Dear Family,
Things have been great this week. Tami Gabel was baptised on thursday. Her brother in-law came from Michigan to do the baptism & confirmation. It was neet to see someone from start to baptism. she has been very excited about the whole thing. she started coming to church about the same time that i came to Platteville. she recognized that religion was missing in her life and wanted to get back into it. she quit smoking just before we met her, and now is reading anything she can get her hands on. It has been great to see.
I started at the beginging of the monthreading the Book of Mormon trying to finish it quickly, shortly after starting i decided that i was going to read it durring the month of October. I am now on track to finnish tomorrow. all I have left is Moroni. I have loved reading it fast and have had a lot of different things stick out to me that I probably wouldn't have noticed going through at a slower pace. I have also seen the blessings pres. Hinckley promised last year to those who read the book of mormon by the end of the year.
The District leader stuff hasn't been too bad. the hardest part in the 1 hour district Meetings on Tuesdays, but those are even starting to come. the one i did this week was on teaching the Basics. lots of missionaries will overcomplicate things trying to teach all they know when that just isn't necessary. there is a quote in "Preach my gospel" that says something to the effect of it is true intelegence to take a complicated principle and unfold it so that a child could understand t. so we applied that and went through more complicated principles to teach and made a list of what missionaries offen teach, then compared it to preach my gospel and saw if it mentioned different points of a principal or not. if not it doesn't need to be taught in many situations. I thought it turned out well, and Elder Chritensen really liked it and told me it was one of the best District Meetings he has had. Being a district leader is pushing me to see things in a new way (like teaching) and makes me thing how i can help my district to be better at some principal. i have really learned a lot.
Transfers are on thursday (2nd) And i will most likely be staying. we are hoping that we will both stay. we are enjoying being together. Elder Chritensed really wants to stay for christmas, but doesn't think he will make it that long. he is hoping for at least Thansgiving here.
On saturday one of the members of the branch gave us a pumpkin, and this morning we used the pumpkin to make pumpkin pie out of scratch. we have it all done now, we are just waiting for it to completely cool, and it will be ready to eat. it made a lot more than we had originally thought. we could have gotten at least 4 pies out of it. we left a large portion of the pumpkin alone, made one pie(we only had one crust) and put all the extra into a big pan and cooked it that way. It was fun to make and we are both excited to eat it. It was one of those fun experiences to say that i have done, but we had a member tell us just before we did it that it realy wasn't worth the effort. we enjoied making it, but i now see what she ment. now that i have done it, I probably wont make another one from a pumpkin any time soon.
tomorrow because it is halloween we are meeting all of the madison elders (i think about 30) in madison and are having a big zone district meeting and games. it should be fun. we are excited to go. it should be fun.
Well, i got to go. I got the package, thanks for all you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
30 October 2006
23 October 2006
Pikachu Chick
Merilee says, "thought you'd get a kick out of this! So, this is my wonderful daughter getting a fantastic education at BYU-I. She was getting ready to run in the traditional ward relay race. Their ward's color is yellow- hence the horrid outfit. Pretty hilarious!!! by the way, since she had a lightning bolt tail, and a sleek, aerodynamic helmet, her team won for the fourth straight semester. Yikes!"
Letter from Mark 23 Oct 2006
Dear Family,
It is neet to hear all of the expieriences everyone is having with wisconsin. It truly is a small world. Elder Free is my Zone Leader right now, and elder Frandsen came out with me, but they are not serving together, however they are both in madison, i will have to talk to them to see if they know Brett Hales
Things ahve been going great here. We are Preparing for Tami Gabel's Baptism on thursday (26th) her brother in law is coming out to do the baptism and confirmation. she has been very excited and it has been a great blessing to watch her prepare herself fot this. it is amazing how the gospel can change people.
One of the members in our branch has a huge garden that he grows all kinds of squash's and pumpkins and such. he recently gave us a spaghetti squash that week cooked and ate. He grows Pumpkins that are supposed to be good for pies that he might be giving us. my companion and i are excited to try to make a pumpkin pie. the member told us the whole process on how to make them. my companion has a few things that he likes to cook, he makes a biscut bread occasionally, and we have done some things with the crockpot. it has been fun to have real food that we make.
This week Elder Christensen and i made up a "word of the day" he pressed play on his tape recorder for a second and whatever it sounded like became the word of the day. when it wasn't a real word we decided that the fake word was the word of the day. the first one was "Permandigashe", meaning -of or relating to squid, then my companion said it should be from an old lanugage so people couldn't look it up. so he said, how about an old kiwian Language derived from "Perma"- meaning squishy, and "gashek"-meaning fish. We had a great time doing it. then we started to tell people and no one questioned us. one person said "squishy fish, i can see that." It was all i could do not to laugh when our member said that. we told probably 5-10 people. it was halarious. It is great to be able to goof off and have fun while being a missionary.
