Mission President interview, inspiration and baby sweater ;)

Weekly Email

Hope you guys have enjoyed the break! I sure don't miss the cold, haha. I just ran into an elder here who actually is a VISA waiter but he is from northern Georgia and he said that it may go into the negatives this week and then be back up into the 60's later in the week. Crazy GA weather, haha. This week was great, pretty eventful. Had our interviews with the mission President this week that happen about every 3 months. President Nattress is so awesome, every time you interact with him you feel so good and inspired. I had some questions about teaching and about our investigators and I learned a lot. It was a big ah-ha moment really. He taught me that before you do anything else with an investigator like teach the plan of salvation or another lesson they have to be willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, that's where it all starts. It makes since of course but we have really been applying it with our investigators who haven't been reading daily and it's really helped. E--- is going strong, taught him about tithing and prayer this week. His faith really is an example to me. We have been continuing to visit quite a few members to share a message about the temple to get them to invite their friends. It has kept us pretty busy. The excitement about the open house is incredible. They released 250,000 reservations online on the 30th in the morning and they were all gone by the evening. They released 200,000 more this week and they are pretty much all gone as well. There are going to be so many people go through, it,s an amazing time. I had one really cool experience this week. We were going from one appointment to another not in too much of a hurry but we were going from one end of the ward to another. As we were biking I had a name, Sister C----, pop up into my mind. I felt like we needed to go see her really strongly, I had no idea why though. So we turned the other direction and headed to her house and we knocked the door not sure what to say. We ended up giving her a blessing because her husband was out of town and she had some pretty tough things happen early in the week and she wasn't sure what to do. It really was a testimony builder. The spirit is amazing, guides us just where we need to go. The blessings I have been able to be a part of have been some of the most touching and powerful experiences. Last Sunday our ward mission leader Brother G----- had a heart attack scare, turned out to be not that serious but he asked Elder Ault and I to give him a blessing and that was another powerful moment. I have grown really close and become great friends with Brother G-----, he has a Brotehr Macpherson (fun guy from his home ward) personality, haha, it really works for missionary work, for sure a go getter. Anyways, had a funny experience with that tiny sweater in the picture. At one time that fit me perfectly, it's an adult medium. But once in the wash it shrunk more than I knew was possible, haha. The thing is Solo (his 5 year old buddy) size now, haha. I might send it home so you can give it to him, it's crazy, haha. Love and miss yall!!! Thanks so much for the pictures. Sure miss the Hutchens clan, hope they are all well. Have some stuff in the mail for ya, should be there soon.

 

love

Elder Montanha

Always time for a little sword fighting! :)

Mesa Temple Christmas lights, 'Anti's' and questions for a Pastor....

Weekly Email


Mesa Temple Christmas light display.

It was sure great to talk to you guys on Christmas! I am so glad you able to chat with T--- for a little bit, he is an awesome guy. Tell the LaRue's thanks for coming over, it was so good to see them too. Can't wait for Albert's wedding, haha. So had some exciting stuff happen this week. First I had to go get fingerprinted on Friday to get sent to the FBI.(a new requirement for a Brazil VISA) They told me it normally takes about eight weeks to process but I think that covers the FBI clearence you mentioned. so who knows, maybe I could be off soon. That's a crazy thought. I kind of forget that I am going there, haha. We were able to go to the Mesa Christmas lights and visitor's center with our investigator C-----, the lights were truly amazing. He worked as a security guard for the temple last year so he had seen them before but he really enjoyed going. Had a pretty funny experience while we were there. When we just had gotten there and were walking from the parking lot Elder Ault and I started to get some anti (people saying things against the LDS church members) from some Baptist minister of some sort. I have learned you just gotta 'out happy' any anti you face, which we did. But C-----, the guy we brought to the temple lights, got super super mad that someone would do that to us and let the guy know how he felt about it using some pretty direct and bold language, I guess you could say, haha. (Love it!) It was neat having him stand up for us even though he is not a member. Anyhow C----- is awesome, super nice to us always. Just trying to get him to progress and read the Book of Mormon, we will get it. We picked up a new investigator this week H--- is her name. She is from China and is married to a less active member. We showed her the temple presentation and invited her to church and she came. We were super excited. We should begin teaching this week with her. Elder Ault can speak Mandarin with her as well, which is pretty cool. We were able to do some service for K-- and give her a set of scriptures so she can use the footnotes. We have a lot of hope for her. She said she is going to ask he Pastor about what we have taught her and why does it all make sense. I hope that goes okay, haha. I finally got a bunch of stuff in the mail for you guys today and for G'ma Hutchens and G'ma Beve, should be there soon. Have been studying the new testiment a lot lately. I really like reading about Christ's life. The book of Hebrews has been one of my favorites. That's an awesome experience you had Ma with sharing the scripture, that is really neat. The Spirit really does direct everything. As a missionary, it really is cool how what we study can help people out. I know that the Lord directed you to that scripture so that when you were in that lesson you would have it ready and have a testimony of it that you could share. Awesome. We did a lot of member visits this week. Getting them motivated to invited thre friends to the temple and seeing how we can help. A lot of Christmas messages too. We taught young women's (youth age girls) in one our wards this week, haha, about being a missionary and inviting their friends. The youth our awesome, not afraid at all to share what they know. Well love you guys!!! It was sure awesome to talk to you!!!!

