Week 42--Holladay, UT

Dinner with a member family

Zone Conference Picture

I don't have a lot of time like usual.

I can't remember everything. We had zone conference and got to hear a few Seventies speak this week. It's pretty much an every other day occurrence. One of them was from the Congo; he only knew french so he had a translator. The one that spoke to our mission talked about how to be a minister of Jesus Christ!

The week previous to this week was one of the worst weeks, number wise, of my mission. Numbers obviously aren't everything they mean very little in the grand scheme of things. They are, however, a great indicator of how effectively and how much you work. That week there were no investigators preparing for baptism with a date. No new investigators. And only 2 member present lessons.

This week we did the exact same things, but people kept their appointments. We now have 6 people who are preparing
for baptism with a date for next weekend. We had 6 new investigators this week which is pretty much unheard of in Holladay. And many lessons. People came to church. People are keeping their commitments.

It is an amazing feeling to know that God is on our side. When I get
done with my mission I want to be able to say what Ammon did a long time ago! " 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever" haha its nice i can copy and paste that! I love you all! Thanks for everything

Later Notes:
We texted Makenna a 15 year old girl when we thought we were texting her friend saying" Is Makenna coming to church today?". She said she might come to church. I wish with some of the people i would have tried to build more of a solid relationship with them before pushing for a baptismal date. I wish i really would have tried to help her understand the need for it. She ended up coming to church. We set a date for her. She fell away. I was a little to bold and overbearing i think. It really wouldn't have hurt to spend a little more time helping these people. I would have seen the same amount of success if not more.

Week 41--Holladay, UT

Elder Baldry and I get along really well. He is a kindhearted person
and wants to be a good missionary. He has been pretty homesick and has broken a few of the rules with the iPad because of it. He is doing much better now though. As of late, I have been really stressed. Sometimes responsibility can be overwhelming. I am learning how to better manage my time and make every moment and effort worthwhile and effective. I'm very tired but I'm also very satisfied with my work.

Kais baptism was a great experience. He is actually descended from
native Hawaiians. His name means ocean in his native language. He has been or rather his family has been inactive for a long time.
Consequently, Kai was never baptized. It was a good wake up call for the parents. Kai was unfortunately not able to be confirmed. He will be confirmed next week. He contracted an ear infection that caused his eardrum to almost rupture on the very day of his confirmation. At the baptism, it was pretty funny. After Kai was baptized, we have a tradition in the mission to share the restoration while the person is changing. I like it because it keeps the Spirit. Anyways, while we were teaching the restoration, Pres. and Sister Eberhardt walk-in the room in the middle of my companion talking. My companion was very nervous to get up in front of a lot of people and teach the message. But when he saw Pres., he froze mid-sentence. I picked up and talked most of the rest of the message because as it says in the Scriptures my companion was struck dumb. Afterwards, we all laughed about the experience.

I was thinking about the meetings this past Sunday; it is actually really common for us to see general authorities. For example, yesterday there was a 70 presiding in one of our sacrament meetings. We have so many meetings on Sundays. We usually start at seven in the morning and go till five at night. There's ward councils and so many missionary type meetings. There are actually five or six 70s who attend our wards in our stake. In a few days, we will be having zone conference. There will be a 70 who will be speaking to us. Thank you all for your love and support.

– Elder Bass

Week 40--Holladay, UT

I got both of these pictures below texted/emailed to me this week from members who were feeding them dinner.:) It was a lucky week. 

Life is good! I love being a missionary! We have a baptism this weekend. His name is Ki. His family is inactive but he likes church! I had a thought come to me about him. Some people are unsure about younger baptisms. I got the impression that with Ki we would be saving generations. It came to me with power and with the Spirit. Ki is really smart and picks up on things very quickly. He has more knowledge and retains more than most of the adults we teach! There was a lot that happened this week but it is very time consuming to explain all the situations. I'm going to talk into my Ipad and see if that speeds up the process.

