in the area that I don't know very well with a new companion who knew the area not at all. Then the changes that have been happening in church policy to the extent that now we cannot really knock on doors anymore because now we have to call to set up an appointment with anyone whom we meet with now to make sure that it is OK for us to come over and teach them. But other than those 'minor' stumbling blocks everything is doing good and going well. 

Transfer

(Hermana Ellsworth)

Madison ran into an old BYU college friend. (picture above)

She is being transferred "But I'm doing well, I am moving to Ponce with Hermana Garcia from Honduras for this transfer. The phone doesn't allow emails for Group emails. That's why I haven't sent out a weekly all transfer. Next week I can but we don't have computers here.”

Madison ran into an old BYU college friend. (picture above)

She is being transferred "But I'm doing well, I am moving to Ponce with Hermana Garcia from Honduras for this transfer. The phone doesn't allow emails for Group emails. That's why I haven't sent out a weekly all transfer. Next week I can but we don't have computers here.”

Thats the umbilical cord of the chicken

(Elder Slade)

To the best Friends and Family a person could hope for,  

The title for this week came from Elder Leavitt as he was cooking a fried egg. He saw a white part coming out of the yoke and he said "That's the umbilical cord of the chicken!" After a moment's pause, I replied "Everything about that statement is wrong." He started laughing really hard after that as he thought about it. It was pretty funny.

Like every other week, this week's been great! The sun finally came out! We had a high of like 45! If it gets any hotter, I'll be drowning in sweat and heat. Just kidding, but it was good to finally have some of the snow start to melt. I can't wait until spring and summer. I've been told its super beautiful, and I'm excited. I've also been told there some really nice hiking trails. So I can't wait for a P-day that is warm enough to hike one.

We found two new people to teach. Their names are Jill and Jessie Bough, and they are super nice! I just love them. Jessie's super funny and I really hope they continue progressing. I went on an exchange with my district leader, Elder Johnson, on Friday. A funny thing that happened then was when we knocked on a door and we heard a kid's voice yell after he peeked out the window, "Mom, It's the mormon people!" In the moment, I thought it was pretty funny. Especially after the door opened and a large man answered, with the little kid peeking out from behind his leg. Super cute.  Other than that, it's not been that eventful of a week.

One thing that I've realized while out is that everyone is struggling with something. Whether member or non member, everyone has something that is hard in their life. Whether it's a recent death in the family, or something health related, or a struggling relationship. Or maybe it's depression and anxiety, loneliness, or being stretched too thin.  My invitation to you this week is to pray about someone that you can help and try to do something nice for them, to ease their burden. I promise as you try to look for an help others needs, your own burdens will be lessened. Ironically as we look outward, and forget ourselves, we find ourselves and receive more happiness in our lives. God lovers each and everyone of you and wants that happiness for you that lies in store when you care for others.

What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo?

A pouch potato! Not really a potato joke, but nonetheless, I thought it was funny.

Pictures:

1. Caden (the kid that got baptised) and us outside the temple, after we went to a fireside in the visiters center

2. Slow children playing! I think 15 mph for a child is pretty fast!

3. Pretty funny bumper sticker. Sorry for those who might get offended

4. Another beautiful Idaho sky!

God is Good!

(Sister Slade)

Well this is it y'all! You've had to put up with almost 19 months of emails but at last your misery is coming to an end. I fly home on Friday and for those of you near by, I will be giving my homecoming talk this Sunday at 9:30. If you want the address to the church building, email me separately.

I don't really know what to say for my last email except what I've said every email: God is good! I've been so blessed to be a part of His work and to have a front row seat to seeing Him do His work. There's a scripture that I really love, "I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." I've always loved the analogy to an instrument. Having a musical background, I think of a trombone, clarinet, or tuba. Heavenly Father "orchestrates" his work and we each can be an instrument in His hands. In the 18 months I spent serving the people of Arkansas trying to "bring some soul to repentance," I may have been the triangle that only contributed once or twice in the grand performance. But I showed up and the Lord used me. And that was my joy!

I know that I was sent to Arkansas to be able to serve and love specific people. I've come to see them and love them the way Heavenly Father does. And He loves you too. I know that God loves his children. He loves them so much that He sent his Son Jesus Christ to prepare a way for us to go back to Him. I've been so proud to represent Jesus Christ for the last 18 months. Even when I take my name tag off on Friday, His name is always written on my heart, "Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." So, one last time:

God is good!

Sister Anna Slade

pictures:

1-4. We got to go to the temple with Johana on Saturday! It was quite the adventure getting there though

5. The sunset on the way home from the temple

6-8. saying goodbye to everyone

9-10. we were bored and tried playing hide and seek (it didn't work so well in our small apartment) and sister Jelderks hid in the cabinet in my bathroom.

There's two ways to skin a cat, with a knife or an airhose

(Elder Slade)

To the best Friends and Family a person could hope for, 

This weeks title came from a member that was present during a lesson we taught. I don't remember what exactly we were talking about, but he said "There's two ways to skin a cat, with a knife or with an air hose," and I thought it was one of the funniest sayings! I hope I never have to skin a cat either way, but in case I need to, now I have two ways of going about it.

 It's been a good and crazy week! This Tuesday was my first zone conference. I learned a lot. One thing that we were challenged to do while there was memorize the entire first vision account to potentially use in a lesson, (JSH 11-17). I almost have it memorized, but I think the real reason he asked us to do it, was to build our testimony of it. After reading it and studying it so many times, I've come to really internalize it and reflect how that when we have our own questions, or lack wisdom about anything, we can ask God. Sometimes I think that there is a pile of blessings just hovering over our heads, and we just need to ask God in faith and try to follow Christ's example, and those blessings will be dropped upon us. I'd invite all of you to start reading the first vision, both to strengthen your testimony, but also to prepare for general conference coming up (It's going to big, and I'm excited!).

