A Spooktacular Week

November 4, 2019

Yes, I did just say the most basic, overused Halloween pun in existence. Am I ashamed? Yes. But is it a fitting title? Sure.

For those of you who don't know, Halloween fell on the 31st this year, and so we had that this past week. It was a ton of fun. You see, almost every day of the year, missionaries around the world enjoy stopping by people's houses unannounced. However, there is one day of the year where the roles are reversed. On this day, normal every day people enjoy stopping by peoples houses unannounced, and the missionaries are asked to stay inside for the night because of safety reasons.

It was a fun day though. We had Zone Conference in the morning and afternoon, which was really good. And then we got back into town in time to go to Dollar General and drop $20 on snacks, before stopping by a Halloween party, before heading home for our fun evening indoors. 

Now for a couple spooky stories for this Halloween season:

Spooky Story #1:

The other night we decided to stop by someone's house. It was dark, and as we approached the house we saw lights on in the car, and we could see that they were in the car talking. So we did the sensible thing and walked up to the window and looked inside. They were deep in conversation and didn't notice the two dark figures standing out in the dark. And we didn't think to knock on the door, so Elder Fonnesbeck shined his flashlight in there, which got their attention. And to our surprise they started screaming! Then they realized it was the missionaries and they started laughing. But it was hilarious. Because we had no intention at all to scare them. But yeah we spooked 'em good.

 

Spooky Story #2:

It was a cold Halloween evening. The sun was just beginning to set on the lonely town of St. Johns. And as I said earlier we had stopped by Dollar General. Well when we were there someone stopped me and asked "Are you an actual missionary or are you a kid dressed up as one for Halloween?" It didn't have anything to do with anyone scaring anyone, but I will be haunted by this for the rest of my life so I'd say that that's a pretty spooky story.

Besides those terrifying events from the week, the rest of our week was really good too. 

We went out and found a whole bunch of houses we never knew existed. We saw Tyler again. We taught a kid named D.J. who wants to be baptized. We helped with wood. We helped move large rocks from someone's yard. And we did a lot of other things too. 

Another really cool thing from the week was talking to an older couple named the Summers, who have been learning about the Church for a little bit now. What was cool was how the husband was talking about coming to Sacrament meetings, which is the main meeting we have at church, and how every time he goes, he has a powerful experience of some kind where something is said or there's a line in a hymn, that's exactly what he needs to hear. And what I really got out of that is how every time we go to Church we have the opportunity to have amazing experiences that will help build our faith in Jesus Christ, and the Summers are a great example of being open to those experiences. Because as much as I wish that I could say I've had amazing powerful experiences at church every single time I've gone, that just wouldn't be true. And I think in those cases it had a lot to do with just me, not having my mind open to the experiences God had to give me. Because He always answers our prayers and He always is reaching out to us. But sometimes we just don't see it. And I know that attending Sacrament meeting is an amazing blessing in our lives if we open our minds to the experiences God has for us. Part of that is that we're able to gather together and learn from each other and help each other as we all work to grow our faith in Christ. And another part of that is that there is real power in being a part of the Sacrament ordinance, which is entirely here to help us grow closer to our Savior and strengthen our faith in Him, and to renew our commitment to follow Him, and to feel God's Spirit more abundantly in our lives. And that is something I know is real and is true and I am so grateful for it. 

Til next week everyone,

~Elder Oswald

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

October 28, 2019

We actually were back at the ranch!

You see, on Saturday we continued the project that we started a week previous, of helping someone put up barbed wire fence around their ranch. This took place in Concho, the land of dirt roads and pig riding, and the people we were with were mostly all a bunch of wise and experienced ranchers. And I learned so much. I never knew how much went into barbed wire fencing. You have to have corner posts, and you have to have smaller posts everywhere in between, and you have to string the barbed wire all the way down one side, and you have to tie the wire to each post, and you have to do that one strand at a time, for each strand in the fence, and you have to do all of that for each side of the fence too. Also, I learned that lunch is a very important part of a day at the ranch. One of the guys foolishly suggested that we eat in shifts, to which another guy said "No, when it's time for grub, we all eat together." And that's what we did.

