Martha's Vineyard 2010

 

"I Love Being a Missionary..."

11-24-2010

Hello again,

Sorry I'm late writing this week. We had a district activity yesterday in Martha's Vineyard so I never got to the library. Martha's Vineyard was awesome. We had a lot of fun out on the beach (nobody got in the water haha). It was somewhat cold in the morning but it warmed up later on. Too bad our district is so far apart so we can't do activities like that more often. 



My Beach!  :-)

 The week went really well. We taught the Pabst family who was referred to us from the member and they had a lot of good questions. I could feel the spirit so strong as we answered their questions and went through the first discussion. They each accepted a Book of Mormon and will hopefully read and pray before our next appointment this week. I feel very good about them and their interest in joining our church. As for our other investigators, Carolyn is still struggling with obeying the word of wisdom.  Jim is the one who arranged that package that you should have gotten a few days ago. That's all for you, nothing for me to keep. He wanted to send to our families what we are experiencing here on the Cape. He's creative and so charitable.  Allyssa still seems disinterested, but enjoyed watching The Testaments in our last appointment. I hadn't seen that movie in a while and it was so powerful to me, and hopefully to her as well. We continue to struggle finding a time to meet with Dan, but he wants to be baptized yet still struggling to tell his folks. 

District Meeting was kind of cool because we had to sleepover the day before. It was like the MTC all over again. We had tours again this time with the Martha's Vineyard elders.  I stayed in Brewster this time with Elder Morales. Not only did I get to drive again, but this time I was basically in charge of scheduling appointments and figuring out what to do. Not an easy job but it was a decent day. Matter of fact, today I'm on tours with Elder Willard in Brewster. Again not a busy day, so we'll see what happens.

I've been struggling to come up with ideas for a Christmas list. Really the only two things I can come up with is a Red Sox cap and hoody to buy here. I'm sure you guys have some ideas for me so feel free to go for it because I'm no help haha.  I'm warning you now, I probably will be writing next Wednesday because Transfer Week changes P-day to Wednesday. 

Thanks again for the package and letters last week.  I have gotten a few letters from friends at school and other elders. Hope all is well and things are running smoothly.  I love being a missionary and enjoying the experiences I have each day. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!  I love you all. 

Elder Henson

Fly-By Week - On Splits for the 1st Time

11-15-2010

What up everybody!

… Another week on the Cape.  We had a lot happen this week. I went on splits for the first time on Tuesday. It was a solid lesson despite the little kids being...well kids. Ha-ha!



WE LOVE the Red Sox!

We went to leadership training the next day back in Weston. Such a long drive! The training was good and reminded me somewhat of the MTC all over again.  After that I had my first "tour" as I worked with Elder Snyder in Hingham. Elder Snyder is from California and is actually leaving at the end of the transfer. He's a very funny guy that was good to learn from because he had a lot of advice from his experiences. Hingham was a really nice area. You could see downtown Boston from certain spots there. The people that we met and taught there were really sincere and we had a lot of spiritual lessons during those two days (it was a super tour).

Got back to Brewster with Elder Crandell and realized how different and unique Cape Cod really is. ha-ha We were invited to an Eagle Court of Honor for one of the young men in the branch. They went all out with this Court of Honor, just decorated everywhere. We got to participate in the program since both of us are Eagles so that was cool. It made me very proud to have gotten that award, even though it was a pain.

Cool thing happened yesterday where we had a "break the fast" meal at the church after Sunday meetings. It’s pretty nice to not have any other wards/branches after you so that can happen.

The weather has cleared up the last few days and it has been beautiful outside, though it is still chilly, especially at night.

Our investigators are continuing to progress. Carolyn hasn't smoked for three days, which is a huge deal. Jim is doing well with his business, and he met one of the members of the branch the other day with us. Allyssa read a little from the Book of Mormon and hopefully will gain a little more interest in that. We have continued to be steady with our key indicators and we have a lot of appointments and lessons lined up for this week. So many that I was frustrated trying to schedule them all in! Ha-ha. It’s amazing!

Hope all is well back home.  I'm glad you guys enjoyed those letters. I miss you guys and am praying for you all daily. Keep up the good work and the blessings will flow in :)

Have a great week!!

Elder Henson

Success and Blessings

11-8-10

Hello again everyone,

What a great week!