I went on two exchanges this week, one with Elder McGuire and Elder Fa'aumu, the same companionship I was with last week, and the other with Elder Posso, from Columbia/Utah, and Elder Bree from South Carolina. I love being able to serve with a variety of people, as they all have taught me something different.

The last big thing that happened this week was that we had a baptism! Caden Stewart, a boy that we are teaching was baptized on Saturday, and was confirmed yesterday! Elder Leavitt baptized him, and I played the piano and gave a talk at the service. It was really cool how a lot of members came to support him. I've only taught him for 3 or so weeks, but it was amazing to see how people can change. He's become a lot happier, and I can see the light of Christ shining more abundantly in his life.

My interesting fact of the week is that apparently, according to a website my mom got her info from, In Idaho it’s illegal to fish while sitting on the back of a camel or a giraffe. That sound fake, but you'll have to search it and see for yourself. My questions is, how would you get the giraffe or camel to stay long enough to fish from their backs.

Pictures:

1 and 3. Elder Leavitt, Caden, and I at Caden's baptism

2. Us the night before, with Colton, Caden's brother

4. Elder Leavitt's Yeti pajamas. I'm only a little bit jealous.

5. Beautiful Idaho

6. The coolest doorbell ever (it's a bear trap!)

Biking uphill with your brakes on

(Sister Slade)

Today's title comes from an experience I had on Tuesday. My bike has been having some issues and we went to a member that fixes bikes. Unfortunately he tightened my front brakes too much. We also didn't have a car for 10 days because of being in a car share with the elders. (side note: after getting the car back we cleaned it out because it was gross and we found toenail clippings in the back seat.) Anyway, on our way back from service we have to bike uphill the whole way. With the brake perpetually on. It was great. I did find a spiritual principle in this though. We have challenges in life (the hills). Everyone has them and sometimes it takes everything we have to get to the top. Sometimes we make things harder for ourselves by "having the brake on." This can take the form of anything; complaining, blaming others, or trying to avoid going up the hill all together. The hills are hard to go up but ultimately help prepare us to go up the next hill. I learned a lesson from my bike this week, but I can guarantee you I wasn't thinking about it as I was biking up Happy Hollow hill. I was thinking, "I AM GOING TO DIE!"

In comparison to the last couple of weeks, this one was pretty boring. Two exciting things happened though. The first is that Johana was confirmed on Sunday. Then she got up and bore her testimony again. It was just as powerful as when she bore her testimony a couple of months ago. There is a power in saying that you believe in what you believe in.

The second exciting thing is that Elder Ochoa from the 70 came and visited our mission. My last zone conference was conducted by a general authority. At zone conference President Strong talked about how knowing something is true doesn't do much for us unless we allow it to change our lives. He used the example that we can know the Book of Mormon is true just as much as we can know that our lawn mower manual is true. The difference is the power that the Book of Mormon has to change us. When we allow it to change us that's when our testimony of knowing is powerful. I think that is why Johana's testimony (both times) were so powerful. Not only does she know the gospel is true, but she has changed because of it and has accepted the change.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures

1-5. some really creepy half heads that we found at service at a thrift store

6. When we were in Bentonville for zone conference I got to see some of my favorite people from Central Park. I only got the picture with Jerry though :(

7. she was supposed to be backing me but found a cat to play with instead

Mar 3 20202

(Elder Petersen)

So this last week has been a warmer week with the temperature hovering around the 40's which means that all of the snow and ice that we have had hear in Malad has been melting away to uncover the potholes that are everywhere here. The reason that the potholes are a problem aside from the plain uncomfortable is that when we drive we are monitored by a little device that is hooked up to our car called a tiwi. Because of this we have been getting a lot of aggressive driver violations. They don't matter all to much here unless they are matched with a speed check warning which is the reason for the title. Other then the warm weather however we found a new person to teach this last Saturday. Her name is Moneta and she truly seems to want to learn and is interested about what we are teaching her. We have been teaching her for the past couple of weeks already but we only now decided to make her someone that we are actually teaching on record because she is living at an assisted living center and before that we were not yet sure if she was someone who would actually be able to make the commitments necessary for baptism. Other than that we had service on Thursday in which we helped someone move a few beds/mattresses out of their house (on the top floor to the other side of the house) to a trailer bed to be towed off to Pocatello where someone needed some mattresses. In my studies this week I have learned a lot more about Jesus Christ and his apostles, and about a few of the miracles that happen throughout Jesus Christ's Ministry as well as the apostles ministry after Christ's death/resurrection and the lessons that we can learn from them. One of my favorite miracles happened after Jesus's death and during the time that Peter and John were ministering to the people of Jerusalem this was healing of the man who was crippled since birth. This man was sitting outside the temple requesting alms of any that was headed to the temple. When Peter saw him he told the man to look at him so the man did expecting that he was about to receive something. We cannot know exactly what he was thinking that he would receive but I can saw that what he received was not what he was thinking in Acts 3 verse 6 Peter says "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.'' This miracle is one of my favorites because while Peter could have given that man some small thing that would have helped the man survive another day or two he gave him something much more. Peter gave that man the gospel and a way for him to help himself instead of having to rely on others for the basic necessities that he needs to live.

I hope y'all have a great week!