October 28

Thanks for the package, we enjoyed the candy, and we actually wrapped some in Pillsbury biscuit dough, & deep fried it. I'm also liking the granola, I had no idea it was homemade, it's good. And thanks for sending those shirts & the pocket watch. I remembered I had one, I just didn't say anything because I was so worried I left that at one of the hotels.

I don't think I mentioned, but one of our best investigators who's a divorced mom in her early 50's I made a plate of cookies for, she said that in the 8 years she's lived in the neighborhood no one has brought her treats. She thanked me, and said that was really sweet and gave me a hug. Which isn't a big deal, but she hugged me again before sacrament meeting when I gave my talk. Elder Oler thinks she has a soft spot for me. We've made a good relationship with her, in a way she's kinda like our aunt.

My talk by the way went pretty well. I talked about scripture study. I had a lot of great quotes from apostles & scriptures. One of them was from a message on LDS.org by D Todd Christofferson titled Daily Bread. I did get a little stage fright, like always, and so with me and the other speakers, we fell short 10 minutes which turned out fine, because the branch canceller was prepared to add a Few comments.

This week we went on trade offs with the zone leaders. They're both awesome missionaries. Elder Louis & I had a chance to go Proselyte on CMU campus. There are so many students just walking around from place to place. For a little while I struggled to talk to people. It was similar to how Adam was walking down the streets in Brazil. Except we were in a trio, and we could talk to other people as long as we were in sight. Eventually I convinced myself to go out and talk to the first person I see. I told myself I got nothing to loose if I make a mistake, or if they aren't interested, I could talk to the next person I see.

Yesterday, as we were finding in an apartment complex, we saw one guy who looked pretty drunk struggling to walk straight. A few seconds later I hear a something and I see the man fall face first in a rock bed right above the curb. Elder Louis inspected him and gave him a couple of band aids. He fell a second time, this time on a car. Elder Louis then helped him walk to his girlfriend's. And after a little bit he said "I don't need help walking." I can't think of anyone I met more out of it than he was.
That day of finding went well, we found 3 people who said we could come back.

Since it's starting to get darker earlier we've decided to ask members if we could visit when It got to the point where everyone's not interested in hearing us because they were getting to bed. So this Sunday we went to one of the family's in the branch. They're one of the 3 family's in the ward, and all the kids love having us over.

One more thing, Preston met a Tre Candland in Mesa. He wanted me to ask you if you guys knew her, or of any relatives down there.

Love you guys,
Elder Candland

October 21

It's crazy how rapidly the weather here changes. They say it has snowed on Halloween in the past.

One of the members took us to get the giant banana split again, this time we had the family & a German foreran exchange student help out. While we were there one of the kids played 'What Does The Fox Say' on her iPhone. The 3 of us couldn't get that song out of our heads since then.

This week we were going to meet with one of our top investigators at 'Tim Horton's' where she works, but she wasn't there. I did get some amazing pumkin white hot chocolate though.
The Investigator has been receiving a lot of anti from her friends, and her husband doesn't like us either. But she doesn't accept what they have to say, she just comes to us if she has any concerns. She also wants her sons to be just like us when they grow up, so she has them part of the discussion.

We went on trade offs this week and door knocked for 3-4 hours in the rain. When it was dark, It was really nice to come to a warm apartment and have little Caesars, I hadn't ate much that day so it was amazing. Also we all stepped on the scale, I ended up weighing 178 lbs! That motivated me to be cautious of what I eat.

I got my stiches out! Now I have to be more careful, since there isn't much holding the cut together. It has been doing a lot better though, and it's not a pain to walk around with. I got the cut right above the tendon of my big tow in the middle of my left foot.

The three of us kinda decided jimmy johns is the best place for fast food. There's an old lady we visit each week and she almost always orders that for us. She's a hoot. The first time I met her I thought she was just an old cranky lady, but now I know that she's not crabby at all, and she loves the missionaries.

We met Darnel, the big black guy, he told us about his conversion. He grew up in a shady neighborhood where he had an abusive father, that actually killed his older brother. And from he told us, his mother protected him from a lot of the things that went on in Chicago. When he grew up, he met a member, and had no interest in the church. He was going through a tough time, he didn't know which direction to take in life, and he prayed for an answer and he saw a book open to the word Shepherd. Since then he saw the word several times. then he saw the missionaries at the member's house, and one of the missionaries' names was Elder Shepherd. They offered Darnel a blessing. During the blessing it seemed that Elder Shepherd knew his thoughts, and he felt the spirit completely overwhelm him, like someone poured a bucket of warm water over him. Since then, he met with the missionaries and got baptized, and later received his endowments. Now he's a ward missionaries, and he gives us rides to church & to meet with a family that lives far out.

