[2/3/2014] Week 48: Super Bowl

Wow, yeah. Everyone in the ward was super stoked about the Super Bowl. However, Brother Broyles (mentioned in past emails) grew up in Colorado and is a huge Broncos fan. Looks like it's time to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. (Mosiah 18:8-10)

This week, though still pretty awesome, was slower than past weeks this transfer. We still taught a ton, but we didn't get to see the Denogeans, as they both got super sick, among a few of our other key investigators. But you know what? It's ok! We have a pretty darn good week set up from what we can tell.

I want every one to know that I am still happy and still healthy. Though yesterday, my lower back joints started to hurt/ache seemingly unprovoked. I'm doing ok now.

I absolutely love being a missionary. I haven't always felt that way, but things are really great here in Blaine. We teach a ton and always have lots to do. Pretty much the only tracting we do is on exchanges with other missionaries. That's part of the source of our success, I think, is that we have focused a ton on working with the other missionaries in our zone. And we're sort of frustrated because we're seeing all this success here, but we couldn't figure out how to ramp it up in other areas. By the end of this transfer however, it's seeming that things are picking up. The slower areas, which are staffed with stellar missionaries, are finding new investigators and teaching just a little more each week.

I was thinking about Moses and the Red Sea recently and how cool it would be to experience that Bible story. Can you imagine treading the dry sea floor betwixt two enormous walls of water? Just picture looking up at that glorious, powerful, breath-taking, humbling sight. Wouldn't that be amazing to have taken part in an event that would be preached and revered for millenia to come? Well, it hit me. Guess what? We're part of the hastening of the work of salvation preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah! This is it! Right now! And we get to help people find Christ, know Him, and come unto Him! So they can be saved! This is a period of time of which has been prophesied since the beginning! The hastening is real in the Blaine ward. Prepared children of God just fall out of the sky and drink freely from the Waters of Life.

Speaking of, Dustin is moving right along. He's come to church twice in a row for all three hours. He reads frequently from the Book of Mormon and finds it more believable than the Bible because of how well he sees it applies in his life. Everything at church seems to pertain to him, seems to speak to him. He feels more welcome than anywhere else and has seen every other aspect of his life look up since he started meeting with us. He absolutely believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and is still working on the idea that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. We invited him to baptized on Saturday night, and his response was something like this: "You know, that idea has been brought up again and again since I first met you guys. I was raised Catholic, and at first it was 100% no way I'm doing that. But I keep catching myself thinking about it, how I shouldn't be so judgmental. As time goes by, all the signs keep telling me there's something here for me. Now I'm really starting to realize that this could be a possibility. I'm thinking it's a good possibility. I'm gonna have to pray about it and get back to you." Which is fine by us!

What do you know, but the lesson in Sunday School yesterday was on baptism! Yay-uhhh!

We got our Fusion back on Friday. :(

Oh, by the way! Do y'all remember how I told you that Alanna (my ex-girlyfriend) asked me some wonderful questions in a letter? Well, I finally finished my letter/received a hardback Book of Mormon in which I wrote my testimony. So it's goin' out today! I'll keep you updated!

Any word on Christian's mission papers?

Yes, I do get to see all of the embedded stuff. It's a nice touch!

It does get pretty cold here sometimes. You asked in a letter if I was staying warm. I do pretty well, but I could really use another sweater or two. And another set of thermals would be nice for laundry purposes, but not vital. I know money's tight. If you are able to send either, I would need white thermals (not garment thermals--I like to be able to layer), and any sweaters would have to be full sleeve, v-neck, and one solid color to fit missionary dress code. Any color is fine, though I already have a brown sweater. I am a small (not fat yet!).

These past two transfers have blazed by. As I approach my "hump day", I have thought quite a bit about how I've changed as a person and as a disciple of Jesus Christ and about what kind of impact I've been able to have on the lives of those I've served. Right now, I'm really not sure. But I hope it's all for the better.

