I'm Loving It

Yup, I was made a trainer this past Wednesday. Very crazy - I finished being trained on Tuesday and then became a trainer the next day. I got a call from President Beck on Monday morning asking if I am ready to handle this assignment. He explained what is expected of me and I accepted.


On Wednesday morning we had our transfer meeting at like 10:30, but all the trainers had to be there at 9:30 for a meeting with the Assistants and President Beck. He said that being a trainer in the mission is a more important assingment then being the mission president. They talked to us about what is expected and the responsibility and accountability of this assingment.


Then I got to meet Elder Geren and now were working hard in Anthem. It is going very good - he is very excited to be here on his mission. I have to teach him a lot of stuff and the pressure is on - I am now in charge of working with our ward leaders, deciding what and how we teach investigators, making appointments, deciding what things to do, having to answer anti-mormon questions, and a bunch of stuff.


But I'm loving it - it's so fun to help other's progress and see their excitement.


I'm not really sure on what an Elder has to do in order to become a trainer - all I know is that a lot is expected of a trainer because he helps mold the new missionary basically into a missionary (the MTC is great, but it's nothing like the field).


Usually Elders don't train until they have more experience, so it came as a shock to a lot of people that I was training.


Once President Beck gets the application for the missionaries coming in (about 2-3 months in advance) he works hard trying to find out which missionary will train him and where they will be. He takes new missionaries very seriously. So I'm loving it, and things are going great. He's a funny guy. Right after dinner each night, Elder Geren hops up and starts washing the dishes - cool Elder. He's my first born in the wilderness. I'm now a father.


The pastor was just a friend or something. That family wants to have us over for a nice dinner with steaks and stuff - so really looking forward to that and hopefully can help them start to progress.


We had a sister missionary in our district who got the exact same thing I did, around 3 days before me - so not sure if I got it from her cause we saw each other at Paul V. Johnson's misison tour (the day before I got sick). So it was just a one day thing - nothing big. We just have to call Sister Beck and let her know we are staying home from proselyting.


My new companion is 5'4. He's from Spokane, WA. Comes from a family of 5 boys - he plays the drums and was a wrestler - so he's got some nice biceps like dad. He's a ball of energy and wants to work hard which is very good.


How'd Carrie like BYU?


It will be a bit warmer this week - getting a nice tan which is cool, but not really since it's only a farmers tan.


Highlights of week: Monday - played ultimate frisbee as a zone which was fun and we got smoothies afterwards, birthed my first son into the mission, made an excellent decision last Monday to buy turkey & ham lunch meat with pickle stackers to make sandwhiches this week - they were excellent with a little mayo on multi-grain bread, yummy.


I'm excited for this transfer to take the lead, it will help me grow a lot. I'm glad Elder Geren is here. I'm loving it. Hope all is well.

I'm so Pumped

Howdy. Well, here is my past week,


Monday, April 12- Got to go fishing which was a lot of fun, haven't been fishing in forever.


Tuesday- Pulled weeds for one of our investigators. Got a letter from Carson Telford. Our Ward Mission Leaders here are really great, both of them in our wards do a good job.


Wednesday- Had dinner with the Yellowhairs- Navajos's. We had Navajo tacos which are so good, I love frybread! We showed up to one of our new investigators house and there was a pastor there but he was cool and liked how I had more energy then him- he left and we got to teach the wife.


Thursday- General Authority, Paul V Johnson, First Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to all the Elders and Sisters in the Valley. Our ride dropped us off and as we were walking to the front door of the chapel, President and Sister Beck pulled up with Elder and Sister Johnson. So we chatted as they were getting out of their car and President Beck was like, "Elder Perkins, how are you? Your smile is becoming legendary around the mission!"
It was cool to hear!


So Elder Otto and I held the door open for them and I got to say Hi for a bit and then we went into the meeting. He gave some great instruction. We broke for lunch and I got to speak with Stuart Coburn (my cousin) for a bit- still a funny and great Elder. Lunch was good and then we all went back and sat down. Then they got up and announced they had chosen 4 missionaries to get up and bear their testimonies of the Book of Mormon...and one of them was ME. It was fun. Then Elder Johnson spoke again.
Taylor wrote me a letter too.


