Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Happy Father's Day

Well Happy Fathers Day!


Thanks for all you do Dad - your a great example that I'm trying to live up to. It is always good getting ya'lls letters. Sounds like some good times back home.


The YM programs here are so great, it's fascinating - they go on crazy cool trips, high adventures, scouting stuff, etc.


My week:


June 14 - another flat tire. Fixed it.


June 15 - Had two baptismal interviews which went great. We have an awesome ward mission leader.


June 16 - Had zone conference and talked about the power of the small plates, and how to teach the second lesson (plan of salvation) in 10 minutes. We focus on the doctrine - not lame analogies that serve no purpose - but when you teach simply the doctrine, people get baptized. So how I imagened teaching before my mission and how we teach now are total opposites - I'm learning a lot.


June 17 - Mark committed to be baptized on August 14 - very far away but its a great thing - he's the first person I've taught the whole way. It's sad that he's moving, but he will still be in our district so I will get to go to his baptism.


June 18 - went on an exchange with an elder in our district. It was a lot of fun.


June 19 - Helped 3 people move.


June 20 - 10 hours of church. got a lot of food for Fathers Day. after we talked with a women we tracted into a couple days earlier and we will begin teaching her tomorrow which is very nice.


June 21 - helped our stake high councilman over missionary work move today for about 6 hours, played bball with district for a couple hours.


Still very busy with trying to help out our district. we have another district meeting this Wednesday which will be good. It's better now that I don't write notes or anything for my talks, just go off the Spirit. It's been good. We are trying to expand our teaching pool. We will have 2 baptisms in July and hopefully more. Things are great here.

Just a quick note this week. Thanks.



Love,

Tyler

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

"Don't go all Jesus on me."

Answers to Moms Questions:

1) We (Elder Geren and I) were biking kind of fast and his chain got stuck and so his tire stopped and he just fell to the side and crashed. It was funny. He's tough though - so we went to Walgreens to wash up in the bathroom there and then went tracting after.


2) I did not think I was going to be called district leader because I'm so young. The Zone Leaders were just messing around after my talk saying that they sealed the deal that I would be the next district leader - but everyone likes to say that to make you feel better. But leadership doesn't mean anything. Just more stewardship. As President Beck says, "I am nothing of myself, my mantle is everything."


3) I don't ever print off e-mails cause you have to bring your own paper to use - so I just read them cause I usually don't have too many - just from yall mostly.


4) Yall are the only ones that write me online. I'll get an occasional e-mail from Jeff or Joseph or someone. But mostly yall. Only the Telfords send me hand letters (Carson, Mady, Taylor).



Mark (our investigator) is doing great. His family is in the ward. But he is moving out of the area, but still in the district which is sad to see him go. But he wanted us to start teaching his son too. So he's committed to baptism, just won't set a date yet until after we had taught the son some of the gospel and they could discuss it together. So we're going back this Thursday to see how it went.


Give me Grandpa and Grandma's address so I can write em. That's funny - tell them I love em.
Yes, I can e-mail other missionaries.
Glad everyone is doing great.


Updates:


June 7 - played bball as a zone - went shopping and played pool with sisters. Had dinner, taught a less active family.


June 8 - tracting is fun - I had my first baptismal interview with a 87 yr old woman. It took about an hour and a half. Great interview though.


June 9 - had my first district meeting. It went ok. then we all went out to Panda Express. Then I had to go and have another talk with the 87 yr old. Then we tracted. Then met with our Bishop and discussed members to visit to help the ward. Then had another baptism interview with a 13 yr old boy. Very busy day. Also had to take supply orders and work on district goals for the month of July


June 11 - Good lesson with Mark. Had weekly planning, tracting, dinner, splits, helped someone move. We had 3 people commited to baptism, and they are all moving out of our area this month, ugh. But its ok - just gotta work harder.


June 12 - Started teaching a 9 yr old girl. She's great. Had lunch with the family afterwards. Tracted 3.5 hrs today. went on splits with WML and we pulled up to a less-actives home and they had like 8 people outside all smoking and drinking. So we went up to them and one of the drunk guys ran up right into my face (like seriously our noses were like 2 inches away) and he started yelling at me saying stuff like "dont go all Jesus on me." So I was a little not sure what to do so I just stood there and stared back at him while he yelled at us. Then he asked if he could give me a hug. So we hugged for awhile and he sang the song "I kissed a girl and I liked it." Then we talked with them and he was just crazy. But the less active has a 12 yr old daughter that's going to start taking the lessons. So it was a fun night. Mission has a lot of funny experiences.


June 13 - Church was great. good dinner. On the phone for like an hour taking weekly numbers/ reporting numbers. So long day. I'm very tired at the end of my days. Being District Leader is a lot more work I gotta do. But the district is awesome.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

New Assignments as District Leader

Did yall get a letter sent to yall about my new assignments for District Leader?


