As far as cooking the last 2 P-days I have made chili and the other elders LOVE it (Especially Elder Vincent, he and Elder Bond live with us and their area is Pace which is about as far away from Milton as Orem is from Provo.) That's really the only cooking I have done. Most days we go to members houses for dinner. It's awesome!!!! Saves alot of money! But lunches I have made myself sub sandwiches like I made at Village Pizza (they are really good!) or I find some leftovers or something. And we use a car to get around in!
I am doing great! I love my mission, and I greatly appreciate my companion, he is teaching me alot, there are some small things I have to get use to, but that's life!
Now for this weeks events. I'm not going to type as long a letter but I am going to do the highlights! Last Tuesday we had a Mission Conference where Elder Packer of the 70 came. There were some things said that kinda made it sound like we should focus on the numbers. Which confused me a little. We went to the ward mission leaders house for dinner and to wait until we were going to go help some members move stuff into their house. While waiting we played "Disney Scene It" which confused me because I didn't know if it was a good thing to do (plus it also doesn't help that it was on party mode and we did it for at least an hour- an hour and a half. I think that was the part that bugged me the most. But after helping move I felt like we accomplished something!
Wednesday we did service for a lady who might become an investigator (we raked leaves and cleaned out the gutters) We taught Savannah, Jamie, and Jada (Foret girls). And we couldn't get someone who could speak spanish to come with us to see Askana, so we did what we could and then fellowshipped with her and her cousin (Katrina, we are going to sing happy birthday to Katrina when we go over tomorrow) Then we went and got Robert some shoes and a belt to go with his suit! He looked awesome! He can't wait to wear it to church!
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then we attempted to go see a referral from another missionary, but when we got to the address and knocked a lady opened the glass door and said not interested and closed the door and walked away. Elder Adam was doing the talking after, he asked if she could help us find someone, twice, but she ignored us. So we left. Then we had another lesson with Savannah, Jamie and Jada, but we didn't teach a whole lot because they were all over the place. After dinner we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she had a great week. For 30 years she has not taken the sacrament or felt like she was worthy to go to the temple, but she finally figured out the problem. She was excommunicated from the Catholic church because she got a divorse, and she thought that the excommunication was for every church. We told her that she hasn't been excommunicated from our church, so she CAN take the sacrament and she CAN go to the temple! It was awesome! She teaches herself when we go over there!
Friday we did service half of the day. We helped the Sorensen's with building a barn for their goats and a few other things, then we went with a new member of the ward to Pensacola to get stuff out of storage and helped move him into his house. Then after we showered and got ready, we went to teach Kevin and Joey. Joey was taught about strength in the Lord, he has tried to quit smoking but hasn't been successful, we commited him to stop cold turkey on March 13! He gladly excepted! Kevin was taught about praying and it's importance. And he accepted the commitment to pray every day.
Saturday we played basketball!!!! It was great! I feel like the Lord is helping me out with my basketball skills! Today it was POURING! There was a TON of rain. We were going to go do service, but that didn't happen because of the rain. Then we had lessons with members the rest of the day.
Sunday was a good day! There were alot of people at church! We had a good lesson with Tasha, Kevin, and Joey! After church Savannah wanted us to come teach her a lesson so we did. Jada is CRAZY!!!! She is all over the place and thinks everything is funny! So while I preoccupied Jada, Elder Adam taught Savannah about baptism. We commited Savannah and Jamie to be baptized on April 30th. The reason it is so far away is because they have extremely short attention spans and we can only teach them a little bit at a time. We have come to realize that a reason why the girls are the way they are is because they don't get much disipline and they watch rated R movies, the girls are 7,8, and 9 years old. They don't get scared of them but they watch them.
Anyway that was my week! Happy Birthday Laura!!! Sorry there isn't anything from me, I'm a poor missionary.... haha just kidding, it's because I forgot to get you a card. I'll look at cards today when we go shopping.
