Ready for Christmas and another investigator on date!

Weekly Email

Ready for Christmas! Love that he is wearing his late Grandpa Hutchens Christmas tie :)

How is everyone? It's been a great week. Transfer calls were last night Elder Ault and I are staying together for another transfer and are keeping the same wards. Only two people in the whole zone are getting transferred so things are staying the same for the most part. Glad you guys got Skype set up, we have had a bunch of members offer to have over for calls not sure on the exact time though, will let you know next Monday for sure. This week we had some great teaching. We had a good lesson with D--, brother Malupo was able to come. Brother Malupo is awesome, he is from Tonga and was a Stake President there. He is so smart with the scriptures and has an amazing testimony, reminds me a lot of President Wood. D-- has a hard time with accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet but he accepted the challenge to read out of the Book of Mormon daily. We are excited for him, great guy. We had an awesome lesson with E--- at the Murphy's. He is on date for the 21st! He is facing a lot of trials at the moment, his wife left him because he is getting baptized but he feels that it is more than worth it. His faith really is an example to me. Brother Murphy is so awesome too, probably the best member missionary in either of our wards and he speaks Portuguese, haha, so I am able to freshen up when we go over. We went over there to talk about E--- and he gave us these awesome charts that he made on his mission to explain the apostasy and other things. T--- is doing great, we are going to the Mesa Temple Christmas lights on Friday with his family. I can't wait for you guys to get to know him and his amazing family. We had a super lesson with K-- this week, the Lutheran. Elder Vanderpool, the housing coordinator for the mission, was able to come. He is a convert, so he was able to explain to K-- the apostasy really well and how he gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She totally would be baptized if her husband would let her.  
Can't wait to talk to you guys on Christmas!!! 
Love you guys!!!

Love,

Nate 

Someone was at the Stake Center giving the elders haircuts so his is super short again!

"We played archery tag in the gym, it was so fun! It's like paintball with a bow and arrow."
A little p-day fun!

Stake Conference and getting ready for Christmas!

Weekly Email

How is everyone in the family doing? This week has been great, very busy. A member brought us a real Christmas tree, as you can see from the pictures. I can't believe it is that time already. I got the Christmas package this week, thanks so much for all of the gifts. Christmas will be an awesome day. We had some great teaching opportunities this week. We were able to contact a media referral named M---, and taught him the restoration. It went well but he is headed out of town for the holiday so it'll be some time before we can see him again. We have met quite a bit this week with the 
C---'s, a part member family, found out the dad's concern from being baptized is that he doesn't know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. That will be easy to solve once we can get him to read the Book of Mormon. They are a really nice family, the wife speaks Portuguese too. T--- is awesome as always, getting things lined up to get the Priesthood in the next week or so. He has been really busy lately working full time and being in school, I admire his hard work. Stake Conference was this week, it was really great. President Nattress and his wife both spoke, it's always great to hear from him. We helped quite a bit with the set up for conference. The stake is massive, so they had it broadcasted to all of the buildings around so everyone can attend. One of the people we have been teaching, G---, has the calling of Stake technology specialist. He is the guy who teaches us guitar on p-days. We have been going through the lessons with him because he wants a stronger testimony before he goes through the temple. He is an awesome guy, between helping him out with the media stuff, teaching him, or him is teaching us on p-day, we see him really often. The pictures of the garden and yard are of the Schoenburg's. They are an older couple in our ward that we help out about once a week. Brother Schoenburg is recovering from a broken ankle and they have a huge yard so there is always something to do. We have still been doing several temple presentations, more and more with nonmembers. It's such an awesome finding tool. Transfer calls are already less than a week away, which blows my mind, can't believe it. I really hope I don't leave the area. We have a lot of potential for next week, a few appointments with potentials that could hopefully turn out really well. I forgot the Christmas tie so I'll get a picture this week with it some time. (a request from mom for our family Christmas photo card) It's been really cold here believe it or not, in the 40's. Didn't know it got this cold here. It's nice compared to the summer but can be a bit chilly on bikes, haha. Another awesome thing about AZ is there are orange trees here literally everywhere and right now they are all ripe so I have had more oranges than I ever had before, they are so good, haha. Love and miss you guys!!!! Take Care

Love

Elder Mountain

View from handlebars of bike.

Yard where he does lots of service. Beautiful!

4 Thanksgiving dinners for our missionary :)

Weekly Email

Elder Nate Mountain and companion, Elder Ault

Hey family how is everyone doing? This week has been awesome. The members here spoiled us for Thanksgiving, we had four dinners, haha, and they all sent us home with some more food. It was some good stuff. One of the dinners we had was with the Vanderpool's, the housing coordinators for the mission, we are over there quite a bit helping them out. They had 9 of their 11 kids there and a million grandkids running around. It felt just like a Hutchens Thanksgiving, haha. They are some great people, really have loved getting to know them. Elder Vanderpool was a carpenter for his occupation, reminds me a lot of Pa. (Dad) We also had a Hispanic and a Samoan Thanksgiving, that was sure interesting but delicious. We had some great teaching experiences this week. Had a good second lesson with J----, the Buddhist. It's all so new to him but he says he loves the way he feels when he prays to Heavenly Father and he wants more of that. Next step will be getting him to church. We hope to take him to a church tour on Tuesday. We picked up an investigator named S-----, we helped her put up christmas lights and she invited us back on Wednesday, we really hope that goes well. We also have a return appointment with a guy named M---, who we met two weeks ago but was going out of town, so it's a big week, could lead to a lot of success, we are super excited. We are still doing quite a bit of the Temple presentations to the members, getting them excited about inviting their friends. It has been great and we are starting to see the results. Last night a family in one of our wards invited us over to show the presentation to one of their friends from work. Turns out their friend has already read the Book of Mormon twice and wants to start the lessons this week, talk about a golden referral. He knows that it's true already and all we have to do is fill in the details. This week we had a great lesson with K--, who is Lutheran. We went over to show her the temple presentation but ended up being there an hour and a half answering her questions and concerns. We had a 17 year old priest with us who was baptized about a year ago, he bore an amazing testimony. It was amazing how everything worked out in that lesson, ended up finding out what her concern for being baptized is, now we just have to work on that. T--- is doing great, he missed church because his family caught the throw up bug, no fun at all. Hope they are feeling better. Earlier in the week we met with him with the Thompson's, the senior couple in the zone who is in charge of family history and they set up a family search account and taught about family history. It's been a packed week. Time seriously needs to slow down its can't be December already, it's crazy. Love and miss you guys!!!! Feel better Ma, you're in my prayers.

