Rough Week and Transfer Calls

September 19, 2016

Hi guys.

This has been a rough week. It's actually been kinda terrible. As usual, half of our appointments cancelled. And despite doing hours and hours of tracting and asking for referrals, still no new investigators. But the worst blow came on Tuesday. We showed up to Maria's appointment, and it turns out she up and moved to Salt Lake. She was our only investigator who was going to get baptized soon. Now we only have one investigator, Ryan, who can't get baptized for a while. So basically, the area just died. And it's really disheartening, because I've tried my best to save it, and especially this week I've worked so hard, yet all we've gotten is cancelled appointments, investigator leaving, and rude people telling us to go away.

It's was also transfer call week. So there was that stress building throughout the week on top of the aforementioned disappointments. I figured I'd probably be transferred, and I've been super anxious

because where I go will probably be my last area. I was really hoping for another St. George area. Instead, after a week of anticipation and anxiety, I got assigned to Cedar West, with a companion I've never heard of. Though I am excited to be near my old area (Enoch West), I was a bit disappointed to not be in St. George for my final area, and thoroughly saddened to have to leave. Leaving an area is hard enough, I was hoping to at least stay in or around the same city. But oh well. I guess the Lord needs me back in Cedar. So I'll do my best to serve Him there.

Transfers really haven't gotten easier for me. I keep thinking it'll be easier to leave an area, but it's not. I feel about the same leaving this area, as I did leaving Enoch West and Mt. Pleasant. I'm sure I'll learn to love my new area, but I'm really going to miss Snow Canyon.

In other transfer news however, a lot is changing. President Smith seems to have shuffled just about the whole mission again. He's whitewashed the APs. Elder Daines is going home, and Elder Elliot has

been released to train in Mesquite, so the new APs are Elder Prior and Elder Rodriguez. I knew Elder Prior was going to be an AP someday! I've been calling that since day 1! Also, Elder Bright (my "son") is going to be a Zone Leader in Cedar. So that'll be cool to see him again and have him as my ZL. I've also been saying for a while now that he was going to be a ZL someday. So anyway, that makes me excited.

Well, that's about it for now. Besides transfer calls and futile attempts to make the area productive again, not much else has happened. I should have more to write about next week, with a new area and all. I hope the transition goes well.

Have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

PS- Throwback! A former companion of mine who is already home from his mission sent me this. This was taken in a small canyon in the mountains near Moroni, back when I was serving in Mt. Pleasant. From left to right it's: Elder Falconbury, Elder Samuelsen, myself, and Elder Boox. Good times... :)

"Livin' on a Prayer"

September 12, 2016

Hi guys!

Well, this week went over about as well as a dead horse in a rodeo. I'm kinda salty. For me personally, it was a really good week. I've worked so hard, and I've really been trying to improve where I've been

lacking. But in terms of missionary work, it was just a royal letdown. We're still only teaching two investigators, Maria and Ryan. And we're still teaching some recent converts. But once again, about 70% of our appointments fell through. I don't know what the deal is, but apparently everyone is playing "lets dodge the missionaries". I'm not a fan of that game. We also still haven't found any new investigators. We're trying. We're coming up with new ideas. We're working. But we're just not seeing any results. I suppose we can work harder, and we plan to, but I'm starting to freak out a bit. It just seems like nothing is working.

And Maria, who was on track to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, missed church again, so we'll probably have to push her baptism back again. Her reason for missing church was valid; another member of the household had to go to the ER in the middle of the night and they didn't get back until 4:30 AM, and then they had to go do more medical stuff, and Mona left Maria to babysit a sick kid who couldn't come with Mona. And they've just had a crazy last few days, and Maria hasn't felt great herself lately, so I understand the situation is just not ideal, but it's still frustrating. Especially since Mona's family can be kinda flaky anyway and kinda drag Maria into it, and although this time it was a valid reason, and though there have been other valid reasons in the past, there just always seems to be something. They're really good people. They just let life control them too much sometimes.

So we've just been having a really rough time. For the last few weeks, I've been doing pretty good at staying positive. But it's really starting to get to me now. I sometimes find myself relating to Jacob 5:41: "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?"