So since I have got here I have not gone a day when I haven't heard sirens! But it doesn't help that there is a hospital in our backyard. Also the weather is VERY nice (before the storm) we got up to high 70's!!! And you guys are still in the 30's!!! HAhAHAHa! But I do want to say this I am very grateful to you mom and dad for being consistent in praying and reading the book of mormon with us and that you kept me "sheltered" from the worldly things! And also for teaching me the principles of the gospel! I love you guys!!!!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Cameron's letter Feb 28, 2011
Last monday evening we went to Empty Nester's FHE (The older people in the ward that no longer have kids living at home) because they wanted us to teach them how to go about doing member missionary work. What we did was watched the Restoration and then had a little testimony meeting, (oh! First I have to tell you that we were asked to keep the lesson to about 20-30 minutes, from 7:30-8:00ish) so the Restoration took up about 20 minutes, and after I bore my testimony about the Restoration then left it open for others to bare their testimonies for about 10 (there were only about 11 of them (older couples) there 13 total) and only 5 of us bore testimonies. Elder Adam closed with his testimony and then told them that we can't tell you A specific way to do missionary work, that everyone has a different style, and then he asked if they would invite someone to a church social and only 2 said yeah and 1 or 2 nodded their heads, but other than that it ws very silent. A few seconds later one of the guys raised his hand and asked if he could be exused. We thought REALLY!?!? and said ...sure... he and his wife were going dancing at 8 and at this point it is 8:10. Everything fell after that. We closed right after and then I was asked to say the closing prayer. After that we had atleast 3 people tell us that next time we shouldn't take that much time up. First of we started 5 minutes late, so we only went 5 minutes over what we were told to go, and we thought it was ok because WE were feeling the Spirit, and we thought others were too, but it like they really didn't care about what we did! Yeah maybe they thought that we would teach them, but we both felt like we should try it. We weren't in a very good mood after that, so we just went back to the apartment for the rest of the night.
On Tuesday after lunch we visited a member and taught a lesson. After she asked us to go see her visiting teachy, so we did. We just visited with her and her husband (they were both pretty old.) After that we went to visit a girl who we tracted into, her name is Askana Madrinan. She is from Panama and her first language was Spanish. She can speak English, but some words weren't the same in Spanish. We answered some of her questions about the Gospel and about Joesph Smith, but she was very confused about Joesph Smith. We set another appointment with her on Friday and I'll tell about that one in a minute. After that we went to a members home for dinner, and then out to another members home to have a lesson. We went to the Hensley's and that are awesome! Bro Hensley use to be a bishop in another ward, so I thought it was cool to hear some of his thoughts, we told him about what happened at Empty Nester's and he just chuckled, they have at least attempted to get us referrals or to have us over when they invite a less active member(s). We talked about how we can have as much joy as Ammon had in Alma 27:17. That was actually one of his goals for this year, to feel that much joy! It was very interesting!
On Wednesday we went to do service at the Sorensen's and this time we invited Robert Mullins, because he wants us to find him oppurtunities to serve so he can get out of the house. Sister Sorensen was sick so we were just told to build a fire and burn more things and to gather up more bricks and move them over to where they are building a barn. We burned ALOT of wood!! Elder Adam was extremely happy!!! After lunch we visit a less active lady named Patty Thompson she had a bird named Gizmo and from what Elder Adam has told me, that bird is the devils bird. haha! We helped her clip some of his wings and some of his talons! It was crazy! The bird struggled alot! Then we went to visit a member who just got out of the hospital (he had to go to the hospital to have kidney surgery) he seemed to be doing well! :) Then we went to dinner at Cici's Pizza with some members. It wasn't the greatest pizza, Village Pizza is WAY better! Cici's pizza didn't have many toppings on it, I didn't really like that. That is where I found out about Deron Williams being traded, at first I was mad, then I thought more about it and what the Jazz got for him. Then I realized that the Jazz are getting ready to get Jimmer Fredette!!!!! I so happy!!!! After that we went to the church to maybe get a lesson, but no dice. The 2nd councilor in the Bishopric (Brother Hathaway) told us that Kevin and Tasha had gotten into a fight. Tasha wanted to leave, but Kevin said where are you going to go, you have no where else to go. Tasha doesn't really like Joey because he just sits around all day and she got mad at him because he started yelling at the girls. I thought how can you yell when you are deaf? After that we left and since we couldn't think of anything else to do we went tracting, at 8 o'clock at night! It was actually pretty funny! One guy said that he was REALLY busy right now with a tv show. After we left we just laughed! We didn't get any success with it but it helped relieve us of the stress we were under.
