Breakup!

Good morning everybody. This is a beautiful, sunny day today, and it's 36 degrees. Elder Terry is sitting next to me in the driver's seat. The leaves are still not on the trees because there is still a lot of snow, but it's all melting. I think break up is finally here! Yeah!! Breakup is like it's own season here, where all the snow and ice break up and melt because there is so much of it. It's pretty dirty right now. They don't spray the roads with salt because it's too cold. Salt is apparently just not good enough, but they spray the roads with gravel so you have grip on the snow. So you are usually driving on snow all winter, which is why everybody gets winter tires. All missionaries get studded tires. There is still lots of snow in the snow banks on the side of the roads, but the roads are clear – for the most part. They are kind of wet too.

This week has been kind of busy. Not only have we been covering the two areas, but we also had to do some major cleaning. We ended up going on exchanges with one of the missionaries up here in our zone because he was sick, and caught a neural virus. You basically end up throwing up out of the blue with no warning – maybe like three seconds warning. Luckily this missionary was in the shower at the time, so he was able to make it to the toilet in those three seconds. But, 90% of the kids at Chugiak High School caught it. So they closed the high school down for a little bit. I also heard that 60% of Diamond High School caught it. There were kids throwing up in the middle of class and throwing up everywhere. This missionary also threw up everywhere in the morning – well probably just the toilet. So apparently a lot of people are getting sick, but this is Anchorage. It tends to happen. I have never been more sick than I have been in Anchorage (haha).

But, it's beautiful!, except for the roads. The mountains I'm looking at are snowy and white and wonderful. The ocean is very pretty. I've been taking a couple pictures there. We are actually going to be hiking Flat Top today most likely, which will be a neat experience. Hopefully it's not too cold, but I'm well suited for that.

Besides all the cleaning and craziness, one of our investigators is planning on getting baptized this weekend. He is going to get married after 4 yours. So that's pretty exciting. That will be the third marriage I have been a part of on my mission. He is going to get married on Wednesday. It's exciting. It is always kind of tough leading up to the baptism, but we will keep encouraging them to do their best and to have faith. He is a really awesome guy, and he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He knows the gospel is true.

We have been using family history a little bit. There are a couple of people who we offered to help with their family history. So we are working on that, and it's pretty exciting. It makes it a lot easier to get on good terms with the person using family history. It makes it easier to lead into talking about families and the plan of salvation and the gospel. So life is good, life is busy. I'm having fun in Anchorage. I actually wouldn't mind if I stayed here for the rest of my mission, but we'll find out in a week.

Holly duckies! My ducky video is too big. I was going to send it, but it's just too big. I will have to get it to everybody eventually. Lots of duckies here at the Anchorage library.

I think that is probably it for the highlights. It is really fun being a zone leader because people are always struggling, and we get to be the people that help them with their struggles. It's fun – good service.

Love, Elder Record

Minimal Update

Elder Record only responded to our emails without giving us a formal update. He is still working in a trio with Elder McMillian and Elder Terry. They are covering two areas. Elder Record likes it because he gets to focus on people who want to hear the gospel and progress. More next week.

Life is Good!

Hola, mi familia. Today is snowy and cloudy and cold; it's thirteen degrees. Just a couple of days ago, actually yesterday, it was sunny and warm; it was like 25 degrees. It was warm because it was sunny. The weather is kind of weird, but that's because it is break up. It's kind of coming on and off like a light switch. Soon all this will be melted, and safer to drive on. We will just have to be careful because we already got our winter tires switched off. Luckily we are in a truck and have four-wheel drive. So that's a benefit, and Elder Terry is a master driver.

This week has been very fun because we had the opportunity to go around like crazy (haha). We are covering two wards right now. We have been going back and forth, doing things. That has been occupying us a lot.

One of our investigators is going to have us over for dinner. That is exciting. I guess that shows we are growing on him (haha). This guy seems to be progressing more and more. They have so much junk around them though. He is an honest, humble seeker of truth it seems, but all these distractions are getting in the way. We are hoping to help them feel the Spirit and get an environment where he can feel the Spirit.

We had one of our investigators just get done with five years of recovery from slipping on the stairs and breaking a bunch of stuff and tumbling down the stairs. She just got over that, and she just barely got in a car accident, and hurt her neck a little bit. We are going to go see her soon and see how she's doing. So, pray for her.