Meanwhile, back at St. Johns, the missionary work is going really well. In addition to fence putting up, we did a lot of other service this week, everywhere from volunteering at the food bank, to hauling wood, to moving furniture, to helping build a house. 

Teaching has been going well also. I've talked about Ladonna before, she's doing really well and will be being baptized at the end of November. 

Tyler is also doing great still and he wants to be baptized so bad but he's still just waiting on that one thing. But he's awesome. He just has such a good positive attitude about it all. Fun fact, Tyler went to a high school rivaling the high school that LeBron James went to, at the same time as each other, and they actually played against each other in high school basketball. And I played against Tyler this week. Which means that I played basketball against someone who played basketball against LeBron James.

Something else exciting from the week is that there is a lady named Malena who has also been waiting on one thing before she could get baptized, and now that one thing is happening and she's getting baptized in November! She's been learning the Gospel and coming to church for like 5 years now, and she knows it all so well. So it's really exciting for her because she's been wanting to be baptized for a while now.

It's always just amazing to see the Lord's work happening around us. I see it all the time, but whenever miracles and things come out of nowhere like in Malena's example, and in the case of anyone who finds themselves ready to come closer to Jesus Christ and follow Him and be baptized, it's just another reminder of how it all is the Lord's work. And all the blessings and miracles and everything comes from Him. And it's just a joy to be a part of it all and to be made an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

I know that my testimony of Jesus Christ has grown and my knowledge and understanding of His Gospel has grown as well, as a direct result of the experiences He has blessed me with and the people I've been able to meet. I know that Jesus Christ does live and His Gospel is true. And this truth blesses our lives so much more than we can imagine, and it allows us to find all the purpose and meaning and happiness in life that we could ever search for.

Well, that's what I've got for you today. I wish you all the best.

Til next email,


~Elder Oswald

An Arizona Elder

Of Pigs, Prayer, and Pitbulls

October 21, 2019

There you were, casually checking your email. When all of a sudden, the page refreshed and you see a new email, a moderately clever title, and it misleadingly says it's from someone named Amy. "Could it be?" You ask.

It could. And it be. 

Your weekly email is here.

It was a great week here in St. Johns. 

I rode a 1200 pound pig named Wilbur this week. I just wanted to say that right off the bat cause that was awesome. I'll send a picture, even though it doesn't do it justice.

Let's see what else is new. We also had a shotgun pulled on us this week. That was exciting. We were trying to find someone and that happened. So you can bet we booked it out of that drive way as fast as we could, after completing a 3 point turn of course. 

And I think that's all I have for random stuff from the week. 

Now, sit back and relax, because I have a story.

So when I was on exchanges with Elder Wilhelmsen a couple weeks ago we were trying to track down a referral for someone we could teach. It began a couple nights earlier with a member telling them that they knew someone who knew someone who wanted to be taught. We didn't know the person's name though. So we first went to that first member and figured out the name of the person they knew. Her name is Debra. So we went and found Debra who is also a member. And sure enough, Debra had a friend who she said has a lot of interest in the Church. And her name is Carol. Unfortunately Debra didn't know Carol's address, so she gave us some directions with some landmarks that would help us locate her house. Except for they were the most unhelpful directions ever. She said "Go out this exit here, then go straight until you come to a street on the right, and you'll take that first right and then it's the second or third house on the left." She then told us that we couldn't miss it because it has a white pickup in front, some dark colored cars, and a "mother of pearl" colored car whatever that means. She said it also has a fence with pit bulls inside, and that "they look mean but they're actually really friendly." 