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then had a lesson with the Foret's again. Kevin's parents were there visiting so we taught them, and they want to go to church but they can't find a church with deaf people. When Kevin told them we had some every week they decided to come down from Mississippi to check it out. After that we had dinner at the Hathaway's. Then we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she has bought a house and she will move in at the end of March. She shared a great testimony about faith in Jesus Christ and how it helped her! I felt the Spirit!
Friday we went to early morning seminary and played a game with them, after we went out to East Milton to visit people out there. We were using Elder Adam's GPS and it told us to go on this dirt road. We did, and we kept going for a few miles then we came to a HUGE clearing area, where alot of trees were being cut down. Then we got to a point where the GPS told us to go straight but we could not see a road! So we followed a log truck outta the area. In the afternoon we went back to teach Askana but this time we brought a member with us who could speak Spanish so that made it alot easier to teach her things! We taught her more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, we even got her a spanish Book of Mormon! Later that evening we taught the Foret's girls and had dinner there, it was a very interesting dinner. Red cabbage with apples and sausage on rice. I didn't really like the apples part and it would have been better if there was more sausage, but afterwards we decided that since they live on a small budget that next time we aren't going to have dinner with them just so that they can have more for themselves and so they don't have to use up alot of money.
Saturday I got to play basketball again!!!!!!! I was very happy!!!! Pretty much eveything fell through after that except when we went to see a members less active parents. We had a good lesson with them!
And Sunday in Ward Council we again asked them that if in their quoroms and classes they would ask for referrals and after church we talked to the Relief Society President and she had completely forgot to say that and that it was not something they were use to announcing, but we had asked her to do it for the past 3-4 weeks and she forgot every time. That rattled us, then an appointment fell through and Elder Adam got bit by a dog while we were visiting a less active lady, it was a request by one of the councilors. The door was open when we got there and the dogs started barking and she slammed the door and said No Trespassers! She said that she had a No Trespassing sign in her yard but there wasn't. There was a Beware of Dog sign. We got even more rattled, Elder Adam was mad at the dog for biting him. We went to dinner at the Bishops house that evening. And that pretty much did it for us because people weren't answering phones, and nobody was available to have us come over, so we went home and just talked the rest of the night.
Well that's my week. Love you Guys!!!
On Tuesday after lunch we visited a member and taught a lesson. After she asked us to go see her visiting teachy, so we did. We just visited with her and her husband (they were both pretty old.) After that we went to visit a girl who we tracted into, her name is Askana Madrinan. She is from Panama and her first language was Spanish. She can speak English, but some words weren't the same in Spanish. We answered some of her questions about the Gospel and about Joesph Smith, but she was very confused about Joesph Smith. We set another appointment with her on Friday and I'll tell about that one in a minute. After that we went to a members home for dinner, and then out to another members home to have a lesson. We went to the Hensley's and that are awesome! Bro Hensley use to be a bishop in another ward, so I thought it was cool to hear some of his thoughts, we told him about what happened at Empty Nester's and he just chuckled, they have at least attempted to get us referrals or to have us over when they invite a less active member(s). We talked about how we can have as much joy as Ammon had in Alma 27:17. That was actually one of his goals for this year, to feel that much joy! It was very interesting!
On Wednesday we went to do service at the Sorensen's and this time we invited Robert Mullins, because he wants us to find him oppurtunities to serve so he can get out of the house. Sister Sorensen was sick so we were just told to build a fire and burn more things and to gather up more bricks and move them over to where they are building a barn. We burned ALOT of wood!! Elder Adam was extremely happy!!! After lunch we visit a less active lady named Patty Thompson she had a bird named Gizmo and from what Elder Adam has told me, that bird is the devils bird. haha! We helped her clip some of his wings and some of his talons! It was crazy! The bird struggled alot! Then we went to visit a member who just got out of the hospital (he had to go to the hospital to have kidney surgery) he seemed to be doing well! :) Then we went to dinner at Cici's Pizza with some members. It wasn't the greatest pizza, Village Pizza is WAY better! Cici's pizza didn't have many toppings on it, I didn't really like that. That is where I found out about Deron Williams being traded, at first I was mad, then I thought more about it and what the Jazz got for him. Then I realized that the Jazz are getting ready to get Jimmer Fredette!!!!! I so happy!!!! After that we went to the church to maybe get a lesson, but no dice. The 2nd councilor in the Bishopric (Brother Hathaway) told us that Kevin and Tasha had gotten into a fight. Tasha wanted to leave, but Kevin said where are you going to go, you have no where else to go. Tasha doesn't really like Joey because he just sits around all day and she got mad at him because he started yelling at the girls. I thought how can you yell when you are deaf? After that we left and since we couldn't think of anything else to do we went tracting, at 8 o'clock at night! It was actually pretty funny! One guy said that he was REALLY busy right now with a tv show. After we left we just laughed! We didn't get any success with it but it helped relieve us of the stress we were under.
