Snow and New Missionaries

Good morning everybody. It is snowing and it's icy – well it's not snowing anymore, but it was, and it's icy and it's cold again. It has been a very different winter from last winter. Last winter was record snowfall. Now it's like snowfall, a mini break up (where all the ice and snow breaks up and melts). We have been having a bunch of those, so it's never a good idea to wash your car (haha) because it just gets dirty. Right now it's really white, but I'm guessing in a couple of weeks we will have another mini break up, and everything will melt. It's bizarre. Bizarre weather just seems to follow me my whole mission. When I was in Whitehorse, it was a rainier summer than they have ever seen in a long time. When I came to Anchorage, it was the snowiest winter they had ever had before. When I went to Fairbanks, it was an earlier winter than it had been in a long time. Fall started and went pretty quick. Finally I came back to Anchorage and there is all this warm winter stuff and mini break ups.

We are driving to the library right now to go email. I'm just enjoying looking at all the snow and trees and stuff.

Today all the new missionaries arrive. There are about fifteen of them, and there are only six leaving. Lots of people are training. In fact, our whole zone this next transfer will be training new missionaries, which is new (haha). Elder Terry and I will be the zone leaders, and the assistants to the presidents are in our zone as well. So, basically everybody except us will be training. There are two sister companionships in the zone, and they are both training. So, I am going to go on a lot of exchanges, and help missionaries and encourage them to do their best and set good goals.

I am excited because Elder Terry is a very good missionary. I really like him and have served around him a little bit. Elder Higley is going to Fairbanks to be one of the frozen chosen (haha). It's cold there. He is going to be in the sixth ward. It will be fun for him. He gets to go up and help some missionaries.

We had a meeting with Elder Christensen again – kind of the same stuff but a little more application to how the members can missionaries and assist in the work. We had a lot of service helping some people move out and in.

We had a two day long zone council leader meeting. It was forever, and me and my hyperness. I was struggling to sit still. What made it worse was they gave us all candy at one point (haha). So, that wasn't good. Anyway, regardless of my lack of focus, I still focused a lot. I was just moving around a lot while I did it (haha). We learned a lot of good things to help us prepare to help the missionaries for the next transfer, and prepare us for zone conference. Our zone conference will be on the 20th. We have our transfer meeting tomorrow at 1:00pm. It will be kind of fun with all these new missionaries coming. There are a couple that are 19 and 18. I think there is one 18 year old elder and a 19 year old sister. I don't know how many more. I just knew there was one of each.

We had a lot of people come to Church. That was exciting. There were a lot of people we were trying to get to come and help come. Some really wanted to, but were just nervous about new people. Some of them had work. The ones that were more nervous didn't come. We will keep encouraging them. There were some that had work keeping them away or were just without rides. We did get them to Church, and that was exciting to see. I think for the members it was like, “oh, we're doing missionary work and people are coming to Church.” Hopefully they will think, “oh, maybe we should do it too.” (haha) However, the ward has been doing really well. It's an awesome ward, and they are really good with missionary work. The ward council is growing and developing in a good way toward thinking about the needs of individuals more than administering programs. That is not the purpose of a ward council. The purpose is to council and help people. Our ward mission leader and the ward missionaries and us as a coordination group are getting more and more focused on inspiring the members of the ward to do missionary work. We are getting a lot of momentum going in the right direction. So I'm excited about that particularly, and we'll see if we can help people even more than before.

There is a less active member of our ward who got a call extended to them to be a Family History Consultant. We have been working with him and been helping him help us with family history. He gets excited about it and is taking it all in. He likes being active in that aspect.

There is a girl I've talked about before who is getting baptized on the 23rd. That will be good for her family. It will really bring the Spirit into their home, especially as they attend the baptism. Some of her family are not members of the Church, and it will be good for them to see what it's really like. I mean there is nothing negative about the Church, it's all positive – helping people become their best. Anybody can see it if they really look closely at how people react... well I guess more sore the teachings of the Church. There is nothing negative there. If people will pay attention they will see it. Occasionally you get members who don't follow the teachings, and people look at that and think, “oh, they do this.” No, some individuals do that, but the teachings of the Church are good and helps people become their best.

