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Elder Robbie Cook ~ Serving in Texas

Robbie was transferred this last month to a small town about 40 minutes south of Houston called Alvin Texas. He loves it there and enjoys the chance to teach in English finally. He still gets to speak Spanish but the Ward he is in now is English speaking. The members are great and they should have a baptism this next week. Their are four Elders in their apartment and they all get along great. The District Leader is a native Mexican from Taiwan and has been a wonderful resource for Rob as he continues to learn the language. It continues to rain almost every other day and Hurricane Gustav may add some additional wind and thunderstorms over the next few days. Alvin is only about 30 minutes inland from the Gulf of Mexico and the port of Galveston Texas.
Rob says he's loves his mission and the people he's serving in Texas. He has truly been blessed in his efforts and knows that he is where the Lord needs him.

Elder and Sister Dayes ~ Serving in the Philippines MTC Medical Mission

We have been caution about these relationships. Because the Philippineso think we are Americans and have all the money in the world. So we have been told to be very careful because they will ask and expect money from us. Well I have been very lucky up until recently. One middle aged man caught me in my office late the other night; He told me his wife called crying that that she had no food to feed their children, nothing for breakfast, lunch or dinner. He told me he has to walk two hours to work because he has no money he want to buy a bike but no money. He was crying. He said he didn’t have enough nerve to ask the President. He told me that he does all his church callings. He moved his family here close. In the past

Church employees are very lucky. Most employers give 5 month contacts with no benefits. Then they are laid off only to try to find another job. But, the church gives benefits, retirement, and raises, medical. And clothing allowances not for just the job clothing but also for cloths to wear to work. Also, lunch money. Holiday pay, sick pay. They are so fortunate to work for the church. And most employees are aware of these blessings. Well on this mans employment record is a problem with gambling. I had heard this before. But what do you do. It is hard to evaluate his situation because. He has a weight problem so does his wife and kids. So I wonder about the truthfulness of his situation. Yet, I can’t help but feel sorry for him thinking of his children. I went to the President and he and I gathered some food and sent it home with him. I did not want the word out that I helped because I don’t want to be the soft touch around here. But sure enough the next night the man that cleans the place. A different guy, Stopped me on the stair well and asked for 1, 030 Pecos. So I told him I am sorry it is against the rules. I felt bad. I heard the president going into his apartment so I stopped him and told him what happen so this guy had gone to him with the same story so the president gave him a loaf of bread and I got a jar of peanut butter. I hope that is the end of that.

Do you know how lucky we are to be an American? I don’t have words to describe our blessings. No one in the USA is really poor. We all benefit from everyone working and paying taxes. What a wonderful country we have! Hospital at home can not turn people away if they have no money. But here you just die. No money no care!
There are big holes in the street and Wires sticking out of poles, holes in sidewalks. You have to watch every where you move or you could seriously get hurt.

Elder Tyler Doyle ~ Serving in Guatemala

Well...........This is my last time using crappy internet here in Guatemala and the last time talking to you guys. Next week in real person.........crazy.....I am way nervous to go home so u might have to baby me for the first few days.

Well,…… on the way back from Coban last week, it started to rain so hard that landslides occurred. So we couldn't continue our trip. We turned around and a river was going through the street and we got stuck.....So all 10 of us missionaries got out in the pouring rain and we pushed the car through the river.....good times....we all slept together on a mattress to get through the night. It was a hassle. There are a certain aspects of this country that I am sick of, but only one more week. I am so grateful that I was able to do what I did for 2 years and to learn what I learned.......moments I will never forget. I love u all, and I will see you soon. Elder Doyle

Elder Clifton Dudley ~ Serving in Mexico

Elder Clifton Dudley hopes to be heading to the Mexico, Monterrey East Mission soon. Currently, however, he is blessed to be serving in Salt Lake City, South while he awaits his visa. Although he enjoyed his MTC experience, he is excited to be out in the mission field. (For awhile, he was concerned he would be working full-time in the MTC call center awaiting his visa.) All his Spanish practicing must have paid off because he is fortunate enough to be serving in a Spanish-speaking assignment in the Salt Lake City area along with two other elders. All in all, there are 49 elders in his group awaiting visas for Mexico. If you would like to write Elder Dudley for free or see some of his pictures, please visit his website, www.dearelder.com/cliftondudley. The password is "clifton."