The time in this area is just flying. I have been here a month now and transfers is comming up in a week and a half (november 2) we are hoping to stay, but not sure. Elder Christiensen wants to stay here for chrismas, and has asked president Hunt a few times to let him stay. If he does that there is a posibiliy that i could leave either this transfer, or next and he will stay.
I have started to collect a lot of differant mind puzzels, like wood things that you have to take apart and then put back together, and also several differant metal puzzels that you have to take two things hooked together apart, or take something off. It is funny because every time another missionary sees them they try to figure it out, and there are a few that most figure out but there are a couple that almost no one can figure out. some times they will try to tell me they are imposible, and without showing them how to do it i will take them apart. some of them took me a lot of thinking and time to put them back together (when i found them they were apart,) but i can do all of them now, and there are a few that most people won't even attempt.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
It is neet to hear all of the expieriences everyone is having with wisconsin. It truly is a small world. Elder Free is my Zone Leader right now, and elder Frandsen came out with me, but they are not serving together, however they are both in madison, i will have to talk to them to see if they know Brett Hales
Things ahve been going great here. We are Preparing for Tami Gabel's Baptism on thursday (26th) her brother in law is coming out to do the baptism and confirmation. she has been very excited and it has been a great blessing to watch her prepare herself fot this. it is amazing how the gospel can change people.
One of the members in our branch has a huge garden that he grows all kinds of squash's and pumpkins and such. he recently gave us a spaghetti squash that week cooked and ate. He grows Pumpkins that are supposed to be good for pies that he might be giving us. my companion and i are excited to try to make a pumpkin pie. the member told us the whole process on how to make them. my companion has a few things that he likes to cook, he makes a biscut bread occasionally, and we have done some things with the crockpot. it has been fun to have real food that we make.
This week Elder Christensen and i made up a "word of the day" he pressed play on his tape recorder for a second and whatever it sounded like became the word of the day. when it wasn't a real word we decided that the fake word was the word of the day. the first one was "Permandigashe", meaning -of or relating to squid, then my companion said it should be from an old lanugage so people couldn't look it up. so he said, how about an old kiwian Language derived from "Perma"- meaning squishy, and "gashek"-meaning fish. We had a great time doing it. then we started to tell people and no one questioned us. one person said "squishy fish, i can see that." It was all i could do not to laugh when our member said that. we told probably 5-10 people. it was halarious. It is great to be able to goof off and have fun while being a missionary.
The time in this area is just flying. I have been here a month now and transfers is comming up in a week and a half (november 2) we are hoping to stay, but not sure. Elder Christiensen wants to stay here for chrismas, and has asked president Hunt a few times to let him stay. If he does that there is a posibiliy that i could leave either this transfer, or next and he will stay.
I have started to collect a lot of differant mind puzzels, like wood things that you have to take apart and then put back together, and also several differant metal puzzels that you have to take two things hooked together apart, or take something off. It is funny because every time another missionary sees them they try to figure it out, and there are a few that most figure out but there are a couple that almost no one can figure out. some times they will try to tell me they are imposible, and without showing them how to do it i will take them apart. some of them took me a lot of thinking and time to put them back together (when i found them they were apart,) but i can do all of them now, and there are a few that most people won't even attempt.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
16 October 2006
Letter from Mark 16 Oct 2006
Dear Family,
This Week has been great. On of our investigators, Tami Gables, called us up this week and wanted to set a date for baptism for the 26th of this month. her brother-in-law is comming down from out of town to do the Baptism. she is very excited, along with us. She loves learning about the gospel. she will be good to work with in getting referals because she is new to it and absolutly loves it.
One thing I don't kow if I have told you or not, but i thought it was cool. Platteville is the Home of the Worlds Largest "M" they have a Huge "M" on the biggest hill they can find. I find it Funny that dispite the fact that Platteville has no m in it, it still has the largest M. There is a University of Wisconsin extention here in platteville and it use to be a mining college. but they aren't anymore, and they even changed from the miners to the pioneer's. so now they have no connection to the M other than History. It is funny. We like to say "M stands for Platteville"
This past week has been cold. we have gotten down to the 20's a few times this week. and even found a blanket of snow on the ground on morning, it has since melted though. in some ways i am excited for winter, but in others i don't want it to come yet.
