Week 18--we weren't exactly sure how to wear them so...Ninja.

Date: Dec 31,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

Sup everybody?

I've got some catching up to do! We have an investigator who told us about a dream that she had so... I wrote a poem about it!

Pauline's Dream

The best advice that I've ever received

Came i the form of a dream

Not to me, but a wonderful lady

Who spiritually, waxed lean

A glorious man appeared before me

Wearing beautiful white clothes

Standing in front of the Pearly White Gates

Pure light about him bright glows

He answered my questions which helped me know

What on my left side I saw

Three exceedingly beautiful mansions

Whose glory left me in awe

"Who lives in the first one there?" I pointed

Tempting that celestial being

"Your childhood friend we accepted gladly,

For her belief without seeing."

"How about the one in the middle there?"

"That one is your loving Aunt."

Of course this came to me as no surprise

She wouldn't tell Christ "I can't"

Although I already knew, I still asked,

"And who in the last one there?"

My sweet, sweet grandma it surely must be

Sifted as wheat from the tare

It was curious that as we moved on

The scenery was changing

From the mansions to a subdivision

Small houses still amazing

Inequality had not occurred to me 

That it all was not the same

'Twas then that I saw one, humble as ever

I wondered how it became

"Well what about this one right here?" I asked

"It is yours since you believeth."

I asked, "Why not a mansion?" He replied,

"It's all you gave me to build with."

No, that's not necessarily what heaven shall be like, but the underlying principle is what's important! I was going to go through my whole last 2 weeks day by day... however... That will take a long time... so instead I think I'll just give ya'll the highlights:

Tuesday the 18th we met a huge dog named Duke. I told you about him during the skype call and I included a picture of him and Elder Carly in another email.

Duke! He's so big. He has a coat that is supposed to be for a small horse. He slobbers a lot. 

Thursday the 20th we were invited to some dinner thing put on by the place where we volunteer at, Christian Social Services. There was some good food and then some entertainment afterwards. There was a guy with a guitar and we sang Jesus songs. I see the appeal in the "Rock n' Roll Jesus" type churches ha it was kind of fun.

Sunday the 23rd we had Church and then after a couple of errands we packed our bags and headed to Louisville for the Mission Conference. We stayed the night with some Elders right near where the mission conference was going to be held. (24th)We had Mcds for breakfast and then we went to the conference a little bit early so that we could see all of the Elders that we hadn't seen for awhile! The Program included a lot of singing and the testimonies of the departing missionaries. After that we had lunch and then we sang some more. Sis Woodbury was a member of MoTab so... she enjoys singing. Afterwards we drove home and a member called us and asked us to stop by and had made us some cinnamon rolls! Yay! Then we went over to a little Christmas Party thing with The Bishop and his wife and daughter and another family the same size and they invited over one of our investigators who doesn't really have family or anything to do for Christmas so that was very kind of them. We made Gingerbread houses. 

On Christmas we got up and opened all of our presents (See pictures in email with subject "More Photos") 

I Didn't actually get my 12 days of Christmas package until the 26th but I included the picture from it there. Mom made both of us scarves and we weren't exactly sure how to wear them so... Ninja.

Sunday the 30th President and Sister Woodbury came to our Ward for our 5th Sunday missionary work meeting. President was in our coordination meeting that we have before church as well. Everything seemed to go smoothly. 

I just had some hot chocolate.

The first pictures here are just some scenery. 

The gravel (dirt) road that we were driving on is simply where the GPS led us... 

Good wisdom from the Book of Mormon: Alma 37:6

Shoutouts!

The Nelsens: for sending me the comments from the ward!

Whitney: for an awesome Christmas package!

Momma: All the hard work you do and for the 12 days of Christmas! As you can see, we enjoyed it!

This had to happen. We weren't sure if it was actually dead or just "playin' possum" so we approached carefully.
 

hehe

Week 17--Christmas Skype Call!

Date: Dec 25,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

We got to talk to Elder Denton!  'Twas great :D

 

Week 16--We finally got to have some real KFC!

Date: Dec 17,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

 

Sup everybody?

