Awkward 10 seconds...

Holla, como estas mi familia?? Well, I've survived another week. Yesterday Elder Woodland and I had to give talks in sacrament meeting. Survived that. Haha in the middle of my talk I lost my train of thought and just stood there, with an awkward 10 seconds of silence-- no joke. I then said "Let me remind you, it's my first talk in the mission field". I got a chuckle from the congregation after that and with that pause I found my place in my notes again. Problem was I couldn't read my own handwriting. Haha it was funny. I made it through though. My talk was on President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "Of Regrets and Resolutions", and how he left us with three resolutions, 1.) To spend more time with those we love, 2.) Live up to our potential 3.) Let ourselves be happy. I focused most of my talk on the 2nd resolution, living up to our potential, and becoming the person that God knows that we can become. The way we do this is by applying the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31) Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghsot, and Endure to the End. PMG Chp 3 Lesson 3 talks about it alot.  Anyways, by applying these 5 principles in our lives, we can change our nature, and become more like Christ. It's a continual process, and one that never should end. President Taylor says all that time, and tells us that we should be applying the doctrine of Christ in our lives, so that we can change, become consecrated missionaries, and by doing so we'll become more like the person we represent. 

This week while tracting, we had some funny experiences. It was at night, 7 or 8 ish, I forget, but it was like 40 degrees out, no joke. Well maybe 50, but it was cold. When we knock on door then, these people feel so bad for us they let us in to warm up for a bit, and bam! We get to talk to them. Actually this only happened to 3 houses but those three houses we had 1 new investigator, got 10 bucks from another, and the third haven't gotten back to yet. The house we got money from, it was an older couple that let us in. The older lady went into the kitchen, came back after a few minutes, and tried to hand us 10 dollars. She said "Now I'm a baptist. I was raised baptist and I'm going to stay baptist. You'll not change my mind on that no matter what you say. But, we lived in Utah for a while, and there were Mormons there ( <----go figure) and we really like them. Plus you two are two handsome young men, and I've never seen an ugly pair or you. So you take this money and go buy yourselves a McDonald's. I'm still staying Baptist. Now get out." Haha it was really funny. We tried to resist the money, but she was adamant about everything she said, so we took the money and left! Hey, when the Lord wants to help his missionaries out in unexpected ways we'll take it! 

Another funny experience, or I guess experiences, is when we knock on the doors that have Obama signs in their yards. We get one of two responses. 1.) “No thank you, I'm not interested, have a good day”, etc. or 2.) “I know who you are and no I do not support your candidate”. Haha one woman actually told us how she is exerting all her efforts to make sure that "our candidate" does not get into office. Even when we tell them that we're not political and we in no way endorse or support any candidate, they just don't seem to make the connection. In fact, we committed an investigator, D., to baptism last week? two weeks ago? And right after he said yes he asked if that meant he had to vote for Romney. 

Oh! So listen to this. We went to teach A. this week, but when we went to teach him, we brought a member with us, Br. Hansen.   A's wife had the day off, and she saw that Br. Hansen came with us. Turns out Bro. Hansen's wife and A's wife, Paula, are pretty good friends! Paula works at Walgreens and they see each other all the time. So Paula wanted to sit in on the lesson! We were teaching the Plan of Salvation and she's not really religious at all, so this was all new to her. In the middle of the lesson she actually stopped us and asked us if she could bring her daughter in! Soo that day we got two new investigators! At the beginning of the lesson she said "Now I'm not religious at all, and I don't like being pushed, so don't ask me to do anything. I'm just going to sit her. That's it." In the middle of the lesson she said "Wait! Can I bring my daughter in?" and by the end she said "K so when can you come back? I'm off Thursday's so that's when it would work best for me." It was really neat to see her change during one lesson! Now we tried to get both of them to come to church yesterday, but they didn't come. That's a universal struggle I'm finding out here. Getting investigators to church. 