General Conference was also really good. I think my favorite talk with Richard G. Scott. I think he only gave one talk. He talked about technology and using technology and how it can be a protection to us if we use it right. You know you always think if you use it right it can be a tool, or you know if you're not careful it can be bad; it can be a temptation. I like how he mentioned with all the good that you can put on those devices now, especially because of the things the Church has put out, it can be a protection to you if you use it right. It can help you “keep virtue garnishing your thoughts.” I was impressed by that. I also loved so much how they talked about families and strengthening families, and family relationships and enduring to the end. It was like answers to prayers every single session. It was just amazing. It was so good.

Another talk that I really liked was Elder Holland's. That kind of pierced me right where I needed it. He kind of hit my concerns right on the head. Yeah, it was awesome; I felt the Spirit. Because I felt the Spirit there in the meeting, I knew what they said was true. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I know the apostles are as well. I know they are called of God, and they lead and guide us, and help us to do what's right. That is pretty cool when you think about it, that we have the opportunity to have apostles and prophets on the earth. Not too many people got that opportunity in the earth's history, but we do, and we can take advantage of it, if we will listen to them. I was grateful for the opportunity to listen to them.

I kept remembering the statement that President Monson made at the beginning to be alert and pay attention. So, there was one time when I was about to fall asleep (I think it was during President Eyring's talk), but I remembered that. I was kind of prompted I guess to stay away, so I stayed awake during his talk. I ended up getting some personal revelation that was really neat, that I would not have gotten if I had fallen asleep (haha). So, I was thankful for that (haha).

I am grateful for the chance to be in Alaska because it's awesome. I am happy that Lorielle is doing so well on her mission. I'm just happy to see all the things happening – like in conference they talked a lot about missionary work and how the Lord is hastening His work. In our mission alone we have not received that many missionaries. We might receive like five or ten more, but the work is almost double. There are so many more baptisms happening. In our zone this last month, there were more people baptized in our zone in March than almost the entire year of 2012. That is pretty amazing to see.

Anyway, things are just awesome. Life it good and happy! We are in a trio right now. It is super fun. I love trios. I know Lorielle has been in trios like forever. Transfers are coming up in three weeks. I'll have to ask Lorielle how many times she has trained – or I guess I should say Sister Record. Anyway, she just seems like she's doing awesome. People here are awesome. I love teaching the gospel. Bye!

Love, Elder Record

Ukraine Temple Dedication Touches Investigator

Good morning everybody. I've got this really fun video of Elder Terry feeding some duckies with a big bag of bread. I will have to email it. We watched it after district meeting. It's pretty funny. There are like 5,000 ducks, and that was at the library.

I am on exchanges with Elder McMillian. It's been pretty fun. We've been together for a couple of days because he's not feeling too well and I had my gum surgery. So, it helps me to not smile as much, I guess (haha). We have been in O'Malley ward, having a blast, and working hard. We met this cool guy, [Name withheld], whose from Ukraine. We were able to show him that Mormon message of the temple dedication in Kyiv, Ukraine. He really liked that and the festivities. He was excited because it was his culture and the culture of the countries around him. 

We plan on getting him on conference in the near future to listen to it in Ukrainian, in this own language. It will probably help them better understand the principles of the Gospel than if we were teaching them in English. That's exciting, and he even came to Church when his back was hurting him really bad.

There was this one lady who was going to invite this old man to church, and he needed a listening device. So we got the listening device ready. Turns out he didn't come, but [Name withheld] came. He has pretty bad hearing too, so we just happened to have his listening device. We handed it to him, and he used it. It seemed to go really well. It was kind of a mini-miracle.

We taught some Easter messages to people. We have been playing basketball in the mornings so we are in shape and awake in the morning for studies more than normal. It's been beautiful! It's beautiful right now. A couple of days ago it was cloudy and dull. There was one day that it was foggy and cloudy and rainy and sunny all in the same day; and it snowed! I have some more big meetings coming up next week. That will be fun. We went tracting a lot this week. The people were so nice.

Love, Elder Record

A drawing, in the works, of the Savior by Elder Terry

Northern Lights as seen out my back window.

My super awesome, double gold printed,
factory mess-up, study Book of Mormon =)
It's got character.

