Mother,
Sounds like you guys had an awesome week. I'm glad Grandma will still be living close when I get back and that she is happy. Dallin's game sounds cool. No, size doesn't matter in flag football, but when they move on to tackle, it will be a different story, so tell Dallin he needs to start finishing his dinners and eating seconds and thirds. He should just watch how much Mark eats and eat like that. I miss father son campouts and soggy hotdogs. Even before the mission, I felt like I hadn't gone camping in forever. The party sounded awesome as well and I hope that that stays a tradition.
Monday, May 20, 2013
May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
May 13, 2013
Mother,
It was really cool to see you guys yesterday. Kind of wierd how few people there are at home right now. I really like the pictures you sent too. It looks like Dallin's Party was fun. I can't tell what Dallin and his friends are holding, though. They kind of look like giant tubes of lipstick, but I'm hoping that's not what they are. The picture of Nathan and Mark reminds me of the part in one of our movies where Kayla and Krystal have bag hats on there heads and are throwing grass at eachother. Also, Dallins cake looks really good, if a little disturbing. They don't really have cake in Ukraine. It looks like cake, but it's really just bread. It tastes good, but it isn't cake. I did get the easter package by the way. I got it about a month ago but forgot to tell you. I still have a few peeps that I haven't blown up yet. They don't have graham crackers here, but I have been making improvised s'mores with this type of cracker that is pretty close. They don't have marshmellows here either, so the peeps were actually really useful. I am glad that Grandma will still be living close. Did Uncle Austin and his family already move to Spokane? This was a really great week, but a little bit crazy because of Zone Conference. I kind of don't know what else to say, since I talked to you yesterday. I am working hard and still trying to reach my potential as a missionary. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Jolstead
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013
Mother,
That's cool about the baptisms. We are looking for convert baptisms so much that sometimes we forget how amazing the baptism of 8 year olds is too. Yeah, sometimes it takes a few tries to get the baptism done right. The last baptism here, a man was baptizing his wife and she was afraid of going backwards into the water, so that one took a few tries and some coaching. I'm glad the saturn still lives. The neon is more fun to drive, but the saturn looks cooler and you can actually hook up your mp3 player to it. Plus the neon is basically Mikey's now. So we can skype at 9:30 in the morning your time. That's the time that works out best for my companion and me. Really excited to see everyone, even though it seems like I just skyped you guys for Christmas last week. Time flies by on a mission and I'm having trouble shooting it in the wing so that it flies slower.Sunday, May 5, 2013
April 30, 2013
Ma,
Those Spring String Fling pictures are all blurry. Ha ha, it looks like a sasquatch sighting. Thank goodness for very few seniors at the SSF. My butt hurts just remembering going to those things. I'm also not sure what Dallin is doing in that other picture. I'm glad Grandma is home safe. Does she have any idea where she want's to live? Not in that other place. The people there were stupid. Sounds like the work is happening in Spokane pretty well. That is a great idea to have a family night with the Dachs. They are one of the families that I visited when a ward missionary that I still think about every once in a while. Who are the missionaries in our ward now? I probably won't know them. Weird that I've been gone for so long already. Elder Jepson and Miller are probably almost going home.April 22, 2013
Mother,
That's good that Mark has a job already. Talking on the phone is one of the things a mission teaches really well, so he should feel right at home. It sounds like ward conference went well. The home ward is really awesome. So I heard that there were like two big explosions in Boston and Texas and that one of them was a terrorist attack. What was that all about? I'm glad that in Ukraine I don't have to worry about terrorists, because a terrorist attack here probably wouldn't be very big news or have an impact on anybody else, which is actually kind of sad.