On top of this, transfers are looming ever nearer. I think the thing I'm going to miss the least about being a missionary, even less than all the restrictions, is transfers. I get so nervous, even when I know

it's unlikely anything will change. So when I KNOW a change is coming, it's even worse. The anticipation kills me. And seeing as I've been in this area for over 7 months, and Elder Cornelison isn't going anywhere, I'm probably on the chopping block. Also, President Smith may have hinted that I'm getting moved. I can't say for sure, but it sounded like a hint that I'm outta here. And this might be my last area, and I'm even more nervous because of that. And I have no idea what's happening. Not even a guess. I'll probably find out on Saturday. So I've got to make it until then.

I've learned a lot this week, though. For one, I've been very much reminded of the power of sincere personal prayer. I think I've been kind of going through the motions lately. But this week, I've really

opened up and really talked to God in my prayers, instead of just rote words. And the result has been a lot of extra strength to get through these trials and stress producers. And I just feel generally much

closer to the Lord.

Another thing I've been reminded of is how big of a jerk Satan is. I've been more aware of him this past week, and he's working overtime to mess things up and make us discouraged. It's really obnoxious actually, and I'm sick of it. When my old trainer, (former) Elder Falconbury, visited a few weeks ago, one of the things he told me was that after my mission, I'd look back and see just how awful Satan was to me for two years. This past week, even though I'm not home yet, I've been seeing a lot of that, at least from the last few months, and I've seen especially how he's been messing with me these last few weeks. But the joke's on him because now I'm just that much more determined to conquer him. And remember how I said I'd been reminded about the power of prayer? Well, when you feel like Satan is just being a bit too relentless, prayer works. God will give you strength. Doctrine and Covenants 10:5 says "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." The Lord wasn't lying when He said that.

Well, that's pretty much been my week. Not exactly positive, but it is what it is I guess, and at least I've learned a lot from it. It's part of the job I guess. It wasn't easy for Christ, so why should it be easy for us? We've just gotta "keep on truckin", as one of my old zone leaders used to say, and trust in God. This is His work, not mine, and Satan can only be a temporary nuisance. Things will get better. I'd like to end with a scripture from the Book of Mormon. This was written by the Prophet Mormon to his son Moroni during a very trying time, as their entire nation was about to be destroyed:

"And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

Have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

Setbacks, Successes, and Attempted Decapitation

September 5, 2016

Hi guys!

Well this has been another interesting week. Luckily there was a pretty good mix of positive in with the negative, so it felt like a better week than the one before.

Well, in terms of teaching, we did marginally better. We taught two more lessons than the previous week. But we still had the majority of our scheduled lessons cancel. It was rough. Tuesday was especially rough. All our lessons, except one short lesson to a less active family, canceled, and to rub dirt in the wound, one of the families we've been teaching straight up dropped us. And they didn't even drop us in person, they did it via text, so that was extra cold. Thankfully it wasn't any of our on dates or progressing. But it was still a downer. And with everything cancelling and falling through, and with no referrals to contact, we were basically left with nothing to do, and rather discouraged. So to help us feel better, we got with another companionship and pranked the Zone Leaders' apartment. :)  And after our one lesson that did happen, we got some ice cream and ate our feelings.

Not much interesting happened the rest of the week. More appointments cancelled, and we still haven't been able to find any new investigators. But Tuesday was the worst day.

However, we had a really good weekend. The big highlight was Reagan's baptism and confirmation! It went wonderfully! There was so much support. A lot of Greg and Reagan's family came for the baptism, in addition to a lot of people from the ward, and a few people from their previous ward. The stake president was also there, and former Elder Fairbanks drove down from BYU to be at the baptism. And there was a special musical number by Brad and Shae Robins (Brad is the singer from Gentri who's become a fellowshipper for Reagan), which was really good, and also pretty cool that we had a semi-celebrity perform at the baptism. To top it off, Greg, Reagan's formerly less active husband, was able to perform the baptism.

