Transfer: 7 November 2011

We do not expect a detailed update tomorrow from Elder Record. He is being transferred to the Anchorage North Zone in the Denali District in the Northern Lights/Chester Valley area with Elder Spencer Curtin as his senior companion. He will be serving in a Samoan ward. We are not exactly sure yet if that means he will be learning Samoan or not. It appears he will be serving in the Northern Lights Ward (Samoan) with Bishop Filoialii. More details to come.

We are so excited for this new assignment the Lord has for him.

Summary of Whitehorse, YT

A summary of Elder Record's first area from 16 August to 14 November 2011. Pictures taken in Whitehorse start here. You can filter on all of Elder Record's Whitehorse letters written while serving there. Whitehorse was Elder Record's first area. He grew tremendously while serving on this assignment and looks forward to his upcoming assignment.

Companion:	Elder Brad Johnson
Callings:	Trainee District Chef District Photographer District Hugger
Location:	Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Area:	Whitehorse North Area Whitepass District Juneau Zone Whitehorse Branch 108 Wickstrom Road Juneau Alaska Stake
Branch Leader	President Little
P-Day:	Monday
Info:	About Whitehorse
Appt Address:	159 Rainbow Road Whitehorse, YT Y1A-254 Canada
Mission President	President Jon S. Beesley and Sister Evona (SuuzE) Beesley

Questions: 31 October 2011

How did your week go as "senior" companion?

Good, it passed like any other week. =) Whitehorse didn't explode.

How long does it take for someone to be converted to the Gospel?

As long as it takes for them to want the gospel and make it a part of their lives. It could happen overnight or take years. For us, we determine that if they are keeping their commitments we invited them make to the Lord, they are progressing. It's all about progression because none of us can ever stop and say, "I've made it, now I'm done." I like the definition for conversion in the Bible Dictionary, and I found it is almost the same as the definition for repentance found in the same.

Eric: Do you know how big Elder Dean's plate was with the Oinker on it?

As big as a basketball hoop.

We made pumpkins with one of our investigators.

Elder Record's pumpkin master piece.

We got our district shirts today =),
Elder Record showing the new district T-shirts.

Transcription: 31 October 2011

I was so excited to hear about Lorielle going to Oklahoma. It'sss … oh man! … as soon as I heard she was going to Oklahoma it seems so perfect. It's like honestly, I keep saying this, it's like I knew she was going there. It's like I already knew that and had just forgotten. When I found out she had gotten her call there, I was like, “oh yea that's where she was supposed to be going – I forgot.” But it's soo perfect, I'm soo excited. It's going to be soo fun. I did the math and I'll be out just over six months by the time she comes out and so we will most likely be coming home within two weeks of each other (haha), which will be soo cool. I'll be coming home a little earlier. It's going to be so much fun. We are going to be able to email each other back and forth while we are on our missions and stuff and share mission stories. It's kind of different when I'm emailing home, there are certain things that would take too long to explain, but if I were to talk with Lorielle about it, she would know what I'm talking about, and she would be like, “oh yeah, I know how that goes.” She would know all the inside missionary jokes and things like that. That will be so much fun, I'm so excited for you Lorielle.

It's been so much fun out here. This week has been pretty fun. This week has been my “senior week.” I have been leading out basically in everything. I've been driving, I've been planning every night, I've been doing everything just about. It was so weird because before, I was so nervous and did not think I could ever do that. But like two days before I was going to start my “senior week,” I felt very confident and calm about doing this. As I've been through the week, it wasn't a problem. Everything just went by really smoothly. It was just like a normal week. I was surprised, but not really. It's like that amount of time for training was the perfect amount of time. It was almost as if, and I'm sure it was, the Lord had made it so that that period of time training was perfect for me. It has been, and the circumstances that we were in and stuff like that; I'm excited to see what happens.

This coming week is the last week of our transfer. So November 6^th, a Sunday, is the last day of the transfer. After that, Elder Hartman will be leaving Whitehorse and either me or Elder Johnson most likely will be leaving. We know there are two missionaries leaving, but it's all just guess work really. But, I am pretty sure we know two of us are leaving. Elder Hartman will be leaving because his visa for Canada is running out. Yeah, we'll see what happens and what the changes are. It will be exciting to see what happens.