So we set off on our bikes, since we were riding bikes that day, and we followed the directions perfectly. The only problem was that there was only one house on the left and it didn't fit all the other landmarks aside from the white pickup. We reasoned however that over half the landmarks were relative since cars move and we don't know what mother of pearl means. So we tried a couple different houses around that we thought possibly could be it. They weren't. It just turns out that everyone in St. Johns owns a white pickup. So after a little bit more biking around and looking around, we decided to go back to the first member and see if they knew where Carol lived because we didn't want to tell Debra that her directions didn't make sense. So we went back, and they told us that they know Carol, but they don't know where she lives. So they called Debra and said that the missionaries couldn't find Carol and they asked for better directions. So finally we had some new directions. And we realized that apparently by "take the first right" Debra actually meant "take the second right." Silly us for not figuring that out. The new directions were pretty much the same except they included some other helpful hints such as "it's near the burnt out trailer" which didn't exist and "past where the old barn used to be" nevermind that we don't know where the old barn used to be since it isn't there now. 

Finally, after following the new directions, we came to a house that we thought must be it. The white pickup wasn't there, but there was a car of indeterminate color which I now have to assume is "mother of pearl," and there were also three mean looking pit bulls. But we now faced a new dilemma: The one and only door to the house was inside the fence in which the bloodthirsty pit bulls roamed. As scary as they looked though, I trusted Debra's assurance that they are in reality friendly. So with a stupid amount of courage, I approached the gate. One of the pitbulls approached the gate as well, barking angrily in defense. And I then began reaching to open the gate, the gate that would release those bloodthirsty monsters, when I thought to stick my hand in first to see if the pitbull would sniff it and become friendly. So I did that. And as soon as I did so the pitbull lept up with its terrifying teeth bared in an attempt to eat my hand. Luckily, gratefully, thankfully, I pulled my hand back in time to not lose it forever to that terrifying beast. 

At that point we decided to not open the gate. 

As we were walking away a guy came out of the house telling us not to mess with the dogs because they're dangerous. We also recognized him as the guy who works at Subway who I used to think was cool. We asked him if Carol lived there and he was like "She's not home" and paused before saying "she actually lives down the street" completely contradicting himself. 

So then we went across the street to some members to see if they knew their neighbors. And sure enough, Carol lives in that house with the pitbulls and so now we know for sure that that guy was lying through his deceitful little Subway worker teeth.

Those members also informed us that we should not under any circumstances open the gate with the pitbulls and that we should just knock on the side of the house if we really needed to because those dogs "will literally tear you apart and eat you." 

So I was glad to hear that after having been a split second away from opening that gate and bravely waltzing in to meet my complete and utter death. 

The day ended only 30 minutes later when after a tragic decision to run home real quick so Elder Wilhelmsen could properly get rid of a tiny yet destructive hang nail, the derailer on his bike broke off and went through his spokes causing him to be thrown off his bike as we were going super fast down a hill. He's okay but we were in the rest of the night due to his injuries. 

And that is the story. 

And now here I am, writing this email with both of my hands. 

It is about time for me to scedaddle, but I wanted to quickly share a little something about prayer because I was thinking about that. 

There's a scripture which says:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

I've learned a lot about prayer recently. And there's so much to say but not enough time to say it all. So I just want to say that I know that God is our Father, and that He really does love us. And He does hear and answer our prayers. I have learned that these things are true as I have prayed about them to really seek that "wisdom" for myself. We can't do that without faith however. The scripture continues:

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

I know that as we pray with faith and with "real intent" like the Book of Mormon talks about, we will find answers to our prayers. Sometimes the answers are more spectacular than others. But when we have faith in Christ our minds can be opened to all the miracles and answers to prayers that we might not otherwise realize. And as we keep that pattern of prayer going every day, we will continue to have experiences and miracles that will strengthen our faith more than we can imagine. I know that God has things for us to learn and experiences for us to have if only we just ask. And those things will bless our lives so much.

Til next week,

~Elder Oswald

P.S. - I just want you to think about this again: 

I ALMOST LOST MY HAND!!!!! Literally centimeters away from having it eaten off by a ferocious dog.

Okay I'm done. 

P.S.S. -Pictures

1. Wilbur the 1200 pound pig 

2. Taming Wilbur

3. Some dang good Root Beer

4. What do you do when a little girl invites you to her birthday party? You show up at her party!

How Much Wood Would an Elder Chuck if an Elder Could Chuck Wood?