Love,

Elder Martin

[1/27/2014] Week 47: The Other Shoe

Dear Mister Pham E. Lee,

I don't know about the Fusion. Probably, but we don't want it back, because the Corolla has a USB port for playing music, which makes life easier. Either way, we don't use it much because the sisters in the Blaine ward lost their car, so we share the Corolla, and they use it most of the time.

But thank you for the animated GIF. It made my day!

Right now, Elder Lovell and I have the largest teaching pool either of us have had our whole missions. We have 10-12 investigators with 6-7 that are making real progress and two with baptismal dates with more to come this week. Of those 10-12 investigators, 7 come from FAMILIES ("FAMILY" is an all-caps word in our mission)! We have been immensely blessed! We keep racking our brains to try and figure how we could possibly deserve all the work that Heavenly Father has given us, and we keep coming up blank.

The Denogeans are doing wonderfully. Brother Denogean has not chewed tobacco in over a week, Sister Denogean is done with tea, they are both still working on coffee, and neither has touched alcohol since 2013. Get this, Brother Broyles (member fellowshipper) decided it wasn't right for him to sit and watch Brother Denogean suffer through quitting tobacco, so he decided he'd give up energy drinks right along with him. So now they both endure headaches together every day. What a guy! Since the Word of Wisdom, we have also taught Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, The Law of Chastity, and The Law of Tithing and Fast Offering. The third-mentioned item was one of great consequence, but the Broyles were there to testify of the countless temporal and spiritual blessings that come from paying a full, honest tithe.

On Wednesday, Elder Lovell and I received a phone call, out of the blue, from a man named Dustin. He heard from someone who lives in his area that he could receive financial help from the Church (cue heavy sigh). Well, then we learned that his life has totally fallen apart in the last year or so. He's lost his wife, children, house, vehicles, etc to divorce. Bishop Jenkins said that he would be willing to meet with Dustin after church on Sunday. Upon request, Dustin was totally open to meeting with us before then, so we rendezvoused at his motel room (get this: right next door to where Tyson and Desiree were living) on Friday afternoon. At this point, Dustin just unloaded. He wavered back and forth between total composure and just-controllable sobs. He began military service as an Army Airborne Ranger when he was sent to Iraq as a seventeen-year-old kid. Four tours and PTSD followed. He has been a Catholic for most of his life and still holds to that, but is completely open to reading the Book of Mormon and definitely felt the Spirit while Elder Lovell and I shared aspects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Dustin greatly enjoyed all three hours of church, was introduced to Brother Broyles who was also an Airborne Ranger, wasn't able to meet with Bishop because he was called into work, and agreed to meet with us this evening. Here's the twist: when going to meet with Tyson and Desiree for one of the first times a few months ago, we actually contacted Dustin outside his motel room and offered him a mormon.org card. He accepted it and briefly dismissed us, refusing to talk with us (Elder Lovell and I both recall this). He didn't want to talk to us because he was overwhelmed and crying. He retreated into his motel room with every intention of throwing the card away, but instead, for whatever reason, set it on his counter, sat in the corner next to the wall, and listened to our discussion with Tyson and Desiree just next door -- apparently the walls are pretty thin. I guess he liked what he heard.

Question: how is Christian doing on his mission papers? Just curious. I'm so anxious to know where he goes!

Also, the journals are good (and I will definitely use them as study journals or something), but not the same as the ones I have been using. The ones I have are 10.25 in x 7.5 in with rounded leather binding and cool stripes on the inside cover. I think the model number is MJ80-9328 (found on the UPC sticker on the outside back cover). I will send some pictures of the black one I am currently using.

The journal that Dad got me before I left was brown with cream-colored paper, but otherwise exactly identical to the journal pictured. If possible, I'd like to switch to another brown one so that it's an alternating pattern of journal color in which my mission is recorded forever.

I know I'm being super persnickety, but it would be really cool if y'all could help me out. If not, I will make do!

If you can help me, try to hurry! I only have like eleven days left in my second journal!!

I love y'all!

Elder Martin

[We sent him journals.]

[1/22/2014] Week 46: Silver Lining

Well, obviously MLK day had all the libraries closed on Monday. As for yesterday, our only excuse for not emailing is that we were crazy busy. And even now, my time is limited.

