Week 54--Holladay, UT

Only have about ten minutes to write this. We had a meeting with president this past week. He called because he wanted to meet with me. Elder Baldry has still been acting kind of weird. He was joking around one morning about going home relentlessly. I asked why he always joked about it and if he was serious about it. That opened up a long conversation. We talked about a lot of stuff. Eventually, I realized and he told me that he was troubled because he had something big that he had never confessed of before his mission. He said that the stake president came up to him and asked him the direct question that was what he had done and because he was afraid he lied.  He loves the area and doesn't want to go home. I testified to him the importance of complete repentance by forsaking and also confessing. I told him all you can do is your part. Once you have repented you can just leave it into the Lord's hands. I shared my conviction that president was inspired and would be guided by God to do what was the very best for him. Since we were already meeting with him I asked him if he would tell president about it privately. He said he would. At that moment, I realized why I had been here with him another transfer. He has been so much better ever since he told president. It took 4 months to build a relationship of trust with him. I know that God is so very aware of each of his children, no matter who they are or where they came from or their current circumstances or status' in life.
-Elder Bass

Week 53--Holladay, UT

Putting up the "shakas". Apparently that's what they call the hang loose sign in Australia and Hawaii

This week has been good! and yes my life is awesome Uncle Aaron!!!!! Thanks for the package; it was very refreshing to be reminded of my loving family. Thank you so much for your support and the individual experiences I've had with each of you.

That actually kind of takes me to the things that I wanted to share this week. Elder Baldry has been struggling a little bit. For awhile I didn't really understand why. I realized that with me I thought
subconsciously that every one had the same strengths and weaknesses that I did. There was a talk given in sacrament meeting a few Sundays ago that has really stuck with me. She is a professor of history at a college in Utah. She talked about the concept of multi-perspectivity. What it means is that as far as historical figures go, the more witnesses or accounts you have of one person the more accurate the picture is of that person. If you only can see a small part of their life and you only have an account of someone who hated that person it's going to be very different then what the person was actually like. Anyways, I only have the perspective of Elder Baldry on his mission and how he is when I see him. There's a lot more to his story. He was inactive for most of his life. His Dad was excommunicated and is anti. Literally all he did when he was in Australia is surf and play rugby. His view of life and the rules and everything else is different from mine. I've lived with him for four months now which is a long time to spend 24/7 with the same dude. We've had to work out some things and come to agreements to make things work. The area has slowed down a lot because my focus is much more in him and on the district than anything else.

One of the days this week, I tried really hard to show him that I cared because I could tell something was wrong. He got up really late one morning and I thought about kind of chastising him and getting
irritated with him but instead I had a thought to wait til comp study to talk to him. He eventually got out of bed and got ready. When it was time for comp study, I asked if everything was alright. I told him that things seemed like something was wrong. I told him that I loved him and wanted him to be happy and that if he needed to talk I was here. Then I we continued comp study like normal. Later that night, he talked about leaving and going home a lot. He doesn't think that he can finish his mission. He said he didn't feel like he was doing any good here. We stayed up very late Saturday night talking about all this stuff. It is extremely hard to get people to open up sometimes. I'm very grateful God helped me. I think he is doing a little better. I am very grateful for this wonderful
opportunity to love him by showing kind gestures and to build his faith in himself and in the Savior!

-Elder Bass

Later notes:
Elder Baldry was an amazing companion for me. In order to really connect with him and help him, I needed to love him and i also needed to show him that i loved the work and i loved the gospel and i loved the people i was working with. It really helped me. One of the profound experience that changed my mission was Elder Baldry's birthday. I called him lazy i think. I was just so sick of me doing most of the work. I thought that he needed to do more of the work. He was being lazy and not helping me so i just decided to turn 360 and play devil's advocate. I was extremely sarcastic. I said everything i could think of that a lazy disobedient missionary would say and do. We went out for a little bit, but we ended up going home and i said i was going to take a nap. I did. When i woke up, Elder Baldry's stuff was packed up. I think he had gone to play basketball at the church. I apologized to him and after that i really tried hard to be his friend and help him. He is one of my good friends now.

Week 52--Holladay, UT

In front of our house

Elder Baldry with me making copies in the background

Wow a lot has happened! I am happy and content with life. I am try to more earnestly rely on God. I am trying to help and to lift and encourage those around me! I love the gospel. Recently we met a lady named Claire. We saw her in one of our apartment complexes and started talking to her! She said that she was a Christian missionary in Hong Kong! We gave her our number and said if she ever needed anything to call us! Fast forward to Saturday and we received a call from her. She was crying and she said that her husband and her got in a big fight and the neighbors called the police. Because of this incident their kids had to stay with someone else. They recently moved in and didn't trust the people in the apartment so they called us and asked for a bishop. We got in contact with one of the bishops and he came over. He said when he picked up the kids for 24 hours that they told him that they were open to religion and ready to make changes in their life! They are a family of 4. I am very excited to work with them!