Elder Derek Evans ~ Serving in England

Derek was called to the England Leeds Mission (the very same Mission I was called to 35 years ago) and reported directly to the Preston, England MTC on Aug. 29th. The MTC is in a small town called Chorley, about 8 miles from Preston, where the very first baptisms (9 individuals) were performed in England in 1837 in the River Ribble which runs through Preston. The Preston Temple is also on the same lot as the MTC. I am so thrilled; I can hardly describe my feelings because I served in Chorley for a short time. The Preston, England MTC actually allows the Missionary trainees to go out into nearby neighborhoods and do door-to-door contacting and teaching as part of their training. It may well be, that my son will work in the streets that I had the privilege to work in so long ago. I told him when he received his call that the reason he was called there was to "clean up the mess I made".

Sister Teresa Hall ~ Serving in Nevada

Well Transfers came and went. I left Kingman Arizona and am
now Back in Las Vegas in East again! I came home! I am so excited.
I started my mission here. I am in a different area but back to the same Zone.
I am not sure if you understand that all because it is mission jargin. I am with
Hna White who is from South Carolina. She is a Spanish speaker and really
neat! We are STRAIGHT Spanish! I am soooo happy. I am have NO ENGLISH
ward. Or area to cover. So I am hoping my Spanish will really improve this
Transfer. I am somewhat scared because of the heavy Spanish work load
and me not knowing too much Spanish but.. Everything will work out. I met
a man yesterday named Steven, who doesn’t believe  in God because of
all the suffering in the world and also he has read the bible but see's God
as only someone who hurts and throws down people and is a jealous God.
It was so sad to see, because He truly is a good man, who is so lost and
confused. I can see that he truly wants to believe but is lead blindly by Satan
to believe God is not there nor does he care. It was sad, I would say he is one
of the nicest people I have talked to on my mission who is looking for the gospel
but doesn’t even realize it. We wont be teaching him again, which is sad but
he is not ready. I have come to realize that we come closer to God step by step
and that after some time we look back and we see the progression that we have
made and its amazing! I love the scriptures. I have read the BOM twice and am
now about half way through the New Testament. I love it. The small stories that
are not told in church are amazing and I love the way the Savior Teaches with
love and in parables so that it makes me have to ponder what he has written
and to truly comptemplate on what he has taught. I love being on my mission
and for the hard struggles because they have made me so much the better
person I want to be. I also met a young father down in Kingman, who is absolutely
amazing. He had a bad past. But mom, he has the spirit of God within him. Its
burns in eyes the desire to learn more and come closer to God. His name is
Greg. I am really sad that I could not stay and watch him progress but... I will
keep writing him. ummm not much else to write, I have a lot of cleaning and
unpacking to do today. Have a great week.

Elder Cameron Pettey ~ Serving in Brazil

Elder Cameron Pettey is still serving in his initial area, and is with his second companion who he has been with the entire time except for the first three weeks. Cam's trainer for the first 3 weeks, Elder Jeff Shurtliff, just returned home to Orem 2 weeks ago. Elder Alves, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Cameron have been together since E. Shurtliff got transferred to become a Zone Ldr. Cameron has been trained very well, and is extremely diligent in learning his duty, learning the Portuguese language, loving the people, and having fun. To this point in his mission, we see success, fun, and happiness. Cam is really enjoying his mission, and is serving with all his might, mind, and strength. We are so proud of him. He and his companions have enjoyed seeing the fruits of their labor (with the fellowship and work of the ward members) as eight converts have been baptized since Cameron arrived in Mooca, Sao Paulo on April 8th. In the past month, the Elders baptized a family, the family's friend, and a former Methodist pastor. Here are some excerts from Cameron's emails. I attached a couple of baptism pix.

