Elder Edholm -- week 80

Well not much to say today because I pretty much told everything to you guys yesterday. But it was really great talking to everybody. We had a really cool zone activity today, we went on a hike through a jungle to a waterfall, then we went through a cave that had hundreds of bats, we were pretty much crawling on bat poop.

Anyway, I promise I'll send a picture of the baptism next Monday.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...oh wait, I'm not dreaming

2 feet drifts on our back deck

Last minute Christmas happenings

Lucy sings in the Glee Club at school and they sang their songs on Friday.  It was very cute.  In one of the songs they are singing about pumpkin pie and at the end they all put their faces into the pie!
Lucy is standing next to one of her good friends, Elliza:

Lucy is in the pink shirt

I drove up to Cody yesterday to pick Audrey up from the airport.  While I as waiting I saw this Bear Spray sign and had to laugh.  Only in Wyoming would there be a bear spray deposit sign at the airport!

It's good to have Audrey with us:

As per our tradition we opened Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve:

Christmas tree #1

Emma is home and she wanted us to wait to cut down the Christmas tree until she was able to go with us.  So today Brian, Emma, and I drove to Ten Sleep, bought the tree permit, and headed up the canyon.  We didn't go as far as we normally do and turned off at the Ten Sleep Fish Hatchery.  We parked and hiked amid the bushes and snow drifts to find out smallish tree.  It was beautiful out there and had warmed up a bit, in the 20's, much better than the below zero temps we've been having.

Brian and the chosen tree

Beautiful Ten Sleep Creek

Emma getting ready to throw a snowball at me

Pre-snowball throw

Lights added

Finished product

We are planning on getting tree #2 when Audrey comes this weekend.

After our cold adventure, we came home to eating Elk tonight!  YUM!

Elder Edholm -- week 79

So... Christmas is almost here, and I can't wait to call because it seems like so long since I've called home. But everything is going great here. Elder Alyk and I are working really hard, we're trying to find new people to teach every week. We found a pretty cool girl the other day. She told us that she has gone to basically every church, and hasn't felt good about any of them. She also told us that there are many people that join our church because they think that they will somehow be able to go to the United States. She told us that she doesn't like that. She said she would read the pamphlet and if she likes the religion, then she'll join it. She was very straight forward, I loved it, we'll see how she does.

Elder Alyk and I have also started this process of forty days called the purification process, which is basically just where you start with a fast and then you make a list of all the things you do that don't allow you to have the spirit as your constant companion. Then you make a covenant with God that you won't do any of those things in the next forty days. So far it has gone great and I have already noticed a huge difference. It's amazing how the biggest changes that I'm making are happening at the end of my mission.

Anyway I hope you guys are enjoying doing the calendar of 25 days, and enjoying sharing the christmas spirit with everyone. I've really enjoyed that. A cool mormon message I found that kind of talks about that, discovering the Christmas Spirit, is called The First Christmas Spirit, it's really cool.

Anyway, I'll talk to you guys on Sunday, love you all!

Winter Wonderland

It's winter in Worland!  -23 this morning. 

It looks nice and sunny, but it doesn't feel nice and sunny!

Peter sang in the Eastside Elementary Christmas program.  He did a great job!  It was just the Kindergarten through 3rd grade, so this was Pete's last year to participate.  The 4th through 5th grades don't do a Christmas program.

Pete is the farthest left against the wall.

Peter's class

I've been busy at the Museum.  We sponsored a Christmas party for the boys and girls club, the 4-H, and the Youth Learning Center on Friday.  It was a Dr. Seuss themed party and Santa came to visit as well.  I got to do a story time with the kids and I dressed up as Cindy Lou Who.

It was a lot of fun!

While Andy was driving home with the basketball team from Green River and Brian and Emma were driving home from Utah Eric, Lucy, Peter, and I were invited to the Tejada's to make and decorate cookies.  We had a great time and the kids made some cool creations.

Not sure what Peter is doing in this picture

Nice face Eric

Yum!

The whole gang: Lucy, Eliza, Eric, Millie, and Peter

Elder Edholm -- week 78

So, sorry I didn't tell you guys last week, but Elder Florentino left and I'm here training in Don Gregorio. I'm training a white guy named Elder Alyk from Syracuse, Utah. He went to Clearfield High School. He's a really cool guy and I can already tell we'll have a good two transfers together. I really love this area, the members are really awesome. 

