January 31, 2011

Hey Guys... thank you so much for the E-mails they really made my day!

I just have to mention both of your emails to me today... you both Had great things to say about each other and i jsut have to say how thankful i am for your Love for eachother and the relationship you have... it helps us kids out alot when we see how close you two are... it makes us want to draw closer together as a family... it is wonderful, so thank you for your example. oh yeah i forgot to tell you this... last week Whitney wrote me... (she is a good writer) and said that she heard Lindsay will be getting married June 24th....LAAAaame its alright i am excited for her.

anyway yes i have played ball with Pattens little brother a few times... he is a pretty funny kid and he is a good player... he said i should try and play in college... its only cause i am better than jimmer fredett!! seriously though... you put me behind the 3 point line and i will go 8 for 10 i am money 3 pt range... i dont know what happened but i am a shooter now... and i throw down every once in a while too... my vertical has gone up a little bit. not right now cause i rolled my ankle last week playing but i am going to play today.

Sounds like Saturday was a good day, but very stressful. it was good to hear that story about how the missionaries came in and asked what they could do to help... i was just thinking the other day " i dont know what i can do to help the ward out more... everything i do just seems to be a waste." hearing how much you appreciated their help made me realize that no effort is wasted... that i do make a difference to someone when i ask them if they need help or if we can come share a message with their family... thanks for that i will just keep serving them with all my heart and try the best i can to bring a little peace and happiness to them. Mom i am glad that you stuck with your plan and didnt go with the salad idea... you knew what you were doing and you were being helped i mean if you really should have changed to salad then i think the spirit would have prompted you to change, but you were being helped by the spirit and i see it as almost like a test... satan was trying to get in the way and stayed strong to what feelings and impressions you had while preparing for this... and that is awesome.

Brash .... keep your hair how it is ok buddy!

my week went well we lost two investigators and picked up one... The one we picked up has been like a dry mormon for about 13 years now... his wife is an active member and her children go too... he has expressed to us that he wants to learn from us missionaries and be baptized so that he can baptize his son! i think i told you this last week but it is so cool! they had us over on Monday and we had a great lesson with him... they fed us a great meal and it was good... we really needed a good home cooked meal... its been a while... and we have a lesson with them again tonight and its the Plan of Salvation... my favorite lesson to teach!!

Being a District Leader is fun... i really have grown to like our District! they are great we all have a great love and respect for everyone in the District... the thing i still have to get used to is District Meeting! it is hard but it is good i really enjoy it!

well i have to get going i really do miss you guys... 9 months away from youall has been so so hard, but i do see the importance of it!

Thank you for the package it was great made my week !!!

i love you very much!!

i will write you kids this week thank you for those letters!

sorry it is not very long

Love Elder Emery

January 24, 2011

Well... i am not sure where to start... there has been alot of information given to me some that i would not have guessed and also some that i heard about but i am relieved to hear things are alright.

Grades sound good... i am glad to see my brother and sisters doing well in school! that makes me happy to see them doing so good, but there is always room for improvement right? and Brash i am glad you are trying your best in school... handwriting is a little bit hard when you are 8... my handwriting didnt get good until i came out here so you have time to make that better ok, so i willl send you a prize dont worry!

i am not going to lie mom your sales pitch was pretty good... but maybe you should tell dad that you will make him his own chocolate cake also haha!

Their is and Elder out here is name is Elder Rust... he lives like over across the street from swan lakes... i have become pretty good friends with him and we plan on doing some things together when we return back (like getting in a bball league playing golf... those kinds of things) and he has horses... he has alot he says... he told me to tell you about them and maybe i can get you and his parents talking to each other so that yoiu can ride their horses.. how does that sound? Elder Rust returns home at the End of August so a few months before me. Dad you might have played against him in your Clearfield league... i was telling him about you and stuff... he was like i think i know who you are talking about... " does he shoot lights out?" i was like yep thats my Dad!!

Haha we played baseball with some of the kids in the ward... they love us! it was pretty fun... they want to go Golfing and see if i am good at that also haha they are trying to find something that i am not decent at... as long as they dont say curling then i should be pretty good... but who am i kidding curling really isnt a sport.

We taught the seminary once and that was pretty fun... i can only imagine what my seminary teachers were thinking about me... we probably will teach it again in February... which will be really fun!

We also played basketball with some of the high school kids in our ward and that was fun... some of them play on the High School team so they were pretty good.

This week we found 4 new investigators... and we took them all on tours. two of them have Baptismal dates for February 13th... we are very excited about that. We are picking up another investigator tonight. he is not a member but his wife is and he wants to baptize his son... how cool is that? he goes to church almost every week and has been for the past 13 years!! it is so crazy!!

To answer your question about Casey going on a mission... i received a letter from his parents this past week and they didnt say anything about that, but they did say that Dylan has decided to go on a mission... i think that is great!! he doesnt turn 19 until next January... i might be home by the time he leaves...

We go around telling people the importance of Temple marriage and how happy you can be to live with your family forever. to see people faces light up after we tell them that they can have the opportunity to be sealed as a family to live with them and our Heavenly Father Forever it makes all the difference in what Choices i will be making when i come to the decision of marriage. i dont know what to say. i guess one thing that comes to mind is... if Our Heavenly Father wants them to be together and if they have the Desire to work things out and forgive for whatever the situation might be then everything will work out... Everything happens for a reason... we arent always sure why, but thats why we need to figure out what we need to learn from it.

Well i love you guys and i have Grown to love this work... i feel i have made the right choice to come out and serve the Lord even though everyday is hard and there are some days when i feel like going home, but then something happens that makes me understand why i am out here. I love the Savior and everything that he does for me... i know that coming out here is one of the best ways i can show to him that i love him for what he has done.

I love you guys so much and i miss you more than you know

Love Elder Emery

p.s hey would you be able to add Mary as my Friend on FB?? but only her! thanks you are the best! have a great week!

January 17, 2011

Hey guys!! Wow it sounds like things are going well! thats always good to hear!

This week was pretty good... well i guess it was alright. We had a couple tour accepts and they were sett up for this week but they fell through... people still dont keep their commitments :( it is frustrating. alot of people went out of town this week for chocolate mlk day... (thats what skee calls it) so knocking doors were pretty rough. we had interviews with President and Sister Pike.... that was really good!

