Pictures from Idaho...

Today I received Elder Paxton's camera card in the mail. I have included a few here for you to see.

It can't be Idaho without a tractor,

Or Spanish speaking Elders

The pictures below are several from his tour of the Old Idaho State Penitentiary



Random shots from the Idaho Boise Mission...

Danny and Tony Alvarez's baptism July 9, 2011

Release Date?

I haven't heard anything about getting released, and I am very happy to still not have heard anything. Although as you can see by the picture I am reminded of home from time to time.

My ministerial certificate expires on the 4th of October, but usually what happens is on Tuesday I will go to Boise, Wednesday we spend the day with President, and on Thursday is when most Elders fly or drive home. I don't know exactly how long I want to take to get home, so I don't know if I will be able to speak on the 9th, we'll have to wait and see. I still haven't gotten the letter from Bishop McCook.

I did get the package from Mom and Nicole and almost all of the treats have been enjoyed/devoured. The other Elders in the house are grateful for the package as well. All that is remaining is a couple of mangoes and the pretzels (not because they aren't enjoyed, but because they take a lot of fluids to eat, and I ran out on Sunday).

Last Saturday we had a lesson with Marco, and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for the 27th of August. We feel that it will be very easy to teach him because he seems to already know all of it and he told us that he wants to learn everything again from the beginning. So pretty much as we are teaching he is teaching with us, so we are excited for him to be baptized. Also, on Sunday he and his mom came to church. The rest of the family wasn't able to make it because of work and other conflicts, but this next week they told us that they don't have any plans, besides church. Yesterday we went to their house and watched the story of John Tanner. Rafael, the father, after watching it said that he felt recharged in a way. He was asking his sister-in-law if she had read the Book of Mormon recently, and when she answered that she hadn't, he was basically commanding her to read.

Tonight we have another lesson with Mike Hobbs, the 10 year old that we found out last week isn't a member, and are planning of having another great lesson with him. Hopefully we will be able to set a date with him tonight. Last week his dad said that they are planning on having the baptism within the month, and had to talk about a few things so we think tonight we will be able to see how everything is going.

That is pretty much all of the "cool" things that are going on here and we are getting ready to go play some basketball and maybe go to Boise.

Love,

Elder Paxton

What a Week!

Mom, I hope that everything goes well with your surgery. I am sure you are super excited to have surgery and I also imagine that you cant wait to go through the recovery, being all the pains of healing and the limited mobility for a while.

That is sad to hear about your contractor passing away. We have also had a similar experience happen here. Elder Padgett had been teaching this family before I got here and they had gotten a little turned off to the gospel, and so I have only met the mom at the door a couple of times, but have never taught them. About a week ago we got a call from their neighbors/fellowshippers, and they told us that their son had taken his life as well. The family is good friends with a bishop and he has been over a couple of times. Our first thought was that the gospel is exactly what they need in their lives right now, but we want to be sensitive to the matter and not come off as "taking advantage" of this and using it to baptize them. We have talked with the Bishop and he told us that maybe if we go by in about a week that might be really good for them. The day it happened the Bishop went by and committed them to coming to church, which they did, and the talks in sacrament meeting were all focused on Christ, their followshippers said that they really benefited from the messages. We will see how things go there and what help we can be.

Enough of sad things let's focus on the great miracles that happened this last week. We now have two investigators that have expressed a desire to be baptized. Both actually came from a less active member that we met a couple of weeks ago. The first time that we actually had a lesson with Maria Gutierrez, her non member son, Marco, was there and we talked with him a little bit and he expressed interests in learning more, so we set a return appointment. We weren't able to visit with him until yesterday and he told us that even though he has a basic understanding of the church he wants to start from the beginning and work towards baptism. We probably would have set a date but he got a call and had to leave to meet with someone, so our lesson got cut short. We are going to try to visit him on Saturday and then see him at church on Sunday and probably have another lesson with him on Monday.

The other investigator that came from Maria is her brother in law. The way we met him was by looking for Maria and Marco was there as well looking for her, but she wasn't there. He said that she would probably be at his aunt's house, so we followed him there, found Maria, and met her sister Amparo. Amparo is also a less active member and her husband Angel is not a member. When we went back, we taught the first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon, and he told us that he would come to church. He wasn't able to make it because he was helping someone change houses, and Sunday was the only day that they could borrow the truck to do it. But in that first lesson we asked about baptism and he as well wants to work towards being baptized. He asked us if his new born could be baptized as well, so we read in Moroni 8 and explained why we don't baptize little children and then we explained about blessing the baby and he understood it completely and said that he would love to have the child blessed. Tomorrow we have a return appointment with Angel and Amparo, and we are expecting it to be a good one.

Sunday night, an English member of the branch called us and told us that they would like us to come by, teach, and prepare their son for baptism. He is ten and hasn't been baptized because they were working on getting him fully adopted. So tonight we are going to go by assess the situation and probably have his baptism very soon. He has been coming to church for a very long time and probably can teach us everything that he need to know for baptism.

