Hello there.

I'm Great, I finally recieved revelation yesterday. that was pretty cool. We'll get to that later though. haha. Thanksgiving was really good. We ate a lot, got to play some basketball (yeah that's right, I'm going to be like Kobe when I get home! ha) and just got to relax, it was a nice day, but the rest of the week was pretty slow, we didn't get to teach too many lessons this week because everyone was out of town. but oh well, this week will be a lot better.

I'm so glad that you guys went shopping instead of sleeping in like we usually do! ha what all did you guys get? I think I know what one of those things are. haha man, well That's good you liked harry potter, I haven't seen it yet, maybe I will go see it today... ha Kidding! I would never do a thing like that. but that's good that you got that picture, Sister Headrick said that she checked to see if you sent an e-mail back to her about it but I told her you weren't much of a talker so she shouldn't really expect that much back from you. haha, She did make your 'Beths-surprise' it wasn't as good, but she really surprised me with it because it was pretty tasty ;P but yeah, that will probably be the only picture of me that you will see for a while, I haven't really decided or remembered to send my memory card yet, really because there aren't too many pictures on there yet, You know me. :P

The new guy.. haha he is nice, but he is definitely not like elder Wilkinson, ha. he was a bandy and all that stuff, but he is a good guy, I don't think we'll get along as well as elder wilkinson and I but so far we have gotten along really well and so yeah, His name is Elder James Leake, he has been out for about sixteen months now and he is pretty cool ha.

Thanks for sending me stuff, I love to get stuff. It makes me feel cool and loved... I didn't feel loved at home.. ;( haha Just kidding! I did. I don't really have any requests for Christmas to be too honest, I don't really need anything... I mean, It is Ohio, but there are still walmarts here. haha but yeah to be too honest I can't think of anything that I need, or want.
maybe like a really cool get ripped quick thing. something that keeps you skinny and helps you not lose muscle 'cause I am, and it's depressing because yeah. I wanna be big and intimidating so people really feel like I teach with power and authority! haha ;)

Since when do you decorate for Christmas? whaat? ha you always feel rushed though, so there is nothing new there. there's a word that i want to teach you though, and that is delegation. that means that you have people do things for you so you don't have to do everything by yourself... ;P

Anyways. to the missionary work and receiving revelation.

So this last week I have been praying and fasting a lot so I could find a way to find more people to teach and make them into investigators. so you know after a while i was like man, I'm going to have to fast a lot! ha but as we were in our correlation meeting with Brother webb yesterday and Idea popped into my mind that I briefly thought about during my morning study, and that Idea was to have a christmas devotional. This is going to be centered on the Youth but the parent's are also welcome. the way we want to go with this is getting the youth more involved with missionary work and inviting their friends to come and celebrate the birth of Christ with them. When we talk about it and Celebrate we are going to really focus on the things that happened in the America's when He was born (meaning that we will have to teach out of the Book of Mormon, getting them introduced to what it is all about really.

When we talked about it the spirit really flowed in the room and let us know that this is the way that we can get the ward excited about work and to really find people to teach who have been prepared. this is what I was waiting for. I still want more revelation, mostly because I don't want to wait a month before having a lot of people to teach, I want to have people to teach now, So just like it talks about in Alma, I need to give myself to much fasting and prayer to receive the things that I am in need of so I can find those lost children of God who are in dire need of the gospel in their lives.

that's my revelation..

well, the only thing that I can really think of as far as requests go, are some running shoes, my mizuno's or however you spell it are finally getting beat up too much, they are starting to rip, so maybe if dad could find me some really good running shoes? that would be fantastic!

hmm well, I'm not sure what else to go over. I think that is about it for now. Until next week!

Love, Michael.

Family!

The Baptism went well, but There is a long story that goes with it. On Thursday I was with the mission leader and while we were there his wife got a call saying that the baptismal font smelled horrible. like super sulfuric. not good. so on saturday we got there and it smelled just fine, but, when we turned the water on it smelled like the hot pots an an awefully hot day. oh it was so nasty! so we let it run for a bit hoping that the smell would just go away! man nope. it didn't happen. so we are trying to figure out what we could do and yes. yes we thought about moving it to the akron building which is thirty minutes away and it usually takes about 3 hours to fill the font! man woah. and then i had the idea to go turn on the font again to see what it smelled like. well, it didn't smell as bad and so we plugged it up and let it fill. we had just decided to do it smelly, and the people there could just get use to it.

Well, we opened all of the windows and sprayed some good smelling stuff and about thirty minutes before the baptism it smelled fine! what we did find out though is that the water that was coming in was from a well. the regular water was cycling through a water softener so we got the smelly well water. but eventually it switched back over and then the rest is history. the service was absolutely fantastic. quite an adventure I must say.

