29 July 2013

last week I had a lot of updates for y'all. this week I don't think I have very many.

it rained again this weekend, second weekend in a row. that was exciting.

and I got to go down to Pahrump for a baptism, that's always fun. a few of us carpooled down. almost crashed into some wild burros. good times.

and we volunteered at the zoo one morning! that was fun. the zoo is super small and kinda ghetto. but the guy wants us to come back so we can help him repair some stuff, should be fun. im going to try to get a picture with the chimpanzee :)

elder titus is doing great. we are having a lot of fun and have taught a lot of really great lessons recently.

its weird to think im almost done. two weeks left. a week and a half until I turn the big 21. and then a month until school starts. crazy.

remember: God is good! always. He has to be.

sorry this email is short.

love,
elder donovan

1 April 2013

we"re just chugging away here! we started teaching a few new people this week. 3 new people in fact! all had really good first lessons and all showed up to church! cant ask for much more than that!  The other elders in pahrump had similar results this past week and there is much excitement!

No more word has been received on whether or not 2 more elders are coming to pahrump next week, or if they will have a place to live. I am expecting to get sent back up to vegas next monday, but who knows what will happen. we will find out for sure this week and i will let you know next monday.

easter here was a good time. elder bloomfield and I along with 2 teenagers were all assigned to speak at church. the 3 of them talked for a combined 15 minutes, kindly leaving me 25 minutes to talk. luckily i brought a couple stories (time fillers) and all went well.

lets see what else happened...

we went on a hike last monday and found a little family of 9 wild horses, that was pretty cool!

i bought a nice dark gray suit for $3.50

i got signed up for the classes i want to take in the fall. all is set for school except for a job. im happy about that.

o hyeah! and i was able to go to the temple with brother wood and brother lamphere as they went through for their first time. that was AWESOME. it was so good to see that they are still both strong in the faith!

i hope all of you are well! feel free to let me know how youre doing ;)

love,
elder donovan :)

25 March 2013

sorry i couldnt get y'all an update last week! i was busy trying to set things up for school. big old hassle. made me want to stay out here lol.

heres whats been going on in pahrump:

the mission office called us last week and told us we needed to find another place for missionaries to live in pahrump, as there will be 6 of us instead of 4 starting in two weeks. so far the new ones will be sleeping in their car lol. im pretty sure i'll be headed back over to vegas in two weeks anyway.

nicole has had a couple really great lessons recently. we have been bringing an older couple with us and they have connected with nicole really well. they can kind of  tell her the way things are a little more bluntly than we can get away with, which must be what she needed because she decided to get baptized on mothers day! we are excited for that.

i dont know if i told y'all about andy, but he came to church a few weeks ago and said that "God had led him here". then he didn't come for a few weeks and we thought he might have moved on but he came back this week and asked what he needed to do to be baptized. we of course were happy to tell him :) we dont know him very well yet but he seems pretty genuine.

this coming saturday Brother Wood and Brother Lamphere (baptized in my first area) will be going through the temple for the first time. i'm lucky enough that i get to go through with them! it'll be really good to see them!

those are the big things recently. summer is coming on, i feel it. heard y'all back home had snow! i dont think i miss late march snow lol. be safe! make a snow man for me!

love,
elder donovan :)

11 March 2013

It's getting harder to write these update emails. everything we do just seems normal and so i dont know what y'all want to hear about.

the zone leaders came down this week and spent a day with us. that was a good time. we taught a couple people, knocked some doors. elder bloomfield twisted his ankle playing basketball and spent the day walking with a cane. that was fairly humorous.

it rained for a couple days. thats always exciting. one of the mornings it was raining we went and spread gravel in someones yard. we worked for a couple hours but had to stop because it got so muddy we couldnt push the wheelbarrows into the back yard anymore. they kept getting stuck. good times!

on saturday, our ward mission leader texted us a name and an address to go see. we did. and the guy was crazy. not sure what happened to him to make him crazy, or if he was ever normal, but hes not all there now. and his place was a mess, bugs crawling everywhere. needless to say, it was not our most productive contact ever. later when we found out that our ward mission leader has arrested this guy like ten times and basically just wanted us to check up on him. it seems like most of the people we talk to have been arrested. thats pahrump for you :)

that was basically our week. life is still good out here :) hope all is well at home!

love,
elder donovan :)

