April 13

Tues night we get a call from the A.P.'s they say that there's been a slight change with transfers. Elder Aros was thinking his visa came. Nope. Elder Thomas's new companion had his visa come though unexpectedly, so that left Elder Thomas by himself. So Thu morning we picked him up from the Mission Home.

We had to give up our gps, we'd been using to the zone leaders, so we ended up a bit lost in Lansing, but we found our way.

That night we had dinner with Gerald & Joann Stepper. As soon as they saw my name, they said, "Candland. As in Rex & Karen Candland?" Turns out the went to the Seattle ward like 30 or 40 years ago, where grandma & grandpa are. Pretty cool connection :)

we were out in the boonies fri. Some members showed us their boa constrictor, it was big enough they didn't dare take it out of the cage.

We met an interesting person, he didn't believe in the atonement or that Brigham Young was supposed to be the next prophet, but he thinks our church is the 'most' correct church, that Joseph Smith was a prophet & that baptism is necessary. Also he has a smoking problem.

I tried to save an extra buck this week by washing my laundry in the bath tub. Never gonna do that again. Clothes are a pain to wring out.

Last night we visited a couple. The Husband got baptized the day before, and the wife's son, who's not a member, came to the service. Spirit was very powerful during the service. This 23 year old, who hadn't cried since he was 13 was on the verge of tears. Now he wants to learn from us so he can be baptized too.

It's been a good week. Sounds like yours was fun & busy. I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love,

Elder Candland

April 6

So this weekend we had: general conference, transfer calls, Easter, & Elder Thomas's birthday.

Elder Aros got Elder Thomas a Pikachu figurine. It was nice of him.

We carpooled for district meeting, before we arrived we called our district leader & asked "Where you at? We're waiting for you at the Jackson building." Elder Haddock said "We're having district meeting in Jonesvile... That's ok, we'll wait for you." Elder Thomas said "ooah!.. April FOOools!" 'click'

For our last district meeting we ate at saucy dogs, the bishop of the singles ward came with us & paid for all of us. I didn't know until we were getting ready to leave. It was really generous.

Elder Aros wasn't feeling well wednesday night, so the Elders stopped by and we gave him a blessing. He was just fine the next day.

I loved general conference. I felt like the priesthood session was directed toward me, as a missionary about to return home. There was a few of the 70 who's talks I really liked.

It's been warming up outside. This morning it was 33°. I've been able to start running again. & fortunately Elder Aros doesn't mind.

Oh, so Elder Haddock is leaving, & Elder Sinsel is replacing him. Elder Zuniga is leaving to England, & will be replaced with another greenie.

I forgot my Camera cord again, so no pictures.

Take care, & have a good week.

Love,

Elder Candland

March 30

That's so crazy hearing that Preston & Cody are home! Each transfer is like 40 days, so I have like 80 days left. That's also pretty crazy!

So this week was different. President Jacobsen has decided to have the zone leaders blitz all the missionaries in their zone. So Thu & Fri we spent with Elder Jepson (from the mtc) & Elder Wheat (he's been out 13 months)
I went finding all day with Elder Jepson. We found someone was wasn't interested in the church, but he let us inside & let us help him do some genealogy on familysearch.

Fri I went with Elder Wheat to do some finding. It was snowing, and pretty chili.

Tues I had another exchange with our district leader, Elder Haddock. We had a great lesson with a less active there. The spirit was present, & we left him with a hope for a brighter future. We also visited a family that owned a pet goat in their house. that had us feed it with a baby bottle.

That's my week.

Today we used a coupon to go shopping at Sam's Club. That was sorta fun :)

It's always good hearing from you. I hope this week will be fun, and not so stressful.

Love,

Elder Candland

1. Jonesvile District

2. Jackson City

March 23

Things are going well around here. A little slow, but well.

We went to a baptism Saturday for the Jackson1 Elders. They had an investigator that has been coming to church consistently & was practically a member. Everything went well, and she was confirmed yesterday.

Owosso also had a baptism. Elder Wicombe told me about it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to make it. I don't remember I had mentioned the Investigator, but he was dating a girl from the Owosso ward, and took the lessons from us.

