Week 15

Yay! So lots of things have been happening!

We had 3 baptisms on Saturday!! It was soo amazing! I'm sooo excited for them! The C's are the coolest family ever, we helped reactivate them and baptized their youngest. But they are so faithful and strong now. The joy and fullness they will have in their family is going to be incredible, it's so awesome.

Then we baptized the R's, and their two youngest, the mom is a recent convert.  We talked to the mom about family history and she's really excited to start, they are an awesome family. I'm excited to continue working with them.

Last thing. I'm not getting transferred!! YAY!! My new companion is Elder Evans. I have no idea who he is, but I'm excited to get to work with him. Elder Barron's last day is Wednesday. He leaves at 9 and Elder Evans arrives at 2 so I don't know who my temporary companion will be, but I'm tremendously excited!!

Any who that's all folks!

Love Elder Minson

The C's! K is the one who got baptized. She such a sweet
heart. Her dad got to baptize her. The spirit was soo strong.

These are the R's! J and C are the younger two who
got baptized.

At a dinner appointment this week

It was blizzarding so bad this morning! It was awesome!

Week 14- Yay for the true temple

Howdy! So this past week has been pretty awesome. We went to the Hari Krishna temple for starters, it is a Hindu temple in our zone. We were invited by the man who owns it. It was cool. But it felt really weird inside. The spirit was definitely not there. But all in all it was a cool experience. They showed us around and told about some things they do in there. And about the history. 

Then last night, We put this awesome Young Woman on date last night! She is such a stud. She is from Russia and lived there for most of her life, but was raised in a religious background. We've had about 2 lessons with her in the past, and both times we asked about baptism, she said that she wasn't ready. This time around we taught about the plan of salvation. And we helped her to have the faith to be baptized! It was soooo awesome! I felt the spirit so strong, and I know she felt it to. Anyway we put her on date for the 25th of MARCH! A great birthday gift 🎁 heehee.

Also we have 4 more baptisms this week and next. I'm sooo excited! So many people are changing their lives around and making promises with God and Jesus.

The baptism we had last Saturday the 14th was E. He basically fell into our laps, some sisters in Bluffdale had been teaching him, then he moved down to Spanish Fork! He was baptized about a week after we met him.. but we really appreciate the sisters for so generously letting us have him. He was confirmed that Sunday in his Young single adult ward. Which also happened to be fast and testimony meeting. So, my companion and I went up to say a few words. This is sort of what I felt impressed to say. 

""As the young adults were passing the sacrament I thought abt the words in each of the prayers. And what I feel impressed to say to you as Young Adults, Return Missionaries, And Couples, If we were always remembering Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, we would always be talking about it. Just like any of you would always be talking about your favorite hobby. But it goes so much further than that, because, like your favorite hobby you are always desiring to improve upon or do it more. So how does that apply to our commitment with Jesus Christ? Well, we owe Jesus Christ that same dedication. He has given us life eternal, he has given us EVERYTHING. So question is, are you taking the sacrament with lightness and frivolity? Or are you REALLY covenanting to God that you will remember Jesus's name always? He should be our dedication, just like we our his."" I felt prompted to end it there. I don't know if I really changed anyone's thoughts or desires to be more committed to Jesus, but I said what God wanted me to. Cool thing was, I was completely comfortable going up there and being bold like that. Haha, I kind of liked it.

Then we went to go watch one of our recent converts participate in Baptisms for the dead! It was so cool. We were very happy for him. Then I got to be the voice for confirming him, it was a really neat experience all around. I love the real temple so much.

 But anyway. That was basically my week. 

Brothers and sisters, God Loves each one of us, he knows our situations, so please please please turn to him, let him guide you, let him love you. In this I solemnly bear testimony, and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Love Elder Minson

E's Baptism! Sorry about my weird smile.

Filling the font! Yay! Companionship unity

An Adorable blind dog at the members house for dinner on Thursday!
It was soo cute!

Week 13- Abnormally excessive quantities of precipitated snow.

Hi everyone! Holy Cow! The Snow Has Been Awesome!! Not to say that the work hasn't, but in Arizona we just don't get this beautiful fluffy white treat.  I hope everyone's weeks have been as awesomely snow-filled as mine, but for some reason I doubt it. Haha, to tell you the truth I don't think I'll ever get tired of the snow. The cold wet sock from stepping in knee high snow, I could probably go without. But I pray fervently every night that it will continue to snow. Heehee. It definitely provides for some solid service opportunities.  Utah county has gotten more snow this winter than any in like the past ten or twenty years.  (Lots of pictures below!)