4 March 2013

it seemed like everyone and their brother wanted us to do work for them this week. we helped someone lay astro-turf in their back yard (real grass doesnt grow here), he put up a fence while being attacked by bees (3 of us got stung before we quit), we dug up an old water pipe (that was fun because there was a fountain of cold water when we found it), we cleared out a storage unit (that was a good time. i picked up a big dresser that us above my head and the top drawer slid out and EXPLODED on the floor. the lad thought she was going to be able to glue it back together. i dont think so lol. whoops ), and we helped randy move again (ive helped him move 4 times now). Good times! i enjoy doing work for people, but itd be more fun if we had lots of people to teach. it seems like the work has stagnated the past couple of weeks. we had a couple baptisms and then the rest of the people were are teaching have either been sick, out of town, or just avoiding us. but thats how it rolls sometimes.

we met a nice young family this week. they havent been to church in a long time but have a little daughter and one on the way and want to start coming back so that they can raise their kids in the church. we are going to start teaching them, we're looking forward to that.

i think it hit 80 degrees this past week. that means it'll hit 100 in about a month. pretty awesome

that was pretty much our week. nicole is still not smoking,l but dragging her feet about making any other changes in her life.

a lady said something interesting in church on sunday. she said "if you save your family, you save yourself". ive been thinking about that, wondering what i can do to "save my family" now. not sure yet. i guess ive just got to make myself the best i can be right now, and later that will help my family.

i hope everything is going great at home! be safe. and happy :)

love y'all,
elder donovan

25 February 2013

well, i made it through transfers again unscathed. elder bloomfield will continue to work together in our two wards out here in Pahrump. im very glad about that :)

nicole also made it through the week unscathed! shes made it two whole weeks without smoking. good good stuff!

work wise, the week was kinda slow. not sure why, just seems to work out that everyone is too busy all in the same week. that and i was kinda sick for a few days. but we did have a really great first lesson with a very nice lady. josh was baptized about 9 months ago and his mom recently started reading the Book of Mormon and she had a few questions. josh has been being a great missionary to his mom and we had a great lesson teaching her about where the book of mormon came from and why its so important. later, after the lesson, josh told us she really enjoyed the lesson and "cant wait" for our next one.

other big news this week: the announced who our new mission president will be starting in july. his name is Michael Ahlander from Orem Utah. he'll only be my mission president for one transfer, but its still kind of exciting to find out who will be coming.

not much else to report out here. life is good. God is great.

love,
elder donovan:)

18 February 2013

tuesday, wednesday, and thursday were full of meetings. nothing too exciting. although thursday's meeting was pretty fun. it was with all the trainers and their new missionaries. they took all the new missionaries into one room, all the trainers into another and he talked about all the problems were having with our companions lol. i didnt have anything to add to the discussion but it was funny to listen to everyone complain. lots of whiners. elder bloomfield said it was the same thing in his meeting lol. im just glad ive got a good companion in an area where we are busy.

friday we had a great baptism for travis! Travis is the man. hes a junior in high school and is super excited about the gospel. recently hes been asking about serving a mission :) i sure hope he keeps at it. hes being a great example to his family.

saturday was full of digging holes and moving people and knocking on doors. it felt good to get back out knocking after a few days full of only meetings and studying.

OH YEAH! and nicole has gone a week without smoking!!!! she was so excited to tell us. when she saw us at church she gave us a big hug and then did a little dance haha. we told her to keep it up!!!!!!!

so between travis and nicole i had a great week. people are getting better and coming closer to Christ and thats what its all about :)

i hope y'all had as good of a week as i did :)

love,
elder donovan

11 February 2013

im really tired. i wasnt even this tired when i was riding a bike. i think a year and a half of no naps is catching up to me.

this week was pretty slow (well i guess its only been half a week since i talked to you last) big things this week though. meeting tues, wed, thurs. wed/thurs are in vegas, and then friday we have a baptism! so that basically means we're scheduled full all week and we havent even started the week yet. its nice to have things to do to keep us busy.

remember to be excited about the blessings we have! randy called the class to repentance this past week (randy is the man!)
the lesson was not very exciting, so randy raised his hand and said "i think something is wrong with me" of course the teacher asked what he meant, randy went on "when i was baptized i FELT CLEAN! when i was confirmed, i FELT the Holy Spirit going into my body. This is real stuff! but i feel like im the only one that is excited about it!" lets try to remember how great God is, and then lets act like it! life is good. God is watching out for us. how could we truly get any better off than having Jesus Christ as an Older Brother and God as our Heavenly Father?

