Elder William Lassen’s Blog

Dear Family

This week has been an interesting one. Thanks for your prayers for me I have defiantly been able to feel them.  We live with a pretty cool family, named the Hansens. They have a 16 year old son who is pretty sweet, he hangs out with a youth from my old ward so it is fun to see him. Elder Arterburn is my new companion, he is from Ammon, Idaho. He is a pretty cool kid, we get along well. Well we have been really busy this week, trying to get to know the area, and the members. We haven’t really been able to get a hold of any of the investigators that the previous missionaries have been teaching.  We got a hold of 3 which was good but they all scheduled appointments a couple weeks away. Elder Arterburn & I have been completely relying on the Lord to know what to do and where to go. It has been a learning experience. Our first day here we went to the store to buy some food because we didn’t have any. As we are leaving the store a man pulls up in his car and says  he had ordered a Bible from a commercial from your church and never got it. So we took down his address and the next day we were going to drop it off, and he saw us while he was driving and pulled over and we had a good talk with him and he said we could come back to see him. We were way excited, so we did the next day and he happily let us in. We started talking and he is really friendly, and then he told us that he was actually a member of the church but hadn’t been to church since he was 16. I was kind of bummed but it was still a really cool experience to be able to find him, or more or less he found us! He invited us back and said he wants to feed us dinner some time. It was a really cool experience. Hopefully he will start coming back to church.

This week we had an appointment with a lady who the other missionaries talked to and that was interesting…. We got there and she started to ask us questions, they were obviously Anti-Mormon questions that she got online. It was sad because of what she read she wasn’t able to see the truth that was there, and realize the blessings that come from our loving Heavenly Father.

Also this last Sunday we got to help set up for a baptism in our ward, a lady who had been coming to church for the last 3 ½ years got baptized and that was cool to see!

Well I have to cut it short because my time is running out. I had to switch over to the new website that I will be e-mailing from… I did get your Valentines Package! Thanks! I really enjoyed it! I love you guy so much, thanks for everything! I hope that you have a good week. I love you so much!! Thanks for your Prayers!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week: Elder Arterburn and I have been able to progress the work and I haven’t been stressed out like I usually get when a big task in placed on my shoulders. The Lord is defiantly supporting me as I am doing his work.

LOVE YOU!

Dear Family

It was good to hear that you all had a good week! I hope that everything goes well this week! Well, Elder West and I had a good week this week! We worked hard and had a good time. Unfortunately, I am getting transferred today so that is kind of unfortunate but that’s what happens, I am needed elsewhere. So I am getting transferred really far away…. I am getting transferred to the next ward over. Haha The ward that borders our west boundary is the ward I am moving to, it is the Louisville ward! Haha

So this week Elder West and I had some wonderful experiences. We fasted that we would find a new investigator and in order to do our part we knocked on some doors like we have been and tried to see a bunch of people that said they might be interested in us coming back whether it was recently or from a long time ago. Nothing was really happening, but one day after we got out of an appointment we got a call from the Spanish speaking Elders. They had been tracting in our area, in a Spanish speaking part and a man let them in, they taught him about The Restoration and set up a return appointment. Since this man speaks English they turned him over to us! We were so excited! Our prayers and fasting had been answered! The return appointment is this week and since I am leaving I won’t be able to teach him but it is wonderful to truly see that Heavenly Father is still a God of miracles. Also this week, a friend of a youth in our ward has been coming to church lately and is always there when we have dinner with his friend’s family, and he is reading the Book of Mormon like we asked him too and this last Wednesday he agreed to take the missionary lessons! It was way cool!

Also this week we helped an older couple move some things into storage. We recruited the missionaries from Coal Creek to help us. They biked to our house & then from there we all biked there. They have a lot of belongings, but with all of our help it didn’t take too long. The crazy thing was that we had to move a two part dresser/cabinet piece. It came it two parts and the only way to take it to the room they wanted was to take it out a back door that dropped off because it didn’t have steps, over a small fence, around the front, up the stairs through the front door and through a couple rooms. It was pretty intense, this piece of furniture was not small, but it felt good to help because they wouldn’t have been able to do it by themselves. The couple was really grateful for the help and it felt good to be of a help to them.