 

I'm really not sure why I am writing this because on Friday the world as we know it is going to end. Oh well, I'll write anyways. Yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrement Meeting. It was my first time ever giving a talk without having the internet as an aide. Bleh. It was supposed to be 14-15 minutes and it went for about 8. Ha. whoops! I guess I won't be talking again for awhile! 

 

This week we had our zone meeting, it was nice to finally get to meet everybody that's in our zone! President Woodbury gave a great training there and I think he is coming to our ward for 5th Sunday this month because I believe it's on missionary work. Also for the 3rd consecutive week we had our District Leader blitz us. It's always nice to be able to have 2 companionships working one area. We get a lot done.

 

This week we made some pork chops and had some rice with it and mixed in some chicken noodle soup. Elder Carly was having a hard time cutting the pork chop so he just used his hand and then we just ended up eating all of it with our hands like barbarians. I thought I would share that with you.

 

Saturday morning we helped an investigator raise up the sinking foundation of a cabin that he has on his property. After that we went to another investigators house to stack some wood. I didn't feel like it was that tiring until that night. We both crashed right after we planned for the next day. On Sunday we were both feeling especially exhausted as well.

 

On Sunday we had a meal appointment and we finally got to have some real KFC! I can't believe it took me over 4 months to finally have some! It was delightful. The buttons on my suit coat were falling off and the lady who fed us said that she enjoyed sewing and such so... boom! My buttons are fixed! Hallelujah!

 

The pictures that I included are 

 

1: A cute puppy 

 

and 2: A washed out road that we decided not to cross. The river went right on over it!

 

Good wisdom from the Book of Momon: Mosiah 2:41

 

Shoutouts!

Elder Carly's parents: For sending me some Christmas love! I don't know what it is yet, but I'm appreciative!

 

Have a great week ya'll... Good luck on Friday...

 

Love,

 

Elder Denton III (Strikes again)

 

Week 15--We'll give the credit to the Spirit for that one

Date: Dec 10,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

Sup everybody?

This week has been another productive one! We have been able to get a lot accomplished! Yesterday Elder Carly gave a talk in sacrement. He did well. Earlier in the week the Assistants to the President came and Blitzed our area. We were able to accomplish a lot! Having 2 companionships working 1 area is definately a benifit!

It's finals week on campus so any college investigators that we have are busy busy! Also, some of our investigators are going home for a month or so to be with their families which is understandable, but they need to be baptized, yanno?

The missionaries that left our area took all of our workout equipment so we've only been able to do sit ups and push-ups for the last few weeks. This week we asked around the other missionaries and we were actually able to get some decent equipment! So that should be helpful and now I don't have an excuse to not have an effective workout. So yay.

On quite the opposite, yet still positive note, the members here seem to enjoy feeding us. It's like the promised land of getting fed! It's great but I still have to excercise self control to not stuff myself at every opportunity I have :/ But hey- it's definately a positive thing.

Last week our Zone had a competition to see who could have the best "key indicators" i.e. How many people you've talked to, lessons you've had, etc... Well we won it. We kind of forgot about it during the week and were just working hard and then they sent out a voicemale and we found out that we won! Cool huh? We got a $15 gift card to coldstone.. we're probably just going to give it to somebody else though. There was another competition this week for a Subway gift card.. if we win we'll probably keep that one. I'll have to let ya know what happens. Needless to say we've been doing really well. I'm definately aware that it was our efforts that contributed to that... but not that made it all possible. We'll give the credit to the Spirit for that one.

This week the Ward had their Christmas dinner. I think it was Friday night... it was very tastey! Free meals are the best! It was a potluck.. there were a lot of options! There aren't as many weird foods here as I thought that there would be. They sure do love their 'taters though. One thing that I like that sounds nasty would be corn pudding. Yep. It's de-lish.

My companions parents sent us some stalkings for Christmas! I drew up a make-shift fireplace to make it feel right. Oh yes.

Good wisdom from the Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 9:34

Shoutouts!

Mom and Dad: Being so willing to help me out! Love you guys!

  

Sivertson Family: For my awesome Christmas package! Thanks guys!

I hope ya'll have a great week!

<3,

Elder Denton III (Strikes again)

Week 14--In the area...we're experiencing a lot of success

Date: Dec 3,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

Sup everybody?

I'll start things off with a poem that I wrote a month or so ago:

As kids we're told to be creative

And let our minds imagine.

