Week 29-Holladay, UT

On Christmas Day! Lots of snow in Utah!

Had dinner on Christmas and skyped at this family's house

Another family we had dinner with this week

I don't have a lot of time so there may be quite a few mistakes. First of all, Merry Christmas!! Second of all, It is been a slow but crazy week!

We had an amazing Christmas! I loved it. We each saved one package for Christmas morning and opened it! Thanks Mom for the acne cream....haha It was so nice to see family and enjoy the company of some awesome members here for Christmas. I had kind of a cool experience for Christmas Eve! Our mission was invited to listen to an evening of Christmas music! There the lights were dimmed and soft quiet and peaceful music was played. It was a wonderful time for reflection. I thought about my experiences so far that I've had on my mission. I thought about the people I was working with now and in the past. I thought about how I was progressing and what I've accomplished. I thought about my Savior and all that he has come to mean to me. As I was pondering this, my mind and my heart were filled with peace. I felt like I had accomplished something and God was proud of what I had done. I felt like I was on a higher plane of thought and was able to see things clearly. I felt a great love for my first companion who recently went home early. I wished I could give him a big hug and tell him to come back. That he still had things to do and accomplish. That God loved him and that this experience would be life changing if he let it!

Anyways kind of another crazy story. Robert was baptized this weekend and was not confirmed. Hopefully he will be confirmed sometime this week or next weekend. I've never tried so hard and struggled so much for a baptism. After his interview with the zone leaders, he disappeared. We called him so many times and texted him more! We stopped by his house so many times and banged on his door. It was the morning of when he was supposed to be baptized before we knocked on his door, we decided to say a prayer. We said that we have done all we can and now it was in his hands if Robert was supposed to be baptized today. We closed the prayer. Knocked on the door. No answer. We hear footsteps running up the stairs and it was ROBERT! He had forgot something and was running in to grab it. He only would have been there for a minute or so. The timing was amazing and inspired. There was now no doubt God wanted him to be baptized. He later was baptized and the next day didn't show for the confirmation. He'll come this next week. I love that we can rely on the Lord to do his work. It was definitely a testimony builder of the power of prayer. We said a prayer to be able to find Robert and he came running up to us a minute later. We had no contact with him in like four days.

Well, Merry Christmas I've loved the time I've been able to spend in Holladay! The members are kind and amazing! Thank you for your love and support you inspire me to press on! Love you all

-Elder Bass

Later Notes: Brandons baptism was definitely a miracle. He just moved in and had been taught everything. He was on his way to get married by another bishop when i had met him first. We just had his interview and he got baptized.

We had lunch with Elder Christiansen an emeritus member of the presidency of the seventy. He invited someone to his home to be taught. Elder Thompson and I went. The woman that he invited brought a friend with them. He was very well versed on anti doctrine. Most of the lunch was the brother and Elder Christiansen talking to each other. I remember a long discussion and lecture on the priesthood by Elder Christiansen. At one point during the conversation, he turned to elder Thompson and I and said that we would be great leaders in the church. He said that we would be great examples for others to follow. We would also be great missionaries. He said that we would get married and have wonderful families. Later when i got home from my mission, my father gave me a book for RMs which Elder Christiansen wrote.

Brandon's baptism

Week 28-Holladay, UT

Haruma and his son at the baptism

Okay, this has been a super crazy week. Serving in Salt Lake is like a completely different mission! There is so many problems here. Drugs are rampant and everywhere. I feel like in Rock Springs we didn't deal with those people who struggled with that kind of stuff. I would venture to say that about half of our teaching pool have hard-core drug problems. I never really realized in high school how much that drugs can completely destroy your life. It is very upsetting to walk into broken homes. Parents who may not even care about their kids just about their next usage of drugs and how they will get it. That is all the kids grow up knowing. They are lost and confused with life. There is nothing to hold their families together and so a lot of times they end up hating each other and betraying each other for drugs. A bright positive for working in Salt Lake is the members! I always thought never really cared for "Utah Mormons" , but they actually are some of the most loving and supportive people I've ever met. They are so kind and will go out of their way to do almost anything for us. We have so many places to stop by on Christmas. There are some amazing member missionary families! We have seen the work pick up immensely while we have been here. Looking through our area book this morning, this was a dreaded area. There have only been 3 baptisms in the stake ALL year! I will talk about a few cool stories that happened this week!