Helping While Healing

Hello family. This week I wasn't able to go out a whole ton because of the gum surgery. It was pretty cool. Elder Terry was helping out as Brother Mischler's assistant. It was a pretty neat experience, but unfortunately I was on a liquid diet for the next two days. That was interesting (haha). I wasn't allowed to smile. I wasn't allowed to talk for those two days or smile. I'm not really supposed to smile, so I'm trying not to, but I'm not perfect. It seems to be healing really well. I was inside for a good part of four days letting that recover.

We did get to see a couple of people. There is this one guy – I think I talked about him last week or maybe not – but anyway, he accepted to get baptized. He is going to take that jump of faith and do the things that he needs to prepare himself for that. So we are going to help him, and we made him a little calendar that has a scripture for every day leading up to the baptism. We are going to help him do those things he needs to do to get baptized.

We also had a neat experience where I felt prompted to go to the mission home to help Sister Beesley out to avoid smiling, and let my companion go on exchanges with some of the elders that were there helping Sister Beesley. So, Elder Terry went with that elder to go visit a part member family. The other elder that they brought ended up clicking really well, and they ended up inviting the Spirit. The invited them to basically do better (haha). We kind of figured out that they are converted to missionaries. So we need to help them get converted to the Lord. If there are missionaries that are bad or lazy, they will just hang out with them and not progress. If the missionaries are good, they don't really like the pressure to do good. It is kind of tough because they want to be excused from everything. We figured out it is because they are mostly not converted to the Lord, just the missionaries. So anyway, the missionaries had a really neat spiritual experience teaching them and invited the Spirit. Hopefully that helped motivate them to do good and to stay on track and progress, and not get complacent.

We had a lesson with another investigator who is preparing for baptism as well. We talked about conversion a little and what baptism is and about baptisms for the dead, and how he can extend the blessings he has been given to his deceased ancestors. His mom passed way, so he seemed pretty touched that he could be sealed to his family and to do the baptism for his mom. That was a neat experience.

We had stake conference this weekend. It was all about Christ and the Spirit was there. They had two sessions. We went to the first session and then we were able to get another person to come, so we went to the second session.

One thing that happened the week before was we got to go to the temple. I neglected to mention that. It was a really neat experience.

I will continue to try and heal, and not talk too much and smile too much. Hopefully I can do that pretty soon because it's hard to put off bad if you're never smiling. Hopefully I'll be able to still smile with my eyes; I still haven't figured that out yet (haha). President Beesley kind of messes with me. He came up to me and gave me a great big smile and then said, “don't smile.” Of course I can't help but smiling. So yeah, he's getting me there and messing with me (haha). That's okay, it's funny, but I'm not supposed to laugh.

I hope all is going well with all of you. I love you. I'm having a wonderful time up here in Alaska helping people. I pray that I can continue to do so and be close to the Spirit. I know the Church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I'm glad I get the chance to share that with others. I am grateful for the Lord and how He strengthens us and helps us to become what we can't on our own. I know He has a big part in our lives and in the work, because it's His work. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love, Elder Record

Surgery Went Well

Elder Record had oral surgery to fix a problem with his gums on Wednesday, 20 March. He is doing well and says he is healing quickly. He is not supposed to talk for the rest of today, and may need to rest more depending on how his mouth heals. Thank you for your concern and prayers on his behalf.

Our Unfailing Friend

My thoughts are all basically in my weekly to President Beesley, so here are some excerpts. And thank you again for always being sensitive and private with the names of these wonderful people. Hope you all have a good week. =)

Elder Record and Elder Terry. A special thanks to the Fabers for taking such good care of our missionaries.

I’m very happy with the progress of some of our investigators. It makes it all worth it to see hardened hearts soften, even if it’s only a little. [Name withheld 1] is one of our investigators. He’s getting close to marrying his girlfriend, sister [Name withheld 2]. They both used to be pretty big partiers, but they’ve cut significantly back. I think it’s because they are parents and are awakening to their duties. [Name withheld 1] is a fairly humble guy and an honest seeker of truth. He wants good in his life and he wants to understand. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to be able to talk with people like that. Even though he is caught in the world, and we hardly ever catch him when he’s not high from marijuana, he notices that something is missing and he wants to find it. We had a really good lesson with him the other day. We caught him right as he was done working out. The spirit was present as we discussed the plan of salvation. It was awesome because we were just “discussing”, not talking at him but with him, the things that will truly make us happy and about our eternal potential as children of a Heavenly Father who loves us. I hope we he will continue to allow the Lord to make a difference in his life.

