Hey there,

The week went well, We were able to get done what we hoped for. For the most part. Thanks for being willing to go and get some shirts for me. It will be nice to have some shirts that are the right size now. Also, I was totally kidding about being Idle... ;P

Areo's baptism went well. We had the worst snow storm of all winter that day and so she was about an hour later than she should have been, but we had the members stay around long enough and both Elder Trammell and I were in the font with her because he didn't want to drop her, but fortunately she was more buoyant than we had hoped (not to be mean or anything, that's just how it was).

Zone Conference went well also. That day was an adventure though. I Woke up Tuesday morning and my back was really bothering me and then I decided that if it was bothering me on wed I would get a blessing for it because it hadn't been fun dealing with it. So I did, that's what made us late initially, we had to be there at 8 for a car inspection. On our way down we had to pick up the walking elders, so that added on a few minutes. Then once we got down to canton, we had to get a car wash. By this time it was like already 8:30 so we got into the car wash and so it started and then it went around the back of the truck after soaping down one side and then it just turned off. It had ran into our bike rack and stopped working. So, we had the other elders with us get out and go have some body come back and look at it. We got it running again but as it was going towards the back we would inch forward so it could slip past the Bike Rack and then we would be in reverse so it would get around the back. Problem Solved! (during the last sweep with the rinse we forgot to pull forward so it stopped there and we just took off) now, it was like 8:45 by the time we had gotten to the Chapel where the meeting was going to be.. we were slowing down to a stop to get into the parking lot and the church is on top of a hill so it's hard to see what is on the other side and we got smacked! a 17 year old girl who was on her phone rear ended us! (crazy thing about that too, the head of all fleet for the church was there that day as well) so we get out and look at the damage and she ran into our bike rack. That only got tilted forward about six inches and the truck was fine. But the girls car was smashed. she had a big ol hole in the front of her car because of our solid steel bike rack. smashed her hood in and everything.

Anyways. we ended up getting into the meeting at 9:15. an hour and 15 minutes after we were suppose to be there. sheesh. what a morning. Our workshop went really well though and we were complimented on it by President and the Assistants. The meeting ended and we went to dinner at Olive Garden at 5. we got in and ordered our food and it got there at 5:45. right when we had to leave because we had another meeting in Medina which is a 45-50 minute drive away that started at 6:30. We didn't get to eat. We got to our meeting on time, Thankfully. President Sorensen and the Stake President were the ones we were meeting with. After that we were talking to pres. and he was telling us that we were suppose to be to Zone Conference early and set up and then clean up and lock up at the end! We were just like what? We didn't know that... plus we don't even have keys to that building... not our fault, but whatever. Then we ended up getting home around 10:10 that night. it was just not our day. The only thing that went well was our workshop.

OH, and so you know, I talked to a dr. cause that's what I'm suppose to do and they want me to do PT for a month or so to see what can happen with my back. Hopefully they will be able to work on my shoulders as well because they are in a pain in the butt. If not, or either way. I'm probably going to have to get them worked on when I get home.

Where are Kenz and Jeremy going to live?

I'm glad to hear that Joel did well. I hope for the best. I'm sure he will do well.

So are all these classes just Generals? I don't know what all of them Entail... but I will take a crack at what sounds fun and interesting. hmm.. Either Interpersonal Communications or Intro to Sociology. American Civ. and then (in this order because I'm not sure) Logical Thinking, Intro to mass communication, or Public Speaking. Whatever works well.

Do I need to take a Fitness for life class? How about I skip out on that.. I didn't even take that class in H.S. or can I choose from those three (fitness for life, Ethics and Values, Intermediate Writing)? If so, I will take either except fitness for life. That is a loser class and a waste of time. I can work out on my own time. I don't need to be forced to.

I think I would rather have all of my classes together. I am a pretty disciplined person and I don't like studying where there are a lot of people. If I have a desk at home I can study at I'm sure I will be fine. I don't want to be at the school forever either. But, Whatever works out is fine. I just don't think I would like to be at the school all day every day. Besides, I would probably waste that time in-between classes anyways. best just to put it all together.

I Can't remember if I wrote Grandpa back.. I think I did. I hope so. That's fine if he sends it in the E-mail. I don't think I got it though.

Do Ammon and Sarah have a little t hing going on? I know that they had a little of a thing going on when I was at home... :)

This week will be good I'm sure. Next week we should hopefully be having two more baptisms and then the end of the transfer again. I will probably be staying here though. I have to teach some Common sense and some consideration for other people you live with to these other guys we live with... Some people's children just never learn how to be sole dependent on themselves.. oh well. That's why they have ME! haha

Love ya all. 6 more months. ;P

Hey mom,

We have one baptism that is for sure this upcoming Saturday with Areo Clark, She is a daughter of a member who was baptized about four years ago. Things are going well other wise. We are preparing for a Zone conference that takes place on Wednesday. we have to give a half hour workshop on the Book of Mormon and Moroni 10:3-5. It should be good and pretty inspirational.