We recently met a family from the Congo! They are living with a recent convert from the Congo. He introduced them to us and we taught them the first lesson! They want to be baptized. We invited them to a baptism this past Saturday. They said that they didn't have a car but would walk. We were like ok! Driving to the baptism, we saw them walking and they were going the wrong way! We pulled over and since we can't take them in our car we walked with them the rest of the way to the baptism. I have yet to meet Haruma's family but from what he says they all want to be baptized. Yesterday, a member picked up Haruma for church! He is about 5'2 and super funny! He can only speak broken English and his native language is Swahili. He said that if we taught him the gospel he would teach us Swahili! We were like deal! So he teaches us a lot of Swahili words! It is amazing to see all the nationalities that are in Salt Lake! I absolutely love Africans!

Another kind of crazy experience we had this week was with one of our investigators named Andrew. Andrew has done a lot of bad things in his life. His story is while he was in jail this previous time, his cell mate introduced him to the Book of Mormon. He said at first he thought his cell mate was crazy. He just talked to him about it to keep conversation in the cell. He ended up reading it and loved it. He found peace when reading it that he couldn't find anywhere else and he knew it was true! Anyways he got out of prison and wanted to be baptized. He had memorized all these scriptures and verses that were powerful to him and he'd quote them. All of his family is non members and so we organized a lesson at temple square with his family. We couldn't get in contact with them and couldn't find them at Temple Square. We stopped by their house afterwards and we saw Curtis, his brother. He said he didn't know where Andrew was and he said he wanted to go but Andrew just disappeared. We stopped by the next night. Curtis came to the door and said he couldn't believe what happened. He let us in and he was beat up. His face was bruised, his arm was broken, and he had cuts on his face and his body. The house was destroyed. They had an inch thick marble table that was broken in half. Everything was trashed. He told us what happened. Andrew is an alcoholic and came back drunk. He was making fun of Curtis and then things got heated. Curtis wouldn't punch him. They fought and and Andrew ended up grabbing a knife. Curtis called the cops and Andrew is now back in jail. Curtis then started crying saying that he had tried to live life the right way. He had a job and earned money the right way and watched his family steal. He started working when he was 12 to support his family. Andrew in his rage destroyed the TV that he had bought and the play station. Andrew tore up the only family picture that they had before their brothers death a few nights previously. Curtis said he thought about killing himself. He was tired of doing things for other people and trying to hold his family together because it just wasn't working. He said he felt so empty inside and didn't know what to do. In a nutshell, we promised him that he would get what he was looking for if he read the Book of Mormon. We said that we cared about him and that the Savior's arms were always outstretched for him. We promised him that if he listened and acted upon our message he would be filled and his family situation would eventually work out.

We also had a devotional by Elder Holland. I got to meet him and shake his hand. He is a very passionate speaker. I thought that he would chastise our mission but he said he was very pleased with what he saw. He said that our president had a good mission. So I was pretty happy about that!

Honestly that is only brushing the surface of what happened this week. I love this mission. I love the diversity of people here. I love my Savior and I am honored to serve him! Thank you for your love and support it is appreciated.

-Elder Bass

Later Notes: I loved being with Elder Thompson. He was passionate and dedicated. Each companion taught me something. Elder Thompson the importance of being passionate about the gospel and taught me to be more social and how being more social can make me a more effective missionary and also help me make a bigger difference in the world. He also gave me a desire to make a difference in the world. I was impressed with his plans and his expectations to change the world.

I remember we walked out of a lesson one of our first nights together. I was like dang you're a good teacher. He said yeah you too. I said that it was going to be an awesome transfer.