i love you all, hopefully you have a wonderful week :) im going make sure that i do :)

-elder donovan

6 February 2013

not sure what happened this week. we've been super busy, running all over town, talking to lots of people but when i sit down to write you about what we did i cant think of it. on temple weeks, when i dont get to email until wednesday i lose track of what i have already written you about.

we helped randy move again. hopefully for the last time (this is the 3rd time i have moved him). luckily he stayed close so we'll still be able to see him often.

monday we had a really great day of teaching! we finally were able to have a lesson with Vicki (she has been in and out of the hospital) and the lesson went super well. she was excited to hear what we had to teach. she excited to come to church this week and excited to keep learning more! the real challenge will be getting her boyfriend excited too.

yesterday we went down to vegas for a meeting with the zone. its about an hour drive there and back, so that was most of our day. by the time we got back home all we had time to do was eat dinner and study (they put a big emphasis on making sure we get our full study time in, especially when one of the missionaries is new).

today we road-tripped over to the temple (1:30-1:45 min drive) and had a great time. i learned a lot and it is always good to see some other missionaries other than us Pahrumpians.

next week we are going down to vegas twice for a couple meetings and hopefully (crossing my fingers) we will be having a baptism!

the rest of this week is full of teaching appointments and doing service for people.

pahrump is the place everyone wants to be assigned to work, and its becoming better and better :)

Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!

love,
elder donovan :)

28 January 2013

good week this week!

first it started by meeting my new compadre, elder bloomfield. hes tongan and is even bigger than my last companion. and much louder. hes from sandy, utah. but was born in new Zealand. hes a cool kid. im just going to try not to make him mad so i dont get smashed.

so my week was spent shoing elder bloomfield around the area, and making sure randy made it through the week alive. he was literally sick in bed from last sunday until this past friday. our week consisted of bringing him dinner and coke about twice a day, making sure he was still alive, and not smoking. all he did all week was lay in bed and watch movies about the book of mormom. BUT HE MADE IT. he had his baptism on saturday. there was a good turn out. he invited a couple friends, there were 12 missionaries, and a bunch of people ward. after elder tews pulled him out of the water randy looked up in the air and said "you lose satan!" AWESOME! hes the man. and hes so happy. on sunday i was able to confirm him and hes doing well!

the other excitement his week was supplied by 4 days of rain. and so we've been driving in the mud all week. and now our car and our shoes and our house and our pants are all covered in mud. its fun

im going to do my best to spend the rest of my mission out here :) we'll see though. every time i start having fun i get moved lol. life is good though! we are teaching people. and finding new people. and the wards are taking car of us. and the weather is great!

love all of you. be good. stay safe and healthy!

-elder donovan :)

21 January 2013

so we did end up moving. and we might end up moving again soon. so the easiest thing would be to go back to sending mail to the Allen lane address.

the new place is big, but its dirty. so a lot of the last week was spent making it live-able. its getting there. still lots of dust. and a few mice remain uncaught. but we'll get em!

transfers are tonight and im getting a new compadre. today is his first day in the mission, so i know nothing about him. theres still only going to be 4 of us out here in pahrump. but thats alright, we're still having fun, and the work continues to  move along :)

randy is doing great! if all goes as planned he will be baptized on saturday and we're hoping for a big turn out. satan is working hard on him though. he went to the hospital yesterday. the cops came to visit him earlier in the week (hes alright, and did not break the law) and he's staying strong. he keeps saying "satan is a punk!" haha, i think randy's gonna make it though. so far hes doing great!

next week i'll tell you all about my new companion. im hoping he's cool! even if hes not, it'll still be a great week if we get a baptism.

i hope everyone is doing well back home! dont forget to pray.

love,
elder donovan

14 January 2013

this past week we went down to vegas twice. once on tuesday, for zone meeting and to go up to the mission office. and then again on friday for interviews with President Black. everytime we go down to vegas its at least an hour driving each way. on tuesday it was almost 2 hours each way because we had to go all the way up to the mission office. so we always carpool with the other elders who live in pahrump and we turn it into a party.

wednesday was filled with building a bunk bed and knocking on doors. nothing super out of the ordinary. we did meet an interesting man who wanted to tell us what we believe. we didnt handle the situation very well. arguing never works. which i knew. just forgot for a moment lol. so we talked to him for about half an hour in front of his house. basically it has a waste of a half an hour and nothing was accomplished. but i wont do it again, at least not for awhile lol.