I have heard from the members that this movie actually follows the books more than the others so it's pretty good. but, on the other hand it throws things in there that haven't been in the other movies. but I have still been told it is by far the best movie yet.

I don't believe that for one second about matthew. since when is he brave? No. I think someone has switched him out with someone else. I don't think that's true. what in the world. woah. incredible haha. way to be a man. haha

I will find out who the new companion will be come tomorrow. hopefully He is a hard working guy and can teach me a lot because I still have a ton to learn. man, it will be different too because Elder wilkinson did a lot of the teaching when we were together! so i will get more of the opportunity to teach and learn more. so I'm excited and nervous at the same time. because i really do not want to have an apostate companion. I will go crazy and you will hear all about it. haha. oh well though. it's all good.

anywho, Thanksgiving will be good. so eh, haha I will just have to deal, the members will really take care of me and my comp. so whatev's man! ha well. nothing else realy too new. except we found a family of six that we taught this past monday and they were awesome. they are super curious. and the thing is they ask questions that go straight in line with the things our church has and teaches! one of the very first questions they asked is; if God is the same yesterday today and forever, and he had prophets in the bible. why aren't there prophets today? then they asked, where do we go when we die? how do we repent? and things along those lines and elder wilkinson and i were just like yes! oh my gosh this is awesome! holy cow! so really I hope that we can teach them and they can come unto christ. the wife just needs to understand the one true church thing. she doesn't really believe in that but, that will come along with time. these guys could definitly be kingdom builders. oh I'm so excited for the potential that is here.

I'm not too sure what else to add to be honest. I'm thinkin and I'm thinking. if I do come up with more I will add to it. until then.

Love ya!
Michael

Father,

I can't believe they finally got you to travel haha. that's funny. but yes the baptism went well, the story is in moms e-mail. Today isn't too cold, last night when we went home it was about 65, so it was a lot warmer than it has been, we drove with the windows down haha.

The one thing you can remember to get me is a GPS on black friday, my tights in ammons room and whatever else you feel like sending me, I promise I wont be opposed whatsoever. ;p but yeah I'm not in too much need of anything right now. to be honest.

Not really too much going on just yet, there is a lot of untapped potential that we need to find. (being me and whoever the new companion will be) so we just really need to find people as of right now. I'm doing great as well, things are good here and I'm having a really good time.

Love michael!
oh yeah! I just remembered. If you guys could get the last two General Conference talks on CD and send them out to me and maybe whatever else I can listen to in the car, which is anything that is a hymn or that the Tabernacle Choir sings that would be super cool. as of right now my collection of CD's to listen to in the car is lacking! but thats all else I can remember that I want.

Michael is so blessed to be in such an awesome area. There are a couple of sisters who have kept me posted on how he is doing. One in particular is Sister Tanya Headrick. This sweet lady called me to get some recipes so she could cook some of Michael's favorite foods. This morning I found this in my e-mail:

Hi Beth!

Here is a picture from last night. Elder Stone and Elder Wilkinson came over so we could say good-bye to Elder Wilkinson and give him a parting gift. Thought you might enjoy seeing this photo. Elder Stone was pretty excited about wearing his hat! He told us he had you send it out to him before the winter came.

Have a good day!

Tanya Headrick


Unfortunately I can't get the picture to upload, but he looks great!

Hey there.

Well, this week was one of our less active weeks, but we did get to go to Kirtland on Saturday and on Sunday, that was pretty cool. The actual tour itself is really cool with the things that went on there. I'm really excited for this next week though because we have a baptism and we are teaching a few new investigators. we have one lady who is probably in her forties or fifties, an 18 year old boy, two 16 or 17 year old girls and a family of four or five that we are meeting with for the first time tonight so hopefully their hearts will be softened and that we will be able to be guided by the spirit to teach the things that would touch their hearts and really manifest the truthfulness of things to them.

The only thing that I'm somewhat nervous is about is Elder Wilkinson leaving, mostly because he knows how to answer all the questions we get asked and what to teach and all that missionary stuff. but I'll be good. if I don't get a good companioni that will just make me have to rely on the Lord more to help me get to the places i need to be so I can help others.

That is so strange that Spanish is changing again to 3A they will pretty much just roll over everyone in that classification for almost everything... that is if they keep performing like they would if they were playing in a 5A or 4A group, that's strange, football and baseball will do really well, they will only have to put up with Juan diego and that is just for football. Quite a bit of traveling though. so strange man, so strange. They will get worked in wrestling though, there is no question of that.

man 25 years. strange... haha

Did you know that Matthew got his call? He is going to some place in Georgia. He didn't tell me though. it came from other people haha. oh yeah, hey do you remember Chris Drockton? He is living in Medina. which is about the same size as provo and is in the same stake, I saw him Just Yesterday at stake conference... I didn't talk to him though.

