July 30, 2012

This week has been a fun one. On Friday night we were invited to go to a BBQ festival by the Osage Beach elders. That was a lot of fun. We showed up and we were the life of the party. 4 young guys, who don't drink alcohol show up to a BBQ fest with white shirts and ties. There were people literally taking bets on who would ruin their shirt the first. Thankfully no one won that bet, we all stayed perfectly clean. I have to say those ribs they had there were the most absolutely best things I have ever tasted. Meat literally fell off the bone. It was epic. Everyone kept giving us more food because of who we were and our dress. One guy in particular we spent a lot of time with named, Husky. Husky was the exceptionally drunk guy who followed us and talked about Jesus with us. Husky is the guy in all the pictures. As you can see he has a pitcher of beer. In our group photo right before the picture was taken he throws his cigarette off into the distance and yells, "I'M A SINNER!!!!" and we all died laughing. That is why my face looks so odd in the group picture.

So now to a more serious note. We are still doing a lot of tracting down here, and every time we go we have a pretty cool experience. We have had 3 lessons this week just from tracting, and 3 new investigators. The first one we tracted into was a couple who had just gotten home from the hospital a few minutes before we knocked on the door and they learned that the pregnant lady's baby would not make it and that it would be a stillborn baby. And we show up right when she learned of that. We gave her a blessing and told her a brief explanation of the purpose of life and set up a return appointment. We came back on the set up date and they asked, "I thought you were coming on Saturday." and I responded by saying, "It is Saturday." Oh Missourians. And the part about that that annoyed me was we even brought out the branch president to come with us. Oh well, as any missionary knows, this is just what happens. The other tract was into a guy named Mike Hanes, and we talked with him for an hour about our religion and he just could not get over that we were so dedicated to doing what we do. He said he would give the Book of Mormon a look at and that we could stop by any time. Sweet! So more on him later. Then yesterday we tracted into Elisabeth. a smart lady who has read 7 versions of the Bible and has studied a lot of other religions. She was super exited to read the Book of Mormon and we see her again on Saturday. I literally wouldn't be surprised if she read the entire B.O.M. by next visit. Now that we have a pool of people to teach (about 8) now all we need is to get them to set appointments with us. Until then we will keep on looking. Well thanks for all your letters and all the prayers you send me. I can definitely feel them and I know that it is your faith that brings me to the people that I see. Well take care. Have lots of fun and do missionary work.

Elder Maurer

July 23, 2012

July 23, 2012 - Crazy and Odd Adventures of Eldon

So this week has a few odd stories and a few fun ones as well. First off, lets talk pictures. The first two pictures are of a mug that we and the Lebanon elders made at a members house in Lebanon. The member has the most interesting stamp that I wanted to use, and that stamp was of the Pillsbury dough boy! As most of you know, I am obsessed with rolls. So I figured that a roll themed mug would be appropriate. Oh and for the untrained eye I also added a belly button to the dough boy, now the dough boy is not son of none, but has loving and caring parents, instead of just being ripped and formed from an old loaf of sourdough bread. Much more child friendly. This was made a few weeks ago and I just recently got the mug back from being fired and painted.

 Next we have a picture of us and the Osage beach elders (the near by elders) at a cool restaurant in their area, that has board games under the glass of each table. and while we were there I looked over and who did i see a picture of!?!?! My daddy. That's mission lingo for trainer. Apparently he served in Osage beach AND he ate the Big Kahuna. So he must have been a cool guy. After we ate we went to a place called Haha Tonka. Apparently that means, Haha river in native American. Yep super creative. At Haha Tonka there is an old burnt down castle that was ade about 100 years ago and then burnt down shortly after its completion. All that remains is the stone. During my investigation of the castle I found that there were two distinct entrances, in the picture in the next email is of me going into the servant entrance. I bet that was one way to make sure the servants didn't eat too much and not be able to fit into the entrance.

So now for the odd and the strange. So this week we learned that a member of the branch works at a funeral home and we got the whole tour. And guess what we found? Dead people. I increased the number of dead people I have ever seen by 3 this week. Now I am up to a total of 3 people. I even watched the member move one of the dead bodies into a casket. That was the oddest sight I have ever seen. He also showed us the room where the bodies are prepped for viewing and I have to say, I never wanted to know what happens in that room and all the different tools they used, but some things you just can't unsee. Yep. Dead people. And the member also asked us to help dress dead Mormons (if they ever have to pick up one of those) into temple clothing if they can wear that...... lets just hope that never happens while I am here.

We have been doing lots of door knocking this week trying to get more investigators but not with much luck. We were able to teach Adam and Mike lessons this week (Adam is a member referral and Mike is a kind of a member referral) so that was way nice. This Sunday elder maurer and I decided to do a fast in an attempt to get the missionary work going in the area, and on that day alone we had 5 lessons, more than doubling our total lessons for the rest of the week. That was awesome. What do ya know, fasting works. I guess the things I am teaching are true. What a coincidence, God isn't a liar. Well it was a fun experience to do, we did a little amount of studying on fasting before we did it on sunday and I feel like I have a basic understanding of the laws behind it now. The scriptures say to fast oft, but never says how often. So I guess do it when ever you want to help other people.

And now for a thought has has been in my head for a while. 1 Nephi 3: 3-5.  I am sure that you will recall that all 4 sons of Lehi went to get the plates of brass. You will notice in vs 3 that Laman and Lemuel did not say they would not do it. In fact they did go back to Jerusalem. The difference is that Lamen and Lemuel said, "GARRR!!! but dad!! it is gunna be hard!!!! why!!!!!!" and Lehi was all like, "hey! i didn't ask it of you, God did." and Nephi was all like, "I will go and do it because God said to do it. I know it is not you telling me to do this but God. and God will provide a way for all things to be done" well there. Attitude is everything. We all need to try and be like Nephi, how often are we more like Laman and Lemuel, they always did exactly what was required of them, but they did it with an angry face the entire time. Now Nephi did it with a smile. Lets be like nephi.

July 10, 2012- New President

So we got a new mission president this week and we had a Zone Conference with him on Saturday. He is a very happy and excited man and I am looking forward to working with him. His name is President Shumway and he has a scripture that now describes the mission. He opened the ZC with a scripture. Moses 7:5. We are the people of Shum. Yep. Were biblical now. It was nice to see him and I am looking forward to seeing him in the future and listening to all his inspired words. He pretty much had a pep rally for ZC and he was the first one to admit it. I saw Sister Shumway again and she was excited to see me again. She said I was a special missionary ;) It was nice to see all the people from the new zone and get to know them.

Well I have to say this new transfer has been super exciting to me. I have been so happy that it almost hurts. Seriously. I have never been so happy in my life. I am working hard and not seeing any success but it doesn't matter. I am doing the Lord's work and putting him first. To any one who is questioning on whether they should go on a mission, just go. There will be hard times, and unpleasant times but the joy you will get out of the work you do will not be matched by anything else you can do. You will begin to understand your self so much more and understand the world a lot better. Life out here is so much easier, there is no decisions just work. Once you learn to just shut up and enjoy the moment. Enjoy the ride that is life. Take joy out of the stupid little things. Laugh at something, not because other are but because you find it funny. Be you, and the lord will take you as you are. Work on obedience because that is the only thing the Lord is asking of us. The word is true, Joy is from above--
Love Elder Rasband