Thursday we did weekly planning. Then had a lesson with the Foret's again. Kevin's parents were there visiting so we taught them, and they want to go to church but they can't find a church with deaf people. When Kevin told them we had some every week they decided to come down from Mississippi to check it out. After that we had dinner at the Hathaway's. Then we went to see Brenda Braun and she told us that she has bought a house and she will move in at the end of March. She shared a great testimony about faith in Jesus Christ and how it helped her! I felt the Spirit!
Friday we went to early morning seminary and played a game with them, after we went out to East Milton to visit people out there. We were using Elder Adam's GPS and it told us to go on this dirt road. We did, and we kept going for a few miles then we came to a HUGE clearing area, where alot of trees were being cut down. Then we got to a point where the GPS told us to go straight but we could not see a road! So we followed a log truck outta the area. In the afternoon we went back to teach Askana but this time we brought a member with us who could speak Spanish so that made it alot easier to teach her things! We taught her more about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, we even got her a spanish Book of Mormon! Later that evening we taught the Foret's girls and had dinner there, it was a very interesting dinner. Red cabbage with apples and sausage on rice. I didn't really like the apples part and it would have been better if there was more sausage, but afterwards we decided that since they live on a small budget that next time we aren't going to have dinner with them just so that they can have more for themselves and so they don't have to use up alot of money.
Saturday I got to play basketball again!!!!!!! I was very happy!!!! Pretty much eveything fell through after that except when we went to see a members less active parents. We had a good lesson with them!
And Sunday in Ward Council we again asked them that if in their quoroms and classes they would ask for referrals and after church we talked to the Relief Society President and she had completely forgot to say that and that it was not something they were use to announcing, but we had asked her to do it for the past 3-4 weeks and she forgot every time. That rattled us, then an appointment fell through and Elder Adam got bit by a dog while we were visiting a less active lady, it was a request by one of the councilors. The door was open when we got there and the dogs started barking and she slammed the door and said No Trespassers! She said that she had a No Trespassing sign in her yard but there wasn't. There was a Beware of Dog sign. We got even more rattled, Elder Adam was mad at the dog for biting him. We went to dinner at the Bishops house that evening. And that pretty much did it for us because people weren't answering phones, and nobody was available to have us come over, so we went home and just talked the rest of the night.
Well that's my week. Love you Guys!!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
MTC & Florida Pictures
Me!!!! With a bird! I forgot her name. 
My Ankle!!!!! It has improved alot!
Elder Te'O holding me like a baby and Elder Carpenter in back.
The gang plus zone leaders! They are going to Croatia I think.
The gang. Me in my sweater vest!Cameron's Letter Feb 21, 2011
For the last week it has been in the 70's! :) I'm soooo happy about that! And yes we are teaching the Foret's still. I left at a bad time! The Jazz don't know what to do without me watching! Great for BYU. They are going to go far in March!!!!! If you ever see Austin tell him I think it's great! And that I wish him luck! There isn't a particular length of time to be on the computer as long as it doesn't take up my day, but we usually only get on once and email for about 2 hours. We have to come to the local community college libray to use the computers. Ok, now I will tell you about my week!