The confirmation on Sunday went really well too. Bishop confirmed her and gave her a very beautiful blessing. President Smith also came to our ward to be at the confirmation, and that was really cool to see the mission president at our sacrament meeting. And ward was immensely supportive of Reagan, and it actually blew President away at how welcoming and supportive they were. It's a good ward. And it was a good weekend. And these aren't all the details, but you get the gist of it.

To finish the week off, we got a last minute appointment with Mona and household, and began the new member lessons. And although Maria missed the lesson, we were able to talk to her for a few minutes after, and she's excited to move forward with baptism and is on date for September 17!

So at least we're still having some success. We still need to find more people to teach though, that's the problem. With that family dropping us, and with Reagan getting baptized along with the other

baptisms we've had lately, we are down to only two investigators (well three, but we haven't seem Ann in over a month), Maria and Ryan. So we're basically starting over. Hopefully we'll start finding lots more this upcoming week, and in future weeks!

Well, I'd like to end with a funny experience from P-Day. You may be wondering about the mention of decapitation in the title of this email newsletter. Well...So last week, Elder Howard and I took our districts on a hike in Snow Canyon. We went to the lava tube, the same one I went to with Elder Fairbanks. Elder Howard picked us up, and then we met all the sisters at my stake center. That was where I had a little mishap and almost got decapitated.

Before Elder Howard's sisters showed up, my sisters pulled up and they had a question for me so they rolled down their window and I rolled down mine and stuck my head out of the window to talk to them. Meanwhile, Elder Howard (the driver) was attempting to play with Elder Stevens's window, but he actually hit the control button for my window. He was trying to roll the other window up, which means he accidentally rolled my window up...on my freaking head! The window caught me right under my chin on the left side and forced the top of my head all the way up until it stopped and the window couldn't move further up. So now my head is firmly wedged in this window, my jaw is clenched really hard, and there's a pane of blunt glass trying to pass through my lower jaw, and I can't figure out what the fetch is going on. Meanwhile Elder Howard, still thinks he's controlling the other

window, and is confused why it's not working, so he keeps hitting the up button! I'm gagging and squirming in discomfort, and finally after a few seconds, Elder Howard realized his mistake and released the window. This was his thought process he said: "Huh, why won't this window work? That's really weird. I'm pushing the button. Hey Elder Oswald what are you doing? Stop goofing off- oh I'm killing you."

The Sisters were just staring like "what on Earth is happening right now?!" After I got my head out of the window guillotine, Elder Howard called out "hey sisters, sorry for trying to kill your district leader".

So that was interesting and kinda scary and pretty funny. It freaking hurt! The left side of my chin was kinda red and swollen and really sore. And it actually still hurts a week after. But in hindsight,

since I didn't die, that was freaking hilarious! Recounting that story just makes me feel happy. It was scary and painful at the time (and it's still a little painful), but it's just one of those ridiculous "what the what?!" moments that are just really fun to look back on. Also Elder Howard is a good friend so this is another thing we can laugh about together.

Well that's about all for this week. Some good things, some negative things, and a lot of laughing (and some facial pain to go with it).

Well, have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

Assorted pictures from Reagan's baptism on Saturday. The big group at the bottom is the people who were involved in fellowshipping Greg and Reagan. They've got a pretty big group, and that's not even including the ones who couldn't make it or slipped out before the picture!

"Interesting Like a Mental Illness"

August 29, 2016

 Hi guys!

Well this past week has been...interesting. But not interesting as in cool, more "interesting like a mental illness". This has really been an off week, and this will probably be a pretty short letter today.

The best part of the week was probably P-Day. Last week we went with Elder Howard and his greenie to hike Kanarra Falls, an old favorite of Elder Howard and myself. This was the fourth time we've been. We also met Elder Wells and Elder Vidinha there so we had a pretty awesome group. It was beautiful as always, though it was rather cold this time. But still, super fun! I'll include pictures in a separate post.

