Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 26th 2011

July 26, 2011
Father dee doo!!
Well, I already sent you an email with mom's as well. I'll answer your questions. I don't have much time only because we had to do a survey. I may have misunderstood what they said, but I did get to see the parade, I wasn't actually in it. I still want to see the video of the parade and say, yeah, I was there live, haa. I saw the PROPHET TOO!!!!!! I took a picture of him to prove it!!! As for my visa, I haven't heard anything about it. I do think that I'll be out of here by next month though so keep your hopes up!!! As for injuries, the other email tells you about how I fell off of my bike and scraped my hand elbows and knee. Anyway, Take care and I hope to hear from you soon!!! Love you!

Mother and Father,
Wow!!! On to what I remember about my week!!
The days have started to blur together again so I'm not even sure what happened Tuesday or Wednesday. I may mix a few things up, but it's okay. So this family committed to getting married Friday (Yay!) and being baptized Saturday (¡YAY!) but non of the above happened (BOOHOO!). Sunday we invited them to Temple Square, but the wife wasn't feeling too great. She says that she might be pregnant again and if she is, she'll go back to Mexico without her husband. I hope that she doesn't tear her family apart because if she does, she may not like what comes after a few years.
I've also been looking through the Area Books to see if there are any former investigators that look like they could be taught again. I found a 14 year old girl and there wasn't any reason why they dropped her so we went by and have been teaching her since then. I've also been trying to look in the Area Books a lot since my bad day with almost no lessons and actually finding formers to teach and that's been helping us stay busy!!! We've also taught quite a few lessons so yeah!!

Saturday, I was almost ran over by a car that didn't really look to see us coming. I was riding my bike, and when I was right in front of it, they started to go!!!! Thank goodness I was going fast enough and reacted fast enough to avoid anything bad so yeah. I'm good! Monday morning, The other elders wanted to go play basketball and so we went to a nearby park. He played basketball with two other Elders while I rode my bike around. As I was going to turn on a sandy part of the blacktop, I fell off of my bike and scraped my left hand (which is the worst out of all of the other scrapes I got from my accident) both of my elbows, and my left knee. I'm fine now though, but my left hand feels like it's wrapped like a mummy so yeah. After the parade, one Elder helped me out with my hand since I still had a bit of sand in it. He cleaned it out and it hurt like TRASH!!!!! Anyway, the parade was great!!! I SAW PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was excited to see him so yeah!!!! I even took a picture of him as proof!!! I'll be sending that memory card soon! I also took pictures of dad's favorite instrument as well as a University of Utah float!!! The BYU float went before the U of U float, but as I always say, save the best for last (HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA)!!

How have things been at home? Anything cool happen? Take care and I hope to hear from you soon!!! Love you all!!!

~Elder Bauer~

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monday, July 18 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

Mother de doo!!!

This week has been fun for me!! I'm just going to paste the email that I sent to dad here so that you could read it too!!! I know, I'm super lazy, but it's okay...I hope. I also used the card for the first time today, so yeah! I hope to keep the rest of it for Spain and travel stuffs!! As for things that I'll need, I don't think I'll really need anything at all since we packed a lot of soap and shampoo! So far, the 12 bars of soap will last me the two years since I use one bar in two months!!! And the razors may last me 4 years!!! I use one every two months too and we got 24 of them. One razor down, 11 more until my mission is over. Who knows though, I may want to extend my mission for a bit longer if I enjoy it a lot!!! Anyway, on to my week!!

This past week has been pretty good, but more disappointing than good. I'm quoting Elder Holland in a talk he gave in the MTC that we have on DVD, "We caught zero, zilch, nothing, nada, no fish." Not really nothing, but pretty close to it. We've been trying to get a hold of people but nothing really happens most of the time. So Thursday when my companion and I were really depressed, we decided to look through the Area Book to get some people that were contacted, or some former investigators. We started to have a bit more success ever since.
Saturday I baptized a guy and that was an interesting experience! I was really nervous since I've never done it before so yeah. I did it right though, but I got some pointers afterwards so it was good!!! We also ran into another anti, but he wasn't as hard on us as the first one. He just said, "I don't want the Mormons," and
slammed the door. Today was the best P-Day ever!!!!!!!! We went to Temple Square and did a session there at the Temple!!! We then walked around Temple Square and went into the Tabernacle to take a few pictures and yeah!!! Those will be coming soon by the way. Then we came here to do email after getting a few other things done! I was
also told that the Salt Lake City Missionaries might be in the parade for the 24th of July so yeah!! I'm not really sure if we will be in it, but just in case we are, I don't want to be in there and not have Grandma record it, hehe. ;)