On Tuesday (15) we did service for the family that ran a bird rescue (the Sorensen's.) We started clearing land, because they have I think 2 acres of land and about half that is what needs to be cleared. We put it all in a big pile and on Friday evening they had us over and we made a fire and burned alot of the wood! There is still alot more to by cleared and burned, but we will do more of it on Wednesday when we go back to do more service! It was alot of fun! Elder Adam said afterwards that he gets why bullies like to bring people down, because it is fun to tear things down! Then later we went tracting and ran into an Hispanic family that were being taught by spanish missionaries, but for some reason they had just stopped coming!?! So we asked if we could come back another time, and she said yes, but when we went back Saturday she forgot and was gone. :(
On Wednesday (16) We went to get Elder Adam's hair cut, but afterwards she told me she was just going to trim the hair on my neck line, but she went all the way to the top of my head, (this was a member who cut our hair) apparently the back of my head was puffy and it was REALLY bugging her haha I really didn't care, it was free, but it caught me off guard, like I didn't plan on my hair getting cut. Haha! After lunch we went to help the Leasure's move. We got there and we helped for about an hour, then we took a break and during the break the family lost motivation to move so we ended up playing with the 3 girls (Erika, Rachel, and Lizzie.) After that we had dinner at a members home and we had taco salad! It was pretty good! Pretty hot though. haha! After that we went to go see the Miscannon's (Donnie, and Dennis) Donnie was a less-active member and Dennis was not a member. She wanted us to teach her husband about the Gospel, and so we did. He told us that he had been searching for religion all his life and that he had had some bad experiences, like he went to a Pennacostal church and he really liked it and he was baptized by the preacher. And then 2 weeks later he wakes up to get ready for work and he turns on the news and there was the preacher getting arrested for doing something he shouldn't. Sooo yeah he has had a hard time finding the right church, but that's why we are here! To teach him more about it! After we taught him, he said that the things we said made sense and that he was going to read the Book of Mormon! It was AWESOME!!!!!! After that we went to the church to try and see if we could find someone who will let us teach them a lesson. There was mutual going on that night and they were doing speed dating!?! I wish we would have done that! And one of the girls from the Pace ward (we share the building with them) talked with us for a few mintues, and I swear that I have either seen or met her before and it's really bugging me!
On Thursday (17) we did weekly planning (wasn't very fun) Then we went and taught the Foret's again, it went well but it was hard to teach the lesson without an interperateur. After, we finished weekly planning, then we went to dinner at a members house. They had 2 big red dogs! I think they are Coon Hounds. The dogs were entertaining, always wanting attention! haha! Later we taught Robert, and he also has had a rough life, he has been in jail for a few years and then he got out on good behavior but he has a 15 year probation. And he is really trying to turn his life around right now, and it's just hard because he has made some dumb choices but he regrets it and when we taught him you could see the light in his eyes. But unfortuantely he can't be baptized until after his probation is done, (2026) I really feel for him and I wanna help him out as much as I can!
Then on Saturday (19) the Miscannon's took us to a dirt track out in East Milton to watch car racing! It was AWESOME!!!!! But also we got dirty from the dirt being kicked up when they came by, good thing I wasn't in my shirt and tie!! :) And that was fun! And that's pretty much all the fun exciting side of this week! Well that's all I have to say! Love you guys!
On Tuesday (15) we did service for the family that ran a bird rescue (the Sorensen's.) We started clearing land, because they have I think 2 acres of land and about half that is what needs to be cleared. We put it all in a big pile and on Friday evening they had us over and we made a fire and burned alot of the wood! There is still alot more to by cleared and burned, but we will do more of it on Wednesday when we go back to do more service! It was alot of fun! Elder Adam said afterwards that he gets why bullies like to bring people down, because it is fun to tear things down! Then later we went tracting and ran into an Hispanic family that were being taught by spanish missionaries, but for some reason they had just stopped coming!?! So we asked if we could come back another time, and she said yes, but when we went back Saturday she forgot and was gone. :(
On Wednesday (16) We went to get Elder Adam's hair cut, but afterwards she told me she was just going to trim the hair on my neck line, but she went all the way to the top of my head, (this was a member who cut our hair) apparently the back of my head was puffy and it was REALLY bugging her haha I really didn't care, it was free, but it caught me off guard, like I didn't plan on my hair getting cut. Haha! After lunch we went to help the Leasure's move. We got there and we helped for about an hour, then we took a break and during the break the family lost motivation to move so we ended up playing with the 3 girls (Erika, Rachel, and Lizzie.) After that we had dinner at a members home and we had taco salad! It was pretty good! Pretty hot though. haha! After that we went to go see the Miscannon's (Donnie, and Dennis) Donnie was a less-active member and Dennis was not a member. She wanted us to teach her husband about the Gospel, and so we did. He told us that he had been searching for religion all his life and that he had had some bad experiences, like he went to a Pennacostal church and he really liked it and he was baptized by the preacher. And then 2 weeks later he wakes up to get ready for work and he turns on the news and there was the preacher getting arrested for doing something he shouldn't. Sooo yeah he has had a hard time finding the right church, but that's why we are here! To teach him more about it! After we taught him, he said that the things we said made sense and that he was going to read the Book of Mormon! It was AWESOME!!!!!! After that we went to the church to try and see if we could find someone who will let us teach them a lesson. There was mutual going on that night and they were doing speed dating!?! I wish we would have done that! And one of the girls from the Pace ward (we share the building with them) talked with us for a few mintues, and I swear that I have either seen or met her before and it's really bugging me!