Other than that we didn’t have too much else going on this week. Yesterday I said goodbye to a of couple families and packed which took a while. Oh by the way, I am sending a couple of packages home, or I already did and they are on their way. I realized I have a lot of luggage and I needed to downsize, so I sent home some possessions that I haven’t really used. Also in one of the boxes there should be a memory card in a little envelope that I usually use to send it home in. Well I hope that you all have a great week! I hope that everything goes well! I love you all very much! I will talk to you in a week!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week: I have learned once again that the Lord hears our prayers and answers them. I have also learned the power of fasting, and the blessings that can come from it.

Have a good one! LOVE YOU!

Dearest Family

                I am glad to hear that things are going well! I miss the rain that you are having, and the lamest part is that all the storms that you are having are hitting the mountains but aren’t going past so we haven’t gotten any weather. We should be getting some snow this Wednesday and Thursday, which should be exciting. Well we moved to 1659 Walker Street, Erie Co. We moved more up north in our area which stinks because it takes so long to get anywhere now, but what can you do… I got the package and it was really nice! I really enjoyed it! The food was still delicious and tasted fresh! So thanks! So MyLDSMail.net is making a new webpage and I need to sign up again, but it doesn’t like the Membership number that I give it, so I was wondering if you could get that for me! Thanks! Also I noticed that my dark grey washable slacks and getting kind of worn out and if you need another idea for a birthday present, that would be great, but if not it’s all good.

                 So this Tuesday, we moved which took a while. We packed in the morning and then after lunch we went a taught Charlotte, which was ok. She was getting nervous about her baptism date so she decided to push it back, she hasn’t set another date, which stinks but she came to church yesterday which was nice. We then came back a proceeded to pack and then around 4:00 we dropped off our luggage at the Stogsdill’s, an older couple that we live with now. We were in a hurry because we had some other appointments before dinner, so all we could do was drop of the luggage in the garage. As we were about to leave, the garage door came to a screeching halt as it was closing… Of course we tried to help and we figured out that a cable had tangled itself and come out the wheel it winds around. We tried to fix it but only made it worse. We told Bro Stogsdill, and he came out and tried to help us fix it. So Bro Stogstill and Elder West were lifting up the garage door so that Bro Boseman, our ward mission leader, tried to untangle the wire. I noticed that the garage door was being restricted from being lifted higher because it was still attached to the chain. I noticed this and thought I would help by detaching it….. Well I did and the garage door shot up so fast that one side came off the track and lost a wheel. Situations like that always seem to happen to me…. Well after that we closed it so that someone who knew what they were doing could fix it and then we went to our appointment pretty late. We were supposed to take one of the youth out with us. We only ended up being able to go out for 10 min with him but we still had a good time.

                Also this week we taught an investigator Jeremy and he told us that when we read 3 Nephi 11 with him that it really made him think about baptism. We were really excited about that! He is planning on getting married to the member that he is living with, so that is good but that means that he couldn’t be baptized till after that. He is leaving to go to truck driving school so he will be gone in northeastern Colorado from Monday till Saturday night for the next 3 weeks, but we have an appointment with him for next Sunday which will be good. We are really excited for him and things are starting to work out for him. It is wonderful to see the joy that comes into people’s lives from the Gospel. I have defiantly seen a change in my life, I was reflecting back on my mission this morning and yesterday, and I have noticed how I have grown so much. I have grown in how I deal with situations, to whom I turn to when I need help and the truths that I have found. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the Scriptures and the spirit I feel when I read from them. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and all that He has done for me! I thank Heavenly Father for these blessings He gives me daily. I love you family and I hope that you have a good week. I hope that everything goes well for you this week! I love you so much!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the Week: When we read 3 Nephi 11 with Jeremy the spirit touched him and he has considering baptism! We weren’t even trying to do that when we read the chapter we just wanted him to start reading more! I love the spirit!

Dear Family

      It was good to hear that you all had a good week! It was good and also it was tough at some parts. The weather has been really nice here. It hasn’t been too cold and the nights aren’t too bad either. I am ready for it to snow 4 feet in one day though… Haha So to answer your question about what I want for my birthday, I can’t really think of anything I need. Maybe you could get a Jon Schmidt CD, he is a pianist, and he is a member. Also maybe a sweater vest, I think that’s what they call them, I want one with sleeves though, I really like wearing those.  Those are really the only things I could think of, you have already given me so much! I love you!