[Name withheld 3] is doing very well. The Lord provided a long awaited miracle. It seems they will be able to get married because the insurance will work better now if they are married than if they are not. We will do all we can to help him make the right choice and take that leap of faith to progress towards baptism.

It is interesting to me that as often as we turn to the Savior, His hands are outstretched towards us. He is unfailing. He never leaves us, even when at times we desert him. As often as we come back, He lovingly welcomes us in. Even if it’s only for a short time, He takes us in for as long as we’ll stay. I love the Lord! I know He lives. I know He is our unfailing friend. I’m reminded of verse 16 in Alma 34; “And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.” He is mighty to save. His mercy is profound and I love him for that. In Helaman 3:27-28 it says,

27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

28 Yea, thus we see that the agate of heaven is open unto ball, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

I’m grateful for all the learning opportunities I’ve been given. I know that all my challenges and experiences have been for my good. I know that He wants to make me into something better. I pray my heart will be humble enough to accept His will and do what He would have me do, act how He would have me act.

Love, Elder Record

Feeling the Spirit

Hello everybody. This week at church, sacrament meeting was way awesome. The Spirit was there really strong. It was probably one of the best sacrament meetings I've attended because the Spirit there was so strong. They started with this younger girl. She was like fifteen or so. She was talking about how she joined the church. Then, Elder Terry got up and spoke. He bore his testimony and talked about why he served a mission and how much it's meant to him. After Elder Terry, one of the ward members got up and talked about how to do member missionary work. He talked on that conference talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson. After that, they had this musical number, and the lady was an awesome singer. She had perfect control over her voice and it was steady and right on pitch; it was awesome. It was just very calming and peaceful and the Spirit was there. Brother [Name withheld 1], who hasn't been to church since I've been here, came that Sunday, and all that was happening; and it was awesome (haha). He was tearing up after the song, and after that one of the ward missionaries spoke. She's awesome, she's a returned missionary, and she just has tons of energy. She had the Spirit with her while she was talking. She talked about Christ and how to bring people closer to Him basically, and how that's the focus of missionary work, to bring people closer to Christ. It was a really good day.

That same day, we ended up picking up the elders at the Cordova airport, because they were flying in to go to their zone conference. We ended up figuring things out and spending the day with them. We have had a lot of missionaries that were sick in the zone, so we ended up doing some exchanges to help them out so that their companions could go to some of their lessons.

We have two 18 year old missionaries in our zone, and one 19 year old sister. There is only one other 18 year old missionary, but he's not in our zone.

We had a couple of neat things happen this week. We found these members that moved in. The sister is a recent convert. My trainer, Elder Johnson, actually baptized her. So we've been teaching her and her husband. They are excited about the gospel and have a lot of positive energy in the right direction. We are continuing to strengthen them and help them grow. We just got a referral today that I'm excited about; some people that want to meet with the missionaries. That will be fun.

We had a lesson with [Name withheld 2]. His mom is a member – so is he, but he hasn't had a lot to do with the church. We were able to break the ice with him more. He is thinking more and more about praying and God. So that's exciting to see and went really well.

I also had something happen that was kind of neat. My gum line is receding, which isn't good. I was worried about it and praying about what I needed to do. I was asking Heavenly Father to heal that. That was a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday at Church we ended up talking to one of the members, who is a dentist, about dental work. I ended up mentioning that I was worried about my gum line receding. He took a look and said I would need surgery because the resilient part of the gum was gone, and I was just brushing the rest away. Anyway it was an answer to my prayer because I found out what needed to happen and he offered to do it for free. I'll go in on Wednesday the 20th and get it done. I'll be out for the day to give my mouth a chance to rest. He'll take a skin graft from the roof of my mouth and graft it to my gum. Moral of this story, don't brush too hard =) and that the Lord loves individually and looks out for His children. Love you all! =) Have a wonderful day.

Love, Elder Record

Changing Apartments and Helping with Iditerod

So, another week! We switched apartments with the sisters because apparently there are some sketchy neighbors where they were at, so we are getting put there (haha). But, that's okay. It's a very nice apartment, and we get a dish washer. They are in our apartment, which is a fairly safe environment. It's a win-win. I mean we probably won't have any problems with the sketchy neighbors. Anyway, I'm happy because we get a dishwasher! This is the first time on my mission that I have ever had a dishwasher. It's convenient. There is a lot of work out equipment too.