Sunday, some members invited us over for dinner, the mom felt really unprepared & insufficient, but I don't know why. We had soup & salad with home-made bread. Then they made smoothies for desert! I didn't think members would do that, I love smoothies!

One other member fed us this week. They are Mexican, & speak little English. They made some good food, I don't remember what it was called. Anyway, their daughter got to have her picture taken with Quinton L. Cook! (I forgot to mention he visited the Lansing Stake, we didn't get to go though) She served Elder Cook's food.

I was looking at the calendar this week & noticed I pretty much only have April, May, & June left on my mission! And this month has gone by quick. It's crazy.

I'm sorry, this week hasn't been very eventful, & I forgot my cord so I can't send pictures either.

Have a good day

Love,
Elder Candland

March 17

It's warming up. It's crazy, there's hardly any snow on the ground

We had Interviews yesterday. President Jacobsen told one of the Elders about how he got his masters when he was 22, and was a lead coach for football not long after.

He told us about a good friend of his. His dad, who was a farmer, had kicked him out with a handful of cash, that he ended using to buy a large area of land. There were deposits of gas & oil on his property that a company discovered and paid him a fortune to go on his land & drill. He still farms, and has a happy family.

Yesterday while we were tracting we met a inactive member, who I didn't know existed, we're going to see him thu. He seemed pretty excited.

The church just put out a new Easter video, you should check it out if you haven't already. HeLives.mormon.org

It's been an average week, not much else to report on.

I'll just close with my testimony.

I love this church. I love it, because I know it's true. It answers big questions about how we should live our lives, and what our goal is. I have a testimony that true happiness is found by living this gospel. Because of it, I know I can live with my Father in Heaven again.

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Candland

March 9

Things are going well. I'm enjoying Jackson. It's warming up. It was in the 40's Saturday!

This morning I woke up early and went to the other Elders' apartment. Elder Zuniga and I went for a jog. We ran past the Jackson Cascades, but since it's cold they aren't running. We both enjoy running so it was fun. We have a good group of Elders here.

This week has not been too successful with visiting people, so we did a lot of knocking. We have a small list of people to see this week, so hopefully things go forward.

There have been rumors in the mission of a lady that feeds missionaries some not very hygienic food. We had dinner at her place, and before we entered I prayed that I would not find cat hair in my food. Apparently she has served a cake that has a layer of cat hair under the frosting. My prayer was answered, she had her daughter over and she prepared the food. I was very grateful.

We had stake conference this weekend. For the adult session they had a play put on by some members, demonstrating what a family council was. Some of the adults were cast as the kids. It was different from the usual meeting, but what they stressed was that family council is very important. It lasts beyond death.

Our Stake President spoke about the seed of faith in Alma 32. He said that we have many seeds in the garden of our life. The seeds can be Christ-like attributes, or commandments. Each seed should be nourished.

After Stake conference sunday, we had lunch at the members house who gave us a ride. While we were there he showed us his taxidermy collection, his pet fish, and his pet salamander. I held it for a sec, it lurched forward and tried to bite something. I guess when you hold him he expects food.

Well I don't have pictures, sorry. I'll get some next week.

Hope you all enjoy the warmer weather.

Love,
Elder Candland

March 2

Jackson's great. The city here's more of what I'm used to back home. We've been going through the roster and have been trying to see every less active here. Having a GPS helps.

Saturday, we went to a funeral for a lady in the ward. She has been a member for a while & was one of the first African-American members. She's amazing, she used to be the Relief Society president.
A lot of African-Americans showed up for the service. A pastor showed up too, and was belting it in the microphone. He had the congregation clapping along too. A little different from what we're used to.

There's a lady in the ward who sung a song too, she's a professional singer in her late 50's. She sings with really heavy vibrato. She didn't just sing, she preformed.
It wasn't the typical funeral service.

We picked up a handful of potential Investigators this week. One of them's name is Phil. He's not your average guy. He insisted that we come back. When we got back we shared the restoration with him. He liked it. Turns out he's 44 & the girl he's living with is 27 :/ But they were really nice, they showed us their pets. They have some tarantulas, a gecko, & a bearded dragon :) They also gave us steak, salmon, & pizza to take home! No one we've ever talked to has done that. It was more than generous. We'll see where things go with them.