I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that missionary work is fun (haha), and we can all do it. The Lord wants us to do it. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope all of you are having a good time back in Utah. I don't want to leave (haha). Which is good because I have another six months. But, I'm kind of bummed that my mission is cut a week short because of the change in MTC times. Everybody is going home a week short, because it's two weeks instead of three weeks. I love you all, talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Record

New Companion, Elder Terry

Hello everybody. This is Elder Record, and we were very busy, we helped a lot of people, and it was very fun. One thing that was really cool was Sacrament meeting. Everybody was bearing their testimonies. I really felt the Spirit, and I just wanted to jump up... I just felt energized. Everybody's testimonies just strengthened my desire to act and to do things. I think that is what the gospel does to us; it motivates us to act. Faith is a principle of action.

I was studying the word reverence. Reverence is an attitude we need to have in order to more readily receive revelation from Heavenly Father. In church they started talking about the word revere. Just thinking about that definition is more towards love and respect. It comes from a Latin root that means to stand in awe of or to fear.

Oh my goodness, I get so spastic on P-days. I just let out all my extra energy from the week, and all my mental excess energy and the stress and what not. Which is really good, I mean I think I've found out how to utilize exercise as a tool to relieve stress. However, while it's happening, I have like no focus (haha). I sort of do, but like mental focus... nah, it's not there. I have to get to basketball and play.

I hope I never leave Anchorage, because I really love it here. But of course, I will go where ever the Lord wants me to go. I found out that next transfer I will still be a zone leader in South Anchorage Zone. I will be with Elder Terry. I'm really excited because I love Elder Terry, because he is a great missionary – not that all my other companions have not been great missionaries. I really admire him because he, from what I've seen of him, he really has his purpose in focus. He is quick to stand for what he believes in. I really admire a lot of things about Elder Terry, and he's a hard worker, and I'm excited to be with him. He will be a new zone leader. I have served around him quite a bit in different areas in my mission. He was trained by one of the current assistants to the president, Elder Durffey; who just got done being with the missionary I trained in the Kodiak, Elder Conlin.

Another highlight that was pretty neat, the ward council is really starting to work in the way that it's been designed to. There is a lot of cool things happening that will be really cool. Our ward mission leader, ward missionaries and us are really forming into a close group. We are functioning in a very organized way that is starting to really develop. It's neat, because with that happening, a lot more missionary work will be happening. They are more familiar with the area, and they know the people. So with the Lord hastening His work, it will be done a lot easier through the members of the ward and of the church everywhere. I feel like I'm really learning how a ward council should council, and how it should run and be organized. The same thing happens with other callings in the church. It's really exciting, and I love learning about it ...but I have to wait until after my mission to really read through the handbook because it's not my main focus right now. I need to focus on Preach My Gospel and the scriptures so I can help the people and teach them the gospel and focus on the things they need.

It has been fun and I have really enjoyed the past two transfers here in Sand Lake. We have done a lot of good work. It is neat to see how well a lot of other missionaries are doing. The zone seems to be doing really well. It is fun to learn as much as I am learning, especially the different aspects. The way the mission works is you get a wide variety of experiences, or at least the way it should (haha). It will be exciting when I get back to see the different skills I've learned and to apply them and see the difference.

I will talk to you all next week. I love you all. Have fun! Be happy! Go look at the temple for me, because I want to see it being built, but I don't have time to look at any pictures or anything (haha).

Love, Elder Record

Pictures

We received Elder Record's SD card with a few pictures. I have included more pictures from his time as district leader in Fairbanks as well as current photos. Elder Record did not send any captions with the pictures, so I will do my best.

Fairbanks














A nice collection of older cars.

Helping out with the season catch. Elder Record with Elder Beirne.

Elder Beirne studying diligently.

Halloween with Elder Beirne. The pumpkin Elder Record carved and a great pirate (not sure who he is).

Elder Record by Bethlehem and a reindeer.


The district in Fairbanks. Elder Record is second from the right.

Sand Lake in Anchorage

A meeting with other elders. Elder Record is second one from the bottom left.

Sister Watson and Elder Record. Sister Watson was in Elder Record's district in the MTC, came out at the same time with Elder Record, and is going home very soon.

Elder Hartman and Elder Record

Elder Hartman, Elder Higley and Elder Record

Elder Record and "the hand" or just an annoying companion

Just being goofy. Must be Record Elder day instead of Elder Record.

Elder ?, Elder Conlin, Elder ?, Elder Beirne, Elder Record and Elder Wright. Elder Record trained Elders Conlin, Beirne and Wright. I'm guessing the other two unknown elders are being trained by one of Elder Record's trainees, making them Elder Record's "grandsons."