We went to that CES broadcast the other night with Elder David A. Bednar speaking. It was really good. I liked it a lot.

We were able to go on exchanges this week. While I was down with the Elders in the Huffman Ward, we had a baptismal interview. That was cool because this person is really prepared.

Elder Terry doesn't feel good. He's feeling like he is about to puke. So pray for him. He will probably survive. If not, then you will know why I get a new companion.

Life is good, studying is fun. I love the Book of Mormon.

I didn't get accepted into BYU (Provo), but I did for BYU Idaho. So at the moment, that's the plan. So I'm going to set it up to go there I guess. I'm planning on electrical engineering. I think the other things I wanted to do were just on a whim. This would be something that would be really fun to learn about. I think I am going to just stick it through and go through with what I originally wanted.

Elder Record: Elder Terry do you have any profound words to say?

Elder Terry: [Someone] of the Seventy said the way you serve the Lord on your mission is the way He will serve you for the rest of your life.

Elder Record: Profound. Words from my dieing companion.

It's really sunny. Good, nice, beautiful warm day. I mean there is snow everywhere, but it's nice.

Oh, we helped direct traffic at the BLM facility at the finish line of the ceremonial start for the Iditarod. I finally got to use my ham radio skills in using a radio to help in the coordination. =)

Talk to you all next week, bye.

Love, Elder Record

Baptism and an Irish Convert

This week, [Name withheld] was baptized on Saturday the 23rd. That was pretty fun because I got to baptize her. I enjoyed doing that. That is actually the first time on my mission that I have in person done it. It went really good. President Beesley was there, and there was a lot of support from the members. It went really well and the Spirit was there. On Sunday she was confirmed.

Elder Terry, [Name withheld] and Elder Record

We had dinner with this guy who's from Ireland. He grew up in Ireland and lived in London. He told us about his conversion story. He was living in England with his former wife, and the missionaries knocked on the door, and she slammed the door shut! She slammed it so hard that he wondered who it was. So he asked his wife, “who was it?” She responded, “you don't want to know.” He really did want to know, but she wouldn't tell him. So he walked outside to find the people, because she had shut the door so rudely. So he went and talked to them. He had just been reading about the Mormons and really wanted to talk with them. So, he grabs the missionaries, brings them back into his house, into a room and starts talking to them. He asked them a bunch of questions, and he started investigating the Church. The only problem was, his wife was outside. The way he put it, she was in a furor, and he said that would be putting it calmly (haha). So the Spirit wasn't there, obviously. So they were able to meet in other places, and was able to learn from the missionaries. He felt it was true, so he joined. He ended up having to travel about a hundred miles away to get baptized (haha), which was kind of funny.

Right now we are at the mission office. We are email and doing the mail. That is fun, just kind of hanging out. Relaxing on P-day. We have to do a bunch of administrative stuff because we are the zone leaders. So this week has been busy in that regard too.

Oh, Mom! I got the card from you. That was awesome! That made me happy. I smiled. Thank you very much.

We met this guy in Church who is from Spanish Fork. He was up here, and his flight didn't leave, so he was there and said he was going to call you guys and say “hi” for me (haha). We'll see. That was pretty exciting. [NOTE: Brother Ray Lambert indeed called to say hi on Monday, 25 Feb. I had just listened to Elder Record's update when he called. He reports they are healthy and doing great.]

Anchorage Zone, 20 Feb 2013. Elder Record and Elder Terry are the zone leaders.

The sound wasn't working in Church. We were in the middle of sacrament. Everybody had to talk loud at the pulpit, and so it was kind of hard to hear for some people. Then, out of the blue, some like commercial started coming on – I think it was the radio. But anyway, it starting going on the sound system and talking, and everybody burst out laughing. It kind of killed the Spirit (haha). It was in the middle of somebody's testimony. It ended up fine. It was unique. I have never had that happen before in sacrament meeting.

I am kind of tired. I might take a nap today. I'll talk to you all next week. Have a good time. I will find out, maybe today, if I got accepted to BYU Provo. It might have to be next Monday. We'll see. Anyway, bye.

