Weekly Update - 23 Nov 2009‏

Happy Thanksgiving week to everyone! This will be the last Thanksgiving holiday in the mission field for me and I'm sure it will be a lot like last year where I'm feeling like I'll be seeing my family at some point throughout the day, but then it never happens. Holidays in the mission field are strange and memorable at the same time. I'm sure I won't forget any of the Thanksgivings or Christmas' or New Year's Days that I spent as a missionary.

Maybe I'll go buy some huge headphones and a satellite antenna to see if I can tune-in to the birthday singing on Saturday night. Elder Welling and I are planning on hitting-up the Hustler Casino that night to celebrate. We got special permission from Pres. Blackburn to use 6-9pm as time to celebrate my 21st birthday, so we're going to capitalize on that three hour period for sure. Elder Welling said that he's really good at Texas Hold 'Em, so we'll see what he's got. All of that was a joke; we'll be working all day just like any other day. Maybe now that I'm 21 my voice will drop a couple octaves.

We were tracting last night and ran into a group of guys who were watching Sunday Night Football and they told me that the Broncos lost to the Chargers. I was pretty bummed. That's three in a row now, ouch. I was also told today that Kyle Orton is still trying to pull off the trucker mustache look; boy, he should shave that thing quick and save it for "mustache may" or something.

It's only been five days since we last heard from each other and we're still having a tough time finding new investigators in our area and helping our one solid investigator progress. We knocked doors for 11 hours last week, which is the highest amount in a one week period that we've done since I've been up at the mission home. Normally we knock about 5-7 hours on a good week. On most days we leave the office at 3-4pm and we try to make the most of that time by visiting investigators, but we don't really have any right now so tracting has become more of a priority for our time. We found 4-5 Spanish people who accepted a return appointment last week and we're hoping to get the Spanish work moving along.

Elder Hopoate, Elder Christensen (Housing and Finance Coordinator at the mission home), and I spent four hours on Friday afternoon searching for new apartments for missionaries to live in for next transfer. We found two that we should be able to sign contracts for in the near future. Elder Christensen checked out another one this morning and we should be getting the paperwork process rolling with that one too. We're sitting with three apartments that we feel good about right now and we need four total, so only one is left to find.

Being able to speak Spanish is a blessing when working with apartment managers and anyone in L.A. that wants to do business. There's a good amount of Spanish business owners or property managers that have struggling English, so being able to speak Spanish with them helps things move a lot quicker and smoother.

I went on splits with a Zone Leader (Elder Romrell) in the Lakewood Zone of the mission on Saturday and I'm glad to have gotten one day of splits done with early in the transfer. I'm supposed to go on splits with four separate Zone Leader companionships each transfer and then do a "zone tour" on top of that where we work with 3-4 separate companionships in 3-4 days. I consider it a relief when I'm able to stay in my area and work with Elder Welling. Elder Romrell and I spoke a lot of Spanish and taught a few lessons throughout the day. He's a solid missionary.

We ate dinner that night with a family who has a daughter preparing to be baptized on 17 Dec. She has a checkered history that involves drug and alcohol abuse, and she's currently facing misdemeanor charges for an incident involving her and a police officer. She's a great person - at least she seemed to be one when she's sober - and it's unfortunate to see people turning to drugs and alcohol as a source of happiness. Really, it is a dangerous way that people use to cope with tough circumstances.

Yesterday at church Elder Welling took a bath in the sacrament tray water. I had just finished giving Jason N. (recent convert) a chance to grab a cup of water and I swung the tray back to my right and it nailed Elder Welling's knee. We were in the single's ward so it was nice and quiet and the bang of the tray towards the knee was pretty loud. Once it hit his knee, water from multiple cups spilt onto his pant leg and onto the bench. That was a memorable experience.

This afternoon we met up with Kevin Prince (UCLA QB) on the UCLA campus. I called him last night to see if he'd be willing to show us around the football facilities again and hook us up with a chance to shake hands with Norm Chow (UCLA Offensive Coordinator). He agreed, and we spent 1-2:30pm checking out the UCLA film room, coaches offices, weight room, trophy room, press room, and the locker room. Kevin gave us each a pair of his game cleats, some wristbands, a game towel, and some packets of Muscle Milk (protein shake mix). We met up with Norm Chow for 5-10 minutes and he wrote some plays on a dry-erase board while he discussed them with Kevin. It was a good time. The P-Days I remember most have been the ones that I've spent at USC and UCLA checking out their football facilities.