Man, Jerimiah's two years went by quickly! I swear he wasn't gone that long. that is really strange if you ask me. haha. but that's cool that James and Nicolette are getting hitched, (remember how I said I'm not getting married? yep, it's still the same haha) man, I bet Kenna is going to feel strange now, or she has been with only Josee at home. what is this world coming to? everyone is getting old, there are no more young people, goodness. haha.

So far we have only had one thanksgiving dinner. we have one set up for thanksgiving day. but it's nothing like yours mom, if that's what you're looking for! haha, they don't spend two days cooking, and there is no sausage in the stuffing. it's a good thing they don't cook as much as you though. I would gain way too much weight. then I would come home a fatty. We'll see who else invites me over. (and whoever the new comp may be.) I Honestly don't know what I'm going to do. it's an all day P-day then so we can just do whatever i guess. but whatever in missionary talk entails a whole lot of nothing. no movies, no video games, no tv. no pleasures of the world, haha that's somewhat bad to say ;p

To be honest the only thing that you guys can really pray for is that I will have the spirit with me to learn and just to be able to teach to people's needs a whole lot better. you can also pray for the Moore family that their hearts will be softened and receptive to the gospel and who ever else that we teach you can pray that theirs will be also. but yeah, that's about it for me.

.

Love Michael

Mother!

What is this Blasphemous talk about going on a cruise to Hawaii 4 months before I get home!?! That is not cool at all. First you tell me the home is a better place to be without me and now a cruise right before I get home... ouch... It's a good thing I don't get offended to easily. ha ha

I'm glad you guys are getting things done though. That's always a plus. Did dad resurface the deck? If it does snow you can always start work on the basement. It snowed once this past week here. it got cold! we walked a lot so we got to really feel it, sad thing is though, That is warm weather when it really hits. ha That's good though that bishop did that. but at the same time it's not summer so they will probably forget when summer does come. ha oh well.

For some reason it doesn't surprise me that Braxton came home. Speaking of ventura, is Jeremiah home yet? It's close isn't it? or is that Spencer Budd who is there? i can't remember. I got a letter from Jr not too long ago saying Matt got his call and he told him to write me so I know where he is going but that hasn't happened yet, no surprise there though ha.

Elder Wilkinson goes home the 23rd this months and transfers are the day before thanksgiving. I will be staying. they won't shotgun us out because we were just shotgunned in and we are doing a lot better than the sisters. we teach around 20 lessons a week and this upcoming week we already have about 20 planned with more to come and a trip up to kirtland, that will be fun.

Could you really not find my tights? dang man that bites. and yeah, I really am not sure where those pictures are I thought they were just up in my closet or room somewhere. oh well, but yeah, speaking of ammon. how big is he now? 200? chubby boy gettin real chubby? haha man. he has got to stop psyching himself out though. but how is Jayme? I never hear about her. any who. how is everything else going? House decorations or anything else interesting? nothing too exciting here. just doing work and we have a baptism scheduled for the 20th. Interesting story there...

This girl she is 27 has a crush on Elder Wilkinson. She well, I'm not going into details but she is not for either of us. at all. she had five piercings and we got her to take them out and she now has an interview with our mission president, you can assume there I wont tell you why he is though, but she gave him a letter yesterday telling him that she likes him and wants to try and see him after he goes home and man I really just cracked up because he kind of has a 'Sister' at in Utah right now on medical leave. so i thought that was funny, but it's also making me nervous that she is doing it for ulterior motives instead of really having the desire to change and enter into a covenant with God. I really hope she does have the real intent you need to be baptized. we'll find out how things go tomorrow and Wednesday.

I'm just going to say, You aren't going to be your mother until you start quilting. then you are a pro. until then, eh... just someone to make fun of! haha Love you.

Speaking of temples. the Akron stake presidency wants temple attendance to go up here so they can qualify to have a temple built here. that would be super cool, the Columbus temple is already at capacity. you have to call to reserve a seat. If they can get another one in Ohio that would be really cool. yes, the members do spoil us and that is not a lie, it's bad, but at the same time it's fantastic! haha

Life, well Like we are told, we need quality members and quality Missionaries. if you aren't going to do anything for God, he isn't going to do anything for you. The bishop here is a good guy. when he talks about finding people to teach, he tells us we need to find the next Elders quorum president, Hp group leader, bishop etc.. that is what we are called to do. to find the elect. I know in Utah the mentality of seeing a missionary in your ward is more along the lines of, wow they must really not have anything to do. but as president Hinkley once counseled, missionary work is not just tracting, we all know there is a better way to do misisonary work and that is through the members. without a fellowshipper or in other words a member to tie the person in they will have a lot harder time to accept the gospel, finding your friends or people you know who need the gospel in their lifes and then inviting them to have the lessons in your home is they most successful way to experience conversion.

I never realized how important members are until I got out here. so yeah, they may send the goofy missionaries to Utah, but we are all doing the same work and they need help. I wont lie, so be nice.