We had a trip planned to go to Kirtland on Saturday but things didn't work out so we had nothing to do... So we exchanged with the other elders that we live with and pulled something out of nothing and so it turned out to be a pretty good day with a new person to teach for the singles and then getting to see some other people who we haven't seen in a while. We need to focus on finding people now because we are going to baptize our solid investigators here soon.

There is one in particular that we are trying to help the entire family come back into activity and get the father to be worthy to baptize his son. It's been going with them although they are pretty rambunctious and out of control at times. So, it gets hard for me to teach them but we make do.

Who won the Super Bowl? I was unable to see it. of course, duh! haha. We were in the apartment taking numbers for our weekly report.

I have yet to really get anything about the Election. we set up a booth once a week at the University of Akron in the student union and people make comments and give us weird looks. But nothing that comes across offensive at all. They mostly avoid our stare. It's probably one of the most awkward things that I have ever done in my entire mission. Is sit there with a big ol' sign and wait for people to come talk to us. haha but whatever. we get a few people here and there. We currently have one investigator that we found from it. so it's not too bad. I will be at the end of my mission and home when it really heats up so I wont have to worry about it too much I think. but hey, who knows.

I'm glad you enjoy your job. I told you that it would be good for you. It keeps you busy. You know what they say... a poor use of time is a close cousin of Idleness... :P we don't want to be Idle right? Speaking of learning how to speak correctly, One of our investigators Areo, who is getting baptized on Saturday is teaching us Ebonics, I'm gonna be OG before you know it.

My math placement is going to be very low... haha I can't imagine it being very high.. It has been a very long time since I have had to do math... would three classes be a full schedule? I want to be full time If I can. I guess I will start with the generals. I should only have one semester of English to take because of my credit that I got in my 1010 class in HS. Are psych and history involved? I didn't know that... We will have to see if I can get an internship or some kind of job shadow and a Dentist or Ortho. (if paid that would be ideal, but good luck right? ;) that way I can see if that is the path that I really want to take for my career or not. I don't want to waste any time. I need to get on it asap.

We need to tell Jayme and Jennifer to start looking for me, I only have six months left and need to get some dates lined up so I'm not awkward as crap when I get home. I need to be normal in no time! haha.


Love ya.

PS... I need some shirts that Fit me... They are all too big now. I need some longsleeve that are 16 then 34-35 (whatever the arm is is fine, I need a smaller neck and then smaller shoulder span too. so whatever that is needs to be smaller) and if you can get them in an athletic fit, or a skinny person fit so they are so huge, that would be awesome! and then the same size if I can get a cuff link shirt too, ( a nice one for meetings ) I have cuff links and want to use them haha. maybe a french cuff too. that would be awesome... but if you can do that for me I will love you for eternity :D

Hey Mom,

This week went well. We were able to see a lot of our investigators and pick up a few more. Besides this week we plan on having a baptism every weekend with Areo Clark, a part-member whose mom is super solid. Kennedy Zamiska, who turned 9 last month and has been driving his family to come back to church and to get baptized. He wanted to get baptized when he was 8 but they have been going through some difficulties and have now decided to return to church after running into us the other day while the dad was at work. Then we have Dan Stiefel, He will be as of right now, our last one for the month. Super solid guy, we are taking him to Kirtland on Saturday with his girlfriend and her family. I love just being able to see those who are ready and come to you. We basically just present everything and they do the rest on their own and the spirit guides them to what they need to do to be able to enter into covenant with them. Hopefully we will be able to keep a constant cycle of good things going.

That's cool that you were able to get a job though. That will be fun, Keep you busy and be able to get in some extra cash. Who knows, There are only four more months of school anyways so it doesn't seem like it will be too bad for you.

How old is grandpa getting? is he turning 80? I have no clue how old anyone is... I mean I always forget how old Jayme is....

Things are going really well for us. It's just starting to be a constant flow of new investigators coming in and being able to help them progress and then the ones who aren't we drop and move on, but we have been pretty darn blessed with a lot of people to teach and more who are just coming to us. That's what makes missionary work easy, is finding those who are already receptive and wanting to find and receive truth so we don't have to do anything at all.

