I told you I would get muscles!!

Dear Mom,

(Elder Paxman was informed via email today by his grandparents that they will be going on a mission.  Their papers are in and they are awaiting a call) I Know I was super shocked to hear the news it was awesome!! I am super excited to see where they are going!!

My week has been good, my bowels have been crazy to say the least!  I swear it is ridiculous!! Ha-ha but oh well. Overall my week has been good, Ivonne and Jesus, I don't even know anymore, we have really good lessons and they want to be baptized but they are not coming to church, so we will see here soon. Although they want me to baptize them so ha-ha, they said maybe the 16th because the 20th is transfers and I am almost guaranteed to go. We met one new Investigator but his room-mate it a pastor and even a little more interesting a Jehovah’s Witness Pastor!!! So that will make that very interesting. FHE with Fransico's family has gone well we are doing it again tonight so we will see how that goes. Roberto we haven’t been able to get in contact with him but we will keep trying, other than that not much new.  We eat with members probably 3 times a week.  They feed us a ton so I have to deny some or not finish my plate.  I could finish, but I get to the point of too full and than get sick, so I don't finish.  I feel bad because it is a big part of the culture, the food is, but I just kind of take a hit on that one.  I usually try and explain but they still give me a fishy look, it is kind of funny. This week we ate out once and only because we were up in the top right corner of our area, about 10 miles from home, on bikes, and some appointments went over so we didn’t have time to go home.  I think I spent around 10 bucks on my personal debit card, but I have really refigured budgeting and stuff so that should be the last of that.

I got your package, and I really liked all of them, the V necks were really awesome, and I was wondering if I could get more of those and also the Wing Necked ones.  I don't know what they are called but that is my best explanation. (I also have no idea what he is talking about when he refers to Wing Necked sweaters) Also Tie-clips, we cant do lapel pins any more and I don't like tie pins because they put holes in my ties, but clips are awesome and there are probably some really cool ones. Also for the ipod,  I just need a cheap one don’t spend a lot of money on that.

The weather did drop to 34 degrees during the day here once already, that was freezing!!  I need Beanies, Scarf’s, A boloclava thingy, (What is that?!?  Anyone out there who can enlighten me?) Or something to cover my face, so bandannas would be fine. And yea winter stuff, I got some gloves from mi compa, he didn’t want them so that was good. I hope all the winterizing at home goes well.

That is good Rachel is back in the mission, speaking of which I need a picture of her.... My companion wants to see her hahahaha he is such a doofus, but I told him I would ask you. (Sister of mine if you read this let me know if your okay with me sending a picture) Someone told me a bunch of people were going on missions from home and I was curious who and what else is happening at home. Look at face book and get me info.

The cat will not stop whining now?  At least she comes back and feels a little more free.

(Excerpt from my letter to him: I read a great conference talk given By Henry B.Eyring a few years ago.  He said that he realized that he needed to record the blessings he was receiving from his Heavenly Father.  So he started every day at the end of the day asking himself this question... "Have I seen the hand of the lord at work in my life or the lives of my family today?"  Then he would ponder it a while and write down 2 things he had seen in his life from that day that were a blessing. I LOVED this!  I am going to try to do it every day this week, and then continue on.  I think it would be a great thing for you to do as well.  It would be something for you to put in your journal each night.  No matter how small the blessing.  How neat would that be at the end of your mission to look back and see how the lord had blessed you each day?  Even if it's just a small thing, like you feeling great all day.   He said sometimes they were small things.  Just things he considered a blessing or the work of the lord that day.  Let me know what you think?) I really like that idea, but I will need a separate journal, because this one is filling up, even though I am bad at writing in it though. Although, I am getting a lot better at it.

For Halloween the ward is doing something this Tuesday so we will do that. But we have to be in at 6 on the actual night so that is how that goes.

(I always leave him with a scripture or quote, this was the quote this week: President Thomas Monson said:  "To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.")
 I really liked the quote today. This week I have been studying a lot of stuff but something that is kind of new is Diligence, not just that but true diligence. A quote I found that I really like is given by Elder Uchtdorf, and this isn’t exactly right. But it says. "Diligently doing the things that matter most, will bring us closer to the savior of the world" He also says how diligence is not frantic movement but being settled on a firm foundation of Righteousness and Truth. So that was really good!!

Something I am missing are pictures of the family, even the ones we took right before I left. Also I really want that picture of Christ saving Peter as he is sinking in the water that we have at home, if you could find a smaller one that would be awesome. 

