November 24

One of the recent converts here is a great woman. No one else in her family really believes in God. But this week when we stopped by she told us her son has gained an interest on the subject, which is a major change from before. When Elder Kofoed was here the two of them a long debate about the whole thing, and at first he didn't have a belief. So there's some hope for him.

One of the families had us over for dinner, and had us teach their 8 year old the restoration. They want him to have a good idea of what he's doing when he gets baptized. The family has a really good sense of humor, they were fun. After our lesson, the mom talked to us and told us she was a convert to the church, & that her parents & siblings are anti, and kinda rude too. She doesn't know if any of them will come to her son's baptism, but there might be a chance. She did bring her kids to their rock-band church, so I think they owe her a visit as well.

We met a crazy biker guy. He offered us some beer. He said, "I guess there's nothing wrong with drinking, I guess Christ & his apostles were all partiers." He also disagreed that Prophets wrote the Bible by the Holy Ghost, he told us the Holy Spirit himself wrote the Bible. Yeah, he was nuts.

One less-active had us share scriptures with their son about why it's not good to lie. 2NE 9:34 "Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell." popped in my mind, but I decided not to use that scripture. He might not've understood everything we said, but I think he learned a lesson.

The ward is still adjusting having a new bishop. Another thing, this ward is lacking in priesthood, we pretty much always bless. Before the sacrament our new counselor told the ward, "We will be pleased to have to the sacrament administered to us by the young men, & Bishop Brown," (the former bishop, who was also passing.)

Also our new bishop walked in combined 3rd hour, looking a little distressed said to himself "where's bishop?"

Well, I hope you had a great week. I'll talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder Candland

P.S. Sorry, no pictures this week.

P.P.S. I found a great thanksgiving scripture. It's in Psalm 100:4

November 18

Sorry I wasn't here yesterday. We had our have mission training with Elder Nash. Except he couldn't come, he had an emergency call, & had to be somewhere else. So instead we heard from President Jacobsen, his wife, the assistants, & a couple mission leaders.

At the end, President Jacobsen shared one of his pet-peeves, he said we should never refer to Christmas as xmas. Satan is trying to take Christ out of Christmas, so we should not forget who's Holiday this is for. Also we'll be getting some Christmas pass-along cards, with a link to a video.

We had to drop off the car to finally get it repaired, from when we hit a deer. After we got hit by it, we didn't get the car back until a month later & it still wasn't repaired. So that meant we had to take care of it. And now the other car that's being rotated got put in the shop, so now no one has a car. Which is fine, because now we get to contact people we see on the streets.

I bought some toll house cookie dough to smooth things over with a family that got just a little upset, but I accidentally burned the cookies, which I was sad about. But they're not bad when you take a steak knife to them & sand off the bottom.

We helped one of the members' son set up his second barbershop in town. It looks absolutely amazing & classy. I have to send you some pictures if I get the chance.

Elder Peterson & I get to teach our top investigator again this week. When we walked in he was playing Destiny, & he's telling us about how much he liked it. So of course I had to tell him. Now he want's me to tell you that you did a great job on the game.

Anyway. We taught the Restoration, & he really liked it. He's such a great listener, and he understands & agrees with everything we teach. He already told us he knows the Book of Mormon is true, from reading on verse.

We got him to church Sunday, & he loved it. We had a high counselman say a few things that were pretty deep in gospel principles, but he had no problem with it. It was great the high counselman was there, he had other great things to say.

Just got the conference Ensign. I love the quote from Henry B. Eyring "Human judgment and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers to the questions that matter most in life. We need revelation from God." There's a people we come across that don't get that, it makes so much sense though.

It's been a great week.

Fri morning we saw snow outside (sticking) It melted later that day, but we're getting more, and it's saying on the ground. Looks like winter's here.

Glad to hear from all of you, enjoy the cooler season.

Love,

Elder candlad

November 10

This has been a good busy week.

We cleaned out a couple of older members gutters. It needed to be done, especially before the snow comes & it's too late.

Wednesday I was with Elder Jeppson on a trade-off. We stopped by one of our most promising potential investigators. We talked with him for a little bit, but then we had to get going, so we set a return appointment for 5.

We taught the plan of salvation, and drew it out for him. He really appreciates art, so I was sure to make it look really nice. He liked everything about the plan. As we're wrapping things up I decided to bear my testimony on God being a literal, and very real person, and that as we show faith that we are talking to Him through prayer, we can be more receptive to His answers. I felt the spirit, and when I looked at our new investigator, I could tell he did too.

I'm really excited to see him again this week.

We saw another potential the next day, but I think her intentions where to show the error of our ways. We did ask if she want's to read the book of Mormon, and she said no. If we get another chance to see her, I think we'll explain more to them about what the book of Mormon is. Maybe when they know enough about it, they'll want to read it.

Poor Elder Peterson. We had members order little Ceasars for us, but for some reason when we went to pick it up they asked for $16. So without a second thought, he reached into his pocket and handed him his card. I did offer to pay for some of the pizza, but he said that that's ok. So I don't know what'll happen. He's poor as it is this month.

Sunday we had a surprise visit from the stake presidency. They called a new Bishop & counselors. They're good members, it'll be nice working with them.

Later that evening we attended a memorial service for a lady who had passed away. She has 5 children, 25 grandchildren, and 45 great-grand children. And I'm pretty sure they're all active. It's pretty amazing to see the outcome of her choice to be a member of the church when she was in her late teens.