Okay, some stuff that I'd like sent to me. I don't know what they are called, but it's how I sent my pictures to you via email! There's a little thing that hooks up to the computer as a USB cable, and you can attach the camera card to it so that you can transfer pictures from the camera card to the computer. Could you get that for me? You'd probably be able to find them at Wal-Mart or Best Buy so yeah! I'd also
like a hand held tire pump, not a cheap one because those don't work, trust me. If it's above $15 it should be fine. I got a tire repair kit because my bike seems to have a hole in it, but without a good tire pump, I can't really fix it.

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. How's everyone at home doing? Is everyone being good? Take care and I'll write to you next P-Day!!!
Love you all!!!

~Elder Ezra A. Bauer~

Monday, July 11, 2011

COMPANIONS IN SLC AREA.

DISTRICT AT THE MTC

THE MEXICAN HAT ELDER

STANDING IN THE RAIN

WHO AM I?

MEXICAN ME

MY FIRST APPARTMENT IN SLC

MY FIRST BIKE

This week has been filled with awesomeness!

Oh well, here's what I remember from my week. Okay, so Tuesday, you probably know about since I emailed Tuesday so yeah! Wednesday, I don't remember too much except that we did what we usually do, or actually Wednesday we had Zone Conference from 9 am until 5:30 pm so it was a pretty exciting time for me!! We learned a lot of cool stuff there about obedience, diligence and other fun stuff like that!!!
We had a snack of pretzels and jolly ranchers so we didn't starve or anything so yeah!! The obedience lesson was awesome!!! The Zone Leaders came up with this cool little lesson that had to do with obedience!! Half of our Zone went into the kitchen to make cupcakes, and the rest of us stayed there in the room to make cupcakes! We
didn't have the instructions, and they did, so it was a pretty interesting lesson. Our cupcakes didn't taste that bad, so we did pretty well!!! We then broke for lunch and ate Hawaiian Haystacks and those were good!! I also saw Elder Espinosa there which was awesome!!!
He was in my zone a while ago in the MTC for 2 - 3 weeks so that was fun seeing him again!! I also got two new awesome ties!! One of them is just awesome and the other one has Captain Moroni so it's awesome too!!! We then went back, had more lessons, then at around 3:30 we went into the chapel to have a testimony meeting and that was pretty fun!! We then went home, ate dinner, then went out and didn't really
have much success that day, but it's okay. Thursday we had weekly planning so we planned from 1 - 4 and yeah. Before that, I think my companion and I went by the house to see how our inverstigator was doing and yeah. We talked to her for a bit and it was fun!! At 5 we had dinner with a member from an English Ward and it was brought to us and we ate it. This week we've gotten Lasagna, Pizza, Noodles with weird mushrooms that I haven't eaten in my life before, and yeah!! We also picked up some potential investigators, but nothing solid. We also talked to a family that has a baby that has some heart problems. We promised them that if they get married, that their problems will be resolved soon! We also saw the Pina family and they had some questions about the Word of Wisdom. We answered those questions for them and that was all good!! Yesterday the whole Pina family came to church and stayed for two hours. We had at least 5 investigators, or 8, but yeah, I don't remember. After that we went home, and it started raining during church so when we were riding to our appointments, we got a bit wet. We went to this family that have lots of dogs and talked to them for a bit. We also talked to them about a few things and yeah. It's
been an interesting week. Today, we bought some stuff, and now I'm emailing!! How's everything going? Take care and I'll talk to you soon!!! Love you all!!!

~Elder Bauer~

Okay, here are the answers to all of these new questions!

1. Where in SLC do I live?
I live in West Valley City just west of Salt Lake.

2. Which Ward do I attend?
I attend the Cannon 6th Branch, Spanish Speaking.

3. When will I write my sister back?
When I have time, I haven't found much time since I've been here.

4. Where are your companions from?
One is from Tampico Mexico, the other one is from
California, and the other one from Alaska!

5. Which one is going to Spain also?
Elder Gonzalez.

6. Have I used my Debit Card? Do I get allowance from the Church?
I haven't used my Debit Card. Is it good to go or do you still
need to do some stuff with it? Yes the church gives us money too, but
it doesn't take us very far.

7. Did I buy the bike that I use?
The bike that I have is a mission bike so it's not mine, I just
use it. I'll send you a picture of it when the time comes for picture
sending. It's pretty trashy, but works.