Anyway, we have another investigator that is progressing really well to get baptized on December 31st, yeah that's right, he'll be getting baptized in one year and confirmed in the next, haha. But he's a great guy. He actually used to be a member, 30 years ago he got baptized but since he has like 20 years innactive his information isn't there. So he's been going to church again and progressing really well. He knows so much, we had a family home evening with him last night with some members and we talked about humility and it was really great, he participated a lot.

So, some bad news, Elder Powell went home last week. He had some problems that he had to go home and fix, but if he does what he needs to do he should be back on the mission after one year. I've been praying for him a lot because I can't imagine how hard that would be, going home early, but I have faith that he will do what he needs to do.

Anyway, just like two more weeks and I get to skype you guys!

For Van Fans

Van is 5 months old exactly in this photo.  He is sucking on a washcloth, which is what Lauren used to do as well.

Me and Momma

Look at those eyelashes!

Me and Daddy

zzzzzzzzz

Christmas parties are starting

Eric was awesome at the ward Christmas dinner.  Click on the link to watch him lip sync.  It's a little blurry, but he is the second one up, then he does the batman song and Michael Jackson.  I think he's found his calling!

Eric at the Ward Christmas Dinner

Peter singing Little Drummer Boy

All the primary kids singing

Eric eating a cornflake wreath

Peter eating food

Lucy's primary class singing Stille Nacht

Lucy and Santa

Elder Edholm -- week 77

So Christmas is finally coming around and I love the thing that the church is doing about lighting the world in 25 days in 25 ways. We're trying to do it as a mission, plus the cards really help to give to everybody so they can see the video. It's probably the best way to proselyte this time of the year. Since Christmas isn't really that big of a thing here, it's a good thing to do so that people can understand what Christmas is really about and what they should be doing instead of just sitting in the street drinking.

Anyway Elder Florentino is going home tomorrow which is a big shame because we had an awesome transfer together. I think I've probably learned more from him than from any other companion I've had about doctrine and how to teach more effectively. But that's ok because he lives super close and he'll be coming back in a couple weeks to visit again. It was cool to see how much love he had for all the people he's taught. He cried the last visit we had with Ibelize, so that's something I've learned from him as well.

Besides that I'm hoping to start preaching even more effectively with my new companion, helping people understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Elder Edholm -- week 76

So, yes, Ibelize got baptized on Saturday! It was a great experience for her, she was very excited. Now we just have to make sure that we do every thing we can so that she stays active, that's the stressful part sometimes. But besides that this week has gone super well. At the beginning of my mission finding was the worst thing for me. It didn't like knocking on doors at all. Now I think I understand it a little bit more. I understand that if I'm not trying to find people constantly than I'm missing out on the blessings that The Lord has prepared for me and the person that needs the gospel stays in confusion and it's possible that their sins fall upon my head. Since I've gotten to this area I've just had that desire to go out and find those people.

In the baptism while people were changing we watched the video of the restoration, the short one that lasts 15 minutes or so. But when I was watching it, it had a different affect on me this time. It's because when the part came when God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith I imagined that it was me, that I was Joseph Smith and God and His Son came down and appeared to me, and talked to me ¨Calling me by name.¨ It meant a lot more to me when I watched it like that, I felt the spirit a lot stronger, and I really felt the love of God so strongly directly for me. I feel like we should always read the scriptures like that, like they are addressing us specifically, I feel like we can get more out of them like that.

But I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, it's weird seeing the table not all the way full. Oh and Happy Birthday Andy! Wow, 16 years old!

 

 

Thanksgiving

Our lovely Thanksgiving Lunch!  We had the dinner cooked, devoured, and cleaned up by 1:00!  The boys ran in the Gobble Wobble at 10:30 and the girls got everything ready.  Eric came in 3rd overall in the 2 mile run and came home with a pumpkin pie.  Andy and Brian ran the 4 mile race and Peter and Eric ran the 2 mile race.

This year Andy's birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day.  We put candles in his Coconut Cream Pie.

He got lots of nice presents including a bluetooth speaker for his phone, powerade, pringles, beef jerky, chocolate, cereal, and a BYU Football memorabilia book.

The family humored me and we took a quick little history jaunt in the afternoon.  I've been typing in a lot of oral histories of this area at work and I recently read one that was about a very small town called Neiber.  It was a stage coach station from the early 1900s until Mary Neiber's death in 1923, but quickly faded away by the time the railroad came through.  I had the GPS coordinates of a small cemetery, which was all that was left and it was only about 15 minutes outside of town.  So we put the coordinates into Google Maps and drove away.  We found it on top of a hill. It was a short hike to the top of the hill and we had to dodge millions of small cacti.  It was a beautiful view of the stark landscape from the top. 