I hear we're supposed to get some snow this week. They say there's a snow storm on it's way down toward us. Not too excited about that, but hey, I'm sure there'll be some good stories to tell.

It's always good to hear from you. I hope you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Candland

November 3

Looks like you're really enjoying Paris. It looks pretty cool.

Elder Peterson & I caught a cold this week, it was bad enough that needed to stay indoors a few days, so this week no much happened.

On our pday we played Chinese checkers with some members. It was fun, although I could tell the lady I was playing against was pretty upset when I beat her.

Tues we helped an older couple rake their yard. There were tons of leaves. probably a good 300 - 500 pounds.

When we were with bishop we visited a woman who needed groceries, so we went shopping with bishop & got her some basic foods. She seemed super grateful, & told us she would be very happy to hear more from us about the restoration of the church.

Yeah, that's about all the excitement of this week. Actually Halloween we spent at a members home. Their son handed out candy with a mask on, & made a bellowing, maniacal laugh as the kids were leaving. Elder Peterson & I were laughing a lot that night.

Also, I found this scripture for Adam. Pro.18:22

Have a great week! Hope everyone enjoys the cooler weather.

Love,

Elder Candland

October 27

Elder Peterson & I got pumpkins from some members. So P-day, we sat out on our balcony & carved out jack-o-lanterns. (kinda) I'll send you pictures.

The ward isn't going to have a Halloween party, just trunk or treating. It's a lot easier to do for a small ward. But oh well. I'm sure there will be some families will come for that.

We went to a less actives home with some members. She was perfectly frank about how we'd love to see them at church. She commented on how much this guy knew about past missionaries, she said, "Wow, you're an answer to my prayers, you could be the new ward mission leader!"

Before we left we mentioned how bishop told us if they came to church that we would have a ward potluck before trunk or treating. He laughed at that, said he would try to be there.

They didn't come. Actually, we ended up seeing them again with another member. He gave him a lot of grief, it was pretty funny. As we left the member said, "See you at church sunday!"

There's an other members here who's such a funny guy. He's the guy that builds his own costumes for conventions. He told us the song, white & nerdy, is a song about him.

Anyway, he fed us this week. He made us these massive sausage spheres with a deviled egg in the middle. They were great! 

We watched the primary kids program during sacrament meeting. It was great as usual :) & we saw a lot of people come to see it.

We have a new less active we're visiting. She's a student at a community college, who grew up in Nevada. She seems pretty cool. She told us that she was going to some other churches nearby, but that she didn't like them, and her mom recommended she call us. She seems pretty excited to come to church.

That's my week. Other than that we did some service here and there.

Also just thought I'd let you know that Nov 18 we're seeing Elder Nash, By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled - Marcus B. Nash

Enjoy the trip in Paris! & Happy Halloween!

Love,

Elder Candland

October 20

I just read Alma 20 this morning. I love that story. That's now one of my favorite chapters. Ammon is such a Boss!

Elder Peterson did an interview for a couple getting baptized in the other Elder's area. I've met them once before. They are both going to be awesome members. Actually, they were baptized yesterday, so the are already awesome members.

The ward mentioned a service project at a trailer home park, helping people get ready for the winter. It was actually a project set up by another church. Elder Peterson & I where the only 2 members of our church there. I guess some members were worried it was going to rain. Though, pretty much all we did was staple sheets of plastic to the inside of the trailer windows.

We taught our investigator around college campus the plan of salvation, sorta. People our investigator knew kept passing by and saying hi, so we didn't end up finishing the lesson, but he's still doing great.

As I expected, neither of us got transferred. Both of us get at least another 6 weeks together.

Sorry, not much happened this week. There were a few evenings we talked to some family's for a while before we got back to the apartment, since it gets dark so early. But yeah, that's about it.

Looks like you had a busy week.

It's always good to here from you. I hope you have another great week!

Love,

Elder Candland

October 13

Elder Peterson & I have been praying that we'll find someone to teach. Yesterday, as we were fasting we found 2 great people to teach, one of them we pretty much already taught the restoration to. My testimony of prayer has been strengthened out here.

While we're knocking on doors, Elder Peterson & I see a cat going into a bush. What is that cat doing? I thought. Then we see a tiny mouse run out of the bush. The cat reaches over, grabs it, puts it in his mouth, & walks off. Both of us thought that was awesome.

That same day we approach a couple's yard. We start talking to the wife, & the husband tells us Keep on walking. Then the wife apologizes saying her husband is catholic, then tells her husband to be nice. He didn't listen & kept telling us to move on. "Don't listen to him." his wife said. Eventually she knew he wasn't going to change his mind, so all we could do is tell them to have a nice day & move on.

Tuesday on our trade offs, I accidentally locked the keys in the car. So we called the vehicle coordinator, and he told us he would be there as soon as he can. 45 minutes later, he unlocked the car for us, gave us a hug, and drove out somewhere else, I think he mentioned a couple other Elders in distress. But anyway, I guess you're probably not to surprised that happened to me.