I started talking to President about the District Leader position and those kinds of things adn then i asked hime why he chose me... he said because we have kind of a disobedient district and he said that i am an obedient missionary and i can help them do what they need to do to be successfull and you have been open with me and i have alot of trust in you... i thought that was pretty good ya know i was thinking that i am doing my job... then i started thinking about the trust part... and about home and you guys and my thought was... i wish i could have built my trust better with you two i didnt understand how much i cared about someone saying that they have great trust in me until now... i was excited when President said it and i think how much more excited and proud i would have been if i would have been able to have you say that to me... i regret being dishonest with you... i feel bad and my repentance isnt really valid i guess until i make restitution... i am sorry for those things i did to hurt your trust in me... i also apologize just for not being very truthful. hopefullly when i get back home i can always keep your trust in me... that is what i want and i will do what it takes to make that happen.

we have run into a few really rude people lately... yesterday a guy was standing outside his church building... i think he was a priest and we were just walking by because we are not aloud to proselyte in front of or around any other churches... so we were just walking by and the guys comes running up to us and starts swearing at us and telling us all this crap... it was actually pretty funny but he told us to leave his state of California and all this other stuff... well obviously i just kind of gave him some smart alec remarks... ya know like i dont have to leave i was born here haha... people just dont understand.

nothing else really has gone on... my companion is really good worker... he is kind of hard headed so it is a little hard to get through to him sometimes ya know? but usually it is pretty good... he is a little over the top almost robotic and i dontlike that at all, but for the most part we are doing well.

Sorry this isnt very long... i am in a hurry. some of the kids in our ward want us to go play baseball with them... so we are going to go.

Love you all i wish you guys could be here right now because it has been in the 80's the last couple of days... it is so awesome!!

Keep reading and praying... its the best way to take care of business!

Love you and miss you very much

Love Elder Emery

oh! i remembered something else! we had Stake Conference yesterday and was really good. Elder Ringwood came and talked with us... he is a great speaker. he could ahve gone on for another hour and a half and i would have been totally fine listening to him. I met him on Saturday when my companion and i were at the church... he was getting a drink and we walked in and we started to talk to him... it was pretty cool. He is a very very nice guy i really enjoyed what he said!

And we taught seminary on Friday... it was pretty good. the kids are crazy but they are starting to get involved with us!

Well thats it for this week i have to go get my Derek Jeter on and do work!

Love Elder Emery

January 10, 2011

Hello Everyone!

Well it sounds like things are going well back home... seems like you are all busy again wih everyones scheldules... how is school going for you kids? did it stink going back last week? i know i wouldnt be too excited about going back. the kids back here just went back to school today... they had a forever break it seemed like they were out for such a long time. i wish back home was like that... it would be so fun!

Alright so this week was pretty good... sorry i dont have too long to type because i have to start off with presidents letter now and that takes a little while because i have to talk about everything that happened this past week... and he likes detail so i try my best.

Anyway we had Leadership Training Wednesday, Thursday and Friday... it was so cool i learned so much! i dont know why we dont all get those trainings that they just gave us... it makes a difference in how we teach that is for sure. the thing is everyone does get the trainings but now it comes from the district leaders... i dont think i can teach it as well as it was presented to us... i t was so good, but i will try my best ya know. My first District Meeting as the District Leader will be this Thursday... i am excited but nervous at the same time. i feel inadequate to be in this position... it will be a challenge. i think it will be a good learning experience on how to teach and those kinds of things. yeah so those are my feelings towards this Position... Dad i am sure you were in leadership positions on your mission... how was it for you... what did you learn or do to help out other missionaries or just the people you serve around?

We are doing our best to help the ward out... it is going so well! we are really building some great trust with them! i have found out that one of the guys in our ward came up with Pirates of the Carribean and he does alot of stuff for those movies and ghe helped out alot with Tron... another guy does something with the show Glee... people around here seem to love working in the entertainment industry... i thought it was pretty cool! we are going to definitely try and get the ward to be more missionary minded... with a few different things. we can now use Mormon.org as a guide to help members and investigators... President told us we need to study it and get to know it in great detail! i think this will be great... when members start making profiles us missionaries can tell our investigators to go look up members in the area... so i think it will be a great helping hand!

Oh i have a question... when the missionaries come over to visit... what are they doing? i they just hanging out or are they taking care of business... building relationships is good, but there comes a point where us missionaries cant just be chilling ya know? so i was just curious.

Well my new companion is pretty solid... we do some good work together... the only bad part is he is from Idaho... so far my companions have been from: Colorado, Seattle, Wyoming, and Idaho? it is pretty weird, but it is good.

Our Baptism was super good! Brendon was excited and he was happy!... we actually just found out this past week that Mary... Brendons mom... has Breast Cancer. obviously she was kind of sad well really sad.. i would be too. we went over and gave her a blessing and she was at church yesterday... she seems to be handling it pretty well, but if you could just keep her in your prayers... that would be nice.

Well that is all for this week... thanks for the e-mail update on the Fam... i miss you guys alot and i pray for you guys everyday that you will have love from Hevenly Father in the home.

something interesting from this week... the parable about the talents. Christ has given us all talents... Testimony and Time. with our testimony we are suppose to share it with everyone... even if the person is a member... everyone could use a spiritual boost. We shouldnt be afraid to hand out a pass along card or share a scripture with someone... this is what we are here for D and C 60:2... to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father... we need to help other people Understand this also... that is why he has given us time... we will be judged on every minute of every hour of everyday... or something like that, but we should be doing what we cant to make it back to our Heavenly Father... i mean that is what we are here for right... to become like our Heavenly Father? so this time is preparation to be back in the presence of God... i thought that was pretty intersting... it definitely made me think about alot of things.

I love you all... you are the BEST thank you for everything!! i miss you so so much!!

Love Elder Emery

January 3, 2011

Hey guys! well it sounds like things are going alright there... that is good. well the holidays are winding down and things are probably getting back to normal eh?

i wish i could say the same, but this week was probably one of the craziest weeks of my mission so far!

Well to start off the week my watch broke :( and it was getting really annoying not have something on my arm and i didnt know the time. so i hope you dont care, but i took out 40 bucks to help pay for a new one... was that ok for me to do? i hope i know money is important and i shouldnt be wasting it.

Alright then for New Years we didnt do anything... we didnt even have dinner with families... Laaaamee. But something really interesting happened.

So saturday we are in our apartment and we get a call from President Pike he has to ET or emergency transfer out some missionaries out of a different area... he transfers Elder Campbell to that area... its Called Orangewood... crazy huh? Then president gets on the phone with me and tells me that i was going to be getting a new companion... his name is Elder Suitter. Then he was like " Elder Emery... you will be serving as Senior Companion" i was like holy crap... i wanted this to happen but i totally was not expecting it. i was freaking out i couldnt get any thoughts together and everything was going crazy, but things eventually worked out and my new companion adn i took care of business the rest of the day.

Oh wait but that is not all that happened... so yesterday morning at about 7 ( our church starts at 9 now so we have meetings at 7:30) anyway so about 7 i get a call from the Zone Leaders... they say " Elder Emery will you call in numbers tonight because you are the nwe District Leader." i think i pooed my brain right there. i was now overwhelmed and i didnt know what to do. everything worked out... and i found out that we have leadership training this week so that will help me nkow what i am suppose to teach.