Also in one of our wealthier neighborhoods, there is a recently married couple who is interested in learning the Gospel. We will meet with both of them this week.

We met with Martha this week and set a tentative baptismal date for her. She is very lonely and she would greatly benefit from all of the blessing that the restored Gospel has to offer. She is slowly coming to see the marvelous light of the gospel!

I love God. I love His work. It is very exciting for me to do it everyday! I love to find the miracles and opportunities God makes available to us each and every day!

I love you all!!!

-Elder Bass

Week 48--Holladay, UT

We got hair cuts today which cut on email time! Thanks for the advice!

Later Notes:
I went on an exchange with Elder Berry this week. This entire transfer i had a lot of issues with my zone leaders and STLs. They wanted to teach Jessica. They thought that i liked number more than people. On the exchange, Elder Berry was acting weird. I asked him why he hated me more meant as a joke than anything else. He said,"I don't hate you i just hate the way you do missionary work."

One of my main issues with the zone leaders is the way they interacted with the STLs. They would go on lunch dates and work out together in the mornings. They would have little correlation meetings and meet very regularly. They were always flirting and talking with each other. It was very frustrating to me. In my eyes, i was just trying to do missionary work and they were wasting their time. Elder Graydon later got married to one of the STLs.

I got a lot of feedback that helped me. The universe was preparing me and telling me through many sources that i needed to change. I needed to love more. From now til the time i was finished with Elder Baldry, i would experience fire that would help me change and come to some important realizations.

Week 47--Holladay, UT

Jessica was confirmed today. Its crazy to think that a few months ago she had major Word of Wisdom problems and was very depressed. The gospel really has changed everything around! She is happy! We are getting work in the wards that haven't seen work in a very long time. It is a very satisfying feeling. We are so grateful the Lord is blessing us. The district is doing well; they are working. Life is good!

I love the missionary life. I have made good friends. I have had good experiences and continue to have them. I am on a path to knowing my God evermore! Love you! Can't thank you enough for the opportunity to live and the teachings you've centered our family on that enable me to live life well and fully.

-Elder Bass

Later notes:

Looking back through my journal i saw many miracles this week and learned really how God works with us. He works with us through small and simple things like coincidences. I saw many little miracles like us syncing our iPads and the bishop meeting with 2 prospective people who we could work with. We had the spontaneous opportunity to share a gospel message with a member family. We were teaching a lesson to Martha and one of her mormon friends sat by us and shared her testimony of the importance of baptism. Little coincidences that are miracles.

Week 46--Holladay, UT

Life is good like always. hmm...stories. We started this two week program with one of our investigators named Carson. We made a calendar for him. Each day it has a read and pray box and a church box on Sunday. We started it Wednesday and we will be finishing it this Wednesday. He will either choose to set a date for baptism or stop meeting with us for a little bit. It was cool because Saturday night part of the two week plan we created included fasting. Saturday night we taught him about fasting. The room that we were in was fairly dimly lit. We were around his fire place. The spirit was strong. Us and three of his friends were there. We knelt in prayer with Carson and he said the prayer to start the fast for him, us, and his friends. The bishop got the word out across the ward and many fasted for him this weekend too. I really hope Carson gets baptized. I cannot tell you how many prayers i have said on his behalf. 

We taught another family called the Zombranos. They are from Mexico and are originally Catholic. I have been working with them since I came here. We taught them the law of chastity this week. They aren't married and we were very unsure on how they would take it.They said they wanted to. They also said they wanted to be Mormon which is very ground-breaking with them. They are a family of 7. I have come to absolutely love this family as well. It would mean everything to me to see them experience the joy of entering the waters of baptism and seeing them come that much closer their Father in Heaven.

There were two people who were baptized this weekend. Desari Marshall and Jessica Langley. They are nice and excited to get started in the gospel. They each had complexities but they were eventually resolved. The Book of Mormon resolves most things. If the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet and the gospel has been restored and is true. A lot of what we do is help people understand that their real concern is whether the Book of Mormon is true. We help them live by its teachings and help them see how it improves the quality of their life. Anyways, I love the mission field. I love my Redeemer. My heart is full of gratitude to have the opportunity to use and to be aware of the condition of repentance. It fills my soul with joy to know I can experience change, lasting change, change with God. Change that replaces feelings of regret, emptiness, distance from God, hate, and hurt with hope and a feeling of greater reconciliation with God. The great plan of redemption is my life and my passion. It is my drive and I intend that everyone has the best opportunity to receive it.

-Elder Bass

Your Good Boys

We had your sons over for dinner this afternoon, and enjoyed getting to know them a little bit. They seem like a really good companionship. They both have good senses of humor. They had come from a baptism this afternoon of two young women. That is pretty exciting.

We have a missionary serving in Chile right now. I love having the blessings of missionary work in our home. I hope the same is true for you.

Warmly,
Laurel Alder