2 Weeks left to Serve: My 3 Funniest Moments in the Mission!

As we near the end, I thought we would look back at a few pictures from the beginning.

His first companionship

I think first District minus the Sisters

Elder Paxman and his very first companion Elder Johnston

The night before leaving the MTC, both pointing to their destination.

Elder Paxman's adventure in Indy begins!

Dear Mom,

The work has been good. We are finding a lot of good people, which will be nice for these boys when I am gone. I wish I could be here to keep teaching our investigators though, but some things are just not supposed to happen. They are doing pretty good; I am hoping to see around 3 baptisms before the end of my mission. We will see how it all pans out though. So I will let you be in suspense about that one... ;) Yes they are all still progressing and they were all at church today. It makes me so happy to see them doing so well. Rodrigo we have not been able to teach... I am not sure why, but he just hasn't been there, plus we hear he has gotten a new job... So that is a bummer.  I feel like we have been keeping busy, and we have done some service nothing too big, just smaller stuff here and there. We tract or go by potentials to stay busy, or formers. We try to keep ourselves busy as much as we can though. I will try and take pictures goodness mom... hahaha it is a lot harder than you think. I am trying though.

We found a few new people a girl named Patty who is new here from El Salvador who is really nice. We hope to keep teaching her. Also a guy named Carlos from Columbia who is a good guy here with his wife who is going to college at Purdue.

What are the three funniest moments/memories from the mission? The three funniest things... Well there are too many...

One was at the start of my mission... We were coming back from a soccer activity we had been at with members. On the way to the soccer activity, we had already all three changed in a taco bell bathroom and that was embarrassing. So I came up with this idea when it was time to change back. Hey why not the church?! I know we don't have a key, but there is a white fence around the parking lot. So all that we have to do is park in the corner and use the car and the car door to block two sides and the fence the other. Good idea right!? Well we get there and Elder Cozzens is still on the driver’s side, so only the car to cover him. We start changing and he drops his pants (jeans). So he is standing there in his G's and I get my belt off when I look up. All of the sudden a silver car turns into the parking lot. Instantly I know who it is. I yell SISTERS!!!!!!!!! So here we are pretty much stripping in the parking lot, Elder McDaniel and I are covered by the car and still haven't taken off any major articles of clothing minus shoes. While Elder Cozzens is in the open with his pants around his ankles!!! So the sisters pull in and he superman leaps into the car! He starts screaming get in the car! GET IN THE FREAKING CAR!!!!!!!!! Elder McDaniel and I start losing it with laughter as we try and get in the car. But there was one problem... The trunk was open... So he screamed for a good forever until I got out and closed it. The sisters turned and waved and I waved back. I then get in the car to Elder Cozzens still having a breakdown, and still with his pants around his ankles. He then drives off with his pants still around his ankles having a heart attack. hahahahahahaha I was dying. He would probably kill me if he knew I was telling this story. We got a really good laugh out of that one. (I guess the cat will be out of the bag, since it’s now on the blog, guess Elder Paxman didn’t think of that.)

Another funny one is of us getting our car towed. I will skip that one. One time we get a call from a member family in Logansport. You know how we always tell people "let us know if there is anything we can do for you!?" They always say no. Well we get a call from these people and they say they need our help. They tell us they need some toilet paper for something. We were like well we can't bring it for about an hour or so, I can’t even really remember how long. So we go get it, and go to their home. We knock on the door and the husband answers. He is Puerto Rican, but is also from New York area. So imagine that accent, in English. We knock with about two rolls in our hands. When all of the sudden we hear this "JUNIOR!!!!! DID YOU CALL THE ELDERS YET!!!! I NEED SOME TOILET PAPER!!!!!! I GOTTA WIPE!!!!!!!" Oh man did we lose it. So we hear that and variations of that screamed from the trailer bathroom. (They lived in a trailer.) For about what felt like 10 min. He then came to the door and said "Thanks a bunch guys...". We hear again "HURRY IT UP JUNIOR!!!!!!!!!! I GOTTA WIPE!!!!!" We did our best to keep a straight face... So it was really funny. We laughed for a really long time about that one in the car.