Can you believe all that stuff??? i was so surprised... it was a good change though we are doing good but yeah i am a District Leader now... which means i will most likely stay in this area a few more transfers... i am ok with that because this Elder is a good worker.

We actually had a tour yesterday and it went really well!! she said that it would be so beautiful to be baptized... we are very excited for that!

The members are doing better... once i finally took a stand last month about going over and building relationships with them things started turning around!~

Thanks for your Email it was great to here from you guys... it was a really long and wild week but things will be good!!

have fun and find success in all that you do this week!

Oh and yes we do get to go to Brendons Baptism... Elder Campbell gets to come back and Baptize him!

Love you all!! Far more than skee loves the Utes hahah

Love Elder Emery

December 27, 2010

Hey Family! oh man it was so awesome to see you guys!! its alright that you guys got emotional... it was good for me i have been holding in some tears for a while now so it was good to get those out. you guys all look really good too! all of you look different since the last time i saw you! it was crazy... i am so glad they let us skype that was a wonderful Christmas gift to see you all... even though it has only been almost eight months it feels like it has been forever.
>
> everyone that was there looked different... thank you for letting them all come over and say hi... that was awesome... for some reason skee looked th most different out of the extended family... and Brash i thought looked the most different out of our family...
>
> sounds like for the most part all of you are doing great... i am so glad you read the scriptures... i wish i would have been more focused when i was in seminary and i wish i would have prepared myself better...but i didnt... i am happy that the other kids see teh importance of it it really does make me happy! you will have to tell me how reading the introduction and doing what it says turns out for you guys... cause like i said i never did that before the mission... actually i am not even sure i knew there was an introduction to the Book of Mormon... i never told you what scripture made known to me that the book is true and that Jesus is the Christ... it is 2nephi 8:15 and when i got to that verse i was no longer reading... it was speaking to me... and i know because of that... that the lord wants us to find the right path to follow and that verse wouldnt have spoken to me if i wasnt suppose to follow the teaching of the Book of Mormon. so dont forget to do that ok?
> Yesterday in sacrament meeting the 1st counselor asked us to get up and bear our testimonies... it was like last second... i was way nervous. i got up and shared my testimony about missionary work and about how i have a testimony of every member a missionary... i sharede a quick story and then testified... i have never had so many compliments on a testimony before... i think it was exactly what the ward needed to hear to get them a little more excited about being missionaries themselves. it was a pretty good day besides that... i enjoyed it.
>
> well thats about it for today... i miss you guys so much and i hope you have a fun rest of your break... i love you very very much. and i am so thankful for being able to talk to you all this past week... i love you!
> Love Elder Emery

December 20, 2010

Hey Everyone... hows it going??

Things are going alright for me.... the news is.... i.... am.... still... in....La Crescenta.... and... i...am....still... with.... Elder Campbell.........

Yeah we stayed the same and i am not really sure why. i thought for sure Elder Campbell would get the boot, but we are still together. my feelings about it... no comment i will talk to you about things on Saturday.... its alot easier to express whats on your mind when you can actually talk to them instead of e-mail.

I guess President was inspired to leave us together for another Transfer... i am still surprised that one of us didnt leave... Most of our Zone stayed the same.. i am ok with that because i like alot of the people in it. i am not going to lie though... i cant wait till January 31... thats the next transfer.

This week was pretty good.. well i take that back... it was on a scale of 1 to 10 probably about a 4.5... let me explain. It has been raining really hard the past few days... our area is really hard to find people, because nobody is home and nobody walks the streets because of the hills. Put those two together and there is absolutely nobody around, and add the fact that Christmas is just around the corner so people are going out of town... :( makes things really hard... its ok though we are making things work.

There were a few baptisms that happened this past week... there was a family that i taught twice on exchanges and they asked me if i would come and be a witness at their Baptism yesterday... so i got to witness a family of four baptisms yesterday... it was such a cool Baptism... they were all very happy and excited to be baptized... it was really neat. i was really happy they invited me to come do that for them... it really shows me that i need to always be doing my best because you never know who is watching... i know you guys have told me that before and i really do understand that.

Saturday at 8? like pm right? that should work for me i am really excited to talk to you guys i have so much to say and i just want to be able to tell everything... ya know what i mean... its been my whole mission so far and i really havent been able to tell you guys everything. you should write questions down that you hav so you can ask me on the phone sound good?? i will do the same! i really cant wait!!!

i did receive the packages this past week and i am excited about those also! no i have not opened them yet... i will wait till Saturday!

i am sending my package to you guys today right after i leave here so i can get it to you by Christmas... When you get it.... You can NOT open it until Christmas ok?? Christmas Day you can open it... that is our deal or i wont send it :) sound good? Great!

Mom i sure hope you get better... i actually have been sick for the last 4 days about... it really makes things hard. i am feeling better though so everything is good with me! i cant wait to talk to you guys this Saturday... i am Excited!!

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting it was the Christmas program and i was sitting there just kind of thinking about home a little bit and how i still have a long time till i come home... the thought came to me Our Heavenly Father sent his son... i started thinking about that a little bit. Our Heavenly Father set his Son Jesus Christ away for 33 or so years... i cant remember how old he was. He sent him away knowing exactly what needed to take place and what was going to happen... i have been asked to go away for 2 years... it was kind of like a smack in the face... its true though... i went away not knowing what was going to happen and i am still doing good.

so there was my thought for the day... i love you guys so much and i am excited for Saturday!!

Love and miss everyone of you...

Love Elder Emery

December 13, 2010

Hey Guys!!! sounds like things seem to be going well!

This past week it has been in the 70's.... yesterday it was 81 degrees!!! can yoiu believe that ?? it definitely doesnt feel like Christmas.

To start off i just want to say that i am not going to be very happy if Brashers Letter did not get there... dangit! i will re-address what i said in it in his birthday letter... i didnt get dads letter off either this past week but they will be there by the end of this week. that kind of frustrates me.

Holy Cow on the Christmas card... at first i really wasnt paying attention when i pressed the button, but then i stopped everyhing and realized what was going on. That was one of the coolest cards ever!!! it was so weird to hear your voices... you all sound a little different. thank you though i have listened to it a couple times and it is just as good every time i hear it! thanks.

It is kind of funny to hear about Brash counting the presents... i can totally see him doing that, but you are right... there are people that dont even get a single thing. Brash you need to be happy for what you have i see people all the time that dont even have a home to live in... you should have mom read you the talk from the Prophet this past conference on Gratitude :). Sounds like you are doing good in Basketball... keep working hard and you will have to tell me all about it on Christmas. Did Quincie adn Jensen get there letter this past week??

Mom you are pretty funny about the Pass along card thing... i know i have sent some cards home to you all... have you given those out yet?? maybe i will send you a pack of 100 sound good?

i have never heard of that 21 thing you were talking about... i am not sure what that is... you will have to inform me on Christmas. Speaking of Christmas... i dont care what time i call... so whatever time works for you just let me know next week and i will make sure to stay open for that time... yeah i guess we can only talk for 45 min... it bugs me Pres Pike is cracking down on us and i dont really like it at all... there are so many rules its un real... i will talk more about that on Christmas.