I gave a blessing to a man in the hospital that had an profound effect on me and strengthened my testimony of the priesthood authority. I said in my journal:"It is crazy that God give that authority to people like me." I said that i felt the spirit before and after the blessing.

Throughout my time in Valley View, we would find out all the time about girls thinking we were cute. All of the young women would always act weird and awkward around us. We made sure not to flirt with any of the girls.

 Pictures from the Christmas dinner/party for our mission:

Elder Isom talking to President Eberhardt from our home ward with Elder Bass in the background

Elder Hanks & Elder Bass talking to President Eberhardt

Talking with Sister Eberhardt

Elder Bass on the very end, left

Elder Bass, six tables back on the far left

Elder Bass, Back right

Week 27-Holladay, UT

Zone conference picture with my new companion, Elder Thompson

Another zone conference pic

I cover the Valley View Stake in Holladay now. It was really awesome being able to see Brother and Sister Tennyson and it was sad to see Sister Tennyson leave. It has been a very big shift for me. Rock Springs was an amazing area and Elder Hanks just emailed me and said that another girl I was working with was baptized. It is really cool. In Rock Springs, they should have baptisms for the next four weeks! I can't wait to go back and visit.

Salt Lake is like an entirely different mission. First of all, its kinda crazy covering a whole stake! I don't think that I will be able to get to know the members as well as I did in my last area though. There is some great people here! They absolutely spoil us! Everyone is doing things for us and leaving us gifts and writing things to us. It is great. My new companion is Elder Thompson from Texas. He has only been out three months, so he just barely got done with training. He is an awesome missionary. We can teach really well together. He is in reality training me how to be a missionary in Salt Lake. Each ward has like a 2 block map of their area. On the map, the names of all the member and non members are written. First impressions are critical and with a lot of these people you only get one chance to make it or brake it. All the non members have a set view of the church and almost always it is a negative one. I actually came into this area on the verge of explosion. This past week we were able to set a date for baptism for 4 of the investigators. I am so happy and honored that God has entrusted me with this area. Elder Thompson and i get along really well together and we are able to do a lot each day. I am already starting to love the area.

Having a district is tough. I don't like giving trainings and having more people to worry about. My district is awesome though. There are some great missionaries in my district. The district is on the verge of having a lot of success in a tough area which is really awesome! I'm always tired and my time is getting more and more limited but my joy has been very full! I love participating in Gods work of salvation. I think the most amazing part of missionary work is doing your part and then watching God do His. Then seeing how little you actually do!

I guess a miracle this week is there is a group of skater kids who run around and terrorize people. The missionaries in the area have always hated them. Recently we started talking to them. We had a lesson with them in the Church. We are starting to have BoM readings with them every Thursday. We commit them to invite their friends to the lessons and gave them BoMs. Most of them are non members which is unheard of. We also talk to a group of girls the same age. They said the guys were all gathered around reading the BoM at school one morning. Its just kinda cool to hear about that stuff.

Anyways I love you all and thank you so much for the letters! I wasn't able to reply today but I will the following week!

-Elder Bass

Later Notes: I remember thinking on my way from Rock Springs to Salt Lake that the baptisms and success i would have would significantly decrease when i went to Salt Lake because i thought everyone was Mormon. Little did i know that i would baptize more in a shorter time than in Rock Springs.

I remember being called as a district leader. When i got the call, i had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. I was thinking of all the things that i could do to faithfully fulfill my calling.

Baptism in Rock Springs,Wyoming of a girl I taught

Week 26-Rock Springs, WY

I don't have much time so I will just give you an update on the main stuff! Edna was baptized. Edna is the picture I sent you. She had an amazing baptism. She was in tears after her confirmation. She brought her friends and we will be teaching one of them. Her name is Sandra and possibly another one who is named Mamado. Tomorrow I will be transferred some where else though. Last night, I was called into leadership which will be tough because there will be a lot more on my plate. I was up a lot of the night thinking about that. I don't feel ready, but I know God will help me. I feel I have fulfilled my purpose in Rock Springs. I have seen some of the fruits of my labors and it is very joyous. I have seen the light the Gospel can bring to a life and a family. There will be many here who I will come back and visit. I would love for you to meet those I've worked with. All in all, i am happy and content to leave. I feel like I have done a good work here. It is an amazing feeling. I love you all sorry my email will be better next week. Thanks.