I am very happy with the success and blessings me and Elder Crandell have had the last few days. We've set up 3 baptismal dates. Carolyn has a calendar set up so she meets with us twice a week and quits smoking and drinking coffee by the 14th so she can be baptized on the 27th. We are still working with Jim to get to church and set a goal for December 5th to have him baptized, but that's more of a faithful goal. We have a new investigator Dan who has met missionaries before and wants to be baptized but is afraid to ask his parents (more his grandma), so we're helping him gain confidence. Also we met and taught Allyssa who is friends with a member, Katelyn, and we set a date for December 18th with her. There are also a couple referrals we have contacted who are interested in the discussions so there looks to be more dates coming. It is awesome!

Elder Crandell had us use the cup lesson for most of our lessons this week. It is a visual display of a cup pyramid that shows the foundation of the church, the twelve apostles and the prophet. This shows the same church that Christ established during His ministry is on the earth today in the same organization. I was impressed by it, and so was our audience (ha-ha). 


Zone Conference in Weston was pretty cool. I got to meet many more elders and learned some good skills to have on the mission. That morning our car had frost on it, so we had to scrape it off. It was 28 degrees that morning!!!  Brrr! 

President and Sister Evans' son, Will, was at ZC and he, to my astonishment, was my EFY counselor from '07!  It was awesome to catch up with him. (Especially For Youth (EFY) is a youth program sponsored by the Church and is held each summer at various locations.  Brandon attended the ones held at Brigham Young University-Provo, UT)

I just got over a little cough and sore throat that I had most of the week. The weather just continues to get colder and wetter (ha-ha). Stake conference was also this weekend in Franklin. It took two hours to get there...but it was good. Elder W.T. David Murray, an Area 70, was the visiting general authority.

This week should be interesting as we have leadership training back in Weston and then my first companion exchange, or tour, after that. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm sending letters to you guys today so those should be there in a couple days.

Thank you for your unconditional love and support. Hope you all have a great week!

Love you all!!!

Elder Henson

Solid Week on the Cape

Monday, 11-1-2010

Hey Hey Everybody!

I’ve put in the first full week out in the field. I am starting to love it out here but still adjusting to the new life. There are a lot of good and promising things going on out here. Elder Crandell and I are putting our best effort into this area.



My 1st Companion

 We have a couple investigators. Carolyn has been investigating for awhile.  She's great & continues to go church so we're just helping her as best as we can. Jim is another investigator and he is a saint. He has helped us out so much with what's what in the area and getting us things that we might need. He loves to talk and and we have some good conversations with him. He's a little self-conscious about a few things so we hope to bring members to his store to fellowship with him. We are picking the weeds and finding a few other new investigators here and there so we are continuing to fill our teaching pool. I love the Brewster Branch! They're such a great group and they really do love the missionaries.

There's this one 10 year old Alex Biega who is just a stud. He plays hockey and basketball, and also can “jerk” and dance. He reminds me a lot of Bryce and I see him as another little brother. Pretty much all the young men in the branch mess with us like older brothers. It's pretty laid back, ha-ha. We get dinners from members most of the week but there are a couple days where I have to bust out the frozen dinners and chicken noodle soup ha-ha.

The views I've seen!
October 2010


The weather was nice early in the week but it is getting cold very quickly all of a sudden. The sun is out though, so that is somewhat nice. Zone conference is on Wednesday and I am looking forward to that. It'll be fun to see more missionaries because we are pretty lonely out here on the Cape.  We’re about an hour and a half away from the closest companionship. As far as going to the temple, we're not really sure, but I think we'll get a chance pretty soon.

I did get the letters from you guys last Monday after the email and I got the package with the USB and CDs. "Ask and ye shall receive" ha-ha. Thanks so much!  I actually did get letters from Ashley Ellis and Kamala Kelley last Monday. It was so nice to get those, and from what it sounds I should be expecting more soon  :). If you can find more church music CDs (more Alex Boye’, he's awesome), that'd be great. Yeah, keep on recruiting more letters and hopefully they'll come through eventually.

Sounds like Breck had a good time at the Homecoming dance.  It does seem like a bummer that Halloween was yesterday (on Sunday) .  We had to be in by 6pm because you know how kids are on that specific night ha-ha. So yeah I think that is all that I can remember from this week.

Time is starting to blur together again like at the MTC.  I love you and am continually praying for you in all you do.  I'll try to spit a letter out later this week.  Have a great week!

Elder Henson