We had Elder Hamula come to our stake conference this weekend.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/the-sacrament-and-the-atonement?lang=eng

I had the chance to shake his hand, which is always cool :) He talked about how we shouldn't criticize any of our leaders, but that we should head to what they tell us, because they are servants of the lord. When we criticize them, we talk about nothing new. We all make mistakes. And when we talk about their flaws, we show how flawed we are. He also talked about family history. How are we supposed to teach our ancestors in the spirit world, if we don't know who they are? I did take notes on it, but I can't remember much more than that. He seems like a great guy.

One thing I like about the Book of Mormon is how clearly it explains that we'll be judged according to our works. Some churches don't believe that. The scripture I found is Alma42: 13-15, 22-23. I love the language of this scripture, as well as the language of the rest of the book.

Hope you are doing well, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Candland

October 6

Hi everyone! This has been an exciting week for us, a lot has happened.

Tuesday we talked to a Jehovah's Witness. We had set up a return appointment with her, which gave her time do some research on us, which is always good. We started off with a good conversation, but it escalated quickly. It was probably the most intense bible bash I witnessed. I could tell Elder Peterson was getting upset. She told us how we believe in the trinity, after he explained the godhead, like 3 times. She also wasn't willing to read the book of Mormon, so we weren't getting anywhere. If there's anything I learned, it's that although it may seem the conversation is going somewhere, in the end a Bible bash does not help anyone.

Last week I mentioned how there was a family we helped put in insulation for. When that was done we put up some dry-wall on the ceiling, which is really hard. Us 2 Elders held the dry wall up, & stood on a couple latters, while guy we're helping screwed it into the rafters. We were a huge help. We're all really happy to see his dining room come together.

I had a trade off with the Zone leaders in Lansing. That Was fun. I got to see Brian Scott, my former investigator in Saginaw (AKA Michigan's #1 semi-pro MMA fighter). I guess Elder Davis helped him move into Lansing. I just happened to be on a trade off when they scheduled to see him. Pretty cool, we had a good lesson.

I liked Meet the Mormons. It's definitely going to help out with resolving some myths about the church. It's funny, emotional, & educational, there were a lot of good parts. There's at least one character that relates to everyone. I think a lot of non-members will like it.

I loved this general confereence. My favorite talks where given by Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, & Elder Bednar. I think they're my favorite speakers. I'm definitely going to use the talk by David A. Bednar in my Missionary work. It explains so much about us.

Last night we saw a bee buzzing around in our apartment. Elder Peterson took an empty paper towel roll & nailed it. It hit the wall & fell to the ground. It was still moving, so we trapped it in a mason jar & froze it. Then we tied a thread around it. At that point we were expecting it to start moving around, but I think we killed it. So Elder Peterson taped him to some paper & framed him on the wall.

It's been a good week.

Love you all,

Elder Candland

1. some wood structure (I had a double take as we're passing by this person's house.)

2. Cadillac ATS factory

3. Lansing Courthouse

September 29

Michigan's been well. I've been able to run the past few mornings without having to wear sweets. It's not as warm as summer, and I know it'll cool off even more soon.

I had a trade off with the Dewitt Elders. We gave a blessing to an investigator who had a heart attack and was in the hospital in Lansing. Then after a while of trying to find our was back, we had a lesson with a couple who should be baptized very soon. They are so awesome, they told us how they can see how much the gospel has blessed them in their lives already. They don't argue as much, and the husband told us how he's not getting into fights with people anymore. It was great to hear that.

There's a family that lives really close to our apartment who we've been visiting. We've been helping them put up some insulation & cleaning out the old insulation. Their house is old, like over 100 years old.

We also help an other family move a lot of stuff out of their house. The father was really appreciative, he gave us their leftover lasagna.

Our teaching pool has diminished. Some of our investigators are more interested in the churches welfare. Others aren't keeping commitments. We need to do a lot of finding. My companion has told me he hasn't seen much of any success tracting, and I can see why. Most of his approaches are route presentation. Hopefully we can work together on that. I'm trying to ask more questions at the door.

Last night we're driving home down a long road with tall grass on each side, going 55, & we see a family of deer come running out of the brush. I lay my foot on the brake, missed the first deer, but hit the second one. It was totally fine, It ran off into the grass with the rest of the family. There was no scrapes on the car, but there was a dent just behind the light, like someone threw a football directly at it. I sure if I braked a lot harder & sooner I wouldn't have hit it. I am glad there only little damage.

I just listened to the talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the womens session. I think it applies to Missionaries too. We shouldn't treat those we visit as anther checkmark. I think the people we visit we need to build a relationship with, and be their friend.

Take care, Love You!

-Elder Candland 

P.S. At our Zone Training this Thursday we get to watch Meet the Mormons. I'm pretty excited. It'll bee the best movie I've seen in over a year! :)

September 22

If I wasn't before, I'm now officially in my early 20's! ...That's crazy

Sounds like the wedding was great. I'm ok with not going, I'm happy enough seeing the pictures.

Elder Peterson's older bro got married this week too. He married a girl named Makenzi. What a coincidence. His brother's name isn't Adam, but his middle name is Michel. We found that kinda funny.

Thanks for the Package! That was a great start to my day. That green tie looks great!

We went to a members home to shovel a truck load of wood chips into their backyard. We stayed there for 3 hours. We helped them out a lot. They would've taken at least twice as long without our help.

Wednesday we attended a funeral for a cat. We got to dig the hole for it.

Nothing really exciting really.

I've been running every morning while I still can. It's cooling off out here and I don't think Elder Peterson is going to stay very warm watching me do laps across the field.