October 14, 2019

An Elder would chuck all the wood he could chuck, if an Elder could chuck wood. 

Now, I don't know the exact definition of the word "chuck" that the original tongue twister originally intended, but in this case I mean "chuck" as in "throw with vigor." 

And I have learned that we definitely can chuck wood. I'll attach a picture to prove it. 

Here in St. Johns, firewood is a necessary part of staying warm in the winter for most people. And a necessary part of obtaining firewood, is cutting down trees. So we went with someone this week to help them with that. We aren't allowed to use chainsaws though and so we didn't help with the actual cutting down trees part. But we did help with lifting and loading and stacking and of course, chucking wood. 

That day was crazy though, because it was cold. In Arizona. So cold that I had to wear a jacket. In fact when we woke up it was 18 degrees. 

I certainly am not in the valley anymore, that's for sure. 

Anyhow, it has been a great week. Transfers is also tomorrow. And our transfer news is:

We're all staying! No changes in St. Johns. 

Now, I have an exciting and humorous story to share with you all. 

Just kidding. I have sadly run out of time, and so I will keep you in suspense until next week. 

I have to go but I just want to say before I do so, that I have learned more than ever how we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, and that we have a Savior who has made it possible for us to find strength over our weaknesses and find peace and lasting happiness in our lives. I've had answers to prayers and amazing experiences throughout my mission, but most recently this last week. I know Christ's Gospel is true and we will find so many blessings as we strive every day to live it. 

I hope you guys have another great week!

~Elder Oswald 

P.S. - Pictures 

1. Wood being chucked

Physically Fed, Spiritually Nourished

October 7, 2019

So I don't know if I've said this before, but people here give us so much food. It's to the point where we're constantly full, anywhere we go people offer us food and we can't turn it down of course. An example is Saturday, we just finished eating junk food at someone's house so we weren't even hungry, then we went to our dinner appointment where we ate homemade Chinese food which was interesting, then they of course gave us a huge slice of cake. Then after a conversation about how Elder Fonnesbeck felt like throwing up, we stopped by another members house to check on them, and they were like, "You're just in time for dinner" and they had made their famous macaroni and cheese which I had heard so much about, and so we had to have some.

Things like that happen every day which is kind of awesome, cause I love eating food. Unfortunately, although I have been well fed, I haven't been well nourished. 

It has been a great week here in the fun little town of St. Johns. A lot has happened, but I don't think that those things fully deserve their own paragraph, and so I'll just make a little list of some random things from the week:

1. We picked apples from an apple tree (I'll include a picture)

2. A kid came up to me and said "You look like a kid" and walked away. 

3. We had our interviews with President and Sister Cox which was fun

4. I met two different girls with the name Kendall 

5. We helped build a She Shed

6. We still don't really know what a She Shed is

7. It was Surf N Turf day on Thursday at the Sugar Shack, our favorite restaraunt, and so we had a delicious meal there

We also went on exchanges with the other Elders one day, and we did some service for a lady named Grandma Barbara. And she was having us do the most random things. One of them was that she had these open containers of dirty water, and then she had a large bin of dirty water that had a lid on it. She took the lid off, and then directed us to take the smaller containers and pour them in the big bin without stirring up the dirt or getting the dirt in the big bin, even though there's already dirt in the big bin. And if we did it wrong she got after us. Eventually we had successfully transferred the dirty water into a bigger container of dirty water and we still don't know why. She was a funny lady though. I don't remember how it led up to this, but as she was rambling on she eventually started talking about her childhood. And she was like, "Did you boys grow up on a farm? Raise pigs?" We said no and she paused, probably disappointedly, before continuing. "Well when we raised pigs we didn't waste anything. We used everything on the pig, the skin, the hooves. The only thing we didn't use was the oink--we couldn't figure out how to bottle it." 

