28 August 2006
Letter from Mark 28 August 2006
Dear Family,
Things have gone well this week. The IPOD that i was going to buy didn't work out, it turns out they were stolen, and EBay canciled it.
This Saturday we have zone conferance and i think it is in Lake Mills, so i will get to go to my old area, and posibly see some of the members there, the Relief society provides lunch for the missionaries. I am excited for that.
We had an Investigator that moved from the chicago South mission in late june and had a baptism date set for the 1st of july. she moved in with he mom for a month and now has her own appartment. her name is Cheryl Backster. her mom is against her joining the church. so she is now starting to get back into it. she had to hide her book of mormon from her mom. she came to church with her 9 year old daughter yesterday. we are hoping to set a baptismail date with her this week. one of our investigator that came to church a few weeks ago, has disapeared. he was very excited about the church, but now he hasn't been home and his phone is now disconnected. we were sad about that.
Alex's Truck looks cool. that should be fun for him.
Well i don't have much time, thank you faor your prayers and support. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Things have gone well this week. The IPOD that i was going to buy didn't work out, it turns out they were stolen, and EBay canciled it.
This Saturday we have zone conferance and i think it is in Lake Mills, so i will get to go to my old area, and posibly see some of the members there, the Relief society provides lunch for the missionaries. I am excited for that.
We had an Investigator that moved from the chicago South mission in late june and had a baptism date set for the 1st of july. she moved in with he mom for a month and now has her own appartment. her name is Cheryl Backster. her mom is against her joining the church. so she is now starting to get back into it. she had to hide her book of mormon from her mom. she came to church with her 9 year old daughter yesterday. we are hoping to set a baptismail date with her this week. one of our investigator that came to church a few weeks ago, has disapeared. he was very excited about the church, but now he hasn't been home and his phone is now disconnected. we were sad about that.
Alex's Truck looks cool. that should be fun for him.
Well i don't have much time, thank you faor your prayers and support. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
25 August 2006
21 August 2006
Letter from Mark 21 Aug 2006
Dear Family,
Things are going great so far. There is a general authority comming to this mission in october, and that has changed a few things, so we had Interviews this week instead of next week. the stake here is trying hard to double convert baptisms, responding to a challence of Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the seventy when he came to a stake conferance In april. the zone leaders are trying to get a new program going in the zone to increace working with members to get referals. it should be great.
On Thursday we were going to go on exchanges, but one of the members couldn't go, so just the one member took usarround to different people. his name is Bro Crocker, he was a missionary in this area 4 years ago (he was trained here) after he took us back to his house briefly and while there his wife said she saw a Guy in Ireland Selling a ton of new 60GB IPOd's for about $75 american dollars(normaly over 350), and about the same in shipping. when they got online while we were ther they had 2 left. They bought both, I had them buy one for me. and then i pulled $160 out of my home account, so when you see that withdraw, you know what it is. I am excited. there is an elder in my district that has an IPod and Loves it.
Elder Mangum and I are doing great, we have a lot in common. He is amazing at the Guitar, we have a few less-active members that love the guitar, so that will be good for them. his previous 2 companions he didn't get along with, and they didn't work to hard, so he is glad to be with me and start realy working again.
Living with members is good. they have a son returning from a mission next month, so that will be fun. It's funny because Since Elder Griffiths left everyone has commented on how long i have been here. last summer-winter there was an elder here for 7 months, from may to january. the members are starting to joke around about me matching his record, which i wouldn't mind. at the moment i have been here 4 1/2 months and will be just short of 6 when the next transfers come around in september.
Things are going well, and we are starting to teach a lot more. I am working hard and loving it. I love You all.
Elder Lundberg
Things are going great so far. There is a general authority comming to this mission in october, and that has changed a few things, so we had Interviews this week instead of next week. the stake here is trying hard to double convert baptisms, responding to a challence of Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the seventy when he came to a stake conferance In april. the zone leaders are trying to get a new program going in the zone to increace working with members to get referals. it should be great.