6/30/08 "Saturday was the best day ever! on the mission for sure. It was awesome. It was a very busy day. I didnt even want the day to end it was so good. So to start, we went and watched Sueli and Cleiton get married. She got emotional which was cool, but it was nothing compared what it will be like in the temple for them. A few hours later in the afternoon we went to their house and ate lunch with them. She made awesome fish. Straight fish. Looked straight out of the sea, just cut in half. Still had the tails and eyes and skin and all. It is way good though. I really feel so comfortable at their house and with them. I feel like I am at home with them. They are really so amazing. I love them. So then at 5pm we had their baptism: Sueli, Cletion, João, and Denis. President came, and it was really good. It was a really neat experience, especially actually being able to baptize them. E Alves baptized Sueli, I baptized Cleiton, and members baptized the others. After the baptism, we had a ward party, festa junina. It was legit."

7/28/08 "This week we baptized a Pastor! It was awesome. Saturday we baptized José Basílio and Neuza. It was a really great day. A little sad because only like 6 members came, but the important thing is that they were baptized. I baptized Neuza first, in the freezing ice water. She was really happy. The gospel is great for her and her kids. It is really making them happy. After that, Elder Alves baptized Senhor Basílio. He is 82 years old, and a bit larger. E. Alves is a little girl, so when José struggled to enter the water, E Alves struggled to help him above of the water. It was sketchy. So after about 2 minutes of trying to help him above the water, I got in to help him up. Ok, jk, just a few seconds under water. but still, HA! It was kind of sad, but really funny. Especially when they said his toe came up. So they did it again, and this time I stayed in the water with him to help dunk him, and help him up. It went smoothly, and the best part was when he came up and heard it was valid...Basílio said loudly: "Amém!" Hahah. It was great. After that, he gave a little talk, which ended up being 25 minutes. ha. But it was really good. He got emotional a couple times, but really has a strong testimony."

Elder Andrew Ensign Pulsipher ~ Serving in Mexico

The Photo sent in is the “real Mexico”. Hugo in blue Victor in the red hat. They live in a cinder block house with metal sheets for a roof and dirt for a floor. They have no bathroom, kitchen or beds. Actually, I'm not sure if the house serves any purpose. They have a garden hose that they use to shower and they drink from the hose too. It's really nasty water. They have electricity now too but that's it.
How does this compare to your house....
They are happy because they know that they are children of our Heavenly Father and that some day, if they live worthily, they can live with Him.

Elder Jared Roberts ~ Serving in Brazil

About 3 weeks ago a family we are teaching told us they were looking for a
place to live cuz their house is expensive, they actually go hungry for a few
days at a time just to make the payment. so we fasted and prayed that they
would be able to find a new house, in our area, so we could continue teaching
them, and that they would never go another day without eating.  We visited them
last night but we had forgotten about our(previous) fast until we got there. we sit
down and the dad said about two and a half weeks ago they were walking along
a one-way dirt road on their way to his brothers house, when all of the sudden a
man in a car pulls up next to them, rolls down the window and gets their attention,
they walk over and he says, "hey, i am going to give you something, but you can´t
ask why, just know that i promised i would do it, and i always keep my promises"
he handed them enough food to last a family of three for about four days, he even
had cookies for their daughter. then he said "oh, and good luck" the family said that
when he said that they felt like he was saying good luck on finding a house, like he
knew. they thought it was a pretty crazy experience but were grateful for the food,
about 2 minutes later they get to his brothers house-his brother and friend had been
out front for about 15 minutes. When asked if they knew the man that passed by a few
minutes earlier in the blue Chevy, they looked at each other and then looked back and
asked "what blue Chevy?" they all looked at the dirt road and noticed that the dirt hadn’t
been kicked up by his car, which is usually what happens on a dirt road, and what had
happened with another car that passed them. that was when i remembered our fast. it
was incredible, just a reminder that the Lord always keeps his promises.

Elder Jared Schmidt ~ Serving in Utah

I have a ton of news for you! You are not going to believe this. So I am training two missionaries right now. I told you that I am training elder Talasinga. Well two weeks ago we got a few visa waiters in the mission waiting to go to Mexico. President chose me to train. He told me he knew I was already basically training Elder Talasinga and it would be hard to have two greenies but he said I could handle it. So my other kid is Elder Porter from Preston Idaho. He is a really cool kid and I like him alot. He is a really hard worker and it is nice to have another palangi (white person) around when we do tongan stuff since Elder Talasinga and the Tongans just talk to each other in there language. Speaking of tongan I actually am learning alot. My goal is to be with Elder Talasinga for 2 transfers and I will be semi fluent then. I told president that I wanted to stay in the Tongan program the rest of my mission and he didn't say no so who knows, I could come home speaking a foriegn language after all!
So my area is doing fabulous. This month is looking so good. In the next 2 weeks we should baptize 8 people! We have a ton of investigators and we keep getting really good referrals. We got a call Sunday night from a ward mission leader saying that a part member family just moved into the ward and the dad who is the NM said he was really interested in being baptized! So we should start teaching them in a few days.