I forgot to mention that Elder Peterson's the district leader here. He keeps asking me "Wanna switch places?" My response is usually "No, I'm ok, but thanks."

Also, He's served with Elder Palmer & Elder Raun (He's the one from the mtc that got us those squirrel suit pj's)

Hope everyone is doing well, I'll talk some more next week.

Love,

Elder Candland

BTW our address is 1155 N. Chipman Apt. 11. I think I sent you the wrong house # at first.

September 15

I got my new companion, Elder Peterson. He's pretty cool, pretty laid back. He's a transfer older than me, he's from South Jordan Utah, & he loves baseball & cars. (He has an aston martin shaped flash-drive that lights up)

It's been another usual week. It is getting colder though. I've heard that it's snowing in some state(s)! Crazy. They say we'll get some on the 27th. The winter this year is supposed to be even worse. (or better, depending on how you want to look at it) I guess if I'm going to experience the winters here I might as well go all out. (I'm going to need a more insulated coat & some gloves)

Right now it's only a little cold. Enough that I should wear a sweater, and sweats in the morning. That the day before it cooled off I was sweating. Weird.

Steve, the guy downstairs in our apartment, says he wants to start coming to are church. We like Steve, he's pretty cool.

We did a little demolition Thursday. That was fun. We got to destroy a 400 lb bed frame with hammers.

Not much happened this week.
Sorry I haven't told you about anything I want for my birthday. I kept forgetting to send something. Hopefully you had some ideas.

Love you!
-Elder Candland

1. Owosso

2. Alley opening

3. Walking into alley

September 8

I'm with the zone leaders right now. I'm in Lansing. Since Elder Kofoed went to go to the temple that left me alone. So I'm in a library with a couple other Elder in the same boat.
Today we went to the Stake center & played some Bball with a lot of other missionaries. It was fun to talk to all of them.

The baptism went well. This guy really seems to have found a new home, and is glad to come into the church.

Friday was crazy. We had some hot weather all day, then in the evening we got hit with a storm! There was rain & lightning. The weather out east is so bipolar.
Also that night we found a frog in our apartment. He started climbing up the window. I think the storm drove him up, or something. We released him back into the wild (a bush outside our apartment).

Usually things slow down when someone gets transferred out, but it seems like things are picking up here.
Two of our recent converts are taking temple prep classes, & I know one of them has been a member for a year now.
One of our investigators recently got married, & has told us that he's not so busy now & his wife is showing interest.
Also the husband of a part member family told us last night, that he's ready for baptism.

It's pretty cool how things are now. I still have not met Elder Peterson (my new comp) but talking with a few more Elders I got a little more information about him.

This week we did roofing again, this time it was on a wobbly cover for a parking spot.

Funny story, Elder Kofoed & I go into a theater to use the bathroom. Elder Kofoed was listening to the people at the snack bar. They called their manager and asked if he had sent a health inspector in or something. She said a couple of professionally dressed men came in. Then the manager asked if they were wearing white shirts & ties. Then he told her it's just missionaries, nothing to worry about.

I'll talk to you next week & let you know how Elder Peterson is.

Love,
Elder Candland

P.S. Last night I found a Ninjorman outside my apartment window. So I got a quick picture of him before he vanished.

1. Friendly Visit

2. Baptism

 

3. Ninjorman

September 1

I had my 1st official zone conference with President Jacobsen Friday. Elder Kofoed gave his departing testimony, it was good testimony. (You can tell how nervous he is by how serious he is:)

Story Time:
After zone conference we parked our car next to a members home, and looked over the GPS to find where we should knock before dinner. We felt we should go finding at a certain block. This town is aways from Owosso so we aren't here often. As we were finding, I felt confident that there was someone here that is prepared. Across the street we saw a gathering, one person invited us to come over, they were having a Bible study in there home. This would be an opportunity to tell these people who we are, so we accepted his offer. Inside, I waited for a chance to speak, I told the person in charge that we couldn't stay long, but we were wondering if we could say a few words, and he was just fine with that. I started off by telling everyone how we love to see people gather and learn more of Christ. Then I told them we are missionaries from our church, and we share another testament of Jesus Christ. If they wanted to learn more, I told them they could take a mormon.org card, and I left a stack on a desk next to me. After that I bore my testimony of Christ, and Elder Kofoed did the same.
The members we were going to have dinner with had a son in that Bible study; who hung with the wrong crowd, got into anti, and left the church. He asked us if he could commit us to something, then he got into a disagreement with Elder Kofoed about faith vs. works. With all these people here watching this, I tried to defuse the situation by explaining to him and others that got involved that we aren't there to change their views, or to have them see the way we do, but that we're there to invite them to learn more.

I felt good with the way things were left. Later Elder Kofoed told me that he was about to say something that would convince this guy, but he couldn't put it into words, he said, "Maybe the spirit was restraining me."

At dinner, we were talking with the member (we didn't tell him about what happened) and told us a story on his mission. His companion wasn't listening to the investigators concerns much and kept pressing baptism. He prayed that this would stop, and sure enough his prayer was answered when the investigator expressed his thoughts, which here the same as this members'.
On multiple occasions I would pray that things would go ok, while Elder Kofoed would try proving a point to some person we were talking to. Tonight I didn't pray while he was talking with this members son, but it seemed like my prayers I had in past experiences were answered.
We read an Ensign article with the members which talked about how prayers are answered in ways or in times we don't expect.
The End

Wow, that was long. Anyway, last week we re-shingled a couple roofs. And this week is the last week of the Transfer, which means Elder Kofoed is going home really soon.
President Jacobsen is starting a thing with missionaries, where he's letting them go through the Detroit temple before they go home. Hopefully that'll keep running by the time I'm done.