I was doing a lot of thinking this last week about many things. but the thing that probably struck me the most was the principle of teaching people how to fish. That's the main goal of the church really. Helping people understand their purpose and then help themselves. the sad part of it all is that we, within our mortal flesh are so weak that we complicate the matter so much that we forget the importance of teaching true doctrine and helping those people really understand it so they can live accordingly. We were sitting in the Branch council meeting and they were so confused on why people didn't want to come to church and participate in all of the other things that go on. so they hashed it out and really came to the conclusion, that I have in the past, they need to really follow up with the things that they assign. Otherwise they just go on talking about the same thing every week and they don't really get anywhere. the principle of following up constantly is the most important thing that we can do. it actually holds people accountable for what they do.

anyways, We just have our little hang ups as mortals.. ;)

Love ya.

Hey mom,

You definitely sound frustrated. It snowed here but then it rained last night and is in the upper 50's today so we probably wont have any more for the rest of the week. but who knows? We weren't able to commit Celeste to baptism, she has been attending church for like two and a half years now because of her boyfriend and knows everything but gets caught up in the fluff and not the fact that the book of mormon is true. she told us that if she is asked what she would say she would say that it is, but can't see one true church and a living prophet today. she can't really make the connection at all. We think there is an underlying factor though.

We do have a pretty solid baptismal date in February, with a guy named Dan. He is dating a members daughter. He is a good guy and we had a really good discussion with him last night and were able to set that date for the 25th.

Did Jayme send the package to my new address? because I definitely wont get it if she sends it to my old one! OH yeah, and with the new apartment, we didn't have drapes or a rod at all so I had to go buy one and then get re-imbursed and I payed like 80 dollars. it tanked! holy cow. that's expensive. My house when I get old is not going to be decorated at all. it's too much for this guy... (they were the cheapest ones Too!)

I'm getting more and more impressed with Matthew, He just has an impeccable good attitude. That will be a lot of help for him if we can really help him work out. I will make him when I get home, I'm going to be needing a work out partner. Someone to really compete with. you know?


Things are going really well for our area right now, we keep just having things somewhat fall into place and into our laps. we have a ton of investigators right now, We actually have one who is a pm family and the wife is a non-denom and she has so much junk in her head from so many different religions it's hard to communicate. she told us that she believed in the trinity and explained it the way that it is. then we explained the godhead and to make a long story short she believes in the Trinity AND the Godhead. From what we gathered. So, It's going to be really interesting. She wants to have her pastor come to our next appointment. We'll see how that goes. :/

We got a new zone-ish with somewhat younger missionaries. at least younger District leaders. So we have to do a lot more training now, because you don't get any. they just throw you into it and expect you to be able to fulfill all of your responsibilities. So, we have to help them out some more!

Not really too much else.

Love ya.

Michael Stone

Heya,

This week went well. Lots and lots of meetings though. holy cow. we had no time for anything, Then with the move we had to pack everything up right before we had to do it all. so it was intense! I will be staying here with Trammell. It will be a lot of fun. So yeah the new place is really nice. But smaller than it should be. but it will work. I'm happy about it. The address is
1819 Beacon Hill Circle #14
Cuyahoga Falls Oh, 44221

I should be there for some time. That's my assumption

We were able to go to the Kirtland sacrament meeting, It was very good too. there was a lot of people and we had one of our new investigators go up who is from Argentina. She was introduced to her Boyfriend who is a member that lives in PA. So we are going to hopefully be able to invite her to be baptized tonight and start helping her progress towards that. After the Sacrament meeting we were able to take here and about 15 other YSA out on a tour of the Historic sites and help her feel the spirit there and hopefully she will have recognized it and want to learn more and partake of the blessings that lie in wait.

We were talking afterwards too and with the amount of times that we have been to Kirtland we could probably give our own tours and probably do a fairly good job. Sometimes the sisters aren't that great and we have to ask them questions to get them to say the things that should be mentioned! haha on Sunday we got the "training sisters" who are the best at giving the tours and are in charge of all of the sisters in Kirtland. So it was good, but we still drilled them with questions and then we had one of the members who was a r.m. ask them a lot of questions because she is the main fellow shipper for Celeste (we didn't tell her though, She just asked them because she wanted to know and so that Celeste (there is an ay sound at the end of her name) would be able to understand better and have some of her questions answered that way as well). We don't let anyone take short cuts. So when we come back I will make sure that we have a good tour and the sisters do there jobs properly ;P

Tomorrow they are re-opening an area that they had closed when I got here due to a lack of missionaries. So now our zone count will be up to 22. More people to take care of yay! .. no, it's good for me, I am learning a lot of Charity and Patience being able to work with all of the missionaries problems and what not. It has been a good experience for me too to be able to learn how to minister and administer a lot better. I hope I will be able to stay within this assignment until I go home because of the rate of learning that I have taken on with these responsibilities.

