Tuesday July 19, 2011

I'm glad I'm here. My comp was telling me even though we are not the most baptizing mission in the world, we have the most retentions. So the people stay in the church, when I think about it like that is so much happier to see that the people I teach and baptize, wont only change there life for that little bit then fall away again, but to think that these people's lives will forever be changed because I was there to let the Lord change their lives. Its pretty cool. Juan is so awesome, he said he is thinking about going on a mission. I really cant think of a better missionary than the one that Juan would be. Everyone loves Juan and he loves them, so you know on the mission that will only be multiplied and he would change so many peoples lives. (Juan is a friend from home who Mason baptized) I am working as hard as I can. We live on this huge hill and we have to walk our bikes up it every night because there is no way we could ride it all the way up. Because we are both new to the area so we have to go everywhere to see everyone that we can.

Love elder urmston

Tuesday July 26, 2011

It is crazy when people you're teaching a lesson to don't realize all that Christ went through, until you tell them and those are always good lessons. This area is cool, my comp is great. We are still getting totally used to the area because we are both new but we have a lot of lessons set up. Hopefully they all go through this week because last week we had some cancellations, but its alright the area is actually hotter then i thought it was going to be here and the bike i got one at a yard sale for ten bucks and then rode around for like a week had the back axle break on it, but we were walking home and this lady ran out of her house and asked us if or bike was broken and then she had her son work on the bike so three hours later with two new wheels, a new tube, two new tires, a little rack to put your backpack on, and the bike was in good shape. It is amazing how things happen and you know they are blessings, it is pretty sweet. The hill we have to ride up to go home, we can make it up it, but we only do it when we haven't rode our bikes all over town that day because usually by the end of the day we are pretty tired. One of the pairs of shoes is already destroyed. We have been trying to do a lot of work, we have three baptisms set up for next month and we have two more that we just need to set a date for and then a family of 5 that the dad is working on a Word of Wisdom problem and then they will be ready to be baptized. The area is pretty great.
love elder urmston

Notes From Boise

So I'm emailing today. I'm sending letters too, but haven't yet and not sure when i can. I still have to finish a few so just a little about the mission. So i got here in the morning had a mtg. till like three thirty and my trainer is elder gale. He is from Utah so the first thing he tells me is that we have four appt. that night, so that was cool, but then he told me that two were at 630 and two were at 730 so my first two lessons in the mission field were on splits with a member. My first lesson was with two kids who already have a baptismal date set so i just taught them the 4th lesson on commandments and it went really well. The little boy who is 13 is reading the Book of Mormon and has questions and everything, it is cool. The little girl who is 11 isn't really reading, but she promised me that she would. everything in that lesson went really well. they are still getting baptized on the 6 of august so then my second appt. was with this guy who married this girl who is a member and had a baby with her like 3 months later so he was really interested in the church and the girls family is really good. they showed him the two hour restoration film and he knew that it was true so then at church on Sunday someone showed him Moroni 10 3-5 and he knows the Book of Mormon is true so then i talked to him and he said he would be baptized when he learned some more so i went on with the lesson and then told him we should set a date for the baptism and the I mentioned Aug 20 and asked him if he could prepare himself so that he could be baptized by then and he said that he would and he knew he could be ready with the help of his family and the help of us and so my first real lesson the guy was prepared so much by the Lord that all i really had to do was set a date and ask him. what are the chances of that? it is crazy we are meeting with him again on Sunday so we will see how he did on reading the Book of Mormon still. this is cool, my trainer is cool, and I'm ready to DO WORK.

i love you family

elder urmston

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Moroni 10:3-5

Notes From SLC

At 6 am we got our phone call from Elder Urmston while he was waiting for his flight to
Boise. He and 5 other Elders were on their way to begin their service out in the field. It
was amazing to hear his sweet voice. Ever since he was a little boy his voice has brought
a smile to my face and heart. He was using quarters and not a calling card so the phone
kept hanging up. His first call was 4 minutes and we thought we had hung up by trying
to put him on speaker phone. I was a little upset and thought maybe he wouldn’t call
back as he thought that was his one phone call. About 3 minutes later he called back. He
didn’t have any more quarters so he had to go to the cart machine and get change. The
second call was great but I couldn’t take the phone because my heart was so filled with
gratitude that I wasn’t able to talk and I didn’t want to be crying on the phone-not fair to
him. It stopped after four minutes again right when Marc was handing me the phone so a
few minutes later, he called again and this time on my cell and the phone number of the
pay phone showed up on my caller id. He said okay I only have four more minutes and I
kept saying throughout our short conversation “let me call you”. Finally when the phone
lady said deposit more quarters, I said I’ll just call you. He told me that’s okay mom,
they told us to not talk very long. So once again tears welled up in my eyes. I told him
I loved him and couldn’t wait for his next email to let us know where he was. I know
the tears weren’t from missing him they were tears of a mother grateful that her son put
the principle of obedience first in his life. I am so excited to be able to see the great man
this boy has become. His strength is an example to me but you have to look for it as his
words are chosen carefully. I already have seen him be open to sharing more thoughts
and feelings and I know that this is through the Lord’s blessings. 3weeks down and 101
more to go.

Notes From Provo

The temple is awesome. We went to the Provo Temple on our last p-day but now it is
closed for the rest of the time we are here, so that kind of stinks but at least I got to go
once. It was cool.
I’m still not very good at bearing my testimony in front of everyone but in lessons you do
it the whole time so that is helping. I saw Nathan Despain and sat by him at a fireside.
I know these 2 years are going to go so fast it will be crazy. I know it will be cool to
come back home but I already know how weird it will feel to be done with a mission. I
love it and know that it is a commandment from the Lord.