Monday, March 29, 2010

I am getting transferred. I don't know where to, but I will find out on Thursday...

Chris got baptized yesterday. He even got up and bore his testimony... which was hilarious. He asked Blair how to do it and Blair told him you just tell them what you know and then close in the name of Jesus Christ amen... So he goes up there and says" hi y'all... how y'all doin.... I'm gettin baptized today and I learned lots.... amen... then he stands there for like 5 seconds and comes back down. It was hilarious and way sweet and it was in front of a Seventy as well. Elder Anderson of the 70 was there... hahahahaha. It was good. Harrison baptized him and it was awesome cuz it was so low he had to baptize him 4 times It was awesome... we are going to the Reid's for pday today. I am going to miss that family....I am going to miss Ocala, and my comps.....

Anyways I love you all and I will let ya know where I go next week.



Elder Blair's letter and a note from Debbie Blair:

Karen, he is really going to miss serving with your son! I know that Trevon is looking forward to a new area, however I wish it was 6 weeks in the future and not this week that he was moving to a new area. Sounds like they had big plans for Elder Rogers last p-day in Ocala. Thanks so much for raising such a fine young man that has left a huge impression on Seth. I hope they will remain lifelong friends (I know we will!!) They played hard and they worked hard-that is the perfect combination for success! Good for them! I hope Elder Rogers gets an amazing companion…sounds like Seth is wondering if his new companion can measure up to Elder Rogers!! Let me know where he goes!

Hugs!

Debbie

March 29, 2010

Hey family and fans!

This week was really something; Elder Porter, Rogers and I have been having loads of fun! But first things first, Transfers: Sadly Elder Rogers is leaving and I am staying. So what that means is Elder Porter and I will both get new companions.

Second thing: We did have a baptism this last week! Chris was baptized and confirmed on Sunday (since next Sunday is General conference). But sadly, Jerrell could not make it to church to be baptized on Sunday so we will keep working with him. This last Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting (because next week of course is General Conference). So Chris was setting next to me during the meeting and kept asking all kinds of questions…like; “What are they doing? Why are they doing that? Who all can go up?” I answered each of his questions. Then the next question was "Can I go up there?" I said, “Sure, if the Holy Ghost is telling you to go up- then go ahead.” Then I told him how the proper way to bear testimony and what to say (basically) and how to close in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Chris then turns to me with a grin and says he is going up next. (And to top it off we had a visiting 70 show up to the sacrament- Elder Anderson). So Chris tells Elder Porter he is going up too… and you should have seen my companion's face, it was so funny! Elder Rogers looked shocked and horrified all at the same time! It was classic!

So next thing we know Chris is walking up front. He gets up there, looks out at everybody, and was like "How ya'll doin?" Then he said he has learned a lot about the church, and thanked everyone for being so nice to him. Then he paused and said “amen” then he walked back down and took a seat. Lol It was so sweet! Straight from the heart! Chris came back and started talking to me about “Now since he did that- he was famous and everything!” Oh, it was too funny!

His baptism was scheduled for 5:30 pm and it was really good, (except the water was low again!) We had someone from the young men’s quorum baptize him, and Chris had to be baptized 4 times (because body parts kept coming up because the water was so low). Then after the third dunk they, decided to have them both get down on their knees to do the baptism. It was way sweet though. Chris will have a great baptism story to tell everyone, (maybe it will even make him famous all over again…) ha-ha!!

So that was the main parts of this week. It was a good week! I just hope I get another sweet companion now! We will not know who our companions will be until this coming Thursday. Also Elder See is not getting transferred either. He is staying in Chiefland for his last transfer. He is out after this next 6 weeks. Lol I think he leaves the mission May 12th (I believe), so about a week before my one-year mark. Our next Zone Conference will be in April.

The three of us are cutting our letters short this week because Elder Porter and I are off to make sure Elder Roger’s last p-day with us is one he will remember!! So I really gotta go- we want to make Rogers last p-day sweet, sweet!! Big plans!! So we will talk to you later. Wishing everyone all the best! Hope ya’ll have a great Easter week!!

Love
Elder Blair who is excited for General Conference-Florida style!