Ok, so a couple things I need to get off my mind then one last cool story.  Also we get to watch mormon messages for 1 hour each week, while I'm still a "greenie", so here are some cool ones to check out. "Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them" and "Honesty". The Honesty one is one the Br. Burnham (MVT seminary teacher) made and entered into a contest and won! It's pretty cool. Also check out Larry Gelwix on mormon.org. It's so awesome. 

K last story. Not sure if you're aware or not but Notre came to OU and played them this last Saturday. Notre Dame's band played the half time show. They had to practice somewhere before, so they did their halftime show for a crowd at the Noble High school in the afternoon before the game. Our ward mission leader took us, and it was so sick!! I forgot to bring my camera, and I wanted to shoot myself in the foot for it. Now don't worry, we met some investigators and less active's there, so we had good reason to go. Haha but it was awesome! Just had to share. K love you all. Like always I pray for you each night! Never forget, the church it true through and through!

Love, Elder Traasdahl

The Plan of Happiness

If Elder Traasdahl had the opportunity to be in your home and give you a discussion on our Eternal Lives -- he would share the message in this video...  Curious?  Watch the video below learn of our Heavenly Father's Plan for Happiness.

 

Memories in Purcell, OK

Elder T. found this house in his missionary journeys.
 I wonder what the house looks like on the inside? 
Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma.

Rainy Day Fenders arrived in the mail!

Look what Elder T. Found in Purcell, OK?  A friendly face!
--This is what our dog looked like 8 years ago--
Is that not such a cute picture?
Seems to me he found one nice dog in the area.  All others are possibly relatives of the ones that used to chase Grandpa Ellsworth when he served in the southern states mission in the 1950's.
  (They must have migrated.)

'Goofing Off after a District Meeting'

"This week has been a week of miracles" -- week # 6

Have you ever noticed how imtimidating a blank screen looks? Haha, during the week I feel like I have so much to say and then come Monday morning poof! There goes all my thoughts. Ha but here's all my random odds and ends thoughts. This week I got quite a bit of mail from friends, so that was very enjoyable!  I just have some letter writing to do now. And I got your package Mom, with all those herbs to help me sleep. Hahaha the earplugs though, made me laugh. I used them one night, worked like a charm, and then I lost one of them. Dad, how's this? Sealing. Did I get it right this time? Course I did. Third time's the charm! Hah I told you my grammer/English is getting terrible. Also thanks for printing and sending Tyler's email to me in the mail. Speaking of which, I'm sure you guys are curious, we keep in contact with eachother, through letters. I wrote him one the first week out, and I just got his response this last week. So it looks like there'll be a 3-4 week interval between our communication. Now for us getting fed, we've only had to make dinner for ourselves maybe 4 times this month. So our ward is pullin through! Thanks to Sis. Lloyd. She's been calling people setting up dinners for us. If she hadn't been doing that then we'd be with 0 dinners this month. Oh fun fact of the day. Our Ward Mission Leader's nephew is good friends with Romney's oldest son, and he says that before each debate, Romney gets a blessing from his son. Cool huh? From my understanding there's one tomorrow night right? I guess I'll hear how it went a few weeks from now. 

I have the opportunity to give a 15 min talk in sacrament meeting next sunday. And thanks mom for getting all these addresses I'm asking for, I realize it could be a hassle! Last random thought, people butcher Traasdahl. No one yet has said it right the first, heck even the 10th time. After a while though they get it. It just takes practice. Oh! Almost forgot. Shout out to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tamara! Thanks for you package! Those carmel candies were amazing. My comp sure enjoyed them. And Aunt Erin I loved your letter! I'll be writing back today.