Nothin more to say here.

Love Michael

P.S. Move Hawaii to where I can come! that is so not fair! oh heck!

What's up?!

Football was so much fun to play! oh I love to work out of course haha

I'm glad ammon works hard, that's good. man but the bikes. thats fun, hopefully they aren't wrecked when I get home, are they manual or are they auto? thats good that the yard is moving along too. I still like quads more.

We are teaching a lot, we have a possibility of teaching 20 + lessons this week so that's good and we have a trip planned to Kirtland. with one of our investigators. she has her interview wednesday. we also have a family investigating, but the dad cannot be baptized until he is off of probation. so thats three years away as of now. but if he can get off earlier that would be awesome. but that family is waiting to be baptized as a family and they are all gung ho about it have they are really good friends with a family that are also members. we have about four potential we met this last week and one family is super solid. so we'll see what happens but we don't see them from a week from today because the schedule we have this week is crazy.

Love Michael

'Sup Dawg.

Yeah, She made us cafe rio for lunch the other day. it was good haha ;p we are way spoiled, we eat a lot and so i decided to start jumproping to not get too fat. We are teaching around 18 lessons a week but we really only have two investigators and so we are working to find more through members and the investigators that we have so hopefully things will work out good. This ward is really good, We just need to really put for the effort to find people that are ready to hear the word.

I don't know if I'm going to need thremals. Odds are I'm just going to buy some, but if you could send me my old wrestling tights? those keep me warm haha! maybe my hat that is blue and brown with the ear covers too? ( I need like two or three more sets of G's too, the drilux for the shirts and briefs or compression for the bottoms, both in smalls) ;) we have someone doing our laundry for us so I need just a couple more to keep me feeling not stressed about it haha ;p I'm glad you still find me as your favorite child haha

We had one storm this last week where in rained like crazy and it was super windy, both elder wilkinson and I were kind of hoping for a tornado, but one never came. Usually there is a member who is suppose to call us and offer us their home if there is a tornado watch, there are the sirens too so maybe if it happens we'll just pray and then pull out the camera's to film It!! haha this morning a house down the street caught on fire, I don't think it was too bad because we couldn't see flames, but there was still like four fire trucks an ambulance and some other emergancy things that came by with their sirens on.

Halloween was alright, we dressed up as the "elders of israel" with the yamikas and everything, I was peter and he was james, John was still off doing the work you know...

Hopefully ethan has changed or he may come home, I hope things go well for him because if not he has the possibility of leading a sad life of hanging out with 15 year old girls... (whoops did I say that out loud?) ha yes, I do Know stetson argyle, I never would have thought I would hear that he would go on a misison but that's really good for him, you talk to Kris Clayton? since when? Strange he is coming out here though. I have seen Brandon Barlow. He is in the Zone right next to mine so I have seen him twice out here now and so things are going good. There is actaully a pretty good possibility for me to serve with him becuase he is only one transfer ahead of me so we'll see what happens, it would be really fun to serve with him.

I can't believe dad bought bikes, I thought it was going to be 4-wheelers? but man, ammon might die.. ha jk what size are they? are they just little cheap ones cause dad didn't want to put too much money into them? and I'm sure you have a super full garage now, haha. have fun :P

Um, lets see, I asked for an address last week and I didn't get it.. strange how things work right? haha :P Your life seems super easy now. ha and it's just going to get better as you get older and we get older. man, what a life haha...

that is all

Love Michael.

Oh yes, do you think that you could send me my portfolio pictures too? the ones I took in photography? that would really be bomb. because we go see this lady who is a member that lives in an assisted care facitility. she is paralized in her whole body and likes to look at pictures so if you could send those to me that would be cool. they should be in my closet somewhere. if not they should all be on the computer. but if you could get them to me that would be fantastic! much loves

Father,

you e-mail early. wow. haha

We get fed all the time. it's awesome, I Started to jumprope so I don't gain too much weight, today we are going up to tallmage, that's about 45 minutes north of us, to go play football or whatever with the other guys in the zone. hopefully I can get some good excercise there.

we are teaching enough too keep us off the streets for more than 2 or 3 hours a week.

are your trees going to live? hope so. sweet day for halloween though, halloween in utah usually always has bad weather. that's odd haha. That's funny how you got called into youngmens again. I don't know what it is but you are always in there. maybe you are just better at teaching kids. who knows. but that should be fun though right?

I can't believe you caved and got bikes! are they good ones? how big are they? did you just buy some junkers to shut ammon up? If I get home and he hasn't been hurt yet I will be surprised. haha that's fun though

speaking of daylight savings. we thought that was today for some reason so we almost ignored our alarm, but of course that isn't until next week. so that's good haha.

nothing too much exciting going on here yet. hopeflly we can find more investigators.

Love michael