And then the week was just downhill from there. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Basically nothing panned out. I don't think we even taught 8 lessons last week, even though we were trying. And we still can't seem to find anyone new to teach. It's been a few weeks now since we've found any new investigators. So we were already having a bit of a hard time. We keep baptizing people, but we are having trouble finding more. And we've also had a few recent converts move, so we can't even teach them anymore. So we were already in that state, but we thought at least we'd keep fairly busy with the people we have, but nope. Everyone apparently decided to pull a Houdini on the ole missionaries, and almost all of our appointments didn't happen, and where some people went, we have no idea, which is kinda weird because they don't have a car. Actually it's really weird because all our appointments felt sort of slippery, like we could plan them, but no matter what, we couldn't make them happen. And my enthusiasm was just super low last week. Satan's been messing with us. That jerk. So yeah, that was kind of insult to injury. It's definitely been interesting...like a mental illness.

Last week was pretty discouraging. But what can ya do? I tried. I worked. It just didn't pan out and there's not much I can do about it other than try again this week and pray it goes better. I just need to

trust in God, stay positive, and not burn myself out worrying about things I can't control. And this week is looking to be a lot better, and we have Reagan's baptism on Saturday! So that's good news. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also hoping Satan will just take a hike this week. I am sick and tired of that chump messing with my investigators and sticking his nose in my business! That creep needs to get lost!

Well, that's about it for today. Yeah, not a lot. Last week was just kind of a blur of mediocrity. I should have more to write next time though.

Have a great week!

Return to Kanarra Falls

August 29, 2019

Last P-Day we went to Kanarra Falls with Elder Howard and his greenie. This hike is an old favorite of mine and Elder Howard, and if you remember my emails last year, we went there a lot. So it was good to get back. The water was really cold this time though!

Below: a bunch of steps on the ladder were missing so Elder Howard ghetto-rigged a rock to be an extra step so it was easier to climb up. It actually worked really well and other people were using it too.

 Elder Vidinha

Myself and a couple of trees

Some nature shots. I think the last one is the shot of the day. It's my favorite out of all the pictures I took on this hike. 

A Lot of Stuff I Don't Have Time to Come Up with a Clever Title For

August 22, 2016

Hi guys!

A ton had has happened this past week! It's actually been kinda crazy, but pretty awesome at the same time. For starters, the area is still doing well. It could be better; appointments have been cancelling

quite a bit, and we are still having trouble finding new investigators to teach. We had one who had committed to Bishop Halslem to take the missionary lessons, but they missed their appointment and we haven't been able to get back in contact with them since. So we ought to be picking him up this week, if all goes according to plan. As for the people we're teaching, they're doing pretty good. Unfortunately, Maria missed church, so we're going to have to push her baptism back a couple weeks so she can get to church a couple more times (that's about the only thing holding her back). Ryan is still hanging in there. We took him to the Temple VC and I think he enjoyed it. I really hope he'll get baptized. I think the Word of Wisdom seems like his biggest holdup. He could use a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, and this being not just another good church, but Christ's actual church restored on the Earth. But the Word of Wisdom seems to be the one he really has a problem with.

And here's some really good news: The First Presidency approved Reagan for baptism! So we're planning on having that September 3rd. Hallelujah! And speaking of baptisms, Kini had her's on Saturday. It went really well, and she had asked me to do the baptism so I got to perform that. It was tricky though, because when you are baptizing someone, or doing any priesthood ordinance, you use the person's full name. Well, Kini has a lot of Polynesian background, so while her middle and last name were pretty simple (her dad isn't a Poly) her first name is really freaking long! Kini's full first name is: Kini Kini Lou ō Háa Mohe Ofu. I had to write it on a sticky note and stick it to the glass in the baptismal font because there was no way I was going to remember all that AND pronounce it correctly. So I had a little cheat sheet. And apparently I'm pretty good at pronouncing Polynesian names because I got it the first try, and afterward several people complimented me on it. Anyway, it was a good baptism, and she was confirmed on Sunday. Good weekend.

And to make it better, Josh Fairbanks, formerly Elder Fairbanks (my last companion before Elder Cornelison) was visiting St. George with his mom and dad so I got to see him. He was also at Kini's baptism, and he came with us and had a visit with Reagan when we gave her news that she could get baptized. It was really fun. And I've got pictures that I'll send as a separate email.