Love

Elder Mountain

Elder Mountain with a fellow missionary and roommate, Elder Whitecar

 

"The work is going strong and we are busy and happy and tired as ever, haha. Loving every minute of it!"

Weekly Email



Email picture we received from an awesome family in Gilbert!
Thanks for feeding our missionary!

Hey family, great to hear from ya, hope you all are doing well! Another great week in the books already. Time is going by too fast. This week was crazy weather wise, it rained for 3 days and was in the 50s, felt like winter in Georgia, sort of. It was the first rain here in months. This week had some awesomeee teaching. We almost got those 20 lessons we have been trying to reach. I think this week we can do it. We taught S----- and her family quite a bit. Trying our best to get them to church, they didn't make it this Sunday but we hope this week they can. Had some great lessons with them, mainly about the Plan of Salvation. (where we lived before this life, our purpose during this life and where we go after this life) We were super busy this week with several temple presentations. Those have been so awesome, great idea by the mission President. It gets the members excited to talk about the open house and has led to several referrals, and it gets nonmembers excited to see the temple when the time comes. We met with T--- twice this week, explained to him what family history is and how he can go to the temple for his family, it happened to be the lesson for priesthood as well. He and his wife are doing great. W----- his son had a surgery on his foot this week so we gave him a blessing before, and was able to facetime with him for a few minutes at T---'s house, I love that kid. J---- their daughter is also progressing, she will be in town most of this week so I'm sure we will be over there often teaching the family. We have a lesson tonight with J----, the Buddhist from Vietnam, which I am really excited for. It is a whole different teaching experience, it is really interesting. Last week we were able to show the temple presentation to 4 business partners of a member in our ward visiting from Malaysia. That was so awesome, they were the funniest and friendliest people. They left back for Malaysia this week so they won't be here for the open house unfortunately but that was an awesome experience. The wards here are so nice to us, we have had probably 10 people call us and insist we come over for Thanksgiving, haha. (makes Mama happy!) It's a normal day for us so we will be eating one dinner then be out as normal for the rest of the day. We had a great lesson with Brother H----- this week, the guy who taught us how to play 'I am a Child of God' on the guitar. (first we heard of the guitar playing) He really is awesome, he is so open with us I already have seen his faith  and testimony grow. I think his testimony is stronger than he thinks it is. We had a member of the seventy, Elder Porter come spreak to us this week for a mission tour, that was really neat. He spoke on the gospel of Christ and how simple it is if you look at it one way but how deep and complex it is if you look at it in a another way. It was interesting for sure. We were able to pick up two new investigators this week, man they have the most interesting story (they are descendants of Heber C Kimball, but their relatives moved to Brazil to get away from the church but they arent sure why, and are really interested in learning more, and they speak Portuguese!). Awesome people. Their son, who is 11, was baptized about a year ago. Anyways, the work is going strong and we are busy and happy and tired as ever, haha. Loving every minute of it!

Love you guys!

Nate

ps. finally got my hands on some boiled peanuts the other day, haha (boiled peanuts in AZ!?!?!)    

 

Weekly Email

 

T---'s baptism!!!

Man this week was awesome!!! So many miracles happened. T---'s baptism was this week, as you guys know. It went amazing, the ward supported it better than we could have imagined (they are an awesome ward, feels like a family). The Spirit was super strong, and there were some nonmembers that attended including T---'s nephew and his girlfriend. I had the opportunity to baptize T---, man that was quite the experience, hard to describe. I felt so happy for him and his family, so excited for what is next for him, and the Spirit was so strong you, could cut it with a knife. He is going to be a friend for life, for sure. I can't wait until the day when you can meet him. My new companion is Elder Ault, he is from Pittsburg, but he was born in Taiwan. He speaks fluent Chinese, which is so cool. I have had him speak it to me and man it sounds like an alien language, crazy. He has been out 9 months. A very quiet guy but hard working. This transfer will be awesome with him. We are still living with Elder Whitecar and Wilson, they are great elders, really funny too. We had the experience of teaching a guy named J---- this week who was Buddhist. We helped him out moving some furniture in his driveway then he invited us back, turned out he has just moved from Vietnam not too long ago, his English is really good considering. He didn't know what the Bible is or who Jesus Christ is or anything, so we taught from the start like you do with kids. He loved it all. He said his first prayer in the lesson and he said, 'why do i feel happy?' well, we can tell you, haha! I can't wait to meet with him again. We had a great lesson with S----- and her family. It happened to also be about prayer. M------, the son, said his first prayer and he really lit up, so did his mom S-----. It was the first lesson with them that we knew for sure that they all felt the Spirit, we have high hopes for them. I can't imagine going through life without prayer, seeing people experience it for the first time definitely has given me perspective. It is such a blessing. We have been crazy busy this week showing our quick Temple presentation to members of the ward. It has been pretty successful, at the very least we get to know the members but they are really getting excited about missionary work and the Temple. It's awesome to be a part of.