On Thursday (17) we did weekly planning (wasn't very fun) Then we went and taught the Foret's again, it went well but it was hard to teach the lesson without an interperateur. After, we finished weekly planning, then we went to dinner at a members house. They had 2 big red dogs! I think they are Coon Hounds. The dogs were entertaining, always wanting attention! haha! Later we taught Robert, and he also has had a rough life, he has been in jail for a few years and then he got out on good behavior but he has a 15 year probation. And he is really trying to turn his life around right now, and it's just hard because he has made some dumb choices but he regrets it and when we taught him you could see the light in his eyes. But unfortuantely he can't be baptized until after his probation is done, (2026) I really feel for him and I wanna help him out as much as I can!
Then on Saturday (19) the Miscannon's took us to a dirt track out in East Milton to watch car racing! It was AWESOME!!!!! But also we got dirty from the dirt being kicked up when they came by, good thing I wasn't in my shirt and tie!! :) And that was fun! And that's pretty much all the fun exciting side of this week! Well that's all I have to say! Love you guys!
Monday, February 14, 2011
My ankle is doing fine, it is healing (it has gone down in size and color) and we did get another brace for it. My apartment is like this, you walk in and to the left is the living room/bedroom, there are 4 of us living there and 2 beds and 2 mattresses on the floor, I am on the floor. To the right is the kitchen area and no I have not done alot of cooking, I have made some Top Ramen but that's about it, oh and I did make myself some mac and cheese but it was as good as others I have made (not strong enough cheese) :( I would love if you ever wanna send me some :) Then there is a hallway there pretty much right after you walk in and I goes down to the changing room and the study. :) I have a study!!! :) hahahahahaha! And then there are 2 bathrooms. I actually haven't used my bike, I have been told that there are about 5 areas in the mission that you can ride your bike in and I am not in one, it's just that there aren't alot of sidewalks. Elder Adam is from Ogden and he has been out for 21 months. And yes I got my packages (took forever though) I wanna tell you about something that happened while tracting.
So on Thursday or Friday we were tracting and we came to a house we knock and instead of opening the door and standing there, this man opens the door and comes out on the porch. We greet him and tell him who we are and he says he only believes in the Bible (which is good,) but that when he was our age he said that he was going to go to h-e-double hockey sticks, and that he read the Bible and prayed about it and got the feeling it was true. Then he said after he did that that God saved him from going to that place (sorry I just don't really feel like saying it, even though it would be faster than what I did.)
We proceeded to tell him that we believe the Bible is true and that we also believe in the Book of Mormon. Then he said we should not add, nor take away anything from the Bible. I have since investigating more by reading where it says that (Deut 4:2) and listening to Elder Hollands talk in one of the 2007 conferences about that same thing and how if that was true then why would we need the rest of the Bible? I really liked that. Anyways back to the guy. He kept telling us to read and pray about the Bible, and we kept saying we have, but he kept repeating himself. He probably thought we were lying. He also would not look us in the eye for more than a second, and we where there for about 5-10 minutes! I didn't like that. He then asked us about the 144,000. We paused for a sec and looked at each other, then said that we don't believe that only they will be saved and that he probably mistook us for Jehovah Witnesses, then he said you're one and the same.......
WE AREN'T THE SAME!!!!!!!! I later felt like that and thought that I should say that to him exactly like that, but alas I am a missionary and I need to maintain a higher level of conduct, but I really wanna go back to him and tell him all the things I have learned about it!!!!! I chance may come for someone else, but I will do it calmly and coolly(?? I don't know if that is a word or not) and yeah.