A small funny story, I was getting ready to eat some cereal, like honey smacks but it comes in a huge bag, so I go to open it and I ripped it in half and all the cereal went all over the floor and everywhere!!  One, I am a lot stronger than I remember and two those bags aren’t built very well.... So that was really funny. I can also do like 6 pull-ups now it is awesome!! I told you I would get muscles on my mission, I hope just not fat. So other than that not much new in the mission, just learning to love it more and more each day and finding joy in the work. Well I still need to write some other people.  I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week and I hope all goes well on the home front.

Love, Elder Pecoso Paxman 

I Ate Pig Skin

Dear Mom,

This week has been good and hard.  I got pretty sick again, so that was not fun in the slightest, but oh well, can't do too much about that. As far as the mission goes this week was very rough because we taught very little, knocked a lot and pretty much no one answered their doors... But what can you do?  We just have to keep knocking the doors.

(I was worried after last weeks letter, him telling me he didn’t have a light on his bike)Don't worry we are always careful on our bikes.  I am answering your email pretty much by paragraph so if they are a little scatterbrained I am sorry.

(During Ben’s senior year he attended UTA in Cedar City and found a BBQ place he loved!! He always wanted us to try it, but we were never able to catch them open. This last week while we were down south we were able to finally find it) I love that BBQ place, it is super good!! Brooklyn didn’t want to eat there!?!?! Why it is amazing? They even have mac n cheese. And now there is one in Hurricane!!! That is sick, I am so excited to be able to eat there a ton! 

I haven’t looked at the pictures yet so I will have to after I am done with this email.   

*I have added the pictures that we sent to Ben this week so his comments will make more sense.

Don't worry about the shooting thing mom, you and I will have to practice together because I don't know how good I will be after my mission, 2 years without shooting a single thing, that could be very very rough. But if I was there with you guys, man I would have done some woopin bahahaha!! I love shooting, it is probably one of my favorite all time things to do! Yes I feel like all of our family are pretty good shots.  Brooklyn will have to work really hard to be able to compete with me though ;) hahaha. I love it down south, Zion’s is awesome and I was surprised how many people haven’t been.

  

Bahahahahaha I can see it right now Brooklyn having a freakout and than you freaking out too and Dad just laughing and laughing (as I would have too) and than finally watching you trying to get a picture of it as it would walk at you and watch you all scream hahaha. Woooo!! That would be funny. 

Yes I believe I have been to Grafton a while ago, I do not remember though, at least not off the top of my head. I bet fall break has been nice.

On the mission front, as I said earlier, a rough week... Ivonne y Jesus are still are struggling after the anti, I really don't know what will happen with them... It makes me sad. It is now as if I see them as like family which makes it all the more hard. We haven’t been able to get in contact with Roberto, so I do not know. Fransico and his family are doing well, we have FHE with them tonight so we will see how that goes. They have started praying again as a family, so we are hoping they are getting back on track.   Other than that, not much new is going on here in the mission this week. Although, I did make my first planner cover, I figured I would start on the one where I hit six months in the field. (I do not know what he is referring to when he talks about the planner.)  

My health hasn't been great. I got pretty sick Saturday and Sunday.  I still went out and worked, although I wasn't much good in a lesson, I was doing pretty bad. But I’m on the mend right now, so just keep going and running forward with faith. My Spanish is getting better everyday but I feel pretty good, I can communicate and understand most things, so that is nice. Weather wise, it has gotten colder especially biking at night.  I had to bust out the big coat, it sometimes makes me a little too warm, but it works for now. Although, I will have to get gloves because my hands like freeze to the handle bars.  It got down to like 42 at night with a brisk wind, I was sick and biking home, that was a rough 25 min. Journey and my companion also wasn’t feeling well.

I am glad you had a great Sunday lesson; those always make the weeks go much smoother and Sundays amazing. As pretty much every single one is here on the mission.

(Last week when he emailed us I happened to be in my email, so we shared two quick email messages back and forth, it made me really miss him, knowing he was typing to me right at that moment.)Well if that made you teary than it will be interesting when it goes from that, to my being in a lesson with the missionaries in our home with you and the fam. In our email from the Pres. He was talking about how that stuff will work when it comes, which probably won't be till about June of this coming year. But that we wont just teach here through the internet but also our home-towns to friends the are not members and family lessons. So that was really shocking when I read that and instantly a few friends popped into mind... So that will be something very weird when it comes. (This whole last paragraph didn’t make a lot of sense to us, we assume it has something to do with the way the missionaries are going to be utilizing the internet soon.  It sounded as though they could teach a lesson with us participating via skype or something of that nature?)