Love you guys!!! Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Mountain

 

S----- and family.

Sharing a message with Yoda :)

 

Looks like a great bunch of missionaries!

Elder Mountain loves this family!

 

 

Baptisms!!!

Weekly Email



J---'s baptism day.

How are you guys? Happy bday Pa!!! I hope you had a great day yesterday!
It has been an amazing week, best so far. We had two baptisms on Saturday, which was so awesome. A missionary's payday. A----, the 8 year old whose mother is a nonmember that we have been teaching, was baptized. He is so smart for his age. I loved teaching him, I hope I have the opportunity to teach children more. They just soak up everything like a sponge. J---- was also baptized, who we taught in the beginning of the transfer for 3 weeks or so. He was transitioned into his home ward, and the missionaries in that ward finished up the teaching. He really loves the church, his parents who both are not members talked on and on about all of the positive changes that is has brought into their families life. Great people. The baptisms went super nice, as they all do. T--- is super pumped for his baptism, he surprised us in a lesson this week and through his coffee maker in the trash, now that was an awesome moment. That's T--- for you. He wakes up at 2am every day to work and has drank his coffee for 20 years but just gave it up like that. His faith really is amazing. I feel like I learn so much when we talk. You guys have got to meet him and his family one day. We told him that day that he needs to decide who preforms the baptism and gives the talks and all. So this week while we were doing some service he gave us a call and he asked me to baptize him. Man I can't describe how that felt. Some one wants me to baptize them, its so humbling. I was so excited and anxious and humbled, all at the same time. He is so amazing. We had so many great experiences this week. We have been visiting the P------ family often. They are grandparents that take care of their two grand kids, and their son (the dad) is starting to turn things around in his life to be a part of their lives. We stopped by one night and the whole family was home including the dad J----. We shared a quick thought for the kids (they are 9 and 4), then the dad J---- asked on our way out if I could give him a blessing with Elder Davis. It was the first blessing I had given out in the field. I was really nervous but that was the most spiritual moment I have had, it was very touching. I felt so much love for the guy and the love the Lord has for him. I have really grown close to that family. Oh transfers, I completely forgot. I am staying in the area but Elder Davis is heading somewhere else. I am so happy that I am staying here I absolutely love these two wards but it's sad to see Elder Davis go, I hope the best for him. I'll find out on Wednesday who my companion will be. I think it's gonna be another VISA waiter, it's exciting. It's been such an awesome week. I am having the time of my life for sure!
love you guys! Happy bday Pa!

Love,

Elder Mountain

 

 

Teaching & Service

Weekly Email


Rae looked at this picture when he sent it via email and said, "He looks soooooo happy!" I told Nate and he replied, "Haha, yeah, missionary work is awesome!!!!"

Hey family how are you guys? Looks like you guys had fun on Halloween! The costumes look awesome. As you would imagine, our Halloween was a little different. The first half of the day we had a mission wide meeting with the mission president to receive more training about presenting the temple to members and their friends, then in the evening our zone went over to the high councilman's house, who is over missionary work for the stake, to eat dinner and then watch a movie called Ephraim's Rescue. The movie was about the same story as 17 Miracles but from a different person's point of view, it was super good. Great movie, probably one of the only ones I will see on the mission, haha. It was the high councilman's wife who sent you a picture of our zone. (She also sent the sweetest text concerning Nate: "Your son is extra special. He is seriously the most amazing missionary. He has many special gifts. You should feel very blessed to have him for your son. The whole ward loves him." What a gift to receive such kind words from a complete stranger.)  This week was awesome, got a lot of teaching in. Still striving for the 21 lessons but we are getting closer. T--- and A---- and their family are doing great. T--- is super ready to be baptized, the last lesson we had with them we went over the baptismal interview questions and he knocked them out of the park, haha. A--- bought him his own set of scriptures this week as well, which was super nice. She is doing really well, she met with the bishop this sunday. It's so easy to see the changes just by looking at them in their eyes, the Spirit is just radiating from them. We are over there teaching really often, we taught 4 times this week, I love it. We had two good lessons with C-----, who has a son who just left on a mission to Chile. Last lesson we read 3 Nephi 11 with him and it was pretty powerful. We weren't able to get S----- and her family to church but we have had lessons with them, fellowship is going to be the key I think. We had the opportunity to do a lot of service this week, which I love to do, nice to get dirty, haha. For Sis S--------- we built a path out of pavers by this irrigation canal/creek thing. I felt like I was back at the creek with Ali, Rae and Solo, haha. (We have a creek in our woods and Nate spent many days playing with the kiddos down there :) We also do quite a bit with Elder and Sister Vanderpool, who are the housing coordinators and live in our ward. They always have some couches and chairs and stuff that need to be moved. Elder Vanderpool reminds me a lot of Pa (Dad), was a carpenter his whole life as well, and the things he says. Transfers are coming up again already. I'm really curious as to what will happen. The slim chance that I get my visa before transfers or if I or Elder Davis may be moved into a new area, we will see. I hope I stay in these wards if my visa doesn't come, I love love love these wards and the people we are teaching. The wards we cover make us feel like we are a part of the ward. I have been amazed of how open people are with missionaries. We just are 19 year old kids haha, but they open up about everything, their life, their hardships, their testimony. It's very humbling. Time is flying by, I can't believe its week 6 of the transfer already.  love you guys!!!!

 love

Elder Mountain

 

Included in his email to me (Deb): "The week was awesome, great teaching. T--- is so excited to be baptized. There really is no greater joy than seeing people change because of the gospel. You can see it in their eyes. The Spirit just pours from them, it's amazing. Teaching T--- alone would make these 2 years worth it."