March 8, 2010

So this week was pretty good. We were able to teach a lot of lessons because we are in a three man now... so we can get twice the work done.... we were referred a guy named Jack Kelly who has a friend in DC that is a member and he gave Jack a BOM... He has read First Nephi so far and knows it's true he is getting baptized on Saturday.. his dad jumped him for his desire to be baptized and told him Joseph Smith was the Anti-Christ.... but that didn't change Jack's mind at all. In fact we had a Temple trip on Saturday and since my recommend is now expired I just stayed outside the Temple but Jack came with us so I stayed outside with him and he loved it. He bought a bunch of stuff at the book store... he is such a cool guy.... I would like all a y'all to keep him in your prayers though because of his family they aren't too cooperative...

Other than that Cathy's family didn't make it so we have to get them to come next week and then they can be baptized...

Now I am over two ards so I have to be at church from 7 in the morning till about 5 in the afternoon.... that is a long time to be at church.... but its all good...

I am going to get some pictures developed today and then I am sending my memory card home tomorrow... I love you all.

March 22, 2010

We had a really good week even though I was sick through most of it... I got a bad head cold and spent about 2 days of sleeping straight but it's all good. I am better now... we had a good turn out in church we found a young man named Chris who is 17 and set a baptismal date for him on the 28th and he brought one of his friends to church on Sunday. We set a date with him for the same day so we are having two baptisms next week.... it will be a good way to leave the area if i do, we have transfer calls on Saturday... We have been tracting areas that I have already tracted this last week... and when I tracted this particular area about 5 months ago I found a sweet woman and set a date with her but we never got a hold of her again so I assumed that her husband anti-ed her... but Elder Blair tracted that same house and met the husband and set a baptismal date with him for the 4th of April... Blair says that he is way cool. We are going over tomorrow to meet them and hopefully we can set dates with the rest of the family.... haha that would be awesome...

So, I have 3 months left tomorrow... two more transfers... I feel so old. I have been out as long as Elder Vincent was when he trained me... anyways, I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon.

From Elder Blair's Blog:
Lately we have been teaching this part member; his name is Shaun. He is a pretty sweet guy and he really likes World of Warcraft. As we were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, a scripture came to my mind. The scripture reminded me that I should “teach people to their understanding” (I think it is somewhere in 2 Nephi 31). Anyway when we were explaining to Shaun about the different degrees of glory I told him the telestial kingdom has a lvl cap (World of Warcraft talk) and you can only go to 50. The terrestrial lvl cap. is 70 and Celestial has no lvl cap. lol I thought I did pretty well with that analogy and he seemed to like it, and understood better what we were trying to teach him.

Also this week the Spanish Elders ran into a guy named Chris that said he wanted to know more about our church. However, since he was English speaking they didn't teach him a whole lot. They gave us his phone number and his address. That same night we were having a ward party, (at the party they were going to have a play about “A week in the life of a Mormon”), so we called Chris up and invited him to come. He did show up and he had a blast! The food there was amazing- everyone was suppose to bring food from a different country so there was Japanese food, Turkish food, there was a palm tree stew, and frog legs! It was all really good! Afterwards Chris said he had a blast, so we asked him if he would come to church the next day, and he agreed.

So at 9 o’clock Chris was there and even brought a friend. They were both sitting through Sacrament meeting, which was less then exciting. Oh my goodness; no offence to the speakers but for 19 year old kids -I don't think it was that great. I mean they were falling asleep (I was having trouble staying awake myself), but after the closing prayer I turned to them and asked, “So are you guys ready for class?” They looked at me like I was stupid and said "We just had class man!" I felt kinda bad for them- because we didn't mention that church was 3 hours oops... but I promised them that class would be fun. They were like "I hope so."

I took them to the Young Men’s class and I grabbed Harrison (a member that was going to be in the same class with them) I told him, “Promise me they will have fun” and he said he would make it fun!" They did have fun and really enjoyed the class, being with kids their own age was good. However then I told them there was one more class. They were amazed and started talking about how hungry they were, and that they wanted to go home. Somehow I managed to get them into the other class. I just decided to hang around outside of their class (cause there was no more room in the Bishops office, where the class was being taught). While I was sitting there thinking (about them) Rogers came by and was like; “Blair before they leave invite them to be baptized” (well that was already one of the things I was actually thinking about.) I told Elder Rogers that I had been thinking that same thing so we talked about it for a while. I told Rogers that I didn’t know if they would want to be baptized into a church that is 3 hours long, ha-ha! But we both thought “What the heck we will ask them and see.” So after they got out of their Sunday School class I asked Chris and Jarell to follow me into the gym for a minute. I asked them, “If they liked church?” They said that it was “really good”, (which kinda shocked me that they would say that).