Also, we're having a Baptism this Saturday for an Investigator that has been taught for a while. He came to church the last 2 Sundays so he's eligible as long as he passes the interview. Which I'm sure he will.

Sounds like everything's going good. Hopefully the beginning of this school year goes good for everyone.

Love,
Elder Candland

I Got Pictures Today!

1. Mantis (we saw this before we came into the church today)

2. Little guy (this was outside our apartment one night)

3. Owosso co.

4. Elder Sinsel is a goof, the Elder I went on trade offs with. He drew this fantasy on an American Eagle bag.

August 25

This week I finally got to have a chat with the new President. He's fun. While I was waiting to be interviewed I look out in the hall and see him tackle an Elder. It's I lot different from what I'm used to, but it's pretty amusing. We had a good talk. He asked me the basic questions of, how long I've been out, about my family, why I came out, & so on.

Unfortunately Interviews went longer than any of us anticipated. He interviewed 2 districts, & the district I'm in has to be the largest district I've been in ( 5 Elders, & 8 Sisters). This is also his first time, so it's no surprise.

I did get to see Elder Marley while I was there. He was so excited to see me, as soon as he saw I was there he jumped out of his seat and gave me a big hug. This is first time he's worked outside of Saginaw. We had a good long talk.

After that we had trade offs. We pretty much door knocked, & spent the rest of the evening at their new ward mission leaders home. He got set apart while we were there. During correlation I tried to make myself useful & pitch in every now & then, but there really wasn't much I could say about the area since I'm not serving there.

However I did make myself useful at a single sister's home. We mowed her lawn & trimmed the edges.

One night when we had dinner, the family showed us a video of their son who is 2 months into his mission in England. I guess in his mission he can send a video mail home each month. He seems like a good Elder with a good sense of humor.

Great news, someone we're teaching is ready for baptism & has accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 6th! He came to church yesterday, he just needs to come again next week! The lesson we had with him went so well. We had a member come, & he had some great input, & created a friendship with him. We're so excited for him, he's the best. He takes notes during our visits & remembers a lot of stuff we taught.

Next Sunday I'll be teaching gospel principles. I'm teaching tithing. I got an idea for a visual from another missionary that I want to use in this lesson. You give the person 10 pieces of candy & then ask "Since I've given you 10 pieces, is it alright if I have 1?" And when they give you one you dump the whole bag of candy on them & explain that that's like how tithing is. I haven't told anybody I'm doing this yet, I want to keep it secret. :)

One more thing, if you want missionaries to be super full after dinner feed them tons of watermelon.

Ok, that's probably enough. I'll talk to you next week. :)

Love,
Elder Candland

August 18

Trade offs went well. I got to know Elder Sinsel & Elder Thomas who came off the plane with me. They're both a couple of goofy elders. We walked all day, we did not have a car or bikes. It's been a while since I've walked that long. We got back a bit early so that night in the apartment Elder Thomas asked me to take part in making a slender video. (Shaini or Lars will know what that is)

We taught a new Investigator this week. She is looking for a job & a good place to start would be at church where there are people can help her with that. We didn't see her come, but she does show some interest.

We had a funeral for a man who is the son of a lady in the ward. They were living together so for her it was a big loss for her. She seems to be taking it well, we still plan to visit her during the week.

Ward conference was yesterday. I got to see our stake presidency. They seem great, the president, from what he said, seems like a great guy. We also had a potluck afterward. I'm trying to eat healthier so I had tons of the veggie dishes and no desserts.

Though that the night before an old lady in the ward took us out to eat at a Louisiana style restaurant. It wasn't super health-conscious, but I really enjoyed it. I got barbecue chicken with white bbq sauce & hush puppies.

Things are going by pretty slowly, not much more excitement. We're already 1/2 way through the transfer, wont be long before Elder Kofoed leaves.

I forgot my camera cord again. Sorry.

You have a wonderful week, I'll talk to you later.

Love,
Elder Candland

August 11

I'm getting used to being in Owosso.

Michigan has a lot of city blocks that have been around since the early 1900's. Some of them have been converted to shopping outlets. Today Elder Kofoed and I went to one of those shopping places, which is now a shoe store. It wasn't anything special, just a little fun to look at. Honestly though, I had more fun shopping at a thrift store today.

Elder Kofoed hates it when I bring up how much time he has before he goes home. I just mentioned how fast this month is already going by. He pressed his lips together and just stared at me.

This week has been as average as any other week. Did some service, visited less actives, taught some people, and knocked some doors.

We did do service for a lady who has a son on a mission, who has a visa waiting to go to Brasil. She asked me if there's any advice I had for her son. I mentioned that Adam went to Brasil. I didn't have much to tell her, but you can let me know if you can think of anything.

Tonight we're going on trade offs with the district leader. I'm going to Williamston, it's close by Lansing. I'm excited to work there. They companionship is a Trio so I'm excited to get to be in a trio again for a little bit.

