"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!!!