Not alot happened this week... things are going a little slow, but we are starting to pick up some more less actives! The ward is actually acting nice to us... must be something to do with Christmas... we are using it to our advantage. last week within 2 days we heard from 4 random people that our Ward is Mean... that makes things really hard when we knock on someones door and they say " i was investigating your church not too long ago and your ward is not very nice." ha what am i suppose to say to that when i agree with that person... the only thing i can say is " the church is true... the people arent!" haha just joking!

so about transfers.. we find out on Saturday if we are staying or going... i really dont know what i want to happen. we will see on saturday i guess.

The package i am sending home cant be sent until saturday also... and i will put my cf card in it also... and yes i still have both of them. i havent taken many pictures lately, but i do have a few... i will try and take a couple more before i send it.

How is the work coming dad? are things going well? i hope so... i pray for you all the time so that you will have the power and knowledge to make thes sales! i hope all goes well! new phone? i saw it said it sent from your blackberry.

sorry that i dont have much to say, but i do thank you guys for everything... i am very excited for Christmas... i think we have a couple things set up for that day, but besides that we are just going to be doing what we do!

Love you guys... and i think about you everyday... there is not a day that goes by that i dont think about you all!!

Love you

Love Elder Emery

December 6 2010

Hey Guys!! Merry Early Christmas... it is a little early but it is coming up quick!

Alright to start off first.... about Brash. i sent him a letter last week i think it will get to him today or tomorrow, and i am hoping that it will get him a little more excited about school and to also bring his grades up. it is a little bribe, but i figured it will be worth a try to try and get him back into enjoying school i do pray fro him and you guys also... i hope you will be able to figure him out.

Sounds like today is a busy day... grandpa sent me a letter and told me about the party that would be today.... can you believe this is the second year i will be missing this?? it is crazy, because last year i was down at school. the same with nana's party... she sent me a card with money in it.. it was very nice!

i can already see the blessings from your prayers... Brendon accepted to be baptized on December 19th... the only problem is his mom was just baptized and since he wasnt baptized at teh same time as her, because he is eight it is a ward baptism, so we had to move it to january 8th because that is stake baptism day... so that part is kind of lame, but we are very excited that he is making tis choice to be baptized!!! We took a man on a tour on tuesday... he is an older singe man who likes our church (he has been a few times) he accepted to bebaptized at the end of January!!! he will be in oregon until january 18th, but he said when he gets back he would like to be baptized!! There is this part member family there is 5 of them... the dad is not a member the wife is the oldest daughter is and the two youngest are not baptized.... they invited us over to teach the middle child... her name is phoebe. she is eight, and the parents want to make sure that she is getting baptized for the right reasons. the last missionaries that taught her.. the parents didnt like the way they were teaching adn so they told them not to come back... we got a return appointment... we must have been doing something right eh?? And then there is another family with the same situation who we are going to be doing the same thing with!!! it was a pretty good week! i felt like we did get alot done!

Thank you so much for your prayers you guys are the best!

Oh... everyone will be receiving a post card kind of thing of a couple of us missionaries... hahah they are awesome pictures... you guys will get a good laugh i bet!

Dad with the garage all i have dto say is... WOW. hahah sorry i definitely have to laugh about that... i dont understand how that is possible because isnt there like a beeping noise that goes off when something is behind you??hahahahaha that is pretty funny though i had to laugh a little!

last week on Monday we were playing basket ball and i hurt my hand... it was nothign to bad jsut a sprain. i went and got it x-rayed and the doctor told me that from a previous injury i had to fragments of bonde sitting around my joint... i was like whaaa??? isnt that crazy? i dont think there is anything that they can do about it.... it is getting better though so i am not worried. what i am worried about is my kidneys. my urine has been really murky lately ... on and off, but i dont know what to do. i am alright for right now , so i can just talk more about this with you on Christmas.

Something interesting i read this week was in Jacob 4:9-10. i would highly reccomend reading this, because it is just letting us kno that God can do anything.... and we dont need to be trying to counsel him on things, but we need to take his counsel and figure out why he puts us in so many different situations... i really enjoyed it!

Well family i have got to be going... i wish i was home, becasue it doesnt even feel like Chirstmas... it feels like spring and i dont like it at all!, but anyway i love you guys so much and really appreciate all you do... have fun at the Chirstmas party!! Love you guys i will get the girls there letter this week and also the package i am sending home!!

Happy Birthday DAD!!!!

Love Elder Emery

November 22, 2010

Hey Guys hows it going??... sorry i got on a 10:30 today but i didnt have any emails from you guys so i decided i would wait for a little bit... then we went and played some ball with some Elders... that was pretty tight if ya ask me.

Alright so about Thanksgiving dinner... we are suppose to be eating with our recent convert Mary... the one that was just Baptized on the 7th. i am kind of mad about it... Mary has been out of a job for about ummm a long time now, and she just went to court to declare bankruptcy... she really doesnt have the mondey to do this for us... besides that she has an 8 year old son to provide for. Here in La Crescenta there are alot of wealthy members who could have a less active member over so that we could come over and eat with them... because President said that we can only eat with Less Active Members... the Less active members around here haent been to church in like 10 years so its hard to get them to have us over. I am just kind of frustrated about the whole thing... Christmas is suppose to be the same way... only Less Active or Part Member families can have us over. But any way... we should be having dinner on Thanksgiving, but i am not quite sure yet. it honestly doesnt even feel like the Holidays... kind of sad huh?

if you cant tell... i really dont like some of the members here in this ward... its just the way they are taht makes me mad... its like gouging there eyes out to try and get some one to take a tour with us or for help with lessons... its irritating.

This transfer has seemed really long so far... its only the third week. President either needs to get me out of here or transfer another elder in here, because i really cannot deal with theis any longer... but i have to for 4 more weeks :{ we have another transfer the week of Christmas... kind of a lame time to transfer, but thats when it happens... so if you could just pray for me so i dont pull my hair out... well theres not much to grab on to, but you understand.

We had Zone conference on Friday... that was pretty good we basically just went over the how to find people part in our Preach my Gospel books... it seems like nothing we try in this area is working though, and my companion has lost alot of faith in this area... it makes it really hard for me to keep mine up when my companion barely wants to go out and talk with people... ya know what i mean?? Everything was good though we learned alot about different things on how to start teaching lessons to people and how to try and work more with ward members... we will see how things go.

Everything else seems to be going ok... we are getting closer to Baptism with Mary's Son he expressed some more interest into Baptism, so we continue to teach him... i think that he will be baptized within teh next couple of weeks.