Sorry I have not taken pictures for a while. I should have something next week though. We want to get some companionship pictures in some cool spot here.
Also I forgot my camera cord, so sorry this is all you're getting this week.

I hope you enjoy this next week.
Love ya!

Elder Candland

August 4

I'm liking Owosso, it's a bit bigger than Cadillac, which I like.

There was an Elder who just finished his two years in MI, and had his parents come pick him up. They drove around the places he served. I got to see him at our ward mission leaders home while we were there. Then we saw them again at another member's home that evening. I didn't know him very well, I just saw him at a few meetings, but it was cool to see him with his parents.

The Bishop here is a boss. He had one evening he took us to do some rounds visiting people. He did the same thing after church, and he also gave us a ride to a service project this Saturday. There's a reason why he's President Hess' favorite Bishop.

The service project was re-roofing a home that needed it bad. Elder Kofoed helped out on the roof while I helped clean up the debris that they threw down.

Our ward mission leader is also a great guy. Today he went around with us to do our shopping since we don't have a car today. He'll also be feeding us Lasagna tonight.

A couple days ago one of the members locked her keys in her car, so we helped her brake into her car with a wire hanger. (Elder Kofoed did most of the work, he must some experience :)

One of the family's I met asked me to draw them a picture of a car as soon as I told that I like drawing. They were impressed with my work so then they asked if I could draw them a compiled picture of a few of the family members with their grandmother who passed away. I'm still working on it. Right now I mostly just have the outlines, I've done a lot of erasing, I'd hate to make any mistakes.

I have not gone to the temple yet. I wont be able to go until someone I know gets baptized and goes to the Detroit temple.

I don't have any pictures of Owosso yet, so you'll just have to make do with some pictures of my last week in Cadillac.
There was a recent convert that we played disc golf with, so 2 of the pictures are from that.

I'm doing well, Elder Kofoed and I are getting along pretty well. The apartment is spacious compared to the one in Cadillac, so that's really nice. (Plus the members feed us more than once or twice a week.)

It's good to hear that you all had fun this past week, I hope you get to keep enjoying this last little bit of summer.
Love,
Elder Candland


New Address:
1115 North Chipman Street apt.#11
Owossow, Michigan 48867

Cadillac

Elder Mitchell

Bro. Baker

July 28

Don't have a lot of time.

Elder Mitchel got transferred to Jacson MI, and guess what, I got called to Owossow! They're replacing us with Sister Missionaries! I did not expect that.

So far Owossow's great. My new companion is Elder Kofed. This will be his last transfer in the mission, so I will be killing him off out in MI. He's a good missionary. Wants to do the right thing, & be obedient. I'm excited to keep working with him.

I think that's about all I got to say for now. But it's so crazy that Adam's being married!

I'll pray for aunt Amy, hope everything goes well with her.

Love you, talk to you later.

-Elder Candland

July 21

Nothin much happened this week.

The other set of Elders here got sick. One has Pneumonia and the other has bronchitis. Their week was spent in the apartment, napping & staring at the ceiling. Not fun, fortunately no one else got sick.

We got to go visit Frankfort this week again! we talked to people on the streets there. We met some high-school graduates out on the main road that has all the shops. One of them took a picture with us, then was started talking with them. They were nice, we had a good talk with them. The one kid we talked to the most told us he's pretty much living on the streets, so next time we're around we can talk.

We also knocked on some apartments up there too. We knocked on one apt. door & some lady said "Come in." So we said, "It's Missionaries from the church." She again said to come in, so we opened the door. The lady is lying on a couch while feeding her newborn. We both moved our eyes up at the ceiling and told her who we were. Then she sat up and adjusted her strap. While we were talking with her we noticed she had like 6 kids, who couldn't have been more than 4 years old running around her. It was just weird.

Speaking of unusual tracting experiences, yesterday we were about to walk towards a house, when some guy walked outside and asked us, "Do you guys drink beer?" We said "No." Then he gestured and said, "Keep moving then." He had a beer can in his hand, so that's probably why our conversation was short.

We did teach someone on the doorstep that evening, and got to set a return appointment, so that made our day better.

We visited an inactive member this week. He's in his 20's and is a member of a band. Despite the fact that he dresses like a punk, we have some good conversations with him. His house is what you'd expect from any rock loving hippy. The furniture he got off the streets, the walls were stained, his place was cluttered, and the sink is out of function. They are moving, so that's good for them.

I did take a few more pictures in Frankfort. The 3rd one you can see the lake stretch over the sail of that white boat. I thought it was a giant wave at first. It's pretty incredible.

Hope you're next week wont be so hectic. Sounds like your trip to DC was good though.

I keep you in my prayers, and it sounds like you're all doing well.

Love,

Elder Candland

July 14

Friday we got to meet our new mission President. He told us he isn't here to replace President Hess. I miss him, but from meeting President Jacobsen seems like a good leader in this mission. Also he told us that the First presidency really wants us to use shoulder bags as soon as we can.There's not a lot of good places out here to shop for one of those, but I'll keep my eyes out.

After that we were fed an awesome meal that one of the senior couples made for us. We had sandwiches on home-made buns, with truffle brownies for desert.

On the way back one of the major roads was going under serious construction. It kinda screwed up some of our plans to see one of the less actives that week. The whole road was gone at one point. Here's a picture of one of the buses here in Cadillac.