Elder Thomas (he came out with me) is part of the other set of Elders in Jackson. He's training Elder Zuniga, who's waiting for his visa to England.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, Elder Aros is waiting for his visa to go to Australia. He just sent his FBI clearance today, so he should be ready to go some time soon.

There was a car in front of us that said "This car is a Horcrux" on the back. Just thought Shaini would think that is funny.

Anyway, it's good to hear from you, hope you have a good week!

Love,
Elder Candland

My new apartment:
1500 W. North Street apt.# C15
Jackson, MI 49202

1. Jackson post office

February 24

They closed down Traverse-City 2. The zone Leaders will still work there, but Elder Chidester & I both left. They closed down TC2 because there are more missionaries leaving the mission, than there are coming in. There isn't enough missionaries to cover all the areas. :) It's nothing Elder Chidester & I did.

I'm in Jackson right now. (Jackson-2) It has the state prison, it's pretty ghetto here apparently haha

My companion is Elder Aros (are-ose) He's a visa waiter for Australia, & has just got done being trained. He's originally from Guam, but lives in Tennessee.

Elder Chidester & I said goodbye to a few people. The family he's going to miss the most is the Millners. They were less-active when he got here, but since he's been around they made a complete U turn in their lives, & they're a lot happier. Elder Chidester was crying when we left. They're the main reason he was called to Traverse City.

I'm going to miss them too. I'm a little bummed about leaving, but I'm sure jackson's going to be great. We have mice infested in our apartment! :) I prayed that none would crawl on me while I was sleeping, so far so good.

Glad to hear your doing well. I keep you updated with Jackson.

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Candland

p.s. your going to get another package from me. Some more stuff that I didn't have room to pack. Lars is welcome to that venom shirt, & Shaini's welcome to that sweater. And, whoever wants that bag.


1. Me with a Parrot

2. Millners


3. TC Branch President

February 16

Fri we got to see Elder Nash. We left the apartment around 5:10, & got back at 9:00. It's a long drive.
He taught some cool things. My favorite was how to deal with Investigators getting anti.
Before you leave the first visit;

1. Remind them of the spirit felt. 
2. (there's a couple of scriptures you share about opposition, but I don't have my notes, sorry.) 
3. Have them promise you, that they will let you in when you go back & answer their questions.

A member who is a chiropractor fixed my back Tues, that was nice.

Another member feed us gyros. He made them with marinated venison. They were good, but not as good as Dad's ;)

Sat we had a blizzard. It was -15° & howling, we could barely see more than 50 ft ahead of us sometimes. Pretty scary. That day we had permission to use the car, since the roads were too dangerous to walk on.

Church was canceled, due to the  weather, but it calmed down Sunday, it wasn't bad enough that we couldn't go anywhere.

So, that's my week. Today is going to be pretty average. We did go with some members to a comic book store earlier, that was fun.

I cant believe how close it's getting, I can almost start counting down the days. Hopefully they keep me here in T.C. I don't want to have to pack my stuff again.

Bye! Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Candland

p.s. A member here, his name is Mack Stirling, served his mission in Norway. Turns out he was companions with Jan Sjavik! (I think I spelled that right) He wants me to see if I could get his contact info. Also, he's told us that he knows nothing about computers, so address or phone would work best.


1. Sutton's bay

February 9

Elder Chidester has been letting me lead planning, & driving us places this past week. It helps me realize how little I know about the area. There's so much area to cover.

(fyi Chidester is pronounced Chid-est-er)

We have a 1/2 mission training Fri, Elder Nash is coming for reals this time. I'm looking forward to it.

Our district leader is Elder Hess, he's a distant, distant relative of Elder Hess. He's cool. He takes the work seriously, but there's not a dull moment with him.
I got to see bro Baker again. He's doing good still.

There's a Mexican family here in the ward. They don't speak much English, but just enough to have a conversation with them. They took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant, good stuff.

Nothing much else exciting. We did walk like 5 miles Saturday. I don't know if I mentioned, but we're doing this mission wide car fast every Saturday. We're supposed to work with the members more, but unfortunately most members do so much running around during the week, that they're done by the weekend. We do get a few really great members though that do take us around.

Week's been kinda boring, we didn't get to see as many people as we liked, but this next weeks looking good. Hopefully things move forward.