Sorry nothing to exciting has happened this week just alot of frustrations have been making things really hard, but i am working on trying to get those out of the way.

Anyway thanks for everything i am extremely thankful for you guys... i am thankful for dads job so that he can provide for the family and me to be out here. i am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, i am thankful for the very many blessings that our heavenly Father blesses us with... I love you Guys so Much and i hope you enjoy the Holiday up in PC...GO COUGS!!!!

Love you and miss you very much

Love Elder Emery

November 15, 2010

Hello... Hello! Sounds like things are going great in the Emery home... thats always good to hear! Dad i am glad to hear that some sales are coming up and that you will hopefully get your quota by the beginning of December... that would be so awesome!!... ok so just so you know my thinking now... right after i just typed that would be so awesome... my next thought or question was going to be "so what did you do different?... what are you applying to the work that you werent before?" yeah i know that is weird for me to say hahah that is just how we have to be thinking now out here, or we dont get anything done.

Thanks for the tips on the salads mom i will definitely go out and take care of business with the salads. Haha i am not sure if we will be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with members or not... i am not sure if we can eat Christmas dinner with members either. Last sunday we got asked if we could come over for Christmas breaksfast and we had to tell the family we dont know the rules on that... as of right now its no, but we will get back to you. So to answer your question on that... i am not sure. we will find out this Zone Conference on Friday... i hope. Oh and before i forget... a couple weeks ago a lady came up to me and told me that she knew someone that was working at the bishops storehouse in Kaysville and said that she talked to you or something... i thought that was really cool! Small Small world and it seems to only be getting smaller. if you see Lara with in the next couple of days... tell her that the letter for her and her family was sent last week... and i have no clue how long it takes to get to V.A.

Alright so about my week... it was pretty slow. We did have a few tour accepts this week, but two of them fell through and the other one is on Sunday, so we are hoping that one goes through.

This area reminds me alot of my first area over in Temple City... nobody wants to talk to you and the streets have been tracted out over and over and over, so it makes things a little bit difficult. For this week there is not much to say because we just knocked doors and talk to all the crazy people... People we start to bash with us adn try to tell us how we are wrong and all this nonsense, but we always win... My companion says he loves defending the truth with me because i can answer all these peoples crap and tell them whats up... i am not going to lie ( were you making fun of that saying?? that is one of the greatest sayings ever haha) it gets annoying when people come at us like we are idiots... dont they understand that we study for 2 hours EVERYDAY?

For two days i had a new Elder with me... His name is Elder Alisa. he is from St. George... he had been out for 2 days... all the leadership positions in the mission were at leadership training. it is really weird being with an Elder that is still green as grass... hopefully i set a good example for him and i kind of got to show him the ropes and how to do a few things out here... it was fun he is a really cool Elder i think he will end up being really good... if he stays focused, because he has a girl waiting for him and i know that can take peoples focus off... My companion is the worst at that.

China town was messed up.

We had a really good lesson last night with a less active family... i had to prepare for it, because i have no clue what the heck my companion was doing... probably sleeping :(

I did an object lesson on Faith in Jesus Christ... this family wants to go to the temple... they just have a few hold ups. The whole point of the lesson was to show them how much faith they had and how that leads them to follow the Commandments. My companion said that the lesson was Awesome and that he didnt have anything that good to teach them! i was pretty excited!! i thought it could have gone better, but i know the family knows how important Faith is, and they know how much Faith they have in Christ.

That lesson was difinitely a testimony Builder for me and i wasnt even expecting that outcome... i was shown that others people Faith in Jesus Christ really helped me know that what i am doing out here is definitely for the good no matter what people are yelling to us while we are walking down the street. This is what life is all about... to see if we are willing to Trust in the lord and do all that he says and follow is plan... We will make it back to our Heavenly Father.

Something interesting that i was thinking about yesterday...when we are baptized we are buried in the water signifying the death of our old life, adn we are brought up out of the water signifying the start of a new... Christ was baptized... buried in the water death of old life... brought up start of a new... spirit came upon him. think about that.. that is like a spiritual resurrection.. because when Christ died he rose on the third day when you die your body adn sprit separate... your body is usually buried and your spirit goes to the spirit world... when you are resurrected your body and spirit reunite. i thought it was an interesting connection..

thats about it for this week... i love you guys and i pray for you everyday!!

oh and mom you asked for any requests... the honey mustard salad dressing sounds great and if you can... My two pairs of church pants that i left there... i thought those should be of good use out here in the field. if you can find them would you be willing to send those to me?

Love you and Miss you guys more than you know!!

Love Elder Emery

November 8, 2010

Hey Guys!!! I definitely agree with Monday to Monday being slow.

Transfers came in and i am.... Staying in La Crescenta with My same companion it should be a good transfer. Sounds like things are going well back home... except for the weather :( you should just come to california it has been very warm here... it is wierd it doesnt even feel like teh end of the year, because it really isnt cold.

We Had a very successful Baptism yesterday!! she was so excited to be baptized. she ended up being good with Tithing and just figures that it uis all part of Gods Plan and apart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

speaking of Gods Plan i have had some interesting mind boggling crazy learning experiences... well to start off... did you know that Heavenly Father has God?? and that he is the father of our generation, but that isnt just like the people that have lived here or that are living here or will live here... he is the God of all the worlds that he created... there are people out there in different worlds. God may have been a Christ... because heavenly fathers father 1st son was our heavenly father... it is crazy... it makes sense becuase its one eternal round, and "as man is God once was" makes sense right... it is really deep stuff... and it is very crazy.

So Q's picture is really good... she looks like she is twenty! thats not good cause that means i have to try and keep the boys off her... and i am in California so i cant keep up with that. Sounds like her experience with reading the scriptures was way good... i am not going to lie i dont think i would have ever thought she would be doing that, but i can tell you right now that the spirit was definitely there adn that is a cool experience... i am proud of her for that, because i never would have done that before the mission, but i will definitely do it when i get back!! oh and quincie who is you Geography teacher?? is it Mr. Dau or Daw i cant remembe3r how you spell his name, but if it is... just get on his good side and he will like you, because if i can get a B in his class i know you can too!!

Jensen well all i have to say is..... Boot camp is awesome, but just sleep in so that you dont have to go during Bikes!!;) hahaha just kidding i actually like riding bikes now since i have been out here.. its a great workout!!

Brash Sounds like you are doing good in your games... keep it up!! you are awesome buddy i love you. you have to do good in school too though so you can play in jr high and high school ok?!

That is cool that Lara is in town... not so cool that all of them are in Hawaii.....Lucky!! i am sending Lara adn Dereks letter to them today... i feel bad it has taken me so long to get back to them... i have just been really busy ya know?