The piled snow is at least 2 feet
taller than I am.

But ya, apart from the fantastic snowfall, the work has been going really well. God is blessing our area immensely, I'm very honored to be the overseer of the work in such a plentiful time. We have on
baptism date about 5 people for this month. 3 of which will happen this Saturday and next. We are soo so excited. Something else that has been pretty cool is there was church dedication for this Massive two chapel building. My companion and I sang in the choir, it was a really cool experience. But as for the building, It's HUGE, as mister trump would say. But no joke it is a gigantic building, it will house about 8 YSA wards in it each Sunday. Were soo happy that it finally opened because now
we'll be able to do more work in the YSA stake we cover.

At church this week we had about 8 of our investigators come to church on Sunday!!! It was soo coool!  Anyway, other that that not too much else happened this week, but it has been pretty fruitful. I know this church is true, keep on keeping on. I love you all very much!

Love,
Elder Minson

 "There are no such things as low points, they are called 'lessons from god'."

This cat was licking the heck out of my hair during a lesson. We had to
stop and take a picture!

A cool picture of the awesome icicles that form from melted snow on the roofs.

This is how Stinking Tall the Snow is!!!

THERE WERE ACTUAL SNOW FLAKES.
I liked it.

A cool picture of our car in the morning. The nights get around the
low tens and freeze the melting snow into cool patterns.

Week 12- Pray for patience, and God will listen

This week has been awesome! To start off it's snowing today. It's been snowing all night, and it going to snow all the rest of this week. The snow is awesome.

Now on a more spiritual note, I have learned so much this week, specifically about patience, submissiveness, and humility. Earlier in the week I was feeling like I wasn't progressing as fast as I could. So, I prayed for a test of my patience and humility.

Well I'm here to tell you that God answers prayers and very fast, too. God tested my patience hard-core. Before I share the experience, I've been reading a talk by Neil A Maxwell about submissiveness, and I came up with this awesome quote about patience and submissiveness.  

"Patience goes right along with humility and submissiveness. When you are humble and submissive, and your patience is tested then you'll be able to suffer it long. You will realize that the test is only for your good and you will welcome it gladly into your life. From there you will learn ten times more from it. Now let's say you weren't humble or submissive. Then your patience lasts for 2 seconds as you start to question why something bad could ever happen to you. And why you should let it happen to you. Then you'll be less submitted to learning from it and more determined to fix the superficial problem while a life long lesson waits patiently yet needlessly to be found."

Anyway God tested my patience. That was New Year's Eve.

Because I'd been thinking about it beforehand I was more prepared for it, and much more able to learn from it. It's been an awesome experience. Now on to how he tested my humility. At about 10 o'clock New Year's Eve night, we got a call from a frantic ward mission leader about the next Sunday morning. The bishop had thought it was fast Sunday so he didn't schedule any speakers. When he found out it was a normal Sunday he had the great idea call on the missionaries to give talks. If any of you know me, you know that I'm really not a great on the spot speaker.

So grudgingly I excepted the call to speak. Through the night I realized I really wasn't being submissive so I change my mindset and had a willing heart. But just cause I was willing doesn't mean that I was humble. I was excited to get up on the pulpit and make everyone in the crowd weep. That didn't really happen. This was the humbling experience that God had in store for me. Let me tell you, it worked. If you were in the audience while I was speaking you probably would've cringed. That's how bad it was. But tell me a lot about self-confidence and now I'm more humble.

I little while later that Sunday I was in sort of a pity party, we were about to go into a lesson, when I remembered a fabulous talk by David A Bednar, called Character of Christ, he talks about how whenever something bad happened to Jesus Christ he would turn outward and he would help others. So it inspired me. I promised myself and God that the rest of the day, the rest of the week, rest of the year I would focus on others. My mission has been so much more fulfilling.

Annywho, that's about it folks. Any questions? 

I love each and every one of you.

Love,

 Elder Minson

 

 

 Us at the Payson temple last week!! It was very pretty

The Elders in our district right before we went caroling last Saturday.