Love, Elder Record

New Investigator

Hello everybody! There is snow on the ground, and it is abnormally cold as far as what it has been lately. It's 10 degrees. It's actually a really warm winter, so I'm happy; but my hands are cold. I should probably wear gloves, but I don't.

We had a really neat experience this last week. We gave a referral to the sisters in the YSA ward. They kept trying to contact them over and over again, but no answer. Finally they went this last week on Thursday and knocked on the door. This guy in the door across the hall felt prompted to go open his door. So he went and opened his door. He met the sisters and welcomed them in. They got to talking briefly and testified of the gospel and gave them a Book of Mormon. The sister missionaries then referred them to us. We went by later that day when he and his wife were there. We were introduced to them, and they told us their story. He has had a near death experience basically, and he knows that Christ lives because of that. He felt like he's back on earth for a reason. He had this happen after being in a coma after having a stroke. The experience stuck out in his mind because he and his wife had not really had many friends or associates that they would talk with very often at all – they really didn't have much communication with anybody. Then all of a sudden the sisters show up, we show up (haha), and it is kind of like an answer to prayer. We went back on Saturday with one of the members of the ward who has also been through a stroke. We didn't even think about it. Actually we were going to bring somebody else to the lesson, but we weren't sure if they were going to make it. Earlier in the day I was thinking, “well, I can't expect the Lord to provide us with a miracle for this person to be able to make it if I don't plan for a backup.” Right when I thought that and was determined to find somebody who could go with us in case the member couldn't, this member that I was talking about sent us a text (haha). He asked us to give him a call. When we called him back, we asked him if he would be able to come with us. He came and they really connected. We testified of the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon and the truth that can be found there. We invited them to be baptized. They both said yes they would like to be baptized. [Name withheld]'s wife wanted to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it a little more, but she said she would like to be baptized. That has been really exciting, kind of a miracle. This couple also came to Church on Sunday the member that went with us to the lesson. They are sparking up a really good friendship there.

We have a baptism this Saturday for a little girl in a part member family. Her mother is a fairly new member of a couple of years. Her father is finally letting her get baptized. They asked that I do the baptism. I said I would. That will be exciting, I've never done that before.

The other night we were at dinner with this member of the ward who was very cool (haha). He shares a lot of the same interests that I do. He thinks kind of the same way I do. It was fun to talk with them. He resparked my interest in electrical engineering. I don't really know exactly what I want to do when I get back, so everything I've been thinking about has just be on whims. Electrical engineering has always been something I always thought about, and thought would be fun. Learning about that kind of stuff really interests me. It always gets my brain working. I think the fact that I keep coming back to that one... anyway at the moment I think that's what I will do. We'll see what happens when I get back.

I found out that I got accepted into BYU Idaho. I can go there if I want to. I don't find out yet if I got accepted into BYU in Provo until no later than February 28th. We'll see about that. Hopefully I get the chance to go there.

It has been an exciting week. We have zone conference this Wednesday, tomorrow. We have a good presentation prepared and activity as well. Fun stuff, good things happening.

I love the gospel. It definitely makes you happy, and it's fun to help people. I know that's true and say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Oh! Something special I was thinking about. I had a dream about Chris last night. I just wanted to say to Chris, I love you. Keep doing your best. I know the Spirit will be with you as you just try your best. You're awesome! I love you. I can't wait to see you again. I guess the same goes for everybody else, but I just want to particularly say I love you to Chris. Talk to you all next week.

Love, Elder Record

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

Baptism and Family History

Our transfer meeting will be on Wednesday at 1pm by the way, just in case you wanted to watch.  Elder Beirne is training and Elder Conlin is in the middle of training someone =) I'm glad their doing well.  I'm going to try to get a picture of all of us.  Elders Wright, Beirne, and Conlin with Elder nelson, and Elder Beirne's trainee.

Christmas video conference call. Aunt Laura Shockley, Elder Record, Grandma and Grandpa Record, and Record family (Eric, Sheri, Jason, Annelise, Chris)

This week was really awesome because [Name withheld], who we had been teaching before; she's the person who was referred to us by the members. We started teaching her in the member's house who is a family friend, the first couple of lessons and invited her to be baptized. We then let the YSA elders continue teaching her, because it would be better for her to be in the YSA ward because she is that age. It will be a whole lot easier to participate in that kind of a setting. Anyway, she got baptized on Wednesday. It was pretty cool. I was pretty happy. It felt good to know that I had made a difference. She was confirmed a member of the Church on Sunday. I am excited to see how this story continues.

