Week 81--Evanston, WY

I don't have a lot of time this pday. There was a lot of cleaning that was done.

I got in a car accident last week. I went around a turn too fast on the snow and hit a pole and dented the back of the truck. We were ok. The damages came out to just under $3000, so I'm not sure if my driving privileges will be revoked. Then this week, Elder Fallin got the truck stuck in a ditch. The Almy people came and helped us out. They got it out in like -20 degrees. It hurt to breathe. Here's a picture of it.

Christmas was enjoyable. I thought a lot about the atonement and the Savior. There was a new painting of the Savior that I have never seen before but I fell in love with it. I don't know maybe it is the lighting or something. It really inspired me to repent and change so my mistakes would not cause the Savior any more pain. 

It was great to talk to the fam on Christmas. Love you all!

Dinner appointment text message picture

Truck in a ditch

Picture of the Savior

Skyping on Christmas

Week 80--Evanston, WY

At Transfers...new companion Elder Fallin

Superman...all my companions have been workout buffs. :)

Elder Bass and Elder Fallin at transfers

It was a crazy week with zone conference and our mission Christmas dinner and devotional. I got to catch up with some of my old buddies. It was enjoyable. We listened to Elder Gaye talk. He shared some valuable insights. I really appreciated him coming to the mission. We were only in our area for two days this week, so not a lot happened in the area. I-80 got shut down mid-week and so it was quite the fiasco working out all the logistics in the zone. 

My companion is Elder Fallin. We were actually in the MTC together. We have a good relationship so it will be a fun transfer. We also have a lot of people we are currrently working with and more on the way. We are excited to get to work and see a lot of good things this coming transfer.

We had 8 people attend sacrament meeting this week! There was a lot who came to see the Christmas programs.

I'd like to share an insight that I found this week that has personal meaning to me. I have been trying to have more of a desire to be more accountable to my leaders and to God. I have also been praying about it. This was an excerpt that I read from Elder Christofferson's talk on the Resurrection of the Savior: 

"Having satisfied the demands of justice, Christ now 
steps into the place of justice; or we might say He is 
justice, just as He is love. Likewise, besides being a 
“perfect, just God,” He is a perfect, merciful God. 
Thus,the Savior makes all things right. No injustice 
in mortality is permanent, even death, for He restores 
life again. No injury, disability, betrayal, or abuse goes 
uncompensated in the end because of His ultimate 
justice and mercy. By the same token, we are all 
accountable to Him for our lives, our choices, and 
our actions, even our thoughts. Because He 
redeemed us from the Fall, our lives are in reality His."   

I really enjoyed reading this passage. I continue to ponder the meaning. To me this means that I owe Christ everything. Because without Christ, my life would be void of everything good. I would experience pain and hurt but would be unable to find relief. Because he has paid for my choices and I will stand before him one day to account for what I have done, I have a responsibility to live up to his expectations.

Hope you have a great Christmas!! Love you all !!!

Later Notes:
Elder Fallin and I had our challenges but overall it turned out well. At the very end, I confronted Elder Fallin about the rules and i was biased towards a few things and he was very upset. We never really had that problem resolved. Elder Fallin had quite the temper. He kept it under control most of the time but there were a few times that he let it out. I remember him punching the ground really hard after someone hit him with a dart arrow. 

Elder Fallin loved working out. He really was a good guy who wanted me to meet my goals. He really tried to help me work out. We had a lot of nerf wars and a zone activity. It was a good transfer. We saw a lot of success.

Wyoming zone at Christmas zone conference

Wyoming zone--goofy

At Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner 2

Week 79--Evanston, WY

I'm staying Wyoming for another transfer!!!! This next transfer is 7 weeks. Elder Hutchinson is leaving, so once again, I am getting another companion. Elder Hutchinson will become the new AP. I find out tomorrow at transfers who my new companion will be. We have many people who are very prepared in our area. I am very stoked to stay.

We had a cool story this week. We drove past these people who were moving in. We stopped and asked if they needed any help. They said they did. Since we have a truck, we were able to help them move across town. They invited us back, so we will see how that all turns out. It's a young family of 5.