Love you guys,
Elder Candland

October 14

We drove by an apartment complex we hadn't been to, so we decide to go proselyte there. When we started we see an old man wave to us from his back door, so we talk to him, & he invited us inside. He told us this story about how his fiancé took him to a party and he dumped her because she was drinking and doing other Christ like stuff. He also told us he did go to our branch. He asked for a Book of Mormon and then told us his name. Elder Oler had a red-flag pop up. His name is in our phone as Mike Bacon (anti do not answer) So Elder Oler made sure we got out of there fast, & explained that Mike was an excommunicated member who invites missionaries in his home, asks for Book of Mormons, & burns them.

My companions had an idea to go back & tell him we know who he is, & ask why he would burn book of Mormons. He told us his wife told him to, then one us pretty much called him to repentance. We told members of our experience, & found out he has harmed some missionaries, & that something is wrong with him mentally.

The other excommunicated member I've talked about, the one who's been coming to church, finally got baptized. Everything went well, except the water in the font was a greenish brown. This is the 2nd baptism I've attended as a missionary, and my 1st baptism for a returning member.

I hope everyone else is doing well, I miss all of you, and I keep you in my prayers as well.

Love,

Elder Candland

P.S. In a couple weeks I'll be giving a talk on Scripture Study in the branch. Which I'm excited about because I can learn how to have better study's.

October 7

We thought for sure Elder Oler was leaving this transfer, we heard they were going to break up all trio's. But as it turns out the 3 of us are all staying in the Ithica branch. I would've been happy with wherever they would've placed me, but at least now I get to continue to work with our investigators who are getting closer to baptism.

 

The one investigator who brought us to the non-denominational church came, with her daughter, to our branch this Sunday and watched the Sunday morning session with us. She said she wanted to applaud when each speaker was done. She's awesome; she's shown the most potential out of any of our investigators. She believes the book of Mormon to be true, and she wants to go to a church that is more reverent than hers.

 

This week we decided to go proselyting in town 20-30 minutes out of where we live, since nearly every street has been knocked here. There we met Tracy. When we introduced ourselves to Tracy she invited us inside, and we proceeded to give her the fist lesson. When we talked about the book of Mormon she told us she had been told that it was Satan's book, but that she wanted to know for herself if it was something she should read. And after praying she received an answer that she should. She also told us that she hadn't found the time to read it, so we invited her to read 3 Nephi 11. Before and after she offered a prayer she told us she could feel the spirit present, and I felt it too. We noticed as we were leaving the trailer home that Tracy was already reading! I don't think I've so far ever met someone as prepared as she was.

We tried visiting with her again, but unfortunately she wasn't home. Her husband was there, and he was nice to us, and told us that Tracy was in jail :/ She got caught driving with a suspended license, fortunately it's not like she committed a serious crime, so I'm sure we'll see her sometime soon.

 

I enjoyed conference, I was fortunate to see all sessions. The priesthood session was good. Monson was pretty comical when he talked about the bad home teacher. I also enjoyed Holland's talk on depression, and Uchtdorf's talk on staying active in the church. I think that one would be great for a lot of our investigators to hear. There was a lot that was mentioned, I would love to listen to them again sometime soon.

 

In one of my earlier email's I mentioned an investigator that went to college. Well she was in town for a bit so had a chance to meet with her again. We ate dinner with her at some pizza place, and so we didn't get a chance to teach her another lesson. From what it sounds like things are going good with her.

 

I hope everyone is doing well with work & school, and that you enjoy your week.

 

Love,

Elder Candland

September 30

This week we went to a non-denominational church. We have an investigator, who shows a lot of interest in our church, who made a deal with us that if we went to her church she'd come to ours. So she's coming to a session of general conference at church with us.

 

The church has it's similarities to ours, but overall it seemed a lot different. Before the service I noticed a few things, they have a café in the building, there's a drum set & keyboard on the stands. And their podium's a little different, they carry a microphone, and they didn't have a box of tissues next to the podium. Also primary isn't called primary, it's called super church, and the room has a picture of Christ with a big SJC on his chest.

The talks they have I think are structured differently than ours. The theme they had was endurance, about how the adversary would try to make things difficult for us to endure, but that we should recognize that & not give in to temptation. Overall, the feelings that I took away from the meeting were how grateful I am to belong to the LDS church.

 

I forgot to mention last Sunday, the branch councilor & the elders corm president weren't at church, and the Branch President had to leave, so our senior companion, Elder Older, conducted the rest of the meeting.

 

This Sunday, was the primary kids program, which went well. That day we had a lot of people attend the meeting. Then during the 3rd hour, my companions and I were asked to talk a little about what kind of support we like to get from home.

 

We volunteered to play music for patients at the local hospital, so after church we met up at the hospital with a couple of girls from the young women to sing hymns with us, and a little guitar. Elder Oler & I didn't have a lot of time to prepare & were out of practice, so we only played a couple of songs on the guitar before we decided to go a-cappella. It was a good experience, there was a few people that actually mouthed some of the lyrics, and one old lady who was crying. We're going to start doing this every other Sunday.