Speaking of healthy food... will you send me some Salad recipes and things that will make me nice and healthy?? i think that would help alot... if i just eat really simply helathy meals because we are getting the shaft on dinners haha. would you be able to do that though?? i promise you that you dont want to know why i hate germs so bad... it will make you sick! i did buy some clorox wipes today at Albertsons though... that should help some of my problem... maybe in one of my next letters i will give more info.

Well i have to get going.. thanks for your prayers for our invetigators... it has paid off i pray for you all every night and i hope that things keep going well for you!!

in my last email i forgot to tell you thanks for the money for my Retainer... Thank you i really appreciate it. i have to wear it everyday besides when i am eating... its one of the kind that has the wire ya know what i mean?? so it kind of stinks but... it is what it is.

Love you guys you are all so wonderful!!!

Love Elder Emery

October 25 2010

Hey You Guys... i did receive your Package and it was so awesome!!! it definitely made my day... because it was kind of rough day... so thank you very much. I so hope the weather is good in vegas this weekend.. it has not been very good here, and we are suppose to get a big storm this week... so i hope it doesnt move that way.

Oh interesting fact... Obama was in town this week. He was in Glendale that is about 15 minutes away from where we are serving... just to give you an idea of where i am.

There are so many armenian people here... it is insane and on top of that they are really rude. Their is also alot of Korean people in my area... i honestly dont know why i am here... i dont speak any of these languages hahahah... Glendale is the highest populated area with armenian outside of armania... Can you believe that??

alright so about the baptisms... i only got to see Josh's because the other one ended up being on Saturday so i couldnt go to that.

He was so excited i took pictures of it but i cant send you my card until you send my other one back... could you send that back for me.

It was so awesome!!

i really dont have to much time to talk but i will definitely send you a letter with more info today. sorry i am just really rushed... there is not enough time to do everything on Mondays... it is kind of lame.

Haha i got three letters with hints towards me dating lindsay when i get home... haha you guys are funny... the reason her letter was so long was because i hadnt talked with her in over 4 and a half months... adn she asked what has been going on... ha so that is my explanation for the length of her letter... then she wrote me an 8 page one... it was like a novel!

Anyway i have to be going but i have alot more to tell you so be looking in the mail for my letter this friday ok...

Love you guys so so much, and i think about you often!!!

Love Elder Emery

November 1 2010

Hey Guys... Happy Halloween!!!! Yesterday?? Jensen Happy Birthday!!! i sent you a letter... its in the mail ok?

Well we invited Mary to be Baptized... She said YES!!! her baptism date is on Sunday the 7th... we taught her about the law of tithing... she was a little bit iffy on that one so we ust have to make sure she really understands that ya know? we are very excited she seems ready. she told us that so many good things have been happening since she has been investigating the church... she knows this is the path that God wants her to be on... it was way cool to hear her say that!!

Oh Man for halloween 2012 we have to come here to this area... it is way cool so put that on the calendar. There is this street that have a bunch of stores on it... the street is called Honolulu and there was so many people that were out trick or treating from all the businesess... it was soo coool we handed out candy and pass along cards also... it was like crowds at Disneyland...yeah that big!! They say on Christmas its even bigger on that street because they have a parade and everything... the street isnt very big either it is crazy... but its definitely on my to do list for when i return! (you guys will come too)

We had a former investigator tell us that she wants to get back into religion... so she is coming to us (cause we are profesh) we had a great sit down with her...it was cool we totally had the spirit with us why we were explaining things and fixing her doubts... it was great.

Well not too much happenend this week... i am turning into a germ a phob... i dont want too but it is happening and yes it is cause of my companion... i dont want to even go into detail... ha but its bad enough that i carry around hand sanitizer. We are getting along a little bit better... its a work in progress. we have transfers coming up on Monday... i am hoping for the best... if ya know what i mean :)

i wouldnt mind staying in this area... i have gotten used to it. it is the smallest area in the mission and it is still pretty good. i am thinking President Pike should change my Mission call to Korean or Armenian... what do you think?

Thanks again for the packages and letters they are always great!! i hope Vegas was good. sounds like you all had fun. how is the job coming dad??

i think about Brash's Baptism often and i still cant believe that i will be missing it. Definitely send me an invite... oh and no i couldnt see the pictures of the yard because of the program you used to send it... so i need to see that also.

Well i love you guys alot and i hope all is well miss you tons... wish me luck today... we are going to china town... it will be very interesting.

Love Elder Emery

October 18, 2010

Alright so my week was... hmm it was ok.

Would you like me to start with the Good news or the bad news?? i will probably start with the bad news because that is what has been stressing me out the most... alright so i got your letter last tuesday... the one where you said that i should try and get a old of an orthodontist down here. Well i did i talked with sister Pike and she referred me to this one place... so i called them up and i told them my situation, and they were like yeah we should be able to fix it (My teeth have started to shift back, so thats what they were saying they should be able to fix) For the New retainer it is going to be 600 dollars... 300 for the top 300 for the bottom... can you believe that... i about crapped my pants when they told me the price. Thats the bad news for the week... i am suppose to go in this thursday to so they can take a look and maybe make a mold... i am suppose to pay the 600 dollars when i pick up teh retainer... that is if we decide to go through with that. i am over 300 dollars on my card so maybe we can use the rest of that to help pay for it... sorry i am a pain and i still lose things... i feel bad about this because i know that the money could go towards something better. Since i probably wont hear back from you today... you can call the mission office before thursday so i can know if i should go in to the orthodontist that day, and then they will relay the information to me.

Alright well i guess i have more bad news... my companion adn i really dont see eye to eye on some things... it is really frustrating. i feel like we waste alot of time and it is starting to bug me. He for some reason does not feel the same way and i dont understand why. He justifies it with something good that we did, adn it is really starting to bug me. if you read my patriarchial blessing it tells me what kind of things i will do on my mission and the blessings i will receive and blessings others will receive by me serving a mission. Serving a mission means that you are promising to abide all the mission rules to the fulness of your ability... or being exactly obedient... my companion does not like the fact that i am trying to be so strict... sometimes part of me thinks that i am with this companion to loosen up a bit... but then part of me knows that is not true. I am definitely trying my hardest to make this work.

Our week was really slow and we had alot of zeros for our numbers and i know that is because we arent doing what we are suppose too... it is hard. like i said before he is my senior companion and my district leader and he isnt trying to lead me to be a better missionary, and i dont know what to do.

Oh i did go get my immunizations, so i am all taken care of there.

Ok so on to the Good News... two of my Investigators from my last area... South Hills are getting baptized next Sunday!!! yes one of them is Josh! the other one is Jessica we invited her to be baptized the week before i left... so i get to go back and attend that and i am very excited!! i am so happy for them and their choice to take the lords path. so that is my awesome news for the week... i was super happy to hear that.

How was quincie's B-day?? that was a surprise to hear that you were in the E.R with her... hopefully everything is ok and that she will get better... no more four wheeling.