I am very grateful to God for the gift of my mission. Just this past 5 weeks, Elder Hutchinson has taught me so much. I am really striving to be a more accountable missionary. There are many tasks that we have to accomplish each day. It is easy to forget some. I am striving to increase an inward desire to please God so I will naturally remember and accomplish all the tasks that I am given. It will be not out of a desire to remember things but I will naturally remember all those
things because pleasing God is important.

-Elder Bass

I will miss this guy!

Week 78--Evanston, WY

I'm loving Evanston! I think that it's been my favorite area. I've been here for 6 months and I could stay for the next 6 months. The people are kind and they are very proactive about missionary work! People have trust for the missionaries here. It has always just existed as far as I am aware. So I'm grateful for the missionaries before me who set a high standard.

We picked up a family this past week called the Wagstaffs. It is a family of four. The parents are less-active members and they have have a son and a daughter who are 14 and 17. They are very busy yet also very willing to learn and try out the gospel for themselves. The mom has decided that she wants to come back to church so she contacted someone who contacted us. It was a great miracle for the week.

Jarem, we are teaching a kid that's your age! His name is Solan. He is very smart for his age. He only goes to church every once in a while and he taught us the Joseph smith story.

We have been very busy lately and we also are very content and happy with what is going on. It is definitely great to be a missionary!

A spiritual experience that I had this week was we went to a man's funeral who I had interviewed for baptism recently. One month after he was baptized he passed away. He was a kind and charitable person. During the funeral procession, I prayed and asked if the plan of salvation was real. I felt peace and comfort. It was a good feeling to have my
testimony of the plan of salvation strengthened.

-Elder Bass

Nerf Gun Wars on P-Day

Week 77--Evanston, WY

This week was alright there were many people who were out of town. We ate with a family who lives in Almy for Thanksgiving. It was a little bit of a rougher week. We had an investigator family drop us because the Dad who we are mainly teaching (because he needs the most help) has no time or rather is unwilling to make time. We are refreshing our teaching pool and looking for more people to teach.

I don't have a lot of time to email today sorry.

-Elder Bass

Week 76--Evanston, WY

Sorry its been such a stressful week Mom. Hope things start looking up soon. When baby is sick no one is happy..

Elder Hutchinson and I get along very well. I love being his companion and we have a lot of fun together. He is a stud. We are super happy to start teaching a kid named Sandy. He came to church yesterday and the ward just engulfed him. A family picked him up since his car broke down and the kid who picked him up and Sandy now are good friends. He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He is excited about the gospel and we love working with him. 

I am super happy to be a missionary. I was thinking about gratitude this weekend and I wanted to share this thought. I know that all good things come from God. Therefore, every good thing that we receive must be given of God. I also know that by physical nature we are definitely inclined more towards sin and bad things. I think about gifts and I feel a lot more inclined to give good gifts to those that are grateful. I have realized that gratitude is part of being humble. I know that as we humbly and gratefully accept and receive the things of God, he is willing to grant us more gifts and more of his Son's grace. Let us all recognize the good things that we have been given and seek more of those good things that can only be given of God.

Love you all; thanks for the birthday wishes and love!!

-Elder Bass

Monica's Baptism

Birthday package with eyes closed

Snow!!

Week 75--Evanston, WY

My new companion, Elder Hutchinson, and I at transfers

Zone leaders at transfers

Another zone leaders picture

I got a new companion; his name is Elder Hutchinson. He is a great missionary who I really get along with. He's a really fun person and very knowledgeable about the gospel. We work and teach well together. We have seen a lot of improvements in the zone and we are super-excited! He comes from Las Vegas.

We have been teaching Monica for a few weeks and she was scheduled to be baptized a few days ago. She texted us the day before her baptism and the text said, "I can't do the baptism." It gave us a little scare. We asked her, "why not?" She responded, "My ex husband wants to have a word with Justin (the guy that she is dating now). I don't know how he found out where and when with the baptism."  We paused for a second and tried to determine what to do. A few minutes later she texted back with this response before we were going to call her, "You know what, nevermind I can't let satan win." So the baptism happened and really ran pretty smoothly. She is very ready for the ordinance. I think will all can take a stand compelled by faith like Monica every once in a while. We always tell people before they get baptized that Satan is going to work super hard on them to not go to church and to stop doing the little things that build their faith. I am so happy that she saw clearly what was going on behind the scene. And when she exercised her faith, her ex-husband didnt even end up going to the baptism and she had a wonderful experience! I am so happy for her!