The story of the stalker is pretty funny, and kind of scary... Another good one was when Elder Hjelm crashed on his bike.. now my bike I guess... Anyway we are riding down this street. He is on one side and I am on the other, as I crossed just earlier anticipating the turn to come. He is riding and a dog attacks the chain link fence he is riding next to. He swerves a little but maintains control. He then looks back at the dog, but misses something... So you know those big power poles. How they have a cable that comes off the sides, that has a yellow thing on the bottom. Well when he swerved he lined up with that, then looking back runs into the thing with his handler bars, which makes the bike for flying with him on it. He lands in a big pile of dirt in his nice white shirt. So I stop.... Now comes my moment of decision... Do I see if he needs help, or just stay over here? By this point he has gotten up, stomped around a little, looking a little angry. So I decide to stay on my side of the street and yell.. "Hey are you all good..." I see a glare of despise and a sarcastic thumbs up as it looks like he just slid into home-plate in a white shirt and tie. I was doing my best not to laugh.

So there you have it. There are hundreds more, but I thought that would be sufficient for today.

 I am still feeling like my happy normal self. On Sunday we ate with two different member families and just had a good time with some members. It was really nice. We are also working on planning our/my last temple trip a little bit.

You have a last doctor’s appointment this week?  Make sure to transfer your care back to the Doc at the U. Do you think you will get to visit a few converts and friends in the city?  It would be nice to be able to say good bye.  I hope to visit a few converts in the city when I go back down. Yea my last appointment is this week. I will let her know mom

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Trenton came home.  He did a good job on his homecoming talk.  He looks about the same. It is good to see him. That is good he is doing well. I am excited to see the bugger. We have a lot of time to catch up on. I bet it is quite the shock for him to be home from his mission. He is a good dear friend.

How has your weather been?  Are you experiencing the mid-west summer heat? The weather has been really humid and pretty hot. Lots of little thunder bumpers that last about 30 min, which makes it really humid and hot.

Can you believe in 2 weeks and just a day you will be home? How are you feeling about that? Yea it is really hard to believe for me that I will be home in such a short time... It makes me sad. It has been some of the best two years or 25 months of my life. It has been amazing. But I still got plenty of time.

Okay so this has gotten really long, so just a brief spiritual thought. I have thought a lot this week about faith, and religion, and who we are, as well as a load of other things. Have you heard the parable of the pinecone? So think of ourselves like a pine cone. It takes us a long time to grow and we start small, we work and grow. One day we are put to the test, fire comes so to speak. It is then our time to shine, we grow bigger by spreading open and casting our seeds everywhere. For all of those who are around us. We are put through moments of fire throughout our lives, for many different reasons. One is to share our experiences with others. My mission has changed my life, and I hope it has changed the lives of at least a few other people. I am no great missionary as Ammon, or spiritual giant as the Brother of Jared. I am just a young adult, who is doing his best to tell people that there is always something better coming along, if we fight for it! I know that we are destined to be happy; it is part of who we are. We are all in a dire search to find it every day. And it seems the search starts over at the rise of each new sun. I know that we can be happy through this gospel and all it teaches us, if we but apply it and live it. I am grateful for all of you and your examples towards me. The parable of the pine cone is really long, but I do not have time to write it all, so I did my best to explain a tiny part of it, in a really short time. Well I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon. If not I will see you in the not too distant future!

Love, Elder Paxman

I would rather not look like an Umpalumpa!

Dear Mom,

It sounds like its building up to be a really cold winter in Utah. The snow is probably much needed though I would imagine. Here it is getting colder, but for the most part it isn't too bad. Also, no snow still. 