But with time we become sedated

More than you could fathom.

But don't lose faith, not just now!

There surely is still hope!

Do as Christ saith, He knows how

We can learn to cope.

Submissive, meek, and simple

Are steps one, two, and three

Make sure to show your dimples

For Christ said, "Be like me"

Do these things, be of good cheer

Buckle up, let Christ drive

He knows how to steer

Then from this we can derive;

Like kids our hearts can soften

Just remember Him and strive

To talk with Him real often

For in Him we're made alive.

This week has been great! We've definitely been working hard! I feel like our last P-day went way too fast! On Wednesday the Zone Leaders blitzed our area (2 companionships worked one area) and we were able to learn a lot! We were able to find a lot of good success that day as well.

There is a place called Christian Social Services that we do service at. The first day we served there nobody really gave us the time of day but we worked hard and by the end we found out why. Aparently the Elders that had been in before us were rude and wouldn't listen to anybody and would only show up for like 15 minutes. I didn't feel like I was helping much until I actually saw some of the people that were benefiting from our service.

This Friday we had been contacting on campus and we went into the probably the quitest library I've ever been in for a minute to let all of the people that were outside filter out and have new ones filter in to talk to. While we were in there my companion was looking at a statue and I rested on what I thought was a regular door but turned out to be a fire escape door. Well, it went off and it was very very loud! I'm not sure I've ever felt so dumb although it was pretty funny. Gosh.

In the area itself we're experiencing a lot of success. Last week wasn't quite a full week and we found 16 Investigators and this week, being a regular one, we have found 23 new investigators. I believe the standard that the Mission President has set is 5 per week. So you could say that this area is on fire (refering to the Spirit). Fasting works! The Church is true.

For Institute here the area likes to involve the full time missionaries as much as possible. So we watched the CES Fireside last night at Bishop Green's house with the institute group. 2 of our investigators were there. It was a good fireside!

We also seem to be getting fed quite often! Mostly just 1 of our investigators does because she's awesome, however, there have been plenty of others as well in this short period of time that we've been here. It's fantastic!

Good wisdom from the Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 4:27-30

Shoutouts!

Sivertson Family: For sending me an awesome package filled with Christmas cheer!

Gumby: For being green and bendy...

Love you all have a great week!

-Elder Denton III (Strikes again)

Week 13--The speed limits here are fast! It's nice!

Date: Nov 26,  2012
Companion: Elder Carly
Area: Morehead, KY

Sup everybody?

So I'm in Morehead, Kentucky. It's an "in the middle of nowhere-how did anybody ever find this place" kind of town. It has a college, Morehead State University which seems to make up most of the population. There are plenty of stores and even a super Wal-Mart to solve all of my shopping needs! I think I'm going to enjoy it here! Church is about 20 miles away. The speed limits here are fast! It's nice!

I certainly hope that everybody had the most wonderful of Thanksgivings! Mine certainly was interesting! I'll get back to that. Here's how it's been since last Monday: Woke up at 5:00 on Tuesday morning to drive 2 hours to Louisville for transfer meeting.

Immediately after transfer meeting my new companion, Elder Carly, we hopped into a truck of somebody we didn't know and drove for 2 more hours to Mt Sterling, Kentucky where we got our phone, and car. We then proceeded to head east another 35ish minutes to our apartment. I'm not sure if I was very clear last week about what happened. The area I'm in got "whitewashed" by my companion and I. That means that the two Elders that were here got transferred out and we got transferred in. That isn't common to happen but when it does it's because there wasn't much work getting done.

We arrived at our apartment (119 N Blair Ave Morehead KY 40351.. I'd double check the zip code) and it was a MESS. It was evident that the Elders that had left had done absolutely nothing to clean up that apartment. We've spent a total of over 6 hours cleaning. Our Ward Mission Leader has been absolutely awesome and got us some cleaning supplies to help us out. He also took us out for a bite to eat. Between then and now we've done a lot of missionary work! We were able to find 16 new investigators this week which is like more than 3 times the amount I've ever found in a 7 day period and this was essentially a 5 day period Including Thanksgiving which is a non-proselyting day. Very exciting! We've also had a couple of people try to convert us... nothing unusual out here!