Yesterday they had a Primary program and it was amaazing. They don't have very many kids, but the Spirit was there so strong, and it was just after the Sacrament too. So I had really felt the Spirit, and I was just bawling – not like crying, crying, but my eyes were watering a lot. I was sniffing the whole time (haha). Elder Johnson looks over at me and he just laughs. It was funny because he said that there was a point where he felt like his eyes were about to water, just because of the emotion of the Spirit that was there. He said that when that happened, he thought that “oh man, if I'm feeling like this, Elder Record must be bawling.” So he looks over at me and my eyes are watering and tearing up like crazy. He told me I do a pretty good job of not making it obvious that I'm doing that (haha). Anyway, it was very good, the Spirit was there very strong. The other elders had a couple of investigators there, and we had one there. I think it was very beneficial. We also had some less active members there. What a day for them to be there and to feel the Spirit so strong! The other elders' investigator told them later that everything they talked about in the Primary program and that they testified of was just about exactly the things the missionaries had been teaching him. So he was very impressed. It was a wonderful Sunday.

Last Monday was our P-day and we went to the Canada Game Centre and we played football (haha), and it was so much fun. I found out that I'm actually pretty good at football. Elder Johnson used to be a quarterback for SUU (Southern Utah University), so he's very good. He was saying how impressed he was with me, so I felt pretty good. It was fun to play football and be good at it I guess, because the other elders are really tall and they beat me in basketball pretty good (haha). It was good exercise. I was sore after that, but it was okay because it felt good.

We had our specialized training this week. I was lucky enough, since I'm Elder Johnson's trainee, to listen in on the district leader and trainer leadership training on Tuesday morning. I also got to be in the normal specialized training which was fun. They had me talk about family history a little bit on the spot (haha), which was all right. I feel like with family history, everything has been handed to me in my lap. I've had the desire to search it out and the determination to keep at it, and it seems like things have just been handed to me. I've become familiar with how things work in family history research along the way. So it's been beneficial. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm familiar with it.

Elder Johnson and I gave training in the fifth Sunday meeting yesterday on family history. I made a slide show for the FamilySearch website. I basically based my portion of the lesson on President Packer's talk titled, “Family History: Getting Started” that was given in the Liahona magazine in August of 2003. It's a very good talk, and I definitely suggest reading it. It talks about getting started in family history and explains mostly what I talked about.

We have been meeting with one of our investigators. Initially it seemed like it wasn't going to go anywhere with her and her husband. But lately, we have just been persistent in reading the Book of Mormon and things like that, and she has been resolving her own concerns and progressing at her own speed, but progressing none the less. Brother McDonald has always had missionaries come to visit them, hoping that the new set of missionaries will be the ones for them. So they've had several missionaries teaching them over a long period of time. He has been saying that he is so excited and that he has been seeing the growth that they have made. He notices it, and he says it's significant. We have definitely felt like she is progressing, and hopefully she can help her husband out too. As they read the Book of Mormon, they will come to feel the Spirit of it and they will come to know it's true and their concerns will be resolved. Everything will just kind of fall into place as they study the Book of Mormon.

They also had a Halloween party on Friday. We helped out with this little haunted forest walk they had. I didn't, because I'm not very good at scaring people. The other elders hid behind a tree and would say “boo” at people and scare them. Elder Johnson was pretty funny. He is pretty good at scaring people (haha).

Today is Halloween. Things will be kind of different. We will be starting the day off in the morning at eight. P-day is going to end at four. We are supposed to be in our apartments at seven and do our studying then, so the night will end at seven instead of nine, because it's Halloween. Probably because it's kind of futile to go tracting on Halloween because everybody is trick-or-treating.

This week has been pretty cool and fund. Lots of new stuff happening. I'm excited to see what happens in the future. I was talking with President Beesley when I got permission to watch Lorielle's blog video, and kind of see the news about her. He asked where she was going, and I said, Oklahoma. He was very happy and excited for Lorielle and said there is going to be a lot more missionaries there than there are here. But, he said the work is going to be awesome out there where Lorielle's at – so he thought it was pretty cool (haha).

I hope everybody is doing good. In the video Eric seems to be a lot taller than I remember him. I think Chris looked about the same. Lorielle, she looks the same (haha). It was very fun to watch that. I cried during the video, just because I felt the Spirit strong. Missionary work is amazing. It's all about other people. It's fun to not focus on yourself, to have that opportunity to devote all your time to helping others and to help others be happy. So as long as you can remember that, it makes things so much fun. It's a wonderful experience. I can't wait for Eric and Chris to go, and maybe Annie. It will be an amazing thing when that happens. See you later, talk to you next week. Bye.

Questions: 24 October 2011

What was your favorite day of the week?