 

I read this week a talk that has changed my view and attitude on how to be a missionary. It's called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister. He gave it at the MTC in 2008. There's a part in there where it talks about laying your fears on the sacrificial altar. I wish I brought it with me, so that I could share some parts out of it with you. I encourage you to at least read that section of it though, and for all my buddies planning on going out or are in the field, read the whole thing. It's such an amazing talk. But back to laying your fears on the sacrificial alter. This'll mean more to you if you've read the talk, but essentially it means to become a consecrated missionary, you must give everything up to the Lord. And when it comes down to being afraid to open our mouths to speak, whether it be a timid personality or a fear of man... no excuse is good enough. As a respresentative of Jesus Christ, we have been commanded to open our mouths. 

And the subject of this email. This week has been a week of miracles. Not grand, amazing miracles. But small, tender mercies. We went on exchanges twice this week, and on Wednesday I went on splits with a Marshalese  (I have no idea how to spell that one) elder that is learning English. In each situation, I was in the position where the only activity we were left with was tracting, and I was the one that had to do the talking. I've never prayed more sincerely in my life. And guess what? The Lord provided. I wasn't poetic, or anything amazing. I messed up here 'n there, but I did it. And now, it's getting easier for me to talk to people. Another miracle happened last week, at the end of our pday. One of our best member missionary's step-daughter, who isn't a member, and wants nothing to do with the church, got pulled over for a dwi. Long story short, through that experience, she was humbled enough to listen to our message. We didn't get to finish the lesson with them because they had to leave early, and they probably won't want to have another lesson, now that that trauma has worn off, but my favorite part about being a missionary are those moments when you get to bear witness to people that they have a Father in Heaven that loves them dearly. He knows what's going on in their lives, and that through prayer they can talk to Him and feel of His love. During our mini lesson with this step-daugther, I felt prompted that I needed to say that. Afterwards, we found out that all her life she was taught by her mother (this mother is the member missionary's previous wife) that God is some mystical creature to be laughed at. 

Last miracle. Happened Thursday night. We were riding out to and apartment complex, to look up a former . Her apartment # was 53. Or so it said on our records. We looked and looked and couldn't find a 53. I was ready to leave, we had biked 30 miles that day, but Elder Woodland wanted to try 52, just to see, since that was the highest number we could find. We knock, and a woman opens the door. We ask her her name, to see if it's the former, but it wasn't. We continue talking, since she was nice, and proceed to do a Heavenly Gift (aka a prayer. Idk if i've explained that or not yet, but it's just a non threatening way to get people to talk to us. Because who would deny a prayer? haha actually you'd be surprised how many people.) When we asked her what struggles or concerns we could pray for that she'd be willing to share, she starts crying. She then tells us how an hour before she received a phone call telling her she lost her job. She couldn't belive that we then showed up to pray for her! So we prayed with her and asked to come back and share a message with her. But can you believe that!! That's not coincidence. That's the Lord's hand working right there. I'm just glad I got to be apart of it. And to think though I was ready to turn back because I was tired. Shame. Anyways, my time is short and I must go, but I love each any every one of you, family and friends. I appreciate you words of encouragement and support. The Lord's work can not be stopped. The church is true through and through! And don't forget, keep on keepin on :)

"Nah I aint done yet..."

My ohhhh my has it been another week?? Goodness. I guess the saying is true, days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days! First off let me get off the shoutouts. I don't remember if I said thank you or not yet, but shout out to the Danielson's and Morris's for their pictures and notes they drew and sent me while in the MTC! Sorry I haven't been able to write back, but I have absolutely loved them! I keep them in my top left drawer in my desk and look through them each Sunday night! Another shout out goes to the M O N T E C I T O ward for being absolutely fantabulously awesome, and sending me that letter with all those wonderful words of encouragement and love! It brightened my day and brought a smile to my face. Last shout out goes to the Banks family! Love your package!