The Twin Sisters

I would have you all know that things are still wonderful. I am still alive and well. I still love being here.

I will just relate one experience, from this morning actually:

Well, actually, it starts with last night during our daily planning session. We were trying to figure out how we were going to fit emailing into our schedule today (it is in the missionary handbook to email our families every week), and we decided to start personal study at 7:00 (usually starts at 8:00), forgo companionship study, and take an hour to report numbers and email at the Blaine public library before attending district meeting down in Ferndale at 10:30. Well, we set out for the library at 8:00 only to discover that it wouldn't even open until 10:00am. So we drove back to our apartment to finish up studies only to be flagged down on the way home by a lady, Autumn, standing next to her car with its hood up. Of course, we pulled right over and discovered she needed a jump. For whatever reason, missionary cars don't carry jumper cables, but we knew of a member, Brother Wilkett, just around the corner who could lend us his. So we called him up, he offered his jumper cables, and we left Autumn and returned in a jiffy to jump her car. Though her battery terminals were hideously corroded, her Dodge Neon started right up with a little help from the ever-faithful Toyota Corolla. She thanked us profusely - as she had important tests to make up for several classes today - and we told her how much we just love to help. And then we told her that the best way we've found to help people is to share with them our special message about Jesus Christ and asked her if we could share it with her and her family. Her response? "Sure, does Friday afternoon work? That's when my husband will be home, so he can listen too." Apparently, back in Tacoma, they received a lot of help from missionaries when they moved. Classic.

Moral of the story: Heavenly Father blesses you and really does drop investigators into your lap if you're doing what's right.

And we still had time for companionship study before district meeting! Bonus points!

So actually, the reason we didn't have time to email yesterday was that we had to drive down to Mill Creek to exchange our car (2012 Ford Fusion with a cracked rear bumper) for the Corolla earlier mentioned, so that the Fusion could be repaired. So if we hadn't backed into the fence post last month, we wouldn't have met Autumn! Now, I'm not suggesting that the God of all the earth made us damage the car, but I am saying He will make the best of our circumstances, though dim they may sometimes be. #silverlining

I love y'all!

Elder Martin

Mount Baker and The Twin Sisters

PS: Just a little eye candy from the great state of Washington! The bigger one is Mt. Baker, and I'm not sure about the three smaller peaks grouped together. For some reason, though, they remind of James and the Giant Peach? Who knows why?

[1/13/2014] Week 45: The Ice Man Cometh

Dear fermerler,

Holy smokes. I didn't know we could be so blessed. I just don't understand it! We had a fantastic week.

To start, Mission Leader Council (zone leaders and sister training leaders gather with President and the assistants to discuss needs and goals of the mission) on Tuesday was really, really great. I think a lot of things that needed to be said were said. This is especially true of the instruction given on obedience and on the daily planning session by President and the assistants, respectively. Elder Lovell and I used those topics for most of our instruction in zone meeting on Wednesday, and we agree that it was exactly what the zone needed (ourselves included). Since then, our daily planning sessions have truly been spiritual experiences. We really focused on how we were going to "get things done for the Lord" rather than how we were going to merely "fill the Lord's time". Both Thursday and Friday were planned this way, and we were blessed to find four new investigators on each of those days--half of which were from member referrals!

On Friday evening, we taught the Denogeans. This was the most powerful lesson on the Restoration I have ever been a part of in my missionary experience. For whatever reason, I have always struggled with my relation of the First Vision story - I fumble here or skip a word there - and I think it was honestly because I didn't have a stellar testimony of that tremendous event. But when I related it to this young, truth-seeking family just three days ago, I didn't miss a beat, and I felt the power of the Holy Ghost burning and swelling within me from my ears to my toes. And I know it emanated throughout the room, so that all those present might undoubtedly recognize the veracity of Joseph Smith's words. Just like President Packer said: "A testimony is to be found in the bearing of it."