On Thursday we were going to go on exchanges, but one of the members couldn't go, so just the one member took usarround to different people. his name is Bro Crocker, he was a missionary in this area 4 years ago (he was trained here) after he took us back to his house briefly and while there his wife said she saw a Guy in Ireland Selling a ton of new 60GB IPOd's for about $75 american dollars(normaly over 350), and about the same in shipping. when they got online while we were ther they had 2 left. They bought both, I had them buy one for me. and then i pulled $160 out of my home account, so when you see that withdraw, you know what it is. I am excited. there is an elder in my district that has an IPod and Loves it.
Elder Mangum and I are doing great, we have a lot in common. He is amazing at the Guitar, we have a few less-active members that love the guitar, so that will be good for them. his previous 2 companions he didn't get along with, and they didn't work to hard, so he is glad to be with me and start realy working again.
Living with members is good. they have a son returning from a mission next month, so that will be fun. It's funny because Since Elder Griffiths left everyone has commented on how long i have been here. last summer-winter there was an elder here for 7 months, from may to january. the members are starting to joke around about me matching his record, which i wouldn't mind. at the moment i have been here 4 1/2 months and will be just short of 6 when the next transfers come around in september.
Things are going well, and we are starting to teach a lot more. I am working hard and loving it. I love You all.
Elder Lundberg
14 August 2006
Letter from Mark 14 August 2006
Dear Family,
Well, I'm still in Elkhorn. Elder Griffiths got transfered to Bever Dam with Elder Sizemore (from my MTC district) My new companion is Elder Mangum (a lot of the members have been calling him magnum, Its funny)A lot of the members were shocked to see me still here, but it is nice to stay. things have been picking up recently, and i thought that i was going to leave as they were getting better.
Elder Mangum is cool. he is from Lakeside, Arizona. which is in the eastern part in the mountains. He has been out for about 8 months, he playes the guitar very well, and also playes the piano a little. he said his last couple companions have been a bit lazy, so he is glad to be with someone who will work. he is still getting use to doing gverything we are suppose to do again. It has been fun so far.
We had the first investigator come to church since i have gotten here. his name is willie Tiption. him and his girlfriend had both ordered copies of the Book of Mormon. we taught him for the first time last week. this week when we came he said he saw us pull up, and almost didn't let us in. he told us his girlfriend took his car and money and ran off, so he had to walk home from work (about 15 min is what he said) and clime through the window to get in. he was mad and depressed when we got there. we started reading the book of mormon and he started to feel a lot better and he calmed down. he said he had planned on comming to church this sunday, but now he had no car. we told him we would get him a ride and he was very excited. he had a great time in church. he had a lot of comments and questions for the gospel principals teacher, and after that class. the Brother Taylor(the teacher) grabbed him and had him come and sit by him for priesthood. he explained a lot of different things that came up durring the lesson. Willie enjoyed church and was happy to get two new manuals, gospel principals, and the Wilford Woodruff one. It was great.
Saturday evening we tried stopping by a Less-actives house that we have been working with. her husband isn't a member. they speak spanish and a little english, so it is a bit hard to comunicate, but they are trying to start going back to church, to a spanish branch in Illinois. saturday evening they said that they were busy, but they wanted us to come back on sunday evening. when we did I almost drove past their burnt down house. I saw it, but it didn't recognise the house right away, i saw their kids waiting in the front yard. the whole hose was burnt and was fenced off. they said at 2 A.M. sunday morning their mom woke up, not to the fire alarm, but feeling something was wrong, as she left her bedroom she saw lots of smoke, and yelled at her family to get out. the only thing they saved was themselves and the cloths they were wearing. they told us they were living with their autn nearby and took us to their house. we found out that they had been renting the house, and the owner had been very nice to them, including giving them their security deposit back, and helping with school supplies that they had just gotten. we talked to the Elders Quarm President (under the bishops direction) about what they needed. it was a real shock. It made me feel greatful for all of the blessings i have recieved and the safty that i have enjoyed.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support, i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Well, I'm still in Elkhorn. Elder Griffiths got transfered to Bever Dam with Elder Sizemore (from my MTC district) My new companion is Elder Mangum (a lot of the members have been calling him magnum, Its funny)A lot of the members were shocked to see me still here, but it is nice to stay. things have been picking up recently, and i thought that i was going to leave as they were getting better.