Anyway though, it was a good week. General Conference was this weekend, which is where twice a year the leaders of the Church pretty much give sermons like we hear in Church except it's broadcast all throughout the world in a whole bunch of different languages so everyone can hear. And it's just really awesome because we are able to hear from the current apostles and prophet and other church leaders to be able to gain insights from them, and be able to have guidance and inspiration from them, that is ultimately from the Lord. I've talked about it before how Jesus Christ's Church has been restored, and along with that, the organization that He established has been brought back as well, that being apostles and prophets who serve the Lord and help run His Church. And that is something I have really come to know myself, is that God does speak to prophets today just like He did in the Bible times. And the messages which we hear from the modern day apostles and prophets are inspired to help us strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and to comfort us and to help us learn and to help us with whatever we need at the moment. I personally had a couple questions I had been praying about before the Conference started, and as people spoke and I was able to feel the Spirit, I was able to get answers to those questions. And it wasn't really what they said exactly that directly answered my questions, but it was things they said that helped give me more insight and triggered thoughts of other things, and I was able to be personally taught things that I needed by the Spirit. Because that is the most important thing, that we learn things on a personal level and grow our faith in Christ on a personal level. And one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and so that's what I mean when I say the Spirit can teach us things. He can help us feel the truthfulness  of things, and open our minds to understanding things.  And its important for everyone to learn how to receive that kind of personal revelation, which just so happened to be something that speakers at General Conference talked about.

I'm grateful for the restored Church of Jesus Christ with the modern day revelation from God through modern day apostles and prophets who teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful for that Gospel of Jesus Christ which has been restored in all of its fullness and clarity so that we can fully experience all of the blessings of peace and joy that our Savior has made possible for us to have. And along with that and most importantly, I am grateful for my Savior and the testimony I have of Him. I know He lives and loves us and I've come to know that by living His Gospel of having faith in Him, making changes in my life to follow Him better, and by making covenants or promises with God and striving to live them all throughout my life. When we do these things and "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" then we "shall have eternal life." And that's the most joyful part of all of it, that one day, because of Jesus Christ, we can live with our families forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week. Til next time,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Pictures

1. How do ya like them apples?

2. Me looking extra like a 12 year old with Tyler and the other Elders

The Grass is Always Greener when you Spray Paint it

Septempber 30, 2019

Hello everyone!

It's been another fantastic week here in St. Johns, Arizona. I will warn you though, this email is going to be unusually short.

So we were doing some service for some people the other day, and it was a whole lot of random jobs pretty much just taking care of their backyard getting ready for a wedding reception that would be hosted there. And one of the jobs was the most redneck thing I've ever done. You see, their lawn had a ton of brownish reddish spots all over, and they wanted it green, and so they had us take green spray paint and spray the lawn. Unfortunately they bought like this really dark forest green and it didn't match at all. But it was a lot of fun though. Who knew there was such a simple way of getting green grass? 

So we began teaching someone named Ladonna. Her husband is a member, his name is Trent. And Trent's mom is really close to Ladonna and had told us that she was expressing interest in being baptized. We weren't gonna try and push or anything though and we figured she'd talk to us when she was ready. Well we just went by for a quick visit one night with the intent of sharing an uplifting message about Jesus Christ with them, cause that's what we do. And that's what we did, and we were about to say a prayer and leave when they said "we actually have something we wanted to tell you, she wants to get baptized." And so we talked about that with them and we started teaching her this week. She has a pretty good background with the Gospel, and has already learned a lot from the family she married into and she is very accepting of what we teach. So that's exciting for her and her family.

That's something I love is that the Gospel can really bring families closer together. And that's such an important part of God's plan for us and I've seen that a lot on my mission, that God really does love and care about each of us, and that the joy we can experience in families is meant to last forever, and we can be with our families forever because of Jesus Christ. I know this is true. I pray that we all can come to know our Heavenly Father's love more and gain a deeper understanding of the purpose and joy that we can have in our lives.

Well, it's time for me to make like a salt shaker and dash, but I hope that you all have a great week.