You didnt say anything about brash.. how is he?? That is really funny that Jensen still cant stay home alone... but it does look like you guys are making progress there. how is the work dad?? any close sales? hopefully you are getting close... i have faith in you and i know things will work out.

So an interesting scripture that i read this week... 1nephi 1:15 " And my father dwelt in a tent." Lehi was commanded by the lord to leave all his belonging and take his family into the wilderness with him... and ya know i never really put any thought in this scripture i just thought it was the shortest scripture in the Book Of Mormon. Think of it this way...

The lord commanded Dad to leave all of his things behind... his job, the house, my driver, espn, and take our family to the jungle.... and then i would replace it with this scripture.. "And my father begged for food." i think of it that way and i am like holy cow that is crazy... leaving everything having your family hate you and murmur against you because you are following what the lord wants you to do... i cant even imagine that. Lehi did it and Did it with alot of Faith in the Lord... so that is my great thoughts for the week.

Well thats it for this week... hopefully you call the office so i can know what to do on thursday.

Love you guys hope all goes great for you today Miss you mor than you know!

Love you all the distance form here to 724 West Mindy circle

Love Elder Emery

October 11, 2010

Hey everyone... how is k-town treating you? is it starting to get cold there?? or is it still reasonable weather?? Cause here in California it has been really hot the past couple of days and it is pretty nice i wont lie!.. again about my retainer... i didnt really understand what you meant when you said "any progress on your retainer?"... no i have no progress i lost it so i dont have it anymore... thats why i was so worried about it... ya know what i mean?? cause i know its not good to go without it. so i was just wondering what you guys could do to help me with this situation.

Well this week was alright ... i think it definitely could have been better, but cant it always be better?? we actually had more lessons this week... we had like 5 or six as apposed to the week before we only had 1 so it is going pretty good... we had the opportunity to teach 2 first lessons yesterday and that was pretty good the people seemed to retain the information pretty well so hopefully we can get them to come on a church tour... that would be so awesome... just so we can let the spirit totally take over... ya know what i saying??

I went on an exchange this week... it was pretty good. The elders name is Elder Nixon... he is from south jordan. i think?? it was pretty funny because we were talking about idaho for some reason... and then i told him that we have a family cabin up there and he said he did to! haha you know when we are going down the dirt road before we get to our lot?? well before you turn into ours you would take a right adn go up that really bumpy hill... thats where his cabin is. small world eh?? they park their boat right next to our dock... on the left side if you are standing on our dock... that is pretty funny eh?? i thought it was hahah.

My Companions name is Elder Campbell... he is from wyoming... we have not been getting along to well the past couple of weeks. but we had companionship inventory on friday during weekly planning and we pretty much said what was goiing on. He is our District leader also... and he hasnt been being very obedient and so i had to get after him and tell him what was up. i pretty much said " why am i the one setting the example for you when you are my district leader, my senior companion , adn yiou have been out for 16 almost 17 months??" he didnt really like that i was bringing this stuff up but he eventually understood, adn so we should be ok from now on... i am just trying to be the best missionary i can. Mom and Dad you are paying for me to be out here and so i feel like i cant mess up i cant waste this time because you guys are sacrificing so much for me to be out here, so i told him that too... everything should be good now.

We also had interviews with Pres. Pike that was really good he gave me some good information... and he was really appreciative of me so ya know that helped give me more pride... hahah i am just joking i am very very humble ;) ahah... but it was really good i felt good after i walked out of the interview so i guess that means something right??

Other than that things have been pretty normal the area is going pretty good i am working hard to do this wonderful work!... oh did you say taht Lindsay stopped by?? what was that all about... you will have to let me know in your top ten highlight real that will be good...

How are teh Yankees and Cowboys... adn Also th cougars doing?? you got to give me something on those... that would be nice!

Love you guys alot... everyday it gets closer to the 25th of december... which means i will be speaking with you and it is going to be AWESOME!!

Love ya if you have anymore specific questions... jsut ask!

Love Elder Emery

October 4, 2010

Hey Guys... how are you all doing??

Well about my Retainer... yeah we did order another one at the same time that i got my first one.. but you probably dont want to hear this. when i was working in Montpelier with Scot i am pretty sure i left it in our motel... so yeah thats my bad again. I didnt really understand what you meant when you said i justy need to come to you guys in trust... Thats exactly what i did... i told you as soon as i could... it just ended up being a week later and i forgot to tell you in the email so i had to write you about it... so i did come to you knowing that you would understand, but yeah you might be a little frustrated but that just comes with it right?

Alright so on to my to my past week... it was a really slow week :( it just felt like it was dragging and dragging and draggging... especially now that we are in Car it makes the day go by alot slower for some reason, so that is one thing i dont like about car. the good thing about being in car is that i am the driver! so that makes things a little bit more interesting. We live with members in their huge house!! i will take pictures of it and send it to you. Speaking of pics can i get my cf card back?? or do you guys still need it? they are pretty nice people. the worse thing about it all is that we have to walk by their pool everytime we leave or return to the home... but it hasnt been too bad because we have had a few rainy days this week ( which makes it really hard when you are having a slow week because it just puts you in a depressed mood that you have to get out of.) Our area is one of the smallest areas in the mission... so i have heard. Our area from the bottom to the top elevates 1,400 ft... thats why we are in car haha. President pike also said that our area is the hardest area in the mission... i was like thanks for the encouragement pres. haha its alright though it hasnt had a baptism since february and that is exactly how South Hills was... it hadnt had a baptism since February. i have alot of faith that this area has alot of potential.

We dont have very many progressing investigators yet... but i feel something good about to happen so i am not to worried. we have had a couple good experiences and i am getting excited so i hope to see this area take off within the next couple weeks according to my faith, obedience, work, diligence and spirit driven desire to serve.

Dad with your work i felt a need to tell you this while i was listening to Conference... All i can say about your job is... The Lord wont let you down. Do all you can tehn put all... every bit of faith you have... in the lord. Just like the story in Ether Chapter 3 when they put all their Faith in the lord that he would touch the stones or diamonds... whatever they were, and the way would be lit or something i cant remember the story exactly, but you need to read it. The Lord can take away anything from us... he can also give anything to us because he owns everything... he knows what you need to sale to make quota... you just need to do your part not only in your job but also in family and spiritual life drawing near to Christ everyday... i know you do this because i have seen it, but for some reason i felt i need to say something.

Conference was so awesome... i sat in Priesthood wondering who you went with and i also had the thought... i wonder what Dad is thinking when they had us missionaries stand up... it was so great i learned so much... but i dont have much time i have to get going i love you guys so much , thank you for the package and letters they made my day it was so great...thank you

I love you guys so much and thought about you alot during conference hope all is well and all will continue to be well

I miss you all very very much adn sorry this is not very long

Love Elder Emery

September 27, 2010

Hey Guys... well i have been Transferred again:( i really wanted to stay in South Hills for another couple transfers i really enjoyed that area and the people there... it was awesome to be able to serve in that ward. I am in the La Crescenta 1st ward now i think it should be pretty good... i am still a little frustrated that i had to leave south hills, but there is nothing i can do about it.

