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.