The Foret's (deaf) are teaching are coming along well, Tasha has had a sad last few years, her husband would abuse her, and she left him and he has since been in and outta jail, but he is the father of the 3 girls. She has not been able to file a divorce because it costs soooo much ($3000 she told us) and i think Kevin invited her to come live with him and Joey. And after that I am not completely sure about if Tasha and Kevin are lovers or if they are friends, Elder Adam and I have both heard different sides of the story, it's all confusing!!! :( So yesterday during Sunday School we told Tasha the bad news, I felt sooo bad! She really wants to be baptized but she has to get divorce figured out and either marry Kevin or move out and...... yeah it's sad. You could see how sad she was when we told her, but we told her to keep coming to church and we will help out with whatever they need.
Anyways that's life right now, we don't have a whole lot else going on right now :(
That's sad about Sloan quitting! And also about the Westlake games :(
Soo.... yeah that's all, oh! I'll talk to you next week! Bye! Love y'all!
So on Thursday or Friday we were tracting and we came to a house we knock and instead of opening the door and standing there, this man opens the door and comes out on the porch. We greet him and tell him who we are and he says he only believes in the Bible (which is good,) but that when he was our age he said that he was going to go to h-e-double hockey sticks, and that he read the Bible and prayed about it and got the feeling it was true. Then he said after he did that that God saved him from going to that place (sorry I just don't really feel like saying it, even though it would be faster than what I did.)
We proceeded to tell him that we believe the Bible is true and that we also believe in the Book of Mormon. Then he said we should not add, nor take away anything from the Bible. I have since investigating more by reading where it says that (Deut 4:2) and listening to Elder Hollands talk in one of the 2007 conferences about that same thing and how if that was true then why would we need the rest of the Bible? I really liked that. Anyways back to the guy. He kept telling us to read and pray about the Bible, and we kept saying we have, but he kept repeating himself. He probably thought we were lying. He also would not look us in the eye for more than a second, and we where there for about 5-10 minutes! I didn't like that. He then asked us about the 144,000. We paused for a sec and looked at each other, then said that we don't believe that only they will be saved and that he probably mistook us for Jehovah Witnesses, then he said you're one and the same.......
WE AREN'T THE SAME!!!!!!!! I later felt like that and thought that I should say that to him exactly like that, but alas I am a missionary and I need to maintain a higher level of conduct, but I really wanna go back to him and tell him all the things I have learned about it!!!!! I chance may come for someone else, but I will do it calmly and coolly(?? I don't know if that is a word or not) and yeah.
The Foret's (deaf) are teaching are coming along well, Tasha has had a sad last few years, her husband would abuse her, and she left him and he has since been in and outta jail, but he is the father of the 3 girls. She has not been able to file a divorce because it costs soooo much ($3000 she told us) and i think Kevin invited her to come live with him and Joey. And after that I am not completely sure about if Tasha and Kevin are lovers or if they are friends, Elder Adam and I have both heard different sides of the story, it's all confusing!!! :( So yesterday during Sunday School we told Tasha the bad news, I felt sooo bad! She really wants to be baptized but she has to get divorce figured out and either marry Kevin or move out and...... yeah it's sad. You could see how sad she was when we told her, but we told her to keep coming to church and we will help out with whatever they need.
Anyways that's life right now, we don't have a whole lot else going on right now :(
That's sad about Sloan quitting! And also about the Westlake games :(
Soo.... yeah that's all, oh! I'll talk to you next week! Bye! Love y'all!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cameron's First Week in Florida
Cameron, President & Sister JensenThe plane ride was alright, I felt a little queasy, when I come back I will use that medicine stuff you gave me. We got in on Tuesday and met Pres and Sister Jensen! They are great! We went back to the Mission Home and ate food (after a tour, it looked like it was once a plantation!) That was great! Because we didn't get any breakfast or lunch!!! I was STARVING!!!!!! After dinner we had a little meeting where Pres Jensen talked to us about where we will be serving, who our companions are, and just stuff new missionaries needed to know. The weather was actually pretty good when we got to Tallahassee, it was about 64 degrees with a nice breeze :-) We spent the night in the Mission Home and left in the morning. So I lied to you family, I am not anywhere near Tallahassee, I am in Milton, FL which is about 200 miles west of Tallahassee and it's about 20 minutes east from Pensacola, FL. It was a long drive! I tried to sleep as much as I could because there was nothing else to do. We made 2-3drop offs before we got to my area, when we got to Pensacola it was very cold!!! It was mostly cold because it was very windy, and I packed my suit jacket in my suitcase because I didn't think that I would need it. haha. So I was very cold until we got in the car and left, OH! I forgot to tell you that they took away my shaving cream and tooth paste at the airport (In Salt Lake!!!) So we stopped at Wal-mart and got bedding, food, and those things and then went to the apartment. My companions name is Elder Adam and we live with 2 other Elders in out apartment.