Happy Thanksgiving, again! Thank you for the cards that have been sent and for the Happy Birthday notes. Enjoy the week and be sure to take some pictures for me. Take care.

Elder Brycen Gold

Weekly Update - 9 Nov 2009‏

Dear Family:

I hope everyone had a good week and that "no news is good news." I'm glad BYU was able to get back onto the winning road and beat Wyoming convincingly. TCU looks very impressive this year! All the way up to #4 in the country now, nice. The top three teams in the country are clear: 1. Florida, 2. Texas, 3. Alabama. The rest of the teams are just trying to get themselves onto the level of these three teams. Somebody needs to do something about Boise State and Cincinnati being in the top 6. They put up big numbers and look pretty solid playing against the "cellar dwellers" of Division 1 football (i.e. San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Syracuse).

We had a baptism on Saturday (7 Nov) with Jason (age 18). He comes from a Jewish family that wasn't entirely supportive of his decision to be baptized, but they weren't too critical either. They seemed indifferent about the whole thing. Jason reminds me a lot of Napolean Dynamite. His mannerisms, trademark phrases, and tone of voice cause me to picture him parading around town with good ol" Kip Dynamite. We had a movie presentation at the mission home on Friday night and he showed up wearing a "zute suit" and a pair of striped, metallic palomino (light brown) dress shoes. I struggled not to grin and laugh.

Two other missionaries, Jason and I were having a conversation about this look that he was showcasing and he told us about where he bought his suit, shoes, socks, and everything else to complement the look he was going for. Shortly after finishing that conversation, Elder Welling showed-up after finishing a phone call and asked Jason, "Where did you get your suit?" Jason replied, "The same place I bought the shoes..." Classic response. He's Napoleon Dynamite - Part II.

It was nice to spend the whole week in my area with Elder Welling and not have to go on splits with Zone Leaders or other companionships in the mission. We knocked doors for a while this week and had some comical experiences while on the streets.

On Saturday, we were knocking doors in a heavily populated Jewish area and we were waiting for someone to answer the door at one house. She answered after 10-15 seconds and told us "right off the bat" that she was a different religion. She continued repeating the phrase, "different religion, different religion." Elder Welling was trying to recover control of the situation and simply asked, "You believe in Christ, right?" She responded, "Nope!" After she shut the door Elder Welling looked up at the top right hand corner of the door and saw that there was a masusa attached to the door frame. A masusa is a symbolic wooden fixture that Jewish people put on their doors to "keep them safe." Elder Welling felt pretty embarassed after seeing it up there. Good times.

That same afternoon we ran into two guys at separate times who claimed we were a cult and had all sorts of wild assumptions about what we believed. Most of what they thought we believed was false, so we corrected them, and tried to teach, but they didn't give us too much of an opportunity. They were both logical thinkers who were more concerned about the uncertainties of religion instead of the known doctrine.

Yesterday at church, Jason brought two of his good friends (Morgan and Chris). Chris came to his baptism on Saturday as well, so Jason is starting to catch the fire with doing missionary work. We have an appointment with Morgan and Chris tonight that we set up after church. They both said they had a good time and wanted to explore this faith. They've both been exposed to the Church through Jason's example and learning, and also to another mutual friend who's the Bishop's son. We'll see what happens.

I'm grateful for the chance to work in the single's ward up here instead of being limited to just the Westwood area. Over the past 2.5 months we've had four baptisms in the single's ward and one in the Westwood 2nd Ward (people who live in the Westwood area). The Westwood area is filled with Jewish people, wealthy people, atheists, logical enthusiasts, and a bunch of people who are happy with their lives and see no need to change.