8. Am I learning rap songs in Spanish?
No, haha!!

9. Where did the Superman costume come from?
Elder Ehlen's brother works at the MTC and his fiancé gave it to
him to give it to Elder Ehlen. It was in a bag with other goodies!
Elder Ehlen wore the costume too, hahaha!!!

10. Have I written letters to my Grandparents?
Same as question 3, I will have to find time to do it.

11. Why haven't I written to Grandma?
Look at 3 or 10.

Grandparents Ontys
I don't even know their address. If you could
send them to me, that would be great!!!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

4th of July, Out in the field in SLC

July 5, 2011

Mom

Answers to your questions. The pictures from Paint.NET, yes I got them before I left, and thank you for them!!! Travel Leader, I'm not sure if I'll be the Travel Leader or not, but we'll see when the time comes.
The area in Salt Lake City I'm in is in Cannon Stake so yeah!
As for what's been going on in my mission, I already sent an email to dad about it, but I'll paste it on here so that you can read it too!!! My mission address, I don't have memorized, but I did send pictures and a little something for you in the mail today so it will have my address on it.
How has your week been? Anything new come up? Take care and I hope to hear from you soon!!! Now for the letter I sent to dad!!!
Love ya!!!


My Week

I got the address yesterday during the 4th of July so I have a letter going off home with pictures and something for mom. It has my mission address on it (no duh haha) and yeah. This week has been crazy! I wish I brought my Journal with me so that I can remember what has happened but I'll see what I can remember.

Okay so the first day after P-Day was over, which is at 6pm, My companion, and I rode our bikes to an apartment place called Seasons and we just went around there the whole evening. We saw a couple that aren't married and since that first visit, She has changed a lot!!!! We invited her to church and she came and stayed the full 3 hours!!! I was really happy to see that!!! We even visited her later that night and she says that she feels super different and that she doesn't get as mad at her "husband" and yeah!!! I think that they are
planning to be married, then baptized soon!!!
Our second visit though, she talked about how she doesn't know if God is really there or not because everyone in her family died in the past 2 years. I then told her of a personal experience of a hard trial when Giselle got cancer, then told her that God has us go through trials so that we can learn from them. I expanded a bit, and then I think that she realized that she has had a good life and that God does in fact exist!!! I was happy about that!!!

Another family we met I forget their names, but we just call them the Golden Family. We'll see if they're really golden or not, but yeah. We found them as a referral from the English Speaking Missionaries and when we got there, he was making a huge thing out of wood. When I got closer to it, I recognized it as the thing found in the middle of the Book of Abraham, the circle thing with all of the symbols and yeah. It was really good!!!! They are really receptive to what we are saying
and it's really cool to see them progressing. They've been praying and next week I'm sure that they will come to church! We've also invited them to Temple Square so we'll see if they will go there, then we can commit them to being baptized!!! We're also planning to take the Piña family with us to Temple Square and yeah!!! I'm sure that will be awesome too!! As a companionship, we have a goal of 12 baptisms this
month!!! I'm pretty excited about that!!!

Okay, so this 4th of July P-Day was the strangest P-Day that I've ever had!!! It was an all day P-Day so we didn't go and teach, knock on doors, nothing! The Mission President decided not to do that so yeah! At around 4:30 we went to the Gateway Theater because at around 7 the Mission Presided rented out a room in the theater to watch the new movie 17 Miracles!! It was an awesome movie!!! It was about the trials
and miracles that the pioneers in I think the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies and that was fun!!! Then the Director of the movie talked to us about it and we got to ask him questions and yeah!!! I had a fun P-Day!! Earlier I had my money so I got some groceries for the first time, hehe, and bought some sunscreen since I got burned
last week. I got one with an SPF of 100 so I think I'll be safe. I also got a small hand held tire pump, and tire repair kit so that I can repair any flat tires that I get, plus I think my new bike has a hole in it. My bike is a nice blue NEXT bike that looks like mine at home, except blue, and I already said that. Yeah!
Oh yeah, and last Tuesday, I had my first experience with an Anti!!! I was pretty scared, well, he didn't yell at us, he just talked to us and I just felt really different talking to him. I felt sort of sick and yeah. I didn't know what to say to him so I just stood there and hoped to leave soon. It was a crazy experience. Anyway, that's pretty much all that I've got for my week!!! I hope all is well at home!!! How's everything at home? Anything new? Take care and I'll talk to you next week!!!
Love you all!!!

~Elder Bauer~