I explained to them that the “feeling of goodness inside them right then” was the Holy Spirit testifying to them that this was God's church. I went on to ask them if they would both be baptized next Sunday. They thought about it for a second, and then I said “Trust me it’s not that hard “so they both said yes! I also explained to them that as missionaries we are their guides for them; to help prepare them to be baptized. I told them about the word of wisdom and law of chastity and they said they were good with all of that stuff. Then later that same night they came back to church for a youth fireside. Now we have two baptisms happening this Sunday, which is way sweet! I am pretty excited for all of that!!

March 15, 2010

Hey guys ...we had an awesome week. Jack got baptized... he is so stalwart! When we went to the Temple last week he bought an 8 hour movie of church history, and on Wednesday we watched a movie on Joseph Smith and it showed the Liberty Jail scene. Jack is like: "is that where he received revelations 121 and 122? hahaha so dope.. His new goal is to baptize as many people as possible before he leaves on a mission next year... He took a bunch of B.Of Ms to give to all his friends... so sweet!

We have also been having a war with the Spanish Elders playing pranks on each other...We stole one of their paintings and then they stole it back... and this time they locked their door, so we couldn't get back in ... haha ya right!.. I climbed up to their 2 story balcony and went in through a window.. then I went and let Porter and Blair in and we put limburger cheese in their air vents and stole all their light bulbs and saran wrapped their toilet seat... hahahahah

it was awesome! Today we stole their house key and made a copy of it at Lowe's so now we are in charge!

anyways I'm sorry I don't have a lot to say but I love you all!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Note from Mom:

Here is Trevon's letter, and I feel it is a good one.  His companion had done
a quick call to me on Saturday morning...saying Trevon needed $ in his
account....(dummy me.....just go too busy to check the account, and it had
$3.00 in it.).  He was going into Orlando and they wanted to visit Deseret
Book while he was there.  I was pleasantly surprised to see he only spent
$6 in Orlando....yeah Trevon.....You can tell by this letter he has really
grown on this mission experience.  I am just sad that Elder Crowther did not
make it,   I hope he gets the help he needs.
I sent Don and Liz a plaque that says "Family's are forever",  she should get
it today.  She calls me occasionally.
I had noticed on the mission blog that Elder Bednar was at the Orlando
Temple on Saturday and wondered if Trevon had seen any of them, but he did
not mention it......


Monday I got a call from Cathy saying that Germaine had to go to Miami for
a court order and got put on probation and he cannot leave Miami... so
Cathy got baptized on Friday night...  it was the hardest baptism of my
life.... she is a rather large woman and the font barely filled up past my
knees.  But I did it without having to retry...  she also got confirmed on
Sunday and that was an awesome miracle...



Saturday I took Don through the temple... it was the coolest experience
ever!  It was even more exciting when I saw Liz in the Temple as well.  I
didn't know she was ready to go through but she did as well... Don loved
it and stayed in the Celestial room praying long after we all left.
People say that you can only convert people to your level of conversion...
but I think that is false!   I think that Don's testimony is much greater
than my own!  Saturday was one of the most inspiring days of my life...  I
have known what Don and Liz used to be and how much sin had been in their
lives... and to see them both dressed in white inside the House of the
Lord was just incredible...  to know how the atonement had effected them
both was so wonderful...
Another miracle... James and Angie got baptized on Saturday as well.... I
was kinda bummed because I couldn't be there because of the Temple but it
was awesome all the same....  this was the most epic week of my mission...

Today I am in Jacksonville.... Elder Blair stayed in Ocala with the
Spanish missionaries while Porter and I took Elder Crowther to the
airport.   Then we slept up here with Elder Probert in Jax 2nd....  we are
going to play basketball while we are here then we will be driving back to
Ocala this evening...

I was noticing how well I know my way around here... last night as we were
driving up,  Porter and Crowther were both asleep...  and it made me think
back to when I got here and this place seemed so foreign... but now I know
how to get to anywhere in the mission without a map or GPS or anything....
shows how long I've been out, huh...
Anyways I love you all and I hope to hear from y'all soon.
bye
Note from Mom:
This is from Liz Clark, whose husband Trevon escorted to the Temple on Saturday.  It made me cry.  