Today is New Year's Eve and we have to be in by 7:30 because people like to party, unfortunately. The roads are not that safe. It's probably good because we got a Chinook wind that is making it like 40 to 50 degrees for like three days, and it's insane. I am burning up. I can't stand to wear more than my suit. Yeah, it's really warm, and it's really sunny too. The problem with that is since everything is melting, and a lot of the roads have water on them, when it gets cold, it will be icy. So, hopefully the roads will kind of clear off and get dry by the time it gets cold. Unless it snows again, which they say is supposed to soon, we would be good to go.

We had transfer calls on Saturday. I am going to be staying and Elder Higley is going to be staying, but unfortunately Elder Leota is leaving for the Turnagain ward, which is the ward immediately North of ours.

We are helping this less active lady out with family history, and it's obliterating apathy. They are getting excited and motivated to act and do things and to come to Church and to find their ancestors. They are preparing to go to the temple, and life it good. We are making a difference there, and it looks like there is going to be a lot of family history done soon. So, that will be fun.

I hope you all have a good week. I love you all.

Love, Elder Record

Before Christmas Call Update

Meeerry Christmas! I'll say that again on Christmas. So the reason why I'm doing this on Saturday is because on Monday, Christmas Eve, the library will be closed.

This week was a good week. We had one thing that was kind of fun; the training on family history. We did that at 10:30, ate lunch, then drove up to Wasilla. We did the training again in Wasilla from 2:00 to 3:30pm; then we stayed there and helped people print off their pedigree charts while Elder Leota did some language study with one of the Samoan elders. It was fun. Then we went to dinner with President Beesley.

We have been helping this family with their family history, and they are getting really excited. They want to come to church so they can go to the family history center. It's exciting to see them progress. She said the thing that was unique about helping her get motivated was that family history was something new. The missionaries have gone to her house for like five years. She would hear the same things taught. Granted, the gospel is simple and not complex. That being said, she had also been taught the same principles over and over again. She liked it because it was something new that she could do that would help her. That has been kind of the highlight of the week.

We have been sharing Christmas messages with everybody. We had dinner with a Samoan family, and Elder Leota really liked that. He was able to speak his language and eat some normal food (haha). He really likes rice. He always loves it when people cook rice (haha).

Normally I have had lessons with people mostly in their houses or at someone else's house. However, we had a lesson this week at a Barnes and Noble. So we sat down at a table and taught someone about the Book of Mormon.

I thought is was interesting that I will be with Elder Leota for both his Christmases and both mine. I get to help him with his calling card again to call home and talk with his family. It turns out that he will have to call on Monday because, ever since they switched the time in Samoa, when it's Monday here, it's Tuesday there. So, he is going to call them on Christmas, which will be Christmas eve here. It didn't used to be that way. Which is kind of funny because Samoa and Western Samoa are like an hour apart, but they are different days – one's Monday and one's Tuesday. So it's kind of bizarre. But... whatever floats their boat.

The end of the world came, and... then it didn't. So that was exciting (haha). We went to couple of houses where they were celebrating the solstice (haha). I really didn't have anybody really freak out about it. I thought it would be bigger, but it wasn't. It was just a normal day, and to people it was just a normal day. So I wonder what it will be like when the second coming really does happen. It will probably be much the same way. It will be like all of the sudden, people will be like, “oh, dang!” If you are living righteously, you will be prepared, and you see it coming. But if not, you are not prepared.

I have been studying family history a lot. Studying is fun. Being a missionary is fun. I know the Church is true.

Elder Record: Elder Davis, what do you thing?

Elder Davis: The Church is true.

Elder Record: Yes! Elder Davis thinks the Church is true. No, he knows it's true, and the book is blue.

We are on exchanges today. Elder Davis is one of the district leaders.

Oh, it's very cold, but it's sunny so I'm happy. It's two degrees. It was negative eleven before. It was so cold. I was dieing.

We went to go play basketball in the morning. I looked like I was from Hogwarts, because I had my church shoes on (haha), and my gym clothes, and my pajama pants, and then my coat that goes over my suit coat, with a scarf on (hahaha), and my gloves – my mittens. That was kind of funny. I should have taken a picture.

Anyway, I will talk to you all shortly. Bye.

Love, Elder Record