 

Transfers are this weekend, and they say they're going to split up all the trios, so we're expecting Elder Oler to leave so it'll be just Elder Louis & I. Speaking of him, we're actually going to the fire dept. today and doing some firemen drills/ workouts & washing one of the tankers.

 

Have a great week, and I'll pray for shaini, I have high hopes that Nintendo will hire her. And I'll be excited to hear what she and Kelsey think of their temple experience.

 

Love,

Elder Candland

September 23

I did get both packages, thanks :) I was happy to get my coat, excited when I saw ipod and speakers!

My companions were happy for me. And speaking of which, I remember when Elder Louis first came to our place, he brought 3 full suitcases & 2 full boxes of stuff he got on his mission. He has so much stuff! He can afford a lot too since he's getting paid back home for being a fireman. I want to say he gets $5,000 a month.

I do remember shaini talking about watching power puff girls with Rye. That's neat, I'm sure she's having a lot of memories of that show come back to her. Yeah, hopefully she can get something to do for work.

On Pday we went bowling, Elder Oler took bowling class's, so of course he took first. Elder Louis took last & I was 2nd. For some reason I would get a strike pretty much every 2 or 3 rounds, and every other the ball went into the gutter.

We went to President Belles's house again this week. We had a small talent show there. I brought my chocolate chip cookies, Elder Oler named of the winners NBLA championchips of the past 20 years, and Elder Louis did that thing from Hawaii where they twirl a stick on fire.

We had trade off this week, which was also on the same day as my birthday. Elder Louis and I took one of the zone leaders back to our place for a day. We did service and got to wash a fire truck.

Then we had zone training, and that was pretty awesome. We had some great talks given by President Hess, Sister Hess, and the assistants.

Whenever I hear the missionaries talk about President Hess, it makes me love him more. He's a pretty awesome guy, I'll be sad when He leaves later this year.

At the end of my birthday, I decided to make cake in a cup, with what was available in the apartment. I don't think I remember the proportions that well, because the cake turned out as the same consistency as the plastic wrapped cheese (the plubber cheese). Elder Louis and Elder Web (the Zone leader) sung happy birthday to me and we ate one of the cakes, and decided that was enough. Then we played with the other cake and watched it bounce.

It's weird not being a teen anymore.

Well, I didn't plan to have anything fantastic for breakfast, because I didn't do any shopping ahead of time. But I thought about it, & we had the ingredients to make pancakes, and that sounded better than cheerios. So I fallowed a recipe that came from a cookbook in the apartment. And what I didn't realize was that the recipe said to put the pan cakes on a baking sheet in the oven, which explained why the recipe was weird. So we ended up with crepes, and we did have frozen strawberries & a bottle of whip cream, so it turned out better than I expected.

Good for Grandpa, I've been keeping him in my prayers as well as Grandma, so it's good to hear that he's doing well.

I am stoked for general conference! I'll be a lot more interested when watching it this year for sure, even though I don't get to stay home in my PJ's :)

Yeah, Dad mentioned you guys spending time with the Mounts, sounds fun. Austin and I have been talking to each other; we loved spending our summers together at Ensign ranch, we had a lot of memories there :)

And also, I mentioned this to Kortney, but we don't get Skype in this mission :/ I can only call you up on the phone. But like I told her I will send a picture of myself on that Day.
But, who knows. Maybe when we get our new Mission President, he'll allow it.

 Anyway, I hope you guys have a great week :) I'll keep you guys in my prayers, & I'll pray for Shaini to get a job soon.

K, I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Candland

September 16

It's starting to really cool down; I don't think we'll have any more blazing hot weather, not until next summer.

 

Last week we were looking over the area map to see where we should proselyte, without saying anything my companions had the same idea of going to an apartment complex. There was definitely some revelation there. We met 4 people who asked us to return, which was awesome. We hadn't had that many in that short of a time, or in one day.

Also while we were there, we talked to some guy at his door step, and I glance over & see some guy in a dark grim reaper cloak & a red devil mask. He took a few steps and stared at us. I didn't say anything, I pretended nothing happened and returned my attention to the man at the door. Then when we left, we talked about it. Elder Louis saw it, but unfortunately Elder Oler missed it. He was a little upset. We also met a man at a door who lifted his shirt up to show us his tattoo. We asked him what it was, and he explained that he worships Satan. He wasn't interested to say the least.

This week we had at the Branch President's home, finally. He's pretty busy, so I haven't had much of a chance to get to know his family. They're pretty awesome. All the kids love to talk, the parents are both awesome and love to talk to. They live on some nice property out in the middle of a corn field, so they do some farming. You'd like them mom :)

I'll keep praying for Grandpa, hopefully he'll keep progressing. I'll keep praying for you guys as well, hopefully Shaini makes enough money, and hopefully Adam does well at UVU. I'll pray for you and Dad as well. I'm sure you'll be busy even with 2 kids short, and 1 working.

Love,

Elder Candland