Since we work in the single's ward we are able to work with anyone between the ages of 18-30 who is single and lives within the L.A. Stake boundaries. It's interesting to see how much more willing single people are when it comes to branching out and telling their friends about the gospel. They do a much better job with getting their friends in situations to meet church members and get acclimated with the church itself than most of the family wards do. Granted, the family wards are made up of families, so their hands are tied most of the time. We often run into the problem of being asked by ward leaders to attend events where non-members will be present, but when we are also there, the members don't introduce their friends to the missionaries. They wait for the Elders or the Sisters to do the "dirty work."

We have transfers this Wednesday (11 Nov) and Elder Gentry will be heading down to South Central to work in his new area for his final transfer. It will be strange to not be working around him anymore after spending five of the past six transfers as either his companion or "AP companion." Elder Hopoate is still getting used to the new surroundings and responsibilities, but he's coming along pretty well. I have a feeling I'll be shouldering a lot of the load this Wednesday with organization, getting people in the right places at the right times, and trying to stabilize the chaos. It should be a fun time.

Have a great week and thank you for all the prayers and support. The Church is true!

Elder Gold

Adam Lambert

Weekly Update - 2 Nov 2009‏

We are in November now, wow! It's pretty funny to be getting e-mails that mention my return home happening in three months, but then the sentence right after that comment is one telling me that they're not supposed to talk about that in the e-mail. It's happened with a few people today, which doesn't bother me. I understand that there's no point in giving up short of the finish line. I would feel guilty and I'm not sure how I would be able to look people in the eye and honestly tell them that I gave it my best for two years. The feeling that I want most is satisfaction, fatigue, purity, and an increased desire to follow God, all mixed together when I finish my mission. Giving up with three months to go would prevent that feeling from becoming a reality.

Taylor did write me last week, which ends the drought, and I'm glad to hear that he is doing well. He's a stud and I'm excited to see him, Jason and Tyson soon. I've missed joking around with them, playing practical jokes on each other, and heckling each other periodically.

We started our transfer meetings this past week and we've finished up the new assignments for the Elders. We will be starting the sisters tomorrow or Wednesday depending on Pres. Blackburn's schedule. I will be working with a new Assistant to the President (AP) starting next transfer (11 Nov) and his name is Elder Hopoate. He lived most of his life in Tonga and moved to Provo, UT shortly before finishing high school. He's about 6'0" 255 lbs. and a he's a really likeable guy. He's been serving for 1 year and 5 months (17 months total) and I'm looking forward to working with him. It will be a change to work with someone who's not Elder Gentry since the two of us have been around each other as companions or AP's for five of the last six transfers, but I have no doubts that Elder Hopoate and I will have a good time.

I will still be serving with Elder Welling next transfer, which I'm grateful for. We get along well and our humor styles are similar. I'm still trying to convince him that Michigan is better than Ohio State, but he's stubborn in adopting that mindset for himself. Working with a missionary who has been out for barely six months has helped me realize the difference in perspective with younger missionaries and older ones. He's still in the time frame where there is "no light at the end of the tunnel" and he's finding himself enthusiastically trudging along the path of missionary service. The missionaries who tend to struggle the most are the ones who are within the 6-12 month time frame (length of time serving their mission) and I'm not sure of the exact reason why that is, but that's consistently the case in this mission. Elder Welling has a good attitude about nearly everything, so I'm not concerned about him.

We celebrated Halloween night by arriving at the mission home at 6pm, eating dinner, then having a rivoting MP/AP meeting to further the transfer process for two hours. We planned for the next day from 9-9:30pm, then took some pictures of us dressed up...well, kinda. It was a very low-key evening. We were mistaken for being trick-or-treaters at a couple of doors while we were wrapping-up our proselyting time, which gave us a good laugh.

We participated in a temple service project last Friday from 7am - 1pm where we took out existing locker frames and brought in new ones for most of the time. It's amazing how neat and tidy the Church likes to keep the temples. The carpet that we tore up didn't really look like anything was wrong with it, but they still wanted it replaced. Towards the end of our work, one of the temple suprevisors for construction took eight of us up to the assembly hall on the third floor of the temple and then onto the roof. We could see just about any part of L.A. that we wanted. It was a great sight!

Thank you for the e-mails and for the continued support. I'm honored to have the family members that I do. Have a great week!

Elder Gold