Other than that nothing really too new on this end.  One cool thought I wanted to share by Pres Monson, and I can’t remember if I shared it already or not, but it is pretty much “from the bed of sorrow and pillow of tears we ascend heaven ward”. Also one of Robert D. Hales old talks where he says “after the trial of fire and when we have our new resolution and we wait on the Lord, saying thy will be done”. I really liked those thoughts because it makes the hard days have so much more worth than they did before, and everyday just better. I can testify to that, that is so very true though, often times the trials and suffering we go through make us the person we need to be for tomorrow. I have seen this a lot on my mission.

Well I love you all so very much and I hope everything goes great for you at home this week. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you soon.

Love, Elder Paxman

Dear Bailee and Kyle,

I really enjoyed the quotes this week they were really really good. So now you are quite the little chef huh, I never would have thunk it. haha. Yea it does probably make it more fun when you are preparing food for other people. Speaking of food I had pig skin yesterday.... It was disgusting, it was like slurping slimy raw meat!!!. Blahhh I want to gag just thinkin about it... (Bailee made Crepes for dinner) Crepes, I love crepes and we never have stuff like that out here, so that is something I miss and is probably one of the first foods I want when I get home, BREAKFAST FOOD!!!!! My favorite as I am sure you know.

It sounds like you had a really fun break, even though you were alone for a part of it. I guess marriage never promised days of not being alone, just never lonely days. haha Came up with that myself, pretty good huh

Well on the mission front nothing really new this week, it was rough, very little lessons and lots of knocking to no avail, but what can you do just have to keep pressing forward. Well other than that don't have much updates on the mission.  I guess just remember that true faith is never stagnant and will push us to a brighter and better future. Well I love you both so very much and hope you have a great week and I can't wait to hear about the next weeks crazy adventures. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Elder Paxman, tu hermano

"Guardians of the Horizon"

Dear Mom,

I am doing well and my stomach has been pretty good this week, no real problems so that is a good thing. Oh tell dad that I am going to keep trying the Kefir thing so to transfer $20.00 to my account every two weeks to pay for that.

I am going to answer a couple of his questions from his letter in this because I do not have a lot of time today, so I will just answer some of his questions here. First, no they do not provide an I pod so if I am going to get one I need you and dad to buy it and put a ton of music on it, instrumentals (cool ones), Christmas, a lot of solo artist stuff and all that good stuff and cool remixes of the hymns and stuff like that. Mom, don't kill my popularity with the Blog hahaha.

I was always curious what they did on those Relief Society retreat things, from what you told me it is pretty much like a vacation??

I really hope you can be a part of bringing that family into the gospel, it is an amazing experience and it is something you or them will not forget.  Also get dad to go I know he is like me and is not super social but when he gets there I know he can make an impact on their lives and also be a part in their progression.

(I, mom, am on a journey to finish the Book of Mormon cover to cover again in a short period of time.  It has been a few years since I have read it cover to cover.  I told him that last week a few days I was not feeling well and didn’t get my allotted amount read, he is trying to encourage me.)It is ok to falter we all do on one day or another, even though it is something small, I have learned that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass, so keep up the reading!!  One day in the past is not worth fretting about it for one minute in the future. (Or however many days you missed).

Fall by far is my favorite season just everything about it I love, but here it is different you don't have the “Guardians of the Horizon” out watching over the valley’s here!! (Came up with that myself, ha-ha. The mountains are what I am talking about if you couldn’t figure that out ha-ha). Also the leaves are barely starting to change, pretty much it is still green here, and still in the low 80's high 70's except this week it is supposed to drop down to the 60's and 50's.  My favorite kind of weather, the 60's, Yes!! Really encourage Brooklyn's picture taking, I love doing it and wish I did it more at home and it is something I want to do more when I get home. Also Zion's is a perfect place for taking pictures and it will give her a chance to get out and take a deep breath of mountainy air (which is actually a smell I miss ha-ha) Here it just smells like city.  It is kind of terribly smelling,  but around Hispanic homes it smells like spicy food which is good. I actually miss the acorns; there are not many if any here... Although I hated mowing those things it was like flying projectiles at my shins.

(We purchased him some sweaters and are sending them to him)Sweet I am stoked for the sweaters I love those and they say I will need them here soon, but we shall see.

(I got the idea from another mission blog I read to send him a list of questions) I am going to start with the questions that don't take as long to answer and work my way up I think.