      So the best and worst day of the week I will tell you about. It was this last Friday January 15th. On Fridays, we do weekly planning, which is where we set goals for the week and plan what we are going to teach investigators, and update the area book which has all of our records. When Elder Brimhall came and spoke to us he told us how we need to do more and plan for our investigators more. So we did that…. It took us till around 4:30pm to finish it all, this is after starting at 10:00am and only taking an hour break for lunch. It was intense. So we did that and it was wonderful. We planned what we need to teach our investigators and how long it would take us and when they would come to church and attend a baptismal service and all these events that lead to them ultimately making the commitment to be baptized. So as we are about done we call an investigator, named Ben Johnson. We called him about an appointment we had with him on Saturday. Elder West was talking to him and he said he would have to cancel because he was having emotional problems. Elder West tried to reschedule but he said that he had our number and that he would call us… we also invited him to a baptism earlier that Saturday. He said he didn’t really want to do that. So he pretty much dropped us. We have a feeling that his girlfriend that is a member broke up with him. So that was really lame because we spent a good amount of time planning for him. After that we headed out to try some people close by home because dinner was at 5:00. We did and we also talked to this guy… we asked if he needed help taking down his Christmas lights, from there it went downhill. He was asking us all these random questions saying that we don’t know what we believe… He told us we should read a book entitled “Kingdom of Cults”… I tried to answer his questions and not to contend. He really wanted to pick a fight. After answering his questions which would only lead to more questions, I told him how I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Heavenly father and Jesus Christ love us very much and that they have given us their wonderful gospel on the earth again, along with a prophet. I said that I wish he could accept this message and that he would receive the happiness that we receive though this gospel. It made him think and pause, and then he went back to trying to contend, so we said goodbye and left. Elder West wasn’t too happy, he wanted to beat him up. After that we went to dinner and had a wonderful dinner with the Lewis’. The message we shared was wonderful. We talked about living in thanksgiving, and we took turns thanking them for what they have done for us. We are moving out today, Tuesday, so we thought we would show our appreciation and thank them. I immediately started to cry because I told them how the Lord and blessed me so much in my life and one of the ways that he has blessed me was by placing them in my path of life. They have done so much for me they and welcomed me into their family and I have felt like a brother and son. By that time almost everyone was crying… the best part was that Sister Lewis said the closing prayer. It was a beautiful prayer.   I was so touched.  After that wonderful experience which I will never forget, we went out and tried to see some people. One man invited us in and I got all excited, but he too began to contended with us… It seems as though we had done something very good that day because Satan was trying his hardest to discourage us. After that we tried some more people and headed home. It was the best worst day I have every had! Haha Well I am running out of time, but I truly do love you guys! Thanks for everything! I love you so so much! Have a good week!

I LOVE YOU!

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week: Our lesson with the Lewis family and being able to see how much we had grown to love them and how much they really do love us! Have a good week I love you!

Dearest Family

      This week was a really good week! It was full of fun times and really spiritual experiences.  We had exchanges this week so I went to Coal Creek ward for the day. It was pretty fun. Since they have a car, we got to drive around, but since they wanted to save the miles that they have for the month we walked a good amount. A funny thing that happened though was while we were knocking doors. So we were knocking doors and we got to a house and on the door there was this huge dog door. We weren’t sure if we should knock on the door because we didn’t want a huge dog coming out and attack us. The front yard was fenced in so if we tried to escape we would have to hope over a 3 foot chain link fence, which the dog could probably clear as well, so it was a lose, lose situation. So despite our fears we knocked on the door. After we knocked I put my foot in front of the doggie door to stop any dogs that might try to get out. After nothing happened we laughed and joked about what we would do if a dog did come out. To the right to the porch was the fence that was keeping us in, I was joking about how I would jump over it to escape, and Elder Ekstrand was joking about how he would jump on this low hanging beam… so we knocked again and after doing so this dog started coming out of the doggie door… Elder Ekstrand tried to push it back inside with his foot but only succeeded it kicking it in the head which probably didn’t make it to happy. I on the other hand had already jumped over the fence and was safely on the other side. Haha When I looked back I noticed that a nice looking grey hound dog had emerged from the house, so we were relieved. I started to call it over to me to pet it and that’s when it started doing it low growl, indicating that it wanted to bite my head off. I was safe on the other side of the fence, but Elder Ekstrand was right behind it, so he ran pretty fast and exited the gate by the street. It was pretty funny!  