After that we went and talked to some members for a while and then went to go do some service, but first we went and picked up a deaf member, (his name is Adam) so he could come be there with us to teach a deaf family. The Second Counselor in the bishopric, (Bro Hathaway) his trampoline had blown away in a huge wind storm! So we helped move it back into his backyard. After that Bro Hathaway joined us too to visit the deaf family. Their names are the Foret's (For-a's, it's French or something) There are 6 in the family (there are 3 adults and 3 girls) the adults are all deaf, there is Tasha, Kevin, and Joey. Tasha and Kevin are married and Joey and Kevin have been friends since they were kids, so they are living together. The 3 girls are: Savannah, Jamie, and Jada, they are 8,9, and 10 (I think.) It was CHAOTIC!!!! We had a very hard time communicating, and Bro Hathaway kinda took over and taught them some things, we didn't like that alot. The girls were very loud, which is a problem because the parents can't hear the arguing. I don't think they learned a whole lot in that lesson. After we left, we dropped Adam off then went to Mutual and met more members! I met a ton! Our Bishop here is Bishop Wilson. Then after we went home.
The next few days were basically visiting members or less active and teaching them and seeing if they have any referrals. They didn't :'( One family we visited was the Long's. They are a family of 7 (5 boys, the dad, 2 teens, I wanna say an 8 year old and a 4 or 5 year old, and 2 girls, the mom and a baby girl), the mom was once a member and had fallen away. We went back the next day because the 8 year old boy(his name is Gabe) had a guitar and it was outta tune, so Elder Adam tuned it up and I played with the other kids. It was mostly just a fellowshipping visit.
On Friday we went back to the Foret's, but this time we had an interpreter? (I think that's how you spell it) It went better, the girls had to stay in their room because they weren't very respectful. Joey was the only adult there at first so we waited for Tasha and Kevin to come home. Like I said it was better because we got to teach them a little bit about the Gospel, but the adults were all on different pages. Tasha is the most progressing, she has been doing homework and reading, Kevin and Joey read occasionally but they have a ton of time to play video games! And on Sunday they came to church and during the Sunday School hour we taught them the first lesson, so they are all on the same page now, they all believe that what we have been telling them is true, but Kevin and Joey don't think they are ready yet. Joey doesn't think he will be ready for about 10 years. Which won't be that long if I have anything to say about it. We are going to talk with them about the Word of Wisdom next time we go.
So guess what happened at Basketball on Saturday mom??? haha, I rolled my ankle. :( and again, no brace. My foot is like the size of a basketball! So I hobble around. The gym was carpeted so I think that that is what caused it.
So yeah that is pretty much my first week in Florida, oh we did have 2-3 dinner appointments which all were great, but no fried foods yet! :) Oh last night there was salad but no ranch, so I tried Zesty Italian, I didn't really like it, but I ate it with potatoes and corn, they (the Simpler's) fed us stake, potatoes, corn, salad, and chocolate pie! It was great! Well that's pretty much all I can think of to tell you.
Love,
Elder Williams
P.S. I actually rolled my right ankle mom, not my left again!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! just kidding about the laugh, but it swelled up enough to where my foot barely fits in my shoes. And I have been exercising it and heating and cooling it, for heating I have to fill up the tub. haha!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Cameron's MTC Pictures
Cameron's DistrictTop row: Elder Teo Tafiti, Elder North, Elder Orgill, Elder Svedin, and Elder Horning.
Bottom row: Elder Carpenter and Me!!!
Elder Horning at Temple Sign!
Elder Teo Tafiti holding Elder Carpenter on shoulder.
Elder Horning wanting Elder Randle to hug him. (Elder Randle lives on the same floor as us).
Elder Randle being himself.
My Name Tag!!!! 
The room we are in most of our time (this picture and the next 2).
The room!
The room!
Us having some fun after Temple Walk.
Elder Barten, our friend from Scotland.
The Valiant Missionaries on bikes with no spokes! HAHA!
The room!
The room!
Us having some fun after Temple Walk.
Elder Barten, our friend from Scotland.
The Valiant Missionaries on bikes with no spokes! HAHA!
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