Elder Traasdahl grows...

Alright alright alright I've got about 10 mins to get this bad boy out because the library is closing so we're gonna see how good 'Mrs. what's her name' at Poston taught us in typing class! Shout out to Kyle Frost first-- Wednesday's a big day! Live it up in the MTC baby! Grandma E and and Grandma T, loved loved loved your Christmas cards, thank you so much! I love you guys!  And for that matter thank you to everyone who sent me christmas cards, its great to see how everyone is doing back home! 

So the other day at a member's home, I saw a scale. I stepped on it. And I was disgusted with myself. I'M FAT. 185!! And I've only been out something like 3 months! At this rate I'm gonna be like 260 lbs by the time I get home! So ya, I've gained some weight.   Alot. Haha, I'm a lost cause now. I think I'm gonna say 200 is my cap, and after that some serious weight loss is going to have to happen. 

It snowed this week too, on Christmas and on Friday. So I guess I had my first White Christmas! And I've decided that I could actually live in a place that snowed, because its pretty sweet! Got some good videos too, you'll enjoy them. I'll send the memory card home either this week or next. 

Investigators wise, we had a good lesson with W. yesterday. She believes everything that we teach her.  She's got a solid relationship with Christ too.  Her only dealio is that because her baptism was a spiritual experience for her, she doesn't need to be baptized again. Thats where we at with her. We also taught a former non denom preacher the other day. That was interesting. We left him with a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read so we're going back this week. And we found a small family.  Haven't taught them yet, but prayed with them, and should meet with them Wednesday. Don't know if it'll go anywhere, but they just had a Christmas baby so it's the perfect time for them to receive the gospel! The Lord places us in peoples path doesn't he?  Haha aight well I gotta get this off before the computer shuts off. LOVE YOU! Next week will be better. Tyler, keep training that son of yours!  What a wonderful gift the gopsel is.  LOVE Y'ALL!!

Elder Traasdahl

A good day for a phone call

We talked to our missionaries yesterday on Christmas morning!  It was the BEST!!!  So good to hear their voices and laughter.  Lot's of love was shared and we look forward to talking to them again on Mothers Day.  Pfahshh.  No Prob.  Only 5 months to go.

We are grateful Elder Traasdahl has the opportunity to serve in Oklahoma. It was great to hear him say, 'Ya'all' and he told us how he was fixin' to go to a Christmas lunch and dinner-- weather permitting.  He was SO funny and is enjoying his companion Elder Anderson.  Three Months complete 21 to go but whose counting?

I loved the following quote from one of Elder Holland's recent talks.  It Helped take away the 'ouch' of Mrs. Clause only putting 2 less stockings on the couch Christmas Eve:

Peace on Earth Tribute

Hello readers.  I received this and wanted to share.  (This is one of the songs off the CD Elder Traasdahl referred to as 'Majestic' in this weeks email.) May your holidays be all that you hoped for.  M

Dear friends of MCO -  As we all mourn in the sadness of so many lives lost this week, we are reminded of the sweet and hopeful message in the words of this beautiful carol.  Feel free to share this video so it will reach those who are suffering so greatly at this time.  May we all find "peace on earth, and goodwill to men."

www.MormonChoralOrganizations.org

"Far Out Man!"

(Note:  Elder Traasdahl was sent a christmas package from home containing gifts individually wrapped for the '12 days of Christmas'.  That will help you make sense of his update.)

Am I the only one who doesn't know what far out means? Found out this week that it's supposed to mean "cool". A less active member said it and I just looked at her like "whaaaat?" Just had to share. Okay okay okay, how's it going?! Shout out to Mama Banks real fast, thanks for the treats! They were gone in two days. And my Christmas package! Awesome awesome stuff. Ha confession... I didn't have the self control to wait. Sooo I kinda opened them all in one night.  I got to have my Christmas about two weeks early! Lucky me! Because I saw the conference Ensign, and had to use that, and then the hot chocolate mix (which was like the 10th day?) ha no way I wasn't going to use that! Side note real fast, this weather out here is so weird. One night we were biking around and it was like 20 degrees. Everytime we went down a hill I could hardly see because my eyes would just water. Then two days later, it's up in the 50s! and it's stayed that way for this last week... but it's supposed to get cold again. Now you can see why I couldn't wait for that hot chocolate! Ha and then those sour patch kids.. man. It took all the control in me not to eat it in one day. So i finished it off in 3. I liked those little toy gun things, Elder Townsend and I would have wars in our apartment at night after planning. Then he stepped on his. So there goes that fun. And mom! O Holy Night CD. My goodness. Does the word magestic do it justice? I love it! 