2. Was it a car or bike week?  If bike how far did you have to ride and is it getting cold? Well car and bike week, we share it like this Monday-Thursday is us and Friday-Sunday is them. So it works well like that.  We have biked a ton I don't even know this week not, as much but I would say mileage into the 80's. The temperature isn’t too bad here I am still in short sleeves and sweat pretty good.  Nights on the bikes in short sleeves gets a little nippy though.  It makes for fun bike rides in the night, because I don't have a light for my bike so I use the headlamp I brought for a flashlight ha-ha.

3.  Do you and your companion get along?  Do you follow rules and work well together?

My companion and I get along well.  He is an oober ladies-man, jock. :) I really like him and we get along well, we follow the rules, maybe not to the T ;). Ha-ha.

4.  Do you always use the computers at the Library or can you sometimes go to the church?  Do they have computers there you can use?

We only use the computers at the library, not at the church.  I am not even sure if there are some there or not...

5.  On Sunday do you only attend one ward/branch or do you attend several.  Do you go to ward councils? After church what do you do on Sunday?

We attend only one Branch Council and only one missionary from each companionship goes in, so three missionaries at this moment. Other than that Sunday is a normal day we tract or go to appointments, eat with members or whatever else.

6. How has your health been?  Stomach?  Any other issues I should know about health wise? My health has been fairly good, so that is nice every once in a while I get a little bloated but not too bad overall.

1. How is the work?  Who are you teaching and how is it going?  (Yvonne and Jesus, Francisco and family, any other new ones) details. Write and tell me all about your week?  Ok now for how the work is. We had a very spiritual lesson with Fransico and his family; they are ready for baptism except 2 big things are slowing them down.  One is their church attendance, Fransico and his daughter Alejandra attended this week but no one else in the family came and we need all of them to come. So we are meeting with them today to see how they liked the meetings and are having family home evening with them. No one else new really, we found a guy named Roberto but we have only taught him once so I don't know how that will go at all. Now with Ivonne and Jesus, this week was a hard one for me... So we went over there on Tuesday after they attended a session of conference over the weekend. We walked in and everything seemed a little different, we sit down and start talking and immediately Ivonne says, "We are not going to be baptized".  At first I thought they were joking, but than she was very serious and I discovered that they were not joking. That was a moment I could hardly bear... I have grown to love them and their family like I do an aunt and uncle and cousins and even a more deeper connection that is hard to explain.  When she said that they weren’t going to be baptized and was talking about it.... It took everything I had to hold it together... Even then a few tears came out... So it was very hard... It turns out they were antied by another church who told them we were like a sect or a cult, and that we held Joseph Smith higher than Jesus and all this false stuff... So we tried to fix things but they pretty much said they don't want it anymore... But thankfully at the end of our visit, Ivonne said she will get baptized but she needs more time.  Sadly though it really shook Jesus and we will need to work more with him.  Yet he wants what is best for his family and he told us once he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet... He also really wants the Priesthood... So that was hard. We were able to meet with them again on Thursday and do a lot of damage control which was good, also really teach a good lesson about why we talk about and the importance of Joseph Smith.  We took Yazmine (a new convert they baptized earlier in his mission) with us who has had a lot of people trying to anti-her, but she always has done well, so it was good to have her with us. We will be taking her a lot more with us and having her help with them. I still believed they will be baptized within the next six weeks but it is going to take a lot... So that was with them. That was about it, but that experience not only shook them but shook me... and my faith it seems. This week I struggled with a lot of stuff but overall now I am doing amazingly better because after the pillow of tears and bed of sorrow we ascend heavenward saying thy will be done. (I combined two talks there). So other than that not much else has gone on. Oh also Ivonne said after we told her I will be in this area for six more weeks (this was at the second visit) she said "Well than we have got six weeks to be baptized" She has expressed how she wants me to baptize her already, so we will see how all of that unfolds in the coming weeks. So other than that as far as Spiritual stuff goes just really trying to strengthen myself so that I may stand strong and be a light for others.  Also Elder  Holland stated in a talk once that Preach My Gospel and this work is often to first convert the missionary then the Investigators.  I believe I am in the middle of this process right now, really finding myself and building my testimony more and also helping others, so yep. This week was rough and great at the same time.

Well My letter has gotten forever long so I will end. I love you all so much and hope everything goes great at home, have a fun time down south and be safe. I love you all and I hope to hear from you next week.