Sunday. I love church.

What was your least favorite day of the week?

Friday. We do weekly planning that day. I love planning and Fridays, but I have to sit down for a long time and my seat gets a little sore =).

What is your typical Sunday schedule like?

Wake up at 6:30am, pray, shower, personal study, leave for the church, greet people, church starts at 10am, 11am is gospel essentials (the class for investigators really), 12pm priesthood, mingle with people after church, go to the Guevarra's for lunch, then proselyte.

The Oinker

What is the name of the place in Juneau that had the huge hamburgers? (I can see why the average elder gains 40 pounds haha)

The Booyah Grill =) haha. There are 2 items on the menu that cost $30, but if you finish them in an hour you don't have to pay. One is called the Oinker and the other is El Papi. The Oinker is a burger and El Papi is a burrito.

Who is the elder with the huge hamburger?

Elder Dean, and I think I have a picture of Elder Williams holding El Papi. =)

What did you have to eat?

Just a classic cheeseburger with fries. Normal size, haha.

El Papi

Have you had any discussions with people about your title as Elder and how First Nation are called "the elders?"

Ya. We just explain it is our title and designates us as teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It makes sense to them because the Elders in the First Nation community are like the teachers there.

As the other elders take pictures, can you copy their pictures onto your SD card, particularly pictures with you in the frame?

Yes I can. We are going to do a picture exchange before the end of the transfer because there will most likely be some changes to our district.

What is one turning point or "defining moment" in your testimony of the Savior (see Dad's Discipleship email)?

Wow, that takes a little thought. My very first "defining moment" happened very early on in my childhood. As a little kid I had a lot of nightmares. I would often have what were to me, very scary dreams. I don't know how or why, but my initial response was prayer. In my dreams just before the scary thing came, just before I couldn't take it any more and it was just too scary, I thought to pray and ask my heavenly father to please wake me up. Every time, without fail, he would. I was spared from what I thought would be something too scary to bear. I did that throughout my early childhood. Every scary dream I would pray and be instantly woken up. I love my Father in Heaven and I know and always have known that he hears and answers our prayers. I know He is there.

Transcription: 24 October 2011

Hello everyone, this is Elder Record and today is October 24^th, Monday and it's preparation day. This coming week is kind of cool. It's going to be part of my training. I'm basically on my own for this next week, and Elder Johnson is just going to be shadowing me (haha) – more so than other trainers normally would I guess because he thinks I'm ready for more, so he's going to act like a dead missionary. I'm not too worried actually. Lately through my studying and things like that, and how much I've become accustomed to how things work as a missionary and through Heavenly Father's help I feel pretty confident in myself as a missionary. Not to say I don't still need help (haha), I need all the help in the world, but I know that Heavenly Father is there for me and that I can get through it, and that I will get through it well, and I'll do good, and I'll grow from it. So I'm excited to see how the coming week comes.

Elder Johnson and Elder Record emailing home

I am way WAY anxious to hear where Lorielle goes. I thought she was going to get her mission call on Wednesday, but I just found out this morning that she's not – that it's assigned, but she hasn't gotten it yet. So I have to wait another P-day, and I may only have one more P-day here in Whitehorse. So anyway, I'm excited to see where Lorielle goes. (haha) It's taking forever!

Every Tuesday we have district meeting, and Elder Johnson the district leader, so he prepares something. This last district meeting we were talking about one of the fundamentals of preach my gospel, which is called “We invite, They commit, We follow up”. We really didn't get through the whole thing. We just started at the beginning, this “check your progress” part, that we got in the training book. The fundamentals are a little bit more extensive in our training booklets. We were just talking about how we should extend commitments and how that empowers the investigator to exercise their faith and act on that. It was very good, and I took notes in my study journal. It kind of set the tone for the day – it was very good. I really felt the Spirit there. We were able to determine what we need to do, like we need to do more finding in our area. We were figuring out what we need to do to find out those who are ready to hear the message of the gospel. So, we've been focusing on finding.

We got a call from the Goolsby's who live in Tok, Alaska. It is like the half way point on the bus trip between Anchorage and Whitehorse and back. We found out there's a branch in Tok. There's no missionaries in Tok, but there's a branch in Tok. Brother Goolsby is the branch president there. He was like 36 miles out of Whitehorse and his car broke down. He called his wife, and she wasn't in Tok, so he called us. We were able to get some members to help him out and drive him back and get him back to Tok. It was neat to be able to do some service there and find out there are members in Tok (haha), because it seemed so small when we drove through it. I doubt we went through more of the town. There's like 300 people, maybe a little more, I don't know.