      Also this week we had a Mission Tour, that is where we had a member of the Quorum of the 70 come and train us and talk to us. Elder Brimhall came a spoke to us, it was a wonderful experience. We all got to shake his hand, and that’s when I figured out that he is related to President Brimhall, Logan’s Grandpa. I guess they aren’t closely related but still it was cool. So he talked to us about setting goals and a lot of other things. He told us so much it would take a long time for me to write it all. It was really spiritual and we had a great time. The spirit was so strong there and I learned so much. I hope I can remember it all!  The meeting was all the way in Aurora which was a good 45 min away so we had to wake up early to get there on time and it was a good ride back home.     

      Also this week we helped set up and take down this event in Lafayette. So ever year in Lafayette they have this oatmeal festival. I think they have a marathon and also a health fair and some other things, anyways Quaker provides a bunch of oatmeal and they had a least 100 different toppings for it. So on Friday we helped set up for the event. It was pretty cool. We helped set up from 3:30 till around 6:00. It felt good helping out the community. It was kind of weird though because there was a lot of high school kids there helping out so I felt like I was in High School again. As a missionary we stick out pretty well, and we get stared at a lot, and since we were dressed in service clothes we looked like high school kids, it was weird. The next day on Saturday we did the opposite of what we did the day before, and took everything down. The day before we set up a bunch of tables, and on Saturday we took them all down, I don’t like tables anymore. On Saturday we only had to help out from 12:30 till around 2:00 because we were pretty quick.

      So Saturday we had a lot of bike trouble. My bike the chain messed up a spoke again so my back tire wobbles again, so Sister Lewis said she could take us to the bike shop and that Austin could go with us. If we did that we would have to fix one of the Lewis’ other bikes so that I would have something to ride, we did and that took a while because some things weren’t working and Elder West wasn’t too happy about that.. Haha After we finally did that we ran out of time because we had to be at the oatmeal festival to help out, so Sister Lewis took the bike with Austin without out us, which was very kind, and Brother Lewis gave us a ride to the festival . We did that and when we got home we grabbed our bikes and headed out. We had not gotten that far when Elder West’s bike broke. His derailleur got caught in the spokes and completely did a 180. So that bike was out of commission. So we walked back home and the only bike left was this kid bike so he grabbed that and rode that for the rest of the night. We switched off riding it and it was a thigh burner. Haha Well that was about it for this week, there was a lot more but some of it is in my email to President. Well I hope you have a good week! I love you so much! Thanks for everything! Love you!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week:

We were able to set Charlotte for baptism and she decided on Feb. 6th! It was sweet! We are now working hard to help her out! It is so wonderful to be able to see the wonderful effects of the gospel in someone’s life.

Dear Family

      Happy 2010! I can’t believe it is 2010! Well this week went well! I had a good week. On Tuesday we had exchanges, Elder West went to a different area and I stayed and was companions for a day with a new missionary, his name is Elder Mose, and he is from Samoa. We had a good day together and had a lot of appointments! This week we were able to teach almost all of our investigators. I just counted and we were able to teach 6 of our investigators this week. One couple we taught went well, but then again it didn’t. She is Catholic and has been since she was little and she said she would never change. She really likes us and appreciates what we do, but just doesn’t want to change, so because we are here to find those that are ready we won’t be stopping by as much anymore. Other than that our lessons went well. We got a referral from Mormon.org. On Mormon .org there are these chat rooms where you can talk to missionaries and a kid named Ben Johnson was talking to a missionary and the missionary turned him over to us and so we stopped by and introduced ourselves the first time and the second time we taught the first lesson, it went really well, he is a cool kid!