There is a lot of improvement happening in the great area of the Nampa 32nd branch. Elder Padgett and I both are grateful to be serving here, and are excited to watch all of the great things that are happening work out.

Vamos a seguir echandole ganas

Love,

Elder Paxton

A little apostate?

Well today we are being a little apostate and using members computers because the family history center is closed because of painting and the library here in Nampa is super packed so to save time we are using members computers.

Before I forget I did get both of the packages from Lori and Grandma, muchos thank yous for those and the art work is yet to get put up but I am planning on putting it on the wall above my bed.

Yesterday we had a meeting with President Cannon. It wasn't our normal zone conference, it was called a zone training meeting and there were only two zones there, ours and the Nampa english zone. It was really good, we talked a lot about planning and setting goals. He made a really cool chart that helps understand the path that an investigator takes to progress to the temple. We watched a couple of videos to help us know how to plan and that way we can better plan for our investigators. We are hoping to be able to be better missionaries. The missionaries that are coming out now in the field now are going to be such amazing missionaries. We are also getting dvd players so we can watch training videos during our companionship studie. I don't know if we are going to be able to use them in our lessons though. I hope so because it seems like most hispanics, either don't have the controller to change the language, or their dvd is broken and they don't feel like they need to get a new one, so hopefully we can use it, it would make everything easier.

Today we had our zone activity and we really enjoyed it. I have started a petition to not always play soccer so today we started with volleyball then we played dodge ball. We really had a great time, I forgot how much dodge ball makes you tired. All of the Elders played, even though some people had some back pain and others didn't want to play, but everyone played and had a great time.

Well I have to get off so that Elder Padgett can write his family. I hope that the paint in the family history center is dry by next week so that we can do everything a lot easier.

Love,

Elder Paxton

My new Home

What a great week! So as everyone knows I am now kicking it with all the gangsta cholos in big city Nampa. Elder Padgett and I are really excited to be serving together and to help this area reach it's potential.

This past week has been a little bit of a change from the Ontario and New Plymouth area, but I am really enjoying my time here. I am sort of starting to understand where everything is in town. On Sunday we had Branch Conference, so that made it really easy to meet all of the Branch and Stake leaders. The Stake President (President Asay) speaks Spanish, and so far in my mission speaks the best of all the stake presidents. Presidente Dardon is from Guatemala and he is a great leader and really loves everyone. We have made a lot of new contacts and have received some referrals and we are hoping that we will be able to make good contacts with all of them and help them to feel the Spirit and to have the desire to learn more.

Also this past week I had a very wonderful experience. Back in New Plymouth we had been teaching this sister by the name of Sandy Skinner. We first started teaching her shortly after I had first gotten to Ontario. She was very excited to learn the gospel and had said on multiple occasions that she had been prepared her whole life to except the gospel. She has had many spiritual experiences, including a dream that she had about 15 years ago. In this dream she had died and when she was on the other side of the veil she saw three lines of people and they were handing out robes. The first line was getting black robes the second were getting blue and the third were getting white. She had always remembered this dream and had never found the answer until she heard about the Plan of Salvation. She also heard a "still small voice" that had protected her a couple of times in her life.

Sandy definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. If you remember a few months ago a family got married on mule back, that was her and her husband. And so when it came time for her baptism, she just had to do it in the river. I was honored that she would ask me to perform the baptism. She said that I had been going over the longest so I should be the one to baptize her. Of course there is no rule that says that, but when she decides to do something that is how she is going to do it.

The water in the Payette river felt wonderful and it was very tempting to "accidentally" slip and have to go for a swim down the river, but I resisted. I was able to feel the spirit that was present, especially because, right after the baptism, a sister from the ward played "Amazing Grace," and we all sang along. It was a very spiritual experience, one that I will not soon forget. I am also very grateful for the young man that took all of the pictures for me, it will make it easier to always remember.





Another fun thing we did this week is we went to the church orchard in Caldwell to thin the peaches. It was a good branch activity and I always enjoy service. I wish that I had remembered my camera, because on top of the ladder there was a great view of the Snake River, and all of the trees in between. As always, at every Branch activity that exists we had food. The horchata was very delicious and we enjoyed the American touch to the food, the hot dogs.

It is pretty fun living with the other Elders. We pretty much only see them after 9 at night, and before 12 in the morning. We all study personally in the same room, but when it comes to companionship study, we take turns going in to the bedroom. I think that we might have a couple of house studies, but we will see how everything goes.

My responsibilities as a District Leader are basically, run district meetings, which are every Friday, and collect the numbers from the Elders on Sunday. I am also supposed to go on exchanges with every companionship once every month. The district includes, Ontario, Caldwell and Nampa, so there are a total of 10 Elders in our meetings, two being the Zone Leaders, which go to every meeting. I am also to do baptismal interviews for anyone that I haven't taught before. I don't have any scheduled, but hopefully will have some in the near future.

That is just about everything that is going on here.

Love,

Elder Paxton

So, What's your new address?