 

So the life of a missionary is kinda nice out here. Did you know that at Jamba you get your order 1/2 off as a missionary? And at 5 guys your order is free? Me neither! Well let's say I didn't. Now I do. And I use the jamba perk a lot. We go there every Friday after our District Meetings. The people there are starting to get to know us. I got the package of taco seasoning and journal pages! So now I'm going to make some of your taco's mother. Haha Elder Woodland thinks taco seasoning smells terrible. Stinks for him cause I'm making some. Speaking of Elder Woodland...living with someone 24/7 there's bound to be things you to butt heads over. That's not the right term though, because it's not contentious... Have I mentioned yet how he sings 'Come Thou Fount' 1,235,315,241,325 times a day? Then he moves on to another song.  We have two different styles of teaching. So, we have things to work through. But what companionship doesn't? Listen to this though. Scared the livin daylights outta me.  This last Wednesday we went to Norman for our New Trainers meeting, aka the "have you survived" meeting for all the greenies, and President Taylor, who is a stud and will be an apostle some day, looked at all of us, and particularly me when he said something to the effect of "Now with the mission age being changed to 18, we're going to have an increase of missionaries coming to our mission, that's a given. How many? I don't know. What I do know, is that they'll have less time in the MTC, however. Which means, they'll need to finish their training here in the field. These new, young missionaries are going to need be trained by preach my gospel missionaries. Do you know who those missionaries are? You. So get ready. You know what to do." Haha . I can hardly figure out how to get to the Wal Mart 5 miles down the road, let alone train a missionary. But I'll have at least another month and a half before I'm done being trained, so that's comforting. Just had to share.

 

Sorry this is turning out to be so short, but the only other thing I can think of is to give you updates on our investigators. 'A.' came to Stake Conference with us on Sunday, and 'M.' came to the adult session on Saturday night. Other than that just a lot of knocking on doors. Oh! We found a family, single mother, with 3 daughters and 1 son, and taught her and one of her daughters the 1st lesson. That was on Thursday. Set up a return appt. on Sat. but they bailed. Personal opinion is either they got anti-ed or just want their space. So we're going to try them tomorrow.

 

Haha one last thing. My English is getting terrible. Just this morning I said to Elder Woodland when he asked me if I was done, "Nah I aint done yet".  We were eating at a member's home, and while he picked us up I asked him what he did for a living. He said he ran a golf course. My response? "Oh how long have you runned it for?" Way to make a first impression right? Anyways love you all dearly, I appreaciate your prayers!! I can feel the strength it gives me. The Church is true through and through!!

Elder Traasdahl

Prepping for this moment in time for Years

When I saw the picture below it reminded me of the picture above... 

Yes it's True... Elder T. has spent years prepping for his mission.  

General Conference Weekend

 Elder Traasdahl in a church building getting ready to watch Gen. Conf.    He said, "It was Chilly. Other than me, myself, and I,  Elder Woodland & only 5 others showed up."

Here is proof that Elder T. learned how to cook at least one thing before he left home.
 "Ze  Toasty De Zz Frenchy!"

Here's he's looking -- Surprised -- I think.  He was most happy to get an ipod full of uplifting music and talks in the above envelop.   Uplifting music is a powerful tool.  Hymns can bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth.   Hope he enjoys it.

Sweet Stuff!

This is the front of the picture from on earlier post. Yum...

After dinner they treated the missionaries to ice-cream.  One of the blessings of being State side. Way Yum!

"The Nile" of Oklahoma

Proof that all those years of training paid off.  2 points for Mom. 
(I'm sure he made his bed after the picture was taken.  Or maybe we'll have to take those 2 points away.)

Samurai Sword at a members home.  Gotta love those dinner aptmts.

 I pray for this missionary daily that he can strive to teach truth where it is missing and distorted.  Of this picture Elder T. wrote "That about explains it all right there."  It's a picture from his daily planner.

Elder Traasdahl's World View

"It's a Wonderful World"
(Last Pics from last Day in the MTC 9-24-12)

"I'm goin' to OKC!"

 MTC district including Bro. Ferrin

And on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 Elder T. Left the MTC for the real mission field.
 Here's his view on the flight to OKC.