Last night we had transfer calls. I'm going to be staying here in the Noble/Purcell area, and Elder Townsend is going to blackwell, with Elder White, my mtc comp! Ha i got a good chuckle outta that. Elder Andersen, don't know who he is, other than the fact that he was Elder Townsend's father, (lingo for trainer) is coming here to be the District Leader. So I'll get to meet him on Wednesday.  I just can't help but get the feeling that I haven't learned yet from this area what i'm supposed to. So I guess the Lord is letting me stay to try and figure it out! I honestly think though that he's trying to get me to be more faithful. As you know, the work here has been slow. Really slow. And through Elder Bowen's mission tour, and an interview with President Taylor, I keep getting rebuked by the spirit, because the theme always comes up "The Lord's hand is at work in your area. God has not pulled out of Noble." So I really need to humble myself and have more faith in God. It's really easy to say ohhhh the area's dead, nothing will happen, when the key indicators are going that way. It takes more to put your faith in God and know that he's preparing people, and we're here to find them, even if 95% of the the area is content with where they're at right now in life and their religion. 

Elder Andersen sounds like a good missionary, he only has 3 months left. So I think we can get somethin goin this transfer. And I realized the other day that I haven't told you about our newest progressing investigator. Her name's W., she's around 80 years old. I think she let us come back because she's a nice old lady, but when we taught here the Plan of Salvation she agreed with it 100%. Her hang up is that she thinks that her baptism was valid, and there's no need to be baptized again. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to read and pray about it, and she did so sincerely too. So I think that if she listens, she'll get her answer soon. The P. family, the one that we tracted into that got super close to baptism, keeps on dropping our appointments and doesn't answer their phones. It's really frustrating. He goes back to work this next two weeks, so we wont be able to talk to them for a bit. Personal opinion is that they don't want to give up their crutches yet. Smoking, chewing, and booze. It's insane how many people smoke here. So, next time we talk to them, whenever that is, we're just going to find out if they even want us coming back. 

Fun fact of the day: Did you know Adam had a wife before Eve? Her name was Lucifer. And she was so jealous of Eve, so that's why she tempted her. Haha we heard that the other and I was just like "What the heck? Are you on something right now?" The lady who was telling us was dead serious too. She then lectured us on how we need to study the bible more, because it's allll in there. Thank goodness for a modern day prophet, who receives revelation from God for the Church. That right there just goes to show why we need to have a living prophet on the earth. I don't know why I'm going back to this but I just want to share a little tid bit I just had pop in my head. I'm not sure if I've shared it yet, but Alma 26:12 seems to be my theme scripture so far. And I think Heavenly Father wants me to put it in action now. Because I've always been like woww what a great scripture! But like I said, I can improve in so many ways. And when it says "in His strength I can do all things", I think that absolutely means what it says. So, my goal this transfer, which I'm getting, just you watch, is to get a baptism. Or to get a baptism set up for next transfer. So there it is. New transfer - new Elder Traasdahl! Gonna increase my faith and bam! Miracles will happen. That about sums it up though. I love each and everyone one of you!!! Thank you for your prayers, I really can feel the strength that comes from them. And I can't wait to call home! Ok, well again I LOVE YOU, annnnnd don't ever forget, the church is true through and through!!

Elder Traasdahl

P.S. Ha we got asked the other day in Jamba Juice "Do Mormons believe in Santa?" The things people hear!

Tie-ing it all together

One of the few things that change from day to day besides the faces of the people you interact with while serving a mission, is the color of tie you wear.  On this day it was red.

On this day it was green but more importantly was the fact that he tucked his pants in his socks -- to avoid more sewing/repairing.  Quick learner. 