We are making seeing a movie the day after Christmas a tradition.  This year we saw the Hunger Games movie Mocking Jay.  Daddy liked it better than the others so far.  I think that it is kind of funny, that of going to the movies the day after Christmas. That is good that dad liked the movie, so far they aren't some of my favorite. They are good, but not a have to see movie for me.

I told him about our plans for break and mentioned that Brooklyn was already trying to fill up her schedule with social events. I can see Brooklyn already making plans for all those days. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when she gets into High School... It scares me to think about it haha.

Have you eaten all of your Christmas Candy and treats? I have eaten a lot of my Christmas candy, mainly because if I am going to be doing 6 months to sexy I need to eat less junk food, and if it is in the house, we all know how that will go. So I have eaten a lot, but there is still some. I am freakishly sore today because I worked out like a beast so I could get going on the sexy part, and tell you what... I am not sure if it is worth it hahaha, there aren't even any potentials who are waiting back home, most are married or in a relationship anyway. But it is a goal of mine so here goes nothing...

(For reference Six months to Sexy is a mission thing, at least in his mission.  When missionaries hit their six month mark, they have six months to lose any mission fat and get into shape to prepare for dating and girls post mission)

How many meals were you fed on Christmas? On Christmas we only ate one place and that was with the Creasy's, it was really nice, homemade American food. I missed it. Other than that, we ate a lot of junk food. Christmas overall was really good, we had a fun time, and really enjoyed the time. It is crazy to think that it is my last one as a missionary...  I will miss it a little out here next Christmas, there is nothing quite like a missionary Christmas. So it will be sad when that time comes around.

I told him about Elder Rowberrys homecoming and some funny things he said in his talk comparing Indiana to a Star Trek movie.  Ba ha, he is such a nerd, in a good way... I love that kid, I am excited to see all of them when the mission is all said and done. I will be sad when that day comes too though. I hope he can come to my homecoming along with other missionaries that I know. That would be awesome and a special treat for me to see a lot of them again. Especially the ones I was companions with or just really good friends with. That sounds like a really good time at his homecoming.

I told him that Elder Rowberry told me that Elder Paxman is a phenomenal missionary. I don’t know about that, but I try to do the best I can and try every day. Trust me some days are much better than others. I just want to do the work and help people the way that I have been helped.

The doctor there has prescribed Vitiman D and sunshine, because his Vitimin D is really low.  So the mission nurse told him to make sure he got 15 minutes of sunlight a day.  I asked him if that meant a tanning bed?  Ha ha.  The sunlight thing is just normal sunlight, which I get a lot of, but she wants me to be in like short sleeves so my arms can get the sun. So it isn't anything too extra special just sun time for me. Thank goodness not a sun tan machine. I would rather not look like an umpalumpa! Not to mention the idea of crawling inside a giant microwave... No thank you!!

How did you like your slippers and sweaters, do they all fit? I really enjoyed all of the gifts thank you so much for all of those!! They were awesome. The slippers are amazing and both the sweaters fit. I really like the argyle one. I still have to set up the basketball game thing. It will be really fun though. I am glad that you sent it.

You mentioned having lessons set up to teach this week, how have they been going?  How is the work during the holiday? A lot of the lessons we have been scheduling have fallen through. So we are really trying to find those people who are prepared. We were still able to teach a lesson or two I think. Although this week has been slow so far. We are really trying though and we will keep doing so. A week it seems we average anywhere from 11 to 15 lessons, usually 12 is the average. Yes we try and get at least 20 lessons a week, so that is hard, really hard sometimes, but we do our best and we seem to be improving from week to week so I can't complain. This area is probably the slowest area I have been in so far. Although, I hope and intend to change that, if it is in the will of the Father. Yes getting motivated has been hard when things are so slow, but I have been doing better at that. I really want to be a good example for Elder Ryan. I am not the greatest missionary, but I am trying to do my best so he can be better than I was and so he can enjoy his mission. I firmly believe if one can enjoy their mission in the service of those around them, they will never regret the decision and they will see the hand of God in many different ways.   I hope I can live up to what people expect of me, at times it is a little overwhelming to try and live up to those standards. This week with the little success we have been having I paused to question myself, "Am I doing something wrong?" Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough, but regardless of how I feel, I know that people need this message. I know that it has changed my life and I know it can change the lives of others around me. I just hope I can do my best for those around me and for myself. I heard a quote that I really liked it was very pertinent to me. It says. "Make us proud, Make yourself proud." I think if we cannot take happiness in our own work, we might need to reconsider some things we do. 