Elder T. put on the AP's jacket while in the mission home. 
 No matter the spelling on the name tag,
I'll still claim him. 

His First Home away from home.  If the saying 'Home is where your Heart is' is true,  my heart  has got to be somewhere in this picture...   And in Fort Collins too.

Pens Galore & a Whole Lot more!

Elder Traasdahl's memory card came in US postal today!   Happy day for me...
It contained lots of great pics from the MTC to his time in Purcell, Oklahoma.
 His caption: "Found a pen I really like at the MTC.  Figured I should stock up for 2 years!"

Elder T., Elder Cutler, Sister Main, Sister Armistead, Elder Matthews, Elder White.
(It looks like Elder Cutler is going to the ocean.)

You know....  I was really HOPING for a picture like this. I LOVE this one!!!
"The Twinners"

Elder Traasdahl Walking on Walls...  I guess they give them all sorts of experiences in the MTC.

  "Best Teacher Ever."  Elder T. with Brother Bush

Middle missionary is Elder Alls.  "This guy is crazy..."

First Pics in OKLAHOMA

Elder Traasdahl with his first Trainer - Elder Woodland.

First glimpse of First Apartment. 

"Day 1, about to go hit the town with my fresh new ride"

 This picture tells quite a story if you take time to look at all the details. 
Warms my heart.
"It was my first member dinner, and we had a picnic of potato salad, bbq sauce, terriaki rice and chicken nugget sandwiches." 

"This pic is with Justin, first baptism baby! Not really though, I was just there for the picture really. Really neat baptism though."

"This Morning it was 38 degrees."  
That's quite noteworthy for a previous desert dweller.

Is it the White Shirt & Tie? Or the Name Tag?

   It is my firm belief that Satan has power over dogs. Never in my life have I had a sincere fear and hatred for them as I do now. Haha everywhere we go, without a doubt, they bark and chase you!! Is it the white shirt and tie? Or the name tag? I just had to share that. But boy where to begin, where to begin, so much to talk about...

    Now for my comp. It's funny how first impressions can change. He's still a great guys and all, but not as... committed as I thought. He likes to spend a lot of time at members homes at dinner appointments, much longer than we need to be there, and just talk. He also says 'legit' and 'solid' wayyyyyy too much. And now I'm starting to say it and its scaring me! Because I'm going to be that weird elder now that comes home saying some word too much. I also found out he talks in his sleep. That freaked me out the first time it happened. Just last night though he woke me up and said "I could either doggy paddle, or float" in the weirdest voice! I wanted to mess with him so I asked which he was better at and his response was "They're the same, I'm the best at both of them."  Ha once he said that I could not help but laugh. I found out this morning that my laughing woke him up from his sleep talking. He thought I was the crazy one for laughing in my sleep. Go figure.

     Speaking of sleep, I haven't had much lately. I don't know why but I wake up 5-6 times a night now.  So i'm hoping it'll all just phase out and I can sleep through the night soundly.  I got your package on Saturday. It was awesome!!  And for mail, I think the mission home holds the mail and sends it out on Wednesdays and Saturdays. But I guess it doesn't really matter because I only can write back on Mondays. But hand written letters are always awesome, it helps break up the week and it's fun to go back and re read them. And yes mother I would like some more journal pages. But feel free to send them whenever. Okay, now that all the to do's are off my mind, now for conference!