Elder Stephen E. Snow came on tuesday, and we had a little ofver half of the mission all together in milwaukee. the other half met on monday. It was great. he had everyon prepare a 5 min talk of faith, and randomly called up 3 people to give theirs, then he evaluated them and we talked about good and bad things that they did, and how to be better public speakers. It was really neat. he also talked about 4 things we can do to help us have the spirit with us, adn can feel it more. he said, prayer, scripture study, obedience, and service. he then talked on the importance of each one. it was great. they try to get a general authority out about once a year, so unless i get realy lucky this was probably the last one that will come out to visit the mission while i am here. I really enjoyed it.
I have been loving it out here. missionary work is great. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
This Week has been great. On of our investigators, Tami Gables, called us up this week and wanted to set a date for baptism for the 26th of this month. her brother-in-law is comming down from out of town to do the Baptism. she is very excited, along with us. She loves learning about the gospel. she will be good to work with in getting referals because she is new to it and absolutly loves it.
One thing I don't kow if I have told you or not, but i thought it was cool. Platteville is the Home of the Worlds Largest "M" they have a Huge "M" on the biggest hill they can find. I find it Funny that dispite the fact that Platteville has no m in it, it still has the largest M. There is a University of Wisconsin extention here in platteville and it use to be a mining college. but they aren't anymore, and they even changed from the miners to the pioneer's. so now they have no connection to the M other than History. It is funny. We like to say "M stands for Platteville"
This past week has been cold. we have gotten down to the 20's a few times this week. and even found a blanket of snow on the ground on morning, it has since melted though. in some ways i am excited for winter, but in others i don't want it to come yet.
Elder Stephen E. Snow came on tuesday, and we had a little ofver half of the mission all together in milwaukee. the other half met on monday. It was great. he had everyon prepare a 5 min talk of faith, and randomly called up 3 people to give theirs, then he evaluated them and we talked about good and bad things that they did, and how to be better public speakers. It was really neat. he also talked about 4 things we can do to help us have the spirit with us, adn can feel it more. he said, prayer, scripture study, obedience, and service. he then talked on the importance of each one. it was great. they try to get a general authority out about once a year, so unless i get realy lucky this was probably the last one that will come out to visit the mission while i am here. I really enjoyed it.
I have been loving it out here. missionary work is great. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
09 October 2006
Letter from Mark 09 Oct 2006
Dear Family,
Things are going great here. we are heading into madison tonight, an then to milwaukee tomorrow because a General Authority is comming to the mission. Elder Stephen E. Snow. It should be Fun.
We have a lady named Tami Gables that has been comming to church the past few weeks, she is a member referal and has told us she wants to be baptized. be talked to the branch president and he wants to do it in 2 week, so we are going overthere today, and talking about it and working out all the details. we have been excited about it. she has a 14 year old girl that we are going to try to baptize with her, and she has 6 year old twins. she told us that she has had a void in her life that she wants to fill. there are also a few other investigators that we have that are doing well. the best thing as a missionary is to see people that understand, and accept the gospel, and let it change their lives. It is truly a blessing to be a part of this work.
thanks for the package, that was great, i also got the enzymes that you sent, thank you, I now have a bottle that i keep in the car so when i eat away from home i can still take them and it has been working well so far. Those pictures you sent of Alex and Allison suprised me. they look like they have grown a lot. I hadn't thought about that untill i got the pictures, but people do change.
It is wierd getting back into the cold season. I have enjoyed it so far, but it is funny being able to remember last year in wisconsin, and not having everyone else remember. I am the same age now as some of my seniors were when i served with them, and all but one of them are home now, and it hasn't seemed that long to me. the thought of 2 years seemed a lot longer at the start of my mission than it does now.
We have approval in this area to go camping, or to stay in members homes who live far away to save miles, unfortunatly, the members that qualify to have us stay the night are not far away, and the members tht are far away, can't stay the night. there aren't too many places to camp, so we get around the whole thing by camping in a members back yard. we did that Thursday night. we have a tent, but for some reason, no sleeping bags, so we just brought a ton of blankets. we found out that it is too late in the year to be camping without warmer sleeping bags, it was a cold night. The member told us that it probably got down to the 30's that night. it was fun thought, i can now say that i have been camping on my mission, even though it was in a back yard. that member also told me friday morning that the Utes had won their game the previous night (he is a big Byu fan but follows the Utes as well)
I talked to president hunt about what is approved as far as talks on CD go and he said that any CES instructer is ok, he said basically any church speaker is ok, anyone that has spoken at EFY, etc.
I am excited to be able to see the temples in New York, it should be fun.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all
Elder Lundberg
Things are going great here. we are heading into madison tonight, an then to milwaukee tomorrow because a General Authority is comming to the mission. Elder Stephen E. Snow. It should be Fun.