Miracle fellowshipper and getting excited for the Gilbert Temple

Weekly Email

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA!!!! I hope you have a great day today. Love you!
So this week was another good one, full of a ton of stuff, really busy. We had interviews with President Nattress this week, which was super awesome. Those happen about very 10 weeks or so. It was great to sit down with him and talk. He is so understanding and caring, you feel like he really loves you when you talk with him. So that was a great experience. We had two really good lessons with T--- and his family and they came to church again and loved it. We had a miracle happen yesterday with them that was amazing. We needed a ride to the lesson, which was in between our two wards, one ends at 11am and the next starts at 2pm. So I stood up in elders quorum right after the lesson to ask if there was anyone available to give us a ride and sit in on the lesson, if they would like to. Brother B volunteered, I had never met him before, he had only seen T--- but was excited to go to the lesson. At the lesson Elder Davis and I just wanted to answer questions they may have had and talk about prayer, just a quick visit. But it turned out that Brother B and his wife, who also came along, were one T---'s next door neighbors, and also in the exact same situation as T--- and A---- are in. Both have been married before, both have kids the same age, both had a ex spouse that is strongly against the church, and Brother B just recently reconverted, about a year ago. It was amazing, they related so well and gave advice and counsel that we could never give. Elder Davis and I hardly spoke at all actually, that's how it should be, haha. It was so cool, we couldn't have found better fellowship if we researched the ward for hours, haha. We also have been teaching S----- and her three children. the youngest, M------ who is about 15, came to church. First time he had ever been to church his whole life, so he was a bit confused, but he really liked it. We really want him to get involved and we think he will be the 'in' for the rest of the family. We have been going by and teaching a ton of less actives, which I love. One that we have been working with is Sister C------- who actually grew up in Brazil until she was a teenager, her parents moved their for work or something. She knows Portuguese, which is really awesome, she has been giving me a lot of pointers. We worked again in Sister S---------'s garden and mowed Sister L-----'s grass, I love to get out of church clothes and get dirty, haha, plus help them out any way we can.

Gilbert Arizona Temple

We are going to be doing this really neat finding idea that President Nattress and the stake presidents came up with. We are going to have the members invite their friends to have the missionaries give a 15 minute presentation about the Gilbert Temple. The mission gave us a DVD which has 4 videos about temples, they are all mormon messages, I think. So we will play one of those, answer questions, ask if they would like to know more, then get out the door. The idea is to have a powerful spiritual experience, then have then wanting for more, plus they will be able to see the temple soon, it opens January 18, 2014. It will be an awesome missionary tool, I kinda hope I'm around for it, haha, that would mean I'm here for 6 months or more though. (It will be a hard adjustment when he leaves for Brazil! His heart is where ever he serves, as it should be.) I hope you guys have had a good week, especially Ma, hope you have a good bday.
Love you guys!!!

love,

Elder Mountain

 

Crazy van that caught his attention :)

 

16 lessons in 1 week!!!!

Weekly email

This week has been awesome!!! We taught the most this week than I ever have before, 16 lessons!! Elder Davis and I have a goal of 21 in a week, or 3 a day, we totally are going to get it this week. T--- and his family are doing amazing. We had three lessons with them this week which is so awesome, they are progressing so quickly. They had us over for dinner one night and they made the best burgers I have ever had in my life. Seriously so good. Made them out of ground beef like Sloan, so tasty. They also gave us some elk jerky and sausage, T--- is a hunter, that is some really good stuff too. They all came to church and they really enjoyed it. They said the church they went to years ago wasn't too friendly but the ward did an awesomeeee job at introducing themselves and making them feel welcomed. It went better than we could have dreamed. We had a quick lesson with them in the evening right after church and he said 'Okay, I want to a member of this church, what do I have to do to be baptized and be sealed to my wife in that temple down the road?". If that isn't golden I don't know what is, haha. (golden means a dream investigator that is so ready for baptism) It is amazing how the Lord prepares people. We are going to extend a date to him on Tuesday, we are thinking about the 9th of November. Man I love them. We met with J---'s parents this morning, he is still good for the 9th for his baptism. His father is catholic and his mother is Buddhist, I believe, so an interesting back ground. But they have expressed that they have seen a positive change in J---'s life since has been coming to church and they fully support him. The meeting this morning was mainly about what is expected of them for the baptism but we really have hopes to start teaching them. One of our ward's (he & his companion cover 2 wards/congregations!) had a fall festival on Saturday and one of the families we have been working with, S----- and her 3 kids were there. They have a lot of friends in the ward and one of them invited them to church, which was so awesome. They weren't able to make it but they also have a ton of potential. We taught them most of the first lesson right there at the fall festival which was interesting, haha but it went well. We are still working with our neighbors. They work a lot but we have been able to catch them home here and there. Our next goal for them is to get them to church. Our wards have given us a ton of less active members to visit, which has been great. We have set up a time with them to go through the lessons as 'practice' for us once a week. We have three or four families now where its set every week. It's great to teach and great for them to feel the spirit. I hope you guys are doing well. I love and miss you. I wish I could've been at the wedding. (his uncle got married this past weekend) Have any pictures of it? Sounds like the Hutchens crew joking around like that, haha I love them. I love you guys!!!

love,

Elder Mountain

Busy with the work in Gilbert, Arizona!!