Con Amor, Tu Hijo, Elder Paxman

It's in the Lord's Hands

This letter requires a preface from mom.  Elder Paxman had an upper GI last week at the request of a surgeon at Riley Children’s Hospital at UI.  The surgeon called me Friday to give me the results.  Elder Paxmans small intestine is not working as well as it should.  Because of this, there has been a lot of discussion from us on his diet and what he can do to help matters.  So this letter has a lot of reference to this. He will meet back with the GI on Halloween.  He is doing well and working hard. 

Dear Mom, 

First I don't drink soda out here hardly ever, only when members don’t have anything else.  It is expensive and it isn’t as good as it used to be. Also I know what to do when I have bloating, whenever it does happen I usually cut way back on eating because I figure that I would rather be hungry than in a lot of pain. My thoughts about it (the test results) all are still unsure and in the air... One, I am glad that as of right now the times when it gets bad are few and far between.  The only thing I don't want to happen (which probably won't) is sometimes in the past when we have gone with waiting and time, it has gotten worse. Because of the slowing I worry that my intestines could dilate more, which could cause some more problems down the road... But overall I am just game with whatever goes as I usually well pretty much always have been. Other than that, just to keep doing everything I know how and put it in the Lord's hands! He knows what is best for me, so I shall do his will and not my own, even with things as simple as my health, well okay maybe not so simple haha.

Conference I loved!!!!!! Of course!! I had three favorite talks because I felt they applied exactly to me and everything that is going on, they were Uchtdorf's on Saturday it was amazing, Holland's and Nelsons. All three were amazing and touched me very deeply and will probably continue to do so as time goes by. We were able to watch all 5 sessions, and in English at our chapel.  Ivonne and Jesus came to a session which is really good, they finally are starting to have that testimony and act, so their baptism is this month and I am more than excited.

Yes I need to get all the Grimm's and watch them when I get home, as well as a bunch of movies and other things.  Me and the guys already have some plans forming for that. (I had told him of a goal I have started to re-read the entire Book of Mormon in a certain time frame) Also with the Book of Mormon thing it takes about 36 days for those things to become habits so keep it up and if you slide one day pick it back up and start again, the day to start is now, "You can do it now!!" that was a quote from Uchtdorfs priesthood talk. J

Transfers are this week and me and Elder Hjelm are staying together in the same area again for another transfer.  This will make 7 and a half months in my first area haha. Yes I still write Elder Johnston every week me and him were very tight and are planning to get together after our missions on multiple occasions. Well Trenton, Joel, Cameron, Garrett, Elder Johnston, you, Dad, and usually a few others are who I get regular letters from. Mi compa is the designated driver so he only drives which means I have to do back ups,  which makes me look like a doofus at times, last time mi compa clipped me with the car.... it was very funny after the fact. There is a good chance I will get to drive at some point.  We drive a Ford Fusion like 2012 I think, it is nice I like them. Yes I still listen to CD's but we can now have I pods so I am debating that possibility.  Yes I need more music, lots of cool renditions of hymns of like solo singers and instrumentals, also that musical thing about Christ that Bai has, oh and another musical opera thingy called the Garden, Oh and Ryan Shupe and the Rubber band Christmas and a bunch of other Christmas music. Also some movie soundtracks like Dances with Wolves, Lord of the Rings, movies like that. And not the real heavy stuff of those either.

As far as the field goes not much is new this week because we had Zone training and doctor and conference, so this week wasn't very eventful.  Although, it dumped here big time. I got soaked again. Also I spent 60 bucks on the card today because I tried those drinks dad suggested and it is pricey, I got 2 bottles and than 10 bucks cash back and groceries as well. We had a very spiritual lesson with Fransico and his family this week that was powerful.  They are not progressing and have been investigators for around 10 months, they were almost baptized but than they had some issues to work out.  But we are working with them and had a very powerful lesson. We also had a revelatory moment for Ivonne and Jesus where they discovered how true the Book of Mormon really is and also how much Jesus wants the priesthood for his family.  They know this church is true, but they like the social aspect of the other church, which our branch is sometimes not the greatest at but we are working on them and once they stop going to the other church and come to ours more frequently they will be baptized.  Probably around the middle of this month!!  Also Ivonne asked me to baptize her, so that will be cool if that happens. That was it for this week, oh and Celeste is getting baptized this month as well, which I am very excited for. That was it pretty much. Also my Spanish is going alright I can communicate and operate so that is good.

Well I love you all so very much and I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did remember it is just as important to study the talks after the fact so we may receive even more revelation!  Well love you all and I will hear from you next week.

Love, Tu Hijo, Elder Paxman