Good week, email from Bishop and lots of pictures :)

Weekly Email - March 24, 2014

Elder Mountain and Elder Roman (roommate in apartment)

Good week this week, thanks for all of the emails. Sounds like you guys are all doing good. Thanks for the boiled peanuts, that took me by complete surprise, haha, especially since the Memmott's had it. Gonna try and make some for lunch. Everyone in the apartment is anxious to try them as well. No one knows what they are, even people from the south I have met here. Is it only a Georgia thing? haha. Got the type writer ribbon in the mail this week as well, it works great. Hopefully it wasn't too hard to find or expensive. This week was good. We had to do some hard but necessary steps with our investigators this week. We had a heart to heart, I guess you could say, with C----- because he hadn't been doing his reading we gave him and he was honest with us and told us it will probably take his son coming home from his mission for him to take that step of commitment. He knows it's true I know he does but I guess that's what it is going to take. So we had to tell him to let us know when he is willing to commit and we can see him again. It was hard to do especially how nice he is but we have got to see some action with the people we teach, at the very least read the Book of Mormon. It was hard but needed. and maybe after two weeks or some time of us not stopping by he will make that decision and let us know. We had a good lesson with F------- this week. We invited him to be baptized and found out his concern is church attendance because of work and it being hard to get into the habit of going. That is pretty understandable, especially when you haven't gone to church ever before. He wasn't there this Sunday but he committed to come so he should be there next week. T--, our other investigator, was out of town in New Mexico this week but we heard he got back in town yesterday so we should see him soon. Almost finished with the big huge list of names Bishop Anderson gave us to go find. We got a lesson out of it this week, which was pretty neat. It was an inactive who felt he was forced to go as a kid and soon as he was on his own he stopped going but he is now starting to see why church is important. He has some things in his life he needs to work out but we hope to be able to help him come back. Funny story with transfers, Elder Parsons, who we live with, was told to pack because he was moving and he ended up getting transferred into the area (Elder Jewkes' old area) that they moved into our apartment. So he is in a different area but is still living with us. He is with Elder Ramon who was elder Jewkes' old comp. He is from Micronesia, which is really cool. Really funny guy, can speak 5 languages too. Anyways, I'll keep sending what I type up every night. It's really hard to remember everything that happened, haha. Love you guys!!

I know this gospel is true! I know that it brings true happiness and joy into people's lives. I know that no matter our weaknesses and shortcomings the Savior wants to help. Like it says in Ether 12 the Lord gives us weakness so we will turn to him. I am so grateful for my Savior and the opportunity I have to serve him.

Elder Mountain     

**Email from a Bishop from one of the wards Nate is serving in:

"Brother and Sister Mountain.  I wanted to send you a quick note to
thank you for sending such a great young man out to serve the Lord.  I
know he wishes he were in Brazil, but we are VERY happy he has been
waylay-ed here in Gilbert, AZ.  I am the Bishop in the Monterey Ward.
Elder Mountain has faithfully served here for several months.  He is a
great representative and has blessed many lives.  He always has a
quick smile and word of encouragement.  Know that we are very happy
for the efforts he is making to share the gospel.  We have been
blessed with the new Temple being dedicated and the outpouring of
Spirit. Thanks for letting your son share that with us.

Know that he is working hard and having great success.  I get an
update at least once a week from he and Elder Jewkes on progress and
successes.  We are trying to get them additional people to teach.
They set a great example for our young men.

Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting your son.

David"

Elders Mountain & Jewkes with an awesome ward member!
She sends lots of text messages/pictures to me :)

Gilbert, AZ sunset

The District

The Zone (minus Zone Leaders)

Another transfer together for the awesome duo! 28 Books of Mormon given out!

Weekly Email - March 17, 2014

Elder Mountain, Elder Jewkes with the Tabile family.
(Bother T. is the Ward Mission Leader)

Hope you guys are doing well! First big nugget of news, got transfer calls last night. Elder Jewkes and I are both staying for another transfer, we are so pumped. I honestly thought I was going to be transferred because I have been in this area for about 6 months but I really wanted to stay.

Transfer day but happy to be staying together!