We have a lady named Tami Gables that has been comming to church the past few weeks, she is a member referal and has told us she wants to be baptized. be talked to the branch president and he wants to do it in 2 week, so we are going overthere today, and talking about it and working out all the details. we have been excited about it. she has a 14 year old girl that we are going to try to baptize with her, and she has 6 year old twins. she told us that she has had a void in her life that she wants to fill. there are also a few other investigators that we have that are doing well. the best thing as a missionary is to see people that understand, and accept the gospel, and let it change their lives. It is truly a blessing to be a part of this work.
thanks for the package, that was great, i also got the enzymes that you sent, thank you, I now have a bottle that i keep in the car so when i eat away from home i can still take them and it has been working well so far. Those pictures you sent of Alex and Allison suprised me. they look like they have grown a lot. I hadn't thought about that untill i got the pictures, but people do change.
It is wierd getting back into the cold season. I have enjoyed it so far, but it is funny being able to remember last year in wisconsin, and not having everyone else remember. I am the same age now as some of my seniors were when i served with them, and all but one of them are home now, and it hasn't seemed that long to me. the thought of 2 years seemed a lot longer at the start of my mission than it does now.
We have approval in this area to go camping, or to stay in members homes who live far away to save miles, unfortunatly, the members that qualify to have us stay the night are not far away, and the members tht are far away, can't stay the night. there aren't too many places to camp, so we get around the whole thing by camping in a members back yard. we did that Thursday night. we have a tent, but for some reason, no sleeping bags, so we just brought a ton of blankets. we found out that it is too late in the year to be camping without warmer sleeping bags, it was a cold night. The member told us that it probably got down to the 30's that night. it was fun thought, i can now say that i have been camping on my mission, even though it was in a back yard. that member also told me friday morning that the Utes had won their game the previous night (he is a big Byu fan but follows the Utes as well)
I talked to president hunt about what is approved as far as talks on CD go and he said that any CES instructer is ok, he said basically any church speaker is ok, anyone that has spoken at EFY, etc.
I am excited to be able to see the temples in New York, it should be fun.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all
Elder Lundberg
02 October 2006
Letter from Mark 02 Oct 2006
Dear Family,
This week has been great. Conference was Awesome! I have decided that conference as a missionary is great. it gives us a ton more material to work with and to use in our teaching situation. as a missionary working with less active members i especially liked ELder Bednar's talk. I'm already excited to get a copy of the talk and start using it. I also enjoyed the 1st and 2nd talks of saturday morning.
My reliese date is friday July 14th 2007. thursday the 13th is transfers, and we stay the night in the mission home, and friday we fly out. when Elder Hill went home, he flew straight to salt lake, and got there at 10:00 in the morning. most groups don't do that, but they only had 2 flying to salt lake so they put them on a very small plane. New York sounds fun.
I have tried those ensymes and they have done alright. where did you get those? i am actually almost out and was going to buy more. do you think walmart would have it?
After sending the pictures home i noticed that something is wrong with the card i have and my camera would not read it, so i went and baught a card. walmart was having a sale on their memory cards and they had 1 GB cards for $40, so i got one of those. needless to say, i can now take a ton of pictures. my companion loves to take pictures, so we have started to take a ton of fun pictures.
My district is just us and one other companionship, who just moved from Prairie du Chien to Richland Center (just above Gotham WI, they are way excited about that.) Every Tuesday (except for interviews week and Zone Conferance week) I am in charge of a District meeting where i chose a topic and do a training on it using the scriptures, Preach my gospel, and any other resources that i can. district meetings usually last and hour to an hour and a half, and include a few other things beside me. Tomorrow i will go to Interviews, right before that they do a district leader Training that i will go to. I also report the numbers for the district to the zone leaders 3 times a week, who send them in to the office. I am also the person that my district goes through to get anything approved (most of it i then tell the zone leaders and they approve or disaprove it)
It is wierd to think about christmas already. the only thing that i can think of at the moment is the study manuels (Book of mormon, teachings of christ and his apostles, and/or the pearl of great price) talks are also great, I think there is some sort of restriction to who we can listen to. I know we can listen to general authorities, there are missionaries that have talks from people that teach at byu, i think tomorrow i will ask president what the regulations are on talks. I have also thought of a small picture book, i haven't kept many pictures out here, but it would be fun to have a few pictures from throught my mission (not nessisarily all of them) other that that i don't know. i will try to give it some thought.
the mission had a goal to finnish the new testament by sept 30th. I was origanally hoping to finish the whole bible by then, but then i fell behind, so i skipped to the new testiment and finished the morning of conferance. I went through the newtestiment fairly quickly so alot of it, especially the end was still in my mind for conferance, it was neat. i also finished the book of mormon on saturday morning( i planned it that way) and have now started over with the intent to read it as fast as posible. i have talked to a few people that have done it that way and they like to do that occasionally. this morning i got 30 pages in, and i hope that i can keep up that pace.