The weather here changed drastically this week and now it is really sunny and warm. Walking around in white shirts and ties without coats really adds a whole new demention to missionary work. A lot more staring, which is good, because then they are curious and we have there attention. In this part of the world, a majority of the people still don't recognize mormon missionaries, so it gives us a good opportunity to explain who we are and why we are here. We weren't able to have very many meetings this week, so we went through the branch list and started visiting all of the names that I didn't recognize. If I don't recognize them, it means they are less actives, because I know all of the actives by now. We got through the whole list. It was a lot of walking. Not very many of them answered when we got there, but I'm hoping it was because we just picked a bad time and most of them weren't home and we can catch them later. Not very much visible success this week and I don't have too much more to write. The Kiev Temple President will be coming next month to talk to the branch, so that will be cool. Hopefully we will be able to get more members excited about Temple work and how cool it is that they have a temple in there country so close. Well that's about it this week. Hope everything is going great at home! Love you!
Elder Jolstead
That's good that Mark has a job already. Talking on the phone is one of the things a mission teaches really well, so he should feel right at home. It sounds like ward conference went well. The home ward is really awesome. So I heard that there were like two big explosions in Boston and Texas and that one of them was a terrorist attack. What was that all about? I'm glad that in Ukraine I don't have to worry about terrorists, because a terrorist attack here probably wouldn't be very big news or have an impact on anybody else, which is actually kind of sad.
The weather here changed drastically this week and now it is really sunny and warm. Walking around in white shirts and ties without coats really adds a whole new demention to missionary work. A lot more staring, which is good, because then they are curious and we have there attention. In this part of the world, a majority of the people still don't recognize mormon missionaries, so it gives us a good opportunity to explain who we are and why we are here. We weren't able to have very many meetings this week, so we went through the branch list and started visiting all of the names that I didn't recognize. If I don't recognize them, it means they are less actives, because I know all of the actives by now. We got through the whole list. It was a lot of walking. Not very many of them answered when we got there, but I'm hoping it was because we just picked a bad time and most of them weren't home and we can catch them later. Not very much visible success this week and I don't have too much more to write. The Kiev Temple President will be coming next month to talk to the branch, so that will be cool. Hopefully we will be able to get more members excited about Temple work and how cool it is that they have a temple in there country so close. Well that's about it this week. Hope everything is going great at home! Love you!
Elder Jolstead
April 15,2013
Mother,
It was really awesome to see all of those pictures and no I didn't start crying. Mark looks really good. The fact that he may have trouble adjusting just shows what an amazing and dedicated missionary he was, and is. As Elder Holland said, "Your mission is forever!" I hope that I have trouble expressing myself in English when I get home. Right now I have trouble in Ukrainian, but I'd like to reverse that before the end of my mission. The only problem is that unlike Brazil, there aren't many native Ukrainians serving in my mission and a lot of Ukrainians speak english, so the temptation is really strong to revert to english. I keep having to resist. It's cool that Mark already has a job interview. What are his plans now? I'm sure that's the last question he wants to be asked right now, but I'm very curious, because he had no idea when he left two years ago.
I love conference! So many amazing talks! Sunday was full of powerhouse talks. I loved Elder Perry's talk about how God and His commandments never change. I hope that I have half the fire that that man has when I am his age, or at any time in my life for that matter. We all know how I feel about Elder Holland, so I don't think I can even express how I feel about his talk. I get goosebumps whenever that amazing servant of the Lord speaks. I hope that every member was listening during Elder Nelson's talk about "riding the wave". I've said it a million times, but the Lord is hastening his work and he needs EVERYONE to step it up and work with all they have to bring others to Christ. Sister Dalton's last talk was really, really cool as well. President Monson's talk on obedience single handedly answered almost all of the questions that I had written down in preparation for conference. Besides the spiritual aspect, I just can't believe he burned down a field! That man's life is full of so many rich experiences that it is clear that Heavenly Father was preparing him his whole life. Conference went by so quickly and I can't wait to get the Liahona so that I can study the talks more.