That cat is freaking crazy! I don't even know what to say about it besides it is a freak of nature. It made me laugh how you emphasized that WE were contaminated because daddy and I always blame you or the girls for bringing illness in the house haha. Hopefully you did get feeling better; I noticed when you talked to me you were coughing. Sorry about that I hate being sick, it bites.

Well mom, we are getting hurried along they are going to close the libraries so I need to wrap up. I love you so much and hope you have a great week! I know that if we can find happiness in anything we do, we can truly be a force for good. I always try to find happiness in life. For me the happiness comes in the small things, it sounds cheesy, but sunsets, sunrises, and the stars have helped me feel happiness in times of struggle in my life. Well I have to go love you a ton and have a great week, find those little things that make you happy!

Love, Elder Paxman

Five Months in the Field!!

Dear Family,

(I always ask after his health) Well my health is going good, there are times at night where I start to get a little bloated and not feeling to good which I do not like, but overall good and even when I do feel a little sick it is bearable. Thank you for cancelling the August doctor’s appointment.  That made things a ton easier for me.

Yea I do need to write back people.  I feel way bad but I am so busy it is crazy... Although here soon I am hoping to get a bunch done and send them out. Man I wish I could have been there for Bai at the Temple.... But iz all good, I am so excited for her. (I told him that Bailee had received her endowment on Saturday) That story you told me about the young boy, I really enjoyed!! I will have to make sure to get something to them soon... (A primary class in our ward wrote to Elder Paxman and one of the grandsons of a sister in our ward was really concerned for Elder Paxman and asks about him all the time and prays for him.  I shared this with him in longer detail)

I know Trenton left, I got an email from him this week that I need to read. I can’t believe I have been gone for 5 months now tomorrow!! It is flying by way to fast and my sister is getting married!!!! MAN things are just cruising by... Some of the guys here tease me about how I am going to be replaced by a little one... 8/ That better not happen!! I am okay if she is preggers when I get home but only like 5 months or else I will be forgotten... My companion told me that when I arrive home at the airport, I am going to have to get an airport taxi to go to home or the hospital and I am going to walk in and you are all going to be like OH!!! You came in today?? hahaha We get a pretty good laugh about it.

Me and my companion are doing amazing, we get along very well, the branch sometimes call us Niño’s or kids because we get along like brothers even the bickering with each other sometimes. This week not a whole lot new happened although if I do say so myself I am looking good bahaha, we biked over 140 miles this last week!! It is crazy!! So my legs are huge but I still have toothpick arms... But they are getting better I can now do like 5 pull-ups hahaha and my abs are awesome haha, other than that awesome bit of information, not much is going on here.  We did find two new investigators Anna y Jorge, they are solid, and they are progressing well and are reading the Book of Mormon now. Sister Ivonne and Jesus are doing very well, although they have only attended church once, but they are still reading and wanting to meet with us so we are hoping we can get them to church with us this next week. Other than that not too much is new... Oh although I need you to do something for me... I want you to find a place where you can either buy or get 2 Indian arrow heads... Even if they are just like chipped by machine or something. They are a gift for two boys here and I have a lesson to go along with them. So if I could get those that would be great. Well I can't believe by next e-mail Bai will be married...

Well Mom I love you so much and keep having tons of fun and don’t get too overwhelmed as time approaches, remember to cherish every moment and remember the moments that matter most because often they don’t come back. Love you all and I can’t wait to hear all the new things from home next week.

Love, your son, Elder Paxman