Hi, Karen. Sorry it took me time to reply. I check my
computer once a week. It went so great.. he looked sad saying good bye to
us. We did take pictures.. what a happy day it was. He gave Don a
suit and music cd's to us. I told him if he ever needed a place to
stay he is welcome in our home. He replied I want to go back to Arizona. He
loves and misses his home. I am so close to him. I told my husband it hurts
me just as much saying good bye to him as it does my own son. He has
become so much more reverent considering I met him when he just came out on his
mission.I've watched him change in such a good way, closer to Heavenly
Father. He has grown into a man loving of Heavenly Father. You would
be so proud to see the level of wisdom he now carries in his eyes and on
his face. As mothers we would all be so lucky to see this level of growth and
change in our children. We would like to thank your family for raising a special
child that has turned into a wonderful man that has changed the lives around him
forever and for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you

Note from Mom:

For anyone interested, I also read Elder Blair's (Trevons companion) letter on his blog this morning....It is full of so many more details.....if you want it is ElderBlair.blogspot.com I think..... I cried thru it. But that is just a missionary mom....you guys will understand...when you have sons on missions!

Love you all......

From Elder Blair's blog:

My new companion’s name is Elder Rogers from Arizona. He is a well-seasoned missionary. Elder Rogers has been out for 20 months! (Wow!!) Therefore, he will be going home soon. I am excited to serve with him because I know I will learn a lot from him. In addition, this apartment is a bit better then my last one, (by that, I mean a little bit nicer accommodations).

Is it just me or did that last week seem to fly by? Well this week was pretty sweet! Elder Rogers and I have been doing very well in this area! The new area is pretty nice, very green. My apartment is a typical missionary apartment, it did have a dishwasher but it broke (ha-ha) and we have a laundry mat right in the apartment complex- so that is handy. What is really cool is that in May (on the 22nd to be exact) Elder Russell M. Nelson is coming to our mission! Wow! And guess what? Elder Nelson had the choice to choose one mission in the entire world and he selected us! (Yes, sweet action, for the Jacksonville Mission) So that’s pretty sweet! We're all getting pumped for that!

We also had a super sweet miracle this week! We had an investigator that had a very abusive boyfriend. He was very controlling- to the point that he would not let her come to church or anything. And yet she wanted to be baptized. Then one day he had to go down to Miami on a court order. While there, he was put on probation, which meant that he could not leave Miami.
So Elder Rogers went on a member trade off to her house and committed her to be baptized this weekend (because she had already been to church twice). We planned the baptism for Friday. But every day leading up to it her baptism date; her boyfriend kept calling her and giving her all kinds of threats. He would tell her to come to Miami etc. So we told her to cut off all contact with him. And she has, she even went as far as to throw all of his clothes from the house into the garbage (lol) which was pretty sweet!

The day of her baptism, she was getting really nervous and was trying to back out of the whole thing. We talked to her and asked her, “Cathy who is the only person that would want to keep you from being baptized?” She said, “The Devil.” After that she went ahead and came to church for the baptism (even though some of her family was trying to talk her out of it as well) They were worried cause she was not feeling good that day. But she went through with it! One thing you should know is that she is also DEATHLY afraid of water. It just seemed like everything was going wrong that day, one thing after another.

We went at 4 pm to start the water running to fill up the font, and at 6:30pm, it was only past Elder Rogers ankles. Cathy still got in the font and got dunked (barley) and after that, she gave Elder Rogers a big hug! She had a huge smile, one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen! Her little son Donte (who was already baptized several weeks ago), stood up on the splash shield and said, “Way to go mom, you did it!! He was her personal cheering team! Then Cathy ran up the baptismal stairs saying, “I did it! Thank you Jesus, I did it!” Lol it was pretty funny.

Cathy is a pretty big black woman so it was just sweet, seeing her envelop her son in a massive hug! I tell you Cathy has such a sweet spirit about her. I just love to be around her and her son. Then Sunday came and she was confirmed! Everything is well with Cathy, the opposing forces were just pressing her hard, but she is filled with the spirit and is just so happy and thankful for the gospel. Right now, we are just going to try to move her out of her house super soon. We are also going to try to get her a new phone number so that her boyfriend can't find her and Donte once he gets off probation in Miami.

So now, Elder Rogers and I have to find more people that are ready so we can get them baptized for the miracles of March! I just know it is going to be a way sweet month! March indeed will be a lucky month full of miracles in the mission field!