Brother Broyles later told us while in transit to a Sunday afternoon appointment with the same family, "You two must be some darn good missionaries. I have never felt the presence of the Holy Ghost in a discussion on the Restoration so powerful in my life. Never. I know that for that to happen as missionaries, you've gotta be doing what you're supposed to." Of course, I don't relate his comment for any other purpose than to express how humbled Elder Lovell and I felt that a member of the ward recognized the difference in our teaching because we had chosen to be obedient and diligent. We truly are conduits of the Holy Ghost, and obedience really is vital to bringing that sacred Spirit to the magnitude of the convincing of men.

The Denogeans are now working towards a baptismal date of March 8th.

Of course, Heavenly Father didn't stop blessing us there. At church yesterday, we met Tyler, an out-of-the-sky investigator who attended with his girlfriend, Lindsay, who was baptized three years ago and has since been pretty less-active. He's never really been to church in his life, but he enjoyed the services, had a short lesson with us after third hour, and readily agreed to meet with us this evening for a full-blown discussion on the Restoration.

I feel like the Ferndale zone was greatly benefited and greatly energized after zone meeting on Wednesday. As a zone, we taught a ton of lessons as compared to past weeks and tied our record for new investigators. But on exchange with one of our district leaders, Elder Lovell and I sensed a lack of desire/motivation/drive/faith from both companions--even though we had the opportunity to find two new investigators in their area. It was sort of disheartening. We decided that we need to conduct at least another mini-exchange and focus on complimenting the things they excel at and expect miracles to rain down. And they will!

Those are just the highlights. I can't believe how the Lord has blessed us this week. It's truly humbling. Elder Lovell and I firmly believe it was due to our commitment to serve our zone, revamp our daily planning session, and press forward in diligence and obedience. That's really the secret. Missionary work is just so much easier when you do it the way you're supposed to. I just wish every missionary knew it!

We're doing just fine with the weather up here. It's really not that hard to stay warm and dry in Washington, especially on bikes (that sort of sounds paradoxical, doesn't it?).

And Adell is a ward missionary. Though she's not entirely active, she is a source of tons of referrals.

Love,

Elder Martin

[1/6/2014] Week 44: Fight On!

Deareth family-eth,

Man, I don't even get how the weeks fly by. We didn't get to teach as much as we were running around getting stuff ready for Erin's baptism on top of going to and from transfers. Not too much of our zone changed, actually. Only two missionaries left, so our zone is pretty comfortable with each other by this point.

I have mentioned Adell once or twice, but she is actually one of our big focuses. She joined the Church a few years ago, she has two early-teenage children who joined the Church around the same time, and their father is in the hospital, struggling to recover from a serious car accident. Since that accident, their life has been hectic and trying. Daelee, Adell's daughter, is probably the strongest as far as faith and testimony go, and she holds a calling in the Beehives presidency, but she sorrows for her father constantly and rebels against her mother from time to time. She has been visited by elders very frequently for the past few years -- pretty much since she joined the Church. Most of these elders have been disobedient to the third male rule, meaning they enter the house without another male, and Adell has grown comfortable with that. Well, that is a pretty big no-no and Elder Lovell and I decided to put our foot (feet?) down about it. We basically laid it down for Adell, and told her we need her help being obedient. Well, you'd think that was a great way to present it, but she flipped. She was upset that the Church doesn't seem to trust her (the bishop said he wasn't going to keep hugging her at church meetings) and cussed us out (well, she does that all the time - it's just Adell). We have been praying a lot that her heart might be softened, and since then she has had a lot of major breakthroughs. She told us the other night that a thought hit her while she was walking: that God doesn't necessarily inflict us with trials so we can be miserable; that's just life. He knew this life would be difficult, and that's why we're here. It's up to us to do what's right anyway and follow Jesus Christ. That's how we grow.

Again, Elder Lovell and I just do nothing, and she has a breakthrough revelatory experience. I love missionary work.