I love the wards here, I have  gotten to know them really well. I'm excited to be here and to stay with Elder Jewkes. Both of the elders we live with are being moved out so we will have some new roommates. We heard they are moving sisters into the area so we may be living by ourselves, transfers are always real exciting. So this week was good. Brother Schoenburg's funeral was this week, it was done really well. Most of the ward was there along with the family of course. Glad I was able to go, he was a good man. We picked up a new investigator F------ this week, he has a friend who goes to college with him and has introduced the Book of Mormon to him and is now interested in learning. He is actually next door neighbors to the Bishop in Highland Ward. It was a good lesson, will see him again on Thursday. Had our lesson cancel with J---, which was a bit disappointing. We were planning giving him a baptismal date and were really excited for the lesson. It was spring break this week here, I think he went out of town with his son. C----- is doing good, he is so close. He is still a bit hesitant to act and we have been pushing him a bit the last few lessons, which he needs. We've been tracting as usual for a n hour or so a day. Have met some interesting people for sure. Met a Muslim who moved here from Egypt not too long ago who was really friendly and met a southern Baptist who was actually very nice to us and called us "Jesus boys" haha. We ended up handing out 28 Books of Mormon this transfer which was cool, we had a goal of 25. We can do better though. I am still working on being able to talk to everyone we see on the street. I have gotten okay at it but there is always room to improve. Went over to T---'s house Sunday evening, he is doing great and likes his calling in the YM and A---- just got a calling in the primary. He gave us a frozen chicken and some potatoes to cook in the crock-pot we have. Never have used that thing, haha, hopefully it turns out good. We put it in this morning and hopefully it will be ready for dinner this evening. I went on exchanges this week in the district leader's area and we ended up eating dinner with a family named the Frasers. Sister Fraser ended up being from Buford and went to North Gwinnett and grew up in the Suwanee Ward. I couldn't believe it, first person I have met that knows of Buford much less lived there, haha, small world.Other than that, things are going good. A lot of people were out of town this week so it was a lot of running around with nobody home but they should be back this week, haha. Excited to be staying! 

I know this church is true. I know that Christ lives. I know that he loves us and wants us to be able to live with him again. All we have got to do is turn to him. I know that prayer is real. I know that we can talk to our Father in heaven and he will help us and guide us when we turn to him. I love the Book of Mormon, I love the power that it has. I can't read it without feeling the Spirit. This is a great opportunity to share what I know.

love
Elder Mountain

Map of one of the wards he covers. It is hard to see the 'key' but the black marks
represent "very Anti" homes! Always good to know ;)

Love this picture of this scripture passage!

Elder Mountain with a young man that got baptized a few moths ago.

Perfect bike for Elder Mountain: MTN TAMER :)

Two updates!! Dedication, a loss and gators o'plenty :)

weekly Email - March 10, 2014

Hope you guys are all well!! Looks like you had some fun ice skating. I don't think they know what ice skating is here, haha. It's getting hot already here. The summer is gonna be an adventure. This week was good. A lot of teaching and a lot of finding as well. Elder Jewkes and I kept the tracting up, we have a return appointment tomorrow with a lady that we found named L---. When we knocked on her door her son, who I'd say is around 14, opens the door and without saying anything to us yells 'Mom!.....Mormons!' and ran back in the house, haha. His mom came out and was really nice and we had a great conversation with her and she invited us back on Tuesday, so we are excited for that. We had a great lesson with J--- this week. He is the other guy we found tracting. We brought Brother Celeste with us who has an amazing conversion story. He was in school to become a Baptist minister then missionaries knocked on his door and he was baptized two weeks later. Amazing. He is an awesome teacher and was great in the lesson. J--- reminds me a lot of T--- when we first started teaching him. So open and curious and can recognize the Spirit. I am really excited for the next lesson. He is single but has a 8 year old son we hopefully can teach has well. He said he will read the Book of Mormon with him, which was really cool. Had a really good lesson with the S----- family. They are a part member family, Brother S----- is a member, a convert too actually. They always invite us in and ask us to share a message with them. Every time we stopped by it seemed we had an appointment in 10 or 15 minutes so we didn't have too much time. But this week we taught them the restoration and it really touched Sister S-----. In the past she has been very kind to us but has been kinda closed towards us. She really opened up this lesson and she said it's hard for her to change but she sees a change coming. It's was really touching. We had a good lesson with C-----. He is so so close to baptism. He told us he is afraid of change, which is understandable, it's just a matter of time with him. I know he knows it's true, we are just waiting for him to act on it. We did have some sad news this week. Brother Schoenburg passed away from a heart attack. It was pretty hard for me for a day or so. I have seen the Schoenburgs as grandparents since I've gotten into this area. We have spent so much time there working in their yard and helping them out. We have been there once a week since I got here. (5 months!!) We actually saw him the day before he passed, asking what we could help out with. I hope Sister Schoenburg is doing okay, we are going to stop by tomorrow to see what we can do. He was such a happy guy, lived a full life. Thank goodness for the Plan of Salvation. We teach people the peace the gospel brings but it's nice when we can take comfort in it ourselves. Other that that, spent a lot of the day with Brother Gaytan on Saturday. He took us out to a Mongolian bbq, that was super good, then visited some members and tracted some. We also went tracting with Brother Malupo and man that was an awesome experience. He is the guy who was a Mission president in Tonga. He was so bold yet so loving to people. I learned a lot from him. We plan on going with him once a week. Finally committed to writing in my journal every night, actually typing it on the type writer, haha. Been good at it for 2 weeks or so. I did it off and on before but I want to do it everyday. You guys get the stuff I mailed you? Love you. Awesome that you guys have been out with the missionaries so much, that is so awesome. Proud of ya, you guys mean a lot to the missionaries. Members who are aware of us and help us out and aren't afraid to share us with their friends make our day. Love you!!! One more lesson I forgot about, had a great lesson with T-- our new investigator. We brought Brother Gaytan and they hit it off. Him and J--- and C---- got to get wet before I leave this area, haha. ("get wet' means get baptized)