Weekly email


Man another week gone, time sure is flying. This was a great week, we had a lot of success finding and teaching. We are getting to know our neighbors really well, their names are Cory and Ariel. They have been really open with us and super friendly. We have been going back and forth dropping off cookies at each other's door. It was super funny, they dropped off some cookies with a poem on it saying they probably aren't as good as the Relief Society (womens organization at church) but enjoy, haha. It's funny everyone knows all the Mormon lingo down here. Last night we had a great lesson with them, and introduced another neighbor (Bro Hurvey) who is super great at missionary work. He was awesome, they are all about the same age (25ish), they both just graduated college and just had their first child (they are just a few weeks apart). So they have a ton in common and got along great. It was awesome to see. We shared a simple message about Christ and about hope. Cory and Ariel have gone though some tough experiences but they have an amazing hope for building a strong family. They are awesome. Our investigator Todd is doing awesome. He didn't make it to church because he had to work but he is awesome and absolutely full of questions, which is so nice. Normally we gotta pry the questions and concerns out, haha. Last lesson he said, "man I'd be baptized if i could see these gold plates", our next lesson probably will be about faith, haha. Our investigator Joey was at church, he is doing well, he is good to go for baptism. He is really excited to be baptized. We had some great oym's (open your mouth) this week. One I especially remember was with a Presbyterian minister. At first he was kinda stand offish and wasn't interested but we focused on Christ and the bible, he was interested and almost surprised. He thought we only read the Book of Mormon, I'm pretty sure. It was really cool, we got him to see we are one fellow christian talking to another. I wasn't able to attend Alfonso's baptism unfortunately. The baptism was before church, and we had a meeting with the stake president (leader of multiple congregations) at that time. I'm sure it was great. I am super excited for him. I really hope I can see him again some day. As far as I know, Jose is still good to go for baptism as well, hopefully I can make it to that one. Our lesson with Jordan (the less active we oym'ed on the street) went super well. He says if all goes well he wants to go on a mission, which was so awesome. He is 21 so he for sure has time. We talked about 2 Nephi 4 a lot, which is an amazing chapter about repentance and forgiveness. It's one of my new favorites. We have been doing a ton of service this week. We mowed a lawn, picked a ton of weeds, trimmed a tree, and cleaned out a garage. I really enjoy doing service, get in some regular clothes and work outside. It really builds strong relationships as well. I hope you guys have a super week. Thanks so much for the package Rae, I sure love your notes and letters and the gum! Thanks Ali for the nice picture of me and Solo, I hung that up soon as I got it. Tell the Larues howdy for me. 
Love you guys!!! 

2 Nephi 4:35

"Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, mine rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

love,

Elder Mountain

Elder Davis, Elder Mountain and a ward member from Mesa, AZ.

Where will you serve?

We sure love and miss this missionary right here!!!

Biking in a new area & loving conference!

Weekly Email

Hey everyone!!! Sorry for the late email be have a bit of a different schedule in the new zone. We had transfers this week, I am now in Mesa, English speaking. My new companion is Elder Davis, he is from Draper Utah and has been out about 10 months. We have a tiny, tiny area, we cover two wards (congregations) which is about the size of 4 or 5 neighborhoods here, haha. It's crazy. So we are on bikes of course but im happy about that, its fun to bike around. 'Real missionaries bike' as they say down here, haha. The area unfortunately is kind of dead. Elder Davis had only been here for 6 weeks so he is still learning the area as well. We have seen some progress already though. We got in with two young couples in our apartment complex who are going to ASU and they seem to have a ton of potential. That was super exciting. We have one investigator on date in November, he is a teenager about 17 years old, we watched conference on Sunday with him and with his member fellowship. He and my companion both actually have mild forms of autism, so they relate to one another perfectly. You would never know it about my companion, but he says it was worse when he was a kid. He really is a great guy. Really different from Elder Macfarlane personality wise but we have gotten along really well already. It was kind of a hectic week overall moving places and getting used to the area but I'm settling in. I am really excited to serve here. I miss the spanish ward a lot, it's really tough leaving an area, but they are in good hands with elder macfarlane and his two new companions. I am really excited I will be able to go to Alfonso's and possibly Jose's baptism. Thanks for all the pictures you guys sent me, I'm gonna have to print a few out. Thanks for taking the truck out, don't be bashful about giving it a wax ;) I have a bunch of Rae's drawings and notes she has sent me on my desk area, they are so nice to see. Looks like Solo is sure growing up, I hope he had a great birthday. Conference was so awesome. All of the sessions, the Saturday evening I think was my favorite. I loved the talk about meekness from Elder Soares, and the one about exclamation points from the member of the seventy with the wavy hair I can't remember his name, haha. They sure talked a lot about missionary work and preserving the family. President Monson's talk about his wife was very powerful also. It's really amazing we have the chance to hear from them, to hear from modern day King Benjamin or Abinadi. I sure love you guys. I have two letters in the mail that should be there any day. My new address is 4776 East Guadalupe Road, apartment #2088, Mesa Arizona 85209. Sounds like the corn maze was sure fun, can't believe you guys did a haunted house, haha.

 Love you!!!
Elder Mountain

 I find it wonderfully amazing that Nate is serving with an autistic companion! He spent months in 11th grade working with a Special Olympics baseball team and one of his closest friends is a player on that team. Nate sees the best in all people but to him those in this life with any type of limit or restriction to their abilities are truly some of the choicest Spirits. As we have recently went to the corn maze, I am reminded of 3 years ago when we went as a family. When exiting the hayride we heard someone calling Nate's name, we then spotted many of the members of the team he helped coach. The joy they had on their faces to see Nate and to watch him interact with them left his father and I in tears. He fully embraces charity, the true love of Christ. I never was quite sure who was happier to see who that night, the group of players or Nate...