Elder Jordan Shillingburg ~ Serving in Chili (MTC)

The Elders who were in this room before us, played a prank on us. Every now and again a woman’s voice would announce the time. It was always off by like 6 hours. I was very suspicions and have watched a few too many movies. I started check all of the air vents. There was an alarm clock so yeah…. Once we leave here we are gonna program it to go off from like 1 A.M to 5 A.M. and announce the time then put it back in the air vents.The Spanish is coming along fine, I’m not too worried about it. I learned more in 3 days than I did in 2 years back home.We had to give the first lesson three times so far and it seems like Elder Jolley and I do pretty well together. We had a devotional on Tuesday and Dalin H. Oaks was the speaker, it was Cool.
Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios, Jose Smith es un profeta, y Jese Cristo ees nuesto Salvador

Elder Nicholas Takis ~ Serving in Missouri

"AHHH!!! my mama cita... I miss you soo mucho deary.
Ok so I have to apologize for last week.. we really didn't have too
much of a p –day and I didn’t really have time all week to email you
guys.. I am soooo sorry.  We've just been sooooo crammed with this Gladys
Knight fireside thing coming up soon.. we have a ton of referrals and tons
of people to see. Good News though, something pretty amazing happened
about a week and a half ago but I cant take credit, it was the Lords idea..
so I had a dream a couple weeks back that like 30 missionaries
came to our area downtown and we all went out and found all our less
and inactive members and brought them back to church.. It was one
of the most distinct dreams I have ever had.. so that week at our meeting
with the branch council, I said what if we had a missionary blitz in our
area for a few hours and found alot of our lost sheep..branch president
Sleet said that would be awesome.. SO guess what??/ we have a Huge
mission blitz coming up..I talked to president Turley and he said "well how
many missionaries will you need"..haha.. so on august 23 we have a missionary
blitz team up with members.. There will be 20 missionaries and like 20 members
and we're splitting and visiting 200members... Crazy huh!!! I'm soo excited..time
to brings those peeps home.. ya know.. We call it "Operation LOST SHEEP"..
very hush hush -lol  ok..anyways, wow, things are really happening right now..
we just found two new families to teach and one lady who wants to be baptized..
her names Shirley.. and today I tracted into a long time member, Connie Holtz..
she stopped coming when her husband passed cause shes disabled. Shes a
sweet heart.. I got her some tickets to the Gladys Knights thing so it’s a date..lol."

 

Elder Carter Zufelt ~ Serving in Colorado

Carter was transferred to Lakewood, CO last month and was made a ZL. He has a great companion, Elder Emmett, from Irvine, who loves to work. There are so many to teach in his new area. He is loving it. Did you know the Olympics Opening Ceremonies were actually celebrating Carter's year mark?!!! Yes, they were. The world was celebrating with us.!!!!!!!!

Here are some quotes from him. "One of our investigators is Erich, a Baptist who is searching for more. He was taught the Plan of Salvation and he couldn't sleep that night because he was thinking of it all. He marked up

'Our Search for Happiness' and he is going to go to a Mt. to pray. He is the man and he will join. Zone Conference was great, but it was weird to sit on the stand. President is an amazing man of the Lord and it is beautiful being able to work with/near him. This church is amazing and it blesses people’s lives everyday.

p.s. We have a horrible bed bug problem and we are getting sprayed today. I have bites all over my body. They are so annoying. Dumbest little insects ever. I hate them."

"Yesterday I told God that I was going to put my pen down on the map and wherever it landed we were going to tract there. I did and we drove there to do it. It was amazing the results we received. Almost every single person was warm and listened to us and we were able to teach at almost every door!!!!...We got three solid new investigators from that day. God totally hears us and he listens to what we say and do. He guides us and directs us when we let him."