I have recently been debating what to do with school when i go home, and while i still have not decided pres Hinckleys remarks about education in the Priesthood session has helpfull in letting me know that i do need to persue education. i thought for a little bit about working for a semester, then picking up in spring. but have now decided not to.
thank you for all of the prayers and support. i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
This week has been great. Conference was Awesome! I have decided that conference as a missionary is great. it gives us a ton more material to work with and to use in our teaching situation. as a missionary working with less active members i especially liked ELder Bednar's talk. I'm already excited to get a copy of the talk and start using it. I also enjoyed the 1st and 2nd talks of saturday morning.
My reliese date is friday July 14th 2007. thursday the 13th is transfers, and we stay the night in the mission home, and friday we fly out. when Elder Hill went home, he flew straight to salt lake, and got there at 10:00 in the morning. most groups don't do that, but they only had 2 flying to salt lake so they put them on a very small plane. New York sounds fun.
I have tried those ensymes and they have done alright. where did you get those? i am actually almost out and was going to buy more. do you think walmart would have it?
After sending the pictures home i noticed that something is wrong with the card i have and my camera would not read it, so i went and baught a card. walmart was having a sale on their memory cards and they had 1 GB cards for $40, so i got one of those. needless to say, i can now take a ton of pictures. my companion loves to take pictures, so we have started to take a ton of fun pictures.
My district is just us and one other companionship, who just moved from Prairie du Chien to Richland Center (just above Gotham WI, they are way excited about that.) Every Tuesday (except for interviews week and Zone Conferance week) I am in charge of a District meeting where i chose a topic and do a training on it using the scriptures, Preach my gospel, and any other resources that i can. district meetings usually last and hour to an hour and a half, and include a few other things beside me. Tomorrow i will go to Interviews, right before that they do a district leader Training that i will go to. I also report the numbers for the district to the zone leaders 3 times a week, who send them in to the office. I am also the person that my district goes through to get anything approved (most of it i then tell the zone leaders and they approve or disaprove it)
It is wierd to think about christmas already. the only thing that i can think of at the moment is the study manuels (Book of mormon, teachings of christ and his apostles, and/or the pearl of great price) talks are also great, I think there is some sort of restriction to who we can listen to. I know we can listen to general authorities, there are missionaries that have talks from people that teach at byu, i think tomorrow i will ask president what the regulations are on talks. I have also thought of a small picture book, i haven't kept many pictures out here, but it would be fun to have a few pictures from throught my mission (not nessisarily all of them) other that that i don't know. i will try to give it some thought.
the mission had a goal to finnish the new testament by sept 30th. I was origanally hoping to finish the whole bible by then, but then i fell behind, so i skipped to the new testiment and finished the morning of conferance. I went through the newtestiment fairly quickly so alot of it, especially the end was still in my mind for conferance, it was neat. i also finished the book of mormon on saturday morning( i planned it that way) and have now started over with the intent to read it as fast as posible. i have talked to a few people that have done it that way and they like to do that occasionally. this morning i got 30 pages in, and i hope that i can keep up that pace.
I have recently been debating what to do with school when i go home, and while i still have not decided pres Hinckleys remarks about education in the Priesthood session has helpfull in letting me know that i do need to persue education. i thought for a little bit about working for a semester, then picking up in spring. but have now decided not to.
thank you for all of the prayers and support. i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
01 October 2006
25 September 2006
Letter from Mark 25 Sep 2006
Dear Family,
Well, as you probably guessed after getting the district leader letter, I got transfered. I am not in Platteville, which is right next to Prairie DU Chien. and as didstrict leader i am over just Here and Prairie du chien. I report numbers to the zone leaders on wednesdays, fridays, and sundays, and I am in charge of 4 district meeting each transfer(one every week except for interviews and zone conferance week) my first 4 companions were all district leader, so i'm comfortable with the responsabilities.
The Prairie Du chien elders are leaving prairie du chien the end of this week and are getting re-assigned to a new branch of about 20 members. the are sad to be leaving the branch, the mebers there are great, in that whole process i will pick up some of the prairie du chien area, which i am excited about.
\My companion is Elder Christensen, he is from the cottenwood heights area. IT has been fun, he knows Daniel Tanner, and Jesse Baldridge. he loves to sing and is a hard worker. We have been getting along great so far. he has been out for about 10 months now (as long as Elder Mangum, my last companion,) and there is a posibility that he could train here next transfer, and i could leave. It has been great to serve with a companion that will pull his own weight and is a hard worker. even though i got along great with elder Mangum he was a bit lazy. so i was still pulling a lot of the weight, which he recognised at the end and wes feeling stressed to have me leave because he didn't know anything about the area because i was doing it all. at least he learned.