Have a good one!

From your Michiganary,
Elder Candland

(sorry, no pics)

February 2

Yes, it's still cold. It ranges anywhere from 38° to -1°

Monday evening we had dinner with a family with their newly wed son & his wife. They talked about their wedding. The parents kinda rolled their eyes when it was brought up, because it was Star Wars themed, & their wedding cake was a Deathstar.
I just thought I'd start with that.

Anyway, my week was good. I'm getting to know my way around better.

During our district meeting I was told that our way of finding & teaching is wrong. We need to teach shorter, more simpler lessons, & we need to not be so persistent or I guess pushy on the doorstep. Also we should be happy. Apparently our mission is one of the most depressed ones.
We also were encouraged to help members work with Facebook as a way to share the gospel. i.e. posting short uplifting thoughts, or looking through their list of friends to find someone who might be interested.

Tues I spent in Cadillac. I had a trade off there & got to see some familiar faces. I'm going there again tonight.

Elder Davis's trainee was with the zone leader on a trade off. I got to talk to him for a bit. He says Elder Davis is a great guy, & tells him lots of stories of when we served in Saginaw.

We put 2 new investigators on baptismal date! The work's really moving forward here!

Elder Elmer, one of the zone leaders, is such a funny guy. He really soft spoken, but he's also really outgoing & fun. He called us one night & was impersonating a little girl. Elder Chidester thought it was creepy, but I got a kick out of it.

Anyway, it's good to hear from all of you. Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Candland

1. T.C. bay

January 26

This is going to be very quick.

We moved a lot of wood one night. We could see the sun set as we were working, hauling split wood into a members storage. It was cold on top of that. It's fun when you work hard though.

After our district meeting in Cadillac, we saw some people pulled off to the side of the road. We pulled over and asked if they needed help. They told us they were on their way to Traverse City, and that they were just waiting for their engine to cool down, before they kept moving. We were able to set up an appointment, and we visited them, and taught them the restoration. The family liked it and told us they would read the book of Mormon & pray about it.

We're having a lot of success out here. We have another person we're going to meet soon that asked us for a book of Mormon and told us he would read it.

Anyway, I should get going.

Love you!

Elder Candland

January 20

Traverse City is HUGE! My new companion, Elder Chidester, has been here since halloween, and he still gets lost. We rely heavily on his GPS. I don't know how things are going to go when he leaves.

There are countless places to shop here. It was a bit overwhelming to decide where to go p-day. We were gonna go to the mall, but we were both shopped out before we got there.

So, about my new companion:
He's 20, & he's from Idaho. When he speaks, it's usually loud, not quite as loud as Mc.Dowell, but he's definitely not soft spoken. He's also really into lifting, & wrestling. In fact I could definitely see him being a coach. Also, he loves Batman.

The Traverse City Branch belongs to a district, not a stake. I had no Idea that there were even districts until I came here. We have enough members that we could easily become a ward.

It seems like most of the members here are rich geniuses. I've had dinner with a couple of doctors, both are good at what they do, & read like no other. 

Friday we saw a kid walking home from school making owl noises, he stopped and talked to us about how his uncle can make all sorts of animal sounds. Then later that evening we had 2 cats fallow us around in the cold. One of them leaped into one of the residents house.

I've decided I'm not going to have pets. At least not until I'm an empty nester.

Sunday, all 4 of us Elders spoke in sacrament meeting.
I bore my testimony on how our experience in life is going to be very different from the next person. However if we live the gospel, we are promised peace & joy, in this life, & the next.

I'm enjoying my time out here. I hop you're enjoying yourselves.

TTYL!

Love,
Elder Candland


[new address]
5067 village lane court, Apt. A
Traverse City, MI 49685

1. 45° from equator

January 12

Don't have much time. This may be pretty short.

Getting Transferred  to Traverse City.

These part few days I was able to say goodbye to a lot of the owosso family's. I didn't realize my impact here until I left. It was sad to leave. If I was a sister missionary I probably would've been balling.

Traverse city is really nice, really clean, & well kept. Rumor is we have one of the nicest apartments. It's in a members basement. It's like a vertical duplex.

I don't have my journal or planner so I can't remember anything exciting that happened this past week.