 

love

Elder Mountain

Weekly Email - March 3, 2014

Great to hear from you guys, glad you are doing good! Hope you feel better soon, Pa. So this week was awesome, full of small miracles. The dedication was yesterday, we were able to go to two of the three sessions, they were really awesome. I remembered the Atlanta temple re-dedication a little bit but glad I was able to attend another one. The Prophet and Elder Eyring were there, along with three members of the Seventy. The Prophet looks like he has aged quite a bit lately. The cultural celebration was on Saturday and the Prophet was there for that as well. It actually rained almost all day on Saturday, first time its rained in months. So all of the kids were pretty wet but it went smoothly and looked awesome. We were able to watch it at our ward mission leaders home. The local news station covered it, so it was on TV. Besides the dedication we also had a good week. We have found some great people from tracting. One guy named J--- we found was really golden, reminded me of T--- when we first talked to him. He accepted a Book of Mormon and we got a return appointment for next week. We also met a couple named A----- and J---- who were over at the members home when we had dinner there. They were super curious and also accepted a Book of Mormon and they want to learn more. They really enjoyed the temple and had some questions about eternal families. They are great people, very strong in their faith in Christ but are searching for a church for their family, what we like to hear, haha. We also met a couple B-- and M--- who are neighbors to some members who are super missionary minded. They invited everyone on their street to the temple and took quite a few of them. B-- and M--- asked about the Book of Mormon so we went over and dropped one off and gave an explanation of what it is and they asked several questions and are very open to reading and praying. We had our first lesson with T--, another neighbor of some members. He is an older man, 78 I think is what he said, we went over to give him a Book of Mormon and he invited us in and we had a great lesson. He ended up telling us his life story pretty much and some incredible experiences that have brought him to have a testimony of Christ, especially of prayer. We invited him to read and pray and we should see him in the next few days. Been an awesome week for finding new investigators, which we need. Elder Jewkes and I have been focusing on giving people Book of Mormons in our contacting. Our goal is 25 BoM's for the transfer and we ended up giving 10 this week. B---- is doing good, we had 2 lessons with her this week. She says she wants to finish a novel she is reading then she will read the Book of Mormon all the way through, haha, I guess that's an okay deal. We still have been busy with the church tours and taking the members of the ward on them. They are starting to catch the vision of it, just gotta give them that push so they will invite their friends. Other than that things are going good. Elder Jewkes and I are doing well, laughing a lot. One quick funny story from tracting, we knocked on a door and this lady that looked pretty distraught answers the door. She says I cant talk right now I'm preparing for surgery. I think then maybe she is a surgeon or something and she is studying. But then she says shes busy on the toilet. I could hardly keep a straight face, haha. It was pretty funny. It was either a really good excuse or she really was in the middle of something. Anyways, love you guys!! and miss you. Time is flying by. The church is true. The lord is a Lord of miracles, that is for sure. 

love,

Elder Mountain