Week of Service

Hello everybody! This week was cool and unique. Being in Anchorage, we don't normally get to do a lot of service. I mean we do, but as far as like physical labor service for people, you don't do as much as in other places; just because it's a city. On Saturday we got to help a member of our ward move out to a different ward. Later that day we got to help some people that are investigating the Church, move into our ward. We got a few missionaries to help us out and a few members of the Elder's quorum in the ward. So she was able to meet those guys. Oddly enough, but pretty cool, she moved in right next door to one of the counselors in the Elder's quorum presidency. Anyway, it was a really good experience and she was able to get some fellowship. I think it left a good impression. We are excited to continue to teach them where the other missionaries left off.

There was a less active member we have been working with, and we go over and do our laundry there every Monday. He got called as a family history consultant. That will be fun because we get to work with him and have him help us out on some of the people we help. We can get him involved in the loop. It will be a nice way for him to serve other people. Which is the best way, I think, to regain your testimony; just start helping people. Well.... that and praying and reading your scriptures (haha) and everything else too.

We also helped this other guy move out. He is moving a bunch of stuff into storage.

We have been helping some missionaries prepare a training for Thursday. It's a Samoan language training and we are helping them prepare their presentations.

We have had a few really good lessons. We have been getting more and more new investigators. It's cool to see how the Lord prepares people for us to teach. The whole zone seems to be doing better at that. We have music and the waking word coming up next week. That's always entertaining, and our zone gets to host it on Tuesday.

It's been really warm, but the past few days have been really cold.

I love you guys. I hope you are all having a good time. The Church is true, and we'll talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Record

Feeling Better and Working Hard

Hello! So, I had a good week. We are heading to emails because we had a holiday on Monday and the libraries were closed.

This last week, I got sick. Wait, was that this last week or the week before? Yeah, that was this week, wasn't it? We got sick, but surprisingly enough, even though we were sick the last couple of weeks, we have been super, super busy. There is this ten year old we started teaching, and she is on date to be baptized. The situation is pretty cool, because initially the father didn't really like the Church and prevented his wife from attending. She was able to come back because he kind of softened up a little bit. He was at Church the Sunday before Christmas. Come to find out, he gave his ten year old daughter permission to get baptized. His wife is a recent convert of a few years. It has been really neat teaching her, and we just got out of a lesson there. It was fun. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel. So it felt good. I always love doing that.

I love teaching. In fact, when I eventually figure out what I want to go into for my occupation, I probably want to do something with teaching, because it's very, very fun. I like helping people understand.

Other than that, we have had a couple of good opportunities to work with our ward mission leader and the ward missionaries. We have been helping that organization get started. It's neat to see. We have our ward mission leader who conducts our correlation meeting. We have been going out to visit people with the ward missionaries, and with Brother Faber, the ward mission leader. It's starting to run very well. I think it will help the ward get involved in more missionary work as we keep this going and expand it. Which is good, since most of the missionary work needs to happen within the ward and their association with others. We kind of come in and do the teaching so to speak. It's good to see that going. That was a highlight for me this week.

We have also been doing some family history. We taught the assistants a little about family history. We have been preparing for a culture training on the following Thursday. We are helping everybody get their presentations; the different elders in the different Samoan areas. That is a lot of business we end up doing as zone leaders, but it's fun and needs to be done. I like it because I'm getting a variety of experience on my mission. I have to tell you what though, I really mission training and being a district leader (haha). That was fun! I like doing the more one on one type stuff. As a zone leader I feel kind of detached. The district leaders are the ones that really have influence on helping the missionaries in their districts to do well, and improve and progress. They have a good amount of influence on how well others do. The zone leaders do the more business stuff to make sure everything works; but it's fun.

We had an investigator we hadn't taught in like a month. We finally had another lesson with them with one of our ward missionaries too. That went well. We were able to get back on page with each other. He is reading his scriptures and things. It was nice to see him doing well. He is going to be baptized in April.

Some members took us to Olive Garden. They have really good food. I like their shrimp. They have like tons of shrimp stuff. Life is good. I love Alaska! I'm sending my SD card back in the mail with some pictures on it. You should be getting that soon. I'm taking my vitamins and staying healthy. When I said I gained 20 pounds on my mission, it's gone back to only 10 pounds. So, I don't know if that's good or bad (haha).

I love you all. Keep doing your best. Keep reading your scriptures. Keep helping other people, and strengthen them and help them be the best that they can be. They will always appreciate it. Love you guys, and I will talk to you next week.

Love, Elder Record

Sick, but Life is Good

Hello Family. Unfortunately, this week I've been kind of sick. I got sick on Friday. Well, I guess it started on Thursday a little bit. I just have a cold. It's not very fun, but I'll get over it.