My new resposibilites are: nightly call ins, weekly call ins, take numbers and report, work somewhat with stake leaders, go on exchanges with missionaries, hold district meetings, hold baptismal interviews, some other stuff, and then stuff like - motivate, solve problems, implement new ideas, improve numbers, etc. 10 is a pretty big group, but they are awesome. I'm really lucky to have the missionaries I have in my district.


President Beck called and asked if I'd be willing to do it and then they sent me a letter (and cc: yall in on it) explaining more stuff. I had a leadership training meeting where they expounded on a lot of stuff too which was helpful.


It is getting very hot here - now in the 100's almost everyday - I am now golden deliciously tan though. The Navajo man is getting baptized in a couple weeks which is very exciting - I sometimes see him at church and it's very exciting. He's a great guy.


Updates:

June 4 - went on exchange with one of our zone leaders who helped give me more training/guidance for my new assignment. We went to sing at an old folks home with the other district. We would pick a hymn, sing a verse, and then say why we chose that hymn - they loved it and we got to chat for a bit with them after to do some service. I got to look at numbers for our district which is fun - i like that stuff. We got dairy queen too - good memories.


June 5 - Very hot - I was a roasting. We met with the high councilman over missionary work for like 2 hours and had a great meeting with him. Very cool man. Got subway.


June 6 - Church was fun. Had to get up at 4:45 a.m. and don't get to eat till 6 - long fast Sunday - usually you can sleep in, go to church, and then come home and eat. We got to teach a Young Women's combined class which was fun on missionary work.
My mind has a million things going on in it. Trying to sift through a lot of info. Glad today is P-Day and can rest a bit. We have our first district meeting this Wednesday which should be fun. I'm excited for everything.

Love, Tyler

New District Leader Surprise

We had to e-mail on Thursday this week because the system was being repaired on Monday. So they told us to take our P-day on Monday but just take an hour on Thursday for email. I've heard that the 4th Shrek was pretty good (and Iron Man 2). The zone I am currently in is the richest zone in the mission - so attendance here drops a lot over summer because people are always traveling.



May 24 - got my haircut at Wal-mart. Bought Peyton Manning cereal (Wheaties Fuel - built by champions for champions). Got Katelyn Turner's wedding announcement. Played volleyball & frisbee with the sister missionaries. Took a nice hour nap - lovely.


May 25 - Elder Geren crashed on his bike so we rode to a Wal-greens so he could wash up in the bathroom and then went tracting ha - he's a tough kid. I hate writing hand written letters - it hurts my hands. Zone leaders called and asked me to give a talk tomorrow in zone meeting on hope.


May 26 - Gave a nice talk on hope. Zone leaders thought it was great and think I will be made next district leader - just want to finish training Elder Geren and take it nice and slow. Zone went to In & Out burger shop after which was fun.


May 27 - met a mountain man from Colorado (nice grizzly beard).


May 28 - Did a tour of a chapel with one of our investigators. Elder Geren has been sick so we stayed in half of the day. I've read a lot.


May 29 - Went to a baptism which was fun with another one of our investigators. Elder Geren is still stick. I've read half of Mark and Luke.


May 30 - Church is always great. Found out that Elder Geren and I will stay together for another 6 weeks and I will finish training him which is very good news. I like Anthem a lot. Also got a call from President Beck to be the next District Leader. Should be interesting since I've only been out like 3 transfers (4.5 months) and have not much experience. Our last DL had been out 23 months - and he rocked - big shoes to fill. We'll see how it goes.


May 31 - helped someone move this morning. Played bball with zone. Went shopping and played pool with sisters. I bought a little fan for $9 from Walmart and set it on my nightstand-table thing by my bed to blow on me at nights - it rocks. Had dinner with the McIlnay's. He used to teach seminary in Castle Rock at the stake center for the kids going to castle view. So he knew like Tyler Anderson, Dani, Sis Baker, and most everyone else which was cool. They wanted me to tell Sis Baker they said hi. Sis McIlnay said she was a YW pres when Sis baker was Stake YW Pres and was just awesome to her. So pass that onto her. It was a fun dinner.


June 1 - I eat a lot. For lunch I had a sandwich, a burrito, a frozen pizza, and a couple croissants. I'm always so hungry. went to Pizza Hut with members for dinner.


June 2 - Had to go to a leadership training meeting which was nice. Sat through the transfer meeting and thats always fun. Saw Stuart Coburn again, and most of my mtc district which was fun. So I was officially made the district leader now. they opened up a new area in the district and put another set of sister missionaries in it. So there are 10 people in the district (6 elders, 4 sisters). So things should be cool. Never would of guessed I'd be training at 3 months and district leader/training at 4.5 months, but what can you do other then work hard. I got a lot to study to prep myself. Should be an awesome experience. really looking forward to it.



Hope all is well. I'm having a blast and enjoying everything. Things are going great for us. Anthem is a great place. Take care.



Elder Perkins

Getting Caught up!

My apologies for being behind--here is Elder Perkins May update.
He must had been busy too, after our Mothers Day phone call, he got busy and didn't have much to say.

Here goes.