I did leave the area with a new investigator. We had just shared the restoration with her. There's potential.

Hope you have a great week, I'll be back with more of traverse City.

Love,
Elder Candland

1. The Oberlins

2. The Rileys

3. Elder Wiscombe & I dressed up one night. Us two had some good times

January 5

It's snowing again. It's been snowing since 3 days ago. We're going to hit below 0° this week.

I was just showing Elder Wiscombe what the wonka was, then I slipped on the ice & landed on my butt. (The wonka is what we called Lars' thing he would do when he was pacing around in the backyard)

Another interesting thing, we saw a bird in the grocery store today, just standing on the floor.

This week has been pretty usual, so sorry if its boring.

Elder Hoover & I picked up a couple to teach, they were the last people we found on our trade off.

New years eve we spent at a members place who had lots of friends over & finger foods. Elder Wiscombe & got back home, & went to bed at the usual time.

New Years day we started by helping members refurbish a house. Whoever painted the walls didn't know what they were doing. There was paint that got splattered on the hard wood floors. We spent an hour scrubbing & scratching & using alcohol. The only progress we made was a square yrd. at best.

Fri night some members took us out to eat at Applebee's which was really nice of them. They are an awesome family. I can see why we never went to applebees as a family, they're not nearly as good as Red Robbin.

Yesterday Elder Wicombe & I taught Elder's quorum, it went pretty well. It usually does when you have good input from the class.

That night we were fed gyro's. Elder Wiscombe really liked it.

Alright. Gotta go. Sorry I don't have my camera on me so no pictures this week.

LOVE YA

Elder Candland

December 30

HJappy Christmas, Harry! I don't know why, but Elder Wiscombe & I have been saying that to each other, and one of us will respond by saying, "Happy Christmas Ron."

Our dinner appointment Christmas was fun. The family invited a lot of people over that aren't members of the church. We got to talk with them as we played cards with them.

We read Alma 36 with Greg, the first 1/2 of it anyway. And we told him to read the other 1/2 on his own time. He's still doing well.

The 1/2 mission Christmas party was fun. The assistants gave us excellent instruction on how to find better. I saw Elder Davis, Elder Hefner, & Elder Rhodes. It was pretty exciting.

I loved my gifts I got from Santa. He knows me well :)

One of the less actives here is a 19 year old dude. He's really cool. He let us in when it was just him and his girlfriend, which seemed a little weird, but I was fine with it. It actually turned out good, we watched a Mormon Message on his laptop.

Sorry 40 minutes isn't a lot of time to talk on the phone. But Mother's day is coming around the corner, & I'll get to talk more then.

Happy New Year!

Love,
Elder Candland

1. Elder Davis & I

2. 7/3/13 Missionaries

3. Christmas morning

December 23

We had our interviews this week. One thing I've noticed with with President Jacobsen is he's bold, kinda like Elder Holland, more so than President Hess. He's also very loving.
He gave me a lot of encouragement during the interview to be strong these last few months of the mission.

I gave Greg the T-shit. I also got his daughters each a shirt while I was thrift shopping. He was really excited about the Destiny T-shirt, and he also appreciated the shirts for his daughters. He's doing well, the only problem is that he does tattooing, so it'll be kinda hard to break the news to him.

On my Trade off with the zone leaders I drew this on their white board. (It's supposed to be both of the zone leaders)


We did some finding in a town way out of owosso, and spend most of our day there. We picked up a couple of potentials, who were's excited to go back & see.

Tuesday we helped the African american kids move out into their new home. We made really good friends with them. And the cool part is the Lansing Elders are going to see them now!


Sorry this Email's a little short, but you'll hear from me in a couple days.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Elder Candland

1. Owosso Christmas tree

December 15

So you can probably tell from our picture, today we went thrift shopping. I finally found something to buy from the money you gave to me on my birthday :) I'll send a couple of other photos we took today.

I went on a trade off with an Elder, who should be going home soon. He's interesting. At our dinner appointment he asked one of the members if he has any interesting facts about his front teeth, just out of the blue. He was cool about it, but the wife asked why he would ask something like that. I'm glad my real companion is normal :)

A lady from the ward asked us if we could help her move furniture in her new apartment. One of the couches would not fit trough the door. We were in such a hurry that the other member we were with told us to just leave the coach in the hallway, and we would take care of it tomorrow morning. We unscrewed the legs it fit it through, just barely. It was a tight squeeze.

