July 13, 2009

Hello all,

So I am at the library using the computer to be able to send an email. My email address is elder_price@myldsmail.net but the mission pres said he would like all letters and things to be sent to the mission home and he will forward them on to me.

I got here on Tuesday which was fun; oh and lets just start at the beginning. Our plane did get delayed for a little bit but then we switched planes and were on our way. It was kinda cool because people who were flying with us who were members were like oh I feel so safe on this flight and just little things like that. I felt so special like we are the Lord's messengers and that He protects us in our journeys. I thought that was pretty cool. After we landed, we met the mission president and his wife. They were really nice people and took us to the home which is really nice and the beds were comfy! We also had a really good yummy tasty dinner! Then the next day we went to Kirtland and did a tour of the temple and we went to the Visitor Center, the Witney Store, and to the top room where the prophet had visions and revelations. That was a cool experience and you could really feel the spirit strong there. Then we went to the stake center right there and got our companions. That was neat to because we went to a room with just us and the trainers. The Mission President gave us our companions and then he bore his
testimony about how the Lord is really the one putting us with each other and how He is the one giving us our companion. It was really neat because I could feel the spirit strong and I knew that my companion was the one the Lord had for chosen for me. Also, I quick note, I heard from a guy at the visitor center that Joseph Smith approves or handpicks each and every missionary that is called to Ohio. So knowing that he approves of me to be here and build up the Lord's church here is something that really touched me. My companion's name is Elder Heyland and he is pretty cool. We have been learning to get along good and we are trying to find people to teach. So let me tell you a little about my area. I am serving in Fremont, OH and we are living in the “castle” right next to the President Hayes Memorial Building (the past US President). So every morning we go walk around there for part of our exercise. Our apartment is called the castle by everyone because it is a 3 bedroom, 1 ½ bath, kitchen, living room, dining room and a study room! I was told that this is going to spoil me because it is the biggest apartment in Ohio. It's actually the second floor of a member's home so its pretty cool. Sometimes we go downstairs and they feed us treats! Fremont is a small town of only 15 thousand people and there is just one branch here with about 60 members. About 40 maybe that were there on Sunday. They are great people. We have dinner with a member everyday so I don’t ever go hungry! I was told I'm going to get spoiled because I have the biggest apartment and always being fed and the last 3 assistants to the President came from here. So far we have taught every lesson and we have 2 people with a baptism date and 1 more almost. We are already jumping in the work. On Saturday we went to the hospital to see a new convert who just had her baby, a little baby girl named Kessa. That was really neat and fun. It was funny when she told us to hold her and we said we can't, it's a rule. She said just do it anyways! She was really cute, 10 lbs and a full head of black hair. What is really neat about that is we got to give the baby and her mother a priesthood blessing. It was a neat experience for me. The blessing was neat because we felt the spirit really strong and you just know that the Lord loves all his children, especially the little ones that just left His presence. Everytime we give a blessing (we gave some to the sisters at the MTC before we left) you can almost feel the Savior standing in the circle with you directing you on what to say and do, it's really spiritual and neat.

While tracting, which us missionaries do a lot, we have already had a door slamed in our face, someone yelling at us for when they had a no solicitating sign and they were devoted catholics and love their church, and a guy that yelled at someone for talking to strangers on the street! It makes me laugh. But we have also had people who are nice talk to us and invite us back. We are taking 2 Book of Mormons and a few Finding Faith in Christ dvds this week. We are doing good I would say. A fast story...my first lesson we went to this investigator's house and we were going to teach her the second lesson and we prepared all morning for it. We were teaching her and were just about to commit her to baptism and she starts yelling at her cat! She says sorry, then my companion was just about to ask again and she yelled at the cat again. Haha it was funny but he finally commited her and she got excited and says "yes! I'll be baptized" and we were so happy for her. She was like, "let's celebrate!" And went into the house and said she was getting some wine! We both turned and looked at each other and were like "uh oh, what do we do" and my companion said he didn't know because this hasn’t happened before! And we were like, "word of wisdom". So then she comes back out and hands us glasses and we said "no we can't and she wouldn’t let us say no and she kept trying to get us to drink and I was like "no we don’t belive in this" and all that stuff and she was like, "come on, we are celebrating!" Well, I look at my companion to see what he was going to do and he looks at me, looks at her, and says.. "anything for a baptism!" And drinks it!! Haha I was like whoa what is going on. Then they started laughing and ya they pulled a prank on me! She was actually getting baptized next week and they were just pulling a prank on me with cranberry juice! It was really funny but at the same time I was like why would he even drink it? But ya there is a funny story of my first lesson!

We are also teaching someone who is being baptized in a few weeks who is about 400 lbs and we might have to have both of us in the font to be able to do him. Ya these are some of my cool stories so far. I have been writing a lot in my journal. Its just hard to write them all out in emails and letters. But I have been saying prayers at everything and had to give a testimony/talk my first week at church! But other than that everything is going good and I'm doing good too. We are learning the gospel and out preaching it all the time! Oh, and we have a car mission and drive a Chevy Malibu. Did you know that the church buys new cars and sells them after 40k miles? I thought that was cool.

Thank you so much for all your letters you sent me! Especially the ones that I got the day I was in the misson home. It was really great to be able to have some letters to read and be able to know that people are thinking about me while I'm out here. A cool thing with prayer happened yesterday. We weren't meeting our goals and were having a hard time finding people while we were tracting and we said a prayer and the next few houses people talked to us and seemed semi-interested! :)

Well my time is about up but just remember that I love you and the Lord loves all you very much. I am so grateful for all the letters that I have received from you. Remember, testimonies grow the more you share them. I'll try to include more spiritual experiences in my future letters. The area here is great. I love it and the people. I'm excited to keep sharing the gospel with all of them. Love you so much and hope to hear from you all again soon.

Love, Elder Price

P.S. I went to the John Johnson Farm the other day with an investigator and that was really neat; she had a great time. Also, I can feel the Savior's love in all those around me and can see ways that the gospel has blessed me and things in the scriptures are in a way coming to life now and it's an awesome experience. Missions are great! :)