We did a lot of service this week.

We help cut up a tree that had been taken down in a less active members yard. That was fun, in the process I ripped a pair of my shorts, so I bought a pair from TJ max with my home card. They're a nice, durable pair.

We also helped two families move into the area. One of them had a few hundred banana boxes full of stuff, and probably like another 50 bins full of more stuff. We fit everything into the trailer home. It was crazy.

This sunday I gave a talk on missionary work. I'm getting more comfortable talking in front of people. (Maybe because the congregation is small here :) I pretty much talked about how members have a responsibility to share the gospel too. The concluding speaker was a returned missionary (Not from the Cadillac Branch). He talked about how the work is hastening. It worked out well, he talked about pretty much everything I didn't talk about.

We're going to be playing Frisbee golf with a recent convert today. It's something we've been doing every Pday.

Sounds like you had a great week. I'll talk to you again later.

Love,

Elder Candlnad

1. Cadilac Bus

July 7

I now have more time that I've been out on my mission, than I have time left. That feels pretty weird. I feel kinda like a Junior in High-school.

This past weekend was a great opportunity for us to talk to people. We talk to a few people here in Cadillac as we roamed around where people had tents set up.

On the 5th we went to Frankfort, and we got to talk to a lot more people there. Frankfort is a bit of a drive, because it's up by Lake Michigan, so we spent the whole day up there, talking to people on the streets & visiting less-active members.

Oh, yeah. We saw Lake Michigan, it was AWESOME! I send some pictures of that.

One of the members up there is an 80 year old retired man, he let us know who to visit, and drove us around the area. He's a great guy, he's our mission leader.

One of the other members was very generous & bought us dinner at a fancy restaurant. Their food was phenomenal! 

Best of all, that day we met a couple of sisters who were originally from Ukraine, they both speak Russian, one of them also spoke English. But as it turns out, when one of the sisters came to America it was to escape the civil war there, & she's also a member of the Church! It wasn't any coincidence that we went up and talked with them at that time. Pretty amazing. We're going to arrange a ride for them to come to church this coming Sunday. 

This week we got to teach a man who's been looking for the church. When we first told him about the book of Mormon on the doorstep he told us he was very interested. When we visited him this week he had already read through the restoration pamphlet & asked us for more to read! He really understood the lesson and accepted all of it. He is a Golden Investigator!

One other cool story. one of our investigators met with another investigator (who came up from Indianapolis) at a members home, who's friends with both of them. Now the 2 are dating! It's great, they say they want to get married & baptized together!

That's what's been going on here. It's been a awesome week, but don't expect it'll be the same next week.

Good to here everyone had a good 4th, I hope you all have another good week & get to enjoy the warm weather.

Love,

Elder Candland

One other thing. Elder Wheelwrite & I celibrated our 1 year mark with orange creamcicle cake. 

June 30

First thing I'll mention is that our apartment is a little small, so the missionaries in the past have stored all the canned food in the bathroom closet. I was kinda scratching my head when I first saw it.

I'm getting to know my companion more. He's kinda socially awkward so I'm going to work with him on that. One thing we've planned on is practicing our door approaches during companion study. He's a good missionary, him & I are getting along. Elder Mitchel is 5''2, he's the shortest missionary in the mission.

We had trade offs this week, so I got to spend some time with Elder Wheelwright. Always good to catch up on how things have been since we last saw each other.

The area here is very spread out. The branch itself stretches about 100 miles length-wise. (you can see how broad it is on LDS maps.)

It took us 1-2 hours to get to our zone meeting. Good to see more Missionaries & more familiar faces.

One of the recent converts had us over for lunch. He's the only convert in his family, and was found by the missionaries. He's about my age & he's a really nice guy. He made us pretzel chicken sandwiches.

We're teaching a guy who just got out of high school. He's lived a poor lifestyle, and lately he's told us he's been thinking about if there is a God. We prayed over what streets to find on, and that one he lives on stood out to Elder Mitchell & I. At first he wasn't a bit interested in talking to us, but as we talked to him he opened up. It seems like some of the stuff I said caught his attention.

This week, when we were able to see him again we taught him the restoration. I can tell that he's opening up more to the idea that there is a God.

One afternoon I was hot & sweaty, then we heard thunder clouds, and it just started dumping outside. The weather here is so bi-polar!

We got to attend a baptism for an 8 year old. Elder Mitchell & I filled the font that morning. There was a big spider in there, so we killed it. Then we made the mistake of cranking the hot water valve all the way. Fortunately we got that taken care of before the baptism.

While we were out we saw this giant lake. It was awesome, we took some pictures of it.

I enjoy hearing from all of you, I hope you enjoy this next week, & I look forward to writing to you again.

Love,

Elder Candland

June 23

The first week here has just flown by, it's crazy. I'm still working on unpacking my stuff still, but there hasn't been much time for that.

So far no one's been able to tell  me where the town Cadillac got its name; it has nothing to do with the car.

This place reminds me of Washington more than anywhere else I've been in Michigan. It actually has hills! & it's pretty foresty too. There's a few lakes here too.

[My new address is: 105 Hobart St. apt.#6 Cadillac MI]

So first thing I did when I got here was I was taken by a member to a diner called "Big Boy's" (There's no question why they call it that. The burgers fall apart they're so greasy) Fortunately it was still breakfast time there.