May 10-

Yes, very nice talking with yall. Tell Morgan I love her and hope she has a great week. Tell the Telford's hello from me. We were told from our Mission President to only be on for Mothers Day for 45min-1 hr.

The Stott's took us out to dinner this past Saturday to some wing shop. They are a very cool family. Sister Stott is Mong so she has a cool accent. I'll send a letter home with details if there was any - weeks are going by really fast when you got so much going on in your head. Have a good day. Talk to yall later, love ya, hope all is well.



May 24-

Sounds like a lot is going on over there as always. Mom is a very busy woman. But loosing your life for Christ's sake only means that you will find it. One of my new favorite scriptures is D&C 6:33 - that which ye sow is what you'll reap - we (and I guess the Lord) determine how much we reap.


Tell Morgan CONGRAGULATIONS!!!! She is officially done now huh, so is she excited? Did she get that job at the pizza place? I talk about her a lot more to people then I thought I would (even on doorsteps when tracting when I find out people have autistic, etc. children to help relate).


Everyone here is pulling for the Suns - it's tough when we go on visits and people have their tv's on with some games on - rougher then I'd thought it'd be. I wish I could just sit back like on p-day and just watch a good game of any sport. I agree less pressure is good - there is a lot more pressure as a trainer then when your being trained - that's for sure.


This past week:

May 17 - played bball and games with our district which is always fun just to hang out. Sister missionaries bought us Orange Julius - they rock. I got ahold of Michael Brannock on e-mail, so we've been going back and forth a bit which is very fun. Got some pickles at Wal-Mart for my sandwiches which was a good buy (on sale for $1.88).


May 18 - good day of tracting - I love tracting now. It was very nerve racking the first couple weeks, but when you can actually talk with people and answer anti questions, etc, it becomes fun to connect with people and share what you know is true. We are working with a man named Mark who is was awesome. He is really searching for the truth and we've been over to teach him about 4 times in 2 weeks. He's the first investigator that I've worked with that I have actually kind of connected with - I actually really care and want the best for him. He is an IT guy. I'm excited for him.


May 19 - We went on a zone tracting blitz - where the whole zone goes into a companionship's area. So we had about 20 missionaries in a single neighborhood which was awesome. This area has had as many investigators this year as we have had baptisms, so we all went in to help. We overall found 2 new investigators for them (I found one, she had a naked baby running all around - so I'm really hoping things turn up there for them). We then had interviews with President Beck - mine went very well. I'm done with the Cover Sheet, Lesson 1, and Lesson 2 of the study guide. Just started Lesson 3, so just passed the halfway mark.


May 20 - weekly planning - I actually like planning the little details - things go a lot smoothly. Most people hate all the records/paper work, but I kind of like it. Gotta work not only hard, but smart. I got my package from yall - very good - Nacho cheese and salsa very good as well. The CD's also are way great. The Praise to the Man one is all we've listened to the past week - I like powerful music. And by chance if yall are still working with my other cd (with Carrie Underwood singing How Great Thou Art) can you also throw on a cool rendition of If You Could Hie To Kolob, and then O Holy Night sung by motab featuring the kingmen, and also maybe Come Thou Fount. Thanks. Correlation is fun now - I actually put ideas out there and know what's going on.


May 21 - found a man tracting from Brazil who has been literally prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel. A couple days before we went there he had an exterminator come to his house - who spoke fluent Portuegese for being a white American. Turns out he went on a mission there. Then the day we found him he was actually out playing golf earlier in the day, but his wife got sick, so he came home to make sure all was well when we knocked on his door. We are going back this week and he's elect. Great guy. We had a great baptism tonight. Reciting the first vision account and bearing my testimony is one of the coolest things I get to do - especially at baptisms. The spirit was so strong.


May 22 - I was on a Zone leader exchange all day. So one of the zone leaders came to my area and we did work. He taught me a lot and told me that I've developed a reputation for being a hard worker which was cool to hear. We taught Mark and again committed him to baptism twice. He knows this is what he needs to do and said he would pray to be baptized on June 5. We swapped back and my son Elder Geren is once again with me - it was hard seeing my only child go away for a time.


May 23 - Today was the first time I think I ever completely slept through my alarm. I always wake up, sometimes before the mission I would turn it off and go back to sleep for a few minutes, but today I completely slept through the alarm twice ( I have an alarm go off at 6:20, then one goes off at 6:25, and then another at 6:30 - just to make sure I'm up at 6:30). But I slept throught the first two - craziness. Then we got to attend the Gila Valley Arizona Temple dedication - they broadcasted it to the stake centers. It was awesome - President Monson was on fire telling jokes - a funny man. They began in the celestial room and then walked outside to seal the cornerstone or whatever they do - so they let him and a couple other people (apostles, temple pres, etc) put some mortar on the corner stone and then President Monson called many little children up to do it - so they were outside for about 10-15 min and he just was great. The dedicatory service was very nice.



Hope all is well. Much love and care,

Elder Tyler Perkins