Thank you for the pictures. I'm excited to move to South Carolina. South Carolina looks like a very nice place. We have had an exciting week. We've been able to teach a lot of people this week. We have a lot of investigators who will hopefully be baptized in the upcoming weeks.

I love the opportunity to train. I am learning so much so fast. Elder Baldry is adjusting fast. We went on splits yesterday for the first time with a couple of priests from the ward. It was the first time that Elder Baldry was by himself as a missionary. He said he had an experience where there was a man trash talking the church and accusing them of crazy things. Haha! I sent him to the drug dealer and I went to a few lesbians. Our visit actually turned out really well. We had to walk in front of their window to get to the door. It was the kitchen window and there were about six people that were in the kitchen. We just kept our head down and walked past. We knocked on the door and they answered. We asked if we could share a message and they said that would be good. We asked if we could share a message right then and there. They said that would be fine too. We sat down on their porch and started to answer some of their questions. Originally it was just two people we were talking to. Eventually everyone who had been in the kitchen came out and started talking to us. We asked them what their beliefs were.One of them was an atheist, another was a Jew, another was a ex Mormon, and the last one was a witch. It was an interesting conversation. They tried to question us about our beliefs, but I sensed that they were sincere to some degree. We talked about a lot of things. And we told them that our job as missionaries was to give people opportunities. We told them that this is something that we've tried and has made huge difference in our life and has made us
happy. We said that if they try, they can experience joy and feel the same way that we feel. We set up a time to teach the first discussion and we will be having dinner with them Thursday. The priest had an exciting experience which he probably won't forget. I couldn't believe that she was actually a practicing witch.

We came into our apartment last night and it smelled like gas. We tried to trace the source of the gas and we found that it was the stove. We called the zone leaders and we left that night and stayed the night at their house. The stove has been around for a long time. The
house is really old. I hope we can still live there.

It is very stressful training someone new. I always forget that he doesn't know about missionary work and how to be a missionary. Sometimes it tests my patience, which is good. I have learned and grown so much in the time that I've spent in Valley View. Sundays are always the most stressful days. We go to many hours of church, but in a way, it is relaxing. One of the principles we teach our investigators is that they can receive revelation through attending church. I have come to know that this principle is true. I know that the sacrament is a saving ordinance and is necessary to our salvation.God talks to me a lot on Sundays. Church is one of the ways that God speaks to us.

Something I was thinking about the other day was about fear. Fear is a feeling that comes when your mind makes assumptions of possible, negative, future consequences from a situation that you are currently in or in which you are reflecting.

 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."         - 2 Timothy 1:7

When you have trust in God you aren't afraid of what happens because if you do your part you know that it's part of his plan and because of God's love you will be taken care of. It doesn't matter what happens because "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (D&C 122:7) and "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." (2 Nephi 2:24)

These are some of the things that have happened in the past 24 hours.Sorry if some of the language is sloppy. This whole thing was dictated.I love you and I greatly appreciate your support.

--Elder Bass

Later Notes:
I remember when we got iPads. It really was a good thing the mormon messages that we could share were an amazing resource to the people that we taught. There were some negatives. I feel i didnt know and use the scriptures as much as i should have. It was less convenient to use the scriptures. Overall, i appreciated the experience.

Week 39--Holladay, UT

We got Ipads like Tuesday or something. They are pretty cool! Training is fun. My companion is from Brisbane, Australia. He has a thick accent and hard core slang. Apparently in Australia, they don't have swear words or maybe they're just very different. He is super funny and we get along really well. He is very humble and very willing to learn which is honestly all I could of asked for. The district switched up a little bit. We will see how everyone connects. Some of my buddies from WY got sent to our zone which is exciting and Elder Thompson is now in Rock Springs! He's not in my previous area which is too bad.