We have been teaching this man named Bruce. He has been attending church for over 20 years and has a family that are active members. He lives on a ranch out in Almy which is the more rural part of our area. Elder Smith and I and Elder Smith's companion before Elder Wilson, were able to help Bruce start reading the Book of Mormon because he had never read the Book of Mormon before. Anyways the last lesson Elder Christensen and I had together was with Bruce. The lesson before we committed him to fast about the Book of Mormon. We stopped by a few days later and he had people over and said that it wouldn't be a good night. We quickly asked him how fasting went and he said that he was "none the wiser" for it. We stopped by Monday night and we talked to him a little bit. He opened up about how before we had gotten there, he sat down and read the BoM for like three hours. While he was reading he had a verse hit him that changed his perspective on everything that he was reading. He said that he had been focused on the nitty-gritty logistics and timeline throughout history and he had a thought hit him that he needed to focus on the doctrine instead. I think that he will be baptized very soon. It would be great to see that because I have worked with him the entire time that i have been here.

We also fasted yesterday that we could help more people come unto Christ through baptism. After church, we finally met with a high schooler named Sandy. He is an awesome kid and a less-active kid invited him to meet with us. We taught him at the church and he expressed interest in being baptized. So fasting once again works!!!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Bass

Week 74--Evanston, WY

I love that Alex's mission presidents wife takes individual pictures of them every 6 months or so. It is great to have these!

This week was pretty sweet. I am staying in WY another transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy! Evanston I think has been my favorite area. Elder Christensen is leaving. He was one of my harder companions. I hope he does well in his new area. I did grow to understand him a lot better after a few weeks of open communication. He really is a good guy and he is trying to be a good missionary. One of the big things he taught me was how to be more consecrated. That helped me a lot. I can say with confidence that Elder Christensen is a consecrated missionary. I do love the guy and I hope that he finds happiness and success in his next area.

We have a baptism this weekend for which i am very excited. Her name is Monica. She is currently trying to find somewhere else to live because the lady that she is staying with temporarily (because of her divorce) hates the church and doesn't want her to live there. I am so impressed by Monica's faith. I know that she will be taken care of. We are continuing to work with a lot of the youth. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Fallin this week. He is a good guy. We got along really well and everything kind of fell into place that night. We were able to teach and find a new investigator. We were able to get in contact with some people that he had been trying to for a while. We didn't know what we were going to do at one point during the exchange so we decided to pray. I felt like we should go to Maverick and talk to someone in there. We did and we talked to this guy that wasn't really interested. It felt good to accomplish God's will. Whenever you don't know what to do, say a quick prayer and see if God has any ideas he's willing to share. I find that the more we seek and follow his counsel on important things the better we feel and we receive a greater portion of the spirit. It feels good to do Gods will.

Love you all; have a wonderful week!

-Elder Bass

Wyoming zone mission tour

Before the formal pic

Another Wyoming zone picture (Alex in back middle)

Week 73--Evanston, WY

Things were pretty good this week. During the middle of the week, Elder Christensen and I sat down and talked about things. We both thought the work could be going better and the area had a lot of potential but we are never quite reaching it. We talked about things we could do to gain God's trust. We came up with a plan and the next lesson we went to was with a guy named Brett. We taught him once and we weren't sure how interested he was. We followed up with him and he said that he read the chapter and felt peace so he decided to keep reading it. I think he said he was in 2 Nephi. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted the invitation. He came to church for the first time yesterday and seemed to have a really good experience. He said he loved,"people coming together and sharing their feeling together." He mentioned how he was used to a world where everyone fended for themselves. He mentioned how it was nice to feel somewhat unified and apart of something.

Halloween was fun. After 6pm we went and hung out with other missionaries. We played some basketball and a few group games. 