      Also this week I got sick, which was lame. It first started when I kind of burned my throat when drinking some hot chocolate, then one day it started to hurt so I took some medicine and felt better. Then the next day I woke up and felt terrible, my whole body ached. It was on Saturday, and we had appointments at 1:00, 3:00, 4:30, dinner at 5:30, and then another appointment at 7:00, all the appointments except for dinner were with investigators so it was going to be a great day! So in the morning I slept in till about 10:00 then took a nice shower and just took it easy till around lunch time. That really helped and after that we were able to go out and teach at all those appointments except the one at 7 because it cancelled. By the time dinner was over I was exhausted so we just stayed at home after dinner and helped fix the Lewis’ foot rest thing that we broke…  So on Friday we were at home for dinner and Addison was trying to jump over their couch and so Elder West and I joined in and were jumping over it. I got the idea to have Elder West dive over it onto their perfect sized foot rest which looks like a landing pad. It is about 4feet by 4feet and it is about 2 feet tall, so we positioned it perfectly. The first jump was spectacular Elder West dove over the couch with his arms in perfect flying position appearing to be superman himself. The next time didn’t go to well, instead of landing on his stomach he tucked and rolled. When he landed on the makeshift landing pad there was a huge crack! We soon realized we had snapped a piece of wood in half. We felt really bad and said we would fix it, and we did but later, we figured out that we were the 3rd group of people to break it so it was already weakened. Haha.  Anyways, we fixed it and it is just like new! Haha

      For New Years Eve this week we were in by six. It was fun. We played a sweet board game called Ticket to Ride, and then Clue it was pretty awesome.  Bro Lewis is a career owner for his line of work, and Ticket to Ride is about strategy so he dominated us. We also played a domino game called Chicken Feet which was pretty fun, but again Bro Lewis dominated us. We were told that we could stay up to 12 if we wanted to but we would still have to wake up at 6:30 the next morning so it was up to us to decide. So we did, we stayed up till 12 and that was pretty sweet!

      Also this week it has been kind of icy… so Elder West and I have had our fair share of falls. This one time we were riding and I wasn’t riding on anything really slick but it was still ice none the less, so I go to turn to get the desired angle of attack to hop up a curb and the next thing I know I am on the ground and my hip hurt… I was pretty upset and wanted to get up and throw my bike but I was kind of disabled from the fall for a little bit… When Elder West caught up he yelled “SAFE!” It made me laugh and I wasn’t mad anymore! Haha Well that is about it for the week! I love you guys so much! Thanks for everything! I hope you have a good week! I will talk to you later! LOVE YOU GUYS!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the Week: On Sunday the person who was in charge of teaching the Gospel Principles class got sick and so they were just going to have everyone go to the other Sunday school class that goes deeper into the scriptures, well we had two investigators show up…. So Elder West and I winged a lesson and it actually turned out really well, we were led by the Spirit on what to say and it went really well! I love the Spirit!

Dear Family

      It was great to be able to talk to you this last week! That was a good Christmas present! That 40 min went by too quickly but before I know it we will be talking on the phone again. It is too weird to think that Christmas has already come and gone. It was good though. I’m not sure if I told you, but in the morning we all opened our stockings and then Sister Lewis and her mom made us breakfast. Also the other missionaries were there, the ones that are in the Coal Creek ward. Then after that we opened our gifts, and that was nice. Then we started to make our calls home. After we were done with that we headed out and tried to see some people and then we came home and had dinner with the Lewis’s because they signed up to feed us. We had steak and salmon, and a bunch of other good food. Then because we are able to watch movies on Christmas we watched the clay-mation movies. So that was nice. Christmas was a really good day. Thank you so much for all the gifts that you got me! You are too kind. I would also like to thank everyone else that got me something! There were a lot of people so I will have a lot of thank you cards to send out! Haha So the rest of the week went well. It was still tough to see people though. We were able to see some people though and teach some good lessons. We saw an investigator named Patty, and we talked to her on her door step for a little while, since we couldn’t go in, because she is a single lady. So while we were talking her ferrets came out to see us and they were on the doorstep. Then out of nowhere one of them darted down the stairs, so I chased after it. Patty lives on the second story, and so it got about half way down. I tried to corner it but these stairs are the kind that don’t have a back to them so as it was backing up from me it fell a good 5 feet to the ground below. I felt bad but I was also trying hard not to laugh.  So we got it and it was fine. Then Patty told us to toss it in the snow. Because I guess they like the snow, so it ran around in the snow. The best part is when Elder West tossed it in the snow it left a perfect mark, like in cartoons when a character goes through a wall and leaves a perfect impression. That’s what happened. Elder West thought it was really funny. After that we went to dinner and then went back out to try to see some people. Well while doing so we both ended up falling. So when I fell we were trying to ride on a sidewalk that wasn’t shoveled, and that wasn’t working out so I pulled up on my front wheel to hop off the curb well I judged the distance wrong and my tire landed right on the edge of the curb. I was  heading off the curb at an angle so when I hit, my bike went one way and completely just stopped because of the snow and I still being on it and my body still wanting to move forward, I just fell over onto the street, thankfully dodging all the snow that would have caused a softer landing… It didn’t hurt that bad and I just laughed about it with Elder West. So later we were riding by some town homes and the streets weren’t plowed at all, so it is kind of slippery, so we are riding and all of the sudden Elder West’s front tire just slides out from underneath him and he totally just falls flat, it was the weirdest thing I have seen in a while! Haha 