Elder Rogers and I also had the chance to drive down to the Orlando Temple this last week. It is about an hour and a half away from where we live now. The day was rather rainy all day that day, but not too bad. It didn’t seem to matter much to any of us. It was a way sweet, sweet day! We went through an endowment session because Elder Rogers had a convert (that he baptized when he first came out into the mission field, way back from the start of his mission) taking out his endowments. He asked that Elder Rogers go through with him, so we had special permission to leave our Mission area and attend the temple with his convert. It was a very amazing day. Elder Rogers was all smiles, I don’t think he stopped smiling the entire day...lol! Anyway, it is a sweet experience to know that you taught them the gospel and then to know they are going through the temple. Maybe someday I will be able to go with Jason and Debbie when they get their endowments’. A super sweet miracle for sure!

Monday, February 22, 2010

So, first off I am going to the Temple on Saturday with Don.   I am so
excited.... I talked with James and he said that it is taking a lot longer
for him to get permission to be re-baptized than he thought... so it
probably won't be for a couple more months. Or weeks hopefully....

Also, I heard from Cathy that Germaine has his court appearance tomorrow and
he is getting put on probation... so now he cannot leave Miami so Cathy
should be free of him by now.   She will be calling me later to let me
know about everything... she will be getting baptized on Saturday
hopefully after we get home from the Temple...  that is what we are
shooting for anyways... so my new companion is named Elder Blair.... he is
a way sweet guy.   He is really neat in a fun way and he is ok with being
a nerd so that makes him a cool nerd... but the most exciting part is that
he is a good missionary who can hold his own!  This will be the first time
since before I trained Hill that I have had a companion that can teach on
his own and still have success so we will be having a lot of miracles this
transfer...  Elder Blair is from some nowhere in Utah...  never heard of
it and I don't think I could pronounce it either...



I will be sending some pictures home this week I just have to go by a post
office at some point and get a package box to send home in...
Elder Crowther who is Porters companion has intense a.d.d. and really bad autism and it's
been causing a lot of problems for the last 6 weeks since he came out...
President is planning on sending him home this week which is really sad even
though he can't properly function out here...  so we might be in a three man
this time next week.  We will see.   There might still be hope for
Crowther...
Anyways, we are going to play soccer again today and then tonight we have a
couple of appointments that I hope will go really well... so I love you
all and hope to hear from you soon.


Note from Mom:
I am so excited because Trevon's new companion is a real go getter!  His mom
and I have talked off and on thru the months by email.....and I have been
reading Elder Blair's blog since he first went into the field.  I think he is
what Trevon needs, we will see how long it lasts.......at least one
transfer.  I already got email from Elder Blair's mom, and she said she was
dancing around her desk at work!  She is way excited too!

February 16, 2010

Sorry I didn't write yesterday... It was a holiday so the library wasn't
open... and we don't have much time today 'cuz we have to go work.   So I
will be writing real quick....  I got permission from President to go with
Don to the Temple, he just has to set it up and we're going.  I haven't
heard from James...

Elder Reiche is getting transferred on Thursday and I am staying here...
sorry  but I have to go. Thanks so much for all of the letters I have been
getting and I love you all.


I was on my way out of the library when Liz called so I decided to come
back in and tell you that they are going through the Temple on the 27th!
Hahaha, so excited. I love you!   Bye.

February 8, 2010

This week was pretty slow. We had a lot of rain and found a lot of people
that weren't very promising...  we did get one pretty sweet miracle though.
We got a referral for a girl named Kimberly from a member who lives in
Arizona... apparently she has read the Book of Mormon and she loves it she says it
makes a lot more sense than the bible to her...  I talked to her on the
phone and she sounds sweet. She wants to meet us at the church so she can
have a tour as we teach her.... I am pretty excited hopefully we will be
able to meet her tonight.
Other than that not a lot happened.  We got soaked and I got a flat tire but
got it fixed without any problems. I rode over a huge piece of glass... it
dominated my tire so I had to buy a new tread and everything.  It turned
out to be a good thing, however. I changed my brake pads while I was doing
the tire and the old brake pads were so worn away that all the rubber was
gone and I had been using it with the bare metal.. haha!
It was all good fun though.
Anyways, I'm sorry I don't have a lot to say this week... hopefully I will have
more to talk about next week.
Love you all.