Elder Mangum is cool. he is from Lakeside, Arizona. which is in the eastern part in the mountains. He has been out for about 8 months, he playes the guitar very well, and also playes the piano a little. he said his last couple companions have been a bit lazy, so he is glad to be with someone who will work. he is still getting use to doing gverything we are suppose to do again. It has been fun so far.
We had the first investigator come to church since i have gotten here. his name is willie Tiption. him and his girlfriend had both ordered copies of the Book of Mormon. we taught him for the first time last week. this week when we came he said he saw us pull up, and almost didn't let us in. he told us his girlfriend took his car and money and ran off, so he had to walk home from work (about 15 min is what he said) and clime through the window to get in. he was mad and depressed when we got there. we started reading the book of mormon and he started to feel a lot better and he calmed down. he said he had planned on comming to church this sunday, but now he had no car. we told him we would get him a ride and he was very excited. he had a great time in church. he had a lot of comments and questions for the gospel principals teacher, and after that class. the Brother Taylor(the teacher) grabbed him and had him come and sit by him for priesthood. he explained a lot of different things that came up durring the lesson. Willie enjoyed church and was happy to get two new manuals, gospel principals, and the Wilford Woodruff one. It was great.
Saturday evening we tried stopping by a Less-actives house that we have been working with. her husband isn't a member. they speak spanish and a little english, so it is a bit hard to comunicate, but they are trying to start going back to church, to a spanish branch in Illinois. saturday evening they said that they were busy, but they wanted us to come back on sunday evening. when we did I almost drove past their burnt down house. I saw it, but it didn't recognise the house right away, i saw their kids waiting in the front yard. the whole hose was burnt and was fenced off. they said at 2 A.M. sunday morning their mom woke up, not to the fire alarm, but feeling something was wrong, as she left her bedroom she saw lots of smoke, and yelled at her family to get out. the only thing they saved was themselves and the cloths they were wearing. they told us they were living with their autn nearby and took us to their house. we found out that they had been renting the house, and the owner had been very nice to them, including giving them their security deposit back, and helping with school supplies that they had just gotten. we talked to the Elders Quarm President (under the bishops direction) about what they needed. it was a real shock. It made me feel greatful for all of the blessings i have recieved and the safty that i have enjoyed.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support, i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Letter from Mark 07 August 2006
Dear Family,
This week has been good. Transfers are this week, so please send everything through the office this week. So far living with members has been good, still getting use to it. they finished their basement room so we are down there now, and they are working on a bathroom downstairs, but that will take a while.I will probably try to send a package home on wednesday, so i don't have to pack so much. the members here have a CD burner, so i talked to them and i am going to make coppies of all of my cd's, then send the originals home. i bought a small case that has 10 CD's to burn and it is compact.
We had a great expierience on saturday. saturday afternoon we went to a members house to drop off his dolly that he left after helping us move. when we got there they were cleaning up from a garage sale(they are trying to sell their house.) we talked a little bit, and told them we were planning on going to a restaurant in that town that has the slogan "world's best burgers" they said it was good, their 14 year old son asked if he could come, we told him he would have to work with us until then, and he needed a shirt and tie. he was excited and went and changed. in talking to his parents, they said don't bring him back early if he starts complaining. we tracted to 2 hours with him and tried to see a couple people before that but no one was home. he was complaining a little durring tracting, but it was good for him, he was excited at times. then we went to a referal who had not been contacted yet, and they were home. the guy's name was Willie Tipton. him and his girlfriend both called for commercials and talked to missionaries at the mtc. His girlfriend wasn't home, but he was very excited, and had a lot of questions. we had a great visit. after walking out carson, the kid we took, thought that was great and couln't stop talking about it. we told him now he had a good journal entery. he said he doesn't like writing in journals. we told him at dinner he should get out his journal and write in it. on sunday he got up and bore his testimony, then we ate at his house and his parents told us he talked about it all night, and went to bed early so he could get up early and write in his journal, then he wrote 2 full pages without thinking about it. his parents wer very thankful that we took him, and that now he has even mord modivation to go on a mission. It was great to see that happen, and to help get the youth excited about missionary work.