We got to attend the Christmas party at the church. We were disappointed to see that Greg wasn't there, but it was fun. We ended up talking a lot with the kids the Bishop is temporary taking care of. And we each got a foot long giant candy cane.

Elder Wiscombe took us back to Ithaca for a baptism for one of his investigators there.

It's been a pretty average week. Nothing too exciting going on.

Well, I should get going. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Candland

p.s. Owosso has one claim to fame. They have the train the polar express was modeled after. We happened to have it pass by us while we were out.

1. Me in Owosso

2. Me again

3. The Polar Express

December 8

Got my new companion. We were in the mission office / institute building waiting for Elder Wiscombe to arrive. I got to see a lot of missionaries I've served with. Elder Mitchel & Elder Lewis are going home. Elder Davis is now district leader, and Elder Rhodes is the new A.P. It was fun catching up with all of them.

There was a verry inactive girl attending the college here in Owosso, who recently contacted us & told us she would like to come to church. Well, we hadn't seen her for a while so I called her. She told us she's planning to go to Grand-Rapids & would like to get a hold of the Bishop there. So, we gave her the Elder's # over there. She thanked us, & told us that our phone call was an answer to her prayer she had just a second ago. It was great to be part in that.

We've been praying for Greg. When we visited, he was going through a rough patch. I think this next week will be better for him though. I'm excited to see what he thinks about the shirt!

We've probably talked to about 100 people this week. At least 2 of them are interested. In the future I think we'll see the fruit of our labors.

We saw the Christmas devotional at Bishop's. He had company. They are all siblings from a black family. (also, they're not members.) They've had a rough life. Their foster parents kicked them out, & with no were else to go, the Bishop & his wife took them in for now. They'll get their new parents in a few weeks. They've had a great time with the bishop & his wife, & have even asked if they would adopt them. They would've, but they prayed, & felt it would be better for them to be out of Owosso. We'll see them again at church, & I think next pday we're playing ball with them.

Elder Wiscombe is a good elder. I like serving with him, he's also pretty goofy.

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Candland

P.S. Missionaries in this mission have thing thing were we label Elder's, that like to work out a lot, as Chads.
This is a picture of Elder Wiscombe & I posing as Chads.

1. Being Chads

December 1

Transfer calls came in. I'm staying, and Elder Peterson's leaving. He's going to be a zone leader. He said "I would have never guessed I would be a zone leader, let alone a District leader." He was trippin'. Elder Wiscombe is my new companion. He's coming out of Itheca/Alma, so I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.

Thanksgiving we went tracting, and visited a couple members. We had turkey, bread, stuffing, potatoes, & pie, the usual. That day we talked to a senior sister in the ward, she told us we made her day. She can get a little lonely, & it's great whenever she has company.

After Thanksgiving, we decided to put up the Christmas tree, we have down in our storage. As you can tell it looked like a twig before straitened out the branches. It was totally the Charlie Brown story.

We had lunch with our former bishop. Him & his wife are great. He shared some stories with us about when he served in France. Someone, who gave him a ride told him a story about why he doesn't like hitchikers. One hitchiker pulled a gun on him while they were in the car, asked him for a few things, and then asked for his wallet. He replied "One sec, I left it under my seat." He pulls out a hammer, knocks the guy out, and throws him out of the car. He showed bro. Brown that he was still carrying his hammer. Before we left, he said a prayer in French, which is always kinda neat to hear.

We got to talk with a member here in Owosso. He actually served his mission here, and Owosso was his last area. He originally lived in Washington, he says he never wanted to live in Michigan, but he kinda got stuck here for now. We had a good talk with him. He's only been off his mission for like 5 years now.

Saturday I stepped on a dead dear on the side of the road. Elder Peterson stepped on a dead squirrel that morning. The squirrels are all over.

We talked to Greg, our top investigator, Sunday. He wasn't at church, but he did say that he wants to come to church, he doesn't want to miss a 3rd Sunday in a row, he already missed 2 & that's too many. He's doing great.

Hope you had a good week.

Love,
Elder Candland

1. tree Before


2. tree After