New companion, Elder Davis :)



LOVE to see that smile!!

Packing for transfer & excited for conference!

Weekly Email

 

Hey everyone!!! Great to hear from you all. It has been a super great week. Still not sure if I'm going to be transfered or not...waiting for a call from the district leader. Elder Duval, one of the elders in the house, just got a call from the mission President because he is going to be a zone leader. He can't believe it, haha. I'm hoping I stay here, I love the people here and the spanish is clicking a lot more this week for some reason. Alfonso is on date for October 26th, we had a great lesson with him this week. He is really going through a hard time. He is about to loose his house to the bank, but he is solid, he has a lot of courage and faith. He has a bunch of LDS (Latter-day Saint) friends that talk to him at work too so if we aren't able to talk to him because he is working, he still learns. We were really excited about a lady named Carmen and her family. They are super nice and just after two lessons we felt were ready to be put on date. But the thrid lesson that was supposed to be this saturday fell though because they weren't home. That was really rough, but we will see them again soon. We got a new investigator this week named German, we had a really powerful lesson with him. We had a guy who just got home from his mission, from North Carolina spanish speaking about a month ago, with us. He is still in missionary mode so he knew just what to say and where we were going with the lesson, it was great, haha. The ward is doing really good. Yesterday the missionaries taught the combined 3rd hour for the fifth Sunday. Hopefully they understood my Portuguese, haha. The ward had the goal of 100 percent home teaching, so we went out with the Elders Quorum President a lot visiting members who don't have home teachers. We have gotten really close to him and he is one of our go to guys if we need help in the ward. Well some exciting news my companion, Macfarlane just got called from the president, he is going to be training two greenies (new missionaries) and be the district leader for the first Spanish district. Man he is excited but scared to train two at once, haha. That means I'm going English (an English speaking area) for sure, haha and it means I got to pack all my stuff, oh well. I'll find out Wednesday who my new companion will be. I got my hair cut again, I'll send a picture. I like it short.  I hope you guys have a great week,

 I love and miss you guys. I love it out here. I'm super excited for conference next week, can't wait to hear from the Prophet and apostles.

 

Eu sei que Jesus Cristo vive. eu sei que este e o lugar o Senhor quer mim. eu sei que o livro de mormon e o palavra de Deus e como aprendemos mais sobre o evangelho. eu sei que Thomas S Monson e o profeta de Deus. eu amo Cristo, ele e minha luz. 

 

translation:

I  know that Jesus Christ lives. I know this is the place the Lord wants me. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and (with it) we can learn more about the gospel. I know Thomas S Monson is the prophet of God. I love Christ, he is my light.

 

Elder Montanha ( I LOVE how they pronounce Mountain is Spanish!)

 

 

Elder Mountain LOVES San Tan Valley!

 

Certainly not in Georgia anymore!

 

 

 

Lots of teaching, mega lesson & possible transfer coming :(

letter home - written September 19, 2013

Howdy Familia!
I hope you guys are doing well. This week has been awesome. I went on exchanges yesterday with Elder Benson, one of my zone leaders. He is an awesome missionary, I really learned a lot and had a great time with him. We handed out 4 Books of Mormon which was so cool. He really taught me a lot about 'OMYing' (open your mouth) and how to approach people and having a normal conversation and making a smooth transition into a gospel topic. He taught me that it's all about the questions you ask, then you discern what part of the gospel to introduce to them. It was a great learning experience, he is really awesome at it. It also was really neat talking about our background. He grew up in Rexburg, Idaho where it is like 90% LDS. It is really neat, I think we are all born where we are supposed to be. He was telling me about experiences he had that could only happen in a place like that, and it is the same for me. I think basically having mostly nonmember friends growing up has taught me to really see the differences and blessings that the gospel brings families. It was a really interesting conversation. But anyways, we also had a lesson with one of his investigators that was probably the most powerful one I have been in. It was amazing. The investigator is on date (committed to baptize on certain date) and has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. We went into the lesson just to talk about the first half of the restoration up to the First Vision. Not quite a lesson really, just a quick message to feel the Spirit but as we learned more about her Elder Benson knew some of the details but not all of them we ended up teaching a lot more. She has a stressful life, she was abandoned by her parents, ( I think they both are in jail) works two jobs, and goes to school. She is about 20 years old, first year taking college classes. She just needs a lot of help, so we ended up talking about the atonement and how we aren't on our own in this life, the Savior is with us every step of the way. That he knows how we feel exactly so we can turn to him for anything. It was very powerful, a great lesson. I have one more experience that I would like to write about. We had an insane lesson with Jonathan last night. We weren't able to see him for a while, we were afraid he was losing interest. It was just because he has been working a ton. He works for a company that builds pools for neighborhoods or personal back yards. It is really hard work and most of their business is in Glendale or Phoenix so he has to be picked up at 4am and doesn't get home until 8pm. He finally had a free evening last night. He was on date for the 29th but we had all the commandments to teach him so we were thinking of moving it back. First we asked him to bear his testimony of what he does know. He knows that the Book of Mormon is true, he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and that baptism is what the Lord wants for him. So since we felt he was ready, we explained this is gonna take some work but the 29th could still happen. He was excited that it still was a possibility. So in a 2 hour lesson we taught the law of chastity, the word of wisdom, the ten commandments, tithing, following the prophet and the commandment of baptism in one lesson. I had no idea that it was possible! He took it all great, committed to them all, and is totally gonna be ready on the 29th. I'm so excited for him. His faith is incredible. I can't believe transfers are a week away. I'm probably headed to an English speaking area, which will be tough to leave all of these investigators and members I have grown to love. Hope you guys have a great week! Talk to ya on Monday. Love ya!
Love,
Elder Mountain