Erin's baptism was wonderful. But I tell you, Satan does his finest prior to baptisms. We broke our phone on Wednesday making communication difficult, the key to the baptismal font went to Arlington (almost 90 minutes South) with a missionary that got transferred, and for some reason, we just couldn't get anyone to speak at the baptismal service! But you know what? I knew it would all work out. Because our desires were righteous. And you know what? All was well. We even had a recent convert, Emmy, provide a wonderful musical number, "How Great Thou Art". Erin asked me to baptize her on Saturday evening and Elder Lovell to confirm her a member of the Church and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It didn't take three tries this time! And, I tell you, Erin was just beaming. She was overwhelmed by a confirmation from the Spirit that her decision was right. And I am so proud of our zone! We had four nonmembers at the baptism! Four people were able to witness and feel the Spirit of a baptism performed by proper authority. (That's great for us in Washington, Brandon! :p)

The morning of transfers, we had a lesson with Linda, a good friend of Adell's. She met us at the library while we were typing up some reports for the mission, and admittedly, we didn't think she would show. But she did. And we had an awesome lesson. I mean, awesome. She wants direction and fulfillment in her life. She feels that all too often her hands are idle, and thus, the devil's playground. She wants to be involved in something more. She wants to be part of a community where she can serve around those who have "good goals in life". By the end of the lesson, since we were talking about goals anyway, she committed to a baptismal date of February 8th! The library sure is a place for learning. ;)

The Denogeans came to church yesterday! It was sweet! We still haven't even taught them a lesson (trying to align schedules), but from what Brother Broyles (his friend at work) tells us, they're already talking about how they can pay tithing and live the Word of Wisdom. When they attended the conference with Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, they misunderstood and thought that they had been invited to attend a "sales pitch". He described feeling disappointed at that, saying "We're already sold." Ha! So there you go. Heavenly Father blesses His children. Go figure.

Welp, zone meeting is on Wednesday. We have a lot to prepare yet. Wish me luck!

Lurve,

Elder Martin

[12/30/2014] Week 43: Christmas!

Wow. Can I just say that we are so blessed?

Wait, first: Happy birthday Seth and Mom! I can't believe Seth is seventeen. I feel like I was just seventeen. Sheesh. Mom, you're still young 'n' hip.

Our Christmas loot.

This week, though that of Christmas, was insane. We had a lot of running back and forth to do, delivering presents to missionaries, fixing our car, attending mission Christmas devotional, etc. But you know what? Somehow, we had a great week of proselyting in the midst of it all.

On Christmas day, we had dinner at Bishop Jenkins' house. Amid all of the ward members and family he invited were the Denogeans. The Denogeans are a recently moved in non-member family who are just the most prepared thing you've ever seen. They have been befriended by the Broyles'. Brother Broyles works with Brother Denogean for the border patrol and Sister Broyles is the Relief Society president. Brother Denogean has always had Mormons for his closest friends, even when he served in the military in Afghanistan. And what do you know but Brother Broyles served in the military, too, so they share that background. Really, they're both very manly men. A lot like Christian. Anyway, Brother Denogean told us at the Christmas party that he figures it's about time to start settling down, getting serious about life, and learning more about God. He has already read through 1st Nephi and is just waiting on us to start setting up appointments with him and his family. Elder Lovell and I have literally done nothing so far, and he's pretty much ready to be baptized. Thanks, Heavenly Father.

Our district at district meeting on Christmas
with our sweet ugly sweaters.

I mentioned the Poll family before. Well, we had a few lessons with them this week and learned that Andrew (among others) is not a member of the Church, but had recently increased in desire to learn. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read everything before the pictures (Intro, Testimonies, etc). Well, when we returned, he had read up through chapter 4 of 1st Nephi and rehearsed everything he read back to us with near-perfect accuracy. When we invited them to attend church on Saturday evening, we got a discouragingly definite "Maybe." Well, what do you know but twenty minutes into Sacrament meeting, the entire Poll family walks in looking for a seat (again, wonderfully reminiscent of the ol' Martin clan :p).

On Monday or so, a lady named Jackie called us up randomly and told us she wanted to set an appointment to start taking the lessons. Our lesson with her was on Tuesday and it was awesome. At first, she was super chatty, but we all reeled it in and ended with a great lesson on the Restoration and a soft baptismal invite. She said, "I'll have to see about that." Yeah, she will see. :p

Post-Christmas balderdash.