For Thanksgiving we kind of had a progressive dinner I guess. One of our investigators actually had us over for our first dinner and it was very good! After that we went over to a family in the ward's house and theirs wasn't done cooking so we got to know them and ended up leaving without eating. Our last stop was our Ward Mission Leaders house for dessert. Before we ate we played Botchi ball which was fun. I enjoyed pretty much everything I've eaten so far and as far as I know I haven't eaten any roadkill!

My new companion is Elder Carly. He has been out only a month and a half longer than I have. Same age as me and he is from Spanish Fork. He enjoys film making and is in a lot better shape than I am, like most people I come across! He has 8 siblings including step-siblings. He's a pretty cool cat. We get along well.

Our apartment is awesome now that it's all cleaned up. Having a washer and dryer is super beneficial and should save me close to $20 a month. The kitchen and study room alone was the size of my last apartment and then beyond that we have a workout room, bedroom, bathroom, and closet. It's pretty sweet! We found a fake tree in the pantry so we decided to put it up. There was only two strands of lights that worked so one went on the railing and one on the tree. Elder Carly is a fruit so that's why he's in the picture. 

The other picture is of two towns that are in our area. One is "Sharkey" and one is "Farmers"...........at first we though it was one town called "Sharkey Farmers" so we imagined some gilled creatures that enjoyed farming... but I guess not.

Sorry for writing a book. Packages need to be sent to my address and not the mission office because it costs them money to forward it to me. I make an end.

Good wisdom from the Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi 9:6

Shoutouts!:

Brother Curry, our awesome ward mission leader who has helped us out SO much and been very hospitable and just a boss!

Bishop Green who has been similiarly awesome and caring about the missionary work going on here!

Have a great week! Love ya'll (I hope I don't pick that up)

-Elder Denton III (Strikes again)

 

Week 12--I...am getting transferred!

Date: Nov 19,  2012
Companion: Elder Moorhouse
Area: Newburgh Bike

Sup everybody?

Well I just came back this morning from another trip out to Mt Vernon to get Elder Clawson's things because he is getting transfered. I did my laundry while I was there because I, too, am getting transfered! Pretty big shocker you could say. Definately was not expecting that... I thought that my companion was gone for sure. Oh well! I'm going to be heading to Morehead, Kentucky. My companions name is Elder Carly. I know all of this beforehand because Elder Carly is in my zone and he got the same phone call. Usually when you are getting transfered you have no idea about either of the two.

While I am excited to change things up and start fresh in an area, I am slightly saddened because this week we set a baptismal date with a lady called Terry. She is so prepared and has the coolest story: There is a family in our ward who used to be Catholic who knew her from church. The family obviously converted and she shared with us that she could tell that that family was happier being in our church. That family now has a son who was in the MTC waiting for his visa to arrive so he could fly out to Barcelona, Spain. Terry was curious one night so she went onto Mormon.org to ask a couple of questions and pretty soon after she started the Elder of the family was like, "Terry?" Isn't that crazy! So the Elder helped her set up a skype and he taught her a little bit before sending us the referral! She has kept all of her commitements and has seen a baptism, and come to church. So freaking cool! I'm sad that I won't get to see her get baptized yet at the same time I'm just happy that she is.

We are also still teaching our Chinese friends but they have quite the workload so it's been hard to get them to church. I also didn't take any pictures this week :/ I'll work on that.

The Newburgh ward has been great! There are a lot of great members but I guess that it's my time to be moving on! Morehead is a branch, so that will be different but bring it on! I wonder where I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner? Maybe the apartment? This ward there were like 4 families signed up! Phew!

So I only heard back from one person about my good advice from the Book of Mormon section of the letter... The scripture I sent last week pretty much was fluff. Just seeing if it's even worth putting on here! I forgot to look up a scripture so we'll just say... the last 2 paragraphs of the introduction to the Book of Mormon.

Shoutouts:

All who participated in the missionary training event in CP 8th! Great work!

The great people of Morehead, Kentucky.. watch out!

Elder Moorhouse: For being a great trainer!

Catchya all next time! Have a safe week! Make sure to stuff yourselves for Thanksgiving!

Gobble!

Elder Denton III (Strikes again)

Apartment pictures

 

 A family in the ward