This past week Lucy has started her basketball season.  Brian helped coach the first two games as the coach was out of town.  They look pretty good and have won 2 out of their 3 games so far.

Lucy in motion shooting the ball during warm ups before the game with Brian watching.

Elder Edholm -- week 75

So, Ibelize had her baptismal interview on Saturday and she is ready! She's amazing, on Sunday, in the class for investigators and recent converts we were talking about repentance. She talked about how she repented the other week by apologizing to her granddaughter, she was crying, she said that she felt like she couldn't get baptized with that burden on her chest and that now she feels relieved. I can't wait for her baptism, I know she is a real convert, and our branch is helping out a lot so there is a big chance that she will endure.

But since this week is thanksgiving I wanted to take advantage of this email to do exactly that, give thanks. I want to thank everybody. First mom and dad for being missionaries in the first place to set the best example for me and for being amazing parents. All my siblings for making my childhood fun, although I know I wasn't always the best brother, but you guys were great brothers and sisters to me, even though I didn't always show it. Thanks so much for being the best family ever. I love you all so much!

Here are some pictures of my district and my companion and I.

 

 

Elder Edholm -- week 74

Another normal week this week. One great thing is that our investigator Ibelize is progressing great! At church yesterday she cried twice baring her testimony. I think she's the best investigator I've ever had. She always talks about how she feels the spirit so strong and that she knows she's found the truth. Seeing people get converted like that strengthens my testimony so much. We're going to have a family home evening with her tonight, and the district president is going to share the message, it's going to be great.

We did a companionship exchange with the assistants this week. I went with Elder Clark, who is actually from Orem and he went to Timpanogos, and I learned a ton (yes 2000 lbs like dad would say). One thing I learned is that there is no reason to be nervous or anything for things like that because if you're going to be nervous because somebody is going to be watching you work, than why aren't you nervous all the time because God's always watching us. We shouldn't need to change how we act or what we are just because somebody in an authority position is watching us. Another I learned is that I need to smile more because people will be a lot more willing to accept this message and accept that it will change their lives if they see how much it has changed mine first.

Another cool thing that happened was that we went to a council where Elder Martinez from the area presidency went. I learned so much. One cool thing he said is that we need to help our investigators learn by faith. And that the way to soften their hearts so that they exercise faith is loving them, having the pure love of Christ for them. That we need to look at them like Jesus would look at them, that he died for them, and that is seen your eyes. Another thing he said is that we're not here on a mission to make friends with our companions and the other missionaries. He said that if we're being obedient that there will always be some missionaries that don't like us.

Well that's about it for this week!

Elder Edholm -- week 73

So this week was great. We really have been working hard on finding. Our whole zone is doing something to help us find a lot of people for this transfer and the next one. It's working really well, we have been finding a lot of people to teach, although not everybody wants to listen we work diligently to find the ones that do. The best part is that we have this amazing investigator named Ibelize. She's probably the best investigator I've ever had. She really reads and studies the Book of Mormon probably better than I do. She even applies it and tells us how she's been applying the teachings that she learns into her life. She's come to church twice now and always participates in the classes. She has a baptismal date for the 26th of this month and she's very excited for it.

Something really important that I've learned since I got to this area is that the numbers aren't important. I'll admit it, before this part on my mission I measured my success by my numbers. If our numbers were good than it was a good week; but if our numbers weren't that great it wasn't a good week even if we had a lot of powerful lessons. I've learned that looking for success in numbers is not the best. When I looked for success like that I was just wanting others to look at my numbers and think ¨wow, look how hard that guy works.¨ I've learned now that worldly recognition doesn't bring happiness. As I've been looking for success as it's described in Preach my Gospel I've enjoyed my mission a lot more.

Besides that I thought I'd just answer some of Mom's questions. The poorest parts of my last area are poorer than the poorest parts in this area. My apartment is small, but it's pretty nice, there's always water!!! There are two other missionaries that live in our house. My last two zones are the only two zones that don't have sisters because I think president thinks they're too dangerous. But this zone has lots of sisters. And my companion's name is Elder Florentino, he's dominican.

Anyway, love you guys!