I had a wonderful time fasting this week. I was able to receive a lot of personal strength. Something that really helped me was me making a conscious choice in my mind to choose to believe that fasting works. I said quite a few prayers about my purpose and all in all it was just an uplifting experience. I know that fasting is something that is of God. I know that it actually works and brings happiness and peace in a powerful way! 

Love you all take care

-Elder Bass

Week 72--Evanston, WY

It's been a pretty awesome week. I realized this past week that one of the deepest desires of my mission was fulfilled. I remember thinking in high school back home, "Man, when I'm on my mission, if there was some way I could learn of the youth's friends that are prepared and build a good relationship with them, it would be more successful than any other place that I could look." I remember some of the experiences that I have had with my friends. I remember how dumb I was for not sharing the gospel and how prepared they were at some points. I know that every high schooler has a friend that they are pretty close to that they could share the gospel with. I would just think how cool it would be if, as a missionary, I could somehow get all the youth excited about it and willing to share. It was never a conscious thought that this was one of my deepest desires on my mission, but it is. I am not sure why it is, it seems kind of weird or whatever but it is! 

Anyways, after teaching seminary we obtained almost 100 youth referrals, the past few weeks we have been contacting the youth fellowshippers and encouraging them to invite their friends. It has worked with crazy amounts of success. Almost all of them say yes to invitations their friends extend. We met with one of the first people yesterday and true to what I had thought he is super prepared and open. Youth are bearing their testimonies of missionary work in seminary and school and everyone is getting excited. They love having us come over and everyone is sharing the gospel! Things are just turning out so good! We just put in a little effort and God just magnifies our efforts 100-fold to accomplish his purposes. It was just a crazy realization the other day that one of my deepest missionary desires has been and is continuing to be fulfilled. I love the youth and going over and talking to them.

A cool miracle that happened this week. I wasn't sure how God would take it so I thought I would test it out. I recently have been praying that we would find investigators that were begging to be baptized. (When I pray for investigators who are prepared to be baptized, we find them and then we always seem to make a few mistakes and can't get them quite there.) We received a call this week of a lady named Monica who wanted to meet with us, change her life, and be baptized. We met her on friday she came to church on sunday and is planning to get baptized the 14th of November! It is a wonderful birthday present from God!

I don't really know I have anything that I want for my birthday... just fast so I can find more people who realize they want to be baptized.

-Elder Bass

Later Notes:

I thought it was like the worst thing ever when i was with Elder Christensen. He later became a great friend. He was perhaps one of the few missionaries that helped me understand what it felt like to be my companion. He helped me understand what Elder Baldry felt. I was always so focused on the rules and on diligence. However things changed with Elder Baldry where i started focusing more on others. Elder Christensen was very much focused on the rules and making sure i followed all of them. I learned so much from being on the other side.

There's trees!(responding to Jarem's pics). This is my view everyday!

Elder Christensen's Birthday

Yes, I bought the hat! :)

My signature meal: namely elk and eggs

Week 71--Evanston, WY

This week has been good! Elder Christensen's birthday is today. The other Elders in the apartment and I bought him a cake and bought him a little Frozen doll. He loves Frozen. He loves Motab and musicals and singing and anything to do with the arts. He doesn't care about too many other things. I have definitely over my mission felt an increase in love for other people. I have prayed many nights for it. Now, someone suggested that I pray for ways I can show that love. 

I went on exchanges this week with a missionary from Oklahoma. His name is Elder Moe. He has been on his mission for like 9 weeks. We started the exchange with a prayer and we then said about 30 more prayers the rest of the night. Elder Moe LOVES to pray. We set a goal in the beginning of the exchange and said that we would find 3 new investigators. We would go somewhere and then pray to find out where we were going next and we did that the entire night. We also found 3 new investigators which was awesome. There was one guy who walked in the door while we were teaching, we got up and introduced ourselves. He shook our hands and then gave us the peace sign and went in another room. We continued teaching one of the new investigators. At the end, we asked them if they had a Book of Mormon. They said no. We said we were going to grab one from the car. Chris walks in as we say that and he says grab 2! He had been listening the whole time. We gave him a chapter to read and invited him and them to pray about it. It was a cool experience. As a result of the exchange I find myself praying a lot more and seeking God's will instead of just doing what my routine is. It was just funny how I was prideful and wasn't expecting to really learn too much from him, and I learned a lot!