One thing we did this week was zone leader conference. That lasted a good part of the day. We just got trained in different things that the president thought needed to be spread through the different zones. We had a zone meeting on Thursday morning, where we shared that training with the zone and the things they needed to do. We had our interviews on Tuesday, so that was fun. We got to talk with President Beesley.

We found a less active family who was wanting to come to Church, through our ward mission leader. We went over with some ward missionaries, invited them to come to Church, offered them a ride, and they came. It was pretty cool, especially because they live right across the hall from some other less active members. So as they get excited, they will be able to help each other out, and come to Church.

I felt like this week with some of the people we were visiting, we got to find out what their hold up is; what their need is and how we might be able to help them. With a couple of people, unemployment seems to be a big thing that is stressing them out. We'll see if we can't help. There are some people we know that can help them.

I went on exchanges with one of the district leaders. That was fun. We got to strengthen and build them. There is a family who joined the Church like two years ago, but her husband said for a little bit, “it's either me or the Church.” He has kind of softened up, and she has been able to come back to Church. He actually showed up to Church on Christmas, which was pretty surprising, but cool. He allowed her daughter to get baptized, so we are going to start teaching her; she's eleven. It's really neat to see hearts softening.

It's been really warm; freakishly warm. It's like 40 degrees right now, and I can't hardly wear a coat – at all. It's raining like crazy and everything is melting. It's like breakup, which is weird. It is really an abnormal winter. I guess I really don't know what normal is anyway because I was only hear for last winter, which was more snow than it's even gotten before. This year it is not snowing hardly at all, but it's raining like crazy.

Flu is going around. Hopefully I don't catch the flu (haha). I'm praying. Life it going good, except for the sick part. I'll probably rest a lot today. I won't play basketball. I won't weaken my body any more to get sick. I need to save up my energy.

I hope you guys have a good week too. See you later.

Love, Elder Record

Service and Family History

Okay, so, this week we had our transfers officially. Elder Leota went up to the Turnagain Ward – I think I said that last time. But, it actually happened this week so that took up part of the beginning of the week. Since it's our responsibility to help out the other missionaries in the zone, we got the opportunity to move a bunch of furniture for them. So we got a really good work out. I didn't even have to weight lift; not that I do anyway, but that morning I did a little bit, and then I found out we would be moving all that stuff. But that's okay, even though I was tired, we still did it, and we worked hard and it was a good work out.

We also helped this other lady move out of her house into a new one. That was fun. It was good service.

The zone changed up a little bit. We have more missionaries and a lot of fun people I enjoy serving around. President Beesley shared a really cool scripture at the transfer meeting. It's D&C 58:3-4; I think. It talks about how you can't behold with your natural eye for the time being, what God has in store for you. You have to work through that trial of your faith before you can see those blessings and before they come, but they are coming. I thought that was pretty cool scripture. And of course with God, nothing is impossible. So it's really up to us to change our own situations and attitudes. I mean everything we are in is designed to help us grow, and the only thing that keeps us from growing is our own attitude.

We had a couple of good lessons this week. We were able to help some people out with family history, which is fun because we always end up talking about the Plan of Salvation and families and those wonderful points of the gospel. We then link that to families and help people discover their families. It's just fun, because they get really excited.

We got to help a family come to Church that was not going to come to Church. We called them and they said they were coming. Church was just about to start, and we gave them a call, and they needed some help getting out the door. So we went over and gave them some support, and we got them to Church (haha). That was a neat experience.

That is kind of the news for the week.

Elder Record: Can you think of anything else Elder Higley?

Elder Higley: I missed my turn.

Elder Record: He missed his turn, but he is going to turn up here.

Alaska is fun. There are lots of ravens; they are everywhere. There's snow. It's sunny, but it's cold. There are a little bit of clouds.

Elder Record: Where are we? I don't think you parked at the library (hahaha). Yeah, I don't think this is the library.

Elder Higley: There it is!

Elder Record: Yep, there it is.

Elder Higley: We can walk there. Do you want to walk there?

Elder Record: No. It's cold.

Anyway, life is good, and the Gospel is true. Jesus Christ lives and loves us.

Elder Record: And that is a “Do Not Enter” (hahaha) This is why you have a companion. I love Elder Higley.

Elder Higley: I would have been just fine. No cars came.

Elder Record: That's true, no cars came. (haha)

Anyway, bye.

Love, Elder Record