 

love

Elder Mountain

 

Comment from Elder Mountain while email chatting, "Can't believe it's pushing 6 months already. Gilbert time better not count against Brazil time, haha!" Sorry to inform this service lovin' missionary but YES your time in Gilbert does count against your time in Brazil! You get ONLY 24 months, however it's split between the two places. ;)

 

Mesa Temple Christmas light display.



The picture is a bit blurry but I love this guy right here for standing up to
 those that would harass our sweet missionary. 

Nate spotted a Ford Ranger :)

 

 

 

 

Christmas chat with Nate!!!

Christmas Skype with Elder Mountain!!

 

We were able to Skype with Nate for about 1 & 1/2 hours. It was so wonderful! Our neighbors, that he is very close with, were able to come over and chat with him for a few minutes too, he really loved that. It was so nice to actually have a conversation with him versus email chatting. He is the same, not sure why I thought he would be different, he was exactly the same. I, as a Mother, completely understand the reasoning behind twice a year phone calls/Skype. I am just now coming out of the sadness brought on by the call, I'm sure it is the same for some missionaries. It's much easier to stay focused on the 'work' here at home and in the field when we keep contact to emails and letters. The call reminded me how much I miss my "Buddy", I so enjoy our long talks.....we'll have lots of catching up to do in 18 months! :)

Temples & teaching

Weekly Email

Super excited to talk to you guys in two days! So the plan is to call from the Lee's home around two. We may also call around noon really quick at T---'s house. We are having lunch there and he really wants to meet you guys. So we will probably call for a bit there and call later at the Lee's for the rest of the time. Anyhow, things are going great. We had some awesome teaching this week. We had six lessons with investigators in a members home, which was great. D-- and H---- C. are starting to really progress. H---- had a minor surgery on Thursday so we came over on Wednesday with Brother Malupo and gave her a blessing. We had another lesson on Saturday with D--, went well. Trying to get them at church. This week we made this chicken cheese dip with Brother Gaytan and gave it to all of the people we were teaching for Christmas. It was an awesome idea Brother Gaytan had. T--- received the Priesthood on Sunday, he is doing great. Excited to see what calling he gets soon.

Gilbert Temple

He would be awesome with the youth or scouts. On transfers on Wednesday we went to the Gilbert temple and took a mission picture. The temple looks beautiful, looks like its about ready. The mission party dinner thing on Thursday was a lot of fun. All of the zones performed skits, they were hilarious. The funniest one was a zone acted out the book of Lamuel. They acted out the first few stories from Nephi from his point of view, funny stuff. We were able to go to the Mesa temple on Thursday as well and went through a session, that was nice. K-- is doing well, we have a really nice set of scriptures that we want to give her for Christmas. She knows the Bible super well, I think she will love the footnotes to see the Bible and Book of Mormon support each other. E--- is doing really well, had two lessons with him this week. Still not sure whether he is going to have to get a divorce or not but he is so ready to be baptized. He is so solid. We finallyyyyyy had another lesson with C----- O. It's been forever since we have saw him. Turned out he was sick for a while and was out of town. We are going to go to the Mesa temple lights with him next week after Christmas. He is super nice to us, he gave me this super nice black sport coat that fits perfect. They are very kind to us. Hope you guys have a super Christmas, super excited to skype with you guys!!!!! Love you so much

Love,
Elder Mountain



The gorgeous Gilbert Temple.

 

Mesa Temple

Elder Mountain would love a few minutes riding on these!

He was given this awesome type writer by a fellow missionary.
He is loving it!! So funny!

 

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