Elder Bass

Later Notes: At the baptismal service there was a few of her friends. It was good. At the end, we asked if some of them would meet with us. One named Sandra said that she would. Elder Hanks and Is last lesson we put Sandra on date before she left back to brazil. She didnt end up getting baptized here but im sure she probably got baptized in South America where she went.

I was always annoyed with Elder Wilson. He always seemed self righteous. There was one experience he had where he prayed and asked god if the district needed anything. He felt prompted to call sister Tennyson. She said that in her prayer that morning she had said if she needed a blessing have her District Leader contact her. I remember that left quite the impression on me.

When i reflect back on my experiences of Rock Springs i am very proud of them.

Week 25-Rock Springs, WY

The calendar was very thoughtful Mom thank you! It will definitely lift my spirits and probably make me miss you guys :(

This week I don't have too many stories! It seems as though everyone goes to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving! Few people stay for Thanksgiving. In the white handbook, we are instructed to spend as much time proselyting as possible on weekends and holidays. Since no one was here for Thanksgiving normally we plan for the week on Thursdays. We decided to pray and ask God what we should do. We felt like we should walk. So we went out and saw a member family walking and they dragged us into their home! We shared a message with them and continued on our way to our first of two dinner appointments. While we were walking, there was a man cleaning his side of the street gutters. He started talking to us and we had a nice conversation. During our conversation, He mentioned that he had Mormon neighbors that moved that he really appreciated. He said that we were free to stop by! God literally put him in our path the exact time that we would walk by! Truly we are blessed for keeping the commandments of the Lord whether we understand why or think that it may be illogical and not apply to our situation. It does, so just do it and open the windows of heaven for our Heavenly Father to bless you.

Speaking of the white handbook, we recently have been striving to be exactly obedient. During studies one morning, we decided to go through and anything that we were not doing or had to rationalize we wrote down on a list. Elder Hanks and I thought we were both pretty obedient but we counted over 40 things that we had to work on or fix! It's pretty amazing how much we have to work on! Our goal is to be exactly obedient by the end of this transfer which is DEC 9! Hopefully we can make it! Already we are seeing an outpouring of the spirit in our lessons and even as we walk or drive from place to place. I know the Lord is pleased with our efforts. However small they might be compared to what he does for us.

We had the privilege of holding Mark's baptism this week. He is 11 and he is a stud. He wants to be a missionary and says he wants to help other people the way that we've helped him. It was really awesome to hear him say that. His fellow-shippers and his parents figured out if they each saved $15 a month from now until he was 18, they would have enough! He will be an amazing missionary! His baptism was amazing and spirit-filled! I'm so happy I've gotten the privilege to have known him!

Edna's baptism will be this coming week. We are planning to have the service completely in her native language of Portuguese! We found people in the ward who speak her language and asked them to participate in the program. It will be really amazing and we won't even understand a word that is spoken! I feel like my chapter of service in Rock Springs is coming to a close. This will be an epic conclusion for that service!! The Lord has blessed us so very much! We have baptisms for those we are teaching for each of the next four weeks and probably more to follow by transfers. We've lined up dinners with all of our favorite families this week! It is amazing to see God's work hastening.

I love you all so much and am so very grateful for your love and support!

-Elder Bass

Later Notes: We had a lesson with nyes. This lesson we testified boldly of priesthood authority and that he would need to be baptized again for it to truly count. He got upset about that and said that he wasnt interested. I remember that all of a sudden he got super dark and closed off. He didnt talk much the rest of the lesson. We closed with a prayer and tried to leave on good terms