But wait! There's more! Tyson and Desiree had us visit on Tuesday, and we had a fantastic discussion about the Atonement, Judgment, and other aspects of the Plan of Salvation. Tyson has been apprehensive about meeting with us, but every time he has a great experience and comes away uplifted. Man, they just love their children so much and are so prepared to receive the gospel. Tyson was struggling with why God would put them through this and recently received a startling answer to his prayers: "How do you expect to be saved when you've let so much hatred and sin into your heart?" Apparently, someone told lies about these two fine people to CPS (never heard of that happening, right Mom?), thus initiating the whole heart-wrenching process. And Tyson had trouble imagining that God would save that person just as well as him, much less has he been able to forgive them. Well, the Spirit was incredibly strong, and my man Elder Lovell taught like a boss.They committed to come to church, and while Tyson ended up having to work, Desiree came and had a great time.

By the way, our ward is super great. I mean, every new face was warmly welcomed at first sight. Seriously, we can't do it all on our own and it's so great to have members that are on the ball like that.

"Hanging out" with y'all on Wednesday was awesome. I mean, it was really great. Thanks for having it all set up and ready to go. Next time, I'm thinking it would be cool to try and include Daniel Rodriguez if possible. He lives just a stone's throw away anyhow. It's still surreal having seen Brandon's face after so long. Also, I promise I haven't cried that (at the end there, talking to Megan) since the MTC. I honestly didn't know my mission meant that much to me, but I guess it does. I'm so happy Christian gets to go!

Elder Lovell and I modeling.

Transfer calls were today. Elder Lovell and I get to stay together. In fact, only two missionaries in our zone are leaving. Unfortunately, of those two, one is Elder Benedict, my dear son. I guess he's just growing to fast for his daddy. He's gonna go out and experience the world on his own again.

I love y'all! Time to go bowling at the Bachman Turner Overdrive mansion in Lynden.

Yeah, you read that right.

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S. Don't worry, Seth. You're a manly man too.

[12/23/2013] Week 42: It's getting cold!

Hey, pops!

This week was a flash. It was also a great week. Unfortunately, I have no time to write, so I will relate a small miracle that we experienced yesterday: 

Me in the snow.

Samera is a less-active member from Yemen. I didn't get to meet her until yesterday, but shortly before I arrived in Blaine, Elder Lovell and his former companion had the opportunity to visit her. They didn't enter her apartment, however, because we as missionaries have what we like to call a "Gentlemen's Rule" that says we don't enter apartments/homes/vehicles/tents/teepees/castles/shopping carts/etc where a woman/minor is present unless we have another responsible male adult with us. Samera was downright offended. She was appalled that anyone would think ill of such wonderful young men and disgusted that she and her daughter couldn't be trusted. She said she had "gotten away from Yemen for just that reason", that women should be free and empowered and a lot more along those lines. She told Elder Lovell and his former companion that if anyone from the Church came back by she would ignore them and refuse to open the door. Well, last night, we went over and knocked on her door. Miraculously, Samera opened it and without excessive ado, we sang for her "Angels We Have Heard on High" and her favorite hymn, "I am a Child of God". After we finished singing the final words, her heart was completely softened. She described feeling as though she were floating and flying around her living room and absolutely rejoiced in feeling the love of God. She sincerely apologized for her previous reaction and invited us to return for a teaching appointment on Thursday afternoon.

A nice view of the sunrise from our apartment.

As far as doing Google Hangout on Christmas Day, Elder Lovell and I are still trying to hone in on what our schedule will look like, but we will definitely be webcamming between 1 and 4 in the afternoon PST. I think that's 3pm and 6pm CST? So please be available during that window of time to hangout with me! I sure hope that works because the next time we're able to communicate will be on Christmas... 

It snowed a ton on Thursday night/Friday morning!!

Love,

Elder Martin

p.s. And in case anyone was wondering, I'm not feeling particularly homesick or lonely at all this time of year. I'm doing just dandy! 

I thought Seth might appreciate the picture of the truck (having been desecrated in unspeakable ways).

By the way, the rumors are true. It does get dark by 4:30 in the winter here..