Til I write again,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Pictures 

1. The Wild West

2. Donkey Selfie

3. When you're making pancakes while thinking of home

A Hole Lot of Fun

September 23, 2019

There are many differences between St. Johns and Scottsdale that many might consider to be astronomical. For instance, there are significantly less people here, and the roads are significantly less busy. There are also significantly more trees and significantly more farms and ranches. It is also significantly higher in elevation and therefore there is significantly more lower temperatures. The most literally astronomical difference however is that because of the significant lack of light pollution here, you can see the stars way better. 

This week was really good. I'll make a quick recap of some of the events from the week:

-We went to a block party and talked to a hitchhiker

-We helped at the food bank

-We got food poisoning low key

-We visited with a ton of people as usual

Now, Saturday was quite eventful. I've explained it before I believe, but we have as a part of our area, a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere both on the east and on the west of St. Johns. To the west is Concho, where we have a small congregation. And to the east is a power plant and "the forties" which is a whole bunch of forty acre plots of land that people own. And a little ways north is called the "witch wells" which is similar to the forties except for its apparently more dangerous and we're not supposed to go there without someone going with us who knows the area. Anyhow, now that you have that background, I can tell this story:

So we got a text from a lady a while ago asking us to help her with stuff on Saturday. She isn't a member of the church but she is friends with one of the members and that's how she knew to contact us for service. So Saturday came, and we followed her directions to her property. And her property is in the aforementioned Forties to the east of St. Johns. And this was farther into the middle of nowhere than I've ever been in my life. It was crazy. But anyway, we get to her 100 acre ranch (she owns more than the typical forty acres) and she explained to us that she wants us to put in a septic tank for one of her trailer homes. And it was surprisingly simple instructions: dig a hole, put the 55 gallon plastic drum in the hole, and cut a hole in the top of it. But digging the hole was way harder than I expected, for in my experience with hole digging, it always took place in the soft layer of topsoil of my vegetable garden in Michigan, and it only went about a foot deep, and I was 10. In this case however, the dirt was dry and hard, and we had to get it big enough to fit a 55 gallon drum, but even worse was that it was mostly hardened clay that we were digging through, which is pretty much just a step below trying to dig through concrete. It was challenging, but we did it and it only took 3 hours and a few sore muscles. It was just like that movie Holes, except for we only had to dig one hole and we never discovered an intriguing plot about hidden treasure or our ancestors stealing pigs from each other. 

The lady, who we'll call Valerie, she also prepared lunch for us which was super nice. And she also invited all her "neighbors" over for lunch. I say neighbors in quotations because I'm used to that being a word which means a person living close by, and they don't actually live close to her, they're just the closest people that live to her. They still hang out all the time though I guess. The first to arrive were the two identical looking men who introduced themselves as "Dave and Dave." They were the same height, had the same work boots, the same blue jeans, the same bushy gray beards, and the same "Trump 2020" hats. The only distinctions were that the first Dave had sunglasses and a green sweatshirt and the second Dave had normal glasses and a green jacket. The rest of the neighbors that came were pretty normal. There was the older single guy, the middle aged single guy, and the older married couple. It was fun to have lunch with them. However the conversation soon became very political, and as missionaries we are supposed to remain politically neutral, so we did our best just to nod our heads, except for at that point we ourselves were wearing Trump hats since they were given to us to protect us from the sun while digging the hole, and so I'm not actually sure how successful we were at appearing politically neutral. 

But after that, we were taken to the top of her property where she showed us all the pottery shards from the Anasazi Native American tribe that once lived there and we got to collect some. So that was cool. Then she took us to where she thought were some Anasazi cave drawings except for she couldn't find them. 

But yeah, that was our fun adventure on Saturday. 

Well I'm gonna have to get going, but I spoke at Church yesterday and I wanted to share with you now, one of the scriptures I shared then. It's in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

I love this scripture because it is very simple and straightforward. And I know it's true. I know that whatever we've done, we can be forgiven. Through Jesus Christ we can become clean and we can have peace and we can be happy. I love this knowledge I have about the Savior and His Gospel, and I love continuing to learn about it and I love teaching others about it as well.

I hope you all have an enjoyable week!

Cordially,

~Elder Oswald