I can't believe Ammon has a Drivers license. That's hard to believe. Everyone is getting old. Soon enough you will not be able to get around all of the house and we'll have to get you a "hover-round" to mobilize you. ha JUST KIDDING. I'm glad to hear though that him and Matt were able to do really well in their tournaments this week.

Now, that we have moved we have a weight room in the clubhouse we can go use so hopefully I will be able to get a better work out in now so I won't be so small and can compete a little bit with everyone when I get home.

It will be a surprise I think to you too to see how much I have changed in my manner and conduct, but at the same time to see that I am still ME! :) Boy, Missions are good for kids.

That's about it though.

Love ya.

Hey mom,

This week was good. It went really well. we were able to take a couple of our investigators to Kirtland and then The ysa are having a sacrament meeting Sunday in the Kirtland Temple so we are going to try and make it. We just need some permission and an investigator to go. As far as the move goes I'm pretty sure it's just us. we are having a senior couple come down with another truck and a trailer so we can get everything over that we need and some of the new stuff that we need as well. Did Jenn and Adam Go to Kirtland?

That would be cool if Hernandez went to MM. It would be really nice too if I could get a job helping to coach so I could make a little bit of cash with my school and everything.. It would warrant a good excuse for me to have to work out too.

I love how ever since we had the Stake conference on TV we still never go. haha. I was thinking yesterday that they need to do some training for the teachers to make class more interesting and involved. As I was in class I was just like man! if class is this boring back at home it's going to make it really hard to go every Sunday! on top of that this ward is really irreverent so it's hard to get anything out of the sacrament talks. I mean I already have a hard time paying attention anyways. I will have to teach or something. Give me a calling! haha. I'm probably gonna ward hop for the first little bit too just to see what is out there and find some people that I know.

It snowed this week. It's all gone though. basically spring.

I'm so glad to hear that Joel Got a call! full Pros too! that's awesome. it will be really good for him and I hope that He will be able to grow and overcome a lot of his troubles and trials.

I'm sure Joel will give his all too and become a great missionary. What a good kid. I look forward to hear of his journeys.

This transfer has one more full week as transfers are the 18th. I'm pretty sure I will be staying here with Elder Trammell. we are having a lot of fun and getting the work done. We are hoping for some baptisms this next go around as well. I have learned so much in the short amount of time that I have been in a position of leadership. It's definitely a refining time. I have noticed a lot lately too that I need to search for all kinds of knowledge that I may have words to say when they are meted for me and for the others that I speak to. It's strange to look and see that I will actually be home at the end of this year. I don't really like to look at it because it will mean an end of such rapid progression and understanding that comes with the calling that I am embarked in. Things are really great. I love being a missionary and doing the things we do. The great thing about it is that the Gospel never ends and when Practiced in it's fullness and the way that it needs too there are no problems trials or anything faulty at all. Fault comes of man and the gospel is not. I wish sometimes, most time actually, that Man would not disable the spirit of the Lord and the true order of his church. If we did it the way that it was designed then there would be far less less-actives and in-actives. I guess when we reach the state of perfection, It will be a zion and we will all be gathered at the new jerusalem. What a thought right? man, I can't even imagine the state of perfection within the people of the church of Christ. The world would be impacted on large scales. Then again, That's when Christ will reign... haha Patience is a great attribute right?

well. Things are good. My new address next week will be. 1819 beacon hill circle apt 14 Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221.

We will be moved in monday, but transfers are tuesday.

Love ya

Hey mom,

Elder Trammell was still talking to his family so I figured I would call Jayme so she could see me and I her. Just trying to be a good brother, that's all. No, *** didn't write me. If she does, I have been really bad at writing people back so she has a good chance at not getting one. especially seeing that I get home in 7 months. Crazy...

I'm glad that Matthew has been able to do things with a good attitude. He does need to work out in the weight room though. that would be really good for him. He would be able to put on a good amount of muscle right now.

We finally got snow last night. The first time that it has actually stuck here. So it officially feels like winter now with only two months left of the terrible cold and snow. It's been good though because last winter was pretty terrible. I have no complaints with this one at all.

Things have been good though. We are actually teaching a fair amount even with all the other stuff we have to do. so it's good. There aren't really any other areas teaching more than us currently either so it looks like we are doing our job by setting the trend and standard for our zone. We are suppose to have our area be a model for all of the others so I'm pretty happy that we are able to do that haha. Anyways. It's pretty official too that we are moving two weeks from today. we are going to get a pretty nice place too. we went and looked at it the other day. It's just a little small for four of us. but I think we will be able to make it work.

I did get my new coat and it looks good too! haha I like it. so yeah, it fits me as well. I don't have to worry about swimming around or looking chubby in my bigger coat.

All is well here.

Love ya.

Thanks for all you do.

--
Elder Michael Stone.