      Well that’s about it for me this week. It was good and I had a great time. I am so thankful for my Savior whose birth we got to celebrate! I love you guys so much thanks for being so awesome. I don’t know what I did before this life to deserve you but I glad I did! I hope that you have a great week, thanks for everything! I love you so much! Have a great day!

LOVE

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the Week: Well I have never before understood the spirit, well I still don’t but I am getting better at understanding it. I have been praying for help because it is the Spirit of the Lord that helps lead us to those who need us. Well I have been try do to what it tells me to do, I often times don’t listen for various reasons but when I do it is wonderful to be able to be and instrument in the Lords hand to do his work!

Dearest Family

      It is good to hear that you had a good week! My week has gone well also! So I am planning on calling home around 1:00ish. I hope that that is an ok time for you guys. We’ll probably open presents in the morning with the Lewis Family and then probably have lunch then call home. Just to warn you now when I call home it’s only going to be 40min. I love you but I don’t want my call home to pull my thoughts away from the work.  I am excited to call and talk to you. I can’t believe that it is already time to do that again! It is crazy that Christmas is already 3 days away!! Where has the time gone? I was thinking about it the other day and I came to the conclusion that I received my mission call a YEAR ago!! I can’t believe it.  Also Elder West and I are staying together for one more Transfer! Elder Ekstrand called and told me I was going to Cheyenne and I believed him then later that night he called and said he was kidding….

      Well this week we had our Christmas devotional, which was amazing. We got there and first we did our white elephant gift exchange. We all sat in the gym in a huge circle. For the Christmas Devotional it was split up into the North half of the mission meeting together and the South half of the mission meeting together so there were a lot of missionaries. So we sang some Christmas songs and them President and Sister Ely ran in with Christmas hats on and we started the exchange. We all got presents & then President Ely read “The Night Before Christmas” and every time he said right or left we had to pass our present in that direction. I ended up getting these toy tractors. It was fun. After that we all kinda visited for a couple minutes then we went into the Chapel and had a Christmas program.  It first started off with a man named Keith Handy, he works for the Church and the Employment part of it. In his free time he goes down to South America and studies the Ancient Civilizations. It was so cool the things he showed us. There were so many pictures of a God descending from heaven with prints in his hands and in his feet, bringing light to them! He also showed us a pictures of the carving of a man who had just killed a king and was wearing his clothing and carrying his sword, this same man also had two sets of plates in his hand, one set was closed, and the other was open symbolizing that there was still more to be written in it! It was so cool! There is so much evidence that Jesus Christ visited the American Continent. I already knew that He did before I was in this presentation but it was still cool to see the evidence the ancient inhabitants left for us to find. After that then we read Luke Chapter 2. Some missionaries read it in their native language which was sweet. We also had a couple musical numbers. After that was over I stayed and talked to Brother Handy, it was really cool, he said that he really enjoyed doing it for a hobby, I asked about doing it for a career and he told me some interesting facts. It was really nice. After that I grabbed the last of the lunch that had been prepared. Then we went home and went back to work. It was sweet!

      Also this week the Coal Creek missionaries and us went to McDonalds. They are currently having a deal where you can order 50 Chicken McNuggets for $9.99. We ended us ordering 210! I ate 45, Elder West ate 70, Elder Ekstrand ate 50, Elder Johnson ate 22, and Addison ate 23. I felt really gross after doing it. It was pretty crazy though!