Anyway the past week has been pretty good... Elder Dunn and i actually set up a free kool-ade stand haha we only had one person stop by and he was 19 and he was just basically just telling us how we are wasting our life... haha i thought it was pretty ridiculous, but hey we tried to get people to talk to us.

Went on exchanges with the district leader... and that was really good he said he really enjoyed being with me and he thought i was doing really good... so that was pretty good to hear!

Oh adn you said you wanted to know just a little bit more about Mike Cruz... well i am not sure what i have already told you... but Yes he does have a wife her name is Esther and there oldest Daughter is Perla she is 21, next is mike 18 and the youngest is Christian. They are a really cool family and one of the reasons that i am dissappointed that i am not still in south hills is because i dont get to help teach the rest of the family :( which is a big bummer ya know. i have to look on the plus side though... if the family gets really involved in the church and decides to be Baptized with in the next couple months... a year from that time i can go to their sealing in the Temple while i am still here on my mission! so that would be pretty exciting.

I dont know if you remember me talking about Josh Perez he was supposed to be baptized on September 19th. Well he cancelled that because his Friend at Mount Sac died in a wrestling match and so Josh wanted his baptismal day to be a really spiritual one... but he said it wouldnt be if he was just thinking about his friend the whole time.... so that was kind of a sad story to hear.

Saturday during the day we took dinner to three young girls Jackie, Maria, and michelle tejeda there Mom works alot so they are home all the time without a parent and they really ddidnt have much to eat so we decided to help them out. They were really excited, and it was a good feeling after we did that for them ya know what i mean??

Anyway not too much has gone on this past week... i am still trying not to be too bummed about leaving South Hills but it is hard ya know?? i hope things go good in this new area.

Sounds like things are still going good there... you will have to send me pictures of the front yard i have yet to see it

I got a letter from Connor this past week he seemed to have been doing really well... he is training right now and so he was telling me about that ... it was really cool to hear from him. i have been waiting for my letter from him for a while... now i am just waiting to hear back from Davis.. i will be excited to hear whats been going on with him.

Well i am glad that this is your favorite day... it is also one of my favorite days to because i get to tell you about what i have done the past week... well except for this past one because it was really slow but usually i like telling about my week.

How are the sports and school going?? i would love to hear back from the kids!

Sorry this Email isnt very up beat but i dont know what else to say... except that i love you guys very much and i so so so miss you with all my heart!
Love Elder Emery

September 20, 2010

Alright i guess you guys are not there...thats ok though you are probably busy.

Ok so this week was pretty good we talked with alot of people and invited them to take tours... we didnt have any tours this week, so that was kind of lame but its alright because i have good news...

well i have bad news and good news... which shall i tell first?? yeah i thought you might want to hear the bad news first, because then i can end on a good note.

Ok so this week we had an hour Zone Meeting on a few simple minor changes to the mission...

Well we can no longer eat with active members of the church :( it is kind of lame and i dont really know why it has to be put in affect... President Pike told us that its because when members feed us its them thinking that they have done their missionary work for the month... ok so i agree with this to an extent. some people have that mind set, but the greatest way to gain the members respect is to be with them... and it is hard to explain everything about this ya know... most members feed us and have a love for us so they dont want us to starve so i dont know really how i feel about this change but god does and thats what matters.

The good news is that our Baptism went through yesterday... it was sooo cool his name is Mike Cruz and he was way excited to get baptized... just to see the happiness that came after he was buried in the water and brought into his new life! he is the first to be Baptized in his family adn he cant wait to get the rest of his family involved... he has a family of 5 and he is excited for them to have the same happiness he has!

so that was a great way to end off the week... so everything is going good here! we have transfers next week... i so hope i dont move cause i love it here but its not my will ya know?? sounds like things are still moving along back in Ktown... Love ya guys and think about you alot!

Oh and i was the one who Mike chose to Baptize him!

Love Elder Emery

P.S i am attaching pictures of the Baptism to this so you can see it.

September 13, 2010

Hey Guys... well today started off pretty good...

Worked out

showered

took personal study

took companion study

Then the Stake Patriarch took Elder Dunn and I Golfing... it was soo sweet! I didnt play as well as usuall... i had to play with Graphite shafts so that was a little hard. I shot a 48 haha not too bad for not touching a club since May 4th (basically). Anyway so that was really fun today, and thats why i am E-mailing just a little bit later today... i did win though :)

Dad you mentioned something really interesting... about Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 " the worth of souls is great in the sight of god." i actually studied that this morning... wierd huh? anyway you could put that scripture into a different kind of context... Think of it like this. " The worth of souls is the Atonement in the sight of God." cause if you go on to verse 11 it talks about how Jesus took upon the sins and pains of the world or for all man... or something like that. then in verse 13 it says something like oh how great the joy or how he rejoices when men come unto repentance. god is like saying Finally they are repenting for their sins... i guess the atonement wasnt in vain... not that God would every say that, but do you know what i am saying... its because the worth of souls is Great!

Alright so our week was ok... we had another elder with us from Wednesday to Friday, adn that was a little bit hard... especially teaching, but we got by ya know. We had a good amount of lessons this week so i am not to dissappointed, but there is always room for

improvement.

I am pretty sure our Baptisms are still on... with Mike Cruz we are still on for sure... he was at church and he brought his daughter with him, and he seems really excited to learn more about the gospel. We have our last lesson with him tomorrow and then his interview is on Friday.

Josh Perez was not at church on sunday because he had wrestling... so we might have to move his back a week because you have to go to church atleast 3 times before you can get baptized... he has been twice but one of the times was a few months back so we are not sure on him yet... i sure hope he follows through because he really enjoys coming to lessons and he has been a little happier since the first time we met him... i wonder why?? probably the gospel.

Mom you are very lucky to be in Virginia...is it hot there? cause it is here and it kind of stinks riding bike in it. Yesterday the air was really dirty for some reason and it was really hard to breathe... i dont know what was going on.

That is really cool that you got to meet with missionaries... i bet they were really good at what they do... i am still trying to be better everyday because their is so much to learn in so little time. Yes definitely have the missionaries over sometime because building relationships with members is a big part of missionary work and their isnt any better way of doing that than to eat dinner with them!

You guys are the best and i love you alot... for some reason i have been having the thought alot of ... i just want to go home... and i really dont know why it was kind of hard to stay focused this week... and i dont even know why. Satan is probably just trying to do whatever he can to not have us get these next couple of people unto Christ... so i just have to stay strong because i am On the winning side in the long run!

Love you all as much love Jesus had to Create this earth, make a plan that revolved around him so that we can make it back to live with him and our Heavenly Parents

Elder Emery