This week we had our district leader challenge us to get double honor roll, 15 lessons and 15 hours tracting. it is sort of funny because the lessons kept on coming, and the tracting led to more lessons, so we ended up with 22 lessons and 14 hours tracting. Elder griffiths and i that it was funny that we were trying so hard to get 15 tracting hours (which isn't too hard) but we couldn't get it. we did get 4 new investigators though. an new investigator is someone that we teach to that hasn't been meeting with us, and then we set up an appointment to come back. one of them is named Cheryl Backster. she had a baptismal date set in the chicago south mission, then moved in with her mom before that happend and couldnt get baptised (her mom is against her joining the church.) we had her moms phone, and a future appartment address. we then found out that she didn't move into the appartment, and her mom wouln't let us talk to her. sunday she called the church, and gave the bishop her address. we stopped by briefly, and met her and set a time to come back. she was very excited to see us and had been sruggling, but said she would never turn her back on the church after the help that they have given her. it was neat.
I have been having a great time, learning a lot and working hard. thankyou for all of your support. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
This week has been good. Transfers are this week, so please send everything through the office this week. So far living with members has been good, still getting use to it. they finished their basement room so we are down there now, and they are working on a bathroom downstairs, but that will take a while.I will probably try to send a package home on wednesday, so i don't have to pack so much. the members here have a CD burner, so i talked to them and i am going to make coppies of all of my cd's, then send the originals home. i bought a small case that has 10 CD's to burn and it is compact.
We had a great expierience on saturday. saturday afternoon we went to a members house to drop off his dolly that he left after helping us move. when we got there they were cleaning up from a garage sale(they are trying to sell their house.) we talked a little bit, and told them we were planning on going to a restaurant in that town that has the slogan "world's best burgers" they said it was good, their 14 year old son asked if he could come, we told him he would have to work with us until then, and he needed a shirt and tie. he was excited and went and changed. in talking to his parents, they said don't bring him back early if he starts complaining. we tracted to 2 hours with him and tried to see a couple people before that but no one was home. he was complaining a little durring tracting, but it was good for him, he was excited at times. then we went to a referal who had not been contacted yet, and they were home. the guy's name was Willie Tipton. him and his girlfriend both called for commercials and talked to missionaries at the mtc. His girlfriend wasn't home, but he was very excited, and had a lot of questions. we had a great visit. after walking out carson, the kid we took, thought that was great and couln't stop talking about it. we told him now he had a good journal entery. he said he doesn't like writing in journals. we told him at dinner he should get out his journal and write in it. on sunday he got up and bore his testimony, then we ate at his house and his parents told us he talked about it all night, and went to bed early so he could get up early and write in his journal, then he wrote 2 full pages without thinking about it. his parents wer very thankful that we took him, and that now he has even mord modivation to go on a mission. It was great to see that happen, and to help get the youth excited about missionary work.
This week we had our district leader challenge us to get double honor roll, 15 lessons and 15 hours tracting. it is sort of funny because the lessons kept on coming, and the tracting led to more lessons, so we ended up with 22 lessons and 14 hours tracting. Elder griffiths and i that it was funny that we were trying so hard to get 15 tracting hours (which isn't too hard) but we couldn't get it. we did get 4 new investigators though. an new investigator is someone that we teach to that hasn't been meeting with us, and then we set up an appointment to come back. one of them is named Cheryl Backster. she had a baptismal date set in the chicago south mission, then moved in with her mom before that happend and couldnt get baptised (her mom is against her joining the church.) we had her moms phone, and a future appartment address. we then found out that she didn't move into the appartment, and her mom wouln't let us talk to her. sunday she called the church, and gave the bishop her address. we stopped by briefly, and met her and set a time to come back. she was very excited to see us and had been sruggling, but said she would never turn her back on the church after the help that they have given her. it was neat.
I have been having a great time, learning a lot and working hard. thankyou for all of your support. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
01 August 2006
Letter from Mark 31 July 2006
Dear Family,
We have spent a ton of time this past week cleaning out our appartment and moving all of our stuff in with a couple named the smiths. our appartment had a ton of things like extra bedding, shirts, lots of cleaning supplies and a ton of food like canned vegedables, pasta noodles, and other stuff most missionaries don't eat. there is a member that will give us food occasionaly, some of it stacks up. I think we gave 7 jars of peanut butter to the food pantery, and we kept 2, one almost empty. we had our final appartment inspection this morning, so after the move on saturday we cleaned all day.