    IT WAS AMAZING!!!! Goodness, does being a missionary make it better, or has it always been that good?! We caught all 5 sessions, and I loved every minute of it. My favorite talk was, or talks, was of course Hollands, and then I think it was Neil L. Andersen's talk. He talked about Faith. His hit home the most. I took pages and pages of notes, like it was no-bodies business, ha but I don't have them with me right now. What comes to mind though right now about his talk was how our faith gets tested, or the trials of our faith are a.) blessings and b.) often hide in our weaknesses. It never occured to me that way, how Heavenly Father tries our faith through our weaknesses. Ha it feels like out here every single weakness of mine is exploited and magnified. Even then though when it comes to not being on a mission, when we go through trials and we feel like we're try to conquer it and fail, that can be really discouraging and depressing. The reason though we're given these obstacles is to be given the chance to rely on the Lord more fully. Actually not more fully, 110%. And that's scary. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet but I HATE TRACTING. Absolutely hate it with a passion. My trial I'm going through right now is getting over that fear of talking to complete strangers, about a topic that they feel like they don't need any help with because they've been "saved". It's my trial that is rooted in my weekness. However before we tract I say a prayer to give me strength beyond my own, because I know I can't do it on my own. Have I gotten over my fear yet? Nope. Will I? I sure hope so. But what would be the point of our trials if we overcame them in a night? I'm learning how to rely on the Lord more, and so can you.

   Now for ELder Hollands talk, what a power house! Talk about a disciple of Christ laying down the law! (For my Christmas wish list, can you send me a conference ensign?) Also, what do you think about them changing the mission age!!?!?!? That's incredible! I don't think you understand how excited I was for all my friends back home. They don't have to wait as long any more!! And girls only having to be 19?! That shocked me. But I think it's going to get rid of the "Oh if i'm not married then i'll go on a mission" mentality. May I predict the opening of a China mission??? Just sayin. Why else would they need more missionaries? Haha but oh btw I got a letter for Taylor Turley the other day. So friend #2 wrote me. Haha jk. But now for the work out here.

     It's interesting that you chose 5 people to pray for. Because that's our goal to baptize for this transfer. So we'll see what happens! Since last week we've taught 4 lessons. Our investigator pool is shrinking though. I'll tell you about A. though. He's a black guy that moved from Cali. Took the discussions there, went to church there, even had a baptismal date, but that fell through. He goes to dialisis because he has a bad kidney. He'll get surgery soon, within the next three weeks to get a replacement. He lives in a trailor park that we ride to, and as we've visited him we've found out that the missionaries in Cali did more of "we'll answer your questions" instead of "we'll teach you". He's really sincere, and is a real deep thinker. He knows the Bible really well, and we're trying to get him to read the Book of Mormon. (He has another couple he's working with and they have a baptism commitment just not a date. Trying to figure out a few life details first.)  Then there's a 12 year old boy, named C., from a part member family, who wants to be baptized so that he can pass the sacrament. So we're working with him and teaching him after church. And that's all we have.  Anyways I love you guys.   Hope you have a fantastic week!!!! LOVE YOU!!

I wonder what Talks Elder Traasdahl enjoyed?

What a powerful General Conference Weekend.  Elder Hollands talk struck a cord with me during the  Sunday morning session -- especially  having two Elder's in the mission field.   Look it up if you haven't had a chance to see it!  It's one of the best.
 (Although I always say that about Elder Holland's talks.)

I love his testimony of the Christ! 
Inspiring...

19 years together -- 2 years apart

Brotherly Love.   Goodbye Sept. 23, 2012.

Culture Shock & this Kid was Golden.

Wow, so many emails to read, so much to say! Well, as you know, I made it! And it has been quite the first week let me tell ya. First though, before I forget, here are some big things I figured out that you need to know. 1.)  I NEED A RAIN FENDER for my bike. ASAP. Just a back one. If its not too pricey a front one would be nice but a back one will do. It's rained the last 3 days here and we haven't been able to go out because I haven't had a fender.  2.) Send any and all mail/packages to the MISSION OFFICE and then they'll send it to me where ever I'm at. It'll take a day longer, but it's much easier that way than me constantly having to tell you my new address each time I get transferred.  3.) Mom, please feel free to send any recipes you feel like I would use. Ha we're given 135$ for the month, so I'm trying to make that stretch by buying healthy food and cooking meals instead of frozens pizzas! <---- except that does happen a lot. Oh and thanks so much for the Vemma. I take it every day! Now for the cool things. We can have ipods! Not touches, but the kind like Tyler got, or a mini.  And music wise we're allowed to have anything that is "spiritually uplifiting". Also we don't have to get it checked through the mission pres first either. As long as it fits that criteria he said he trusts us. Pretty cool right?! So whenever you send up the next package, and if we have an extra ipod around, feel free to load it up with as much spiritually uplifting music and talks as it can hold and send it! Only if we have an extra ipod though.