So yeah, it was a pretty good week. In other news, Elder Robinson and Elder Carl moved back to the Santa Clara apartment, so it's a bit lonelier here. We also did exchanges with the ZLs and a pretty crazy day, though it all ended up working out.

I just want to take a moment to comment on how awesome mission presidents are. First of all, I've had the privilege to have two really fantastic mission presidents, President Center and President

Smith. I've especially had the privilege of working with President Smith quite a lot since he's come to the mission, so even though he hasn't been here very long, I've actually gotten to know him pretty

well. Anyway, mission presidents really put up with a lot. Even the best of missionaries are still teenagers/young adults, and have to be kept in line sometimes, and I feel like it would just be exhausting dealing with 130 or so of them. It kinda makes me wonder about the Book of Mormon hero, Helaman, who had to deal with 2000 of them. He probably never slept! But I'm digressing. I really look up to both of my mission presidents. They are spiritual giants and they've taught me quite a bit, and really helped me grow as a missionary. I feel kinda bad because I was rather critical of some of the new rules that were made a few weeks ago. Even if I don't particularly like the new rules,

I still should be more supportive. So I've done some repenting there. But yeah, mission presidents are the best, and I'm pretty sure they have about the second hardest job in the church (after the prophet).

So thank you to mission presidents and former mission presidents everywhere!

Well that's all for today! I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

PS- As of yesterday, I've been out 19 months!

Picture 1 & 2: Zone Conference

Picture 3: Kini's baptism, with myself, Elder Cornelison, and our awesome fellowshipper Hayden

Picture 4: Myself and Kini in our baptism clothes

Picture 5: Josh (formerly Elder) Fairbanks came to the baptism so we got a picture with him.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Slightly Less Ravenous and Angry Lion

August 15, 2016

Hi everyone!

Well this week just just a big helping of insanity, with a side of "what's going on?!", but with a dessert of "pretty dang awesome". It all started Tuesday. It was transfer day, and like I wrote about last week, a lot of changes were made this transfer. And being President's first ever transfer, and being a particularly major transfer, things were not quite communicated perfectly and a little bit of chaos ensued on Tuesday when everyone was trying to figure out where they were supposed to stay the night before picking up their greenies or new companions, and then there were also the missionaries leaving who had to stay somewhere and be taxied around to get to and from their exit meetings. I can't even begin to describe it in detail. Let it suffice to say that it was freaking crazy! We actually had to cancel our last appointment Tuesday night because of it all. And we put 91 miles on the car in just that day, just carting missionaries back and forth across St. George all day. And then Wednesday was a bit less hectic, but we were still carting Elders and their luggage places. Thursday morning, we dropped off the last ones who were staying with us, and things kinda went back to normal.

Now that things were more or less normal again, I had to throw together a last minute district meeting, and then work like mad to make sure Mona's kids (Mariah, Brianna, and Elijah) were ready for their baptism on Saturday. But thankfully it all worked out, and they did get baptized! That was pretty great, and we've been waiting quite a while for these ones, so it made it even better. It was also cool because I got to baptize two of them. I thought the Bishop was going to do it, but two of them asked me to do it, so that was pretty cool. I'll include some pictures at the bottom of this email.

So yeah, our week was ridiculous at the start, but calmed down at least a little bit at the end.

Well, that's actually about it. I'm really glad to have this P-Day to not have to worry about all that stuff because that just wore me out! This week should be a lot calmer, and we have another baptism on Saturday (Kini's getting baptized), so that's nice. I'm just really glad I survived last week!

Anyway, things are going good over here, and I am enjoying my new companion. He's pretty great. And that's about it for this week.

Talk to you later!

-Elder Oswald

PS-Here's some pictures. The first one is a district selfie. Unfortunately our senior missionary couple dodged it just a few minutes before, so this isn't technically the whole district. But it's all the regular young missionaries.

And the second and third pictures are from the baptism. It was Mariah (her hair is in a bun, Brianna, Elijah (he has the longer hair), and their 8 yr old brother Fernando (being 8, he goes through the Bishop, not us, and he doesn't count as a convert baptism, though it was still awesome that he was a part of all of this)