Elder T.  said, 'Not good to get this as your fortune at a Chinese buffet when on a mission....'  
(now that was totally off subject but post worthy)

And it was a thumbs up blue tie on this happy day in Purcell.

Rain or Shine video....

Happy Day...  just figured out how to upload videos.  So this one is kind of dated but I love it.

Suggestion for future missionaries:  buy a large enough umbrella.  

Frog Count & The Absent Minded Professor

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME! LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING!!!!  It's Christmas time!! Can you feel it?!! 

So here's how I'm gonna break it down for y'all. To answer your question mom,  the work hasn't really be goin.  The lady we had the super awesome heavenly gift with like a month ago (she lost her job just an hour before we came), dropped us. She told us she has her church, she's going to that, but she's happy with us & she appreciates our thoughtfulness.  Another one bites the dust.  And with like two other potential investigators when we've had solid appointments with them-- no joke --a half hour before we’re scheduled to meet they called and told us they've had a death in the family or a friend died, so they'll have to cancel. I mean c'mon! The odds of that! But we're still keepin on!! 

So all I've got really is a lot of stories of day to day stuff that I keep forgetting to tell. We were eating with a member at Mazzio's, a pizza place, and we had this cute waitress.   After dinner I mention to Elder Townsend "Hey didn't you think that waitress was cute? She was like the first semi attractive girl I've seen here since I've been out." He just looked at me and said, "Elder Traasdahl. You've clearly been in Purcell too long."  Looks like I've already got my missionary goggles! yea yea!  Another thing, I don’t know if I've already said this before, but if I have you'll get to hear it again. Oklahoma has some weird obsession with frog decorations. No joke. We play a game when we're out walking to see who can count the most frog decorations at a house. One has 37. 

Something that both of my companions have been finding out about me too is my absent mindedness. I'm sure you can empathize with them Dad. Haha but we left the apartment a few weeks ago on our bikes and we were about 2 miles away when I realized, ‘wait a second, something's missing. This is way too easy to ride right now.’  Ha, I had forgotten my backpack! Course Elder Townsend wouldn't let me go back and get it, because it "was a waste of time" and "I should know better" so I went that day til dinner without my backpack! It’s funny how naked you feel without your scriptures and materials 'n stuff. I also forgot to put on my helmet once, and I made him go back with me for that. Safety first! I'm thinking on taping a checklist to the door, so I look at it each time before I leave. Good idea eh? 

Eyyo bdog!! Mom has mentioned that you've picked up indexing! That's AWESOME! Keep it going man! I don’t know where I heard it, but I know someone important in the church said as you do family history work aka indexing, you'll have extra strength to be guarded against temptation! So keep it going man! What a great example you are to me. 

On Saturday we went on mini exchanges with our Zone Leaders, Elder Fransen and Elder Hendersen. Both of em are studs. They came down to help us jump start our area. Elder Fransen came with me, and he served in this area for 6 months, so he knew his way around the place. He mentioned a couple of times "that's the second time that person has rejected me!"  It was really funny. But Elder Fransen, he's a finding machine. He was chasing people down, heck he saw people that I didn't even know were there!  He talked to EVERYONE. And that's not an exaggeration. He made me oym this kid that looked like he was in high school, and I was like ‘What? No!’  And then I thought of Tyler's last email and so I gave myself inside my mind three chest bumps and did it!  And take a guess, you're expecting this kid to be our next golden investigator right? A miracle story!  Ha nope. I went up to him and was like "hey how's it going" and then tried to talk about the gospel, and I was awkward. Straight up. Hahaha it was bad. But! I can only get better and I know as I get more comfortable doing it I'll get better. And, even though it was a terrible oym, I still know I was fulfilling my purpose and doing that which it is we are commanded to do. Talk to people. 