I have loved Platteville so far, It is a branch of about 60-80 active members. I have been so excited to be serving back in a branch. even after 6 months in elkhorn there were still people i didn't know there, but in a branch you get to know everyone well. I have also been joking with other missionaries about being out for over 14 months and only having 2 districts. occasionaly someone will serve in the same district 2 times, but it isn't a real common event. now i am serving in my 2nd district for the 2nd time, I am loving it though. one missionary said i should request to go to the last area in the lake mills district. as fun as that would be, but i don't think it will happen.
I have worn my glasses for most of my mission, because i havent been able to keep contancts in for a long period of time with out my eyes going red, but recently they havent been bothering me too much and with contacts everyone has been telling me i look like i am 17. most of the ward members thought that i was a new missionary, and were surprised to hear i was senior. it was funny.
I have been getting excited for conferance. conferance as a missionary is great, it provides great teaching material, and is a great experiance for investigators. I have found that at things like conferance, as a missionary, it isn't just for me, but i go there for the people i am teaching as well. It is great to be a missionary and get the pespective of other peoples lives and wher they are at spiritually and helping them progress. It is interesting how a 20 year old can talk to people he has just met and have them open up everything about themselves, sometimes including things that the people won't even tell family members. It is a Remarkable learning experiance, and i think i finaly know why every young man is asked to serve a mission.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support, I am working hard and love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Well, as you probably guessed after getting the district leader letter, I got transfered. I am not in Platteville, which is right next to Prairie DU Chien. and as didstrict leader i am over just Here and Prairie du chien. I report numbers to the zone leaders on wednesdays, fridays, and sundays, and I am in charge of 4 district meeting each transfer(one every week except for interviews and zone conferance week) my first 4 companions were all district leader, so i'm comfortable with the responsabilities.
The Prairie Du chien elders are leaving prairie du chien the end of this week and are getting re-assigned to a new branch of about 20 members. the are sad to be leaving the branch, the mebers there are great, in that whole process i will pick up some of the prairie du chien area, which i am excited about.
\My companion is Elder Christensen, he is from the cottenwood heights area. IT has been fun, he knows Daniel Tanner, and Jesse Baldridge. he loves to sing and is a hard worker. We have been getting along great so far. he has been out for about 10 months now (as long as Elder Mangum, my last companion,) and there is a posibility that he could train here next transfer, and i could leave. It has been great to serve with a companion that will pull his own weight and is a hard worker. even though i got along great with elder Mangum he was a bit lazy. so i was still pulling a lot of the weight, which he recognised at the end and wes feeling stressed to have me leave because he didn't know anything about the area because i was doing it all. at least he learned.
I have loved Platteville so far, It is a branch of about 60-80 active members. I have been so excited to be serving back in a branch. even after 6 months in elkhorn there were still people i didn't know there, but in a branch you get to know everyone well. I have also been joking with other missionaries about being out for over 14 months and only having 2 districts. occasionaly someone will serve in the same district 2 times, but it isn't a real common event. now i am serving in my 2nd district for the 2nd time, I am loving it though. one missionary said i should request to go to the last area in the lake mills district. as fun as that would be, but i don't think it will happen.
I have worn my glasses for most of my mission, because i havent been able to keep contancts in for a long period of time with out my eyes going red, but recently they havent been bothering me too much and with contacts everyone has been telling me i look like i am 17. most of the ward members thought that i was a new missionary, and were surprised to hear i was senior. it was funny.
I have been getting excited for conferance. conferance as a missionary is great, it provides great teaching material, and is a great experiance for investigators. I have found that at things like conferance, as a missionary, it isn't just for me, but i go there for the people i am teaching as well. It is great to be a missionary and get the pespective of other peoples lives and wher they are at spiritually and helping them progress. It is interesting how a 20 year old can talk to people he has just met and have them open up everything about themselves, sometimes including things that the people won't even tell family members. It is a Remarkable learning experiance, and i think i finaly know why every young man is asked to serve a mission.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support, I am working hard and love you all.
Elder Lundberg
24 September 2006
18 September 2006
Letter from Mark 18 Sep 2006
Dear Family,
Things have been going well. It has been starting to cool off the past few days, some leaves are begining to change colors. it is wierd to see the change in the weather again and be able to remember last year as a missionary at this time.
Transfers are up again on thursday (sept 21) And I will probably be going, so please send everything through the office. there is a posibility that i will stay, but most likely not.
Gas has steadily gone down here. we were paying over $3 a gallon for a while, but now it is just under $2.50. It is amazing how $3 will make $2.50 look cheep, but when i left $2.50 was expensive. actually, it was about the same price when i got to wisconsin last year.