Brother McCracken, this is another thing I was excited about. We didn't have a toaster so I asked if any of the members had a toaster. Brother McCracken let me have his old toaster. So I've been using that for toast (haha) and my breakfast has been greatly enhanced in its tastes. We had dinner with the McCracken's on Wednesday night, and he gave me some Rhubarb jam, and it was soo good. Anyway, he's very nice. Sister McCracken, she makes the best food, and she's so nice too. We were asking her what her hobbies are, and she was basically saying she loves to help people. That's how awesome she is. That's her hobby – helping people. They are an older couple, but she's been watching Sister Little's kids while she was having her baby. She is always helping people out for everything, bringing them food, or whatever. She's very nice.

We were focusing on finding that same Wednesday. Earlier in the day we did a ton of tracting, just to get out there and work towards building up our missionary spirit and also trying to find people who are ready to hear the gospel. We've been given a lot of referrals this week. Some of them are not necessarily solid, but usually the ones we get from members are pretty solid, so we're excited, and we had two of those. We are excited to see how those two turn out. We are going to meet with them some more. One guy we are going to go play basketball with soon, hopefully on Saturday. Both of those guys are pretty open to hearing us and listening to the gospel and meeting with us. That will be neat to see how that works.

We also had a lesson with one of our investigators. She doesn't have a Christian background, so it's been kind of different teaching her. She's fine with doctrine and things like that, and she's willing to believe that, but she really wants to see how the gospel has benefited us and how it's affected us. We had Sister Brown with us for this last lesson, and she was amazing. She was talking the whole time about those exact same things. She was right on point and right tune with the Spirit; and our investigator really got a lot out of that. In fact after we left the lesson because we had to get to our missionary correlation meeting with Brother McDonald, Sister Brown stayed there with her and talked with her like friends for two hours (haha); which was way cool. She was telling everybody how excited she was. She is going to be the perfect fellowshipper for our investigator. We have been seeing her make leaps and bounds for where she's at, and we are excited to see how that turns out as well.

Yesterday on Sunday, Elder Bowes had a talk. It was very good. He talked about prophets. I was doing some studying that same morning. I was reading in Helaman 5. I like verse six in the beginning where, Helaman (Nephi and Lehi's father) tells them that he wants them to remember to keep the commandments and to preach the gospel. In verse fourteen of chapter five, I love how it then says Nephi and Lehi remembered what their father said to keep the commandments and to preach the gospel, and then they go about doing that. I thought that not only applies to how we should remember to keep the commandments, but to keep the counsel of fathers, of prophets, of the Savior, and how that blesses us and the miracles that comes through that. I was just thinking about that a lot and then Elder Bowes talk was on prophets. I really felt the Spirit as I was thinking about that.

In Church we have been practicing with the Primary singing “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.” We are going to do that this coming Sunday in the Primary program (haha). That will be fun. We sound pretty good too. We are pretty good singers as a district. We are also singing as an Elder's Quorum. So we are preparing a musical number for this program they are going to be having in November. We are singing “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and I am like the only person singing the tenor part. But, I can hold my own, which is pretty cool. I love singing the different parts and everything like that.

So that's been this week. It's been pretty fun. I'm really starting to get the hang of things. We have specialized training this next week. So I'll probably talk about that next time. I'll try to get more pictures with me in them (haha). It's not always easy, we're kind of in a rush a lot, but I'll make an extra effort to do so. I can't way to hear where Lorielle goes.

Oh, I got letters from the young women a while back. I think they were sent to the MTC, but I was already gone, so it took forever to get here. But, I did get the letters, and I appreciate it. It made my day!

Hi, Eric. I was happy to get your letter that you sent me a while back. That was neat. Yeah, it's been a fun week. Anyway, talk to you later, bye.

Photos: 22 October 2011

We received an SD card with photos from Elder Record. Below are some highlights with additional pictures in the Picasa Web Album. Clicking on the image will take you to the album. Enjoy!

Elders Hartman, Bowes, Record and Johnson during
combined companionship study.

Elder Record's bar trick.

Elder Bowes and Record on a trip during
Zone Conference in Juneau, Alaska.

Elder Dean with the "Oinker" during Zone Conference, and they wonder
why the elders gain an average of 40 pounds!

Elders Bowes, Hartman, Johnson and Record
eating lunch at Quiznos.

Elder Record working off some of that Zone Conference lunch.