Another story that just happened yesterday actually was way cool because it just shows the power of the priesthood.  A recent convert, came up to us after church and asked us if we could go give his nephew a blessing who's 6 months old and has some respiratory deal-io that's going on that could either be harmless or super super bad. Now he explained it to me better but that's how I understood it. The little baby also had the flu or something or rather. So with the mother's permission, she's not a member, we went over there and gave this baby boy a blessing. Justin called her an hour or so later and his sister said that her son was crawling and being active like he hadn't been since before he was sick! Justin was so excited. I told him, "Hey man, this could be that chance you were praying for to introduce the gospel to them." Missionary in the making!  Anyways, it was a reaffirmation of my testimony that the priesthood truly is the authority to act in God's name. What a sacred responsibility it is to hold the priesthood. My time's up but I LOVE YOU. And that goes for each and every single person that is reading this! Keep on keepin on and NEVER forget. The church is true through and through!! Oh and real quick shout out to Bishop Knight and his amazing emails. I'm always uplifted as I read them. Ok bye, I love y'all!!!

Elder Traasdahl

Tis the Season: To Remember...

To Request a free Copy of he Holy Bible click HERE.

The Okie

To quote another Elder in the field, "Oh my good to the ness!!!" Has another week gone by?? I can't believe this transfer is already halfway over! So here's the rundown of the week my family. Elder Townsend and I, in our comp inventory, set a goal to run every other morning, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. So this Tuesday, 6:30 a.m., we woke up, geared up, and went outside.  And we ran.  And it was 28 stinkin’ degrees outside!!!!   Haha I had that beanie cap thing you sent out to me Dad on and those thin gloves on, a jacket, my shorts on with my pajama pants over them and I was still freezing!  But we made the goal so we ran!   Haha and Elder Townsend over here used to be a track athlete & ran for state.  He's bustin my chops and we ran for what felt like forever, and I was like "aight we good to go back now?" and he said "that only took us three minutes!" Ha but I'm still alive! and that only happened once because Thursday we had temple conference and Saturday exchanges. 

Temple conference though! Maaaaaan. What a beautiful place the temple is. It was such a treat to get to go. I know we hear it all the time, but the temple really really is the house of the Lord. Sometimes I wish I could just go and sit there all day!  During temple conference we found out some specifics about all the new missionaries. We're going to have 130 english elders, 30 spanish elders, 40 english sisters, and 16 spanish elders. That's 56 sisters sisters total. We have like 13 right now. Its gonna be nuts!! Most of these new missionaries are going to come in March-June, but they'll start next transfer. Enough about that though, gotta get to some stories. 

My testimony this week had been so strengthened let me tell you what!! It's been the week of anti. First guy Joe, crazy guy comes at us saying the B.o.M can't be the most correct book on the earth (go to intro of B.o.M for the Joseph Smith quote) and E. Townsend and I pretty much taught the restoration in our testimonies. That was a warm up. Ken was this second guy. Haha this guy. What a weirdo! He was a referral from a member, who just gave him to us to probably get him to get off the members back.  So we call this guy and meet with him at a park, because he wanted to meet in "neutral territory". First thing he says after the greetings is, "So the best way this works out is I get 10 minutes you get 10 minuntes." We agreed and then he dives right into it. He said "So here's where you guys are wrong," and then he goes off like a little engine! Man you could've seen steam blowin outta his ears! I've never heard more anti doctrine come at me at once, and all of it was ridiculous! He finishes and he was sure he had us. The whole time we just sat there and smiled, and then again we taught the restoration through our testimonies and all he said after that was "will you admit joseph smith had multiple wifes?"   We said “ya”. And he was like "I won't follow a man that does something like that!!" I then said (I was getting tired of him) "Would you have followed Abraham?"  Shut him down...

I gotta run, the comp is threatening to shut the computer down on me. LOVE YOU ALL, and I'll write more next week!! promise. The church is true through and through!!  Christ is at the head of it and He leads it through Thomas S. Monson! I testify of that!

Elder Traasdahl the Okie

The Black Name Tag

Elder Traasdahl wears this name tag where ever he journeys in Oklahoma and here's a few places that have seen it first hand:

Ohio University

Noble and Lexington Area

and lots of pastures

and the driver of this semi truck -- who is a teenager who drives it to seminary.
It's his only transportation.

A peek at life in Purcell, OK

Elder Traasdahl finds a huge dog...

a Spider inside his apartment...

a few friends to laugh with...

truth &...

Baptism day for this young man!

And I just found 'the latest and greatest OU fan!