There's a few weirdos in this area. We saw a guy walking down the street dressed in all pink, including this hair and carrying bags.

We've done a lot of tracting in this past week, for some reason that's what seems to happen when you get transferred to a new area. We do have a lot of people that we're teaching that are doing great, we also have plenty of others we're going to stop by that could be awesome too.

One guy we visited this week we talked to him about coming to church. He has some good excuses not to come, but I'm sure It'll do him good to come. We also did his dishes after the lesson, which helped him not feel so overwhelmed with everything.

A lady threatened to call the cops on us. We had pass through a gate to get to her door, which isn't the first time I've done that. She didn't like that. She started yelling at us, she told us we were trespassing. Then she said, "Anyone with brains would know not to come up on my porch." Really the only thing we can do in those situations is say Have a nice day, so that's what we ended up doing as we were leaving.

While we were shopping I found this watch for $1.06, so I thought heck yeah I'm getting that! I like it.

To my surprise there's actually quite a few places to shop here. I also got a golf-clicker to count how many people we invite. (That'll be really helpful)

Everything's going well here, things have been pretty busy which is good.

I hope you all have a great week.

Love,
Elder Candland

June 16

Big news, I'm being transferred to Cadillac MI, bright & early tomorrow. That is the last area where Elder Davis served, so he told me a thing or two.
Elder Rhodes is being transferred too, he's going to Ithaca. So I told him a thing or two about the area.

I'm not sure if I'll ever love an area as much as I loved this one. Saginaw's great, I love the people here including the Missionaries.

So, here's a story about someone we visit; I'll call Penny. Penny has a cousin that just broke up with someone he was living with, so she helped her cousin pack up his stuff so he could move out. While Penny was packing and cleaning the place, her cousin was talking on the phone, & texting & not getting any work done. Then Penny says, "Will you do something? I don't have to be here, I'm just packing your stuff cuz I'm a nice person." That lead into an argument, and pretty soon she left his place. After she refused to help him anymore, Penny's cousin threw a welcome sign at her. Then Penny pushed her cousin off the porch, and then they started fighting. The cops happened to be driving by when they were fighting, and arrested Penny since there were more cuts & bruises on her cousin. So she spent 3 days in jail that weekend. It was the first time she went there, & she said she's never going back. They hardly fed anyone there, and it was overall a very unclean place. Fortunately her cousin dropped the charges, and her mother picked her up. We're just glad Penny learned her lesson.

We visited some less actives this week. One of the families is great. After we visited the Bishop came & picked us up. The mom was happy to see Bishop, she said "I miss you, I wish I got see you more often." Bishop quickly responded & with a smile he said, "Well, you can."

He was also with us in one of our lessons this week. It was one of the best lessons I've had. Bishop answered her questions of what happens when someones child  dies before they finish raising them, and he also shared a parable in a talk by Jeffery R. Holland (I have the link at the bottom) That answered one of her other questions. It was just a great lesson.

Wednesday we had a tornado warning. It was heading east from Saginaw. Nothing bad happened to us. It was just pouring down rain. We actually got a warning text on our phone telling everyone to seek shelter until 6:45. We got the text at 6:45 so we just kept working.

Last thing, Elder Davis has been waking up at 4:00 so he can go to the other Elders apartment & work out with Elder Rhodes at 4:30. When I get there I go into the Elders bedroom & sleep with Elder Marley (In Elder Rhodes' bed.) A couple times I made us all crepes when I got up.

It's been a good week for me, I'm looking forward to working with new people.

Hope you all had a good week too. TTYL

Love,

Elder Candland

1. Goofy Comps

2. Davis finds frog

3. The Grace family

June 9

Half mission p-day was this week. We had a blast. There was plenty of snacks & we played a lot of ultimate Frisbee. I got to meet familiar faces, & get to see President & Sister Hess one last time before they leave. I'm going to miss them so much. Also my trainer Elder Oler goes home this transfer.

One evening Elder Davis had an idea to get a card for our investigators daughter who just had a baby. So we bought a card, wrote a few things, and went over. While we were talking to them at her door a lady who was driving by pulled over to the curb, and walked up to us. She asked if we were from the church, then she asked if we save people. So we explained to her who we are & what we do. She told us where she lives & told us to come by.

When we got over there we talked to her on the doorstep, she told us that a lot of her family is going through some tough stuff, and that she was having struggles of her own. We briefly went over the plan of salvation & gave her a pamphlet, I got the impression she wasn't expecting us to be there long, but now that I think about it we probably could have gone over the plan of salvation with her. We gave her a blessing and invited her to church. She wanted to come but we didn't see here there, which isn't a shocker. But we could tell that she had been prepared, and that it wasn't just by chance that we crossed paths at that moment she came & talked to us.

This week we had dinner at a young couples home, and it went great. After I gave a blessing on the food the Bro. Austrigard said, "That's differnt, that's the first time someone's referred to us by the Austrigard's. That's cool." They're both awesome. They also did us another favor by stopping by, and introducing themselves to investigators of ours, who are another young couple. That went well, they got a chance to talk to them. So when we get the chance we'll talk to the Austigards more about that.

Other than that, not a whole lot happened. I taught gospel principles & bore my testimony sunday.

Well, it was good to hear from you, sounds like you all had a good/busy week.

And if you do get married Adam, remember to send me tons of pictures.

Alright, Talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Candland