on friday, before my interview with the mission president, we found out that my members that we live with will be going to arizona for a job for who knows how long. so we'll probably have to leave and move in somewhere else. im not sure what will happen, but they leave thursday lol, so im sure we'll figure out something soon.

also big news this week. randy quit smoking! although, we called us this morning and said he took 3 puffs. but he made it 4 days without any. and hes aiming to be baptized in 2 weeks. so he still can do it! i just hope hes not too disheartened. we'll talk to him later and see how hes doing.

other than that, not too much going down. transfers are next monday, i dont think anything out here in pahrump is gonna change. we'll see.

oh, and we saw 4 coyotes this morning, that was pretty cool! also cool, our water pipes froze last night so we had to go to the other elders place to shower.

i hope everyone at home is doing well! love and miss all of you!

-elder donovan

7 January 2013

another good week out here in pahrump! started the week by going to death valley. basically, we drove an hour plus to go see more desert lol. but it was a cool desert. . not very pretty, but interesting. and the weather was perfect for hiking. we went on a 4 mile hike up and down a bunch of sand dunes. another 2 miles to see a natural bridge, and then another short walk out to the badwater salt flats (lowest elevation in the hemisphere). all very cool!

the rest of our week was full of planning for lessons only to have the people cancel. we saw a lot of randy. helped him move, again. this time he lives right across the street from the church building, so thats better for all of us involved.

on thursday, another elder and i went up to vegas for an all-day leadership meeting. it was a long, slightly awkward drive, but once we made it to the meeting it was fun because all my buddies were there. they all said that the mission office has been much quieter since i havent been there lol. good times causing trouble in the mission office :) maybe thats why they sent me all the way out here.

the rest of the week was filled by doing service for the old ladies in the ward and knocking on doors. nothing too exciting there.

we'll see what the next couple of weeks bring. life is still good out here! currently i am working on running my first marathon, so i'll make sure to keep you informed on how that goes.

have a wonderful week! be good.

love,
elder donovan :)

31 December 2012

hopefully everyones christmas was great! mine was. i got to talk to my family awhile, including Bradford and Carrie, and Grandma and Grandpa, and lots of cousins, which was great!!!!!! the rest of christmas was spent by playing cards with randy (one of the people we are teaching) and then just relaxing at the other elders place. it was a good stress free day.
but it kind of messed up the week. it seems like everyone in pahrump was too busy to meet with us this week. but this coming week should be better.
tomorrow is also another "non-proselyting" day (which means we arent suppose to go out and work) (i guess to help us avoid people with new year hangovers, or something, i dont know) so i'm going to Death Valley! not sure how im getting there yet, but im gonna make it happen.

i found out today (unofficially) that my are is going to split this transfer giving me (probably) a new companion, only one ward to cover, and 6 elders total in pahrump. if it actually happens it'll be pretty cool. who knows though. the last elder who was out here told me that President Black told him thats what will happen. we'll see lol.

i hope that everyone got what they wanted for christmas! i did :)

have a wonderful week :)

love,
elder donovan :)

24 December 2012

I'm probably having the most fun I've had on my mission. its super fun to be out here working! life is good :)

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17 December 2012

pahrump is awesome! maybe just because its not vegas, but so far im really liking it!  its small, just 3 stop lights. we live about with members who are about 5 miles away from the nearest stop light. it has rained for the past few days, and many roads are unpaved out here so we have had lots of opportunity to use the four-wheel-drive on our truck :) we teach a guy who lives in an RV and we are going to start to teach another this week, after he gets out of jail. the mountains have been covered with snow all week. people out here have all sorts of animals. pigs, horses, cows. there is even a guy who walks around town with a goat!

my companion is named Elder Corcoran. hes from Missouri and has been a missionary for 2 months now. hes half samoan and huge, so everyone one is always asking us for help moving. we did 4 in the last week!

this week we went around to everyone we could meet and offered them a christmas message. not many accepted, but it has been a good way to spend time.

our two wards seem really great. mostly nice old people. some of them are "snowbirds" from colder, more northern places.

we're going to go to Death Valley soon on a p-day, since its in our area. im excited for that!

all is great here! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-elder donovan

10 December 2012

sorry to everyone who emailed me, i dont have time to respond to them today but i will next week!

im getting transferred to Pahrump! its west of vegas. there are only 4 elders out there. i will be the district leader over them, so no longer am i in charge of babysitting 18 missionaries. just 3 :)

i'll have more info next week. and more time.

ok, more next week! got to run.

elder donovan