Friday- I was sick. Woke up at 6am, threw up twice before 8am. Everytime I sipped on water I threw it up. We went to an appointment at 10am and I about died without water- so we got back to apartment and I felt so thirsty and sick so I tried drinking water and just threw it up- so I was in bed the rest of the day. Lost 4 pounds.


Saturday- Had Matt's baptism.


Sunday- Got transfer news that I'm staying and Elder Otto is leaving. We had Stake Conference- I just love the feeling of being a missionary- Everyone basically loves you.


Monday- Went shopping, emailed, played ultimate frsbee with our zone. Got news that I will be training someone fresh out of the MTC here in Anthem. So I finish my training tomorrow evening and the I start training. Pressures on- I gotta take this area over now- I'm so pumped.


This experience will force me to grow up and learn really fast cause I'll have to take the lead when we teach, tract, etc. Crazy cool times.


My next email should be interesting.


Take care, Much love, Hope all is well.

Tyler

It was warm and comforting!

We had a baptism this past Saturday to complete a family. Baptized a dad - he has a wife whose a member and has 2 kids (6yr and 2 yr olds).


Larry (the Navajo man and his son from the Taco Bell story last week) did come to church and the sister missionaries are teaching him now so hopefully things go well with that.

Tell Morgan I love her too. I get to call you in a few weeks on Mother's day - not too far. I just sent an e-mail to dad. Have fun at Target, let me know if you buy anthing. Good picture Morgan, you look so pretty. Enjoy your days off. Do you use your glasses? I have to wear them at church so I can see. Do you play on the Wii Fit game Morgan? Has anyone beat my hula hooping record?


We have a 9 yr old Down Syndrome girl in one of our wards here who knows sign language perfectly so the family taught us how to say, my name is Elder Perkins, so we could talk to her.

I'll send a letter home with details of the week.






Highlights: Had Paul V. Johnson of the First Quorum of Seventy come do a mission tour, so all the Elders in the Valley gathered and he gave us instruction.


I got to talk with Stuart Coburn - I gave him a hug for his mom - it was very warm and comforting. He's doing great - fun to talk with him, very smart too, had a lot of good comments during the meeting. It was fun getting to see him and talk with him a bit. (Marti: I asked Tyler if President Beck knew his cousin, Stuart, was in the mission...) I haven't told him, but he probably knows. He studies your application for like 2 months before you come - he knows stuff - plus he can perceive thoughts. So you can never lie to mission presidents cause they can read anything your hiding. : )


We had Stake Conference which was good. Big focus on missionary work. They said in this zone (stake) - 1 in every 53 people the missionaries find on their own efforts gets baptized and 1 in every 3.5 member refferals get baptized. I never realized how big members are in missionary work. Without a ward behind you, it's so tough to do the work.


I also had to bear my testimony in front of the whole valley, President Beck, And the Seventy, Paul V. Johnson. They got up and just said, "and we would now like to hear the testimonies of X, Elder Tyler Perkins, X, X. So not sure if they were just trying to fill time or what, but it was cool. I'll put more details in my letter home.


I got really sick and lost 4 pounds from throwing up all day Friday. My legs are getting stronger from all the biking. Anthem, my area, is really hilly. We eat so good here - the members feed us too much at dinners.


Elder Otto is getting transferred on Wed., I'm staying in Anthem so I will be taking over the area, meaning I will have to explain to my new companion everything about investigators, appts, etc.


So Carrie is going back to Texas for the summer? - is she working.

Do you have Michaels email yet?

Tell Grandma "Hi" for me.

Follow Those Promptings

Glad you liked the pictures.

That's great to hear about Quinton. Tracting was easy on the Rez cause there isn't really anti-mormon stuff there. But here in Phoenix it's crazy, so my first week here was pretty nerve racking for me. But then you realize how to discuss with people rather then bash and things usually are great - we are to find those who are prepared, not those who want to just argue. But now I actually love tracting. It's fun, cause you never know whats going to happen at each door. We have to do 10 hours of tracting every week.

On Pday's we usually have some sport activity we do - on a district or zone level. We'll play basketball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, etc - just to relax and have a good time. We go grocery shopping at Walmart usually cause it's the cheapest for stuff.


I'll write a letter home about this week, can't remember everything off the top of my head. Today we just got back from playing some game called rocketball with our district - it's like a mix between soccer and basketball and ultimate.