Elder Edholm -- week 72

So I said by to everybody in Barahona and now I'm down here in Don Gregorio. I really like this area, it's very jungly and the members are super awesome they love leaving with us. But my companion's name is Elder Florentino, he's dominican from the east part of Santo Domingo and he's an amazing missionary. He just has a gift to talk and teach people, it's really amazing. But we've been working a lot on finding. I don't know how but I've found extra excitement to find people in this area, I don't know if it's just because I'm finally experiencing a new area or just because I changed my attitude a lot. But another cool part about this area is that a lot of professional baseball players come out of here. This is the hometown of Vladimir Guerrero, and he still lives here. The first day I was here I saw him on the street. He's always wearing a wife beater. His house is ginormous. Also today I met a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. 

Besides that everything is going pretty good. Elder Florentino and his former companion were teaching a family a little while ago. A couple days ago four of their family members died. It's very sad, but the good thing is that it gives us a chance to try teaching them again. See if this tragedy helps them turn to God. That's one thing I've learned that God lets things like this happen because He knows that in the end it will strengthen us. If this family can use this experience to turn to God for answers than their lives could be blessed greatly.

Well anyway, not much more to report, sorry it's kinda short today.

Love you all

The Goblin Gallop

4th Annual Goblin Gallop @ Rodeo Grounds @ 6 pm Proceeds go to food banks!!

The Goblin Gallop happened today in Ten Sleep.  It was a 5K fundraiser run. Andrew and Lucy ran in it. Andy came in 4th overall and 3rd in his age group and Lucy was the only one in her age group to finish the race, pretty good for a 10 year old. They both came home with t-shirts and Lucy won a pie for coming in first in her age group.  Wish I had pics to post, but it was very last minute and Brian and I didn't go.  Now we wish we had!

Elder Edholm -- week 71

So we had the baptism of Jeffrey on Saturday! Sonia ended up not being able to get baptized on Saturday because she got sick, so she will get baptized this Saturday. But transfer calls came on Saturday and I'm finally leaving Barahona after having been here for 5 transfers (7 months). It's kind of a bitter-sweet moment because I love Barahona, it's definitely my favorite area so far. I've grown so close to the members, converts, and just my friends from the street. It's going to be really hard leaving to tomorrow. But the good thing is that I will be experiencing a brand new area! I hope it will give me more motivation to work harder. I finally get to see new streets, go to church in a new chapel, work with a new branch, and all of that fun stuff. But I will be going to Don Gregorio which is in the Baní zone.

Thank you all so much for all of the birthday wishes and for the video, that made me so happy! I didn't think that everybody would care so much about my birthday, but thank you guys all so much! But besides all that the work is going great, I've tried to keep working hard so that my son has people to prepare for baptism after I leave. I've been scrambling around all today and yesterday trying to say goodbye to everybody.

But thank you all again for everything you guys have done for me, it means so much! I love you all so much!

 

 

 

 Palmer's new area with the red marker.  It's quite a ways from Barahona which is on the very far left. 

Elder Edholm -- week 70

So good news! On Saturday Sonia and Jeffery got interviewed for baptism and they will be getting baptized this Saturday! I'm super excited and so are they! Sonia is especially excited for her baptism and so is her mom. The bad part is that she didn't want her 9 year-old son to get baptized yet because she says ¨he's not ready yet¨ but I guess that's ok because we'll start focusing more on him. I'm very excited for Jeffrey too because he's become one of my best friends. It was really cool to see him go from knowing not much to receiving his answer and being converted. A year ago he was going to sign with a team to play in the major leagues, but he got hurt and didn't know why that happened to him. Now he's starting to recognize why.

I fasted this week and learned something really important. I learned that we all sin, right? But that we shouldn't let those sins discourage us. We shouldn't let them hurt us so that we just sit there feeling bad for ourselves while we miss opportunities we could've had. We need to pick up our heads, take advantage of what Jesus did for us, and keep going. I liked the story in the Book of Mormon about Zeezrom. Zeezrom was horribly sick from his sins, thinking that Alma and Amulek were dead, but he exercised some faith, got baptized, and immediately started preaching the gospel. Zeezrom didn't let his sins keep him from changing or keep him from being the man God wanted him to be. He found hope in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and became a disciple of Him.

I love this work, and I love you guys so much. Thanks so much for all the early birthday wishes!

This Grandma is a Van Fan!

Let me think about that comment for a minute!

Favorite place to nap

Just wait till I'm mobile!