I had a cool Experiance this morning. the seminary teacher got some old time cloths and asked me to dress up as Joseph Smith and tell the story as if I were him. She had the Idea, and asked her neighbor who was the seminary teacher last year what she thought and she recomended me(we had taught them and i did the joseph smith part) so we did that and afterward there were a few people that wanted pictures, so we got a lot of pictures. It was fun. I should be sending a lot of stuff home this week, including those pictures. If i don't get transfered i probably won't send it though.
This past week i got a call from someone in that lake mills ward that i didn't know (and she didn't know me or that i had served there,) telling me that one of the youth from that ward was in the Elkhorn Hospital, and the father needed help giving a blessing. the kids name is James Delory, he was in a soccer game as golie and had someone drive on him and he grabbed the ball as it got a little a head of the other player. the kid on the other team couldn't stop and tripped over him, kicking him in the head, and after that James counln't remember a thing. he kept asking what happened adn as soon as they finished telling him he wouldn say "oh, ok, i don't know if i have asked you,but can you tell me the play." they said he just had a concussion and that he should be ok. One of their sons came home from a mission while i was their is now married, and another one of their sons is leaving on a mission soon. It was neat to get to see them.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Things have been going well. It has been starting to cool off the past few days, some leaves are begining to change colors. it is wierd to see the change in the weather again and be able to remember last year as a missionary at this time.
Transfers are up again on thursday (sept 21) And I will probably be going, so please send everything through the office. there is a posibility that i will stay, but most likely not.
Gas has steadily gone down here. we were paying over $3 a gallon for a while, but now it is just under $2.50. It is amazing how $3 will make $2.50 look cheep, but when i left $2.50 was expensive. actually, it was about the same price when i got to wisconsin last year.
I had a cool Experiance this morning. the seminary teacher got some old time cloths and asked me to dress up as Joseph Smith and tell the story as if I were him. She had the Idea, and asked her neighbor who was the seminary teacher last year what she thought and she recomended me(we had taught them and i did the joseph smith part) so we did that and afterward there were a few people that wanted pictures, so we got a lot of pictures. It was fun. I should be sending a lot of stuff home this week, including those pictures. If i don't get transfered i probably won't send it though.
This past week i got a call from someone in that lake mills ward that i didn't know (and she didn't know me or that i had served there,) telling me that one of the youth from that ward was in the Elkhorn Hospital, and the father needed help giving a blessing. the kids name is James Delory, he was in a soccer game as golie and had someone drive on him and he grabbed the ball as it got a little a head of the other player. the kid on the other team couldn't stop and tripped over him, kicking him in the head, and after that James counln't remember a thing. he kept asking what happened adn as soon as they finished telling him he wouldn say "oh, ok, i don't know if i have asked you,but can you tell me the play." they said he just had a concussion and that he should be ok. One of their sons came home from a mission while i was their is now married, and another one of their sons is leaving on a mission soon. It was neat to get to see them.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
11 September 2006
Letter from Mark 11 Sep 2006
Dear Family,
Things have been going well this week. We talked to the Hobson's, the family that wants their 9 year old son baptized and we have decided that we are going to first work on getting them to church regularly, then when the time is right he will be baptized, but i told him I would rather have it done right, and have to miss it, than to see his son baptised when he isn't ready. It was a good visit.
Our Zone is getting together today and doing a zone Preparation day. I'm not sure what we are going to be doing, but it has been a while since we went to milwaukee for preparation day, so it should be fun.
It was wierd to talk to Brandon Hill, he has called me a few times, he said "you will never guess who i am talking to on the phone", then he said "your sister" and told me how he ended up doing that. i was surised
I have a package that i will be sending sometime, but i might not send it untill next week, when i will know if/where i am getting transfered.
We went on an exchange with a member that served in this area about 4 years ago. he took us to go find some less-active members that nobody knew anything about. we got lost a few times, and each time ended up in a small town called Little Prarie, it has about 50-100 people in it. each time we would start saying, this looks familiar, then we realized where we were. it was annoying, but funny.
Elder Mangum and i are getting a long great. It makes missionarywork so much easier when you and your companion get along. it makes it nice to not have to argue what needs to be done. the only thing that we fight over is the piano it is basically a race to the piano when we have free time. I found a John schmidt book at a music store, and have been teaching myself "All of Me" I am slowly getting it. I love playing the piano now, i find it is getting easier, at least the hymns are. I think i can play them al lot better now after focusing on those for the past while.