     So Day 1, had a really bad migrane. Put me out of it, wasn't fun.  I'm in the Noble area, which covers three towns: Noble, Purcell (where our apartment is at) and Lexington.  I think i'm going through culture shock! Haha this area I'm in is like lower half of the middle class to lower class. It's hard to see how some people live. Everyone here smokes too. IT'S KILLING ME! I'm seriously going to come back with lung cancer. We haven't taught a single lesson yet either. Ya know missionary work I thought was about teaching right? Ha well first you need people to teach. All these people think they've been saved! So all we've done is tracting. And tracting. Well and studying inside because it's rained alot and we haven't been able to go out because of the weather. The members here are awesome though. President Taylor, in the numbers we report to him, doesn't count lessons taught, he only counts member present lessons. The reason why is because the more members are there, the better the fellowshipping will go = more retention after baptism. The area I'm in though, the numbers lately have been nose diving lately. Maybe not nose diving but they've been poor. So this transfer, Elder Woodland (my trainer) and I set some lofty goals to get things rolling again. Haha whenever our Zone Leaders or other elders of our district ask about our goals, they say "man you've got that greeny fire!" Guess so. I just see it as if you can why not. And actually, the reason I'm like that is because its what I see Tyler being like, ya know shooting for high goals. Our "standard of excellence" in this mission for baptisms in a transfer is 1-2. We made our goal at 5. Git er Done!!! But i'm sure now you want to know more about my trainer.

      His name is Elder Tyler Woodland, he's from Wyoming, and he's a straightup rancher! Ya know, like my wanna be life? Ya he did that his entire life. Haha they moved from ranch to ranch, raising cattle and breaking horses to make them rideable. He's a hard worker and we get along fine! He's been out 9 months I believe and is our District Leader. Our appartment, I took some pictures of it, is a.... ok place. I've seen better. My bike though. Wow! Love it. Ha I bought a computer for it, it was like 20 some odd bucks. Another elder gave me the idea to keep track of how many miles i've bike on my mission. Cool idea right? So I realized in order to do that a computer was a necessity!

    Last night we had a baptism! It was for this kid name Justin. He's 16, and his story is funny actually. He found us, as in Elder Woodland and his comp before me, and came to church ready to prove Mormon's wrong because of course we are in every instance... But after church it wet his appetite and he wanted to learn more. They set a date and time and first lesson they taught him the Restoration, Plan of Salvation and Gospel of Christ because he already went and researched it prayed about it and got an answer. So they had him committ to read the Book of Mormon and then next lesson they did the Commandments and after going to Church three times he was baptized!  Interesting thing is his father is a Baptist minister in a small town called Little Axe. So he didn't come to the baptism but his mother did. He's already decided he's going to go on a mission and he texts us almost every day asking us Gospel questions. This kid was golden. 

      Another funny story we passed around the dinner calender for the month of October and only 4 people signed up. The 4 families that Elder Woodland and I were close too. Sooooo we have some damage control to do. 

      Quick thoughts on my mission president. LOVE the man. He's going to be a general authority some day. I'm calling it here and now. I'm really bummed he's going to be finishing his mission in 9 months. Okay, well I love you all, I pray for you each night! Letters are always welcomed, they help break up the week! Keep on keepin on, and may the Lord bless each and every one of you! Love,

Elder Traasdahl