Highlights of the week - went on splits with AP's, exchanges with Elder Trussel (way cool kid, only been out about a month, reminds me of Quinton, really good at basketball - fun stuff) - had interviews with President Beck - told me to keep preparing for when I'll receive and increase to my stewardship. I love Wheaties Fuel - built by champions for champions.





Cool story for ya.

So on my 24 hour exchange with Elder Trussel, I had to call the shots since it was my area we were in. So we went to an appointment and on our way back I felt like stopping and getting a quick drink. Which is usually wierd cause I'd rather just keep working or something, but it was a hot day and I was thirsty so I asked Trussel if he wanted to stop and get a drink at McDonald's - it was on the way back home and we had about 10 minutes to kill before heading to our next appointment.


So we were heading for that and then i felt like going into Taco Bell (which is right next to it) instead (who picks Taco bell over Mcdonalds for drinks? not I).


So we went there and asked for 2 large drinks and the cashier gave them to us for free (way nice for her - blessings for her). So that was cool, but we made some small talk with a Navajo man inside the store with his son who were buying something. So Elder trussel and I walked out and started getting on our bikes and the Navajo man came out and told us his name was Larry - he had previously taken the lessons with some Elders awhile ago and never had the chance to go to church. He lives out of our area so we got his information and contacted the sisters in our district who cover where he lives. Well he came to church this past Sunday and set up an appointment with the sisters to begin the lessons again - hopefully things turn out for him and he and his son can be baptized.


But that Sunday I had a good lesson in Elders Quorum about the Spirit. We usually get in an internal argument with ourselves asking whether or not a thought we have is just from us or if it was from the spirit; should i follow it or was it just me thinking something - I was told that if you are worthy to have a temple recommend then those first good impressions/thoughts are from God. So follow those promptings - even if it is to suddenly get a drink from Taco Bell cause you never know what can happen.


Elder Perkins

He's Got Personality!

Preparation Day Basketball

From Sister Becks Blog:

Every Monday is preparation day for our missionaries. It is a time for them to prepare for the upcoming week and do their laundry, wash their cars, clean their apartments and write home to family. Even though those are the priorities and reason for Preparation day, the thing they look forward to is a time to let it all out and recharge themselves. This is one of the activities they do.....and this time they persuaded me to be a part of it. I use to play basketball in high school and loved it, but it did wear me out. I had a fun time sitting under the hoop and waiting until one of the missionaries passed it to me to make a basket. They are the greatest and I got my exercise for the week!

It's For Champions!

Easter Sunday was very good for us.

Conference is a relaxing weekend for the most part. We ate dinner with a family of 5kids (ages 5-15). Had a nice dinner and played a Book of Mormon game. Then did some street contacting and called it a night.


Glad yall had a nice Easter.


I heard about the earthquake in Mexico. Some people felt it here, but I never did.


Tell Morgan I enjoy her letters.

Morgan, I am glad you had a nice Easter day. You have a lot of jobs! Are they hard for you to do or easy? A lot of people I have dinner with ask about you and I tell them all about you.


We excercise for about 30 min in the morning just doing little stuff. We don't bike too intesively, but its still good excercise.


Members here treat us very well. For lunch we usually just have a sandwich or roman noodles. Nothing too fancy. Cause we have basically huge dinners at night - and we always have dessert. I've started eating healthier, though. I bought Peyton Manning Wheaties Fuel for Champions - its basically the best cereal ever cause its for champions. I bought multi grain bread, V8 juice, oranges for snacks, skim milk, etc. So I'm trying to stay fit and not get so plump.


This week we went down to the Mesa Easter Pagaent which was way fun. They put on a huge play for about 2 weeks and have about 10-12 thousand people at each performance. Hopefully we get some referrals this week from anyone who went from our area. Yes, a lot of talks on family during conference - basically all of them in some way.


I also got my haircut this week. We have interviews next week. Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy is doing a misison tour on the 14th next week which is cool.


We have ultimate frisbee, shopping, 50 chicken nugget challenge at McDonalds, maybe a nap and dinner, then back to work at 6. Conference was good I thought. I enjoyed many talks. I liked all of Uchtdorfs talks. Priesthood session was very good as well.

Love,

Tyler