Weekly email - September 23, 2013

Hey family great to hear from you guys!!! Thanks for that video of Solo, Ali, that was really cool to see, I'm sure he is having a blast. Glad Albert got his letter too, miss that guy. I sent a letter on Saturday, maybe today or tomorrow it will come. This week has been a great one, a lot of work. I can't believe we are already starting the last week of the transfer already. It'll be tough to leave the area if I get moved out, which I probably will from the sounds of it. But anyways, it was a great week. Alfonso came to church and brought his son, his two step sons, and his mother in law and they were really interested! We had to move his date back because he works a ton and Sunday is his only day off, but he still is committed to be baptized. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. It was an interesting week with Jonathan. He also works a lot, and we hadn't had a lesson in 4 or 5 days and his date was apporaching so we asked him is this something you want to work towards? He bore a really powerful testimony and said he will do what it takes. So, then we taught all of the commandments in a cazy two hour power lesson. We taught everything from law of chastity to tithing to keeping the sabath day holy to the word of wisdom. It was quite the lesson. We taught all that so he could still be baptized on the 29th, but he had to work on sunday so it is going to be moved back a week as well. But he his solid, a strong testimony. just getting him to church is the hard part at this point. He really wants to go, he just doesn't want to loose his job by asking for days off. We also had a great week with Jose. He also is pretty much good to go we are just working through giving up alcohol. This week we learned at church on Sunday he made it a whole week without any at all! that was so awesome to hear. We are going to put him on date next lesson for sure. We haven't taught the family yet, the friends that are members are going to set up a FHE and we will come and teach. That should be this week. We got three more new investigators. One lady who has a ton of mormon friends in the ward and is curious, her name is Liz. We have an appointment with her this week. Another lady named Carmen who was a referal from some English  speaking elders who gave her a Book of Mormon. It took forever to catch her home but we had a great lesson with her last week and have a return appointment tonight. The other one is a guy who moved to Queen Creek from Mesa who has a wife who is a member and he has been taking the lessons and is on date for December. We have a lot of people to teach for sure! It's great to see the progress, see what the gospel can do in people's lives. I gotta tell you guys about a sandwich I make all the time that I think you guys would like, its so good. Make an avacado sandwich but add pepperjack cheese and bacon and a bunch of turkey sandwich meat. Then put it on a George Forman to melt the cheese and toast it. It's soooo good. That with some grits are pretty tasty. The people here feed us really, really well. They are so nice too, some of the friendliest people I have ever met, even just people on the street will talk to us and tell us "we are men of God" and leave us with a funny laugh or joke. They are just really friendly. Oh I forgot, two sisters from Brazil have started coming to our ward because they can understand Spanish better than English so I was able to talk some Portuguese with them, which was really cool. Kinda hard though. I hadn't heard Portuguese in a while, I was a bit rusty, haha. It has been really nice weather wise here. It's still like 89 degrees but because its so dry it feels much cooler. Summer will be in full swing once I get to Brazil so I'll enjoy it while I can, haha. If you guys want a laugh, read a chapter or two in your thick southern accent and replace 'ye' with 'ya'll'. My roomies got a kick out of that, haha. Have a super week!!! Eu muito amo voces, tem otimo semana!

 

Amo,

Elder Mountain
 

                                                  Nice pic of the Arizona night sky!

Service & loving the people of San Tan Valley

Weekly Email and letter in the mail (which I LOVE!)

 

Its has been another awesome week!! Thanks for the package you guys sent, that was a great surprise. I also got a letter from the Lunt family which was super nice of them. (Thanks Lunt family!) I mailed you guys a letter Saturday, mailed another one to give to Albert, and mailed one to the Lunts. I did a lot of writing, haha. This week we did a lot of teaching which was awesome. Our investigators are progressing great, they are just so darn busy its hard to meet with them as much as we would like. Johnathan couldn't make it to church because he was at a family reunion type thing in Mesa, but we hope to have him at a FHE (Family Home Evening- a night with family & a gospel centered lesson & activity) at one of the ward missionaries homes tonight. We got a whole new family this week to teach which is so exciting. They were referred from some English speaking members, we met them at a ward social and gave them a tour of the chapel and we are also having a FHE with their member friends and them. They have a ton of potential, I am super excited for them. They have a two boys who are 11 and 13 who have a ton of school friends at church so they really want to go, which is super. Alfonso is doing good, he just is super busy. He is a cook at Chipotle and because he was out of town last week he is working a double shift, like I used to at Sonic, everyday this week exept for Tuesday so we gotta see him then. I went on exhanges again this week, this time with Elder Olkjer (j is silent) who is from Alaska. I talked about it a lot in my letter but we basically did service all day for three different people, then had some lessons in the evening. It was a super day. We painted a few walls of a house, cleaned up a yard, and assembled a massive desk for two investigators and one less active. One of our investigators is on a vacation in Mexico, hopefully she returns soon, she really progressed last week. It seems if we can meet with people the work flies but people's schedules are so jammed packed. One of the pictures I'll send is of me and Elder Macfarlane and two guys our age who are recent converts of about a month. (he didn't send it, maybe next week) They are part of a huge family and extended family of about 20 who all have slowly joined the church one after another the past few months. We didnt teach them, the sisters did, but they have been going on splits with us a lot and have become great friends. they both really want to go on a mission as well, which is really cool. I heard Elder Evans got his VISA this week, I am so happy for him and wish him the best. (not sure if he has left for Brazil yet) I really hope that I can see him down there. I really have been amazed by how nice the ward members are here, they are such great people. There is an older guy named Brother Meija who loves the missionaries, I have gotten to know him. He always runs up to us and gives us a hug and ask how the work is going whenever he sees us. And there is another older guy who I told Pa reminds me of G'pa Bob a lot, who calls me 'Montanita' whenever he sees me which means 'little mountain' which cracks me up. They are all just great people, I really love them. Well have a super week you guys!!! Rae-Rae thanks soooo much for the drawings and pictures. I have them hanging up everywhere. They are great!!! (he must really like them because he uses his explanation marks VERY sparingly!) Tell the LaRues I said hey. love and miss ya!