Living with members is wierd. right now i feel like i am just hanging out in their house for way too long. they have part of the basement that they are finishing so right now we are in a very small room. it will be nice once we move to the basement because then we will have a little more space, and we will be off on our own a little more. it is nice because we have a cell phone now, with very few minutes, but free nights and weekends, we also get free laundry, and they told us they are suppose to buy all the cleaning supplys and laundry deturgent. we still buy our own food, but they will feed us if we tell them we will be around for dinner. it is nice, but it will take some getting use to. and then the 10th of August is transfers, and i will probably be leaving.
one of the things they are trying to do with moving us in with members is to move us to different members after a while, to get us in a different part of the area, and to give the members a break, so the bishop has asked a few people to get things ready for missionaries, he is also pushing for another set of missionaries in the ward. the bishop is a general contractor and is building a house with an appartment above the garadge for the missionaries, and he is going to be helping another family finish their basement for missionaries. it is a good program, i wontder if/when they will expand it to other missions.
It has been very hot and humid the past few days. saturday while we were cleaning i would occasionally step outside, and i felt like i was going to break a sweat just standing there for 30 seconds. I'm glad we were inside most of the day.
Well, training is going alright, I will be glad for transfers though. I think i am ready for a new comanion and a new area. training has been a good experience, and i have learned a ton. it really puts pressure on you to do what you need to do. being a junior comanion you have input on what to do, but all of the responsibility in working ultimatly lies on the Senior comanion. and looking back at my senior companions i can see why they did a lot of what they did, even though at the time it bothered me and i didn't like it. Hopfully E. griffiths will feel that way when he becomed senior companion and trains.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support yat you have given me, it has helped strenthen and encourage me. I pray for you and i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
We have spent a ton of time this past week cleaning out our appartment and moving all of our stuff in with a couple named the smiths. our appartment had a ton of things like extra bedding, shirts, lots of cleaning supplies and a ton of food like canned vegedables, pasta noodles, and other stuff most missionaries don't eat. there is a member that will give us food occasionaly, some of it stacks up. I think we gave 7 jars of peanut butter to the food pantery, and we kept 2, one almost empty. we had our final appartment inspection this morning, so after the move on saturday we cleaned all day.
Living with members is wierd. right now i feel like i am just hanging out in their house for way too long. they have part of the basement that they are finishing so right now we are in a very small room. it will be nice once we move to the basement because then we will have a little more space, and we will be off on our own a little more. it is nice because we have a cell phone now, with very few minutes, but free nights and weekends, we also get free laundry, and they told us they are suppose to buy all the cleaning supplys and laundry deturgent. we still buy our own food, but they will feed us if we tell them we will be around for dinner. it is nice, but it will take some getting use to. and then the 10th of August is transfers, and i will probably be leaving.
one of the things they are trying to do with moving us in with members is to move us to different members after a while, to get us in a different part of the area, and to give the members a break, so the bishop has asked a few people to get things ready for missionaries, he is also pushing for another set of missionaries in the ward. the bishop is a general contractor and is building a house with an appartment above the garadge for the missionaries, and he is going to be helping another family finish their basement for missionaries. it is a good program, i wontder if/when they will expand it to other missions.
It has been very hot and humid the past few days. saturday while we were cleaning i would occasionally step outside, and i felt like i was going to break a sweat just standing there for 30 seconds. I'm glad we were inside most of the day.
Well, training is going alright, I will be glad for transfers though. I think i am ready for a new comanion and a new area. training has been a good experience, and i have learned a ton. it really puts pressure on you to do what you need to do. being a junior comanion you have input on what to do, but all of the responsibility in working ultimatly lies on the Senior comanion. and looking back at my senior companions i can see why they did a lot of what they did, even though at the time it bothered me and i didn't like it. Hopfully E. griffiths will feel that way when he becomed senior companion and trains.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support yat you have given me, it has helped strenthen and encourage me. I pray for you and i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
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