      So this Christmas should be nice. On Christmas Eve our Zone is getting together and watching the Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration, which is my favorite movie! Then Christmas day we are opening presents with the Lewis’s and they are also feeding us so that should be sweet! We are also supposed to get some more 0 degree weather and also snow!!!! I think we will have a white Christmas! I can only hope though! Also this last Monday on P-day we got to watch a Christmas movie, so Elder West and I watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” which was good.  I would also like to thank you for the 12 Days of Christmas! Elder West and I have really enjoyed it! I love you so much, you are all too good for me, I hope that I am living up to the sincere love and appreciation that you give me. Thank you so much!

      Well this week went well with our investigators, as you will read later on there were 5 investigators at church on Sunday! It was so cool! I was way excited! We had a really good Christmas program too, so that was nice. We have been able to teach some really good lessons, unfortunately some of our investigators are kind of not keeping the commitment they agree to keep, so we will see if we stop going by as often or not. Well I am running out of time! I really do love you and I can’t believe that it is already time to talk to you again! I hope you enjoy it! By the way I hope you got the package that I sent! I love you so much! I hope you have a great week and I will talk to you in 3 days! Crazy!

LOVE

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week: We were able to have 5 investigators show up to church, and these were people who we had been inviting to join us at church for the past couple months! It was wonderful because they were able to feel of the special spirit that church has!

Dear Family

      Well this morning Elder West and I had our studies and also opened our first present for the 12 days of Christmas! It was really sweet. I liked it a lot and I think Elder West did too. We read the story and enjoyed that as well. It is weird to think that Christmas is so close! Time is flying by, I remember when Grandma and Grandpa sent me a letter and on the back they said before you know it, it will be Christmas and look at that it is! Weird! Anyways this week has been nice. Last P-day we played dodge ball which was pretty fun, we also did some shopping which was sweet. This Thursday we are having our Christmas Devotional which should be fun, we are doing a white elephant gift exchange. So last Monday I was looking for a gift and I found the perfect thing, I found an Edward Barbie doll! It was awesome but it was like $24 so instead I went with a poster of Edward! Hahaha It’s this totally lame picture with this ridiculous quote at the bottom! Haha Whoever gets that gift is going to be psyched!

      Well this week was a cold one… I forgot which morning it was but it was -10 and that was without wind chill. I went outside in it and it didn’t seem that cold but then I noticed that my nostrils were freezing over.  That morning we didn’t go out, we were told not to so we did service for the members we live with. Also for the past couple of days it has been in the 40’s and I never thought I would say this but it’s been pretty warm! I guess when you are coming from -10, anything about 10 is warm! Haha We have been riding around with no jackets and no gloves because we get too hot when riding! Haha

       Also this week we had some Ox Tail soup for dinner. That was interesting. It tastes just like pot roast that is cooked in a crock-pot, so I didn’t mind it. It just tasted like regular soup. If they would of showed me the tail before they cooked it, it might have been a different story, but it didn’t taste too bad. Also this week we had interviews. Those were nice. I think Elder West and I will be staying together. Transfers are right before Christmas, on the 21st. President Ely doesn’t like to move people around too much during this time so I think we will be staying together but you never know. We also had our ward Christmas Party this Friday! That was awesome! We had some really good food and some really good pie! It was delicious. We had a good turnout of investigators, we had 5 come to the party so that was awesome! One of the coolest parts is that fact that the members were fellowshipping them, we talked to them but they all sat with other people and had a good time, Elder West & I got jacked and had to kinda sit by ourselves but I would rather have that then no one talking to our investigators.

      Our investigators are doing well, we got a couple new ones this week so that was awesome, but one of them scheduled the return appointment for January. Lame.  We have been working hard to teach them what they need to hear and to help them. Some of them are coming along nicely and others aren’t so we might have to stop going by there so we can best use our time elsewhere. Well that is about it for this week! I love you tons! I hope that you have a great week! Thanks for all you do for me! Thanks for the presents, I haven’t opened them yet but thanks! I love you so much! I’ll talk to you next week! Have a great week!

Love

Elder Lassen

Miracle of the week: This week I was able to be an instrument in the Lord’s hand and be led by the spirit to the things that I needed to do at that time to get a hold of some potential investigators! The spirit has also been there to help me teach some lessons this week to touch the hearts of the people!