 

Com amor, (with love)

Elder Montanha

 

**Letter to follow pictures**

 

                    First vision picture that Rae drew for Nate. He hung it above

a door... that's funny to me. Real funny! :)

    They learned how to cover their study guides with some cool

photos and contact paper. Pretty crafty for Elder Mountain!

                                                    I'm sure he was all smiles to see 2 of his

 MTC buddies at Zone Conference.

 

 

Hey guys, just got your package in the mail last night, that was an awesome surprise! Thanks so much for all that you sent. Rae, you sure must have worked hard making all the pictures and the swan and your little envelope. (she has been doing some origami) I love them! I have all the stuff hanging up in my room. My companion and the other missionaries that live with us really like the Joseph Smith's first vision you drew, it is so good! It is hanging right above the door so everyone sees it. It has been a really good week so far. I went on exchanges again on Wednesday, which was neat. We did a ton of service, 3 different members we helped out. We helped one lady paint 2 rooms in a house that she is flipping, helped one guy, who is going through some extremely tough trials right now, clean up his garage and yard and then we helped a super nice older guy put together a massive desk. It was great to serve and help some people out (and speak some English, haha). There was a baptism last night in our ward. It was a mother  and son that the sisters in our ward have taught. It was a great service. I have never been to a baptism with so many people there. There was more in attendance than there is on a normal sacrament meeting (Sunday service with the entire congregation). It was awesome. We had one of our investigators there, he really enjoyed it, especially the support the ward gave. We really wanted one other investigator there, Johnathan, but he had to work. Johnathan is progressing so fast, it is amazing. He bore his testimony to us earlier in the week that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that God wants him to be baptized. It was so powerful. The 28th is for sure gonna happen, I'm so excited! Thanks again for the package and the goodies and the letter! Oh, and for the tie! Keep sending ties! I have been getting a lot of new ones lately from other missionaries and we found a ton in one of the closets in our house. I love you guys! Have a great week! Talk to ya Monday! Time is flying by, I can't believe it's already almost week 5! (since leaving the MTC)

 

Love,

Elder Montanha

Meeting an Apostle & busy, busy, busy with the work!

Weekly - Email September 9,2013

 

Great to hear from you all. Thanks for that hilarious picture of Napoleon, Kip and Rico. (sent from Randee) That made my day, haha. I'm gonna see if I can print it somehow. I sent one letter on Friday and another on Saturday, did you get the second one? It was about hearing from Neil L Andersen, which was so awesome. We had two of our investigators at church, Jose and Alfonso. We wanted more of course but we were happy they were there. One of them, his name is Alfonso, who is the one who is closest to baptism and is on date, went on vaction to Colorado to visit his daughters who live with his ex wife. His daughters are 11 and 13, I think. But he took them to the LDS church in their town, which is so awesome. Hopefully they had a good time. We have a pretty big group of investigators and we saw a lot of progress this week. One of them, Johnathan, who is a younger guy maybe around 23 years old, progressed a lot. He told us he feels really good when he reads the Book of Mormon and he felt really, really good when he prayed about it. We were so excited, he has a ton of potential. I see him as a friend, i guess because he is close to our age. I want the gospel for him so bad. When he makes progress, like he did this week it makes us so happy. We have another investigator named Angelica where we have had a lot of progress. We had a great lesson last night with her. It has been a complete 180 from when we started teaching her when I got here. The first lesson I had with her she almost dropped us but her desire to learn more and to change has really grown. It has changed from a nice message to something that can change her and her families life. We also had a member with us last night in the lesson who was recent convert of about 5 years, so she has a friend that lives close by, which helps a ton. When members invite investigators to come to church or come to a ward party or something it is so much more effective. I am so excited for these people. I love seeing them grow. The love you feel for them the instant you meet them is something that is hard to describe. The meeting with Elder Andersen was so amazing. I wrote about it in detail in the letter but it was so crazy having an apostle of the Lord look you in the eye. My goodness it was powerful. And when he bore testimony, it felt like I was living in the scriptures, haha. Like I was witnessing John or Peter bear testimony. It was very, very powerful not to mention he was really funny, haha. He had a hilarous sense of humor, I didn't really expect that. This week really flew by. I can't believe it is already pday. All the days are just a blur, haha. I can't wait to go to the temple on Wednesday, that will be nice to slow down for a bit and absorb it all. I love and miss you guys!!! Sound like you had fun with the sister missionaries. That's neat you guys have gotten to know then well. I hope the work is going well there. Love you guys!!! Thanks for the picture of Solo and Albert as well. Tell the LaRue's I love and miss them as well!!!

 

Love,

Elder Montanh

 

 Picture mentioned in email :)

Characters from one of Nate's favorite movies!