Training is fun. It is hard though. I went from teaching 50 /50 and doing 50% of the talking to now teaching 99% and doing pretty much all the talking. It was a wake up call when I would pass it off to him and he wouldn't say anything or he'd skip to later points or other lessons. I'm sure I was probably the same. A member invited a friend to be taught in their home. Those lessons always turn out really well. Her name is Lauren. It was a good lesson. She prayed at the end and a lot of us were crying. We have a few baptisms coming up. Hopefully this transfer we will be able to baptize weekly! It's an amazing area. Every house we go to they send us home with food, clothes, accessories, or anything that's cool that you can think of! We are beloved and are really like celebrities. People will take bullets for us, people want pictures with us, and people give us anything that we could want. I am thoroughly convinced that there is no better mission on the planet. We teach, we baptize, and in many ways we live a life of a celebrity. :) I was so naive before I left; this is truly the mission call I desire. I
see serving here as a wonderful tender mercy from God. One thing that I have gained from my mission that I will hold close forever is a relationship with my Heavenly Father. I can't describe in words how grateful I am for the trust and experiences he has given me.

Love you all

Elder Bass

Later notes: 
I remember when the call came in for me to train. We were over at Andy's house. Andy was one of the struggles that Elder Thomson and i had in the companionship. He thought that we should spend more time helping and teaching LAs. I thought LAs were only for instrumental use to find converts. Looking back, I wish that i would have put more time and energy into teaching LAs. There were a few families i really could have helped.

We taught a man named Brett who was a ski-bum from park city. He was the definition of a bro. I remember him crying in that first lesson after he prayed when the spirit touched his heart. It was one of the many miracles that i saw on my mission. It was kinda of funny because we were using the iPads for our presentation and it was really rough. We didnt know how to use them. God magnified our efforts and really helped us.

Week 38-Holladay, UT

Elder Bass and Elder Martineau (Alex shared an apartment with his companionship in Rock Springs, WY)

The elders and sisters at a baptism last week

I don't really know what to say. The week's been good. Transfers are tomorrow. I will be staying in this area and will be training a new missionary. I'm still a district leader amongst missionaries who struggle. You need to prepare for missions. Before I came on my mission I thought that preparation was optional, but it is definitely very necessary. Make sure you know why and have a conviction of why you are serving. Try to go out with the missionaries. Obtain a sure testimony of the Book of Mormon. It makes life a lot easier and more beneficial to your spiritual growth. A mission helps you grow spiritually and if you are still having issues with the basics, it kind of puts a road block on what you can accomplish both in your area and spiritually with yourself. If you come prepared, you will be blessed to be more of an instrument in the Lord's hand and see and experience greater spiritual vistas in a higher magnitude and frequency. Don't wing it. This is your life and your future; don't mess with your salvation and the salvation of others who you could have positively affected or completely changed if only you would have been prepared.

I have had a good week. Mom wants details and I really don't know what details to include. We met an Iraqi family. 2 parents and 6 kids. He moved from Iraq to America 7 months ago. He has a super thick accent and so does the rest of his family. He helped the US build tank facilities and was part of the police force. The terrorist were hunting him down and wanted to kill him so they sent him to America as part of some sort of contract. It is pretty crazy. Elder Thompson is leaving. I'll miss him; he is a good friend. I am excited to stay in the area. I love it. It is an awesome area.
-Elder Bass

Later Notes:
Before i left i kind of ended on a bad note with Elder Thompson. We had a mission training with Elder Clark talking about iPads. At the end, he told everyone to not say anything and get in the car instead of waiting around and socializing and losing the spirit. Elder Thomson and the Elders we were riding with did that. I had to grab my PMG from some of the Elders in WY. I got it and said goodbye and came over. He chastised me in front of the elders in the car. When they left, I got upset with him and said it wasn't fair to do that in front of the Elders. We were kind of upset with each other the rest of the time together. After we got different companions, we continued to be good friends.

When Elder Thomson and I were sitting the mission meeting, Elder Thomson said that i was going to get the anti-social looking missionary. I ended up getting the awesome good-looking Australian companion. He was a little bitter.

At tranfers, Alex is hugging his new companion that he will be training

Only 5 new missionaries this transfer! Alex will be training Elder Baldry (Front with yellow tie)