I had some pretty cool experiences this week, even if I really haven't see any fruits from my labors yet. I have done a lot of walking and contacting this transfer, which has kind of slowed down the whole weight gaining thing. On Saturday, after conference we couldn't really set up any meetings with anyone, so we went out to contact our way to some less active members apartments. I had two Book of Mormons with me and I had said a silent prayer, asking to be able to place both of them before I returned to the apartment that night. It is way more difficult then it should be to place a Book of Mormon. We worked and talked with probably literally hundreds of people, but I wasn't able to give away a single one. Then, a couple of blocks away from home, seven minutes before nine, I started to talk to this old guy who was actually kind of interested. Then, while I was talking to him, some random young guy walks up to me and asks me in English if he could have one of those books. I gave it to him and Elder Gmeiner explained it to him while I talked to the other guy. Neither one of them gave us there numbers and they haven't contacted us, but it was just a testimony to me that Heavenly Father answers prayers if we ask in faith, acting on what we want to happen.
Well, I'm glad that you guys are having a lot of fun and enjoying having Mark back. I loved what Elder Eyring said about when you serve, the Lord not only draws you closer to him, but also your family. I know that even though I am on the opposite side of the world, we are becoming a closer and happier family as I serve with everything I have, which is what I am trying to do. I love you all!
Elder Jolstead
It was really awesome to see all of those pictures and no I didn't start crying. Mark looks really good. The fact that he may have trouble adjusting just shows what an amazing and dedicated missionary he was, and is. As Elder Holland said, "Your mission is forever!" I hope that I have trouble expressing myself in English when I get home. Right now I have trouble in Ukrainian, but I'd like to reverse that before the end of my mission. The only problem is that unlike Brazil, there aren't many native Ukrainians serving in my mission and a lot of Ukrainians speak english, so the temptation is really strong to revert to english. I keep having to resist. It's cool that Mark already has a job interview. What are his plans now? I'm sure that's the last question he wants to be asked right now, but I'm very curious, because he had no idea when he left two years ago.
I love conference! So many amazing talks! Sunday was full of powerhouse talks. I loved Elder Perry's talk about how God and His commandments never change. I hope that I have half the fire that that man has when I am his age, or at any time in my life for that matter. We all know how I feel about Elder Holland, so I don't think I can even express how I feel about his talk. I get goosebumps whenever that amazing servant of the Lord speaks. I hope that every member was listening during Elder Nelson's talk about "riding the wave". I've said it a million times, but the Lord is hastening his work and he needs EVERYONE to step it up and work with all they have to bring others to Christ. Sister Dalton's last talk was really, really cool as well. President Monson's talk on obedience single handedly answered almost all of the questions that I had written down in preparation for conference. Besides the spiritual aspect, I just can't believe he burned down a field! That man's life is full of so many rich experiences that it is clear that Heavenly Father was preparing him his whole life. Conference went by so quickly and I can't wait to get the Liahona so that I can study the talks more.
I had some pretty cool experiences this week, even if I really haven't see any fruits from my labors yet. I have done a lot of walking and contacting this transfer, which has kind of slowed down the whole weight gaining thing. On Saturday, after conference we couldn't really set up any meetings with anyone, so we went out to contact our way to some less active members apartments. I had two Book of Mormons with me and I had said a silent prayer, asking to be able to place both of them before I returned to the apartment that night. It is way more difficult then it should be to place a Book of Mormon. We worked and talked with probably literally hundreds of people, but I wasn't able to give away a single one. Then, a couple of blocks away from home, seven minutes before nine, I started to talk to this old guy who was actually kind of interested. Then, while I was talking to him, some random young guy walks up to me and asks me in English if he could have one of those books. I gave it to him and Elder Gmeiner explained it to him while I talked to the other guy. Neither one of them gave us there numbers and they haven't contacted us, but it was just a testimony to me that Heavenly Father answers prayers if we ask in faith, acting on what we want to happen.
Well, I'm glad that you guys are having a lot of fun and enjoying having Mark back. I loved what Elder Eyring said about when you serve, the Lord not only draws you closer to him, but also your family. I know that even though I am on the opposite side of the world, we are becoming a closer and happier family as I serve with everything I have, which is what I am trying to do. I love you all!
Elder Jolstead
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