A very pretty ice sculpture we found outside a house

 

Week 11

 It's the happiest time of the year!

This week has been rock on awesome! God is blessing us so much! After our 6 o'clock appointment on Wednesday which went fantastic, we were driving away when we saw a family with a trailer. They were moving, so we helped out a bit. Then the man brought out a motorcycle and started to drive it into the back of the trailer. When he was half way up the ramp slid out and fell to the ground. So my companion and I lifted the tail end up and pushed it the rest of the way in. The man was sooo glad that we were there to help. Then we went to some apartments and as we were walking to contact a referral we heard this weird whining noise. Turns out there was a man in a mustang stuck in his driveway on ice. His friend was trying to push him out with no avail, so we ran over and helped them out. Then we proceeded to contact the referral who wants to learn about baptism. And she gave us a referral to one of her friends. We contacted her to that night and she wants to learn about baptism too! They were both super excited. Man, when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are truly happy. I know that for a fact.

This week we also went to the Payson temple!! It was a very pretty temple, it looks a lot like the Gilbert temple on the outside. Then later that week we went caroling, me and my companion did it for a few of our investigators, and a few ward Mission leaders. Their reactions were soooo heart warming. I love people. We got a few tamales and some hot chocolate in return.

But yah other than that my week has been pretty awesome, The pictures are mainly of snow, but that's because there was almost a foot of it Christmas morning, and a foot and a half by mid day. It was ssooo thick that our car got stuck in it. But thank heavens I have boots. Anyway, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Minson

My zone at the Mission Christmas Party

Dinner appointment while on exchanges with Elder Agus

My Christmas Skype call home

The view from my front door

Christmas at the G's house.

This is how thick the snow was at the end of the day. That's our trash can

One of our awesome ward Mission leaders gave us chocolate.

It was snowing on the way to church.

Week 10

Hey everyone! This week has been pretty awesome! First off, we had a baptism! A young man named K. He is awesome. We are so glad we got to meet him. He got confirmed yesterday in church. Other than that, God has been very merciful and been blessing my companion and I so much. 

It has taught me so much about gratitude. 

So for Christmas we're are going to be primarily at a family named the G's. They have a son out on a mission, so I'm worried they are going to try their best to pamper us.. but i don't know. :)

Any way other than that. I rolled my ankle last Monday,  we were playing basketball and I jumped and landed on someone else's foot. So to protect his foot I tried to bend mine as I landed. But it didn't
really work. It hurt pretty bad. It has been getting better. It hurts just a little now. So I'm better. 

Ohh! And the SNOW!,! Has been AWESOME!!! Last Friday it was coming down in flakes about an inch and a half wide!! It was sooo fun. We went around and shoveled driveways and helped out some elderly people in the stake.  I loved it soooo much. It was so cool.

This is K! We are so excited for him.

At the G's for dinner last Pday

My Christmas card :)

Amazing icicles. I love Utah.

Week 9

On Friday night, I became a real missionary!! I had the opportunity to be bold and bear my testimony to some less active and nonmember door approaches.!! It was awesome, two of them rejected me pretty hard core. One of them practically shut the door as I was bearing testimony. In a polite manner. The other rolled his eyes whilst I was testifying. I felt pretty bad for them. I prayed and asked god to forgive them and help them to realize what they are missing out on in life. But yah, it was a great experience. It showed me that through God I can do tough and very scary things.

But other than that, the work is going GREAT!! The Lord is blessing our area soooo much! We have 6 people on date to be baptized this month and the next few. Man I'm so grateful for the spirit which has been touching our investigators lives. We actually have a baptism for K on the 17th. I'm so excited for him. He's a great kid.

But YAY, I'm not getting transferred. I love this area so much. Believe it or not this has to be my most favorite area so far 😉😁. But yup! The work goes well. I love it to death.

Any questions? 

Love, 

Elder Minson.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Haha, just a few fun moments from this past week. This Christmas tree is at the home ( more like mansion) of D. He's one of the YSA's we're teaching. And then that car is hilarious, me and my companion had a good laugh about the words on the back.

It says Mexican Pride :)

And there's the tree we got! I have not yet had the chance to put the
decor on it, but will tomorrow.

Me and some other elders at the Mission Conference.

This was a snow storm a little while back. I got soaked.