There is a family that is on the border of the Elkhorn ward and the Lake mills Ward. lake mills changed their meeting time to a time when the father could't make it (he is a manager of an old navy and works some sunday evenings) so they are going to start comming to elkhorn so they can come as a family. It was fun to see them again. they said that i looked taller and they think i have grown. i don't think i have, but now I want to try to fing a way to check it. I think it is just that they havn't seen me in a while.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
Things have been going well this week. We talked to the Hobson's, the family that wants their 9 year old son baptized and we have decided that we are going to first work on getting them to church regularly, then when the time is right he will be baptized, but i told him I would rather have it done right, and have to miss it, than to see his son baptised when he isn't ready. It was a good visit.
Our Zone is getting together today and doing a zone Preparation day. I'm not sure what we are going to be doing, but it has been a while since we went to milwaukee for preparation day, so it should be fun.
It was wierd to talk to Brandon Hill, he has called me a few times, he said "you will never guess who i am talking to on the phone", then he said "your sister" and told me how he ended up doing that. i was surised
I have a package that i will be sending sometime, but i might not send it untill next week, when i will know if/where i am getting transfered.
We went on an exchange with a member that served in this area about 4 years ago. he took us to go find some less-active members that nobody knew anything about. we got lost a few times, and each time ended up in a small town called Little Prarie, it has about 50-100 people in it. each time we would start saying, this looks familiar, then we realized where we were. it was annoying, but funny.
Elder Mangum and i are getting a long great. It makes missionarywork so much easier when you and your companion get along. it makes it nice to not have to argue what needs to be done. the only thing that we fight over is the piano it is basically a race to the piano when we have free time. I found a John schmidt book at a music store, and have been teaching myself "All of Me" I am slowly getting it. I love playing the piano now, i find it is getting easier, at least the hymns are. I think i can play them al lot better now after focusing on those for the past while.
There is a family that is on the border of the Elkhorn ward and the Lake mills Ward. lake mills changed their meeting time to a time when the father could't make it (he is a manager of an old navy and works some sunday evenings) so they are going to start comming to elkhorn so they can come as a family. It was fun to see them again. they said that i looked taller and they think i have grown. i don't think i have, but now I want to try to fing a way to check it. I think it is just that they havn't seen me in a while.
Thank you for all that you do. I love you all.
Elder Lundberg
09 September 2006
Cross Country Cougar Challenge 08 Sept 2006.
The Cougar Challenge was hosted by Kearns High School, and included 5 high schools; Murray, Kearns, Payson, Lone Peak and Waterford.It was a nice facility at the Oquirrh Park adjacent to the Olympic Speedskating Oval. And except for a faulty starter's gun and a locked gate on the course that the JV runners had to hop, a really well-run and fun spectator event.
Allie (freshman) placed first in the Girls JV race!
Allie's time puts her on the varsity squad for the next meet, and she hopes to letter (must run two varsity events).
Here's a prediction: Allie will be really good if she decides to go for it, even with the disadvantage of my genes!
This smaller, out-of-focus photo shows the margin of Allie's vistory. The second place girl, who ran a good race, is the person about 50 yards back by the goal. Incidentally, Allison knows her from violin. Small world.
Julie and I agree that this was a fun sport to watch because you don't have wacky parents yelling at refs. Everyone supports one another and all appreciate a good effort.
Signed, Proud Papa
04 September 2006
Letter from Mark 04 Sept 2006
Dear Family,
This week has been good. we had Zone Conferance in Lake Mills on saturday. that was great. I got to stop by the harts and say Hi.
We are Getting close to having a 9 year old baptized. both his parents are members, but they don't come to church much. once they start comming to church he can be baptized. they have told us the last 3 weeks they are comming, but they havent yet. we even tried stopping by on sunday morning, but they didn't answer the door. they would like to have him baptized before i leave,which could be the 21st of this month. That isn't likely though, because they haven't been to church yet, and we don't want them just to come the minimum, then not come again later.
Elder mangum and i are getting along great, I am going to ask president to leave me here, but i don't know if he will because i have been here a long time.
well i got to go i don't have much time. i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
This week has been good. we had Zone Conferance in Lake Mills on saturday. that was great. I got to stop by the harts and say Hi.
We are Getting close to having a 9 year old baptized. both his parents are members, but they don't come to church much. once they start comming to church he can be baptized. they have told us the last 3 weeks they are comming, but they havent yet. we even tried stopping by on sunday morning, but they didn't answer the door. they would like to have him baptized before i leave,which could be the 21st of this month. That isn't likely though, because they haven't been to church yet, and we don't want them just to come the minimum, then not come again later.
Elder mangum and i are getting along great, I am going to ask president to leave me here, but i don't know if he will because i have been here a long time.
well i got to go i don't have much time. i love you all.
Elder Lundberg
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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