Another cool thing that happened was we said a prayer as to what places to visit and then a house came to mind that I had never before seen and the location. We went there and they invited us in and they are now investigators. I had the thought come to me where I wondered how many more blessings are available to those who simply ask for what they need and desire righteously.

-Elder Bass

Week 70--Evanston, WY

With the Bros before we were split up

At transfers with my buddies

In the apartment

These are some photos we use to motivate the zone! One of the missionaries made the first one. The hashtags are on our apartment. We use these as wallpapers

Elder Christensen and I get along fairly well. We have to work through some things. So far he has been one of my harder companions. He is a great motivation to be a good missionary which is a huge blessing! All of my companions have had that and I am so blessed because of it. As I try to love him and pray for it, God blesses me with his grace. Looking back on my mission thus far, I realized this week that I have had an increase of my love for my fellowmen. It was happy realization and a generous blessing from the Almighty! Those were some great insights about love in your email mom! Thanks! I think that it is so true!

We had a pretty cool lesson this week!The people we taught are named Charles and Danielle. They are nice and always let us in if they are there. I've really tried to focus on listening lately. I swear the longer I've been out the more I realize that missionary work is all about listening. Anyways, we were teaching them and they just weren't understanding the need for any of the commandments. They said they were looking for a church. They used to go to this other one but then they moved to Evanston. I felt like I should ask the question,"What motivated you to go to the other church?" In a nutshell, she said she just feels good when she goes. She talked about it for a little bit. She stopped and nothing was coming to my mind. She started talking again and said some of the same things and she briefly mentioned healing. I paused for a second and I was about to ask another question, then this questioned popped into my head. I responded, "You talked about how you needed healing, healing from what?" It felt pretty uncomfortable to say. She then opened up to us about a lot of stuff and talked about how she carried around guilt because of her mistakes. I explained that a remission of sins takes that feeling away and that she doesn't have to cover it up or hide from it. Since, she has been a bit more motivated!

Today in my studies I thought about Mosiah 3:19. I thought about yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit. I realized that the Spirit only prompts us to repent, do good, and live the gospel. The natural man prompts you to do wrong. When we follow the Spirit not only do we put off the natural man by not doing things that are bad and replacing them with things that are good, but we live Christ's gospel which gives us access to the Atonement which changes our nature to become a saint! Truly we are "sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost"! I will continue to resolve to clean up my life and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost so that I can truly receive the Holy Ghost and "be purified even as he is pure." The gospel is soo sick!!!

-Elder Bass

Week 69--Evanston, WY

It has been a wonderful week for me with General Conference and the sweet spirit that accompanies it. We were able to watch conference with someone new each session. We watched conference with an investigator, recent converts, and less-actives. Each session we had a good experience. My questions I take to general conference are always specifically answered which bears witness to the divinity of their authority. That was a pretty spiritual experience.

We had a couple of really good experiences with some of our investigators this week. We taught a lady named Jennifer who receives her answers to prayers in dreams. She said that she felt like the theme of the dream until the night before the lesson had been focused around learning more and continuing to put effort into things and study. The dream she had the night before the lesson she said she couldn't understand. She described a large and capacious building she was stuck in and she was trying to get out because she didn't like it in there. She said that there was a lion guarding the door and she took the lion to represent fear. After a spiritual lesson, we shared a scripture in 1 timothy that talks about fear is not a feeling from God that the feelings that God gives us are uplifting, loving, and inspiring. She is now working toward a baptismal date. I have found significantly less enjoyment teaching lessons, and I have found significantly greater joy in teaching people. I love the moments when the people we teach recognize answers they received from prayer, when they understand a true principle, or receive the blessings from living that true principle and desire more principles to apply and understand. I love the promptings of the spirit that lead and guide the people we teach if we are humble.

My fingers are tired:( Love you all take care!

-Elder Bass