That is such a crazy storm you had in Phoenix, it is too bad that I wasn't there to enjoy it. There really hasn't been much fun weather up here just heat, not Arizona heat but pretty hot for here.

Well as guessed I did get transferred, and yesterday morning I left Ontario and moved to Nampa Spanish 1, which is the Nampa 32nd branch and covers the Nampa West Stake. My new address is 142 Smith Ave Apt 1 Nampa, ID 83651. GO SUNS!!!

I am serving with Elder Padgett from Winter Haven, Florida, which is near Orlando. He has been out for one transfer less than Elder Phelps (entonces como 9 meses). I am really looking forward to serving in the area and I am also hoping to continue the success, well its not really up to me, but I am hoping to work hard enough and be obedient enough to be able to be as blessed.

Today we went down to Boise to go to the Temple, even though it is closed, and I was hoping to be able to take a picture with my grandson, Elder Sewell is training in Wendell. Hopefully I will be able to take another 3 generation picture before I die. I only met my grandpa once and I don't remember if I was able to take that picture with my papa, but we will see what happens.

I cant really tell you a whole lot about the area, being that I have only been here for about 36 hours, and all of today was spent in Boise, but we do live with the other Nampa Spanish Elders and I always enjoying having more people to visit with, no matter how much I like my companion.

I didn't really want to tell you this but you will be getting a letter that says it anyways, but I am also going to be serving as District Leader. My district includes the Elders in Nampa, Caldwell and Ontario, so the District is 4 companionships and the Zone Leaders go to every district meeting in their zone. I am going to revert to the eternal principle of delegation. I don't really like to be the leader but if President says that I can do it, then I do it, because it comes straight from the Lord.

Well we have to get going and do work here in Nampa, so have a great week!

Love,

Elder Paxton

Another Week Down....

This week was a great week. Today we had our zone activity and we went to the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. We took a zone photo behind bars and had a good time looking around the whole place. I took a lot of pictures of all of the "fun" things that the prisoners were involved in. There were still some there sleeping, but you will have to wait for that one because it is on my camera and these pictures I took from Elder Phelps's camera.

We also went to the temple for the last time before it closes. It was really really busy, which is good, it shows the need for the Meridian temple. We had everyone of our zone members at the 8:30 session. We tried to be at the 8:00 session but there were too many people to get our entire zone into it so we all waited, which I enjoy because it gives us more time to read from the scriptures and prepare ourselves more spiritually for what we were going to do. After the temple we went to Cafe Rio, for $1.50 taco Tuesday. I was really hungry, but I didn't let my stomach make my decision, my wallet was the one in charge today. So I only got 3 tacos, instead of 5 or 20.

This has been a very exciting day and we have been enjoying all of our success. We are having another baptism on Saturday at 7:00 in the Ontario Stake Center. Two boys are going to be baptized in the New Plymouth 2nd Ward. Danny and Tony Alvarez (10 & 8 respectively) are the sons of Willy and Blanca. Blanca is a member, but is less-active because of health problems. Willy is not a member, but really wants his boys to be baptized, but as is the case all to often, "its not for him." The boys have been coming to church for the last month or so, and this last week they even walked because no one was able to give them a ride. It's a good thing that they only like around the corner from the church. We are looking forward to their baptism, as well as their whole family.

On Saturday July 2, 2011, Charlotte Barton became the newest member of the New Plymouth 1st ward. It was great to see her husband be able to baptize her, and her father in law confirmed her. There was a really great turn out at the baptism, a lot of the family on the Barton side was present, and a lot of the ward was in attendance as well. We always enjoy seeing a lot of the ward at our baptisms. Sunday was her confirmation as well as her baby blessing, so it was a very special day for her and her family. Also on Sunday, Brayan Quinteros was confirmed, he being baptized last week.

We had a good 4th of July. We also had a ward breakfast and we had it outside in the beautiful morning weather. But as the day went on it got pretty warm. According to our car, the temperature was at the hottest 98 degrees, I am sure that your day was a lot hotter, but that was pretty much the hottest day of the year. We also had a miracle. After the breakfast we had our studies and then left New Plymouth to go back and do work in Ontario. Right after we got out of town we pull over to see if there is anyone we can call and visit before we left. While making calls, a member drives by, stops, then backs up to talk to us, and tells that he had been to the house across the street, from where we were parked, the night before and talked about the church and gave him a Book of Mormon and tells him that he was going to send the missionaries over to teach him more. We asked him if he would like to go contact him right then so he parks the car and introduces us to Joshua. Joshua has had a rough past and has done a lot of things that he regrets and is now searching for a place for his family to belong. He is very studied in the bible and has a strong testimony of the Savior, but has never liked the Catholic church or any of the churches that have branched off of it. He also has been against organized religion,but has come to the realization that if you aren't organized then you will fall. So we answered a lot of his questions and set a return appointment to meet with him on Wednesday. We are excited to teach him and we can see how much he and his family will be blessed, by becoming members of God's only true church on the earth.

We just keep on trying to finish out the transfer with a bang, this being the last week, and transfer calls coming on Friday.

Love

Elder Paxton